Jilted People Reveal Times They Weren't Given Credit For Hard Work
[rebelmouse-image 18351875 is_animated_gif=Life is NOT fair! That is learning lesson #1! The even bigger truth... most EVERY aspect of life is NOT fair! Nor will it ever be. Now many times people will be rewarded for their diligence and hard work but more often than not the credit one is due is sadly misplaced. We go around life never being given that handshake, pat on the back, million dollar reward or even the simplest of thank yous. But that is why we are told to do good and be productive and our ability to be proud of oneself is it's own prize. Yeah... I'm not buying it either.
Redditor pimonroy wanted everyone to speak up for themselves asking to admit... What's something you've done that deserved credit but no one gave it to you? Gimme my applause!!!
2%? THAT ALL YOU GOT?
I wrote a perl script that saved my company $10 million when the electric company dug up our data lines. We were able to continue production for 17 hours and keep the Jeep plant running with no interruption. It wasn't even my job to write that script, I just saw the potential emergency situation and decided to do something about it. Got my normal 2% salary increase that year. Thanks Exel.
REVENGE IS SLOW...
[rebelmouse-image 18351876 is_animated_gif=About 10 years ago I applied for a job as a Recycling Coordinator. Part of the application process was that they left me alone with a laptop to answer the question: "How would you improve compliance?" So I laid out this idea I had about a PR campaign. I didn't get the job. But about 6 months later they rolled out a campaign that was exactly what I had proposed.
I'm still waiting to serve cold revenge to the Director of that department.
WHERE MY NAME AT?
[rebelmouse-image 18351877 is_animated_gif=Helped design significant portions of a multi-million dollar renovation, just to have my name scrubbed in a fit of office politics.
A YOUR PART OF DISCOVERY...
[rebelmouse-image 18351878 is_animated_gif=I discovered the first recorded evidence of a blacksmith's forge in a major (literally world-famous) Roman site. I was uncredited as I was working as part of an unpaid Archaeological student excavation team...
TIME DOESN'T HEAL ALL WOUNDS...
[rebelmouse-image 18351879 is_animated_gif=I helped raise and take care of my niece and nephew for many years. I decided that I couldn't stay in my mother's religion anymore and left it when I was 19. They were no longer allowed to speak or have anything to do with me after that. For so many years I changed their diapers, fed them, bathed them, cried with them, rocked them to sleep, cleaned up so much vomit, drove them to and from school, took them to work with me on Bring Your Kid to Work Day, watched cartoons...and it was just all taken away in the blink of an eye. I saw them a few years back at my dads house (he's not in my mothers religion), they hadn't seen me since they were about 6 or 7 years old and they were both getting ready to graduate high school. They barely remembered who I was and didn't say two words to me hardly.
It breaks my heart to this day to know that they'll never realize how much I love them.
THAT'S MINE!!
[rebelmouse-image 18978490 is_animated_gif=Designed my school's logo in an after school "logo designing" class back in 7th grade. They just used it without ever telling me.
My college senior design class requires students to sign over project IP to the school. Then the professor had the gall to reject any projects he didn't think were innovative enough to get bought by Google.
BE A VAPER!
[rebelmouse-image 18978491 is_animated_gif=There was a fire in my apartment building. The old lady who lived in the apartment below mine had fallen asleep smoking, and woke up to her apartment on fire. She got out, but was too shocked to notify anyone else. So, I was the one who noticed it, got my girlfriend at the time out of the place, then ran through knocking on doors and yelling in windows. Everyone got out safe. I sort of voluntarily avoided credit for two reasons; first, my girlfriend at the time was recently divorced (but separated for a good amount of time), and she was spending the night, which her parents didn't approve of, being a conservative Catholic family. Second, my local news had seemingly been on a string of interviews where not a single person being interviewed didn't come off as being a yokel/hill person. It was mostly reason one, but reason two was a benefit.
The apartment complex thanked me by moving the old lady back in to the same apartment, despite her refusing to quit smoking. My lease renewal was coming up, so I noped out then.
Also, the only people we told were my parents, and my wonderful mom's reaction was basically"oh, Bad_Idea_Hat would never have done something that heroic." So that's cool, should have seen that coming.
I'LL JUST TAKE A SIMPLE, OLD CADILLAC...
