“Done.”
It’s not over until you’ve crossed the finish line.
Not partway.
Not half of it.
Not “almost there.”
Not “should be before the end of the week.”
Not “if everything runs on schedule.”
Not as soon as something else falls into place.
Not “except for a few details.”
Not “as soon as we bring everybody into the loop.”
Not “as soon as we agree on deliverables.”
Not “once it finishes compiling.”
Not “as soon as Finance approves the paperwork” or “as soon as the VP signs off on it.”
Not “as soon as the new quarter starts.”
Not “once we fill that position.”
Not “first thing tomorrow.”
Not anything but . . . DONE.
~
(Photo by Neeta Lind.)
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Just this week: “Your car repairs would be done, but we left the lights on Tuesday and then we charged the battery but then the lights were left on Wednesday so we had to charge the battery again and haven’t been able to check your electrical problem. But we’re doing our best.”
That’s Vista Honda in Ventura, BTW.
Suebob – I grit my teeth on your behalf.
Anything like this makes you want to say “You mean, it’s not ready because you didn’t do your job right?”
Of course, I’ve waited a counter at times in my career, and often the person delivering the bad news isn’t the one who screwed things up in the first place.
But in any event, a better-run outfit wouldn’t find itself making this kind of excuse, ever.
We wanted a simple order form for consultants to enter their contact information, pay a small fee and attach a photo to have their photo converted to 3D for their websites.
After 1 month of waiting, I asked about the progress. The programmer told me, “it will be done by the end of the week. Working out the bugs in the form.”
Another month went by and he responded with, “I am working out the bugs”.
Yet another month went by and his answer was, “It is almost ready”.
We removed this project from his list and will soon be canceling his contract.
Jim — Thanks for this comment. (I thought I had replied sooner, but apparently I didn’t get that . . . done.)
I’ve been on both sides of the equation here, as both employer and employee. There’s a thousand reasons why things like this happen, from outright incompetence (which, I think I can say, never applied to me) to massive overcommitment (guilty) to unclear communications (guilty) to issues over payment, workflow, etc.
But in the end, it’s all the same, isn’t it? It didn’t get DONE. This is why we employ and re-employ the people we KNOW will deliver the goods, eh?
[...] “Done.” [...]