
Ever experience buyer's remorse?
I know I have.
Impulsive, unnecessary, and overall stupid purchases can be the bane of anyone's bank account.
But yours probably is nowhere near as bad as these Redditors.
Redditor victoriwnl asked:
"What are some dumb purchases you made?"
I see the Sign....
"I bought several sign language books because I wanted to make friends with a deaf kid at my school. I ended up learning a tiny amount before discovering he was a total creep who wouldn't stop staring at my feet."
GA_HoneyBee
Meowed.
"So I have this cat this constantly dressed up in stupid crap and I know that people judge me for it, but in reality I figured one day that maybe he was constantly biting and scratching me because he was cold. Turns out I was right and if he doesn't have a sweater on he just goes right back to being a fool."
"I no longer judge anyone with any animal in any sort of ridiculous attire because I would rather have some one think I'm a crazy cat lady than be covered in scratches and bite marks."
Guitarfoxx
Annabelle?
"I bought a faceless doll to scare people. Turns out I was the most scared one."
BolleChakriThakbeNa
"I got a scary doll too, it was $30. It was so I can creep people out with it. Turns out they're creeped out for the minute they see it, but I saw it every night on my desk in my room and it creeped me out. One day the hair started moving on its own, and when I checked it out, it was a bunch of small flies. A fly laid it's eggs in her hair. It was something like 'Apple Sine Doll?'"
Kurtisrayne
How To....
"I've bought a lot of how to kits/books. Like how to knit, how to calligraphy, how to paint, how to write poetry, etc... have I learned how to do a single one of those things? No, no I have not."
"Edit: y'all thanks but I am aware of the existence of YouTube, google, and libraries... that would be why I'm saying they are dumb purchases lol."
bethmichelle19
Dane Undone.
"Bought a onesie for my Great Dane. don't know why I bought it but I think he liked it."
"get whatever you want"
"I bought an $80 pen one time."
"Edit: I was about 8 yrs old, and was driving to Florida from NY with my dad and sisters. My dad is super showy (and I have no idea where he got the money) so at a rest stop, he handed us each a $100 bill and said "get whatever you want." So I bought the pen for $80. He was not happy when I got back to the car."
"Edit edit: My father and I don't get along, and one of the reasons is he throws money at everything instead of actually solving the problem. So this was basically just to keep 3 little girls quiet during a 19 hour drive. It was pretty typical of him."
"Edit edit edit: I'm 33 and no longer have the pen. Idk what happened to it over the years, but I hope someone who loves pens found it and gave it a nice life."
I_am_TylerDurden
Snapshot
"I thought I was buying a vintage Polaroid camera but when it arrived I realized it was a giant poster with a small picture of the camera in the center. I have a bad habit of not fully reading the description before buying (the exact reason I had to go to summer school in the 7th grade) and my boyfriend forced me to hang the poster for a full year as a reminder of what a dummy I am."
LoveOfficialxx
House
"A house in 2007... it's still not worth as much as we paid for it."
skellmedic4
My parents bought in 2004. Around 2012-2013 when I was applying for the FAFSA, it gave an error when I entered that their mortgage was more than the house is worth.
LIIITTTTT!!!!
"A cactus that lights up."
OW2000
"Hey now. I love my lighty cactus. In fact, I'm sitting next to mine right this instant and it's already lit up!"
offthegridd
Fish Luxury....
"$400 dollar fish tank lighting. I wasn't carpenter enough to build the hood to mount it. It sits in the basement as a monument of my idiocy."
Argle
"In the past I convinced me parents to spent $500 for fish stuff. I don't know how they were convinced."
liruge
Ryan & Ambien....
"I had accidentally doubled my dose of pain meds right before I went to go see a showing of the film Drive. On my walk home I ordered a pair of what I thought was the gloves Ryan Goslings character wears in the film. A week later I got them in the mail and realized they were 3 sizes too big and a entirely different color. 160 bucks down the toilet. That night I took my Ambien and apparently decided to try again after staying on the computer after my sleep meds had kicked in. I bought the same pair of gloves."
notanothercirclejerk
Crappy Birthday....
"An ex broke up with me. She was the first person I dated and didn't really know how to navigate the break up so I bought her a really thoughtful gift for her birthday a month later. What a waste of money and time looking back on it."
tellmetheworld
Over Niagara....
"This kills me every time I remember it and it's honestly made me into the extreme money saver I am today. When I was younger, my family visited Niagara Falls. I had $50 (which is A LOT for a kid with no job) and was excited to buy some souvenirs. I spent it all on key chains, I only got like 6 of them which made it to $50. They were all of the same place, too. It's not like they were from different cities. I wasted all the money I owned on FREAKING KEYCHAINS. Who even uses those?? It haunts me to this day."
100-billion-galaxies
Useless Air....
"Not me, but my mom. She surprised me with a pair of fancy basketball shoes for my birthday, even though I'd never expressed any interest in such a thing, and I was neither cool nor athletic. I brought them to scout camp a few weeks later and lost one of them in the mud. They were original, size 11 Air Jordans. In 1984 or 1985."
nrith
Still Cringing....
"I'm usually pretty conservative with my spending but I have bipolar disorder and sometimes when I am manic I go a little nuts with dumb purchases. My two worst are probably a top of the line spin bike (which I had never tried before) for about $1000 and I resold for 300 once I was out of the episode) and I also convinced myself to join a hockey league. I spent $1200 on skates, pads, gloves, stick and helmet. I have never skated and I still haven't. All the gear is in the back of my closet and I cringe whenever I stumble across it."
Slide....
