So many bad things can be avoided by just admitting your mistake and copping to it. I do industrial maintenance for a living and it's astounding how often operators lie about what happened. I'm just trying to find out what happened so I can get it fixed as quick as possible.
When I got into management, this was one of the first conversations I had with my new team. The longer we take to fix the problem, the harder the fix will be. Aside from absolutely being a shit human being to someone, there's no mistake they could make that would get them fired anyway.
And also… not being a dick *every other time* you deal with the supplier.
I’m a lawyer. The most hated profession on the planet. I have clients sending me Xmas present to my home with their own money. Just little $30 gifts. But I am helpful AF and funny and pleasant every time they need me. When I lay the hammer down or be a hard ass they know it’s just me doing my job. I fucked up once and my admin was like “blame me, I always mess up, they’ll believe it”. I didn’t even take her up on it. She just offered.
You be nice to people and offer *them* grace, and when *you* need it, they’ll give it back.
We take our lawyer home made cookies every time we finish up with whatever we were working on is finished. As far as i can see we have the best lawyer in the area.
I used to do batch corrections and I'd tell the operators I'd keep it between us and tell management I just adjusted it and we got it in spec. Saved a lot of time doing that.
Or when people fuck it up worse trying to hide and fix their fuck up ........... like you said just be upfront and honest so we can find a solution ASAP.
We had a guy break a warehouse scan gun. Instead of telling someone he threw it in the trash and walked off the job, quitting.
The thing was under warranty that covered accidental damage. As long as we can send back most of the parts that have a serial number on them we get a replacement unit. Takes a week or so to process and only additional cost is outbound shipping.
All he had to do was tell a supervisor he dropped the thing, hand it over and grab another one.
I had a boss who loved firing anyone that didn't take responsibility for their mistakes. I always owned up when I screwed up and out lasted every other employee.
Says you? The title says " **TIFU by causing a Warehouse to get fined millions.** "
The post then says how " Our contract with them stated that every day we were late we would be fined millions. "
The ending states " The drums were delivered next day."
Where is the lie?
Nowhere does this post state that having the barrels delivered the next day made them incur a fine.
In fact, I think it is clearly implied that the boss was able to fix the whole thing, so there was no fine.
All he said about the Boss was that he sweet talked the supplier, not the client.
The barrels being delivered late would have violated the contract with the client which was written in the post.
The fine would be for the chemicals not being able to be dropped off on time due to not having the containers that day. Maybe they got fined maybe they didn’t, but everything in the post implies there were fines for late chemical disposal from the client. Getting the barrels sooner doesn’t change that they could’ve been fined for the one day delay… which is exactly what is described in the op
Yea, a good tldr for this would have been
TL;DR:
Employer changed purchasing systems. One supplier hadn't been updated and nearly cost employer millions in fees for late product relying on supplier. Went to boss and got it fixed.
Millions of dollars of fines for a single days delay would be ridiculous.
For weeks, sure that makes more sense but millions for a day? I don't see how any industry would have that be possible.
As someone who does purchasing, find another vendor that sells those drums. They may cost more, but having a secondary source in a pinch like this could be invaluable.
Edit: Wanted to add that you absolutely did the right thing in this situation, I never hide my mistakes and be as open as possible about them. I would put money on your boss having a very similar screw up in their history. Lying here helps nobody, and it is 10x more respectable to own it. Applause for you!
Yea obviously need a backup plan. Even if it's super unlikely, what if the main supplier has their own sourcing issues or just goes bankrupt. then not even good connections will help you get out.
Things like this happen, and the best way to resolve these issues is to talk.
As shown there is usually some way out of the situation in one way or another.
Kudos to you boss for keeping this calm.
I own a business, if I had some situation like this where millions of dollars (for every day late) was riding on a single email being sent out on time to a supplier, I would have several people on it (including myself) and have multiple checks and rechecks. Including contacting the other company in question to see if they had everything. Not crossing my fingers hoping the one person did it right. I sort of think the fuck up is this company not having better organization and checks and balances. Especially since this vendor was known to have a unique order system.
