You don't want to think about it, but it haunts you at three in the morning, the way embarrassing, awkward memories often do.
You sit there and you CRINGE because dear LORD, it was awful and how in the world did you even survive that moment without DYING from embarrassment?!
Redditor Memes_are_treasure asked:
"What is an embarrassing moment that still haunts you?"
"I have a few..."
"I have a few but the worst, as I've said on here before, was when a colleague gave me a lift home from work as my wife was busy. When he dropped me off, I went into 'wife dropping me off' default mode, and leaned in for a goodbye kiss. Luckily for me, he wasn't looking and either didn't notice, or had an existential crisis and never mentioned it. The walk to my front door was spent bemoaning the fact I had been born."
"I was running late..."
"I was running late one morning my junior year of high school and I had just missed the bus but I had hoped if I ran after it maybe it would stop, so I started running. I got right along side it but my backpack was too heavy and I fell face first onto the road. I could hear everyone laughing so I just laid there, pretended to be unconscious. Eventually I heard the bus leave and I got up and ran away, hid behind a neighbor's car. About a minute later the bus driver and two football players came running around the corner. Apparently the bus driver moved the bus to the field behind the neighborhood and they were going to come help me. But I was gone. I refused to get on the bus again. Fortunately I had already had my driver's license and a couple weeks later I got my first car so it wasn't a problem."
"I was pretty drunk..."
"I was pretty drunk at a bar when I approached two women sitting by themselves, I then proceeded to say "What are two fine ladies like you doing all alone on Thanksgiving?...." It was Valentine's Day."
"I worked at a museum..."
Giphy"I worked at a museum as a young man and my job included talking to school groups before they went in. I had to speak in front of a group of older girls (close to my age) and I was hella nervous (I went to an all boys school). I got through my talk alright but, when I went to walk out the side, I bumped into a banner, which I promptly apologised to. "Oh, sorry".
"I was at a waterpark..."
"I was at a waterpark with family and towards the end of the afternoon, a woman came up to me and whispered in my ear that I have a problem with my swimsuit. I reached behind and noticed a huge gap. The fabric was torn right in the middle and you could see my crack. I was running around like this all day and no one said anything."
"The most embarrassing moment..."
"The most embarrassing moment resulted on a weekend that I was organist for 3 weddings and 2 funerals, starting Friday evening into Saturday."
"At one point, when the priest gave the signal to begin, I lost my concentration and started playing a funeral processional for music as the bride came down the aisle (instead of the wedding march)."
"Nothing terribly bad..."
"I was a freshman in high school, was a fat kid and thus wasn't very good at navigating new social areas. I met a girl, thought she was really pretty and had cool tastes in music and movies, so I went up and tried to introduce myself and talk to her on the bus. Nothing terribly bad or awkward happened, I just introduced myself and said I thought she seemed really cool; she seemed confused, and I took that as a clue that I was barking up the wrong tree and left her alone."
"A few days later, I overheard a girl in one of my classes mention her, and that some creepy fat guy was was stalking her on the bus. Naturally, I was mortified, and didn't talk to many girls for a long time after that. I got a lot better with socialization and more comfortable with meeting new people, but I'll never forget how terrible it felt to be called a creep after a single exchange of introducing myself and telling her I thought she had really interesting tastes. I'd never had someone spread a rumor about me before, and I still remember it clear as day."
"When I was in middle school..."
"When I was in middle school a lot of us were going through puberty and one girl in particular developed very quickly and very noticeably, she was stacked."
"Well we got along pretty well before everything started getting confusing and we both rode the same bus home so one day we're sharing a seat and her friend was sitting across the aisle from us so they get chatting and after a bit she leans back and lays her head in my lap, and she's wearing a pretty low cut shirt so gravity is doing God's work and I'm getting the view of a lifetime while trying desperately to not be a creep because of raging hormones, about a minute in and I've got a situation that would make devil blush and it's just pounding on the back of this poor girls head with every heartbeat."
"She caught on pretty quick and sat up for the rest of the ride and our friendship dissipated quicker than my wood."
"Day comes..."
"Didn't eat fast food growing up."
"Went to Subway with friends a couple times in my early 20's but didn't order. Seemed confusing and intimidating."
"Began studying ordering techniques of friends so maybe I could try it some day."
"Day comes where I'm ready to take the next step. Have my order memorized. I knock down my request segment by segment, like I'm reciting a script I'd been up all night rehearsing. Foot long. Ham. White. Swiss cheese. Lettuce and tomato."
"Pretty excited because I'd nailed it. I stand idly by with my hands casually behind my back, lips optimistically pursed, trying to play it cool so everyone else could be fooled into thinking I'm a perfectly regular human being who'd totally ordered a sandwich before."
"Subway worker throws me a curveball."
"Is this going to be a meal?"
"Not completely sure why he wants to know if it's going to be my entire dinner or not. Sort of thought he may have been inviting himself over or something. Just felt like really odd small talk to make."
