‘What is the most embarrassed you’ve been in public?’ – 21 people who made an absolute arse of themselves in a crowded place

Doing something silly when you’re alone is bad enough, but what about when you make an embarrassment of yourself in front of other people? That’s when you experience true psychological pain.

They’ve been swapping war stories of extreme mortification on the AskUK subreddit after Proper_Emu_2296 asked ‘What is the most embarrassed you’ve been in public?’, and then followed up with their own experience…

Once I decided to run for a train, I made it but in the course of the exertion my throat went bone dry and I got some kind of throat spasm. I proceeded to be trapped on this train with a dying-man cough as if I had just inhaled a full swimming pool, everyone around me backing off like ‘ew’ clearly thinking I’ve boarded a train with full-blown flu or something.

It lasted for a good 20 minutes and I was just like please let the ground swallow me up.

Sometimes… just miss the train.

Yikes. Luckily, lots of other people who had also acted made a tit of themselves had their own tales to tell, like these…

1.

‘I was hungover AF, about probably 12 years ago, got on the train to Glasgow to pick something up from a shop. Grabbed some lunch before getting the train back. DID NOT agree with my stomach. Went into the train bog on the way home and was shitting my guts out for a good 35 minutes.

Door kept getting knocked, I kept ignoring it. Walked out the toilet just before my stop to a hen party of about 25 burds standing there steemin, one of them said something about the smell and I had to stand among them for 5 mins before my stop.

Horrifying experience.’
–LionComprehensive285

2.

‘I was pregnant wearing a skirt that became too tight around the waist, so I undid the button when I was sitting on the train for comfort. I forgot about it and when I got off the train, my skirt fell down to my ankles in the middle of a busy platform.’
–p_r_d_v_a

3.

‘Lost my mum in the shops (just to clarify I speak to her in a joking way she’s totally used to). I came up right behind her and put my chin on her shoulder and said “don’t you ever fucking leave me again”. My mum turned around and it was in fact not my mum just a woman looking petrified.’
–Shot-Coyote-9982

4.

‘Reminds me of something I did as a kid. I’d got separated from my mum in Adams and spotted her across the shop with her back to me. I had the bright idea to make her jump, but didn’t know how best to do it. I was looking around for ideas and saw this couple outside doing a bit of PDA and the guy was snaking his hand up the back of her shirt. I was like 5 so I thought this was absolutely hilarious so hey, let’s go do that to mum.

Crept over and went “muuuuuuuuuum” in a creepy voice while slithering my hand up the back of her shirt. She shrieked and jumped away and slapped my hand off her. Turns out, not my mum, my actual mum was stood nearby dying from laughter. It was some poor lady who must’ve been double my mum’s age. I was so mortified I cried.’
–axanette

5.

‘I was in a shop with my ex-husband and came up behind him and kissed him on the cheek. Guess what, it was a total stranger who resembled my husband and I almost dropped dead from embarrassment! He was mildly chuffed to have been kissed by a random woman though.’
–ExpertBest3045

6.

‘I was once so hungover and stood by the pull down seats on an absolutely packed bus. It was raining outside so my shoes were wet and the floor was slippery, the bus went down quite a steep hill and my feet started sliding out from underneath me, I was too hungover to really engage brain and my body just carried me all the way to the floor where I promptly slid to the front of the bus like a beetle trapped on its back.

I righted myself and just faced the front the entire rest of the journey. Luckily I was with friends who were absolutely pissing themselves. Moral of the story – always hold on on the bus!’
–murrayflew

7.

‘Fell backwards through a changing room curtain with a pair of jeans around my ankles (toe got caught on a fashionable rip in the fabric).’
–Divgirl2

8.

‘I was leaving an art gallery/shop, and as I walked out I stole a cheeky smile back at the attractive girl behind the desk, before walking straight into the closed glass door.’
–bornfromanegg

9.

‘Fell down a flight of stairs on my bike, handlebars stabbed my abdomen and have a scar. A bus was going past at the time so i just lay there hoping if they thought i was dead they wouldn’t laugh.’
–Hot_Recognition_4864

10.

‘Not me but one time a friend and I were walking behind someone very slow. My friend was like “Omg, hurry up!” and tutting. We overtook and the person was blind. I felt the second hand embarrassment for my friend.’
–RealisticL3af

11.

‘At my cousin’s wedding when I was like 14 I wasn’t wearing any underwear, I was spinning round on the floor breakdancing like some crazy mofo and my trousers split and my ball bag came out the hole. I didn’t realise, everyone was laughing I thought it was just because I was playing the fool and being a young kid breakdancing. I had to go home and change, I came back and owned it though.

I remember being very, very embarrassed at the time.’
–Gandalfthepimp95