A Second Impression
Remember when we used to use paper around the office? There were pieces of scrap paper with scribbled notes taped-up to the desk. I remember having a collection of those yellow Post-It notes all over one of my cubical walls. And when the receptionist would take a message for you, he or she wrote it on one of those pink "While you were out" pads. Yeah, there was actually a pad of paper specifically created for taking messages!
Remember returning from the office, and instead of dreading going through your email inbox, you would thrust your hand into a cubby hole that features your name, and retrieve a handful of pink notes?On this particular day, rather than reaching into my very own box to retrieve my phone messages, this one was handed to me. The giant hand reached toward me clutching the single pink sheet.
"Read this," he said in a not-very-friendly voice.
My eyes glanced from left to right. Then again, and again. The short message (the one at the top of this post) was a quick read. I braced myself...because I felt I knew knew what was coming next. But I was wrong, it was even more extreme.
"No more," he said. "No more Sinatra records!"
It's quite possibly the biggest dose of blasphemy that can be issued to a fan of 'Ol Blue Eyes. But before you begin convulsing, trust me, there's a lesson here.
Mister Wilson was my mentor and teacher, and got me started in the broadcast business. Early in my music radio career, I had become a giant fan of Frank Sinatra. I played 2-3 of his songs per shift for a while. It wasn't because I wanted to push the Chairman on anyone; He was just one of two of my favorite male singers of all time. I couldn't get enough.Well, the listeners of this radio station were perfectly frank about Frank: They appreciated smaller doses. And this message from a listener written on the pink slip of paper was the last straw. For the next several weeks, my radio show was devoid of "Strangers in the Night," "New York, New York," and his countless other classics. It was tough going for a young guy in his second year of radio work. I eventually would make a deal that would get me one Sinatra song per week.
I mentioned that this was year two of my radio career. Flash forward years later to my 5th, 6th, and 7th year in the business. My memory stinks sometimes, and perhaps yours can be unreliable. But years after the "Too Much Frank" incident, I was continually haunted by the mistake (Mistake may be too severe of a word....let's instead called it an amateurish move).
"Oh yeah, you're the guy who plays a lot of Sinatra."
Whether we were at remote broadcasts or making our yearly visit to the county fair to meet the countless numbers of listeners, the comment was the same years later. Sometimes it was delivered in a negative tone, other times, it was more of a "I love ya a lot, I just wish you wouldn't play so much of him" disappointed kind of tone. The last 6 years I was at the station, i played one Sinatra song a week, and yet, you wouldn't know it by what the listeners were saying.
I am very proud of those years of my career, as I learned a ton about the business, and about being a man. I also learned the gravity of a first impression. Mind you, my first impression could have been a lot worse, but the fact remains, it haunted me for the rest of my career in that small town. I am eternally grateful that most of the listeners gave me the chance to make a second impression, and ended up loving me like one of their own.
If you're lucky, you will get the chance to make that second impression. But it's been my experience that once someone forms an opinion of you and your work, try as you may to change their view...that first impression has been made, noted, and filed away.
In my last post "Will That Be Cash, Credit, or Credibility?" I wrote about an error made by a news person, and how that factual glitch can impact one's credibility. Sometimes, a listener/viewer/reader doesn't give you a second chance. Blow an obvious fact, and you're labeled biased or unreliable. Like it or not, we as a collective are quick to judge. And sometimes that judgement is based on what seem to be the littlest and irrelevant things.
A friend and fellow newsie of mine wrote a post along the same lines. Paul addressed about typos:
One of the most irritating things in the world to me is when I’m sitting in a movie theater and someone’s cell phone goes off. I know I’m not alone because of the ubiquity of those “please turn off your phones” ads that play right after the dancing candy before every movie.
It’s not so much that it’s overtly rude or inconsiderate — though it is, and it is — it’s that when you’re in a movie, you’re immersed in a world; your mind is in a dreamlike state and a cell phone ring has the same effect as your mom shaking you awake from a dream saying, “It’s time for school!”
A similar thing happens when someone comes across a typo in your writing.
Think about being lost in a good book that you’re reading for the first time when suddenly, you see something like: Dno’t Panic.
It’s a tiny blip — two letters reversed in a sea of tens of thousands — but it’s enough that, now you’re thinking about the typo more than the world you’re supposed to be in.
You’ll never know what you lost from one typo
Your blog is likely not anyone’s favorite book, and given the nature of the medium, people are probably skimming rather than getting lost. Blogging does allow you to go back and fix a typo once you’ve published, but while you can take back typos, you can never take back someone’s first (often only) time reading.
After someone is jolted by a typo, will they keep reading long enough to want to share your post? Save the link? Link to it in one of their posts? Maybe, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to keep typos away at all costs.
Brian here again. Thanks to Paul Balcerak for adding to the conversation.
In a world where things move so quickly, don't risk not getting a second chance. It's likely very worth your worth your while to take the time to make a good first impression.
Categories: TV, Radio, Communications, Journalism, Social Media
"The world of reality has its limits; the world of imagination is boundless." - Jean-Jacques Rousseau
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