The funny thing about fate is, if you believe in it, you end up right where you should be in life.
Had you consciously made a decision to take a different path when confronting the proverbial fork in the road, you might have ended up in a place you could never come back from.
Or sometimes you have absolutely no control over the outcome of things, and it all boils down to being at the right time or place that in some cases literally determines a situation of life or death.
"What is a bullet you dodged?"
Love was in the air, until it wasn't
Safe Schnoz
"One time I dated this guy but we broke up. Which was fine. Later I find out during the bath salts phase he bit his girlfriend's nose off. I’m glad I wasn’t with him at the time or it would have been me."
– PricklyPanda75
Wanting Kids
"I dated this girl for a while. She was cool and like people do at some point, pretty early on she asks 'what age do you wanna be when you have kids?' I said 'ideally like my early to mid 30’s, I wanna have some nice one on one time just being married.'"
"She’d then say 'for me I could have them at any time, ya know ten years from now would be fine or this year would be fine.' I don’t think much of it, but she would ask me on a that question to me on a weekly bases and I kept giving her the same answer."
"The relationship lasted long enough where we were going to have sex soon and when we were talking about usual stuff like preferences etc I said that I wanted to use a condom and she didn’t want to show it, but I could tell this greatly bothered her. She kept saying stuff like it won’t feel as good and don’t you trust me and stuff like that. I didn’t trust her with all her comments about having kids. I wasn’t gonna do it without a condom."
"She broke up with me. She said it was because she’d met someone new, but I’m pretty sure me not budging on having kids at age 22 was a factor. Last I heard this new guy got her pregnant and her new boyfriend and her have both dropped out of college."
"I hope the best for them, but I’m sure am glad that it wasn’t me."
– Bigchonky3
These Redditors managed to avoid possible physical harm.
Stranger Danger
"I was maybe 7 yo, playing in my neighborhood, beautiful sunny day, within sight of my house. A car stopped, guy got out, asked for help, said I just had to put my foot on the brake so he could fix his car. He seemed like a nice man, and he started talking about how to hold the brake."
"I was focused on execution, if I could do it, and started to walk to his car. A neighbor yelled out their screen window, angrily asking what I was doing, told me to go home. I didn’t know why they were angry at me but I ran home, and the guy took off."
"It wasn’t until I was an ADULT that I even thought back on this and realized this was suspect. At the time didn’t even mention it to my parents, and neither did my neighbor. My naïveté was breathtaking."
– popcorn5555
Missed Shooting Spree
"Didn't stop at the 7/11 that I stop at everyday for coffee in the morning yesterday. About the same time I stop there a girl was shot and killed (employee at the store) when it was robbed."
– nryporter25
After The Robbery
"My mom always goes to places to do transactions in person. Like she goes to the doctor's office to make an appointment, she never orders stuff online. She also goes to the physical bank branch to deposit or get money."
"One day like ten years ago she gets to the bank and walks in."
"Everyone is just standing there, white as sheets."
"Someone had just walked out after robbing the bank."
"She probably crossed paths with the robber outside."
"Blows my mind."
– BaaBaaTurtle
Literally Speaking
"A literal bullet on a gun range. Cease fire was called and we went to change targets except one guy that shot at the target next to mine while I was downrange. Being shot at is not fun."
– foreverkasai
The Boston Marathon
"I decided not to go watch the finish line for the Boston marathon in 2013. I was only a few blocks away and decided to head into my dorm because the leaders had all finished at that point and I didn't feel it was worth it to go watch the rest. Less than 10 minutes later I started hearing sirens from my window and got a text from the girl I was dating at the time that they weren't letting her off the T at Copley for some reason."
"If I had just kept walking straight down Boylston like I had originally planned, I probably would have gotten there just as the bombs went off."
– mysistersacretin
These prospective homebuyers and business owners reluctantly moved on and wound up being grateful that they did.
Screwed Homebuyers
"Few years back when the wife and I were looking at buying houses... we had our hearts set on a certain home which, admittedly would have squeezed our budget too much. Although, we could pull it off."
"We ended up finding another more suitable and affordable home."
"We later learned that the owner of the home we wanted left with all the chattel and fixtures he wasn't supposed to, leaving the home buyers screwed. They initiated a lawsuit and suddenly within the next week, their car tires got slashed and someone attempted to set fire to their garage."
"yikes."
– Illfury
Sh*ts Creek
"There was a block of land on the edge of town we were very interested in. Large, in an historic area, has a creek running through it. Already approved for a new house."
"We made offers, but kept getting knocked back (the place had been on the market for nearly 3 years but he was holding out for magic number he had in his head)."
