If there’s any question as to whether your presence is required, compare your own goals to the meeting’s reason and decide whether the benefit of attending is greater than the benefit of doing something else. To make this decision, ask yourself two questions: “What’s in it for me?” and “What bad thing would happen if I pass on it?”
If the answer is close to “nothing” and “nothing,” find a reason not to attend.
Know Why the Meeting Was Called
People call business meetings for seven reasons, so plan accordingly:
- To get you to decide something. (Probably useful to you.)
- To hone their own ideas. (Maybe useful to you.)
- To convey information. (Probably not useful; ask for a document instead)
- To test out a presentation. (Probably not useful unless it’s your boss.)
- To accomplish group writing. (Never useful to anybody.)
- To prove their own importance. (Never useful to anybody.)
- To fulfill a process step. (Never useful to anybody.)
Eat Mor Chikin
I like Chick-fil-A. I like that they put people with a mastery of English at the drive-thru, and I especially like that, unlike every other fast food outlet, they never ask me if I’d like to try the latest menu item.
Carl’s Jr. is the worst offender in this area. They seem to constantly have new items on both the breakfast menu and the regular menu so no matter what hour of the day I show up, they have something to force feed me.
“You have a huge picture of that item right here on the menu. It’s not like I’m unaware of its existence. Why can’t you just let me order what I want to order and stop badgering me?”
It’s rude. They don’t do it face to face because they know it’s rude. They don’t “would you like to try” you if you get out of your car and go in to the restaurant, but in the anonymity of the drive-thru it’s okay to badger me and waste my time.
I Am Disenfranchising Myself
I was looking over my vote-by-mail ballot for the California election . . . there’s not one person on there I would trust to represent my interests above their own. It’s like voting on which gang of thieves will be allowed to break into my home and rob me.
In previous elections, I’ve usually voted for all the Republican candidates because I dislike 99 percent of Democratic programs, whereas I only dislike 95 percent of Republican programs. Not much of a choice.
This year, I ripped up the ballot and threw it in the trash.
More People I’m Sick Unto Death Of
People who attribute the cause of their own actions to
- vague impersonal forces
- their condition, diagnosis, personal or psychological history
- the actions of others
- gender roles, social roles or age roles
- uncontrollable impulses
Self-Importance
If you lose one sense, your other senses are enhanced. That's why people with no sense of humour have an increased sense of self- importance
— Volker Weber (@vowe) April 14, 2014
(Willis) Tower of Terror
Cracks appear on Willis Tower’s 103rd-story ledge — TODAY
Been there, done that, took a picture:
It was boring. You know what would make it more exciting? If they put up a sign that said ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK and three to five times a year the glass cracked and people plunged to their death.
Is that too much? OK, switch it to one plunge every three to five years.
Oceanside, CA
Forget mistakes, forget failures, forget everything, except what you’re going to do now and do it. Today is your lucky day. — Will Durant
Estados Unidos de Converso
People I Thought Were Dead
- Chuck Barris – TV host, “The Gong Show”
- Fidel Castro – Cuban dictator
- Richard Chamberlain – actor, “Dr. Kildare”
- Jules Feiffer – cartoonist, “The New Yorker”
- Rhonda Fleming – actress
- Pete Fountain – clarinetist
- Zsa Zsa Gabor – actress
- Dick Gregory – comedian
- Lee Iacocca – automobile manufacturer
- Dean Jones – actor
- Graham Kerr – The Galloping Gourmet
- Imelda Marcos – Philippine first lady
- “Little Richard” Penniman – rock ‘n’ roll pioneer
- Neil Simon – playwright, “The Odd Couple”
- Larry Storch – actor, “F-Troop”
- Rip Taylor – comedian
- Mel Tillis – country singer/songwriter
- Grant Tinker – TV executive, NBC
- Y. A. Tittle – Hall of Fame football player
- Claus von Bulow – acquitted attempted murder defendant
- Gene Wilder – actor, “Young Frankenstein”
