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People Share The Strangest Things That Have Happen To Them That Remain Unexplained

People Share The Strangest Things That Have Happen To Them That Remain Unexplained

People Share The Strangest Things That Have Happen To Them That Remain Unexplained

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When you think of "the unexplained" you probably imagine some strange supernatural major event like ghosts or an alien abduction or something. The unexplained doesn't have to be quite THAT fantastical, though. Some of us have had tons of mundane moments we couldn't explain throughout our lives. One Reddit user asked:

What strange thing have you witnessed/experienced that you cannot explain?

The responses were pretty interesting! It was really fun to see the sorts of things that stick with people. Some are a bit scary, some kind of funny, all remain unexplained so far.

Red Curls

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My GF was telling me about working with her new coworker (said nothing about her appearance) and all of a sudden I got a flash of intuition and it was as if I had seen her coworker in my mind's eye.

I interrupted her and asked "does she have curly red hair?" and it turned out she did!

It's pretty minor and it could mean nothing but it was just a powerful flash of insight that has always stuck with me, especially for being such a completely useless piece of information for me.

Drop In Temperature

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I was sitting in my college dorm room once when the temperature suddenly started dropping like crazy. I turned the heat up as high as it would go but it just kept getting colder. I took out my winter clothes and started putting them on. This was like in late September/early October in New York so it wasn't cold outside at all.

I was just about to go ask for maintenance when my roommate got back from hockey practice and asked why there were so many police cars and ambulances outside. I had no idea. Later that night, we were informed a girl who lived in the dorms had died. Everyone who I've told about this says that I felt her death. I was in that same room for 3 years and that was the only time I ever had problems with the temperature.

Extra Street Lights

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One time, as I was driving home from work, I turned onto the street where I live on and noticed what seemed to be more street lights than I remember being there.

I didn't think much of it at all at first, but something in me made me do a double take. I notice that the three "additional streetlights" are not street lights at all, but lights lined up perfectly in the sky in the distance.

Literally, as soon as I notice this, the lights in the sky beginning moving slowly and getting closer together. Eventually, they were close enough and formed a triangle.

Mind you, at this point I have managed to park my car in my driveway and I'm standing there staring at them. My parents, who are fairly religious, tend not to believe in aliens, UFO's or anything of the sort, so I decided to run inside and get them so they can see this for themselves.

We go back outside, the lights are still hovering, moving slowing in a triangle. No sound is being made by them. They do this for a few more seconds and all of a sudden, one of them speeds off super quickly. When I say quick, I mean quick.

The remaining two continue moving slowly in the sky for a few more seconds then they literally just vanish. Poof, the lights were just gone.

I'm not saying it was aliens, but yeah, those really were unidentified flying objects. To this day, we have no idea what they might possibly be.

Driving Off Into The Woods

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A few years ago me and a bunch of friends were on a cabin trip at my friend's parents' cabin. It was in the middle of nowhere and it was late, so the road was pitch black. We were split up into two cars, and I was driving behind the person who knew where we were going.

At some point, my friend just starts speeding up, annoying fast. I start bitching that I'm barely able to keep up. Suddenly, she takes a sharp turn down into a wooded area with only a vague trail. I try to follow, but I'm desperately trying to avoid the massive potholes in my tiny-not-fit-for-off-roading car. Meanwhile, the car in front of me is gliding down the path seemingly no problem. I flash my lights for them to slow down, but nothing. I'm pissed at this point, and am cursing my friend's name while my passengers sit in silent terror.

We finally make it down to a real road, but my friend's car is nowhere to be seen. It was like it vanished out of thin air. Again, the area is pitch black, so if there was any source light we would be able to see it.

We're lost as hell and try to call, but we don't have a cell signal. We drive for about 10 minutes before we reach them, find them, and are finally guided to the cabin.

I mention to my friend about how annoyed I am that she took a dangerous off road path without warning us and then just disappeared. She then gets a really weird look on her face and says, "What are you talking about? You guys were right behind me and then suddenly you just turned off into the woods. We had no idea where you went, we were really worried." Apparently, she had been on the road the whole time.

No one knows who the truck was, where they came from, or where they went. Everyone in both cars never saw a car pull out between us or saw us get broken up. The three people in my car a confident that the truck we saw lead us down the woods was my friend's car. Everyone else in the other car assured us they were on the road the whole time.

To this day, none of us know where that car came from or how they snuck in between two cars without 6 people realizing it.

The Mud Dream

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I had a dream when I was a teenager.

