If you were a lucky kid on your birthday, you received that one special toy you really wanted.
But not every kid had that privilege of getting whatever their hearts desired.
Sometimes, they got what they needed – like clothes. Lots and lots of clothes.
I remember frowning upon a knitted sweater I got for Christmas and a pair of olive-colored corduroy pants when all I really wanted was an Atari gaming console.
Curious to know what strangers missed out on getting as kids, Redditor Notworththinknabout asked:
"What's that one present you wanted to get as a kid but never actually got?"
ASIMO Is Not For Sale
"I really wanted a Honda robot. I found out Honda had built a robot and I asked for one for Christmas because I assumed they were mass produced."
The Day The Music Died
"An electric guitar and one day I found one hidden in the back of my fathers wardrobe. I was so excited and then Xmas day comes around and I got, well I can't even remember what I got but it wasn't an electric guitar. Turns out it was a present for our neighbours kid and my parents were hiding it away so the kid didn't find it prior to Xmas day. I can feel the sadness again writing this."
A Worthy Substitute
"A doodle bear."
"So I just used my brother instead- took ages for mum to get the sharpie off him."
Scanning Thingy
"I really, really wanted something called a Barcode Battler. You could scan the barcode on any item and it would give it a sort of 'top trumps' style score which I presume you could then battle with your friends over?"
"I was obsessed with getting one. I would never shut up about it. Whenever an amount of money was discussed I would chip in with stuff like 'that's the same as 3 Barcode battlers'."
"None of my friends had one, so I don't even know what I intended to do with it, looking back. I'd just seen an advert on Saturday morning TV and decided I must have it."
"My mum never got me one, I think I ended up with a SuperSoaker. My friends DID have those, and we had great fun with them. If I'd had my way, I'd have been sitting in the corner scanning random items with my Barcode Battler while they partook in giant SuperSoaker wars."
"Cheers mum, for saving me from myself."
Egon Spengler Action Figure
"Egon from Ghostbusters. The Ghostbusters toys were the only toys I had as a kid that weren't hand-me-downs or cheap knock-offs, so they were always special to me. I had Peter, Ray and Winston, I had the Fright Features figures, I had the Ghostbusters tower, I had the Ecto 2 helicopter, and the kid who lived next door had Ecto 1 and the proton pack which I could play with all the time, but I never had Egon. Even when I specifically asked my mum to buy Egon for me, she came back with another Winston. I had two Winstons."
"Years later (we're talking late 2000s here), my sister was in some charity shop and she found an Egon figure in a bucket of random action figures. She remebered that I never had him as a kid and bought it for me. It was such a silly thing, but it meant so much to me."
GIF by Ghostbusters GiphyWhen Daddy Forgot
"When I was really young I wanted this mermaid Barbi my father even promised to buy it but forgot which one it was and he brought me a fairy doll instead when he went to buy the mermaid doll they said they were out of stock and I never saw it again after that."
The Toy That Taught You Responsibility
"A Tamagotchi. I've put it on every Christmas and birthday presents lists for years, never got any. My parents didn't even discuss it with me or asked what it was."
commercial 90s GIFGiphyNever Too Old To Doodle
"The 64 Crayola crayon pack."
"And yes, I bought it for myself at age 34."
The Legendary Defender
"Voltron. Always got Voltron related stuff but never the actual robot."
Christmas Wish Unfulfilled
"I was 15 all I wanted was a Macklemore hoodie. I told my parents if that's all I got for Christmas I would be happy. Never happened."
– Fia__
This One Didn't Workout
"There used to be this Superman muscle blow up shirt that you could press a button and inflate fake muscles on yourself. Always wanted that, had to settle for a regular superman costume."
"I remember being pretty upset it didn't blow up, but in retrospect my parents were really struggling as immigrants. And i'm eternally grateful for what they did for me as a kid to the best that they could have. Love you Mom and Dad <3"
It's A Liability
"I've always wanted roller skates since I was little. They never bought them because I could break a bone or something."
Revved Up And Nowhere To Go
"A motorcycle, my dad promised me one for my 16th birthday. We'll in my thirties now, still waiting..."
– U_cabrao
The Problem With Foam Balls
"NERF made something called the Ballzooka. It was a multi chambered gun that shot foam balls. I wanted one so bad but when my birthday and then Christmas rolled around, my parents claimed they could never find one and that they were out of stock. When I was in my 20s, my dad revealed that they didn't want to spend the money because they figured I'd lose the foam balls in a few days and stop playing with it. Honestly, they're probably right."
