Moments of Dumbosity

We all have those moments. Moments we'd love to rewind and do again, with much more finesse and a lot less stupidity. Subtract those things we do without thinking that make other people think, "What the hell were they thinking?" Basically, we'd like not to look foolish.
Although I know I'm not the only who does these things, I do tend to do them in front of other people. You see, making a silly mistake when no one else is there to catch it doesn't really mean anything. Making it in front of your boyfriend or entire family, well, then you never hear the end of it.
Take an hour ago for example. C and I went through the drive-through at Burger King, and our total came to $14.76. Now, for some reason, I gave the girl $20.06, thinking I'd get back $.30 for change. Well, I was right about that, but the girl looked at me confused, wondering why I had given her a nickel since, getting that kind of change back, I'd be getting a nickel in return. And of course, I couldn't grasp that concept immediately until I thought about it for an extra two seconds. "Ohhh, yeah you're right. That was pretty dumb," I said. C just laughed and I tried to laugh it off too, but doing that in front of other people is never a fun feeling. And all I needed to do was think about it for an extra two seconds before the dumb move occurred.
But that's only a small brain fart in comparison to other blowouts I've had in my lifetime. There were some doozies when I was a reporter. In one article, I wrote about the town appointing a new building inspector, and all they were waiting for was the CORI check to come through and he would be hired. This was the first time I'd seen the abbreviation for the background check, so instead of asking the selectmen what it stood for, I figured I would just Google it. Well, Google comes up with many fine answers to one question, so the first one that came up at that time was a contracting institute. It fit well with the subject so that's what went into the article. Of course, the next day I got an email from the institution (they did daily Internet checks on how often their company is featured in online items) wondering why they were mentioned in an article about a town building inspector. Needless to say I felt like a huge dork, apologized for the error, and told them it might have been a cut and paste fiasco. Oops.
But the best one so far has been my birthday two or three years ago (it was so traumatizing I've almost blocked it out). :) My entire family came to Worcester to take me out for a birthday lunch at Vinny T's. When we got to the parking lot I parked next to my parents. C and I sat in the car for a second while I waited for my mom to open her car door so we wouldn't bang doors. But she was writing in her travel journal, so I decided to get out before she did. Now, this would've been a smart move had I not still had the keys in the ignition and the motor running. Doors locked, I slammed my door shut.
Shit.
Thankfully my mom had a wire coat hanger in the trunk, as they had a suitcase for their trip up that weekend. So my handy brother-in-law shimmied it down the other side of the door and was able to unlock it, allowing me to properly turn off my car. But the damage was done- a typical DER moment, and not just in a public parking lot, but with my family waiting for me to have lunch. Priceless.
Unfortunately, it's these situations that tend to make the best stories, and are fair fodder for razzing on people. But it's all in the way you handle them that can turn them from embarrassing to just plain funny, and something you can laugh about whenever it comes up. And trust me, they might come up quite often!
Thankfully for me, I've had plenty of practice. :)