Meeting Requests Suck!
Originally posted Monday, October 24, 2005
I hate meeting requests through email. They just seem so rude, especially when there is no option to decline it. This, in my opinion, defeats the phrase “Request”, but what the hell do I know.
-Meeting request from Director-
Staff meeting in my office on Wednesday at 2:00pm. It will be short but attendance is mandatory.
I reluctantly click the accept button, two seconds later three other teachers are hovering like bees over my desk asking what my thoughts were on the meeting.
“How the hell should I know?” I ask
“Well we just assumed since you guys have stayed after a few times drinking beer that maybe he let you in on some info or something.”
“Hey, I use that drinking time as blackmail, not to get info on stupid meeting requests”
They look upon me quizzically as if they don’t believe me.
“Look” I say “I don’t know what the damn meeting is about and I don’t care. Besides I doubt I will be at the meeting anyway.”
“Why do you say that” one of them chirps
“I dunno, but I will figure out something” With that said they scurry away mumbling amongst themselves.
My phone rings, I look at the display and see it is my blind student. With a pleasant voice I pick up the receiver “can I help you?” Normally I wouldn’t answer the phone with such care, but you have to be considerate to the disabled, or so the state has sent me a letter saying so. I ask how his day is going, how the kids are, does his Seeing Eye dog do any tricks and so on. This being nice thing is driving me nuts. Each pleasantry that spews out of my mouth feels like the stomach acid on the back of your throat after vomiting.
“And you thought it was raining because you were standing under a sprinkler the whole time…..HA, HA, HA, HA, no wonder everyone was staring at you…….oh man that was funny…..” That’s it, I’m going to puke “so, what can I do for you today?” I ask
“Well I was wondering if I can change the test date.” He asks
This happens to be a unique situation. Since he is blind, taking a test becomes…..err…..a challenge to say the least. Basically I have to sit in on the test with him to read the questions aloud and help him with colors and anything else he can’t determine on his own. This means I need to schedule at least two hours of my day with him to accomplish this task. See, legally he is blind, however he can make out blurs of objects that are placed directly in front of his eyes, and by directly I mean they need to be touching his pupils, that is unless he puts on his glasses, which have been specially modified for his vision. They consist of a very strong frame with extremely convex 3 inch thick lenses. No, I’m not over-exaggerating, they are three inches think. With the help of these, and him bringing in his 22” LCD monitor and me dictating the entire exam, he shouldn’t have a problem, well unless the state finds out a teacher is sitting in with a student to take a final exam, but he looks like a gambler and the odds are in his favor so what the hell.
“Ok no problem” I say “when would you like to schedule it?”
“Well” he says “what works best for you?”
“How about Wednesday, say...... 2:00pm?”
“That sounds perfect” he says “that will give me enough time to take the test and still catch the bus.”
“Cool, consider it done then”
I hang up the phone and walk up to the front desk where our newly hired secretary is on her second pot of coffee trying to keep up with the overwhelming amount of work she has been assigned in the last week to catch up from the last secretary who quit.
“I need to schedule an exam for a student”
-TAP-, -TAP-, -TAP-
“Ok, when would you like to schedule it?” she asks
“Wednesday at 2:00pm, and I will need at least a half hour in advance before and after the test to set this one up. Also I will need the testing room reserved exclusively for me and the student so I can administer the test with the lights off”
“?”
“Don’t ask” I tell her
I watch her eyes as she brings up the calendar for Wednesday.
“Ok…….that shouldn’t be a…….. Oh wait, I don’t think that will work.” She says
“Why not.” I inquire
“Well that’s the day and time that the director has scheduled the staff meeting”
“Oh is it really” I say in astonishment (yeah like I didn’t know that). “Hmmmmm……well you know what the director says, the student always comes first”
“He does?”
“Of-course, it should have been the first thing he told you when you started here, what is wrong with you?”
She begins to stutter “I….I….well he might have, I just…….I mean I have been so busy….and…..”
