People Break Down Their Absolute Best Claims To Fame

People Break Down Their Absolute Best Claims To Fame
Photo by Dayne Topkin on Unsplash

What is fame?


Fame is something that varies from person to person, but it's being held to a certain level of recognition. We're conditioned to think of "fame" as someone with over a million followers or having starred in a blockbuster film, thanks to our celebrity-obsessed world. Yet the smaller acts, the acts that maybe only a handful of people see and leave a lasting impact, those are the real fame-makers.

Reddit user, u/Prior_Cryptographer5, wanted to know what we should know you for when they asked:

What's your claim to fame?

Making The Real Changes

Most of what we do may amount to nothing in life, or it feels that way at least. However the smallest choices can have huge ramifications for those around us.

Squeeze Everything!

I invented squeezable mayonaise. When I was a kid it didn't exist yet and I was always frustrated with getting my hands full of mayonaise and I thought how great it would be if it was squeezable. I actually wrote the Kraft company about my idea but never heard back, but about a year later it was available in grocery stores. Although I have no proof I am fairly convinced It was all my idea.

johnnylovesbjs

Standing Up To Educational Authority

At the university, we had a super annoying professor who would demand we basically memorize the two thick textbooks he wrote. They were awfully expensive bricks. During my preparation for the exam, I rewrote them. I literally made a more condensed, better structured version of the text, including the stuff that was only passed down orally at lectures. The result was just one brick of a book, in e-book.

And I posted it online. On my private pages that only friends had the password to. Except after I got an A, I sort of left the password lying around for the year below me to find.

The professor found out that nobody was buying his book anymore and was pissed. He never found out where the kids were getting the updated version. He threatened but nobody budged.

Some years down the line I visited my old uni and kids were still passing down the password for that book. Nobody knew me by name, just by the website title. But I felt pretty proud.

cototudelam

Legends Of Kid-dom

Things seem so much bigger when you're a kid, right? This could have something to do with your physical size, or it could have to do with the fact that you haven't experienced the world at large yet, so even the smallest actions can lead to massive legends.

Taking Down The School Jerk

Beat the douche running my high school by becoming student body president.

Been riding the wave all year long.

papadragon696969

School Is Cancelled!

I was called up out of everyone in my primary school by a clown that was performing, I was given a stink bomb for being a great assistant, as soon as I sat down I let it off and the whole school had to be let out of the school hall, I think one kid even puked.

combine_harvester01

Next Year, It'll Be Around The World

I used to visit this lake house when I was a kid. At the thinnest part of the lake, kids would always try to swim from one end to the other without taking a breath, but no one could. I was able to do it, which was pretty cool. Yay.

The next year I went back, some kids were talking about how a boy was able to swim across last year. I was still famous.

The next year after that, kids were talking about how two years ago a kid had swam across and back without taking a breath. Hmmmm.

By the third year I was hearing that three years ago a boy had swam across the widest part of the lake and back without taking a breath. The details kept getting more impressive.

It's been decades now, so by now I'm sure they're saying I swam across the pacific without taking a breath.

MrBigTimeJim

Being Put On Grandma's Fridge Is A Win

I regularly got my picture in one of the biggest morning papers in my country because my friends mom worked in it and they always made a small news about our football trips in the kids section. For some reason i was always in the pictures. There were others too but i got in every one one. I never cared about it when i was kid but my grandmom [always] cut the pictures and stories of the paper and i'm glad because she gave them to me when i was older and i have them now.

laihaluikku

Don't Cross The Streams

High school D.A.R.E. assembly junior year. The cop gets to the end of his spiel, points out at the crowd and says "so if you see a crime, or somebody doing drugs, who you gonna call?!" I stand up immediately and shout GHOSTBUSTERS!!

Mom was not stoked to pick me up early that day.

Such-Mind1458

Winning The Drinking Contest

I was that outside kid who nobody knew, one day a friend invited me to one of his parties. Only he knew of my drinking talents (I'm 6.3 so I'm quite big and I have Irish and Scottish heritage so I have an incredible capacity for alcohol) and kept this quiet the whole night.

Later that night one of the popular jocks came over and drank a full bottle of beer infront of me and challenged me to a drinking contest. I didn't accept, persay, I just grabbed the nearest half filled gin bottle, locked eyes with him, and drank it

Now I doubt there's a party in town that I'm not at

Witchdoctor9097

The Minorest Of Minor Roles In Hollywood

Of course, when it comes to fame, nothing rings louder than Hollywood. Though, many of these people won't be gracing any billboards or telling you to 'Like' and 'Subscribe.' Instead, their impact on Hollywood will be much smaller, but no less important.

