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People Share Which Memories From School Still Haunt Them

People Share Which Memories From School Still Haunt Them
Photo by Darius Bashar on Unsplash

Not everyone looks back on school with fond regard. What may have been the best time for a certain group of kids (a.k.a. "Popular") was not fully shared among all students. Awful times during such formative years can lead to terrible memories you never really move past from, as these stories are evidence of.

WARNING: *The following article contains discussion of suicide/self-harm.


Reddit user, u/teddirbus, wanted to hear the unhappy haunts when they asked:

What is the worst memory you have of school?

Scaredy Pooper

Giphy

"Grade 5, took my first and last sh-t in school."

"Some younger kids kept jumping into or under the stall..."

davidbesp

A Lasting Physical Mark

"Teacher punched me directly in the face."

"This was 3rd grade, I can't remember who it was, and as far as I know, She is still a teacher."

Errotenthesynth

Too Much Blood

"When my classmates would play this game where they would hit a coin into eachother's knuckles until they bled just for fun. Or when they made a guy cut himself, like they told him to do it "because it was cool and they all did it" or stuff like that, when they actually didn't. Even now I hate remembering the blood stains on the desk."

pixiedreamgirl-

Smoke And Fire

"I have too many bad memories of school. When I was in middle school nobody would believe a word I said. They thought I was a dumb kid who amounted to nothing. They were wrong when a fire broke out and I smelled smoke. It was an electrical fire and I was the scapegoat. Good thing I had an alibi. I was in band class and the fire broke out in the science wing. Nobody would believe me except the band director who had proof I was in his class at the time of the fire. Took forever to clear my name, but it wasn't enough."

NightHawk877

Accusations Without Evidence

"Not my worst memory, but pisses me off just thinking about it..."

"My primary schools art class was situated in the library. The teacher gave each kid a random image from a book to draw. I meticulously recreated the grey-scale nature scene and used graphite shavings for a nice shadow effect."

"The teacher then aggressively tore up my artwork and accused me of making a photocopy...
Happened 20 years ago and I still think Mrs S***** is a b-tch."

deoswan

Compounded With Interest

"I was bullied in school. had a very bad bully in elementary school. probably 4th or 5th grade. Would beat/hit me on a daily basis. Then one day after a school break (1 week) we all came back to school."

"Then said bully came to me and said something along "i usually hit you x amount a day. I haven't seen you for 9 days so i should beat you 9 times x now""

"Then we negotiated how much he could beat me. Classmates, teachter etc. didn't say anything."

"And then he were allowed to hit me some 40 times. good times."

NicolajN

Boys Pointing It Out

"In sixth grade I was wearing neon pink pants to school. I didn't realize until halfway through the school day that I had started my period and had huge splotches on the seat of my pants. I had to use a jacket to hide it and pass it off as me sitting in spilt coffee."

Dicloniusqueen

One For Every Stage

"I have a bunch"

"Kindergarten my teacher forced me to drink milk even though I was full so I threw up on myself."

"Middle school during a test my bully had some halls he found on the ground putting it on my desk saying how I dropped my candy (saying I'm fat still am ) I flicked it off it fell on his chair thinking I threw it he threw it at me and it fell in my bra I was trying not to cry. he said are you crying for your mommy? What was worse is that the school counselor was there to look after us because my teacher was at a meeting. She couldn't see that I was in distress. Same school gave my journal photocopies of my journal to my parents because I got into trouble"

"Different middle school same thing happened where they photocopied my journal and got into my Facebook messages gave it all to my parents."

theathena7

Sweating It Out

"We had a threat made and the middle was evacuated. They put all of us in the football stadium. We sat in 95°F direct sunlight for about 2 hours. They tried distributing water but couldn't get enough. Once people started passing out they moved us to the High school auditorium. It was a tight fit but at least we had AC and reheated sandwiches for lunch. Nothing was found and in the end our hall pass policy was stricter. There was also an adult monitoring the bathrooms at all times for the rest of the year."

