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A Not-So-Refreshing Retreat

September 11th, 2013 at 04:20 pm

I was at a retreat all day yesterday so was offline. Came back to a BUNCH of email this morning. Some sad -- the President of the board I'm on is stepping down due to worsening MS. And my DIL's grandmother passed away -- not unexpected, but since she just entered hospice, it seemed quick.

The retreat was one of those typical team-building things. But I tell you, I swear I will never fill out a personality test again. I am always the quiet intellectual introvert, who has high standards and feels a lot of responsibility. I don't think any of that is a bad thing. But the moderator yesterday pretty much called our little group a bunch of anal prigs who don't like people. (Ha, ha) Later in the day, when we were discussing the difference between phone calls and email (and she was definitely pro-phone call) I pointed out that email was useful because it could sometimes document the trail of the conversation. WOW! She practically went into a rant about WHY would I want to document anything, and how I wasn't really meeting the needs of the customer by being so anal as to ask for any clarification or details. YIKES! At break, my boss actually told her that in my position I needed to document requests, and she privately apologized -- but not really. She didn't mean it. I think this woman actually took a disliking to me because of that stupid test.

For the record, I like people very much. I don't like to go to loud parties where no one can be heard -- I don't think that makes me a people-hater. And I do a darn good job for my customers and they would say so, too. That was really so NOT what I needed.

At least it was a day of free food, and a brief respite from work.

Yesterday I had a $5 coupon for beauty products at CVS, so I decided to stock up on some cosmetics. Revlon was having a buy 2 get 1 half off sale that I figured would sweeten the deal. But even with the discounts I spent $33. Whew! That bought an eyeliner pencil, a lipstick, two bottles of nail polish, and brow scissors and brush. (My brows are getting wild as I age!) I don't buy cosmetics very often, and I don't think I'll be buying them again any time soon!

7 Responses to “A Not-So-Refreshing Retreat”

  1. FreebieQueen Says:
    1378913378

    Yikes! I hate those team-building events. I always wonder if the people running the program have any real-world experience. I also find this with books about these types of subjects. I relate with being the quiet intellectual introvert. Smile

  2. North Georgia Gal Says:
    1378913747

    My boss is big into team building and I hate it! I don't like sharing my feelings or being too outspoken so I am uncomfortable at most of our meetings.

  3. Wino Says:
    1378917045

    I'm always the extrovert, friendly, let's just do this without preparation guy. The amazing thing is that in my actual job, there's absolutely no way I can be that guy. If I didn't document and plan and get every detail right, I'd fail miserably.

    I guess those personality things are really for fun, rather than implementation. So, I'd rather kick back and tell stories, but my job requires me to plan, document, and deliver. Maybe I'm "Sybil" reincarnated.

  4. Joan.of.the.Arch Says:
    1378919083

    After sending our personality tests to a psychologist, she met with our work group of about 18 people long enough to say that she needed to resign from the job. There were so many non-compliant styles of answers (answers penciled in that were not in the original multiple choices, asterisked statements about the ambiguities in the questions, clarifications added to bubbled-in answers, questions skipped with notes as to why they were skipped, etc!) that the test became meaningless as to its standard uses.

  5. baselle Says:
    1378927974

    What fun! NOT. I've been there where the moderator, because they are the moderator, is always right. And that's when I form a mask. I listen, I observe, I form a very neutral Mona Lisa esque expression, I shut up and wait for it to stop, and then its "1s" for the evaluation. Smile Kudos for you for engaging.

  6. snafu Says:
    1378950663

    This is supposed to be a facilitator, giving positive feedback. You never build a team by putting someone down. This moderator lacks needed skill sets is a wrong fit for that job. The firm needs to re-evaluate who they send to client team building retreats.

    baselle hit it right out of the park...evaluation should include comment 'Do Not Re-Hire'. At least boss recognizes you need to document requests.

  7. CB in the City Says:
    1378993369

    Yes, the best part of the day was getting that validation from my boss.

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