During one of my part-time job as a Banquet waitress at Holiday Inn, I experienced an interpersonal communication problem with my demanding supervisor that haunts me till today. Having four years of experience working there as a part-timer, I was appointed as the In-Charge for most events. It was a set-up for a wedding event the next day and my supervisor delegated an order to me, ‘’Pei Ling, please follow the event order and set the tables accordingly.’’
I looked at the details – 18 Chinese table setting to be completed by 5:30PM. Knowing that it was only 12:00PM, I did not begin the set-up preparation immediately. I went to help my colleagues at another event next door as they were short-handed. My intention was to start the preparation at 2:00PM since the other event needed more help.
About 1 hour later, my supervisor came shouting at me, “Why haven’t you started the set-up yet?!’’ The couple are already on their way. Go and set-up now!’’ Feeling confused and wrongly accused, I rushed to prepare the set-up.
After the incident, I felt that I needed to clarify the misunderstanding and so, I went to approach my supervisor. He explained that the wedding event will be held the next day at 5:30PM. However, the couple will be coming down to check the set-up for the next day. That was when he handed the banquet event order and expected me to start the set-up immediately despite “to be completed by 5:30PM” indication.
This was when I realised that the problem lied in the communication of instructions from my supervisor to me.
Hence, I would like to ask the readers: What do you think could have done better to prevent such miscommunication from happening?
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Teo Pei Ling 
Hello Peiling,
Personally I am able to relate to this situation as I have experienced this before. In my opinion I feel that on your supervisor’s part, he should have relayed a more complete message. Since he knew that the couple were on their way to the hotel for inspection, he should have instructed you to begin on the set up immediately instead of giving you a 5 hour time frame.
However, I urge you to take this as a learning experience. In the future when similar tasks are assigned to you, do probe for more information and clarify the instructions by repeating the orders. This would reduce the chances of information being left out.
I hope my feedback helps! cheers!
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Hi Pei Ling
You must be feeling very unfair and frustrated at that point of time. But do take this as a good learning experience in the working world. Here is my suggestion on how this could be prevented:
When you decided to help your colleagues next door, you should let your supervisor know first to prevent such misunderstanding to happen. I believe communication is key and in the working world, always inform your superiors regularly to save yourself from unnecessary troubles.
While your intentions was good, you failed to let your supervisor know. If you did, I am certain that your supervisor would be understanding enough to let you help your colleagues.
As mentioned, take this situation as an learning experience to be more proactive and inform our colleagues where are we and what we are doing. Furthermore, don”t be afraid to seek clarification when you are unsure. I hope my suggestion helps and I wish you all the best. Cheers !
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Hello Pei Ling,
I think it was admirable that you wanted to help you colleagues of your free will even though you had your own preparations to worry about. However, I think that you could have handled this situation better by clarifying whether you were able to help your colleagues out with your supervisor beforehand.
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Dear Pei Ling,
The scenario has been described well but there is an insufficient engagement with the key interpersonal conflict here. What was missing in the communication? Your peers have identified how the supervisor should have clarified the urgency. Was there anything in her tone that told you that it was urgent? What made you decide that you had enough time? is it possible that you were not listening actively, looking for verbal and non-verbal cues that would have helped to hear and understand what was said/not said but meant.
Engage more with some of these communication concepts if you choose to revise your post.
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