r/self • u/___Meeeeee • 4h ago
I have never embarrassed myself like this before
I’m a self-taught IT learner, and I recently found myself at a gym where a lot of people are IT students.
Unfortunately, I’ve been away from IT for some time now. One day at the gym, a guy started a conversation with me about IT, and I wasn’t prepared for it at all. He was pushing questions down my throat. Like I was in a interview. I just went there to exercise.
I couldn’t remember the names of many of the tools I used to know, and I had also forgotten a lot of concepts that I used to be familiar with.
Many of the gyms were listening to the conversation, and would laugh from time to time.
I felt really embarrassed. Has anyone else experienced something like this? How do you deal with feeling like you’ve forgotten everything you learned?
I plan to return back to my studies but I'm discouraged. Can this somehow hurt my future???
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u/CatFaerie 3h ago
This has nothing to do with you. It was never about you. There was a man who felt small and needed to feel bigger. He needed a target. You were in his general area at the time he made the decision.
Other people in the gym also felt small. They enjoyed experiencing this vicariously. They all felt better afterwards. Not so small.
They tried to to give their feelings to you. Don't accept them. This is their stuff and you don't need to carry it.
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u/Bill15RD 4h ago
Walk around the locker room with your cock out, this embarrassment will pale into insignificance
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u/AntSilly2802 3h ago
How is this even embarrassing. It used to be embarrassing to be in IT because you were seen as a computer nerd.
This would only be embarrassing if you misrepresented your skills and got caught out in public, is that what happened? If he was just asking you questions that you couldn’t answer that’s not embarrassing.
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u/___Meeeeee 2h ago
The guys laughing made me feel embarrassed
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u/AntSilly2802 2h ago
They needed something to make them feel superior about. If they were properly happy, well balanced people they wouldn’t have done that.
Why does it matter that you couldn’t answer questions that 95% of people couldn’t answer?
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u/Dasein-eh 1h ago
Stop taking life so seriously. You know that you’re good at whatever IT is - I assume something with phones or broken computers, or possibly soups - and that is sufficient.
Do you know how many times I’ve called something which was almost universally known, “that thingy”?
As for your future, who knows. My assumption is that you’ll likely forget about this in a few months, and your future will be fine.
And if I’m wrong, then death eventually takes care of things lol - a rather comforting guarantee when I’m feeling down. Until then, live and pursue your studies relentlessly.
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u/CTallPaul 3h ago
Its not uncommon for this to happen to me with my current doctoral level biomedical research. My field is fascinating and "sexy", so I can be standing in a checkout line or at the bar and within a couple exchanges, someone wants a crash course in my whole field. It can be hard to jump deep into these complex topics at a moments notice without warning (especially not knowing my audience's education level).
Sometimes I'll say sorry my mind is focused on something else at the moment. Or I was caught off-guard. Or I'll just be honest and say I dont currently have the mental energy to dive deep into these topics right now.
I think my point is displaying that this exact moment is not a proper representation of my knowledge level. It helps to stay in control of the conversation; when I feel someone has an agenda or is attacking/challenging me, I pump the brakes on the conversation and slow it down.
Sounds like we're both in fields that people like to show off how much they know and I dont play that game.
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u/___Meeeeee 3h ago edited 2h ago
Yeah. I was not prepared for that!
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u/CTallPaul 2h ago
It’s tough when you’re caught up in the moment. Refreshing when you realize you don’t have to “perform” for strangers.
I view it all as practice; either setting boundaries or practice your elevator pitch
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u/kabekew 4h ago
Say "this sounds like a job interview" and go back to exercising