ALMOST TOO LATE

I power-walked to work this morning. You know that feeling where you're pacing so quickly that it feels like your shins are about to snap off? That was it - pounding the streets and checking my watch at every feasible interval.

I was racing to get to a meeting. It seems I still have some work to do on that whole super-punctuality thing - I've not quite nailed it just yet. Anyway, this morning (still a bit tired from Jurassic World actually) I was power-walking, to make it to work on-time.

I arrived, sweating. As the second hand ticked over the 12, I poked my head around the door of the meeting room.

The meeting room was empty.

Five minutes later, with a cup of chamomile tea, my notebook and a propelling pencil, I went back in to find one person chatting away to his laptop. It had started then - but what I'd failed to realise is that most people had Skyped in and were joining the meeting remotely.

I could have Skyped in! The person chatting looked up at me, annoyed. I just smiled and shut the door behind me.

A short while later, I realised that all the meeting participants were Skyping in... but not in their pyjamas from home...  from the actual office, just metres away, where they were sitting at their desks with their headsets on! Now I'm all for technology, but that's ridiculous isn't it?

-

I've decided not to answer emails after 9pm. This is another guardrail in the battle against stress and frustration. In fact, it might even be better if I don't even check my emails after 9pm but in the world where all your devices poke you the moment anything happens, that might be a bit unrealistic.

I wanted to, last night. I wanted to type out a stern response to something that was sent to me, but I quickly realised that my attitude was affecting every key-stroke. As I held down the delete key, I shook my head dolefully and thought about the chain-reaction of hurt I could have caused.

It's not the Way of the Cool, thumping out irascible responses late at night. You can be wiser than that. Plus, it flat-out failed the THINK test and that's always a red flag.

Also, it's pretty odd to be OK typing something to someone that you would never dream of saying to their face. Keyboard warriors, like road-ragers, are trapped inside their own quiet bubble where the insularity of their perfect world makes them immune to everything outside of the window. The most dangerous places are often the most comfortable.

Maybe that's why I don't like Skype meetings?