
I used to work for a guy who was seriously not just the worst boss ever, but the worst human being. I'm talking openly racist, abusive, with 'roid rage issues, criminally negligent, a fraud. I could go on but seriously there are legal cases in the works right now, so...
Thing is, it took over a year working there for all of this to come to light. I thought it was strange that the day of my first interview all of the other employees kept asking me if I really needed the job.
Red flag AF, you guys. We couldn't get him fired as he was the owner of the company, but several of us did report him to appropriate boards, etc. It's worth noting that this guy was so bad to work for, that everyone who was in the office has left not just the job, but the entire industry and in two cases moved out of the entire state. Yeah. He sucked that bad.
Reddit user Tunaball25 asked
People who've gotten their bosses fired: how?
I'm not going to lie, I enjoyed reading every single one of these responses from people who managed to do what we couldn't. So if you've ever had a terrible boss who you wanted to get fired - go ahead and dive in. Some of the entries have been edited for language or clarity, but every awful (and awesome) detail is still right here for you to enjoy.
Pretty Manageable
The CEO publicly praised me for completing a task that my boss had struggled with, so my boss retaliated by forwarding all of his tasks to me in an effort to overwhelm me with work. I actually found his job pretty manageable, which the CEO also noticed and fired him, giving me his job and office.
The Threat
He grabbed the back of my neck and said "If you ever say I'm wrong in front of a customer again I will beat your @ss."
I went to the GM and told him and my supervisor was relieved of his duties about 5 minutes later.
An EKG
Had a doctor that constantly ignored patients in serious pain. He thought all of them were faking it to get pain killers. After a senior director at Microsoft died from a heart attack in our ER that he refused to do an EKG on, I went to management and told them what I had seen.
The Investigation
It was my supervisor. It got to the point that I had decided to quit. I had my resignation letter in my purse, but decided to let his boss know why I was quitting.
Supervisor would talk about all the people on our team constantly, but only behind their backs. I got so sick of telling him to cut it out. My husband and I happened to work at the same place (different departments) and my Supervisor would make sexual comments about threesomes (ewww), what hotel we should pick for our afternoon delight, sh*t like that. It was so bloody uncomfortable.
Apart from this, he spent most of his supervising time outside smoking. The problem in my mind was that Supervisor was "one of the guys" and I was the only girl.
Turns out I didn't need to worry about that. His boss was disgusted and told his boss - who lost his mind. They started an investigation which took three days. They interviewed staff - who corroborated what I said. They checked the security cameras, saw he was spending most of his work day outside smoking. And was fired.
When he was told he guessed (wasn't hard!) that I was the person who complained and tried to get to me to "apologize that I took it the wrong way." The best feeling was my co workers surrounding me as he was walked out. That was a lovely ending to it all.
The Zamboni
Was working maintenance at an ice rink. The rule for anyone who knows how an ice rink works is if the zamboni doors open, you get the f--- off the ice. Some d!ck-head decided to ignore the fact that they were open and that I was standing in the doorway, and decided to rip off one last slap-shot. The puck bounced off the glass and hit me in the head.
I was OK, but reported it to my boss, because we have to fill out an incident report for things like that. The boss asked "Are you OK?" I said I feel OK, then he responded with "Well, we don't really have to report it then do we?" I reminded him of the protocol, but it was clear he didn't want to do it. Since he wouldn't do it, I sent a descriptive email of the incident up to the administration, because I felt there should be some sort of documentation/paper trail in case god-forbid I ended up having a brain hemorrhage or something a few days later.
The boss was fired by my next shift.
- grizzfan
Short Term Disability
I was fired because I "abandoned my job" while on short term disability. While on approved leave, they set a date for me to return and never informed me (by their own admission.) When I obviously didn't return to work... I was fired.
The locker I had at work had my work boots in it that the company pays $90 a year towards. However there isn't a pair under $100 available. So you always end up having some come out of your paycheck. At that point they are yours regardless of the company line. My supervisor disagreed and said they were thrown out.
I reported them stolen and explained the entire situation. The HR director responsible for getting me fired was fired.
- r48811
Moms Death
Phoned him to tell him I won't be at work for the rest of the week as my mum is terminally ill in hospital.
The next day (about an hour after she passed away) he phoned and asked why I wasn't at work, I just hung up on him so I wouldn't say anything that would get me in trouble.
The next day I sent the area-manager a Whatsapp message explaining what he'd be done and attached a video of him breaking the freezer door while having a tantrum. That door cost the store nearly £5000 in lost stock and the repair costs. He had told the his manager that the door broke on its own. He got fired that day and I got 2 weeks off with full pay.
