One of the things I honestly miss the most about being a child is how blissfully unaware I was of just how filthy some places are. As a child I never got onto an airplane and wondered what that smell was. I don't recall a single time I walked into a hotel room, a friend's house, a restaurant, etc and ever contemplated how sanitary it was - or wasn't.
And then, somewhere along the lines, my innocent childhood blinders fell off and I could see everything. Everything. The sorts of things you can see when you gain germ-vision are just ... just ... whyyyyy?!
Reddit user Latterwatercress asked:
What was your "They didn't clean this hotel room very well" moment?
Some of these people absolutely did not need to be germophobes to be able to tell their rooms weren't cleaned. I'm not talking about one little bug or a layer of dust. You're about to enter an article full of bodily fluids, sh*t tons of literal sh*t, and at least one potential homicide. Honestly, we're all over here questioning whether any hotel room we stay in ever again will really be "clean."
Yup. Now we're traumatized. Our hats are off to you hotel workers who have to clean up after guests. Apparently the human animal is truly a horrific beast. (Some responses have been edited for clarity and language... especially the poop stories. Obviously.)
Reddit user Latterwatercress asked:
What was your "They didn't clean this hotel room very well" moment?
Some of these people absolutely did not need to be germophobes to be able to tell their rooms weren't cleaned. I'm not talking about one little bug or a layer of dust. You're about to enter an article full of bodily fluids, sh*t tons of literal sh*t, and at least one potential homicide. Honestly, we're all over here questioning whether any hotel room we stay in ever again will really be "clean."
Yup. Now we're traumatized. Our hats are off to you hotel workers who have to clean up after guests. Apparently the human animal is truly a horrific beast. (Some responses have been edited for clarity and language... especially the poop stories. Obviously.)
Hanging Undies
When I stretched out on the bed and looked up at the ceiling fan, there was underwear hanging on the fan blades - both male and female varieties.
They must've been moist, so the previous hotel guests placed them there to dry. In any case, the cleaning staff apparently never noticed the undies hanging from the fan.
Poop or Cigar?
Just a literal log of old sh*t that falls out from the covers. I don't think the staff actually cleaned the bedsheets. Happened when I went on vacation as a kid with my family.
We just checked in to the room and me and my cousins wanted to make a bed sheet fort and when we pulled the covers from the bed and u-ntucked it from the mattress, out rolled the ashy brown log. To be perfectly fair, it could have been an old cigar, but we didn't want anything to do with it either way. My family screamed at the staff for awhile and we left the hotel.
- Wiknetti
Dirty Vegas Room
Las Vegas, summer 2012, we got our room from some online travel site. We go to Vegas, we're in one of the nicest rooms in The Luxor. The morning after we get there, the manager knocks on the door, says something like we shouldn't have been able to book the room or some sh*t? Apparently since it was EDC that meant it was a 'special weekend.' I don't know if this is anywhere close to the true story or not, because my friend is kind of a stupid little ass who never admits fault. Either way, we have to leave.
EDC is huge. We can't find a room. There is a little shitty motel just off of the strip, it's room rental is literally a head shop. It's $80 for the night.
We go in the room, there's one bed, the bed is so stained with semen that it is clearly used exclusively by sex workers and never cleaned. Nothing against sex workers - everything against people who don't clean up after themselves! There are three giant mirrors on the ceiling. The floor is gross, everything looks unkempt - but we have literally 0 other options and it's late.
My friends talked me out of sleeping in the bathroom. But my logic was that at least the hookers at some point used soap in the bathroom.
We all slept on the floor, my friend who was driving us most of the way home didn't even sleep in the room he paid $30 toward. He slept in the car.
The TV was clearly moved so that they could have sex on the stand at some point because I moved it to sleep on something that wasn't the godawful shag carpeting I assume is full of crabs or lice.
We were so screwed with literally no where else to stay, that we slept in room, went back to the Luxor an showered the second we could. I threw away my clothes I slept in.
My friend laughed at me as I tried to figure out a way to sleep without my arms or hands touching the ground, but said that he understood why.
