Do you have a memorable situation where you had to ""bite your tongue"?

I don’t ever recall a time that this had happened usually I just say the first thing to mind even thought I know it would offend someone, but yeah I’m pretty blunt/straightforward.

(We’ve noticed.)

@gailcalled…bite your tongue. ;-)

I used to work in a well-known chocolate shop that attracted a lot of interest from the food press. The owner of the shop would regularly show journalists and other visiting dignitaries around the kitchen area as we worked.

Food journalists are always looking for the sensational, over-the-top things that set one place apart from another, and here in this legendary temple of chocolate, they were willing to believe absolutely anything the owner told them. He would spout the most outrageous lies about how we did things, stuff that no one who gave it a moment’s thought would believe. An example that comes to mind – One of our signature chocolates was loaded with raisins that had been flambéed with rum. He told people that we carefully removed all the seeds from the raisins with a hair pin. They were so under his spell that it would never occur to them to ask the obvious: couldn’t you just buy seedless raisins?!? which, of course, we did. I so wanted to turn to them and say “You’re a journalist for chrisakes! Think about this for a second!”

We had to keep a straight face through all of this, which was difficult enough, but we would occasionally have to deal with awkward follow-up questions directed to us. It eventually turned me into a complete cynic about anything I read in the food press.

Just this past weekend.

My niece and her mother (my SIL) came for a surprise visit from New York and California respectively.

My niece is lovely, but my sister-in-law…here’s some examples:

”...Mexicans are just here to suck off the system…”

“I eat so healthy, but you guys are looking fatter.”

“My daughter, she hates me. Ungrateful bitch.”

“I just don’t trust him (Obama). The blacks are usually not trustworthy.”

Luckily I work weekends and only saw her very briefly. I can’t imagine what else she said. I was this close to tossing her out.

Argh, yes. A co worker of mine took it upon himself to bring a client of his right up to me and introduce the man as, name, single, available, self employed, good money… blah- blah. All I could do was stare with big eyes and cringe when the man said, “and I love women with…” I interrupted my co worker and said, “so-and-so, this is really awkward since I’m seeing someone” to which he replied right in front of his client, “who is it, who are you seeing?” What my co worker didn’t know is right behind he and his client was standing the person I am seeing. this is why I’d like the superpower of liquefying-brains mind ray

When I was leaving my university for a different school, my mentor/professor and I were having one last meeting/cup of coffee/farewell.

We had a really good conversation, and towards the end, he asked me if I had heard of a book called The Alchemist.

I said that I had, and he asked me how I liked it.

I then proceeded to tell him how it was nice, but fluffy… and how I supposed I enjoyed reading it once , but that I would not read it again.

He stared at me sort of dumbfounded… and then changed the subject.
(this is when I started suspecting I had said something wrong)

We then sort of awkwardly said farewell, and as he got up, I spotted a copy of the alchemist in his hand!

Realization slowly dawned on me as that dreadful dreadful feeling washed over my body.
I felt so sheepish! Why couldn’t I keep my stupid mouth shut?!?

We’ve never talked about the incident.

@noelasun: was your mentor/professor the author of that book? That would’ve been really really awful.

@hungryhungryhortence No, thank GOD. But he was a really nice guy, and a real authority on campus. Add in the whole culture dimension- it was a total faux pas on my part.

There have been several times in my military career where I have had to confront senior non-commissioned officers or commissioned officers for various reasons (I’m a Military Policeman) and I’ve been tempted to be brutally honest and candid with them on things but I’ve had to hold back. This is due to having to abide by proper military customs and courtesies and avoid unprofessionalism.

Nowadays, when I get near the point of no return and I’m close to losing my tact when talking to those of higher rank than me, I sometimes use the saying “Don’t confuse your rank with my authority.” This is generally frowned upon but it does get the attention of the person you are dealing with. You just have to be prepared, sometimes, to justify to your chain of command why you decided to utter this phrase.

@Bluefreedom: That was so bad ass I just got a chubby. I may have a man-crush on you now.

@cprevite. Thank you, my friend. Man-crush…..that’s cool. =)

i can’t think of any major moments right now, though i know for sure there are many, as i usually hold my tongue in social situations even when i really really want to say something back.
but my most recent moment was tonight. for my aunt’s birthday, we went to her step-mother’s house where we have little ‘family’ parties consisting of about 7 people or so.

my aunt asked me about school, and i told her that i exempted 3 exams because i had all As and Bs in the classes, but that i didn’t bother taking the chem exam because i failed both quarters of the class, and can’t redeem my grade, even if i miraculously scored an A on the final. i’m obviously not proud of not doing well in chemistry, but i own up to the fact that i am a horrible science student. anyway, her nephew – who, keep in mind, is an adult (i think in his 40s, but i’m not really sure) – decides to bring himself into the conversation, asking how i could possibly fail chemistry of all classes. i explain that i overestimated my work ethic when i decided to take 4 AP classes and 2 honors classes besides that, and that i generally do not do well in science even with my best effort. but he proceeds to try to make me feel like a moron, going on about how it’s only memorizing (which it certainly is not), and that you can’t possibly fail chemistry, or even do poorly in it. this went on for about 5 minutes, and i know that my tone must have expressed how much of an ass i think he is, but i think i did a decent job at keeping myself in line, as there were quite a few colourful terms on the tip of my tongue that nearly spilled out.

Yes..when i saw a mother chastising her daughter in public..calling her fat and ugly..my heart dropped..why would you belittle your daughter..i wanted to ask her how it would feel to be judged so harsh..I held my tongue

I used to cook in an Italian restaurant. One night a man ordered chicken alfredo ate his food and then left. About a half hour later he returned. He asked to speak to the waiter somewhere private like in the kitchen. So he walks into the kitchen and says to the waiter “look at me, what color am i wearing” the waiter confusingly answers blue and the guy says “yes, thats right, and what color was i wearing when i left here?” the waiter thinks about it for a minute and says, “i believe you were wearing all brown sir”. The guy then says “thats right, brown. You want to know why i went home and got changed? Huh? Well ill tell you. Your food(now looking over at me) made me shit my pants!” So now i obviously want to die of laughter but need to keep a straight face. I told him i was really sorry and offered to comp his meal and he says “no, i dont care, i just wanted to let you know that i shit my pants because of this food, and it was also way to salty.” Now, first off, theres no salt at all in anything he got but who give a shit (obviously this man) but WHO THE FUCK OPENLY ADMITS THEY SHIT THEIR PANTS!?! WHO!?!

Not laughing that night was probably one of the hardest things ive ever done