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People Share Their Craziest 'But Wait, It Gets Worse' Experience

People Share Their Craziest 'But Wait, It Gets Worse' Experience
File:Paris Tuileries Garden Facepalm statue.jpg - Wikimedia Commons

Sometimes life can be painful. Other times it can be absurd. And still other times it can be patently ridiculous. Some situations are all three.

Sometimes things happen over which we have little or no control. And then there are the stories of the choices we've made––or the people we know and the choices they make––†hat cause a bad situation to shift into something else entirely.

After Redditor cromchable asked the online community, "What's your best 'but wait, it gets worse' story?" people chimed in with their experiences. Grab your popcorn.


"An acquaintance got married..."

An acquaintance got married in an extravagant $80,000 ceremony (that's $57,000 in freedom dollars) and broke up on their honeymoon.

But wait, it gets worse.

They split because the groom was cheating on the bride with a string of one night stands, meanwhile the bride was having an ongoing affair with... the best man.

But wait, it gets worse.

They pretended to stay married for 6 months after out of shame but it all came tumbling down when he made a huge facebook rant calling her a whore and tagging all their friends and family in it with the most dramatic s***storm of a comments section known to humanity.

But wait, it gets worse.

The bride and the best man decided they wanted to have a baby and she immediately ran off with him and got knocked up.

pm_me_your_cobloaf

"Pulled over to check my trunk..."

Got rear ended by a truck. Pulled over to check my trunk on a hilly street. A car parked behind me rolled down hill and crushed me between it and my newly messed up trunk. Suffered some cracked ribs.

misaq88

"My grandmother had gotten diagnosed with brain cancer..."

My grandmother died on Thanksgiving day in front of the whole family.

My grandmother had gotten diagnosed with brain cancer about six months prior and knowing that she was in hospice care, much of the family decided to come visit for one last Thanksgiving, even though she was unconscious in the next room. The entire day, the cooking was going on despite grandma's condition and teenage me spent many hours salivating over a whole roasted pig being barbecued outside in place of a turkey. I was pretty stoked. Just as the sizzling pig is being taken off the barbecue, the hospice nurse sticks her head outside and announces that it's time. My grandmother at this exact moment is passing away.

We all go inside, gather around the bed, and for 45 minutes or so, I watch as my grandmother gasps for air, twitches and dies. It was a little traumatic. For some reason after that, we decide we are going to still sit down and eat dinner. I'm watching the barbecue pig be chopped up and as I'm thinking I can probably still get myself to eat some of it, they douse it all in vinegar and chili flakes. Ruining it. So as I try to choke down this enormous disappointment, after watching my grandmother die, the morticians come and wheel her body out through the living roomAnd at that point, I was pretty much done.

TrumpLiedPeopleDied

"The only good thing that happened..."

I think probably the worst week of my life was getting my wisdom teeth out. I mean I'll take my parents divorce over doing that crap again.

I got my teeth out, and I woke up to being yanked outta my chair by the dentist to go to the recovery room. I immediately started crying cuz I didn't know what was going on. Once there, I had to ask them to go get my mom 3 times because I was calling in and out of sleep and I didn't understand what the nurse was saying.

I get home and my mouth doesn't hurt that bad but I'm still high af and can't swallow because my spit was all bloody and gross. So I literally just cried and drooled on my mom till I passed out again (I'm 21, not a great look).

I woke up and everything was fine for the first two days. But it became abundantly clear that I was allergic to whatever antibiotics they had me on. I threw up for six days, and the dentist wouldn't take me seriously until I started throwing up blood. I couldn't eat solid food, and I have a permanent aversion to chocolate ice cream now (fine going down, not great coming up).

When he finally asked me to come in so he could check me out there was a huge snowstorm and we were stranded for 2 days.

Then, I missed an exam because I couldn't do anything without vomiting, and had to get a doctor's note from the dentist which was a whole other ordeal.

The only good thing that happened was I lost like 10 pounds, which I immediately gained back because 4 weeks later COVID hit. Now I've got this crazy scars in the back of my mouth that I don't think healed properly, and I haven't been able to go back to the dentist because of COVID.

Note to anyone getting their teeth out - the actual process and recovery isn't that bad, just make sure you're not allergic to the medicine they give you.

BasementBeholders

"Well maybe that contributed to what happened next."

I work at an office. The building is owned by my boss who is too cheap to shell out for actual maintenance service and has employees do handy work around the clock.

