Anonymous Parents Of Twins Admit The Times They Mixed Their Kids Up
Anonymous Parents Of Twins Admit The Times They Mixed Their Kids Up
[rebelmouse-image 18345842 is_animated_gif=Having identical twins must be as exciting as it is scary, if for no other reason than the possibility of mixing them up. Parents, you mean well, but y'all really need a system for telling your twins apart.
YourMomsEctoplasm asked, Parents of twins, is it remotely possible you mistakenly mixed up your kid's identity while they were young?
Submissions have been edited for clarity, context, and profanity.
You may not be who you think you are.
[rebelmouse-image 18345843 is_animated_gif=My mother left my father home alone with my twin sister and I once when we were infants. He took off our bracelets to bath us. My mother came home during the bathing process, took one look at the bracelets and asked if he knew which twin was which. Look of horror, and then a stab in the dark. So, I might not have the name I was given at birth.
At a few days old, would you even know?
[rebelmouse-image 18345844 is_animated_gif=This happened to my mom and her twin. Their older sister switched them in their cribs when they were only a few days old. They're switched around to this day.
"If you switch the kid before they even know their own name, what difference will it really make?"
[rebelmouse-image 18345845 is_animated_gif=My father's baby book says that he was born first and that he was the heavier twin. He and his twin brother were looking at it one day and my grandmother remarked that that couldn't be right -- she remembered the doctor being surprised because the heavier one was second.
Those two have been mixed up since day 1.
Friend of mine is an intensely identical twin, deliberately making it nigh-impossible to tell him apart from #2. (I say I'm friends with #1; I haven't hung out with #2 much, to my knowledge. It's that bad.) His own parents had a hell of a time with it and would usually just punish both kids (because really they were probably both in on it anyway). Asked him how he knows he wasn't switched and he was supposed to have been the other, he just shrugged and said: "We know which ones we are." (Which I guess is fair. If you switch the kid before they even know their own name, what difference will it really make?)
Hey, at least he asked...
[rebelmouse-image 18345846 is_animated_gif=In middle school, I was friends with a pair of redheaded twins, named John and Jeremiah, and always had to ask which one I was talking to if just one wanted to go someplace with me. It probably annoyed them that after being their friend for years I still had no idea how to tell them apart, but I preferred asking immediately, so I wouldn't have to pretend to know.
Must be fun to have a free body double...
[rebelmouse-image 18345847 is_animated_gif=This year in high school, I spent the entire year thinking a certain senior I never talked to was one person. He actually had a twin, and I had no idea.
Douche move, guys...
[rebelmouse-image 18345848 is_animated_gif=I know my twin uncles used to switch clothes to troll their mother. They also cheated in school (one would take the same test twice).
They live in different countries and both travel a lot. One time, one of them thought he saw his brother at an airport, only to realize it was a mirror. True story. I have no problem telling them apart though, but my kids can't.
Pretty sure this is how horror movies begin...
[rebelmouse-image 18345849 is_animated_gif=I was running around inside a mirror maze once... it's really quite surreal, I was getting quite dizzy/disorientated doing it and having a blast. The crazy thing was that my Twin brother was in the maze also, so imagine that there are what seemed like hundreds of reflections of myself and my brother zooming past me. So anyway, I turned a corner and thought my brother was running towards me... I dart to one side expecting to side step in and keep running past him, through the maze.... BAM... ran right into the mirror.
Imagine not knowing which kid is which... at least she tried.
[rebelmouse-image 18345850 is_animated_gif=My twins are fraternal, they barely look related though they are both boys.
I have a friend with identicals. She kept nail polish on one's big toes to tell them apart. To her dismay, at 2 months old, the nail polish wore off before she could reapply. They are older now and have extremely different personalities. But she took a leap of faith and called one A and the other B though she wasn't sure. Still not sure, lol
tl ;dr: extremely possible.
Magic markers and name tags. Sounds foolproof...
[rebelmouse-image 18345852 is_animated_gif=One of my little brothers (who are identical twins) had dimples when he smiled. and for the first week, one had "A" written with permanent marker on the bottom of the foot, and the other had "B". (and then later name tags on their ankles..)
