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People Reveal The Worst Advice A Teacher Has Given Them

People Reveal The Worst Advice A Teacher Has Given Them

People Reveal The Angriest They've Ever Been

People Reveal The Angriest They've Ever Been

Students Share The Dumbest Things They've Ever Seen A Teacher Do

Students Share The Dumbest Things They've Ever Seen A Teacher Do
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Most teachers try their best but some seem like they gave up long ago. Dangerous chemistry classes, climate change denial, and treating students poorly isn't how school is supposed to go.

WhOverlord_Staxhar asked teenagers of Reddit: Have you ever had a teacher so dumb you questioned how they got the job as a teacher?

Submissions have been edited for clarity, context, and profanity.

15. Mad scientist teacher?

I had an older chemistry teacher in high school, probably about 50-60 that was just about oblivious to everything around him. Aside from just being totally disorganized in the order he taught things, so most of his lectures made no sense as we didn't have context as to what came before, here's just a general list of his escapades:

-Kids would be lighting up metal tongs on the Bunsen burners and fight each other with them, one kid got a nipple flap in his shirt, that was pretty funny

-one kid would dump all the chemicals he got a hold of in a beaker in the far corner of the class room after each experiment

-He was so inept at teaching that once on a test that he never really taught material for, was caught handing out random grades to all the students often did homework the same way, as some kids didn't even turn theirs in and would get A's and B's

I'm sure I'm missing some stuff but that's the brunt of it. Not sure what happened to him as that was my last class my senior year.

passthekalash

14. Well that's not how it works at all.

My history teacher told a class of future engineers that airplanes were only able to fly because they were built in a cross shape. You can imagine the laughter that ensued when they realized she was not joking.

martincoudron20

My favorite quote from the first course of "aerodynamics":

"In this class you will learn how the air reacts against the different forms of wings, hull and general vehicle shapes. We will treat anything between biplanes and jumbo-jets. We will however not treat the helicopter, for all intents and purposes that's just witchcraft."

silentanthrx

13. We've been doing it wrong, guys.

Yes, some professors too.

Most memorable was my sex ed in Eastern Europe not so long after CCCP fell. According to my teacher, you climax because of temperature, thus rubbing your peepee makes you climax. Even as a kids we realized it's bullsh*t. Orgasm is a myth and sex is a sin anyway.

Allegedly, I've got good education by world's standards. If that is true, I'm afraid to know how low the bar is set.

IUsedToHaveUsername

My sex ed teacher said that if we had sex before we turned 18, we would die :)

Asphyxiarts

12. Crazy math lady.

Holy f*ck I've needed this outlet. I had a teacher for my freshman year of high school. Now I know every student hates a teacher, but this was different. She was a math teacher, who accused everybody of cheating. I was in an honors class with my best friend and we were comparing answers on a packet that she graded and passed back. Me and him had similar answers, but different grades? On, for example, question 5. We would both answer A. Except he got it right. And I didn't. We asked her why and she just started screaming at us accusing us of cheating, even though the paper was already passed back.

This is only one instance. She took students papers away and trashed them for no reason time over time, and she seemed to target my friend. My friend had all A's, A strict mother who wouldn't accept anything below a B, and he is in my eyes, a genius. Our teacher treated him so sh!tty that he literally tried to kill himself because of the snowball effect of getting bad grades and and his mom treating him badly.

Not to mention, she thinks she is a wizard and threatened to get her wand on us. She sat on 2 chairs because she was so large that 1 wasn't enough. And her students once made a petition to get rid of her.

Sorry if i sound like I'm rambling. I'm using this thread to rant.

Asphyxiarts

..She thinks she is a witch, is too fat, and is unreasonably unfair?Do you have Dolores Umbridge as a teacher?

Angry10

No joke, she has a poster on her wall of her photoshopped with the cast of Harry Potter

Asphyxiarts

11. He seems nice.

Took some entry histories G.E. course my first year of college. The first words out of the "professors" mouth was "I know this is an entry history course most of you are taking as a requirement for another field... but I'm going to make this course so difficult, most if not all of you are going to fail or drop out"... Yeah, I walked out and signed up for a different history course to satisfy the requirement, got an A.

