Just because someone has a license doesn't mean they should. Instructors do the best the can -at least I pray they are- but they can only do so much. Eventually most of us will be handed that card and Lord have Mercy for the rest of us!
Redditor u/bunn-pris wanted driving instructors to share some stories about what we should be prepared for on the road by asking.... Driving instructors of reddit, what is the worst thing a student has attempted to do or has done during a lesson?
Don't floor it!
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I was in the car for observation hours, the Kid driving didn't understand that flooring the gas then slamming the breaks isn't a good Idea at every intersection. KnaveyJonesLocker
Grandpa Knew.
Obligatory not me but my grandfather taught driver's ed at his high school. He had one student who did not possess the necessary mental faculties to drive. The kid's father was enraged and resolved to teach the kids himself, the first lesson ended with the car in the living room and the father realized my grandfather was right. gath_centar
Turn of the Key.
I had an instructor with ice water in his veins. I know, because I did stuff that would have any mere mortal panicking and yelling at me for doing 85 on the freeway and then drifting half off the road while staring at the speedometer in shock.
But as bad as I was, he shared stories of much worse.
He said one girl was trying to back out of a parking space (diagonal street parking) with her left foot on the brake. She kept pushing harder on the accelerator...but harder on the brake at the same time. Eventually the engine overcame the rear brakes (drum brakes, in those days), but the front (disc) brakes held firm.
So the rear wheels started spinning. The girl panicked and locked her knees, flooring the accelerator. The engine revved to full speed and the rear wheels belched smoke, which quickly surrounded the car. Then, knees still locked, she took her hands off the steering wheel, put them over her eyes, and screamed.
"What did you do then?" I asked him, agog.
"Oh," he said calmly, "I just reached over and turned off the key."
Ice in his veins, I tell you. He was born to teach teenagers how to drive. AGuyNamedEddie
I Must Merge!
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Only somewhat related, but this is what my driving instructor did during my first lesson.
We were making our way through the basics and were cut off by some lady. I'm pretty chill, so I didn't think much of it, but this dude starts flipping out. He grabs the wheel while in the passenger's seat and tells me to step on the gas (he can brake from his side). Me, being 16 and also an idiot, complies. He gives me instructions for the gas while he steers and ends up boxing her in, not letting her merge over.
Then starts to throw empty cans of sprite, coffee cups and anything else he could find at her car. It was buck wild. He eventually ran out of things to throw I guess and we just went off and did our own thing. As a dumb kid, I thought it was hilarious, but as an adult I realize just how dangerous and stupid what he did was. Driving lessons were always a wild ride with him. Great guy if he liked you, but definitely a little off the wall. QueensAnat
Too Much Anxiety.
Not a driving instructor, but when I was taking drivers education my car was filled with me two of my friends and another kid no one knew but was taking the class. The kid obviously had some anxiety issues and would often shutdown and start panicking if he was startled or put in a stressful situation. We had multiple close calls but by far the scariest experience was when we were on the highway.
The kid was driving and our instructor asked him to get out of the left lane when it was safe because he was going 40 mph and the speed of traffic around us was 75 mph. Another driver behind us decided that he was tired of our car moving so slowly and decided to honk his horn and pass us. This was enough to set the kid off and he started having a breakdown. The instructor tried to calm him down and again told him to switch lanes. The kid immediately tried to switch lanes without looking. There was a car right in his blind spot that the driving instructor thankfully saw.
When he began to change lanes the car honked and the instructor had to grab the wheel and press on his passenger brake. This was enough to send the kid into hysterics. We were stopped in between two lanes and the kid was crying. Unfortunately the drivers ed cars don't include a passenger gas pedal and we were in an incredibly dangerous situation I was genuinely scared for my life. Yelling at the kid was obviously doing nothing but making him more hysterical. We had to switch drivers in the middle of the highway and the kid never showed up to another lesson. m_tate80
CRASH.
So I have a sister who is a few years older than me and was a pretty horrible student, I always had teachers who would assume I would be horrible until they go to know me based on my sister.
Anyways drivers ed was offered in our high school, and during their lesson the teacher asked my sister (with a car full of other students) to pull into the teachers personal driveway so he could pickup some things. My sister managed to crash into his garage and break some brick on the side of the garage as well (hit gas instead of break is her excuse).
My teacher was terrified when I started the class, he made me so nervous when driving. At the end of the the semester is said I was the best student of the group and would be the least likely to crash. I think I was the first of the group to later crash! (lol, slide in a wet road taking a sharp corner a few weeks later). MindStalker
That's a Penalty!
I don't know if it's true or not but there's an old joke in the UK for the shortest driving test when someone turned up and honked his horn to tell them he was there. Then examiner promptly walked up to his car and said he failed as beeping your horn without good reason (e.g. you're trying to get to hospital because your wife is pregnant) is a penalty.
