parrotbeak
Member
I was exactly $10 short once and I spent half an hour recounting and auditing, costing the company an additional $3.75 plus fringe.SolKane said:
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Biggest Fuckup at Work?
- Thread starter Imbarkus
- Start date
- Status
KilgoreTrout
Banned
I was the head designer/front-end developer of the homepage for a major e-commerce company. They weren't very smart with sanity checks (you would check your own work that went live that night for any errors).
It's around Christmas, and I fuck up even after double-checking my work. The homepage has promotions that go live aren't even the right ones on it, and link to the wrong things. It probably costed them $80,000-$100,000.
Almost got fired, but things worked out, and I eventually proved my worth.
6 months prior I was working at a movie theaters concession stand and lost $20 out of my till. Got written up, but not fired. I nearly lost it.
It's around Christmas, and I fuck up even after double-checking my work. The homepage has promotions that go live aren't even the right ones on it, and link to the wrong things. It probably costed them $80,000-$100,000.
Almost got fired, but things worked out, and I eventually proved my worth.
6 months prior I was working at a movie theaters concession stand and lost $20 out of my till. Got written up, but not fired. I nearly lost it.
ChiTownBuffalo
Either I made up lies about the Boston Bomber or I fell for someone else's crap. Either way, I have absolutely no credibility and you should never pay any attention to anything I say, no matter what the context. Perm me if I claim to be an insider
Assumed that since we were in a place where the drinking age was 18, I, as a 23 year old coach was in the clear in getting my college aged team trashed. Other stuff happened. Then I might hae put a couple or 5 rounds in my state issued Visa.
Nothing serious. I work at a movie theatre. I was cleaning a garbage bin (quite big, not like your garbage can at home) that we use to clean theatres. I was tilting the bin to get the water out and hit a shelf on the wall and broke it.. I've been $17 in my till before. Nothing exciting.
Not a mistake, but one time I found a cup with piss in it while I was cleaning a theatre though.
Not a mistake, but one time I found a cup with piss in it while I was cleaning a theatre though.
I once got yelled at by my boss. I wanted to vent. So I messaged my friend James and said "Jeff is such an asshole". But since Jeff was right underneath James on my aim list I actually IMed Jeff and sent that to him. My boss at the time was a really cool guy but I thought he was being unfair. He actually thoughjt the whole thing was hilarious and held it over me for months but ultimately did nothing because he didn't really give a shit.
But man until I realized he didn't care I thought I was going to lose my job. I learned never mouth off about your boss on the Internet or in person. Wait till you're done with that job or the guy isn't there anymore!
But man until I realized he didn't care I thought I was going to lose my job. I learned never mouth off about your boss on the Internet or in person. Wait till you're done with that job or the guy isn't there anymore!
Major Williams
Member
At my old job I fell asleep.
Not a whole lot of issues now. My new job forces me to stay responsible. You know, hospitals come first. And I can take naps during lunch breaks now.
Not a whole lot of issues now. My new job forces me to stay responsible. You know, hospitals come first. And I can take naps during lunch breaks now.
PaleFolklore
Member
I worked at Macy's for a bit after high school doing truck unloading and floor work. I was wheeling a clothing stand called a T-Stand around on a cart. I took a sharp turn and I was going much faster than I should have been. The stand tipped off the cart and hit an elderly woman in the head. I felt really bad and did my best to apologize. She just shook her head and walked away. It hit her with such a hard thud that I'm amazed I didn't knock her out. My boss saw the entire incident and from then on working there was hell. I guess I deserved it.
BakedPigeon
Banned
whitehawk said:
Those beers can really start flowing through you, ya know?
parrotbeak
Member
What movie was it?whitehawk said:
cagelessrat
Member
iKeepPlaying said:
Haha, wow. 65!?
I got sent home for the day when I was working at a portrait studio in Target (I was filling in for someone, so it wasn't my store). I assumed being sent home meant that I was fired. So as I was leaving the studio and going in Target, I held both my hands up and gave a couple of birds to the trainer that was riding my ass. Then I get a call from the manager from my store saying that she doesn't want to fire me but she has to because the DM says so. I was confused because I thought I'd already been fired. They put me down as re-hirable.
