Who's the bigger person in this situation?

[frozenrice]

Instead of going through the channels of using the system software or going through management to get a price quote from me, a salesperson I work with emailed me direct over a month ago (January 23rd to be exact). I get over 50 emails in an average day and it's not untypical if some emails get missed among the piles of other projects/tasks that I have to do on a daily basis. In the weeks since the email was sent this sales person has been in and out of the office numerous times and not once ever talked to me yet alone mention that an email was sent to me requesting a quote.

Fast forward to today. We (salaried office employees) are all technically off work early on Fridays, but I stuck around to finish off a few things before leaving. Just as I was about to leave, one of my coworkers came to me to say he'd just gotten off the phone with said sales person and told me that she needed that price by this weekend and that she had sent me an email a few weeks ago and that she never got a response.

I checked my messages and indeed there it was. I admit I missed it - my bad.

What pisses me off about this whole thing though is not the actual quote request but the fact that this person waited until I was technically off work to try and contact me to tell me that she needs this quote RFN and then emails me and the boss (he's away on vacation on top of it all) to tell me that I had not responded to her original email and that she needs the price. In that original email, she was supposed to cc the boss in on it so that he could quarterback/manage the priority calls as he knows I'm swamped and can step in to help if needed (The reality is, is she is actually supposed to go through him first to begin with). In the email that she forwarded it was clear he was not included in the message.

In the end, I never responded to her latest email or answered her calls, but I did do up the quote for her and emailed it to her WITH A TIME DELAY so she won't get it until sometime tomorrow.

Am I a dickhead for responding this way? I do feel the need to make her sweat it out a bit for pull that on me.

That's the end of my rant. I just needed to get that off my chest so I can enjoy my weekend.

[01RedDX]

.

[frozenrice]

Originally posted by 01RedDX
You are both dicks.

LOL... so be it. It is what it is....

[J.M.]

If all else fails

[JRSC00LUDE]

Yeah, you are. Sorry. I've been in that position, shit gets missed. Call, explain, rectify, stay late if you have too. They likely didn't ask about it while in the office because they assumed you were on it and didn't want to harass you.

Only difference with me is, if they want to talk to the boss I can just put them on hold and then pick the phone up again and ask how I can help them.

[frozenrice]

Don't be sorry. I don't have a lot of love for this person. Despite this scenario of the missed email, she's pulled this "I need this by the weekend shit too many times" and there have been many other times where I've often stayed late/brought work home to keep ahead of her schedule so that she can get stuff to her clients early. I'm not expecting thanks or acknowledgement for those times, but it really picks my ass that on this one time when I drop the ball on a relatively "small quote" that she throws me under the bus.


Edit : haha at J.M.s post In all honesty she's not my type and I'm not a terribly picky person to begin with.

[JRSC00LUDE]

Well if there's history that changes some things. Bottom line is, if you can tell your boss about it and he'll have your back, then you didn't do anything wrong.

[TomcoPDR]

Originally posted by JRSC00LUDE
They likely didn't ask about it while in the office because they assumed you were on it and didn't want to harass you.

Yup JRS cool dude is always voice of reasons... I'm thinking along these lines too... It's normal business operation to keep sending you quote requests. Would be foolish to expect them to send you reminders or for you to reply "I got your email" knowledgement reply on every one of their emails.

[GTS4tw]

Originally posted by frozenrice


LOL... so be it. It is what it is....

Do what is right for the company. Period. She may be an idiot, but the boss will see that himself. You should have sent the quote without the time delay, this would make it look like you are willing to do what it takes to pick up the pieces.

Everyone makes mistakes, its what you do to rectify those mistakes that defines you.

[frozenrice]

I appreciate where that comment is coming from and you're right, there's probably some truth to it as well. HOWEVER, my response would be, if you haven't gotten a response in over a month, then I'd say it'd be reasonable to ask, especially if you were just in the office last Tuesday. Hell, go and ask the boss (if he wasn't away) for all I care. I always man up when I drop the ball in these situations and will make it right.

