# How do you cope with mistakes at work?



## Jammer25 (Feb 22, 2014)

So a coworker at another office tasked me with shipping supplies overnight, across the country for an event this weekend.

I accidentally ended up choosing the wrong shipping speed because I was sending other packages at the same time. So now there will be no supplies for the event this weekend, even if they can be used in the future.

I checked in with the local manager who said (paraphrasing) "not to worry about it, it's not the end of the world." But I still feel bad since it's my job to fulfill those types of requests for my department. 

Not trying to make excuses either, but it was a crazy week at work. A lot of things going wrong with our department at large. A lot of workload piled up since I had to work out of the office all day Wednesday to put out a fire on a large order we had with a vendor.

I'm so happy this week is over though, I'll recharge and take care of lingering issues Tuesday. Just wanted to vent about a mistake, even if it's smaller in the big scheme of things. I hate messing up in general, let alone at work.


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## Hayman (Dec 27, 2014)

August was an extremely busy time where I work. Typically at that time of year, there was a mass exodus of people leaving to go on holiday. Leaving behind those who either have no kids of their own/single or can't afford to go away in peak season to pick up the pieces they've left behind.

As a result, for around two, maybe two and a half weeks last month, my workload effectively trebled. I've had to take on several tasks which I wouldn't usually deal with and of course as a result, queries and problems quickly arose.

I hate making mistakes as I know the ones I make are highlighted, underlined and put in bold print. No one else in the office suffers from this and any mistakes they make are quickly swept under the carpet with nothing more said. When I make a mistake, everyone has to know about it... Somehow, everyone knows the in's and out's of what went wrong. I try to deal with them and I will admit to covering them up and thinking of an excuse in my head for hours afterwards - picturing the scenarios as I know it'll eventually be discovered. Our system is fixed in such a way it's very hard to put things right.

With this in mind, some people still genuinely wonder why I am the way I am. Is it any wonder why I have SA when others, not me, single myself out time and time again?

Making mistakes makes me feel ill. I've lost sleep over some I've made and I've even been into work over an hour before anyone else to try and correct them.

Anyway, they get back from their holidays and then immediately start moaning wondering why you've left work on their desk for them... I only have one pair of hands, folks. This one pair of hands has been working more than an hour extra most days (with no extra pay) whilst they've been away in order to simply try and cope.

Fortunately, I'm off myself next Thursday and Friday (10th & 11th) and all the following week. Lets see how they cope now that I'm finally getting my turn to have some much needed time off to recuperate. Over the last day or two it's sunk into them that now they're back, nice and relaxed, they don't want others to have the same privilege they had last month. They don't want to come back when others are finally getting close to their turn to get away. "_Oh...you're finishing in how many days..? I thought it was the week after that..._" I've had said to me three times. It seems they'll happily dump their work on you, but don't like it when the shoe's on the other foot. It's the same old story every year...


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## Imbored21 (Jun 18, 2012)

Usually I dwell on it causing me to mess up even more and after a certain point I am too ashamed to show up the next day and just stop coming.


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## HellCell (Jul 8, 2014)

Feeling guilty right? I know I feel that way when I make mistakes at work. Take what your manager said to you at face value. Take it easy on yourself, it's already been done and you'll better yourself in the future.

Have you made embarrassing mistakes like me? Oh boy back when I worked at a call center, those thoughts made me cringe. I didn't do anything technically wrong, but I made some socially wrong mistakes by stuttering too badly and getting people to hang up on me. Even if they didn't say it, I know that's the reason the call got disconnected.


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## Amorphousanomaly (Jun 20, 2012)

When I make mistakes at work the best thing to do is fess up. "I did this, I ****ed up, it won't happen again, sorry." Truthful people are more trustworthy, admitting to mistakes shows strength of character.


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## apx24 (Jan 31, 2012)

I don't know man, had my first day at this job on Friday and I made mistakes and even though I really tried not to. I just know things are going to get worse for me. Thankfully for me this is only a temporary job, but still, I know this **** is going to keep happening.


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## Wings of Amnesty (Aug 5, 2015)

One of the best things about working, was getting to see how bad people are at their jobs. Everyone makes mistakes, sometimes big mistakes. You will fail constantly. Yet you'll all keep your jobs, keep working, maybe even get praise in between the failures. It really helps if part of your anxiety is perfectionism.


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## Jammer25 (Feb 22, 2014)

HellCell said:


> Take what your manager said to you at face value. Take it easy on yourself, it's already been done and you'll better yourself in the future.


Yeah, we talked about it and acknowledged that it wasn't that bad. I do a lot of work to support her program so I think she gave me the benefit of the doubt, knowing sometimes a small thing may fall through the cracks.



Amorphousanomaly said:


> When I make mistakes at work the best thing to do is fess up. "I did this, I ****ed up, it won't happen again, sorry." Truthful people are more trustworthy, admitting to mistakes shows strength of character.


That's why I want to have a talk with my manager this coming week, just to fill her in on things in general. I don't want to make it seem like I'm trying to keep anything under wraps.



Wings of Amnesty said:


> One of the best things about working, was getting to see how bad people are at their jobs. Everyone makes mistakes, sometimes big mistakes. You will fail constantly. Yet you'll all keep your jobs, keep working, maybe even get praise in between the failures. It really helps if part of your anxiety is perfectionism.


That's one of the first big things I noticed at work. A lot of delays, indecision and mistakes going on. My coworkers are smart and good at what they do, it's more so the structure of our department that makes certain projects difficult.


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