Awkward moments you dread going through
 

You know those awkward moments that you have to go through in society now and then and you hate them, but you can't avoid them? That is what I'm talking about. Some you see coming, but still can't stop them and others you don't see coming at all.

One of the things I hate is when you go out to dinner or somewhere with your buddy and he brings his new girlfriend. Then your buddy will have to go to the bathroom and he leaves you two alone together with absolutely nothing to talk about. The mediator of all conversations has just left. So you end up asking the stupid lame questions like "So are you working or are you in school or...." and the whole conversation is just really awkward.

I hate those moments.

Holy shit... MEETING THE PARENTS. Nothing says "awkward" like showing up to your girlfriend's house to meet her parents, having dinner with them and basically having a conversation wherein you must abso-fucking-lutely allude the sentence, "Yes sir, I am fucking your daughter. No sir, I don't expect you to be comfortable with that. Yes, of course I'll have another beer."

The last time I was put in this situation was in 2004 and it totally wasn't worth the fucking trip and awkwardness since I dumped that cunt about 2 weeks later anyway, but for an entirely unrelated matter.

Anything with awkward silences. Whenever I come across them, it amazes me every single time that the person(s) I'm sharing silence with doesn't even attempt to start a conversation, leaving me with that difficult tidbit. Fuck, it's even worse when it's with someone you know well. You both lose a little respect in each other =P.

A trivial one for me is meeting relatives...relatives you haven't seen in a long while. No matter how old you get, they'll always comment on "how old you've gotten" or "how tall you are". Not much to talk about, there.

Summing up this post: awkward silences suck.

This is all theoretical of course, but I imagnie after you have sex with a girl you didn't really like, but just did since she was there at the right time and you were in the right mood... it would be awkward because then you don't know how to tell her how to leave because she is all clingy, and you really don't want her around. You just want her to GTFO.

In theory.

The inevitable "How was work/school/uni/your day?"
It's torture.

The most recent awkward moment I've had to go through was when I agreed to go to the cinema with a friend after she said it would be the two of us. Then arriving to find not only her, but her boyfriend, his bestfriend and his girlfriend, my friends best friend and her friend with his girlfriend. It was like a group couple date only I was not aware I needed to bring along my partner. Also I knew none of these people only my friend. Because of this I was then planted in the middle of all these couple who were snogging who asked me occasionally if I minded. I hated every minute of it.
At the end of the evening my friend came up to me and asked if I had a good time. Which I said yeah it was ok. She then said did you hit it off with the guy I set you up with? WTF! What guy? you sat me in the middle of all these couples so I didn't even speak to anyone! And I have a boyfriend. It was embarrsing to say this in front of everyone and explain that I never told her about my boyfriend because she never asked. So that was sort of awkward. I felt so small because someone who I've only recently met at uni tried setting me up.

Social anxiety disorder anyone? Jeez.

Anyway, I hate speaking in front of a large group of people. If it's here at work or at church or something and it's fewer than say, 15 people, then it's no big deal. Any more than that and I just can't make myself do it.

I know, right?

The one I particularly don't get is where you have to sit with your buddie's girlfriend at a dinner table - O NO A CONVERSATION? I'd love to be able to talk to some of my friend's boyfriends/girlfriends/spouses alone sometime.

But yea, I, like Alice, don't like talking in front of large groups unless I KNOW the people and it's a casual setting. If it's a casual setting, I have absolutely no problem talking to a BUNCH of people. Its the "professional" or "classy" situation I am afraid of.

I don't usually suffer "awkward silences" because I do nothing but talk in most cases.

I talk so much that sometimes I interrupt people accidentally when I think they're done talking. THATS awkward - especially if it's a client or something. I talk too fast and I want all the information I can get as fast as I can get it.

The biggest one for me is when people ask me do an impromtue comedy show. I have alot of material stored up in my head, not all of it's original. Lots of people request little shows for entertainment, and it's a little awkward when people ask me to do one cause someone new is around, and they build it up to be the best thing in the world. It's always a little awkward, cause it comes totally out of the blue, and i have no time to prep, or think about what to say first.

And the worst part is when a joke bombs. If i'm lucky, i make that even funnier, but often if a joke bombs, i have to bite my lip and keep going. That's the worst when people have just come off of laughing at the previous joke, only to see their expectant eyes and smiles fade when the next one doesn't work out. If i bomb more than twice in a row, that show is stopped and deemed a failure.