[rebelmouse-image 18978492 is_animated_gif=I used to work at an exotic car dealership startup. I was just a detailer at the time. We had a meeting to discuss ways to improve cash flow cuz we weren't selling enough cars. I had the idea of using the empty front parking lot of about 30 spaces to sell cheaper cars like Mercedes/bmw/Audi etc. they shot that idea straight out of the sky. I was eventually fired for_"not caring about the business." _1 year later and guess what they are doing. In fact they're not even selling exotics anymore. Just used cars.
NEXT TIME YOU GET YOUR BAG!
[rebelmouse-image 18978493 is_animated_gif=I was 18 and on holiday with my girlfriend in Italy, we'd just arrived in Rome having flown in and caught a train to termini station. We stop in a park not far from the station to take a break and have some food before finding our hostel. We're both quite tired so my girlfriend starts napping in the sun and I'm lounging out too, occasionally shutting my eyes. After enjoying the sun for 20 minutes or so I open my eyes to see a man walking away from us but quite close by, then think to myself that that's quite strange because I hadn't heard him at all. I look around and immediately realize my girlfriend's handbag is gone, I jump up and run after the man who I now see is wearing a big coat and is clearly in a hurry to leave. I shout after him and manage to catch up before he gets out of the park and grab his arm, spin him around and wrestle the handbag from underneath his coat. He runs off and, not particularly wanting to start a whole thing, I decide to leave it and return to my girlfriend with her handbag containing her passport, mobile phone and holiday money. Amazingly she had slept through the whole event so I woke her up, told her what had just happened and that I had essentially just saved the entire holiday.... Her response. Nothing. Not a _'thanks' _not even to this day. About 8 years on and several girlfriends later this still annoys me.
TRUTH IN SOAP!
[rebelmouse-image 18978494 is_animated_gif=I've BEEN doing the dishes, thats why the sink isn't overflowing. You just use a lot of dishes.
I DON'T NEED THE NEWS VAN...
[rebelmouse-image 18356805 is_animated_gif=My first week as a solo police officer I "saved" a toddler who escaped their home. It was right as winter was rolling in and it was maybe 40 degrees. A few hours later, as the sun had set, I see a half naked toddler near a treeline down a private road about a mile from his house. Hopped out of my patrol car, grabbed him, and stuffed him into my jacket. Went back to the car, pumped up the heat, and radioed for medical/fire. They arrived, the news crews arrived, and the firefighters got all the credit.
BETRAYL!!
[rebelmouse-image 18354612 is_animated_gif=I believe I was the first to remove the border on the commodore 64, shared the code freely with my friends, only to discover that my _"friend" _would post it as his own in a code-competition in a magazine back in the early 80's.
That's my first taste of treason and humanity.
WHERE WERE YOU?
[rebelmouse-image 18978495 is_animated_gif=I wrote a paper for our senior year. My partner did nothing, except screwing things up and writing like an infant.
We won the award for the best paper at graduation. He was the only one mentioned and got the award because he got 0.5 more points on his oral exam.
A TALE AS TOLD AS TIME...
[rebelmouse-image 18978496 is_animated_gif=In like 5th or 6th grade my reading class was doing greek myths and fables like Odysseus and Perseus...
We had to choose between like 6 projects. Most kids chose easy ones like read a book do a cutout or report or glue paper on paper really easy busy work. I chose one where we had to make a throne for one of the gods. So i spent the entire weekend building a throne for hades (i liked skeletons and edgy stuff)
Took me a long time and a bunch of pain Styrofoam and dollar store arts and crafts to make a throne that really expressed what hades was all about. I then took a skeleton guy from the budget Halloween area and put him on the throne. Presentation time came around even though my throne was bomb diggidy i am awkward and got a C on the speaking portion. Whatever its the throne that was mainly interested in
I never got the throne back. It was used a display in the library which is cool and all but i was never told that and as far as the random kid knew it was nameless cuz there was never any "Made by : " stickers on it.
So my hard worked art was shoved on display with no real credit on it for like half the school year and when i got it back the kids who passed by messed with it and it was missing bits and pieces and the entire skeleton was gone. got an A on the throne which averaged the grade to a B. But if i just did the easy flip books or whatever it was i would have gotten the same grade because the dumb girl who sat near me got a better grade for trash that took her like 10 minutes to do.
