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People Share The Most Bizarre Thing They've Seen In Someone Else's Home

Who knows what plethora of things you can find in another person's house? The place we call home can easily be a base for the strangest, the bizarre, and the unexpected.

u/Aura_Blaze_Official asked: Redditors who have a job where they go into other people's homes (plumbers, electricians, etc) what's the weirdest most disturbing thing you've seen while working in a customer's house?

At least she has a hobby.

Was a firefighter another time in my life. Had a middle of the night call to a mobile home for an elderly lady once. We walk in and it's dark but as my eyes start to adjust I think "oh that's weird wallpaper". I keep looking around "huh, it's on the ceiling too". Weird inconsistent patterns and rectangle shapes. Eyes adjust some more while we are talking to her. Wtf? "Are those puzzles?!"


She had hundreds of puzzles that she had glued when completed and then glued them to every surface of her mobile home. Walls, ceiling, living room, bedroom. Every square inch covered. Weird... But you do you. Especially in your own home. Certainly not as bad as most ITT.

WhilstTakingADump

Look at all these chickens.

Used to deliver oxygen to people's homes. Saw plenty of weird things. Lots of hoarders, but this one took the cake. He didn't want to let us into his house, but I had to do a home safety assessment before I could set up the equipment. He was anxious about letting me in because his house was mess. He kept telling me about his messy house.

Come to find out, it wasn't just messy. It was filled with 200 chickens. He was proud of his show chickens and wouldn't let them live in a barn or coop. The smell was unbearable. Other than that, he was a super nice guy.

Good_Looking_Karl

What an awful sight.

A few years back I worked as an electrician.

I found a guy with a rifle laying next to him where he had tried to shoot himself, but he had "missed" the vital parts. Blood was all over the bed but he was still breathing, he was in coma state of mind, heard later that he died that day.

dude_above_me_is_gay

No idea.

Long ago I did estimates for fire and water damage repairs for a restoration company. This couple had a smallish fire in their bedroom. When I enter the home it's seemingly normal, smells like smoke (there was a fire, makes sense). They take me to the bedroom and it was the mattress that had endured the majority of the fire, along with some of the wall above the head of the bed and smoke damage to the ceiling.

Next to each side of the bed are 10 gallon buckets FILLED TO THE BRIM with cigarette butts, and hundreds of spilled over butts all over the floor. I was just in awe how they could live like this in their bedroom, especially since the rest of their home seemed tidy and normal. Also completely beyond me why they wouldn't clean it up after the fire if for no other reason than insurance adjusters being able to blame them (rightly) and possibly not pay out.

"How did the fire start," I asked. (required to ask)

"No idea," the husband replied.

Living_Kumquat

Giphy

I was a paramedic in Oakland and once I was in a home where a child has been bitten by a rat in her crib. As we were standing there talking to the mother about her options a rat walked up to one of the firefighters and bit his boot.

The firefighters stomp to the rat to death and the rat was taken to the health department for testing. That was a strange situation.

HenryRN

Awkward.

Fire Alarm Inspector. Working in a cheap long term hotel and knocked on a door where a larger man dressed in essentially a purple bikini opens the door half asleep. Enter to test the smoke detector and tried to keep my eyes off the bed but I knew I had seen something...tried not to look but I did and there's a big old purple adult toy next to the tv remote.

The detector then decides to not alarm in a timely fashion so I'm just staring at the wall hoping it will alarm so I get out of the room.

Karlen89

Probably the right move.

Bunch of used pregnancy tests on the floor of the teenage daughter's closet.

I didn't say a damn word to anybody.

stupidlyugly

Anxiety sucks.

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Just read a post in another subreddit about a girl with social anxiety who hid under her bed when the plumbers came and then the plumbers caught her under there. And then she ran and hid in the bathroom until they left.

Wonder if those plumbers are on reddit. I most definitely want to hear their side.

killthecacti

Good call.

I use to do flooring and when we had to get up the sub flooring due to water damage. Underneath it there was a black garbage bag. When I opened said bag it had a bunch of women's clothes in it. Didn't think anything about it until we dumped it out and found ripped underwear and torn dresses.


Told the owner we had forgot some stuff at work and wouldn't be back until tomorrow. Called the police and never went back. The house was soon up for sale a month or so later.

Rzr117

That's kinda wholesome.

Food bank delivery to home bound elders.

I always fill two banana boxes (around foot and a half by 3 and a foot deep) of all types of food and deliver to his house. One time after delivering to him for 3 years I have to come inside because he hurt his foot.


He had never thrown out a single box. They lined every wall and entrance. He built a castle around his bed, and a series of paths through his house. It was like those pillow forts you would make as a kid but with boxes.

I asked him if he wanted help getting rid of them and he said no. That it was fun and helped with his dementia. He's super fun.

DirtyMartiniMan

That's a whole lotta nope.

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I work for a restoration company. This is a long story but I'll keep it short.

We get a call to go to this house. We're told to clean upstairs and completely gut the basement. It sounds like a lot of work but definitely doable. We arrive, and the second we set foot in the front door, we're greeted with the rancid stench of years of accumulated filth.

Once in the front door, we saw a mountain (literally up to my waist) of empty liquor bottles and milk jugs, littered with empty cigarette packs and butts in the living space. In the kitchen, another mountain, this time it was made of dirty dishes and takeout containers glued together with moldy grime and sludge that was once food. Over in the dining area, a literal minefield of turds. The dog that lived there would regularly poo on the floor, interestingly, the shots were evenly spaced. To inspect the bathroom, we had to cross the minefield, unfortunately, it was impossible to avoid stepping on the little doggie bombs so after a quick round of rock paper scissors, a loser was chosen to be sacrificed to the bathroom gods. As my poor co-worker walked across the kitchen, the sound of the puppy delights crunching like Cheetos under his feet began. The bathroom was a nightmare. We were informed that there was no running water before arriving but we didn't expect that to result in a third mountain. A mountain of poo filled garbage bags, human poop. The smell was unbearable, my co-worker sprinted to the front door and decorated the lawn with his lunch.

