"What's the most unfair thing you've ever seen?" –– Today's burning question from Redditor overclaimedmalpo is a doozy.
We like to think people get what they deserve, but that's just not true. At any given moment, your world could change in an instant, rocked by some terrible disaster. You never know when that moment will come; those of us who've made it through some dark times are hardened, even somewhat cynical.
After reading these, you'll understand why.
"The store decided..."
Early to mid 90s, Beastie boys were my favorite band at the time and they were on tour. My friends and I camped out all night at the local Ticketmaster and were 2nd in line to buy tickets. By morning, the line was at least a hundred people, probably more. The store decided to open the other door that was near the end of the line. So suddenly the line was reversed and we became second to last in line! People that had arrived merely minutes before were first in line. I'd camped there for tickets before and they never opened that door any other time. I. was. PISSED.
"I took care of a woman..."
I took care of a woman who had cancer and was in her end days. She was young, late 30s, and had 3 sons, ages 9, 11 and 18. Apparently she had only just been diagnosed earlier that year. Earlier in the year, when her husband got the news that she had cancer, he was on his way home to comfort her and was killed in a car accident. So these boys lost both their parents in the span of about 10 months. This woman not only found out she was dying, but then was loaded with the grief of his death and the uncertainty of her children's futures. All of us nurses had to rotate care of her, as no one could leave that room and not be in tears. We didn't want to add to the boys grief.
"The arresting officer..."
My first year working at the DA's office, there was a lady who was arrested and charged with possession of CDS - methamphetamine.
The arresting officer was the best guy we had. Real by the book kinda cop, which put a huge target on his back from the other cops who were....less thorough.
Anyway, the arrest was made following a routine traffic stop. The defendant gave the officer permission to search her vehicle. He found a small baggy with crystal shards in it. The field test came back positive and she was arrested and her car impounded.
That was Friday after 5, so she sat in jail until the following Monday for her initial appearance. That morning, she sat with the other inmates and sobbed throughout the proceedings before her name was called. You might be surprised, but that is really rare. 99% of the time, ppl are pretty resigned or sometimes just annoyed after they've had time to calm down, sober up, and the reality of their situation sinks in.
So when she gets called on by the judge, she gets really loud and is crying so hard, she kept interrupting the judge, who then threatened to remove her from court until she could control herself. Initial appearances are basically just to announce charges, set bail, and schedule the next court date, so there usually isn't cause for a defendant to say much, just state whether they understand their charges.
When asked if she understood, she starts wailing that she didn't do anything, that "it was just candy." And you can probably see where this is going. After we concluded, I contacted the lab to order a rush on the sample attached to her case.
A week later, the results came back as negative for meth or any other CDS. It was cinnamon hard candy that had gotten busted up in the bag in her purse. The defendant, being unable to afford bail, sat in jail that whole time.
Meanwhile, the officer came into our office in tears over what happened. He was convinced that someone in his department had tampered with his field kits, swapping them out for expired ones. Because he never had a kit long enough for it to expire. He worried that this was the perfect excuse the less scrupulous officers would have to pressure the chief of police to fire him over.
And here's where things reached new heights of shittiness: my supervisor decided the way to resolve the problem was to offer the lady a plea deal of the lesser charge for possession and manufacture of an imitation controlled substance. He reasoned that if she couldn't even afford bail, she would not be able to pay an attorney and the public defender would encourage her to take the deal, not being a thorough kind of guy.
Epilogue: I tried quietly talking several defense attorneys into representing her, but none even called her while she was in jail. After 3 more days of futilely trying to help her, I secretly went to the judge with a copy of the lab report. He ordered her immediate release without further comment. No charges were filed. And she never wound up suing everyone involved, though the defense attorneys I spoke with often threatened to do that when they wanted leverage on their other cases. I could have been fired for everything in this paragraph that I did, so it was a pretty big risk but I feel like I stopped a storm of unholy proportions and helped out someone who had fallen through the cracks in the system.
