Tripping up in public - the long road to recovery

Whether you're confident or terrified of large social gatherings, sooner or later you're going to trip up. It may be by mentioning you shouldn't to a certain group of people, or getting interrupted by someone slightly ruder and obnoxious than you are.

Sometimes, the trip is a lot more literal than previously mentioned examples.

Sometimes, you trip up whilst walking in public.

It's happened to most people, and the depth of the stumble is directly related to the embarassment factor that you experience.

Just the other day whilst walking through the communal lounging area (also known as "The Atrium") at work, I happened to trip over what was apparently thin-air.

One trip came after another until I was performing an entire 1980s Michael Jackson dance routine.

Whilst this was going on, I remember a few thoughts flashing through my mind, but only two of them stand out in my mind now:

1. I will never recover from this.
2. Every single person in this room witnessing this is willing me to hit the deck.

My stumbling continued right out the door without me saying a word. Hearing the sniggers behind me, I knew full-well that it wouldn't be forgotten and that I'd be "The guy that tripped up in the Atrium"!

The only way to escape this sort of thing is for the people witnessing the trip of social death to have experienced this before for themselves. This way, they can at least empathise with what you're going through and spare you the label. For those that haven't experienced it, every day I watch them walk past, just hoping that one foot doesn't quite make it in front of the other.

Their time will come, and I'll be there to witness it and snigger behind their back as they walk away feeling ashamed.

Hang on, that's not empathy, that's revenge.

Sod it.