Belated Honeymoon
Last December, my wife and I took a very belated honeymoon (about 10 years late) to Disneyworld. (She's a big fan, I am... accommodating.) We stayed in the Contemporary and when we got to the room, the cleaning staff had left rags everywhere and had stashed the cart and bag of trash in the bathroom. Nothing horrifying, but I dropped a lot cash for this. I went to the front desk to get somebody to get the trash out of the room and the guy at the front desk said "What? That sucks." I was like, man, get your manager please. Then I got the apology and a free meal on our meal plan.
Poop Pile
When my son was really small he had some medical issues, and he pooped in the bed when we were on vacation.
I felt terrible about it but called the front desk, told them, asked if they could send someone sooner than later to clean it up, and if I had to I'd pay extra. I totally understand that cleaning up feces creates a health hazard. I offered to pay extra if I had to or hire someone to come in and get it done. I really couldn't at the time and needed to concentrate on my son.
They said that wouldn't be needed and this was no problem.
Anyways, went out for the day. Returned end of day, open the door and the place smells much worse than when we left. I approach the bed and it was made, but looked a bit lumpy in the middle... Looking around the room everything else was done, garbage taken out, towels replaced, etc. But pulling back the sheets, there was the whole reason I called the front desk in the first place, still there, horribly.
I don't know if they just didn't tell the person who cleaned the room or what was up and they somehow just missed it, adjusted the bed as was but never pulling back the sheets? I have no idea, but they missed it.
So I called down, alerted them, they felt bad and couldn't explain it, we ended up with a new upgraded room as I'm sure they felt bad. But man I don't know how they missed that on the cleaning even without a heads up.
Not A Murderer
It's a little long, but worth it.
Well... About 20 years ago my girlfriend at the time (now Mrs) were about to leave for a concert out of town early the next morning and carpool with a friend to the show (about 8 hours drive). We decided to get a hotel room to be closer to the people we were riding with.
We went to the front desk of the University Blvd Holiday Inn and got a room (on the cheap). We opened the door and found that the room was absolutely trashed with beer bottles and clothes still littering the room. Obviously, we didn't want a trashed room and went back to the desk where they gave us a different room. The second room was actually clean and we proceeded to celebrate finding a room, then getting some sleep.
We left early the next morning and made it to the show. Afterwards, we opted to make the brief drive from the show to a city on the coast about an hour from the show to meet up with friends for a few days on the beach. We may have extended that stay a couple days, too.
After about 5 days we returned to our city and went about our lives. Several days later one of my friends pages me that my grandmother has been trying to reach me for a few days. So, I called her up. .
I was NOT prepared for her response. She was screaming and carrying on. Well, apparently the police had been actively looking for me as part of several MURDER investigations. See, that first room we went into had more than clothes and malt liquor everywhere. There were a couple stolen guns, wallets from robbery/homicide victims, clothes with blood on them and lots more evidence of plenty of crimes.
The desk clerk had never fixed the registration in the books and had me as the last person in the room. Come to find out that the maintenance person for the hotel had been letting his homies stay at the Inn without permission. One of those cronies was apparently a pretty infamous gang banger. When I went in to sit down with the police, it was pretty quickly figured out that I was NOT who they were looking for and I was let go.
So... they didn't clean the room.
- WayL0st
Loaded And Loaded
I worked at an extended stay hotel for one of the major brands. One day a nice Japanese couple checked in to their room. Wife, husband, young child. About an hour later the husband comes down and begins to explain that he was pulling out the sofa bed for his child, when he realized that somebody had forgotten their bag of used heroin needles and their LOADED GLOCK, under the mattress. He calmly placed the gun and the bag of needles on the front desk as I rushed into the back office to get our GM as I was not equipped to handle the broken English conversation that was about to go down. I called the cops to come claim the weapon and was conveniently tasked with showing the housekeepers how to properly inspect the sofa mattresses. I don't work in hotels anymore.
The Poo Cruise
This was our room on a cruise many years ago.
