We mistakenly sent out an empty test email to a portion of our HBO Max mailing list this evening. We apologize for the inconvenience, and as the jokes pile in, yes, it was the intern. No, really. And we’re helping them through it. ❤️
— HBOMaxHelp (@HBOMaxHelp) June 18, 2021
Last week, thousands of HBO Max subscribers received a mysterious email from the company. The subject was Integration Test Email #1, which implied there would be more, but there was no information that made any sense, and no action requested. HBO Max posted an explanation on Twitter, which blamed an intern, but also appeared to be supportive. You can just imagine how embarrassed and frankly terrified an intern could be over such a public screwup. Twitter users were also supportive, and shared the huge mistakes they made when they were interns, just starting out in their careers.
Dear Intern, I was using my desktop calendar to make a monthly note of when I started my menstrual period, but after several months I realized I was making that note on a calendar I shared with all of my colleagues company wide. I was 37 years old.
— Caissie (@Caissie) June 18, 2021
Dear Intern, when I was 25 I made a PDF assigning each employee to the Muppet they reminded me of the most. I meant to send it to my work friend, but I accidentally sent it to the entire company. My supervisor (Beaker) wanted to fire me, but the owners (Bert & Ernie) intervened. https://t.co/zMKvQ6nxjj
— aerin. (@AerinChevyFord) June 18, 2021
Some were very public, while others were only terrifying until someone else fixed it. The upshot was that you haven't really arrived in a job until you've messed up big time.
HBO Intern, you are breathtaking! I mean it! Congrats on making your first big mistake. It's like a right of initiation for us developers
— Charles C. Pustejovsky III 👍 (@CCPustejovsky) June 18, 2021
HT to @_workchronicles pic.twitter.com/8SsQNiXBBr
See a ranked list of the top 30 responses at Bored Panda, or all of them at Twitter.