Former Teachers Admit The Moment They Stopped Caring About Their Jobs
Former Teachers Admit The Moment They Stopped Caring About Their Jobs
[rebelmouse-image 18349819 is_animated_gif=We all have stories of our time in school; some good and some not so good. But what about on the other side of the desk? Some teachers and professors have stories so bad that they even left the profession.
Reddit user SomaSovari asked them to share those moments, positing "Ex-Teachers/Professors of Reddit - What was your "F' this." moment?"
Here are those moments, or series of moments, that made educators (or almost made them) change their career.
Lack of Experience
[rebelmouse-image 18349820 is_animated_gif=Going through my "f' this" moment right now. Been in special education since 2007, district I work in desperately wants teachers to start new classrooms due to over crowding yet they don't want to hire the right people, they'd rather hire fellow locals from high school and the area who the admins know versus hiring qualified people from the outside. Our special education admin has zero spec Ed experience and his replacement also has no spec Ed experience. Not fun at all.
False Accusations
[rebelmouse-image 18349821 is_animated_gif=A female student I had disciplinary issues with accused me of hitting on her and making obscene gestures towards her. I'm an openly gay man and most of the staff knew this yet the district still put me on suspension while they investigated. They were able to prove she was lying but the district decided that the best course of action was to transfer me to another school instead of, ya know, punishing the student. I quit at the end of the school year and got a job in banking.
Profane Statements
[rebelmouse-image 18349822 is_animated_gif=Two weeks in to my first year teaching 9th grade math I had a girl attack another girl for no reason in my class. She was grabbing on to her hair really tightly and I was trying to break it up.. Another student tried to help me out and somehow the instigating student managed to punch him in the face and give him a bloody nose while still holding on to the other students hair. Now what makes this story relevant is I literally said the words "f' this" while trying to break up the fight. Not loud, not to a student, but just like "f' this this I'm not gonna let this happen in my class right now". Well... The instigating student decided to tell the principal that I was "cursing at her". Despite the other students in the class supporting me and the fact that this student had a history of violence, I got a letter in my permanent file saying I had used inappropriate language towards a student. F' THAT.. teaching taught me a lot but I couldn't do it for more than a couple years. Really respect those that make it their career.
Wait for It
[rebelmouse-image 18349823 is_animated_gif=Kid poured gasoline under the door of my room (after hours) and lit it, burning most of the room. The facility guys worked all weekend to clean it up and paint it, hauling in new desks to replace those burned. Not long after that, I found out I could make more money with less hassle by waiting tables at the beach.
I was gone a week later.
Scared
[rebelmouse-image 18349824 is_animated_gif=When I saw messages of what my students would "do" to me.
I found out because one of the more decent students showed me the chat logs.
The Little Prince
[rebelmouse-image 18349823 is_animated_gif=Parents yelling at me for accusing their little prince of acting out and getting zero support from administration.
Money Matters
[rebelmouse-image 18349825 is_animated_gif=I was a high school teacher with seven year's experience in my district and a master's degree. I was making $49k (this was 2013). I was talking to a friend who was in from out of town. This friend had barely made it through his bachelor's degree, even with a lot of help from me and other friends. Over dinner he was complaining about not getting a good enough raise, so he was only making $143k at his software consulting job (he didn't do the technical stuff, more customer relations).
I left teaching to make more money. I am, but it has taken a while, and I really miss working with the kids. Wish I had stayed in teaching.
Cheating Yourself
[rebelmouse-image 18349826 is_animated_gif=I had a student that copied off another kid during a test. I gave him a 0%. The parents came in to complain to administration that, since I hadn't explicitly said during the first day orientation that cheating wasn't allowed, it was an unfair punishment. Administration forced me to allow him an opportunity to retake the test. He never retook the test, and the grade of 0 stood. Still, I was so disillusioned by the entire experience that I started looking the next day at college programs that I could use to transition away from public education.
It's the Principal
[rebelmouse-image 18349827 is_animated_gif=The principal's niece made a B in my Freshman Geography class and she wanted me to bump it to an A. Because the child could not get into Texas A&M with a B in a freshman class on her record. This school also pressured teachers to fail no students.
Calling for Help
[rebelmouse-image 18349828 is_animated_gif=A student had a mental breakdown in the library, smashed a wooden chair, and gouged a pencil in his arm while screaming that he wanted us all to go away, and I got reamed out for not calling campus security before I called 911.
