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Some awkward moments are so universal that everyone has experienced them at least once, but no one dares to talk about them out loud. Whether it’s waving back at someone who wasn’t waving at you, accidentally saying "you too" at the wrong time, or misjudging a handshake, these little moments of social disaster can send anyone into a spiral of secondhand embarrassment.

And let’s be honest, the worst part isn’t even the awkward moment itself, it’s the sudden replay in your brain at 2 a.m. when you least expect it. No matter how much time has passed, some cringeworthy memories just refuse to fade!

Today, the Bored Panda team has scoured the internet to find you the most painfully relatable, secondhand embarrassment-inducing moments out there. Keep reading to see which ones you’ve definitely lived through but probably tried to forget!

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    #3

    Tweet about awkward life moment forgetting someone's name after asking.

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    Green Tree
    Community Member
    3 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Tip for remembering names: Say their name yourself before the end of the conversation, a simple 'It was nice to meet you Jane' at the end works. Saying anything out loud helps for memory retention. If you meet them again later and have forgotten it be self-effacing and upfront right at the start "Hi, I remember we met at X but I'm terribly forgetful on names, I am Mary, what is your name again?" - They may have forgotten your name too and you just made it less awkward for you both which makes you come across open and friendly. Obviously you can't do this on the tenth meet but if distant acquittances with little face time it works great to get over the tricky first minutes. Gotta listen the first time though - for that you have to be present instead of thinking about what you are going to say next.

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    No matter where you're from, chances are you've had your fair share of sincerely awkward moments in life. Maybe it happened while paying a bill at a restaurant, only to forget your own PIN, leaving you staring at the waiter like a guilty suspect who just stole the card. Or perhaps you've had one of those socially painful encounters where you hold the door open for someone a little too early, forcing them into an awkward half-jog just to relieve the tension. Yes, we’ve all been there.

    But here’s the thing—awkward moments seem to multiply in supermarkets. It’s a place we all visit regularly, whether we’re grabbing groceries, restocking household essentials, or just impulse-buying snacks we swore we wouldn’t get. One second, you're reaching for an orange, and the next, your hand collides with a stranger’s because they were reaching for the same one. Now you both stand there, staring at the fruit like it just caused a global crisis.

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    A study by Mordor Intelligence shows that the supermarket industry is massive, with an estimated market size of USD 1.01 trillion in 2025, expected to grow to USD 1.19 trillion by 2030. That’s a lot of shopping carts, receipts, and, of course, a lot of potential awkward encounters.

    A Drive Research survey conducted in the USA found that 39 percent of people spend between 30 to 44 minutes per grocery trip, while 27 percent spend 45 minutes or more. That means millions of people are wandering through supermarket aisles every day, which naturally increases the chances of embarrassing slip-ups, weird encounters, and social blunders.

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    To get a better understanding of these oops supermarket moments, we spoke with Kate D’souza, who has worked as a cashier at stores like Lidl in Germany for nearly a decade. She shared, "I started as a part-time employee to pay for college, and I’ve seen all kinds of shoppers. Sometimes, it’s genuinely entertaining to watch the things people do. There are just some awkward moments that happen over and over again."

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    "One of the most common ones?" she continued. "People picking up an item, walking around with it for a while, and then deciding they don’t want it anymore. Instead of putting it back where they found it, they discreetly try to hide it in a completely different aisle. A pack of frozen nuggets suddenly appears next to the shampoo bottles."

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    Kate points out, "The self-checkout struggle is something I see all the time. Customers love the idea of scanning their own items and avoiding unnecessary human interaction, until the machine decides to turn against them. They swipe an item, and for some reason, it beeps five times louder than it should, making everyone in the store turn their heads."

    "Then comes the dreaded 'unexpected item in the bagging area' message, even though they swear they didn’t place anything extra there. I can always tell when someone is panicking, standing there flustered, looking around for help while an employee casually strolls over for the tenth time that day to fix the issue."  

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    #18

    Tweet about awkward life moment when a stomach growls loudly in a quiet class, shared by user Jenni with laughing emojis.

