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This seems like a fitting topic for after a long weekend: What's the most embarrassing thing that's happened to you at work? Anything is fair game here … including any regrettable Zoom incidents you've experienced recently, and any pre-WFH wardrobe malfunctions, for example. (Hey, we're not laughing at you — we're laughing with you.) If you have an amusing story of a coworker's awkward office situation or reply-all debacle, we'll take that too — as long as you make the person in question 100% un-identifiable, that is!
What's the most embarrassing thing that's happened to you at work — or that you've witnessed happening to someone else?
Last year, we asked readers about their biggest mistakes at work (and how they recovered from them), but today let's talk about office mishaps that aren't strictly related to your job duties. In a recent comment thread on cringeworthy things readers did as new professionals, for instance, commenters admitted to wearing a fancy, wedding-guest-appropriate silk suit to a job interview, falling asleep in a meeting on the first day of a new job, and more…
(For those of you who are old enough, think Seventeen‘s Trauma-rama, but for grown-ups — and maybe with fewer tampon-related anecdotes.)
I fortunately don't have anything scandalous to share from my own experiences, but I will always remember spilling juice all over my boss's paper planner during a rare in-person meeting. (Everyone in my department worked remotely.) The planner was clearly not salvageable, and understandably, she was not happy. We had just met for the first time that week, too.
I will also always remember an instance from a prior job when I bent down from my desk chair to get something off the floor of my cubicle just as the CEO walked by and happened to glance at me, which meant my low-cut shirt gave him a view I doubt he was expecting.
So, readers, do tell! Give us the most embarrassing thing that's happened to you at work! Or share something you witnessed that you are very thankful happened to a coworker and not to you…
Lana Del Raygun
1. During pregnancy, every time someone asked me whether I was “ready” for my baby to arrive, I said “am I excited to meet her? yes! have I bought a carseat? haha no!” because I felt like it’s socially expected to feel “not ready” but I didn’t want to actually discuss my various motherhood-related anxieties and trepidations or the insane stress I felt about saving PTO. Then they threw me a shower and presented me with a carseat, and I felt like a giant mooch.
2. After returning from maternity leave, I walked all the way down the hall to the kitchen with a pink pumping bra dangling from the back of my pants by velcro.
Aunt Jamesina
For your #1, if I were your colleague, I would likely think, hmm, what does LDR want for her shower? I know, she said she doesn’t have a carseat! And be happy that I remembered a gift you’d want to have and think absolutely nothing more of it, and certainly wouldn’t think you were mooching. I’m dying over your #2. In college, I threw on a pair of pants on the floor before running out the door to class, only to have the previous day’s undies fall out the leg as I walked in late.
Too ashamed to use my regular name
A period bloodstain on a light grey plastic office kitchen chair. I half stood up and then sat back down and then just outlasted everyone else in the kitchen. I am sure people saw but nobody said anything and it was like ten years ago. Thank goodness that my pants were black.
ANON
Oh that’s awful. I one time puked in the breakroom sink after a crazy night.
Anonymous
I’ve done that. It’s okay.
I was pregnant four times in six years (three miscarriages) and my cycle was a complete disaster for all of my early years as a lawyer.
Why do these things happen to me
One time I ate a granola bar at my desk, not realizing some of the crumbs and mini chocolate chips spilled in my lap. Then they melted into suspicious brown spots on my cream colored trousers. I walked around the law firm for awhile before I noticed.
Anon for this
This will certainly out me so not using my regular handle.
On the first day of my internship, I was on my way to work when the dress I was wearing that had a small back slit/vent ripped all the way up my butt!
I was already running short on time and didn’t have the contact info for the people in charge of intern orientation, so I couldn’t go home to change and risk being late. I just had to push through. I threw my purse over my shoulder (thankfully this was still the era when large purses were in style) to strategically cover myself and when I got to the office, I went around asking the admins if any of them had safety pins. No one did so I then had to shuffle downstairs, across the street, and down the block to a pharmacy to buy pins. I took my dress off in the bathroom and pinned the whole thing shut.
Absolutely mortifying! But now I always carry safety pins with me wherever I go!