YOU'RE WELCOME 5-0!
[rebelmouse-image 18978497 is_animated_gif=About 20 years ago my engine company (fire department) went to an arson call. Somebody stuck burning paper inside somebody's apartment door mail slot. The fire didn't take hold and it became more of a police department scene. Just before left the scene, the mentally-unstable tenant, who was suspected of the arson, grabbed a rifle and charged past us. He was running toward police that were headed downstairs about a floor below. My captain and I grabbed him and subdued him until the police came back and disarmed him.
The police department never thanked us for nor acknowledged our actions that night. I'm sure they were embarrassed that they didn't properly clear and secure the apartment. I doubt it was ever mentioned in any report, and it chaps me a bit that it's probably because of pride. But of course I'm glad we were able to help and would definitely do it again.
DOGS FIRST!
[rebelmouse-image 18978498 is_animated_gif=Notified my neighbors that their house was on fire, helped them exit. Went back in for their two dogs (mucho flames at this point). Walked across the street to tell my wife I was fine, sat down, walked back over to make sure the neighbors were going to be fine (police and fire on the scene by this point) cops told me to leave or be arrested and wouldn't let me get checked out for smoke inhalation.
SAY CHEESE!
[rebelmouse-image 18978499 is_animated_gif=Back in 2009 I used to work in social media development and I came up with a simple idea:"what if we had a special slot for a new photo we ask people to take, with them having the site name and their username written on a piece of paper? ... we can give them a little verified green check mark if they do it"
I think a few sites had done 'verification' back then but it was mostly pertaining to a verified email address. We had a Philippine admin team just checking photos on the backend so they were all manually approved. So yeah, in my most modest fantasies, I like to think that I helped that check mark become the standard you see now.
DO YOUR OWN WORK NEXT TIME...
[rebelmouse-image 18978500 is_animated_gif=A lot of people on my course in college left all their coursework to the last minute for the whole year, i'm talking 1 week before the deadline most people still had the the first assignment to finish so i stayed from 8 am to 10pm everyday that last week including on my birthday to help them out, some of them even got distinctions when they would have been disqualified without me and yet the next year rolls round and not one credited me for helping them and most got openly hostile if i suggested that i did help them.
JOKES ON ME...
[rebelmouse-image 18978501 is_animated_gif=When I was just out of high school, my dad was having some alcohol issues. I lived with my boyfriend, was going to college full time, and worked full time. I'd drive the hour to my dad's house to stock his fridge once a week. I paid his utilities for him for almost two years. I endured drunken 2am phone calls during this time. I decided to take a semester off, to get ahead on money, and didn't go back. After about two years of this, my dad got a DUI and quit drinking.
Flash forward ten years. My little brother and sister are 10 and 12 years younger than me, and are just beginning college. Our dad pays their tuition, their apartment rent, visits them to take them out to eat, and sends them cash every week. And "jokes" with me that maybe one of them will get their degree and do something with their lives.
It was absolutely my choice to do everything that I did, but some acknowledgement of my help would be great.
YOU'RE WELCOME..
[rebelmouse-image 18978502 is_animated_gif=I actually donated my bone marrow to a totally random woman and, from what I'm told, directly saved her life. I asked the registry people if I could call and check on her or send a card or something, but apparently she's refused to have any contact with _"The donor" _- me.
I don't ever bring it up in real life because if you donate and talk about it, I think it somewhat negates the meaning of the act itself. But, yeah. Nobody actually knows I did that and the one woman who does, for some reason, refuses to have contact with me.
People Confess Dreaming Of Doing Something All Their Life Then Hating It Once They Did It
Reddit user buzzkill007 asked: 'Have you ever dreamed of doing something your whole life only to find out, once you did it, that you hated it? What was it?'
They say "Nothing ventured, nothing gained."
You know, the notion that we shouldn't fear things we haven't tried and that getting out of our comfort zone could lead to a wealth of wonderful discoveries.
Most times, fear isn't preventing us from trying the things we've been wanting to try–whether it's a new career or a hobby. We just haven't gotten there yet.
But take note, it's not always what it seems once we get there.
Curious to hear from strangers, Redditor buzzkill007 asked:
"Have you ever dreamed of doing something your whole life only to find out, once you did it, that you hated it? What was it?"
