I don't know how to deal with things like this

Post Reply New Topic

I encountered an error on a spreadsheet I'm working on a few week back, assumed that obviously I'd made a mistake somewhere and I tried to rectify it, and fix it myself without telling anyone, because I'm sure I'd be in trouble for it. Not to mention, a guy was fired a few week previous because he made an error in his work (i don't know full details, but thats the jist). So yeah, panic head on.

I found a way to fix it. Or at least I thought I did. Turns out the problem goes back even further than I thought and since the boss has been working on the file over the weekend, this 'error' is quickly unravelling like big knit jumper into a sordid pile of wool and I feel like i'm getting buried in it.

So, boss has now realised that I found an error and I covered it up (seemingly quite shoddyish) and he keeps asking what issue was and how I fixed it.

But I don't know what the issue was... just that some lines of products got mixed up. How am i to know exactly how that happens? Especially when it goes back weeks to a full month. Boss has been tearing his hair out to fix it over the weekend, stressing like a maniac and it's my fault. I acknowledge it's my fault but I don't know what I can do to fix it, not do I know what I can say to my boss to let him know that I have no idea what the issue was or what caused it, but he keeps asking and I seriously dont know what to say.

So after a bit of thinking I finally remember that the day it all went sour was the day I had news that my dog was very ill with a lump very rapidly growing on his oesophagus and I was in contact with my mum through out the day, worrying if it was cancer, worrying about if he had to have an operation, worrying if we could fix it in time before it caused him to be unable to breathe, and on top of that, stressing about the cost. So I can totally see how it's possible that on that day, I may have made a mistake due to lack of proper concentration. And I understand that I'm working on an important document with a deadline and it is a business after all and they're only going to be concerned about how I deal with stress and my ability to carry out a task, and if I can't do that, if i can't cope very well under those circumstances, then there is no reason for them to keep me.

I just don't know how people can deal with situations like these, or how they manage to keep composure and talk themselves out of it so that they can take the least roughest road through and come out the other end with their job still in tact. I may not lose my job, but right now, I can't help but feel like the complete failure that no company would glady keep on.

I hate these situations, and I seem to get involved with these situations constantly, being told I'm incompetent. And with the frequency of finding myself in these situations, you'd think by now I'd be the master of getting myself out of them. But I am in no way trained for these kind of encounters. And I don't think I ever will.

Anyone got a deep dark hole spare for me to hide in? Indefinitely?

I don't believe you need worry about minor and infrequent mistakes; everybody makes them.

I know. I just feel like I make them too often, and I always feel I need to cover them up and then stress about other people finding out my mistake... like they did this time. But I explained everything to my boss and he was fine with it, very understanding.

I think employers usually prefer employees who confess their mistakes, and try to fix them, rather than employees who lie and try to cover up their mistakes, or just hope that no one will notice.

I have gotten comfortable with the idea that I make mistakes and so does everyone else. When I am working, I tell people straight out that we are all too busy and have a lot on our plates and we would be better served by being gentle with each other rather than cursing and blaming when mistakes are made. Of course, I am the boss, so that makes it easier. But I am not the boss of the heads and managers at other agencies, and I tell them this too.

Sometimes people get upset and say that I am unprofessional because I admit I make mistakes, but I do not see it that way. The minute I see an error I admit it and work to fix it. I also keep track of the times those I work with have made errors, so that I am comfortable inside me when I get attacked for making mistakes. And it doesn't happen much anymore because most of the people I work with know I have been understanding with their errors in the past.

Everyone makes mistakes. Everyone has bad days. I am sorry you are having such a rotten time of it right now. When it really gets bad, I climb into my dark hole ( ) which is bed with a good book.

I hope you feel better soon.