So this happened like 20 mins ago and I’m still cringing into the void.
I was walking out of a meeting where I’d just finished presenting this quarterly report I’d been busting my ass on for like 2 weeks. It actually went really well. Everyone seemed impressed, and my boss (super chill guy, but also terrifying in a “I went to Stanford and make eye contact too intensely” kind of way) walks up to me and says:
“Hey, good job today.”
And for some godforsaken reason my brain decided to go on a coffee break right then, and I just instinctively replied:
“You too.”
Like what. What did I mean by that?? Good job… listening?? Breathing?? Standing there existing while I presented??
He paused for a second, did this weird polite chuckle thing like he wasn’t sure if I was joking or just deeply broken inside. I just nodded and power-walked away like nothing happened, but I’m 99% sure he’s now questioning my basic social functions.
I’ve said “you too” to waiters when they tell me “enjoy your meal.” I’ve said “you too” to flight attendants when they say “have a safe flight.” But this?? This might be the peak.
TL;DR: Boss said “good job,” I short-circuited and told him “you too” like an absolute unit
Comments
Happens all the time to most people. No worries 😆
Just roll with it, my guy.
Also saying that to a flight attendant actually makes sense.
trust me you’d rather be the awkward guy who’s good at his job than the guy everyone loves that sucks at his job. (Ask me how i know)
Your boss forgot about it before you even exited the room
You overthink things a lot, don’t you?
(say with Stanford-level eye contact) “Hey, I meant it when I said ‘Good Job,’ to you earlier. I got the sense that you thought it was odd and I wanted to make sure you knew that I meant that you were the inspiration for performance today. your coaching and mentoring got me where I am and at least half of that presentation was a result of your influence. So thanks for saying ‘good job,’ but you deserved the same kudos.”
One time a waiter said enjoy your meal and I said “you too”
I lay awake at night sobbing at how embarrassed I was. I’m like how stupid could I be? Definitely a low point you won’t get over.
Confidence is key. Even if you say something stupid, it will seem fine if you are confident
next time just laugh and say “I don’t know why I said that – thanks for the compliment” or something. I do that all the time. The worst thing you can do is try and double down or just leave and not fix your flub.
Maybe he took it to heart and paid himself a nice bonus?
“Good job hiring me. 👍” Haha, what a power move.
It’s okay. Sometimes my brain anticipates what I think someone is going to say and blurts out the proper response…only they didn’t ask the question my brain predicted.
<coworker walking up>
<my brain> “They’re going to ask, “How’s it going?”…preparing rapid response of “It’s going good. You?”
Coworker: “Man did you watch that game last night?”
Me: “It’s going good. You?”
Coworker: “What?”
Me: <*Sigh* and explain I’m not actually dumb.>
I handed out a food order at a burger joint once and said “Have a nice sir”
not a fuck up, this is normal
“You too”
“Into 80’s synth-rock?”
EDIT: It means nothing to me. It means nothing to me..
EDIT 2: Oops – that’s Ultravox, not U2.
Well clearly you have to quit and find another job. /s
It’s not a big deal and I’m sure the chuckle was bc your boss has said the same thing before. They realize you were trying to extend politeness back.
Perfectly normal.
Look at it that way: sometimes doing a good job is knowing to leave professionals to do theirs and not interfere. Plenty of stories about bosses who don’t know that well enough.
I promise you it’s a bigger deal in your mind than in reality.
Why would “You too” be an inappropriate response when a flight attendant wishes you a safe flight? They’re on the plane with you, aren’t they?
Brian regan has entered the chat:
I don’t know when to use the you too phrase
“You too, for training such a good employee.”
Your boss forgot about it already
Your inner critic is far harsher on you than any other person will ever be. No one would think twice about this. Not a fuck up. Be kinder to yourself.
“I’m wondering if you deserve me”
I think people forget that every single person in the world does this on a regular basis. Most people just move on and forget about a little mishap like this in seconds. If it isn’t family or a great friend who will make fun of you briefly, it’s more or less just a “cashier/stranger” tier interaction in which they’ll forget you existed it immediately after imo.
You gotta follow up with offering him a raise
Can’t be worse than ending a phone conversation with your female boss with “k, love you bye”.
Conversation following day was awkward. Fortunately for me, she understood (saying this to my wife 100 times a day).
Step 1: Sell it as a joke
Step 2: Befriend your boss with your banger joking skills
Step 3: Ask boss for promotion
Step 4: Profit
At least you didn’t say something like “Thanks, dad” because that would bring up a whole set of other issues!
Who cares dude
Go on with it. If he brings up the subject: “But you did a good job. Other bosses I had would never acknowledge when a worker did a good job. So i appreciated that you took your time to approach me and tell me i did a good job!”
Then he’ll ask if you are serious. Then you humour it:
“Actually no, my brain shortcircuited and i said that without thinking, and i thought this was a good excuse. How did it work? And just for the record, i did appreciate what you told me.”
Trust me, flight attendants need to have a safe flight more often than you do, so at least on that point you didn’t mess up.
I tell waiters you too all the time
He may have done a good job managing you, setting his expectations of you, giving you requirements and fielding people who wanted to interrupt you.
“You too.” is you acknowledging his work, which largely goes unappreciated because if it’s done right, it’s invisible.
You’re fine.
Hey, in all fairness, sometimes bosses will constantly be interjecting and contradicting you during presentations to make himself or your department look better. Sitting in silence can be doing a good job 👍
Lol just have to add “baby” to the end to own it.
“Good Job”
“You too baby!”
Someone has never accidentally said “Love you…” to a coworker when hanging up the phone… lol…
People do this. He was chuckling remembering the last time he did it.
Your boss is used to socially inept banter. You’re fine.
Yep, done that before.
