I think that, to a large degree, most of us have experienced some kind of awkwardness in public that sticks with us later, from getting words mixed up or getting people’s names wrong to trailing off instead of finishing a sentence.
It happens. Social anxiety makes you do some weird stuff sometimes. When your brain gets all flustered, it can’t come up with the answers you need on the spot.
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But, if one of those things that keeps you up at night happened to you, you can rest assured you’re not alone. Check out all this sublimely cringey social awkwardness shared by some brave, anxious folks on Reddit .
1. Hiding at parties is kind of a theme for folks with social anxiety.
“Climbed a tree to get away from people at an outdoor party. Stayed there until everyone left and then went home.”
Mind you, hiding is dependent on even making it into the party.
2. “I have gotten out of my car, walked up to the house of the party, then walked back to my car…then walked back up to the house, then back to my car until I finally texted my friend at the party, asking him to come get me outside so I wouldn’t have to walk in front of the crowd alone.”
See? The party struggle is real. Making it in the doors is no guarantee of anything at parties, either.
3. Home turf isn’t always a safe space, either.
“If someone ever comes to my door when I’m home alone, I’ll army crawl around my house, avoiding all the windows until I get to the stairway and I can listen until they leave. I still do this as a 20 year old woman.”
4. “Talking to my boss after a long day of exams and assignments. I go to leave and she catches the door before I can leave to say goodbye. For some reason my wired brain made me give her fingerguns and say ‘zoop’ as I walked away.”
“Thought about it the whole way home.”
5. “Walked into a bar that was packed full of people who had all come home for Christmas to my small town. I knew everybody there. I walked in, walked through the crowd, right past my sister, and out the back door. “
“When my sister and I saw each other, she looked at me, like, ‘You’re freaking out I bet.’ She knows all about my social anxiety. She knew exactly what I had just done, and she thought it was hilarious.”
6. “I went into a store I used to work at expecting to see my coworkers so I could greet them. A lady was there, but I had no idea what who she was.”
“She asked me if she could help, and I stuttered a no. Then I stood and kind of tapped my feet around like I was a tap dancer and I tried apologizing but instead said ‘I uh….I’m not looking for you.’ She looked so confused and I could feel my face getting red. I literally ran out. Not just walked quickly- ran and slammed into the door and hurt my arm. Though injured, I trudged on. I heard her call out and ask if I was okay as I ran out. Now I can never go back.”
7. “My parents always bring up the time when I was 4 and we were at this Mexican restaurant.”
“Apparently they started singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to me, to which I smiled, but then got nervous and promptly, confidently, leaned over and bit my dad on the arm.”
8. “When I was about 11, I stood in a room with my mom and her employees after an office Thanksgiving luncheon. They were chatting away about various things and we were all snacking. I took a bite of turkey and as I went to swallow it, it lodged in my throat.”
“I kept swallowing as hard as I could but it wouldn’t budge and I couldn’t breathe…So, I stood there attempting to get it down while giving NO INDICATION that I was literally choking on my food… Because I didn’t want to interrupt the conversation or draw attention to myself. My vision was starting to black on the edges and I was full-on panicking inside when I finally got it swallowed down. I remember breathing heavy through my nose and my eyes watering, thinking how stupid I just was but now I DEFINITELY couldn’t say anything about it. Sometimes it feels like anxiety will kill you, sometimes it almost does.”
9. “Was at a picnic with some friends 10-15 people, turned into like 50-75 people within a hour. Enter extreme anxiety. Went up to grill to get hot dog. Cute girl walks behind me to get one, notice and start sweating. Barbecue homie hands me my hot dog, so nervous I drop it right onto the cement.”
“Didn’t know to get another one so picked it up with dirt all over it, took a bite, and walked away. Added bonus: a bush I’m really allergic too was near by so the next week I had an allergic reaction all over my body from it. Good times with my pal social anxiety.”
10. “When I started high school, I used to hide behind a vending machine during lunch because I didn’t know anyone.”
“A few days later, I noticed someone else hiding behind the vending machine right across from me. We became friends shortly after.”
Who knew social anxiety could actually be an icebreaker on its own?
11. “One year of high school I didn’t have anyone in my lunch period that I was friends with. So instead of making friends with the other kids there, I’d eat really fast then say I had to go study in the library, and would instead just wander around the halls until lunch was over.”
“Except you weren’t allowed to roam the halls like that, so I had to sneak around to avoid any teachers/hall monitors seeing me. I spent a lot of that time going from bathroom to bathroom, kind of just standing there waiting for time to pass.”
12. “One time when I was a kid, I was calling up a girl I liked to ask her if she wanted to hang out. Her mom answered the phone and in my awkward teenage bumbling I asked her mom if SHE wanted to hang out.”
“I’m still not quite over that one, nearly 10 years later.”
13. “I was in a dance class a few years ago and we had to do improv. Everyone there was a WAY better dancer than me, so I had a difficult time just with that. Well,my teacher gave us 5 mins to come up with a dance to a whole song,and you’d have to dance in front of the class alone.
