'Dropped a tray of 6 root beers on 6 business men': 30+ People who tripped, bumbled, and flailed into embarrassing situations

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Oct 14, 2023 11:00 AM EDT

These aren't your average, ordinary mistakes: they're the kind that you think about often and cringe at. You wonder if other people also remember your moment of embarrassment (probably not, but how could you know for sure?!). 

One moment of embarrassment I had recently was when I took the subway just two stops, as I did every day. It was early morning and I was so tired. The subway pulled into the final stop, and every single person exited the train, except for me. I thought it was the second-to-last stop instead, so I just sat there staring at the ground.

But no---it was the final stop, and the doors shut and locked behind me, leaving me a captive on this subway train. Instead of a bustling train car, I was alone in silence, with no idea how to leave. I felt so dumb, because I took this route every day, and still made a rookie mistake. 

I was a little panicked about how to get out. But then, a conductor walked through and noticed me. He literally rolled his eyes as he unlocked the door to let me out onto the now-empty platform. I was bright red and utterly mortified, as well as late to work. To err is human, I suppose. 

Check out these amazingly hilarious stories of embarrassment below. Then, check out these anonymous confessions, like one kid who admitted, "Mum wanted me to clean my room, I played a vacuum noise from YouTube."

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  • 01
    Font - What's the most hilariously embarrassing thing that's ever happened to you in public? Share your tales of awkwardness!"
    via u/ameliawalmsley
  • 02
    Font - just-say-it- I was trying to get a watermelon out of one of the huge watermelon boxes at Walmart. It had some on the bottom. When I reached for one I fell in. The produce guy came and got me out when some asked him what kind of water melon is this. (referring to me)
    via u/just-say-it-
  • 03
    Font - Turnt_Wrencher I set my wife up for this one. We have just bought new furniture and I was packing up All the styrofoam and packing peanuts and shoved them in my trunk to take them to the dump. Well she took my car to the grocery store and forgot the trunk was full. When she opened it, P OF packing peanuts everywhere. It was a pretty windy day too.
    via u/Turnt_Wrencher
  • 04
    Font - we_gon_ride My daughter who was 2 or so at the time tripped while jumping up and down next to me and grabbed at my skirt as she fell. My skirt had an elastic waistband so as she fell, she pulled my skirt entirely down exposing all of my g hitals and a. I had the baby in my arms so it took me a minute to get the skirt back up. Other info: I was in the grocery store line and she tripped on the shopping cart wheel I was commando bc I had 3 children, a husband out to sea and it was that crazy
    via u/we_gon_ride
  • 05
    Font - LtColShinySides I once intercepted a high five that I thought was for me... it was not. 86 Reply Share Just-a-s show Nah bruh. You asserted dominance. That high five was for you now.
    via u/LtColShinySides
  • 06
    Font - daddy-thro-away Bus was coming to a stop, I exit my seat, as the bus brakes harder, I slip, hit my head on a handrail, full KO. Ambulances arrive, whole road is closed, many journeys disrupted.
    via u/daddy-thro-away
  • 07
    Font - (le Due-Okra-3094 Was trying to reposition some pallets into a dumpster and when I jumped out my coveralls hooked on a piece of the dumpster. Was left hanging on the side with my feet one foot from the ground (place of business was on a major thoroughfare) after hanging there for about ten minutes and probably 500 cars passing and laughing at me and elderly gentleman stopped and freed me from my predicament.
    via u/Due-Okra-3094
  • 08
    Font - Splashfooz When I was a teenager I was riding my bike through a carnival held by a local church, me and a f clown on a unicycle crashed right into each other. I got up, grabbed my bike and got out of there.
    via u/Splashfooz
  • 09
    Font - smellyfatzombie Slipped walking down a ramp in front of a busy cafe while carrying multiple coffees. In true sitcom fashion, all 4 coffees flew up into the air and spilt all over me. Fun times.
    via u/smellyfatzombie
  • 10
    Font - FlagHunter1 [4yo me lost in an airport seing my dad]: **DAAAAAAAAD** *hug* [Random 40yo male with the same belly as my dad]: 0.0
    via u/ FlagHunter1
  • 11
    Font - Missbhavin58 When I was fifteen I had gone into town to do a bit of shopping. I'd got my new trendy skirt on and I'd done my makeup carefully. I felt great. Walking round town I noticed I was getting lots of looks and was just starting to preen mself when I saw my reflection in a shop window. My mascara had run on both eyes and my skirt was tucked into my pants at the back. Forty years later I can still feel the heat, embarrassment and shock
    via u/Missbhavin58
  • 12
