Anxiety, Humor, Life, Soul Homework

Things That Make Me Feel Embarrassed

Writer McWriterson

I smelled natural gas in our kitchen a little more than a week ago while running our dishwasher. Long story short, we called the fire department to come and test our home for a natural gas leak, which turned out to be a problem with the drain hose.

By the time the fire department arrived, we were all in the driveway with the dogs, and I was sitting on a folding lawn chair, with Buddy on a leash. When they came up the driveway, Buddy went berserk and yanked me, causing me to fall over sideways while in the chair.

I couldn’t immediately get out of the chair, so I was stuck in a lawn chair, sideways, in my driveway while the firemen, my family, and my neighbor stood there laughing and attempting to help me.

This is when I see my soul homework come to fruition in my life. Old Kari would have been so humiliated that she would have burst into tears. New Kari burst out laughing.

However, this situation reminded me of situations in my life that have typically embarrassed me, and I wondered if similar situations embarrassed you too.

When people sing the happy birthday song to me.

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Having squeaky shoes in a quiet building or store.

Going to the public restroom in the stall next to a friend and they hear my bathroom noises (especially if it’s a new friend).

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Any sort of awkward silence situation.

Standing in the airplane aisle, waiting to get to my seat in the back of the plane while others sit in their seats, staring up at me.

Saying hello to someone and then realizing they’re talking on a bluetooth. But they don’t even acknowledge my mistake. They just continue to talk on their bluetooth.

Driving into a car wash and being unable to get my tires onto the car track while the attendant looks at me blankly.

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When someone is talking about something I’m not interested in and I wasn’t paying attention, then they ask me a question but I only nod and smile because, again, I wasn’t paying attention.

What are some situations that make you feel embarrassed?

54 thoughts on “Things That Make Me Feel Embarrassed”

  1. I’m mortified if I don’t know the proper etiquette in certain situations. I’m also mortified if I do something by accident and someone reprimands me, like I accidentally got too close to a statue at a museum. Security guard gave me a stern talking to. I was morified

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      4. Ok…if I were to get all pop psych, I’d say it’s because we had parents who were too strict, or were held to unrealistic expectations

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      8. We were taught to fear them, like you would get in soooo much trouble if you crossed an authority figure. Plus women are always made to feel like they’re supposed to be polite above all else

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  2. I don’t get too embarrassed anymore…like you, I end up bursting into laughter at my own foibles. Probably the only thing would be accidentally putting my foot in my mouth. I hate to make people uncomfortable or cause them pain, so that would definitely embarrass me and elicit an immediate apology.

    Deb

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  3. I’m sorry, but I giggled at your falling over in the chair, but only because I knew you weren’t hurt.
    I almost had to call the fire dept on Saturday because my gas alarm went off; I’m glad I waited a minute because it turned out that the alarm just needed new batteries. 🙂

    I’m embarrassed as hell when walking Max or Lillie and they lose their shit seeing another dog. I can hardly get control of them and it turns into a big effing shit show. *sigh* They should really thank me for not leaving them in a parking lot. {kidding!}

    It’s embarrassing when you’re in a public place and someone across the way is waving at you and you wave back only to realize they’re NOT waving at you. It’s similar to the Bluetooth situation.

    Other than that, I really don’t care anymore. I trip, stumble and roll my ankle in public and I don’t even care who sees it. “I meant to do that!” Who said that? Pee-wee Herman?

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    1. I laughed so hard and the firemen were surprised that I took it in stride. I’m like, listen, I’ve been through peri menopause. This is NOTHING.

      Omg. Dogs barking at the door uncontrollably? That’s embarrassing at times too. Mostly because my dogs are normally good. Except now that we’ve been in pandemic mode. They’re slowly getting used to having people around. 😂

      I meant to do that. I will use that from now on.

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    2. Oh, that’s a good one. Totally. It’s been so long since I was at a wedding. Probably longer since I was at a wedding tipsy. I hate the feeling of dancing sober.

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      1. How did we get the courage to dance at the middle school and high school dances without alcohol? I know some people did drink before dances but I went sober all through middle school and high school. I guess I didn’t have the right connections. KIDDING.

        But seriously, I literally can’t get myself on the dance floor without a drink or three now.

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      3. I feel the same way. Which we know, isn’t the case but we always feel this way.
        Several times this week, I’ve been reminded that we all feel this way but we are so busy worrying about ourselves that no one is noticing. I beg to differ when it’s on the dance floor. LOL

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  6. I enjoyed your post and laughed because many of your embarrassing moments I share. When I was in my 30s we were at the beach with friends. I was in one of those low sand chairs with our rottie tied to the chair. A surfer walked by and my dog freaked out at the surfboard and growled and ran after him to the surf — with me in the chair being pulled down the beach! Everyone laughed so hard. That wasn’t exactly embarrassing, but your chair incident reminded me of it.

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      1. I think losing my balance or, worse, falling in public, because of my bad knees is my main potential embarrassment. But only when someone tries to help me. When no one offers to help, ant embarrassment is quickly replaced by annoyance that no one offered to help!

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  7. Oh my giddy Aunt, I get embarrassed any time I’m the center of attention. Thankfully I’ve a coping mechanism that kicks in – laughing at the sitch (like u did) & reminding myself that no one thinks/sees me as much as I think… so just move on cause prob nobody noticed. I learned this in my 20s when I had a fantastic group of guy friends. Holy carp, guys do embarrassing things *constantly* and they’re never embarrassed! They laugh it off and either move on or make it a feature/running gag.