One day, it started to snow. The snow was sticking to the sidewalk and showed no signs of letting up so of course me and my coworkers had to go out and clean it. So while my boss sat in his nice, cushy office, we start shoveling. One of my coworkers, let's call him X, is relatively new and having grown up in an apartment complex, has never shoveled before.

Well maybe that contributed to what happened next. He starts pushing the shovel in front of him at a crotch level. And eventually, the shovel head gets stuck on a raised brick and it pushes the handle end of the shovel into X's crotch.

There was no shovel handle because he had been given a broken shovel with a rusted end. Castration being imminent, X proceeds to tuck and roll, off the sidewalk and into oncoming traffic. Fortunately for X, somebody grabbed him and pulled him back to safety. Boss drove him to the emergency room and paid for the resulting tetanus shot and 14 stitches on the inner thigh.

Needless to say, he was not allowed to shovel again.

line_4

"A valet parker took a guest's Corvette..."

I was a manager at a hotel in Oakland. A valet parker took a guest's corvette out for a joy ride. He lost control of the car in a residential area and crashed into a parked car in a driveway. The corvette and the parked car smashed through the home's garage door and caught on fire. The home partially burned down. The valet was caught by the police a block away fleeing on foot with a broken leg.

lunarkev

"I went on holiday with my parents to Ireland..."

I went on holiday with my parents to Ireland a few years back and one of the days of the trip was one of the worst days of my life. The trip as a whole was fantastic but this one day just sucked.

My parents had booked all the hotels through a travel agency and the night that we were in Cork, we were booked to stay in this spa resort because we got a good deal or something.

At first when we pull up it looked super fancy, you know like a typical resort. But then we find out then we're not actually staying in the main building and they bring us out to these little cottages. Okay fine. But then we get in and the entire place smells like sewer and there's a million stains everywhere. We're like whatever at first, we're not that picky and it's only a night.

The next morning I wake up to find out that my period has started so that's already a bad start to a day.

Then I find out that the shower doesn't work and we all have to take baths. My parents go first and then it's my turn and we run out of hot water. So I have to take a bath in puddle from what's left in cold water.

But wait...it gets worse

We then decide that we're gonna buy tickets for one of those hop on hop off tour buses. We buy the tickets and we get on the bus and it's good at first. We're seeing the sights, it's pretty, whatever. But then, the bus suddenly gets on the freaking highway and we're sitting on the open top as branches are wizzing by over our heads fast enough that it could decapitate you if we weren't ducking.

We find out from the other passengers that this tour bus wasn't a tour bus but instead a bus taking people back to their cruise ship 40 minutes away.

So we have to sit on the open top of a double decker bus on the highway with branches almost hitting us for 40 min all well I'm terrified that I'm gonna leak through my pants because I'm on my period.

We eventually get to the cruise ship and we find out there's a train station near by. So we go the train station to get a train back to cork but the last one just left. So we had to wait an hour or so until the next one came.

Don't really remember what happened after that. It's funny now to look back on but I was pissed when it was happening.

Moral of the story is to not let travel agents book your hotels and to double check the bus you're getting on.

I highly recommend Ireland though, beautiful place!

LegitimateDecision

"I was staying the night..."

My partner's mother told me they didn't like me, and said I was abusive the first time we had ever met. This was after chewing my partner out for not telling her I was staying over.

This was about two weeks after I fled my house and was essentially homeless due to a violent encounter with my family. I was staying the night at my partner's house because it was my birthday, and they wanted to spend the whole day with me, but didnt have a drivers license (we lived around 3 hours apart by car). My partner's mother even decided to bring up my situation within the conversation, saying me not having a home was the only reason she didnt kick me out that moment.

Lovely-and-Lonely

"I'm no longer allowed to sit with that friend group."

I can confirm it gets worse multiple times.

Two crushes last year. Lets start off with number one, Johan, he was someone in my friend group. Major crush on him, and asked him out. He said he'd think about it. One week I had enough. I asked him. He said he wasn't ready. That was fine with me. It was upsetting, of course. He had a girlfriend, someone he had known for two weeks, two days after the rejection.

But wait, it gets worse.

I'm no longer allowed to sit with that friend group. He spoke about me behind my back, friend group made fun of me, if I sat with them they'd ignore me. I was never my own person to begin, but the entire school knew me as the kid who had a crush on the nerd.

But wait, it gets worse.