First evening of a three day cruise. I'm fifteen. My brothers are younger. My mum is the only adult on the trip. Because I'm a teenager, like hell I'm going to spend time with my family. I find a guy my age and sing karaoke with him.
When it gets late I get back to the cabin. My mum is suffering from mild sea sickness. Brothers are asleep. I'm left with a top bunk. Great. I climb up, without turning on any lights so as not to wake my brothers. I spread open the blanket and...
It looks like poo. It can't be poo. I turn on the small mounted reading light, and yeah it's poo. Mostly dry. Three distinct piles on my snow white sheets.
I climb down. Mum doesn't believe me at first. When she goes to see for herself she tells me she's too sea sick to go to the reception, so I can take her bed and she will sleep in the chair.
It's f*cking poo! If they missed that, what else did they miss? But it's late, I'm so so so tired, I'm an awkward fifteen year old. Last thing I'm going to do is talk to someone. I resign myself to sleeping in the chair and prop my feet against the vanity desk. Now the light is on, because mum had to see the poo for herself.
As I lay in the chair staring at the ceiling I see poo. In the ceiling. I start to laugh. It's too absurd. I turn on all the lights and there are brown stripes in the ceiling! That's not all! If I look closely, it's also in the carpet. Faint, because they got most of it out, but it's there.
Mum says we'll sort this out in the morning.
I'm too angry to sleep!
I go to the information/reception alone. (Before cell phones, and it didn't occur to me to use the cabin phone.) I have to wait, the man at the desk is helping a drunk passenger. When it's my turn, he doesn't believe me. I get angry, which makes him believe me even less. He's condescending towards me. He goes on to say how every cabin is cleaned between trips and nothing like that has ever happened.
Well it happened now. To me. I threaten to throw all the soiled linen into the hallway and he finally agrees to come with me. We have to wait a bit for another staff member to take over the desk, and he's scoffing and puffing. He really doesn't want to do this.
I show him the poo in the bed and on the ceiling and floor, and now that I'm looking at the backside on the chair it's smeared into it as well.
The man is reeeeeaaaallly dismissive. He calls the cleaners, who come and change our sheets while me, mum and my sleepy brothers wait in the hallway.
They find poo in the shower as well.
They clean up the cabin, and the receptionist briefly blames the previous cleaning crew, but that's all we get in the way of apologies.
We don't get an apology, we don't get a new room, we don't get complimentary nothing. We go to sleep in the same room.
Except me, because I'm angry, shaky and full of adrenaline from having argued with an adult.
Youth Group
I've worked in the hotel industry for many years in corporate sales.
A few years ago I got a call from a Director of Sales at a hotel who was upset at one of the groups we had booked into her hotel. It was a youth - religious group (read cheap, low-rates, and pretty un-supervised).
Many of these groups like to bring in their own food and coolers and snacks to keep meal costs down. Totally fine.
What's NOT fine is deciding to make grilled cheese sandwiches with the iron & ironing board.
So of course this group checks out on a Sunday, and in check all of the business travelers on Sunday night... and they wake up Monday morning to freshly press their suits & dress shirts for their important business meetings, only to have the irons leave giant iron sized grease stains all over their suits as they get ready to go to a conference or important meetings.
So this hotel not only had to replace over 100 irons & ironing board covers - but comp rooms & pay for dry cleaning (or in some cases reimburse) for a ton of expensive business clothes.
Needless to say, that "youth group" wasn't invited to stay with our hotels ever again.
We aren't perfect. There's plenty of things in our pasts that we look back and cringe at.
That being said, sometimes those cringe moments go far past cringe. Sometimes they get to the point of no return awfulness because that's where our human nature took us in this moment.
