GAF, I've made a huge mistake. (Job related.)

Status
Not open for further replies.
zl8Be3w.gif


So... yeah. You already know you fucked up. You don't (or shouldn't) need us to tell you that.

So what now? You can dwell on it if you want, but more importantly you should do a little introspection and work on your attitude. What caused you to make such a rash decision? Are you immature? Impatient? Whatever it is, work on it.
 
Well, in fairness you're making stuff up. From the OP:

After two and a half hours I had had enough. So I went to my boss and told her that I don't think this is a good fit. I told her that they don't seem organized and told her that I wasn't doing anything. She told me that it's only the first day and that I'm in training. But I told her that I haven't done anything and I wasn't even getting trained. So I told her that I'm leaving and am going home.

What on earth are you talking about?

The guy "went to [his] boss" and "told her that they don't seem organized and told her that [he] wasn't doing anything." She replied with something like "uhhhh, don't worry about it, it's only the first day, you're in training," i.e. a polite dismissal.

In other words, exactly what I said. I was just paraphrasing the exact paragraph you quoted.
 

SomTervo

Member
Why don't I just kill myself now and get it over with?

Just re-read this in the OP.

People better bear in mind that OP said this and be sympathetic.

OP, don't subscribe to thoughts like this, even if you have them. Acknowledge them, don't subscribe to them.

Be patient, through thick and thin. Life goes on. In a week, a month, a year, five years - you will forget this ever happened and it will become a hilarious anecdote, I guarantee you.

There's a lot of time in the future. Lots of it.
 

marrec

Banned
OP if you are still having suicidal thoughts you should talk to someone close to you.

It would also be a mistake to keep that to yourself.
 

Gouty

Bloodborne is shit
Lol, way to show initiative. Employers love that. Also keeping them guessing for 150 minutes as to whether or not you had a pulse - masterfully done.
 
The worst part is you didn't even have another job to walk into. Some people are out there for weeks or months or years trying to get a job in their field, and you land one and leave after 2 hours because it took them a little longer than expected to get you set up? Good lord OP. Out of curiosity, how long did it take between you starting looking for work and being told you'd landed the job? Was it worth throwing all that time to waste because of 2 hours of boredom?

You haven't fucked up your life by any means but this was such a bafflingly bad decision. Set better expectations befor starting your next job.
 

Banzai

Member
Holy shit this is hilarious. 2.5 hours and you said to your boss "this isnt a good fit"? AHAHAH oh man. I can't stop laughing when I imagine what she must think of you.
 

Anion

Member
I just find this hard to believe anyone would go through all that interviewing just to quit in 2.5 hours? Did something bad happen besides the lack of doing anything?
 

Aegus

Member
Nope, no agenda or anything. I wasn't told to do anything. Everyone seemed kinda busy so I didn't want to bother them. Plus, the office assistant was looking for a power brick. She found 4 of them but none of them were the right ones for the monitor.

All you say in this situation is that you feel bad that everyone is working hard and if there is anything you can do to help while waiting for IT shit to get sorted. Rule of thumb is that you ask for work if you're not sure what you can do.
 

Razorback

Member
Staff accountant at a corporate company? To me what you did is the opposite of a huge mistake. Possibly the best decision of your life.

But what do I know, money is not very high on my list of priorities.
 

ParityBit

Member
Wow......I do not even know how that action could have entered in your thought process.

Sorry you threw that opportunity away but hopefully you find a new job soon.
 
What in the world?

This is common. 2.5 hours is nothing. Some people take weeks before getting up to speed and start doing "real" work.

It's paid on the job training.

You never did internships or anything? You should've been familiar with this type of stuff. Most managers are pretty busy and training new employees is usually last on the priority list.

Yup, and it's not uncommon for your "real" work to still have hours of downtime. Should have just spent your time introducing yourself to people, OP.
 

Quesa

Member
You're going to be fine. Keep applying to places, maybe don't include this place on your resume, and keep at it.
 

daveo42

Banned
I was going to say "Welcome to the Corporate World" OP, but you already quit. Not the wisest move and I would have asked your boss if there was something you could do while waiting to get set up and/or start your training.