- Chuck Yeager – test pilot
Updates
- Chuck Barris – died 3/27/2017, age 87
- Fidel Castro – died 11/25/2016, age 90
- Richard Chamberlain – died 3/29/2025, age 90
- Jules Feiffer – died 1/17/2024, age 95
- Rhonda Fleming – died 10/14/2020, age 97
- Pete Fountain – died 8/6/2016, age 86
- Zsa Zsa Gabor – died 12/18/2016, age 99
- Dick Gregory – died 8/19/2017, age 84
- Dean Jones – died 9/2/2015, age 84
- Lee Iacocca – died 7/2/2019, age 94
- I.M. Pei – died 5/16/2019, age 102
- “Little Richard” Penniman, died 5/9/20, age 87
- Larry Storch, died 7/8/2022, age 99
- Rip Taylor, died 10/6/19, age 88
- Mel Tillis – died 11/19/2017, age 85
- Grant Tinker – died 11/29/2016, age 90
- Y. A. Tittle – died 10/9/2017, age 90
- Claus von Bulow – died 5/25/2019, age 92
- Gene Wilder – died 8/29/2016, age 83
Sitting quietly, doing nothing, spring comes, and the grass grows by itself. — Zen Proverb
If There’s One Thing I Can’t Tolerate, It’s Intolerance
NEW YORK (AP) — A&E has declined to comment on new video of “Duck Dynasty” star Phil Robertson reviving past anti-gay remarks.
His comments are included in a sermon delivered at his church in West Monroe, Louisiana, on Easter Sunday. Robertson includes homosexuals with other groups such as thieves and adulterers as hell-bound sinners.
Oooh, new anti-gay remarks. I’m trying to get appropriately offended about this but I can’t do it:
- As previously noted the last time he said the same thing, he’s not ad-libbing those remarks, he’s quoting a bible verse:
Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God? Be not deceived: Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor the effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the Kingdom of God.
He’s giving a sermon in a church and quoting scripture. If scriptural quotations offend you, stay out of churches. That’s pretty simple.
- There are a lot more adulterers than homosexuals. Why aren’t people offended by anti-adulterer remarks?
- “Going to hell” is not a real thing that happens to people. It’s a fairy tale. Calm down.
- There’s an old joke: “If there’s one thing I can’t tolerate, it’s intolerance.” If you see yourself as a fan of tolerance, diversity, “live and let live,” etc., apply it to everyone, not just people who think exactly like you.
More People I’m Sick Unto Death Of
Anyone who “speaks out,” “opens up,” “breaks their silence” or “sounds off.”
Aren’t They More or Less the Same Thing?
Via The Nation:
The $100 Tank of Gas
Good Causes
The Good Causes of the Left may generally be compared to NASCAR; they offer the diversion of watching things go excitingly around in a circle, getting nowhere.
Aside
There are no solutions, there are only tradeoffs.
A Spectacularly Bad Job of Rigging the System
If you nevertheless believe that the capitalists have been busily rigging the system in their own interest, you’ve got to admit they’ve done a spectacularly bad job of it. How else to explain the quintuple taxation of capital income, where you can invest a dollar that was taxed the day you earned it, then pay corporate income taxes, dividend taxes, capital gains taxes and inheritance taxes on the income it throws off? Surely any concern that the rich are calling the policy shots should melt away in the face of actual policy.
Now We Can All Feel Good About Ourselves
Sheryl [Sandburg] wrote the homage or essay or ass-kissing-memo or whatever we are calling the Time 100 writings, about Beyonce. Sheryl talks about how Beyonce has changed the music industry. She’s a leader in song and dance and performance. But there’s exactly nothing surprising until Sheryl adds, “Beyonce does all this while being a full-time mother.”
In that little sentence, Sandberg does something very big. Sandberg declares that you can have a full-time job and be a full-time mother.
This is convenient. Because now Sandberg is a full-time mom who spends some days away from the kids signing autographs. And running Facebook. And Beyonce is a full-time mom who spends some days away from her daughter on billion-dollar concert tours. So basically anyone who gave birth is a full-time mom regardless of how much of their time is spent on kids. Now we can all feel good about ourselves regardless of our choices.