HatchedRaptor

Holding Onto It, Even Though You Hate It

"Drama club kids making a game of seeing how far they could push me until I quit the school play once they got the other designated punching bag freak to quit."

"They wouldn't give me a copy of the script and someone only lent me a copy to photocopy once I swore I wouldn't tell who let me have it. They'd move my stuff around whenever they found my latest hiding place. I got threatened physically, and got cornered and told what a f-ck-up loser I was a couple of times. They got me to stand at the very end of the cast photo and I was the only one that got cropped out in the yearbook photo. They did so much sh-t, if I detailed it all it would be a wall of text."

"It f-cked me up for a while and I never went for another play even though I loved being onstage. But I never gave them tears and I didn't quit."

Umuiyan

SPOILER: Everyone Noticed.

"1st grade, my teacher wouldn't let me use the bathroom until my desk was organized. She was pretty mean in general. I really needed to pee. The rest of the class was dismissed, so it was just her and I, and I couldn't focus because I had to pee so f-cking bad. So I did, standing there. Then I promptly left and hoped no one would notice."

"Spoiler: everyone noticed."

sara_cattt

When Teachers Focus On The Wrong Problem

"Probably at the beginning of 10th grade. I was getting a lot of stomach problems + anxiety and depression were hitting my life hard. So because of the problems above I wasn't really going to school, I was barely eating anything, and I just wanted to sleep my life away."

"One of the school council teachers (that I was good friends with at the time), said "that I wasn't trying hard enough and that my depression is a joke." I never talked to her again and I ended up switching schools in the middle of the school year."

Tenebris_Ignis69

A Snapped Finger

"In grade 1 my friend Colin and I were in the bathroom, and I leaned up against the stall doorway not realizing my finger was in the hinge. Colin thought it would be funny to slam the door, and to this day I don't know if he knew my finger was there or not. But he swung that metal door closed so f-cking hard that he basically broke my finger in half without breaking the skin."

"I cried so hard that I got a nose bleed, and continued crying even harder until, to the discovery of all the faculty in the office, you can actually cry hard enough to bleed out of your eyes. I popped enough blood vessels that the whites of my eyes looked completely red, and as a result of the pressure on my face from crying so hard I started crying blood. I'll assume this isn't just my worst memory of school but maybe a few of the office people too, since they had a small child with entirely crimson eyes with trails of blood streaking down his cheeks like a horror movie screaming and pointing a crooked finger at them."

Theguywhoalwaysdies

Having Fun At Your Expense

"In kindergarten I peed in the lunch line and when I got back from changing there were kids sliding around in the water where they mopped it up. I was MORTIFIED."

"I'm sure I had worse things to happen but this was the one that has stuck the most."

sgf12345

I'll Have Your Finest Milk Pizza, Please.

Giphy

"In second grade, the kid next to me at lunch poured his entire carton of milk all over my pizza, so I went to throw it away but the lunchroom monitor said I hadn't eaten enough of it and made me take more bites of it so I was just standing there crying by the trash cans and eating milk-soaked cafeteria pizza until I had achieved some arbitrary level of 'done-ness.'"

CaughtAllTheBreaks

Running Away From The Real Problem

"My dad kidnapped us for the first time and put us in school. When my mother found us she went to school to get us. I didn't want to go. Cause she physically abused me and I was kind of happier with the less abusive parent. I ran throughout the school as police officers, teacher, and my mother looked for me. I think they found me in the bathroom hidden in a stall. It took them a bit to find me. But I remember not understanding why the school, the place I would escape to, would give me over to a woman who beat me."

symbioticgestures

When You Just Want To Get Out

"I was put in a group of kids that were classed as 'bad', even though I was a good kid, even having my head of year vouch for me. I lost most of my friends because of this split and with the fact that the year before, I lost my best friend to heart failure, I was hoping to die."

