
Friendships can be complicated. Someone who you adored can turn on you pretty quickly, sometimes your other friends or family (or dog - always trust the dog) just don't like a person and you can't figure out why. In a lot of situations the reason is toxicity.
No, not the System of a Down song - although we'll admit that song is a total medolic-metal-magnum-opus style jam. We mean people can secretly be total trash fests and sometimes it takes you way too long to figure it out.
Reddit user Eatmyshegg asked:
When did you realize your friend was toxic?
Real talk, a lot of these are downright horrifying. Read ahead with caution. People are capable of some seriously cringeworthy stuff.
Totally Cool
When he brought his "totally cool" friends over, and then they stole some of my stuff (an iPod and a money clip with some cash) and he defended them.
- ande8523
Cheating Isn't Funny
She told me she was cheating on her husband, while laughing about how funny it was that her boyfriend would come over to the house and hang out with her husband and her and their newborn.
After I told her that wasn't cool and we weren't friends anymore, she told everyone that I was sleeping with her husband and an abusive drunk. (No to all)
Happy ending- dad divorced and got full custody, I got new friends.
- AuntGoat
Just A Hoe
"Nah trust me, you don't wanna ask her out, she's just a hoe."
He then proceeded to get with her.
DUFF
Many things but when she refused to come to my wedding because she hadn't had weight loss surgery yet & didn't want to look fat and frumpy on my wedding day... that was the culmination that lead to me severing ties. She used to refer to me as her 'DUFF' - the designated ugly fat friend. Then as we grew up, I slimmed down and grew into my appearance rather nicely and she did the opposite, which infuriated her.
She tried to make up a dozen excuses as to why she couldn't be my maid of honor. She couldn't afford to travel to my wedding, I offered to pay for it all. She couldn't afford the dress, which I also pair for my bridesmaids dresses... then when she went on a very lavish & expensive trip to a resort and posted photos on FB, I called her out. That's when she said she didn't want to go and be in pictures because she was having gastric surgery and my wedding was too soon for her to be hot in my wedding line.
heartbreak.exe
At that point, our other mutual friend melted down and literally listed all the ways my best friend was a frenemy & toxic. Feels bad, man.
Compliments
Back-handed compliments, also comments that she is amazing thinly veiled as a "put-down", almost like fishing for compliments.
I didn't want to hang out with her anymore when I realized I never felt good after spending time with her.
- 114631
Single White Female
She started copying me. Everything about me. It was something straight out of "Single White Female". She started using my frequent phrases, tried to pick up all my hobbies, and started dressing *exactly* like me. The final straw was when she started getting really possessive when I would hang out with people without her and tried to turn me against all my other friends.
We aren't friends anymore, but everyone tells me she's still obsessed with me and talks about how I abandoned her to anyone who will listen. It's been 4 years.
Fake Pregnant
She tricked one of my friends that she was pregnant with their child, and used my phone to do it. She used to steal my phone while I was sleeping and text my friend (guy she hooked up with) pretending to be me, saying shit like "omg ____ is throwing up again this morning" and various other pregnancy things to convince the guy. She was not pregnant and 100% knew she wasn't.
Adderall
When they stole my adderall prescription, tried to help me find it (it was stolen during a party we threw) then spent the next few weeks staying up until 8AM playing FIFA like that was something totally normal.
"My Fault if She Died"
When she threatened to hurt herself if I didn't do what she wanted.
She asked me if she could sleep over at my house one night. I told her no, since I had grandparents visiting the next day.
She continued and tried to convince me to let her. She said that if I let her, she would stop cutting - but if I didn't, it would be my fault if she died.
I didn't let her, I "ditched" her the same year. She's still alive to this day. She has a girlfriend and is moving out of town soon.
Suicidal VR Pedophile
When he said "Everybody likes me more than you" for no reason what so ever. I then realized how much he'd been putting me down lately. Especially in the last couple weeks after he had a suicide attempt. I made the call that saved his life and he seems to resent the F*CK out of me for it. He literally spent the entire 2 weeks after his suicide attempt just berating me to anybody who would listen. He attacked my looks, my job, my wife, my friends(his mutual friends), anything. He literally made fun of me for being able to afford a better pc than him, called me a 'job cuck' and told me I'm bad at video games.
This goes further back though. We'd been playing VR chat the last year or so, but unfortunately as the game grew less and less popular with 20 somethings it become more popular with teenagers. Young teenagers. My friend is 30 years old, and he began a relationship with a 16 year old he met on the game. They "dated" for about a month, then when she broke up with him (for him pressuring her to send naked photos) he became insane.
