
Roommates are a part of life, and chances are you’ve had a roommate at least once.
Sometimes, your roommate is a family member — perhaps you shared your childhood bedroom with a sibling. Sometimes, it’s a friend. It’s likely you shared a dorm room with a friend in college. And other times, it’s a complete stranger who you only shared a living space with in order to save on rent.
Whatever the case, having a roommate is sure to make for some interesting experiences. Some of these experiences are good, and some are bad, but one thing is for sure: they’re all unforgettable!
Curious about some of these interesting experiences, Redditor chee-koo asked:
"Redditors, what are your most interesting roommate stories?"
Video Game ASMR
"My South Korean roommate in college played StarCraft (2? not sure) welllll into the night. We're talking like I'd be getting up to go to class and he'd be logging off."
"It cured my insomnia. Listening to a game in a language I didn't understand was very soothing, apparently, and I went from taking 3-4 hours a night to fall asleep (if I would at all) to falling asleep within 30 seconds of laying my head down."
– truthinlies
"Are you saying that to cure my years long insomnia all this time what I needed was not melatonin, plants or all the weird sh*t I've tried, but a South Korean online gamer in the next room?"
– blackd0nuts
"It's weird how sometimes you find something that just WORKS."
– Wolfie_Ecstasy
I'm Jealous!
"I’m pretty sure I used to live with a hobbit."
"-Man about 5'1", curly brown hair, constantly cheerful demeanor"
"-Never wore shoes, inside or out"
"-Literally slept on the floor in what can only be explained as a nest of blankets"
"-Started a garden and encouraged me to eat his tomatoes all the time"
"-Would bring home samosas and other goodies, always giving me half just because"
"-He and his wife had a dream of living off the grid in a tiny home on a truck"
"I hope he’s doing well"
– Opposite_Lettuce
"Tall for a hobbit, otherwise checks out!"
– GielM
Poor Little Rich Girl
"My freshman year roommate was an international student from Dubai. She had maids and help all of her life and didn't know how to do a goddamn thing! Once she ate an apple and tossed the core behind her onto our carpet! I told her I'm not her maid to clean up after her!"
– Turbulent-Mind7128
Killing In His Sleep?
"I used to cook dinner and always made enough to offer to our room mate. He paid his bills and rent always but sometimes he didn't have enough for food so I would cook and say "hey man, wanna have dinner with us?". He would usually say he didn't like whatever I was making. Fastforward to morning...all the leftovers were gone."
"His explanation? He must have been sleepwalking and ate it in his sleep. This happened 15 to 20 times over a year period. Minimum. He would make these big song and dances about how what I was making was gross, so I would put up enough leftovers for two (my boyfriend and I) then go to bed. What was to be lunches for work gone and often dirty utensils in the sink."
"Fast forward another 5 years and he called me at 3 am after not talking to me or my partner for 3 years, and told me my now husband (aforementioned BF)was doing Crack in front of our 4 year old. I called my husband, who was asleep. Neither of us had talked to him in years...what was this?"
"Fast forward another 5 years. He's on death row for killing his roommate. His defense? He did it sleepwalking."
– dissapointingsex
These Things Belong In The Trash
"My roommate once create a whole new lifeform by leaving beans in the fridge until they molded so bad they became pure white. Then she got mad when I threw it away because she was going to use it later."
– Shadow948
"Use it for what? Giving people botulism?"
– Bob_12_Pack
"I had a roommate do that with lasagna in a casserole dish. I eventually tossed it after lifting the lid and looking inside. I didn’t want to touch it and I knew she’d never clean it, so I threw the whole thing in the dumpster, dish and all. When she got home and saw it was gone, she told me I might as well throw her lifeless body in the dumpster too, if that’s how little I thought of her. I was like, “I’ll buy you a new casserole dish, damn.”"
"Neither of us did what we’d said we’d do."
– Calexcia
...Huh?
"Senior year of college I lived with 8 other students in a house, girls upstairs and boys downstairs. One time the boys were really rowdy so I went downstairs to check it out and this girl from my literature class was beating in their fridge with a fire extinguisher. I think I’ve lost the ability to be surprised after that year."
– Mirrorflute88
"I don't understand the meaning of "was beating in their fridge". Was she beatboxing? Was she getting beaten up? Was she attacking the fridge?"