Pass/Fail
[rebelmouse-image 18349829 is_animated_gif=I failed a college student who never came to class and missed both the mid-term and final exams. The influential parents complained to the school. The administration later went into the digital records, and changed the fail to a passing grade without my knowledge. I found it out later, third-hand. Ergo: I refused to sign a second year contract they offered to me.
Pre-Meditated
[rebelmouse-image 18349832 is_animated_gif=I used to teach chemistry and O-chem for an MCAT prep course prior to med school. Pre-medical students often have a reputation for being highly motivated, egotistic, and often downright nasty and/or manipulative towards each other; to many of them you're not a colleague, you're the competition. Towards the end of my tenure there I was giving a lecture and gave the class a break. Walked out to my car to retrieve something and overheard two of my students talking in the parking lot. One of them was confused about a topic we had just covered and was asking the other to clarify it. The other student blatantly told her the incorrect information to make sure she would get questions on that topic incorrect on the exam. I know this student knew what the correct answer was because she was one of my brightest and I had tutored her 1-on-1. It made me sick to think that she would purposefully sabotage a "friend" to give themselves a better chance of acceptance. I never called her out on it but made sure to go over the topic again once we returned from break.
I'm so glad I'm no longer pre-med...
Budget Constraints
[rebelmouse-image 18349833 is_animated_gif=End of year assessing students to see who'd progress through to the second year, while assessing the work the department head came in and said we had to fail X amount due to facilities and resources for the next year.
He then returned an hour later and said that due to the budget we actually needed to pass a higher number than originally thought.
I completely ignored what he'd said and carried on marking on merit but it was the proverbial straw.
Dangerous Profession
[rebelmouse-image 18349834 is_animated_gif=I caught a kid selling drugs in the hallway and turned him in. He threatened to kill me with an ice pick. He was super unstable and volatile, and had a criminal record, so I didn't doubt that he might try it.
The principal refused to remove him from my class because "he has the right to have an education."
My other students took it upon themselves to escort me through the school in between classes and walk me to my car after school in a big huddle so ice pick boy couldn't get to me.
Parental Support
[rebelmouse-image 18349835 is_animated_gif=Caught a student cheating. But, stupid cheating, cheated off of someone else with the wrong answers and the same wrong spelling. When I spoke to him regarding taking a new test (generous on my part considering it should have been a 0 per school policy) he refused and said i would be hearing from his parents. I, of course, did hear from them via my principal within an hour. (Gotta love kids and their phones readily available)
Fast forward to a meeting with the student, parents, and principal. I had his test and the one from which he cheated. Upon showing this to the parents I fully expected them to understand and hold their son accountable. Nope. Instead, the parents demanded an apology from me for branding their son a "cheater"'which would "negatively impact him for the rest of his life," and also, it's the least I could do since they were "paying my salary." So, yeah, good times...glad I got my Masters degree for that.
Letting the Kids Down
[rebelmouse-image 18349836 is_animated_gif=When admin wouldn't let me take more than four days off after my girlfriend died unexpectedly. "You're letting the kids down" is a phrase I heard over and over again as I tried to reason with them.
Long Story, But...
[rebelmouse-image 18349838 is_animated_gif=I graduated from high school in 2010 (in the US) with the intent to be an English teacher. I'd had an English teacher my senior year who greatly inspired me, and I wanted to do the same thing for other kids as he had done for me.
I went to college and aced all of my education major classes, became a favorite of a lot of my professors, more than one told me that I'm going to be a great teacher and the industry is in good hands if there are more people like me in it.
In my senior year of college, I did the "Student Teaching" placement. I didn't take any classes for a semester, and instead was essentially a full time teacher at the local high school. This gave me my first look at what apathy looks like.
The students weren't even necessarily rowdy or disrespectful (some were, but that happens anywhere) they were just broken. Many of them were 16 years old and reading at an elementary school level, and had given up all hope of ever catching up. They saw no value in education, simply resigned to the fact that it was being presented a question and then figuring out what answer to plug into the blank. Somehow the "actual growth" part had been lost on them.
My cooperating teacher didn't seem to care. He spent most of this time working through the easiest grad school program he could find so he could get more money out of the district, and most of his lessons involved showing a video and asking the students questions about it. He did his job, but the passion seemed to be almost entirely gone.
