We are living in times when job opportunities have been scarce due to global health concerns. And when an opportunity for employment arises, we go for it.
But there are those jobs that are not worth holding on to. Maybe the job description was deceiving. Or it could be the boss is a tyrant who views their workers as than human beings.
Are these conditions worth the weekly paycheck? Not always. Sometimes, maintaining one's dignity is more valuable than being a cog in a machine.
Curious to hear from those who have reached the limit of their patience, Redditor Firelampan asked:
"People who've quit their job on the spot--what did it for you?"
Bosses are supposed to be the ones setting good examples. Not these bosses.
Lazy Manager
"Worked at Best Buy years ago. This was my second job, that I worked at for fun and the discount. I only worked weekends because I had a full time job during the week."
"Back then, when the next weeks schedule was done a manager would hand it to a person on the team and they'd put it in our little media backroom. Well, I didn't have my schedule for next week yet and it was Saturday. There were none to be found which was odd. I asked a manager for a copy so I knew when to come in and she refused, 'I'm tired of printing out new copies for people.'"
"Well, I can't come in if I don' t know when I'm supposed to be there. So, I just never showed up again. Best part was that I still got the discount for like 6 months."
– nicless
The Bad Boss
"Worked at Staples when I was a teen, I had never called in sick before to this job. In fact, I covered other people's shifts when they were sick quite frequently. I would get called in at least once every couple of weeks to work for someone who had called in."
"So the one time I'm sick and call in, the worst manager was working... total b*tch... she told me I had to come in or bring in a doctor's note. I told her to go f'k herself and quit."
"Later that day, the general manager called me to ask me to stay... so I stayed. The s**tty manager lasted another 2 or 3 months, I lasted about 6 months after that and quit for a better opportunity."
Unsatisfied Store Manager
"I was the overnight assistant manager at Walmart a long time ago and was scheduled for 12 hour shifts with only 6-8 associates a night to stock an entire store. It was a pretty high volume store so it would get a GM and grocery truck every night. GM trucks would have about 2000 boxes of merch and the grocery would be about 1300-1500 pieces. You have to prioritize grocery obviously because it expires, so I would put every employee in grocery. Every one of them had their particular aisles and refused to go anywhere else. If someone called in, I did their job on top of managing the entire store. It f'king sucked, and I got regularly yelled at by the store manager for not getting everything done. This meant working 2-4 hours past the end of my shift to finish stocking and scanning overstock."
"One night, I had 4 call ins, this meant I only had 2 employees working and me. I stocked 4 aisles by myself, faced the store, scanned overstock, and still had to run the overnight operations of the store. I messaged my co-managers (the management structure was so convoluted) that I had literally no one and I was doing everything I could. They got the department managers to come in early to help stock their sections, but that meant there wasn't as much coverage for the day."
"The store manager comes in at 7:30 every day to inspect work and give notes to assistant managers for what needs fixed for the day. He came in and saw all the department managers stocking their merch, and flipped his sh*t on me. Called me into his office and put me on with our market manager and they both just ripped me apart. I explained the situation and they literally said 'that's not a f'king excuse to not do your job. You should have told them to come in and do their job or write them up.' I looked at my store manager and said 'nope. I'm done.' Threw my badge and keys on the table and walked out. Said goodbye to my (now former) employees and friends, got in my car, and never looked back."
Absolutely No Sympathy
"I worked at a customer support centre for a pretty big company. Employees were just numbers and our manager was a total d*ck."
"An employee's mother had an operation for the removal of a tumor (don't know what kind or where) and it was only a 50% chance she'd survive."
"When he asked for 2 days leave, the manager said no because the influx of calls and emails was too high. The man quit on the spot and so did half the team and I."
"I work at a better company now with a manager that appreciates good work and tells us to take time off himself if we look like we need a break."
The Arsonist
"Boss was arrested for murder. Turns out he burnt down one of his buildings for insurance money and someone died. I had been there for only a couple of weeks, he was the most abusive person I've ever worked for by far. I was debating it, so when the police burst in and arrested him, I locked up and left."
Leaders are supposed to set good examples but also have moral codes. These bosses' personal lives were out of control.
Internal Affairs
"My boss not letting me have a weekend off for my best friend's wedding because a co-worker wanted a dirty weekend away with the married guy she was having an affair with. The married guy was my boss by the way."