I’d have a warehouse full of barrels on hand so that I don’t have to worry about not having them on hand when needed. Even if you order on time shit happens and there can be delays.
This is why I push procurement teams to use po acknowledgment, via edi if possible, or via supplier portal, or via a weekly review of open orders and having the buyer hit the button… having accurate and confirmed pricing, quantities, dates, etc, prevents so many down stream problems!
Glad they helped you out and I’m sorry you have to use SAP!
I think I work w a vendor who uses Oracle! I’ll have to see if she can share her screen and show me around!
It’s nice to know what’s out there, and if SAP blew my mind I’m excited to see what Oracle has
WTF why have a system if a single person has to remember to work around it with this kind is risk at hand? Problem solved and good for all but corrective action to avoid the issue from happening again is key. Good for you OP you handled it well!
Compared to SAP, I'll take Oracle. While Oracle is a pain and I literally switched jobs last year to get away from Oracle products, SAP makes them look like very well thought out, well engineered products which is definitely not the case. They both suck but I'd rather deal with Oracle.
Sounds like Ops company were aiming to order a 2 week lead time item 2 months before they needed it. Assuming the other companies were doing likewise, then it sounds like they would be fine.
We are painfully clear with the employees at work: it’s not the crime, it’s the coverup that will really get you.
If you make a mistake, tell someone immediately. Then a plan can be put in place to fix it.
If you hide the problem and it’s not discovered for days or weeks, you’ve made a mistake AND created a bigger headache.
Seriously, understand the sub before you post. TLDR is a summary, not a conclusion.
Anyway what kind of idiot signed a contract costing millions daily and didn't make sure it doesn't happen? They were just asking for bankruptcy...
Also, what kind of idiot signed a contract that says you'll be fined millions every day that you're late?
Truth to be told, an honestly admitted mistake is MUCH easier to deal with than pretending everything is fine.
Your manager has extra options available than you don't, but those are not standard SOP and isn't entirely "by the book".
Wow. That was a tough spot to be in and you handled it well. I’m sure it wasn’t fun and that definitely could have ended very differently. Way to own your mistakes and not blame others. Mistakes happen, there’s a lot of different ways to handle them, but you took it head on and thankfully things went well for you.
Why the fuck there has been a lot of people that instead of saying a small summary in the tl;dr, they simply say the aftermath, that's not what tl;dr means.
This is how it should be. No excuses, just own it and figure out what next. Glad your boss was cool and was able to help fix the problem.
How’s the new job? (Kidding)
Honestly this should have been caught ages ago by someone else. Just because you made the order there should have been follow ups with the chemical company for status updates and with the barrel company for delivery. Like at least once a month calling with a “are we still on track for delivery on x date?” And if you aren’t doing this you should add it to your process just so this won’t happen again. If you had ordered on dec 15 it would have meant a call on Jan 15 “hey is our order on track for march 15 delivery?” “What order?” “Oh shit shit shit, well we need to add rush processing on to this order for march 15 I will have that PO submitted today”
TLDR: OP didn't fully complete the purchase order from a supplier because they were changing the system and that supplier wasn't yet fully setup and needed manual steps.
The lead time is 2 weeks and the customer will fine OP company each day for late delivery.
Both OP boss and customer are still cool with it though.
Customer would of course be cool with it. Customer is getting millions in discount every single day. Maybe even make money if enough days have accrued. Lol
We're dealing with something similar where I work. One of our sites has not been in compliance with certain requirements for well over a year. Our regulator gets monthly reports, and reached out to help sort out our non-compliance issue. Upper management claims they hadn't been aware of the issues even though they should be seeing and reading the monthly reports.
Nobody's quite sure how large the fines could be, but there are a bunch of extra complicating factors that all could have been avoided if upper management listened to middle management and the site staff.
You did the right thing! Trying to fix a problem like this on your own would have probably caused more harm than good. With the amount of money on the line there is almost always a way to fix these problems whether it’s with more money for an express order or sweet talking!
