This afternoon I was reading C&EN and found a quote in there about nomenclature. Don't get me wrong I think that nomenclature is highly important, but I found the following both hilarious and sad.
'It was probably one of the low points of my career,' one attendee tells C&EN 'when we spent 30 minutes arguing whether the word should be spelled co-crystal or cocrystal.'--C&EN, June 18, 2006 page 28
My department chair pointed out a while ago that if people agree on something don't discuss it. I nearly lost my non-battle to have all students wearing goggles and not safety glasses in lab because I brought it up for discussion.
Meetings and discussions... tell me about your most pointless one.
4 comments:
I have been attending a serious of meetings for a project at work for about 18 months now... where nothing gets done. Every little thing is brought up for discussion, beaten to death, then forgotten... that's right forgotten. We cover the same ground every month or so. If I was paying for the project I'd be pissed... but I'm not so I just try to find the humor in it and give constructive input when I feel like people will actually listen and it will make a difference (which isn't very often).
ohhh... that would be sad if you lost the goggles argument.
at work i am much quieter than i use to be. i use to feal that it was very important that most every 'important' discussion be wrapped up professionally so that everyone 'is on the same page' and takes away the same message from the meeting.
yup.... that was then, this is now. 'smile and nod' they walk away taking what they wanted, and you walk away with what you wanted. if you try to clarify you'll reveal that they heard what they wanted to , and you heard what you wanted to and thus you start the debate again.
that leads to my second point. its easier to do and ask for forgiveness later, than to ask and be told no (over and over and over again)
yah, our support group meets every week. were we end up talking about the same issues and we never make any real decisions. we usually end up just insulting each other and going back to our respective support areas doing what ever we want and ignoring Univ policy or College Policy and Standards. For example our Univ has Standardized on Dell hardware, which is fine, but then we have some people who insist of doing home brew hardware. Which in the long run causes problems. Mostly because of poor choices in hardware, but again its a standard Right? What good is a standard if it isn't enforced?
Neal, good to see you here!
I had a group above me make a policy. then the group above them choose to enforce the policy 'selectively' to win favor with a new employee. I argued passionately and verbosely that we either need to amend the policy, or write the qualifications for exception. No one heard what I was saying, and just thought I was upset. So, that person exempt from the policy is not happy, and EXPECTS the same exception to be made for all his new requests. NOW he's angry because he was told he can have 'anything you want' and he's getting far from it. Such a promise should have never been made, especially when It means my job description (keep people happy, make everything work) is subject to an EMOTIONAL response in the people I help,and in this case their choice of hardware and software. So, when people have a bad day, that means I'm not doing my job well. THAT ticks me off. Furthermore, such absent minded expectations to rules cut my support off at the knees and REQUIRE i lower the least common denominator for interoperability and standardization. Everyone looses. we pay more for less, and fewer people know how to use the systems.
the plus side; IF someone gets a new monitor they are 'happy' and I'm an effective worker again. go figure.
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