Having seen the entirety of the top floor, we decided to venture into the basement. For this, we put on boots and masks so we didn't have to struggle to breath. We made our way down the dark, musty stairwell and discovered about six inches of water waiting for us at the bottom. The reason the customer had no running water was because the main line broke and was pouring into the basement. Thing is, this had been going on for years, the water was pouring full bore into the basement for three years. The only reason it didn't start pouring out the windows is the drain in the laundry room. The basement walls had black mould up to and on the ceiling, and there was more mountains of recyclables and belongings all covered in mold and sludge.

So, the most disturbing thing I've seen in a customers house was the state of the house itself.

TL;DR: Went to a house, house had several hundred dollars worth of refundable recycling lying around and a load of mold and actual poo.

Steevo231

Not the type of tip you'd want to get.

Pizza delivery driver...

I delivered once to a caravan at the side of a sketchy drug house. The guy went to hand me some cash and accidentally handed me his baggie of ICE too. I handed it back and said something along the lines of 'woah just cash will do mate, better take that back'

missmandyapple

Crack is wack.

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I paint and flip apartments as a side job and I found a pipe. We kinda just threw it away, and just hoped there wasn't anything else. We wouldn't call the police or anything most likely nothing would have happened.

SpaceLeafSquid

Sounds sketchy af.

Artist here, went to a house to do a mural. Guy had over 1000 crosses hanging on the walls of his house. Also most of the house was built by what seemed to be highly unskilled labor. The patron was a criminal defense lawyer that offered work on his compound instead of paying lawyer fees. So there were ex cons walking around building stuff around his place, they were nice enough people. But....yeah.


Also one of the rooms wasn't tall enough? So they were just digging down into the ground to make the room taller. Almost every room was just a WTF situation. Another oddity was that the entire compound's construction materials did not match with anything else it was made with since it was made with reclaimed materials. The owner is rich AF but I think ONLY because he might be the cheapest person alive on the planet. But the number of crosses was the most disturbing of all of it.

ForcedToDecay

Kids these days.

Not me but my friend is a paramedic he got a call out to a stroke and when he and his partner arrived they were let in with police escort as they were taking her out of the house they happened to catch a glimpse of her son in his room playing video games, he turned back and looked at them and pushed the door shut.

Yeahnahmate8

Awkward

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Ok so I once worked as a pizza delivery guy right. One day I get an order like normal and drove to the address, the moment I took off my motorcycle helmet I heard what obviously was the sound of sex. I still had other places to go after this one so I knocked on the door politely, and they stopped for a few moments, but kept at it.

I was kinda mad, so I kept knocking, not very hard but I realized that the dude fell into my rhythm. So I knocked faster and faster and the dude went faster and faster until I heard an annoyed grunt. He the came and paid and when I asked about tip he yelled in my face, "NO TIP!"

Ahristotelianist

That definitely isn't the right way to dispose of cats.

Not a personal experience, but my dad is a Electrician.

He goes to alot of crazy cat lady houses but this story definitely takes the cake.

He went to some old ladys house, immediately when he walked in the room smelled like complete piss, which was nothing out of the usual for cat ladys. My dad counted about ten or more, and that was just in the living room. He finished up his work and got up to tell the lady that he was done, when he looked over to see a big shelf just FULL of stuffed dead cats. It made him want to puke. I remember him so vividly ranting about his day and bringing up that story.

shrekahottiemcbodie

Ca-CAW.

Not me, but my dad and brother.

They install radon systems in people's houses. A lot of times they are contracted by a leasing agencies and such. The tenants know they're coming but truly don't care most of the time. They've seen everything from hoarding, to heavy drugs and paraphernalia, and fecal matter all over the house.

However, they have one particular house that absolutely topped everything. It was a kind of run down house from the outside but nothing too bad. And most of the rooms inside weren't anything terrible. But then they got to one of the bedrooms that immediately kind of set off their weird meters.

The first thing was that there was a GIANT shrine/altar that took up almost an entire wall. There were pictures and garlic and other off things hanging from it but that was about it. They kind of shrugged their shoulders and continued on working in the room. However, they kept hearing this rustling noise every couple of minutes and couldn't figure it out.

Until my brother sees this potato sack type bag under a chair in the room. He realizes that the noise is coming from there. So he goes over to the chair and squats down and sees that there is a full grown, live crow in this bag. As soon as he makes the connection, the crow absolutely starts losing it. They said they've never left a room or building so fast. They actually told the leasing agency that contracted then that they would do the other houses but not that one unless a member of their management team was with them.

greatwhytemo

Gross.

Giphy

I used to do roofing work in Florida as a salesman. Sometimes if the damage was severe enough clients could have interior damages from leaks. My company was a roofing contractor and a general contractor so we always tried to sell the whole job and not just the roof.

One trailer I went to after a hurricane was just in absolute disgusting shape. There was a woman living there probably in her late 60's to early 70's and there was just stuff EVERYWHERE.

She had newspapers from 20 years ago, but that wasn't even close to all of it. The unit reeked of black mold and cat piss. Parts of her ceiling were collapsing, but not only the ceiling the FLOOR in this woman's house had holes everywhere. Where there wasn't holes the floor would sag with each step.

