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Doctors Describe The Wildest Instances Of A Patient 'Faking It' They've Ever Seen

We all pretended to be sick at least once when we were children to get out of going to school to avoid a test, game, or assembly we'd been dreading.

Some people still might not have given up the habit of feigning illness, as a means of avoiding work or other occasions that they are less than eager to attend.

Sometimes, simply telling people that you're "sick" is all the information you need to share to get out of it.

Whether or not more concrete proof is needed, others might go a step further in faking their ailment, be it a cold or fever, and often pull off fairly convincing performances.

Sometimes even fooling a doctor.


Redditor LegoYoda420 was curious to hear about the most outrageous instances doctors have witnessed of people concocting an illness or ailment, leading them to ask:
"Doctors of Reddit, what's the biggest case of 'faking it' you've ever seen?"

That's One Large Pain Threshold...

"Taking trauma call during surgery residency, had a prisoner come in after a fight and claimed he couldn’t move or feel his legs."

"All the CT scans and MRIs were normal, but we would shield his legs so he couldn’t see them and poke them with needles and other sharp objects, with enough force to cause pain- he never flinched or moved his legs at all."

"He was diagnosed with SCIWORA, spinal cord injury without radiographic abnormality."

"He stayed in the hospital for a week, no improvement."

"Always had one guard with him."

"One night they were down in the lobby watching some television but the guard needed to use the restroom."

"The patient said, 'where could I possibly go?'"

"I’m paralyzed!'"

"Guard left him alone for two minutes."

"Patient last seen sprinting down the road, naked butt cheeks flapping in the breeze."

"Made it to a city four hours away by car before he was caught again."

"I have never seen anyone fake it so well."

"Truly playing the long con!"- Wine_and_sunshine

season 8 episode 23 GIFGiphy

You'll Have To Do Better Than That...

"Dermatologist here."

"Patient was convinced she had a melanoma and needed a biopsy and would need to be on workers comp."

"I told her it looked like ink from a marker."

"She demanded a biopsy."

"I wiped the area off with an alcohol swab and showed her the ink and that there was no spot on her skin anymore."

"She stormed out threatening to sue."

"I'm just glad I cured her melanoma."- Richter915

No Complaints Here...

"Had a patient come in for a fall who now couldn’t move their legs at all."

"Did a bunch of tests, didn’t find anything."

"The patient was not at all phased by suddenly being paralyzed which was the first red flag."

"Didn’t really believe anything was wrong but the patient was still not moving their legs."

"My options are to admit for a huge work up or get them to walk."

"So I update them saying everything is fine, tests are negative, you can go home."

"Patient gets up, gets dressed and walks out without a word."- meropenem24

There's Clearly One Issue She Wasn't Faking...

"Not a doctor but worked in health care for nearly 20yrs."

"While taking a break from the ICU, due to it being emotionally draining, I worked in home health for a bit."

"I had a patient who clearly had Munchausen syndrome."

"On a daily basis she would call her insurance to see what things would be covered if she was diagnosed with this or that."

"She called her Doctor's office an average of 5x during my shift with her, she would report all kinds of non real symptoms."


"She pestered the doctors into doing exploitive laparoscopic surgery, of course nothing was found."

"One day I walked in and she was rubbing her incisions with rotten cabbage trying to get it infected."

"She wasn't seeking pain meds, except to sell, really she was just as happy with antibiotics or stool softeners, anything, as long as they wrote her a prescription and she got to go to the pharmacy where she did a whole song and dance for them too, claiming allergies and reactions."

"She always increased the exaggeration of her story too."

"One time she fluttered her eyes, after making sure I was looking, and said she lost consciousness in that half a second."

"She called the doctor and claimed she lost consciousness for 5mins, she called the insurance and claimed it was 10min, she called the pharmacy and claimed it was 30min, then she called 911 and told them she woke up on the floor after losing consciousness for 4hrs."

"The worst thing about her was she was a mom."

"Her son was 28 at the time and by all the stories of his childhood illnesses and all her saying how he is severely disabled I knew she basically f**ked up his childhood with Munchausen by proxy."

"She portrayed him as being severely disabled and that's why he would never find a wife."

"I met him, he was healthy and of average intelligence."