But, I graduated. That was a bad school district in a bad neighborhood, of course it was going to have problems. If I got a job at a better district, I'd have more support and more options for handling problem students.
My first job out of college was a part-time reading aide at one of the largest school districts in Pennsylvania. Every full time teaching job wouldn't give me the time of day because I didn't have any experience. This was the only place I got an interview. My job was to meet with students who were having difficulties with their reading assignments (mostly ELL and special ed students) and give them some extra time work things out. Surely this would mean I'd have a structured schedule with quality time spent with students.
It turned out that this school district was so disorganized that it felt more like I was a salesman trying to book clients to keep the work alive. The school was so large that 95% of the faculty had no idea I existed, so I needed to go out and find students who needed help instead of having them referred to me. The bizarre schedule (everything worked on a 6-day cycle) meant students frequently forgot about our appointments or came at the wrong time, and I had little to no means of hunting them down. The job quickly devolved into me sitting in a small room for 8 hours a day, seeing maybe one student.
The one consistent student I had was a Bangladeshi girl who had only recently come to America. Her English was pretty good, but she was illiterate in her own native tongue, to say nothing of her ability to read or write in English. She was in a foster home after CPS took her away from her family. At 14, she had a husband back in Bangladesh. When I checked in after leaving that position, my colleagues told me she had gone back to her home country to visit over the summer and then never returned.
My wife was also unhappy with her job at the time, so we jointly decided we needed a change and moved cross country. I got a full time job at a high school in the Seattle area, one with supportive administration, interesting colleagues, and a strong amount of support for new teachers. I finally had my own classroom, a curriculum to teach, and a chance to start my career. Surely, things were looking up.
For the most part, things were actually pretty good. The coworkers in my department were supportive and uplifting, and my opinion was valued even though I didn't have as much experience as the others. Our administrator was a pretty cool guy, and I met some students who I'll keep with me forever. I honestly did enjoy working there, even if it was difficult sometimes.
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Things People Secretly Love But Would Never Admit To In Public
Reddit user sweet_chick283 asked: 'What do you secretly love that you would never admit to in public?;
What makes us all unique is our passions and the things we love, whether it's singing in the shower, reading books, or listening to specific music artists.
Unfortunately, we live in a world where we are judged for our various tastes and interests thanks to social media, and it makes us consciously selective about sharing the things we love on the internet.
Curious to hear about people's personal desires under anonymity, Redditor sweet_chick283 asked:
"What do you secretly love that you would never admit to in public?"
These aren't really chores for the following Redditors.
Good Clean Fun
"Mopping, im a janitor and generally hate my work... but damn mopping is so good."
– MrDDog06
"When you have a great rhythm going it is something special. I get the same feeling while I vacuum, but won’t let my wife know I enjoy it."
– Bogus_34
Act Of Unwrinkling
"Ironing clothes. A dozen of them. Can’t explain how it relaxes me. I told one person and they looked at me like I’m crazy."
– eerie_white_glow
"My mum misses the days when dad would be out on a Friday night, my brother out with friends and me upstairs quietly playing PS1. She would pour herself a Bacardi & Coke and do the ironing while watching her TV shows."
"I'm sure she doesn't really miss it now that we've moved out and they've retired but it was her wind-down after a busy working week so I can see how people can find it relaxing."
– xdq
Our solo actions can spark joy.
Big Brother Is Watching
"pretending to be on the Truman show and whenever im in my house i act all inconspicuous so they dont know that i know that they’re watching me."
– Bec_121
"C’mon man, you’re not supposed to let him know. You signed a contract when signing up for live views. I’m reporting you."
– doeswaspsmakehoney
The Multi-Tasker
"Playing video games naked at home while eating cheese."
– thickening_agent
Releasing The Kraken
"I love the feeling when you've eaten good fibre and let out a solid long train log in the toilet. That feeling is heavenly."
– therapoootic
"Even better when it’s a clean wipe and not a poo crayon."
– TheWarmestHugz
Ultimate Comfort
"My (male 41) weekend routine is coming home from work, make hot chocolate, start a fire, dress in a ugly pink nightgown made for old ladies and watch forensic files."
– crazyloomis
Some people are obsessed with collecting things.
So Kawai
"Sanrio stationery stores. All those different multicolor pens, a thousand kinds of erasers, spiral bound notebooks galore... my kids sadly have absolutely no appreciation for this wonderland..."