Anon
Sounds like you handled that shit like a boss!!!
Elbe
Could have used a stapler.
anon
My current job began with a site visit to a very remote location, which happened to be on a very hot day. I had a migraine, but tried to push through. So, I ended up throwing up while my new boss was talking to me, very nearly hitting his shoes. And then had to carpool back. Ugh…
We did not ever mention it for years, which convinced me he was a great boss. I only recently found out that he was worried I would quit without notice.
Jane
I’m the one in the comment thread last month with the “table/leg rubbing” incident. Every time I think about it, I turn red. That’s for sure the most embarrassing to me personally, although I’d say professionally it’s every.d***.time I have an interaction like this:
Me “Hi, my name’s Jane”
Person “Hi Jane, I’m Bob. Nice to meet you. How’s the [appetizer/speech/small talk]?”
Me “Bob, I just love… Blah blah small talk”
Leave and realize that Bob is in fact a Judge and I should’ve called him Judge Last Name. I’ve had this happen at least a dozen times (with different judges) and have started looking at pictures of judges before events. I am a transactional lawyer so never, ever litigate but I do a lot of marketing and serve on several boards so I inevitably run into judges who use their first names. When it happens in front of lawyers who know that Bob is a judge, their faces are priceless.
Anon
Oh I’ve done the Bob one too. It’s totally their fault for not wearing the name tags or saying up front that they are judges.
anon
Probably varies regionally, and IANAL, but I wouldn’t hestitate to refer to anyone by the name they tell me.
Vicky Austin
+1. Sounds forgivable to me if not 100% the correct thing to do.
Aunt Jamesina
IANAL either, but doesn’t etiquette say that you should refer to people the way they introduce themselves to you? I wouldn’t worry about this.
Anon
I work with a lot of people who have ranks. Their email addresses do not say their rank, or even if theyre uniformed or civilian. I have accidentally called SO MANY high ranking people by their first names in emails, only to see when they reply in their email signature they’re high ranking.
They’re not high enough that they’re google-able but I’ve accidentally called retired generals and current colonels/captains, and high ranking local fire/police lieutenants, captains, Inspectors, Chiefs, and deputy commissioners Jim or Bob…
Anon because this is so embarrassing
Oh god this reminds me….
I was at a military law talk as part of my job and liked something that a colonel said. I wanted to go chat with him about it after. Panic texted my old boss, who had been an Army captain, asking whether to call the guy “Colonel so and so” as a civilian. He said “it’s ok to say colonel or sir.”
I got flustered.
I called him “cur” and then got even MORE flustered and called him “sirnel” and then gave up and said “I liked the words you used” and made a quick escape.
My former boss tried valiantly to not laugh when I told him, mortified, and then a few minutes later he just said, quietly, “Sirnel…oh god….” and burst out laughing while trying to apologize for laughing since I was clearly not finding it funny.
Can’t believe I didn’t mention that one on the original thread. Oh god. So embarrassing.
Anon
A few years ago, I met a federal appellate judge while walking into a building for a conference. Didn’t figure out who it was until someone ran up to him to shake his hand. Wasn’t embarrassed or anything – I am usually sociable and nice to everyone I meet.
Anon
I have three but each are from different jobs so it still answers the question.
(1) Wore thigh highs because regular pantyhose hurt my stomach due to crohn’s disease. As an intern, I’m walking from the office to a hearing down the street with my boss and the elastic just gave out on the thigh highs. I was holding them up through my skirt but I think he knew something wasn’t right. When we got to the hearing, I begged a clerk for some elastics and ran to the bathroom to make make shift garters out of elastics. That’s back in the day where you needed to have hose on at a hearing so I couldn’t just throw them out.
(2) Worked at a firm with a very scary senior partner who was notoriously mean to associates. He had never even spoken to me before. I was chosen to go to a client meeting with him that was about an hour away. We were riding together with him driving. It included a client dinner too. As we were driving back to the office after dinner, my crohn’s disease suddenly kicked in. I asked him to stop for a quick bathroom break. He said there was a rest area in about 10 minutes. I had to respond, sorry, I need you to stop NOW, this exit. I explained to him after that I have a medical condition that makes me need sudden stops at times, particularly after eating. To my surprise, he told me that his wife and all of his kids have Celiac so he totally understood. Phew.
