Anonymous People Who Took A DNA Test Reveal What Their Results Said About Them
Services like Ancestry.com and 23 and Me have sparked interest in our heritages. Where did we come from? Which of our ancestors were first to arrive and set-up shop?
Do we have any surprise, genealogical connections that we may not have known about? Is there a Princess Diaries level reveal waiting in the wings? If so, come on out, Julie Andrews? I'll happy take the tiara and take up Genovian pear juggling.
For many, taking the first step and submitting that DNA swab is intimidating. Discovering where you came from could alter where you are now. Fortunately, people that followed their family history answered Reddit user, r/sator8's question and shared their tales: People who have used DNA-Ancestry testing (ancestry, 23andMe) what were your results and was it worth it?
50. Ryan Merriman, Eat Your Heart Out
My aunt and uncle did one for themselves and for anyone who wanted one. I don't know who all did it, but I know their son-in-law did it.
So my aunt is fair skinned, red-headed, and covered in freckles. Her husband looks kiiiiinda like Lassiter from Psych but bald. Not your stereotypical leprechaun, but you can totally tell.
Welp, they got the results back and it turns out that neither of them are even a drop Irish, which is really weird because they even have "Mc" in their name. They're pretty much the McFakeirish family. But there son in law, turns out he's 1/16 Irish. He's just as much Irish as our side of the family is Native American. Yeah can kinda see that in our side if the family. If you know to look for it, the features are still visible is a lot of the family members. The son in law in the other hand.... He's black. We thought he was 100%, I think he thought he was 100%.
So yeah, my Uncle NotLassiter McFakeirish very often said the phrase, "If it looks like a duck, sounds like a duck, and walks like a duck, it might just be a duck." So my natural response when I learned all this was, "So if it looks Irish, sounds Irish, and thinks it's Irish, it might actually be less Irish than your black son-in-law."
49. Rich Cross Heritage
I did AncestryDNA and got my results a couple of days ago. It confirmed that I'm mostly African with some European. What surprised me was the percentage of indigenous ancestry. Only a small percentage of Dominicans have such ancestry, so that was a nice surprise. It's nice knowing which places in Africa my ancestors came from. It's also quite sobering to think of all that they suffered.
48. Closure
My aunt who was adopted at 9 months old by my grandparents did I believe ancestry. The weekend of my grandpa's funeral her daughter called to tell her she found my aunts birth father. They lived a few hours away and were driving through my grandpas town that weekend. It was a lot of emotions that weekend and she was worried we would be upset but we were all so happy for her!
She struggled a lot as a teenager with being adopted and I think she needed the closure of knowing why her parents didn't keep her. She now has more wonderful family members that have lovingly welcomed her. She has multiple brothers through her birth father. She hasn't found her mother yet but now knows who she is and why she was put up for adoption.
47. Sometimes White Is Made By Mixing Every Color
I'd say yes. Found out a significant chunk of my ancestors were from the Middle East and Africa, which was surprising given how pasty white and fair-haired my whole family is. The only reason I know they didn't mix up my DNA sample with someone else was because the test showed that a number of my known relatives to are, in fact, related to me.
Including my dad.
(Which is a relief).
46. A Warning For All Who Test
I've heard that the two companies have different data sets that they're working from, so people of African origin will get much more detailed results from Ancestry, while people of Asian descent will get more detailed results from 23andMe. For example, an African-descended person might get results from 23andMe that just tell you your ancestry is from that continent, while Ancestry might tell you a specific country or local region of Africa.
45. A Happy Ending
My wife was adopted. Never knew much about either birth parent. She did it more as an ethnic blend curiosity since she's mix race. Turns out her bio aunt had already done a DNA test so she got notified of the link. Once we had the aunts name we started Googling and FB stalking and found what we were sure was her bio mom. My wife messaged her her in a very delicate manner saying what we believed to be true.
And she replied back almost instantly. We shortly found out who bio dad was (unfortunately now deceased). For about a year all communications between were very friendly and sweet, but just written. Last summer we went and met her. Super nice family. They're coming to stay with us this October.
44. You Become The Thing You Hate
I know my lineage on my mother's side, but have always been ignorant to my heritage on my father's side. What little I know comes in the form of stories told by my paternal half-brother, who got them from our aunts and uncles.
One of those stories is about how my great grandmother had an affair with the Asian landscaper. Then, my grandfather was born. Everyone ignored that he was clearly Asian. I've never seen a photo of my grandfather, and none of his kids remember what he looks like (he died when my own father was a baby). Therefore, the only one privy to this information on his heritage were my great grandmother and my oldest aunt.
None of them looked particularly mixed, and what features they did have were mostly grown out of. My father's only noticeable differences are tan skin and semi-emphasised facial features.
Here's where it gets interesting; my father is racist. Like, "every Middle Eastern is a terrorist, kill them all" racist. He's never been so racist towards Asians, though, so it never much impacted me... until I took the Ancestry test.
Turns out 'Asian' was 'Arabic'. Man, I wish I could've seen the look on my father's face when my half-brother told him.
43. It's Like Solving A Mystery
I've been very involved in my Dad's side of the family, who came from Greece two generations before me. This family and heritage has been all that I've known about and I've identified very heavily due to my name being pretty Greek. My mom has a long strand of mental issues and, as a result, most of her family has exiled her and it wasn't until I became an adult that I was able to connect with that side of the family, but I had no idea what side of the family even came from.
So I get a DNA test and turns out I'm mostly English/Irish by about 30% and Greek was next at 17%. This wasn't too shocking considering a lot of the Greek traits weren't passed down to me (like olive skin, green eyes, and black hair).
I'm not too sure about other DNA sites, but 23andMe offer a service called DNA relatives and, if you opt-in, you can look through every person, who also opted-in, and request to chat with them. It'll show you what percentage of your DNA is related and what the algorithm thinks you two are (such as first cousins or second cousins once removed). This feature is the best part to me because I can connect with these people and learn more about my Mom's side of the family.
You can also opt-in to do some genetic research where you just simply answer questions about various things. I opted-in to a study about the role genetics play in depression and bi-polar disorder.
It's definitely worth it to not only learn about my family's history but you can also help researchers understand genetics more and more.
42. The Family Grows
I did it, and just last week I found out that my father was not by biological father, but that I was donor conceived. A guy calls me out of the blue to say that he thought he was my half brother. He asks if I am on 23 and me (I say yes). He says go and check out the relative section (that I hadn't looked at in years), and there are more than a dozen half siblings. Turns out I was #19.
I talked to my parents, and they confirmed it. Last week I found out I had a huge family, half of which is nearby. It was a huge deal!
41.The Plot Thickens
I was raised by a single-mother and never had a relationship with my dad, who lives in another country. I haven't ever had a desire to find him or make contact but did 23andme because I was curious about any medical issues I might be predisposed to. The report came back and I was connected to a long list of people - third, fourth, fifth cousins and further relations. Then there was the family I knew, who had taken the test.
