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#Post#: 77359--------------------------------------------------
How early is on time?
By: Blue Willow Date: October 10, 2022, 7:47 pm
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My workday did not start well, as I "missed" most of a meeting I
was on time for. In retrospect, maybe I should
be grateful, instead, that I didn't have to sit through the
whole thing--but interested to hear your perspectives on it.
I logged onto a what was supposed to be a short virtual work
meeting today a few minutes ahead of its scheduled start time,
only to find that the other three participants were already on
board and about two-thirds of the way through the entire agenda.
At a pause in the conversation, the meeting host (my boss)
acknowledged/greeted me; and I responded, "You're already
discussing this? Am I late? --looking at clock, answering my
own question: No, I am not late." She then said she'd catch me
up, and proceeded then to recap the meeting.
Although we were all scheduled for the same meeting time, the
other three --perhaps in the "if you're early you're on time,
and if you're on time, you're late" mentality--all jumped on
board early and then...just started the discussion. I felt this
was disrespectful to me--if my attendance is required, then
please wait until the scheduled starting time to start, or start
when I get there (whichever comes first--and if I had been late,
then by all means, begin without me). And, if you can get
two-thirds of the way through the agenda without me, then maybe
my attendance is not really necessary-!?- which is OK by me, but
let me know so I can go on to other work.
I personally despise the "if you're on time, you're late"
mindset -- it reeks of gamesmanship while I prefer "say what you
mean, and mean what you say" direct-style communication where a
meeting for 9 AM starts at 9 AM-- however, it appears I am
required to play this game whether I like it or not. So, here's
the question-- what is considered "early on time"? Out of
curiosity, I checked the meeting log and saw the first coworker
had already been logged in 15 minutes before the actual
scheduled starting time. Is that the standard? Is there a
standard? What has been your experience?
#Post#: 77360--------------------------------------------------
Re: How early is on time?
By: Rho Date: October 10, 2022, 9:07 pm
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How rude of them to start without 25% of those expected to be
there and have input.
#Post#: 77361--------------------------------------------------
Re: How early is on time?
By: pierrotlunaire0 Date: October 10, 2022, 9:09 pm
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Speaking as someone who is ALWAYS early, I would have signed on
early, but asked that we wait for the actual scheduled start
time if there were anyone not yet present at the early time, or
attempted to contact the missing person. I might have said with
a self-deprecating laugh, "Oh, I am always early, but I don't
want to hold anyone to my neurotic standards."
#Post#: 77362--------------------------------------------------
Re: How early is on time?
By: NFPwife Date: October 10, 2022, 9:10 pm
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My role was remote with travel prior to covid, then 100% remote.
For virtual meetings "on time" was no more than 5 minutes early.
(Before video conferencing, logging onto an audio line early
could be very disruptive to an in process meet8ng.) Many people
book back to back and arriving to a virtual meeting 2-3 minutes
after the scheduled start was also "on time."
Your colleagues should have engaged in chit chat and not started
the agenda until five minutes after the start time.
#Post#: 77363--------------------------------------------------
Re: How early is on time?
By: shadowfox79 Date: October 11, 2022, 1:17 am
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I attend a lot of meetings, online and in person, and while I
always get in early I've never known a meeting to start early
unless everyone was already there.
I would consider it extremely rude to start without somebody
when they're not late. Why invite them at all if you can hold
the meeting without them?
#Post#: 77364--------------------------------------------------
Re: How early is on time?
By: Aleko Date: October 11, 2022, 1:35 am
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BW, if your boss and colleagues felt 100% able to discuss and
take decisions without you, and as you say you’d just as soon
not waste your time at that kind of meeting, by all means ask
your boss whether your attendance is required at all, and if so
why?
#Post#: 77365--------------------------------------------------
Re: How early is on time?
By: DaDancingPsych Date: October 11, 2022, 6:44 am
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I vote they were rude. I'm always early. For virtual meetings, I
have settled on logging in only five minutes early. Most of the
programs give some sort of notice to the meeting leader and I
would not want them to feel pressured to log-on before its time.
Although, I typically set-up 15 minutes early (checking my
computer settings, putting together necessary notes, getting my
beverage ready, ect.) Either way, the meeting should not start
until the agreed time or when everyone has logged in.
I do think that they should have waited for you. However, if
they really felt the need to start, they should have at least
messaged you. I still would not have been impressed, but at
least there should have been an attempt to alert you. And I
agree, this might be a sign that maybe you were not needed.
Depending on the specifics, I *might* use this as ammunition to
skip future meetings. Either way, they were rude to ignore the
agreed timing.
#Post#: 77367--------------------------------------------------
Re: How early is on time?
By: TootsNYC Date: October 11, 2022, 8:06 am
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I have been known to miss a meeting because I set my alarm too
early, decided to do something in the tervening time, and then
got swept up.
So now I set my alarm for 10 minutes before, and then I go to
the bathroom and then to the meeting. Now that it's Zoom, I log
in with camera and microphone off, but sound on. That way, if
I'm checking a last-minute email, I can hear everyone else
arrive or start talking.
that might be what that one colleague did, who logged in 15
minutes early. And it might explain why that person was antsy to
get going on the topic.
but it was rude.
There are certain people who also arrive early, and we make
chitchat until other people get there. I consider this part of
"department building." In fact, if we get a lot of people
signing in and the boss is running late, I ask people if they've
seen a good movie, or some other conversation starter.
#Post#: 77368--------------------------------------------------
Re: How early is on time?
By: Bada Date: October 11, 2022, 8:09 am
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I work part time, mostly when the kids are asleep, for a job
that has normal hours for everyone else. I join the monthly
conference call, but everyone knows I've also got my eyes on my
kids. We used to use a phone only conference call line. I'd
always call in 10 or 15 minutes early because then if my kids
needed me right before the call started I was already logged in
and not having to rush to dial while also making a PBJ. I liked
listening to the hold music and knowing I had things under
control. If someone else joined we'd usually chit chat for a
minute, then wait in silence for everyone else to join.
Thanks to Covid, we upgraded to video conference calls. For
some reason Teams doesn't let me log on until the exact start
time of the meeting. I really hate it because if things don't
connect right the first time or if I get distracted by a kid
with 2 minutes to go, I'm probably going to end up late. No one
is mad when people are late (so I'mnot in trouble, just
flustered) , but the meeting usually winds up starting 5 minutes
late due to last minute nonsense like that.
Our admin texts anyone who doesn't call in after a couple of
minutes and we try not to start until they've joined, or we talk
about other projects they're not on until they do join.
#Post#: 77370--------------------------------------------------
Re: How early is on time?
By: honeybee42 Date: October 11, 2022, 8:11 am
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If we're talking a virtual meeting (Zoom, Teams, etc), the
meeting should start at the scheduled time, even if some people
do join earlier. It's not uncommon for there to be multiple
meetings (which, admittedly, many could have just been an email)
or a phone call that needed to be done that meant that one isn't
able to join any earlier than that scheduled time. So starting
early is rude (if they wanted to chit chat for the extra
minutes, fine, but starting the actual agenda is rude).
I'd agree with others in this thread that I'd be seeing in a
discussion with boss if your attendance really is required or
not.
I know back in in-office days, they would sometimes start
meetings (on time) even if someone was caught on a phone call
and couldn't get to the meeting. Since there was this (IMO,
extremely rude) custom of applauding a person who came in late,
if I was unable to make the meeting on time because I was on a
phone call, I would skip the meeting entirely and then catch up
with someone who had been there to find out if I'd missed
anything important. (Though again, my experience is that about
90% of all meetings could just be an email.)
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