Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Off Topic Work place embarrassments

So I’m sitting at my desk right now at work a bit embarrassed and quite a bit mad.

This week I was informed that I would be getting a brand new computer at work. The IT guys had let me know that I we would need to move over all the stuff from my old computer to a network drive and then they would transfer it back onto the new computer.

Smart Jojo realized that she had quite a bit of writings stuck in her “My documents” folder as well as a FDK she was working on and a few emotional journal entries she had typed up in word to post to her livejournal later. So being sneaky she took those and made a folder (with her initials jjohnson that indicate beyond reasonable doubt that this is her) and stuck in a folder on the network drive that only she used and that no one would go poking in. She did this because she had no cd burner and her floppy disk drive was broken.

The plan was going well… The new computer arrived on yesterday and was set up.

So this morning sneaky Jojo went and moves her little hidden file over into her brand new “My documents folder” and was all proud of herself. She noticed a bunch of other folders in the folder as well but they appeared to be a lot of her desktop items so she didn’t think much about it.

Then… Jojo went to go finish up some FDK for DJ… only to discover her folder was missing. What?? Where did it go?

Upon further inspection Jojo noticed that her “My documents” folder wasn’t pointing to her personal folder anymore but to a network drive THAT HALF THE COMPANY HAS ACCESS TO…

Apparently someone had come across the folder and saw that it wasn’t work related and deleted it. Did they read it? Did they find out that Jojo is secretly a big dork with big emotional issues? Who was it?? Was it a normal employee? Was it an exec? Sweet Lord was one of the branch offices gathered around a computer laughing at the stories they had found there?

So… all my work is gone… I do have a few things backed up at home. But a few stories I have no back up. I had a couple of pages on the large story I started during Nano that are going to be forever lost. The only hope I have is that they read DJ’s story I had saved over and not one of mine. At least then they would think I was talented. Ha!

So I’m embarrassed that someone in the company may have seen my writings and mad that it happened at all. How the heck did my “My Documents” folder get linked to a network drive in the first place? *cry*

So anyone else have any embarrassing stories to make me feel better? Am I alone in doing something stupid?

Ack, I posted this in the wrong place...

can someone move this to OT?

Well, I don't have such a story to entertain you, but a piece of good advice. I usually save delicate stuff as email-drafts on my yahoo account. Works like a charm. And I can download it everywhere I want.

They block most of my personal email here. If I bypass the system I can usually get to my gmail and save it as a draft but it takes time and I have to be stealthy and hope they don't VNC into my computer to check up on me... which has happened a few times.

That is why I have a few of them saved and have back ups but some I don't.

Heh... you where there that time in the chatroom when I told everyone about my super fun email-all mishap... but if it'll cheer you up, I could tell the story again. *lol*

oooooh... as a side note... you could do what I do. I have a USB key. I don't save stuff anywhere on the company computers anymore, ever since I read that if it's stored on any of their systems, they own it. Which means at some point they owned a few of my stories. hehehe.

I feel for you. Surprisingly, I don't have a lot of work-related incidents, even though I do stupid things all the time--really anything to do with domesticity. Or cooking. It's all a foreign country to me.

However, about 8 months and 3 apartments ago, I sneezed and dropped what I was holding.

I was holding my laptop.

So whenever I bring the thing out on a job or for a class, the entire design community and all my clients see this unsightly dent and all ask about it, and I have to relay the fact that yes, I dropped a 4,000 dollar machine. I even hid it from my father the three times I visited him last year LOL.. For some reason, it's really kind of humiliating having this dent on display.

JD

Actually Lara... I don't think I was there. Tell me again. lol

Shadow: ouch! I think I would do the same and try to hide it too. ^_^

Poor Jojo! How heart-breaking to lose all your work like that! *hugs*

I don't work, but I did get into a whole lot of trouble writing my semester thesis a couple of weeks ago.

I was supposed to have over a month to rite my thesis, but then my modem curled up and died and I was stuck at home for a solid month with a bronchial infection. Plus, I have a PHD in the art of procastinating. All in all, it was one-and-half weeks before I had to give it in, that I even started work on it. I had to use multiple computers to gather the info I needed, because of the lack of internet at home. Then I organized it all onto one pen drive, got home, and plugged it in. (The USB port is in the front of my computer and the CPU is tucked away at the bottom of the computer table near my feet)

Hours later, I was completely absorbed in my thesis. I was sitting with my knees drawn up to my chest, dangling my feet over the seat of the chair. (Yes, I sit in weird positions when I'm alone sitting at the computer for long periods of time) My toes encountered a ridge-like protrusion unexpectedly. "Oh good, a foot rest," I thought vaguely, and laid my foot completely on top of it.

SNAP!

