What is fame?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
Francois Pilatrê de Rozier?
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
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.
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.
How Do You Do, Fellow Kids?
Steve Buscemi once offered me a joint.
Engrave it on my tombstone.
*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
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.
Life is complicated, but there are so many things that are worth being thankful for, even in the day-to-day.
But of course, there are some things that we would love to see in our lifetimes that would make living that much sweeter.
Redditor moltingtoupee asked:
"What is something you hope to witness in your lifetime?"
Not Even Gonna Lie...
"An Armored car spilling a sack of money in front of me and not noticing."
- explodingladybugs
Nature's Beauty
"An aurora."
- RedStradis
"I once met a British couple who were camping in the Canadian Rockies for their 25th wedding anniversary. We had a few beers around the campfire. At some point, the woman said the only thing she was a bit sad about this trip was not seeing northern lights. She always wanted to see one."
"We keep chatting and at some point after a few beers, nature called. I went to do my thing and as I was out of the fire’s light, I looked up and could see that great northern light dancing in the sky. I came back to the fire and took the couple away in the dark to show them. She was soooo thrilled."
"So you never know when it will happen to you."
- prplx
The Lives This Would Change
"A treatment for Alzheimer's. That s**t is terrifying."
- doobydoobydobap
"This is my pick, too. Watching my grandmother succumb to it, and it broke my heart. I’m afraid my mom is next, followed by me or one of my sisters."
- crispypotatocake
Cheering Our Loved Ones On
"All of my daughter's milestones in life. Until it's my time to go, I hope I get to see her grow up to be a beautiful smart caring woman."
- FlaccidWeenus
Infinite Possibilities
"Faster than light travel (minus any relativistic effects that make it impossible to come home at the sameish time, etc)."
"I know it's weird, but I find the thought of being confined to our little solar system a bit depressing when there's a whole universe out there."
- postitsam
Halley's Comet
"To see Halley's comet for the second time in 2061."
- craigoth
"If I can't live to see Halley's Comet (I should be 76), then I'd die happy knowing I get to see the total solar eclipse next year as my runner-up."
- curbstomprey
Who's Out There
"First contact."
- Minute-Loan7057
"Sometimes I think I'd like to see that too... But the way the last few years have been going, we'd expect the Vulcans and get Xenomorphs instead."
- coffee_cats_books
"Or the Vogons."
- Reddit_Hitchhiker
...What's That Like?
"My life full of happiness with no stress."
- HappinessSeeker7
Unrealistic Expectations
"I hope to witness the day when autocorrect finally stops turning 'F**king' into 'Ducking.'"
- Daily_Burnin12345
Ocean Views
"To see the Pacific Ocean, early morning, crispness to the air, wrapped in a blanket, sitting alone on the beach..."
"I am in central Kentucky, and this seems so far away to me. I can only imagine what the peace and tranquility would be to stare out and see nothing but water, clear to the horizon."
- Saltriverjohnny
One Small Step For Man...
"For man to walk on Mars..."
- Effective-Craft-1173
Outside the Box
"A US President elected from a third party."
- CatacombsRave
Flight MH370
"To find out what truly happened to Flight MH370."
- desperatelingling123
"I'm pretty sure it will appear back on the radar in 10 years and none of the passengers will have aged or be aware of the time jump and Stephen King was the reason for it all."
- ALIENAND
"I legit looked this up last night to see if there have been any advancements in the theory or new evidence. I hadn't thought about it in a couple of years. (I know that I'm lucky to not think about it all of the time. There are so many poor families that don't have this luxury and they still don't have concrete answers, which is heartbreaking.)"
- SparklesVibe
Supernovas
"A supernova event that lights up the sky. Even if it’s extremely unlikely, the most likely would be Betelgeuse or Antares."
- _Goose_
Time to Unite
"The middle class, working class, and poor realizing that they have more in common than the Upper class and super wealthy."
- Diverswelcome
It's always heartwarming to see when people are asked what they would most like to see changed, or want to see in their lifetime, they're less concerned about gainful wealth or arbitrary things, and more so in nature's wonders and cures for diseases.
Life might not always be perfect, but there are absolutely things to keep looking up for.
When people are wanting to get out of various situations and withhold from telling the truth so as not to ruffle feathers, they fabricate wild stories.
Because this tends to happen most of the time–whether it's an employee wanting extra time off or a date who is too afraid to say they're "not interested"–we've become conditioned to be skeptical when hearing excuses.
So it's surprising then that the one time we rejected a person's excuse to decline participation, it turned out to be true.
How embarrassing.
Curious to hear from strangers online, Redditor RadPs77 asked:
"What's the most bull**** excuse you've heard that turned out to be true?"