(3) Current job. Was going through some big personal events (failed IVF, adoption fell through) and was trying to tough it out at work. I hadn’t realized how bad my depression had become. The day after getting some particularly bad news that I had to share with my boss (it impacted whether I needed leave or not) I was really struggling to keep it together. Boss started going on about something work related he wasn’t happy about. I lost my shit. I started yelling about how I wanted to do more and be more than an associate at his small firm, that if he didn’t give me the things I was requesting (certain professional development opportunities, certain types of cases) I would go to a firm that would. Then, when I realized what I had said and his shocked reaction, I burst into tears and said I was just having a really hard time lately dealing with all of the personal crises I had in the last year. He immediately became very sympathetic (we’ve worked together a long time) and gave me a pity look and started to come in like he was going to hug me. I screamed “I can’t be hear right now” and ran to my office, grabbed my purse and ran to my car and started driving to the beach.
I then came to my senses, called my therapist and requested her next available appointment. I pulled over and emailed my boss an apology and an explanation. He wrote back that he completely understood, he’d pretend it didn’t happen, take a day or two and come back when I was feeling better. I so very much appreciate his kind response but I am still mortified at my essential breakdown and how close I came to rage quitting a good job.
Anon
I had the first one happen to me, too. Now when I wear thigh-highs, I keep a spare garter belt on me.
anon
I take a commuter train to work and used to listen to music on my way in to the office. When I was very young and junior, I fell asleep on the train in to work one morning. We passed the major downtown hub, the train completely emptied, and I slept right through it. The train continued on past the city in the other direction. I woke up, the train was empty, and the scenery was completely unfamiliar to me. I was in a panic, and I texted my boss something like – going to be late, I just woke up and I have no idea where I am. About five minutes later I realized that my message sounded a LOT worse than intended, so I wrote him back to say – what I mean is that I missed my stop on the train, and I’ll be back as soon as I can find a train going in the right direction. Argh.
Senior Attorney
I love this!
Rebecca in Dallas
Haha oh noooooo
Ladyofthelake
I was on a conference call with about 200 people and didn’t realize my phone wasn’t muted. One of my coworkers was at my desk talking with me about something (thankfully work related) and so I’m babbling on for a minute or two, then notice it gets very quiet and everyone in my department is staring at me. My neighbor’s eyes look like saucers and she’s mouthing and gesturing. I finally figure it out and mute my phone.
Pep
My back was aching due to PMS, so I brought my microwaveable heat pack to the office. I was distracted and hit the timer for twenty minutes instead of two and the thing caught fire. The stench was incredible – imagine burnt microwave popcorn smell X 10. They had to make an announcement over the loudspeaker to everyone in the building that the odor was due to a “microwave incident” that was now under control. I got teased about that for a while.
Rebecca in Dallas
Oh, I did this but with a Hot Pocket. It smelled like burnt pizza and set off the smoke alarm. :(
Wendalette
Ugh, that was me on my first day of work! I burnt popcorn and set off the smoke alarm and the office had to be evacuated. I was also responsible for taking the still smoking bag outside to cool before tossing I in the dumpster. And that’s the moment everyone was introduced to the new girl….outside, smelling like popcorn smoke.
(It was also my birthday.)
Anon for This
Since the birth of my kids, I’ve had problems with hemorrhoids off and on for years. On bad days, suppositories are the only thing that works to ease the discomfort. One day, about two years ago, I was having an outbreak, and it was pretty bad. I inserted a suppository that morning before driving to a hearing. I got to court and appeared in front of the judge in front of a fairly packed courtroom. After the hearing I was introduced to another attorney to whom I ended up speaking for awhile; subsequently he has hired me to appear for him, sent clients to me, etc. Finally, when I was getting off the elevator and about to leave the courthouse, a woman discreetly mentioned to me there was something on the back of my skirt. I went to the restroom and saw that the suppository had leaked, leaving an oily residue down the back of my skirt. No idea how long it had been there, who had seen it, or what they thought it might be. I still cringe thinking about it.
