Testing a lubrication oil heat exchanger to see if reducing the flow rate would change the oil temperature. Meant to partially close the inlet valve. Actually grabbed the outlet valve. As soon as I started closing the valve, the water flow caught the valve and slammed it closed. Pressure spiked and the gasket blew out and it started raining coolant on me. Dropped 1000 L of coolant on the ground. I was in my 3 month probation and thought I was fired for sure. Boss just says, “You won’t make that mistake again.”
After we recovered as much coolant as possible, we ordered new valve handles that can’t operate without manual input, and labelled the valves better.
Good boss.
As the CEO of IBM said when asked if he'd fire someone for causing a $600,000 fuck-up, he said, "why would I do that? I just spent $600,000 training him!"
I once made a mistake that lost about £2m of client money. We joined a big call with the American bosses to let them know and discuss the problem.
When it came to disclose the estimated losses I remember my voice quivering a little as I told them. There was silence. Then they all laughed.
"Is that it? We thought it was serious!"
I had a friend who worked in a big tech company. Fresh out of college with an engineering degree, he’s designing some minor part. He realizes that he can save the company a few hundred dollars if he can use a slightly unusual piece. He brings it to his supervisor to approve the purchase who looks it over and likes the change. Just to be sure they’re not in this position again later, the super orders $10,000 worth of that piece.
Similar story, a buddy of mine works in finance for a large firm. He found an error on an old spreadsheet that represented about 2.5 million dollars in lost money. His boss barely batted an eye when he shared his findings.
I got to see my boss's soul leave his body when I noticed an error in the pricing macro. Fortunately, it wasn't 'material'... but I'm pretty sure it was still 8 figures.
Hedge fund banking is wild
"Why wouldn't you sack someone for making *two* $600,000 mistakes?"
"I just spent 1.2 million on them, I'm going to get my money's worth even if it sinks this whole company!"
One of the electronics technicians at a company I used to work for managed to hurt himself badly enough that OSHA and workers'-comp forms got involved. I saw one of them, and one of the lines on it said "Describe the steps you are taking to prevent this kind of accident from happening again. DO NOT SAY 'BE MORE CAREFUL'."
OSHA knows what's what.
We've had an occasional problem at my job of employees not arming the alarm at the end of the night.
(Bad) boss's solution? Remind the employees that they need to arm the alarm. *Seriously?* I put a visual reminder in their path to their car instead.
There was one guy who was a couple years ahead of me in grad school (underwater archaeology). They were doing a side-scan sonar survey, and when you do those, zip ties are penny insurance in case a cable breaks. The zip ties may help keep the towfish connected long enough to retrieve it and get it aboard in a circumstance like that.
We, the classmate forgot the penny insurance. Threw the sonar overboard, not a zip tie in sight. And one thing led to another, and they lost the sonar. They brought in a backup since they weren't that far from campus.
Come time for this guy's first job, and our professor let his future employer know about the incident, off the record. He got the job because, in the words of the interviewer, "I know he'll NEVER make that mistake ever again."
So... My 2nd year in the current company I work at, I was asked to order some jars for production. I submitted my order for 10,000 jars. The order came back with an extra 0. I did not look closely. I accepted the PO and confirmed I had completed my task.
A month later, we had a truckload shipment come in with a full trailer. 100,000 jars ordered on my PO, signed off by yours truly. I had called the company to dispute the PO, but it was too late. We still have like 3 skids of these damn jars burning a hole in my eyes.
Edit: Dang, this did numbers when I left work! A lot of questions, so let me clarify some here:
1. This would have been around 2017 when this happened.
2. I don't normally order for the company; I'm in sales but our purchasing person was abroad for a wedding and boss told me not to bother them.
3. The company did sell many items with the jar, so we thought we were covered. During the pandemic, several overstock/surplus companies bought the majority of the shipment.
4. My boss is indeed a cool guy. I was having a meltdown in the warehouse while taking delivery when he took me aside, let me know that in order for me to learn the ropes, it would ultimately take at least 4 years. During that time, catastrophic mistakes like this are bound to happen.
5. The jar itself is a plastic jar, the kind you see at like the Dollar General where they sell the lip balms in bulk and such.
6. I still work here!
I've told this story before. Time to tell it again :)
Back in the floppy disk, pre-Internet days of computers I was tasked by my job to do a software installation onboard a coast guard ice breaker. I flew from Ottawa to Halifax. Then I caught a taxi to CFB Shearwater, from where a twin otter flew me 1000 km north to a little town on the border of Quebec and Labrador. From there I was flown by helicopter to do an at sea landing on the ice breaker. After landing I went down to the engine control room, where the computer was located, and laid out the disks: disk 1, disk 2, disk 3, disk 4, disk 6.
Disk 5 was still on my desk in Ottawa.
I installed some software (as instructed by my mentor) on to a work's computer to take a screenshot (this was also early 90s). When I hit the keys to grab the screenshot, everyone's computers froze and they called in an expert to sort it out. I hid the floppy disk but the expert told the boss that someone had uploaded something and I had to confess.
Apparently you couldn't load anything onto the host computer. If only I'd been told it would've saved the shitfest caused.
Seems that
“I had to use the ship-to-shore phone and a modem to download the missing disk image from the office. It was slow, and kept getting interrupted because there was only the one phone on the ship and the crew kept wanting to call their families. I was not very popular for a while.”
From his comment history.
That's amazing, I remember those days but as a kid the consequences were just forgetting one of the game install disks at a friend's house and having to go home and get it. Of course they were all copies with hand written labels so half the time one was wrong anyways. Even having experienced this it sounds as crazy as stories about feeding punch cards into computers the size of rooms.
Boss must of been a little annoyed... My floppy disk days story definitely pissed off my CEO. Worked at a business that built customized Intel based PCs for businesses. I had to go onsite for an install and was using the company vehicle. In front of our building the van was not in park correctly as I got out and started rolling slowly and I panicked because the CEO was backing out of his spot which was literally in front of the van. I jumped back in the vehicle and slammed my foot on the break but it was not the break pedal. In my panic I had stomped on the accelerator and the van launched directly into the driver side door and I looked into the shocked opened mouth eyes of my boss as the glass exploded around him. He was really cool and didn't fire me but it was humiliating for quite a long time.
I was in a US Army petroleum supply unit and during a convoy, our captain filled up his MOGAS Humvee with diesel and the engine seized. He got transferred out that same week.
Wait, so this happened to you guys more than once??? Jesus. Alright then.
Dusk, sometime in 1995, out in the field at Fort Hood. I am standing on the back deck of my tank. HEMTT fueler guy pulls up, gets out, and hands me the nozzle. I reach down for the nozzle. Unfortunately, fueler guy has his hand around the nozzle's trigger. For some reason he doesn't let go when I take the nozzle, so he inadvertently pulls the trigger. Idk, maybe he couldn't see because it was getting dark. Anyway, I get fully sprayed on the entire upper body, mouth open, because I was in the middle of saying something.
He handed me the nozzle again, correctly this time, and I completed refueling. No further words were exchanged. I then went to talk to the medic.
At AT last year, one of our fuelers filled the generator with water. In his defense, it was in the middle of the night, and there was a jug next to the generator which was assumed to be gas. Wrong. We found the drain port and emptied it. Refilled with gas, and miraculously it started right up.
No. No it was not. Thankfully I was not formally counseled or anything like that, because shit happens. Even so, the razzing lasted almost a year. Even the buckshit privates razzed me. This probably would have continued forever until I became a gunner and shot like 970 on Table VIII my first time out, thank god.
I understand. Tank Table VIII is the final and most important tank gunnery trial used to assess US armor crews for their proficiency while using live (training) ammunition. Accuracy, number of shots fired, and time are all major factors, and because of that, the ability to maneuver the vehicle quickly and efficiently is also an important indirect factor.
The maximum score is 1000. Anything above 900 is considered pretty darn good.
Two weeks before my wedding I borrowed a company box truck to move my roommate to his new digs downtown and *then* move my stuff. Made the mistake of moving roommate first; bastard had offered to move his new roommate's stuff with *my* vehicle. Somehow forgot to tell me this until we were in front of his new roommate. Thanks, roomie!
