Police In Unmarked Vehicles Share The Dumbest Things People Ever Did Around Them
There you were, driving along, minding your own business, when all of a sudden you see the red and blue lights glistening behind you, despite no police cruisers in sight. Needless to say, it sucks. And it's scary, if for no other reason than tickets are so freaking expensive, and, heaven forbid points are assessed for a roadway infraction, which causes insurance rates to skyrocket. Sometimes, however, people are just completely oblivious or simply downright sloppy.
In any case, here are some favorite screw-ups from both cops and unsuspecting motorists who got busted by an unmarked police car. Those of us who have experienced this first-hand lead a life of driver paranoia and disappointment. My deepest sympathies, we've all been there.
This could have gone differently. Lucky break, dude.
I once honked at a car who changed lanes a bit too closely in front of me. Was an unmarked cop car. When that silver Chevy slammed the brakes, darted behind me, and turned into a f_ckin' EDM show, I almost sh*t myself.
The officer pulled me over and apologized for cutting it close.
"We don't catch the smart ones." Yeah, obviously.
We had a guy pull into a lot next to a marked squad car and light up. My buddy sitting in the car had to look around to make sure he was---in fact---in a squad car and that he was ---in fact---in uniform. He was.
The old adage of "we don't catch the smart ones" never rang more true.
Once again, they never catch the smart ones.
Not a cop but one of my friends was doing an undercover stakeout at night in an unmarked car in a bad part of town. This wasn't just an unmarked Crown Vic, but a seized vehicle with heavy illegal tint. While he's there looking for a person of interest in a homicide this guy walks by a few times checking out the car and just looking fishy. He comes back, stops by the car, tries the door, then pulls out a lockout tool and tries to unlock the car. The whole time my buddy is trying to keep his sh_t together as this guy is trying to jack a car with a cop in it. He draws his pistol, cracks the window and flashes his gun. The guy drops his tool and just starts f_cking running down the street. He radioed in a description of the guy (didn't want to blow the stakeout with an arrest) and a uniformed unit picked him up two blocks away.
Guy ended up being involved in an auto theft ring and brought them all down in exchange for a deal. He had one of the biggest busts of his career just walk up and try to break into his car.
So... does the brother know from experience?
My little brother is really good at spotting cops (marked and unmarked). One day we were on our way to a wedding when my brother tells my mom to make sure she's going the speed limit cause she was about to pass an unmarked cop car. She is doubtful but does it anyways. About 30 seconds later a guy on a black Ducati comes flying up behind us weaving through traffic. He squeezes between our SUV and the cop and we all cheered when the cop flipped on his lights. My mom never questions my brother anymore.
New car, who dis?
I unknowingly sped past my father as he drove his brand new unmarked car home. Woops.
I've tried the crying tactic. It didn't work out so well for me.
Some guy tried suddenly coming out of a turn lane into our lane. When we didn't automatically brake to let him in he started screaming and cursing us out, even sticking his middle finger out the window, not realizing we were cops. We lowered our window flashed the badge and hit the lights and then pulled him over. The guy started crying and apologized numerous times.
I've lived in Indiana. Can confirm, everyone thinks they're in the 500.
I was driving from Indianapolis to Bloomington one day to visit a friend on the IU campus. I was going around 70 or so, running late, and I passed a cop in an unmarked Mustang on the side of the road. He pulled out and I got ready to pull over. He got behind me and just as he lit me up a lady in a red convertible comes flying past both of us. I looked in the rearview mirror and saw a completely stunned look on his face as if he was asking himself "Did this car really just blow by both of us?"
It took him a couple of seconds to recover, but then he pulled up beside me, pointed at me while laughing, and took off after the woman. I passed them as she was getting stopped and tooted the horn twice in thanks to her :)
Major fail, go to jail.
Not a cop. In college, my buddies and I lived in an... especially affordable neighborhood. We all went to the bar one night but soon received a call that there was a break-in. Got home and the cop told us he and his partner were driving by our house in an unmarked car when they saw an individual struggling to carry digital cameras, a t-shirt full of spare change, and an XBox plus controllers and games out of our house. The cops stop to observe what appears to be a robbery in progress, but then the individual actually approached the unmarked car and attempted to sell the stolen XBox to the cops on the sidewalk in front of our house that he had just robbed. They said it was the easiest arrest they ever made.
