Mandatory surprises

[msmemory_archive]

My employers have no sense of timing.

At 12:45 we got a memo announcing some staff resignations, which I already knew about because I have good spies.

At 1:10 we got a memo calling us all to a surprise mandatory meeting. Now if I didn't know about the reason for the meeting, I would be drawing some very fatalistic conclusions.

They meant the meeting to be a surprise but I know about it (refreshments will be paid for by petty cash), C knows about it (went to store for same), G knows about it (sent the memo), J and GL know about it (did the A/V setup). Presumably somebody in Buildings knows about it (chair setup). Some surprise. I think maybe 25% of the company hadn't heard before lunchtime.

Comments

[chained2u2.livejournal.com]

Amusing. It's the same at our place.
dj

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

So what's the alternative, here (he asks as an honest question, rather than the flame it seems to be)? Have a secret cadre of managers pay for soda out of their pocket, and then get reimbursed, or should they have a "smokescreen" excuse for the meeting?

Or is the whole idea of a secret surprise meeting dumb?

I've never been to a surprise meeting that was really a surprise; sometimes the content blindsided me, but that was only because I was poo-pooing the theories of more experienced co-workers. I've come to accept that the gradual spread of knowledge, followed by the official pronouncement, is actually helpful; it lets people get over their "What!? No way!" outside the meeting, and then get The Facts in the meeting. It seems similar to the "leak - deny - press conference" pattern of recent administrations.