Relationships are funny things, aren’t they? Like, who in their right mind thinks to themselves, I’m going to meet some stranger, open myself up by being vulnerable, meet their friends and family and then hope that it all works out? Well, obviously, lots of people.

We know that relationships have their perks, but they also have lots of moments that lead to some embarrassing stories — especially when it comes to meeting your girlfriend’s parents for the first time. It’s like you’re being judged the most you’ve ever been judged before, with parents, siblings and family friends eyeing you up and down to figure out if you’re really as charming as their “little girl” claims you are.

There have long-been tales of boyfriends meeting girlfriends’ parents and getting their balls busted — hey, it’s part of the deal. But there actually been some embarrassing stories from meeting a girl’s family for the first time that are tremendously cringe-worthy, and we headed over to Reddit to find some that will remind you that, no matter how bad things might appear, it could always be much, much worse.

“Choked on my food and puked into my bowl the first time I was over for dinner.” – DanReplay

 

“I was once fooling around with my high school girlfriend at her house when her mom came home all of a sudden. We went downstairs and had coffee with her for, like, 20 minutes, and my girlfriend’s shirt was on inside out and backwards the entire time … We didn’t realize it until after we both walked away from the table. It wasn’t awkward at the time but definitely awkward to realize later since I’m sure she noticed it.” – Luke

 

“I was dating this girl but things were still pretty new. We had managed to avoid the whole ‘boyfriend/girlfriend’ talk for the last few weeks. Her parents were supposed to be gone shopping all afternoon so of course I came over for sex. We’re doing our thing and then — you guessed it — her parents come home. We managed to get dressed and stuff pretty quickly, but they could tell we were both in her room alone. That was the first time she called me her ‘boyfriend’ as she introduced me. Her parents were shocked since only five minutes ago, they didn’t even know I existed.” – Jared

 

“I made an inappropriate joke in front of her family. Everyone was joking around and making gross jokes, and I thought that was the vibe, really. So I went and made a joke that I thought was in line with everyone else. I don’t want to go into detail but it was about her mother. Her mom was livid. She made me feel awful. I was afraid to go back for a month. I found out later her mom was only joking and this was her idea of hazing.” – Tim

 

“I swear to you, this wasn’t really my fault but they blamed me. I let their dog get out of the house. They found him and brought him back after 20 minutes but they blamed me. Basically what happened was, we went to my girlfriend’s parents place, opened the door, and the dog ran at us. I had never been here before. Her parents were screaming at me to shut the door as I was closest, but I was sort of disoriented, and that gave the dog enough time to get out. I still don’t think that’s on me.” – Pete

 

“We were at [her parents’] house for dinner, and they both left to take the dog for a walk. And I thought I heard the door open and shut. To better illustrate it, my girlfriend and I’s backs were to them, and the front door was sort of around this little lip, but if they hadn’t left, they could still see us. So they were putting the leash on the dog or whatever, and I thought I heard them leave, so I slapped my girlfriend’s ass and said something about having sex later. I don’t remember the exact phrase, but I was just playfully teasing and it usually makes her laugh. But I’m sure you realized at this point they didn’t leave. So to them, I just spanked their daughter and announced that we’d be f*cking later in front of them. Her mom stared at me, horrified, and they rushed outside.” – Tim

 

“We went to her parents’ to visit them for the weekend, and at one point her dad asked me to drive him to some sporting goods store because he needed clubs. This was in the middle of winter. The other thing to note is that her mom’s cooking really upset my stomach. So I’m locked in a car with her dad, and it’s just us and I can’t roll the windows down and I can’t. Stop. Farting. Look, it’s a natural function and we all do it, but he probably thought I needed to see a doctor by the end. They were all silent, but they definitely smelled. I’m hoping he had a cold but he never said anything to anyone, to my knowledge.” – Dan

To see the full thread of embarrassing stories from boyfriends meeting girlfriends’ parents for the first time, make sure to head on over to Reddit. Remember, here’s a pro tip: never bring up previous relationships, dummy.

(H/T Reddit, Cosmo)