33 Hilariously Awkward Ex Encounters That'll Convince You To Wear A Disguise Every Time You Leave Your House
Running into an ex has got to be one of the most painfully awkward situations ever. We asked members of the BuzzFeed Community to tell us about their most unfortunate ex encounters, and the stories were SUCH a wild ride. Buckle up, y'all. Here we go:
1."I bumped into my ex and his mom and sister while I was out shopping. This was the first time I’d seen him since he dumped me 10 months prior. It was awkward because his mom decided to hug me and say, 'Your boy still loves you,' while I just nervously laughed and felt grateful I was moving away the next day. I knew the likelihood of ever bumping into him again was very slim. I loved his family, but wow, it was NOT the right thing for his mom to say to me."
2."I had just gotten out of wisdom tooth surgery, and my ex was in the waiting room. I was not over him and was looped up on drugs, so I starting crying and saying I loved him. My mom had to drag me out."
3."I stayed over at my new boyfriend’s house for the first time, and the morning after, I walked into the kitchen to make a cup of coffee and found a guy I had previously spent the night with sitting at the table. His roommate. I’m now marrying the boyfriend, and he finds it all quite hilarious, but at the time, I was mortified and swore to take it to my grave!"
4."I was walking with friends and didn’t notice that he was coming out of the elevator...on crutches. We had not seen each other for a long time and had been together for a year before breaking up. I proceeded to trip over his crutches and bring us both down to the floor, which was not the best post-breakup meeting."
5."In college, I was on my way to the library when I saw my recent ex and his new girlfriend walking out the library doors. It was the first time I’d seen him since he'd broken up with me over the summer. I took comfort in the fact that I was wearing a new sundress and looked really cute, but then a huge gust of wind blew my dress up and over my head! I had my hands full, so it took a moment for me to cover myself. They definitely saw."
6."Years ago, I went out to dinner with my boyfriend and his family to celebrate his graduation, and my ex was our waiter. We pretended not to know each other, and it was so uncomfortable. My (now) mother-in-law is notoriously very rude to waitstaff, and she was being extra nasty to him. He messed up the order, and they got the manager involved. It was not great. Things had ended with that ex a while back, but he was very dramatic at the end and made things messy. This was my first time seeing him since then, and there was awkward tension the entire time. He kept watching our table from the bar, and he texted me saying, 'Go to the bathroom so we can talk,' which I did not do. He then texted me and said, 'Hope no one gets sick from the food, haha jk.'"
7."This story involves my husband's ex. We got married last October, so February was our first Valentine’s Day. We decided to go to a small restaurant for drinks and dessert. The restaurant is associated with a speakeasy bar, which we had wanted to try out for awhile, so we decided to go after dinner. It happened to be burlesque night, which was quite progressive for our conservative town. We had a few drinks and were having a great time. Then, they announced the first burlesque dancer, and we were shocked because it was my husband’s ex-girlfriend (who lived an hour and a half away). At first, I wanted to leave, but we paid a $20 cover, and we were having fun up until that point, so we decided not to. So we spent our first married Valentine’s Day watching my husband’s ex take off her clothes for the crowd. We made some small talk after, but the entire thing was such an awkward ordeal."
8."I was working during orientation weekend at my university. Due to my position, I was the only student working with transfer students. Well, my ex was transferring to my school, and I had to spend eight hours guiding him around campus. Within two weeks, he withdrew from the university."
9."I was fooling around with a guy once, and he thought it would be a good idea to invite one of his friends over for a threesome. It turned out to be my ex."
10."I stepped off of an 11-hour flight, and the first person I saw in the airport was my ex. He was with his parents, whom I had never met but had heard so much about. They were there waiting for his new girlfriend who was ALSO on my same flight."
11."I was buying pregnancy tests at my local big box store. I came around the corner with three boxes of tests and ran into him and his new girlfriend. No words were spoken. I just turned around and bolted out of that aisle."
12."I had just gotten married. My new husband and I went to the bank to cash a gift check, and it was made out to just our first names. They were taking a while to deposit it, and there was no one else in the bank, so the other tellers were congratulating us and chatting. Then, my ex-husband just happened to walk into the bank. So I said, 'Hi Ex-Husband, this is New Husband. New Husband, this is Ex-Husband!' and everyone busted out laughing."
