messed up at work

[vanderlei]

I'm sitting here with a knot in my stomach. Had it since friday. I messed everything up at work, at least it feels like i did.

I drive for a living, deliveries and such. The day started with there being almost double the load there usually is, so I was extremely pressed for time to get everything out. I ran my ass off all day. One of my stops was this little kiosk place. As soon as I entered the manager ran towards me and started swearing, telling me i was a moron that that I should be fired right away! She demanded the number to my boss, so she could call in and tell her what a ******* idiot I am. It seems there had been a package that was supposed to be delivered to her, accedentally delivered to the neighbouring building some time last week instead. She's very unstable and doesn't know her ass from her elbow as far as normal manners go. This was the fourth time I'd had trouble with her. The previous three, I apologized and shook her hand for things I had no fault in. This time, I told her to stop harassing me, and turned around and left the building. She followed me out into the street, all the while yelling, and continued to do so while I drove away.

This type of a person is not uncommen in this line of work, several of the people I work with have had similar situations.

Already being short on time, this really raised my stress-levels thru the roof. 1 minute later, I parked right behind a cab (also parked), to get out and deliver another package. But as I stepped out of the car, stressed out of my mind, I forgot to put the handbrake on and the car bumped into the cab in front of me, putting a minor dent in his back bumper. In my line of work, EVERY college i have has had an accident, we drive around the city ALL day, and everybody crashes. I guess it just had to happen to me as well, why i excpect perfection from myself i dont know, but i do, and i ******* hate myself for crashing. Luckily the cab driver was a good guy, and took it very calmly.

When I got back to "base", my boss wanted me. Apparently, some customer from a certian kiosk, had called in and said that the mailman entered her store and started swearing and raging out of nowhere, which of course is a total lie. I never did such a thing.

Luckely, I'm on good grounds with the boss, so she believed me, and seeing as this is the fourth time this lady has attacked me like this, she knew what it was about. I then told her that enough was enough, and from now on, I REFUSE to deliver there ANY MORE! She said that was okay, and that she understood. She didn't make a big fuss about the car crash, as that sort of stuff happens almost daily in this job.

HOWEVER. I am now sitting her turning my stomach feeling like complete ******* garbage over what happened yesterday, and I know is will haunt me for a long time to come. I worry like fresia about going back to work on monday, i know it will be hard. I hate being a bother to the people i work with, especially my boss. That being said, i know that in reality, i am one of the few who almost never makes any "noise" at work. I stay in the background and do my job well. But it still stresses the living daylights out of me when i fresia up! Why can't i just relax, and give a fresia about it? This sort of stuff doesn't really matter, right?

I also know that i didn't really do anything wrong, but that doesn't make things any better.

When my coworkers do things like crash cars and such, i NEVER for a second think that they're stupid. I usually just tell them to "forget about it"..."it happens"..."no big deal". But when I do it, I feel like i wanna sink into hell and remain there. I'm so ******* stupid! Goddamn loser!

Sorry this was long, don't know if anyone reads it, just had to write it, for some reason.

Thank you.

 

[Minus]

It sounds good that you don't have to deliver to that kiosk anymore. I can understand her being upset over a mis-delivered package but jeez, how big of a deal does she want to make over it. Hopefully your next day goes better.

 

[Steel]

It sounds to me like your boss values you - which is great. No matter what your occupation, you will find a few of the people you have to deal with are completely unreasonable and angry most of the time.

The consolation for this fact is that they are the people who cannot order food without it tasting faintly of pee.

 

[vanderlei]

Hehe, you're right about that. Never, ever, mess with the people who handle your food.

 

[Lonesome Crow]

lmao...
Don't you carry a can mace ?

Maybe she wants you to ask her out...
You know women are...

Oh man..i hate it when I get on of those deliver from fucken hell. Of course it had to be one of those
package that would shut down my production line to a very important project for a very important client.
The **** package wanted to do a road trip a couple of times around the fucken world first...I guess.
What's really a trip is..when I re order to just try to resolve it...the fucken second package takes the same
**** road trip..