I mentioned two crushes, right? Second was a girl, Holly. She was the only person I felt actually cared, and she was a sweetheart. I liked her way more than Johan. She knew I had a crush, but she didn't know it was her. She persisted until I gave up and told her it was her. She said the same, wasn't ready, and it hurt much more. But like any sane person, I didn't argue.

But wait, it gets worse.

A week later. "FAITH I HAVE A GIRLFRIE- oh" It was bad that time. Cried for almost five hours straight, no fun when it happens twice.

Guys, gals, non binaries, anything. If you're going to reject somebody, be honest on why. It hurts.

"I had a coworker..."

I had a coworker that would go off on rages. If I saw him pick his phone up during break, I knew to lock myself in the pantry because of his anger issues. He'd get into huge fights with his pretend catfish girlfriend, and throw and slam things and yell at the top of his lungs.

One year, he got so much worse. He acted like a child and would throw tantrums.. Locking himself in the dishroom and calling our boss to make up lies about me, how I was being 'cruel' and 'mean' to him when I politely asked him to go get the milk because the milk he was supposed to throw out yesterday was soured and could not be served.

We had to tell him to go pick up the shipment constantly, and when it came to lunch rush, he threw the biggest tantrum I have ever seen and threatened to put me, my coworkers and the children we were feeding in the hospital. He also shared a story about being accused of being a pedophile, and how he proved it wasn't him with sketchy explanations and vague details.

My boss at the time said she hied him to stay in the kitchen so he wouldn't be around the children.

Well, I report the threat to my boss, and between her and my coworker's friend who happened to be one of the bosses, decided that I was the one to be fired.

People are stupid.

CoffeeFodder2

"My dental experiences."

My dental experiences. Not as bad as most stories here but not a fun time.

Start of high school. My teeth have always been crooked. Between both my parents' insurance they have 100% dental coverage, so, braces, let's go!

But wait, my mouth is too small to fit the normal human amount of teeth. Before any work can be done, 4 molars must be removed from my mouth. Surgery is done all in one go so I get knocked out and am unable to eat solid food for weeks, but also can't use a straw because the suction could reopen the holes. Fine, shortly after, recovery complete, braces let's go!

But wait, even after removing 4 teeth the rest are still too close together for braces to work properly. I have to get rubber bands inserted between my teeth to forcibly spread them apart over a period of weeks so there's enough room for the braces to do their job. This is extremely painful, imagine someone constantly pulling on your teeth with pliers for weeks to move them. Fine, that's done, braces let's go!

But wait, for similar lack of space reasons, braces take longer to work than usual and need constant adjustment. I have to wear them for FOUR YEARS aka ALL OF HIGH SCHOOL. Fine, I get them off before grad, and I'll be free of dental stuff for university, except for having to wear a mouth guard overnight for the rest of my life to make sure my teeth don't shift back again.

BUT WAIT, I start experiencing dental pain. Side effects from braces? Nope. Impacted wisdom teeth have completely dissolved the roots of my molars and are pressing directly on the nerves. Molars are already dead well beyond saving, so if they're not pulled immediately, they could shatter at any moment and leave the nerves exposed. Four more teeth pulled, wisdom teeth get to stay, in the hope they'll eventually straighten out with more space available.

They never did so on my lower jaw I have only one molar on each side I can use for chewing, and overall 8 fewer teeth than the average human.

szthesquid

"The NICU sent us a letter..."

Our baby died 6 weeks ago.....but wait, it gets worse! The NICU sent us a letter congratulating us on the birth of our new baby when they literally had her in their morgue.

SmellaShtsgerald

"She calls a meeting with him..."

Friend of mine was to be the groom. The night before the wedding, his fiancé found out that he had been cheating on her for a long time. She calls a meeting with him, their parents, his sister and her brother. She confronts him about it at this meeting, and he admits it. She decides she will not marry him the next day, or ever.

But wait it gets worse. During that meeting they all have to decide what to do about the next day and what the story should be about why the wedding is off. Many friends and family have traveled a long way to be there, the vendors are all paid, and they don't want to just send everyone home. And while the bride and her family are obviously furious, they're not vengeful people and they feel that they would be as embarrassed by the truth as the groom and his family would be. So they all mutually agree that they don't want to tell everyone the truth.