"It would be really cool if somebody could help me with that :)"
– umhassy
Laundry Troubles
"My wife had a roommate who's clothes smelled bad all the time. But they would do laundry together, so they knew that she washed her clothes, but they smelled like they weren't."
"Until one day when they were shopping together, and the roommate said that she had to buy laundry detergent, and then picked up some Downey Soft fabric softener. My wife asked her if she was also going to get detergent, and the roommate replied, "I just did.""
"My wife tried to convince her that fabric softener is not soap, and wouldn't clean your clothes, and the roommate was adamant. "This is what I've always used, and it works great." My wife tried to be nice about how it didn't work, and that her clothes didn't smell good after a day (when the Downey scent would wear off), but nothing she said made a difference."
"I hope that when the roommate got married 12 years ago, her husband was able to convince her to use actual detergent for her clothes.""
– WalmartGreder
Middle Of The Night Thoughts
"My freshman year roommate would think way too much when he was trying to fall asleep and wake me up all the time."
"Like, “Hey man, a lot of people find the person they marry in college. What if I never find that person!!”"
"Me: “huh? It’s 2am, dude, I have class at 8.”"
"“Oh sorry to wake you up, go back to sleep”"
"Five minutes later, he wakes me up again “Unless you’re on fire, then that makes sense.”"
– ThinkIGotHacked
Whoops!
"My flatmate was using the speaker in the living room for playing music, he said he was gonna go shower so he left.
2 minutes later we heard moaning and slapping. He forgot to disconnect from the speaker."
– Terrible-Cost-7741
Thw Worst Mom
"(This is gonna be long, because there's a fuckload to tell.)"
"Ah, my last roomie, J. How to explain her... J was an an*l-retentive b*tch for whom things could not be clean enough. She wasn't a germophobe; she was just a controlling c*nt. For example, she had a glass table near the kitchen where she ate all her normal meals. She had a little boy who was 4ish and a girl who was 7ish. They were not allowed to eat meals with their mother because they might get fingerprints on the glass. Instead, they had to eat on a small wooden kiddie table away from her. One day, her son accidentally knocked over his juice, and she full-on screamed at him while he sobbed and tried to mop it up."
"Other sh*t she pulled:"
"- I accidentally left, no joke, one fucking pinpoint of spaghetti sauce in the microwave one night. She banged on my door at midnight on a work day. And when I answered, she grabbed my arm and marched me downstairs and yelled while I cleaned it."
"- I accidentally forgot one day that I was supposed to take the outdoor trash can to the street. On my way back home from work, I found out my brother was dying, so I was sobbing by the time I got home. When I got there, she had placed the trash can so that I could not get into the garage without moving it to the street. And when I got inside, she was waiting for me. She physically blocked the stairs up to my room and just screamed and screamed while I cried and tried to explain that my goddamn brother was dying."
"- Her (very sweet, no idea how she got such great kids) daughter was in Girl Scouts, and J was the troop's cookie mom. She was SCARY about it. One day, she left an envelope of cash from it on the kitchen counter, and there was NO way I was touching that. Tried to tell her it was out there, but got nowhere. Quite a few people came in and out of the house, including a few contractors, and next time she looked, the cash was gone. Of course (/s), it had to have been my fault, so she threatened me with throwing everything I owned on the lawn and changing the locks. So that I had somewhere to sleep, I just paid her the $80, even though that meant a couple weeks of ramen. Guess where it was? Her kiddo took it to his room and was playing with it. And no, I got zero apology."
"- Did I mention she was a nightmare stage mom? Because she was. She forced her shy daughter into doing a made for tv movie, and then ran around watching her toddler son wrecking the whole set while cooing about how "adorable" he was on "HIS movie set.""
"- She'd found photos in a property her family owned where some asshole early paparazzo had hidden there and taken shots of a very famous and well-regarded, inspirational person's private funeral. For some reason, the pics were left in that property. Her immediate decision? If she can't get at least a few hundred k from auctioning them off, ransom them to the family."
"Biggest lesson? When your roommate's family comes over for dinner, and several of them pull you aside to voice concern for you and ask if she's treating you badly, that's when you spend every waking moment from then on finding a new goddamn place to live, even if it's a street corner."
