Who's to be Blamed?

When yr new staff / colleague made some mistakes, do u make him/her uncomfortable by putting all the blames on him/her?

This morning, a senior asked a junior (3 mths) to check on something. Then that senior wrote an email to shoot another dept based on the info given by that junior. Later, that dept shoot back that senior coz it turned out that dept really did their job, and the junior overlooked. Junior is not well versed with excel skills…does not know that need to ‘show all’ the data before Ctrl+F (it was in filter mode), thus thought the order was not in the list. That was before lunch.

We went down to cafeteria first…later Senior came to join us…as soon as the senior reached our table, in a very accused tone…. called the junior’s name….. “[Name…..]…… I am in deep trouble now….I kena shoot liao…why u didn’t check properly?”
U can see that junior’s face changed in a very worried, scared expression.

Senior continued to nag “Mon already 3 escalations, now this one….I am so embarrassed, how come u did not check first?”

Junior too worried and whispered to me “die ler die ler, I was so sure I checked, a few times also…how come….die ler…..” (when Senior went to buy lunch).
I told her not to worry too much, ppl make mistakes all the time.

Senior came back with his lunch…. Nag again…. “aiyo….i really dunno how to settle this, kena shoot already, how can u not check properly?”

I cannot tahan liao, I said “In the first place, when wanna shoot ppl, I would re-check again everything….. “

Senior 'denying' his own responsibilty, turned to Junior “I asked u to check right….?” (shook head) ….. “Now really dunno how, I kena liao”

I said “No big deal….just lay low and apologized for over-looking. Ppl learn from mistakes ma. Junior not familiar with Excel, next time be more careful lor”.

Senior “sigh….!” Shook head again and again.

I dun like this Senior’s attitude on this matter. When mistakes happen, as a senior, I believe we need to guide the juniors, let them learn and be aware, not make them feel scared / threatened. Moreover, I feel this Senior was too eager at the chance to escalate that dept, thus did not perform own checking. It’s simply unfair to let the junior take the whole blame. Very unprofessional….but that’s work life, sigh !