I messed up at my job! What do I tell my boss??

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I'm a volunteer intern just out of college. This is my first "job" job. About a month ago, my boss's boss sent out an email about a job training summit/seminar that was virtual, and continued to send out email reminders weekly. During that time, I would see the email reminders and then... I don't know, my attention would be drawn back to whatever I was doing in the office. I kept forgetting to sign up.

My boss is on vacation right now so the boss's boss called me to discuss work this week, and spoke about registering for the event. I went to the event's webpage and couldn't find the registration link. I poked around after we got off the phone, and then... it slipped my mind again. I know I at least should have emailed my boss's boss back about not finding registration, but I didn't even remember to do that.

I woke up at 4 am this morning (insomniac) and remembered the event. I went on the website and began obsessively searching for a registration link. But even though there's an FAQ for the event, there is no registration link available. The event is today and tomorrow. I know that if I had been even a little conscientious about this, I would have told my boss's boss about this problem yesterday. I wasn't intentionally ignoring it. It genuinely got pushed to the side of my mind with all the other stuff that was happening in the office and at my house. I realize that I messed up; I can't keep a job if I act like this.

Ik that a lot of AS people suck at executive functioning (I sure do) and multitasking/doing a bunch at once. I've noticed a recurring problem with myself: I often miss appointments/dates that aren't regular (ie, irregular zoom meetings) and have a hard time keeping appointments that aren't scheduled as part of a routine (ie, classes or regular work hours). How do I overcome this? I have Google calendar but it's not helping as much as I thought it would...

I sent an email to the seminar organizer at 5:30 am today, idk what will come of it. In the meantime, what do I tell my boss??

Set a phone alarm next time

It's just a volunteer job

It doesn't mean you can't get or keep a job

All jobs are different

However you do have to organize your commitments better

Your boss might not make you redundant

Even if you get made redundant, it is not the end of the world

Numerous jobs have had the nerve to make my worthless corpse redundant

What I'd do/have done is sit down with my boss/boss' boss and talk about my issues and discuss what to do in the future to make it easier for me.
I notoriously put everything in Outlook which syncs to my phone, notification 15 min ahead that I change to eg 30 min if I need to travel. This of course don't help with registering or similar, but I try to do those kind of things ASAP, or if I can't due to reasons I open up a tab in the browser or some such to remind me.

/Mats

Tell your boss the truth.
It sometimes works wonders!

Tell your boss the truth and work on how to improve your systems. Things like this need to be written down the moment they come up. If you can't do the complete calendar input in the moment, at least have a place you can write yourself a note. My job, for example, requires me to track my time, so I created* a book where I write the time tracking on the face page, and scribble notes on the back of previous pages. A pencil and that blank page are always with me. Hopefully I then notice it enough to get in programed onto a calendar with an alarm, or added to one of my project lists.

Figuring out what works for you will take time. Be patient with yourself, but also honest with those around you. Frequent and honest communication can keep a lot of issues from blowing up.

*all sorts of calendars are available for purchase, but I like the format I designed for myself.

If you work well with written lists, it might be worth looking into bullet journaling. Not the fancy, pretty version, but just the general how it works. Hubs has found it very useful for work & his hobbies. I keep a paper datebook instead.

A lot of you are saying to write it down either by pen and paper or electronically. Here's the thing, if executive dysfunction causes issues with us and remembering to write things down and organize everything into some sort of calendar requires executive functioning then how in the holy f**k would this advice work for us?

Come on people! Think this through! Executive dysfunction impacts our ability to follow this sort of advice.

Did you get an email back? It's partially their responsibility to respond to email inquiries from employees who have "questions." If nobody responds, it's a boo-boo on their part, actually.

I would just tell them the truth. And apologize. And consider this as "lesson learned."

I'm sure EVERYBODY, whether NT, autistic, or whatever, have made the same mistake you did.

Good thing it's a volunteer position.

Don't give up. I think you'll be okay, ultimately. That's my sense.

Everything seems fine atm. My bosses are super disorganized, so I guess they don't care.