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People Share Their Biggest Work Fails In An Attempt To Console An HBO Intern Who Made A Mistake
If you’re on a more or less successful path in your career, the chances are you were an intern at some point in your life. A training position set apart from regular employment dates back to the Middle Ages when an apprentice would learn a craft from an expert and would be granted access to work in the guild. These days, internships are somewhat a burden rather than an opportunity, since it’s often misused as a loophole to attract unpaid or low-paid entry level workforce.
But the challenges of interning don’t end just there. It often entails the same duties and responsibilities as other workers have, plus all eyes are laid on you whenever you make a first slip-up. This is what happened to one unnamed intern at HBO Max who, according to the company, has “mistakenly sent out an empty test email to a portion of our HBO Max mailing list.” HBO wasted no time to call out the offender, stating that “yes, it was an intern.”
And that’s when people on Twitter took the intern’s side, sharing the most wholesome support stories that remind everyone how we’ve all been there, done that.
Image credits: EduardoCuevas
Image credits: HBOMaxHelp
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Yvonne Dauwalder Balsiger 4 years ago (edited)
Haha, that is absolutely hysterical! I love how the IRL versions of my 2 favorite muppets saved her butt.
Nahkaparturi X 1 year ago
What kind of a humourless dolt would want to fire someone over this ?? Beaker, that's who !
WhatEvenIsLife 4 years ago
I'm neither an intern nor new to my job. Just a couple of weeks ago, I accidentally released very sensitive information that we were required to withhold. To a reporter. News of my mistake went all the way up to the CEO (not a small organization). One of our chiefs now has to give an interview about it. I straight up thought they might fire me, but all I got was a write-up and a brief meeting with my supervisors about what we can do to prevent it happening in the future. I was amazed they were so calm and understanding.
If an odd email from HBO Max landed in your inbox recently, you're not alone. On Thursday, HBO Max announced that an email with the subject line "Integration Test Email #1" went out to an unknown number of its subscribers. The streaming company then took to Twitter to openly put the blame on an unnamed intern. Their tweet stated "As the jokes pile in, yes, it was the intern. No, really. And we're helping them through it."
But people on social media platform made sure to comfort the ‘offender’ and offered them some emotional comfort in a series of #DearIntern tweets that reflected on their own work failures and embarrassments, as well as their office horror stories.
RELATED:
#2
Easily Excitable Panda 4 years ago
I've known some pretty shady babies in my day...
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Night Owl 4 years ago (edited)
He would've had to raise a paw and swear to tell the trwoof and nothing but the trwoof
#3
Katherine Boag 4 years ago
Id have been mortified in my 20s but now that I'm in my 30s would mostly be amused XD
Tara Leigh 4 years ago
Realizes why people in her office a week before her period due were being very nice and agreeable to her
Ralph Spooner 4 years ago
I bet your co-workers were unexpectedly REALLY nice to you during those times.
To find out an expert’s take on this viral incident, Bored Panda reached out to Dawn Moss, the founder of “Your Interview Coach” who has been helping both candidates and hiring managers through the recruitment and selection process since 2013. Dawn said that Twitter’s support for the intern shows that “there'll be a lot of people who were interns at the beginning of their career and they will definitely empathize with this experience.”
“Being new in any job can be a massive learning curve,” she said and continued: “It doesn't matter how much or little experience you have, each company has its own way of doing things and it takes time to learn those unique ways. I think people can relate to making mistakes as well. Who hasn't made a mistake at work? Most people will feel bad, stressed and/or disappointed with themselves when they make mistakes.” That's why Dawn believes the intern received so much support and empathy.
#4
Night Owl 4 years ago (edited)
Me too. Someone accidentally sent the warning to everyone on Hawaii and caused panic. All news sources got together to set things straight and reported on it
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Bumblebee 4 years ago
Netherlands even here who remembers it! Though I have to say: I do have a close (just not in distance) friend who lives on the big island. But I remember talking to her after it was clear there was no threat. The panic, I hope I never have to experience something like that in my life, even if it turned out to be nothing like back then. When she told me after the fact, I just felt the panic she had been through and was still going through, even though she then knew it had been a false alarm..
