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I Just KNOW HE's Cheating: These Suspicious Partners Are Beyond Paranoid

I Just KNOW HE's Cheating: These Suspicious Partners Are Beyond Paranoid
Photo by Mario Heller on Unsplash

Relationships can be hard, especially in this era of online dating. It’s just so easy for people in relationships to peruse through their “other" options, or so it seems. This thinking can create paranoid partners who search for reasons of possible betrayal. There are times when the accusations seem to hold water, but it all drips out sooner or later. True or not, the innocent had nothing but their word against these truly ridiculous accusations.

1. A Favor For A Friend

My husband found a suspicious wrapper under the couch. He told me about it right away, but I was stumped—it definitely wasn’t from me. Then, it hit me. I went out with my friend who had crashed at our tiny apartment a few weeks before, and she told me that she slept with our other friend. I asked her where and when they slept together.

She told me it happened the night when they stayed at my place. I connected all the dots and wasn’t too thrilled that they’d done it on my couch. She spent the rest of the time talking about it, and she confirmed where the wrapper came from, which was relieving because I was going crazy wondering how it could have gotten under the couch.

SSOJ16

2. Number’s Up

Quarantine was weighing on us significantly. We argued about her having to approve everything I did. I thought it was controlling, and she always got emotional about it when challenged. Randomly, I started to get phone calls from the same local number I'd never seen before. The first time was at 1 am, which woke us up.

The second call was after a big argument, and I was in another room. She came to talk to me when the number called me again. I looked up the number and I was shocked at what I found—it was registered to a woman in her fifties. Immediately, the accusations started flying at me. I offered to call the number and have her speak to the woman.

But she told me that she wouldn’t believe anything because we could’ve “planned something out in advice.” So, I blocked the number while she watched me. We're in a better place now, and I still don't know who that person is that called me or who they thought they were calling.

Maker_Of_Tar

3. False Evidence

photo of bulb artwork Photo by AbsolutVision on Unsplash

I came home one day and before I could even step through the door, my girlfriend asked who Jill was. I didn’t know a Jill. Then she whipped out a surprising piece of "evidence"—she showed me a note with “Jill” and a phone number written on it. I was stumped and wracked my brain. Then I realized, that it wasn’t “Jill,” but “Till” that I wrote down. Someone had suggested him as a contact for my business.

All that drama because my writing was messy.

bicycletourist

4. See Through You

My boyfriend went through my phone and did not find any suspicious messages from other guys. The only conversations I had with other guys were about work. I thought that would be the end of it, but I was so wrong. He then thought that I was deleting all of my “secret” texts. I wasn’t cheating and I never deleted my text messages unless I ran out of memory. He never believed me, but it didn't matter anyway...

Because a few weeks later, I found out that he was cheating on me. I dumped him on the spot.

Sea-Biscotti

5. The Wave Of A Wand

My girl found mascara under the passenger seat of my car. She didn’t wear any makeup. We were just leaving our friend’s place when she asked me where it came from, but I honestly didn’t know. I knew I didn’t cheat, and she knew everyone who’d ever been in my car. I wasn’t defensive since I didn’t have anything to hide from her.

We didn’t talk for the rest of the two-hour ride home, and when we did, she distanced herself from me. I tried talking to her, but she said that she wanted space. So, I gave it to her. She was furiously texting everyone who had been in my car asking if it was theirs or their partner’s, but no one claimed it. Then I started getting messages—and I hit my breaking point.

They were from my friends, telling me to “Come clean,” and “Admit it,” and “How could you?” Clinging to my innocence, I went to sleep and shed a tear because there was nothing I could do to prove that I wasn’t cheating. In the morning, I made her talk to me so I could explain while she desperately waited for someone to claim it.

We talked for two hours and the entire time, she was flicking her eyes at my phone every few seconds to make sure I wasn’t asking anyone to claim it. By the end of it, she believed me and apologized for how she acted. I wasn’t angry with her because I probably would’ve reacted the same way, but you never know until you’re in the moment.

A few days later, a friend texted her back claiming the mascara and apologizing for taking so long to reply. We saw the friend weekly, and it’d fallen out of her bag, which she’d put on the floor behind the passenger seat the last time we’d gone to lunch. But since we’d already resolved it, the text didn’t change much.

AddSomeSpice

6. Pants On Fire

woman in gray long-sleeved top sitting on chair near green leafed plant during daytime Photo by Gokil on Unsplash

My girlfriend found a slip of paper in my work pants with a woman's name and phone number on it. She asked me who "Cynthia" was, but I had no idea what she was talking about. Then, she handed me the paper. I was confused and just stared at it because I honestly had no idea. Surprisingly, after a lot of back and forth, we managed to move on from that, and three years later, we bought a new house.

While we were sitting on our couch, it suddenly dawned on me. Cynthia was a customer who had liked the necklace I was wearing, and I had told her that I’d gotten it while on a trip to Europe. She gave me her number so I could let her know the name of the jeweler. I was too naive to realize that Cynthia had actually been flirting with me.

I told my wife of my revelation and apologized since it’d looked like I was cheating on her. But I think my obliviousness was key enough because she did marry me and had never brought it up.

BearimusPrimal

7. I Knew It!

My ex-wife got it into her head that I was cheating because many of my friends were women. She was convinced that I’d banged all of them at one point and she even tried getting her mom involved. Thankfully, her mom told her she was being stupid. Then she went on my social media to scour for the smallest clues of any infidelity.

Her examples of “cheating” included me wishing a friend a happy birthday or chatting with friends from work. I had to go to Korea for a year, and she talked non-stop about my imaginary Korean girlfriend who I loved. So, I spent the year in Korea without my imaginary partner but I came back to a blood-boiling surprise—my ex-wife was sleeping with her boss.

Until the end, she justified her cheating by claiming I cheated. After that, my downward spiral began—she drained my bank accounts before initiating a divorce, and now she’s broke while I’m buying a house. Go figure!

360Entertainment

8. Doing Too Much

In my third year of studying computer engineering, my girlfriend broke up with me because all I did was “stay home and do homework.” Little did she know that the tables would soon turn on her. After the breakup, I learned that she was cheating on me with a guy who found out that she’d lied about her name. He found her on social media and then sent me screenshots of their conversations.

I realized that all of the texts she was getting while we were together were from him. Seven months later, she messaged me telling me how sorry she was, how much she regretted hurting me, and how she’d been through so much since our breakup. She said that she didn’t appreciate how great of a guy I was. I sent her, “k.”

DekuJago713

9. Accusing Excuses

man in black suit jacket Photo by Brock Wegner on Unsplash

My girlfriend was always accusing me of cheating. I slept in too late and didn’t send a good morning text to her at the very minute she had to leave for work, and apparently, that meant that I was guilty. Spent too much time with my parents? Definitely cheating. Talking to a life-long female friend whose husband plays video games with me on the weekends? “You’re cheating.”

Eventually, I couldn't take it anymore and I had to dump her—but my nightmare was just beginning. She followed me everywhere and made me get a restraining order. My therapist taught me how to set boundaries and she said what I did was healthy because: “When somebody is accusing you so much, you almost start to believe you are doing something terribly wrong.”

Luthos_

10. Fat Chance

A few months after a business trip to Las Vegas, my wife and I were hit with a surprise that changed our lives forever—we were both diagnosed with HIV. Everyone at the doctor’s office glared at me, and a few friends and family of ours who we told thought I had been cheating on her. My wife, however, just asked me once. I told her the truth, which was a definite no. That was good enough for her.

