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Anonymous IKEA Employees Share The Wildest Meltdowns They've Experienced

Anonymous IKEA Employees Share The Wildest Meltdowns They've Experienced

Anonymous IKEA Employees Share The Wildest Meltdowns They've Experienced

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IKEA has been the world's largest furniture retailer since at least 2008. The company's name consists of the initials of Ingvar Kamprad (company founder), Elmtaryd (the farm where he grew up), and Agunnaryd (his hometown in Småland, southern Sweden).

IKEA owns and operates about 411 stores in 49 countries. That's a lot of shoppers.

Reddit user shroudedlynx asked "Employees of IKEA, what are some of the worst meltdowns you have seen?"

Here's the inside scoop.

Svart Fredag

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Two words. Black Friday. It was 9:55, we open at 10. We were almost done, all that we had left to do was put out some children's kitchen set. What we didn't realize was that it was 50% off. I only had two pallets left to put out when the store opens and the horde came.

They were crazy. Sprinting, pushing and shoving. They fought to get to these kitchens and when they noticed my pallets, they tore them open and took it. Eventually one woman started screaming and attacked the guy who took the last one off of the pallet, not noticing the the two full pallets. I had to pull her off him and security came. After about 10 minutes the chaos ended, and I cleaned up.

At that point an elderly couple came and asked if there were any kitchens left and I put one in their cart as my coworkers laughed at what had just occurred.

Utanför Målet

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I work at a massive IKEA store in Australia. For a lot of people it's their first time in IKEA, so by the time they get to my section they start to panic because they aren't used to the maze-like layout. There are a lot of breakdowns. Usually small children who want to go home (seriously theres so many parent wondering around with their 5 year olds at 9pm on a school night)

Anyway, the most memorable breakdown I dealt with was when I was working in Home Organisation. This man marched up to me, phone in hand and family in tow.

He wants to buy a certain clothes rack but he can't find it ANYWHERE in this STUPID STORE. Alright mate, I'm happy to help you out. (although I'm not liking the attitude) he shows me a picture on his phone. A screenshot from a website with no context. I haven't seen that clothes rack before. Either it's very new, very old, or not something that we stock.

I ask if he knows the name of it.

"no that's YOUR job."

He's getting even more worked up now. But I can't search with just an image. I check our store's website and I can't find the damn clothes rack anywhere. I ask if he was sure he looked at (store location) 's website specifically (not all IKEA's stock the same stuff. Shocking I know.) immediately I can tell he feels insulted. OF COURSE HE LOOKED AT THE RIGHT WEBSITE. I activate dumb salesgirl mode and ask him to show me.

He pulls up the website, and there is the clothes rack. Quite clearly on Target.com.au. He notices and storms off wordlessly.

I got immense pleasure watching him get lost and do a couple loops through the store before finding the exit.

Handla Buss

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I used to work in IKEA in my student days, the Glasgow, Scotland store.

When it was newly opened an elderly Irish guy and his wife stopped me and asked where IKEA was, I explained that they were in IKEA and they couldn't understand. They had arrived at the ferry port in Ireland that morning and decided that they'd go on a day trip to somewhere they hadn't been before. When they arrived at the port in Scotland there was a dedicated 'IKEA' bus. They thought IKEA was an actual place in Scotland and didn't realize it was a shop.

Ko

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I used to work at IKEA. It was 2 women fighting over my service. I was helping one customer and it was a super busy weekend, so I'm sure all the employees were pretty busy. As I was helping her, another woman came up and interrupted us. They started arguing and one of them called the other woman a cow.

Leveranskostnad

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We needed a new mattress. My now wife insisted that we pay the $99 for delivery. I was adamant that I could get it home on the roof rack.

I strapped the mattress to the roof of the car, ratchet straps across all four corners. Motherf'er wasn't going anywhere.

We get in the car and opt to take surface streets home instead of taking the highway.

Everything's going great, but there is one stretch where the speed limit is 50mph.

