This is precisely what one thins before doing an honest mistake, then they learn they're less perfect than expected.

I agree with that in principle, but I think the things OP writes about are egregiously bad. Both in the sense of the employees in question being incredibly careless, and the company being negligent in developing process around having this sort of "god mode" access.

I've seen my share of honest mistakes (and committed some of them), but... damn.