– ChaoticForkingGood
Faking It
"My first roommate as an adult faked ovarian cancer. Just.... How could someone even DO that?"
"When I was looking for a new place, she waited until I took a shower and got into the computer in my room. (That one's partially on me, because I didn't log out of it before I went off.) She found out I was emailing the person who would be my next roommate, noted the email address, and then sent a bullsh*t-laden email to that person trying to get them to kick me out before I ever moved in."
"She was in-f*cking-sane. By the time I left, I'd have been willing to bet everything I owned that she was on meth. Couldn't prove it, but she 100% acted and looked like it."
"Oh, and did I mention that she turned on a goddamn dime one Saturday and told me that my dog, who she'd previously loved, had to be gone by Monday or else she'd kick ME out? All because my poor baby girl had been abused before I had her, and when that woman yelled at the top of her lungs one day, my little girl peed. So, yeah. I had to call rescue organizations and shelters and give my sweet girl up."
"Also - last one, I swear - she invited a homeless couple to live with us for a bit in return for doing some painting. Please note: I have no problem with this. What I DID have a problem with was that she never asked or even told me about it (and I'd have said yes if she had). She just did it. She also told them that they were welcome to keep anything in the third bathroom that they wanted... Which was my goddamn bathroom. Finding out your makeup is all gone and that someone's pubes are on your soap? SO much fun."
– ChaoticForkingGood
Morally Compromised
"In college, my roommate was majoring in criminal justice, and it threw me for a loop when I found out she was in a gang. (Weird combo.)"
"One day, she asked if a friend of hers could stay with us for a little while. Her friend had just been evicted from her first apartment for not being able to pay. She was 8 months pregnant, and it was winter, so I was alright with it."
"Now, this roommate and her friend would sit there and giggle and gossip from when they got in bed until about 2 AM, juuuuust loudly enough that it kept me up."
"One night, I overheard 80% of a whispered convo between them where they talked about how easy it had been to steal some furniture for the pregnant girl's new place. They started talking about how shitty the books in the bookshelves had been and how they were glad there had been room in the dumpster out back for them. They thought I was asleep."
"Our dorm had a "dorm mom" who was a very sweet 80yo lady whose job was to live with us in the good-sized apartment in the dorm for that use and to make sure we were abiding by the (stupid and outdated) rules. She was a total sweetheart. She actually furnished our common room with her own stuff, out of the kindness of her heart. Bookshelves, books, a sofa, and a TV."
"So when I got up the next morning and headed out, and I saw everyone milling around the now-empty common room, my heart sank. Everyone loved our dorm mom. I checked the dumpster out back, and yep... all of her books were in there. My roommate and her friend had stolen everything in that room in the middle of the night."
"I went straight to the dean. She got at least booted out of the dorms. Don't know if she got kicked out of the college altogether or not, but I still caught hell from the rest of her gang. Fun times."
"Sorry, roomie, not sorry. She made that lovely dorm mom cry."
– ChaoticForkingGood
I Didn't Do It
"My morbidly obese roommate fell in the shower and went through the wall. Sounded like a bomb going off and scared the shit out of me."
"That would be whatever, except a minute later the useless bastard came limping out bleeding and tried to pretend the shower/wall had always been like that. Even when we pointed out he had done the damage, he refused to really acknowledge it."
"Our other roommate was crazy, and refused to get the landlord involved. So, she instead cleaned up the mess and left the hole, saying she'd fix it later herself. When we left (about a year later), she just gorilla glued some cardboard up over the hole and then glued the tiles back on over it."
"I'll admit it actually didn't look terrible. You probably wouldn't notice unless you really looked."
– Broski225
If Only She Could Sleep
"One time I woke to two voices in my college doom room."
"I saw that my roommate had a guy with her in bed. From what I remember, there was kissing but I don't know what else. I had no idea when he got there."
"I didn't know what to do so I just pretended to sleep until they were gone. They finally left close to noon. As they were heading out, the guy goes, "wow, your roommate sure is tired." My roommate: "yeah, she sleeps a lot.""
"Couldn't help but feel a little peeved by that."
– purplealchemist
Duck!
"My roommate threw a meat cleaver at me because I told her I didn't want to talk to her because we were fighting."