"I become panicked and non-committal on the inside, still totally cool on the outside. I pause to contemplate for a moment then I say, "I don't know, we'll see."
"Worker freezes."
"Friend freezes."
"I'm still up on my toes, hands behind my back, casually staring ahead waiting to pay for my sandwich."
"Feels like an hour goes by but a couple moments of silence pass before it's explained to me that a Meal in this case means a sandwich, chips, and a drink."
"Friend never wants to be seen in public with me again."
Sometimes you just have to let the embarrassments of the past go.
Do you have similar experiences to share? Let us know in the comments below.
I have been left utterly bewildered by what some people believe is acceptable thought, conversation, and behavior.
Like... "Do YOU hear you?"
It shows when a person lacks life experience and/or brain cells.
Words expose everything.
And sometimes shock is all that is left to grapple with.
Redditor nlwfty wanted to hear about all the things people have overheard that left them utterly stunned, so they asked:
"What's the most out-of-touch thing you've heard someone say?"
I once a friend's friend moan about how she and her husband were nearly destitute.
Almost penniless.
All while she was straightening up the house for the new au pair they had just gotten from Columbia.
The Who?
Over It Maid GIFGiphy"My boss once told me to have 'the maid' drop my car at the shop. WTF!!"
amboomernotkaren
Be Happy
"'You won't be happier at work if we pay you more, but we need to figure out why workplace happiness is so low.' This coming from a guy that made 10x what I did and was born into old money."
Dirac_comb
"I had a job that was paying below market rates and 'expected' daily overtime (unpaid, natch) and was trying to figure out how to improve morale. They were considering bringing in consoles and having video game nights after work... as if we weren't stuck there too long already."
"I did have the fun of leaving, then being asked to come back as a contractor to help out, and taking advantage of being on a short-term contract and giving no f**ks to suggest that maybe they should consider at least TRACKING the overtime people were working, even if they weren't going to pay for it since there was probably a whole extra job's worth of hours in there and maybe hiring another person might improve morale and reduce the risk of the kind of errors tired people make."
"Didn't stay long as a temp. Apparently telling the truth and discussing facts with your co-workers isn't good for morale >_< They told everyone I was leaving because I got a better offer (!), but I told everyone exactly what was really happening when they asked XD."
princess_ferocious
It hasn't?
"My dad (who is now the Director of Accounting for the school district I teach for) was talking about how my starting pay was way more than his starting pay."
"I said, 'Well, yeah... The cost of living has increased a ton since then.' This motherf**ker straight up said, 'No it hasn't.'"
"He started working there in 1992. This conversation happened in like 2017 (about a year after I started working there). Again, he is the director of accounting."
pjsans
Move On
"'You seem sad.'"
"My mother to my sister, at her husband's funeral."
blarg-zilla
"My sister's son was murdered. Two weeks later my mom asked her if she was over it yet."
NeverCallMeFifi
"One of my sons was murdered 12 years ago. Many people started telling me that I needed to 'move on' after 4-6 weeks. My brother refuses to say my son's name, so I no longer speak to him. Sending my deepest condolences to your family from a mom who understands losing a child to homicide."
PDXer328
Good Idea!
New Girl Facepalm GIF by HULUGiphy“'I don’t know why people get big mortgages. Just save up for a few months and pay cash for a starter home!'"
Hopeful-Moose87
People with money always seem to have a plan, unless the plan is sharing.
FInd the Treasure
Dragons Den Television GIF by CBCGiphy"When people were complaining about not being able to afford housing/food/living in general, one of the Dutch ministers (I think he was a minister or at least the leader of a party) said something along the line of 'well, find a rich boyfriend then'. ah, yes, that will solve the crisis!"
pastelchannl
Dumbfounded
"I went to an Ivy League college with lots of children of extraordinarily wealthy families. When discussing inequality and its effects on housing, my professor briefly mentioned how mortgages are out of reach for a growing number of Americans. The girl next to me stopped the class, and with a confused face asked the professor why people don’t just buy their homes in cash outright because 'surely the interest means it will cost them more over time.' The professor was dumbfounded. I found out later that she is the heiress to a major luxury brand that you have all heard of."
wildblue2
The Increase
"My former landlord and his wife dropped by to tell me and my financially struggling 20-something roommates that they were raising the rent, by nearly 25%. They said, 'We noticed on Craigslist that neighbors had higher rent so we’re doing the same.' The wife then earnestly reminded us that we’ve been great tenants but maybe we just needed to find some higher-paying jobs. 🙃."
agingcatmom
Not Me
"I was waxing a woman’s eyebrows once and she was complaining that sometimes after she gets a massage the pillow leaves a circular indent on her face and she can’t go out to lunch after. She then asked me if that ever happened to me? I was like ma'am I wax people for eleven bucks an hour; I’m not going out to lunch lol, let alone getting massages."
lomi08
Investments
Money Invest GIF by ProBit GlobalGiphy"Something like: Give a rich person $500 and they will invest it into $1000. Give it to a poor person and they will spend it in a week."