Mobius1B7R
Member
I forgot to do a walkaround on a plane I was working on (I'm a ramp agent) and I watched the plane taxi away after I pushed it with a panel open. I worked for a contract agency at the time so any damage to the aircraft caused by us, we had to pay for. I confessed to my supervisor right after I saw it taxi away and I got suspended for 2 weeks. The plane landed in Newark and they didn't even report anything. So basically, I suspended myself. Woo.
True Underdog
Member
My first job was working at a movie theater. After about a year later, they started training me to be a projectionist. The projectionist before me did a halfass job at threading a movie (Garfield 2) and I started it without looking. Brain wrap. I had no idea what the hell happened.
I was 17 or so, so in big scheme of things it's not that big a deal.
I was 17 or so, so in big scheme of things it's not that big a deal.
This is a lot of story for not as huge a fuckup as some here lol but this is pretty much equivalent to like a dozen stories from my various jobs over the years...
Way back when I worked for my dad as an apprentice (he is a construction electrician) I had to fish a plug into a wall in a large lab that was being built in an existing commercial space. I was like 20 or something and while I had helped by dad off and on I had JUST started working for him full-time as an actual apprentice rather than just a helper. I didn't maybe know as much as some people at that construction site assumed since I was working for my dad's company and not straight out of HS and always so nervous about asking dumb questions or not knowing something I felt I "should" know.
Anyway I was doing really simple "carry this shit from the truck" work for the journeyman like 4 days into the job when the general contractor and a few carpenters ask for my help. They quickly explain that they need a plug fished into one of the existing small rooms that had already been drywalled but wasn't going to be a closet now so just throw a GFCI on the wall blah blah and so on. I understood some of what they were saying, and the journeyman Mike was on the roof or some shit so I said I'd do it for them because for whatever reason I didn't want them to think I didn't know how to do my job.
I knew the *concept* of cutting a hole in the wall and fishing the BX wire down, but in practice I didn't cut the hole right. So I cut it a bit bigger, still didn't fit easily (it's not supposed to, actually) so a bit bigger etc until it went in nice. Then I realized the hole was bigger than the faceplate for the plug, like 3 inches on all sides bigger.
So my journeyman Mike was walking by and he sees me and I blurt out that I had fucked up a wall. He looks at it and nods that, yeah, it's pretty fucked and also why is there a plug on this wall? Even better, I had misinterpreted what they general wanted and put the plug on the wrong wall. In the small room next to the room they needed the plug in. Then the carpenter comes by and losses his shit about the giant hole in his fucking wall, he just starts yelling at me until Mike (god bless 'im) gets in between us and starts yelling back at the guy to shut the fuck up get some putty and patch the fucking wall it's not the end of the world. I was seriously nearly in tears, largely because I thought my dad was going to kill me.
But Mike stayed late with me and helped me put another plug on the other wall in the other room properly. In the end it didn't cost us anything really but some time and my pride I guess, but he casually told me that there's no shame in telling him or anyone else that I don't know how to do something because I'm new. And despite my odd terror when my dad did hear about it a few days later he just rolled his eyes and laughed a bit because apprentices do dumb ass shit every day. God I'm an idiot.
Way back when I worked for my dad as an apprentice (he is a construction electrician) I had to fish a plug into a wall in a large lab that was being built in an existing commercial space. I was like 20 or something and while I had helped by dad off and on I had JUST started working for him full-time as an actual apprentice rather than just a helper. I didn't maybe know as much as some people at that construction site assumed since I was working for my dad's company and not straight out of HS and always so nervous about asking dumb questions or not knowing something I felt I "should" know.
Anyway I was doing really simple "carry this shit from the truck" work for the journeyman like 4 days into the job when the general contractor and a few carpenters ask for my help. They quickly explain that they need a plug fished into one of the existing small rooms that had already been drywalled but wasn't going to be a closet now so just throw a GFCI on the wall blah blah and so on. I understood some of what they were saying, and the journeyman Mike was on the roof or some shit so I said I'd do it for them because for whatever reason I didn't want them to think I didn't know how to do my job.
