How Bad Are Your Social Skills.

[Revoltingest]

In a junior high school art class, I asked a mainstreamed
special ed kid if he knew he was retarded. The teacher
had to take me aside to explain that was inappropriate.
I just wondered about the extent of his comprehending
his own state. Ironic, eh? I didn't know my own.

So....tell me an embarrassing story about your cluelessness.

 

[PoetPhilosopher]

I once called a poster on another forum who had the username "Angelo" and some numbers after it as "Angel" for short. Never do that.

On one discussion group, whenever I said I lived in IL, people started seeming to think I lived in IceLand.

I got a psychological diagnosis by posting in Games.

Wolverine moments, eh?

 

[Viker]

I was picked on everywhere I went as a kid. I got into the habit of being a little jerk, basically to get to the insults before others could.

I look back and I was kinda awesome.

Others who didn't know for sure assumed I was a smart alecky tomboy, like Jodie Foster on steroids.

Those who knew me. Well, I had to punch a lot of other kids. Lots.

 

[JustGeorge]

I have an eccentric friend.

They are bursting with emotion. When they are happy, they jump and dance. When they are sad, they fall on the floor and cry. They eat most of their food from the gas station, are anti-government to a point that harms them, and spent years riding around on a bus full of hobos and hippies, doing hobo and hippie type things. Their clothes often doesn't fit and/or is ripped, and they don't seem to be awfully self aware.

One day, I mentioned I was a bit odd. They said "Yeah! You are! You are the most eccentric person I know!" I reviewed how strange my friend is, and all the strange contacts they have had and concluded....

I must be pretty far out there.

My therapist laughed at me once... I said something about having to try to teach my son social skills. "Kind of like the blind leading the blind, isn't it!" she said....

 

[PoetPhilosopher]

I once spent a month and a half thinking I was dating a woman, going out, and texting every night, who told me she loved me about a month in. Turns out I guess we were just friends and she never had thoughts those were dates

 

[Shadow Wolf]

So....tell me an embarrassing story about your cluelessness.

A girl hugged me in high school once and I had no idea what to make of it. At all.
A guy was hitting on me (my character in a LARP game, anyways). I was the last person around watching this exchange to notice this, and I only did because of the way other people started acting. Had it not been for those other people, I would gotten those words out of my open mouth, rather than slamming the brakes on them as I realized at the very last and final nanosecond what he meant by being trained for top or bottom magic.

 

[PoetPhilosopher]

I once had these cheap CDs which you use to back up computer data. This was before a lot of people used USBs. Well for some reason, I thought you could just break them in half and tried to do so because I didn't want to confuse old data CDs with new or some reason or another (they weren't rewritable, they were burn once CDs), the material really did seem like you could. The material didn't even seem like metal at all. I learned a little lesson in physics and cleaning up messes that day. Probably among the top 5-10 stupidest things I've done.

Also, don't break CDs. Even if it looks fragile. One of the more dangerous innocent-sounding things you can do.

I can't think how it has to do with social skills, but alas, it was up there on awkward ideas.

 

[The Sum of Awe]

"Nice music, what are you listening to?"

-Me, who wasn't focusing on the music and just had it as background noise, and now is in a hurry to answer so I don't look dumb- : Soundgarden

Me, a second later, realizing it was actually Pearl Jam

 

[PoetPhilosopher]

"Nice music, what are you listening to?"

-Me, who wasn't focusing on the music and just had it as background noise, and now is in a hurry to answer so I don't look dumb- : Soundgarden

Me, a second later, realizing it was actually Pearl Jam

I lost an online friend over music once.

I told them I like 8 bit music. They were very excited to hear this and said 8 bit was their favorite. Then they posted about 10 songs for me to listen to. Totaling about 35-40 minutes

The music was actually really awful. I'd rather listen to a smoke alarm. I spent 16 minutes listening to it, then said, "It's not really my style, but it's cool you like 8-bit tracks like me."

The guy then pointed out I couldn't have listened to it all in 16 minutes, which is true. He told me that he spent so much time listening to the things I say, then I couldn't kindly listen to all his music when he posts it.

We stopped talking because that's what he wanted.

 

[JustGeorge]

"Nice music, what are you listening to?"

-Me, who wasn't focusing on the music and just had it as background noise, and now is in a hurry to answer so I don't look dumb- : Soundgarden

Me, a second later, realizing it was actually Pearl Jam

Oh, that is awkward!

