Just like building trust, it takes a long time to build an impressive reputation, but it can take only one big mistake to ruin it forever.
Some people still find themselves impressed by how quickly their perception of someone could change, though.
Redditor nastrohan asked:
"What's the best example of, 'It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it' that you know of?"
Foot Immediately in Mouth
"At my old company, we produced consumer goods and licensed lots of high-end pop culture brands."
"On a call with a team representing a very popular and iconic space movie franchise owned by The Mouse, one of our senior partners was sitting through a call on rights or sales numbers or whatever with like 20 people."
"He thought he was on mute and said something to the effect of, 'How much longer do we have to listen to this obese idi*t jerk himself off, talking about his bulls**t anyhow!?!'"
"The call was abruptly ended. All follow-ups were ignored. Maybe a week or two later, we got a letter terminating all current and developing licensing deals for cause citing contract violations, and the company was effectively quietly banned from ever doing business with any brand under that Massive Mouse Umbrella."
"That dude lost them hundreds of millions in future business in about 15 seconds. When you first start, you’re told never to suggest pitching anything owned by The Mouse and then get told the story."
"The company was the worst job and work culture I've ever had. I'm amazed it stays in business."
- GrayBox1313
Free, Terrible Advertising
"This reminds me of that guy who sold his old company truck to a used car dealer and ended up seeing it in the news with some terrorists in the Middle East driving it. Mounted guns and everything on that thing with his business and his name painted on the side. Great advertising."
"He was forced to close shop after because of the bad rep. It's sad when you think about it since he didn't deserve it, but it's a great example."
- TheBFG420
Leading a Double Life
"My father."
"I grew up believing he was an honest, hardworking, and loyal man."
"While he was absolutely a hard-working man, finding out when I was 21 that he had another house, woman, and child 20 minutes down the street that he went to on his frequent 'business trips' dispelled the notion that he was honest and loyal..."
- ThirstyWeirwoodRootz
The Terrible Insinuation
"A large government organization I was working for had another related organization added to its portfolio, so as many people as possible from both organizations got together in the foyer of the building (3000 people maybe) as the boss talked about the synergies of the two groups, etc."
"There were national news cameras and s**t, it’s a big deal politically here."
"Then the camera panned to the crowd and caught a guy on one of the walkways on the third floor making the machine gun fingers and pretending to shoot thousands of government workers below..."
"Just call him FORMER middle management..."
- whoodzzz
Going Several Steps Too Far
"I used to work for a humanitarian aid non-profit. My old boss was the sweetest, most wholesome, super Christian woman I had ever met."
"A year after I left that job, I read an article about how she kidnapped two kids from an event she worked on because she thought the father was a Satanist or something (he was an atheist)."
"I would've never pegged her as 'that kind of Christian.'"
- AStrangerSaysHi
A Snapchat Affair
"A local couple, the husband was a city alderman/real estate agent and his father was a former mayor so their surname and family were very well-known."
"His wife was a beloved teacher and cheer coach/sponsor at the high school. Apparently, she was trying to snap someone explicit pics on Snapchat and accidentally sent them to everyone on her snap including students, friends, family, fellow church members, etc."
"She was fired and her husband divorced her because he wasn’t on Snapchat and wasn’t the intended recipient of her spicy pics."
- WthAmIEvenDoing
A Questionable Business Model
"My Mom ran a daycare for almost 20+ years. It was her own business that she build up. Not only did I attend it, it was my first real job. And I fell in love with childcare because of it."
"We were very accommodating, we weren’t too strict. Our goal wasn’t to get a three-year-old to read at a fourth-grade level. But to give parents what they needed, making sure the kids were safe and well cared for. Helping out along the way with potty training and weaning and such. We had such a long waitlist. But still found a way to get the children who really needed it care."
"My mother sold it to a larger chain daycare when she retired. They made a bunch of changes, made a bunch of promises that kids will be reading, potty trained by two to three years old, perfect little angels."
"Every child is different. You know why every child was potty trained by age three? Because if they weren’t, they were kicked out."
"No comfort items at nap time. Because they were making little adults instead of babies."
"It took about six months and the waitlist was down to zero. They were offering incentives to sign your child up. They could not bring in or keep workers. I think it downsized but eventually closed."
- lightteenagerbaby
Not On Mute
"We had a guy on a super big important call where my bosses, bosses, boss was speaking and some guy comes off mute in front of 300 people and says, '...Don't get why we gotta be on these stupid fu**king calls. They're all just talking out of their a**es anyway. They're just here to say OhHhHH look...' and then it cut off."
"A way higher-up guy that was speaking said, 'Derrian! (Guy that was talking trash), finish that sentence for us. What have you got to say?'"
"There was silence."
"Then, 'Come on, Derrian. Don't be shy.'"
"There was more silence."
"Then he said, 'Okay, moving on.'"
- 8LeggedSquirrel
The Rumor Mill
"Me. I worked at the same company for ten years and had an excellent reputation. Some wild stuff went down and all the managers except for me had to be replaced."
"My reputation was fine at that point. Then we hired this crazy guy who was lying and saying strange things a lot, then he was sexually inappropriate with a customer."
"I reported all of this to my boss. This crazy guy made up even bigger and more compelling lies… about me. They believed him."
"I didn’t do anything fireable, but they transferred me to a different location. I was told that I needed to 'shape up to save my job' despite ten years of maximum raises and promotions and glowing feedback."
"Two days later, the guy was fired by HR because a customer reported him for sexual harassment. Nobody said a word to me, no apology, nothing."
"I quit in January. F**k Office Depot!"
- Hatecookie
Inappropriate Comments
"I believe there was a cheap jewelry company back in the 80s in the UK whose whole schtick was that its stuff was just as good as the high-end stuff but just cheaper. They had a decent chunk of market share and were on their way to being the largest jewelry store in the UK."
"Then their CEO has a big meeting with I want to say the shareholders and one of them asks how they keep their stuff so cheap, to which the CEO jokingly remarked 'because our gems are all cheap junk' or something to that effect."
"That remark got out to the press out of context and it ruined the company within the year, I believe."
- Ralife55
Racist Rewards
"How about that lady who tweeted something racist right before a flight, and by the time it landed, she was canceled and fired from her executive job?"
"That took five seconds, not five minutes. It’s got to be a record."
- muffinman8urmom
It's amazing how quickly someone's life can change, especially when they've done something stupid.
