Poll of the Day > have you ever swallowed your pride and just said that youre wrong at work?

(+) Yeah! (+)

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Sure. I have no problems admitting I am wrong. I do have a problem with "admitting" I did or said something wrong when it wasn't me or wasn't actually incorrect. I have had several bosses who insist that I take credit for things well beyond my control as well. I won't do that

I had one that basically hit all those points in one shot: lady fell and broke her hip. It shattered like glass. Management never alerted the state for two weeks (big no no!) and the state came looking for blood.

She fell after being sat in a chair my coworker sat her in with no alarm. I was on break when it happened. One would assume I'd be safe? Management and Dept of Health were both looking to have me fired. "Why didn't you check to make sure her alarm was on? You told your coworkers you would."

Like hell. In the end, faculty got fined 25k, coworker lost her job and couldn't do that line of work for 2 years. Management implements new policies to make things a lot harder on staff to the point where it became almost impossible to take any breaks other than a lunch break.

Yep. Sometimes I'd just agree in order to move on with the often boring and tiresome drama. Doesn't matter if I'm right or not as at that point I've already moved on in my own mind.

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Fuck no.
Rule #1) you're never wrong, even if you are it was someone else's fault.

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No, I've only held back arguing my point. They don't need an admission and I won't give one; all that matters is that progress is being made.
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Yeah, and people respect me for it.

If you're that kind of person just never help other people cover their mistakes or they'll end up looking better than you. If you do that they have two people checking for mistakes and you only have one, meaning you'll appear to make the most mistakes and start to get picked on.

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Never, I am God... I will never be wrong

Zangulus posted...

Why is admitting youre wrong a thing of pride? It shouldnt be. If youre wrong. Admit it and move on. You cant learn if you dont.

I almost feel like he's asking whether you should "swallow your pride" and say you're wrong even if you're NOT wrong, just to defuse arguments and tension. Notice he didn't say "admit".
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ParanoidObsessive posted...

I almost feel like he's asking whether you should "swallow your pride" and say you're wrong even if you're NOT wrong, just to defuse arguments and tension. Notice he didn't say "admit".

He also edited the post after Zang commented.

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Sure. I dont think its a pride thing, though. If Im wrong, Im wrong. But Im usually not about many things. If I dont know something, Ill tell them I dont know. But if they ask me something about a job Ive been doing for years, against them not even ever doing the job, I usually know the answer. Or better than them, at the very least...

If Im not wrong, then no. Ill fight it to the end. They could even threaten firing. I wont admit to be wrong if Im not...
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LinkPizza posted...

Sure. I dont think its a pride thing, though.

If you're not bothered then you're not proud of your reputation for being right.
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LinkPizza posted...

If Im not wrong, then no. Ill fight it to the end. They could even threaten firing. I wont admit to be wrong if Im not...

Some hills are not worth dying on.


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Why would someone say theyre wrong if theyre not?

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zebatov posted...

Why would someone say theyre wrong if theyre not?

... because some folk can't be bothered to argue and would rather move on with their life.

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Im wrong about things all the time

Im fucking amazing at it

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Kyuubi4269 posted...

If you're not bothered then you're not proud of your reputation for being right.

I disagree.

wwinterj25 posted...

Some hills are not worth dying on.

Not all. But my secondary job, I could care less about. Id rather not work there then admit to something Im not wrong about. The military will usually give you paperwork, but it doesnt always mean that much. When active, they couldnt fire me. They techincally could now (from the ART position). But most likely wont.

zebatov posted...

Why would someone say theyre wrong if theyre not?

You shouldnt. Some might to keep their job, or to just move on, though...
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LinkPizza posted...

I disagree.

Based on what? If you are willing to let others harm your reputation, it can't be very valuable to you.
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Kyuubi4269 posted...

Based on what? If you are willing to let others harm your reputation, it can't be very valuable to you.

Harm my reputation how? I said, If Im wrong, Ill admit it. And if Im not, I wont. So what the hell are you even talking about?

Not only that, but if I argue Im right when Im clearly wrong, that hurts my reputation even more than admitting Im wrong.

As for what I said at first, it shouldnt be a pride thing to admit youre wrong. If youre wrong, just fess up to it. Its happens to everyone. If youre not, than dont...
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LinkPizza posted...

Not all. But my secondary job, I could care less about.

Fair.

Kyuubi4269 posted...

Based on what? If you are willing to let others harm your reputation, it can't be very valuable to you.

Better than having a reputation for being a argumentative, antagonistic person though. Even more so when it's something so trivial in most cases. Of course if it's a big thing I'm being accused of then I'd fight to prove I'm not in the wrong but trivial shit that nobody cares about? A nod and smile will do.

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weeb98 posted...

have you ever swallowed your pride and just said that youre wrong at work?

yeah all the time. probably every day

weeb98 posted...

edit: but you know you arent wrong?

