Missing Persons, Missing Meetings
Here are some lessons in being professional. This is a story of someone didn’t come home.
That was the word regarding an employee from our shop. He left in the late morning on Friday, feeling sick. Around 6pm his girlfriend/fiance had not heard from him and no one knew his whereabouts. Missing person.
I don’t know what to say. People can surprise you. They will work hard for little money, some times for free, they can be completely reliable, then do something strange like disappear for ten hours!
Well the person I am talking about is young and dumb, like we all where at one time. I remember in my younger years just quitting a job by walking out after lunch. No word to the boss, nothing. I just left. Well, I learned that’s not quite the way to do things. But on occasion don’t we all feel like that? That we are pinned and we just want to run away? No nice words, no bye-bye sweetie pie. Just gone. I don’t know, I hope the fellow is safe and not in a hospital somewhere unidentified. I’ll say a little prayer for him.
The missing person story is quite timely. I recently, as in yesterday, had five people accept an invitation to training. Four of them never gave me any notice that they would not come. That is nothing. Gone, no word at all. Just missing. It upset me quite a bit that they didn’t have the time to let me know they wouldn’t show. But why should I get upset? What lesson did learn about people?
Well what can we learn? I don’t know. What can we expect of people? We all have issues and time management problems with all of our responsibilities. But is being busy an excuse? Accepting a meeting invite then not attending, well it doesn’t help my time management. I spent time preparing the meeting, and it ends up NO ONE shows up. My time was lost. Time that could have been spent doing something else. Great, that really helps me out.
So the lesson is, don’t accept invitations unless you plan to go. Just don’t. Some of us are responsible that way. Just say “tentative”. Or hey, call the guy and tell him you can’t make it! One of the people did just that. I do not EVER get upset that someone DIDN’T accept a meeting. Be happy you know he can’t make it! Life is too short, just be happy and Smile. 
My summary is that missing a meeting, well it is not all that professional. No one is responsible for you or your debts, except you. Accepting a meeting and not giving any word to why, well I suppose it happens. But is it a sign of a disorganized culture, a group of people and tasks that is unbalanced, overloaded? People who just don’t have the time to communicate? I think it is, and it’s not a good sign.
And one interesting bit on how our “electronic society” is evolving. The missing person had the new Lo-Jack on his car that allowed him to keep track of his car, at any point in time he could pull up his cars whereabouts over the web. Was that a tool for him, or just another leash that made him feel trapped, something that deducted from his feeling of freedom that we all have? Who did he allow to watch his “whereabouts”? Is that lo-jack still operating now? It’s a mystery.
I’m going to step off my high-horse and get back to reality. Time is passing. I have things to do!
I write about how great technology is. I also write about how technology is sometimes at odds with humans. I enjoy writing fiction and helping authors (at times!)
I am also a pop culture and political author.
