Breaking Murphy's Law - Latest Comments in The world’s worst wet T-shirt contest

Re: The world’s worst wet T-shirt contest

leepotts — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 15:42:50 -0000

Thanks for the comment "Bedd". It's a good story and, if you don't mind, I'd like to use it in a full-blown blog post in the next week or so.

Re: The world’s worst wet T-shirt contest

Bedd Gelert — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 17:45:23 -0000

Okay, technically this isn't a 'presentation' disaster, but because it concerns a PC and a meeting where having it functioning was pretty well essential I will mention it...

I was pretty stressed, as I had to take details, onto a spreadsheet, of the issues on literally dozens of different items we were dealing with, on a Red / Amber / Green basis, with half a dozen people in the room and someone from IT, who had all this information, at the end of a phone line.

The computer wouldn't work, as I couldn't 'sign in' to it. I got more and more irate, as it kept rejecting my password. In the end I took to it to another room, got on the phone to PC Support and [there is no way I can shy away from this, and I'm not proud, but one has to tell the truth however ashamed I am ... ] I went ballistic. 'Why isn't this pc working - I am about to go into a 2 hour meeting and I need this to be working NOW - Why isn't it ??'

Cue more weeping, wailing and a temper tantrum with PC support all to no avail. Of course, machines know when you are stressed and unreasonable and responding in the way I did. So I failed to get the PC working and had to resort to somebody else having to take over my role with their PC.

PROBLEM - I had inadvertently pressed a 'Function' key on the PC, which converted 9 keys on the right hand side of the keyboard into a 'number pad'.
When I keyed in my 'ID' I used the numbers at the top of the keyboard.

But when I keyed in my 'password' I used the letter keys on the keyboard, some of which were being substituted by numbers - and there was no way I would realise this as the password is clearly only shown as dots when keyed

MORAL - I could have been there for hours and not figured this out - but I had a fighting chance to do it quickly if I hadn't lost my rag. And PC support would have had a small chance of sorting this out in a couple of minutes if I'd been courteous with them. But because this was a 1-in-a-100 problem, as soon as I got flustered and panicked I was done for.

Easy to say in hindsight, and in 'cold blood', but as we are always told 'It's nice to be important, but even more important to be nice..' We live and we learn..

A long time ago, but still able to give me nightmares..

Re: The world’s worst wet T-shirt contest

leepotts — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 19:44:29 -0000

@ Lisa Braithwaite: There's an ad making it's way across the TV universe right now for those stain stick thingies. A guy is being interviewed for a job, but there is a stain on his shirt. A talking stain. In fact, it talks right over him and the interviewer doesn't hear a word the poor guy says. Sent chills down my spine. Thanks for stopping by Lisa and thanks for the comment.

Re: The world’s worst wet T-shirt contest

coachlisab — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 23:05:27 -0000

I was recently very happy to have backup clothing on an out-of-town speaking engagement. Not because I had a dramatic collision like Laura's, but because when I pulled my planned top out of the suitcase, I discovered that it was ALREADY stained! How that happened, I will have to bring up with my husband, who does the laundry!

But I always have an extra outfit (more for indecisiveness than for accidents), and I was able to grab a different top and continue on with my day.

This is also a good practice when the weather turns out to be different than expected (last trip to Portland, OR, I was wearing wool sweaters in a heat wave).

Lisa Braithwaites last blog post..The power of language

Re: The world’s worst wet T-shirt contest

leepotts — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 08:50:55 -0000

@ James: Thanks for stopping by. As I said, I'm mainly behind the scenes so it doesn't matter much to me, but we do provide a little bit of wardrobe guidance to our presenters. Having a backup outfit is definitely going to be part off that guidance from now on.

Re: The world’s worst wet T-shirt contest

James — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 02:02:31 -0000

Lee,

Now that's something you don't hear about every day. It's funny because I've spoken a number of times at dinner meetings (and nearly every time, I've had a white shirt under my suit) and there's always the risk of getting food on your clothes. But I've never considerd bringing extra clothes in case something happens. What a good idea.

James

Jamess last blog post..Public Speaking Success: Three Ways to Improve Your Speech Delivery