If somebody yelled, "fire!" there probably was one.
The Emergency Call
"My dad had to call and say he was going to be late on take your kid to work day, because the guys building a house in the lot next to ours set all the extra supplies on fire at 5am, and he called the fire department because it was a huge fire and the firetrucks were now blocking our driveway. He took a video."
– kingftheeyesores
The Blazing Car
"Couldn't make it to work because someone set his car on fire. Sure enough, it was mentioned in the local paper a day or two later..."
– res30stupid
Accusations of lying are especially hard on those who are grieving.
Proof Was In The Ashes
"Not really sure if this counts but... I worked at a mcdonalds years ago and I called in sick one day because I was having my dog put down, this was my childhood friend I'd had since I was 6. The day after the manager pulls me into the office and gives me a rant about how I need to come up with a better excuse for a sick day. In anger I ended up bringing his ashes into work with me several weeks later with receipts proving dates of attending vets etc."
"Then a good few months after all this, the same manager is moving house and isn't allowed to take her two dogs with her (no pets allowed at the new address) so she let's her friend adopt them who lives on the next street to where she's going to be living then proceeds to take 10 days off 'to say goodbye.' "
"It's been more than a decade but I'm still salty af about this."
– SolaWrex
"Unexcused Absence"
"Had this but when my brother died, took 2 weeks off because of obvious reasons."
"I was on probation at the time and they didn’t believe me, they wanted a death certificate - but where I live those can take some time."
"At the end of my probation I had an exit interview - my dad was able to sit in with me, so he did. He brought my brothers ashes and put them on the table while they tried to say it was an unexcused absence."
– tictactowbar
There are the odd circumstances.
Nature Strikes
"I couldn't go into work for a few days because a tree totalled both vehicles. My boss was pissed because I had requested the day off but was denied. I had to send pictures as proof."
– hotcookin53
The Gamer
"I injured myself badly enough I couldn't go to work for a few days, the night before World of Warcraft was released. Since I'd been talking about it so much, my boss assumed I was lieing to stay home and play it on opening day. Not only was I not lieing, but it meant I was unable to get to the store to pick up my pre-order."
– shontsu
A Birth Anomaly
"One of my guys didn't come into work he said that his unborn triplets had absorbed each other and he had to console his wife that she was gonna have twins not triplets."
– ShItllhappen
Repeat Offender
"I had the same teacher for trig and 2 years later Calc ii. Both times my house got hit by a car right before an exam. The second time she said 'you've already made this excuse" and asked for a police report. I happily obliged and gave her both. Literally could not believe it.'"
– Electronic_Soil5934
Animals are unpredictable.
That is all.
Kitty Bite
"Kid in high school was absent one day because he'd been 'bitten by a cougar.' Yeah, right."
"Turns out, he'd been bitten by a cougar. He thought he wanted a pet cougar, found some place he could buy one, and went over a weekend to pick one out. He was playing with a cute baby cougar, cuddling and wrestling on the ground, just having a great time. Then that cute little baby turned on him, bit down hard on his foot, and sent him to the hospital with numerous deep punctures that needed chunks of Nike shoe pulled out of them. He was on crutches for weeks."
– twothirtysevenam
Kid's Track Record Didn't Help
"Had a kid come into my class one day that was late and he had been a pain in the butt the whole year so I was like 'alright, what is it this time, house burnt down. No no, you went to the forest and got lost, not you used that last time.' He just stood there with a straight face and said, a bear slashed our tires so I had to walk. I looked at him with an as if that happened face and low and behold after school his mum comes up apologising that he was late again and told me that a bear had slashed their car’s tires. She showed me the ring video and everything. I was speechless."
"Edit for those of you complaining that I was mean, this kid was consistently late and rude throughout the whole year and was constantly giving me bs excuses that turned out not to be true. That’s why I was mad and didn’t believe him."
– cryptic_cookies
The next time you hear someone giving a wild excuse, you might want to take it with a grain of salt.
You never know if the person has actually gone through a terrible ordeal.
The truth always comes out eventually, whether it works in the person's favor or not.
We've all found ourselves at a crossroads of some kind at one point in our life, which has resulted in our needing to make a hasty decision.
Without much time to think, we often feel the need to ignore logic, and simply go with our gut.
Generally speaking, these decisions aren't terribly consequential, even if we might come across some new information down the line which makes us feel better about our decision.
In some cases however, making a decision based purely on our instincts may have proven to be a life saving situation.
In spite of the fact that the life or death stakes were completely oblivious to us at the time.
"What’s a time where trusting your gut quite literally saved your life?"
