Conducting Yourself Professionally

I’m a fairly casual guy.  I believe in dealing with people directly. I don’t stand on formality and I say what I think.  (Hell, I once asked a famous martial arts personality, during a telephone interview, “What’s wrong with your face?”)  Occasionally, however, I’ll be confronted with behavior — and in this case, attitude — that strikes me as completely unprofessional.  There is a time and place to be direct, and it isn’t when you’ve just done something wrong.

Specifically, I received an e-mail this morning from a law firm a few states away. When I replied and told the firm they had the wrong person, they got snide with me.

Now, stop and think about that from the standpoint of the client.  You’re the guy the law firm is SUPPOSED to be billing.  Your law firm accidentally sends your bill to somebody else and, when queried about it, insists they have the right person — apparently because they never bothered to confirm the e-mail address for you.  Would you be happy with a vendor or service provider who responded this way?

 

Attached is [redacted]‘s [date] services invoice. Please remit payment to the invoice address and reference the invoice number. If you have any questions regarding the invoice, please contact me at the number below. Thank you for your valued business.

ME: Excuse me, but who are you, and why am I be being billed?

I work with [redacted]. [So-and-so] did some legal work for you in regards to the [something] back in [sometime]. This is the invoice for his time. Please let [So-and-so] know if you have any additional questions. Thank you and hope you have a wonderful day.

ME: Uh, no, you didn’t. You are writing to [the wrong guy] — and I should think [the actual client] you *thought* you were billing should be upset that you’re randomly disclosing his business to other people without first verifying the e-mail address to which you should be sending it. I am a writer based in New York State and I guarantee that your firm and I have done no business together.

So-and-so wrote back: Thank you for notifying us and we wish you a lovely, lovely rest of your day…

ME: Seriously? You send a bill to the wrong person and your response is to cop an attitude?  I guess my “lovely, lovely day” won’t include something as simple as the sentence, “Hey, sorry about that.”

So-and-so wrote back: We apologize most vociferously for interrupting your busy day and forswear never to interrupt you again.

ME: You’re a class act, [So-and-so].

 

It’s subtle, but there’s real arrogance in telling someone whom you’ve just billed incorrectly, and to whom you’ve disclosed accidentally the details of your work for another client, to have a “lovely, lovely day.”

A simple, “We apologize” without the smarmy editorializing would have been all that it took.  Instead, our attorney at law So-and-so acted like I had offended him for pointing out that maybe, just maybe, they should check these things before they tell people their clients’ business.

I’ve met a lot of lawyers and hired a few. Not once have I met one whom I would expect to respond this way — at least, not to a random e-mail generated by his own mistake.