ADSactly Personal - Cringeworthy Moments: We have all been there... (Haven't We?)
ADSactly Personal: Cringeworthy Moments: We have all been there... (Haven't We?)
Today, I thought I’d share some embarrassing moments with you, I am behind a computer screen, so you can’t see me cringe...
Shoe’d Look Next Time
At university, I had a job as a university warden, which meant that out of hours I was responsible (with three others) for making sure that all was as it should be in the halls of residence.
Nearly every day, there would be a fire alarm, that would require the fire engine to come out and investigate. Even though they were located just two minutes away, they took half an hour coming to check on us university rogues and vagabonds.
So the fire alarm would sound often, no matter what you were doing, even sleeping in 5 in the afternoon, as what happened to me.
So I threw my legs out of bed, put my shoes on and went out the door on autopilot to show the firemen where the alarm was going off and they could check we were all safe, before going to the main alarm panel to switch it off.
It was at this alarm panel when one of the firemen asked me “is that the new fashion?”
I looked somewhat confused by this question, being a jeans and t-shirt kind of gal and he pointed at my shoes.
I looked down.
I was wearing one white trainer and one red trainer.
“Yes, it’s a new fashion” I backtracked unsuccessfully wondering how the hell I hadn’t noticed before that point.
Although I have worn odd shoes since because I discovered there was such a thing as odd shoe day, where wearing odd shoes represents the fact that everyone is different. I like that.
Dirty Calum
I don’t know what you were like as a teenager, but I liked someone new practically every week, no staying power in those days. But it was something that us girls would tease each other about.
So, the earliest memory I have of going a beetroot shade of red is teasing my school friend that she fancied Dirty Calum, whilst we were in the queue waiting to go into a classroom. I know that sounds funny itself, who queues to go in a classroom, but there we were with the rest of the class too.
I was being quite loud about it, then everyone hushed and there was me carrying on in a sing-song voice “you fancy Dirty Calum” repeatedly, then there was a tap on the shoulder.
“Oh hi, Dirty Calum, how are you…”, wishing the floor would swallow me up.
He was good-looking, dirty blonde, thus the nickname (no, not really). He had quite the reputation, which carried on all through secondary school.
It makes me wonder how many little Dirty Calums there are out there. I wonder if he is burnt out now he is in his 40s, or still going strong.
I just googled “Dirty Calum Isle of Lewis” and a whole load of pictures and news stories about Donald Trump came up.
Turns out his mother lived on the Isle of Lewis. I’m in stitches.
And no Dirty Calum is not Donald Trump.
How Many Daddy’s Do You Think You Have?
One of the things that my kids loved to do most was to go a soft play area, with lots of plastic balls, slides and padded stuff they can run into full pelt.
Basically just run around like demented nutters in a ‘safe’ area kind of place, avoiding the other children so there are no clashes of heads.
At this time, I often took them on my own as my husband had major back issues, so was not able to join us on many occasions. This particular soft play area was located in a leisure center, where there was also a swimming pool and gym.
I was tired out from watching the kids for an hour. It is surprising how energy zapping that is.
As we were leaving, they were still hyper and my 3-year-old daughter saw a man coming out the gym and asked “is that my Daddy?”, which he heard very clearly and replied “sorry, no I am not your Daddy”
I apologized to him and told my daughter loudly that Daddy is at home and that the man didn’t even look like him. (I wasn’t lying, Daddy was actually at home at this point in time).
It still happens today, though, if I stop to talk to a man in the street, I can be sure that one of the kids will pipe up and say “Is that Daddy?”.
I am sure they are just testing me, to see if I remember or something. I am not likely to forget.
Stupidity at the Gym
When I was at university I visited the gym quite regularly, particularly the ab attack class and there was a time when I had abs of steel. I could do the plank for ages, or what seemed like ages - it was longer than the other people doing the class.
So I ventured into using the gym equipment, to tone up the other parts of my body. The rowing machine, the cycling machine, and the running machine.
