We've all had moments in our lives when we've been glad that there wasn't a camera to catch our embarrassing fumbles and flubs.
But what if there was?
This formed the basis for today's burning question from Lord_Urjit, who asked the online community: What moment of your life would have gone viral... if it had been recorded?
"We were hiking..."
GiphyWe were hiking, and came across someone in a lowered sporty car, stuck in the mud out in the middle of nowhere. We started helping them try to dig their car out of the mud, only to have a truck (friend of driver) show up and immediately get stuck as well. Car owner called for more backup (bigger trucks) and they all proceed to show up, one by one, and get stuck in the mud. One of the trucks caught on fire (driver absentmindedly set down a high powered, heated flashlight on his center console). Truck driver got so mad his nose started bleeding, and wanted to kill the original car driver stuck in the mud. It was like one of those comedy movies where everything went wrong.
"My husband..."
My husband is a bit of an active sleeper. He has done all sorts of things in his sleep: eat, make coffee, check the mail, move furniture. I wish we had a camera in our house to capture the night we fell asleep in the living room and he picked me up and carried me to bed. I woke up along the way (he wasn't super gentle) and he dropped me on the edge of the bed. I bounced right off.
"Probably the time..."
Probably the time I was messing around with my family at the park and punted a basketball the full length of the court only to nail my little brother in the head. Luckily he had a helmet on, unluckily he was riding a scooter and went down pretty hard.
"I was in a sport class..."
I was in a sport class, doing a game similar to tag as a warm-up or something.
A friend of mine was chasing me, so I ran at a small goalpost (corner at head height, you see where this is going) and dodged out of the way at the last second, expecting my friend to nearly go into it and have to stop himself, giving me time to escape.
He careered head-first into the corner of the goalpost and I didn't see him for the rest of the day.
"As a teen..."
As a teen, during a game of one-on-one, I tried to toss the basketball to the other guy by bouncing it off my crotch.
It would've worked fine, except I'm not built like a Ken doll, so I just powerslammed the ball into my dangly bits and fell to the ground.
"The two different trust falls..."
The two different trust falls I tried at a party within 5 min of each other and both people stepped away and I landed flat on my back. Good thing alcohol numbs both your physical and emotional feelings... Sometimes.
"We were in the middle..."
We were in the middle of math class and a lot of us were being quite loud, talking, etc. while the teacher was talking. He got really upset and started yelling at all of us. He is normally very calm, so we were all shocked and speechless. When he was done, there was complete silence for a solid 20 seconds. No movement whatsoever. When all of a sudden, the Mario theme started playing. We all looked to where the sound was coming from to see one of the kids scrambling his phone out, saying "sorry, sorry, that is my ringtone." Thinking about this moment never fails to make me laugh.
"A bunch of us guys..."
A bunch of us guys were throwing a water bottle across the classroom at each other before class one day, and one guy misthrew. He nailed this tough girl goth chick right in the side of the head. She turned to him with the purest look of murder I have every seen. That stare lasted a couple of seconds... then she burst out crying and ran out of the room.
"When I was..."
When I was young younger, my neighbor, Josh, flipped a water bottle and landed it on the back of the rim. Would've been less impressive if his older brother, Jake, hadn't capped another bottle on top of it. Wish I recorded that moment, only have a photo.
"At my 13th..."
GiphyAt my 13th birthday party I was laughing hard and went to lean back against the wall. I fell through. Whole room laughed hysterically and I laughed so hard I nearly stopped breathing.
"Probably the time..."
Probably the time I fell off a scooter, in the middle of the road, and there was a truck coming in my direction and it was very close. There was no time to run so I laid back down, figured I was going to be in between the distance between the tyres. The truck driver stopped just as the truck was half-way over my knees. Good times.
"Walking home to the dorms..."
Walking home to the dorms wasted in the winter. Lose my balance and fall against a parked car's hood, roll/flopping down the hood onto my back in front of the car. I'm laying there for a few seconds when the car's light flash and the siren blasts a single whoop whoop. "Oh f---," I say outloud, "it's the police!" I get up and start running. I make it as far as the twenty feet to the other side of the street and try to vault the single chain and post fence lining the dorms' walkways. My foot clips the chain and I face plant right into a snowbank. "My dad is going to murder me," I think to myself as I lay there, waiting to be arrested.
