Long Meeting

I’ve been in a meeting all day today. But, to be fair it was a special one. It was a meeting full of VP’s, Directors and me, currently a humble ‘low’ level instructional designer. The eight people present included the lady from ‘Those that can’t do, Manage. (from here onward referred to as Idaho)

All morning I listened to get a feel for why I was there, by lunch time I knew why I was there, supposedly it was to give advice and suggestions on how to write and deliver training. However, the Director of Training was also there and seemed to get an awful lot of credit for things he said that seemed to me to simply be versions of what I said twenty minutes earlier, only reworded from the Buzz Word Bingo sheet.

Anyway…at lunch I was standing in the queue for free lunch, when the plate containing hot food was uncovered. The guy directly behind me (who turns out to be the director of something important) says ‘Oh, hot stuff’.

Forgetting where I was and having lost the will to live, I immediately fired ‘Why, thank you very much!’

The room went silent.

Before the target of my comment started laughing one of the heartiness laughs I have heard in a very long time, followed rapidly with the rest of the room.

The downside of this, Idaho, spent the rest of the day sending daggers my way when I spoke. I resisted the urge to tell her what I was truly feeling, and resolve to return for part two of the meeting tomorrow with the silent knowledge I made an impression on people much more important than her. (You’ve gotta have something!)

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