Have you intentionally embarrassed anyone?

[Tampabass]

or that same effort into helping a lonely friend get a real date. Was he still your friend after all that?

 

[Ric5]

Have you intentionally embarrassed anyone?

Every parent has a sacred duty to embarass their kids!

 

[Staccato]

Hey wait, I've got a noteworthy, mischevious streak. The important thing is to respect everyone's dignity. Some of us manage to balance humor
(sometimes with a bit of embarassment) without demoralizing our victims...

 

[Chebass88]

or that same effort into helping a lonely friend get a real date. Was he still your friend after all that?

Yeah - I apologized shortly after.

 

[mongo2]

The real embarrasment came when he told me he was in the Coast Guard. Reserve.

What's embarrassing about being in the Coast Guard Reserve?

 

[eSmith]

Nothing at all except it is a position for Civillians. I know one guy who they contacted and asked to join because he repaired outboard motors for a living, had a large boat and was always helping others on the water. They felt he would be an asset to them and he was. So, nothing at all funny about being in the Coast Guard Reserve.

Of course if you start claiming to be a sniper in front of a Marine don't be surprised if they bust a gut laughing when you tell them you got your training in the CG Reserve.......

At least thats what I got from what they said.

-eSmith.

 

[shadow_FIX]

Mine was purely unintentional actually, but was enjoyable for me nonetheless.

There was a gig my band played with a friend's band from out of town. Their bass player sucked, and he was kindof a tool, but he approaches me as they're setting up and asks,

Him: "Hey, something's not right with my bass, can I test yours to find the problem?"
Me: "Sure, np."
(bass is the problem)
Him: Can I play on your [SR5] bass tonight?
(no...no...no...no...NO...)(friend's band, out of town, I didn't have a backup)
Me: ...sure. (#%@&**&*$^)

I had the bass tune 1/2 step down (was practicing some Protest the Hero licks before the show) and didn't bother to tune it for him. Any decent player would know this before the first song. It took him three songs to figure it out...he would ride the wrong note for a little while, then shift a fret up thinking he was playing it wrong, then be right, and miss the next root when it came around. Also in the process he stepped the cord off three times (wrap thru the strap dummy) and I think the 5th string threw him off.

He didn't talk to me the rest of the night, but the bass sounded pretty good when I played it...after I tuned it.

 

[ajb]

Not musically related, but I pulled one on a guy I went to college with. He actually was a friend, too, which made it worse. I'll call him "E" for this story"

He was an incredibly lonely guy, always hanging out with the girls in our class, but inevitably crossing into the "friend zone" with each of them. He had assorted hobbies, mostly listening to electronic music and kickboxing. My sister was going to the same university, and was a freshman while I was a senior. Back then, AOL IM was very popular. I gave her my buddy's screen name, and explained to her how he would talk to anyone, especially if they were female. She began chatting, under the ruse that she saw him in the gym, doing kickboxing sparring.

I knew enough to cover all of my bases, so I called another classmate and let him in on the story ("J" for this story). He was a frequent gym goer, and saw "E" there often (doing his kicking). My sister explained that she had noticed the two of them talking, and had asked his name, which J supplied. My sister made up some random name. (E called J and checked).

Understandably, "E" doubted the whole thing. Meanwhile, she would send me copies of the chat so we could get details straight. I also contacted his roommate, "B", so I could find out what the color of his shirt was (E actually asked her this). We kept up this ruse for over an hour, when he finally asked to call her. We supplied her with enough information about him to keep them talking. How could he be SO LUCKY? A girl who liked engineers? Who enjoyed kickboxing? AND Electronic music? WHAT?

She gave him her own room number, so he called immediately, definitely in love. We were almost caught because her voicemail (she was on the phone with me asking for guidance on the ruse) listed her real name, Amy. We explained this one that she had initially had a roommate, who set up the voicemail, but she took the instructional booklet with her when she moved out. They chatted for a while.

After he begged for a date to meet up, I called him up. I asked him about his new lady friend, and told him it was all a joke, and explained the setup. He did not find it funny.

Looking back, it was a really *&$# thing to do, and something I would not do again. If only I had put that same effort into studying!

ian

I agree it was a ****** thing to do. Picking on the sad sack. Way too easy.

Let me guess: You had a girlfriend at the time and thought you were all hot **** with the ladies, right?

 

[shadow_FIX]

I agree it was a ****** thing to do. Picking on the sad sack. Way too easy.

Let me guess: You had a girlfriend at the time and thought you were all hot **** with the ladies, right?

Yeah, everybody's been at that level of "sad sack" at some point of their lives. If you haven't, you've never had your heart ripped from your chest, still beating.

Seriously, it sucks.

Or you've never been with anyone, which also sucks.

 

[I<34080]

In high school band I had access to the music library, so I could copy any particular piece we had. Well, we had two different stand tune arrangements of Eye of the Tiger. Well in our band the trombones and the mellophones were the two loudest sections, so as a trombone player I decided to **** with the mellophones. Before a football game one friday night I switched the arrangements of Eye of the Tiger on them, so they'd be playing in a completely different key etc. I'd never laughed harder at a football game, and never been stared down so fiercely by a band director.