We're driving along and a big truck flies by and immediately after it passes us, I see the mattress fly off the car in the rearview mirror.

"HOLY F'ING SHIT"

I'm backing up on the road and come to the mattress.

I did do a fantastic job strapping it to the roof rack. Problem is that the mattress took the roof rack with it. It's still tied to the mattress.

We hoist it back on the roof and take it slow to a gas station. Re strap the mattress (straps going through the car this time) and get it home.

There's a small cut on the underside of the mattress and some gravel in the protective plastic cover. Otherwise, no real harm done.

My wife still brings it up every time we go to IKEA.

"So... we're paying for delivery, right?"

Tjejer Och Killar

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My now-husband and I were driving to Ikea (about 3 hours away), and this was at a point in dating when we were starting to get serious. On the trip, I found out his middle name was Riley, and I mentioned how it could make a very cute girl name. He was completely aghast and was very firm in stating that Riley is a BOY'S name, and had been handed down in his family for over 5 generations. I tried telling him that it was starting to change over to be a girls name now, much like "Ashley" or "Quinn". He thought I was crazy and was adamant that people do not name little girls Riley. We lightheartedly argued the point for a good 15 minutes.

We finally get to IKEA, park, and walk in the front door. Five feet in front of us a little girl of about 2 goes running by and her mother is chasing after her, saying "Riley! Get back here!!" My husband just looked at me defeated and said "...shut up".

(Our firstborn girl was named Riley. We carried on the family tradition, just in a slightly different way!)

Det Finns Ingen Vi

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My boyfriend and I overheard while browsing in IKEA a couple having some sort of miscommunication in their "relationship".

I guess they were deciding on things to buy. The girl says "we should get that rug" to which the guy replies to her super loud "there is NO we, you don't live with me!"

Fåne

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Seen a dude in the car park of the Newcastle IKEA cram a load of furniture into his Ford Focus, wife stood next to him SCREAMING at how much of an idiot he is for buying so much, how they aren't going to fit in the car now, and how he is putting all this furniture together alone because it's his "f'ing stupid s*** we don't need"

Husband replies, "no you won't fit in the car now" and drives off.

Gaffeltruck

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A guy came in and wanted something that we only had "in the air" so it would require a forklift to get the product down, which we don't do with people in the store for fairly obvious safety reasons. I told him we could get it down right after the store closed for him but that was not an acceptable answer. He proceeded to lose his S#!+ on me demanding I bring out a forklift and take it down now. As this is happening, his wife and two small children walk up. I say, "well sir, just imagine that your children are in the aisle when the forklift comes out and an accident occurs, your children could be crushed by a falling pallet, the arms of the lift, or any other number of possibly fatal incidents." His response, "I don't give a s#!+ about that, I just want you to get my f'ing table." I didn't have to continue the conversation. His wife took care of it.

Kasta Kuddar

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In soft furnishing/textiles, he was 'playfully' throwing pillows at her to get her attention. She turned around and said (scarily calmly) 'I know that you think you're being funny, but you're not. So if you're going to act like a child I will treat you like a child. Start behaving like an adult or we'll leave now and I'll take away your X-Box for a week.' He pouted and marched off, muttering under his breath.

Köp Din Egen Tårta

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In IKEA making the most of my complimentary cups of tea. The couple at the next table over just had a brilliant argument about whether or not they could put a TV in their bathroom. He thinks it will fit, wife/girlfriend thinks it's the stupidest f'ing idea ever, they don't need it, it won't fit and if he wants to do that then he can move back in with his mother. And he keeps asking her to give him half of her Daim cake. After about five minutes of whining she told him if wanted some he should have bought one because apparently he always does this.

Toalettrum

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I saw a mother let her child go to the bathroom in the display toilet in one of the display washrooms.

Fuskare

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I was once shopping at Ikea and noticed a couple with the guy just having the complete look of apathy and distraction while being berated by his wife.

