Everybody makes mistakes

If you don’t laugh, you'll cry

March 13, 2023

Happy Monday, friends! I just found out that Frankie Muniz is now a NASCAR driver, and if that doesn’t inspire you to chase your dreams, I don’t know what will. Perhaps he read our recent edition on career pivots?? Frankie if you see this we loved you in Agent Cody Banks!

So today…you’ve heard all about my work trials and tribulations (except for that one holiday party story, but that’s a newsletter for another time). Today, we honor your biggest mess-ups and misfortunes.

Monday vibes: A classic reminder from Destiny’s Child that you will survive after sending your CEO an email with the word “ass” instead of “pass” in it.

Let’s all cringe together on three. 1, 2…

—Rod

WorkDaze Readers’ Greatest Work Flops

Frankie, take the wheel.

In the wise words of Kelly Clarkson, “what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.” And she’s never been wrong. Keep that in mind today, yeah?

Many of you have shared some pretty rough stories of “I saw that going differently in my head” at work, and that got me thinking: 1) do we all need a “how to mute yourself on a call” tutorial? and 2) I want to personally thank the person who invented the unsend email button.

I hope you read these mistakes, remember the lessons they teach us, and have a laugh (if you can identify which of these stories made me literally spit out my iced coffee I’ll Venmo you $5).

Buckle up, and let’s hear ‘em.

The lesson: Check your work 🔎

I sent an agenda for an upcoming call with a client and instead of closing it with “Thanks and I look forward to speaking with you,” I sent “Thanks and I look forward to sleeping with you.” I didn’t notice until one of the clients REPLIED ALL calling it out. —J

I thought I sent an email to a friend with a detailed description of how much I hated my boss using words like “psychopath” and “idiot.” My friend never got it but my boss sure did. —D

I accidentally added my Brazilian wax appointment to the president of our company’s calendar. —M

One time I accidentally replied all to a company-wide email asking the social committee if they could request a specific BBQ sauce from the food truck coming the next day. —A

The lesson: Assume you’re not on mute 🚨

I was on a department-wide Teams call at my old job and my dog was doing zoomies around my office. I yelled "LUCY, CALM YOUR TITTIES" so aggressively. I thought I was muted…I was not. —C

I was going back and forth with a woman on my company’s customer service line. I put her on “hold” and leaned over to my boss to say I’d be transferring the call because she was “unruly, and f***ing crazy.” Well…I didn’t put her on hold. She heard it all. —D

The lesson: Honestly nothing, these are just tough breaks 😬

I accidentally tucked the back of my skirt into my tights after using the bathroom and walked around two floors before someone pointed it out. —A

I was holding a bunch of papers for my boss, he held out his hand to take them and I just held his hand instead. —K

I once had a coworker who would print out a document, scan it to herself, then save it as a PDF with every. single. file. Until our boss, who was five years older than her, showed her how to correctly save a doc. —R

I bent down at work to open a drawer and RIP went my pants. I’m talking about the classic split-down-the-middle kind of rip you only see in the movies. —A

And there you have it! The next time you make a mistake at work that makes you want to Casper the Friendly Ghost it out the front door, refer back to this email and just know that you’re in good company.

One more thing: The results are in from our poll about four-day workweeks. Drumroll please…

Over 99% of you are onboard with a four-day work week, which means the leftover ~1% can work that fifth day for you. Hope you don’t rip your pants at the office on day five!

Things to Slack your work besties

…after triple-checking the send field on that hot office goss email meant for your bestie.

Me? In the New York Times?! We talked about work besties and how shows like The Office influenced our generation back then—and how they’ve inspired my creative work today. *Deadpans to the camera*

Air Fryer = Easy-Bake Oven. The millennial obsession with air fryers makes total sense now. 🤯

My friend Drew Barrymore talks about her least favorite chore, how she deals with failure, and ways she finds peace. 🫶 you, Drew!

Thanks for reading! I’ll see you on Friday, where I’m back with some As for your Qs.

IDK WHAT DO I KNOW?! LMAO!

—Rod

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