The most interesting was a first cousin who I'd never heard of. We messaged through 23andme and it turns out that he was the son of my fathers sister. No one on my fathers side of the family knew about me...it was quite a shock to my new-found cousin. We messaged back and forth and it turned out we lived in the same state and I had a trip to his area already planned. My fiancé and I met with him and his family. He has four children who all hugged me as a greeting...it was the best feeling. We had so much fun hanging out with them and having the opportunity to chat. I'm grateful to have an expanded family.
The story is still somewhat developing but he told my dad the story and my dad said he'd written to me and never received any responses. He asked my cousin for my contact info and we are talking, albeit timidly. It turns out that he had always wanted to be a part of my life. I always felt that you don't miss something you've never had but I'm excited for the opportunity to have him in my life.
40. Survey Says...White
I did it out of genuine interest for my family background. Like most white people, I had heard from older family members that we had Native American ancestors. My results actually showed that I may be the whitest human being on the planet. My largest portion showed 32% likeness to French, German, Belgian ancestry. 2nd was Irish/Scottish/Wales with 24%. 3rd largest was British with 24% and at 4th, with 11%, was Scandinavian.
Then they referred to the other 9% as low confidence regions, where I shared similar genetics to people from Italy/Greece and Eastern European Countries (Russia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Ukraine, etc.). Someone in the family, at some point, was a lying piece of crap. If I were a super villain, my name would be Mega Honky and I would have skin so pale that it blinded people. My weaknesses are my inability to season food properly and my likeliness to develop diabetes.
39. The War Caused Many Problems
My grandmother was raised in the foster care system, so she always felt a mix of "I'm fine on my own" and "I do want to know where I came from". So I took it into my own hands to test her DNA (with her permission).
A few years later, we ended up finding her great nephew, who in turn introduced us to his grandmother--her younger sister. Her sister ended up explaining to us the whole story of our family and why my grandmother and her three brothers were put into the foster system. The 1940s were...quite a time.
Anyway, it was definitely worth it. My grandmother is so excited to have a sister, siblings, etc. etc. Even though our family history is not very pretty to put it mildly, it's still family and my grandmother finally has that sense of peace.
38. Hinga Dinga Durgen
A question I can answer!
So, I haven't directly done it, but both of my parents did so I suppose it sort of counts?
Anyway, my dad was adopted and didn't know anything at all about either one of his birth parents. Just from how he looks, as well as my brother and I, we sort of figured we weren't 100% Caucasian. And because my dad was doing it, my mom figured "what the hell?" And got one too.
The first thing that surprised me was finding out that siblings don't necessarily share the same makeup. I might be 56% A and 44% B while my brother might be 52% B and 48% A. Just rough numbers to illustrate the point. I'm not sure why that surprised me as much as it did. I guess I just assumed if I was half A he'd be half A too and genetics don't work like that.
It also definitely shatters any illusions you might have over being proud of your heritage. On my mom's side, we can trace back at least 4-5 generations pretty accurately, and we expected her to match up with what we knew to be true based on that. Turns out, people like f*cking a lot, and lying a lot too. Go figure.
It's been a while, so I don't remember the exact numbers, but the results ended up being:
Dad: Primarily Irish with a heavy Native American side dish. Also, a dusting of West African on the top. He also has one of the highest Neanderthal profiles on the site. I'm not sure if it was a gene or the amount, but they put him in the 99th percentile of people who have it.
Mom: Super-white, coming in with Germania frontrunner, with Scandinavian as a close second. I guess we descended from Vikings, and I'm totally okay with that.
All in all, it was a fun experience. The Neanderthal thing was probably the most interesting part. I did have fun imagining my Native/African ancestors and trying to figure out what they'd think of me as their relative. However, it's not really useful outside of being able to answer the "what's your heritage?" question. Because he was adopted, we were never raised with any sort of strong ties to any other people. A lot of German recipes handed down from my mom's side, but that was about it on the "cultural heritage" front. I'm glad we did it, but it hasn't changed anything.
37. Cultural Vs. Genetic Identity
So i'm east african. my parents are, my grandparents are, etc etc. we don't have records of most things, but the oral history tradition is strong.
I'm currently dating a white man and i've always wondered if i would want to have biracial children. nobody in my family really has even had the opportunity to date outside their race, since we're from rural farmlands. my identity is super strong and i am of a dying ethnic group with a dying language, so i always wonder how i want things to play out.
When i got my results back, i found out i'm not even genetically east african (tho i think this is a consequence of the weird timelines the test uses and migration) and i'm 4% a bunch of other stuff. i'm 2% unassigned, but the rest is a mix of european, middle eastern, asian, and even native american. the last part is especially surprising since we immigrated to the states when i was a child. but it changed the way i think about myself and my potential progeny.
Anyway. i paid $0 since it was for a study. but now i really want the rest of my family to do it since it'd be fun to see who got what.
36. Saddled With A Secret
I have a few stories.
Story #1: My grandfather never knew much about his own father. His dad was in the Navy (always gone) and was killed in WWII when my grandfather was 9 years old. My grandfather had always idolized his dad (he chose to get married on his dads birthday, and chose to become a pilot which is what his dad was). I had him do the 23andMe test and he had quite a few close DNA matches that all listed this same village in Russia as a place of ancestry. There were even matches from Russia and Kazakhstan. Anyway I reached out to some of them and was able to learn that his dad had immigrated to the United States as a young boy from Russia. It was fulfilling to be able to piece that together and share it with him.
Story #2: I have a first cousin that I had never known about. One of my closest DNA relatives on 23andMe is someone I have never met. I thought at first it might be one of my cousins and the account was just under an unfamiliar name. I did a search of the persons name on Facebook and saw that she was a mutual friend of one of my aunts and her son. The girl is my age and my aunt is 10 years younger than my dad. My aunt would have just been starting college when the girl was born. I never told anyone in my family. I didn't tell my aunt either that I knew. I figured that if she wanted to share it with me or the family then she would have already.
I felt a lot of things. Her Facebook picture looked so much like my grandfather (a man I respected quite a bit). She also worked in a profession that required talents that my grandmother has in spades. I wanted to meet her and tell her all about the people she came from. I wanted her to know where she came from and feel proud to have a connection to it. At the same time I felt deep sadness for my aunt and for her. My aunt is a woman I have a lot of respect for and is a genuinely caring person. I sincerely hope that my cousin is happy and has been able to find some peace in meeting my aunt and her son. It is not really my place to make a move. I will just keep this under my hat and pray for healing for everyone involved.
35. An X-Man In My Gene Pool
let me preface this my saying I am pale, blonde and blue eyed. I was not expecting the results I got: 62% British and Irish 23% French and German 12% Italian 6% Spanish 2% Scandanavian .5% Middle Eastern .5% North African .1% East Asian (of the Yakut people) .1% Native American .1% Unassigned obviously, the above was enlightening since I was previously told I was 100% British (and to be perfectly honest, I think it's cool that I'm such a mixture) so that was worth it. But I also did the health tests, and that was also worth it. now I know all I have to worry about is late onset Alzheimer's and age related macular degeneration, which just means my eyes will get bad when im older.
