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Original poster

F*cked up massively - work related. Perspective needed

628 replies

Stupidworkgirl · 01/05/2023 22:16

I have an important business trip abroad tomorrow which myself and several other colleagues are going on. It is a major event in our industry and we have been planning it for a while. I have done the majority of the planning and have enjoyed it and was excited to attend. Our company director is going along with my boss and several coworkers, one of which reports to me.

I have lost my passport. I only realised this at 4pm today when packing. I am meant to fly out on an early morning flight. We have a very tidy minimalist home and have searched everywhere, it is definitely not here. I last travelled a few months ago and can only think I dropped it somewhere between security and my car.

I have called my boss who has told the MD. My boss was understanding and kind about it, I don’t know what the MDs reaction was. I’m absolutely gutted. Missing out on the event is a horrible feeling but is actually the least of it, that will wear off once it is over at the end of this week. It is more the damage to my reputation and how people might think of me going forward. I’m honestly considering leaving and finding a new job, as I don’t know how I will mentally bounce back from it.

Looking for reassurance or perhaps any similar tales or fucking up at work.

OP posts:
winelove · 01/05/2023 22:55

Pull out every draw agai and look behind it on down to the floor.

OddSockSeeker · 01/05/2023 22:55

Go easy on yourself. You’re only human. It’s not as big as it feels right now. Everything will be ok. It’s not anything that will besmirch your character. I’d totally understand if I worked with you. Be kind to yourself.x

Bookworms88 · 01/05/2023 22:55

Op your passport is somewhere to do with towels. Check your towel cupboard/storage, the laundry, behind the washer or laundry room, at the back of the towel drawer. Think towels and check everywhere related to them in and around your home.

Daffodil63 · 01/05/2023 22:56

Have you looked in the pockets of what you were wearing when you came home last time like a suit jacket or cardigan pocket? And I lost my purse and found in under the car seat, really under. Glove box? Wash bag? Laundry basket? Did you bring home a souvenir last time and it's in a box? I lost my mobile phone once and found it eventually in the bread bin!!

Luredbyapomegranate · 01/05/2023 22:56

Honestly this falls into ‘embarrassing at the time’ rather than major cock up, you’ve done the prep for the trip which is the main thing.

I work in TV and early in my career left some rushes (tapes with the days filming) by the side of the road, some one found them with my notepad and rang me. I was with my boss…

DistantConstellation · 01/05/2023 22:58

You need to literally pull the drawers out and search every surface on them. I remember a MNer who swore the passport was not in the house and it had become stuck to like the inner vertical surface of the drawer. Wouldn't have seen it until you took the actual drawer out.

Do it!

I managed to lose half of my child's big present before Christmas. There was a space behind some furniture that you cannot see unless you climb on top.

haXXor · 01/05/2023 22:58

Bookworms88 · 01/05/2023 22:55

Op your passport is somewhere to do with towels. Check your towel cupboard/storage, the laundry, behind the washer or laundry room, at the back of the towel drawer. Think towels and check everywhere related to them in and around your home.

You know this how?

Whatthetrolley · 01/05/2023 22:58

Have you checked your office at work??

Blinky21 · 01/05/2023 22:58

St Anthony has never let me down and I'm not Catholic. But this definitely isn't something to resign over

BadgerFacedCoo · 01/05/2023 22:58

If this is your worst work mess up you're doing great. Give yourself a break and I bet no one even remembers this in a few weeks.

Auntpodder · 01/05/2023 22:59

It happens. It's your body of work that counts not this. Have you had to use your passport for any form of identification recently? Picking up something from the Post Office, GP? Office? Booking the tickets where you've had to send a scan of it? Do you have a photocopy or a photo on your passport? (Don't know how long the work event is, but there are emergency passports https://www.gov.uk/get-a-passport-urgently/online-premium-service)

Get a passport urgently

Renew or replace a passport urgently with the 1 day Premium service or the 1 week Fast Track service.

https://www.gov.uk/get-a-passport-urgently/online-premium-service

Bookworms88 · 01/05/2023 23:01

@haXXor does it matter to you?

Telephoneman · 01/05/2023 23:02

Surely you must have had your passport to enter your passport number when booking the flight.

AMuser · 01/05/2023 23:02

Bookworms88 · 01/05/2023 23:01

@haXXor does it matter to you?

I really really want it to be under towels. @Stupidworkgirl check everywhere to do with towels!

Yellowdays · 01/05/2023 23:02

Its possibly in a different handbag or case?

EatingWormsMichael · 01/05/2023 23:03

Honestly that's a totally human error, could happen to anyone. I'd not judge you for it.

HaggisBurger · 01/05/2023 23:03

Telephoneman · 01/05/2023 23:02

Surely you must have had your passport to enter your passport number when booking the flight.

You don’t have to do that to book flights just online check in

CaloriecountMay2023 · 01/05/2023 23:03

Check your credit file you can do a lot with a valid passport.

Stripeybluetop · 01/05/2023 23:03

This must be so stressful. So sorry. I think if I were you I'd go to bed imagining all the worse things that could have happened.

DelphiniumBlue · 01/05/2023 23:04

Have you used it as ID for anything? Would it have gone back where it belongs, or left in a drawer/locker at work ( happened to a friend)?
Whatever happens, whether you find it or not, it's really not a resigning matter.
I always think of a colleague who made a several million pound mistake at work, missing out on a basic check. His bosses were so supportive, taking the " it could have happened to any of us" view, and worked with him to salvage what they could and made an insurance claim for the rest. He kept his job.
You've just lost your own passport, no one has lost any money, no one has died or been harmed. It's annoying, upsetting, but not a catastrophic error.

Original poster
Stupidworkgirl · 01/05/2023 23:04

@CaptainSeven It is usually in a safe. We have had everything out of the safe and leafed through sheet by sheet. We have felt the safe in its entirety, it is only a small compartment inside. The other place I could have potentially put it is in my bedside drawers. There isn’t much in them and I have it all out, every magazine shaken out in case it was between the pages. We have basically directed the chest of drawers, searching underneath and between each drawer. And thoroughly searched the section of bed directly next to the drawers.

OP posts:
AMuser · 01/05/2023 23:04

This reply has been withdrawn

This message has been withdrawn at the poster's request

Onlinetherapist · 01/05/2023 23:04

Have you taken it out to use as ID recently?

mumofthree22 · 01/05/2023 23:05

If you think you may have lost it at airport or on your way home last trip have you dang lost property or local police station in case it's been handed in?

SilentHedges · 01/05/2023 23:05

Last month, senior guy at work stuck his work shirt on a nice long wash cycle, then realised his passport with his foreign work permits were in the top pocket, and totally ruined. He couldn't get back out to Brazil to continue working on an important assignment on time. He took it in his stride, and everyone laughed, including his Manager. Stuff happens.

OP I realise this isn't ideal, but its not that bad in the bigger scheme of things.

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