I never have a minute for a quick call, all calls must be calendar invites
― is right unfortunately (silby), Wednesday, 18 November 2020 15:59 (three years ago) link
i usually demand to know what it's about. I got ambushed too many times in the past to let people blindly call me.
― Lover of Nixon (or LON for short) (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 18 November 2020 16:02 (three years ago) link
lawyers love to ambush people. i hate phone calls but i double hate it when opposing counsel wants to schedule a call about [vague topic] because it just means "i'm going to gain the upper hand by not telling you what we're going to talk about." i will then have the upper, upper hand by saying as little as possible on this call.
― superdeep borehole (harbl), Wednesday, 18 November 2020 16:07 (three years ago) link
xpost the entire reason I stopped being a project manager was the micromanagement of meetings. I was good at leading them and only scheduled them when necessary and generally tried to only invite those people that needed to be there.
but people would micro-manage. like I had a director of a project who demanded we adhere to a cap on how many of our own employees we invited to a client meeting (it was something ridiculously small, like 6, one of which would be eaten up by me, another two by the director and the implementation manager). her belief was that this would make for better meetings and that if there were people who I couldn't invite due to the 'cap' that really needed to be briefed on what I discussed, that I could just do that on my own time. So actually holding a one hour meeting, then disseminating the same message to the remainder who got left off. Who sometimes would then ask questions that I couldn't answer and would have been best asked in the meeting. This happened over and over again - and I loudly complained about how stupid it was to set an arbitrary cap, rather than to just ask that we keep meetings to necessary parties rather than indiscriminately inviting the entire world (which I wasn't doing).
She also demanded we not call meetings on Fridays (why - are we not working on Fridays)? So then I'd struggle to schedule them because how we had an entire day unavailable, so everybody's calendars filled up the other four days.
eventually, I decided I was leaving that post and at that point, did whatever the fuck I wanted for my last two months in the job.
― Lover of Nixon (or LON for short) (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 18 November 2020 16:12 (three years ago) link
xpost I always wondered if lawyers did that. now I have my answer.
they do and this particular attorney really faked me out this time because this definitely could have been an email. you set up a conference line to tell me you are emailing me something. thanks for that.
― superdeep borehole (harbl), Wednesday, 18 November 2020 18:15 (three years ago) link
my WFH complaint of the day is people should not email "hey do you have a minute for a quick call" and then when i answer yes, instead of calling immediately like the question implies wait a half hour while i ruminate over whether i can go to the bathroom or if they are finally going to decide to call while i am peeing
― superdeep borehole (harbl), Wednesday, 18 November 2020 15:55 (five hours ago)
If I get asked that and I do have a minute I dial them immediately. If they don't answer then I no longer have a minute.
― Clean-up on ILX (onimo), Wednesday, 18 November 2020 21:36 (three years ago) link
i accidentally did this today. said hey can i call u in 10 mins and they’re like sure, and then i get caught up in something, call like an hour later, they decline the call and text immediately saying “i can’t talk”. i’m like, fair enough. c’est la vie. everybody’s just doing the best they can. except the people who aren’t. and cmon don’t we all deserve to just take our foot off the gas a little?? fucks sake
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Wednesday, 18 November 2020 21:39 (three years ago) link
My stock phrase for non-urgent stuff is "at your convenience," meaning "call me when you can," but not promising that I'll wait by the phone or computer or whatever.
― coupvfefe (Ye Mad Puffin), Wednesday, 18 November 2020 21:44 (three years ago) link
instead of calling immediately like the question implies wait a half hour while i ruminate over whether i can go to the bathroom or if they are finally going to decide to call while i am peeing
seriously! this is annoying as fuck! I end up either immediately calling the person (if it's something on my list of things I want to deal with now) or just assuming it's a theoretical minute, that may or may not align with the minute they attempt to actually call me, and if I happen to be making an 'ilarious post to me ilxor chums' at the time the person calls and stare at the phone next to my laptop until it shows "missed call" ... well that is just the nature of the universe.
― sarahell, Thursday, 19 November 2020 18:24 (three years ago) link
also, idk if it's a feature of airbuds or whatever those wireless white things people put in their ears to talk on the phone are called -- but i swear, whenever my co-worker is using them when he calls me, it sounds like there is a fancy espresso machine operating in the background and I envision he is drinking very fancy coffee, whereas I am not, but that's okay, but it still reminds me of fancy coffee drinks from cafes near the office.
― sarahell, Thursday, 19 November 2020 18:27 (three years ago) link
Maybe he's like one of my former colleagues, who worked at my company out of the coffee shop she owned
― Lover of Nixon (or LON for short) (Neanderthal), Thursday, 19 November 2020 18:38 (three years ago) link
got a headphone DAC/amp for my desk and I love being able to turn the small talk before a zoom starts down with a big ol knob
― is right unfortunately (silby), Tuesday, 1 December 2020 19:00 (three years ago) link
... categorizing tasks by "can I efficiently have laundry going while I work on this? y or n?"
