30 People Share Painfully Awkward Moments They Witnessed In School
Interview With Expert
For many people, school days didn’t go by without witnessing awkward moments, whether it was an ignorant phrase someone blurted out or an innocent door that got in the way. It can feel uncomfortable in the moment, but after many years, they become memories that former students can fondly look back on and laugh about.
Recently, people in the AskReddit community have been discussing just that—the cringeworthy things they've observed in the classroom. Scroll down to find the most popular stories that may remind you of your own similar experiences. And if they do, share them in the comments below!
While you're at it, don't forget to check out a conversation with social psychologist, management consultant, and executive coach Crystal Clarke, Ph.D., who kindly agreed to give some pointers on how to deal with awkward moments.
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I was doing a presentation in 6th or 7th grade about my family and kind of stumbled to remember my brother’s age. This loud girl in the class started to make fun of me (while I was still up there presenting…) asking me how I couldn’t remember my own brother’s age. I just said “he’s dead so I have to do the math!” Everyone went completely silent and I still remember her face.
Two guys who were bullying me for being gay got caught jerking each other off under a table in 8th grade. At least they stopped bullying me, lol.
A friend walked up to the front of the room to ask our teacher if he could go to the restroom and was denied. So he stood right there and pissed his pants in front of her. He got sent home.
Social psychologist, management consultant, and executive coach Crystal Clarke, Ph.D., tells Bored Panda, "When people find themselves in situations they see as awkward, they are often experiencing some form of social anxiety, maybe feelings of shame, fear, confusion, embarrassment, or self-consciousness."
According to Clarke, something that can help us deal with life's inevitable uncomfortable moments is reminding ourselves that often the awkwardness is just in our heads.
She further explains, "Feeling awkward is typically the result of 1) how we imagine ourselves to appear and 2) how we imagine others are judging us. These two beliefs are usually simply that, beliefs! Given the negativity bias many of us have, sometimes what we believe others think about us can be inaccurate."
A girl kept putting her hand up to go to the bathroom, and the teacher refused. So after maybe the fifth time she just yanked something out of her skirt and slapped it on the window.
Her heavily soiled sanitary pad.
Fair enough.
Why does teachers prevent kids from going to bathroom. For teens, asking to go to bathroom itself is embarassing. Why does anyone think, they will ask it for other reasons
Teacher here: while we're only hearing about extreme examples, and this teacher was clearly in the wrong: there are legitimate reasons. Kids often abuse it. 3 times in an hour? You're either mucking around or have a medical issue I need to be aware of. 2 mins after lunch? You need to learn to plan better. Right as I'm explaining a new task? I don't want to have to repeat everything when you come back. Or there's already too many kids out of the room. Personally I've never completely denied someone going, I have asked them to wait a few minutes though. And obviously, younger kids or kids with medical issues get far more leniency.
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I had a (singular) teacher back then who treated us like actual real people, so his bathroom policy was "just go with as little interruption to class as possibe", kind of like, y'know, how actual real people are treated. His classes, strangely enough, had the best attendance record. I'm trying to make a connection here, can somebody help me?
Seems like the mutual respect and genuine trust. - You are respecting me as a person & Student, and trust that I know my body and it's needs. I'm respecting you as a person & teacher, so I won't betray your trust and try to disturb your lessons as little as possible.
Load More Replies... Well, I guess a small percentage may not go to the bathroom or use the bathroom for non-bathroom activities. But EACH and EVERY teacher should be f**g aware that a girl may be on her period and spare her the embarrassment of blood stains on her clothes.
At my school, once the girls hit that age, no teacher questioned them. And to the boys’ credit, we didn’t either even though it was a little reverse sexism. Boys couldn’t go to the restroom during class but girls could. We just accepted it.