I think the standard average hours worked during a 40hr work week is about 4-8hrs, depending on type of business, season, and job level. The rest is screwing around on the internet or in endless meetings.
 
After getting told that I screwed up, that I ruined my future, that this is how the corporate world works, I'm feeling very depressed. It definitely hit me that I made a huge mistake. Why don't I just kill myself now and get it over with? I have no future anyway, right? Why does the corporate world work this way?! This is horrible! Maybe I'm not meant to be in a corporate environment. Maybe I'm just meant to make minimum wage and be stuck at some dead-end job.

I hate my life. Did I fuck up my future that badly?!

You screwed up but you're hardly the first person to mess up a job opportunity. Don't stress out about it too much, you'll move on to find another job at some point. This will eventually be a funny story that you laugh about.
 

rtcn63

Member
You could've used that time to get your 150 and study for the CPA exam if that's a thing. Have you ever worked retail? They train you by sticking you in front of a computer doing shitty exams for a week and it's mind-numbing.

Wait, do industry accountants do busy season? Because I've read that you're pretty much doing nothing outside of that time period. And according to google, busy season has just begun, so maybe everyone is just too occupied to train you.
 

User1608

Banned
Seems like you screwed up op. I don't necessarily feel bad for you but won't crap on you either. I mean I made a foolish mistake a year ago that will literally cost me due to inattention, so...welcome to the real world. Live, learn from your mistakes and move on.
 
OP, you fucked up, but..

After getting told that I screwed up, that I ruined my future, that this is how the corporate world works, I'm feeling very depressed. It definitely hit me that I made a huge mistake. Why don't I just kill myself now and get it over with? I have no future anyway, right? Why does the corporate world work this way?! This is horrible! Maybe I'm not meant to be in a corporate environment. Maybe I'm just meant to make minimum wage and be stuck at some dead-end job.

..please don't think it like that. And especially don't suicide because of it. Please. If you're seriously feeling like that, then talk to someone about it.

It's just one fuck up. It happens. You'll get over it and you'll get another job. Next time you'll know better.
 

andycapps

Member
First days at a new job generally start with them throwing stacks of documentation on your desk for you to read through to keep you busy until your access to systems, network, etc comes through. Yes, you screwed up. It's very common for people to be bored when they first start a corporate job. Don't worry, you'll be busy soon enough.
 
What on earth are you talking about?

The guy "went to [his] boss" and "told her that they don't seem organized and told her that [he] wasn't doing anything." She replied with something like "uhhhh, don't worry about it, it's only the first day, you're in training," i.e. a polite dismissal.

In other words, exactly what I said. I was just paraphrasing the exact paragraph you quoted.
You see, "uhhhh, don't worry about it" is the part where you're making stuff up. You're injecting inflection and dismissive tone into something you read. You're altering the few facts that we know to fit your narrative. Nothing in the OP points to her being dismissive like you suggested "I don't know what you should be doing, I'm busy, go away." vs "She told me that it's only the first day and that I'm in training."

You're making stuff up. Does that make sense to you?
 
I told her that they don't seem organized and told her that I wasn't doing anything. She told me that it's only the first day and that I'm in training. But I told her that I haven't done anything and I wasn't even getting trained.

So, rather than ask how you could help, and what you could do while you waited for training (can I make copies? can I organize something? do you want a f'ing latte?) you criticize the company (and therefore the manager) and bail.

this is how the corporate world works

Sometimes it is. But the corporate world, and your success in it, depends greatly on the attitude the worker brings to it, how self-starting that person is, and whether that person is a leader or someone who will sit back and wait to be told what to do.

Did I fuck up my future that badly?!

No. You learned a very valuable lesson. Be proactive, look for opportunities to bring value to the organization, take advantage of even the smallest of opportunities to show initiative and to lead.
 
I understand why you made this mistake and you shouldn't be hard on yourself. Without fail, every company I've worked for that allowed new employees to experience what you described have been mediocre to awful. Good companies do not allow new hires to feel like alienated, useless outsiders: instead, they ensure that the equipment they need to be functional is ready to go and that the team they're joining is receptive, engaged, and communicative.