    Font - quantum-fluxer Was walking back through town after losing my first job when I was 16-17 so was already in a fowl mood, that's when a pigeon decided to s all over my shoulders and down the front of my coat in front of a very busy high street full of people. Cue me shouting 'what the are you all looking f at never seen someone be son before?!'. Not my best day that one..
    via u/quantum-fluxer
  • 13
    Font - CheekyMunky247. Was staying in a hotel with work and had been out for a few drinks. Woke up in the middle of the night for a pi, and in my drunken state, mistook the hotel room door for the bathroom door. Was stood in the hotel hallway stark bo naked and was just realising what I had done as I heard the room door click shut behind me. I was on the fourth floor.
    via u/CheekyMunky247
  • 14
    Font - I had to get in the lift and go down to reception. It stopped on the 2nd floor and the doors opened and there was a young couple waiting to get in. I just hid my modesty and said 'you should probably get the next one' to which they agreed. Had to walk from the lifts, over to reception and get a new key. I made a point of asking what time the woman on the desk was working until so I could avoid her in the morning. She said 7am.
    via u/CheekyMunky247
  • 15
    Font - Went back to my room and decided to not go down for breakfast until 8am. Lift doors open start walking across the foyer and there's a cheer from the lady on reception and a couple of her colleagues shouting 'Good morning Mr X, nice to see you with some clothes on for a change'
    via u/CheekyMunky247
  • 16
    Font - The_Meme_Teacher. f rting so loud zoom highlighted me in the meeting
    via u/The_Meme_Teacher
  • 17
    Font - fuzzyhairedlegend No1: At 17 years old I was sat in a college law class before the tutor showed up. Only me and 2 other guys in the class, the rest are female (many are hot). We are discussing something and I make a point and all eyes are on me. I'm being witty, even funny, they are laughing along - things are looking good, some are playing with their hair and gazing at me intently. I make a joke, we all laugh. As I do, a large snot bubble erupts from my nostril. A big one. It grows rough
    via u/fuzzyhairedlegend
  • 18
    Font - No2: Exiting a packed Fish and Chip restaurant. The owner opens the door for me and my wife. I smile and accept his kindness. I didn't tie the laces on my boots that day as I was rushing. Unbeknownst to me they have loosened and are becoming perilously close to hooking around the tie up hooks on the opposite boot. Yep, they snag. I have know idea and just feel my feet tied together like I've been lassoed by a cowboy. Too
    via u/fuzzyhairedlegend
  • 19
    Font - much forward momentum, I go down like a tree to screams of "Timber!" I grab out to sn tch hold of something, anything to arrest my fall. I sn tch the owner's clothes whilst simultaneously headbutting him in the groin and ripping his trousers to the ground. Whole restaurant looking on. My memory has added the sound of music on a record player being abruptly sna ched to a stop.
    via u/fuzzyhairedlegend
  • 20
    Font - Looneytooney1505 Years ago I was asked out on a date with one of the hottest guys at school. He was a couple years older than me and he picked me up and we went to watch a movie. Of course we sat in the very back row all the way up the top. Well about 10 minutes into the movie it was quiet and slow starting and I told him I'd be back in a second, I was just going to the loo. So as I go to walk down the steps, the little lights on them dim down for the movie.
    via u/Looneytooney1505
  • 21
    Font - Next thing you know I'm rolling down the f isle stairs just as this happens the screen lights up to show me with my skirt around my waist and my shoes were fil knows where. Worst but was having to walk back in there after going to the toilet and everyone cheered !!! I sat down next to my hot date and he just literally burst out laughing. He wasn't horrible about it, but it would of been hilarious from where he was. We stayed together for a couple of years.
    via u/Looneytooney1505
  • 22
    Font - Reneebruhh Oooh, I have one. So I'd been going to the gym for a few years and decided to do my first bodybuilding show. It's important to note that I was just a skinny gym bunny who had been training for 5 minutes. I'm a female, if that's important. I thought I was HOT ST. You know the pec Dec machine? My coach at the time told me to walk one arm across at a time to avoid shoulder injuries. So. I went to a 'h rdcore' gym at peak hour (5pm-7pm) and it was full of big a dudes. I went to do
    via u/Reneebruhh
  • 23
    Font - this wasn't a unilateral machine. So what happened was the other arm moved at the same time, and because of the weird angle of my head, the other arm hit me so hard I fell to the ground and lay there stunned. Cue several jacked guys with bumbags saying 'Are you awwwwright miss?'. How embarrassing. I said yes and ran out and cried in my car. On a positive, when I became a personal trainer I would assure my female clients that no matter how shy they felt in the gym, they could never be as e
    via u/Reneebruhh
  • 24
