Minor Faux Pas Thread

My first wife and I have been divorced for 30+ years but we still follow each other and our family / friends on FB.

Her BFF recently posted the question "What 80's song best characterizes your current situation" to which I replied:  Elton John's "I'm Still Standing".

I thought my reply was completely innocuous until I put it into the context of my x-wife having her left leg removed last month due to a circulation disorder.

The total crickets on my post makes me suspect that others think I was making some kind of disgusting joke and my instincts are to just take the hit rather than go into fix-it mode.

The best part is, your ex now gets half off at the shoe store.

Wait... is her name Eileen?

I just wanted to make you feel better by making a bigger faux pas.

Dude. Amazing. I can appreciate the awkward situation you may be experiencing, but I lol'd. 
Also, if I was on the other end of that, I'd probably die laughing. 

Oops... 

Am I evil for googling songs about a butt kicking contest?

In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :

She's a waitress down at IHOP. 

I worked with an older lady and my wife worked with the daughter. My wife tells me the daughter is getting married.  All were aware we knew each other.

I congratulate Mom one day at work on the wedding announcement only to find out they were eloping and the Mom didn't know this was going on.

They decided to have a small wedding.  In the end I did them a favor by bringing them all together except I had a couple of pissed off people for a week. 

Luckily for Wally, I'm laughing too hard to throw something at him. However, to actually answer your question, I think the only person you really have to deal with is your ex, which I would suggest you NOT do in public (i.e., not on FB.) With any luck, she either knows you well enough to know you weren't trying to be mean, or she has a great sense of humour, or maybe even both.

As for the rest of the extended clan? Follow HFII's policy and "Never complain, never explain."

A close male friend related he recently got the snip. I asked verbatim "did it take?" as my friend's father in-law was standing right behind him. I got the "Dude!?" look and the FIL just grinned and bowed his head. 
 

Our next conversation was 3 years later. But yes, the procedure seemed to "take".

The wife and I were at the grocery store shortly after we moved. As always, I'm on the lookout for new Oreo flavors. I spotted Halloween ones on an end cap, and went in for q closer look.

Without thinking, I said to my wife 2 end caps down "oh, they're not different, they're just colored".

As soon as "colored" left my mouth, I noticed the mixed race couple walking between me and the wife.

---------

Many years ago when I was still doing commercial construction, the owner of the company was working a deal to sell the top half of a building. 

I'm on the first floor cleaning up when a woman who looked about my age came up and asked where the buyer was. So I went looking for him.

"Hey, your daughter is downstairs looking for you"

To which he replied "that's not my daughter, that's my wife".

All I'm saying is that you should never ask a woman when the baby is due unless she's crowning. 

RevRico said:

To which he replied "that's not my daughter, that's my wife".

That's a high five moment right there.

A number of years ago my sister messaged me on FB, there's a high school reunion coming up would you be interested in going?

I said I didn't have any interest in spending time with those losers when I was in school, why would I now? Then told her about a previously good high school friend who showed up at my door recently, looking like a bag of E36 M3, telling stories about his glamorous life running race teams in Europe, and how it was clearly all bullE36 M3, and that I thought he had some sort of mental problem.

I don't remember how long it took, but I realized it was a group message including most of our previous high school friends as well as the mental case, oops.

Wally (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :

She's a waitress down at IHOP. 

I bet her last name isn't Walker
RX Reven is going to kill me.  Let me know if we should stop.  I can't tell how this is being received on your end.

Hi Curtis,

Thank you very much for being so considerate.

I'm completely fine with all of this...my only concern is with my x's circle possibly thinking I was making a vicious joke. 

Does she still need a kickstand?

RX Reven' said:

Hi Curtis,

Thank you very much for being so considerate.

I'm completely fine with all of this...my only concern is with my x's circle possibly thinking I was making a vicious joke. 

Ok.  Just didn't want to make your situation worse.

I just went to a concert of an Indie artist I love.  I did the whole VIP thing because it wasn't very expensive, and it included a Q&A session with the artist.  I took my BIL because (although he wasn't familiar with her) he's a musician and I knew he would appreciate the music.  I filled him in on the artist - born in TX, lives in Nashville, went to Julliard, etc.

My BIL's question for her was how the Julliard Conservatory experience led her to Indie/Folk/Bluegrass.  She corrected him and said she went to New England Conservatory.  I gave my BIL the wrong info.  I fessed up that it was my fault, but we were both a little red in the face.  Nothing like embarrassing yourself in front of one of your heroes.

In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :

Minor error in an excellent question. 

Appleseed said:

Does she still need a kickstand?

My brother-in-law always told this joke.

Why can't men do the splits?

Cause there's a kickstand in the way.

She doesn't have to stand for this kind of treatment!

I showed this thread to PW.

She laughed and said that my life consists mostly of two different situations.

Minor faux pas, and major faux pas.

Whatever you do, dont address it directly by telling her "I, sorry we got off on the wrong foot" or " I really stepped in it", that said you dont just want to limp it along...

OK, now that I have that out of my system, depends on the person. my one sister in law gave me the silent treatment for over a year because I offered to pay for just her husband (my wife's brother) to fly out to visit with his sisters and mom and not their entire family (two adults and 3 teenagers). At least yours has some legitimate "ut-oh" to it.  

Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :

Minor error in an excellent question. 

I thought so too.  If he weren't such an introvert and easily embarrassed, it would have been way funner.

As a music educator, he was curious since most Conservatory educations focus on Jazz and Classical and many other music genres are considered declasse'.  He was wondering how that fit with her childhood of already learning Mandolin, Banjo, and a dozen other string instruments in a Folk/Americana/Bluegrass vein.  She mentioned that NEC's music program had a Jazz, Classical, and a Contemporary tract, and (her paraphrased words) that it was basically old white music, old black music, and all the weirdos like her fall into the catch-all Contemporary.

In case you want to discover some new music, look up Sarah Jarosz.  That's who I've been discussing.

Apexcarver said:

Whatever you do, dont address it directly by telling her "I, sorry we got off on the wrong foot" or " I really stepped in it", that said you dont just want to limp it along...

Or... "Your anger really has me stumped."

Is her name Ilene?

My siblings kids call their grandfather (my step dad) FauxPa. I think it's hilarious.

so when she's got one foot in the grave...