To ask you about the worst mistake you've made at work?

[800caloriesofwine]

Terrible, terrible day.
Please tell me the worst mistakes you've made in the workplace.
Mine were sending £6,000 of dental implants to the wrong dentist, two days before they were due to be placed in someone's mouth.
Also writing the wrong patient down as dead.

Returning back to the ward after 2 weeks holiday and telling a family that called that their relative was up walking with the physio when they were in fact still unconscious following a stroke. The two patients had the same surname and it certainly made me check more fully after that. I’m still mortified I did it 20 years plus later.

@thisyearsuckssofar I have worked in two places where toasters have set off fire alarms and the fire brigade came while we were evacuated, it's more common than you think (wasn't me who set them off, I should add!!)

I went to tidy up an office space where I worked and ditched lots of stuff except it included someone’s precious documents they’d loaned me (notes) to use. I was just throwing everything out.
They happened to come in and see me clearing out and got upset as I had accidentally gone to throw away their lifetime notes and documents. Thankfully nothing had properly gone out to the bins yet just sat nearby in a big finish bin nearby. They spotted their notes and saved them. Phew. I felt very, very bad and apologized a lot. Taught me to be very careful what I throw out which is practically nothing at work now.

I once ordered something but accidentally put the item number in instead of the quantity as the computer was slow and I was used to typing very accurately without looking. Think over 100,000 items instead of 48...

I once transferred some money to a customer but missed off a decimal point. I can't remember the exact amounts but for example I was meant to send £2,567.23 but I actually sent £256,723. Weirdly my boss found it funny once I confessed and when we called the customer they answered the phone straight away and just transferred it straight back.

I once broke the expensive shredder in my first few weeks at a new job by rushing the shredding through.

Also a client were desperate for a signature to sign off a contract. They wouldn't stop ringing me on reception but the person they needed was out. They wouldn't get off the millionth phone call in about an hour so in desperation I signed the contract and faxed it back. I was very young at the time. I panicked and told someone who sorted it.

Another job I had someone trying to hard sell stationery and I ordered 500,000 of one item costing a fortune. I was very young again.

Put the wrong old lady to bed
Just spat out my wine! 😂😂😂

First junior Dr job and one of the first times I clerked a patient for elective surgery. Her whole family were gathered round the bed. I marched up confidently and said 'Hi I'm Dr WokeUpSmeltTheCoffee I'm here to consent you for your bariatric surgery.' The room went silent and there were some very odd looks exchanged. I soldiered on thinking she didn't understand my technical language, 'I mean your lap band op'.

She sent her family out and then went ballistic asking me if I'd ever heard of confidentiality. It turned out she was so ashamed of having weight loss surgery she'd lied and told the family she was having a hernia done. Which they believed. Until I blew it.

Also quite a few 'is this your dad/ mum/ son?' 'No they're my partner' ones over the years until I learnt

Never ever assume.

Not me but my cousin he worked in a hospital
A serious complaint came in (a child had been misdiagnosed and nearly didn’t make it-some important tests apparently hadn’t been done). Notes were requested and he was told he had to remove some and replace with test results they’d done on themselves and to remove the date / time and put in the notes so that it could be claimed there was no negligence he was really upset about it didn’t want to do it but needed his job

@RunningAwaywiththeCircus as a trainee I did SO many agency appearances and every single one was a total shit show. I was the trainee in private client/property and yet would still be handed a gown and placed in a taxi with a bundle of papers a couple of mornings of per week. Pretty sure I only appeared where I had rights of audience though once the judge asked a policeman to escort me from the court as he did not believe I was really the solicitor (I looked too young apparently). That was a particularly humiliating low point...

@Mooballs

In my defence, the tap was properly dodgy and was replaced with a brand new unit when the store was refitted! 😂

When I was a student teacher I had a really difficult class.

First time I was left without supervision I was doing a whole class lesson from the board, all about town structures (geography teacher).

One kid was, I kid you not, ASLEEP at his desk. I went and stood beside him and shouted his name, while lightly (as I thought) bringing the board ruler down on his desk.

The kid (he was 14) woke up and fell off his chair as the ruler broke into many pieces!

It was a 10 week placement. No one misbehaved in my classes again after it got round the school!

I wrote CUNT onto a product search with the old lady customer sat with me..... She saw it.

Nothing too horrific although I once sent an email to a very important client which included reference to a county court judgment. Except I missed the ‘o’ out of county

Yes, I sent a letter about company records being open for pubic examination...

But email will be the death of me. So many wrong recipients... thankfully I've only got a couple more years until retirement.

Working in pub in 1980s, had never seen /used a microwave before, someone told me to warm up some Xmas mince pies 🥧🥧 so I put in for 15 mins and left them, 🔥 set alight the microwave, fire alarms went off and everyone evacuated into rain. 🚒

Working in IT accidentally deleted the whole live database for our entire European sales system used in 9 countries. It took a week to recover and we lost 2 days of data.

I got sacked from the pub but was told don't worry about, mistakes happen and you won't do that again, it in the IT job.

@coffeeforone

I feel for you with that. 🙈🙈😂😂😂

My boss gave me a list of 12 people who have succeeded in their grant’s applications. I sent all the letters out officially offering the grant just to realise a few days later that there were only 10 grants available. My boss blamed me for it and forced me to have notice as according to her I should have checked before contacting everyone on the list she gave me.

Forced me to hand notice...

I worked at Asda and a man asked me where the femfresh was... i was taken aback but took him to it, first I found the 'lady items' as I called it to him before finding the femfresh (waving my arms to show the whole shelf) I then asked if there was anything else I could help with... he looked dumbfounded whilst saying no thank you. On the way back to my Isle I had a laugh with another colleague then saw him, he was on the phone looking at me laughing... (why he was laughing when he wanted femfresh I didn't know)
10mins after I was out the back when another person on chilled said to me 'I just had a man come up to me asking for the creme fraiche was but someone took him to the femfresh'
I think I actually peed from laughing so hard 🙈😂😂

I have done similar to the carer who put the wrong client to bed.

I was caught by a disgruntled homeowner trying to get through their locked gate, I needed next door. In fairness they were the same but I only went to the other house 48 hours earlier.

Paid the wrong life assurance death pay out to the wrong claimant. By the time we realised, they’d spent it.

Some of these are halarious

maybe wasn't a bad mistake but definitely hilarious

30 years ago, charging someones credit card with 3,000 instead of 300, he was very nice about it when I rang and explained what I had done.

This is so outing but I worked as a private taxi driver.
6:30 one morning a pedestrian crossed in front of a bus and I was in the outside lane. I swerved but still caught him.
Found out days later he was the uncle of one of my regular passengers