Quick Chat 019: What mistakes have you made at work?

In this episode, Kevin and Jack talk about mistakes they've made at work in the past, and how they solved the problem.

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Intro/Outro Music by Eaters: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/eaters/the-astronomers-office/agents-in-coffee-shops/

Discussion Questions:

1.    Have you made any workplace mistakes?

2.    What mistake did you make?

3.    What happened as a result of your mistake? 

Full Transcript: 

 Jack: 

 

You are listening to the A-Z English podcast. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

Welcome to an A-Z English quick chat. We're going to surprise each other with the topic for the day and see where the conversation goes. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

Remember to check our website for study guides with vocabulary, notes, discussion questions and more. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

There's also links to our WhatsApp, Facebook and other social media where you can join in the conversation. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

And share your thoughts. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

So today, Jack, what do you what do you want to talk about? 

 

 Jack: 

 

So today I thought we could talk about a mistake that you have made at work. 

 

 Jack: 

 

And so and yeah, and maybe. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

Oh the work mistake. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

Oh, that sounds like an interview question I ask. 

 

 Jack: 

 

It does. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

You how did? 

 

 Kevin: 

 

You what? 

 

 Kevin: 

 

What mistake did you make and how? 

 

 Kevin: 

 

Did you fix it? 

 

 Jack: 

 

Yeah, yeah. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

But it is it. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

Is a good thing and everyone has made mistakes. 

 

 Jack: 

 

At work everybody has made a mistake, but I think I have one mistake that I made that was that was very much an unnecessary like I I just kind of. 

 

 Jack: 

 

We call that. 

 

 Jack: 

 

Like a forced. 

 

 Jack: 

 

Error, uh, kind of. 

 

 Jack: 

 

And So what job was this? 

 

 Jack: 

 

This is a long time ago. 

 

 Jack: 

 

I used to work in the shipping industry in Thailand, so I was a teacher and then I was. 

 

 Speaker 1 

 

Oh, OK. 

 

 Jack: 

 

I worked for a shipping company for almost a. 

 

 Jack: 

 

Year now. 

 

 Jack: 

 

And yes, this was a large company that did shipping in a lot of Asia and Southeast Asia, but they were an American company. 

 

 Jack: 

 

Uhm, the mistake that I made was we send a lot of emails back in that time and I think you probably are familiar with, you know, working in an office or even if you're not familiar with working in office. 

 

 Jack: 

 

There's just a lot of, yeah, there's like a, you know, there's almost like a, you know, these long e-mail threads. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

I've been teacher forever. 

 

 Jack: 

 

So you'll send an e-mail to somebody, and then you'll reply in that e-mail and send it back, and then they'll send it to another person. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

Ah, yes. 

 

 Jack: 

 

And so this long red starts building. 

 

 Jack: 

 

On this e-mail. 

 

 Jack: 

 

And so I was dealing with a. 

 

 Jack: 

 

A person in another office in another country, but he worked for the same company and. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

OK. 

 

 Jack: 

 

Within that e-mail, I was replying back to my colleague who was in my office but in another room so we would send emails back and forth and I called the guy at this other office in another country I called. 

 

 Jack: 

 

Him a clown. 

 

 Jack: 

 

I I wrote it right in the e-mail. 

 

 Jack: 

 

So I called him a clown. 

 

 Jack: 

 

I said, what is this clown doing? 

 

 Jack: 

 

Something like that. 

 

 Jack: 

 

Like I called him, right and part of the the the American. 

 

 Jack: 

 

Company structures that you never antagonize. 

 

 Jack: 

 

You never say something bad about a coworker. 

 

 Jack: 

 

You have to be a team player, and you should speak badly about people. 

 

 Jack: 

 

You probably shouldn't do it, even in talking, you know. 

 

 Jack: 

 

Gossip and stuff. 

 

 Jack: 

 

But especially you should never write it down. 

 

 Jack: 

 

In an e-mail. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

I I don't think that's only American. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

I think that's just general, like office etiquette. 

 

 Jack: 

 

This general's lightness or etiquette, right? Right. That's true. That's true. Yeah. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

Yeah, yeah. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

Don't be rude. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

Don't don't don't call people names. 

 

 Jack: 

 

It might be the yeah, it might be even worse in other places, like in American company, you probably just get. 

 

 Jack: 

 

So I I sent this e-mail to my colleague and then I realized that I already sent it and I can't take it back. 

 

 Jack: 

 

And so I went and talked to her. 

 

 Jack: 

 

I'm like, did you see my e-mail? 

 

 Jack: 

 

And she goes, yeah. 

 

 Jack: 

 

Did you do? 

 

 Jack: 

 

That and I go, well I didn't, I didn't know it was, you know, for everybody. 