"He wasn't looking for a wife, he was gay, but she refused to accept that."

"Working with her was so miserable that I took a couple years off from any and all healthcare after that."- invisible_for_this

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She Only Thought She Was Faking It.

"Young, 18-20, Woman went running into small rural hospital ER pretending to have abdominal pain."

"Police officer had tagged her going 40+km over the limit which was ‘stunt driving’ as per the new law in Ontario, impound and licsence suspension automatic."

"Cop followed her into ER and apparently said he’d be waiting for her when she left."

"Locum staff such as myself were housed at a small B&B about 15 mins away, and the ER had pre-printed order sets to be done before we arrived."

"When I arrived she flat out admitted that she just came in because she freaked out and didn’t stop."

"I told her we’d give her 45 mins to call her parents/family before I booted her."

"Except, bHCG came back positive, and subsequent ultrasound came back showing extremely early ectopic."

"Officer figures out something is up when he hears air ambulance call come in over radio."

"She was completely asymptomatic and just worked out that she dodged both charges and a life-threatening issue by accident."

"It was definitely a WTF moment."

"A little more info, small rural hospitals in Northern Ontario often service areas from more than an hours drive away and still only have a catchment area of 2000-3000 people."

"When on-call it was just that, we would do our days in the community clinic, then maybe hospital rounds, then go home and be on call; we wouldn’t be at the hospital, there wasn’t an on-call room where you would stay for example."

"There were lots of times that you’d go a full night without being woken up, or maybe just a call from the acute care inpatient wing."

"Locums were short term contracts for places that didn’t have full time medical staff for whatever reason."

"It’s hard to attract clinicians if you don’t even have broadband internet in the community."

"They generally pay very well."- Graigori

Lighten Your Load!

"I'm not a Doctor, but I have a hilarious story to tell of my ex faking it."

"So my first abusive ex is a compulsive liar."

"She would lie about ANYTHING, big or small!"

"She lied about a serious spinal medical condition, until I found her medical report that states she does indeed have an infusion of only 2 lower vertebrae."

"But not the condition she claimed to have."

"After I discovered this, she immediately quit her bullsh*t."

"But only for about a year."

"It was a long time ago now, but she basically claimed to have a much more severe condition, involving her WHOLE SPINE."

"She used this to get out of practical lessons in College, but what made me suspicious is the fact that she ALWAYS carried around the HEAVIEST backpack."

"I had to go through her bag to sort out what she needs and doesn't need, just to lighten the load, with consent, of course, and it did stop her complaining about back pains."

"However, after finding the note, she stopped using her back as a way to not do practicals, and she stopped using it as a way to not do any work outside of College."

"It was a miracle!"

"The story with the doctor starts here, though."

"One day, she laid on the couch, way after the spine lie fiasco, complaining that her back hurts and she can't breathe."

"I lifted her backpack, and wouldn't you know it?"

"It was really. F*cking. Heavy."

"We went to College 3 days a week, which she would carry this thing all the way around for the 8 hours each day!"

"But, she also carried it everywhere she went outside of College, meaning work, too."

"I'd carry it at times, cuz I'm not a d*ck, and would prefer to keep her happy and healthy."

"Anyway. I left her bag alone, didn't empty it just in case."

"I left her alone on the couch, cuz I knew she was over-exaggerating."

"Yeah, I know, I was a d*ck."

"Honestly though, after all the abuse, lies, and the many many times she wouldn't accept a breakup, I just kinda gave up caring, but I could always tell when she was lying."

"She's a terrible liar."

"Later, my mother decides we're taking her to the hospital."

"Apparently she wouldn't stop moaning."

"So we went, my mother dropped us off, and we waited in the waiting room after checking in at the desk."

"The beginning was still the play, but I explained again that it might just be the bag."

"She still wouldn't agree, so we sat there, I gave her love and attention, and we had normal lovey chit-chat."

"I kept observing her bpm (breaths per minute), and noticed that they lowered from quick and short, to normal, while she focused on talking to me or playing games on my phone."

"The immediately came back when we were called, though."

"She wanted me in with her, as she was nervous."

"So I went in with her, she talked to the Nurse about her difficulties, no mention of back pain this time, while I held her hand."

