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Do you remember the days of playing truth or dare? Sitting in a circle with your best friends at a sleepover, this beloved game was the best way to bond with peers. It was an opportunity to exhibit bravery and vulnerability, while also getting to laugh at your friends as they dove headfirst into silly dares. However, the game did have inherent risks, and in the back of your mind you knew there was always a chance you’d be asked the most dreaded question: what is your most embarrassing moment?

Though we get older, our appetite for embarrassing stories never seems to go away. Last week, Reddit user Konke420xd asked people to share the most embarrassing moments they’ve ever witnessed, and boy, did they deliver. Thankfully for us, this list is a safe space to read other people’s humiliating stories without worrying about our own being exposed, so feel free to laugh as loudly as you want. Below, you can also read an interview with David Nadelberg, the founder of Mortified, a hilarious live show and podcast that "curates teen angst artifacts". Enjoy these cringe-worthy stories, and if you aren’t in too much pain from secondhand embarrassment by the end, be sure to check out Bored Panda’s last story featuring mortifying moments right here.

#1

People Are Sharing The Most Embarrassing Thing They've Ever Witnessed, Here Are 30 Of The Most Painful Alright, so my husband and I were driving around the city and it was pouring outside. Absolutely pouring. We were about to pass the lightrail train tracks (going in both directions) when the crossing gates came down because the lightrail was approaching.

One idiot in a van decided he could make it across before the gates came all the way down. He kept on driving, but he did not make it. Instead, his vehicle was now trapped between the gates.

We could see from our car that this person was PANICKING. His life was flashing before his eyes. In his movie mind, the lightrail was about to crash into the van and drag it for dozens of yards before finally stopping... so he did what anyone would do. He violently pushed the door open and RAN in the pouring rain for his life.

He was halfway down the street before he stopped, turned around, and noticed that the lightrail was patiently waiting for him to move the vehicle. The door was still open. My husband and I just about pissed ourselves laughing.

JoyceReardon , Bastien Nvs Report

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Kiki
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I know it's not the topic but this tram is from my city, Lyon (France) :D. I'm so surprised to see it here, especially when not related to the topic! If you ever come to France please come to Lyon, the Capital of Gastronomy (food) and suuuuch a beautiful city! I could talk about it for hours (。♥‿♥。)

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Embarrassment is a feeling we’re all familiar with. Whether you experience it frequently or if you have one particularly painful memory seared into your brain, no one is immune to the feeling. And although many of us hate being embarrassed for obvious reasons, we tend to love hearing other people share their most mortifying moments. Telling friends and family about a painfully embarrassing moment requires vulnerability because, let’s be honest, the reaction is often going to be laughter. But these stories can also be incredibly endearing. Who wants intimidating friends who have never had food stuck in their teeth on a date or waved back to someone who wasn't actually waving at them? Embarrassing moments are a part of the human experience, and whether we like it or not, they’re just a reminder that nobody can be polished 100% of the time.

#2

In 4th grade we were learning about Native Americans and had a homework assignment to come up with Native American sounding names for ourselves. I chose “Spotted one” because I had a lot of freckles back then.

The next day when we were revealing our new “Native American names” I just so happened to be sitting next to the biggest crush of my life at that time and, being a stupid 10year old, thought that farting by her would make her laugh and like me. I kept ripping a*s inside of this giant teepee with all of my classmates stuck inside it, the teacher growing more upset.

When it was finally my turn to reveal my name and explain why I chose it, that crush of mine said, “it better be O Stinky One!” and everyone started laughing at me. Panicked, I had to think of something quick… I said, “oh yea, you thought those were bad, wait until you smell this one…!” And tried as hard as I could to rip the loudest and smelliest fart of all time, only to completely s**t my pants on front of everyone. Umbros were super popular at that time (1994) and they did me no favors here. Diarrhea was all over the floor. Kids were screaming and running out of the teepee as quick as possible and it ended up collapsing on me, alone, in my poop teepee.

The teacher made everyone go outside to calm down and called my mom to come get me. I was so embarrassed and begged my mom to never make me go back to school. It took them forever to coerce me to leave the poop tent and they wrapped me in towels and carried me out to the car. I was carried by all of my classmates who were all screaming at me and laughing. I remember closing my eyes and basically faking like I was dead, hoping it would all go away. They weren’t falling for it.

Almost 30 years later and it still gets brought up to me at least once per year. Kids are mean. 💩😂

JamieHavs Report

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Genny McD
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Omg! I'm laughing so hard that I'm crying! I'm sorry, that had to be so embarrassing for you, but I've literally NEVER laughed at anything on Bored Panda before that made me laugh till I cried. You made my day! Thank you

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We reached out to Dave Nadelberg, the founder of Mortified, to hear why he thinks we love hearing embarrassing stories. "Everyone can relate to moments of vulnerability," Dave told us. "They help us feel closer to one another." Since his show focuses on specifically teen moments of angst and embarrassment, we asked Dave why he thinks adolescents are so susceptible to being mortified. "When kids are trying to navigate the world, everything is new to them. With that newness inherently comes a clumsiness," he said. "We love celebrating those mishaps as rites of passage as opposed to something to hide from. Our podcast and stage show are about helping people own their shame."

We also asked Dave if he thinks people ever reach an age where nothing embarrasses them. "Nope. As long as we are humans, we will make mistakes. And there’s nothing wrong with that." Lastly, he wanted to add that, "Mortified’s podcast has hundreds of episodes filled with stories anyone can relate to, no happy or how sad their childhood memories are." If you'd like to hear some of those stories, you can find the Mortified podcast right here.

#3

People Are Sharing The Most Embarrassing Thing They've Ever Witnessed, Here Are 30 Of The Most Painful I saw my neighbor get a pizza delivery from two pizza guys (one must have been training) and he must have tried to say "have a great night" and "thanks guys" at the same time and ended up saying "have a great gays!" and the two guys just stopped and looked and my neighbor just shut his door and that neighbor was actually me

xsc888 , Jeremy Bronson Report

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Black Pearl
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

"and that neighbor was actually me." I am so sorry for laughing but that's hilarious

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Now, you may be thinking: I never get embarrassed because I never do anything stupid. And it is true that some people have a higher threshold for embarrassment, but some things are just out of our control. So to anyone who claims they never do anything embarrassing, I raise you some of the following examples from College Times’ list of “Embarrassing Moments We’ve All Experienced”. Ever tried to take a picture of someone else or in a dark room and your camera flash went off? How about this one: accidentally sending a text about someone you know to that person.

Even small encounters that only cause a brief moment of embarrassment count, like going to drink something and spilling it on yourself or tripping while walking down the street. Have you ever walked in on someone using the bathroom, or worse, had someone walk in on you? Maybe your stomach has growled loudly while sitting in a silent room, or you’ve accidentally liked a photo from three years ago while stalking a crush on Instagram. Perhaps you’ve realized halfway through the day that you put on your shirt inside out that morning or accidentally fallen asleep on a stranger’s shoulder on an airplane. Okay, you get the idea. The point is: we’ve all been there.  

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#4

People Are Sharing The Most Embarrassing Thing They've Ever Witnessed, Here Are 30 Of The Most Painful During a liturgy at the cathedral, altar boys were kneeling attentively behind the Bishop as he presided at the altar - with the Deacon swinging the thurible (incense pot) in front.

As the bishop raised the monstrance to bless the people, he let out an incredibly loud fart that resounded in the ample acoustics of the building and aimed directly at the altar boys.

Everyone heard it - no mistaking the fart's telltale sound.

Thankfully, the Deacon came around with the thurible and immediately incensed the area where the boys were kneeling, while the assembly tried in vain to stifle their laughter.

Back2Bach , Saint John's Seminary Report

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

this reminds me of an endless extended altar call for salvation at a baptist revival. Most baptist preachers do not wear robes, especially during revivals... The evangelist begged endlessly for anyone to come down for salvation to pray the sinners' prayer. He finally lost his nerve & closed the service when he realized people were staring at him and laughing quietly. He had failed to notice that his fly had somehow slipped down, and his white undies were poking out through the opening, very noticible against his black preacher's suit. He turned so red in the face, it was almost purple after he looked down after closing the service.

