
Image by Christian Dorn from Pixabay |
I've lost count when it comes to the amount of times lettuce has been marked hazardous. And I love lettuce.
Like, what is happening on these Midwest farms that lettuce is being poisoned before it's shipped out to feed the nation?
Everytime that recall occurs I clutch my pearls and run to my fridge to inventory. For me food recalls are the worst.
You never know if you're already in danger.
Though it maybe harrowing to hear, Redditor u/Pristine-Tomorrow710 asked:
What were the scariest product recalls in history?
Car recalls always get me too. That is nightmare, suspense movie nonsense right there. That has to be a collective huge fear right? You're driving along and then SURPRISE... the brakes give out. And it's the manufacturer's fault. I smell a lawsuit.
Poke Bad
"I've a strange fascination with product recalls and I have yet to see anyone mention the Burger King pokeballs that could suffocate young children by getting suction-stuck over the mouth and nose. I think it occurred a bit before my time but is a famous case."
Dotted
"I think Aqua Dots were a kids toy that were covered in some chemical that would cause coma or seizures if swallowed."
- Njabachi
"Was it 1,4 BDO? That's the only chem I know of that metabolizes into GHB, besides GBL. Would be really odd to have that as a coating on a kids toy, I guess I could see it from the manufacturing process though since it is used as an industrial solvent."
Killing the Sick
"Therac 25 radiation therapy machine.
Several cancer patients died of radiation poisoning."
"Yep was about to comment I remembered that name from my ethics in tech class I took freshman year. Was crazy how many times people have lost their lives due to upper management not caring about techs complaints."
Lift Death
"How about the one where the elevators were made to go into the basement when a fault was determined and all human interaction locked out e.g. the elevator could not be moved or opened or anything.
Sounds reasonable, right? You don't want people opening the elevator and maybe letting in a hot rush of fire, or continuing to use the elevator when the building is on fire."
"Well, unless the fault is flooding. In the basement.
Then you're in a coffin, slowly filling up with water, trying furiously to do something, anything to avoid drowning.
And failing."
On the Inside
"A friend of mine had his artificial hip recalled. He got hit by a drunk driver and spent a year recovering and learning how to walk again. Then, about six months after he was back to normal he had to start all over again, because the hip was releasing toxic metals into his body and had to be replaced."
I can't imagine a body part recalled. As if the surgery to replace what needed saving wasn't bad enough, now you have to do it again? And you may all ready be poisoned from the first round? Thank God for liquor.
The Pill
"That Tylenol/cyanide thing was kinda scary because they couldn't fully pinpoint where exactly the tampering had occurred until a bit later into the process."
"At least one (I think maybe even 3?) of the victims ended up being a "copycat" that thought they could get away with it"
"Wiki link which probably corrects almost all of what I've said, haha."
People Share The 'Dirty Secrets' That Their Bosses Don't Want Customers To Know
North American Delivery
"One of the scariest was actually something that wasn't recalled. The Federal Pacific electrical panels are breaker panels that where installed in houses for decades in North America and had a breaker failure rate of around 60%. That means 60% of the breakers they made wouldn't trip at the required currents or at all, causing massive fire hazards. If you have a Federal Pacific panel have it replaced before it burns down the property."
In the Dark
"I don't think it was ever recalled because I think it took place in the early 1900s, but there were clocks that used radioactive paint (it had radium) in order to get it to glow in the dark. A lot of the workers (and who knows how many others) ended up getting really sick due to the continued exposure to the radium."
Faulty Latch
"Infant and child car seats can either be the pinnacle of safety or death traps. You only find out which after the recall."
"The latch keeping my baby sister buckled to her car seat completely unlatched when we got rear ended. Luckily she only suffered a cut on her ear that required stitches. Got a nice little settlement from that. Don't remember the brand, I was probably 6 at the time."
Bad Deploy
"Airbags. I worked with a company that made these. Shrapnel from the exploded airbag would come flying at you while you are in an accident. Gruesome way to add insult to injury."
It's Everywhere!!
"Asbestos had some pretty big implications after they realized the health risks associated. It was used in EVERYTHING. Some places used it and the buildings couldn't be cleaned so they had to be leveled or demolished or left to rot if they couldn't afford it."
Kaboom!
"The exploding Pintos are still the classic case. Especially when the internal memos came to light saying that it would be cheaper to settle a few wrongful death lawsuits than to fix the defective gas tanks. The Ford Pinto was a small cheap automobile produced in the USA from 1971 to 1978."
"Pintos produced in Canada to higher safety standards did not have the same problem, of exploding into flames when hit from behind at speeds as slow as 5 mph.)"
