February 24, 2005
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That Deep Professional Blush
One of my waking nightmares is that inevitable but inexcusable mental cross-wiring of the personal and the professional. A good example is calling your boss by your spouse's name (or, worse, vice-versa), because after all in some ways they occupy the same place in your hierarchy (on a taking-dictation, cleaning-toilets, knowing-schedules level). I have deep sympathy for Dr. Condolezza, whose similar gaff caused such riotous press. I may not forgive her some of her professional choices, but oh, I felt for her on that little slip.
As far as I know I've never actually audibly confused the spouse for the boss, except on one notable occasion when I began a sentence with my husband's name in a meeting and then very quickly revised the sentence to actually be about my husband. Narrow escape.
But today. Well. Just like the spouse/boss confusion, there are some folks at work with whom I have a relationship similar to the one I have with my children. They're naive, eager to please and rather confused about basic organizational skills, but generally pleasant to work with.
One such subordinate, a shambling, 55-year-old, would-rather-be-fishing type fellow, was hanging around outside an office while I was finishing a conversation with the boss. Our discussion completed, I looked up and said in a kindly tone:
"Did you want to see us, honey?"
o_O
(Fortunately, the employee in question is hard of hearing. Unfortunately, the boss isn't.)
...........so for the second day in a row: please, please. Tell me about some similar situation so we can all laugh companionably and with great relief at each other?
Comments (19)
sometimes my kids spontaneously raise their hands when they want to say something to me... we always laugh, because it gives us a glimpse of how ingrained that "raise your hand and wait to be called on" classroom rule is.
The obverse being-- I've often wondered how many teachers they've called "Mom."
that is so funny. i dont have a story off hand but yours made me laugh! i love daffidilous's blog about you. oh, she just said the most wonderful things. my favorite was about your smile, she could take a nap in it. that was beautiful!
I don't know how similar this is, but maybe it will make you laugh........I've worked for my boss now for almost 17 years. Him being 82 years old now, sometimes he says and does a few quirky things. I have a straight visual shot from my office into his. One morning, he came into his office and turned the lights on, went over to lay things on his desk then turned back around, turned the lights off then on again all with a puzzled look on his face. Thinking to myself "I think he's crazy", I decided to call one of the other girls in the office to say that to her. I accidentally pushed his intercom button instead of hers and whispered "i think he's crazy". In an instant, I realized what I had done and hung the phone up quickly then ran to the restroom. Luckily he is a little hard hearing so he could't quite make out what I said. We still get a laugh out of that little gaff.
Have a great day!
I honestly can't remember what it was that I said, but once on the phone while talking to a client, I ended the call with something that sounded (to my coworkers) like I said "Bye, I love you."
The guy on the phone paused a minute before he hung up, so apparently it sounded like that to him too
I have called my husband(s) -- I did the same thing to my first husband -- by my brother's name... on more than one occasion! Ack! And I've called my daughter by my younger sister's names, too... We have a standing joke at my house that I have too many men in my life named "Mark": My brother, a few former boyfriends (most of whom are still current friends) ... and it seems there are more being added to the list all the time: the neighbor's son, the lawn boy...
Oh wait... here's one even better: Have you ever said, "I love you" on the phone when you were hanging up... just out of HABIT, and realized that you said it to someone who it really wasn't appropriate to say it to?? ROFL (BLUSH) ... I have done that a few times too.
I missed that Condoleeza story.... I tend to skip over any story in the paper that says "Bush," "Condoleeza," or "Cheney" (and I don't watch TV).
What is going on with your daughter's school situation now, anyway? It seems that last I read, her school was closing?
I can imagine the would-be-fisherman responded with, "yes darling". The "honey" word has been my achille's heel when it comes to unfortunately timed nick names. I never used "honey" with my kids much except when they were very young. Then, there was this time about a year ago when my 17 y.o. son and his friend were in the car with me. We were debating something like which movie to see or such and I blurted out, "but, Honey we've already seen that one". The silence was thick. I know my son's friend nearly choked himself trying to hold back the gufaw. I salvaged the situation (at least in my mind) by going on as if nothing happened.
Now, I just have to figure out a way to make hay with your gaff. I should be able to come up with something to say to the 55 yo fisherman...
that is priceless, Faith!
I have done what LetMeGoToo has done with the brother/hubbie thing. And I ALMOST (but thank god, not) said to my ex on the phone one time, "bye I love you."
Thanks; this was so much fun to read.
Since I am at all times the very picture of dignity and have never ever been caught inadvertently exposing my tattered underpants through the unseemly ass-rip in my gardening pants to the mailman, I'll just tell you that my husband answered the phone at work not two weeks ago expecting it to be me. "Hey, you gorgeous thing," he said (bless his heart [not to mention his myopia]). The catch? It wasn't me on the other end of the phone line, but a client. And a big, burly, macho client, at that. Heh. Stories like that make think there must be a god after all.
I did almost that EXACT same thing early in my relationship with Dave (owner of our company) and he called me on it, laughed a lot (I called him, Babe) He is such a cute little thing ... anyway, I gave him a straight look and said that it's a matter of etiquette in the South to call everyone Honey, Baby, Sugar ... and that I wouldn't want him to think I didn't love him ... {hug}
Um. Hm. Nah, got nothing to top that one, because I'ma sit here enjoying my giggle at your expense.
Ok, ok. This one time? At band camp? My first job was working as a salesgirl in a place called Shoe City--no need to explain what we sold. One day I answered the phone and said, "Thank you for calling Shit City..." the rest tumbled off on a gasp because I realized what I'd said. Thank gawd it was only the assistant manager who was calling. :-
The day I call the over-sized-bald-headed-football-coach-production-supervisor, "hun", I'll have something to blog about!
"Nice job on that latest batch of parts, Hun"
Eeeeewwwwwwww! (enough to make your ass pucker)
You'd think the lack of boss/office would help me avoid this sort of gaffe.
I mean sure, I do the husband/brother name thing...but I usually only get a syllable out before self-editing. I seem to have a problem with remembering the relationships of my students, though (relatively small city; lots of connections) and I made a pretty major faux pas the night before last.
A student and I were perusing a local architectural magazine, discussing what we liked and disliked about certain homes. We turned the page and there was a stark, white room...thoroughly modern and totally familiar.
"Ah, I've been inside this one! Do you like this type of design?" "Yes, it looks very clean. I have only seen pictures of the house...never went inside." "I like the layout..." [sayeth DiDi Diplomacy], "...but it is much too white and the owner has two children, so there are fingerprints and marks in many places on the walls." "Really??! I thought Natsuko-san liked very clean things!" "Oh, you know the owner?" "Eh...she is my cousin, remember? Her father introduced us?"
I'm pathetic on a bicycle, but fortunately quite savvy with the proverbial back pedal.
Haha! I like Demeter's response. I don't call anyone honey, or sweetie, or anything like that. , really. Even loved ones. My daughter gets called "skeezix" or "the H," and I can't see using those on anyone else. I've slipped many times in calling people by someone else's name though. My mother used to call my sister and I by the dog's name sometimes. I wonder what that means? Heehee.
don't know... I call people by the dog's name and eveyone's name gets garbled sometimes. I also tend to call people honey, sugar, sweetie, etc. This is nauseating, I know, but is a habit I've tried long and hard and unsuccessfully to break. Now that I'm in my 50's, I just smile, pretend that I CHOOSE to be eccentric and go on.... good luck, great blog.
I'm not sharing a story right now, but I wanted to tell you this is a great site, and I'll be back to visit often!
RYC on my site: Bravo! I enjoyed reading your thoughts.
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