“Never mind that, I’ll let it slide this time” I say “So, back to the scheduling please!”
“Yes, done, and done”
“Thank you” I turn and walk back to my desk.
It’s not long before the director comes scurrying out to my desk in a panic.
“So” he says hands pitched on his hips as he so likes to do when he is trying to look important “I see you made it a point to get out of my mandatory staff meeting.”
“What........me?” I say pointing at myself as the innocent bystander.
“Yes, and I see it is to give your blind student a test so there isn’t a damn thing I can do about it.”
“Oh, well my apologies, I mean I thought you said that the students ALWAYS come first.”
“Well…..yeah I did but…”
“Well then I think it only appropriate to stand by your word, especially in this case involving someone who is” I lower my voice to a whisper “handicapped”
“Well fine, you don’t have to stay for the whole thing, but you are going to sit in on the first five minutes, besides, I think you will want to, you’ll probably be the only one happy with the news.”
‘Ok” I say “but if I get any more complaints from the state about treating special people differently, I’m forwarding them onto you.”
He leaves the room and heads back to his office.
2:00PM
My student arrives, cane in hand and I guide him to a chair.
“It will be just a few minutes.” I say “I have some sort of meeting to attend to for about 5 minutes, and then we can get you going on your test.”
“No problem, I will just wait here then.” He tells me
“Good….oh and here is a magazine to keep you occupied while I am gone.” I toss the magazine on his lap and start heading down the hall before realizing I just passed a blind person a magazine that can’t see or read it. Note to self: expect another letter from state about proper etiquette around blind people.
I walk into the office where a small assembly of teachers, admissions people and other staff members has gathered. The director is still in his office with the door closed. An obvious attempt to build up the tension while everyone murmurs about what this could be about. Inside his office I can hear two voices. One is definitely the directors but I can’t seem…..to…..make…..oh…..wait that sounds an awful lot like our new legal teacher we hired for business law. Why would he be having a private meeting with someone who has over 30 years being a lawyer and working in the judicial system? Before I can even answer that the door swings open and out come both of them. The director stands for a moment with a large smile before moving towards the door and ushering anyone within 5 feet away from him and the door. He begins rubbing his hands together in a nervous fashion and teetering back and forth from his toes to the balls of his heals.
“Well I bet you’re all wondering why I called you in here today.” He says
Throughout the crowd you can hear slight “Yeah”, or “no kidding, I have work to do you know”, and “fat ass”, “jerk”……..oh wait those last ones were from me.
“Well don’t worry, this will be very brief.” With that he reaches behind his back and places one hand on the door handle before shouting “I QUIT!!!!!!” With his free hand he flips us all the bird making sure to turn it at everyone as if reading a storybook and showing us all the pictures. He then turns, opens the door and proceeds to walk out of the school, all while still shouting such phrases as “FUCKERS HAHAHAHA”, “EAT MY SHIT ASSHOLES”.
I look around the room, everyone still awe struck, mouths gaping open, the admissions people like little wind up robots stuck up against a wall are lost and don’t know what to do without someone to baby-sit them now.
I begin to laugh hysterically out loud.
“What the hell is so funny?” one of the staff members asks me
Wiping the tears coming out of my eyes from laughing so hard I look up at him and say “because, he told me I would be the only one who would enjoy his announcement and he was right.”
“I don’t think that is very funny, now we have know one to run the school, and who knows how long corporate will take to get someone in here, not to mention one of them will probably be up here to keep things on track which means we have to be on our best behavior, and…….”
“Oh shut up” I tell him “stop you’re damn whining, he wasn’t running the school anyway, besides, we’re free now; I think I will enjoy it. Now if you all don’t mind, I have to go administer a test to a blind student.”
I walk out the door, still laughing quietly to myself, listening to the roars of conversations now coming from the office. “That should keep everyone busy and out of my hair for the rest of the day” I think to myself.
“What’s all the commotion about?” my blind student asks
“Oh, nothing much” I say “but things are about to get real interesting around here.”