Is thinking you know enough?
[rebelmouse-image 18345853 is_animated_gif=Wife and I have identical twin boys. My opinion is that most parents of multiples know who is who without the need for artificial identifying marks. We used dry erase on one of our kids' ears just for helping the grandparents and other extended family. I was in the room two feet away from them leaving the birth canal and I am confident I will always know who is who, if not strictly by looks then by their mannerisms. Even at 21 months old, they are very different people.
Hair that swirls in the opposite direction - clever
[rebelmouse-image 18345854 is_animated_gif=I have a friend who has a set of 18-month-old identical boys. She still turns them around sometimes to look at their head because their hair spins in opposites directions... just to be sure she got it right. I find it hilarious that she is sometimes wrong.
At 23, you might as well say f---- it.
[rebelmouse-image 18345855 is_animated_gif=Im an identical twin. We actually talked about this for some reason. My dad said that there is a very good chance we got mixed up at some point.
They had gotten a routine of painting the toenails of one of us (we're guys) but said there was a possibility they forgot which one of us was "the painted one".
I might be my brother, he might be me. Im almost 23. F_ck it.
This doesn't seem like the best way...
[rebelmouse-image 18345856 is_animated_gif=My mom used to say that only my older sister could definitively tell my brother & I apart as babies when both she and my dad struggled. My sister is only 18 months older than us, so I suspect the validity of this, and that she may have just been randomly picking and my parents took her judgment as truth.
Sexiest Twins in America, still can't tell them apart.
[rebelmouse-image 18345857 is_animated_gif=I went to school with sisters we called the "Barbie Twins". They had blond hair, deep tans, and always dressed in identical outfits. One day in study hall, my teacher got this wicked grin on her face and turned on our tv. Turns out she and some other teachers got wind of the twins appearance on Jenny Jones. We were then lucky enough to witness the Barbie Twins humiliate themselves on national television by mud wrestling some midgets in order to compete for the title of "Sexiest Twins in America". They won.
EDIT: Here they are
Imagine THREE of a kind...
[rebelmouse-image 18345858 is_animated_gif=As a twin, I can tell you that my mother painted our toe-nails different colors when we were babies. But I heard a story of a parent mixing up her triplets, so she had a tiny mark placed on the bottom of their big toes.
Nametags and haircuts...
[rebelmouse-image 18345859 is_animated_gif=My neighbor got tiny bracelets with her twin's names and put them on as soon as she got home from the hospital. She said she double, triple checked the id tags that the nurses put in their ankles, just to make sure. She also said that once they have longer hair she will get them different haircuts.
That's one way to spur an indentity crisis...
[rebelmouse-image 18345860 is_animated_gif=I have been told by my parents that they only made that mistake once. But yeah as an identical twin, the thought that I might not "be me" has kept me up at night a few times.
Different clothes... simple and effective.
[rebelmouse-image 18345861 is_animated_gif=I don't have much difficulty telling my younger (twin) brothers apart. Living with them their entire lives helps you pick up on the little differences. However, this might not apply as easily with infants. I believe my parents used different clothing schemes to tell them apart.
Red twin, blue twin. Oh crap...
[rebelmouse-image 18345862 is_animated_gif=I'm a twin. when we were young I always wore red, my twin always wore blue. one time after a bath when we weren't wearing anything my mom and dad couldn't remember who was who! they think they got it right but I might actually have my twin's name and vice versa
"I am me, no matter what."
[rebelmouse-image 18345863 is_animated_gif=It doesn't matter if the parents get it mixed up he because I'm me. My friends use to joke how 'I could be my twin brother' because my parents could've 'got the names wrong' but it doesn't work that way because I would still be me even if my name was different.
And yes, it could've exposed me to different circumstances and changed my development as a person but so could a million other things that have happened in my life, if they'd happened differently. This one isn't any more special.
Tl;dr identity comes from within, it can't be 'mixed' up by parents, for twins or anyone else
The Fastest Ways People Have Seen Someone Ruin Their Life
Reddit user fluffy_upvote asked: 'What is the fastest way you have seen someone ruin their life?'
