Rava said to Rabbah bar Mari: Whence is the popular saying “If you have a defect, be the first to mention it”? He replied: As it is written, “And he said, I am Avraham’s servant.”
On the daf / in context: Eliezer opens by identifying himself as a servant, preempting any potential slight. The Gemara treats this as the paradigm for acknowledging a possible source of embarrassment before others can raise it.
Type of Learning
Custom (Bavli — preempting one’s own possible shame)
What Is Learned
One who has a potential source of embarrassment should be the first to state it; Eliezer’s self-identification as “servant of Avraham” is the classic illustration.