The stress level in medical professions is not for everyone.
Helping Saving Lives
"Being an EMT"
"I had planned on it being my lifelong career since middle school. I loved the medical field and wanted to save lives but knew I wouldn’t have the stamina to get through medical school."
"I got into training as soon as I graduated high school and I was top of my class in the educational sense, but as soon as I started doing ride-alongs everything just kind of fell apart on me."
"I didn’t fit in well with the firefighters, which sounds stupid but I think I really needed that brotherhood if I was going to survive in that field. The real problem, however, was my empathy. I knew quickly that I would not be able to see people on their worst days everyday. I could deal with broken bones and blood, but I hadn’t prepared myself for the screams."
"I work for a museum now lol."
– Livingroxets
The Young Widower
"I met quite a few paramedics whilst doing work in the vaccination centres last year. One of them had recently quit, and I asked why. She told me she had been on a call out with a young couple and a baby. The mum had a headache, and the baby was crying in bed so the dad went to soothe the baby whilst the mum laid down on the sofa. When the dad came back to the mum, she had passed away. I wasn't told what she died of but the girl telling the story was getting upset over it. She hated the idea of this child no longer having a mother, and the dad having lost his partner with absolutely no warning, and so young. So it wasn't even a gruesome one, just an upsetting one that made her give it up."
– Isgortio
The Guilt Complex
"My brother was an EMT because he wanted to help people. Started to blame himself for the people he couldn’t save, we almost lost him. Thank God he had some pretty stellar friends who went looking for him at 2am. EMTs are a different breed man, I don’t know how they do it."
– Lonely-Ninja
The Thing About Empathy
"The empathy thing is very interesting. My medical friends and family would always tell me I'd be great in the medical field because I'm so caring. That is precisely why I would be awful in the medical field. I hate seeing people suffering."
– Tim3-Rainbow
At first, these seemed desirable until they learned it was anything but.
Weightlessness
"I couldn't wait to 'pull g's' in an airplane. Then I did. It sucked."
– papafrog
"I cannot stress enough how fast pulling Gs gets old. The first couple turns are fun but then it’s like, 'I don’t feel good.' Fun times getting picked up from training sites by helicopter pilots on flight training and you’re just looking out the side of the Blackhawk at nothing but ground and you’re like are helicopters supposed to turn like this?"
– anon
Career As An Animator
"All my life I wanted to make cartoons."
"I fought with tooth and nail to reach the top."
"Then I interned for an old studio in Burbank specializing in cartoons about a certain yellow family."
"Then, after college, I became a mechanic and never looked back."
– DreyfusBlue
Formerly Aspiring Craftsman
"Blacksmithing. I watched a ton of blacksmithing content on youtube, got SUPER intrigued and wanted to build my own setup in the backyard. My Father talked me into trying a class before jumping in headfirst, and I am glad I did. My Father and I were the only two in the class that day so we got all the attention from the instructor which was awesome, he really helped us both perfect our techniques and corrected any mistakes quickly so we didn't form any bad habits, it was the best instructor I have ever had for anything, guy was an amazing teacher. He even offered to let us stay for a couple more hours to make another piece, which we took him up on. After all that, an amazing class, 3 metal pieces that I worked on and created by myself by hand, I walked away... dissatisfied. I think metal as a medium just felt very hard to work with, everything is super hot and dangerous, and I just didn't see myself wanting to ever do it again. I really recommend taking a class to try something out rather than spending time and money to build your own setup for something you may hate. I spent 75$ to save thousands."
– Roadronner
It Takes A Different Breed To Lead
"Being the boss of people. Boss is a title, but being an effective leader of people is an emotionally draining, often thankless roller coaster."
– DingbatDarrel
People who tried their hand at becoming lawyers found it to be extremely unpleasant.
Fighting For The Environment
"'I want to be an environmental lawyer when I grow up! I'm going to help save the world!' F'king kill me dude, I don't even have the energy to save myself anymore."
–Superseriouslyguys
"Interned at an environmental nonprofit over the summer while I was in law school."
"It was the worst parts of legal work and the worst parts of nonprofit work all mashed together."