Hidden By Grass
"I almost drove through a big patch of tall grass on my dirt bike just for fun, but at the last second hit the brakes and turned around."
"Didn't know why."
"Next time I went there, turns out there's a 75 foot cliff over a river right behind it that I would have just flew off at top speed."
"Because of the scenery, you couldn't tell at all looking head on to it."
"I still don't know what made me stop back then."- Quiet_Stranger_5622
Always Safety First
"I was working in the sales office at an engineering company."
"I was asked to record the serial numbers off a stack of large steel plates on the shop floor."
"I had to get someone with crane operating experience to lift the top plate so I could read the one underneath."
"The guy lifted it directly upwards about 6ft."
"I was just about to lean underneath the plate when a little voice inside my head said 'don't do that mate, get him to move the overhead plate to one side'."
"Just as I thought that, the clamp holding the plate failed and it fell to the ground, just in front of me.'
"It must've weighed about a tonne."
'If it'd fallen on my head, I'd have been killed instantly."- dineramallama
Hanging With The Wrong Crowd
"My GF met up with a work friend at a bar."
"This girl was with a guy who gave me seriously bad vibes."
"He was fake friendly but his eyes were crazy."
"My GF didn't see it."
"I wasn't having it."
"I told her I was leaving, and she really needed to come."
"We fought, I left, she came running after."
"Next morning, we find out the guy stabbed someone in the chest and killed the guy."
"I straight up said I told you so."
"He was f*cking crazy."
"Gfs friend spent the night in holding too."
"I don't know if it saved my life but it saved me one helluva bad time."- S_204
Active Robbery
"My boyfriend at the time and I were house sitting for his uncle."
"My boyfriend was at work and I was bathing our son before bed."
"I had the bathroom window (facing the backyard) very slightly cracked, and heard a cough from outside."
"This house was in a residential neighborhood so it could have been a neighbor, but I suddenly felt anxious and scared and something told me to go make sure the back door was locked."
"I left my two year old son alone in a towel in the bathroom and ran to the back door."
"As i placed my hand on the doorknob locking it, I came face to face with someone through the glass, who had his hand on the outside doorknob."
"He started pounding on the door and juggling the doorknob saying he was looking for someone and i just told him no, they're not here."
"He kept jiggling the doorknob and i ran to my son and grabbed my cell phone to call for help."
"Remember Im house sitting tho, and this was in 2004/2005 when they had those flip open phones, not a smart phone where you can just look at a map."
"So i had no idea what the address was, or where the house phone was."
"Anyways, i call 911 from the bathroom on my cell, while hearing loud pounding on the back door."
"The dispatchers tells me to find a house phone, piece of mail anything with address."
"I locate the house phone and call 911 from that. so have no idea how police got there so quickly, but just as I hear the back door glass break, the guy on the phone tells me to cover my sons head with a blanket and run out the front door into the backseat of the police car."
"I ran out the front door and saw 6 or more police cars all with guns drawn and straight into the waiting cruiser."
"After they arrested the guy, they ask me if the machete on the back porch belonged to the owners of the house."
"The guy had a machete and had I not trusted my gut that the cough sounded a little to close, and to check the back door, he would've walked right into an unlocked house to a 19 year old female and her young son alone."
"Turns out he had been robbing houses and had a backpack full of stolen things, and was high on meth."
"Anyways, super glad so followed my gut on that one."- Liketheweatherpnw
Listening To Nature
"One time I was hiking after a storm and my intuition told me to freeze."
"I listened and a large tree just fell down across the trail in front of me, right where I would have been if I didn't stop."- LogicalFallacyCat
Home Alone And Feeling Uneasy...
"I had a sense something was wrong in my house but no reason why."
"I went around looking but couldn’t find anything wrong or anyone in there."
"Felt so freaked I stayed at a friends place."
"Ended up being a carbon monoxide leak."
"Could’ve saved my life."- Responsible-Bet-7485
Questioning Unsafe Work Conditions
"Not necessarily saved my life, but saved me from getting seriously hurt."
"I was a temp worker at a warehouse, worst 9 months of my life, I wanted to die."
"One day, my boss who had no training on the forklift told me to climb up on a ladder and move something out of the way of the forklift, and my gut said 'tell her to turn the forklift off first' so I did."
"She scoffed and said it was unnecessary so she got this other guy to do it because I was being 'difficult'."
"Well, she moved the fork up and smashed his fingers against the ceiling breaking every finger on his hand besides his thumb."
"The badass just went 'ow!' and was like eh, bout time i retire anyways, huh?"
"He was like 70."- xarthos
When In Doubt, See A Doctor
"Extreme pain went to ER."
