By Natasha Hinde

Copyright huffingtonpost

If you’re having a lousy week and feeling a bit bummed out, spare a thought for the poor dad who accidentally told his kid’s teacher that he loved them.

The rather mortified 42-year-old shared on Reddit’s r/CasualConversation that he’d had a quick phone call with his son’s teacher after school recently.

He was driving home from work during the chat and was parking up as the conversation came to an end – and the concentration on one task led to a bit of a brain lapse regarding the other…

“I said ‘love you’ to my kid’s teacher,” the distraught father admitted.

“She said something like ‘it was good to talk to you’ and (being a little distracted) I said ‘ok bye, love you’. As I realised what I’d just said, I froze and she said ‘err, bye’ and hung up.”

At this point, I’ll bet he was just waiting for the ground to swallow him whole.

“I sat for a good 10mins, frozen in time. I couldn’t believe I’d done that,” the dad recalled, before asking: “What now?”

He will undoubtedly see his child’s teacher again – and soon. So the question is: “Do I apologise, do I say anything at all to her?”

And there’s been no sympathy as far as his family is concerned.

When the dad ’fessed up to his wife that he’d accidentally declared love for his son’s teacher, she “fell off the sofa laughing”.

“I genuinely don’t think I can look the girl in the face again,” he continued. “Tell me this has happened to someone else?!?”

Look, plenty of us have been in this position as kids. I remember calling my teacher ‘mum’ a couple of times and being absolutely devastated about it after.

And plenty of adults are having these awkward encounters on a daily basis, too.

A Dominos employee said in the comments section: “I lost track of the number of times I said ‘okay, we’ll see ya soon. I love you’ to a customer over the phone at Domino’s when taking an order.

“What’s even more interesting is the number of people who unconsciously said ‘okay. Love you too’ before realisation set in.”

Even landlords are at it. “I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve said ‘love you, bye!’ to my tenants,” said one commenter.

Another respondent recalled how they’d completely fluffed the end of a conversation and said “meet to nice you” followed by “take well” which was a mash-up of “take care” and “be well”.

Another admitted: “I got out of the car once, locked the doors and not thinking reached out, and grabbed my friend’s (guy) hand to walk into the store. Something I habitually did with my girlfriend, I just had a complete mind bonk. The look he gave me.”

But perhaps the best response was from this commenter, who said: “You should be proud that there is so much love in your life that ending a conversation with ‘I love you’ is a reflex.”