Remember, “Friday’s Finding Your Funny” is dedicated to good, clean fun! Know someone whom you would like to nominate? Submit the nomination in the “Contact Me” section of my blog including a link to the material.
If you’re like me, you might find amusement at the expense of other’s embarrassment. I know. I know! It’s not right! I can’t help it. Certainly, I don’t want to see anyone get humiliated, but a little embarrassed? That’s harmless humor. It’s the same type of deranged mindset that makes me laugh incessantly when I watch America’s Funniest Videos as people are falling, getting kicked, or whacked with a stick as little Jimmy smacks at one of his parents rather than his birthday piñata. How many times does one have to witness parents as piñatas before realization dawns it might be a good idea to step away from the armed and dangerous five year old, especially when little Jimmy is blind folded?
I smacked an embarrassing moment out of the park a number of years ago. I’m talking bases loaded, stadium sold out, crowd gathered to witness my World Series wait-for-it moment.
I was in medical sales for a number of years. Most of my time was spent with the nurses and surgeons in the operating room. It really was quite an interesting job and I was able to meet a lot of people and establish excellent relationships with the hospital personnel. When you’re dealing with people and personalities, a day is never boring. There’s always an unexpected surprise right around the corner. Sometimes, those surprises are good. Sometimes, those surprises are like opening up something in your fridge only to find fuzzy green stuff growing on the top of your leftovers– not good.
I had one of those fuzzy green mold kind of days early in my sales career. Even though I was working in the hospital, it wasn’t one of those moldy moments that you could turn into penicillin! There was no salvaging this enchilada of embarrassment.
Occasionally, the products I sold had use in departments outside of the operating room. I didn’t know the staff outside of the O.R. because it was very rare that we would interact. As I mentioned, the people I worked with on a daily basis were in surgery – not a traditional nursing unit.
I say all this to stress the fact that I didn’t know the audience I was speaking to when my World Series wait-for-it moment took place. All of the nursing staff was gathered around the nurse’s station in order for me to provide a technical in-service on the product I had sold them.
They were a fun crowd and we were bantering back and forth. There was one person in particular who kept jokingly jabbing me. Mid technical speech, I stopped to jokingly jab back. I said, “I see how it is. He’s the heckler of the group!”
Dead. Silence.
I instantly processed something was the matter. Then, I heard several separate voices utter, “She” as they stared at me in disbelief. Oh my gosh! What have I done? Face turning bright red, more red than any blood ever seen in a hospital trauma room! What to do? What to do? It was an honest mistake. Heck, everyone is in scrubs. How was I to know? Darned unisex uniforms! Drat!
I delivered the fastest in-service training ever known to mankind (or woman-kind in this case!). I sped through that teaching at break-neck speed. Honestly, I don’t even know if I apologized I was so embarrassed. I can’t quite remember what I even said. I am surprised the staff even knew how to use the product since I tripped through the explanation so quickly.
It was in that moment that I understood the importance of “you”. Forever moving forward, regardless of the circumstance, I never use the pronoun he or she unless I am absolutely certain which applies. Until the coast is clear? “You” and “Your” have become my pronouns of choice!
Have you ever had one of those open mouth, insert foot moments?
What did you say?
How did you recover?