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    ucp
    Community Member
    3 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Or in a yoga class, near the end, and fifty minutes of holding in the fart gets just too much

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    Kate continues, "Then there’s the shopping cart showdown. Two customers turn into an aisle at the exact same time, and suddenly, it’s a game of chicken—who’s going to move first? Both of them do that awkward shuffle, trying to step aside but accidentally going in the same direction. It turns into an unintentional dance of confusion, with both parties waving each other on, neither wanting to make the first move. Eventually, they both fake a polite laugh and carry on, but I know deep down, they’re screaming inside."  

    #20

    Awkward moment: feeling like an unskippable ad during a birthday song.

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    KnightOwl
    Community Member
    3 days ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    My niece had the best solution to this. She turned 7 recently and informed everyone at her party that noone was allowed to sing happy birthday, when I brought out her cake a few people started to sing.. my niece shouted NO very sternly and everyone went quiet, she blew out her candles in complete silence then told everyone to stop staring at her. She is an awesome little badass; a sarcastic, animae loving, prank pulling, bunny obsessed punk. I wish I was brave enough to do the same but I don't I just stand there gritting my teeth and feeling uncomfortable, like everyone else.

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    "And let’s not forget the 'oh no, I know them' moment," Kate adds. "Customers spot an old coworker, an acquaintance, or even a distant relative at the other end of the aisle. Do they say hi? Do they pretend not to see them? Instead of making a decision, I watch them suddenly become deeply interested in a random bag of pasta, hoping the other person will pass before they have to interact. But just when they think they’ve successfully avoided an awkward conversation, they bump into them again, at checkout, in the parking lot, or sometimes even at another store down the street."

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    #23

    Awkward life moment tweet about unintentionally staring at someone in deep thought.

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    StarCrossedFriday
    Community Member
    3 days ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Never instantly look away when this happens, it’s too obvious. I tend to just unfocus my eyes and squint slightly, and then shake my head to emphasise that I was just daydreaming 😅

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    Kate concludes, "Well, these things happen more often than you think. Supermarkets are like a stage where everyone unknowingly performs their own little awkward moments. The good news? No one is really paying attention because they’re too busy worrying about their own embarrassing moments. So next time something cringeworthy happens at the store, just laugh it off because chances are, someone else is having an awkward moment too."

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    #27

    Text post by "Shower Thoughts" about awkward life moments involving miscommunication and hearing.

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    Doug Moyer
    Community Member
    3 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    My wife, instead of repeating, gives me back story or explanations. No, dear, just repeat those three words that I didn't hear...

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    Well, whether it’s the supermarket or a restaurant, there are some moments we all can relate to. No matter how much we try to avoid them, awkward encounters and little social mishaps seem to be a part of everyday life. And let’s be real, sometimes they’re so painfully relatable that you can’t help but laugh. Especially the ones in these posts. Did they remind you of someone? Share them with a friend who would totally relate. 

    #30

    Person sitting awkwardly at a dining table, embodying an awkward life moment with a Fanta can in view.

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    LillieMean
    Community Member
    3 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Bonus points if the family cat stares at you judgmentally and then a family member points out that I'm sitting in the cat's favorite chair. No, how embarrassing, you say to yourself as you slide down to the floor to sit like a blushing lump because that's where the cat (and you) think you belong.

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    #35

    Tweet highlighting awkward life moment with someone asking what's wrong, unaware they're the problem.

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    Michael Largey
    Community Member
    3 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Some would regard that as a gift of fate - like dreaming of a Big Mac, then waking up at McDonald's.

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    #37

    Awkward moment with two kids making similar faces, capturing the uncomfortable interaction after dogs meet unexpectedly.

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    ucp
    Community Member
    3 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    My dog looks fierce, but is a softie. It usually takes two or three meetings for people to trust her (unless they have a puppy, because puppies always rush up to her).

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    #40

    Sign language tweet about avoiding awkward life moments at restaurants.

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    Little Bit
    Community Member
    3 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Why is it that people always ask you a question when you've just taken a huge mouthful of food and they expect an immediate answer? Then you're made out to be disgusting for speaking with your mouth full, but they're too impatient to wait until you have finished your food,

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    #41

    Cartoon scene of a dentist visit, illustrating an awkward life moment with a humorous twist.