I'd just put half my weight on my USB. And snapped it in two.

The repair guy was quite surprised when I sheepishly presented him with the pieces. He said he'd never seen anything like t before - how did I manage to do that? I mumbled something about the dog.

That was just the FIRST of a series of progressively catastrophic mishaps that happened during the week-long course of my writing that accursed thesis. I nearly had a nervous breakdown at the end.

Feel better, now?

hehe - want to hear a funny story about USB keys? I washed mine. As in... put it in the washing machine with my clothes. ROFL!

By some miracle, even after it had gone through the whole wash cycle, it still works. I dunno how I managed that, but I'm thankful Staples sells such great stuff. hehe!

The email story. *takes a deep breath* Sadly, my coworkers pretty much all remember this and they can vouch for its accuracy. It was about 7 years ago, not long before I started working there (for the record, I'm still there and in the same team)

That afternoon, me and a few other people were having - oh, let's call them naughty conversations - through email. I think it was a Friday. And we were just really goofing around. You'd be surprised how much goofing around actually takes place there - the mind boggles.

Anyway.... in comes an email that's addressed to the whole team. And I hit "reply all" on that because I have something to say. But I also had the other email message opened up and I was typing something in there. For some reason (I've blocked it out, I'm sure) I cut out the text in that window - the naughty one - and, not being of sound mind at the time, ended up pasting it back, not inside the "this is only a joke thread with a couple pals" window, but inside the "this is a serious email that's been sent to *the entire team*" one. And... I hit send.

A few minutes later, I could literally hear coworkers around me gasping in their offices as they read my little pearls of wisdom.

Yes... I sent a naughty email to the whole entire team, including a few managers.

And it wasn't just a naughty joke, either, but something quite explicit and although it was meant to be a joke, taken out of context, it looked like I was dead serious.

They still remind me of it every once in a blue moon.

Heh.

HEY
I dropped my laptop (fro a 2.5m high bunk bed), onto a concrete floor. And let alone the fact it was the night before a 4000 word essay was due...
the screen was a wipe-out, but some of the files could be recovered... all except that 1 essay... lol

I cried in front of my father and he bought me a new one (but because mine was out of stock, he bought me a 1000 dollar upgrade, so that I could get it ASAP)

Then I cried in front of my lecturer, and she gave me two more weeks (even though "technical and computer faults" do not count under special consideration regulations at uni)

well I did not cry in front of her, but I did give a really long sob story, so I might as well have cried...ok


so this is what I have learnt....
it works even if work makes it so you cannot access your g-mail...

do what I do in uni computers


email it from your work (or uni) account
to your G-mail account.... for the back-up


works like a charm in creating back-up files....
especially when u are on a computer with restrictions....

If a company blocks Gmail access, might you still be able to get into Google Docs & Spreadsheets? I've loaded a few stories into there, so I can read them at work... but my company doesn't block Gmail, either, so I don't know.

PJ

Gee. I can't believe I'm going to post this.

Well I've had a few, but I think I go red faced over a lot of things.

My most recent thing involved me wearing a white shirt.. It‘s a white polo shirt that I bought from the ‘Joe‘ line available in Superstore here in Cda. In other words *cheap*!

Our whole department is getting more and more casual over the past two years. When I started it was strict. All the guys wear suits and most girls…except for Banking Operations which I am a part of. I don’t know why…maybe because they all make more money that us!! I work in a corporate environment where the CEO of the insurance company is on the same floor as me. So we can’t be too comfy.

I didn't plan on having to go over to the CEO area. I avoid it at all cost. However, I had to run something over to the Pres/CEO's assistant. On my way back I noticed that you can see through my shirt despite having three layers on. I was in such a rush that morning and wasn‘t thinking.. I was mortified. I had no sweater to put on over top, so I stayed in my cube at much as possible and when I ventured out I made sure I kept a file with me. Anything to put over my chest.

Being a see through cold temperature detector was not my idea of great mid-week entertainment. I need to go shopping.

Here's a wardrobe malfunction story for you...
I had borrowed pastels (chalk) from the art teacher so that my students could do an activity for my class. So being the nice teacher that I am, I cleaned up after my lazy 8th graders...putting the little pieces of chalk into the little trays neatly (not just thrown into the big boxes). I had been VERY careful while doing this because I had a pale cream top on and I didn't want it to get dirty. So then I piled the boxes on top of each other, tucking the top box under my chin so they didn't fall, and took them back to the art teacher. I thought everything was fine until a male teacher started laughing and pointing at my chest. Apparently, there had been some red chalk dust on the outside of the boxes and it had rubbed off on me in little circles...it looked like my nipples were glowing through my shirt. I spent the last hour of school holding papers in front of me.