If you are having a bad day at work because you did something stupid, this article was written for you. Take comfort in the knowledge that you’re not alone and it likely could be worse. Everybody makes mistakes at work but some are more expensive than others. To help keep it all in perspective, here are some epic examples of workplace mistakes and a positivity wordsearch. After all, a bad day only lasts twenty-four hours; here’s hoping yours gets a little better.
20 Fenchurch Street, London England
20 Fenchurch Street is a commercial building in downtown London and it’s commonly known as “the ugliest building in Great Britain”. To city natives, it looks like a giant walkie-talkie, but its biggest issue is not cosmetic. 20 Fenchurch Street acts like a giant magnifying glass and creates enough heat to fry eggs on the road.
The structure was mistakenly designed with a curve, and like most skyscrapers, it has a glass front. During the daytime, the sun hits the south side of the building, which has a slight concave curve. As a result, concentrated sunshine is reflected off the windows, and onto the opposite side of the street. In the summer, the reflected rays are six times more powerful than they should be. Streets and sidewalks have cracked and parked cars have been known to melt. During one news segment, a reporter fried an egg in a pan using only the heat from the building; he singed his hair while filming.
A sunshade was installed to fix this problem but it cost around fourteen million dollars. If it didn’t look like a walkie-talkie before, it certainly does now.
Lake Peigneur Salt Mine Disaster
On November 21st in 1980, a simple location error caused one of the biggest disasters in Louisiana’s history. While searching for oil on Lake Peigneur, a company drilled into a salt mine by accident. The rush of the flowing water caused the edges of the hole to erode and expand, opening up the mine’s caverns below. As the lake began to drain into the mine, the oil rig listed and fell into the hole. Water poured into the salt tunnels and a massive whirlpool formed on the surface.
A standing chimney is all that remains of a house sucked into Lake Peigneur.
It was the largest man-made maelstrom in human history. In addition to the drilling platform and an entire like, the enormous vortex swallowed eleven barges and sixty-five acres of lakeshore property. The freshwater lake wasn’t big enough to flood the mine completely but the whirlpool was so strong, it began to suck in nearby saltwater. It is the only recorded time in history that the flow of the Delcambre Canal changed its direction. Originally, Lake Peigneur was ten feet deep and full of freshwater. Within three hours, it transformed into a 1.3km deep, saltwater lake. Thanks to emergency planning ahead of time, all fifty-five miners escaped unharmed.
Less expensive, still epic workplace mistake
A workplace mistake doesn’t have to cost millions to be epic and outrageous. Take, for example, the people in this video:
Positivity Wordsearch
In life, we can’t always see what is coming around the corner and mistakes are going to be made. But there are things that we can do to set ourselves up for success and that is what this positivity wordsearch is all about. Find the words and find the ways to make your days a tiny bit easier. Good luck!
