To tell them to sod this meeting

[Lazykitten]

This is the second time this has happened.

I have a weird set up where by I'm employed by the London office but work out of the Manchester office (live just north of Manchester). But as I'm officially part of the London office my client base is predominantly South East.

I have a client in Maidstone. We have an in-person meeting with them every quarter. It's been scheduled for....... 9.30 Monday morning.

The bit that's peed me off most of all is there's a massive email chain between everyone confirming availability that I wasn't included on. Then it gets forwarded to me as a 'FYI Lazykitten meeting is 9.30 Monday'. This happened last time, but was a Tuesday after a bank holiday.

I'm by far the least important person there in terms of rank, but the most important in terms of client relations and doing the actual work. I get I have to attend meetings but it's a 6 hour commute for me which I would have to do on a Sunday. I'd lose half my weekend because once again I'm an after thought to the important people who live 'down the road'.

I raised this last time. I have no reason why I can't go but tempted to invent a preexisting weekend break so they don't keep doing this. But will massively p off client to rearrange now it's confirmed.

Just 😡

Round trip! Not each way

The key is what your contract says about your home office - if it says London but it’s your choice to be located north of Manchester then YABU. I see your note that says you receive a Manchester salary so all a bit of mess to be honest. I think it’s time to have a proper conversation with management as it really isn’t sustainable if most of your clients are SE based , but if your contract says London office the business aren’t being unreasonable.

Who is it that arranges meetings? PAs are usually very good at getting availability from everyone on the guest list. If it's the same person who arranges meetings all the time, then I would speak to them directly. If you're the one with the strong client relationship, I would also casually ask the client to give you the heads up next time a meeting is planned.

But for a London position Maidstone is fine. Only an hour out of London. But truthfully i wouldn't want to stay there overnight.

It is supremely easy. There is a fast train!!!

Sorry @socialdilemmawhattodo didn't mean to quote you rather {mention:socialdilemmawhattodo}{mention:socialdilemmawhattodo}now@socialdilemmawhattodonow I can't stop tagging you because the MN app is a mess!!

Well in that case it's way less of an issue.

Well I wouldn’t do it. I’m not willing to give up a weekend day so I’d say that as unfortunately I wasn’t included in the email chain I’m able to leave on the first train on Monday only at 6am and expect to be there by 11.30

This is why we need the laughter emoji back!!

I think @CastleCrasherhas it spot on. And this is what I would do.

This would wind me up @Lazykitten When I was younger I would have just done it and taken the impingement on my weekend, but I’m older & wiser now and know that it matters not a jot to the company or anyone else if you are inconvenienced. I would say no, firmly.

It's 2 hours from Manchester to London. Just get a 6am train, you'll be fine.

That would be great if I was either starting out in Manchester, or going to London 🤣

Thanks all. I've gone with the 'gosh I've a family event on Sunday so sorry I can't make it in person'. It's been rearranged for weds afternoon. Hopefully this way next time they'll remember to consult me....

They are being ignorant arseholes.

they are thoughtless and not considering you or thinking of you.

we never start a meeting in London before 11am to allow those outwith to travel and also allow for overnight accommodation the night before

you need to create some fuss to get them to take your needs into account - or change jobs where you can get some respect.

I think I said up thread that I was pretty senior in professional services for over 25 years and now I’m the client. If, as the client, a meeting was arranged to the convenience of the senior client handling partners but the person with the technical knowledge wasn’t here because they were too junior to consult on their availability then I’d be pretty annoyed. In fact, I’ve just actually sacked a team of advisers because they never brought the right experts to meet with me.

@Lazykittenwell done for getting it sorted!

I think bearing in mind that this is the second time this has happened, and the fact that you weren't sent the email, I would contact your boss, and say that unfortunately it appears that you were missed off the email list, and as you have a pre planned event which has been booked and paid for, you will have no other choice but to take part via video link. It does sound like you need to make a stand here OP, whether or not the client likes it. You shouldn't have to give up half of your weekend, because someone else didn't do their job properly.