Life is full of crazy possibility and unbelievable coincidence. You have to wonder if fate and destiny are actual things. I mean what are the odds that we could come face to face with family or old acquaintances in the darkest rooms at the farthest corners of the Earth? Or how in the world do you wake up one morning next to a long lost relative? The surreal is plausible, even on a planet of billions. The Universe definitely likes to have some fun. And the world may actually be smaller than we think.
Redditor u/TruckerGabe wanted to see who else can attest to life's great "coincidences" by asking... What's your best "it's a small world after all" story?
The Bloodline....
I was selling some books online years ago and some guy reached out. We agreed upon everything and decided to meet after we had realized that we live in the same town. During the meet-up we also discovered that we have the same surname; it turned out that we're actually long distance cousins. I gave him a discount and we still keep in touch to this day. Miss_Keys
Auntie Em?
A few years after I found my natural father, he sent his sister to bring me $ when I was in a mental hospital. I'd gone there because I was having trouble dealing with PTSD. So anyway, we were sitting out on the smoker benches, and I realized it wasn't JUST that she looked much like my real dad, she looked familiar. I asked her where she had worked. Turned out she was a teller at the bank branch where I did all my adoptive mother's banking for almost 20 years! My mom was agoraphobic, so I ALWAYS did her stuff for her. I'd dealt with my real aunt for years.... telerisghost
School Daze....
I was in Japan with my boyfriend and saw my favorite high school teacher sitting at a restaurant we were going to eat at. We live in the US so it was a weird coincidence. Luxuryserena
The Mean Girls....
GiphyI was holidaying in Europe and went to a lovely little restaurant in Greece for dinner. I was dining alone, and the girls (about the same age as me) from the table next to me started talking to me mid way through my dinner. Turns out we were all from Australia, but different parts of the country. At the end of the night I added them to Facebook and went on my way. The next morning I wake up to an angry text on my phone, from one of my best friends from Uni, asking why I added the girls to Facebook. Turns out they used to bully her all through high school before she moved to my state for Uni. Fruitloops_for_B
Tristan! Come Back!!
Was on vacation in Phuket, Thailand. Finished my beach book by one of my favorite authors. Tristan Jones. Went in to a used bookstore near the beach, found a new book by him (which was weird, he's fairly obscure) in the "new arrivals" box. Store owner said it had just been dropped off, 20 minutes earlier. By the author, who had also autographed it. AkumaBengoshi
Berlin! The city of.... Um... Coincidence!
I worked with a girl at a movie theater in the US for about three years. Years later I ran into her in the parking lot of IKEA in Berlin. We'd both just moved there. ArmyOfDog
Alaska Tales....
I grew up (mostly) in Alaska. After college and some failed career paths - joined the Army. Outside of going overseas, was stationed pretty much as far away from Alaska as you can get in upstate NY.
Before you're assigned *your* barracks room, they put you in a transition/temp room. My roommate at the time?... from Alaska. Not just Alaska, but the same town I grew up in Alaska. We were some years apart so we barely knew the same people but it was nuts. TacticalNaps
He can't hide Forever!
One time I saw my dad (who left us) in a public bathroom. So I ran out because I was like 8 and scared. Bumblebee4Life
"It makes sense that you'd find a piece of s**t in the bathroom." Pacatrack
Fate is the best reference!
GiphyI went in for a job interview a few months ago. My interviewer mentioned he recently moved back from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I told him how my cousin was living there for work, and I had visited him a few times. Ends up, he lived 2 apartments down from my cousin and was good friends with him. I got the job. ShayBriar
My Best Friend's Wedding....
GiphyWas on a boat party on the Thames in London and got talking to one guy from America who was traveling around Europe, he ended up joining our group for drinks after. Travelled across to the US the following year for a friend's wedding and turned out he was the brother of the maid of honor.... CrispyBaconAndSyrup
"What is the craziest conspiracy theory that you secretly believe in?"
Or The Singers Just Wanted To Travel?
"Ireland began deliberately entering bad songs into the Eurovision Song Contest in the 90s."
"After winning it consecutively for a few years it began getting too expensive to host so they sabotaged their chances of winning it."- Houlilala
They Weren't That Cute...
