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Having a PhD or being a well-known expert in your field doesn’t make you immune to embarrassment. Even the best of us get into awkward situations that make us blush, no matter if we’re rocket scientists by day or brain surgeons by night—we’re all human, after all.

That’s what Twitter user Herne_TheHunter, aka Dean, wanted to show the world by sharing their facepalm-worthy story. Their embarrassing situation inspired other intelligent people to share their own awkward and cringy situations that you’re bound to relate to just like us, dear Pandas. Scroll down, upvote your fave tweets, and share your most embarrassing experiences in the comments.

Bored Panda spoke to Dean about their embarrassing sock incident and went into detail about how best to react to awkward situations. "Did I mention it was a Boba Fett sock? It was a Boba Fett sock…” Read on for the full interview!

Image credits: Herne_TheHunter

Dean is a 39-year-old doctor with two degrees, is a member of a Royal College, and had a sock up their shirt sleeve all morning. This is so relatable that the thread went viral on Twitter, getting over 113k likes and 7.3k retweets and comments.

“I certainly didn’t expect such a big reaction. Most of my tweets get a handful of likes and I’m frankly grateful for that much of a response. I’m not really sure why this one seemed to resonate with people. I’d guess it was because it gave everyone an opportunity to share their own silly oversights/mistakes,” Dean told us.

“Social media can often involve trying to look cool, or woke, or knowledgeable so maybe it was refreshing to be able to present the other side of things for a change?” they wondered about why the thread became so popular.

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“I’m mainly working from home at the moment as most of my job is as a psychotherapist and we’ve been able to switch to remote working during the COVID-19 situation. As such, it was a little unusual for me to have to actually put full work clothes on and pop into the hospital for a bit,” Dean said.

“Clearly, I was out of practice at getting dressed as when I reached for my coffee later on that morning, I felt a strange, furry sensation around my elbow. I had to undo a couple of shirt buttons to retrieve what turned out to be a stray sock (having double-checked all Teams calls had ended). I didn’t actually mention it to anybody at work directly: we’re socially distanced at the moment so I would have had to actively seek them out, which might have felt a bit weird."

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Samantha Lomb
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I have lost my phone while it has been in my hand. Looked all over for it. Realized I was holding it

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Dean and everyone else’s stories illustrate that even the mightiest and most accomplished adults who have 200+ IQ and play 5D chess can make blunders. Making mistakes is a part of life, however, it’s also important to know how to react to embarrassing situations.

According to Dean, embarrassment can be tricky to handle. “I immediately thought of a couple of situations that still make me squirm from my past. If it’s something inconsequential, like a sock up your sleeve, then it might be a useful opportunity to remember you’re human and to puncture any pomposity that might have snuck up on you. For more serious or significant situations, I think the best advice I can give would be to talk about it when you feel safe and ready to do so.”

Dean added that he wants to use the opportunity while he has the internet’s attention to do some good in the world and point people towards his friend’s social enterprise that employs survivors of domestic abuse to make flowers out of recycled paper.

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#15

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mph seti
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's wise to invest in a daylight balanced LED lightbulb for your bedroom/closet (wherever you keep your clothes and get dressed). Then, you'll be unlikely to mix up dark blues and blacks.

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Missy Barton
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This sounds like something I have done. Thankfully my car guy is also my father in law.

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Podunkus
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I almost did the same thing, only to realize that the “engine noise” was due to all of the keys I had dangling from my car key fob that would swing around while turning or braking and bash into the metal steering column.

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Vanta Black
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

"How often does this happen?" "It's not every time, but it's been happening today. Listen." *shifts gear* "Yeah... it's the buttons on your sleeve..." "...Well that's embarrassing..."

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Thinairgal
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Thank goodness, now we know that this could happen to anyone

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Jennifer Cassada
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My boyfriend works at a service department at a car dealership and was working on a car that had a "clanky" noise. He drove it around to see where the noise was coming from. It was coming from the back seat. It was a tin of cookies.

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Doris Bennett
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

For weeks after we came home from a road trip, we heard this strange humming sound in the car...the faster we went the louder it got. So we avoided the freeway. Our mechanic could not find the source of the noise. Later, we returned the old wooden luggage rack on the cars roof... to the friend who loaned it to us and... on the way home we noticed the noise was gone. For weeks we had been hearing those loose, wooden slats vibrating in the wind like a harmonica. We took the freeway home.

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MiniMaus
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Me the other day: "why is my car making that weird "zzzich" noise intermittently ?" Crawled all over the car, checked underneath, scratched my head in wonder and then realized I had the radio on very very quiet and it was the static from the radio - duh :(

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Ellen Daniels
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I bet your button click is written on their "hall of fame" board!

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AzKhaleesi
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I once had a vehicle I dead a*s thought was haunted for a few days because every time I made a left, the horn would go off. I figured out that the front seat was broken and I'd pull on the steering wheel for leverage (I'm short) when I'd turn and there was a loose connection causing the honk. But scared the c**p out of me for about 3 days lmao

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Isabel Care
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I remember a car advert where the squeaking sound was the girlfriend's dangly earing

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Carrie Roettger
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My husband did something similar. He kept hearing a clicking sound and it was his keys hitting the steering column as they swayed.

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Steve Cruz
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That's like the one about the guy who goes to the urologist because his penis looks orange. The doctor takes a swab and returns in a couple of minutes asking if the man ate Cheetos while watching porn.

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AzKhaleesi
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3 years ago

This comment has been deleted.

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NavyDave
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I believe they can't give a refund since their time is valuable, but probably requested less because it was so simple.

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Dee Hunter
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Aaah, the famous gift mouse. My cat once brought me half a mouse. She kindly left it out on the (dark) balcony. Came home after work, kicked shoes/socks off, went to the balcony for a smoke ...

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El Dee
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I have done something similar. I was having a breast lump removed as an outpatient and I arrived in plenty of time, got to the right department and 'checked in' at reception. The receptionist said they had no record of an appointment for me. I knew I was there on the right date/time etc and luckily had the original letter with me to prove it. I showed her the letter, she read it and pointed out I was at the WRONG HOSPITAL. They were very good though, they phoned through and asked them to give me a later appointment so I could travel the 20 miles and be seen that day. What an idiot I am lol!

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El Dee
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Both as stupid as each other, why wouldn't you notice a complete stranger coming in and working for you??

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Kate Yeti
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Coworker of mine once did that with every changing room mirror in our store. 409 instead of Windex. It was a nightmare.

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GirlFriday
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

How do you spend 90 minutes on make up? I am a fully formed adult female and when not in quarantine I wear make up daily. I don't know how to make a make-up routine last 90 minutes. Even if I move at a sloth's pace, it would still only 15 minutes.

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