"During the ECG, I stopped holding her hand of course, and I had to quickly shush her when she wanted to speak, not rudely, it's just because vocal vibrations can alter an ECG's results."

"And then there was the stethoscope BPM observations, etc."

"The Nurse seemed to be sure there was an issue, but then some people would agree with the casualty to avoid confrontation."

"She said she'd have to get the Doctor, and left."

"My ex then rubbed it in my face that there was something wrong with her after all."

"I was never nasty to her, I was loving and caring throughout, after trying to help in the beginning, but not giving too much of a sh*t."

"So this was unexpected, and kinda ticked me off, but I stayed calm."

"I still gave her love, care and attention, but told her politely that we'd still have to wait for the Doctor."

"The Doctor arrived with the results, and asked my ex a few things."

"My ex's face was a suite to behold!"

"She couldn't answer anything he was asking, because he was asking questions that obviously implied there was nothing off with her results!"

"Meaning there was nothing wrong with her at all, and I was right!"

"Anyway, he asked the questions he needed to ask."

"I don't remember the exact questions, but they were basically 'what have you been doing recently?'"

"'Have you been doing any strenuous exercises?' etc., and she couldn't answer."

"Then he asked me what I thought could be the issue."

"I hadn't spoken to the Nurse or Doctor until this point, bear in mind."

"I told him about her backpack."

"THE backpack that my ex BROUGHT WITH HER TO THE HOSPITAL!"

"He said that is the most likely cause of her discomfort, and advised I carry the bag for her and empty any unnecessary items to make it lighter."

"I agreed, and we were dismissed."

"My ex's face was the ultimate face of defeat!"

"I didn't rub it in her face though, like she did to me. I actually hugged her, grabbed her bag for her and walked out with her, holding her hand and ensuring her she'd be okay."

"Basically just being a loving and supportive boyfriend."

"She stopped the rapid breathing and complaining of breathing difficulties after this."

"Although, she actually stopped just before the Doctor came in the room, so yeah."

"Thanks for reading!"- Dregar12

all good thumbs up GIF by PBS KIDSGiphy

They Weren't Entirely Wrong About Being "Humiliated".

"Once when I was in elementary, I got really bored and decided I would fake being sick."

"At the time, the word 'humiliated' was a new word for me, but I didn't know what it meant."

"My brain thought it was something like flustered or nauseous."

"I told the secretary at my school that I was so sick and was feeling humiliated."

"I was so stupid."

"Another time, my friend decided to try and skip school and twisted up some tissue paper into some kind of stick. "

"He shoved it up his nose until his face was red and his eyes went teary."

"It was a successful plot!"- the_prophecy_is_true

Don't Trick Your Parents Too Many Times...

"It’s kinda the opposite way round, but when I was little, on Christmas Day, I was sitting at the table and my stomach starting to hurt."

"A lot."

"I was a good kid and never misbehaved but for some reason my mum thought I was exaggerating or faking so she told me to stop being silly and eat up."

"I couldn’t eat."

" I felt horrible and was in a lot of pain."

"My mum just would not believe me and thought I was trying to get attention."

"About 5 more minutes of me crying and she realized something was wrong so called the doctor and put me on the sofa."

"So, that was the Christmas I missed because my appendix had burst."

"I spent a couple of months in hospital due to complications with the surgery and missed both Christmas and my birthday."

"Apparently they had caught it just in time as it could very well had been fatal."

"My family still donates what they can to the children’s wing of that hospital as that was the first of 3 times they saved my life."- PastelCurlies

stomach GIFGiphy

Faking Illness To Cover A Real Illness...


"When I was between the ages of 4 and 13, I suffered from persistent UTIs."

"Actually, I was a mystery case in my hospital."

"No one could figure out the reason they just kept coming back."

"Anyway, this meant I would occasionally get the sudden need to pee, extremely intensely."

"If I wasn't within two meters of a bathroom I would pee myself."

"Obviously, being a teenager at school this was excruciatingly embarrassing."

"I often faked foot or leg injuries so I could either sit down and try to suppress the urge, or cover up my wet clothes."

"I was once discovered by my PE teacher to be faking, when she offered to bring a wheelchair out."