Anon
This probably belongs on the dumb things you did at your first job thread a couple weeks ago… I was young but this wasn’t my first job and I worked in veterinary surgery rooms before. Well, this time I was assisting in surgery and the vet was the really intimidating one. He asked to see the patient chart in the middle of a hip replacement. I scrubbed out, grabbed it, brought it, opened it and because I didn’t want to be in the way, I put the chart DOWN in front of him ON THE STERILE FIELD. It was horrible and we had to rescrub everything and run an extra sterilization cycle and stay late. The dog was fine and did not end up with an infection, thanks to my wonderful coworkers.
Nesprin
Oh no. I once helped a surgeon with their gown wrong and got chewed out.
Anon
I once accidentally broke a bottle filled with a reagent, which got into the ventilation system, and the building had to be evacuated.
Anon
My friend had something similar happen. She’s fed law enforcement based out of a court house. Got a new can of pepper spray and accidentally set it off taking it out of the packaging. Court house was evacuated.
Anon
YES! It’s not just me!
anon
I did that in school. Technically it wasn’t my fault, someone else hit me by accident, but…
Anon for this judge
One day a few years ago I came to work earlier than usual and somebody was parked in my reserved parking space in the judges’ parking lot. I called security and told them somebody was in my space and would they please have that somebody move their car because it was getting close to normal business hours and the judges’ spaces needed to be available for the judges. They seemed a little bemused but said they would take care of it. A few minutes later my bailiff came bursting into my chambers with the funniest look on his face and said “Your Honor, WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?”
Turns out it was a holiday and I had completely forgotten. I was all dressed up and everything. The bailiffs tease me about that to this day.
pugsnbourbon
Once upon a time my job required that I take part in performances. This was at a large tourist attraction in my city, and the shows were for visitors in the main area.
For this particular show, I would dress up as a statue (think archaeological artifact) and then “come to life.” The costume was heavy, hot, and required a dresser to help you get in it. I would then be loaded into a box and wheeled onstage. This sounds bananas but I swear I would really do it.
One day I’d been swamped with my actual job duties and was running late to the pre-show, so me and my dresser were rushing to get me ready. I’m loaded and placed just in time, and then I wait for my cue.
Just before I hear the cue to open the box door, I look down and realize – I forgot my shoe covers. I’m in gray flats and very obvious white socks, and there’s not a damn thing I can do about it.
I came out of the box, I came to life, I did the whole show with my boss watching. Immediately burst into tears once I was back in the box. Before I’m even out of costume there’s a pissy email from the boss about, criticizing me, the dresser, the other actors, the whole show. I was mortified.
When I left that workplace six years later, my then-boss brought it up at my goodbye party. Thanks, pal.
Anonymous
Once, as a very new associate, I came in to the office and set up my laptop in a hoteling cube. I had been working at home the night before with some music on. My iTunes had been on shuffle and I must have just shut the lid when I was done. It was normal for my laptop to take a while to boot up so I left to go get a coffee. When I came back, my laptop was blasting music into the quiet office. Naturally, the most embarrassing song was on… the Gourds version of Gin and Juice. Thankfully it was early and the office wasn’t full yet! I did re-locate myself to another cube.
LaurenB
Years ago, when the internet was still new (I’m dating myself here), and companies were just beginning to have a presence, our company put out a website and somehow in trying to do a survey of what people thought of our products I created a furor and apparently a Usenet group formed where people were dissing our company. It maybe had a few hundred people but this was so early in the internet that we had no idea what the norms were (they were just being created) or what the opinions of a few hundred people meant — I was seriously afraid I’d be fired.
Edna Mazur
Oh this was pretty recent. On a zoom with a colleague yesterday, and my toddler burst through the door, loudly proclaiming “Mommy, I went pee pee on the potty and can’t get my undies back on” completely bottomless. I threw my hands over the camera, put video on mute, yelled “hold on a sec” and got it taken care of. Came back and he told me how he is in the midst of potty training one of his too.
nuqotw
On perhaps the third day of my then new job I unexpectedly got my period at a large orientation lunch for new employees and department heads. I was wearing a bright green dress. I am forever and profoundly grateful to the dining folks who alerted me to the situation and got me out of there. I had to drive an hour home to change at which point it was too late to go back. Everyone else must have noticed.
