Occupational Hazards

I understand the purpose, in theory, to meetings. However in practice they tend to take a very different avenue. I used to think that meetings were to give information or come to a decision about something, even the occasional collaboration and brainstorming session would happen. But the longer I work the more I see that those logical reasons for people to come together have gone down the toilet pipe. 

Case in point are my almost weekly meetings with someone that I’ve called “Annoying Boy (AB)”. The name alone should explain it all but there are so many reasons why someone is annoying so let me explain why he holds this moniker. 

AB is on the technical side of the business, meaning he does a lot of the coding and fixes to the systems that I use every day at work. AB probably really knows his stuff but he sure as fudge can’t explain it to a lay person or even a non-lay person (like me) with any remote clarity. Whenever we come to a meeting with AB, we go away with 2 of a number of things:

A migraine

The desire to hurt him immensely

Utter and complete general befuddlement

Confusion about what the point of the meeting was in the first place

The doubt that we actually accomplished anything we set out to do in the meeting

It’s definitely a skill because everyone is completely lost when we meet with him. In order to get clarity, we ask questions. But I am certain that clarity is never attained. It seems that the more questions we ask the further down the confusion hole we become. He’s a master of verbal illusion and slight of word. The David Blaine of Data and Business Analysis!

I have mentioned this to my boss, who agrees with me wholeheartedly. Yet, he’s still around. Go figure!

Some people have to pick up boxes or patients and that’s an occupational hazard for their jobs. I, on the other hand, have meetings and AB to deal with on a pretty consistent basis. It all is part of a day’s work!