Magill Report Twitter Experiment Fails; Not Ready to Give up Just Yet

8/9/11

By Ken Magill

Last week’s experiment in which I posed an Ask-an-Expert question to my twitter feed netted a grand total of zero responses.

Yep, zero.

However, two factors to consider are: A) It’s August, publishing’s slowest month and not the best time to launch a new initiative and B) The question I asked—how to calculate the value of an email address—is rather difficult.

So I’m not ready to give up on Twitter for Ask-an-Expert content just yet. I still believe Twitter is a viable source for community-created content. I just need to approach it differently.

Here’s what I’ve decided to do:

I’m going to pose a question that everybody—and I mean everybody who has ever held down a job—can answer. What’s more, it’s a question that, if answered, is guaranteed to generate entertaining responses.

This week’s question is: What’s the most embarrassing thing you’ve ever done at work?

To prime the pump, I’ll go first.

My most embarrassing work experience took place while I was at The New York Sun. I was talking to a female colleague in the newsroom, a busy, cavernous space with rows of desks and no cubical walls.

I forget what the conversation was about but it somehow involved her straightening some people out.

I had two thoughts in my head. One was: “And you’re just the woman to go over there and shake their cages.” The other was: “And you’re just the woman to go over there and kick some ass.”

What came out of my mouth was: “You’re just the woman to go over there and shake some ass.”

I was so mortified I couldn’t even work up an apology or explanation. I simply walked away with my face burning.

Okay guys. Fess up. What’s your most embarrassing work experience? Send it to KenMagill_at_gmail.com.

Comments

Show: Newest | Oldest

Post a Comment

Your Name:
Subject:
Comments:
Verification:	Please type the letters in the image above

Terms: Feel free to be as big a jerk as you want, but don't attack anyone other than me personally. And don't criticize people or companies other than me anonymously. Got something crappy to say? Say it under your real name. Anonymous potshots and personal attacks aimed at me, however, are fine.

Posted by: chet dalzell
Date: 2011-08-09 14:49:23
Subject: embarrassing miscues

i can't think of just ONE -- so I can tell you in the early days of email, I was one of those folks who sent some criticism to a person via email, and bcc:ed a colleague, who managed to "reply all" with a big fat nasty comment meant only for me! Well, I was the one who was the sinner -- by using the bcc: function in the first place. I learned my lesson then -- spare the bcc: nearly always!