I've worked a bit in my life, but every time I've been hired for something, I've screwed up... badly. One problem is that I despise talking to people, and if I'm unsure of something, I won't ask questions - this must be why I screw up. The sad part about me screwing up on the job is that lots of mentally retarded people (in the literal sense - no harm meant) are capable of handling these jobs, yet I'm not. I fuck up; they don't. Take note that all of the jobs I've taken are manual labour. I'm not what you would consider as being a "physical" guy, and I feel I'm not fit for these physical jobs.

Anyone else screw up easily? If so, how do you react to your boss/supervisor/co-worker getting pissed off at you?

Yeah. I'm always awkward with doing things which could "involve" others so I always screw up everything. Not at work, but in school when I had practical subjects like domestic economy or handicrafts.
I was always the last who could finish the work.


And I still remember how my teachers yelled at me. Or rolling the eyes. And about my class mates... oh forget it!

Why not at work?

Because I never worked before at a company.
(Okay... I worded it clumsy...)

I have a hard time understanding directions I've been given unless they're very concise & clear, so I've made a lot of mistakes in classes because I didn't understand what I was supposed to do. Or, I would think I understood what I was supposed to do & would end up doing it wrong. I still don't blame myself for those mistakes or feel that I've "screwed up" because if people were more concise in their instructions, I would have done it right the first time. As for work, I've never had a job, but one of my biggest fears is getting a job & not understanding what I'm being told to do & doing it wrong. Then being yelled at for doing it wrong.

LyricalIllusions: well said, its the same way with me. I do tend to get instructions wrong, particularly if they are given to me hastily. I have to make sure to repeat them back to myself several times or I may forget. I still may forget though.

Yea, I think I'm kind of stupid, I like making things more complicated than they are, so I screw up all the time. I could spend my entire day doing something wrong, and I notice how stupid I am after those many hours, don't have an example, but I've probably spent a lot more time doing things wrong my entire life than the opposite. That goes for life as well, I'm still a screw up =p

I've never had anyone losing patience with me, but that's because I've never worked other than some simple freelancing job with simple directions. I do ask a lot of questions than I should be, because I have trouble understanding or following direction.

Not really, I get this mixed up easily and get confused easily. But screwing up easily... that doesn't come easy. Even that takes work and skills.

So my answer is no for now. I'll come back with a real answer later.

No one is perfect, I have had my fair share of mistakes that lead to huge problems. I try to not make a habit out of it though.

One problem I do have is I tend to forget stuff easily. Which can make my job hard, but I do not consider that a screw up because with a few reminders I can remember what it is I was supposed to say. But it does irritate my boss... so if that is a method of screwing up then I am guilty as charged.

Nope not really. You can't screw up if you don't take chances. You can't win though.

I tend to screw up when I don't pay enough attention to details I was instructed with or when I get impatient and miss something in a hurry to finish the job. When I want something repeated or given a second chance, I often take the risk of getting upset with because depending on who's asking me for a favor, they have a varied tolerance for failure. My mom is one of those people and several teachers I had back in my school days. Also messing up from my own nervousness out of asking for help.

Yes.

I have to triple check everything I do. Some of it is my OCD, but it's also a safety mechanism.
My mind wanders easily if I'm not careful. The problem with checking things over and over is
that things that may appear correct start to look erroneous, and vice versa.

All the time but I don't mind it.

i know i do, though i try my best not to. for the most part, i'm a perfectionist when it comes down to the work that i do.
so much so that i get very very angry at those who aren't. :/

What kind of "jobs" have you done?

Does a bear shit in the woods?

I'm a failure at pretty much everything I've ever done.

So I think it's safe to say yes.

I used to do farm work for my mother's ex boyfriend. When I'd screw up on the job, he'd often act in a hostile manner towards me. He'd both verbally and physically harm me. He's a big reason why I developed a major job phobia. I couldn't help but associate a working environment with extreme suffering.

I really shouldn't have felt bad about screwing up while working for him as he never showed me exactly how to do anything. I never grew up on a farm, and was clueless as to how to do certain things he expected me to do. I admit that I usually was too nervous to ask for clarifications, but I've never felt comfortable asking people questions as I always feel they'll be annoyed. When I found out that he also treated other people in a hostile manner, I quit feeling so bad, but still didn't want to work for him. There were a few times where I'd work with a group of guys, and he'd yell things at the top of his lungs right in our ears like "Quit fucking jerking off!!! You guys are getting paid, remember?!!!". He'd then continually threaten to lower our wages.

