“We’re living in a society, we’re supposed to act in a civilized way!” when he spoke these words, George Costanza was speaking for all of us. This goes for how we behave with our friends in our social circles, while on dates, and even how we’re supposed to act during meetings at work.
Work, and thus life, would be a much easier and enjoyable time if we all were to come together and simply act in a civilized way. By doing this, we can improve our quality of life, and get out of meetings much sooner and with less stress. That’s right. Often times, horrible meetings aren’t even our bosses fault, although they may take the heavy load of the blame. Sometimes, it is us, the employee, who causes chaos during a meeting or extends it on accident because we didn’t know the unspoken rules. That must come to an end.
We all know the type. There’s “that guy” in every office, all across the country. It’s in every field, every industry, every company, and very likely happens at least once in every meeting you attend. How can it be stopped? First, we must identify the problem at its core. From there, we can call these people out and attack the problem head on. Or, we can be super passive aggressive about it and just subtly roll our eyes. The choice is yours.
I have identified the five worst people in every work meeting. I have worked with all of these people. Unfortunately, you probably have to. Hopefully together we can rid these types of people from our work meetings. One day…one day…
1. The Person Who Talks Just To Sound Important
Listen, you don’t need to affirm every single thing the boss says with a verbal “uh huh, yes.” A simple nod of the head does the trick here. Secondly, the boss already said literally everything you just said. You are bringing absolutely nothing to the table. Everyone can see that, right?
2. The Person Who Asks Questions That Have Nothing To Do With The Meeting
???
C’mon now. There are other people in this meeting. Now is not the time to address your pending vacation request. It’s not the time to ask about a separate project that you’re working on individually. If it doesn’t have anything to do with the entire group just save it. Grab the boss after the meeting. Send an email. Do whatever you need to do, just don’t take up the rest of our time. We’ve got much better things to do than sit in this meeting. Even if we don’t…anything is better than sitting in this meeting.
3. The Person Who Extends The Meeting
via Canva
Know your social cues. Like when you’re on the phone and the other person says that famous, “alright…” the phone call is coming to an end. It’s over, time to move on. Just like in meetings, you have to be able to recognize when the meeting is coming to an end, or when it has potential to reach the end. If it may be coming to an end, don’t do anything to extend the meeting. If the boss asks if there are any questions or anything else you want to go over the answer is a simple, “no.” If you do have something to go over, maybe save it for later. Talk to your boss about it on your own after. Think about the group. There’s no I in team.
4. The Person Who's Late
via Canva
Look, it’s 2023. Google calendars exist. Outlook calendars are a thing. Even your iPhone has its own calendar. They all are capable of reminding you of what you have going on. Today, there’s no excuse for being late to the meeting. If you’re going to be late, I’d say don’t even show up. None of us want to be there. If we have to watch part of the presentation twice there shall be beef developing between us, my friend. Sitting through a boring meeting once is bad enough.
5. The Person Who's Bad At Technology
If it’s a meeting via Zoom, everyone absolutely needs to know how to Unmute themselves by now. They certainly need to know how to mute themselves. If you’re going to not know how to do it, then please let it be the silent option. If the meeting is in person, you best know how to use that HDMI cord. Computers need to be charged and let’s make sure everything is up and running before the meeting starts, that way everyone is good to go and we can all get this meeting over with as quickly as possible.
via Canva
