SEC-S11W1:"The most embarrassing moment of my life as a kid or parent

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Embarrassment... that awkward feeling you get deep down in your stomach when you know that; Oh no, that was not good!

If you ask me, there can only be one hand, okay, maybe two hands, of people on earth who have never been embarrassed in their lives.

👉🏻Embarrassment happens when your mom calls you to recite your poem or sing a song in front of her friends.

👉🏻Embarrassment happens when your teacher asks you a question and you don’t have a clue what she is talking about because you were daydreaming.

👉🏻Embarrassment happens when your snore wakes you up when you are in church.

These are moments when we feel the world can swallow us, but looking back at a later stage, they are moments that bring a smile to your face.

Have I ever been embarrassed?

Oh YES!
I am human and I have definitely experienced that awkward moment plenty of times in my life.

When I looked at the brief for the contest, it came to light that this contest is not about those lighter moments in life when your daughter tells a friend’s mother that her mother doesn’t like blondes, and here she stands in front of as blonde as can be.

No, this contest has a deeper meaning for the word " embarrassing." Maybe as deep as having your name in the local newspaper?

As many of you know by now, I was a restaurant owner. What I did not tell you was that although our town was in the country, we had one of the best universities in South Africa in our town, North-West University, or Pukke as we called it.

These students were like my own children. I gave them work, I listened to their complaints, I put a plaster on their sores, and I helped them with their study work. I was their mother away from home. I took my duty very seriously as for me it was in our restaurant that they would get their first lesson in life. As for my own children, they were part of the waitering team.

They also knew me well. When we work, we work, and when we play, we play. Believe me, when you have a franchise restaurant in a busy shopping center, you work most of the time.

I am a perfectionist when it comes to my work, and that is how I was at the restaurant. I was not a chef, and I hated working front of house with the clients. I was good at working out menus, food costs, hunting for bargains, and yes, also working with the waiters. I was responsible for their shifts, staff meetings, sales, etc.

One of the things I cannot handle in a restaurant is when the condiments are dirty.

This was something the waiters were well aware of. It was their duty at the beginning and end of their shifts to make sure the restaurant was neat, the salad bar at the entrance looked good, and yes, the condiments were clean.

One afternoon, I decided to do some inspections. I walk straight to the condiments and start opening bottles after bottles. Tomato sauce, Worcestershire Sauce, mustard, salad dressing… they were all dirty. I put my arm out, and with one movement, I swept all the bottles with their contents onto the floor. "Now I’ve made sure that you will never forget to clean the condiments."

As I looked up I saw their faces. They were not staring at me, but at the door. I slowly turned around, and there it was a client who just walked in, standing there with tomato sauce all over his face, his jacket, his pants, and his shoes. One of the tomato sauce bottles burst and splattered its contents as it hit the floor directly at him.

Best of all, I knew exactly who this man was. The editor of our local newspaper. I got that awkward feeling in my stomach, and I’m sure I must have said, "Oh no, that was not good!"

I prayed for the earth to swallow me at the moment, but it did not happen. I was left facing him with a red face. I was so embarrassed.

I suppose I don’t have to tell you that the story landed in the newspaper. At least people were talking for months about the restaurant with the "cleanest condiments" in town.

Do you think I deserved the embarrassment, or someone else?

Nah, the shame was on me and nobody else. I should have thought twice before sweeping those bottles off the counter.
On the other hand, why must one always keep asking? Why can't people listen and do what is asked of them? All I wanted to do was teach them a valuable lesson.

I’m changing my mind, the shame was on all of us. The waiters for not cleaning the condiments and me for sweeping them off the counter.

One thing I can tell you is that you can go to my daughter's house now and you will not find any dirty condiments.

What have I done to avoid such a scenario from reoccurring?

Well, to start, from then on, I made sure that the door of the restaurant was locked when I performed inspections.

We had a check list for what needed to be cleaned and checked. I made sure that "clean condiments" was the first item and in bold.

Lastly, I moved the condiments to the back of the counter just to make sure they are out of my reach.

What I have learned is that no matter how big or small our embarrassing moments are, you can learn from all of them.

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I invite: @fadlymatch @nexcis @waqarahmadshah

CC: @max-pro @shabbir86

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