Escape Rooms are essentially those early 90s point-and-click computer games come to life. You need to possess innovation, creativity, and a lot of ingenuity to find your way out. There are only so many different ways you can figure out how to get that obviously fake phone open so you can retrieve key #3 of 14. Unfortunately, not every idea is a good idea, and many can lead to disaster.
Reddit user, u/RelevantDonkey, wanted to hear:
Redditors who've worked in escape rooms, what's the stupidest thing a person has done trying to solve the puzzle?
Maybe Let's Not Use First Names....
We used to set up rooms for engagements and with each clue we would put in a message. Usually the messages were basic 'would you marry me' type lines.
However, one day a man decided to start the message with his girlfriends first name. She found the clue and freaked out. Starting ripping stuff off the wall, throwing things and shouting down the cameras that we were stalkers and demanding to know why her name was there.
Had to evacuate them both and he never ended up proposing.
It turns out she was super high whilst in the escape room and her paranoia kicked in. But at the time it was mad to watch.
If It's Glued, Just Leave It There
I started as a prop builder/repair guy at one a few months ago so thank you dumbos for the job security but the answer is never under the wallpaper stop tearing the f**king wallpaper down
When It's Your Fault
There was a 4 number lock next to a book case and a person was messing around with it for 15 minutes, trying 0001, 0002 ect., and I wrote "trying brute force?"
They saw the message and then shoulder rammed the book case open. They completely ripped the door frame out and then told my boss that I said to do that.
If It's Stuck, It's Stuck
Honestly, people ripping up parts that are purposefully glued or nailed down, it wrecks the scenery and the story for everyone else, and sometimes if they destroy or steal clues they leave the whole mystery even if it's easy, completely unsolvable.
We Were The Dummies...
GiphyAll the clues in mine had to do with a light. So we all started agreeing we needed to dismantle the ceiling light.
A note came under the door saying "don't"
It Was On Hinges...Seriously...
Some moron decided to fbi kick down a door that was the entrance.
He broke the door.
Anything In The Room Is Fair Game, Right?
One of our maintenance contractors left a DeWalt cordless drill on a bookshelf in one of the rooms. No one noticed it for 3 or 4 rounds until one guy found it and came to the conclusion that he was supposed to drill out the locks on the door.
The best part was the drill didn't have an actual drill bit in it, it was one of those bits you use to put screws in so he was basically trying to drill out a steel lock with a screwdriver.
Every Rule Has A Beginning
A local school was hosting one for a few years and my SO volunteered. Families would come in and try to work together to get out of a classroom or lab. As it progressed, new things were added to his opening speech for obvious reasons. These are a few he remembers:
-Dont stick metal objects in wall sockets
-Dont mess with the ceiling lights
-Dont climb on eachother or on desks
-Dont put anything in your mouth
-Dont drink any liquids you find. They are there for decoration
-Dont break anything
These are all obvious, but people had to do it for them to give it special mention.
But In The End, Wasn't He Victorious?
It was a friday evening so you know where this might go. Anyway we had a bunch of drunk college kids and one of them clearly had a few too many. After about 20 minutes of them arguing and yelling at each other the most intoxicated one thought it would be a great idea to drop his pants and sh-t on the floor.
He cheered while he was getting dragged out because the thought he "won".
Too Smart For Our Own Good
I was not the worker but the player. Went with my uncle aunt and younger sister. The theme was like a super smart tech dude had passed and we had to find the password to the computer in the room and also find the floppy disk that held the files needed to escape. We searched and my uncle works in IT, so we had the binary code and the Morse code puzzles down. We found everything and logged into the computer but couldn't find the files.
My uncle rebooted the computer with the floppy disk four times before we ran out of time. Turns out we didn't need to reboot the old pc with the floppy, we just had to look at the floppy disk name and find the corresponding file on the computer. The employees gave us the win any ways because all we had to do was open the file to complete the room.
Not Sure How That Would Help...
A man pissed in a jar with a fake brain in it because he was drunk.
Didn't help in any way.
