What's the worst professional mistake you've made?

iflyboats wrote:

Dating a co worker. Holy vagina it’s such a bad idea.

My buddy did this and is royally suffering for it. There are 7.3 billion humans on this planet. No need to open that can of worms.

Slipping my hand between my principal's legs during a meeting. I couldn't help it. She was hot. Working at a car wash now.

The Mooch wrote:

iflyboats wrote:

Dating a co worker. Holy vagina it’s such a bad idea.

My buddy did this and is royally suffering for it. There are 7.3 billion humans on this planet. No need to open that can of worms.

There have been plenty of successful relationships and marriages where people met as co-workers.

It depends on the situation.

Once a supervisor was paying unworked overtime. Mostly to win friends I think. We were all pretty young. I told him not to do that on my account. Then I sent a money order to accounting to cover it anonymously, but I mentioned that a supervisor was overpaying. Supervisors probably got a memo not to do that anymore . I guess it was figured out it was probably me and I was very unexpectedly laid off by choice of the crooked supervisor.

It actually happened again a few years later. it was very common in the industry and maybe all around for all I know. I just didn't rock the boat because I needed my job. Very uncomfortable even though it was not a lot of money maybe a weeks salary each time.

Working for my families insurance agency right out of college.

Ungrateful for the work I do. Co-workers who are not only uneducated and annoying but they complain about one another and act like their s**t dont stink.

Hardly gives me enough time to spend on my hobbies or time with my wife.

Actively pursuing other jobs. But how do you tell your dad he has created a terrible work environment? Especially after he has done so much for me in the past? Don't I owe it to him to stick around?

I went into the national forest, picked mushrooms on the advice of a friend, brought them to work and topped the pizza at our office party.

Thinking that my work would speak for itself. You need not only to do the work, but let your superiors know when you have done something you are proud of.

DO NOT take credit for something you don't do, but don't be afraid to tell people what you did and why you did it the way you did it--how it fits with the goals and benefits the company/organization.

Doh Etosh Amoshtay wrote:

Thinking that my work would speak for itself. You need not only to do the work, but let your superiors know when you have done something you are proud of.

DO NOT take credit for something you don't do, but don't be afraid to tell people what you did and why you did it the way you did it--how it fits with the goals and benefits the company/organization.

So you came here to humble brag instead!

I lied to my superior and was fired. I knew it was the wrong thing to do, but i did it anyway. I will never lie to a superior again.

about 3-4 years ago, I sent a mass email to the whole company via outlook. There were two departments that sounded very similar, and no one in my office knew the correct one, so with a 50/50 shot, I sent the email to "Operational Staff" instead of "Operational Directors" or something like that. Within seconds, I had sent the email to the entire company, including the CEO (whose name you would definitely know). I had my phone ringing forever and had 30 responses in about 5 minutes; one manager in Florida called, and said, "Hey--i see what you did wrong, and I have the answer to your question too. Let me help you out." He was very professional and courteous about it, and tried hard to help me assist my customer. Everyone else who responded did it negatively and tried to make me feel like an idiot. Me and my co-workers were just laughing about it, and at everyone's insecurities. I quit about 2 weeks later (not related) and that started a chain reaction at our office, where 7 of a total 10 people quit in 2 months.

Got sucked into the abyss of LRC and turned into a . . . well, you know.

Star wrote:

There have been plenty of successful relationships and marriages where people met as co-workers.

It depends on the situation.

It’s a risk. Most relationships don’t work out, and having to see the person who rejected you every day is f*cking miserable.

I was on a business conference trip where the mostly male members (including me) were being hosted at a resort by our parent company. We were at the hotel bar at the end of the evening and most of the attendees were there. I was drinking and chatting with friends, getting pretty buzzed.

One of the staff members of the parent company, an attractive female, wandered over to my barstool. She was also a bit tipsy. She gushes, "you wouldn't believe the disgusting things these married men are saying to me!" in a faux-scandalized way that made it pretty clear she was loving the attention.

Trying to respond in a witty, fatherly, "we're all grown-ups here" manner, I said "Well, just because they're married, doesn't mean they don't want to see you naked."

Hand over heart, swear to heavens I did not give off any aggressive vibe or indication that I was hitting on her.

She turned on a dime and said "how dare you? What would your wife think of you?" and stormed off.

I was minding my own business and got ambushed! I was just trying to be affable!

The next morning, I am getting death stares from all her colleagues at the registration table. No one from the parent company ever said anything to me about it, I was never reprimanded in any way, but from that day forward I was persona non grata and got noticeably icy receptions from everyone at the parent firm. A year later, I was forced by my boss to apply for a position on a joint venture between our two companies where the parent company got to choose the hire. I did not get the position.

MacBeth Route wrote:

Working for my families insurance agency right out of college.

Ungrateful for the work I do. Co-workers who are not only uneducated and annoying but they complain about one another and act like their s**t dont stink.

Hardly gives me enough time to spend on my hobbies or time with my wife.

Actively pursuing other jobs. But how do you tell your dad he has created a terrible work environment? Especially after he has done so much for me in the past? Don't I owe it to him to stick around?

No. You owe it to him to tell him how to make his business better. Speak your mind.

Shite my pants at the company Christmas party. Stuck around for about a half hour after to down as many free drinks as I could.

4 years ago my job used to be amazing. I would show up at 9, take two hour lunches to go running, leave at 4:30, then run again after work. I had several projects that I found ways to streamline but didn't tell anybody, and could get away for weeks doing nothing.

Then I started being perceived as an expert in my field which meant everybody else coming to me all the time for questions, had to do long training sessions for other orgs in the company, became a manager and led a team of 8 people who do what i used to do. My day is now swamped with meetings, strategic problem solving sessions, staff meetings, upper leadership meetings, meetings with consultants, interviews, meetings with HR, coaching sessions with staff, etc..... no longer do I get to run, work/life balance is horrible, and I barely get paid more than I used to.

If you're happy as an IC, stay an IC.

Was this meant to be a humorous post or was this serious? That is a lot of money to be spent on education to be working multiple part time jobs instead of pursuing either a career as a professor or some sort of career involving politics.

Seems normal to date a coworker. After all, it’s where you are everyday.

Not him but working in politics sucks. The pay isn't that great and you have to move around with the campaigns and be available for every stupid little event that the campaign/party is involved with. If you're unlucky with the positions you get you'll be working until 9:30 each night and having to find a new job every 8 months.

Political theorist wrote:

I got a PhD in political theory. I now work at a running store during the day and bartend at night.

Ha, I failed out of a PhD program in political science because I didn't take the intro courses or the subsequent exams seriously enough.

I was going to say that was my biggest mistake, but sometimes I think it was a blessing...