HyperHamster

Some professors say this on the first day to scare off lazy students, but don't actually follow through with the threat. I had one professor who said something similar on the first day, the next class he looked around the room, took stock of how many students didn't show up and said, "This is a more manageable class size".

mucow

10. When teacher isn't as smart as you, and they hate it.

I am not a teenager and I generally don't hold grudges, but this is a grudge I've held my whole life. I will never forgive my 5th grade math teacher.

We weren't allowed to use calculators on our homework at this school and I had this absolute dictator of a math teacher. We generally had to show all our work unless it was obvious. On one of the homework, 992 had to be calculated and I thought that was sufficiently obvious (100*99 - 99) so I didn't show that part of the problem I just wrote it down. She said "no one could possibly do that in their head" and gave me a 0 on the homework. Absolutely wouldn't discuss it or listen to reason.

Same teacher gave us a puzzle out of a magazine. A friend and I solved it together, and once you had the answer it was trivial to show you had the right answer. This woman looked at it and said "that's wrong, I don't know how it's wrong but I couldn't solve the puzzle so there's no way a couple of 5th graders could"

Same teacher ended up being my bio teacher. We had to make cell drawings, I'm sure that's really common, but I put an enormous amount of work into mine. It was super detailed and well labeled. She gave me a 0 for "not using color which demonstrated that you didn't care"

I hate her.

PurpleDevilDuckies

My 10th grade biology teacher was awesome, but when we had to do cell drawings we had to have label what color we used for what parts.

After I turned mine in later that day he saw me in the hallway and pulled me aside and asked why I didn't tell him about my color problem. I was confused and said "look I know I didn't stay within all the lines but it shouldn't be a problem right?"

He looked more confused than I was and said "no, that's fine. I'm talking about your colorblindness." Next class he had everyone do colorblind tests and talked about that.

the_keymaster_

Lol that moment when you realize you're about to tell a young adult they are colorblind.

PurpleDevilDuckies

9. This is a problem.

My history teacher doesn't believe in the Moon landings.

Sharpshot079

My brother had a human geography teacher that was a Flat Earther.

DreamsOfCleanTeeth

8. Only working when the boss is looking...

She wasn't dumb but she never liked to teach. She literally slept during lecture. She only gave tons of homework and didn't even teach how it's done.

But when our principal used to come to check, she used to suddenly start acting like she was the best teacher ever so that she doesn't get fired.

That way even we couldn't make any complaints. Good I finished my school.

The_Good_Username

Sounds like a pretty average Redditor tbh.

Seriously though, why would she pick/stay in education as a career when you can make 3 times the money looking at memes all day in an office?

RealJohnLennon

7. Might wanna speak the language you're teaching...

At least five times! I wouldn't call them dumb, just not "professional enough?" Substitutes don't count I assume, but every English teacher I've had, except for one, didn't speak English properly?? (I'm in a french province of Canada) I always end up being praised for being bilingual but like.. you studied in this.. in university.. my third English teacher once asked me to stay after class to read a letter she wrote for a retiring coworker (in English) to check if there were any mistakes??? That honestly made me laugh afterwards. We hardly learn anything in English, most of the time, it's just french story telling and talking.. good job.

justaamermaid

I had a French teacher that didn't speak French.

And another that couldn't control the class so she handed out French crossword puzzles and word searches. She was such a sweet nice teacher but that class was awful and I was so glad when I got out of it. It was grade 7 so we were together for all subjects. The history teacher got fed up at the class failing his tests (they were a bit bullsh*t tbf, asking for minute details instead of what impact they had) that he just started giving out the answers for the test for you to memorize. Then when that didn't work, giving out the answers AND having the option for open book tests for a 60%.

JPong

6. Climate denial dooms us all.

In my freshman year of high school, my chem teacher went on maternity leave, and the long term sub was nothing short of a dumbass. Not only did he not know half the material he needed to teach, he spent an entire 80 minute class period once lecturing us on why global warming isn't real.

Edit: this teacher taught us through some amateur tutor's YouTube channel for a good 50% of the course.

