Work Stories
Office mishaps, meeting disasters, and career moments you wish HR never heard about. Work is awkward — these stories prove it.
Work
I stare blankly at the stack of reports in front of me, my mind racing with everything I need to get done. Suddenly, the coffee machine starts beeping, reminding me it's time for my caffeine fix.
Work
My fingers are still cramped from that time I transposed two decimal places in a critical software patch and had to rebuild the entire module. The fluorescent lights in the office seemed to spin in slow motion as my coworkers stared at the screens displaying the code I'd written, waiting for me to explain how I'd managed to miscalculate the decimal point by a factor of a hundred-thousand, effectively crashing most of the western seaboard's internet.
Work
Fragrant chaos spills from the vending machine as the lukewarm coffee packet tumbles out at exactly 3:14PM, synchronically with the building's PA system blasting elevator jazz. In the office I've somehow become 'The Go-To Guy' for all technical queries, despite the fact that yesterday I couldn't even fix a jammed stapler.
Work
I was on a Zoom call trying to look professional. Right as I started speaking, my air fryer beeped loudly like a failing medical device.
:)
Work
My coworkers call me 'Excel Ninja' behind my back, not because of my impressive spreadsheet skills, but because I can turn a simple budget report into a work of art with judicious use of colour-coding and fonts. They're probably just messing with me, but every time I see the phrase 'Budget Update' in 72-point Arial bold, I feel a rush of pride and power.
Work
I'm mortified - I knocked over a tray of coffee cups in front of the entire office today. Cream was splattered on the conference room carpet, and I'm pretty sure the boss just raised an eyebrow at me.
Work
Sometimes, when my boss is out giving a presentation, he makes this ridiculous 'fist-pump-in-the-air' gesture that gets the crowd on their feet, and I find myself mirroring it, feeling absurdly connected to this man I spend most mornings avoiding eye contact with. The fluorescent lights above seem to flicker in synchronization, but it's probably just my own caffeine-fueled paranoia setting in as I try to remember if I turned off the copier from last night.
Work
As the fluorescent lights above my cube hummed, I doodled 'existential crisis' in all caps on a piece of printer paper and stapled it to the cubicle wall for motivational purposes.