I knew the *concept* of cutting a hole in the wall and fishing the BX wire down, but in practice I didn't cut the hole right. So I cut it a bit bigger, still didn't fit easily (it's not supposed to, actually) so a bit bigger etc until it went in nice. Then I realized the hole was bigger than the faceplate for the plug, like 3 inches on all sides bigger.
So my journeyman Mike was walking by and he sees me and I blurt out that I had fucked up a wall. He looks at it and nods that, yeah, it's pretty fucked and also why is there a plug on this wall? Even better, I had misinterpreted what they general wanted and put the plug on the wrong wall. In the small room next to the room they needed the plug in. Then the carpenter comes by and losses his shit about the giant hole in his fucking wall, he just starts yelling at me until Mike (god bless 'im) gets in between us and starts yelling back at the guy to shut the fuck up get some putty and patch the fucking wall it's not the end of the world. I was seriously nearly in tears, largely because I thought my dad was going to kill me.
But Mike stayed late with me and helped me put another plug on the other wall in the other room properly. In the end it didn't cost us anything really but some time and my pride I guess, but he casually told me that there's no shame in telling him or anyone else that I don't know how to do something because I'm new. And despite my odd terror when my dad did hear about it a few days later he just rolled his eyes and laughed a bit because apprentices do dumb ass shit every day. God I'm an idiot.
Neverender
Member
Was doing stocktake at a store, took about 3 hours with 5 employees to do. Next day it was up to me to investigate all the discrepancies and report accordingly. I didn't realise it had to be done in one day, and the stocktake results got wiped if they weren't completed. They got wiped and we had to call everyone back to redo it.
Almost filled a store up with smoke...
See, at the time I was kinda at odds with this one girl. She came in and I got pissed off, so I went in the back room and set some stuff on fire. You know, because it was fun to set shit on fire. We did a lot of that and was usually pretty smart about getting that stuff out quick. However, because I wasn't thinking straight, I forgot to bring some shit to put it out, so a lot of smoke ended up getting produced before we got it out. Before you ask, the store wouldn't had been burned down. I'm not THAT stupid.
The smoke smell ended up seeping throughout the store and while I didn't mention exactly what caused it, had my actual boss come in, I would've been fired for sure. One of the few moments in my life I was in absolute dread terror at what could happen. Luckily, we were able to get most of the smell out.
After that little incident, I kinda quit fucking around with shit like that unless I had it under control. Definitely learned from that little mistake.
Still, I worked with people who actually stole beer and got caught red-handed while doing so. That had to been considerably worse and/or more embarrassing. My boss noticed some shit was off one night, so he got the cops up there and they waited for the guys to come back and steal the beer. One can only imagine the look on their faces...
See, at the time I was kinda at odds with this one girl. She came in and I got pissed off, so I went in the back room and set some stuff on fire. You know, because it was fun to set shit on fire. We did a lot of that and was usually pretty smart about getting that stuff out quick. However, because I wasn't thinking straight, I forgot to bring some shit to put it out, so a lot of smoke ended up getting produced before we got it out. Before you ask, the store wouldn't had been burned down. I'm not THAT stupid.
The smoke smell ended up seeping throughout the store and while I didn't mention exactly what caused it, had my actual boss come in, I would've been fired for sure. One of the few moments in my life I was in absolute dread terror at what could happen. Luckily, we were able to get most of the smell out.
After that little incident, I kinda quit fucking around with shit like that unless I had it under control. Definitely learned from that little mistake.
Still, I worked with people who actually stole beer and got caught red-handed while doing so. That had to been considerably worse and/or more embarrassing. My boss noticed some shit was off one night, so he got the cops up there and they waited for the guys to come back and steal the beer. One can only imagine the look on their faces...
Bloodbeard
Member
1) At my first job (15), I forgot to lock the door one Friday when I left. Well actually...there were two doors, one of which I had locked from the inside and was going to lock the other from the outside when I left. When I wasn't looking, my coworker left out the door I had already locked. I left, locked the door I hadn't locked from the inside, and went home. This was over labor day weekend, and on Tuesday I got a call from the owner who ripped me a new one. That friday, a note was written on my pay stub saying that I was fired and that they hope I would be more careful at future jobs. Whatever, I fucking hated that job anyway.
