Lucky People Admit The Dumbest Things They Did That Actually Solved A Problem
One of the most stressful, yet helpful, things in life is a shot in the dark.
[rebelmouse-image 18352289 is_animated_gif=Everyone loves a Hail Mary success story. The idea of that total blind shot "I can't believe that actually worked" moment is the stuff of legend. Sometimes, it's the stuff of real life, too.
Reddit user Sh0tgunLlama asked:
What is the dumbest solution to a problem that actually worked?
1. The Doctor's Office Scheduling Dance
[rebelmouse-image 18352291 is_animated_gif=I went to cancel a doctor's appointment and they said it was a $200 charge without a week's notice. I asked how much it was to reschedule, they said it was free.
"Okay, so I need to reschedule for two weeks out."
"Is three weeks okay?"
"Yep."
"Alright, you're all set for three weeks from now. Anything else I can do for you?"
"Yes, I need to cancel my appointment."
"We need a week's notice."
"My appointment is three weeks away."
"Oh. Okay. Sure."
"Thank you."
Couldn't believe it worked.
2. That'll Do.
[rebelmouse-image 18352292 is_animated_gif=My stepdad was taking a sat nav back to the shop as it was acting strange but the bloke serving him refused to take it as the warranty only covers physical damage (not accidental damage) So he just drop kicked it lightly and the bloke just casually said "that'll do sir" and went out back to get a replacement. Wasn't to sure what to think about that
3. There's An App For That
[rebelmouse-image 18352293 is_animated_gif=My folks were in town, and my wife and I wanted to take them to dinner.
We head to a nearby mediocre steakhouse at the request of my parents, and it's around 6:00pm.
The hostesses tell us there's a minimum 45 minute wait. I get suspicious, as their parking lot had barely any cars, so I peek around into their dining area. There are several open tables that would fit a party of 4. Mildly annoyed, I ask the hostesses why we can't be seated at any of these tables. They reply that they're being held for future reservations.
I get on my smartphone, open the OpenTable app, make a reservation for 6:15pm for a party of 4, and we're seated immediately
4. Long Distance Server Service
[rebelmouse-image 18352294 is_animated_gif=This was before high speed internet. We had to transfer a database between two cities 500Km appart and we had only one night to do it. People started searching how to compress the files and rent several expensive digital lines (I think ISDN) to spread the copy.
Then someone said "why don't we remove the hard drive out of the server and move it there by car?" So I drove 500Km during the night to deliver the disk and mount the new database.
5. Like A Moth To A Flame... Or A Cat To A Laser Pointer
[rebelmouse-image 18352295 is_animated_gif=I was working as a paramedic at a music festival when we got called to a kid tripping? on acid. The guy had climbed to the top of a portable generator stadium light. So he's 20 feet in the air, on a light pole staring into this blazing midnight sun screaming ,"I'm a moth go into the flame". We had several cops, firefighters and myself standing at the base for 30 minutes discussing how to get him down without killing him or us. The entire time a crowd of people on drugs is surrounding us to see how it all plays out. Do we get a ladder truck and try to coax him down? What if he won't go. Do we spay mace up there? What if he falls? All of a sudden this greasy looking janitor walks up, turns off power to the generator, turns on his flashlight? and aims it at the mothman. Dude looks at the flashlight on the ground, scambles down and follows it to the medical rent like a puppy about to get a snack. I'm embarrassed embarrassed that none of us thought about that.
6. Concerned Citizens Have The Power
[rebelmouse-image 18352298 is_animated_gif=I called about a pothole at the entrance of my store. They said since it was in my entrance, I'd have to pay for it.
I called back as a "concerned citizen" and it'll be fixed in 72 hrs.
7. The Bus Is Always Late For Some Reason
[rebelmouse-image 18352299 is_animated_gif=There was a nursing home in Germany and the patients with dementia kept wandering off.
They installed a fake bus stop in front of the nursing home so when dementaion patients got out of the building, they would go sit at the fake bus stop and wait for the (non-existent) bus. The bus stop was clearly visible from the main offices, so whenever staff saw someone out there, they would just go and retrieve them.
Solved the problem completely.
8. Here, Kitty Kitty
[rebelmouse-image 18352300 is_animated_gif=Our family cat hated our family dog. Rubbed the dog all over with fresh catnip. New best friends.
9. No Legs? No Problem.
[rebelmouse-image 18352301 is_animated_gif=Back when I was in 6th form at school, we had new sofas in the common room (a room where our year could hang out and relax/work/listen to music on our time off). They had been there only a couple of days before one of the legs snapped off one of the sofas.