That home was by far the worst of any that I walked into for that job and I was terrified the entire time I was dealing with her. I left the company about a month after going out there but I'm sure we didn't even touch the property because it was beyond any sensible repair. I advised the owner to leave asap because of all the mold in the home but she wasn't having it.

xproject000

That's a big ol' nope.

Went into a house to measure carpet. Owner (landlord) is reviewing drawing on iPad I'm holding when I look down at the kitchen table.

It is covered in ants.

PatrickB75

Wow.

It's the things I didn't see, that scares me more than what I have seen.

I work in healthcare and we our unit does home visits daily, to help elderly and handicapped people get dressed, get fed, go to the toilet. That sort of thing, like all-inclusive within your own four walls.

An old lady in a wheelchair had put out a small plate of milk on the floor, when asked about it she explained that it was for the kittens. She did not have any kittens, no pets at all, in fact. I tried to shift her thoughts to something real, and didn't accuse her of hallucinating. Next day, a new plate. This time she's leaned over in her wheelchair to the point of almost falling out. I ask her what she's doing. She says the cats aren't drinking the milk. They are just smelling it. I ask where the cats come from "Under the kitchen counter, they seem to live there". The kitchen counter with 1 millimeter clearing between the floor.

The hallucinations continues and worsens. All of a sudden she sees a boy, a young kid. She asks what he wants, what his name is, where he's from. No answer. Never an answer. He starts sleeping on he couch. Later, in her bed. She asks him to leave, he just looks at her. When me, or my colleagues arrive she says he's hiding inside the bed cover. It gets so bad that she does not go to bed. She stays up all night because the bed "is taken, and he refuses to leave".

After days, she tells me she sees a small girl as well, just sometimes. Swinging her legs off the couch and sleeping in it, the cats are there too, she says. They are never mean, they are just scaring her. They are making her stay up all night, losing sleep because the bed and couch are always taken when she needs them. They follow her around the apartment.

One night, when going to bed, she sees a man in her bed, with the boy. I asked her if he talks to her. "No, but he wants me to leave. I can tell. He's there to protect the boy, so the boy can do as he pleases".

These events stretched a few weeks, sometimes she got to sleep. Sometimes not. The scariest part is not the hallucinations of an old, sick woman. The scariest part is that we have more residents in the same house, that we visit. Two days after the woman stopped seeing the children I spoke to another resident. She says she sees a small boy, and a girl. Usually during the day. They never speak. Always silent.

Lundq_

Oh no.

Installed blinds and was in a large 2 story house. It turned out to be a group home. When I went into the basement it was empty except for a large round bed, lights mounted on tripods, and an empty tripod. (I assume for the camera) This was early 2000s so making "home movies" was a little more of an involved process I figure.

So many questions raced through my head. Am I in danger? Who is being filmed? Where are they exits?

Oh dear god.

tatovive

Heck no.

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I sell cable door to door. Went to a run down section of a run down town, and these apartments were set up in what must have been an abandoned Motel. Everything there had a very motel-like atmosphere.

Anyways, I walk up to this one apartment and the blinds are wide open in the front window. Big fat guy in boxers and a tank top (wifebeater) on the couch watching TV. I ring the bell, he gets up to answer the door, and I notice the giant bottle of lube, and a glistening double headed sex toy.

While we were talking I asked if he lives with anyone. Family, girl/boyfriend, whatever.

"Nope! Just me and my dog!"

Ugh.

Throwaway7362189689

Smart move.

Not really meant for me but once when baby sitting I went exploring around the father's house and found a very expensive looking camera aiming at the neighbors bedroom window.

I stop babysitting for him right after.

trickerspade

Bad Naomi!

When my parents were young and living in a crappy apartment together, they had a pet rat named Naomi. On a particularly hot night, my parents decided to sleep on the floor rather than the bed because it was just too unbearably hot.

My dad wakes up with Naomi having escaped her cage and munching on his forehead (we think she tasted the sweat on his face and thought he was a tasty snack). They went into their bedroom and discovered that a figurine/doll they owned had its face chewed off.

My mom jokes that she got a "taste for face."

aubreythez

How sad.

I used to do some work for a woman who was a certified hoarder. She paid me by the hour to try and help sort out her mess. I'm not kidding, her front door would be wedged shut by the junk.

And when she cleared some space from the inside, you finally got some room to open the door up. The mess in her hallway was piled almost to the ceiling. She would crawl on all fours across the mess to reach her first floor bedroom. She couldn't even shower in her bathroom as that was also full of mess.

She was actually lovely person in many ways although clearly had many issues. I eventually has to stop helping her out. It was too much for me to bear. The stress of working in that kind of environment like that began to effect me. She was living in her own filth and she lived in pure squalor.

To this day I've never seen anything else like it. Sometimes when I came over the first job would for me buy her coffee and a sandwich. Because of the mess on the first floor she attached a bucket on a string and lowered it out of the window, and if then load up the bucket from outside on the ground floor and she'd pull it back up. It was hard to imagine how someone could live like that, incomprehensible.

BozzuK

That's comforting.

Giphy

I'm a home visitor and a client had a dead mouse nailed to their outside wall of the house right at the front door. It was eye level and pointed outward as if jumping out of the air. They were creepy weirdos.

Crickaboo

You learn something new every day.

Husband (delivery driver and furniture assembler) informs me he went in to a customers house and found sex swings and other such kinky accoutrements hanging from the ceiling in the garage.

LilyLovesSnape

Surprised you don't have a CDC suit already.

Electrician by trade. Working in low income apartments. The first floor of these buildings is always the mechanicals of the building. The boiler room, electrical room and storage areas etc are always cluttered like they are populated by hoarders. Moldy cardboard boxes, mouse poop everywhere, everything is sticky. Makes me wish I had a CDC chemical warfare suit.