2) I worked in the produce department at a grocery store in high school. One night it was busy enough to where I was called to cashier. A good looking woman came down my line with a 20oz coke and paid with a $100. Pretty sketchy in hindsight, but I wasn't an experienced cashier and it had been a long day with school and then 5 hours of work up to that point and so I wasn't really thinking. She paid for the pop and while I'm getting her change she is talking up a storm: flirting with me and showing compassion for my visible tiredness. Apparently I gave her the change back, we continued talking and then she said "hey, you forgot my change". I froze, pretty positive that I hadn't but not certain. I was tired, I was about to get off, and I didn't want to risk making a scene by calling her out and so I gave her $98.XX and she walked off.
About a week later I was called up to the managers office. Another cashier was up there and was apparently in trouble because her till was $98 short from a week ago. I owned up to my mistake and told them what happened. The GM looked at me and told me "shit happens, I was conned out of my house by a pretty woman" (divorce). The cashier in question thanked me for owning up as we went back to work. Apparently she was on her last chance and was going to be fired if I hadn't said anything. I didn't give a fuck about the job at that point. I was two weeks from graduating and would be quitting to go to college soon anyway.
No real fuck-ups at my last job nor in my current job in the field in which I hope to make a career.
2) I worked in the produce department at a grocery store in high school. One night it was busy enough to where I was called to cashier. A good looking woman came down my line with a 20oz coke and paid with a $100. Pretty sketchy in hindsight, but I wasn't an experienced cashier and it had been a long day with school and then 5 hours of work up to that point and so I wasn't really thinking. She paid for the pop and while I'm getting her change she is talking up a storm: flirting with me and showing compassion for my visible tiredness. Apparently I gave her the change back, we continued talking and then she said "hey, you forgot my change". I froze, pretty positive that I hadn't but not certain. I was tired, I was about to get off, and I didn't want to risk making a scene by calling her out and so I gave her $98.XX and she walked off.
About a week later I was called up to the managers office. Another cashier was up there and was apparently in trouble because her till was $98 short from a week ago. I owned up to my mistake and told them what happened. The GM looked at me and told me "shit happens, I was conned out of my house by a pretty woman" (divorce). The cashier in question thanked me for owning up as we went back to work. Apparently she was on her last chance and was going to be fired if I hadn't said anything. I didn't give a fuck about the job at that point. I was two weeks from graduating and would be quitting to go to college soon anyway.
No real fuck-ups at my last job nor in my current job in the field in which I hope to make a career.
dr3upmushroom
Banned
I worked a Lowe's store for awhile (Home Depot equivalent if you haven't heard of it) as a "loader." Most of my time I was doing menial work like collecting shopping carts in the parking lot, but whenever someone bought an appliance I had to help them load it into their vehicle.
One time two people bought two grills at the same time, one our crazy $500+ flagship model, the other a ~$150 piece of crap.
I can probably end it there, but I brought out the expensive one, saw two trucks, asked the people standing at one "Is this your grill?" and helped them load it after they gave the affirmative.
Came back out with the cheap one and rolled it up to the other truck to get laughed at and asked "The fuck is this? I've been waiting 20 minutes, where's my grill?"
Pretty stupid of me, but to be fair the store had no system of identifying who had purchased what. The only way I could have ensured the grills got to the right people would have been to go in and ask the cashier to give me descriptions of the customers.
I was scared shitless when I realized what had happened, especially since the really nice grill I had given to the wrong customer was the last one we had in stock. Lucky the manager working that day was cool about it, she let me sweat about the whole day but I never heard anything about it, ever, and the customer agreed to take our second-best grill at a large discount.
One time two people bought two grills at the same time, one our crazy $500+ flagship model, the other a ~$150 piece of crap.
I can probably end it there, but I brought out the expensive one, saw two trucks, asked the people standing at one "Is this your grill?" and helped them load it after they gave the affirmative.
