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Comment by bazmattaz | Hacker News Reader

When someone books over their meeting i don’t understand why people don’t just decline the meeting with a note saying “this clashes with a meeting already in my diary”. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with this and puts the onus back on the person to find a bigger time

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shadow power dynamics is the answer. Someone with a title of "Regional VP of Sales" thinks they have a lot of power and influence and will exert that to get whatever they want. An IC engineer or product manager understandably wants to avoid the inevitable conflict and potential escalation should they refuse to attend. I agree they should just decline. I also understand the reality is more complicated because they know a decline isn't actually the end and the anxiety about what would follow can itself feel exhausting when it happens so often. So they choose to pick their battles/take the short-term path of least resistance.

How do you expect a hierarchy to function? Should the assistant to the SVP ask the managers to let the employees reschedule? That’s like a lot of bureaucracy for exactly the same flexibility.

(Am open to better approaches though! Not saying I particularly enjoy last minute urgent meetings you can’t say no to. But most often those are important and with people whose agendas need more care than mine.)

I don’t even bother adding the note. People booked over it, they know it clashes with another meeting. No need to tell them the obvious.

I just press decline. If they ask, I say because you must have made a mistake. I was clearly not available at that time slot.

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