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It was somewhere around 4:30. I wanted to leave at around 5, since I had no pressing deadlines.
I went to the bathroom, and passed the receptionist on my way back. She said, "you're wanted in the conference room NOW."
So i go back and open the door to around 6 angry and anxious faces sitting around the super long conference table. The angriest one being the CEO/owner.
"Did you give our contacts to the new lead gen firm?????"
Right then, time slowed to almost a stop. In the next second, I thought of every possible answer and what the outcome would be if i gave that.
My first thought was to say, "yes, of course." since that's what I usually say and i'm usually telling the truth, or close enough that I can fix whatever I didn't actually do later.
But I hadn't... and I was fairly sure that would come out, negating every "yes, of course" i've ever given.
Then I thought to say what was naturally in my head... "what lead gen firm?" but I had heard talk of my supervisor interviewing them, although i had no idea why other than a guess.
My other thought was, "what contacts?" because I didn't know if that meant our office email/phone/mailing address, or contacts at our customers, or contacts at potential customers. If it's the latter 2, the salespeople who were in the room would have that, not me. Except they store it on software that nobody knows how to use, including me who is the administrator of it (even though i don't use it since i'm not in sales).
I thought of other answers, like, "was I supposed to?" or "i don't know what you're talking about." or "I need some help." but none of those answers have worked well for me in the past.
And my last option was humor, which i rely on a lot. I wanted to say, "aren't THEY supposed to give US names, not the other way around?"
instead of any of those things, I stuttered. a lot. I just said, "I... uh... I... I... um....
No."
and then i hoped that would stall me enough time. it didn't. My boss said, "why not???"
"um... Nobody told me they were ready for it."
I didn't know what "it" was or who "they" were, but i was hoping it would deflect the blame to someone else. It worked. Someone spoke up and said that I wasn't actually in the meeting where everyone discussed this crucial next step... the one that I was going to have to do somehow.
My boss was pissed, but maybe not at me. He said I could go and that we'd talk about it in the morning. great. i can't wait.
I went to the bathroom, and passed the receptionist on my way back. She said, "you're wanted in the conference room NOW."
So i go back and open the door to around 6 angry and anxious faces sitting around the super long conference table. The angriest one being the CEO/owner.
"Did you give our contacts to the new lead gen firm?????"
Right then, time slowed to almost a stop. In the next second, I thought of every possible answer and what the outcome would be if i gave that.
My first thought was to say, "yes, of course." since that's what I usually say and i'm usually telling the truth, or close enough that I can fix whatever I didn't actually do later.
But I hadn't... and I was fairly sure that would come out, negating every "yes, of course" i've ever given.
Then I thought to say what was naturally in my head... "what lead gen firm?" but I had heard talk of my supervisor interviewing them, although i had no idea why other than a guess.
My other thought was, "what contacts?" because I didn't know if that meant our office email/phone/mailing address, or contacts at our customers, or contacts at potential customers. If it's the latter 2, the salespeople who were in the room would have that, not me. Except they store it on software that nobody knows how to use, including me who is the administrator of it (even though i don't use it since i'm not in sales).
I thought of other answers, like, "was I supposed to?" or "i don't know what you're talking about." or "I need some help." but none of those answers have worked well for me in the past.
And my last option was humor, which i rely on a lot. I wanted to say, "aren't THEY supposed to give US names, not the other way around?"
instead of any of those things, I stuttered. a lot. I just said, "I... uh... I... I... um....
No."
and then i hoped that would stall me enough time. it didn't. My boss said, "why not???"
"um... Nobody told me they were ready for it."
I didn't know what "it" was or who "they" were, but i was hoping it would deflect the blame to someone else. It worked. Someone spoke up and said that I wasn't actually in the meeting where everyone discussed this crucial next step... the one that I was going to have to do somehow.
My boss was pissed, but maybe not at me. He said I could go and that we'd talk about it in the morning. great. i can't wait.