The volume was fairly low until they got to the bedroom department and she specifically said,

'I'm thinking of buying new sheets but I might as well not cause I don't wanna buy sheets just so you can f*** that HR b***** in them. I hope you realize I'm just staying with your cheating ass until the kids are grown up.'

I was so distraught I went for Köttbullar to calm myself.

Bortskämd

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I'm a cashier!

There was a bratty teenager and her mom about to pay for their over $1000 transaction and the mom suddenly said "You know what? This girl here doesn't deserve any of this. Put it all back." I've never seen a teenager completely lose it until that shift. I feel bad for my co worker who had to do my go backs.

Billiga Matar

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I work in IKEA food. I had one guy claim that he was a "big guy" and wanted me to put extra food on his plate after I made the plate. I explained that I can't as we have to stick to a portion size and that he could add a side plate for 1.99. He then yelled that we are all cheapskates, stormed off to his family, brought all the plates of food that we made for them and told us that he is going to bring his family somewhere good.

Plattor för Sniglar

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I was on my third day working at IKEA, still wearing the "I'm new here" badge and this lady asks me where do we keep the plates for slugs (Escargot plates). It was my third day but I already knew we don't carry that and said I don't even think I saw one before in my life. She goes "If I was your boss I'd fire you on the spot!" and stomps away.

What did I do lady?

Vita Tallrikar

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I was working in the kitchen accessories department and this middle aged guy asked me where the cheap white plates are. So these are the lowest price plates that come in one color and are sold straight off the pallet. But they changed the color from white to light beige a month ago.

I explain this and this guy starts raising his voice at me, telling me he owns a restaurant and that I go back there and bring him more white plates. At this point I know I'm not dealing with a rational person here, but I go to the computer and check if there isn't in fact a pallet of the stuff just so he sees I've tried helping him. Even shown him the big fat zero on the screen. He gets red in the face and starts telling me how I'm personally responsible for the gas he spent driving here on his Audi A8. Asked me if I know how much gas an Audi A8 burns. He's yelling now, the whole floor is looking our way and I'm doing my best to not laugh but I realized I'm already smiling and that pissed him off even more. The convo went something like this:

"You're gonna pay for the gas I spent driving here."

"I doubt that sir."

"LISTEN HERE KID! I'M GONNA DRIVE BACK HOME, LOAD UP ALL THE F***ING WHITE PLATES INTO MY CAR AND DUMP THEM ALL IN FRONT OF YOUR F***ING STORE AND YOU'RE GONNA PAY ME EVERY LAST CENT FOR THE DAMAGES"

"That's a good idea."

I wasn't even trying to be rude I just really wanted this guy to do this, but then he asked for my manager, yelled at him basically repeating everything including his Audi A8 gas mileage, everything. He ended up buying the light beige plates.

Posttraumatisk Stressyndrom

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I was in the Vancouver IKEA, and they have a children's play area that was packed. There must have been 100 kids in there, some being watched from outside and some completely unattended.

Without warning, the power went out. There were emergency lights but the play area was still quite dark. The kids all started shrieking and crying and running around in the darkness.

The power probably only out for 2 minutes, but the chaos was spectacular. When the lights came back on, it looked like a battleground. Some kids were bruised and bloodied, some had the 1000-yard stare of a war veteran. There were a few who had bonded together in the tunnels and refused to leave. Some were missing entirely - they must have escaped in the shadows into the well-furnished maze that is IKEA.

Fängelsetabell

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Overheard two young women trying to agree on a dining table. One of them said, "This table screams, 'I just got out of prison and I need a table.'"

Skräck av Engagemang

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This was my Ikea family meltdown. My then boyfriend and I were getting our own place just after college. Until then, we had both been using twin beds thanks to student living spaces and sharing a single twin was proving uncomfortable for two adult humans subjected to California summer temperatures. To fix this issue, off to Ikea we went.

