Was I at fault over incident at work?

LegacyUser

At work I’m generally in charge of placing our order on a Saturday .
Due to Christmas I was told to place the order on Friday.
On Friday I was typing up the order and I received a phone call from my manager and he asked me were we badly stuck for stock I replied no. He said there was no need to place the order until Saturday.
I said fair enough saved it to the drafts and headed home.
Saturday morning rolls on and I receive a phone call from the owner who ate the head off me for not placing the order. I did my best to explain the situation and but he was having none of it.
The owner said he wasn’t making deliveries during the week and it’s all my fault.
I spoke to the manger again and he said I did nothing wrong and not to worry about it.
The owner is still sour with me tough over this.
Up until now we’ve had a good relationship.
The manager is the owners son.

Was this my fault?

Salthillprom

If you report to the manager and you did what the manager told you to do, then you're fine. I'd follow up with the 'owner' with an email and copy in/cc your manager. Dear [name of owner], further to our meeting/phonecall [whatever occurred], I would like to clarify what occurred on [date]. I was preparing the order on Friday but following a phonecall with [name of manager], copied in this email, I was advised to wait until Saturday to complete same. I duly waited until Saturday and carried out the order as instructed. Unfortunately, as per our conversation on [date], this has not met your expectation. However, as explained, I trust that you understand that I was merely carrying out my duties as sanctioned by my manager. Kind regards, [name].

accensi0n

No. try not to dwell on it.
Agree with the previous poster about making it clear to the owner that your manager told you not to place the order until Saturday, but just communicate in the least confrontational way possible.

The only thing I would have done differently is (And I'm assuming you didn't because you didn't mention it), when talking to the manager on the Friday, letting him know what the owner asked for and asking which day he wants the order done considering the input from the owner.

accensi0n

If the manager is good and he generally has your back, I think I'd be more inclined to let him know that the owner ate your head off and ask him to go clear it up on your behalf, versus sending an email that might come across as blaming the manager.

Salthillprom

accensi0n wrote: »

If the manager is good and he generally has your back, I think I'd be more inclined to let him know that the owner ate your head off and ask him to go clear it up on your behalf, versus sending an email that might come across as blaming the manager.

The email I'm suggesting merely states facts. If the situation is as the OP states, he/she isn't blaming the manager but rather stating the status quo and saving his/her bacon. By cc-ing his/her manager he's showing he/she has nothing to hide. I'm a senior manager with a very large team reporting to me and that would be the advice I'd give to clear things up. But obviously it's up to the OP as to what they'd be happy with at the end of the day.

ETA: you could leave out the but about 'not meeting your expectation' if you felt that was lynching your boss. Personally I'd leave it in but maybe change it to, "you conveyed to me that this did not meet your expectation. I apologise for same but was merely following guidance/instruction from my manager....." To be fair, if this decision was an incorrect one by someone else and you followed it, don't take the wrap. Just be diplomatic how you state it.

Augme

Salthillprom wrote: »

If you report to the manager and you did what the manager told you to do, then you're fine. I'd follow up with the 'owner' with an email and copy in/cc your manager. Dear [name of owner], further to our meeting/phonecall [whatever occurred], I would like to clarify what occurred on [date]. I was preparing the order on Friday but following a phonecall with [name of manager], copied in this email, I was advised to wait until Saturday to complete same. I duly waited until Saturday and carried out the order as instructed. Unfortunately, as per our conversation on [date], this has not met your expectation. However, as explained, I trust that you understand that I was merely carrying out my duties as sanctioned by my manager. Kind regards, [name].

I wouldn't do the above. You are just throwing your a manager under bus and you'll get nothing out of it. The owner is never going to side with you over his son so putting the blame on him is pointless.

The best you can do is just hope your manager backs you and defends you with his Dad, and he ain't going to want to do that if you send the above email. Your manager will be happy to get rid of you then.

I wouldn't worry about the situation now, it's done and you can't really do anything to change it now. Keep the head down and keep working and keep your manager in your corner a s much as possible.

Kraftwerk

Wasitmyfault wrote: »

.
The manager is the owners son.

Was this my fault?

You've been put in a crappy situation by the manager. If he's telling you not to worry about then he should be telling the owner he made the decision.

If you're getting **** for not doing what a manager told you not to do then you should be honest. You were told not to put in the order the owner should take it up with the manager.

But given its a father/son dynamic you're at the mercy of whatever their personal relationship is as to how that plays out.

HildaOgdenx

It's not really clear, OP, what you are looking for advice on.

Family set-ups in business can be a tricky one, for the outsider. I'm sure this will blow over and be forgotten.

Bubbaclaus

Salthillprom wrote: »

If you report to the manager and you did what the manager told you to do, then you're fine. I'd follow up with the 'owner' with an email and copy in/cc your manager. Dear [name of owner], further to our meeting/phonecall [whatever occurred], I would like to clarify what occurred on [date]. I was preparing the order on Friday but following a phonecall with [name of manager], copied in this email, I was advised to wait until Saturday to complete same. I duly waited until Saturday and carried out the order as instructed. Unfortunately, as per our conversation on [date], this has not met your expectation. However, as explained, I trust that you understand that I was merely carrying out my duties as sanctioned by my manager. Kind regards, [name].

