For example, I’m terrified of smelling bad
Bad breath. I have a toothbrush and paste at work so I can immediately fix it if I even think my breath might be funky.
Not really faux pas per se, but I have a very minor condition that makes my walking look slightly uncomfortable. I can either walk with very much tolerable pain or look a tiny bit funny. I am always self aware of it.
I sometimes choke on nothing. Happens very, very rarely but it gets ugly when I do it.
Passing out in public. I’ve done it 3 times, none of them because I was drunk, and let me tell you, that embarrassment lasts a lifetime. It hasn’t happened in like 25 years, but if I feel even slightly off, I’ll excuse myself and go find a quiet corner, because I would rather die there alone than be remembered as that person who fainted in public.
I feel this as well. I have a condition that makes it hard to breathe, so sometimes I just blackout from lack of oxygen. The only time this happened in public, I had a seizure to accompany and wet myself. I woke up with a bunch of dudes looking over me and had some stranger’s fingers in my mouth because he was worried I’d bite my tongue. Yeah. No thanks
Unintentionally saying something insensitive
Overstaying my welcome
When the watress says, “Enjoy your meal!” and I respond, “You too!”
Sheer existential dread.
Me too! I love having different colognes and layering them, but am also afraid of horseshoeing myself and being that guy who smells obnoxious, too much of a good thing. I once heard “cologne should be noticed, not announced” and I have kept it in mind ever since.
Yup, women have something similar: “perfume should be discovered, not announced”
All of them, real or imagined.