One bad decision can have detrimental consequences.
Sometimes, we might be oblivious to the cataclysmic decision we made.
Other times, however, we know we may have done something against our better judgment, but don't think it will matter in the grand scheme of things.
Only to realize we were wrong much too late.
The only thing that can rival experiencing your life being ruined in the blink of an eye, is witnessing others do so, and being absolutely helpless in the situation.
"What is the fastest way you have seen someone ruin their life?"
Honesty Is ALWAYS The Best Policy
"I'm a lawyer."
"Another well respected lawyer in my jurisdiction was involved in an absolutely huge property settlement involving dozens upon dozens of deeds, side agreements, financial documents, yada yada yada."
"The whole lot (presumably involving literally a hundred or so signatures) had been signed off by her client."
"In the early hours of the morning - having no doubt slaved away for untold hours getting everything ready for the settlement the next day - she must have realized that she had missed getting one signature on one minor document from her client so she faked it."
"I can see the pressure she was under and how she probably thought 'it doesn't matter, my client would have signed it anyway and only didn't because they overlooked it, no one will ever notice'."
"Someone noticed and she went from high paid property lawyer to never being able to practice again, just like that."
"People occasionally ask me to sign things off, as a lawyer, and suggest I overlook minor irregularities such as wanting me to witness a signature even though I didn't actually see the signatory sign."
"Then they get all offended and act like I'm being a stick-up-the-a** perfectionist when I won't do it."- princhester
Wear A Helmet.
"A close friend of my best friend grabbed his eight-year-old son's new skateboard and took off down a hill in Georgia."
"Hit a rock, landed on his head and had permanent brain damage."
"He lived years before he mercifully died."
"Had to be restrained the whole time because the damage made him erratic and violent."
"Wear a helmet!"- Figgywithit
Big Money...
"Watched a guy gamble $30k away in a night and then cried about losing his life savings and security had to get involved and escort him out because he started to get angry at the dealers because all they could offer him was free night stays at the hotel for playing so much but he wanted freeplay at the tables/slots and they refused."- jadenwydbro
Revenge Is Seldom, If Ever, Worth It
"I had a friend that had a promising career got upset and went into full road rage for a woman who forgot to turn her blinker on and he slightly bumped her back bumper on the freeway causing her to lose control and flipping over and killing the driver and her two daughters."
"Oddly..it was all caught on his car dash cam and a trucker with his own dash cam that was behind him."
"He is now doing 40+ years in prison."- vargo911
Luck Has A Way Of Running Out
"Watched a buddy spend his entire life savings betting on the Paulo Costa Vs Adesanya."
"I begged him not to do it and he lost his and his wife’s entire 60k nest egg."
"She left him immediately with the kids and now he lives at his moms house."
"He had been betting on prize fighting for a short while and winning."
"Nothing outrageous and heck I even bet with him on a time or two because it was smaller bets 1-200."
"He had been winning probably made a few grand not sure how much but he was always saying he won and showing off his bets."
"So I can confirm he had been winning and his luck was pretty impressive."
"As far as I know he doesn’t gamble anymore and is just trying to rebuild his life."
"He lost his wife but does spend a lot time with the kids."- Cmsmks
What A Way To Begin...
"Arrive at work on their first day as a temp at around 10am, caught stealing the bosses wallet at 12:30, taken away by Police at 1pm." - Reddit
Look To The Skies...
"Saw a pilot without instrument rating take off into IMC conditions (instrument-meteorological conditions is a flight category that describes weather conditions that require pilots to fly primarily by instruments rather than use visual cues to maintain controlled flight)."
"He had his whole family on board."
"Weather was closing in."
"He agreed that it was impossible to get home, but wanted to make it to a larger municipal airport so they wouldn't have to stay in a motel."
"The fuel attendant and a bunch of old veteran pilots hanging around the airport office all said they'd drive him to a nicer place, but he thought he'd have a better chance of getting out the next day from the other airport."
"Conditions weren't that bad when he took off, but we all agreed later that no one without instrument rating would/should have flown that day."
