Manager’s comment at work

[ringliketinnitus]

I’m going to keep this vague so as to not out myself.

I work in a team with multiple subdivisions. I am the most junior member of the team and so I help across all subdivisions.

A few weeks ago during the really hot weather we were severely understaffed. I was working across six subdivisions alone.

I made a mistake. It wasn’t catastrophic, nobody died, no money was lost. I told a client the wrong information and they missed an appointment. It has been rectified, the person the appointment was with was very unhappy but they have moved on.

All management at the time (bar this manager who was not here) said it was fine. Accidents and mistakes happen and it’s not going to end in anything serious. That sort of thing.

Today one of my managers asked me to help on the subdivision that the mistake happened in a few weeks ago. They made a comment - “make sure you do it properly this time” (but referenced the actual mistake I’d made. Basically a snarky “don’t do that again”).

AIBU to think that’s totally uncalled for? I held my hands up, admitted my mistake and made it right. To make a snarky comment three weeks on just feels really out of line.

It was probably just in jest. Chill out!

Yes i agree with you but unfortunately people can’t help themselves. One mishap can follow you forever.

Sounds like you need to toughen up. If your response every time you make a mistake is “nobody died” in order to justify it then I can see where they are coming from. You made a major mistake affecting your clients. If it was internal that’s one thing, but when it impacts customers people are going to remember. Even if people didn’t comment, everyone will be thinking it. Own it. Learn from it and don’t repeat it. And don’t be surprised if people make comments like your mgr.

It wasn’t that major. It was all remedied within the working day, I apologised to all parties and all parties have moved on. It would be one thing if she had said “just be mindful of X, we don’t want it to happen again”, but being very snarky about it isn’t needed.

It definitely wasn’t. It was very snarky.

Just suck it up, I'd have thought. If it happens again, be ready to calmly say that it was one mistake, you apologised and you'd hope to be able to move on from it.

It just strikes me as the type of management that doesn’t really help anyone. Especially considering I’ve been doing the same thing for the last three weeks flawlessly

Sounds like a great opportunity to say "actually I've identified that we can design out room for error by doing XYZ"

I’ve said the same to people who have made mistakes. Basically it’s a “once I’ll let slide, twice and we have a conversation”. It’s planting the seed of don’t fuck up again.

Some people are just arseholes OP. Try to forget about it

Which is absolutely fair enough, but it could’ve been said in a much better way. Another colleague also picked up on it and said there was no need for it.

I owned it, held my hands up and apologised. Every other manager has said it’s fine, they’re the ones who said it’s not that serious and that they’re absolutely fine with the outcome. It’s just this one manager isn’t. I also think that it would’ve been better coming the day after, not three weeks on when everything has gone fine since then. It just came off a lot more like a dig and a lot less like a reminder.

I agree, but I'd put it down to an off day and not say anything unless it looked like a pattern forming.

Sorry but I think YABU and over sensitive OP. You need to sucking up and ensure no more mistakes.

Which I have done. I’ve made adjustments to my practices and done things perfectly for the last three weeks. There’s no need for management to make digs

Yanbu.

It sounds like it was all dealt with and closed off. To bring it back up in such a way is not helpful or good management, it's just being a cunt.

Unprofessional and petty of them. I’d wonder what they feel so insecure about that they have to jump at the opportunity to lord it over you.

Yeah this is what has annoyed me I think. Yes I made the mistake and I’ve owned up to it, but higher management have admitted it was because I was taking on far too much alone. We’ve chatted and I’ve agreed to change my practices to make sure it doesn’t happen again, and they’ve committed to making sure that I’m not left with the workload of four people.

Is it really lording over OP? I don't even get what was snarky about it. Sounds like a reminder to me.

I wouldn’t worry about it. Yes it was snarky and could have been worded better by your manager. Some people really feel bigger by putting others down but maybe she got it in the neck too. I would use it as a positive as you won’t make the same mistake again. If she had been all breezy in a doesn’t really matter at all it wouldn’t stay in your mind to be more careful in future.

I completely understand that tone is impossible to convey through text.

It wasn’t just a reminder. It was very much said in a “don’t be so stupid again” way.

Sounds like the manager said it in front of other people as well, which makes it even more twattish.

I would have told them to piss off, but I'm well into my not prepared to take such shit phase of my career.

Yeah they did, practically the whole office.

It just annoys me because I took accountability, rectified it and everyone drew a line under it. There’s no need for it.

Some people can't help themselves. I think I'd probably just silently think fuck off. if they mention it a third time I would probably respond you reminded me of this last time and I apologised for the mistake when it happened. Do you intend to mention it every single time we get job ? or at some point is it going to be put behind us?

I think you’re being a bit precious, taking accountability is literally the absolute minimum I’d expect when someone makes a mistake - it’s not a badge of honour. It’s not great that she snarked at you but it’s one of those “oh ffs” moments you brush off unless it continues. You made a mistake, she told you not to do the same thing again, you don’t know what was said to her about the mistake, maybe she’s had to pick up some pieces you don’t know about, maybe you caught her at a bad moment, who knows.

I know she didn’t have to pick up the pieces as she was out of office for two weeks after it happened! There’s a lot of people in the office who wouldn’t even bother to fix it. Being rude is never okay.