I can't remember ever saying this. it's usually easier to just say something is not worth arguing about

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If I make a mistake, odds are i'll own up to it.

I try to not get myself in such a hole where "sucking it up and swalling my pride" isnt even an option because it never got that far because I admit when called out I did it.

But at my job there is no reason to lie. Not because there arent consequences for fucking up, I work with all chill people and there's five of us. Not the type of environment you need to do that in.

Never, I'll fight that shit to the bitter end.

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I love swallowing my pride

You should try it too

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LinkPizza posted...

Harm my reputation how? I said, If Im wrong, Ill admit it. And if Im not, I wont. So what the hell are you even talking about?

And I said:

Kyuubi4269 posted...

If you're not bothered then you're not proud of your reputation for being right.

You don't have a reputation in the first place so there's nothing there to be proud of or lose. The thing about an "if" is that there's a declared circumstance that is presumed and the statement is based on this presumed circumstance.

LinkPizza posted...

Not only that, but if I argue Im right when Im clearly wrong, that hurts my reputation even more than admitting Im wrong.

Because you have pride in a reputation for being honest, not for being right.

LinkPizza posted...

it shouldnt be a pride thing to admit youre wrong.

It can be a pride thing to accept damage to the reputation, regardless of if that damage is due. It's not really reasonable to speak of "shoulds" when talking about a deadly sin, pride in general is not a "should".

wwinterj25 posted...

Better than having a reputation for being a argumentative, antagonistic person though.

Somebody who is not always right is objectively worse than somebody who can be wrong. Somebody who is argumentative and antagonistic is bad when directed at you but good when directed at someone you don't like. It's really circumstantial.
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No, but I've walked away and stopped arguing

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No, not on anything of substance, because I'm an engineer - if I'm genuinely not wrong, I have a professional obligation to stick to my statements and render sound judgement.

If I *am* wrong, I have no problem admitting it, but this is not a career where you admit wrongdoing if none exists.

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Kyuubi4269 posted...

Because you have pride in a reputation for being honest, not for being right.

No. Its not about pride. Its about being able to get the work done. And get it done efficiently and with less hassle. And in a good work environment. Not being able to admit youre wrong when you are can cause problems between you and co-workers. Or others. Especially if its about work. And could end up hurting the business, or causing more unnecessary work.

Kyuubi4269 posted...

It can be a pride thing to accept damage to the reputation, regardless of if that damage is due. It's not really reasonable to speak of "shoulds" when talking about a deadly sin, pride in general is not a "should".

If were talking about damaging a reputation, not being able to admit you were wrong is usually more damaging. Especially if others also know youre wrong.
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LinkPizza posted...

No. Its not about pride. Its about being able to get the work done. And get it done efficiently and with less hassle. And in a good work environment. Not being able to admit youre wrong when you are can cause problems between you and co-workers. Or others. Especially if its about work. And could end up hurting the business, or causing more unnecessary work.

If were talking about damaging a reputation, not being able to admit you were wrong is usually more damaging. Especially if others also know youre wrong.

Pride is not pragmatic, reasonable or efficient. As I said, it is a deadly sin. Pride does not have to be all encompassing. A person can have pride in a trait that upsets other people as they don't have to have pride in relationships they don't value.
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Kyuubi4269 posted...

Pride is not pragmatic, reasonable or efficient. As I said, it is a deadly sin. Pride does not have to be all encompassing. A person can have pride in a trait that upsets other people as they don't have to have pride in relationships they don't value.

But you also cant assume that someone has to have pride in something just because. Just because someone owns up to their mistake doesnt mean they are swallowing their pride or has pride in being honest.
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darkknight109 posted...

No, not on anything of substance, because I'm an engineer - if I'm genuinely not wrong, I have a professional obligation to stick to my statements and render sound judgement.

If I *am* wrong, I have no problem admitting it, but this is not a career where you admit wrongdoing if none exists.

This, though I'm a QA guy instead of an engineer

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I work in science/research

Everyone is wrong. All the time.

LinkPizza posted...

But you also cant assume that someone has to have pride in something just because. Just because someone owns up to their mistake doesnt mean they are swallowing their pride or has pride in being honest.

But if they lie seemingly irrationally, it's reasonable to assume they're defending an attack on pride. It's recognisable as narcissistic rage.
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Kyuubi4269 posted...

But if they lie seemingly irrationally, it's reasonable to assume they're defending an attack on pride. It's recognisable as narcissistic rage.

Or maybe they dont want to get in trouble. Or put in worse spots...
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LinkPizza posted...

Or maybe they dont want to get in trouble. Or put in worse spots...

That would be rational. Again, if has a special meaning.
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Kyuubi4269 posted...

That would be rational. Again, if has a special meaning.