[frozenrice]

Originally posted by GTS4tw


Do what is right for the company. Period. She may be an idiot, but the boss will see that himself. You should have sent the quote without the time delay, this would make it look like you are willing to do what it takes to pick up the pieces.

Everyone makes mistakes, its what you do to rectify those mistakes that defines you.

I know you're right. I think the time delay thing is my passive aggressive nature coming out. Mind you, I don't know if it's really passive aggressiveness - part of my thought on that too is if I respond to her right away, she'll expect me to do it every time she cries wolf. I know for a fact she doesn't meet the customer until Sunday, so I am still giving her enough time to receive the quote, it's just not on her terms.

[rob the knob]

Originally posted by frozenrice
Instead of going through the channels of using the system software or going through management to get a price quote from me, a salesperson I work with emailed me direct over a month ago (January 23rd to be exact). I get over 50 emails in an average day and it's not untypical if some emails get missed among the piles of other projects/tasks that I have to do on a daily basis. In the weeks since the email was sent this sales person has been in and out of the office numerous times and not once ever talked to me yet alone mention that an email was sent to me requesting a quote.

Fast forward to today. We (salaried office employees) are all technically off work early on Fridays, but I stuck around to finish off a few things before leaving. Just as I was about to leave, one of my coworkers came to me to say he'd just gotten off the phone with said sales person and told me that she needed that price by this weekend and that she had sent me an email a few weeks ago and that she never got a response.

I checked my messages and indeed there it was. I admit I missed it - my bad.

What pisses me off about this whole thing though is not the actual quote request but the fact that this person waited until I was technically off work to try and contact me to tell me that she needs this quote RFN and then emails me and the boss (he's away on vacation on top of it all) to tell me that I had not responded to her original email and that she needs the price. In that original email, she was supposed to cc the boss in on it so that he could quarterback/manage the priority calls as he knows I'm swamped and can step in to help if needed (The reality is, is she is actually supposed to go through him first to begin with). In the email that she forwarded it was clear he was not included in the message.

In the end, I never responded to her latest email or answered her calls, but I did do up the quote for her and emailed it to her WITH A TIME DELAY so she won't get it until sometime tomorrow.

Am I a dickhead for responding this way? I do feel the need to make her sweat it out a bit for pull that on me.

That's the end of my rant. I just needed to get that off my chest so I can enjoy my weekend.

Originally posted by frozenrice
I appreciate where that comment is coming from and you're right, there's probably some truth to it as well. HOWEVER, my response would be, if you haven't gotten a response in over a month, then I'd say it'd be reasonable to ask, especially if you were just in the office last Tuesday. Hell, go and ask the boss (if he wasn't away) for all I care. I always man up when I drop the ball in these situations and will make it right.

you did no man up this time.

you know, if she call you to say "yo froze, did you get this email", then you would come here and complain about people who call after sending email, you know.

not big deal. if you do work for client, why not do timely instead of time delay. and include message, hey sorry.

especially in this economy.

[rob the knob]

Originally posted by frozenrice
Instead of going through the channels of using the system software or going through management to get a price quote from me, a salesperson I work with emailed me direct over a month ago (January 23rd to be exact). I get over 50 emails in an average day and it's not untypical if some emails get missed among the piles of other projects/tasks that I have to do on a daily basis. In the weeks since the email was sent this sales person has been in and out of the office numerous times and not once ever talked to me yet alone mention that an email was sent to me requesting a quote.

Fast forward to today. We (salaried office employees) are all technically off work early on Fridays, but I stuck around to finish off a few things before leaving. Just as I was about to leave, one of my coworkers came to me to say he'd just gotten off the phone with said sales person and told me that she needed that price by this weekend and that she had sent me an email a few weeks ago and that she never got a response.