"200 dollar Gucci slides for my high school graduation. Yeah, I bought them for the joke of saying I wore Gucci slides to my high school graduation but they aren't even that comfortable so I just re-sold them to someone."]
KindaA**
Blame Canada
"Today I purchased these foot balloon/condoms for my dog to walk in the snow (the ice always leaves her paws bleeding). Of course her nails ripped them apart in 3 mins flat. I have yet to find a solution for my dogs paws in winter, I'm a failed Canadian."
MrsTaco18
The Dalmatian....
"When I was 7, I saved up for a 1' (foot) high porcelain Dalmatian from a department store. My pocket money was £1/week, the dog cost £27. My mother still has it at her house. It's the kind of thing a 70 year old would buy. I have no freaking idea what was going on in my head."
"EDIT: I think it was ceramic, not specifically porcelain. Maybe as tall as 18 inches. This is the closest I could find https://images.app.goo.gl/8Jb9fZLipec4zV8aA. I was obsessed with getting it, and I never had buyer remorse. It's also so completely out of character."
ISPEAKMACHINE
Getting Gnawed
"Those claw covers for cats to stop them from scratching up your furniture. They were ripped off the next day. He was gnawing at his little feet until every one was gone. LadyCreepsPasta I've trained my cat to not scratch furniture by placing a sturdy scratch pole close to the furniture he would scratch."
"Every morning when he is eager for breakfast I made him scratch the post before putting down the food. I've done some basic dog training before but so far I've gathered that cats only respond to positive enforcement. I kept encouraging him with treats if he would scratch the post during the day and I've never had any issues since."
carolinasilva93
Bugs?
"Omg when I was in 1st grade, we got school bucks for good behavior and we could 'buy' things with them at the school store once a week. One of those things was a ceramic bunny and when it was my turn to buy something, I RACED over to get that bunny so no one else would get it first... no one else was going for that bunny. After I thought about it, I was like wtf was I so worried about. Anyway, the reason I wanted it so much was to give it to my mom as a gift and she kept it for ages."
Twice...
"Accidentally bought stuff in clash of clans. Twice."
fbdajh
"I knew a guy in high school who worked at Burger King part time just to exclusively fuel his Clash of Clans addiction. He legit spent his entire checks on that game. Wonder how he feels about it now."
StarsCanScream
Green Death
"75$ in plants only to let them die because I forgot about them."
pm_cutie_booty_pics
"There should be like an SPCA for plants. You know, some place you can guiltlessly drop off your mangy neglected plant."
Halloween Blues...
"I spent $60 dollars on a electric blue ceramic pumpkin. Edit: it is a different shade of blue then I thought. I haven't seen it in years because I hid it in the back of my garage after I broke the stem off. https://imgur.com/tAkk6LO"
hop378
Online Info
"I bought books when i was in 1st semester, later realize that i could have read online. So sold them after the semester."
Baited_
"After my first semester and realizing that not every teacher even used the books, I waited until I got the syllabus for each class to see if we in fact needed them. This was when shipping still took 7-10 days too, so I would just use the library copy (if available) or share with a classmate until I got the ones in the mail. But still, I felt good about saving a few hundred dollars every semester. It's still an insane rip-off though."
Jen-Walters
My Looks
"I have so many... maybe the personal training package & gym membership I kept too long because I felt awkward cancelling. I'm still fat."
dietdiesel
bad romance....
"A crappy mall katana... while I was on a date, no less. It was a first date. There was not a second. Edit: since many of you are requesting details, here goes:"
"This was close to 20 years ago. I was 19. I had just moved into a new apartment, and thought mounting a katana on the wall would look mature and cool. It never made it up on the wall in any place I ever lived. I eventually sold it at a garage sale. Got $20 for it."
"The date wasn't going terribly up to that point, but it was also clear we weren't destined for a second date.I've never owned a fedora, and thought I grew out of my nice guy/neck beard tendencies by 10th grade. Maybe it was a last gasp attempt for those traits to manifest themselves."
"I hope she remembers it, preferably with a laugh. I certainly remember it. I have three boys, and they will definitely hear about it as a cautionary tale."
tomdincan
Ruined...
"Bought a motorcycle from somebody that didn't 'properly' take care of it. There were a few small warning signs but I just let the fact it was the specific model I was looking for, in my price range, with things I could easily fix, cloud my judgement. Basically anything he touched on the bike I have had to replace, or more accurately, pay a shop to replace, because I don't have a garage or really the time/energy to do much of the work on it myself."
"It was a little bit cheap (and came with a bunch of spare parts) but I really wish I'd held out longer and paid a bit more for one that had been better looked after, because it would have probably worked out to be cheaper and less hassle to boot. But I live in a pretty small market and was after a specific model, so it might have been 6-8 months."
"Altogether the expense hasn't ruined me - I bought it to sorta celebrate getting back into full-time, salaried work - it has definitely made me enjoy the bike a lot less than I have previous ones. I will definitely vet the PO of my vehicles more thoroughly in the future - have just been pretty lucky until now I suppose. * he did sorta try, which is the problem."
grey_ghost
Life Choices
"Cocaine. Expensive, addictive, and dangerous all to feel a little euphoric and annoyingly chatty for 30 minutes at a time."
"Way way back in the day, I and one of my friends used to spend about 800 bucks a week , sometimes more. I remember getting ready to go on a two week long road trip with her and a couple other friends, and we blew about 3 grand on it, just so we wouldn't run out while at this huge gathering in the woods. It's a strange feeling doing lines in a tent with a bunch of US Marshals and national forestry service people trotting by on horses."
squezekiel
Crabs & Me....
