grace_white•1mo agoTop Commenter

My backup plan crashed hard at a client meeting last Thursday

I had a whole folder of data ready for a big client presentation but the file got corrupted. It happened right as the client logged into the meeting. I spent 10 minutes trying to fix it but nothing worked. So I just told them straight up what happened and shared my key points from memory. They actually respected the honesty and we rescheduled. It made me realize I need to keep a printed outline or a second device handy for stuff like this. Has anyone else had a file fail at the worst moment?

3 comments

3 Comments

blake_bell291mo ago

You're acting like "it crashed hard" but you got a reschedule out of it, so honestly it sounds like a win. The client respected your honesty, so where's the real problem? It's just a file, not a heart attack man, you'll be fine.

umamartin1mo ago

But is it really a win if you're now spending the free time stressing about whether the client secretly thinks you're unprofessional? I mean, yeah they rescheduled politely, but that's just surface level - you don't know if they're already looking for someone else behind the scenes. Has that thought crossed your mind at all, or do you genuinely believe people just accept tech failures without judgment?

jadew631mo ago

You mentioned @blake_bell29 being optimistic about the reschedule, but I actually read a study recently that said clients usually appreciate honesty more than perfection in these situations. So that backup fail might have even helped your relationship long term, weirdly enough. I still carry a printed one-pager to meetings now though, just in case.