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911 Dispatchers Share The Dumbest Reasons They've Ever Seen People Call Them About

911 Dispatchers Share The Dumbest Reasons They've Ever Seen People Call Them About
Photo by CDC on Unsplash

People.... DON'T BE AN AMY COOPER!!! Stop calling the police for stupid reasons. Now this is a comical piece and there are several sidesplitting situations you will read about, but, be more responsible.

With that being said, the results can often be staggering in hilarity with idiocy is ringing.

Redditor u/GenjiKat wanted to know what 911 dispatchers have to deal with on the regular that make them want to pull their hair out by asking.... 911/999 dispatch, what's the dumbest reason someone has called?


The Frivolous.

Giphy

Little old lady would call every morning to ask what the weather was like outside. No matter how many times we told her to stop.

A grown man wanted to press charges against someone who flipped him off while driving. beautnight

Bambi's Eyes. 

When they released our city's stupidest 911 calls a few years ago, this was one:

There's a deer in my yard. (A weekly occurrence here)

What is it doing?

It's looking at me. Not_A_Wendigo

it was hilarious.....

Not a dispatcher, but firefighter. We were called out to a residence one very frosty morning mid winter during a very long cold snap... because the homeowner couldn't open his front door and was unable to get out to get to work. We drove up, I got out, ready to force the door open, but tried it first. It opened with minimal effort (frozen a bit). I opened the door and called out "Fire department. Did you still need us?" He was so embarrassed and it was hilarious. gorammitMal

Yogi?

Giphy

A guy called because an injured bear was in his front yard for "a few hours." It was a giant landscaping boulder that had been there for years. oneofthesesigns

ROOMBA!

I was doing IT work at a dispatch center when a 911 call came in from a woman who said that she came home and heard a burglar upstairs. This was in a small town that doesn't get much crime. The town sent 5 of their own cops plus they requested mutual aid from two neighboring towns.

A total of about 10 officers cordoned off the area and set up a perimeter. Cops went into the house looking for the burglar.

They found that the noise was caused by a ROOMBA that got trapped in a closet. The vacuum was banging against the walls and the closet door trying to escape.

No arrests were made that day. Fortunately, no one was injured, either. dartdoug

The Rinse. 

She got shampoo in her eye while showering. She rinsed it out, and her vision was unaffected, but it, like, really stung for a minute. She was 27 and could not be talked out of having paramedics dispatched. When the medics got there, they couldn't talk her out of going to the hospital.

She was fine, at least until she got word from her insurance company that they weren't going to pay for her "frivolous and unnecessary" ambulance ride. jemmo_

Not a Taxi....

Giphy

There are apparently multiple people each month who think they can call the emergency number asking for the police to give them a ride home because they got plastered at a bar and don't want to drink & drive. ConstableBlimeyChips

Finding the Pro. 

I had a guy call 911 and wanted to report that a woman had stolen his money. We were swamped that night so I kept him on the line trying to get further information. Upon asking a few more questions about the woman and her description it was obvious he was describing a sex worker.

He then began to cry and begged me to not judge him for hiring a sex worker. I promised him I wouldn't judge him and I would send him an officer as soon as we had one available. He hung up and I pended the call as the woman was no longer on scene. He called back on 911 less than a minute later and proceeded to want to talk about his hiring her until officers arrived.

My partner and I continued to pick up his call after we had to place him on hold several times to take other 911 calls during the 15 minute period it took for officers to get to him. He ended up getting arrested for disorderly conduct that night as he was extremely intoxicated and decided he wanted to have a go at the officers when they arrived. cycleindiana

So Petty. 

Because their electricity went out and they wanted the police to fix it. Then got upset when I told them they needed to call their power company.

I've also had someone call because their neighbors tree was dropping leaves into their yard and they wanted the neighbor to clean it up.

And one of the funniest/most ridiculous: because someone's automatic sprinklers turned on while they were walking their dog and they got wet. Wanted to press assault charges.