"They called it 'Nurture', but instead of a desire to learn, I had a desire to GTFO by any means necessary. Five suicide implications later, I moved schools. Best decision of my whole life."

ZeroTheGopnik

The Most Real Feeling Of Drowning

"A group of students tried to push me under water repeatedly until I was almost there they were going to drown me. I managed to escape to the side of the pool and grab the edge while they tried dragging me back into the deep. Then a girl got out of the water and one by one pulled my fingers from the edge. I cant remember how I got out eventually."

Omepas

Betrayal

"My entire school experience... but one that really sticks out is when a teacher I liked and trusted completely back stabbed me when I made a sex joke during class and he overheard it... then he proceeded to give me a 0% on my project I worked 3 months (which was voted best the class by then students) and refused to shake my hand or even look me in the eye... just completely rejected me as a person and continued to crack down the whip on me like I was some kind of monster... and I'm a girl! I never did anything else aside from that joke!"

"All the other students worshipped him because he was young and hip, yet there I was... completely dehumanized"

"This later pushed me to try and kill myself a second time on the night of my 17th birthday..."

Nyah_Chan

Sharing In The Awful Together

"Getting my period and bleeding through my clothes. Walked around all day with blood on the back of my skirt until someone told me and I had to tie a jacket around my waist. This happened a few times in middle school. I had heavy periods and had to wear khaki clothes."

"Not as bad as my husband's worst memory, though. When he was in 9th grade, during an assembly a student pulled out a gun, shot at the ceiling once (sending everyone running and screaming)"

OverallDisaster

It's a wonder any of us graduated!

Do you have similar stories to share? Let us know in the comment section below!

If you or someone you know is struggling, you can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

To find help outside the United States, the International Association for Suicide Prevention has resources available at https://www.iasp.info/resources/Crisis_Centres/

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People Share Their Very Specific Dating Restrictions

Reddit user AceofSpadesYT asked: 'What is your most specific restriction when it comes to dating?'

silhouette photography of couple
Sean Stratton on Unsplash

When it comes to dating, I have my mental checklist. The guy must be kind, intelligent, funny, and a movie buff. He must be adventurous but also doesn't mind a Netflix and Chill date night.

Most of this is similar to the mental checklists other people have. Of course, I can be flexible. If someone is nice and I'm having fun with them, they don't necessarily have to check all the boxes.

However, I have one specific dating restriction that is a dealbreaker regardless of how many boxes the person checks, and that's religion. I've never been a fan, and now I'm an atheist, and I would want my partner to be as well. That's because I want kids, and the last thing I want is for us to argue about how to raise the kids when it comes to religion.

I'm not the only person who has one specific dating restriction. Everyone has that one thing that is a dealbreaker when it comes to a romantic relationship. Redditors certainly do, and they are ready to share.

It all started when Redditor AceofSpadesYT asked:

"What is your most specific restriction when it comes to dating?"

It's Just A Joke!

"No cruel or rude pranks."

– detective_kiara

"I saw a post by someone whose boyfriend "pranked" her by pretending to be dead on the kitchen floor. That is exactly how she had found her previous partner, dead on the kitchen floor, which her current boyfriend knew. He was surprised she dumped him and didn't think it was funny."

– innocuousspeculation

We're (Not) Gonna Party!

"No party people. Nothing wrong with it, I just ain't dealing with that sh*t."

– PlantBasedStangl

"True. I like planning weekend stuff, but it has to be something meaningful - visiting a different city, movie marathon, mountain hike, fancy lunch, all okay. But... clubbing and drinking? How f**king old are we, 19? No thank you, I'm old and have no energy for listening to music I don't like while being surrounded by 50 people that I don't give a single half of a sh*t about."

– PlantBasedStangl

LOL

"Same sense of humor. I have 0 interest sharing physical space with someone who doesn't laugh with me."

– Legendary_Lamb2020

My Ears Are Bleeding!