A Mess To Success
Good God, I volunteer at a local escape room, hoping to get a job there, and I have seen some sh-t. One of our rooms is a fantasy themed escape room, and in one of the areas there is a cauldron filled with brimming water, with a machine that causes steam to be released.
One group thought that the cauldron was a clue, and emptied the whole thing on the floor.
Not The Key. NOT THE KEY.
One time somebody managed to somehow shut down the electricity for the entire building. That was nice.
People always, always think you're double-bluffing, even when you make it very clear you're not. We used to have two keys in a room, one that opened a window and one that opened the door. The window key specifically said "window key - DO NOT USE IN DOOR" because the window key would jam the door lock. This was ignored roughly 80% of the time.
Right Idea, Wrong Execution
Oh perfect one for me! So our escape room was classroom themed and there was a puzzle where you needed to use a barrel of monkeys (which we lay out as a hint) to hook a key out of a box to open a closet. Well this family had the genius idea of throwing the individual monkeys at the key from above instead of connecting them, even after I gave them multiple hints.
They didn't make it into the closet.
*face palm
Been working at one for two years. You get a lot of standard people-breaking-sh-t and stuff like that, but my personal favourite dumbf-ckery was when a couple were working on a clue that required converting numbers into letters of the alphabet.
To promt them along, i asked them "What is the fifteenth letter of the alphabet?"
This girl turned around with pure, utter disgust on her face and said "There's not even fifteen letters in the f-cking alphabet!"
They didn't make it out.
Naked Door Pounding
Escape room employee here, I've only been at the shop for a few months but here's a few of my co-workers favorite experiences...
The escape room I work at is all horror themed, one guest came in asking if it was a haunted house. We explained to her that no, we are a horror themed escape room and gave her the whole spiel about how escape rooms work. She ended up going into our most advanced room even though being recommended the beginner one. She sat in one of the chairs in the room texting the whole time, didn't touch or look for any puzzles. When her time was up she said that we were the worst haunted house she has been to and left us a 1 star review on google.
Another time a couple got about 70% of the way though the escape room and decided 'f-ck it' and just took off their clothes and started banging on the floor... when my coworker went to kick them out the just said "Sorry, we didn't realize you had cameras in the rooms."
Lastly the amount of lighters I have to confiscate is ridiculous. You are locked in a small space some rooms are full of fabric. Don't use your lighter. I don't want to be responsible from saving you from a fire.
Again With The Lights?
Not a worker, but the first time my Girl Scout troop and I ever did an escape room, we were three steps off finishing when we ran out of time. The first thing the employee did when he came into the room?
Turn the lights on. We didn't know we were allowed to do that.
Plug =/= Key
GiphyI went to one once where they informed us on the way in "You will find keys. They go in padlocks. The outlets on the wall are REAL and not hidden locks. For the love of god, please do not stick keys in them."
What's the dumbest thing you've ever seen in an escape room? Let us know!
Experiencing death is a fascinating and frightening idea.
Who doesn't want to know what is waiting for us on the other side?
But so many of us want to know and then come back and live a little longer.
It would be so great to be sure there is something else.
But the whole dying part is not that great, so we'll have to rely on other people's accounts.
Redditor AlaskaStiletto wanted to hear from everyone who has returned to life, so they asked:
"Redditors who have 'died' and come back to life, what did you see?"
Sensations
Happy Good Vibes GIF by Major League SoccerGiphy"My dad's heart stopped when he had a heart attack and he had to be brought back to life. He kept the paper copy of the heart monitor which shows he flatlined. He said he felt an overwhelming sensation of peace, like nothing he had felt before."
PeachesnPain
Recovery
"I had surgical complications in 2010 that caused a great deal of blood loss. As a result, I had extremely low blood pressure and could barely stay awake. I remember feeling like I was surrounded by loved ones who had passed. They were in a circle around me and I knew they were there to guide me onwards. I told them I was not ready to go because my kids needed me and I came back."
"My nurse later said she was afraid she’d find me dead every time she came into the room."
"It took months, and blood transfusions, but I recovered."
good_golly99
Take Me Back
"Overwhelming peace and happiness. A bright airy and floating feeling. I live a very stressful life. Imagine finding out the person you have had a crush on reveals they have the same feelings for you and then you win the lotto later that day - that was the feeling I had."