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I've told my kid if it's an actual emergency and you're not being let out, just walk out. Just know that you'll have to explain why and that there might be consequences no matter the explanation. But she's not in prison
Teacher here- it’s not to assert dominance. As a teacher, I really care about my students. (It’s why I work on their behalf when I’m not even in the classroom.) However, I also get to know my students really well. I mean, I spend more time with them than their parents sometimes. But, I know them. I know who suddenly has to go to the bathroom when I’m explaining a new concept. It’s a regular pattern. I don’t want their grade to suffer because they are a little immature. So, I say no or tell them they can in just a bit. If I see them truly struggling, I change my mind and tell them to go. But, it’s never been a power trip.
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No one should ever have to ask permission to go to the bathroom. Just go.
Well, I was the kind of kid who would (and did) just got up and walked out of the room anyway. Go ahead, take me to the principals office. Geez, supposed adult, let the kids go to the damn bathroom! Get your power trip somewhere else.
I have to say, this happened to me 37 years ago, teacher refused me the bathroom saying I should have gone at recess, I got up after class with full bloody pants and all over the desk chair, it was my first period , I asked 3x because I felt something wet and cramps, she obv said no...I had to walk out in front if my classmates and home (I knew after class what happened but had no way to hide this) my friend in another class I always walked with stood behind me and used her backpack and mine it was so embarassing, if that teacher would have let me go to the bathroom I could have went easily to nurses room and got a sanitary napkin , I was called bloody mary for a year because of that teacher
I'll never forget in high school, on the first day of freshman year, my period started RIGHT as the first class after lunch started. The teacher let me go but said I needed to plan better in the future. I was so embarrassed that it's been over a decade and I still remember it. I get that lots of kids are screwing around, but don't assume they're doing something wrong if they haven't given you any reason to.
I'll never forget being in secondary school and a friend asked to go to the toilet because she needed to change her pad, the teacher refused said it's 15 minutes til the end of class! Yeah they had to get the janitor in because it was everywhere, the chair and floor around her desk all covered in blood and this was 1990 so you'd think they'd have learnt some lessons by now, all of us girls were angry for her.
it's a control thing but I suspect some of the teachers that pulled this kind of thing are no longer teaching
In Kindergarten class where I volunteer, a girl went to the bathroom 3 times during a lesson of maybe 35 minutes. I was not sure the teacher had noticed so I told her and she told her parents. The girl had cystitis and stayed home a few days. I was very glad, that I had noticed, because it can be quite painful if not treated.
You can gauge a teacher's level of pettiness and need to control by how unwilling they are to let a student use the restroom. I was so conditioned by this thinking from school and through my first few jobs that it wasn't till I was working full time in an office and was told I didn't have to ask to use the restroom and didn't have to provide a reason for calling out of work.
When I was in grade 1, I had terrible gas pains. I put up my hand & asked to be allowed to go to the washroom. The teacher refused my request. I coukd not stand the stomach pains & tried to pass the gas quietly but failed. The teacher hauled me to the front of the class & gave me the strap fir passing wind in class. That was almost 60 years ago & I have never forgotten it.
I dont know... the teacher was definitely wrong. but was the student necessarily justified? confusing.
I asked my woman teacher, in 7th grade, one time to go to the bathroom to put a pad on cuz my period randomly started. She asked why, and when I didn't wanna respond, in front of the whole class, she snapped a no at me. At gym, I asked our man coach if I could go, and he asked why. My shoulders just slumped and he immediately understood, his eyes going wide and he went "OH! Yeah! Go!" How the man understood but the woman didn't I'll never understand.
I do not believe anyone would be this disgusting without serious mental illness involved.
As a public school teacher here in the States, we cannot deny a student the right to use the bathroom. We can ask them to wait a few minutes until there's a transition in the lesson, but that's all.
If that was my kid, the pos teacher and I would be having a VERY unpleasant conversation.
