Is there a graceful way to handle someone else's error?

If it was me- I would not finger the secretary or name her- any time you point the finger at someone else it makes you look like you are passing the blame.

Instead I would say something like “I should have verified the information I was given about the meeting time, I am sorry.”

This way you are taking responsibility while still mentioning that your information was inaccurate.

Yep, what Dog said. I think I’d go with something like, “I’m sorry. We must have gotten our wires crossed. I thought I was supposed to be here at X. I’ll double check next time.”

Yep, I agree with both of the above.
Besides, there will come a time when the secretary will be in the position to cover your butt and you would want her to handle it with the same kind of tact.

Fix the problem, not the blame.

When your employees do something right, praise them in public
When your employees do something wrong, correct them in private.

“finger the secretary”
“cover your butt”
What is going on at this office?!?

Seriously, @Dog, @cyndyh, and @basp nailed it.

I disagree. This is not about fingering anyone or blaming anyone. It is important, however, to be accurate about what happened.

If that situation was a job interview, the secretary’s error would be likely to cost you the job.

Actually, in other circumstances, it could cost you a sale or business deal.

It is simple enough to produce the email showing the incorrect appointment time. You can then be very gracious about it. You can still call it an apparent miscommunication.

I think it makes a difference what the appointment was for and whose secretary it was, yours or the other person’s. And also I’d weigh in what your relationship is to the other person. I see a huge difference among these situations, just to take examples:

— The VP’s secretary sets up an appointment for you to talk to the VP about your candidacy for a promotion, and she gives you a time that’s an hour early, causing you to wait—or an hour late, causing you to miss the appointment.

— You are the VP, and your secretary misinforms you about what time you are supposed to hold your staff meeting.

— The department secretary sets up a conference call for you with your peer in another state, and you are given a wrong call start time.

Why can’t you say “There seems to have been a mistake in the schedule” and then take it up with the secretary privately? The secretary should treat all engagements with care and double-check so no one is ever caught in this situation.

The situation is kind of a job interview. I am meeting with a professor to ask if he will let me do research in his lab, potentially for the rest of my PhD. It is less dire than a job interview because I am already in the PhD program and he can effectively only “hire” from the pool of students, but it is somewhat more dire than a job interview in that the adviser/student relationship will potentially influence the rest of my career. Owing to a series of unfortunate events, I really need this person to say yes to me.

His secretary made the appointment. I remember the conversation very clearly: she asked if Tuesday or Thursday would work; I asked for Tuesday; she changed her mind and said he could only do Thursday. I put the appointment on my calendar as we spoke and verified before we got off the phone. And then she called me today—Wednesday—to ask where I was. I am absolutely certain we never said Wednesday on the phone because I had made previous plans to loan my car to a friend on Wednesday.

I referenced the “miscommunication” twice on the phone with the secretary hoping she would realize it was her error and apologize but instead she just reassured me that I could reschedule for Friday. So, Friday it is.

How awkward for you, @nikipedia. I think it might be best to say nothing more unless the prof makes some reference to it. Then you can say, “Oh, I didn’t mind rescheduling. It didn’t really cause me any problem. I hope she didn’t get in any trouble for the mistake.”

It’s quite likely that the professor may not even know of the mistake and that she was handling the whole thing. If that’s the case, I wouldn’t bring it up. If it does appear that the professor knows, I would just apologize for any inconvenience it may have caused the prof and say there was a miscommunication about the prior appointment time. Staying in good with the deparmtental secretary could save your ass (and photocopying time) down the road.

It’s the responsibility of the professional to show up for their meetings on time, not the secretary.

It’s highly unprofessional to blame what is ultimately a person’s own responsibility on a subordinate.

The others waiting for you don’t want excuses. They want your presence.

The graceful way to do it is to apologize for their lost time and move directly on with the meeting. You can discuss the matter with your secretary, later in private.

EDIT: “departmental”

@The_Compassionate_Heretic But we Coordinators are there in order to allow the professionals to bypass thinking about things like appointment times. I take the job very seriously, and feel really, really bad when I screw up. I am the one that makes the system work smoothly, and if I misstep people suffer. Not to say that all secretaries are like this, or should be like this – but it was her responsibility.

@wildpotato The people in that meeting don’t care about who’s fault it is. The end result is the person was late.

I have to agree with the Heretic. You can speak with the secretary privately afterwards. It’s not their problem.

Example: I run a huge weekend festival every year for my day job. About six thousand people showed up this year.

Ten other people (nine other managers and a freelancer) are integral in making this thing happen. None of them work for me.

Despite that, if something were to go wrong, guess who’s on the hook for the whole thing?

My boss would not want to hear who did what. He just wants to know what I’m doing to fix it.

@cprevite, @The_Compassionate_Heretic Oh yeah, I am not saying that I disagree with the way that Dog, basp, and cyndyh (among others) say to handle the situation. I think that making excuses is always a bad idea. I was disagreeing with Heretic’s statement “It’s the responsibility of the professional to show up for their meetings on time, not the secretary.” Well sure, but the receptionist has to do his job well in order to facilitate that meeting.

Or perhaps I was reading your statement in a more literal way than you intended? – I can see, upon rereading, how that statement might have been meant as a representation of the professor’s perspective in this matter. In which case, I wholeheartedly agree – that is and ought to be the way that the prof looks at the situation.

@wildpotato I’m totally with you on being on top of your job whatever it is, and you’re awesome for having such a positive attitude. That’s the only way we get anything done on this earth.

It could also be that you were scheduled for Thursday, the person you were going to see had a conflict on Thursday, and asked to have you rescheduled. You were moved on the calendar, but the notification to you never happened. Or his assistant flat out wrote it on the wrong date. Anyhow, I would call tomorrow morning to confirm the Friday appointment, and comment about the mix-up at that time.