The second shortest was a driver reversing out of the carpark and hit the curb. aegroti
Slam the Brakes!
I technically ran a red during my driving test. It wasn't my fault though. J was going 30 and the light went yellow. I judged I'd make it through the light just fine, the instructor got scared (wasn't paying as good attention as me) and slammed on the breaks. We stopped dead in the middle of the intersection and I just looked at her like wtf. She took her foot off her break and we kept going. She kept saying "I've never had a student run a red might, I cant pass you" I explained to her that I would have made it through the yellow had she not slammed on the breaks and it was technically her fault and her misjudgment.
I passed that test :) CallMeLucipher
Frozen.
Racing driver instructor here. I had a client freeze up at over 100 mph coming into a corner. He just gently squeezed the brakes and that was it. As we shot towards the corner I continued to tell him to brake harder but got no response. Luckily I had a pedal on my side of the car which I jumped on once I realized he was afk. I was forced to reach across to navigate the car between the cones marking the edge of the corner as I brought us to a halt. Once we stopped he had the audacity to look across at me and ask what happened! watez
Meooow....
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(I did it as a summer job for a family friend's driving school, not something I ever hope to do again). A student attempted to run over a cat she could have easily avoided (cat was fine, just very scared). When asked why she said she thought it was okay and in fact encouraged. Further questions revealed some other very serious issues and she was dropped from the class. MissyTurtle
Of course, most of the time, it was “just a phase". And looking back, those phases are regrettable, to say the least. Here are some prime examples of that.
SirGergoyFriendman asked:
What was your biggest/most regrettable "It's not a phase, mom. It's my life." that, in fact, turned out to be just a phase and not your life?
The enthusiasm of a young person can lead to some unexpected changes that parents are just not ready for.
Hi, Wheeljack!
I was VERY into The Transformers when I was a wee lad in the 1980s. One day, I decided to change my name to the name of my favorite Autobot. My name was lame, and I wanted an awesome Transformer name. And I was VERY insistent that my parents only call me by my new name. Calling me by my 'old' name would cause a big fat tantrum on my part.
So for the better part of a week, my poor parents had to call me Wheeljack.
Very 2008.
Ariana Grande Shrug GIFGiphyMy cat-ear phase. I wore cat ears every single day. Everywhere. I had like 20 pairs of them. Now everyone thinks I'm a furry.
I find that very cute and wouldn't have thought you'd be furry. Even if you'd had cat mittens. I think my suspicions would have started if you moved a bit like a cat, displayed catlike grooming habits or got a cat mask.
Not gonna lie, that car sounds cool.
I went to a car show once as a teen, and the only newer car there was some chick's PT cruiser. It was hot glittery pink, and at the time I was obsessed. I insisted that one day I would have a hot pink car, with pink seats, pink dash, pink carpets, etc. I was pretty heavily goth at the time, so my parents just rolled their eyes.
These phases can often lead to some very strange fashion choices.
That’s commitment.
When I was a teenager (early 00s), I was waiting for my mother to pick me up and was wearing one of those sh!tty sports wristwatches. It was itching me so I took it off for a second, but then she arrived and because I was struggling to get it back on my wrist, I looped it around the equally sh!tty chain I had around my neck in a rush to get out the door.
My mom asked me about it in the car, and I told her this was my new style and I planned to wear it like that every day. She rolled her eyes.
I wore that watch on a chain around my neck every single day for 3 years or so. There are even professional family photos where I'm wearing it because I refused to take it off.
One day, the chain broke and I lost the watch. I was in high school at that point anyway and it was a major lady repellent, so... phase over.
Not everyone can be Eminem.
slim shady eminem GIFGiphyBaggy pants, being a rapper someday and being a professional skater.
When I was about 14 and Eminem was starting to blow up I bought myself a keyboard with a synthesizer. It cost like $200 which was all the money I had saved up. It finally came (this was way before amazon prime and such) and I tried rapping.
My sister told me "you're effing horrible" and I gave up right then and there.
This should be a sin.
I used to button the top buttons of polo shirts.
I must say, this is probably the worst one I've read.
Looking back at our regrettable choices, all we can do is cringe.
An optimistic look at bad tattoos.
check me out season 3 GIF by PortlandiaGiphyBeing a tattooer. Regrettable because of those poor people who have my awful doodles on their bodies.
Take heart! My favorite tattoo is the one I drunkenly got my buddy to do in his living room one year during March Madness! It's dumb and frankly mediocre? But such a good story and has such good associations I smile every time I see it.
RIP Fredro’s.
My friend and I decided we were going to open a bar in Jamaica with exotic snakes in glass cages in the walls at each booth. We convinced ourselves it would be amazing for at least two years in college. It was going to be called Fredro's.