My BIL (brother in law) also did it, because like my husband and I, he too is adopted. he is almost 100% south African, and also tested positive for late onset Alzheimer's. we agree it's helpful to know it's possibly coming, so you can prepare.
just as an aside: the test also made me really curious as to how north African, native American, east asian and middle eastern made it into my family tree. I think there must be an interesting story there.
edit: the hubs said I should add that I am more Neanderthal than most and have the muscle composition most common in elite athletes which is probably why I was able to get up and walk around immediately after waking up from back surgery. I also heal quickly but nowhere in my DNA report did they mention I am related to Wolverine.
34. More Details Necessary
It was interesting to see the results, but there was one thing that I really did not like about it. Ancestry categorizes all Native American tribes together. I understand that it is not exactly easy to find living relatives for most of those tribes, but it irritates me that they have "Eastern European" and "Western European" but the entire Americas are just "Native American". As someone who turned out to be 20% 'Native American' and whos parents know little to nothing about their heritage, it would have been nice to know exactly what tribes I decended from, their cultures can be vastly different.
Besides that it was interesting to see the minor results that only make up like 1% to 5%.
33. We're All From Everywhere
I was a bit miffed to find out I was 45% "Europe West" from AncestryDNA...Europe West meaning French/German/Dutch/Belgian. I get that they're somewhat geographically similar but those four cultures and peoples are extremely different so it'd be nice to know which of the four I am.
What was interesting was that I came out with zero Great Britain lineage, however my aunt is big into family tree stuff and can trace my family back to a man who settled in America from England back in 1632. A quick search of my last name online theorizes that my ancestors were one of the German clans that invaded England in 547. This would make my aunt and AncestryDNA both correct and that they were just taking samples of our lineage from different points in time.
Am I English because my ancestors came to USA from England and lived in England for ~1000 years before that, or am I German because my ancestors were originally from Germany way back in 500 AD, or am I African because all of humanity came from Africa way back before that? AncestryDNA made me think about these things and ultimately come up with the conclusion that I'm American and figuring out where your ancestors came from hundreds and hundreds of years ago is ultimately pointless, seeing as people migrated around over the millennia so it's not like your family just originated at this one place and was there since the beginning of time.
32. Haha Yikes And More Yikes
My birth mother and my half siblings are raving racist loonies. One half sister defended slavery by saying she always takes good care of her pets. I'll let that sink in.
My bio uncle, birth mother's brother, took a DNA test.
We knew we were Native Hawaiian, which was somehow okay because we were related to 'royalty'. (No we weren't, great uncle so and so was a secretary or something in the palace.) We all look white, thanks to the impossibly pale Irish genes that my bio grandfather inflicted on us.
Turns out we're also Hispanic, black, Native American (likely Apache), and a whole variety pack of random things like Korean, Portuguese, etc because everyone slept with everyone back in Hawaii.
You ever get the satisfaction of texting a dyed in the wool violent racist 'one drop rule' and then listening to the furious self hatred vitriol that comes out? It's....well.
31. Confirmations
I didn't know my father very well, was always told he was half Mexican half Spanish. Then my white mother always said she was British and "black Dutch". After looking up that term, I came to find out in the south (we live in Texas) that's a common misnomer, typically it was what people with Native American or black mixed heritage would call themselves to try and avoid persecution in more racist/xenophobic times.
Sure enough, I get my 23andme test back and not a trace of Dutch. 33% British/Irish, sprinkles of French/German, 22% Native American (I assume mostly Mexico or South America) and 22% Iberian/Southern European. And even 2% west African!
It was pretty cool seeing my doubts about what my mother told me come to fruition. My mom was very interested in what I was able to teach her, and she's waiting for her test now!
23andme also recently announced they are adding 120 reference populations to further break down your results, all future tests and eventually all previous tests will be given these additional results. I am very excited because there's a bunch of South American countries, Mexico, and Spain included in these new populations which should give me a lot of insight.
Highly recommend the test to anyone, very worth the investment.
30. Light And Dark Hair
I did the 23andMe Ancestry+Health kit.
Things I learned:
- Zero Native American in my dad's side of the family despite their strong claims otherwise (they still argue)
- A surprising amount of African on my mom's side
- I'm mostly Northwestern European (not surprising at all)
- A bunch of silly trait things I'm inclined towards due to my DNA (e.g. having cheek dimples). Not terribly important stuff, but it was fun to compare how I am to what my DNA shows me as inclined towards (inclined towards light hair, but my hair is naturally quite dark)
Things I'm hoping eventually come from this:
- More detailed ancestry breakdown (my report should be updated soon)
- My mom was given up for adoption as a baby. She has met her bio mom and keeps minimal contact. Everyone on that side of the family does not know my mom exists. My mom knows quite a bit about the family she's never met - she has a half brother as well as a number of aunts, uncles, cousins, and I believe nieces and nephews... but she is her bio mom's dirty little secret. She can only hear about them through the occasional email or letter from her bio mom. The "evil-ish" side of me hopes one of my close relatives from that side does the test and sees me in their relative list (I know someone on that side has been doing Ancestry, but I haven't done their test yet).
- More health information. As 23andMe gets more approvals about releasing DNA info that may impact one's health, my reports will be updated to give me that information. I've already run my raw data through Promethease, so I have an idea what kinds of things my DNA might show, but there's still a lot of progress to be made in DNA/genetics testing.
29. Politics Do Affect Heritage
I did it with my wife and kid. My wife's results were fascinating. There were bits from all over the world and it was neat to see which parts of Africa and Europe her family was from. There was even some Native American in there.
My results? Japanese. And I was, like: oh, right, my ancestors are from a tiny island nation with nearly 500 years of isolationist policies.
Seriously, though, I still find it neat because they told me things I have a genetic propensity for. And they're continuing to find more information.
28. Love Is An Open Door
My mother, sister, and I did 23andMe 5 or so years ago to see if any of us had any markings for cancer since my grandma had breast cancer. Her Dr told her that it was the fastest way for us to find out. Luckily, none of us have the markings and it proved that her cancer was from hormone treatments at menopause.
Last year, I received an email from another 23andMe user saying we shared DNA. I went to the website and saw that we shared 1/2 of the same DNA. My half brother had done 23andMe because he was adopted and was curious about his health and ancestry. He was not expecting to find us. My other siblings and I had already known we had another brother out there somewhere, so we were hopefully optimistic that this would be a good thing.
He and his family came to visit a couple of months after finding us. He is fantastic and so are his kids. We are so fortunate to have them in our lives now. We all get along great. His parents are wonderful and his mom calls our mom often just to chat. She had been telling him for years to look for his bio-Mom.
So, thank you 23andMe. Without it, we wouldn't have a new brother and a new niece and nephew.