In 8th grade, our teachers were sick of the entire part of the class that used the subway that goes from center to periphery being late in the morning. We were, kind of often (depends on whether you want to see it as often, or want to see it realistically), due to the subway being late. Some of us were denied leaving for the bathroom ... when it was my turn, I threatened the math teacher that I'd not see much of a problem in using her bag. The entire class was laughing, she was plssed, and got the principal involved. He came by, and we asked him what he thinks would happen if a fire would consume our classroom, and we weren't able to leave ... that policy was immediately revoked, and never came back. And, most important - this time, I left for the bathroom. We were asked to not talk about that, especially not to higher authorities, as this was a potentially life-threatening collective punishment for incidents that we had no influence in, and that were largely exaggerated to begin with - wasn't that we were late daily or something.
What was the policy? I mean I don't get what the fire situation has to do with anything 😅
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This is why I after like 6th grade, I never asked. I just quietly got up and left. Got in trouble loads of times for it, but a couple teachers actually changed their bathroom rules because it was the least disruptive way to keep teaching while also just letting students go to the bathroom.
Teacher of a BS class (Music Appreciation) who was known as an absolute terror. I wasn't the best student in school but took the class super seriously despite being tone deaf. I honestly wanted to melt through the floor every time this woman spoke to me.
Her final was two days - one listening to music pieces and answering questions the other a big multiple choice, 100 questions in all.
We take the first part and come in the next day to get our tests back before she administers the second. Hands them out by decreasing scores because she's a c**t. I didn't expect to be first but still thought I did pretty well. She hands out all the tests and stands in front of me berating me for being the worst student she ever taught and making her want to quit teaching. I got a 8/100 on a multiple choice test.
My head is spinning, and I'm trying to figure out how well I need to do on the second part to pass. I start looking around to ask people to compare answers. Get a test from another girl and my answer don't match up. Expected but they don't even match the correct answers the scantron gave. And then it dawns on me - there were two tests (A/B) and she marked mine wrong. I start to open my mouth and she flies over to my desk and drags me to hers. Sits there regarding because I figure she realized what happened and didn't want to be called out. The whole class was dead silent the whole time starting at me. I'm the color of a tomato and want to melt through the floor again.
I got a 92 on the test and no apology from that skank.
There was a girl in my math class that would fall asleep with her feet up on the seat in front of her usually wearing short skirts. One day she farted so loud it woke her up. The entire class died laughing our teacher was facing the blackboard and I could see his shoulders shaking.
Even though awkwardness is often the product of people's minds, such an emotion can have real-life negative consequences, including decreased confidence. "From a social theory called "the looking-glass self," we know that humans may base their sense of self on how they believe others view them. In situations where we believe others see us as awkward, we may interpret that as something being wrong with us, which over time can eat away at our sense of self and our self-esteem," says Clarke.
We had mandatory dance classes, including partner dance (think waltz and things like that). All in ballet clothes. One of the boys got a boner which is impossible to hide in ballet tights, and thought it would be best to put it up behind the waistband of the tights. I think in an attempt to hide it? Instead the tip just... poked out. Like a naked molerat popping out of the ground. When he realized, he panicked and ran out of the room. They made groin guards mandatory after that, but tbh I don't think it really helped.
A teacher was out for a few days. Upon returning one kid questioned "what, did your grandma die?"
She indeed did die. The teacher just broke down.
A girl loudly called out a boy who had his hand in his pants in class. Dude was nearly frozen in fear.
That said, embracing it can also be beneficial. Clarke tells us that seizing awkward moments, silences, and unmet social expectations allows us to experience something very human. "No one is perfect, and embracing or acknowledging the awkwardness can oftentimes be a way to connect with others, as awkwardness is a common experience, and they've likely had an awkward moment or two," she says.
We had a teacher who had a miscarriage and was explaining that she was going to be gone for a couple weeks for mental health reasons when this one kid just said: “Well, it isn’t all bad, at least you’ll be skinny again!”
You could’ve heard a f*****g pin drop.
One time a girl got mad and went to storm out of the class room. She was making a big scene, doing everything angrily and loud. She goes to open the door to step out, but her hand slipped off the knob, and just ran into the door.
