Ben Rice
Have you ever lost your job for making a silly mistake? A recent online discussion details some rather embarrassing yet hilarious tales of workplace malpractice, which resulted in winning a pink slip. Here are some hilarious scenarios from the world of work-related blunders.
1. The Collar of Shame
A veterinary assistant had to assist a postoperative dog with eating, removing its e-collar as it wolfed the food down. However, not realizing they had to attend to the patient as it ate, the assistant returned from another task to hear the boss screaming. The unattended dog had eaten through all its stitching, forcing the boss to ask its owners’ permission to re-sedate and then re-operate on the wound. Consequently, the boss had to do $200 work for free, wasting hours of unpaid time, and the poor dog got its second operation of the day.
2. Group Send
We’ve all been there: sending a private email to the entire work cohort. I once sent an email mocking my unit production manager in a film crew email meant for a colleague. Although I didn’t say anything untoward, my sarcastic tone was “not appreciated,” according to the manager, who chatted quietly the next morning. Thankfully, they probably realized what I said was true and changed their attitude for the rest of the shoot; however, I never did another project with that producer.
3. Faking a Loved One’s Death
I feel little sympathy for the worker who attempted to score a week’s holiday by faking a grandmother’s funeral 4,000 miles away. When their boss asked them to obtain the death certificate copy, they panicked, finally admitting to their ruse. Unsurprisingly, their superior duly told them to resign immediately, leaving them with all the time off they wanted. On the bright side, at least their grandmother was still alive.
4. Doing a Steve Harvey
When a university testing center worker met a student awaiting their results, they made the worst faux pas imaginable. The system required that students receive two papers for a pass: one copy for them and another for the testing department. However, seeing the student had two copies awaiting them, he preemptively celebrated their pass, only to realize they had just been given two copies of the same failing grade — for no apparent reason.
5. Totaling a Customer’s Car
A delivery driver fell foul of his employer when delivering a fridge to a customer. After finding the address and greeting the customer, he attempted to return to their driveway, driving into the customer’s new car. A small mechanics bill might be enough to cover this misdemeanor, but the company bought a new car. Suffice it to say the employee never backed up a truck again.
6. A Marinara Sauce Nightmare
While working part-time at an Italian restaurant, one tired employee forgot to fasten the lid for a spaghetti marinara order. You can imagine this poor young man’s horror when a furious woman came running back into the restaurant, screaming that marinara sauce was all over her white leather car seats. At least they were white leather — that won’t stain, right?
7. Destroying a Prototype Invention
Some work mistakes are when minor indiscretions meet bad luck or timing. However, sometimes, failures of epic proportions may materialize. One example involves a doomed physicist intern who swapped the wrong power cables on a piece of prototype hardware, which shorted the entire kit. If that sounds shocking enough, here’s the bad news: it was keystone hardware for a $6 million project.
8. We’ve Got a Floater
Being a lifeguard at the local outdoor pool can have many benefits. However, the headaches must be numerous — young children are known to sometimes ‘let one go’ in the pool, causing havoc when the floating matter is discovered. A former lifeguard reveals his regret when he planted a chocolate bar in the pool for fun on a dull day, just for laughs. Sadly for him, someone nearly drowned in the subsequent fracas. Ironically, it meant the pool manager had to let him go.
9. Accidental Money Laundering
If you work in banking, the stakes are high, and people’s trust in your professionalism is never higher. Therefore, moving $30 million worth of people’s money into the wrong bank accounts is not a good look. However, this is the case for one unfortunate bank worker who concedes that they don’t work for the bank anymore — they could be sitting on a Cayman Islands beach right now, for all we know.
10. Forging a Doctor’s Note
I have heard of forging identity cards or passports, but never forging a doctor’s note. A Texan anecdote shows that some people don’t care about the quality of their forgery or are not smart enough to know. When a fast food worker’s colleague called in sick, her boss demanded a doctor’s certificate. Curiously, she texted him something she found on Google Images featuring a doctor’s note for a different person — she hadn’t even bothered to check, which is either admirable or laughable.
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This article was initially published and syndicated by The Cents of Money.