Never take the bait.
I had a client that tried to race a blacked out Charger when they first came out in his WRX. He was winning too, at least until the trooper turned on the lights in his grill. Had managed to get to 108 mph from the line.
Talk about scaring the piss out of someone...
Second police job was as a deputy sheriff and I'm sitting there with my partner off a highway exit at a scenic overlook eating some lunch and listening on the radio to CHP trying to corner two motorcyclists who are flying around the highway like idiots. No air support is available so they terminate pursuit for safety. About 10 minutes later as I'm polishing off my fourth taco two bikes matching the description, and without any visible plates exit the highway and pull into the same overlook. They take their helmets off, listen for a few minutes, kill the bikes, and then the one walks over to start peeing behind a tree. We made CHP transport them since that guy went all over himself when we hit the siren.
We were in an unmarked Subaru at the time.
This is just sloppy. Also, don't do meth, and stay in school.
I drive an unmarked car. My favorite one was on a two-lane road going 55. A big lifted truck passes me on a double yellow and the driver flips me the bird as he passed. I wonder what he was thinking when I lighted him up. He denied flipping me off when I pulled him over. I just gave him his ticket and he was on his way.
Most of the funny moments are working plainclothes, I still walk around thinking, "sh*t, I'm the police and if you people only knew". You see a lot more in plain clothes than in uniform. There are too many stories to tell so I'll just say the one that happened yesterday.
A couple of dealers ask me a number of times what I needed. I was doing something else so I wasn't going to bust them. They follow me down the street and keep asking me what I need. I end up telling one guy that I need some meth and he tells me the price. He palms me the smack and I paid him with my badge. I think he regretted chasing me down the street asking me what I needed.
Edit: autocorrect changed some words. Edit: I didn't give the guy my badge. I just showed it to him. I'm also not a narcotics officer and was out looking for someone. The area I was in is one of the most drug-infested neighborhoods on the west coast and there are drug dealers everywhere. The area is surrounded by high-income areas and they probably thought I was a tech bro looking to score. I arrested him and took him to jail.
To protect and... swerve?
I'm on the other side of this one
I was cycling down a main road and had a green light to cross, and I was nearly run over by a massive black car that ran the light and turned into me. We both swerved to a stop... I immediately turned around and started screaming at the guy "you f_cking etc, you nearly killed me look where you're f_cking going next time"
The car was unmarked police. The passenger-side window rolled down and there was a guy in a baseball cap and a bulletproof vest sitting there holding a rifle. I kept shouting abuse at him until I realized. He just apologized for nearly running me over and kept on driving
Moral of the story: don't harass German cops. You'll have a bad time.
Am a cop (in training) but wasn't in an unmarked car. Person was playing on their phone in the middle of traffic and didn't realize what kind of car was beside him. He looks up to me, sees me, and just gives me the finger, apparently for looking at him. Only then does he notice my uniform (or perhaps the big white POLIZEI on the side of the car). My instructor didn't believe it until I assured him I wasn't making it up. That guy ended up admitting it to my instructor. Probably the most expensive finger he ever gave someone. (And the most expensive round of whatever they were playing on the phone.)
I've had this happen to me, except I received a warning. For what, I still have no idea.
I am not an officer, however, this is too perfect not to tell. Mind you I was not speeding, I accelerated quickly and got in front of the SUV beside me who proceeded to tailgate me. He was driving aggressively and I thought road raging, so I got over again and sped around a car in front of me and got over again. I made my turn and the guy was on my tail again. Suddenly he lights me over and my stomach drops. I pull over and a plainclothes officer gets out and approaches. He says "sir, why were you driving like that? I am not a traffic officer but your erratic driving gave me no choice but to pull you." I shrugged my shoulders and responded, "you were tailgating me and looked angry I thought you were raging and tried to get some distance from you". He responded "that's fair " and walked back to his car and drove off.
The "green dragon" isn't a carnival ride.
