Meetings over the lunch hour, taboo?

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dbCooperAir
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Meetings over the lunch hour, taboo?

Post by dbCooperAir »

Start Rant:

I'm seeing a shift here with one of our clients, I hope the trend does not continue but I'm afraid its going to become more common just like people thinking I want to talk business when I'm on vacation.

It used be a long time ago in a different reality you strove not to call people/have meetings over the lunch hour. This past 2-3 months we have been getting request from our client for 12:30PM, 12:00PM, 11:30AM meetings, etc. you get the idea. The meeting place can be 15min or an hour from our office and the same for the other 4-5 companies that have to get together to work out an issue. As most meetings they could be done with a 10 minute conversation on the phone but they want to meet for a hour and a half, that's fine I have been working with most of these people for a good 25 years so its nice to have some face time. Its the young guys calling these meeting and not us old 45+ people :wink:

But really do we have to meet over the lunch hour, used to be if you called a meeting anywhere around the lunch hour (they weren't very common in the day) you were on the hook for buying lunch at least, not so much today I guess.

I'm half thinking about picking the smelliest stinky lunch I can come up with next time to eat by myself at the meeting. Maybe ask if I can warm it up the microwave :twisted:

Maybe I'm just getting old crotchety and need to learn to keep up with the new hip young folks. I look forward to a little mid day retreat.

End Rant.
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cheese_breath
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Re: Meetings over the lunch hour, taboo?

Post by cheese_breath »

would you like to keep this client?
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livesoft
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Re: Meetings over the lunch hour, taboo?

Post by livesoft »

In my experience the site host for the meeting pays for the lunch which is brought in-house. It is likely that the young folks would normally have to buy their own lunches or bring, so that by having a meeting over lunch, they get a free lunch. If they are not buying a nice lunch for you, then that sucks.

Anyways, I thought you had a knapsack of cash to spend anyways, so why don't you buy lunch instead?
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Re: Meetings over the lunch hour, taboo?

Post by FelixTheCat »

You can retrain the client. Simply tell them your available hours.

I used to work with people that did not check calendars for group meetings. They simply thought their request was the world. I simply rejected any conflicting meeting requests. When they asked why I wasn't attending their meeting, I simply asked them to check my available times on my calendar and reschedule. It took a few months but they figured out how to schedule a meeting for everyone involved.
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ResearchMed
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Re: Meetings over the lunch hour, taboo?

Post by ResearchMed »

livesoft wrote: ...Anyways, I thought you had a knapsack of cash to spend anyways, so why don't you buy lunch instead?
And if that money was invested all these decades, well, add some fine wine, too. :D
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rjbraun
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Re: Meetings over the lunch hour, taboo?

Post by rjbraun »

dbCooperAir wrote:Start Rant:

I'm seeing a shift here with one of our clients, I hope the trend does not continue but I'm afraid its going to become more common just like people thinking I want to talk business when I'm on vacation.
I can definitely sympathize with you, but especially given that we're talking about a client, that usually implies to me that they call the shots. And if you find that the client is more trouble than they are worth, you can simply drop them.

As for providing lunch for lunchtime meetings, I would think that the service provider would usually be expected to provide the lunch. In this case, if you're going to the client's office, I suppose you could either suggest meeting at a nearby food establishment or have food brought in. If the client orders and provides the food, just be prepared to foot the bill, one way or another :greedy
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Re: Meetings over the lunch hour, taboo?

Post by dbCooperAir »

cheese_breath wrote:would you like to keep this client?
Sure, just like all our other clients, but that's not the question :wink: I could tell them to pound sand but I'm willing to bet a year form now we will have two more clients wanting the same.
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Re: Meetings over the lunch hour, taboo?

Post by bungalow10 »

Suggest another meeting time. Tell them you are already booked if they ask why.
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Re: Meetings over the lunch hour, taboo?

Post by dbCooperAir »

rjbraun wrote:[As for providing lunch for lunchtime meetings, I would think that the service provider would usually be expected to provide the lunch. In this case, if you're going to the client's office, I suppose you could either suggest meeting at a nearby food establishment or have food brought in. If the client orders and provides the food, just be prepared to foot the bill, one way or another :greedy
This could be fun in this past case. The person asking for the meeting was our client, but the meeting was for our clients client. We then had 2 others companies with their clients working for their client. In the end we are all working together to produce one item for the one top client. Its all fun games that's for sure.
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Re: Meetings over the lunch hour, taboo?

