It is definitely something that will wind up being an asset should you go on to any kind of professional career. There’s more writing than you might think, though it’s dull and technical. Still, you might as well practice now, so it’s second nature later, making it go more quickly.
On a more immediate note, these kinds of errors, for me as a reader, rob the piece of some of its power. I lose the emotion and flow of the story each time I wince or have to re-read something to figure out what it means.

Yes they are important! I usally copy and paste the ficlet I just wrote into microsoft word and do the spell check. after that I reread it, but even then I seem to miss something at one time or another.
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I do what Bluesparrow does with Word.
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Totally agree with you again, R_M! And I further agree with THX , that it takes me out of the story if spelling and grammar are incorrect (unless of course it was done intentionally for effect).
One group I would add though to those who get a free pass, are those for whom English is not their native language. I know there are at least a handful here, and just because they don’t speak or write a lot of English, doesn’t mean they don’t have something to say.

Grammar is where I fall down, I like to think I have my punctuation and spelling sorted but grammar is definitely my main weakness.

I like to think I’m pretty good at punctuation, grammar, and spelling.. but sometimes I honestly don’t know. I’ve learned the rules, but never fully understood them. If there is something wrong in my story, I apoligize, but I also expect someone to let me know so I can change it and make it better. Isn’t that why we’re here? To help one another become better? I mean, everyone is bound to miss something
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I agree. I try to correct my work, but sometimes I over-look something. Actually I over-look something a lot. But I’m trying to get better.

This is one of those things I don’t seem to have a problem with…

Of course, maybe it’s the fact that I look over my published ficlet five times and edit any bad grammar and stuff out…

Oh well!

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English is not my native language, I am from Africa after all, but that is still not an excuse not to learn the grammar and spelling.

I agree with THX that obvious spelling and grammar errors prevent me from really enjoying a ficlet, though that could be due to my nascent OCD . :-D

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Firefox saved my life in this way. And on my PC, I use dictionary.com.

i tend to miss commas