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Dandelion Patch 4 years ago
Went on a tour of Kualoa Ranch on Oahu and the guide told us that his whole family spent hours hiding in a World War II bomb shelter. Yikes.
#5
Sage Gusano 4 years ago (edited)
I once submitted a brief to the FDA in regard to recalled wheelchair parts being stored in a locked area which was not "accessible to the pubic"...Received a response from the FDA requesting I correct that to "the public".
zovjraar me 4 years ago
done this with "panty faucet" instead of "pantry faucet" on a purchase order
Freya the Wanderer 4 years ago
One time, when I was typing a report about the inspection of a commercial property, I misspelled "warehouse" so it autocorrected to "whorehouse." Thank goodness I caught that before I printed the first draft!
#6
When asked whether, in her opinion, it's right for such a megacompany like HBO Max to publicly put their blame on an intern, Dawn said that although making mistakes is uncomfortable, they’re a normal part of learning. “In my opinion, it was a little unfair to blame the intern. I think as an intern you should be allowed to make mistakes, learn from those mistakes and be able to make these mistakes in private.”
Having said that, the job interview coach added that we don't know quite how this was handled internally. “It's been good publicity for them, so maybe they were delighted with the intern and asked if they could share,” she added.
#7
James016 4 years ago
We have a guide somewhere saying no to use reply all on company wide emails.
jaislndgrl 4 years ago
I did the same thing at a Fortune 15 company AND did it on the day the C suite was at an offsite so they were completely cut off as the servers crashed and they couldn't get emails on their mobiles. I mean every troll crawled out of the basement for the pleasure of hitting reply all, and then 5 good samaritans kept replying all to tell everyone to stop replying all. It was the gift that kept on giving. They didn't fire me, BUT I kept a low profile for a few years after that incident.
Connie Martin 4 years ago
This has happened at my work too. Someone replied to 30K employees saying, "No thanks, I don't need a parking pass."
John C 4 years ago
outlook has a function under the OPTIONS ribbon - "direct replies to:" where you can control what auto-populates when people click reply buttons. on the rare occasion I have to send an email to many recipients and BCC isn't appropriate, I use that to prevent such atrocities.
Thomas Turnbull 4 years ago
I once sent a repair email to 5000 members of the company instead of the one person. The good news was that that one person did answer me.
#8
WilvanderHeijden 4 years ago
The boss is right. It's the company's responsibility to make sure there are backups and security measures to prevent one person from destroying vital information. A lot of institutions and businesses don't have this and as a result they have to pay big money to criminals who have encrypted that data with ransomware.
Katarina Leaf-Dobbs 4 years ago
As was proven when not one but TWO Hospital DHBS in New Zealand were recently hacked. No back ups, inadequate security measures saw hundreds upon hundreds of patients personal details held for ransom.
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Butternut DerpFarts 4 years ago
I used to do computer science class and I would be coding and the whole thing would come crashing down the project not working at all, and it would take sometimes a week for me and the teacher to find out I forgot a semicolon.
Erla Zwingle 4 years ago
Perhaps apocryphal story about Tom Watson, first president of IBM. An employee made some egregious mistake (that got fixed) and when a colleague asked if Watson was going to fire the person, Watson answered: "Why should I give some other company the benefit of what he learned from this?" Epic.
Filipe Lopes 4 years ago
Well, I wished I had that boss, I did a similar mistake when I was young and updated a table in production (no backups were kept), and my boss claimed I did it on purpose, and I had to loose part of my salary... but I now realise it was the best thing to have lost that job!
#9
Luis Hernandez Dauajare 4 years ago (edited)
Something similar happened to me. I was working as an intern at my country's embassy in Britain and I was having problems with the invitations for a fancy dinner party. Found out the Chancellor of the Exchequer does not appreciate receiving unmarked parcels. I was yelled at for one hour by my boss, who told me I nearly caused an international incident.
Bent. O. Jensen 4 years ago
You got yelled at because your boss didn't tell you that the Chancellor of the Exchequer does not appreciate receiving unmarked parcels?
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Terran 4 years ago
We have a small festival in our town and I was the head of security at the time. One older person tried to enter the backstage area shortly beore the festival started and I denied him entry. It turned out this guy was head of the city council for cultural stuff and wanted to inspect our festival!