"Guy comes into the ER..."
Guy comes into the ER, MVA, BAC 0.19 over twice the legal limit. Hit another car head on killed the other driver and her passenger, a young couple who had 2 kids at home. They were out on a date night, he did not have a scratch on him.
"Basically he just found out..."
I worked with a guy. He was the sort of colleague that got on with everyone and loved by everyone and made everyone laugh and generally brought the mood up whenever he entered the room. He got banned from driving (don't know why didn't know him when it happened).
Basically he just found out he was becoming a father, it was his 28th birthday and his driving ban was about to be lifted. So was all excited about life. On his birthday night he had run out of booze so decided to go to the shop to buy more when a drunk driver in a stolen car ran into him and flung him in the air so far because he was going so fast and left the scene. He died on that spot.
For someone so happy and jolly and always there to bring people up to be wiped out just like that was just the hardest thing to take.
"When it came time..."
When I was in grade school we had a final group assignment to design a community centre, with my teacher promising a lobster dinner for the group that had the highest mark. I had a bit of a crush on my teacher and thought hey, lobster dinner.
My group busted their asses designing the "Hijinx" after school community centre, calling a long list of businesses to determine membership fees, cost of construction (we got hung up on a lot looking for price of building materials), community outreach programs and a whole lot more. We even helped the special needs kid in our group write a jingle - and we got the highest mark.
When it came time for our lobster dinner, my group stayed in the classroom during recess to enjoy the fruits of our labour. My teacher brings out our "lobster", which was a loaf of bread with googly eyes and paper lobster claws stuck in the side.
It was on that day I learned the true meaning of disappointment.
"People who get wrongfully convicted..."
People who get wrongfully convicted and spend many years in prison. Can you imagine that? Spending half of your life in prison for a crime you didn't commit.
"They also wouldn't let..."
Going to family Court with my dad and losing even though my mother didn't even bother to show up.
They also wouldn't let me testify.
Fact is, she kicked me out at 16 but kept reviving child support - court didn't want to hear it.
Experiencing death is a fascinating and frightening idea.
Who doesn't want to know what is waiting for us on the other side?
But so many of us want to know and then come back and live a little longer.
It would be so great to be sure there is something else.
But the whole dying part is not that great, so we'll have to rely on other people's accounts.
Redditor AlaskaStiletto wanted to hear from everyone who has returned to life, so they asked:
"Redditors who have 'died' and come back to life, what did you see?"
Sensations
Happy Good Vibes GIF by Major League SoccerGiphy"My dad's heart stopped when he had a heart attack and he had to be brought back to life. He kept the paper copy of the heart monitor which shows he flatlined. He said he felt an overwhelming sensation of peace, like nothing he had felt before."
PeachesnPain
Recovery
"I had surgical complications in 2010 that caused a great deal of blood loss. As a result, I had extremely low blood pressure and could barely stay awake. I remember feeling like I was surrounded by loved ones who had passed. They were in a circle around me and I knew they were there to guide me onwards. I told them I was not ready to go because my kids needed me and I came back."
"My nurse later said she was afraid she’d find me dead every time she came into the room."
"It took months, and blood transfusions, but I recovered."
good_golly99
Take Me Back
"Overwhelming peace and happiness. A bright airy and floating feeling. I live a very stressful life. Imagine finding out the person you have had a crush on reveals they have the same feelings for you and then you win the lotto later that day - that was the feeling I had."
"I never feared death afterward and am relieved when I hear of people dying after suffering from an illness."
rayrayrayray
Free
The Light Minnie GIF by (G)I-DLEGiphy"I had a heart surgery with near-death experience, for me at least (well the possibility that those effects are caused by morphine is also there) I just saw black and nothing else but it was warm and I had such inner peace, its weird as I sometimes still think about it and wish this feeling of being so light and free again."
