Fast Food Workers Reveal The Items Their Customers Should Definitely Never Order
We all know fast food isn't really good food. It's more like fried something on top of fried something else with a touch of oil, butter, and salt for taste.
But what we don't see is the behind the scenes stuff. We don't see where those patties come from, or how those chicken nuggets are cooked. We don't get to see what the employees see. But they are trying to warn us about the perils of eating their products. We best listen.
u/sniffler420 asked:
Fast food workers of Reddit, what should we NOT order at your restaurant? And why?
Here were some of those cautionary answers.
We're Sorry, Your Order Is Extinct
Current Wendy's employee here.
Don't be the *ss that orders a T-Rex Burger (a 9, 4 oz patty burger). First of all, they are basically a one way ticket to the emergency room. Second, we can barely wrap that thing without it falling over since it's so tall. Lastly, go spend the $20 that the sandwich costs on food that's actually worth a damn.
Still amazes me when people order that sh*t.
Fresh As Fast Food Can Be
I work at Zaxbys and you shouldn't order anything with a fried filet instead of the fried fingers. The filets are way less popular so they sit in the pan for a long time. The fingers are much more popular and are getting made constantly so they are always more fresh.
This Ain't In-N-Out, Kids
Former starbucks worker here. Please don't order anything off the "Secret Menu". It doesn't exist.
If you want a snickerdoodle, nuttella, or captain crunch frappuchino (or whatever other overly sugery thing someone has since come out with), know the base drink and the modifications, and order that. If you just say the name, it's up to the barista to come up with what's in the drink, and it may not be what the last barista you ordered from put in there.
Clean Restaurant Or Clean Food?
I worked the night shift at McDonald's.
During the day, the restaurant is busy and the food is fine. At night, the poor guy left alone on the line is not only tasked with making all the food, but also cleaning up the huge mess from day shift. We're talking grease splatters on the sides of garbage cans, scraping semi-dried mayonnaise out of the dispensers, etc.
It's really annoying to be cleaning and have a random customer show up at the drive-up window and have to stop everything, wash your hands, change your gloves, make their food, then go back to cleaning. I've seen so many nasty-*ss people make your sandwich with literal trash grease or mop-wringer water on their gloves because they got annoyed that you interrupted them. I NEVER eat at a McD between 11pm and 5am.
Just Turn On The Faucet
Bdubs (Buffalo Wild Wings)- everything is frozen. Stay away from the burgers especially. I've seen so much raw chicken go out, so disgusting. If you come in at a non-peak hour your wings have probably been sitting in the warmer for an hour.
It's unbelievable to me that so many food workers don't wash their hands!!!
I've been a bartender for half a decade and I'm CONSTANTLY washing my hands- mostly for my own benefit. I don't want nasty customer germs on my hands anymore than they want my germs!!
Not Fresh But Yet Not Frozen
Panera- pasta; it's all microwaved, this includes Mac and cheese. Smoothies/frozen drinks- nasty base crap that smells and it's sticky. Cupcakes/coffee cakes- all come frozen. Best items are the real sandwhich/ salads. Real ingredients and usually fresh.
Read The Room
Used to work at Dairy Queen Grill and Chill aka ice cream and food. Not sure if it's all locations, but I followed the book in terms of throwing older food out and making it fresh as we go. So if it's a slow day I'm not going to give you a patty that's been sitting in the warmer for an hour. I'm throwing a frozen patty on the grill and you'll get it fresh. If you ask for fries with no salt because of dietary restrictions or if it's slow. I won't have a problem doing so. If it's busy and you do it AND then ask for salt on the side. You can wait for your fries.
The chili comes in a big can, nothing special.
The fruits for the ice cream aren't fresh. We did chop all our vegetables fresh though. Ice cream comes in big ol' (not old) boxes that are stored in the cooler and run through pipes to the machines out front.
The only thing that's really fresh and not frozen are the buns, veggies, and cheeses. It's also been over 5 years since I've worked there so things might have changed.
Beware The Teriyaki
Panda Express cook here Depending on the management, the kitchen and back are very well kept and clean. We prep veggies and meats everyday, but most of the sauces are prepackaged. Some stores will burn the sh*t out of the teriyaki chicken, because they don't scrape the grill after making a batch. But working there hasn't killed my love of panda Express so take that as you will.
Only The Coffee, Nothing Else
This isn't a fast food restaurant, but i work at 7-Eleven.
Do's: 1.drink our coffee. we change it every 4 hours so it's pretty much always fresh.
Dont's:
- Drink our tea. Some stores are okay because they have a liner in the tea pot to make sure it stays clean, but old run down 7-Elevens don't. When i go to a store and remake the tea without a liner it smells like sewer water.
