I'll start.
When Liv was six, I signed her up for the only ballet class that she ever attended. She detested it, but did meet a friend there. His name was Jay and he was the only boy in the class. I wasn't crazy about his mother, but you know how it goes when your child finds a friend, you sort of do what you can to get along with the parent(s)...
His mother was one of the wealthiest women in the city. Her family owned a huge furniture store that is known all over the USA. But, she was a taker. She would set up play dates with Jay and Liv and always push for Jay to come to our home. And then she would drop him off and instead of being back to pick him up an hour or two later, she would have me keep him for like....eight or nine hours. I figured out quickly that she was using me for babysitting. On the few times that Liv visited their
To be honest, I pretty much detested Ms. B. But, one day when she dropped Jay off, she stayed for a few moments and confessed that he was having some problems at his kindergarten. She said that he was being teased for being Jewish. I was appalled. Jay attended a very pricey private school and the family made very big donations to the school on a regular basis. No matter. It hurt me that other children would hurt Jay. I liked him. He was a bright, funny little boy, seemed kind of like a loner, but was so smart and Liv thought he was so much fun to play with.
Jay was an only child and for some reason, his parents had a nickname for him: Boo. I called him Boo playfully off and on and he asked me in a very serious tone if I would please not call him that because he disliked that nickname. I promised not to call him that again.
Well, that afternoon, I called the children in from playing outside to have a snack. I went to call Jay Boo and quickly tried to remedy the miss step and to call him Jay instead. Instead, I ended up calling:
"Time to come in Liv and Jew!" (Crazy mix of Jay and Boo!)
I was horrified at my blunder and immediately apologized to Jay and explained that I had almost called him Boo but then tried to change it to Jay and it came out all wrong. He was quiet, but said it was okay.
I forgot all about it and didn't mention it to his mother when she picked him up (four hours late!) That night, the phone rang and it was Ms. B. She informed me in a cold voice that Jay would never play with Liv again because I had "slipped up and made a racial slur." When I tried to explain, she would have none of it.
I felt awful for both Liv and me, but especially for Jay, because he obviously felt badly enough to tell his mother.
Jay's family is in the news a lot simply because they are so famous in our city, and unfortunately Jay has made a few headlines for getting kicked out of his private school for starting fires and using foul language. He is now in a boarding school in Kentucky.
You know, I made an honest mistake...but I have always felt just awful about my....blooper.
Anyone else have a terrible (but ok...kind of funny) story of something totally idiotic that they said or did?
Kind of a was-my-face-red moment?
Care to share?
6 comments:
Ho boy, here's mine. I *still* cringe.
It happened on 9/11, yes, of course, we were all stunned. I was the opening manager for the coffee shop I ran, and had been glued to the radio, listening in horror to the events as they tragically unfolded.
We had regular customers, as coffee shops do, and even with the national tragedy, people drink coffee and go on with their routines.
Once such customer was a flight attendant who came in. I saw her in line, and off handedly said as I gave her a wave, "Guess you've got the day off, huh?".
She flushed a deep shade of purple, burst into tears and ran from the shop. I don't think she ever came back. I didn't intend to be cruel, flip maybe, but in the moment I wasn't thinking and caused some harm.
If I ever see her, I will apologize because it's still one of my biggest "oops" to date. Sigh.
Oooh, geez. I've had so MANY of those moments, actually. All unintentional, of course, but what are you gonna do?
Once, when the word "gay" was a pretty popular put -down (and yes - I used it a lot until my mom got super pissed at me and I stopped altogether), I was at dinner with a boyfriend and his family. The uncle was a priest and very obviously gay, and his buddy Bob was there, too. I reacted to something someone said like, "That is so GAY" and then I felt like a complete asshole and tried to backtrack and no one said anything, but you know they were like, "Ugh - who is this idiot?"
Actually, I still talk to that guy (the boyfriend) all the time, and his mom and stepdad still love me.
I guess I proved I wasn't so idiotic after some time.
I was just feeling awfully stupid about putting my foot in my mouth yet again today when I read this post. I was introduced at the nursing home to the chaplain of a hospice company and to my own horror, blurted out that I think organized religions are divisive and competitive. I didn't even add that I also believe that anything which makes people act kinder to each other is a good thing. I never learn. Sometimes I actually sympathize with my mother, whom I embarrassed regularly from the time I could talk.
Oh man, so very many of these in my past. At my wedding, my (soon to be) ex-husband's Aunt approached me. This was the first time I met her. She had been a politician on the state level on the East Coast for quite a few years at that point.
She said to me that with my background in journalism and law (I had just graduated law school two months prior), I should consider going into politics. I said to her "I could never be a politician, I'm not a good liar."
Clearly, I wasn't thinking about her job, just the topic of being a politician, but yeah...foot with spiked heel in mouth choking self. LOL!
Many years ago, I worked for a lawyer who was a terrible procrastinator. On one particular occasion, my boss finally got around to preparing a will for a client who had been bugging him to do it for months and months. Since I was also the receptionist and the one having to deal with this client, I was pleased to finally be in a position to call him and say his will was ready. I called the number, asking the woman who answered if I could speak to our client. She said something that I heard as 'He's not here'. I asked when he would be back and she replied a bit louder 'He's dead!'
One of the mums at a toddler group I go to is slim pretty and tans easily, she sat down a few chairs away from me, the chairs were in a semi circle, I joked about how good she looked and said I was going to move a few chairs in the other direction as she was making me look bad and hadnt realised a chubbier, less atractive mum had sat down the same numbers of chairs away on my other side, she had been listening to my conversation and it really did sound like I was moving closer to the 2nd mum to look better in comparison...
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