"Build-A-Bear came out with a bunch of new toys that were all the same shade of yellow right after their Minion launch severely underperformed."
"They had stockpiled yellow fabric in anticipation of the Minion toys selling well and getting a big production run and had to find a way to use it all."- everlasting1der
Be Careful What You Ask...
"I believe r/AskReddit is actually a data farming operation that is being used to feed AI algorithms in order to produce more effective propaganda, social control mechanisms, etc… but what do I know…" - Sackerson-502
Search Engine Instagram GIF by GiflyticsGiphyBut Where Do The Beans Go?
"This is dumb, but my mother believes that the coffee grinder machines at the gas station are fake..as in they make a lot of noise just to make you think what your getting is fresh coffee."
"When it's 'grinding' the beans, you never see the beans move."
"We called the gas station and the employee said he doesn't know how the coffee makers work since a 3rd party refills them up or changes the flavors."
"I've called her crazy but slowly i'm getting sucked into it, simply because it's fun."- james_castrello2
Which Would Be More Embarassing?
"Paul Pierce sh*t his pants during the 2008 NBA Finals."
"He sat on the floor apparently injured until he was taken off the court in a wheelchair and returned minutes later completely fine."
"Sitting on the floor and leaving in a wheelchair stopped anybody from seeing his dookie stains."- pierremanslappy
paul pierce GIFGiphyNot Exactly Helping Anyone...
"Micro plastics are making people dumber."- blackbeautybyseven
When They Could Broaden Their Client Lists...
"That the weight loss industry sets people up to fail, because if their products worked they wouldn't have return customers."- Funky_chicken89
What's Important, He's Out There...
"It’s not the cameras: Bigfoot is blurry."- QuillDidNothingWrong
Bigfoot Sasquatch GIF by MOODMANGiphyThe World May Never Know...
"North Korea had an underground nuclear testing site collapse."
"Kim Jong Un then went to China."
"North Korea declared in their state news paper that they have perfected the nuke, and will no longer do any more tests."
"My theory is that Kim Jong Un went to China to ask for help fixing their nuclear disaster."
"Xi told him to deal with it himself and to stop playing with nukes."
"Kim came back to N.Korea like a beaten dog."- Initial-Finger-1235
What Lurks Beneath Midtown
"Occultist architect Ivo Shandor outfitted most of the buildings in downtown Manhattan with a specific alloy which, when activated under the right conditions, would summon Gozer the Gozerian."- Rogue_Wallet
A Connection To Brag About?
"This is dumb lmao, there is a man who lived and worked as a teacher where I'm from in NC."
"His name was Peter Stuart Ney."
"It was during the early 1800s, there's a local legend that lives on that this man was in fact one of Napoleon's right hand men, and fought alongside him even."
"It's been disproven apparently by the French government over the years, it's just funny how this guy was supposedly executed in 1815, just to show up over in NC as a teacher with the same surname and military expertise just 1 year later."
"They say he was a skilled fencer, and he had precise military knowledge even though he was just a teacher for the local school system."
"On his deathbed he supposedly confessed to being one Marshal Michel Ney, the 'Bravest of the Brave', according to Napoleon."
"Wild story but part of me just fully f*cking believes it's crazy enough to be true."
"Records indicated he had shown up in Charleston SC in 1816, just a year after this Michel Ney was executed in France."
"Idk, it's just a crazy story."- actuallyjayft
pizza emoji GIFGiphy...Aside From The Fact That Fairy Tales Are Public Domain...
"Disney only do remakes to retain copyright on the stories."- AndPlagueFlowers
Likely True For Some Of Them...
"All those crazy Boomers have lead poisoning."- octavialovesart
Bodes Well For Online Dating Too...
"The Empty Internet Conspiracy."
"A large part of the population of the internet and, thus, a large part of interactions on the internet are completely fake."
"Just faceless chat bots tooling around; generating social media posts, YouTube comments, and opinion articles on news sites."
"With the rise of AI generated essays and research papers, it's becoming easier to draw lines between those papers and how random news articles can read in a way in which a human would never write."- Karmit_Da_Fruge
Internet Netneutrality GIF by Ryan SeslowGiphyAs long as people keep these beliefs to themselves, and don't try to promote them, then they have every right to believe these rather dubious stories are true.