Post by dbCooperAir »

I should add this is in a fairly small field, everybody knows everybody. You think you may have a secret but its not so. Most of our clients are long time 30+ year old companies.
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Gropes & Ray
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Re: Meetings over the lunch hour, taboo?

Post by Gropes & Ray »

I love lunch meetings. They help me bill time that otherwise is unbilled, and I can get a free lunch out of it. I wish I had a lunch meeting every day.
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Re: Meetings over the lunch hour, taboo?

Post by cfs »

Hated those.

No longer in the workforce, but I hated those mandatory lunch meetings. And the ones that I really hated were those meetings in which the cheapo members in the group used their calculator to figure out how much they owed of the bill--and most of the time I paid the whole bill and called it a day.
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Re: Meetings over the lunch hour, taboo?

Post by spectec »

A few years back I began to see a trend among architects to invite vendors to come in to do "Lunch and Learn" presentations at their office. That means the vendor does the training and provides/pays for the lunch, in exchange for getting their ear for an hour or less. They pick your brain for ideas, then put the project out on the street with a generic spec so everybody with a computer can submit a bid. If you're lucky, sometimes they actually remember you, and your product gets to be the basis of design. But any competitor with half a brain can break the spec and get their inferior product substituted during the "value engineering" phase. (Value Engineering basically means "we have a budget to meet - can anybody make it any cheaper?")

So you might want to appreciate the fact that you're having lunch meetings with existing, paying clients - it could be a lot more problematic.
Last edited by spectec on Mon Sep 15, 2014 7:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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RobInCT
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Re: Meetings over the lunch hour, taboo?

Post by RobInCT »

I'm a younger professional (30something), and we have meetings--both in house and external--at or around lunch all the time. Lunch is generally not provided unless we are hosting and it involves a client. A meeting at 12:30 just means lunch needs to be eaten before or deferred until after. I didn't even know that there used to be a "rule" that this was considered impolite.

I've never considered being annoyed or complaining about it because it just seemed to me to be the natural outgrowth of the culture of constant availability that also has made it mandatory for me to check email every night and on the weekends and during vacations, too. I haven't seen a point in complaining--it's been made abundantly clear that if any of us objects to this culture, we're replaceable by people who do not. Meanwhile, we all make about the same or less (in real terms) than our peers did two decades ago before mobile devices made us effectively "on call" 24/7/365.

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Re: Meetings over the lunch hour, taboo?

Post by tim1999 »

Where I work, it is an unwritten part of the culture that if a meeting is scheduled during lunch, even if it's an internal meeting, you can have lunch brought in on the company's dime. There are a couple of cheapskates who probably haven't started a meeting at a time other than noon in probably 10 years. That being said, I enjoy the free lunches. I personally never schedule a meeting during lunch. I also never schedule one that would run past 5pm, which is our traditional office closing time, even though most people work past that anyway.
Last edited by tim1999 on Mon Sep 15, 2014 8:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Hypersion
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Re: Meetings over the lunch hour, taboo?

Post by Hypersion »

Lunch is for wimps!
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Re: Meetings over the lunch hour, taboo?

Post by ClevrChico »

I would have lunch with a client if it all possible, then take 30 - 60 minutes off after the meeting to do the lunch-time errands.
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Re: Meetings over the lunch hour, taboo?

Post by 123 »

In California, as well as in some other states as well, labor laws require a lunch break. A lunch break is non-compensable time. If an employee wants to push the matter they could bring an action through their state labor board to be compensated for the work time as well as fines for the employer for failing to provide the required respite from duties. All employees have to do is keep a diary of these sorts of meetings, who was there etc.

There is latitude about these required breaks but if there are meetings back-to-back and lunch meetings are suddenly scheduled there might be now way an employee could enjoy the required respite. Sure employees may not raise the issue if they like a free lunch but it can be a ticking time bomb if a employee chooses to pursue it, particularly after they have moved on to another job, and don't mind a little carnage in the rear-view mirror.

That said there are many employees who absolutely need and deserve such respites. Think anyone who may have medical issues of any kind either observable (think pregnancy) or more frequently unobservable.

Since you really don't have everyone's attention during lunch meetings why even bother? The biggest food is the one who is doing the talking.
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Re: Meetings over the lunch hour, taboo?