People call for the most PETTY things ever. I would always have them call back on the non-emergency line as soon as they told me the ridiculousness. 911 is for emergencies only boys and girls! knewfonewhodis

Find the Birds.

Giphy

I will never forget that brief period in early 2018 when KFC ran out of chicken and police in the UK received so many calls about it that they had to put out a notice asking people to stop. PoundshopPrincessJas

"He was so embarrassed..."

Not a dispather, but firefighter. We were called out to a residence one very frosty morning mid winter during a very long cold snap...because the homeowner couldn't open his front door and was unable to get out to get to work. We drove up, I got out, ready to force the door open, but tried it first. It opened with minimal effort (frozen a bit). I opened the door and called out "Fire department. Did you still need us?" He was so embarassed and it was hilarious.

gorammitMal

"Caller advised..."

  1. Elderly male was trying to scoop poop out of his constipated wife's bhole and made it bleed. Had to instruct the caller to not try to scoop anything else out of the patients bhole.
  2. Caller advised someone dead in her front driveway. Asked for an approximate age, said 40-50 year old male. Arrived on scene to find her pet deceased in the driveway. (No wonder she declined CPR)
  3. "Drunk falcon". Caller reported someone stumbling into the roadway possible drunk. Asking for a description of "him" as the caller told us, and he said brown. (??) To clarify, African American or Hispanic? Caller said.. "uh I'm not sure, light brown? I mean it's a falcon so the normal falcon brown?" I could go on, but honestly every day gets weirder and weirder.

"I once had a woman..."

Medical dispatcher here:

I once had a woman call for an ambulance because her daughter got her hand stuck between the mattress and the wall and she couldn't pull it out or lift the mattress.

I once had a man call because his 13yo daughter had vaginal bleeding. It was her period. Not even her first. He called without telling the daughter or the mom - who had primary custody and had the daughter at HER house at the time.

I once had a woman call because she choked on her food - a "down the wrong pipe" situation - and requested I stay on the line with her until the ambulance arrived because she was scared. She asked me "Do you think I could still be choking?"

I once had a woman call because she thought she felt a lump in her breast and wanted to go to the ER. We're not allowed to tell people to make an appointment with their doctor in the morning, so I sent an ambulance. The kicker: she lived 1 block down from the hospital. She could've walked and saved a lot of money.

morganseptember

"I had a woman..."

I had a woman recently call in upset that a cashier wouldn't cash her lottery tickets after asking her to leave repeatedly.

tinabelcher1989

"He was advised..."

911 call with the reporting party saying there is a jellyfish stranded on the beach. He was advised not to touch it and asked if anyone needed medical assistance that had been stung. No, he wanted someone to come SAVE THE JELLYFISH. I explained that it was a natural phenomenon and that neither Animal Control nor the Marine Mammal Center will respond for that. He screamed at me that I was an animal hater until I had to disconnect.

so_it_goes1

"I ha

I have a cousin who is a 911 dispatcher, his first ever call, a woman called to get the phone number of one of the cops who had recently been to her house because she hadn't had sex in over a month and thought he was hot.

Spinner522

"Some dude called us..."

Some dude called us to make a "serious complaint" i asked him what was the problem and he said "They gave me like a medium size worth of fries and I asked for large" I was confused and I asked if this was a prank call. He said no. Dude was really pissed of that he didn't get all his fries.

limp-dicc05

"I could list off calls..."

I could list off calls all day. Been a dispatcher for 4 years now and I honestly thought maybe 25% of calls would be something pressing when someone called 911. I was very wrong. Maybe 2% on a good day. On 5 different occasions I've had people want us to check the area around their house because "my dog is barking and he never barks." When asked if they saw or heard anything they say no. So we go and patrol the area 100% based on a dog hunch.

Homeskillet1376

"She was called..."

Not me personally, but a friend of mine who works as a call dispatcher. She was called just this week by an adult male wanting the police because his neighbour trimmed his hedges over the property line.