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    DrBronxx
    Community Member
    1 day ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Patrick looks like he's flipping the bird through SpongeBob's mouth with his left hand here

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    #45

    A tweet about awkward life moments, questioning why ending a bath feels awkward.

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    Kinetics Loves Apples
    Community Member
    3 days ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    For me it's more like, "how many times can I reheat this bath before I have to awkwardly stand up or my skin peels off like a tangerine."

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    #46

    Tweet on feeling upset by awkward attempts at niceness in awkward life moments.

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    real mccoy
    Community Member
    3 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I’m autistic too, and I feel this way all the time. I don’t think it’s an autism thing, however, because some of my friends say this happens to them too, and they aren’t autistic.

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    #49

    Awkward life moment tweet about pretending to understand a joke, then asked to explain it, shared by a user.

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    BookFanatic
    Community Member
    3 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Yep. My ex did this. Except his was more "Oh, why are you laughing...you don't even get the joke." One of many reasons he's an ex.

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    #51

    Social media post humorously highlighting an awkward life moment about using incognito mode for silly Google searches.

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    Verena
    Community Member
    3 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    No. Why? If my search history is entertaining a bored Google employee or hacker, that's fine. Nobody else will have access

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    #53

    Tweet about an awkward moment during a book signing, with 742 likes and 9 reposts.

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    GalPalAl
    Community Member
    3 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Probably felt dumb in the moment, but if it were me, I would think that was sweet. When your brain has been rewired from all the c**p you have to put in it all day every day, sometimes finding the right response is jumbled and comes out wrong

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    #55

    Awkward life moment: Realizing you're still watching cartoons after kids are in bed.

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    Amy
    Community Member
    3 days ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I find them relaxing, but more so the nostalgic and funny ones. Not like I’m going to put on the news to calm me down…

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    #60

    Tweet about awkward life moments of buying pregnancy tests, highlighting embarrassment despite being married.

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    Feathered Dinosaur
    Community Member
    3 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Only once in my life did I buy condoms, as a grown a*s woman no less. I was so ashamed I never did it again. Good thing most guys take care of that task lol

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    #62

    Awkward life moment in a tweet about mistakenly replying to an old post, highlighting the confusion of time on social media.

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    Alex Kreitner
    Community Member
    3 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I once responded to someone who did that to me on Reddit, judging some judgmental thing I said, and I was like: "That was a year ago. I'm not that guy anymore."

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    #63

    Tweet about awkward life moments, expressing discomfort in silences by saying "I'm so tired" even when not tired.

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    ucp
    Community Member
    3 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I’m British, so I use the weather as a placeholder. Or as the entire conversation

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    #65

    Awkward life moment tweet about introducing yourself and being recognized unexpectedly.

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    Moana Manana
    Community Member
    3 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    My daughter has a lot of friends, and the name of 6 of her best once start with an A and sound very similar. When she talks about her friends, she says first and last name so I can tell them apart. But when I see them, I have no idea and I have to pretend to know who that is until she shouts very discretly the first and last name out loud. Thanks hun...

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    #67

    Awkward life moment at a ramen place: a first date goes silent after a Lego Fortnite discussion.

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    JSD
    Community Member
    3 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Why are people so judgmental? May not be something they have in common, but no need to be huffy and rude. And no, never played Lego Fornite.

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    #69

    Penguin looking awkward after typing 5+3 on a calculator, with humorous text about checking if anyone noticed.

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    Moana Manana
    Community Member
    3 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    There was one post I felt seen: I am more embarrassed about my calculator history than my browser history...

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    #70

    Awkward moment tweet by a Sephora employee about a client's product question.

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    Amy
    Community Member
    3 days ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Sucks that this is still common at this point. Brands need to do better. Same with testing on animals etc. for cosmetic purposes.

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    #74

    Tweet about awkward life moment of having to fake laugh to be polite.

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    Devin Schmitt
    Community Member
    3 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Someone once told me that one in three of my jokes were funny. I thought that was a pretty good statistic.