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#5

People Are Sharing The Most Embarrassing Thing They've Ever Witnessed, Here Are 30 Of The Most Painful I was a sophomore in HS (so around 16) taking the last leg of my county's sex ed class. It was a co-ed day, so our full gym class of about 30 kids was in the room. Topic was STD's. The teacher mentioned oral sex a few times and I guess which diseases can be spread through it. One guy who was always pretty quiet and shy raised his hand and said "I just don't really understand how you can get an STD from talking about sex..."

It took everyone, including the teacher, a few seconds to understand, but some quiet laughter came from a few students. the teacher then of course had to explain as simply as she could that oral sex did not in fact mean talking about sex (I think the stupid bylaws of the program in our county didn't allow her to fully disclose what it was).

Anyway, we thought he was joking but as he heard the laughter from everyone after getting this explained to him, he slowly put his head down and covered his face for the next few minutes. Poor guy. I felt bad, but it was hard not to laugh. At least no one directly gave him s**t for it afterward

shlumpy_dumpyyyyy , Taylor Wilcox Report

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#6

People Are Sharing The Most Embarrassing Thing They've Ever Witnessed, Here Are 30 Of The Most Painful This JUST happened last week and I was feeling sympathy embarrassment for my boss. Sorry, I think this is long...

We had a VP visiting our office, I'll call her VP Betty. She's a great role model and seems to be a very kind person. The same can be said about my boss, I'll call her Boss Amy.

Boss Amy is in her office, I know she likes to listen to books while working and she has mentioned to me before that she likes romance novels. VP Betty walked in to the office to talk to Boss Amy... she grab her earbuds to take them out.

The only thing I can guess is that she somehow disconnected them while the book was still playing LOUDLY and just happened to be very sexually graphic and intensely vulgar for a quiet office setting. Things were throbbing, dripping, pounding, etc. Boss Amy starts basically yelping "oh no, no no no!! Stop! What's happening, I wasn't listening to this!! OH OH MY GOSH!! WHY WON'T IT STOP!?"

She's mashing the screen, hitting the volume and power buttons, it's still going. VP Betty has no idea what she's witnessing but is clearly upset and shouting at Boss Amy to turn it off.
Boss Amy is frantically hitting the phone on her desk at this point, probably preferring to break the phone and buy a new one to end this nightmare.

At this point it stops and Boss Amy huffs that she's so sorry, she didn't know what it was, how horrible and so on. AND THEN IT STARTED BACK UP AGAIN continuing with this very kinky NSFW story. Finally VP Betty just runs out and closes the office door for Boss Amy to get this under control.

A few minutes later I peek my head in and Boss Amy is packing up to go home. She said she's had enough of today... but if it was me I would have left to go cry in my car.

TypicalHorseGirl83 , Elisa Ventur Report

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Kel_how
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

They'd have to hire someone else if it was me because I would've died

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Though you may try to avoid it at all costs, embarrassment does not have to be the bane of your existence. Stephanie Vozza wrote a piece for Fast Company explaining “Why Embarrassment Can Be A Good Thing” and even provided some tips on how to handle it. According to Dr. Susan David, a Harvard Medical School psychologist and author of the book Emotional Agility, “Embarrassment is what is called a ‘self-conscious’ emotion; something that we experience in relation to others when we make a mistake or behave in a way that is against social norms or standards.” Though this can be perceived as a negative emotion, it can actually yield benefits. David notes that people who openly feel and express embarrassment are more likely to be trusted and forgiven than people who bottle up their embarrassment.

#7

People Are Sharing The Most Embarrassing Thing They've Ever Witnessed, Here Are 30 Of The Most Painful I went to a small high school, so almost everyone knew everyone else. I know you read "small high school", but I mean the entire 9-12th grade student body was about 85 people at the time.

Two students, a guy and a girl, for some reason are talking mad s**t to each other for weeks. No one remembers how it started, no one even asks why these two are constantly yelling or fighting with each other. So one day, the conflict escalates into its obvious logical conclusion:

a dance battle.

It gets scheduled after both parties (and their respective groupies apparently) decide on a date and that it'll happen during a lunch period, and how they want to do this wild thing.

The whole school shows up. All 85 of us. Cue the girl, who brought out the biggest boom box and smallest piece of cardboard in history so she could do the worst version of "break dancing" the world has ever seen. I'm talking attempted head spins that go a full 180 degrees, crawling and writhing on the ground and saying "what're you gonna do about it b***h?". I'm fairly certain I recall her choice of song was Nelly's "Hot in here". She's 100% serious which makes it even worse.

The guy is completely unfazed. He's looking at her with the hardest death stare I've ever seen. It's worth mentioning at this point that this guy is essentially the class troll. He cannot stop f*****g with people to save his life. So he stops the music, puts in his cd into the player, and what pops out of the speakers?

That f*****g traditional "Hava Nagila" song you hear at every bar mitzvah known to mankind, and he starts doing a Russian Cosack dance (I apologize if that entire sentence bothers anyone). His "crew" is losing it, the girls crew is laughing their a**es off, and the main girl is visibly pissed.

Everyone agreed he won the dance battle.

For anyone who wants any additional info: yes, 85 students for an entire high school is considered well below average for a school in California. This school was also mostly white, consisting of middle class kids from the suburbs. It was a college-prep charter school, and school uniforms were mandatory (think khakis and polo shirts / button ups with school logo embroidery). I hope that information makes the visuals even more hilarious.

dumb_smart_guy93 , Sonia Sanmartin Report

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Black Pearl
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is one of the funniest things I've ever read. I thought dance battles were just a thing that happened in Disney shows.

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#8

People Are Sharing The Most Embarrassing Thing They've Ever Witnessed, Here Are 30 Of The Most Painful Community college in Tampa, 2009. Spanish class. Shy goth girl walks to the front of the class and plugs in her USB drive to boot up her PPT and begin her presentation like the rest of us did. Except when she pluged it in, a file opened up and the most vile anime p**n started playing. Everyone was mortified for her. It took her maybe 3-4 seconds to turn it off but the moment felt like forever. She said, "THIS IS MY BOYFRIEND'S DRIVE!" and ran out of the room crying. The teacher just moved on. The girl didn't show her face for a week. Just an absolutely insane moment.

grandpasmoochie , Killian77 Report

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#9

People Are Sharing The Most Embarrassing Thing They've Ever Witnessed, Here Are 30 Of The Most Painful Middle school graduation dinner, one of the other students had asked ahead of time if they could sing. For whatever reason, I don't know. So, while the rest of us are sitting at our tables eating, she gets up in front of us all with a guitar and starts singing Blackbird by The Beatles.

I don't think I'd ever heard her sing before, I have no idea why she wanted to (she was always one of the smartest people in our grade and achieved a lot academically so I think maybe she thought that transferred over to musical talent).

It was genuinely one of the worst things I'd ever heard in my life. She could not sing even a little. Her voice shook on every word, it cracked, she was out of tune. Every person had to stare at their down at their food while trying not to laugh in her face. I remember sitting next to my best friend and we just kept glancing at each other like "what the f**k is happening right now." Thinking of it now makes me laugh again, and I know that if I called up my friend right now and sang "blackbird singing in the dead of night..." that he would start to laugh too. It became a joke in our class.

She finished Blackbird, and then decided to follow it up with American Pie, which thankfully a lot of us knew the words to, and the teachers walked around encouraging us to sing together (and drown her out).

Part of me is like, well f**k it, she did it! She was brave! But I do wonder if she thought she was actually good or not.

carolinemathildes , Fidel Report

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Black Pearl
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Off topic, but I actually saw Paul McCartney perform in my hometown the other day. He did Blackbird and a ton of other Beatles songs. It was so incredible.