And who knows, some of these stories are so far-fetched, perhaps the only way they came to prominence was because they actually happened.
Redditor pambannedfromchilis wanted the wealthy to spill the deets on being wealthy, so they asked:
"What is something only a wealthy person would know?"
Tell me the secrets. Just first let me get a pen and paper.
Private Listings
I Am Rich Nene Leakes GIFGiphy"You can opt not to be on those 'wealthiest people' lists - for a price."
draggar
"The number of people that actively avoid those lists is far higher than the number of people on those lists. Also, some people actively manage the amount the list shows."
Ragnel
Call Me
"The phone numbers from people who could help you out of any (even bad) situation."
purevenuscookieslog
"All you need is one person with the right phone number and worth that level of protection."
There is a neighborhood in Colorado Springs with a large number of former generals, nuclear scientists, corporation directors, etc. Within 5 minutes of a burglary alarm going off, the criminal was dead. I can assure you that the Colorado Springs police can't respond that quickly."
jeffh4
HELP!
"The less help you need, the more you get."
manIDKbruh
"You have access to favorable credit lines with better rates than ordinary folk. They just throw money at you when you have money."
dbx999
"Bob Hope used to say 'a bank is a place that'll lend you money, but only if you can prove you don't need it.'"
tommytraddles
Premium Help
"How to fully use a hotel concierge service."
Firebolt164
"Was in Australia at a nice hotel. Wanted to go to Royal Observatory but there were no tickets that evening - only the evening we could make it. Ended up in casual conversation with the hotel concierge. At some, told him how much we were enjoying our visit and he asked if there was anything disappointing."
"I said only that we could not get into the Royal Observatory. He said he’d see what he could do, catching me by surprise having been unfamiliar with what a concierge does before then. That night my wife and I were looking at the Jewel Box through the telescope at the Royal Observatory."
arriesgado
Celeb Encounters
Rihanna Boat GIFGiphy"You can rent celebrities for your private events. Not just musicians, but bonafide actors and actresses."
MediumRareTaint
"I remember a few years ago the founder of Lululemon, Chip Wilson, had the Red Hot Chili Peppers play in his backyard here in Vancouver. We could hear them from the beach below."
madam1madam
If had the money to rent people for private events, Adele would have plans forever!
What is Rent?
Alicia Silverstone My Bad GIFGiphy"Have a friend who is moving to the Bay area. To work for a non-profit. Part-time. She didn't know what her salary would be."
minervazahara
Fly High
"Private jets come with different size luggage compartments."
thinkx5
"I mean, do all cars have the exact same size trunk? No, some are roomy as sh*t and some are teeny. It makes sense that different models from different manufacturers would have different sized/shaped compartments, especially given there are some that seat 4 passengers and some that seat 14."
fireandlifeincarnate
Member-Owned
"The difference between an equity country club and a membership country club."
smurfsundermybed
"Some country clubs have vested ownership (ie 100% member-owned) while others are owned by corporations. It really isn't always a prestige thing, many older clubs in the sticks only came about because they were member-owned and built by a group of families."
"Of course, nearly all of today's old-school elite courses started out as member-owned but that doesn't mean all member-owned courses are elite."
Salamok
"Yeah, this is a good one. Also, the understanding that you can't just walk into most private clubs, write a check for whatever the fee is and become a member. Most of the equity clubs have a white ball/black ball system too, similar to fraternities, where two or three blacks DQ you."
xkulp8
When in Need
"The VIP hotline number at the children's hospital when your kid needs urgent care but there's a big wait in the ER (but your kid isn't sicker than anybody else's kid in the ER), and you won't get to the front of the line. Blew my mind when a very wealthy friend told me he did this for his child (the friend's father was a huge donor to the hospital). More power to him, but there is the wealthy and then there is the wealthy."
off_mode_auto
The Most Valuable
Seth Meyers Time GIF by Late Night with Seth MeyersGiphy"That wealth is not what people see. It's what people don't get to see. That the most valuable asset is not things, but time."
shidored
Whoever said money can't buy happiness is lying.
There is the biggest secret.