As A Customer
Not my boss but I helped my friend get her boss fired. He was a general manager, and always grabbing her sides, purposely scheduling her to have shifts alone with him, asking her for nudes, asking her to sleep with him, etc. She reported it so many times to the owner (big boss) and they said they couldn't do anything because they hadn't seen it and had no reports other than her account. In short, she had no "witnesses" and couldn't prove anything, it was her word against his, they were not going to reprimand him.
So I called and complained as a customer about how I witnessed him being creepy to her and how it made me uncomfortable. For the most part true lol, I just don't shop there.
17 Hours
My manager wanted to prove I'm slacking off so he could write me up. So he watched CCTV footages then wrote, printed out and SIGNED a detailed 17 page Word document of what did I do in the past two days. With timestamps (like, 07:59 arriving, 08:01 speaking with co-worker A and B, 08:07 sitting down to my desk, etc.)
He told me that he's not happy with my work ethics and if I won't improve my efficiency, I'm fired.
So I took the papers and showed them to his boss. I told her that I'm not happy with my managers work ethics and his efficiency might be better if he didn't watch 17 hours of CCTV footage to spy on an employee. She was terrified (it would've been a rock solid lawsuit for me - but I love my job) and we had to search for a new manager. Also, my salary was raised.
Showing Up At The House
My boss, John, would show up at my house after work hours to discuss work stuff. When I asked him to stop, he tried to fire me. When at the HR meeting the following day, I explained my story and showed them the video from my door camera.
They literally go "John, we've talked about this" and asked me to leave the meeting. 2 hours later he walks out and announces that he's leaving.
Customer Surveys
I worked in a call center for a computer manufacturer. Sometimes my manager would take calls when we were short staffed, or just simply overloaded with calls, and anytime he did he was just relentlessly rude to the customers. It was a tech support job, and he often sounded like Roy from the IT crowd if you've ever seen it. He would berate customers that didn't understand computers (and we had a LARGE number of elderly callers that just didn't understand) literally calling them stupid, yelling at them because they couldn't figure out where something was, etc...
Eventually it would get to the point where callers would hang up on him because he was so mean to them. He'd put in his support ticket as "user error" or something along those lines, and continue on to the next call. After a particularly rough couple of weeks due to a botched software roll out, I started getting several calls myself from people saying that they had spoken to a really rude guy, and if they heard his voice they would just hang up.
Any time I got one of these calls and the boss wasn't next to me, I started telling the callers that I would send them a survey linked to the ticket that he had submitted for them and they could report how he treated them. This was actually the policy at the time so I was technically just doing my job.
I went in to work one day and this guy's desk was totally cleaned out and his computer was gone.
I talked to another manager that I was friends with, and she told me that there was a mysterious influx of negative surveys, so HIS boss (the big boss) decided to listen to some of his phone calls to see what was going on. After just a few, he called him in and fired him. He had been at this company for like 15 years, and his seniority was apparently keeping him from getting his calls reviewed, so he just took advantage.
I never told anyone I was the guy sending the surveys.
- Mallos42
Just Bob Being Bob
I worked in a cafeteria as a catering coordinator.
They had a manager who would stand up against the wall by the female cashiers and "observe" them...making sure they were doing their job.....no...not staring at their asses at all.
It made them uncomfortable, so they complained to their supervisor. She said - yeah a she..that that was "Just Bob being Bob."
Now this was for a large government funded broadcaster, so I went to HR and told them about it. They senT someone down for 3 days straight to get lunch and "observe" him.
They confronted him with proof and fired him.
Then they brought in the cashier's supervisor and asked if she ignored complaints from staff. She at first denied it, but they had proof; so she was fired at the same time.
- Wencar
Topless Beaches
I was a contractor for a big wireless carrier. I worked in IT along with a team of about 5 other people and our boss. Our boss was kind of a dude-bro, young, loud and liked to joke around a lot. 3 of the people on the team were young women.
We were in a team meeting and the boss was talking about his upcoming destination wedding and was discussing the topless beaches there. I forget the exact context, but he said something along the lines of 'Take your tops off ladies!' and then 'Get your phones out guys!'
He was kidding (I think?) but I could see that the women were super uncomfortable, it was gross and inappropriate, and the joke went on a lot longer than it needed to.
He left that weekend for his wedding. I called HR to complain.
When he got back a couple weeks later, we were having kind of a follow-up meeting with him and the team. His blackberry rings, and he says 'Hey, I need to step out, corporate wants to talk to me.' He sounded worried.
He was back like 4 hours later and says 'I'm no longer your guys' boss on this project.' And I never saw his fat frat boy ass again.
- ichegoya
Green Steak
I am a chef.
