Your worst faux pas

AtChoService · 2023-05-02T07:32:02+00:00

Reading a coronation menu just reminded me of this, it was 20 years ago and I still cringe 😬 I was in my first proper job, first posh Christmas party and the food had servers but you had to go up to the table, get a plate and go along the line. The starter had a few options, ham, melon, compote stuff, a few other things. I moved along the line and stopped and held mh plate out at each server, thinking this doesn't ago, this is a bit odd, got an odd look but thought nothing of it at the time, 🙈 you weren't supposed to take a portion of everything, you were supposed to choose melon OR the other thing, not all of it 🥴 I doubt anyone but the servers noticed but I still cringe a bit now.

growgrowinggrown · 02/05/2023 08:47

When I was a teenager I dated someone from my part time job who was a little older.

I was invited to one of his work friends get togethers, a nice meal in what I considered to be a 'posh' restaurant at the time.

When my boyfriend went to the loo the person at the head of the table worked out the bill and shouted out the contribution needed.

It was pretty high for my 16 year old tastes but I thought I'd be cute and pay for us both as he always footed the bill so handed my money over happily.

Bf returns from loo, I told him id paid, my treat, and we all started to get up, put coats etc. That's when she shouted down to my bf to pay his portion of the bill.

I was mortified, I assumed the high price had been per couple. I pretended to be too absorbed in what I was doing and ignored the whole thing while he fished around in his pocket for a few notes.

Iamblossom · 02/05/2023 08:54

I do not mean to diminish your discomfort in anyway and I say this to make you feel better hopefully, but if these are the worst faux pas you have ever had in your lives you should both count yourselves extraordinarily fortunate.

magicstar1 · 02/05/2023 08:59

Bumping into an old friend and asking how his mother was….because I’d completely forgotten that I’d been to her funeral a couple of years before.

squashyhat · 02/05/2023 09:03

Commenting loudly and within earshot on the odd (it was very odd) name of a guest on the seating plan at a wedding, only to discover she was the lovely lady I had been chatting to for the past 10 minutes and I was to be seated next to her. She was very gracious and said it happened all the time

JANetChick · 02/05/2023 09:09

I was on business in South Wales in 2004 and went for a walk at lunch time. Bumped into someone I knew from uni but hadn’t seen for a decade. This guy was from South Wales. Lovely to see him! He was with an older lady so I said, “is this your mum?” The lady looked upset and my uni acquaintance went, “no, this is Julie from work”. Awkwardness then reigned, so we politely said our goodbyes.

I then text a mutual uni friend about the encounter, and he told me that Julie was only 8 years our senior and that she wasn’t just a colleague, but our uni friend’s fiancée.

LakeTiticaca · 02/05/2023 09:18

Congratulating an acquaintance when she told me her aunt was married that day.
I later discovered that I had misheard her and she had actually said her aunt was BURIED that day.
It's over 40 years ago but I still cringe when I think about it 😫

DRS1970 · 02/05/2023 09:20

When I was about 7 years old I inadvertently capsized the pilot boat at a local port.

CharlotteDoyle · 02/05/2023 09:31

Spending time with a friend very shortly after her DH had died in a freak accident, I made an offhand/jokey remark that included a reference to "dead bodies" (why??) and the room fell totally silent.

Someone else's faux pas: my DH and I were shopping with our DD at a shop a couple of weeks ago. The lady at the till started chatting to our DD and asked her if she was having a nice day out with her granny and grandpa 😧

TallulahBetty · 02/05/2023 09:46

An acquaintance (X) in a group of friends at a sports club I used to go to - I saw on Facebook that he'd got engaged. I didn't go to said club for a while due to a broken wrist.

My first day back - I saw X and said loudly in front of everyone, "oh hello X! Congratulations!" everyone, including X, looked at me strangely.

I wittered on... "you know! On your engagement! Congrats, how lovely!"

"Oh" said X. "We split up about 3 weeks later."