Then, after six weeks of tests, our doctors told us that both tests had been false positives. Apparently, we both got infected by the Coxsackie virus, which caused our lymph nodes to swell up to the size of softballs. Our friends and family admired how much we trusted each other. My wife explained, “He isn’t exactly a ladies’ man; never has been. He would chicken out before he ever slept with another woman.” She’s right though, so it didn’t hurt.

thisismycleanuser

11. Looked You Up

Just after we got married, my wife called me at work accusing me of having an affair. She was so upset that she just kept rambling on and she wouldn’t let me get a word in. There I was at work, sitting amongst my colleagues who were working quietly, yelling at her to shut up and listen. Another group manager came over to ask if I was okay because I was so loud.

Reality finally hit me, and I needed to get home as soon as I could to figure out what was happening. I came home to an absolute shock: My wife was having a full-blown crisis. A woman had approached her at the grocery store and told her that she was my girlfriend and that I had promised to meet her there to tell my wife that it was over. She knew personal details.

It was enough to convince my wife that I was having an affair. When I didn’t show up, she told my wife to call me and ask for herself. I explained to her that I’d been working over 50 hours a week with complete accountability for being at work every day and never away at night.

I didn’t have time to have an affair. I then brought up her ex-boyfriend who was an officer. He was still jealous that she’d left him for me, and she agreed that he would be capable to pull a stunt like that. So, we blamed him and moved on.

bluerockjam

12. What A Turnaround

a woman in a white shirt holding a stethoscope Photo by Alexandr Podvalny on Unsplash

I took a day off from work to drive across the state for medical tests because my insurance only covered one location. It took four hours to drive there, then a couple of hours for the tests, and then I got food with an old friend who had moved there, which took another hour or so. After all that, I set off for my four-hour drive back home.

While getting ready for bed, my girlfriend asked me a question that made my blood boil. She asked me how I got the marks on my back. I looked in the mirror and saw light red marks on my shoulder blades. She got upset about them, calling them “hickeys.” I was just as, if not more, confused than her and suggested that I might have sat wrong in my car or they came from the tests.

I also brought up that hickeys usually aren’t on shoulder blades. The conversation devolved from there with me trying to tell her how I should have more hickeys if I had been doing anything with someone and her screaming for me to admit that I had cheated. We lasted another week when I found out she was cheating on me.

PoetKing

13. Love My Bed And My Mama

When my wife and I first started dating, she let me know that she had trust issues from a previous relationship. Her ex-boyfriend was engaged to her and another woman at the same time and had chosen the other woman instead. So, one day, my mom called me, and we ended up talking for much longer than I had wanted. I didn't think anything of it—until my wife barged in and caught me completely off-guard.

My girlfriend flipped out after I hung up because it was 8 pm, but my mom lived in a different time zone. She told me that no one spoke to their mom that late. So, she checked my phone, and I showed her the call was from my mom’s landline. She calmed down, and we had a few other incidents.

But then, later on, she learned I liked D&D. Nerds don’t have time to cheat as it would take time away from hobbies. Plus, we’re happy that at least one person likes us and don’t want to mess that up.

CaptainShrubbery

14. Know What You Did

I learned that my boyfriend installed a key logger on my laptop. All he found was an old chat between me and a guy who I’d politely turned down. After I pointed out that he found no proof that I cheated, he went off about how I was never around or paid attention to him anymore, which was just as bad as cheating on him. But that's not even the worst part.

I had just lost my father a few months earlier. I hadn’t been around because between work and school, and I had to go back to my home to state to deal with his house and other affairs. I wanted to spend time with my family, and he had no consideration for my tough situation. I just threw the whole man out.

half_in_boxes

15. Have Another

empty chairs and tables inside lighte room Photo by QUI NGUYEN on Unsplash

I went to the bar where my boyfriend was a regular. I usually didn’t go, but one day, I randomly wanted to know what the fuss was all about. After we got there, he didn’t stay by me—instead, he wandered off socializing the whole time. Then things got really, really weird...he kept giving this random guy permission to hit on me. The guy kept asking if he was sure.

This happened for a while, and I politely declined each time. Then I decided to play along but did nothing physical. I was being playful since my man seemed to want me to be for whatever reason. Everything seemed fine. My boyfriend even acted like the guy’s best friend. And then the next day, he accused me of cheating!

I rolled my eyes and laughed about it. But he wasn’t joking. So, we had a big fight about his accusation. It was ridiculous.

Threnodyrose

16. Missing Something

My girlfriend grabbed my backpack and found a pair of black underwear at the bottom. After she presented it to me, I was stumped. The only thing that came to mind was when her sister showered in our washroom, or it could have been our nanny’s, but neither of them would fit the underwear. I left it because I had done nothing wrong.

Every few days, she brought it up, and I gave the same answer every time–I never did anything let alone disrespect the bed that we shared. Then, a few months later, we were spring cleaning and out of nowhere, she gasped—she found the matching bra from a set she had bought years before. I told her if she wore it more often, we’d recognize it better.

GrappleTackleChamp

17. Precious Time

When I started teaching, my school was over half an hour away from my house. I had to leave at 6 am because I led the orchestra and I had morning rehearsals at 7. The school day ended at 4, but it took time for the students to pick up their instruments or ask questions. Then at 4:30 pm, I locked up and left for home. By then, it was rush hour, so I got home around 5 or 6.

And on the weekend, I needed half a day to prepare for the next week’s lessons. We lived together, so he knew where I was and what I was doing. Yet, he had the most startling accusation—he said I worked too many hours, so that meant I was cheating on him. I dumped him.

Kariered

18. Too Close For Comfort

woman in gray tank top Photo by Gustavo Lanes on Unsplash

I was dating someone from work. He told me that another co-worker saw me “hugging and kissing a guy.” The third-hand description of the guy sounded like my dad who lived down the street, and he had visited me one day when I worked. In our culture, we greet each other with a hug and a kiss, and everyone knew he lived down the street. But there's more.

There was also a woman who worked with us that looked just like me from behind. We dressed alike too. But nope, he said I was “definitely cheating” because a co-worker saw me from behind hugging a guy. He did me a favor and made me realize that he and the work environment I was in were horrible.

thallomys

19. Where’s The Love

When I came back from college on the weekend to visit my girlfriend, she found a thong in my backseat that was obviously not her size. I just laughed and explained that my roommate’s sister visited, and I dropped her at the airport on my way back. It must have fallen out of her bag. She didn’t buy it but didn’t end us. Little did I know that she was the one up to no good.

The next time I stopped by her house, nobody was there. Her car was not there, her lights were off, and nobody answered the door. Then I called her cell phone, and she insisted that she was in her room watching TV and her car was in the driveway. I told her I was sitting in her empty driveway and looking at her window.

MyNameIsRay

20. Uncovering The Truth

I shaved my head, which my girlfriend thought made me look irresistible. You would think that's a good thing, but in her eyes, it wasn't—apparently, I did it because I was cheating and to score with other women. That's when I realized a dark truth—I found out that she only convinced me to grow my hair out to make me less attractive and help her anxiety. I hated my hair, which is why I shaved it.

But that's not even the worst part. I later found out that she cheated on me, and she'd done it with some random hitchhiker. I found his cheap sunglasses that she kept as a memento. She also had another guy on the side who bragged about how high school girls were “always barking up his tree.” He was an IT guy in his 20s. I knew all this about him because she’d introduced us…after they started hooking up!

FelDreamer

21. Brace Yourself

woman in white long sleeve shirt wearing silver and green beaded bracelet Photo by Max Ducourneau on Unsplash

After dating for a while, my girlfriend moved in with me. My sister came to let our dogs out when we were both at work. Without telling me, she put a broken bracelet on my nightstand so I could fix it for her. She thought I’d know just by seeing it. So, I got home from work and went to the basement to play video games.