"Of course I tried to stop her, and it miraculously got better, whoops."

"Anyway, not much point to this story apart from bladder/kidney issues truly suck and I would never wish that upon anyone."- abisexualqueen

If Anyone Should Believe You, It's Doctors...

"Other way around for me."

"When I was 8 I went to Michigan to visit family with my dad."

"I got really sick on the flight back."

"So my dad took me to the hospital in the city we where in."

"The doctors and nurses thought I was fake wheezing and coughing."

"Then I passed out then woke up in my home town hospital with my parents grandparents and my pediatrician."- Noble611

Return Visitor

"We have a guy that comes into the ER all the time faking seizures."

"Best actor I’ve ever seen."

"Sternal rub and he doesn’t flinch."

"Last time it was so bad he got intubated and right as they pushed the meds he stopped and said 'ahhh that’s the good stuff'."

"Welp now we gotta tube you dude."

"Problem is he’s a drunk who falls a lot so he could in theory really be seizing."

"Biggest rule of medicine is even fakers get sick sometimes."- cbelle4

It's hard to blame someone for faking illness to get out of something that they really don't want to do.

But when you actually try to get doctors involved in your deception, you might want to question if it's really worth it.

After all, let's not forget the story of "the boy who cried wolf"...

The All-Time Biggest First Date Red Flags

Reddit user APT3993 asked: 'What’s the biggest red flag you have seen on a first date?'

When you're on a first date, one of three things will happen. Either you'll like the person and want to go out again, you like the person fine, but not romantically, and won't want to go out again, or the person will display a behavior that is so off-putting (or make you genuinely fearful), that you won't even want to see the person ever again.

My best friend and I are basically the same person, so when she met a guy who he had a lot in common with, she figured I'd like him too and set us up (I had previously told her I was okay with being set up).

Well, it turns out the guy actually hadn't read any of the books, watched any of the shows, or heard of any of the bands he talked about with my friend. I didn't understand why he would lie about all these things until I left the table.

When I came back, he was on the phone with someone and he was telling them he only told her he liked all those things because he liked my friend. When he found out she was in a relationship, he decided he'd let her set us up in the hopes that he could date me until my friend and her boyfriend broke up, and then he could swoop in.

I just walked out and when he finally texted me asking what was up, I told him I overheard him, then proceeded to block him. My friend was mortified to hear about the date, and I decided never to be set up again.

I'm not the only one who has gone on a date and discovered a huge red flag. Redditors have experienced this too, and are eager to share their stories.

It all started when Redditor APT3993 asked:

"What’s the biggest red flag you have seen on a first date?"

Dates Of Relationships Past

"They won't shut up about their ex."

– SiriusGD

"Had this happen to me on a 2nd date."

"Asked if she could use my computer, I said OK. Then she pulls up her ex's FB profile to browse through it, and she spent the next 10 minutes comparing me to him, saying he she thinks that I will turn out to be controlling and manipulative like him because we both grew up on a farm and we both like cars."

"Ummm, wut?"

– alwaysmyfault

"He angrily told me I would “love” his ex wife. Proceeded to cry while talking about her. They’d been divorced for 5 years. I genuinely hope he is doing better."

– TX_Mothman

"She constantly compared me to her ex, and sat on her phone for most of the night, then expected me to pay for her two bottles of wine, plus really expensive meal and desert."

"She asked me out btw, not the other way around."

– Stuspawton

I Know What I Want

"The guy who tried to change my order with the waitress because he didn’t think the drink I’d asked for was sufficiently feminine."

"I ordered beer. I don’t remember exactly what he thought I should have, maybe white wine? It was a long time ago."

"The waitress was looking at me like ‘You heard that sh*t too right?’ and I told her actually I wouldn’t have anything, thanks, and I left."

– MaggieLuisa

"He changed it FROM A BEER TO SOMETHING ELSE!!?! That’s amazing to me. Like it’s bad enough if you ordered an IPA and he said, “I dunno, sweetie, your delicate female taste buds probably can’t handle the hoppiness. Hey, honey, why don’t we get the lady a Coors.”"

