By Anonymous - 13/09/2016 02:55 - United States - Los Angeles

Today, my social anxiety got so bad that my 12 year-old daughter had to get in the driver's seat to order from the drive-thru. FML
I agree, your life sucks 11 774
You deserved it 2 858

Same thing different taste

Top comments

You built a kid who's more adept at navigating social situations, so congratulations on succeeding as a parent. Bonus points if she's more energy efficient and environmentally friendly than her predecessor.

Maybe you guys could've gone inside to order instead so your daughter didn't have to clamber over seats? I'm sorry to hear. I have social anxiety too and I have a shit of a time trying to order things or ask store employees for help. Yours must be a hundred times worse if you struggle in a drive-thru. I hope you can get help. Your daughter is a sweetheart for doing that for you and she obviously cares and understands. Good luck, OP.

Comments

Imagine you're speaking to someone you love when you order in future, it may help.

"Oh sweetie, would you be a dear and lemme have one of your ever delicious #4s please??" "Uh.... sir, please stop."

Maybe you guys could've gone inside to order instead so your daughter didn't have to clamber over seats? I'm sorry to hear. I have social anxiety too and I have a shit of a time trying to order things or ask store employees for help. Yours must be a hundred times worse if you struggle in a drive-thru. I hope you can get help. Your daughter is a sweetheart for doing that for you and she obviously cares and understands. Good luck, OP.

Unfortunately, I would think that going inside the restaurant would make op's social anxiety a lot worse than just being alone in the car with her family talking through a speaker.

Yeah, that's true. I was just thinking in terms of the daughter's safety. Unless OP turned off the car and they physically got out to switch seats. I don't know. My initial impression was that the car was still running and they clambered over each other to switch seats. What if one of them had bumped something or accidentally made the car go into neutral and roll back or lurch forward and hit the car in front. I doubt OP would be that irresponsible, but we just don't know the exact circumstances. I was also thinking that since going to a drive-thru is a "premeditated" action with the inevitable task of talking to someone, OP should have known that talking to someone would've been hard and that she wouldn't have been able to do it, which is why I suggested they both go inside so the daughter can order, or perhaps OP could've waited in the car and the daughter could've gone inside. But then again, maybe the OP was trying to face her fears and it just became too overwhelming and the daughter had to take over. If this was the case, then the probability of accidentally kicking the car into neutral or whatever would be higher given the frenzy of a possible anxiety attack or the sheer overwhelmingness of interacting with someone. Hate me if you want, I'm just sharing my thoughts. TL; DR: We really don't know the situation!

One_In_Three 24

At least nothing really bad happened.

You obviously don't understand what it's like to go through something like that so I'm going to say this kindly, please don't make comments like you did. It belittles what the person feels and makes them feel as though what they are feeling should not be that big of a deal. I am hoping that was not your intent.

One_In_Three 24

I didn't realise that making the situation sound better was so bad and would make OP sound like a whiny bitch. Next time I will try to keep such comments to myself about mental health because I clearly don't understand even though I myself have multiple disorders. Good day to you sir.

tantanpanda 26

Uh, #3, you're spot on. No need to apologize to #4 for being an overly sensitive idiot. It's not really belittling because most fmls are WAY FREAKING worse. Not saying this wasn't bad for OP, but to put it on the same level as most of the other fmls (getting mugged, breaking bones, etc.) is ridiculous. One drive thru encounter will not scar you for life, unless you're saying you never eat out and that was your first experience (highly doubtful). I get it that psychological disorders exist, but stop acting like it's the worst thing to ever befall a person. Down vote me to oblivion, but you'd be ridiculous for even putting this on the same level as most other fmls.

nice to have a confident daughter tho (Y)

You built a kid who's more adept at navigating social situations, so congratulations on succeeding as a parent. Bonus points if she's more energy efficient and environmentally friendly than her predecessor.

I know your comments are jokes, but I wanted to mention that conditions like social anxiety are almost entirely biological and it doesn't matter what the parents do.

hellobobismyname 24

13 - I don't know how accurate that statement is. I, myself, have social anxiety, and I know it is not biological in my case. It's because my parents were extremely overprotective and did not allow me to socialize or even teach me those skills up until I was 18. Add to that being bullied at school and abused verbally and physically at home, and a few traumatic instances. My whole life I've had social anxiety, and I'm certain the way I was raised and my experiences in life had everything to do with it.

Both of you are right. It's biological and environmental. But I think he was referring to the fact that the parent did a good job raising a kid to deal with adult responsibilities (even as miniscule as ordering through a drive-thru)

I don't think ordering through drive through is equivalent to raising someone..

you put a 12 y/o in the drivers seat? thats dangerous and irresponsible. if she needed to order for whatever reason she should be able to speak from the passanger side.

"Welcome to In-and-Out Burger. May I take your ... hey, wait! Is that kid driving a car?!?!?"

Believe my I have really bad social anxiety - I can totally relate, but Id have parked and maybe your daughter could have gone in to order. Ive worked in drive thru's and IIm just thinking of it on a safety atandpoint

If you haven't already, please consider therapy. They really can provide some great methods for handling and even overcoming social (or any) anxiety. Best to you, OP!