Your question for the week: What is your most embarrassing moment at work?
19 comments:
Anonymous
said...
At the time, I worked for a company that had a majority of its clients over seas. It was not uncommon to receive paperwork, etc in languages other than English. So, one day I received an email at work totally in German. Not being able to read a lick of German, I forwarded the email to the uber anal retentive German partner at the firm, explaining that I couldn't translate it. Because of my total impatience, after about an hour or two of not hearing from the German, I went to Google translations and put the text into the translator. You can imagine my utter dismay when it became apparent that the email was spam and the German text was actually just trying to sell medicine for Erectile Dysfunction. Immediatly, I emailed the partner and apologized profusely and told him not to read the email i forwarded. For a while when I still worked there after the dredded email incident, it was awkward bc I never knew if he read the email or not....
The most embarassing moment for me at work was akward. I got to work early one day and one of my employees had gotten there before me. I walked into the back and I didnt see exactly what he was doing but I am pretty sure he was "servicing himself"! I just turned around like I saw nothing and played it off. He then came out to the front, his face completely red. I just played it off that I was tired. Oh, high school kids!
At my previous job I was coming up from the garage and I said to the manging partner "hey, did you loan your SUV out", and he replied "NO!". His Truck was stolen as his brother and I watched. By the way, he now works at Sughrue and we still get a laugh out of this every now and then. He got it back about a week later and it was pretty trashed!!!
I have never had an embarrassing moment at work, because I am the sort who will not allow embarrassing things to happen to me at work, because if something embarrassing were to happen to me at work, I would curl up into a ball under my desk and never come out. HOWEVER, I went to a Happy Hour after work once at my last job. Normally at these things I am too frightened to move or speak, lest I do something.....well, embarrassing. But I decided I was going to take a chance and mingle and maybe I would gain some confidence. I proceeded to get up from the tall, wobbly bar table and in doing so I tipped over an entire pitcher of beer into a co-worker's lap. Did I help him clean it up?? No, I continued walking. I never went to a Happy Hour again. : 0 )
This is hard because I have many embarrassing moments every day. I can't think of my top moment offhand, but I can remember my most recent embarrassing moment. First of all, I'm female in a male-dominated field. One day, I was at a work lunch with 3 guys. The entire lunch was rather awkward because we didn't really know each other, and we were supposed to be getting to know each other a little before pitching to a potential client. The walk to the restaurant was already uncomfortable with people not knowing who should walk in front and who should open doors, etc. So as we're looking over the menu and having a forced conversation, my nose starts to tickle. I sort of brush my nose with the side of my hand and see a little blood. In my head, I'm like, "Crap! My nose is starting to bleed! Be calm." I would have excused myself to go to the restroom, but we were sitting in a booth, and I would have to ask the person next to me to let me out. I was trapped! We literally just got to the restaurant from across the street where our office is located, so it would seem kind of strange that we just got there and then I'm suddenly asking people to stand up so that I can go to the bathroom. So, as people are talking, I feel the blood pooling at the bottom of my nostril. It wasn't a ton of blood, probably just a little drop, but I've had unpredictable nosebleeds in the past. I looked for a paper napkin, but this stupid place only had fancy cloth napkins. I just tried to lift my chin a little to prevent gravity from making the blood actually come out of my nose. This whole limbo of "oh my god, my nose is going to bleed everywhere" probably only lasted about 3 minutes, but it felt like an hour. When our drinks arrived, there were paper napkins, so I was able to dab my nose a little. Luckily, that seemed to get the drop of blood, but I was soooo nervous the rest of the lunch that a) I had blood smeared on my face b) my nose would just start to pour blood without warning or c) someone would notice my bloodstained napkin I was trying to hide. I convinced myself that no one saw my nose starting to bleed or the napkin, but that is just a self preservation tactit. I know they saw it.
By the way, my friend who won't join the survey had a pretty good embarrassing moment: her pants split right up her ass at work in the middle of the work day. She had to find a way to get from her desk to her car without everyone seeing her underwear.
