Comfort isn't hard to find when the genetic sequences of everyone nearby is amazingly similar to you. Family is contentment, relaxation, because you know everyone. It's easy to be yourself because everyone else is so much like you. This makes it harder for those in the tree who aren't like everyone else. You all grew up the same way, so why are you so different?
Reddit user, u/Squishy_Pixelz, wanted the black sheep to be brave and speak out when they asked:
"Black sheep" of Reddit. What things make you the odd person out in your family?
We're Not Shouting
Ear shattering volume is the default speaking tone for my family.
I'm frequently told to speak up
Not A Fan Of Higher Education
Giphy
Every member of my immediate family has a minimum of 2 university degrees. I bailed on community college after two and a half semesters.
Oh. How are you doing now?
Trade school, five year apprenticeship, working in construction trade.
I like intellectual pursuits such as history, philosophy, and economics.
Just didn't like college.
Are The Rest Of You Deaf?
My family are like this when playing music or watching TV. I like to have my volume below 10 on the TV and at 30% on my phone.
Then I have family telling me to turn it up or playing stuff really loud
When The Genetics Point You In A Different Direction
My parents are both over six foot. I ended up being 5'6" on a good day.
My parents are super athletic. I ended up doing lots of theatre and was embarrassingly bad at sports.
There are other things, but I don't think I turned out quite how my parents imagined. I should have been a volleyball-playing supermodel, and instead I became an artsy little potato. An uncoordinated little spud. They still love me, somehow :P
Technically, You're Both Fighting Fires
Being a fire fighter in a family comprised of teachers.
Path Splitting In Your Career Future
We are 19 people in my immediate family.
I'm the only one interested in science and engineering. All of the adults work in public administration and all of my cousins plan on doing the same. And our political views are just too different. I just have nothing in common with them, I feel like an stranger.
Ugh...People...
I'm extremely introverted; I get drained by being around people for too long and I hate big social events.
Performance Over Public Service
My entire family works for the government (parents/brother/cousins are cops, uncle is a fire fighter, another uncle is a prosecutor) and I'm in musical theater.
As Far At The End Of The Spectrum As Possible
Wealthy father, wealthy siblings. Everyone went to a solid uni and then went into either family business or struck out alone and made ridiculous money.
Of the five of us I'm the ex drug dealing vagabond dropout, barely managed to survive my life this far and still somehow going, meanwhile my siblings are out there making their millions. Got my own place now though, a decent normal job and a new car all legit. Not sure how long it'll last since I'm slipping again but I'm here living the black sheep life. Wow formatting
Lot Of Pressure So Early On
I'm 20 and don't have kids yet.
Little do they know I'm never planning on it either.
I Live In A Better World
Being a nerd/geek. I get attached to fictional characters, buy a ton of merch, and I'm trying to go to more conventions. But most of my family think I'm weird.
One time I told my mom about how devastated I was over the death of a beloved fictional character, and she looks at me and says, "I don't have time to get upset about that stuff cause I'm busy living in the REAL world."
My mom basically called me delusional for being a nerd.
So, What Is The Truth?
Well for one thing apparently my parents raised my kids. One portion of the family thinks I had kids and dumped them on my folks.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Wait, You Can Eat Marmite?
1: I'm the only one on my household who isn't overweight~obese. I'm average BMI
2: I'm the only one who eats Marmite
3: I'm the only one with a Uni education
Tat Me Up!
I am heavily tattooed, like heavily tattooed (face, hands, etc..) which doesn't sound like much until you learn that I grew up in a very conservative family from the south.
Ignoring What They Don't Like
I'm transgender. I came out over five years ago and it's pretty damn obvious.
The worst part is that everyone keeps pretending that I'm not even though I change more and more between each Thanksgiving dinner.
Religion Or Ride
There are two things that make me the odd person
- I have a really religious family and they kind of force me into this whole Christian thing even though I told them numerous times that I don't believe in any kind of God but they just won't accept that because there can't be other people who have another opinion or just doesn't believe in this stuff.
- My whole family on my fathers side is really into riding. Their entire life is basically about horses and then there's me who hates riding because it is just boring. Plus I'm kind of traumatized by a weird horse camp I went to which was basically hell and since then I never even thought about riding a horse ever again.
Setting The Bar By Breaking The Bar
Giphy
I grew up dirt poor. My wife and I worked our a--es off to get me through college, I earned a master's in engineering. I am dedicated to my career and last year I made over 2.5x my nearest sibling, who is a teacher. Of five living siblings, three don't work, one gets by, and one earns a decent living as a teacher.
I am the black sheep because I am successful and it makes it hard to talk to my siblings. I just have very little to talk with them about. I love most of them, but we have nothing common.
Not Going To Play Your Game...
My grandparents are multimillionaires and own over 100 real estate properties last time I was aware of it. Ive made choices counter to family opinion and when questioned informed the grandparents that I wasnt going to try to make them happy for a check when they died like the rest of the family. They could either like me for me or not, but I thought it was immoral to make decisions based on their opinions.
