An HBO Max intern accidentally sent a blank test email to many of the company's 44 million-plus subscribers on Thursday, prompting an outpouring of support from Twitter users who began sharing their own embarrassing work stories. It all began when several HBO Max subscribers noticed they had received a test email from the streaming service. "This template is used by integration tests only," was all that it said. Shortly after pics of the confusing email began to surface online, HBO Max took to Twitter with a clarification and an apology.
"We mistakenly sent out an empty test email to a portion of our HBO Max mailing list this evening," the HBO Max support account tweeted. "...yes, it was the intern. No, really. And we're helping them through it."
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
Instead of angry or annoyed responses, Twitter users rallied around the unnamed intern blamed for the gaffe and shared their own workplace horror stories. The flood of tweets even set "Dear intern" trending on the microblogging platform for some time.
Some Twitter users tried to comfort the intern with hilarious office stories:
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, as a young lawyer I proof read a legal brief and filed it with the court. I caught a typo and blindly used the global find and replace function. Pro tip: don't do that. My brief argued for the rights of "the panties." Not "the parties." All 50 pages of it. ????????♀️???????? https://t.co/PDJYMXuOlw
— Suzanne Lovett (@sdtlovett) June 18, 2021
"I once globally took down Spotify," another confessed.
Dear intern,
— Daenney (@daenney) June 18, 2021
I once globally took down Spotify. It almost happened twice. My team was awesome about it and I'm still here. You managed to find something broken in the way integration tests are done. It's a good thing and will help improve things. Good luck <3.
"I deleted the company's entire Dropbox," a Twitter user wrote.
Dear intern,
— Kevin Liao (Liāu ka-kî) (@sleepy_dugong) June 18, 2021
On my first day at my first ever coding job, I deleted the company's entire Dropbox. I thought I'd be fired but my boss restored the folder from a backup and told me that if I could have deleted everyone's work that would've been on the company, not me!
Others offered words of wisdom.
Dear intern,
— JBD ヤナ ドガン (@rakyll) June 18, 2021
It's ok. I dropped a prod database when I was a senior engineer. These things happen more often than you might think. Building good systems is about having resilience against human mistakes. Because we, humans, always make mistakes.
And comics...
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
And some truly rib-tickling examples of other 'interns' messing up at work
I'll raise you one. pic.twitter.com/REuX5QvCRm
— Katie (@KatieMeeks2) June 18, 2021
— Of Black Sheep (@AndBlueWool) June 18, 2021
Even Monica Lewinsky, perhaps one of the world's most famous interns, joined the tweet-storm. "Dear intern, it gets better. Don't wear a beret for awhile, k?" she wrote. The beret she referred to is the one that she wore in a famous photo with Bill Clinton and has been associated with their affair ever since.
dear intern:
— Monica Lewinsky (she/her) (@MonicaLewinsky) June 18, 2021
it gets better.
♥️
ps. don't wear a beret for awhile, k?
Another White House intern tweeted their embarrassing on-the-job tale. "I once didn't recognize then-VP George HW Bush and almost didn't let him into a meeting...in the Cabinet Room," they wrote.
Dear Intern,
— ͏Postcards4USA (@postcards4USA) June 18, 2021
I once didn't recognize then-VP George HW Bush and almost didn't let him into a meeting…in the Cabinet Room. Of The White House. Where he worked. ????????♀️
He was actually as gracious as HBO Max Help appears to be being…you'll be fine.
Do you have a funny workplace story? Let us know using the comments section.
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