This paper examines paradoxes in organizational learning (OL) stories told by workers of the manufacturing industry. OL is here understood as a process of organizing and becoming where members of a learning community create their own learning culture and self-management. When looking at the organizational learning process from the perspective of the learners, some interesting but disorienting or embarrassing aspects demand our attention. This study reveals the tensions that underlie learning in social contexts (E. Antonacopoulou & Chiva, 2007). The paper makes the paradoxes understandable by presenting them as representations of spatial dynamics of organization (Hernes, 2004). The role of emotions, social norms and unconscious responses to situations in working life are accentuated in the construction of organizational learning.