WHAT NOT TO DO WHEN YOU SCREW UP

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I had just finished a call & I thought I might be late.  I actually pulled into the restaurant two minutes early to meet with a business associate I hadn’t seen in a while.

I had found him on LinkedIn & sent him an invitation.  He accepted & invited me to lunch.  I thought it would be fun to catch up.

Well, I went flying into the restaurant because I hate to be late & he wasn’t there.  I waited a few minutes & called his cell phone.  No answer.  I sent him an e-mail & a text.  Still no response.

There wasn’t anything left to do so I got a bite to eat & left.

About two hours later I got a call from him.  “Oh my goodness.  I am so sorry.  For some reason I didn’t put our meeting on my calendar & messed up.  This is so embarrassing.  I must be the dumbest person in the world.”  And so on.

Of course I explained this happens to everyone including me on occasion & every thing’s okay. 

However, when I looked on my Blackberry, he had sent me an e-mail a few minutes earlier.  It said, I noticed yesterday I had a scheduling conflict & I tried to call ‘what I thought’ was your number to reschedule. 

Now all bets were off.  It’s okay to make a mistake.  We all make mistakes but to make up a story is not acceptable.  He obviously knew he couldn’t make lunch & with a little effort he could have let me know.  I think more people mess themselves up by trying to cover up a mistake rather than the mistake itself.

And then to top it off, after my friend made his apology, he said, “We don’t have to do lunch, you could come to my office.  Call me Monday to make the arrangements.”

Now let me get this straight.  He stands me up; wants to avoid buying me lunch; tells ‘me’ to call him & meet him at ‘his’ office.  Since I was the one inconvenienced, you’d think he’d want to make it convenient for me.

Here’s what I think. If you screw up, just admit it, apologize, & then make it easy on the other guy.  This is David Sher, your WeMentor Guy saying it’s not what you know, but whOO you know.