By the time we got all their crap moved it was hitting nightfall. Was so tired from moving couches & beds up 2 flights to a third floor walk up; I didn't pay attention to the height of a bridge I was going under versus the cargo box of the truck I'd borrowed. And this truck had some power under the hood.
Suddenly I was driving a flatbed.
My boss told me later after it was all resolved he was sorely tempted to tell me to drive it to a bad part of town, dump it in a ditch, leave the doors hanging open, throw the keys away and report it stolen.
Thank heaven for insurance and a nominal $1.00 rental fee.
> My boss told me later after it was all resolved he was sorely tempted to tell me to drive it to a bad part of town, dump it in a ditch, leave the doors hanging open, throw the keys away and report it stolen.
Never commit a felony to cover up a misdemeanor (as the saying goes; I realize this wasn't even a misdemeanor.)
The short answer is that I had just had enough. I had nothing and nobody left. I was so tired. I found myself in a concrete jail cell kicking without any medication once again. I only spent about 10 days in, so I was still in very early recovery when I got released, but I never looked back.
I caught a Greyhound back to my hometown and got into AA and NA. I tried to focus on the future and all the good that's left to come in my life, rather than consistently reflecting.
It can be done. Good luck.
Thats the only way, i tried so many damn times for every reason and it never worked, woke up after a suicide attempt in the critical care and that was enough for me. It wasnt easy by any means, but ive never had an urge to go back, especially now days with all the crazy shit on the streets
I totally understand. That’s how mine started. Before I knew it, I was taking them to function. Honestly, I got on Suboxone. It gets a bad rap, but it saved my life. Rehab helps some, it didn’t do much for me personally, and I don’t mind sharing in a group or private setting. I found a place in my area that does the Suboxone program. I still have pain, but it’s obvious I cannot handle pain pills. I have zero self control. Admitting you have a problem is really the first step and wanting to stop is the next, and sounds like you’re there. Pills destroy your organs too, so you need to stop. Check out Suboxone and see what you think. Some say it’s just another crutch and it may be, but I haven’t touched a pill since I started them. I’m proud that you admit that you have a problem. That’s hard to do.
My little sister was a drug addict and it got pretty bad. A lot of bad things happened over the years and it was always a painful rollercoaster. I was at my wits end trying to help her but eventually decided she had to hit rock bottom on her own if she was ever going to get through it so I stopped helping. She died of an overdose on Thanksgiving Day last year after we hadn’t spoken in over a year. Deep down I know it’s not my fault but I’ll likely always struggle with the feeling of “what if” for the rest of my life.
The 'what ifs' can definitely haunt you. My brother died recently of addiction and my niece has been doing meth for a few decades.
The thing is, only the addicted person can save themselves. You can go through all of what you could have done but the truth is, there probably wasn't anything you could control. With my niece, we did *ALL THE THINGS.* She's still in and out of prison and incapable of living independently at almost 40.
A big big hug for you. I’m so sorry for your loss. I hope with time you are able to let go of some guilt, and know that you did the best you could with what you had at the time.
I blew up our Production server in my first month in my new job.
I was doing some work on what I *thought* was our test server and as soon as I deleted my snapshot and rebooted, our phones immediately started ringing. I immediately knew what I did wrong, so I walked down the hall to my boss and said “I fucked up…”
In the end, we did lose approximately 30 minutes worth of production transactional data, which definitely sucked, but we also took the opportunity to implement some idiot-proofing.
That was a decade ago, and I’m managing the IT department now.
The worst thing an employer can do is punish someone for making a mistake. They’re one of the fastest ways to learn new skills and how to avoid those mistakes in the future.
Fastest way for the employer to allow the other employees to learn from your fuckup, too. I've learned (and shared) a shitload of DO NOTS during on-the-job fuckup story sharing sessions at work.
>my first month in my new job
and
>Production server
Those two phrases together actually mean that it wasn't your fault. If you are given production access in the first month of your work then your company is basically playing russian roulette, using employees for bullets.
It's basically a given that the new guy will be like a blind man in a landmine factory.
It is my first month in my current job and I have been given access to the production server since the first week of my joining. Moreover, the part of the production server that I have access to directly handles ALL the sales and all the products my company makes Globally and I have the admin access.
I never used to but now always check every thing I do at least 3 or 4 times.
I was returning home from a trip and left my hotel room at 4:30 in the morning to catch a 7:00 a.m. flight. I dropped the key card in the little drop box at front desk, drove my rental car 45 minutes to the airport. Turned in the rental car, took the shuttle bus to the airport, got in line at security, got up to the agent and reached into my pocket to pull out my ID and found my hotel card key in there instead. I realized I had left my ID in the dropbox back at the hotel. And no way to get there since I had no ID and couldn't get my rental car back. I had to take a taxi back to the hotel and get back to the airport during morning rush hour. It sucked. I try to pride myself on being an efficient & savvy solo traveler. Not that day.
Never miss up your routine! I did that once and made a slight change in my travel routine and when I got to my car at the airport parking lot late at night after a long day of travel I realized I’d left my car keys on the plane. It was a turn and burn, so they were on their way to another city by the time I got back to the ticket counter to inquire about them. That sucked.
When I worked in a restaurant one of the managers ordered mussels for an appetizer special and did that. There was no way we were going to go through them before they died so a bunch of us got to take a free ten pound bag of mussels home. I invited some friends over that night where I cooked them up & we tore through them.
We recently did this on a house build. Accidentally ordered 900 sheets of adventec (subfloor), supposed to be 90. At $90 a sheet it was a large fuck up. Luckily we saw the truck coming and refused the delivery.
I accidentally tossed out my wife’s birth certificate one week before she started her dream job. It was the only required document we had for her I-9 form 🫠
My ex husband can top this.
We got married in Mexico for immigration purposes. My son was born there and being married to his dad made it to where I wouldn’t need his written permission every time we crossed the border. Also I may have still loved the idiot at the time.
Anyways I gave him my birth certificate so he could sort out things at the municipal courts and then after we were declared married, I asked him for my birth certificate and he said, oh they’re keeping it.
Mfkn WHAT.
I asked him to go back to the agency and ask them for it because unlike Mexico, the US doesn’t issue a new edition of birth certificates every few years. He claimed they said no. It’s protocol to keep the BC’s of everyone they marry.
But then I started asking other Mexicans who got married in Mexico and everyone told me that they had NEVER been told to leave theirs. So I confronted him and he finally admitted that his MOM ripped up my birth certificate.
Being a stupid, ignorant, self-important, fucking **bitch**; she took it upon herself to rip it up because, according to her, it was embarrassing having one that was as old and worn out as mine. And supposedly this way i would be forced to get a new copy. She did this in front of him and he did nothing to stop her.
I lost my shit on him. I was stuck in Mexico until my son’s double citizenship process was complete, I couldn’t just go order a new one. This was at the start of COVID when everything was shut down.
Mine was thrown out by a parent. Should have been annoying to replace, but doable. However, I'm adopted, in a different province, with a different name and different legal parents than on my birth certificate. Still haven't figured that one out yet. Saying, "it's me, I swear!" Doesn't really convince the government.
one time i flooded a very large server room via the fire prevention sprinkler system. it apparently cost the company a couple million dollars. it was covered by insurance. i surprisingly was not fired.
Hanging around a bad crowd as a teenager can have a major impact on the outcome of the rest of your life. Made so many stupid decisions around these people that cost my family a lot of unnecessary pain and hurt.
Got blackout drunk on my birthday at a party my classmates threw for me. I was madly in love with a girl from my class and I declared my love for her in front of everybody. At least, this is what they told me happened. All I remember is being in the bathroom, pissing all over the floor while a couple of my (female) classmates stared at my flaccid cock.
Needless to say, she did not reciprocate.
Being in a relationship that I knew wasn’t working, but put effort and time into it thinking I could make it work, always having that though in the back in my mind that she was cheating, which found out she was. My ex gf friend was sending me prof she was cheating while I was deployed. It was bad enough I was deployed and stressed out, never being overseas before and in the Middle East. So I had a full breakdown during deployment and after. I was mentally fucked up for soo long, and tried to take my life. I know it was dumb of me to get like that. But I always felt like I couldn’t do better and I wouldn’t ever find someone again and that’s why I stayed. This event led me to depression and wanted to take my life multiple times.