- Eat our "Tornados or Roller Dogs." We only clean the "grill" once a night. they have caked on grease and old food from way way back.
- Eat our "Bakery" anything. This includes our muffins, sausage rolls, or donuts. Workers come at night to restock the bakery items so they're only fresh at around 11:30pm. They will sit there until the next night. I've also seen a worker completely drop several trays of donuts and then just put them right into the display case. Customers also never use gloves or the papers to grab them. disgusting when they can't even use the bathrooms correctly.
Meatballs? Nah.
Used to work in like 4 different Subways. Not a single one heated, stored, or reheated meatballs correctly or safely. They are only good for like 6 hours once heated. No one follows that. If you come in before lunch and order meatballs, those meatballs have been heated in the microwave twice (once the day before and again in the morning).
Seriously, you are better off buying your own bag of frozen meatballs, a can of spaghetti sauce, and a bag of hoagie buns.
Also the cold cut combo? It is literally just bologna. It comes prepackaged and smells like farts when you open the bag.
Not The Drink You're Looking For
Former Starbucks Barista
A caramel macchiato is just an upside down vanilla latte with a caramel drizzle on top. I promise you you cannot taste the difference. Save the money and calories. There is no caramel flavor in that macchiato. That drizzle just clumps to your cup and adds nothing to the drink.
Eat...Fresh?
Used to work at a Sonic several years ago back in high school. Although it won't make you sick or taste noticeably different, the soft serve and milkshake machines are actually fairly gross. They're a major pain in the ass to clean, and it takes upwards of an hour even if you're good at it, so most stores don't do it as often as they should, and you end up with hoses, fittings, and milk buckets gunked up with chunky solids.
No Scrub, No Nugs
Worked at a Hardee's. You're probably better off not ordering chicken. Like at all. Health code states you're supposed to thoroughly wash your hands before and after handling any raw product, especially chicken. A lot of employees, especially during rushes or when they're by themselves, won't wash at all or will run their hands under some hot water for a few seconds. And yeah they usually wear gloves but not always and if you start touching things with chicken juice on your hands, you've basically contaminated the entire line. So probably just don't get anything.
Celiacs Beware
Wendy's is pretty good overall, but we say we're gluten free. We are in a sense that we will give you lettuce instead of a bun but, if you're a celiac you're going to have a reaction from our food. Bread crumbs fall into the sauces, fries are cooked with breaded nuggets, the utensils and gloves touch the bread all day and then your burger. There's so much cross contamination it will make your stomach turn just thinking about it. If you're a celiac I advise not going to Wendy's.
Pizza Hut Two Three Four
Worked at Pizza Hut. Don't order a large cheese or pepperoni pizza before 6/7 on a Friday or Saturday. Often the first duty of the 4-10 shift those nights was to premake 10-20 of each of those to save time during the dinner rush. Same thing for big lunch orders that are placed in advance, those pizzas were probably made around closing the night before.
They really aren't gross for any sanitation reasons or whatever, but they're just not as good.
What Rots And What Doesn't Rot
Former McDonald's employee here. It's all so gross. I get that it tastes good, but that thing about how the meat, bread and fries don't rot is 100% true. I've seen burgers and fries left in some corner somewhere for months. Real food would stink bad enough that you would have to find it and clean it up. Also know this from experience. The McFood just gets hard as a rock, but looks basically the same. This you can't avoid at any McDonald's.
On the other side of the spectrum the milk products do rot. The shake and ice cream machine never works because no one cleans it properly. Same deal with the McCafe machine.
They would train one or two people how to do a thorough cleaning on these machines when we first got them. That training knowledge left with them when they quit. This may have been the franchise owner I worked for, but this woman gave absolutely z e r o fucks about health code regulations... or labor laws for that matter.
The only things I will still get from there are the regular coffee bottled water and oatmeal. The rest I don't trust to be conforming with health standards.
People Describe The Most Historically Significant Event They've Ever Witnessed In Person
Reddit user FictionVent asked: 'What is the most historically significant event you witnessed IN PERSON?'
Do you ever wonder what it must've been like to experience major events throughout world history when reading about them in text books?
But if you take pause and actually think about it, we're living through many newsworthy current events that succeeding generations will be talking about long after we're gone.
Reading about them online or in newspapers is one thing. But seeing them happen unfold before our eyes is another.
"What is the most historically significant event you witnessed IN PERSON?"
People recall the natural disaster events they've witnessed.
Tremors
"1964 Good Friday Earthquake 9.2 Richter. Was a boy in Cordova, Alaska at the time."