GoldinGoose

Firefighters deal with much more than just fires.

Firefighter. Had a call for a smoke condition in the kitchen of a small ranch style house at 3:30am. We went, sure enough there was. We ask if everyone is out of the house, and the guy was like nope, but don't worry about it. We were like um no, we need everyone out there's a possibly fire in the walls.

Turns out this was a crack house. Being firefighters we couldn't really do anything but just get in and get our job done. We reassured him they won't get in trouble but he needs to take us to everybody or tell is where they're at. Oh boy. The mother was upstairs... Naked. Probably about 85 years old. Refused to get out. Eventually did but refused to get dressed. She started to hit on my asst chief as well.

Two other guys (assuming sons) were fighting in a living room. Needles everywhere. Mold everywhere. Torn up carpet, place smelled of dog piss but no animals in sight. The place was vial, and their kitchen wasn't much better but we've seen some nasty kitchens. Least to say job got done, we've back to the firehouse, hosed everyone down with a garden hose because we all felt gross, and stared wide eyed into our drinks for about an hour until the sun came up.

cantcomplainhbu

Bot crazy stories.

I can't help but decide between two things, one is my experience, one is for my teachers. Mine is simple, I was installing a GFI for my uncle, go into his panel and find a breaker for a room called the "porno room." He refuses to turn it off to find out which room it is.

My teachers is that he goes into this guy's house to replace an attic fan, glad he's walking through he looks at a kitchen table where he sees a huge stack of money and a Glock just lying on the table. He said he did the job and walked out, ghosting the man sitting there counting it.

ThePleorb

Uhnhhhhh.....

I was doing door to door "sales" one summer for one of those "charities" where they want you to commit to monthly donations for a year. We were told not to go in peoples houses for safety reasons but we all knew you had to get inside to really solidify the donation sometimes. One afternoon a middle aged man said he was in the middle of cooking so if I wanted to give him my pitch I'd have to step inside. That may sound sketchy but that actually occurred a lot and the man was literally holding a bowl and whisk in his hand so I said sure and followed him to the kitchen.

I sat at the kitchen table and was focused on my pitch so I didn't really take in my surroundings at first. The man was moving around frantically from countertop to countertop stirring things. I then noticed there were giant bowls of cooked spaghetti noodles everywhere. And his "stirring" was actually him just whisking the various bowls of spaghetti noodles. None of it made sense.

After I said my closing line he sat down with me and immediately started telling me about his wife that recently left him for someone else. He went on for over 20 minutes without ever stopping or waiting for me to give any sort of response. Before I knew it I was following him upstairs because he wanted to show me his new computer.

It was the biggest desktop I've ever seen in my life and he put on a slideshow of photos of him and his ex wife. After a few minutes I realized it wasn't him in the photos. But he gave a backstory on each photo as if it were him. I don't remember how I finally got out of there and I can't remember if he ended up donating.

shicole3

Praise be.

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Use to service this Doctor's house regularly because they had 10 HVAC systems that were old.

They had a life size Jesus standing at the foot of their bed, facing the bed.

Never even met the guy, but he was very nice over the phone. The wife was an absolute hag though.

TworkinForTheWeekend

I used to deliver food for a small place that made things like pizza, chicken, wraps etc. I often had to go inside people's homes on request to deliver. There was one customer that all the other delivery people avoided when it came in. It was a massive delivery order, I don't remember what that amounts to any longer, but it must have been something like 5-6 pizzas, some chicken, etc. I arrive at a small mobile home, and knock on the door, and a voice asks me to enter.

I walk into the living room to a stench like french cheese baked in Parmesan with a side of cooking artichokes. There was the largest woman I've ever seen, sat in front of a sofa, covered in towels and other tattered cloths.

She was so massive I couldn't make eye contact etc. Apparently she had a deal with the food place, because she didn't pay, and as such didn't tip for the delivery. I became the delivery person that had to take that order each time for a couple weeks, until there was a kind of emergency there, and the fire department had to actually cut the mobile home apart to remove this woman. That stench stays with me today, ugh...

DenseFever

Seems a little excessive.

I used to work for a company that did control systems for hydronic heating systems in apartment buildings.

A co-worker of mine had to install temperate sensors in some of the units so that we could get a general idea of the heating profile in the building.

One of the tenants was convinced that he was installing a listening device. By the time he got back to the office, it had stopped reporting the temperature. Guy had taken a hammer to it.

jlamothe

That's what I call good timing.

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Not my story but my dad's. He is a plumber, and he works on call for a rental agency.

One day he got called out to fix a sink in an apartment. The tenant, a woman in her early 20's let him in and he got to work.

As he went about the job, the woman kept talking to him, and it became increasingly obvious that not only was she drunk as a skunk at 2pm on a Wednesday, but that she was also trying her hardest to get into his pants.

Dad is trying to politely rebuff this woman, and finish the job as quickly as he can. He is freaking out that he will get in to trouble if he offends the tenant and she decides to flip the tables on him and call assault. Eventually she goes and sits on the couch, but continues to pose in a lewd nature until she finally passes out, legs akimbo, on full display.

Now Dad is finished fixing the sink but is also concerned about leaving this heavily intoxicated woman passed out by herself, but also doesn't want to go near her with a ten foot barge pole in her current state.

Luckily the situation was resolved when the boyfriend got home. Dad decided to be honest about his interaction with the woman; apparently the boyfriend just sighed and thanked him for fixing the sink, covered up his snoring girlfriend and let Dad out, apologising for the bother.

