“Who dropped the ball?”

You do not want to hear this question from your boss. Can you guess what this means? All of it sudden, what the heck is the ball here? But you will hear this expression many times at work, especially if you are involved in project managements. Basically, you do not want to drop the ball because if you do, it means you are responsible for something but you make a mistake. I found from the Internet that this expression is originated from FOOTBALL (I mean American football. At this moment, I have to say one thing here. Go Steelers!). In America, football is a huge thing. It is more than you can imagine. It is almost like a war here but it is really fun. (Even fans are ready to throw down to go for mano-a-mano.) So, in football, dropping the ball is really something you do not want to see from you team. It does not matter what position the player is. (quarterback, running back, tight end and wide receiver) You gotta hold on the ball! If you drop it, it is all your fault (maybe except quarterback if it was due to the linebackers’ mistake?? What do you think??) and all of the blames will be on you. So, you gotta check all of the work items, schedules and billable hours continuously to make sure you are not the one who drops the ball. When your boss asks you the question, what you want to say is “The customer is the one who dropped the ball. I already passed the ball to them but they never responded.” I mean if it is true. You cannot make a story up. It will bring more issues.

The same ball is also used in another expression at work, “the ball is in your court.” Let’s say you developed a new feature that a customer asked and then asked the customer to test it, passing the feature to the customer. Then, from that moment, the ball is in their court. “OK, now, the ball is in the customer’s court.” Until they come back to you with bunch of bugs or issues 🙂 Sigh! The life of engineers… There are always bugs.

Speaking of work, there is one more thing I kind of learned or maybe felt from my office.

So, if you are on the phone call with your customer and they understand the situation and be cool with the issues they have. Then you should say something to them, like “Thank you so much for your understanding!” But I heard many people saying, “I really appreciate it!” or “I really appreciate your understanding!” instead of saying “Thank you!” You know what I felt??? I felt that appreciate one is more polite than just thank one. Am I right? If so, is it considered as overreaction if you say “I really appreciate it!” all the time even with small things?

Curious Terry is becoming like Curious George 🙂

PS: There is actually another expression with the ball. Do you know what “the balls” mean? I will let you look it up. Your homework!