– HavingNotAttained
It's A Staple
"Office supplies have a weird, special place in my heart ever since I was a kid. They don't even have to be 'cute' necessarily."
"Japan's legendary stationery stores is unironically a reason I want to go."
– _CozyLavender_
Not Caring Anymore
"The older I get the shorter that list gets. Not because I love less things, but because I don't care about hiding it."
– Bi-Beast
"YES!! I'm 53 now. I'm working my first job in public since 2006. Today is Halloween and we're allowed to dress up so I am sitting here waiting to go to work dressed as a VERY bad Wednesday Addams. My bf said I'd 'look stupid' because no one else will probably dress up and I'm like, 'WHO CARES!' My makeup looks horrible and not like I practiced, but I DO NOT CARE! I'm having fun with it anyhow and I don't care if my coworkers dress up or not. I'm bein' ME! :)"
– deanie1970
Honorable mentions start here.
The Savior
"Picking up worms from the street and sidewalks when it rains and moving them into the dirt so they don’t burn in the sun, every time it rains I do this."
– sky_kitten89
Hero Of The Moment
"Yoooo I scoot SO many snails and worms. I work as a tech/mechanic at an automotive shop, I had a peoject car towed to my house the other day and it was covered in snails. I saw them when the tow guy/coworker was unloading and I was like, 'oh! It comes with free snails!' and began moving them. He laughed then realized and said, '... Oh, you're serious. Uh... Okay.'"
"I don't care who knows it. These little things barely can look out for themselves, why shouldn't we if we can take a moment to help? I don't care what happens next, it probably doesn't matter overall but I can help this moment."
– chris14020
Why should some of the hidden desires mentioned above have to be secret?
Redditors opening up about some of these would make them a hit at parties–no shaming.
As a matter of fact, I'll totally be down for a Forensic Files viewing party where we all make hot chocolate, light the fireplace, and cozy up together in our respective pink ugly nightgowns for old ladies.
We've probably all heard some variation of the saying "Truth is stranger than fiction."
Real life isn't just strange, it can also be downright ridiculous.
History is riddled with moments of absurdity.
So ridiculous that people have a hard time believing real life is, well, really real.
A Redditor asked:
"What’s an event in history that is so ridiculous it sounds fake?"
Moostaken Identity
"Hannibal saved his army by tying torches to the horns of 5,000 cows and driving them in one direction."
"The Romans thought they were the enemy army and converged on them, while Hannibal quietly snuck his 10,000 man force out of the valley by another route."
~ Marxbrosburner
War Without Casualties
"That time Denmark and Canada (I think) had a 'war' over Hans island."
"Every time a Navy vessel drove by they picked up the flag of the over nation, planted their own and left a bottle of alcohol."
"I heard it stopped not that long ago."
~ FairyQueen89
"It also means that both Canada and Denmark now share a land border with more than one country."
"Also (jokingly) means that Canada could potentially join the EU, as it now borders an EU nation."
~ millijuna
Oh, 💩
"The Erfurt Latrine Disaster occurred on 26 July 1184, when Henry VI, King of Germany (later Holy Roman Emperor), held a Hoftag (informal assembly) in the Petersberg Citadel in Erfurt."
"On the morning of 26 July, the combined weight of the assembled nobles caused the wooden second story floor of the building to collapse and most of them fell through into the latrine cesspit below the ground floor, where about 60 of them drowned in liquid excrement."
~ amerkanische_Frosch
Running On Empty
"The 1904 Olympic Marathon in St. Louis."
"32 athletes took part, but only 14 were able to finish—there was only one water station in the entire 26-mile course. The 'winner' was later disqualified because they found out he drove half the race in his car."
"The new winner (the guy who came in second) had to be carried over the finish line by his trainers because they’d been dosing him the whole time with a strange mixture of strychnine, brandy, and egg whites."
"Several people almost died of internal injuries. Multiple runners stole things from passersby."
"Most people in the race weren’t even Olympic-level athletes, just amateur runners, many of whom didn’t even have to run a full marathon to qualify."
~ Blacl-Owl
Stonewalled
"When two perfectly working pistols failed to fire on US President Andrew Jackson who then beat his would-be-assassin so badly that the presidential security detail had to pull him off to save the man's life."
~ sleepwalkfromsherdog
The Log Shot First
"The guy who founded Scientology once engaged in a multi-day naval battle with a log. He would then go on to commit an act of war against Mexico."