Edit 2: Just to clarify, this guy was a retired physics and chemistry teacher who was certified and had experience teaching the subject, there's not really an excuse for his cluelessness.

logan630

This year, during the first two months of the school year, my AP calc teacher had to be on a leave due to an injury. The replacement sub was a straight dumbass. Dude did not know what he was talking about, confused the living f*ck out of so many easy early concepts, and couldn't even do basic differentiation questions right. Add that to his daily rants about using online websites. His lectures composed of showing us the textbook for five seconds on the projector. I was so confused in that class by the time the real teacher came back. Thankfully, she isn't an idiot, so I didn't fail out. But damn, that guy SHOULD NOT be a long term sub.

randomperson4464

5. Uh, what?

My history teacher argued with me for about an hour, he was teaching us WW2.

He was saying that Japan never took part.

English education system in a nutshell people.

Ghostboi72

I had an English teacher who was absurdly sheltered and dumb. She was in her 60s and I think she had no contact with the outside world. This was a college level ESL (English as a second language) class. English is not my first language but I was already fluent by then.

She was teaching us business jargon one day and she said a Multiplex was a cinema room with a screen on each wall (yes really) and you sat at a table and you could turn around and watch whatever movie you wanted.

Predictably everyone started talking at the same time and saying that was not how a Multiplex worked and she kept denying it. We asked her how would you deal with the different soundtracks, and if you had to pay for 4 tickets, and she said she didn't know, she'd never been to one but that's how they worked. I guess you could wear headphones...?

She got really mad and ended up walking out of the class. She complained to the dean and we all got told off for questioning a teacher (yes really). I tuned out her voice for the rest of the year and just read books.

Edit: her English was also pretty awful. Lots of syntax mistakes. I have no idea how she got the job.

cherrytarts

4. The bison hunted *themselves* to extinction.

Not a teenager, but my college history professor told us all American Indians were vegan because they understood that killing animals was wrong.

WrestlingWoo

You mean the ones that literally wear animal skin?

BlueRockStar

Those are the ones. At the same college i took part in an archaeological dig at a woodland Indian site. It was an old village site so lots of menial everyday things were found. Like pieces of pottery, hearthstones, grinding stones, FISH HOOKS! annnnd BURNED ANIMAL BONES.

WrestlingWoo

3. This guy's definitely not a predator, nope.

Just yesterday we started the reproductive unit and my biology teacher literally said that it's impossible to get pregnant if you don't give him consent.

35364461a

2. Sigh.

One of my first days at my new school, our year 5 teacher was reading Treasure Island to us and one of the characters had a Sabre cut scar on his face. She said that it was from a Sabre tooth tiger. I piped up and said something like "that's nonsense Sabre tooth tigers are extinct."

Her response: "Treasure Island was written a long time ago."

jwplato

I don't even have a joke, just, stop letting these people teach our children.

Think I got one. She's so old, her cat is a Sabre tooth tiger... I got nothing else.

ElementLeonpiper

1. This is peak Indiana.

My 7th grade social studies teacher (public school, Indiana) asserted that Mahatma Gandhi was a Christian who converted from Islam.

I didn't even bother to try and correct her, crazy sh*t like this came out of her mouth almost every day and I got sick of trying to address it because the principals didn't care either. She also had a large nativity scene on her desk that took up over a 3rd of it.

Welcome to Indiana, where incompetent teaching & religious proselytizing go hand in hand.

chicaho79

My 7th grade social studies teacher in Indiana had a mirror at a low point on his desk that we realized he was using to look up skirts. We also gave him an industrial sized jar of peanut butter that he ate with a spoon over the course of the year. I have endless stories about this man.

reneegayde

From Your Site Articles
students

Old Wives' Tales People Still Believe For Some Reason

"Reddit user the_spring_goddess asked: 'What is an old wives tale that people still believe?'"

Close up of an owl tilting their head to side, looking bewildered
Photo by Josh Mills

The old wives' tales.

They are the stories of legend.

I think we all need a big DEEP Google dive though.

Where did they originate?

WHO ARE THE OLD WIVES!

You don't hear about them as much anymore.

It's like science and logic are suddenly a thing.

But they sure are a good way to keep your kids and their behavior in line.