"I went on a first date with the girl that I liked, we live in New Jersey and it was July so obviously I took her to the boardwalk. While we were there I saw a vender selling hermit crabs, and my dumb fool thought it'd be funny to buy them as a joke and try to impress her. I then realized after spending $30 on two crabs (two because one would get lonely) that I needed a proper set up."
"So we went to Petsmart and got a tank, food, sand, and a log for them to play on. Long story short I spent over $100 on hermit crabs and supplies. Not to mention that the girl completely friend zoned me, which is okay because now I have my two crabs Pickles and Júrgis to keep me company."
OscarFromSharkTales
The Meds....
"When I was high off pain meds after my ACL surgery I was on amazon and saw a typewriter that I really wanted. Order it— and it was a picture of a typewriter on a notebook. I'm still mad about that lol."
"Update: wow, I did not expect so many people to relate to this lol. Everything just seems like a great idea when you feel like you're floating. It was $12 so I didn't really care about returning it and honestly, it's a funny reminder that I like to have around."
"My family still brings it up to tease me about it but it is funny so I can't blame them Super update: I found the link on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00T2OLV3U/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1"
theholymec
Gimme the Whip!
"Had a crush on a guy I barely knew who told someone else who told me that this guy was into dominant women. A few days later I dropped nearly $600 on bondage gear, an entire strap on setup and what I imagined to be dominatrix outfits. Everything arrived in the mail by a couple weeks later. I tried on everything, looked all manner of ridiculous and suddenly realized I had never planned beyond that point. I couldn't come up with any non-mortifying way to try to let this guy know that I was prepared to dominate him."
"Like, I couldn't even decide if it would be less ridiculous to pretend I had always had all this stuff and been into such things, or to admit I bought everything on the off chance that a near-stranger I was infatuated with might be down for it. In the end I gave it all away to an elderly gay couple on Craigslist. That was my $600 value charity donation for the year. Wasn't even tax deductible."
BasedBanshee
Oh the Apple....
"In 1997 Apple stocks were at an all-time low, $4/share as I recall. I went to a financial adviser to inquire about purchasing Apple stocks. Instead, he convinced me to invest my $5000 in a safe labour-sponsored mutual fund that had a 70% tax rebate.The labour sponsored fund is now tied up in litigation for mismanagement and worth nothing. If I had invested in Apple instead, those shares would now be worth 3.2 million."
milesmac
For the Future
"I was drunk when I learned that Futurama was leaving Netflix. I was distraught as it's one of my favorite shows. 3 days later I received a package on the doorstep. It was the special edition complete series box set of Futurama. I didn't understand why it was there, but my wife told me that I had drunkenly bought the show out of 'solidarity' and then deleted the email receipt because I thought sober me would cancel the order. I then swore her to secrecy until it arrived, at which point she was allowed to fill me in."
A_Is_For_Azathoth
Dinner at Burger King...
"I bought 5 bitcoins back when they were a dollar each. Wasted some time watching it nickel and dime. My girlfriend wanted to go out to eat. We were tapped out from medical expenses. The bitcoins had reached $5 each. Five times my money, enough to cover a meal. And that's the story of how I took my wife on a five.figure dinner date."
newsfish
For the Win.
"A $200 monopoly board game made of wood I found at Winners. It has a drawer for the money and monopoly game pieces but the dividers are made of plastic, thin cheap plastic like the original board game. I was unimpressed so has to return it."
foodie_girl1123
College purchases are probably the worst ones.
"So many unnecessary things early on in college. It was the first time I had some kind of income from working a part time job, so I thought it was absolutely necessary to buy all my textbooks instead of renting them or finding them online for free. I also spent a f*ckton on dorm room stuff, which hardly anyone was going to see or care about since the dorms came furnished anyway. Lessons learned, I'd definitely pass on that advice to anyone going into college in the US."
lil_rolodex
RIP Megavideo. Gone but not forgotten.
"Lifetime Megavideo subscription. It was shut down shortly afterwards for copyright infringement."
TheSweetestLemon
"Well, you get what you paid for. It was just that it was for Megavideos lifetime, not yours."
Spritetm
Story checks out.
"When I was 17 I had unknowingly saved up a lot $2,000 from work - I chose to spend this on a double neck guitar."
Beezle-Bubba-Gump
"That's the most 17 year old with unexpected $2000 to blow purchase ever."
whateh
Always go for the BahnCard.
"My first time in Germany, I was only there for a few months, so I thought 'I don't need a BahnCard; I'm not here for a full year.' Then I spent well over 1000€ on train tickets. The whole time I could have been saving 50% AND collecting loyalty points."
themapoe
So did a lot of people.
"Bought $50 worth of Beanie Babies because I thought they'd be worth something."
ClefairyHann
"Also bad - buying those plastic tag protectors, and an expensive giant case to display said Beanie Babies to keep them in pristine 'collectible' condition."
missoctober12
Worth every cent.
"Airplane WiFi. So I could be browsing AskReddit right now."
blurredlimes9
"I've spent once 20 bucks on airplane wifi on a 12hour flight. Only for reddit. No regrets."
M4ngolicious
Big mistake.
"Deciding to go to grad school in 2012 -5 years after graduating- for no other reason than 'I have no clue what to do with my life.'"
CitizenHuman
Relatable.
"I traded a rather rare volume into a local used book store because I had two of them. Then went back to the bookstore a month later and excitedly bought MY OWN BOOK BACK because it was rare and I didn't think I owned it. I was wrong."
ModernDiabolist
Fair.
"Spent over $100 or more buying clothes for my avatar on a virtual reality game when I could've spent it on...you know, actual clothes."
enjoythesilencio
"I miss PlayStation Home too."
Shmeh-Shmeh
The things we do for love.