Now we could have attempted to fix it, or just left it missing a leg but there were often checks and cleaners moving furniture would have noticed it was broken and we would have got in trouble for "not respecting school property".
So we did the only sensible thing, which was break all the legs off the sofa, and then all the sofas in the room so they were all at the same height. We stashed the legs in the ceiling, and nobody knew a thing.
10. Put A Cork...Um... Over It?
[rebelmouse-image 18352302 is_animated_gif=A few years ago I worked at a US Airways contract where a lot of the baggage handlers were guys fresh out of high school. Picture in your mind the assortment of rapscallions and buffoons you hung out with at that age. Now put that rambunctious crew in charge of a bunch of airplanes. Those are the characters in this story.
One day two of them were playfully wrestling each other in the break room. It quickly came to an end when one guy got slammed into the wall and left a huge, human sized dent in the drywall.
It was a weekend, so management wasn't around. Which meant they had to hide the damage in order to escape punishment.
The wall they dented had a rather large, old cork board on it. This cork board was probably five feet tall and eight feet long, and had clearly been affixed to the wall for years. They decided to move the cork board to cover the hole.
Now, if you saw the set up of the room, you'd know this was the dumbest solution you could dream up. The cork board was centered on the wall, with a few feet of blank wall space on both the left and right sides. But the dent was all the way to the right of the wall, in the empty wall space between the cork board and the main entrance. To move the cork board to cover the hole, they had to shift it down and to the right a few feet. Not inches; feet. The repositioned cork board almost covered the light switch, and exposed a giant, white imprint of where the cork board used to be. If Stevie Wonder walked into that room he'd say, "Someone has clearly moved that cork board."
Monday comes and goes, and no one in charge notices that the cork board had been moved. We were second shift, so we assumed when we showed up there would be lots of questions. But there were none. It was business as usual.
It wasn't until a few weeks later that management noticed, but at that point they had no way of telling when it happened. They couldn't tell if first shift did it, or second. If it had happened on a Sunday or a Wednesday, in May or June. They asked around a lot and I think they even had a general idea of who was probably involved. We all really hated the manager, so it was pretty satisfying to see him come up with nothing when his boss told him to solve the Mystery of the Human Sized Hole.
11. The Grandma Whisperer
[rebelmouse-image 18352303 is_animated_gif=Nurses here will recognize this one. Once I was dealing with an extremely agitated and fearful Alzheimer's patient who had been "sundowning" since 3pm (sundowning is an occurrence in some Alzheimer's patients where their mental function gets worse and worse as the day goes on/once it starts to get dark). Anywho, this sweet old lady was having an absolute fit. All through my shift (night shift yay) I was running in and out of her room. The bed alarm kept going off, she was so confused, afraid... I desperately wanted her to go to sleep. Mind you I had 7 other patients! I finally walk her out to the nurses station and plop her down in a seat next to me while I do my charting. She is yelling at me and throwing things. I've had it at this point and I'm running out of ideas. I finally look at her and say, "how will I ever finish with the wash? My husband will be so mad when he gets home! Would you help me finish??"... she looks me right in the eye, clear as day, and says "dammit sister don't you ever learn? Give me that laundry!"... haha so I grab a stack of folded towels and mess them up real quick and plop them in front of her. She folded all of them. I would say oh look at that! She turned around and I would mess the towels up again. This went on a few times until this sweet lady just passed out, exhausted from being so worked up earlier (and maybe from all the towel folding). I slowly push her in the desk chair down the hall and gently get her back into bed. She started to wake up and I leaned down and whispered, "all the wash is done. You have nothing else to worry about!" She slept throughout the night. We were both happy. I am the grandma whisperer.
12. Is That What Kickstarting Really Means?
[rebelmouse-image 18352304 is_animated_gif=So this isn't quite my story but a friends instead. My buddy was is in the Air Force and was in Fuels at a Joint Base. He happened to be working with a group of marines trying to refuel/working on an aircraft when the something on the plane just stopped working. He goes to call over for someone when 3 marines just start kicking it starting slowly and then more and more as if it owed these marines money. After a few minutes of these kicking a multi-million dollar aircraft, one of the marines calls up to his superior and relays that the plane's not working. The first thing the supervisor says "did you try kicking it?" After confirming that these Jarheads did kick the multimillion dollar aircraft, the super visor was not pleased and came down to take look himself. The supervisor takes one look and just starts kicking the shit out of the plane as if it didn't pay the first 3 marines enough money. The other marines then start kicking it with the supervisor. Just when my buddy thought maybe I should call my supervisor, all 4 marines simultaneously land a kick at the same time and the plane roars back to life. The supervisor then gives a lesson in kicking and returns to his office.
