Modern life is a constant stream of cringe-inducing calamities, with seven in ten Brits' regularly embarrassing themselves in public, it emerged yesterday. The pressures of a rapid modern life mixed with plain bad luck mean one in three people have experienced a moment so humiliating they wanted to disappear.
The study of 2,000 people found bumping into an ex and thinking you've hung up on someone when you haven't are among the most common embarrassing moments.
The research, commissioned by Right Guard to launch their new Invisible range of deodorants, found the average person has experienced at least four occasions in their lifetime when they wished they could become invisible.
Roxanne Amir-Mohammadi, Brand Manager for Right Guard said:
"We were intrigued to find out what the nation would do if they were invisible for the day. We live in a fast-moving world and we are all guilty of constantly rushing around, which is bound to lead to slip-ups.
"Clearly some of us are more prone to getting ourselves in awkward or unfortunate situations but there aren't many people that can look at that top 20 and say they haven't experienced any themselves.
"The important thing is how you handle those sticky situations and to have a sense of humour or bit of composure does the trick."
Those polled deemed women three times as likely to embarrass themselves as men.
Perhaps it's no surprise then that the average person craves a little invisibility - if given the chance to go unseen, a fifth of us would spy on the boss to see if they really do any work behind closed doors.
While sneaking into MI5 or a celebrity's home were also what jumped to mind for the average person if they could go completely undetected.
Remarkably, a shady 21% would rob a bank if they could become invisible for just one day.
Falling over in public proves the most common reason to be left red-faced, while nothing has a girl wishing she was invisible than realising her skirt is tucked into her knickers.
A flat-nosed three in ten people have walked face-first into a lamppost or stationery object, while one in seven raunchy risk-takers have even been caught in the act.
Forgetting where you placed the car and gaining a whiff of bad body odour on yourself proves a mortifying experience for many, and appear in the top five biggest embarrassments experienced.
A cheeky one in ten has even told a little white lie to get them out of a tricky situation, while a resourceful 46% will try to pass the blame if they can.
And when it comes to seeing someone else embarrassing themselves, the most common course of action for most Brits is to keep your head down and pretend you haven't even seen anything.
The spokesperson added:
''The nice thing about these common calamities is that we can all relate to at least a few.
''It may be a horrific experience at the time, but the key thing is being able to look back and laugh then hopefully avoid getting into that scenario again. We really wanted to explore the concept of being invisible - it's surprising that so many of us would choose to be invisible to get out an embarrassing situation"
''Sometimes life throws these curve balls and while we might wish we could be invisible for that moment or even a whole day, we just have to take the good with the bad and chalk these moments up to experience.''
TOP 10 THINGS TO DO IF WE WERE INVISIBLE FOR THE DAY
1. Fly to countries I've always wanted to see
2. Play tricks on people
3. Haunt somebody I dislike
4. Rob a bank
5. Stand in my boss's office to see what they really do when the door is shut
6. Sneak in to celebrities houses
7. Sneak in to MI5/No. 10 Downing Street
8. Follow people I have always thought talk about me behind my back
9. Listen in on friends phone conversations
10. Sneak in to my favourite attraction
TOP 20 MOST COMMON EMBARRASSMENTS
1. Falling over in public
2. Stomach grumbling in a meeting
3. Forgetting where you parked
4. Receiving a big bill and not being able to pay it
5. Having a bit of body odour
6. Bumping your car
7. Realising your flies are undone
8. Gossip about someone and then realising they are right behind you
9. Sending an email to the wrong person/whole office
10. Realising you've had food stuck in your teeth
11. Someone walking in on you in the bathroom
12. Bumping in to an ex
13. Being dumped
14. Thinking you've hung up on someone when you haven't
15. Being pulled over by the police
16. Burped in a quiet room
17. Sending an embarrassing text to the wrong person
18. Realising your skirt is tucked in your knickers
19. Calling a date the wrong name
20. Getting an item of clothing stuck in a train door
