Honesty is the best policy! So describe your most embarrassing moment.

When I was a fresman in college, women had to wear skirts.  No pants allowed.  One Saturday morning, our college debate teams [I was a member.] were practicing for a tournament.  We decided to go to the cafeteria for breakfast. The football team was seated next to us. 

I had on a skirt and net petticoats under it.  [This was 1965.] My fiance was sitting next to me.  I was leaning back in my chair on the tile floor.  My chair sliipped back. The noise of the chair hitting the floor with me in it was earth shattering.  I fell back {which physically hurt], and my skirt went up over my head.  The entire cafeteria was silent.  Then everyone began to laugh.  You could not see me for my skirt and petticoats.  I just lay there for a long time wishing that the floor would open up and swallow me.

No one helped me up.  They were all laughing too hard.  My boyfriend, embarrassed, got up and left the table.  Finally, one of the football players came over and helped me up.  His words to me were,"Life's a bitch isn't it. And then you fall in your chair and expose yourself in front of everyone." 

I never forgot the boyfriend leaving me on the floor.  I actually married him. Nor my debate friends...Oh well, there are somethings you never forget. 

[I hope he made it up to you!!]

I had a similar moment as carol-davis had--only a little less so. I was at a training institute in Fort Collins, CO, in the cafeteria, gathering a tray of goodies for lunch. The entire cafeteria was full, hundreds and hundreds of people, mostly, new college graduates. The food and tray and flatware lie was at the head of the long, narrow cafeteria, logical place for it .... I have always had weak wrists; I always tell myself that is the price of having graceful hands ... true? Who knows.

I had to switch my laden tray from two hands to my left hand so I could pick up flatware etc (and a yummy chocolate dessert). Sure enough, my wrist buckled and flopped down, momentarily useless. The entire contents of the tray went CRASHING DOWN LOUDLY. A prolonged moment of appalling silence and surprised questioning eyes greeted me when I turned my dismayed eyes from the empty tray to the cafeteria at large.

In this silence, I meekly said, "Weak wrists." The prolonged silence was broken at last, with my eyes gazing into thousands of other eyes, by one large sustained simultaneous fit of laughter (as though it had been directed). All I could do was shrug apologetically and smile bashfully. I believe I dropped a small curtsy as well. There is my cafeteria moment; similar to, but not as bad as post 1.

My life-long best friend was my best man at my wedding. He did a great job. A few years later when it was my turn to return the favor, I didn't do such a good job. I went through entire ceremony with my zipper down. Not surprisingly, the marriage didn't last.

My most embarrassing moments usually come when I say or do something because I don’t really know what to say, but as a teacher I have had my fair share.  Sometimes I will look back on something I said in class and can’t believe I said it.  I might say a bad word by mistake, or make another comment that does not come out right.  That really embarrasses me!

I don't tend to get embarrased about things that happen to me in public, like tripping or saying stupid things and being called out for them. I think because I was always a bit of a class clown, I sort of thrive off of awkward moments and heightening the humor in them.

Weirdly, all of my most embarrassing moments as an adult are the result of my children misbehaving in places where we have taught them it is inappropriate to misbehave. I'm not talking about toddler temper tantrums in the middle of the grocery store, but, for example, my five year old yelling at me when I drop her off at Sunday school. My three year old, this year, after 1.5 years of attending pre-school, misbehaves to the point of getting a time-out every single day in school. I keep getting these notes about different things to work on at home.

It sounds silly, but it is embarrassing to have someone else (potentially) judging me as a parent when my kids' behavior does not actually reflect what I've been doing for the last five years.

I felt the same way as a classroom teacher, when I had entire classes that were out of control. I always feel like it is a direct reflection of my ability.

When I was teaching at a middle school, I wore a shirt to class with a saying on the front which evidently was offensive to the principal.  He called me out of class and shouted at me about appropriate wear in school.  Since I didn't think the shirt was a problem when I put it  on that morning as we were going to be crawling on the floor doing complex sentences with laminated words, I wasn't prepared for the vociferousness of his opinion.  I went back into class with a very red face, explained to the students what had happened, and ended up with a good discussion about unintended mistakes.  Still, I have never forgotten that moment of complete embarrassment even though I have forgotten the saying on the shirt.