16 people reveal the most expensive mistake they ever made.

Messing up at work or making a few careless mistakes as we try to get through the chaos of our chosen hustle is unfortunately part of life, but when the 'oops' comes with a massive bill? It's not as easy to laugh, forgive, and forget...

So, when a Reddit user asked, 'What is the most expensive mistake you have ever made?' people were ready to confess to the costly mishaps they made at work or in life. Shout out to when I worked at a sandwich shop in high school and I thought roast beef was the same as prime rib.

1.

In retrospect, getting married at 19 was kinda dumb. - cubs_070816

2.

When I was in the navy, my supervisor did the 'drop test' on a piece of electronics equipment but I hadn't heard of the drop test yet. So he tossed It to me to put into a drawer for later and I slammed that sh*t so hard into the ground. Like super bowl winning touchdown spiked that thing. I look up and he has horror written all over his face.

Turns out the drop test is when you hit a piece of equipment and then it may help fix it. When he dropped it, I figured it was broken already and he was having fun. Thing cost like $7000 - PubG4YouAndMe

3.

Ya know when your mom told you not to kick the ball around the house? Yup, broke a window, a big one, verrry expensive - Creslig

4.

Not getting pet insurance right from the start ‘because she will be an inside cat’. About 1k later in emergency vet bills, I have regrets. - KukaVex

5.

I sold one of my cars to buy my girlfriend breast implants. Before we even got home from the surgery she broke up with me and moved back in with her ex husband. They were great afterwards I assume . - johnzischeme

6.

Bought 1k worth of pc parts and it didn't work when I put it together so I got overwhelmed and depressed and sold all of it for $250. - hunnerr

7.

I bought a hoodie for $475 just because it's rare to find. I can barely wear it anywhere because it's pretty offensive/bad. - SentientKayak

8.

Closed my store for the night without checking the back double door freezer. Door was open. Everything had to be thrown out and replaced...Twice. - QuadOfficeDude

9.

Sold my Apple stock in 2001. I had to make rent. - ten-million

10.

Missed the notation (probably 7pt text on a 36'x24' sheet of paper) on a set of plans for a city water pumping construction project that said 'field verify' and had my crew build exactly per plan.

Later we find out that the elevation on the drawing were not correct and since we didn't verify that they were it was on us to make it right. Cost the company $40k - chiseledface

11.

Airline captain here. Was ready to push off the gate for departure. “Cockpit to tamp, breaks releases, cleared to push.” Only they weren’t released. Sheered the tow bar pin which requires a maintenance inspection. They find out it was the wrong shear pin so now they had to do a much deeper inspection which required jacking the plane up and swinging the gear a few times.

Company had to rent hanger space from Delta, and delay the flight about 8 hours. Pay for all the flight crew to spend the night in Seattle. Oh also they had to accommodate all the passengers who missed their flights/connections. Don’t know how much that one cost but probably in the tens of thousands because I forgot to turn a tiny little handle. - poser765

12.

Was selling a motorcycle I owed $17500 on. An interested party arrived took the bike for a ride a never came back. Called the insurance, according to them the bike was not stolen because I gave the guy the key. I ended up with having to pay the $17500 on a bike I no longer had. - warrison77

13.

Buying a Porsche and driving it 'just to get it home' without insurance. Years of payments on a wrecked car. - picksandchooses

14.

A boat that cost way too much to run, maintain, repair, and to pay all the endless fees associated with owning it. It felt more like the 'boat owned me' than vice versa. - Back2Bach

15.

Not me but someone on my program ordered over $30M of inventory by mistake. Has been an ongoing process for a year to explain what happened and what to do with it. - Masterb1

16.

I lost an envelope full of about $1000 on the bus. Pretty boring story, but a very expensive mistake. - PouponMacaque