He kept talking about suicide and how everyone plots against him, and I suggest he take a break from VRchat because it wasn't healthy for him. Nope, he does the opposite now. He's cut off every real world friend and spends every waking moment in VRchat being a pedophile and talking to people less than half his age. He's been grooming this 14 year old and I was trying to get his family to intervene with this but they don't believe me that he's doing it.
So when he just told me "Everybody likes me more than you" I just blocked him. Not with out him blowing me up "greifing" me for an hour straight while I fought to block him/delete him on every single platform. Some social media platforms I just had to give up entirely
He didn't used to be like this, but something happened in him and he's gone really hard off the deep end. EXTREME narcissism like I've never seen in a person before. He attempted to manipulate everyone he could against me but I took screen shots of all of it and sent it to the mutual friend group - who is now avoiding him because he made fun of them too.
- Light_PC
The Jacket
First day of high school my "friend" said to me:
"Eww you wearing the same jacket that you did in 8th grade, get a new jacket then talk to me."
Worst part was he was the unofficial leader of our friend group so they all cut me out. I got a new jacket a few days later, but never talked to anyone in the group again. It wasn't a loss.
All About Her
When I realized all of our conversations were about her and her insecurities and when I brought up my own problems she would straight up ignore them.
Being the supportive friend I am she basically used me to feel better about herself. We had been friends for years and this girl looked down on me and never gave a crap about me. This took me a really long time to realize. One time I saw her back after months, felt so drained after hanging out with her and cried when walking home. I knew something was wrong and proceeded to block her on everything. Haven't seen or heard from her since, and I don't miss her and her sh!tty attitude.
Funny thing, she would constantly shit on other people and whine how she never got invited to parties at her dorm. I was the only person who had the patience to put up with her sh!t. Kind of a red flag on it's own.
The Apocalypse
She started getting EXTREMELY religious. I have nothing against religion of any kind, but this was just... A crazy kind of religious beliefs. She started speculating about some apocalyptic event, and she spent MONTHS of precious time researching it. It somehow came up in every conversation, and whenever anyone said anything to disprove the event, she would get PISSED. Eventually, I ended up stating my opinion on it, and apparently she decided then and there that I wasn't a good enough friend for her just because I didn't share those religious beliefs.
If that isn't toxic, I don't know what is.
Mood Swings and Mom Friends
I would be dreading what mood she would be in when the class period that we shared arrived.
This girl is either the nicest person in the world or very awful. I always made excuses because I knew her parents were horrible, and as the Mom Friend, I always seem to attract people with shitty parents who were looking for some sort of validation.
She developed a crush on me and tried to break me and my then-girlfriend up, and would treat me like sh!t when I turned her down. So yeah, she was definitely toxic. Still is. I hope that she's doing okay though.
Blackmail
When she literally told me she would blackmail me if I didn't give her my lunch or if I made her look dumb in class.
Flirty Friends
He was an older guy I had a bit of a crush on. And had a girlfriend, yet he encouraged flirting, which was confusing, as before I knew they dated, he would flirt and play-fight with me. We were in martial arts classes together. I was 15, he was 19. After a month or two of flirting, he began asking me more sexual questions, and would text me on Snapchat to say he was horny. The entire time we were "just friends." He would compliment me, backhandedly, and tell me about him and his girlfriends sex life.
At one point, he wanted to hug me and have me grab his butt. I (hesitantly) did, and felt nothing emotionally, or physically, while he later talked about how I turned him on.
Ew. When I turned 16, I started talking to who is now my best friend(16m), and distanced myself from toxic friend, stopped going to the same martial arts classes, and got over that (unhealthy as f*ck) non-relationship.
Almost a year later (I'm now 17) he text me and wants to be friends. I say fine, and we haphazardly text on and off. He's engaged. Good for him! He started flirting with me again, and I cut ties immediately.
His engagement just got called off last week. I wonder who else he was flirting with.
Cheating
When she kept trying to convince me to cheat on my boyfriend of 4 years and ignored me for 3 months when she got a friend with benefits.
- enioy
Why Bother
When I asked her for art tips because she was very good and I was just starting out, she said I'd never be as good as her so why bother anyway.
Atheist
She was very religious. She told me to break up with my atheist boyfriend. When I told her I wouldn't she proceed to tell me I have the devil inside me and that I'm going to hell.
Funny thing is after we stopped being friends, she dated an atheist.
The Leech
When I told him how stressed I was because I'm working four jobs (video production) and he asked if I was going to quit one so he could take it. He's a leech, constantly looking for any opportunity to piggyback off of someone's success without putting forth any effort whatsoever.
