ugh, work. WWYD?

[juliahenry]

I work part time, SAHM part time. I don't want to say what I do, but it is professional and educational in nature. There's a real expectation that one be of service to the profession and community as a part of the job and I was asked to serve on a committee that, among other things, plans events and educational opportunities for various groups.

In theory, I *should* be doing appropriate volunteer-type things related to my job, but this activity is not technically a part of my job description. It's also, in theory, a "+" as far as resume and skills etc go.

And it's a complete disaster as far as organization and planning go. I just got an email about a meeting on Wednesday, over an hour away (I had actually offered to host the next meeting). We don't have a schedule of meetings in advance (just that we meet every month except August, dates and times vary).

I missed the last meeting because it was turned into a conference call due to the committee chair getting stuck in NYC during Sandy. She sent an email around saying "let's talk at either 1 or 4" and then responded individually to each committee member when they said what time they were available - since I could have done either time, I did not reply to the "let me know if this doesn;'t work" email and the chair never sent out a "Call is at.." message. 2 of us missed the meeting because of that.

Well, I work part time. Dh is out of town this week. And no, I can't go to a meeting 70 miles away with 22 hours' notice, not unless they want to find and pay for childcare to cover the hours I will not be available (outside of my normal work hours).

Anyway, a couple of questions 1) am I right in thinking this is unbelievably annoyingly unprofessional of the committee chair? 2) should I just resign?

This committee is incredibly inefficient - poorly planned meetings are only a small symptom of the issues. It's also directly related to my professional specialization and, because I'm only part-time at the moment, it's my only non-job professional activity/connection right now.

Oh, and I am the only person on this mess of a committee with several key professional designations, degrees etc. Honestly, I feel like they want me on the list because my qualifications add something to the overall reputation of the committee, but in practice, they don't function especially well and they have no desire to change this. It's very frustrating.

Any thoughts? And thanks for reading!

[dexteroni]

That is annoying. I would speak to the committee chair and let her know that while you would like to be an active contributor to the committee, your schedule doesn't allow for short notice and long travel distances. Maybe she'll be willing to give you more notice or schedule meetings in a more convenient location. If not, then yeah, I would say it's best to bow out of the committee.

You said you were asked to serve on this committee. By whom - your boss? If so, then you may have to find a way to remain on it and serve as best you can within your limitations, even if that involves finding additional child care. But if the committee invited you, and your work doesn't care where you serve, then I think it's fine to leave and find something better organized and maybe closer to you.

[Deleted]

Can you be more involved to make things more efficient.

At the least I would say meetings need to be announced a month in advance and be held in a central location.

[mrshabious]

It sounds as though there are several positives to serving on the committee. I second trying to make it more effecient. Can you propose a meeting schedule (4th Tuesday of the month at x time, rotating location)? Can you tell them you cannot do a short notice meeting due to child care and offer to dial into the meeting?