Rachel, I said awful things to a client

Dear Rachel,
This sounds dumb but it really happened. I was on the phone in a heated argument with my ex-wife. A call came in. In my exasperation and anger I somehow switched over to the other call. I was cursing a blue streak. Turns out I was cursing at my client, not my ex. I felt terrible. I just hung up the phone. Now what do I do? Please advise ASAP. I need do something quickly. Sign me Trash Talker in the Big Apple.

Dear Trash,
You are right about one thing. You need to move quickly.

You also need to do the right thing.

We all make mistakes and say dumb things to the wrong people, and there is no way you can undo what was done.

But you can do the right thing by putting it all out on the table and making amends as best you can, as soon as you can.

I would immediately go to your supervisor and tell all.

Apologize, of course, and also offer to make whatever amends management thinks appropriate, moving off the account if needed. You could even offer to resign if you think irreparable damage was done.

With your supervisor’s approval, I would then immediately write a note of formal apology to the client. Explain exactly what you have told me and express your regret.

You don’t say what the client is like, but if you are lucky he or she has been in the business long enough to have experienced similar disasters. They too will have had to write similar notes of formal apology.

The one thing you don’t want to do is pretend the incident never happened, as tempting as that might be.

Don’t even think about it.

It would leave your relationship with the client in limbo, affecting all your dealings going forward.

Unfortunately, a lot of people do just that. They take the easy way, dismissing such incidents as just the way business is done these days.

But as the saying goes, what goes around comes around, and in time it could well come around to bite you.

More important, though, it would not speak well of you. In business what matters over time is not the deals you’ve made or the money, but the person you are. That is how you will be known. That is the person you have to live with.