"So the last time anyone saw that whole family (pilot, wife, two adult sons) alive was all of us watching him take off and fly just under the cloud base to do a 'scud run' in the direction of the nearest muni."
"They crashed in full overcast ten miles out."
"No survivors."
"All told, it probably took fifteen minutes for this guy to make the worst- and last- decision of his life."
"This was over 30 years ago, but it's haunted me ever since- what could/should I have done differently that might have convinced him to not fly?"
"I was a newbie pilot at the time, but even I knew it was a bad idea."
"There were at least three other pilots there that day."
"Did he feel ganged up on?"
"Could we have appointed the most grizzled straight-shootin gravel-voiced veteran to take the guy aside and give him a 'I'm not your dad, but' talk?"
"Should we have tackled him and taken away his keys?"
"Called the cops?"
"What would we even have told them?"
"I've long since come to terms with it, but there are still the occasional moments where I feel like I failed."- gaspronomib
We've all done things against our better judgment.
Sometimes, however, it's essential to really think about the consequences of doing so before proceeding.
As one bad decision might be all it takes.
We've all said things we regret.
Most often, when we find ourselves in situations where our emotions are in a heightened state, such as a breakup.
Indeed, though some people will go to every effort to end a relationship amicably, others can't hide their hurt, frustration, and resentment in the heat of the moment.
Resulting in their saying some unpleasant if not downright nasty things which may have felt good in the moment, but which they'll likely look back on in horror and embarrassment.
"Dear Reddit, what is the worst thing YOU have said during a breakup?"
The Unoriginality Makes It Worse...
"Her: 'is it someone else?'"
"Me: 'no, it's just you'."- stingyboy
Ouch!
"Two months after our breakup, she asked me if I missed her."
"I told her I missed her parents more than I missed her."- lxkandel06·
Knowing It Is One Thing, Hearing It Is Another...
"The worst is telling someone you don't love them anymore and genuinely seeing the heartbreak on their face."
"That's a gut-wrenching thing to see when you know your words caused it."- nryporter25
break up GIFGiphyThat Door Is Closed
"The breakup wasn't my choice, but when he tried a few weeks later to reconnect, I said 'Oh, I've actually been really happy since we've been apart'."
"'I don't think I could get back together now'."
"My sister called me savage for it, but I wasn't trying to be mean."
"It was the truth, and I just hadn't realized it up until the thought of taking him back filled me with dread."- HospitalFluffy
Walked Into That One..
"She was breaking up with me, and I told her, 'You know you are right, and I agree, we aren't very compatible, and our relationship has been on the decline for sometime'."
"Those were my true thoughts and feelings."
"I felt a sense of relief when she broke up with me because I realized it was the best move for the both of us."
"So why was this the worst thing to say?"
"It ended up making her want to double down on the relationship."
"I was bombarded with non-stop texts, phone calls, unnanounced visits to my apartment."
"All of that."
"Apparently breaking up things amicably was not how she wanted to go."
"I think she was adamant she left with the upper hand."- slytherinprolly
Tell Me More To Do List GIF by Disney ChannelGiphyIn The Heat Of The Moment
“'Please don’t leave, no one else will ever love me'.”
"Said by me sobbing in the open doorway of the new apartment of my wife of barely one year."
"My self esteem was totally shattered."
"My life was over, there just was nothing left."
"She was kind but firm."
"She knew the relationship wasn’t a good fit before I accepted that."
"We were very young, friends but not life partners."
"I didn’t fully understand until I was a few years into my second marriage."
"We both went on to have successful, happy lifelong second marriages."- DadsRGR8
Okay Then...
"Not a break up, but was seeing this girl off and on (because she wouldn't commit to actually dating)."
"Got sick of the yo-yoing, fired up Facebook Dating and met my now girlfriend for drinks two days later."
"When the non-committal girl came back and I told her I was off the market I said 'I'm just looking for someone who knows what commitment is'."
"Must have hit a nerve because about six weeks later she was pregnant."- BeefInGR
No Way Wtf GIF by HarlemGiphyName Calling Is Never The Answer
“'You’re turning into your mother and I hate that b*tch'.”