27. First Impressions May Not Be Correct
Late to the party, but this is a fun one.
Initially I was a little disappointed with my test results; I'd been hoping for a clue on a native american great great grandmother and found out... I'm white. I'm more English than most people living in England. It was supremely boring. (Hispanic MIL thought this was hilarious.)
BUT, eventually I was contacted by a a woman I'll call Teri about a possible match. It was distant (second cousin level), but her mother had been adopted from a tiny, tiny rural town in Montana around 1918 and had never been able to find out information on her biological family. Mystery time! So I rolled up my sleeves and started digging.
The first step was the tiny town, and found out that both my grandfather's maternal and paternal lines had lived there, briefly. I printed out photos of the mystery adoption lady and took them to the family reunion that happened to be around the corner, and they were all intrigued, as it was probably had to do with the oldest living's deceased uncle or aunt. The facial features suggested my grandfather's maternal line.
And then I found out one of the uncles during that time had died of the flu, fall 1917. Spanish flu, maybe-- my great-great grandfather on another branch had died of it around the same time. Teri's mother was born in Spring 1918. Facial features were a match. So Teri got her grandfather's name and picture (he looked a lot like her), and the most probably explanation that he'd had gotten his girlfriend pregnant, died when she was ten weeks along, and left her in a really bad situation. It also made Teri my second cousin once removed.
Teri was thrilled. We also have things in common besides genealogy (she's a librarian, I write fantasy books and she loves my work) so we keep in contact. It's not the most dramatic story, maybe, but digging up answers out of old archives is amazing.
26. Justifying Your Love For Coffee
My husband and I and our first child did 23 and me before they got sued for giving medical advice so we got the full panel
Overall it was fairly amusing, but not revelatory. I am more native American than we thought, but that's because lots of native American women who entered white society said they were only half so they could have more rights.
Also they said I should have curly hair based on my genes. Which is HILARIOUS. I have pin straight hair. I wish I had some hair texture. I'd settle for wavy!
Oh, and both my husband and I are coffee addicts, and the test said we were less susceptible to caffeine negative effects, so no wonder we love coffee!
25. Like Something Out Of Greek Mythology
I'm adopted and did both ancestry and 23 and me. I found my maternal great aunt on ancestry and my paternal uncle contacted me through 23 and me.
I've spoken to my uncle a couple times and my great aunt a couple times but that's it. I've seen my bio mom and Dad via Facebook and that's enough for me. If you find yourself really uncomfortable and not wanting to go any further, don't let anyone push you into a meeting or relationship you're not ready for or comfortable with.
To me, it's like opening Pandora's box. You have no idea what could happen or who these people really are, so just remember that you have all the power and should be able to control where you and your bio dad go from here. I wish you the best of luck, it's a very very strange situation to find yourself in.
24. Partial Princess?
My sister did this, and we found out we were even whiter than we realized (she had believed we had some Native American in there. We do, but it's way less than she thought)
I've been into genetic genealogy almost as long as it's been a thing (since 2006), and I can't tell you how many white Americans believe they have some significant Native American ancestry somewhere. Many, many families have the clichéd "Cherokee princess" legend that they heard from their grandparents. DNA testing shows that these tales are almost always false, usually to the testee's profound disappointment.
23. Bragging Rights
We did this for my grandma for her birthday a few years ago, it was really interesting! She knew she was mostly Italian, but we found out that she is actually (genetically) more Italian than most people who currently live in Italy.
She got a kick out of that.
22. Your Wife Might Not Be Just Your Wife
I was adopted as a baby, never knew my birth parents. For my wedding, my wife's best friend got us both Ancestry kits. At the time the joke was it would be funny if we found out we were related. We weren't. Flash forward to about a month ago when I got an email in Ancestry from someone saying we may be related. Ancestry classified the connection as very high probability of parent child relationship. So I found my birth father. Trying to figure out how to go forward now.
Since this has come up a lot. My wife and I were not related. 3.5 years after taking the test my biological father reached out to me and said Ancestry.com says we're related and would I like to find out how we were related. I think he was unsure if we were father/son or grandfather/grandson. After a few additional emails back and forth he provided information that confirmed he was my biological father. We are going to meet for coffee at some point in the near future.
21. The Family Castle!
Found out that my 16th great grandfather owned a castle in wales that is still there today! He was [beheaded] though
20. Knowing Your Past Can Change Your Future
My mom is super into her family tree. She is 99.9% Rusyn (a specific kind of eastern Slavic from the Carpathian Mountains). She was born and raised in North Eastern Pennsylvania and had a feeling that her parents had to be distantly related somehow.
Got both of her parents DNA tests for Christmas this year... and they are indeed distant cousins.
19. Who Am I?
Turns out my neither my mother nor my uncle are related to my grandfather. And my mother and my uncle are half-siblings. So yeah, worth it
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18. When You Are What You Hate
I just got mine today. I used Ancestry but because I'm Korean all I got was 100% East Asian (wow so insightful! /s). Anyway then I uploaded my raw data to Wegene that pinpointed my DNA better. I was SHOCKED. I expected Chinese, Mongolian and Korean.
I got:
- 55.43% Northern Han Chinese (this makes sense because my dad's side is North Korean and my last name can be traced to Chinese ancestry).
- 44.21% Japanese (the surprise)
- 2.8% Other (stuff they couldn't figure out)
- 0.32% Korean (I don't know if I can classify myself as Korean after that low percentage..... lmao)
So I found out I'm very not Korean and my mum was the most shocked because she absolutely hates the Japanese... and the Japanese dna is most likely from her side.
17. Excuse Me?
The chair of my department at work told me his story recently. He has a brother (we will call him Jeff) and a family friend (we will call him Henry) who was best friends with his brother growing up. Henry's sister did one of those DNA kits. Her results came back saying she had a first cousin in the area, who happened to be Jeff's first cousin.
After more investigating they found out that Jeff and Henry were actually switch at birth in the hospital. My department chair's biological brother is actually Henry.
His mother remembers there being some confusion with the babies in the hospital but never thought anything of it again after that. This is probably one of the craziest stories I have ever heard.
16. Sounds Like A Crazy Doctor's Office
I have a crazy story. The ancestry results were definitely unexpected in this case.
My friends mom did the ancestry test. She loved the whole thing and got her dad to try it, too.
The results showed he wasn't her father. They weren't connected via the site. She performed a paternity test (saying it was part 2 of the ancestry test) and confirmed that he is not biologically her father.
Then she nonchalantly brought up her (late) mom being pregnant and her father said that they had difficulty getting pregnant so her and her brother and sister were all conceived via artificially insemination. This was like the 1950s. Freezing sperm wasn't a thing then and her father claims to have been there. So there's probably only one to two other men in the room - the doctor and maybe an assistant.
Idk what happened in the doctors office 60 years ago (for three children) but secrets were definitely kept.
15. A Little Certainty
There were a lot of very interesting tidbits I picked up about my DNA that I wasn't expecting, and a lot of it made sense too. For example I found out that, according to my DNA, I metabolize a certain drug too quickly... And guess what? My mum has been on triple treatments of said drug for months with no result.
