To think it’s ridiculous having meetings at this time of night?

[Sexnotgender]

I want to watch the bake off with my husband and he’s at a stupid meeting!

First world problems I know but it’s nearly ten o bloody clock.

Evening meetings are hard for people who will struggle with childcare, but the solution is (as with many other problems) affordable, accessible 24-hour childcare, subsidized by the government.

Gosh - you can tell how few people on this thread support local charities, parish councils, fete committees etc. I'm on 2 such groups - we meet maybe every 2-3 months, starting at 7.30 or so and regularly don't finish until 10pm. It's not all about work!

t’s my own fault though, I probably should have put lighthearted in the OP.

Well, that's how I read it! I could imagine you saying "It's ridiculous having a meeting at this time of night, Bake off is on! I want my Husband next to me watching it with me!

My sister is head verger at a cathedral, it is not unusual for her to be in meetings at that time of night so while I do think it is an unreasonable time of night for a meeting it is not unheard of IME.

Me and my husband often watch TV separately, I like soaps and GBBO for instance, he likes football and geeky programmes about railway journeys and the War.

I have calls at that time due to time differences. To God must be one massive time difference! I'd say you're getting away with it lightly

I would love my husband to have 10 o clock meetings. I’d binge watch Poldark and maybe a nice John Hughes 80’s film. All the stuff I’m not allowed to watch (he’s not allowed to watch salvage hunter or anything similar while I’m in the room)

I assume whoever chairs or manages the meeting is not very good, or not very technologically up to date.

The majority of out of hours meetings and many in normal work time can be done by phone.

It’s definitely standard for a church to have meetings from 7.30 - 10pm but not usually on a very regular basis. Committee meetings, Trustee meetings etc etc are similar and held outside of daytime working hours. I’ve got (unpaid) commitments that mean I am out of the house from 7.30pm - 10pm 3 times a week. It’s not that unusual. I often think 7pm - 9 or 9.30pm would make life a bit easier. It’s annoying just getting home in time to go to bed then wake up the next day early for work.

Loving some of these responses about how 10pm is 'far too late for a work meeting', and how HR should definitely be contacted to complain.

What about the poor fuckers who are only just starting work at 10pm?

What about those of us whose clients are on the other side of the world and need meetings scheduled during their working hours?

MN is as hilarious as ever.

LTB. Did Jesus after all not say “blessed are the cake-bakers”?

Unless it’s a meeting about something that runs during day on a weekday such as a toddler group or seniors lunch (which tend to be staffed by those who don’t work during day for at least part of the week), all church meetings that involve volunteers have to be in evening. Ours tend to be 8-10pm as otherwise most of us don’t have time to get home from work, cook and eat dinner etc or even if one parent home they can’t go out until other one home if young kids. I do feel sorry for the paid church staff who have also been working all day at the church but if meetings were earlier then they wouldn’t get as many volunteers and things just wouldn’t happen.

There are a few things DH and I watch together and do is frustrating if he is out, but most of the time I’m thinking “if he was out then I’d have complete control of the remote and could just watch what I want”!

@dollydaydream114 That alone deserves a classics.

To be fair I bet God's Outlook calendar is a fucking nightmare when you're trying to book a meeting. I bet he's on loads of committees and stuff.

I have monthly meetings around that time. Working globally does that. 10 is about the latest, and only occasionally. My monthly 6pm on a Friday is bummer though.

Do people not dial in or video conference any more? DH condenses his hours and comes home at Friday lunch time, and dials into things even at 4pm on a Friday. People were doing that when I had an office job 25 years ago, why no longer?

I've no problem working lates and nights in my job because it's necessary, but why not do meetings remotely if they genuinely need to be at inconvenient times?

I volunteer - I never go to the jolly meals starting at 8pm twice per year held to thank us, that's more intrusive than the 7am-8am weekly volunteer slot I happily juggle shifts around because there's a genuine need for it - the meals would take up my evenings for no reason.

I’m often at meetings from approx 7:30 until 10pm, and my husband regularly has meetings at 2am. It’s the nature of our actually very enjoyable and (mostly) super convenient jobs. Not everyone does 9-5, y’all.

@EdnaAdaSmith Mine are are remote webex meetings. Still can't sit and watch TV through them though.

To be fair I bet God's Outlook calendar is a fucking nightmare when you're trying to book a meeting. I bet he's on loads of committees and stuff.

God, being onmipresent, is on ALL the committees!!

I think DH's all time winner was a day of work that was 8-6, then a meeting at 7 (so not home for tea), then got home at 8.30, had tea, back into teleconference at 9, that lasted until 11, and he was up at 3am for another sodding teleconference, that lasted until 5.

At that point I put my foot down. Okay, I shouted and tantied rather a lot.

theemmadilemma this is true, but at least eliminates doing the journey home afterwards, the uncertainty and some of the reasons people were throwing out for meetings including volunteers being quite so late.

A lot of meetings for volunteers aren't actually necessary in real time - other ways of communicating can be more efficient. Just as not everyone works 9-5, evening meetings for volunteers don't work for shift workers who might be free in the day because they work evenings or nights or very early shifts, or have their evening at 6am after a night shift

Every committee I have volunteered on had evening meetings usually 7-10 sometimes later. When it was the school PTA someone decided that daytime would be better until it was pointed out that the teacher representatives would be a little busy and that the ones that did the bulk of the work also had paid jobs.

For work I am fortunate enough to generally work during standard office hours, but some of my clients are around the globe so I make myself available as and when necessary, it is quite hard to schedule a webex meeting with Sydney without someone being inconvenienced. I also run training sessions often in the evenings as this is when people have time to attend, no problem that’s part of my role.

DH mostly travels to his meetings but they also use video links which’s might mean he is online at strange times of the day, even on holiday sometimes, I can amuse myself and rarely wait to watch a shared programme with him..

So is it normal to for people who work in the church to have meetings at 10pm?

Of course it is. Well, not starting at 10pm, obviously, but not over so early that everybody would be able to home and watching TV at 10.

The overwhelming majority of people at the meeting will be volunteering in their spare time, so the hours of presbyters, Youth Workers, and other people employed by the Church are clearly set out to include those meeting times, which will usually be during the evening as most other people are at work in the day. It sort of obviously comes with the territory of working in that sort of a role.

Am surprised how many people on this thread seem to think the concept of evening meetings is an odd one. I suppose most of us mix with other "people like us", and for volunteers, this is normal and usual.

I've been a school governor and a parish councillor. Both voluntary unpaid roles involving several meetings per month none of which ended before 10pm.

I used to work for a church. It was not remotely unusual to have two or even three evening meetings per week. For all the very obvious reasons that others have stated.

I still volunteer for the church. I should have been in an evening meeting on Tuesday but I cited family issues and stayed at home. The family issues may have been tangentially related to baking ...

Frankly, I think the church is much, much too keen on meetings and ought to take note of the fact that Jesus never took minutes and was quite keen on trying to get away from religious people so he actually had time to talk to his dad.

ought to take note of the fact that Jesus never took minutes

Brilliant line - I 'm going to use this at my next meeting!

'I'm cringing'.

Really?