Retired sheriff's deputy here. Was not working but in plain clothes with my young children at in tow. We were at a local Street Carnival in my jurisdiction. When I watched two Carneys do a hand-to-hand transaction of some type of narcotic. I contacted the officers on duty at the carnival, and the deputy prosecutor happened to be there as well. She asked me if I would be willing to do a purchase from one of the carnival workers. I had never worked undercover and didn't really know anything about narcotics or the street lingo -- had arrest affected almost immediately.
There's nothing delightful about a spoonful of DUI charges.
I actually work probation. We drive grey slick top chargers with blue lights.
We monitor people that are on GPS monitoring for the state. Occasionally these monitors go dead, they need servicing. Sometimes an offender says f--- it, cuts the unit off and goes trolling for a station wagon full of nuns or something.
Well anyway, I'm in this grey Charger with blue lights because it's my week to do the GPS monitoring thing. In my state probation officers have the same arrest powers as state troopers, DNR officers or normal police only we have statewide jurisdiction.
So I come across a disabled vehicle with a big ford behind it. There's lots of traffic and this Ford is trying to get around the disabled car. So I'm like man this dude is never getting around this car.
So I turn on my blue lights, stop traffic so he can get around safely. So I'm sitting there waving the guy through when this Indian fellow comes up on my passenger side window and he says, "OFFICER, THAT GUY IN THE TRUCK JUST HIT THAT CAR, HE WAS GOING SERIOUSLY FAST WEAVING ALL OVER THE PLACE, THEN HE HIT THAT CAR RIGHT THERE I THINK HES DRUNK!"
The upshot for the little 4-year-old was that one of the responding officers that showed up had a thick Liverpool accent. The little girl legit thought that she was speaking to the cop Mary Poppins. Super cute.
Clearly, he didn't fear his parents enough to begin with. I'm 31 and my mother still owns me.
We had a new hire who went twice the limit (160 in an 80 km/h zone) and then proceeded to cut off a policewoman in an unmarked car. As he was in a company vehicle with a clearly visible logo (security company) she called us and spoke to my boss. We called in the guy to the office and I fired him.
He could not believe that he was fired just for going twice the speed limit. He kept saying "but this is the first time I've done it!".About a month later he called my boss and asked him for bail money for a DUI, my boss just laughed and hung up on him (he was worried his parents would get angry).\
This is New York af.
Also not a cop but I saw a one during a blizzard in NYC.
It was a bad one. I lived near the Port Authority building and the streets were almost empty. For those of you who aren't from NYC, that area can have traffic jams any time of the day.
There was one cab on the street and it slid out and hit a parked car so hard it popped it up onto the sidewalk. The cabbie backed out and started to drive off.
The only other car on the road was a black SUV that suddenly pulled in front of the cab. The guy gets out and flashes his badge. The only other pedestrians suddenly yell out, "Go five oh!"
It was the only time I've ever heard people actually cheering for the police.
When you're so burned out you forget who you are.
I was on duty one day driving, not in an unmarked car but a clearly marked car. It was an hour before I was to go home so I had already mentally checked out pretty much. Anyways, I am driving down a road and this car zooms past this stop sign in front of me, causing me to slam on my breaks and slam on the horn literally close to hitting him. It's funny because I exclaimed out loud to myself in the car "MOTHER FCKER!\_I wish there was a squad car near you assh_le!" Then I proceeded to remember I WAS that squad car and turned around fifteen seconds later and pulled him over. Yea, had a little justice boner that day.
"Grand Theft Auto- Skinny Jeans edition"
Not a cop, but I want to tell the story about what happened to my son when he was about 16.
He and some friends had been hanging out at DQ. They were leaving DQ in his friend's car to go to one of their houses. They had encountered some other teenagers who were taunting them and generally being assh_les. My son was in the back seat of the car and two of his friends were up front. A dark-colored sedan pulled up next to them at a stoplight. Kid driving says to front seat passenger "It's those assh_les again! Do something!" Front seat passenger grabs a shoe and chucks it at the car's windshield.
Well, guess who was actually driving that car? LOL. I got a friendly call from the PD to come pick up my kid, along with an assurance that he hadn't done anything wrong but had really, really stupid friends.
