
Sometimes, we ARE the school story.
New York University has a tale of a freshman college student who created something called "Narnia" in his room; where he cut out the back of his closet to give him, his friends, and his roommates somewhere to smoke in their dorm room. This story was so legendary that it made it through several generations of students, all of whom told the story more exorbitantly than the next.
The incident also made any modifications to one's room at NYU illegal and reason to be kicked out of housing. Yet if you met this person, you'd find he was just another student. That could have so easily been you.
And there are so many who are that student.
u/BlueRose104 asked:
What rule at your school or work was implemented because of something you did?
Here were some of those stories.
It Ain't No Jiffy Pop
A movie theater near my house in high school had a promotion that ran all spring and part of the summer. "Bring in any container, and we'll fill it with popcorn for the cost of a large". About 2 weeks before senior skip day, a local Kmart was having a closing sale. I realised they were selling EVERYTHING. I got a storage barrel, about waist high. Big enough for an adult to crouch down and hide in.
On senior skip day, me and 3 friends went to the movies. During the day, they sell tickets at the concession stand, so no one saw us bring in the barrel. Guy comes out and asks what we want, we get 4 drinks and i ask if they're still doing the popcorn promo. Guy says yes, and I ask him if it truly was for any container. Again he says yes. I pick up this huge barrel and say I want it filled please.
Guy laughs and gets his coworker. They both start filling it up while laughing. Ended up being 10 large popcorns worth of volume, cleared out alllll the popcorn they had premade. We watched our movie, then lugged the popcorn barrel to a nearby park and took it to the top of an overlook tower.
By the end of the day, we had only eaten like 10-20% of what was in there. Took the rest home and grazed on it for the next day or two. After that, I took the last half to the creek behind my house and dumped it all there. The squirrels ate like kings.
After my freshman year of college, i came home on spring break and went back to that movie theater. I asked if they were doing that bring your own container promo. They said no, some guy last year abused the system and the manger got pissed so they canceled it.
I asked about the incident, just to see what they'd say. She pulled a picture one of the guys had taken of the barrel full of popcorn behind the concession counter and said "well, the guy brought in a barrel. The manager figured that at most people would bring in their popcorn bowls from home. Once they realized that any container meant ANY container, they stopped the promo."
Oh Okay So I Guess Not ANYTHING
I worked at a really small family owned cafe and there was only ever one person on shift at a time.
My boss was chill with us doing whatever we wanted if there were no customers, so I would whip out my iPad and work on essays when the place was dead and I had nothing to do.
They had cameras, and after about a week we got an email that no electronics were allowed in the shop, including iPads.
Sry 2 B Trdy 2 Da Prty
It was after I left, but my high school had to change the entire way they issued tardies and absences because I abused the system. Used to go halfway late to class because then they couldn't call my parents because I wasn't technically absent.
People Explain The Worst Thing That's Ever Happened To Them On Their Birthday
We almost feel like heroes when we can claim credit for the way something shook out.
Employers Making Sure Sick People Don't Get Paid, As Usual
At work, I had saved all floating holidays, vacation weeks and sick days for years. Then I had a heart attack, and a bypass. Eight weeks off, and didn't miss a cent off my paycheck. The next year my appendix blew out, and another 9 weeks off, with not a cent missing from my paycheck.
The managers decided that from then on, you had to take your vacation, floating holidays and sick days in the year that you earned them. Not let them build up for a decade and a half!
Double Panting
You must wear the uniform pants OR skirt, not both. I found the fit on the uniform pants weird and it made me very self conscious, but I live in Canada and wearing an above-the-knee skirt in January was chilly.
Wore them together for most of the winter, and it caught on with a number of other girls too. The next year the uniform policy was changed.
We Love A Little Batman Villain
No running in the playground.
My school used to have a sort of gravelly concrete texture playground. It looked exactly like gravel that was all stuck down. The top had been smoothed down a lot, but if you fell it obviously stripped a lot of skin off.
One day, we were playing Stuck in the Mud (a chasing game). Anyway, I got caught and immediately stopped. The person following me didn't, so they ran into my back and bowled me over, us both going almost full pace. They landed on top of me, pinning my face to the ground as we skid along the ground for s few feet.