Post by poker27 »

I dont do many onsite meetings, but often have video conferencing or phone based emails around 'lunch time'. I think the big question is what the heck is lunch time? Some people take lunch at 11am, others at 1pm. Does that mean you shouldnt schedule meetings for 3 hours during the day?

Personally I could care less, my job is to keep customers happy and try to meet their schedules. Now if they are just being jerks about it or unreasonable I might say something so it doesnt get out of hand.
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Re: Meetings over the lunch hour, taboo?

Post by dbCooperAir »

RobInCT wrote:I've never considered being annoyed or complaining about it because it just seemed to me to be the natural outgrowth of the culture of constant availability that also has made it mandatory for me to check email every night and on the weekends and during vacations, too. I haven't seen a point in complaining--it's been made abundantly clear that if any of us objects to this culture, we're replaceable by people who do not. Meanwhile, we all make about the same or less (in real terms) than our peers did two decades ago before mobile devices made us effectively "on call" 24/7/365.

Welcome to the 21st century economy.
I do feel sorry for those who never had the time to experience the joy of not having to think about or be on call for work 24/7/365, and I sincerely mean that. I'm not disagreeing with what you wrote, its the new norm far as I can see, this is the new 21st century economy. I think at some point however that people will come to there senses and want some time to truly think for themselves and reflect.

Drives me nuts when we go out for a fun get together and in the middle of dinner someone has to check the email, work is calling etc. I can understand if you have kids and you have an issue at home, completely expectable if you have to take a call for that.

If we sit towards the back in church I see families with mom or dad checking email and texting, I guess this is the new 21st century as well. I could be making the wrong assumption and they are having a conversation with a higher power, so I forgive and move on :annoyed

Sorry I went of the rails of the subject at hand.

End my second rant.
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Re: Meetings over the lunch hour, taboo?

Post by dbCooperAir »

poker27 wrote:I dont do many onsite meetings, but often have video conferencing or phone based emails around 'lunch time'. I think the big question is what the heck is lunch time? Some people take lunch at 11am, others at 1pm. Does that mean you shouldnt schedule meetings for 3 hours during the day?
In the not so distance past 12:00-1:00 was the lunch hour, 25 years ago if the phone rang between 12:00-1:00 the phone did not get answered. We work mostly in the USA and would be sure we did not call at 12:00-1:00 in the other persons time zone.

You remind me of a issue I had a year or so ago, someone called around 12:00, I talk with them for about 45min, after the call get in my car and take some time. In the mean time after 1:00 I get a voice mail giving me grief that I'm taking a 2 hour lunch, this person was pulling my leg, old long time client.
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Re: Meetings over the lunch hour, taboo?

Post by bungalow10 »

poker27 wrote:I dont do many onsite meetings, but often have video conferencing or phone based emails around 'lunch time'. I think the big question is what the heck is lunch time? Some people take lunch at 11am, others at 1pm. Does that mean you shouldnt schedule meetings for 3 hours during the day?
We have clients, vendors, and coworkers in all US time zones, with the exception of Alaska. My noon is my Hawaiian coworker's 8am.
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Re: Meetings over the lunch hour, taboo?

Post by Mike Scott »

I'm not in the corporate business world but I think the last time I took a "lunch break" was in the late 1980s. But then obviously I can spend a few minutes on the internet or whatever off and on during the day.
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Re: Meetings over the lunch hour, taboo?

Post by SmileyFace »

Maybe it depends upon the industry - I've been doing lunch meetings for 20 years.....
Some times it is the only time the customer can find time in their schedule to meet - and I'll take it!
For internal company calls when I'm in the office and everyone is remote - it annoys me only when I have so many back-to-back calls lined up I have to have someone else pick me up a sandwich so I don't miss lunch.....

Maybe I'm just to dedicated but my mantra is that "My time is the weekend.....the week belongs to my company." Granted if I need an evening for a child event or what-not I'll block my calendar off and not allow anything to obstruct - but I've always found being religious about NOT working weekends and being flexible about working when necessary during the week seems the best lifestyle/work balance for me.
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Re: Meetings over the lunch hour, taboo?

Post by leonard »

I prefer to work through lunch anyway and leave an hour earlier.

Another strategy - eat your personal lunch at 11 or 11:30p. People in the office will get used to that and not interrupt you as much in the 11 am hour. Then, they go to lunch at noon - leaving that period relatively uninterrupted. I found this a good strategy to get more uninterrupted time to get work done in the office.
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Re: Meetings over the lunch hour, taboo?