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The potential of embarrassment can also lead to us being more prepared for difficult situations. Having a public presentation in class or at work, for example, incentivizes us to do our best. Otherwise, we might disappoint our colleagues or embarrass ourselves in front of our peers. David also points out that embarrassment “shines a light on things that are of value to us, such as meeting expectations or not letting others down” and can even be a way of “maintaining social order”. It’s hard for anyone's ego to become monstrously large when they're served a healthy portion of mortification every once in a while.

#10

People Are Sharing The Most Embarrassing Thing They've Ever Witnessed, Here Are 30 Of The Most Painful I was watching a symphony orchestra concert at the Sydney Opera House one evening. The concert hall foyer has these huge glass windows beneath the sails that overlook the harbourside. The sun hadn't quite set yet, and every audience member that was exiting the hall could see this incredibly drunk middle aged couple having sex on a bench outside the hall.

cowbelljazz , Manuel Nägeli Report

#11

People Are Sharing The Most Embarrassing Thing They've Ever Witnessed, Here Are 30 Of The Most Painful In HS this really dorky kid challenged this drill sargent wannabe teacher we had, saying he could do 20 push ups easily. To put it simply, kid was not fit. He was very lanky and clearly had no muscle. I really don’t believe that before that day he had ever attempted a push up in his life. He drops to the ground with an insane amount of blind confidence and goes to do a push up. He gets halfway into the first push up, and his body makes this really loud multiple-joints-cracking sound. He struggled for another second and then i guess the strain caused him to pass gas very loudly, then fall flat on his face. He grunted and laid there for a second before getting off the floor.


I was laughing so hard our teacher told me to leave the room. I had tears running down my face.

anoncheesegrater , Sylvain Kalache Report

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Jef Bateman
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is strangely similar to something I witnessed in junior high, except the skinny kid dominated. It wasn't 20 pushups, either -- 100 in two minutes. The same kid weighed 100 pounds and gave me a shoulder ride across the gym (172 pounds at the time - I know exactly because of wrestling). (For those outside the US, he was 45 kg, and I was 78.)

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#12

People Are Sharing The Most Embarrassing Thing They've Ever Witnessed, Here Are 30 Of The Most Painful Took my children and a cousin to a natural water park that was a river running thru a valley that had worn its way into this smooth rock bed,it wore like marbel.
The water carried you along with natural slides and dips great fun

To ride down the river you first had to walk up it which was precarious in many places.
The kids Cousin (D) wasn't the most confident guy but I'd been doing lots of work with him to fix that and we had done lots of swimming prior to this holiday to get him ready .

I picked the safest route up and told the kids only step where I show you please.
As D made his way I pointed step there, pointing directly at a spot ,do not go the other side

D stepped the other side the water grabbed him snatched him off his feet and down.
wiped his trunks off and they were gone, suddenly D is flying nude down this river
atop the river on the hillside is a railed walking area ,there were 100s of people laughing and pointing down as this kid in the nip goes dashing by

Throwawaytommys , Tomek Baginski Report

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Onion Cutting Ninja
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Where is this? (not to see naked people to swim the beginning description makes it sound fun)

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When it comes to dealing with embarrassing moments, it’s best to have a sense of humor and show ourselves compassion. Don’t be afraid to call yourself out; even acknowledging the moment with an “oops!” or saying, “That was awkward!” exhibits your self-awareness and releases tension for everyone involved. It also helps to stay cool when you’re feeling embarrassed, figuratively and literally. One study at the Western University in Canada found that people feeling shame and embarrassment are more likely to reach for a cold drink and that doing something embarrassing in a warm environment can cause people to feel worse about the situation. The biggest thing to remember, however, is to not dwell on these moments. As Dr. Susan David says, “When you recognize that you are human and imperfect, just like all other humans are imperfect, it gives us permission to let go of the past embarrassment with the knowledge that we did our best.” 

#13

People Are Sharing The Most Embarrassing Thing They've Ever Witnessed, Here Are 30 Of The Most Painful Once when I was a toddler my family was at Walt Disney World and we were going to take a picture and I didn't want to and was throwing a fit and I was yanking on my mom's pants and accidently pulled her pants down. The photographer said we couldn't get a refund or retake the photos so we have a family picture of my whole family with my mom standing there with her pants down around her ankles and one with her turned around pulling up her pants (she was wearing thong underwear). She thinks it's funny now but at the time she was so embarrassed and mad

dudemanisanalien , Joel Sutherland Report

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#14

People Are Sharing The Most Embarrassing Thing They've Ever Witnessed, Here Are 30 Of The Most Painful I was at a food court and I got the brilliant idea to jump over a row of those plastic chairs and tables.. You know, the ones that are fixed to the floor.

Foot got caught and I fell flat on my face. I stood up to 30 people clapping. One guy yelled asking for my autograph.

Niteryder007 , Geraldine Lewa Report

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Rachel Cobb
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

How is this a negative? It's more interesting than much I've done...

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#15

People Are Sharing The Most Embarrassing Thing They've Ever Witnessed, Here Are 30 Of The Most Painful A guy making a cringey tap song as a proposal in a public restaurant and getting on one knee only for the girl to go quiet and look around and say “Justin, no! Wtf seriously?”

SupaDupaDupaDupa , Austin Pacheco Report

As painful as it is to experience our own embarrassing moments, sometimes all it takes to solicit a strong emotional reaction is seeing or hearing about someone else’s humiliation. Just like seeing someone cry can cause us to melt into a puddle of tears, witnessing an embarrassing moment can cause painful secondhand or vicarious embarrassment. According to Emma Azzopardi, a psychotherapist and developing clinical psychologist, secondhand embarrassment is a perfectly normal response. 

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“As social animals, empathy is a key trait that evolved to help us to be part of a community and to live harmoniously within it. We recognize embarrassing situations for others through neural pathways activated in the anterior cingulate cortex and the left anterior insula regions of the brain. These are regions implicated in the experiencing of 'social pain' related to the situations that others, rather than us, find themselves in. It is these same cortical structures that are involved in the mental responses we would have if we witness the physical pain of another person."

#16

People Are Sharing The Most Embarrassing Thing They've Ever Witnessed, Here Are 30 Of The Most Painful Oh god help me

I’m gonna tell this story

Me

I was a younger gal and crushed HARD on another girl at the stable I rode at. She didn’t know it.

Remember Tony Hawk for GameCube? Well around that time, in the game series you could create a skater. Design them, change body features, etc.

I once spent a solid 30 minutes creating a great replica of her. I used to play as her and so forth.

Flash forward to Christmas. This year was my family’s year to host the barn party. We had a great time.

Then I’m chilling and I hear the other girls say “oh cool, Danielle (me) has a GameCube. We should play something.” I thought nothing of it…wait…oh no. S**T! I know what game and memory card are in the system!

I walk into the room just as they are all staring at the choose a skater screen. Jennifer (my crush) is on the screen. I had her first and last name. She looked a lot like her.

You know that meme picture where it’s a party? First person view? Like 40 girls holding cups, cringing and staring at the viewer?

That’s what I walked into. I hid in my room until the part ended

DaniTheLovebug Report

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Black Pearl
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And that's why I don't make anything physical that could show people I have a crush

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#17

People Are Sharing The Most Embarrassing Thing They've Ever Witnessed, Here Are 30 Of The Most Painful I used to work in nightclubs. I once witnessed a girl leaning against a wall, casually flirting with a guy and as she laughed she actually s**t herself. She was wearing a white dress and there was no hiding what had happened. The smell actually cleared the whole level of the club. She ran out crying. We had to clean poo off the floor where she had been standing. I often wonder what she is doing now...

Vaiken_Vox , Baptiste MG Report

#18

People Are Sharing The Most Embarrassing Thing They've Ever Witnessed, Here Are 30 Of The Most Painful Was in a pool at a Euro beach resort. We’d been chatting with an old brit tourist, he got out of the pool and went to get changed poolside, using his towel to do the discrete swimming tog shuffle.

