10+ Fatal Mistakes That Destroyed a Career

We’ve all heard the saying “live and learn,” but sometimes the lessons come a little too late. Over on Reddit, users have shared their stories of career-ending mistakes, from burning bridges to making questionable decisions in the heat of the moment.

• Not exactly a “career,” but I worked in a fast food spot that didn’t have any air conditioning. And there is a worker’s law where I live that states once it gets to a certain temperature in the building, they legally can’t stay open. I brought a thermometer to work. Unknown author / Reddit
• I sent a scathing email about my boss directly to my boss. It wasn’t meant for him. To this day, I still have no idea what possessed me to put his name in the address bar.
  I noticed his name the exact moment I hit send. You have never felt that much panic. Happy1327 / Reddit
• You’ll never proofread an email better than right after you hit send. WheresMySpycamera / Reddit

• Called the HR lady the “angel of death” to a coworker on chat. (HR was in a different state, so any time they came to town we all knew it was most likely to lay off people). The angel of death came to get me shortly after. michaudra2 / Reddit
• I was a part-time intern making $9 an hour (USD), and my boss asked if I had any plans for the weekend. I had said I was going to buy a new car (very much old and used as that’s what I could afford) and he asked if I was buying a brand-new car. My response was that my budget isn’t big enough for a new car.
  And a couple of weeks later during my 1-year review, my manager said they didn’t have the work for me and that I was disrespectful for telling the boss I didn’t make enough money. At the time, I was living comfortably as a college student and just needed different transportation. I tried not to be disrespectful, but apparently I was. Kulee43 / Reddit
• Browsing for another job while at the job. galaxycactus / Reddit

• Didn’t happen to me. But I remember a coworker of mine getting fired because he put laxatives in his own lunch bag. Someone kept stealing parts of our lunches. Turned out, it was our supervisor. DeicideandDivide / Reddit
• Call center taking a manager call, put the chap on hold, and comforted the team member “He is a bit dumb, isn’t he”... Forgot also to put the call on mute, and he requested a call recording... Whoops!
  Then while on suspension, I broke my leg, and went to my hearing after far too little sleep and too much tramadol. When they asked me what the impact of my actions was, I said it was “crippling”. Far too pleased with that pun to care about the outcome.
  Spent the next few months coasting through bills selling bits and bats; eventually got into marketing, a win in the long run. tinkk56 / Reddit
• Talked about comp to another employee. They told the manager about it. Got fired.
  The good part is it’s illegal, and the idiot created a paper trail around it. They settled out of court for way more than they would have saved by people not talking about comp. RatInaMaze / Reddit

• Went on a first date with a girl who turned out to be a horrible person 20 minutes in. I did what I could to get out of it because she was telling stories about crazy things she’d done and was proud of. I didn’t pull anything to get out of it, just dodged landmines and asked a ton of questions about her so I could get out of it sooner. Then said I wasn’t feeling the connection and I wanted to be honest so we didn’t waste each other’s time.
  Found out a week later that she contacted my previous employers, because she found my LinkedIn, and told them all stories about how I talked very badly about them. And now I can’t get a reference from my previous 3 jobs... and people I was on good terms with. All because I went on a date with a psychopath. FirstFlight / Reddit
• Built a castle out of Christmas chocolate biscuit boxes in the warehouse of a major retailer on a night shift and proceeded to fall asleep in it for a few hours. masontraining / Reddit

Everyone makes mistakes at work, but we’ve gathered a few tips that you might want to know — the kind career coaches don’t always share with us.