I messed up

DavidMn · #1 06-10-2010, 02:58 AM

So a couple days ago I was supposed to take a friend of mine to the airport so he could go see his daughter in Florida. He had called me last week and asked if I could. Now I needed to be there at 7:30 A.M at his place to get him to the airport on time. This is a friend who I have known for 15 years and we have gone to concerts together and hes definitely a fellow Maccer. He took me to and picked me up from the airport when I went to London for FLeetwood Mac last fall. Anyway, back to now. My friend was nervous because I AM NOT a morning person and he asked "are you sure you can ge tup in time?" I swore several time that for him it was no problem. Well as I'm sure you can guess it was a problem. I set my alarm for 6:00 A.M. the next thing I knew it was 7:30 and I saw the clock and FREAKED!

I called him hurriedly and of course he was pissed. He said "Dammit dave, I counted on you and you F***ED UP!" he said he had called a cab and I told him to cancel it and I would be tehre in 15 min which I was. I got there though and he had already left in the cab. He called later that afternoon after arriving in Florida still mad at me. I said "I'm sorry I swear I dont know what happened!" and he was like "I dont care I counted on you and you didnt come through." And he hung up on me. I'm not sure whats going to come next, but I am at peace at least knowing I had set everything up right. I have no idea what happened. The only thing I can think of is that when the alarm went off I turned it off and dont remember it. I'm just going to not call my friend for awhile and let him cool off then we'el see.

**mylittledemon** · #2 06-10-2010, 04:39 AM

Don't worry about it. ***** happens for a reason. You never know, had you been on time you and he might've been in a car accident and both killed. God only knows. He's fine and safe, and so are you. Move on.

jaycee · #3 06-10-2010, 09:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mylittledemon

Don't worry about it. ***** happens for a reason. You never know, had you been on time you and he might've been in a car accident and both killed. God only knows. He's fine and safe, and so are you. Move on.

Well, ***** happens, but there doesn't have to be a very deep reason for it, and it's more likely than not there wouldn't have been a car accident... still, the important thing is that you're both safe, and he made his flight anyway.
If your friend really is your friend, he will forgive you sooner or later, especially because the situation worked out okay for him in the end. At worst, it might put a bit of a strain on your friendship for a little while. But if he didn't forgive you, you'd have to wonder just how good a friend of yours he's been the past 15 years. If he is a good friend, he'll probably say later on that's he's sorry he relied on you knowing that things possibly could've gone wrong, and that's he's glad it still worked out fine for him anyway, so the mishap doesn't matter.
It may hurt a bit now, but that's come to pass. The same surely goes for your friend.
(Btw I'm not a morning person either, and there have been times when I've woken up and wondered why the alarm hasn't gone off - it's more than likely the case that I've actually woken up and turned it off, but in such a sleepy state I've immediately gone back to sleep and forgotten all about it, because there was one time when that happened and I remembered doing exactly that, but only several hours after getting up.)

**mylittledemon** · #4 06-10-2010, 02:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jaycee

Well, ***** happens, but there doesn't have to be a very deep reason for it, and it's more likely than not there wouldn't have been a car accident... still, the important thing is that you're both safe, and he made his flight anyway.

Exactly. That's why I said "you never know"...

paleshadow · #5 06-10-2010, 09:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DavidMn

So a couple days ago I was supposed to take a friend of mine to the airport so he could go see his daughter in Florida. He had called me last week and asked if I could. Now I needed to be there at 7:30 A.M at his place to get him to the airport on time. This is a friend who I have known for 15 years and we have gone to concerts together and hes definitely a fellow Maccer. He took me to and picked me up from the airport when I went to London for FLeetwood Mac last fall. Anyway, back to now. My friend was nervous because I AM NOT a morning person and he asked "are you sure you can ge tup in time?" I swore several time that for him it was no problem. Well as I'm sure you can guess it was a problem. I set my alarm for 6:00 A.M. the next thing I knew it was 7:30 and I saw the clock and FREAKED!

