(FORTUNE Magazine) – Karie and Alex, her now ex-boyfriend, had dated for eight years when her cell phone came between them. One night Karie was riding in a friend's convertible, confessing her doubts about her love life and badmouthing her sister's husband, Michael, Alex's fraternity brother. Just then, her phone happened to dial her sister's number--from inside her purse. Michael answered. And heard everything. And told Alex. "It kind of destroyed my life," says Karie.

An editor at Vanity Fair had stepped out for what she said was a lunch meeting. In fact it was a trip to Bergdorf Goodman, where she and a colleague dissed her assistant while they shopped for shoes--and where her cell made an unintended call. The assistant broadcast it over her speakerphone. She's got a new job.

Co-workers Tim Kirkman and Amy Rocen were joking around in a cab, posing as a bickering couple. Rocen said she couldn't keep their love child and wanted to end the relationship; Kirkman (he's gay) asked how they'd care for their other two children. Then he discovered his phone was on. It had dialed another colleague, who found the "spat" recorded on his voice mail.

Another Amy was out drinking with some college buddies, reminiscing about old relationships. Her boyfriend later recounted the conversation to her. Now he's her ex.

Even Megan Matthews, a spokesperson for Nokia, says her evening with a friend was accidentally taped on a colleague's voice mail. All it takes is a cell phone with no flip cover and a little pressure on the wrong buttons. Once the call is sent, there's no getting it back. Matthews notes that Nokia added a keyguard to prevent such mishaps. But who has time to use it? We're all too busy trashing each other.

--Suzanne Koudsi