‘I don’t know what happened’: Intern spirals after thinking she 'crashed the company' by deleting an important folder on the drive, only to have coworkers explain she only deleted a shortcut

Author image for Bar Mor Hazut
Bar Mor Hazut • Senior Editor
Jun 9, 2025 11:00 AM EDT

There is no match to the adrenaline rush you feel after you find out you made a mistake that could very possibly cost you your job. Your heart starts beating fast, your ears are ringing, your hands are sweating, as you stare at your mistake and consider the two options you have–fight or flee.

Choosing to flee means that you will try everything to cover up your mistake. Sweeping any evidence and ties you may have for the problem you created, and acting innocent if anyone asks you about it. If you're lucky, nobody will be able to trace this back to you. If luck is not on your side, you will have a lot of explaining to do.

Choosing to fight means you are ready to own up to your mistake and face the consequences, come what may. You will march to your supervisor, tell them what happened, and hope they will be understanding, and maybe even able to fix it. While some managers will see this mistake as a valid excuse to let you go, others might appreciate your honesty and allow you to stay. Either way, at least your conscious will be clean.

When the intern in the story below made what she thought was a huge mistake, she immediately fessed up to it. What happened next was beyond her wildest expectations…

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  • 01
    "The poor girl sat in stunned silence while we tried not to laugh"
    via Natee Meepian

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • 02

    Intern Thought She Crashed the Company. We Just Laughed.

    We've got this intern, super bright, very eager, bit of a perfectionist. Yesterday around 3PM, she comes up to me pale as a ghost, holding her laptop like it's radioactive.
    via FloraEnFleur
  • 03
    She says: I think I accidentally deleted the Q2 Sales Dashboard. I'm so sorry. I was just trying to tidy up the Google Drive and I think I clicked
    via FloraEnFleur
  • 04
    'Remove' and I don't know what happened but... She was spiraling. Practically on the verge of tears. My coworker and I
    via FloraEnFleur
  • 05
    followed her back to her desk like she was leading us to a mi der scene. She opens the Drive. The dashboard is right there.
    via FloraEnFleur
  • 06
    Turns out she just removed the shortcut from her own folder. That's it. The actual dashboard is safe, untouched, shared with the whole department, backed up six ways from Sunday.
    via FloraEnFleur
  • 07
    The poor girl sat in stunned silence while we tried not to laugh. I gently explained how Google Drive works, showed her the "Shared With Me" tab, and offered
    via FloraEnFleur
  • 08
    her a KitKat from my drawer. (She needed it.) To her credit, she bounced back by the end of the day.
    via FloraEnFleur
  • 09
    But now "deleting the company dashboard" is a running joke anytime someone misplaces a file. Interns, man. We've all been there.
    via FloraEnFleur
  • 10
    Cheezburger Image 10514982656
    via Natee Meepian

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • 11
    Ocean ParkNo16 It's great that her first and immediate response was to come to you and report what she thought was a huge mistake on her part. Some young (well, any age, really) professionals try to hide mistakes and avoid blame.
    via OceanParkNo16
  • 12
    Particular_Boat5819 Holding her laptop like it's radioactive omg that's just... I feel for her hahaha technology and the fear of making irreversible mistakes causes so much anxiety for those unfamiliar with it.
    via Particular_Boat5819
  • 13
    ILikeGardening Too She's a jewel. She thinks she completely swed up and immediately owns up to her mistake without excuses.
    via ILikeGardeningToo
  • 14
    PuzzledGeekery When I was in Desktop Support, I once had to tell a new employee to stop deleting the application shortcuts on the main screen. She "didn't like the
    via PuzzledGeekery
  • 15
    aesthetic," whatever that meant, but then had to be told how to put the shortcuts back when she needed a program. She was a pain. I'm glad your intern was not like mine.
    via PuzzledGeekery
  • 16
    [deleted] Was the Kit Kat a signal that she should "take a break"?
    via [deleted]
  • 17
    FulanoMeng4no If an intern, or any other employee, can delete critical company information without at least a second person approving it, your company has a huge problem in their hands.
    via FulanoMeng4no
  • 18
    bambiealberta Good call in the kitkat. She was probably going to have an adrenaline crash.
    via bambiealberta
  • 19
    Mental_Amount5166 You are a good coworker
    via Mental_Amount5166

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boss workplace-stories employee fired manager job intern tales-from-the-workplace coworkers reddit story Office overworked-employees workplace Reddit company
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