Redditor the_spring_goddess wanted to discuss the tall tales we've all been fed through life, so they asked:

"What is an old wives tale that people still believe?"

"Wait an hour to swim after eating."

What a crock!

So many summer hours wasted.

I want revenge for that one.

Say Nothing

Giphy

"An undercover cop has to tell you he's a cop if you ask him."

LonelyMail5115

"Pretty much most advice when it comes to cops are old wives tales. I’m not even a cop but most of the advice you hear is pretty off."

I_AM_AN_A**HOLE_AMA

Say Something

"That you have to wait 24 hours to report someone missing."

Severe_Airport1426

"I really think this one is important and should be the top regardless. As it’s a piece of advice that needs to be relearned and the only way to do that is through awareness."

crappycurtains

"This used to be true. I think they changed it after some guy named Brandon went missing back in the '80s or '70s. You used to have to wait 24 hours if the missing person was an adult because they had 'a right to be missing' and then everyone realized that was stupid and stopped doing it."

AlbinoShavedGorilla

Body Temps

"That drinking ice cold water after eating oily foods will solidify the oil and permanently remain in your body. I informed my coworker that if your body temperature ever reached that point, you’d have bigger problems than weight gain."

chriseo22

"Oh, I have a cousin who 100% believed this. One of those guys who believed every early 2000s internet rumor and old wives tale. One night I chugged a big glass of ice water after dinner and he started freaking out and saying my guts were gonna harden."

"I sarcastically told him to drive me to the hospital if that happened. Obviously, nothing happened and the next morning I said something like 'Thanks for being on standby in case my guts filled with hardened oil.' He just walked off muttering under his breath."

apocalypticradish

Arms Down

"When I was pregnant, I was told by young and old alike that I should NOT raise my arms above my head or exert myself in such a manner because it could cause cord strangulation to my unborn sons and daughters."

Fatmouse84

10 Years Actually

Unimpressed Uh Huh GIF by Brooklyn Nine-Nine Giphy

"Chewing gum stays in your stomach for 7 years."

REDDIT

"I remember accidentally swallowing a piece of gum when I was a kid in like 1995 and just accepting my fate like welp, gonna have this in my stomach til high school I guess."

Gecko-911

I was so afraid to sallow my gum when I was young.

This tale is haunting.

High/Low

Hungry Debra Messing GIF by Will & Grace Giphy

"You can tell the sex of the baby by how you carry."

LeastFormal9366

"Pregnancy certainly wins awards for the most old wives tales. So much absolute BS was repeated to us by everyone we talked to."

IllIIIlIllIlIIlIllI

The Cursed

"If you’re a woman and you wear opal jewelry but opal is not your birthstone (October), you’ll never be able to have children, or will be widowed, or just generally have bad luck or something. You can counteract this by having a diamond in the same piece of jewelry as the opal, though."

"I have a nice opal ring that my parents gave me years ago, and I’ve had other women give me this 'advice' unprompted more than once when I’ve worn it. I have absolutely no idea where it started, but I’m pretty sure this little chunk of silicate rock has no concept of what month I was born in, let alone of how my reproductive organs work."

SmoreOfBabylon

Stay In

"Going outside with wet hair will make you get pneumonia. Or an earache. Or maybe arthritis. Depends on which old wife you listen to."

"Jokes on them - I haven't blow-dried my hair in decades and usually leave the house with wet hair in the morning. On winter mornings, the tips of my hair get frozen. No ear infections or pneumonia or arthritis yet."

worldbound0514

Dreams and Facts

"You never make anyone up in your dreams you've seen everyone in your dreams somewhere else before and never make anyone up entirely."

"How would you possibly prove that to be true? My partner adamantly believes this and tells me this 'fact' whenever I have a dream about someone I've never met before."

mattshonestreddit

"My late wife used to tell me that before she met me she would have dreams of standing at an alter on her wedding day but could never see the guy's face, no matter how hard she tried. After meeting me the face was filled in with mine. Don't know if it's true but one of those things I like thinking of every now and then when I miss her."

Darthdemented

Cracked

Getting Ready Episode 2 GIF by The Office Giphy

"Some people still believe cracking knuckles causes arthritis."

