To be worried mistakes at work will cost my job?

[Kendra43]

I'll start by asking I'm burned out and going on holiday for a week this weekend.

I started a new job 4 months ago. Everything was going well and I had a great end of probationary meeting where the boss said she was 'very happy' with my work. I moved jobs because I wanted a better salary and new challenges.

Last week I made a couple of small mistakes, a typo in one email and scheduled a meeting at the wrong time in another. My first errors. She brought these up in our 1 to 1 this week, asking if I'm ok and saying we need to work on improving it after my holiday.

Today I sent an email to an important client and forget to attach something. I caught it in time/sent the file quickly and when I looked at Teams she had already messaged telling me I hadn't attached the document. I told her I had already rectified it and she said 'I messaged you telling you before you rectified it'.

I get the feeling she is very annoyed with me and I'm upset about being pulled up over small mistakes and for making them. AIBU?

I have my email setup so that it automatically runs an editor over it before I send it. When I started in a professional job, one of the first things I was told was that in a letter (and nowadays email) is that the error was likely to be in the first few lines and would usually involve the client's name. So I follow the rule for double checking that.

😀

You need a break, OP. Can you take some time off?

To help with any mistakes, there's a handy review tool on Outlook which can read your email out loud. I've spotted the odd mistake this way when just reading it again has missed it. I tend only to use it on external emails, as otherwise I'd go mad.

I'd also be wary of a micro manager. Maybe they'll back off once you've proved yourself worthy?! Here's hoping.

Scheduling a meeting at the wrong time is a problem when other people will be planning around it.

I think you do need to take more care and spend a minute proof reading and checking what you’re sending. She’s probably wondering what bigger mistakes are happening.

It's in Op's first line re going on holiday.

In a previous job I had a manager like this. Every email with spelling mistakes was picked up. Certainly made me double and triple check everything that was sent!

I'm leaving a job tomorrow because of a micromanager,only 5 months in. (I have got another one to go to.) Obviously when you're new, you need more guidance, but I am not totally inexperienced, just don't know how things are done here.

There needs to be room to make mistakes- it's how we learn. I have only made minor ones not brought down a production server or anything. Pretty much everyone has sent and received mails which are missing an attachment. It's only s big deal if you do it repeatedly.

You might be fine after your holiday. If not - I'd be looking for something else.

She sounds like a nightmare manager - you are human, you will make minor errors as most people do. She sounds controlling. Keep your eye out for new opportunities. Good luck

Sometimes I find the most senior of people - and I am specifically thinking here of someone who is an actual genius and amazing at her job - can constantly send emails without the attachments!

These would be small sweats where I work anyway. And she sounds like an awful micro manager.

I've worked for Solicitors and for high profile folk where even small mistakes matter hugely. Often this is reflected in the salary you receive. I went for a job with a member of the Cabinet and realised how much pressure I'd be under to ensure everything was always perfectly done.

Don't fret but double check, triple check things before sending emails or organising meetings. It sounds odd but slow down. It's better to do things slower and be accurate than correct a rushed mistake.

Wow, that sounds like micromanaging, those are things that happen quite frequently and won't cost the business time or money. You shouldn't lose your job because of them but it's hard to say if the manager is deciding to pick you up on such small details.

Exactly my first thought!

I once sent my boss an email titled with the forms I was sending and simply wrote in the email "please find attached".

She sent me one back saying - "I don't think they are" 😂

To which I replied "whoops - that killed the efficient email I tried to send - I've attached them now".

No one died. It wasn't the end of the world. It didn't change anything.

To err is human.

I couldn’t work anywhere where such errors were even commented on, let alone considered serious.

I triple and quadruple check very important documents that are going to be legally binding. Pretty much everything else is just not going to be meticulously checked, whether internal or external, and I know from rereading email chains later on that I do make cutting and pasting and other errors. Not been a problem in twenty years of working.

Agree these would be minor things in my workplace. Could it actually be coming from a place of care? I know if one of my team suddenly started making a bunch of silly mistakes that I knew they wouldn’t normally make I’d want to check in to make sure everything is ok.

This type of extreme micromanaging isn't helpful. You forgot to attach something then immediately sent it through. I honestly don't think the client is going to cease doing business with you over that? It must feel like people are breathing down your neck.
Surely she's got better things to do than check your every email and reprimand you in a one to one meeting over a single typo?
I'd be wanting to leave.

@Kendra43 you can add a rule to Outlook to delay email sending by a minute. Means you can retrieve last minute errors from the outbox and fix before they are actually sent. I’m prone to only realising I’ve missed something as soon as I hit send

Or people who work in industries where quality matters. Casual, particularly around data, is never good enough.

Great example of a bad manager.

These would be minor mistakes at my place of work op.

Depending on your role, you might be told about them - they are mistakes after all - but it wouldn't be a 'telling off.'

That said, are you sure you're not being very sensitive? It sounds as if she just told you that you'd forgotten the attachment, because you had. It would be a bit daft for her to notice something was missing and not tell you.

This is nitpicking and bullying to be honest.

These are small, easily made human errors. No-one is expected to be perfect.

The one that worries me is the "I emailed you before you attached it".

That's nasty. It's like calling you a liar. 😔

I think you might want to talk to her about her management style but it sounds like she's fond of picking on people. This needs firm boundary of what you are amd aren't expected to put up with in terms of micromanagement.

Surely 'I emailed before you rectified it' is just her explaining that she sent her email - even if op didn't see or read it - before op issued the new email with the attachment.

Add the two minute email send delay into your outbox. It’s saved my skin 100s of times - I am not good at attention to detail!

Guaranteed, @Kendra43 if I had sight of even 20% of her emails, documents or presentations, I'd find a typo. It's my job. I'd find them. Wish I could have at her on your behalf, it would be glorious

For me, it would depend on how these things are being raised.

Someone does need to tell you if you forgot an attachment.

Someone does need to tell you if you arrange a meeting for the wrong time.

Personally, I wouldn't mention a typo if it was a one-off and didn't alter any important meaning or detail.

Telling you is perfectly fine imo - minor errors that you need to know about so you can rectify.

If they're presented as big, serious issues then that isn't fair or supportive imo.