So you when you first meet someone there’s always that awkward period. Feeling them out. What can they handle, how long do you have to wait before you can talk about _______, what sense of humor do they have, how open can you get them to be etc. It’s a part of starting any friendship, relationship, partnership or whatever else you may be creating. So I’m in the car the other day, getting directions from someone in the passenger seat. Because I had not a clue where the heck I was going. I randomly got in the left turn lane before I, again, realized I had no freaking idea where I was going and was at that point just making up my own directions.
So I asked, “Um, looks like we’re going left… is this right because I’m just making things up”.
They reply, “Yes, that works, we do need to go left”.
So, me, being the witty person that I am… and also the person who finds their own jokes borderline hilarious decides to reference Mean Girls and say, “Wow, I must have ESPN or something”. Then it dawns on me that there’s a chance that not everyone in the world has seen Mean Girls and that I might have just made myself sound like the biggest idiot in the world. Intelligence is key. So I try to back track and things just got awkward. It went a little something like this:
Me (in my head): That was a good one Megan, good work. Haha. <Insert moment of pride>. Wait. Do you think they’ve seen Mean Girls? What are the chances that they haven’t seen Mean Girls. Probably pretty low. Crap, you’re an idiot. Ok, ok how do you make yourself not sound like a moron?
Me (outloud): “Uh, you know I meant ESP right? That ESPN line was from Mean Girls, I’m not that stupid. I just didn’t know if you’d seen it and didn’t want you to think I was a complete idiot, because, of course, I know it’s ESP and not ESPN… I mean it’s obvious right?
And their reply: “Oh yeah, I’ve seen that”.
The End.
Should have just left it alone… but no I had to go and make things more awkward and sound like an even bigger idiot than if I had just left it at ESPN. Go me.
Wow, we’re the same person … Except I wouldn’t have clarified my reference, I would’ve mumbled to myself and stopped talking.
Awesome post.