36 Cringeworthy Moments That Were Almost Too Embarrassing For People To Watch

Someone in a college class had toilet paper hanging out of the to top of their pants. It was at least a foot long. We didn’t realize until they were giving a presentation and everyone saw (otherwise would have told them before.).

A proposal unfolded at a local diner, yet it ended in silence when she said no. Up she rose, left without speaking. All eyes dropped to tabletops, pretending nothing happened. 

My chest tightened watching him sit there wishing the floor would just open up.

So in high school I had horrendous social anxiety. We did this skit (studying water) of being a waste control company, and I was one of the “engineers.” It got to be my turn to speak and “introduce myself” to the “committee” and “townspeople”and my mind went completely blank, forgetting my fictional name so I had to look down at my name tag. 

If that wasn’t bad enough, the teacher video taped the whole thing and made us watch it in class the next day. I was so embarrassed that as my part was coming up I put my head down on my desk in abject shame and couldn’t bear to lift it until my part was over. 

Only including it in second hand embarrassment cause I had listen to myself, and I was in a disembodied state and embarrassed for that guy on the tv, me.

Knew a kid who auditioned for an reality singing
show. He knew he didn't get through but was excited to show people he was on TV. He didn't realize they basically displayed him as the worst singer of the day and made fun of him after he walk out of the room.

Acquaintance told a story in a group about their grandfather racing someone on a stretch of road, getting pulled over, and then saying something that got the cop to chase the other car instead (I forget what).


Less than a month later, some of the group are in a car with me driving when one of them starts telling *the exact same story* as if it was **him** that was racing/got away with it, in a much more animated and overly excited fashion. We let him finish the story and there was an awkward pause before one of them said "Dude, that was my granddad's story. I just told that story recently."


I was already d***g from cringe, but the guy doubled-down and tried to say that their story must have reminded him of his own story and that it's crazy how similar they were. It was just... bad, sheesh. The more I got to know him the more it was obvious he was a pathological liar, ended up getting arrested for hiding in the women's restroom. His excuse? He'd found $50 in the men's restroom one day, went back every day looking for more, then decided he'd look in the women's "just in case". F*****g creep.

In high school I recall a boy doing a verbal presentation on a science report. Sadly he spent the entire report mispronouncing micro organisms as micro orga**s. Teacher never corrected him and no else stepped in to save him.

When someone tells a joke, nobody laughs, and then they explain it.

My step dad was a very friendly, gracious guy. Also quite insulated from any humans that were not of Northern European heritage. Born 1925, on a farm, in Minnesota. We're on vacation in Florida. We're having dinner at a nice restaurant and he kept complimenting our server on her fantastic tan. She was not "tan". If I had to guess she may have had Seminole and or African heritage. She laughed it off.

I worked in a counselling service that helped people with a*******n. There was a phone we had that was strictly used for contacting staff and people in the Therapy Day Group. So the phone had contact info of the staff and vulnerable people. The phone was strictly just for checking like if someone didn't turn up we had to use that phone to check in and see if they were OK. Our supervisor was in charge of this phone. One day she lost it, got caught lying cause she wouldn't admit to her mistake. Instead of coming clean she doubled down and blamed everyone else, even the clients in the day therapy group. She even blamed me even though it was my day off the day she lost it, I got all the info the next day. 


Phone was eventually found behind a big pedal bin, by one of the day group clients who handed it back immediately. Supervisor then tried to blame that client by saying s**t like "Hmm, isn't it convenient that Client magically found the phone?" 


She kept the blame game going for two weeks before admitting it was her who "misplaced it". She got real quiet after a really long talk with the boss in the bosses office. 


Scarlet for the supervisor. .

I was helping very attractive 20ish year old lady at work. A long time customer was waiting behind her. The young lady finished, went to leave, opened the door, paused, and let it close long time customer thought she's left amd said to me "I'd eat the corn out of that girl's s**t. Hur Hur Hur.". Before I could say anything she said '"OH. MY. GOD." and left. Less than a minute later her friend who had been waiting in the car came in, looked at the customer and said "You must be the corn eater." and quickly snapped a photo and ran out the door.