"I was a bridesmaid and had booked the weekend off 10 months in advance. I quit on the spot and told my boss' wife he was cheating on her. My best friends wedding was lovely."
Embarrassing Things People Did As Kids That Still Make Them Cringe | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
Refusing Illegal Tasks
"Company asked me to forge documentation so we don't get in trouble with health and safety. They choose me cause I needed and love the job. When I said no it got worse. Other started bullying me too. I walked out not knowing how will I pay bills next month. on Thursday evening. Even though I am not religious and I haven't been in church for decades for some reason last thing I thought was 'be the stone that breaks the waves' from old testament. I am ok now. Got new job and long term contract. Half of the management got fired 6 months after that."
Power Trip
"Got food poisoning the night before a shift at a family-owned farm/farm stand/plant nursery. The protocol was to call or text the manager who was on duty the next day as early as possible so they had time to find someone to cover. Well what I got back was a tirade from said manager saying that she feels like shi*t every day and that it's no excuse for missing work, even though I was really the only one busting my a** on the daily - there at 4 am to prep for market, staying late to help fix things and care for the animals, etc. The next day I went in to pick up my last paycheck and told the owner that I would not be returning to work because her daughter was way out of line and I refused to be treated like I had been. Apparently I wasn't the first person to quit because of this."
Raciest Policy
"My boss in an electronics department told me (and my coworkers) that if my customer was black, don't let them buy the new iPhone with cash and insist that credit is the only option, because that way he can record their names and it prevents them from using 'all the stolen drug money', which is what he called cash whenever it was from a black male."
"I protested, he thought I was joking. My coworkers thought this was run of the mill and just did what he said. Ethics department never raised a finger. I never showed my face there again."
"I worked with that company for 5 years and that was my dream job. Still haven't recovered from the whiplash."
– Sykes19
The pressures of the job itself made these Redditors put in their notice.
Understaffed Daycare
"I was made to take care of 20 toddlers under 3 with about half an hour of training at a daycare. I quit day 2."
Italian Restaurant Stresses
"Was working a high volume Italian restaurant chain on garmo (salads, appetizers, flatbread pizzas, desserts). Easily over 1000 covers a night. Had been there about a year and the last few weekends I had to solo the station when usually there were 3 of us. One beautiful summer Friday evening I found out I was soloing again, so I asked the chefs if anyone was available to give me a hand. They said they called a guy who'd be in by 6pm. 7pm rolls around and still no one. I was way too burnt out to do another weekend of this alone. I tell the chef right at the window I'm putting in my apron and towel - I'm done. Walked out, waved goodbye to the servers on the patio, and drove home. Best feeling ever."
Taco Hell
"I was working as an assistant manager for a large Taco Bell franchise. We were required to work 60 hour weeks (5 twelve-hoir shifts), on a shifting schedule. Each assistant had a roaring schedule (mine was opening Tue, mid shift Wed & Thurs, closing Fri & Sat). We had no general manager, so I was doing a lot of that work."
"So, here I am with no real, healthy sleep schedule, newly married and never seeing my wife, working insane hours."
"Well, the other assistant (there were only two when there should have been three) was young. Very young. Like, fresh out of high school young. So very immature with a lot to learn."
"I came in on one of my closing shifts (we were open until 3am, so shift was 4p-4a). Store was a disaster. Again. Dirty as f'k. Sh*t all over the lines and the floor. No food prepped or cooking. Again. As it was every day I came in behind this other guy."
"I stood there for like three minutes. Just...in shock. Furious. About to snap."
"Instead of carefully took my store key off my key ring, gave it one of our team leads, and asked him to go back to give it the other manager, and walked out."
– dk1701
Overworked And Underpaid Nanny
"I worked as a nanny during the day and a waitress at night. I nannied for two kids, a 3 month old and his 5 year old brother who was severely autistic. Needless to say it was very challenging but the 5 year old and I eventually got into a good groove. His parents did not offer any support to me or their child. The dad "worked from home" which meant he played call of duty on the couch all day while I took care of his kids and the mom was at work.
Eventually I noticed my paychecks were gradually becoming smaller and smaller so I brought it up. The dad told me he didn't believe I should get paid for the times he was in the room. THEN he asked me to choose between my waitressing job and my nanny job, as they were concerened my waitressing job was making me too tired. I was tired, but I was tired of trying to single handedly handle their son's autism without any support. I immediately handed him his baby and his housekey and quit. The look on his face was priceless."
