To think I'm fucked

[mysonphillip]

I've made a huge fuck up at work. Big, likely to cost the company around £60k.
Not to mention a load of work.

A genuine mistake made with the best of intentions and while trying to do a good job. I'm generally very good at my job and highly valued I think, so hopefully not a sackable offence, but still shitting myself. I do have treated anxiety too, which isn't helping as you can imagine.

I just work so, so hard and try my best, and this project has been really stressful - perhaps part of the reason the mistake happened. Also married, kids, mortgage etc, and all the day to day stress that goes with that.

AIBU to ask for stories where you made similarly big cock ups and what happened, and how you dealt with it? Just looking for a bit of support and a handhold before I go to my boss on Monday.

Definitely read this before. Why the need to ask for others stories if you need support? Repeated requests for them. You don’t sound distressed, just fishing.

I've reported this thread and asked for it to be removed. I can't bear the repeated accusations when I'm already really anxious and was just looking to hear some positive stories from others.

I have also read a very similar thread to this one.

Organisations usually have financially protective layers in place which cover employer errors, insurance etc., Without knowing the detail of the error it's hard to comment.

I've read this thread before. I don't mean I think you're repeating it or trolling with a copycat, I'm pointing out you really aren't the first. You won't be the last.

I was in charge of a huge project to change our IT systems at work when I was younger. Everything seemed to be going swimmingly. Then I discovered none of the printers I'd bought would work with the new sales system. I had to go out and buy 4 new, more expensive printers that afternoon to keep the project on track. Also couldn't use the carbon copy paper I'd ordered. Was pretty embarrassing but fixable and only about an 8k loss. My boss was very understanding. My normal expertise and hard work were still appreciated and I never made the same mistake again. The project ended up going horribly wrong and costing us a lot more - fortunately for me that was due to mistakes my boss had made before I came on board.

i remember reading a thread that was pretty much identical to this one too.

Also read this recently too. The bit where you have fallen down @mysonphillip is asking other people for their stories of big fuck ups. Why on earth do you want people to tell you their stories? It does come across as 'journo.'

@mysonphillip Look, provided that you haven't broken the law, I think you'll be ok, and I say that without knowing any of the details! You wouldn't believe the shenanigans that the care staff have gotten upto in my job and gotten away with, and we're a legally regulated industry!

OP. We've all buggered something up, including your boss. Even if your boss is only back Monday, compose an email, work out how to salvage or mitigate it, and be in early on Monday.

Previous similar threads have stories of people who lost jobs for unbelievably minor transgressions.

They likewise have genuinely funny and/or jaw-dropping stories of people who made eye-wateringly costly errors and they kept their jobs.

The immediate retreat and request for deletion speaks volumes

Me too!

We all make mistakes, and I do too, but I haven't made a mistake that has caused that much to my company yet. My dp, an engineer, caused about 250K worth of damage to a machine accidentally. It wasn't directly his fault, but a measurement of a few mm on a piece of equipment he had not been involved with caused damage when he implemented it into a machine. He immediately contacted the people who needed to know, and they all rectified it together. He wasn't sacked or even told off, however, if he'd not said anything he would've been sacked if found out.

A favourite from classics.

As a student on a holiday job decades ago, I left a door open at a medical research institute when I went for lunch and a large number of armadillos with leprosy escaped and ran off across the surrounding countryside. This was rapidly escalated from the institute to various higher powers locally and nationally, and within the hour the army were mobilised with heat-seeking equipment and helicopters, before the press got wind of it. The armadillos were all successfully found.

And for anyone horrified, armadillos are only minimally affected by leprosy on their skin, but have been amazing for developing effective treatments in humans.

Anyone else made a mistake so bad that the Prime Minister was involved and the army mobilised? No? Just me then.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/mumsnet_classics/a3936889-to-ask-you-about-the-worst-mistake-you-ve-made-at-work?msgid=97427665#97427665

Definitely seen a similar thread before.

I'm amazed that anyone would put such details up on the internet where their soon-to-be pissed off employer can read it. And the rest of the public.

OP you shouldn’t have posted asking for stories whilst at the same time refusing to share yours - that’s going to make people a bit sceptical and unwilling to share. I’m sorry this has happened to you - my only advice would be to be totally honest.

Armadillo story wins

What's an armadillo story

The one four posts above yours.

www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/how-armadillos-can-spread-leprosy-180954440/

A friend did a pension quote for someone thinking of retiring, got the calculation wrong and quoted a value of about £100k more then the pension pot was actually worth. She wasn't sacked.

Wow to the armadillo story!

Quite a while ago I remember a friend was responsible for filling up the ATM machine at the bank. ATMs were quite new and obviously not as sophisticated as now because she put the wrong money in the different slots so £5 or £10, can't remember which, were giving out £20. I don't suppose it is possible these days. It did not go down well. All the money was recovered as they could trace who withdrew what but a couple of people denied it. Don't know what happened to them.

It's from this thread.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/mumsnet_classics/3936889-to-ask-you-about-the-worst-mistake-you-ve-made-at-work

There are several similar threads with excellent stories.