I still cringe now. Somehow, I'd managed to miss the fall-out of the short engagement on FB, AND avoid hearing anyone mention it in passing.

OMG I am blushing now with embarrassment.

ATaxiForTwo · 02/05/2023 09:50

I've shared this before but it still haunts me. Apologies for the terrible retelling.

I'd booked a taxi to take me into town straight from work.

I was standing outside waiting for my taxi, and one appeared. I went over and opened the door to find this rather 'posh' looking gentleman sitting in the back. I didn't say a word, just stared at him for a few seconds then shut the door.

.I went around the corner, out of his sight, for a few minutes while I got over the embarrassment. I then went back into the forecourt and thought 'There's my taxi'
I went to it, opened the door again, to find the same gentleman sitting there glaring at me.

Again I didn't say a word, just looked at him in shock, and disbelief, then closed the door again.

I went back inside the building and 5 minutes later my taxi arrived. It pulled up and I thought thank god, and approached it. Opened it's door, to find that for the third time I'd opened the door of the taxi with that gentleman in it again.

This time I shut the door immediately and dived into my taxi hoping and praying that I'd never see him again.(So far so good)

BellatrixLestrangesHeatedCurlers · 02/05/2023 09:51

I once tried to eat a prawn with a snail fork, fiddledeedee, the horror.

Iloveabaconbutty · 02/05/2023 09:53

I've had a few of my own but my most recent toe-curler was felt on behalf of someone else. A friend of mine was talking to a man about an older lady who was a mutual acquaintance and a conversation that they had had. For some reason they mentioned the fact that the older lady had never married.

My friend told the man that the older lady explained that in fact she had been engaged when she was nineteen but her mother had persuaded her to break it off because her intended was a total waste of space, had no prospects and she'd be much better off with someone else.

"Yes", said the man. "That was me". My friend didn't know where to look or what to say.

(Happy postscript is that man has been happily married for forty years to someone else and had a successful career but it was an excruciatingly embarrassing moment for my friend).

NotAnotherBathBomb · 02/05/2023 09:54

magicstar1 · 02/05/2023 08:59

Bumping into an old friend and asking how his mother was….because I’d completely forgotten that I’d been to her funeral a couple of years before.

I regularly think of relatives (some distant tbf) and wonder how they're going. Before remembering.

TallulahBetty · 02/05/2023 09:55

ATaxiForTwo · 02/05/2023 09:50

I've shared this before but it still haunts me. Apologies for the terrible retelling.

I'd booked a taxi to take me into town straight from work.

I was standing outside waiting for my taxi, and one appeared. I went over and opened the door to find this rather 'posh' looking gentleman sitting in the back. I didn't say a word, just stared at him for a few seconds then shut the door.

.I went around the corner, out of his sight, for a few minutes while I got over the embarrassment. I then went back into the forecourt and thought 'There's my taxi'
I went to it, opened the door again, to find the same gentleman sitting there glaring at me.

Again I didn't say a word, just looked at him in shock, and disbelief, then closed the door again.

I went back inside the building and 5 minutes later my taxi arrived. It pulled up and I thought thank god, and approached it. Opened it's door, to find that for the third time I'd opened the door of the taxi with that gentleman in it again.

This time I shut the door immediately and dived into my taxi hoping and praying that I'd never see him again.(So far so good)

pahahahahaha

NotAnotherBathBomb · 02/05/2023 09:56

Iamblossom · 02/05/2023 08:54

I do not mean to diminish your discomfort in anyway and I say this to make you feel better hopefully, but if these are the worst faux pas you have ever had in your lives you should both count yourselves extraordinarily fortunate.

But a faux pas is usually something not majorly important, but embarrassing all the same. Surely anything greater is more a catastrophe?

NotAnotherBathBomb · 02/05/2023 10:00

ATaxiForTwo · 02/05/2023 09:50

I've shared this before but it still haunts me. Apologies for the terrible retelling.

I'd booked a taxi to take me into town straight from work.

