What's your worst social embarrassment?


BrotherBear
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Hello! I'm a little new here but have been reading for some time. What's the worst social mistake or embarrassment you've made? For me, and this one was terrible, I have a good Muslim friend and she and I were attending a friendship party and she has brought some hummus dip and my other friend kept calling it Hamas dip! Oh my! Every time she'd talk about how great this Hamas dip was my friend would wince. I was SO embarrassed. I had to apologize to my Muslim friend for my other friends ignorance.

- Stacia

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Guest mormonmusic

I was teaching a new music student. She was 50, but maintaining her youth was very important to her -- she wore youthful clothing, spoke frequently about things she did that were "youngish", and at one point seemed sensitive about her age. She actually looked like she was in her late 30's, so she was actually doing a good job of holding back the years. But anyway -- my mistake.

A part of the lesson, I played "Don't Stop" by Fleetwood Mac for her to learn, and asked

"Do you remember hearing this song when you were younger?"

The second the words came out of my mouth I wanted to crawl into the soundhole in my guitar. She became solemn as she reflected on my words, and I knew it was one of those times when you DON'T try to make up for it. You just end up digging a deeper hole. I changed the subject and got her doing something else to move off this big fat scab I'd placed on the arm of our relationship.

I think the reason I said it was because I personally hadn't listen to the song in years, and only really got into it when I was younger.

Open Mouth, Insert Foot.

Edited by mormonmusic
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Seems to me that would be more her problem than yours. Let's face it..she WAS of age that asking the question would apply. Whether she was in denial or not..still her problem.

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Years ago I was with some of my family..my soon to be sister-in-law was there. We were discussing going out to get something to eat and the suggestion was going to Fuddruckers. For those that don't have one in your area it's a hamburger joint.

Anyway...I got the letters mixed around when I responded that I was all for Rudd.....well you fill in the blanks. My soon to be sister-in-law probably wondered what kind of family she was marrying into. 20+ years later I'm sure she's still wondering what kind of family she married into.

Major faux paux.

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Guest mormonmusic

Seems to me that would be more her problem than yours. Let's face it..she WAS of age that asking the question would apply. Whether she was in denial or not..still her problem.

I agree that she owned her feelings on this one, but I thought I could've been more careful with my words, particularly when I knew she was sensitive about her age. To me that's the characteristic of a gentleman. In this case I was a raging bull in the china shop of sensitivities.

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I have many embarrassing things happen to me. For one of them I was repelling off rocks with my husband and my brother in law. We had finished for the day and my bro in law was getting the gear all packed up. I had to pee really bad and we were quite a ways from civilization so I went and squatted in some bushes. Unfortunately I peed on my pants (women just aren’t built to be peeing outdoors), there was a river running nearby so I went and sat in a shallow part of it. When my bro in law came down he asked what happened and I told him that I fell in the river. We returned home with me sitting in wet pants the entire way back. Talk about awkward.

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I had just gotten finished swimming and swapped back in to a suit as I had gone after work. I stopped to play a game in a public arcade. This game followed the movement of the person who would shoot, dodge, duck and weave his way through a police-style shootout. I was really good at the game and had developed quite a large following of maybe 10-15 people watching me.

I dropped to a low crouch to avoid gunfire and a loud "Rrrrrrrip" was heard through the room. It turns out that I ripped a giant hole in my pants, spanning from roughly the bottom near the front to about two inches from the top. The combination of still being wet and jumping around had caused the perfect storm, so I had lost the protection of my pants.

Worse, because I had gone swimming, I had pulled off my wet underwear and was going commando when the giant crowd saw it.

Worse, I had walked to work because it was summer and had a half hour through downtown to get home.

I knew I couldn't do much, that everyone had seen it, so I shrugged and finished playing the game, then left the arcade with bare bum revealed to the world.

