Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

What’s the worst thing you’ve ever done?

957 replies

shehardlysleeps · 20/04/2026 17:18

I’m in a reflective mood, and it’s got me thinking about something I did a few years ago which is probably the thing I’m most deeply ashamed of.

There was a coworker who really rubbed me up the wrong way. I was very unhappy at the time, and going through an awful time personally. She would make snide comments about me, do things with my family members (who were colleagues too) which really got my back up, I felt like she judged me harshly and was pretty rude. Along with another colleague they made three or four very nasty comments which still stick with me.

Instead of raising a grievance, which I should have done, I took to posting about her on another website (along the lines of Mumsnet), not realising she used it too. She saw the posts and reported me, and I ended up facing a meeting with HR and a senior partner of the firm I was working in. It damaged my reputation within the firm forever and I ended up leaving after not being offered a promotion. I still feel ashamed of it now, nearly half a decade on, and feel like it’s tarred me forever.

Whats the worst thing you’ve ever done?

OP posts:
x2boys · 21/04/2026 07:45

Tredadt · 21/04/2026 04:58

My daughter graduated 2 years ago. She's shy and very quiet and she struggled to find a job. I' was worried about her and wanted her settled. In the meantime, I got her working in my admin team at work in a local authority via an agency. I manage the admin team though don't directly line manage them. Weird set up but worked out perfectly.

I knew that a new role was being created which is a higher grade than the admin officers in my team. I gave my daughter full access to restricted areas meant for senior management and trained her fully in my role and also in everything for the new role. I wrote the job description tailoring it to the tasks my daughter does and to her strengths. The admin team only knew about it 6m before it was signed off. They requested to see the JD but were refused.

I fobbed off any requests for training from the admin officers in my team only focussing on my daughter's development. Poor things, asked so many times, lol. The job was advertised and my daughter obviously got it..She is now a senior member of my team and we work alongside each other.

The job is pretty good and will probably set her up for life in a very nice department in a good field. When I retire, she will take on my work.

Nepotism at its best
Happens all the time in the NHS too.

Jenasaurus · 21/04/2026 07:41

when I discovered my ex of 28 years was cheating, I removed half his aftershave and replaced it with urine, it made me feel a little better when he covered himself in the stuff on a night out to meet her

Housedramallama · 21/04/2026 07:37

Got married when I didn't want to

Kittylickingplate · 21/04/2026 06:55

UhOhRatPoo · 20/04/2026 19:59

I once lied to airline staff that my Dad had had a heart attack so I could get swapped to an earlier flight home from a backpacking trip as I was bored and had run out of money. I was about 22.

He was fine then (absolutely perfect health) but he died three years later, in his early fifties, of a sudden and aggressive cancer that came out of nowhere. I feel like I tempted fate.

I also smacked the kids that I looked after when I was a teenage au pair. The parents told me to discipline them like that and I had been smacked as a child (we all were in the 70s/80s) so I didn’t question it. I have been thinking about that a lot now my DS is the same age as the boy I smacked. I would never lay a hand on DS.

Edited

I am sorry about your Dad, that is very sad.
If it makes you feel better, I was smacked a lot as a child ( 1970's) smacked, not beaten, it didn't have any long term issues with me. I did not smack my children but I have no ill feeling to my Mam or Nana or Aunts that smacked me.

HelloDaisy · 21/04/2026 06:08

TheDenimPoet · 20/04/2026 23:55

I had a nasty, sexually abusive relationship in my late teens/early 20s, and in my mid 20s after breaking up with him I went through a really horrible time mentally, and slept with people just because I could, because they wanted me, and because for once I was in control of sex rather than being forced. Not an excuse btw - but a reason.

Two of the people were in relationships. One of them had small kids and I was friends with his wife.

I can't tell you enough how much the mentally stable version of me is against cheating. It's more than a decade ago, and I feel disgusted at myself. I hate women who do what I did. They were much older men as well, and I loved that they were so flattered and grateful.

I have tried so hard to be a better person since and, for what it's worth, I've never cheated on a partner.

I could have written your post. It still upsets me when I think about how I behaved then..

sashh · 21/04/2026 05:54

I'm sure this isn't the worst thing, but it might amuse some of you.

I once kidnapped a teddy bear and demanded pop and mars bars as the ransom.

AlwaysTheRenegade · 21/04/2026 05:28

TheSecretAgent1 · 20/04/2026 21:08

I got drunk and let a married co-worker go down on me, his wife found out and left him

Ghosted a friend after she was really there for me when I was depressed

Queen!

