One night, my sister had her new friend Mark over for dinner. Making small talk, my Dad asked him what his father did for a living. We all squirmed a bit when he told us that his dad died last year. The subject was soon changed and we all went about finishing our meal when suddenly my dad says: “I am sorry, Mark, what did you say your dad does for a living again?”
Awkward.
(submitted by Colleen)
Tags: dad
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OMFG, an Awkward Family Story which is actually awkward!!!
haha! my thoughts exactly!
Brought a cringe and a grin to my day! Ouch.
YES!
First awkward story I’ve actually read here…I’m actually cringing!
Oh, bless him, sounds like something I would do!
Ok, this one is actually awkward.
Poor guy.
FINALLY!!!!!! Back to true awkwardness!! Bravo!
Reminds me of my worst “D’oh!” moment in my teenage years. My mother’s partner was still legally married to her husband, though she’d been living with my mom for a few years – this was the 70s, so ~all~ relationships were a bit complicated. Anyway, the husband passed away after a long illness, and my mom’s partner was understandably upset.
My mom told me what had happened the night they got the call – I was 12 or 13 at the time. The next morning, I got up, and there sat mom and her partner Ginny at the table. Ginny was normally very stoic, stiff-upper-lip and all that. But that morning she was literally sniveling and crying pitifully, the poor dear…
In a moment of horribly bad judgment, I looked at her and said, “Jeez, who DIED?” Ginny wailed loudly, and my mom smacked the bejeezus outta me. “Oops, sorry,” just didn’t seem adequate. True story!
Loves it! Yes, that’s awkward, Jo.
Oh yes, that is really awkward! And its not just this story… wasn’t your family set up pretty awkward to explain to others too? I don’t mean bad or anything, but kind of… you know… awkward to explain to people
I love how it took you three paragraphs to tell that story.
that is not awkward, sounds like normal conversation
Yeah, but it still sucks to be the asker of the question, though obviously most of us only ask once.
What kind of conversations do you normally have? O_o
Not awkward? Hello? What world do you live in?
Whaaat? Are you serious?
Poor Dad. I’d probably do the same thing. I have the attention span of a flashbulb….
I swear that was my dad asking those questions. AWKWARD.
Awkward and unfortunately, kind of hilarious.
My dad is an absolute space cadet, and he would absolutely pull something like this. But it’s still awful!
Hmmm, I’d love to know what Mark’s response was. I hope he had a good comeback like “He pushes up daisies.”
Sorry, I know what was tasteless!
I’ve had friends and family members die, where I was upset, but still said stuff like that…Tasteless, but funny! But then again, I have a very morbid sense of humor.
ROFL
Open Mouth, Insert Foot.
My goodness, you poor thing! I hate that nervous conversation where you can’t remember what someone has said.
“Oh, didn’t I mention? He helps keep the grass green at Rose Hills Mortuary…”
Ugh……awkward.
Yes! Awkward story, thanks to dad repeating the question!
THANK YOU for bringing back the awkward.
Answer…He specialized in helping people develop memory skills.
And he’s still dead.
Oh my, sounds like something my MIL would do … awkward, yep!
That is when you smack your dad over the head with something close by…
Oh, God. Something like that happened to me. I made a “your mom” joke to a friend, forgetting his mom died of cancer last year. Somehow, I always forget with him.
I followed with:
“Uhm. Nothing.
*pause*.
I meant MY mom.”
I have done this. Luckily, my friend was able to laugh it off.
I’ve never known if it is okay to tell “Yo Moma so fat” jokes around people who’s moms actually are fat. Did that to a friend once and it just seemed in bad taste. Thoughts?
Definitely don’t make those jokes to someone who actually has a fat mom. Seriously.
i’ve done it to my husband more than once, sadly. worst part is that BOTH our moms passed last summer withing 2 months of each other.
could that have gotten anymore awkward? My guess is nooo
That made me CRINGE!
Wow, what a time to have a crappy memory! Awkward, indeed.
