Chagrin: distress or embarrassment – origin is French for “rough skin”

We all have bad days at times, but some are worse than others. I was on a bus in Manhattan with a driver who was new on the job. To his chagrin, which was shared by all the riders, the poor man turned onto a one-way street in mid-town – the wrong way. He wasn’t able to maneuver in reverse himself and a supervisor had to come to his rescue. Everyone on the bus sympathized with his plight, but I can’t imagine that he became another Ralph Kramden, making this a lifetime career.

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