"Twenty-seven people died in Pinto fires and countless others suffered serious burns."
Tragedy
"The 2008 baby formula recall in China. Some company officials tried to boost the protein level of a brand of baby formula by adding melamine. 6 babies died and over 50k were hospitalized. 2 of the perpetrators were executed but it ruined the public's trust in the authorities because they were too lax in their inspections. It was a huge tragic fiasco, just for greed. My wife is Chinese and she would ship baby formula from Canada over there regularly for years as her cousins had kids."
Big Beefs
"British Beef during the BSE crisis. I found out fairly recently I'm not allowed to donate blood outside of the UK because I may have been exposed to contaminated beef as a child."
"There is a very real possibility that I and many others my age will suddenly come down with vCJD (a neurological disease that starts with dementia and usually ends in death) at some point in the future as there is a genetic type that can remain asymptomatic for decades after exposure."
Don't Explore
"Not sure how many of you would remember, but the tires on old Ford Explorers would randomly explode after a certain number of miles."
"The thing is, because early SUV's had a super high center of gravity, when the tire exploded, the Explorer would immediately flip over. This typically happen at 60+ mph, and those things were not safe to begin with."
"The old new reports are wild."
The Helper
"Thalidomide."
"My mum had a brain tumour and after all other treatment was exhausted (surgery, chemo and radiotherapy) she was given thalidomide. It helped kill off the nerves feeding the tumour. It gave her a few extra months but she died about a year after her original diagnosis."
"There's a picture on the tablet of a pregnant woman with a line through it if I remember correctly. I don't know if they are still using it for treating brain tumours. This was just over ten years ago. Good that something so bad has gone on to actually help people."
Allergens
"Not a single recall, but how frequent recalls are for products containing food allergens. Every time it happens it means that enough people came near to a horrifying death of anaphylaxis in an emergency room that someone noticed and found the source of the allergen-contaminant."
Baby Wheels
"When they recalled my son's stroller but the company didn't bother to contact me even though I filled out the little postcard and mailed it. I only found out after he fell out of it (he wasn't seriously injured, thank God.)."
Save Timmy
"Lawn darts. Out with the family trying to play a game have a good time next thing you know little Timmy is impaled."
Truth Sucks
"The Dalkon Shield. It wasn't even recalled, which is the scary part. It was an IUD introduced in the early 70s that was ineffective as hell, and caused many deaths and permanent health problems. The makers knew almost immediately that it had these issues, and fought it in court once they were revealed and over 250,000 people were suing them. The cases led to an overall distrust in IUDs in the US, and that industry still hasn't recovered."
"ETA: they tried to make long term plan once they knew they were ineffective by selling them to the US government to distribute in Third World nations for "population control", which is a whole nother level of messed up. The "Behind the B**tards" podcast just did an episode about it."
At this point I wouldn't be surprised if the air was recalled. It basically has been already. We are all really just surviving on a wing and a prayer. I'm gonna go grab some vodka and lettuce.
Comedy is in a very tricky place right now.
There is so much to NOT laugh about in this world.
In truth, many of us have forgotten how to laugh.
And certain jokes that are told, make people afraid to laugh.
So what do we do?
We tell inappropriate jokes apparently.
Let's hear some...
Redditor CrewCreation wanted to hear some "risky" comedy. So they asked:
"What’s the best morbid joke you know?"
***WARNING: THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS SENSITIVE MATERIAL. PROCEED WITH CAUTION!***
I can't think of anything hilarious at the moment. Make us LOL.
Lady
"I have this friend, love him to bits, but his wife has a tendency of just constantly showing everyone pictures of their son at every social event. At the start it was understandable, but now I'm just like 'Lady, it's been two years; they're not going to find him.'"
UnoriginalUse
at 9am...
"Not the most morbid but I love Anthony Jeselnik’s story about his neighbor who has Alzheimer’s. 'One of my next door neighbors is a 90 year old man suffering from Alzheimer’s. And every single morning at 9am he knocks on my door and asks me if I have seen his wife.'"
"'Which means that every single morning at 9am I have to explain to a 90 year old man suffering from Alzheimer’s that his wife has been dead for quite some time. Now I’ve thought about moving. I have thought about just not answering my door in the morning. But to be honest, it’s worth it… just to see the smile on his face.”
dreagan021
Comedy?
"Why can't orphans play baseball? They don't know where home is."
GW2RNGR
"Why can't orphans play tennis? They get confused when they hear love."
JayDub506
People who make comedy are evil. LOL.