~ Duck_Whistle
"In June 1942, Hubbard was given command of a patrol boat at the Boston Navy Yard, but he was relieved after the yard commandant wrote that Hubbard was 'not temperamentally fitted for independent command'."
"In 1943, Hubbard was given command of a submarine chaser, but only five hours into the shakedown cruise, Hubbard believed he had detected an enemy submarine. Hubbard and crew spent the next 68 hours engaged in combat."
"An investigation concluded that Hubbard had likely mistaken a 'known magnetic deposit' for an enemy sub. The following month, Hubbard unwittingly fired upon Mexican territory and was relieved of command."
"In 1944, Hubbard served aboard the USS Algol before being transferred. The night before his departure, Hubbard reported the discovery of an attempted sabotage."
"I believe he had his men fire into hills in Baja California. He must not have realized that you can’t just use another country for target practice."
~ csfshrink
Bling, Bling
"The Field of the Cloth of Gold, where King Henry VIII of England and King Francis I of France tried to out-bling each other."
"The fact that two monkeys covered in gold leaf were far from the most ostentatious display is a good indication of how tasteful it was."
~ notatravis
"I assumed you meant two statues of monkeys in gold leaf."
"But no, actual real-life monkeys. Somebody painted actual real-life monkeys gold."
~ Youre_so_damn_fat
Sorry We Can't Shoot You
"When America went to war with Spain, the Spanish forgot to tell their territory, Guam.
"The US sent a single warship to the island where they took 13 shots at the fort."
"The leaders on the island rowed out to apologize they couldn't return their 'salute' because they had no gunpowder."
"That is why Guam is a US territory."
~ Wetworth
Ribbit
"The Great Windham Frog War."
"In 1754 Windham, Connecticut was still a frontier settlement. One hot night the residents awoke to gruesome sounds that convinced them that the local Natives were attacking."
"Throughout the night they strove to drive off the attackers with steady gunfire. In the morning they crept out, to find thousands of dead frogs who had spent the night competing for the dwindling water."
"Rather than being ashamed, this has become a central part of the town’s character. The town’s symbol is a frog and the bridge is decorated with large frogs at each corner."
~ DdraigGwyn
Psych!
"Operation Mincemeat."
"Basically, the British dressed a random dead guy in a military uniform, put fake invasion plans in his pocket, and dropped him on the shore of Spain."
"The Spanish found the body (and invasion plans) and informed Germany."
"Germany, believing the invasion plans were real, sent an army to Greece—which is exactly what the Brits wanted, because they were actually going to invade Sicily."
~ ThePinkTeenager
They Got Worms
"For a very long time the Roman empire was able to acquire silk through trade over 'the silk road' to China, but never able to unlock the secrets of producing it domestically themselves."
"Until 552AD, when two monks preaching in India then travelled to China, where they witnessed the guarded methods of using the live silk worm to spin the famous thread."
"Knowing the importance of what they'd learned, the monks returned to Constantinople to report directly to the emperor Justinian."
"He personally met the monks, heard all the details of what they'd seen, then asked them to return to China and find a way of smuggling these worms back to the empire."
"They agreed, and prepared for the 2 year ~6,500km (4,000mi) trek back to China on foot, hoof and wheel."
"Once back in China they acquired either eggs or young larvae, since the adults are too delicate for transport, and tucked them into hollowed bamboo canes for the long journey straight back home."
"Once the monks made it back to Constantinople (modern Istanbul, Turkey), domestic silk production slowly ramped up and the need for long journeys along the 'silk road' ramped down."
"Over time, this allowed the same type of silk monopoly which China had enjoyed through the prior centuries to now be established in the Mediterranean, becoming one of the bedrocks of the Byzantine economy for the next 700 years.It's crazy to think about these two guys."
"1500 years before you or I were born, making their second multi-year, 6,500km trek back from China, smuggling two bamboo canes full of bugs which would fuel the economy of one of the world's largest civilizations for the next 700 years."
"I wonder if they knew and understood these possibilities when they went to scoop the worms from their baskets in China...Imagine the anxiety trying to keep them hidden and alive the whole way back!"
~ ChipHazardous
Ape 💩
"The Gombe Chimpanzee War."
"It sounds like something right out of a Planet of The Apes movie."
"The Gombe Chimpanzee War, also known as the Four-Year War, was a violent conflict between two communities of chimpanzees in Gombe Stream National Park in the Kigoma region of Tanzania between 1974 and 1978."