I checked my messages and indeed there it was. I admit I missed it - my bad.

What pisses me off about this whole thing though is not the actual quote request but the fact that this person waited until I was technically off work to try and contact me to tell me that she needs this quote RFN and then emails me and the boss (he's away on vacation on top of it all) to tell me that I had not responded to her original email and that she needs the price. In that original email, she was supposed to cc the boss in on it so that he could quarterback/manage the priority calls as he knows I'm swamped and can step in to help if needed (The reality is, is she is actually supposed to go through him first to begin with). In the email that she forwarded it was clear he was not included in the message.

In the end, I never responded to her latest email or answered her calls, but I did do up the quote for her and emailed it to her WITH A TIME DELAY so she won't get it until sometime tomorrow.

Am I a dickhead for responding this way? I do feel the need to make her sweat it out a bit for pull that on me.

That's the end of my rant. I just needed to get that off my chest so I can enjoy my weekend.

Originally posted by frozenrice
I appreciate where that comment is coming from and you're right, there's probably some truth to it as well. HOWEVER, my response would be, if you haven't gotten a response in over a month, then I'd say it'd be reasonable to ask, especially if you were just in the office last Tuesday. Hell, go and ask the boss (if he wasn't away) for all I care. I always man up when I drop the ball in these situations and will make it right.

you did no man up this time.

you know, if she call you to say "yo froze, did you get this email", then you would come here and complain about people who call after sending email, you know.

not big deal. if you do work for client, why not do timely instead of time delay. and include message, hey sorry.

especially in this economy.

[Kloubek]

I think this other person dropped the ball, and then realized at the last moment they didn't get the information then needed it right away. But I doubt they did so maliciously.

What you did, however, was malicious. (Albeit a minor thing). Especially considering it was you who missed the email in the first place.

Fault all around.

[CanmoreOrLess]

You need a better system for dealing with fifty emails a day. There are many ways to organize if you search around. Your job would be easier and less stressful, all good things. Also, never be in the office if you are not expected to be there. Only bad shit happens in my experience. Your ass should have been out the door along with your coworkers.

[JDMsomething]

Sounds like you missed the E-mail and were at fault, and maybe did not like this person from the past so wanted to mess with her to show your power.

Just do your job and move on, no need to dwell on a minor thing.

Be careful!
It's an attitude like that, that will make you be the least paid and first cut.

[ddduke]

If I'm the customer and request a quote then I would just assume you would do it, it's not my job to babysit. I don't think I would go above your head and bring your boss in to it but I understand why she would. You looked lazy (even though it was an honest mistake) and she likely felt slighted.

Why don't you have a to do folder in your inbox? Every time I would get something that needed to get done but not immediately I would drop it in there then in my spare time I would go through the emails and when completed put them back in my inbox. I never miss an email because I put them in there as they come in.

[Star1995]

Sounds like you dropped the ball, I personally get between 80-100 e-mails a day that I need to respond to and then deal with their problems/requests. Every e-mail I receive gets flagged with a "follow up" flag and I start at the top of the list and start picking 'em off, sometimes they get pushed to the next day but every single e-mail gets answered. This does not include the two or three looks into the junk e-mail folder. My current PST folder has over 27,000 e-mails in it and I've never missed a reply to any one of them.

You need to man up, get what the person needs and fix the problem with how you deal with e-mails. If I was your boss and you told me that "it's not untypical if some emails get missed among the piles of other projects/tasks that I have to do on a daily basis" I'd be looking rectifying that right quick.

[dirtsniffer]

I do something similiar for account managers. I have missed a few emails over the years too. Typically I have a 24 hour return time so I just tell people if you don't hear from me in a week I am not doing it unless you remind me.

100 emails a day. Damn you must be attached to your computer from 8-5

[firebane]

You were a dick for the delayed email. But the salesperson if they were any good would have done a follow up email within a few days of sending the original to check if you had gotten it.

Both parties.. Guilty