Being "disowned" (and meaning disinherited) is the big threat they always use, and I told them I had no right to expect anything since it wasnt mine in the first place.
And my mom was previous black sheep, so I'm son of black sheep.
...And Not Willing To Stick Around
I am the only divorcee.
Unlike the previous generations, I do not stay and put up with abuse. I went to counciling, I tried to fix my marriage, but the abuse just kept ramping up. So I took my son and left. I watched my father abuse my mother and my siblings and I all through my childhood. I didn't want that for me or my son.
There are a ton of jobs or favors that don't require much skill, experience, or labor, and people who are fortunate enough to get hired walk away with a king's ransom.
Looking for those kinds of "jobs," however, is like finding a teardrop in the ocean.
Few who struck gold, at least temporarily, shared their experiences when Redditor NikTheNerdBoy asked:
"What's the dumbest thing you were paid to do and how much were you paid?"
Good luck finding these well-paying tasks.
Running Errands
"Had a WFH gig working sort of as a personal assistant for a rich guy on the opposite coast from me. I did all kinds of wacky sh*t for him. For example, one time I had to break up with my boss's girlfriend because he was too wimpy to do it himself. That was literally my job."
"One day, I bought him a new pickup truck. Meaning, I negotiated the deal and paid for the truck with his credit card. All in all, I'd say the process probably took about two weeks, for which I was paid my usual wage at six hours per day. No big deal."
"Somehow, his dad found out about the new truck and he decided he wanted a new pickup truck too. He called me about a week after I bought the truck for my boss and said he'd pay me $2,000 to buy a truck for him. I called the same dealership back, spoke to the same salesman, told him what was up and basically said give me another truck, same price as before. The salesman was only too happy to comply."
"It took ten minutes to make the phone call and then a day or two to get the title and other paperwork sorted out. So, depending on how you look at it, I made $2,000 for just ten minutes worth of 'work.'"
"Somehow, my boss's rich friend found out about all this. He decided he wanted a new SUV. 'OhYeahThrowItAway, you have to buy it for me!' I told him the last time I bought someone a vehicle, I got paid $2,000. The friend was basically like F'k it, I'll pay you $3,000, just get it for me' and then he emailed me his wish list."
"That deal took a little longer, maybe two weeks."
"I made $5k extra in just two months buying vehicles for lazy (or dumb) rich people."
Staying Out Of The Picture
"I was paid $300 to move my car for a movie that was filming by my apartment."
– dragoblaster666
Pack It Up
"Got paid 10k to leave an apartment because it was sold and new owner wanted to move in. I was tenant (renter) under previous owner. I had 4 months left in my rental contract. This was in Spain (Barcelona)."
European Vacation
"I was flown to Paris to do a compliance audit, the systems weren't set up for the audit, couldn't get access so spent the week being taken to restaurants and shopping. On 1 of the days and at the last minute the company decided to send me to London for a meeting, literally just to meet people. I missed the Eurostar because I forgot my passport (totally blanked that I was entering another country), they had to rebook the Eurostar. Nothing was achieved out of this trip. No audit was completed. Nothing came of the meeting. The cost to the company 25k+ for me to do nothing for a week. Corporate money is ridiculous money."
– _Justag1rl_
Not much labor was required for these so-called "jobs."
Ten-Minutes Of "Work"
"I used to work for a PR agency. Every month one of our clients wanted a handful of photos re-sized for their website; nothing fancy, just setting the width to 500px in Windows Photo Manager."
"It was maybe ten minutes of work every month, but the contract said the minimum amount of time we would charge them for was one day - and this was for the full team too, not just me. It must have cost them several hundred pounds every month."
"I showed the client how to do it several times, and explained that they could save a lot of money doing it themselves. They didn't seem to mind."
"In the end I made sure I got it in writing that I'd informed them of their options and let them get on with it."
– TheRainyDaze
Thank You, Goodbye
"$175 to do some kind of user study at Netflix, I show up in the lobby and then they go, 'actually we got the data we needed from the studies earlier today, you're free to go!'. Still got paid!"
– Lycid
Hush Money
"I did an event for a national association for deaf people at which they did every presentation in ASL. I am an audio engineer, who specializes in live sound and concerts. I did nothing for 5 days of show, $450 a day."
– murter95
Paid To Play
"I got asked to do 2 hours of barrier watch (Guarding a barrier ribbon while a crew did x rays inside a power plant). This was asked last minute after a 12 hour shift so the bonuses of staying happening to be a Sunday, etc I was being paid $110 to stand and play on my phone and make sure sure nobody tried to pass all the DO NOT ENTER DANGER DANGER signs during a time of day with minimal personnel."
– Hotel29
Movie Scene Dance GIF by FandorGiphyGotta Have Wendy's
"I was driving for uber. Picked up a bunch of drunks at like 2 AM. They were like 'Yo we gotta grab some Wendy' I go 'I'm sorry this is my busy period' they go 'Can we bribe you?' I go 'Absolutely you can bribe me.'"