"Edit: Ok this is getting a lot more eyeballs than I expected so I feel the need to clarify that it actually was not as bad as other non-legal nonprofits I'd later work at in terms of toxicity but it was intensely difficult work with very long hours and a lot of pressure - all of which made me realize I prob wasn't cut out for law much less environmental law."
– krylonultraflat
My Name Is Not Sharon
"I remember a girl in law school who had a similar experience, like they just had her getting coffee and cleaning out the office fridge all summer. Then at the end of the internship one of the directors of the program was like 'oh Sharon, you were our best intern this summer!' Susan. Her name was Susan."
– Superseriouslyguys
The Alternative
"Fellow lawyer here."
"Dip out and get yourself a cushy government job, easy 9-5 work hours, never take work home, plus you get a pension after it's all said and done."
"And then start living life outside of work. Focus on yourself."
– Pitiful-Reaction9534
Life is about taking chances.
You never know what you're capable of until you try different experiences.
And even if you don't succeed or found that whatever it is you tried wasn't for you, it's all a learning experience about how you deal in stressful or unfamiliar situations and overcome them.
The key is in finding your strengths, which you'll never find unless you put yourself out there and do the work. If it's not for you, something else will present itself.
At least that's what I'd like to think.
Everyone has a memory from their school days that always makes them laugh when it crosses their minds.
Be it someone passing gas at a very inopportune moment, an embarrassing wardrobe malfunction during a school play or sporting event, or, perhaps most of all, a spectacular prank.
Of course, while every single member of the student body likely finds these incidents and occurrences hilarious, the faculty and staff often find little to nothing funny about them.
Mainly because they often have to deal with the consequences and pandemonium caused by these dubiously hilarious events.
"What funny thing happened at school that caused utter chaos for the faculty?
Holy Sh*t
"2000"
"Teachers trying to stop kids smoking in the bathroom so they locked the bathroom doors."
"Kid took a sh*t on the carpet in front of the bathroom door, like right in the main hallway."
"Chaos ensued."
"Today, that kid is a pastor."
"Lol."- Jimmycapped
Cheaters Almost Always Get Caught
"It wasn't funny, but when I was in high school, there were two teachers in the school that were married."
"I was sitting in the husbands classroom waiting for the class to start when another kid ran in and said 'Hey Mr B, your wife is making out with Mr H in his classroom'."
"Turns out they'd locked the door, but about a dozen kids were looking through the skinny door window watching them."
"The guy didn't even say anything."
"He just looked crushed."
"He just walked out of the class and never came back...I mean we never saw him again."
"Turned out his wife and the other teacher had been having an affair and he'd might have suspected, but having it confirmed by one of his students in front of the whole class was too much."
"The school didn't discipline the two cheaters, but the students sure as hell did."
"Both of them had to listen to 'cheating' puns and jokes every day."
"'Hey Ms S, I'm going to copy off Joe's test, cheating is cool with you right?'" kind of stuff."
"Neither came back the next school year."- McFeely_Smackup
Cartoons Button GIF by NickelodeonGiphyWhere He Went, Music Followed...
"Hired a mariachi band to follow around our principal for our senior class prank."
"It was hysterical."- JulieFromJerz
Complicated Role Model...
"In middle school, a staff (not a teacher, he watched lunch and was a basketball coach for a high school) got arrested for selling weed to the kids."
"He won an award for 'best staff of the year' that year which had an entire yearbook page dedicated to him, but he was arrested after the yearbooks were printed."
"They had to go into each yearbook and cover that page with purple duct tape (to match the color scheme)."
"Prior to him being arrested, I was getting bullied horribly."
"None of the teachers or other staff could get the kids to stop, but once the staff who was arrested said 'leave Spencer alone'," the kids would immediately stop."
"I later realized he was threatening to take their weed away if they bullied me, and that's why he was the only one who could get them to stop."- Spencer2091
Funny Might Not Be The Best Word...
"Someone had a baby in the bathroom stall."
"I wish I was making this up."- JacobCStowe
baby GIFGiphyLegs Are Legs!
"They banned shorts because they were not professional enough."
"So all the boys wore skirts as a protest."- Haboobalub·
Or Did They Just Have A Time-Turner In Their Pocket?
"One of the classrooms at my school was a prefab hut, and over time it developed a hole in the floor at the back of the room (developed, or was helped, unsure)."