Not always. Some places wouldnt punish you. And you wouldnt be in trouble for being wrong. So, in that case, it would be irrational to worry about being in trouble when you wouldnt have been in trouble in the first place.
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One thing they teach you in good workplaces is that one person is never wrong, the whole team is. Everything is a team effort and if something was overlooked then the whole team missed something because they all worked on it at some point. Plus, pointing blame is never going to solve anything, you should instead work on finding root causes, then implementing safeguards against them to make sure that the same problem never happens again.

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Kyuubi4269 posted...

Somebody who is argumentative and antagonistic is bad when directed at you but good when directed at someone you don't like.

I don't like those character traits in general tbf.


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Dikitain posted...

One thing they teach you in good workplaces is that one person is never wrong, the whole team is. Everything is a team effort and if something was overlooked then the whole team missed something because they all worked on it at some point. Plus, pointing blame is never going to solve anything, you should instead work on finding root causes, then implementing safeguards against them to make sure that the same problem never happens again.

I think that's actually a pretty crappy philosophy really. There are times that mistakes are really on the individual only, no amount of intervention or interference could have prevented it.

The 2nd radio station I worked at had several plans in place to avoid mistakes. For the most part, they were successful. The head boss would print out the playlist and commercials in order to play. Before your shift, you were supposed to look it over to check for mistakes.

Then on your shift, you made sure to follow the plan unless there was a mistake you didn't catch the first time. Mistakes could be corrected very easily and quickly.

For example: at 120 pm, you were supposed to play "Black Dog" by Led Zeppelin. It's the first song on Zeppelin IV and it's about 5 minutes. But the list says it's 8 minutes long and is suddenly the 9th song. It's 118 pm and you have to decide to play it or substitute something else (remember that each hour is broken down by minutes)

I had one coworker who constantly botched the first step. Then the second step. Tons of dead air. Constantly played the wrong songs. She'd go off from the list entirely and play what she wanted. One time she recorded over a rare 8-track because she wanted to see what would happen. Broke the CD player trying to jam a second CD in without taking the first one out.

The only way her mistakes could be considered a team mistake would be the fact that she was never fired. I came on after her shift was over and frequently had to clean up her messes. She ignored every safeguard in place. She ignored every rule to prevent things like what happened from occurring

I swallowed my pride...when your murderin' fuck of a cousin killed my brother. Don't think I'm gonna do it twice.


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LinkPizza posted...

Not always. Some places wouldnt punish you. And you wouldnt be in trouble for being wrong. So, in that case, it would be irrational to worry about being in trouble when you wouldnt have been in trouble in the first place.

In which case the pride response applies? I don't get what's tripping you up.

wwinterj25 posted...

I don't like those character traits in general tbf.

You don't, and that's the crux of what subjectivity is.

CTLM posted...

The only way her mistakes could be considered a team mistake would be the fact that she was never fired.

That's the point.
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Yeah, sure. A few times. When I'm wrong, I'm wrong.

weeb98 posted...

edit: but you know you arent wrong?

Oh. Then fuck no.
Closest I've come to that is when I just say, "alright, fine. I'm not gonna argue about it anymore". One time I did that, the guy asked if I agreed he was right, and I said, "No, I just care more about getting out of this meeting than I do about being right." I think that somehow pissed him off more than if I had just kept arguing w/ him, lol
:)

ReggieTheReckless posted...

Everyone is wrong. All the time.

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Kyuubi4269 posted...

In which case the pride response applies? I don't get what's tripping you up.

How does pride apply? Because I don't see how it does. It's not pride. It's just scared of being in trouble oeven though they wouldn't get in trouble. Pride has nothing to do with it.
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LinkPizza posted...

How does pride apply? Because I don't see how it does. It's not pride. It's just scared of being in trouble oeven though they wouldn't get in trouble. Pride has nothing to do with it.

That doesn't make any sense, if somebody knows they won't get in trouble then inherently there's no fear of getting in trouble.
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Kyuubi4269 posted...

That doesn't make any sense, if somebody knows they won't get in trouble then inherently there's no fear of getting in trouble.

Hence the irrational part...
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LinkPizza posted...

Hence the irrational part...

True irrationality doesn't exist, people operate on some kind of reasoning, even if it's faulty.
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Kyuubi4269 posted...

True irrationality doesn't exist, people operate on some kind of reasoning, even if it's faulty.

Irrational just means "not logical or reasonable". At least, one definition. So, I don't care about "true irrationality" because people can still be irrational. Besides, you're the one who brought up rational thing in the first place...
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LinkPizza posted...

Irrational just means "not logical or reasonable". At least, one definition. So, I don't care about "true irrationality" because people can still be irrational. Besides, you're the one who brought up rational thing in the first place...

I brought up pride because it is how people often express colloquially understood irrationality. People are incapable of acting without logic or reason, there's an underlying motivation guided by some form of logic in every action we make.
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