The Punishment
"Got in trouble working at Walmart one time. Christmas season in the toys dept. Everything was everywhere. Didn't have enough time in the night to put everything away and restock all the shelves. I was given 3 days off without pay (which I probably would have put up with), but then they also wanted me to write an essay on what I did wrong and how I would correct it. I just told them to f'king do it themselves then, and walked out. Best thing, really."
I should have quit my first job working at a video game store inside a mall.
I barely started working there and my co-worker would always "take breaks" that ended up being her private shopping time.
And all the advanced transactions – some of which I wasn't trained for, like returns and exchanges – transpired when she was on her private shopping spree...I mean, break.
One time, a kid leaned over while I was helping another customer and stole one of the games. Of course, this happened when I was manning the tiny store by myself because my co-worker was on her over-extended thirty-minute break.
I called security and dealt with the little crook's angry mother who refused to believe her son helped himself to a five-finger discount on my watch.
When I found out my co-worker was on her hour-and-a-half lunch date with our boss when the theft happened, I was livid. But as a 15-year-old, I hadn't developed the guts enough to make a dramatic exit. So I suffered for another month as an employee and eventually quit when school and band practice resumed.
The Foods People Won't Eat Even If They Were Offered For Free
Reddit user Judgemental_Squirrel asked: 'What food aren't you eating even if it was free?'
Over the years, I've gotten a little more adventurous with my menu options.
I recently added pepper a decade ago.
I've also been dabbling in hot sauces as of late.
But I am bias against a lot of food.
My stomach is a coward.
And I'm ok with that.
Redditor Judgemental_Squirrel wanted to hear about the foods that turn many people's stomachs, so they asked:
"What food aren't you eating even if it was free?"
Cow. Cow tongue. Cow stomach.
Why in the world?
Not that I don't eat steak but... I can't even think about it.
Not even with a free tank...
Sushi Ew GIF by Sealed With A GIFGiphy"Gas station sushi."
kirinmay
"For sushi use the 200-mile rule. If there isn't a body of water where the fish could have been caught recently, it's probably a bad idea. I wouldn't even get fresh sushi in Kansas unless I caught the fish myself."
Bahnd
Just Bland
"Shark fin."
Podzilla07
"I attended a wedding and the family paid for the food at an after-wedding dinner. I didn't know what it was, I didn't learn of the immorality behind it until after, that being said, it wasn't remarkable in any way and is in no way worth what they do to the sharks."
xfocalinx
"Not defending shark fin's soup, it's pretty bad the way it's prepared but where have you been eating it that it's bland? I'm Asian so I've eaten it at a bunch of weddings, its standout feature is how rich it is both in taste and texture."
LoreCriticizer
WHAT?!?!
"I’ve lived in New York my whole life and came to South Carolina for vacation ended up moving down here because I loved the weather. I learned that they apparently LOVE Mayonnaise and BANANA SANDWICHES!!"
"Miss me with that friggin' crap WHAT!?"
Yunloveme
"This is a dying sandwich down here, too. I grew up with them and enjoy them, but it's becoming less common. I think it must have started as a poverty food or something. They are good, though. Sweet and tangy." ~ Ritz527
"Banana and mayonnaise sandwiches came about during the times when food was more scarce (WWII). My grandmother loved them!"
Excusemytootie
Spoiled
"Suspiciously lukewarm milk. I am extremely paranoid about spoiled milk."
Melomius
"The smell of warm/hot milk is disgusting. When I have to make a huge batch of Mac and cheese at the school I work at, I have to wear a mask during the heating up of the milk/butter."
"Nothing like filling up a kitchen with the odor of vomit. Ugh. I refuse to eat Alfredo sauce and NE clam chowder for the same reason."
KitchenWitch021
Sorry Danes
fish GIFGiphy"Lutefisk. No offense to the wonderful people of Sweden/Norway and I genuinely like most other Swedish/Norwegian cuisine but not that."
"Edit- changed from Swedish to Scandinavian to Swedish/Norwegian thanks to the new knowledge about it from helpful Redditors. Apologies to Danes and anyone else who was offended by Lutefisk being labeled as Scandinavian."