I called him hurriedly and of course he was pissed. He said "Dammit dave, I counted on you and you F***ED UP!" he said he had called a cab and I told him to cancel it and I would be tehre in 15 min which I was. I got there though and he had already left in the cab. He called later that afternoon after arriving in Florida still mad at me. I said "I'm sorry I swear I dont know what happened!" and he was like "I dont care I counted on you and you didnt come through." And he hung up on me. I'm not sure whats going to come next, but I am at peace at least knowing I had set everything up right. I have no idea what happened. The only thing I can think of is that when the alarm went off I turned it off and dont remember it. I'm just going to not call my friend for awhile and let him cool off then we'el see.

If he was nervous about your ability to get up early he should have made other arrangements, but on the other hand you know yourself better and should have probably said no. You apologized though and that's about all you can do.
If it were me, I would offer to pay for his cab also, or maybe even find out about how much it was and just send it to him in a letter telling him again that I was sorry. Hope it works out.

HejiraNYC · #6 06-10-2010, 09:49 AM

I think it was rather douchey of your friend to call you later on to tell you off. You were clearly apologetic and appalled by what happened and you made the effort to right the wrong, even if it didn't matter in the end. But it's not like you just blew him off intentionally or expressed indifference.

I think if he is really your friend, he will forgive you and move on. However, he will probably also assume that you simply cannot be trusted for anything ever again and will be reluctant to ask for your help in the future. Only you can make this better by earning his trust again. Offer to do something very helpful. Make commitments and over-deliver on them. Don't wait for him to ask you; take the initiative and propose something. But whatever you do, don't screw it up again!

MissLadyLoki · #7 06-10-2010, 09:59 AM

I hate to say it, but your friend was clearly a grade-A jerk in this situation. I mean, you made an honest mistake, and people do make mistakes. He should understand that, accept your apology, and move on.

michelle2677 · #8 06-10-2010, 10:57 AM

i'll play devil's advocate, just because i have a friend i can't rely on and it's recently been putting a strain on our relationship. if this is the first time this had happened, then your friend is an ass; it was an honest mistake. it's not like you made plans and were out drinking and forgot about him.

but if you're unreliable in other ways, then he's probably been boiling for a while and this is just the final straw. it's usually the small petty things that send us over, because of lots of other small (or large) things building up.

jannieC · #9 06-10-2010, 11:04 AM

He shouldn't have asked you if this has happened before. If I had to be on an early morning flight, I wouldn't count on the friend who is known for not being a morning person to pick me up! All you can do is apologize and leave it up to him, David.

BTFLCHLD · #10 06-10-2010, 01:20 PM

You might try a look from the other side.

Quote:

My friend was nervous because I AM NOT a morning person and he asked "are you sure you can ge tup in time?" I swore several time that for him it was no problem.

Quote:

He took me to and picked me up from the airport when I went to London for FLeetwood Mac last fall.

1) you 'swore'
2) likely you would have had a 'cow' had he been late or failed to show.

DavidMn · #11 06-11-2010, 12:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BTFLCHLD

You might try a look from the other side.

1) you 'swore'
2) likely you would have had a 'cow' had he been late or failed to show.

I did misstype that one line thank you for correcting me. I meant to say I swore to him several times that I could get up on time.

Miss Vicky · #12 06-11-2010, 12:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DavidMn

I did misstype that one line thank you for correcting me. I meant to say I swore to him several times that I could get up on time.

I believe that's what she meant as well, David. As in you swore ("cross your heart and hope to die" kind of swear) that you would do this for him and you still fell through.

Musicman408 · #13 06-11-2010, 12:10 PM

David, I will say that one of my pet peeves is tardiness- HOWEVER, knowing that this person is a true friend, he will forgive you and you all WILL move on. He probably won't ask for an early morning ride for awhile. This is a classic scenario as to why a backup plan to the backup plan would have been a good idea. Your friend could have called you to wake you up, however.

LikeAWillow · #14 06-11-2010, 12:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Musicman408

Your friend could have called you to wake you up, however.

...from a plane?

I agree with the sh*t happens post. You messed up, your friend's disappointment in you is the price you pay. It'll get better in time, but you earned the anger now.

slc4236 · #15 06-18-2010, 04:48 AM

David, you could send him a gift card for a local resturant for the amount of the cab ride. Or if you have the daughters address send a gift card to her for the amount at Toys are Us or Target. That would be a way of solving the problem. Your friend should not have called you and yelled after he got to FL. that is not wat a totaly fuctioning person does. Also you went to London and came home at it was at night that is a lot easier time to help out. When I travel early in the morning I just take a cab or the bus.