
*The following article contains discussion of suicide/self-harm.
People like what they like.
That point can't be argued. If there's something about a person that just sets your heart on fire, don't ignore it. Chase that feeling because clearly whatever that person is putting out is something important.
That being said, some of these traits, either obvious or delayed, should be considered as "red flags," warning signs, for any future or present relationships you find yourself in.
Reddit user, K2TsU, wanted to know what flags to keep an eye out for when they asked:
"What are some red flags that made you leave the relationship?"
Keep secrets is a never a good thing. Unless you're planning a surprise trip to Venice or something for your partner, you should be honest and open with the person you've decided to be intimate with.
Not like these folks.
I'm Not The Problem. You're The Problem.
"She was always checking my phone if I left it laying around. I’d wake up from a nap and she would be looking through my phone. I gave her the passcode because I had nothing to hide. When I finally had enough I asked her to show me her phone and she refused and guarded it like Fort Knox"
PurgatoryMountain
I Feel So Bad About Spending All Your Money
"When we were just starting out we ran into some unexpected financial difficulties. We had to borrow money from my parents to make rent one month. I was vocal about how much I hated doing it, and how badly I wanted to pay them back as soon as possible."
"He took some of the money, bought an expensive bottle of high-quality alcohol and hid it from me."
"He was not working at the time."
Eezez
Perhaps it's not a secret. Perhaps the flag that finally makes you drop the relationships has been there for a long time, except you've only chosen now to do something about it.
Ha! Showed You!
"When instead of apologizing after being caught lying he met another girl on the internet to “show me” how easy it was to get another woman to talk to him if I wouldn’t. But he still expected to work things out..."
MeanWorldliness749
Unable To Keep A Smile On In Public
"He ruined every big event. He had an attitude that didn't let you enjoy anything. He would act happy and excited leading up to said event, then just ruin it."
farfaleen
"I just left a relationship for this same reason. No matter what the situation, he always had to focus on the negatives and acted like the whole world was against him all the time. I have severe depression and eventually, after a particularly bad relapse where I was suicidal again, I got therapy. I worked so hard to change my outlook on things, to practice self care, to recognise when my symptoms were getting bad and manage them, and to have someone constantly trying to undo that was just too much."
alpine-ylva
Becoming The New Dr. Doolittle
"They couldn't stop adopting new pets. Like 1 - 2 new animals a week. We lived in a 2 room flat."
WeathermanCan
And then there's these, red flags that under no circumstance could be perceived any way except, "Get out of this relationship."
Which is exactly what these people did.
A Unique Kind Of Honesty
"A friend of mine sat me down one day and told me she'd been smoking pot with him (he was a dealer at the time) and telling him how bad she wanted him, basically begging him for sex. He turned her down every time but admitted he wanted to be with her and didn't think I deserved to be cheated on. He made it clear he was interested, but also that he wouldn't come between us, so it was my decision how things went."
"She denied it but I dumped her shortly afterward and she started dating him maybe a week later. He was kind of an a-- most of the time but I've always appreciated him giving me the heads up instead of just letting her cheat and me be none the wiser."
ErebusTotallus
Don't Allow Yourself To Be Pushed Around
"I just broke up with my boyfriend. He isn’t a bad person, he just has a lot of issues but the red flags were that he’d enter temper tantrums if I didn’t say or do what he wanted, talk behind my back while knowing I don’t like that and he kept saying how he needed me and he’d kill himself if I left. I stayed with him despite them but when we finally broke up, I said that I didn’t want to get back with him a week later and he told me that my emotions don’t matter because his emotions never came first."
"It’s like sure, I’ll let you yell at me because you’re just mad. Maybe next time, I won’t spend hours talking to someone through a breakdown if they’re gonna tell me that I didn’t support them emotionally."
MayMayLarue
Anger Issues
"Controlling behavior!"
"That I should wear covered clothes so men wouldn’t look at me. It was a very hot summer and I already would wear long skirts to my ankles and tops without cleavage."
"One time we were eating at a cafe and some drunk dude who was sitting behind me, started to talk to me, I didn’t even turn to him or acknowledge him, just kept eating. My ex started to fight with him, and then took me by my arm to leave. On our walk back home he was screaming at me how this was all my fault. After 3 years that was my breaking point and I left."
El-Pimpie
Be Self-Aware And Try To Break Free
"I never knew I was being gaslighted til she broke up with me, and I was happy she did. Fellas, if youre being gaslighted, its really hard to tell reality from fantasy if youre the one in it. Lived a happier life ever since"
platifire
We Both Have Stuff Going On, But Only I'm Working On It
"Confusion. Or you can say, Lack of Confidence. Whenever I get into a relationship or say start at the initial stage, if I see that they don't trust or are not confident about the relationship and all the efforts are from my side, it simply means that it's just a waste of time. Relationships are because of efforts from both the parties. So, if one party is not confident, have confusion, or is seriously not giving effort, that simply means I must be out of that relationship ASAP. And this is applicable to everyone Imo."