I think this is terrible advice, for what it's worth. That email reads like you are trying to assign the blame to the manager (who is the owners son). Do people actually think that would be well received?

Hannibal_Smith

Who told you to place the order on Friday?

It sounds like the owner and the manager need to have a word with each other. Something got lost in translation between the two of them and you're the fall guy.

If you followed what your manager told you, then no, it can't be your fault. You can't put an order in for stock if your manager explicitly told you not to.

LegacyUser

OP here again.
Just to clear a few things up.
It’s a family company.
I’ve an email for the HR lady the owners daughter.

I’ve no emails for manager or the owner.

There’s two managers one the owners son and the other is his son in law.

There’s a what’s app group/text. The managers generally send a message to this if they want something done. The owner may occasionally ring but in general they leave you alone.

If you have an issue your told to ring anybody and see who answers the phone. I suppose I report to the manager tough but it’s something You’ve rarely need to do.

You generally do what your told by the person who contacts you.

Just so I’m making sense.
I was told by the manager during the week to place the order early than normal. Ie on Friday.
I was told by the manger on Friday to place it as normal on Saturday.

The owner contacted me on Saturday and gave out. I did my best to explain the situation to him and he wasn’t impressed.

I then contacted the manger and explained what happened.

I maybe overthinking things because I always do my best to do what I’m asked.

Kraftwerk

Sounds like the family run businesses I've previously worked for. Unprofessional, half arsed with no real communication or established processes just jobs for the family. And when **** goes wrong it's the hired hand who's at fault not the family members.

If it was an actual professional business you'd go to HR about being unfairly treated despite doing what was asked of you. But given the type of business there's probably not much you can do beyond what you've done which is letting the manager know the situation.

bertiebomber

stupid middle managers are the cause of most of the misery in the workplace . You were not wrong but you could have asked the owner his advice after the manager told you not to do it. That way everyone was covered in the decision especially if the manager is his son it also lets him know his son is a dick.

tomwaits48

Salthillprom wrote: »

If you report to the manager and you did what the manager told you to do, then you're fine. I'd follow up with the 'owner' with an email and copy in/cc your manager. Dear [name of owner], further to our meeting/phonecall [whatever occurred], I would like to clarify what occurred on [date]. I was preparing the order on Friday but following a phonecall with [name of manager], copied in this email, I was advised to wait until Saturday to complete same. I duly waited until Saturday and carried out the order as instructed. Unfortunately, as per our conversation on [date], this has not met your expectation. However, as explained, I trust that you understand that I was merely carrying out my duties as sanctioned by my manager. Kind regards, [name].

Do not, under any circumstances, follow this advice.

Diemos

Take this as a life lesson.
The fact that you are bothered by this says to me that you are a good worker that cares about your reputation.

Do not write the email that is suggested above.
It's not fair, that you are getting blamed but you don't fight it, learn from it.

Cover your a$$ in future, if you get conflicting requests from managers, e-mail them all (have a record in writing) tell them about the conflict of interest and your actions and reasons. by all mean follow up with phone calls to but have key points in writing.

If your boss is an old curmudgeon then what he wants is a quiet life and results, so the suggested email above will just bring everything back up and just piss him off more. The next time you deliver, this will be forgotten about.

But you've seen the pain points in this company, have think about whether or not you want to stay there long term.

Best of luck.

leggo

tomwaits48 wrote: »

Do not, under any circumstances, follow this advice.

It’s fine advice in a big company where accountability is a standard that needs to be enforced, but in this situation I’d say it’s a recipe for disaster and a good way to piss off basically everyone senior to the OP.

As it stands OP, it sounds like you’re fine. The mix-up will probably be discussed and forgotten about by next week. In future, try get some accountability when it comes to situations like this: even a follow-up text a while afterwards going, “Sorry, brain like a sieve today, just to confirm no need to send order today yeah?” That way at least you have a trail to point to if need be, for your own peace of mind as much as anything else. You won’t get sacked over this and that’s the lesson for the future, job done.

ILoveYourVibes

Wasitmyfault wrote: »

I spoke to the manger again and he said I did nothing wrong and not to worry about it.
The owner is still sour with me tough over this.
Up until now we’ve had a good relationship.
The manager is the owners son.

Was this my fault?

NO.

I have been in exactly the same position as you.

If the manager is good and he generally has your back, I think I'd be more inclined to let him know that the owner ate your head off and ask him to go clear it up on your behalf, versus sending an email that might come across as blaming the manager.

If the manager had his back he would have taken responsibility for it. He did not. I would say he is saying something diff to his father.

OP my advice is this.

The son might thing he is a true manager ...he isn't. He is a lesser ..manager i guess.

You are working for his dad in reality. I would try and communicate more with him and build a better relationship with him.

Don't speak ill of the son ...or anyone in that business though.

Zomoradi

yes i totally agree

LegacyUser

Thanks for the posts.
I suppose I was just taken a back with what happened and I know I need to be carful in future.
I do over think things at times.
It all seems to be forgotten about now anyway.