13. Right On Target
[rebelmouse-image 18352305 is_animated_gif=Dudes pissing absolutely everywhere in the bathroom where I once worked. So the janitor put a little red sticker in each toilet and suddenly the problem stopped. Apparently men will aim at a target 100% of the time, if a target is presented.
14. Baggage
[rebelmouse-image 18352306 is_animated_gif=I read this somewhere so I'm not sure if it's true but:
An airport was having complaints that luggage was taking too long to get to baggage claim. The airports solution was to move baggage claim even farther away from the gates. The complaints stopped because a lot of the time spent waiting was now spent just walking there. The actual time it took to get your luggage wasn't any faster
15. MacGyver Would Approve
[rebelmouse-image 18352307 is_animated_gif=My first vehicle was a 1985 dodge ram that had around 300k miles on it. Needless to say, it wasn't exactly reliable.
Anyway, my friend and I had tickets to go see a concert in a city that was about 3 hours away. We made it there just fine and had a blast at the concert. We couldn't afford to stay overnight so we started on the long journey home. If all went well, we would get home around 3AM.
There was one stretch of highway where there was 60 ish miles between towns. It's pretty much the worst place to break down on that journey. There were big signs warning travelers to fill up with gas before leaving town, but I had half a tank. My truck sputtered out and died almost halfway between the two towns. It sure sounded like I ran out of gas but the gauge still showed half a tank. All had not gone well.
So there we were - 1:45 AM, stuck on the side of the highway in Texas, 30 miles from the nearest towns, no moonlight, and this was before teenagers had cell phones. We were screwed. After a bit of poking around with a flashlight, we discovered that we did have fuel but the fuel pump had died. We decided to sleep in the truck and mess with it in the morning.
On those old dodge trucks, the fuel pump was inside the engine instead of in the fuel tank like a modern vehicle. It was powered by the engine instead of an electric motor. Essentially, the fuel pump would constantly pump gasoline when the engine was running and gas would always be available for the carburetor float valve. The extra pumped gas would just go back into the gas tank.
I was just drifting off to sleep when I got an idea. I worked for almost an hour in the pitch dark. I used some extra hose from an agricultural fertilizer, a drink straw, screw clamps, and duck tape to rig the windshield fluid pump to pump fuel from the fuel line into the carburetor float line.
I got in my truck, hit the windshield fluid lever, and the truck started right up. It took a bit of trial and error but I was able to get the timing down where I knew how often to hit the lever to keep the truck running.
We made it back home just after 4:30AM. My dad wasn't immediately amused with my handy work, but he told all of his friends how clever his son was so I guess it passed the dad test.
16. Mice On Parachutes
[rebelmouse-image 18352308 is_animated_gif=I'm really late to this, but, in my ecology class we learned about how there's a snake problem in Guam. Particularly, brown tree snakes.
The solution? Dropping dead mice laced with Tylenol attached to tiny streamer cardboard parachutes. Tylenol is poisonous to the snakes and the streamers attract their attention.
It worked. The snakes ate the mice and it mitigated the snake problem that was affecting the native bird species.
I was tested on this in my final exam.
17. Toothpicks Fix Everything
[rebelmouse-image 18352309 is_animated_gif=Bought a "not chargeable" iPhone 5s from a second hand store for bargain. Used a toothpick to clean the contact. Phone is chargeable now and works perfectly.
18. Snacks To The Rescue
[rebelmouse-image 18352310 is_animated_gif=Used the wax from a Babybel cheese round to secure the license plate tucked in the back window. It was a rental and we didn't want to scratch anything up by putting the plate on, but the racket was driving me crazy. Two chunks of wax on the corners and I could sleep on the road trip.
I also used it on my screen door in the same way because the weather stripping was worn out and my landlord was a cheap ass. Stopped the rattling.
19. Stupid Dress Code Rules Require Stupid Fixes
[rebelmouse-image 18352312 is_animated_gif=Swedish male train workers wore skirts to beat the heat because the company's dress code prohibited shorts. This made it into the news and the company changed its dress code to allow shorts.
20. This Once In A Lifetime Miracle
[rebelmouse-image 18352313 is_animated_gif=I couldn't connect to the Wi-Fi. My Wi-Fi adapter wasn't working right and wouldn't connect to anything. So I right clicked on the adapter in the control panel, clicked diagnose and Windows fixed it automatically. Only time I have seen it work.
H/T: Reddit
Things People Do That Make You Instantly Hate Them
Reddit user meulinlalondeowo asked: 'What's something that someone can do, that makes you instantly hate them?'