"I’m sure there was a more diplomatic way to phrase that but 19-year-old me was out of f*cks to give at that point."- shadowimage
No Thank You...
"Her, 'This isn't working out I think we should just be friends'."
"Me, "'Lets just never talk again is probably best'."- Schrodenger
Some People Just Need A Kick In The Pants...
"Not me but someone told my aunt they were breaking up with her because she was a deadbeat going nowhere in life."
"Then she became a doctor out of spite lol."- ResidentNeck4465
Greys Anatomy What GIF by ABC NetworkGiphyWhat The Actual...?
“'Sex is part of the reason I’m ending things'.”
"In my defense it was my first time breaking up with a guy."
"The man had a boner the entire time I was breaking up with him, he was crying, and he kept trying to have sex one last time during my break up speech."
"I was perplexed."- SinfullySinless
When They Go Low...
"I once ended a struggling relationship."
"A few months later I got an email from the person, and it was pages of everything I had ever done wrong in the relationship."
"I realized that this was why the relationship had been struggling."
"All these thing that had been bothering my partner, and they had bottled them all up inside instead of, say, talking to me about it."
"So, my entire response to this multiple page email with everything I had ever done wrong."
"'Thank you, that was very helpful'."- jacksparrow1
Young Love...
"'No one will ever love you like I do'."
"At the time, I was young and that's really how I felt."
"In retrospect, it was mean and manipulative."
"We're now both in happy marriages."- Formaldehyd3
Dawsons Creek Crying Dawson GIF by HULUGiphyA breakup is always bound to unleash many feelings we may not have realized we had.
Making a breakup one of those times where it is always wise, if not paramount, to think before speaking.
Some companies seem to appreciate their customers and attempt to make their lives better, but others seem to absolutely loathe their customers and actively try to make them miserable.
It might seem odd that many of these companies stay in business, but many of them have monopolies or near-monopolies in their industry or area of the world.
Redditor NerfGronk asked:
"What company clearly hates its own customers?"
Ticketmaster
"Ticketmaster. They clearly hate music fans, bands and music itself."
- hoodlumonprowl
"Ticketmaster’s business model is being the bad guy, and business is good."
- RandomUser1914
"I recently had to sell tickets. I was charged a fee to buy them, another fee to sell them, and they added fees for whoever bought them from me. Then, they held my payout of over $500 for several months (still waiting, actually)."
- Amazing_Finance1269
Hewlett-Packard
"HP, f*ck those printers. They put so much R&D $ in to making sure they never work."
- gratusin
"I literally bought a new printer that came with ink because it was cheaper than buying ink for my current printer. The stupid setup process required me to create an account and download not one, but TWO different apps in order before I was finally able to print. They're turning into data mining companies that masquerade as printer companies."
- J4ck4lope9
"Of all the things I've ever bought, I regret my HP printers the most. This last one was the last thing I will ever buy from them. I'd be shocked if they don't have a 'VP of Customer Screwing' on their payroll."
"If I was literally dying and they sold the only cure for what was killing me for 25 cents, I'd spit in their face and die."
- scottimusprimus
NBA
"The NBA. Oh, want to pay to watch games? OK, but you better not want to watch a team close to you because we black out those games since cable companies pay us to do so! Oh, you're using a VPN? F*ck you! We're trying to stop that, yes, we will literally attempt to stop you from seeing content you literally pay us for."
"Yo ho, b*tches."
- DravenPrime
"I was so mad when the finals came around this year. I had gotten league pass to watch the playoffs, because these are the only games that are remotely watchable from a competitive point of view. Being from Germany, I had to stay up until 3am, but given that this was a finals pairing I had been rooting for all postseason, I thought it'd be worth it. And then I find out the finals are only on ESPN+ and some f***in TV channel and not on the NBA's own streaming service. What kind of backwards, dumb crap is that? But since I was on vacation during that time, I thought to myself 'Meh, I'm gonna treat myself.' So I tried to get a monthly subscription for whatever channel the games were on. Turns out it is impossible to even register if you're not a US citizen. VPN doesn't help, because you need a US credit card to even sign up. Seriously, what the f?"