HelenAngel
I go back and forth with fish in general, so a fish I can't pronounce... never!
Anything But This!
No No No GIFGiphy"Balut."
DesignerString6620
"On Today’s episode of 'F**k That!'"
"My friend said 'It’s great! Just pop the top off and sprinkle a little salt, drink the soup, and then eat the rest.' No."
omega_frog
"This. I could probably eat damn near everything, everyone else named, but hell no to this! And doing a quick skim, I’d actually probably tried half of the stuff, that’s been posted here."
Eupion
After Effects
"Pickled fish... tapeworms."
"Edit: I probably should have said 'Pickled fish because of tapeworms.' Buying them from a store is probably safe but buying/getting them from a bar or a person may not be. My uncle got tapeworm from pickled Walleye. One of two things need to be done beforehand, 1. bring the meat to 'a temp' (I don't remember) which sterilizes it but doesn't cook it, or 2. freeze for 2 days."
hatchetman208
Bad Harvest
"Edible Birds Nest. The high demand causes the nests to be harvested while still in use resulting in uncountable deaths of chicks and unborn swallows."
CaptainCloudyL
"Nearly all the edible bird's nest on the market is farmed, not harvested wild. Nesting houses are often built in urban areas for the swiftlets to settle in, while wild populations are left relatively untouched."
"The overharvesting you mention was a problem around 2 decades ago when immature nests in caves were destroyed to meet demand, but urban farming today has allowed populations to rebound and stabilize. After all, it's not in the farmers' interests to destroy swiftlet chicks which would become moneymakers for them next season."
LostTheGame42
LOATHING!!
"Liver, I cannot for the life of me get past the horrible taste and the horrible smell, I can't."
mikeyeli
"I tried eating liver before because I read that they’re a good source of iron. I then stopped and would rather take iron pills. I don’t eat any organs food like liver, gizzard, intestine, and all that. Those food are easily found in my country."
mznh
"Hell, yes. I LOATHE any kind of liver and have a special hatred for foie gras. Not only the method is horrible, but the texture is also even more revolting than regular liver."
"And yes, I've tried multiple times, from multiple animals and in every preparation under the sun because a lot of people go 'But you haven't tried it made THIS way.'"
Duochan_Maxwell
Bad Texture
"Gizzards. I'm not a gristle gal at all."
biggesttoot
"I love gizzards but I don't think I would ever call them gristly. Chewy as leather for sure though!"
orangestegosaurus
Lord No!
"Durian."
leafbaker
"Hot garbage fruit. When I was living in China, about 10 meters from my apartment’s entrance there was a durian stand and a stinky tofu stand side by side. Never needed coffee in the morning to wake up properly."
kuridono
Well, my stomach is unsettled.
I'll skip dinner for now.
Do you have anything to add to the list? Let us know in the comments below.
Some of us are more comfortable with advertisements, commercials, and sponsored content that we see on television and social media, but we can all agree that there is some truly cringey content out there.
But there have been some completely side-eye-worthy blunders that have happened at the corporate level that earned a company or product more attention than their marketing ever could, cringey or not.
Redditor LeatherFruitPF asked:
"What are some of the worst corporate blunders or PR (Public Relations) disasters in history?"
Gerard Ratner's Jewelry Woes
"Gerald Ratner called his own company’s (jeweler) products 'crap' and said that, 'a prawn sandwich would last longer' than their earrings at a conference."
"The company’s value fell by 500 million euros, and he had to resign."
- Onion_Heart
Bringing Back Spam
"Back in the 90s, Hormel Foods went on a Cease and Desist spree against anyone who was making jokes about Spam because they felt the brand had been damaged and needed to be rebuilt."
"The last straw was when they threatened to sue Jim Henson Studios over the character Spa'am in 'Muppet Treasure Island.' That turned people against them pretty quickly. It turns out that if you want to rebuild your brand in the public eye, suing one of the most beloved entertainment franchises of two generations was a bad way to go about it."
"Eventually, they dropped all the cease and desist stuff and changed their marketing strategy, instead deciding to lean into it and proclaiming that there are always going to be jokes about Spam, so they might as well be in on them."
- weirdoldhobo1978
Complacency Over Competitiveness
"Blackberry thinking that they are the top in the mobile market so they didn't need to innovate to compete with those new iPhone things from Apple."
