At Least Their Heart Was In The Right Place!

I’m currently job hunting in Brazil, and I get lucky and am able to score an interview in a lab. I arrange with the professor in charge to interview on a certain day, but she warns me that things might have to change as her father is going to have surgery. I say that of course that is not a problem and I hope I will see her soon.

The day before my interview, I get an email from the professor saying that her father “faleceu”, which I understand to mean that there have been some complications and she needs to be there to take care of him, so she needs to reschedule the interview. I send an email back saying it’s not a problem and wishing the best of luck to her father.

Later at lunch, I mention this to my boyfriend, and he asks to check the email. He is a native Portuguese speaker, while I am still learning but at a decent level. He then turns to me with a look of complete horror.

Boyfriend: “[My Name], her father didn’t worsen. He died! Please tell me you didn’t wish for him to get better!”

Me: “Not exactly. I did wish him the best of luck, though.”

Cue frantic scrambling by both of us to draft an email begging for forgiveness and asking if I could start again. Luckily, it was clear from the CV I had submitted that Portuguese wasn’t my first language

I got the first interview, and I don’t think I did too badly as I got a call back for the job. Lesson learned, though: always double-check unfamiliar words before replying to emails.