Things start off ok. We start with lunch, admire the living room couches, move into kitchen wares. All so far enjoyable fantasy. And then we reach our destination, bedrooms. A sea of beds in a variety of price points greet us with brightly colored duvets. An experienced furniture purchaser I start scanning the price tags to narrow the options. I bring him to an attractive affordable model I think matches some of our bookcases. And this is where the trouble starts.

See up until now, I didn't realize exactly how bad this man's fear of decision making was. He stares at the bed incomprehensibly for literal minutes, refusing to talk about it. Eventually it is discovered that buying a bed means committing to delaying graduate school, never moving to the east coast, and having children with me. I don't understand that logic and request explanation which is slowly and tearfully given.

We spent three hours in that Ikea and left with nothing. About a month later we went back and again after several hours bought that exact bed. He never went to grad school or moved to the east coast. We also did not have children and broke up a few years later. He took the bed.

People Reveal The Dumbest Reason They Ever Had To Go To The E.R.

"Reddit user lugulaga asked: 'What is the stupidest reason you went to hospital?'"

Paramedics load a patient into an ambulance
Photo by Mat Napo

Everyone is a bit leery of hospitals.

Even people who have to work there would rather be somewhere else most of the time.

But sometimes, a trip to the hospital is unavoidable.

More specifically, a trip to the ER.

We humans can really get ourselves into some ridiculous health-related situations.

All you can do is try to laugh about it.

And be grateful you lived so you can tell the silly story.

Redditor lugulaga wanted everyone to fess about the times their ER visits were more embarrassing than painful, so they asked:

"What is the stupidest reason you went to the hospital?"

I do my best to stay away from the ER.

I'll even suffer in silence.

Especially if I'm being an idiot.

Intractable

Giphy

"Hiccups that lasted 24 hrs, stopped right when the doctor stepped in the room. Lol."

stargill70

"I’ve seen this a lot. Had a guy last Monday. 'Intractable hiccups.' Fun note: we use Thorazine to treat it. As in the anti-psychotic."

W6RJC

Down the Hatch

"Not me but I had to pick up a mate who swallowed a 50c piece to win a $2 bet. If you don't know, an Australian 50c is quite large. They had to do an endoscopy to get it out. They let him keep the black corroded coin too."

honest-aussie

"My son did this but with an American 25¢ quarter. He had it in his mouth but inhaled it. It was stuck sideways in his airway so luckily he could breathe. They had to put him under and got it out via endoscopy."

"He spent 9 hours with it in his airway and hardly spoke at all. That is the quietest he has ever been since he learned to speak. He was about 9 when this happened, he is autistic, though very high functioning, and was sensory seeking which is why it was in his mouth."

kaismama

While I Sleep

"A bat landed on my head while I was asleep. Rabies shots all around!"

olda**hit

"Ugh, my child had a 'mystery bite' from daycare that we ignored until it started looking infected. Doctors asking about animals and specifying bats-- reminds me that LAST YEAR the daycare had bats removed that were living in the roof but had no sighting since then."

But I said it. So they had to do the rabies shots, including IGG injected directly into the infected bite... on a 2-year-old. Most traumatizing experience of my life... thank goodness she doesn't remember!"

overweightthrowaway3

A Hard WInd

"My husband went because he was in extreme pain and thought he was having a heart attack. Turns out it was wind. He just needed a good fart."

blueboatsky

"I took my 1-week-old son to urgent care because he had abdominal pain for hours and hours. He cried in the waiting room for a couple more hours, then farted three times and immediately fell asleep."

"They called us in about 10 minutes after that. The doctor said, "As long as you guys are here, let's see how he's doing" and gave him the standard well-baby check. I thought that was nice."

EvadingDoom

Not the Thumb

big bang theory paper cut GIFGiphy

"When I was 8 I was bored so I got a bottle of Gatorade from my pantry and grabbed a kitchen knife then proceeded to stab it over the sink to see how easily the knife would go through the thicker plastic of the bottle… almost lost my thumb."

New_Moon_Lotus

Kids and kitchen knives, a most deadly combination.

