Cougar sounds like he works in the public sector…….
+1

But hang on, I thought businesses in the private sector were models of efficiency, and that screwups like those detailed above would only be tolerated in the wasteful public sector?

I was once told by an old guy at work that a person who has never made any mistakes has never done anything. Been good advice that. Don’t beat yourself up over it. Learn from it and don’t do the same thing again. You will make more mistakes that’s life, that’s how we learn.

I used to work for a small printing company which printed around a tonne of paper a week. We got a decent job in which needed a special type of paper – about 400kg of it. The buyer ordered 400 tonnes by mistake. He only noticed when it turned up – all 20 trucks of it.

He did lose his job though – we all did as the company went bust.

Question though. When we make mistakes, we tell each other that people who never made mistakes never made anything etc, but when a banker or politiction makes a mistake we demand a resignation?

couple of the errors i have made,

clipped a machine with a 15tonne forklift, amazing how easily steel crumples….

Dropped a 15tonne steel coil from a C hook onto the ground, only fell 6feet. Landed on its end so made for an interesting afternoon trying to pick it up again!

No one was hurt and that at the end of the day is what matters.

Yep, we’ve all done it. I put the wrong logo on a full page advert in the Sunday Times many moons ago. Used to work in an agency where all logos and digital assets had the same file name but were stored in separate files.
Rush job, exported the job for print, didn’t check the pdf. Advert went to the colour house, proof came back, Studio Manager didn’t check it. Sent approval – and an advert for £4m+ apartments on the Bishops Avenue appeared with the wrong logo.

Grovel like hell, learn from it.

These things happen with such regularity in printed materials that it’s always worth trying to get a fresh set of eyes to glance over important documents before you hit the button.

If it makes you fell any better,I’m a retired nurse,and there are much worse things you can lose when you make a mistake,you really can’t replace people.
Ian
P.S. The worst one still keeps me awake at night at times.

Cop for it. Don’t try to blame shift. Don’t do it again and show how you intend to not do it again.

I once caused our company to make 40,000 CDs of a game we had just finished. They all had to go in the bin because although I’d tested the installer, tested the software, tested the installed version of the software, I never bothered to test the installer on the CD we were getting replicated. One file had been missed off and that meant the sodding thing never worked. Totally my fault despite the fact I was knackered and, frankly, not totally with it.

Got to bed at 5am after 2 weeks of 20 hour days expecting a few days off, got called at 8:30am to go to work. Arrived, boss gave me a lump hammer. Asked me if, next time I wanted to waste 30 grand, I’d mind going into the car park and smashing up his car rather than making 40,000 coasters and causing us to be late for shipping. I took the blame (despite there being others involved as it was my project) and it was clear that if there was a next time, I’d get fired.

I found the problem, fixed it, tested it properly this time, created a new process for signing off manufacturing releases and went back to bed. Next week, my boss had all 40,000 duff copies sent to my house to dispose of (easier said than done).

If it makes you fell any better,I’m a retired nurse,and there are much worse things you can lose when you make a mistake,you really can’t replace people.
Ian
P.S. The worst one still keeps me awake at night at times.

This is a good a point, I’ve made a few mistakes at work that have lead to that sicky feeling – the most recent being a design for 10,000 packaging boxes that got made but the boxes don’t shut properly… But at the end of the day these mistakes only cost money not lives.

Next week, my boss had all 40,000 duff copies sent to my house to dispose of (easier said than done)

Love that.
No mistakes here – I am perfect…

don’t worry we have all done it.

A mate ages ago placed a big ad in the times for a client but put the wrong phone number on, it was a digit out & was a pensioner!!! anyway, poor pensioner’s phone rang endlessly for a week or so.

I’ve messed up a few times but thankfully when I worked for someone else so it wasn’t my cost. I once pressed the wrong button on a trading screen & it cost 300k GBP, we got it back eventually but I felt like jumping out the window.

Now I work for myself I triple check everything, still messed up on a small scale but learn & move on.

Good luck