Billy Maguire 4 years ago
He should have announced himself properly to you.
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Stannous Flouride 4 years ago
GHW Bush was last president the US had who actually saw the cost of war first hand. He was smart enough to realize that invading Iraq after driving them out of Kuwait without an end goal and withdrawal plan. His son was less smart and the US is still paying for it. (I agree that the liberation of Kuwait was done to protect oil interests but believe when you have a mutual support treaty with a nation you have to come to their aid. If not, it sends a message to all your other allies that you're not dependable)
A B C 4 years ago
"He was smart enough to realize that invading Iraq after driving them out of Kuwait without an end goal and withdrawal plan" - that sentence just doesn't make sense, or am I missing something? It's late and I should go to bed.
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Eemeli Saarelainen (Molter) 4 years ago
That's what you should do, if he cannot prove his identity.
And to the internet-famous unnamed intern from HBO Max, Dawn suggests networking widely in the business and asking lots and lots of questions. “The more people you talk to around the business, the more they will realize most people have been there and done it and I guarantee they've made their fair share of mistakes too.”
Moreover, “I'd also suggest spending time with experienced people in the company, they will totally understand the learning curve and the politics of the office. It really is good to talk,” she concluded.
#10
Bonnie Edwards 4 years ago
My cousin (working as a computer programming troubleshooter) once broke Centrelink - the Australian welfare payments website - at about 2am one week night. He fixed it again before anyone noticed, but he had to call his Dad (also a computer geek) for moral support.
#11
#12
A B C 4 years ago
This ought to be the sticky top-most post in this thread, because, well, obvious reasons.
Load More Replies... Kari Panda 4 years ago (edited)
Oh yes. I‘m not even an intern, but was given an IT-related task. … I am a LIBRARIAN. And it wasn’t a task like 'make a spreadsheet', it was actual IT work. I am friends with one of our IT guys and had to ask him three times until he realised I had received no training whatsoever nor do I even have required programs. Now he‘s putting together a training course for me, bless that man.
Keley Babs 4 years ago
PREACH!!! Everyone is so quick to blame the underling (surgeon here, so former surgical resident and medical student), but I think the mark of a good leader is someone who takes responsibility first since it was his or her team, and then honestly ask themself how they could've protected their teammate from being in that situation. Yes sometimes you have lazy or careless teammates under you, but It's crucial for a leader to ask how that teammate was put in that position in the first place
Bored Panda also spoke with the Twitter user José Carlos Chávez, who was among the many who shared support for the unnamed HBO Max intern on the social media platform. José shared his own slip-up during his internship online: “As an intern, I dropped a table in a prod database. I decided to resign immediately, packed up my stuff and went to tell my boss. She was talking to the CEO of the company and got terrified and went back to my spot to find out the connection expired before it could run.”
Amassing 14.9k likes, José’s post went viral. “I think sharing our personal mistakes like mine encourages other people who are in difficulties to understand that everyone makes mistakes and that it’s totally fine,” the Barcelona-based software engineer told us. He also added that such human errors are fine “as long as we learn and grow from them.”
#13
Butternut DerpFarts 4 years ago (edited)
When i was in computer science class it would take a week of troubleshooting and having the teacher scour my project and then have the top students in class look at my project before we would realize I forgot a semicolon
Peter Trudell Jr 4 years ago
it's always a G-D semicolon. That tended to be step 1 on why your Pascal/C program wouldn't compile. Check every single line of code for a missing semicolon.
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AnnaBanana 4 years ago
As a young admin, I did this. Stock taking company branded merch and managed to leave the "R" out of every. Single. Shirt. I typed. Boss thought it was hilarious 1
#14
elfin 4 years ago (edited)
My company once made a CD for a tradeshow. It was supposed to be titled "The Power of Learning at Work," but someone omitted the "r" from "Learning." The mistake was caught when it was on it's way out the door and too late to fix. People tend not to proofread the titles.
#15
Connie Martin 4 years ago
Oooohhh yeah that was a really horrible mistake
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H Edwards 4 years ago
The 'on accident' is somehow doubly infuriating because he got it right the second time! I know I'm being nitpicky but 'on accident' is just one of those common mistakes that annoys me way more than it should.
