Years ago, when we were still located in the little building downtown, I did a lot of Saturday weddings. Anita was always the neatnick and made sure everything was back in order for the Sunday morning services. She was always frustrated when people went outside on the front porch to smoke. She didn’t mind them smoking, but they would drop their cigarette butts on the cement porch floor. Anita always made sure the cigarette butts were picked up – a job she hated.

After one such wedding, Anita thought to herself, ‘You know, you can anything if you say it kindly.’ So, she approached a group of about five smokers on the porch and said, “We don’t mind you smoking out here, but when you’re finished, would you mind getting your butts off the porch?”

The people just blankly stared at her. A couple of seconds later it dawned on her what she had said and she was thoroughly embarrassed.

Have you ever stuck your foot in your mouth trying to be nice?

Tags: misunderstanding, words