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.

Shagged my bosses bosses bosses boss

Didn’t know he was married

Found out he was married a month later

Still work together, I avoid all contact with him. Was approached about a promotion in his department. Had to make up a lie as to why I didn’t want it.

Don’t shag people at work!!

I organised an event, but forgot to advertise it. No one showed up, I somehow managed to bluff it.

Sent an email to a manager saying I needed help to word something to a student to tell her that I needed to her to redo her work for the third time, without implying she was stupid.
Copied in the student!

I also once left a whole bag full of handwritten final year exam scripts on a train and the conductor only let me back on to get it (the doors had closed and locked when I realised) when I burst into tears. I honestly don't know what would have happened if I had lost them - would the students have just not had a mark for that exam and had to have it made up from their coursework? Would they have had to retake it (surely not!)? Thankfully, I never had to find out

Emptied the client account instead of the firms account to settle the accounts, 5 million all told. I got the money all squared up then went to tell the boss. Honestly nearly vomited when I realised the mistake. Boss couldn’t care less as long as I had the paperwork.

@Crystaltree that's really quite mean and concerning

Oh wow; some of these are magnificent.

I forwarded an email to a senior public figure type from my line manager that essentially said "let's hope he buggers off and leaves us alone now!". Thank goodness he was on our internal mail list and I realised straight away. Recalled it. And then vomited in the loos.

Taking part in collectively bitching about a jobsworth senior colleague with the rest of the office after that particular colleague had phoned me. Then realising the phone was still off the hook and them sending me a chat message saying they heard EVERY word I said! 😬🙈🙉 Beyond mortified....

When I was a junior nurse in a prison unit I was meant to fax (shows my age) the on sight shop the weekly order from the patients for sweets and pop, and a bunch of forms declaring which prisoners would access leave from the unit to the local police station. I sent them the wrong way around. A very nice police officer tang me to let me know that they could send over a mars bar from their snack cupboard but would struggle with the rest!

Verrrrry long time ago, National Insurance was in the form of stamps stuck to cards.
As the office junior, I was sent to collect them from the local Post Office.
As I was walking back, I decided to take a look at them.
It was a very windy day, & several hundred pounds worth of N.I. stamps ended up in the Thames.

In a busy chain pub at 11:30am on a Sunday (hungover) was given a new member of staff to train. She’d never worked behind a bar before so quickly showed her around, anxiety rising as could see literally 50+ people queued at doors waiting for us to open at 12pm for Sunday lunch. Whizzed around cellars switching pump lights etc on, only I also turned on smoking umbrella heaters on too. Without checking they’d been put up by bar manager. Cue flames and fire engines. Whoops.

🤦‍♀️ I got drunk and flashed my tits after being there for 2 weeks. First ever “proper” job, they extended my probation but kept me for 3 years until I was made redundant. Definitely a lesson learnt 😁 totally just outed myself....

@Crystaltree yours is awful. My mum’s in a care home and posts like that make me worry.

Ordered what I thought was 5000 staples, turned out to be 5,000 boxes of staples. It was 15 years ago and they are still using them.

CrystalTree that is really not ok. It's not a funny story at all.

Forwarded an email and forgot to remove an attachment which potentially helped the other side.

I never forward emails now

I was working as a carer in a house supporting young men with learning disabilities and one night forgot to give one of the men his anti-psychosis meds. Another one of the men was having a severe anxiety attack and was self-harming, whilst I was dealing with him the other man came home and slipped off upstairs and went to bed without me noticing and later on when the situation downstairs had calmed down I couldn't wake the other man up for his meds. I got a lot of shit for that but I never did find out what they expected me to do to wake him up beyond banging on his door and shouting for half an hour or so?!

Love all of these!
Lighthearted relied firm angst -thanks OP!

I once put the wrong price on drinks menus for an entire restaurant brand. It cost £60k to reprint them all!!

Jesus crystaltree you sound like an awful person. Like the kind of person who abuses kids or partners and then writes it off as hilarity or says they were driven to it.

Omg @MaryBoBary were you in trouble?!

Early in my teaching career, I needed a rant one lunchtime. Went to my colleague and had big moan, effing and blinding for 10 mins. Turn around to walk out and a little boy had been quietly sitting there reading his book 😟 Colleague had forgotten he was there too. We were terrified for days that he would tell on us but he never said a word.

Christ @Crystaltree. That's not a funny story. That's abuse.

Staying in a job for fours years where my manager enjoyed bullying me, discriminating against me and passing my work off as her own (she was a bit thick).

One day she went too far and I walked out. I now have my own business and never again have to put up with bloated egomaniacs.