He's Not Dead
<p>When I was 17 my brother walked into a room where I was lying down on my back and stamped on my chest. </p><p>I saw red and stood up and punched him square in the face, unfortunately this was in a doorway in front of a staircase, which he fell down backwards and when he hit the wall at the bottom folded up in such a way I thought I'd killed him. </p><p>He didn't move for what seemed like forever and I was certain he was dead, the world just spinning out around me. </p><p>He wasn't dead, obviously, but knocked out briefly and he never laid a finger on me again, after being the kind of nasty bully who had spent much of my childhood just randomly beating on me for his own enjoyment.</p><p>Those were the longest seconds of my life.</p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/MrSpindles/" target="_blank">MrSpindles</a></p>Complete And Total Taking Over
<p>I don't know about "haunts" but it makes me cringe. In public school we had this thing in our school called 'Jumpstart for Kids' where you'd go around, often door to door, collecting money for this charity once a year. </p><p>Anyway I was 12 and I liked a boy in highschool and he convinced me to take the envelope and go door to door and collect money... to give to him so he could buy a drum set. </p><p>I walked around collecting from all these sweet people who told me I was so nice for collecting money for underprivileged kids. Fortunately I got caught and my parents made me donate it instead. So embarrassing.</p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/heather-rch/" target="_blank">heather-rch</a></p>Scene Of The Crime
<p>Provincial Park, pay shower, 12 years old, line-up to get in. Towards the end of my turn in the shower, get the urge to poop. Cannot hold it. Using a sock to smoosh the last of it down the drain, water turns off. Out of quarters. Put a towel over my head, run out of there past the line-up.</p><p> Get back to the camp site, immediately change clothes, shoes, hairstyle, put on a ball cap. Work up the courage to go by the area later on, it is all cordoned off. Hear people angrily discussing how someone took a dump in the shower.</p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/eskerhobolo/" target="_blank">eskerhobolo</a></p>When Bullying A Bully Isn't Worth It
<p>We had a camper in this large campground at a lake when I was growing up. Tons of families with kids riding bicycles and golf carts up and down the gravel roads through the property. </p><p>There was this one kid that was a few years older than me (I was 10, he was probably 12 or so) who's dad was the security guard and they lived on site and he was the biggest punk in the park. He'd try and wrestle you in the pool, throw rocks at you as you were fishing, ride off on your bike if you left it laying around, bully and hit smaller kids, even girls. </p><p>I was driving the golf cart down a pretty steep, gravel hill one day when I came up on him on his bike, going the same way as me. He never turned around to acknowledge I was there so I got up just to the side of him and turned HARD right into him. We were both going probably 10-15 miles an hour down this hill. </p><p>He took a nasty spill and rolled off the side of the road and wasn't moving. I kept on going, acting like nothing happened. We were completely isolated so no one saw me. I remember him getting taken away in an ambulance and hearing that he'd been hurt pretty bad.</p><p> I immediately felt remorse for what I'd done but never said a word to anyone. He or anyone else never had any idea I did it either. I look back now and think about how much of a financial strain I put on that family, seeing as how they were already living in a camper. That was a really REALLY evil thing I did and it still crosses my mind quite often.</p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/harp9r/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">harp9r</a></p>Not Hurting
<p>So you know the carnival horses you can sit on outside of grocery stores (back in the 90's). Well I wanted to ride one and this sweet old woman tried to help me get on, slipped, and really really hurt herself falling into the ride. I just remember hearing her scream and I got scared and ran away.<br></p><p>I'm 31 years old and think about that day at least once a week.</p><p><span></span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/packhawk2689/" target="_blank">packhawk2689</a></p>Gotta Get Up, Gotta Get Out
<p>Easy. When I was 5, I burned my house down.</p><p>We were living in a small home, me, my sister, mom, dad. I was supposed to be in the bed, but I wanted a toy or <em>something</em> that was under my bed, and I didn't want to wake my parents by turning on my light... soooo I grabbed my dad's cigarette lighter and light the flame under my bed. Needless to say it went up like a match. </p><p>My dad tried to stomp the fire out after I started screaming fire, burning his leg horribly. My room and the source of the fire was blocking EVERY other bedroom from escape, so everyone had to jump out of a window. Funnily enough, I don't remember the world-class a** whipping I must have received for that. I just cringe at the thought that I almost killed all of us being a dumb kid.</p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Paradigm_Pizza/" target="_blank">Paradigm_Pizza</a></p>Escape
