I just picked up the phone and called D. because something that should have been done days ago still wasn't. Not too hard I'd say, and I decided to use my recently gained "assertiveness" techniques. Introduce myself, come straight to the point, explain the expectation, repeat the excuse if the other party comes up with one, request a deal and have that deal confirmed. It all sounds so easy, doesn't it?
Here's how my conversation went :
Me : "Hi D., it's S. and I'm calling you in regard to ..."
D. : "Hi S."
Me : "I came along last week on thursday and we agreed that you'd do ... but this hasn't been done yet."
D. : "Ah, hasn't it? I thought it had been done already. I'll do it tonight, for sure!"
Me : "Ah, ok then."
D. : "Bye."
Exactly why did it fail? I had all the steps mentally laied out before I even started the conversation? Why didn't I take her excuse (I thought it had been done already) and made it mine, showed understanding for the situation and prosposed a deal, which she then had to confirm? You tell me! I think it was because I was immediately looking for a reply to her "oh, I forgot" excuse, and that's wrong. She fucked up, I didn't. I need to just take her excusse and turn it around.
I think I've got a looong way ahead of me if I want to get better at this.