Dad noped it out of there and put in a formal report to the rental agency to cover his butt.

To this day I would love to know what went down once she woke up!

Cleeganxo

Wow, Mom.

I was a private tutor during my bachelor. Once I was in one house helping a student and the mother left some eggs in the oven. After 30 minutes teaching mathematics, I hear a small bang in the kitchen and starts smelling like burned awfulness. Some smoke comes out of the kitchen, I told my student to tell her mom and turn on the oven off.

Her mother was taking a nap, and after waking her up she went again to sleep like nothing was burning in her kitchen.

acabaramosman

Happy cows come from this guy's house.

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I work as a cleaner for the elderly and disabled around town (so that they are able to keep living in their own house instead of a retirement home or whatever). There's one particular guy whose house was something else. Not disturbing, but definitely weird. The dude had a thing for cows, and almost everything in his house was cow-themed. Cups, plates, pillows, paintings, bed sheets, chairs, soap holders, curtains and I think even the toilet brush.

He's a pretty chill dude though, and I think his cow collection gives him a bit of purpose in life. Go cow-man.

Amethyst1408

Whoops.

My father in law is a home inspector. He ran across a sex dungeon. He is not a enlightened man and made some crass comments about the same sex couple that owned it. Nothing outright hateful but they were slobs and the house was a wreck but their sexual activity area was the only semi clean area in the home.

pariah13

Sounds disgusting.

I do estimates for home improvement. Go in about 1000 houses a year. I have seen some STUFF. The most notable was a gentleman's house for window replacements. We chatted outside because he said he has "5 hounds that will howl the entire time" once I made it into the house I found out that he just lets them piss and shit EVERYWHERE and did NOTHING about it. Made it a foot into the door before I gagged and left the house. Made some excuse about how I didn't need to actually be outside. The smell was so bad that when he opened his garage door I wasn't able to be within 50 feet of the house.

Now I have been to some houses that smell and I have been able to stick it out for the sale. This....this wasn't worth it.

cootertooter2

People Describe The Creepiest Things They Ever Witnessed As A Kid

"Reddit user -2sweetcaramel- asked: 'What’s the creepiest thing you saw as a kid?'"

Four mistreated baby dolls are hung by barb wire
Photo by J Lopez

For many childhood memories are overrun by living nightmares.

Yes, children are resilient, but that doesn't mean that the things we see as babes don't follow us forever.

The horrors of the world are no stranger to the young.

Redditor -2sweetcaramel- wanted to see who was willing to share about the worst things we've seen as kids, so they asked:

"What’s the creepiest thing you saw as a kid?"

Serious Danger

"Me and my best friend would explore the drainage tunnels under the Vegas area where we grew up. These were miles long and it was always really cool down there so it was a good way to escape the heat of our scorching hot summers. We went into this one that goes under the Fiesta casino and found a camp with a bunch of homeless people."

"Mind you we are like 11 years old lol. And we just kept going like it was nothing. It wasn’t scary then but when I look back at it we could have been in some serious danger. Our parents had no idea we did this or where we were and we had no cellphones. We could have been kidnapped and never have been found."

oofboof2020

Waiting for Food

"I was at a portillos once when I was 12 and I was waiting with my little brother at a booth while my parents got our food. This guy was standing with his tray kind of watching me then after a couple of minutes he started to walk over really fast not breaking eye contact with me."

"He was 2 feet from the table and my dad came out of nowhere and scared the s**t out of him. He looked so surprised and just said he wanted to see if I’d get scared or not. He left his tray full of food near the door and left. My folks reported him but we never went to that location again since we found a better one closer to home."

nowhereboy1964

Captain Hobo to the Rescue

"When I was a pretty young teen, my friends and I were horsing around in San Francisco and started hanging out to smoke with some homeless guys. Another homeless dude came up and began aggressively trying to shake us down for anything (money, smokes, a ride, drugs- all of it) and wouldn’t take no for an answer."

"We got in over our heads and could tell this guy was now riling the other 2 guys up and they were acting like they wanted to jump us. Some grandfather-looking old homeless man appeared out of nowhere and yelled at us to get the f**k out of here- nice kids like us don’t belong down here at this hour!!"

"Captain Hobo saved our lives that night. My parents sincerely thought we were at a mall all day lol."

FartAttack911

Survival

tsunami GIF Giphy

"I was 7 and survived the 2004 tsunami in Thailand. Witnessed the wave rise way above the already massive palm trees (approx. 40ft?) and my family and I watched/heard the wave crash into the ground from a rooftop."

faithfulpoo

These Tsunami stories are just tragic.

On the Sand

Scared The Launch GIF by CTV Giphy

"We were a group of kids who went to swim in a local lake. And there was a dead body on the beach with their hands raised and their legs bent unnaturally that local police just took out of the same lake. I've never put my foot in these waters again."

oyloff

Be Clever

"I was walking to school and I was about 5 or 6 years old and some guy pulled up beside me in his car and asked if I would get in. He also offered me sweets to do so. I said no. The creepy bit was when he calmly said ‘clever boy’ to me, then drove off. I’ve never even told my parents or anyone else about this as it would most likely freak them out."

OstneyPiz

Bad Jokes

"Dad's side of the family pranked me by burying a fake body on our back property and had me dig it up to find valuables. Was only allowed to use a lantern for light. They stuffed old clothes with chicken bones. Sheetrock mud where the head was... Random fake jewelry as the treasures... I was like maybe 10 or 11.. I remember digging up the boot first and started gagging because it became real at that point."

Alegan239

YOU

Who Are You Reaction GIF by MOODMAN Giphy

"Woke up to find my little brother staring at me in the dark, asking, Are you really you?"

