We had a meeting where about 1/3 of our people were involved. It was held in Chicago. It was announced, before the meeting, that the meeting would end at 12:00 - we were "done," was the communication.

So - how would you take that? By "done" would you think you could go home at 12:00 noon? Or would you think that the meeting was over, but you should go back to your office?

I'll let you respond and then tell you what happened.

Ah well - no response so I'll tell you what happened.

Most of the people went home. I went back to my office because to me "done" meant done with the meeting, not done for the day. A few others stayed in the office as well, but most enjoyed our gorgeous Friday afternoon.

We learned that the original message had meant "done for the day."

I would have asked the head honcho what it meant, but would have asumed, as did you, that the meeting was over at noon, not the work day.

I'd assume as you did

I would have taken whatever course would result in the least amount of energy exerted for the most amount of pay. I can guarantee not one of my many bosses would doubt the veracity of that statement.

The funny part is, not all the big honchos agreed on what was meant - so, Geoff, even asking them wouldn't have helped. The head, head honcho did mean we could go home, though.

The problem was, there were others back in our office who didn't attend the meeting, and they had to stay until 5:00.