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Celebrate your Failures

I once heard a wise scholar say, "Celebrate your failures, they are what make you special!"



Drawing inspiration from Sally Wynter 👹, who shared a similar post, I've decided to finally embrace one of my more humorous workplace mishaps from years past...



Around 35 years ago, during my time as a young computer operator at Toyota Motor Corporation Australia, I found myself a bit bored one day. So, I decided to inject a bit of humor into the monotony by typing a message onto the mainframe console:



"Roses are red, violets are blue, this computer is sitting here doing nothing, just like you!"



Little did I know, that seemingly harmless message ended up being broadcasted to the entire Toyota dealer network! The Help Desk was inundated with calls from perplexed individuals stating, "My computer just told me I am sitting here doing nothing!"



And that's not the only blunder in my repertoire. Flashback to my third week on the job as a trainee computer operator at what was then the Melbourne Metropolitan Board of Works, where I achieved the remarkable feat of bringing down the entire mainframe system. How, you might ask? By simply typing in the command $PI (my manager paused as he instructed me to type it.. so I hit enter). In the aftermath, I earned myself the humorous nickname of $piteri.



It's taken some time, but I've gathered the courage to share these tales on a public forum. Now, I'm curious – what are some of your memorable workplace fiascos? Let's celebrate our failures together!





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