Dealing with Embarassment

Embarrassment is something that we all have to deal with, some people more than others.I seem to always pull the short straw. I spend a disproportionate time of my life cringing, it's like I am a magnet for awkward situations.

Just today I had a missed call from an unknown number which I assumed was my Mum from her work phone. My Mum has this annoying habit of having a very good ‘phone voice’ and also saying ‘Hello?’ loads of times just to wind me up. So when the woman on the other end of the phone met both of these criteria I instantly assumed it was my mum and half seriously asked ‘WHAT DO YOU WANT!?’ after having said ‘Hello’ for the fifth time.

It turns out that it wasn’t my mum.

It was actually a woman from McDonald’s.

Where I used to work.

Asking me if I was going to return to work over Christmas.

In that moment, my brain and I fell out.

I don’t know why it decided to betray me.

My response was ‘I’m sorry I thought it was my Mum’. In hindsight I doubt that made me look any better. She was probably thinking ‘This girl is a horrible person, why would she talk to her mum like that?’ or ‘This girl is an idiot’.

I only found solace in the fact that knowing that I quit my job means that I will probably never come into contact with her again.

I am not that lucky in the majority of my awkward encounters.  Most of them tend to be face to face which means I’m stuck with the mental images of people’s faces. I tend to talk quite quickly which means I’m often misunderstood and confronted with blank faces on an almost daily basis.

So anyway, I’ve tried to come up with a few foolproof ways to prevent myself from digging a hole and never resurfacing.

1.       Just pretend that it never happened- easier said than done but it is a possible option

2.       Learn to laugh at yourself and see the funny side- Instead of cringing on the outside as well as on the inside after the phone call ended I just laughed non-stop for a few minutes

3.       Talk slower- this is especially for those, like me, who talk at 100mph

4.       Say sorry-If you genuinely did something wrong or can see you upset someone just say sorry. (note I said nothing about actually meaning it)

5.       Avoid the person for as long as possible- with McDonald’s this is an approach that I have very much welcomed