"I'm a light sleeper. I cannot date a snorer. I can hear snores through ear plugs AND a fan blowing. It's not you, it's me."

– YourLocalOrca

At that point, it does sound like them 😂

– CuriousRedditor98

Funemployed

"Have a f**king job."

– Cuss-Mustard

"Found this difficult when I was funemployed. Was fortunate enough to be able to live off savings for a bit."

"People reacted oddly to it. “But what do you do???”"

"Was dating at the same time and some girls had the same sentiment. “You don’t have a job?”"

"I had a good enough job that I didn’t need one anymore. And one lined up 8 months from then. But there were two girls specifically who treated it as a deal breaker."

– DigNitty

"I had a similar situation. I worked a high-paying job for a few years that demanded a ton of my time and had crazy hours. It burnt me out badly and I lived off of the savings from that job for a while and tried to date now that I actually had free time. I had more money in my bank account during that time than at any other point in my life but so many people were put off by me being funemployed and assumed I was looking to leech. But I guess there’s really no way to know someone's history and hard not to assume. Now I work full-time and have way less money overall but it looks better..."

– Pinsit

Just Breathe

"No smoking. Ever. I'm not kissing an ashtray, or smelling an ashtray. Instant turn off."

–fishfood19

"100% I broke up with an old gf because she started smoking behind my back knowing I’ve got asthma and it was always a hard pass. She thought I was joking but it showed me that she was also untrustworthy."

– Jonowl89

That'll Do It

"I guess my husband restricts my dating."

– HeinousEncephalon

"My wife has the same rule. But the jokes on her, I get around it by dating her!"

– AuralRapist

Prehistoric Love

"Must like dinosaurs."

– Grungeceratops

"That goes without saying."

– Plain_Chacalaca

What's In A Name?

"Cannot have the same name as any of my relatives."

– Poorly-Drawn-Beagle

"My last ex had the same name as my Dad and I reeeeeeaally didn't like it. So, fair."

– severaltalkingducks

Be Polite

"If they’re rude to people they’ll never see again (Waitstaff, cashiers, etc) I’m out."

"I can’t respect anyone who doesn’t respect themselves, and when you’re not polite to people you’re disrespecting yourself."

– OctopusCandleCompany

God Only Knows

"When I was dating, you had to be an atheist. I don't mess with religion. And I genuinely just don't think atheists + religious people work out."

"And I know... There's going to be someone who comments (assuming there are enough upvotes) who says "I worked out with my spouse who's religious and I'm not!" but you're the exception. When it comes to making decisions long-term, how to spend your money, where you think you'll go after you die, not to mention basic morality (!), and if you have children - that's a huge hurdle."

– Lulu_42

"We worked it out. It's absolutely an exception and not the rule. Don't do it if you can avoid it."

– Alcoraiden

Let's Move Tonight (Literally)

"They need to be ok with cold weather."

"I grew up in the north, live in the south, and I'm tolerating it until I can move back north. If someone says they hate the cold it's an instant turn-off because I don't want to drag someone into a climate they hate."

"The same thing also applies to walkability. I want to move somewhere walkable, and I hope to meet someone with that same goal rather than try to talk them into it."

– ThePresidentCantSwim

"Let me know when you find this mythical northern walkable community."

– Partner-Elijah

My Purr-fect Match

"Cat has to approve."

– Possible-Source-2454

Non-Negotiable

"They need to be male. Kind of important."

– RMHaney

"So weird, I want the complete opposite."

– eightvo

Yeah, the male thing is kind of important for me too!

Do you have anything to add? Let us know in the comments.

Life is full of shock and surprise.

Apparently, that is part of the fun.

Who hasn't been left stunned by life events?

We always think we're immune to way too many things.

Anything and everything is possible.

It's important to be ready.

Redditor Bob_the_peasant wanted to hear about the things that have left people SHOOK, so they asked:

"What 'That can’t happen to me' thing happened to you?'"