Suddenly up steps an angry Frenchmam wanting HIS towel back...

Turns out our poor retired gent had grabbed the wrong towel. There ensued a desperate tug-of-towel as a very stroppy Frenchman attempted to rip his towel from this poor old guy who was butt naked and frantically trying to save his modesty.

The old guy’s grandson saved the day, with an emergency towel transfer, but not before the whole pool complex had seen way too much hairy old British grandpa s****e.

Bigfoothobbit , Tauralbus Report

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In fact, vicarious embarrassment might be something to be proud of. Lee Chambers, an environmental psychologist, states that, “It is clear that our level of vicarious embarrassment is correlated to our level of empathy. The ability to feel others' embarrassment requires us to imagine how they think and feel. It also requires us to be aware of the social norms that are being broken. An empath will have intense empathy for others and lack the usual filters that protect us from absorbing the environment around us. They are likely to be sensitive to environmental stressors and overstimulated easily from a sensory perspective. Because the empathetic process is amplified, vicarious embarrassment will also be felt more deeply, as empathy is fundamental to feeling vicarious embarrassment."

#19

People Are Sharing The Most Embarrassing Thing They've Ever Witnessed, Here Are 30 Of The Most Painful I watched a guy run across campus in sagging pants, the pants fall to his knees tripping him, he trips but manages to do a sort of half summersault which launches the pants almost completely off of him but he manages to pull them up at a light jog pace while glancing around to make sure he wasn't seen before continuing to run off. I was in my car that had tinted windows so his secret is safe-ish with me. It was honestly impressive that he managed to save it from being the much more embarrassing pants-around-ankles, face-in-the-mud, and brightly colored boxerbriefs-in-the-wind it could have been.

Denkir-the-Filtiarn , Images Alight Report

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liam newton-harding
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

A while back I worked at a store whose HUGE picture windows looked out over Times Square, NYC. To get from the second floor to the third you walked up stairs that wrapped around these windows. Now, this was a destination store, for New Yorkers, and tourists...one day, a young man, and his girlfriend friend pass me, and climb the stairs...I had already noticed a few inches of boxer shorts showing. He reaches the landing, where the stairs turn...and his jeans fall around his ankles. His girlfriend slumps onto one of the risers, clutching the rail...weeping with laughter...as the store, as Times Square get a view of baggy plaid boxers, and skinny legs.

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#20

People Are Sharing The Most Embarrassing Thing They've Ever Witnessed, Here Are 30 Of The Most Painful When I was in undergrad I lived at this house with 2 of my closest friends, and worked at a local movie theater. Our house became THE party house. We literally raged 8 days a week. Girls always over, that kind of thing. Well, one night I got way too drunk, decided I would go to bed around 10pm, sleep it off kinda thing. I sleep naked. Get up around 1am to go pee and didn't think anyone was still over. I had to walk through the living room to get to the bathroom. When I walked to the bathroom I turned off the lights, no one around. Go pee, realize I had to puke, took care of that, and opened the door to hobble back to bed. About 30 people, mostly my friends and coworkers simultaneously scream, start laughing, clapping, everything. I'm completely stunned and it took about 2 full, longest of my life, seconds to realize they're all staring at me naked. My sister was there. The girl I liked was there. Everyone was there. I covered my bits and I've never run into my room so far in my life. I think I actually died of embarrassment that night, because since then, I just don't get embarrassed. I didn't live that down for years.

Oh, and the reason no one was in the living room. About 10 of them went outside to smoke, the rest were already outside or had just arrived after closing the theater. So they hadn't even sat down before I gave them all a proper show.

Velfurion , Rob Allen Report

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#21

People Are Sharing The Most Embarrassing Thing They've Ever Witnessed, Here Are 30 Of The Most Painful A friend of mine once hooked up with a guy she matched with on Tinder. She was in a different city for a family reunion, and hooked up with him two nights in a row, since she decided to stay there a couple of days before the event to check out the sights.

You guessed it. Come the day of the family reunion, and guess who's there? The Tinder-guy, who she quickly learns is her cousin on her father's side. She had never met him before. They both kept their cool for most of the event, but then his brother got too drunk and started gossiping to people (Tinder-dude had confided in him). The whole thing ended up with her and her parents leaving early, her mother in tears.

snufkin79 , Julia Taubitz Report

Some people love to embrace secondhand embarrassment to feel less alone in their own mortifying moments as well. One 22-year-old from London told Refinery 29, “I love watching cringe comedy. I regularly feel embarrassed in my day-to-day life by the stupid things I do and say, so to sit down and watch someone else do something infinitely more humiliating is almost validating, and makes me realise that maybe I’m not so bad.” There could be a level of schadenfreude, or pleasure derived from someone else's pain, at play too, but we'll give lovers of cringe comedy the benefit of the doubt.

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#22

People Are Sharing The Most Embarrassing Thing They've Ever Witnessed, Here Are 30 Of The Most Painful I used to work for a small coffee shop that had three locations. I had a ridiculously big crush on a woman who worked at one of the other locations. I thought she was so pretty that I literally couldn’t remember how to talk around her.

For example, one time on my day off I stopped by her location to get a cold brew and she was working the register and was like “Hi Karl how’s it going?“ What I wanted to respond was “Oh pretty good but it’s been a long week” but all that came out was “…long”… Then I was so embarrassed I turned around and left without getting anything.

Worse than that, later that summer there was a big employee BBQ at the nearby river. I finally got over my s**t and had a really good conversation with her, made her laugh, all that good stuff. A little later I had to pee and went to the port-a-potty only to walk in on her going to the bathroom…

vandal_karl , Brooke Cagle Report

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#23

People Are Sharing The Most Embarrassing Thing They've Ever Witnessed, Here Are 30 Of The Most Painful When I worked at a deli my boss grabbed a woman's stomach and congratulated her, she wasn't pregnant.

lookssharp , Ömürden Cengiz Report

#24

I was on one of those “show boat” cruises on Sydney Harbour. The idea is you get a three course dinner with wine and a cabaret style show. I took my Mum when she was visiting me from out of state. We were seated next to a young couple who were clearly on a date. The young woman was very pretty and the guy was somewhat nervous and overdressed in a suit and tie. Their dinner was an exercise in speed drinking for the young woman. She smashed through bottle after bottle of the cheap wine at a record, borderline alarming pace. By the time desert was being served, she was vomiting spectacularly all over the tiny white table. Anyone who has been on a cruise like this knows the tables are small and seated close together (this was pre-Covid). The volume of vomit was incredible for such a tiny woman. Pale, watery chunks covered the entire table as the guy rubbed her back and tried to clean up the mess with the fabric napkins. I almost got my elbow covered in the contents of her digestive tract. My Mum and I ended up giving the guy our napkins to clean up the white wine swamp on the table the staff had failed to notice. It was absolutely embarrassing for the young couple, but my Mum and I really did get the dinner and show we were promised - just not the one we expected.

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According to psychotherapist James Hartley, everyone’s threshold for second hand embarrassment will fall somewhere on a spectrum, depending on their levels of empathy and their “boundaries with their sense of self”. “Cringe comedy takes its value from socially awkward moments and there are several reasons why individuals may not be triggered by the circumstances designed to make us laugh,” says Hartley. “We need to be able to place ourselves in a similar scenario to appreciate the humor and if we are low on the empathy scale, we are unlikely to feel for the character."

#25

A friend of mine was a film student at a pretty prestigious film school in the Northeast. He invited myself and a few friends up for what would ultimately be the film festival and screening for most of the student films and writing projects etc. I was basically there as an observer and to support my buddy and as a film lover I got to see some pretty neat little projects and meet some cool people.

One of the projects was a film that I’ll refer to as “O-6” (it was a student film and I respect this person enough to not directly reference something that clearly was one of the roughest days of their life). O-6 had posters for it plastered all over campus. There was a viable army of students and visitors to the campus (including this poor guy’s family) all wearing O-6 t-shirts. There was a Facebook group and a short trailer for O-6. It had more hype than some movies that get theatrically released and it was my understanding that a large contingent of the students in the film program helped work on O-6.