Came back out with the cheap one and rolled it up to the other truck to get laughed at and asked "The fuck is this? I've been waiting 20 minutes, where's my grill?"
Pretty stupid of me, but to be fair the store had no system of identifying who had purchased what. The only way I could have ensured the grills got to the right people would have been to go in and ask the cashier to give me descriptions of the customers.
I was scared shitless when I realized what had happened, especially since the really nice grill I had given to the wrong customer was the last one we had in stock. Lucky the manager working that day was cool about it, she let me sweat about the whole day but I never heard anything about it, ever, and the customer agreed to take our second-best grill at a large discount.
Biff
Member
A heated press we had at my old job had a glitch in it. My first month into work, I was assigned the job of heating some samples up to factory spec temperatures in order to analyze it's response to temperature stress.
Well, sure enough, the press encountered its glitch without me knowing it existed. The glitch is where you program the temperature to, say, 300 degC, and once you close the gap width and 'lock' the press, the temperature resets itself to 'Unlimited Heat'.
Went upstairs back to my office, and smelt a weird smell about 20 minutes later. Went back downstairs to find the (massive) room filled with smoke.. Toxic polymer smoke. The entire office had to wear ventilation masks for the rest of the day, while I spent 5 hours cleaning the steel plaque caked with burnt plastic.
The next day I printed a huge yellow and red sign detailing the glitch. Could have burnt the building down despite all my seniors full-well knowing the glitch.
Well, sure enough, the press encountered its glitch without me knowing it existed. The glitch is where you program the temperature to, say, 300 degC, and once you close the gap width and 'lock' the press, the temperature resets itself to 'Unlimited Heat'.
Went upstairs back to my office, and smelt a weird smell about 20 minutes later. Went back downstairs to find the (massive) room filled with smoke.. Toxic polymer smoke. The entire office had to wear ventilation masks for the rest of the day, while I spent 5 hours cleaning the steel plaque caked with burnt plastic.
The next day I printed a huge yellow and red sign detailing the glitch. Could have burnt the building down despite all my seniors full-well knowing the glitch.
DualShadow
Member
Deleted an entire table in our production database with a SQL statement I messed up.
Lucky I had a backup and didn't lose too much, but my boss wasn't very happy about having to re-do some work because of it.
I copped shit about that for a while until someone else messed up a 'rm' command and wiped a whole bunch of data.
Lucky I had a backup and didn't lose too much, but my boss wasn't very happy about having to re-do some work because of it.
I copped shit about that for a while until someone else messed up a 'rm' command and wiped a whole bunch of data.
HeadlessRoland
Banned
Spilled a box of 30,000 screws from the 4th story scaffolding (series of grates and walkways). Sounded like a Pachinko machine for a ridiculously long time.
Like the hat?
Banned
Got in trouble because I bought some groceries on my off day with a check while working at Walmart. A friend was working the register, so in the memo section I wrote "fuckin' groceries" and we shared a silly laugh. Apparently one of the people that processes checks complained that I was being vulgar. I don't really think it was a fuck up at all but apparently I'm wrong.
Another job, got hired as a temp to process credit and debit memos. Found a way to do the job in an hour instead of the 8 a day I was being paid for. Finished it up in an hour and went and stupidly told the boss how I did it. The next day I was told I was no longer needed.
Another job, got hired as a temp to process credit and debit memos. Found a way to do the job in an hour instead of the 8 a day I was being paid for. Finished it up in an hour and went and stupidly told the boss how I did it. The next day I was told I was no longer needed.
Captain Pants
Killed by a goddamned Dredgeling
I spelled someone's name wrong when I did the layout for this headstone and the customer didn't catch it until we completed it. I felt fucking awful. We made it right, but still, it isn't a fun feeling.
I work at a college, and we have many computer labs and computer-filled classrooms. There is a computer program called "Deep Freeze" that locks down a PC. Basically, you can make all the changes you want to a PC, but once it is restarted, all those changes are erased, and you have a brand-new PC again. It works well for lab environments where you want students to be able to make changes to a PC and erase those changes later.