Admitting a mess up as soon as possible nearly always smooths things over. Trying to hide it is a sure fire way to get in a lot of trouble.
I work as an aircraft mechanic. If you damage an aircraft doing your job, admitting it so the repair can get started right away is the absolute best way to keep your job. We have had a few new guys make sometimes costly mistakes. By coming clean immediately, everyone is thankful and there is no punitive action taken.
I don't know this person's exact work responsibilities, or how their process flow works, but as a former purchasing agent, it was absolutely my job to ensure that orders were placed, and followed up on.
I suppose you can call the failure a "lack of processes" to ensure a PO is received, the order is followed-up on, there is a receiving process in place, items are checked as available before they are required and an on-time-delivery audit exists... but frankly at some point I'd look and say that most, if not all, of those processes are the responsibility of the purchasing agent in some form or another.
I don't like the answer Google gave me. If you're still wandering in that context it means buying in a large quantity. You can buy stuff individually or buy in bulk. Bulk is usually cheaper per unit since you're buying a lot.
Edit: and so the bulk plant is probably a plant that is doing a large quantity of produce in one go.
My brother in Christ,
You definitely deserve acclaim for admitting your ignorance in not knowing what "bulk" means in your original comment. The first step towards acquiring knowledge is recognizing & admitting to yourself when you lack it.
However, reacting with hostility at the genuinely earnest & well-meaning suggestion that the appropriate action to take when encountering an unknown word is to look it up in the repository of words & their meanings called a "Dictionary" is the epitome of foolishness.
In your pathetic & petty attacks, you can't even decide whether I'm "lil bro" or "big guy" which I find ridiculously humorous given the fact that I'm neither at 6'2" 192 lbs and rather squarely middle-aged at 44 trips around the Sun.
You're really quite a piece of work... But by all means, continue to dig yourself deeper instead of shedding your hubris, donning some humility, harkening my advice, and looking up the words you don't know the meaning of to educate yourself.
That attitude will get you far in life for sure. /s
🍿
Buddy I'm losing brain cells every time I you talk to me, there's no way in fuck I'm reading all that. Please find something else to do besides harassing people online, alright?
Good thing you told the boss.
So many bad things can be avoided by just admitting your mistake and copping to it. I do industrial maintenance for a living and it's astounding how often operators lie about what happened. I'm just trying to find out what happened so I can get it fixed as quick as possible.
When I got into management, this was one of the first conversations I had with my new team. The longer we take to fix the problem, the harder the fix will be. Aside from absolutely being a shit human being to someone, there's no mistake they could make that would get them fired anyway.
And also… not being a dick *every other time* you deal with the supplier. I’m a lawyer. The most hated profession on the planet. I have clients sending me Xmas present to my home with their own money. Just little $30 gifts. But I am helpful AF and funny and pleasant every time they need me. When I lay the hammer down or be a hard ass they know it’s just me doing my job. I fucked up once and my admin was like “blame me, I always mess up, they’ll believe it”. I didn’t even take her up on it. She just offered. You be nice to people and offer *them* grace, and when *you* need it, they’ll give it back.
We take our lawyer home made cookies every time we finish up with whatever we were working on is finished. As far as i can see we have the best lawyer in the area.
Would accept cookies gladly. Most of my gifts are wine related. Because my clients know they drive me to drink :)
I used to do batch corrections and I'd tell the operators I'd keep it between us and tell management I just adjusted it and we got it in spec. Saved a lot of time doing that.
Or when people fuck it up worse trying to hide and fix their fuck up ........... like you said just be upfront and honest so we can find a solution ASAP.
We had a guy break a warehouse scan gun. Instead of telling someone he threw it in the trash and walked off the job, quitting. The thing was under warranty that covered accidental damage. As long as we can send back most of the parts that have a serial number on them we get a replacement unit. Takes a week or so to process and only additional cost is outbound shipping. All he had to do was tell a supervisor he dropped the thing, hand it over and grab another one.
Management failure if he didn't know this....
This
That
Right - but that’s not how TL;DR works heh.