"I never feared death afterward and am relieved when I hear of people dying after suffering from an illness."
rayrayrayray
Free
The Light Minnie GIF by (G)I-DLEGiphy"I had a heart surgery with near-death experience, for me at least (well the possibility that those effects are caused by morphine is also there) I just saw black and nothing else but it was warm and I had such inner peace, its weird as I sometimes still think about it and wish this feeling of being so light and free again."
TooReDTooHigh
This is why I hate surgery.
You just never know.
Shocked
Giphy"More of a near-death experience. I was electrocuted. I felt like I was in a deep hole looking straight up in the sky. My life flashed before me. Felt sad for my family, but I had a deep sense of peace."
Admirable_Buyer6528
The SOB
"Nursing in the ICU, we’ve had people try to die on us many times during the years, some successfully. One guy stood out to me. His heart stopped. We called a code, are working on him, and suddenly he comes to. We hadn’t vented him yet, so he was able to talk, and he started screaming, 'Don’t let them take me, don’t let them take me, they are coming,' he was scared and yelling."
"Then he yelled a little more, as we tried to calm him down, he screamed, 'No, No,' and gestured towards the end of the bed, and died again. We didn’t get him back. It was seriously creepy. We called his son to tell him the news, and the son said basically, 'Good, he was an SOB.'”
1-cupcake-at-a-time
Colors
"My sister died and said it was extremely peaceful. She said it was very loud like a train station and lots of talking and she was stuck in this area that was like a curtain with lots of beautiful colors (colors that you don’t see in real life according to her) a man told her 'He was sorry, but she had to go back as it wasn’t her time.'"
Hannah_LL7
"I had a really similar experience except I was in an endless garden with flowers that were colors I had never seen before. It was quiet and peaceful and a woman in a dress looked at me, shook her head, and just said 'Not yet.' As I was coming back, it was extremely loud, like everyone in the world was trying to talk all at once. It was all very disorienting but it changed my perspective on life!"
huntokarrr
The Fog
"I was in a gray fog with a girl who looked a lot like a young version of my grandmother (who was still alive) but dressed like a pioneer in the 1800s she didn't say anything but kept pulling me towards an opening in the wall. I kept refusing to go because I was so tired."
"I finally got tired of her nagging and went and that's when I came to. I had bled out during a c-section and my heart could not beat without blood. They had to deliver the baby and sew up the bleeders. refill me with blood before they could restart my heart so, like, at least 12 minutes gone."
Fluffy-Hotel-5184
Through the Walls
"My spouse was dead for a couple of minutes one miserable night. She maintains that she saw nothing, but only heard people talking about her like through a wall. The only thing she remembers for absolute certain was begging an ER nurse that she didn't want to die."
"She's quite alive and well today."
Hot-Refrigerator6583
Well let's all be happy to be alive.
It seems to be all we have.
Trying to lose weight is a struggle understood by many people regardless of size.
The goal of reaching a healthy weight may seem unattainable, but with diet and exercise, it can pay off through persistence and discipline.
Seeing the pounds gradually drop off can also be a great motivator and incentivize people to stay the course.
Those who've achieved their respective weight goals shared their experiences when Redditor apprenti8455 asked:
"People who lost a lot of weight, what surprises you the most now?"
Redditors didn't see these coming.
Shiver Me Timbers
"I’m always cold now!"
– Telrom_1
"I had a coworker lose over 130 pounds five or six years ago. I’ve never seen him without a jacket on since."
– r7ndom
"140 lbs lost here starting just before COVID, I feel like that little old lady that's always cold, damn this top comment was on point lmao."
– mr_remy
Drawing Concern
"I lost 100 pounds over a year and a half but since I’m old(70’s) it seems few people comment on it because (I think) they think I’m wasting away from some terminal illness."
– dee-fondy
"Congrats on the weight loss! It’s honestly a real accomplishment 🙂"
"Working in oncology, I can never comment on someone’s weight loss unless I specifically know it was on purpose, regardless of their age. I think it kind of ruffles feathers at times, but like I don’t want to congratulate someone for having cancer or something. It’s a weird place to be in."
