Remember all those horribly embarrassing things that happened to you as a kid? The big ones most vivid in my memory are the kid leaning over to pick up a pencil and flipping their whole desk over. And I don’t know what desks look like now, but when I was in elementary school, they were big and clunky, with the chair attached to the desk and the top that lifted up to store all your books and belongings. So when those puppies fell it shook the room. Or how about having your skirt stuck up in your tights and walking around while everyone snickered instead of telling you?

And then there’s the really bad stuff, like spewing milk out of your nose because someone made you laugh at lunch, or throwing up on the floor in class, or choking on part of your sandwich while your friends laugh because they think you are joking. Yep, all good fun. And we don’t necessarily escape these moments as adults, but I think now we are better at laughing at ourselves or throwing out sarcasm to deflect the onlookers. I feel bad even revealing this story to you as I was only a spectator but I can’t think of anything that has recently happened to me, so hopefully it’s all in good fun since no names are mentioned…

There is a quiet woman who frequents our lunch area around 1 pm each day. Some of the employees from our building next door prefer to take breaks in our office due to its colorful decor, high ceilings, and skylights. A pleasant escape from the caves of cubicle mazes that make up most offices. I see her almost every day. She seems to forgo the lunch rush for a solitary moment out of the day when she can read and eat her meal in peace.

One day it was particularly busy in the kitchen. Because of the open architecture of our building, the kitchen and lunch tables are plotted in the middle of a main walkway and are completely open to the surrounding cubicles and offices. So when someone is having a celebration everyone in the office can hear and it also tends to draw colleagues together for water cooler talk. We greet each other and chit chat as coffee cups are filled, popcorn popped, and dishes rinsed.

Already the stage was set for someone to have a moment. Of course embarrassing things never happen when no one is around. Suddenly the woman began choking, which quickly changed to hacking. Everyone was silent and some were beginning to approach, others asked if she was okay, while most were frozen in shock. She rose from the table, took three steps over to the garbage can, and to our horror, vomited into the trash.

Fear became disgust, and disgust dissolved quickly into sympathy. Almost immediately I was thankful that it had not been me and I silently checked myself for sources of possible embarrassment. I retreated to the safety of my cubicle where no harm can come to me, and I didn’t eat for the rest of the day.