It's highly believed that it is important to learn history as a means to improve our future.
What is often overlooked is that what is taught in history class is going to be very different depending on where you went to school.
And this isn't just internationally, even different regions of the United states will likely have very different lessons on American history.
This frequently results in our learning fascinating, heartbreaking and horrifying historical facts which our middle or high school history teachers neglected to teach us.
Redditor Acherontia_atropos91 was curious to learn things people either wished they had learned, or believe they should have learned, in their school history class, leading them to ask:
What isn’t taught in history class but should be?
The Irish Troubles
"The troubles."
"Too many people in America do not understand why a wall straight through Ireland would be a BAD idea."
"I’m referring to the Brexit referendum and possible outcomes."
"If people were wondering why we were talking about walls through Ireland in the first place."- CLCVS.
Forgotten elements of World War II
"What the Japanese did to the Chinese during WW2."
"Unit 731."- CaptainMcBoogerJew.
"Japan gets off easy for their war crimes in WW2."
"They killed an estimated 16mil Chinese civilians and another 8mil soldiers"
"Also, Pol Pot."
"Didn't know who he was until I was like 25."
"Worst dictator all time (in terms of percentage of population he decimated)".
The truth about the American Revolution
"That the American Revolution was part of a wider cold war type of conflict with France."
"The American Revolution was basically the UK's equivalent of the US version of Vietnam."- vinsant7.
The Dark side of Swedish history.
"As a Swede, I'd like to know more of all the horrible sh*t my country has done throughout history."
"It's a damn shame we're trying to hide our history."
"For example, Swedes killed a metric sh*t ton of all Polish people when we were at our strongest."
"That's the kinda sh*t we don't get to learn."- mogwandayy.
Colonization
"Basically what Belgium did to the Congo."
"A lot of people are telling me that they are taught about this actually."
"I'm glad to hear it because I wasn't taught about this in the USA during my public school days (1995-2008)."- EconArch.
The truth about "heroes".
"While teaching about historical Heroes they should also tell students about the unspeakable things some of them did."
"Many famous figures throughout history who are pillars of morality actually did many terrible things." - User Deleted
Intolerance for Mental Illness
"The dark history of mental illness treatments."
"I think it's worth learning about."- 7dayexcerpt.
Slavic Mythology
"Slavic mythology in Slavic countries."
"Don't get me wrong, I love both Greek & Roman mythology and as a person from the Balkans both of those cultures are part of my country's history and had great influence over not only my region but the entirety of the continent & the western world but I wouldn't mind knowing more about Slavic mythology as well."- ShorsShezzarine.
The truth about the CIA
"How the CIA was made and all the shady things they did over the years."- ALargeChip.
There is a lot about the history of our world, not to mention our own country which shouldn't be ignored.
And it's from learning from our mistakes that we really improve our future.
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So apparently we are in the endemic phase of this nonsense.
We have light at the end of the tunnel.
So what now?
Where do we go from here?
Normal seems like an outdated word.
How do we get back to normal though?
Is it even possible?
What are reaching back to?
Life pre-Covid.
Those were the days.
If only we could bring them back.
Redditor hetravelingsong wanted to discuss our new normal in this hopeful "endemic" phase. So they asked:
"What’s something random you miss about pre-COVID times?"
I miss people being sane. Though that maybe election cycle issues not COVID. We'll never know.
I thought I was Alone...
"Being able to grocery shop after 11 pm."
Reading_Rainboner
"Hell yes. I miss the days where the Walmart across the street was open 24 hours."
Small_Tax_9432
let's just go...
"I miss spontaneity... everything now seems to have a barrier of difficulty."
iidosee
"I live very close to Disneyland so I have an annual pass. My friends and I would just go there after work and hang out and grab a bite to eat."
"Now, we have to reserve a day to go. And most of the time, the days are at 'full' capacity so we couldn't even reserve. I don't want to schedule to hang out at Disneyland for a couple hours for July. So yeah, I definitely miss the 'lets go eat at Disneyland tonight?' texts."
mymymissmai
Not til 24-25
"Functioning global supply chains. Ah, the product you want has got microchips in it? 9 month wait."
richard-king
"Minimum, I'd been saying for a while now that I wouldn't expect a true return to normalcy in terms of electronics prices till 2024-2025. Although Crypto crashing through the floor really took some of the pressure off graphics cards which I really appreciate."
statiiic
WTF?!?!
"How affordable everything was!"
