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Some people can juggle multiple tasks at a time and successfully complete all of them on time while maintaining the highest standard. Then, there are some who will mess up anything and everything, even if they have just one job that they're responsible for.

While the former is always impressive, the latter usually makes for way funnier stories. That's why when a person online asked people to share stories about someone who really messed up their one job, the responses came pouring in. Scroll down to enjoy the best of those answers!

More info: Reddit

This post may include affiliate links.

#1

Netizen Inquired, “Who Really [Messed] Up Their ’One Job?’“, And 30 People Came Through The CEO of Sears who thought the internet was a passing fad. As the definitive name in mail-order, Sears had the warehouses and logistics in place to be Amazon years before Bezos made it there. 


One of very few mistakes that lost a company at least one *trillion* dollars. .

valvilis , Adrian Sulyok Report

Final score:
174points
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#2

Netizen Inquired, “Who Really [Messed] Up Their ’One Job?’“, And 30 People Came Through Has anyone mentioned that one guy who messed up with the suez canal ship and caused a massive economic chain of events?

gomazoa93 , Sentinel Hub Report

Final score:
168points
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#3

Netizen Inquired, “Who Really [Messed] Up Their ’One Job?’“, And 30 People Came Through The fake sign language interpreter from Tampa that was signing gibberish… people will figure that out.

Volhn , CBS News Report

Final score:
122points
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From failing this iconic GTA San Andreas Wrong Side of the Tracks mission to the Evergreen cruise ship getting stuck in the Suez Canal, we keep encountering situations where people are tasked with a single task that they're expected to perform well, and yet they fail at it with all their might.

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You might wonder how these things keep on happening. Well, as Enrique Rubio explained in his LinkedIn Post, it is usually due to something known as the Dunning-Kruger effect, which basically states that the less someone knows, the more they think they know, and the same goes for their competence. 

The Dunning-Kruger effect is a cognitive bias that reassures our ego and self-esteem, making us reject our limitations and overestimate our knowledge or ability to do something. It usually comes from a lack of self-awareness and an inability to assess our own skills accurately, so paradoxically, people who are actually good at something tend to underestimate their value.
#4

Netizen Inquired, “Who Really [Messed] Up Their ’One Job?’“, And 30 People Came Through Secret service for allowing JFK to ride around in an open car. Protecting the man means you gotta say “no”‘to what he wants.

BigTuna0890 , History in HD Report

Final score:
119points
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Strings
Strings
Community Member
6 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Having studied bodyguarding a bit, I can say that tye biggest problem is usually the principal

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#5

Netizen Inquired, “Who Really [Messed] Up Their ’One Job?’“, And 30 People Came Through Liz Truss. Took office, went to extreme lengths to take care of her wealthy pals at the top, took our currency to historic lows with Kwasi Kwarteng's horrendously planned "mini budget", killed off the housing market, announced £45bn of unplanned tax cuts, went into hiding and then dipped out of the job after seven weeks. She is the shortest serving PM in UK history, and the previous shortest serving PM died in office after serving just shy of four months in office.

gregofdeath Report

Final score:
117points
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Hugh Cookson
Hugh Cookson
Community Member
6 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

She was, and remains an utter, utter twat of the first order. She should have been prosecuted but will be getting her full pension from her time in office, full police protection for the rest of her (and her families) life and to put the insult cherry on top of the shitcake, is still an MP ffs. You couldn't make it up.

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#6

Netizen Inquired, “Who Really [Messed] Up Their ’One Job?’“, And 30 People Came Through Me when I took a door off to fit a cat flap .. cut the hole, fitted the cat flap ,re hung the door , cat flap was at the top of the door .

Own-Permission-7186 , Daviddje Report

Final score:
116points
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Happenings like these might be unfortunate and embarrassing for the people responsible, but for the rest, this usually becomes just another hilarious meme inspiration. In fact, there's a whole subreddit dedicated to memes like this, and it has nearly 800,000 members.

But while some memes like this are just a perfect display of pure incompetence, there are also those that come from the side of misfortune. That makes us wonder: Why do people tend to laugh at the failure of others?
#7

Netizen Inquired, “Who Really [Messed] Up Their ’One Job?’“, And 30 People Came Through Costa Concordia's captain. 33 casualties and $2billion in manpower required to move the stuck ship.

three-sense , John Ferguson Report

Final score:
113points
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#8

Netizen Inquired, “Who Really [Messed] Up Their ’One Job?’“, And 30 People Came Through Robin Hood trading app. Was created to “level the playing field” between large equity trading firms and everyday traders. Then when the poors started making money and the big trading houses started losing money on their short positions, they shut down trading by regular people so the big guys could get their positions realigned and not go broke.

svrgnctzn , Andrew Neel Report

Final score:
109points
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#9

Netizen Inquired, “Who Really [Messed] Up Their ’One Job?’“, And 30 People Came Through My forties. How am I still getting zits at this age?!? YOU HAD ONE JOB, FORTIES!!

wheezy_runner , Matthias Zomer Report

Final score:
109points
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According to Mark Travers from Psychology Today, despite being generally frowned upon, this occurrence is actually quite common. It is called 'schadenfreude,' and it is a German conjunction word made of schaden (harm) and freude (joy). 