The cop made some kind of quip as I was picking him up about "Grand Theft Auto- Skinny Jeans edition".
Why would you give Reba a ticket for listening to Reba?!
I'm a cop in Ohio, and I was driving a 2011 Hyundai Elantra. The police paid for it so it was really nice inside, leather, extra speakers, etc. One day when I was out on patrol listening to some cop rap, a guy drove past me with speakers so loud that I could hear the song (Reba McEntire) over the cop rap, so I blooped him with the siren and pulled him over. I walk up to the car and ask him what he's doing, and the tinted window rolled down, and it was Reba McEntire. I was completely stunned, and I said "I'm sorry, but a ticket's a ticket." She grinned sheepishly and said "That's fine. You're just doing your job." It was one of the highlights of my career before I retired.
Don't horse around on at 50 mph.
Obligatory I am not the officer BUT:
I was driving on a 50mph limit dual carriageway, and a nice fellow with a horsebox attached to his pickup decided that 0.2 inches behind my car on the inside lane was a nice amount of stopping distance for himself. Then he decided I wasn't having enough fun with just music, so proceeded to flash his lights. Repeatedly. Rave time!
Then decides to cut across back onto the motorway in front of me, across the chevrons, forcing me to swerve into the outside lane lest my car be written off by his clearly occupied horsebox.
Then it happens. The angelic humming of a siren - the majestic flashing blue lights of karma. Unmarked police car flies over from a little while behind me. I pass them about 5 minutes later and tooted my woefully inadequate horn. Because I could.
Impersonating a cop will land you on the wrong side of the law.
I was a detective off duty with my family when a jacka** started following me way too close. I sped up and he did too. He pulled up next to me and he's driving a Crown Vic with a full police lights package and the words "test vehicle" on the door. He's clearly upset, turns on the lights and motions for me to slow down. He picked up a radio mic and looked like he was talking into it. I was inside of my own jurisdiction by now and called dispatch to see if they knew who this dude was. Nobody knows. Meanwhile, test vehicle turns off the road behind me to a shopping center. My wife sighs heavily as I turn around and spot him getting out of the car, wearing a sweet pair of cargo shorts. I calmly took down the tag and arrived early for work the next day cause my normal caseload was going to take a break for Mr. Test Vehicle. Found out he was not a police officer but a salesman for police vehicle lights. Stroked out a warrant for impersonating a police officer and locked him up the same day. When I went over to the jail to talk to him he told me that he gets angry when people speed around him when he's driving that car. He wasn't the pervert cop impersonator type so he got a slap on the wrist but his employer was pissed when I told them.
Cheers to JohnnyNoToes for asking, "Officers of the law who drive unmarked cars, what is your best "are you f*cking kidding me" moment that you witnessed because they didn't realize you were watching?"
Submissions have been edited for clarity, context, and profanity.
There are few things more satisfying than a crisp $20 bill. Well, maybe a crisp $100 bill.
But twenty big ones can get you pretty far nonetheless.
Whether it's tucked firmly in a birthday card, passing from hand to hand after a knee-jerk sports bet, or going toward a useful tool, the old twenty dollar bill has been used for countless purposes.
