Miscommunication- I'm really upset

[Eeyores Butterfly]

I've been sick all week, and today I called the school where I am a pre-intern (I teach fourth grade special ed in the mornings under the supervision of a mentor teacher). I talked to the secretary, gave her my name, and asked her to inform my mentor teacher that I would not be in today.

I just received an e-mail from my professor who came around to the different schools to see how we were doing. She sounded very upset in the e-mail and informed me that my mentor teacher was wondering why I didn't show up and why she hadn't heard from me!

I immediately e-mailed her back as well as my mentor teacher to explain what happened. I am so upset, I'm about to cry. I can't believe the secretary did not relay the message. This left my mentor teacher in a bind, and now both she and my professor probably think I am the most incompetent person on the planet.

 

[BCDisneyFanatic]

I know how upsetting it can be when you think you have let others down without meaning to. I'm sure the secretary will back up your story. I know in my school, any messages were put in my mailbox, which I often wouldn't get until the end of the day!

If you've worked hard and have been reliable up until now, they will undoubtedly believe that this was just an unfortunate case of miscommunication, and it won't have any bearing whatsoever on your final evaluation.

 

[Goofyluver]

It's just an honest error. All you can do is apologize again and say you're sorry for the inconvenience.

Maybe ask for the teacher's cell so that you can call her yourself if anything else ever happens. Sometimes, people get wrapped up and messages get pushed to the back burner.

 

[MaryAnnDVC]

I've got 3 kids...20, 18, 15...so I'm well versed in miscommunications with school secretaries. I'm just sayin'.

But...if you had the mentor teacher's and professor's email addresses, how come you didn't email them earlier? It seems like you can say just so much to someone taking a message (explain all you want to the message taker, but the message will be...if it goes through at all..."so and so is out today"), so I would have sent an email with a little more of an explanation.

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

To be honest, I didn't think an e-mail was necessary. My computer was not on and it would have probably taken me at least a half an hour to get the e-mail fired off. I will definitely be getting her cell phone number on Monday.

 

[Joanna71985]

I'm sorry to hear about the miscommunication.

 

[agnes!]

Sorry about being sick & the miscommunication.

From now on, remember....
*Always leave a paper trail.
*Redundancy is your friend. E-mails & cell-phones & answering systems & the mail are not always utterly reliable. Utilize everything you can, especially is the message is important enough. Just because one has sent an e-mail doesn't mean the intended recipient actually got it.

agnes!