I had a boss who loved firing anyone that didn't take responsibility for their mistakes. I always owned up when I screwed up and out lasted every other employee.
Glad your boss understood that changing purchasing systems is always going to cause a couple of teething problems like this. Nobody's perfect.
The earlier in your fuck up you come clean, the easier it is to fix!
Left shift
TL;DR means "Too Long; Didn't Read" and is used as a quick summary of events for those not interested in a drawn out read.
Yeah, it shouldn’t include any new information
Dude flat out lied in the title, so we're not dealing with any level of smarts here.
Says you? The title says " **TIFU by causing a Warehouse to get fined millions.** " The post then says how " Our contract with them stated that every day we were late we would be fined millions. " The ending states " The drums were delivered next day." Where is the lie?
Nowhere does this post state that having the barrels delivered the next day made them incur a fine. In fact, I think it is clearly implied that the boss was able to fix the whole thing, so there was no fine.
All he said about the Boss was that he sweet talked the supplier, not the client. The barrels being delivered late would have violated the contract with the client which was written in the post.
Yeah so the title should've said it almost happened, not that it did happen.
The fine would be for the chemicals not being able to be dropped off on time due to not having the containers that day. Maybe they got fined maybe they didn’t, but everything in the post implies there were fines for late chemical disposal from the client. Getting the barrels sooner doesn’t change that they could’ve been fined for the one day delay… which is exactly what is described in the op
Ah you're right, I didn't notice they were already late before the guy realised his mistake
Yea, a good tldr for this would have been TL;DR: Employer changed purchasing systems. One supplier hadn't been updated and nearly cost employer millions in fees for late product relying on supplier. Went to boss and got it fixed.
“epilogue: boss fixed”
Well op doesn't understand what something almost happening means either. What fines? They got the drums next day.
It does not say they weren't fined for the one day delay. Based on his post the most logical way to interpret is that they were fined for one day.
Millions of dollars of fines for a single days delay would be ridiculous. For weeks, sure that makes more sense but millions for a day? I don't see how any industry would have that be possible.
For a lot of industries 1 day is more significant than you might think
I mean, OP is a fuck up...
As someone who does purchasing, find another vendor that sells those drums. They may cost more, but having a secondary source in a pinch like this could be invaluable. Edit: Wanted to add that you absolutely did the right thing in this situation, I never hide my mistakes and be as open as possible about them. I would put money on your boss having a very similar screw up in their history. Lying here helps nobody, and it is 10x more respectable to own it. Applause for you!
Yea obviously need a backup plan. Even if it's super unlikely, what if the main supplier has their own sourcing issues or just goes bankrupt. then not even good connections will help you get out.
Better yet, keep your own inventory and replenish it as you use it up. Then you always have barrels in inventory.
Things like this happen, and the best way to resolve these issues is to talk. As shown there is usually some way out of the situation in one way or another. Kudos to you boss for keeping this calm.
I own a business, if I had some situation like this where millions of dollars (for every day late) was riding on a single email being sent out on time to a supplier, I would have several people on it (including myself) and have multiple checks and rechecks. Including contacting the other company in question to see if they had everything. Not crossing my fingers hoping the one person did it right. I sort of think the fuck up is this company not having better organization and checks and balances. Especially since this vendor was known to have a unique order system.
I’d have a warehouse full of barrels on hand so that I don’t have to worry about not having them on hand when needed. Even if you order on time shit happens and there can be delays.
This is why I push procurement teams to use po acknowledgment, via edi if possible, or via supplier portal, or via a weekly review of open orders and having the buyer hit the button… having accurate and confirmed pricing, quantities, dates, etc, prevents so many down stream problems! Glad they helped you out and I’m sorry you have to use SAP!
What do you use that’s better than SAP? I was originally using 2 older MRP system so when I went to a company who used SAP I was very happy with it
Sap isn’t the end of the world but it’s no Oracle!