I haven't been left that shocked that often.

I'm always expecting the worst, so I'm prepared.

But you never know.

I'm Dead

Snakes Imacelebau GIF by I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! AustraliaGiphy

"A snake fell out of a tree and bit me on the head."

"ETA: I have always been more scared of snakes than anyone I know, so it’s just so ironic that this happened to me of all people."

amanitachill

Crash Into Me

"A car crashed through my kitchen last year."

aster636

"I woke up to a truck parking in my bathtub 2 weeks before Christmas a few years ago. I watched my sink roll past my bedroom door followed by a hubcap. The driver managed to cross a median, 3-lane road, up an embankment, through an iron fence and between trees. He'd been involved in an altercation nearby and was fleeing the scene."

anjie59k

Hot Air

Swinging Hot Air Balloon GIF by Red BullGiphy

"My family and I were in a hot air balloon crash."

GymDoll2000

"My friend had one crash into her pool when she was a kid."

Environmental-Car481

This is why hot air balloons and skydiving are just a HELL no for me.

Always have. Always will.

Tragic

Cat No GIF by Looney TunesGiphy

"My wife cheated on me with my best friend. They’re moving in together next month. I’m in a new city thousands of miles away. I found out a month ago."

Tssodie

Bad Penguin

"Everyone else’s stories are very sad so here’s something a bit lighter. I’ve mentioned this story before but I got bitten on the neck by a penguin."

"I was at an event where the local zoo had a penguin and owl sitting on tables with handlers so you could take a picture next to them. The penguin went for my glass of wine, I moved the wine, and it bit me on the neck hard enough to bruise. They removed the penguin after that. 😂."

archaeologistbarbie

All Gone

"Our house burned in a wildfire, we lost absolutely everything we owned and only salvaged a single coffee 3 cup."

"On the good side: There was a boy I crushed on all through high school. We went to summer camp together and I adored him. We ended up getting together in our 20s after reconnecting, and have now been together more than 20 years, married almost 17. We’re as madly in love as ever."

toomuchisjustenough

Good Luck

"Homelessness. It came swiftly and out of nowhere. had no savings and the landlord sold the house I was in. couldn’t afford a new place so lived in my car with my dog for a few months. ended up finding community assistance and got into an apartment."

jumbospicyslimjim

"I can’t even imagine being in that situation. Hopefully, this is just the start of things turning around for you. Sending you good energy!"

frappbarqueen

Early Michael Myers

"About 10 years ago, I was stabbed in the arm with a flathead screwdriver. It was a coworker whom I had previously gotten along well with. He had stopped taking benzos and smoking weed a few days before and was on a hair trigger. I said something sarcastic, and he just snapped."

Mr_Spaghetti_Hands

Bad Landing

Bad Day Seagull GIF by Sound FXGiphy

"I was lying on the beach and a seagull flying very high took a poop and it went straight in my mouth."

Competitive_Show6205

This is why I say... "Never trust a seagull!"

They are minions of the devil.

Person cooking in home kitchen
Conscious Design on Unsplash

We've all heard the phrase, "You can't eat at everybody's house," but some of us have a few examples of our own to live by.

From not properly cleaning the environment to questionable hygiene ourselves, there are countless reasons why a person may not want to eat what you've cooked after watching you prepare it.

Bracing themselves, Redditor 195901 asked:

"What is your 'you can't eat at everybody's house' horror story?"

Fly Spray Sandwiches

"I told my dad my sandwich tasted like fly spray at my grandma's house. He didn’t believe me."

"Two days later, I caught my grandma spraying the benches 'clean' with the two-dollar fly spray you find at the cheap store."

"Dad figured it was safe to make sandwiches straight on the countertop because they looked clean. I dragged him over to see and he apologized and took my sister and me for fish and chips for lunch."