Theonebutnotonly · 21/04/2026 05:20

I simultaneously love this thread, and hate it because it has made me think about all the horrible things I have done. Starting with when I was six and wrongly let Philip Day take the blame for us talking about my broken purple crayon when we were forbidden to talk.

Tredadt · 21/04/2026 04:58

My daughter graduated 2 years ago. She's shy and very quiet and she struggled to find a job. I' was worried about her and wanted her settled. In the meantime, I got her working in my admin team at work in a local authority via an agency. I manage the admin team though don't directly line manage them. Weird set up but worked out perfectly.

I knew that a new role was being created which is a higher grade than the admin officers in my team. I gave my daughter full access to restricted areas meant for senior management and trained her fully in my role and also in everything for the new role. I wrote the job description tailoring it to the tasks my daughter does and to her strengths. The admin team only knew about it 6m before it was signed off. They requested to see the JD but were refused.

I fobbed off any requests for training from the admin officers in my team only focussing on my daughter's development. Poor things, asked so many times, lol. The job was advertised and my daughter obviously got it..She is now a senior member of my team and we work alongside each other.

The job is pretty good and will probably set her up for life in a very nice department in a good field. When I retire, she will take on my work.

Badbish · 21/04/2026 04:07

Pissed myself on a bus and pretended I’d spilled a bottle of water (it was a 1.30min bus ride with 1 bus per hour!)

Was sick on a train and also pretended to have spilled a drink

carried on texting a guy I met on a night out every time DH annoys me

Put DHs toothbrush in toilet before this

Ate my kids Easter egg

timeserved · 21/04/2026 04:03

iamfedupwiththis · 20/04/2026 17:28

Not sure if having a poo outside as I was desperate is better or worse than an affair.

I had a poo in the en-suite once

SorryNotSorry00 · 21/04/2026 03:59

SurvivalInstinctsOfABakedPotato · 20/04/2026 20:21

I thought we'd all been there! I did this when we were having a new bathroom fitted and the workmen were upstairs and I was desperate! I grabbed my toddlers nappy and did it in a coat cupboard as I was too embarrassed to ask them if I could access the toilet then do a poo! I couldn't have gone to say a supermarket as I was desperate and hadn't been there long enough to ask neighbours!!

Lots of us have been caught out at some stage whether people want to admit it or not. In my own case I had to go in an open newspaper as a relative with limited mobility was using the bathroom and it was either that or shit myself. It’s not a morally bad thing so no shame in it.

FireHorse29 · 21/04/2026 03:16

This is a bit gross so beware, and still embarrassing to even type!

When I was about 12 I was on a family holiday with my dad, who I rarely saw at the time. We were out at a restaurant with his side of the family. I went to the toilet and was horrified to discover that my period had not ended like I thought a few days before. I was totally caught short, no pads and white trousers (never again). I had to waddle out and ask my fairly estranged dad for money for the sanitary towel machine in front of the rest of the family. He got flustered and very loudly said "I thought that was over now!". Gave me a coin and I went back to the bathroom. Only, I couldn't read the language on the machine and I didn't realise it only sold tampons. I had never seen a tampon before, when I opened the packet I thought it was a pad that folded out. Spent about 45 minutes trying to do that before my dad started banging the door saying we had to leave. In my desperation, I opened the sanitary bin and took out someone else's VERY used pad to put in my underwear. I never told anyone and spent the next few months convinced I must have contracted HIV. 😭

Crushed23 · 21/04/2026 03:04

Moveoverdarlin · 20/04/2026 22:05

Me neither. I remember sleeping with two men in the same day but I don’t feel bad AT ALL. Couldn’t give a shit. I look back with fondness about scenarios like this. My life now as a wife and Mum is a million miles from that.

I would jump at the chance to have two blokes in one day now!

I’m another one who doesn’t feel an ounce of guilt. What’s bad about it?!

I look back very, very fondly at my wild years. I only wish they were even wilder 😅

ToffeePennie · 21/04/2026 03:00

I was friends with a bunch of ladies, we all had babies the same year. I asked for some advice from a parenting online group because I was debating doing something with DS1. Several ladies said they couldn’t understand doing it, which confused the situation for me, so I asked on the group if they thought it was a good idea or no. Long story short, one of the ladies found out I had asked and because the responses had been vicious towards their opinion, was very offended and upset that I had even asked about it. She showed the other women, and they decided they no longer wished to be friends. I am still suffering the consequences (aka depression and anxiety) over 12 years later.