– livetimefe
I'd Run
"I moved in with a couple. She was VERY obviously pregnant but denied it. They had 7 pet rats, which I was chill with. Their bed was on the floor so the rats could sleep with them, cool. Whatever you’re into, not for me to judge. The rat poop that was EVERYWHERE in the house was an issue. In the tub, in the wash machine, outside their room in their shoes. My final straw was when I baked 15 DOZEN butter tarts for Xmas gifts cuz I was a broke 20-year-old and they ATE THEM ALL in one evening and that night she went into labour and had the baby she definitely wasn’t pregnant with and demanded I give up the home office I paid extra for each month to do my work from for her new not baby But keep paying for it."
– notanaltaccount88
Yes, roommates are a part of life, but some of these experiences make me glad that part of my life is in the past!
Sometimes everyone needs to hush up.
Wouldn't that be nice?
If people could catch onto social queues and actually engage in conversation with another human, maybe then we'd be able to triumph at the basic art of communication.
But humans seem to be failing in this department.
So who among us hasn't been trapped in a nonsensical splattering of words we'd give limbs to escape from?
Redditor Isingsongstomycats wanted to hear about what can completely make us regret speaking to another person, so they asked:
"What instantly ruins a conversation for you?"
I'm ornery. Anything and everything can turn me off.
Blocked
"Getting their phone out for no reason mid conversation."
Expensive_Pie_6943
"Sometimes I want to look up something pertinent to the conversation but I don't want to interrupt them to say that. Now when someone checks their notification mid conversation, that really burns me."
cutelyaware
Up & Up
"When someone feels the need to one up you on everything you say."
Apprehensive_Gap_368
"Had a coworker like this once, his one upping was so bad we would test it. Best one was a guy talking about catching a shark on a pole at the beach. He interrupted with the time he swam out a mile and got attacked by a shark and beat it and swam back with it."
Mess_Bubbly
Rude
"When they start saying nasty things about people they barely know."
WeirdShyKitten
"I have family like this. I once heard them go on on this rant about how the new waitress at their local coffee shop is fat and ugly. They made a thousands assumptions about this woman that included criticism to her service."
18062022
"Or start sh*t talking someone the second they leave the room. My dad's sisters do that, I was stuck in my parents house alone with them and I would get so paranoid every time I left the room. If they do that to each other, I can’t image the crap they talk about me."
vicki_chicki
War of Words
"When they ask for your opinion or talking about something fully subjective and then tell you how you are objectively wrong or get offended by you nor agreeing."
Prize_Interaction931
"Similar, but not quite the same: my old roommate would correct me on things that were objective, and not like facts."
"Like I mentioned it was hard for my folks to get a mortgage because they were self employed and he correct me that it wasn't. He wouldn't believe the story i was telling and told me what he thought might have happened with no knowledge on the subject."
"Needless to say I moved out."
SFXBTPD
Blah Blah
"When it feels like you're engaging a combination lock just to get responses to simple innocent pieces of a conversation. People who small talk you to death."
I swear small talk people should be arrested for attempted murder.
Useless
"When someone drags a story out with useless details. Like something that happened on the drive to work but they start the story at the point when they first woke up and what they had for breakfast. Just get to the point!"
ticklemebits
Paused
"When they interrupt me mid sentence."
HelpMeSweetJesus
"If it sometimes happens on accident whenever they think of something and get over-excited it’s whatevs. Now when they constantly step over you it’s like your opinion merely feels like filler at best and they ain’t even listening. Not even worth the energy to continue at that point."
BAKED_TATER_
"One of my coworkers only listens long enough to figure out what she's going to say next, and then she interrupts. I guess we're only there to feed her lines."
Witty_Commentator
Do Better
"When someone gives you completely useless advice you didn't ask for. A couple weeks ago I mentioned to a coworker that I was glad to be going home because I didn't get more than a couple hours of sleep."
"Dude first of all had the audacity to say 'Well, you need to do better.' When I said I have medication resistant insomnia he looks at me like I'm an idiot and asks if I've tried melatonin."
errant_night
Duh
"Think of how stupid the average person is, and then realize half of them are stupider than that. And it doesn’t take you very long to spot one of them, does it. Take you about eight seconds. You’ll be listening to some guy, and say, this guy is f**king stupid. Then, then there are some people, they’re not stupid. They’re full of crap."