Honestly, it wasn't that bad in the grand scheme of things. It stripped off a few layer of skin, looked like a Batman villain, but nothing went deep enough to cause harm. I remember the look of horror on the faces of everyone else, and being escorted to the medical room with a gaggle of teachers in front of me covering all the mirrors and reflective surfaces!
But it scared the school into action, my mum was a governor and said this had always been a concern, but I really triggered it. In the immediate term, they banned running on that surface. Longer term, a couple of years, they installed a new rubberised AstroTurf surface. That surface was/is lovely. Us kids loved it, we could play so much more fully with slides and dives and all sorts because we didn't get flayed anymore! So I like to think my sacrifice was worth it.
4Square Is LIFE
Four square was life as a sixth grader. It took on its own culture with its own laws. I happened to dominate at four square. So much so that the vice principal intervened to change the rules that neither I nor any mortal made.
Even with these unjust usurpations, I managed to prevail time and again. And that's when they implemented a rule that said if the vice principal thought you played enough, you had to go to the back of the line. Like a peasant.
And if someone else you know ever happens to pass through that school or place of work, you totally have bragging rights.
Are These Still A Thing
Local paper delivery boy when I was 10 or 11.
I had about 60 houses and the paper cost $2/month for a weekly paper. On the 4th week of each month, it would be our job to go and collect door-to-door the $2.
Our pay was based on a % of collected doors. If you collected < 50% of your houses, you got 33% of whatever you collected. If you collected > 50% of your houses, you got 50% of whatever you collected.
I soon learned that I had a few homes that were subscribed to the route but who never paid. I stopped delivering to them and my boss informed me that the payment for the paper was actually optional, therefore I need to still put a paper on their doorstep.
For the next several months, I collected from my usual houses but I didn't turn in any money - feigning that all of my houses chose not to pay. Since their payment was optional, my young mind decided that submission of their payment should be optional too.
A few months later, they mandated payment from customers along with a new receipt policy for proof of payment. I was fired that same month.
The Max Lotto
My high school tried to encourage people to read by making a drawing for a Barnes and Noble gift card where you could add your name for each book you checked out.
What they didn't expect was I was an absolute book nerd and a fast reader so I would check out the max amount of books each day only to turn them in the next morning and rinse and repeat. I only checked out books I've read before so if they quizzed me I could say I read every book I checked out. I won about 50$ worth of Barnes and Noble gift cards before they decided to put a max on drawings per person.
Just Going Too Far On Purpose
Our school banned waterbottles because of me.
For some reason an extreme health/water drinking fad started among our school's girl students and they would come to school with their mineral water valpre bottles, constantly sipping.
Eventually the guys also picked up this fad. So I decided to turn this into a joke and began bringing to school and lugging around a massive 10L plastic jug of water - those that go on top of water coolers in offices. Eventually, lots of other kids also started doing this and began bringing larger and larger bottles to school. Everywhere you would see girls with 5L jugs and guys with 10L drums of water.
Not wanting the spotlight taken from me, I then upped the ante by bringing a mini wheelbarrow to school with THREE of those 10L bottles on it.
After a while it all did start to kinda look ridiculous and my school was posh and image-conscious with very elegant uniforms.
So then one day the principal had enough.
He completely banned all water bottles and said that we must drink water from the taps in the bathrooms and the other faucets all over the school grounds (our city has very clean tap water so it is safe).
While we may have gotten in trouble in the moment, these stories were totally worth it to become absolute legends to all who came after us.
And though nobody may repeat exactly what we did, may future legends take our spots with new and exciting ideas.
I think as humans we can't help but make life hard.
There are lessons and signs and ways that show us an easier route, but we have to learn the hard way.
Why is that?
Maybe it's just life.
Learning the hard way makes the lesson more rewarding, or some such nonsense.
I'll take easy from now on please.
Redditor Xpertshinobi334 wanted to hear about the times many of us made life more difficult.
They asked:
"What did you learn the hard way?"
I stay up too late. Every night. It's a bad cycle. It makes the days so hard. You?
Cruel
"Some people will happily use you, and feel no sense of sorrow."
Euphoric_nite
Cray
"Everyone is the hero of their own story, even to the point of being delusional. I learned that the hard way. Sometimes they have a completely fictional narrative in their heads. They may also have no concept of you at all, main character syndrome. Ppl be cray-cray."
MysteryWrecked
It's a mutual thing...
"The difference between liking someone a lot and loving them romantically."
