Dropped the ball at work today

c68zapdsm5i1ru

I was working on something last week but, because I was going for medical tests and was seriously worried about the outcomes, my mind wasn't on the job. I therefore missed something important and people are annoy with me.

In my defence a key person in the chain didn't let me know they were going away for a few days, another person in a senior position was very late in clearing my work and didn't spot a problem, but I'm still feeling awful.

Words of reassurance, anyone? Have you ever dropped the ball, and did it have a lasting effect on your relations with management?

Exiled1

If management was doing a good job s/he would have noticed a problem and attempted to investigate it. Don't feel bad, we all have had days like that. In your circumstances your error? is perfectly understandable.

Speedwell

Yes. The key thing is to take charge, take responsibility, and proactively present your critics with a mitigation plan. Also, make it clear that you understand exactly what went wrong and say what you intend to do (or have already done) to keep it from happening again. You don't have to take responsibility for what was not your fault, but insofar as the other person has been shown to be a weak point in the system, you might think of a workaround in case the weak reed breaks again.

Ted111

Just pick the ball up and try not to drop it again. Stick it up your jumper.
Try and pick some low hanging fruit to get in the good books with the big cheese.

kfallon

Everybody makes mistakes in work/college and yes you do feel shít about it but all you can do is pick yourself up and go again.

Mistakes will happen, as long as you learn from it and don't make the same mistake again then that's the most anyone can hope for!

SEPT 23 1989

A man who never makes a mistake will never make anything

andekwarhola

Blame it on an underling.

Ken.

Mod-Moved to work problems. Please read the local charter before posting,

suicide_circus

Tell management to relax.

Signed, a manager.

c68zapdsm5i1ru

Thanks everyone. And apologies for posting in the wrong forum.

Speedwell

You can also ask for extra help or resources, if that is what it would take to solve an ongoing issue that led to the mistake.

For example, say that one day I upset a client by not following through on an IT support request. I work for a small firm and I wear several hats, so it is likely the support request just slipped my mind or that it was swamped by other priorities. Well, from working on a large corporate help desk, I know that there are support ticket tracking systems that alert you to when you haven't touched a support issue in a specified time, and I know that you can approximate the basic functionality in most customer relations management (CRM) systems. Since my firm specialises in CRM systems, I could say to my boss, "We're getting to the point where our lack of tracking and accountability is causing problems. I'm sorry I was involved in this particular issue, but ticket tracking seems to be the solution. Can we make a few tweaks to our customer database to enable us to track support issues and to be alerted if something is in danger of slipping through the cracks? I'd like this to be the last time I annoy a customer by looking like we don't care about support."

Note that this approach is not unlikely to result in, "That's a good idea actually; why don't you make that happen."

livedadream

it happens to the best of us,

i once forgot to pay senior mangers their salary, and paid hourly staff wrong, **** happens people make mistakes, its the one advantage we have other the robots, we're human.

dont panic and next time your on a big project use this as a good lesson in making sure managers are doing their jobs.

less stress more success.

gaz wac

I was responsible for The Star not going to print one day as I forgot to pay the printers, so they went on strike!! I also sent out 3,000 pension cheques without going through the auto signer!! ....remember, your making memories not mistakes :-)

endacl

gaz wac wrote: »

I was responsible for The Star not going to print one day

And this was a bad thing..... why?

ebbsy

endacl wrote: »

And this was a bad thing..... why?

If it was the DAILY SPORT I would be pissed.........

Samaris

gaz wac wrote: »

I was responsible for The Star not going to print one day as I forgot to pay the printers, so they went on strike!! I also sent out 3,000 pension cheques without going through the auto signer!! ....remember, your making memories not mistakes :-)

You sir, are a hero.:pac:

As for the OP's issue, it happens. Basically the absolutely worst thing you can ever do is try to cover it up or "forget" about it and hope it goes away, because a) it won't, and b) it will be a lot bigger by the time anyone figures it out. Always the best thing to do is to do what you can to sort it out and report it. Have as much info as you can at your fingertips and as someone else said, know where you went wrong and how you can prevent it happening again.

It's all experience at the end of the day.

Stealthfins

I forgot to water the window boxes under the managers windows.
The following day I watered them.
Another time I didn't graft an apple tree properly, I tried it and it worked the second time.

Another time I was spraying a green for broad leaves,some twat poured in roundup into my sprayer by mistake.

I burnt nearly a whole fairway,nobody owned up to that one.

Give yourself a break op.

I'm of the old stock, I don't effing care what management think or say.

I go in do a days work and go home again.

I'd hate to be in my 20's or 30's out there in the working environment.

There's so many dck heads trying to climb up the ladder licking ass, using buzz words to impress people.
Talking in fkn binary code some are.

People in their 40's plus have been around the block and don't buy into the whole impress their peers and hang all around them sht.

whippet

the best piece of advise is to put the hand up as soon as you make a balls of something.

Mistakes happen and how you deal with them will be the real judgment is made on. Burying your head in the sand / trying to cover it up / attempting to try and make is better on your own / denying knowledge etc will just make things worse.

Once you bring the mistake to light you will have others to help get it fixed and share the worry about it.

I'll never forget the time I had a smashing order as a fairly young sales guy. Delighted with myself .. walked like a 10 foot hero for about a month .. until the stark realisation came when the install took place and the invoice was cut .. i'd had quoted the customer my cost prices all the way through .. no wonder I got the order .. so what was a deal ended up being a cost price exercise. It is still a running joke in the office anytime I close any decent business