"I commissioned an artist to paint a portrait of my then girlfriend's dying pet rat.She had told me her rat was about to die a month before I got it. By the time it was ready, the relationship had ended and I didn't know what to do with it. I paid 90 for it and it was absolutely worth the price. Artist did an amazing job - I just didn't have anyone to give it to now."
"I ended up giving it to her anyway. I regret doing that since I probably just made her feel guilty. Thing is, I was fully aware we were about to break-up. I just liked her so much and I was totally alone in a new state. I didn't think I was good enough to earn her love - so I tried to buy it. Real dumb."
StudebakerHotch
A beautiful home.
"A mobile home. Worse yet, I paid the down payment by credit. Stupidest thing I ever did. Then when I moved to another state I found that they are not actually very mobile. It is a great expense and a lot trouble to move them. I wound up letting it get repossessed and eventually had to go into bankruptcy."
BoudiceasChild
It was hiding.
"An iPad. I didn't go online a whole lot then, I don't play games, idk where my intentions were. Then I misplaced it. Like, I was questioning if my mom or I sold it without remembering. 4 years. The iPad gone 4 years. I just wished I'd remembered why I sold it & what did I buy instead?"
Yea, no. It was next to my chair wedged between the wall. Super critical purchase, obviously. Gave the rediscover one to my mom since hers was used to death. Asked where I found it, told her. She's like, you're such a responsible shopper, the thought that goes into your large purchases."
"I could learn something. Well, reminded her I bought hers too and hate how much she uses it...shame if they both went back into the abyss."
idkkksureok
Oof.
"My mom got me and my two older brothers Pokémon cards from the farmers market. They both got blastioises (a very rare card) I got a charizard, (an even rarer card) they both convinced me blastoise was better so the next day I traded my charizard for a blastoise at school. My brothers laughed at what an idiotic trade that was. I cried. The next day I went back to school to talk to the kid and get my charizard back. He moved to another state. My whole life is in shambles now."
Choopzilla
Relatable.
"When I was around 15, I wasted a lot on Adobe products which I barely used. I never clicked much pictures and actually had no interest in the photoshop stuff. The only product I used was Illustrator for UI/UX design. I almost wasted $2000."
diganta15
That's a lot of stuffed animals.
"Crane game currency. Had an addiction to winning prizes from an app. Spent over $1000."
nihilisix
POWER!!
"When I was a small kid, I paid $20 for a Power Rangers VHS with one episode on it. I then bought another after I saved up my allowance again. I did this to get a total of 5 VHS's, all one episode each. I paid $100 for 5 episodes of a tv show."
Coffeypot0904
Here's my card...
"I once designed a business card for a client. She bought a ton of them on expensive paper, nice embossing, etc. She then emails me telling me I got her phone number wrong so they're all useless. I forward her the email saying exactly what I put on the cards, which of course had the wrong number that she typed out. Lesson here, always double check that s**t."
reddit_is_my_work
Shocked
"I bought one of those ab shocker workouts. The kind that flex your muscles into having a six pack."
PiNZnNEEDLES
These Redditors certainly suffered from buyer's remorse.
How about you?
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People Break Down The First Thing They Do When Entering A Hotel Room
Reddit user BlundeRuss asked: 'What’s the first thing you do when you get into a hotel room?'
My family went on a lot trips when I was young, and we always stayed in hotel rooms. Around the time my brother and I were old enough to stay in a room by ourselves (our parents would stay in another one, usually across the hall), he also became a bit of a germaphobe.
At the time, I actually believed hotels changed the sheets on the beds daily, so when my brother fretted about the cleanliness of the hotels, I reassured him they were fine. He believed me at first, since I was his big sister, but by the time he was 12, he got suspicious.
During one of our trips, he decided to test this by making a mark on his pillow cover with a pen and turning the pillow cover inside out before we left for sightseeing the next morning. When we returned, he turned the pillow cover back, and his mark was still there, proving that the sheets hadn't been changed. He only had to do this one more time, during our next trip, for me to realize this wasn't a one-off.
Ever since, and even now in adulthood, my brother and I always intentionally spill something on our sheets during our first night in order to get clean sheets, at least for the duration of our stay. This, in fact, is the first thing we do.
I'm not the only person who does something a bit quirky like this when they first enter a hotel rooms. Plenty or Redditors have stories about this and are ready to share.
It all started when Redditor BlundeRuss asked:
"What’s the first thing you do when you get into a hotel room?"
Preparing For Sights
"Go to the balcony to see if it's going to be public nudity or private nudity during my morning coffee."
– hoffarmy
"I love that this doesn’t change your plans, just prepares your mind. Excellence."
– sewahyelah
Show Me The Truth
"Put my bags up on something and check the mattress. I also bought a UV flashlight but after using it at home I’ve decided that bringing it to a hotel would be unnecessary torture. Nothing is clean when you shine the thing on it. And I mean nothing."
– Fatguy73
Temperature Check
"One of my close friends travels a ton for business. She also loves to sleep in a f**king ice box."
"She has found some resource for how to basically jailbreak hotel thermostats. Each hotel thermostat has a specific key sequence that unlocks the lower temps that the hotel normally doesn’t allow guests to set because, you know, money."
– Sp4ceh0rse
"I do this in every hotel."
– jubilee__
Sweet Relief
"Set bags down."
"Look at room for cleanliness."
"Take a dump."
– PuzzledCitron8728
"I showed up early to a hotel after 12 hours straight of driving. Took forever for them to get me in the room (really it was probably only 30 minutes and they were super accommodating)."