Daidy_Blue
"Personal opinion. It's a mutual thing. Both people in a relationship should want to listen to their partner because inevitably issues will arise and disagreements will occur. If it's only one sided in the sense that compromise can't be made, maybe its not love, only one person liking their spouse more than they like them.""
"At the same time a relationship 1 year in vs a relationship 5 years in is vastly different. I'm sure there are plenty of relationships where one spouse does everything they can to improve without reciprocation. There are always the what if variables which makes the entire idea of relationships a huge mind f**k."
fateless115
You First
"You cannot rely on others for self love... no matter how much you try to argue it.'
Alphablaze98"On a similar note, I always found 'you have to love yourself first' bullsh*t advice but after I fell ill with burnout I did find meaning in it. Although I say 'You have to love yourself first to accept that others can love you.'"
DaPino
"Well I'm screwed because I hate everything about who I am and I do not want others to love me because I know who I am and they deserve better."
753951321654987
How have we survived this long? We're a mess.
SOS
"To ask for help when you start to struggle. Ignoring your problems doesn't make them go away, only increases the long term damage they can do."
ofsquire
Tossed Aside
"You can devote yourself to a job, give it your all, do every extra shift, task and be known for having a good worth ethic. Sacrifice your mental and physical health to make others happy. But the day something happens to you, they will toss you and replace you in a heartbeat."
catsandalcohol13
"It takes 20 years to build a good reputation but only one smirk to ruin it. I was that that good at a job, after 5 years, that I was the one that management got to show all the new hires around. One Monday morning I showed a new girl around and then she went to management and said I made a move on her (I didn't). By Friday I was fired and she was promoted to my job."
Captain_Coco_Koala
They Don't Know
"That my parents are not always right. I know it sounds dumb but seriously I used to think that all I gotta do is follow what my parents want me to do until that got me into the darkest phase of my life it took me 3 years to get my life back together and now I have realized the hard way that even your parents aren't always correct. Their one wrong decision sabotaged me too intensely but things are finally coming back to normal."
Blaze_989
Victims
"Not everyone will own up to their mistakes and will still blame you and manipulate you despite the fact that they're in the wrong."
sashaa-xx
"The funny thing is that some of these people also view themselves as people with integrity. Blows my mind tbh. There’s nothing wrong with admitting your mistakes, doesn’t make you less of a human either."
Ok_Giraffe_1488
No Secrets
"When a guy says they are not interested in a long term relationship, you will not secretly get them to love you and change their mind. Either be ok with a casual thing or move on to someone with similar goals."
ksgar77
Let' s make life a little easier. Just be kind. Especially to yourself.
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Some people like sweets, some people like alcohol, some people are willing to spend extra money a month just to have full access to all 14 seasons of their favorite obscure Canadian detective show.
You don't judge us, we won't judge you.
Reddit was asked:
"What is a guilty pleasure for you ?"
...and ... like ... we honestly feel kind of bonded in non-shame over this stuff.
Because it's all just SO GOOOOOOOOD!
It's Britney ...
"Playing Britney Spears’ music on 11 when I’m in the car all by myself. Especially 'Work Bitch' when I’m on the way to work an extra shift."
-nancydrew1224
"Toxic is an undeniably fantastic song."
-TheBrontosaurus
"It's such a weird mix of elements. Obviously you have Britney's pop singing, but it also mixes harsh strings with synth electro and a lot of rock elements. It blurs several genres together, and accordingly fits well next to other genres of music."
-Nambot
Those Golden Arches
"McDonald’s"
"I regret my choice right after finishing my meal. But not enough to prevent me from going back the next week lol"
-Candidmirror12
"Why did you say the word? I've been clean for three months straight!"
-realfoodman
"Yep."
"I get a craving 2-3 times a year. Same damned order every time. Large #1 value meal with a coke and a cheeseburger."
"I love their little chopped onions"
"Did you know that the Coke syrup formula for McDonald’s is different than what you get at home or other restaurants? It’s actually sweeter per McDonald’s request and specifications"
-mlgbt1985
Can't Run
"The Tremors anthology. Bad B-rated horror but god DAMN do I love me some graboids."
-BolognaIsNotAHat
"The first movie is legitimately excellent. The rest are stupid syfy level movies that are still a ton of fun."
-Taynt42
"The second one is also not terrible. Felt like a well measured escalation. The 3rd one on, though... SMH."
