Backward Shirts and Other Embarassing Executive Tricks

Some highlights of the executives’ clothing miscues, according to an OfficeTeam news release: 

• “I was late getting to the office and realized I wore my bathroom slippers to work.”
• “My skirt got stuck in my pantyhose.”
• “My trousers tore in front of my team members.”
• “My shirt was on backward.”

But the executives did not need a backward shirt or a stuck skirt to have their own horrifying office Kodak moment, according to the news release: 

• “While speaking at a business event, I fell off the stage.”
• “While interviewing a job candidate, I fell asleep.”
• “I fainted during a meeting with a client.”
• “A personal voice mail from my spouse went to my boss.”
• “I sent an offer letter to the wrong candidate.”
• “I laughed so hard at a joke the boss told that I started snorting.”

Often, it seems efforts by the surveyed managers to impress the boss went awry. Some examples:

• “I called my boss ‘my love’ by complete accident.”
• “I spilled coffee all over my boss.”
• “I said something inappropriate about my boss and found out he was standing right behind me.”

The survey was conducted by an independent research firm and is based on telephone interviews with more than 1,300 senior managers at companies with 20 or more employees in the United States and Canada.