Our math teacher was in a bad mood and held us back for a few minutes to lecture us. She saw one of our classmates outside the classroom chatting with some other kid. She went ballistic on him only to find out that was his twin waiting for his brother.
If you're stuck in an uncomfortable situation, Clarke suggests trying these three strategies:
- Breathe: In those moments that feel awkward, take a deep breath and remember that it's not the end of the world. Try keeping in mind that this feeling is common and very human.
- Laugh: Finding humor in the awkwardness of the moment can be a great way to handle the situation. It can also allow for connection with others, as they have probably also experienced similar moments or feelings.
- Try a more positive perspective: Feeling awkward is often rooted in what we believe others think about us. Instead of evaluating the moment negatively, try to put a more positive spin on it. Often, others are not evaluating us as harshly as we may believe. And we should be easier on ourselves too!
In middle school, our science teacher was pissed that kids didn’t put away the lesson materials (crayons, rulers). He didn’t tell us he was upset though and instead asked everyone to bring in their “most prized possessions”.
We all thought it was a lesson plan so people brought in photos of deceased loved ones, priceless family heirlooms etc.
He collected everything in a box and said “when you treat my class materials better, you can have these items back”.
The girl I sat next to, her best friend died in a freak snow mobile accident a few months prior to this. She had one half of a “best friends” necklace; the other half was shared with the deceased girl. He took that necklace even though she was sobbing. I myself brought in a photo of my deceased father. We had explained this to him & he did not care.
All of this over unboxed crayons.
Never mind call the cops, call mom because if this happened to my kid i would be up at the school throwing crayons at the petty fu(ker for doing that to kids
Kid used to audibly make fun of me for being in a dance class cause it was gay.
He’s married to a man now.
Yup thats always the way, girl used to bully me in school, turned out shes gay and used to fancy me.. she only told me in our 30s and she did say sorry so all good
Few of the chavy/jock lads thought it funny to block the door to the loos. One of the quieter "keep to themselves" boys in the year below really needed to go. Started crying, kicking and pounding on the door, denting it, and then sh*t his pants. Waddled into the girl's bathrooms, to which we all heard screams. He then came out again and curled up into a ball on the floor. Bell rang and the few teachers shooed us all into class and/or away and dealt with it.
The guys who blocked the door weren't punished from what I understand. They were in there, just leaning against the door keeping it shut, they didn't barricade it. I guess they jumped out the window and walked around as if nothing had happened when the bell rang.
We didn't see the poor kid for a week and everyone got a bit scared. But he rocked up the week after. Didn't speak to anyone for like 2 months. If that's not the beginning of a villain arc, I don't know what is.
When I was in 7th grade, I was the new kid in school and bullied pretty hard. There was a kid behind me who kept throwing paper balls at my head. When I called him out and told the teacher, I was told “not to interrupt class”. I got so f*****g mad after a while, I stood up to go punch his a*s.
Instead, I stood up and slipped on the floor, falling on my face. I tried to recover and charge at him, but I slipped again and fell on the dude ar his desk, then proceeded to girl-fight slap at him like an idiot before the teacher broke it up. I was a really heavy kid too so I’m sure it was ridiculous. This was 2007 so a little bit before every teenager had a phone to record and post it, thank god.
did something similar in kindergarten, 2 second graders where picking on me so I punched them, but I was so mad afterwards that I socked three of my classmates and got sent home
Kid got caught writing s**t on the wall and when the teacher caught them they tried to get out of it by tickling the teacher.
When I was in the 11th grade a girl came to class drunk. She was usually very quiet and kept to herself. She did this day as well but she smelled heavily of alcohol. We were all whispering about her and she put her head down on the desk for a while. The teacher came over a tapped on her shoulder. She stood up and spewed out the most vomit I have ever seen to this day. Teacher was in the blast area as well as other students. Horrifying rainbow of puke. Then the smell afterwords was insane.
Classmate brought her grade school sister to our high school Spanish class to help with a presentation about family that day. It was the first one of the day and their mom arrives with the little sister. The whole class is seated and facing the room door in the front next to the teacher.