<p>I was married to an insanely abusive man. After two years I escaped and he killed himself shortly after. Not sure if it was him avoiding charges, or avoiding his deployment but his family decided it was 100% my fault. They told the police I gave him the gun and encouraged him. </p><p>That was investigated and unfounded. What they didn't know was he'd scanned and emailed me his suicide note the wee hours of the morning of. The police didn't find the note. Of course I handed it over when they asked. His family would not believe I wasn't involved or at fault and harassed me for a long time. </p><p>If I got a job and they found out about it they'd call and leave so many complaints I'd get let go. Found out what I drove and had their other kids and their friends follow me. </p><p>I ended up having to leave that town and disappearing to avoid them. But before I did, I printed a copy of his suicide note, found his moms car at her job, and left it on the window shield. That note detailed the abuse his father put him through, his rage at his mother for never leaving him and making himself and his siblings live with the SOB. </p><p>That he never wanted me to blame myself, that this was his way of getting the hell away from them and the damage he caused. I felt pretty bad for awhile. But at the same time.... they literally wouldn't leave me alone and stalked me for 5 years.</p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/TinyTinasRabidOtter/" target="_blank">TinyTinasRabidOtter</a></p>If You Give A Pup A Shower
<p>Bored in the house one day alone when I was about 10, so decided to give my dog a shower, I genuinely loved my dog, he was my best friend growing up, but for some unknown reason I decided to turn the shower onto hot water only (extremely hot) and started showering him. There was a delay I guess in him reacting because his fur was so thick, which meant I kept it on him for a few seconds.</p><p>suddenly He started yelping like dogs do when in pain, his instincts were to not be aggressive or try to escape but just looked at me scared and confused.</p><p>I panicked smashed on the cold and cooled him down as quick as I could.</p><p>Fortunately he was not 'burnt' or had any ongoing issues, he never even lost trust in me.</p><p>I felt physically sick and ashamed in myself for days after, and obviously it still bothers me 20 years later.</p><p>The good thing to come from it is that I was so disturbed by my action that I have never knowingly inflicted pain on anyone or anything since.</p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/ChrisLeeHD/" target="_blank">ChrisLeeHD</a></p>Caught In The Act
<p>I was at school and for no reason at all, I eavesdropped a very private and delicate conversation between one of my teachers and her husband. </p><p>Then she opened the door and saw me eavesdropping. It was beyond humiliating and I deserved the scolding afterwards. I was young and stupid obviously, but when I remember the look on her face, I still cringe hard, even if it's been almost 20 years.</p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/naydeilinsei/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">naydeilinsei</a></p>Shunned
<p>Second grade, I had a classmate (fake name Sasha) who was kinda awkward. Crooked teeth, quiet, not too bright. Didn't really have any friends within the class, though she did have some people she would hang out with at recess. </p><p>In any case, a boy in the grade above us, a friend of my brother's actually, for some reason decided to spread a rumor among all of us that Sasha had lice and to stay away from her. </p><p>I bought it without a second thought, and so did most of us; as far as I know, she wasn't particularly teased, but she was just shunned. No one talked to her. </p><p>She was around till the end of the year and didn't come back for third grade. No clue what happened to her, but I really hope we didn't mess her up too much.</p><p>Next summer, I got the worst case of head lice my pediatrician had ever seen. Karma, my dudes.</p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Isabel79540/" target="_blank">Isabel79540</a></p>Image by elizabethaferry from Pixabay |
I don't miss high school or the people in it. People who seem to have peaked in high school also weird me out. How? Why? I can definitely tell you that life got much more interesting the older I got (my 20s were way more fun than any of my time in high school). If you were to ask me if I have any regrets, I suppose I would say that I wish I had been more assertive and stood up for myself more. Depression has a way of complicating goals like that, though. Let me tell you: It feels nice to be so much healthier than I was then.
