start off on the wrong foot
To have a bad start. Said of something that goes or has gone awry at the very beginning. I know we started off on the wrong foot when I was a half hour late to the interview, but I promise that I will always be on time once I start working here.
start off on the wrong foot
and step off on the wrong footFig. to begin things incorrectly. (As if one were beginning to march and began on the right rather than the left foot.) Give me some advice. I don't want to start off on the wrong foot. Tim stepped off on the wrong foot in his new job.
get/start off on the right/wrong ˈfoot (with somebody)
(informal) start a relationship well/badly: I seem to have got off on the wrong foot with the new boss.