What’s the most embarrassing work email mistake you’ve ever made — and how did you recover from it?

I’m asking because I just made what feels like the worst mistake of my life.

I sent an important email to the Korean owner of our base company in Korea, and there were several other Korean colleagues CC’d. The problem is… I accidentally included the ENTIRE ChatGPT conversation I used to draft the email — not just the final version.

So they saw everything: the drafts, the suggested phrasing, the notes like “This version balances professionalism…” and “Let me know if you’d like to adjust the tone further.” It looked so unprofessional and careless, and knowing the business culture there, I’m terrified of how it came across.

Now I can’t sleep, I keep replaying it in my head, and I’ve cried so many times this weekend because I feel like I ruined their impression of me.

So I need to hear from people who have survived something embarrassing like this:
What’s the worst email or work message mistake you’ve made, and what happened afterward? How did you move past it?

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