Well, my buddy and his friends in the program tipped me off that O-6 might be a piece of cringey gold and would be worth watching so we could joke about it later. The kid who directed it clearly thought he was like, Neo or something because he came in wearing sunglasses, and just looked like a typical “edgy cringe” kid for the early 2000’s but this was 2014.

Anyway, it comes time for O-6 to be screened and part of this film festival was that alumni came to critique and offer advice for the new students. There were some prestigious Alumni there including a guy who worked on various Marvel movies, a woman who wrote some major Hollywood scripts and a director of a few episodes of breaking bad, among others. The director of O-6 did a little speech before he screened it and called out some of the alumni stating they were his heroes.

The movie begins and good lord is it bad. The kid who directed is also the star of the movie and there were multiple scenes of him flexing shirtless in what was supposed to be a sci fi action flick. He was like 120 lbs and scrawny and on screen flexing thinking people would think it was badass. Everyone starts laughing.

I felt bad but then about 5 minutes later he starts rolling around in lube on what’s supposed to be another planet but it’s just him in his tighty whiteys writing in KW jelly. Again everyone laughs.

There’s a terrible love scene, an awful laser fight and at one point he hugs another man covered in KW jelly and half naked in nothing but undies and sunglasses. Everyone breaks out laughing and the director kid just sits there stoically listening to everyone laugh. It was also all shot on a sunny day in someone’s backyard. I get it was a student film but the other films had been so much more polished and this just came out and was so bizarre and poorly done.

It finally mercifully ends. The kid takes the podium to get critiques and just one by one all the teachers, alumni and students LAY INTO this poor guy. He holds back tears and eventually they get to the director from breaking bad who he idolized and he says “I have nothing to say.” which was basically his way of saying “I don’t want to embarrass you anymore than you already have been.”

In front of his entire family, peers and people he idolized this poor kid got absolutley lit up and embarrassed. I had to go into the bathroom to escape tension while he was getting grilled. It was that bad.

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#26

So it was right after i graduated hs. I was at what would become the party where everyone would learn their limits. so we are all hammered, and this girl that my buddy likes sits next to him on the couch and lays her head on his chest. It was almost cute for a moment but then a few seconds later her mouth opens and unleashes the first of about 20 torrents of vomit that would be spewed that night(not all the same person, this party was a catastrophe). My friend looked like he had died inside.

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#27

People Are Sharing The Most Embarrassing Thing They've Ever Witnessed, Here Are 30 Of The Most Painful Friend of mine who learnt how to do a burnout from just YouTube videos decided to do a burnout.
He thought the smoke was the tires spinning on the spot, it was actually the clutch being burnt out. We tried telling him but he thought we were egging him on until someone ran up to the driver side and switched the car off at the ignition.
Now this wouldn't have been too bad if he did this on a driveway or a side road to 3 or 4 people, but he entered himself into a amateur burnout contest and all this happened in front about about 200 people.

HeadGivingMan , Tim Vrtiska Report

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If you're having a hard time reading some of these stories, just take that as a sign that you've got healthy levels of empathy. And if you're only finding these stories to be hilarious, maybe you've just experienced enough embarrassment in your own life that you can't help but find humor in the relatability. Enjoy reading the rest of these cringey moments, and don't forget to upvote your favorites. Then feel free to share your own embarrassing stories or painfully humiliating moments you've witnessed in the comments section!

#28

People Are Sharing The Most Embarrassing Thing They've Ever Witnessed, Here Are 30 Of The Most Painful I had a pretty old professor for immigration law and one night in class she let out a very loud fart. The class went silent and she made a comment about how that what aging gracefully was like. Everyone tried not to laugh because she was old and sweet, but she continued to let out loud long farts for the remainder of the 4 hour night class. I was mortified for her

Rach082041 , Nenad Stojkovic Report

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Who Panda 420
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I had an elderly friend that would fart whenever she started laughing hard. New people would be annoyed by this but those of us who knew her just accepted that it was a part of being her friend. It made me laugh to see other people's reactions to what I felt was normal after a while.

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#29

Drinking in this horrible sports bar in Columbus Ohio maybe 10 years ago (Brothers? I think it's still there) at about 5pm and there's a bachelorette party near the bar. The bride is three sheets to the wind already and wants to dance, but there's no music on and the dancefloor is empty.

Her group persuade the bar staff to put some music on so she's just busting some moves on her own while trying to get other people onto the dance floor. After a few songs I've Had The Time Of My Life comes on and she freaks out, it's her favourite song, loves Dirty Dancing etc etc. She grabs a random guy and starts doing a very sloppy version of the dance routine from the movie.

As the song goes on more and more people are watching in anticipation of her trying to get this guy to do the lift from the movie. He obviously has no clue what's going on. She's telling him to back up and he's doing it with a confused look on his face. My partner and I are transfixed. The bridesmaids are all yelling at the guy "YOU GOTTA LIFT HER UP!" and he's like "I HAVE TO WHAT??"

So she takes off running towards the guy, he's stood there with his arms outstretched not sure what he's supposed to do, she's coming at him full speed with a belly full of bad Chardonnay and a pocket full of dreams.

After about 5 or 6 paces she hits a wet spot on the dancefloor and her legs go out from under her pretty violently, and she faceplants on the dancefloor. But she's already got some pretty good momentum going so she keeps moving forwards. My memory is her sliding along for a good few feet with only her face in contact with the floor, her body and legs up in the air.

She grinds to a halt a few feet in front of the guy and he looks at her for a few seconds, then walks sideways off the dancefloor clicking his fingers.

I saw her at another bar later that evening with the beginnings of a serious black eye and a face like a slapped a*s. Hopefully the wedding wasn't too soon after the bachelorette.

JonNorris Report

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#30

People Are Sharing The Most Embarrassing Thing They've Ever Witnessed, Here Are 30 Of The Most Painful My chemistry teacher in high school was the nicest guy. He taught the whole class with his fly down. No one knew how to tell him and we didn’t want to embarrass him. The worst part was, we had lab with him the next period. His fly was up, but he was unusually quiet.

NymphZenRobot , eyesogreen Report

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The Scout
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I once sang a five minute tenor solo with my fly open at a school concert. Only noticed later because there was a picture of it in the paper the next day...

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#31

I have this buddy that actually on the spectrum - like diagnosed since childhood. I love him, because he's just the most honest person I know, and I can say anything to him. Anyway, we're at this bar and these guys at the next table are talking. One of them says something about Asian girls a little too loud, just as the room has one of those weird noise lulls. The jukebox was between songs and everyone somehow took a breath between sentences all at the same time just for this guy to say something completely misogynistic, stupid and racist. This girl across the room jumped up and called him an a*****e. The whole room went silent and stared at the guy. And then my buddy just piped up: "OOOhhhhhh, how embarrassing for you!" The entire bar laughed so hard the guy just stood up and walked out.

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Hobby Hopper
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

OMG, I'm laughing so hard! I know many people on the spectrum, and I can see all of this going down clearly in my head!

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#32

People Are Sharing The Most Embarrassing Thing They've Ever Witnessed, Here Are 30 Of The Most Painful At a pep rally to celebrate a sporting victory, a student insisted that he carry the school flag and run laps around the team. He tripped and fell onto the newly displayed trophy, immediately breaking it. This was on the front page of Reddit for a bit and I’m glad I witnessed it as my school’s claim to fame.

