Awkward moments
Sometimes it feels like my life is just a long series of awkward moments. It’s not all bad (I guess) – it gives me something to blog about, at least.
There are universal awkward moments that we all experience, and then there are those that are not so universal …
Those awkward moments we all experience
Let’s do a few quick ones:
- Texting the wrong person (bonus point if you’re talking shit about the person you accidentally texted)
- Looking bad in public and seeing people you know
- Seeing an ex (bonus points if you look terrible)
- Forgetting someone’s name that you see often
- Waving back at someone who wasn’t actually waving at you
- Not being able to open a push/pull door when people are watching
- When you’ve already said your goodbyes, and the person walks in the same direction as you
- When you’re stalking someone on social media and you accidentally like one of their photos from long ago
- Seeing someone with the same shirt or dress on as you (bonus points if they are a lot younger or older than you)
Ones that are not so universal
I searched the internet for stories of people and their awkward moments.
- The best one I found was that a guy didn’t know that his parents had got a divorce until he met his mom’s new boyfriend.1
- There were also many stories of finding out that a friend was cheating on their partner, and the partner didn’t know.
- Another common trend was that people found out that their current partner was friends with their ex.
These are so awkward
And then there’s me
Telling jokes
Way back in my university days there were two friends I had a couple of classes with, Elri and Carike.
One day Carike was telling me a joke, and I zoned out and didn’t hear the whole thing. At the end, when it sounded like there was a punch line, I laughed (because I’m a bad person).
Right at that moment, Elri came in and asked me what I was laughing about. I replied that I was laughing at Carike’s joke. At that point, Carike said, “Why don’t you tell it to her.”
This is when I panicked and said that she should tell it since it’s her joke and I always mess up jokes. Luckily, I got away with it.
In truth, I usually mess up jokes because whenever I’m stressed out or super excited. I stumble over my words, and that’s not great for any kind of storytelling situation.
Squeaky chairs
Do you know that awkward moment when your chair makes that suspicious squeaky noise? Isn’t it terrible?
A few years ago, I had friends over at my house and we all sat at the dining room table. The chairs in the dining room have pleather (plastic leather) cushions on them that make that squeaky noise. We were sitting there eating cake and having a good time when suddenly that suspicious squeaky noise came from my chair.
Everyone just looked at me and laughed. “No, it was my chair,” I kept saying, and they were like “Yeah, right.”
I was determined. I told them that if they move around on their chairs that they would make the same sound, and they did. It was still quite awkward.
Forgetting names
I’ll admit it; I am absolutely horrible with names. I was in the same class as people for a year or more, but I could never remember their names, which makes me sound like a terrible person. (I’m not great, but geez, I’m not terrible.) After a while, it gets embarrassing to ask someone’s name.
I used to work at the campus paper and made a couple of friends there. There was this one guy who I ran into a lot on campus. For some reason I thought his name was Michael and every time I greeted him on his name, he looked at me funny.
That was until one day I heard someone calling him another name (his actual name – which escapes me now) and I realised that I had his name wrong all that time…
Oh well
It’s not like there’s much you can do when these awkward moments happen. You just have to embrace it.
Here’s to many more awkward moments.
Awkward meh.
Michelle
P.S. If you’d like to contact me, feel free to comment below, send an email to thatmichelleperson@gmail.com, or follow me on Twitter @M_ClutterBox.
Pepper
Lol I am the worst about people’s names! Sometimes I’ve truly forgotten someone’s name but I’ve been around them for so long that I can’t ask them their name without being embarrassing. So I just continue not knowing their names… 🙁
That Michelle Person
I know! It’s so awkward asking someone’s name after you’ve known them for a while.
Thanks for reading 🙂
Rachel
This post has made me laugh out loud!
Yes, I forget names of friends and I’m always pushing doors instead of pulling them! 🤣
That Michelle Person
Ah, we have a lot in common 🙂
Thanks for reading!
Michelle
It’s funny, but the older I get, the more I find that things that used to be awkward really aren’t. For example, I don’t worry any more about going out with no makeup.
Years ago when my kids were small, we decided on a whim to go visit our local pumpkin patch. We gathered up the kids in their playclothes, and I didn’t bother to put on decent clothes or makeup.
As luck would have it, we ran into a former co-worker of mine. This woman always looked impeccable. There she was, looking like a million dollars, with her cute kids in their designer clothes. I wanted to crawl under a rock. Close to 20 years later, I realize it didn’t matter and wonder how her kids have turned out. Mine turned out great despite not having a “designer Mommy”.
That Michelle Person
Thanks for reading 🙂