Like everyone, I hate making mistakes

[schneefink]

Stressful day at work today. I found out that I made a mistake concerning one of our client's financial aid applications (i.e. I used the wrong value, mistakenly thought they didn't qualify, and by now the deadline to apply has passed) and cost them around 4,500 euros. With that same client several mistakes were made in the past so they're already unhappy with me. (To be fair, two of the mistakes were my fault, though one ~only resulted in a time delay and one should be fixable; the others were the result of unclear legal guidelines that were only clarified later. Even just hearing about that client stresses me out by now.)
However, I then found out that the mistake was the result of an accounting mistake (our accountant filled in advance tax returns in a way that was technically incorrect but had absolutely no impact on the bottom line, so apparently nobody noticed or cared, but it suddenly became relevant for financial aid calculations.) It wasn't relevant for the applications up until April, but I missed it in May and I only caught the mistake with the June application, half a week after the deadline for May. But I think not carefully checking every tax return submitted by our own accountants is excusable, possibly even reasonable, especially considering our current workload, so I only feel a little bit guilty about it. My boss doesn't seem to blame me either, which is a relief.
Still sucks though. Not good for my confidence or nerves either. At least one of my bosses – the one not currently in the hospital; our boss having to get two surgeries after complications after a routine checkup does not help with the workload problem – agreed to handle informing the client because that would have been very unpleasant. Last time I messed up one of my bosses overheard our phone call and then threatened to drop her as a client because of the way she spoke to me.
I hate doing financial aid applications. The upside is being able to tell clients that they will receive money, which they are usually happy about. The downside is that all the regulations are new, there are new rules all the time, many are unclear, it's a ton of work, there are frequent strict deadlines, unlike in tax matters you have very little to no way to correct mistakes, every client wants their money immediately, you constantly have to think about several dozen ongoing applications at the same time... I keep telling myself that at least when I finish my bachelor's degree I'll be able to make a very informed choice about whether I want to stay in the profession or not because it's only going to get easier. (From then. It'll probably get worse between now and the end of the year. More aid application deadlines, plus tax returns and yearly financial reports that include financial aid, oof. And I will have uni classes again, too.)

Comments

[yhlee]

Oh man, that sounds rough. *support support* I'm glad your bosses have your back.

[schneefink]

Thanks! Yeah, it would be a lot worse otherwise.

[sheron]

Seconding the comment above, glad your boss understands.

[schneefink]

They did tell me they've made worse mistakes in their career ^^

[out_there]

*hugs*

[schneefink]

*hugs*

[nnozomi]

Ugh, my job sometimes also involves the potential for little tiny mistakes (involving ultimate responsibility split among a bunch of people's jobs) which can have far-reaching client implications, whether or not the mistake is significant or not. It's the worst. I'm glad your bosses are understanding of the situation; go easy on yourself!

[schneefink]

Why can we not simply not make any mistakes, that would be much easier!

[yuuago]

Man... That does sound very stressful indeed.
<3

[schneefink]

Fortunately today was better. (I did stay at the office past 7pm because of looming deadlines, but I felt less stressed.)

[michelel72]

Not having a way to correct mistakes sounds like the worst part. Sorry it's all so stressful.

[schneefink]

It is! At least when I'm dealing with the official department of finance there are clear rules for what you can and cannot do and what rights you have, but there is very little of that when dealing with the entity created to dispense COVID-related financial aid.

[extempore]

Oh ja, das ist eine der schlimmsten Situationen, in die man bei dem Job geraten kann. Immerhin hat es sich um einen relativ überschaubaren Betrag gehandelt. Mein Vorgänger, ein Jurist btw., hat über Jahre eine Kleinigkeit übersehen, was letztlich zu einer Nachzahlung in fünfstelliger Höhe geführt hat. Der hatte noch Jahre später das Trauma davon.

Aber gut, dass deine Chefs hinter dir stehen. Die wissen ja eh ganz genau, das sowas passieren kann.

[schneefink]

Ein anderer Fehler war in Höhe von etwa 26.000 - da hoffen wir zwar noch, dass wir das Geld zurückbekommen, aber... (Da hab ich aber ein weniger schlechtes Gewissen, das war ein unklarer Paragraph und meine Chefs haben ihn gleich interpretiert wie ich, nur hat sich später leider herausgestellt dass die COFAG das anders gesehen hat.)

Ja, zum Glück sind meine Chefs da verständnisvoll, sonst wär´s noch um einiges stressiger.

[dr_zook]

Uwaaah, sorry to hear that! But don't beat yourself up over it; I bet everybody of your (older, aka those with more working experience) colleagues had something similar in the course of their career? I'm glad your boss has your back, that's what they're here for. :)

[schneefink]

Yeah, I don't think it's possible to avoid making mistakes, so pretty much everyone has stories like that.

[misura]

Oof, that sounds like a very stressful job, especially with all the new-to-everyone rules. Glad you have your bosses for support, rather than for piling on extra stress!

*hugs*

[schneefink]

Well, they are supportive but definitely also a source of stress at other times ^^
Thanks :)

[misura]

Ha, thanks for reducing my boss envy by at least 50%.

(A colleague of mine slipped up last week, resulting in a Serious (Teamwide) E-Mail from Management about how mistakes are unacceptable in our workplace, so I had a brief moment of 'wait, there are bosses like that too?'.)

[schneefink]

Ouch! That is high pressure, not fun. What kind of workplace is it?

I definitely got lucky with my bosses, most of the time. (Now if they could only stop accepting new clients so that we could maybe one day have some breathing room instead of having to do so many overtime hours that would be fantastic...)

[misura]

Whoops, sorry, turns out I may be a bit more grumbly about this than I want to put down in a comment so er, I'll leave it at 'no harm was done to any living being as a result of my colleague's error, but my team's gone through six managers in three years, so in another two months, the incident will probably be just another anecdote about boss X who will not be missed'.

[schneefink]

Wow, that kind of turnover sounds very troublesome and tiring to deal with. Best wishes for finding future good managers.

[misura]

Thank you!