NathanialH0rnblower , Clem Onojeghuo Report

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. . .-.-. — / —. .- -.—
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Oof… Was the trophy made of glass or was it just metal or plastic? If it was glass or even sharp metal that could’ve cause some harm as too

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#33

My best friend in grade 8 was absolutely convinced she was a musical genius. I will say that she was able to compose music later in life and did have quite a few talents with instruments, but singing was absolutely not one of them. We had a school assembly one day where everyone gathered in the gym to listen to some presentation (I cannot remember about what but I do remember that students were not a part of the presentation). For some reason she convinced the principal that she absolutely has to perform for the school. She played a song on the piano and sang along to it, while everybody cringed. It was awful and when somebody told her (pretty harshly) that she should probably never do that again, she responded with “you just can’t recognize talent”.

We went to the same high school (it was an art high school and every student had to audition in their field -visual arts, strings, band, drama, dance…). She was in strings but believed she was better than everybody in any major at their major. I eventually stopped being friends with her because she just wouldn’t let up that she was the smartest and most talented let alone coolest person there. She eventually started calling herself a goddess, and completely believing it. She changed her facebook name to “firstname Thelioness Goddess”. She believed everybody absolutely adored her, when in reality everybody was just sick and tired of her putting others down while complimenting herself.

Eventually she wanted to put some of her drawings in a visual arts show that we had throughout the school for only the visual arts majors. When she came to the teacher that organized it to very snobbishly show him her work expecting compliments, she was basically laughed out of the room. She walked out insulting everybody’s work that was in the show, stating that “we just wouldn’t know talent if it hit us with a truck”.

Not a one-time embarrassment, but just an embarrassing person to have around and I can’t be happier that she isn’t in my life anymore.

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Frosty 🇺🇦
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Self-love is important but this is....taking it too far. she needs to recognize that she's not good at everything

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#34

People Are Sharing The Most Embarrassing Thing They've Ever Witnessed, Here Are 30 Of The Most Painful There was this kid in my high school that was taking karate classes. He decided he wanted to fight a kid that was bullying him after school in the town park. A s**t ton of people went. He got all pumped up before the fight. Instantly, once the fight started, he began doing karate moves at the air. Once he reached the bully, the first thing he decided to do was a *very* flashy "spinning backhand"(?). He missed by a mile and was knocked out immediately. I felt really bad for him. He was always known for not being able to read situations very well and that, being his first normal fight, was just the absolute worst time to try that move out. Bullies suck. It was embarrassing for both of them.

meetmeinthebthrm , Nathan Dumlao Report

#35

when i was in third grade the schools were just starting to add those projector screens. and my class was known for being uncontrollable and disrespectful. my teacher tried bringing hers down so we could watch a movie but it got stuck and when she pulled the whole thing came down and hit her on the head pretty hard. almost the entire class started laughing at her and calling her dumb rather than asking if she was okay or needed help. i think that was her breaking point because she ended up sitting on the floor and cried for a while and the principal dismissed her right there and substituted for her for the rest of the day. my brother was friends with her daughter who revealed later on that she quit teaching after that because she couldn’t handle how mean a group of kids could be. i still feel so badly for her to this day.

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Flash Henry
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Sounds like the kids I went to grade school with, a bunch of nasty little sh*ts, every last one of them.

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#36

My graduating high school class was close to 550 kids. It was held in an amphitheater to accommodate everyone, where they usually hold big summer concerts. As one girl walked on stage to get her diploma, I noticed a very large, very wet, very red stain on the back of her white gown. My exact train of thought was "Did she sit in paint- OH MY GOD."

I can't even imagine the embarrassment and pain she went through walking in front of everyone.

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#37

I pretty recently wiped out on my roller blades in a Hasidic Jewish neighborhood on a Saturday evening so there were like at least 5 groups of men walking around me while i wheezed on the ground because I got air knocked out of my lungs. None of them could come help me because of what I later learned from a friend was a refraining from touch out of respect(I'm probably butchering it) but at the moment it sure was extremely embarrassing to wheeze for 5 minutes on all fours while tears streamed down my face and all clad in safety gear head to toe while people walked around my body.

Frankensteinbatch Report

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Sleazy Weaver
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2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

i'm probably gonna be downvoted & banned, but i really don't understand religions that ban touching even in the case of helping someone in need. isn't religion a moral concept, something people utilize to make themselves better people? how is ignoring someone in need of help the "holy" option? this isn't a jab at judaism, but any religion that forbids helping others for no good reason; eg "refraining from touch out of respect" — what's so respectful about watching someone in pain & refusing to help?

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#38

I watched a teacher hide under his desk on his first day because he couldn't handle the kids in his class. That was probably the worst.

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The Scout
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

We once had a new teacher and, for some reason, found it funny to barricade the door so he could not get in. Two minutes later he quietly steps in through the open window, gets to his desk and starts teaching without aknowledging it in any way. We did not give him any sh?t after that...

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#39

I was on a high end cruise line at dinner. An older lady got up to go to the bathroom but missed and pooped herself in the dining room entrance. She left her panties there and continued on to the bathroom.

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Kiss Army
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Premium
2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

When I was in high school, an old lady came running into the restaurant where I worked (as fast as she could) holding the bottom of the legs of her shorts and booked it into the bathroom. After she left the smell started drifting out and when we opened the bathroom door, it looked like a sh!t bomb had exploded! It was all over the toilet, the walls, the floor, etc. We drew straws for who had to clean it... the poor b@stard who lost took the hose and aimed it inside the cracked open door and hosed it down to get rid of the worst of it before they gloved up and conquered the rest! (Thank god for floor drains in those restaurant bathrooms!)

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#40

Back in high school one day I accidentally left my backpack in my gym locker. I realized later that night that I didn’t have my stuff to do my hw so I drove back to the school to grab it. When I walked into the mens locker room I heard girls voices and I legitimately thought I was going crazy. I entered the main locker room area and saw about a dozen naked girls in the showers. Not going to lie I kind of stared for a second longer than I should have trying to figure out if I was actually going crazy or not. Then they noticed me and started shrieking and yelling at me to get out.

Turns out there was a girls basketball game that night and the opposing team used the mens locker room for changing and showering after the game.

Immediate_Pain5476 Report

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#41

Ive told this story before on another subreddit but about 3 years ago now I went to my fiance's high school (where he was the wrestling coach) to watch their match. Got there early with our dinner and it turned out it was picture day for all the sports teams. I was/am very awkward so I opted just to sit on the floor at the back of the gym rather than be near some strangers on the bleachers.

I barely noticed but some girls were f*****g around with a basketball nearby. I have a magnet on my face when it comes to any type of sport balls so I kinda thought I might get hit. But I ignored it. Big miskate.

Not five minutes later I heard a gasp and then BAM my glasses go flying. My drink has tipped over and my face hurts. I started to cry from embarrassment/shock and the girls came running to check on me. They got my glasses and helped cleaned up my soda. I had to keep explaining I'm not crying because I'm hurt or mad at them, just because I was so startled but I don't think they believed me.

My glasses I broken right in the middle and I made a comment it would be hard to drive home later. One of the girls asked what grade I was in and I had to sheepishly reply I was 23 and a college graduate. They just said "oh" awkwardly and they slowly left me to get my s**t together.

My fiance had actually left to do something so when he came back I had to use my phone camera to navigate until he found me some tape for my glasses lol

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Black Pearl
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm a pretty big magnet for sports balls too. It's not great. I think either volleyballs or soccer balls hurt the worst. I was actually almost knocked out by a soccer ball to the head once. It happened at recess in middle school. I was standing in a field with my friends and suddenly a soccer ball was accidentally kicked at my head. I was able to stand for a few seconds, but after that I collapsed on one of my friends. Everybody playing soccer and my friends were all just standing around me as I tried not to cry or go unconscious. It was really bad. And I never told a teacher for some reason. I just went through the rest of the school day.

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#42

I went to an educational seminar to learn the new laws related to my industry. This was being conducted in a hotel ballroom. There had to be at least 200 people in the room. I can't recall whether the presenters all sat up front, in the audience or a mix.


This attorney gets to the podium and gets her papers together. She starts to talk, but can't get a recognizable word out and completely froze up while everyone is watching. Another attorney had to get up and do the presentation for her.