I personally have so many embarrassing moments it's tough to pick, but I'll spare everyone my entire book of humiliation. Some things to highlight from my career of embarrassment: 1. The time I passed out (hard) on an unnamed player's shoulder at Redskins Beach Blitz in a bar at about 1:00a.m....he proceeded to nickname me "Narcolepsy"(although he definitely did not pronounce it correctly) and had several other team members calling me this as well. They laughed at me like ridiculing high school jocks every time I walked by them for about two weeks, then they forgot about it and moved on to something (or probably someONE) more exciting.
2. Once I THOUGHT I sent an e-mail to a FRIEND named Gary complaining about my boss, but it was actually sent to a VENDOR I worked with who was also named Gary, and also worked with my boss pretty closely. I now curse Outlook's auto-complete feature in the address field. Luckily he never said anything, but I think he probably thought I was about as mature as a high school freshman after reading that e-mail. It was pretty whiny, and I had probably been working for about 14 hours at the time. Although, if you refer to embarrassing situation #1, he's probably not far off with that judgement....
Right after college, I was hired for a position that required some coworkers and I to travel to a training conference out of state. One night we went out to dinner followed by drinks at the hotel bar. A few glasses of wine later, everyone was starting to feel a little giddy. We were in such good spirits, that one of my co-workers suggested we take shots. I should have known right then: “Let’s take shots!” = kiss of death.
By 9:15pm phones are out and everyone decided it was good idea to call whichever co-worker’s phone number we happen to have to relay how much fun we’re having and how we wish they were with us, because we don’t tell them often enough how great they really are.
By 9:30pm we were out of our seats and mingling with surrounding tables- most of which were men, because, let’s be honest- it was a hotel bar. However, it became pretty obvious that one co-worker was significantly drunker than the rest when she started chatting up two men who can really only be described as, well, gay and on a date.
By 10pm we determined it was probably a smart move to head upstairs to bed. On the walk upstairs I started to notice some swaying and by the time we reached the first room, my co-worker was warning us that she thought she’s was going to be sick. Seeing as I was fresh out of school, this phrase didn’t even phase me after a night of drinking and I snap into college-survival mode. She started to get sick in the bathroom and I held her hair back, rubbed her back, and told her that, “no, she’s not dying”. After about 20min, I take her over to her bed and she starts getting sick in a nearby trash can. I try to recruit another co-worker for help, but she gets within 2 feet of the scene and she starts vomiting herself. I’m pretty sure she didn’t even say goodbye before she bolted for the door. I didn’t see her again until 8:30am the next morning.
Left as sole/heard nurse to my ailing coworker, I started to run through my mental checklist of “what to do when a fellow sorority sister get wasted.” I first called down to the front desk for trash bags because we are quickly filling all the existing ones. House-cleaning came to the door about 5 minutes later with several small, clear plastic bags- not ideal for vomit, but I had to make do.
I also decided that we needed bread to soak up the alcohol. I called down to the front desk again- this time asking for rolls. Of course, the chipper woman on the other end of the line asked me about 10 questions: what type of roll (seeded or plain, possibly wheat?), would I care for some butter or olive oil?, am I sure I just want rolls… maybe some soup as well?. I had to hold myself back from explaining to Guest Services that we probably shouldn’t worry too much about what brand of bread it is, because there’s a decent chance it’ll be in the toilet almost immediately. A few minutes later, a hotel manager is at the door holding a dish with three hot dog rolls and a few slices of butter on the side, all wrapped up in plastic wrap. I must have looked like a lunatic when I rushed to the door all flustered (with a puke bag right by the door, painfully in sight/smell).
Funny thing is, it wasn’t until I woke up the next day that I even realized anything was weird about the night before. It was quite an ice-breaker and I don’t regret the experience at all. I’d equate it to being on an episode of Survivor. By the end of the trip, I think we all returned to the office better friends.
One time I was in the office restroom taking care of business (#2 business). My boss sat down in the next stall and after about a 10 second silence, began asking me work-related questions about an upcoming project. Not cool!
Back when I was a bussboy I was responsable for the usuall stuff, filling up water galsses, pulling plates, and changing the linens for the next table. But on one occansion, the gentleman whose water I was trying to fill was larger then most patrons, so I tried to grab his glass so I wouldn't spill water on the table, or him, all the while, I was pouring water down his back! Lucky for me, he was wear a sport coat, and didn't notice, nevertheless, he didn't recieve anymore water from this busser.