Breaking Even
<p>"I got a jacket and a pair of jeans at goodwill for about $20. My first time wearing the jacket I found a tiny zipper inside a pocket."</p><p>"There was a secret inner pocket with a twenty in it."</p><p>-- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/lvu5aq/whats_the_best_20_you_ever_spent/gpdv70q?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">TheBrontosaurus</a></p>Keeps On Giving
<p>"23 Years ago I was in the US for some work and was not prepared for the cold of Chicago. Went to wal-mart and bought myself a cheap, warm jacket."</p><p>"I'm wearing that jacket right now - still looks fine, still keeps me warm."</p><p>-- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/lvu5aq/whats_the_best_20_you_ever_spent/gpe41xv?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">TastyEnd</a></p>As Good As They Come
<p>"Wool pinstripe double breasted suit from Goodwill, fit perfectly and was brand new. Ended up wearing it to get married the next year." -- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/lvu5aq/whats_the_best_20_you_ever_spent/gpdw6mx?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">verminiusrex</a></p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"God I love Goodwill!!" -- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/lvu5aq/whats_the_best_20_you_ever_spent/gpe5aee?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">Neverthelilacqueen</a></p>The Socks She Needed
<p>"I work at a thrift shop. A homeless lady came in and asked us where the socks were. We only sell new socks, so I directed her towards the new socks and she was... shocked and disappointed by the price tag, surely."<br></p><p>"I gave her a moment as she looked, and she moved to some kids' socks and picked them up, and I... just couldn't let that happen. I told her that I would help her, and told her to get herself some socks and a jacket."</p><p>"She kind of just... held out the children's socks, so I took them, put them back, and grabbed the extra fluffy socks that were hanging."</p><p>"She grabs a jacket and some pants, and I pay for it. My coworker looks the other way since we're not supposed to purchase anything while on the clock. The lady is in tears as she walks out."</p><p>"I notice that she's still outside a minute later putting them on, and ask her if they fit her or if she needed something else; and she told me they were perfect and proceeded to cry. I cried in return."</p><p>"It was a good day."</p><p>-- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/lvu5aq/whats_the_best_20_you_ever_spent/gpen3w1?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">Snowodin</a></p>Not Forgotten
<p>"A guy came into my work when I managed a mom and pop Pizza Place. He said he was stranded with no phone, and no money, but that the people at the Verizon store next door to us said they could get him a cheap phone with some minutes on it for 20 bucks."</p><p>"He offered to do dishes for a few hours to make some money so he could get this phone. I told him not to worry about it and gave him a 20 from my wallet. He thanked me, asked me for my name, and then he left and I never saw him again."</p><p>"Skip forward about 5 months, and when I get into work the owner was there and said she had gotten a letter addressed to me. 'Weird,' I thought."</p><p>"But when I opened it there was a 50 dollar bill and a short note from the guy I gave 20 dollars to thanking me for my kindness and for not turning him away."</p><p>"Turns out he was in a bad way (addicted to hard drugs and homeless) and really was stranded there. He was trying to get a phone so he could contact his parents (who lived in another state) for help."</p><p>"From what it sounded like, he seemed to really turn his life around. He was clean and working a stable job while still living with his parents."</p><p>-- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/lvu5aq/whats_the_best_20_you_ever_spent/gpem2xc?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">Mixmaster-McGuire</a></p>The Best Finale
<p>"It was the day before payday. My wife came to see me at work. My break was in an hour, so I asked for her to wait a bit, so we could enjoy it together. She did."</p><p>"I bought her some lunch, because it was what I could afford. I bought her a ham and cheese sub sandwich and two iced teas. These were her favorite. I bought gas with the rest of the twenty so she could get home. She dropped me back off at work."</p><p>"That night, she passed away. It brings me comfort to know that I bought her favorite sandwich and drink for her that afternoon. It was likely the last thing she ate, since it was near dinner. I'll never forget it. Best $20 I ever spent, because it was for her."</p><p>-- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/lvu5aq/whats_the_best_20_you_ever_spent/gpe9c6d?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">LollipopDreamscape</a></p>Leaning Into the Nerdery
<p>"It was my ninth or tenth birthday. My grandparents gave me $20. The first $20 bill I ever held in my hand! I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it."</p><p>"A week later, we went into the city and Toys R Us. I went straight to the Transformers aisle. And there he was. My favourite Transformer. The one I always wanted...Soundwave."</p><p>"He's the one who turned into a Walkman and he could eject cassettes that turned into robot animals. The price tag said $19.99. It was meant to be."</p><p>"I took Soundwave to the clerk and gave her my $20 bill. "And here's your change!" she said, as she gave me a single penny."</p><p>"Ah, Soundwave. The best friend a lonely little nerd could have."</p><p>-- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/lvu5aq/whats_the_best_20_you_ever_spent/gpdzzxe?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">originalchaosinabox</a></p>Different Time