Post by hornet96 »

Unfortunately, this kind of mentality seems to have taken hold of nearly all professional workplace settings. What I've noticed is that if a more senior (i.e., older) member of the company needs to schedule a meeting over the lunch hour, they usually arrange to have food brought in, as they realize it is an inconvenience to the other attendees. However, folks at lower levels who are trying to constantly impress others will schedule meetings without consideration of anyone else's time but their own. This includes the lunch hour, 6PM on Fridays, Saturday afternoons, Wednesday evenings at 10PM... you name it.

Some of this can be driven by different time zone requirements (i.e., having a needed tele-presence discussion with your counterparts in Asia), but often times it is a product of a lack of respect of other people's time. This continuous encroachment on our personal time is an infection caused by the 21st century economy, driven by smart phones and the expectation that you need to squeeze every last ounce of productivity out of every waking (and non-waking?) hour as possible.

What is ironic, though, is that I believe productivity is actually suffering, as so many people can't seem to unglue themselves from their electronic devices long enough to have meaningful and intelligent conversations while they are present in the very lunch meetings they themselves scheduled. :annoyed
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Re: Meetings over the lunch hour, taboo?

Post by investor1 »

Propose a new time and say you have a conflict.
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Re: Meetings over the lunch hour, taboo?

Post by jlawrence01 »

hornet96 wrote:Unfortunately, this kind of mentality seems to have taken hold of nearly all professional workplace settings. What I've noticed is that if a more senior (i.e., older) member of the company needs to schedule a meeting over the lunch hour, they usually arrange to have food brought in, as they realize it is an inconvenience to the other attendees. However, folks at lower levels who are trying to constantly impress others will schedule meetings without consideration of anyone else's time but their own. This includes the lunch hour, 6PM on Fridays, Saturday afternoons, Wednesday evenings at 10PM... you name it.

What is ironic, though, is that I believe productivity is actually suffering, as so many people can't seem to unglue themselves from their electronic devices long enough to have meaningful and intelligent conversations while they are present in the very lunch meetings they themselves scheduled. :annoyed

I worked with a manager who continuously schedules meetings at 6:30 am knowing that other departments did not start until 8 am. That stopped abruptly when I started scheduling meetings at 7 pm.

I don't like lunch meetings. If you schedule them, at least have the decency to provide lunch or ask people to bring their lunch.
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Re: Meetings over the lunch hour, taboo?

Post by Ron »

I still remember the times when I had to get up at 1:30 am in order to get to work by 3 am to attend a video conference with Euro-land - their time being 9 am (I was employed by a Euro company, with a Euro boss but based in the US).

That was the least of my schedule impacts. When I wasn't in conference with Euro-land, I was there on-site - once a month. I would lose two weekends a month. Going over, I would leave for the airport around noon on Saturday, fly overnight, and get to my hotel sometime Sunday afternoon, and grab some zzz's and get ready for work first thing Monday morning. On the trip back I would leave on Friday after work, get a late flight back and arrive home in the early hours Saturday morning. Since I could never (and still can't) sleep on a plane, that second weekend would be used to get myself "in sync" for the time zone. Luckily, I would be good to go by Sunday morning. I've always had a problem flying east but none at all going west. I've heard that it's the opposite for most folks.

The worst was in my early years with the company and working in the computer center, before I moved on to another area in IT. While I normally worked day shift, I would cover midnight shift every 2nd weekend for some OT pay. The only thing is that I also was expected to cover midnight shift during the week if the third shift manager was out for some reason. Often I would work day shift, go to class at night (college), and then get a call at 11 pm to go to work because of an emergency. I've had many a 24+ hour day and could have been a cast member on some zombie movie.

All I can say is that I'm glad I'm finished with all that BS. While in today's world, you can do a lot of work remotely (you don't have to be on site), it also looks like you have to be available 7x24 - even if there isn't a specific need.

A major reason why I retired early (maybe not that early, but earlier than my cohorts) :beer

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Re: Meetings over the lunch hour, taboo?

Post by dbCooperAir »

hornet96 wrote:Unfortunately, this kind of mentality seems to have taken hold of nearly all professional workplace settings. What I've noticed is that if a more senior (i.e., older) member of the company needs to schedule a meeting over the lunch hour, they usually arrange to have food brought in, as they realize it is an inconvenience to the other attendees. However, folks at lower levels who are trying to constantly impress others will schedule meetings without consideration of anyone else's time but their own. This includes the lunch hour, 6PM on Fridays, Saturday afternoons, Wednesday evenings at 10PM... you name it.

