AIBU for thinking that this implies a delay?

[fionasox]

Sorry if this is a bit confusing, trying to be deliberately vague to not sway opinions! Arrangements being made between 3 people A, P and X.

X informs A that P will be in touch to organise a meeting.
Weeks later P says to X "A has only just got back to me"

Does this suggest that A has delayed responding to P or that P had only just started to make the arrangements?

It suggests that A didn't respond to P's initial contact....but there's no real way to know. We don't know any of the people.

So yes it suggests A delayed responding...

P has caused serious delay to a project. Her wording is rather vague and this has caused confusion.

When I do this it’s because I sent the initial email to the person; they didn’t respond; and I was too busy to chase them / forgot entirely. So the implication is that P sent the email to A weeks ago and A has only just got back to them.

If P only just got around to emailing A and A responded promptly then P should have worded it differently, as it implies that A is at ‘fault’ when really it’s P.

I would say it’s not a massive deal either way - clearly the meeting isn’t that important if it can wait a few weeks before X queries it (I’m hoping it’s actually A’s job to schedule meetings on behalf of X otherwise X is a twat - I hate it when managers say “oh Dyrne can book the meeting” - err, no, I’m not a PA, I don’t have any more time than you do, even if you are senior to me!)

I don't think there's any way to interpret that that doesn't suggest 'I've only just received A's info I needed to plan this meeting/event/whatever.' It is technically possible to say that and mean 'i only emailed A this morning and that's why I've only just got the info now' but that would be disingenuous at best.

The only way to read that is as A having taken a long time to respond, or P wanting to shift the blame to them in some way.

A has only just got back to me only means one thing to me - that P has very recently received a response from A.

To me, P is clearly saying the delay was down to A.

Why has it caused confusion though? Does it really matter why, unless you’re planning on taking disciplinary action against someone? Getting bogged down in the petty wording of an email isn’t going to get the project back on track - ignore who is at ‘fault’ for now, just get things sorted!

In short, A was in quite a bit of trouble for the delay in responding. After an investigation, it was found that P had made the first contact on that day and A responded within an hour. P is now saying that she did not mean to imply A was at fault.

P's talking shit then, and has a blame-throwing attitude that needs sorting. Get P coached up on just fucking getting on with it and not making up excuses.

@SpoonBlender My thoughts exactly!

Ah after that update P is a twat then; especially if A is a colleague that got thrown under the bus rather than a client. “Only just got back to me” clearly means she wanted imply the fault was A’s. There are other ways to get out of saying “I forgot to arrange it”. “I have heard from A this morning” is much more neutral. P should get a bollocking for not only delaying the project, but for trying to say it was A’s fault.

She was speaking literally so as to cover her arse. Presumably because she works somewhere where people get into deep shit about this kind of stuff instead of everyone working cooperatively and reminding each other about things.

P has been disingenuous, it may be factually correct that A had just got back to them but they missed out the part where P only asked A a short while before. I’d be very unimpressed with P!

“I have heard from A this morning” isn’t any better really, it’s still missing out the crucial info that they were only asked at the last minute.

@simkin It's more annoying that she let it be investigated instead of saying "I fucked up"

Yes, if she knew about the investigation, absolutely. But it still highlights that people feel too worried to speak out. Unless it's just her personality.

They're colleagues and she definitely knew about it.

P tried to blame A and has got found out.

When did p contact a initially to make the plans?

Simkin makes a good point. Obviously P is definitely in the wrong but if I were a senior manager I would be seriously investigating why I seem to have had created the kind of working environment where people are so terrified of making a mistake they’re happy to drop a colleague in it rather than come clean. That’s the bigger issue here really.

@ThanosSavedMe It was a couple of weeks late basically