- debiler
Comcast
"Comcast is the obvious first thing that comes to mind."
"Been free of them a few years and they just tried to sell to me again today. When I was a customer and had issues (related to internet and xfinity mobile) the issue never got fixed and actually drew out the process of switching providers."
- panopt1con
"Not sure if anyone remembers 'The Consumerist' blog/zine/whatever, but Comcast was the only 3-time winner of the annual Golden Poo. In 2007, they beat out Blackwater after the Nisour Square massacre was made public."
- IvanNemoy
Purdue Pharma
"Purdue PHARMA. Pieces of horsesh*t."
- Acceptable-Damage
"Don’t disrespect horse sh*t like that"
- Additional-Share4492
"As a pharmacist (US), 100% agree. Drug reps/ads/marketing/putting a financial incentive on any prescribing or dispensing AT ALL should be illegal."
- humpbackwhale88
Intuit
"I'm like 8 hours deep into trying to fix a Quickbooks issue for someone with their phone support, so I'm going to go with Intuit."
- teeth_03
"Used to have to call Intuit pretty much regularly to help with QuickBooks stuff at my old job and I can confirm this. I was always holding for over 40 minutes and then the person I got could never help me resolve anything. There was a time I had a case that didn't get resolved for like a month, and I called to see if they had a resolution and they'd closed out my case number without notifying me."
- OhSoNotS01mportant
"Intuit owns TurboTax which lobbies the government to make taxes more confusing to force people to use their ~$200 service."
- DigitalUnderstanding
"Every April my motto is 'F*ck TurboTax'"
- Inevitable_Bag_6232
Niantic
"Niantic"
- Leeser
"Hello fellow Pokémon Go player."
- Moon_Dark_Wolf
"I came here to say this. Most games add more and more quality of life fixes as the game goes on, whereas Niantic constantly takes things away and makes the experience worse."
- bound52
"The players are the product, not the consumer (Niantic sells the user data in bulk)."
"The fact Niantic was so hell bent on revoking the QOL improvements from the pandemic that made it a much better GAME shows how little they care about making a good game."
- SlapHappyDude
US Airlines
"Literally every US airline. Midwest Express was a brief exception until Frontier murdered them and mutilated the corpse."
- pinniped1
"🎶 because we’re Delta airlines, and life is a f*cking nightmare🎶"
- FlabbyFishFlaps
"Now go take this meal voucher that doesn’t work. Go! Fetch!!"
- insultant_
"I never got how they could book more passengers than seats. They're literally selling what they don't have. Yeah they may have no shows so what they've paid."
- ADelightfulC*nt
Pacific Gas & Electric
"PG&E here in California. They literally killed all those elderly people in the Camp Fire, got a slap on the wrist for it, and have upped all our bills to cover the fines they had to pay."
- melissamarieeee
"There was also this one time when a segment of gas pipe they didn't get to fixing leveled a neighborhood."
- J_B_La_Mighty
"Dont forget about them blowing up part of San Bruno... And the north bay fires.. and"
- ImMacksDaddy
Nursing Homes
"Nursing Homes. They keep you alive just to make money off of you. My mother is in a living hell."
- Limp_Distribution
"Paramedic here, can confirm. Sorry about your Mom."
- RXakis
"My wife just retired from one as a nurse and would agree with you. We are more humane to our pets than our elderly."
- marklar_the_malign
Insurance Companies
"Literally any insurance companies. Home, auto, life, health. Doesn’t matter they all hate their customers"
- Awkward_Dad2023
"When your whole business model revolves around NOT giving your customers money..."
- NotAnotherBookworm
"Former auto. We’re trained weekly on techniques for how to get you off the phone sooner over actually doing the work to fix their problem. Steering customers back to your scripts they made up for every situation because the customer holds no power in the situation. Also here’s some “best practices” for faking empathy!!"
"The thing about insurance is they 100% can help with many things that they simply won’t help with."
- Petrcechmate
AirBNB
"I'm shocked that AirBnB isn't on this list yet. They absolutely don't care about their customers and have significantly made real estate worse. Their fees are almost as bad as Ticketmaster."
