PA and Secretary Community - Deskdemon.com

And how did you own up to it? what were the results of your mistake, and what steps did you take to correct it?



Enquiring minds want to know! dish! (worked related please, first person who says,, my ex-husband gets fifty lashes with a wet web page!)

Well, gosh... Andrea...



Dontcha know I'm just perrrrrfect in the workplace, and my biggest mistake IS my ex husband?  Sheesh.....



<giggle>





Seriously though, I can't think of any particular mistake that was BIG enough to even mention.  I don't have any major regrets because without those experiences, I wouldn't be where I am today.  

Okay so no one wants to climb out on the limb, so please, allow ME to get the ball rolling as to mistakes.



When I was a younger Admin I was given a great deal of responsibility in a small Florida firm. I was given the responsiblity because I had everyone bamboozled into believing I knew exactly what I was doing ALL the time.  (now this skill has served me well in later years, but in the early admin years it was mostly bluff and bravado).



A corporate officer came to me one day and asked me to take their existing FoxPro data base and convert it to this new "access" program, could I do it?



"Can do! No doubt about it!" I replied and proceeded to completly corrupt their existing database somehow, (to this day I don't know how and I am now REALLY the Access Diva I pretended to be then).  AND to make matters worse, there was no backup. :shudder: why? Because I didnt have enough sense to make one and this was before the days when everyone backed up everything routinely and took IT considerations really seriously, so I had no where to turn.



what did I do? well for starters, I put off telling them about it for nearly two weeks, until there simply was no other choice, then I sucked it up went in and told the biggest lie that I've ever told in my life,,, that my computer had gone down in the middle of working on the new program and I couldnt seem to get anything back.  (we were famous for lightening strikes and intermittant power failures so it sounded plausible to me.)



Im not sure to this day if my boss ever figured out that it was my ineptitude that caused an error that eventually cost the company thousands as data had to be reentered by hand, but you can bet your bottom dollar I never EVER took on another assignment without being very VERY sure that I could carry it out.



The moral of the story? never lie about skills, Acquire them instead!



 

I can laugh about this now.... Back when I was a word processing typist and typed millions and millions of pages of engineering documents I had to type something about public participation however I typed PUBIC participation and the spell check didn't catch it (hey, it was spelled correctly!).  Anyway, we did catch it before it went out and all got a good laugh about it (it was going to a city council meeting can you imagine what they would have thought?).

My biggest mistake was when I took a memo and put it in "proper" format.  My mistake was that instead of listening to the other admins who were all telling me different *right* formats I did it in the format that I had been taught was right at my last company.  Even went so far as to re-do memos, policies and letters to my *right* format instead of going to the ones who should know and getting the correct format to use.  And I made it worse when someone challenged my formatting by saying "Well, this is the way they told me to do it" without specifying that this "they" wasn't even in this company.  And I had argued this point with the Associate Director's secretary, who is the goddess of formating for this company.



What happened?  She caught me, because she had worked for the same company I had just come from and recognized the formatting (not all government facilities use the same format, but each branch puts it's own signature on their formatting).  She took me aside, asked me point blank who had told me that was proper formating for this company, at which time I confessed the truth.  She then became my mentor and my friend and I learned a lot from her over the years.  Most importantly, never try to bullsh*t the lead Admins and to ask for proper formating, forms and such instead of pushing through with what I'm familiar with.



Nothing major as far as mistakes go, but I've always tried to be somewhat conservative in my job.  I gladly accept new tasks but always own up to not knowing a lot (or anything as they case may be) about the requirements while at the same time sharing my willingness and desire to have the chance to learn.  This hasn't ever steered me wrong and has allowed me to progress in a field where I keep being told progression is impossible.

This is a whopper of a mistake and I regret it to this day.



I work for a government agency who drug tests their "clients."  I was newly promoted to supervisor and the person I supervised who tracked the results of these drug tests and distributed the results to the parties who needed to be informed was out on vacation.  Since I hadn't had her cross train anybody to perform this very important duty, I did it myself (I never had her cross train me either, but I thought--hey, hard can this be?).  Well, unfortunately, I wasn't as diligent about checking those anonymous numbers the tests are submitted under and I matched up a client with the wrong number.  The poor guy kept protesting the results and spent several hundred dollars out of his own pocket to prove he didn't do drugs.  When this particular staff member came back, she checked the work that was done while she was out, caught the mistake right away and corrected the error, but not before this client had already paid out of pocket for more testing.



What I learned from this fiasco:  the importance of cross-training my staff and the humiliating fact that just because I'm the supervisor, doesn't mean I'm the expert!!!  Quite a lesson, but I'm probably lucky my boss forgave me.  Thank goodness I had learned years before:  when you make a mistake, own up to it and apologize ASAP.

 

I mispelled warehouse, and spell check didn't catch it.  Fortunately I had a fellow Secretary read it as it was her document, and she caught it before it went out.  Laughingly she said, are you trying to tell me somethin.  I won't print the word, I promise.  Just use your imagination...The best little....in Texas ring a bell?  I was so embarrased.



Chris68

Back when I worked for a warehouse, late on a Friday, a customer (we sold through distributors only) called looking for a particular part.  I looked it up on our inventory screen and it read "0 in stock".  The guy said, "OK, thanks anyway." and hung up.  



The next thing I know, we're getting threatened with a lawsuit for "unfair business practices" or some such.  It turns out that the distributor A's customer was desperate for this part and called distributor B in the same area who called the warehouse, got my boss, and was told that yes, we had one in stock.  They placed the order and it shipped.  



Turns out that when I looked and saw the "0" I missed a notation on the screen that said that this part was made up of about 10 smaller parts which were listed on a secondary screen.  (My product knowledge was still in it's fledgling mode.) Sure enough, we had the parts to make one up.  When Distributor A found out about it, he thought we were giving "preferential treatment" to Distributor B and threatened a lawsuit.  



Distributor A was kind of a hothead so we ended up getting the sales representative, and the Regional and National Sales Managers involved to calm him down.  I ended up writing and calling with a personal apology for the mistake (only the right thing to do, of course, but he milked it for all the humiliation it was worth!)  He never would speak to me on the phone again--insisted on talking to the boss.



Lessons?  Two of them actually:  1 -- NEVER let your concentration slide even for a minute, even 45 mintues after "quitting time" on a Friday!  If I hadn't missed the notation on the screen this all could have been avoided.  2 -- KNOW your company's business/product as well as you can!  Had my product knowledge been better, I'd have known off the top of my head to look for the list of parts.  But I hadn't been aggressive enough in getting myself trained.



 

I made my biggest mistake ever just a few weeks back.  I was doing payroll as a back up for a Asst. Controller who was on vacation.  Now its my responsibility every week, but that week was the second time I'd done it in a year.  When I was check our auto deposit register, I found out that I had paid one of our equipment operations a net of over $21,000.  I'm sure he would have loved me, but the boss would have definately been upset.  Seems that I went into habit mode from routine entrie I usually make every week and entered the G/L code for his rate.   Thank God I caught it before the auto deposit went out. I guess my guardian angel was really watching me that day because I couldn't get the encryption program to work.



Hard to believe that after that, the Controller still has enough faith in me to let me have that job weekly now.   Of course I quadruple check it all before I finish.   B)





 

A small mistake compared to some of the previous posts but several years ago I typed a letter to a customer and instead of typing factory-trained representatives I typed factory-strained!  My boss thought it was so funny he still has a copy of that letter to this day. Needless to say, spellcheck didn't pick up on it either.    

This only happened a few months ago. One of our technicians called and asked me to place an order for "test packs like we ordered before."  Usually I don't accept an order over the phone.  I have developed forms that I require be completed and given to me.  I did this to avoid the very situation that happened - but I didn't follow my own rule!  Anyway, I looked back at the last order I did for that technician and ordered $1,500 worth of test packs.  When they arrived, it turns out they were the wrong test packs.  They wanted ones like we had ordered several months ago, not the ones they had last ordered.  So, I called the vendor to return the items.  Guess what - it has a limited expiration time and cannot be returned!  To make it worse, bossy in that department decided to proclaim that she had never authorized the purchase.  Now, of course, the technician didn't take it upon herself to order it.  She had verbal authorization from bossy.  Because nothing was in writing, bossy claimed she knew nothing about it.  In the end, there was nothing to do about it.  We kept the test packs.  I ordered another $1,500 of the correct test packs and bossy had to pay for both out of her budget. Technician and I have since put our foot down and insist that bossy sign off on all orders from now on. This covers us on two bases:  1) it prevents me from ordering the wrong thing, 2) bossy can never claim she didn't authorize it because her signature is on it.  



I have to say, when this was happening I thought it was the worst thing that could happen and I felt really horrible about.  My supervisor kept telling me not to worry - there are far worse mistakes.  After reading some of the other posts, I feel a lot better about it!

Geesh!  I still can't believe I did this but.....here goes.  Quite a few years ago, I was an admin for a Roman Catholic Church which also happened to be my parish.  Just as I was walking out the door on Friday of my first week, one of the priests ran after me (he looked like Wimpy) and said he'd forgotten to tell me that one of my duties was to type the petitions for Sunday Mass.  In this particular part of the Mass, you ask the congregation to pray for the sick, dying, deceased, etc.  The priest and I both were running late and as he fed me the information, I typed.  Finally, almost an hour later, I was headed out the door once again.  It had been a very long week.  



On Sunday, my daughter (5 yrs. old at that time) and I are sitting in church and they begin to read the petitions.  I was thinking I was pretty cool beans that I had a part in this service.  My daughter thought so too.  Then came the bomb!  As they read the prayers for the deceased, I had typed in the widow's name instead of the deceased!  She was sitting 3 pews in front of me and very much alive!  I scooted down in my pew and was sooooooo embarrassed.  I think the hair on the back of her head stood straight up!  



Took me awhile to live that one down!  

 

200 that I had given him...

 

My last admin job.  Enough said.  Even if hubby tells you "we need the money," DON'T go back to a field that you don't really like but had a lot of experience in.  You're only going to make yourself, as well as the people who hired you, miserable.  Not fair to everyone involved.

I'm staying at home, raising baby #1, waiting for baby #2, and I just sent out an application to join a professional organization in the career field I want to go into.



Being an Admin was just not my cup of tea, and it's far better to leave the field to people who want to be in it.  If you don't want to be where you are, you're only dragging down the morale of everyone around you.

Well, the BIGGEST (but certainly not the only!!  ) mistake I've ever made was on my third job many moons ago.  I was working for an executive search firm in Miami.  One of my responsibilities was to send out client resumes to interested corporations.  Well, I had assembled and sealed about 50 envelopes and accidentally put one client's resume into the wrong envelope.  It ended up being sent to his current employer!  I found out about it because another corporation received the resume this guys employer should have received, and the corporation didn't have an opening for a candidate with the qualifications on the resume!



How did I fix it?  I immediately called the client's current employer and asked for the HR department.  I was hoping that they hadn't yet opened the envelope (knowing that sometimes HR departments get backed up!), but they did.  I then prevailed upon their respect for confidentiality, and asked the HR Manager to please put the resume back in the envelope and send it back to me.  He assured me he would do that -- and he actually did!  To the best of my knowledge, the client was never told.  I did fess up to my boss, and he said that since I rectified the situation in a satisfactory manner, and then told him about it, he appreciated my honesty and integrity -- but to be more careful in the future!!



Energizer

Whew.. talk about a close call Energizer.  What great thinking on your part though for solving the problem.

