I think we should have a meeting to discuss this.
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Can we form a committee to evaluate the need for this meeting to prevent a needless waist of time in meetings?
I’ll schedule a meeting to begin organizing the committee.
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Seriously, we have a lot of really wonderful teachers who burn out and leave special education, not because of the kids, but because of all the meetings and paperwork. The bureaucracy expands every year. In the public schools, seeing one child for a couple of hours can generate hours of paperwork. I am not exaggerating. I spent a lot of time talking to the attorney about cases where there was a dispute, going to fair hearings, mediation… Like a rat in a cage. Everyone seems to get a sense that something is very broken… But we all just continue running on the wheel. The answer always seems to involve MORE paperwork and more meetings.
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Unbelievable. Hard to believe it’s come to this, but it has.
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This is a major problem in healthcare as well. I’m working with a couple MD’s right now on a paper related to this topic - how much time is wasted haggling with various hospital administrators and/or insurance companies arguing about whether a patient’s hospital visit was an “Observation” or “Inpatient” stay (which has tremendous financial implications to payer, provider, and patient…but ultimately has little-to-no bearing on the care pathway).
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My recommendation is to go get trained up at a really good company, then go off on your own. You can seldom get ahead working for someone else.
I started as an engineer with a giant drilling company, on and off shore, then moved to a small company (and dragged my customers with me).
my 5 to 10 year plan in a nutshell
It’s why nearly everyone can relate to shows like The Office or Dilbert.
People like @BrickHead, probably had this really idealistic idea that he’d actually spend most of his day helping people. I have several friends who own and operate nursing homes and small rehabilitation hospitals. If grandma falls, there’s going to be a settlement. If grandma spills hot coffee, there’s going to be a settlement. If grandma gets pneumonia, someone’s going to be at fault for not treating it faster, better. Thus all the accompanying paperwork and procedures to try to make sure there’s no risk that you might someday actually die. It’s that fantastic?! I’m hoping that with more of this kind of regulation, I can live forever!!
BUT, any reform on this front seems unlikely until things really fall apart. There are too many people who have a financial interest in seeing everything stay as is, or get MORE complicated. It does make it a lot harder for small businesses to stay afloat without all the consultants, lawyers, and accountants there telling you how to make sure you’re “in compliance” with all the regulations that are constantly being foisted upon us by bureaucrats who show their BUSY by writing more regulations.
Pardon my Libertarian moment. This kind of thing is breaking our country. I’m normally a really happy person, mostly because I’ve found a place where I have a lot of autonomy.
Edited: No offense intended to Jewbacca or Biker. I know we need a few lawyers. I’m just not convinced that this is all making our world a better place.
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I appreciate the thoughts. I have actually given going into business for myself a lot of thought. It’s something I am hoping to do in the next 5-10 years (stop copying me polo!).
My biggest hurdle is selling myself, which is my product. Risk is also a hurdle. My wife may be changing jobs (she’s actually talking about partnering with another CPA to buy a practice) and now with a little one (and likely more to follow) I’m less inclined to jump ship unless I’m reasonably sure I can make it work (I do have a very good job). I wish I had taken the gamble in my early 20s, but my skill set was considerably less refined.
I do need to make a move, though. I’m currently with a company with $3-4B in annual sales, but there’s a ceiling in my department that is pretty low. I was thinking about moving to general accounting, but Jewbacca gave me pause there. I’m not sure what I’m going to do long term.
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The 15 year plan should be to get bought by your old company because you’ve been eating their market share and instead of competing, they buy you to shut you down. Do a decent job for the three year non-compete, then quit, have a place to land for six months while your 1 year tail non-compete runs out, then get it up and running the last six months, taking all your old customers hunting elk and one bear and one jaguar (God bless Native American hunting laws) monthly, finally turning the drill on day 366.
Or so I’ve heard.
I’m a Union Millwright - we build and maintain large machinery, like turbines, generators (to keep the lights on), and at the airport, when you hand the airlines your luggage, and in magically ends up at your destination? we install all the conveyors etc that make that happen. - same with FedEx, UPS and Amazon, in addition to all conveyor at the Post Offices, and even processing and packaging all of your food items, including coffee.
Yes, we provide the magic that make the world a better place to live in.
you are very welcome~
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Live in Alamogordo by chance? Or Ruidoso?
Rui. (Technically, Mescalero). Spend most of my time in Pecos, currently and unfortunately. But that is where the oil is.
Born and raised NM. Howdy brother
Edgy, I always wanted to be a millwright. It always seemed like one of the coolest jobs. I used to work with a bunch of them at a manufacturing plant and I learned a lot from them–they could make anything. We had an industrial grinder and we had a new product that needed to be ground finer than the manufacturer had available, so our architect and engineer created some specs and the fucking millwrights built a new roller for the grinder right fucking inthe shop out of steel and their hands and tools.
And they taught me how to weld and we built a bunch of crazy sculptures out of scrap metal 
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My manager at work has 3-5 meetings (each at least 30min-1hr long) a day that he, along with a great number of high level engineers/managers, have to attend a day.
Guess what that does to their, and folks who need their support/input to do their job, productivity?
Fuck meetings.
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Lol, basically my life… I sit in pointless meetings all of the time. It’s worse for my boss. Later this year we will take the train up to NYC (spending $500-$1,000 easily) for an hour-long meeting where I will say nothing and my boss will talk for 5 minutes. It’s nothing but a dog and pony show. I fucking hate it.
The more I read this thread the more I realize I really need to make a change.
Just remember to start with the man in the mirror, just ask him to change his ways…
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He’s a stubborn pain in the ass, though…