Does anyone else cry when they make mistakes?

Hope said:

Does anyone else cry when they are criticised or when someone simply points out that they have made a mistake? I have this problem. When I was volunteering on the till at Age UK today, I accidentally forgot to 'gift-aid' an item by using the bar-code scanning machine. The manager told me nicely that I had forgotten to do this, and that if an item is not scanned for gift-aid they would lose money. She told me not to worry as she could gift-aid the transaction once I had left. But tears immediately started welling up in my eyes, I got a lump in my throat, my lip started trembling and I could not make eye-contact for the rest of the morning. I felt like crying but had to repress the tears. I knew rationally that getting upset over so small a thing was silly, but I could not control my physical display of emotion, and I worry that people might have noticed I was upset as one customer said, 'Are you alright?'.  The emotion seemed alien to me because on a non-physical level I did not feel anything, but thoughts went through my mind telling me that I can't do anything right, I am a liability, don't concentrate etc, even though I was doing my hardest. I have a very strong need to complete tasks to perfection and I am a control-freak. I only felt better when the manager thanked me for doing a hard days work and told me that the morning takings had reached over £200.

 

I want to feel that I am contributing, that my voluntary work counts, but I need to be in control and I feel defensive when people try to help me.

I do it myself...and I am 35!  I think it is probably more a reaction of wanting to be perfect and getting upset when I make a minor mistake, rather than what the person has just told me.  It reminds me of a little song called "Nobody's perfect", which was in a Jim Henson cartoon called "Muppet Babies".  It's a silly song, but it gets the point across; i.e. that nobody's perfect and that we can all make a mistake from time to time. 

The only advice I can give is that getting upset about minor things fades in time as one's confidence grows and one gets used to a routine. 

Coincidentally, I volunteer in a charity shop and have been doing so for the past 15 years.  In terms of retail, I am at a supervisory level, in the sense that I can open up and lock up (I have my own keys and alarm code), open the shop, close the shop, get the till ready and count out the float, cash up the till and do the end of days takings, shelf filling, serving customers, and telling them about the charity, etc.  Now, I could not do that when I first started, but gradually built up the confidence to do so.  And I tell other volunteers not to worry if they make a mistake on the till, as I can easily correct it. 

What is good about it is that it is a routine and one that does not vary often. 

Hope said:

Does anyone else cry when they are criticised or when someone simply points out that they have made a mistake? I have this problem. When I was volunteering on the till at Age UK today, I accidentally forgot to 'gift-aid' an item by using the bar-code scanning machine. The manager told me nicely that I had forgotten to do this, and that if an item is not scanned for gift-aid they would lose money. She told me not to worry as she could gift-aid the transaction once I had left. But tears immediately started welling up in my eyes, I got a lump in my throat, my lip started trembling and I could not make eye-contact for the rest of the morning. I felt like crying but had to repress the tears. I knew rationally that getting upset over so small a thing was silly, but I could not control my physical display of emotion, and I worry that people might have noticed I was upset as one customer said, 'Are you alright?'.  The emotion seemed alien to me because on a non-physical level I did not feel anything, but thoughts went through my mind telling me that I can't do anything right, I am a liability, don't concentrate etc, even though I was doing my hardest. I have a very strong need to complete tasks to perfection and I am a control-freak. I only felt better when the manager thanked me for doing a hard days work and told me that the morning takings had reached over £200.

 

I want to feel that I am contributing, that my voluntary work counts, but I need to be in control and I feel defensive when people try to help me.

I do it myself...and I am 35!  I think it is probably more a reaction of wanting to be perfect and getting upset when I make a minor mistake, rather than what the person has just told me.  It reminds me of a little song called "Nobody's perfect", which was in a Jim Henson cartoon called "Muppet Babies".  It's a silly song, but it gets the point across; i.e. that nobody's perfect and that we can all make a mistake from time to time. 

The only advice I can give is that getting upset about minor things fades in time as one's confidence grows and one gets used to a routine. 

Coincidentally, I volunteer in a charity shop and have been doing so for the past 15 years.  In terms of retail, I am at a supervisory level, in the sense that I can open up and lock up (I have my own keys and alarm code), open the shop, close the shop, get the till ready and count out the float, cash up the till and do the end of days takings, shelf filling, serving customers, and telling them about the charity, etc.  Now, I could not do that when I first started, but gradually built up the confidence to do so.  And I tell other volunteers not to worry if they make a mistake on the till, as I can easily correct it. 

What is good about it is that it is a routine and one that does not vary often.