– KitchenLab2536
"My father was skipper of the USCG cutter stationed there. He was inport, and when the quake struck shortly before 5:30pm, he and my mom gathered me and my three siblings on the front porch. At first, it felt like the house was crumbling at the foundation, but on the porch we could plainly see our whole world was shaking. I remember watching telephone poles swaying, and the wires snapping and crackling in the street. The quake lasted about five minutes initially. My dad got his ship underway to avoid the tidal wave which was sure to come. We had several aftershocks in the coming weeks, some of which were quite strong, though nowhere near as strong or as long as the quake itself. I was seven at the time."
– KitchenLab2536
Collapsing Freeway
"October 17th, 1989. I watched the 880 Nimitz freeway collapse during the San Francisco earthquake. The Honda in front of me had the upper deck crush her front-end engine compartment. The mother and her daughter were shaken up but completely fine."
"I was driving a convertible Triumph Spitfire, which was scratched up slightly from debris. However, I walked away unscathed. Aside from the fact I pissed my pants, which I didn't notice until much later."
– CatDaddyWhisper
Thar She Blows
"I sat on the roof of our house and watched Mt. St. Helens erupt less than 100 miles away."
– stinkykitty71
"This must have been fascinating and terryfing in equal measure. What a thing to witness."
– runrossyrun
"It was amazing! The ash that covered everything like snow was interesting to kid me, but less so to my parents."
– stinkykitty71
People recall seeing major catastrophes as a result of malfunctions or judgement errors.
Bomber Crash
"The b-52 crash that led to changing what large military aircraft are allowed to do for airshows."
"I didn't see the plane, but immediately saw the fireball. It was just a perfect, bright red turning to black mushroom cloud."
"Fairchild is a nuclear air base and there were a few minutes there where I was sure the world was about to end."
"A few years before a KC-135 doing the same thing crashed near the school while we were in class."
– goffstock
Tragic Takeoff
"I was standing on my front porch watching the launch of the Challenger."
– StarChaser_Tyger
"Was riding in my parents car to a basketball game in the next town over in north texas when we saw a shooting star and thought that was neat."
"It was the Columbia..."
– Misdirected_Colors
Demolition Gone Wrong
"The failed implosion of the Zip feed mill in Sioux Falls, SD in 2005."
"They hyped it up, sold tickets to it, had a big 'BOOM' marketing thing, and broadcast it live on TV."
"The explosives took out the main supports on the first floor, and the rest of the building above it just plopped down 10ft or so and came to a rest. It was a massive failure, and was a funny little blurb on news stations around the world that day. Definitely not major news, just the rest of the world taking 20 seconds to laugh at us."
"The building sat like that (the leaning tower of SuFu) for quite a while until they figured out how to safely demolish it."
"Here's a clip of the failed demolition."
– KitchenBandicoots
These well-known historical events were seen by very few who are alive today.
Historical Remnant
"The tumbling of the Wall in Germany… along with people selling bits and pieces of it on tables in lobby in front of commissary and px in the following weeks and months. I had picked up a chunk about the size of an oreo and kept it… has blue spray paint on the flat side. Wonder if anyone is buying them now?"
– SingedPenguin13
Major Upheaval
"I would have to say the LA riots. I lived about two blocks from where it started. I was on my way home from school and saw someone throw a brick through a window. I didn’t even wait. I just started running the whole way home."
– Scarlaymama0721
Day Of Infamy
"9/11, I could SMELL the collapse of the towers."
– go4tli
"A friend of mine was there. One day in the warehouse we worked in together there was an odd electrical burning smell. He stopped in his tracks and went 'this is what 9/11 smelled like.'"
– mantistoboggan287
I didn't physically witness the fall of the World Trade Center but I was living in New York City at the time.
However, I did see the smoke.
I was living up north in Washington Heights at the time and knowing what happened, uncertain of what was to come, and seeing the plumes of smoke from the attack site was the most ominous sight I've ever seen in my life to date.
Have you ever lived through a historic moment or witnessed something sure to be noted in history books? Let us know in the comments below.
Many weddings involve months of planning and thousands of dollars.
But the one guarantee in life is that poo happens and weddings are not immune to sh*t storms.
Natural disasters, unexpected illnesses, accidents or animosity can derail even the best laid wedding plans.
Reddit user NickWhite566 asked:
"What happened to those who had attended a botched wedding?"
Hunger Games
"Went to a Pig Roast wedding in a rural setting, 120 people, huge field, right by the river."
"I looked at the one pig roasting and thought to myself 'They must have the other pigs roasting elsewhere to keep the smoke down'—NOPE only one pig for 120 people."
"We were the first table to line up after the head table—and the pig was already 1/3 gone—they ran out at about table 5 of 20 tables."
"I ate then sat back an watched the fallout. One of the groomsmen was my good friend and I casually said 'Should throw the groom in the river for this kind of f**k up'."