Damn Helloween, What are you? Bass player, Singer, Writer, Comedian? You are just a jack of all trades huh?

Anyways I always find it awkward to meet people for the first time and try to make friends with them. It's always a hassle with me. When I find out that they don't like any of the things that I like then I kinda get silent and distant. I like to try new things sometimes it's just that I've tried nearly everything and Found what I like so unless it's brand spankin new, I typically don't like it. Of course that doesn't hinder the fact that I am still somewhat popular.

I'll see your "meeting the parents" and raise you a "her meeting your parents". That's worse in my book, because as much as I love my parents, I know they are absolute world champs at saying the wrong thing.

Will my dad come out with one of his infrequent but embarrassing racially predjudiced comments? Will he happen to pick Chinese (like my girlfriend) this time, just to really dump me in the crapper? I don't think he's really all that predjudiced, but he does come from a time period when everyone would make inappropriate "jokes"... sometimes those "jokes" come back out at the worst possible time.

Will my mom decide that the time is right to discuss marriage and grandchildren? Probably. It's not like she's ever going to miss that opportunity? Neither of us want children, but since I'm an only son, it isn't likely that my mom will stop pining for grandchildren any time soon.

Will one, or both of my parents decide to make some kind of clumsy and awkward "humerous" reference to our sex life? Probably. Between them, they have managed to do so with every other girl that I've brought home to see them.

Lets face it, that's what a man's parents do, right? They say the wrong thing in front of your partner. I know in the case of my parents, they are great people, but whenever there is an awkward silence, real show-stopper "jokes" seem to be the way they prefer to break the ice.

That's when I die a little on the inside.

Excuse me, but is anyone else seeing that weird crap at the top of Soluzar's post? And what is this about War of the Words coming back?

Umm, nope. I don't see it.

I hate having to talk in front of a lot of people. It makes me feel really uncomfortable and I get really nervous, and sometimes I get my words in a muddle, which just makes me feel even more uncomfortable.

An awkward bit happened to me last night

I watched the championship (OSU vs Florida) wiht my girlfriend's family and friends of family, and they decked ut their living room for the occasion.

I'm totally indifferent to college ball altogether, but the implication of OSU die-hard fans is that they are die-hard BROWNS fans, too. I didn't really feel like yelling I-O to respond to O-H, and I was told to leave.

I'm dreading the day where I have to tell her father I'm a big Steelers fan

I've had a lot of awkward moments after parents introduced me to relatives that I didn't see in many years. There were no problems finding something to talk about with the older generation, but a few of the cousins I was introduced to again led to several moments of silence. I was usually the first to initiate conversation again in that case. I suppose anything involving awkward silence with people I've just met tends to be problematic because I can never tell if the other person is shy or just uninterested.

Running into an ex. Or, even better, running into an ex with her new beau. This isn't so bad if you've already moved on and gotten someone else, cause you can just go "Oh hey, hi, nice to meet ya, cool, bye." But if you haven't, you're left there looking and feeling like a complete loser, while she goes off and laughs about how she can't believe she ever hooked up with you in the first place.

Hypothetically speaking.

So they actually asked you to yell "I-O" and you refused? Or you just didn't happen to chime in and they got pissed off and asked you to leave? Because if it was the first one, I'd have to say you got what you deserved. If it was the second, what a bunch of assholes.

I was part of a few organizations back in college, as well as a executive positions, but, while I did it a lot, I never got used to introducing myself to the new members (usually freshmen) and welcoming them and all that stuff. So I'd say it was awkward every time; that's just not me. =/

As for awkward silences.. Yeah, I got used to them with my major. :(

I'm interested in hearing the answer to this as well.

Well, they were yelling "O-H" and responding, and I really didn't notice, honestly. I was trying to pick out what they were saying...sounded like "hio"

Then all of a sudden they were expecting me to join in, too, and I was like...uhh, what do I say? I didn't want to look stupid saying the wrong thing.

When I finally understood what the hell was going on, I did refuse to yell, but they said they were ok if I didn't yell, so I just spoke it. Of course they were just jok9ing about me leaving. In essence, I was there to spend time with my lady

one thing I hate in awkward moments is when you try to break the ice with someone, and you make a joke, and it turns out they are unintentionally the butt of the joke, and there's that awkward silence and then you try to explain yourself. I hate that

haha, man I'm with you on this one. No girls around my parents ever. Those little meetings never happen ever with me. Also at the same time it doesn't really bother me to meet a girl's parents. Parents love me because I'm extremely polite. I've always been polite and cordial my whole life.