But the footsteps that had been coming after me stop, and uproarious laughter ensues. With my head buried in the snow I'm not sure if the officer(s) said anything, all I heard was laughter as the car door closed and the patrol car drove off.
Not believing my luck I scrambled out of the snow and stumbled back to my dorm. I was freezing at that point and one of the girls on the floor took pity on me, wrapped me up in a blanket and we watched Fight Club. That's also the story of the first night I spent with my wife.
"I was around nine..."
I was around nine when I was able to build my first paper aeroplane in class. The teacher had gone to the toilet so I decided it was the best time to play it.
As I launched it, it went right across the room and made the pointy front tip hit my classmate straight in the eye. I was sent straight to the office and my classmate had to go home, and probably wasn't in school for a week.
Oddly enough, we still stay in touch and he's fine.
"I was walking home..."
I was walking home and saw my teacher stuck in traffic on his scooter, so go up to him from behind and go 'Hey sir!' really loudly, I kinda wanted to scare him a little bit, but he freaked out when he heard me and while turning his head to look at me, he also pushed on the accelerator and drove right into another scooter that was in front of him, all the while screaming and cursing me out. I was laughing so hard but also felt really bad for him, oops.
"Considering the string wasn't that long..."
Was camping with my dad and brother, we were eating some Ritz chips. We left some on the ground for chipmunks/squirrels right in front of us. My brother decided to tie one to a string, then held the string and waited.
We kept telling him they'd just ignore it and get any of the other chips on the ground, especially since his was in the center. A couple of minutes later, a chipmunk came up. It passed every single chip, grabbed the one on the string, and darted off. My brother kept holding the string, so it got ripped out of his mouth and he got flipped over.
You might think this is where the chipmunk runs away or grabs another chip. Nope. It grabs the same chip, digs in its heels, and plays a game of damn tug of war with my brother for the chip. Eventually my brother let go of the string and it went running off with the chip.
Considering the string wasn't that long (like 4 or 5 feet tops) and my dad and I were dying, I can't believe it stood up to us for that chip.
DQ: What moment in your life would have gone viral had it been recorded?
Parents are meant to teach offspring how to survive in this world.
They're meant to guide us on how to be a good member of society.
But either some parents fail, or too many adults don't get the message.
And all that can lead to a mighty dysfunctional adult.
Redditor spirallinggg wanted to hear about the ways we can decipher if others have bad parenting, so they asked:
"What immediately tells you that a person wasn't raised right?"
Basic human decency is a sign of a good upbringing.
Garbage
"They throw trash out a car window."
shershae
"I live on a busy road and I’m so sick of people throwing their trash in front of my house. Some guy tosses out a tall boy beer nearly every workday. I can’t wait to move. Also- so many cigarette butts! We live in a high fire hazard area so I’m worried one of these days they’ll start a fire. I try to go pick up litter twice a month."
Pinkmongoose
Random Aisles
"People who dump refrigerated grocery products on random aisles."
glockops
"I work in a grocery store. The best one I saw was someone who ordered a hot pizza from our pizza station, which is made-to-order. Then abandoned it in the cooler with the refrigerated take-and-bake pizzas we have."
"I get finding stuff from our service case abandoned, it's already cold and our prices are much higher than some people think (the last abandoned item I found was a $20 container of our fresh fruit salad [which comes in pre-cut]), but the pizza station has set menu prices, they should have known what they were getting into before they ordered."
weedtrek
Be Responsible
"Lack of personal accountability. they can never admit wrongdoing on their part. it's always someone else's fault."
Sona-kin
I always told my kids that a mistake doesn't define who you are... but what you do AFTER the mistake DOES. We're human. We're gonna screw up throughout our lives. It's unavoidable. What we can control, however, is choosing to apologize, fix the situation, make amends, etc."
nakedwithoutmyhoodie
Rude
Mean Girls Gossip GIF by Paramount MoviesGiphy"When they talk badly about someone who hasn’t done anything wrong behind their back."
flowerzforthedead
THIS. I've seen coworkers talking behind the backs of new employees and drawing conclusions about every aspect of their lives. Like, you've seen that person for three days, you MF.
Cold-Load-4388
If you can't say it to their face, then don't say it.
Why do people have to crap talk?
Check Please
Escalate Customer Service GIF by FILMRISEGiphy"Being super rude to people in any service profession. There is a time and place for actual, appropriate complaints but I see people constantly abuse service staff for no damn reason. Hell, even using 'please' and 'thank you' seems beyond some people. Bums me out."
