"mandatory" means you only have to go if you need brownie points

A reader who prefers to remain anonymous sent this email

to me recently:

the secretary at my work is always sending out memos like the following:

Attached is the list of "Mandatory" Staff Meetings for the the rest of the 2007 Calendar Year. . .

Please notice the times and make sure you will be able to attend "one" of the appropriate meetings. If their is a conflict with your schedule you need to discuss with your appropriate manager. Make sure you are "prompt" to the appropriate start time of these meetings.

Please print a copy for yourselves and I will post a copy of this schedule in the appropriate copy/storage rooms.
Thank you.

Clearly the best part is that you need to attend "one" of these meetings. Because many of us will sneakily attend more than one...