Lesson I Learned Today: Double-Check Every Freakin’ Thing
Today I was working on a skincare product article for a very high-profile health magazine. As I read the transcription of one of my interviews, I saw that the dermatologist had recommended a facial scrub with hydrofluoric acid. Hmm. Salicylic acid, I’ve heard of. Alpha-hydroxy or beta-hydroxy acid might also work. But hydrofluoric acid? Never heard of it. Could the transcriptionist have made a mistake?
First, I checked the sound file of the interview. Okay, the dermatologist definitely said salicylic acid — so that’s taken care of. But on a whim, I looked up hydrofluoric acid on Wikipedia:
While it is extremely corrosive and difficult to handle, it is technically a weak acid…..The danger in handling hydrofluoric acid is extreme.
Holy %*@#. What if I had not happened to know the basic ingredients of a facial scrub and had left that in the article? At best, I would have lost a client. At worst, I would have lost a client and been sued because a loyal reader was missing her face. (Hey, no more acne!) That was a good reminder to double-check all facts and not rely on transcriptions of my interviews with experts.
The transcription service I use apologized and removed the fee from my bill, and promised to make that errant transcriptionist go through another training period. I do love my transcription service very much and they’ve always done a great job for me, so I won’t hold it against them. But I have to wonder was up with that transcriptionist — I mean, salicylic acid sounds nothing like hydrofluoric acid (which, by the way, is also used in chemical terrorism).
Learn from my close call: Double-check everything! [lf]
Yikes! Good save, Linda.
Thank you! That was a close one.
Yeouch this made me cringe. When I was growing up, my dad was a HAZMAT guy and hydroflouric acid was one of the acids he had to deal with quite a bit. I’ve heard awful stories about dissolving extremities due to this stuff. Good fricking catch!
Jennifer, wow! That is scary stuff.
That’s a good catch Linda. You’re lucky you were familiar with the term. When I’m faced with a term I’m unfamiliar with, I often search on it phonetically until I stumble upon the right word.
I’m wondering, though, if it did slip by you, wouldn’t the magazine’s fact-checkers be ultimately responsible? They’re supposed to verify everything before it prints.
Good catch and good reminder to double and triple check your facts.
There is also hyaluronic acid…for aging faces… I am more interested in how many here use a transcriptionist. I take notes… I used to use a tape recorder until one time I was assigned to shadow pyschic Jeane Dixon (alive then, obviously) and all the tapes were blank. It’s notes for moi–in #2 pencil–you can write faster.
Just wanted to reply to Debbie’s comment. In a perfect world, yes, we could rely on fact-checkers. But not always. One magazine I write for (a very pretty monthly, with a professional, international readership) recently reminded me that they don’t have the budget for any fact-checkers on staff. Yikes! Especially with so many layoffs, etc., now more than ever we can’t rely on others to catch our mistakes.
Thanks for all your comments!
Not only, as Kirsten says, don’t all magazines have fact checkers — but even if they did, it would look pretty bad that my article suggested people look for a cleanser with a corrosive acid in it. The editor would likely find out and wonder why I didn’t catch that egregious error myself.
Wow, Star, your tapes of the psychic were blank? Eerie.
Holy cow, I don’t think I would use that so-called service again. What if they’d made a mistake that got you sued?
Hmm, sounds like you got the transcriptionist from Al Qaeda.
Diana, ha!
Anne, I’ve gotten dozens of (maybe even more than 100) great transcripts from this company, so I’ll stick with them. They’re also very fast and not too expensive.
That was weird hanging out with Dixon. She spent a lot of time helping people get mortgages at the bank (her hubs was a real estate agent). We also went to Lorton Prison, where I was almost detained for having a penknife in my purse (didn’t even know it was there). She just bustled over and pushed me on the bus and they were afraid to counter her…she was a force. We also ended up at some Amway salespeoples’ house–and she filled a bag with free samples…took tons! We also went to a meeting at the Mayflower with top ranking Navy officers. This writing life has not been all boring, believe me.
Star, that is awesome!
I wonder if transcriptionists specializing in scientific or medical jargon would be better for stories like this. Hydrofluoric acid isn’t exactly medical, of course, but I think that most people with a scientific background would recognize it as something that you do not want to put on your face!
I prefer to use one service for everything because I write on all sorts of topics! Some transcriptionists at the service are better than others…recently, one transcriptionist did an excellent job of transcribing an interview with a source with a very thick accent that was full of medical jargon.
Whoa. Close call! Thanks for sharing this. It’s a much needed reminder since I’ve started my first writing assignment in the health/ diet/ fitness niche.
Star, that story about the blank tapes – creepy!!