The reason I wanted to do it, though, was because my granddad on my mum's side was abandoned as a baby and never knew where he came from. Looks wise, he was clearly foreign and that passed through to my mum and to me (my brother looks more typically Irish, like my dad). So I wanted to find out where that part of my ancestry traced to. The results were a bit confusing and didn't outright say... But according to my results, my maternal haplogroup is a pretty rare one that is most common among the Sami people of Scandinavia. Looking at photos of traditional Sami people they look /a lot/ like my granddad and my uncles, so it kind of fits - but I'd still like to know with certainty.
[deleted]
14. Having A Good Laugh
Brother did one. Turns out the family rumor of Irish/Native American descent was in fact incorrect and we are 98.9% Welsh, with the rest being a mixture of French and German.
13. Old Photos Take On New Meaning
My dad never knew who his father was; I've spent my adult life helping him search with what little information we had (which all turned out to be total red herrings) and it's basically been my life mission to find this person while my dad is still alive.
I bought him one of those ancestry DNA kits for his birthday last year, which brought up some "connections" that didn't make sense; first, second cousins we couldn't figure out. Luckily one of the people he connected with was really into geneology and had done a lot of groundwork themselves. They went through their photos and found one of a man at his wedding, said "Hey, you look a lot like my uncle"; the resemblance was totally uncanny but we didn't want to get too excited.
So from that, the children of the man in the photo did their own DNA tests to corroborate what we thought we were looking at. Yep - turns out that the man in the photo was my dad's father. He now has a whole new extended family he never knew about (he was an only child) and can finally finish searching for this piece of his life puzzle.
So yes, worth it.
12. Welcome To The Family
I signed up for 23andMe, primarily to do research on possible markers for some hereditary health concerns that run in my family line (all is good there). While I was there, I started digging into the ancestry side of the site. That is when my life split open.
Turns out I have a half-sister. My mom gave birth to a baby girl a few years before marrying my dad, and put her up for adoption. I had no idea about this, and I actually kinda doubt that my dad knew either.
You can imagine that this kind of new can really rock a family. With us, it's all been positive. Both of my parents have passed away, which eliminates a lot of the possibilities for awkward or problematic fallout. Basically, it just means that my brother, sister and I have another sister that we just have never met. All good! She has now met my (our) sister, and she is coming out to visit me in a couple months.
For her, it's been quite a ride. She has been searching for family for her whole life, and she finally found us! Of course, she was also very interested in finding out about her father. My mom never once mentioned old boyfriends to me, so I really didn't know how to help her, but now she had a bit more info to go on, and her search continued.
But wait, there's more! So, when she visited our sister, they were digging through old photos, and they came across a dated one of her with a guy, that was more than likey taken right around the date she was conceived. So she manages to track this guy down (she's been searching for decades, and apparently is damn good at it by now). She gives him call, and learns that the photo was taken at a party at one of his friend's house.
11. Getting Told, "NOPE."
I grew up being told I was primarily Cherokee Native American among many other things. My aunt and grandmother collected Cherokee artwork and artifacts to honor our heritage. Got my test results back... NOPE! I'm all white.
10. Doesn't Make Sense
I have believe my whole life that I was half Native American and half German. My father is Lumbee Native American and he and I both are registered and enrolled in the Lumbee tribe. I took a DNA test and the results came back that I was 88% European and 12% Sub-Saharan African. No Native American whatsoever. It kind of feels like my whole life was a lie.
This especially affected my father, because he grew up with this tribe in North Carolina and they've been fighting for federal recognition from the government for years. Just doesn't make sense.
9. What If You Hailed From Thor?
I won a test for free in a competition. There had been rumors in the family of Australian indigenous and American indigenous ancestry. Turns out they were incorrect as that didn't show up at all. What did show up was mostly as expected. Around 10% Pacific islands (Maori great-grandfather), 10% European Jewish, and the rest was mostly British isles.
The only unexpected thing was like 10% Scandinavian which we had no clue about. I'm not sure if that might've been random like Viking ancestry or something lol.
8. Show Me The Money
Apparently, I'm a fourth degree relative of Te Atairangikaahu (Maori monarch) family line on my father's side, and a very distant relative of the Norwegian Royal Family on my mother's side
So, technically, I'm part of the goddamn royalty. I'm still waiting on the gold, land and peasants.
7. Africa
It was worth it honestly. I am half African-American... so searching for your historical roots is a hot mess of a situation. Records are scattered around. There were always rumors in the family about where we originate from... but when I did the DNA testing it was... I don't know how to describe it -- a relief? To see where my ancestors came from in Africa, to see there were people that I share blood with.
As an African-American, there is a strong community to other black people, but to see on paper that at one time, long ago, you belonged to a region, to a group of people... and that they are still there, it is just... powerful. Also found some cool stuff on the white side of me (German/English ancestry I didn't know about). Would recommend especially to people of color.
[username deleted]
6. What Was Your Dad Getting Up To?
Found out that my best friend growing up is actually my half-brother.
My Dad had a lot to explain that day.
5. Was It Worth It?
Yes, in a couple of ways.
Finding out I have a significant percentage of Jewish ancestry I knew nothing about got me major points with my Jewish mother in law.
I was also able to take the raw genetic sequencing data to my doctor to find out I have a genetic mutation causing my chronic fatigue. Something called MTHFR (because it makes a mess of your life) that makes it hard for your body to absorb folic acid, which in turn makes it hard for your body to process essential B vitamins. I now take a really inexpensive over the counter supplement called methyl-folate and avoid energy drinks and BAM! Chronic fatigue almost completely gone literally overnight.
4. Covering All Your Bases
I did a mtDNA (mother's direct female line) years ago because I had hit a wall. This line is more likely British.
Had my male cousin do my mom's father's side, yDNA (direct male line). I knew they were Jewish, but discovered that this direct male line is from Siberia. About 8% of Ashkenazi Jews are this group. It's been worth it because I'm able to see we are related to other families with same and different surname. One would have expected the surname to be the same.
I sent my Chinese mother-in-law a test. One of her grandmothers was adopted and the family is uncertain of her ethnicity. Hoping the test may provide some information.
I just sent in a sample for a total breakdown of my ethnicity for fun.
I think if you are doing the work of genealogy it's a great tool. It can't provide all answers, but it can verify or disprove some information. As more people do testing, the more precise the information will be. Also, finding cousins is a help as they may have information and documentation.
3. House of Lies
Quite worth it, confirmed some of the family legend and opened a whole shocking new chapter.
"Russian" as written in the passport and by name of both parents, but as it turns out Hungarian (but again, less than 10% while we thought it would be at least 25%) - that is what we knew, Ashkenazi Jewish - that is what we also knew (but less than 10%, and we thought it was about half), and a whole bunch of specific ethnicities and places in Western Europe (about 80%+) - that which we did not know.
