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greenetree
Supporter
Username: Greenetree
Post Number: 2032
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Friday, February 27, 2004 - 9:47 am: |     |
I have been on a conference call since 8:30 this morning. It is scheduled to go until 11 & we are just getting to agenda point #3. 
I have been listening to one of my colleagues babble about crap for 45 minutes - without taking a breath. The same 3 people out of eight are talking about the crap-babble, so I have to wonder what the other 4 besides me are doing.
So far, I have read the NYT online, checked MOL a couple times, tried to schedule an appointment to get married in SF (they're booked well into April & don't have times available for when we will be there).
If we were meeting face to face, I would entertain myself by pretending to take notes. In reality, I'd pick a fantasy percent raise & calculate how much my take home pay would be & what my new tax status would be. I know it doesn't make sense, but since I work with numbers, it doesn't look weird & no one can tell what I'm actually doing. The key is to jot down snippets of actual meeting points every once in awhile. 
So - a little poll:
What do you do to amuse yourself during excruciating meetings?
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Duncan
Citizen
Username: Duncanrogers
Post Number: 1590
Registered: 12-2001
| | Posted on Friday, February 27, 2004 - 9:51 am: | |
So far, I have read the NYT online, checked MOL a couple times, tried to schedule an appointment to get married in SF (they're booked well into April & don't have times available for when we will be there).
Starting today the Mayor of New Paltz is gonna issue licenses. Head North@!!!!
Alls Well That Ends Well. Playing through March 7. info at http://www.hometown.aol.com/theatr1010/ |
greenetree
Supporter
Username: Greenetree
Post Number: 2034
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Friday, February 27, 2004 - 9:55 am: | |
Duncan- I checked it out already (left that off my list, huh?). He is performing marraige ceremonies, but the town/village clerk will not issue licenses. 
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Ukealalio
Citizen
Username: Ukealalio
Post Number: 488
Registered: 6-2003
| | Posted on Friday, February 27, 2004 - 10:31 am: | |
I look the vacuous babblers right in the eye, nod my head occasionally and sing, "I wish I had a brain" silently.
On conference calls, I leave the phone on mute until I'm asked a direct question and clean out my e-mail. |
ril
Citizen
Username: Ril
Post Number: 193
Registered: 6-2001
| | Posted on Friday, February 27, 2004 - 11:04 am: | |
I heard on the news last night that officials in SF are trying to schedule marriage appts for those traveling from far away. Might be worth a phone call, even if they seem booked. |
clkelley
Citizen
Username: Clkelley
Post Number: 151
Registered: 6-2002
| | Posted on Friday, February 27, 2004 - 12:21 pm: | |
Two threads going on here I think ... 
I DESPISE conference calls. I do Uke's trick - put the phone on mute and hold other meetings with people on my staff, cruise MOL, read the joke e-mails my dad sends me, keep an ear out for my name and then pretend to have "spaced out for a second ... what was the question again?"
Once in a conference call I got about half a dozen e-mails from other participants in the call ... the e-mails were not about the call content ... Another time somebody on the call put us all on HOLD!! and we got to listen to their muzak until the call coordinator figured out who it was and cut them off.
I bring grid paper to face-to-face meetings with me - much easier to doodle on than regular lined paper. I do some pretty nifty quilt block designs. I don't quilt, but someday I'm going to pass these on to my mom for her consideration. Sometimes I design sweaters during meetings. (I DO knit, a lot.) Nobody else can interpret my sketches, and they think they are just a form of my notorious abstract doodles. I had a friend who used to knit during boring meetings, and another friend who used to actually bring a novel - and READ IT!! I am not as brave as these two.
I have a LOOOOONG conference call this afternoon followed by a LOOOOONG face-to-face meeting - AAACK!
Oh right I forgot - it's all about teamwork, right?
p.s. good luck with the wedding arrangements! Let us know so if it all works out so we can pass on congrats! |
bobk
Supporter
Username: Bobk
Post Number: 4808
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Friday, February 27, 2004 - 12:25 pm: | |
New Mexico? |
Tom Reingold
Citizen
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 2242
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Friday, February 27, 2004 - 12:37 pm: | |
Meetings...where minutes are taken and hours are lost!
I have to attend a face-to-face meeting at work every week, so perhaps I shouldn't complain. But it drags on, and I often feel they don't really need me, but I can't be excused. I play games on my Palm during the meeting. Perhaps I look like I'm taking notes, but anyone can notice that I write real notes down on a pad with a pen. If confronted, I would probably say I'm doodling, which takes about the same amount of brainpower as playing minesweeper, which is what I usually play.