"Groom was promptly thrown in the river—that kinda thing happens when people drink on empty stomachs."
~ collectivedisagree
Stone Cold
"A few years ago, my cousin was getting married. The man she was marrying was perfect for her. I was jealous. I wanted something like they had."
"Anyway, the day of the wedding comes and her maid of honor (bride's sister) and her soon to be husband are nowhere to be found."
"Well, she's waiting in the church and one of the groomsmen comes in with a hand written letter from the fiancé."
"Turns out the maid of honor (her sister) and her fiancé have been sleeping together for a while, she's pregnant, and they ran off to Vegas to get married."
"So, no wedding."
~ ServiceCall1986
Change of Venue
"I attended a wedding where they held the ceremony and reception at this renovated historic house. During the reception though, police were called because apparently the 'venue' wasn't actually permitted to be a business."
"It was just some people's house that they kept renting out to weddings to the immense annoyance of their neighbors (and subsequently the police)."
"One of the house owners actually ended up being arrested because they had already been given a 'last warning' at the previous wedding the weekend before, and the dude was getting belligerent."
"Most of the reception was done by that point anyway, but it sure was chaotic as we were all shooed out, trying to call like 50 Ubers while the cops made sure we left."
~ ShrimpHeavenAngel
Brrrr... 🥶
"I attended an outdoor wedding."
"In December."
"All the guests assumed there would be shelter/heating but nope—nothing was provided."
"All us guests were freezing cold. Some got drunk as fast as they could and others kept asking the staff for cups of tea, not to drink but to hold the warm cups."
"It was awful."
~ ErodeMode
Tragic
"Went to the wedding of one of my husband's close friends and everything was going wonderful until about 3 hours in when the bride's grandma becomes unresponsive."
"We were sitting right next to that table when she falls to the floor not breathing. Our other friend (an EMT) ended up performing CPR on her until the paramedics came."
"He said he felt her ribs cracking under his hands."
"The wedding promptly ended as the bride and groom go to the hospital with grandma. She passed away in the hospital that night after an emergency surgery."
~ blondie5697
Not What They Ordered
"My wife and I watched in horror as the wedding planner proceeded to get very sloppily drunk and exceedingly outlandish behavior."
"It came crashing to an end when she started dancing/grinding on the father of the bride with his wife and the bride a few feet away staring in shock."
"Lots of shouting and then the groomsmen not so kindly escorted her out."
~ uni-monkey
Father of the Bride
"I was the photographer."
"The bride was very close to her stepfather, and her father had not been in the picture for a lot of her life, but he was invited to the wedding and they did two father-daughter dances so he wasn't left out or anything."
"He was also supposed to pay for part of the photos, and he just showed up with no money. He eventually got mad, like she was doing something wrong by including the stepdad, who raised her and paid for most of the wedding (and for that matter, her upbringing)."
"She spent like an hour crying in the back and eventually an uncle offered to pay for some of what the dad owed."
"I knocked off $100 and stayed an extra hour for free so we could get all the photos we would have done during that hour, but it was obviously not the same for her."
"Then the dad spent weeks harassing me to send him the photos I took because she wouldn't send them to him. (I didn't, obviously)."
~ LizardPossum
Noped Out
"The Bride said NO at the altar. Literally walked back down the aisle and out the door."
"The groom stood for a moment and then went to a side room. The minister followed the groom, then came back and said that while the wedding was off, the reception would go forward since the food was already there.
"Awkward reception and nobody stayed long after eating."
"They were getting married because the bride was pregnant, and they thought it was the right thing to do. She decided that pregnancy was not a good reason to marry after all."
"She had the baby and they ended up raising the child together, although not as a romantic couple."
~ Lulinda726
Worst Man
"I used to have a friend who owned a small hotel which operated primarily as a wedding venue. They lived in one of the hotel rooms, so all of the events taking place in the courtyard directly outside their door could be heard very clearly."
"We were hanging out one night during a wedding and listening to the speeches, the most notable of which was the best man speech during which he told the story of having a threesome with both the bride and groom at Burning Man, and heavily alluded to still being in love with the groom."
"Lots of older relatives in attendance."
"The place went silent and the wedding ended about two hours early."
~ Chapsy_
Get Him to the Church on Time
"I was a bridesmaid in my brother's wedding. Day of the wedding we are all getting ready as you normally would. I'm in the bridal suite area; everything is going fantastically."
"The church is filled to capacity with guests. We all walk down the aisle and take our places, bridesmaids and groomsmen alike. My soon-to-be SIL is walking down the aisle on her father's arm. My brother is nowhere in sight."
"There is a long, awkward pause as my SIL is standing in front of a packed church, and we are all just looking at each other. Everyone is assuming the worst—that my brother has skipped out at the altar and left her."