Merry Nothing

Freak Out Running GIF by TLCGiphy

"Christmas Day, I dislocated my knee attempting to kick my brother during a sparring match. Needless to say, my martial arts career was over."

IDontThereforeIAmNot

Broken

"I was at a house party, all the bathrooms were full. Went outside, and decided I should crawl under the porch to pee. Everything went well until I tripped on the way out and rolled my ankle. Shrugged it off, limped back upstairs and someone said 'Your ankle is broken.' Sure enough, bone sticking out. DD took me to the hospital and got me ice cream on the way home. I miss you, Kyle. You're the best."

Ubermassive

Knobbed

"Butt cheek injuries caused by a door. I hate touching door knobs with my hands and always use my forearm to rub against the doorknob in a downward motion using friction to turn the knob. Was joking around with my gf saying I can open a door with my buttcheek exactly like how I use my forearm. Jumped at the door butt first and the little metal thing that guides the door cut my buttcheek (I think they call it strike plate or latch strike)."

"The cut wasn’t a clean cut because the thing wasn’t that sharp. 30+ stitches."

"After that, she had to stand behind me holding a bowl to cover my wound every time I take a shower so it doesn’t get wet, and we live in a hot country so she has to do that twice a day for like a month."

Normal-Focus9248

We did Nothing...

"I’m an ER doctor. About once a year I see a very nice young female who comes to the ER with three or four family members because her fingers are blue. They have always googled all sorts of fancy and exotic diseases that they are worried about. 100% of the time the patient has brand-new blue jeans on."

"Without saying a word I just grab an alcohol swab and wipe the blue dye off of their hands, and then I do the same thing to their jeans to show them it’s the same color. The collective sigh from the family is always what does it for me. Not surprisingly, half the time the patient doesn’t believe me and is angry that 'we did nothing.'"

Dan-z-man

All Sewed Up

Tongue Out GIF by MOODMANGiphy

"When I was about 3, I was running up the stairs in my house and fell. I hit my chin on a step and bit my tongue nearly off. My parents took me to the local hospital where they sewed up the gash in my tongue without anesthetic. I still remember it to this day."

Salty_Fixer

I feel faint after reading all this.

Thank the Lord no one brought up any eye issues.

I'd be on the floor.

topless man
Norbert Buduczki on Unsplash

Personal preferences aside, there are some people that are almost universally recognized as physically attractive.

It's common in society for most people to comment on another person's looks.

But heterosexual men are generally discouraged from remarking on other men's appeal.

That doesn't mean they don't have man crushes though!

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Content Warning: True Crime Topics

It's hard to know what's going on in someone's head without having their mind ourselves, but we can make assumptions based on how they behave.

Some people have a serious vibe about them that other people know better than to mess with, with some of those vibes downright terrifying.

Redditor sludge_factory_777 asked:

"Who is the scariest person you have ever met?"

Jail Besties

"I got a DUI back in 2009 and was taken to the Placer County drunk tank. A guy with tattoos all over his face approached me..."

"He wanted to offer me his roll of toilet paper for a pillow. He introduced himself as the 'Sac City Psycho,' and he told me he would watch over me to make sure nobody f**ked with me, because he could tell I did not have much experience in jail."

"Now looking back on it, I guess for a few hours there, I was his b***h."

"Super nice guy, though. I 10 out of 10 would be his b***h again."

- NagoGmo

Innocent Until Feeling the Vibes

"I did an internship at a jail and met a dude awaiting trial on a triple homicide."

"The guy just had that vibe around him that just made you feel uncomfortable. Just being in his presence, you could feel the air change around you."

"Everyone in that room felt and respected it."

- throughthequad

The Magnetic Personality Type

"I once did one of those corporate mock jury panels. The little scientist analytics guy came out halfway through to shoot the breeze and holy h**l, I never understood what people meant by having a magnetic personality until then."

"We were clamoring over this dude. It was completely involuntary. He asked me a question and it was an out-of-body experience watching myself act like a golden retriever."