<p>"I went to a Rush concert in 1982. The ticket was $9.50 and the t-shirt was $10." -- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/lvu5aq/whats_the_best_20_you_ever_spent/gpdyr0k?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">PaulsRedditUsername</a></p>Motivational Spending
<p>"My then six year old niece had a loose tooth she loved to show off and had resisted pulling out for two weeks. We were all at my parents and I was getting ready to leave, I pulled out a $20 and said 'I'll give you this right now if you pull out your tooth.' "</p><p>"She was already crying because her little sister had did something so when she ran into the bathroom none of us had no idea in what she was about to do."</p><p>"So she comes out crying still, but a little bit of blood I'm her mouth because of course, she pulled out her tooth. But the now removed tooth fell down the drain to the sink and she was crying because she lost her proof!"</p><p>"After she calmed down she was happy as a clam with a brand new $20 and everyone was quite proud of her. My sister told me she spent it on candy and shared with her little sister."</p><p>-- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/lvu5aq/whats_the_best_20_you_ever_spent/gpdxi4k?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">themasimumdorkus</a></p>For the Story
<p>"It was actually to a scammer in Rome. There was this guy right outside of Colosseum who started tying strings around my wrist and told me to make a wish. I knew it was going to cost but I thought what the hell, last day in Rome so might as well go with it. </p><p>"My wish was to find love."</p><p>"I spent rest of the day getting lost in the city and stumbled across two weddings and one baptism ceremony. So I did find love, just not for myself."</p><p>-- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/lvu5aq/whats_the_best_20_you_ever_spent/gpe7b2w?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">FatalFinn</a></p>I realize that school safety has been severely compromised and has been under dire scrutiny over the past decade and of course, it should be. And when I was a student, my safety was one of my greatest priorities but, some implemented rules under the guise of "safety" were and are... just plain ludicrous. Like who thinks up some of these ideas?
Redditor u/Animeking1108 wanted to discuss how the education system has ideas that sometimes are just more a pain in the butt than a daily enhancement... What was the dumbest rule your school enforced?Don't Peek
<img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTcxNDc4OS9vcmlnaW4uZ2lmIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzNDE0Mzc2OH0.Y1Lzy1MTqxyVqOCe9xjeHTRZsKnbyVjYzdb4-Heldyo/img.gif?width=980" id="78b19" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="e14a90be026b734830e7661f776ba4a8" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="475" data-height="475" />schitts creek wtf GIF by CBCGiphy<p>Took all the doors off the men's room bathroom stalls because of vandalism for 2 months.</p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/lwjlif/what_was_the_dumbest_rule_your_school_enforced/gphrfce?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank"> Endless_Vanity</a><a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Endless_Vanity/" target="_blank"></a></p>Scanned
<p>School added thumb print scanners at gates of school which counted as registration - needless to say I would just walk to school scan my thumb and walk back home with them none the wiser. Was a great few months until they noticed. </p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/lwjlif/what_was_the_dumbest_rule_your_school_enforced/gpidnou?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">richpianofan5</a></p>Age of Empires...
<p>Conservative Christian College. A group of us played Age of Empires one weekend. They didn't like it and called a meeting. Everyone involved got misdemeanors on their records. There was nothing in the handbook about it being against the rules. The only person that didn't get any punishment was the son of the president even though he was just as involved as the rest of us. <span></span></p>"Genius"
<p>In my freshman year of high school we had a terrible vandalism problem, the bathrooms would be broken in various ways almost constantly. In a stroke of pure genius, the staff decided that any bathroom that was vandalized would be closed for the week on first offense, the quarter for second, and permanently on the third offense.</p><p>They took back the rule after closing every bathroom on day one. </p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/lwjlif/what_was_the_dumbest_rule_your_school_enforced/gpi77co?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank"> Samus388</a><a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Samus388/" target="_blank"></a></p>Is this Footloose?
<img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTcxNDc5Ny9vcmlnaW4uZ2lmIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzMzg0MjU2M30.PeBUt-YWZeeRStaD_RZlGPQzo29E9t733yqZbIiJlYs/img.gif?width=980" id="3a5bd" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="102730e3b1b90ba9cb393561c702c9af" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="500" data-height="500" />kevin bacon dancing GIF by STARZGiphy<p>Prom was a mandatory lockdown for the night in order to avoid students going to parties after prom.</p><p>Prom was held at various house parties across town instead. </p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/lwjlif/what_was_the_dumbest_rule_your_school_enforced/gpi37x7?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">Coffee-spree</a></p>HOLDEN FOREVER!!!