I came into work on the 1st of January a few years ago after having a few days off. Most of the main items for the menu had gone bad. So I went to the manager and told them I could only serve a few things off of the menu until things were re-ordered. He was cool with it. Later that day we counted the stock to throw away.
The head chef came in at this point and went crazy. He actually the spoiled food back in the fridge to serve. I showed him the green steak, he said it was fine! It was green! Green is not fine! He then texted all the kitchen staff to say I was under disciplinary action, I laughed so hard.
He was sacked the next day. His total food cost waste was 4 grand or something in a 4 month period. I did/didn't get him sacked. I certainly complained - but he mostly did it to himself.
Pinned
I went to the owners and told them the manager had pinned more than one girl against the wall to try and kiss them. They asked me to find it on the cctv so they can get rid of him - and they actually did.
Quickly.
Police And The Panty Check
I was a police officer for almost 10 years and one night I was talking to the desk sergeant who was a real dick and everyone hated him. In comes one of the patrol guys who has just arrested a couple for "open lewdness" - a polite way of saying he caught them screwing in a park.
The couple is insisting they weren't doing anything wrong, and the patrol guy says "Ma'am, I saw your vagina." She replies "I'm wearing underwear, you can't have seen my vagina!" and they start arguing over whether the woman is wearing underwear or not.
Eventually the woman grabs her skirt like she's about to pull it over her head and says "DO YOU WANT TO SEE MY UNDERWEAR?" and everyone in the room yells "NO!" at her.
The thing is, as a cop it's an almost 100% certainty that every person you arrest is going to make at least a half-assed effort at filing a complaint about the fact that they were unjustly "arrested while minding their own business." Obviously "then they forced me to display my bare vagina" is a future sound bite that nobody wants to be a part of.
So the desk sergeant comes up with the idea that we will do a panty check, but have a female officer do it. Problem is there's no female officer on duty.
So then he comes up with the bright idea to request a random female civilian off the street perform the check...and at this point I stepped up to him and suggested that this was not a good idea. He appreciated my questioning his decision about as much as a dog likes lemons and put me in my place.
So I sat down to see how this unfolded. That's when I realized that from where I'm sitting, I can clearly see up the woman's skirt to her bright yellow panties. The arresting officer couldn't have seen what he claimed. She was right. She was absolutely wearing panties.
Now I know I can shut this whole thing down. I stepped up to the desk sergeant and said "I need to speak to you privately, and quickly" and he yelled at me, saying:
"You need to get the f*ck out of my station and out to your patrol area!"
...so I told him I was on it and went on my way.
The next day I discovered the totally predictable outcome had come to pass. He had, in fact, gotten a random stranger to perform a panty check on the woman. The female stranger confirmed the panties - and she was also deeply morally offended at the indignity the poor woman had been subjected to. Complaints were filed all around with every person present being named...except me; because I'd been ejected from the station house prior to the main event.
We had a new desk sergeant the next day, and I didn't see the old one again for like 2 years. Eventually ran into him doing classroom training. He was super friendly, and missing a stripe of rank. I wondered what he was playing at until I realized he didn't even remember I was there that night, and had no idea that I could have saved him from his misguided course of action, but that I let him burn his own career down because he was an assh*le who didn't deserve to hold rank.
Cake Making Theif
Told my bosses at Baskin Robbins to check the security surveillance at a certain time. I saw our assistant manager/cake maker was stealing cash. I honestly hated the guy. Not sorry, Calvin.
Graphic Novel
My boss texted me a "graphic novel" he was writing about coworkers raping each other. I showed it to the owner. Boss was fired. Pretty weird stuff.
Brand New Cadillac
I worked in management at a call center. The director suddenly withheld all yearly bonuses/raises for management and cut out all overtime. He made reps work through lunch, but bought $5 pizzas and gave everyone 2 slices to eat while taking calls.
Of course he still docked paychecks to reflect a lunch taken. He showed up to work 2 months later in a brand new Cadillac. I called the corporate HR office and let them know everyone's paychecks decreased and he came to work in a brand new f*cking Cadillac.
Fired.
- D0kk3n
People Who Have Accidentally Sent A Nude Photo To The Wrong Person Describe The Fallout
Whether everyone would actually admit it or not, most people live on their phones.
They can take care of last-minute work tasks on the go, confirm plans with friends via text, and entertain themselves while scrolling through multiple social media pages.
However, one must be super cautious and focused when juggling between all those open apps.
Because being a multi-tasker comes with a risk that involves mixing private and public lives with unintended, and very embarrassing, effects.
Curious to hear from strangers about a more NSFW faux pas, Redditor sollyman7999 asked:
"Ever sent a nude to the wrong person? what happened, how did they respond?"