Needless to say they didn't pay him a visit.

EddieofDoom

"A man calls..."

A man calls about domestic violence but when the police arrived he answered the door with a bowl of spaghetti dumped on his head. He and his wife had gotten into a (food) fight. Some of the other casualties were the cesar salad which was dumped on the wife's head and some garlic bread that she used to hit her husband.

AdolfLeftGiblet

A man could not..."

A man could not get through the Capatcha to request an Uber. He may have been a robot.

sluttyforkarma

"All laugh."

When my wife and I were new parents we called poison control because our daughter, who had just started crawling, ate a grasshopper. (Half a grasshopper, actually.)

The operator was laughing so hard she could barely talk. Put us on speaker phone with a whole room full of laughing people. They reassured us by pointing out that this is a delicacy in some cultures. Said it was good with honey.

It became a family joke. "Remember the time she ate a grasshopper?" "No, it was just half a grasshopper." All laugh. She glares at us.

DancingBear2020

"My mom..."

My mom was a dispatcher when I was really young and they would always get 911 calls of when will the fireworks start for 4th of July, the summer festival and any sort of event with fireworks.

chadwickett

"One day..."

"Chicken by the coffee pot."

The neighborhood we lived in had random stray chickens. (Word on the street was someone was trying to run a chicken fighting ring and the chickens rebelled and escaped, thus creating a slew of stray chickens running amuck. I don't buy it though.) One was actually roosting in my backyard for five days without my dogs noticing... anyway...

My husband is a police officer in the next town over. One day he called me laughing, because he heard through his dispatch radio that our neighbor called 911 because a chicken had broken into their house and was sitting next to their coffee pot.

Ilike_turtles

"She didn't throw away..."

Because her husband yelled at her. She didn't throw away an empty bottle of shampoo. They were both inebriated and eventually, he got on the line too and started explaining that she's messy. I dispatched an officer right away, because not on my watch Kidding. Kidding! But an officer did go out! Lol it was a small country town.

Evergreen5420-2

"I'm gonna add..."

I'm gonna add to the stuff stuck up the butt. I didn't take the call but I got to listen to the recording right after my coworker took the call. Guy calls in asking for an ambulance saying he has a fever that won't go away after a couple of days. In cases like this we try to get a little further just in case it's more serious, although it's not uncommon to dispatch for a fever. He sounds fine, completely coherent. He is being really sketchy about explaining his circumstances. After a brief pause he goes "I got something stuck up my butt a few days ago and I can't get it out. Ok, I said it!" My coworker did everything in her power to keep it professional.

Oh, and I was just mocked and chewed out by a caller because we weren't helping him fast enough. Something to do with his neighbor neglecting her dog. He's been standing in his driveway for an hour even though he just called us 10 minutes ago...

flaker21

"There was a spout..."

There was a spout of people calling 911 because their order was wrong from a fast food place.

SgtDoughnut

"She had a lady..."

My sister worked dispatch. She had a lady call 911 because her neighbours filled there pool and she thought it was too full. When the neighbours jumped in the pool some of the water would splash out and the caller though some water would go on to her property. My sister told her that this isn't an emergency. The lady replied by screaming "But I have a dinner party tonight!". No cops were sent.

randallfromnb

"A guy who phoned..."

I was a 999 operator for an ambulance service in the UK. I have had:

*Idiots calling 999 just to wish us happy Christmas or happy new year with no consideration that they are blocking lines for genuine emergencies.

*People phoning to chat because they feel lonely.

*A guy who phoned 999 EVERY NIGHT to say he was having a heart attack but actually just had anxiety. This is actually not an uncommon issue.

*A couple who would phone 999 regularly to tell us that their partner was unconscious and not breathing despite hearing the partner talking in the background...

*People ringing 999 to ask for an emergency ambulance for their pet cat that had been run over.

Wolf_Dancer

"A woman called..."

