Sometimes people make small mistakes at work, but these people caused some pretty bad problems for their workplace. But in a turn of events, they somehow weren't fired in the end! (Content has been edited for clarity)
Suddenly, All Of The Local News Vans Were Outside Of The Bank
“I work at a bank. On my first day 9 years ago, nobody explained how the alarms worked. At the end of the day, when the doors closed, if we were letting a customer out who was still in the branch, one employee would walk them to the door and let them out and lock the door again. Another employee would ‘hold the alarm.’
Well, I had no idea what this meant. So I was pressing the alarm button because I thought it was deactivating the alarm temporarily while the door was opened.
On this day, there was still a lineup of customers when the doors closed at 5 pm. So as each of these clients were being let out, I was being asked to hold the alarm/pressing all the alarm buttons I could find.
I then noticed several police cars were outside with their lights on and their doors open with police hiding behind them. I asked another employee why the cops were here. The phone was ringing off the hook and since we were no longer open, nobody was answering it.
Turns out, I had pressed six panic alarms and the police were freaking out because no one was answering the phone. The news was there, a big crowd was forming…we received a large fine and finally, it was explained to me that ‘hold the alarm’ means to put your hand over it and be ready to press it if a client tries to push their way back in.
Embarrassing is all I can say. I am now a manager.”
Not The Camaro!
“I took a brand new SS Camaro Ragtop for a joyride with a customer and broke off the front wheel drifting it.
As I was walking to the General Managers office, every step I took felt like I was stepping on a little cloud on my way to a ‘Come to Jesus’ meeting that was not going to bode well for me.
I get into the manager’s office and sit down and he told me, ‘This has happened to me five times before. Four guys lied to me and I fired them on the spot. One guy told me the truth and went on to work with me for five years. What happened?’ So I told him the truth and he goes, ‘Can you pass a urine test?’
I was like, ‘…Yes.’
He immediately knew that was a lie and was like, ‘You smoke, don’t you?’ At this point, I was scared, but I figured I’ve at this point, I’ve got nothing to lose so I told him yes.
Never got tested, but had to pay back $2,000 dollars to the dealership. The manager kept the control arm I snapped on his desk as a paperweight. I just finished paying off the damages last month and the control arm has disappeared. Rumor has it that I’m getting a plaque.”
Not The Best Way To Start The First Day Of Work…
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“Many years ago, it was the morning of my first day at work as a software developer for a car insurance company.
So I was looking around the network in Windows Explorer when I accidentally clicked and dragged (rather than just clicked) the main network directory containing all of the production files and inadvertently moved it into the adjacent sub-directory. Basically, I was effectively hiding it in plain sight on the network.
I didn’t notice my mistake until some time later when I started hearing numerous increasingly panicked calls over the PA for various IS admins to come to the director’s office. I asked someone running by what was up and they said someone deleted the entire production system.
My blood ran cold and after verifying my suspicions, I quickly found my supervisor and explained to him what had happened. He immediately rushed off to let the admins know.
To the company’s credit, I received no reprimand at all, once it all came to light. Everyone apparently understood how ridiculously easy it would be to do such a thing and agreed it could have happened to anyone and that I was not in trouble.”
The Fire Alarm!
“I inadvertently caused a mass evacuation of a large supermarket.
I was working out the back of the store, in the freezer, trying to move pallets of produce around after the morning delivery. After several minutes of being there, I noticed the store manager and assistant managers walking towards me. That was scary. The store manager walked passed me, moved a pallet of stock and said: ‘It’s this one,’ before whizzing back to the store.
I was pretty confused by this point and asked one of the assistant managers what was going on.
Well, it turns out that whilst maneuvering a particularly loaded pallet, I had managed to break the glass on the fire alarm. This set all of the alarms in the store off and summoned the fire brigade. This caused management to order an evacuation of the store, much to the confusion, frustration, and panic of the shoppers. One manager was reportedly threatened by one shopper who was not happy with having to leave his shopping at the tills to stand outside in the car park.
For some reason, there was no alarm bell in the freezer, so I continued working as normal, completely unaware of the chaos occurring within the store.
Everything returned to normal pretty quickly after they determined which alarm was set off and I received only a minor speaking to.”