However, while we all might enjoy some laughs at the cost of others' misfortune, like watching shows such as Impractical Jokers, it can become problematic when it becomes an overindulgence. High levels of schadenfreude are associated with Machiavellianism, narcissism, and even psychopathy, which usually lead people down darker paths in life.
#10

Netizen Inquired, “Who Really [Messed] Up Their ’One Job?’“, And 30 People Came Through The guard at the gate in Troy that let the horse in.

platypus5309 , KEMAL HAYIT Report

Final score:
104points
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#11

Netizen Inquired, “Who Really [Messed] Up Their ’One Job?’“, And 30 People Came Through I work for USPS and we deliver UPS packages as a "last mile" service. There's a person at UPS that puts one sticker on the box before it comes to us. It's a little rectangular sticker...

They manage to cover all of the important stuff on the label 50% of the time. 😒🤦
You have a whole f*****g box. Stop putting it on the label. Jesus christ.

Velkause , Markus Spiske Report

Final score:
100points
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TheGoodBoi
TheGoodBoi
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6 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The AOL "You've got mail" went through my head when I read the package.

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#12

The surgeon who had a 300% mortality rate during an amputation. Apparently he performed it under two and a half minutes…the patient died, someone in attendance died of shock and an assistant died because his fingers were also amputated and he got an infection.

lovehatewhatever Report

Final score:
96points
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Hugh Cookson
Hugh Cookson
Community Member
6 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Robert Liston. Had a reputation for being able to amputate limbs very quickly (a bonus in pre anaesthesia days). Still a bit brutal though.

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In the end, no one is safe from messing up whatever task they have at hand, even if it seems to be the simplest thing in the world. It's human to overestimate ourselves, just as it is human to find the failure of others funny. 

But everything has a healthy limit, so if these failures keep happening to you, perhaps you should reevaluate your approach. And if you get to the point where you laugh at someone for something like being unjustly fired, maybe it could be wise to talk to someone and figure out why it makes you feel that way.

What did you think about this story? Do you know any good examples that would fit this list? Share all of them in the comments below!
#13

Netizen Inquired, “Who Really [Messed] Up Their ’One Job?’“, And 30 People Came Through The guy who sends out ballistic missile warnings in Hawaii.

Wendysmanager24 , Tyler Lastovich Report

Final score:
92points
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Mad Dragon
Mad Dragon
Community Member
6 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

On the morning of January 13, 2018, an alert was accidentally issued via the Emergency Alert System and Wireless Emergency Alert System over television, radio, and cellular networks in the U.S. state of Hawaii, instructing citizens to seek shelter due to an incoming ballistic missile. It concluded with "This is not a drill". The message was sent at 8:08 a.m. local time. The state had not authorized civil defense outdoor warning sirens. 38 minutes and 13 seconds later, state officials blamed a miscommunication during a drill at the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency for the first message.

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#14

Netizen Inquired, “Who Really [Messed] Up Their ’One Job?’“, And 30 People Came Through Shohei Ohtani's interpreter.

All he had to do was translate words. Follow around the best baseball player in the world, and he even got to be best friends with him.

All he had to do was not steal $16 million from his boss.

F*ckChiefs_Raiders , Mark Milbert Report

Final score:
92points
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#15

Netizen Inquired, “Who Really [Messed] Up Their ’One Job?’“, And 30 People Came Through Refuse bag makers. Your ONLY job is to make a bag thick enough to put rubbish in without splitting- is it really that had?

Automatic_Role6120 , Emily P Report

Final score:
91points
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Zedrapazia
Zedrapazia
Community Member
6 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The bags can be produced cheaper if the plastic is thinner because less material is used per roll of bags. That's literally the reason and it's shite

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#16

Netizen Inquired, “Who Really [Messed] Up Their ’One Job?’“, And 30 People Came Through The delivery driver
"attemped to deliver" 😭.