A woman called DEMANDING that her extensive criminal record be wiped.

spectralcanvas

"Had a call come in..."

Had a call come in once from a man reporting that his ex had broken into his flat and tried to murder him.

What had actually happened was that the ex (who still lived at the property) had come in using her key and opened a window because it was over 35°c (95°f) in the flat. He thought she was trying to kill him by giving him hypothermia. On the hottest night of the year.

expldingtitums

"A family member..."

A family member who works dispatch told me they had a call:

"Someone threw a hot dog at me."

Worlds_Okayst_Wife

"Another..."

Guy calls 999 and asks for police, somone has put cardboard beside their oil tank and I think it's going to explode! Come quick!. Sorry sir, is there a fire? No it's a fire hazard. Ok well if a fire breaks out it isnt the cardboard that you need to worry about and from my recollection cardboard doesn't just spontaneously combust.

Another was, I just poured some oil down a drain buy mistake send police now! Ok sir, this isnt really a police matter. Contact the water service. But I need the police Would you like me to come arrest the oil sir?

dispatcher123

"Have a fungal growth..."

Paramedic, but I think I qualify, and there's a few from offer the years. Have writer's block, can't sleep. Have a fungal growth on my scrotum (proceeds to show me despite my protestations). Was stuck in an elevator, was scared I was going to die (though clearly not dead). Parents turned the Wi-Fi off because I'm playing too much Xbox (I did sympathise a bit, it was a double XP that weekend). I have a cloud phobia, I walked outside an saw some clouds. I broke a nail.

Try keeping composed and professional when such rubbish comes out of people's mouths.

OkayDoke47

"Where is..."

Where is the nearest gas station to me?

itzwhatitizzzzz

"Woman in hysterics..."

Woman in hysterics just totally losing her mind because her son was missing as he hadn't returned from school. First question was "when was he suppose to come home?" Her response was "3pm" it was 1:30.

prizmatik1

"Someone called..."

My mum had a call on Christmas Day about 15 years ago. Someone rang in to say their turkey wouldn't fit in the oven.

Luke1756

"Someone called up..."

I used to work for 000 in Aus. Someone called up because there was a spider in their bathroom. I had to put them through to the fire brigade and the lady was screaming and the firefighter was like "just throw a shoe at it". Pretty sure they had to send someone around

fawske3n

"I was once dispatched..."

Retired deputy here. I was once dispatched to a call in the middle of the night in which a lady stated that she couldn't sleep because of a duck quacking outside her window. Fortuneately it was gone before I got there.

Bluemerman

We got paged to a guy tripping the other day seeing Jesus in his phone. He was a super cooperative and sweet patient, and just having a really bad night. His douchebag friends kicked him out when he was having a hard time, so we picked him up basically to keep him safe. He had quite the cocktail of drugs on board, so we convinced him (effortlessly, he was very sweet) to let us check out his heart and make sure it wasn't struggling with the mix of uppers and downers. His pulse and BP were rightfully elevated, but healthy.

At that point, Jesus Phone made him call his mom, so he, mom, and myself had a lovely conversation in the ambulance. She wins mom of the year award for being so understanding and supportive of her son in a hard place, and he wins patient of the year for being a good self-advocate and so agreeable despite how scared he was. But don't do drugs, kids, Jesus will appear in your phone and tell you whacky stuff.

ckjm

REDDIT


People Reveal The Weirdest Thing About Themselves

Reddit user Isitjustmedownhere asked: 'Give an example; how weird are you really?'

Let's get one thing straight: no one is normal. We're all weird in our own ways, and that is actually normal.

Of course, that doesn't mean we don't all have that one strange trait or quirk that outweighs all the other weirdness we possess.

For me, it's the fact that I'm almost 30 years old, and I still have an imaginary friend. Her name is Sarah, she has red hair and green eyes, and I strongly believe that, since I lived in India when I created her and there were no actual people with red hair around, she was based on Daphne Blake from Scooby-Doo.