Miserable Times In The Call Center
“I used to do call center work for a customer service outsourcing company. They treated their customer service representatives (CSR’s) like cattle, so people would quit after only a couple of months. I quickly became one of the company’s most senior employees at 12 whole months of employment. I knew the billing system inside and out, and I was very good at my job. Despite this, the company refused to promote me or give me a raise.
I spent time looking for a new job, but it was pretty hard to find anything that would work with my school schedule (I needed full-time work with flexible hours), so I ended up staying for a total of 2.5 years. After the 12 month mark, I started to get disgruntled and began pushing the envelope.
The company would assign mandatory overtime, which conflicted with my school schedule. It got to a point where I would just come in and leave whenever I wanted and nobody would ever say anything about it because I was one of the few qualified employees they had.
They added a sales aspect to my job requirements and said we’d be fired if we didn’t meet the quota. I didn’t sell anything. Not once.
The company had a zero-tolerance policy for hanging up on customers. No matter what vile, degrading filth the customer said to me, I was supposed to sit there and take it, or face termination. After a few trial runs, I discovered that I could actually hang up on customers with impunity. I began disconnecting calls at the slightest hint of disrespect. I would even tell customers not to get an attitude, or else I’d terminate the call and make them wait through the queue all over again. I got a lot of: ‘Oh yeah? I’ll get you fired, I dare you to hang up.’ Disconnecting those calls are some of the most satisfying moments of my adult life.
Roughly 18 months of hanging up on any and all disrespectful customers out of the roughly 100 calls per day… I must have disconnected at least 150 people per week. I was never caught once. The company came under new management that decided it would not adjust my work schedule to accommodate my classes, so I quit. I assume those idiots never found out.”
At Least He Told His Manager Immediately!
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“When I was working for a local major car dealership, a customer had just purchased a brand new pick-up truck. I had to go out on the lot, pull it out of the line. It was a VERY small and cramped lot. The building used to be a union hall and had a tiny parking lot as the show lot.
Anyway, trying to back up a big F-350 super duty whatever when you are 17…well I scraped it against another truck. So I damaged two brand new trucks, one that was just sold and had to wash, and one that was just kinda there.
BUT I didn’t get fired or even in that much trouble because I told my manager right away. He was a terrible boss sometimes but an OK guy.
The funny thing is, after we get this truck back from the body shop for repairs to the damage I caused, a salesman was doing almost the same thing I was doing, but pulled out onto the road, and T-boned a lady driving past the lot. We JUST got the truck back and its ruined again and now the dealership needs to deal with someone else’s damages.”
Scaring A Coworker Can Be Dangerous For Their Health
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“Many moons ago, in 1997, I moved to a new city with my girlfriend (future wife). Having left my old job behind as an assistant manager at a board game store, I worked at a Kroger and then 3rd shift at a Walmart. They called the stockers to come back for lunch around 3 AM or so and as I was heading back, a nice lady that worked on thirds as well, turned the corner ahead of me. I was in a joking mood and snuck up and said, ‘Boo,’ expecting a yelp.
She never made a sound.
She did, however, turn around, look at me as her eyes rolled up and passed out, hitting the floor hard.
This was my first week on the job there. How I didn’t get fired is beyond me. She was fine other than a good bump on her head, and I later became a department manager there. Loved that store. The manager was the type of guy who’d walk in and if we were behind, would toss off his suit and shirt and work the line, wearing a wife beater.
The later store I transferred to when we moved back to Louisville was not so fun as the Manager was an arrogant idiot.”
Be Careful With The Fryers!
“When I worked in fast food, I once turned on the line of fryers which all had lids on. What I didn’t know was that one of them was full of cleaning chemicals. After about a minute, it heated up and the cleaning chemicals boiled over and mixed with the hot oil.
What happened next can only be described as an oil explosion. The whole kitchen was flooded with oil and the store had to shut down for two hours so we could clean. The company lost at least a few thousand pounds that day and the best part is, not only did I keep my job, but I was promoted to manager a month later.
At least no one was hurt.”
A Best Buy Life Lesson
“I worked at a Best Buy and had just signed out a set of keys to retrieve a high-value product from a cage. Then I lost the freaking keys. I paced like a madman, trying to retrace my steps and find them, but ultimately, I went up to my boss and told him I just messed up.
