Foot In Mouth

I was asked to give an example of when I had completely put my foot in my mouth. Since there haven't been that many times (wink, wink) I chose one of the four Summers I was a counselor of an overnight camp for the mentally and physically disabled. The counselors were mostly foreigners (being an American male counselor I was the minority of the minority.) We had a Secret Counselor Program where you picked a name of another counselor and gave them something in secret every week for the whole Summer and then at the end of the Summer you revealed who you were. Every week I kept getting really bad presents (one time it was a ball of string from the Arts and Crafts Cabin - most of the time counselors would either go to the closest Dollar Store - I would most likely take them since as an American counselor I had my car - or get some candy from the Camp Store - but I never got anything good like that.) Every night the counselors would be outside the campers' cabins (even if they weren't working that night) and vent or just talk about the hard day. Once a week I always vented about the awful present I had received (not knowing that the same counselor who was giving me those presents was always there to listen.) At the end of the Summer I was waiting to get another bad present before learning who had me as Secret Counselor. My final present was a really nice and expensive gift - I won't say what it was only that I had talked about wanting it all Summer - and I was told that the Counselor was saving the money all Summer so that I could get the one nice present I really wanted rather than get a bunch of little "okay" presents that were nice, but that I wouldn't think much about a day after getting them. I have to say I felt foolish after that. It has been around 15 years and I still think about that.