I also didn't know the name Sarah when I created her, so that came later. I know she's not really there, hence the term 'imaginary friend,' but she's kind of always been around. We all have conversations in our heads; mine are with Sarah. She keeps me on task and efficient.

My mom thinks I'm crazy that I still have an imaginary friend, and writing about her like this makes me think I may actually be crazy, but I don't mind. As I said, we're all weird, and we all have that one trait that outweighs all the other weirdness.

Redditors know this all too well and are eager to share their weird traits.

It all started when Redditor Isitjustmedownhere asked:

"Give an example; how weird are you really?"

Monsters Under My Bed

"My bed doesn't touch any wall."

"Edit: I guess i should clarify im not rich."

– Practical_Eye_3600

"Gosh the monsters can get you from any angle then."

– bikergirlr7

"At first I thought this was a flex on how big your bedroom is, but then I realized you're just a psycho 😁"

– zenOFiniquity8

Can You See Why?

"I bought one of those super-powerful fans to dry a basement carpet. Afterwards, I realized that it can point straight up and that it would be amazing to use on myself post-shower. Now I squeegee my body with my hands, step out of the shower and get blasted by a wide jet of room-temp air. I barely use my towel at all. Wife thinks I'm weird."

– KingBooRadley

Remember

"In 1990 when I was 8 years old and bored on a field trip, I saw a black Oldsmobile Cutlass driving down the street on a hot day to where you could see that mirage like distortion from the heat on the road. I took a “snapshot” by blinking my eyes and told myself “I wonder how long I can remember this image” ….well."

– AquamarineCheetah

"Even before smartphones, I always take "snapshots" by blinking my eyes hoping I'll remember every detail so I can draw it when I get home. Unfortunately, I may have taken so much snapshots that I can no longer remember every detail I want to draw."

"Makes me think my "memory is full.""

– Reasonable-Pirate902

Same, Same

"I have eaten the same lunch every day for the past 4 years and I'm not bored yet."

– OhhGoood

"How f**king big was this lunch when you started?"

– notmyrealnam3

Not Sure Who Was Weirder

"Had a line cook that worked for us for 6 months never said much. My sous chef once told him with no context, "Baw wit da baw daw bang daw bang diggy diggy." The guy smiled, left, and never came back."

– Frostygrunt

Imagination

"I pace around my house for hours listening to music imagining that I have done all the things I simply lack the brain capacity to do, or in some really bizarre scenarios, I can really get immersed in these imaginations sometimes I don't know if this is some form of schizophrenia or what."

– RandomSharinganUser

"I do the same exact thing, sometimes for hours. When I was young it would be a ridiculous amount of time and many years later it’s sort of trickled off into almost nothing (almost). It’s weird but I just thought it’s how my brain processes sh*t."

– Kolkeia

If Only

"Even as an adult I still think that if you are in a car that goes over a cliff; and right as you are about to hit the ground if you jump up you can avoid the damage and will land safely. I know I'm wrong. You shut up. I'm not crying."

– ShotCompetition2593

Pet Food

"As a kid I would snack on my dog's Milkbones."

– drummerskillit

"Haha, I have a clear memory of myself doing this as well. I was around 3 y/o. Needless to say no one was supervising me."

– Isitjustmedownhere

"When I was younger, one of my responsibilities was to feed the pet fish every day. Instead, I would hide under the futon in the spare bedroom and eat the fish food."

– -GateKeep-

My Favorite Subject

"I'm autistic and have always had a thing for insects. My neurotypical best friend and I used to hang out at this local bar to talk to girls, back in the late 90s. One time he claimed that my tendency to circle conversations back to insects was hurting my game. The next time we went to that bar (with a few other friends), he turned and said sternly "No talking about bugs. Or space, or statistics or other bullsh*t but mainly no bugs." I felt like he was losing his mind over nothing."