I felt so bad for her. Public speaking is difficult for most people and what happened to her had to be extremely embarrassing.

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RAMPAGE
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Whoof - my friend has intense stage fright and in choir we all try to convince her she is great at singing and she should audition for a solo but she just freezes up whenever she tries to audition

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#43

I got pantsed at a pool party when I was 8. Jumped into the pool right after. Had to stay there for 3 hours until my mom came to pick me up because they threw my suit over the fence.

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#44

The poop ones are always the worst. There was a woman on my campus at work who obviously came downstairs out of her office environment (law firm) to mine to use a more secluded rest room. Our office doesn’t have its own but shares one with the fitness center which is on our floor. On her way down the stairs, through the door, down the hallway and around the corner to the bathroom she left a trail of poo spatters. It smelled something horrid. I felt so bad for her. I let her into the fitness center showers with my pass, got her towels and stuff to clean up with. I loaned her my workout clothes so she could leave to go home after she showered. I kept thinking ‘thank goodness that wasn’t me’.

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#45

I took an abstract mathematics class as part of my undergrad work. Our professor was this hard a*s Russian lady with a thick accent. We are going over the answers for our first exam and one of the guys in class who apparently did not do very well starts arguing with her about how she graded one of his answers. Keep in mind that these are mathematical proofs, so how you came to the answer is more important than the answer itself. At first she says, "Let's talk at my office hours". He persists with his case that he actually got the problem correct. "Please, please let's talk outside of class" He does not want to talk outside class he wants to talk about it right now. Finally she says, "I'm sorry I don't know how to help you. You did so badly... I just don't know how to help you...Do not come to my office hours. I do not know how to help you. I can help anyone else in this room but you." Everyone is stunned. It was like she dropped an emotional nuke, because even though her comments were directed at one person, she hurt the feelings of everyone in the room. Dude just silently packs his things and leaves. He never came back to that class.

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#46

I farted in the checkout line once and it was DISGUSTING - literally the worst one I've ever done. I'm talkin'... this thing would knock a buzzard off a s**t wagon.

The guy in front of us gets done paying and walks away. Cashier looks me dead in the eye and says "Oh my God that is SO GROSS. Can you BELIEVE that guy?"

"I did that."

"What?"

"The fart? Yeah, I did that. It was me."

The cashier was mortified. My girlfriend was embarrassed and a little angry. It was hilarious. I don't think I even got a "have a nice evening." Pretty sure I just paid and left.

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TKA
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I would not have been able to admit it was me 😂 But now days, I wouldn’t be able to smell it anyways, I haven’t smelled my farts or poop since Thanksgiving when I got covid.

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#47

I mean, I consider I witnessed it as I lived it.

During an algebra test we were given some spicy doritos. Teacher thought it was a brilliant idea to win us back, as he'd made us feel worthless on a daily basis by yelling at us (our whole class failed the test, despite most of us being A+ students.)

Anyways, halfway through the test my stomach started to hurt, and I excused myself to go to the bathroom. I checked to make sure no one else was in the stalls before letting out an enormous fart on the toilet. Only to hear someone that I didn't know existed in the same room whisper "what the f###". I think I scared them as much as they scared me.

I waited for a few minutes as people came and went, and I thought it was safe to come out.

Nope. The girl is looking right at me with judgement, and all I can do is quietly say "hi."

It makes me want to facepalm still, and I can't help but be embarassed all over again. She must've looked underneath the stalls to spot my shoes, just so she'd know who did it.
But I couldn't help it. My stomach hurt so bad. I've never eaten those doritos again, and I never plan to.

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Let’s Be Real
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

What a nasty person! Who waits in a restroom (or anywhere) to embarrass someone?

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#48

I have two from high school…

During a big important dance competition a student about 14 years old ran off stage during their number. The teachers were very concerned and ran to go find her to see what was wrong. When her teacher found her she was in the backstage wing, sobbing crying in the fetal position. The teacher assumed she was injured and quickly went to console her and ask what was hurt. As the teacher held the student in her arms, the student peed all over her and herself. They both sat in the huge puddle while all the crew, dancers, and stage hands stepped around them to keep the show running. It turns out she had to go to the restroom but tried to hold it for the competition, couldn’t, and ran off stage to try to make it to the bathroom. She made it maybe 5 feet before falling to ground in pure embarrassment of what was about to happen. Everyone had seen her run off so the teacher got her cleaned up, and told everyone that wasn’t a witness that she was sick instead. Poor thing.


I did some work with a small non profit who planned and performed little “flash mobs” in public, kids of all ages participated. The performances were always very messy and not put together well, think a kindergarten play for example. They would draw crowds because a bunch of singing 5 year olds is adorable. Well this one performance was in the middle of a very largely populated shopping center built beneath some fancy condos. LOTS of people were watching from their balconies and the street. A “guest dancer” probably about 15 years old had a little solo part where she ran and did a leap - all attention on her. She slipped, very badly, and completely ate s**t. When she hit the ground, she bumped the stereo and the music went silent. She wasn’t hurt, just seriously embarrassed. She stood up and cried, without leaving the stage. Everyone watched her cry in silence as the crowd slowly dispersed. That was the end of the performance that day. I felt so so bad for her, luckily a parent eventually went to hug her and pull her out of the crowd.

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Frosty 🇺🇦
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

(1st paragraph) That teacher sounds great (2nd paragraph) I feel so bad for her

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#49

Company Christmas party. There are about 800 people in attendance, eating dinner. The DJ/MC the company hired decided to try to stir up some excitement by playing that 70s song that goes "That's the way (uh huh uh huh) I like it (uh huh uh huh)." As he explained it, he was going to sing the words, and the crowd would pick up the "uh huh uh huh" part.

Nobody was having it. He was dancing up a storm singing his part (badly), then he'd point at the crowd and we all just stared at him. It went like "That's the way I like it ." For the entire song.

Just to make the party more awkward, it was a Vegas themed party. The "Vegas Dance Troupe" they hired to perform after dinner turned out to be strippers. They didn't *quite* go all the way, but the remaining feathers they were wearing by the end did not leave much to the imagination.

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memyselfandI
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

They hit d a Vegas Dance Troupe and DIDN’T check to make sure they weren’t strippers? What else were you expecting?

#50

People Are Sharing The Most Embarrassing Thing They've Ever Witnessed, Here Are 30 Of The Most Painful I was wearing sweatpants and got pantsed in front of an entire restaurant and my friend accidentally grabbed my sweatpants and briefs, so…

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#51

I met a girl on Match when I was stationed in San Diego. About 3 months go by with at least a date every other week, we eventually talk some mutual single friends into a double date since they are typically awkward people. Sitting there with menus in front of the 4 of us, my friend sitting in the booth next to me, and her friend sitting in the booth next to her, I get the most astounding question.
Now to interject before I get to the good stuff...At this point I have met nearly all of her friends, have a good portion of them as contacts in my phone. She has stayed in my barracks room multiple times when it was too late for her to head home safely. Everything was going great, learning tons about each other and I started to get pretty heavy into the whole thing.


"I hope you don't mind, I invited my boyfriend to join us!" she says looking at us all. As the other 2 members of our party stare with mouths open at me, I stare at my menu trying to process the statement that I surely misheard. She of course blows through this awkward intersection of confusion and emotions to talk about current topics and how the school has been going. My buddy tries to make light talk as he continues to check on my status. I sit there and meet the boyfriend, who seems to be genuinely a very nice and cool person. We talk, mostly without any speech actually coming out of my mouth, and then my buddy makes an excuse for us to eject and beat it back to the base.

A couple days later I get a message from said girl, asking if I wanted to hang out. Naturally I said no, and nearly a week of the same keeps happening. Finally she asks whats wrong and I explain the entire situation. What I think the absolute worst part is, she thought she was being clever when she says "Oh I was just on there looking for friends" after I asked about being on Match. It didn't last long after that, we went separate ways, but the great part is that I got to keep the friends in the divorce.