    I dunno if this is all guys or just those guys but, whoa, the difference. Do something foolish and it is no biggie, not judged, and there’s no reason to get embarrassed. Many of my female friends are also super cool, nonjudgmental but not quite the same way. It was an eye opener.

    So most things I just shrug at or laugh about… except parallel parking. That just makes me want to cry.

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    1. There is something to that whole center of attention thing, isn’t there? I’m thinking it stems back to school and being called out but I could be wrong. And yes, Maddie, you nailed it. No one is busy worrying about your embarrassing snafu because they’re all worrying about their own. 💜

      Ooh, I never thought of a difference in terms of gender! Now I’m intrigued… I would love my male readers to comment on this. Ahem. No pressure, guys. 😂

      Parallel parking makes me want to cry and poop my pants. My friend Kristen, can parallel park with her eyes closed. She’s a unicorn in the best possible way. Maybe she’ll give us all lessons.

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      1. I have those directions somewhere. Something like: Align your car to the one in you will park behind. Start turning your car into the space… aiming for the curb about 1/2 way back. When your front wheel aligns with the parked car’s back wheel, start straightening out.

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      5. I drove a car with the sidecolkisiin detectors… a horrible feature here in SoCal, it considered 90% of traffic jams to be side collision risk!

        Have you seen the cars where you can get out and they’ll self park, and back out again? And the one that the commercial shows moving forward 1 space to avoid a ticket (owner nearby with keyfob), which must be a bonus of the parallel parking feature?

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      6. I drove my friend’s car a few summers ago and it has side collision detectors. I was struggling with it the entire time I was driving. It made me realize how horribly I drive within a lane, apparently. 😂

        I haven’t seen that!

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      8. I had a group of friends who, like me, were all uber-extroverts… to the point of dressing in bad drag and parading through a restaurant during brunch.
        I always warned newbies, “You’re going to get embarrassed. Do NOT let it show! If anyone in this group realizes you’re embarrassed, they will carry on until you are not!”

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  9. I don’t embarrass easily. Anymore. I once asked a guy to turnabout, because my mom urged me to. I didn’t do my homework though and he was already going. Duh. That was SUPER embarrassing. Fortunately he was a class act and he didn’t tell everyone in the school.

    I’m at Tank’s college orientation. OMG – that VERY thing happened. I was talking to a new friend. We decided to go to the restroom before going to the next talk/gathering. We’d been talking for a little bit, so there was NO ONE on the floor. We ended up being the only people in the bathroom. I was mid-story, of course, and I wasn’t sure if I should stop talking or just talk over the pee. I just got louder. Talking loud in acknowledgement of someone/my peeing wasn’t awkward at all.

    I think my kids would like me to be embarrassed enough to stop hollering at them if I follow them outside mid-tongue lashing and neighbors are outside, or inside if their friends are over – but, alas, no.

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    1. I usually try to fill the awkward silence in the bathroom with a friend too. I think it depends on the friend? But it also depends on the bathroom noise, if you get what I’m throwing down. 😉

      I’m curious, why did your mom want you to ask the guy to turnabout??

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      1. I DO get what you’re throwing down. 😉

        Um, I ran a high school retreat with this guy. He was a year older. In typical ‘me’ fashion, I was unable to hide my crush . . . chatting about him nonstop is my guess. So my mom urged me to ask him to the dance. My mom is forever the matchmaker. I grew up with a lot of focus on having a date. Annoying, I know. My kids have not experienced that at all. My mom’s encouragement to ask him was honestly flattering. Her way of saying ‘if he’s a nice guy then he’d be lucky to have you.’ But, alas.

        Fun fact, Coach and I went to turnabout (different year than the above) in the same group my senior year. My friend Dorie asked him. Dorie was probably the shortest person in our grade. Coach is 6’4″. I went with my friend Andrew. We were all in the same group for dinner. Ha.

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  10. Somewhere along the line I stopped being embarrassed. I’m a highly sensitive introvert but less so than I used to be. LA said she was mortified about being wrong in a social situation, but I’m to a point where I’m the living embodiment of *whateverism* if such a word exists. Part of it is aging gracefully, part of it is having this last year to myself. I feel like I’ve morphed into a more confident version of myself.

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  11. One of my embarrassing memories involves meeting my husband’s family for the first time. We were at Easter brunch and I had the cutest light yellow cotton skirt and white top and I really wanted to make a good first impression. The coffee carafe had one of those lids that had to be loosened to pour it and I guess I over loosened it because I completely dumped the whole carafe of coffee out when I tried to pour it. I got coffee all over the table, my cute outfit, my SELF. It was a MESS. My in-laws asked me if I was okay and asked the waitress for napkins and helped me sop up the mess and moved the conversation forward. They didn’t tease me or give me a hard time or say anything (that would have NEVER happened in my family, new or not) and I remember thinking how lovely and gracious they were. 43 year old me would have been able to laugh that off, but 21 year old me was SO mortified and I loved their kindness so much I married into the family. 😉

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    1. And I just got rid of a pair of shoes because they were squeaky. I don’t notice others (or can’t remember ever) but I hate in my own.

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  12. Heh – I found myself nodding all the way through this. I sometimes have to tutor business people with technology things, and often fear I’ll turn up, and be exposed as a fake – that somebody in the room will know far more than me. My fears go out of the window as soon as the session starts, but it happens almost every time.

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