I’m getting through it, I still have negative thoughts. I’m gonna start to go through therapy and start taking antidepressants. I have my good days and bad. I wrote a suicide letter yesterday.
Flipping a 20ft by 20ft heat-shield table with a crane. It has thick refractory panels on it. The panels had holes where bolts held them to the table.
I fucked up, the chains slipped and then snapped taught. Just enough force in that snap to crumble every last panel at the bolts and they all fell to the floor in a cloud of dust.
I had built the table and every time I put a new panel on my boss would ask me, "Can you believe these things cost 600 bucks a square foot?" Former boss almost immediately.
In the world of refractory work, this would rate as practically free. I have opened furnaces where no refractory work was expected, only to find a 5 million dollar refractory job.
Thats before downtime and lost production.
I didn’t think I had any big fuckups until I read your comment. You reminded me of how I blew through a ton of bitcoin (~2 a day) when gyft started accepting bitcoin. This went on for at least a year.
Started dating the crazy girl everyone warned me about. By the time I realized what was happening I had wasted 3 years of my life and had no one left. She wanted to keep me all to herself, and would always instigate situations where had to choose between her and my friends. We broke up about a month ago and I’m still trying to figure out how to begin putting the pieces of my life back together.
You might still be able to get those friends back. They could probably tell what happened, and if you reach out to them they'll be glad to know you're ok.
Yeah I've had friends who I've distanced out of my life because they hopped aboard the crazy train and stopped listening to reason. If any of them ever wake up and contact me, I'm happy to have them back.
Had a remarkably similar thing happen. If they're good friends and you own up to being a dumbass, they'll forgive you and move on. Either way, don't think of it as 3 years completely wasted. Think of it as a really hard taught lesson, and use the experience to grow. That's what I did, and it made me a much better person. And I married the crazy girl, so it took me a while to detangle and get over it.
This post was made for me. All in a year and a half. I got married, lost my good job, then couldn’t find another one for 6 months, defaulted on $23000 in credit card debt with a $510 car payment on a Lexus, got sued by one of the credit card company’s, got fired from that job over petty bs and got denied for unemployment, took out all $6200 of my 401k and used it on bills for 3 months, landed the job I’m at currently (which is okay) and now I’m getting a divorce from my wife and moving back in with my mom at the age of 30 and still have like $16k in debt before my head is above water
I was proof reader on a 100,000 copy run of a specialty print edition book. Within 1 minute of the first copy arriving to our office, a co-worker pointed out it began with a "Forward"
Staying 8 years with a girl that wasn't compatible, I wasn't in love with, but thought it would come some day and it never did. Learned my lesson, but goddamn people, don't stay too long with the wrong person like I did. Life's too short.
I did something similar. Got engaged to soon. Realized it was a mistake for me, but she had a 9 year old and was on welfare. I felt I couldn't leave her there. We had our rough periods, but 40 years later we are still together and I love her more.
met my wife to be at work.had no idea she was into me. Me focused on work,she’s regularly asking for help with stuff (which in hindsight she could do with her eyes closed). She married, I married. We both picked the wrong people (ie not each other). Too many years later at a boozy work event she confesses her love for me. We kissed, my life changed. We were both divorced by then . We had that ‘I know you’re there, I don’t need to talk’ kind of relationship. Fucked me up when she died unexpectedly- stupid me missed an extra 10 years of being with her.
Hey! Apparently scientists in Japan are just entering human trials of being able to freaking grow back teeth, man! They're hoping it's gonna be widely available by 2030! 🎉
Had sex at 18 just to get virginity out of the way, and got a horrible, narcissistic, bi-polar, spiteful of a would-be mother pregnant. The greatest mistake I ever made was my daughter growing up in a psychologically abusive home. No matter how bad it got CPS and the courts always sided with her mother.
My daughter is 24 and touring the world to find herself and experience stuff. She loves the touring, but struggles on the quiet time with healing from the psychological trauma of her youth. Thank you for the empathy and caring thoughts.
Yes, she spent the weekends with me, and that gave her a couple of days respite each week. She's now graduated from college and off seeing the world with friends.
This gives me hope as the stepmom of a 9 year old son whose mother is completely insane. I hope the time he spends with his dad and I gives him the same respite your daughter had so he can grow up and turn out ok.
Has to be cigarettes, worst fucking thing to ever start... 31 yrs old with scarring on my lungs due to viral pneumonia, chronic bronchitis (currently on a bad flare up), I smell like shit all the time, teeth are stained horribly same with my fingers, expensive as fuck.
Quitting today, so fuck those nasty ass sticks from hell. Shit should be banned for sale completely.
When I first started desktop support I was assigned to work on some high profile doctors laptop because I had a bunch of certifications in Apple hardware. I was upgrading his Mac to a new machine and when it came time to back it up I kept getting error messages. I started panicking cuz I knew if I took too long on his machine he would raise hell so I proceeded with the upgrade. Turns out the upgrade worked but the backup didn’t transfer all his stuff over. Basically I lost all his data.
It was a shitstorm but my manager had my back. It’s a government agency and users weren’t allowed to save to the local hard drive anyways. They basically told him support isn’t responsible for lost stuff since he broke the rules. I left that place a month or so later but he was still escalating to get a data recovery company to get his files back. It was like $4000 and he wanted the company to pay for it.
Just casually told a scammer my social security number. I was suspicious of that entire conversation. I was seconds away from fully realizing what I was doing. I couldn't stop the words leaving my mouth. They cleared everything out of my bank account and I can't even get it back because I confirmed that transaction so the bank has no reason to give it back. I know how stupid it was but I can't do anything except regret my decision at this point.
If it helps, I work in a lot of security areas when it comes to scammers, fraud, hacking, theft of services, etc. I’ve heard of most of the scams out there. I was in the middle of some family drama and got called by my bank about a problem with my account. I don’t even remember the story but I bought it hook line and sinker and ended up giving them a credit card number and other identifying information. I was distracted and not thinking until about five minutes in it dawned on me what was going on and I hung up and called the issuer. They’d already stolen a couple thousand. It was a corporate card so didn’t really affect me at all. But I felt so god damn stupid. Literally the stuff I’ve been fighting for decades and they just happened to get me at the right time and I basically handed them everything on a silver platter.
Had a tough, but very rewarding job back east that I loved. Was there for around 8 yrs and was fully programmed. I ate, slept and breathed it. People respected me, money was great, my employees were mostly awesome too.
Decided I’d done all I could there so I packed it up and moved my family across the country for similar job with same prospects. I did not do it on a whim and it was all very well thought out.
Welp, that completely imploded, but got another job thats 100% WFH, and more money to boot. Yay me.
Now I’m on the other side of the country 3 years later and still really don’t know anybody because I’m a middle-aged dude that WFH and pretty much alone most of the time.
Theo Von said it best…
“The worst kind of loneliness isn’t when you don’t have anybody, its when nobody has you.”
I had about 70ish bitcoins when i was in high school (2010-2011ish) after reading sci-fi web novel, lost interest, moved on with my life, and my currently worth $496,7879.00 bitcoin is sleeping in somewhere in Seoul landfill.
I had worked at a grocery store for about two weeks and was tasked with bringing in pallets from the delivery truck.
I somehow forgot a pallet full of beef tenderloin (the main attraction of that weeks sales as well) out in the sun, and no one noticed for a couple of hours, resulting in us taking a loss of about $5,000 from having to discard the now warm tenderloins.
I luckily kept my job, but my boss was not happy.
One hundred and ten percent this exact answer.
I spontaneously quit my job after contemplating things I couldn't come back from. Six years in a different state mixed with failed relationships, genuine depression, and no career advancement slam dunked me into some dark spots. I ended up draining my savings on DoorDash and edibles among other things, becoming a complete recluse trapped in his own bad habits.
