Am I going to get fired from my MA practicum internship?

[mlle]

I have a pretty convoluted question but I'm freaking out so maybe someone has some words of advice, or just commentary/criticism.

I'm about to start an internship that's required for my master's program this summer. I had e-mailed my future boss about the start date of the internship. She e-mailed me back, and then added a line about my upcoming defense of my internship proposal with my grad committee:

"Good luck with your proposal review, you'll do great. (I just sat in on ____'s review and they really are pretty gentle (don't tell anyone I said that )."

Then I forwarded my boss's reply to a close friend of mine who doesn't go to my school, to whine to her about my upcoming proposal defense. The text in my message said, "this is so embarrassing." (I was basically embarrassed that everyone on my committee knows I have a hard time with public speaking stuff, but anyway....)

So then my friend just told me that she sent a reply to my forward, but she accidentally sent it to my BOSS instead of ME. The reply said, "Embarrassing? This lady is a goof!" Apparently my friend accidentally replied to the forwarded attachment which had the original message, instead of to me.

This is really, really bad. I sent an e-mail to my future boss attempting to explain and apologizing, blah, blah, and I plan on calling her on the phone to fess up in a little bit, but I mean this is REALLY bad. I forwarded a basically private message to a third party. What's going to become of me?? Am I going to get fired? Even if I don't get fired it's basically all over for me. I haven't even started the freakin internship yet.

[Sejla]

I'm so sorry this happened to you. I haven't even started my own program, but I have on more than one occasion had to check my "sent" messages to reassure myself that I didn't send an email to the wrong person.

I don't really know what the outcome will be, but it's really common for me at least to worry out of proportion to the situation, so in a few days maybe you'll look back and feel less stressed.

I don't know anything about your situation of course, but if the boss was nice enough to email you to tell you not to worry about the defense, that seems like a sign that she is a somewhat decent person who won't get totally bent out of shape about it.

Good luck - I hope it will all pass soon.

[Minnesotan]

Honestly, if your potential employer can't take being called "a goof" by someone she doesn't know, then I doubt you want to work with her. Besides, if she's the type to hold a grudge over such a silly mix-up, she probably deserves to be called worse. =)

[luvalicious]

I doubt you are going to be fired. She might be a little more cool/formal towards you but worse things have happened/been said.

[unknownscholar]

Doubtful you'll get fired, too. But what's most important is the recommendation, and I'm not sure you've still got a good chance for a really good one.

[mlle]

Well, I really appreciate the replies; thanks.

I never got a hold of her by phone b/c she's been out of town, but her reply e-mail was very nice, said don't worry about it, blah blah. This still genuinely sucks, of course.