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#1
I pointed to a picture with "30 minutes" for my massage. They handed me a towel and... a shower cap? They pointed to a bathroom at the back of the spa and did a mine of someone undressing, and then I went to get changed.
I emerged in my towel, and the ladies at the spa burst out laughing and started pointing at my head. They started typing something on Google Translate to inform me that the "shower cap" was actually a pair of paper knickers. I felt like such a tit, and burst out laughing with them.
#2
"Embarrassment is a light form of shame, a universal emotion designed to inhibit anti-social behavior," psychoanalyst and AEDP psychotherapist Hilary Jacobs Hendel told Bored Panda.
"When we do something that makes us stand out in a way we don’t like or want, we are signaled by feelings of embarrassment to stop," added Jacobs Hendel, the author of It's Not Always Depression.
#3
My husband says this to me regularly now.
#4
I didn’t have money for the bus but didn’t tell her that. unbeknown to me I had grass and leaves all in my hair. She was very confused.
I had to confess I had walked and taken a shortcut through a corn field
It must have worked as she married me and we’ve been together for nearly 20 years
Her grandad gave me a lift back home when it was time for me go. Apparently, I had won him over straight away having walked all that way to meet his granddaughter.
As much as we would like to avoid it, being cringe is part of being human, and we have to accept this fact to be better equipped to handle the experience. "We can't prevent it without restricting our authenticity," Jacobs Hendel explained.
That being said, the psychotherapist reassured us that when we feel embarrassed, there are many actions we can take, both internally and externally, to minimize a bad feeling, primarily:
1. Immediately show ourselves compassion.
2. Listen to our embarrassment and learn what caused us to feel that way. Then, think through whether we deserve to feel embarrassed and determine if we need to apologize or if we should simply forgive ourselves and move on.
For example, Jacobs Hendel said, if we mistake a pair of paper knickers at a spa for a shower cap, we can:
1. Recognize and validate our feeling of embarrassment: "Yikes, I'm so embarrassed!" (We can use the Change Triangle as guide);
2. Say to ourselves, "Oops. Everyone makes mistakes. It’s okay." Then, be kind to ourselves, ask others for kindness, and demonstrate understanding.
#5
#6
Licensed mental health counselor/psychotherapist Leon Garber, who is also the man behind the blog Leon's Existential Cafe, told Bored Panda that one must also question whether they're taking something personally.
"This means that maybe they're misinterpreting others' reactions to them. In the case of shame and public disgrace lining up, we have to ask ourselves if it’s possible that what we've done or who we are really isn't that awful, despite the negative feedback," he explained.
#7
He said something like "I hope that's not all for you"
I said - I will never know why - in a squeaky cartoon character voice, "I'm actually a little squirrel storing up all my nuts for the winter"
He looked sort of horrified. I went into a panic mode and exited the scene quickly... doing little jumps and squeaks LIKE A SQUIRREL
It was a lonely summer.
#8
And what was the first thing that fell out of my mouth when I opened it?
"Isn't your dog a lovely colour?"
To his eternal credit, he grinned and replied, "So they tell me.".
#9
When it comes to the internet in particular, one website recently asked 3,000 Americans about online behavior, posts, trends, etc., that they deemed cringe.
Los Angeles was ranked as the number one cringiest city when it came to social media usage, followed by Seattle and Nashville, while the top (or worst?) activities were:
- Captioning cliché quotes like “good vibes only”
- Lip-syncing to songs in stories
- Posting overly filtered or photoshopped pictures
- Recreating TikTok dances
- Themed day posts like #MotivationMonday or #ThrowbackThursday
#10
edit: should add that i ended up a flaming homo so, was probably for the best.
#11
She says "...I mean, is your house number 13?"
Not the worst in the world, but I felt so stupid after 😭.
#12
I always took the opportunity to 'chat up' their hot admin girl and had boasted to others on the site that she was flirting with me.
One day near the end of Summer I went round there, and she said "I guess I won't be seeing you after this week eh"
I looked confused and asked why, and she said "because the school holidays are finishing and you'll be going back to school"
She thought I was a schoolboy helping my dad out over the Summer.
#13
One day my boss asked if I had finished doing something. I thought it would be funny to reply with a Simpsons quote - "As long as there are absolutely no followup questions, yes, yes I have".
But I f****d it up and actually said "As long as you don't ask me again, yes".
Boss had a real short fuse but somehow managed to keep from exploding at me, although I could tell he wanted to as he went bright red.
He just stood there for a second before silently walking off as I hoped a hole would open up in the floor.
Oh just thought of another one - was chatting to the old lady next door about a cat that kept trying to get into people's houses. I meant to say "I wouldn't mind it coming in but I'm allergic to cat hair and get a really bad reaction", but stumbled over my words and said "really bad erection"...
#14
#15
I scarpered, never seen them since, I often wonder what life would have been like..
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