This is why, when someone asks a question like that about a deceased person you tell what they used to do for a living. Then, when you’ve got their attention, you drop the bomb. Further questions will follow. It’s called conversation. Both the father and the daughter and the guest are equally complicit in this awkward moment.
Why the daughter? She wasn’t directly part of the conversation.
Yeah. Duh. You can’t just assume they’re paying attention when they first ask you a question. Or assume they’d remember something like your dad being dead. Jeez.
***crickets chirping***
I once met a neighbour by the elevator. She was going somewhere, I said “hi, how are you?”
She replied “I’m going to a funeral”
I wasn’t paying much attention to what she said, so I threw in an automatic reply: “Oh, have fun!”
Although I am usually very careful, I have been known to do careless things like that..like asking someone how they are and they tell me they are deathly ill or something and I say “Well have a good day!” and realize that isn’t exactly the best reply.
Yikes!!!
That’s EXACTLY something I would do.
What a bummer time and situation to have your short term memory to kick in!
or poop out.
Ouch!! I hate it when I forget what someone has just told me! Hopefully I would remember if someone said their Dad was dead!
I think we have the same dad.
My dad also used to call my boyfriend(s) the ex-boyfriend’s name and there were not THAT many for godssake.
This is possibly the best awkward story I have ever read.
my dad had i picture of my brother with one of his nasty ex girlfriends that he carried around in his wallet, because he thought the girl in the pic was my brother’s *wife*. other than having black hair, they had absolutely no resemblance to each other.
Well of course husband and wife are not expected to resemble each other! I’m confused.
Reminds me of the time I had my boyfriend over for dinner & my Mom made sure to add some bagels in with the dinner rolls because he was Jewish. ACK!
Oh, SNAP.
…”well, before my Dad died, he was a calibrator for a regulation size casserole factory.The company changed the measurements one Thanksgiving and an irate woman ( I think her name was Marney) took a compound crossbow to him.
WHAT?@!?@?!
AWESOME!!!!
Did she kill him???
MARNEY!!!! roflll
Oh my (insert diety of your choice here)!
It’s awkward enough when you accidentally mention someone who passed as if they are still alive.
It’s more awkward when you either don’t get it or forget as OP’s father did.
The question is: did Daddy feel really awkward or does he still not get it?
Wow
I just read the story….what was it about again?
I just did that this weekend; my friend had just returned from a funeral of a loved one and was talking about how sad she was.
I swear I was listening, but out of my mouth popped the old catch phrase, “good for you!”
There was a dreadful pause where my mouth wouldn’t move. Then I literally spat, “I mean that you had someone like that in your life!!!” Then I abruptly shut my mouth because I realized in my panic I had shouted that last part.
~sigh~
LOL, classic!!!
Dad was just letting Mark know that he holds the knife to his emotional back.
“Treat my daughter right.”
OMG… I read this 10 minutes ago and I’m still laughing. So glad I wasn’t in that situation!
my husband died when i was 24, leaving kids of 5 and 3. My mom and I were sitting in the kids play park one day. She was discussing a friend of my late husband and I deliberately pretended to misunderstand.
Mom: but he was so good at the funeral
Me: he had to be mom, he was in a box and they nailed the lid closed
Mom: giggles turn to sobs..
Me: internally (oh dear)
They just described every conversation I’ve had had with my husband.
Reminds me of a story. One night, a girl had her new friend Mark over for dinner. Making small talk, her Dad asked him what his father did for a living. They all squirmed a bit when he told them that his dad died last year. The subject was soon changed and they all went about finishing their meal when suddenly her dad says: “I am sorry, Mark, what did you say your dad does for a living again?”
Awkward.
um actually that is the SAME story
um actually that is the joke
When I was doing a sitting for a portrait of a couple, I noticed the lady had a bulge, I said “congratulations, when is your baby due?” The man with her screamed “you’re pregnant?” She said “no, it’s just my beer gut”
Poster child for “Senior Moment!”