0% Russian.
2. When Parents Come To Blows
Well I am an orphan. All I knew is that I was Italian.
I am 98% Italian.
Mom side has been in America since 1910s. Help run the American Mafia and fight the prohibition. My family name is found with some of the worst American mafia members.
Dad side corrupted a part of the Italian police force. The corruption is still going on. My family helped put a communism leader in office and when he turned his back on my family, they took him out.
I have no surviving family members in America. I got a couple cousins in prison for robbery and money laundering. I got a grandfather in Mexico hiding from the American police. He is a wanted suspect for the Manson murders.
Not a fun read. I read so many police records it made my head spin.
1. Sigh of Relief
I found my biological father and 4 half siblings, so I'm going to go with yes it was worth it. I also found that I don't have any of the incredibly obscure genetic diseases 23andme looks for - nowhere near as informative as I hoped, but okay.
Story - my actual father couldn't have kids but my mother wanted them, so they went the donor route. I've known this my entire life, so it's no big deal to me. I also grew up knowing that I could never find out who my biological father was, because anonymity is built into the donor process. Well... turns out he wanted to find any potential offspring and put himself out on a couple DNA testing websites. I found him in March. It's been a pretty interesting few months!
People are required to have a license to drive, fish, and have certain jobs.
So it boggles my mind that people aren't required to have a license to have kids.
Some of the cruelest and most vicious things I've ever heard were words uttered by a parent to a child.
As an adult, I was haunted by a few thigs.
I can't imagine the scaring of an adolescent.
Redditor Tight_Anywhere6794 wanted to hear about the things parents have said in the past that haunts everyone still, so they asked:
"What insult have your parents said, that is stuck in your head as an adult?"
I've been blessed with the mother I had.
So I can't speak from experience.
But I've heard parenting horror stories.
Bad Expressions
“'You’re so annoying.' Said to me as a young kid while I was expressing enthusiasm over some new interest. Later my father complains I never tell him anything."
foppishyyy
Mean Spirited
"What did I do to deserve a fat kid?"
Silosolo
"My parents also mocked me for being fat, and outright physically abused me as in forcefully grabbed my fat child manboobs or slapped me while calling me fat-related names."
"A lot of people at school did it too, so obviously I have a lot of self-image issues like I never let anyone see me without clothes these days. The worst part is that I legitimately internalized a lot of hate, I could never care for myself enough to actually get fit."
FoeWithBenefits
What's My Name?
"My parents divorced when I was young and they hate each other. My mom would call me my dad's name when she was really upset. What makes it worse is that I confided in her that I never wanted to be like my dad. She used that ammunition against me."
Discarded_Pariah
"That's awful. You are your own person. You aren't your father."
blksmnr
Unfunny
"'You can't even laugh right.'"
"My mom in a weird moment I thought we were bonding. There's something inherently extra evil when someone tells you your joy is wrong. Told her I'm engaged and hoped she could at least be happy I'm happy and she ghosted everyone to the point the family thought died. She's a mess."
BlindEditor
"I'll never understand parents that are so hard on their own children that they can't even be happy for them. So their sole function is to bring misery to their offspring?"
macabre_irony
Evil
"My little brother was drowning, I tried to save him but also almost drowned, we got rescued by a neighbor. My mom told me that they should've left me in the pond. I haven't spoken to her in many years."
Ilookbetterthanyou
Good Lord. How do people like this exist?
Tragic.
HIM
"She told me I was acting just like my father when I would get upset. I would just get kinda pissy and sulk. He would go on rampages and scream and hit and throw things. He pushed her down the stairs once. I would never lay a finger on my current partner. The worst part is I look just like him. I was wondering if my mother always expected me to turn into my dad. I prove her wrong every day."
rot_grl
10 Years Old
"When I was ~10 years old, my mum once said 'If I could go back in time and make sure I never gave birth to you, I would in a heartbeat.'"
"Never forgot it. Talked to her about it a couple of times years later and her responses ranged from 'That never happened' to 'Oh yeah and I suppose I’m just the worst mother ever' and finally 'Yeah but I didn’t mean it, you know that.'"
"Messed me up tho tbh. Another one was '[older sibling] was the only child we actually planned for, the rest of you were accidents.' I don’t think it was intended as an insult, but being told your entire existence was an accident as a child kinda stung."
SpiderP*bes
Failures
“'You’re the biggest mistake I ever made.' - my mother when I was 5. I’m 32 now and it’s been the undercurrent for our relationship ever since, constantly wondering if anything I’ve achieved or struggled for is something she’s genuinely proud of or just relieved to say I wasn’t a total failure on her part."
thefaehost
Generational Issues
"Not a parent but a grandparent, I was adopted when I was 12 years old (my parents were both drug addicts so I was in and out of foster care most of my life) my adopted mother's father turned to me on Christmas Eve when no one else was around and said 'My daughter should have never adopted you, she should have let you stay on the streets where you belong'… he got nicer as he got older and sicker but I couldn’t find it in myself to forget what he said even almost 10 years later. Went to the funeral for moral support but was indifferent about his passing."
samweather227
Just Me
"I was an only child and lonely. When I asked for a sibling, the response was 'If you want to know why we don't have more kids, go look in the mirror.'"
Responsible_Fly_3565
Some people should never have children.
Awful.
A tough realization that most of us have to process and accept at some point is the fact that our parents lied to us when we were kids.
But the tougher fact to process may not be the lying itself, but some of the lies that were told along the way.
Redditor Fearless-surfur-ee asked:
"What was the biggest lie you believed?"
Adulting 101
"That adults knew what they were doing."
- yukipurple
"Maybe not ALL adults, but I definitely thought that adults with responsible jobs have their s**t together. Then I realized they do not have their s**t together at all."
"Which in turn makes me feel somewhat better about being an adult with a responsible job who does not have their s**t together."
- kjhwkejhkhdsfkjhsdkf
Moving Violations
"It’s illegal to turn on the dome light while the vehicle is moving."
"Nope. Turns out it’s just annoying as h**l."
- OstrichMan975
A Lottery Trick
"When I was a kid, my cousin convinced me for, like, an hour that her mom had won the lottery. I can still feel the loss of millions of dollars two decades later, and that s**t hurts, bro."
"WHY, JESSICA, WHY?!"
- iforgotwhereiparked
That Truth Hurts
"I’ll fill up my car with gas before work tomorrow morning."
- hoangtudude
"I will do stuff like this for my fiancé in a heartbeat, but if I need to fill up my own gas tank to avoid doing it tomorrow? That sounds like a problem for future me."
- robbviously
When That Grief Hits Seven Years Later...
"My mom told me when I was five and my favorite dog died that it doesn't matter that dogs die, because in seven years, they respawn."
"So I was like, 'Oh, fine. See you then, bud, I will be older, and we will play again.'"
- josevilla7
Replacement Pets
"My hamster died while I was in school. Went back home, and I instantly saw he was a little bit different."