"Huh, that doesn’t take very long to spot, either, does it. Take you about the same amount of time. You’ll be listening to some guy, saying, well, he’s fairly intelligent. Ah, he’s full of s**t. Then there are some people, they’re not stupid, they’re not full of s**t, they’re freaking nuts."
teaching-man
Gross...
"Sexualization. We're talking about a new video game and suddenly I get asked if I play naked, or if I'm turned on by a game mechanic or some such nonsense. Yuck."
GreenAppleLady
Good conversation is hard to keep these days.
Do you have any conversational red flags to add? Let us know in the comments below.
Moments of distress where you think your life is on the line are unshakable.
Many people have at one point experienced situations where they thought they wouldn't come out the other side alive but are somehow spared through some miracle.
They are lucky enough to tell their stories.
From mild to wild, strangers online shared their most humbling experiences when Redditor Intelligent_Role_675 asked:
"What was the most intense moment of your life?"
Traffic accidents were a common example in which Redditors feared for their lives.
The Universe Had Other Plans
"My ancient, used car randomly decided to stop working while I was doing about 70mph on the freeway. I skidded out, couldn't gain control of the skid, and slammed straight into a metal guardrail. I crashed through the guardrail, flew off the side of the freeway, and impaled my car halfway through a tree. I was perfectly fine afterwards, but my car was a smoking wreck. It was virtually unrecognizable as an automobile, it was so messed up. But I was ok. Not a scratch on my body."
"The moment my car spun out of control, and I knew I was going over the edge at that speed, I assumed I was going to die. I gripped the wheel, closed my eyes, and made my peace with the universe."
"For some reason, the universe decided it wasn't done with me. I was shocked to open my eyes and find myself alive and unharmed. Truly shocked. I thought for sure I was going to die."
"To this day, I'm always a little bit shook whenever I drive past that section of the freeway. For years, you could see the skid marks on the road. They cleared them off eventually, but it took a long-a** time."
– EllyHodl
Reclaiming Loose Articles
"I had a wreck years ago. A semi clipped the front passenger side with its trailer and sent me spinning, then started to flip when my car got caught by those metal cable barriers. I was going backwards down the interstate as the cables just shredded the passenger side of my car. The trunk busted open and I saw a tote bag that was holding my hair stuff and makeup fly in front of me as my car was trying to stop. When it started to flip, my head bounced off the driver's side window."
"Finally, when it was over, I was sitting there just stunned. Then, my stupid brain decided I needed to walk out on the interstate to go find my flatiron. Because apparently I thought, hey, I have head trauma, but I can still look good🤦♀️."
– mgulley08
There are heroes around us.
Trapped In A Burning Car
"Driving to work one morning. Icky, rainy day, lots of highway traffic. I assume a car hydroplaned in front of me but it was far enough ahead that I couldn’t tell exactly what happened. Took out several other cars with him. Highway was basically completely blocked."
"I was essentially the first car to pull up on the wreck and one of the more badly damaged cars was already on fire. Myself and a couple strangers run up to the car and realize his door is jammed. One of the guys starts kicking the window. I’m not sure how much time has passed (probably not much) but you can feel the heat and making eye contact with this dude you can see the fear in his eyes."
"I ran to the passenger side and as I’m pulling on the handle the driver is kicking on the door from the inside. It popped open enough that I was able to grab a portion of the door itself and we were able to pull it open and pull him out."
"I went to work but I shook for hours from the adrenaline."
– Mikeastuto
The River Wild
"Saving a woman from drowning. We were River tubing in a river that was way way more aggressive than normal. Long story short a woman got dumped off her tube and pinned under a log next to me. I had to bail on my tube and fight to get to her and pull her up, she was under for a few minutes. I was shaking for hours after. Two teenagers died there the next day."
"Moral of the story, if you’re going river tubing and the tubing company that normally runs there isn’t operating it’s probably because it’s unsafe."
– Puzzleheaded-Mood689
These Redditors didn't know what hit them.