Unfortunately, we can't all get along with everyone. Sometimes, we don't mesh with people. Other times, we did get along until we got burned by the other people one too many times.
And sometimes, they do something that bothers you so much that you hate them instantly.
For me, it's a co-worker who says they will complete a task, then pass it off to me at the last minute since they know I'm too shy to say no. I don't mind doing the work; I'd just like to that I have to do it before the deadline.
I tend not to be friendly to those co-workers. It stops them from trying to pull that again.
Redditors have identified the behaviors that make them instantly hate someone and are ready to share.
It all started when Redditor meulinlalondeowo asked:
"What's something that someone can do, that makes you instantly hate them?"
Don't Be A Slob
"Coworkers that don't clean up after themselves, leaving their personal crap for others to pick up."
– TiredOfEveryting
"This drives me crazy at my work place. The break room is always a mess. People leaving their things in the good spots and making it seem like they're saving the spot and then just don't come back. Leaving the tables dirty and sticky after they're done eating. Never pushing their chairs in."
"Like, yeah, we have cleaning staff but they aren't waiting around to clean up after every person. And even if they were, youre a f**king adult and should wipe up your own damn messes."
– StinkyKittyBreath
Not Funny
"Pranking someone in a way that deeply upsets them then laugh in their face"
– WiseOldChicken
"‘It was just a joke, why are you getting upset?’"
– Hellostranger1804
"A long time ago I was working at this cheesy company and they had this thing where the district manager would randomly call one of the offices once a month and ask whoever answered (rotating call system) what the top values of the company were. There was like a list of 5 things. If you got it right, you’d win $1,000."
"Well, one day I got the phone call. My heart was in my throat because I was so nervous, but I knew the answers. I felt like my prayers had been answered. I couldn’t pay my rent, I was always low on gas or completely out of food, I had even gone without heat in my car during Northern winter because I couldn’t afford to fix it. I was always drowning, no matter how hard I worked, with no resources, no credit or help around me—always stressed."
"Well the manager congratulated me for my knowledge and told me I won the thousand dollars. Still on the phone, I felt like a weight lifting off me, a sense of joy and ease coming—until a few people, all guys, came over laughing their a**es off and said it was “Dave” pranking me. I died inside."
"I started crying and yelling how cruel it was to do that. I was a young girl, in my early twenties then and Dave was like in his 40’s, I think. I was in disbelief. I am always friendly to everyone. Why me? They didn’t care how much it upset me. The whole lot of them. I’m 47 now and still remember the disappointing ache I felt in my heart that day more than twenty years ago. F**k you, Dave, and you other fools too, wherever you are!"
– IntrigueMachine
I Didn't Do It!
"Accusing me of something that I didn't do. Brings out instant ire in me."
– Pianowman
""I know you're lying because you're getting defensive about it.""
"rage."
– Kraymur
"They don’t seem to understand the concept that a person being accused of doing something they actually didn’t do would defend themselves."
– Intrepid-Lecture3077
Liar, Liar
"When they are lying, and I know that they are are lying, and they know that I know that they are lying, but they continue the lie."
– TrailerParkPrepper
"You are describing my brother."
"You forgot the part where you call them out on the lie, and they get angry with you because "they're not lying.""
– Pianowman
"My old boss."
"Boss: Why are you doing that?"
"Me: That’s what you said to do."
"Boss: I didn’t say that."
"Me: You said to do exactly this and I have witnesses that can confirm it."
"Boss: ………(storms off angrily) I got fired."
"Best thing that ever happened to me."
– audiorob1210
Just Be Nice
"When someone belittles someone for being excited over something or having a hobby"
"If someone says for example that they love to crochet and they’re excited to spend their day off making a new hat and someone makes fun of them they can get f**ked. No one should be made to feel bad for finding enjoyment in something harmless."
– Mushroomc0wz
"Rain on someone else's rainbow. If someone truly loves something like video games, a film genre, a sport or some other kind of interest/passion etc., and a person goes "that's a bit childish" or "X...is so boring" after they've explained why they love it, that to me is just mean and instantly turns me off."
– Soshedid2991
Animal Cruelty Is Not Okay
"Be cruel to an animal"
– Flimsy-Attention-722
"Throw a rock at a duck. It happened, i hate them."
– ohmyperfection
Litterbug
"litter"
– Flimsy-Attention-722
"I visited NOLA earlier this year and witnessed blatant littering right in front of me for the first time. This guy was walking out of a convenience store opening a candy bar, took the full wrapper off, and tossed it on the ground. Had that person waited 3-4 more strides, it would have literally landed in a trash can. I was bamboozled!"