Well, it is a very long story, but right after college I found myself jobless and broke and was pretty much forced to take a job at Johnny Rockets. I was trying to figure out how to move to DC, when the perfect opportunity arose. The Georgetown Johnny Rockets was having a three day promotion. The promotion, which basically consisted of giving away free food and dancing around the store, was kicked off by a morning long visit by the channel five weather woman, including live television appearances every 15 minutes for 3 hours. So it was exciting, but that’s all relative. On day number two, as I stood outside in my Johnny Rockets uniform, giving away free sample milkshakes, I ran into an acquaintance from undergrad. He had been student government president; he knew me from a political talk radio show I had done in school. He was on his way to his first day of medical school at Georgetown. And I was giving away free milkshakes from Johnny Rockets. Enough said.
I embarrass myself a lot at work, between my inability to not cry whenever something bad (or good) happens to me, and because I feel as though I should be able to adjust my stockings wherever I want. But the most embarrassing had to be when my company was purchased by another company. The new company came the next day and called an all staff meeting. I was sitting there, waiting for it to start, cleaning my glasses on the hem of my dress. I am blind without my glasses. Some dude comes and sits next to me and says hi. I squint at him, decide he must be from our field office, and grunt a hi back at him. The meeting starts, and the dude next to me is introduced as our new CEO. And I was rude to him on the first day. Awesome.
Who in this group has ever had a "work crush"? Well I can say that my most embarrassing work moment definitely had to do with my wc. At the time this wc was also shared by another fellow employee who made his/her feelings quite known as well. This created a bit of animosity between what would now be considered the two rivals. The truth is, it was one of those situations that continued to build up through the course of the years until one day it came to a head (figuratively). The circumstances leading up to this embarrassing moment will more than likely sound familiar. I had a bad day of work, decided to get wasted, drank to much, was virtually comatose. Then it all happened - my lips began to function at a rate much faster than my brain. There was just no controlling it. The next thing I knew, I confronted my new archnemesis (in the presence of the wc) and challenged her to go ahead and screw the guy already because clearly it was long over do and it was heading in that direction anyway. Needless to say, the next few weeks at work were spent playing duck and dodge.
Obiviously Monday mornings are the times that I have to devote to a good discussion of the survey question. I had a boss that was very impatient and wanted answers immediately. I was in the bathroom and he comes and taps on the door and said that he had a question which he proceeded to ask and we discussed the options and came up with a solution while I was sitting on the commode. Actually, I think I was so embarrassed that my business was all over but I was afraid to move. Anyway, when I came out I did ask that maybe he could let me finish in the bathroom next time and we could delve into problems after my 5 min of private time!!!
I used to work at a Family Fun Center/Arcade while in High School and I used to dress as Bear for Kid's Birthday Parties and I had a kid stick their hand up the back of the bear's head and knock my head off. Terrified kids ran screaming!
I've got a funny story. At the United States Patent Office you can get a promotion after the fist 6 months if you have met certain criteria. I met those criteria so I really wanted to get my first promotion. My boss was always a little preoccupied and a lot lazy so I was annoyed that he had not processed the paperwork at the first monent possible. I went back to my desk and decided to send my girlfriend (now wife) an e-mail complaining about my boss. For some reason instead of sending the e-mail to her I accidentally put my boss's e-mail address in the "to" line. I frealized my transgression almost immediatly after sending the e-mail and I tried to pull it back. Of course I was unsuccessful. I caught him in the hallway before he read the e-mail and he started laughing at the situation (fortunatly). Unfortunatly he still read the e-mail. I was super embarrased. I was not really mean in the e-mail so I think that saved me a little.
Being hired at a decent place and being supervised by the rudest, crudest, dilliest flat faced bat to ever grace a place of business. EMBARRASSING!!!!!
I got caught surfing porn while working at school. Apparently they log the websites students visit while on the network. Who knew? I had to apologize to my co-workers for jeopardizing the "privledge" of having an internet connection in our department.
Welcome to Survey of the Week, phase II. Help me make this fun for everyone and give us your best answers. Now you have the chance to defend your thoughts!