"Yeah exactly give it to someone who’s needs are met and they can save… give it to someone who needs to eat/pay rent etc they will spend it to survive!"
ExaminationLucky6082
You need money to make money.
One of life's biggest lessons apparently.
So someone give me some money.
Do you ever wonder what it must've been like to experience major events throughout world history when reading about them in text books?
But if you take pause and actually think about it, we're living through many newsworthy current events that succeeding generations will be talking about long after we're gone.
Reading about them online or in newspapers is one thing. But seeing them happen unfold before our eyes is another.
"What is the most historically significant event you witnessed IN PERSON?"
People recall the natural disaster events they've witnessed.
Tremors
"1964 Good Friday Earthquake 9.2 Richter. Was a boy in Cordova, Alaska at the time."
– KitchenLab2536
"My father was skipper of the USCG cutter stationed there. He was inport, and when the quake struck shortly before 5:30pm, he and my mom gathered me and my three siblings on the front porch. At first, it felt like the house was crumbling at the foundation, but on the porch we could plainly see our whole world was shaking. I remember watching telephone poles swaying, and the wires snapping and crackling in the street. The quake lasted about five minutes initially. My dad got his ship underway to avoid the tidal wave which was sure to come. We had several aftershocks in the coming weeks, some of which were quite strong, though nowhere near as strong or as long as the quake itself. I was seven at the time."
– KitchenLab2536
Collapsing Freeway
"October 17th, 1989. I watched the 880 Nimitz freeway collapse during the San Francisco earthquake. The Honda in front of me had the upper deck crush her front-end engine compartment. The mother and her daughter were shaken up but completely fine."
"I was driving a convertible Triumph Spitfire, which was scratched up slightly from debris. However, I walked away unscathed. Aside from the fact I pissed my pants, which I didn't notice until much later."
– CatDaddyWhisper
Thar She Blows
"I sat on the roof of our house and watched Mt. St. Helens erupt less than 100 miles away."
– stinkykitty71
"This must have been fascinating and terryfing in equal measure. What a thing to witness."
– runrossyrun
"It was amazing! The ash that covered everything like snow was interesting to kid me, but less so to my parents."
– stinkykitty71
People recall seeing major catastrophes as a result of malfunctions or judgement errors.
Bomber Crash
"The b-52 crash that led to changing what large military aircraft are allowed to do for airshows."
"I didn't see the plane, but immediately saw the fireball. It was just a perfect, bright red turning to black mushroom cloud."
"Fairchild is a nuclear air base and there were a few minutes there where I was sure the world was about to end."
"A few years before a KC-135 doing the same thing crashed near the school while we were in class."
– goffstock
Tragic Takeoff
"I was standing on my front porch watching the launch of the Challenger."
– StarChaser_Tyger
"Was riding in my parents car to a basketball game in the next town over in north texas when we saw a shooting star and thought that was neat."
"It was the Columbia..."
– Misdirected_Colors
Demolition Gone Wrong
"The failed implosion of the Zip feed mill in Sioux Falls, SD in 2005."
"They hyped it up, sold tickets to it, had a big 'BOOM' marketing thing, and broadcast it live on TV."
"The explosives took out the main supports on the first floor, and the rest of the building above it just plopped down 10ft or so and came to a rest. It was a massive failure, and was a funny little blurb on news stations around the world that day. Definitely not major news, just the rest of the world taking 20 seconds to laugh at us."
"The building sat like that (the leaning tower of SuFu) for quite a while until they figured out how to safely demolish it."
"Here's a clip of the failed demolition."
– KitchenBandicoots
These well-known historical events were seen by very few who are alive today.
Historical Remnant
"The tumbling of the Wall in Germany… along with people selling bits and pieces of it on tables in lobby in front of commissary and px in the following weeks and months. I had picked up a chunk about the size of an oreo and kept it… has blue spray paint on the flat side. Wonder if anyone is buying them now?"
– SingedPenguin13
Major Upheaval
"I would have to say the LA riots. I lived about two blocks from where it started. I was on my way home from school and saw someone throw a brick through a window. I didn’t even wait. I just started running the whole way home."
– Scarlaymama0721
Day Of Infamy
"9/11, I could SMELL the collapse of the towers."
– go4tli
"A friend of mine was there. One day in the warehouse we worked in together there was an odd electrical burning smell. He stopped in his tracks and went 'this is what 9/11 smelled like.'"
– mantistoboggan287
I didn't physically witness the fall of the World Trade Center but I was living in New York City at the time.
However, I did see the smoke.
I was living up north in Washington Heights at the time and knowing what happened, uncertain of what was to come, and seeing the plumes of smoke from the attack site was the most ominous sight I've ever seen in my life to date.
Have you ever lived through a historic moment or witnessed something sure to be noted in history books? Let us know in the comments below.