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I could easily fill a book with awkward and embarrassing moments. I'm really good at messing my words up, thinking one word, and saying an other, but what comes out is the wrong word or a combination of the two. Last thanksgiving, which we have at my husbands grandparents, instead of asking for the stuffing I asked if they could pass the *four letter word that starts with SH*

When in high school I was walking to the bus and slipped in some mud. I ended up lying there, on my back, in the mud. The bus driver wouldn't let me on the bus until I cleaned up.

I was at my parents house and the neighbor kid was running around in only a diaper and a little dirty from playing. He looked like he had a scab on his face (hard to tell with the dirt) and I said "wow, that kid looks messed up" meaning, dirty and scratched. My whole family looked at me and said "Alana, he has a cleft palate, it's not his fault!' I felt pretty bad.

Although this should have been embarrassing, I wasn't the one who said it and it made me laugh, to this day. My mother in law was over to my house and she kept saying "Alana, are you cooking something or does someone have a dirty diaper?" She kept saying it over and over, like 5 times. To this day my husband often says "are you cooking or does someone have a dirty diaper?" LOL.

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My most embarassing moment, funnily enough, wasn't even my fault.

It was at our engagement party. There were both guys and girls present, but quite a lot of guys that I didn't know. (Not sure why our hosts decided to invite strangers.) I'll also note that the guests were mostly LDS. Some friends (not close ones) decided to get us a bag full of "sexy gifts." I'm not talking about some tasteful candles or massage oil; it was some pretty crude stuff. I literally wanted to die as they made me pull out each item and show it off and read the labels. I kept trying to move on to someone else's gift but they were like, "Wait! There's more in the bag!" I tried to be lighthearted and not show how incredibly uncomfortable and flustered I was, but I was absolutely mortified. Afterwards I had to run to the bathroom to compose myself.

I've always been a bit self-conscious and easily embarrassed, but that just took the cake.

Edited by annamaureen
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Funky demonstrates the proper way to recover from an embarassing moment. I've never been able to make smooth recoveries like that.

I've also made the Fuddruckers/Rudd--- mistake, but in company that was pretty aquainted with such language, so it surprised them but didn't really offend or worry anyone.

My worst blunder: People in my office were studying for the Project Management Professional exam. As they passed the test, they became PMP certified. A lady co-worker came by to share the good news - she had passed the test. By way of congratulation, I asked her "And how are you enjoying your big new PMP-ness?"

(If you don't get it, say it out loud.)

LM

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I could easily fill a book with awkward and embarrassing moments. I'm really good at messing my words up, thinking one word, and saying an other, but what comes out is the wrong word or a combination of the two. Last thanksgiving, which we have at my husbands grandparents, instead of asking for the stuffing I asked if they could pass the *four letter word that starts with SH*

Are you a Brian Regan fan? You should hear his "take luck!" bit:

Although this should have been embarrassing, I wasn't the one who said it and it made me laugh, to this day. My mother in law was over to my house and she kept saying "Alana, are you cooking something or does someone have a dirty diaper?" She kept saying it over and over, like 5 times. To this day my husband often says "are you cooking or does someone have a dirty diaper?" LOL.

OUCH!

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I have many embarrassing things happen to me. For one of them I was repelling off rocks with my husband and my brother in law. We had finished for the day and my bro in law was getting the gear all packed up. I had to pee really bad and we were quite a ways from civilization so I went and squatted in some bushes. Unfortunately I peed on my pants (women just aren’t built to be peeing outdoors), there was a river running nearby so I went and sat in a shallow part of it. When my bro in law came down he asked what happened and I told him that I fell in the river. We returned home with me sitting in wet pants the entire way back. Talk about awkward.

It can happen to guys also. Once when staying at a friends house i was using the bathroom and it had one of those thick decorative cozies on the lid which upsets the balance. So I'm doing my thing when the lid comes hurling at me. Suddenly my instincts kick in, unfortunately stopping isn't one of them. So the reaction is to drop what's in my hand to catch the lid and hop back away from the object coming towards a sensitive area at the same time.