"I'm shout whispering to the Best Man 'where is he'eandk he says 'I don't know". My mom is nearly having a heart attack."
"My dad finally gets up goes to the room where my bro was supposed to be waiting and comes out with my brother. My brother says 'Where's the minister, I was waiting on him'."
"My bro hadn't left at all, the minister was a no-show!"
"He was supposed to be waiting with my bro and walk out with him, or tell him when it was time to walk out while groomsmen were lining up to escort bridesmaids down the aisle. Because no one had checked in on my bro after getting ready no one knew the minister wasn't there."
"At this point, we are all standing in a group at the front of the church; the majority of the church guests still don't know what is going on, just that my bro had to be summoned, and there are angry looks all around."
"My dad realizes he needs to let them in on what's going on, so he announces to the guests, 'We can't find the pastor, is anyone here licensed?' but of course no one is. The bride's father calls the minister on his cell phone, on speaker so the whole church can hear the conversation."
"'Hi Pastor Denny, where are you? Did you forget what today was? Yes Denny, the wedding. The wedding is right now. We are all waiting on you at the church. Ok we'll just wait here then'."
"Turns out the pastor was playing golf and had put the wedding date down as the following weekend in his planner."
"I then ask my soon-to-be SIL if she wants us to walk back down the aisle and come back in or what. She says at this point 'forget it we are all here' so we just stand around and wait for Pastor Denny and try to make jokes with the wedding guests but it's pretty awkward as no one really knows what to do."
"After about 15 minutes Pastor Denny comes running into the church in his golf clothes—polo shirt/funny shorts etc...—apologizes and goes immediately into the vows."
"My poor SIL was furious that day, first thinking my bro had ditched her at the altar then at the fact that the minister had ditched them."
"She laughs about it now but it was a tense ceremony."
~ GreedyReality9815
Party!
"It was my very first friend to get married: a girl I’d known in high school. We were 24, 25. Classic rom-com nightmare scenario where the groom had second thoughts the day of and just bolted."
"We all just milled around for a while, not sure what to do. Awful vibes, the bride’s mom was weeping hysterically."
"Me and some friends were finally making our way to the exits, and the bride stopped us, like 'where the f**k do you think you’re going? You guys are taking me out to a bar right this minute, and you’re gonna have to carry me out of there.”
"So we did—mostly the young people, though a few stray aunts and uncles came along, including a few of the groom’s relatives who were like, 'he’s a little punk anyway, you’re better off without him'.”
"We all got unfathomably drunk, sang karaoke, glasses were shattered, the bride hit on literally every man there including me (though no one took her up on it, that would have been weird)."
"There were a rough few months in store for her afterward, but that ended up being a hell of a party. I can still feel the hangover a decade later."
"Bride married a guy who actually showed up several years later. I think they’re happy."
"No idea about the groom—that was the last time any of us really spoke about him."
~ Nerazzurro9
Surprise?
"My family was invited to what we thought was an engagement party. My aunt had reserved a room at a local restaurant for about 50 people."
"Turns out it was my cousin's wedding. So no one brought a gift or dressed up at all. Bride is in a wedding dress and groom is wearing jeans."
"We ordered food and drinks. The officiant does his thing while waiters are bringing in drinks and appetizers. Finally over and we get to eat."
"But when the officiant asked for the marriage license so they can all sign it, my cousin and his new wife just stared at him confused."
"They didn't know they had to get one!"
"Thought just having a wedding was enough. They were in their late 20s."
"So wedding, but no marriage. They never did 'officially' get married and he ran off a few years later to another state to be with some girl he met online."
~ msao2009
Sick Day
"Friend's wedding. A bunch of people got food poisoning at the rehearsal dinner. Including the groom."
"He spent the night at the ER getting fluids and medication to stop puking. This was an awesome high-end wedding and he almost cancelled."
"He was a pale green color and basically sipped Gatorade all day and got through it. He married his high school sweetheart and they have been married 30+ years."
~ Caspers_Shadow
Fill In
"The best man choked on a piece of steak. I didn’t see it happen but I guess someone performed the Heimlich. It came out, anyway."
"They called an ambulance (you always should go to hospital! Even if obstruction is removed) and he left."
"Another groomsman did an impromptu speech in his place, which was brave of him. He started off with 'I guess (best man) bit off more than he could chew with that role'."
~ rescueruby
Have you ever been invited to a wedding that didn't happen the way it was planned?
Share your story in the comments.
People Break Down The Craziest Money-Making Schemes They've Ever Heard Of
When I was in seventh grade, I had aspirations to be a poet. I made a Mother's Day card for my mom with a cute (but now, cringe-worthy) poem inside, and a hand-drawn picture of a rose that took me hours to perfect.
