Today, I interviewed three elderly residents at a nursing home, hoping to use the transcript for a very important paper due next week. It went great, so I wrapped up and drove home. I sat down to start typing, and realized that my recording had stopped ten minutes in. FML
Collection
Halloween
A failed costume, stolen candy and a very real scare: Halloween, the one night when fear is allowed.
Today, after our teacher had said this class would be very important and that we should take notes, instead of writing notes, I brought a recorder to class. After class, I listened to the recording, and all I could hear was muffled voices. FML
Today, I had a phone interview, my first job interview in months. Two seconds in, I not only lost my signal, my phone froze up and stopped working completely. For six hours. FML
Today, I had a video call with a couple of old friends, but the conversation sort of got boring, so I started mouthing words so they'd think the connection was bad and end the awkwardness. Then, as soon as they hung up the call, I realized I'd left my music on in the background the whole time. FML
Today, I forgot what I was doing while listening to a voicemail and started talking back to it. FML
Today, while at work, I had to spend an hour and a half on the phone, listening to an old lady relive her entire day in excruciating detail. We're not allowed to hang up on customers, and she was extremely quick to dismiss all my attempts to steer the call back on topic. FML
Today, I gave an online presentation to an important client. After I'd done my thing, I asked if there were any questions. No one responded, so I confidently ended the call… except I hadn’t ended it and they heard me mutter, “Thank fuck that’s over.” FML
Today, I was busy writing my English final paper and all of a sudden my computer just chose to freeze. I thought Microsoft Word would save it, but alas, 4 pages down the dumpster. Plus my earphones stopped working and I can't afford to buy a new pair. FML
Today, I scored an interview with a hospital nearby my house, and so I ordered a car 30 minutes before. There were four people in the same car that were picked up AFTER, and dropped off BEFORE me, causing me to miss my interview. The hospital then stopped interviewing for the same position I wanted. FML
Today, I witnessed a horrible car accident and was interviewed by the local news. During the interview I said, "It was terrible. It was like watching a silent movie... but there was sound!" The interview has been aired 6 times. FML
Today, I spent 3 hours in my home recording studio. I was recording vocals and was trying to hit a very hard series of notes. I nailed it after 2 hours and listened. You can hear the vocals, but the EQ settings were tweaked in just the right way where you can hear my dog licking his nuts. FML
Feel like sharing it with the other FML users?
Thanks, your FML was submitted, and will appear in the moderation queue soon!
Top comments
slooby_fml 25
You can probably remember the jist of what they said; fill in the gaps with plausible things
FlyingPie 17
I bet that kind of thing gets old after a while.
Add a comment · Reply to
You must be logged in to be able to post comments!
Comments (55)
armonicavita 13
Aww man that's too bad. But look on the bright side maybe your second interview will be better than your first.!:)
babeababe 16
Maybe you can go off your memory? Try and write it the best you can from what you remember, and if its not good enough, see if you can go back and just ask the questions you didn't remember. That sucks though OP. Good luck.
deet124 11
And that's why we wing it these days :D
Torch15 9
Eye luv how every1 talks in perfect grammer, some just to plz grammer nazis. Haha just trying to give them hell. :p
snakerake 10
Ruff
moonsalt 20
When I'm in this situation, I recreate the interview as well as I can remember it. Then, I email a script to the interviewee(s) - I always collect contact information because it's necessary for some publishing processes. In the email, I tell the interviewee(s) that this will be the final project, but there may be slight errors in the script, and I ask if the script seems correct. Although the interviewee(s) normally can't remember anything they said, it can help occasionally.
Kamibu 12
How has this happened to you more than once or twice? After that, don't you learn and check the recorder, extra batteries and tapes, and take all other precautions? The first time I lost a slaved-over doc in Word, you can bet I was ctrl+s-ing religiously. Also, this is much less helpful advice when dealing with seniors at a nursing home who aren't likely to have email, or if they do, use it often enough to help this kid out. They'd just snicker and mutter about technology under their breath. ;)
spaboolly 26
What a great lesson about relying too much on technology. If you're doing an interview, you should be focusing enough to remember what is said. If you can't do it just from memory, take notes.
docscientist 10
Paper and pens are also technology.
tgod2013 5
You are also stupid #25, he had a valid point
Pstraka6 20
Remember what you can and work with it! You don't need hours of recording to make an awesome project!
lonewolf621 17
FYL. It took me two days to finish transcribing an interview that was an hour long. Next time, keep checking if the recorders on and have two recorders just incase.
perdix 31
Make the paper about senile dementia -- say that your subjects were lucid for about ten minutes and then they zoned out (much like your recording device did.)