# What's the worst mistake you ever made? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 3, 2002, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-mistake-you-ever-made/140252 "2002-12-03T18:48:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Madness2MyMethod](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Madness2MyMethod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Madness2MyMethod)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-mistake-you-ever-made/140252/81 "2004-03-16T16:08:14Z")
> [@Huemr](#): > > I tend to forget most of the stupid things I’ve done, but one does come to mind. > > I used Armor All™ on the vinyl seat of a truck I used to own. I was stopped waiting for traffic to pass so I could make a left turn into a parking lot. When the traffic passed, I hit the gas, and slid out from behind the wheel, and fell on the floor on the passanger side. I reached over with my right hand and pushed the brake and brought the truck to a stop. I then reached up an grabbed the steering wheel, pulled myself back to an upright possition, looked around to see if anyone had seen me, and when no one was pointing and laughing, I continued on as if it had never happened. LMAO! Well I’m laughing buddy, hahah. Good stuff My worst mistake was wasting two years of my life with a girl in high school. She influenced me to go to a small college near home rather than a larger, more prestigious college far from home. I was a grade above her, so I started college one year before her. She dumped me for my best friend one month before I started college. Darwin’s\_Finch, my heart goes out to you man. I know words on a forum don’t do much, but I wish I could take away your pain. ---
**Author:** ![Madness2MyMethod](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Madness2MyMethod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Madness2MyMethod)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-mistake-you-ever-made/140252/82 "2004-03-16T16:14:30Z")
Another bad mistake I made: I rearended another vehicle at extremely slow speeds. Not knowing any better, we called up the cops, exchanged insurance cards, etc. There was no visible damage to her bumper except for a very tiny hole. My insurance company paid out $300 to her. My insurance went up. I should have just paid her cash, because I’m paying for that mistake for another 2 years. ---
**Author:** ![Balduran](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cc9497/32.png) [@Balduran](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balduran)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-mistake-you-ever-made/140252/83 "2004-03-16T16:39:15Z")
> [@Breezy](#): > > **XJETGIRLX** Thanks for the link. I checked out the site. That is the type of school I’m looking for, but they tend not to offer the degrees I’m interested in. Most of their degrees are computer or business related. Maybe I should just get a business degree. haha > > I really want to be a teacher, though. ☹ > > I appreciate the link, anyhow. Hey **Breezy** , here’s a [Canadian University](http://www.athabascau.ca/main/proglev.htm) that specialises in distance education. ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-mistake-you-ever-made/140252/84 "2004-03-16T17:28:23Z")
Being such an incredible shit to my ex-wife. She deserved so much more that what I put her through. Luckily, she and I have worked through the issues and we are much better friends than we ever were spouses; however, I still regret the pain and humiliation that I caused her. ---
**Author:** ![Scarlet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@Scarlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlet)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-mistake-you-ever-made/140252/85 "2004-03-16T18:13:14Z")
> [@Breezy](#): > > Took third semester off while still living in the college town. Continued to work, and basically pay for my boyfriend’s groceries, and utilities… > > 4th semester I re-enrolled and NEVER went to class. Totally flunked out and failed. > > I will say that I did finally dump the shitty boyfriend who wrecked my college career. WOW! I could’ve written that! Except I didn’t take time off before I failed a semester, I got a forced “leave of absence” from the college after the failed semester, the let me come back after a year though. By the time I was able to go back I was so far in debt due to shitty boyfriend that I couldn’t afford to take classes. This was around the same time that I met my now DH, who out of the kindness of his heart, took pity on me and paid for me to take a class (he had only known me for 2 weeks at that point in time). 5 years later (and 9 years after I originally started college) I am finally going to graduate! Yea! I would say letting the boyfriend screw up not only my education, but my credit and emotional well being was the biggest mistake of my life. OTOH if it hadn’t been for that BF, I never would have met DH… go figure. ---
**Author:** ![Indygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-mistake-you-ever-made/140252/86 "2004-03-16T18:35:35Z")
> [@Roadfood](#): > > Your wife ended up divorcing you because you _went shopping_ and _had lunch_ with a woman, and didn’t tell her? And before that, she spent **ten years** harping on that tiny incident and bringing it up in every argument? > > I’m sorry, but you are just not justified in feeling guilty about that, or that you made the mistake. If your wife said that she couldn’t trust you completely after that, then she never had much trust in you in the first place. Being married does not mean that you owe your partner an accounting of your whereabouts at all times, and a listing of every person that you ever spend any time with. Sure, if your wife previously made it known to you that she was irrationally jealous of the woman you went shopping with, and then found out that you were with that woman and didn’t tell her, she’s justified in being a little annoyed with you. But to lose trust in you over that raises insecurity to new heights. Hold on a second. You don’t know what really went on. Sure, his side of the story makes him sound innocent, but I’m sure his ex-wife has her side of the story to tell, and it might not make him look so great. If he feels so guilty, I’m sure there’s a reason why, and it’s probably about more than a lunch with someone. Remember, in stories like this, there are three sides–his, hers, and the truth. ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-mistake-you-ever-made/140252/87 "2004-03-16T19:24:39Z")