Once the kid enters the classroom, our teacher greeted her and the mom. The kid blurts out “wow, Sandy (her older sister, my classmate) you were right…his breath stanks!”
Our Spanish teacher was known to have crippling coffee breath.
A girl got up from her desk after being called to the front of the class to write an answer the dry erase board and there was a pool of blood on her chair from her period.
Guy in my humanities class was meant to be in an english class. he didnt know he was in a humanities class for a solid 40 minutes.
I tried to fart silently but it doesn't go as it planned.
We had an "active" shooter lockdown in high school once (not really, the girl just was posting depressing things on Tumblr or something). Our math teacher runs to the door, tries to lock it, and breaks the key in the lock. She then decides to run to our corner yelling "This is too much stress for a pregnant woman".
And that's how she told us she was pregnant. .
"Just" posting depressed things always needs to be taken seriously...especially in a country where firearms are so widely and easily accessible as in the US. Hope that girl got help.
6th grade...guy had to do a math problem on the chalkboard. He had a boner so he used his boner and the lip of the bottom of the chalkboard to balance his math book open to see the math problem.
Sophomore year science class two girls got into an argument about something I can't remember. They are going back and forth until the one girls says "At least I kept my baby, b***h!". That's when the hands came out and they were rolling around on the ground. Our teacher who was a smaller, but younger teacher jumps in and gets thrown off like a bull rider. Eventually one of the guys sitting on that side of the room separated them. Once they left the room that's when you could hear the whispers of the one girl getting an abortion. Someone else spoke up and said "She didn't abort her kid, she gave it up for adoption.". I don't think we accomplished anything that day in class.
Give kids easy access to contraception. So tired of that "true love waits" b***t and all its consequences.
There was a girl sitting in class, who was clearly distracted, because she was looking in a mirror, picking food out of her braces. To be honest, it was kinda gross, because she already didn’t have great dental hygiene. Most of the class lost focus during the lecture, because we were all so distracted by her “picking” (she had her mouth wide open, and was staring in and poking around with her fingers). We were all just watching her do this, while silently giving each other amused facial expressions, trying not to laugh. After noticing this phenomenon, the teacher stopped lecturing, and we all just silently watched her and waited until she noticed that everyone was watching her. Once she noticed and bashfully put her compact back into her backpack, our teacher resumed teaching.
I still get really bad secondhand embarrassment whenever I think about it.
Our 3rd grade class president stood in front of the class to go over some administrative things. Then this conversation happened:
Student: (looking really nervous) I need to go to the bathroom.
Teacher: For goodness sakes, you can go!
Student; I already did.
All the kids lurched forward to look and there was a puddle on the carpet.
Also, I have no idea why we had a class president in 3rd grade.
My dad drove his scooter into the front gate and took the gate off the hinges.
In 8th grade, one day during study time a girl had full on diarrhea in her seat. She didn't say a word and was somehow quiet enough that the teacher didn't notice until another student called her over.
We got to skip the rest of the class.
A girl in my english class sat is something wet then sat in a wooden desk. She got up to sharpen her pencil and the stain on the desk rubbed off on her wet butt making it look like she s**t herself. She went to the bathroom and when she came back she was beet red and wouldn’t show her backside to the class. She sidestepped around the wall to the back to get to her desk. I.
Note: this post originally had 42 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
My friend missed a class in high school, returned with doctor’s note, that should have been it. Teacher kept asking her what kind of doctor she went to see, which was obvious from doctor’s note. My friend said without missing a beat she went to see her gynecologist. Most boys started gigling, which was probably what the teacher intended - to embarrass her. My friend stood up facing the boys and described prostate exam in great detail. Boys shut up and now the teacher looked embarrassed.
This was actually in college and I was running late from a crazy situation I had that morning with tampons. Long story short I had one in, put another one in. Then realized it. Got the one out, but the first one was really high up and dry/stuck and I couldn't find the string with my fingers. Took a bit of time but finally got my situation straightened out. Late to class. My professor asks why I was late. I start, "well as I was leaving I discovered that I had put in two tampons in and" she cuts me off and says okay. Glad you're okay and starts back into financial theory. Situation definitely better when handled like adults.