"Anyways, I had been feeling the tyrannical gouging of a sh*t demon trying to claw it's way out for about half an hour beforehand. I ran down the hall, opened the door, threw my bag at something, and was kinda hovering over the toilet just in time. Hadn't put cheek to rim yet and my darling baby began his exit."
"It wasn't until after I looked up that I realized neither door was the self-closing kind and you could see all the way in from the hallway."
– coreylahe
"You’ve unlocked a childhood memory. I stayed in a lot of hotels while growing up and I saw someone in your position once, trail of belongings leading to the toilet. So I went and shut the door for him."
– scarfknitter
Disney Magic
"Find the bible and flip through it. When my sister and I were kids, we went to Disney, and I think she asked why is there always a bible in the drawer, waved it by the spine and 20 bucks fell out. So I always check now."
– TyWiggly
"I found $100 that way. 5 crisp 20's,. I was pretty broke at the time too."
– weisblattsnut
Always Check
"First, I look at the area between the mattress and headboard for any signs of bed bugs, then under the sheets. I’ve never encountered them, but I’ve heard so many horror stories that I’m paranoid about them."
– triceraquake
"As someone who worked in hotels, I always double check the door locks and then inspect for bed bugs."
– Chatterbxer
Yikes!
"Look for cameras. I'm a paranoid f**k."
– Gubble_Buppie
"If anyone wants to see an overweight guy in his mid-40s eat pringles in his underwear while reading Stephen King novels, then they have my flabby white blessing."
– oppernaR
"They sell surprisingly easy to use scanners on Amazon. I found a camera in an air bb bedroom alarm clock, threw a towel over it and got the whole stay for free. Some will detect signals but the best way is there’s a looking glass that’s red and it emits a light and you turn off all the lights and look around the room. Any active camera will shine like a cats eyes when you skim over it."
– Vacation_Kinkycouple
The Things We Find
"I check in odd places to see if anyone stashed drugs or money. You would be surprised at all the sh*t I’ve found over the years!"
– Deathbot-420
"We found an axe under the bed once."
– Punkstarbabe
Ick.
"Yank the comforter off the bed and throw it in the corner. they rarely wash those things."
– whatever32657
"I discovered this recently while calling home to say good night to everyone. Dried food stuck to the comforter. Threw that bad boy off the bed."
– DuchessofSquee
"I cleaned an air BnB for a little while and I was so disturbed when they told me they didn't wash the comforter because hotels don't.... Like I guess I get it because they're heavy and they're trying to save water on the washes but yuck dude... Cleaning that air Bnb made me NEVER want to book one because of the sh*t the owners wouldn't LET me clean... I don't think I'd ever survive as a maid for a hotel, I could never travel again lol."
– ModestMeeshka
It's A Process
"Make a condom for the TV remote control. Take the ice bag from the ice bucket and put the remote in it. Now I never have to touch the remote."
– dontknowafunnyname2
"I'm sure disinfectant wipes could do the job."
– Pheobe0228
Check For Monsters...People Monsters
"Make sure no one is hiding under the bed or in the bathroom 😂😅"
– HeadInTheClouds916
"I travel a lot for work…and I’m shocked no one else mentioned this. First I check the closet, under the bed, the bathroom for a hiding serial killer…then check the mattress for bedbugs…"
– pdxmikaela
Today I Learned
"Check for cleanliness and then take pictures Traffickcam."
"Traffickcam is an app where you take specific pictures of your room and then upload them to their database. They use these pictures to check on the location of human trafficking victims."
– slappymasterson
"Take a picture of the room and post it on the Trafickcam app so if the room or similar has been used by human traffickers maybe it will help find someone."
– CatsInTrenchCoat
And thanks to those last two stories, I'm a little scared to stay in another hotel.
Small acts of kindness that only a few know about can change the world.
You never know.
One smile can change one person's day.
And that person could carry it on.
So doing it ourselves may be the only answer.Redditor sashayingthru wanted to discuss the ways we know the world is still good, so they asked:
"What small act of kindness were you once shown that you will never forget?"
As someone who has waited on many tables, just tip properly.
You'll go to Heaven.
Strangers
"I once walked to a store to buy bags for my vacuum cleaner and I forgot to take my wallet. The shop owner gave me the bags, shook my hand, and told me to bring him to money tomorrow. He put his trust in a total stranger to do the right thing and I did."
Independent-Bike8810
In the Rain
"A man in a full business suit with a briefcase handed me an umbrella in a torrential rain storm and wouldn't take no for an answer. I still had to walk through Times Square to get to the train and I'm sure he got soaked going wherever he was going. A couple of weeks later, I gave the umbrella to a lost girl in my neighborhood when it started to rain and she didn't have one. Felt like the universe wanted it to happen."
"I'll never forget that man though."
im_not_bovvered
Leggo my Lego
"When I was maybe 4 or 5 years old, I made friends with another kid in an airport, and he was playing with a couple glued glued-together Lego cars. Me and that kid played for like an hour with those things and when it was time to go our separate ways and board the plane, the kid insisted I keep one of the cars, and while I insisted he should keep them, he said it was proof that we were friends, and to this day roughly 20 years later, I still have that car packed up with my childhood mementos box."
"That friend of mine was a good kid. Hope he’s doin' well."
givebooks
Don't Cry Tammy
"My husband and I were sitting on our porch holding hands and crying, just feeling overwhelmed because we were waiting to find out whether or not my tumor was cancerous. Our neighbor saw it when he was coming home. About half an hour later he came over with some freshly baked cookies. He didn't even say anything, just smiled, handed them to us, and then went back home."
"Just thinking about that moment has me crying again. From his kindness, not the fear. Tammy the Ti**y Tumor turned out benign!"
Reflection_Secure
Coasting...
