Do you feel uncomfortable when you see someone else being embarrassed? What's most likely to make you squirm?
I seriously dislike seeing others being embarrassed or put down. It hurts me as much as it hurts them, I hate conflict of all kind, so even if the conflict isn't directed at me but at someone else, I get very uncomfortable and pained. On the other hand, I am helpless when it comes to pratfalls, I keel over in laughter. I know that it's terrible to laugh at someone else's physical mishaps such as what we see for an entire episode of America's Funniest Videos but it is too much for me. My hubby records it just to see me laugh until I cry. I know that no one gets hurt and that type of embarrassment isn't mean or purposefully hurtful. I think that I laugh so hard because I know that I am just a step or two away from falling myself so I sympathize with those poor folk. Perhaps that is why I feel so horribly when I see others being embarrassed, I empathize with them on an emotional level. There is no reason to purposefully make someone feel bad, it's very unkind and I really, really don't like it.
laurieanichols 
I agree; I hate it. I’ll do anything to avert an embarrassing moment. I let people know discreetly if they have a zip down, a top on backwards, something hanging out where it shouldn’t. I’ll let them know that someone is in hearing distance if there’s the slightest possibility that they’ll say something out of turn.
At the same time I can laugh. A colleague of mine once fell down the stairs at work while she was on her own. She was relieved that no one saw her sprawling there and she picked herself up and off she went… to be met by a trio of caretakers who had seen the incident on CCTV and rushed to help her. She was mortified. But I thought that was funny – that she thought she’d got away with it, but hadn’t.
🙂
I would have been laughing right there with you. I feel the same way about trying to be as discreet as possible when alerting someone to a possible source of embarrassment. My downfall though when it comes to discretion is if I do find the situation funny, so will everyone else because my laugh is loud and very distinctive. You definitely know if I’m in the vicinity when I’m laughing.:)
😆
Most definitely! There’s nothing worse than see someone get put down. But, like you, I’m a sucker for watching people stumble, get smacked in the head, or fall into the water (as long as they aren’t hurt, of course!). We frequently watch AFV; I just love laughing, and that show gets me crying every time. Did you notice that the winners are rarely the funniest videos though? Anyway, thanks for sharing your post!
Thanks for visiting! I know, the funniest videos are always those featuring men doing “men” things. Those rarely win, it’s always the babies or toddlers which I can’t say is a bad thing, because with the cost of education these days, the parents must be so grateful, college fund yippee! I love laughing as well. Here’s to a laugh a day:)
Me too.
Dear Jules, I’ve been thinking of you and hoping that everything was fine. I wasn’t surprised to see you comment “me too” since we are so very similar in nature. 🙂
I hate to see other people’s embarrassment, including falls. When I watch pratfalls on You’ve Been Framed, I cringe so badly, it hurts. Seriously, I get all tense and achy.
I get the tense and achy feeling if I think that they got hurt, however if its only their ego, laughter just erupts. However if someone is made to feel small or stupid, that is when I feel for them so badly that it hurts.