Families can be close-knit but even they can have their hard limits.
WhatsApp, Doc?
"Sent a d*ck pic to my family whatsapp group instead of my girlfriend, who requested it. I got a lot of laughs from my sisters, a well done from my father, and not a single word from my mother, who to this day denies it happened. It was a horrible experience."
– Loud_Essay_7286
Sis Came To The Rescue
"I was meaning to text my boyfriend the picture, but must have still been in the iMessage chat to my dad at the time, and sent it without checking. Seeing that the nude had been texted to my dad, I immediately called him — I was going to ask him to delete the pictures, and that they were inappropriate and were supposed to go to my boyfriend. That way he wouldn’t see the images themselves; he would just know I had taken nudes. Somehow, by the grace of God, my SISTER answered his phone, as she was living at home at the time. I begged her for help, and she was able to delete the images off his phone. My dad never knew the incident ever occurred. I asked my sister how I could repay her, and she asked me to never ever bring it up again. I owe her one, eternally!"
– sjohns90
Sorry, Bro
"I was 26 at the time. Just shaved my junk. It was looking mighty presentable, so I decided the GF needed to see. I mistakenly sent it to my older brother. He replied with, 'I don't think that was meant for me.' I died a little inside. It was never spoken of again."
– ianj2807
Mother Approves
"Not me but my wife. She has sent a very explicit nude of hers to her mother instead of me."
"End result; 'Masallah, you're beautiful' as response from my mother-in-law, then similar responses from her sisters and sisters-in-law because yeah, her mother forwarded it."
– zztri
Leaders got more than they ever expected.
The Boss Gets A Surprise Message
"I accidentally sexted my Boss thinking I was talking to my Husband. He send back 'I don’t think this was meant for me' I sent him the biggest apology ever and we never spoke about it ever."
– Livinginthemiddle
At Attention
"I did the same thing with my platoon sergeant. D*ck pic with the caption 'love you' that was supposed to go to my ex. He just replied 'I like you, but this isn't love.'"
"Kill me."
– Reddit
Pay attention to which social media app you're using.
"Cute Lil Boobies"
"I have one like this that haunts me. When Instagram FIRST came out, like before I had ever even heard anyone talking about it, I thought it was a new photo editing app that let you put cool filters on your phone pictures and kept a little album for you, like any normal photo editing app would do. Keep in mind back then there wasn't really social media centered around pictures so I had no concept of that. I took some nudes on there and put lil filters on them and stuff and sent them to a boyfriend, then didn't think of it again"
"MONTHS later I get a text from a (very kind) ex saying 'did you know your cute lil boobies are on Instagram and everyone can see them?' I was mortifiedddd lol. Apparently he could find my profile because it recommended it via contacts or something, which I also had no concept of at that time, not many socials did that back then. So I have no idea how many people saw those pictures. Oops."
"To add insult to injury I wasn't signed into the account anymore so I was DESPERATELY trying to remember what email and password would get me in."
– Zenki_s14
For All To See
"Sent to the wrong person? No"
"Posted to my facebook feed? Yes"
"Few family members unfriended me, got a few DMs asking did I realize what I did, two DMs asking if I had more (not family - before you ask)"
– Craigothy-YeOldeLord
Nude Co-Worker
"I did once some years back. I (f) sent a snap to (f co-worker). I had absolutely no idea until I got a snap from her telling me I looked nice and asked if she was supposed to return the favor. Told her it was completely up to her but it was an accident! She sent me one back anyways. We left it at that and we would bring it up every once in a while and just giggle about it. Haven't seen her since I left that job but this question definitely brought this memory back lol."
"EDIT: I made this comment, went to bed, and didn't think about it this morning until I opened reddit not long ago. I was reading the comments and yall were making me laugh! It's so weird to have the most upvoted comment be me about sending a nude to a co-worker lol"
– MistressManor
And for others, it's all intentional.
Just Playing With The Homies
"The homies and I used to just randomly send each other photos of our family jewels and then make fun of them for looking. I miss it more and more every day."
– 28756
No recipient was harmed during this incident. I have multiple text threads, and it's very confusing to respond to one in which certain friends are also on other message threads.
One time I responded to a group thread explaining to them that I was going to come up with an excuse to back out of another invite mentioned on a different thread.
I guess I should have double-checked which thread I was sending it to because I informed the wrong thread of my plan.
At least there weren't nude photos involved.
My heart goes out to those who've shared their embarrassing stories here.
Let them serve as reminders to confirm your messages before tapping "send."
When people talk about living life to the fullest and having independent, solo experiences, they often reference the importance of traveling internationally to experience more of the world.