Very, very interesting indeed………………
I hate meeting requests through email. They just seem so rude, especially when there is no option to decline it. This, in my opinion, defeats the phrase “Request”, but what the hell do I know.
-Meeting request from Director-
Staff meeting in my office on Wednesday at 2:00pm. It will be short but attendance is mandatory.
I reluctantly click the accept button, two seconds later three other teachers are hovering like bees over my desk asking what my thoughts were on the meeting.
“How the hell should I know?” I ask
“Well we just assumed since you guys have stayed after a few times drinking beer that maybe he let you in on some info or something.”
“Hey, I use that drinking time as blackmail, not to get info on stupid meeting requests”
They look upon me quizzically as if they don’t believe me.
“Look” I say “I don’t know what the damn meeting is about and I don’t care. Besides I doubt I will be at the meeting anyway.”
“Why do you say that” one of them chirps
“I dunno, but I will figure out something” With that said they scurry away mumbling amongst themselves.
My phone rings, I look at the display and see it is my blind student. With a pleasant voice I pick up the receiver “can I help you?” Normally I wouldn’t answer the phone with such care, but you have to be considerate to the disabled, or so the state has sent me a letter saying so. I ask how his day is going, how the kids are, does his Seeing Eye dog do any tricks and so on. This being nice thing is driving me nuts. Each pleasantry that spews out of my mouth feels like the stomach acid on the back of your throat after vomiting.
“And you thought it was raining because you were standing under a sprinkler the whole time…..HA, HA, HA, HA, no wonder everyone was staring at you…….oh man that was funny…..” That’s it, I’m going to puke “so, what can I do for you today?” I ask
“Well I was wondering if I can change the test date.” He asks
This happens to be a unique situation. Since he is blind, taking a test becomes…..err…..a challenge to say the least. Basically I have to sit in on the test with him to read the questions aloud and help him with colors and anything else he can’t determine on his own. This means I need to schedule at least two hours of my day with him to accomplish this task. See, legally he is blind, however he can make out blurs of objects that are placed directly in front of his eyes, and by directly I mean they need to be touching his pupils, that is unless he puts on his glasses, which have been specially modified for his vision. They consist of a very strong frame with extremely convex 3 inch thick lenses. No, I’m not over-exaggerating, they are three inches think. With the help of these, and him bringing in his 22” LCD monitor and me dictating the entire exam, he shouldn’t have a problem, well unless the state finds out a teacher is sitting in with a student to take a final exam, but he looks like a gambler and the odds are in his favor so what the hell.
“Ok no problem” I say “when would you like to schedule it?”
“Well” he says “what works best for you?”
“How about Wednesday, say...... 2:00pm?”
“That sounds perfect” he says “that will give me enough time to take the test and still catch the bus.”
“Cool, consider it done then”
I hang up the phone and walk up to the front desk where our newly hired secretary is on her second pot of coffee trying to keep up with the overwhelming amount of work she has been assigned in the last week to catch up from the last secretary who quit.
“I need to schedule an exam for a student”
-TAP-, -TAP-, -TAP-
“Ok, when would you like to schedule it?” she asks
“Wednesday at 2:00pm, and I will need at least a half hour in advance before and after the test to set this one up. Also I will need the testing room reserved exclusively for me and the student so I can administer the test with the lights off”
“?”
“Don’t ask” I tell her
I watch her eyes as she brings up the calendar for Wednesday.
“Ok…….that shouldn’t be a…….. Oh wait, I don’t think that will work.” She says
“Why not.” I inquire
“Well that’s the day and time that the director has scheduled the staff meeting”
“Oh is it really” I say in astonishment (yeah like I didn’t know that). “Hmmmmm……well you know what the director says, the student always comes first”
“He does?”
“Of-course, it should have been the first thing he told you when you started here, what is wrong with you?”
She begins to stutter “I….I….well he might have, I just…….I mean I have been so busy….and…..”
“Never mind that, I’ll let it slide this time” I say “So, back to the scheduling please!”