I told my SO this and would make the same recommendation to anyone starting out: when you make a serious mistake, you need to treat it as a learning opportunity. Write down the circumstances of the mistake, what led you to make the decision you made, and how you could have handled the situation better. Everyone screws up: few people take the time to objectively analyze what they did wrong and how they could have handled the situation better.
 

entremet

Member
Sounds more like the employer made a huge mistake hiring you in the first place.

He/she sounds like an eager beaver that was massively uninformed about the corporate world.

This is why internships are super essential. Not just for experience, but for understanding these intangibles.

I think the OP may have worked food service or retail before where it's much more fast paced. Not to mention where you get yelled at for any form of lazing around.

That's just a guess of mine.
 
Yeah, you definitely made a mistake.

Should've just went around to your coworkers, introducing yourself, and asked if they needed any help while you waited to be trained. If no one needed help, at least you asked. They'd get around to you eventually. Bailing after two and a half hours wasn't the right thing to do.

However, this is one job. Plenty more out there and now you know what to do next time you're in the same position. Don't get yourself down.
 

Persona7

Banned
Or better yet play it off as something like you had to go home really quick to get your medication or you were feeling sick. idk make something up that would give you a reason to go home and play it off as a misunderstanding.
 

Cranster

Banned
I worked at call centres for over 3 years and the most enjoyable times were when our systems crashed and we got paid to do nothing.

You fucked up OP! Learn from it.
 

thaOwner

Member
Just started a new job yesterday as well as a network engineer yesterday. It's definitely a new territory for me coming from my desktop support and help desk background. All I did on my first day is read through the employee pamphlet. I'm doing exactly the same thing today as well.

You really shouldn't have left and been a bit more patient.
 

RomanceDawn

Member
Gadzooks. Well the future with this job is F'd up but now you've got a new future to work on, what ever that may be.

Knock of the suicidal talk, your situation isn't that bad. Though trust me I know how it feels to loose a job and feel like there is nothing left. I've never been fired but was apart of great companies that went under.

Go learn a style of martial arts, maybe a Chinese style, Wushu/Kungfu or Tai Chi. You gotta learn a little patience.
 

jblank83

Member
*sits around for a couple of hours*
*fuming mad because not doing anything*
*storms into HR office*

"How DARE you not let me shine. Do you know who I am? I am pure gold. GOLD!"
"You're FOOOOLS."

*storms out of building, FOREVER*


Sorry to ridicule, but spend several years in the corporate world and see how many hours you sit around doing nothing wondering what you could be doing with your life. I've waited an entire year before deciding "it wasn't a good fit".

As for fucking up, just don't list this company as a work experience or as a reference on your applications/resume. Learn your lesson. Get a grip on your anxiety. Get another job. Continue your soul sucking existence in the corporate world, living paycheck to paycheck.
 
OP, I'm sorry that you made this mistake. It's not the end of the world. If you were destined for Mc Donalds you would never have gotten this job in the first place. You have the education.

Never tell anyone this story unless you embellish it.

Try to find a new job and dont give up. It may be much harder this time around, but you will get another chance.

Next time, take a chill pill.
 

mhayes86

Member
Only 2.5 hours? That seems pretty normal. You definitely made a bad choice, so better luck with the next one.

For me it was practically the entirely of my first day, and probably a few more. I was introduced to some co-workers, but all I did was read and fill out paperwork for the most part. Once my accounts were set up and my hardware available, the computer was set up and I started being given some small project.
 
I understand why you made this mistake and you shouldn't be hard on yourself. Without fail, every company I've worked for that allowed new employees to experience what you described have been mediocre to awful. Good companies do not allow new hires to feel like alienated, useless outsiders: instead, they ensure that the equipment they need to be functional is ready to go and that the team they're joining is receptive, engaged, and communicative.

Even if it is only a mediocre company, a job is a job, money is money and experience is experience. He didn't have to stay there the rest of his career. Could've gotten a year or two of experience and jumped to a new company. Now he's starting off again at square one.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom