Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[sejpdw]

You accidentally ran a document that your boss wanted to be photocopied through the paper shredder. Or you forgot all about an important appointment you had with a client. Oops! But the mistake has already been made. And before you bury your head in a sack and wave a despondent goodbye to your career, remember this- what you do in the immediate aftermath of an error may well determine just how big the issue burns. No mistake is as bad as your indifference to it. There is no use greeting stressed about an act that has already been committed, but if you can prepare an action plan for recovering form the situation, you will find that there is a lot that you can do to repair the damage caused.

What's the meaning of "you bury your head in a sack" in the passage?

[dragn]

Hi,

Here, it means to abandon all hope of recovering from the situation and despondently accept your fate as someone who will be fired--or at least pilloried for their screwup until their dying day. That is, do nothing because there's nothing to be done--you're dead meat.

Incidentally, Americans often use the expression to bury one's head in the sand, which typically means to hide from a problem by ignoring it; to naively act as if some troublesome or problematic situation or issue simply doesn't exist. The above may be British, but I don't know for sure because I'm American. I suspect the two expressions are similar; the rest comes from context.

Greg