When my girlfriend came home, she went to change into comfy clothes. Suddenly, I heard her yelling—and I knew it was about to go down. She came downstairs, showed me the bracelet, and I told her I didn’t know whose it was, forgetting that my sister had left it there just earlier. We got into a heated argument, and at one point she even started throwing things at me.

Eventually, my girlfriend went to her sister’s to cool off. I went back to my video games, confused about what had just happened. Then I remembered. I called my sister on the off chance that she’d left it. We laughed, and she called my girlfriend to explain. She came back home, and we laughed more.

Blue_OG_46

22. In-Furry-ating

I was home after being gone for a month on a business trip. I sat on the floor to pet our dog. Then, I got up to find my wife of two years. We hugged, kissed, and then she pulled back. Her next move took me completely aback–She took a long blonde hair off my suit jacket and I could see the anger blooming. When she started yelling, I pointed to our dog.

Cbelt3

23. Message Received

I’ve been working at restaurants and bars since I was 18. It was easy to meet a lot of people, so hooking up was common. In college, I started dating a girl I really liked. I saw a potential future with her, and she knew I wasn’t hooking up with anyone anymore. One month, life got busy, and we stopped being intimate. I was stressed and angry about it.

Once we were finally able to meet, I got a message on my phone alerting me of some shocking news— a recent partner of mine had apparently tested positive for STDs and I was being advised to get tested. By then, we had been together for almost a year. When she read the message, she freaked out, screamed at me, and broke up with me on the spot.

I didn’t even get a chance to explain. Three months later, I was catching up with my high school sweetheart and telling her about it. She laughed and apologized. She’d entered my name on a site that sent anonymous messages to ex-partners of potential STDs. By then, my ex had already moved on, so it was too late for me.

respectable_cook2

24. Asleep Accusations

a man with a beard Photo by Lance Reis on Unsplash

My ex was a super jealous marine. One time, his best friend came out to visit and we very much hit it off. He was really smart and a reader, and we discussed deep social and philosophical issues. My ex took four-hour naps in the middle of the day and was napping as per usual. His friend and I hung out and talked while he slept.

At this time, I was nine months pregnant. But after he woke up, his face was red with rage—he was convinced that we had hooked up. He had no evidence other than the fact that we had an opportunity and we must have taken it. Well, his friend and I laughed it off because we thought he was joking. Nope. For the rest of our marriage, he was convinced that we were having an affair.

LowThreadCountSheets

25. Thin Reasoning

I was dating a girl who I really liked for six months. She had mood swings, but sometimes I thought that she was just testing me to see how I would react. Once, she asked to borrow my vacuum cleaner, and I lent it to her. When she came back with it, her next move took me completely off-guard—she literally threw it through my window. Incredulously, I asked her why she did that.

She told me that she found a strand of blonde hair in the bag that was too long to be mine. We broke up. Three months later, I bumped into her with a friend who was blonde. I asked how long they’d known each other. They said for their whole lives. I turned to my ex and said, “I guess you found your blonde hair,” and walked away.

WolfThick

26. Eating Image

I was at work and my wife called. She told me that someone who knew me told someone who knew her that the previous Wednesday, I was seen having lunch with a beautiful young woman. I allegedly fawned all over this woman, and as we left, I kissed her and told her I loved her. Then we got into separate cars and drove away.

My wife was enraged. I was dumbfounded. There was no way I did this, but I didn’t know how to prove something that never happened. I was miserable the rest of the day. But just before leaving work, I came up with a genius way to prove my innocence—I called my wife and I came clean. Then, I asked her what she did for lunch that day.

Turns out, it was her who I had met for lunch. Let me tell you, her reaction was priceless. It was one of those rare times in our marriage when, for about two weeks, I was treated like a god.

Kelson64

27. Uh, Uh, Girlfriend

person holding blue Sony PS4 Dualshock 4 c Photo by Florian Gagnepain on Unsplash

An ex-co-worker and I became pretty good work friends. We’re video game nerds, so I texted him about it after work hours. Then, I found out his wife was the super jealous type. First, she accused him of cheating on her with me, but then she took her paranoia to the next level—she came to the office once just to look at me. It was so weird.

The next day, he told me they’d fought because apparently, I had slept with him. They fought so much about me that I stopped texting him after work hours; and during work hours, I only texted him about work. It got to the point where context didn’t matter–she was mad just at the mere fact that I was texting him. I tried to be friends with her to help ease her suspicions.

It didn't help. I didn't do anything wrong. He didn't do anything wrong. She’s just had major trust issues and always been that way, so he doesn't have many friends. He wanted to divorce her but stayed for the children.

Thatgrrrl117

28. Constantly Catastrophic

I had a rocky relationship with a girl who I dated in high school. We began our relationship after she cheated on her boyfriend with me. She didn’t have a good home life and she needed a lot from me. My mental health and grades plummeted because of this. Whenever I tried to focus on myself, she projected. Nothing was ever enough for her.

At all times, I had to tell her who I was with, where I was going, and for how long, or else she freaked out. She eventually accused me of cheating, but I had a rock-solid defense—I had a condition that gave me seizures, so I couldn’t even drive around to get lucky. We still broke up, and she spread a rumor that I’d been taking advantage of her. She also slept with two guys behind my back.

Apprehensive-Try-994

29. Choices, Choices, Choices

I’d been friends with Mike for years before he met Sally. She was jealous and didn’t like any time he hung out with any woman, even if she was there. He loved her, so didn’t set boundaries. Once, Mike was redecorating, so he invited me shopping so he could use my discount card. We went to the store, he chose new furniture, and then he dropped me off. When he got home, Sally accused him of cheating with me.

Another time, I invited Mike to my work event. My company was holding a snowboarding day for employees and their guests. We hit the slopes together each winter, which was why I asked him to be my guest. We drove up, spent the day on the slopes, and then he dropped me at home. That night, she blew things up to gargantuan proportions. Yelling and curse words aside, she told him she wasn’t comfortable with him being alone with me.

Then a few weeks later, Mike and I met up for a sports event when my husband was on a work trip. We attended, then we went our separate ways. When he got home, Sally gave him an ultimatum because she said she had evidence of us having an affair. Mike and my husband were best friends and they always talked, so this was doubtful. She pointed to the texts about my discount card, the free snowboarding day, and the sports event.

The time we spent hanging out and texting each other was apparently evidence that we were cheating. She told him that it was either her or me. Our friendship stopped existing after that.

sirmegsalot

30. Washed Up

woman in white shirt wearing silver necklace Photo by Amanda Hortiz on Unsplash

My husband’s therapist recommended he stop drinking for his mental health, but he didn't listen. He told everyone that he was sober, but I could see straight through his lie. Anyway, at one point, his ankle gave out and he ended up breaking our glass shower. He needed to get surgery on it, which sucked because he already had two surgeries on his ankle when he was a marine.

I brought him to the hospital where we spent the night. Later, when we came home, I started cleaning around the house and I found a necklace I didn't recognize. When I confronted him about it, his reaction made my blood boil—he accused me of putting it there and he denied cheating on me. I believed him and continued to be a good wife. I treated his many stitches on his back, butt, arms, and legs while working over 50 hours a week.

Two months later, I found out who owned the necklace—some girl was wearing it in a racy photo that was on his phone. I immediately left.

terrifiedofgolfcarts

31. Not A Big Deal

I used to come home after a 10-hour shift plus two hours of commute. In his eyes, being gone for half of the day of course meant that I was cheating on him. He would start accusing me if I was even just a couple of minutes late and hadn’t texted him ahead of time. If I didn’t say “I love you” enough times a day, he’d break down and start crying.