One of the worst things that has ever happened would have to be sitting next to your ex-boyfriend in Language A (English) class, when he is the ONLY guy in the classroom as the teacher is doing a discussion about guys in relationships.

Um... Aren't you the one always telling me to stay off the halucinogens?

Damn man... That's pretty bad. My parents do that too, but I chalk that up to cultural differences. Just like your parents, my parents are great people but they do slip up once in a while and say the wrong thing. My mom especially. :p

Having a friend unexpectedly bring her significant other and having the three of you 'hang out' If the guy makes obvious gestures that he doesn't want you there, you end up looking like such a dumbass.

Not just men's parents, no. My parents have done it too. I'm trying to remember what my dad said... I brought my boyfriend over and my mom looked right at him and said "Don't you hurt her!" I was mortified. Way to make it awkward, Mom.

Also when I apologized to his mom about what a mess our house was, and she replied "No need for apologies, we're practically family!" Alright, lets get to one year of a relationship before arranging the wedding, shall we?

I hate those moments where you run into someone you know (high school, classmate, etc) who you know knows you as well, but both of you don't know each other well enough to stop and say hi to. Instead both have the contend with the fact that you choose to ignore each other and walk by, nearly breaking each of your necks trying to avoid eye contact.

Most of the stupid things i do i don't feel very awkward about, since it's basically human to do those things - lulls in conversation don't bother me too much, using wrong responses to simple greetings person:good morning me:I'm fine, thanks.

But last week, my friend pointed out how awkward my situation was before i even noticed. I was going to a movie with two of my friends. We usually do this on fridays - nothing out of the ordinary. They both have girlfriends, who where with them. Their girlfriends are usually with them - nothing out of the ordinary. We drive out to the theater, go to dinner. I'm sitting talking, usual stuff, when my friend says something along the lines of "at least were not the kind of people who make you feel like a 5th wheel"

Wasn't till he said that that it hit me. Then i went and sat by myself for the movie.

Joking with a guy friend and kept calling him gay, and turns out he IS a real gay. :/

I felt horrible, and was worried that I might have hurt him unintentionally.
And yeah it got really awkward when we hang out after he found out that I knew.

I'm willing to bet that you turned him gay by constantly calling him that. :(

Running into the girl you hook up with at a party/dance/function/whatever. Especially if they don't remember you. Wait, no, even more if they remember you. And you're friends. And see each other almost every day. Yeah, that one's still biting me in the ass.

A real live gay? GET OUT!

I just thought of another one: Asking a person of the same sex on a "date." I'm referring to a heterosexual date. The kind where you meet someone of the same sex that you really like and think you'd want to be friends with, and you have to figure out a way to ask them if they want to do something with you without looking like you're hitting on them.

I think this is much more difficult for females. Guys just go, "Hey, you want to go grab a beer and some chicken wings?" Girls have to torment themselves over it for days before they think of the right thing to say. Then they have to spend a day or so working up to it and worrying about getting turned down or being given some lame excuse.

This is probably why I don't have many female friends.

For guys it's pretty simple. You tell them, "I know this proper dive across town, you wanna have a beer for lunch?"

It's not like you're gonna fuck him (unless you're Ben) and you get to meet new people.

You are right on the "Hay, let's go Do something!" part for guys (though I don't think that Beer and chicken wings are all that they think of), However I think that only you have that problem when it comes to girls Alice. The "Hay, let's go do something!" bit works for both sexes because it is terminology that is common. Another way could be "Hey, I was gonna go to a movie, wanna go with?"

I've only ever had men's parents, so my experience is limited. I should have known it was a universal thing though. I don't recall any of the parents of my previous girlfriends saying anything that I noticed as being in poor taste, or a really bad attempt at a joke... while it usually is an awkward moment, it's never been disasterous. I'm sure that I've just been lucky so far. This streak can't last forever.

Something about the chicken wings part made me laugh. Don't know why.

Refer to Tails for official answer.

http://img469.imageshack.us/img469/3...ootballys2.gif

When having a very calm and quiet meeting and then someone comes running in yelling at someone specific for writing a terrible article.... embarrassing for all of us, but for the most part the guy who is a crappy writer.....

Talking with my father.

Learning that you're #7 of 8 children after growing up for 26 years of being an only child and never having seen said father before or ever hearing his voice among COUNTLESS other things that would require years of therapy and prayer to resolve internally tends to do that.