Yesterday I made a mistake. It was a reasonably big mistake but no one died. Nothing burned down. No babies went without eating. No planes fell out of the sky.
By the reaction of one of the people involved you would have thought one of those things had happened.
Here's what occurred: I set up an appointment for someone to meet with four other people at a location. I spoke with a fifth person who was supposed to book a meeting room. The fifth person forgot to book the meeting room. I got sick with strep and forgot to follow up. The person showed up for the meeting with the four people and they were not ready because the meeting room was not confirmed. Only three of the four ended up meeting with the person. So the whole thing was a fiasco.
Today I found out what occurred. I start calling everyone to apologize. First person says "we end up meeting but I didn't ever get the email that we were even meeting at all." Interesting. Everyone got it. Second person lays into me. I mean goes on a rant. "How unprofessional, you made us look like idiots, He was affiliated with us..." I have to honestly say, I almost was in tears when I hung up. I never cried but I was close. The third person was SO sweet. He said it wasn't my fault. I should not take to heart what others say (I guess he heard what person number two said to me) and since I was sick, I should take the rest of the day off and rest. See, sweet. Person number four just said thank you no need to apologize.
Why do people have to be like people number two? Gosh, does he not make mistakes. Like I said no one got hurt. It is nothing that a simple apology can't fix. I am embarrassed I made a mistake but things happen. People can't do better if they don't make mistakes.
Until tomorrow...