13."I was meeting my friends at a bar on Saint Patrick’s Day. The parade had just ended, and there were people everywhere. I saw him and started to walk a little faster to avoid him seeing me. I neglected to notice the dip in the sidewalk and went down hard in front of the entire parade audience. The chorus of 'OOOOHHH' that followed had everybody staring at me with my busted pant legs and bloody knees, splayed out on the ground. So much for him not seeing me. I stood up and ran away as fast as I could."
14."I saw my ex at a lawn concert where he was sitting just a few feet away. Instead of moving or acknowledging him, I stared straight ahead, holding my French fries as still as a statue, while my sister narrated everything going on. 'He's looking at you. He pointed at you. He's whispering to his friend. OK, now they're moving.'"
15."One time, I saw an ex-boyfriend from high school at Target. I was going through a really rough patch and wasn't in the mood to catch up, so I got what I needed and headed to the self-checkout. Apparently, this was his plan, too, and he was clearly anxious standing about 10 feet away from me. At this point, neither of us had so much as given the other a head nod, so it was just getting more and more awkward. He ended up RUNNING out of the store and into the parking lot. When I went to the parking lot to head to my car, I saw him duck and hide behind some cars. It still makes me laugh when I think about it. I was having such a bad day, but clearly, seeing me was worse than anything else he had going on."
16."I got remarried during the pandemic, so the day of my wedding was really low-key. Only my parents and children were there. My new husband stopped at a coffee shop on our way to the ceremony before meeting our officiant, and when we walked in, there was my ex-husband sitting at a table. He knew I was serious about my new relationship, but I hadn’t introduced the two of them, and he didn’t know we were getting married. I was in a dress (not a white one), and my husband was in a suit. I politely said hi, and he left a few minutes later, but it was definitely awkward."
17."Years ago, I went on a few dates with two different, good guys. It got to the point where I needed to choose one, so I broke up with the other. He took it pretty hard, and there were lots of tears. Not too long ago, I went to a store to buy a TV. The salesman went to the back to get the one I wanted. Then, I noticed the next size up didn’t cost too much more, so I saw another salesman and asked him to tell the first salesman I wanted the bigger one instead. He looked at me weirdly and stammered, 'Uh, OK,' and quickly walked away. I thought it was strange until I suddenly realized he was the guy I had broken up with years ago. He stayed in the back until after I left."
18."My son and I ran into his father, my ex, and his girlfriend at GameStop. They had their backs to us at the counter, holding hands. When they noticed us, they immediately dropped hands. Guess they didn’t want us to tell his wife."
—Anonymous
19."Junior in high school here! My ex and I had dated for about a year in the beginning of high school, but things didn't work out thanks to him lying to me, talking to other girls all the time, and taking advantage of me. Just awful! Throughout high school, we took vastly different classes, so we hardly saw each other. One Saturday, I went to take the SAT. There weren't many people in my classroom, and I was already over it. Then, he walked in. The room filled with tension. Then, sure enough, he was assigned to sit right beside me. Great. It got even WORSE when his girlfriend walked in (who knew about our past), and she was positioned on the other side of me. Worst four hours ever."
—Anonymous
20."I bumped into him in a shop while I was buying tampons. I panicked and said, 'Well, at least I’m not pregnant!' and ran away."
21."I still had my ex, who totally and completely broke my heart, saved in my phone. I also had a home repairperson with the same first name saved in my phone. The day before that person was supposed to come do some repairs on my house, I had a family emergency. That evening, I sent a rambling voice text while I was driving asking to move the appointment because I knew I was going to be wrecked the next day. That morning, I woke up to no response from the repairperson, which worried me since it was only an hour before they were supposed to arrive. Looking at my texts, I realized Siri hadn’t heard the right last name and sent the text to my ex instead. We hadn’t communicated in about six months, and I wanted to evaporate from the embarrassment of him getting that messy text."
—Anonymous
22."We had recently broken up, and it was not an amicable breakup. We were both leaving for a month in the summer to work at two separate camps. Mine was in Canada, and his was in California. I was waiting in the terminal for a flight from Nashville to Denver when I saw him walking towards my terminal. Then, he sat down. Yup, we were on the same flight. He was in the boarding group before mine, and we didn’t even make eye contact. It was like we were complete strangers. When it was finally my time to board, the only seat left was the one directly in front of him. It was the longest flight of my life. Let’s just say I'm very lucky that I had to get off the plane for a different connecting flight. We’ve never spoken about it."