When you consider that his remark was made over a year ago, he’s been holding on a lot longer than a second. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-mistake-you-ever-made/140252/88 "2004-03-16T19:35:54Z")
> [@Darwin's Finch](#): > > No, but it did affect my esophagus, in that it dissolved a good portion of it. It had to be completely replaced, and I had to go through speech therapy to re-learn how to talk afterwards. So, I do sound a bit more like Elmer Fudd than I might like. Jesus, dude. That’s terrible. Did they catch the rotten little shits who did this to you? How old are you now? Do you feel at least somewhat normal? Shit, man. Don’t blame yourself for this. ---
**Author:** ![Lobelia\_Overhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/54ee81/32.png) [@Lobelia\_Overhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobelia_Overhill)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-mistake-you-ever-made/140252/89 "2004-03-16T19:41:18Z")
Mine is fairly pathetic really … last year I found a link to an equestrian based online game thingy. I paid for a years subscription to it, and two days later the site crashed. Somewhat pissed off I logged on to another site with a similar theme, and paid for a year’s subscription to that, as with the first site, you buy, sell, breed and train virtual horses - but on this one you can board other people’s horses and feed them for them. Well feck that for a game of soldiers, at the last count there were over 700 horses boarding at my stables, and there isn’t a “feed all” option, you have to feed the horses individually … takes _hours_ and that’s only if the site is running properly. For the last three days it hasn’t been, I can log in, then I get “page cannot be displayed” i emailed them about it and they sent back a crappy automated response, so I’ve decided to cut my losses and quit the site, but I can’t get into it to let the people who board at my stables know to move their horses elsewhere (the horse’s die if not fed for a certain amount of time) … ---
**Author:** ![Anonymous\_Coward](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/94ad74/32.png) [@Anonymous\_Coward](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anonymous_Coward)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-mistake-you-ever-made/140252/90 "2004-03-16T20:00:13Z")
> [@Lobelia Overhill](#): > > but I can’t get into it to let the people who board at my stables know to move their horses elsewhere (the horse’s die if not fed for a certain amount of time) … bahahaha! Now that’s comedy! ---
**Author:** ![BuckleberryFerry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5f9b8f/32.png) [@BuckleberryFerry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BuckleberryFerry)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-mistake-you-ever-made/140252/91 "2004-03-16T20:10:26Z")
My first “real” friendship. I was too young to know any better, but this girl was twisting me this way and that and just generally making my life miserable. She would consistently make me feel guilty beyond comprehension about something minor and threaten me with not being my friend anymore (a Big Deal at the time, despite the good it would have done me) even though **I** was the one who called **her** with a greivence about something **she** had done to **me**. I’m thinking this ‘friendship’ might be why I have such guilt issues and a complete inability to interact with anyone, especially when I first meet them. Even once I get to know them I find myself doubting myself at every little thing I say or do. But of course, because of that delightful complex, I can’t help but think “I’m probably just trying to shift the blame off of myself; that’s what everyone’s giong to say, and they’re probably right.” It’s a hell of an endless loop. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-mistake-you-ever-made/140252/92 "2004-03-16T20:11:15Z")
> [@masonite](#): > > Her oracular counsel consisted of the history of her life, xeroxed. She told Arthur to study her life and view all the decisions she’d ever made, and then make opposite ones; that way he might avoid ending up old and haggy in a smelly cave on a forsaken planet. Reminds me of [this](http://www.despair.com/demotivators/mis24x30prin.html)😉 Or George Constanza vs. the Andrea Doria survivor. I went to a small private high school, full of cliques of various levels of snobbishness. My freshman year we had a math teacher (geometry) who was really cool to us geekier kids (started math club, etc.), but was teased mercilessly by the “in” kids. My biggest mistake was that I succumbed to peer pressure and by the end of the year stopped talking to him too. I’m really sorry for that. ---
**Author:** ![sinjin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@sinjin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sinjin)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2004, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-mistake-you-ever-made/140252/93 "2004-03-17T00:19:33Z")
WOW Finch that’s terrible. But I really can’t see it as a “mistake” that you made. For God’s sakes you were 4 years old. 4 year old kids trust everbody no matter what their parents say about strangers. Especially other older kids that they invariabley look up to. I think your story comes under the heading “when bad things happen to good people” ---
**Author:** ![Cyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e4f/32.png) [@Cyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyn)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2004, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-mistake-you-ever-made/140252/94 "2004-03-17T00:26:50Z")
Marrying Troy Nunnelee and not divorcing him for 12 years. ---
**Author:** ![jastu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/43a26b/32.png) [@jastu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jastu)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2004, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-mistake-you-ever-made/140252/95 "2004-03-17T00:35:21Z")
This is such a hard one. I’ve made quite a few bad decisions, financial and personal, mostly from listening to and acting on other peoples advice. So, I guess not having more faith in my own instincts and judgement has been my worst mistake. ---