<p>My high school mascot was Daniel Boone holding a musket. A kid wore a Guns 'n Roses shirt to school and was told he had to change shirts because of the pistols on the shirt. He pointed out the hypocrisy of the school mascot and they changed EVERYTHING. The mascot was switched to holding a flag pole instead. <span></span></p>No Dots
<p>You couldn't wear ANY kind of head items that were "gang colours" (red or blue) - this No included hair bands, scrunchies, beads in your hair, ribbons - ANYTHING. I got in trouble for wearing a blue hair band with white polka dots. </p><p><span></span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/lwjlif/what_was_the_dumbest_rule_your_school_enforced/gphzpyf?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">Pleasant-Flamingo344</a></p>Clothes Check
<p>We had to wear belts. Someone snitched that people weren't wearing belts under their sweaters, and they actually checked and a bunch of people got detentions. Stupid. </p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/lwjlif/what_was_the_dumbest_rule_your_school_enforced/gphz3y6?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">ooo-ooo-oooyea</a></p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/lwjlif/what_was_the_dumbest_rule_your_school_enforced/gphz3y6?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"></a>We had belt raids at my school where the dean would burst into classes, completely interrupting any education, to check that everyone was wearing a belt. </p><p><span></span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/lwjlif/what_was_the_dumbest_rule_your_school_enforced/gpia8pp?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">GuinnessMicrodose</a></p>Chase the Flat
<p>We weren't allowed to play tag football at lunch, only frisbee. When I asked the principal what the difference was, he responded with a sarcastic tone, "A football is round and a frisbee is a flat disk."</p><p>He left the school later that year, went to another school, and a few years later was brought up on charges for failing to report the abuse of a student by a teacher. </p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/lwjlif/what_was_the_dumbest_rule_your_school_enforced/gpi6lh3?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">uninc4life2010</a></p>Poke-Thief
<img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTcxNDgwMy9vcmlnaW4uZ2lmIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0ODg5MzY2Nn0.5LMPk1suou6U2SvAURKP-sHEuK7Izpkbxm0PWqvx95E/img.gif?width=980" id="b6e9f" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="92383d30e34aa92fd74cf6c1374ec294" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="480" data-height="480" />hotline bling pokemon GIFGiphy<p>Pokemon cards got banned in middle school because someone stole the vice principal's kid's cards. Yep. </p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/lwjlif/what_was_the_dumbest_rule_your_school_enforced/gpiapym?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank"> Skadoosh_it</a><a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Skadoosh_it/" target="_blank"></a></p>In the Face...
<p>If you were involved in a fight, you got suspended. While it sounds reasonable, context didn't matter.</p><p>I got suspended once not for throwing a single punch, kick, whatever. I got suspended because someone knocked the books out of my hand and when I reached down to grab them they punched me in the face.</p><p>I got suspended for walking down the hallway and unprovoked getting punched in the face.</p><p>Forget Brandon Valley Middle School. </p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/lwjlif/what_was_the_dumbest_rule_your_school_enforced/gpicbyx?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">CLG_MianBao</a></p>One of the golden rules of life? Doctors are merely human. They don't know everything and they make mistakes. That is why you always want to get another opinion. Things are constantly missed. That doesn't mean docs don't know what they're doing, they just aren't infallible. So make sure to ask questions, lots of them.