Some of this can be driven by different time zone requirements (i.e., having a needed tele-presence discussion with your counterparts in Asia), but often times it is a product of a lack of respect of other people's time. This continuous encroachment on our personal time is an infection caused by the 21st century economy, driven by smart phones and the expectation that you need to squeeze every last ounce of productivity out of every waking (and non-waking?) hour as possible.

What is ironic, though, is that I believe productivity is actually suffering, as so many people can't seem to unglue themselves from their electronic devices long enough to have meaningful and intelligent conversations while they are present in the very lunch meetings they themselves scheduled. :annoyed
Very well put, I could not agree more.

To me the classy thing to do is to schedule an 11:00 meeting, have lunch brought in at 12:00 and talk about fishing, that's how I do it anyway.
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tyrion
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Re: Meetings over the lunch hour, taboo?

Post by tyrion »

You know what's more annoying then someone scheduling a lunch meeting? Them scheduling a lunch meeting (in this case a teleconference) then not showing up!
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Re: Meetings over the lunch hour, taboo?

Post by munemaker »

In our manufacturing business, we are delighted anytime we can meet with a client. We don't care if it is before or after normal work hours, or if it is over lunch. Without clients, we would not exist.

Occasionally when people's schedules are very congested, someone will schedule an internal meeting over lunch due to availability of people. I have never heard anyone complain. We just eat before or after the meeting, or sometimes order food in, eat during the meeting and charge it to the company.

Today's business environment is very competitive in all areas. A good job is a very valuable thing to have. Making yourself available when needed is part of being professional and successful.

That's how I see it.
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Re: Meetings over the lunch hour, taboo?

Post by aude »

I agree that schedule a noon in-person meeting of 90 minutes with no lunch provided is inconsiderate. Still, if you are providing a professional service, and you know what to expect, I'd eat before and roll with it. Maybe the disconnect is the term "lunch hour." Who in professional services takes an hour for lunch if not seeing a client? Very few, I think. I'd rather get home earlier than enjoy an hour for lunch.
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Re: Meetings over the lunch hour, taboo?

Post by TimeRunner »

I had a teleconf meeting last week, and one of the attendees was breathing very heavily the few times he talked. Finally he mentioned that and said that he (breath) was (breath) on a treadmill (breath), working out! :twisted:
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Re: Meetings over the lunch hour, taboo?

Post by skylar »

I have 12P-1P blocked out every day on my calendar for "Lunch". People are free to schedule meetings over the top of it, and I consider myself free not to go. If it's important enough, I will go, but will politely excuse myself once I can't contribute anything more.
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Re: Meetings over the lunch hour, taboo?

Post by Mudpuppy »

Like skylar, I also have lunch marked on my calendar. I've found I've had a lot fewer requests for lunch meetings since I've blocked out that time. I've also had more invites for social lunches with co-workers since doing that, particularly from folks in other groups who might have some useful connections for my group in the future. Too bad most of the people in my group are the "eat at the desk and continue working" sort who can't even be coaxed to bring their sack lunch down to the picnic tables in the building courtyard. It really builds the team to get out of the office and just chat sometimes.
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Re: Meetings over the lunch hour, taboo?

Post by yakers »

The only unwritten rule I can remember now (retired 6 years) was no lights out powerpoint presentations after lunch :wink:
It may work for younger folk but was automatic nap inducing for the elders. If the boss or someone important had a lunch time presentation then I would skip eating entirely, keep that lean & hungry energy.
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Re: Meetings over the lunch hour, taboo?

Post by wilpat »

The customer may not "always be right", but the customer is "always the customer"!
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Re: Meetings over the lunch hour, taboo?

Post by Bustoff »

Why can't you simply tell them you have a conflict that day but would be happy to meet with them after 5pm.
Then see how urgent they feel about a meeting when it's on their time.
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Re: Meetings over the lunch hour, taboo?

Post by placeholder »

Bustoff wrote:Why can't you simply tell them you have a conflict that day but would be happy to meet with them after 5pm.
Then see how urgent they feel about a meeting when it's on their time.
You could have even more free time when the customer dumps you.
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Re: Meetings over the lunch hour, taboo?