- TechyDad
Poor Translations
"Supposedly years ago, there was a Pepsi slogan, 'Come Alive with Pepsi,' that was mistranslated in Chinese as, 'Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors Back from the Dead.'"
- xain_the_id**t
Not Welcome in Canada
"Target's expansion into Canada. It collapsed in two years and cost seven billion dollars."
- USSMarauder
"I still remember how annoyed my town was when our Zellers (what Canada had before Target) was closed down because Target was rolling into Canada. In the time it took for them to renovate the two-story mall location and convert it to a Target, THEY PULLED OUT OF CANADA."
"So for about a year, we lost our only Zellers location and we didn't even get a chance to experience it as a Target because they went t*ts up before it had a chance to open."
- sillyslambo
The Thing That Could Have Given Them an Edge...
"Sears dominated the mail order industry for over a century with their catalog. In 1993, they decided that mail order was on the decline and discontinued the catalog. Less than a year later, Jeff Bezos would found Amazon."
- BlueRFR3100
The Osborne Effect
"Have you heard of the Osborne Effect?"
"The company in 1981 had one of the first home computers on the market, it sounded fantastic and everything. At the launch, CEO said the next version will be so much better... So everyone decided, Why buy this version if the next version will be better? We'll wait for V2."
"So V1 sold terribly, the company folded, and there was no V2."
- BIllyBrooks
If Kodak Could See the Internet Now...
"Kodak shunning digital photography... Yeah..."
- uvaspina1
Inappropriate Trends
"Digiorno trying to make the hashtag 'Why I Stayed' be about making pizza at home."
- Kira82
"Reminds me of the whole Bud Light 'Up For Whatever' fiasco."
- The_ChwatBot
The 349 Incident
"The Pepsi Number Fever promotion in the Philippines went really terribly! They basically never recovered in the market there. It’s really interesting actually!"
- Londonbreakdown
"'Pepsi Number Fever, also known as the 349 incident, was a promotion held by PepsiCo in the Philippines in 1992, which led to riots and the deaths of at least five people.'"
"That's the first sentence, oh my god, I don't know why this is so funny to me but I'm going to h**l."
- onaraynaafternoon
Who is Max?
"Here’s one happening right now: HBO is rebranding as 'Max.'"
"HBO is a premium brand with decades of quality programming behind it."
"Max is generic, vague, and makes me think of softcore."
- watchingsongsDL
"It makes me think of Cinemax more than HBO, which, what?"
- EverywhereINowhere
Hoover Flights
"I can't believe the Hoover flights to America promotion from the early '90s hasn't come up yet."
"They offered a pair of return flights to America worth £600 if you spent £100 or more on their stuff."
"As it turned out, people thought £100 for a return flight with a free vacuum cleaner was a h**l of a deal, and it was a disaster that cost the company millions."
- Tim6181
Empty Promises
"Celebrities singing 'Imagine' at the beginning of the pandemic."
- KickMinaj
"'We're all in this together,' said by some idiot celebrities in their multi-million dollar mansions."
- eddyathome
Wizards of the Coast
"'Wizards of the Coast' and the open gaming license earlier this year."
"Worst handling I've seen. Literally caused dozens if not hundreds of companies to pull away from creating content for the company to making new games that will directly compete with them while alienating their fans at the same time."
- Konocti
Embrace the Tech
"Nokia, once the biggest phone company in the world, failed to move with the times and switch to Android/smartphones."
- bent_eye
It's crazy to think of how successful and large some of these companies once were before serious corporate blunders, or how hard they've had to work to come back from those blunders.
It just goes to show that some mistakes have a way of sticking around and make it really hard for people to move on.
From latch-key life to knowing when someone's home based on their bike being thrown on the front lawn to the earliest, cringiest days of social media, 80s and 90s kids are full of stories from their childhoods.
But these stories are uniquely nostalgic as kids today will never quite experience this type of childhood ever again.
Redditor MediumRareTint asked:
"What was a typical 90s scenario that today's youth will never experience?"
Landline Etiquette
"Talking to someone's parent and asking for your friend, because it was the landline and no caller ID."
- MixedSyrup
"Answering the phone in the kitchen, then running back to your room to take it there, and yelling, 'MOM, HANG UP THE PHONE! MOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM, HANG UP THE PHONE!'"