Gave Away A Little Too Much

I'm a descendant of a semi-famous Chemist/Physicist. I'm not going to reveal who, as it is a rare last name, that could potentially identify me (We share the same surname, with different capitalizations/spellings. He lived and died in France, and the family immigrated to the United States with my surname). I'll give a semi-obvious hint. He was the first person, along with his co-pilot, to pass in a hot air ballon accident.

Kindly-Ad-1190

Francois Pilatrê de Rozier?

PoopieMcDougal

Oh Yeah? Well, MY Uncle Has A Super Nintendo 64!

My uncle lol, know people through him

His best friend is the producer for a band that has topped the charts a few times, he used to push me on swings when I was little

Met ed sheeran, joking beef with him

I've been in bbc articles for unrelated things

mexicanpenguin-II

At Least It Wasn't Their Marshmallows...

I worked briefly in film when I was younger. There was a scene that featured the real Blue Man Group. One of their drums was missing a bolt and the scene could not go on without it. I swiftly raced to Home Depot to find the correct bolt, found it and brought it back to set. The scene was able to go on. I saved the Blue Man Group.

potatogains18

There's No Boat Without You

In 2006, Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx made a Miami Vice movie. In this movie, there is a scene where Colin Farrell asks some girl if she wants to hop in his boat, and roll over to Cuba to go dancing. I, personally, made the windshield to that boat. So basically, I am a movie star.

Camellightsinabox

How Do You Do, Fellow Kids?

Steve Buscemi once offered me a joint.

Engrave it on my tombstone.

483dogyears

*NOTE: He Died On The Way Back To His Home Planet

I was briefly a penpal of a Simpsons writer and he sent me a bunch of demos for songs he wrote for the show

CSwift17

Keep at it. You never know what you'll do that will impress someone some day enough to where they talk about you like you're an actual living legend.

Companies That Shamelessly Make Terrible Products

Reddit user ricinonthecake asked: 'what companies shamelessly make sh*t products, year after year?'

Be it for clothes, household appliances, or food, sometimes you know you can be one hundred percent confident with certain brands or companies when shopping that you will be getting a quality product.

Unfortunately, this goes both ways.

Some companies have a reputation for exclusively selling and manufacturing low-quality products.

One would think that these companies might reflect on poor sales and bad customer feedback, and attempt to improve their brand with each passing year.

Unfortunately, even if they still get items on the shelf, reviews on Amazon and elsewhere still seem to remain at two stars or less.

Keep reading...Show less

The paranormal is among us at all times.

The ghosts, the spirits, they "live" in their death.

Sometimes a coincidence or a phenomenon is something more.

Leftover essences have been seen and recorded.

Now not everybody is cool with every encounter.

I still have shivers depending on the mood.

But when will we all be on the same page and start living 'Beetlejuice?'

Day-OH!

That could help with the spookiness of it all.

Keep reading...Show less
white police car in wall
Photo by Conor Samuel on Unsplash

Everyone does stupid things, and it's not limited to when you're young either.

When I was 10, my best friend and I snuck out of her house in the middle of the night and hitchhiked to Tukery Hill for ice cream. I can't even count all the ways that could've gone wrong.

Eight years later, my friend and I drove his new car on the sheets of ice on our college campus, trying to see how fast we could go.

The tires skidded on the ice several times, and back then, we thought it was fun.

The stupidity spurred on by impulsivity doesn't ever truly go away.

Redditors can attest to that, as they are sharing what may be the stupidest things they've ever done.

Keep reading...Show less

Customer service jobs are not for the faint of heart.

Dealing with people at their angriest and rudest does not breed a positive work environment.

Customer service can be a downright toxic job.

And if it's not the customers setting your spirit on fire, it's the companies themselves.

Some companies seem to revel in creating discontent.

That's why these types of jobs have such high turnover.

Redditor Psychological-Name15 wanted the customer service reps out there to give us some truths, so they asked:

"Customer service workers of Reddit, what secret can you reveal from your former company?"

I want to know about the inner workings of Comcast!!

I loathe them!

Oh Dear

Jennifer Lopez Smh GIF by American IdolGiphy

I used to work in tech support for Citi Bank. The people working there are not intelligent. My favorite interaction went like this..."

"Banker - How do I type the upside down I?"