We lived on the hillside overlooking the city. I was standing on our terrace just watching the world die. Water covered most of the city. What wasn't drowned was burning, pillars of smoke covered the horizon. But oddly enough it was serene. You couldn't hear screaming or choas, just tinders snapping like a campfire along the shore. It smelled like the sea too.

Then I looked to my right, and there was my dad. To his right, was my paternal grandmother. They both just smiled a sad smile which made me realize that I couldn't move. We were stuck standing in mud.

I woke up after that.

After breakfast, I didn't say anything until my dad and I were the only ones left at the table. I asked him if he had a dream last night. He described the exact same thing and he said he saw me too.

Later on that day, my dad, who had checked in with my grandmother, said that she had the exact same dream.

Ghost Legos

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Ghost legos.

I was a kid playing with legos and noticed a few were in the bucket that didn't look like mine/ the plastic was faded/ older/ definitely of a different generation. I would build spaceships all day then when I went to bed and woke up there'd be holes in the spaceships where the old bricks would be. Being a seven year old my biggest concern was all the air getting out and my crew suffocating before they went to battle so I'd quickly pull them apart and put new bricks in where the old ones were but now that I think about it that always stuck with me as odd.

Silent Triangle

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I lived in Roswell, NM for years. I'm not the only person who saw this, my (now ex) husband, a friend of ours, and other people who were outside at the time saw this (the first time).

I do NOT think it was a UFO (and you damn well know what I mean, Mr. and Mrs. Pedantic). I think it was military. After all, there are many air force bases in NM.

So it's around 10 or 11 pm, and we're outside at a bar. Not drunk, in fact my husband and our friend hadn't had anything but soda. I think I'd had one margarita at this point.

There is a black, triangular object moving across the sky overhead. No lights. No sound. It looked huge, but of course, the size of objects in the sky can be deceiving. The only reason we could see it, was because it blocked out the stars. We're all just like... wtf.

It flies off, we go inside, and are like... yep, that just happened. We file that in our mental "weird s*** in the sky" bin. (I've seen other things too, but my memory isn't as clear on them as it's been many, many years now, but I can write that in a separate reply maybe.)

A few years later, my husband is outside our house, watering the lawn. It's around 9/10 pm. He yells at me to come outside. The same object is in the sky again. We just stared. Neither of us had a smartphone yet, heck I'm not even sure we owned a digital camera at the time.

If other patrons at the bar hadn't seen whatever that was, I'd have been like "yeah, right." And then for us to see it twice? The lack of sound is really the part that gets me. No sound before, during, or after it passed overhead.

The Dog Knew

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A few years ago, shortly after adopting my dog, my then gf and I were getting ready to go out for food (or whatever it was). Right as we are getting ready to go out the door our dog starts FREAKING out.

He's losing his mind whining, jumping at us, biting at our arms, and trying to pull us to the living room. We take a few extra seconds, calm him down, say goodbye and head out - we had a train to catch. Took all of 30-60 seconds.

As we were approaching the bus stop, about 30 seconds away from the stop, a BMW comes barreling around the corner and jumps the curb exactly where we would have been standing. Had we left when we originally wanted we would have been standing there, we never would have seen it coming.

To this day I'm convinced my dog knew, and he delayed us for that reason. He's never had an outburst like that since.

"If You Believe In That"

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Me and my dad both witnessed a white figure fly across our backyard in 1999. It didn't have arms or legs or a face, it was basically like a sheet and it flew across the yard at superhuman speed. When we saw it we both looked at each other and tried to make sense of it. We still talk about it today. I don't believe in ghosts, but I can't explain what this was. Looked like a ghost if you believe in that.

Caught By An Angel

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Believe it or not, a LOT of people had this experience, so here are a few stories:

Once, as a teenager, I tripped at the top of the stairs. I was worried because I knew landing would hurt and because my pup was at the bottom and I was headed right for her. Anyhow, when I landed, it was like I fell on top of an air bubble. I didn't even touch my pup and she remained sleeping. No idea how neither of us were hurt.

I sincerely almost dropped a newborn on her head, but it felt like something lifted her back into my arms. It was such a close call I'm getting nauseous just thinking about it.

Once fell head first down my basement steps from the top towards concrete floor. The thought that went through my head was: "wow. I really let my parents down. This is such a stupid way to die." Then, all of the sudden, someone catches my arms while I'm falling and flips me feet first. I'm still here.