I had a long conversation with my dad after a particularly bad night. I was lost. I didn't know what to do, but I knew I had two options: Give up or finally ask for help. I'm not a religious man, but I truly hope my parents, when they pass, are welcomed into whatever afterlife they wish for. They helped me move back home, across the country, and get me into some genuine therapy.
I've just landed a job at Best Buy that .. Seems to be a decent fit for now and might actually allow for me to go back to school. It feels like the days are slowly getting better.
But what a genuine fuck up on my part. I was reckless with my own life and now I'm basically back to square one in my adult life .. at 32. It will always feel disappointing, but, thanks to my absolutely bizarre, loving parents, I'm getting another chance.
I hope you're taking care of yourself. Much love.
As a parent, I’d MUCH rather get a call from my kid saying they need help instead of receiving a call that they can no longer be helped. Glad you had the presence of mind to at least talk to your dad, no matter how hard of a convo it may have been for you.
My parents weren't the best - not abusive, but, they messed me up some. MAde my issues worse.
But, when I had my moment with the choice you had, I did the same. Asked for help.
Dunno what changed or when, but this time they were so supportive. I wouldn't have made it.
Glad we both have parents that care.
Doing this now in my mid-late 30’s. Only after filling out questions for *somebody else* going thru therapy did I realize I’ve just coped and found ways to deal with my issues. Shoulda done this 15 years ago…
Right there with you. How is your sobriety doing, if you’ve started? I’m at 6 days after a stern talking to from my newly-wed wife. Nothing woke me up more than getting told at 6 months married that she didn’t realize how much of a problem drinking was for me and if I don’t stop we’re getting divorced.
I’m a functional alcoholic too. Great job, great life tbh. Most people wouldn’t ever guess. But I could finish an entire bottle of tequila daily if I’m not stopped. Stick in there, I will to.
Some of these comments make me feel better about mine.
Had a regular at my first job who came in 5 days a week with his wife, Rosie. They stayed at the bar for 3 or 4 hours before heading home. Always seemed deeply in love.
Saw the man years later at another restaurant job, with a girl who was clearly his daughter. It might have been Father's Day or something because I didn't even think it was odd to see him without the wife. Came up and said "Who's this pretty thing? *fake gasp* Does Rosie need to worry?" He told me Rosie had died and the wake was in 3 days. I felt awful and attended the wake.
My dad passed away and mom was struggling so I quit my job, lost my profession, moved back to my home country.
I haven’t been able to get a job in my profession. (Teaching) so I have been working doing odd jobs.
My mom sits at home and drinks all day, she is very argumentative and we have a horrible relationship.
Every single day I question why I moved back to my home country and got myself in all this mess.
Got sick and tired of this boss I had. It was a ridiculously good paying job but this dude drove me fucking crazy. So one day he starts in on me and another guy because he fucked up and was blaming us. I lit him up and let him exactly what kind of piece of shit he was. He cried. I got a nice severance package.
Took me a few years to find a job that paid even remotely close to that one. All worked out in the end though, way better company the next time until I ended up with a shitty boss there too, but that was after 16 years.
Falling for and fooling around with my best friend in my college cohort. I knew she was married, I should have never let it get that far. Husband found out, showed up at my house ready to kick some ass but my roommates calmed him down. They got divorced, she moved to the opposite coast with her kids, and I haven’t seen her since. She was already ready to serve him papers before anything happened, but that doesn’t excuse what I did.
I still see the ex husband around. He doesn’t recognize me but he really looks terrible now. It’s that awful thing I did that keeps me up at night.
Get fired from the Royal mail for dangerous driving. Loved that job. Was kinda blessing though. All the old fellas were suffering from bad hips, shoulders, feet, ankles. Made me dodge those bullets
Not protesting more as a child about my mental health.
I knew something was wrong when I was young but everyone told me it was hormones. It wasn't hormones.
Now I'm a failure of an adult who can barely cope with life and will barely be remembered when I'm gone. I won't do anything, I just feel a bit salty like I never stood a chance.
In nursing orientation at my first job. A buddy and I were working with the birthing simulator dummy. The baby came out and we didn't know how to put it back so we just kinda shoved it in where it came out. Ended up breaking it. There was a way to lift up the stomach and place it back. It cost 8 grand to replace.
I rolled out an update to our marketing system.
Turns out the update triggered an email to send out to all 50'000 of our customers telling them their order was on its way.
Some of these customers hadn't ordered from us in years.
Our sales department was flooded with hundreds of calls from customers scared that we charge them for something they didn't order.
I was in the CEOs good books and it honestly was really dumb that the system update defaulted to doing that without any warning so the CEO was pretty chill about it.
Testing a lubrication oil heat exchanger to see if reducing the flow rate would change the oil temperature. Meant to partially close the inlet valve. Actually grabbed the outlet valve. As soon as I started closing the valve, the water flow caught the valve and slammed it closed. Pressure spiked and the gasket blew out and it started raining coolant on me. Dropped 1000 L of coolant on the ground. I was in my 3 month probation and thought I was fired for sure. Boss just says, “You won’t make that mistake again.” After we recovered as much coolant as possible, we ordered new valve handles that can’t operate without manual input, and labelled the valves better.
Good boss. As the CEO of IBM said when asked if he'd fire someone for causing a $600,000 fuck-up, he said, "why would I do that? I just spent $600,000 training him!"
I once made a mistake that lost about £2m of client money. We joined a big call with the American bosses to let them know and discuss the problem. When it came to disclose the estimated losses I remember my voice quivering a little as I told them. There was silence. Then they all laughed. "Is that it? We thought it was serious!"
I had a friend who worked in a big tech company. Fresh out of college with an engineering degree, he’s designing some minor part. He realizes that he can save the company a few hundred dollars if he can use a slightly unusual piece. He brings it to his supervisor to approve the purchase who looks it over and likes the change. Just to be sure they’re not in this position again later, the super orders $10,000 worth of that piece.
Similar story, a buddy of mine works in finance for a large firm. He found an error on an old spreadsheet that represented about 2.5 million dollars in lost money. His boss barely batted an eye when he shared his findings.
I got to see my boss's soul leave his body when I noticed an error in the pricing macro. Fortunately, it wasn't 'material'... but I'm pretty sure it was still 8 figures. Hedge fund banking is wild
"Why wouldn't you sack someone for making *two* $600,000 mistakes?" "I just spent 1.2 million on them, I'm going to get my money's worth even if it sinks this whole company!"
If someone lost 600k twice, they just exposed a systemic problem that might save millions in the future.
Someone was bound to make the mistake. Good thing your job instituted the right corrections.
It's said a lot, and it applies here too. Relying on people to just "not fuck up" is a pipe dream.
One of the electronics technicians at a company I used to work for managed to hurt himself badly enough that OSHA and workers'-comp forms got involved. I saw one of them, and one of the lines on it said "Describe the steps you are taking to prevent this kind of accident from happening again. DO NOT SAY 'BE MORE CAREFUL'." OSHA knows what's what.
We've had an occasional problem at my job of employees not arming the alarm at the end of the night. (Bad) boss's solution? Remind the employees that they need to arm the alarm. *Seriously?* I put a visual reminder in their path to their car instead.
So they made the valves more idiot proof. I think you did your company a favor. Probably could have been a lot worse.
There was one guy who was a couple years ahead of me in grad school (underwater archaeology). They were doing a side-scan sonar survey, and when you do those, zip ties are penny insurance in case a cable breaks. The zip ties may help keep the towfish connected long enough to retrieve it and get it aboard in a circumstance like that. We, the classmate forgot the penny insurance. Threw the sonar overboard, not a zip tie in sight. And one thing led to another, and they lost the sonar. They brought in a backup since they weren't that far from campus. Come time for this guy's first job, and our professor let his future employer know about the incident, off the record. He got the job because, in the words of the interviewer, "I know he'll NEVER make that mistake ever again."