19 comments:
At the time, I worked for a company that had a majority of its clients over seas. It was not uncommon to receive paperwork, etc in languages other than English. So, one day I received an email at work totally in German. Not being able to read a lick of German, I forwarded the email to the uber anal retentive German partner at the firm, explaining that I couldn't translate it. Because of my total impatience, after about an hour or two of not hearing from the German, I went to Google translations and put the text into the translator. You can imagine my utter dismay when it became apparent that the email was spam and the German text was actually just trying to sell medicine for Erectile Dysfunction. Immediatly, I emailed the partner and apologized profusely and told him not to read the email i forwarded. For a while when I still worked there after the dredded email incident, it was awkward bc I never knew if he read the email or not....
Not once but twice in the same week: I trotted around the office with t.p. hanging from my waistband. Fortunately, both times it was clean and dry.
The most embarassing moment for me at work was akward. I got to work early one day and one of my employees had gotten there before me. I walked into the back and I didnt see exactly what he was doing but I am pretty sure he was "servicing himself"! I just turned around like I saw nothing and played it off. He then came out to the front, his face completely red. I just played it off that I was tired. Oh, high school kids!
At my previous job I was coming up from the garage and I said to the manging partner "hey, did you loan your SUV out", and he replied "NO!". His Truck was stolen as his brother and I watched. By the way, he now works at Sughrue and we still get a laugh out of this every now and then. He got it back about a week later and it was pretty trashed!!!
I have never had an embarrassing moment at work, because I am the sort who will not allow embarrassing things to happen to me at work, because if something embarrassing were to happen to me at work, I would curl up into a ball under my desk and never come out. HOWEVER, I went to a Happy Hour after work once at my last job. Normally at these things I am too frightened to move or speak, lest I do something.....well, embarrassing. But I decided I was going to take a chance and mingle and maybe I would gain some confidence. I proceeded to get up from the tall, wobbly bar table and in doing so I tipped over an entire pitcher of beer into a co-worker's lap. Did I help him clean it up?? No, I continued walking. I never went to a Happy Hour again. : 0 )
This is hard because I have many embarrassing moments every day. I can't think of my top moment offhand, but I can remember my most recent embarrassing moment. First of all, I'm female in a male-dominated field. One day, I was at a work lunch with 3 guys. The entire lunch was rather awkward because we didn't really know each other, and we were supposed to be getting to know each other a little before pitching to a potential client. The walk to the restaurant was already uncomfortable with people not knowing who should walk in front and who should open doors, etc. So as we're looking over the menu and having a forced conversation, my nose starts to tickle. I sort of brush my nose with the side of my hand and see a little blood. In my head, I'm like, "Crap! My nose is starting to bleed! Be calm." I would have excused myself to go to the restroom, but we were sitting in a booth, and I would have to ask the person next to me to let me out. I was trapped! We literally just got to the restaurant from across the street where our office is located, so it would seem kind of strange that we just got there and then I'm suddenly asking people to stand up so that I can go to the bathroom. So, as people are talking, I feel the blood pooling at the bottom of my nostril. It wasn't a ton of blood, probably just a little drop, but I've had unpredictable nosebleeds in the past. I looked for a paper napkin, but this stupid place only had fancy cloth napkins. I just tried to lift my chin a little to prevent gravity from making the blood actually come out of my nose. This whole limbo of "oh my god, my nose is going to bleed everywhere" probably only lasted about 3 minutes, but it felt like an hour. When our drinks arrived, there were paper napkins, so I was able to dab my nose a little. Luckily, that seemed to get the drop of blood, but I was soooo nervous the rest of the lunch that a) I had blood smeared on my face b) my nose would just start to pour blood without warning or c) someone would notice my bloodstained napkin I was trying to hide. I convinced myself that no one saw my nose starting to bleed or the napkin, but that is just a self preservation tactit. I know they saw it.
By the way, my friend who won't join the survey had a pretty good embarrassing moment: her pants split right up her ass at work in the middle of the work day. She had to find a way to get from her desk to her car without everyone seeing her underwear.