I broke up with him after I made a shocking discovery—he had tested positive for an STD, according to the test results I found in crumpled up in the trash. The first thing he told me when I got to the hospital was that he didn’t cheat. I then got tested and I didn’t have an STD; but at that point, we hadn’t been sleeping together much because I was in pain from what I know now as my autoimmune disease that he never believed I had.

On the few days that I wasn’t in pain, he’d beg and cry for us to do it, which turned me off instantly. But the cherry on top of it all? He wrote a break-up letter to me and referred to me as "J" in the entire thing. My name doesn’t start with a J...but his best friend’s name did.

doej0

32. The Truth Bro-Hold

My ex-husband left me after his friend told him that I was coming on to him and offered to sleep with him. It was far from the truth–I did not even like the guy, which I was I think he did it. Years later, after our son was born, my ex told me that two years after our divorce, he knew that his friend was lying to him.

happyhappy2986

33. Step One, Two, Three

woman in white sleeveless dress kissing man in blue dress shirt Photo by Long Truong on Unsplash

I’m a teacher and I like to be super involved in school events, so I volunteered to chaperone the prom. My wife always joked that I had no proof of going to school functions and that I probably had a secret family. Prom went on pretty late, and I was there making sure the parking lot cleared and everyone got home safe. Then I got a text.

One of the students who’d been at the dance was in a panic because she’d taken off her designer stilettos and forgotten them. She asked if I could look for them then bring them to school on Monday because she didn’t know what the venue would do with them. I found them easily enough–they were huge, sparkly, and gaudy.

I tossed them onto the passenger seat of my car and forgot about them when I got home. My wife asked me the next morning to borrow my car phone charger. I said yes and then passed her the keys. Less than a minute later, she came back in freaking out about the stilettos. I laughed and showed her the message on my phone.

ThePhiff

34. Multiple Suspects

My girlfriend and I rented a place together where I’d stay on the weekends because I worked miles away. During the week, I shared an apartment with my co-workers. One weekend, she found a pair of undies that did not belong to her. I told her the only explanation could be that they belonged to my roommate’s girlfriend.

I called him and described the undies. His girlfriend said they weren’t hers but she’d say they were if I wanted her to. I thanked them but I told my girlfriend the truth—I didn’t know where they came from. That was it. Upset, she tried getting a confession, but I had nothing to say. So, she ignored me for a few days...but she would soon laugh about the whole situation.

The truth eventually came out. Her friend had stayed over and dropped her underwear in our laundry bin and forgotten. She’d called a couple of weeks later asking about them.

ralmeida

35. Jumping Through Hoops

When I was in college, I had a boyfriend from “back home” who lived about an hour away. He didn’t like me going to college and he was always suspicious of who I was with. I always invited him down to the campus, but he never wanted to come. This resulted in me spending every weekend driving an hour north to stay with him.

On Halloween weekend, he finally agreed to come down to see me. My friends wanted to go to this party and I was invited. I think he didn’t want me to go, so I figured I would just bring him along with me. I was staying at a friend’s house as a temporary living situation, and the entrance to her duplex was very hard to see.

I told my boyfriend to call me when he was close so I could walk out to the street to direct him down the driveway. He texted me to say he was approaching, and I waited for the call but I never got one. Finally, I went outside, and my stomach dropped. I had terrible cell service in this area, so as soon as I did, I saw five missed calls from him.

Listening to his angry voicemails, he’d called because he couldn’t find the house where I was staying. I walked to the street then called him back. Immediately, he said that he had “heard everything I said” and that he “couldn’t believe I would do this.” I had no idea what he was talking about. I saw his car turn a block away.

I started waving my arms to get his attention while asking him on the phone what he was talking about. He told me the first house where he parked was having a gathering in their backyard behind a fence. He swore he could hear my voice telling some guy how I “hated my boyfriend but couldn’t think of a way to dump him.”

He said he even heard people addressing me by name. I was stunned and tried to reason that it did not make sense as he’d watched me walk out of the house to get his attention. It would’ve been impossible for me to have been there and then appear 30 seconds later at the actual house. But his lofty accusations didn't end there.

He then said I must have hopped over the fence and ran up the street to call him back. I didn’t know what to say as the claim was so ridiculous and physically impossible. We spent the entire night fighting, and he screamed at me so loudly that I broke down and cried so hard that I threw up. I stayed with him for six more months.

stoned_fox

36. Photographic Evidence

pumpkin -head Scarecrow decor Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

On Halloween night, I sent the guy I was seeing a picture of me and my openly gay friend who he had met on multiple occasions. He immediately got all sulky and quiet, then he proceeded to ghost me. I tried texting him over the next week trying to understand what happened but then realized it wasn’t worth trying to save us.

I ended up getting him on the phone about a week after. The call was civil but felt quite awkward. After a few minutes of small talk, I brought it up and asked what happened. His response shook me to my core. He said, “Well, you cheated on me. You literally sent me a picture of it.” I couldn't help but laugh. I explained to him that was my gay friend.

But he refused to believe me. I even texted my friend to ask if he remembered taking a selfie with me, and he said he did. I sent the conversation to the guy and only then did he believe me. I continued the conversation with my friend, and he told me he saw my ex hook up with another girl at another party the next day.

lophile

37. The Only Way

I went from a part-time position to full-time, and my income increased drastically. I had over 15 years of experience in my field, so it was justified...except to the guy I was seeing. To him, a pay raise meant that I was sleeping with someone because an assistant could never become a director without some kind of seductive means.

He brought up how I worked long hours when I was doing overtime when my colleague got sick. And the fact that I refused to break up all my friendships to only spend my time with him meant that I was sleeping with them or else I wouldn’t mind excluding them from my life. Ridiculous. Once, I had a six-hour choir rehearsal.

He knew about it in advance, and I sent him pictures of all of the cakes people brought for a break. But after, I couldn’t reply to him, and rehearsals lasted for hours. He instantly lost it. Apparently, my lack of replies meant that I was somewhere else sleeping with someone. Anything I did was cheating in his eyes—grocery shopping, seeing friends, going to parties.

After breaking up with him, I found out that he was projecting. He even planned to visit a festival with his sidepiece and me at the same time. I am still baffled how he would have tried to avoid her without me noticing. The two of us became friends after having an interesting conversation. That upset him the most.

feralheartHH

38. A Piece Of Work

I was in a group project for college with four guys. Everything was going fine, but one guy suddenly stopped messaging us back in our group chat two days before the project deadline. So, I messaged him privately to ask if he was getting our messages and sent some information from our project. It was all school-related.

All of a sudden, I got a startling message from his wife. She said I “should never be talking to a married man,” and she wanted to call me to “talk it out.” I just didn’t respond to her. She then removed me from the group chat, so I had to send the other three guys the messages so they could know what was happening and add me back.

When I was added back to the group chat, I just said, “Moving forward I will only communicate through this group chat. At this point, I want to just get the project done and will be putting 100% effort into it and expect everyone else to do the same.” I don’t even date men.

icedcoffeefs

39. Working It Out

five pairs of socks pinned on clothesline Photo by Christian Fickinger on Unsplash

Once, a co-worker sent me a text after we hung out with our kids. It said something about how I’d left the "monster sock" at her house. My ex assumed this was slang for something dirty—but the reality was far from that. It was actually my two-year-old’s sock with a cartoon monster on. She wasn’t having it. A few months later, the same co-worker and I were out of state for work.

I’d hidden the fact that the co-worker was also going because I was tired of being accused of being a cheater when I hadn’t done anything wrong. It was a just sign of our broken marriage. During the trip, about 20 of us went to dinner together. Someone took a picture, and I just so happened to be sitting next to the co-worker.

