BootsnAll Travel Community

I work in the power management industry. Basically I install and maintain industrial battery systems that provide data back up. I work in a lot of high profile companies such as Nasa, At&t, General Electric, etc. I am planning on leaving my job next year, I am about 8-9 months away from my savings goals for my RTW trip.

I have two temp guys that work under me and last week when I was working on an installation one of the guys on my crew grounded a live 540 watt cable accidentally and this ended up sending a lot of sparks flying everywhere and it melted the end of the cable he was working on and damaged some of the electrical equipment. When it happened I cut the power source and prevented the problem from being worse than it was. Fortunately no one was injured. I am being held responsible because I was in charge of the installation and I understand this. I should have done better to pay more attention to the guys working under me.

So now my company has to pay for the damaged equipment and I have a lot of heat coming down on me and my boss and his boss are severely pissed. The temp guy is most likely going to be fired. My job pays very well and is nicely financing my upcoming RTW trip. I just hope that I do not get fired and can continue to work and save for my trip next year. Has anyone been in a situation like this?

I have another job lined up just in case. I have never been fired before and the thought of it really bothers me as I try to take pride in whatever I do.

Mistakes happen.
I would be proactive with your boss about steps you will take to try to ensure this doesn't happen again. And stick to those steps!

Oh yeah, sure, we've all had an Oh Shit moment or two! You're smart to have a Plan B, but like Anniebanannie said, mistakes happen. Life happens. Don't let it tear you down, just deal with it and move on.

Did you survive Monday?

Thanks for the replies, Monday wasn't horrible. Not fun but certainly not horrible. I got written up and I'm currently on a 90 day probation with the company. So I am still employed, for at least 90 more days.

That's crap - your company presumably has liability insurance that will pay out - this is what its for after all! I would start looking for a better employer!

That sucks. I'm so sorry to hear this, and hope things have improved, and that prospects elsewhere look promising.

Moving forward with pro-active steps, getting things in writing isn't a bad idea, especially when one knows their boss is not in their corner. Instead of framing it as the obvious "these are the things in writing that will keep me fired", I'd frame it pro-actively like "learning from this opportunity, this is specifically how we can move forward from it." And, I'd keep that plan where I could either easily see it or get to it, and stick with it. I'd also check in with the boss from time to time to see how it's going, instead of waiting for an accumulated list.

I'd be wary of any conversation that has a "if this happens again you're fired" without record of said conversation for your protection while you continue your search.