My friend's 3 year old son fell out of a high open window on the 2nd floor of her house straight onto the concrete driveway. (about 12-14 feet high) She had no idea until he knocked on the front door. He had a couple scraped knees but no other injuries. We were baffled, but realized the only way he got outside was by actually falling out of that window, which was open and had a large ripped screen. I was at her house and we were totally freaked out but he was completely fine. Our families went to religious Christmas program that winter, which was about 8 months after the incident and there had been no talk of his accident in months. An actor playing an angel was on stage and my friends son tugged on her arm and very loudly said, "Mommy, mommy, that looks like who caught me when I fell out of the window".

Police And Fire Department

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I'm a police officer. One night we get a call about some banging noises in the wall of the bathroom in an apartment building. The banging has been going on for a few hours and it's reported to sound like someone banging on the other side of the wall. The people who live in this unit are a husband and wife and their young son, maybe 10 years old or so.

A couple of us attend this call and when we get there, we hear the banging. Its not continuous, but it happens in 4 or 5s, every few minutes or so. It sounded like how it was reported, like someone banging their fist against the wall. It's extremely loud and forceful; I can't remember for sure, but I think it made the mirror in the bathroom fall off. It was definitely making the items on the bathroom shelf shake.

We go out and knock on the door of the apartment next door, next to where the bathroom would be. Dude answers and lets us in. Can hear the banging still, but not nearly as loud. It's clearly nobody in that unit banging on the wall.

We can't figure it out. We entertained thoughts of an animal or something being stuck in the wall, but then how did it get there? Plus the forcefulness of the banging didn't add up to an animal. A person stuck in the wall? Nope. We call the fire department.

By this time, mostly everybody on the whole floor is out in the hall, seeing what the hell is going on. Of course everyone is joking that it's a ghost. The people who live in the unit say they've heard the banging before, but not to this extent. It's never gone on as long or been as loud or forceful.

As a joke, someone shouts out "if you want us to leave, knock 3 times!" Right away, there are 3 sharp bangs. Not even joking. Everybody is freaked out by this point.

I'm walking around the unit, just seeing if anything else is out of the ordinary. I see a laundry basket on the bed of one of the bedrooms, which shares a wall with the bath. A few of the bangs are so forceful, they made the basket on the bed shake.

The kid says the banging is more frequent when he is near the bathroom.

So the firemen arrive. They think it's a big joke, but when they hear the banging and it can't be explained, they are puzzled as well. I can't remember why, but it was determined that the sound wasn't originating from the pipes or anything else in the wall. The firemen decide to cut a small hole in the wall.

Honestly, I don't even want to be there for when they do that. I've never believed in ghosts or demons or anything or that sort, but I was actually scared about what may be in the wall.

So they cut a small hole in the wall. What do they find? Absolutely nothing. Nothing is in there. It's hollow. They shined a light in there and tried to shove their phone in there to take photos, but nothing was seen. The only weird thing was that when they used a heat sensor, one part of the wall was hotter than the rest.

The banging basically died down at this point. We told the occupants to call us if it started up again, but it never did, or at least they never called us again.

On a follow-up a few days later, they said they called a medium or someone of that sort and while they were doing their thing, the banging happened again, very intensely, but just for a few minutes.

Last I heard the occupants moved out and we haven't heard anything since.

I have no good explanation for this and neither does anyone else. Maybe it's not ghosts, I don't know, but I'm of the opinion it's something supernatural and this is what made me a believer.

Rod Through The Head

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Like other people I occasionally have very prophetic dreams. They always are about something tragic but I'll describe my most vivid one.

About 5 years ago I had a dream I was in a horrible 3 car accident with my then-gf and my younger brother. The car was totaled, there was smoke, my gf and my brother went to the hospital and I thought I died because I was pierced through the head with some sort of rod.

Fast forward 2 years later, and my brother and I get a ride from girlfriend to go to a graduation party for a mutual friend. Gf pulls out into an intersection. I immediately recognize everything from the dream and I flinch to the left. Everything goes black for me for a few seconds after that, but when I regain consciousness I look around and see the exact same scene as in my dream except I lived. The car we were in was totaled. There was smoke from the other two cars involved and a rod that went through the windshield about 6 inches to the right of my head.

It was the most intense moment of my life. Since then I have always kept track of my dreams and paid very close attention to them.

The Dolphin Show

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On a boat, trolling for yellowtail amidst a school of dolphin about 4 miles off San Diego (dolphin are too smart to take lures, aren't shy near small boats, and feed on the same bait schools as yellowtail and tuna, so it's strategic to follow them). As if cued, all ~50-75 dolphins simultaneously stopped jumping and disappeared into the depths for about 30 seconds. Immediate, unnerving quiet. With great fanfare, they all suddenly burst out of the water in a near-perfect row about a football field wide, and for a while, synchronized jumps ahead of our boat. Then they were gone. Showing off for my dad and I? Normal behavior? Who knows, but it was awesome.