We were in the same division, which was how we were seated at the restaurant. Later that night, the co-worker had a breakdown at the bar because she said she missed her kids and was dealing with custody issues. She also drank a bit too much. Another co-worker and I called for a ride and took her back to sleep it off. First, she got car sick. Things started to spiral from there.

I threw her my jacket, into which she immediately vomited. I had to literally fireman carry this woman back and drop her off with our other female coworkers to make sure she got to bed without issues. My ex, again, didn’t want to hear it. The picture alone was the obvious proof she needed to believe I had, “cheated again.”

My ex caused such a mess for me at my work that I ended up turning down over $100,000 in bonuses to stay with her longer. She even went as far as to call all of my superiors to inform them that I was having an affair with that co-worker and that she had proof. She had railroaded my career as my superiors didn’t want the drama.

She also gave me the ultimatum: the job and divorce, or leave my job to “do the right thing for my family.” She told me she would seek full custody and move with the children. My job wasn’t very family-friendly, so I left the job and moved with her back across the country to try and make things work for my kids’ sake.

FCMB

40. The Night Is Young

When I was 23, I had plans to sleep at my partner’s place on Christmas Eve to spend time with her and her daughter. Prior to leaving my house to go there, the 12-year-old sister of my friend was texting me about a drawing she had made from an anime we both enjoyed. When I got to the house, I ignored my phone for the rest of the night.

I got up in the morning, and while my girl made breakfast, I checked my phone to go through all of the Christmas messages. She looked over my shoulder many times, saw me messaging the younger sister back, and jumped to the worst conclusion without context. I set my phone down to talk...but that was the wrong move.

To her, it looked shady. However, she looked the sister up on social media and apparently refused to take the age and family connection of my best friend into account. That relationship didn't work out in the end.

apexassassin247

41. Hat Trick

We had opposite work schedules–he worked overnight, and I worked during the day. Once while I was working, he sent me a picture of a hat asking me whose it was. I told him that I didn’t know and asked if it was his because he had so many. He sent back a snarky "no" and more questions while I was supposed to be working.

So, I sent the picture to my family since we’d had them over recently. No one claimed it. He’d found the hat in between our dog’s crate and the wall, which was odd. When I got home, it was bugging me because I had no idea whose it could be. I even sent a text to his mom asking if it could be her hat. Her reply was the key to my innocence.

It was her boyfriend’s. After she told me, she called my husband and let him have it for accusing me of bringing someone into our home while he was at work. He came home early from work with flowers and apologized profusely.

xo_Mia-Clare_xx

42. Third Strike

woman in black long sleeve shirt standing near brown wooden shelf Photo by Kelvin Han on Unsplash

I worked with a small group in a warehouse where we just talked all day. Every so often, I’d be talking with my girlfriend and I'd remember something a female co-worker told me. I wasn’t always bringing her up–it only happened a few times. But once, when my girlfriend and I were talking about lightning, I mentioned her again.

She’d said that lightning can make glass out of the sand if it hits the beach. My girlfriend freaked out and said that she’d told me that. I suggested that she might have told me over the years, but I didn’t remember and my co-worker had just mentioned it the other day. My girlfriend then took things to the next level—she accused me of cheating with my co-worker.

I told her that was ridiculous and if she accused me again, I’d break up with her. She did apologize to me later, but that relationship didn’t end well.

GimmeDatSideHug

43. Where Oh Where

I had an app that shared my location with my friends. I worked nights as a first responder, so I went to bed around 8 pm and I usually knocked out hard after a shift. It was a normal day–I went home, showered, texted my girl for a little, then fell asleep. My girlfriend was on the app and saw I was at a different address when I said I was going to sleep.

She called me when she knew I’d wake up, which she never did, and asked what I was doing at the other address. Confused, I asked her what she was talking about. She told me about my location on the map. That's when I shut her down so hard. My phone had probably pinged a tower further from my house and placed my location a mile away.

I wore a fitness tracker that showed that I went to sleep at the time I said I did and located me at my address. I still bring it up once in a while just to mess with her.

Throw-me-in-daTrash

44. Technically Mistaken

When we were first married, my wife and I got home from work around the same time. One evening, she came home earlier than me and found our home computer on without a screensaver. So, she assumed I had come home and just gone out again. She called and I told her I was running late at work and would be home in an hour.

When I got home, I couldn't believe how she reacted. She yelled at me for some time, calling me a liar and a cheat. While she did, she saw that the computer screen was still on even though it hadn’t been touched in over ten minutes. I had set up a game update before work, which froze the computer. It took a while for her to believe me though.

Aescorvo

45. What Goes Around

woman whispering on woman's ear while hands on lips Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

A good friend of mine informed me that my wife was having an affair with a guy from her work. His proof was that my wife, who was his wife's best friend, had told her "in confidence" that she was seeing this guy at work. I then did something I swore I'd never do—I took a look at her phone messages where I saw a whole bunch of messages between her and another friend from her work discussing the entire thing.

I confronted her and she explained how it was actually a "test" for the first friend as she suspected that she was gossiping about her to my wife's ex-husband (and the father of her child). She just neglected to tell me about her "genius" plan that she cooked up. Turns out, her friend was gossiping about her; but the problem was that now this "fake" secret actually made its way around town.

I had a conversation with the alleged affair guy and told him he better tell his wife outright that this had happened. The dumb “test” nearly cost two marriages and ended our friendship with them. I looked at my wife in a completely different light, but she didn’t see any problem with what she had done. She blamed her friend for telling her husband in the first place. We’re no longer together.

Djinjja-Ninja

46. All In Your Head

My husband had been behaving strangely for some time. My social life has always only been online, and most of my friends are men. It started with him worrying about me possibly having feelings for my friends because I’d smile at my phone whenever I was talking to them. I was suddenly defending myself almost full-time.

It seemed my new job in life was to constantly reassure him. And it got even worse—he was coming home early from work or lying about his shifts so he could come home hoping to “catch me in the act.” His behavior was never abusive in any way, but his paranoia definitely caused a massive rift in our relationship.

It was to the point where I was so tired of always having him look over my shoulder and checking on me when I wasn’t home that I was getting ready to leave him. I told him that straight up, and he asked me to stay, promising he'd seek help. He booked a marriage counselor who we saw for a year and a physician for a psychiatrist referral.

The doctor sent him for blood tests that showed a severe b12 deficiency, which caused extreme paranoia. True to his word, my husband worked on himself. He saw a therapist, we went to counseling together, and he took b12 supplements and anti-anxiety medication. I fell in love with him again and decided I wanted to stay.

VeryAwkwardLadyBoner

47. What’s The Game

My ex accused me of cheating with his best friend. I’d never been a cheater and I hate cheaters. He already knew that, so it was out of nowhere. Meanwhile, this stranger online was bothering me. He texted me constantly what I wore and did, came and messed with my house, threatened to hurt me, and even tried to blackmail me.

I didn’t give in. But then, things took a turn for the worst—the stranger got naughty pictures of my best friend, and he sent them to me from a fake account. The stranger said if I didn’t send naughty pictures, he’d post my friend’s pictures online...and he did. Officers got involved and figured out it was my boyfriend behind it all.

I also learned that he was cheating on me with multiple girls. I did break up with him for the online harassment. I regret staying for too long, but he’d threatened to hurt himself if I left him.