I quite enjoyed the running machine, until one day I was happily running on it, and I noticed my shoelace was undone and I didn’t want to trip over it, so I bent down to fix the problem…
But guess what I forgot to do…
Yes, turn the running machine off, so I went flying off the end. It would have been a perfect Youtube moment.
I picked myself off the floor and looked around hoping nobody had seen me, but alas my momentary lapse in common sense had been witnessed.
So, I just got back on the running machine and carried on and pretended nothing had happened. The red face was due to working out, of course - I didn’t really just do that. Totally in denial, it was a figment of imagination by the four people who witnessed it (I’m so glad it wasn’t more).
Authored by @hopehuggs
Do you have any cringe-worthy moments, you will dare to share?
Click on the coin to join our Discord Chat
Witness proposal is here: https://steemit.com/witness-category/@adsactly-witness/adsactly-steemit-witness-proposal
First open: https://steemit.com/~witnesses
In the bottom of the page type: adsactly-witness and press vote.
Use small letters and no "@" sign. Or, click here to vote directly!
Thank you!
I once got a great job. My new director sent out a company wide email announcing my hiring. To make a former girlfriend jealous I forwarded it to her.
She responded, “Congratulations. I am glad for you.”
Not satisfied I began to rehash why we broke up and how she was instrumental in my receiving the job but now she would not reap the benefits.
She responded with a curt reply detailing my flaws and the events that led to our breakup. I sent an email back detailing how rotten she had been to me as well. The chain continued for about seven emails back and forth until she finally stopped replying.
The next day my new director called and informed me the offer was retracted. Apparently everyone in the organization had been cc’d the entire exchange between us.
Oh no!!! How humiliating! I'd have died.
Piensa en esto cuando una puerta se cierra, es porque mil se abren, tranquilo y suerte!
That's hilarious!
Very funny. I wonder what will be going on in everyone's mind @ the organization.
That is a good tale. Them cc's are sneaky little things, getting on conversations they shouldn't, then you have the bcc's too.
hy steemians ..
I really need your vote.
because only my brother can help me when I need.
https://steemit.com/life/@alnahyan/he-s-just-kids-yesterday-s-aligned-alone-with-cristiano-ronaldo-and-leonel-messi
Haha, that's hilarious! It's a good reminder though. The email can be trickier than we think.
Too funny- sorry, man. Once when I was a kid, I was sitting in the front passenger seat of the car while my dad ran into the convenience store to buy something. I was bored, & somehow got into that dangerous mood of "I wonder what would happen if..." and
I pulled down on the stick shift, too young to know anything about what it did. I thought as a kid that nothing can happen if the car is off anyway.
well, he'd parked it in first gear, & i just put it into neutral...which is a big problem when you're parked on a sloped lot!
The car rolled backward & down towards the street, headed right into moving traffic. Siblings screamed in the backseat, & i couldn't figure out how to stop the car! Dad sees us out of the window,runs out of the store, jumps in the car by the time we get into one lane & pulls up the parking brake in the middle of angry drivers on the road who stopped around us. Epic fail🙃
(more laughs @JoyLovesToWrite
I have so many cringe worthy moments being a Black guy living in Thailand. For instance my girlfriend has to always tell our two year old that every Black man he sees is not Daddy (there are very few here). Also I have had to tell a lot of people that I do not know Barack Obama. (No we do not all know each other).
One of the worse was when I forgot to put the hose down on the washing machine which is located in one of the bathrooms here. I did my usual and put in the clothes, turned the thing on, and left to eat lunch. My girlfriend was out of town so only me around. When I came back to our apartment and turned the corner from the elevator, I was on autopilot and had no idea for about five feet that I was in about an inch of water in the corridor. I looked down and thought the cleaning people must have left the floor half mopped. It was not until I was about ten feet from my unit when it all hit me. I opened the door and water came rushing out (apparently washing machines will just keep going if the water level never says the water is out). Because the hose was not down it keep putting in and pushing out new water. The worse part is apparently the apartments are designed to push the water into the hallways so they are built with a slight slant.