"Every lesson I had in there for a good few months before they fixed it, someone would arrive, greet the teacher, and sit down."
"Then after a few minutes they'd arrive again, straight-faced 'sorry I'm late sir', and sit down."
"Then again a few minutes later they'd arrive again... etc."
"The fun part was watching the teacher playing the memory game of figuring out who'd arrived too many times."- telnorp
Depends On How Short We're Talking...
"Freshman year one of my friends wanted to me run for student body vice president as a part of his counterculture party."
"He insisted on having me be his VP, to the point where he got all the necessary signatures for me to run without my knowledge and just went ahead and signed me up."
"We had to write speeches to get other kids to vote for us, and those speeches had to be approved beforehand by some faculty member."
"So I wrote a very disparaging speech about the validity and purpose of student council, laden with curse words and personal attacks towards our administration, thinking it would get screened ahead of time and they would disqualify me."
"I guess no one actually read my speech and just rubber stamped it, so on that morning they pulled me aside and handed me a printed out copy of my speech."
homer simpson drinking GIFGiphy"I went ahead and gave my speech and I guess none of the faculty knew what to do because no one stopped me but they were clearly panicked and furious."
"I got a lot of laughs and applause."
"I assume it was too late to print all new ballots because when we went to vote my name was crossed out with a sharpie."
"I also got suspended for 5 days despite my explanation that I did not want to run and submitted my speech for approval, on time, fully intending to be disqualified."
"I was also told by some older student council members involved in the ballot counting process that I won by a landslide due to write ins and people just circling the black line of my name, but I have no idea if that's true."- pieonthedonkey
Ladders Must Have Been In Short Supply...
"A student got ahold of a LOT of explicit pictures and taped them to all of the school clocks, suspended from the ceiling. None of the teachers were tall enough to pull them down, so they were up there for a bit."- Unlikely_Use
A Hard One To Erase From Memory (...Pun Intended...)
"My wife is a school teacher, and a couple years ago the senior prank was them sticking a bunch of those suction cupsex toys to the windows."
"And let's just say that the school has a lot of windows."
"It was the brain child of some douche bag architect who thought building a high school with no walls just windows was good idea."
"Any way, they managed to get the largest of the them stuck to the 3rd floor outside window, of one of the classrooms."
"So the male assistant principal gets a ladder, but its not quite long enough so he's teetering on the top of this ladder trying knock a 2-foot long purple d*ck of the side of the school with a broom handle."
"She said he was beating that thing as it owed him money, and it was just bouncing around, flopping and banging against the window."
"While everyone watched through tears of laughter."- Nutesatchel
What The Hell Comedy GIF by Paramount+GiphyDid ANYONE Find This Funny?
"Someone in my high school sent letters to everyone they deemed 'virgins' parents saying their son or daughter was tested for and found to have an STD by the school nurse and that they needed to come to the school immediately."
"Used the school letterhead etc so they got charged with mail fraud lol."- B__Malz
When In Doubt, Follow Moses...
"In my HS, there was a solid week where somebody set a trash can on fire daily."
"Nobody knew if it was one person or a group of people, but I think after day five everyone got pretty tired of having to stand out in the football field while the fire department inspected the area.
"It stopped after that week with no explanation and no word from the culprit."
"Second best was definitely the senior prank performed by the class two years ahead of mine."
"They bought crickets from our local PetSmart and set them free on our school’s main staircase."
"It took forever to get rid of them and I can remember sitting in class and hearing faint chirping coming from seemingly every direction."- Livingroxets
"A boy in my class brought some locusts in to show and tell."
"They escaped and got into the air vents."
"This was just before summer break."
"School came back to a full-on plague."- Big_Explanation_8803
Bugs Insects GIF by The GuardianGiphyNeedless to say, one has little doubt that any of the planned occurrences in these stories were ever meant to be found funny by the faculty or staff.
Even so, one also has little doubt that they've all looked back and laughed about some of these with the passage of time...
I embarrass myself in the search for love constantly.
Or in the need to try and impress.
I can't help it.
And I know I'm not alone.
Every time I come face to face with a crush or someone that intimidates me, all of my wit, wisdom, and self-respect flies out the window. Suddenly words are just sounds that make no sense. I also laugh at the most inappropriate moments.
Trying to impress someone should be easy.