– Bears_in_the_woods
Family Should Be Respected
"Talking bad about their spouse or children."
– SaiyanGodKing
"There's a guy who started at my work, sh*t talking his wife from day one. I told him he better show his wife some respect. The unfortunate thing is that I think this guy thinks he's just being cool or funny saying these things. But then they had a kid and the "jokes" were suddenly about both of them. He made a crack at them in a meeting with all my coworkers and I piped in and said "Jesus Christ dude, everytime you open your mouth I wanna smack the sh*t out of it""
"Haven't heard a negative thing about his wife or child since. Folks, ITS NOT F**KING COOL"
– JMC1110
My Turn To Talk!
"When they either accidentally or intentionally talk at the same time as someone or just straight up interrupt, they never go, "Oh sorry you go" but instead brute force their talking through."
"A girl in my indoor soccer team used to do this and one time I said to my friend, "The next time she does it, I'm just not going to back down." Next time, she interrupted me it was me and her talking to my friend continuously for like 2 minutes with him losing his mind trying to listen to both of us and at the end of it it was like she was completely unaware."
– SkinkaLei
Respect The Space
"Leaving their shopping cart blocking the entire aisle, totally oblivious to the existence of every other human in the grocery store."
– Dynamo_Ham
"Also, people who leave their shopping carts in the parking lot. Especially when blocking an open parking space."
– khelwen
"So brutal. Just callous pointless conduct that takes at most 15 seconds of effort to fix. Why?"
– Dynamo_Ham
"I love this so much! I'll find another unattended, sideways cart and swap a couple pretty noticeable items between them. Then when dipsh*t finally wanders back they just stare in hilarious confusion; they're pretty sure this was their cart, but the case of water is gone and they didn't grab that bottle of wine that's sitting on top so maybe it isn't. You can practically see the steam coming out their ears as they struggle to process it."
"Shopping with idiots used to be a huge source of stress, but I've found ways to make it entertaining."
– Belphegorite
Drive Safe
"Not use a turn signal."
"F**k you you piece of sh*t. I don't care what the f**king reason is. USE YOUR F**KING TURN SIGNAL."
– MickCollins
"And do it correctly."
"Can't tell you how many times I see a lane switch and when the car is already half way over the line will they grace us with a single half blink."
– AngelOfDeath771
I can't tell you how many times I screamed at other drivers (in my head) for not using turn signals. It's no joke!
Do you have any items to add to the list let us know in the comments below.
Men and women and talking and flirting.
What a disaster that can be.
It's especially tricky when men flirt with women who are into women.
It sounds like a lot of gents can't take that obvious hint.
How this is STILL an issue in 2023 is beyond us all.
But here we are.
Gentlemen, please sit and read the following.
And then read it again.
Then share with your friends and male family.
A deleted Redditor wanted to hear about the ways straight men couldn't take a hint, so they asked:
"Lesbians of Reddit, what’s the most ridiculous thing a straight guy told you to talk you into having sex with them?"
How Patriotic
"I had a guy try to entice me with his weed. He literally pulled out the American flag bong with the grinder that looked like ammunition. Honestly left me kinda speechless."
xSwishyy
A Transplant
"Didn't go as far as sex but was definitely the most ridiculous thing a straight guy has said to me so far. I was trying to check out at the store when the 60-something y/o cashier started flirting with me, asking if I had a boyfriend, etc. When he asked why I didn't I told him I'm a lesbian and he said 'I actually have a female kidney from my transplant a couple years ago so we wouldn't have a problem together.'"
BestiesWithBaphomet
Me Too!
"The opposite - a very drunk man approached me on a station platform and asked me out. I awkwardly replied, 'Sorry, I’m gay.' He said, 'You like women??' and I nodded, bracing for homophobia… but instead he just excitedly exclaimed 'ME TOO!!!' and shook my hand. Then he left me alone. It was an extremely funny and non-threatening interaction and I think fondly of him from time to time."
orangepigeon
Let's Dance
"My brother was absolutely refusing to take no for an answer when asking [my friend] to prom. I think my brother asked my friend to prom like 5 times before they just started ignoring him. I also told off my brother cause my friend is open about being a lesbian and told him that they were a lesbian. Something about not having a lesbian somehow makes guys angry because they can't take no for an answer."
pumpkinthighs
Can men really be this off?
Oh the Drama
Feeling It Drama Club GIF by NickelodeonGiphy"He said that I had no idea what it's like to be the single straight guy who tries to find (sex) love. And it's cruel for me to not give him even a chance to be romantic with me. And I don't have a good reason to say no because he is good-looking and earns more money than I do lol."