-Hotarg
"You ever have something be so bad that it loops itself back around into being awesome? That's this."
- [Reddit]
Perfect Mood Lifter
"Watching kid shows or disney movies even though I'm an adult."
-BanGinGDreams
"Phineas and Ferb."
"I honestly love to cruise the country side with my biker group, smoke half a pack, get home crack a beer and see what Phineas and Ferb did today."
"I'm a 28 year old man."
-Tiger_In_Maine
"Cartoons are good for the soul. Visually pleasing to watch. Good stories. Usually have some safe humor. Always end on a feel good tone. The perfect mood lifter when you're feeling down."
-GingerJayPear
Go Go Power Rangers
"Power rangers lore."
"I'm 28, can't get myself to sit through the kids shows anymore. But man did I love the series growing up and like keeping up with the new stories and seeing how it's going."
"My significant other would pretty much leave me if she found out how much I'm still addicted to keeping up with a show that I should have dropped 20 years ago."
-PN-DUBS
"Full stop, check out the comics. They were made for people that watched it as children and are adults now and they are honestly nothing short of incredible between the art and storylines. They do some really rad stuff."
-ForSafeKeeping220
Digging
"Picking my nose. I know it’s a bad habit but it’s nostalgic"
-VictoryIsMudkipz
"Kinda same it's not just gross but I also feel like it makes my nostrils bigger so I feel even more guilty 😭"
-getawaycar7H13
"There are two kinds of people in the world. People who pick their nose and liars"
-energy_falcon
Terribly Delicious
"Bad coffee."
"Like you go to a chrome-plated diner by the interstate and the coffee is made of cheap, stale grounds that has been on the hot plate or 3 hours. Something about it is super nostalgic."
-MutantOverlord
"Hell yes. I'll get like 5 refills on that tiny ass cup, tyvm"
-stoncils_
"Just terrible enough to want another cup."
-caseyd1020
Later
"Procrastinating….I hate myself for it"
-Usual-Difference9135
"I was going to comment the same but figured it could wait."
-C0rnD0g1
"I usually have two or three things on the go at once. So when I feel like procrastinating, I switch to one of the other things. My job has become literally me always procrastinating."
-StGir1
T.Swift
"I, on some occasions, belt out Taylor Swift’s 'Our Song' when I’m alone"
-nenolpunk
"I do it too but with 'The Story of Us' "
-SoonlyXo
"Taylor Swift's old songs are the best songs"
-AwesomeSpindleberry
"It’s this or 'Teardrops on My Guitar' because wow. Hit me in my teen feels."
"Who is Drew? I don't know, but I’ll sing about them regardless"
-nenolpunk
Hipster ASMR
"Before I discovered ASMR, I used to secretly watch videos of makeup tutorials because they made me feel relaxed. I'm a guy who's never worn make up in my life."
-SXOSXO
"I'm a man in my 30s. I love the cosplay tutorials from Alyson Tabbitha."
-amadeus2490
"Literally same!!! I watch NikkieTutorials or Naomi Jon! Like I personally don’t wear make up but I love the art behind it"
-patzzxd
So tell us, what's your pleasure? And do you HONESTLY feel guilty about it?
Go ahead and talk about it in the comments, I've got a certain Canadian Detective to check up on.
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Love or money?
An age old question.
Ideally, you wouldn't have to decide between the two.
In a perfect world, you would be able to find the true love of your life and be incredibly wealthy all at once.
But, as the saying goes, you can't have everything.
Though if faced with having to choose between the two, people might have a different idea of what the obvious answer would be.
Redditor lulinghayaw was curious how people would decide when faced with this decision, leading them to ask:
"Genuine, true love or 5 million dollars? Why?"
My love is worth more than that.
"True love because my true love is 5 trillion dollars."- ImOnARush.
Freedom to do what you love.
"I'm gonna be really honest, I'd choose 5 million dollars."
"Having that much money means financial stability."
"It means not having to work for money - that wouldn't mean not working ever again, but doing a job you really love even if it doesn't pay well."
"I would be able to study without worrying about burdening my parents."
"I could achieve my dream of getting multiple degrees."
"Money isn't just money, it's opportunities."
"Without having to worry about money, I could focus on improving myself in every way - getting healthier, studying more, having a stable routine, reading a lot, overall becoming the best version of myself."