Choice-Grapefruit-44

"There's a doctor (Donald Unger) that cracked his knuckles a couple of times a day for 60 years, but only on one hand, just to prove it. Both hands remained exactly the same."

MacyTmcterry

I love my knuckles.

Do you have any tall tales to add to the list? Let us know in the comments below.

old wives tales

People Who Wouldn't Quit Their Job If They Won The Lottery Explain What They Do

lottery tickets
Erik Mclean on Unsplash

A lot of workers daydream about some day winning the lottery and being able to say goodbye to their job.

Far too many workers are unhappy with their job duties, workplace dynamics or company culture.

But with a taste for luxuries like housing and food, they keep plugging away, year after year.

However not everyone feels that way about their job.

So what are these compelling careers?

Keep reading... Show less
work

People Break Down The Biggest Bombshells Their Therapist Ever Dropped On Them

Therapist talking during session
Photo by Mark Williams on Unsplash

Some people stand firmly stand behind their beliefs that everyone would benefit from therapy and that therapy is life-changing.

It's because of the totally life-changing truth bombs their therapist had dropped during their sessions.

Curious, Redditor anonymiss0018 asked:

"What is a little bombshell your therapist dropped in one of your sessions that completely changed your outlook?"

Communication Issues

"'If you don’t have these problems with any other person in your life, why do you think you’re the problematic person in this one?'"

- maggiebear

"I love this. I have a 'friend' who I always seem to run into misunderstandings with. Every time we had a conversation, it somehow turned into a debate even if it was me talking about my day. The conversations were never easy."

"I always evaluate myself first and take into consideration his critiques. He was very good at convincing me that I was contradicting myself or wasn't good at communicating my thoughts."

"I NEVER had this issue with ANYONE else in my life. I kept trying to figure out where the miscommunication was coming from. In the end, I just minimized contact and now I don't run into this issue."

- chobani_yo

"I read this quote somewhere once (and probably have it a bit wrong): 'It's a waste of time arguing with someone who is determined to misunderstand you.'"

- Reddit

Emotional Regulation

"'You can’t control your emotions, but you can control what you do with them.'"

"At the time, I was a young adult who had learned zero healthy emotional regulation skills (only suppression and shaming) growing up, so this blew my mind."

- lil_mermaid

Tough Relationships

"'It sounds to me like you are trying to convince yourself to stay with your girlfriend. I'm not so sure it should be so difficult.'"

"At the time he said this, I remember it was like he said, 'The earth is flat.' I thought he was crazy when he suggested relationships don't need to be difficult. But eventually, I started to realize I was trying to change myself to stay with this person rather than just being who I am."

"It took me three more months to finally break up with her but from that day on, I vowed to never again abandon myself just to be with someone I had convinced myself was better than me."

- metric88

High-Stress Situation

"I was at a high-stress time, and I asked her how people live like this."

"She replied, 'Oftentimes they have cardiac events.' She said it as an urging to care for myself as much as possible."

- KittenGr8r

The End of Alcohol

"I was struggling with my alcoholism, and we were discussing how I had been cutting back."

"She asked what I would consider success, with regard to my drinking."

"I said I wanted to get to a point where it wasn't interfering with my daily life. I wanted to just be able to have a glass of wine at holiday dinners or family gatherings."

"She simply asked me why. Why was it important for me to drink at those times?"

"It was as if she'd turned on a light. Alcohol had always been a key ingredient in every family function, for my entire life. When I smell bourbon, I think of my uncle. When I smell vermouth, I think of my dad. Alcohol ran through almost every happy childhood memory."

"But, even more than that, I was very afraid of the explanation I'd have to give when family and friends asked why I wasn't having a drink. I had tried to quit before but failed. What if I admitted my problem, only to fall off the wagon?"

"When she asked why I didn't want to completely quit, it was the first time I saw that last part of the big picture. I'd be willing to drink myself to death in order to avoid being scrutinized, or judged for possible future failures."

"That was the day I quit. I've been sober since May 6th, 2017. 2,407 days."

- sophies_wish

Acceptance vs. Enjoyment

"'Accepting something doesn’t mean you have to like it.'"