I’m still at the job but the really important thing is that the dry cleaner saved my dress.
L
3 things:
1 – I was second chairing a civil jury trial and had to help my boss load in boxes of our case file, equipment, etc. I was wearing a pencil skirt and doing a lot of bending. The jury pool was already milling about in the courtroom as we were setting up and my back was to about 100 potential jurors. I felt someone tap my shoulder, and a potential juror said “miss, I like your green underwear.” Sure enough, I had zipped a loose string or something into the zipper of my skirt and the zipper split as soon as I bent over to pick up a file. I always keep a sewing kit and safety pins in my trial bag so I was able to fix it quickly, but the entire jury pool possibly saw my underpants. My boss was blissfully oblivious. Thank goodness the lady who tapped me on the shoulder wasn’t picked for the panel. We ended up getting a complete defense verdict for our client, so at least it was a good result.
2 – I’ve dealt with hypermesis gravidarum with every one of my five pregnancies. I had a particularly rough time during my fourth pregnancy when I had a massive caseload and was traveling a lot. I puked several times a day, every day. One rough morning I’d had a four hour drive to a mediation and was miserable. I threw up so violently as soon as I reached my destination, and just couldn’t stop. Of course someone else walked into the bathroom and took the stall next to me, and felt the need to comment on how disgusting it was. I remember seeing her ugly orange shoes as I had my head in the toilet. Then I puked so hard I wet my pants. Yuck. I always packed a spare pair of underwear or two, spare nylons, and a toothbrush in my bag just in case. I was able to change and pull myself together in time for the mediation to start. But, when the mediator insisted on introducing me to the plaintiff, of course it was ugly orange shoe lady. Mortifying.
3 – A few weeks after my mediation debacle, I was out of the office for an appointment and returned to find my trial bag missing from my office. My paralegal told me my boss took it because he couldn’t find his laptop and he was, as usual, running late for court. He took for granted that my bag would be packed with all of the appropriate equipment. It was, but this was also the same bag I kept stocked with pads, spare underwear, spare nylons, zofran, Tums, and a toothbrush and toothpaste in the event of another pregnant puking fit. I guess I packed those supplies in the same pocket he used to keep his laptop cords, because he opened it up and dumped everything on counsel table before his hearing as he was trying to find the laptop cords. My spare underwear were on display for the judge, court reporter, client and opposing counsel to see. He called me on speaker from the courtroom and humiliated me, all because he was flustered and trying to blame me that he couldn’t find the laptop cords he needed. It was awful.
Sloan Sabbith
Content warning: blood.
I was on blood thinners after I had a pulmonary embolism. I cut my ankle shaving and had put a bandaid on it, assumed it was fine. I was wearing light pink pants and sat with my leg crossed with my ankle on my knee while I worked at my desk. I had on ankle socks and (brand new) street sneakers. I had a blanket tossed over my lap because my office was freezing.
Yeah, so my ankle started bleeding again. A lot. Soaked through the sock, the shoe, and onto my very light colored pants. I don’t know how I didn’t notice…There was a lot of blood. I only noticed when I realized my leg was wet. Assumed there was a leak in the ceiling. Nope. Took off the blanket and it looked like I’d been stabbed- it was kind of incredible my ankle bled that much. I called one of the legal assistants and said “I sort of really need the first aid kit and also could you see if you could find me pants?” To her credit, she found me a pair of yoga pants someone had in their office for late nights, got me into the bathroom and helped me wrap my ankle in gauze after I changed pants since I was a tiny bit faint from blood loss.
So now I have emergency pants. Had to throw away those pants and when I washed the shoes in the tub the water was red for like six rinses. So embarrassing. People kept walking into the bathroom as we dealt with it and freaking out…lots more people found out about my chronic illness that day.
Salmon mom
My kid hugged my leg after eating a sprinkle donut with icing. Left blue handprints on my butt (was wearing white pants). Went around half the day like that.