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The initial phone call at my desk
I came into work early to catch up on some emails and grade papers. The phone rang. The voice on the other end was familiar, an old friend but also my boss's boss. He, "What the hell do you think you are doing out there! Do you know how hard it is get these sites?!" He proceed to accuse me of insulting a colleague at another institution the night before. I asked him if he had talked directly with this person. He said, No. I said, let's check to see if that is what she actually thought. -
Call to the site facilitator
I could not follow up on this immediately. But the next day, found out the site facilitator's name and number and I called her. I ask if she was upset about my joke about the size of the room (huge room for four people). She said she thought it was funny not insulting. I told her I would be happy to apologize if I had. She was surprised that I would even think it was insulting. I thanked her. -
Call to my boss's boss
Once I had nailed down the specific, I called my boss' boss back. I explained carefully and lsowly what had happened. Nothing had happened. He got bad information from my colleague and assumed it was accurate without checking any further. I suggested in the future, it would be best to check on the veracity of the account before accusing someone. No apology however. Just a friendly, thanks for checking and good-bye. -
Confronting my accuser
I asked my colleague to meet me in my office. I asked her why she did not bring her cncerns to me first. She said my boss told her if she saw anything she did not like in these visits to go right to his boss and tell him. I asked her if she would like to be treated in that fashion. She said no. I suggested that regardless of what the people above her said. It might be best to talk with the other person first. Then I told her what I learned. She was apologetic and said it would not happen again.