You know what really frosts my flakes? Meetings that can’t start on time.
You get three emails, and a dozen text messages all telling you to be there at exactly 10 a.m.
So you rearrange your day, go to the bathroom, grab your coffee, show up early, turn on the camera and test the sound
so that, at 10 a.m., you’re ready to go.
Then what happens? Nothing.
The host strolls in late like they just discovered clocks and says, “We’ll get started in a few minutes in case there are stragglers.”
Stragglers? To hell with the stragglers.Why are we punishing the 95 percent who actually and an effort to show up on time?
Everything is recorded now. The stragglers can watch the replay like the rest of modern society.
But, then it gets worse. Instead of starting the meeting, we get five minutes of forced small talk.
“Drop a note in the chat telling us where you’re from and your favorite song.”
Why? Who cares? The chat scrolls by so fast you couldn’t read it if your life depended on it.
So now you’ve got two choices: Read the chat and miss the meeting or ignore the chat and wonder why it exists.
And somewhere, there’s an “expert” saying this builds community. No way. As an expert myself, I say this builds irritation.
You want to build community? Start on time. End on time. And say something worth hearing in between.
I’m Grandpa Grumpy. If you can’t start a meeting on time, then don’t have one. Send an email instead.