NoCapBS , Andrew Stickelman Report

Final score:
90points
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James016
James016
Community Member
6 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I have had many attempted to deliver cards despite me being at home. Cue me running after them to get my package which leads to them saying they will try and redeliver it and me complaining to the company I bought the item from.

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#17

Netizen Inquired, “Who Really [Messed] Up Their ’One Job?’“, And 30 People Came Through That armourer in the Rust film comes to mind.

Mean_Witness_4447 , kat wilcox Report

Final score:
87points
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Nosirrow
Nosirrow
Community Member
6 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You would have thought the death of Brandon Lee opened filmmakers' eyes.

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#18

Netizen Inquired, “Who Really [Messed] Up Their ’One Job?’“, And 30 People Came Through I had the easiest part-time job ever. But this isn't about me this is about the girl that worked there full-time that I relieved twice a week.

So the entire job was sit there and watch a door and watch movies on your tablet or phone or whatever. Basically the entire point of having security there was that the company got a huge discount on their fire insurance if they had 24-hour security. Basically the entire job was to stay conscious.

So this girl actively brought in a pillow and blanket and probably close to 9 out of 10 times whenever I showed up to relieve her, she was dead asleep. And it's not like she worked third shift, she worked second shift, but she was dead asleep. And that other 1/10 of the time she was just waking up as I walked through the door.

Me personally? I didn't care, my philosophy is do my job, get paid, and go home. I don't give a s**t what my coworkers doing unless it makes me look bad. The only thing I did to cover my a*s in this case was to bring it up to my supervisor who did nothing about it. That way if it was brought up to me I could honestly tell them I brought it up to my supervisor. Once I bring it up to my supervisor, If my supervisor does nothing about it, it's not my problem, I've done my part, it's now on them.

It took the company 6 months to figure out she was just showing up and sleeping during her shift. The client had to literally trip over her to figure it out. She was fired immediately.

GentlyUsedOtter , Marcus Aurelius Report

Final score:
87points
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#19

Netizen Inquired, “Who Really [Messed] Up Their ’One Job?’“, And 30 People Came Through That dude from Price Waterhouse Cooper's at the Oscar's a few years ago who mixed up the envelopes and f****d up the Best Picture announcement. To the tune of the entire cast of La La Land coming on stage to celebrate, only to turn around and tell the cast of Moonlight that they actually won.

Not_My_Emperor , Oscars Report

Final score:
83points
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#20

Netizen Inquired, “Who Really [Messed] Up Their ’One Job?’“, And 30 People Came Through Head of FEMA Michael Brown during hurricane katrina.

wxyz51 , GEORGE DESIPRIS Report

Final score:
81points
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#21

Netizen Inquired, “Who Really [Messed] Up Their ’One Job?’“, And 30 People Came Through That person first in line at the light, yet texting. You have one job!

FreeWheelingMoon , Stan Report

Final score:
73points
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#22

Netizen Inquired, “Who Really [Messed] Up Their ’One Job?’“, And 30 People Came Through The people who install public restroom stalls but leave gaps in the doors so you can make eye contact with the people waiting for a stall. Also, why are they not installing purse hooks in the stalls? Most public bathrooms I use don’t have a place to hang my bag and not because it fell/broke. It’s clear there was never one installed.

thelovinglivingshop , Sung Jin Cho Report

Final score:
71points
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Sky Render
Sky Render
Community Member
6 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Seeing less of the lack of purse hooks these days. Unfortunately not seeing less of the most egregious stall design ever.

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#23

Netizen Inquired, “Who Really [Messed] Up Their ’One Job?’“, And 30 People Came Through Steve Harvey at Miss Universe when he announced the wrong winner.

PapaNoPickle , ABC News Report

Final score:
69points
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Blue Bunny of Happiness
Blue Bunny of Happiness
Community Member
6 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In my option, creating Miss Universe and every other beauty pageant was the royal mess up. Other opinions are valid and respected, I just don’t agree with them!

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#24

Netizen Inquired, “Who Really [Messed] Up Their ’One Job?’“, And 30 People Came Through Michael Jackson's personal doctor. (The propofol guy).

dkmarnier , Call Me Fred Report

Final score:
63points
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#25

Netizen Inquired, “Who Really [Messed] Up Their ’One Job?’“, And 30 People Came Through Kobe's chopper pilot not refusing to take off in adverse weather.

unityofsaints , Mike Von Report

Final score:
61points
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Lorraine Woollands
Lorraine Woollands
Community Member
6 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

They did this on a episode of Air Crash Investigation. It had nothing to do with Kobe. The pilot flew in to bad instead of grounding or going round. He choose to fly, Kobe had NOT made him hurry up. AIR CRASH INVESTIGATION were able to prove that none of the passengers were to blame. Look up the episode

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#26

Netizen Inquired, “Who Really [Messed] Up Their ’One Job?’“, And 30 People Came Through The writers of Star Wars Episode 7. Their one job was to reunite the OG trio (Han, Luke, Leia). They failed. Making a Star Wars sequel without reuniting the trio, is like making a Harry Potter sequel without reuniting Harry, Ron, and Hermoine. Just a fail.

