A Simple Mistake Handled with the Wrong Temperament
…the 5 words she yelled that sadly made us all lose respect for her
3:55 a.m.
I work at a well-known store near my house. My co-workers and I are essential workers, so they say. To me, we are all only normal, every-day men and women trying to provide for our families.
There is a group of about 10 of us that open every morning. We arrive about 10 minutes before 4:00 a.m. when one of the assistant managers on duty will let us in one at a time to take our temperature before we start the day. There are 5 different assistant managers that can open, so we are never exactly sure who is going to be there.
This morning, there was no assistant manager there to let us in. We all waited a bit. Still nothing. About 4:15 a.m., I try calling the store manager to let him know. No answer, just voicemail.
Repeat that same scenario every 15 minutes 5 times. It has been over an hour, and no one has come to open the store and the manager still has not answered. We are all just standing around, chatting, and passing the time.
5:20 a.m.
We finally see one of the assistant managers’ car come flying into the parking lot. She comes running up to the door to let herself in, and the first words out of her mouth to all of us are “WHY DIDN’T YOU CALL ME???”
Ummm, what? We were all kind of dumbfounded. She was actually upset at us? Seriously?
Unfortunately, the 5 words she yelled at us completely altered the mood of the entire group. Everyone had been fine, simply waiting to be let into work. We had all been there on time and in good moods. She was late and pronounced that it was our fault?
I don’t think so…
5:45 a.m.
All of us were clocked in after getting our temperatures taken (thank you Covid 19 for that). I heard her call over the intercom that everyone needs to come to the front for a quick huddle (meeting). I am in receiving and there were trucks waiting, so I couldn’t go.
I thought maybe she was going to apologize to everyone for snapping at us all.
Nope. I was mistaken.
Once the huddle ended, a few of my co-workers came back to receiving, and they were even more upset. Apparently, she continued to berate the employees about none of us calling her to wake her up.
Lesson
Today would have turned out to be a completely different day if she would have just handled the whole situation with a better frame of mind. All she had to do was APOLOGIZE for oversleeping and being late. That’s it!
We all make mistakes. No one is perfect, we all know that. It all comes down to how you handle the mistake that makes the biggest difference. Be a man (or woman) and own up to your mistake.
I have known this assistant manager for a couple of years, and she truly is a sweet lady. I know she was probably embarrassed and worried about getting into trouble. However, she had all day to make it right, but she didn’t. She stayed angry at us for the rest of the shift.
I will be honest, I lost a little bit of respect for her today. As did all of my co-workers. I overheard many of them talking about her with each other and other employees as they showed up for work. Oversleeping and arriving late wasn’t her mistake that changed everything, it was her inability to own up to what happened and just apologize.
“Admitting a mistake is not a weakness; on the contrary, it shows an openness of your heart. It takes guts to say sorry. Only a strong and well-balanced individual with clarity of mind can do so effortlessly. Taking responsibility for your actions requires and develops your self-control. You become your own person.” — Vishwas Chavan
