People make mistakes. They just do. Until we work in a world that is populated by machines, there are always going to be blunders and oversights. And hey ... when that does happen ... and you spend your days running from Skynet ... you will long for the days of human error, my friends.
Anyhow ... I made a mistake at work. A report was ordered on the 23rd with a due date of the 24th. I honestly don't know what happened ... I could place the blame on the 15 pages of notes on the order that referenced a thousand different things and were confusing as hell ... but no excuses. The bottom line is ... I screwed up.
I ordered the document on the 23rd ... which gave me an error and I notified the CSR. I planned to try to pull it on the 24th ... but somehow, I deleted it from my queue. I don't know how it happened or why I did ... but I'll take responsibility. I messed up and pressed the wrong button ... and the order disappeared from my line of sight.
Until today ... when I got a nasty call. Why wasn't this order delivered on the 24th? I immediately took the blame and apologized and assured the rep I would fix it immediately ... and I did. Within 15 minutes, the document was uploaded and e-mailed out. Not good enough.
I got a long, nasty message ... asking what was wrong with me ... were the notes not clear enough (honestly, no ... they weren't) ... why should they have to deal with an angry client ... why did I drop the ball ... what exactly was my problem ...
So once again, I donned sackcloth and ashes and apologized. Yet again I owned up ... I readily admitted that I deleted the order after the initial error. My bad. I'm sorry. The mistake was on my end and I'm sorry for the confusion and irritation caused by my mistake. Not good enough.
When I took the new employee orientation, one of the things they stress is to take ownership. If you make a mistake, don't make excuses, don't try to hide it ... own it, be honest, and fix it. Well ... I did that ... and it wasn't quite the "kumbaya" experience as the trainers would have you believe.
The cherry on top is that this is really affecting my attitude towards New Yorkers. I've dealt with NY reps a handful of times now ... and every time it has been an unpleasant experience. They are angry and aggressive ... and while I'm sure they're out there, I've yet to talk to one who is happy or friendly.
So ... this morning was a push. I had one rep gushing about what an amazing job I did and how quickly she got her order ... and immediately had another who thought my ass was leftover Christmas ham and his job was to clean the fridge. Sigh ...
It's Friday, right?
And somedays pass on by
I'll be working here forever
At least until I die.
Dammed if you do
Dammed if you don't
I'm supposed to get a raise week
You know damn well I won't
Huey Lewis and the News -
Working for a Living
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