    Font - Cimbom Many years ago I was at the university library working on an assignment. I had a cd in my bag and put it into the computer and plugged in my headphones to listen to music while working. Part of the front panel thing of the computer was missing so I didn't realise I plugged the headphones into the wrong port. I get most of the way through the first song and another woman points out that the music isn't coming through my headphones but the speakers. This was in a quiet library Imao.
    via u/Cimbom
  • 25
    Font - yelbesed2 Thought i wear my white silk trousers just without anything under it as it is a night club I go to. But i was not let in. The neon lights made the textile quite transparent I think.
    via u/yelbesed2
  • 26
    Font - Pernillala In a McDonald's I was walking down the stairs to the main area that was packed with ppl on a Friday night. When I got to the second last step my knees gave way and fell over head first. People was screaming with laughter literally lol. I was 16. It was so embarrassing. My friends just left me there lol.
    via u/Pernillala
  • 27
    Font - Intent_on Yesterday I fell over in the middle of a crowd. I was rollerskating. I am tall and have long limbs, so I looked like when spiders shed and their legs are all crumbled up.
    via u/Intent_on Yesterday
  • 28
    Font - FlameHawkfish88. When I was 5 a guy was cleaning windows at a pet shop and he did such a good job that I just ran straight into it. He tried to lighten the moment by making the joke "hey! I just finished cleaning that" but it just caused me to burst into tears and he felt so bad.
    via u/FlameHawkfish88
  • 29
    Font - claritybeginshere It was my 34th birthday dinner at a well known restaurant. I dressed up, was fit and felt good. As I came out of the bathroom I noticed the very hot younger Italian waiter staring at me. I was thinking, 'yep, not doing too bad'. Another waitress came to our table and crouched next to me. "Excuse me, your shoes" I looked down. I had hooked toilet paper in my stiletto heel and trailed a length of toilet paper through the restaurant. All with a too cool for school attitude.
    via u/claritybeginshere
  • 30
    Font - zazz72 My first job out of college, I was feeling really good about myself and my future. I was dressed in my finest work clothes and decided to treat myself. I went into a perfume shop to ask if they "sell" a certain brand. Instead I accidentally asked her if she "smelled". I started laughing so hard I had to leave the store. Needless to say, I never went back.
    via u/zazz72
  • 31
    Font - Fantastic-Pop-9122. I got my arm stuck between two shopping carts when i reached in between them to unhook the child buckle that had gotten stuck. I'm not even sure how it happened, but i couldnt get them apart. My bf kept walking and didnt notice i had to yell for an employee.
    via u/Fantastic-Pop-9122
  • 32
    Font - xtinarinaldi Dropped a tray of 6 root beers on 6 business men who were sitting at a table in my section. I got so embarrassed and started profusely apologizing. I was mortified (I started crying) and cleaning everything up. Luckily the men were super understanding and they reassured me that they weren't mad. In the end they left me a 50$ tip. Funny now but embarrassing at the time!
    via u/xtinarinaldi
  • 33
    Font - Hot_Himbo_Bi I said I love you to the cashier and then I said nevermind and that felt mean and then I said I'm sorry I love you bye
    via u/Hot_Himbo_B****
  • 34
    Font - Wirk theonetosucceedsoon - went outside to eat, somehow we forgot to pay, while leaving, the waitress called out loud and there were people around made sure to check twice before leaving
    via u/theonetosucceedsoon
  • 35
    Gesture - Science MomCO I fell off my science teacher stool in front of a class of 43 high schoolers
    via u/Science MomCO
  • 36
    Font - alimem974 About 18yo. I gave 1.80€ to the bus driver in little coins easy to misscount because it was always the cost. I go on looking for a seat when he calls me back telling me the count wasn't right, the cost was 2€ and i had no idea. I pay him and finds a seat next to a dude i rember seeing at school 4 years ago. He was cringing of my presence, the old people were saying "he tried to steal" "he's a thief" the kids were looking at me like The driver understood tho. I never took the bus
    via u/alimem974
  • 37
    Font - SuperSalamander3244. When I was at school my mum bought me a brand new pair of Nike Air Max 95s. I was riding my aunties brand new pushbike and for whatever reason I decided to look at my shoes as I was riding and rode straight into a lamppost on a main road and did a front flip off the bike, buckled my aunties front wheel, scraped my brand new Nike Air Max 95s and cut both my knees up. The worst thing about it was it happened at about 1700 in the summer and it was rush hour. About 6 cars
    via u/SuperSalamander3244
  • 38
    Font - Spiritual-Mail585 At a restaurant on a date eating and my wig came off when I tilted my head back to laugh
    via u/Spiritual-Mail585
  • 39
    Font - crepuscularmutiny. F. rted on a wooden pew moments before the pin drop demonstration in the Mormon Tabernacle. I can assure you the acoustics are very good.
    via u/crepuscularmutiny

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