"In the end, we gave up and bought elsewhere. The property sold for less than the magic number. Six months later, we were hit with huge floods. Most of the property disappeared into the creek. So glad we dodged that one."
– peterdeg
Restaurant Takeover
"Not me, but my sister and her fiance:"
"They met working at a restaurant. He worked his way up from a bartender to manager, and she was a hostess when not teaching. After several years there, the owner let them know that he had terminal cancer and had like 6 months left to live. He didn't have anyone to pass the business down to, so he offered it to them. He asked for a very small payout so he could be comfortable in his last few months."
"While very grateful, my sister and her fiance checked things over, and determined that the building was going to need major repairs soon, and some other things were going to make it so they would not actually make money off of it for a while."
"They were in their mid 20's and pretty nervous about owning a business, much less a restaurant. So they ended up turning it down."
"That was February 2020..."
– Nik_Tesla
When Came A Storm
"Not me but my parents: My parents owned a rural property (a small for weekends and renting for events) from 1985 until 2016 when they sold it, after two years trying to sell. Just 3 weeks after they sold it, a massive storm destroyed the property giving the new owner a loss around 40% the price of the estate."
– raicorreia
When my company for a major theatrical production spent a few weeks in Mexico city, we were thrilled to go exploring on our days off.
But we were always cognizant of not drinking the water there.
We weren't thinking much about patronizing the food stands, however. When a group of us drifted along the beautiful, scenic waterways of Xochimilco, a vender on a barge passed by and offered us a variety of skewered meats, which smelled amazing.
But I knew my weak constitution that is not accustomed to eating from the local venders would not digest the food well, so even though I was famished, I passed.
My friends, did not. That night, every single one of them who patronized the vender got seriously ill from food poisoning.
It's a good thing our waterborne field trip was on our day off. Otherwise, a good fourth of our company would've been out of commission, and the show would've been canceled.
Want to "know" more?
Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
Never miss another big, odd, funny or heartbreaking moment again.
When we're intoxicated, or even the slightest bit tipsy from having a little too much to drink, our immediate perspective on things is hazy.
But there's nothing like a bit of alarming news or a jarring incident to snap us out of the fog and focus on the moment.
Sometimes alcohol isn't always to blame for our impairment.
It can be a state of mind, like a perpetual numbness from being complacent in life, and all it takes is one shocking moment to rattle us back to our senses.
Curious to hear from strangers online about this type of scenario, Redditor Known_Challenge_7150 asked:
"What’s one thing that sobered you up real quick?"
These individuals were witness to shocking events that sobered them up right quick.
Bleeding Out
"Got out of a taxi and found a naked man profusely bleeding from his head crawling up the driveway in my condo. Called him an ambulance completely forgot I was absolutely wasted until 45 minutes later when I'd helped him translate and in to an amublance and stepped in my front door."
"Later a few days later learned he'd slipped in the tub and literally crawled out for help. Poor dude. He was fine but I genuinely thought he was going to die there."
– DongLaiCha
Tragic News
"At a bachelor party and we got a phone call that the groom’s father had suddenly passed."
– accountnameredacted
Bottom Of The Barrel
"I went to visit my parents back in July. I was homeless and deep into fentanyl addiction so I lost a lot of weight. My folks could see it. They knew something was up. Anyway, I spent the night and I was getting ready to leave in the morning and I looked at myself in the mirror for a good long time. I finally had enough and told them everything. They took me to detox, from there I went to rehab. Graduated in August and been living with them ever since then. I have 160 days clean and sober."
– Crotch-Monster
A reality check can be enough for some people to snap out of it.
Like Father, Like Son
"Was driving a drunk friend home, he had been on a bender again and was smart enough to call me for a lift rather than try and drive. As I helped in to his house his mother came down the stairs and said 'your as drunk as your father' and went back upstairs. I haven't seen him drunk since then, he still drinks but the thought of turning into his dad scared him out of hard drinking."
– psycospaz
Busted
"Flashing blue lights."
– FiddleOfGold
"This sobered me up just thinking about it."
– redmaple_syrup
Losing Sight
"Woke up to no sight in one eye. I had cataract surgery so just thought one of the lenses had slipped and it was an easy fix. Eye doc says nope, you had a stroke. I loved soy sauce, teriyaki sauce and salty food, which caused high blood pressure, which caused retina damage. Over six months was able to get most of my eyesight back with medication, and all back within a year. Trying to navigate life with one eye was very sobering. Started taking HBP much more seriously."
– MissHibernia
Quitting The Bottle
"Looked up someone I went to highschool with who was an awesome guy. Found out he had been dead for 3 years from alcoholism, at age 33. I made an overnight change. I hadn't started drinking that night yet, 10 months ago. Haven't touched it again since."