**Author:** ![acrossthesea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@acrossthesea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/acrossthesea)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2004, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-mistake-you-ever-made/140252/96 "2004-03-17T00:36:53Z")
Getting married. Yeah, in order to live on a military base I needed to, but I would have so much rather have just lived in Japan with the guy than been married, cause then I now wouldn’t have to deal with a divorce. Next time I get married it won’t, unfortunately, be my first time, and I believe marriage should be once and always. I don’t, however, regret going to live in Japan. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2004, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-mistake-you-ever-made/140252/97 "2004-03-17T07:09:58Z")
When I was fresh out of nursing school, I make an error that contributed to my patient’s death. He had end stage leukemia. He had IV fluids running very slowly because his kidneys were failing. I left him alone for 45 minutes. I was responsible for 38 patients that night, and had to give some meds and just check everyone. There were 2 other caregivers, but they weren’t RNs so I had to check their work. I got back to the young man, and found him struggling to breathe. The IV bag I had hung just before I left him was empty. I caused him to go into pulmonary edema. Fluid accumulates in the lungs and ultimately the person drowns. This man was dying, that was never in question. I didn’t get into any trouble. The physician and my head nurse, both felt it was a minor mistake. They both kept telling me he would have died that night no matter what I’d done. I think that was worse for me. Had I been punished, I would have paid for it and moved on. I still have nightmares about it and it happened in 1974. I know it made me a better nurse. I was always on guard, so afraid I’d kill someone else. ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2004, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-mistake-you-ever-made/140252/98 "2004-03-17T07:19:51Z")
**picunurse** : that’s a heavy burden you’ve been carrying. 45 minutes doesn’t seem all that long; I’ve been generally appalled at all the hospital nursing care I’ve ever seen, unfortunately, and 45 minutes been checkups seems a very short time to me. I became totally hysterical when my mum was in the hospital, just coming out of surgical anaesthesia, when the bimbo idiot nurse asked her if she was allergic to codiene, without bothering to read the chart. My mom replied “Mmm…” and the nurse proceeded to inject her. I went to the nurses station and let out all of the pent-up anxiety of the past few days, and I’ve never regretted it. (She wasn’t allergic but she could have been, and doubtless you know the consequences.) Anyway, I really feel for you to have posted something so deep and personal, and I hope you are at peace with yourself. I wasn’t there but the fact that you care at all, and have been caring since 1974, counts for a lot. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2004, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-mistake-you-ever-made/140252/99 "2004-03-17T07:49:23Z")
> [@masonite](#): > > **picunurse** : that’s a heavy burden you’ve been carrying. 45 minutes doesn’t seem all that long; I’ve been generally appalled at all the hospital nursing care I’ve ever seen, unfortunately, and 45 minutes been checkups seems a very short time to me. I became totally hysterical when my mum was in the hospital, just coming out of surgical anaesthesia, when the bimbo idiot nurse asked her if she was allergic to codiene, without bothering to read the chart. My mom replied “Mmm…” and the nurse proceeded to inject her. I went to the nurses station and let out all of the pent-up anxiety of the past few days, and I’ve never regretted it. (She wasn’t allergic but she could have been, and doubtless you know the consequences.) > > Anyway, I really feel for you to have posted something so deep and personal, and I hope you are at peace with yourself. I wasn’t there but the fact that you care at all, and have been caring since 1974, counts for a lot. Thank you **masonite** I did get past it. It did make me a better nurse. I think many healthcare professionals never internalize the simple fact they hold lives in their hands. I was given that insight early. I’m retired now. I started out as a medical corpsman in the USAF in 1965. I loved nursing right up to the moment I started hating it. One day I “saw” the pain I had to inflict everyday. Once seen, I couldn’t unsee it. Maybe I just got tired. Now, I craft stained glass, I paint, I read, work in the garden (I needn’t mention dishes, laundry, vacuuming. and so on.) I get up when I want and sleep when I want. I have 30 years of sleep to catch up on. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ColonelDax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@ColonelDax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ColonelDax)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2004, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-mistake-you-ever-made/140252/100 "2004-03-17T14:47:19Z")
> [@Igloo](#): > > I think I’m just in a philosophical mood lately so please excuse the global generalization, but I think my worst mistake has and continues to be not believing in myself. Kinda like when you look back on pictures and think, wow, my life looks better in that photo than I thought it looked in real life at the time. I continually doubt myself and wonder if I’ll ever get to a place of confidence in the here and now instead of having to live my life in retrospect. Jeez, are you reading my mind? My life in a nutshell, unfortunately. > [@tramp](#): > > Messing up a perfectly good relationship with, honestly, the only man I’ve ever completely loved because of my own insecurity. I also made the huge mistake of not acknowledging a few years ago that I was completely in love with a terrific lady, basically for the reason cited above. Oh well, that’s life. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-mistake-you-ever-made/140252.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-mistake-you-ever-made/140252.md?page=6)