Hmm, biggest mistake I ever made. This one still makes me lose sleep. Some years ago I was working for an automotive supplier. Part of my job was to do cost estimating for flat die cut parts - my least favorite part of the job. If you've ever worked in customer service or engineering for an automotive supplier, you know that the car companies NEVER give you enough time to do anything! As usual, we were rushed, and on top of that we were not allowed any over time. (I know, I know, I'm making excuses and there's really no excuse for shoddy work.) Anyway, I had these quotes due ASAP and when I looked over the blueprints to get material quotes, etc. I measured the prints. What I never noticed was that they were half-size blueprints! Now, if we'd not gotten the business, there would have been no problem. Naturally, we were the low bid 'cause I screwed up big time. We didn't catch the mistake until after we were awarded the contract and had begun making dies. At that point, I was the one who found the mistake (I'm still glad that no one else had to come to me and tell me I messed up!). I took the information to my boss, who was nice enough to go to the head honcho without making me go along. Management went to the auto company and negotiated a new price - somewhere in between my quote and what the price should have been. I felt absolutely awful, but I know it could have been worse. The company would have been justified in firing me after I cost them thousands of dollars and made them lose credibility with our biggest customer.



So, what did I learn from this? I learned to refuse jobs that were really not up my alley and in which I had no interest. If you don't like what you do, you won't do your best! I also learned not to allow myself to be rushed - either by my own internal deadlines or by someone else's. If my management had stood up to the customer and told them, tactfully, that their time frame was unrealistic, this need never have happened. And I learned check, doublecheck, and recheck my work!



Barb

I'm one of those people who HATES making mistakes, but I do make them! This may not be the biggest but the latest one, was that we have two people in our database with the same name who work for different companies on the same job. So one day I was trying to help out with mail and in a big rush, I accidentally sent a package to the wrong one. The company I missent the package to called the next day to say they'd received it in error and wondered what to do with it. Well, their location is 30 miles away so we really wanted them to ship it back so we could resend it, but they made like that would be a major inconvenience for them, so we ended up just sending out another one--to the correct party this time. The project manager who was sending it said no problem--I was sure embarrassed though!  

not to lie about making mistakes (because everyone makes them) and to be accountable for your actions?  

I'll say! I won't do anything at work that I wouldn't be happy seeing on the front page of a newspaper. Transparency and accountability are very important to me in my workplace. People need to admit they are wrong. I have had culture clashes with people who need to save face. Very difficult.

It was Many years ago ladies, time changes many things including my interpersonal communications style.



done now? Gee thanks.





 

I've had a couple of "doozies" - I hate making mistakes and don't make many, but when I do "boy howdy"!



Early in my admin career, we had an inter-company message system that was sort of a fore-runner to e-mail.  We typed the messages on a PC and sent them to a central office, where they were forwarded to the recipients (thank God for small favors - I had gone out of my way to make friends with the guy at the central office).  Anyway, it was an extremely busy day and my boss gave me a handwritten message to send.  I added it to the stack, and when I got to it, typed it exactly as he had written it and neglected to proof it.  It was to our DAMS (account managers) and he had written cc: God DAM, meaning the manager of all the account managers.  As I said, I typed it exactly as written and it didn't "click".  I sent the message off and was horrified when the guy called me from the central office, laughing his butt off, to ask if I really wanted to send that message.  It really paid off that I had been friendly to this guy - what if I had been nasty to him and he wanted to get back at me?



The other biggie was the time I scheduled a meeting for the wrong date - for 25 rather high level people flying in from other cities.  The meeting was supposed to be on the 23rd and somehow, I communicated to everyone that it was on the 22nd - my boss was supposed to be out of town on the 22nd.  After several minutes of internal panic, I checked on alternate flights for boss' trip, found a way to get him back earlier, took several deep breaths and marched into the boss' office and just said "I really screwed up this time, boss".  Then I just  explained what had happened and showed him the alternate travel plans.  I held my breath, until he agreed that it was a workable solution.  None of the meeting attendees ever knew there was a problem!