I called my girlfriend and asked her what I should do because the entire corridor was flooded. She said I have to face the music. So I went downstairs to the office, took the lady there by the hand. (My Thai is not that good). Took her in the elevator (she had no idea what was going on). And then when we got to my floor and turned the corner from the elevators she saw it: THE FLOOD. She got on the phone and called maintenance and there was a small army of people in one minute there with mops and towels. Every maintenance person in the building (about 9 people) was there and wanted to see what the stupid foreigner had done. I took them all into the bathroom and acted out what I did and when they all got it, they began pointing at me and laughing hysterically. One guy laughed until he cried. Five minutes later my girlfriend called me and said they had called her to make fun of me.
In the end, it got cleaned up fine and no other harm done and the apartment dried out but for the next several days they would all point at me and laugh. EMBARRASSING! But I was laughing too after a while.
I have a washing machine one too! I was at university and at that time I lived in an apartment above a fish and chip shop, so when the washing machine leaked due do a malfunction by me wondering what that part of the washing machine did, I got in a bit of trouble. Moral of the story always teach your kids how to use a washing machine.
That guy laughing at you is the funniest part. I can just see it in his face. Cute story.
Well. Maybe one or two cringeworthy moments. Since yesterday :)
Maybe my favorite is this: I was riding in a serious rainstorm in rural Kentucky. It was early in the day and I had been drinking lots of coffee. I had to go. I mean I had to GO. So I pulled into a local gas station, parked, and headed to the bathroom. I was in such a hurry that I forgot to put the sidestand down. Crash. Down goes my 900# motorcycle. I didn't even look back, just went to the rest room. How would I stand that heavy pig up crossed my mind.
When I walked out, four young men jumped out of a car and wordlessly walked over and picked up my motorcycle. They'd watched the whole thing and figured out exactly what happened. They were very polite and hardly smiled as they helped me. I still have a fondness for Kentucky.
Thanks for the great stories. Made my Sunday morning much better!
At least that one shows the kindness of strangers. I think that most of us have been caught short at some point and would have some empathy.
Haha..
You've got real humour filled moments there and I think I have one as well.
Back then in high school as a boarding student, we were required to wake by 5am prep and proceed to go for morning mass by 5:30am.
On this particular day, I slept past the allowed time and woke 25mins (or there about) later than usual. By the time I woke, the seniors were all out flogging and sending everyone out of the hostels. I turned my 30min allocation into a 5min rush bath, cream and dress and dashed to the chapel.
After the procession, I my left ear started to tingle, just then my seat mate in class came (he usually got by cause he was beautiful and had a school father) and was given a seat beside me. After good mornings had been exchanged, he handed me a piece of tissue passed from my crush on the next column.
On it was inscribed
I stuck my left index finger into my left ear and discovered a large mass of soap foam in. I felt really ashamed as the girls in the other column giggled.
Always check the mirror before you leave! Something that I don't do myself I must admit and I've ended up going outside with things kids have put in my hair.
I've never missed a day since that event took place
That is SOOO darling. She probably had a crush on you.
Lol.. Not really
Great writing here. Totally interesting.
I know how you might have thought thinking that no one saw you. I have been there. :)
I once had this bad experience at the gym.
It was the fall of 2006. I was still in College and decided to work out at the school rec center. It was a Monday because MNF was on. I wanted to get on a treadmill where the TV that was showing the game was directly in front of me. After waiting a few minutes, I got a treadmill that was about 3 treadmills to the right of the TV.
So I start running and about 3 miles in, I fell off of the treadmill. This was due to me trying to watch the football game a few TV screens over. One foot was on the track, the other foot was on the plastic side area. It was really embarrasing since the whole place was packed.
Everyone around me asked if I was ok. I immediately went to the restroom and call it a night. I looked down on my shin and noticed I was bleeding. I use my towel to wipe the blood off, the cut wasn't just a normal scrape...I could see my bone. I didn't feel any pain. I never noticed this but where your shin and skin are, there isn't much meat/muscle there.