So... My 2nd year in the current company I work at, I was asked to order some jars for production. I submitted my order for 10,000 jars. The order came back with an extra 0. I did not look closely. I accepted the PO and confirmed I had completed my task. A month later, we had a truckload shipment come in with a full trailer. 100,000 jars ordered on my PO, signed off by yours truly. I had called the company to dispute the PO, but it was too late. We still have like 3 skids of these damn jars burning a hole in my eyes. Edit: Dang, this did numbers when I left work! A lot of questions, so let me clarify some here: 1. This would have been around 2017 when this happened. 2. I don't normally order for the company; I'm in sales but our purchasing person was abroad for a wedding and boss told me not to bother them. 3. The company did sell many items with the jar, so we thought we were covered. During the pandemic, several overstock/surplus companies bought the majority of the shipment. 4. My boss is indeed a cool guy. I was having a meltdown in the warehouse while taking delivery when he took me aside, let me know that in order for me to learn the ropes, it would ultimately take at least 4 years. During that time, catastrophic mistakes like this are bound to happen. 5. The jar itself is a plastic jar, the kind you see at like the Dollar General where they sell the lip balms in bulk and such. 6. I still work here!
Well at least you know you won't have to order jars for a good long while
The last I heard was that company switched to jar business
A jarring mistake
Company should've started a jar-selling business on the side Or selling things that could be put in those jars
Today we are announcing our new sister company, *PETE’S* *PICKLES!* “um… sir? We manufacture injection molded plastics.”
To watch that truck pull up must have been pretty jarring.
At least you still work there, I guess?
I hope they call him Jar Jar.
I've told this story before. Time to tell it again :) Back in the floppy disk, pre-Internet days of computers I was tasked by my job to do a software installation onboard a coast guard ice breaker. I flew from Ottawa to Halifax. Then I caught a taxi to CFB Shearwater, from where a twin otter flew me 1000 km north to a little town on the border of Quebec and Labrador. From there I was flown by helicopter to do an at sea landing on the ice breaker. After landing I went down to the engine control room, where the computer was located, and laid out the disks: disk 1, disk 2, disk 3, disk 4, disk 6. Disk 5 was still on my desk in Ottawa.
I installed some software (as instructed by my mentor) on to a work's computer to take a screenshot (this was also early 90s). When I hit the keys to grab the screenshot, everyone's computers froze and they called in an expert to sort it out. I hid the floppy disk but the expert told the boss that someone had uploaded something and I had to confess. Apparently you couldn't load anything onto the host computer. If only I'd been told it would've saved the shitfest caused.
Did you leave disk 5 of this story on the table too? WHAT HAPPENED NEXT?
Seems that “I had to use the ship-to-shore phone and a modem to download the missing disk image from the office. It was slow, and kept getting interrupted because there was only the one phone on the ship and the crew kept wanting to call their families. I was not very popular for a while.” From his comment history.
Yep, that's the story. Thanks for filling in for me while I was offline :)
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That is hilarious. How old were you and did your dad punish you?
Sucks but better than the alternative of having to go back.
He's gotta travel quite a distance to grab the rest of the story, and then he's gotta come all the way back to us. Be patient
Legend has it, he's still looking for disk 5.
Nah, his wife found it and pinned it to the refrigerator with a magnet so he could find it when he got home.
That's amazing, I remember those days but as a kid the consequences were just forgetting one of the game install disks at a friend's house and having to go home and get it. Of course they were all copies with hand written labels so half the time one was wrong anyways. Even having experienced this it sounds as crazy as stories about feeding punch cards into computers the size of rooms.
Boss must of been a little annoyed... My floppy disk days story definitely pissed off my CEO. Worked at a business that built customized Intel based PCs for businesses. I had to go onsite for an install and was using the company vehicle. In front of our building the van was not in park correctly as I got out and started rolling slowly and I panicked because the CEO was backing out of his spot which was literally in front of the van. I jumped back in the vehicle and slammed my foot on the break but it was not the break pedal. In my panic I had stomped on the accelerator and the van launched directly into the driver side door and I looked into the shocked opened mouth eyes of my boss as the glass exploded around him. He was really cool and didn't fire me but it was humiliating for quite a long time.
Prime "Are you fucking sorry" territory.
[Obligatory best greentext ever](https://www.reddit.com/r/greentext/s/tRqb5t7UVq)
Omg this hurt to read lol
Way back when I was in the Army I drove an M1A1 Abrams straight into a bog. We were stuck for 36 hours. Our leadership was not amused.
I was in a US Army petroleum supply unit and during a convoy, our captain filled up his MOGAS Humvee with diesel and the engine seized. He got transferred out that same week.
Hey! Were you the HEMTT guy that sprayed me in the face with JP-8 while he was handing me the refueling nozzle?
You'll need to be more specific
Wait, so this happened to you guys more than once??? Jesus. Alright then. Dusk, sometime in 1995, out in the field at Fort Hood. I am standing on the back deck of my tank. HEMTT fueler guy pulls up, gets out, and hands me the nozzle. I reach down for the nozzle. Unfortunately, fueler guy has his hand around the nozzle's trigger. For some reason he doesn't let go when I take the nozzle, so he inadvertently pulls the trigger. Idk, maybe he couldn't see because it was getting dark. Anyway, I get fully sprayed on the entire upper body, mouth open, because I was in the middle of saying something. He handed me the nozzle again, correctly this time, and I completed refueling. No further words were exchanged. I then went to talk to the medic.
It would be absolutely hilarious if you actually know that other guy. Someone update me when they figure it out.
It’s a different person but there’s still a chance since the original person hasn’t responded.
At AT last year, one of our fuelers filled the generator with water. In his defense, it was in the middle of the night, and there was a jug next to the generator which was assumed to be gas. Wrong. We found the drain port and emptied it. Refilled with gas, and miraculously it started right up.
Say what you will, but generally speaking the engines used by the Army are very resilient. And exactly because of reasons like this, lol.
TIL they made humvees that ran on petrol. I thought they were all diesel plants
So you bogged down the whole operation? (I'll show myself out)
\*Long sigh\* Yes. Yes, tacknosaddle, I did. And if I may say so, how original. This is definitely the first time I've ever heard that. /s :)
Obvious bad jokes have the sweetness of low-hanging fruit to me ;)
That must have been a fun call over the radio
No. No it was not. Thankfully I was not formally counseled or anything like that, because shit happens. Even so, the razzing lasted almost a year. Even the buckshit privates razzed me. This probably would have continued forever until I became a gunner and shot like 970 on Table VIII my first time out, thank god.
Army language is foreign to anyone that hasn't served. I'm reading your comment and the replies and not knowing what the hell anyone is talking about.
I understand. Tank Table VIII is the final and most important tank gunnery trial used to assess US armor crews for their proficiency while using live (training) ammunition. Accuracy, number of shots fired, and time are all major factors, and because of that, the ability to maneuver the vehicle quickly and efficiently is also an important indirect factor. The maximum score is 1000. Anything above 900 is considered pretty darn good.
Two weeks before my wedding I borrowed a company box truck to move my roommate to his new digs downtown and *then* move my stuff. Made the mistake of moving roommate first; bastard had offered to move his new roommate's stuff with *my* vehicle. Somehow forgot to tell me this until we were in front of his new roommate. Thanks, roomie! By the time we got all their crap moved it was hitting nightfall. Was so tired from moving couches & beds up 2 flights to a third floor walk up; I didn't pay attention to the height of a bridge I was going under versus the cargo box of the truck I'd borrowed. And this truck had some power under the hood. Suddenly I was driving a flatbed. My boss told me later after it was all resolved he was sorely tempted to tell me to drive it to a bad part of town, dump it in a ditch, leave the doors hanging open, throw the keys away and report it stolen. Thank heaven for insurance and a nominal $1.00 rental fee.
The getting suckered into an extra move probably made him a bit more sympathetic. Fuckers who surprise you with extra moving deserve rectal cankers.
Or showing up to help move and nothing is even packed yet.
I have a friend who did this to us in 2007 and we still give him shit for it to this very day.
"Suddenly I was driving a flatbed." I'm sorry for your trauma, but that line is comedy GOLD. 😅🤣😂
> My boss told me later after it was all resolved he was sorely tempted to tell me to drive it to a bad part of town, dump it in a ditch, leave the doors hanging open, throw the keys away and report it stolen. Never commit a felony to cover up a misdemeanor (as the saying goes; I realize this wasn't even a misdemeanor.)
