Icky

I feel a little icky. I found out from Apphia that I made my first mistake at work yesterday.

A client left a message yesterday afternoon and I failed to call them back. The client message said, "I have a couple questions about the recital," which is in a couple of weeks and the message didn't sound urgent. So, with all the other matters to take care of yesterday (I jam-packed busy the entire day), I left the message for Jenna to respond to the client when she came in today. And come today- this was clearly a mistake. Now the client is upset with us.

In training, I've been drilled and drilled about prospective students coming first. With that mentality and with three new students coming into tour the studio and numerous others calling in for information, I put those first. I usually have a great sense of awareness of which clients are "respond this second" clients and which are "the day after is okay" clients. This was my first blunder and it feels awful.

Apphia wasn't angry with me, but did want to advise me on procedure for next time. And, poor Apphia now has to deal with an angry client who feels we've ignored her. As Office Manager, I'm supposed to serve as a buffer between clients and Apphia. Oh, dear, I feel so awful. I utterly hate making a mistake when it's consequences affect someone else. I'd rather go into work today and right the wrong myself than know that Apphia has to deal with the repercussions of my error.

I do want to know how to improve, so I'm very glad Apphia called and let me know how I can do so. It just feels icky and I have an uneasyness stuck in my head. I suppose that's a good thing, right? Because then I'll be less likely to make the same mistake again.

Icky icky.