TooReDTooHigh
This is why I hate surgery.
You just never know.
Shocked
Giphy"More of a near-death experience. I was electrocuted. I felt like I was in a deep hole looking straight up in the sky. My life flashed before me. Felt sad for my family, but I had a deep sense of peace."
Admirable_Buyer6528
The SOB
"Nursing in the ICU, we’ve had people try to die on us many times during the years, some successfully. One guy stood out to me. His heart stopped. We called a code, are working on him, and suddenly he comes to. We hadn’t vented him yet, so he was able to talk, and he started screaming, 'Don’t let them take me, don’t let them take me, they are coming,' he was scared and yelling."
"Then he yelled a little more, as we tried to calm him down, he screamed, 'No, No,' and gestured towards the end of the bed, and died again. We didn’t get him back. It was seriously creepy. We called his son to tell him the news, and the son said basically, 'Good, he was an SOB.'”
1-cupcake-at-a-time
Colors
"My sister died and said it was extremely peaceful. She said it was very loud like a train station and lots of talking and she was stuck in this area that was like a curtain with lots of beautiful colors (colors that you don’t see in real life according to her) a man told her 'He was sorry, but she had to go back as it wasn’t her time.'"
Hannah_LL7
"I had a really similar experience except I was in an endless garden with flowers that were colors I had never seen before. It was quiet and peaceful and a woman in a dress looked at me, shook her head, and just said 'Not yet.' As I was coming back, it was extremely loud, like everyone in the world was trying to talk all at once. It was all very disorienting but it changed my perspective on life!"
huntokarrr
The Fog
"I was in a gray fog with a girl who looked a lot like a young version of my grandmother (who was still alive) but dressed like a pioneer in the 1800s she didn't say anything but kept pulling me towards an opening in the wall. I kept refusing to go because I was so tired."
"I finally got tired of her nagging and went and that's when I came to. I had bled out during a c-section and my heart could not beat without blood. They had to deliver the baby and sew up the bleeders. refill me with blood before they could restart my heart so, like, at least 12 minutes gone."
Fluffy-Hotel-5184
Through the Walls
"My spouse was dead for a couple of minutes one miserable night. She maintains that she saw nothing, but only heard people talking about her like through a wall. The only thing she remembers for absolute certain was begging an ER nurse that she didn't want to die."
"She's quite alive and well today."
Hot-Refrigerator6583
Well let's all be happy to be alive.
It seems to be all we have.
Trying to lose weight is a struggle understood by many people regardless of size.
The goal of reaching a healthy weight may seem unattainable, but with diet and exercise, it can pay off through persistence and discipline.
Seeing the pounds gradually drop off can also be a great motivator and incentivize people to stay the course.
Those who've achieved their respective weight goals shared their experiences when Redditor apprenti8455 asked:
"People who lost a lot of weight, what surprises you the most now?"
Redditors didn't see these coming.
Shiver Me Timbers
"I’m always cold now!"
– Telrom_1
"I had a coworker lose over 130 pounds five or six years ago. I’ve never seen him without a jacket on since."
– r7ndom
"140 lbs lost here starting just before COVID, I feel like that little old lady that's always cold, damn this top comment was on point lmao."
– mr_remy
Drawing Concern
"I lost 100 pounds over a year and a half but since I’m old(70’s) it seems few people comment on it because (I think) they think I’m wasting away from some terminal illness."
– dee-fondy
"Congrats on the weight loss! It’s honestly a real accomplishment 🙂"
"Working in oncology, I can never comment on someone’s weight loss unless I specifically know it was on purpose, regardless of their age. I think it kind of ruffles feathers at times, but like I don’t want to congratulate someone for having cancer or something. It’s a weird place to be in."
– LizardofDeath
Unleashing Insults
"I remember when I lost the first big chunk of weight (around 50 lbs) it was like it gave some people license to talk sh*t about the 'old' me. Old coworkers, friends, made a lot of not just negative, but harsh comments about what I used to look like. One person I met after the big loss saw a picture of me prior and said, 'Wow, we wouldn’t even be friends!'”