"I literally coasted into a gas station out of gas on my motorcycle, then realized I didn't have my wallet. Some lady saw me patting all my pockets and I was upset and offered to fill up my tank. I only let her put $5 in, which on a bike is a lot. But it meant so much to me."
Twours1944
Give people gas as often as possible..
Pay it forward.
Generosity
"My realtor took less commission so that I could get my dream home. It was a rare find in a great neighborhood."
SheLight2
Egged Away
"Years ago my car got egged real badly overnight while parked on the driveway of our duplex. We had to go somewhere the next morning so took the wife’s car. Came back hours later and my car was shining like new on the driveway. The neighbor whose name I didn’t even know at that point had washed it for me while we were away."
Ceristimo
Are those still a thing?
"I was in maybe 4th grade and my parents just had my younger sister, so newborn focused. I went to my school lunch, opened my paper bag (are those still a thing?), and unwrapped the foil holding my sandwich. There was nothing inside. It was actually just 2 slices of dry white slice bread and I was sad."
"Literally, my table mates all chipped in various components and made me the most amazing ham and cheese sandwich I’ve ever had. I’ve been chasing that dragon of ham sandwich since but I’m sure it was the response and not the ingredients that I loved."
I_Am_The_Grapevine
Thanks guys...
"19 years old, first apartment, first winter, first winter utility bill. I smiled and told my coworker I'd just pay it, skip lunch, and eat cheap Mac and cheese for dinner. It'll be ok. All that month co-workers accidentally got extra chips from the vending machine. A wife packed an extra sandwich. A box of my favorite crackers would be on my desk when I came in. It was still hard but I didn't starve. Thanks, you guys."
alady12
Just Tears
"I was on the subway, sitting there crying because I had just ended a relationship. I wasn't making any noise, just tears, but the guy sitting next to me gave me some tissues. I'll never forget that."
screamingcupcakes
Some of the best people ride the subway.
Everyone has tissues.
The Exact Moment People Realized Their Significant Other Was Toxic
Content Warning: Toxic Behavior
As much as we might like to hope otherwise, not all relationships are meant to work out.
Not only are some couples not meant to be, but sometimes there are super valid reasons for a relationship to end beyond simply not being compatible, like toxic behaviors.
But a significant other being toxic will not be obvious upon first meeting them or going on a first date with them. Otherwise, we never would have dated them in the first place.
Redditor BlackenSphinx asked:
"What did your partner say or do that made you realize that they were a toxic person?"
Actions Speak Louder Than Words
"When they kept apologizing for the same thing, then doing it anyway, never changing for the past 10 years."
- crunchy_soupp
"My wife got a quote from a teacher that we've tried to instill in our kids:"
"'Saying sorry means not doing it again.'"
"Obviously, accidents aren't included, but yeah when you hurt someone and apologize, don't do that thing again."
- JollySquatter
A New Kind of Arranged Marriage
"Lots of things, but I think probably the worst and most impactful was when she peed on a stick for her friend while she was pregnant."
"Her friend then convinced her boyfriend to marry her. They were divorced several years later, after what I can only assume was an absolutely awful marriage."
- conspirized
Emotional Abuse
"'Nobody as good looking as me will ever love your personality.'"
- MrNobody26501
"Ugh, that's the kind of s**t I'd think about and let eat me away for YEARS."
- SenorDangerw**k
In Sickness and In Health
"I was at a party with my ex-wife and someone brought out a newspaper with headlines about a local official being in an accident and being paralyzed."
"My ex-wife, without hesitation, said, 'If that happened to my husband, I would be out of here.'"
- nobody333254
"My biggest motivator of leaving an ex was that I couldn’t see him taking care of me if something were to happen to me."
- Puzzleheaded_Elk6243
Children Come First
"This one is minor, but I had an ex who wanted to buy her daughter some new shoes. We were at an outlet mall and they had a BOGO (Buy One, Get One Free) sale."
"She found a cute pair for herself but was having trouble finding a pair for her daughter."
"I love being helpful and found a pair that fit her daughter's personality to a T."
"But she wouldn't buy them because they were $5 more expensive than the pair she was getting for herself."
"Both were combined under $50, and she wasn't hurting for cash. She just refused to spend more on her daughter than on herself out of principle."
- Calm-and-worthy
"This one reallyyyyy irritates me. She sounds like the kind of 'parent' who wouldn't give up a meal to make sure their baby ate if it came down to it."
"As someone who has to make that decision nearly every day... my baby eats, even if I don't. Always."
- DakotaTheAtlas
The Silent Treatment
"We weren't living together, but he randomly cut me off for like a full week. He wouldn't answer my texts or anything. We were long-distance (different colleges halfway across the country) so I couldn't, like, go check on him."
"Anyway, he finally comes back and tells me it was a punishment for not being interesting enough. He liked me because I was an intellectual who would have Deep Conversations (tm) with him and I'd been talking too much about things he didn't find interesting."
"I dumped him shortly after and he acted like it came out of nowhere."
- baby_yaga
Overly Critical
"He criticized everybody. He was mean about his family, his friends, and his colleagues. It seemed very small at first, I knew he was depressed and so was naturally more cynical and had a low view of himself, but he'd laugh and joke with friends on the phone or in person for hours and then the minute they were gone... Awful."
"I rationalized it for too long and then realized it would be the same about me. Then convinced myself it wouldn't be because he always hyped me up... Until I heard it."
"He played the victim so, so well. Scary, really."
- Important_Sprinkles9
Ableism at Its Finest
"I had an ex say. 'What could you possibly be depressed about?'"
"I was an id**t and stayed with her for three more years after that."
