Let me preface this by saying I work in HR. Of all departments to screw up in, it’s mine.
We were on a Zoom with our regional director, my manager (mid-40s, graying, authoritative but nice), and about six other team leads. It was a tense meeting. Budget freezes, re-orgs, all that jazz.
Someone asked a question about PTO policy changes, and my manager jumped in to clarify. I meant to say, “Yes, David can explain it better than I can.” Instead… I said:
“Daddy can explain it better.”
Dead silence.
I realized immediately and tried to backpedal, but I just ended up babbling something like “DAVID. Sorry. David. Not… not daddy. I don’t call you daddy. That’s not, sorry.”
I swear I saw his mouth twitch. The rest of the meeting continued with a level of awkwardness only known to HR professionals who’ve just publicly called their boss daddy in front of upper management.
I will now live underground.
TL;DR: Meant to say my boss’s name on Zoom. Called him “daddy” instead. HR nightmare achieved.