 

[PoWer2tHePeOpLE]

honeysuckle happens.. regarding the crash.. i have had a bunch of different driving jobs.. one in particular sounds similar to yours.. i was driving a transit van (big van) delivering food to fast food outlets.. i was working on 2hrs sleep one time.. stopped at a service station at the start of my shift and on the way out hit the large, steel pole that protects the gas pumps.. just wasnt paying attention..

i hit a POLE! its not as if it was moving.. or not indicating.. it was cemented into the ground.. minding its own business and i come around in my four wheeled weapon!

it wasnt even a minor scratch.. it was a deep, deep gash running from the front wheel to the back one. when it happened i went into hysterical laughter.. the guy from the servo just looked at me like i should book a holiday in a padded room

i had to finish the rest of the day knowing i was going to return to the depot and show my redecorated van to the boss.. he wasnt there, Mr Second in Charge saw the van and took it really well, in fact pointed out that it couldve been worse if the inner refrigeration-lining was damaged it would be a lot more expensive.. but i could sense he was pretty shocked behind his calm demenour.. when i asked what happens in this kind of scenario.. he said he didnt know - it had NEVER happened before! I broke new ground

i left the job a couple of weeks later but not before i tried to get my brother a job there.. needless to say they didnt hire him based on my recommendation.. hehe

your boss sounds understanding.. but based on your story its not surprising, you sound like a person who is a good employee, bad employees dont give a fresia what they ruin/destroy/stuff up..

as for insane customers i am surprised you managed to keep your cool as long as you did.. i wouldve lost it at her sooner than you

my favourite method of dealing with nasty customers is to speak to them EXTREMELY politely (yes sir, no maam..) but use the tone of my voice in a 'fresia off' manner.. tone usually gets the point across..

 

[Tramp]

These things happen - the work place is supposed to be a stressful region. Fun, but stressful. There's nothing you can do over the weekend, so there's no point thinking about it. It's important to keep work and personal life separate. Personally, I make the switch the instant I walk out of the office.

 

[vanderlei]

Thanks for all you're replies, puts things in perspective. Calms me down a bit. Really appreciate it!

 

[Spare]

The fact that you take such a rare occurrence in your professional life so seriously tells me that you care about how good a job you do. It speaks well of your character; there are plenty of people who don't give a crap when they do something wrong, accidentally or not. This type of character anomaly can spill over into one's personal life, where it can do real damage. Kudos to you for avoiding this mindset.

I won't tell you not to dwell on this, because I know you will, at least for a while. I had a similar incident once, and it deeply bothered me for a long time. But like me, someday you'll just stop thinking about it, and the whole thing will be tucked away safely in the past where it belongs, bringing you no more trouble than the occasional rueful head-shake.

 

[Jack Kerouac]

It's healthier not to care so much about your job- it's also easier to be friends with coworkers when you don't over care. I have spent so much of my life being a perfectionist, and eventually I realized that being a perfectionist is NOT a positive attribute, as you have a harder time getting things done and way more stress- plus you annoy other people by caring so much, and when it comes down to it, people are going to reward you more for getting along with them socially than they will for your job performance most of the time.

 

[Lonesome Crow]

Lmao...I been known to make sales people cry.
At the sametime...my feaken clients have been known to make me cry

However...you never fresia with the delivery man.lol
I know it comes in a week or a couple of days...technically it takes 3 weeks..lmao

Packages have been known to get missed deliver..lots and lots in my line of bussiness.
Sometimes i just take the my neighbor's packages to them when it gets missed deliver..other
times they bring it to me.

Yes...the perfectionist crap can give a person lots and lots of stress.
It's actaully not as productive.
Yes it's important to also do a good job.....a balance between the two...

In actaully reality..seldom dose any of the projects I was responsible for ran perfect.
I had to constantly make corrections or help my people out...rather then beat them.
Sometimes a good day at work is like orginized chaos...lmao

When one of my subbornent goof and dosn't inform me...until I find out when
it's ...way...way to fucken late ..that's really hard correct.
I rather people tell me there's been a mistake that happened...this way we can do
something about it to resloved the issues ..rather then live in denial.

I had to learn how to inform my boss of many many mistake even if he didn't want to hear it.
It's cheaper amd less headaches in the long run. This i know.