Original-Pineapple18
DIBS
"This guy was one of my closer friends at the time, and SOLIDLY friend-zoned. We’d established countless times over the last year that we weren’t into each other, I was lesbian, and that even if I weren’t he wouldn’t go for me, yada yada. We’d talked about things that I would NOT have discussed if I knew he would ever be into me."
"Well lo and behold, one day I realize I’m questioning whether I’m bisexual or not due to a mutual friend. I bring it up to him in a state of real vulnerability, cuz I thought I’d had everything figured out before this, but wanted my friend’s input on if it was a good idea to bring it up to hot-dude directly."
"This grown-a** man told me HE HAD DIBS. D I B S."
Kazooasaurus
Preferences
"Not a lesbian, but I’m bi with a pretty strong preference for women. Probably THE most common response from guys when I say I’m not interested in 'Really? I dunno, you don’t look like you date girls.' I never know how to respond. Do they expect me to suddenly realize I’m NOT into women? Do they think questioning my preferences is endearing or sexy??"
Individual_Ad_7523
So Sexy
Ryan Reynolds GIF by CBCGiphy"Always the standard idea of they think their penis is magical and can 'turn' me. Uh, no. Also, have had more than a few guys say 'You're too attractive' to be a lesbian. They actually think it's a compliment. Oof."
Goody2Shuuz
Listen to someone's boundaries when they tell you, gentleman!
It's really that simple.
Does anyone have any similar stories? Let us know in the comments below.
As a society, we have made this general correlation that spending more means receiving a higher-quality item.
But sometimes we need to remember that affordable purchases are totally worth our time, and sometimes those purchases prove to be the true game-changers.
Redditor degenerateunicorn asked:
"What inexpensive purchase improved your life greatly?"
Long Charging Cables
"For once and for all, it's a ten-foot charging cable for your phone!"
- usuperavenger
"Not just one... but one for each room you regularly charge your phone. A 10-footer in the bedroom and a 10-footer in the loungeroom, changed my life."
- lhsofthebellcurve
Good Earplugs
"Earplugs. Just pop those in your ears and shut the world out."
- lapsangsouchogn
"I bought some to help me sleep and oh. my. god. I sat on this brilliant idea for seven years. I feel so ashamed of myself."
- DidDunMegasploded
A Library Card
"Does a library card count?"
- Lookimawave
"I'd say so! There's just so much you can do at local libraries! Especially in the bigger cities. The things they have to lend out are really interesting and definitely not just books!"
- appleparkfive
"I hardly ever even go into the physical library, but the card gives me access to e-books, audiobooks, and movies via Libby, Hoopla, Overdrive, and Canopy. Although the physical library does have neat resources like 3D printers, laser cutters, a recording studio, etc."
- Lookimawave
An Electric Toothbrush
"Electric toothbrush!"
- imvital
"Does it make a big difference? Lifelong manual toothbrush user, but I've been considering converting if it's worth it."
- ILoveLamp_1995
"A few years back I needed to get a new toothbrush and the cheapest in the store was a battery-powered electric. I thought why not and tried it out."
"My next dentist visit showed a marked improvement with just that cheap, crappy brush."
"I bought an Oral-B electric brush (with bluetooth!) right there in the dentist's office. Since then, my dentist checkups have just been a bit of scraping, with very little if any bleeding. Definitely worth it."
- nabrok
A Jogging Phone Holder
"A shoulder holster for my phone when I started to run again. It was the running that changed my life obviously, but having my phone within Bluetooth range for music made it achievable. Cost me all of seven dollars."
- EveryonesADose
More Pillows
"I got myself a third pillow last year. I don't know what it is about it but definitely has made sleeping better."
- potatosalade26
A Roomba or Equivalent
"Not necessarily cheap, but a Roomba. Now I HAVE to keep my place clean and decluttered so it can work. No more piles of laundry and whatnots."
- Pale-Dust2239
"There are cheaper ones out there and if you decide to give them a go 100% pay for the extended warranty."
"I got a Eufy which we love but have had it replaced twice in three years for free. Next time it dies we’ll be out of warranty so hopefully I can get enough cash together for a Roomba."
- MissingVanSushi
A Swiss Army Knife
"I got it as a gift but a basic Swiss Army knife. It fits in my pocket, and gives me a crappy screwdriver, bottle opener, tweezers, etc., in a pinch. It also doesn’t freak people out like other pocket knives."
- Mrofcourse
A Meat Thermometer
"A meat thermometer takes the guesswork and worry out of internal temps."
