Embarrassing work stories

All of these are true stories we've collected from our staff and friends - some names have sometimes been changed.

"One day when I was speaking at a training session for 300+ clients, I went into the rest room prior to my time to take the podium. I went to the bathroom, came out of the stall, washed my hands and started talking to several women in the bathroom. Imgaine my surprise when I stepped back into the auditorium to learn that the entire time I had been in the bathroom I had left my microphone open so everyone was listening to everything over the speaker system! Everyone was laughing at me in the audience. I have never felt more embarssed in my life."
Submitted by Connie Jo See

"I had run out of clean underwear one day and resorted to wearing a pair that should have been thrown in the rubbish bin months ago. The lace around the leg was falling off but, as I was late for work, they had to do.

During the afternoon, my boss walked through the middle of our open plan office and bent down to pick something up. 'Oh what is this?' he puzzles as he stands there holding my knicker lace up like it is a worm for all my colleagues to see. I shrank into my seat and denied all knowledge of the offending article."
Submitted by Tracy

"Sue joined us shortly after she'd gone into remission from breast cancer. She'd had one breast removed and wore a prosthetic one while waiting for reconstructive surgery. One day, she came dashing into my office shouting "I've forgotten my boob!" Being a fairly ample woman, this was startlingly obvious. It was too far to go home to fetch it, so she wrapped some bubble wrap in a duster and stuffed that in instead. It crackled when she moved." Submitted by Jane

"I used to work with a lady named Alison, who once embarrassed herself by bringing a dead mouse to work. She'd left her bag open at the bottom of the stairs, and her cat had knocked it in there during the night. The first indication was when people started sniffing, as the pong wafted out of her bag and around the open plan office. She looked in her bag and there was a stiff little furry corpse, and some mouse fur stuck to her lip salve."
Submitted by Rachel

I got an email from a client with an attachment in the wrong format. I was having a hard day and was pretty annoyed, so I forwarded it to my colleague with a rather stroppy message. It said how I was fed up with crap like this and could she please sort it out. Shortly afterwards I received a reply from the client, apologising profusely for sending me the wrong format and attaching the correct one. These days I don't mix up the 'reply' and 'forward' buttons. Anonymous

Not exactly 'at' work, but it was a work situation. I'm a priest, and I called a parishoner. She was out, so I left a message on her voice mail. Without even thinking about it, instead of saying 'goodbye' at the end, I said 'Amen'. As soon as I realised what I'd said, I realised it was recorded and there was no way I could erase it! Submitted by Bill

I once got ratted at a work do and vomited in my boss's lap. Anonymous (and we're not surprised)

My then-boyfriend and I were making out in the file room when the General Counsel (head attorney) walked in. He (my boyfriend) had one hand up my skirt and the other up my sweater. The GC looked flustered and quickly left. We didn't hear anything about it, but it was pretty embarrassing - and nerve-wracking, while we were waiting for the hammer to drop. Anonymous

When I was working as a receptionist, I accidentally flung coffee all over the very expensive switchboard. It made some very pretty sparks as it was being destroyed. Submitted by Julia

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