PrettyLola2004

Siblings can really be a bunch of creepers.

No one should talk to others in the dark though.

Woman stressed at work
Photo by JESHOOTS.COM on Unsplash

When we hear about other people's jobs, we've surely all done that thing where we make assumptions about the work they do and maybe even judge them for having such an easy or unimportant job.

But some jobs are much harder than they look.

Redditor CeleryLover4U asked:

"What's a job or profession that seems easy but is incredibly challenging?"

Customer Service

"Anything customer-facing. The public is dumb and horrendous."

- gwarrior5

"My go-to explanation is, 'Anyone can do it, but few can do it for long.'"

- Conscious_Camel4830

"The further I get in my corporate career, the less I believe I will ever again be capable of working a public-facing job. I don’t know how I did it in the past. I couldn’t handle it in the present."

"I know people are only getting worse about how they treat workers. It is disturbing, embarrassing, and draining for everyone."

- First-Combination-12

High Stakes

"A pharmacist."

"You face the public. Your mistake can literally kill someone."

- VaeSapiens

"Yes, Pharmacist. So many people think their job is essentially the same as any other kind of retail worker and they just prepare prescriptions written by a doctor without having to know anything about them."

"They are very highly trained in, well, pharmacology; and it's not uncommon for a pharmacist to notice things like potentially dangerous drug interactions that the doctor hadn't."

- Worth_University_884

Teaching Woes

"Two nuggets of wisdom from my mentor teacher when I was younger:"

"'Teaching is the easiest job to do poorly and the hardest job to do well,' and 'You get to choose two of the following three: Friends, family, or being a good teacher. You don't have enough time to do all three.'"

"We all know colleagues or remember teachers who were lazy and chose the easy route, but any teacher who is trying to be a good teacher has probably sacrificed their friends and their sleep for little pay and a stressful work environment. There's a reason something like half quit the profession within the first five years."

- bq87

Creativity Is "Easy"

"Some creative professions, such as designers, are often perceived as 'easy' due to their creative nature. However, they may face the constant need to find inspiration, deal with criticism, and meet deadlines."

- rubberduckyis

"EVERYBODY thinks they are a designer, up until the point of having to do the work. But come critique time, mysteriously, EVERYBODY IS A F**KING DESIGNER AGAIN."

"The most important skill to have as a designer is THICK SKIN."

- whitepepper

Care Fatigue Is Real

"Care work."

"I wish it could be taken for granted that no one thinks it's easy. But unfortunately, many people still see it as an unskilled job and have no idea of the many emotional complexities, or of how much empathy, all the time, is needed to form the sorts of relationships with service users that they really need."

- MangoMatiLemonMelon

Physical Labor Generally Wins

"I’m going to say most types of unskilled labor and that’s because there’s such little (visible) reward and such a huge amount of bulls**t. I’ve done customer service, barista, sales, serving, etc; and it was all much harder than my cushy desk job that actually can be considered life or death."

- anachronistika

Their Memory Banks Must Be Wild

"I don't know if I'd call it incredibly challenging, but being one of those old school taxi drivers who know the city like the back of his hand and can literally just drive wherever being told nothing but an address is pretty impressively skilled."

"Not sure if it's still like this, but British cabbies used to be legendary for this. I'm 40 and I don't think most young people appreciate how much the quality of cab service has gone down since the advent of things like Uber."

"Nowadays it's just kind of expected that a rideshare/cab driver doesn't know exactly where you're trying to get and has to rely on GPS directions that they often f up. Back when I was in college, cabbies were complete experts on their city."

"More even than knowing how to get somewhere, they could also give you advice. You could just generally describe a type of bar/club/business you're looking for, and they'll take you right to one that was spot on. Especially in really big cities like NYC."

- Yak-Mak-5000

Professional Cooking

"Being a chef."

- Canadian_bro7

"I would love to meet the person who thinks being a chef is easy! I cook my own food and it’s not only OK to eat but I make a batch of it so I have some for later. So, to make food that is above good and portion it correctly many times a day and do it consistently with minimal wastage (so they make a profit), strikes me as extremely difficult."

- ChuckDeBongo

Team Leading, Oof

"Anything that involves a lot of people skills and socializing. I thought these positions were just the bulls**t of sitting in meetings all day and not a lot of work happening but having to be the one leading those meetings and doing public speaking is taxing in a way I didn’t realize."

- Counterboudd

Not a Pet Sitter At All

"Veterinary Technician."

"Do the job of an RN, anesthesiology tech, dental hygienist, radiology tech, phlebotomist, lab tech, and CNA, but probably don’t make a living wage and have people undervalue your career because you 'play with puppies and kittens all day.'"

- forthegoddessathena

Harder Than It Looks!

"Sometimes, when my brain is fried from thinking and my ego is shot from not fixing the problem, I want to be a garbage man... not a ton of thinking, just put the trash in the truck, and a lot of them have trucks that do it for you!"

"But if the robot either doesn't work or you don't have one on your truck, it smells really bad, the pay isn't what it used to be, you might find a dead body and certainly find dead animal carcasses... and people are id**ts, overfilling their bags, just to have them fall apart before you get to the truck, not putting their trash out and then blaming you, making you come back out."

"Your body probably is sore every day, and you have to take two baths before you can kiss your wife..."

"Ehh, maybe things are not so bad where I am."

- Joebroni1414

Twiddling Thumbs and Listening

"Therapist here. I’ve always said that it’s pretty easy to be an okay therapist—as in, it’s not that hard to listen to people’s problems and say, 'Oh wow, that’s so hard, poor you.'"