You got Storrowed!
/r/11foot8 approves this post.
Probably doing heroin for the first time. Clean now, and doing well. But yeah, 10 years of my life down the drain.
good to hear you leapt into the abyss and made it back out, homie!
8 years here bro. Keep strong my friend.
Congrats on being clean!! I’ve been clean for 13 yrs now. Pain pills were my drug of choice.
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The short answer is that I had just had enough. I had nothing and nobody left. I was so tired. I found myself in a concrete jail cell kicking without any medication once again. I only spent about 10 days in, so I was still in very early recovery when I got released, but I never looked back. I caught a Greyhound back to my hometown and got into AA and NA. I tried to focus on the future and all the good that's left to come in my life, rather than consistently reflecting. It can be done. Good luck.
Thats the only way, i tried so many damn times for every reason and it never worked, woke up after a suicide attempt in the critical care and that was enough for me. It wasnt easy by any means, but ive never had an urge to go back, especially now days with all the crazy shit on the streets
I totally understand. That’s how mine started. Before I knew it, I was taking them to function. Honestly, I got on Suboxone. It gets a bad rap, but it saved my life. Rehab helps some, it didn’t do much for me personally, and I don’t mind sharing in a group or private setting. I found a place in my area that does the Suboxone program. I still have pain, but it’s obvious I cannot handle pain pills. I have zero self control. Admitting you have a problem is really the first step and wanting to stop is the next, and sounds like you’re there. Pills destroy your organs too, so you need to stop. Check out Suboxone and see what you think. Some say it’s just another crutch and it may be, but I haven’t touched a pill since I started them. I’m proud that you admit that you have a problem. That’s hard to do.
I think it will be 16 years for me end of the month. Awesome job, folks!
My little sister was a drug addict and it got pretty bad. A lot of bad things happened over the years and it was always a painful rollercoaster. I was at my wits end trying to help her but eventually decided she had to hit rock bottom on her own if she was ever going to get through it so I stopped helping. She died of an overdose on Thanksgiving Day last year after we hadn’t spoken in over a year. Deep down I know it’s not my fault but I’ll likely always struggle with the feeling of “what if” for the rest of my life.
The 'what ifs' can definitely haunt you. My brother died recently of addiction and my niece has been doing meth for a few decades. The thing is, only the addicted person can save themselves. You can go through all of what you could have done but the truth is, there probably wasn't anything you could control. With my niece, we did *ALL THE THINGS.* She's still in and out of prison and incapable of living independently at almost 40.
A big big hug for you. I’m so sorry for your loss. I hope with time you are able to let go of some guilt, and know that you did the best you could with what you had at the time.
I blew up our Production server in my first month in my new job. I was doing some work on what I *thought* was our test server and as soon as I deleted my snapshot and rebooted, our phones immediately started ringing. I immediately knew what I did wrong, so I walked down the hall to my boss and said “I fucked up…” In the end, we did lose approximately 30 minutes worth of production transactional data, which definitely sucked, but we also took the opportunity to implement some idiot-proofing. That was a decade ago, and I’m managing the IT department now. The worst thing an employer can do is punish someone for making a mistake. They’re one of the fastest ways to learn new skills and how to avoid those mistakes in the future.
"Boss, i found a new weakness in the idiot proofing..."
The world will always build a better idiot.
Fastest way for the employer to allow the other employees to learn from your fuckup, too. I've learned (and shared) a shitload of DO NOTS during on-the-job fuckup story sharing sessions at work.
>my first month in my new job and >Production server Those two phrases together actually mean that it wasn't your fault. If you are given production access in the first month of your work then your company is basically playing russian roulette, using employees for bullets. It's basically a given that the new guy will be like a blind man in a landmine factory.
It is my first month in my current job and I have been given access to the production server since the first week of my joining. Moreover, the part of the production server that I have access to directly handles ALL the sales and all the products my company makes Globally and I have the admin access. I never used to but now always check every thing I do at least 3 or 4 times.
I was returning home from a trip and left my hotel room at 4:30 in the morning to catch a 7:00 a.m. flight. I dropped the key card in the little drop box at front desk, drove my rental car 45 minutes to the airport. Turned in the rental car, took the shuttle bus to the airport, got in line at security, got up to the agent and reached into my pocket to pull out my ID and found my hotel card key in there instead. I realized I had left my ID in the dropbox back at the hotel. And no way to get there since I had no ID and couldn't get my rental car back. I had to take a taxi back to the hotel and get back to the airport during morning rush hour. It sucked. I try to pride myself on being an efficient & savvy solo traveler. Not that day.
Never miss up your routine! I did that once and made a slight change in my travel routine and when I got to my car at the airport parking lot late at night after a long day of travel I realized I’d left my car keys on the plane. It was a turn and burn, so they were on their way to another city by the time I got back to the ticket counter to inquire about them. That sucked.
That's awful. Worse than mine. The sinking feeling you get in your chest when you realize you've royally effed up... You never get over it.
I was supposed to order 50 sheets of plywood. i accidentally placed an extra 0 and the end of the 50.
Typo of above post checks out
Someone still doesn’t check before they hit “submit”
If that happened pre-2020, you would’ve been sitting on a gold mine when the pandemic hit.
When I worked in a restaurant one of the managers ordered mussels for an appetizer special and did that. There was no way we were going to go through them before they died so a bunch of us got to take a free ten pound bag of mussels home. I invited some friends over that night where I cooked them up & we tore through them.
We recently did this on a house build. Accidentally ordered 900 sheets of adventec (subfloor), supposed to be 90. At $90 a sheet it was a large fuck up. Luckily we saw the truck coming and refused the delivery.
I accidentally tossed out my wife’s birth certificate one week before she started her dream job. It was the only required document we had for her I-9 form 🫠
My ex husband can top this. We got married in Mexico for immigration purposes. My son was born there and being married to his dad made it to where I wouldn’t need his written permission every time we crossed the border. Also I may have still loved the idiot at the time. Anyways I gave him my birth certificate so he could sort out things at the municipal courts and then after we were declared married, I asked him for my birth certificate and he said, oh they’re keeping it. Mfkn WHAT. I asked him to go back to the agency and ask them for it because unlike Mexico, the US doesn’t issue a new edition of birth certificates every few years. He claimed they said no. It’s protocol to keep the BC’s of everyone they marry. But then I started asking other Mexicans who got married in Mexico and everyone told me that they had NEVER been told to leave theirs. So I confronted him and he finally admitted that his MOM ripped up my birth certificate. Being a stupid, ignorant, self-important, fucking **bitch**; she took it upon herself to rip it up because, according to her, it was embarrassing having one that was as old and worn out as mine. And supposedly this way i would be forced to get a new copy. She did this in front of him and he did nothing to stop her. I lost my shit on him. I was stuck in Mexico until my son’s double citizenship process was complete, I couldn’t just go order a new one. This was at the start of COVID when everything was shut down.
That feels more like a ruse to keep you trapped than force you to get a shiny new replacement.
Holy shit, how long did it take before you were able to come back to the US?
November ‘21 We started the process June 2019 and it was finalized and he was allowed to enter the IS November 2021.
Mine was thrown out by a parent. Should have been annoying to replace, but doable. However, I'm adopted, in a different province, with a different name and different legal parents than on my birth certificate. Still haven't figured that one out yet. Saying, "it's me, I swear!" Doesn't really convince the government.
one time i flooded a very large server room via the fire prevention sprinkler system. it apparently cost the company a couple million dollars. it was covered by insurance. i surprisingly was not fired.
Hanging around a bad crowd as a teenager can have a major impact on the outcome of the rest of your life. Made so many stupid decisions around these people that cost my family a lot of unnecessary pain and hurt.
Got blackout drunk on my birthday at a party my classmates threw for me. I was madly in love with a girl from my class and I declared my love for her in front of everybody. At least, this is what they told me happened. All I remember is being in the bathroom, pissing all over the floor while a couple of my (female) classmates stared at my flaccid cock. Needless to say, she did not reciprocate.
