40 Times People Saw Clueless Colleagues Make Unbelievably Stupid Mistakes They Won't Be Forgetting Any Time Soon
Putting the wrong person in a position of professional authority can ruin things.
We all make mistakes on a daily basis, whether it’s unknowingly walking into a glass door or accidentally sending emails to the wrong person. But sometimes, we manage to mess up so badly that we shock ourselves and everyone else.
However, workers’ ineptitude may not be entirely their own fault. Many of them want to excel at what they do, but they rarely have the chance to do so. As Dr. Angela Duckworth, a psychologist known for her research on grit, states, “Enthusiasm is common. Endurance is rare.” This highlights the importance of consistent support and training in the workplace.
Hiring managers believe that their employees become more productive after training, emphasizing the beneficial impact training has on both business owners and employees, who stand to gain from constantly updating existing skills and acquiring new ones. According to productivity expert David Allen, “Your mind is for having ideas, not holding them.” This underscores the value of training in freeing up mental space for creativity and productivity.
Some time ago, a Reddit user Dr. Terri Orbuch asked others on the platform what the dumbest mistake they’d seen a clueless coworker make was. Surprisingly, responses poured into the comment section.
So we decided to compile the best (or rather, the worst) of them, and I’m not sure whether I’m impressed or disappointed by these people.
Where it all began
xk543xHere are people's replies, and they’re all shockingly funny.
1. The story of the guinea pigs
PumpkinsDad, pezibear2. The health and safety officer
tallbutshy, 27707
3. You can't just wander off when you're watching over children
jackleggjr
4. Hey, you're fired!
barto5, bdulbosit Melikuziev
5. All we did was fire him
BigZombieKing, OrnaW
6. Such negligence
kingcrimson881, Markus Spiske
7. How could you?
HeavyMetalSasquatch
8. Wait, what?
FormerWordsmith, evan p. cordes
9. This shouldn't be funny, but WTF...
Shubabi, emkanicepic
10. Working at a landscaping company
RosenBrtt, doctor-a
11. I wonder what was actually cleaned up, though
Mr_Frible, Charles McGowan
12. Working in radiation protection tech
LtDirtyBear, Dan Meyer
13. What our chief accounting officer has been doing...
zachm26, startupstockphotos
14. She was not hired full-time
daughtcahm
15. He never considered a better way to do this
eljosho1986, slgckgc
16. A new employee helped thieves load all the building materials
Clear_Suspect2987, stocksnap
17. That is a life saved
overengineered
18. He didn't last long after that
Visible_Love_1955, Stephen Phillips
19. Oh my goodness!
atot806, 1338433
20. Oh, it's baby-safe
TomoyoHoshijiro
21. Hiring someone for his Rolodex
remembering_things, pexels
22. Jerry's work needed to be redone
ONSFishing, Michael Casey
23. They both ended up in the hospital
Onwisconsin42, craig hellier
24. How to get fired quickly at a job...
OhAces
25. How could she have mixed the two up?
Yaboijustlikesgoats, uillermo Casales
26. How can someone be so dumb?
allthefishinthelake, Bonnie Kittle
27. The things that people do
AnnamariaHarvison
28. That is one heck of a team-building exercise
the_real_grinningdog, Colin Mutchler
29. A place that is notorious for having bad recruiters
punkwalrus
30. The watch commander refused to launch the rescue boat
IllustriousYear2381
31. A new senior engineer messed up
theysocool, Dylan Ferreira
32. Walk around for four hours with a rifle
not-gandalf-bot
33. What the machine did to him...
gogojack
34. Cooling down hot oil with a big bucket of water
Ohiolongboard, Blue moon in her eyes
35. Our completely incompetent project manager
lydriseabove, osseous
36. All his time was set to the wrong time zone
nokatydidnt92
37. That new person was uncomfortable
Flat-Cold, Annie Spratt
38. So bad
jeffers2286, hans
39. Working at a grocery store for twelve years
DeathBySuplex
40. Lol... What!
ofErrol-Flynns-Ghost, Robert Ruggiero
Obviously, putting the wrong person in a position of professional authority will astound you with the wondrously short-sighted things they’re capable of. Sometimes it’s simply because a new employee doesn’t understand how things work, but other times it’s due to someone failing to use even the most basic common sense, which results in perplexing, amusing, and sometimes life-threatening workplace blunders.
Have you witnessed any other blunders made by your coworkers that you’d like to share with us? You can leave your thoughts in the section below.