Jamma 4 years ago
That's a pretty widely used colloquial phrase...I wouldn't make it your hill to die on, H. ;)
Load More Replies...According to the 2020/2021 data on internships in the US presented by Compare Camp, completing internships increases job offers by 16%. It is generally believed that an internship paves the way for a full-time position later as the data shows that 70% of companies offer interns a full-time job, and 80% of students accept them. That makes 56% of interns getting full-time jobs from their internships.
On the other hand, it’s widely known that such an opportunity to develop a skill set needed to land a career often demands some sacrifices. Hence, unpaid internships are still a grim reality for many students who are willing to go far to earn industry experience.
The same data showed that an estimated 500,000 to one million Americans work as unpaid interns every year. Not only does it put an extra amount of pressure, both financial and psychological, on an intern, it also leads to fewer job offers. Paid internships are 34% more likely to lead to at least one job offer after graduation versus unpaid internships.
#16
yellowphantom 4 years ago
I still have a card reminding "Monster Surname" that it was time for her shots.
Jo Falkinder 4 years ago
Is this not standard? My vets text Carlos and Jaffa to remind them their boosters are due, and to tell Carlos he's at Weight Watchers next week so stop sneaking next door for Tuna!
Freya the Wanderer 4 years ago
My former vet always sent letters and e-mails addressed to my cat.
#17
Wednesday 4 years ago
As a person who works with recordings and just dumped (accidentally) 12 hours of recorded narration. le sigh... and had to redo it all... what I personally learned is save the original unedited file to a RAW file folder inside the main folder. Then copy it to work on. Saves my head space for other things...
Erla Zwingle 4 years ago
On my first big magazine assignment ever I interviewed the subject's manager for an hour and a half using a tape recorder (this was in the stone age), feeling so proud of myself for working like a real big-time journalist. Went to transcribe the tape and it was blank because I'd hit "Play" instead of "Record." Happily for me I realized that I remembered the ONE thing the person had said that really mattered. Still, after that, notebooks and pens for me. You have to be paying attention to the person, not your freaking devices.
#18
#19
J Gund 4 years ago
Noe. The worst is wearing a wedding dress to someone else's wedding.
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Casey McAlister 4 years ago (edited)
If I ever have a wedding, I want everybody to wear white while I'll be wearing black. Or the wedding where nobody's wearing white. Not even me. Not even the other bride.
Jamma 4 years ago
This comment is out of place (wearing white is a choice, the intern made an unintended mistake) and seems like The Knot just trying to bust in on someone else's conversation and make it about themselves.
Wednesday 4 years ago (edited)
lol... I propose all bride's to be have a white dress at my wedding kit which contains, the help of a friend or family member you absolutely trust, a bottle of screw cap red wine (cheap is preferable) and a 1970's velour tracksuit in some unholy color in XL with a couple diaper pins to secure it/keep it up if it is too large or too small. If MIL, MOM, anyone shows up to your wedding wearing a wedding dress (or something white when you specifically requested them or guests NOT to), and this offends you, have co-conspirator grab the kit, get the wine, "accidentally" spill it all down the front, and kindly offer the track suit if they have "nothing else to wear!!" That is all... DO NOT offer to pay for dry cleaning - they wore white to YOUR wedding for FS and should pay for their own cleaning...
Linda Adams 4 years ago
I did that once. I totally was NOT thinking. Stupid, Stupid, Stupid. She still does not speak to me.
Bonnie Edwards 4 years ago (edited)
I had a friend wear an off-white lace dress to my wedding. I didn't have a problem and it was beautiful. That said, if someone had worn a wedding dress to my wedding, I would've been very upset.
#20
Keley Babs 4 years ago
Right? I'm a surgeon. I think it's so tacky when I hear other doctors blame their residents or the medical students, or the nurse taking care of the patient. Regardless of who's at fault. When you're in a position of leadership, you forfeit the right to be petty and point fingers. It's your job as a leader to take responsibility. Maybe you correct your teammates' behavior behind closed doors so they know better next time, but publicly you stand BEHIND them to SUPPORT them, or you stand IN FRONT of them to DEFEND them
#21
Maria Schneider 4 years ago
Dear Mr Holland Dear Mr Holland Dear Mr Holland Dear Mr Holland Dear Mr Holland Dear Mr Holland Dear Mr Holland Dear Mr Holland Dear Mr Holland Dear Mr Holland Dear Mr Holland
Ava Lasley 4 years ago
dont wanna be mean or rude but where are the ms/mrs hollands?