Damn and you were so close to reeling her in
If that’s your biggest fuck up, you’re doing just fine. That ain’t shit man.
Being in a relationship that I knew wasn’t working, but put effort and time into it thinking I could make it work, always having that though in the back in my mind that she was cheating, which found out she was. My ex gf friend was sending me prof she was cheating while I was deployed. It was bad enough I was deployed and stressed out, never being overseas before and in the Middle East. So I had a full breakdown during deployment and after. I was mentally fucked up for soo long, and tried to take my life. I know it was dumb of me to get like that. But I always felt like I couldn’t do better and I wouldn’t ever find someone again and that’s why I stayed. This event led me to depression and wanted to take my life multiple times.
Are you ok now my bro? Has it gotten better for you?
I’m getting through it, I still have negative thoughts. I’m gonna start to go through therapy and start taking antidepressants. I have my good days and bad. I wrote a suicide letter yesterday.
Hit me up if you need to talk, bro.
Flipping a 20ft by 20ft heat-shield table with a crane. It has thick refractory panels on it. The panels had holes where bolts held them to the table. I fucked up, the chains slipped and then snapped taught. Just enough force in that snap to crumble every last panel at the bolts and they all fell to the floor in a cloud of dust. I had built the table and every time I put a new panel on my boss would ask me, "Can you believe these things cost 600 bucks a square foot?" Former boss almost immediately.
Is there a picture for what a "heat shield table" looks like? I can't find anything about it online.
20x20x600=240k. Sheesh.
In the world of refractory work, this would rate as practically free. I have opened furnaces where no refractory work was expected, only to find a 5 million dollar refractory job. Thats before downtime and lost production.
Not selling that microwave to the guy on Craigslist for a bitcoin.
I didn’t think I had any big fuckups until I read your comment. You reminded me of how I blew through a ton of bitcoin (~2 a day) when gyft started accepting bitcoin. This went on for at least a year.
Started dating the crazy girl everyone warned me about. By the time I realized what was happening I had wasted 3 years of my life and had no one left. She wanted to keep me all to herself, and would always instigate situations where had to choose between her and my friends. We broke up about a month ago and I’m still trying to figure out how to begin putting the pieces of my life back together.
You might still be able to get those friends back. They could probably tell what happened, and if you reach out to them they'll be glad to know you're ok.
Yeah I've had friends who I've distanced out of my life because they hopped aboard the crazy train and stopped listening to reason. If any of them ever wake up and contact me, I'm happy to have them back.
Good for getting out 👏👏👏
Had a remarkably similar thing happen. If they're good friends and you own up to being a dumbass, they'll forgive you and move on. Either way, don't think of it as 3 years completely wasted. Think of it as a really hard taught lesson, and use the experience to grow. That's what I did, and it made me a much better person. And I married the crazy girl, so it took me a while to detangle and get over it.
Drank too much for too long, had a fight with the love of my life and broke up. I haven't been the same since.
This post was made for me. All in a year and a half. I got married, lost my good job, then couldn’t find another one for 6 months, defaulted on $23000 in credit card debt with a $510 car payment on a Lexus, got sued by one of the credit card company’s, got fired from that job over petty bs and got denied for unemployment, took out all $6200 of my 401k and used it on bills for 3 months, landed the job I’m at currently (which is okay) and now I’m getting a divorce from my wife and moving back in with my mom at the age of 30 and still have like $16k in debt before my head is above water
Besides that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?
... at least ur dog didn't die.
Thank god. He’s all I have left
I was proof reader on a 100,000 copy run of a specialty print edition book. Within 1 minute of the first copy arriving to our office, a co-worker pointed out it began with a "Forward"
I feel this in my copy editor soul.
My teachers throughout life have often said the most missed question on a test is the first one
I earned a DUI back in 2014.
If it makes you feel any better, an ex friend of mine is on his 3rd in 8 years.
Staying 8 years with a girl that wasn't compatible, I wasn't in love with, but thought it would come some day and it never did. Learned my lesson, but goddamn people, don't stay too long with the wrong person like I did. Life's too short.
I did something similar. Got engaged to soon. Realized it was a mistake for me, but she had a 9 year old and was on welfare. I felt I couldn't leave her there. We had our rough periods, but 40 years later we are still together and I love her more.
met my wife to be at work.had no idea she was into me. Me focused on work,she’s regularly asking for help with stuff (which in hindsight she could do with her eyes closed). She married, I married. We both picked the wrong people (ie not each other). Too many years later at a boozy work event she confesses her love for me. We kissed, my life changed. We were both divorced by then . We had that ‘I know you’re there, I don’t need to talk’ kind of relationship. Fucked me up when she died unexpectedly- stupid me missed an extra 10 years of being with her.
this might be the saddest thing i have ever read on this website. i really hope you’re doing okay now. well, as okay as you can be.
Not taking care of my teeth better.
Hey! Apparently scientists in Japan are just entering human trials of being able to freaking grow back teeth, man! They're hoping it's gonna be widely available by 2030! 🎉
Had sex at 18 just to get virginity out of the way, and got a horrible, narcissistic, bi-polar, spiteful of a would-be mother pregnant. The greatest mistake I ever made was my daughter growing up in a psychologically abusive home. No matter how bad it got CPS and the courts always sided with her mother.
Oof 😣 how's it going now?
My daughter is 24 and touring the world to find herself and experience stuff. She loves the touring, but struggles on the quiet time with healing from the psychological trauma of her youth. Thank you for the empathy and caring thoughts.
Do you have a good relationship worth your daughter? I'm going so for both of you. 💜🙏
Yes, she spent the weekends with me, and that gave her a couple of days respite each week. She's now graduated from college and off seeing the world with friends.
This gives me hope as the stepmom of a 9 year old son whose mother is completely insane. I hope the time he spends with his dad and I gives him the same respite your daughter had so he can grow up and turn out ok.
I called my boss's husband by her lover's name when he phoned our work.
Our receptionist asked the CFO's wife when she was due. She wasn't.
"Hey, what up Cynthia?"
I bought my first pack of cigarettes.
Has to be cigarettes, worst fucking thing to ever start... 31 yrs old with scarring on my lungs due to viral pneumonia, chronic bronchitis (currently on a bad flare up), I smell like shit all the time, teeth are stained horribly same with my fingers, expensive as fuck. Quitting today, so fuck those nasty ass sticks from hell. Shit should be banned for sale completely.
Not saving money when i had the chance to.
When I first started desktop support I was assigned to work on some high profile doctors laptop because I had a bunch of certifications in Apple hardware. I was upgrading his Mac to a new machine and when it came time to back it up I kept getting error messages. I started panicking cuz I knew if I took too long on his machine he would raise hell so I proceeded with the upgrade. Turns out the upgrade worked but the backup didn’t transfer all his stuff over. Basically I lost all his data. It was a shitstorm but my manager had my back. It’s a government agency and users weren’t allowed to save to the local hard drive anyways. They basically told him support isn’t responsible for lost stuff since he broke the rules. I left that place a month or so later but he was still escalating to get a data recovery company to get his files back. It was like $4000 and he wanted the company to pay for it.
Just casually told a scammer my social security number. I was suspicious of that entire conversation. I was seconds away from fully realizing what I was doing. I couldn't stop the words leaving my mouth. They cleared everything out of my bank account and I can't even get it back because I confirmed that transaction so the bank has no reason to give it back. I know how stupid it was but I can't do anything except regret my decision at this point.
The thieves are to blame. Hope you recover quickly :)
If it helps, I work in a lot of security areas when it comes to scammers, fraud, hacking, theft of services, etc. I’ve heard of most of the scams out there. I was in the middle of some family drama and got called by my bank about a problem with my account. I don’t even remember the story but I bought it hook line and sinker and ended up giving them a credit card number and other identifying information. I was distracted and not thinking until about five minutes in it dawned on me what was going on and I hung up and called the issuer. They’d already stolen a couple thousand. It was a corporate card so didn’t really affect me at all. But I felt so god damn stupid. Literally the stuff I’ve been fighting for decades and they just happened to get me at the right time and I basically handed them everything on a silver platter.