Disastrous_Hour_6776
"Yep. Today I was bagging up my things at the grocery store and I heard the cashier say to the lady behind me 'thats $78.12.' She had -- 2 boxes of Kellogg's corn flakes, a carton of 12 eggs, milk, strawberries, raspberries, blue berries, a small cheese cake, English muffins, coffee, and a small whole frozen chicken that could maybe feed 3 people if the meat portioning was small."
SnowyInuk
Sushi
"My favorite sushi place. It was good quality, close by, kid-friendly, and not too expensive."
InannasPocket
All of this... it was a simpler time.
NASTY
"As a retail worker, just how f**king NASTY some people have gotten."
DmitriPetrov*itch
"They applauded you for being an essential worker but won’t vote for policies that’ll raise minimum wage while insisting a wage cap for heavily paid employees."
sketchysketchist
CHANGES your DNA...
"Some of the people closest to me became very bitter and petty over the last 2 years. So many people have the 'crazy eyes' now."
__--__7
"So true and holidays with the family is like who has the biggest tinfoil hat building contest. How many jumps does your brain have to go through to think that the Covid vaccine CHANGES your DNA into the patented DNA so that the government now controls your body."
"So like vaccinated people now have a singular DNA set. I feel like I still have a chunk of my brain just broken off due to that comment alone. I was also told by same family member that I could never donate blood again due to the vaccine. I guess it is so my patented DNA doesn't affect people?? FYI my vaccinated butt just donated today fine and multiple other times after the vaccine."
tyreka13
Homeward Bound
"House prices."
adrianinked
"I'm resigned to never thinking I have a chance on owning property where I live. I'm 30 and just can't imagine it anymore. And I don't want to live anywhere else so, whatever."
Osdab2daf
"That didn’t happen because of the pandemic. That was already happening regardless."
CH11DW
Oh Mickey
"All Day Breakfast at McDonalds."
hutch2522
"It was honestly hell to do, and not very popular. ITs margins aren't anywhere dinner and lunch specials. ON top of that, the temperatures are such that They require its own grill, meaning that if you have 2 grills in shop, you are down 50% of lunch capacity."
Freyas_Follower
Way back when...
"Hanging out with friends. And I mean waaaaaay before Covid. Like 2006 back when I had some friends."
LoocsinatasYT
I miss the old days. Maybe we'll get back there.
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What do you believe?
Is there a GOD in the sky?
Is he guiding us and helping us?
Life is really hard. Why is that is a big entity is up there loving us?
Atheists have taken a lot of heat for what feels like shunning GOD.
What if they've been right all along?
Maybe let's take a listen and see what they really think.
Redditor __Jacob______ wanted to hear from the people who don't really believe all that "God" stuff. They asked:
"Atheists, what do you believe in?"
I'm waffling between G-O-D and nothing. So please give me some education.
911
"We need to look out for each other because help isn't coming."
cknipe
Peace Out
"More than 2 decades ago, a priest was giving a sermon in my church and he said 'our faith requires you to believe without question. Why call it faith if you have to ask questions?' I haven't returned to church. Not until my wedding day but you know what I mean."
asiangontear
Delusion
"When I was young I used to think that after death you would have access to a PC that you could see absolutely anything about your life. Stats, any question you had no matter how obscure, replays of moments, perspectives of others in relation to you. No matter what you wanted to know, if it was relatable to you, you could see it. I know it's silly, but as time goes on I just want it to be real, and I don't think I'd have any issue allowing myself to fall into that delusion."
eggwardpenisglands
I think nothing happens...
"Realistically, I think nothing happens. We literally experience nothing after death. Same thing that we experience before birth. We don't exist, so it's nothing. I think the tenant that we should follow while living is to try to be happy and healthy while minimizing the damage we do to each other."
"What I would LIKE to happen after death is whatever you believe in, exists. I think Christians should get to go to heaven if they truly believe in it, Hindus and Buddhists get reincarnated, and everyone else also gets to experience what they believe they will experience."
"'I would still experience Nothing. Maybe it's one of those things where at the moment of death their brain makes them experience what feels like an infinitely long moment in time where they experience their afterlife. I just think it would be neat for everybody."
Better_Meat_
Shrug
"Best advice I received from a dear senior on their way out. 'You win some, you lose some' shrug. Nothing divine, life is that simple and wonderful, accept it and move on."
Tune_Kindly
It all sounds pretty simple. Why are people so up in arms about Atheists?
Whatever
"I believe in a universe that doesn't care, and people that do."
imCIK
Cool with Empty
"Nothing. [Serious]."
rumblingtummy29
"I feel this way about death. When I was 5, my grandfather died and my cousin simple said, he is dead, that means you are gone forever. Everything ends up dying, even plants and animals. I'm now in my 40's and still have this simplistic view of life and death. People think I'm ambivalent to life and death but it's just what it is."
thepigfish82
puppet-masters...