– AdaptiveVariance

The Position Of Boyfriend

"We met for drinks after work (since we both work in the same industry) and she showed up with a list of interview questions. She literally had a checklist on her phone for me to fill out. I thought she was joking at first, but the questions were extremely personal, like how many sexual partners you've had, the oldest, the youngest; How much money you made the previous year; If you owned a house, a car, a boat, a plane; Did you have a criminal history; Where do you parents live; Are they alive; Who did you vote for in the last election; All kinds of stuff like that."

"I even proposed that we could just use that as a conversation starter and we could work through them like that as a fun way to get to know each other. I was really trying. She tells me that she's not answering any of them because I'm trying to date her, not the other way around!"

"I laughed out loud thinking she was kidding, then realized she was absolutely serious. I wished her all the best in the dating world, chugged my beer, overtipped the waitress, and left."

– OkFrostina

"Yeah, I would really push that to the limit without getting law enforcement involved. Start with all the times I have ended up in rehabilitation, my abductions by UFO, the wild, kinky sex partners I have had, the millions I have lost before living under a bridge, etc."

– passporttohell

Scary As Hell

"Had a guy who insisted on buying the most expensive pizza at the restaurant despite my protests then kissed my head when he walked past me to use the restroom. After dinner we walked along the waterfront, he kissed me and then immediately tried to choke me "to be sexy". First date, last date."

– Twours1944

"What the sh*t?? Who taught this idiot that choking in public on the first date all without consent is a great get-to-know-you move??"

– villainsimper

Stranger Danger

"This was literally the day of a first date. But I had matched with an older man when I was still on dating apps. We planned to go on a hike on a very beautiful day by the water. On the day of the date, he wanted me to leave my car at his place, while he drove us through the backwoods so we can beat traffic. I said I’ll be happy to drive myself, and he laughed and canceled. His reasoning was he’s been stood up so many times and he didn’t want to waste his time and me not show up. I said “okay!I apologize for the inconvenience. I hope you find what you are looking for. “and blocked him."

"The red flag was when he genuinely got upset that I didn’t want to ride in a car with a stranger through the backwoods for our first date."

– Jesusdoescrack

"You should have said “you fear being stood up, I fear being murdered.”"

– The_She_Ghost

Truly Gross

"He pointed to another woman at the bar and said she was his ex. But she happened to be my lesbian roommate."

"Yes, I told him I knew he was full of it cuz she was my roommate, and I pointed out her girlfriend who was there with her. I don’t remember what he said exactly but he had no choice but to admit he was lying. I wish I had asked why he said it. I assume to make me jealous? Like that’s a good way to start a relationship? Obviously, that was the only date."

– Grapegoop

​Those Who Came Before

"He told me he had been divorced 5 times. I'm taking the advice of 5 women I don't know."

– 13liz

"The way you phrased this killed me 😂"

– CumulativeHazard

Got Her Feeling Emotions

"Does bursting into tears after I told them I didn't like a TV show count?"

– JumboDakotaSmoke

"I'm curious as to what TV show it was?"

– ladydamnation

"Grey's Anatomy."

– JumboDakotaSmoke

"bursts into tears"

– akennelley

Um...What?!

"He took me to his house (he lived with his mom) just so HE could eat dinner with his mom while I sat in the living room. I listened to them eat and talk about my looks like I couldn't hear them. Apparently, I was pretty but "needed to be taken down a peg or two." I said my period had started so I had to go home. A future abuser and his enabler mommy."

– BigMcLargeHuge77

Ew...Just Ew

"We went to a movie. He spent the first half with his hand inside one of his socks, then pulling it out and smelling it, putting it back in, repeat, repeat."

"Then he spent the second half trying to hold my hand. With his sock hand."

– Deleted User

Bad From The Start

"She asked if I could order for her because she was uncomfortable talking to the brown waitress.

"Added: Same girl would not stop talking about Kardashian gossip even though I told her I know nothing about them and didn’t care to know."

– CanaDoug420

Stop, Theif!

"He showed up drunk with a bouquet of flowers he admitted he stole from his mother's flower shop."

– LookAcrossTheWater

​Cringe-Worthy

"Went to a charity coffee shop for a date. It was “free” coffee where they just ask for donations which went toward their org’s efforts to feed and house people. They explained this to him and asked if he wanted to make a donation for our drinks."

