How to apologize to your boss if you messed up

Was wondering what is the best way to apologize to your boss if you made a mistake?

This weekend, I drove to the city of the MD who interviewed/hired me (Chicago, but I will be interning in NYC, so I won't be working for him but simply wanted to catch up/meet for advice).

It was supposed to take 4 hours to get there, I thought to leave 5 hours ahead of time in case anything comes up. Turns out the roads were all under construction and with heavy traffic it took me six hours to get there. I was one hour late, felt unprepared and extremely stressed out. I had called to apologize while I was on my way - when I got to the parking structure the MD called me asking if I was still on my way and that he would come out and find me. The situation couldn't be worse. When I finally got into the office almost everyone had left except for 3-4 people - and I apologized again, saying 'I'm sorry for being late, I should of known to leave an extra hour or two [for traffic/etc/etc]'. The MD was still extremely nice, introducing me to everyone in the office and offering to help in any way. Later when I left I guess I was still dwelling/berating myself on the fact that I was late and this showed as I mentioned something about being late when I was leaving. Anyways, since I arrived around 4 PM and he had to pick up off his kids at 5 he said to just call him for any other questions, despite the fact that I said I could drive over another time. So my question is;

1) I plan to send the MD an email saying thanks and etc. Is there any way I can rectify the situation?

2) Am I making this a bigger deal than it actually is?

3) In general, if you make a mistake at work with your boss/colleagues what is the best way to apologize/admit your mistake?

 

You are probably making this a bigger deal than it is. He probably said not to waste 8 more hours of your life driving to Chicago not because you screwed up, but because he didn't want you to waste another 8 hours of your life. Just write him a thank you and try to maintain the relationship with questions via email. No problem.

- Capt K - "Prestige is like a powerful magnet that warps even your beliefs about what you enjoy. If you want to make ambitious people waste their time on errands, bait the hook with prestige." - Paul Graham
 
CaptK:
You are probably making this a bigger deal than it is. He probably said not to waste 8 more hours of your life driving to Chicago not because you screwed up, but because he didn't want you to waste another 8 hours of your life. Just write him a thank you and try to maintain the relationship with questions via email. No problem.

Ok - thanks everyone! Will shoot him an email Monday then.

 

hes an MD, he was trying to do you a favor so you being early/late wont affect him at all, no reason to worry. im surprised you even drove that far to meet an MD you wont be working with, it shows a hell of a lot of dedication to do that in the first place and like captk says why waste another 5 hours to do something that takes 30 minutes by phone?

 

Why the hell would you drive 6 hours to just speak with an MD?

-------------------------------------------------------- "I do not think there is any other quality so essential to success of any kind as the quality of perseverance. It overcom
 
coffeebateman:
Why the hell would you drive 6 hours to just speak with an MD?
It usually takes me 3 hours, my best friend lives in the city so I was having dinner with her after as well.
 
LadyEva:
coffeebateman:
Why the hell would you drive 6 hours to just speak with an MD?
It usually takes me 3 hours, my best friend lives in the city so I was having dinner with her after as well.
Jesus Christ you're an cocksucker.
 

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