TsamGurkhan
Undercutting Your Progress
"Constantly accused me of cheating or that I was going to leave her because I was getting serious about my weight loss and health."
"I hope anyone who has gone through this or is going through this gets the strength to do what’s best for them and to love their lives free of the abuse/negativity of others."
pineapplewars
Attempted Murder? Yeah, Get Out Of There.
"When I was a few days post brain surgery and wouldn’t mow the lawn, she tried to punch my head in at the surgical site. Would have killed me. called my dad and was gone within about an hour."
"(for those who don’t know, your activities are majorly limited after brain surgery so you don’t get a brain fluid leak.)"
enter_sandman22
Yep. Red Flag. The Biggest Of Red Flags.
"He said to me after having had periods of suicidal thoughts in the past..."
"I decided last night I couldn't kill myself unless I killed you first, so you wouldn't have to live with the guilt."
"That felt like a red flag."
"...To those that asked, yes I left him but as you can imagine it was complicated and took me a while to untangle the bullsh-t. I am now happily married to the guy that helped me get away and basically saved my life."
"I also want to thank those that have shared their own stories of mental health struggles both with a partner and themselves. I have very little advise of any use but I love all the support in the comments."
"For anyone in a similar situation... Trust your gut. No relationship is worth your life. It is better to act and be wrong, then not act, think everything is okay, and be wrong. If anything on this post rang true for you right now, start taking steps to protect yourself today, and reach out if you need help. There are plenty of hands here to help pull you up."
socialmediasanity
Keep your eyes sharp, everyone. Flags are everywhere. You just need to decide if they're red or slightly off color.
If you or someone you know is struggling, you can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
To find help outside the United States, the International Association for Suicide Prevention has resources available at https://www.iasp.info/resources/Crisis_Centres/
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Have you ever heard of a certain job that people call a career and thought... "PEOPLE PAY YOU FOR THAT?!?!"
All hard, honest work is good work.
And then there is just trash work.
And I don't mean garbage collection, that is honest work.
I don't know how some people live with themselves.
Redditor MrTuxedo1 wanted to discuss the careers they don't believe people should chase. They asked:
"What job do you have no respect for?"
Ticket scalpers. How do you the audacity to say that's a job?
Actual burglars have more empathy.
Disrespectful
"There are debt collectors who call relatives of the deceased to pay off their debts when they are not legally obligated to."
Top_Gun_2021
Shady. Shady.
"Australian Real Estate Agents. Laws don't seem to apply to them. Just as dodgy in sales and rentals alike. Never seen anything like it overseas."
snave_
"I'm in the US, it can vary state by state but my state is pretty strict on realtor laws. Some states require attorney review and there are definitely penalties for being reported for shady sh*t. It does require consumer reporting though."
ilostmytaco
Etransfer
"Where I live, tax info was leaked and now scammers are targeting low income individuals/families (people earning under 30,000 per year) with etransfer scams. I got one the other day that was an etransfer warning that 240$ 'a family member sent me' was about to expire."
SnowyInuk
"That’s disgusting. The scammers know what they’re doing, they know the harm they cause people and yet they don’t care."
surelysandwitch
Should be illegal...
"MLM managers. Not the low level idiots that get suckered into it, they suck too for trying to bring new people into that sh*tshow, but the people who create them know exactly what they are doing and are pretty much the only ones who profit off of it. Should be illegal. Pyramid schemes are illegal. None of them ever get the just desserts except occasionally by vigilantes I assume."
Wereno
I hate debt collectors. Yeah, you calling me one hundred times a week is going to miraculously make money appear.
Animals
"Paparazzi."
VictorBlimpmuscle
"I met Jack Gleeson (King Joffrey from Game of Thrones) at a bus stop in Dublin. Really nice guy but he said he quit acting due to people being nasty online and constant hounding from paparrazi. He's happier now but it sucks that he was pushed away from a career he was quite good at."
goobi94
Scumbags
"The pastors at mega churches whom ask their followers for money for private jets. Absolute scum to abuse others faith for your own greed."
ichancho
"Brian Tamaki is a greedy freaking pig, he takes advantage of so many people who are already struggling. Every time he’s in the local news (which btw is often) I get more and more pissed off at him and his wife. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Tamaki "
surelysandwitch
it’s a thing???
“'Dating Expert.' Sadly it’s a thing. It’s basically a self appointed title that requires no training or qualifications. What’s worse, is that I have a female friend who uses one. It’s very much a blind leading the blind situation."