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#22
Wandaluzt 4 years ago
This was posted on Twitter. You can't reply to them here.
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Marti Wheat 4 years ago
Many years ago, I was temping on the NY Foreign Exchange Trading floor of Bank of America and was supposed to efax the weekly Financial Market Highlights to our entire client list. At the moment I hit "Send," my computer crashed and sent the last file I had updated, which was the monthly Profit & Loss statement. Fortunately, the company we used to send the mass fax was on the ball and caught the error, so only 46 clients received the P&L before it was shutdown. The SVP wanted my head on a stick until I was able to prove to IT that the computer had grabbed the wrong the file in its journey to blue screen hell...
#23
Sabs 4 years ago
I had a doctor write “Patient currently under our car receiving Physical Therapy.” And another that had transcribed “Patient has history of Bologna amputation” instead of below knee amputation. Good times.
Easily Excitable Panda 4 years ago (edited)
"Patient has known analogies" for "Patient has no known allergies." (That's from Adam Kay's book "This Is Going to Hurt.")
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Keley Babs 4 years ago
But you're not BORN knowing that, Doc. It's one thing when you mistake some thing because you're lazy or careless. But other than psychic powers, how are you supposed to know that? Some of my best chief residents and attendings when I was an intern were because they still remembered what it was like to be new
#24
#25
Mariana Schneider 4 years ago
campaign is over now and she doesn't say who she was working for, there's no harm.
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Dre Mosley 4 years ago
He basically ran a command in a live production database that basically removes a database table. This likely would have rendered the company's system unusable. Lucky for them, there was a connection timeout before the command was executed and nothing happened. He should not have the access to run such a command. Their DB Admins need to get with it.
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Dre Mosley 4 years ago (edited)
Why would you give an intern the ability to run the DROP command in Production? At my job very few people can do that. Anyway, hopefully they could have restored it from backup if the command had executed.
Rod Egret 4 years ago
Nobody should be allowed to drop a table from prod....
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#27
A B C 4 years ago
Again, where's the "shared work fail"? FFS, why can't BP authors stick to their titles?
Wandaluzt 4 years ago
They copy and paste stuff from other sites for clickbait. They sell advertising on the site to make money from other peoples content. They don't care about what they're copy and pasting, they really don't. That's why you get irrelevant posts, duplicate posts, or posts with bad spelling or grammar. Once you see the site for what it is then it won't bug you so much.
Load More Replies... #28
Roman Hans 4 years ago (edited)
Dear Universe, Nobody knows what “drop a prod database” means. Hope this helps, Roman
Dynein 4 years ago
The standard computer language for dealing with databases is SQL. One common and well-known SQL command is "drop" which means "delete". If you drop something in SQL, it's gone. However, most cases of accidental drops can easily be prevented by denying regular user accounts the rights to implement big changes such as the creation and deletion of entire tables or databases, and to only grant those rights to special administrator accounts. (On top of that, it's only smart to also create regular backups because even those with administrator accounts can make mistakes!)
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Lynn Morello 4 years ago
I believe it is an Electronic Drop sheet of what is going on with the company.
#29
#30
#31
#32
H Edwards 4 years ago
I did something very similar with 4 pints of beer when I was on a trial shift to be a bar waitress. They were the tall, top-heavy glasses that you get for weizen beer in Germany. The owner had to comp them some more drinks and then some more after that. I still got the job and actually turned out to be a good waitress, but that was not the best start. At least I knew to be extra careful with the weizen glasses!
Freya the Wanderer 4 years ago
Leaving a waitron a generous tip after such a bungle is a great way to let him/her know the bungle is forgiven.
#40
La Petite Morte 4 years ago
Scope creeped? I'm not sure how that would lead to believing you were under attack...
