At an old job, there was a client who was needing help fixing some fancy software/hardware that my company supported. It was apparently a somewhat dire situation so they needed someone to fly out urgently to fix it, or something like that, I wasn’t a part of the initial nothing-put-into-writing call. (Miscommunication 1)
My co-worker at a different office bailed at the very last minute and said someone else would need to do it. I drew the short straw so I was basically flying out in an hour or so to see this client that I’ve never met and had no experience with.
I asked said co-worker for details on the client, to which I got a somewhat snobby reply of ‘well this is what the [CRM] is for, dummy’. (This was miscommunication 2)
So alright cool grab the client name, hand it over to the secretary who sets up flights and other arrangements, and I’m off in a rush. (Miscommunication 3)
Secretary got [Client], LLC and not [Client], INC. Neither of us realized there were two of the same names in the system.
I arrive at the client’s site, walk in, and they are completely baffled on why I am there and what I am trying to do. After a ridiculously embarrassing call with my boss I ended up driving to the correct location, several hours away, and showing up early in the morning.
…Only to find out that the client was ultimately missing a license key. One that they didn’t have nor did we have, but a separate third party who originally set it up. We didn’t know that was the case because my co-worker was the only one who had experience with this client and didn’t mention this. (Miscommunication 4)
In some slight fairness, the license key problem was ‘supposed’ to be documented, so my co-worker would have been correct if he had remembered to write it down.
That job had a thing for putting people through trials of fire and demanding they figure out how to adapt or get burned. I’m somewhat convinced that was a policy baked in somewhere.
At an old job, there was a client who was needing help fixing some fancy software/hardware that my company supported. It was apparently a somewhat dire situation so they needed someone to fly out urgently to fix it, or something like that, I wasn’t a part of the initial nothing-put-into-writing call. (Miscommunication 1)
My co-worker at a different office bailed at the very last minute and said someone else would need to do it. I drew the short straw so I was basically flying out in an hour or so to see this client that I’ve never met and had no experience with.
I asked said co-worker for details on the client, to which I got a somewhat snobby reply of ‘well this is what the [CRM] is for, dummy’. (This was miscommunication 2)
So alright cool grab the client name, hand it over to the secretary who sets up flights and other arrangements, and I’m off in a rush. (Miscommunication 3)
Secretary got [Client], LLC and not [Client], INC. Neither of us realized there were two of the same names in the system.
I arrive at the client’s site, walk in, and they are completely baffled on why I am there and what I am trying to do. After a ridiculously embarrassing call with my boss I ended up driving to the correct location, several hours away, and showing up early in the morning.
…Only to find out that the client was ultimately missing a license key. One that they didn’t have nor did we have, but a separate third party who originally set it up. We didn’t know that was the case because my co-worker was the only one who had experience with this client and didn’t mention this. (Miscommunication 4)
It was a miserable time.
Why would you go to a job site without having job details
Which doesn’t have the job details 😂 call customer back
In some slight fairness, the license key problem was ‘supposed’ to be documented, so my co-worker would have been correct if he had remembered to write it down.
That job had a thing for putting people through trials of fire and demanding they figure out how to adapt or get burned. I’m somewhat convinced that was a policy baked in somewhere.
Great in-depth answer