A friend saw the card and said they wished they could do the same. Then suddenly, she asked if she could buy the card from me. I said no, since I needed to give it to my own mother, but I said I could make her a copy. From there, my friend got the idea for me to make copies of the card to sell. I went along with it, mostly because I didn't think it would actually work.
Turns out, it did. After making sure people would actually be interested, we went to the library after school and made several color copies of my card for 10 cents each. The next day, we sold each card for $1. Not only did we make enough money so that my friend and I could both afford to get our moms an actual present in addition to the card, but we had enough leftover to put us over the top for the money we needed to buy the matching faux leather jackets we'd been wanting all year.
The next year, many people who bought cards asked me to do it again, so I did. Once again, we made a killing. We didn't try to do it again once we got to high school, but it was definitely fun while it lasted.
When we tell people this story, they think it's a pretty crazy money-making scheme. Maybe it is, but we're not the only ones who ever did anything like this. Redditors know all about crazy money-making schemes, and are eager to share their own stories.
It all started when Redditor primeiro23 asked:
"What are the craziest ways you’ve heard of people making money?"
Tumble Into Business
"In college, I take a class on how to start & run a small business. Prof tells us to think of ridiculous business models for our fictitious businesses as we will get more out of the class that way. Stupid ideas ensue. Selling paperclips door to door, refilling car gasoline tanks in people's driveways, service to read & summarize the newspaper to executives etc."
"One classmate decides he is going to sell tumbleweed."
"Guess who quits college and started a successful business? Tumbleweed guy. Takes a van to the desert, collects tumbleweed and sells them to Hollywood movie & TV studios who need them. Keeps the tumbleweed in a warehouse and since they never spoil, his only costs are gasoline, storage & a website. He eventually becomes the number one tumbleweed provider to studios around the world, shipping tumbleweed globally."
"Made a heap of money selling what millions of people drive by and ignore every year."
– Accomplished-Fig745
Synopses
"I did have a job reading and summarizing newspaper articles to the boss. Literally only task I was hired for."
– Draigdwi
"An actual union job in the film industry is reading scripts and summarizing them in short mean book reports."
– Trixiebees
Jump!
"Heard of crazier, but a guy I know, friend of my mother's, went to Texas 30+ years ago. (we are from Norway), and he noticed every single garden had a trampoline. And it was almost always "jump king" - the circular with blue mat ones."
"So he went to the HQ, bought 10 and took back to Norway. Within days they were sold, and he ordered 50 more, same thing. So he became the only importer and has God knows how many millions to his name today."
– alexdaland
"This IS wild. I went to Norway recently and one of the first things I noticed was that almost EVERY yard had a trampoline in it."
– TrulyMadlyCheaply
Working For A Home
"Back when Dogecoin took off I wrote a guide on recovering old lost wallets and it got so popular I was flooded with requests for further help. Some corrupted wallet files, some lost passwords, etc."
"I have a background in computer science and experience in data retrieval and password cracking, so I started helping people in exchange for a percentage cut (industry standard for wallet recovery). All above board with a contract and everything."
"For a while I was getting new clients every week and making hundreds up to thousands of dollars on every successful recovery (with a fairly good rate of success). The biggest one I ever recovered was a 19 letter long password someone had lost. The work dried up when the price of doge dropped but it got me the down-payment on a house."
– internetpillows
Horsing Around
"A cabbie in Dublin once told me a story about one of his fares who had a brilliant hustle."
"The guy was a sculptor. He would watch horse races, then when a horse won, he'd use social media to contact the owner directly with a digital mockup of a life-sized sculpture of the winning horse. Now, the people who own winning racehorses tend to be very rich - we're talking sheikhs, oligarchs, billionaires. Every now and again, one of these owners would bite, and spend €100,000 euros or so on a statue commemorating their animal's win."
"Dude only did a couple a year, and spent the rest of the time living the good life."
– escoterica
Sweet!
"Richest guy in a rich town near us makes enormous amounts of money buying Hershey bars and rewrapping them with customised retirement celebration designs or corporate logos to be given away at events. Literally just rewraps them in pieces of paper and doubles or triples his money."
"Every time I try to start a company or invent a better product or something, I ask myself why I’m not just rewrapping candy bars."
– perchance2cream
"F**k man, I think I found my new niche."
– LibertyPrimeIsASage
Slightly Used
"I went to college in a capitol C college town. A friend of mine bought an old school bus, fixed it up and took out all the seats."
"At the end of every semester she would drive around the neighborhood that was the fancier side of off campus living and collect whatever the rich kids were throwing out before they moved / went home for the summer. Flat screen TVs, couches, computers, tables, it was wild to see what people would chuck out and replace the next semester rather than having to deal with getting a storage unit or moving themselves."