I don’t think anybody will even remember this in a few days
Happens all the time. I remember years ago that a kid who took my ticket at the movie theater said “Enjoy the movie” and I said “Thanks, you too.”
Ahh, I do it all the time, lol. No harm, no foul.
Lol. I think your boss will understand. Especially if he’s ever given a high-stakes presentation, and knows how a person’s brain can just short out in the immediate aftermath of that. If you really feel weird about it, you can say something to him about post-presentation brain fog.
I’m Jewish and the number of times people have said “you too!” to me after I’ve wished them a happy-holiday-they-know-I-don’t-celebrate is hilarious. They either don’t even hear themselves say it, because it’s what psycholinguists call a “frozen phrase,” or they do hear themselves and get horribly embarrassed and I have to tell them it’s okay. Because it is. (Hell, sometimes I go into “frozen phrase” land and reply “I will!” automatically and then have to say “… except I won’t because I’m Jewish, and if I forgot about that don’t feel bad that you did.”)
I had a boss hang up a professional phone call with “love you, bye.” Guess his brain reverted to hanging up on his wife or something. So he leaned into it and started saying it all the time.
You didn’t even tell your boss that you loved them. You are ok.
It could be argued that you were complimenting the job performance of your boss.
The best thing to do here would have been to immediately own it “haha, damn, that’s embarrassing, I do this to waiters a lot too.”
The second best thing to do here will be to never bring it up again.
I said that after sex once and survived so no worries
100% your boss knows your stress level going into a quarterly as well as where your brain is at for the moment.
Your boss told you, “good job” and got a laugh from you. You’re in good shape here.
Go have a coffee break with your brain and you’ll be fine
Share this video with your boss, have a laugh, then the next time you do this you can just chuckle and say, “Take luck!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apVuxvK5JqY&pp=ygUVQnJpYW4gcmVnYW4gdGFrZSBsdWNr
This is not cringe-worthy. This is mouthbrain on autopilot. We all do this. Embrace the chaos.
Plus, maybe boss did do well that day, too.
I once texted my boss a text meant for my wife that said “love you <3” and he just said “lol”
I bet he already forgot about it.
Won’t be the first time for him, I’m sure it was cringe for you, but just a chuckle moment for him.
It’ll pass, don’t beat yourself up 🙂
At least you didn’t call him dad
my first day at a new job the CEO came down to my department and as he was leaving he said Good Luck and I responded thanks you too and he just laughed
Well played … just laugh it off … we’ve all done it (or worse)
I’ve demanded that my waiter enjoys his food like 47 times. We’re all dumb and it’s hilarious imo
…. Now you’re fire….. you too
How is this a “today I fucked up” whats fucked up about not paying attention. Its not a fuck up at this point since you legit do it all the time and apparently, so it a habit.
Ha, I once hung up with a client of mine and said “I love you, bye”. Was insanely embarrassing. The next time we had a meeting, she joked, “You didn’t mean it, did you?” 😛
Just two months ago I had a colleague hang up saying, “Alright, talk to you soon babe.” We’re both dudes.
Canned responses used at the wrong time must be common.
OP, you need a new job lol seems like you’re always walking on eggshells and your boss gets off on it
The flight attendant one makes sense! We are all on the same flight I’m wishing everyone there a safe and good flight!!
Everytime I do that kind of stuff, I try to remmember when someone did it to me, it’s not as cringe as it looks, it happens!
Wait until you call him dad.
He needs validation too
I love when this happens lmao. It’s the kind of embarrassing where nobody is actually upset and it can just be laughed off by all parties without hurting how you think about the other person.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKluVfnU9_0
Take luck!
At least you didn’t say “love you, bye”
We have all done this, even your boss. Try not to be too hard on yourself. But also lol
Your boss probably hasn’t been told he’s done a good job in years, so you probably made his day.
Eh. One time I got off the phone with my wife, then jumped into a conversation with my boss. Ended it with “Love you”. Things got weird after that.
Really doesn’t count until your boss says “bye” and you say “love you bye”
Embrace and acknowledge the cringe and awkwardness in the moment. It makes it less cringe and awkward later.
You should always thank your boss for turning up that day and for helping out, just good manners
Don’t worry I did this when someone wished me a happy birthday once
LOL Have you already ended a phone call with him by saying “I love you”? Because if you haven’t, it’s coming.
We’ve all been there. Don’t be so hard on yourself.
r/UnexpectedBrianRegan
Technically wishing a flight attendant a good flight is normal because they are on the plane with you.
I once handed a few bucks to a dude standing on the corner. Handed it to him and
I said thank you.
🤦🏻♀️
Most innocent post I’ve ever seen on this sub
People say the wrong things all the time.
My wife just said “I love you” to her ex on the phone with me right next to her.
She hung up, it was the end of the call, and spent 5 minutes shuddering and cringing in disgust and saying ugh! Ugh! URRGHH! NO NO NO NO-no-no-no-no!
I just laughed the whole time.
He’s been such a dick for so long and he finally started to cooperate on things so I totally get the mental confusion that led to it.
Plus she’d been taking to the child during the call so there’s that too.
I shall share a friend of mine’s blunders to make you feel better. Two particularly weird ones.
Friend was working on entering in the door combo to enter his office and our boss comes down the hall and looks at him and says “Anon, good work handling that thing today.” He responded with “I’m a wiener”. He has no defense as nothing was going through his mind at the time.
Several months later my friend was again going into his office (near a major intersection in the workplace). One of the higher ups, a well educated and respected expert, was refilling his water bottle at the fountain in the hall when he saw my friend and said “Anon. How are you doing?” My friend thought of saying “I’m alright”, but changed his mind at the last minute to say “I am well”. What came out as he looked this man dead in the eyes was “I’m all wet”.
I still give him shit about those.