Everybody's got a story — so we asked people at BuzzFeed to share some of their more awkward and embarrassing ones involving technology. 📱💻🎧
Here's what they said:
"When I was a community manager, I one time responded to a woman by jokingly asking if she was a dog using the computer — because her profile picture and cover photo were both images of her pet dachshund.
"I thought I was being witty and personable — the hallmarks of every great social media coordinator before me — but this woman took offense at being called a dog by a no-name glass and tableware manufacturer and promised to 'call our corporate.'
"Fortunately, there was nothing corporate about the client I represented. I don't even think they had an active phone number. But I learned a valuable lesson that day: Get out of social media marketing."
—Tyler S.
"I worked for a multimillion-dollar traveling church camp that other churches would pay to attend. During rehearsal, the actors discovered there was a remote app on our phone that would control the sound guy's mixer and what played on the speakers. It was always a good laugh triggering it from backstage and seeing him flip out.
"It was harmless fun, until one time there was a youth minister meeting in the auditorium. I went to play something and realized a very NSFW (Not Safe For Worship) song was on my phone and blared through the speakers. It seemed like an eternity before I was able to shut it off. We got several very angry complaints from some youth ministers. I deleted the app."
—Clark M.
"I took my family's remote control on vacation with me instead of my phone. In my defense, it was the early 2000s, and cell phones used to be huge."
—Nicky W.
"It's really bad. I was making fun of my ex-boyfriend's girlfriend to make myself feel better. My best friend and I would share photos of her back and forth. And one time, I accidentally sent a photo of the girlfriend to her instead of my friend.
"You know what's more awkward? The next time I saw her was at a spinning class. I ran into her in the locker room. I was trying to avoid her, and I guess I didn't know what she looked like from behind, because I then went directly next to her to change, so it looked as though I went up to her deliberately."
—Louise S.
"It was about five years ago. I was dating this girl called Ana for about a year, getting on really well, and met her parents, and everything was going really well. Anyway, cue montage: BBQs at her house in the summer, going to the bar with her dad, being made lovely dinners by her charming mom, really feeling part of the family. I even had their numbers saved into my phone as 'Ana Dad' and 'Ana Mom' — you might guess where this story is going.
"I came home from a club at two in the morning and went to send Ana a text message of an, um, 'compromising' nature. Accidentally sent it to Ana's mom instead. We broke up not long after."
—Sam D.
"Once, I was so frustrated because of a miscommunication over text that I pushed down extremely hard on the Home button of my phone...and it stuck.
"For the rest of the day, on top of my frustration, the digital assistant's voice would chime in every couple minutes and say, 'Sorry, I didn't get that' — forever taunting me and calling out how misunderstood I really was."
—Spencer B.
"I left my phone in a cab, and then my friends were messaging me asking if I was snapping photos of a young girl and her white dog. I was like, 'No, I don't have my phone,' and they were like, 'Oh, well then some teen has it.'
"Then she went on my social media. She had taken screenshots of her own page and published those on mine with the caption 'Follow me' like a hundred times. (I have about two followers.)
"Finally, I tweeted that there was a teen on my phone running wild. She responded to that tweet being like, 'I haven't done anything wrong. I just found your phone, OK?' Her bio said that she was going to school for criminal justice. I never got my phone back."
—Colleen S.
"I studied abroad at Oxford and traveled to other countries during my months in Europe. When I got back, I'd taken about 2,500 photos on a DSLR my parents had given me to document the trip. So I set up a classic slideshow to walk them through my travels.
"Forty-five minutes into it, we'd covered Oxford, London, Scotland, Ireland, and we arrived at my Amsterdam photos. Everyone was lulled into a stupor, including me, so I completely forgot about the other photos I took of the things I bought from the city's well-known coffee shops.
"My parents sat up on the couch, very alert. 'Well,' I said, fumbling on my computer to jump about 40 photos ahead, 'when in Rome... Speaking of Rome, I have some great shots of the Colosseum.'"
—James L.
"My brother and my hairdresser have the same name. One time, I texted my brother by accident to schedule an appointment, and he played along for, like, six texts, and I didn't even realize it. Eventually he called to tell me that I was an idiot, and still brings it up to this day."
—Kristin R.
"I ordered soup and decided to get takeout instead of delivery. When I picked up my order, the soup was in a plastic container and was double-bagged in paper and plastic. In my infinite wisdom, I decided to put my brand-new smartphone in the takeout bag for the trip back.
"When I got home, I opened up the bag and saw the lid on the container had come undone, reducing my phone to a soup garnish. Luckily, my phone survived, but not without smelling like clam chowder for a while. I'm just glad I didn't order a thinner soup, like chicken noodle or something."
—Derek C.
"One morning I got to work and thought I had lost my phone, so I borrowed one from a co-worker and used the Find My Phone app. I saw my phone was nearby!!!! So I left the office and chased this THIEF around a park for 15 minutes only to realize I was chasing myself, and my phone was in a weird pocket in my coat."
—Anne K.