The Awk Spot: The Time I Blew Up A Ball At My Desk

You GUYS. I haven’t posted something in my Awk Spot series in a WHOLE YEAR. Don’t worry, I haven’t lost my love for awkward moments. Rest assured that awkward situations and people are CERTAINLY still finding me. I guess I just haven’t written about as many of my awkward experiences as I used to? A reader actually called me out recently on not having posted any awk spots in a long time, so today I’m here to warn you guys about how NOT to blow up an exercise ball at work.

Obviously.

Through my worksite wellness program, we encourage staff to decrease the amount of time spent sitting all day, and we recommend replacing standard desk chairs with alternative workstations. My group recently purchased a few stability balls and standing desks to “practice what we preach.” I put that in quotes because I haven’t been the best about making the switch from my desk chair, but I’m trying!

However, if you ARE making the switch to a stability ball chair, my advice to you is to forgo the old-fashioned hand pump when trying to blow the damn thing up. Otherwise, you are going to look extremely awkward while pumping away under your desk.

Really, it’s not the best motion to be doing in the work place. It gets you weird looks. Oh, and welcome to my little 9-5 home. Now you have a visual of my work environment. Pretty exciting standard. I look smart in my glasses though, don’t I?

ANYWAYS. Back to pumping. Get rid of the hand pump. But really, the foot pump isn’t necessarily much better…

Right?! Why is blowing up a darn stability ball the funniest slash dirtiest thing ever?! Even the directions were dirty. I can’t even repeat what they said to do. Don’t worry, once the ball is blown up, sitting on it is a whole different story. Every movement gets you an awkward squeak where you feel obligated to explain that you are sitting on a stability ball so your co-workers don’t think you are THAT person who farted at their desk. Oh, and there’s really no graceful way to get off of the ball when standing back up. Trust me. None.

I promise that my corporate wellness programming is more advanced than this, but I needed something silly to get me through the end of my week. Now I’m off to put together an inspirational wellness talk that I’m giving to a group of nurses at a marketing event in a couple of weeks.

I’m thinking I’ll leave the balls out of it.

–Let’s chat–
Do you use an alternative workstation? Any awkward exercise ball stories you’d like to share? Does anyone want to tell me about an awkward moment you’ve had recently?

New to F&F in the past year? You have a lot of catching up to do!

• The Time I Was Poised (But Still Spilled the Coffee)
• The Time I Tripped and Dropped the Wine
• The Time I Taught Barefoot Zumba
• The Time Tim Tried Spin Class
• The Time Slesh Hugged A Stranger
• The Time I Was THAT Girl in the Audience
• The Time I Got Hit On at the Gym and then Tripped
• The Time I Was Afraid of Balls
• The Time Everyone Put Their Hands Up
• The Time(s) I Got Pooped On
• The Time I Got Stuck in a Drive Through ATM
• The Time I Got Yelled At On a Plane
• The Time I Forgot My Towel
• The Time I Was a Massage Virgin
• The Time I Needed Mothballs & Pantyhose

Enjoy!