Well, maybe not easy, it can be a challenge but it shouldn't land anyone in the ER.
When did trying to gain someone's attention become a sporting event?
Thank God for Xanax.
I have found a little calm goes a long way.
A deleted Redditor wanted everyone to share about the times we've been left red in the face, so they asked:
"What is the most embarrassing thing you've ever said to someone you were trying to impress?"
I once fell off of a treadmill trying to flirt with my high school crush.
I was running way too fast to show my "stamina."
I destroyed my Discman and my dignity.
Oh My
Licking Ice Cream GIF by MLB NetworkGiphy"Crush in High School worked at an ice cream store. When she asked for toppings I said 'I’ll have Reese’s penises please.' The store laughed."
WhaleyWino235
Tom Morello's Hometown
"I worked at the local guitar shop in town in high school. It happens to be Tom Morello's hometown (of rage against the machine fame). The owner used to babysit him when Tom was little and he'd always stop by to say hi when they were in town on tour. This was around the time of the evil empire and they were at peak popularity."
"He came in one day while I was there and asked if John was in. 16-year-old me just looked at him and asked 'Do you know who you are?!?!' He just laughed and said yes. Humiliated I went and got the owner and then tried to hide and die from shame."
matthewmichael
Echoes
"I was around 15, going through the receiving line at my cousin's wedding. This was my first 'grown-up' wedding and I wanted to act it. As I hugged my cousin I blurted out 'I'm so excited to be here! The last wedding I was at was your first one!'"
"That has echoed in my head for 30 years."
"E: This was my cousin's second wedding. The groom's first."
LGBecca
No Tip
"A server trying to get a tip: I went to clear a shared dessert dish from a table of 4 - mom, dad, and 2 sons. One son jokingly pointed at his mom and said 'She ate most of it.' I, the braindead server who was/is terrible at banter, but trying to get a tip said the first reply that came to mind: 'I can tell.' No idea why. Terrible reaction, as expected. No tip."
1nd1anaCroft
Snap
Buffering Back To School GIF by Rodney DangerfieldGiphy"I can do a Kickflip, then proceed to elegantly snap my ankle."
Mrlightyboy
Why do we risk our lives?
Have we really lost the ability for a simple flirt?
Where?
The Beautiful Game Thumbs Up GIF by World CupGiphy"I did once (truthfully) tell a girl from Austria that I didn't know what the capital of Austria was - which wouldn't be too embarrassing, except that I was wearing a t-shirt which said 'Vienna Rocks' on it at the time. She thought I was joking."
Ok-Fudge8848
The Red Lights
"I told everyone I knew about my plan to go on a trip to Europe. I had planned to tour different countries by train with a special visit to… Amsterdam. My intention was to visit a marijuana cafe, but in my ignorance, I thought that these were all located in the red lights district. I would tell people I was going to the red light district and they would understandably pause and ask me… why?"
"Trying to be sly I would say something like 'to do what the locals do of course,' believing that this meant smoking marijuana in a cafe… I was actually telling everyone I knew, friends, teachers, relatives, coworkers, that I was going to cross the Atlantic so I could hire a sex worker."
Virtual-Elderberry31
How Far You'll Go
"Was on an airplane years ago with my girlfriend and her parents. My girlfriend couldn't get a seat next to me and sat directly behind me. During the flight, I thought I would surprise her and reached my hand back onto her knee. Slowly I kept extending it up her thigh until I heard giggling."
"Looked behind through the seats and saw that my hand was on the leg of the guy next to her. He saw my face and said, 'I just wanted to see how far you'd go.' Of course, my girlfriend was in on it and started laughing along with the rest of the row. Was so embarrassed."
Ladon1949
Not Cool
"I was skating at a school and my girlfriend calls me and says she wants to hang out. Tell her I'm skating but she can meet me at the school and we can figure out what we're doing from there. She shows up looking cute AF, so clearly I need to impress her. There was a little two stair where she was waiting for me and I went to do a BS 180 down it. Instead of just landing normally, I thought I would look more bada** if I stomped the landing."
"As I landed my lead foot came off the board and I landed with all of my weight on that ankle... Immediate excruciating pain ensued and I'm on the ground rolling in pain. My sad attempt to look cool skating had turned into one of the worst injuries I received and an extremely embarrassing moment. The pain was so bad I could barely drive my car back home because I severely injured my right ankle."
