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Original poster

Bollocks! Have made monumental cock up. Advice and nerve calming needed.

31 replies

stringofswearwords · 31/10/2007 19:28

Have name changed as have given away afir ammount about self under usual name.

You know how the govt just had to retracta nd amend stats on foreign workers cos someone got it wrong?
Well..I have just found out I have made a similar balls up on a set of figures that have been published outside the organisation.

My boss is aware.
Happened last thing today so we will "deal with it tommorrow".

ARGH!

OP posts:
Tinker · 31/10/2007 19:30

Ah well, no-one's died We all balls up at times

policywonk · 31/10/2007 19:30

Oh dear. That sinking feeling.

At least you are not Nick Leeson, or Jo Whatserface ('Good day to bury bad news' woman on 9/11) - that's what I always think when I have bad days at work.

It will pass eventually and everyone will forget about it.

Original poster
stringofswearwords · 31/10/2007 19:35

I can come up with all sorts of 'excuses' for it (am doing at least 2 jobs, tight deadlines, confusing instructions etc etc etc plus no one else spotted it and it was relevant to them) but at the end of day it is my mistake.

It is the equivalent of a county council making the same mistake as the gov't did.

I feel SO sick.

OP posts:
Tinker · 31/10/2007 19:36

Is your boss nice???????

Original poster
stringofswearwords · 31/10/2007 19:36

May have to re-issue a whole 2 pages of a publication.

OP posts:
bran · 31/10/2007 19:36

It happens, what's important is that you have faced up to it and will be working to sort it out.

If the figures are very important then I'm sure it's not just your fault alone, there must have been others involved who could also have spotted the mistake before they were published. If not, this would be a good opportunity to put new procedures in place.

I still have cold shivers about a mistake I made that resulted in a client pulling their advertising at huge cost, and then they threatened to sue us. I literally had mixed up two figures in a set of tables about 500 pages long. I felt awful, but the truth is it had been through analysis by at least 3 other people after me who could have spotted the error. They had spent ages trying to find a logical reason to explain why brand awareness was falling when it should have been rising and never came back to me or checked the raw data.

I hope you manage to get it sorted out.

policywonk · 31/10/2007 19:36

Have you thought how you're going to approach it with bossman tomorrow? If you can come up with a coherent plan of action to deal with the problem, it might make you feel better and impress him too. Will also give you something to think about.

funnypeculiar · 31/10/2007 19:37

Oh, horrid. It sounds like there were lots of reasons why it happened - just a case of apologising, then getting on with life - it'll be forgotten soon enough....

weepotion · 31/10/2007 19:37

sosw - maybe tackle it head on. ask to see your boss straight away when she / he gets in. can youthink of any harm minimisation approaches? coudl you draft a press release?

maybe if you accept responsibility and have some ideas / actions to address the mistake - it might lessen the impact?

i sympathis e- there is nothing worse than that "oh no" feeling coming back. x

Original poster
stringofswearwords · 31/10/2007 19:38

Yes, but is also an attention-to-detail type (if it had been her project, she woudl have spotted the problem, but it was for one of the other bosses).
She will be firm but fair.
I don't know how the other Director whose project it is will react, not how the other organisation about whom I gave incorrect info will react.

Double ARGH!

OP posts:
Tinker · 31/10/2007 19:39

Agree that you can turn it into a postive about how it mustn't happen again. I recently found the report that was done to investigate an error I made 10 YEARS AGO! I still went red reading it and decided to throw it away

spookthief · 31/10/2007 19:39

This happens all the time ime of working for a large public organisation. What will be refreshing is that you're fixing your error without being caught out first!

As long as the people who need the correct figures have them, where's the harm really?

policywonk · 31/10/2007 19:40

Oh god, things slip through to publication all the time. IME, the more people there are checking something, the more likely it is that there will be an egregious error somewhere. Much better to have one person totally responsible for the whole shebang. And then behead them if they get it wrong.

It's like parenting isn't it - I always find that DP and I get into trouble if we're both looking after the kids at the same time, because we each think that the other is paying attention.

HairyIrene · 31/10/2007 19:40

tinker its true
my boss used to always say that..we were in publishing, tis not life or death..

rotten feeling though
recommend hearty glass or two of wine this evening! as remedy for that sinking feeling..

pw
jo ..argghh..cant remember it either..some stunt to get caught pulling..!

bran · 31/10/2007 19:43

I think the way to go is to apologise profusely, say that you feel terrible that this has happened, and at all costs don't try to transfer blame onto someone else, it makes you look weak.

Then give suggestions about how you're going to fix it.

Then say that you would like procedures to be put in place to stop this happening again. If you have been producing the figures it's very hard to double-check them yourself so you will need to make sure that the final sign-off comes from someone else - or that the figures have been checked and signed by at least two people other than yourself.

I'm sure it will be fine - everyone makes mistakes now and then.

Original poster
stringofswearwords · 31/10/2007 19:43

Scary thing is that it is sort of chance that it was spotted.
I had to pull together the info in a different way today, and finally have steady sources.
Then someone mentioned the figure in another context and I said " that's not what I have"...so they looked for where the wrong one came from..and it was me..oh joy!

I think i got the number over the phone so no evidence if it was my typo or their error.
But then it staye dthere for another 2-3 months with no one noticing it was wrong...and now it has been published...

OP posts:
weepotion · 31/10/2007 19:48

sosw - i have responsiblity for signing off stuff before it goes to high levels outside the organisation. i once let a report go through to the Dept of Health which did read "pubic" instead of "public" - 143 times i still cringe when i think of that

policywonk · 31/10/2007 19:48

Jo MOORE

At least you're not her

policywonk · 31/10/2007 19:49

What were you in publishing Hairy?

(I'm an editor)

Doodledootoo · 31/10/2007 19:53

Message withdrawn

Original poster
stringofswearwords · 31/10/2007 19:57

In a strategy.
Was published on Monday.
Would have to send out a corrected page or 2.
Similar example would be:
Local educ Athority strategy to reduce missing child protection cases
covers whole county, wrong numbers on missed cases. One made something look worse than it isin one area, one made it look better in another. Sent to all schools in area and the LEAs bosses.
I'll just resign now then shall I?

OP posts:
HairyIrene · 31/10/2007 20:14

stringofswearwords
you always get corrections these days with things, dont beat yourself up!

PW..it feels like another life but was a freelance picture researcher for many years, in my other life ...factual books, history, fashion, art, childrens stuff..
editors now i remember..ahh, the grey stuff

HairyIrene · 31/10/2007 20:15

oh well done, yes moore..how could i forget..hiding behind the trouser legs of byres..
sad day that day..

Original poster
stringofswearwords · 31/10/2007 20:16
OP posts:
policywonk · 31/10/2007 20:46

Funnily enough hairy, I was going to post on this thread the worst 'bad mistake' moment I have personal knowledge of: a picture researcher at a company I used to work for who failed to clear the rights for a photograph by quite a famous (and, as it turned out, extremely litigious) US photographer, who proceeded to sue the company to pieces when he discovered the published book. She was really conscientious most of the time too - it had just slipped through.

LOL at 'hiding behind the trouser legs of Byers'. What a loss to government he is.