#42
#43
#44
Stevie 4 years ago
Okay since this is a pic: if you look at what he actually posted you'll see that the green button on the upper right moves across the page and disappears
Dynein 4 years ago
It's so simple (button moves straight to the left and off the page) but somehow rather cute - and judging by the comments to that tweet, I'm not alone with that opinion :) Weeeeeeee!
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James016 4 years ago
If you click on the name under the image, just above the voting buttons, you will get taken to the actual tweet and can see what happens
Load More Replies... #45
Butternut DerpFarts 4 years ago
One time this car drove by my house and it was fine. Car was ok. Wheeled platform being towed behind car was not. One of its two wheels was flat. Made this horrible noise. Were gone before I realized I should tell them.
#47
Mewton’s Third Paw 4 years ago
Gross. The rookie didn’t make a mistake and the tweeter knows it. What a trashbag
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What do you think ?
GirlFriday 4 years ago
Dear Intern, At my first day on the job in a major city's public safety department, I plugged in a space heater and blew the breaker to half of the municipal building which resulted in every court case going on in the county being cancelled that day. There was a high profile murder case taking place and the building officials thought it was an attack because of the murder case. They were ready to start evacuation procedures when maintenance found the blown breaker. Luckily, the maintenance man that realized the issue did not rat me out to anyone other than my immediate supervisor who thought it was funny. I bought that maintenance man coffee everyday for the eight years I worked there.
Kaori Panda 4 years ago
It's so nice how people shared their own stories to reassure the intern. As someone with terrible anxiety, I always worry that people will be judging me. Kindness like this helps others so much.
Sam Yobado 4 years ago
Dear Intern, When working an important contract at a large notable firm I took time off to go to Las Vegas for a bachelor party. I’m not much of a gambler, so when a friend of a friend said on his trip, he rented a convertible and went to the Hoover Dam, the Grand Canyon and the Chicken Ranch, I was excited to do the same. When asked at the firm what I was doing on my time off, I told them going to Las Vegas, noting I wasn't a gambler, but was interested in seeing the Hoover Dam, the Grand Canyon and the Chicken Ranch (which I assumed was another scenic landmark). Weeks later, just before leaving, I told another friend my plans. He asked me if I knew what the Chicken Ranch was? No, I admitted. It’s a brothel he told me. So, for weeks, I had been happily telling my boss, HR, professional colleagues, and anyone who asked I was going to Las Vegas to go to a brothel.
Gene Perry 4 years ago
As a county payroll clerk, I once terminated the entire sheriff's department.
John Topper 4 years ago
As a student (basically a negatively paid intern) I found a novel way to bring up message prompts on other computers in the classroom. Told a few ... colorful jokes. Was later called to the dean's office. Turns out I wasn't just broadcasting to my classroom or even that building. I was hitting every single computer on the campus network. Hundreds of screens including lecture halls. Nearly got expelled.
UpupaEpops 4 years ago (edited)
Dear Intern, the first time I had to apply for a major grant from the government, I very smartly decided to use the provided template to request a raise in my allowance from my Dad as a joke. Turns out, when you hit 'save' it automatically uploads it into the system and you do not have the authorization to delete it.
Izzy_ 4 years ago
Currently happening to me! New job. Found out I was poorly trained by the previous person. I felt completely incompetent till I found an email sent to her about the things she had to train me on. Turns out, what she trained me on was only like 10% of what my job is. I made so many mistakes my first week, I wanted to quit. BUT I told myself it's not my fault as I exposed their flaws and lack of training. XD
SCamp 4 years ago
This probably won't make it or be seen, but Dear Intern, you ain't got nothing on the Australian Mint - a spelling error printed on 46 million, yep forty six million, $50 banknotes now in circulation https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-48210733
Vicky Zar 4 years ago
Oh those banknotes are so pretty! And I learned two new names today I will have to look up. Thank you.
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Leo Domitrix 4 years ago
Dear Intern: Medical doctor interns aren't allowed any mistakes, b/c of the consequences. If the consequences are less than death? Cold drink, deep slow breaths, and give yourself a hug! ---- have the MD, didn't go into practice b/c dang, I don't want to screw up in a way that could kill someone...