Post by Bustoff »

placeholder wrote:
Bustoff wrote:Why can't you simply tell them you have a conflict that day but would be happy to meet with them after 5pm.
Then see how urgent they feel about a meeting when it's on their time.
You could have even more free time when the customer dumps you.
During an entire career I never experienced, or even heard from others, of a customer dumping a supplier due to a scheduling conflict. Some require more hand-holding than others, but those are usually the smallest and least profitable customers.
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Kosmo
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Re: Meetings over the lunch hour, taboo?

Post by Kosmo »

I am 0% in favor of lunch meetings. I do not schedule meetings that overlap any portion of 11-1. I only attend meetings in this time frame if it allows sufficient time for me too eat. My company will not spring for food at lunch time meeting... so my love of eating and disdain of meetings makes it an easy decision to not attend.
RobInCT
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Re: Meetings over the lunch hour, taboo?

Post by RobInCT »

munemaker wrote:In our manufacturing business, we are delighted anytime we can meet with a client. We don't care if it is before or after normal work hours, or if it is over lunch. Without clients, we would not exist.

Occasionally when people's schedules are very congested, someone will schedule an internal meeting over lunch due to availability of people. I have never heard anyone complain. We just eat before or after the meeting, or sometimes order food in, eat during the meeting and charge it to the company.

Today's business environment is very competitive in all areas. A good job is a very valuable thing to have. Making yourself available when needed is part of being professional and successful.

That's how I see it.
Yes, this appears to be exactly the mentality of clients and business owners. Unfortunately, I don't appear to be getting paid any more for being "available when needed" (i.e. during vacations, after hours, on weekends) than people were back in the days before such availability was required. I wish that my "professional and successful" bosses (whose profits have gone way, way up during this time period--likely at least partly due to gains they enjoy as a result of my universal, instant availability--haven't thought to compensate me for all the extra hours I now work.

And yes, a good job is a very valuable thing to have. Believe me, I am constantly reminded that if I would like to eat lunch, take a vacation, go to a movie, etc., that there is someone else willing to "compete" for my job.
spectec
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Re: Meetings over the lunch hour, taboo?

Post by spectec »

Bustoff wrote:
placeholder wrote:
Bustoff wrote:Why can't you simply tell them you have a conflict that day but would be happy to meet with them after 5pm.
Then see how urgent they feel about a meeting when it's on their time.
You could have even more free time when the customer dumps you.
During an entire career I never experienced, or even heard from others, of a customer dumping a supplier due to a scheduling conflict. Some require more hand-holding than others, but those are usually the smallest and least profitable customers.
It's been my experience that customers rarely offer to tell the real reasons for dumping their suppliers. And most suppliers don't really dig for the real answers - it's usually just too painful a process. Or else the people closest to knowing the reasons tend to cover up what they learn. Speaking truth to power is risky, and admitting mistakes can be a career-limiting move.
Don't gamble; take all your savings and buy some good stock and hold it till it goes up, then sell it. If it don't go up, don't buy it. - Will Rogers
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munemaker
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Re: Meetings over the lunch hour, taboo?

Post by munemaker »

Kosmo wrote:I am 0% in favor of lunch meetings. I do not schedule meetings that overlap any portion of 11-1. I only attend meetings in this time frame if it allows sufficient time for me too eat. My company will not spring for food at lunch time meeting... so my love of eating and disdain of meetings makes it an easy decision to not attend.
Your management considers attendance at meetings as optional?
placeholder
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Re: Meetings over the lunch hour, taboo?

Post by placeholder »

Bustoff wrote:During an entire career I never experienced, or even heard from others, of a customer dumping a supplier due to a scheduling conflict.
Yeah but you're not talking about a scheduling conflict you're teaching them a lesson by rescheduling outside of their normal working hours not a legitimate rescheduling at a convenient time for both parties.
skylar
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Re: Meetings over the lunch hour, taboo?

Post by skylar »

munemaker wrote:
Kosmo wrote:I am 0% in favor of lunch meetings. I do not schedule meetings that overlap any portion of 11-1. I only attend meetings in this time frame if it allows sufficient time for me too eat. My company will not spring for food at lunch time meeting... so my love of eating and disdain of meetings makes it an easy decision to not attend.
Your management considers attendance at meetings as optional?
Mine does. Unless my boss tells me explicitly my presence is required, or it's obvious that my presence would be required (i.e. a meeting involving my area of expertise), I can feel free to skip any meeting, regardless of whether it's scheduled over lunch.
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