"That took away a lot of my inner conflicts about situations because I could accept a situation without expending energy internally fighting against the injustice of it."

- alibelloc

Emotionally Immature Parents

"You are not responsible for your parents' emotional wellbeing. They are independent adults who have been on this earth for many more years than you."

- SmokedPears

Not So Lazy

"'Why do you think you're lazy?' Then she listed off all the things she knows I'm doing for my family, my job, and my life."

"It kind of blew my mind when I struggled to come up with an example."

"She also described family dysfunction as water. Some families are messed up in a way that everyone can see the huge waves across the surface. Others are better at hiding it, but there's still a riptide that you can't see unless you're also in the water."

"It made me realize that trying to keep the surface from ever rippling doesn't erase what is happening underneath."

- flybyknight665

The Harm in People-Pleasing

"'Why do you make people more comfortable when you are uncomfortable?' when talking about people pleasing and fawning."

- ERsandwich

Agree to Disagree

"'Stop trying to get everyone to agree. When you need everyone to agree, the least agreeable person has all the power.'"

This really changed my outlook on planning family events."

- freef

Grieve and Start Anew

"For context, I had a major TBI (traumatic brain injury), seizures, strokes, and all around not a fun brain time when I was 28."

"They said, 'You have to grieve the loss of yourself.'"

"Most people wanted me to go back to how I was. The f**ked up truth is that part of my brain is dead. The person everyone (including myself) knew died. I needed to grieve the loss of myself."

- squeaktoy_la

Multifaceted Identity

"They told me that my job and career is just a way to make money; it's not my life or identity. That took a lot of pressure off me."

- unfairpegasus

Breaking the Cycle

"They validated me."

"'You always talk about not wanting to do to your daughters what your mom did to you. You worry about it so much in every interaction you have ever had with them."

"But your children are 19 and 21 now. They are happy and healthy and they trust you because you’ve never abused them in any way. So I just want to validate for you that you really have broken that cycle of violence."

"You did that. And you should be proud of it. I’m proud of you for it.'"

- puppsmcgee74

The Grieving Process

"I was constantly bringing up how I felt like a completely different person after my mom died... like there was a marked difference between before and after her death."

"But once, she was asking about my hobbies, I got really into describing all the things I loved to do or at least used to do before I got into a deep depression."

"She was like, 'Wow, you seem very passionate.'"

"And I just sat there like, 'Well, I mean, I can't change what I like to do, they're still fun to do.'"

"And it's like she knew when to take a step back, because it was like, wow, I may be super depressed about my mom passing, but I'm still me. I'm still my passions and those don't go away."

"I don't know, maybe it only makes sense to be, but it really started getting me back on track."

- Hannibal680

Sharing the Load

"I've never really had friends. I've had colleagues and classmates and housemates and people who have hung out with me, but I never really felt close to any of them."

"And I did that thing you see on here sometimes; I stopped reaching out to see if I would be reached out to, and I wasn't, which I took as confirmation that they didn't really want me around, or at the very least, that they wouldn't mind my absence."

"I was talking to my therapist about people I'd been close to in college, and she told me to pick one and talk about him. So I did. After I shared some basic stuff like his name and his major etc., and a couple of anecdotes, she asked me what else I knew about him."

"And I couldn't answer. It wasn't really a broadly applicable bombshell, but she said, 'What else?' and I started crying because I realized that for as simple as the question was, my inability to answer spoke volumes."

"I've never had good friends because I've never been a good friend. I'm withdrawn and reserved and I always made others do the work to drag me out, without ever extending my own friendship in a meaningful way in return. If I wanted to have meaningful relationships with other people, I would have to build them."

"I'm still working on this, but I'm trying to make more offers and extend more friendliness to others in my daily life."

- Backupusername

The discoveries in this thread were incredibly touching and profound; it's no wonder these were lasting concepts for these Redditors.

It's important to keep ourselves open to inspiration and insights from others, as we have no idea how their experiences could help us, or how we could help them.

therapy

People Describe The Most 'Small Town' Thing They've Ever Witnessed

Aerial view of a church in a small town
Sander Weeteling/Unsplash

There's something comforting about living in a small town.

It's characterized by close communities where neighbors know each other by name and there is an abundance of kindness extended to others.