I personally have so many embarrassing moments it's tough to pick, but I'll spare everyone my entire book of humiliation. Some things to highlight from my career of embarrassment:
1. The time I passed out (hard) on an unnamed player's shoulder at Redskins Beach Blitz in a bar at about 1:00a.m....he proceeded to nickname me "Narcolepsy"(although he definitely did not pronounce it correctly) and had several other team members calling me this as well. They laughed at me like ridiculing high school jocks every time I walked by them for about two weeks, then they forgot about it and moved on to something (or probably someONE) more exciting.
2. Once I THOUGHT I sent an e-mail to a FRIEND named Gary complaining about my boss, but it was actually sent to a VENDOR I worked with who was also named Gary, and also worked with my boss pretty closely. I now curse Outlook's auto-complete feature in the address field. Luckily he never said anything, but I think he probably thought I was about as mature as a high school freshman after reading that e-mail. It was pretty whiny, and I had probably been working for about 14 hours at the time. Although, if you refer to embarrassing situation #1, he's probably not far off with that judgement....
Right after college, I was hired for a position that required some coworkers and I to travel to a training conference out of state. One night we went out to dinner followed by drinks at the hotel bar. A few glasses of wine later, everyone was starting to feel a little giddy. We were in such good spirits, that one of my co-workers suggested we take shots. I should have known right then: “Let’s take shots!” = kiss of death.
By 9:15pm phones are out and everyone decided it was good idea to call whichever co-worker’s phone number we happen to have to relay how much fun we’re having and how we wish they were with us, because we don’t tell them often enough how great they really are.
By 9:30pm we were out of our seats and mingling with surrounding tables- most of which were men, because, let’s be honest- it was a hotel bar. However, it became pretty obvious that one co-worker was significantly drunker than the rest when she started chatting up two men who can really only be described as, well, gay and on a date.
By 10pm we determined it was probably a smart move to head upstairs to bed. On the walk upstairs I started to notice some swaying and by the time we reached the first room, my co-worker was warning us that she thought she’s was going to be sick. Seeing as I was fresh out of school, this phrase didn’t even phase me after a night of drinking and I snap into college-survival mode. She started to get sick in the bathroom and I held her hair back, rubbed her back, and told her that, “no, she’s not dying”. After about 20min, I take her over to her bed and she starts getting sick in a nearby trash can. I try to recruit another co-worker for help, but she gets within 2 feet of the scene and she starts vomiting herself. I’m pretty sure she didn’t even say goodbye before she bolted for the door. I didn’t see her again until 8:30am the next morning.
Left as sole/heard nurse to my ailing coworker, I started to run through my mental checklist of “what to do when a fellow sorority sister get wasted.” I first called down to the front desk for trash bags because we are quickly filling all the existing ones. House-cleaning came to the door about 5 minutes later with several small, clear plastic bags- not ideal for vomit, but I had to make do.
I also decided that we needed bread to soak up the alcohol. I called down to the front desk again- this time asking for rolls. Of course, the chipper woman on the other end of the line asked me about 10 questions: what type of roll (seeded or plain, possibly wheat?), would I care for some butter or olive oil?, am I sure I just want rolls… maybe some soup as well?. I had to hold myself back from explaining to Guest Services that we probably shouldn’t worry too much about what brand of bread it is, because there’s a decent chance it’ll be in the toilet almost immediately. A few minutes later, a hotel manager is at the door holding a dish with three hot dog rolls and a few slices of butter on the side, all wrapped up in plastic wrap. I must have looked like a lunatic when I rushed to the door all flustered (with a puke bag right by the door, painfully in sight/smell).
Funny thing is, it wasn’t until I woke up the next day that I even realized anything was weird about the night before. It was quite an ice-breaker and I don’t regret the experience at all. I’d equate it to being on an episode of Survivor. By the end of the trip, I think we all returned to the office better friends.
One time I was in the office restroom taking care of business (#2 business). My boss sat down in the next stall and after about a 10 second silence, began asking me work-related questions about an upcoming project. Not cool!
Back when I was a bussboy I was responsable for the usuall stuff, filling up water galsses, pulling plates, and changing the linens for the next table. But on one occansion, the gentleman whose water I was trying to fill was larger then most patrons, so I tried to grab his glass so I wouldn't spill water on the table, or him, all the while, I was pouring water down his back! Lucky for me, he was wear a sport coat, and didn't notice, nevertheless, he didn't recieve anymore water from this busser.