― sarahell, Tuesday, 1 December 2020 19:18 (three years ago) link
n.b. I live in an apartment building w/shared laundry -- obv people who live in houses w/their own laundry machines don't have this issue the same way
― sarahell, Tuesday, 1 December 2020 19:20 (three years ago) link
Our laundry apparatus is in our kitchen/living room/office so we have to make a call likewise
― spruce springclean (darraghmac), Tuesday, 1 December 2020 19:28 (three years ago) link
Outlook did one of its weird things this morning where I had a meeting scheduled that I didn't know about, and it was a Very Important meeting with my supervisor. I was in my pyjamas, putting the finishing touches on my plan for a class that was starting in 40 minutes, feeling like I had just the right amount of time pressure to get it all done. And then Teams went bloop and my post-observation meeting started, to my shock and horror. I quickly put on a shirt and joined the meeting and pretended like I knew all along it was happening, but I ended up with like 5 minutes left of my pre-class prep time and my class pretty much sucked.
Working from home: classic because you can forget about a meeting, attend in your pyjama pants, and still look kind of professional. But also dud, because everything about that is disorienting and terrible.
― Lily Dale, Tuesday, 1 December 2020 20:43 (three years ago) link
wait Teams can just start a meeting without you doing anything??
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 1 December 2020 21:01 (three years ago) link
My supervisor started the meeting, so it popped up on my screen. Teams can't join for you, though - you don't show up in the meeting until you hit "Join." Thus my ability to take thirty seconds, throw on a shirt, and pretend I wasn't just chilling in my pjs.
― Lily Dale, Tuesday, 1 December 2020 21:05 (three years ago) link
Does Teams take up move bandwidth for video calls somehow? I use Zoom 99.8% of the time for work, that's what my employer uses and wants us to use but I have one contractor that sets up his meetings in Teams. I very rarely have any issues with the Zoom calls, but every single Team meeting the connection is absolutely lousy and I'm constantly getting bad network connection warnings.
― soaring skrrrtpeggios (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Tuesday, 1 December 2020 21:06 (three years ago) link
Ugh, "more bandwidth"
― soaring skrrrtpeggios (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Tuesday, 1 December 2020 21:07 (three years ago) link
Have I mentioned the "distracted by other people's home decor" thing yet?
Related: my competitive instinct to have the best wall portion behind me
― sarahell, Tuesday, 1 December 2020 21:13 (three years ago) link
I haven't used Zoom much, but I do find there's often a bad connection with Teams. I have pretty good internet and it's not usually an issue for me, but my students often have problems, and if I want to share my screen and show videos, I have to turn off my camera and mic in order to get a better connection.
― Lily Dale, Tuesday, 1 December 2020 21:21 (three years ago) link
had to do my self-assessment today. haven't laughed that hard in years.
― Lover of Nixon (or LON for short) (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 1 December 2020 21:35 (three years ago) link
lol -- the other day I had to negotiate with a customer service rep to get a refund for an annual subscription to project management/productivity software my co-worker signed us up for two years ago which we are cancelling because he hasn't used it ... and it was like, "sorry we don't have our shit together enough to use your software that helps us get our shit together" ...
― sarahell, Tuesday, 1 December 2020 21:47 (three years ago) link
surely some other software will work
― is right unfortunately (silby), Tuesday, 1 December 2020 21:50 (three years ago) link
yes, obviously!
― sarahell, Tuesday, 1 December 2020 21:54 (three years ago) link
all my walls are blank. my cubicle wall is blank (with a blank whiteboard on it). my home office wall is blank. i think i like it that way.
― cosmic vision | bleak epiphany | erotic email (map), Tuesday, 1 December 2020 22:08 (three years ago) link
one nice thing about video calls is seeing people's cats
― cosmic vision | bleak epiphany | erotic email (map), Tuesday, 1 December 2020 22:09 (three years ago) link
I definitely prefer blank to ... most decor, except for cats and dogs. ... Often I'm reminded of grad school where I took classes in tv broadcasting and we had a unit on "visual perception and cognition and why from certain angles, things in the background appear to be sprouting out of people's heads"
― sarahell, Tuesday, 1 December 2020 22:14 (three years ago) link
I think I may have mentioned this but I still need to unpack the boxes from my old office that have been in storage in my basement since 2018. I have all kinds of tchotchkes and books and crap in there that definitely won’t all fit in our home office, so I’m sure a lot of it will end up in the trash/donate bin, and it’s going to make me sad because I really liked decorating that little room with all the maps of countries I visited, the hanging pile of conference badges and lanyards, etc. I’m going to probably miss that office the rest of my life, because the likelihood of my workplace even having dedicated cubicles again seems pretty remote after all this.