"But to be a good therapist? To know when your client is getting stuck in the same patterns, or to notice what your client isn’t saying? To realize that they’re only ever saying how amazing their spouse is, and to think, 'Hmm, nobody’s marriage is perfect, something’s going on there'?"

"To be able to ask questions like, 'Hey, we’ve been talking a lot about your job, but what’s going on with your family?' And then to be able to call them on their s**t, but with kindness and empathy? Balancing that s**t is hard."

"Anybody can have empathy, but knowing when to use empathy and when and how to challenge someone is so much harder. And that’s only one dimension of what makes being a therapist challenging."

- mylovelanguageiswine

Constant Updates

​"For the most part, my job is really easy (marketing tech). But having to constantly stay on top of new platforms, new tech, updates, etc etc is exhausting and overwhelming and I really hate it."

"Also, the constant responsibility to locate and execute opportunities to optimize things and increase value for higher-ups. Nobody in corporate roles can ever just reach a point of being 'good enough.' More and better is always required."

"Just some of the big reasons I’m considering a career change."

- GlizzyMcGuire_

Performing Is Not Easy

"Performing arts and other types of art. People think it’s a cakewalk or 'not a real job,' not realizing the literal lifetime of training, rejection, and perseverance that it takes to reach a professional level and how insanely competitive those spaces are."

- ThrowRA1r3a5

All About Perception

"I suspect everything fits this. Consider that someone whose job is stacking boxes in a warehouse has to know how to lift boxes, how many can be stacked, know if certain ones must be easily accessible, know how to use any equipment that is used to move boxes around."

"Not to mention if some have hazardous or fragile materials inside, if some HAVE to be stacked on the bottom, if a mistake is made and all the boxes have to be restacked, etc."

"But everyone else is like, 'They're just stacking boxes.'"

- DrHugh

It's easy to make assumptions about someone else's work and responsibilities when we haven't lived with performing those tasks ourselves.

This gave us some things to think about, and it certainly reminded us that nothing good comes of making assumptions, especially when it minimizes someone else's experiences.

Left-handed person holding a Sharpie
Kelly Sikkema/Unsplash

Many of us who are right-handed never even think about how the world is designed to cater to us.

It probably doesn't even cross your mind that 10% of the world's population is left-handed.

Because of this, there tends to be a stigma for being left-handed since society tends to associate the left with negative things.

For example, the phrase "two left feet" applies to those who are clumsy and therefore, incapable of dancing.

Curious to hear more about the challenges facing those with the other dominant hand, Redditor johnnyportillo95 asked:

"What’s something left-handed people have to deal with that right-handed people wouldn’t even think about?"

If only manufacturers appealed to an ambidextrous world.

Furniture Obstacle

"Those desks or couch chairs that have a small desk attached. They do make left handed/sided ones but they are few and far between."

– Prussian__Princess

"And they’re only on one side of the lecture hall, and it’s never a good seat. There is ONE front row, lefty desk in the entire room and it’s in the far corner, obscured by an ancient overhead projector."

– earwighoney

Everyday Objects For Everyday People

"as a left-handed person myself, one thing we often deal with is finding left-handed tools or equipment. many everyday objects, like scissors or can openers, are designed with right-handed people in mind, which can make certain tasks a bit more challenging for us lefties. we also have to adapt to a right-handed world when it comes to writing on whiteboards or using certain computer mice."

– J0rdan_24

Dangerous Tools

"The biggest risk is power tools. I taught myself to use all power tools right handed because of risks using them left handed."

"Trivial, I love dry boards but they are super hard to write on."

– diegojones4

It's hard to play when you're born with a physical disadvantage.

Sports Disadvantage

"Allright, Sports when you are young. Every demonstration from PE teachers are right handed. You cant just copy the movements they teach you you need to flip them and your tiny brain struggoes to process it. As well, 98% of the cheap sports equipment the school uses is right handed."

– AjCheeze

No Future In Softball

"I tried to bat right handed for so long in gym class growing up because the gym teacher never asked me what my dominant side was and the thought never occurred to me as a child to mention it! Needless to say I never became a softball star."

– Leftover-Cheese

Find A Glove That Fits

"In softball and baseball we need a specific glove for our right hand that's often impossible to find unless you own one, and we have to bat on the other side of the plate."

– BowlerSea1569

"I was one of two left-handers in a 4-team Little League in the 1980s. Nobody could pitch to me. I got a lot of "hit by pitch" walks out of it."

– Jef_Wheaton

These examples are understandably annoying.

Shocking Observation

"Having right handed people make comments whenever they see us write, like we’re some kind of alien."

– UsefulIdiot85

"'Woah! You're left-handed????'"

"I find myself noticing when someone is a lefty, and sometimes I comment on it, but I try not to. I'm primarily left-handed (im a right handed wroter but do everything else left), and every single time I go to eat with my family, someone says, "Oh hey, give SilverGladiolus22 the left hand spot, they're left-handed," and inevitably someone says, 'Wait, really?' Lol."

– SilverGladiolus22

Can't Admire The Mug

"We never get to look at the cute graphics on coffee mugs while we’re drinking from them."

– vanetti

"I just realized…I always thought the graphics were made so someone else could read them while you drink. Hmmm."

– Bubbly-Anteater7345

"I'm right-handed and I often wondered why the graphics were turned towards the drinker instead of out for others to see."

– Material-Imagination

The Writing On The Wall

"Writing on whiteboards is a nightmare. I have to float my hand, which tires out my arm quickly, and I can't see what I've already written to keep the line straight."

– darkjedi39

"Also as a teacher, it means I'm standing to the left of where I'm writing, so I'm blocking everything I write. I have to frequently finish writing, then step out of the way so people can see, instead of just being able to stand on the right side the whole time."