Well, it has an administrator console on the server side that lets you do many things to the PCs. Well, I accidentally unlocked every PC on campus, which does two things: (1) it immediately restarts the PC, so if a student or teacher was in the middle of something, their work is gone and (2) once their computer restarts, the computer is no longer locked, so every change the user makes is permanent -- even after a restart.
What a fucking nightmare. Every time I unlock a PC now, I am a nervous wreck.
Well, it has an administrator console on the server side that lets you do many things to the PCs. Well, I accidentally unlocked every PC on campus, which does two things: (1) it immediately restarts the PC, so if a student or teacher was in the middle of something, their work is gone and (2) once their computer restarts, the computer is no longer locked, so every change the user makes is permanent -- even after a restart.
What a fucking nightmare. Every time I unlock a PC now, I am a nervous wreck.
Bloodbeard
Member
Like the hat? said:
Once I owed a friend rent money and on the check I wrote him in the memo I wrote "killer drugz". I wonder if that is illegal in some way? Glad nothing happened but we both had a cheap laugh from it at the time.
Uncompromisable
Banned
God that sucks. Shows you how far morals get you.Like the hat? said:
butzopower
proud of his butz
My co-worker wanted advice on a costume for a Mad Men themed party, and just as I suggest he go as a "Communist", my other co-worker, who had a pretty thick Russian accent, sits down and has a curious look as though we were talking about him. Not exactly a fuck up, but a really awkward moment.
Another time, I sent like something like 300 emails to maybe 50 users or something before realizing the machine I was testing my code deploy on had email set up properly. Guess it could have been worse and been the real deploy.
Another time, I sent like something like 300 emails to maybe 50 users or something before realizing the machine I was testing my code deploy on had email set up properly. Guess it could have been worse and been the real deploy.
Hydrogen Bluebird
Member
DonMigs85 said:
Man down.
DualShadow
Member
pje122 said:
I didn't set it up and the person who did is long gone.
GillianSeed79
Member
It involves an overzelous boss, a Parks and Rec official, a gay hair dresser with dreams of grandeur, a con artist, a fan club of a contestant on American Idol and a famous pop artist who will remain nameless. Worst three months of my professional life because of my now former boss who made me do it.
We have an automated process that sends out our monthly email newsletter. Once the process starts there isn't any easy way to stop it.
I one time accidentally started it and then restarted it. So about 10,000 customers got double copies of our newsletter. Not a huge deal, but it was just more embarrassing than anything.
I one time accidentally started it and then restarted it. So about 10,000 customers got double copies of our newsletter. Not a huge deal, but it was just more embarrassing than anything.
NathanMcMahon
Banned
I was new to production team working on a video game. I was given the go ahead after a few days to throw my ideas into the ring via the companies creative e-mail inbox which goes to everybody who matters. I came up with a pretty cool idea and sent t but I also thought I should expound on why these industry veterans should listen to my awesome idea and implement it. I was a giant fucking turd and only realized it after I had sent the e-mail. Oh well.
Oh yeah, I also sent a company wide e-mail about employees wiping shit on the bathroom walls at work as a blind item to Kotaku and had to fess up to my boss about it. Here's the link:
http://kotaku.com/257883/blind-item-bad-bathroom-habits?tag=gamingpottytime
Oh yeah, I also sent a company wide e-mail about employees wiping shit on the bathroom walls at work as a blind item to Kotaku and had to fess up to my boss about it. Here's the link:
http://kotaku.com/257883/blind-item-bad-bathroom-habits?tag=gamingpottytime
DualShadow
Member
pje122 said:
Yeah, it's how it's always been done here I guess.
Our software sits on top of this particular database so I kinda see why they done it, but I always test out any changes in a test environment first haha.
Edit: These aren't really software changes just tiny changes into the database to correct an error.
I backed a new Honda Civic into a pole putting it back into the lot. Then a couple years later, I backed a customer's BMW 5 series into a pole, despite the backup warning system. After that I decided I didn't want to work with cars, or any retail establishment for that matter.
Biggest mistake since then was shipping a robot to a particularly difficult customer without any paperwork. It took months to sort it out.
Biggest mistake since then was shipping a robot to a particularly difficult customer without any paperwork. It took months to sort it out.