He said, ‘The keys you signed out had keys to seven other cages, and the warehouse. The value therein is over $400,000, not to mention the cost of re-keying and re-locking is about $1,500, considering parts and labor, PER lock. Do you know how long it would take you to work that off? Did you know that this is an offense that results in immediate termination?’
I went pale as a ghost and almost peed my pants.
‘Lucky for you, I saw you set them down where you weren’t supposed to, then walk away, so I grabbed them myself and let you worry. This is a cheap lesson, sign the keys back in.'”
If Only They Had GPS Back Then…
“Many many moons ago, I was working at a place in a crappy position. One day, my boss, who we’ll call ‘George,’ tells me he needs me to pick up some lumber.
I had a license, but I’d never owned a car and hadn’t driven one in over a year at that point.
‘Listen, George, I haven’t driven in over a year. And I hate driving in the city. Are you sure you want me to do this?’
He hands me the keys to his hatchback, ‘You’ll be fine.’
‘OK. But…I don’t know how to get there.’
He rattles off a convoluted set of directions. Did I mention that this was before smartphones? This wasn’t just before smartphones, this was before everyone had a cell phone. There was no GPS. I had a map book in the backseat to find my way to the lumber store.
‘George. I’m a little worried. Are you sure you want me to do this? Driving was never a part of this job.’
‘You’ll be fine. Just go left right left right up down up down select start.’
‘Alright. If you say so.’
‘Just don’t crash my car.’
Oh my gosh! I felt the future reverberate through my bones when he said that. Jerk.
So, I hopped in the car and started driving. I got lost. I circled around. I got lost again. I circled around again. I was on an overpass and I had no idea how to get off of it. I attempted to merge right to get off on an exit that would take me back to the office and the jerk behind me freaking speeds up.
So, I try to get back in my lane but it was too late. There wasn’t enough space. I slammed the front left tire well into an 18 wheeler just in time to miss getting dinged by the jerk on my right. It just freaking disintegrated.
I merged left and pulled up beside the 18 wheeler. The driver was looking out his window at me and he went, ‘You alright, man?’
‘Dude. I am having the absolute worst day ever. I don’t even know what to do.’
‘Don’t sweat it, man. That little rabbit didn’t do anything to my rig. Let me help you out.’
Homeboy pulled his rig up and blocked the off-ramp for me. Freaking truckers, always willing to help an honest guy in need out. I rolled off the ramp and wave to the guy.
‘Don’t sweat it, son,’ he said and honked his horn at me.
I drove down the off-ramp and back to my office. I walked back into the office and handed my boss the keys.
‘Thanks for jinxing me, jerk. I’m going home.’
I still had a job the next day. Can’t deny a jinx.”
How A Customer Got Free Sunglasses
“I’ve had 8 years experience in the optical business, but I made my worst mistake about three months in.
A woman from Scotland is visiting her son in London and a notepad drops off her VERY EXPENSIVE rimless pair of spectacles. We didn’t make them for her but we had the parts to do the correct repair. Anyway, she comes in, and I drop the rimless pair right in front of her and the side snaps and chips the lens, so it’s virtually unrepairable beyond messy superglue adhesion. New lenses took at least a week from the lab, as it was a rimless frame, no local optician could complete the full machinery and workmanship, and it was the final thing I did on a Sunday shift, so nowhere was open. I felt extremely guilty and helpless. I apologized profusely and totally owned up and offered to pay out of my own money a set of cheap and cheerful glasses from a local lab if she could wait until tomorrow.
The situation got worse because I found out she was due to drive back to Scotland that night so she could get back to a funeral the next day.
We ended up Supergluing the glasses but the sides broke off right away, so her highflying businessman son had to come and pick her up from the store, DRIVE her to Scotland and then back.
We had to remake the entire pair of glasses for free (£800), reimburse the son for fuel (£200) and give him a free pair of sunglasses for his troubles.
Now I’m a qualified optician and I learned serious serious lessons that day.”
Damage Done In The Frozen Section Of The Grocery Store…
“I worked in the frozen department at a grocery store for a few years.
The fans circulating the air inside the freezer doors would get jammed from time to time due to ice buildup. Sometimes this ice buildup got up to a foot in thickness, so we would just hack away at it with a hammer to break it up. This particular time, the ice had built up around one of the copper pipes carrying the coolant gas. I didn’t see this and proceeded to chip away. One good swing and I broke through the ice as well as this pipe. Gas started shooting out and spooked some nearby customers. The owner was at lunch, so I ran to the closest manager. He just kinda looked at me and said, ‘Go home, the boss is going to be furious when he sees this.’ I bolted and started dreading my shift the next day. I went to see the boss and he just gave me this look of sheer anger and disappointment. Doesn’t say a word to me for a few days and I just kept my head down.
