Mistakes, bloopers, goofs and flubs are a part of life and regardless of which industry, race, culture or socioeconomic bracket you find yourself in, you will make mistakes and experience failure. But how you respond to those mistakes and bloopers will make you into the success that you seek or the failure you wish to avoid. Here are some of my favorite stories and quotes on the subject of goofs and flubs.
The following series of advertisements reportedly appeared in a daily newspaper:
Monday: “The Rev. A.J. Jones has one color TV set for sale. Telephone 626-1313 after 7 p.m. and ask for Mrs. Donnelley who lives with him, cheap.”
Tuesday: “We regret any embarrassment caused to Rev. Jones by a typographical error in yesterday’s paper. The ad should have read: ‘The Rev. A.J. Jones has one color TV set for sale, cheap…Telephone 626-1313 and ask for Mrs. Donnelley, who lives with him after 7 p.m.’”
Wednesday: “The Rev. A.J. Jones informs us that he has received several annoying telephone calls because of an incorrect ad in yesterday’s paper. It should have read: ‘The Rev. A.J. Jones has one color TV set for sale, cheap. Telephone 626-1313 after 7 p.m. and ask for Mrs. Donnelley who loves with him.’”
Thursday: “Please take notice that I, the Rev. A.J. Jones, have no color TV set for sale; I have smashed it. Don’t call 626-1313 anymore. I have not been carrying on with Mrs. Donnelley. She was, until yesterday, my housekeeper.’”
Friday: “Wanted: a housekeeper. Usual housekeeping duties. Good pay. Love in, Rev. A.J. Jones. Telephone 626- 1313.’”
Mistakes are inevitable in the publishing business. ~ First United Methodist Church, Meadville, PA, Content The Newsletter Newsletter, August, 1990, p. 3.
“When a drum major tossed his baton in Ventura, California, it hit two 4000-volt power lines, blacking out a ten-block area and putting a radio station off the air. The baton melted.
A bank robber in Los Angeles told the clerk not to give him cash, but to deposit the money to his checking account.
On his first assignment for a Chicago newspaper, a rookie reporter drove a company car to a car-crushing plant, parked in the wrong spot, and returned from interviewing the manager just in time to see the vehicle being compacted into scrap metal.
If you don’t learn from your mistakes, there’s no sense in making them.” ~ Oops – The Book of Blunders, 1980.
From the Pittsfield, Mass., Berkshire Eagle: “The recipe for Nikki’s Meat Loaf Surprise, which appeared on Saturday, listed two dollops of wine as being about 11 ounces. It should have read 1 1/2 ounces.” ~ Source Unknown
“As a woman placed her order in the takeout chicken shop, a look of consternation swept across the clerk’s face, and a shocked buzz rustled through the line of customers. “What!” the clerk cried. “You want to know how much chicken you should order for three hundred people?”
The woman waved her arms and shouted, “No, no — three hungry people!”" ~ Source Unknown
From an errata slip for a cookbook published by Alfred A. Knopt: Page 95, line 14: “Exactly 12 minutes” should read exactly 12 seconds.” Page 120, last line: “Spoon the floor” should read “spoon the flour.” Page 145, line 16: “Skim off the meat” should read “skim off the fat.” ~ Reader’s Digest, September, 1983
“”While visiting in West Berlin I stopped at Kennedy Platz, the site of President John F. Kennedy’s famous speech. The tour guide was recalling the climax of that impassioned address — the part when the President paused and then cried, “Ich bin ein Berliner!” The crowd that day in 1963 was swept up in the emotion of his words and ignored their meaning until later.
Kennedy had wanted to say, “Ich bin Berliner!” or “I am a Berliner!” But what he actually said was, “Ich bin ein Berliner!” or “I am a jelly doughnut!”" ~ Contributed by Kathleen Flood, Reader’s Digest
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