“I noped out of there and ran and hid in the bathroom. My cell phone was still in the classroom , but at that point I didn’t care. I decided to sneak out the front door of the studio. Well there’s a small problem there. The walkway to the parking lot was in front of the giant windows of my classroom. I decided to just duck down and run the best I could, hoping no one saw me. I made it to the car and had my Dad run in and get my phone. Didn’t go back to my class for a few weeks there.”
14. “I farted right in front of my boss and I started snapping my fingers in attempt to make it look like it was not a loud ass fart.”
“It was actually right in front of her face because she had knelt down behind me and I didn’t realize, so no way that I pulled it off. We never spoke of it.”
15. “Asked a worker in the mall for assistance the other day. She looked at me really weird and said she didn’t work there. I internally freaked out.
“I said ‘I know’ and asked if she could still help, she agreed and turned around to walk in the direction I needed help (facing away from me) and I immediately power walked out of there.”
16. “I was picking up my little sister from school, and I didn’t have anything better to do and I didn’t want her to have to wait on the long car line, so I got there 40 minutes early. About five minutes before school let out, she told me she was going home with a friend.
“I was so scared that the people behind me in line would think I was creepy if I just left the line after all that time, so I pretended to be on the phone, got out of my car and rummaged through my trunk while acting like I was angry at the person on the other end of the call, complete with annoyed arm movements and all, then got back in and drove off.”
17. “After work, I decide to get a beer at a bar. I teach night classes on a side of town I’m not used to, so I go into random sports bar and I sit alone. I do not watch most sports. Later…”
“Me (in my mind): It’s getting late. I should go home. Random guy: Hey, this Texans game is good! Can’t believe (something footbally happened) Me (pretending to know football stuff): Yeah, these dudes are dope! The Texans are in for some trouble if they mess up! Guy: FINALLY! Someone on my side!! The guy buys me beer. We are now best friends. Turns out we are the only fans of whatever the other team is in this bar. We bond over our outsider status. I have no idea what to say and as the night goes on, he keeps buying beer. I have pretended to like football for too long to come clean now. I end up watching the whole game. Our team lost. I didn’t get home until midnight.”
18. “When entering a public restroom, if there already happens to be somebody in there, I’ll wash my hands uselessly until they leave.”
“If somebody else walks in before or just as they leave, I generally decide I don’t really need to be there and live that stomach- busting hell until I can find another restroom to start the process all over again.”
19. “I was at the mall, not intending to spend much money at all. I was by myself and I tried to avoid all of those annoying mall salesmen that desperately try to bring you over to their booths…. Well, I looked at one of them and…
“Ended up spending over 100 dollars on a nail-kit because I was too anxious to say no. My friends think I’m an idiot. Honestly, I couldn’t agree more.”
20. “I had a fear of choking, so I’d only eat ketchup packets. I always loved ketchup and I guess it was a way to get some sort of salty flavor that reminded me of food without actually eating anything solid.”
“People would give me their ketchup packets and I’d eat like ten or more at lunch time and that was it. If we had something good, I’d sneak it in my pocket and once back inside the classroom, I’d sneak it into my backpack and eat it at home that day. For some reason, my fear of choking was much smaller at home.”
21. “I usually use Dungeons and Dragons as a way to help with social anxiety because people are usually interested in learning about it. I was going on an elevator and there was a guy who looked at me weird. He had a cross necklace and I shrugged, held up the 3.5 edition Player’s Handbook, and asked ‘would you like to learn about our lord and savior Gary Gygax?'”
“The guy stared at me, shrugged, and said ‘Sure,’ leading me to an awkward stuttering explanation of D&D.”
22. “I️ was searching for roommates and hired a cleaning company to deep clean my very gross apartment. I️ left them a key in my mailbox because I️ was supposed to be at school on the scheduled clean date. I skipped school but forgot the cleaning company was coming.”
“When they arrived, I️ panicked, and locked myself in my bedroom. Because the house was very old and wonky, there were gaps between the door and the door frame and I️ was worried I️’d be seen if I️ just hung out in my room, so I️ laid on the floor under my bed…I️ continued laying for THREE MORE HOURS until they finally finished.”
23. “This happened in someone’s house as we were drinking coffee together. I was so exhausted from being around people, and began to get very anxious. So, while the guy was in the middle of a story, I got up from the table, slowly put my shoes on, and walked out the door.”
“The guy was still talking to me as the door closed. Got to my car and said, ‘what on earth did I just do?’ I’m a pastor, and this happened last week.”
24. “As a kid at a sleepover, I woke up early, and panicked because I felt guilty that I was awake alone in someone else’s house. Because I felt guilty, I started putting their dishes from the dishwasher into the cabinets.”
“Then I realized how weird that seemed, so I started loading them BACK into the dishwasher. The parents woke up to a frazzled pre-teen stuffing clean dishes into their dishwasher.”
