12 Embarrassing Stories People Want to Forget But They Stuck in Memory for Years

Awkward moments happen to everyone. Those cringe-worthy situations that make you wish you could hit the “delete” button on your memory. Even though years may pass, the weird feeling from those awkward times sticks around.

• The time my internet access was shot over a weekend, so I went to work as usual on Monday, and stayed and worked all day, and only found out I’d been fired the week before when I got home. Small, very high-profile business. Everyone was acting weird all day. I soft-broil myself to sleep in this memory. © RandomRavenclaw87 / Reddit

• I used to live in a relatively small town where I had a relatively large friend group. A couple of years back, I returned to the town, and I recognized one of them I had been particularly close with. I walked up to them, said, “Hey.” They didn’t have a clue who I was. © Unknown user / Reddit

• In 5th grade, I went to school on Halloween Costume Day completely dressed up like a pirate. Makeup, costume, hair, everything. Walked into school only to realize no one else was wearing a costume and that dress-up day was tomorrow. Had to wait until lunch for my mom to bring me new clothes. © skyrizi / Reddit

• When I was 16 I offered to take a girl I liked to the movies. I approached the ticket counter and asked for one movie ticket, immediately realized I was an idiot, but was too embarrassed to rectify my mistake. She purchased her own ticket to the movie. Still haunts me almost 10 years later. © DontForgetToLookUp / Reddit

• I uploaded an Instagram selfie to my ex-boyfriend’s Facebook page because I had logged into it after we broke up, and it was still connected to my Instagram. I got a lot of text messages about it and sat in a dark closet for about an hour after deleting it. The shame still runs deep. © eyem_alright / Reddit

• The anonymous Valentine’s Day card that I sent to a crush 2nd year of uni in which I wrote the cringiest poem because I didn’t know what else to write. © chibibabymoon / Reddit

• When I was in college, I REALLY liked a girl, and I finally got invited over to her dorm. She made me a grilled cheese sandwich, but I was so nervous I just couldn’t eat it. So with a mouth full of grilled cheese, I asked to use the bathroom and spit it out in the toilet. I think she knew what I did because as I was leaving, she said, “I hope the food’s better next time.” It was just so awkward, and I felt bad. © Glass-Face / Reddit

• I was applying for my first job at the age of 15. During the interview, we started talking about my previous experience as a competitive gymnast (I left gymnastics a few years before because it was too much commitment, and I wanted to focus on school). He asked me why I quit gymnastics, and I replied: “It felt like a job.” Needless to say, I didn’t get the job. © CCSavvy / Reddit

• We were sitting together with the whole family on Christmas and were telling jokes. I was 10 or 11 at that time. I wanted to sound educated and grown up and said, “Now it’s my turn to tell you one of the jokes I have collected in all my generations,” wanting to express that I’ve heard a lot of jokes in my life, and couldn’t understand why everyone was laughing. © Unknown user / Reddit

• I was minding my own business in my house when my grandma called me over to the window because there was a loose dog across the street. He was just a little guy, so I decided to go investigate and see if we could find his owners. I walked over to him, picked him up, and started back home when I hear this man say, “Excuse me, EXCUSE ME, where are you going with my dog?” I look over to see an entire family staring at me as I basically steal their dog. I still get that sinking feeling when I think about the moment I realized they had been there the whole time. © Unknown user / Reddit

• When I was in 5th grade, I sat next to my crush in school. They let us go home for lunch, and every day before going back to school, I would spray some of my mom’s perfume to impress him. One day, he says, “Do you smell that? It’s giving me a headache.” I said I didn’t smell anything and stopped using the perfume after that. I’m 35 years old, and I still think about it. © BoneyRoanie / Reddit

• I was interested in a guy but didn’t know how to start a conversation with him. We were standing next to each other while preparing food for a barbecue, and I just thought it was a good idea to start a conversation with “I like the feeling of touching raw meat”. © ldhkmg0406 / Reddit

The more we try to forget, the more these memories pop back up. Time doesn’t seem to help much, and that awkward feeling stays with us, refusing to fade away. It’s like a reminder of our human side, the part of us that messes up and feels a bit uncomfortable about it.