My new job has several buildings. This is all well and good, but it takes a while to learn the various layouts. So I had set up a meeting in an offsite location and I had never previously been to the meeting room in question. All well and good, I could manage this, or so I thought.
Oh, I failed to mention that several of the folks in the meeting I have never previously met. So there we have it, two wild cards. The unknown room and the unmet participants. Why not leave just enough time to arrive at the meeting just a minute or two before it starts? Good thinking, new guy.
Even though I was cutting it close, I did find a sign directing me to the meeting room. I was well on my way to okay.
Taking a hard right, I saw a previously unmet coworker standing outside a closed door. Using my underdeveloped skills of reason, I glanced at the closed door and sure enough the room number matched my destination. Aces.
Barreling ahead, I burst into the room and proceeded to start rearranging the furniture. Taking charge. Way to go, slugger.
As I moved tables here and there, I began briefly chatting with the other meeting attendee, who had soon followed me into the room. At this point, she said, “I had not entered the room, because of the sign on the door, but you just went right in.” Sign? What sign? Sure enough, a sign was hanging on the door that read, “Meeting in Progress” and then named the highly important meeting that I would not have wanted to barge in on. Thankfully, a false alarm caused by a sign that had not been removed upon completion of the highly important meeting. Yep, unknowingly I had almost burst in on a meeting. A highly important don’t-wanna-barge-in-on type of meeting. Sort of a “Hey, I’m here! Let’s get this party started!” kind of move. Sigh of relief.
Later, as the meeting progressed (the meeting I had actually planned on attending in the first place), I began to reflect upon my little adventure and what it said about me as a person. Either it meant that I was acting in a moment of über self-confidence or ultra obliviousness. Ugh, nothing like living life on that slippery slope. Meeting adjourned.