'Underpaid' Worker's Response to Boss Over $4,000 Mistake Sparks Debate

A Reddit post on the popular topic of unsatisfactory jobs and difficult managers with has gained over 30,000 upvotes. In the post user TheChosenSpacePope explains how they work at a print shop and recently made a mistake that cost the company $4000.

"The client didn't notice my mistake and neither did the press men who actually ran it," the poster said. "The manager shows me the mistake and tells me it'll cost a lot of money to rerun the job."

The employee then describes their apathy towards the situation because of their low salary and many responsibilities, and asked the manager: "'What do you want me to do about it?'

They said the manager didn't give them an answer, instead coming back a few minutes later with paperwork, "so he can point at the price we put on the job and repeat how much I cost the company."

"I'm [not] sure I've cost them so much considering the extra responsibilities I've had to take on and how much we're underpaid. (Also I talk to the accountant a lot and the company is doing just fine). I'm not going to be shamed because I f****d up one job and no one else along the way spotted it."

A Supportive Workplace

Sadly, most of us have experienced a bad manager or an unsatisfactory job. According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), 84 percent of American workers say poorly trained people managers create unnecessary work and stress, while 57 percent say managers in their workplace could benefit from training on how to be a better people manager.

Writing on their website, SHRM President and CEO Johnny C. Taylor, Jr. comments: "There is no relationship in the workplace more powerful than the one between people managers and employees. As working Americans challenge organizations to manage and lead differently, those that don't will find themselves left behind."

Positive Stories

Perhaps surprisingly, instead of filling the comments with horror stories, users were quick to share their experiences of good management, to further emphasize that the original poster has been treated badly.

"Where I work someone made a blunder so bad it literally impacted the stock price," said one user. "Everyone knew about it and were talking about it. It made the news and everything. Do you know what they did to the person that wrote the code that caused the issue?"

"They provided support. They provided support because they failed to put in the processes and safeguards that would have protected them from being able to make this error. They did not want them freaking out over this and taking all the blame when it was a team failure. This is how this kind of situation should be handled."

Another user said: "At my company, any mistake that leads to a loss of product or revenue is just referred to as a 'training cost.' No shame. No belittling. I started this company with two friends coming from another company in the same industry.

"I've made more expensive mistakes than I expect anyone at my company even has the ability to make. So if someone makes a costly mistake? Don't sweat it. Learn from it. I've made more expensive mistakes. It happens."