After Redditor Sub2735 asked the online community, "What's your biggest regret from high school?" people shared their stories.
"I'm sure the mentality..."
<p>Being too shy, I'm sure the mentality that everyone hated me wasn't very good for making friends.</p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/lv5ytu/what_is_your_biggest_regret_from_high_school/gpad84o?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">aeflare</a></p>"I'm not sure how it could have gone differently..."
<p>Dropping out. I am not sure how it could have gone differently, but I do wish it had. It was expensive to upgrade all that education to get into post-secondary, and I also missed out on a lot of social things.</p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/lv5ytu/what_is_your_biggest_regret_from_high_school/gpafhng?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">DaughterEarth</a></p>"I was already pretty cynical..."
<p>I was told I had received a full-ride scholarship, so I stopped putting in any effort on other scholarships. When the time came, it wound up being awarded to someone who applied late, got it due to their family's income level, and then dropped out of college after one month. My first two years of college were a financial nightmare as I had to pay my own way on everything (except rent, as I lived at home and commuted across state lines for work and college). If I had $50 at the end of the month, that was a damn good month. I couldn't get student loans and my parents refused to help, so I had worked out a deal with the financial office at college to pay something like $550 a month, which was about 90% of my income.</p><p>I regret not confronting whoever made that decision about the scholarship. I somewhat regret not putting in the effort to get other scholarships at the same time, but I can't blame myself for it either.</p><p>I was already pretty cynical at that point, but that was when I realized just how quickly your back becomes a knife block for someone else's optics.</p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/lv5ytu/what_is_your_biggest_regret_from_high_school/gpalo5m?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">A_Garbage_Account</a></p>"I used to daydream..."
<p>I used to daydream about going back one day and burning it to the ground, but it's just been demolished by land developers. So I guess that dream's dead.</p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/lv5ytu/what_is_your_biggest_regret_from_high_school/gpafcpx?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">EducationTangle06</a></p>I suppose the phrase, "Always follow your dreams"...
<p>...doesn't apply in this case.</p>"Acting like a clown..."
<p>Acting like a clown, annoying everyone to the point where no one really stayed in contact with me after, and taking my precious little charter school for granted.</p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/lv5ytu/what_is_your_biggest_regret_from_high_school/gpae5ak?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">SalFunction12</a></p>I have a friend who has expressed similar concerns about his time in high school.
<p>He ended up spending his college years going to therapy and maturing. His clownish antics were a coping mechanism for a lot of crap going on in his life at the time. He's happier and healthier now and that's what matters.</p>"To be fair..."
<p><span>Dating my best friend. To be fair that's how I found out a lot of people weren't really my friends but getting ghosted afterward really hurt.</span></p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/lv5ytu/what_is_your_biggest_regret_from_high_school/gpasudw?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">kannacantplay</a></p>"She got tired..."
<p>I took my crush to Daft Punk Alive 2007 instead of my best friend. She wasn't responding all day, and I was with my friend. We were about to leave when she called. She'd been with her boyfriend all day and had forgotten about the concert. I took her. My buddy was disappointed but cool about it.</p><p>She got tired of being on the floor halfway through so we sat in the bleachers. We started walking out before the encore because she wanted to get home sooner.</p><p>Always wanted to take my buddy to a Daft Punk show after that, and was going to, no matter where or how much it cost. But I'll never get the chance.</p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/lv5ytu/what_is_your_biggest_regret_from_high_school/gpbd6so?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">spanishgrapelaw</a></p>"Looking back now..."
<p>I regret not telling my crushes how I felt about them. Looking back now, I know that those puppy love relationships probably wouldn't have developed into anything long term and I no doubt would've had my heart broken when they inevitably ended but, I can't help but wonder: What if?</p><p>Having cultivated a host of insecurities by the time I got to high school, I was really good at hiding my inner thoughts and feelings - I also probably didn't see myself very clearly. So, I just assumed that there was zero chance of my crushes reciprocating my feelings and never said anything to them about it. I also probably sub-consciously ignored any signs that they were interested in me (again, didn't see myself clearly, was very insecure).</p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/lv5ytu/what_is_your_biggest_regret_from_high_school/gpazwl2?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">Vegoceraptor</a></p>"The world is wider..."