I eventually had the courage to decline work opportunities from him as I felt that it wasn't worth it. By the time I'd finish working for him, I'd be shaking. The guy was a prick of the highest order - I hated him with a passion. My mother, after seeing his true colors, quit seeing him. He heavily criticized her driving and yelled at her at the top of his lungs up until she dropped him off at his place. There were a few instances where I told her about what kind of an asshole he was, but I doubt she believed it. He was a phony around her and hid the fact that he smoked, cursed (my mother is the type of person who hates excessive cursing) among other things. I didn't speak of the way he treated me until I reached about age 18, but I wish I would have done it sooner. Perhaps my mother would have seen his true colors earlier.

Once I started living a highly solitary life, my plan was to live for a month or two then take my life. I was contemplating murdering him before going through with my suicide. To kill him would have brought me solace, but at this point in time, my hostile feelings towards him aren't too strong. I've acknowledged the fact that there are lots of assholes in this world, and that I should try to avoid them at all costs (well, I have been - for six years now, which has done just about as much harm than good).

Anyway, I felt I'd contribute this to the thread... does anyone have a similar experience where you worked for someone, were mistreated, and, in turn, developed a workplace phobia?

I've made mistakes on jobs before. (Like dumping a huge stack of material off of a forklift when I took a turn too sharply ) And I've gotten yelled at before. But I don't take it too seriously as no one is "perfect". Overall, I'm pretty good at whatever I do as long as I take my time and remain patient.

i've got a PHD in messing up.....i got fired once frum my forklift job for barly scratching a iron post...my boss wuz a dick tho....i got kicked out of high school for fight'n in my younger days twice.....this one time i had 1600 dollars in a bag with a lock on it and my freinds drove my car to subway and i left my money in my car so they ended up taking a long time becuz of traffic so when they got back i accused my freinds of stealin' sum money everntho it wuz my fault i miscounted the amount we all cool now but damn did i feel dumb as phuk

I thought I answered this. Clearly not.

I guess it depends on what has to be done. I do get really nervous when someone is overlooking what I'm doing though, that's when more simple tasks suddenly become abit more stressful and leads to mistakes. I think I start second guessing my actions more, even though there's nothing fundamentally wrong with what I'm doing.
Weird.

I do get nervous when I have to ask if I'm doing stuff right or wrong. I think I can pester people alot by constantly asking sometimes and feel bad about it. Makes it seem that I'm not paying attention when I just want to make sure I'm doing stuff properly.
Blargh!

Eventually I'm ok and it isn't as problematic as I made out it to be. Although if somethings needs to be done quickly, or if it's particularly hectic, there maybe an ocassional casual fuck up.
Just let me work in peace and I'm ok.

I screw up a lot. The hardest thing for me is to understand that it's ok to make mistakes, to get better.

As long as people let me do things on my own without making me adhere to strict schedules and really banal standards for no obvious reason, I'm pretty fine. I can generally figure out how to do most things on my own, or if I can't, I can find out how through various other sources pretty easily.

However...I'm terrible with schedules and being cheerful at a job I hate. This has led to a lot of stress for me lately...my manager at my current job hates the hell out of me because I call in once a month or so due to not being able to handle getting out of bed at 5 in the morning or because of extreme anxiety or depression. Then I had a panic attack at work from her yelling at me. I had to work at 4 in the morning, and I was really out of it because I was on new medication and was feeling really shitty on top of that. She started screaming at me about not keeping myself busy, which I felt was unfair since it was, er, four in the morning and there were no customers to serve and nothing obvious to clean. (That's another problem I have...I won't do something at work until I'm told to because I don't want to do something superfluous/at the wrong time.) She just kept tearing me down and tearing me down all day long, until right in the middle of lunch I had a massive panic attack.

...then she put me on suspension for a week for not being "professional" and for not coming in to work...even though I did call in at four to say I wouldn't be in for my five o'clock shift the day after the panic attack, apparently I was supposed to psychically know I'd be feeling like shit and wake up at three in the morning (!) to call in.

Now every time I go to work I feel terrified until I know that manager isn't there...she's really loud and throws stuff and curses, and I'm very frightened of her. I'm so sick of this job, but I need the money bad...I wish I could work a nice, peaceful job related to my degree (political science/history) and just live in peace.

Law school is also one giant mess of screw-ups for me since, apparently even if you know the homework and can answer questions right, unless you are in class EVERY DAY you aren't good enough and will get thrown out of courses. I just don't understand...why punish someone who knows the materials just because they can't face coming in to class? Sometimes I feel like I just can't win...

I screw up on a social level. I'm just quietly doing my job and I don't talk to other people much. Apparently this makes people think I'm strange or they don't like me.

I hate to screw up on any tasks I have to do. I'm a perfectionist and I don't like making mistakes. When I'm given instructions I always write them down (I'm a visual person, and when someone tells me how to do something, I don't memorize it very well. They have to show it to me.). I also check my work for mistakes several times.