"The two groups were once unified in the Kasakela community. By 1974, researcher Jane Goodall noticed the community splintering."
"Over a span of eight months, a large party of chimpanzees separated themselves into the southern area of Kasakela and were renamed the Kahama community. The separatists consisted of six adult males, three adult females and their young."
"The Kasakela was left with eight adult males, twelve adult females and their young."
"During the four-year conflict, all males of the Kahama community were killed, effectively disbanding the community. The victorious Kasakela then expanded into further territory but were later repelled by two other communities of chimpanzees."
~ DeadalusJones
Hong Xiuquan Christ?
"The Taiping Rebellion (1850-1864)."
"Hong Xiuquan, who failed the imperial exam on the third try to become a civil servant, had a breakdown and dreamed that he was the brother of Jesus Christ."
"He later led a revolution resulting in between 20 to 30 million deaths. That's the bloodiest civil war in the world and the toll of death surpasses the totality of casualties in WWI."
"British diplomats at the time wanted to support the revolution but later discovered that Hong Xiuquan literally never read the Bible and they thus deemed it would be disastrous if he were to get the throne."
"This historical event feels like a fever dream everytime I hear about it."
~ Freezemoon
Pied Piper
"John 'Mad Jack' Churchill was a British officer in World War Two. He’s famous because he brought along a Scottish claymore, bagpipes, and a bow and got the 'only confirmed longbow kill of the Second World War'."
"One time he was with part of his commando unit and a shell exploded and injured everyone but him, so he played a Scottish Jacobite song on his bagpipes until the Germans captured him and sent him to a prison camp."
"He promptly escaped via a tunnel he dug and almost got to the ocean before he got recaptured."
"By then, it was April 1945, and the German military was falling apart, so they let him go pretty quickly."
"He’s famous for the quote 'any officer who goes into action without his sword is improperly dressed'."
~ 3000ghosts
What absurdly, ridiculous event would you add?
Companies and products rebrand for a variety of reasons.
Sometimes they want to revitalize a dying brand.
Or stay fresh and modern.
Other times they're trying to put a negative public image in their rear view mirror.
And sometimes, someone somewhere in a company has low impulse control.
Anyway...
Reddit user PulakHasan asked:
"What's the Weirdest Rebranding of all time?"
Weight Watchers
"Weight Watchers abbreviated their name down to 'WW' and in doing so, increased the syllables needed to pronounce their new company name."
~ hambone10
"You burn more calories uttering the extra syllables."
~ jungl3j1m
waitr
"Waitr was an extremely successful delivery service here. They had full time employees and you could get food delivered in 30-45 minutes."
"Then, they made everybody an independent contractor and started calling themselves ASAP."
"'As slow as possible' caught on and they lost the majority market share within a month."
~ bravesgeek
GiphyHBO
"I still don’t understand HBO dropping probably the most prestigious name in cable tv/streaming."
~ stoneman9284
"Right?! Also it literally means Home Box Office - that’s the best name for a streaming service????"
~ oreos_in_milk
Nordic Choice Hotels
"Nordic Choice Hotels rebranded to 'Strawberry'."
"They have to mention their old name all the time, because Strawberry could be absolutely anything."
"If only it were 'Strawberry Hotels' but it's not. It's just Strawberry."
"They removed the part that explains what kind of business it is."
"Madness."
~ WoodSheepClayWheat
GiphyUSWest
"USWest-->Qwest-->CenturyLink-->Lumen I don’t care what your name is."
"Can I have more than 10mbps DSL at my address?"
~ Trickycoolj
"In Europe, and it's now Level3--> Centurylink--> Lumen--> Colt."
"I'm sure they rename in the hope people forget the incompetence."
~ ConsciousValence
"My mom has worked for them since 1977 when they were Northwestern Bell."
"She's been through a billion name changes."
~ CorporalBB
Circuit City IQ Crew
"Circuit City rebranding their PC technician division from IQ Crew (which predated Geek Squad, by the way) to..."
"Firedog."
"I worked at a Circuit City from 2005-2008 and we all thought it was a prank when we saw the announcement."
"'The intensity of fire with the loyalty of man's best friend'."
"I sh*t you not—that was the marketing."
~ Tiberius_Jim
GiphyBritish Petroleum
"When after a major oil spill, BP changed their branding to Beyond Petroleum for an ad campaign showing how they were investing in renewables."