"Me - Ma'am, that's an exclamation point."

slappy_mcslapenstein

The Crappy People

"In every CS job I’ve ever had: we will bend over backward to help a nice person. We will expedite any complaint, give maximum compensation, and harass other areas of the business for you."

"We will do the absolute bare minimum to help a shi**y person and if you’re really bad, we will do everything in our power to make sure you get nothing but what you’re legally entitled to and it will be a process to get that."

11catsinahumansuit

"I don’t work in CS but 100% the same for us in IT a nice person will get new stuff while a shi**y person will get questionable secondhand crap that will take 12 months to fix! I will make sure that you wait as long as humanely possible to have anything fixed!"

Sharp-Demand-6614

Go to Holiday Inn

"If you ask for a supervisor calling Marriott you will just get another person who is not a supervisor, but say they are."

cryptnificent

"Yep. I've seen this done numerous times across multiple industries. Usually, it only involves an actual sup if it's a genuine problem or if they want to make a point."

"The last job I had was in towing junk cars. Two of the inside buyers, one male, and one female, would bounce that sup card around constantly. Idk how no one ever put it together. We'd get repeat callers and repeat sellers so I don't know."

ItsBobFromLumbridge

Heartless

"Worked at a contracted call center for Centrelink. The manager told us to deny as many emergency payments as possible and they would back us no matter what. They were actively working towards a culture that despised the callers and churned staff to get heartless right-wingers who hated the poor."

Rizza1122

"I feel ya. My best mate is a quadriplegic. Centrelink denied his disability pension because he wasn’t disabled enough."

Less-Storage

Go to Home Depot

You Are Dumb Patrick Star GIF by SpongeBob SquarePantsGiphy

"I worked at Lowes. I didn't know anything about anything in the electrical department yet that's where they put me without any training."

Eattherich187

Not training people is not just a Lowes thing.

There are too many unqualified people doing too many things.

Switcharoo

Drag Race What GIF by TAZOGiphy

"Can confirm it's an unwritten policy for deli departments in Coles Supermarkets to change the written expiry dates on their tickets so they can sell out-of-code products at full price."

REDDIT

A Little Sunshine

"I worked at a call center for the billing department of a major internet and cable service provider. We were authorized to give up to $90 credit per customer on their bill but only as a last resort. Always remember to be nice to all customer service workers. You never know just how much they can help with a friendly attitude."

Axel_Dunce

"Former call center employee here. Highly accurate. Use your manners, and well fix your issue. Anything else, just makes us want to take longer, and you won't get a credit. Just because we are authorized, doesn't mean you'll get the credit for being an a**hat. haha. I've been verbally abused a few times for asking them not to swear at me. Lol."

Ok-Ad-7247

LELU

"I worked for a major telco company for many years in something called a ‘LELU’ which stands for Law Enforcement Liaison Unit. This 'unit' is pretty self-explanatory, but it essentially is a team who worked directly with the police/FEDS to monitor people's information for things such as obtaining communications history of call logs, SMS loss, etc."

"However, most importantly, the software we used, we as agents could directly see all your SMS texts, including MMS and their explicit imagery of whatever you were sending. This would include sexting, naked images, family photos, and everything. There were instances where people abused this position by stalking or 'monitoring' their SO’s comings and going’s."

MidniteMischief

Cookies!!

"I worked at a cafe chain called 'The Cookie Man,' 95% of their cookies arrived in cardboard boxes layered with bubble wrap. The last 5% arrived as pre-made dough that we would bake on-site to make the place smell like fresh cookies."

"I also worked at a cupcake shop. It's literally just packet mix that you add eggs and oil to before baking/piping pre-made icing onto. Don't waste your money on these places, 90% of these chain shops are the same and most are severely underpaying their workers (this is for Australia btw). Just purchase some packet mix from the supermarket and call it a day."

Frequent-Selection91

Look in the Back

"I was a Store Manager for a very large grocery chain and I can tell you that 95% of the time when customers complain to the manager, we may be professional and show empathy, and even resolve the problem."

"But then we usually just make fun of or talk crap about the person who complained to the other employees. And when a customer is really rude when we go 'look in the back' for something, we legit just stand around and talk to other employees, and make zero effort to look for the item."

A_Womans_Thoughts

From the Box

Kaitlin Olson Brunch GIF by The MickGiphy

"I once worked at 'the area's premiere day spa'; the mimosas were made with Sunny D and not real orange juice, and the wines came out of a box."

SailorVenus23

Sunny D and champagne?!?!

What in the name of Lucifer?

Who does that?!

Do you have anything to add? Let us know in the comments below.