I have a couple of memories from my younger days that just make me hang my head in shame and say to myself, “what the hell were you thinking, you IDIOT!”

Hey, we all have them.

And even though they’re still somewhat painful and embarrassing, it’s good to look back and laugh…if you can…

Folks on AskReddit opened up about the cringey memories they can’t seem to get rid of.

1. We can work on that!

“So for context I went to a really sheltered Catholic high school. So didn’t really know how the real world worked.

My first job when I was 16 and I’m being introduced to all my co-workers. On of them named Maurice (who was obviously homosexual) asked me if I was too.

I wasn’t but wanted to let him know I was cool with it ( again Catholic high school) and said “no but I’m open minded about it”.

To which he responded “we’re gonna work on that”. What an awkward summer. I cringe every time.”

2. Sleeping in class.

“I fell asleep in my high school history class, I was all the way in the back of the room so the teacher never noticed.

Until I farted in my sleep so loud that it woke me up and my head shot up and smacked against the back wall. Never heard the end of it

At the time nobody really reacted. Except the guy in front of me was just kind of shaking, he turned around to look at me and was laughing so hard he was crying. Also should mention my crush was two seats over.”

3. A nice ending.

“In the first grade I moved to a new school in a small town. Two months in I would literally lose bowel function for no apparent reason. Totally watery and intense abdominal cramps. I was shy and didn’t have any friends yet. I was embarrassed and would just sit there in my own mess until the teacher noticed.

This went on every day. Eventually they sent me to the principles office and the nurse, teacher, and my parents thought I was just seeking attention. Despite packing 2 new pairs of undies and pants each day I would still be soaked at the end of the day.

Over the next 2 weeks I kept getting in trouble. I was held in from recess and had to sit in the hallway alone when I ran out of clothes for the day.

I had to eat lunch alone and spent at least half of my days sitting by myself in the hallway staring at the wall.

When my parents finally took me to the doctor they found a strange intestinal infection with no cure. It eventually went away.

So for 1 month in a new school I was that shy weird kid who smelled bad and couldn’t participate in any activities.

I graduated HS 12 years later with the same small class of students.

It wasn’t until my 10 year class reunion that one of my classmates (now a nurse) told me they all felt so bad for me and never brought it up because they felt like I was being abused when they saw me sitting alone in the hall in my soaked clothing.

This restored my faith in how kind other kids can be.”

4. Called out.

“I was bullshitting my way through a presentation in college on tanks in World War 2 and this kid just got so sick of my shit that he called out from the back of the class and corrected me in front of the whole class while my professor avoided eye contact with me.”

5. Gift cards!

“So my mom had won this prize at a big shopping center. She was allowed to take 3 guests for a day of shopping that included gift cards at various stores and a $250 gift card at a restaurant of her choice for us to eat at. Anyways, it was a big deal and they had a film crew come and tape some of it for their website.

The reporter lady comes up to me when the food arrives and she’s like “that looks fantastic, what’d you get?” And I was caught off guard so I look at the camera and go “GIFT CARDS!”

Ultimate cringe and it took me about half a second to realize what she meant. When I think about it now at least I can laugh about it.”

6. Still cringing.

“I’m a Canadian and we had this show in the 2000’s called Radio Free Roscoe. I was obsessed with this show! I watched it religiously on the Family Channel. My aunt had a friend who was a makeup artist for the show and so she managed to get us on set to meet the cast and visit all the different places.

My 11 year old self was ecstatic! It was the most incredible thing to happen to me. My brother and make cousin went with us

We get to the set and it’s amazing and everything I had hoped it would be. We got to see them film a scene and see all the behind the scenes stuff, it was incredible. We went to do the meet and greet with the cast and I was so nervous but excited.

I’m an awkward girl and super oblivious especially when I’m nervous. Kate Todd (the female co-star) was being super sweet with me because I was the only girl in our group. She called me over to sit with her for the photos and used her hand to pat the seat beside her. Being oblivious I missed the seat pat and went and sat directly on her lap.

I’m 27 years old now and I still remember her saying “Oh! Um, Okay” in a super surprised voice. I was mortified that I just sat on her damn lap like a baby instead of beside her like she intended. I honestly couldn’t look anyone in the eyes again after that.

I still cringe to this day thinking about sitting on her damn lap. She was super sweet about it but I knew I had fucked up.”

7. Sorry, Colin…

“This guy in one of my classes in 8th grade I was friendly with bc he didn’t seem to be good friends with anyone else in the class. He was a nice kid just maybe a little awkward but we had good conversations about LotR so hey.

Then one day at the end of the period we were both packing up our stuff and he says “Hey, do you want to go out with me next Wednesday?”

Wasn’t interested in him that way, and I was so off guard that I froze like a deer in the headlights until I finally stammered “Uh, I think my mom has planssorrybye.” And basically ran out of the room. I still feel bad about it, every time I saw him in middle school and high school after that I felt terrible.