CaptainLawyerDude
Others
"Lack of consideration for others."
NewVAinvestor1
"A lot of people do not fundamentally understand other people exist. They understand things exist. They understand those things should be referred to as people. But they do not understand those things have an entire existence and experience all their own exactly like them."
Sh3lls
No!
"When they can't take no for an answer."
NerdyPlaneResident
"I'm going to step up and admit to being guilty of this. For the longest time, I had it in my head that persistence pays off. Some of that was pop culture, some of that was tenacity in other areas of my life being rewarded, and then applying that to interpersonal relationships. Older and wiser me, though is more along the lines of learning to let go. It's still a struggle though, working against that original conditioning."
SergeantPsycho
Professions
"When someone looks down at others based on what they do. That just clearly shows that they've learned the same thing from their caregivers."
Leekayleigh_
"Oh yes. My husband took on a second job doing pizza deliveries. A few people laughed at him doing that at his age. They don't laugh when he explains his main job is simple and, deliveries are just driving blasting tunes and adds $900 a month after tax to our income. Then they see all the travel. Usually shuts them up."
CurvePuzzleheaded361
Offensive
For Real Wow GIF by DeStormGiphy"Zero manners."'
Fuzzteam7
"I took a guy to a family beach condo because he says he never goes to the beach. Let him tag along with our group. Never said thank you one time. I dropped him back off at his house, and I said can you at least say thanks, he was so offended I asked or was trying to force a thank you."
berrey7
"BUT"
"When someone apologizes, and then adds a but onto it. For example, my boss held a meeting among the kitchen staff where he apologized for his attitude, and then added 'But you guys need to understand that I'm a no-bulls**t kind of person.' No sir, that's not how apologies work."
GimmickInfringement1
I hate a BUT.
Either you mean what you offer or don't say it.
We all find ourselves having an unexpected run-in with someone we know on the street every now and then.
In some cases, it's a pleasant surprise and plans are immediately made to catch up.
In other cases, you dig out the first excuse you can to keep on moving, as this particular individual was not someone you hoped would re-enter your life.
Then, of course, there are the times you run into an ex.
Whether you ended things amicably or acrimoniously, it's always going to be an awkward encounter.
Just how awkward it will be, however, depends on your reaction.
Redditor rageondad was curious to hear how people would react if they unexpectedly saw their ex on the street, leading them to ask:
"You see your first ex on the street, what do you do?"
Nothing But Happy Memories...
"1st ex: say hi, nice conversation."
"All good."
"2nd ex: hide from her again, like I did that one time at the gas station."- jfg1435
Who?
"Ignore him because he’s not worth saying hi to."
"And I wouldn’t care about him at all."- Big-Elevator2491
One Way To Handle It...
"Start taking a sh*t on the side walk immediately."- ceiling_fanzz
Excuse Me What GIF by BounceGiphyNo Harm, No Foul
"Say hi."- hot-breadfruit_poop
"And ask how they are doing."
"I'm a curious creature, what can I say?"- Lamacorn
Nothing But Excitement
"Give each other a huge hug."
"We're going to see each other next week for the first time in 25 years."
"It'll be good."
"We've remained friends this whole time, so we're both looking forward to it."- riceme0112358
Couple Love GIF by PantayaOuch!
"Didn't you die?" -Reddit
"Wonder who dug her up."- 8urfiat
"Walk On By..."
"Just keep walking."- MythicalMicrowave
Walking By Moe Szyslak GIF by Football AustraliaGiphyEven If It Means J-Walking
"Cross the street."- no_days_grace
Avoiding Your Ex In Five D's...
"Dodge, dip, duck, dive, and dodge."- catinatank·
The Passage Of Time
"I would wish her well if I recognized her."
"It’s been over 20 years since I’ve seen her."
"It’s not like we parted on bad terms or anything."- Fangsong_37
Lana Parrilla GIF by Paramount+GiphyGo For The Jugular
"You've sure gotten old."- drpepper1992
About Face
"Run."- saus_blu
Remain Amicable
"Have a chat."
"We are still friends."- Mentalfloss1
Meg Ryan Comedy GIF by Coolidge Corner TheatreGiphyOf course, the worst element of surprise is having no idea how we might react.
Try as we might to plan just what we'd do should we ever run into an ex, we can't possibly know what will actually happen should that moment arrive.
Though, hopefully it won't ever lead to defecating on the street.