Communication

My story about miscommunication is a little bit embarrassing but I think it is something that everyone should know and how to avoid it from happening in the future. In chapter seven we learned how to communicate effectively and with sensitivity. It stated that students can respect faculty who can admit they were wrong. This is true because I have been in a situation where both the teacher and I were wrong.
        One day in clinic my closest friend was having a bad day. I walked past her operatory and asked her if everything was okay because she was in a panic and looked as if she were crying. As soon as I asked her if everything was okay she said, "why who said something to you." I did hear earlier from another student that two of our clinic instructors talking about her but I had no idea why and didn't give any names.  All I said was I don't know what's going on but there is buzz about you and you seem flustered and I wanted to know what is going on. Well my friend went up to the teacher who was talking about her and said Ashley Perry said you were talking about me and I want to know why!
       My communication mistake was admitting I had heard the gossip about her! Her communication mistake was saying that I named a teacher and said they were talking bad about her. 
      I was in the sterilization room going about my business when the teacher who my friend ran told came bustering up to me. She slammed her fist on the table and screamed at me in front of patients, students and other faculty members. "How dare you tell another student that I was talking about her, It was none of your business. Stay out of other peoples conversations you get a zero for the day." Well my day was ruined. I went from knowing nothing about this whole situation between the instructor and my friend and just inquiring from a friend what was going on, to being blamed for ease dropping. Little did the teacher know that I had heard the information from another student and all I was doing was making sure my best friend was okay. I was called into the director of dental hygiene's office and scolded very badly. I was not even aloud to plead my case. I received a zero for the day and also was given and "I". (At our school if you get three "I's" though out the program you are kicked out.) I really did not know what to do about this situation, the teachers would not listen to me and my friend felt bad for saying my name and changing the story but I did not want to listen to her. It was a whirl wind of miscommunication. This reminded me of clarifying expectations my friend did not have the correct professional approach when telling the teacher she heard gossip about herself. My instructor used the aggressive approach when confronting me. 
    Eventually I talked everything over with my mom and she suggested I write a letter since know one cared to listen. I pleaded my case that I did not know what was going on and that I had heard from another classmate that two teachers were gossiping about my friend and I was just helping out a crying classmate. I told them that none of that is in my character to want to make up rumors or ever even want a teacher to think I would make them look like a bad person. I apologized for the miscommunication throughout that whole day. I sent it to the two instructors involved in the whole conflict and they both apologized to me and said they too were caught up in emotions and did not think before they spoke. It was nice to see them let their guard down and admit they were in the wrong. Especially because these were two of the toughest teachers in the school.
    Looking back at this situation I realized that if my friend would not have ran up to an instructor and falsely accused me of ease dropping then my instructors would not have felt so attacked by the student. The teacher was feeling attacked so she immediately attacked me. What should of happened was the instructor pulling us both to the side and asking us what exactly was going on. Clarifying the situation would of saved everyone a lot of time and stress. My zero for the day and "I" was taken away thankfully but because of all this miscommunication a lot of people's days were ruined.