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Original poster

F*cked up massively - work related. Perspective needed

628 replies

Stupidworkgirl · 01/05/2023 22:16

I have an important business trip abroad tomorrow which myself and several other colleagues are going on. It is a major event in our industry and we have been planning it for a while. I have done the majority of the planning and have enjoyed it and was excited to attend. Our company director is going along with my boss and several coworkers, one of which reports to me.

I have lost my passport. I only realised this at 4pm today when packing. I am meant to fly out on an early morning flight. We have a very tidy minimalist home and have searched everywhere, it is definitely not here. I last travelled a few months ago and can only think I dropped it somewhere between security and my car.

I have called my boss who has told the MD. My boss was understanding and kind about it, I don’t know what the MDs reaction was. I’m absolutely gutted. Missing out on the event is a horrible feeling but is actually the least of it, that will wear off once it is over at the end of this week. It is more the damage to my reputation and how people might think of me going forward. I’m honestly considering leaving and finding a new job, as I don’t know how I will mentally bounce back from it.

Looking for reassurance or perhaps any similar tales or fucking up at work.

OP posts:
TollgateDebs · 05/05/2023 09:02

Just remembered a couple of real classics and luckily neither relates to me! Transport company - refrigerated container of medical worms, cooked to death, as someone turned the refrigeration unit off in the overnight garage!! Again, same company, but this time the customer's fault - they brought over a sample container of goods from China, for a catalogue company and were told to leave the container in the company's yard. When the container was opened 2 days later, it was filled with cockroaches, as the container had been travelling for some time, alongside the company not paying to have the cargo sprayed!! The insects ran all over the car park, into the offices .... you can guess the chaos that happened next! Oooops.

HeroOfMyTale · 07/05/2023 11:12

When the container was opened 2 days later, it was filled with cockroaches, as the container had been travelling for some time, alongside the company not paying to have the cargo sprayed!! The insects ran all over the car park, into the offices .... you can guess the chaos that happened next! Oooops.

this is making me think of that scarab beetle scene from The Mummy 2.

The Mummy 2 Scarab Attack

https://youtu.be/4RoceV4lbCY?t=61

spidereggs · 08/05/2023 21:18

@Stupidworkgirl just wondering how you are now? Have you seen everyone that you were worrying about.

Feel for you. Very similar personality and took me back to that work fear.

Wavescrashingonthebeach · 08/05/2023 23:57

@TollgateDebs

The cockroach story is bad enough but MEDICAL WORMS?!?!?! WHAT?

Wavescrashingonthebeach · 08/05/2023 23:58

I think I'm going to have nightmares 😂

Original poster
Stupidworkgirl · 09/05/2023 08:04

@spidereggs Thanks for checking in. Things have gradually got easier and I'm feeling mostly back to myself. The trip is over now and everyone is home so I don't feel like I'm 'missing out' anymore. I've seen everyone except the MD and no one seems that bothered.

I still feel a bit out of sorts at work, like I don't quite trust myself anymore and have random panics that I've forgotten something/done something wrong. I don't feel as confident in work either and still have a bit of embarrassment and feel like I have to keep a low profile.

The passport is still missing, I'm hoping I never find it as the feeling of knowing it was nearby all along would be hard to deal with!

OP posts:
MucozadeOnLucozade · 13/05/2023 17:13

Grateful for the thread, I just booked a holiday, but prior made sure I had the passports and couldn't bloody find them! Anyway have found them now.

Your passport will randomly turn up in an odd place.

Original poster
Stupidworkgirl · 21/02/2025 18:27

I’m not sure if anyone will see this since the thread is so old now but I’m back with an update - I didn’t ever expect to be updating this thread.

So the rucksack I took on the first work trip in March 2023 where I ‘lost’ my passport and eventually assumed it to have been dropped in the airport.. I have used the rucksack a few times over the past 2 years, things like swimming with DD. A few weeks ago I went on another work trip and decided to use the rucksack but when I got it out I noticed it was mouldy on the base - likely from going swimming and it not drying properly. We were going to just throw it out but DH decided to put it in the washing machine today. The wash finished and he got it out of the machine, and there it was - my passport in the washing machine. Soggy but definitely my passport.

I don’t know how it is possible, I searched the bag so many times, and so did DH and DM. How could we not have found it? A part of me is glad it isn’t still floating around somewhere with my details on, or that someone has been holding on to it. But it troubles me more knowing it was here all along and we missed it. It doesn’t make any sense.