- tcrudisi
"Yeah f*ck Airbnb. For lots of reasons, but their contribution to the housing crisis is top of my list."
- gakka-san
"I was just thinking this too. Not to mention how much gentrification it’s causing."
- loidalien
"Yes, omg. Some of these properties are awful. Stayed in one in which furniture was all covered in dog hair, and yet they gave me no vacuum. Found someone's old Pizza Hut in the oven as well. Air bnb claimed it had been 'professionally cleaned.'"
- DistrictHot1695
Spectrum
"Spectrum aka Speculum"
- hairy_ass_truman
"One of the two companies I wanted to add to this list was Time Warner Cable. They are freaking awful."
"They also changed their name to Spectrum. Probably because they were so hated they needed to ditch the name. I refuse to use their new name and still refer to them as TWC."
- tcrudisi
"Pretty much any Internet provider. They have colluded for 20 years now to ensure that no competitive region exists. In my state, there is 0 overlap of services for network speeds above 100MBps. you can get ATT DSL everywhere, but 25 MBps down and 1-2 up is insufficient for a huge swath of the population. I support a wide range of users who work remote. If their base speeds aren't 50mbps down and 10 up, we won't even process a trouble ticket."
- dapopeah
"How my blood boils even reading the name. Spectrum is the worst company I've ever had the misfortune of giving money to. They have a monopoly on internet on my street, so I have no choice but to deal with them."
- ZombieOfun
Netflix
"Netflix. Good show. Naw, let’s cancel it and renew cheap crap and raise the monthly cost."
- DukeRyder
"Not true, CEO said they never cancelled a popular show /s"
- Ph455ki1
"I lament the joke that in the future there would be a thousand channels, yet nothing to watch, came true."
- Deleted User
How do companies that so clearly hate their customers stay in business?
A huge part of adult life is learning to be financially responsible.
This means, keeping track of the money you earn and where it comes from, making a budget plan or at least budgeting in your head, and never spending more than you have, even if you think you'll be coming into some extra money soon.
In college, I bought a ticket for a Broadway play I wasn't even that keen on seeing just because my best friend wanted to go. Buying my ticket would clean me out for the month, but since my birthday was the following week, I figured I'd get some money from my dad, who had been gifting me money instead of a material possession since I was 12.
Well, my birthday came and went, my dad decided to give me a gift card to a bookstore, which was a nice thought, but useless at the time, and I had to ask my friends for loans just to buy groceries that month. I lived above my means that month, which was a terrible experience, but it taught me to be smarter when it comes to finances.
Redditors know all to well how easy it is to make poor financial choices, and sometimes never learn your lesson, and they are ready to share their experiences.
It all started when Redditor Pitiable-Crescendo asked:
"What was the most disappointing movie you paid to see?"
That Stinks!
"My friend's roommate once asked him to borrow money so he could order novelty fart-smell spray from Amazon, instead of waiting for his paycheck."
"There are worse financial choices than going into debt for a can of fart spray, but it's certainly the funniest one I've heard."
– The_Lawn_Ninja
"Well, to be fair, how good was this fart spray?"
– Mercurial8
Worse And Worse
"Driving a very expensive car with tons of body damage because all their money is going to their $800 a month car payment and they can’t afford to fix the damage they caused with their sh*tty driving."
– Eyfordsucks
"I had this exact conversation with my friend today, if you cant afford to fix your car, you probably shouldn't be owning a 2022 60k Mercedes."
– Windir666
"You don’t even deserve it if it’s beat up after a year!"
– mclarensmps
Trust, No Trust
"My wife’s siblings each just received a 117k disbursement from their mothers trust. So far one brother who doesn’t own a home nor a pension plan and is 55 went out and bought a brand new Harley Davidson Full bagger bike. The other brother, who was homeless three months ago is shopping for a Dodge Charger. He is 65 and can’t afford to retire. Her three sisters haven’t made any big purchases yet.It is tough to watch knowing how hard my in-laws worked to leave a little money for the siblings."