23."He used to always drive me to work. After we broke up, I would take the bus to work. As I was waiting at the bus stop one day, his car pulled up directly in front of me, stopping at the light. We both had to awkwardly look around to avoid eye contact for what felt like the longest red light ever."
24."It was spring break, and my friends and I decided to go to Las Vegas. My ex and I had been broken up for awhile, but I was relieved to be leaving our tiny college town where we constantly ran into each other. My ex wasn't a big drinker or partier, so Vegas was the perfect escape where I knew I wouldn’t run into him...or so I thought. My friends and I were in line to get into a club when my friend grabbed my arm and whispered, 'Don’t look, but [ex’s name] is right behind us.' He ended up texting me saying how much of a coincidence it was that we ended up at the same club. The worst part? I ended up getting very drunk and was flirting with him by the end of the night."
25."After an ex and I had broken up due to long distance, said ex came into my workplace (where we had met) with their new girlfriend. The most awkward part? I had recently injured my face and had this huge bandage on my chin and scratches everywhere. I got introduced to the new girlfriend like that. It definitely wasn't the 'look what you lost' moment I wanted."
26."I went to a wedding a couple hundred miles away from my house with my husband, and I didn't realize my ex would be there. We were sat at the same freaking table! My husband hates my ex because he was horrible to me, so it was incredibly awkward and uncomfortable the entire night. I got so drunk. I stopped speaking to the person who sat us together after that, since he knew why we broke up and how awkward it would be for us to be at the same wedding, let alone the same table."
27."I was shopping at a small shop downtown. They were having a sidewalk sale, and I was crouched down looking at a lower shelf when a dog came up to me. I'm not one to deny giving a pup pets, so I started loving on him. That's when I heard, 'Uh, hey.' It was my ex-fiancé. We engaged in some small talk for a second when he asked how I was, and without thinking, I said, 'Great! I'm getting married!' It was especially awkward since I called off the engagement with him."
28."I saw my ex on a first date while meeting my current boyfriend's sister and brother-in-law for the first time. My ex and I had dated for nearly four years. He later called me crying, saying he couldn't believe I was seeing someone else, and that he had cried on his date about me. Very uncomfortable."
29."My ex and I had agreed to be friends, but hadn’t talked much since the breakup. I ran into him and some mutual friends one day, and the friends each hugged me. It felt super weird to just avoid him, so I went in for a quick hug as he went in for a HANDSHAKE. I felt his hand press into my stomach as I hugged him, and he said, 'Oh, I guess that’s what we’re doing.' It was so awkward."
30."I was a driver for DoorDash last year and picked up an order one evening from Subway. I glanced at the name on the order, but for some reason, it didn't register in my head as being familiar. I was definitely surprised to see my ex open the door to the house I was delivering to. It was so awkward. We didn't even say anything to each other. We just stood there staring at each other until I handed him his sandwich. I don't know how I didn't recognize his name. We dated for a year!"
31."I work as a professional stunt double. I met my ex doing a movie together almost five years ago, and it ended with a really messy, tearful break up. He cheated on me MULTIPLE TIMES. The stunt double industry isn't very large, but it is large enough to not work with the same people over and over. Around three months after our awful breakup, we both got a gig for a romantic action movie, and one of the scenes was a three-minute sequence where the girl (me) had passed out and the guy (my ex) had to carry her while running through a flooding tunnel and swimming through a lake. We were all wet and mushed together. I didn't realize I'd be doing the scene with him until I walked onto set, which was about five minutes prior to shooting. We had to reshoot the scene multiple times."
32."One night, I decided to treat myself to some pizza. When I greeted the delivery guy, he asked me how I was doing. When I said I was fine, he said, 'I’m really happy to hear that.' I clocked that as a weird reply, but handed him his tip, said goodnight, and closed the door. It wasn’t until I was back in my kitchen that it hit me: MY HIGH SCHOOL BOYFRIEND JUST DELIVERED PIZZA TO MY HOUSE, AND I DIDN’T RECOGNIZE HIM. Forever will be my lowest moment."
—Anonymous
