MetaChat - I screwed up at work

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16 October 2006

I screwed up at work Terrified.→[More:]
Tried to get ahold of Better Half who texted he was in a meeting but at least he is aware of the situation.. Just him knowing what is going on helps. I hope he is keeping me in at least a tiny corner of his thoughts while he is in his meeting.

Unfortunately I may have negatively impacted the life of someone else beccause of my screwup. I feel like hell and can't even apologise very strongly or try to make it better as that will be considered over-reaction and there's not much I can do anyway.

I did keep the calm-mask on my face anyway and fortunately I had a pot noodle so didn't need to try to go out in public to get food.

Why did I move to this country anyway. And I can't get in to see a head-shrinker there's a waiting list for months. Shall get book instead.

post by: By the Grace of God at: 07:35 | 11 comments

also, this from MoFi.

:(

posted by By the Grace of God 16 October | 07:44

Aw, honey! Hang in there, kiddo.

I know it's not a lot of help right now, but I had a conversation about work-related Big Mistakes with a friend recently, and detailed a few of mine... but noted that as horrible as some of them seemed at the time, I learned incredibly valuable lessons from each one that have made the rest of my life much better. Once you've made a Big Mistake, you tend to be extra-extra careful about any related thing in the future, saving yorself from lots and lots of little mistakes.

As they say here, "he who is burned by (hot) milk blows on his yogurt".

posted by taz 16 October | 07:46

I know you're right, taz, right now my heart isn't open to learning things or thinking about the future although I hope it will be some time. Right now I just want to feel safe.

Thanks for talking to me. :)

posted by By the Grace of God 16 October | 07:50

No, no, I understand. It's only in retrospect that we can appreciate those lessons. Right now, it's all about the pain. Just hang on tight, sweetie.

posted by taz 16 October | 07:55

Well, I too made a mistake at work recently. I also got fired for it. Summarily, with no warning -- apparently There's A Policy.

Not trying to out-misery you in your own thread, but perhaps you can take some comfort in the knowledge that it could be worse.

Also, while you may not appreciate the lessons learned until later, perhaps there are some concrete actions you can take/initiate to help make sure that that type of mistake doesn't happen again? It always helps me to take some pro-active steps towards lessening the future impact of the mistake, even if I can do nothing about this specific instance.

posted by Rock Steady 16 October | 08:15

Hang on, btgog. I think you're in good company as far as mistakes go. :) Doesn't make them any more fun when they are happening, but just hang on.

posted by chewatadistance 16 October | 09:11

My experience of screw-ups is that if I try and pretend it didn't happen, or act like Bart ("I didn't do it"), it gets much, much worse. If I hold up my hands and say, look, I screwed up, is there something I can do to try to put things right? then things get a whole lot more manageable.

Are you able to share any of the details with us? What might seem like a huge screw-up to you might not look that way with a little outside bunny perspective on it.

Oh, and DO NOT EAT POT NOODLES. THEY ARE EVIL!

posted by essexjan 16 October | 11:38

Is pot noodles another word for Ramen?

posted by LunaticFringe 16 October | 11:43

No LunaticFringe, Pot Noodle is a world away from those bowl noodles.

Last week I was in Costco where they were doing two tastings - one for the kind of noodles in your link (brand name was Kimchee Noodles, but - thank God - they didn't contain kimchee) and the other was Pot Noodle. Both were chicken flavour. The Kimchee one tasted of chicken, noodles and bits of pepper, onion, etc. The Pot Noodle one tasted of wet straw, salt and chemicals. And it looked nasty too.

posted by essexjan 16 October | 12:05

(((Grace)))

posted by deborah 16 October | 13:05

((((BTGOG)))) And holding your hand to help you cope.

posted by redvixen 16 October | 18:16

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