- 9umopapisdn
"Oh my god, do you have a Meater? My husband says it’s the best gift I’ve ever given him. It’s a meat thermometer that connects to your phone."
- degenerateunicorn
A Bidet
"A bidet."
- art8127
"Yes! It costs thirty dollars, and even a doofus like me was able to 'install' it in under 10 minutes."
- poppy-sparklehorse
A Sleep Mask
"A proper sleep mask."
"They're not too expensive. I wrap it around one of those microwavable bean bags shortly before bed and it becomes a warm mask for falling asleep. Super comfortable."
- zomboromcom
"I agree, mine was a great purchase. Not only does it help me sleep in later, but putting it on has now become the signal to my body that it's time to sleep."
- sedimentary-1
Glass Lens Cloth
"Glasses cleaner cloth. Such a little soft piece of cloth saves me from the frustration of constant smears, smudges, possible scratches, and ruining the anti-glare layer on my glasses. I hate looking out of dirty glasses."
- agbmom
A Bicycle
"I bought a second-hand bike for $60 back in the autumn of 2020. I took to cycling, and because of that, I lost 35lbs (but put 20 back on), it renewed my sex life with my husband and I feel healthier. It’s very calming (it’s a multi-use trail, so no vehicles and it’s flat and maintained)."
"I have some wonderful folks I talk to every time I go out and dogs I get to give treats to. I go out any morning I can Spring/Summer/Autumn for between 90 minutes to two hours, as long as it isn’t raining or too windy… I’ll even go out when it’s below 0°C. I’m early retired, so I have plenty of time."
- NickNNS
A Wet Pallet for Painting
"My homemade wet pallet. Leftover scrap container, some sponge, parchment paper, and a little water, and boom. Perfectly thinned acrylic paint and blending surface. It was a game changer for me as an artist."
- Adubya76
A Backscratcher
"A one-dollar backscratcher!"
- LazyHighGoals
"I keep a backscratcher on my nightstand, and now I don’t know how I lived without it."
- wholewheatscythe
Each of these purchases are items that we could not only see purchasing ourselves, but we can totally understand how these were life-changing for these Redditors, despite the price of the purchases. Sometimes the most life-changing things have the smallest price tags!
Getting a job may be difficult, but believe it or not, it's allegedly harder to get fired from jobs.
Employees have to seriously be incapable of doing the job they were hired for, or they must be so miserable after realizing the job description was not what they signed up for that they deliberately jeopardize their position just to be shown the door.
Strangers online were happy to provide examples of terminated coworkers when Redditor Business_Reporter420 asked:
"What’s the fastest way you’ve ever seen a new coworker get fired?"
The couple times deserve the benefit of a doubt.
And then there are the other times after that...
Losing Track Of Time
"6 hours. Call center job. She showed up to orientation on day 1 about an hour late. Hey stuff happens. Then we go on a 15 min break. She goes out to take a phone call, comes back in after about 45 min. We go to lunch, it's 30 minutes. She comes back over an hour later. We go on afternoon break, when the 15 min break is up, one of the trainers gets up and steps out in the hall and closes the door behind him. We hear her arrive and argue with him about 20 minutes after that. He comes back in and gets the stuff she left at her desk and we never see her again."
– misoranomegami
A String Of Unfortunate Events
"First day, her grandmother died. Understandable. Second day, her car broke down. Bad luck. Third day she had no electricity and couldn’t blow dry her hair. She was told not to bother coming in at all."
– exitzero
The Employee On Her Own Schedule
"There are a lot of these people. What do they think is going to happen, like they'll come in to work eventually, everyone will understand, and they'll be a great employee... tomorrow though. Today they're hungover."
"I fired a girl like this... she acted gobsmacked 'wow, gosh, really? This is kinda crazy, i've never been fired before.'"
"She showed up for about 50% of her scheduled days for like 2 straight weeks. Did she really think that was how jobs work?"
– Steinmetal4
Downfall Of Mass Hiring
"Worked for startups the past couple of years before I recently took a new gig but we had to hire about 100 people in the span of 2 weeks which I told my boss was a bad idea but the CEO insisted"
"Hired a young lady, she had a spotty resume but was very cheerful and friendly in the interview and my boss's instructions were if they are nice and friendly 'pass them on to me.'"
"we oversaw the customer service relations for this company."
"On her first day she came in 15 minutes late, got into an argument with a customer on her first training call and took the mic and farted into it as loud as I've ever heard a human being fart"
"We paid her for the full day."
"Best hire ever."