Tom Reingold the prissy-pants
There is nothing
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trapper
Citizen
Username: Trapper
Post Number: 44
Registered: 8-2002
| | Posted on Friday, February 27, 2004 - 1:01 pm: | |
Greenetree,
Why not get married in gay-friendly Maplewood? Check with the Mayor's office. |
Spare_o
Citizen
Username: Spare_o
Post Number: 20
Registered: 9-2003
| | Posted on Friday, February 27, 2004 - 1:15 pm: | |
There's always meeting bingo, especially if you and others are on a call and email at the same time.
http://www.lotsofjokes.com/cat_368.htm |
clkelley
Citizen
Username: Clkelley
Post Number: 152
Registered: 6-2002
| | Posted on Friday, February 27, 2004 - 1:18 pm: | |
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Shelby
Citizen
Username: Shelby
Post Number: 4
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Friday, February 27, 2004 - 2:08 pm: | |
http://www.ebaumsworld.com/homer.html
Use this during conference calls if you're anonymous. You'll be doing all the participants a favor. I particularly like "Can you repeat..." |
Cynicalgirl
Citizen
Username: Cynicalgirl
Post Number: 440
Registered: 9-2003
| | Posted on Friday, February 27, 2004 - 3:02 pm: | |
The meeting bingo thing I have definitely done. With conference calls, I tend to open another browser and check the Overstocks on landsend, my recommendations on Netflix and amazon, and sometimes horoscopes... |
greenetree
Supporter
Username: Greenetree
Post Number: 2037
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Friday, February 27, 2004 - 3:27 pm: | |
You guys are a scream. I'd seen meeting Bingo long ago & had forgotten it. No more! It is now bookmarked.
Although, I think I made an error in judgement. For some reason, I was overcome with a 5-second urge to act as if I'd been participating. Before I could stop myself, I volunteered to do something that involves part of the conversation I'd been zoned out on... 
Stay tuned for when I post from the unemplyment line, wishing back the good old conference call days. |
Joan
Citizen
Username: Joancrystal
Post Number: 2513
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Friday, February 27, 2004 - 5:26 pm: | |
During long, boring calls I frequently work on a needlework project I keep at my desk for just such an eventuality. During face to face meetings that don't require my complete attention, I draw elaborate doodles. |
Tom Reingold
Citizen
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 2245
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Friday, February 27, 2004 - 5:27 pm: | |
Did you see that Seinfeld episode where George was assigned to go downtown and work on the project, but he knew neither where downtown nor what the project was? And he was too embarrassed to ask.
Tom Reingold the prissy-pants
There is nothing
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viva
Citizen
Username: Viva
Post Number: 367
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Friday, February 27, 2004 - 5:42 pm: | |
was that before or after working on Pensky files? |
just me fromsouthorange
Citizen
Username: Jmfromsorange
Post Number: 116
Registered: 7-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, February 28, 2004 - 12:29 am: | |
if you're bored during a meeting you can always play that peguin game someone posted a few weeks ago. |
gozerbrown
Citizen
Username: Gozerbrown
Post Number: 364
Registered: 3-2002
| | Posted on Monday, March 1, 2004 - 5:47 pm: | |
I work with some people who tend to go on and on. We don't do conference calls, but we do have an excruciating Monday staff meeting. When people go off on tangents, I just whip out a magazine or my calendar. They're so clueless, they never get it, but at least I'm amused. |
mas
Citizen
Username: Maplemas
Post Number: 80
Registered: 8-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 2, 2004 - 8:33 pm: | |
I always quit jobs that involve long, boring meetings. 
Of play computer "hearts" or "solitaire"--but that's only if they pay really well!
greenetree, I 2nd the motion--see what they tell you at MW town hall. |
greenetree
Supporter
Username: Greenetree
Post Number: 2050
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Friday, March 5, 2004 - 8:55 am: | |
Me again... this is a weekly call. At least it's a bit amusing, because my Dutch colleagues are arguing over something silly. But, we've now spent 15 minutes on the "quick" additional point that was just added.
I have an agenda point to discuss, so I'm half listening. Once I'm done, I think it will be solitaire & New York Times online. Then, I get to go to my boss's weekly lunch meeting. Then I am leaving at 3:15 today. All in all, today was not worth doing hair & make-up.
BTW - I tried Meeting Bingo, but it doesn't work well when half the participants are European. I'll have to come up with an international version. |
mem
Citizen
Username: Mem
Post Number: 2823
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Friday, March 5, 2004 - 1:13 pm: | |
greene,
Count how may times they say, "uhm, how you say...?"
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