Found out later I caused $7,000 in damages/repairs I guess due to how these freezers were built. He forgave me after it all but I was never allowed to clean up the ice again.”
A Little Mistake Happened In The Paint Department Of Lowe’s
“I worked in the paint department at Lowe’s.
Usually, when mixing paint, we will tint it, hammer the lid down, throw it in the shaker, and then re-open it to confirm the color and smear a sample on the lid. Then re-seal it and send it out to the customer. Well, I got caught up in chatting with a customer while I mixed her a gallon of red paint, and forgot to hammer the lid down completely after putting the sample on the top. She returned about an hour later with a 2-inch deep pool of paint in her car’s rear driver’s side floorboard. To add insult to injury, she was pregnant and freaking out about the fumes (this was actually zero VOC water-based paint, but you try telling a pregnant woman that).
This happens sooner or later to almost everyone who has worked at the paint desk, we just cross our fingers that it spills before they make it out of the store. We bought that customer new carpet for her car, but I never got in trouble over it since it’s usually a mistake you only make once.
Then one other time I dropped the barcode scanner for one of our two tinting machines, rendering the scanner useless. You can still manually key in barcodes, but it takes considerably longer. We had to limp along for two weeks while that new scanner was on order.”
He Really Messed Up When He Sent That E-mail…
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“I got a job once at an ISP doing tech support before I really had any idea what I was doing. It was the end of the day on Friday, and I had gotten some lame phishing email in my work inbox asking for personal and credit card info. So I cleverly responded to the ‘phisherman’ with the most vulgar responses possible.
Except that the email was spoofed from the account of one of our customers, and so when I responded, I actually sent the email directly to our customer.
So then, because of how our email addresses were set up, this customer replied in such a way that her reply is sent to every single person in our company, including the CEO, who sat 20 feet from me, and every lead, manager, supervisor, and co-worker in every department, who all see the message I sent.
A co-worker called me Friday night to tell me they had all gotten the email. That was the longest weekend ever. They made me work through that whole next Monday without telling me anything about it except to wait for 3 pm to have a meeting with the CEO. I didn’t end up getting fired and worked there for two more years after that.”
That’s One Costly Expiration Date Mistake
“I was working in a meat/dairy warehouse as a checker for a large grocery distribution company. I was responsible for scanning and counting incoming product and logging the expiration dates in the warehouse system.
My second week there, in came a full load of imported Australian lamb. Long story short, I misread the expiration date and entered the wrong one into the system. About three months later, I was called into my boss’s office and was told that they discovered 28 pallets of expired lamb, roughly amounting to $550k. Biggest loss the company had ever seen, but he didn’t fire me because it was only my second week and was an honest mistake.
Five years later, I’m with the same company and have been promoted several times. I can laugh about it now, but man I felt like running away when I was sitting in my boss’s office that day.”
Losing Money At The Bank Is No Joke
“I once lost roughly $1.1 million.
I work in a bank. I was doing back office processing back in 2005-06, where we needed to send a range of cheques to a number of different banks and financial services. After cutting the cheques, I put them in a bag that looked just like our mailbag.
Then when the bags were taken down, I forgot to label which one was cheques and which was mail. Guess which one the mailman took? Yeah…I stayed back until around 10 pm that night and got in around 5 am the next day, making calls/checking drivers etc.
Thankfully, we got the cheques back (yes, they could have been canceled, but it would have cost around $15,000 to cancel them – and I didn’t even want to be responsible for that). In the end, the managers awarded me for doing so much to make sure we got the cheques back.
Another one:
This one wasn’t me. But a mate was doing some account batching for a customer, and where she was supposed to put in the fee amount ($7), she wrote notes…when she hit submit the system went, ‘Hang on, there’s no fee.’ So she went in and put the $7 in and spaced out the remaining letters.
Well, this system is old, and recognized spaces as zeros. A customer was charged a $7 million fee on their credit card. A quick call to the customer and it was wiped the next day. But dang…imagine seeing that on your credit card statement!”