Yesterday, Shawn commented on a grammatical mistake I made (now corrected):
“Kids my age so comfortable and lazy that we can’t even muster the energy to leave the house, much less protest.”
Or even do a simple grammar check.
It’s true, I made a mistake, and it’s true that I often mock others for similar mistakes; but to misquote… well, someone, “Never attribute to [laziness] that which can adequately be explained by stupidity.”
In any job, you’re going to make mistakes, whether you’re a PA or a Producer or a blogger. Some or most of these will be unintentional, or even despite your best efforts. But the people affected by your mistakes won’t see it that way.
It’s called Special Pleading. People excuse their own mistakes, but assume others are being malicious or lazy.
The first time my boss called me an idiot, it hurt my feelings. After a while, I came to recognize that he clearly didn’t understand how hard I was working. Further, it didn’t matter. What mattered was that I knew I was doing a good job.
At least, that’s what I told myself as I cried in my pillow at night.
As a PA, you need to accept that no one will ever see things from your perceptive, unfair though it may be. Get used to saying, ”It won’t happen again.” And then move on.
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I actually had a 2nd ad say to me, “I don’t pay you to think!”. So I looked right back at her, held her gaze and said, “okay, I will never ever think again, no matter what.”
She waited and released I wasn’t bullshitting.
then she said, “okay, that’s not what I meant”.
She went on to become one of my closest friends. 🙂