– LizardofDeath
Unleashing Insults
"I remember when I lost the first big chunk of weight (around 50 lbs) it was like it gave some people license to talk sh*t about the 'old' me. Old coworkers, friends, made a lot of not just negative, but harsh comments about what I used to look like. One person I met after the big loss saw a picture of me prior and said, 'Wow, we wouldn’t even be friends!'”
"It wasn’t extremely common, but I was a little alarmed by some of the attention. My weight has been up and down since then, but every time I gain a little it gets me a little down thinking about those things people said."
– alanamablamaspama
Not Everything Goes After Losing Weight
"The loose skin is a bit unexpected."
– KeltarCentauri
"I haven’t experienced it myself, but surgery to remove skin takes a long time to recover. Longer than bariatric surgery and usually isn’t covered by insurance unless you have both."
– KatMagic1977
"It definitely does take a long time to recover. My Dad dropped a little over 200 pounds a few years back and decided to go through with skin removal surgery to deal with the excess. His procedure was extensive, as in he had skin taken from just about every part of his body excluding his head, and he went through hell for weeks in recovery, and he was bedridden for a lot of it."
– Jaew96
These Redditors shared their pleasantly surprising experiences.
Shopping
"I can buy clothes in any store I want."
– WaySavvyD
"When I lost weight I was dying to go find cute, smaller clothes and I really struggled. As someone who had always been restricted to one or two stores that catered to plus-sized clothing, a full mall of shops with items in my size was daunting. Too many options and not enough knowledge of brands that were good vs cheap. I usually went home pretty frustrated."
– ganache98012
No More Symptoms
"Lost about 80 pounds in the past year and a half, biggest thing that I’ve noticed that I haven’t seen mentioned on here yet is my acid reflux and heartburn are basically gone. I used to be popping tums every couple hours and now they just sit in the medicine cabinet collecting dust."
– colleennicole93
Expanding Capabilities
"I'm all for not judging people by their appearance and I recognise that there are unhealthy, unachievable beauty standards, but one thing that is undeniable is that I can just do stuff now. Just stamina and flexibility alone are worth it, appearance is tertiary at best."
– Ramblonius
People Change Their Tune
"How much nicer people are to you."
"My feet weren't 'wide' they were 'fat.'"
– LiZZygsu
"Have to agree. Lost 220 lbs, people make eye contact and hold open doors and stuff"
"And on the foot thing, I also lost a full shoe size numerically and also wear regular width now 😅"
– awholedamngarden
It's gonna take some getting used to.
Bones Everywhere
"Having bones. Collarbones, wrist bones, knee bones, hip bones, ribs. I have so many bones sticking out everywhere and it’s weird as hell."
– Princess-Pancake-97
"I noticed the shadow of my ribs the other day and it threw me, there’s a whole skeleton in here."
– bekastrange
Knee Pillow
"Right?! And they’re so … pointy! Now I get why people sleep with pillows between their legs - the knee bones laying on top of each other (side sleeper here) is weird and jarring."
– snic2030
"I lost only 40 pounds within the last year or so. I’m struggling to relate to most of these comments as I feel like I just 'slimmed down' rather than dropped a ton. But wow, the pillow between the knees at night. YES! I can relate to this. I think a lot of my weight was in my thighs. I never needed to do this up until recently."
– Strongbad23
More Mobility
"I’ve lost 100 lbs since 2020. It’s a collection of little things that surprise me. For at least 10 years I couldn’t put on socks, or tie my shoes. I couldn’t bend over and pick something up. I couldn’t climb a ladder to fix something. Simple things like that I can do now that fascinate me."
"Edit: Some additional little things are sitting in a chair with arms, sitting in a booth in a restaurant, being able to shop in a normal store AND not needing to buy the biggest size there, being able to easily wipe my butt, and looking down and being able to see my penis."
– dma1965
People making significant changes, whether for mental or physical health, can surely find a newfound perspective on life.
But they can also discover different issues they never saw coming.
That being said, overcoming any challenge in life is laudable, especially if it leads to gaining confidence and ditching insecurities.