― sound of scampo talk to me (El Tomboto), Tuesday, 1 December 2020 22:24 (three years ago) link
the hanging pile of conference badges and lanyards
this is the worst, why do ppl do this
― mom tossed in kimchee (quincie), Tuesday, 1 December 2020 22:35 (three years ago) link
That seems... unnecessary, given the spirit of El Tomboto's post.
I would love to have an actual office with an actual door someday.
― soaring skrrrtpeggios (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Tuesday, 1 December 2020 22:39 (three years ago) link
I'm becoming slightly immune to it but for a while I really liked seeing other people's art in the background of video conferences.
Anyway ... completely non-snarky question: any ideas for supporting people to keep well when home working? I ponder this a lot but conversations about it always end up with "Let's do a quiz! On Teams!" And that makes me a bit stabby!
― djh, Tuesday, 1 December 2020 22:41 (three years ago) link
can't wait to put up a framed copy of my ma and a pennant of the ole alma mater, maybe some star wars bobbleheads on the desktop
― cosmic vision | bleak epiphany | erotic email (map), Tuesday, 1 December 2020 22:45 (three years ago) link
in my first cubicle job i used the printer to print out black and white photos of people like sylvester and michel foucault and pinned them up everywhere. now i just don't care - i have no energy for anything that is not directly related to my work duties. i feel like a vagrant and tbh it feels good.
― cosmic vision | bleak epiphany | erotic email (map), Tuesday, 1 December 2020 22:47 (three years ago) link
i'm not good at decorating, it hurts my brain and overwhelms me. just love it every time i'm on a webex and one of my managers who loves to dad joke is like "i love your blank wall."
― superdeep borehole (harbl), Tuesday, 1 December 2020 22:47 (three years ago) link
i've thought about writing a backwards joke on my whiteboard to entertain people on calls
― cosmic vision | bleak epiphany | erotic email (map), Tuesday, 1 December 2020 22:48 (three years ago) link
possibly stealing one from the Homemade Jokes thread
I could care less about decorating, I just want the ability to shut a door and focus on my work without absolutely pointless interruptions.
― soaring skrrrtpeggios (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Tuesday, 1 December 2020 22:51 (three years ago) link
the worst was when my last job moved from cubicles to a new, improved building with an open office plan *shudders*
― cosmic vision | bleak epiphany | erotic email (map), Tuesday, 1 December 2020 22:53 (three years ago) link
Open office plan is all I've ever experienced, in all three jobs.
― soaring skrrrtpeggios (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Tuesday, 1 December 2020 22:53 (three years ago) link
that was my last last job. i actually had an office with a door at my last job! and i threw it all away for love, which turned out to be false (true story)
xp blech, my condolences
― cosmic vision | bleak epiphany | erotic email (map), Tuesday, 1 December 2020 22:54 (three years ago) link
I don’t really want to go back at this point
― is right unfortunately (silby), Tuesday, 1 December 2020 22:54 (three years ago) link
I don't have any decoration in my cubicle other than at Christmas where I have a really terrible display of dollar store tat (there's a dollar store in my office building) which is sort of ironic but I'm not sure if my colleagues get it
― Politically homely (jim in vancouver), Tuesday, 1 December 2020 22:54 (three years ago) link
now on my zoom calls my colleagues get to see my kitchen. as the dining table in my living room/kitchen is the only place I can work
― Politically homely (jim in vancouver), Tuesday, 1 December 2020 22:55 (three years ago) link
i don't either. i can't imagine it. it doesn't help that i've never actually been to my office since i started in june. i don't want to have to buy any more office clothes or sit in a car for an hour either. xp
― superdeep borehole (harbl), Tuesday, 1 December 2020 22:55 (three years ago) link
It’d be different if I had a kid or less space in my bedroom or a private office to look forward to back at the office but now it’s like how bout I just go in for occasional boss facetime, when we finally even are allowed back in
― is right unfortunately (silby), Tuesday, 1 December 2020 22:57 (three years ago) link
Oh yeah, to be clear, I have no desire to go back. But it would help slightly if I knew I could go back to somewhere theoretically quiet from time to time and not just trying to drown out people shouting at each other across the room or three competing conference calls with headphones.
― soaring skrrrtpeggios (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Tuesday, 1 December 2020 22:58 (three years ago) link
i'm basically scared of showing my "real self" by decorating my cubicle at all because i will have to contemplate how off-putting it will be for my co-workers (who are mostly very straight-laced & some are mormon), and think about what is considered "appropriate" vs what i want to look at every day. so i've just given up and tbh i'm fine with it. the only problem now is that "empty cubicle" signifies as weird too. but i just don't have the heart to do a generic decorating job. i mean, in an ideal world i'd have a bunch of rocks and pine tar samples on my shelves & "gay eagle bar" posters on the walls. nb i'm splitting wfh with working at the office about 50 / 50 these days.
― cosmic vision | bleak epiphany | erotic email (map), Tuesday, 1 December 2020 23:02 (three years ago) link