Very 'normal' things that make you feel awkward

[DancingDucks]

First of all I'm sticking a 'lighthearted' in here. 😊

A friend and I had this conversation the other day and it made us both laugh, so maybe it'll cheer up a wet and windy day for some.

Some of mine:

When people wish me happy birthday on Facebook. It's very lovely of people but makes me feel so weird and embarrassed, so I now have my birthday hidden.

Waiting to get off a bus. Not sure what I think will happen, but I get all weird and stressed in case I forget to thank the driver. Which would never happen because it's so drummed into me.

Standing behind people at a cash machine. Even though I stand well back, I fear I might look a shifty and robby type, so try to arrange my face as benignly as possible, hence looking slightly vacant.

Walking past my own house. This is so weird and I've no idea why it makes me feel like I should give a jolly wave to my house.

Please tell me I'm not alone in my weirdness ...

going in for a hug when all they wanted is shake your hand

I once accidentally lost my head and kissed the decorator who was coming round to give me an estimate. On both cheeks. I literally have no idea what made me do it and I die a little inside every time I think of it.

I used to have a mobile hairdresser too and I loved it. I mean, I loved her for many reasons (she was excellent, reasonably priced, lovely) but largely because there was no staring at myself involved.

Oh God, I loathe serving up food! I either get DP or a guest to do it, or just plonk everything down in its dish and put a pile of utensils on the table and get everyone to serve themselves.
If I do it I can’t bear that people are watching me serving (I get fumbly with nerves and drop/spill things). And what if I give people not enough or too much? Gaaaah!

I came on here to say exactly this, only you expressed it better than I could! It is why I avoid going. I suppose a similar effect happened when more people started using Teams and Zoom and there are lots of reports of people hating watching themselves speaking on screen. I think at the hairdresser it feels even worse as you are sort of captive in the chair! I used to also hate it when they ‘pumped you up’ in the chair to make it higher, haha 😆

My husband has seldom used my name unless we're in company

Might have already been mentioned, but there’s that thing where you say something to someone but they don’t hear, but then someone else witnesses the not hearing thing, and gives you a sympathetic look 😆

Not sure if this fits but you know when people make a huge mistake and you don't know how to tell them. They'd feel so awkward, so you shoulder the awkwardness yourself instead.

Eg. I was in KFC a while ago. I was looking at the menu above the tills and stepped forward to order. So far everything was normal. When the order was ready the lady asked if I needed her to find me a table. I said no thanks, I was taking it home. She didn't pass me the bag though. Instead, she came around from the counter, walked me to the door, held the door open and then passed me the bag. Bit odd, never known them do that before but I said thanks and then I realised.....

I'd just bought one of those spring loaded curtain rails for a voile panel. It was white with rubber stoppers on the ends. It didn't fit in a bag, so I just carried it. She thought I was blind or partially sighted. I didn't say anything. I mean what would you say? 😂

Oh I went through a car washing machine thing with a friend. She disclosed that for some reason it turned her on. I don't know why she shared that but watching the white foamy bubbles drip down the windscreen knowing this was somehow sexual for her made me die a bit inside. I don't know how long car washes usually take but that went on FOREVER 😧

At the end of a performance when everyone stands up to clap. I don't know what is worse, standing up and clapping like a performing seal or staying seated when everyone around you is standing and gently tap my fingertips together.

My teenage niece once made a comment about this to her mother, my sister, who told her "people enjoy things in their own way".

If I accidentally walk in the wrong direction when coming out of a shop, I can’t just simply turn around and go the other way. So I have to look at my watch, pull out my phone to look at a (non existent) message, possibly tut, THEN turn around as if my plans have inconveniently just changed. No idea who I’m performing this pantomime for though 😅

I feel weird buying stamps and petrol.
No idea why.
I also feel uncomfortable eating in a restaurant until they’ve come over and asked if I’m enjoying my meal because I don’t want to have a mouthful when they come over.

Using a nickname for someone at work. I've worked in my job for 18 months & there's a guy who everyone calls by his nickname eg. Smithy. I cannot bring myself to use his nickname even though he calls me by my initials eg "hi CJ!" And i haven't even given him permission

My oh has a friend and his nickname is Mini because he's quite short. Everyone calls him that & he's fine with it. I recently told dd2 that his real name is John & she was mortified she'd been using his nickname, as if she's agreeing that he's short! She said "my whole life has been a lie"!!!

I do that when I (frequently) lose my car in the supermarket car park. I pretend to be on the phone to someone who is telling me where they're parked but I'm having trouble finding them 🤣

We should get together and perform a skit😂

😂😂😂😂😂

This is painfully true for me

Years ago a work colleague invited me to a pub quiz, but I just couldn’t bear the thought of having to walk into the pub and look around to find the group, especially as so many pubs have nooks and seating areas tucked away etc. The thought of people looking at me while I’m looking around the place filled me with dread. I didn’t go the first two times but on the third I forced myself out of the house to go. It was excruciating.

Waiting on a station platform for a train and having to look for the right coach for your reserved seat as it comes in, then looking for the seat number (that someone may be sitting in) and somewhere to stow your suitcase.

Though I will say that the older I get, the less things appear to affect me. I wondered whether it was because cringeworthy things just stopped happening to me - or whether they did still, but I was better at dealing with them as if I didn’t notice them happening anymore. I’ve decided it’s the latter.

i came through customs once with what i thought were more cigarettes than allowed, i went the long way round, trying my hardest to avoid customs and two customs men saw me and were laughing their heads off
no idea why

This had me in hysterics 😁

My Dad was a decorator. He and his mate went to do some work for an older lady. It was in the days of page 3 girls and she'd thoughtfully been collecting them for a few weeks. She'd put them down to cover the carpet. Literally wall to wall tits 😂

When I was younger I was painfully shy so just about every interaction with another human being used to make me feel unbearably awkward, but the worst silly/unnecessary one was when I lived somewhere where the buses didn’t have a bell you could ring, so you had to shout “next stop please” at the driver. The number of times I missed my stop hoping somebody else would be getting on or off there too. Makes me laugh now because I wouldn’t give a shit these days and it turns out I have Tourette’s which explains most of my weirdness! The thing that still makes me uncomfortable is having to say goodbye to lots of people when I leave somewhere. I worry about missing somebody out or trying to kiss somebody just as they try to shake my hand - so I sneak off when nobody’s looking if I can!

She'd just seen me read the frigging menu 😂

Mostly just existing 😂

• saying my own name (e.g. when introducing myself). Feels so weird in my mouth!

• saying any kind of celebratory greeting like 'happy birthday' or 'happy new year' 🤮

• correcting someone who gets my name wrong. When I was in my first year of nursing someone mistakenly called me 'Steph' and I didn't correct her. 3 weeks in she'd shout 'Steph?' across the ward and I'd be like "yeah??" What a nob!

• When we were viewing a house rental once the landlady was seeing us out and went to grab the door handle from behind me and I thought she was being friendly and gave her what I for some reason assumed was a reciprocal hug (I often lie awake and think about that one, it was about 7 years ago)

I have about a thousand more 😂

That’s brilliant! It reminds of the time I had taken a friend to A&E when his asthma got so bad he couldn’t breathe. He was panicking so much he couldn’t still and had ended up in an awkward position with his legs tucked under him when a nurse came in, looked surprise and asked how he had lost his legs.

I have a double-barrelled surname and every time I have to say it I feel like a twat.