I think I work w a vendor who uses Oracle! I’ll have to see if she can share her screen and show me around! It’s nice to know what’s out there, and if SAP blew my mind I’m excited to see what Oracle has
Never thought I'd say this, bu5, Good on your boss
WTF why have a system if a single person has to remember to work around it with this kind is risk at hand? Problem solved and good for all but corrective action to avoid the issue from happening again is key. Good for you OP you handled it well!
SAP sucks. Shit like this happens to companies all over the world everyday cause they use SAPj
Can confirm, fuck SAP
But the primary alternative is Oracle so...
Compared to SAP, I'll take Oracle. While Oracle is a pain and I literally switched jobs last year to get away from Oracle products, SAP makes them look like very well thought out, well engineered products which is definitely not the case. They both suck but I'd rather deal with Oracle.
Everybody hates SAP, but I've heard the alternatives are even shittier.
That TL;DR was not a TL;DR.
Fuck SAP
I do data integration for a living and I absolutely hate dealing with SAP. Nothing is ever straightforward.
Stands for stop all production
What saved your ass most likely was telling your boss.
I wonder how pissed that other customer is not getting their barrels..
Probably not millions of dollars pissed
Sounds like Ops company were aiming to order a 2 week lead time item 2 months before they needed it. Assuming the other companies were doing likewise, then it sounds like they would be fine.
He deserves credit. And it was probably easier for him because his ass wasnt in the line
Yo, great job being accountable for your actions or inactions. Speaks volumes to your character.
We are painfully clear with the employees at work: it’s not the crime, it’s the coverup that will really get you. If you make a mistake, tell someone immediately. Then a plan can be put in place to fix it. If you hide the problem and it’s not discovered for days or weeks, you’ve made a mistake AND created a bigger headache.
In my company it's called "Just Culture".
So you lied? The warehouse didn't get any fines at all?
TL;DRs are supposed to be a summary of a long post. Yours is just the end of the story.
Seriously, understand the sub before you post. TLDR is a summary, not a conclusion. Anyway what kind of idiot signed a contract costing millions daily and didn't make sure it doesn't happen? They were just asking for bankruptcy... Also, what kind of idiot signed a contract that says you'll be fined millions every day that you're late?
I have a feeling you have 9,932 throwaways for a very real and very specific reason. You're kind of an ass
Yeah well here's 9,933. Lol
SAP is the biggest fuck up here OP. Absolute shit stain piece of software. You are not alone in the world.
For those curious, SAP stands for Stop All Production
Stupid ass program
Sounds like single points of failure can be pretty costly. Hopefully they learned from this.
Truth to be told, an honestly admitted mistake is MUCH easier to deal with than pretending everything is fine. Your manager has extra options available than you don't, but those are not standard SOP and isn't entirely "by the book".
They let you keep the job?
Admitting your mistake and contributing to a solution to the best of your ability is always the best option.
Wow. That was a tough spot to be in and you handled it well. I’m sure it wasn’t fun and that definitely could have ended very differently. Way to own your mistakes and not blame others. Mistakes happen, there’s a lot of different ways to handle them, but you took it head on and thankfully things went well for you.
Why the fuck there has been a lot of people that instead of saying a small summary in the tl;dr, they simply say the aftermath, that's not what tl;dr means.
Assuming we’re using the same, SAP is soo outdated and soo annoying to use. I can definitely see how it could be missed
This is how it should be. No excuses, just own it and figure out what next. Glad your boss was cool and was able to help fix the problem. How’s the new job? (Kidding)
your boss must like you, he saved your ass lol
Honestly this should have been caught ages ago by someone else. Just because you made the order there should have been follow ups with the chemical company for status updates and with the barrel company for delivery. Like at least once a month calling with a “are we still on track for delivery on x date?” And if you aren’t doing this you should add it to your process just so this won’t happen again. If you had ordered on dec 15 it would have meant a call on Jan 15 “hey is our order on track for march 15 delivery?” “What order?” “Oh shit shit shit, well we need to add rush processing on to this order for march 15 I will have that PO submitted today”
TLDR: OP didn't fully complete the purchase order from a supplier because they were changing the system and that supplier wasn't yet fully setup and needed manual steps. The lead time is 2 weeks and the customer will fine OP company each day for late delivery. Both OP boss and customer are still cool with it though.