– omgtater
These disturbing moments were enough for Redditors to immediately come to their senses.
Unplanned House Guests
"Me and a buddy Woke up in someone’s living room, realized neither one of us knew the people, they were just nice and let 2 drunk guys sleep on their living room floor. We didn’t even say goodbye."
– Oneinsevenbillion75
Serious Health Warning
"Elevated liver enzymes."
"And the knowledge that this sh** was gonna kill me and I just couldn't orphan my family over it."
"So I opted for recovery, instead."
"Clean and sober since June 5, 2009."
– Far_Meal8674
The Joyride
"Grew up in a rural area. The little town hosted dances at the hockey arena, everyone (adults and kids) went and they overserved everyone, regardless of age. I was maybe 16 or 17 and was absolutely sh*tfaced, and jumped in the back of someone's truck with about 8 other people to go back to someone's cottage for after dance drinking. The driver (still don't know who it was) started racing one of his buddies and we whipped around small dirt roads, flying around blind corners on the wrong side of the road, going god knows how fast. It was basically a disaster waiting to happen. It was crazy scary and I was sober and thankful to be alive when we finally arrived."
– foxfood9116
The human psyche is a fascinating thing, isn't it?
How we can automatically focus on something urgent at a crucial time, even after getting buzzed from drinking too much alcohol.
But as we're in the thick of the holidays, it's a good reminder to drink responsibly and stay off the roads if you drive to your celebratory destination.
Cheers. Stay safe. And happy holidays.
We've all complained or vented about something in our lives which, in the grand scheme of things, wasn't exactly a problem, or is very easily solved.
Then there are those who complain about things that others almost hope will happen to them at some point in their lives.
These are known as "first world problems", as they are problems that pretty much only the world's one percent faces.
From having to fly business class instead of first class, or being served Roederer instead of Dom Pérignon, these complaints are often met with amusement, bewilderment, or even anger.
Redditor jennimackenzie was curious to hear the most absurd "first world problems" anyone ever complained about, leading them to ask:
"What’s the most ridiculous 'first world problem' you’ve seen people get worked up over?"
"Tale As Old As Time..."
"I once knew a mom who was legitimately devastated, to the point of tears/grief, because a doctor predicted her 8 year old daughter's final height to be around 5'2","
"Which wasn't tall enough to get cast as Belle at Disney World."
"That was the child's (and her mother's) only dream in life, apparently."
"Didn't appreciate my suggestion that she could be Minnie or Mickey."
"Lol!"
"Only a face character would do!"- TravelLovingMom
"Must Be Funny, In A Rich Man's World..."
"My boss from about a decade ago was this insanely rich dude who always went to the bank to get fresh and crisp currency."
"He'd call the bank in advance to make sure they had some on hand."
"I think he was a germaphobe."
"He had a trash can that he'd throw $1 and $5 bills in that he thought was 'dirty' and regularly just donated it vs spending it."
"I asked him why he did this and he said it was too much trouble and asked if I wanted it."
"I said f*ck yeah dumped it into my bag and when I got home it was close to $400 in singles and fives.
"Another time, he wanted to upgrade all the computers in his studio, so we went to a store and bought 10 PCs."
"They all had $150 mail in rebates and he wasn't bothered to go through the trouble of mailing them in."
"3 weeks later I received $1500 after spending a whole afternoon filling out all those goddamn forms."- azninvasion2000
Money Burn GIF by nog
Giphy
Who Wore It Better?
"When I was about 19 years old, I was at my boyfriends family BBQ."
"I was wearing this pretty floral sundress."
"His cousins girlfriend showed up in the same dress and she was SO mad that she went and changed."
"I will never understand being upset when someone is wearing the same thing as you.'
"Did you really think that your shirt you bought off the rack is going to be unique to you?"
"No."- mertsey627
Seeing Red! Or Blue In This Case...
"The blue of the balloons wasn't quite the same as the bridesmaid's sashes."
"Years ago my wife and I attended a wedding."
"It was very low key."
"The dinner was in the dining hall at the university where the couple met, cinder block walls and all."
"It was a Baptist wedding - no booze and very serious."
"The dark blue balloons attempting to liven up the hall were a slightly darker shade of blue than the sashes on the bridesmaid's dresses."
"The bride lost here sh*t and absolutely raved for nearly an hour."
"I can't remember how they finally managed to talk her down."- mechant_papa
south park wedding GIF
Giphy
See You In Court!
"Rich neighbors who end up in expensive court battles because they disagree about where a tree can be planted or whether the color of a fence fits in with the street’s 'amenity'."