Sea-Nectarine-1522

48. That’s Not Ice

women's white crew-neck t-shirt Photo by Katie Smetherman on Unsplash

He thought I was cheating on him at my job with no one in particular. I was not. It escalated quickly from accusations to texts every half hour, and if I didn’t answer them, he'd immediately get upset. He knew I worked at an ice cream shop in a busy mall and he showed up to sit in the food court to watch me for my whole shift.

When I confronted him, his response was absolutely ridiculous. He defended himself telling me that the mall was a public place where he was allowed to be. I then decided to break up with him. I don't know what his side was; I don't care, and I was not dealing with that nonsense. He then texted me all the lyrics to a breakup song. I blocked his number.

t12aq

49. Together And Apart

I went on a few dates with this girl in my archery class. Things were going well, and I asked her to be my girlfriend. She agreed. Well, a week later, we were at breakfast when she straight up burst into tears and went outside. I followed her to talk, and she revealed her well-kept secret—she wasn’t completely over her last relationship.

She wanted to keep dating me but couldn’t handle a full relationship. I liked her and wanted to keep seeing her so agreed. Everything was fine until a few weeks later when my ex called to hang out. We had dinner and ended up back at her place where things started to get physical. I told her about the girl I was dating.

My ex told me it was fine. She was single and wanted to have a night of fun not get back together. So, we had fun. This got around to the girl who I was dating who went off on me about being a cheater. I was confused because I didn’t know what she’d meant then about not being my girlfriend or in a relationship with me.

I had already accepted that she was still being physical with her ex, and we hadn’t even done anything more than make out a few times.

03throwaway03

50. Picture Perfect

I was looking for something on his computer and I ran into a mysterious folder. When I read the name, I was shocked—he had named it "Bedroom Shots." I was furious because I knew that he had not taken any bedroom shots of me (we weren't freaky like that). Of course, I opened the file...and I immediately rolled my eyes. It was pictures of our bedroom that I had taken when I was redecorating.

aeraen

51. Getting Fruity

woman holding stomach Photo by freestocks on Unsplash

I was eight months pregnant and I got some blisters on my lip. I also developed a really noticeable rash on my chin. My husband and I went to get it checked and the urgent care doctor thought they were cold sores. It seemed like a common problem, but my husband immediately became furious. I have never had cold sores, nor has he, so he automatically assumed that I must have been sucking face with somebody who did.

This turned into a situation where I became very upset because I was eight months pregnant. I was not thinking about any kind of intimacy and definitely not with anyone but my husband. My test ended up coming back negative for herpes. The doctor said that I was allergic to the mangoes that I’d shoved my face in a few days before.

pinkmatador

People Describe The Creepiest Things They Ever Witnessed As A Kid

"Reddit user -2sweetcaramel- asked: 'What’s the creepiest thing you saw as a kid?'"

Four mistreated baby dolls are hung by barb wire
Photo by J Lopez

For many childhood memories are overrun by living nightmares.

Yes, children are resilient, but that doesn't mean that the things we see as babes don't follow us forever.

The horrors of the world are no stranger to the young.

Redditor -2sweetcaramel- wanted to see who was willing to share about the worst things we've seen as kids, so they asked:

"What’s the creepiest thing you saw as a kid?"

Serious Danger

"Me and my best friend would explore the drainage tunnels under the Vegas area where we grew up. These were miles long and it was always really cool down there so it was a good way to escape the heat of our scorching hot summers. We went into this one that goes under the Fiesta casino and found a camp with a bunch of homeless people."

"Mind you we are like 11 years old lol. And we just kept going like it was nothing. It wasn’t scary then but when I look back at it we could have been in some serious danger. Our parents had no idea we did this or where we were and we had no cellphones. We could have been kidnapped and never have been found."

oofboof2020

Waiting for Food

"I was at a portillos once when I was 12 and I was waiting with my little brother at a booth while my parents got our food. This guy was standing with his tray kind of watching me then after a couple of minutes he started to walk over really fast not breaking eye contact with me."

"He was 2 feet from the table and my dad came out of nowhere and scared the s**t out of him. He looked so surprised and just said he wanted to see if I’d get scared or not. He left his tray full of food near the door and left. My folks reported him but we never went to that location again since we found a better one closer to home."

nowhereboy1964

Captain Hobo to the Rescue

"When I was a pretty young teen, my friends and I were horsing around in San Francisco and started hanging out to smoke with some homeless guys. Another homeless dude came up and began aggressively trying to shake us down for anything (money, smokes, a ride, drugs- all of it) and wouldn’t take no for an answer."

"We got in over our heads and could tell this guy was now riling the other 2 guys up and they were acting like they wanted to jump us. Some grandfather-looking old homeless man appeared out of nowhere and yelled at us to get the f**k out of here- nice kids like us don’t belong down here at this hour!!"

"Captain Hobo saved our lives that night. My parents sincerely thought we were at a mall all day lol."

FartAttack911

Survival

tsunami GIF Giphy

"I was 7 and survived the 2004 tsunami in Thailand. Witnessed the wave rise way above the already massive palm trees (approx. 40ft?) and my family and I watched/heard the wave crash into the ground from a rooftop."

faithfulpoo

These Tsunami stories are just tragic.

On the Sand

Scared The Launch GIF by CTV Giphy

"We were a group of kids who went to swim in a local lake. And there was a dead body on the beach with their hands raised and their legs bent unnaturally that local police just took out of the same lake. I've never put my foot in these waters again."

oyloff

Be Clever

"I was walking to school and I was about 5 or 6 years old and some guy pulled up beside me in his car and asked if I would get in. He also offered me sweets to do so. I said no. The creepy bit was when he calmly said ‘clever boy’ to me, then drove off. I’ve never even told my parents or anyone else about this as it would most likely freak them out."

OstneyPiz

Bad Jokes

"Dad's side of the family pranked me by burying a fake body on our back property and had me dig it up to find valuables. Was only allowed to use a lantern for light. They stuffed old clothes with chicken bones. Sheetrock mud where the head was... Random fake jewelry as the treasures... I was like maybe 10 or 11.. I remember digging up the boot first and started gagging because it became real at that point."

Alegan239

YOU

Who Are You Reaction GIF by MOODMAN Giphy

"Woke up to find my little brother staring at me in the dark, asking, Are you really you?"

PrettyLola2004

Siblings can really be a bunch of creepers.

No one should talk to others in the dark though.

Woman stressed at work
Photo by JESHOOTS.COM on Unsplash

When we hear about other people's jobs, we've surely all done that thing where we make assumptions about the work they do and maybe even judge them for having such an easy or unimportant job.

But some jobs are much harder than they look.

Redditor CeleryLover4U asked:

"What's a job or profession that seems easy but is incredibly challenging?"

Customer Service

"Anything customer-facing. The public is dumb and horrendous."

- gwarrior5

"My go-to explanation is, 'Anyone can do it, but few can do it for long.'"

- Conscious_Camel4830

"The further I get in my corporate career, the less I believe I will ever again be capable of working a public-facing job. I don’t know how I did it in the past. I couldn’t handle it in the present."

"I know people are only getting worse about how they treat workers. It is disturbing, embarrassing, and draining for everyone."

- First-Combination-12

High Stakes

"A pharmacist."

"You face the public. Your mistake can literally kill someone."

- VaeSapiens

"Yes, Pharmacist. So many people think their job is essentially the same as any other kind of retail worker and they just prepare prescriptions written by a doctor without having to know anything about them."

"They are very highly trained in, well, pharmacology; and it's not uncommon for a pharmacist to notice things like potentially dangerous drug interactions that the doctor hadn't."

- Worth_University_884

Teaching Woes

"Two nuggets of wisdom from my mentor teacher when I was younger:"

"'Teaching is the easiest job to do poorly and the hardest job to do well,' and 'You get to choose two of the following three: Friends, family, or being a good teacher. You don't have enough time to do all three.'"

