Absolute Mortifying Humiliation Strikes Again!

I know everyone puts their foot in their mouth once in a while, but I swear, nobody does it as often or as spectacularly as me.


It was an extra special day at church today.  We had a special guest Pastor speaking.  He was hilarious.  And we had a special musical guest, a gospel group by the name of Krystal.  The group is terrific!  It's leaders are three brothers who grew up in The Democratic Republic of Congo.  As young men they were caught up in a massacre at their university and had to flee the country. At this point one of them was separated from the others and ended up all alone in a different refugee camp in Rwanda.  The two brothers who were together were eventually brought to Canada, and believed their younger brother dead.  Turns out they found him two years later and helped bring him to Canada as well.  They make beautiful music with their band and their story is really inspiring.

Turns out they were performing across Canada to raise money for a mission trip back to the refugee camp they had come from.  They had a book about their story and they were selling their CD's to raise money.  The brothers and the band were going to be at the kiosk at the other end of the church after the service so we could meet them and talk to them and give a donation if we liked.  We were heading that way, because that is where we pick the kids up from their Sunday School class, and Jake liked the band so much that we decided to make a donation.

When I approached the kiosk area a man was already there.  He was very dark, dressed in a nice suit and was just standing there, I assumed waiting to talk to people about the band.  So, I put on my "Little Miss Sunshine" smile and I approached him and put out my hand.

"Hi", I said.

Hello!, he responded shaking my hand.

"I just wanted to tell you how much we enjoyed the performance", I said.  "It was wonderful"!

"It was", he agreed.

"So", I said, "we just wanted to make a donation.  Is there a special spot, or can we leave it with you?" (insert big, huge smile and me standing there holding out money).

"Oh!", he said.  "I'm not with the band.  I'm just picking my kids up from Sunday School".

Oh. Fuck.  What do you say in this situation?  What can you possibly say? "Oh, gee, sorry, all you black people look alike to me"!!!  Because I'm sure that's what he must have thought.  "Oh gee, I just assumed all the black men at church today are Congolese refugees"!!!  Aaahhhhhhhhhh!

I sputtered out an apology and tried to hurry away without looking like an even bigger loser.  Jake tried to save me by asking the man if he knew where the band was set up, (on the other side of the kiosk apparently).  I made my donation, grabbed the boys and ran for the van.  OMG, I will probably see that man every Sunday now.  This is so brutal!

On the upside, Jake said he really enjoyed church that day.  He said if it was like that every Sunday, he come for sure.  I thought he was referring to the guest Pastor and Krystal.  What he actually meant was, that is I was going to humiliate myself each week, he wanted to be there to watch it.  That's my man.

Well, they say no good deed goes unpunished.  And here lies the proof!

Michy