And so , I just wanted to check in with you and find out where we are with this project . As you know , you ’ Ve missed a fairly significant deadline last week , and this will negativity impact the team ’ s ability to move forward with the next stages of this project .
anger
user
I know , I ’ m really sorry that I missed the deadline . But really , it wasn ’ t my fault . You see , we had all of these unexpected technical problems at the last minute , and that I couldn ’ t get into the database and extract the kind of information that I needed for the data analysis . You know , if the tech guys would have done their job and kept the ARM stable , then I wouldn ’ t have missed my deadline .
neutral
assistant
Oh , come on ! An excuse like that is tantamount to lying . You ’ re essentially blaming the tech team for your time management issues , rather than accepting responsibility for the fact that you were procrastinating for the past two weeks .
anger
user
No , I ’ m not trying to pass the buck here ; I know that it was me who is ultimately responsible for getting this done . But the thing is , I could have finished on time if the system hadn ’ t gone down . And you know , with everything I ’ Ve got going on now , I can ’ t afford to waste time dealing with technical problems . I ’ Ve got a lot on my plate and there are only twenty-four hours in a day ...
neutral
assistant