"We all know colleagues or remember teachers who were lazy and chose the easy route, but any teacher who is trying to be a good teacher has probably sacrificed their friends and their sleep for little pay and a stressful work environment. There's a reason something like half quit the profession within the first five years."

- bq87

Creativity Is "Easy"

"Some creative professions, such as designers, are often perceived as 'easy' due to their creative nature. However, they may face the constant need to find inspiration, deal with criticism, and meet deadlines."

- rubberduckyis

"EVERYBODY thinks they are a designer, up until the point of having to do the work. But come critique time, mysteriously, EVERYBODY IS A F**KING DESIGNER AGAIN."

"The most important skill to have as a designer is THICK SKIN."

- whitepepper

Care Fatigue Is Real

"Care work."

"I wish it could be taken for granted that no one thinks it's easy. But unfortunately, many people still see it as an unskilled job and have no idea of the many emotional complexities, or of how much empathy, all the time, is needed to form the sorts of relationships with service users that they really need."

- MangoMatiLemonMelon

Physical Labor Generally Wins

"I’m going to say most types of unskilled labor and that’s because there’s such little (visible) reward and such a huge amount of bulls**t. I’ve done customer service, barista, sales, serving, etc; and it was all much harder than my cushy desk job that actually can be considered life or death."

- anachronistika

Their Memory Banks Must Be Wild

"I don't know if I'd call it incredibly challenging, but being one of those old school taxi drivers who know the city like the back of his hand and can literally just drive wherever being told nothing but an address is pretty impressively skilled."

"Not sure if it's still like this, but British cabbies used to be legendary for this. I'm 40 and I don't think most young people appreciate how much the quality of cab service has gone down since the advent of things like Uber."

"Nowadays it's just kind of expected that a rideshare/cab driver doesn't know exactly where you're trying to get and has to rely on GPS directions that they often f up. Back when I was in college, cabbies were complete experts on their city."

"More even than knowing how to get somewhere, they could also give you advice. You could just generally describe a type of bar/club/business you're looking for, and they'll take you right to one that was spot on. Especially in really big cities like NYC."

- Yak-Mak-5000

Professional Cooking

"Being a chef."

- Canadian_bro7

"I would love to meet the person who thinks being a chef is easy! I cook my own food and it’s not only OK to eat but I make a batch of it so I have some for later. So, to make food that is above good and portion it correctly many times a day and do it consistently with minimal wastage (so they make a profit), strikes me as extremely difficult."

- ChuckDeBongo

Team Leading, Oof

"Anything that involves a lot of people skills and socializing. I thought these positions were just the bulls**t of sitting in meetings all day and not a lot of work happening but having to be the one leading those meetings and doing public speaking is taxing in a way I didn’t realize."

- Counterboudd

Not a Pet Sitter At All

"Veterinary Technician."

"Do the job of an RN, anesthesiology tech, dental hygienist, radiology tech, phlebotomist, lab tech, and CNA, but probably don’t make a living wage and have people undervalue your career because you 'play with puppies and kittens all day.'"

- forthegoddessathena

Harder Than It Looks!

"Sometimes, when my brain is fried from thinking and my ego is shot from not fixing the problem, I want to be a garbage man... not a ton of thinking, just put the trash in the truck, and a lot of them have trucks that do it for you!"

"But if the robot either doesn't work or you don't have one on your truck, it smells really bad, the pay isn't what it used to be, you might find a dead body and certainly find dead animal carcasses... and people are id**ts, overfilling their bags, just to have them fall apart before you get to the truck, not putting their trash out and then blaming you, making you come back out."

"Your body probably is sore every day, and you have to take two baths before you can kiss your wife..."

"Ehh, maybe things are not so bad where I am."

- Joebroni1414

Twiddling Thumbs and Listening

"Therapist here. I’ve always said that it’s pretty easy to be an okay therapist—as in, it’s not that hard to listen to people’s problems and say, 'Oh wow, that’s so hard, poor you.'"

"But to be a good therapist? To know when your client is getting stuck in the same patterns, or to notice what your client isn’t saying? To realize that they’re only ever saying how amazing their spouse is, and to think, 'Hmm, nobody’s marriage is perfect, something’s going on there'?"

"To be able to ask questions like, 'Hey, we’ve been talking a lot about your job, but what’s going on with your family?' And then to be able to call them on their s**t, but with kindness and empathy? Balancing that s**t is hard."

"Anybody can have empathy, but knowing when to use empathy and when and how to challenge someone is so much harder. And that’s only one dimension of what makes being a therapist challenging."

- mylovelanguageiswine

Constant Updates

​"For the most part, my job is really easy (marketing tech). But having to constantly stay on top of new platforms, new tech, updates, etc etc is exhausting and overwhelming and I really hate it."

"Also, the constant responsibility to locate and execute opportunities to optimize things and increase value for higher-ups. Nobody in corporate roles can ever just reach a point of being 'good enough.' More and better is always required."

"Just some of the big reasons I’m considering a career change."

- GlizzyMcGuire_

Performing Is Not Easy

"Performing arts and other types of art. People think it’s a cakewalk or 'not a real job,' not realizing the literal lifetime of training, rejection, and perseverance that it takes to reach a professional level and how insanely competitive those spaces are."

- ThrowRA1r3a5

All About Perception

"I suspect everything fits this. Consider that someone whose job is stacking boxes in a warehouse has to know how to lift boxes, how many can be stacked, know if certain ones must be easily accessible, know how to use any equipment that is used to move boxes around."

"Not to mention if some have hazardous or fragile materials inside, if some HAVE to be stacked on the bottom, if a mistake is made and all the boxes have to be restacked, etc."

"But everyone else is like, 'They're just stacking boxes.'"

- DrHugh

It's easy to make assumptions about someone else's work and responsibilities when we haven't lived with performing those tasks ourselves.

This gave us some things to think about, and it certainly reminded us that nothing good comes of making assumptions, especially when it minimizes someone else's experiences.

Left-handed person holding a Sharpie
Kelly Sikkema/Unsplash

Many of us who are right-handed never even think about how the world is designed to cater to us.

It probably doesn't even cross your mind that 10% of the world's population is left-handed.

Because of this, there tends to be a stigma for being left-handed since society tends to associate the left with negative things.

For example, the phrase "two left feet" applies to those who are clumsy and therefore, incapable of dancing.

Curious to hear more about the challenges facing those with the other dominant hand, Redditor johnnyportillo95 asked:

"What’s something left-handed people have to deal with that right-handed people wouldn’t even think about?"

If only manufacturers appealed to an ambidextrous world.

Furniture Obstacle

"Those desks or couch chairs that have a small desk attached. They do make left handed/sided ones but they are few and far between."

– Prussian__Princess

"And they’re only on one side of the lecture hall, and it’s never a good seat. There is ONE front row, lefty desk in the entire room and it’s in the far corner, obscured by an ancient overhead projector."

– earwighoney

Everyday Objects For Everyday People

"as a left-handed person myself, one thing we often deal with is finding left-handed tools or equipment. many everyday objects, like scissors or can openers, are designed with right-handed people in mind, which can make certain tasks a bit more challenging for us lefties. we also have to adapt to a right-handed world when it comes to writing on whiteboards or using certain computer mice."

– J0rdan_24

Dangerous Tools

"The biggest risk is power tools. I taught myself to use all power tools right handed because of risks using them left handed."

"Trivial, I love dry boards but they are super hard to write on."

– diegojones4

It's hard to play when you're born with a physical disadvantage.