The Human Body Is Unpredictable
"Two and a half yrs ago I woke up halfway on my way to work with blurry sight and an immobile body. I assume it was on a sidewalk. I remember I wondered if I had died, but quickly shifted to a theory of suddenly gotten drunk on a tuesday morning. But that didn’t make any sense. Couldn’t grasp what was going on, really. Suddenly an older man rushed to me and asked if I was ok. I said yeah. He told me to lie still. Looked concerned. An ambulance came and took me to the nearest ER - about 1 km down the road. It was a stroke. Still puts me off a bit when I think about it. Occasional aphasia, but pretty much fine now."
– KoalaCola-notPepsi
The Wrong Shot
"Had a severe allergic reaction and collapsed in the stairs of the cultural history museum. I had been prescribed penicillin a few days earlier. It turns out that this particular type of penicillin can cause me to die."
– Ashtar-the-Squid
Murder Survivor
"Took four 9mm rounds to the chest while delivering pizza."
"Was delivering to a party, and some kids jumped out and pointed a gun at me. When I first saw the gun I thought it was some kids trying to prank me with a bb gun or something. I heard 4 loud bangs. Next thing I know I was on the ground and I felt them tugging on my keys that I had clipped to a belt loop."
"I remember one of them actually crying, and I remember him saying sorry over and over."
"Don't know how long I was there but that party I was supposed to deliver too emptied out and I remember hearing a lot of crying and screaming. I just remember some guy saying, 'don't close your eyes dude, stay with me.'"
"Ambulance got there and picked me up, and from there it was going in and out, felt like I was just a passenger in my own body."
"The kids who mugged me and stole my car got picked up like 20 mins later at a gas station trying to use my card to fill the car. They all ended up going away for several years, and I got 4 scars that raise eyebrows everytime I go to the beach."
– Unyielding_Cactus
Part Of The Atmosphere
"Probably jumping out of a plane. Unfortunately I don't remember the first few seconds, which was exactly what they warned us would happen. You go from a somewhat known environment into an entirely new one and I guess it's literally just too much to process. Next thing I knew, I was under canopy, and I knew what to do with that."
– cutelyaware
The Big Tremor
"I was stationed in South Korea in 2015-2016. This was when the north had been initiating a wave of nuclear tests. It was a Monday evening, me and some of the guys from my shop were taking a Korean language class on base after hours (basic sh*t like how to tell a cab driver where you were going, etc)"
"The heightened tensions because of the nuclear test had everyone pretty on edge. The classroom we were in had no windows, and we couldn't see outside. The building started shaking, violently. We all thought it had happened, and the world was about to end."
"In reality, A 5.8 earthquake hit not far from base."
"Once we walked outside, didnt see a mushroom cloud, and realized we hadn't become the ww3 rapid response force, we all had a good laugh about it. But for about 2 minutes, it was the opposite of funny."
– cat_daddylambo
Almost losing a loved one can be the scariest thing in life.
A Father's Worst Nightmare
"When my son was 2.5yo he had a febrile (fever-induced) seizure in my arms. I thought he was dying - scariest, most intense moment of my life."
"He’s fine now. Never re-occurred, but we went after any fever hard with alternating Tylenol and Advil for both him and his brother after that."
– wembley
Unpredictable Seizures
"My special needs son had his first seizure when he was 1. My wife was in Mexico for a wedding and I heard him breathing funny, like snoring. I looked at him and he was grey and unresponsive. I was terrified, I didn't know whether to do CPR or what. I called my mother in law who is a nurse but I couldn't reach her. He came out of it after about 2 minutes and I just held him and held him. He's had like 50 seizures since then, some of them lasting upwards of 20 mins. He had one this morning, actually. Every time it happens we think it might be his last. The scariest part to me is that I know it will start as any normal day then my life will change forever."
– Alamander81
These moments shared by Redditors are a reminder that tomorrow is never guaranteed.
And whenever we encounter a life-threatening situation and end up living long enough to tell the story, each day following is a blessed day to be alive.
We can't ever prepare for the worst, but we can embrace the present with every fiber of our being.
Everyone has their own opinion about what qualifies as a good read, whether based on literary merit or the joy of reading it.
But there are some titles that people can pretty easily agree took a turn that really didn't do the book any favors.
Redditor 2D_brain asked:
"What's the worst book you've ever read?"
50 Shades of Grey
"'50 Shades of Grey.' It's just the worst. Not remotely interesting. There is way better erotica out there. Way better. This is just the worst."