Grave Marker

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My friend and I used to love to go and hang out in one of the local cemeteries. I guess because we were just weird. This was an older cemetery and was no longer used so it didn't have any new graves in it.

One day while we were hanging out and just wandering around we stumbled upon a new looking grave marker. It stuck out like crazy because all of the other markers were old and gray and crumbling. On some of them you could barely make out the names. This marker was much newer and the name and dates was clearly visible. It was also a rather neat red marble color which was really different from all of the others.

We didn't think much of it and just continued our trip through the cemetery. We sat down under this big tree in the middle and talked and laughed and did other stupid kid things. After an hour or so we decided it was time to leave. We crossed right by where the new grave marker had been and it was gone. We both kind of freaked out a little bit and searched the whole graveyard looking for the brand new marker and it wasn't there.

We checked for it several more times on different visits and never found it again. It was just weird and some thing neither of us could ever explain.

Did You See That?

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Out walking around the neighborhood late at night with a friend one night, we would occasionally look up to the sky in awe of the stars. I saw a fast moving light like a meteor, but slower, although much faster than an airplane. Then, it made 2 sharp 90° turns. First to the right, then to the left and disappeared. My friend and I both stopped and said "did you see that?" to eachother. This was in the late 80s and I can still picture it like it was yesterday.

Crows Are Smart

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I came out of a store one day and turned the corner to see a crow trying to read a paper-back novel on a park bench. He was perched on the bench, turning pages with his beak. When he noticed me staring, he hopped away like I caught him red-handed, and took flight a moment later. Ended up getting a tattoo of a crow reading a book because the incident left such an impression on me. No one really seems to believe me, but dude, corvids are smart. I figure it was either imitating a person, or trying to harvest the pages for a nest, but either way, strange experience.

The Understanding

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I woke up with sleep paralysis with the understanding my uncle died. I get a phone call around 4 AM from my mom to tell me my uncle is on his death bed and that I should swing by in the morning.

Pretty sure it was just his body on the bed, breathing on automatic and that he left hours back.

Fairy?

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When I was about 12 I was playing outside on a really windy day and a blue flying thing the size of a water bottle zoomed into my yard and got caught in some spider web in a bush. It's wings were clear, so it wasn't a bird but the thing was huge and weird if it was a bug. I lived in the Mojave desert at the time if anyone can think of something it could have been. It freaked the f^ck out tangled in the web and branches. It was thrashing so fast I couldn't get a good look at it and I just kept staring at it in disbelief cause I couldn't stop thinking:

"That's a fairy."

I go over and try to detach it from the web and it breaks free. At the speed of f*** you it was gone again. Maybe a huge cicada? Probably fairy.

Uncle David's Goodbye

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Years ago my dad's uncle passed away. Years before that, said uncle got my parents a fancy bottle of tequila from Mexico and it's been on the front room display shelf with a bunch of other dust covered sculptures and glass work for at least 12 years. It's out of reach and untouched (no one in my immediate family drinks). On the day of his passing, I'm in the front room reading and my dads doing his taxes. we get a phone call with the bad news. My dad continues his taxes while letting me know his uncle passed in a few short words. Not 30 seconds later and the tequila bottle his uncle got my parents starts playing music. This is odd to me because I thought it was just a bottle so I ask. "Do we have a music box?" My Dad continues his taxes and tells me the bottle has a music box built in, and that was the only reason he kept it. I clarify "Did you wind it recently?" And he just keeps filing and says "nope" and I was ready to leave it at that but he says still all casually occupied:

**"I imagine uncle David wanted to say goodbye one last time." **

That is the only time it has made a noise as long as I've been alive. Of all days and times. I never knew what to make of it. It just made me uncomfortable

Friendlink

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I had a friend in high school who I stopped speaking to when she transferred in grade 10. Two years later, I have a dream that I visited her new school and sat at the back of her math class with her. In the dream her teacher was tall, brunette with curly hair, and wearing glasses.

The next day I get a message on Facebook from said friend, which is completely out of blue because we hadn't spoken in months. She asks me how I'm doing and I tell her about my dream.

She freaks out and tells me that she sits at the back of her math class, and her teacher fit the description I gave her from my dream perfectly.

H/T: Reddit

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

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"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

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"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

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"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...