Instant Messenger=Instant Shame

I can multitask like a maniac. Ask anyone. But with this ability comes an occasional lapse of concentration on the details. One such time resulted in one of the more embarrassing moments of my life a few years ago. I blame Instant Messaging.

We use IM for everything in my office, business and personal issues combined. I had been at my current job for about 90 days, barely past the probationary period but long enough to make some truly awesome friends. One of which is my partner in crime, the purchasing manager in the adjacent office.

I’ll be honest, we gossip…but only to each other. So, really it’s her fault too.

The owner of our company received a phone call from his ex-wife. I, in my eagerness to depart the latest nugget of knowledge that I was privy too, clicked on IM to share it. However, in my haste, I clicked on his name without realizing it and shared my gossip about him…with him.

As soon as I hit Enter, I realized what I had done.

How do you recover from that?

You don’t.

But as luck would have it, he is a great guy with an incredibly good sense of humor. He forgave me but it was weeks before I could look him in the eye again.

As for the girl in marketing…we would never be friends. That IM I sent listing all the reasons she was a fruitcake did not strike her funny at all.

She had no sense of humor.