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#52

I was eating food in the galley on the ship. And there was this guy talking to some women there on the ship. And he was like “guess who’s black, black again, guess who’s black guess who’s black” like the Eminem song….I mean he was a black guy buuut it was soooo cringy because the women were super not into it. And he was obviously trying to flirt with them doing a little jig while singing.. but it was so bad

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#53

Freshman year in high school, the weird kid in class wet himself during the history final. It was so quiet because we were all taking the test, and then everyone in the room could hear this quiet "ssssssssssssss" sound. We all turned around, and there he was just sitting perfectly still in his chair, with a puddle slowly growing beneath him.

No one said a word.

When he finished peeing, it was like he snapped out of a trance. He blinked, looked and saw everyone staring at him, looked down at the lake of urine, and then sort of pushed his sneaker through it to - I don't even know - spread it around maybe in the hope that somehow that would make it better???

After the test, he stayed in his seat until after everyone else had left. I'm CERTAIN he heard people laughing about it, because the moment anyone left the room, all we could do was say, "holy s**t did you see how Weird Kid pissed himself??? Oh my god it was SO GROSS!!!"

After I got in my carpool's car to leave, I saw the Weird Kid walking out of the parking lot. His jeans were two-tone. Light blue in the front half, and the entire back half was soaking wet dark blue.

This was the first semester of Freshman year. Poor guy never lived it down.

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Stephanie Wittenberg
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

which consisted of just stopping and staring into space, unaware of anything around him. Occasionally a seizure was accompanied by loss of bladder control. Being little s--ts typical of elementary school, we all made fun of him. One day when he was absent, the teacher explained the condition to us and warned that any more cruelty wound land the miscreant in the principal's office with their parents.

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#54

I didn’t witness. It was me.
I was picking my dog up from daycare. It was the first nice day in a long time. Sun was out, 70 degrees, my windows were down and I was bumpin my spotify songs LOUD, on random shuffle. I pull up, park, leave the windows down and car on, no one else is around so I leave the volume where it was. Go inside and there’s a line of eager pet parents ready to get their babies. Anyways, I wait...and wait...and finally get my precious Ruby. Go back outside and “F**k Me (Interlude)” is raging out of my car. YouTube it, Spotify it, whatever...listen to it. And in the time I was waiting inside to get Ruby the whitest of white old ladies sat down on the bench outside of the daycare. The look she gave me as I put my head down and speedwalked to the car with Ruby on leash being rushed to get in was penetrating. Immediately deleted the song out of my playlist, got outta there, and I’ve thought about it hundreds of times ever since. I’ll never forget.

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Sheila Stamey
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Well, it's kind of rude to leave the music on anyway I love all kinds of music ( once got accused of some weird stuff, considering how I was a 55 year old woman listening to Christian metal music) but even my favorite I would not do this.

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#55

When I was about 10 or 11 I was in Tenerife with my family. We were eating lunch outside at a restaurant directly across from a beach. Like if you left the restaurant and walked for 10 seconds you would be on the beach. During our meal we looked over and saw a woman showering her around 10 year old son, butt naked in the showers you are supposed to quickly rinse off any sand before leaving with (obviously made with the intention that people would keep their bathing suit on). Mind you this was a busy street with plenty of restaurants and shops and a lot of people. I hope he is doing okay now.

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#56

I walked headfirst into a metal pole in front of literally my entire school.

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Strawberry Pizza
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Ooh, I walked face-on into a tree once. Also in front of my entire year group. Pain.

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#57

I used to work at a bar that also served food. We had an absurd amount of different condiments to go with the fries. That particular night someone ordered all 32 condiments plus extra.

There were two bars one up and downstairs.
This might’ve been the busiest night we’ve ever had.
There was a tv crew there filming for a show and a big 10 rivalry game happening that night.

I’m talking arm to arm people busy.

The server is weaving in and out of people carrying the tray over their head to not spill it.
Someone bumps into them and they dump the entire tray on themselves in front of the owner.

They took it like a champ though. Mildly embarrassed and was joking about it by the time they got upstairs.

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Frosty 🇺🇦
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Man, Props to them. Not easy to just shake that off in front of the manager

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#58

Freshman year of high school some random girl when the cafeteria had one of its very few dead silent moments screamed at the top of her lungs at her current boyfriend I'm pregnant and the current boyfriend looks up at her from wherever he is sitting because hes on 1 of the steps and she's on a higher step and tells her.... We've never had sex and then goes back to scrolling on his phone scrolling.... Cafeteria continues to be dead silent as the girl kind of awkwardly burst into tears and runs away when she realizes everyone is staring at her and yeah that was how was how we all found out that particular bit of information and she transferred to a different school soon after

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#59

My classmate in high school.

There was a teacher that was into Gym, so he was all muscular and fit, he was our math teacher and many girls and boys had a thing for him

He was always first in the class, once we got there and he wasn't. She got very happy cause she forgot her assignment and started dance and celebrating saying "The hot teacher is absent!" over and over... Only for him to arrive behind her. It took her a minute to realize and she only did cause she turned around.

He was clearly holding his laugh, then she said "Sorry Teacher" and sat down. He smiled trying to hold in and gave the class normally.

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#60

In middle school, my school got a bunch of cheap projectors. The roof was low enough where you could reach the projector from a desk.

So anyway one day in class our projector breaks and so my teacher has to call the IT department to get them to fix it. Now idk what this particular IT guy was doing before he came to fix it, but I do know that it wasn’t anything good.

He comes and he stands on the desk in the middle of this class in front of a bunch of 6th graders. Not a big deal. But then one of my friends says look at his pants. This guy has a rock hard boner. He’s wearing skin tight khakis and this guy is rock hard. We all start giggling and we see this guys face turn red. I don’t know if it’s from frustration or embarrassment. Needless to say, we never saw that IT guy again.

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Frosty 🇺🇦
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Now Im not trying to be mean here, but he just wanted to help 🙁

#61

Our company is adopting a new video conferencing system. On Tuesday, there was a big presentation from a representative of the new system.

In a 45 minute presentation, the new system froze and had to be restarted 3 times.

I felt pretty bad for the guy

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That'sEndorable
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This happened to Bill Gates introducing a new version of Windows. It was the Windows OS that failed.

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#62

Our class went on a field trip to be part of the in crowd for the filming of "Like Mike" at the Forum in Los Angeles. During the lunch break before another shoot, they decided to have an Open Mic of some sort and students from all districts that were there just started to pretty much make it a singing competition. Welp, this girl from our schoold decided to try her luck and just took the MIC and went for it. It was just horrible. Everybody just started laughing at her. Me and a friend of mine just looked at each other just with massive second hand embarrassment. She didn't finish her set, dropped the Mic and just ran out there just in tears while others were just pointing and laughing at her. We finished off the day and went back to our school but couldn't help think about what that girl went through.

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#63

I walked in on my friend totally naked. I'm a guy, she is a girl so it was real awkward.

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Kiss Army
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2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In high school at a party, I (F) walked in on my best friend (M) in the bathroom. First guy I ever saw naked was my best friend p!ssing - sure it was embarrassing but we were best friends... you share a laugh and you get past it...

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#64

I did a prescreen drug test. Nurse gave me the cup and said I needed to pee in it, and leave it on a counter in the bathroom, but do not put the lid on.

Did so.

I leave and she goes in to check temp, picks it up, and it slips out of her hands and splashes on the floor.

I just stood there while she cleaned up my pee... It was strange.

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BasedWang12.2
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2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I've had a grown man (doctor) grabbing my twisted testicle with two students there just watching... The next time the student was a realllly pretty girl... The doc was like "Here see this" and directs her to feel the side of my balls to feel the twist. That and I had 2 ultrasounds on my testicles (before the doctor moment) and one time it was a BEAUTY. I almost died. After that is when I no longer felt much embarrassment. The first time was fine because me and this older humble lady were talking about what we were looking at on the screen.... inside my sack. pretty sure thats a tad worse

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