Thursday, December 14, 2006
What Time Is The Ten O'Clock Meeting?
Wink: Consciousness: that annoying time between naps.
Nova Scotian's are noted for many things. Nice easy pace of life, friendly hospitality and things like that.
However, I had a person not long ago ask me if this was a Nova Scotia tradition or something. You see this person had a seminar/meeting scheduled for 10 am. He arrived around 9:15 am to set up his laptop and portable projector for the event.
The big hand got to the 12 and the little hand to the ten, but only one person was in the room. Lets call him #1. Around ten after, #2 pops in and says "This where the meeting is?" #3 is not far behind. #4 enters the room at fifteen past the hour. #1 goes to get a coffee. #4 wants a coffee too, so leaves. #5,#6, and #7 all come in at the same time, about twenty past the hour.
#2 goes to the washroom, #1 and #4 return with their coffee. #6 and #7 say: "Where did you get the coffee?" "Across the hall," answers #1. You guessed it, #6 & #7 go for coffee. #4 has to go to the washroom. #5 answers his ringing cell phone. #2 returns from the washroom. #6 & #7 return with their coffee, #6 spilling some of his on the floor. #6 goes to the washroom for paper towel, meeting #4 in the doorway.
#4 comes back in just as #5 finishes his conversation on the cell. Finally the presenter asks; "Is this another Nova Scotia tradition?" "What?" several of them chime together. "Well," says the presenter, "I was scheduled to begin at ten o'clock, it is now twenty to eleven. Are we ready now? I notice this goes on at several other businesses in Nova Scotia. In other provinces the meeting would be canceled if not under way by five after at the latest."
Kind of brought back memories. I was missing from several meetings over my career(s) due to the above routine, if a meeting is not underway by ten minutes after its scheduled time, I always leave. If something is scheduled to begin at a certain time, it should begin, no exceptions. However, I too noticed the above routine is fairly prevalent.
This work by NSCAVE is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License
Nova Scotian's are noted for many things. Nice easy pace of life, friendly hospitality and things like that.
However, I had a person not long ago ask me if this was a Nova Scotia tradition or something. You see this person had a seminar/meeting scheduled for 10 am. He arrived around 9:15 am to set up his laptop and portable projector for the event.
The big hand got to the 12 and the little hand to the ten, but only one person was in the room. Lets call him #1. Around ten after, #2 pops in and says "This where the meeting is?" #3 is not far behind. #4 enters the room at fifteen past the hour. #1 goes to get a coffee. #4 wants a coffee too, so leaves. #5,#6, and #7 all come in at the same time, about twenty past the hour.
#2 goes to the washroom, #1 and #4 return with their coffee. #6 and #7 say: "Where did you get the coffee?" "Across the hall," answers #1. You guessed it, #6 & #7 go for coffee. #4 has to go to the washroom. #5 answers his ringing cell phone. #2 returns from the washroom. #6 & #7 return with their coffee, #6 spilling some of his on the floor. #6 goes to the washroom for paper towel, meeting #4 in the doorway.
#4 comes back in just as #5 finishes his conversation on the cell. Finally the presenter asks; "Is this another Nova Scotia tradition?" "What?" several of them chime together. "Well," says the presenter, "I was scheduled to begin at ten o'clock, it is now twenty to eleven. Are we ready now? I notice this goes on at several other businesses in Nova Scotia. In other provinces the meeting would be canceled if not under way by five after at the latest."
Kind of brought back memories. I was missing from several meetings over my career(s) due to the above routine, if a meeting is not underway by ten minutes after its scheduled time, I always leave. If something is scheduled to begin at a certain time, it should begin, no exceptions. However, I too noticed the above routine is fairly prevalent.
This work by NSCAVE is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License
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