There’s something oddly universal about internship horror stories. No matter the industry, the title, or the “exciting opportunity” promised in job descriptions, so many college students seem to walk away with at least one experience that seems too absurd to be true. Over time, internships have developed a reputation for serving a rite of passage that’s equal parts a career stepping stone and something of a social experiment. Luckily for the rest of us, they make for very entertaining stories.

There are some things out of your control: a chaotic boss who blurs every boundary, an office fire drill that turns into a day-long saga. But what happens when, as the intern, you’re the problem? (Cue Taylor Swift’s “Anti-Hero.”) Somewhere between coffee runs, Slack messages, Zoom calls, and desperate attempts to come off as a professional person who totally knows what they’re doing, interns are almost always bound to have some sort of snafu. And yes, it’s usually cringeworthy.

The thing is, mistakes happen, and internships are supposed to provide opportunities to learn and grow. In the moment, it probably feels like your life is over — but with time, silly mistakes and unforeseen circumstances can build character… or at least provide some comedic relief.

With this in mind, Her Campus asked former interns to share their own internship confessions — so that when your own time comes, you won’t feel so alone.

Responses have been edited for length and clarity. All responses are anonymous… for obvious reasons.

Lunch gone wrong

“[I] left my bosses lunch out and left for the day; when I got home, she texted me a picture of her salad with frozen cheese on top, and captioned it with ‘uneatable.’”

Locked out

“Accidentally got locked out of the office with all of my things inside because my ID badge just stopped working.”

Anonymous Emails

“I was interning for a PR company and didn’t realize publicists used ‘[XX]’ as a placeholder for recipients’ names when sending pitch emails. I accidentally sent hundreds of emails calling people ‘[XX]’ instead of their names before realizing my mistake.”

An actual accident

“Was rushing to get to the office on time that I got in a car accident — and still managed to make it into the office.”

Slack Blast

“I sent a meme to my entire company Slack instead of my fellow intern.”

When coffee met computer

“Spilled iced coffee all over my laptop minutes before my end-of-program presentation.”

Mute button, who?

“Was on a Zoom meeting and at some point my mute button turned off — I was listening to Taylor Swift on blast, and so was the whole Zoom call for at least three minutes before I realized.”

learning ai linkedin study — Eleanor Lee via Dupe

Language barrier

“On my first day of my research internship in France, they told me that they needed an extra teacher for the day. But when I got to the school, the man clearly did not think my French was sufficient enough and was quite angry about it. This was proven to be true when one of the kids said, ‘You speak like a…’ — I don’t know what the word was, but I have to assume it was at least a slight insult.”

Accidental Back-talk

“My boss was kind of mean, and one time when I made a simple mistake she asked me, ‘What do you think would happen if this was a real job?’ My response: ‘I guess I’d get fired?’ I didn’t mean to be sassy — it just came out!

Working hard, or… ?

“It was a remote internship, so of course I was logging hours while also doing schoolwork, going to my part-time job, and hanging out with friends. No one ever called me out.”

10 Internship Confessions That’ll Make Your Own Mishaps Feel Less Terrible