Digitlnoize , Star Wars Report

Final score:
60points
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Luke Branwen
Luke Branwen
Community Member
6 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That was the fault of Harrison Ford, not the writers. HF agreed to return to Star Wars ONLY if Han Solo finally dies in episode 7. He did, and therefore couldn't meet Luke in the next movie.

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#27

Netizen Inquired, “Who Really [Messed] Up Their ’One Job?’“, And 30 People Came Through Whoever grounded the Exxon Valdez.

RoseWould Report

Final score:
57points
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#28

Netizen Inquired, “Who Really [Messed] Up Their ’One Job?’“, And 30 People Came Through Phil Tippett, dinosaur supervisor.

SinkHoleDeMayo , Suki Lee Report

Final score:
47points
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Donkey boi
Donkey boi
Community Member
6 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I could be wrong, but I feel like this is a Jurassic park reference.

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#29

The Welder who blew up Beirut in 2020, [ended] over 200 people during the peak of Covid and basically caused the entire countrys collapse.

1 welder took down an entire country.

BravestWabbit Report

Final score:
45points
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2x4b523p
2x4b523p
Community Member
6 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I had no idea it was a welder who started the fire, however the explosion was result of incompetence of massive proportions going up to government officials who will never be punished. Fires happen, but storing tonnes of highly combustible chemicals improperly for years should have never, ever happened.

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#30

Netizen Inquired, “Who Really [Messed] Up Their ’One Job?’“, And 30 People Came Through LastPass. Their entire business model was protecting customer secrets. Had their customer database compromised. I went to BitWarden and then changed all my passwords.

FortunateGeek , Volodymyr Kondriianenko Report

Final score:
42points
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Ken Beattie
Ken Beattie
Community Member
6 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Stuff like this is why I use pen and paper for my rarely used passwords. If someone wants to steal them they need to physically break into my house, figure out where I've written them down and steal them. Lot of effort for one person's passwords. Compare that to automated hacking, or massive password breaches online.

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#31

Netizen Inquired, “Who Really [Messed] Up Their ’One Job?’“, And 30 People Came Through Nick Leeson. A trader that lost $1 Billion by doing unauthorized trades and bankrupted Barings Bank in 1995.

mgm330 , Ono Kosuki Report

Final score:
26points
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DennyS (denzoren)
DennyS (denzoren)
Community Member
6 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

At some point you're think there would be someone to be like...woah, hold up there Nick.

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#32

Gerald Ratner, a jewelry shop owner who said the product his company made was c**p and cost his company £500 million in one night.

CitizenHuman Report

Final score:
23points
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#33

Netizen Inquired, “Who Really [Messed] Up Their ’One Job?’“, And 30 People Came Through Xbox one guy.
His job was unveil the new xbone. Ended up telling people to stick to the 360 if they didn't want always online.


They didn't.

k3g , Anthony Report

Final score:
23points
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SBocker78
SBocker78
Community Member
6 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is pretty normal for Microsoft. They roll out something no one wants(Vista, Kinect), then belittle consumers for not wanting it, only to have to course correct later.

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#34

The CEO of "Max" seems to be doing a pretty good job of f*****g up a very successful, established brand, so I'll say him.

Lissy_Wolfe Report

Final score:
16points
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Kevin B
Kevin B
Community Member
6 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Seemed like a stream of awful decisions. Let's spend 40 years making HBO a premium channel. Let's make 2 apps for it call them Go and Now so that no one knows which one they need to use. Let's merge them into a terrible new app call it HBO Max that you can't really navigate. Wait now let's make it harder to navigate and find content. Let's just rename it to Max the inferior one of our two brands.

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#35

Netizen Inquired, “Who Really [Messed] Up Their ’One Job?’“, And 30 People Came Through That lookout on the Titanic.

alexfights34 , NOAA Report

Final score:
-24points
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Donkey boi
Donkey boi
Community Member
6 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The lookout did a fantastic job all things considered. They spotted the iceberg... at night... with no moon... and no binoculars. The Titanic was going too fast to be able to turn fast enough; Despite numerous iceberg warning AND SEEING several in the afternoon before the sinking. No, the person/people that failed there were the First Officer and Captain.

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