<p>Not engaging with opportunities available to me and just looking at it like a holding pen just before adulthood.</p><p>It may seem hokey, but join clubs, try out lots of sports, pursue interests, pay attention in class and engage with your peers.</p><p>The world is wider for adolescents than I allowed myself to believe it was at the time.</p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/lv5ytu/what_is_your_biggest_regret_from_high_school/gpaxnsf?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">Big_Requirement_3540</a></p>"I already knew I was quitting..."
<p>Senior year I had the option of a guaranteed internship and doing half days at school. Turned it down because my parents wanted me to be in band (and I enjoyed it so didn't put up a fight).</p><p>I already knew I was quitting when I went to college. The internship would have been great experience to propel my studies/career.</p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/lv5ytu/what_is_your_biggest_regret_from_high_school/gpatszd?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">ClubbsMcLubbs</a></p>High school isn't easy.
<p>Nor is it particularly fun for a lot of people. Remember how awful being a teenager was? Remember what it was like to feel like you were at the whim of your hormones all the time? It's an emotional rollercoaster. It's no wonder so many people would rather close the book on high school once it's over (or have some regrets related to their time there).</p><p>Have your own stories? Feel free to share them in the comments below.</p>When we are on the outside looking in, it can feel so obvious that a relationship is doomed.
When we offer advice to friends, family, or people oversharing at a party, the correct next move often seems wildly obvious: get out of that relationship.
Enough Was Enough
<p>"He was mentally ill, possibly with Paranoid Personality Disorder, definitely delusional, maybe schizophrenic. I was accused of all types of things, affairs, being part of plots to 'get' him, even urinating on his toothbrush."</p><p>"I stayed for 3 years after I knew I no longer loved him because I knew he would spiral without someone to look after him. He had destroyed every relationship with his friends and family because they were all also out to 'get' him."</p><p>"I finally told him I would only stay if he got help, which he refused. So I left."</p><p>"I was right about him spiralling. He went from sharehouse to sharehouse as all the other tenants were 'out to get him'. He eventually ended up homeless for a while is now facing 18 different charges so will probably end up in jail."</p><p>-- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/lv3k1j/seriouspeople_who_have_stayed_with_someone_they/gpal6ip?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">damekl</a></p>An Unfortunately Common Response to Fading Love
<p>"She threatened to kill herself and even though I wanted out of the relationship, i didnt want her to be hurt or die. I remember us arguing about something very trivial but she was getting very upset. She walked out mid conversation and came back with cuts all over her legs and thighs."</p><p>"I tried getting help from parents, school counselors, doctors. None helped. So i just tried to manage as much as I can. Eventually she joined the military & moved away and that was the moment I was finally free."</p><p>"Years wasted though."</p><p>-- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/lv3k1j/seriouspeople_who_have_stayed_with_someone_they/gpab7fm?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">corazon_im_hurt</a></p>A Bare Bones Story
<p>"Short version: domestic violence."</p><p>"Long version: I was afraid to leave because I believed he would find me and kill me."</p><p>"Conclusion: He pushed me too far and I ran."</p><p>-- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/lv3k1j/seriouspeople_who_have_stayed_with_someone_they/gpaizjk?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">AliceMorgon</a></p>Tipping Over the Edge
<p>"He was a violent drug addict and I was scared of what he may do if I left. I never truly loved him but our relationship became very codependent very quickly."</p><p>"He cheated on me, took advantage of the fact that I had a car and money, but I still stayed because he was always threatening to kill himself or to kill my cats."</p><p>"Then one night he literally backed me into a corner and tried to punch me in the head so that finally made me open my eyes and realize I had to get out."</p><p>-- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/lv3k1j/seriouspeople_who_have_stayed_with_someone_they/gpb5z6l?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">Theging96666</a></p>Optics
