OCD worries about mistakes at work

[Avo]

Hi Everyone,

Would appreciate some guidance on the following, I made a mistake at work yesterday, nothing major and no one in authority seemed to mind too much. I work in a distribution centre and we pick items for dispatch to shops. I mis-picked a couple of items (2 items out of a total of 81 in this particular case).and was asked to change them. 

However i was very effected by this and still am. My work does random checks on our accuracy and in the past i have got some things wrong, the last one i remember was mis-picking 1 item out of 308 in total. This one didn't bother me too much as it was a small percentage of the total, however mis-picking 2 out of 81 is causing me alot of anxiety as it's quite a high percentage of mistakes (by my previous standards).

Other people are randomly checked and from time to time get things wrong too, sometimes more wrong than i do. I am typically worrying in OCD fashion that i may now become terrible at the job and just make more and more mistakes going forward and end up losing my job. There is a trade union at work which alot of people are part of and i have considered joining in the past however i don't know if this is just some kind of re-assurance by doing so. My wife seems to think there is no point joining as i will benefit indirectly from their influence such as terms and conditions etc. However i do wonder if i would feel a bit more secure by joining, but now worry if it's my OCD telling me to join incase i get really bad at the job. They do seem influential at work and are recognised by the company.

I think what didn't help also was that when i last mis-picked the person who checks the work came and told me directly however this time he told the manager who called me to change the mis-picked items. This change of the way this happened annoyed me as i thought it was over the top but other people of had this happen too. I had an appraisal about a week before this and everything was fine during that, no negative feedback etc,

Sorry for waffling and thanks for taking the time to read my post, i suppose what i am asking is how do i let go of the fact i made a mistake and not let it ruin my few days off over Easter. I would like to return to work not having spent the time worrying about how bad i may be come.

Thank you,

Avo

 

[Ashley]

 

22 minutes ago, Avo said:

This one didn't bother me too much as it was a small percentage of the total, however mis-picking 2 out of 81 is causing me alot of anxiety as it's quite a high percentage of mistakes (by my previous standards).

Show me somebody that does not make mistakes at work and I will show you either a liar or someone who does nothing, nothing at all!

The OCD craves certainty and perfection, this we know. So in your case it is struggling to accept the minor error and is now playing the catastrophe card (you fear being sacked). The reality is you picked wrong items, I guarantee you will make the same mistake again some time. If you're packing items all day, every day it is inevitable.  Your bosses might give you a telling off, but they're not going to sack you for making the occasional error Avo. 

When packing are you checking like colleagues check or are you OCD checking?

 

22 minutes ago, Avo said:

However i do wonder if i would feel a bit more secure by joining, but now worry if it's my OCD telling me to join incase i get really bad at the job. They do seem influential at work and are recognised by the company.

It depends why you want to join the union.  Is it for the good they do (not that I think all unions do good), or is it for protection in 'case' you make another mistake at work?  If the former reason they that's a good reason to join, but if the latter reason then I agree with your wife it is a reassurance OCD reason to join.

[Avo]

Hi Ashley,

Thank you for such a quick reply, i am always trying to get things 100% accurate all the time, in someways my job is potentially feeding into my OCD when a mistake is so black and white so to speak with the type of job i do. When i pick an item i normally check the manifest a couple of times to double check the reference number against the items reference number

. I suppose some people will be more casual about it than me. I think i am on the 'normal' side of things where this is concerned, (hopefully) although i could maybe become a little quicker just checking once i suppose.(As with alot of places of this type, speed is also a factor but i  would worry that my accuracy will suffer).  I wanted to speak to the manager to almost apologise but i didn't in the end, i thought this may make me look too needy and given most peoples attitude to mis-picks it may look a bit over the top. It was rectified in 5 mins so i thought against apologising .

I also felt a bit embarrassed as some people will have been aware i made a mistake because of the way it was pointed out to me, this fed into my worry as i thought they would think i was stupid or partly incompetent. 

If i am honest it's more a case for protection regards joining a union, i am not especially pro or against them, i have never worked somewhere before that has had a union and in someways it feels a bit of a throwback. The opinion of how good they are varies somewhat depending on who you speak to. 

[Cub]

Hi Avo

I understand how you feel. In my job I make a lot of mistakes and always beat myself up for them. But I haven't been sacked; I'm calmly told what I got wrong and carry on. And I watch my colleagues make mistakes too. One made a mistake the other day and it's nothing that can't be fixed. It's clear you're doing your best. I do feel awful when things go wrong and spend the whole day worrying on it, even when others tell me it's okay.

Sorry I can't give a longer reply - am currently in a car - but I just want to let you know that it's fine, I get it and I think it's part of the disorder, definitely.

C x

[Avo]

Hi Cub,

Thanks for your reply also, i certainly beat myself up as well, i get the feeling others there are much less troubled by any mistakes they make than me. It generally is nothing that can't be fixed pretty quickly with minimum fuss, the people involved in pointing this mistake out to me have probably already forgotten about the incident where as i have agonised over it.

Thanks again for your reply

Avo