- WhatIsAJahBone
Not Over Their Ex
"He slept with his ex frequently for six months... in the house that I bought us... in my childhood bed that I took with me from home... all whilst I was at work."
"He was changing over phones from an old school brick type to an iPhone. He went out to work and his old phone kept buzzing. I saw a very familiar name pop up…"
"He told me that she was crazy and they weren’t in contact as she was obsessed with him (Red flag, I know). There are some things I read that I wish I could erase from my memory."
"When everything was out in the open, she began bullying me online about it."
"We were engaged. as well. Lucky I found out before we got married!"
- MissQII
Different Definitions of "Cheating"
"She cheated on me with a Yankees player because I 'cheated on her first.'"
"How did I cheat? By going to her favorite burger spot without her while she was having sushi with her girlfriends."
"I found out she cheated with three other guys too."
- HawaiianSteak
"Somehow the most venom in this story came from 'a Yankee player,' lol (laughing out loud)."
- SoftcoverWand44
"I'm guessing he's either a Mets or Red Sox fan."
- ScorpionX-123
Gone with the Rose-Colored Glasses
"It wasn't so much what he was saying but the action he did about it."
"He used to tell me all the time that I should get contact lenses because he wanted to see what I looked like without glasses."
"I need glasses full time to see because I have an extremely bad prescription and astigmatism. They're both very high and it's impossible to see without glasses. If I take my glasses off, I can't even find them so I have to make sure I know exactly where I set them."
"One day out of town for a large event we had been planning to attend for over a year, he hid my glasses and acted like he couldn't find them."
"I had NEVER had glasses just disappear. It might take me a while to find them, but if I have someone else around me, it's usually somewhere obvious."
"I figured, 'Oh, that's okay, I have prescription sunglasses on me, as well; I'll just wear sunglasses for the event.' I asked him to pull them out of my bag as they were in a zip glass case, I know for a fact they are in there because I switched them out after arriving at the hotel."
"He pulled out the case and tried to tell me they weren't in there and that I must have dropped them somewhere."
"I begged him to help me search the hotel, I called downstairs, I had staff members helping me search, and I was in the lobby on my hands and knees feeling around trying to find them."
"He was busy getting ready upstairs and told me to just go to the event without them; I'll be fine."
"I absolutely refuse to leave without my glasses. I told him to go have a good time but I'm not leaving the hotel room and going into a crowded strange place in a strange city being unable to see."
"Well suddenly, right before we're about to leave, he pretended he found my glasses and they were just sitting on the bathroom counter the whole time. As if I didn't search every single inch and feel around every inch of that vanity."
"After some crying, he admitted that he hid both of my glasses because he just wanted me to see that it's not so bad and that if I just go without them for a little while my eyes will adjust and I'll be able to see fine."
- ConceptAggravating95
Silence to the Extreme
"I had a girlfriend who got mad at me, and I had no idea why. For three days, she would call, say nothing, and if I hung up, she would call back."
"I turned off my phone, and she'd call my parents or show up at my house (in high school still living with my parents). This went on for three days. I basically didn't sleep."
"I was a senior and still in school, and she had graduated the year before. On the third night, she yelled at me for keeping her up, and it was the end of the fight."
"The next day, I asked what I did. She said nothing she was just angry and wanted to fight."
"It took me going to college and her finding some other poor sap to torture to finally get away from her. I was young and naive, and now know I should have involved a court order and police."
"It was h**l. But from it, I ended up with my now wife, and without that h**l, I would not be where I am today, which is something I would never change."
- FineSL
The Most Controlling of the Controlling
"She yelled at me for wanting to talk to my family after she and my dad had a minor argument. She also blocked my old friends, family, and coworkers in my phone while I slept."
- Arcane_booty_Magic
"Throw the whole girl away."
- BlackenSphinx
"I did that a month ago, and this has been the best month I've had in three years."
- Arcane_booty_Magic
These accounts were terribly eye-opening, and they're a great reminder that a toxic relationship may not be identifiable until it's made glaringly obvious to us.
Fortunately, all of these Redditors were talking about exes, which means that they were able to move beyond these tough situations.
People love horror films because they know the terror depicted on the big screen is pure Hollywood magic and completely fake.
But when it comes to true-life terrors, even the most dedicated horror film aficionados can be left trembling in their boots.
Curious to hear some of the most absolutely hair-raising events from strangers online, Redditor Ok-Bid-1179 asked:
"What’s the scariest 100% true story you’ve heard of?"
These real-life stories may keep you up at night.
Befriending A Murderer
"My uncle was in a bar one night and started talking to this random guy. He described him as 'a really nice guy.'"
"He met him a few other times in the same bar. They drank and talked about random stuff. Soon after, my uncle stopped seeing the guy at the bar."
"Idk how long after, but my uncle got notified that he had jury duty. He showed up and found out what it was for. A serial killer and the killer was his friend from the bar. Derrick Todd Lee."
"My uncle was promptly dismissed from jury duty for obvious reasons."
– I_am_dean
People had sinister stories related to jobs.
Late Night Shift Employee
"I work midnight shift at a gas station and I have for quite awhile at various stations in different areas with varying levels of criminal activity."
"I have regulars, of course. I’m a small-statured woman (as is my partner the other half of the week, and we’ve always been partners) so these regulars often worry about us and keep watch on creepy occurrences when they can."
"I had one man who worked in the metro an hour away who would stop in every morning for his cigarettes. He never smiled or seemed friendly, and as I often do, I tried to think of what I could do that might make him smile one day."
"It took many months but I finally pulled it off by having his cigarettes ready on the counter and already scanned for him to pay for as he walked in. He smiled, and then asked me"
“Do you ever get scared on the night shift? You small girl, is not safe.”