"It was summer, the bar had its windows open. Our group hit it off with a group of young ladies, We were all chatting and having a good time. I was talking to one of these girls, my buddy was behind her facing away from me talking to a few other people."

"A cloudless sulphur flies in and lands on little thing that holds coasters."

"Cue Jordan Peele sweating gif."

"The girl notices my tension, and asks if I am looking at the leaf. "Actually, that's a lepidoptera called..." I looked at the back of my friend's head, he wasn't looking, "I mean a butterfly..." I poked it and it spread its wings the girl says "oh that's a BUG?!" and I still remember my friend turning around slowly to look at me with chastisement. The ONE thing he told me not to do."

"I was 21, and was completely not aware that I already had a rep for being an oddball. It got worse from there."

– Phormicidae

*Teeth Chatter*

"I bite ice cream sometimes."

RedditbOiiiiiiiiii

"That's how I am with popsicles. My wife shudders every single time."

monobarreller

Never Speak Of This

"I put ice in my milk."

– GTFOakaFOD

"You should keep that kind of thing to yourself. Even when asked."

– We-R-Doomed

"There's some disturbing sh*t in this thread, but this one takes the cake."

– RatonaMuffin

More Than Super Hearing

"I can hear the television while it's on mute."

– Tira13e

"What does it say to you, child?"

– Mama_Skip

Yikes!

"I put mustard on my omelettes."

– Deleted User

"Oh."

– NotCrustOr-filling

Evened Up

"Whenever I say a word and feel like I used a half of my mouth more than the other half, I have to even it out by saying the word again using the other half of my mouth more. If I don't do it correctly, that can go on forever until I feel it's ok."

"I do it silently so I don't creep people out."

– LesPaltaX

"That sounds like a symptom of OCD (I have it myself). Some people with OCD feel like certain actions have to be balanced (like counting or making sure physical movements are even). You should find a therapist who specializes in OCD, because they can help you."

– MoonlightKayla

I totally have the same need for things to be balanced! Guess I'm weird and a little OCD!

Close up face of a woman in bed, staring into the camera
Photo by Jen Theodore

Experiencing death is a fascinating and frightening idea.

Who doesn't want to know what is waiting for us on the other side?

But so many of us want to know and then come back and live a little longer.

It would be so great to be sure there is something else.

But the whole dying part is not that great, so we'll have to rely on other people's accounts.

Redditor AlaskaStiletto wanted to hear from everyone who has returned to life, so they asked:

"Redditors who have 'died' and come back to life, what did you see?"

Sensations

Happy Good Vibes GIF by Major League SoccerGiphy

"My dad's heart stopped when he had a heart attack and he had to be brought back to life. He kept the paper copy of the heart monitor which shows he flatlined. He said he felt an overwhelming sensation of peace, like nothing he had felt before."

PeachesnPain

Recovery

"I had surgical complications in 2010 that caused a great deal of blood loss. As a result, I had extremely low blood pressure and could barely stay awake. I remember feeling like I was surrounded by loved ones who had passed. They were in a circle around me and I knew they were there to guide me onwards. I told them I was not ready to go because my kids needed me and I came back."

"My nurse later said she was afraid she’d find me dead every time she came into the room."

"It took months, and blood transfusions, but I recovered."

good_golly99

Take Me Back

"Overwhelming peace and happiness. A bright airy and floating feeling. I live a very stressful life. Imagine finding out the person you have had a crush on reveals they have the same feelings for you and then you win the lotto later that day - that was the feeling I had."

"I never feared death afterward and am relieved when I hear of people dying after suffering from an illness."

rayrayrayray

Free

The Light Minnie GIF by (G)I-DLEGiphy

"I had a heart surgery with near-death experience, for me at least (well the possibility that those effects are caused by morphine is also there) I just saw black and nothing else but it was warm and I had such inner peace, its weird as I sometimes still think about it and wish this feeling of being so light and free again."

