Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

People Divulge Their Biggest 'I F**ked Up' Experiences

a woman with her hands on her face

a woman with her hands on her face

Photo by Kier in Sight on Unsplash

As an editor, I am not just in charge of proofreading and correcting style and format. I am also in charge of making sure all the contact information provided, such as phone numbers and emails, work.

After working for 10 hours straight a few months ago, I forgot to check the phone numbers and let a brochure go to publication with a phone number that did not work.

Luckily, a similar mistake had actually happened before with another editor for another client a year prior, so contact info on print materials like this brochure were checked by every department rather than just editorial, and the mistake was caught.

Since I didn't know this, when I heard the phone number was wrong, my heart dropped to my stomach and I thought I was sure fired. Luckily, I was just told to make sure this never happens again. I was relived that there was no fallout, but when I first heard what happened, my only thought was. 'I totally f**ked up!'

Redditors are no strangers to this feeling, as they've made egregious mistakes themselves. They are only too eager to share their experiences.


It all started when Redditor Puzzled_Assistant_ asked:

"What was your "I f**ked up" moment?"

Wires Crossed

"I managed to destroy a $4k piece of test equipment by connecting the wrong leads. For the briefest of moments the screen showed an overvoltage warning... That's when I knew."

– frank-sarno

Let's Write It Off

"If it makes you feel better my husband bought a bit of software to test and forgot to cancel it. A year later and 70k he had to fess up to his boss. Luckily his boss said don't worry I'll spin it as efficiency savings..."

"He is usually a massive d*ck so I can only presume it saved his a*se too. There was a lot of anxiety in my house when my husband realises so very grateful for how it turned out."

– ernieb33

Dumpster Diving

"I threw away a cashier's check for $50,000. I didn't think it would be a big deal, didn't understand the difference between a cashier's check and a regular check. We had thrown the trash in the dumpster at work, so my dad and I went down around midnight and tore open all the garbage bags in the dumpster before we found it."

– LordBaranof

Five Second Rule?

"I worked in a commercial kitchen. I had just finished making and plating hundreds of deviled eggs. As I moved them into the walk -in, the cart wheels caught on the lip and sent ALL OF THEM straight on the floor."

"Edit. Forgot to mention, this was the first day with the new head chef"

– Calligaster

"I was carrying a huge tray of Mac and cheese for dinner for 62 people (besides some salad the only dinner) and spilled all of it on the floor with everyone waiting in line watching me, plates in their hand waiting for food to arrive."

– fdedfgfdgfe

Ouch, Ouch, Ouch!

"Used to downhill skate pretty regularly, took my time and had some safe spots away from traffic. Took a tumble once and popped up on my feet but my right leg crumbled. Looked down and my right foot was doinked 90⁰ to the left. "I done f**ked up" was running through my head 100x every second for weeks"

– dglaw

"Almost happened to me, no helmet and smacked the pavement. Broke my skull but miraculously survived, 4 days bleeding out my ear in the hospital, 6 weeks of triple vision, years of recovery but I have very few ongoing issues. That was my “I f**ked up” moment, boy did I get lucky"

"Edit: since I’ve had several questions about the triple vision I’ll elaborate. I don’t understand why or how it worked but I was seeing 3 of everything. Neurologists told me my eyesight could go back to normal in a couple weeks, months, or maybe even a year. They said after a year if it hadn’t gone back to normal then it would most likely be permanent. It was lucky this happened when I was 19 because my brain was still developing so it was able to create new connections. If it had happened 10 years later then the damage certainly would have been permanent"

– bridoogle

Cut Off

"My first marriage. First day of the honeymoon. We are at a nice sightseeing spot. I take a photo of him in front of a memorial. After taking the photo, I say: “Oh, I think I cut of your feet in that shot.” He throws a total fit about it. That’s when I realized, I f**ked up marrying him."

"I stuck it out eight years with him. I don’t take my promises lightly, so I tried to make things work one way or another. Eventually, I realized that ‘till death do us part’ could be some fifty or sixty years more of this and I filed for divorce. One of the better decisions in my life."

– Tempus-dissipans

Take As Instructed

"I was a lead in a play for a theatre company, came down with an intense cough, decided to see a doctor, they prescribed me a cough suppressant, I figured if the recommended dose worked then more than the recommended dose would work even better. Drank half a bottle of DXM syrup two hours before going on stage and accidentally had an out of body experience in front of a full house. I was young, naive and very high. Director wasn’t too happy about it."

– WooWooInsaneCatPosse

Follow The Recipe

"Let's go back to my first kitchen job. I was a prep cook for a bakery / coffee shop. One morning, I was making cinnamon rolls and following the recipe, or so I thought."

"I pull my first batch of 30 out of the oven, and the owner comes by for a taste. She takes one bite, spits it out? And asks me what my process was. I told her I doubled the recipe as she requested, so you know 14 TBSP of cinnamon. Problem!!!! That number I thought was a 7, was in fact a 1."

"Ooooops."

– _Tranquil_Dude

"This is only tangentially similar but when I was in like 8th grade I tried to treat my parents by making meatloaf. We were eating and they said it tasted weird and asked what I put in it. I listed off the ingredients including garlic, and they asked where I got the garlic. Well, from the shelf at the bottom of the pantry of course!"

"It was not garlic. It was tulip bulbs."

"That was the day I learned tulip bulbs can be poisonous if consumed 😀 we were all okay tho. Just me being a silly goose."