 

 Jack: 

 

I hit reply all. 

 

 Jack: 

 

So it's all everybody. 

 

 Jack: 

 

Right. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

Yeah, it wasn't just to the friends that like the coworker next. 

 

 Jack: 

 

No, this one went to everybody in the e-mail chain. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

To you. 

 

 Jack: 

 

So it went to the guy who I called the clown. 

 

 Jack: 

 

So it went into his e-mail. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

But that's yeah, that's as bad. 

 

 Jack: 

 

So I'm screwed, right? 

 

 Kevin: 

 

The wrong that's pushing the. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

Wrong button, yes. 

 

 Jack: 

 

Yeah, so that's a big mistake. 

 

 Jack: 

 

I called, I called him a clown and and my boss has access to read all the emails so they have like A at like admin, you know staff. 

 

 Jack: 

 

Right. 

 

 Jack: 

 

So what I did was I knew another person that worked in his office in this other country. 

 

 Jack: 

 

So I called her up and I said, hey, do you remember we met at the conference last month and she said, yeah, we were, we got, we became friends and they said I just made a huge mistake. 

 

 Jack: 

 

I sent this e-mail and I called your coworker. 

 

 Jack: 

 

A clown. 

 

 Jack: 

 

And she goes, well, he is a clown. 

 

 Jack: 

 

I go, yeah, but I. 

 

 Jack: 

 

Wrote it down. 

 

 Jack: 

 

In the e-mail and she goes, Oh my God, why did you do that? 

 

 Jack: 

 

And of course. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

You're the clown now, dad. 

 

 Jack: 

 

I'm an idiot, yeah, I'm a clown, I asked her. 

 

 Jack: 

 

Is there any way you can get on his computer and delete the message? 

 

 

 

Double cabins. 

 

 Jack: 

 

And she said she said I'll try and then she's on the phone with me and she's watching him and he got up and he went to the bathroom or the another room. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

It's impossible. 

 

 Jack: 

 

She's like, he's gone, I'm going to go for it and what is the e-mail? 

 

 Jack: 

 

And then she sat down on the computer and one minute later she came back to the phone and. 

 

 Jack: 

 

She said it's done, I deleted it. 

 

 Jack: 

 

And so I never got in. 

 

 Jack: 

 

Trouble for that mistake, but I will see close. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

So that's really amazing that you didn't get in trouble for it because you sent it to so many people. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

And how did it not get back to? 

 

 Kevin: 

 

Him, even if. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

He didn't see it like someone else would have been like. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

What did you think about the fact that Jack called you a clown in that? 

 

 Jack: 

 

E-mail and he would have been like, well, I think that when you write an e-mail thread, you know it. 

 

 Jack: 

 

Starts getting buried. 

 

 Jack: 

 

Down in the bottom, so nobody was actually. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

I'm sure the people who are nobody else was, nobody else cared. 

 

 Jack: 

 

Nobody is reading old e-mail threads, you know what I mean? 

 

 Jack: 

 

So yeah, there might have been. 

 

 Jack: 

 

It might have been just between me, my colleague and him. 

 

 Jack: 

 

So it might have just been the three of us. 

 

 Jack: 

 

And so he was the one that was in on that and I didn't want him to see it, so. 

 

 Jack: 

 

I got saved. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

Yeah, yeah. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

So something important for our listeners, make sure you don't push the reply to all button and your emails. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

Another really good tip for for emails actually is delete all the people to whom you're going to send it and then type the e-mail first. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

That way you can't accidentally hit send. 

 

 Jack: 

 

Oh, that's a good idea too, yeah. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

Right, take all the names out, because if you hit send, your e-mail is just gonna be like we're sending this too. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

So make it all empty and then type it and then read it and proofread and. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

Proofreading is always important, of course, as well. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

Yeah, my mistake that I made. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

At at work was. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

Not definitely not something that would get me fired. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

It's more of a teaching mistake, which I think you can understand. 

 

 Jack: 

 

No, I've made plenty, yeah. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

Oh yeah, we've made tons of mistakes while teaching. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

And this was when I was, it was my first time teaching. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

So like many years ago, I was a student at university still and I was just a teaching assistant and. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

As a teaching assistant, I was working under the professor in my department and she was the main teacher. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

She was the professor of the class. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

But sometimes she would let the teachers assistant teach, and so it was my turn to teach for the day and she actually gave me a lesson of, you know. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

She's like, teach this. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

And it was perfect. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

The lesson was like. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

Talk about this for 5 minutes, this for seven minutes, this for 5 minutes. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

It was very, very specific and it was my major. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

I've been studying it for years like, oh this is no problem, this will be very easy. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

But one thing I didn't know about teaching that I do know. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

Now is that giving a presentation and teaching are very different things. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

Even though you're up on stage and you're talking to a group, it's a very different thing. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

And so I just remember I got up to give my presentation, my teaching lesson for the day and what was supposed to be a one hour. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

Listen, I knew all the material. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

I taught it very well still, but I'm just like, OK, here's, you know, ABCD. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

Just teaching everything and then I finished and I was done and it was only 30 minutes into the class. 