"He said no."

– Shredded_Wheaties

Oh, yikes! I would be so embarrassed!

In fact, I'm kind of losing faith in dating as a concept.

people sitting inside plane
Hanson Lu on Unsplash

Commercial aviation began in the late 1920s, spurred on by early aeronautical companies and several record breaking solo flights.

Since then, there are few places on Earth that can't be seen or accessed by plane. Only icing limits humans from low altitude flights over certain areas like the polar regions, while a lack of landing locations keeps some areas accessible to only the smallest pontoon planes.

From January through December 2022, United States airlines carried 853 million passengers. Globally, air travel reached a high of over 4.7 billion passengers before the pandemic limited flights.

Since then, global air travel has rebounded to over 3.7 billion passengers.

With almost 100 years and over a trillion passengers, the people who crew these flights are bound to have seen everything happen that possibly could at airports and on a flight.

Keep reading...Show less
A skeptical man
Photo by Timothy Dykes on Unsplash

We've all heard our fair share of conspiracy theories, from thoughts about the White House to aliens and beyond.

But some conspiracy theories have become truly strange and nuanced, and it's hard to stop listening to the person explaining their beliefs, because as weird as some of these theories sound, they could almost by some stretch of the imagination make sense.

Intrigued, Redditor Accomplished-Leg-991 asked:

"What's the weirdest or craziest theory you have heard of?"

Seems Plausible.

"Traffic barrels are left up for so long because the Department of Transportation bought too many and has no place to store them."

- dailysunshineKO

The Grass Is Always Greener

"The truck driver that delivered my flooring gave me this gem: The push for green lawns in the US is by Big Pharma."

"The cliff notes version is that to get green grass, you need pesticides, pesticides cause cancer, and cancer is good business for drug companies. It was like a 20-minute long rant to get to that conclusion and it was an adventure."

- StillBald

"I need to drink with him for one night. That cannot possibly be the only banger he's got."

- karenalphas

The Ice Wall

"Recently TikTok kept giving bizarre suggestions where people trying to prove Ice Wall in Antarctica that Earth is bigger and something is hiding behind ice wall in Antarctica… What the h**l."

- XenophanesJunior

"It's a weird subset of flat earthers, who believe in an 'infinite plane' that lies beyond the ice wall (guarded by NASA, of all people), and the reason? The infinite plane has endless amounts of gold mines and gems they can mine for infinite money."

- bag2d

Tinkering with the Algorithm

"That Walt Disney was cryogenically frozen, and they made the movie 'Frozen' so that when people googled 'Walt Disney Frozen,' the movie would come up first."

- LizardPossum

"They updated this theory, but now it is with Taylor Swift. It basically says that she went to that Kansas City Chiefs vs NY Jets game so that when people search 'Taylor Swift Jets,' it will only show news about the game, and not about her going everywhere with her private jets."

- abirll

"It's so wild now these rely on people being completely unable to go to page two of a Google search."

- LizardPossum

The All-Important Celebrity Weddings

"I had a coworker that fully believes the government controls the weather so celebrities can have nice weddings."

- pinballgizard

"Out of all the reasons to control the weather, celebrity weddings are a top priority for the government."

- Suspicious-Craft4980

The Truth of Social Security Numbers

"Your social security number indicates which bank you were sold to at birth."

- compuwiza1

"Ah, sovereign citizens..."

- CaptainMikul

Dinosaur Bones, Huh?

"Dinosaur bones were placed on earth by Satan to trick people into 'abandoning' God."

- River_7890

"There's a big American Church whose members believe that dinosaur bones exist because God made the Earth with leftovers from a previous planet."

"Mental gymnastics to justify their belief that the Earth is only 10'000 years old and C14 dates dinosaur bones as being millions of years old..."

- mrsrosieparker

"I'm absolutely not shocked. The person who told me jumps through so many mental hoops to try to disprove science. She thinks that the government is secretly working for Satan to convert people, too."

"Oh and of course Disney. She's crazy overall. Not just with religious stuff. I could tell so many stories of her crossing lines and saying off-the-wall things. I try to not associate with her as much as possible."