"My mum tricked me into thinking it was the same hamster and he hadn't changed a bit."
"Mom told me the truth a few years later. I was so p**sed off."
- changethename7
"My mom has done the same thing with my nephew’s parakeet. One day, Pickles #1 flew into the pantry, somehow got stuck in a case of Diet Coke, and got crushed by a can avalanche."
"He was immediately replaced by Pickles #2. My nephew asked why Pickles was so mean to him now. Pickles #2 is an a**hole."
"I’m suspicious that we are on Pickles #3 now but I don’t want to know for sure."
- Brotox123
"My mother's cousin did that with her little boy's rabbit."
"The new rabbit was a psychopath. Having his previously loving rabbit now hate him and repeatedly attack him was almost certainly more traumatizing than learning about death."
"I always wondered if stories like that were part of the inspiration for 'Pet Sematary.'"
- victoriaj
Just in Case
"The microwave will explode if I put my face too close to it while it’s heating food."
- ezzysalazar
A SUPER Secret Affair
"That my parents were married."
"The truth is, my father was, just not to my mother."
- left_over_croissant
A Creative Story
"That my dad moved out and rented a room in the house of a female friend for tax reasons."
- Eldhannas
Such Good Friends
"Outside of dumb lies your parents tell you as kids, my friend who worked at a gas station with a big food station that has some ground beef items told me they use kangaroo meat for their ground beef because it was cheaper than cow."
"I am gullible with my friends."
- _Goose_
The Lie That Keeps Going
"When I was 15, over my summer break, one day my mom called and said she was gonna pick me up and we were gonna go to my stepdad's for the weekend."
"I didn’t understand why I had to go when she would leave me at home by myself for the weekend all the time. I was old enough that I knew the rules and she could trust me."
"She told me there was a mixup at the electrical company and they seem to think we didn’t pay the bill and so the power was gonna be shut off, so we were gonna go to my stepdad's until that got sorted."
"That was a lie."
"A weekend turned into two weeks, which turned into a month, and then the entire summer. We hadn’t been home in over two months. I kept asking when we could go home and she’d always have an excuse."
"We reached September, she’s driving me from one city to my hometown to register for the following year of school, which started up in a week, and this was the closest I had been to home in two months! After I registered, we bypassed my house and started heading towards the highway to go back to my stepdad’s."
"It was at that moment I snapped and started freaking out! I knew something was wrong."
"She pulled the car over and started crying. Apparently, my brother had been helping her pay the bills and when he moved out, she could no longer afford the place on her own. So my stepdad was trying to help but he had his own house and kids he had to look after, and he couldn’t keep it up. We had been evicted."
"We stayed with my stepdad for the summer while my mom tried to work something out with the landlord, but they couldn’t come to an arrangement. Because she never told me, and in order to buy herself time to work something out, she had to be comfortable with potentially leaving EVERYTHING behind…"
"Well, she couldn’t work it out with the landlord and we lost EVERYTHING. The only thing I got out of that house was the shoes on my feet and a few outfits and pajamas enough for a weekend stay."
"My mother wanted to keep the lie going for as long as she could to buy herself time that she had to leave behind everything to keep it going. She never went back for anything, so eventually I can only assume it was all thrown away."
"So not only did I lose material belongings like my computer, my video games, and all my clothes, but I lost basic things like my own bedroom… and privacy as a teenager! I slept on my stepdad’s couch for almost two years until his daughters moved out and I took over their old room."
"But I also lost sentimental things like childhood pictures/videos, the memory box I started when I was seven, and the porcelain dolls my dad had given me over the years, he bought me two per year (birthday and Christmas,) and now that my dad is dead, those are things I wish I still had."
- Neikitia
An Elaborate Tale
"When I was very young, we had a pet hamster. He got out of his cage, so my dad put the cage in the basement, thinking he might get hungry and get back in."
"One morning I woke up and there was the hamster in his cage in the usual place. I asked my mom how they found him and she told me she opened the door to the cellar and there he was dragging his cage back upstairs."
"It wasn't until I was a teenager and remembered the exchange that it occurred to me she obviously made that up."
- censorized
Too Real
"That acne would only be a problem when I was a teenager."
- McGamers56
"I started breaking out in the third grade and haven't had clear skin since. I'll be 27 pretty soon. This one hits home."
- bayleenator
Part of the Family
"When I was like 16, I found out that one of my sisters wasn’t actually my sister. She was actually just best friends with my oldest sister growing up, and she lived with my family from when she was 12 or 13 through 18 (she and my oldest sister are 15 years older than me)."
"Unfortunately, her parents wouldn’t sign her over for adoption and didn’t contribute anything to my mom raising her for six years."
"The weirdest part is that my family is predominantly fair-skinned, blonde with blue eyes, but the girl I thought was my sister was traditional Hispanic with darker skin, dark hair, and brown eyes. My mom was always very tan and had darker skin and hair throughout my childhood, so I thought that my other two sisters and myself were the odd ones out."
- Schleeeeeem
The Deepest Betrayal of All
"On April Fool's while I was getting ready for school on a cold winter day, my mom told me, 'School is canceled! It's a snow day!'"
"I ran around for a good two minutes celebrating before she told me, 'April Fools!'"
"I've never felt so betrayed in my life."
- samivat
"You better be a mastermind supervillain by now."
- T_WREKX
"Thank you for sharing your Joker origin story, lol (laughing out loud)."
- JulienS2000
These lies have a wide range from the hilarious to the absolutely diabolical, maybe even with a few villain origin stories thrown in.
A common thread throughout most of these was someone telling a lie in order to avoid a tougher conversation, which only led the younger person to have a lot more to process later.
With theaters finally open to those wanting the ultimate entertainment experience that streaming movies at home can't provide, the pandemic that kept many venues closed now feels like a distant memory.
There's nothing like seeing a film up on the big screen the way Hollywood studios intended, and many would argue that experience is worth shelling out the cash for.
That being said, there is no assurance audiences will remain in their seats until the credits roll at the end.
Because not all movies are created equal. Some are just embarrassingly bad and not worth sticking around for.
Curious to hear from dissatisfied moviegoers, Redditor girlcalledmariaaria asked:
"If you have ever walked out of a cinema because the film was so bad, what one was it?"
These Redditors had no idea what they were in for.
Wrong Expectations
"I've not, but when I saw In Bruges, an elderly couple walked out after 20 minutes and I heard the man muttering that this wasn't a film about Belgium at all. It really tickled me."
– Reverend-JT
Regretful Decision
"Holmes & Watson, my family really enjoyed step Brothers and Talladega nights. So I shouted the 5 of us to the movies on Christmas day because for some reason the cinemas were open and it was showing and we don't really do big celebrations. 15 minutes into the movie we all looked at each other like.. wtf is this. I tried to leave.. I went to ask for a refund because their policy said you can get a refund 30 minutes into the movie... But we were 5 minutes late because of the 20 minute trailers.. I'm still seething about spending $100 to basically die of boredom for an hour and a half. I was sitting there embarrassed about suggesting the family outing. My family stuck it out because I'd paid for it and couldn't get a refund even though I told them I didnt care and begged to leave."