TooReDTooHigh

This is why I hate surgery.

You just never know.

Shocked

Giphy

"More of a near-death experience. I was electrocuted. I felt like I was in a deep hole looking straight up in the sky. My life flashed before me. Felt sad for my family, but I had a deep sense of peace."

Admirable_Buyer6528

The SOB

"Nursing in the ICU, we’ve had people try to die on us many times during the years, some successfully. One guy stood out to me. His heart stopped. We called a code, are working on him, and suddenly he comes to. We hadn’t vented him yet, so he was able to talk, and he started screaming, 'Don’t let them take me, don’t let them take me, they are coming,' he was scared and yelling."

"Then he yelled a little more, as we tried to calm him down, he screamed, 'No, No,' and gestured towards the end of the bed, and died again. We didn’t get him back. It was seriously creepy. We called his son to tell him the news, and the son said basically, 'Good, he was an SOB.'”

1-cupcake-at-a-time

Colors

"My sister died and said it was extremely peaceful. She said it was very loud like a train station and lots of talking and she was stuck in this area that was like a curtain with lots of beautiful colors (colors that you don’t see in real life according to her) a man told her 'He was sorry, but she had to go back as it wasn’t her time.'"

Hannah_LL7

"I had a really similar experience except I was in an endless garden with flowers that were colors I had never seen before. It was quiet and peaceful and a woman in a dress looked at me, shook her head, and just said 'Not yet.' As I was coming back, it was extremely loud, like everyone in the world was trying to talk all at once. It was all very disorienting but it changed my perspective on life!"

huntokarrr

The Fog

"I was in a gray fog with a girl who looked a lot like a young version of my grandmother (who was still alive) but dressed like a pioneer in the 1800s she didn't say anything but kept pulling me towards an opening in the wall. I kept refusing to go because I was so tired."

"I finally got tired of her nagging and went and that's when I came to. I had bled out during a c-section and my heart could not beat without blood. They had to deliver the baby and sew up the bleeders. refill me with blood before they could restart my heart so, like, at least 12 minutes gone."

Fluffy-Hotel-5184

Through the Walls

"My spouse was dead for a couple of minutes one miserable night. She maintains that she saw nothing, but only heard people talking about her like through a wall. The only thing she remembers for absolute certain was begging an ER nurse that she didn't want to die."

"She's quite alive and well today."

Hot-Refrigerator6583

Well let's all be happy to be alive.

It seems to be all we have.

Man's waist line
Santhosh Vaithiyanathan/Unsplash

Trying to lose weight is a struggle understood by many people regardless of size.

The goal of reaching a healthy weight may seem unattainable, but with diet and exercise, it can pay off through persistence and discipline.

Seeing the pounds gradually drop off can also be a great motivator and incentivize people to stay the course.

Those who've achieved their respective weight goals shared their experiences when Redditor apprenti8455 asked:

"People who lost a lot of weight, what surprises you the most now?"

Redditors didn't see these coming.

Shiver Me Timbers

"I’m always cold now!"

– Telrom_1

"I had a coworker lose over 130 pounds five or six years ago. I’ve never seen him without a jacket on since."

– r7ndom

"140 lbs lost here starting just before COVID, I feel like that little old lady that's always cold, damn this top comment was on point lmao."

– mr_remy

Drawing Concern

"I lost 100 pounds over a year and a half but since I’m old(70’s) it seems few people comment on it because (I think) they think I’m wasting away from some terminal illness."

– dee-fondy

"Congrats on the weight loss! It’s honestly a real accomplishment 🙂"

"Working in oncology, I can never comment on someone’s weight loss unless I specifically know it was on purpose, regardless of their age. I think it kind of ruffles feathers at times, but like I don’t want to congratulate someone for having cancer or something. It’s a weird place to be in."

