Anyone who arranges such a meeting even if it is in the same building as your office deserves a punching. 4pm on a Friday is naffing off to the pub time. Honestly, I'm usually out of the office at 3 on a Friday.

Is there no way you can Skype into the meeting?!

Or just rearrange it? You will have plenty of allies if you propose this.

I would have thought this level of anti-southern choppiness would be beneath our joyful northern cousins.

“Chippiness”

I would say make a weekend of it, but not sure I'd want to spend a weekend in Manchester.

Can't you just say you have another meeting/ call booked for then?

People don't tend to question this.

You had me inside at ‘Manchester’.  The time is largely irrelevant, Manchester is enough alone to make them swim in the lake of fire.

Onside, onside ! Bloody iPhone.

accept the meeting, then the morning of the day say that you have an urgent, last-minute meeting that came up, NOT during the time of the afternoon meeting, but for a time when you would otherwise be in transit, so you'll have to join the afternoon meeting via Skype instead.

Then Skype in wearing your pyjamas from your kitchen

It really isn't shit to not go in person to a two hour meeting that's 200 miles away from where you normally work. 

I mean if it's a massive client thing then sure, but if it's an internal meeting any company actually expecting you to be there must have a pretty awful culture. 

People need to accept that skyping in is the way of the future and how meetings and collaboration should be done. Also better for the environment. At my place I actually have to justify why I'm not just dialing in whenever I go anywhere.

That depends on the internal seniority of those present.  I’ve had to travel pretty far for an internal meeting before, hardy going to try to skype in for a chat with the managing partner and the CEO.

Erm...

This counts as a "massive client thing"... no Dusty, I can't Skype in.  I can't rearrange.  It's about perception in this case as much as content.  It's a relationship thing.

Diablo the trouble is that in this day and age some tede will announce they checked your calendar and then you have to look disorganised saying you forgot to put the other meeting in your calendar.

What dusty said about Skype 

we even accept procurement pitches by Skype FFS (and yes they did succeed)

Agree that some stuff , like mediations need handshakes but most meetings these days really really don’t need bodies in a room

Sails - I assume we are talking about someone external. Are they able to check your calendar?

I assumed were talking about internal people.

Asti....

You know, NOT what Dusty said about Skype.

If we could do it by Skype we would.

This thread was a whinge.  It didn't need the peanut gallery doing rof's "you should do this" without any context. IF THERE WAS AN APPROPRIATE OTHER METHOD WE'D BE DOING IT.

We have to meet, it's just the timing that sucks.

FFS man-up and stop moaning like a big girl's blouse.

You're lucky you've got a well-paid job to whinge about .

I have been forced to reread “Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus” if I wish to keep having a girlfriend and from that I deduce that when a woman vents she does so simply to express her feelings.  She is not looking for “Mr Fix-it” to pay a visit and give suggestions she is not interested in.

Seems no-one has heard of Skype and video-link. Certainly not in Cornwall, it seems. Maybe they summoned the correspondent on a Friday afternoon deliberately just to prove they can do so, or that they are sociopathic w**kers and like pissing people off.

Get your revenge in a similar way, or summon them to a meeting which involves a 200-mile trip, and once they've arrived, flushed, then say it's been put back to a later time in the day, or to another office in another city ('Didn't you get the message?'), or Monday at 9 a.m. 

We do most meeting by Skype.  This one had a relationship importance.... I did wonder they they wanted a meeting on a Friday afternoon in Manchester.... until they let slip they were all going to a "do" in central Manchester in the evening.

As it turned out the meeting went well, but I had a khunt of a journey, parked miles from the station, left my laptop at Watford (it was retrieved) and got soaked twice.

I also realised this is going to be a long road with this client...

I find it very funny that tecco has ALREADY read MRFM.  

Chapter 14, Excommunication...

Mate, I’m into chapter two of “Grow up!” And I am seriously considering whether having a fit young bird is worth it.

Also, and I’m not being funny here, but how the fook did me cleaning her kitchen manage to degenerate into a massage character assassination?

Apparently I’m arrogant, entitled, stumbling drunkenly from one opportunity to the next, never realising how lucky I am, childish, I mean her list went on for quite some time.  Those were the ones that annoyed me most because... no one on the planet just stumbles into opportunities, drunk or otherwise.  These things occur due, usually, to prior work.

rant rant rant etc.

"massage character assassination"

You broke out the molton brown didn't you?

lol typo. ‘Massive’.  Thank iPhone autocorrect for continuing with the legend.

Amusingly one of the words she used I didn’t understand and thought may have been complimentary. Proper mall rats style with “callow”.