blamed for somethign you did not do

amother

Thu, May 28 2009, 1:47 am

What would you do if your boss blames you for something you did not do.
He is blaming 2 of us --- none of us is at fault --the computer is.

would you just accept the blame and just do whatever you could do fix it or would you say - it's really not my fault?
Boss is understandably upset as because of the computer issue he did lose money.

Mrs.K

Thu, May 28 2009, 2:47 am

I would certainly stand up for myself, but not in a whiny, "But it's not my faaault!!!!" sort of way.

In my job, I often get blamed for mess-ups since about 30 people handle each case and the computer system only shows the last person to update the case, which is usually me. When I get emailed about any problems, I check the entire case history, and will then email my supervisor saying, "I see that on May 25th, the case was updated in a misleading way by someone in the department. Perhaps we can send a memo to all staff to be more careful about this?" This way I am showing that I didn't do the problem, but I am also being mature and civil by not pointing fingers, and thinking of how we can stop the problem in the future.

In that vain, I think the smart thing to do would be to say to your boss, "I know that there was a problem the other day with (whatever it was), and I've seen the computer mess up in this way before/it may happen again unless we do something. Can we send a memo to all staff to look out for these computer glitches/call in a technician so that we can avoid this in the future." This way you show that you aren't to blame, and help him avoid this problem again.

Good luck!

smilingmom

Thu, May 28 2009, 3:41 am

If there is a problem caused by someone I supervise or an equal colleague, I usually take the hit and try to rectify the situation.
If my supervisor or someone on a higher level is at fault , I definitely try to clear myself, I may say "Supervisor John probably did not realize that without saving the file, the new info gets lost"

bubby

Thu, Jun 04 2009, 5:40 am

Story of my life. IME, if the boss wants a living, breathing korbon no explanations will do. Unless, of course, your co workers will support you but again, IME, they run for the hills at moments like these. Funny how the only one with principles stands alone...kind of like on imamother Confused