"I think a lot of religious people struggle with the fact that we are all just swirling units of chaos. There is no grand plan or great orchestrator. I think that’s why people who are prone to religion are also susceptible to things like Q anon and the Cabal and all that. They REALLY want to believe that there is some almighty puppet-master who determines all of humanity’s fate."
Lngtmelrker
“we’re living in a society!”
"Just be a kind and empathetic person not because you’re worried about some cosmic justice, but because it’s the right thing to do. If there is some being that created us there’s no way they actually care about believing in it or adhering to some rules from over 2000 years ago."
"Also a big thing for me is that I find the idea that you need religion or the Bible in order to have morals and ethics pretty dumb. It’s pretty f**king clear that most evangelicals have neither. But my main thing is being a good person simply because, as George Costanza once said we’re living in a society!' If you’re only a good person in order to make it to heaven you probably aren’t actually a good and moral person."
conservative_genius
That's All
"You're born. You live. You die. That's it. After you die you cease to exist, the same as before you were born."
serefina
Believe what you want. We're all here together. So let's focus there.
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The list of what irritates me is endless.
I mean... breathing too loud or dust can set me off.
I'm a bit unstable, yes.
But I'm not alone.
So let's discuss.
Redditor Aburntbagel6 wanted to hear about all the times many of us just couldn't control our disdain. They asked:
"What never fails to piss you off?"
I feel like this article can go on forever. Let's get some highlights.
Wasted Time
"Meetings that could and should have been an email."
Sirena609
Lotto People
"Getting stuck behind people playing the lottery at a corner store."
thenuggetlover
"I also used to work in a gas station and you’re SO right. I f**king hated the lottery people. Especially since my store had a small staff and there was usually only one of us working at a time, which meant that I couldn’t get any of my other work done as long as they were there."
"And you’re right, it’s also pretty sad to watch. I had one lady who used to come in every day and spent hundreds and HUNDREDS of dollars on scratch tickets. One day, she won $200 after spending probably around $600 and she was so excited and saying she can 'finally pay her bills.'"
i-am-your-god-now
Aware...
"No situational awareness. Job, home, shopping, driving. Think for one minute and go about. OBSERVE!!"
Dizzy-Foundation8122
"My mom is one of those people who leave the shopping cart in the middle of the damn aisle and proceed to walk twenty feet away. After correcting her a million times to no effect I just walk away now so people don’t know I’m with her."
OutrageousEvent
Shut Up!
"Endless barking in the middle of the night, I love animals but that sh*t I can't stand."
Acceptable-Lemon2924
"Endless barking in general drives me up a wall. One of my friends dogs was barking almost an entire gaming session the other day. I wanted to reach through the computer and smack him for letting it go on."
bangersnmash13
Kindness
"People being mean to service workers, especially if the workers are very young."'
scaryboilednoodles
All of these things. I hate them all.
Admit It
"People who never accept fault when they mess something up. Like, why blame a million people when it was clearly you who did it???"
Quirky-Area-8978
From Above
"My upstairs neighbors."
lutzow89
"I had terrible neighbors at my previous apartment. It was a one person studio for students, but her boyfriend was clearly living with her illegally and he was loud."
"One night we knocked n the door at 3 AM because of the loud music and an unknown girl opened the door. I just thought they were having a little party. But the next door I saw the girl living there come home with a suitcase after having been away for the weekend... Her BF was cheating on her in her own apartment."
Th3_Accountant
Move Away
"People who sit directly next to me at the airport, movie theater, any other place where you can choose a seat when there is PLENTY of other seating."
BacardiPardy33
"I can’t YES this enough and the ones who can’t park for crap so they park so close you can’t open doors on one side of the car or the ones who park directly behind when you pulled through so the door won’t open to load groceries."
BacardiPardy33
It's Over
"People who try to restart old drama. Like I'm done with you, just leave me alone."
Tired_Potatos
"Yep, half the reason I've basically quit playing one of my favorite online video games. People keep bringing old crap up or sh*tting on on someone who used to be our friend. I got tired of it so I just ejected the game out of me."
CaucasianHumus
AHHHHH!!!
"People walking too slow in front of me with no way to get around them. It’s even worse if it’s a couple or group taking up the whole sidewalk. HAVE SOME SPATIAL AWARENESS FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!!"
_-v0x-_
Life in general pisses me off. I'm easy.
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