- littlehungrygiraffe

Special Seasoning Deviled Eggs

"My crackpot aunt served us a lovely tray of deviled eggs, complete with very old paprika sprinkled on top. So old, in fact, the many weevils mixed in it were dead."

- PhoneboothLynn

A Disturbing Surprise

"I visited a friend's house who was living with his mother, and she asked if I wanted a coffee and I said I would."

"Upon getting to the bottom of the cup and taking the last few gulps, I found there was a used bandaid stuck to the bottom… I never ate or drank there again."

- MrRailton

In Need of Child Protective Services

"I was babysitting a kid in a pretty dirty house. I was told to wake him up, supervise bathing and changing clothes, and feed him. I was welcome to whatever was in the fridge. Okay. The house and his clothes were filthy."

"Then, when I opened the cabinets, floods of roaches poured out. There were roaches in every opened box and container."

"I took him back to my house and returned him later that day. I hope the boy ended up in a better situation. I found out CPS (Child Protective Services) got involved shortly after."

- Alltheprettydresses

Traumatized by Raisins

"I was gonna complain about raisins in the potato salad but the other comments on here are scary. Oh my god."

- tcumber

"When I was a young kid, I stayed over at a friend's place, and his mom made veal or something with godd**n raisins INSIDE the meat somehow. It was so nasty, I never forgot it."

- User2716057

You WISH That Was Vinegar

"My MIL fished around in the green bin (compost bin) with her bare hands, didn't wash them, WIPED her GARBAGE JUICE HANDS on the tea towel, and then WENT BACK TO PREPPING THE SALAD."

"She also got horrifically offended if I didn't want to eat at her house."

- 116843189

Poor Home Hygiene

"My first boyfriend’s parents invited me for Thanksgiving. I came over a few days before Christmas and all the same dirty dishes from Thanksgiving were still in the kitchen. I passed on coming over for Christmas dinner."

- MinimalistHomestead

Every Surface Covered

"I went to a friend's house after school, he was going to teach a group of us to play D&D (Dungeons and Dragons)."

"We got there and his house was disgusting. I'm not the neatest person but the carpet hadn't been vacuumed in forever, clothes were all over the place, and dirty dishes were stacked everywhere."

"I tried to be polite even though the place reeked, but at some point, he was like, 'Who wants snacks!'"

"He picked up a bowl that was crusted with stuff, splashed in some water, wiped it with a towel that clearly hadn't been washed that decade, and poured chips into it. Then he asked if we wanted to stay for dinner. We did not."

- KnittinAndB***hin

O Holy Expiration Dates

"When I was a kid, Christmas Eve was always celebrated at Grandma's. I always got sick afterward. Like, Merry Christmas, you're going to puke now."

"It wasn't until I was all grown up and helping her out in the last weeks of her life that I learned why. She did not believe in expiration dates on anything!"

- SundayMorningTrisha

An Immune System to Remember

"My grandma made me a food phobic from a young age. Whether it was ramen with moths floating on top, or chunky milk in my cereal, it just scarred me for life."

"Dinner at her house was always a fight. Not eating her food was not an option. I'm not sure why that was the hill she would always choose to die on, because she was an amazing grandma other than this."

"Expiration dates aren't a thing. If the cheese was moldy, you cut it off... I think living through the great depression and raising kids in poverty changed her mindset on food."

"I mean obviously, she's doing something right because she's 91. She must have the immunity of a superhero."

- tha_stormin_mormon

Neighborly Love

"I used to help an old neighbor out with grocery shopping, I’d drop the bags at her door and she’d give me a check for the amount of groceries. She’d give me homemade cookies once in a while, chocolate chips."

"I didn’t ever eat them because one time I caught sight of her apartment. It was a large studio, a small kitchen, and tv, and a bed/couch. And there were about 20 cans of cat food, half-eaten, and one million flies and small maggots in different stages of growth, dishes with crusty food stuck to them, and a wall of empty beer cans."