I was standing outside waiting for my taxi, and one appeared. I went over and opened the door to find this rather 'posh' looking gentleman sitting in the back. I didn't say a word, just stared at him for a few seconds then shut the door.

.I went around the corner, out of his sight, for a few minutes while I got over the embarrassment. I then went back into the forecourt and thought 'There's my taxi'
I went to it, opened the door again, to find the same gentleman sitting there glaring at me.

Again I didn't say a word, just looked at him in shock, and disbelief, then closed the door again.

I went back inside the building and 5 minutes later my taxi arrived. It pulled up and I thought thank god, and approached it. Opened it's door, to find that for the third time I'd opened the door of the taxi with that gentleman in it again.

This time I shut the door immediately and dived into my taxi hoping and praying that I'd never see him again.(So far so good)

I love this story I'm glad you keep retelling it 😂

Reminds me of a TikTok I watched yesterday of a woman who missed her flight 3 times

OneMistakeAfterAnother · 02/05/2023 10:01

I temporarily worked for a company called Harry Fairbairn, only I kept getting tongue tied when people called and saying "Hello. Hairy Farnbarn. I just couldn't help it. Who knows what sort of establishment they thought they'd called instead of a car dealership?

OneMistakeAfterAnother · 02/05/2023 10:10

When I was about 7 years old I inadvertently capsized the pilot boat at a local port.

I need to know more.

BumpyaDaisyevna · 02/05/2023 10:13

Saying congrats to a friend i hadn't seen for a while on being pregnant a second time (she wasn't pregnant)

So embarrassing.

GracieGracieGracie · 02/05/2023 10:17

OneMistakeAfterAnother · 02/05/2023 10:01

I temporarily worked for a company called Harry Fairbairn, only I kept getting tongue tied when people called and saying "Hello. Hairy Farnbarn. I just couldn't help it. Who knows what sort of establishment they thought they'd called instead of a car dealership?

That's made me laugh! 🤣

MadeInChorley · 02/05/2023 10:18

Years ago I had a fling (can’t think of a better way of putting it) one summer
with a guy. He was handsome, posh, rich, funny, arrogant and an unreliable waste of space. Proper Daniel Cleaver type. Lasted a couple of months before he went cold.

I moved to London, started a graduate job and met a whole bunch of new people in my industry. One night in the pub I heard a girl in our group talking loudly about “Bob Smith”.

Me - “Oh, I know someone called Bob Smith too!” I said chattily, waving my wine glass around. “Is he tall, blonde, good looking, lives in Oxfordshire, likes skiing and drives a vintage red MG?”

Girl - (icy stare) “Yes. Do you know him?”

Me - (blithely ignorant, merrily) “Oh, ha ha! That’s such a coincidence! Yeah, I had a thing with him in the summer! Sex mainly. He took me to a boutique hotel in Yorkshire for a mini break in that sports car if his. My flat mate’s brother went to school with him. He’s a total shit though. How do you know Bob?”

Girl - (pointing at huge diamond ring) “He’s my fiancé”

I had no idea Bob wasn’t single.

growgrowinggrown · 02/05/2023 10:19

Iamblossom · 02/05/2023 08:54

I do not mean to diminish your discomfort in anyway and I say this to make you feel better hopefully, but if these are the worst faux pas you have ever had in your lives you should both count yourselves extraordinarily fortunate.

Give over, we're talking about a faux pas not a public humiliation with lifelong trauma. Lighten up and come back with your addition 😉

FrenchandSaunders · 02/05/2023 10:24

@MadeInChorley 😂😂

NevillesLeftNadger · 02/05/2023 10:26

Hairy Farnbarn!

HadEnoughOfBears · 02/05/2023 10:31

OneMistakeAfterAnother · 02/05/2023 10:01

I temporarily worked for a company called Harry Fairbairn, only I kept getting tongue tied when people called and saying "Hello. Hairy Farnbarn. I just couldn't help it. Who knows what sort of establishment they thought they'd called instead of a car dealership?

This is so funny!!