I’ve had a quick check of the bag to try and figure out if it was in the lining and worked its way out in the washing machine but couldn’t see any obvious holes. It’s drying now and I’ll be inspecting it in more detail later.

So there we go, it was in the most likely place.

OP posts:
Comfortingpigeon · 21/02/2025 18:37

How odd!

Handpickled · 21/02/2025 18:54

It’s messing with you!

PinkCast · 21/02/2025 18:54

That's so bizarre!! But thanks a mill for the update..... now if only the OPs on the ironing board and the clock chains threads came back!!

Any chance they're in your bag too? 😉

P.S. how is the job going? Are you still there? And if so I hope you've had many more trips 😊

CharlieUniformNovemberTangoYankee · 21/02/2025 19:05

Oh wow, after all this time! I remember your thread. If it was me, I'd be telling myself there was a reason why I wasn't supposed to go on that trip, even just to make myself feel better about it. Hope you're feeling back to yourself at work again. Thanks for the update.

coxesorangepippin · 21/02/2025 19:07

That's absolutely insane

But one thing, you weren't supposed to go on that trip op

Original poster
Stupidworkgirl · 21/02/2025 19:17

I wouldn’t usually think this way but I am starting to believe there was some force at work to prevent me from going on the trip!

I actually ended up leaving the company but only in August 2024 and not because of the passport debacle!

I’m half expecting to find more things in the bag when I inspect it properly. Perhaps it is some sort of portal?!

OP posts:
LadyEloise1 · 21/02/2025 19:45

I lost something recently very precious to me.
It eventually turned up in a place I had already searched after weeks of searching.
This happened with my engagement ring too.

I had to pay St Anthony ( charity box ) but it was well worth it. 😀

Original poster
Stupidworkgirl · 21/02/2025 20:06

LadyEloise1 · 21/02/2025 19:45

I lost something recently very precious to me.
It eventually turned up in a place I had already searched after weeks of searching.
This happened with my engagement ring too.

I had to pay St Anthony ( charity box ) but it was well worth it. 😀

It’s so strange isn’t it. Do you believe it was there all along and you didn’t see it, or that it somehow moved at some stage/slipped into another dimension and then returned?!

OP posts:
Trallers · 21/02/2025 22:46

Never put anything important in that bag again, it's clearly some sort of portal invplving dark forces. Perhaps keep it somewhere safe for in case you ever need to dispose of a murder weapon or hide some evidence.

In all seriousness are there any cardboard layers to the bag for structure that it could have slipped behind?

SkaneTos · 21/02/2025 22:48

Thank you for the update, OP.
I am happy that you found your passport finally, like you write it's good to know that it's not floating around somewhere else in the world.

I have a necklace that is very precious to me. One day I could not find it! I had been abroad, and I could not remember if the necklace had been with me or not. I searched my whole apartment, several times. I looked three times in a makeup bag. It was not there. I gave up. Like a year later, I looked in that makeup bag again, and the necklace was there! I think it's quite common, to look for something in a place, and still not finding it. And yet it's there.

I wish you all the best!

LadyEloise1 · 21/02/2025 23:45

I believe it somehow moved at some stage/ slipped into another dimension and was returned.
Both times where the missing items were found had been thoroughly searched previously @Stupidworkgirl

Gothambutnotahamster · 21/02/2025 23:48

Wow - how bizarre!

WildNorthEast · 22/02/2025 14:08

Love this update. Thank you for sharing. I think you're right, you weren't supposed to go on that trip.

Pearl97 · 22/02/2025 15:05

Thanks for the update, I remember the thread.
this isn’t the first I have read where something weird like this happened!

BlackAmericanoNoSugar · 23/02/2025 10:13

Quite often bags have rigid insert to keep the base flat. Sometimes it's completely loose and sometimes it's held down by a stitch or a dot of glue at each corner. Something like a passport could slip underneath.

Anyway, I hope you like your new job better than the old one.

Any ideas where my passport might be? I had it because I was going on holiday, but I was too sick to travel on the day. I obviously either temporarily put it down on a surface and forgot or my sick mind picked a safe place for it and I can't remember.

AMuser · 23/02/2025 19:57

Stupidworkgirl · 21/02/2025 20:06

It’s so strange isn’t it. Do you believe it was there all along and you didn’t see it, or that it somehow moved at some stage/slipped into another dimension and then returned?!

Show quote history

I was on your thread way back then - glad to hear the outcome of the mystery. So so odd! Hope you are happy in your new job 😀

slowquickstep · 23/02/2025 20:05

Glad you have found it. That trip wasn't meant to happen.