"After I saw that, and got a whiff of her apartment, I started helping her with taking garbage out and putting groceries away, cleaning out her fridge, and making sure her cat was healthy."

"A couple of months later, she got the virus, ended up at a rehab facility, and passed within two weeks."

"Some people need help and a little company…"

- SnooPeripherals6557

No Longer Rice

"A girl I was interested in at the time had cats. I came to her house one day to pick her up for a date and he had a large sack of rice open in her pantry with the pantry door open."

"One of the cats hopped out of the sack of rice and she just casually laughed at it like, 'Oh, they are always getting into things.'"

"I came over the following weekend that SAME sack of rice was in the pantry and I could hear one of them tussling around in it again, we stopped dating sometime after that but anytime she offered to cook for me I immediately pivoted to taking her out to eat instead."

- justad**nfool

"Those cats probably used it as litter."

- Anonymanx

"Yeah, that was my fear."

- justad**nfool

Could Have Warned Her

"My mom told me one about going over to her aunt Virginia's house. She, her parents, and her siblings were sat around the kitchen while her aunt cooked, and my mom could not figure out why no one else was having ANY of this incredibly delicious bread that was on the table."

"She was on her third slice when her aunt stepped out to do something else, and my mom was told by her brother to go look in the flour bin."

"It was absolutely filled with miller moth larvae. Aunt Virginia had been losing her eyesight for years."

- smoothiefruit

"It's f**ked of her parents not to warn her not to eat the bread... like, what the f**k, you KNOW the bread isn't safe, so you're not eating it, but you're fine with letting your daughter have three slices?"

- whydontthissitework

Bad to the Point of Malnutrition

"I graduated high school at 6' 10" tall, but weighing only 120 pounds."

"That's not skinny, that's emaciated."

"The food prepared by my bio-mom was so bad that it wasn't providing me with the nutrients or calories I needed to survive. I went off to college where I had to cook for myself (I wasn't allowed to cook at home because my father insisted that "cooking was women's work")."

"Not only did I discover that food didn't have to be burnt to a crisp, flavorless, or boiled until everything was grey. I also discovered that food can be made to taste good, and using things like salt, or pepper, spices, or various condiments can make it taste amazing."

"The "freshman 15" likely saved my life."

"The thing is, I don't think that my biomom was even aware that her food was that disgusting. Whenever we went out for dinner (which was more often than what my father wanted, but he was the one who insisted on going), she did nothing but complain about how the food was undercooked, 'practically raw,' or 'too spicy,' to eat."

"When she went to other people's houses (including her own extended family) she would criticize them for 'doing it wrong' when she watched them cook anything. She would often end up refusing to eat their food because she 'watched them ruin it,' when they cooked it. We never had guests over to eat her cooking. Ever."

- Galaxy_Ranger_Bob

Clean Hands

"We have a chili contest every year at work around Thanksgiving and I've stopped participating in voting for it because I want to know whose I'm eating before taking any. I work with some great people, but I wouldn't eat at or anything from their house. Strangely enough, the guy I absolutely despise I'll gladly eat his chili because he is clean and well kept and I know his house is."

"I also work with a bunch of people who don't wash their hands after using the bathroom in any capacity and we've secretly kept a list so to avoid any potlucks where they take food or to get food before they do."

- SafewordisJohnCandy

We're left with chills after reading these stories.

Where some people might make some mistakes in the kitchen out of just not knowing, like not properly washing rice before cooking it, most of these are just careless mistakes that have disgusting, if not dangerous, results.

Collection of VHS tapes
Bruno Guerrero/Unsplash

What makes us all unique is our passions and the things we love, whether it's singing in the shower, reading books, or listening to specific music artists.

Unfortunately, we live in a world where we are judged for our various tastes and interests thanks to social media, and it makes us consciously selective about sharing the things we love on the internet.

Curious to hear about people's personal desires under anonymity, Redditor sweet_chick283 asked:

"What do you secretly love that you would never admit to in public?"