But in the midst of describing the wonders of traveling in another country, they fail to detail the things that could go wrong, or how a local might try to scam an unknowing and unprepared tourist.
Curious specifically about this phenomenon in Europe, Redditor subuubalaa asked:
"What should people avoid while traveling to Europe?"
The Fines Can Be Incredibly Steep
"Another thing which primarily applies to Giethoorn, but also any place in general."
"STAY OUT OF PEOPLE'S YARDS."
"For those who don't know, Giethoorn is a small village where instead of streets there are canals. It is quite a tourist attraction where they can rent boats to travel through the canals. However, some people fail to comprehend that it's still an actual village and people live in the houses."
"It has occurred on multiple instances that tourists walked into the gardens of residents to take pictures."
- ThePotatoSauce
The Menu Should Speak For Itself
"Avoid any restaurant that tries to strong-arm you into entering."
- Kanguin
Who Knew?
"Watch out for pickpockets in Western Europe. There is a stigma that Eastern Europe like Romania and Bulgaria is dangerous but pickpocketing happens more in Paris, Amsterdam, Barcelona, etc."
- trustabro
Just Keep Walking
"Street scammers in Paris, anywhere really, I just mostly see it in Paris."
- missingtoothtyler
Keep an Eye on Your Stuff
"I hung my purse over the back of my chair at a restaurant on my first day in Bangkok."
"We were eating dinner and my tour guide came over to where I was sitting, and he was holding my purse. He asked if it was mine, and I said yes. Then he told me that he saw some guy take it but he was able to get it back before they left the restaurant with it."
"Turns out my guide was the 'guy' who took it to teach me a lesson. He did this to a couple of other people in our group to encourage us to be careful with our stuff. I spent the rest of the trip white-knuckling my purse so it worked for me!"
- starrfast
Your Future Looks Expensive
"In Sevilla, they hang around the cathedral. A woman will walk up and hand you a flower, then insist on telling your fortune. Just drop it and walk away."
- blitzen13
Seriously, Protect Your Belongings
"Do not put your bag/purse/backpack on the back of your chair when you sit down to eat, especially outside."
"Thieves look for this, in groups of three or four. One of them will come from one side of you as a snatcher, and the rest will stand in a group very close to you taking or smoking, etc., pretending that they don't know the snatcher."
"Then the one guy will snatch your item, and run right through the group, in case someone is quick enough to chase. They will 'accidentally' be in your way."
"Happened in Rome, but locals recognized it and broke it up."
- nctkcmo71
Instant Retaliation
"A guy tried to do the bracelet trick to me, but I knew it and told him no before he tried anything. He jabbed me in the side as I walked passed. I was so p**sed."
- Tortuga917
No Directions Needed
"Also: DO NOT STOP to 'help' people asking for directions. You're a tourist, you look like a tourist, and you're the last person someone would legitimately ask for directions."
"They're trying to get you to stop so they can pickpocket you. It's usually a woman, too, looking 'helpless.' Just keep moving."
- ThaneOfCawdorrr
Fake Disabilities
"Be careful if you encounter the fake disabled people in Venice. My dad fell into that trap. A guy pretending to have a limp and speaking disability came up to us and asked for money. I switched to Dutch and told my dad not to give him any. My dad gave him a 20 euro banknote."
"The guy walked away without a limp and started talking without issues a few meters away."
- DoctorWhoTheF**k
Try to Blend In
"Avoid letting the taxi know you don't know where you are or where you are going, the bad ones will drive you in circles and run the tab up."
"Also, one thing that opened Germany up for me while stationed there was one interaction. I would ask in German, 'Sprechen sie englisch,' do you speak English, followed by 'Mine Deutsch ist schei**e,' my German is s**t."
"Everyone from women at the bar to elderly people would laugh hysterically and then immediately switch to English in good spirits. They just like to see you try, and then they are more than happy to help you out."
"So my advice would be to learn a quick-fire phrase that you can pop off too quickly to avoid fumbling and starting the interaction on a bad foot."
- Spirited-Tadpole-508
Scamming the Scammers
"I managed to find one of the bracelets they peddle on the ground midway through my trip. Threw it on every day when I was out in public and didn’t get hounded at all after that."
"I assume they probably thought I was a fool already caught in the trap, but man, the peace of mind was great!"
- brounchman
Please Be Polite
"Don't assume that everything will be open during the hours you'd expect in your home country. This is true no matter where you're going. It varies by country and region, but in my experience, grocery stores, banks, post offices, etc., had much more restricted hours than they do in the US."