"Gangrenous appendicitis."
"Could have died."
"Thanks gut."- SternLecture
If You Can't Trust Your Gut, You Can At Least Trust Your Dog
"I had gotten my first black lab."
"He was about 10 months old when we went to a local park early in the morning to walk the trails."
"We had just finished a long trail and were resting."
"I was sitting on a bench."
"My dog's hair stood up and he started to growl."
"When I looked up, I saw a man walking towards me."
"His eyes didn't look right."
"I knew he was high."
"When my dog growled, he stopped."
"He gave a smirky smile and asked if my dog would bite."
"I told him he definitely would if the guy came any closer."
"He hesitated for a moment, and then he turned and walked away."
"To this day I am certain he meant to harm me."
"If I hadn't trusted my dog, I hate to think what would have happened."
"I gave him lots of hugs and treats that day."
"He died many years ago, but I think of him often."
"And I believe that when I cross over, he will be there waiting for me."
"He was the best dog I ever had."
"I still love and miss him greatly."- angelangelica16
It's never a fun feeling when you have to make a decision without any real time to think.
But if your gut is steering you in one direction, it's probably the right thing o head that way.
As sometimes there's nothing you can trust more than the hairs on the back of your neck.
There is no feeling more frustrating than saving up for a fancy, expensive dinner at a restaurant everyone's been talking about, which you had to book months in advance, only to sit down to a very underwhelming meal.
What makes this all the more infuriating, is that there was absolutely nothing to suggest that this might happen, as the five star yelp reviews and sky-high prices suggested you were in for a treat.
Thankfully, there can be signs that certain restaurants aren't worth spending your money at.
Be it a grungy facade, a menu that seems a little too eclectic, or a less than welcoming greeting from a host, sometimes it's clear that you're bound to have a much better meal at your local greasy spoon than you are at certain restaurants.
"What is a Red Flag that you are in a bad restaurant?"
When They Just Can't Be Bothered...
"The restaurant isn't even busy but they take ages to serve you, and when they finally do they seem reluctant."- peculiar-pirate
coffee pouring GIF by South Park GiphyQuality Over Quantity
"Long menu."
"Pages and pages of food that doesn’t really make sense or go together."- blackaubreyplaza
"Sushi, pizza, AND burritos are ALL on the menu."- financialfreeabroad
"Huge, unfocused menu."- TheWarDoctor
Lets Eat Reaction GIF by Schitt's CreekGiphyLack Of Authenticity
"Ethnic restaurant with no customers of that ethnicity in a town with a large population of that ethnicity."- baronvonbee
Don't Be Fooled By It's Appearance
"I've eaten at ratholes with amazing food and had terrible food at nice steakhouses, both can have people cooking for minimum wage and bad management."
"If it's a small ethnic restaurant and you see kids doing homework at one of the tables; try the food, it's always good."-Dizzy-Particular-258
It's All About The Food
"It’s sometimes difficult to tell until you try the food."
"There’s a restaurant in my town that is consistently crowded."
"Fairly expensive."
"My wife and I went there and waited a few minutes for a table."
"Restaurant was dirty, food tasted stale, and my wife happened to walk by the kitchen and see like 6 microwaves on a table heating stuff up."- jonahvsthewhale
kitchen nightmares amy GIF by Global EntertainmentGiphyOne Unwanted Guest
"The very moment Gordon Ramsay appears and calls the employees f*cking donkeys."- Ch*ist_Hater666
When The Ambiance Is Anything But Romantic
"Bad lighting or sticky tables."- trashbagbum
"Dirty floor, if they can’t keep the floor clean, they aren’t cleaning the important stuff."- lovelynutz
"A dirty bathroom means a dirty kitchen."- ManifestsOnly
dirty spongebob squarepants GIFGiphy"Oh, Sorry We're Out..."
"Whatever is on the menu 60% is not available."- XqueezeMePlease
Whether Or Not It's The Food You're Smelling...
"Smells bad."- Louis-grabbing-pills
Roaches Check In...
"In university I went out with some friends and they decided to go to mid-priced restaurant before we caught a film."
"I was really broke so I feigned not being hungry to excuse the fact that I couldn't order anything."
"As we were hanging out I noticed a cockroach crawl onto the table and quickly scurry out of sight."
"That is one of the few times I was happy to be poor."- gildorratner
"If you smell freshly popped popcorn, but they don't serve popcorn, they have a cockroach infestation."
"The smell is the result of a potent insecticide and dead roaches."- Goatmanthealien
place cockroaches GIFGiphyMany restaurants are not worth their expensive prices.
While others aren't even worth a single second of your time.
Thankfully, those can be fairly easy to spot.