The Darkness
"Dark humor is like food; not everyone gets it."
storm_the_castle
God Laughs?
"A Holocaust survivor dies and goes to heaven, where she meets God. To break the tension she tells God a joke about the Holocaust, but God doesn’t laugh. The lady shrugs and says 'I guess you had to be there.'"
“'I guess you had to be there' is a common expression used when someone doesn’t laugh at a joke. It means that the comedy may not translate without the context of the situation."
"In this case the Holocaust survivor is saying it, meaning that during the Holocaust God was nowhere to be found. It’s not really a joke about the Holocaust, but the absurdity of belief in a benevolent God. Hilarious right?"
semimillennial
Oh Baby
"How many dead babies does it take to fix a light bulb? More than 3 cause my garage is still dark."
sirnibs3
I don't know whether to laugh or cry. Because I don't know what it says about us as people if we laugh. Oye.
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Life can change in an instant.
It can always change for the better.
Just ask any lottery winner.
Sadly, life can also take a turn for the worst and leave people shattered beyond repair.
Watching someone's life fall apart in a short amount of time is difficult.
You have to wonder if there really is such a thing as karma, bad luck, or Voodoo.
Redditor OkImagination5852 wanted to hear about the times we've been witness to personal disaster. They asked:
"People who witness a person's life crumble in a single day, what happened?"
I have lived through a lot of bad days. But thankfully they've been one disaster at a time days. So I guess I'm lucky.
Horror
"A friend of a friend had his entire family killed overnight. He was from my college and was home visiting his family. His parents, siblings, and extended family were all there together. One night, while they were all asleep, his father got up, took out a gun, and went on a shooting spree. He then killed himself."
"Everyone except this guy died on the spot. When my friend visited him at the hospital, the guy was still in shock. He had no idea why his father did that. This was more than a decade ago, and I have no idea how he's doing now."
DeadOnDeparture98
The IRS Called
"Knew a guy who had a nice house, wife, 3 kids. Machine shop in his garage, Snap On tool truck, sign out front, great mechanic. Never incorporated, didn't pay taxes on his business, cash only. Took nice vacations, bought a boat, then a camper. Five years later, the IRS came. I don't know what they estimated he owed but they seized everything. He lives alone in a trailer now."
Nobody_Wins_13
2 at Once
"My mom’s dad and dad’s mom both died on the same day. Completely unrelated. We were pretty messed up for awhile. It was 2010. Mom's dad had emphysema (lifetime smoker) and was pretty sick for a few weeks. I was in college at the time and came home to be with him, because we knew he was about to pass. Dad's mom was in the nursing home, as she had had a stroke and also had dementia (she often thought I was my dad, she thought we were in the 70s, etc.)."
"She took a turn for the worst, and so my dad left the hospice my grandpa was at and went to be with her. The towns they were in were about an hour apart, so I stayed behind with my mom to comfort her when her dad passed. A few hours go by, and he passes peacefully (huge thanks to the hospice workers for their respect and grace during this time)."
"Within an hour or so of his passing, we get a call from my dad saying that his mother had passed as well. It was a terribly dark day in our family, and the next couple years for me in college were pretty much a blur. Thankfully, things got better in time and we are all doing well now."
She lost everything...
"Her husband left her after previously persuading her to remortgage their house to save his business and he's already made her take multiple credit cards out in her name. She lost everything. He did it the week after their youngest turned 18 so he wouldn't have to pay child support. He'd obviously been planning for years."
Ieatclowns
a black sheep...
"My cousin was in a motorcycle accident with her boyfriend. Her boyfriend died. She broke her back. When she was in the hospital she learned she was pregnant. It's been 16 years and we're still trying our best, she took an all too familiar path of drugs, burning bridges and more pregnancies."
"At this point she's fairly stable and clean as far as I know but a bit of a black sheep. Her mother has custody of all one of her kids. She has her youngest and seems to be doing good by her, but who knows. It's been hard on everyone, especially her mother and her brother."
Paradigm6790
Well this is the stuff of nightmares. I'm grateful for every moment I have alive.
Several lawsuits are filed...
"Here is multiple lives ruined in an instant. A friend was over at some other people house, drugs were involved. They had been playing with a gun. My friend points the gun at a girl, pulls the trigger and shoots her in the head. Girl dies, friend gets locked up until he turns 18. Parents at the house get arrested because they knew what the kids were doing. Friends mom goes into a depression and ends up getting evicted from her house. Several lawsuits are filed."
sentondan
Gone Forever
"It was me... got in a car accident and suffered a traumatic spinal and brain injury that I had no chance of surviving... a 7 vertebrae spinal fusion, yrs of physical and mental therapy... 18 yrs later and the pieces, though many forever gone, are finally coming back together."