"In the US, it's rare for a grocery store to close before 9 PM, if it's not open 24 hours. In Europe, it's normal for grocery stores to close quite early, and for things to be closed on weekends, though this varies by country."
"Also, mind your manners. In America, you can often skip over the formalities without being seen as rude. In Europe, this is much harder. Be more direct about what you want, and more polite about requesting it."
"Part of what perpetuates the unfortunate 'rude American' stereotype is that Americans tend to find European manners blunt, and Europeans tend to find American manners invasive."
- frisky_husky
Stuff Can Be Taken from Anywhere
"Don't leave stuff lying around anywhere. Don't put your stuff next to you on the table if you're sitting outside at a restaurant. Someone can just run up to you from behind, grab the phone/wallet and run away."
"Don't leave stuff in a rental car."
"Don't even put stuff in the trunk of the rental car after you park it. I've heard that in some touristy places, thieves will employ local kids to sit at the parking lots and see who puts their camera, laptop, or purse in the trunk of the car before walking away."
- TheChoonk
It's All About Playing It Smart
"I've seen it in Paris, France, Barcelona, Florence... any popular tourist destination is going to have pickpockets."
"These scams vary, and you should read about them before you go so you're aware. Some of the ones I've seen:"
"1. People in costumes (mostly Roman centurions) will accost you for pictures with them, and demand an absurd amount of money for the pictures."
"2. People will shove an object or a flower into your hands and then demand money. You may have to very aggressively say 'no.'"
"3. Someone will approach you with a map and ask for directions (their accomplice is behind you while you're distracted, and helping themselves to your stuff)."
"4. Someone will lay out paintings on the ground near monuments like cathedrals, and when you inevitably step on one (because you're looking up at the Duomo, not at the ground) they'll demand an absurd amount of money for the painting you just stepped on."
"Basically, you just have to understand that if you're a tourist in a city, no one is going to have a good reason to talk to you. No one needs directions from you, no one needs a petition signature from you, and anyone trying to stop and talk to you in a major tourist destination is likely a scam."
"If you do get into a situation where someone is demanding money from you (maybe you stepped on a painting or took that ill-advised picture with the Centurion) just say, 'Okay, let's go find a police officer, and I will pay you in front of the police officer.' That usually gets them to back down quickly."
"You may have to be aggressive about not letting people touch you or put something on you. My husband had to yank his arm away from someone trying to tie a bracelet on him outside of Castel Sant'Angelo. I had to quickly move away from someone shoving a rose in my lap on the Spanish Steps."
"And also, watch your stuff. Don't absentmindedly sling your purse over the back of a chair. Don't leave your phone on the ground next to you while you have a picnic on the Seine."
"I have a black purse by PacSafe that has some anti-theft features, like a lock so I can lock it to a chair at a cafe and a lock on the zipper so it can't be easily zipped open. Sure, a determined person could break into the purse, but it's all about not being an easy target. It's enough of a deterrent that if someone does try to help themselves to the contents of my purse, it'll be too much trouble and they'll go pick someone else."
"That being said, don't let the fear of being pickpocketed deter you from traveling! Rick Steves has a story about a family that had their passports and thousands of dollars stolen from them immediately upon arrival in Amsterdam, and they still had an amazing trip. Just be aware and have a plan in case the worst happens."
- evilcaribou
A lot can happen while you're traveling, and while being stolen from or scammed could easily happen in your hometown, there's something about suddenly being without your possessions or having to pay a hefty sum of money when you're in new territory.
But as the very last Redditor in this thread pointed out, this shouldn't stop you from traveling the world! As long as you are well-prepared and stay alert, you should be able to have a wonderful journey.
Sometimes, in order to find the love of our lives, we have to explore what's out there.
Often encountering people who we know fairly early on are just not a good fit.
In some cases, they're perfectly nice people but don't ignite the spark in us and lack any kind of chemistry.
Then there are those who truly astound us, and not in a good way.
The sort of people where describing them as "not the sharpest knife in the shed" would be an understatement.
Sometimes, this is clear from the minute we meet them. Other times, the realization comes a bit later.
"People of Reddit, what was your “I’m dating a f*cking idiot” moment?"
Oh, Dear...
"Watched a doc that explained how sharks have electricity receptors which they use to hunt. he said 'that's not possible'."
"Sharks are supposedly millions of years old but we only invented electricity a hundred years ago'."- Key-Lie250
If You Have To Prove It...
"He thought the outlet plug covers (for childproofing) meant the outlet was out-of-order."
"He literally had nothing plugged into the walls of his entire living room."
"He also mentioned how smart he was any chance he got.... usually a prime indicator."- Airport_Fart
It's Certainly A Hustle. HOWEVER...