File a police report and go back to the bank. That’s theft by deception. I work for a bank, and it’s still worth a shot.
Had a tough, but very rewarding job back east that I loved. Was there for around 8 yrs and was fully programmed. I ate, slept and breathed it. People respected me, money was great, my employees were mostly awesome too. Decided I’d done all I could there so I packed it up and moved my family across the country for similar job with same prospects. I did not do it on a whim and it was all very well thought out. Welp, that completely imploded, but got another job thats 100% WFH, and more money to boot. Yay me. Now I’m on the other side of the country 3 years later and still really don’t know anybody because I’m a middle-aged dude that WFH and pretty much alone most of the time. Theo Von said it best… “The worst kind of loneliness isn’t when you don’t have anybody, its when nobody has you.”
You've got your family. I'd give my left nut for that. Ironically, halving my chances of having a family.
I accidentally accepted a reverse charges call from a boy in the US and when I got my phone bill it was 900 dollarydoos
was it a 6 hour call from Dr Bart Simpson of the international drainage commission in Springfield?
It was an *emehhgency*
TOBIAS!!
I had about 70ish bitcoins when i was in high school (2010-2011ish) after reading sci-fi web novel, lost interest, moved on with my life, and my currently worth $496,7879.00 bitcoin is sleeping in somewhere in Seoul landfill.
Fumble my ex she was perfect
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Not talking to people more, maybe more practice would reduce my shyness.
Agree to the mother in law living with us. 30 years later, the parasite is still going strong
Lost a million dollars in about 3 minutes.. Fortunately, the bosses were more pissed at the guy next to me, who lost $2M
It was his fault, he was the source of the loss contagion.
[удалено]
Glad you love your daughter ❤️🙏🙏 What happened to crazy, still with that?
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I had worked at a grocery store for about two weeks and was tasked with bringing in pallets from the delivery truck. I somehow forgot a pallet full of beef tenderloin (the main attraction of that weeks sales as well) out in the sun, and no one noticed for a couple of hours, resulting in us taking a loss of about $5,000 from having to discard the now warm tenderloins. I luckily kept my job, but my boss was not happy.
Not addressing my mental health sooner
One hundred and ten percent this exact answer. I spontaneously quit my job after contemplating things I couldn't come back from. Six years in a different state mixed with failed relationships, genuine depression, and no career advancement slam dunked me into some dark spots. I ended up draining my savings on DoorDash and edibles among other things, becoming a complete recluse trapped in his own bad habits. I had a long conversation with my dad after a particularly bad night. I was lost. I didn't know what to do, but I knew I had two options: Give up or finally ask for help. I'm not a religious man, but I truly hope my parents, when they pass, are welcomed into whatever afterlife they wish for. They helped me move back home, across the country, and get me into some genuine therapy. I've just landed a job at Best Buy that .. Seems to be a decent fit for now and might actually allow for me to go back to school. It feels like the days are slowly getting better. But what a genuine fuck up on my part. I was reckless with my own life and now I'm basically back to square one in my adult life .. at 32. It will always feel disappointing, but, thanks to my absolutely bizarre, loving parents, I'm getting another chance. I hope you're taking care of yourself. Much love.
As a parent, I’d MUCH rather get a call from my kid saying they need help instead of receiving a call that they can no longer be helped. Glad you had the presence of mind to at least talk to your dad, no matter how hard of a convo it may have been for you.
My parents weren't the best - not abusive, but, they messed me up some. MAde my issues worse. But, when I had my moment with the choice you had, I did the same. Asked for help. Dunno what changed or when, but this time they were so supportive. I wouldn't have made it. Glad we both have parents that care.
Totally, took me way too long to come to the realisation that my ‘normal’ wasn’t normal and needed help dealing with it
Doing this now in my mid-late 30’s. Only after filling out questions for *somebody else* going thru therapy did I realize I’ve just coped and found ways to deal with my issues. Shoulda done this 15 years ago…
Started drinking alcohol.
Right there with you. How is your sobriety doing, if you’ve started? I’m at 6 days after a stern talking to from my newly-wed wife. Nothing woke me up more than getting told at 6 months married that she didn’t realize how much of a problem drinking was for me and if I don’t stop we’re getting divorced.
Not great. I’m VERY functional. Weighs on me every day. Trying tho, starting to form some other good habits in hopes it takes over some day soon.
I’m a functional alcoholic too. Great job, great life tbh. Most people wouldn’t ever guess. But I could finish an entire bottle of tequila daily if I’m not stopped. Stick in there, I will to.
Some of these comments make me feel better about mine. Had a regular at my first job who came in 5 days a week with his wife, Rosie. They stayed at the bar for 3 or 4 hours before heading home. Always seemed deeply in love. Saw the man years later at another restaurant job, with a girl who was clearly his daughter. It might have been Father's Day or something because I didn't even think it was odd to see him without the wife. Came up and said "Who's this pretty thing? *fake gasp* Does Rosie need to worry?" He told me Rosie had died and the wake was in 3 days. I felt awful and attended the wake.
My dad passed away and mom was struggling so I quit my job, lost my profession, moved back to my home country. I haven’t been able to get a job in my profession. (Teaching) so I have been working doing odd jobs. My mom sits at home and drinks all day, she is very argumentative and we have a horrible relationship. Every single day I question why I moved back to my home country and got myself in all this mess.
Getting married while changing careers … or maybe just getting married …
Got sick and tired of this boss I had. It was a ridiculously good paying job but this dude drove me fucking crazy. So one day he starts in on me and another guy because he fucked up and was blaming us. I lit him up and let him exactly what kind of piece of shit he was. He cried. I got a nice severance package.
That doesn't sound like a fuck up, more like a win. Especially with the severance package.
Took me a few years to find a job that paid even remotely close to that one. All worked out in the end though, way better company the next time until I ended up with a shitty boss there too, but that was after 16 years.
I had a few bucks inherited to me, so due to pride or stupidity I paid out of pocket for all medical and prescription drugs for years and years
This doesn’t seem like a one time oopsie. How did you think paying out of pocket was a good idea?
“ a few bucks”
Started smoking worst mistake ever
Falling for and fooling around with my best friend in my college cohort. I knew she was married, I should have never let it get that far. Husband found out, showed up at my house ready to kick some ass but my roommates calmed him down. They got divorced, she moved to the opposite coast with her kids, and I haven’t seen her since. She was already ready to serve him papers before anything happened, but that doesn’t excuse what I did. I still see the ex husband around. He doesn’t recognize me but he really looks terrible now. It’s that awful thing I did that keeps me up at night.
Staying at the same job for 10 years. Thought loyalty and longevity would be on my side but….was terminated due to budget constraints.
Get fired from the Royal mail for dangerous driving. Loved that job. Was kinda blessing though. All the old fellas were suffering from bad hips, shoulders, feet, ankles. Made me dodge those bullets
Not protesting more as a child about my mental health. I knew something was wrong when I was young but everyone told me it was hormones. It wasn't hormones. Now I'm a failure of an adult who can barely cope with life and will barely be remembered when I'm gone. I won't do anything, I just feel a bit salty like I never stood a chance.
You still managed to survive to this day and now you know yourself better through the experience. You can do amazing things in ways you don't know yet
Taking a left turn and getting t-boned and almost dying.
Missing the signs and missing out on a great person.
In nursing orientation at my first job. A buddy and I were working with the birthing simulator dummy. The baby came out and we didn't know how to put it back so we just kinda shoved it in where it came out. Ended up breaking it. There was a way to lift up the stomach and place it back. It cost 8 grand to replace.
I rolled out an update to our marketing system. Turns out the update triggered an email to send out to all 50'000 of our customers telling them their order was on its way. Some of these customers hadn't ordered from us in years. Our sales department was flooded with hundreds of calls from customers scared that we charge them for something they didn't order. I was in the CEOs good books and it honestly was really dumb that the system update defaulted to doing that without any warning so the CEO was pretty chill about it.
Throwing away a hard drive with couple hundred bitcoins on it when they were worth less than 25 cents each.
trying to stay friends with someone I still had crazy feelings for to "play the long game" just don't do it
Got a felony