"Logo change too."
~ RandomAmuserNew
"An oil spilled followed by a huge effort to cover it up, including dumping Corexit into the water to mix with the oil and make it sink."
"So it was no longer visible from aerial shots, but it did far, far more damage mixed with a dangerous chemical and sitting on the sea floor than slowly evaporating or being soaked up on the surface."
~ LurkerOrHydralisk
Amoco
"When BP purchased Amoco, they quickly rebranded all the stations to BP."
"Not sure if it is everywhere but Amoco had a lot of brand recognition in the Midwest and a lot of people just didn’t like BP."
"Eventually, they started rebranding some of their stations back to Amoco to cash in on nostalgia."
"I always thought it was dumb but never realized that so many people hated it until after I worked for BP (very briefly) and was told the story of how much pushback they got."
~ anitabelle
British Petroleum (BP Oil)/Paul Sableman
Overstock.com
"Overstock.com I think qualifies for weird rebrand."
"Bed Bath and Beyond went out of business and was bought out by Overstock and then Overstock just rebranded everything to Bed Bath and Beyond."
"If you go to overstock.com it’s just BBB."
~ WhatsABuckland
Snoop Dogg
"When Snoop Dogg (temporarily) changed his name to Snoop Lion to make a reggae album."
~ RomanOnARiver
"Snoop’s original name on Death Row was 'Snoop Doggy Dogg'. When he left Death Row and went to No Limit, he had to alter his name (which might have been his original name) to 'Snoop Dogg'."
~ GotMoFans
"Snoop’s mother used to call him Snoopy as a nickname which is the origin."
~ OpanaMan
"The Charles Schulz people would have had a field day."
~ GotMoFans
GiphyBooks-A-Million
"Books-A-Million to 'BAM'."
"I was in a parking lot with one and had no idea it was a bookstore, as I was a bit too far out to see more than 'BAM' from where I was parked."
~ lynnyfox
KIA
"Everytime I see the new KIA logo I assume its a NIN [Nine Inch Nails] fan."
~ vinyalwhl
"I thought it was KN for an embarrassingly long time."
~ VulfSki
"KIA changed their logo on their cars and Google showed an uptick in the searches for 'K N cars' because people liked the look of them but didn’t realise it was a KIA."
~ User_Deleted_Content
Mark Chan on Unsplash
Royal Mail
"Royal Mail deciding Consignia was the way to go forwards."
~ PonITdude
"They wanted to go international but they lost so much money that year they had to stay national and reversed the name back."
~ ShinyHead0
"Twitter to X."
~ sandiercy
"And then everyone still refers to it as Twitter."
~ Safety_Drance
"'A user on X, formerly known as Twitter, posted…'.”
~ tommyk1210
"Rather like to see 'A user on Twitter, erroneously known as X, posted...'."
~ SagittaryX
"'A user on twitter, largely unknown as X, posted...'."
~ Pinksters
"A few days ago, I saw an article that said 'Twitter, which Elon Musk incorrectly thinks is called X for some reason...'."
"That was pretty funny."
~ temalyen
GiphyCity Landmarks
"In Chicago we still call it the Sears Tower [renamed Willis Tower in 2009]."
~ baccus83
"And in Pittsburgh, it’s still Heinz Field [renamed Acrisure Stadium in 2022]."
~ NoVaBurgher
"And in Toronto, it’s still the Skydome [renamed Rogers Centre in 2005]."
~ nonanarchist
"And in New York when you take 287 across the Hudson it's still the Tappan Zee Bridge [renamed Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge in 2017]. "
~ keytarin
"A lot of LA people still call it Staples Center [renamed Crypto.com Arena in 2021]."
~ New_Simple_4531
"In Denver we will always say Mile High Stadium [renamed Empower Field at Mile High in 2019]."
~ SheBrokeHerCoccyx
Some rebrandings make perfect sense to the public.
Others are utterly baffling.
What would you add to this list?
I freely admit I'm of a certain age where my primary education occurred before the age of the internet—when our questions were answered with conversations with experts, encyclopedias or knowing how to use card catalogs.
My knowledge of the Dewey Decimal System is largely useless today.
Research is drastically different now—sorry Melvil Dewey. Internet search engines quickly became the difference between occasionally finding an outdated version of the information we were looking for and rarely not finding current information on the most obscure of topics.