My entire family made fun of me for it. Once we got out of college, we realized it was not feasible and joined the office grind. We're also two white guys with no ties to Jamaica.
Talk about cringey.
I wore a top hat with an anime pin on it for around a year. Met one of my current best friends while wearing it, idk how he could bear to speak to me after that.
My weirdest phase was probably when I insisted on wearing knee-high rainbow socks to school every day. But honestly, I don't regret it. I rocked those socks, and I wish I still have a pair.
To all the people out there cringing over their past selves, remember that you were just a kid, and to be easy on yourselves. After all, we've all been there
Yet, too often, manufacturers who oversell their products fail to deliver what is promised and are inevitably left with angry customers who want their money back.
Whether the merchandise was defective or ridiculously overpriced, strangers online shared some of their worst purchases when Redditor BooksMcGee asked:
"What is the worst product you ever paid money for?"
Short Life Span
"This NERF gun that's supposed to shoot tennis balls for your dog. I bought it cause I thought you could load 3 at a time and shoot them far, but it's just one and it's super loud and the gun broke after like 4 shots (reading reviews later, this was a common issue)."
Lame Pets
"There were these toys called squiggles when I was a kid and the commercials made it seem like the toy was alive. It looked like you would get this crazy little fuzzy worms as pets that would follow you around an so sick tricks and listen to your every command. It was really just a piece of fluffy string tied to another piece of string with googly eyes on it. People may say that it was supposed to be a magic trick but they should also explain that to a 5 year old who really wanted a pet."
Card Value
"Not their fault, but I paid $70 for a Yugioh card hours before it was limited to one copy. Probably dropped to $20 by the end of the day."
These purchases were bad for your bum.
"A bicycle that literally fell apart before I made it out of the parking lot."
Not Worth Sitting On
"Joybird brand couch. Was so terrible, we returned it. Still hard to believe, we returned a freaking couch."
Going Nowhere Fast
"A 2000 VW Beetle (used)."
"Biggest piece of sh*t that literally had to have just about everything replaced before 100k miles and would still break down every time you left the driveway to the point where the tow-truck driver knew us on a first-name basis."
Expensive Lemon
"An Oldsmobile Achieva from one of those buy here pay here places. I should have known better, but I was young and thought I was getting a good deal. I had the thing for about 5 months, I drove it for maybe 3 weeks. The rest of the time it was either in the shop, or in my driveway waiting until pay day so I could afford to fix whatever broke on it this week. Eventually told the dealer just take it, I'm not paying for it any more. He said nope, and I will make sure your credit is ruined. I said well you sold me a lemon, do you really want to go this route? He came and took it. Never reported anything to credit. I heard he got sued by several other people who sold sh**ty cars too and eventually went out of business."
"Always amazes me when I see them driving around still, I can only assume there's enthusiasts who just love repairing horribly designed cars."
– zerbey
These Redditors were not convinced what they ingested was edible.
Bad Cereal
"A box of plain Cheerios. Thought they were honey nut, poured a bowl, was very disappointed."
"If I wanted to taste cardboard, I'd just eat the box."
– gor8884
Space Pizza
"A burnt frozen pizza at the air and space museum cafe in DC. I Don't wish that experience on anyone. There are some amazing restaurants in DC, don't settle."
– Alseids
The following electronics just gave off a bad charge.
"Asus Transformer Pad TF700"
"This was one of those early 'high end' Android tablets that was grossly underpowered, and it showed. Thing was slow as sh!t in no time flat. Rookie mistake investing into shiny new tech while they were still working all the bugs out. Think I paid somewhere in the neighborhood of $350-400 for it..."
– Luke5119
Bad Apple
"macbook pro 2018 13" touchbar. 2 years old and dead (battery). they're asking $300-$400 to change the battery. malfunctioning keyboard with double presses and missing presses. that's a lot of money for bad design."
Chilly Reception
"Past winter my old room heater broke down and I had to buy a new one. Went to a store nearby and somehow got convinced to buy a very costly heating device.. It's also my fault, since there were some sligthly cheaper options around, but nope. I wanted the expensive one thinking it will make my small room a volcano with little to no effort/cost (that's also what the seller told me). Long story short the device wasn't doing ANYTHING. No significant temperature changes, too much space, a weird noise, and was doubling my previous device in utility cost. I still gloom over those 80 euros.."
Some of my disappointing purchases was clothing, but only because I purchased them online. Unless they are a brand I'm familiar with, I'm usually fine with buying new jeans off of their websites.
But when it comes to graphic tees only available on specialty shops, an M-size shirt is not necessarily the same size as those found in other reputable stores.
I bought a medium sized T-shirt from a boutique store online because I loved the look of the design. But when it arrived, the supposed medium fit me like an XL.
At least I gained a fierce cleaning rag from this impulsive purchase.