People Recall Costly Workplace Mistakes, From a Crypto Crash to a Ferrari Mishap

A post shared on r/AskReddit on Oct. 20, 2026, asked readers about the most expensive mistakes they had seen someone make. The post had received more than 2,700 upvotes and 982 comments as of publication.

The post asked, “What’s the most expensive mistake you’ve ever seen someone make in less than 10 seconds?”

One commenter described a manager’s reaction to a costly mishap. “The manager turned out to be a great guy and retired happily about 10 years later,” they wrote. The commenter said they did not recall the manager saying anything except “some version of: ‘Nice steering, dummy.’” The manager then said, “Well I guess we don’t have to crate it up now, so head back to the office. Don’t worry about it.”

The commenter wrote, “At the time I spent weeks anxiously expecting blowback, but there were zero repercussions [...].” They described the episode as a lesson in profit margins. “It turned out to be my first lesson in margins: yes, that thing could have sold for $40k+,” they wrote. “The actual cost to us to manufacture it was relatively trivial, it was a bit on the older side, etc.”

Another commenter described accidentally taking down a workplace system. “I wiped out our SharePoint tenant for an hour while editing the master page,” they wrote. “To be fair, something glitched, but it glitched on me.”

The commenter said that “just as I was bringing it to my supervisor, we found a way to get the site back up.” They added that “nothing major came from it beyond getting more familiar with how to deal with a crash.” They also said they were “making sure that my team’s [...] people all have the tools and comfort to get it back up next time.”

Another commenter described a parking mistake involving a luxury car. “When you’re a valet driver, it’s very important to put the parking brake on in supercars,” they wrote, explaining that “they do not have a standard shifter with a P selection.” The commenter said some McLaren models have the brake “next to your left knee,” and “the car will roll away if you get out of it and don’t hit that button.”

The commenter recalled that their former valet manager, on “a very busy evening,” “forgot to put a Ferrari Spyder in park, got out, ran to park another car.” They said “everyone on the front drive watched a very expensive car roll and hit the lip of the very expensive courtyard fountain.” The commenter added, “Cherry on top was him trying to blame another valet for not informing him that it wouldn’t automatically come on if he opened the door.”

A separate commenter described a friend who had forgotten about a cryptocurrency investment. “A buddy of mine bought $100 of Doge as kind of a dumb joke (it was 2020 and we were all so, so bored),” they wrote. The friend then “forgot about it,” the commenter said. They also forgot that they had placed a take-profit order at a gain of just 20%.

“Months later he was telling us about how he was about to sell and take his family to Europe,” the commenter wrote, because “it was 200x over his purchase price.” But “Then he logged back into his account to see $120 in cash sitting there [...],” they added. “We still give him [...] for it because the guy never gambles or is otherwise irresponsible with money.”

The Daily Dot was unable to verify the accounts described in these comments independently. The details above reflect the commenters’ accounts as shared on r/AskReddit. The commenters’ identities have not been confirmed.