– dancingbanana123

Immeasurable

"Rulers."

"How the f'k is no one talking about rulers? It's from 30cm to 0 cm to me, or I have to twist my arms to know the measure I want to trace over it."

– fourangers

Just Can't Win

"EVERYTHING. The world has always been based around people being right handed. As a Chef, my knife skills SUCKED until I worked with a Left Handed Chef. Then it all made sense."

"Literally, everything we do must be observed, then flipped around in our heads, then executed. This is why Lefties die sooner, on average, than Righties."

"I had to learn how to be ambidextrous, just to complete basic tasks (sports, driving a manual, using scissors, etc). I am used to it now, and do many things right handed out of necessity, as wall as parents and teachers 'forcing' it upon me."

"But, at least we are not put to death anymore, simply for using the wrong hand (look it up, it happened)."

"Ole Righty, always keeping us down."

– igenus44

The world doesn't need another demographic to feel "othered" for being different.

But if you're right-handed and tend to make assumptions about left-handed people, you may want to observe the following.

Ronald Yeo, PhD, professor of psychology at the University of Texas-Austin told CNN:

"We shouldn’t assume much about people’s personalities or health just because of the hand they write with."
"And we certainly shouldn’t worry about lefties’ chances of success: After all (as of 2015), five of our last seven U.S. presidents have been either left- or mixed-handed."

Word.

Dog lying down on a bed
Photo by Conner Baker on Unsplash

Not all pet owners have the same relationship with their pets.

While anyone who decides to become a pet owner, or pet parent as some say, love their pets equally, some never ever let them leave their side.

Taking their pet with them to work, running errands, even on vacations.

Many pet parents even allow their pets to share their bed with them when going to sleep.

For others though, this is where a line is finally drawn.

Redditor Piggythelavasurfer was curious to hear whether pet owners allowed their pets to share their bed with them, as well as the reasons why they do/don't, leading them to ask:

"Do you let your pet sleep in your bed? Why/why not?"

The Tiny Issue Of Water...

"Absolutely not."

"I have fish."- Senior-Meal3649

Everyone Gets Lonely Eventually...

"I adopted an eleven year old cat the day before Halloween."

"She has mostly lived in my closet since I got her, and she hasn’t been too interested in coming out."

"Last night, she came out of my closet and jumped up on my bed, and crawled under my covers and curled up by my feet to sleep."

"I was so happy!"- YellowBeastJeep

The Comforting Reminder That You're Not Alone...

"I recently lost my Greyhound but I used to let him sleep on my bed with me."

"The company was nice and he was no trouble to have on my bed."- HoodedMenace3

Hungry Cookie GIF by De Graafschap Dierenartsen Giphy

What Do You Mean Allow?

"I have no choice."

"She is a cat, cats do whatever they want."- Small_cat1412

"He lets me sleep in my bed."- Poorly-Drawn-Beagle

Wouldn't Have It Any Other Way

"I carry my old boy upstairs to bed every night."- worst_in_show

Hug GIF by The BarkPost Giphy

Who Needs An Alarm Clock?

"I let my two cats sleep with me."

"They're so full of love and just want cuddles all the time."

"And so do I."

"We've all developed a lil routine."

"Get to bed, oldest sleeps on my feet to keep them warm, youngest lies in my arm while I lie on my side (she the little spoon), then when I snooze my alarm for work in the morning the youngest paws at my face and meeps loudly to wake me up."- GhostofaFlea_

Whose Bed Is It Anyway?

"Yes."

"They're also kind enough to let me squeeze into whatever space they've left for me."

"Although I do get a few dirty looks off them."- Therealkaylor

"I found this tiny kitten screaming her head off under a car."

"Would not come out."

"Got some food and some water in dishes."

"I stood by the tire so she couldn't see my feet."

"She got curious about the food and water and started gobbling it down."

"I thought she would bolt when I squatted down."

"She was too busy eating."

"I grabbed her by the nape of the neck and all four legs went straight out and she tried to scratch me to death."

"I got her in the door and tossed her toward the couch."

"She ricocheted off the couch as if she was a ping pong off a table and I lost sight of her."

"I put out food and water and a sandbox and did not see that kitten for three days."

"On the third day, I came home and she was on my bed pillow."

"I thought she would bolt when I came near, but she didn't."

"I wanted to sleep so I tried to scoot her little butt off my pillow."

"She would not go."

"I put my head down to sleep and that is the way it was from then on."

"She ran the roost."- Logical_Cherry_7588

sleepy kitten GIF Giphy

Sleeping Is A Prerequisite...

"No, he's a cat and he cannot keep still during the night."

"He walks across the headboard, opens the closet doors, jumps into the windows and rustles the blinds, etc."

"If he would sleep he could stay, but alas, he's a ramblin' man."- Spong_Durnflungle

Saying No Just Isn't An Option...

"'Let'."

"Lol."

"It's a cat's world and I'm happy to be on her good side."- milaren

Felines Only!

"The cat does, the dog doesn't and the horse certainly does not either."- Xcrowzz

Angry Tom And Jerry GIF by Boomerang Official Giphy

Is That My Hair On That Pillow?

"My dog is perfect."

"She comes up, cuddles til we start to fall asleep, then gets down to sleep on her bed so she doesn't get too hot."

"Jumps back up in the early morning for wake up cuddles."

"The hair everywhere is the only downside but she is so cozy, what can you do."- HoodieWinchester

It is easy to understand how some people are able to fall asleep more easily knowing their friend and protector is there, in bed, with them.

Though we can't blame others who don't want to run the risk of being scratched or bitten in the middle of the night either...