 

 Jack: 

 

Oh boy. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

Halfway through and I look up at. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

The clock and I'm like. 

 

 Speaker 4 

 

Uh, so does anyone have any questions? 

 

 Kevin: 

 

And of course, no one has any questions either. 

 

 Jack: 

 

No, they just want. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

The glass like they. 

 

 Jack: 

 

To leave there, we done, you done. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

Just want to. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

Leave and I was like, well. 

 

 Speaker 4 

 

I guess we're done for the day, so. 

 

 Speaker 4 

 

So thank you very much. 

 

 Speaker 4 

 

I'll see you next time. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

And I immediately was like, oh. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

I can't believe I did this. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

And and all the students once they were happy and so they didn't really mind and then I. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

But I went back to my. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

Professor and I was like, I'm sorry, it was supposed to be one hour and it was only 30 minutes and I felt terrible that I'd like taught left and terribly and everything. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

And she, of course, was like, it's OK, you'll get better and everything. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

And now. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

Of course I I do get better, but I think. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

This is a good example of a mistake where I learn something from it. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

After and I'm going to tell all of our listeners a little teaching. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

Secret now is I still make mistakes teaching. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

Almost every day I make a mistake teaching, but. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

My students don't know that I make mistakes, and some days I do finish class early because students don't ask questions. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

Or maybe the students all understand it. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

It's very fast. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

So now if I finish early instead of going, oh, sorry, we we finished. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

OK, bye now. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

I just say, hey, good job. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

We finished early today. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

I'll see you. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

All next time, like it was my plan. 

 

 Jack: 

 

Yeah, right. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

So now I just lie. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

About it. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

So every mistake I make is not a. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

Mistake. It's my plan and. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

I I no longer make mistakes. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

As far as my students know, I make mistakes. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

I know the mistakes, but nobody else knows knows that. 

 

 Jack: 

 

I made them. 

 

 Jack: 

 

Yeah, that's great, this kid. 

 

 Jack: 

 

Learn from your mistakes and. 

 

 Jack: 

 

Then just own them. 

 

 Jack: 

 

And no one would know, yeah. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

Yeah. Learn. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

Yeah, or learn how. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

To change a. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

Mistake into your plan, right? 

 

 Kevin: 

 

If it's not something big like calling them a clown. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

And then easily you can. 

 

 Jack: 

 

Yeah, that was just a mistake. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

Yeah, that was just a mistake. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

But if it's if it's not something big that hurts someone, you can always just. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

Be like, oh. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

Yeah, I I did that on purpose. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

Oh, I wasn't supposed to do it. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

Oh, sorry, I won't do it next time, but just just every mistake doesn't need to be a mistake. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

Unless you admit that it was a mistake. 

 

 Jack: 

 

And it's all on your face. 

 

 Jack: 

 

You know they can read your face, so if it looks like you made a mistake and you're mad at yourself, but if you just. 

 

 Jack: 

 

Keep smiling. 

 

 Jack: 

 

Everything is going to be fine, you know? 

 

 Kevin: 

 

Yep, it really is interesting how teaching and how a lot of life is a little bit of acting. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

There's a little bit of acting involved with. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

Just about everything. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

And yeah, if you don't show that it was a mistake, then it wasn't a mistake, and you're the person you're talking to doesn't know. 

 

 Jack: 

 

There you go. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

Well, for everybody out there listening, what about you? 

 

 Kevin: 

 

If you've got a part time job or a full time job, or maybe just in school and you've made some kind of mistake or you've done something that you shouldn't have done, what was it? 

 

 Kevin: 

 

Was it a big mistake? 

 

 Kevin: 

 

Was it a bad mistake? 

 

 Kevin: 

 

Did you get in trouble for it? 

 

 Kevin: 

 

What happened afterwards? 

 

 Kevin: 

 

And what did you learn from the mistake? 

 

 Kevin: 

 

Very important key for for this. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

So everybody, thanks for listening. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

Remember on our web web page or in the show notes, you can join our WhatsApp group to tell us what you think and ask questions or just join the discussion. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

Also, if you're on Apple Podcasts and you can leave us a comment. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

Under review that would be super helpful and everyone else can be able to see the A-Z English for them as well. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

So thanks a lot. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

And try not to make any mistakes today. 

 

 Kevin: 

 

See you next time. 

 

 Speaker 1 

 

Bye, bye. 

 

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