Whether it happened 20 seconds ago or 20 years ago, embarrassing memories have a way of sticking around, no matter how hard we try to forget. In response to a recent msnbc.com story, readers shared their own humiliations from their past.

"I worked in a department store mailing out customer statements. My hair got stuck in the machine that folded the statements. I couldn't get my hair out and made it worse by trying," writes Rita, who lives in Minneapolis. "I had to lift up the machine - about the size of a small desktop printer - and carry it - with my hair wrapped around the rollers - into the main office for someone to cut my hair out of the machine. I've actually learned to laugh about this episode and tell it after several stiff drinks!"

Keep reading for more responses.

In the 5th grade, I was sitting with a bunch of girls who were in the "popular" group. I had been holding back a sneeze and all of a sudden I couldn't anymore and out it came... along with a huge gob of snot and mucus....all over my hand and face. It was disgusting.
- Nikki, Maine

During World War II they stopped putting elastic in ladies and children's panties,instead they used a drawstring which had to be tied to keep them up. i was walking home from school one afternoon and all of a sudden my panties dropped down around my ankles. There I was in broad daylight on a busy sidewalk. I pulled them up the best I could and held them until I got home. I was ten years old. I still remember it very well. I felt totally embarrassed.
- Mary, Tyler, Texas

In 9th grade, I had to give a talk to an auditorium FULL of my classmates...I bombed big-time...I started laughing & just couldn't stop. It was awful. Yet as an adult, I've become a very good public speaker...strange.
- Kay, American Canyon, Calif.