- River_7890

The Worst Kind of Waiting Room

"The USS Philadelphia Experiment and the US army soldier who claimed he was in an interdimensional waiting room as a greeter for eternity until he was suddenly transported back onto the ship."

"People claimed it was a cloaking device gone wrong and left men's bodies trapped within the steel of the boat upon reentry."

"I never looked into it but read about it in a book that had a statement like, 'Nothing in this book is true but it's exactly the way things are,' or something similar. Always thought it was the wildest conspiracy theory ever when I was a stoned teenager reading it."

- Hereforthecake

Phantom Time Conspiracy Theory

"There’s a whole podcast with hundreds of episodes dedicated to this subject. Worth a listen. One of the wildest ones is that Charlemagne’s grandson moved the calendar forward ~300 years and thus the Dark Ages never happened."

- seandowling73

Gives the Shortcut a Whole New Meaning

"Met a dude at the gym who believed that the CIA had built tunnels throughout the Earth's core, connecting all the major cities. Was some kind of global takeover scheme."

- Latham74

Infathomly Large Trees

"Mountains are all the stumps of ancient fossilized enormous trees."

"I'm absolutely obsessed with this theory. It's connected to flat earth, but flat earth isn't a requirement for this theory nor do most flat earthers believe it."

- inkstainedgoblin

Under Control

"We're all infected by parasites that feed on our stress hormones released by negative emotions like guilt, sadness, anger, fear, and so on. They control our minds and, thereby, us to an extent. The only way to combat them is by being aware and questioning if your thoughts and actions are truly your own thoughts and actions."

- 42clickslater

Enough Said

"The one about JFK Jr. coming back to help Trump win the 2020 election is still tops in my book."

- pinkyknee

Big Pharma Chickens

"That owning chickens is the gateway drug to believing conspiracy theories."

- sarcasawm

"As someone who has owned chickens, the only thing they're a gateway drug to is getting more farm animals."

- CelticArche

"That’s what Big Goat wants you to believe."

- MissRockNerd

"Big Farm-A."

- cannedcream

As wild as some of these conspiracy theories were, there's no denying that they're fascinating, some for the simple fact that they're almost plausible.

They at least get you thinking in a new way, and perhaps that isn't such a bad thing every now and then.

Two guys hi-fiving each other
Tyler Nix/Unsplash

A good friend is not always the one with whom you share laughs and fun experiences.

The friendships you want to keep include those who won't abandon you in a time of need or someone who supports you in a variety of complicated situations where not even a family member can be relied upon.

Unfortunately, many of us have experienced a time when a person's true colors revealed to us that the so-called "friend" we've always trusted wasn't one at all.

Curious to hear examples of this, Redditor Aesthetik_1 asked:

"What made you instantly realize This 'friend' is not a real friend?"

These Redditors didn't realized at the time that they were being used.

Recurring Favor

"When he only called me when he needed something. It didn't hit me until much later."

– Queasy-Location-9303

"I have one of those 'friends'. She always gushes about how we're friends but she never initiates contact unless she wants me to do something for her."

– StiffAssedBrit

The Errand Girl

"Several years back, I had a friend who introduced me to this new boy she was seeing. Maybe a year later, their relationship blew up in a fury of bs (whole other story), but by the time they split, I was equally friends with both of them. He and I were both photographers at the time, so the friendship was instantaneous."

"One day we started talking about her, neither positively nor in poor taste, just kind of in general."

"He then asked me 'when she texts to hang out, what does she usually want to do?'"

"I paused. I thought. Holy sh*t, she'd either be asking for a favour or for help with some kind of errand. I was her f'king errand girl."

"She texted me a month or two later, just a 'hey'. I never responded. She never texted again."

"I'm still friends with her ex, though. That dude is genuine as heck."

– ChamomileBrownies

Testing The Friendship

"When you decide to let them be the one to reach out. And you never hear from them again."

– plzdontgetmad

"Yup. Made plans with a friend three times, she cancelled each time. I finally told her to let me know when she was free, we haven’t hung out since."

"She was a good friend for the season, but not a lifetime."

– NoMrBond3

People were shocked to discover the moment they realized they didn't really know who their "friend" was anymore.

The Chaperon

"I had been giving rides to a girl I thought was my friend. To and from school in high school. She wasn’t really suppose to ride with other teens but due to her mothers work hours we could easily pull this off. I thought we were close."

