Someone at work had an awkward moment today. That prompted me to tell about an awkward moment (and I've had quite a few of those) I had about thirty years ago. You know awkward moments? Haven't you had one? It's one of those moments that is not funny when it happens but as time goes by, the humor of the situation increases. This situation was so awkward and so deeply buried in my memory that I never did consider it funny until I told about it today. This awkward moment happened at a previous job I had working with people with disabilities. I had a dozen people in my charge and we were all invited to a Halloween costume party at a home in Robbinsdale. I drove the 15 passenger van to the party. The invitation said costume party so I came in a costume. We all did. That is what you do when you're invited to a costume party, come in costume. My costume was a clown. I don't remember all the details except I was a clown with white paint on my face and large, black, rubber ice fishing boots. The boots were not mine and a men's size 11 which made it difficult for me to walk. When we got out of the van at the home in Robbinsdale, I parked in the driveway. We all got out. One person in my group had trouble with transitions. He got upset because we had never been to this house before and he didn't know what to expect. Unfortunately, how he showed he was upset was to drop his trousers. He would pull them right back up again. I gave him some comfort and reassurance and we all went into the party. I didn't know we were being watched. The staff at the home hosting the costume party did not dress in costume. So that was awkward. Here I was looking like a clown while they were dressed in regular clothes. I thought they could have made that clear on the invitation, thank you very much. We were at the party for about 5 minutes when the Robbinsdale police came to the door. A neighbor complained to the police that a man exposed himself in public. The staff at the home called to me to explain the situation. I could see they were ready to throw me under a bus. Great. So here I come, clumping down the stairs of the split level entry, dressed as a clown, with a face coated with white make up, to talk to the uniformed officer who had not one tiny little bit of humor to his personality showing on this particular day. He never cracked a smile. Thinking back, this had to be somewhat funny. How often do the Robbinsdale officers get to interview a clown? This could not be an everyday occurrence. I wasn't smiling but I had a big red grin on my face that I could not, as much as I wanted to, change. I thought my guy was going to be in trouble for an innocent act of basic communication. I owned up to the situation. I said it was my fault. I apologized. I explained how innocent he was and how closely I would supervise him (although ironically at that moment, I wasn't supervising him, I was talking to the police). I promised it would not happen again. I felt completely ridiculous in my costume. How can a clown be taken seriously? How can a clown give a heartfelt apology? It is impossible to be taken seriously when you have a big red grin painted on. Eventually the officer left with a, "Don't let that happen again." I clumped back up the stairs to the party in my giant black boots. We drank punch and ate a cookie and went home. Worst. Halloween. Party. Ever.
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