One day, someone invented appointments.

It was the possibility to know when someone would be available and could be met. It was also the opportunity to know who would come and how one could prepare for that time together.

Then appointments started to transform the way people would organize their business. One would come to the dentist, the barber, or the repair shop at a specific time and would know that coming on time would allow being served then. Until then, neither the dentist, barber, or repair shop had an agenda, they just told customers to wait.

Eventually, people started to organize their working day with appointments, determining, for example, when meetings could take place. It helped people to come together and discuss the work they have to do.

In the last years, things shifted again.

The working time has become the time someone is available for others. People deciding that they need the other person’s help, attention, or cooperation will book time in other people’s calendars. Appointments have become the expectation that colleagues or employees will be available and serve one’s needs.

It happens under the assumption, that work requires people to meet. It adds another way people exercise power over one another. And it reduces the number of times people question what their time is there for.