Well, it is a very long story, but right after college I found myself jobless and broke and was pretty much forced to take a job at Johnny Rockets. I was trying to figure out how to move to DC, when the perfect opportunity arose. The Georgetown Johnny Rockets was having a three day promotion. The promotion, which basically consisted of giving away free food and dancing around the store, was kicked off by a morning long visit by the channel five weather woman, including live television appearances every 15 minutes for 3 hours. So it was exciting, but that’s all relative. On day number two, as I stood outside in my Johnny Rockets uniform, giving away free sample milkshakes, I ran into an acquaintance from undergrad. He had been student government president; he knew me from a political talk radio show I had done in school. He was on his way to his first day of medical school at Georgetown. And I was giving away free milkshakes from Johnny Rockets. Enough said.
I embarrass myself a lot at work, between my inability to not cry whenever something bad (or good) happens to me, and because I feel as though I should be able to adjust my stockings wherever I want. But the most embarrassing had to be when my company was purchased by another company. The new company came the next day and called an all staff meeting. I was sitting there, waiting for it to start, cleaning my glasses on the hem of my dress. I am blind without my glasses. Some dude comes and sits next to me and says hi. I squint at him, decide he must be from our field office, and grunt a hi back at him. The meeting starts, and the dude next to me is introduced as our new CEO. And I was rude to him on the first day. Awesome.
Who in this group has ever had a "work crush"? Well I can say that my most embarrassing work moment definitely had to do with my wc. At the time this wc was also shared by another fellow employee who made his/her feelings quite known as well. This created a bit of animosity between what would now be considered the two rivals. The truth is, it was one of those situations that continued to build up through the course of the years until one day it came to a head (figuratively). The circumstances leading up to this embarrassing moment will more than likely sound familiar. I had a bad day of work, decided to get wasted, drank to much, was virtually comatose. Then it all happened - my lips began to function at a rate much faster than my brain. There was just no controlling it. The next thing I knew, I confronted my new archnemesis (in the presence of the wc) and challenged her to go ahead and screw the guy already because clearly it was long over do and it was heading in that direction anyway. Needless to say, the next few weeks at work were spent playing duck and dodge.
Obiviously Monday mornings are the times that I have to devote to a good discussion of the survey question. I had a boss that was very impatient and wanted answers immediately. I was in the bathroom and he comes and taps on the door and said that he had a question which he proceeded to ask and we discussed the options and came up with a solution while I was sitting on the commode. Actually, I think I was so embarrassed that my business was all over but I was afraid to move. Anyway, when I came out I did ask that maybe he could let me finish in the bathroom next time and we could delve into problems after my 5 min of private time!!!
I used to work at a Family Fun Center/Arcade while in High School and I used to dress as Bear for Kid's Birthday Parties and I had a kid stick their hand up the back of the bear's head and knock my head off. Terrified kids ran screaming!
I've got a funny story. At the United States Patent Office you can get a promotion after the fist 6 months if you have met certain criteria. I met those criteria so I really wanted to get my first promotion. My boss was always a little preoccupied and a lot lazy so I was annoyed that he had not processed the paperwork at the first monent possible. I went back to my desk and decided to send my girlfriend (now wife) an e-mail complaining about my boss. For some reason instead of sending the e-mail to her I accidentally put my boss's e-mail address in the "to" line. I frealized my transgression almost immediatly after sending the e-mail and I tried to pull it back. Of course I was unsuccessful. I caught him in the hallway before he read the e-mail and he started laughing at the situation (fortunatly). Unfortunatly he still read the e-mail. I was super embarrased. I was not really mean in the e-mail so I think that saved me a little.
Being hired at a decent place and being supervised by the rudest, crudest, dilliest flat faced bat to ever grace a place of business. EMBARRASSING!!!!!
I got caught surfing porn while working at school. Apparently they log the websites students visit while on the network. Who knew? I had to apologize to my co-workers for jeopardizing the "privledge" of having an internet connection in our department.
My Pay Checks!
Post a Comment