First Day of Work Blunders
 

So, it's my first day on the job and I've already made a complete donkey out of myself. :)

The copy machine is one of those new, high-tech kind. I tried to just see if I could attempt to figure it out on my own. Big mistake. I created a really bad paper jam. :o

And, I feel so overwhelmed and have no clue what I'm doing! I hope it's normal to feel this way on the first day. Unfortunately, my only other jobs were as a sales associate, camp counselor, or intern so I don't have much experience to see if this overwhelming feeling is normal.

Anyone else have first day blunders?

Don't worry about it! Things are bound to get better as all of the kinks are worked out!

Hopefully you're having a great remainder of the day!

I haven't had a full time job yet (since I just graduated), but I've had many jobs/internships... it's completely normal to feel overwhelmed... just remember that they hired you, so they are confident in your abilities.

When I worked at Nordstrom last summer, I felt overwhelmed just from working the register-- and all the shanks!!! And don't even get me started on working the 1st day (even the first few days) of the Anniversary Sale... piles of clothes stacked up taller than me to ring up. I was so overwhelmed and it was just a part-time job!!!

In college I worked in our Office of Admissions. I had a call list of students who had applied, but had not followed up in 3 months or so. My job was to call these students and see if they were still interested so they could register in time....Well I called this one girl on the list named Carla. When I called the number, her father answered the phone and I was like, "May I speak to Carla please".....long pause......................."Carla died not to long ago...I'm sorry sweetie." I felt horrible, I told him I was sorry for the loss, and I just sat there upset with myself for opening a fresh wound. Needless to say, I removed her name from the mailing and call list.

Oh! I understand!

I had the horrible job of calling alums for donations last summer. Many of them are VERY elderly, and more than once, I asked for a person who had passed away recently. It's just terrible talking to a recent widow/widower.

I just hope they realize that there was no way for us to know.

Reassurance
 

You shouldn't have been upset with yourself...I can't speak for every family who has lost a child, but from my family's experience I can assure you that the wound was already open and the family is dealing with the loss 24/7. Don't feel bad for reminding the father, he never forgot. Ironically sometimes being forced to speak of the tragedy provides a release for the pain. When I was put in a situation where I had to inform someone of my sister's death, I felt worse for the person I was telling than I did for myself.

Shortly after my dad died, his fraternity phoned to request a donation. My mother was glad for the call, because it provided a means for her to communicate the sad news to his brothers. The gentleman who called seemed to know just what to say. I think she ended up sending a check--and his pin.

Bringing this back to the original, and somewhat lighter topic, keep in mind that employers realize that new hires have a lot to learn. Learn from your mistakes, and don't make the same mistake too often, and you'll be fine! Good luck!

Re: Reassurance
 

I think this is very true - you're so "used to it" that you're used to stating it.

And on a lighter first day of work blunder story - I was doing training at the store where I currently work and I was at the registers. I've worked retail my whole life except for my ResNet job, so I'm sailing through the register, but I cannot get those damn ink tags off clothes! I suck at it - all my other retail jobs were in shoes! I felt so horrible - one lady bought like $400 of merchandise and it took me 10 minutes to get her all checked out.

Yesterday was my 1st day at my internship in NYC. When it's the 1st day of anything I go extra early in case I get lost and can't find the place. I got there a little over an hour early, so I just walked around for a while. I started to head back when it got closer and stopped in front of a Duane Reade (drug store) because my nose was dripping a little. For some reason I grabbed 2 tissues before I left the house, just in case. Well before I know it my other nostril starts bleeding! I went in to Duane Reade and told a worker my nose was bleeding and where's the restroom. He brought me to the basement, where a bathroom was. I went in and of course there's no toilet paper nor paper towels, nothing. So I had to make due with my 2 tissues. It was getting closer to the time I'm supposed to go in, so I was freaking out, since I was still a few blocks away. Fortunately, I got it to stop and made it to the office on time. But I just kept thinking, of course this happened I have the worst luck ever.

I also had a few blunders with the copy machine, since I was unfamiliar with how that one operates and people kept changing the settings in between when I was organizing and photocopying, my stuff was getting messed up! But my boss is really cool so it was okay!

Nothing major. They had me put together an accounting report to give back to a client and I stapled it the wrong way. It was supposed to be in folder format but instead I stapled it as I would have done to a short paper for school. Then when I answered the phone, I wasn't able to understand what the woman on the other end was saying. It took me a minute or two for me to finally get it.

I remember the first day they called me in to sub...it was for a 5th grade classroom, and no one told me it was the worst one in the school. :p I had no clue was I was doing...I was standing up there at the desk with all these eyes staring at me, and I was sooooo articulate..."Um, good morning...uhhhhhh...I'm going to call roll now, OK? Oh, no, where's the roll book...oh, no..." ;)