"I said I sometimes did but we could lock the doors and hide if we had to, and that the provincial police (think state troopers, if you’re American) had a station close by and came in often to get their highway vehicles washed. I had a good rapport with those police. He nodded and then told me a story about when he first moved to our country from Eastern Europe with his wife and child back in the late 80’s, early 90’s."
"He fell asleep at work one night at the gas station he worked midnights at. When he woke up, the phone had been ringing for hours and his manager was shaking him violently asking if he was alright. He was fine, he said, what was the problem? He was sorry he fell asleep."
"His manager screamed that it was fine he fell asleep, to look outside. All of their motor oil was missing and the outside of the place was a mess."
"The thieves had come and swiped all the oil and left him be because he slept through the entire thing, and then moved down the road to the next station for an encore. At that station, the clerk was awake and fought back, so the thieves stabbed him to death and left him to bleed out."
"When he finished telling me this, he concluded with."
“If you ever feel sleepy just lock the door and do it, it might save your life”
"I don’t work at that station anymore but I think about that guy all the time and wonder how his grandkids are."
"Here is a link to an article talking about how that poor other clerk’s killers were finally found 25 years later:"
https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/mobile/arrest-made-in-1990-murder-of-gas-station-attendant-1.2650933
– IgnorethisIamstupid
Trapped
"There was an incident in Trinidad where some maintenance divers were removing a plug from an oil pipeline and were instantly sucked into it. One was able to escape but the other 4 were trapped for days in a small, oil coated pipe for days with only a small air pocket to breathe in before they died. Thinking about it in detail and imagining what it must have been like for them makes me extremely uncomfortable."
– superficial_user
There's no creepier place than being in the woods. Especially when these sorts of encounters happen.
The Wrong Friends
"When I was 17 I was hanging out with 2 friends and they wanted to go smoke in the woods. I didn't feel like it so I drove them and waited in the car."
"After a while I was getting bored and decided to go meet them but there were 4 paths going off in different directions so I just took the biggest one. After walking for a few minutes in the pitch black forest (before flashlights on phones), I come across this dip in the trail and on the other side is a bench lightly visible due to the moonlight."
"On the the bench is sitting a man and another one in standing in front of him but I can only make out silhouettes. Being sure these are my friends I yell out to them before walking over. If you ever walked the woods at night it's just an uneasy feeling all around so I was cautious to begin with."
"Well it turns out, juste after yelling out to my 'friends,' both silouhettes turn around towards me. Not a word, not a sound, the guy sitting down starts sprinting FULL F'KING SPEED towards me in complete silence. I got the absolute f'k out of there sprinting also the other way and tripping over sh*t because I couldn't see anything."
"I finally get out and lock myself in my car, but I was really worried for my friends. Maybe a minute later I see them both coming out of a completely different path, they also confirmed they never saw me or anyone else. My heart still sinks just thinking about that dude sprinting in silence wtf was that sh*t."
– NoFutureGuy
The Homeless Camp
"Weird....I have a similar story!"
"Years ago I remember sneaking out of my friends house at night to really do nothing but walk around the neighborhood and hide from car headlights. We were young and bored. There was a 'homeless' camp that was down in some woods off the railroad tracks not too far from his house. We had seen the trail and knew what was back there."
"One of the homeless guys that lived there was actually an old friend of my buddies Dad, and he had stopped over a few times and my friends Dad let him shower there and everything. He could have worked if he wanted, but legit told us he just liked living 'off the grid'. Just wanted to give you some backstory on the reason why we thought it would be cool and 'safe' to go check it out at night."
"We were a bit nervous at first thinking what if we get there and his Dads friend isn't there...so we were sneaking up on it. It was a longer walk than we thought. We got kind of close and saw there was a fire going lighting up the woods a bit."
"We start sneaking closer but the trail seemed to continue straight, while the camp set off the trail to the left. We got idk maybe 100 feet from the camp (about 30 meters) and we looked down the trail and saw a faint silhouette of what we thought was a person. The silhouette looked like it was coming from deeper in the woods towards the camp. We froze and ducked slightly to the side of the trail."
"I told my friend that I didn't like it, and we should just sneak the hell out. He said he had the same feeling. As I said, the fire at the camp was just enough to light the area well enough to see. We end up slowly creeping slightly off the trail back to the railroad tracks. We get probably 30-40 or so feet (9-12 meters) and I told him I would rather just hit the trail and just slowly walk back because the bushes and trees and everything were hard to navigate and I would rather be able to see something coming so we could book it out. We played football and were both pretty fast."
"We slide out of the brush and see the silhouette has gotten closer, however moving further from the fire, the light was dimmer, but we could still make out someone or something was standing there moving closer. My first thought was that maybe they saw us duck into the bushes and were coming to check, but it just felt off. My friend and I looked at each other and both mutually and silently decided to pick up the pace. Almost on que, we both looked back and the silhouette was now BOOKING IT TOWARDS US ABSOULTELY SILENT. No noise, just fast movement. We high tail it as fast as we can."
Thankfully, the trail was wide so we weren't bumping into each other or anything. Neither of us looked back until we hit the railroad tracks, then hit the railroad track bridge and were on the other side. I looked back as I was slowing down, past the bridge and didn't see anyone. We got back to his house pretty fast and luckily that was the end of it."
– ZekeMoss18
Life is full of many creepy mysteries.
It's no wonder many films are based on actual events.
The ones that terrify me the most are the home invasion movies like The Strangers.
It may have been Hollywood that dramatized events depicted in the film, but there's no doubt such horrific events that have happened in real life are enough to keep us up at night and on high alert.