- joanne122597
The Darksword Trilogy
"'The Darksword Trilogy' by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. It started out as a decent enough swords and sorcery series. Nothing special, but an amusing time-waster."
"Then, towards the end of the last book, a wormhole opens up, and the US Army invaded their fantasy realm."
- Catlenfell
Mein Kampf
"I’ve read 'Mein Kampf' for a history project and it definitely is the worst piece of literature I've ever read."
"Not only by the message, which already would make it the worst, but it’s just horrible writing. Feels more like an angry social media comment than a book."
- IceClimbers_Main
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
"I want to tack on 'The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas,' as well. It's not literal Nazi propaganda, but it basically perpetuates Nazi myths like the Clean Wehrmacht and has you sympathize with the Nazis. In fact, not any Nazi, but an SS and leader of the Auschwitz camp."
"But even ignoring the plot itself, the book is so awful. It's full of historical inaccuracies. It claims to aim to bring awareness of the Holocaust to a young audience, but there are so many better literary works including those written by actual children as they went through the experience. But nope, let's go with the historically inaccurate book written by someone with basically no connection to the Holocaust (like, not Jewish, minority, researcher, that kind of thing) stupid drivel."
"So, of course, it made millions and got a movie out of it. There are now millions of children who think this story is true and might have become more sympathetic to Nazis as a result as well. None of that money (last time I checked, has admittedly been a while) went towards anything relating to education (or awareness...) regarding the Holocaust or anything else related or tangentially related to the Holocaust."
"I hate this book. It's nonsense and it is insidious."
- HabitatGreen
Go Ask Alice
"'Go Ask Alice' when you’re old enough to realize it’s just propaganda to scare kids and not an actually found diary of a drug user."
- sketchysketchist
Go Set a Watchman
"'Go Set a Watchman.'"
"'To Kill a Mockingbird' is a masterpiece. Her first book, it won the Pulitzer and then Harper Lee lived the rest of her life a recluse, never publishing another work. UNTIL… her caretaker/grifter sister came forward right before Harper passed away and announced to the world that there actually was another book, a sequel to TKAM."
"It was awful. Poorly written, boring story, rehashed characters…except for Atticus Finch. In Mockingbird, he was one of the greatest characters in american literature. In Watchman, he was a dime-a-dozen redneck racist. There was clearly a reason she never published it."
- Igotthesilver
Wicked
"'Wicked.' My wife and I listened to the audiobook on a road trip because friends had invited us to see the play. It was way too long and I remember it seeming like it was written by several different writers who didn't really communicate with each other."
"One was a totally nuts conspiracy theorist, another was on a really bad acid trip, and another was a child from a strict household who'd been told they could use no-no words and say naughty things all they wanted."
"We came super close to making up an excuse to not see the play but luckily we didn't. The play was actually terrific! If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend going. Just skip the book."
- Tangent_
Maximum Ride
"Everything after Book Three of the 'Maximum Ride' series. I use them as my go-to examples of bad writing and they are what made me entirely lose faith in James Patterson. The last book especially cost me so many brain cells."
"I wish I'd had the foresight to stop with Book Three, but I finished the whole thing. The last book was... interesting. The whole thing had the most self-contradicting plot and conflict stuffed with a hasty attempt to wrap up loose ends by just killing everyone and just as the cherry on top, the sky explodes in the end? I don't know, it was kind of unclear."
- ParkityParkPark
The Divergent Trilogy
"I loved that series so much until that ending..."
- PurpleMermaid16
The Dune Prequels
"'The Dune' prequel books written by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. Talk about missing the point of the original series! They read like a YA fan fiction based in the Dune universe."
- ImInJeopardy
Slammed
"I was hoping someone would mention Colleen Hoover, if only to talk about how absolutely terrible and hilarious her book 'Slammed' is. Reading it was honestly just such a ridiculous experience that I may never find again in another book."
- Leedamu
The Necronomicon
"'The Necronomicon.' I found it pretty boring and repetitive after the first five pages. Got halfway and said f**k this and read 'Good Omens' again."
- raidakens
Darling Girl
"'Darling Girl' by Liz Michalski. It’s a Peter Pan spinoff where Peter Pan impregnates Holly Darling, Wendy’s daughter, and then abandons them, and when the girl is a teenager, Peter tries to take the daughter back."