"I was so freaked out that I avoided him like the plague the rest of the panel. Nice dude. Seemed chill, but he could have started a cult with a snap of his fingers. Absolutely terrifying."

- Bridge-etti

Top-Notch Security

"I once as a medical student was doing a rotation in the state mental prison. We had to do a basic physical on this guy."

"There was a chair in the middle of the room, bolted to the floor. He had cuffs on his wrists and feet secured to the chair. Nine guards were in the room surrounding us, not more than five feet from the chair in a circle."

"He was off, just not there, and didn't want to cooperate. He looked at me, saw my coat, and said, 'That guy is from the university. I want to talk to him.'"

"I still don't know what he had done, but after a few months of the rotation, no one else had that degree of security for medical visits. No one else was even close."

- rykh7

Biker Aesthetic

"My cousin. He's a high-ranking member of a pretty well-known one-percent motorcycle club. The dude stands maybe five feet, seven inches tall, and he is of average build. He has no visible tattoos and is super soft-spoken."

"Everything about him says he should be a banker, not a biker. I have never seen him even raise his voice once but that dude scares the absolute s**t out of me. He gives off strong psycho energy."

- SignificantFix8218

Scary Dude with a Big Heart

"I live in New Mexico and met 'Big Dragon' from 'Beyond Scared Straight.' He does outreach like that with troubled kids."

"I was working as a teacher at YDDC, and they brought him down. The dude is no joke."

"I shook his hand, and you could just tell, the only reason he was not killing people was he didn't want to, because if he did, the guards would have not been able to do anything about it."

- Soundwave-1976

Murderous Besties

"I got arrested for public intoxication in the mid-to-late 90's and was put in a normal cell because the drunk tank was full. About ten minutes later, I was woken up and hastily moved to an adjoining cell."

"I visited with the guy in the first cell I was in for a few hours. When I was bailed out, I bumped knuckles with Gary, the guy in the second cell, and left."

"I later found out he was Gary Kleypas, and he was being held on first-degree murder... of a college student."

- TheJonnieP

Completely Out of Place

​"I was working at a bar in a pretty small town when we had a drifter come in on a random midweek night. The second he walked through the door, everyone I worked with and was at the bar said they felt cold."

"The dude had incredibly sunken eyes, pale white skin, dingy dirty hair, and visibly sharp-looking teeth. If I were to explain what a mako shark as a human would be, that’s this guy."

"He said he was passing through and was looking for 'stuff ordinary people can’t find' and then proceeded to show photos on his phone of odd areas he had been to previously. Nothing was off about the photos, but everyone I saw gave me more chills."

"Nothing was happening, no one was there, but everything had this feeling of 'I’m not supposed to be here.'"

" The dude left and asked me to follow him on Instagram, which I did. He posted last a few years ago up in Jackson Hole and said he’d be staying off for a while. Odd dude. We all were quite relieved when his cab showed up."

- Expensive_Change_893

The Doll Whisperer

"My grandpa's second wife, Angie. She was a hateful woman. I don't believe in people being 100% anything, but she was pure evil."

"She had a collection of porcelain dolls in a corner of their house when I was very young, and she would always try to talk to me through them, giving each of them their own creepy voices. One time, I touched a Pillsbury dough boy figure on her shelf, and she swatted my hand with a metal ruler."

"She was in her 70s when I was a young kid, and I'm 30 now. I heard from my aunt that she's still alive somewhere near where she lived with my grandpa (which makes me believe she is some kind of hag witch) and that she's committed insurance fraud, like, a lot."

- LepreConArtist

Constant High-Alert

​"I was at a bar and this guy walked in and immediately it felt like I was on alert. My spine turned to ice when I saw his eyes look at me, they were almost sunken into his face as if he was peeking out from behind a portrait. He moved like a cat stalking prey."

"Over time, he made his way over to me and made polite conversation, but his words felt disjointed, almost like he was translating them before speaking them. There was nothing aggressive or insulting about anything he was doing."

