Let’s pretend your class is about to start and your professor is super strict about having no cell phones or laptops in class. But wait! You have to (really quickly) tell your friend about the cute thing your crush just texted because you want her advice on how to respond after class. You type it up and hit send with 15 seconds to spare.
The second the message sends you realize it went straight to your crush himself.
We’ve all been in situations where our cell phones and laptops got the better of us. Her Campus has compiled some of the funniest and most cringe-worthy stories from collegiettes’ tech failures—along with advice on how to recover from them!
Not So Picture Perfect
“An extremely cute guy asked me to go to his fraternity formal. I went to the mall to look for a dress (for the formal), and was taking pictures of each one. I sent them to my friend to get her opinion. While I was doing that, I was also casually texting the guy I was going with. That was my big mistake. I accidentally sent a picture of a dress with the caption “Is this one skanky? I want to look hot but I don’t want him to think I’m easy” to the cute guy instead of my friend! I explained the mistake but it was a little awkward afterward.”
-Kate, freshman, University of Missouri
Bounce Back: The initial awkwardness is inevitable in this situation, but in the grand scheme of things it shouldn’t matter. If he’s the kind of guy to be put off by this kind of mistake, he was probably hoping you would be “easy”. If he’s worth your time, he will appreciate a picture of you looking hot in a dress and ignore that it wasn’t on purpose! Hopefully, he’ll also appreciate the humor of the situation – being able to laugh at your mistake and make him laugh with you will be life-saving!
Be My Friend
“My sister was Facebook creeping on this guy who was kind of/sort of/maybe flirting with me at a party. But she was using my laptop and it was logged into my account! She thought it would be funny to send a friend request and I didn’t notice that she had until quite a while later. I cancelled the friend request, but still got notices on my homepage thing. It turns out that the friend request, when cancelled, defaulted in me being subscribed to his Facebook (page)! He probably thinks I’m a stalker! Luckily, I’m not interested in him like that – but still, he probably thinks I’m a stalker now! There goes the chance to be friends.”
-Danai, sophomore, Harvard
Bounce Back: In this case, it’s best to just pretend like nothing happened. Facebook changes so often that chances are, he wouldn’t notice or understand what it means to be subscribed to someone. And if he did notice? Assume he took the extra attention as a compliment and keep your cool if you see him again.
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Wrong Number
“I searched through my phone to call my boyfriend, saw his last name, and hit call. I was doing it all in kind of a hurry, so I didn’t realize that I had selected his mom’s name instead of his. It rang and went to a standard voicemail without her name, so I still didn’t realize my mistake! I left a fairly lengthy voicemail about how excited I was to see him later and hook up with him… except it was to his mom.”
-Kristin, senior, University of Illinois
Bounce Back: This is tough, especially if you were super intimate with your voicemail. The best thing to do in this situation is to apologize for the mistake by calling her back and explaining the situation right away. Make a point to be extra polite next time you see his mom and don’t avoid her. You will repair your reputation more quickly if she notices how respectful you are when you come over as opposed to hiding from her.
Food Baby
“I was texting back and forth with my friend and boyfriend while at a family dinner. My grandma had made a delicious and huge meal. I completely stuffed my face. The context of my friend’s conversation was about the meal, but my boyfriend’s conversation was about how tired I’d been lately (because I was so busy). I accidentally sent a text meant for my friend because I was so full: “I feel so pregnant right now” to my boyfriend! I didn’t realize it for a while though because he didn’t respond. When I went to hang out with him later he looked completely freaked out. Turns out, he had spent the past hour researching pregnancy symptoms and even went to a drugstore to buy a pregnancy test! I felt really bad about the mistake.”
-Lilly, sophomore, University of Arkansas
Bounce Back: Accidents happen! Obviously, you should apologize for the mistake. Luckily, it isn’t a huge one to fix. If something like this happens, you can also use it as an opportunity to discuss how safe you’re being and how you’d handle a situation like it (should it arise). It never hurts to have some serious chats about being prepared for the unexpected!
Wrong Message
“I was talking to my friend on Facebook chat when the guy I liked chatted me. I messaged my friend “He just started talking to me! Yes!” but I sent it to him instead. I said, “That was not supposed to go to you” and he responded with “It happens to the best of us.” I think that, if a guy likes you, he’s going to be flattered, not totally weirded out if something like that happens (unless, of course, you told your friend that you’re going to marry him and have his 3 children when you’ve only spoken to him twice).”
-Michelle, junior, Emerson College
Bounce Back: This collegiette (and the guy she likes) handled the situation like a pro. The most important thing to remember with tech mistakes is that they are only as disastrous as you make them out to be.
Be Savvy
Everyone is going to make mistakes with technology when it comes to a potential love interest or relationship. But, if you keep these four golden rules in mind, your chances of a technology love fail can be deleted:
- Always re-read a text or email before you hit send!
- Minimize the amount of conversations you have going at one time.
- Don’t text and multitask! Example: Don’t text while in lecture. Not only will you risk making your professor angry, but you’re also trying to send it out quickly without being distracting so you’re less likely to review what you type.
- And most importantly, Don’t panic. If it’s true love, he’ll stick around even if you make a tech mistake or two. Odds are, he will down the road as well. Anyone worth your time wouldn’t cut it off for something small. If he’s gracious about it, he’s a keeper!
Photo Credits:
http://collegecandy.com/2009/08/25/texting-while-driving-you-will-die/
http://yit6yee.blogspot.com/2010/08/before-clock-turns-12am.html
http://www.someecards.com/usercards/viewcard/MjAxMS04ZDBlYTc0OTY2OTI5N2Uz
http://www.techclarify.com/facebook-encourages-women-to-stalk-ex-boyfriends/
http://www.inetgiant.com/addetails/college-couple-looking-for-housing-august-11th-december-north-east-san-antonio-1604-450/6640229