Faux Pas

As is often the case in the steel industry, or at least in my office, certain material is acquired almost later than it is needed by the customer. That is to say, "the customer needed this material yesterday!"

When this is the case, it is part of my job to be a bug in the ear of the salesperson we bought the steel from, trying to get our material ready to ship and released NOW, as it is HOTT!

All the while using all of my God-given grace and poise so as not to offend our suppliers.

The following story is no exception:

We bought a coil in Alabama and needed it to ship to Texas. Yesterday. Because I am always bugging these same suppliers for all of the different sales divisions that I work with, I thought I'd change it up a little. You know, make it not quite seem as annoying the 33rd time today that our steel is hot.

Here's what I meant to say:

Hi Liz,

Could you tell me when the two coils on this PO will be ready to ship? We are UBBER hot for this material.

Thanks Liz,
Rachel

There. I threw in a hip word meaning "Super-duper". That ought to take the annoyance level down a notch.

However, since Spell Check is my arch-nemesis, what was actually sent to Liz, was a request for our steel, which was "RUBBER" hot!

As if I were trying to peel out of the plant with 45 thousand pounds of steel!

Of course, this whole fiasco could've been avoided if I'd actually known how to spell "ubber" in the first place. Because, in fact, the proper spelling is "uber", bearing little resemblance to the word "rubber".

Furthermore, when I typed in "ubber" on urbandictionary.com, (far too late to avoid this faux pas, I might add,) I was given this definition:


ubber

It is the product of poor spelling and ignorance, the actual word is uber.

So I did what any good Purchasing Assistant with a trace of her God-given grace and poise remaining: I put my poor spelling, ignorant tail between my legs, and sent this e-mail:

Dear Liz,

I'm sorry, we are not "rubber" hot for anything.

I meant to say Ubber...but my computer had a meltdown, and wouldn't allow it.

Have a nice day!