Miscommunication

The other day, a long-time employee of Freddy's asked me if I could work for him. He said, "Hey, Slim, could you possibly stock for me on Thursday?" I checked my planner and asked Cassandra (a girl who was sitting right next to me) if we had play practice. She checked the practice schedule, and sure enough, I was all free.

On Wednesday, I was just in the process of finishing up my voice lesson when my phone started vibrating. After excusing myself from the practice room, I answered and it was my boss. Apparently, I was supposed to be working for this person on Wednesday. Once I realized what had happened, I sincerely apologized, rushed home, changed, and was an hour late. The rest of the night was spent in an extremely sour mood. Sometimes, it's hard to be friendly. It really is.

I have yet to approach the guy who I worked for, but I did ask Cassandra what day he had said. She agreed that he had definitely asked for Thursday. I am not mad at this person who told me the wrong date, just disappointed that I did not clarify completely.  I did not even check the schedule to see if he was working Thursday. This entire incident made me think of how one small miscommunication can lead to a whole bunch of problems.  What happens when a stunt double communicates incorrectly with a director and they get hurt? What happens when a teacher speaks mistakenly to his/her students and they all do an assignment wrong? What happens when Batman doesn't tell Robin what to do? Does he just stand there like a dog? Without effective communication, nothing would get done. Not even five hours of work on a Wednesday night.

Lately, I've been thinking. Should I have been angry? This guy told me the entirely wrong day. He made me appear as if I were incompetent in front of my boss. I could have lost my job or been demoted to the person who cleans gum off the backs of the carts. I keep reminding myself of all these things, but, honestly, they don't really matter. Accidents happen and moving on with our lives is the best thing that we can do. I convulse when I see people who take life too seriously. Forgiveness is a key element of miscommunication, because, without it, we would never be able to move forward.