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    #76

    Tweet about awkward life moments when your daily food choices match emergency food stockpiling habits.

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    Doozle bug
    Community Member
    3 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    That’s not really awkward, unfortunately it’s a very real aspect of life. Always was always will be.

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    #77

    Awkward moment on Zoom when teacher's question is met with silence, making everyone feel uneasy.

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    BookFanatic
    Community Member
    3 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I usually try to speak up, just because I've been the teacher and I know how awful that feels.

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    #78

    Tweet about awkward life moments after leaving a movie theater, hesitating to share opinions about the film.

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    Michael Largey
    Community Member
    3 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    If you sit next to someone all during a movie, don't you usually know from their body language whether they enjoyed it or not?

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    #80

    Embarrassing tweet about awkward life moment in the office with emojis, highlighting a relatable situation.

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    Chefette67
    Community Member
    3 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I was doing early morning setup in the cafe kitchen, it's 530am, not a soul around. I bent over to get something and let off a fart that sounded like a chainsaw. Turned around and the bread delivery guy was standing directly behind me with a crate of brioche rolls! 😳 He just c*****d up laughing and said, "Geez luv!,I think you just burnt your buns!" 🤣🤣

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    #84

    Awkward life moment tweet about a teacher and principal scenario with laughing emojis, posted by user @bennynotblanco.

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    Michael Largey
    Community Member
    3 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I never sent students to the principal's office. If you crossed the line that hard in my class, you knew full well that your transgression would be dealt with right here and right now and by me. (Hardly ever had to do this. My students seemed to like me for reasons still unknown to science.)

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    #87

    Tweet about awkward life moment on Instagram, accidentally liking a 2015 photo.

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    CrunChewy McSandybutt
    Community Member
    2 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Look, once you let me follow your page, I'm going back to the paleolithic period in your photos, and you'll just have to accept that.

    #89

    Awkward moment with a Boda guy using a phone inside his helmet, causing confusion and embarrassment.

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    Sandella
    Community Member
    3 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Same with the aldo and lidl cashiers, when they swotch to their headsets mid convo to talk to a colleague haha

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    #90

    Tweet about an awkward handshake that's too firm, highlighting a common awkward life moment.

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    Moana Manana
    Community Member
    3 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    We had a manager once he would give women the hand for an handshake, then fold the middlefinger and moves it up and down in your palm. He did it once to me and I refused his hand the next time, and all other times for that matter...

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    #93

    Tweet about an awkward life moment calling a teacher "Mom" in school, highlighting an embarrassing experience.

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    GalPalAl
    Community Member
    3 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I can almost promise you this. When you get older, and ever at a certain age, you really stop caring about what others think of you

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    #96

    Shopping cart at Target near video games, capturing an awkward life moment.

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    halazia
    Community Member
    2 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I think you can figure it out by reading the letters before and after. BP doesn't allow those kinds of word as even in ppls names

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    Winter
    Community Member
    Premium
    1 day ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    🙄 Because his surname is (obviously) "D-í-c-k-son", and we can NOT, **MUST** not, *EVER* write that **shockingly** rude and horribly gross word, "d-í-c-k", even if it has the ending "son" attached to it - in fact, probably *because* the letters "son" are attached to the other, strictly forbidden and shocking word "d-í-c-k", it makes the person sound as though he's the actual son, OF a "d-í-c-k" (have I used that terrible word "d-í-c-k" enough times yet?) THANK you, Bored Panda, NOT!!

    Peeka_Mimi
    Community Member
    Premium
    3 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    If I saw my most recent ex (from 7 years ago he turned me off of dating) I'd call the police. He's constantly threatening me on FB. He draws pictures of me in coffins or minus my head. I'd call the police.

    halazia
    Community Member
    2 days ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    What's with the random trauma dumping??😭😭 And "minus my head"??? wait don't answer

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    #97

    Tweet humorously highlights awkward life moments between Christmas and New Year.

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    Sarah
    Community Member
    3 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I heard that some people put proper clothes on and go on to leave the house? Anyone else hears about this? I’ve personally not experienced it

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