– Jessie-yessie

Time To Get Rid Of It

"I decided to scrape out old, stale brownies that had hardened to the pan with a knife."

"The thought flicked through my mind a fraction of a second before the knife slipped out of the pan and plunged into the center of my palm."

"Side note: after that, the knife was always darker where it had been inside my hand. Anyone know why?"

"Another side note: 5 years later, guy broke in my house and tried to kill me with that very same knife!"

– Mellopiex

"This was quite the rollercoaster read"

– SourTaco

"This is like final destination! Get rid of that knife!!!"

– BabyStace

"He escaped with it, so it’s no longer my burden to bear."

– Mellopiex

Yikes!

"I f**ked up. I locked myself in an empty jail."

"I was reviewing a jobsite at 5pm on a Friday, and I was the last guy there. My cell phone had just ran out of battery. It was a new county courthouse in the USA and it was nearly complete. I was checking door functionality, mechanical function only. The whole building had electric security on each door but it was turned off. I had a master keycard and an actual door key to override the door locks, just incase. At one point I mindlessly walked into a side chamber of the main courtroom. I realize it’s the detainee lobby. As I turn back I hear the door click shut. I tried the electric keycard that I had. It didn’t work because no electric 😤. I tried the regular key that I had, and the lock didn’t work properly. I tried again. Nothing. And again, nothing. And again a few more times. It still doesn’t work."

"I bang on the door and shout for help for a few minutes. It’s useless, no one’s there. I try the door lock a few more times. It doesn’t work. There is approximately 62 hours until anyone was supposed to be at the jobsite again."

"I f**ked up."

"I didn’t want to but I ended up kicking the door and after a few minutes it broke. It broke around the lock with the lock staying connected to the frame, 😆. Everyone laughed at me on Monday."

"Edit: the door between the detainee lobby and the courtroom was a heavy solid wood door and not as secure as the detainee cell doors. That’s because the policy was always to have a sheriff with the detainee when in that room."

– Willbily

Ugh.

"Step 1: go make lemonade in the 5 liter tank, it was summer and there were 6 of us in the house so we needed it"

"Step 2: the sugar and the salt are in two identical containers"

"Step 3: regret existing"

– Zaln_The_HUN

Such a simple (and rather common) mistake, but still one the most horrible!

More from Trending/best-of-reddit

Halle Berry Hilariously Trolls Ex-Husband After His Comments About Her Not Being 'Motherly'
Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images for Joylux & Playground; Paul Archuleta/Getty Images

Halle Berry Hilariously Trolls Ex-Husband After His Comments About Her Not Being 'Motherly'

Halle Berry's ex-husband, former MLB star David Justice, recently had a lot to say about why he divorced her back in the '90s—and Berry is giving it right back.

Justice sparked quite a bit of controversy online last week when he told the host of podcast All the Smoke that he divorced Berry because she wasn't "motherly" enough and didn't cook or clean to his liking at the time.

Keep ReadingShow less
Jennifer Welch
@ivehaditpodcast/YouTube

Podcast Host Goes On NSFW Rant About 'Triple Trump' Voters—And It's Truly A Must-See

Oklahoma based interior designer, former Bravolebrity, and podcast host Jennifer Welch had some harsh words for White voters who supported Donald Trump in 2016, 2020, and 2024.

The designer gained national attention after being featured on the Bravo show Sweet Home Oklahoma—retitled just Sweet Home for season two—in 2017. Welch now hosts the I've Had It podcast alongside her Sweet Home costar Angie "Pumps" Sullivan.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshot of Elon Musk
Fox News

Elon Musk Gets Blistering Reminder After Ranting About The Sun Destroying Life On Earth

Billionaire Elon Musk was given a blunt reminder about what will actually destroy life on Earth after he claimed in an interview with Fox News personality Jesse Watters that he's he's looking to colonize Mars and other planets because the Sun will eventually destroy life on Earth

The Sun, our life-sustaining star, is essentially a massive nuclear reactor, continuously converting hydrogen into helium through fusion and radiating energy outward. But like all stars, it has a finite lifespan. Scientists estimate that the Sun will exhaust its core hydrogen supply in about five billion years, marking the beginning of the end of its stable life.

Keep ReadingShow less
AG Pam Bondi, sandwich throwing man outside Subway in Washington, D.C.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images; Andrew Leyden/Getty Images

Bondi Makes Bizarre Claim About Fired DOJ Staffer Who Threw Sandwich At Border Patrol Agent In DC

Attorney General Pam Bondi was called out after she claimed she'd fired a Justice Department employee because he was part of the "deep state" after he threw a Subway sandwich at a Customs and Border Protection officer in Washington, D.C., over the weekend.

Court documents identify the man as Sean Dunn, who allegedly shouted profanities at a group of officers before tossing a “submarine-style sandwich” at a Customs and Border Protection agent standing at a busy intersection on Sunday. Dunn was employed by Office of International Affairs within the department's Criminal Division as a paralegal.

Keep ReadingShow less
Man and woman in bed
Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash

People Who Slept With An Ex's Sibling Break Down The Aftermath

Though everyone has different thresholds for what is acceptable in a relationship and what they're okay with experiencing, there are certain things that are generally no-nos, like cheating, dating someone's best friend, and dating someone's family member.

But there are exceptions to everything.

Keep ReadingShow less