22 Workplace Anecdotes That Will Make You Cringe

    "I spilled a glass of red wine down the mother of the bride."

    Tabatha Leggett
    by Tabatha Leggett

    BuzzFeed Staff, UK

    We asked the staffers of BuzzFeed's UK office for the worst things they've done at work.

    1.

    BuzzFeed

    "When I was a singer, I pushed a speaker off stage and it broke someone's foot. (They stayed 'til the end before going to hospital though.)"

    2.

    BuzzFeed

    "I worked in a hotel and served red wine in an ice bucket."

    3.

    BuzzFeed

    "I once faxed my hair to Phoenix, Az."

    4.

    BuzzFeed

    "When I was an office cleaner, I accidentally let the office parrot out of its cage and it flew up on to the ceiling and then bit someone."

    5.

    BuzzFeed

    "Worked as a receptionist. When a call came in you put it in a system called Orbit and then announced it on the Tannoy so someone on the shop floor could pick it up. One day a man called Phil Rocket called. So I had to announce 'Mr Rocket is in Orbit' to over 1,000 people."

    6.

    BuzzFeed

    "At a magazine internship, I had to collect 25 celebrity quotes about Bob Dylan. I spent 2 weeks calling their agents and chasing them for quotes before I realised it was actually Bob GELDOF I was meant to be getting quotes on."

    7.

    BuzzFeed

    "When I worked at Starbucks I accidentally threw an Americano all over a woman wearing a while dress."

    8.

    BuzzFeed

    "Forgot to go to work for a week."

    9.

    BuzzFeed

    "A customer at a nightclub once nicked a mop and pretended that it was a giant penis and she was having intercourse with it. I continued mopping whilst she did it."

    10.

    BuzzFeed

    "I spilled a glass of red wine down the mother of the bride when I was a waitress at a wedding reception. Luckily, she was too drunk to care!"

    11.

    BuzzFeed

    "I once vomited whilst serving a customer whilst handing her change because I was hungover."

    12.

    BuzzFeed

    "When I worked in a chocolate shop, I left chocolate Easter bunnies in the window. Their faces melted off and at least 10 children cried."

    13.

    BuzzFeed

    "Had a job directing cars into a field that was being used as a car park. I directed them into the wrong field. It wasn't a car park. The farmer wasn't happy."

    14.

    BuzzFeed

    "When I was a waitress, I dropped a basket of steak knives, sharp end down, onto a man's crotch. He cried."

    15.

    BuzzFeed

    "I used to offer to close down the bar, then stay there drinking free and watching late-night NBA games."

    16.

    BuzzFeed

    "I once interviewed two people with similar accents in one day and attributed all the quotes to the wrong people."

    17.

    BuzzFeed

    "I was driving the Isle of Man safety dept. van... and crashed it!"

    18.

    BuzzFeed

    "I fell asleep while working in a carpet shop. I was the only employee on duty."

    19.

    BuzzFeed

    "I used to drop potatoes on diners' heads when I was a silver service waiter."

    20.

    BuzzFeed

    "I called a man a 'stingy cunt' under my breath when I was a charity fundraiser. He came back 20 mins later and chased me down Tot Court Road."

    21.

    BuzzFeed

    "I once worked in a Total garage. I was packing up a woman's shopping for 2 mins before I realised I hadn't been scanning it. I had to unpack it ALL and start again. I still think about it and cringe 12 times a day."

    22.

    BuzzFeed

    "I once caused the evacuation of a building because I burnt some toast."