Redditor u/Gorgon_the_Dragon wanted to hear from doctors about why it is imperative we always get second and maybe third opinions by asking... Doctors of Reddit, what was the worse thing you've seen for a patient that another Doctor overlooked?Grandma Wins
<img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTcxNDcxOC9vcmlnaW4uZ2lmIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0OTQxNTgzOX0.n9IaFGgHwnULMlI2kg7RUftxDg6lyWvdM9CnhvptCRY/img.gif?width=980" id="a0857" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="9762f97a23c27ccf6b75974caa854361" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="480" data-height="270" />Old Lady Wine GIF by MattielGiphy<p>Not a doctor, but my grandmother saved my father's eyesight because she didn't listen to their doctor. </p>The Mummy Appendage
<p>When I was a resident, an 80yo female was admitted from the nursing home for confusion. Workup showed some mild UTI and we were giving her antibiotics. The nurse mentioned that her toe looked dark and asked me to look at it. The toe wasn't just dark, it was mummified. It looked like dry beef jerky. I touched it and pieces flaked off. So the patient from a nursing home, had a mummified toe, probably for months, that no one knew about. </p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/lw2g2z/doctors_of_reddit_what_was_the_worse_thing_youve/gpg00qn?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">Dr2ray</a></p>The CT Save
<p>Here's my story:</p><p>A guy came in to our ICU and was very septic but still talking. He had visited his primary care MD with complaints of a sore throat for a couple of days. Dismissed without any intervention since he didn't appear to have strep throat or the flu. At this point he was having pretty severe abdominal discomfort, so we sent him for a CT scan. As the scan was finishing, he coded and had to be intubated, multi-organ failure, etc. </p>Patches
<p>When I was an ER nurse we got an elderly lady in for altered mental status from a nursing home, when we undressed her to put her in a gown and hook her up to the monitor, I noticed no less than 5 fentanyl patches on her, guess I discovered the cause of the AMS. </p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/lw2g2z/doctors_of_reddit_what_was_the_worse_thing_youve/gpg1lml?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">ChewbaccaSlim426</a></p>Use your Words
<img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTcxNDcyMi9vcmlnaW4uZ2lmIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1MDA1NjI0MH0.WtyCdxL1vRZwD2-jpKZXMOEakwhiBaJIkp1YPnOzlvo/img.gif?width=980" id="e45ca" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="f5b98e6a4605a587dbd97579468a51d8" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="498" data-height="367" />Communication GIF by memecandyGiphy<p>Neurologist sent patient to our ED without informing her that imaging showed a glioblastoma assuring her impending death. He didn't overlook the disease, he overlooked the communication. </p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/lw2g2z/doctors_of_reddit_what_was_the_worse_thing_youve/gpfl5t5?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">AzureSkye27</a></p>Mad Cow Realty
<p>During my residency we had this lady in her 60s who was getting progressively more forgetful, just overall declining and getting less and less able to take care of herself. She had been seeing her pcp who diagnosed her with dementia. And she saw a neurologist who agreed. She was not really able to provide an accurate history. <span></span></p>After Birth...
<p>I used to work in maternal-fetal medicine, and every single week, we would have women referred to us "because the doctor couldn't see something clearly with the baby and wanted to double check." Nope, they just didn't want to have to be the ones to tell you that your baby had a complex cardiac defect or multiple anomalies indicative of a genetic syndrome or any other of a large number of horrible things that can happen during fetal development. Still pisses me off when I think about how many women waited weeks for more information because their doctors were cowards who couldn't tell them, "There's something seriously wrong here." <span></span></p>bad doctors
<p>I'm not a doctor, but a RN. This happened to me, but isn't nearly as bad as most of the stories on here.</p><p>When I was in college, I got to where I couldn't swallow. It started with difficulty swallowing, progressed to me having to swallow bites of food multiple times/regurgitating it, and then got to where all I could swallow was broths and mashed potatoes with no chunks. I went to the doctor multiple times, and was told every time it was acid reflux and part of my anxiety disorder. <span></span></p>The Valve...
<p>He put the pacemaker lead in the subclavian artery (and across the aortic valve into the left ventricle). The proper approach is: subclavian vein to right ventricle). And then he didn't notice it for over a year. I saw the patient (a 25 yo woman who didn't need the pacemaker in the first place) when she was in congestive heart failure. <span></span><br></p>Bitten
<p>Rattlesnake bite. On a 2 year old. Patient and dad out in the fields near a small town that is several hours away from the nearest big city, where I work.</p>When we think about learning history, our first thought is usually sitting in our high school history class (or AP World History class if you're a nerd like me) being bored out of our minds. Unless again, you're a huge freaking nerd like me. But I think we all have the memory of the moment where we realized learning about history was kinda cool. And they usually start from one weird fact.
Here are a few examples of turning points in learning about history, straight from the keyboards of the people at AskReddit.
U/Tynoa2 asked: What's your favourite historical fact?