"He kept applying for jobs and getting denied instantly."
"At the time, I didn’t understand and was upset for him."
"Come to find out, this 26-year-old was applying for jobs driving armored trucks for banks."
"With a record for stealing money from cash registers."
"I didn’t know at the time that he had ever been arrested, but this man literally had robbery and theft on his record, and couldn’t understand why an armored truck company wouldn’t hire him."- cathherine
When It Rains, It Pours...
"My ex didn't think it rained over the ocean because there was enough water there already."
"She was shocked it rained when we were on a cruise."- 1_disasta
Let's Hope She Didn't Test This Theory...
"How alcohol content percentage works."
"We argued for months that 10% as alcohol content remains the same even if you halved the bottle."
"She said nope, if you halved the bottle then the alcohol content would be 5%."
"Engineer graduate that too."
"She works for a software firm."
"For 12 years."
"Sigh."- baboyadobo
Some People Just Don't Grasp The Concept Of Math...
"My ex thought he could play hockey and found what he thought were the holy grail of skates."
"He bought them for $200 (I don't know the price as it was a long time ago)."
"His friend, who lived in a city an hour and 20 minutes away, told him he got the same skates for $195."
"So my ex, in his old Camaro that cost $50 in gas round trip, returned the skates he got for $200 and drove 1 hour and 20 minutes to get the skates that were $5 cheaper."
"That should have been the biggest red flag."
"But sadly, it turned out I was the f*cking idiot who stayed with him for a few more years."- Flipgirlnarie
"I had to explain to a grown woman that 20% is not always $20 when converted to currency."- DahvRom
Double Whammy...
"Was just lounging about one Sunday and skiing came on the TV."
"At one point the commentator said that contestants reached 100 km/h at that point in the race."
"The ex literally shouted bullsh*t at the telly."
"I looked at her and asked why..she replied that there was no way that they could tell how far they'd go in an hour since the race was only two minutes long."
"Another time, 'I have an aunt who lives in London, is that near England'."- Allydarvel
One Step Behind
"I introduced him to my stepsister."
"He said, 'weird, you guys look nothing alike'."- Saminotsammy
Get Out Of My Kitchen!!!
"He was trying to make cookies and kept opening the oven for extended periods of time, letting out all the heat."
"When I told him he was letting all the heat out by opening the door wide open and staring at the cookies, he told me I didn't know how ovens work because the temp setter said 400 so it was 400."
"Took an hour to bake 1 sheet of cookies and said 'I don't know why it's taking so long'."
"Also insisted on doing this on Thanksgiving, tying up my oven and was pissed off when he found out the turkey would take 3hrs to cook."
"As I'm sure you can imagine... Did not work out."- pocket4129
Liking Them Doesn't Make You One Of Them...
"It was when vampire-related shows and movies were in the height of their popularity."
"He became obsessed with vampires."
"When we would go outside, he started to act like the sun was hurting him, and he would shield his face with his hands while groaning in pain."
"Think of Jim from The Office with his vampire prank... only he was more dramatic... and serious."- not-a-real_username
Some Like It Hot...
"When he left the window open in the middle of summer because the air conditioning made the house too cold."
"He didn’t turn off the air conditioner and argued that it wouldn’t have made a difference."- Lovable_Minion
Dogs Do Love Car Rides...
"I went on a couple dates with a woman who owned two large energetic dogs."
"When she bought them she was informed that she'd need to walk them every day to get them exercise and burn off energy."
"To save time, instead of walking them she'd take them for a drive and thought that accomplished the same thing."- diiejso
So Much For Going Green...
"We drove past a windmill on a windy day."
"She commented how it was too windy out and they should turn the windmill down."
"She was dead serious..."- ink4n3
Washington And Jefferson Do Look Sort Of Alike... Don't They?...
"She found a coin in the couch and exclaimed 'WOW this is a REALLY big nickel'
"To which I responded 'That's because its a quarter'."- 404-soul-not-found
As Forest Gump once said, "stupid is as stupid does," so intelligence doesn't always go hand in hand with kindness and generosity.
Nor can we be too sure that these instances are what ultimately led to these relationships coming to an end.
Though, one can't blame someone for dumping anyone who thought they'd turned into a vampire...
It's a wonderful feeling when you think you've met "the one."
Someone who is so perfect in absolutely every way that you can't help but think that they must be too good to be true.
Only to make the unpleasant discovery that they are, indeed, too good to be true.
As they neglected to tell you one important piece of information: they're seeing something else.
A discovery that is naturally met with rage, sadness, and confusion.
As well as the occasional unexpected, unusual development down the line.
"Guys that sleep with other guy's girlfriends, do you feel bad afterwards? Why or why not?"