Lolabear38 · 21/04/2026 02:28

A few.

  • I was a bully when I was younger. The kind of bully who is domineering, bossy and insisted on getting my own way every time. Never physical, I never called names etc and at the time definitely didn’t consider myself a bully. But looking back I can see that that’s what I was and I’m so so ashamed. I’d apologised to the girl involved but nothing will change what I did.
  • on a primary school trip my friend (different to the one above) bought a magnet from the souvenir shop that I liked. I stole it and when she panicked that she’d lost it I showed her ‘mine’ - I told her I’d run back to the gift shop when she wasn’t looking and bought my own. She very sensibly distanced herself from me after that and I really missed her friendship but didn’t know how to make things right (I was about 8). It’s one of my very big regrets.
  • I’ve slept with a guy knowing he had a girlfriend. I was single and I justified it by telling myself that it wasn’t me who was cheating, it was him.
Indubai · 21/04/2026 01:59

Slightly different take here, but I think lifelong hatred of myself is probably the worst thing I have ever done. It started at around 10 and has driven some generally reckless, selfish, chaotic behaviour, over the years.

These days I go totally overboard on volunteering and charity work to try and make amends, but I’m convinced everyone knows I am a total prick. Not sure how I got to this point.

CottonCandyLand · 21/04/2026 01:48

Nollie · 20/04/2026 17:26

Funnily enough, I've been thinking lately about some of the things I did when I was younger and they don't reflect very well on me at all. Ultimately I only have myself to blame but I do wish I had been given more attention and moral guidance when I was growing up.

I feel exactly the same. I basically brought myself up

Giraffehaver · 21/04/2026 00:53

When I was 5 I pulled the wings off a butterfly to see if it would grow new ones. It didn't. It died

mjf981 · 21/04/2026 00:29

3 things looking at this from different viewpoints:

  1. Stole a laptop from work. I quit the job and just never returned it.

  2. Moved to a new town and went out with new workmates the first weekend. Got absolutely plastered. One of their friends offered to let me sleep in her spare bedroom (next door to the pub), as I had no way otherwise to get home. Agreed. 2 minutes after laying down vomited all over her fluffy white guest room - she had shag carpets, about 100 teddy bears, it was all picture perfect. Then I passed out and woke up to the smell/mess from hell. The shame makes my heart skip a beat to this day.

  3. Gave myself hearing loss and horrible tinnitus from a totally avoidable situation and one I regret every single day. Maybe this is karma for #1 and 2!

Friendlygingercat · 21/04/2026 00:22

I paid someone to put a voodoo spell of banishment on two of my neighbours. One died of a heart attack (had a history f heart problems) and the other developed dementia. Both very effective forms of banishment.

Sparklybutold · 21/04/2026 00:14

The one that haunts me is not standing up for a woman when she needed me.

hellywelly3 · 21/04/2026 00:13

One of the things that’s stayed with me happened when I was 16. I was doing a GNVQ course in sixth form. I really wasn’t getting a lot from the course and was there mainly for the social side and if I’m honest I was lazy. I fell behind with a large amount of my coursework. Instead of admitting it I insisted that I had done it left it on my teacher’s desk weeks ago. When she said she couldn’t find it, I pretended I was really upset that she’d lost it. I even convinced a friend to back me up that she saw me put it on her desk I wasn’t made to do again. She was a nice teacher just a bit ditsy always had a messy full desk. I think that’s how I got away with it. Anyway she ended up going off sick for months. I think I might have been the straw that broke the camels back. It was a horrible thing to do and must of caused her so much stress looking for this non existent coursework.

Robogob · 20/04/2026 23:57

I told a man I was pregnant when I wasn’t, to desperately try to get him back.

TheDenimPoet · 20/04/2026 23:55

I had a nasty, sexually abusive relationship in my late teens/early 20s, and in my mid 20s after breaking up with him I went through a really horrible time mentally, and slept with people just because I could, because they wanted me, and because for once I was in control of sex rather than being forced. Not an excuse btw - but a reason.

Two of the people were in relationships. One of them had small kids and I was friends with his wife.

I can't tell you enough how much the mentally stable version of me is against cheating. It's more than a decade ago, and I feel disgusted at myself. I hate women who do what I did. They were much older men as well, and I loved that they were so flattered and grateful.

I have tried so hard to be a better person since and, for what it's worth, I've never cheated on a partner.

Swipe left for the next trending thread