– edawg660
"I'm sure this is exactly why your wife's mother left all that money in trust in the first place."
– malogan82
They Can Be Cute Without That
"Designer shoes and jewelry on your infant."
– GenX-1973-Anhedonia
The Lap Of No Luxury
"I worked as a bank teller many many years ago."
"One of my semi-regular customers (Doctor) would come to deposit checks from some pharmaceutical company that he got for prescribing so much of their sh*t. I'm talking 20k, 30k checks that he'd get from them every quarter."
"Anyways, he was making really good money as a Doctor, because his monthly pay that he was getting from the hospital was around 35k net. So I figure he was making 50-60k a month, gross."
"His account was always empty though. You'd be shocked at how much money they spend on stupid sh*t."
"$800 DirecTV bill."
"$1300 bill to the local country club."
"$750 landscaping bill."
"$2500 car payments."
– alwaysmyfault
"I’m not surprised at all. It’s very common for people to live outside their means."
– appyness67
The Better The Job...
"Unfortunately, it is a hard one to answer."
"I used to work in the banking/mortgage industry in Canada 18 yrs ago and this one stuck with me, and I have seen both sides of the coin."
"Example 1- early 30's married couple both doctors. Finally making some money but large student debt. A nice, big rented house with 2 nice cars (prorsche and lexus, leased). No kids and multiple vacations every year. They tried to get a mortgage, and they didn't qualify for anything."
"Example 2- early 30's married couple with a child. Both working decent 60k jobs. Currently renting a modest place with 1 car. No vacations and had some savings. They qualified for a 500k mortgage and were ecstatic. While in the process of telling them that that was their maximum threshold, they stopped me and said, "we try not to live beyond our means so we can hopefully own one day.""
"It was at that moment that I realized that because you have something, it doesn't mean you own something."
– mpah78
"I was in the mortgage game for a while too. It’s crazy how many peoples finances didn’t match what you would assume by looking at their life from an outside perspective."
"The amount of people who were doctors/lawyers and felt they deserved the good life but really had too much debt to live like it was noticeable"
"As well as the blue collar types who saved and saved and never really change their lifestyle at all."
"It’s also crazy how bad at personal finance doctors were. Whenever I heard “we are both doctors” I would wince. One of them was gonna have a bananas credit score with every card maxed out."
"Or anyone with a new fully loaded Nisan titan."
– Small-Cauliflower-37
Live For The Now...
"People who refinance their home in order to take a vacation. You took a week off and only thirty years to pay for it. Brilliant idea, bozo."
– 710AshburyStreet
"Guy I know took a 25k loan on his house to go on on vacation for a month with his family."
"Said you only get to live once. the thing is he went on vacation back to his birth country, and wanted to live large so people think he's successful"
– Fr33z3n
Nothing Lasts Forever
"Going into debt for a wedding."
– alterperspective
"This is so true. A close friend is still paying off her wedding but the marriage ended last year."
– armyofsnarkness
No Joke
"Making payments on a tattoo."
– Queen_of_Trailers
"I met a woman on a dating app once that had a number of tattoos. She had a low income job so I wondered how she could afford them. Turns out she was on a payment plan with the tattoo studio....I was like yeah, no thanks."
– working_class_tired
"Wait, what?! This is actually a thing?! I thought it was just a Jeff Foxworthy joke from the 90's. Holy sh*t, people actually do this..."
– ifnotmewh0
"TIL you can set up payment plans for tattoos and that’s enough learning for me today."
– watudo22
Pika Pi!
"I spent over 80$ tryna win a giant pikachu and failed"
"Could have bought that thing for 34$ but it was well worth it"
– Nolifelolwhat
Save Money, Buy A Car
"Drives a Maserati, but works as a fitness trainer and is in six figures in student loan debt"
– RosemarySaraBlack
"Reminds me of my cousin who lives with his folks, along with his wife and their baby. Apparently, he’s saving so much money on rent that he went out and bought a $65K Tesla. His folks were a little miffed about that, haha."
– BringYourSpleenToYa
I would be miffed too!
Do you have any stories? Let us know in the comments below.