Mean_Manufacturer_61
"Most of the self proclaimed “dating coaches” I know are women in their late 30s or early 40s who have never been married or had a longer relationship."
ipozgaj
EVIL
"Poachers. Especially big game poachers who purposefully hunt nearly extinct animals from species they know they are on the brink."
"I know there are poachers that come from rural villages who are trying to just put food on the table, which has my sympathy but poachers who come from money and hunt down animals minding their business in most shelters or restricted areas just to put a head on their wall as a trophy are absolutely heinous."
GetterdoneObiwan
I See It All
"Psychic Mediums. Specifically those who prey on the grieving."
JamesDeadite
"I've always found it interesting how many magicians go after people like this. I think it's because they know what it takes to trick people for the art. The slight of hand and mentalism. And they abhor people who use these tactics for such sh*tty purposes."
34HoldOn
I want so bad to believe in psychics and mediums. What say we on that topic?
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The nose is constantly being attacked by odors of the world.
Going through one day without having to hold my breath during a certain point, is a miracle.
Of course, I'm a New Yorker, so I maybe exaggerating for people in the countryside.
What's funnier is odors that are pleasant, that shouldn't be.
Have you ever looked and something and thought... "yuck."
But then you smelled it and it was like... "oh lovely,"
Redditor HappQueue wanted to know what aromas are arousing to the senses that may come as a surprise to many. They asked:
"What smells good but shouldn't?"
For some odd reason I love the things burning. Anything, food, pots, pans. You name it. Weird.
Blow
"Matches/candles on a birthday cake. I remember lighting matches as a kid purely to blow them out and inhale that sweet match-y smell."
semispooked
"guilty good"
"I work at a Chemical plant. We make a highly acidic product that is dark blue, viscus, highly corrosive, and smells exactly like Fruit Loops. It is incredibly disturbing."
Turin082
"Organic chemistry has many 'guilty good' smells. Thiophosgene (sulfur derivative of a chemical weapon used extensively in WW1) apparently smells like meat. Phosgene is used to make polycarbonate, thiophosgene is used to make some sulfur-containing molecules which eventually end up in therapeutic drugs."
HammerTh_1701
I can't huff it...
"Paint, specifically house paint. I love the smell. But anytime I hear that anyone is painting a room or their house, I volunteer. I just love sitting on the floor in a room that's been freshly painted, closing my eyes and just inhaling that slightly chemically, slightly creamy aroma."
Neowza
A Hint of French...
"A fish and chips shop burnt down as couple blocks from work a few years ago. The whole neighborhood smelled amazing for days. Just the slight hint of French fries. Nothing overpowering. It was so awesome. Until I found out someone was trapped in the fire and died."
stevey_frac
Drag
"Race fuel. Instantly puts me in a good mood as it reminds me of going to the drag races with my dad when I was young."
garfnodie
Fuel and matches get me too. And they sort of go together. Interesting.
Just like the Movie...
"The water from the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. Mmm, bromine."
Stalkerslovemy
"This is one of my favorite scents of all time, and Disney is very aware that people enjoy it. Evidently it’s a lot harder to recreate than just adding bromine to water."
cash4panties
"black widow".
"There's a chicken wing restaurant near my house that has a challenge sauce called "black widow." The owner claims it to be around 500,000 scovilles. A few years back some buddies and I decided to try them, the sauce was a dark molasses color and smelled almost like a BBQ sauce, no hint of the danger that lurked at all. We each grabbed one wing and it went terribly. I don't know how something so spicy could smell so innocent."
Final-Chapter
Endless Weekend
"Hotel/rented rooms whenever you go on vacation. There's this particular smell that just says 'you are on vacation,' especially on a beach/swimming trips/out-of-the-town vacays."
Yummy_Llama
"Bath and Body Works has a plug-in scent called Endless Weekend that replicates that scent (to my humble nose)."
Exxcentrica
"oh no..."
"Someone you are attracted to's body odors. Anyone else who is slightly unhygienic smells repulsive."
Mini_gunslinger
"I remember back in high school a girl leaned over, sniffed me, told me that I smelled really good, and asked me what cologne I was wearing. I asked if she was joking, and she's like, no, you smell really good. When I told her I had just gotten done with gym class, she gets a small 'oh no...' look on her face and turns away. I think we both had a revelation that day."
user deleted
That Smell
"The smell inflatable things give off. I have no idea how to describe it, but it’s… nostalgic? to me."
crestfxllen
I do love the smell of plastics and inflatables. Ahh....
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At one point in time, we've misplaced things that we've considered priceless possessions.
It's hard to imagine how to go on without the lost object–whatever it may be–but over time, it becomes a distant memory and we move on.
That is until we magically find ourselves presented with this opportunity proposed by Redditor mikehotel288, who asked:
"You find yourself in a room with everything you’ve ever lost in your life. What do you look for first?"