These aren't really chores for the following Redditors.

Good Clean Fun

"Mopping, im a janitor and generally hate my work... but damn mopping is so good."

– MrDDog06

"When you have a great rhythm going it is something special. I get the same feeling while I vacuum, but won’t let my wife know I enjoy it."

– Bogus_34

Act Of Unwrinkling

"Ironing clothes. A dozen of them. Can’t explain how it relaxes me. I told one person and they looked at me like I’m crazy."

– eerie_white_glow

"My mum misses the days when dad would be out on a Friday night, my brother out with friends and me upstairs quietly playing PS1. She would pour herself a Bacardi & Coke and do the ironing while watching her TV shows."

"I'm sure she doesn't really miss it now that we've moved out and they've retired but it was her wind-down after a busy working week so I can see how people can find it relaxing."

– xdq

Our solo actions can spark joy.

Big Brother Is Watching

"pretending to be on the Truman show and whenever im in my house i act all inconspicuous so they dont know that i know that they’re watching me."

– Bec_121

"C’mon man, you’re not supposed to let him know. You signed a contract when signing up for live views. I’m reporting you."

– doeswaspsmakehoney

The Multi-Tasker

"Playing video games naked at home while eating cheese."

– thickening_agent

Releasing The Kraken

"I love the feeling when you've eaten good fibre and let out a solid long train log in the toilet. That feeling is heavenly."

– therapoootic

"Even better when it’s a clean wipe and not a poo crayon."

– TheWarmestHugz

Ultimate Comfort

"My (male 41) weekend routine is coming home from work, make hot chocolate, start a fire, dress in a ugly pink nightgown made for old ladies and watch forensic files."

– crazyloomis

Some people are obsessed with collecting things.

So Kawai

"Sanrio stationery stores. All those different multicolor pens, a thousand kinds of erasers, spiral bound notebooks galore... my kids sadly have absolutely no appreciation for this wonderland..."

– HavingNotAttained

It's A Staple

"Office supplies have a weird, special place in my heart ever since I was a kid. They don't even have to be 'cute' necessarily."

"Japan's legendary stationery stores is unironically a reason I want to go."

– _CozyLavender_

Not Caring Anymore

"The older I get the shorter that list gets. Not because I love less things, but because I don't care about hiding it."

– Bi-Beast

"YES!! I'm 53 now. I'm working my first job in public since 2006. Today is Halloween and we're allowed to dress up so I am sitting here waiting to go to work dressed as a VERY bad Wednesday Addams. My bf said I'd 'look stupid' because no one else will probably dress up and I'm like, 'WHO CARES!' My makeup looks horrible and not like I practiced, but I DO NOT CARE! I'm having fun with it anyhow and I don't care if my coworkers dress up or not. I'm bein' ME! :)"

– deanie1970

Honorable mentions start here.

The Savior

"Picking up worms from the street and sidewalks when it rains and moving them into the dirt so they don’t burn in the sun, every time it rains I do this."

– sky_kitten89

Hero Of The Moment

"Yoooo I scoot SO many snails and worms. I work as a tech/mechanic at an automotive shop, I had a peoject car towed to my house the other day and it was covered in snails. I saw them when the tow guy/coworker was unloading and I was like, 'oh! It comes with free snails!' and began moving them. He laughed then realized and said, '... Oh, you're serious. Uh... Okay.'"

"I don't care who knows it. These little things barely can look out for themselves, why shouldn't we if we can take a moment to help? I don't care what happens next, it probably doesn't matter overall but I can help this moment."

– chris14020

Why should some of the hidden desires mentioned above have to be secret?

Redditors opening up about some of these would make them a hit at parties–no shaming.

As a matter of fact, I'll totally be down for a Forensic Files viewing party where we all make hot chocolate, light the fireplace, and cozy up together in our respective pink ugly nightgowns for old ladies.