What's the worst mistake you've made at work?

[Againstthegrainn]

Mine isn't the worst mistake but enough for an email to be sent to my manager along the lines of "please speak to againsthegrain and sort it out! This is getting very annoying now".

I kept sending forms out with wrong dates/details. How this happened was I was editing a word document and when i'd go to attach it, it would send an old version rather than the one I edited. My fault for not opening and checking once attached.

Only happened ocassionally before but I kept doing it this morning. So embarrassed now. Make me feel better? Share your stories 🤣

I worked for a (very short) while at a car importers.

The cars come off the boat and are held 'bonded' (so no import duty paid) until needed.

I merrily sold half a dozen as no one had noticed they were bonded until they were on the car transporter!

Fortunately the duty was paid before they arrived at the dealership, and no consequences for me, I was new and although it was only 20 odd years ago the computer system was DOS based which I hadn't used for donkey's years!

Love it! Nice response from a decent manager.

Send 50 ton of stock to the wrong end of the country.

put an email out asking for donations towards my bosses wedding present, copied everyone in, removed her email address, double checked that bit so she wouldn't get wind of we were planning something

There was an HR email on the list which everyone was in and it got sent to that one and she saw it anyway - and everyone knew

Please tell me you knew that you could send the franking slips or envelopes back to the Post Office and they'd have refunded you?!
A colleague did this after franking hundreds of letters Special Delivery instead of first class but we got the money back.

I once made a stupid mistake at work that ended up being quoted by Reuters as a reason Sterling had fallen to its lowest level against the US dollar for 10 years. Almost brings on a panic thinking about it all these years later

When I first started my job, going back years now, I handed out someone else's prescription, along with the the correct one, to a customer. Worst thing was I had been left alone because they said I was doing brilliantly and they could trust me, and then I went and did that! Thankfully the man realised immediately and handed it back to me. I could have got away with it because nobody knew but I felt so bad I had to confess. I've double and triple checked every single time since because that would be a huge data breach if the person took it home and opened it.

Was on a night shift in care home and me and colleauge had left a 80 odd year old resident on the commode with no emergency call bell near by. Felt awful when we went on shift again that night and was told.

Thank you for this, made me snort! If you have any more of these gems please share them 😂

This is absolutely awful.
Some one did it to my wheelchair user Mum when she was in a care home for respite after an op. She managed to reach her phone eventually and call 999. The care home had no clue until the paramedics turned up.
They then tried to lie and cover it up saying she had only been left for 20 minutes but it was around 2 hours. She had tried to call me but it was the middle of the night so I only saw her increasingly panicked texts and VM's next morning but they did show how long she had been there. I am almost in tears typing this it was that upsetting
Its why she resisted going into hospital from then on and was desperate to die rather than go into a home - she died in her sleep in her own bed quite suddenly and I was glad she went on her own terms.
I am sure it was some time ago but @IveGotToGoToMeDads you should be ashamed of what you did.

Student nurse : threw the patients dentures away by mistake. Try explaining that to the Sister in charge.

@Hoppinggreen like I said I did feel awful when told on shift that night. I'm not ashamed and neither was colleauge as resident was not intentionally left it was a genuine mistake. I'm not making excuses but I had worked 60 hours that week, 5 12 hour shifts in a row. Was 8 years ago.
Sorry about ur Mum OP.

she said she felt awful about it and obviously didn't do it on purpose.
Bit of an overreaction from you

@Notmoog thank you. Yes was a genuine mistake. We both fully admitted fault and apologised to resident at the time.

Thanks, I still stand by my comment that you should ashamed of what you did.
I am sure leaving my Mum wasn't intentional either but it doesn't change what happened.

I was an over stressed and over worked care co

Sadly a death occurred and I informed commissioners of the wrong person passing away.

I felt so embarrassed but I was so burnt out and juggling many balls

Over reaction?
Can you think of any reason as all why I might have reacted how I did?
Come back and tell me I have over reacted when you have to listen to increasingly distressed Voice mails and read very upsetting texts from a loved one sent between 2-4 am with her crying and begging for help.
If I had done something that contributed to that I am not sure I would be sharing it on a thread full of amusing anecdotes about work mistakes

Not to "elevenerife" you but I sent £1 million to the wrong bank account and only found out when HMRC's recovery agent turned up at our office weeks later 😮

Fortunately the wrong account was also a government account and the money was tracked down and transferred but it was a heart-stopper when the chap turned up in reception!

@Hoppinggreen sorry your taking this thread personally.
No one said this was an amusing anecdotes. This post is about peoples worst mistakes at work.
To be ashamed of something for me it would of had to of been done on purpose. It wasen't.

Absolutely howling at these!!

I'd (rather dangerously, in hindsight) had a vibrator delivered to my office. It was nearly a foot long and bright pink. One of my friends from upstairs said she was coming down for a look and I was stood there brandishing it when my boss walked in. There was a moment of awkward silence between him clocking it and then asking my colleague if she had any post for signing.

Bloody hell. You win 🏆 😂

My grandfather did this as a 14 year old post boy in the 1930s. He adjusted thd manual franking machine and sent out so much mail for pounds rather than pennies. He was sacked for it!

I worked in a small museum with a very cluttered back office in. One Saturday I rearranged the desk to stop an avalanche and moved the fax machine to the windowsill. Unfortunately there was a radiator under the window and the fax used thermal paper so we came into the office on Monday to a long roll of black paper and no clue to the contents of the faxes...

More recently I realised two days before a big event that I had failed to book us a stall. Had to confess to my boss, the team, and the two staff members due to work the event. They were surprisingly nice about it, but I was mortified.

When I was a junior nurse I was walking down some stairs with the consultant surgeon behind me. We were both wearing scrubs. I don't know how it happened but the way in which I swung my arm behind my back and the position of my hand made contact with the shaft of his penis in a cupping motion.

I wanted to die and can still feel it in my hand 30 years later

Obviously it was never discussed.

sorry your mum went through that but the people involved lied and tried to cover up their mistake. The pp didn't and said she was mortified.
She has no need to feel ashamed and you are directing your anger at the wrong person.
oh, and thread doesn't say lighthearted