What's your most embarrassing moment?

[Andrea]

I LOVE to hear these so entertain me and tell me your most face-reddening moment!!
I'll be a big girl and share 1st:

Several years ago there was another young girl (Nicole) who worked for the same small optical chain as me...and for a few days in a row she had to keep calling my store to check on various things...almost every time she called I would be the one to answer the phone.
She would crack a joke and we would laugh because we got to talk to so much.
Well...1 nite I'm closing up by myself, the phone rings and I hear a female voice say
"Wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-"...one loooooong continuous stutter.
I think "silly Nicole, trying to get me..."

So I say "SPIT IT OUT!!" and chuckle.

There's a pause and the woman says "B-b-b-b-be p-p-p-p-p-p-patient with m-m-m-m-me....h-h-h-h-how much is an eye e-e-e-e-e-e-exam?"

I was MORTIFIED..it was NOT my friend, it was a real patient w/ a severe stuttering problem...I thought I would absolutely die...I apologized PROFUSELY but, jeez, how sincere does an apology sound when you're trying to explain you thought a sincere question from someone w/ a handicap was a joke??
Needless, to say I learned my lesson and I NEVER say anything like that on the phone...EVER.

Okay...I showed y'all how I made an *** of myself...your turn :)

[Andrea]

I guess we can't say "*** " in here, ha ha :D

[HenryB]

Ok picture this......I was at the wifey's little bro's wedding a few weeks ago......we had just finished the rehearsal at the church under the guidance of the rather "militant" priest....and we were standing near the entrance of the rehearsal dinner hall discussing this priest and his "my way or the highway" way of doing weddings when he walked through the door......well she (the bride to be) immediately blurted out "SPEAK OF THE DEVIL".....in closing, let's just say I was the only one who found humor in the situation......

[Jeff Trail]

It's going to take alot to be me on this one :) ..OK, when I had my store, the optician calls me at the lab and tells me the air conditioner was on the blink..I pop on my coveralls (nice and dirty) grab my ladder,tool box and toss em' in the truck and head for the optical, of course being "a man" I'm gonna fix it, no calling an expert well I climb up the ladder and the optician yells up tells me it's quiting time and everyone is heading home and locking up, her: "you want me to stay" me:"nope I'll fix it in a jiffy and let myself out" .. sounds alright so far huh?.. well I get done (do fix it myself .."he-man") but then I sit on the rafter and start to ease myself down to the ladder.. my coveralls hang on the RAFTER!! the ladder falls over and there I am swinging from the ceiling from my pants in the MALL!!! ... can't go up can't go down.. all I can say is thank GOD they make cell phones!! I called my optician who was on her way home and she came back and set the ladder back up for me and I got my pants lose.. :) .. AFTER she took a picture of me of course.. and all my staff rode me about that for a year!! It was only a instamtic pic and it was posted at the store for a long time.. hey I didn't mind, everyone got a laugh and I wasn't splattered on the floor.. BUT it mysteriously went missing after about a year a guy can only take so much after doing something pretty dumb..

Jeff "beat that one if ya can" Trail

[Vicki]

Jeff,
Oh my god that is one funny story (I'm sure it wasn't funny for you at the time!) You are right, I don't think that one can be beat! I won't even try to come close but I can appreciate you being able to find humor in it! "Hang in" there and have a good weekend!!

Vicki

[stephanie]

Oh how embarrassing!! Well, Andrea I would love to share mine with you but it may not be appropriate for the board!!! Yea that bad! But I enjoy hearing everyone's stories too.
Talk to you later!!
Steph

[Pete Hanlin]

Okay, I started out in optical as a lab rat in a small privately owned chain (all their stores were in local malls)...

Anyway, we did both glass and CR-39 in the lab, and we used Kirk ovens to heat treat the glass lenses (most of the lab techs reading this know exactly where this is about to go ;) ). If you are not a lab rat, let me explain that a Kirk oven gets quite hot (how hot does it get? I don't quite remember anymore, but I think its in excess of 1100 degrees f.).

Anyway, we were one of those "buy one get one free- in an hour" places and I had only worked there 6 weeks or so. I had just done about 7 pairs of glass lenses in a row and I just finished edging a pair of CR-39 blended lenses. I safety beveled them and turned around to plop them on the Kirk oven tray... turned the timer knob and the tray started to go into the oven... immediately realized what I did and tried to grab the lenses off the tray (ouch! ).

Needless to say, the instant the tray entered the oven, the lenses burst into flames. To my credit, I calmly turned around and said, "Jack (he was a real *%%@$#&, but that's another story), the Kirk oven is on fire." Jack was not quite so calm about it, and sprinted (which was not in itself so unusual, because Jack always sprinted around the lab - like I said, he was a real *%%@$#&) to grab the fire extinguisher.
As I tried to explain to him that, by letting it burn out, it would simply reduce the lenses to ashes with minimal smoke, John emptied the fire extinguisher on the Kirk.

As anyone who has ever thrown water on a fire knows, dousing a flame causes smoke. In this case, lots of thick black smoke. The lab had windows all around (naturally), so the folks in the mall just looked on with horror as our lab filled from the top down with thick black smoke. Thankfully, the sprinklers were not triggered- but the fire alarms were! The mall was evacuated, the fire department came and bravely affirmed that the situation was "under control," and Pete somehow retained his job- if not his pride- for a few weeks (though my lab buddy did get to spend a fun afternoon cleaning out the oven... :( ).

Subsequently, there are about three people in the business out there who know me as "Smokey." I've had other adventures with the Kirk oven (including one time when I was rushed and tried to grab the lenses as soon as they emerged from the oven but before they were quenched). Thank God I stopped doing real (lab) work and started loafing around in management!

Pete

[HenryB]

I have never cooked one in an air unit, but I had to pull a tray of plastic lenses out of a chem unit once.......they were smoking like crazy and the instant they hit air they burst into flames......I put them outside in the parking lot and stood there for a few minutes and let them burn out. Funny part was, it was my boss who had put them in there........(honest it wasn't me)

[Maria]

All of mine at work have tended to be as a result of not looking properly. Things like calling a little girl 'little boy' (she was really ugly), asking someone in a wheelchair to 'just follow me up the stairs' (like the daleks, when I got to the top I'd lost her), but my worst was when I was doing a contact lens teach and I accidentally soaked the lens in un-neutralized peroxide instead of saline, and made him put it in. And then told him I was sure the pain wasn't as bad as he was making out, and to stop being such a big baby.
He's OK now, but I still grovellingly apologise whenever I see him.

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Maria "no amusing quote" K