My Bad...

[Charlotte Rowan]

So I just totally screwed up at work and I need to get it off my chest...

I work in a study abroad office at a large university, and we have a program in France. The program has 2 different start dates, one in August and one in September. Students can decide which one they want to start on. This year there was a lot of confusion because a) we don't usually have 2 different start dates and b) not only are there 2 separate start dates, but they also changed after we had initially set them. So I had several students change their minds about which date they want to start on, which is fine up to a certain date, before we make all the reservations. I forgot to change the record for one of those students, and only noticed when she sent me her flight itinerary that she was arriving for the earlier date. We've now made all the reservations for her to arrive later, and she's made reservations to arrive earlier.  It's likely that we'll be able to add her to the earlier group with no problem, but as it's Friday night in France, we won't know until Monday! It's totally my fault and I feel awful for causing her and her mother the stress and worry, and the extra work for our onsite staff. I know that everyone makes mistakes, but I still feel terrible!!

Anyone else have stories of screw-ups at work or other spheres of life that you'd like to share, either to get off your chest or to make me feel better?

[bellevivre]

it's long off my chest, but might make you feel better:

I once worked at a small boutique hotel, only 45 rooms. We did a lot of government hosting since we were near the TX capital building. Well, i had made a reservation for 10 rooms at the govt rate (about half our going rate) about 6 months prior to thier arrival. The event was cancelled, but the rooms technically werent. Now, being a smart logical person i shouldve followed through to contact the coordinator and verify whether those rooms were still needed- but did I? Nope. That night we ended up turning people away because we 'thought' we were fully booked- and we ended up losing something like $2000 in revenue... yeahhh...

BUT it ended up ok as i was REALLY unhappy there (hence my flightiness) and I left a few months later to a much better job- but yeah... that was not my brightest moment.

[LadyShadow]

I was working in the A/R dept of a hotel in Galveston.  Well that department was well understaffed and behind on billing when I walked up to the job.  So I was doing as told and printing and sending bills.  And forgot to double check a bill that was being sent to a huge client of ours in Europe.  Thankfully I forgot how to use the stamp thing and put the wrong $ amount for the stamp.  So needless to say, post office returned it and I had a chance to fix the bill.  But once I saw my mistake I freaked for a second or two.

[Charlotte Rowan]

Thanks, ladies.

[Hoowil]

Back when I was turning wrench, we had at one point three different red, 2001 VW Beetles on the lot at the same time. I had to have a customer wait while I undid one job, and did another because I didn't check the keys or plate numbers and did the wrong work on 2 of them.

[mehan]

The day before Christmas Eve, I was supposed to send pathology material on a newly diagnosed cancer patient so she could be seen Chistmas Eve at a special institution - I worked long and hard at it and even broke the rules and had it sent the very expensive "be there by 8 AM" FexEx - hence my surprise and shame when it was delivered to me that very next morning.  I had sent it to myself! 

Needless to say I got in my car and drove (3 hours) the material there. 

[Capt Gabriela Fullpepper]

Monday this week was a VERY hectic day. My co-worker called in and I had to handle all of the computer upgrades scheduled for the day. Lucky I had 1 less to do as the user re-scheduled. As I was migrating the data from 4 systems to the new ones I got an email about 3 systems that had to be shipped that day to D.C. I was in major panic and hurry up mode but managed to get them prepared. All needed office 2007 which is none standard. Lucky for me I could install it withthe OS and did it. I checked one and it went fine.

Yesterday i goa call from the manager in charge of the project I work but not my real boss. She asked if I had installed Office 3007 on all three systems and I told her yes. I was then informed it was only on 1 system whch was the one I had checked. I still cannot figure out why 1 took and the others didn't but I felt very very bad that the trheee systems had been shipped and only 1 had the needed software on it. Needless to say the manager was not overly upset as I took all the blame which makes her happy.

[Ferret]

I've had some doozies and don't know where to start.

A good one was about 1994, I had a bunch of tickets for Andrew Lloyd Weber's Phantom of the Opera. Ended up not going, and gave them all away. I'm at work all happy, about dinner time. Ordered a pizza, just ready to eat, and the phone rings. One of the ladies involved called in tears wondering where her tickets were. I asked didn't I give them to you ( for her and a date ) apparently not. I told her to have a friend that was there call me, this guy has more money than most countries. I asked him to go to the theater, check will call, stand by, cancellations,scalpers, anything. I'd reimburse him so she could go. He said he would or give up his tickets. He called back awhile later and said she left in tears.

I was never able to fix that screw up. Here I was all happy letting a bunch of people go, and ended up hurting someone.

There, hope that makes you feel better.
Ferret

[Jack Daw at Work]

In my early days as a young management trainee at a large bank, I was given the responsibility of arranging transportation from a car rental for some of our top executives traveling down from Dallas.  I made reservations for a couple of vans to pick them up; however, when the day arrived, the car rental disavowed me ever making the reservations.  How this occurred, I don't know, but I was incredibly embarrassed and nervously rushed to make new arrangements with the very same company dspite my anger and dis appointment, becaue we had a long-term contract.  Despite my protests, my boss thought I had never made the reservations, and this still bothers me to this day.

[Charlotte Rowan]

Thanks for sharing, everyone.

Our staff in France has left for the day, and I just got in... and I haven't heard from them about the situation. That 8-hour time difference is a real problem sometimes! Ugh! I'm sure it will be okay, but I was hoping for the situation to be resolved today.

But after reading all of your stories, I do feel better. It helps to really know that everyone screws up sometimes, but yet the world keeps on turning....