An Embarrassing Day…

I am no stranger to doing embarrassing things. My family can attest that there are many cringe moments when it involves me and my behavior. Most of the time those embarrassing things are by accident. I never plan to be embarrassed but it happens!

I even blogged about an embarrassing moment when I unfortunately forgot the letter “R” in the word shirt when sending an email out to many people which included executives in my company. If you haven’t read it, you may find it hilarious.  Check it out HERE.

But today ladies and gentlemen, I’m about to expose one of the most embarrassing things I have ever done on a professional level. It was completely unintentional and for a time, was legendary amongst my peers.

It was 31 years ago when I was promoted into the position of Customer Service Instructor for a very large company that was known for its customer service and its incredible employee relations. I worked very hard for this position and went through a rigorous off and on the job training in order to prepare for the role.

However, my first day was nothing I could have imagined.  So, get comfortable because I’m about to tell you the embarrassing, yet funny details of my “day 1” blunders.

It started with me welcoming my class and explaining the culture of the company before the technical training started. This was key as this company was focused on culture and employee engagement.

As instructors, we were encouraged to use our own personal style to get the message across so it would be presented in a genuine manner. My style included a mixture of facts and humor in order to keep the students awake and engaged.

Here’s where it gets good, and by good, I mean EMBARRASSING.

Almost three hours into the class I was feeling confident about how it was going. So confident that I began to think I was absolutely made for this position… until one student raised her hand and asked when we would be receiving our first break. It seems that I had deviated from the lesson plan and had forgotten to give the students a break. I apologized and we took our first break.

I, of course, took advantage of the opportunity to attend to my biological needs… if you know what I mean.

After I visited the facilities and returned to the classroom to continue the instruction, I was greeted with a standing ovation from all the students. I was confused, but I must admit my first thought was, “Dang, I must be really good!”

Then one student pointed to my lapel and simply said one word, “Mic.” It’s at that point that I realized the reason for the standing ovation.

You see, we were required to wear a lapel mic when instructing to make sure that all the students could hear the information that was being delivered. I was not used to wearing a mic, so I just sort of forgot about it.

Now, these mics have a long range. And when I went to the restroom to take care of my business, I forgot to turn it off. Yes, I provided some interesting audio for my class to hear.  I was horrified, mortified and just about every other word ending in “ied” as you can imagine.

Fortunately, my needs were performed in a standing position rather than a sitting position (if you get my drift). And I was told I was humming a little bit while in the process of completing my task.

I acknowledged my error in not turning off the mic, apologized for making anyone feel uncomfortable, and thanked them for critiquing my performance in the loo. We all had a great laugh and then I commenced with my teaching.

Several hours later, just before the end of the day, that same person who asked about taking a break raised her hand and asked when we would be having lunch. Yes, I forgot to give the students a lunch break. I immediately apologized, released them for lunch and then wished them well for the rest of the day.

After the students left, my first thought was, “I am so fired!” Word about my interesting first day got around to my colleagues and fellow instructors. When I entered my manager’s office to explain what had happened, I had rehearsed my begging speech for forgiveness. Upon entering her office, I was welcomed with my second standing ovation of the day as several of the instructors were in there laughing and enjoying themselves at my expense.

This impromptu staff meeting led to many of the instructors telling me about their first day and the things they had done. I felt relieved knowing that I was going to get to keep my job and in a way, I felt bonded with others on the team as they accepted me for who I am – a faulty human being. To make matters worse, if that’s even possible, my manager pointed out that my fly was down. Apparently, it had been down all day long!

My students returned the next day in a jovial mood as they understood that everybody has those days and they felt comfortable with the way that I handled it. I will never forget that class and I will never forget the lessons that I learned, starting with “turn off the dang mic when you go to the bathroom!”

So, what does this have to do with running an online business? Well, I’m glad you asked!

We all do things that we are not proud of. We all do things that we feel may make us look foolish. We all do things that we need to recover from in a manner that does not hurt our integrity and who we are as individuals.

We all need to take chances. We all need to step outside of our comfort zones and do things that will make us not just ordinary but extraordinary.

Along the way you may do things that you wish you can take back. You may feel like you look foolish, and you may feel like you will not be taken seriously because of the things you are doing to become successful.

When I started this online venture, I was scared to make a mistake, and I was scared of how I would look as it was completely different than my previous career. I was scared of how people would think about me and about how those I loved would perceive the changes that I was making. Yes, I was scared but I took the chance and did it anyway. I chose to do something that was completely different.

I have made a lot of mistakes and I have done a lot of things that I wish I could do over. I haven’t gone to the extreme of completely embarrassing and humiliating myself as I described above, but there are some things I would do differently.

And each time I learned! The keywords here are I learned. I learned what it was like not to be good at something at first and I learned what it was like to be successful once I applied myself. In a future blog post I will dive deeper into this topic. The key is to have the courage to step out and learn something new.

By telling you this story I am putting myself out there in hopes that you can identify that it is OK to sometimes not be OK at what you are doing for the 1^st time or even the 20^th time. It is OK to make those unintentional mistakes and it is OK to try to rectify the situation and to learn from experiences. But it is not OK, in my opinion, to dwell upon those experiences in a manner that causes one to go backwards. It is not OK, in my opinion, to be hesitant to take chances because we are scared of how it will look or possibly how badly we may be embarrassed.

I am curious, have you ever done something that you wish you could take back that you now chuckle about? What did you do to get past that experience and how has it affected your decisions after the event.

I don’t think much about that event 31 years ago. But when I do, I laugh! And believe it or not I am grateful for that experience as it taught me I can recover from awkward situations as long as I learn from them and can laugh at them. I understand that we can’t laugh at all of our previous indiscretions, but we can learn from them.

Thank you for listening to this silly story and I hope you find comfort that if you’ve made decisions that were later embarrassing, you are not alone.

Now I’m off to make another silly TikTok video which no doubt will be embarrassing but I’m hoping I get a few chuckles.

“The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing.” — Henry Ford

“Don’t let yesterday take up too much of today.” — Will Rogers

“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” — C.S. Lewis

And of course, a few VERY BAD Dad jokes:

Why did the embarrassed tomato turn red? Because it saw the salad dressing!

Why did the computer break up with the Wi-Fi? Because it just couldn’t connect anymore.

Until next time, STAY FRESH, Friends!

 

 

 

**If you are curious about this process and wish to know more about an affiliate marketing business, please subscribe to my newsletter here to learn more.  And please continue following my blog.  My hope is not only to create the freedom I so long for but pass on what I have learned to others who have similar aspirations.