2boneskuLL
A Bad Night
"He trashed his fathers vacation house with an axe before setting it on fire, stabbed the neighbor nearly to death, stole their car and then crashed it into a cop car so bad the cops were injured. He also got his girl pregnant, so once he is out of prison they're gonna start a family."
Dumbing_It_Down
"dangerous"
"Pregnant friend found out husband (43) was having an affair with young woman (19) who was a volunteer at their ecolodge. Friend had 'dangerous' pregnancy and had to spend a lot of time in bed. This betrayal destroyed their marriage, split the little town where they lived and caused two employees to quit because witnessing the affair going on was just too painful."
"She had a beautiful baby girl (to go with her other two girls, lol) and after the breakup was clinically depressed. Worked hard and got a divorce (she had a great lawyer); got the business back on track; beat her depression and now is planning a great vacation trip with her girls."
"Meantime, Dad has generous visitation but just 'hasn't gotten around to' buying a car seat so he can pick up the baby and for a long time asked my friend, 'Can you drop the girls off at my Mom's?'"
NoBSforGma
Lost it All...
"Recently, I know of a guy that had borrowed all his family’s life savings for the most part to participate in the whole game stop stock thing happening… he lost every penny of his money (credit card advances), and his parents retirement, and every other dime he could get… it makes me sick to even think of it."
Bangbangsmashsmash
Well those are A LOT of bad days. Good luck to all of you.
If you or someone you know is struggling, you can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
To find help outside the United States, the International Association for Suicide Prevention has resources available at https://www.iasp.info/resources/Crisis_Centres/
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Those who are wealthy have the luxury of acquiring the best of the best–whether it's dinner at a Michelin-starred restaurant or status-identifying clothing from Chanel or Yves Saint Laurent.
But even the rich have their limits when it comes to frivolous spending before casting judgment on friends or colleagues.
Curious to hear examples of this, Redditor Sasquatchfl asked:
"Rich people of Reddit, what's the craziest/most unethical thing you've seen people in your circle spend money on?"
Expensive experiences were a priority over prized possessions.
Live Sushi
"An ex worked for Dell in the late 90s/early 2000s. He was pretty high up and there were lots of partiers in his work circle. Went to a party hosted by one of the dellionaires and there was a body sushi girl. I don’t know what was paid to her, but it was one of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever seen."
– 5hrs4hrs3hrs2hrs1mor
Pissing Contest
"Paid a group of homeless guys to only use the bathroom on a competitors business. Eventually bought that place for a massive discount."
– Haboobalub
Let's Work Out
"My mother woke up one morning and said she felt she was way too fat and she wanted to get a treadmill. The treadmill wouldn’t be a problem, but then she saw where it would be and didn’t like the lighting. Fast forward 2 months later there’s a 40k outdoor gym built and connected to the house. She hasn’t used it once."
– Herrera5449_
Taking A Leap
"Travelled with a bunch of ex 'friends' all fairly wealthy."
"First trip to SE Asia together and as an ex-local I was a de-facto tour guide (despite not being there in over a decade)"
"They somehow found and offered a bunch of kids diving off cliffs to jump for spare change."
"They increasingly challenged each other to land their coins as close to the cliff base and small surrounding rocks for the kids to dive for."
– Satakans
It's about the finer things in life.
Expensive Party Gag
"A 3k ouija board from Gwen Paltrow's store. I didn't even know it was a thing until the dude brought it out. I really wanted to cut it up and see what it was made from. Looked nice don't get me wrong but the thing is basically a party gag. For 3 grand, it better summon a demon that's all I'm saying."
– con_this
Slow Burn
"$600 USD for a candle."
– Jeffranks
It's not always about the things you acquire.
Minor Inconvenience
"I know a guy who went to get a new drivers license and had to pay ~$100k in back parking tickets, then joked about it after."
"Apparently he couldn't get a permit to park in front of his house, so he just did anyway, and accepted like a $200 fine everyday."
– melodyze
For A Successful Election
"Not me, but I know a guy who crowd funded (read: threw a bunch of money into, then solicited more at a flea market) $80,000 toward his friend's DA election campaign. The guy won. So far, this has paid back at least $120K in avoided legal fees. I know some rich people. Most of them are more boring than you think. Hell, most of them drive Hondas, Toyotas, and Nissans."
– KP_Wrath
The Lance Corporal
"I was stationed with a Lance Corporal who was wealthy beyond means after selling some of his patents. He owned and piloted four helicopters. Lived in a palatial waterfront house in Jacksonville, NC."