"In fact, he was quite polite. but everything about this guy was setting off every nerve I had. He was even smiling through most of it, but it felt as if his lips were stapled back."

- Cyanora

Reverse 'Breaking Bad'

"When I was pretty young, I was hanging out with an older friend, and I found out one of her close friends from school became a high-ranking member of a cartel. He got cancer and was allowed to sort of 'retire' from the cartel to spend the last few years with his family."

"I met him at a party of hers...He was very polite, but I had no intention of spending more time around him!"

- xain_the_id**t

Soldier Vibes

"A dude who hung out with a friend of mine back in the 1980s was a Vietnam vet, one of the advance forces guys or whatever they called them."

"He looked like he could bite the top off of a fire hydrant."

- Earthling1a

A Good Egg. Or Rock.

​"A p**sed off Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson."

"Let me explain A few years ago, I was part of a charity event with Power of Pain (a family friend who I call my aunt, Barby, owns the charity for neuropathy and other immune disorders), and funnily enough, we somehow got Dwayne Johnson as a guest (we had contacted him but didn't expect him to actually come)."

"He was a f**king great guy. Honestly, best f**king dude in the world."

"Anyway, after the event, a lot of us went to a Denny's down the road to celebrate, not expecting him to be there, though he was invited. He showed up like 20 minutes after we all got there and he was having a blast hanging out eating Pancakes."

"Unbeknownst to the rest of us, there was a domestic dispute across the Dennys, a couple who seemed like they were about to break up, but more like the guy was just an abusive a**hole screaming at his girlfriend the whole time and her just in tears."

"Dwayne caught wind of what was going on, stood up, put on his 'Rock' persona, and had a f**king screaming match with this guy. The guy was just receding further and further into his shell and eventually he just f**king left."

"Dwayne paid the girl's bill, helped her stop crying, and walked her out to her car. He then came back in with a smile and continued having a good night and finished his Pancakes."

"He's a beautiful, kind-hearted man, but if you p**s him off, he WILL make you s**t yourself. Remember, they call him 'The Rock' for a reason."

"Best night of my life. Moral of the story: Be nice to people, because if you're not, you may find yourself in a situation you just can't win."

- Ok_Experience_6877

It's easy to see how these are the people that Redditors viewed as the scariest and most intimidating people that they had met. Even if a person hasn't done terrible things, sometimes people just have a vibe about them that makes you think they have the potential, or at least the power.

Man lying on edge of tennis court OR man falling off edge of structure
Martin Sanchez/Usplash

Life can be viewed as a series of moments in quick succession each influenced by a preceding event.

At any given time, things can go awry, but somehow things manage to fall in line much like an elaborate maze of dominos.

But one misplaced domino can cause the whole rigorous set-up to come to an unsatisfying end–unless the faulty piece is corrected just in time before the domino in front of it squarely taps it.

If you've been lucky, a last-minute decision in your life has been properly adjusted to avoid catastrophe.

Curious to hear about close-call situations from strangers online, Redditor True_Egg_5685e_Egg_5685 asked:

"What split second decision have you made in your life, that if you hadn't made it you would have died?"

Life can be treacherous in the fast lane.

Unwarranted Lane Change

"Driving 80 miles per hour on a lonely interstate in the middle of the night. Decided to change lanes for no reason, and ended up missing a crumpled car in the middle of the lane I just left. It looked like a professionally crushed car that had fallen off of a truck. No light lenses or reflectors."

– Upper-Job5130

Unseen Obstacle

"I was driving through Dallas on I-20 at like 2am once and had a similar experience. No other cars, just me doing 80mph, and I just absentmindedly changed from the middle to the right lane for no real reason. Suddenly there's a blacked out sedan just parked in the middle lane, no lights on and no people in sight. I thought I was hallucinating, it happened so fast."

– glum_hedgehog

Why Coffee Is Essential

"Fell asleep at the wheel, woke up and corrected my steering without panicking."

"Drowsy driving is just as dangerous as drunk driving. Never again !"

