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PSA: I automated our office snack ordering with a spreadsheet and it accidentally bought 72 jars of pickles.
The formula for our monthly 'snack diversity index' got a cell reference wrong, triggering a bulk reorder from the vendor, and now the break room smells like a deli (has anyone else had a process automation go this hilariously wrong?).
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the_drew3mo ago
Automation fails are a special kind of office legend. At least you've got a story better than most spreadsheet errors. Good luck finding uses for all those pickles.
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skylercooper3mo ago
Wait, pickles? They were making pickles? That's the part that gets me. Most automation messes up something boring like labels or dates. But a whole factory just pumping out pickles nobody ordered? That's a new level of weird. What do you even do with a warehouse full of accidental pickles?
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taylor3052mo ago
One time our IT director tried to "optimize" the office coffee supply by hooking up a smart scale to an auto-order system. It worked great for like a month until someone set a heavy tool box on the scale while fixing a shelf. Next thing we know, 40 pounds of dark roast shows up every week for three weeks straight. We had coffee tins stacked in the server room, the break room, even the bathroom. Ended up giving bags of beans to anyone who walked in the door like some kind of weird drug dealer. Pickles are definitely weirder though, I'd rather have too much coffee than a lifelong supply of vinegar.
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