Load More Replies... A teacher commented, "Damn, I really do have a jonesing for pickles." Kid next to me asks, "What did she say?" I answered, "She said she has a craving for pickles" and purely because it seemed like such a weird thing for her to have said, I added, "and probably ice cream." Foolishly, I considered it just absurd humor. My friend thought I was quoting her exactly and blurted out, "Mrs X, you're pregnant?" The entire class roared in laughter. She pulled us over as we were heading out, "My HUSBAND doesn't even know yet!"
Took drama class all throughout middle school. We were involved in a production of the wizard of oz. I got cast in a minor role as Jade, a maid in the emerald city. (My acting skills suck apparently). My role involved running up stairs on stage. You can guess what happened opening night. Of course I tripped going up. I bravely carried on but man was that embarrassing lol
Oh poor soul. Although I'd have been really struggle not to laugh if I was there watching. 😅
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I've got kind-of a dark one but it was really awkward. In a high school math class around the year 2000 the teacher tragically lost one of her children to some kind of accident, I don't remember what now. She didn't take any time off from school and just tried to carry-on, which ended up about how'd you might expect. It came to a boil one day in class the lesson was making custom photo collages from all of her deceased child's private family photos! The real kicker here is this student was our age and went to the school before! Kids cried during this, walked out of class, stared off in disbelief until some administrators from the school came and removed her from the classroom. I never saw that teacher in that school again. Poor person....
To counteract all the super disappointing adult stories, here's something innocent: I used to chew on my pens. One day it backfired, and exploded in my mouth. I quickly closed my mouth and bee lined to the bathroom to spit it out. Damage was done, though. Black ink all over my teeth, lips and tongue. They called me "giraffe girl" for a few weeks.
I initially misread "pens", so that did not seem especially innocent for the first few lines...
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Undiagnosed ADHD, Grade 7, 12 years old. In the middle of a lesson, I started stimming (yup, people with ADHD stim sometimes too!) by wagging my head back and forth because I liked the sh-sh-sh sound of my pigtails hitting my ears, and how it seemed to make the teacher's voice cut in and out. Completely oblivious that anyone could see me, even though we were seated "round table" style around the edges of the classroom. I finally stopped and felt a sudden glut of furtive glances. I stopped wearing pigtails.
Aww, im sorry you were embarassed. As someone with both Autism and ADHD, im not embarrassed to stim if i need to, and neither should you :)
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In 3rd grade a kid in my class scooted over to his deskmate’s seat and peed his pants (maybe the teacher denied a bathroom break, can’t remember). Whole class was laughing at him (mean little 3rd graders) and the teacher was scolding us for it. In 6th grade a girl threw on a full on toddler-style temper tantrum (remember that’s a 10-11 year old) cause the teacher tried to change her seat as she was overly talkative. The teacher was a young lady who herself refused to step down so they kept having the most obnoxious verbal fight AND crying (both) while the whole class watched. It took several other teachers (and principal I think) having to come in and deescalate it. So much secondhand embarrassment! A guy in my sister’s grade (highschool) ripped his pants and stayed in them despite not wearing underwear (yes it was all out when he moved). Then there’s me. I first got my period at school but didn’t realise this until I arrived home. I walked the whole way home in a blood soaked skirt!
What happened to you also happened to me. I was like 14 years old, and I just started my period and did not know how much pads I'd need. Of course I didn't bring enough to school and somehow I was embarrassed to ask for one. My pants had a nice big bloody spot but I wore jeans and a longer pullover so I could hide it a bit better. I still remember this and now I feel it is so silly to be embarrassed by having your period.
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In my mock exams when I was about 14/15, a boy at the back of the hall threw up all over his desk and floor. Everyone had to move forwards like 2 rows because the stench was so bad, but they couldn't cancel the exam because there was no way to reschedule. Every time someone turned around to look, the invigilators told us off.