Sports Disadvantage

"Allright, Sports when you are young. Every demonstration from PE teachers are right handed. You cant just copy the movements they teach you you need to flip them and your tiny brain struggoes to process it. As well, 98% of the cheap sports equipment the school uses is right handed."

– AjCheeze

No Future In Softball

"I tried to bat right handed for so long in gym class growing up because the gym teacher never asked me what my dominant side was and the thought never occurred to me as a child to mention it! Needless to say I never became a softball star."

– Leftover-Cheese

Find A Glove That Fits

"In softball and baseball we need a specific glove for our right hand that's often impossible to find unless you own one, and we have to bat on the other side of the plate."

– BowlerSea1569

"I was one of two left-handers in a 4-team Little League in the 1980s. Nobody could pitch to me. I got a lot of "hit by pitch" walks out of it."

– Jef_Wheaton

These examples are understandably annoying.

Shocking Observation

"Having right handed people make comments whenever they see us write, like we’re some kind of alien."

– UsefulIdiot85

"'Woah! You're left-handed????'"

"I find myself noticing when someone is a lefty, and sometimes I comment on it, but I try not to. I'm primarily left-handed (im a right handed wroter but do everything else left), and every single time I go to eat with my family, someone says, "Oh hey, give SilverGladiolus22 the left hand spot, they're left-handed," and inevitably someone says, 'Wait, really?' Lol."

– SilverGladiolus22

Can't Admire The Mug

"We never get to look at the cute graphics on coffee mugs while we’re drinking from them."

– vanetti

"I just realized…I always thought the graphics were made so someone else could read them while you drink. Hmmm."

– Bubbly-Anteater7345

"I'm right-handed and I often wondered why the graphics were turned towards the drinker instead of out for others to see."

– Material-Imagination

The Writing On The Wall

"Writing on whiteboards is a nightmare. I have to float my hand, which tires out my arm quickly, and I can't see what I've already written to keep the line straight."

– darkjedi39

"Also as a teacher, it means I'm standing to the left of where I'm writing, so I'm blocking everything I write. I have to frequently finish writing, then step out of the way so people can see, instead of just being able to stand on the right side the whole time."

– dancingbanana123

Immeasurable

"Rulers."

"How the f'k is no one talking about rulers? It's from 30cm to 0 cm to me, or I have to twist my arms to know the measure I want to trace over it."

– fourangers

Just Can't Win

"EVERYTHING. The world has always been based around people being right handed. As a Chef, my knife skills SUCKED until I worked with a Left Handed Chef. Then it all made sense."

"Literally, everything we do must be observed, then flipped around in our heads, then executed. This is why Lefties die sooner, on average, than Righties."

"I had to learn how to be ambidextrous, just to complete basic tasks (sports, driving a manual, using scissors, etc). I am used to it now, and do many things right handed out of necessity, as wall as parents and teachers 'forcing' it upon me."

"But, at least we are not put to death anymore, simply for using the wrong hand (look it up, it happened)."

"Ole Righty, always keeping us down."

– igenus44

The world doesn't need another demographic to feel "othered" for being different.

But if you're right-handed and tend to make assumptions about left-handed people, you may want to observe the following.

Ronald Yeo, PhD, professor of psychology at the University of Texas-Austin told CNN:

"We shouldn’t assume much about people’s personalities or health just because of the hand they write with."
"And we certainly shouldn’t worry about lefties’ chances of success: After all (as of 2015), five of our last seven U.S. presidents have been either left- or mixed-handed."

Word.

Dog lying down on a bed
Photo by Conner Baker on Unsplash

Not all pet owners have the same relationship with their pets.

While anyone who decides to become a pet owner, or pet parent as some say, love their pets equally, some never ever let them leave their side.

Taking their pet with them to work, running errands, even on vacations.

Many pet parents even allow their pets to share their bed with them when going to sleep.

For others though, this is where a line is finally drawn.

Redditor Piggythelavasurfer was curious to hear whether pet owners allowed their pets to share their bed with them, as well as the reasons why they do/don't, leading them to ask:

"Do you let your pet sleep in your bed? Why/why not?"

The Tiny Issue Of Water...

"Absolutely not."

"I have fish."- Senior-Meal3649

Everyone Gets Lonely Eventually...

"I adopted an eleven year old cat the day before Halloween."

"She has mostly lived in my closet since I got her, and she hasn’t been too interested in coming out."

"Last night, she came out of my closet and jumped up on my bed, and crawled under my covers and curled up by my feet to sleep."

"I was so happy!"- YellowBeastJeep

The Comforting Reminder That You're Not Alone...

"I recently lost my Greyhound but I used to let him sleep on my bed with me."

"The company was nice and he was no trouble to have on my bed."- HoodedMenace3

Hungry Cookie GIF by De Graafschap Dierenartsen Giphy

What Do You Mean Allow?

"I have no choice."

"She is a cat, cats do whatever they want."- Small_cat1412

"He lets me sleep in my bed."- Poorly-Drawn-Beagle

Wouldn't Have It Any Other Way

"I carry my old boy upstairs to bed every night."- worst_in_show

Hug GIF by The BarkPost Giphy

Who Needs An Alarm Clock?

"I let my two cats sleep with me."

"They're so full of love and just want cuddles all the time."

"And so do I."

"We've all developed a lil routine."

"Get to bed, oldest sleeps on my feet to keep them warm, youngest lies in my arm while I lie on my side (she the little spoon), then when I snooze my alarm for work in the morning the youngest paws at my face and meeps loudly to wake me up."- GhostofaFlea_

Whose Bed Is It Anyway?

"Yes."

"They're also kind enough to let me squeeze into whatever space they've left for me."

"Although I do get a few dirty looks off them."- Therealkaylor

"I found this tiny kitten screaming her head off under a car."

"Would not come out."

"Got some food and some water in dishes."

"I stood by the tire so she couldn't see my feet."

"She got curious about the food and water and started gobbling it down."

"I thought she would bolt when I squatted down."

"She was too busy eating."

"I grabbed her by the nape of the neck and all four legs went straight out and she tried to scratch me to death."

"I got her in the door and tossed her toward the couch."

"She ricocheted off the couch as if she was a ping pong off a table and I lost sight of her."

"I put out food and water and a sandbox and did not see that kitten for three days."

"On the third day, I came home and she was on my bed pillow."

"I thought she would bolt when I came near, but she didn't."

"I wanted to sleep so I tried to scoot her little butt off my pillow."

"She would not go."

"I put my head down to sleep and that is the way it was from then on."

"She ran the roost."- Logical_Cherry_7588

sleepy kitten GIF Giphy

Sleeping Is A Prerequisite...

"No, he's a cat and he cannot keep still during the night."

"He walks across the headboard, opens the closet doors, jumps into the windows and rustles the blinds, etc."

"If he would sleep he could stay, but alas, he's a ramblin' man."- Spong_Durnflungle

Saying No Just Isn't An Option...

"'Let'."

"Lol."

"It's a cat's world and I'm happy to be on her good side."- milaren

Felines Only!

"The cat does, the dog doesn't and the horse certainly does not either."- Xcrowzz

Angry Tom And Jerry GIF by Boomerang Official Giphy

Is That My Hair On That Pillow?

"My dog is perfect."

"She comes up, cuddles til we start to fall asleep, then gets down to sleep on her bed so she doesn't get too hot."

"Jumps back up in the early morning for wake up cuddles."

"The hair everywhere is the only downside but she is so cozy, what can you do."- HoodieWinchester

It is easy to understand how some people are able to fall asleep more easily knowing their friend and protector is there, in bed, with them.

Though we can't blame others who don't want to run the risk of being scratched or bitten in the middle of the night either...