(Might be because I love Soundgarden, but can't tolerate Pearl Jam )

 

[SomeRandom]

Too many to mention lol
I remember as a kid there were two distinct “rules” when addressing my elders. My mum would stress that Australians prefer to go by first name basis, whereas Indians were always to be addressed as “uncle” or “Aunty” and the really elderly as grandmother/grandfather.
Well I was visiting my dad’s family (who are Aussies) and accidentally called my actual real uncle by his first name. He laughed it off and told me to call him that, but I felt so embarrassed that I have never done it again lol

I remember back in high school one of the English teachers was the nephew of one of my dad’s close friends.
So I always knew him as “my cousin.”
Freaked me out when I rocked up at school only to see him fully sober. So many awkward encounters with him. But we’d often playfully tease each other. Thankfully he only was my relief teacher once or twice. I don’t think I could have handled being in his English class lol

 

[Gargovic Malkav]

Not my story, but this guy I know visited the store at a gas station once.
He was wearing a mask because of the pandemic, but it was still new to him.
He jokingly said to the clerk: "This is a robbery!".
The clerk's eyes became large and fearful.
The guy forgot that gas stations were often targeted by robbers, so he got shocked as well and quickly explained that he was only joking.

 

[PoetPhilosopher]

I have one thing I don't really know about the English language that could cause awkwardness. It's...

When you want to talk about a person who is Hindu, you say "a Hindu" and not "a Hindu person", right?

In some contexts, the former would be considered offensive in English if it involved something else, like saying "a black" or "a transgender" to represent a person. In the latter case, I find it better to say "person" after it. Like saying, "A transgender person".

 

[PoetPhilosopher]

Not my story, but this guy I know visited the store at a gas station once.
He was wearing a mask because of the pandemic, but it was still new to him.
He jokingly said to the clerk: "This is a robbery!".
The clerk's eyes became large and fearful.
The guy forgot that gas stations were often targeted by robbers, so he got shocked as well and quickly explained that he was only joking.

In GameStop, I haven't done it myself or anything, but if you make a joke about the validity of the cash you give them or the trades you trade in, they'll by policy reject it and send you on your way, even if the cashier knows for sure you're joking.

 

[JustGeorge]

I have one thing I don't really know about the English language that could cause awkwardness. It's...

When you want to talk about a person who is Hindu, you say "a Hindu" and not "a Hindu person", right?

In some contexts, the former would be considered offensive in English if it involved something else, like saying "a black" or "a transgender" to represent a person. In the latter case, I find it better to say "person" after it. Like saying, "A transgender person".

The easiest option is to just use poor grammar all the time, so if you screw up, the person has just assumed you've made a grammatical error.

In GameStop, I haven't done it myself or anything, but if you make a joke about the validity of the cash you give them or the trades you trade in, they'll by policy reject it and send you on your way, even if the cashier knows for sure you're joking.

My husband likes using 2 dollar bills. Its caused some awkward moments, one being when we were traveling and a Taco Bell employee wanted to call the police because she refused to believe it was real money...

 

[Shadow Wolf]

(Might be because I love Soundgarden, but can't tolerate Pearl Jam )

Ok, I'm like most people and only like their first album, but still.

 

[Gargovic Malkav]

"Nice music, what are you listening to?"

-Me, who wasn't focusing on the music and just had it as background noise, and now is in a hurry to answer so I don't look dumb- : Soundgarden

Me, a second later, realizing it was actually Pearl Jam

I often have this in social situations where people are talking, but where I'm not always listening(sometimes even when they're talking to me).
This can be very awkward as it can make them feel like fools, even though I don't do it deliberately.

 

[sun rise]

I was the last one in my social group to know what "spin the bottle" was all about.

 

[PoetPhilosopher]

I was the last one in my social group to know what "spin the bottle" was all about.

I can't remember whether I've played that or not, I've drowned out some of my teenage memories. However, something I think about is that it seems like the overweight people might have better odds of being selected by the bottle. But I never thought that thought through to completion.

 

[JustGeorge]

Ok, I'm like most people and only like their first album, but still.

I just can't take the vocalist...

I was the last one in my social group to know what "spin the bottle" was all about.

How'd you find out?

I had a rather sheltered friend as a teen. She had a large menagerie of pets, and one day announced to a group of other teens "I have crabs!" I had to take her aside and explain why everything had gotten quiet...