Had a grade school teacher that spent 70% of the day just talking about anything except the subject that she was supposed to be teaching. Except for English. I wasn't really interested in her stories so I did the assignments while she was talking about how drunk she would get in college then start reading a book I had brought in. This pissed her off apparently, because she would start asking me questions about the subject that she hadn't even covered with the other students yet and then would get even angrier when I was able to answer them. Tried to get the principal to ban me from bringing in reading material so I could concentrate on her sad little personal stories.
I as three teacher, teenage students. Wrote something on the board and started to explain it and totally mucked the pronunciation of it... a word I have been using for years, teaching for years and somehow that day I had a brainfart and forgot how to say it... very embarrassing
At uni, two of my close friends were animatedly chatting...like really animatedly, didn't even bothered to whisper anymore.........on the front row. And I saw first hand the teacher going silent, the whole auditorium of 250 people going silent and there my two friends completely oblivious with the professor staring at them for 3-4 minutes until I couldn't take and elbow her HARD! And she suddenly realised...........I wanted to DIE... and I think the worst was the teacher looking at me with profound compassion
A girl defecated in math class. She was too shy to ask the teacher if she could go use the bathroom. The teacher made the class stay in the classroom until the end of the period, because he was a conservative, crusty type. So we had to sit there and smell it. He also wouldn't open any of the windows. When the bell rang, there was a stampede for the door. As we left, we saw the custodian walking down the hall, towards us, with a mop and bucket and a disgusted look on his face. The girl never came back to class and was never seen at the school again.
My friend missed a class in high school, returned with doctor’s note, that should have been it. Teacher kept asking her what kind of doctor she went to see, which was obvious from doctor’s note. My friend said without missing a beat she went to see her gynecologist. Most boys started gigling, which was probably what the teacher intended - to embarrass her. My friend stood up facing the boys and described prostate exam in great detail. Boys shut up and now the teacher looked embarrassed.
This was actually in college and I was running late from a crazy situation I had that morning with tampons. Long story short I had one in, put another one in. Then realized it. Got the one out, but the first one was really high up and dry/stuck and I couldn't find the string with my fingers. Took a bit of time but finally got my situation straightened out. Late to class. My professor asks why I was late. I start, "well as I was leaving I discovered that I had put in two tampons in and" she cuts me off and says okay. Glad you're okay and starts back into financial theory. Situation definitely better when handled like adults.
Load More Replies... A teacher commented, "Damn, I really do have a jonesing for pickles." Kid next to me asks, "What did she say?" I answered, "She said she has a craving for pickles" and purely because it seemed like such a weird thing for her to have said, I added, "and probably ice cream." Foolishly, I considered it just absurd humor. My friend thought I was quoting her exactly and blurted out, "Mrs X, you're pregnant?" The entire class roared in laughter. She pulled us over as we were heading out, "My HUSBAND doesn't even know yet!"
Took drama class all throughout middle school. We were involved in a production of the wizard of oz. I got cast in a minor role as Jade, a maid in the emerald city. (My acting skills suck apparently). My role involved running up stairs on stage. You can guess what happened opening night. Of course I tripped going up. I bravely carried on but man was that embarrassing lol
Oh poor soul. Although I'd have been really struggle not to laugh if I was there watching. 😅
Load More Replies... I've got kind-of a dark one but it was really awkward. In a high school math class around the year 2000 the teacher tragically lost one of her children to some kind of accident, I don't remember what now. She didn't take any time off from school and just tried to carry-on, which ended up about how'd you might expect. It came to a boil one day in class the lesson was making custom photo collages from all of her deceased child's private family photos! The real kicker here is this student was our age and went to the school before! Kids cried during this, walked out of class, stared off in disbelief until some administrators from the school came and removed her from the classroom. I never saw that teacher in that school again. Poor person....