"Sold it all on Craigslist over the summer or the beginning of the next semester and made a killing."
– sam_neil
Credit Where Credit Is Undue
"When I worked in a really busy, upscale restaurant my coworker would put all of his cash-paying customer’s bills on his credit card and keep the cash which he used to promptly pay off his credit card."
"He did this all day, every day for quite a while and the points started to add up and he was getting free airfare, etc."
"Worked great for a while until management notice a rise in credit card processing fees with an emphasis on one employee and they shut him down real quick."
– blinkysmurf
We Found Gold!
"My buddy worked his way through college by panning for gold. This was in 2009 in California. Most days he made nothing, occasionally he would come home with a couple hundred bucks worth and I think once he found a night worth over $1k."
– discostud1515
"My cousin had a metal detector when he was in HS. He would go every weekend down to the lake and take it with him on vacation. He found all kinds of things. He did find gold jewelry and would sell it online. He made so much money he bought his own car."
– Content_Pool_1391
Sleeping For The Job
"I knew a woman whose job was literally to sleep."
"A local office building owner wanted somebody on-site 24/7 to be the point of contact with first responders if they ever needed to be called. So they hired her to come in to the building in the evening when the maintenance crew was finishing their work. And she would settle up to sleep for the night in a bedroom they'd set aside for her. In the morning she'd hand the building back over to the office employees and go on about her day."
"No first responders were ever called. It's about the least stressful legitimate job I could ever imagine."
– CaptainTime5556
The Secret
"Back in the 90s, I knew a guy who put an ad in the classified section of the newspaper which read something along the lines of, “For $10, I’ll tell you my secret to making easy money. Send $10 cash to (address) to find out how.” People would send him $10 & he would then instruct them to put a classified ad in the newspaper telling people to send $10 & how to make money."
– freudianfalls
Accident Payment
"I was pushed down the stairs by a teen girl who told me to "pay attention and get out of her way" i ripped my dress during the fall and was getting back up when some guy rushed up to me, apologized for his daughter and handed me $500 as compensation."
– thebrilliantcounc
"LOL - years back, I was in a parking lot during a snowstorm. A guy was trying to pull around me, slid on the snow/ice and hit into my passenger side door. It really and truly was an accident. He was all apologies. We exchanged info - he said to get a quote and he would pay for the damage."
"Well, the car I was driving at the time was a crappy old Ford worth maybe $500. But, I went to a body shop, got a quote on the repair and it was $900. I faxed it to him (this was back in the 90's, LOL) thinking he'd tell me to go through the insurance company and just have the car totaled out."
"To my surprise, I had a bank check for $900 from him in my mailbox three days later. Now, I already owned another car, so I pocketed the $900, sold the smashed car for parts for $300 and ended up with $1200 on a car that was worth only $500 before the accident. I was very glad that he ran into me!"
– Deleted User
Only Feet
"I have a friend who sells pictures of her feet. In heels. Barefoot squishing cake. In mud. She charges extra for special requests. Has strict ‘no go’ rules. Never shows anything above the calf so she can’t be identified (no tats). All proceeds go to her kid’s college fund. Has made enough to fund a PhD."
– NotACrazyCatLadyx2
The things people do for money! But, I guess it works for her!
When we're in pain or scared, we're not on our best behavior.
We've got more important things on our minds than proper etiquette.
Couple our lowered inhibitions with the bizarre amalgam that is the human body and weirdness is bound to happen in hospital waiting rooms.
Reddit user IAmAsianHearMeRoar asked:
"What did you see happen in the hospital waiting room?"
Feline Friend
"A cat walked in once."
"Shamelessly caught everyone's attention."
"Maybe due to how long we were kept waiting, but a few of us jumped at the chance to grab the cats' attention."
"I’m excited to see a cat every time I see a cat."
"I own three cats. Or they own me, whatever."
~ Accomplished-Fee3846
"I’ve worked in the vet field 3 years, have my own cat and I’m always excited to see a cat. I love cats!"
~ kxiyaz
YTA, Dude
"Watched a guy fake passing out so he didn’t have to wait, since there were a lot of people waiting."
"A**hole winked at me as he was wheeled back on a gurney."
~ Tangboy50000
Don't Do This
"I once saw a guy cut himself with a piece of broken glass just to be seen sooner by the nurses during triage."
~ Shamanofthealike1
Going Up
"I had taken the elevator down from an appointment at one of the hospital's smaller buildings, my young children in tow."
"When the elevator reached the bottom floor, I realized immediately that there was a very purple elderly man lying between us and the exit, surrounded by medical professionals performing CPR on him."
"I closed the elevator door and rode back up before the kids noticed anything and we hung out in the waiting room until the ambulance had pulled away. Got my first CPR certification a few weeks later."