- manderifffic
The Dial-Up "Song"
"Dial-up internet. That tone is ingrained in my memory."
- Reeeeaper
Downloading Woes
"The experience of losing connection when you downloaded 99% of the file because your mom picked up the phone. Still hurts."
- Cute_Panda9
"Telling everyone in your family you're downloading a big file; don't pick up the phone."
"Reminding your family that you're downloading a big file; don't pick up the phone."
"Telling your family the file is almost done; don't pick up the phone."
"Then someone picks up the phone with ten seconds left... and you have to start the 14-hour download again tomorrow."
- Mustang46L
Internet Sounds in the Home
"The dial-up internet tone that was like nails on a chalkboard."
"'Welcome! You've got mail!'"
"The happy logging onto AIM sound."
"Someone yelling from another area of the house, 'Get offline so I can make a call!'"
"Starting a file download/upload... walking away to make a sandwich, brew coffee, fold laundry, start a new load of laundry, put the laundry away... and coming back and the download/upload is still not complete."
"Getting disconnected from the internet because someone picked up the phone to make a call while you were in the process of the aforementioned download/upload, and losing your everlovin' mind on that person."
"The best part: The original Oregon Trail game."
- Just_another_Sue
Renting Movies
"Getting a video to rent and watch at home made you feel like you were going 'out' to do something."
- ekimlive
"Oh God, movie rental, a pizza, some microwave popcorn, and some soda. It was such a fantastic night if those things were planned."
- GreenOnionCrusader
True Quiet and Disconnection
"The feeling of coming home free from school or work, and the outside world was very separate from you until the following day."
"You couldn’t easily find out what your friends were doing (they weren’t doing anything anyway), you couldn’t easily catch up on the news unless it happened to be on, and you couldn’t catch up on new movies or celebrity gossip unless you had a magazine lying around, which would come out monthly."
"It’s a level of relaxation that we took for granted, but we were likely the last generation to experience it."
- Own-Firefighter-2728
"Man, this is a really good one. We are so, so connected and it's so, so unhealthy for us."
"It was really nice when we were an entire phone call away. I didn't need to know anything about anybody, the focus was on the people you were with, and experiences outside of the home were more special."
- artemasfoul
The All-Important Meeting Place
"Making plans beforehand and having a meeting place since no one owned cell phones."
- MixedSyrup
Being Stood Up
"My youth and adulthood perfectly straddle cell phones. Last-minute cancellations became increasingly more common throughout my 20s but were rare in my teens."
"What really sucked was when a date didn’t show up and you had no way of knowing whether 1. they were ok, 2. they had a good reason, or 3. they just decided to stand you up. You generally assumed the worst, or at least I did."
- Dudley_Do_Wrong
"I never adjusted to this. I still hold true to my original plans and am confused with today's culture on this. Like, we made plans. If you didn't want to, don't say yes."
"And I am only 39."
- x-Mowens-x
No Cameras Rolling
"I grew up in the 70s and 80s, but this applies to the 90s as well…"
"You could do the absolute dumbest, craziest, most embarrassing s**t you could possibly imagine, and no one was recording it."
- FrankNStein
Safer Surroundings
"A parent saying, 'Here's $20, I'll pick you up at 8:00 when the mall closes. Don't talk to strangers.'"
- Nonsenseinabag
Airport Security
"Meeting people at the gate when you pick them up from the airport."
- Main_Maximum8963
"Romance movies have been ruined because of this."
- lifejustice
Cramming Commercial Time
"Making a dash through the house from the kitchen to the couch when someone yelled out, 'It’s back on!'"
- NicGyver
"This is how my mom used to get my sister and me to clean the house. One commercial at a time during a movie."
- reklawpuck
Live Television Programs
"Missing an episode on tv and never knowing when you can see that episode again unless some chance someone recorded it."
- Cute_Panda9
School Delays and Cancelations
"Waiting for your school district to be announced as on time, late, or canceled on the news when it snowed."
- SuitableNegotiation5
"Seeing your school scroll across the ticker was like winning the lottery."
- umanousti
Simpler Travel
"Stopping at a gas station and asking for directions."
"Or driving around aimlessly looking for a place to eat."
- Actuaryba
"Using an actual physical map. Then trying to fold it again."
- he77bender
Anyone who was a kid or young adult in the 90s will surely get feelings of nostalgia from at least some of these memories, but with the way technology is rushing forward, it's unlikely that kids today will ever get to experience these.