I thought he was gonna cry. He deserves it, nobody to blame but himself, but d**n I felt for the guy.

This kid at our school talent show… Need I say more?
Well I’m gonna;
He sang a really cheesy, ballad-y pop song that was popular at the time. I cannot remember what song it was but that’s because what came after his mediocre performance was one of *the* most cringe inducing things a human being with the attention of a little over 300 kids packed into a gymnasium could do and I sorta blacked out.

After he finishes, everyone applauds politely.. It goes quiet for a sec… he then yells “REMIIIIX” into the mic and proceeds to attempt to beat box for a solid minute and a half.

It was that like hot wash of second hand embarrassment that makes you bead sweat and wanna crawl out of your skin. I looked over next to me and his sister was just mouthing the words “I’m so sorry” to everyone around her.

Oooh! A favorite story of mine!

I was working as a cashier in a sporting goods store when I got a call from a mom asking about helmets for her son that has seizures. Talked to them a bit, suggested a skateboard helmet since they protect the back of the head better than a typical bike helmet. Fast forward an hour later, she comes in finds me since I'm up front and it's slow I walk her over where the helmets are. I'm mid showing her the helmets when Derek who works in bikes comes over to help.

Me "I'm helping her find a helmet for her son who..."
Derek, cutting me off "What sport does he play"
Mom "He has seizures and falls down"
Derek, "oh...uh... let me know if I can be of any help"

I don't really remember if she bought something, I'm 90% sure her son wasn't there to try it on, but BOY do I remember the look on Derek's face.

I was a cashier. A girl came through my line. One of my friends was calling me Fresh Prince for some reason that week. He walked by and said it. The girl proceeds to sing the entire theme song. I think she thought people would join in or laugh…neither happened. I think she realized she either had to stop singing immediately or just do the whole song. She, unfortunately, chose the whole song. It was SO embarrassing for her.

Saw my co-worker ask out the men she was into at work. None of them were down for her. >_

When I was a junior in high school, we were required to take a speech class, which is already embarrassing in and of itself, when you’re 16. However, one of our “speeches” was to choose a song, and then present a portion of the lyrics as a speech. Again, it was awkward for everyone, but this one kid chose the song Pumped Up Kicks, and instead of presenting it like a speech, he very awkwardly like half sang it and half said it and i was so mortified watching it and listening and we were all just kind of looking around at each other like 😳 this. I felt awful, but I genuinely had to cover my mouth with my hand, HARD, because I couldn’t stop laughing, like I almost had to just get up and leave the room. I imagine this is something he probably still thinks about when it’s 3am and he can’t sleep 😩.

People at work did a presentation in the auditorium from the ridiculous book ‘Who Moved My Cheese’, and some of them had to portray mice. It was truly awful.

I was at a concert and the kid in front of us was determined to get his female “bestie” to kiss him. He’d pull her in, she’d pat him on the head and tell him he was so cute. Then he went to get her popcorn and he returned to find her kissing the guy in the row in front, who had also been flirting with her all night. He just ate the popcorn and asked if she needed a ride home.

My late grandfather told me this story years ago. He was travelling with a friend named Dattu (probably a nickname) and the two of them decided to stay the night at the house of an acquaintance of this Dattu guy. My grandfather had never met these people before. The women of the house were annoyed because it was late and now they had to make more food for these two people. Someone asked the wife who the guests were and she responded that Dattu had come and behind him some Pithu had also come. She just randomly chose the name Pithu for my grandfather because it rhymed with Dattu. But guess what? All these people spoke Telugu (Indian language) and in Telugu, Pithu means fart. The woman called my grandfather a fart.

I didn't even see it myself, but in my uni a girl became famous for having arrived late in class, spraining her ankle when coming in, and having fallen down the flight of stairs in the amphitheater, landing on her knees at the feet of the teacher who could barely contain his laughter. I was told this story two years after it happened, and a guy showed me his audio recording of the class, in which you hear "hi sorr... Bom-bom-bom-bom-bom". I don't know how she managed to stay for the rest of the class and schoolyear. I hope she was able to forget it.