~ merganzer
Look Away
"I was in the emergency waiting room with my Mom."
"I was the one with an emergency and was drowsy the whole time, but I remember that at some point a man was wheeled into the room while making throat noises (think The Grudge) and my Mom took my face in her hands and told me, very calmy and without an inch of panic in her voice, to look through the window and tell her what that weird tree was because she'd never seen one like that (she definitely had)."
"I had no idea what was going on so I kept staring at that tree, and then it was my turn so we left the waiting room."
"Days later she told me that the man who was wheeled into the room had one of his legs hanging on for dear life and that there was blood everywhere on his pants, but also on his clothes."
"He was drunk so he probably had a fight. I hope he's okay now."
"My Mom is the best. She was worried and didn't want me to see this. So she took in the sight but protected me from it. Sometimes, I think we don't deserve Moms."
~ Magomaeva
HIPAA!
"My doctor hired her son to be a receptionist."
"He announced a woman’s STD tests in the lobby."
"He didn’t work there long."
~ gothiclg
Brains...
"I was sitting in the ER waiting room and this young couple comes in. The man pushing his girlfriend in a wheelchair."
"She’s barely conscious, slumped over and pale."
"As the boyfriend is checking her in, she wakes ups and Exorcist-style projectile vomits onto the floor. Nurses rush her back."
"The boyfriend then sits down and not a minute passes before out of nowhere he does the same!"
"Everyone waiting slapped masks on real quick once that happened."
~ Silent_Push_1413
"This is how zombie apocalypses always start."
~ Maxwyfe
An All Beet Diet?
"I went to the ER with a kidney stone and there was an old couple sitting across from me probably in their 60’s or 70’s."
"The lady was bickering to the man complaining about how long they’ve been there. The only thing is that this woman was completely purple."
"Like all of her face and head was this dark purple. She didn’t appear to be in any pain but my f*ck was she ever purple."
~ PewpyDewpdyPantz
The Circle of Life
"Like 20 years ago waiting in the ER I see a guy dressed up as a full monkey being wheeled on a stretcher past a large doorway and then 3 other monkeys following him."
"They were performers from the live Lion King show at Disney Animal Kingdom."
~ FLcitizen
Holiday Cheers 🍻
"I work as a nurse in the emergency, I’ve seen some crazy things."
"Once while security was busy doing two separate take downs, an old guy dressed up like Santa unzipped his backpack and started handing out beers to everyone in the waiting room."
~ Best_Lead_632
"So what you’re telling me is Santa’s real???"
~ aggressively_baked
DIY
"Once upon a time I was waiting on news of a friend who'd been in an accident."
"I saw a guy (about early twenties) come in with him mom because he'd fallen off of his roof and dislocated his shoulder. After about an hour of waiting his mom just says 'F*ck it! This is taking too long!' and legit began to Google how to reset a shoulder."
"After about 5 mins of research, she took off her belt, folded it up and told him to bite down on it. She then proceeded to violently shove her son's shoulder back into the socket while he naturally screamed in agony."
"Security and nurses rush over to see what the commotion is and more or less need to pull her off of him. Security sits her down and the nurses take the poor kid and get him treated."
~ August-Dawn
Our Robot Overlords
"I watched a robot filing cabinet press the elevator button and guide itself to a different area of the hospital."
~ jessieisokay
"We have these at my hospital. They even dress them up. Handy little robots help us transport non-emergent meds, lab samples, and equipment."
~ mrsfisk
"I wish our robots could do that."
"Instead, we have 4 delivery robots that all need a person to follow them and put them on and take them off of the elevators."
"Or we could just, y'know, hand the meds to the person and not take 38 minutes to get it there."
~ aurelius92a
True (Toxic) Love
"Girl trying to get admitted to the mental health unit, turns out her boyfriend was a patient. She didn't get admitted, she wasn't happy about it but she left."
"Next thing we know there's a car doing donuts just outside of the ER entrance, she was throwing things out the window and screaming 'Am I crazy enough now?'."
"She ends up driving around to the other side of the hospital and driving right through some sliding glass doors."
"She's lucky she didn't kill someone—another 10 feet and she would have crashed over a railing and into the cafeteria below, where staff was napping on a couch."
"Definitely got carted away, but not to where she wanted to go."
"Thing is her boyfriend wasn't even in that hospital; there's a small mental health inpatient unit, but her boyfriend was in a completely separate mental health facility about 15 km away."
"This was right in the heart of the pandemic, when building materials were really hard to come by, and so the entrance that she drove through ended up being closed for about 6 months."
~ beachmonkeysmom
People going to the hospital are in crisis most of the time.
It's to be expected that the unexpected is bound to happen.