People Divulge If They'd Still Use Social Media If They Had To Share Their Real Identity
Social media platforms like Reddit allow users to comment on strangers' posts under the convenience of anonymity.
While a majority of the comments people leave can be insightful or encouraging, there are unfortunately many trolls who recklessly leave hurtful comments and do so while being cognizant that there are no real consequences for such bullish behavior.
This led Redditor pretty_monotonous to ask an interesting hypothetical about what would happen if a certain Reddit feature became obsolete.
They asked:
"Would you still use reddit if it had the anonymity aspect taken away? Why or why not?"
Some come to be entertained.
The Wallflower
"I'd lurk and read, but I wouldn't post."
– Not_a_werecat
"Basically how I've been using reddit for years! I have a hard time even making the simplest comments without thinking somehow this sh*ts gonna backfire on me somehow."
– archeryfreak93
Not Alone
"I love this ! I’m currently on a social media detox and I thought I was stupid for still using Reddit but I need some exposure to social media I can’t just completely cut it out, but this made me feel better thanks stranger."
– KylieJennerHusband
Fully Transparent
"Same for me. When I come here I can be fully transparent, and read others stories without making comparisons and going down the rabbit hole that usually leaves me feeling anxious and not good enough."
– crayshesay
It's a hard no.
Mental Health
"Nope. I removed myself from every platform that had that because I was constantly comparing myself to other real people, wishing I had what they had, and it was not healthy for me. Here, I have no clue who any of you are, and it's been an incredibly healthy shift while still allowing some exposure to social media."
– dj92wa
Permission To Be Rude
"No. Not because anonymity gives me the opportunity to be rude to people (I try to be as polite here as in real life), but because anonymity gives me the opportunity to talk about things freely that I wouldn't talk about if my actual name was attached to it."
"I have no desire for family members or employers to search my name and stumble across me sharing an embarrassing story, or having a not-so-mainstream opinion, or fangirling over my favorite tv character or whatever other niche interests I might have. Not to mention the risk of being stalked by people you try to avoid."
– onesmilematters
Giving Up On The Internet
"Hell no, I'd immediately stop using nearly every website I frequent if the anonymity was gone."
– AGlitchedNPC
Unemployment Risk
"One reason amongst the multitude of reasons, is that I don’t want the sh*t I say on the internet interfering with my job. I don’t want to get fired over a controversial opinion or over the language I use, such as simple words like f'k or sh*t. I’d have to overly censor myself, and the point of being anonymous is that I don’t have to do that."
– falaladoo
Security Reasons
"Probably not. I don't want to broadcast my identity for security reasons. I think that is often forgotten about when people go rabid over online anonymity."
"If a criminal/hostile state actor can make connections of when/where/what you post, it opens up a lot of scary possibilities."
– Substantial_Double32
For some, it's just a space for casual interaction.
Difference With Facebook
"This is one of the things that I really enjoy reddit for vs. Facebook. I can have indepth discussions, arguments, and debates with people who have no clue who I am, nor do I know them. I've really limited what I'll comment on Facebook out of the realization that any one I'm friends with could see that."
– ronaldreaganlive
Some Limits
"I might possibly still use it."
"But I won't express myself honestly anymore."
"Anonymity is one of absolutely essential things to assure honest and open debate. When you can be hounded and publicly punished for having an opinion different than that of the majority, you can not have free and fair debate."
– dittybopper_05H
Staying Private
"The same reason I don't post or comment on FB or Insta etc, I don't want people I know to read my opinions on anything. I'm a private person and It's none of their business."
"I like to be argumentative and have various opinions on topics that many people on my 'friends list' wouldn't necessarily appreciate."
"I'm also dead against the 'look at me' type of posting you see on other platforms; e.g. 'okay this time I'm done' without any explanation."
"In closing: I don't want to live my online life under the lense of people I know IRL."
– Rab1227
I would have no problem continuing to use any social media platform to comment on a topic with my authentic take on the subject at hand.
Because why on earth would anyone willfully make the original poster feel bad while they know exactly who is making negative remarks?
Many say, "If you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say it."
Yet, that doesn't seem to stop people who have nothing better to do but elevate themselves by taking total strangers down.
Life's short, people. Let's be kind. It's not that hard.