In childhood, we’re conditioned to think that mistakes will always get us into trouble. But, throughout the years, we learn that there are varying degrees of mistakes that lead to an even wider variety of consequences. And it’s all very dependent on a lot of things.
So, even if you manage to destroy a very expensive machine at work, nothing might happen or a lot of things can happen. It all depends on the manager, the boss, the insurance, the age of the machine and loads of other things.
But it’s because of how we were conditioned, the mistakes might still haunt us. And not too long ago, folks on X were sharing these stories.
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So, Twitter user @eofallthings recently asked people on X to share the worst mistakes they’ve made while at work. This was prompted by the idea that OP finds comfort in knowing that she’s not alone in making mistakes, and that she could do worse—like lodging a ship in the Suez Canal. And folks delivered.
And let’s just say mistakes were made. Some mistakes could be very exactly valued at a specific number, like this woman who marked a set of $3,999 patio furniture for sale at $39.99 (see, punctuation matters!) and someone definitely got lucky.
But some mistakes you can’t put a price on. Like printing out the wrong article for students to study and then realizing it’s all about sexual accessories.
Would probably taste better after overnight in the fridge. A lot of things do.
So, what causes mistakes in the workplace? There’s a number of ways to explain this.
One of the key reasons behind mistakes is stress. Stress can force people to be less attentive or shut down altogether. And it’s the manager’s responsibility to make sure that there are no stressors in the job that would throw a spanner in the works.
My mind was in a restaurant, so this took a turn for the better when I realized "oh, computer servers!"...
I didn't even realize until I read your comment. My thoughts were "why are they being so nonchalant about 3 people dying... oh they probably quit... oh they aren't even people"
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Yeah agreed, my server rooms are to be kept shut, locked, and alarmed. Most of them require card access, a key, an alarm code, and a pin to get into, so the idea of leaving one open for cooling is wild. The servers shouldn't have been installed or powered up if there wasn't any cooling in place.
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The servers shouldn't have been on without cooling. The door being open would in no way guarantee that they wouldn't burn out.
I did IT at a company that installed sprinklers all over the building and then made one room for the servers.... Some ppl are just bad thinkers....
So... A server room is unable to stay cool? Not going to blame Rose for that one!
Yep, been there too though in my situation it was the building facilities who screwed up. We were informed that there would be an AC outage due to maintenance but reassured that they would install a portable AC system to cover our server room. I expected one of those large, industrial AC units (the ones that look like Robby the Robot), what we got was a puny little domestic portable unit. It was pure luck that I was in the city with my GF that night and she needed the toilet so I took her to my office. I could hear the alarm beeps from the second I got off the elevator. I rushed in to find the AC off due to its water tank being full and a server room that was at least 60C. Sweating my a**e off I frantically shut down all the servers. 2 of them were completely cooked. Fortunately, I was able to convince Dell to fast-forward me some replacement kit over the weekend (benefits of working for a bank) and had everything restored from backup by Monday. Not the way I planned my date night
Not your fault. The cooling should have been installed before the servers.
Just like stress, there are also other bodily reactions to circumstances, like fatigue. If an employee doesn’t get enough sleep or is overworked, this can hinder performance, memory lapses and decreased awareness, among other things.
And as things pile up, this could lead to burnout, which means less mental or physical energy to deal with work. And this sort of “I can’t even” dynamic can lead to more than just errors—but accidents and injuries, even.
That's actually terrifying. I gather you weren't fired? Punished? Admonished? Put on unpaid leave? Or does everybody just laugh off something like this?
Multitasking is not too far from any of the reasons mentioned previously. You likely jump between tasks because you need to get more done, and that tires you out—to an extent where 40% of your productivity is gone—which in turn causes even more stress and then you’re overworked and nothing gets done as a result.
Strong believer in politely questioning a cashier if you think they made a mistake in your favor.
Another common one is competency. Companies might have a particular role with particular tasks to be executed, but the employee might not be able to perform them, hence mistakes might be made. This is also true if a company grows and the processes and tasks scale with them—something that the employee should be trained for. So, it’s not just the idea that they lack competence but rather they aren’t empowered.
This also ties into the idea of processes and procedures. At least in accounting, there is a huge difference for specialists between working in a small company or a large corporation, because one is more structured than the other, more focused on, say, processes and not procedures, which can cause a performance gap. The challenge here is that accountants often can’t stop for anything as payrolls and payables are always coming and going, and so the adaptation is tricky.
