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Single people celebrate holidays too

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This is really the first year I have noticed this but it's happened a couple times:

When scheduling meetings around the holidays (let's take Thanksgiving for example), people assume that they can schedule right up to the date. My guess is that these people are married and/or have kids at home and/or live near relatives. They may celebrate Thanksgiving at their own homes and then they're ready to get back to work. That's great for them. They obviously don't get the honor of experiencing Christmas spaghetti at my house. The opening of the sauce jar brings a sentimental tear to my eye. OK, I have only done this once but still.

For many single folks, especially ones that are located away from family (we relocate a large number of our new hires so we should be accustomed to this at Microsoft), the holidays will involve getting on a plane. You know, the same is true for small families that make the trek to "grandmas house" over the holidays. I don't know if anyone else experiences travel fatigue like I do but the idea of staying for 2 days, turning around and coming back isn't exactly met with enthusiasm. Plus, I have vacation time to burn at the end of the year.

As much as I understand peoples desire to get stuff done (the focus of some of my favorite people, in fact), I propose that when they are scheduling a meeting during this season (I only mention Thanksgiving and Christmas because those are the late-year holidays I have personal experience with), they not schedule them the week before or the week after the holiday in question. I have to say that I HATE the idea of calling into a meeting while I am on vacation. When I am unplugged, I am unplugged and a meeting can suck me back into work mode like you wouldn't believe...I'm one of those people that totally needs to disconnect to reap any benefits from it. Regularly scheduled meetings that people can miss (team meetings, etc.) are fine because missing them is OK, but unique meetings, please refrain.

I generally think about the time between Thanksgiving and the beginning of the new year as time to get organized and catch up. Also, since candidates are at home, it's a good time to reach those that may be looking for a new career move. That's what I'll be doing when I am not taking vacation time.

I guess I am just saying that the in-towners should remember that some of us aren't going to spend a solitary holiday so we can attend meetings and that the prospect of engaging on those meeting while on vacation is a big buzz kill. Yes, work needs to get done, but this isn't the most efficient time to do meeting-based work. So if it's not time-critical, perhaps the meetings could take place after the beginning of the year. I'm just proposing some awareness, not new rules.

That's all.

Comments

  • Anonymous
    November 06, 2006
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    November 06, 2006
    Bad_Brad, that's exactly why I don't give out my cell phone number. And I phrase my out-of-office message in such a way that people know they should not call me for non-emergencies. I refer to the appropriate reason to call me as a "recruiting emergency"...see if you can figure out what one of those is! I'm not under the mistaken impression that I am so important that I need to be reached at any moment. I generally find that when someone gets an oof message from someone they just e-mailed, their issue suddenly becomes an emergency. I don't set an oof if I am going to be out for one workday or less (yeah, they can all live without me for one day). Anyway, I think that people generally tend to want to be "on-call"; maybe they don't want to miss something or they want to feel important. I'm not one of those people, for the most part. I recall taking my laptop with me on one Thanksgiving holiday. I got over that. Thw work is always still there when you get back. That's one of great things about work...it's very patient and will await your return : )

  • Anonymous
    November 06, 2006
    Amen Sister! I have a big project due in february. I have 1/2 my team out the week of thanksgiving and the week of christmas and new years. All because they saved it up. Dont yell at me when the project doesnt go on time because the resources were sipping mai-tai's in cancun. I always stay around the holidays. Get so much done. Quick commute to work too! :)

  • Anonymous
    November 06, 2006
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    November 07, 2006
    My bad. I miss read it. Time for a new perscription or time to lay off the mai thai's.

  • Anonymous
    November 07, 2006
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  • Anonymous
    November 07, 2006
    Heather, a buddy of mine and I have a saying that seems to come up quite frequently around work: "you're lack of planning does not constitue an emergency on my part." I would venture to say that most of the people you're talking about would fall into that category. Especially if they're expecting a lot of work to get done over the holidays.

  • Anonymous
    November 07, 2006
    Wine-Oh, that's OK...we still love you. : ) I was flashing back to the grinch there for a second! Rosyna-one of my recurring nightmares is having a tooth fall out (people should not bother interpreting...I've already done it. It signified a perceived lack of control and I've pretty much had this dream my whole life). Sounds like that was not a fun Christmas, but some Christmas spaghetti would have been nice and soft ; ) tod-yeah maybe. It's hard to uncover the agenda. Sometimes I think it's just enthusiasm for the proejct and the fact that they don't think it through.

  • Anonymous
    November 07, 2006
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  • Anonymous
    November 07, 2006
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    November 07, 2006
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  • Anonymous
    November 07, 2006
    Sheesh, you can only do what you can do. Is the person that gave you the project aware of this? I'd be going  back to renoegotiate the timeline. I'm all about renegotiating the timeline when needed. : )

  • Anonymous
    November 17, 2006
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    November 18, 2006
    Hey Brian, great to see you back here! I think I'll see if I can get that book on audio. It sounds like I could use it. I just downloaded "The Wisdom of Crowds" which someone recommended to me about a year ago...just getting around to it. I think audiobooks might be the way for a type-A to chip away at the list of business books they have made. Hope you are enjoying Microsoft so far! Thanks for the tip on the book!