Next Door Neighbors by Pat Sandy for January 18, 2024

Business school meetings for the art department were like that.

New Goal: Sneak out quickly as possible!

Where I work we have monthly "All hands meetings, as well as monthly leadership meetings. I am in the “leadership” role. I quit going to the all hands meetings years ago. I have never been to one of the leadership meetings. I am always way to busy to bother with it. I can gain just as much when the send out the email telling me what I missed. The meetings always have at least a few individuals who talk to talk. “If I am talking, I don’t have to go back to work” type of talking…waste of time!

Most meetings are a waste of time and accomplish much of nothing.

I find it fascinating that people who have never really worked come up with plans on how to work!! The plans are usually S.M.A.R.T.

A lot of plans sound good until you say them out loud.

A well-considered philosophy formed after much thought over many many bowls of pretzels. And a little input from commiserating strangers across the bar… er, room.

I used to hate meetings like this. Thankfully I’m retired now.

My escape for meetings is doodling.

Incident Command training has a SMART, missed acing a test by one point because I wasn’t

If that were ME, I would be SOOOO done! ☺️☺️

Silly mnemonic acronyms are the first sign of simple-minded teaching seminars.

Twice a year my company asks us to set goals/review the previous six month’s goals. The thing is, the work that needs to be done is assigned by someone else. Seems pointless to set goals when you have no control over what you will be working on.

Turning lemons into lemonade - way to go Norm!

Here’s one! MANAGER… Meaningless Acronyms Needlessly Activate General Employee Resentment.

Companies don’t understand that paying low end wages does not make people give a sh….

After retiring and then going to work for a family-built hardware company part time I found myself being confronted in meetings with acronyms like this. We would all memorize them for the meeting and then immediately forget them when we walked out onto the floor. Then they started having us greet each customer with a standardized script and changing it every month or so trying to find one that would stick. I didn’t like any of them, so I made one up that sounded best for me and unfortunately the president heard me when he was in our store one day. He made it the official script company wide. Then a few years later a big corporation bought us, and the script went nationwide and then worldwide. So, if you have ever shopped at an ACE Hardware and been confronted with “Hi! What can I help you find today?” every time a red vest would approach you, I am truly sorry.

Okay, Norm and what does the SMART ALECK, acronym stand for?

gotta admire norm’s positive attitude…

The “A” is wrong – it stands for asinine. (btw, that word should really have 2 rather than 1 s)