Gift-giving is a commonality, as is the sharing of recipes, and people going out of their way to help each other in a time of need.

The pace of living in small towns is also a striking contradiction to city life, where crowds of people go about their busy lives without much interaction.

Curious to hear more examples of what small town living is like, Redditor official_biz asked:

"What's the most 'small town' thing you've witnessed?"

These are positive examples of a tight-knit community.

Live Updates

"We have a village Facebook page. Every time the ice cream man drives into the village, the entire page goes ballistic. People send live updates of where the van is and which direction he's heading. The ice cream man has started accepting DMs so he knows which streets to go down."

– PyrrhuraMolinae

Brush With The Law

"I’m from a town of less than 2,000 people. When I worked at the grocery store there people would often drop off stuff for my family members because they didn’t want to drive all the way down to our house. I no longer live there but recently got a call from my daughter. She had been stopped for speeding and handed over her license and insurance which happens to be in my mother’s name. The officer goes 'Hey, you’re Donnie’s granddaughter! I ain’t gonna write you a ticket but I’m telling Donnie when I see him tomorrow cause we’re going fishing.' She replied 'I think I’d rather have the ticket.'”

- Reddit

Roadside Catchup

"The traffic on the 'main street' of my town is so sparse, two drivers going opposite directions can stop and talk to each other for a few minutes without causing any problem."

– anon

When things go wrong, people take notice without incident.

Bank Robbery

"A guy robbed a bank and everyone knew immediately who he was and the teller got mad at him."

– AlexRyang

"A local bank was robbed and one of the tellers told the police to bring her a yearbook from about ten years earlier and she would be able to point the robber out. He had been in the grade before hers in school."

– Strict_Condition_632

Wise Woman

"When I worked at the bank in town there was an older lady that had worked there through 5 mergers."

"She knew everyone, there was a young guy yelling at me one day. She walked out of the back and he immediately quieted. She went off about telling his grandmother that he was treating young women like sh*t. She also said that if he didn’t straighten up not one girl in town would ever marry him she would make sure of it."

– ilurvekittens

Intoxicated Local

"Town drunk was paralyzed and used a motorized wheelchair to get around. I was driving home one Saturday night and said town drunk was passed out in his wheelchair doing circles almost directly in the town square. Had to call his brother who came and picked him up on a rollback truck. Strapped him down and drove off into the cold dark night."

– DoodooExplosion

Grazing Over To The Bar

"In my former small town, there was an older guy who'd lost his license after getting a few DUIs. Every day, he would ride his John Deere lawnmower to the corner bar around 3PM and sit around watching TV and sipping his beer well into the night. Then he'd head the couple miles back home on his mower. He even had a little canvass shell he put on when it rained or got too cold."

– brown_pleated_slacks

It's not surprising how small town people behave differently than those who are from metropolitan areas.

Welcoming Committee

"I lived in a small town. When I moved there, people would ask, 'Whose house did you buy?'"

–MoonieNine

"Move to a small town. 30 years later, you are still the new guy."

– impiousdrifter

"I lived in a small town for most of my childhood but I wasn't "from there" because my grandparents weren't from there."

– raisinghellwithtrees

"Worked with an older guy, relative of the owner of the business, he was 73. I asked him if he was a local, he said 'no his parents moved here when he was two.'"

– realneil

A Busy Day

"Lived in a town of about 5,000: A woman walked into the DMV on a Friday, saw that there were 3 people ahead of her and left to come back another time when they weren't so busy."

– KenmoreToast

Who Let The Dogs Out?

"My dogs got out while i was working. the police called my niece's elementary school (she was a 5th grader) to get her to round them up and take them back home."

– mediocrelpn

"There was a small kennel behind the police station for runaways. They called us saying they had our dog, and moments later our dog showed up home. He broke out of jail."

– Worried_Place_917

While life in a small town sounds appealing, I don't know if I can ever live in one.

I'm so used to life in big cities, I think it would be quite unnerving to adjust in a neighborhood where everyone literally knows your business.

I would be paranoid.

And I'm sure the same could be said of life in the big city.

Would you consider making the switch to life in a different setting?

living