Marnie 4 years ago
Dear Intern, as a young software developer, I left a temp code change in an enterprise app that routed email from one type of email to another within a company. The change routed all email to me. That means if left in, any client that got the latest release would have every email from their company go to me. I thought of it at 11:58 PM, two minutes before the build. I fixed it in time, but someone else at the company did remove all command from the root directory of our main internal server after doing "sudo root". Wiped out the entire server. I was so afraid it was me, I went home early that day and cried. (It wasn't me. They company was great and never let on who did it.)
GirlFriday 4 years ago
Dear Intern, At my first day on the job in a major city's public safety department, I plugged in a space heater and blew the breaker to half of the municipal building which resulted in every court case going on in the county being cancelled that day. There was a high profile murder case taking place and the building officials thought it was an attack because of the murder case. They were ready to start evacuation procedures when maintenance found the blown breaker. Luckily, the maintenance man that realized the issue did not rat me out to anyone other than my immediate supervisor who thought it was funny. I bought that maintenance man coffee everyday for the eight years I worked there.
Kaori Panda 4 years ago
It's so nice how people shared their own stories to reassure the intern. As someone with terrible anxiety, I always worry that people will be judging me. Kindness like this helps others so much.
Sam Yobado 4 years ago
Dear Intern, When working an important contract at a large notable firm I took time off to go to Las Vegas for a bachelor party. I’m not much of a gambler, so when a friend of a friend said on his trip, he rented a convertible and went to the Hoover Dam, the Grand Canyon and the Chicken Ranch, I was excited to do the same. When asked at the firm what I was doing on my time off, I told them going to Las Vegas, noting I wasn't a gambler, but was interested in seeing the Hoover Dam, the Grand Canyon and the Chicken Ranch (which I assumed was another scenic landmark). Weeks later, just before leaving, I told another friend my plans. He asked me if I knew what the Chicken Ranch was? No, I admitted. It’s a brothel he told me. So, for weeks, I had been happily telling my boss, HR, professional colleagues, and anyone who asked I was going to Las Vegas to go to a brothel.
Gene Perry 4 years ago
As a county payroll clerk, I once terminated the entire sheriff's department.
John Topper 4 years ago
As a student (basically a negatively paid intern) I found a novel way to bring up message prompts on other computers in the classroom. Told a few ... colorful jokes. Was later called to the dean's office. Turns out I wasn't just broadcasting to my classroom or even that building. I was hitting every single computer on the campus network. Hundreds of screens including lecture halls. Nearly got expelled.
UpupaEpops 4 years ago (edited)
Dear Intern, the first time I had to apply for a major grant from the government, I very smartly decided to use the provided template to request a raise in my allowance from my Dad as a joke. Turns out, when you hit 'save' it automatically uploads it into the system and you do not have the authorization to delete it.
Izzy_ 4 years ago
Currently happening to me! New job. Found out I was poorly trained by the previous person. I felt completely incompetent till I found an email sent to her about the things she had to train me on. Turns out, what she trained me on was only like 10% of what my job is. I made so many mistakes my first week, I wanted to quit. BUT I told myself it's not my fault as I exposed their flaws and lack of training. XD
SCamp 4 years ago
This probably won't make it or be seen, but Dear Intern, you ain't got nothing on the Australian Mint - a spelling error printed on 46 million, yep forty six million, $50 banknotes now in circulation https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-48210733
Vicky Zar 4 years ago
Oh those banknotes are so pretty! And I learned two new names today I will have to look up. Thank you.
Load More Replies... Leo Domitrix 4 years ago
Dear Intern: Medical doctor interns aren't allowed any mistakes, b/c of the consequences. If the consequences are less than death? Cold drink, deep slow breaths, and give yourself a hug! ---- have the MD, didn't go into practice b/c dang, I don't want to screw up in a way that could kill someone...
Marnie 4 years ago
Dear Intern, as a young software developer, I left a temp code change in an enterprise app that routed email from one type of email to another within a company. The change routed all email to me. That means if left in, any client that got the latest release would have every email from their company go to me. I thought of it at 11:58 PM, two minutes before the build. I fixed it in time, but someone else at the company did remove all command from the root directory of our main internal server after doing "sudo root". Wiped out the entire server. I was so afraid it was me, I went home early that day and cried. (It wasn't me. They company was great and never let on who did it.)
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