Assuming it's one of the stores known for offering trade-in games for belly lint, good, F that store, but I hope the lady didn't end up in trouble. Though knowing that store... She probably did. Though could they not contact the info on the pre-order ticket and demand they pay?
Among these structural reasons, there’s also the factor of training. Not providing sufficient training and know-how on how to do a job might lead to getting things done the wrong way (thus embedding errors) as the employees will try to compensate for their lack of training with their own idea of how to do things. That is, however, an easily solvable problem given proper training.
I was giving a quick motivational speech to a coworker who was crying but then I started crying and she returned the motivational speech so, thanks Mandy, needed that too.
We got shown" Animal Farm" when I was about 5 or 6. I guess it looked like a fun cartoon movie for kids?
While there are many other reasons yet, one more key reason is miscommunication. You can’t do something properly if you’re not instructed properly, or at all. Heck, if there is no process that forces communication within a work task, then it’s all left up to the discretion of the employees or managers to foster communication.
Note: this post originally had 41 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
So, what are your thoughts on any of this? Have some mistakes in your arsenal that you wouldn’t be ashamed of sharing? Even if you were, it’s worth doing so because we’re a loving community.
I nearly blew up a whole building by switching off a wrong button on an oven in a backery - turned off the flame but not the gas valve, luckily my mistake was noticed right away
Deleted the entire wifi network of a school, put it back in under 10 minutes and nobody really noticed, but my brain likes to bring it up any time I start feeling too confident. :p
I destroyed a pallet of fabric softener by not lowering it in time to miss an AC unit; another time I was lowering a pallet of #10 cans of tomatoes with a pallet of pasta on top of it, and the nails of the tomato pallet pulled out so the pasta and half the tomatoes fell from about 5 feet up
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In my apprenticeship I had to pack approx 200 diplomas. I lined them up alphabetically and was not rechecking the names on the diplomas and envelopes. Needless to say, only a handful were packed in the right envelope. /// Another time, another company, we ran out of frozen, diced garlic. The customer needed 5 tons on the double, but our supplier wasn't able to deliver. So I bought fresh garlic, had it minced and frozen only to find out, it all stuck together and the cusomer was still not able to produce. Cost the company around 12K... As I was not able to doublecheck with upper management (holiday-season) I could keep my job. / Edit: spelling
I worked at a gun school/range/store. They told me to wait for a manager before entering the building in the mornings. Then they gave me a key to open the building. Assuming that getting a key meant I could open the building when I arrived in the morning, I did. Then pretty much the entire local police department showed up because of the silent alarm. Now, it's the cautionary tale they tell new employees.
Had a coworker spill coffee on a one hundred dollar bankroll then put it the microwave to dry it where it caught fire.
Accidentally headbutted a child in class when I was a classroom assistant. We both went for something that had been dropped on the floor at the same time. We were both fine, fortunately but had to fill in the first aid report and handed it to mum. Luckily she saw the funny side!
My colleague hurdled over a display of wine to lock the door - I can't remember why it was so important but it was safety-related - and just nudged the bottom of the display. Hundreds fell that dark night.
I was calling BINGO last week. Still recovering from the bout of covid I had in the middle of the month I accidently moved the tray that the called balls were sitting on (and lit up the big number board) dropping them. The more I tried to stop the balls from dropping the more the balls started to drop. I got on the mic and apologized, started crying (I was scared of the hardcore Bingo ladies) and said I was still recovering from covid. They pounded the tables and shouted their love out to me. They love how I call. I pulled myself together and ended the night strong.
😂 Of all the fails of all the jobs listed here, this one gets me
Load More Replies... I caused a few thousand dollars worth of damage a few times, as a forklift driver. But I saw probably at least $50k worth of damage happen another time. A freestanding rack about 25 feet high had been filled with concrete mix and driveway sealer. Usually these racks were installed back to back, so two rows would support each other, but this one stood alone. A forklift driver tagged one upright with his fork, and the rack folded like an accordion. The driver had loose concrete mix piled halfway up the sides of his machine. They had to dig him out before they could take him for his d**g test
Dropped a 5 gal jug of concentrated blue dye used for spraying weeds on someone's driveway. Then instead of using the spill containment material we had, I tried to wash it away. There was a blue streak running from the customers driveway all the way down the block into a storm drain, didn't go away for about 4 months. My boss wasn't happy but I didn't get fired.