Went to the ER, got 7 stitches. The doctor that stitched me up made a few jokes about losing to a treadmill then told me treadmill accidents are very common. I wasn't sure if he was trying to make me feel better or if the was being serious.
But in all these its natural to over analyse and feel bad, but dont let one day cause you another one. Great post @adsactly
Wow, that embarrassment stopped the feeling of pain - you might be onto something there. I am glad in my case it was just my pride that was bruised.
I can imagine how you felt that day at the gym!
Moral: always check your shoe laces before using the threadmill😀
Yes, and also remembering machines don't generally stop unless you press the stop button.
Yes its true! I Love your username, am also a mum of two, sometimes hopes and hugs is all we need to move on 😊
I just followed you.
I had a good laugh, but yes I too have some embarrassing moments but would make me most uncomfortable to share, no even to think of where to begin.
That's ok, I realise the blockchain is forever and I have shared some cringeworthy moments for the world to see forever.
yeah it is here to stay, but at least it was good to read and made allot of people go down their own memory lane!
Haha same here! I do have a lot of cringeworthy moments, in fact I have one everyday. I just try to laugh it all off. 😂😂
Do you have any cringe-worthy moments, you will dare to share?
Of course, How About the Cringeworthy moment at the trainstation, having rushed out the house, and waiting for the next train to arrive with all the other million commuters. I thought I was looking pretty smart. But was getting some funny looks ......what.......what the feck you staring at.... oh I see....... you're looking at the foot long fluorescent yellow furry cat toy dangling out of the bottom of my suit trousers (not pants I'm from England) and dangling behind me and coming out of the back of my smart work shoes. Ha Ha.....At least it wasn't hanging out of my pants guys!
I am from UK too, yes trousers! It is great you can look at this from the point of view that it could have been worse.
Thanks for the smiles and the sharing lol so I'll put myself out there and give you one back. I've told a few people about this, but not many... I was sixteen years old, and getting ready for a boy to pick me up for a date, so all kinds of nervous as well. It's only my dad and I home, and he was asleep in his room at the end of the house. I was in the shower, thinking I had plenty of time - when the doorbell rang. My first thought was that either I was very late or my date had showed up early. My second was that I hadn't said anything to my father that I was expecting someone yet, and there was no one else to answer the door. In a panic, I jumped out of the shower with soap all over me still, threw a big towel around me, and raced out the bathroom door. Down the TILED hallway toward my father's room... Needless to say - as I'm sure anyone reading this could predict - moving full tilt, my feet slipped out from under me before I could reach my dad's door. It was an 'oh god save me' moment the instant I felt myself start slipping. I slid the last ten feet down the hall, towel flying, to crash upside-down in a heap on the floor up against the hall linen closet - right in front of my father's open door. All I caught was a brief glimpse of my father's very shocked and confused face as I snagged my towel around me and skittered out of sight, and the words 'What ARE you doing?' following behind me. Decently covered, if beet red and completely mortified, I stepped (carefully) back to my dad's door and stammered that someone was at the front door, and that I was expecting so-and-so, and I wasn't dressed.
I escaped back to the bathroom, my father still frowning at me with some concern, and he went to answer the door. It was the postman.
Almost thirty years later, I've had many more embarrassing moments, but this one always stands foremost. I hope I never top it :)
That one certainly gave me a chuckle. I can see why it is really memorable.
By the writing and style of it, you seem so down to earth. I love doing the treadmill too and I witnessed once that my shoelace was undone, but I turned off the machine before tying the shoelace. The "Dirty Calum" story was really cute. The "shoe'd look next time" showed me how responsible and selfless you were in you college days. Besides, I agree with you conclusion on the story that everybody is different. Another thing that I really liked about this entire post is the titles of all the stories. :)
Thank you, those are very nice compliments.
You're welcome. :)