– jande425
Plan B
"I've got a story of a film my friends and I refused to leave, actually."
"In 2006 I was turning 14 and was obsessed with Pirates of the Caribbean. My mom threw a pirates-themed birthday party where my friends and I were meant to go to see Dead Man's Chest, which was still in theaters in August when the party was. We dressed up for it and everything."
"Well for some reason the showing we were going to see was packed despite the movie having been out over a month, so there weren't 12 tickets available. My mother (and my friend's mom who came along) made a split second decision to see the next PG-13 rated movie available."
"Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby."
"So a gaggle of 14 year old girls dressed as pirates walked into this theatre to a bunch of weird looks, but we sat down with our popcorn as normal. The next hour-and-a-halfish saw the moms be horrified at the crass nature of the film and keep asking if we wanted to leave. The answer was a HELL NO from the whole group. That movie proceeded to be the basis of our inside jokes for the next 4 years. To this day it's one of our collective favorite grade school memories, even if my mother continues to be embarrassed by it."
– fraxiiinus
Whether it was physical or emotional, these films didn't sit well with Redditors.
Saving Our Necks
"Oh, I remember vividly. It was Battlefield Earth."
"The shot angles kept being tilted this way and that for no reason and I started tilting my head so that things would be level. Then my friend joined in. Then we simultaneously were like 'are we going to cramp our necks for THIS?' And walked out."
– Ahlq802
Punishment For Sneaking In
"I walked out of 28 days later. Not because it was bad. I was 9 years old and snuck in and it was freaking me the f'k out.. watched it years later and enjoyed it."
– OMGi_hafta_poop
Oh, The Horror
"I saw Prometheus twice in theaters. At the second show, a group of 10-year-olds snuck in. The first R-rated scene, which features an alien worm/snake that crawls inside someone's shattered arm, caused these kids to flee the theater in an absolute panic. I imagine they will never forget that day."
– fleur_delyk
Sometimes, it's the theater's fault.
Failed Attempts
"I went to see Guardians of the Galaxy, and they played Rise of the Guardians."
"It took about five minutes to realize it was the wrong movie the first time. They tried to fix it, played Rise again, tried to fix it, played Rise a third time, and the whole theater walked out for refunds."
"Apparently it was a issue at a lot of theaters."
– MandolinMagi
Not A Prank
"I guess this technically counts but when I went to see deadpool 2, the cinema accidentally put the wrong film on and played some Amy Schumer film instead. Everyone in the screen thought it was some meta deadpool joke and out of nowhere he’d appear and shoot Amy Schumer so we were all waiting on that. After about 10 minutes of the film, the staff came into the screen and explained that they had put the wrong film on and couldn’t undo it because of their tight schedule etc but we would all get a refund and were welcome to stay and watch the rest of the Amy Schumer film. Everyone left."
– KMeech1969
Other times, the movie itself doesn't screen well for the audience.
Far From Purr-fect
"I’ve never walked out of a movie and I saw Cats opening weekend."
– Man_Bear_Pig25
"I walked out on it, but then decided I wanted to be back inside. They let me back in, but then I walked out again."
– CatherineOfArrogance
I'm all for supporting the arts.
But if a movie I already paid a non-refundable admission for was absolutely terrible, I'd have no problem forfeiting the cash to spare my sanity and walking out of the theater.
The one time I did just that was when I went to see The Island of Doctor Moreau starring Marlon Brando and Val Kilmer.
I was a kid and I was thrilled to go see a movie all by myself.
Unfortunately, the sci-fi horror film wasn't enough to captivate my short attention span.
I walked out and subsequently called my mom to pick me up from the mall where the movie theater was.
Those were the days...
If there was one good thing to come out of the pandemic, it was that it made us all the more appreciative of all that is good in our lives.
No one ever appreciated the importance of friends or family more, having to be kept apart from each other for months, or the little things which bring us joy, which we made sure to keep doing even as pandemic restrictions were lifted.
Of course, being alone with our thoughts for such a long time also resulted in our reflecting on things in our lives, or in the world in general, which we were less than happy about.
Not to mention the all-important realization that life is short and precious, and we don't have time to waste our thoughts on some things.
"What is something you no longer have patience for?"
Off The Clock Means OFF THE CLOCK!
"Working outside of work hours."
"I used to go above and beyond, now I only put in what is required."
"Life is too short to live only to work."- Chesterfieldcat
"The working world."
"My life doesn’t revolve around working here and it never will."
"It will never be a part of my identity."
"I come in, do the job, make money, go home."
"Don’t expect me to come to all the work happy hours so I can pretend how much I love working here."- nuclearsalt
Some Things Just Don't Get A Free Pass
"Sh*tty people getting a pass 'because they're family'."- cgulash
Say What You Mean, Not What You Feel
"Having to guess what people REALLY mean by something they said."
"I take everything people say at face value now and don't replay conversations in my head to find out the real meaning anymore."
"Be passive-aggressive if you want to but talk to me like an adult if you really have a problem."- WateredDownSalt
EYES ON THE ROAD!
"People who text and drive."
"You're driving a giant piece of metal propelled by explosive liquid."
"Pay attention."- MasterfulNothasie
The Only Life That Should Concern You Is Your Own
"People and groups of people that only talk about other people."- Turf98
"People who can’t mind their fucking business and are always worried about what other people are doing."
"If it doesn’t effect you, f*ck off."
"It’s literally free."- wackwackwackjpg
Some People Didn't Mind Social Distancing
"People invading my personal space."- Mighty-Foreskin
Influence Can Be Dangerous
"Anything that has “influencer” in it."- chemistcarpenter
Indoor Voices People...
"Streamers screaming, losing their sh*t, breaking things, and having tantrums."
"I used to think this was so funny now I just can't stand it; I can't even watch a streamer if I notice they're not using their normal talking voice." - Reddit
Taking Responsibility Is A Sign Of Maturity
"People who constantly blame others for the situation they are in."- SuvenPan
Time Is Precious And Shouldn't Be Wasted
"Waiting on people who are constantly late to plans."
"I will wait 15 minutes then excuse myself."- Dabbles-In-Irony
There's Multi-Tasking, And Then There's Just Being Rude...
"People being on their phone while in a conversation with you."
"Seriously."
"Put your phone away!"- rosieblinkstime
It Takes So Much More Effort To Be Nasty...
"Bad manners, unkindness and general rudeness."
"It costs nothing to be a nice person and from someone who works in a customer-facing industry, attitudes, sadly, appear to be getting worse."
"It really makes me cross."- Bellamiles85
At Least They're Being Transparent
"Medicine commercials with worse side-effects than the thing being cured."- mrbbrj
Wasting our time and thoughts about things that we know can only bring us down is simply no way to get through life.
It's essential to live our lives by taking the present moment for what it is: a present.