Lose A Significant Other, Make A Friend!
"Hooked up with a girl at a party once."
"We hit it off and arranged to go on an actual date the next week."
"About an hour later someone told me her BF had just showed up."
"I gave the dude a beer, explained that I had no idea she wasn't single and that I'm sorry."
"He gave me a massive hug and thanked me for being upfront."
"We both told her to f*ck off and spent the rest of the night drinking and singing karaoke together."
"Top bloke."
"I didn't feel bad; I was lied to, he was betrayed, she was a *unt, nothing more to it really."- 5Volt
Pulled The Plug
"I did it twice not knowing they had bfs."
"Yes, I felt bad afterwards and I totally cut contact when I found out."- born_again_tim
Buh-Bye!
"When I was in college a married woman tried to hide her marriage… to a deployed Marine."
"As soon as I found out, I bounced."
"I never condone cheating."- ItsbeenBroughton
Two People Were Duped
"I actually have a story about this."
"So I hooked up with a girl who had a long term boyfriend at the time."
"I didn't know and we had few encounters over a two month period."
"One day I was curious and decided to look at her socials and that's when I found out about him."
"I never bothered to look because I was being ignorant and it was first time being in a fwb situation so I was excited and wanted to keep it secret."
"As I scrolled down her socials all I saw were pics of them on expensive dates and trips and I just felt so bad for the guy."
"I felt like I had become the thing I hated the most."
"So that same night I decided to DM him about the situation and send him the texts between me and her to show him proof."
"He then called me and sounded really hurt holding back tears and all I could do was just say sorry over and over."
"But he thanked me and told me he would be leaving her."
"I then blocked her number and thought it was over with but later on that week the girl showed up at my place of work and damaged my car."
"Although I was angry at the moment I chose not to press charges as advised by the police (not USA) because the damage was minimal."
"But yea that's my story."
"On a positive note he found a new girl who looks way better and they equally appreciate each other outwardly on their socials so yes it was a happy ending."- rankyy
Even The Idea Is Hard Enough
"I lost a mate this way."
"We were really close friends and he was going through a rough time with his then girlfriend."
"She decided to get back at him by writing some bullsh*t in her journal about her and I hooking up and then conveniently left it out so he would see it."
"It was 100% untrue."
"Friend confronted me on it and I told him it was untrue but he didn’t believe me."
"We stopped talking after that."
"He eventually reached out to me about 6 months later after she admitted to him that she had made it all up."
"The damage was done and we never were the same again."- tizod
This Opens Many Questions...
"I had a brief friends with benefits arrangement with a girl who had a boyfriend."
"I didn't know the guy, and I was young and impetuous at the time."
"After time went on, I started to feel bad about it."
"It all came to a head when she told me she wanted to leave him to be with me and I said no."
"She asked why not."
"I said I couldn't trust her as a girlfriend."
"She asked why."
"I said, you've literally spent the last 2 months cheating on your boyfriend."
"With me."
"Why else do you think?"- Idontdanceforfun
An Agreement Or Just Her Policy?
"I hooked up with a lady at my gym, she didn't say sh*t about being married, she came to my place the two times we hooked up."
"I saw her again at the gym with a dude, when he went off to go do something I went over and said hi, she said don't talk to her here with her husband around, she will call me later."
"She called me later and told me her husband worked out of town a ton, when in town she was with him, when he's out she's free to do as she pleases."
"We did not meet up again."- SomeRandomUser00
Thankfully, They Grew Up...
"I did it knowingly during High School."
"I was dating and she was too, but we both had issues in our relationships and we didn't know how to figure them out."
"Clinging to our toxic relationships we found solace in each other and enjoyed spending time together."
"We ended up fooling around and after we had sex, we both stopped."
"We stayed friends for a while and both continued dating, but eventually both of us were single."
"I regret it, he doesn't know about it, I told my gf and she accepted my apology, even though we did break up about a year later."
"I'm not proud of myself and I still hate myself for it."- Slippy_666
Nipped In The Bud...
"A buddy’s wife tried to get with me once."
"I told her she had 90 seconds to call her husband (my best friend from High school), put the call on speaker, and explain to the two of us why she was a complete POS…or I’d call him myself."
"They divorced the next month."- Pennameus_The_Mighty
Some Secrets Aren't Worth Keeping
"If i know she cheated with me on her dude I let the dude know.""
"i hate that kind of people."- DaEpicBob
It's hard to place blame on those who unknowingly got together with partnered individuals.
Those who knew what they were doing, on the other hand, should have expected there to be consequences of some sort or another.
Do you have any similar experiences, let us know in the comments below.