Recalling a few embarrassing moments

Why would I want to share embarrassing moments with my kids or anyone? I guess it is an opportunity to connect with peeps that have experienced similar moments, and allow ourselves to have a collective laugh and feel like a member of a team.

 

Today, I got on a TTC bus and my Presto card got declined. I tried a couple of times with the same result. The driver wanted to know if I could perhaps pay with cash. I usually never have cash on me. I didn't even bother to check. I immediately asked him if I could use a credit card. (What the?!) With a sigh of exasperation, the man told me that I could have a free ride and I should reload my card. Although I had a mask on and there were less than half a dozen commuters on the bus, I felt like all eyes were on me and judging me for fare evasion. The driver could have asked me to get off, but he didn't. He was kind. I must focus on that!

 

Over the weekend, I was at Costco after many moons. Being there reminded me of a super embarrassing moment I had at one of their stores. This happened 3 or more years ago. Between G and me, we didn't have a Costco card. Since our trips were usually for school events and only occurred twice a year, I decided to borrow Craigley's card. G and Craigley are from different racial and cultural backgrounds and have nothing in common except perhaps for their receding hairlines. For some reason, I was confident that that should be enough! It worked the first time and the second time, the cashier gently pointed out to me that I must not be using someone else's card. It was an excruciatingly embarrassing moment. I immediately fixed it by gifting G a Costco card. I had to atone for my sin!

 

The final one I wish to share is the very first embarrassing moment that occurred in Canada almost immediately after I landed in 1992. High school was interesting. First of all, I started in October and had a lot to catch up on with my 3 Grade 13 (OAC) courses. Writer's Craft was the most fun. The teacher scheduled 2 movie outings. For the first one, some students were taking the public transit and some were driving themselves. Don’t know how, I ended up with 3 boys in their car. I somehow got separated from the group walking to the bus stop as I wasn't aware of the dual modes of transport. The 3 boys did not know what to do and then, they kindly allowed me to accompany them. If they had asked me to leave, I would have missed the bus for sure. The movie we watched was "The Crying Game". That day, the entire class was sympathetic to me for many reasons. They felt that it was too shocking of a movie for a newcomer to Canada to watch. A few weeks later, we watched "Aladdin" and some of my classmates remarked that it was great that they got a chance to redeem themselves by taking me to a Canadian movie! Now when I look back on it all, the most embarrassing bit was about Aladdin being passed off as a Canadian movie!

 

Those are the three I chose to share here. I am sure the boys, my family, my friends and Craigley can add to the list when they get here sometime in the future. If anyone wonders why I wrote this post, it is really to draw attention to the kindness of people in each of the situations.