Faux pas, we call them. Oops is another term that applies. I’m sure there are some humourus stories lurking out there…
I was just e-mailing something to a client and used the term ‘paint-wise’ which left my spell checker ( yes I use it in my professional correspondence. You don’t think I ratle on there without extensive proof-reading do you?) to try correcting the unfamiliar term to ‘panties’. I’m glad I caught that one!
A tile sub-contractor sent me his bill nearly six weeks after the work was done. I opened it, glanced at it, and set iot in the pile to be paid with the others. When I went to do that a few days later, I saw that he had messed it up pretty bad. It was a computer generated inmvoice form and He had not included his mailing adress. This was a new sub for me, so I had not yet added his info to my book.
no problem, I’ll call him – but the phone number listed on the form was extinct.
no problem, I’ll dig out his business card he gave me – but I could not find it.
no propblem, I stored his cell # in my phone – but I left it on the job that day…maybe he doesn’t really need the money, LOL
I did catch him and pay him eventually, but what a way to do business.
another one –
I got a call last night from a woman I had designed and built a garage for quirte a few years ago. my machine got the call actually. She asked me to send her a copy of the plans via her email which she spoke rather than spelled over the phone. I tried three different ways of spellling it and gave up when none of them went through. I then tried calling her old phone # that I used to uise for contact but it was disconnected.
I have to expalin to her that I need to know to what purpose she intends to use the plans and in what format. I can convert the drawings to DWF or DXF or send a PDF and charge accordingly, but I won’t waste her time or mine sending something she can’t read or i can’t get paid for. As it is right now, she will only think I am ignoring her.
It’s funy that in a time when we have so many multiple ways of communicating, people get so carelss about it.
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Replies
Actually, I think it's a symptom of our times....we are all so overstimulated & connected that we rush past real conversation.......
I seen a tree get cut down at the wrong house.
So mon. morning I pull up to the site--a townhouse in a complex of them and the asphalt driveway is being torn out--Makes it kinda tough to get tools loaded in when the steps are blocked--Call HO and ask why he scheduled me for the kitchen and the Driveway on the same day--since there is no street parking and I need his drive for my van---Well needless to say he was a LITTLE surprised at my call--He never ordered a new drive--I say "let me ask them about it and I'll call you back" he says never mind I am on my way--be there in 10 min.I know I am in for a show--so I nonchalatly ask the crew how it's going and move out of the line of fire...HO pulls up and is out in a flash and stuff gets real interesting real fast--Turns out the last two digets of the address were transposded on the work order--crew had no idea they were doing anything wrong--Crew finished with the last half of the removal--like 10 feet worth and went down the street to the real work site--I pulled in on the fresh dirt and we all lived happly ever after--Mike" I reject your reality and substitute my own"
Adam Savage---Mythbusters
They pulled out the wrong driveway without replacing it?
Nah--I was in there 3 days--He had them replace it the next day cause he could drive on it into his garage but I had to park on it....Guess he figured I did him a service and at least let him know what was happening--so with me haveing to park there all day--he let it go for a few till I was done--Went back about a month later to install the tops after final dimensioning and the HO was laughing about it--told me on the side that it was on the to-do list for the next summer--guess it was in poor shape which didn't help the asphalt crew to figure out they were in the wrong place.and then they lived .......Mike" I reject your reality and substitute my own"
Adam Savage---Mythbusters
I have decided that I simply have no faith in techy communications. If I haven't seen the face or heard the voice, not much stock. Too many times where the email didn't go through or the fax was on the fritz "but on my end it went thru" or the voicemail comes but cell delay makes it come the day after it was sent . . .
If it's worth saying, it's worth saying to a person, not a machine. I have voice mail, but I won't leave them.
"If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man." - Mark Twain
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This is more of a wine but I hate it when someone leaves me a message and just quickly blurts out the phone number. I always speak my number clearly and slowly and often repeat it as well. Sometimes I think some people don't have much common sense. I also hate it when people don't leave their number making me look it up. Often that will delay me returning the call.
Same gripe here...message clear as a bell, then they mumble the number, leaving you try mulitiple variations. Get a clue!
I always loved it when someone would call and either leave a msg with someone or the machine saying "oh he has my number". Either they presume their importance is higher than reality or think I am all knowing (or remembering). Kind of tough if you have been relying on the old rolodex back at the office and are on the road.
An old workmate used to answer "speed dial 30 or whatever" when I would ask him for a customer #.