"Didn't break my ankle but I did have a severe ankle sprain. I've had surgery on it and it's much better, but it just has never been quite the same. As far as the girlfriend goes, we're still together and have been married for 10 years."
DJAXL
Listen Again
Go Away Beyonce GIFGiphy"I told a musician I like that I liked a specific song. It was not his song."
Naca-7
We are so silly.
Why can't we just say 'Hey' and get on with it?
Such drama.
We've all had to learn something the hard way or at a super inconvenient time.
But because we're always learning new things, of course there will have to be some things that we learn later, rather than sooner, no matter the consequences of learning it too late.
Redditor IndianaC0NES asked:
"What's an important lesson you learned the hard way?"
Money Management
"Do not spend like there’s no tomorrow. Tomorrow will come and it won’t be pretty."
- cpu5555
Permanent Partner
"Never have kids with someone you don’t want in your life forever."
- pntszrn74
Make It Official First
"Money doesn’t exist until the deposit hits your bank account, and business promises mean nothing until legal documents are signed."
- FriscoFrank98
Know Your Limits
"Learn when to stop drinking and call it a night."
- Gadrilor
Trust Your Gut
"If something feels wrong, it likely is."
- drzed47
"This is closely related to, 'If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.'"
- remag_nation
The Importance of Dental Health
"Dental care is expensive!! Never be lazy with oral hygiene."
- the_rice_life
"And dental problems are EXTREMELY PAINFUL."
- Next-Confection3261
Be Careful Who You Share It With
"Not everyone has the same heart as you do."
- Accomplished_Hat2770
Be Wary of Bullies
"Not everyone is a good person. Some people actually want to see you fail. Stop oversharing. These nasty people will use it against you."
- Ko_ogs72
"My brain still can't comprehend someone being a d**k for no reason."
- Arny520
Recognize the Red Flags
"Don't let love blind your eyes, red flags are real."
- Fxk07
"And: No one is worth sacrificing your self-respect for."
- Waltzing_Methusalah
"It sucks when you’re halfway to learning this lesson before you even realize it. It’s so important to know your boundaries and respect yourself with the diligence required to walk away from people creating toxic patterns in your life, even or ESPECIALLY before you have the full picture to work with."
"We all know it’s heading south long before these things have terrible consequences on oneself/life. At a certain point, it’s too late to escape unscathed. Self-respect and what amounts to the ‘sunken-cost dilemma’ NEVER go together in relationships."
- brashbabu
The Likelihood of Success
"It's possible to make no wrong moves and still lose."
- Tropicsenshi
Family Ties
"Your family doesn't always have your best interest at heart."
- OhMyGodBearIsDriving
"Sometimes, family are just a bunch of bad people who are biologically related to you."
- noorofmyeye24
Wear the Helmet
"WEAR A HELMET."
"It's an easy safety precaution you can take when rollerblading, biking, skateboarding, scootering, etc. And it can literally save your life."
"I went all through the 90s thinking helmets were lame... I Fell while rollerblading in my 30s and got a subdural hematoma. I wasn't going fast but the momentum from how I fell just slammed my head into the concrete."
"HELMETS SAVE LIVES."
- Shortiie5115
Proper Eye and Ear Care
"Here is my PSA about eye protection. You only have two eyes and many injuries are not repairable. I have a completely s**t vision in one eye because of an injury and I'm constantly paranoid about something happening to the good eye. Wear safety glasses folk, it's important."
- ipsok
"And ear protection. You do not want Tinnitus."
- farmerofstrawberries
Love Your Loved Ones
"Always take a chance to tell someone you love them. To give them a hug."
"Never end a conversation with a harsh word."
"Both for the same reason. You never know if you will get to see that person alive again."
"I learned both those lessons from each of my parents."
- Edgezg
Self Advocate
"Stand up for yourself. If you get in the habit of letting people walk all over you, it'll be extremely difficult to reverse. Even if you're not confident, just fake it till you make it!"
- MISTERDIEABETIC
As humans, we will never stop learning and taking in new information, but there are, of course, some things that we wish we could have learned sooner or through an easier path.
But at least now that we've learned these lessons, we can share them with others, so they might not have to take the same path we did.