 

[puddin tame]

Not musically related, but I pulled one on a guy I went to college with. He actually was a friend, too, which made it worse. I'll call him "E" for this story"

He was an incredibly lonely guy, always hanging out with the girls in our class, but inevitably crossing into the "friend zone" with each of them. He had assorted hobbies, mostly listening to electronic music and kickboxing. My sister was going to the same university, and was a freshman while I was a senior. Back then, AOL IM was very popular. I gave her my buddy's screen name, and explained to her how he would talk to anyone, especially if they were female. She began chatting, under the ruse that she saw him in the gym, doing kickboxing sparring.

I knew enough to cover all of my bases, so I called another classmate and let him in on the story ("J" for this story). He was a frequent gym goer, and saw "E" there often (doing his kicking). My sister explained that she had noticed the two of them talking, and had asked his name, which J supplied. My sister made up some random name. (E called J and checked).

Understandably, "E" doubted the whole thing. Meanwhile, she would send me copies of the chat so we could get details straight. I also contacted his roommate, "B", so I could find out what the color of his shirt was (E actually asked her this). We kept up this ruse for over an hour, when he finally asked to call her. We supplied her with enough information about him to keep them talking. How could he be SO LUCKY? A girl who liked engineers? Who enjoyed kickboxing? AND Electronic music? WHAT?

She gave him her own room number, so he called immediately, definitely in love. We were almost caught because her voicemail (she was on the phone with me asking for guidance on the ruse) listed her real name, Amy. We explained this one that she had initially had a roommate, who set up the voicemail, but she took the instructional booklet with her when she moved out. They chatted for a while.

After he begged for a date to meet up, I called him up. I asked him about his new lady friend, and told him it was all a joke, and explained the setup. He did not find it funny.

Looking back, it was a really *&$# thing to do, and something I would not do again. If only I had put that same effort into studying!

ian

what the **** man? who puts that much energy into ****ing with some guy's head who wasn't even bothering anyone?

People like you are the reason I keep wondering if it's all an elaborate ruse to embarrass me whenever something good happens :/

 

[lousybassplayer]

Lousybassplayer,

Maybe he was a Nam era sniper, Carlos Hatchcock used an M-70... I know, he was a coastie...just giving you a ration..

Well played, sir! But, if he was in 'Nam he was there in his father's scrotum only. I figured him to be about 21.

 

[lousybassplayer]

What's embarrassing about being in the Coast Guard Reserve?

Nothing, if you aren't talking smack about being a bad-ace sniper. And if Marines can't poke a little fun at their (somewhat) sea-going brothers in arms, what's the point of putting up with this crap?

 

[Chebass88]

I agree it was a ****** thing to do. Picking on the sad sack. Way too easy.
...
Let me guess: You had a girlfriend at the time and thought you were all hot **** with the ladies, right?

...Seriously, it sucks...

what the **** man? who puts that much energy into ****ing with some guy's head who wasn't even bothering anyone?

People like you are the reason I keep wondering if it's all an elaborate ruse to embarrass me whenever something good happens :/

Yes, I know that I did an awful thing. I genuinely apologized, and have been on friendly terms with the guy ever since. That we don't hang out regularly is due to living in different areas & work constraints. And I learned - I'm not doing anything like this again.

And no, I was a fat, lonely @#&^% back in college - obviously sitting in my own dorm room instead of out doing something. Blegh - I was pretty disgusting as a human being back then.

ian

 

[60s Guy]

When I was in high school, kids who played in rock bands were not the most popular around.

I got my chance at revenge during a school event where my band was playing. At one point, the president of the class, who was also the star athlete for all sports, and the most popular, asked to make an announcement to all of the students at the event.

I was a quiet person, and not one to embarrass another- unless a irresitable opportunity came by.

My band had just gotten a PA system that we were using for the first time. For vocal effects, I bought a used Echorec, one of the earliest echo delay devices.

But...I must jump back to the 1964-1965 New York World's Fair. At one of the science shows, they had an audience member go on stage, put on headphones, and recite "Mary Had a Little Lamb." They got as far as "Mary h-h-haad a littlelittlelittlelittlelittle lalalalalal" and could not finish a sentence. The demostrator explained that the person reciting was hearing their own voice slightly delayed, which threw them off, without them understanding why they couldn't talk!

You guessed it. I had the PA loud so that he heard his own voice loudly. I set the Echo unit to play a single delay only, and not the dry signal. Over the PA, it sounded like a regular amplified voice to everyone there. But when he tried to speak, he immediately was garbling his words into unintelligable sounds! He would pause for a second and try to speak again but could not figure out why he couldn't speak without garbling the words. The crowd was hysterical, not knowing why he was making such a fool of himself, as he became more flustered and walked off. The Principal realized that somehow I had been causing it, and I had to turn the Echorec off.

Try this yourself. Put a mike through a delay unit, set it to give a single repeat with a minimal delay to it. Play the delayed voice without the original through headphones at a fairly loud volume. Now have someone put on the headphones and try to talk. With a bit of tweaking, you can get the delay to be short enough to be almost unnoticed, but long enough to totally incapacitate their speaking.