There are necessities people cannot do without.
No More Dry Lips Ever Again
"Gonna be a lot of chapstick in that room."
– camefromxbox
There are things that bring us comfort and are irreplaceable.
Safety Blanket
"My baby blanket. It became tattered over the years—to the point where I couldn’t reasonably wash it anymore—so I had to throw it away a little while back."
"I have heavily regretted that decision. I was really attached to it (hence it being in tatters), but I really wish that I kept what was left of it instead of throwing it away. Just knowing that I’d still have it would be a huge comfort to me."
– Uearie
Sentimental Heirloom
"The pendant my dad had made for me with my grandmother’s engagement diamond. It was 2 carats. It disappeared from a Las Vegas hotel room 20 years ago. It was hidden deep in a suitcase where it would not have been easy to find. It was just GONE. Cops didn’t do anything. Didn’t even come to take my statement. Cleaning lady said she thought she saw an elderly man enter my room. The guy I was with was not sympathetic in the least. Entire situation was f**ked. I’m still so upset about it."
– MaritimeDisaster
Lone Shark
"My plastic shark toy I lost when I was 10. Ain't no f'king way it just VANISHED."
– Guilty_As_Charged__
Not everything lost is tangible.
Tick Tock
"The time I wasted."
– shinyfennec
It Holds Value
"My private key with 6 BTC in it."
– Significant_Mirror19
"I didn't lose one, but I'll check my room for yours just in case."
– Smodphan
Finding Purpose
"The reason I walked into the room."
– Lloyd_lyle
Lost Opportunity
"That one girl i spoke to on omegle lol"
– h-amishh
If only we get to reunite with those we've lost.
The Loved Family Member
"My grandpa."
– Splatty_boi_420
Grieving Parent
"My daughter. She’ll be in my brother’s arms. So I’ll find both things I care to look for."
– SeeTheFence
Missing Mom
"My mom. She died of cancer in 2017. She never got to meet my daughter. I miss the hell out of her and wish she was still part of my family’s life."
– X-Arkturis-X
The Animals That Come Into Our Lives
"My pets that have passed: especially my horse, Blue. It's been 4 years, but it feels like just yesterday."
– Baciandrio
While many of these scenarios are unlikely, the thread gave people an opportunity to reflect on the things that made a strong impression on their lives.
Sometimes, the memories of the things we've lost–whether they are random objects or sources of love–is all we have.
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What's worse than returning home from a night out or a workday and discovering your home was broken into? Being home when the break-in happens.
Home invasions are a common trope portrayed in horror films like The Strangers and Funny Games, and they're absolutely terrifying because they are based on real-life incidents.
Redditor silentagent47 asked strangers to consider this horrifying hypothetical.
"You have 5 minutes to prepare before a guy breaks into your house with the intention to kill you. You can not exit your house. What is your strategy to survive?"
The hunter becomes the hunted, inspired by TV and movies.
Duplicating A Scene
"There was an episode of Burn Notice where Michael puts aerosol cans in the microwave with kitchen utensils and hits popcorn button. I really want to know if this works or not."
– JohnSterlingSanchez
Epic Burglar Trap
"Speed-watch Home Alone."
– pluribusduim
It's about the choice of weapon.
Jump Scare
"I get the vacuum cleaner ready in a certain room, I turn it on as hes about to enter to create a distraction, then I jump out when he's inspecting the noise and bonk the f'ker on the head with the piece of 2 inch steel tube I keep as a weapon."
– BustedBastard
Beware of Dog
"Unleash the Hounds"
– myassonreddit
Make A Weapon
"Duct tape a bunch of knives to the end of one of those tall lamps to make a spear of blinding and then proceed to go sicko mode."
– DubTheeBustocles
Preparing For A Thwack
"Turn shower on, for some reason I have a shovel behind my wardrobe?? So grab that. Wait for him to check shower, whack with shovel. Boom."
– hypersp00p
It's Just A Game
"Corner camp with a shotgun."
– Arrow3619
A Warm Welcome
"Hairspray and a lighter to his face."
– WorkingClassSheep
The effectiveness of these tactics are questionable, but points for creativity are warranted.
Stand Still
"Put a lamp shade on my head and stand in the corner of the room."
– Cannabis_Sir
Make It Erotic
"I turn on all the lights, take off all my clothes, rub butter all over myself, and start a fake conversation on the phone. As soon as he breaks in I say into the phone: 'I’ve gotta go, my next appointment is finally here…”
– FrankieTheAlchemist
Forget The Stairs
"Go to the LIVING ROOM."
– on-oath-never-again
Removing The Element Of Fun
"Draw an X on my forehead and grab a beer."
– Candycoatedmuffin3
And that's why I would opt for living in a commune or apartment complex.
People who own houses are just asking for forced entry.
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