Coffee break- don’t have teleconference meetings in coffee shops
So I’m sitting in the comfy chair in Starbucks, happily working on my HP 2710p Tablet PC in slate mode. Just taking care of business as I often do, albeit under the care of decaf. Silting at the big table about 4 feet from me are 5 executives who work for a large company I won’t name here, although it’s clear from the conversation which company they represent. What they have probably forgotten but what is abundantly clear to me is even though they are sitting in the coffee shop they are in fact representing their company. The loud exuberant conversation is easily followed by me and everyone else in the Starbucks so they do in fact represent their company. They are talking about some pretty significant happenings in their company, happenings that I’ll bet the powers that be don’t want to share with the likes of me. Especially since I am sitting here writing busily on my Tablet PC and while I wouldn’t do so I could be taking down everything I hear and putting it directly to the web. Hell, truth be told I could be recording the entire conversation on my Tablet and they’d be no more the wiser.
To make matters worse they have a teleconference call with their boss using one of the women’s Treos in speakerphone mode for the call. A 15 minute discussion about their dealings with Microsoft takes place and some interesting things are discussed, mostly by the manager on the other end of the call. This is something that I personally would never consider doing, having a public teleconference in a setting like this. I can’t believe that no one at this table expressed any misgivings about doing this and the boss on the phone didn’t ask where they were. It had to be obvious from the background noise that they were in public so the discussion that ensued should never have taken place. I know that Microsoft would be very ticked off if they knew this. And no, I have no intention spilling what I heard even though it was in public. I have no desire to get anyone fired for being stupid. They are still here BTW, discussing the ramifications of the information shared with them on the call. Sheesh.
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Wow, this sounds terrible. It never ceases to amaze me how poor etiquette a lot of (presumably educated) people exhibit frequently. I see this all the time…
>>>I have no desire to get anyone fired for being stupid.
Why the hell not?! Those eejits are the kind who have been my bosses! I’d rat them out in frikkin minute! Hell, I would have videoed them and then emailed it to Microsoft!
FAIL!
Did you once say that HP had an office close to you James (sorry if it seems a bit creepy to remember things like that – it just came to me)?
Anyway, forget about the privacy aspect. I’d be damn annoyed if I went into a coffee shop to relax and the table next to me was full of people on a conference call.
Wow, that’s amazing. Yesterday when I got to my favorite coffee shop there was a man wandering around the shop while talking on his cell phone, and he continued for at least an hour and a half. I thought that was bad, but your experience takes the cake.
Wow, pretty scary.
Were these young folks so jazzed on being able to “work” from a coffee shop (and look really cool and be able to brag to their friends) that they lost all sense?
In the age of Facebook like startups, even people who work for regular companies seem to want to share in the “glamour” of those types of companies.
I fear what you’ve described is going to become very common in the future. As we’ve expanded the workplace AND as managers expect instant contact with employees due to today’s technology, we’ll see this trend continue. Scary to think that we’re never “off-duty” any more, just because we can be reached by cell or internet…unless we just say NO!
I fear what you’ve described is going to become very common in the future. As we’ve expanded the workplace AND as managers expect instant contact with employees due to today’s technology, we’ll see this trend continue. Scary to think that we’re never “off-duty” any more, just because we can be reached by cell or internet…unless we just say NO!
Jake, I’m not gonna say. Interestingly, most of these 5 people were not young and should have known better.
If you don’t quietly bring this to someone’s attention at the company they work for, they will never correct their behavior. Stupidity tends to accrete, Lord knows what their next mistake will be !!!
So, James, having seen the lameness of that company’s executives, did you get online and buy some of their stock to short? ROTF…