– Nielas_Aran_76

T"his happened to me when I was in my late teens. I was burning both ends of the stick and was driving home from working and falling asleep. I remember it so clearly. Nodding off, waking and being thankful I didn't crash and then nodding right back off again. I'm amazed I didn't kill myself. I did eventually hit a divider and popped two tires. I must've been going very fast. I don't know why I'm not dead."

– boringcranberry

You never know when a pedestrian is where they shouldn't be. Or when a car is traveling where it shouldn't.

Wayward Wanderer

"I'm from Northern Ireland and my brother and I were coming home from a night out, he was the designated driver. We were doing 70mph on the motorway and he moved into the fast lane and missed a guy walking on the motorway, dressed in black, by about a foot. So scary 😰."

– garymason74

Reckless Driver

"Grabbing a middle schooler's backpack as she was about to cross without looking and staying on the sidewalk instead of crossing the road. (I was in high school at the time)"

"The reason?"

"The red car that had almost ran me over a few weeks before was barrelling down the street at high speed."

"Car zooms past at the moment the kid and myself would have been in the middle of the road."

"Same driver. I recognized the shade of blonde hair."

– MerryMelody-Symphony

These people survived a terrorist attack.

At The Time Of Signing

"Was in a bombing. Knelt down to sign something when the detonation happened. Glass shards were a hair away from killing me. The person who gave me the paper to sign technically saved me, they’re fine too."

– PinkBedazzledLeotard

"Story time! My grandfathers family lived in Halifax at the time. My great uncle George was a newborn. They had him in his pram facing the window. For some reason my aunt went in and turned his pram around so it wasn't facing the window anymore, then she left the room. As she was leaving the room, the windows blew in. If she hadn't turned the pram he would have been shredded by glass."

– Lexifer31

These individuals continue counting their blessings.

Retrieving A Forgotten Item

"I went to ride my bike and almost forgot my helmet, I honestly debated grabbing it since I was only planning on doing a few miles; last minute I decided I might as well have it and then half a mile out I got hit by a car. Helmet was busted as hell but other than a concussion I was fine"

– SunfireElfAmaya

Narrow Missssssss

"Nowhere near as extreme as some of these, but I used to go for walks in a nature park right behind my neighborhood, usually with headphones. On one such walk, I happened to look down to see the foot I was currently stepping with was about 6 inches from coming down on a diamondback rattlesnake. It was arched back, ready to strike, rattle going, but I couldn't hear it over my music. Leapt back immediately and walked around it without issue, but holy crap, it gets my heart going just thinking about it."

– pownij

Life-Saving Maneuver

"I was caught in a bar brawl. Tumbled to the bottom of a crowd and was pressed to the floor when some psycho was on my back choking me. Couldn't move and couldn't breathe. I thought that was it. I was gonna die on the floor of a New Jersey nightclub. Suddenly I remembered a move my wrestling coach taught us to break grips. I found his thumb, folded it like a fist and squeezed as hard as I could. It cracked like a stick. I could hear him scream in my ear and he hopped off. I pushed up and swung my way out. I was choked so hard that both of my eyes were full blood red, no whites and I cracked a molar. That was a close one and who knows what would have happened if I didn't recall that one random move or if I never wrestled to begin with. Scary."

– Ghostface5000

A moment that still sends shivers down my spine was when I nearly avoided a head-on collision with an 18-wheeler that had been zig-zagging between the different sides of a busy street.

The presumably drunk driver was speeding and towards me and I had to decide whether to swerve into the parked cars on the street or steer the other way and risk driving into cars careening toward me.

I decided for the former and turned the steering wheel towards the parked cars, just as the truck clipped the back corner of my Nissan Maxima.

My vehicle spun 180, but thankfully, I managed to slam onto the curb where no cars were parked.

The semi-kept going. It was a hit-and-run. And I count my blessings that I live to tell about the fact that I didn't steer my wheel towards the left which would've had me on a collision course, head-on, into the semi.