Miscommunication, embarrassment and humility

This morning I was talking to a friend of mine about miscommunication and embarrassment. This friend of mine related to me a story about how a VIP was recently  invited to an event and instead of having the VIP deliver a speech and officiate the event, the VIP was “sidelined” in the sense that he wasn’t the keynote speaker so to speak (no pun intended) and he wasn’t given the honour of cutting the ribbon. Obviously and rightly too, the VIP was upset as the invitation that was communicated to him was that he was the keynote speaker and also to officiate the event the same time. The organising committee was embarrassed and had apologised profusely to the VIP.

I remember some years ago, I was invited to attend a luncheon event organised by the Malaysian Bar Council. The event was a compulsory lunch that marked the end of the Ethics Course for the soon-to-be lawyers. As I was one of the lecturers in the Ethics Course, I was an honoured guest and was shown to my seat which was right in front of the stage - a VVIP treatment if you can consider it that way. I was early, so I decided to take a stroll at the compound of the venue. When I returned a few minutes before the event started, I noticed that my seat was taken by someone else. I didn’t want to make a scene even though I was an honoured guest in the event, so I just stood there and waited for some help. A lady walked up to me and felt really embarrassed. She informed me that they had mixed up the names and thought that I would not be coming. She mentioned to me that all the seats have been taken except for one. She asked whether I would mind if I take that seat. I asked her to show me to the seat. Well, as you can imagine, the only seat available was right at the end of the room where you can hardly see the person on the stage. This was one of those seats which is perfect for slipping away quietly midway during lunch without anyone noticing!

She apologised to me profusely and wasn’t sure I would be offended and walked out of the event. I looked at her and then at the table and said to her, “You know what, this table is full of ladies. At my age, to get this treatment, I would need to pay money for their company but here I am getting them for free! And to boot, they are all going to be lawyers soon! So I should be thanking you for getting me this great seat.” I could see a huge relief appeared in her face. Well, I had good lunch and good company. Sometimes a bit of humility goes a long way.