I turned on outbound email in our system without checking to see if the outbox was empty. It sent over 3000 emails. To a distribution list. With over 20 people on it. It crashed both the system that was sending the emails and the exchange server. I knew I guy who crashed a system by accidentally setting all system properties to 10000. The vendor restored a backup and we only lost a half day's work. I put a picture of Luke, Leia and Han in the garbage disposal with the caption, "NO! SET ALL THE SETTINGS TO 10000!" on his desk. We all had some good natured laughs at his expense for a while over that one.
Over the past 4,5 years I've managed to wreck all 3 of our KSM machines... ( I 'm an operator ) 1st machine: wrecked the robot by crashing it into a cart handle, Took the door off the second machine about a year later ( still don't know how I did it ) and on Tuesday I used an electric stacking machine to elevate a pallet in the machine and stretched up the rail the door is in. Luckily it wasn't too serious, 2 mechanics and an iron rod later everything was fixed. I've had to listen to "watch the door!!!!" Every time I opened or closed a door this past week....
The worst one I can think of at my current job happened when I was processing a refund at the start of the day (like moments after opening). I inspected the item, it looked good, and was within the 2 week return period. But rather than hitting "return" on the terminal, I hit "sale" instead. I had to process the refund twice, and I profusely apologized to the customer. Moral of the story, drink more coffee, lol.
At one job I had, one of the upper management guys decided he knew better than the engineers (nope) and destroyed hundreds of thousands of dollars of equipment. I'd have more sympathy if it was an accident but he went and did this without telling anyone and is not an engineer so has no business touching those valves. I had not business touching those valves even though I know more about how they work than him because I am not one of the engineers.
I worked at a large printing house. Big lithography presses that had large metal plates that were acid etched. On my first day I managed to knock off a spigot on a 55 gallon drum of acid etch with a forklift. What a mess. They made me clean it up. Didn't get fired.
About 2 min after stepping off the bus at Parris Island I looked a Drill Instructor dead in the eye and smiled. That was a pretty bad mistake.
my first day working at a dollar store in my early 20s, I warned them not to let me near the electronics, because electronics just stop working properly when I'm nearby. the second day, they put me on a register, and somehow within the first hour, all the registers went down while I was scanning groceries. I was the only one on register at the time. they stayed down for an hour. I was like "I warned you!" but I guess it was like an inoculation because it didn't happen again... not there, anyway lol
Dropped a $3,000 projector during my first program at the library. I'd been working there for a week and was in tears, convinced that I was going to be fired and/or made to pay for a replacement. My boss was a saint. Neither of those things, in fact, happened.
Not me but a coworker--we were testing tank E. He opened tank F -- which had 2000L of a very high priced medicine inside. Since sterility was compromised, the entire batch had to be sent to the drain.
I didn't read the headings and miscalculated 45 LONG ledger sheets 😭 HOURS of work
I nearly blew up a whole building by switching off a wrong button on an oven in a backery - turned off the flame but not the gas valve, luckily my mistake was noticed right away
Deleted the entire wifi network of a school, put it back in under 10 minutes and nobody really noticed, but my brain likes to bring it up any time I start feeling too confident. :p
I destroyed a pallet of fabric softener by not lowering it in time to miss an AC unit; another time I was lowering a pallet of #10 cans of tomatoes with a pallet of pasta on top of it, and the nails of the tomato pallet pulled out so the pasta and half the tomatoes fell from about 5 feet up
Load More Replies... In my apprenticeship I had to pack approx 200 diplomas. I lined them up alphabetically and was not rechecking the names on the diplomas and envelopes. Needless to say, only a handful were packed in the right envelope. /// Another time, another company, we ran out of frozen, diced garlic. The customer needed 5 tons on the double, but our supplier wasn't able to deliver. So I bought fresh garlic, had it minced and frozen only to find out, it all stuck together and the cusomer was still not able to produce. Cost the company around 12K... As I was not able to doublecheck with upper management (holiday-season) I could keep my job. / Edit: spelling
I worked at a gun school/range/store. They told me to wait for a manager before entering the building in the mornings. Then they gave me a key to open the building. Assuming that getting a key meant I could open the building when I arrived in the morning, I did. Then pretty much the entire local police department showed up because of the silent alarm. Now, it's the cautionary tale they tell new employees.
Had a coworker spill coffee on a one hundred dollar bankroll then put it the microwave to dry it where it caught fire.
