By RTF Editor Abbie Miller

It all went down one day in my local Starbucks, where I’d gone after class for a few hours of homework, studying, writing, and mindless Facebook surfing.

As I waited for my laptop to come out of hibernation mode, I looked around at my fellow caffeine worshippers. It was a full house that day, your typical mixture of coffee shop types; a couple businessmen, a young mom with kids in tow, a college study group. And of course, a rather cute guy over at the corner table.

*Note to self: do not spill your drink or fall out of your chair at any point during this evening.*

I gave the space bar a couple of good whacks to get things going, and soon my desktop screen popped up. As I clicked to go to my school website and check my email, a sudden obnoxious digital voice broke the polite semi-quiet of the coffee shop… 

“Tired of being SINGLE and ALONE!? Looking for a conservative Christian mate?”

My most recent gulp of iced coffee made its way into my nasal cavities as I choked. I started clicking around frantically, looking for the offending pop-up window and in my peripheral vision, saw several heads swivel in my direction. Where is it?! Face turning red… splotching… I can feel it! I couldn’t manage to put down my drink fast enough to use the keyboard shortcut for mute.

The ad blared on:

“Don’t give up. Your soulmate is out there. You just haven’t found them yet…”

Well thanks, I knew THAT much… because cute-guy-in-the-corner over there is currently giving me the stink-eye!

More and more raised eyebrows were turning my direction and I was pretty sure my face was going to catch fire at any moment. Hey, at least I’d make the headlines: WOMAN HUMILIATED IN LOCAL STARBUCKS, SPONTANEOUSLY COMBUSTS.

“Consider JesusLovesSinglePeople.com, a place for Christians to – “

Finally, I managed to mute my laptop. Then I found the evil ad and closed it with a violent click. And then I crawled underneath the table and refused to come out. In fact, I’m still there right now.

The bright side of my new humiliation home? An ever-present aroma of coffee. And free wi-fi. (Don’t worry – I turned on my pop-up blocker.)

What about you? Ever had an awkward pop-up ad moment?

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