'These disputes get really heated and rack up huge lawyers’ bills."
"The most pathetic part is after the judgement when they are arguing about who should pay the other party’s costs."
"Lots of affidavits filed citing the 'emotional distress' they had to endure, or painting themselves as brave warriors who were forced to take a stand to fight for 'justice'."
"Also lots of pompous litigants insisting that the judge refer to them by their 'Dr' title."
"An absolutely insane dumpster fire of entitled rich people problems."- ElectrocRaisin
It's Always People With Money Who Don't Want To Pay!
"I work in a public library."
"People will get so so mad if they have to be put on a wait list for a book."
"A popular book that just came out."
"Ok our services are not only free but so are the books."
"You’re welcome, a**holes."- Switchbladekitten
A Warm Butt Is A Happy Butt!
"My own."
"We have a bidet toilet seat (Fabulous! Everyone should have one!) and not only does it wash your bum and blow dry it, but the seat's heated!"
"It's shocking how much a heated toilet seat makes the whole process more agreeable."
"Except: We had a power outage and I went to use the toilet and the seat was cold!"
"Unacceptable!"
"This shall not stand!"
"I was really upset because it didn't feel good."
"Then I stopped and thought: This is the most first-world problem anyone's ever had."
"I was really pissed because my heiny was tepid."
"I got over it."- DeathGrover
homer simpson episode 23 GIF
Giphy
Holy Matrimony!
"Weddings are a gold mine for this question."
"People get so hyped up over their 'most important day of their life'."
"They'll destroy friendships, go into debt, and have crazy expectations."
"It's not always the couple who go crazy, either."
"Sometimes, it's the parents or another family member who feels entitled to control the wedding."
"It's just a party."
"Be considerate of guests, have plenty of food and drinks, and enjoy it."- magicrowantree
When Fast Food Isn't Fast Enough...
"Having to pull off to the side to wait for a drive-thru order to be brought out to you because your food isn't ready and there's a line building up behind you."- demanbmore
In Case You Don't Think Customer Service Employees Are Undervalued...
"I was working the return desk at a Target next to a military base so I have so many stories."
"One of my favorites was a lady who had her baby shower before revealing the gender and was livid that she had received floral newborn diapers when she’s having a boy."
"It was a huge box of super expensive, all organic diapers, that we didn’t carry and therefore could not return."
"I cannot accurately express her fury and disgust."
"How dare either suggest her boy could wear feminine diapers."
"I suggested she donate them if she didn’t want to use them and she instead threw away the entire box."
"When she left we pulled it out and threw it in our donate bin."
"There have also been multiple times where mom’s order massive toys and when we bring them out to the car they get furious that they aren’t wrapped."
"We don’t offer wrapping services."
"Here’s the thing, if you don’t want your kids to see the toys you got them for Christmas or their bit to day DON'T BRING THE CHILD WHEN YOU PICK IT UP."
'I’ve had multiple women scream and curse me out that I had ruined their kids Christmas by bringing the toys they ordered out to the car like they requested."- clever-mermaid-mae
Customer Service Waiting GIF by Juno Calypso
Giphy
Happiest Place On Earth!
"I used to work for Disney."
"That in itself should tell you everything."
"However for fun I'll give you two specific stories one form our tech department and one from my wife who worked bookings."
"I specifically worked for their call center to help with technical issues with magic band and the website."
"Suddenly got worse huh?"
"A right of passage call everyone has at least one story of is the 'Dome call'."
"Basically there is a subset of Disney Guest (TM) that believes if it rains at Walt Disney world there is someone that will push a button to encapsulate the whole of Disney property in a dome to keep out the rain."
"I'm not kidding."
"If this button is not pushed they call our tech department to angrily ask why."
"My wife worked booking."
"Pretty much everything including Bibbidi Bobbidi boutique and Pirate's league."
"These two things did roughly the same thing difference being price and theme."
"BBB was expensive did more and was focused on princesses, pirates league did a bit less and focused on mermaids and pirates."
"Lady called up my wife, and got pissed about BBB being booked up (It goes FAAAAST)."
"Karen: 'Im going to give the phone to my daughter and I want you to tell her how you are ruining her vacation by not letting her do BBB'."
"Wife proceeds to explain how pirate's league is so much cooler and how she can be a mermaid or pirate and basically gets the kid to start demanding to their parents about how they want to be a mermaid instead of a princess."- trollsong
Disney World GIF
Giphy
The horror!
Being booked into a junior suite at Disney World instead of an executive suite!
It's almost as bad as having no money for groceries, or no food to feed you children...
Said absolutely no one.