– _Nolofinwe_
Some people were never a fit for the job.
Fear Gets In The Way
"I was working as a stable boy, and I was showing the new girl around the stables. As I introduced her to the horses, she was very apprehensive to come near them, refusing to even step into the stall (she signed on to help care for the horses.)"
"Later that day, she admitted that the horses terrified her, so the boss let her go."
– AlternativeFilm8886
The Sibling Discount
"In high school I worked at a clothing store as a cashier. Guy next to me has his sister come through with a huge pile of merchandise."
"He scans one item that was on clearance for like $2 over and over again for everything she had, which was likely hundreds of dollars."
"Didn’t realize the manager was standing right behind him."
“Go clock out and give me your name tag, you’re gone.”
"He didn’t argue or anything, just put his head down and walked off."
"The manager jumps on the register to clear the transaction out and the sister takes out her card, 'This is gonna be a credit.'”
"Manager says 'Not for $2 it’s not, get out of here.'”
"The sister actually tried to complete the purchase like nothing had happened lol"
– Plantayne
Gamer On The Clock
"A guy at my work was caught playing World of Warcraft for hours each day. Boss called him in and told him that was wholly unacceptable and he had to stop immediately or he'd be canned."
"Less than an hour later, IT calls the same boss and says the guy is back in his office playing again. He was let go that day."
– jpiro
Rule Breaker
"Worked in a sales call center about 10 years ago, real braindead work. New guy starts on a Monday morning, after he gets trained up on the basics (which takes about an hour), he gets assigned a desk and sets off to work."
"30 minutes later, it looks like little puffs of steam are rising up from his computer monitor. Turns out he was vaping on one of those disposable ecigarettes, the kind that sort of tried to look like real cigarettes. He gets told by the boss that we can't vape indoors, and if he wants to, he'll have to go outside to do it on a break."
"About 30 minutes later again, the same thing happens. He gets caught again, and is told in no uncertain terms that if he wants to keep his job, he'll stop vaping at his desk."
"An hour later, he gets caught hiding under his desk vaping, and is promptly fired, all before lunch time. Dude could have just gone outside."
– Mr_Itch
First And Final Delivery
"Day 1, delivering pizzas. I was the trainer."
"Dude wasn't familiar with the town at all (this was before GPS was a thing)."
"Second delivery, he gets in the car, and proceeds to floor it in the parking lot, showing off all 80 horsepower for the 30 feet before slamming on the brakes to turn onto the main street, nearly hitting a customer and her young child."
"I say whoah, slow down in the Parking lot, you almost hit that kid."
"'F'k em' was his response."
"That was his last delivery, lasted all of about 90 minutes."
– talontd92tsi
The easiest way for a worker to get off the payroll is for them to actually quit.
Misunderstanding Of A Job Position
"I used to work night audit/front desk at a motel adjacent to major highways. It was a super chill job, I loved my boss, and it was cool by me."
"But God, trying to hire and train someone to take over my hours - once for maternity leave, and then when I was moving away - was a nightmare. One lady claimed to be computer literate, and then tried to use the mouse to physically touch the correct spot on the monitor when I asked her to click on a field. Another got extremely confused when I mentioned that sleeping with a guest was completely out of bounds. A guy got arrested (and fired of course) for selling drugs to someone out the night window. It was just an absolute sh*t show."
"Before I moved, I gave my boss a 2-month notice, because I knew hiring and training was gonna be a nightmare. About a week before my final shift, we finally got someone in place. She was more than a bit strange and could certainly have used a spot of mental health care, but hey, I can't throw stones. She showed up, grasped the basics of the job, etc. About a week after I left, I learned that she had quit because she didn't realize that night audit was a purely overnight job."
"Idk."
– 50EffingCabbages
The Newbie's Assigned Task
"He didn’t get fired, he quit. But this dude was a first day hire as a bagger at a grocery store. Some dude blew up the entire bathroom with diarrhea. Walls, doors, sink, mirror, everywhere. They asked new dude to go clean it. He clocked out and never came back. He’s a hero."
– mrmastomas
I briefly worked for an entertainment company as a dancer with a friend of mine who was unfortunately let go during the rehearsal process.
He was unable to keep up with the demanding rehearsal schedule and couldn't retain the mass amount of choreography we were being taught in a short amount of time.
Poor guy wasn't even a slacker. As a matter of fact, he far exceeded my dancing capabilities and was hard-working, but he let himself get in the way and couldn't handle the pressure.
But by letting him go, the production company took a hit because teaching a new-hire everything from the beginning slowed us down more than the time it would've taken to help my friend memorize the choreography.
Sigh...