– LizardofDeath

Unleashing Insults

"I remember when I lost the first big chunk of weight (around 50 lbs) it was like it gave some people license to talk sh*t about the 'old' me. Old coworkers, friends, made a lot of not just negative, but harsh comments about what I used to look like. One person I met after the big loss saw a picture of me prior and said, 'Wow, we wouldn’t even be friends!'”

"It wasn’t extremely common, but I was a little alarmed by some of the attention. My weight has been up and down since then, but every time I gain a little it gets me a little down thinking about those things people said."

– alanamablamaspama

Not Everything Goes After Losing Weight

"The loose skin is a bit unexpected."

– KeltarCentauri

"I haven’t experienced it myself, but surgery to remove skin takes a long time to recover. Longer than bariatric surgery and usually isn’t covered by insurance unless you have both."

– KatMagic1977

"It definitely does take a long time to recover. My Dad dropped a little over 200 pounds a few years back and decided to go through with skin removal surgery to deal with the excess. His procedure was extensive, as in he had skin taken from just about every part of his body excluding his head, and he went through hell for weeks in recovery, and he was bedridden for a lot of it."

– Jaew96

These Redditors shared their pleasantly surprising experiences.

Shopping

"I can buy clothes in any store I want."

– WaySavvyD

"When I lost weight I was dying to go find cute, smaller clothes and I really struggled. As someone who had always been restricted to one or two stores that catered to plus-sized clothing, a full mall of shops with items in my size was daunting. Too many options and not enough knowledge of brands that were good vs cheap. I usually went home pretty frustrated."

– ganache98012

No More Symptoms

"Lost about 80 pounds in the past year and a half, biggest thing that I’ve noticed that I haven’t seen mentioned on here yet is my acid reflux and heartburn are basically gone. I used to be popping tums every couple hours and now they just sit in the medicine cabinet collecting dust."

– colleennicole93

Expanding Capabilities

"I'm all for not judging people by their appearance and I recognise that there are unhealthy, unachievable beauty standards, but one thing that is undeniable is that I can just do stuff now. Just stamina and flexibility alone are worth it, appearance is tertiary at best."

– Ramblonius

People Change Their Tune

"How much nicer people are to you."

"My feet weren't 'wide' they were 'fat.'"

– LiZZygsu

"Have to agree. Lost 220 lbs, people make eye contact and hold open doors and stuff"

"And on the foot thing, I also lost a full shoe size numerically and also wear regular width now 😅"

– awholedamngarden

It's gonna take some getting used to.

Bones Everywhere

"Having bones. Collarbones, wrist bones, knee bones, hip bones, ribs. I have so many bones sticking out everywhere and it’s weird as hell."

– Princess-Pancake-97

"I noticed the shadow of my ribs the other day and it threw me, there’s a whole skeleton in here."

– bekastrange

Knee Pillow

"Right?! And they’re so … pointy! Now I get why people sleep with pillows between their legs - the knee bones laying on top of each other (side sleeper here) is weird and jarring."

– snic2030

"I lost only 40 pounds within the last year or so. I’m struggling to relate to most of these comments as I feel like I just 'slimmed down' rather than dropped a ton. But wow, the pillow between the knees at night. YES! I can relate to this. I think a lot of my weight was in my thighs. I never needed to do this up until recently."

– Strongbad23

More Mobility

"I’ve lost 100 lbs since 2020. It’s a collection of little things that surprise me. For at least 10 years I couldn’t put on socks, or tie my shoes. I couldn’t bend over and pick something up. I couldn’t climb a ladder to fix something. Simple things like that I can do now that fascinate me."

"Edit: Some additional little things are sitting in a chair with arms, sitting in a booth in a restaurant, being able to shop in a normal store AND not needing to buy the biggest size there, being able to easily wipe my butt, and looking down and being able to see my penis."

– dma1965

People making significant changes, whether for mental or physical health, can surely find a newfound perspective on life.

But they can also discover different issues they never saw coming.

That being said, overcoming any challenge in life is laudable, especially if it leads to gaining confidence and ditching insecurities.