You might not know, but I make podcasts in the WordPress space for a living. I talk to people about their products, services and their involvement in the WordPress community.
One of the things that I do to make life easier for myself, and the guests that I have on the podcast, is to provide an online calendar booking system. People go to my booking page, book an appointment for a podcast recording. It’s really easy to do.
This does however present me with the problem that I’m allowing an online booking system to control my calendar. If someone books in, I need to make myself available.
This is usually fine. The people who book on are respectful of my time and responsible.
However, yesterday this system collapsed when someone decided not to be respectful and responsible. They took my time for granted, and frankly, I’m annoyed!
On 14th November, this person booked a hour of my time. They booked 18th December at 4pm. They booked my time one month in advance.
They picked a day that is right on the edge of what I’d normally take off for the Christmas holiday. I decided that, on balance, this was fine, and I confirmed the appointment. But let’s be clear, were it not for this appointment, I’d have started my holiday on this day. This person could not know this, but that’s the reality of it.
So I decided to work on the day of 18th December and finish off the year with this podcast recording. At 3:47pm, so 13 minutes before we’re due to start, I get this email:
Sorry – we’re on Christmas holidays, just got notification for this – rescheduled to January
Which irked me.
I think that if you’ve booked someone else’s time, you ought to honour that. If you don’t show up because you’re on holiday, then tell them in advance. You must know that you have a holiday planned, after all, the holiday requires planning.
In a someone annoyed state I replied this this:
Hi there [redacted],
Thanks for reaching out with the following:
“Sorry – we’re on Christmas holidays, just got notification for this – rescheduled to January”
I’m not meaning to be too snarky, but did it occur to you that I too would have started my Christmas holiday today were it not for the fact that I had a podcast episode lined up with you?
This is in fact the case.
I find it a little frustrating that you booked the date and time, and that you left it until 10 minutes before we hit record before you thought to cancel. Also the platform informed you about the recording on the following schedule:
- 1 week before podcast
- 4 days before podcast
- 1 day before podcast
- 2 hours before podcast
Please bear in mind that there’s two sides to a podcast recording, and that there’s a person on the other end.
Thanks.
Perhaps I’m being unfair, perhaps I’m not? I think what really got to me was the cavalier language they used, and the dismissive brevity of their explanation for cancelling. That, and the fact that they left it until the eleventh hour.
If I ever do this to you, be sure to call be out for it. It’s not on.