To this day if i use a restroom with a lid cozie, i take it off first.

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My most embarassing moment, funnily enough, wasn't even my fault.

It was at our engagement party. There were both guys and girls present, but quite a lot of guys that I didn't know. (Not sure why our hosts decided to invite strangers.) I'll also note that the guests were mostly LDS. Some friends (not close ones) decided to get us a bag full of "sexy gifts." I'm not talking about some tasteful candles or massage oil; it was some pretty crude stuff. I literally wanted to die as they made me pull out each item and show it off and read the labels. I kept trying to move on to someone else's gift but they were like, "Wait! There's more in the bag!" I tried to be lighthearted and not show how incredibly uncomfortable and flustered I was, but I was absolutely mortified. Afterwards I had to run to the bathroom to compose myself.

I've always been a bit self-conscious and easily embarrassed, but that just took the cake.

Ouch..I would have been the same way.

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Hordak "sees" friend John from behind at the store.

"John".

"John"

"Hey John"

"John!"

"John" turns around to reveal it is in fact NOT John.

Thinking quickly

"John, hold up. I see down there"

As he walks past the confused person he just misidentified.

"I'm on my way"

Oh my gosh! I've done the exact same thing! I thought I saw my brother and yelled for him several times (turning heads in the meantime). When he turned around and it wasn't my bro, I just yelled, "Ok, I'll catch you at home!"

But I wasn't really embarrassed, cause no one knew that I was talking to myself. I don't get embarrassed that easily.

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Mishearing names and spending a considerable amount of time calling somebody by the wrong name until you are corrected is a standard form of embarrassment. Actually I have a horrible time remembering names so I tend to use pronouns, don't know if people catch on or not though.

Edit: My incidents of social awkwardness are kept to a minimum by not being social, it has its drawbacks but it is rather effective. :)

Edited by Dravin
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Hordak "sees" friend John from behind at the store.

"John".

"John"

"Hey John"

"John!"

"John" turns around to reveal it is in fact NOT John.

Thinking quickly

"John, hold up. I see down there"

As he walks past the confused person he just misidentified.

"I'm on my way"

Well see when I'm in a family gathering I can do that too. I can say Hey John...and everyone will look at me wondering who in the heck I'm talking to since we have no John in the family. But I find myself referring to my brother-in-law as John more than I do his real name.

p.s. Probably only those that know my story on this will understand it.

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Here's my embarrassing moment (although it is not too embarrassing since I'm sharing it).

When I left my mission, there were 14 of us missionaries leaving. Our seats were willy nilly throughout the very small airplane leaving Sofia. One Elder had a guitar that he could not place in overhead, so I offered to put it in the seat next to me (yeah, Bulgarians are really relaxed on safety). When we were deboarding the plane, he couldn't get his guitar, so I offered to carry it off the plane for him.

The plane had a ladder thingy on the carmack for deboarding. The ladder thing was very narrow and I had my carryon in one hand and the guitar in the other. As I'm descending, a huge gust of wind picked up my skirt and blew it over my head. I couldn't do anything because both hands were full and in front of my body to accomodate the narrowness of the ladder thing. As a result, I descended from the plane with the back of my skirt flapping over my head (the hem was hitting my forehead from behind). I had on my nice white knee length garments and dark knee highs (imagine that one!) and flashing the people behind me (thankfully no one I've ever met before--somehow doing that in front of strangers is much easier to deal with).

Elder GuitarMan was waiting for me at the end and saw my dilemma. Nothing he could do. As I shoved the guitar into his chest, I remarked, "Take this, Elder! I just lost my virtue for it!"

Edited by beefche
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Well see when I'm in a family gathering I can do that too. I can say Hey John...and everyone will look at me wondering who in the heck I'm talking to since we have no John in the family. But I find myself referring to my brother-in-law as John more than I do his real name.

p.s. Probably only those that know my story on this will understand it.

Since John refers to other things, perhaps they are thinking you are calling him a toilet for some reason.

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