【正文】 who squander your time to submit written proposals, or schedule meeting times with them far enough out so that they might just solve the issues on their own. Reading A How to Schedule Appointments Efficiently 3． Allot blocks of time for making and taking phone calls. Avoid phone tag by suggesting these times to callers. Take a list of calls to make when you have a drive of longer than 10 minutes. 4． Cluster outofoffice meetings geographically. Traveling to and from appointments uses up vast amounts of time. 5． Communicate clearly how much time you have to meet with people, and then enforce the finish times. Schedule appointments in your own office backtoback so the arrival of one person encourages the departure of the other. 6． Keep track of how much of your workweek you devote to appointments. If the amount exceeds 50 percent, evaluate whether other people39。ve been trying to meet with your boss for weeks, for example, getting him or her out of the office for lunch may provide uninterrupted, focused time. Reading A How to Cancel an Appointment Politely If you have a busy schedule, chances are you are going to have to eventually cancel an appointment. A cancelled appointment equates with changing another’s schedule. When you cancel an appointment you are affecting the day of those with whom you are cancelling. Your reason may be important (you might have an emergency) it may be valid (conflict) or it may be an oversight (doublebooking). It’s possible, however, your need to cancel may be more selfish. You may have a better offer. That is where etiquette and consideration e in. Reading B How to Cancel an Appointment Politely Your first order of business is to begin your change of plans by calling and cancelling with style. Yes, I did say call. In this day of , having to make an actual phone call might be a bit of a shock. But you are now impinging on someone else’s day. Convenience is no longer about you. You allowed inconvenience to rule you when you decided to cancel the appointment. Now you need to make your decision convenient for the canceled. Proper etiquette insists the least you do is make a phone call and personally take care of this. If it’s possible to talk to this person face to face then all the better. Odds are, however, that a phone call is much more reasonable. Reading B How to Cancel an Appointment Politely Your phone call should begin with you asking, “Is this a good time to call?” Actually, most phone calls should begin with that little question. Making sure your call is convenient for them. Let them know you care enough about what they are doing, and you are willing to call back. Next you need to explain what your call is regarding. Simply say, “I’m calling about the appointment (or lunch or phone call, etc.) we have scheduled for Wednesday at 3:00.” Letting them know that you are talking about a specific time in both of your week allows the listener to realize that you have them in your calendar and it’s a quick recall for them. If there is something specific you were supposed to talk about you can mention that too. Reading B How to Cancel an Appointment Politely Now that you’ve called, made sure it’s a good time to talk and identified what you are calling about, all that’s left is to simultaneously apologize that you need to cancel, explain what happened (or why you need to cancel) and then reschedule if necessary. Beginning by saying “I’m really sorry, Mary, but I’m going to have to cancel our appointment. You see, I’ve accidentally doublebooked that time and the other appointment involved three other clients.” Let Mary know that you’d like to see her but rescheduling with her, the one person, is easier than affecting three other people’s lives. Follow this up by apologizing again. “Mary, I realize this is inconvenient and I do apologize. Could we please reschedule for Friday of the same week? I have the same time of 3:00 available. What does your s