"The cheapest one cost 400K. That's the one he trained on. The most expensive was about 1.2 million. That's 1.2 million 1981 dollars. The two he's got now are about 5 million each."
"Had a floating landing pad out back moored to his dock and another landing pad in the back yard. Kept two helicopters and a Rolls inside his custom-built hangar at Norfolk International Airport."
"He drove a pair of Rolls-Royces. He also toyed with a 900K Miami-Vice type speedboat. He also housed and transported his squad to Camp Lejeune and back in a custom mini-bus."
– ApplicationConnect55
The dude was very giving and lived a very clean life. He'd fly us to Norfolk, pickup the car and we'd do our shopping and eating. Hop in a chopper and return home. He'd fly his fire team down to Miami on weekends. He kept a Limo there and wore a chauffer's outfit and did all the driving.
He bought a full-service and licensed pub in Northern Ireland. He lives there with his wife. Does a lot of charity work there. We still keep in touch."
– ApplicationConnect55
When there's plenty of money going around, there's no need to worry about a single thing.
That peace of mind is a luxury in itself.
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When marriages or relationships fall apart, infidelity is not always the cause.
Curious to hear from strangers online, Redditor Liam_Tang asked:
"People who've divorced, aside from adultery, what were the irreconcilable differences that ended the marriage?"

You think you know a person when you walk down the aisle.
These Redditors were in for a rude awakening.
Pet Neglect
"My wife divorced her ex for many reasons, but the final straw was when she went out of town for a few days, and when she got back he had not fed or given water to the dog. The dog lived a long and happy life after that."
– StrangeCrimes
Obsessed With A Crush
"Not me, but I had an old coworker that divorced his wife for spending their entire savings on candy crush and games of the same type."
– Hexis40
Compatibility Musts
"ITT: Intimacy (sex/romance), beliefs (religion/spirituality/politics), kids, and I haven’t seen it yet but it’s coming: finances."
"The big four. You REALLY need to discuss these things in detail BEFORE getting married."
– rabbiskittles
Physical violence is a legit reason for people to peace out of a relationship.
The Flattening
"She threatened to hit me with a hammer."
– michaelrohansmith
Hitting The Bottle
"She became an abusive alcoholic. It was sad but I had to get out."
– diegojones4
Emotional pain is too damaging to recover from.
Truth Hurts
"She told me as we stood in front of the judge ending our 7 year marriage, 'I never loved you, I just wanted kids.'"
– Pinch_Dogs
Can't Fix Angry
"She was beautiful/smart but an angry angry person. I thought I could be sweet to her and 'fix' that. Heh. She kicked the crap out of me emotionally. Wife II has been a walk in the roses for 32 years now :)"
– lowlandr
A change of heart is worthless if comes too late.
"We Could've Had A Nice Marriage
"He could not understand that my wants and needs were as important as his wants and needs. We tried to make it work for 7 years. During that time, for things that were really important to me, I tried explaining logically, asking nicely, begging, crying, yelling, passive aggressiveness... cycled back through all of these options multiple times."
"(If I knew something was important to him, I would do that. For example, he was really into sports, so I went to all his events, even though that is not at all my thing.) When I finally threw up my hands and told him it was time to get a divorce, he suddenly panicked and said 'What can I do? Do you want me to do half the chores? I'll do it! Do you want me to get a job? I'll do it! Do you want me to buy you presents for your birthday? I'll do it!'"
"So, in other words, he could have been doing that all along, but just couldn't be bothered. That made me so angry. We could have had a nice marriage that we both enjoyed, but no, by the time he saw the light, that ship had sailed."
"We are both happily remarried now (to different people) and I joke that his new wife owes me a thank you note. It was his experience with me that taught him to listen to her and take her needs seriously."
– Bluebird-True
"What Can I Do?"
"My ex was exactly like this. I didn't marry him but when I told him let's break up, he went all like, what can I do? Let's get engaged, let's look at houses, etc. Basically all the pre-marriage topics that we should be discussing about after being together for 7 years."
"I got so angry and straight up told him it's too late... I don't need you anymore."
– gudetarako
As much as a couple wants to stay together, unforeseen circumstances can eventually tear people apart.
Very few people can maintain healthy long-distance relationships.
When a new job opportunity takes a significant other away, would you begrudge them for wanting a better position to earn more money? Or is it better for them to reluctantly turn down the opportunity so they could stay with you? Do either scenarios breed resentment?
These were questions I've often asked myself with past relationships, and my answers varied depending on the person I was with.
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