"One the guys said I'll give you $100...I was shocked it was that high, another guy said '$150' and finally his wife said 'F'k it I want Wendy $200 and we buy you Wendy too.'"
"I finally said yes, FYI I hadn't said yes yet because the reality is $20-$40 would have gotten me to stop at Wendy."
"So there I sat at Wendy as those 3 drunks bought me wendy and paid me $200."
– luther_williams
Substitute Chef
"One time I was at this super fancy dinner party. I'm talking servers and everything, I was in a freaking tux! It was outside and catered by a professional bbq company. I mean these guys had won international competitions. Well get this, they were double booked and didn't show. The other servers didn't know how to grill, and this totally smokin server in her 30s is just staring at the grill like a deer in the headlights. Well I don't want to be a hero but I ask if I can help. The entire staff spend the rest of the night bringing me drinks as I make this bbq and NOBODY realizes the award winning chefs didn't show up!"
– Train3rRed88
Where Do We Apply?
"Ok this wasn't a job or anything.... But I got 10$ to eat half a watermelon."
Some opportunities present themselves.
When I was a kid, I hung out at a Japanese summer festival booth where you roll a bowling ball on a track that had two hills. The objective was to push the ball hard enough to get it over the first hill but not too hard to get it over the second hill.
I was fascinated with the challenge and stayed there for a long time as my parents were over by the food booths with their friends.
It was a slow day, and the dude working the booth wanted to peace out for a bit, so he offered to pay me $50 to "hang out" in his stead.
Of course, I said "sure."
No one ever came, and I earned fifty bucks rolling bowling balls for an hour. Was it the dumbest thing I ever did for money? Maybe, but I laughed all the way to the piggy bank that day.
That guy really must have despised his post enough to give a twelve-year-old kid $50.
Food is for survival. That was the plan. But over the years it has become somewhat of a way of life. Some of the most annoying people are foodies. They get so uppity about the preferences of others. Like, let me just enjoy what I enjoy.
Mom No!
Mom Smile GIFGiphy"I don't like my mom's cooking."
"Livestock have refused to eat my mother's cooking. She's a terror in the kitchen."
Take them OUT!!
"I hate walnuts in baked goods. It tastes like wood shavings and completely ruins the flavor."
"I love walnuts but I feel this way about raisins in baked goods, raisins are fine by themselves but not in sweets, I once ordered cinnamon rolls at Hardee's and bit into it and found out there were raisins in it, and I was grossed out and didn't want to eat it. At least freakin' McDonald's serves real cinnamon rolls without freakn' raisins!"
The Fart Ingredient
"I don't like kidney beans except in chili."
"I don't even really like them in chili. I'd rather have pintos in everything."
Oh thew Crunch...
"Pickles and onion make the best sandwich. I make most of my own pickles from stuff I grow or get from local farms in the fall, but I responded to another comment with two different heinous concoctions I enjoy. Crunchy, salty, sour. I really like pickles and onions to begin with."
"I use more than pickled cucumber though. Like the last one I made, I used garlic naan, mayo, red onion, scallions, pickled garlic, green olives, Kalamata olives, garlic dill cucumber, and green beans. Shallot, sour pickled onion, sweet pickled cucumbers, and sushi ginger on sprouted 14 grain bread is also also a favorite of mine."
No Sizzle
bacon GIFGiphy"I do not like bacon."
"I've been learning this over the years. If I'm gonna do bacon I much prefer the maple bacon since it's sweeter and doesn't overpower with saltiness."
- truije15
Who doesn't like bacon? That seems like a sacrilege. Right? But to each their own. Though I will never understand not loving walnuts in comfort food. Y'all need more self love.
Love the Big M
"Fast food tastes amazing, yeah its unhealthy as hell but don't you sit there and lie and say it tastes bad."
"Pisses me off when people act like they're better then McDonald's. What the hell? McDonald's is incredible and billions of people buy their food still. The same can't be said for other restaurants."
Blasphemy!
golden girls flirting GIF by HULUGiphy"Cheesecake is disgusting."
"I don't find cheese cake disgusting. It looks good. Smell delicious. Has ingredients in it that I love. But i can not eat more than one bite. It is too rich. One bite and i feel sick."
Too Many Legs
"Lobsters and crabs are giant insects."
"I don't really think that's that controversial, in my area of the world we even call this creature a 'Moreton Bay Bug' even though some fisheries try to give it the more appealing name of 'flathead lobster'."
bad bones
"Boneless wings are vastly superior to bone-in wings. I think bone-in wings are a ripoff because when you get half a pound of them, part of that half-pound is inedible. It's like if you ordered a quarter-pound cheeseburger, but the restaurant considers the weight of the plate to be part of that quarter-pound and you end up with just a slider. Just give me some damn meat."
The Slime
man oyster GIFGiphy"Oysters are truly disgusting and absurdly overpriced for quarter sized pieces of snot that tastes like salt water and hot sauce."
- C_23_s
Ok, I'm trying to stay calm. I don't want to judge. But some of these opinions... are leaving me shook. Except the oysters. That is that work of the devil. Look away...
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