The Shallow End

Hey, I Have Something Important To Say!

Ahem.

I forgot what it was. 8-}

Have you ever been in a meeting where you felt not a single word you said mattered? No one is listening to you? You offer up a solution to a problem and the discussion about how to solve the problem just goes on indefinitely? You know your solution will work, but nobody can hear you? You have experience with what they are talking about, but nobody cares?

These are the days you go to bed at night and wonder why God placed you in that place at that time. What in the world were you supposed to be doing?? I can only assume that I was supposed to be learning something by listening to them, but honestly? All I learned was that it's important to be a good listener, i.e. what it feels like not to be listened to (and I know that ends with a preposition, but I'm not sure what to do about it). And honestly? Okay, honestly, maybe I'm not always a good listener. But I try.

In today's meeting (not for work but for a charitable board I sit on...I'm actually the Treasurer and the issues we were discussing involved money, the taking in of money, the counting of money, the internal control related to money, something about which I'm supposed to be knowledgeable and for which I'm supposed to be responsible), here are some things I thought about doing (but would never actually do in real life) to get their attention:

1) Get up and walk out, slamming the door and leaving a trail of ditritus in my wake (you know, like stuff that might fall out of my purse, girl things and such)

2) Throw my pencil across the room and scream "Hey, I have something important to say!" (I actually had a client throw a pencil across the room once...nobody got hurt, but that was not a very pleasant moment)

3) Push myself away from the table, close my notebook and refuse to talk even if a question was posed directly to me, maybe pull the New Testament out of my purse (amongst a group who does not read the NT) and start reading, completely disengaging myself mentally but not physically

4) Pull out my cell phone and start talking loudly to a friend, pretending to place bets on horse races, making shsshing noises and motioning with my finger for them to wait for me, to indicate this is a very important call I need to make but I'll be just a minute.

5) Pull out my laptop and start blogging, laughing at the incredibly witty things you all have to say that are way more fun than what I had to listen to in there.

There, I'm glad I got that off my chest. I'm sorry you had to see all that. 8-}

Meetings. *sigh*

Labels: The Absurd, Toil and trouble

posted by Gwynne @ 7:46 PM