Accidentally headbutted a child in class when I was a classroom assistant. We both went for something that had been dropped on the floor at the same time. We were both fine, fortunately but had to fill in the first aid report and handed it to mum. Luckily she saw the funny side!
My colleague hurdled over a display of wine to lock the door - I can't remember why it was so important but it was safety-related - and just nudged the bottom of the display. Hundreds fell that dark night.
I was calling BINGO last week. Still recovering from the bout of covid I had in the middle of the month I accidently moved the tray that the called balls were sitting on (and lit up the big number board) dropping them. The more I tried to stop the balls from dropping the more the balls started to drop. I got on the mic and apologized, started crying (I was scared of the hardcore Bingo ladies) and said I was still recovering from covid. They pounded the tables and shouted their love out to me. They love how I call. I pulled myself together and ended the night strong.
😂 Of all the fails of all the jobs listed here, this one gets me
Load More Replies... I caused a few thousand dollars worth of damage a few times, as a forklift driver. But I saw probably at least $50k worth of damage happen another time. A freestanding rack about 25 feet high had been filled with concrete mix and driveway sealer. Usually these racks were installed back to back, so two rows would support each other, but this one stood alone. A forklift driver tagged one upright with his fork, and the rack folded like an accordion. The driver had loose concrete mix piled halfway up the sides of his machine. They had to dig him out before they could take him for his d**g test
Dropped a 5 gal jug of concentrated blue dye used for spraying weeds on someone's driveway. Then instead of using the spill containment material we had, I tried to wash it away. There was a blue streak running from the customers driveway all the way down the block into a storm drain, didn't go away for about 4 months. My boss wasn't happy but I didn't get fired.
I turned on outbound email in our system without checking to see if the outbox was empty. It sent over 3000 emails. To a distribution list. With over 20 people on it. It crashed both the system that was sending the emails and the exchange server. I knew I guy who crashed a system by accidentally setting all system properties to 10000. The vendor restored a backup and we only lost a half day's work. I put a picture of Luke, Leia and Han in the garbage disposal with the caption, "NO! SET ALL THE SETTINGS TO 10000!" on his desk. We all had some good natured laughs at his expense for a while over that one.
Over the past 4,5 years I've managed to wreck all 3 of our KSM machines... ( I 'm an operator ) 1st machine: wrecked the robot by crashing it into a cart handle, Took the door off the second machine about a year later ( still don't know how I did it ) and on Tuesday I used an electric stacking machine to elevate a pallet in the machine and stretched up the rail the door is in. Luckily it wasn't too serious, 2 mechanics and an iron rod later everything was fixed. I've had to listen to "watch the door!!!!" Every time I opened or closed a door this past week....
The worst one I can think of at my current job happened when I was processing a refund at the start of the day (like moments after opening). I inspected the item, it looked good, and was within the 2 week return period. But rather than hitting "return" on the terminal, I hit "sale" instead. I had to process the refund twice, and I profusely apologized to the customer. Moral of the story, drink more coffee, lol.
At one job I had, one of the upper management guys decided he knew better than the engineers (nope) and destroyed hundreds of thousands of dollars of equipment. I'd have more sympathy if it was an accident but he went and did this without telling anyone and is not an engineer so has no business touching those valves. I had not business touching those valves even though I know more about how they work than him because I am not one of the engineers.
I worked at a large printing house. Big lithography presses that had large metal plates that were acid etched. On my first day I managed to knock off a spigot on a 55 gallon drum of acid etch with a forklift. What a mess. They made me clean it up. Didn't get fired.
About 2 min after stepping off the bus at Parris Island I looked a Drill Instructor dead in the eye and smiled. That was a pretty bad mistake.
my first day working at a dollar store in my early 20s, I warned them not to let me near the electronics, because electronics just stop working properly when I'm nearby. the second day, they put me on a register, and somehow within the first hour, all the registers went down while I was scanning groceries. I was the only one on register at the time. they stayed down for an hour. I was like "I warned you!" but I guess it was like an inoculation because it didn't happen again... not there, anyway lol
Dropped a $3,000 projector during my first program at the library. I'd been working there for a week and was in tears, convinced that I was going to be fired and/or made to pay for a replacement. My boss was a saint. Neither of those things, in fact, happened.
Not me but a coworker--we were testing tank E. He opened tank F -- which had 2000L of a very high priced medicine inside. Since sterility was compromised, the entire batch had to be sent to the drain.
I didn't read the headings and miscalculated 45 LONG ledger sheets 😭 HOURS of work