Redditor Spinksy48 wanted to understand the fun of letting your opponent lose by just doing nothing, so they asked:
"What is your 'never interrupt an enemy while they are making a mistake' moment?"
If the story starts to get really crazy, just wait for a break.
Then ask a question from the beginning.
I guarantee you know more of the lie than they do.
Just keep talking, friend.
Gotcha
Dashcam Hello GIF by TranscendGiphy"I let the lady who changed lanes into me run her mouth about how I rear-ended her before pulling the cop aside to show him my DashCam footage."
ThrowingChicken
A Cherry Wave
"I was accused by a neighbor of reversing out of my drive and hitting his car. He gave me the date and time I had allegedly done it and pointed to a (small) scrape on my car that supposedly matched perfectly the location of the dent on his. This was 7 weeks after the alleged event, by the way."
"I said it wasn't me but told him to contact his insurance and we'd see what they said. A few weeks later I get a letter from my insurance asking what had happened, to which I responded with the date I had bought my car (and updated my insurance) - two weeks after the supposed bump."
"He never spoke to me again but I used to give him a cheery wave every time I saw him glowering at his window."
Gazcobain
Speak Once
"In a meeting with my project manager who has not been in the office or worked a proper full day for MONTHS, she has increasingly been annoyed by people bypassing her to get things done by telling me and her other direct reports what to do."
"I was about to answer a question for stakeholders, and she told me to let her speak one sentence and will let me have my bit. I did as I was told, and she told the stakeholder a completely wrong thing about the system we were handling and made a complete fool out of herself. She got sacked this month."
choiaera
We Hated Each Other
"Guy stole a presentation from me, this is 25 years ago. We hated each other. When he started presenting I realized I had made a huge error, didn’t say anything. Let him get through it. Asked him about the error, but he couldn’t answer. This was in front of COO. Got fired, not for just that, he was an overall douche. This was before everyone was on PCs, and had one printer in one room."
Bmilvis
Whoops
Office Space GIF by 20th Century Fox Home EntertainmentGiphy"When a coworker who I hated got fired a few weeks after I decided to stop fixing his mistakes even if it impacted a client."
Hrekires
It's always thrilling to see the bad colleagues go!
Bye. Bye. Bye.
I will see you on the 15th
Idiot Reaction GIFGiphy"Not my story, but several years ago my older brother was fighting for custody of his son with his ex-wife. As the first custody hearing date approached, they were exchanging [un]pleasantries over text and my brother ended up saying something along the lines of, 'I'm not continuing this conversation. I will see you on the 15th.' The ex-wife told him, 'The hearing is on the 25th dumba**.'"
"So of course instead of correcting her, my brother just allowed her to keep thinking it was the wrong date, and she missed the first hearing entirely. It became the first of many mistakes she made in the court system that eventually led to my brother and the woman who is now his second wife winning full custody of his son."
Damn_Furries
Follow the Prints
"I'm working on a job site and the architect is there one day. I've been given some light fixtures for the sconces in a leasing office lobby. The fixtures are meant to be hung from a ceiling, they can't be installed on a wall. I attempt to convey this to the architect, but he brushes me off and just tells me to follow the prints."
"I turn to the apprentice and say, well you heard the man, put them up. A bit later, we hear the crashing of glass. The architect asks what was that? I said your light fixture. As I picked up a broom and dustpan to go clean up."
Ohhhhhhthehumanity
No Debt
"As I was being fired from a job, the district manager requested we record the conversation. He thought I was gonna be very upset, so I obliged. Then when he started to tell me why I was being fired he started with, 'You are gonna be graduating college soon, and we want to make sure we get ahead of you leaving us.'"
"I very calmly asked him to send me the recording right after he said that. Then later that day I called a lawyer. I now have no student loan debt."
JRTHEAMAZING
The Screams
"I reminded my ex-wife the divorce court was the next day and was invited to Get F**ked. So I went by myself, she failed to appear and pissed off the Judge so he asked what would be my desired outcome for assets and Custody of the kids. He wrote down whatever I wanted and I could hear her screams when she read the Orders from 3500km away."
comfortablynumb15
Silence
"There's a thing in law enforcement/legalese called a spontaneous utterance. Many many people will bury their own cases with these while bi*ching and moaning at their arresting officer on the way to jail."
raccoonsonbicycles
That last one is good knowledge to have in the back pocket.
