This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.
The original was posted on /r/tifu by /u/ILikeCrunchyFood on 2026-02-22 21:29:57+00:00.
Obligatory this did not happen today.
I (24F back then and 30F now) come from a really small and rural town of Brazil and always had social phobia. It was manageable while living in there, since I rarely left my house and tried my best when I had to talk to other people.
However, I have come to realize that it is way more complicated to mask social anxiety when you are insecure about your English - which to this day is not the best - and does not know enough about the way people in Canada interact with each other. It was my first month in a foreign country.
Well, it turns out that my husband (boyfriend then) realized that I never owned clothes/shoes/lingerie that really fit me, most of my wardrobe come from hand-me-downs or it was bought by my mom. I have never realized this somehow and kept using shoes that were too small for me or clothes full of holes or really bad quality 2$ bras.
He took me to the mall to buy some stuff and I was instantly anxious, but I gathered all the courage I had inside of me - not much - and tried my best to pretend that my shoulders weren't touching my ears.
Everything was going okay, I thought the worst of it was over and that was one less purchase to make: the bra. I didn't know that you had numbers and letters to measure bras, back in Brazil I just chose between P, M and L and it also depended on the bra format/brand.
After arriving in a random lingerie place, a lady approached me and asked if I was in search of anything in particular. I said that I really needed some new bras and, when she asked for my size, I answered that I didn't know since it depends on the bra. She looked at me quizzically and went on to explain the numbers and letters. I had no clue. And here it comes the fuck up.
She said "No problem! I can measure you.", but I was so busy feeling anxious that I didn't hear the second part and she turned around immediately and turned back holding a measuring tape. A measuring tape that I didn't see she was holding.
The lady got close to me and put the tape around my torso and I legit though that she was trying to hug me and, since I didn't know enough about people in Canada, I hugged her back................ A good calorous Brazilian hug.
I felt her body stiff and try to leave the hug, I opened my arms and let her go and it was then that I saw the tape around myself. I could have died at that moment. I still think about it before sleep.
Apparently I wasn't mortified enough, because I saw my husband around and thought he watched that awful interaction and, since I had 1 brain cell left, said: "I'm sorry, I thought that you were hugging me. But look, we are best friends now!" and hugged her again by the waist with one arm.
She. Did. Not. Go. With. It.
She laughed awkwardly with a 'ha-ha' and went back into measuring me.
I bought whatever was the first bra she gave me.
I didn't even check if it fit me or not.
That was awful. Turns out my husband was too busy trying to not look out of place in a woman's lingerie store and managed to miss that entire interaction.
I don't ever want to talk to people ever again.
All I can think of is her bending her knees for being taller than me and being stuck in that hug. Girl, I'm so sorry.
It wasn't a huge fuck up in the grand scheme of things, but I have no one to tell this to and needed it out of my chest. And to non Canadians: Canadian people don't hug other people out of nowhere, just in case you wanted to know. It's not their culture, but poutine is good post-shame meal.
TL;DR: I hugged the lingerie seller lady while she measured me because I didn't see the measuring tape and thought that was a her hugging me out of nowhere.
Sorry for any orthographic mistakes.