"It wasn’t extremely common, but I was a little alarmed by some of the attention. My weight has been up and down since then, but every time I gain a little it gets me a little down thinking about those things people said."
– alanamablamaspama
Not Everything Goes After Losing Weight
"The loose skin is a bit unexpected."
– KeltarCentauri
"I haven’t experienced it myself, but surgery to remove skin takes a long time to recover. Longer than bariatric surgery and usually isn’t covered by insurance unless you have both."
– KatMagic1977
"It definitely does take a long time to recover. My Dad dropped a little over 200 pounds a few years back and decided to go through with skin removal surgery to deal with the excess. His procedure was extensive, as in he had skin taken from just about every part of his body excluding his head, and he went through hell for weeks in recovery, and he was bedridden for a lot of it."
– Jaew96
These Redditors shared their pleasantly surprising experiences.
Shopping
"I can buy clothes in any store I want."
– WaySavvyD
"When I lost weight I was dying to go find cute, smaller clothes and I really struggled. As someone who had always been restricted to one or two stores that catered to plus-sized clothing, a full mall of shops with items in my size was daunting. Too many options and not enough knowledge of brands that were good vs cheap. I usually went home pretty frustrated."
– ganache98012
No More Symptoms
"Lost about 80 pounds in the past year and a half, biggest thing that I’ve noticed that I haven’t seen mentioned on here yet is my acid reflux and heartburn are basically gone. I used to be popping tums every couple hours and now they just sit in the medicine cabinet collecting dust."
– colleennicole93
Expanding Capabilities
"I'm all for not judging people by their appearance and I recognise that there are unhealthy, unachievable beauty standards, but one thing that is undeniable is that I can just do stuff now. Just stamina and flexibility alone are worth it, appearance is tertiary at best."
– Ramblonius
People Change Their Tune
"How much nicer people are to you."
"My feet weren't 'wide' they were 'fat.'"
– LiZZygsu
"Have to agree. Lost 220 lbs, people make eye contact and hold open doors and stuff"
"And on the foot thing, I also lost a full shoe size numerically and also wear regular width now 😅"
– awholedamngarden
It's gonna take some getting used to.
Bones Everywhere
"Having bones. Collarbones, wrist bones, knee bones, hip bones, ribs. I have so many bones sticking out everywhere and it’s weird as hell."
– Princess-Pancake-97
"I noticed the shadow of my ribs the other day and it threw me, there’s a whole skeleton in here."
– bekastrange
Knee Pillow
"Right?! And they’re so … pointy! Now I get why people sleep with pillows between their legs - the knee bones laying on top of each other (side sleeper here) is weird and jarring."
– snic2030
"I lost only 40 pounds within the last year or so. I’m struggling to relate to most of these comments as I feel like I just 'slimmed down' rather than dropped a ton. But wow, the pillow between the knees at night. YES! I can relate to this. I think a lot of my weight was in my thighs. I never needed to do this up until recently."
– Strongbad23
More Mobility
"I’ve lost 100 lbs since 2020. It’s a collection of little things that surprise me. For at least 10 years I couldn’t put on socks, or tie my shoes. I couldn’t bend over and pick something up. I couldn’t climb a ladder to fix something. Simple things like that I can do now that fascinate me."
"Edit: Some additional little things are sitting in a chair with arms, sitting in a booth in a restaurant, being able to shop in a normal store AND not needing to buy the biggest size there, being able to easily wipe my butt, and looking down and being able to see my penis."
– dma1965
People making significant changes, whether for mental or physical health, can surely find a newfound perspective on life.
But they can also discover different issues they never saw coming.
That being said, overcoming any challenge in life is laudable, especially if it leads to gaining confidence and ditching insecurities.