Sorry Colin.”

8. This is really bad.

“Oh man.

Some context, my best friend growing up was black. We were inseparable, we wanted to make video games together when we grew up, all that. Well, he went with me and another member of my family to the store.

As we were driving, a man nearly ran into my other family member’s car, and my other family member shouted, “F-ing n-er!” It got quiet in the car, then my other family member said to my best friend in the back, “You’re not the n-er I was talking to,” as a way to apologize.

I was young, but even then I knew something awful had happened. It completely changed how I looked at my other family member and how my best friend looked at my family. We stayed friends but I had to hang out at his house since he stopped coming to mine. Couldn’t blame him.

Super-cringy, life-changing.”

9. Bloody awful.

“My sons and their friend kicked their ball into the middle of a little pond at our local park. I let them use my walking stick to try get it out but they couldn’t quite reach. A man passing by with his son offered to help.

He got the ball but dropped my stick. As he was reaching for the stick he fell in! He laughed, we laughed and he went off home to dry up. He returned 10 mins later because once he got home he realised his phone was missing. His phone that contained baby pics of his son and newborn at home. We tried so hard to find that damn phone.

I still feel bloody awful.”

10. My idol…

“So when I was 8 or so, some of my parents’ friends came over, and they brought their son, who was a few years older than me. I used to really idolize that kid for some reason…he just seemed cool and was always friendly toward me.

So this particular day I happened to be lounging around in my pajamas watching television and I hadn’t expected company. I don’t know why, because wearing pajamas (especially as an 8-year-old boy) is not that big of a thing, but I was absolutely mortified when the kid came into the room to say hi.

So I ended up running to the closet nearby and shutting the door. This was right in front of the kid. My parents couldn’t get me out. The kid came up and through the door was like, “that’s totally fine, bud, there’s nothing for you to be embarrassed about, come out and play. If you want you can go change first.”

But I wasn’t having any of it. I was by this point more embarrassed about my reaction than being “caught” in pajamas, so I couldn’t bring myself to come out until the kid and his parents left like two hours later.”

11. Saying dumb stuff.

“I was in my early 20s, had a girlfriend of 3 years and we were like 2 years into our relationship, and one time after we had sex I said, and I still don’t know what possessed me to say this, god this is so embarrassing… I said, “where are you gonna find dick this good?”

It was so awkward. And I think about it like once a month because it is easily the dumbest thing I have ever said, and it makes me cringe so bad.

Someone punch me in the face.”

12. That’s pretty bad.

“Doing a practice for a play in front of a small crowd of like maybe 35 – 50 people when I sh*t my pants.

Middle of my lines a felt the wetness and had to run off stage. I kept myself locked in a room the rest of the day.”

13. Forgot she was there.

“The very first night my now wife spent at my place (had only been dating a week, but I was SUPER into her) we got shitty drunk before bed … the next morning I forgot she was there (still technically drunk) and ripped a once in a lifetime epic fart that was both echoing through the hallways and melting paint off the walls.

I remembered she was there when she audibly laughed and said “oh my God!” I pretended to still be asleep instead of addressing it. To this day I’m amazed she stuck around after that, but we’re now happily married.

Anyone that can survive that and still stick around is definitely a keeper … even if she still loves telling people that story years later.”

14. It was you…

“So I was having a psychological evaluation for a military school, the psychologist gave me two pieces of paper to draw a male and a female and name them. The male one was easy, I just have to draw myself and use my own name.

I was having difficulty drawing a female and couldn’t think fast so my stupid ass drew the psychologist because she was cute.

Then came the part where she started asking about the drawing, the male part went smoothly, when she asked about the name of the female I said “Actually it was you” (plus a smirk) then she straight up wrote the name of the drawing “Actually it was you”.

I still cringe about it up to now.”

15. Family vacation.

“Was a kid (10) in a family vacation in Hong Kong and we were all in a souvenir store. I was walking around with my brother (9) trying to find a cool toy to buy. It took me long enough to find one, but I was proud that I found it.

I was amused by it and started talking about it to him. It was a large strechy and bouncy toy that had a cartoonish face one it. I was saying things like “Wow! This is so cool!” and proceeded to make the toy bounce a lot. I brought the toy towards my brother’s face and shouted “BOING BOING BOING” and that’s when I realized that I wasn’t talking to my brother anymore.

It was a Chinese boy, assumably 10-12 years old. He stared at me with the most serious face ever. I legit felt so ashamed, and ran away. I didn’t bother to get the toy anymore.

I have never been so traumatized in my life that until this day I still think about that Chinese boy’s poker face.”

16. Did it work, though?

“Yelling at the top of my lungs “we are looking for love!”

At a homeschooler cookout when I was 13 to a group of girls… Raised my soda and everything.”

Ouch…we feel you, friends…and we hope you forget about those incidents very soon.

How about you?

Do you have a specific memory that still really makes you cringe today?

Tell us about it in the comments!

Please and thank you!