"I couldn’t stomach the idea of Peter Pan, a childlike figure, impregnating someone and all that ick. Peter Pan is 'the boy who never grew up.' But he’s a father now? No thanks. I got about 30 pages in, and literally gave up."
- MPD1987
The Fountainhead
"'The Fountainhead.' I was going to put 'Atlas Shrugged' down until I remembered how much worse 'The Fountainhead' was. And yes, I read both; any suffering inflicted by 'Atlas Shrugged' was something I deserved."
- ditchdiggergirl
Everyone has a right to their own opinion, and they should not be ashamed to read what they love to read. But they also should not feel bad about wasting time on a book they are not enjoying, when there are hundreds and thousands of books out there that they'll love that they could read instead.
Some people don't take in information as quickly as others.
Which is absolutely nothing to be ashamed or embarrassed about, nor does it necessarily reflect on one's intelligence.
Even so, we all can't help but feel the tiniest embarrassed when we've found ourselves a little slow on the uptake regarding certain pieces of information.
Be it a random fact of trivia that everyone knows, or even realizing there's a reason your parents were trying to instill a life lesson in you.
Being hit by a ton of bricks might actually be a welcome relief to the embarrassment that will run through your body.
"What did you learn embarrassingly late in life?"
It's Hard To Love Others If You Don't Love Yourself
"Trying to treat myself as I would others."
"The ol' reverse golden-rule."- kageroshajima
Hey, It Worked!
"My grandmother had a clock that would break if anyone touched or tried to move it."
"I always found that curious."
"Then some time in my 30s my wife and I were talking and it came up."
"I was wondering how they moved it out of their house after they passed."
"As I was explaining, 'I think it must have had some delicately balanced mechanism or something that would be disrupted if moved...'
" My wife’s face made me quickly realize it was just a lie told to young me to keep my dirty clumsy hands off of it."
"Also, I’m an engineer."- P-eh-triot
Do We Ever Really Grow Up?
"There's no such thing as 'feeling like an adult'."
"I'm 34 and still forget I'm an adult sometimes lol."- scelestai
Hey, It's Not For Everyone...
"Riding a bike at 15."- Graehaus
Naturally Imposing
"That my height shapes how people perceive what I say."
"I'm a 6'4 male with a deep voice."
"I learned it at 40 when I had a boss who was 6'6."
"I was suddenly aware of my own height and the power position, looking up to him."
"I realized pretty much everyone is looking up at me, and I began smiling more and asking people questions about themselves to reduce the power implications of my height."- ClydePincusp
Easy To Get Tripped Up On Exotic Spellings
"How to say the last name Nguyen."- TD-Eagles
Though It Wouldn't Surprise Many If She Did...
"Martha Stewart does not own Martha's Vineyard...."- valhalla-at-your-grl
Shouldn't Be The Case... But Sadly Often Is...
"Hr is there to protect the company, not you."
"Hr is not your friend."- Puzzleheaded-Mood689
Just Focused On The Wrong Possibilities
"It never made sense to me that we would go under tables during an earthquake, because wouldn't the ground crack open?"
"The table wouldn't do anything then?"
"Wasn't until last year I realized that it was to stop debris from falling on us."
"Smh."- whats_yesterday
Easy To Get Tripped Up On Math...
"4% of 25 is the same as 25% of 4."- cdn_gooner
A Penny Saved...
"The importance of saving money or buying property early."- wetpickle_antichrist
Too Many People Need Reminding Of This Every Day...
"Who I am is more important than how I look."- Lazy-Thanks8244
Oral Hygiene Is Tougher Than You Think
"How to brush my teeth."
"I was super neglected as a child so that is something I've always struggled with and even after going to a dentist for 2 years and having exams every 4 months I only learned last month that you need to brush your gums."- HersheySquirtz2014·
"I learned that we're supposed to brush both sides of our teeth."
"The inner side needs to be brushed as well."
"I saw all of the commercials just showing them brushing the outer portion so I assumed that this is the way."- FaTes-EnD
Your Life Is Yours To Live!
"That I don't have to become a mother if I don't want to."- detective_kiara
Needless to say, should you find yourself making this realization in certain company, you might be met with jeers and laughter.
But as the saying goes, "slow and steady wins the race".