DualShadow said:
Well, could be worse. Hope this wasn't your friend.
Code:
rm -rf /usr /lib/nvidia-current/xorg/xorgNathanMcMahon
Banned
kIdMuScLe said:
I was confused. Then I read your member tag. Not so much now.
The Outsider
Member
True Underdog said:
I was freaking out the first time it happened to me.
I've done a couple of forgotten where statement updates. Nuked every single customer record's join to their contact information in one client's database, once. Luckily the client was a nun-run business, and they kept their customer data clean enough I was able to work out what went where pretty quickly.
One time I was trying to solve the mystery of Why Somebody's Database Keeps Seizing and Dying, and in my troubleshooting caused a bout of seizing and dying, resulting in a few hundred thousand dollars in shipments the system didn't mark as shipped. Luckily the shipments were all to corporate-owned stores, so the product didn't get lost, but they still had no idea which orders had been fulfilled and which hadn't for weeks. Plus what I discovered in the process of breaking everything resulted in a major fix to something else for them, so they forgave me.
The best stories I have are all coworkers, though. Our development department creating a new, more-secure version of a program, and forgetting to include the encryption data in half the components. One person deleting a vital shell script from a client's production system... Two days in a row. A coworker installing a package for the wrong Linux version on a client's application server, having the application server subsequently crash, and going home and not telling anybody about it. Somebody setting up a training instance improperly so all training data was loading into the live database, for months. I have a knack for picking software companies that play everything entirely by ear. It is at once hilarious and terrifying.
One time I was trying to solve the mystery of Why Somebody's Database Keeps Seizing and Dying, and in my troubleshooting caused a bout of seizing and dying, resulting in a few hundred thousand dollars in shipments the system didn't mark as shipped. Luckily the shipments were all to corporate-owned stores, so the product didn't get lost, but they still had no idea which orders had been fulfilled and which hadn't for weeks. Plus what I discovered in the process of breaking everything resulted in a major fix to something else for them, so they forgave me.
The best stories I have are all coworkers, though. Our development department creating a new, more-secure version of a program, and forgetting to include the encryption data in half the components. One person deleting a vital shell script from a client's production system... Two days in a row. A coworker installing a package for the wrong Linux version on a client's application server, having the application server subsequently crash, and going home and not telling anybody about it. Somebody setting up a training instance improperly so all training data was loading into the live database, for months. I have a knack for picking software companies that play everything entirely by ear. It is at once hilarious and terrifying.
onken
Member
I used to have this part-time job in a restaurant and their company had lots of various IT problems. So one afternoon me and the manager drove over to the head office to do a few odd-jobs, diagnose some broken PCs, replace a hard-disk, that kind of thing.
Just as I was finishing up they asked me if I could make a back-up of an old Win 98 PC they used to print labels. Except there was basically no way to get the data off this fucking thing. It had no network card, no CD burner and no drivers for USB storage devices. I decided probably the easiest way would be to install some USB storage drivers, so I got some off a reputable site I knew, burned them to a CD and installed them.
Long story short, the drivers were for English Win 98, this was Japanese Win 98 and after rebooting absolutely nothing would launch and it basically fucked the whole computer. This was the one and only computer that the entire factory used to print product labels and nothing could ship without them. I had people constantly coming in saying "can I print a label now?" while I kept whimpering "just another 5 minutes" while having absolutely no idea what to do. I get the shudders just thinking about that day.
Just as I was finishing up they asked me if I could make a back-up of an old Win 98 PC they used to print labels. Except there was basically no way to get the data off this fucking thing. It had no network card, no CD burner and no drivers for USB storage devices. I decided probably the easiest way would be to install some USB storage drivers, so I got some off a reputable site I knew, burned them to a CD and installed them.
Long story short, the drivers were for English Win 98, this was Japanese Win 98 and after rebooting absolutely nothing would launch and it basically fucked the whole computer. This was the one and only computer that the entire factory used to print product labels and nothing could ship without them. I had people constantly coming in saying "can I print a label now?" while I kept whimpering "just another 5 minutes" while having absolutely no idea what to do. I get the shudders just thinking about that day.
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