River: embarrassment

[mdlbear]

Someone pointed out to me this evening that, although I say that I'm very afraid of being embarrassed, I don't seem to have any trouble talking about some moderately personal things, even with comparative strangers. So of course I had to think about what does embarrass me.

Mostly, it's making mistakes in a social context. I would be deeply embarrassed if I called someone by the wrong name, so it's easier for me to forget names. It's embarrassing when I have to ask someone their name, so I work around that too.

I don't mind talking about my own stupidity, as long as I get to mention it first. (I'm used to working with computers, after all.) Things that would embarrass me to hear someone else say are just part of my self-deprecating style of humor if I say them.

Still not sure how this relates to not making phone calls. That may be something completely different.

Comments

[fractalwolf.livejournal.com]

Dunno if this helps, but it makes sense to me. I would rather claim to be someone that knows almost nothing at all when calling a help desk than to admit I know stuff and then get caught in a mistake/risk not knowing something that they'd expect me to know.

Personal stuff about yourself... I usually feel relatively comfortable that I won't be wrong about stuff about myself. And if I'm uncertain there's the "I'm exploring/trying to figure out" option, which is what you're currently doing. But personal stuff about other people...whoo-boy! Scary minefield.

So, I'm not offering any answers, just empathizing. Saying you're not the only one, or some sort of incomprehensible freak or something.

[mdlbear]

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Much more about the risk of making a mistake than about having someone know something true about me.

I don't mind being weird, just don't let me be stupid.