AIBU? Will I get the sack?

[mumstheword1x]

I work as a PA. I invited the wrong person to a meeting, that is happening in 3 weeks time. The surnames different by 1 letter.

the PA of this person, forwarded on to the correct one, and in that time I also realised the mistake - within 3 minutes, so I sent to the correct one and removing the right one.

my manager messaged me saying ‘I think you’ve invited the wrong x to the meeting on the 16th!’

I replied ‘Sorry, I did notice straight away and changed it. Their names are so similar! - as for the other meeting on that date, I was told we couldn’t do it in person and would need to be virtual but we thought maybe the follow up could be in person.’ and she said “let’s discuss tomorrow”

because the invite didn’t update the names correctly, I’m worried she thinks I’m a liar and she wants to discuss this tomorrow, I feel sick.

I suffer with anxiety and OCD and I never want to do wrong, she called me a superstar on Friday and I got an excellent rating last year.

I HATE MISTAKES AND IM WORRIED! It’s making me not want to go in tomorrow 😢

Are you getting help for the anxiety? I can’t see anything there that is the least bit concerning. I also hate mistakes and it would bother me but there’s nothing to suggest sacking you would be anywhere on the cards.

You're a human being not a robot.

It doesn't feel good when you make a mistake but you realised and fixed it within minutes. Give yourself a break. They won't fire you for this.

Why on earth would you be sacked for that?

What support are you receiving for your anxiety/OCD? Presumably you know that seeking reassurance only feeds the anxiety/OCD and ensures that you continue to think and feel this way in future?

It doesn't sound that serious to me. No harm done, it was caught in plenty of time. I'd just laugh if it was one of my team.

Would be very harsh to get sacked for that. What's the turnover of staff like at the company?

Thank you. I think the fact the system didn’t correctly update, makes me think she might think I’m lying / trying to talk myself out of an error which isn’t the case at all.

i am super disappointed in myself as I hate mistakes, but also aware they happen.

her ‘lets discuss tomorrow’ scares me.

Could not fire you for this, all will be fine

I work for a big global insurance company, people stay for years. Like 28-30 years

I would assume she means let's discuss the 'in person Vs virtual' bit tomorrow.

Not sackable! When your manager speaks to you, just think about the data protection aspect as you could have sent a sensitive email to the wrong person.

I’m also a PA, and honestly, this would be a non-issue. You’ve not disclosed any confidential information to the wrong person. It’s simply a mistake. Your employer would be highly unreasonable to dismiss you over a minor error.

Please don’t worry. It’s likely your exec just wants to discuss the meetings being virtual/in person.

I think you'll be fine then. Some companies are very cut throat but that sounds like a company that allows staff to learn from their mistakes and not in fear of the axe constantly hanging over their necks.

If I could say their names I would, but it’s essentially the difference of:

James Smiley
James Smilet

sort of difference. 😭

I work for a big company, so I’d like to think they’d start off with a ‘gentle, keep your eyes out on names’ and then performance plan before immediate sack

Unless you’re missing out some really crucial detail like there was confidential information in the agenda that the other person shouldn’t know then this a total non issue. People aren’t robots. Mistakes happened. Fixed in 3 minutes. Should be no big deal. Even when I have seen this be a really big deal (crossed a chinese wall) it was a compliance breach and a slap on the wrist, still not a sackable offence. By discuss tomorrow it sounds like your boss means the in person vs. online element not the small mistake. Chill.

I actually did something very similar today. Just sent a quick apology and all was fine. I agree with others that the discussion is likely to be about the inperson or not issue. Alternatively she might have good tips for how to avoid that in future e.g. naming them more obviously in your email contacts if used regularly.

I would look at how to manage your anxiety better though.

Oh there was nothing in the body of the diary meeting it was just the name and even that was basic like ‘Product discussions’

Thank you, because I changed it so quickly, I didn’t feel the need to tell her - it was brought up 5 hours after- but annoyingly as I said, it was keeping the correct one in the optional section, and still showed the wrong one as he declined 🙃

This is a complete non issue. Mistakes happen and there are no consequences to this. Definitely not a sackable offence, and I imagine your boss wants to discuss f2f vs virtual meeting.

I’ve known PA’s to send invites but not include the client, no meeting room
booked, sent their boss to the wrong place, not confirmed flights and their boss is at the airport, not booked a hotel, the list goes
on. None of them were sacked!

Do you have a track record of seeking reassurance at work? Because the "let's discuss tomorrow" is far more likely to mean she thinks it's a complete non-event but can see you're panicking and cannot be bothered with getting into protracted email exchanges reassuring you. That's even more likely if you have a track record of overreacting like this.

Please don't ask your manager for reassurance in person either. It's not fair to put that on colleagues.

I also work for a big global insurance company, trust me you won't be sacked for this one off mistake as no harm has come of it.
My dh works in the same company as me, we have the same surname but our first names begin with completely different letters, he has been invited to meetings instead of me a few times and received emails meant for me. No one has been sacked as a result AFAIK

This will be a classic case of you fretting and prostrating yourself about this is going to be a far bigger annoyance to your boss than the very minor mistake. The discussion will be about in-person vs virtual. Your boss does not have time to care about a name mix-up.

I say that as someone senior, who occasionally sends emails to the wrong person!

My colleague sent a mail merge that was supposed to go to a select handful of people from a spreadsheet inviting them to interview. She was new to mail merge and didn't realise that filtering the spreadsheet didn't stop the email being sent to everyone else.

Let's just say that there were over 100 people disappointed to hear their selection email was a mistake 🫣

She wasn't sacked but it was a running joke for a while!

If uou want to feel better start a new thread about the worse mistakes people have made at work. I'm sure everyone has several!

No I don’t

Kindly, don't worry and please get some help for the anxiety. The extent of your anxiety is more likely to cause issues than the occasional mistake.

My old PA booked me into a one star doss house as it had a similar name to a five star hotel in the area. Now that was a mistake!

My mantra when mistakes are made is to ask if anyone died as a result of the mistake? If the answer is no then use it as a learning exercise. As long as you learn from it there are no issues.

When you speak to your boss apologise and tell her what solution you have come up with to avoid a similar issue occurring.

Unless other person was external and really should not have been aware the meeting was happening, this is a very trivial error. Don't worry