"One day while on the way home my brakes went out. We were about 2 blocks from her gated neighborhood. I managed to roll in safely and parked at her house to call a tow truck."

"She flipped. Told me I couldn’t stay. She knew my brakes were not working as she had also been terrified when we couldn’t stop. She said she wanted to go to a movie that weekend with other friends and her mom would ground her if she saw me at the house. I offered to lie and say I only stopped there as my car malfunctioned on my way home. I had to pass her neighborhood on my way home anyways."

"She refused. Started to scream at me. She didn’t care what happened I had to go. Started to call the guard at the front gate to tell them I had broken in and was threatening her."

"I left her and that friendship that moment. I managed to roll my car slowly to a mechanic not too far away but never forgot the shi* feeling of knowing I could have been seriously hurt and she wouldn’t have cared. She wanted to see a movie. She had the nerve to sheepishly call and ask me a couple days later if I could give her a ride to school. Told her I was too busy and no longer had time… after all I wanted to help her obey her mom's rules. She rode the bus til she graduated."

– Duffarum

Unwilling Companion

"I had this friend in school. Each year there was a funfair in our city, all students received vouchers for a drink and something to eat. This friend complained the whole day that she had no one to accompany her to the funfair. So, stupid me offered to go with her."

"Once we arrived we met another friend of hers. And another, and another... until we were a group of 5 or 6 people. I didn't know anyone and was basically just walking behind them. This friend took me aside and said, 'My friends think you are annoying, and we would like you to leave.'"

"It was a pleasure to see that she failed her exams a year later."

– Auldale

There's the spirit of competition, but when it's taken seriously, we're no longer game for these friendships.

I Can Do It Better

"Constantly 'one ups' me. A real friend is happy for you."

– Complex-Half8338

"That one time I got a fake bag but she doesn’t know and then 2 weeks later messaged me that she also bought a luxury bag… Then when I got a bf, she also went to get a bf within 3 months which is TOTALLY fine but she constantly messages me for us to go on a double date. Anyways, sadly they didn’t last long :( I mentioned that I wanted to go to Cuba, she went ahead and bought herself a ticket to Cuba but I didn’t end up going lol"

– Hot-Coffee-8465

Never Steal The Spotlight

"When they loved the idea of me shining, but behind their shadow, I could never do or achieve anything above them, and when I did, they would get jealous."

– Jasssin23

"Yes! I recently ghosted a friend because of this kind of behavior. She was trying to compete about EVERYTHING. Like she bragged about how her mom’s car accident was more traumatic than my elderly MIL’s - which is not even an appropriate thing to compare. She would also try to 'outshine' celebrations of my milestones and was mean to several of my friends for no apparent reason. She was a loose cannon at best."

– thefifthtrilogy

All About Me

"ALL she talks about it herself and her problems. Granted she has a a lot but never asks about me or my life until she realizes she just bypassed my attempt to want to talk about something in my life bothering me and continued to talk about herself."

– PokemomOnTheGo

People can just be so rude.

"When I got really sick. Very few came to help."

– Tofflus1

"Same here. I got cancer and everyone I knew was over the top supportive for the first six months and then all but three of my friends just vanished. I saw one of them at a Halloween party while I was going through chemo and she told me that my bald head made people uncomfortable. I was dressed as Captain Picard, it was awesome and she ruined it."

– CatGoNoTail

Not Missing High School

"At lunch, she was sitting with her boyfriend, I was sitting with our friend circle. She came up to me, guilted me into sitting with her and her boyfriend, and then proceeded to ignore me for the rest of lunch."

"She didn't care about me, she just didn't want me talking to the friend circle that she had abandoned for her boyfriend. When I pointed this out to her, she called me a jealous b*tch."

"Ah, high school. How I don't miss thee."

– Symnestra

These examples actually served as a good reminder for me to take a moment and assess my friendships.

Not so much about how I've been treated but more about checking myself to see if I'm respecting the people I call my friends.

We've all been guilty of casually mentioning future plans to get together. I embarrassingly wait for people to initiate something, which is terrible.

Show up for your friends. Make them feel important like the individuals they are.