Unless your Google game is super weak, you're likely to find what you're looking for or something close to it unlike the good old days when our chances were hit or mis—with lots of misses.
So what do we use this amazing, life-changing tool for?
Well...
Reddit user b-secret asked:
"What is the most embarrassing thing you have ever Googled?"
How Much?
"what's the alcohol percentage in 70% rubbing alcohol?"
~ LightsJusticeZ
"55% alcohol, 15% rubbing"
~ FishOfFishyness
Who?
"I Googled my work because I couldn’t remember my boss’ name after working there for 8 months."
"I just blanked and couldn’t think of it."
~ HCxTC
Spellcheck
"I Google how to spell restaurant all the time."
~ ParkOk6450
"I'm like that but with Febuary."
"EDIT: February"
~ NeoNero_x
"I go into incognito mode to check spellings of words I should know how to spell."
~ LordCaptain
GiphyUm, No.
"I was trying to find the name of those signs where a word is written down the side and each letter is used for a descriptive word."
"Confusing I know."
"So here’s an example: False Evidence Appearing Real"
"I know it has to have a name. So I googled 'Sign where every word starts with a letter' and Goggle responded with 'Did you mean a sentence?'.”
~ Team_Lift
Looks Like...
"Googled green beans once, was super high and forgot what they looked like."
~ testies2345
"I did the same thing with beets."
~ Jjetsk1_blows
Gaby Yerden on Unsplash
That Movie, With the Guy and the Stuff...
"I'll forget the name of a movie and just type in random sh*t I think I remember. Usually it works."
"Like 'that movie where the kid sleeps and has weird dreams and flies on a bed'."
"Works like a charm."
~ fohsupreme
Did They Have Blue Feet?
"big boobies"
"I was only 10."
"I was surprised to find some."
~ PoopPower99
"I’m 39 and I Google this every day."
~ dekkact
"They're nice birds but are they really worth Googling everyday?"
~ redwolf1219
Blue-Footed Boobies
GiphyPredictive Text
"I used to search something like 'no clothes' or 'without clothes' or something like that when I was a kid."
"Then I learnt the word NAKED because of the TV show Naked and Afraid."
"Then searched it so many times that my autocorrect started to show that word first when I wanted to type something."
~ sniper8207
NSF...S?
"My favorite band growing up was 'The Barenaked Ladies'."
"When I was at school, I once Googled them and clicked on a link that said 'free shows!'."
~ BW_Bird
Good Description
"I forgot what a 'gondola' was called so I typed in 'Thing that carries you through the mountains in a basket'."
~ TheGreatJaceyGee
"I once forgot the word for 'door' so my brain reached for adjacent concepts, smashed them together and threw them out my mouth: 'house portal'."
~ Tail_Nom
GiphyIt Just Doesn't Translate
"I have to search a random word 'auf Englisch' or a random word 'auf Deutsch'."
"Every damn day."
"It took me a minute to realize that there was no way to translate Schadenfreude into English."
~ grammar_fixer_2
Ah, Memories...
"I found out that as long as you're logged into Google, all your searches are saved to your Google account (I'm not talking about browser history)."
"So I looked back, and the 1st thing I ever googled after getting a Google account was 'Can ducks fly'."
"I've no idea why I googled this. I know ducks can fly."
~ caca__milis
GiphyYou Ate What‽‽
"Once I was with some friends and I was telling them about how when I was a kid we only got to eat nuts as a special treat around Christmas."
"Then I mentioned how much I liked squirrel nuts and no one knew what they were. So I Googled 'squirrel nuts' with image search."
"Not at all what we ate at Christmas time."
"Finally found out what my family called 'squirrel nuts' were actually called hazelnuts."
~ 123fofisix
100% NSFW
"A few years ago my coworker and I were looking at the calendar at work. It had pictures of birds and we were trying to figure out what kind of bird was pictured for that month."
"I can’t remember what she thought it was, but I darned sure it was a Great Tit."
"We have a great relationship and have been working together for a long time but we tend to argue like an old married couple. So we went to Mr Google for the answer."
"Let me tell you that Googling Great Tit at work isn’t something I will ever do again."
"For the record, I was right. The bird was a Great Tit."
~ pi11bott
Great Tit holds an insect in its beak
A Perry on Unsplash
Hope some of these folks remembered to clear their browser and search histories.
So, what's your hilarious—or embarrassing—little Google secret search?