"I'll have plenty of time to find true love, improve relationships with friends and family and everything else."- lux_blue.
Money over love any day- no matter the amount.
"5 dollars."- SpaZzzmanian_Devil.
"SHOW ME THE MONEY."- _starvingartist.
How much is true love worth.
"Money."
"Love can't pay my bills."- LiteLit.
Money can't buy happiness.
"True love."
"Moneys cool and all, but I'd much rather be in a loving relationship."- WhiskersCleveland.
But money can buy a lot of other things...
"5 mil, I’ll wipe my tears with hundreds."- Weary_Gate7941.
True love...with a rich partner.
"Genuine true love."
"It didn't say my partner and I would be poor."- moonIightbaby.
"The greatest thing, you'll ever learn..."
"True love."
"I have been alone all my life."
"I’ve always had toxic friends because i told myself i deserved it, i told myself 'at least they want to be friends with me'."
"I have a narcissistic mother and a dad that isn’t emotionally there because of his own trauma."
"I have a sister that flat out ignores me when I talk and my other siblings are too young for me to have the kind of bond that i need right now."
"I have an amazing best friend but it’s different than having someone that loves me and i love back."
"If you had asked me a month ago i would’ve said 5 million."
"I would’ve been lying."
"If you had asked a year ago I would’ve said 5 million and I would’ve been telling the truth. true love is priceless."
"I’ll be winning 4 million on the lottery tho."- 76543210987654321.
Some might say being truly, madly in love feels like having five million dollars.
While others might feel that having five million dollars feels even better than being in love.
Others might simply strive for a little bit of each.
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It's highly believed that it is important to learn history as a means to improve our future.
What is often overlooked is that what is taught in history class is going to be very different depending on where you went to school.
And this isn't just internationally, even different regions of the United states will likely have very different lessons on American history.
This frequently results in our learning fascinating, heartbreaking and horrifying historical facts which our middle or high school history teachers neglected to teach us.
Redditor Acherontia_atropos91 was curious to learn things people either wished they had learned, or believe they should have learned, in their school history class, leading them to ask:
What isn’t taught in history class but should be?
The Irish Troubles
"The troubles."
"Too many people in America do not understand why a wall straight through Ireland would be a BAD idea."
"I’m referring to the Brexit referendum and possible outcomes."
"If people were wondering why we were talking about walls through Ireland in the first place."- CLCVS.
Forgotten elements of World War II
"What the Japanese did to the Chinese during WW2."
"Unit 731."- CaptainMcBoogerJew.
"Japan gets off easy for their war crimes in WW2."
"They killed an estimated 16mil Chinese civilians and another 8mil soldiers"
"Also, Pol Pot."
"Didn't know who he was until I was like 25."
"Worst dictator all time (in terms of percentage of population he decimated)".
The truth about the American Revolution
"That the American Revolution was part of a wider cold war type of conflict with France."
"The American Revolution was basically the UK's equivalent of the US version of Vietnam."- vinsant7.
The Dark side of Swedish history.
"As a Swede, I'd like to know more of all the horrible sh*t my country has done throughout history."
"It's a damn shame we're trying to hide our history."
"For example, Swedes killed a metric sh*t ton of all Polish people when we were at our strongest."
"That's the kinda sh*t we don't get to learn."- mogwandayy.
Colonization
"Basically what Belgium did to the Congo."
"A lot of people are telling me that they are taught about this actually."
"I'm glad to hear it because I wasn't taught about this in the USA during my public school days (1995-2008)."- EconArch.
The truth about "heroes".
"While teaching about historical Heroes they should also tell students about the unspeakable things some of them did."
"Many famous figures throughout history who are pillars of morality actually did many terrible things." - User Deleted
Intolerance for Mental Illness
"The dark history of mental illness treatments."
"I think it's worth learning about."- 7dayexcerpt.
Slavic Mythology
"Slavic mythology in Slavic countries."
"Don't get me wrong, I love both Greek & Roman mythology and as a person from the Balkans both of those cultures are part of my country's history and had great influence over not only my region but the entirety of the continent & the western world but I wouldn't mind knowing more about Slavic mythology as well."- ShorsShezzarine.
The truth about the CIA
"How the CIA was made and all the shady things they did over the years."- ALargeChip.
There is a lot about the history of our world, not to mention our own country which shouldn't be ignored.
And it's from learning from our mistakes that we really improve our future.
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