This month, we at Whycatcher are looking forward to a somewhat unorthodox holiday – a day celebrating the twist in your gut, the lump in your throat, the stammering um-er-ahs, the bright red cheeks, the dread of faux pas. Yes, this March 18th is none other than World Awkward Moments Day, and we couldn’t be more excited to find out what it is that makes these everyday slip-ups so horrendously uncomfortable. Could they have lasting impacts on professionals unlucky enough to encounter them?
Nobody likes to be the source of discomfort
We sent out a series of ten of the most stomach twisting moments we could come up. Our goal was to find out which ones our friends and colleagues dread the most, and why.* We found three fears weighed on the minds of our peers the most, these being (in order):
- Having someone overhear you talking negatively about them to someone else (behind their back)
- Audibly farting in a group context
- Sending a private text or email to the wrong person
Separately, the above can be categorised distinctly as either (1) unintentionally snubbing someone, or (2) revealing a far more personal side of oneself than appropriate. Together, all three represent moments in which the offending party may be unintentionally causing another person to experience distinct discomfort, embarrassment, or belittlement.
The other things in the list can be ‘joked away’ but there is really little you can do to come back from such a situation (other than sincerely apologising).
Fearful of Having someone overhear you talking negatively about them to someone else (behind their back).
The idea a momentarily blip causing upset or unrest to others is terrifying.
Fearful of Audibly farting in a group context.
When faced with potential social stress, we opt for avoidance
We followed up by inquiring as to whether such a moment would influence their future interactions with those involved in personal or professional contexts. Many respondents said they may feel a bit timid or go out of their way to grovel for a while, and a few felt they would go so far as to avoid a co-worker or client.
If they’ve just heard you say that they’re an appalling human being then it’s difficult to chat easily next time you’re sat next to them at someone’s barbecue.
Fearful of Having someone overhear you talking negatively about them to someone else (behind their back)
I wouldn’t be able to show my face.
Fearful of Sending a private text or email to the wrong person.
Better to err on the humorous side
When it comes to awkward moments, nobody can ever be fully immune to them, and there’s even less we can do to avoid being on the other side of them. But it may help to remember that the worst fear of others is to be the cause of someone else’s discomfort – which means your ability to avoid losing close contacts over a poorly directed email lies in how you handle the aftermath of the moment. Staying good humoured and empathetic or even just pretending not to notice the faux pas may be the difference between lasting business contact and avoiding eye contact.
Bad moments, great stories
There is one upside to a terrifically awkward moment: a terrifically hilarious story that brings joy (flavoured with schadenfreude) to others. Here are a couple of our favourites, submitted by our peers, of times they wished they could crawl out of their skin and under a rock.
I did send an email to someone in a work context, when I thought I was forwarding to someone but was actually replying to the original sender, the content of the email was simply ‘what a w*nker’. Amazingly they replied apologising for being annoying… I then apologised profusely for being so rude. All ended well
Fearful of Having someone overhear you talking negatively about them to someone else (behind their back).
When I was 23 (a long time ago). I was working on an incredibly sensitive product test. It was so sensitive that we had hired a safe to keep the product in overnight, and the client had to be in the office for the hall tests. He was there for a whole week, so I started to forget he was there. One day, my boss told me our foreign fieldwork as it was scheduled would clash with our office Christmas party. I was shocked, so spluttered “Why don’t we rush it and wrap it up quicker then? I want to get loaded at the party”. My boss looked at me then the client in cold terror, and an eternity passed until the client made it clear he hadn’t heard anything. It was a great party.
Fearful of Having someone overhear you talking negatively about them to someone else (behind their back).
So that’s a flavour of the faux pas we’d prefer to forget at Whycatcher. How does that match your personal or private life? We’d love to hear your stories – and if you ever received from them!
*Here is the full list of how our participants ranked these moments, from cringiest to most bearable:
- Having someone overhear you talking negatively about them to someone else (behind their back).
- Audibly farting in a group context
- Sending a private text or email to the wrong person
- Introducing yourself to somebody, only for them to claim you’ve met several times before.
- Telling a funny joke or story to a group in which nobody laughs
- Realising after an extended social interaction that you’ve visibly had food on your face (or in your teeth) that nobody pointed out to you
- Offering to pay for a meal or drink for someone, only to have your payment method declined or refused
- Accidentally mentioning something to a person, then realising they had not told you – but that you had actually found out through “stalking” their social media channels
- Saying goodbye to someone then walking in the same direction
- Having to tell someone considerably senior to you that they are wrong, or their idea does not work
