Just a Little Rant About Disrespectful Coworkers

C

catwoman

Cathlete
My company was just "merged" with another one in a different time zone a few months ago. Our new parent company seems to conveniently "forget" this when it serves their own interests. Friday, someone from the other office scheduled my boss (the VP of Operations for BOTH offices - he's basically 3rd in charge of the entire company) for a meeting at 5:00 our time (that's 4:00 their time).

As the VP's Assistant, I replied to the meeting notice, saying "this meeting is set for 5:00 here, and even though my boss is usually here late, I think he prefers his meetings to be scheduled prior to 5:00 unless he states otherwise." This person, who happens to be an Accounting supervisor (not even close to VP level) then responded to both my boss and me: "I couldn't even find 15 minutes for the majority of the attendees to meet. If he can't meet at the scheduled time, then I'll talk to him earlier in the day."

So, okay. I'm an Executive Assistant and scheduling meetings is pretty much what I do all day every day, so I took the challenge and thought, "I'LL find 15 minutes. I know I can." I opened up the calendar, put in everyone's name, then hit the handy little scheduling tab that Outlook provides for just such a task. Lo and behold! Guess what I found? An entire HOUR where EVERYONE was available. The meeting was for only 15-30 minutes. The calendars were clean for everyone at 1:00 my time (12:00 their time) for a FULL hour. Plenty of time for a 15-30 minute meeting.

I replied to the meeting organizer and said, "1:00 looks open for everyone." I eventually got two replies in response, one of which was addressed to both my boss and me, and one that was only addressed to me. Here's what the one said that was to both of us, paraphrased: "Three people have scheduling conflicts at that time." I thought to myself, was I blind? Their calendars showed no conflicts. Then, she sent this response to only me: "That's noon our time and that's when everyone will be at lunch."

I was speechless. Does our new parent company's office shut down for lunch hour at noon every day? Does that mean that from noon to 1:00, our customers are just SOL, because everyone has to "eat lunch at noon"? What bugs me even more is that this person was basically saying, "My lunch is more important than the Vice President's time." I wonder if this is the respect and attitude they show to the VP and President in THEIR office? Or is it just the VP in our office they feel they can disprespect? I just wanted to pick up the phone and ask, "Can't you move your lunch 30 minutes one way or the other so that the VP can attend this meeting during regular business hours???? Can't you move the meeting to a different day and time he CAN meet????" Also, if people actually do have lunch meetings that pose a conflict at that time (as she claimed to both my boss and me), then those people need to use the schedule appropriately and put the lunch meeting ON THEIR SCHEDULE! If it's not important enought to go on your calendar, then it's not that important.

When I schedule meetings between offices, I NEVER schedule them before 9:00 our time because that would make their people get there before 8:00...and I ALWAYS put the Executives' schedules before ANYONE else's, since their time is harder to book and work around. Everyone in my office understands this and will ALWAYS rearrange their meetings and lunch schedules when it comes to meeting with the VP. Perhaps I should start throwing those 8:00 (our time) meetings on the calendar and see how THEY like it. }(

Thanks for letting me blow off some steam. I was just thinking about this again, because I have a feeling it's going to come up again tomorrow and I'm not sure what I'm going to say.
 
Oh, I did send the info to my boss. I didn't forward the email; I sent him a separate email and said something like, "So-and-so emailed me under separate cover that they can't schedule this meeting at 1:00 because that's their lunch hour. She will try to call you earlier in the day to discuss this topic." This lets him know the scoop while also remaining "informative". My boss and I have a good rapport and I think he will pick up on the REAL message and understand that I am making the effort not to be "catty". He values what he calls my "patient but pushy" demeanor, so that's what I will try to deliver in this situation.
 
Reply to the email copying both her and your boss, indicating that you didn't realize 12:00 is considered standard unavailable time, and you thought that if people had plans at that time, it would be marked in their calendar (which it should be).

Honestly, she sounds like a pain in the *ss. Who in god's name wants to have ANY meeting at the 11th hour on a Friday afternoon?

I would also circle back with your own boss and ask him what he thinks about meetings that late. Since he's so high up in the food chain, he can shut her down pretty quickly just by saying no can do.

I hate people who think they are big shots, ugh.

Good luck!
Marie
 
Marie:

Good suggestion on the reply. I'll keep that in mind for the next time this happens. I'm sure this will come up again, because the people in that office have already tried scheduling meetings for my boss after 5:00 before...I'm sure they'll try it again. Being that this has happened before, my boss has already mentioned to me that we need to find a way to nix these (he hasn't said it quite like that, but during my review last week, we discussed finding ways to gain control over his calendar and all the crazy meetings our other office is throwing at him, including after-hours meetings - he does not like them).
 
I should clarify:

My boss DOES stay late almost every night, but it's to work on what HE wants to work on and get through the tasks he couldn't get through during the day. So, just because he's there (and the other office might know this), it shouldn't be taken for granted that he's available for meetings at that time. After 5:00 is HIS time...unless the President or other VP needs him, of course. But that's it. Accounting supervisors shouldn't be telling the VP to stay late, right?
 
Hmm, if he has said that, I would just mark his calendar unavailable and when they call to make meetings, just say, "I'm sorry, he is unavailable after X PM."
 
I'd love to do that, but I don't want to risk ticking my boss off. On the other hand, He DID tell me to help him gain control over his calendar. Hmmmmm. Perhaps I will try this and if he questions why I did it, I will tell him it's as a direct response to our discussions during my review: He tasked me with finding a solution to his burdensome schedule, so I'm just doing what I've been told and trying out a new tactic.

Good idea. Thanks. I'll see how it works.
 
I second the suggestion to mark your bosses calendar so that he is not available after 5PM your time every day. I was forced to do that for the same reason. Although it didn't prevent all people from trying to schedule time with me after 'normal' business hours it certainly has cut down on the requests.

For that matter, I also send all my calls to voice mail and shut down instant messaging after 5:30-6:00 each day because people these days just expect you to drop everything for them when they call.
 
Frankly I don't see the problem. If your boss is usually there at 5pm and they usually aren't there at 12pm, I don't see the problem with the later schedule. It's going to be a short meeting, so what is a few minutes?

Now that I'm a full time communications engineer, I wish my meetings were later in the day, that is the only time my phone calls and emails slow down. :)

DeeDee
 
Hey, have your boss go to the 5pm meeting this time. Next time he has to schedule a meeting, have it 9 am your time, an hour before the other office has to be at work. Too bad if they all eat breakfast at that time. LOL.
 
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