Sticky social situation — how to handle

fireandrain
Wed, 06 Apr 2016 15:58:06 +0000

This will happen later today. The background:

Alice, Betsy and I are in charge of an April event. Alice and I have just started to become friends. We meet in January and divvy up the work. I do my job and let them know. Six weeks pass and I realize I haven’t heard from either of them.

I send an email, Betsy responds but not Alice. I send a second email to Alice, she apologizes for being busy and says she’ll do her part ASAP. Her job — write a name and a 2-3 sentence description.

A few more days go by, and nothing from Alice. I email again, hear nothing, so I do her job, very quickly and not that well.

3 weeks go by with no word from Alice until Monday, when she emails, “I’m just checking in. I apologize for not reaching out sooner, but just noticed it on my calendar. I can be there to help.”

I had Betsy contact her. So Alice is going to be there.

I’m not good in situations like this. Alice totally dropped the ball, leaving me to do the work, and that bothers me. She might have a really good reason, but she could have conveyed it to us.

Do I pretend nothing happened and act happy to see her?
Do I confront her?
Do I act passive aggressive and grumpily ignore her and say nothing?
Something else?

I know this sounds so middle school, but I’m curious what people think is the best approach. I realize it’s probably the first, but I find that so hard!