“Yes, done, and done”
“Thank you” I turn and walk back to my desk.
It’s not long before the director comes scurrying out to my desk in a panic.
“So” he says hands pitched on his hips as he so likes to do when he is trying to look important “I see you made it a point to get out of my mandatory staff meeting.”
“What........me?” I say pointing at myself as the innocent bystander.
“Yes, and I see it is to give your blind student a test so there isn’t a damn thing I can do about it.”
“Oh, well my apologies, I mean I thought you said that the students ALWAYS come first.”
“Well…..yeah I did but…”
“Well then I think it only appropriate to stand by your word, especially in this case involving someone who is” I lower my voice to a whisper “handicapped”
“Well fine, you don’t have to stay for the whole thing, but you are going to sit in on the first five minutes, besides, I think you will want to, you’ll probably be the only one happy with the news.”
‘Ok” I say “but if I get any more complaints from the state about treating special people differently, I’m forwarding them onto you.”
He leaves the room and heads back to his office.
2:00PM
My student arrives, cane in hand and I guide him to a chair.
“It will be just a few minutes.” I say “I have some sort of meeting to attend to for about 5 minutes, and then we can get you going on your test.”
“No problem, I will just wait here then.” He tells me
“Good….oh and here is a magazine to keep you occupied while I am gone.” I toss the magazine on his lap and start heading down the hall before realizing I just passed a blind person a magazine that can’t see or read it. Note to self: expect another letter from state about proper etiquette around blind people.
I walk into the office where a small assembly of teachers, admissions people and other staff members has gathered. The director is still in his office with the door closed. An obvious attempt to build up the tension while everyone murmurs about what this could be about. Inside his office I can hear two voices. One is definitely the directors but I can’t seem…..to…..make…..oh…..wait that sounds an awful lot like our new legal teacher we hired for business law. Why would he be having a private meeting with someone who has over 30 years being a lawyer and working in the judicial system? Before I can even answer that the door swings open and out come both of them. The director stands for a moment with a large smile before moving towards the door and ushering anyone within 5 feet away from him and the door. He begins rubbing his hands together in a nervous fashion and teetering back and forth from his toes to the balls of his heals.
“Well I bet you’re all wondering why I called you in here today.” He says
Throughout the crowd you can hear slight “Yeah”, or “no kidding, I have work to do you know”, and “fat ass”, “jerk”……..oh wait those last ones were from me.
“Well don’t worry, this will be very brief.” With that he reaches behind his back and places one hand on the door handle before shouting “I QUIT!!!!!!” With his free hand he flips us all the bird making sure to turn it at everyone as if reading a storybook and showing us all the pictures. He then turns, opens the door and proceeds to walk out of the school, all while still shouting such phrases as “FUCKERS HAHAHAHA”, “EAT MY SHIT ASSHOLES”.
I look around the room, everyone still awe struck, mouths gaping open, the admissions people like little wind up robots stuck up against a wall are lost and don’t know what to do without someone to baby-sit them now.
I begin to laugh hysterically out loud.
“What the hell is so funny?” one of the staff members asks me
Wiping the tears coming out of my eyes from laughing so hard I look up at him and say “because, he told me I would be the only one who would enjoy his announcement and he was right.”
“I don’t think that is very funny, now we have know one to run the school, and who knows how long corporate will take to get someone in here, not to mention one of them will probably be up here to keep things on track which means we have to be on our best behavior, and…….”
“Oh shut up” I tell him “stop you’re damn whining, he wasn’t running the school anyway, besides, we’re free now; I think I will enjoy it. Now if you all don’t mind, I have to go administer a test to a blind student.”
I walk out the door, still laughing quietly to myself, listening to the roars of conversations now coming from the office. “That should keep everyone busy and out of my hair for the rest of the day” I think to myself.
“What’s all the commotion about?” my blind student asks
“Oh, nothing much” I say “but things are about to get real interesting around here.”
Very, very interesting indeed………………
posted by Mr. Cheese @ 8:20 PM
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