Pet Hates re office etiquette

I think this one is more prevalent in England (I've worked for several UK Co.s) it's along the lines of "halfday then" as some one leaves 17:30 or so. Its when some one turns up later than everyone else (even in a flexitimeenviornment). "its the late Mr. Queenspawn" or this is really hilaroious "Afternoon QP". That may have been mildly amusing in 1952 when it was first used but give it over. I swear I must have herad that stupididy at least 500 times and it doesn't age well.
 
OK - I'm getting into the swing of this thread now ... the Emeror's New Clothes syndrome: a meeting room full of people sitting around nodding at some nugget of information which (a) is BS or (b) they don't even understand. Everybody nods sagely rather than actually challenging or asking some basic questions for fear of looking foolish! Maybe this is a technical/software engineering thing but I'd imagine that it happens in other fields of endeavour too. Probably number one on my list.
 
ClubMan said:
Everybody nods sagely rather than actually challenging or asking some basic questions for fear of looking foolish!
Click to expand...

Or ... To do so might mean that a dreaded committee will be set up with them as chairperson which will be a time-wasting exercise because nothing will be done anyway!

Marion
 
I was thinking more along the lines of somebody talking about the technical aspects of some project or other and everybody agreeing or feigning understanding rather than actually asking questions even if they did not understand.
 
At the end of the day no matter what games people play to look busy or to look more important than they really are, they eventually get found out. They end up becoming a stereotype which nobody takes seriously. These things may work in the short term but not in the long term. If someone can keep a game going for years and years without being found out they should be working for MI5.
 
People who go to a meeting without reading the circulated document first; everyone then has to go through it line by line with them. Even worse is when they point out mistakes and ommissions which are actually covered on the next page. What a waste of time...
 
People being late for meetings annoys me too. It is so prevalent in our company that to turn up on time would make you look foolish!!!
 
Fobs

One company I worked in solved that problem pretty quickly.
A fine system was set in place whereby for every minute you were late you were fined 1 euro. this was then multiplied by the number of people you kept waiting. So if you were meeting three other people and you were five minutes late it cost you €15. Each week the "fine" pot went to a charity. Meetings started on time pretty quickly

C
 
I've given up speaking to the PA on the other line, having a 3 way conversation. It drives me up the walls.
I normally revert to saying that I'm extremely busy and would like to speak to Mr X (and it's always a mr) directly.
Other pet hates include; marketing calls when they pretend to be a business call. PLEASE take us off your database - Kompass has an awful lot to answer for.
And worst of all - clients calling me on speakerphone (1) I can't make out everything your saying (2) I can hear an echo of my speech. That can be solved though by holding the phone 10 inches away from your ear and speaking very quietly - "I'm sorry I can't hear you very well - can you turn off your speakerphone?"
 

This sounds like the US system where a computer system rings multiple numbers in the phone book and when a person answers (as opposed to a fax or no answer at all) the call is routed to a switchboard. You notice a few seconds of silence or even worse, hold music, before the call comes through.

Not pleasant.

Back on topic, my pet hate with office etiquette is colleagues who ring saying "got a minute?" and keep you on the phone for 20 minutes. Longer than 2 mins is a "meeting" and should be booked as such. I hate meaningless meetings but I have those "Got a minute?" phone calls which last ages even more.

I have taken to leaving my desk phone on divert and choosing when/if to ring people back.
 
Hi Monsieur Bond

Amazing! I always put you down as super cool I didn't think anything would faze 007.

Marion
 
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