Nautical Meditation Day

Yesterday was one of those days I absolutely dread.  A leadership retreat where we sit around a table all day, contemplate our navels and culminate in a rousing chorus of Kum Bye Yah.  I should have greater faith in my excellent boss because we held one of these last year and it paid off in much greater cooperation between the union and management.

My View for Eight Hours

It’s just that …they…are…so...painful to sit through.   I guess I’m not a sensitive enough guy but I think it’s more that I just hate sitting in meetings; much less one that lasts eight hours.  We had a very talented moderator who kept the meeting flowing through the usual role playing and break out group discussions.  It was held at a hotel on the UMASS Medical School campus in Worcester which was nice except for its complete lack of coke machines.  I was in serious withdrawal all day for a lack of diet coke.  What kind of civilized location deprives itself of coca cola?  I consider this a criminal act.  To add serious insult to injury there were several plates of cookies and cakes present all day that I could not partake of (not my keto vacation day, damn it!)

The Conference Set-Up

We’re in the middle of a major push to professionalize some of the senior ranks of the union and the union leadership is actually working with us on the effort.  We’ve made progress because just a couple years ago that last statement would have sounded like fantasy to both sides.   

View Out the Window at the UMASS Medical School Campus

The best part of the day was the end (who saw that coming) when we brought in the maintenance foreman to face off against the dispatch office.  There’s a natural hostility between operations and maintenance in the transit industry.  The operators never feel they have enough vehicles and the maintainers blame the operators for breaking the vehicles they painstakingly keep running.  It’s even worse in our organization because of some of the personalities involved.

Had to Walk By These a Couple Dozen Times

Those personalities were allowed full rein during this session and it was fascinating to watch.  It started out with the statement by the moderator, asking the foreman, “You don’t much like these operations guys, do you?”   In typical mechanic-blunt fashion – he got the desired response – “No I think they’re idiots!”.  You could imagine the lively discussion that followed – a true spectator sport.

But This Was Even Tougher

Despite my misgivings going in, it turned out to be an extremely productive day with some hard truths exposed and explored.  I still could have used a diet coke, or two or three. I have to admit the day turned out to be a total, if painful, success. 

We culminated with a dinner at Joey’s Restaurant (which I heartily recommend to anyone looking for outstanding food and service in Worcester) where my boss bought the entire group a round of drinks on his own dime.  I did say he was an excellent boss, didn’t I. 

It was a great ending for the day and as I sat across from the union president and business agent for the entire meal I was struck by how far we’ve come.  I know we’re just one serious disagreement away from falling back into our old patterns but for at least one night we were able to enjoy each others company and realize the other side was not in fact the enemy.

No date night last night as there was no movie released worthy of our attention.  My wife and I made do with a blu ray movie at home that included Rachel Green in her underwear.  A truly fine way to end a kind of fascinating day, not that I’ll ever admit an eight hour meeting was worthwhile.  Wait, I guess I just did.