Have you ever done something stupid, and it came to back to haunt you? It started out as a joke, but it now falls into the category of one of life's most embarrassing moments.
My act of stupidity began innocently. Isn't that always the case? No one purposefully sets out to appear "one brick shy a load". That is especially true if making a good first impression and being professional is valued. "Egregiously inappropriate" is probably the best description for my act of stupidity.
This happened years ago, but for whatever reason, it came to mind this morning. Just thinking about it leaves me red-faced with embarrassment. It all started when my boss told me that the iPhone greeting on my voicemail was not working.
He had telephoned, didn't get an answer and the phone went straight to voice mail. There was no greeting or word of instruction on how to contact me. Since I routinely transferred my work phone to my cell phone, it was important to resolve the issue. I was grateful my boss let me know of the problem.
During our conversation, I mentioned that the Siri feature on my iPhone is now set to the tone of someone sounding like an English butler. The initial setting on the iPhone was preset to a woman's voice that at times sounded a little too demanding (excuse me, I meant to use the word "familiar"). Perhaps it has something to do with the need for only one General (aka – my wife) giving me orders. At any rate, I changed the setting.
I suggested to my boss that it would be great if someone with a British dialect or accent recorded a greeting for me on my cell phone. We both agreed that the idea had merit and that it would be funny. Okay, that may be overstated and not exactly true, but that is how I processed the conversation.
Truth be told, it had been so long since I recorded a message on my phone that I had to research how to do it. It was really a very simple process. It was on a Saturday morning, so I decided (just for fun) to temporarily record a brief message that sounded very British. I don't remember exactly what I said, but it was closely akin to "Good day ole chap, I'm sorry to say that I'm temporarily away from the phone…". I threw in a few other colloquialisms that I thought were in keeping with my best imitation of a British accent.
After leaving the message, I telephoned my office which in turn was transferred to my iPhone. I thought the message was funny but it definitely would not work in real life. I wanted my brother to hear the message. He texted back: "Your voice message sounds creepy." He must have awakened on the wrong side of the bed. He could have at least acknowledged it was funny.
I immediately changed the voice message on my iPhone to one that sounded professional and appropriate. Thankfully no one else had called during the short interim the voice message was connected to my phone.
Five days later, a colleague at work telephoned to say: "Don, I'm calling to ask about the greeting on your voicemail. I've called a couple of times and listened to a very strange message. Is that your voice? Is someone playing a joke on you? It doesn't sound like you."
The dots immediately connected in my head. It had to be the Saturday morning voicemail greeting I had "temporarily" placed on my phone. How could I ever show my face in public again? To say I was embarrassed is an understatement.
Obviously, when I recorded a new greeting over my attempt at sounding very British, I failed to hit the "SAVE" button. The inappropriate message had been on my telephone all week. I profusely apologized to my colleague and thanked her for making me aware of the perceived problem. I am not the sharpest Crayola in the box, but I will never do that again.
All My Best!
Don
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