emarkably, at 10:00PM on Friday night, I had just begun to draft a reply to an offline I'd received from Doug when another appeared on my computer screen. He'd completed his contract earlier in the afternoon and had promised to take his employees out for a celebration dinner to reward then for meeting the deadline. Big bonuses were in order to all that had assisted with the project.
"How did you know I was typing you a message????" he asked and I joked that I had ESP. The employees had gone bonkers after learning that each was getting a $25,000 bonus and I quipped that I'd like to work for his company, after all, I was constantly meeting deadlines and could find wonderful ways to put that kind of money to good use.
Doug had received an offline from "Dick" that day, asking why Doug had been ex-communicado. I was asked if "Dick" was angry for any reason and replied that I didn't think so, but that these lingering doubts were causing some unnecessary friction between the group.
OK, mistake number one: Never mention something that you know you will be asked to follow up on, and shouldn't. Doug asked me to explain and admittedly it was difficult. I'm a pacificist at heart, and I'm also one that believes in honesty amongst friends and yet I felt horrible that a tight group of people could come unravelled so easily. What does that say of loyalty? I also knew that Doug was troubled by the speculation that he could be at the root of the ILW drama and I felt it best to address that right away so that the parties could come together to settle the matter head-on. I didn't wish to represent "Dick's" views, but Doug is tenacious and pressed for me to ellaborate. Eventually, I complied and pasted a couple of lines from the chat "Dick" and I had had during the week, where he had suggested his hypothesis that Doug may be the imposter. It incited Doug to contact "Dick" on a separate chat screen, to query. I waited.
After several hours of no contact from Doug, I sent an instant message to him asking what was going on. He replied that he was discussing the matter with "Dick" and was sorry for leaving me hanging. After sufficient time elapsed to indicate that I was not going to be invited into the chat, I zipped off another message saying that I hoped he understood that I didn't wish for anything to come between any of us, and that I hoped they'd resolve the issue. Doug replied "He is just trying to explain his point of view without offending either one of us. I am sorry for leaving you hanging like this.Yes, that is very thoughtful of you. You don't need to justify anything you did. I know who you are and what you stand for."
I said good night, fully expecting that in the morning the clan would be once more returned to the cohesive and tightly-knit group we had enjoyed before the imposter appeared on the scene. I would be mistaken.
"How did you know I was typing you a message????" he asked and I joked that I had ESP. The employees had gone bonkers after learning that each was getting a $25,000 bonus and I quipped that I'd like to work for his company, after all, I was constantly meeting deadlines and could find wonderful ways to put that kind of money to good use.
Doug had received an offline from "Dick" that day, asking why Doug had been ex-communicado. I was asked if "Dick" was angry for any reason and replied that I didn't think so, but that these lingering doubts were causing some unnecessary friction between the group.
OK, mistake number one: Never mention something that you know you will be asked to follow up on, and shouldn't. Doug asked me to explain and admittedly it was difficult. I'm a pacificist at heart, and I'm also one that believes in honesty amongst friends and yet I felt horrible that a tight group of people could come unravelled so easily. What does that say of loyalty? I also knew that Doug was troubled by the speculation that he could be at the root of the ILW drama and I felt it best to address that right away so that the parties could come together to settle the matter head-on. I didn't wish to represent "Dick's" views, but Doug is tenacious and pressed for me to ellaborate. Eventually, I complied and pasted a couple of lines from the chat "Dick" and I had had during the week, where he had suggested his hypothesis that Doug may be the imposter. It incited Doug to contact "Dick" on a separate chat screen, to query. I waited.
After several hours of no contact from Doug, I sent an instant message to him asking what was going on. He replied that he was discussing the matter with "Dick" and was sorry for leaving me hanging. After sufficient time elapsed to indicate that I was not going to be invited into the chat, I zipped off another message saying that I hoped he understood that I didn't wish for anything to come between any of us, and that I hoped they'd resolve the issue. Doug replied "He is just trying to explain his point of view without offending either one of us. I am sorry for leaving you hanging like this.Yes, that is very thoughtful of you. You don't need to justify anything you did. I know who you are and what you stand for."
I said good night, fully expecting that in the morning the clan would be once more returned to the cohesive and tightly-knit group we had enjoyed before the imposter appeared on the scene. I would be mistaken.
It is hard to please all parties.
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