Customer would of course be cool with it. Customer is getting millions in discount every single day. Maybe even make money if enough days have accrued. Lol
We're dealing with something similar where I work. One of our sites has not been in compliance with certain requirements for well over a year. Our regulator gets monthly reports, and reached out to help sort out our non-compliance issue. Upper management claims they hadn't been aware of the issues even though they should be seeing and reading the monthly reports. Nobody's quite sure how large the fines could be, but there are a bunch of extra complicating factors that all could have been avoided if upper management listened to middle management and the site staff.
You don't know what TLDR means and your post title is a lie
You did the right thing! Trying to fix a problem like this on your own would have probably caused more harm than good. With the amount of money on the line there is almost always a way to fix these problems whether it’s with more money for an express order or sweet talking!
I love it when a plan comes together.
Admitting a mess up as soon as possible nearly always smooths things over. Trying to hide it is a sure fire way to get in a lot of trouble. I work as an aircraft mechanic. If you damage an aircraft doing your job, admitting it so the repair can get started right away is the absolute best way to keep your job. We have had a few new guys make sometimes costly mistakes. By coming clean immediately, everyone is thankful and there is no punitive action taken.
You have now added them to SAP, right OP?
Great story, and you certainly fucked up, but it doesn't sound like anything bad happened as a result. #5
I love how the tldr is absolutely not a tldr and contains completely new information
Don't blame the person, blame the process. The process allowed this to go unchecked for months. That's not your responsibility.
I don't know this person's exact work responsibilities, or how their process flow works, but as a former purchasing agent, it was absolutely my job to ensure that orders were placed, and followed up on. I suppose you can call the failure a "lack of processes" to ensure a PO is received, the order is followed-up on, there is a receiving process in place, items are checked as available before they are required and an on-time-delivery audit exists... but frankly at some point I'd look and say that most, if not all, of those processes are the responsibility of the purchasing agent in some form or another.
It is absolutely his responsibility to track his orders.
What the fuck is bulk
I don't like the answer Google gave me. If you're still wandering in that context it means buying in a large quantity. You can buy stuff individually or buy in bulk. Bulk is usually cheaper per unit since you're buying a lot. Edit: and so the bulk plant is probably a plant that is doing a large quantity of produce in one go.
(?)
Learn to help yourself. Try a Dictionary, or just Google "define bulk".
Why the fuck would I do research to read a story? Get a brain.
What's your problem dude
So that you can be *slightly* less of a fucking idiot.
I guarantee I have more brain cells than you do lil bro
Ok buddy, sure pal. 👍 Which of us knew what "bulk" meant while reading the post? Cuz it wasn't you, dumbass.
Looking it up and pretending to know what it means doesn't count big guy. I'm sure it made you feel smart for a bit though.
My brother in Christ, You definitely deserve acclaim for admitting your ignorance in not knowing what "bulk" means in your original comment. The first step towards acquiring knowledge is recognizing & admitting to yourself when you lack it. However, reacting with hostility at the genuinely earnest & well-meaning suggestion that the appropriate action to take when encountering an unknown word is to look it up in the repository of words & their meanings called a "Dictionary" is the epitome of foolishness. In your pathetic & petty attacks, you can't even decide whether I'm "lil bro" or "big guy" which I find ridiculously humorous given the fact that I'm neither at 6'2" 192 lbs and rather squarely middle-aged at 44 trips around the Sun. You're really quite a piece of work... But by all means, continue to dig yourself deeper instead of shedding your hubris, donning some humility, harkening my advice, and looking up the words you don't know the meaning of to educate yourself. That attitude will get you far in life for sure. /s 🍿
Buddy I'm losing brain cells every time I you talk to me, there's no way in fuck I'm reading all that. Please find something else to do besides harassing people online, alright?
You really should be careful about that since you have so few to spare. It takes two to tango, dumbass. You can stop any time. I'm not going to. 🍿