<p>"She's terminally ill, and dying of Cancer, even though she is abusive now, and was before, I can't really leave, the social pressure to be a *good man* plus the cost of divorce and everything else is just too much, at this point it's just easier to wait it out."</p><p>"Plus I really like her family, and if I left her when she was sick...it would pretty much kill that relationship."</p><p>-- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/lv3k1j/seriouspeople_who_have_stayed_with_someone_they/gpbm18j?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">Boise_State_2020</a></p>Always a Reason to Stay
<p>"We were living together at 16, she cheated on me and I told her I wanted her to leave, she begged me not to send her back to her moms house because they have like 8 people in a 2 bedroom house and because she would've had nowhere else to go."</p><p>"I was 16 I didn't know how to handle a girl literally begging me so I let her stay against my better judgement and it created a hurtful cycle of falling in and out of love."</p><p>"Feeling like things could get better and then having my world come crashing down every time I look at her because I think of reading the message of the guy saying he loved watching her get on top of him."</p><p>"A couple of years go by and we're not in love, just tolerating each other at this point and then we got pregnant, stayed together through the pregnancy but the stress was too much for both of us and caused fighting, sleeping apart, more cheating."</p><p>"When the baby was born she had finally turned 18 and we moved away our relationship got much better with each other, we're best friends now and are just trying our best to raise our daughter to be healthy and happy and know she's loved."</p><p>"Neither of us had good childhoods."</p><p>-- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/lv3k1j/seriouspeople_who_have_stayed_with_someone_they/gpa47ed?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">Lapidot-Wav</a></p>For the In-Laws
<p>"I lived with a man I never loved. His mum was also living with us and I loved her more than my own biological mum."</p><p>"She was the nicest, kindest and the most caring soul I have ever met in my life. I left that man when he told me that he knew I was only with him because of his mum. That was 20 years ago but I still miss her every single day."</p><p>-- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/lv3k1j/seriouspeople_who_have_stayed_with_someone_they/gpbz7av?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">Mayfl21</a></p>A Sudden Shift
<p>"I was with my wife for 14 years. For at least half of that, I wasn't happy with the relationship. But I had decided I was ok with it because everything about our life together was acceptable, for lack of a better word."</p><p>"We owned a house, made good money, got along well, shared hobbies, etc. We were basically roommates/best friends who just didn't love each other the way you would normally expect from a married couple."</p><p>"When the pandemic hit, and we were forced to stay home more and spend time with each other EVERY DAY, we started to get a better sense of how well we actually tolerated each other. It didn't go well."</p><p>"She ended up getting really into online gaming and met some other guys and basically cheated on me. In retrospect, it was obvious it would reach that point."</p><p>"But I was content to stay there as long as I could because it was a comfortable life with very little stress and obligation."</p><p>-- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/lv3k1j/seriouspeople_who_have_stayed_with_someone_they/gpaadi2?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">knucklehead923</a></p>Slow Fade
<p>"I was no longer as 'in love' with her. But I still loved her. After years together it could become tricky to figure out exactly what It's just a lull and what is it really going away."</p><p>"I was still living with my best friend. But ended it because once we really realized that I wasn't feeling the same way anymore. I was just hurting her for me to stay since she was still in love."</p><p>-- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/lv3k1j/seriouspeople_who_have_stayed_with_someone_they/gpa6h2s?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">collin3000</a></p>Wise, But a Little Sad
<p>"We have good chemistry and built a life together. After a lot of years, love comes and goes. It is like the seasons."</p><p>"As cold as it can be in the winter, if you put the effort in, the spring will always come back."</p><p>-- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/lv3k1j/seriouspeople_who_have_stayed_with_someone_they/gpa41jl?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">Aizpunr</a></p>Image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay |
Some people don't take breakups very well. And those that don't can sometimes engage in behavior that others might view as bothersome, unsettling, even toxic.
Others engage in abusive behavior during the relationship, a major red flag that some people might not take seriously until it's too late.
After Redditor XYZ3110 asked the online community, "What's the creepiest thing an ex has done?" people shared their stories.