Joy

Many of us have been caught bending or breaking the rules at some point in our lives, but some people's "oopsies" stories are far more mortifying than others. When you're up to no good and get caught red-handed, it can make for some pretty epic—and epically embarrassing—life stories.

While laughing at others' misfortunes isn't cool, when people share their cringeworthy misdeeds themselves in a spirit of solidarity and humor, it's fair to giggle along. So when "The Tonight Show" host Jimmy Fallon asked his viewers on X if they had ever been caught red-handed, asking them to tag their stories with #IGotCaught, people's responses were too hilarious not to share.

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Here are 11 of the funniest and/or most embarrassing stories of people being caught in the act:

1. I won't tell if you don't

The teacher who ditched class only to run into one of his students doing the exact same thing.

"Called in sick to work one day. Saw one of my students at the beach. We nodded as we both realized we were skipping my class."

2. Always delete the evidence

How do you explain this one?

"I googled a guy before meeting him. Later I pulled out my phone to show him a picture of my dog and he saw the picture of him."

3. When your mother-in-law is in the chat

And sexting your husband when your mother-in-law's in the chat? Mortifying.

"Sent a sext to my husband…forgot his mom was in a group chat."

4. Maybe don't use a public computer for this

When your crush catches you looking him up…

"#IGotCaught looking up a guy's info on a college computer. Heard his voice behind me telling me how to correctly spell his last name."

5. Not as bad as the Coldplay concert catastrophe, but same idea

Life lesson: If you're going to try calling out sick from work, don't get caught on television at a rock concert.

"I called off sick to go to a music festival. The next day my boss said, 'Next time don't stand in the front row.' I was on TV."

6. "Oh. Hi, Mom."

Ah, the innocence of youth caught being not so innocent.

"I snuck out at age 15 to go to a drinking party. The doorbell rang, I answered the door, there stood my mom."

7. Sleeping or praying?

If you're going to fall asleep at work, at least make it entertaining for the boss.

"#igotcaught when my boss caught me dozing off at my desk. I raised my head slowly and said, 'Amen.'"

8. Always double-check who you're sending to

Oh, this is one that will stick for a long time. Ouch.

"On a first date and sent a text to what I thought was my buddy saying 'this date is awful SOS'…sent it to her."

9. Could be worse, but still…

At least this one was a compliment:

"I was telling my friend about a guy that had a cute butt. The guy heard me and said Thanks."

10. Parents weren't born yesterday

When you think your parents are noobs:

"Parents found out my bro threw a house party after finding the wifi password pinned up everywhere. His excuse, 'I forgot it…a lot.'"

11. "Oh. Hi, Dad."

Or, when your dad is already one step ahead of you…

"Once I tried to sneak out my window and it was dark so I put my hand on something for balance…it was my Dad."

Thanks for all the vicarious, second-hand embarrassment, viewers of Jimmy Fallon. Yeesh.

This article originally appeared eight years ago.