To counteract all the super disappointing adult stories, here's something innocent: I used to chew on my pens. One day it backfired, and exploded in my mouth. I quickly closed my mouth and bee lined to the bathroom to spit it out. Damage was done, though. Black ink all over my teeth, lips and tongue. They called me "giraffe girl" for a few weeks.
I initially misread "pens", so that did not seem especially innocent for the first few lines...
Load More Replies... Undiagnosed ADHD, Grade 7, 12 years old. In the middle of a lesson, I started stimming (yup, people with ADHD stim sometimes too!) by wagging my head back and forth because I liked the sh-sh-sh sound of my pigtails hitting my ears, and how it seemed to make the teacher's voice cut in and out. Completely oblivious that anyone could see me, even though we were seated "round table" style around the edges of the classroom. I finally stopped and felt a sudden glut of furtive glances. I stopped wearing pigtails.
Aww, im sorry you were embarassed. As someone with both Autism and ADHD, im not embarrassed to stim if i need to, and neither should you :)
Load More Replies... In 3rd grade a kid in my class scooted over to his deskmate’s seat and peed his pants (maybe the teacher denied a bathroom break, can’t remember). Whole class was laughing at him (mean little 3rd graders) and the teacher was scolding us for it. In 6th grade a girl threw on a full on toddler-style temper tantrum (remember that’s a 10-11 year old) cause the teacher tried to change her seat as she was overly talkative. The teacher was a young lady who herself refused to step down so they kept having the most obnoxious verbal fight AND crying (both) while the whole class watched. It took several other teachers (and principal I think) having to come in and deescalate it. So much secondhand embarrassment! A guy in my sister’s grade (highschool) ripped his pants and stayed in them despite not wearing underwear (yes it was all out when he moved). Then there’s me. I first got my period at school but didn’t realise this until I arrived home. I walked the whole way home in a blood soaked skirt!
What happened to you also happened to me. I was like 14 years old, and I just started my period and did not know how much pads I'd need. Of course I didn't bring enough to school and somehow I was embarrassed to ask for one. My pants had a nice big bloody spot but I wore jeans and a longer pullover so I could hide it a bit better. I still remember this and now I feel it is so silly to be embarrassed by having your period.
Load More Replies... In my mock exams when I was about 14/15, a boy at the back of the hall threw up all over his desk and floor. Everyone had to move forwards like 2 rows because the stench was so bad, but they couldn't cancel the exam because there was no way to reschedule. Every time someone turned around to look, the invigilators told us off.
Had a grade school teacher that spent 70% of the day just talking about anything except the subject that she was supposed to be teaching. Except for English. I wasn't really interested in her stories so I did the assignments while she was talking about how drunk she would get in college then start reading a book I had brought in. This pissed her off apparently, because she would start asking me questions about the subject that she hadn't even covered with the other students yet and then would get even angrier when I was able to answer them. Tried to get the principal to ban me from bringing in reading material so I could concentrate on her sad little personal stories.
I as three teacher, teenage students. Wrote something on the board and started to explain it and totally mucked the pronunciation of it... a word I have been using for years, teaching for years and somehow that day I had a brainfart and forgot how to say it... very embarrassing
At uni, two of my close friends were animatedly chatting...like really animatedly, didn't even bothered to whisper anymore.........on the front row. And I saw first hand the teacher going silent, the whole auditorium of 250 people going silent and there my two friends completely oblivious with the professor staring at them for 3-4 minutes until I couldn't take and elbow her HARD! And she suddenly realised...........I wanted to DIE... and I think the worst was the teacher looking at me with profound compassion
A girl defecated in math class. She was too shy to ask the teacher if she could go use the bathroom. The teacher made the class stay in the classroom until the end of the period, because he was a conservative, crusty type. So we had to sit there and smell it. He also wouldn't open any of the windows. When the bell rang, there was a stampede for the door. As we left, we saw the custodian walking down the hall, towards us, with a mop and bucket and a disgusted look on his face. The girl never came back to class and was never seen at the school again.