Incredibly, they decide to go through with the whole wedding... except it's a sham. Only the eight of them know it. The next day they have the ceremony, they say the vows in front of everyone, they kiss... but it's all a lie to the rest of their friends and family. They don't actually sign whatever marriage certificates and other things you have to do offstage in order to legally get married. They then go through with the reception too, pretending to have a great time. The parents even do their toasts. Nobody else has any idea.

I'm not sure how they expected to keep this a secret afterwards. Probably they didn't, they just felt it was their best option in the short term of that day. I found out about a month later and it just blew my mind how they were able to pretend like that all night.

abersold

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Old Wives' Tales People Still Believe For Some Reason

"Reddit user the_spring_goddess asked: 'What is an old wives tale that people still believe?'"

Close up of an owl tilting their head to side, looking bewildered
Photo by Josh Mills

The old wives' tales.

They are the stories of legend.

I think we all need a big DEEP Google dive though.

Where did they originate?

WHO ARE THE OLD WIVES!

You don't hear about them as much anymore.

It's like science and logic are suddenly a thing.

But they sure are a good way to keep your kids and their behavior in line.

Redditor the_spring_goddess wanted to discuss the tall tales we've all been fed through life, so they asked:

"What is an old wives tale that people still believe?"

"Wait an hour to swim after eating."

What a crock!

So many summer hours wasted.

I want revenge for that one.

Say Nothing

Giphy

"An undercover cop has to tell you he's a cop if you ask him."

LonelyMail5115

"Pretty much most advice when it comes to cops are old wives tales. I’m not even a cop but most of the advice you hear is pretty off."

I_AM_AN_A**HOLE_AMA

Say Something

"That you have to wait 24 hours to report someone missing."

Severe_Airport1426

"I really think this one is important and should be the top regardless. As it’s a piece of advice that needs to be relearned and the only way to do that is through awareness."

crappycurtains

"This used to be true. I think they changed it after some guy named Brandon went missing back in the '80s or '70s. You used to have to wait 24 hours if the missing person was an adult because they had 'a right to be missing' and then everyone realized that was stupid and stopped doing it."

AlbinoShavedGorilla

Body Temps

"That drinking ice cold water after eating oily foods will solidify the oil and permanently remain in your body. I informed my coworker that if your body temperature ever reached that point, you’d have bigger problems than weight gain."

chriseo22

"Oh, I have a cousin who 100% believed this. One of those guys who believed every early 2000s internet rumor and old wives tale. One night I chugged a big glass of ice water after dinner and he started freaking out and saying my guts were gonna harden."

"I sarcastically told him to drive me to the hospital if that happened. Obviously, nothing happened and the next morning I said something like 'Thanks for being on standby in case my guts filled with hardened oil.' He just walked off muttering under his breath."

apocalypticradish

Arms Down

"When I was pregnant, I was told by young and old alike that I should NOT raise my arms above my head or exert myself in such a manner because it could cause cord strangulation to my unborn sons and daughters."

Fatmouse84

10 Years Actually

Unimpressed Uh Huh GIF by Brooklyn Nine-Nine Giphy

"Chewing gum stays in your stomach for 7 years."

REDDIT

"I remember accidentally swallowing a piece of gum when I was a kid in like 1995 and just accepting my fate like welp, gonna have this in my stomach til high school I guess."

Gecko-911

I was so afraid to sallow my gum when I was young.

This tale is haunting.

High/Low

Hungry Debra Messing GIF by Will & Grace Giphy

"You can tell the sex of the baby by how you carry."

LeastFormal9366

"Pregnancy certainly wins awards for the most old wives tales. So much absolute BS was repeated to us by everyone we talked to."

IllIIIlIllIlIIlIllI

The Cursed

"If you’re a woman and you wear opal jewelry but opal is not your birthstone (October), you’ll never be able to have children, or will be widowed, or just generally have bad luck or something. You can counteract this by having a diamond in the same piece of jewelry as the opal, though."

"I have a nice opal ring that my parents gave me years ago, and I’ve had other women give me this 'advice' unprompted more than once when I’ve worn it. I have absolutely no idea where it started, but I’m pretty sure this little chunk of silicate rock has no concept of what month I was born in, let alone of how my reproductive organs work."

SmoreOfBabylon

Stay In

"Going outside with wet hair will make you get pneumonia. Or an earache. Or maybe arthritis. Depends on which old wife you listen to."

"Jokes on them - I haven't blow-dried my hair in decades and usually leave the house with wet hair in the morning. On winter mornings, the tips of my hair get frozen. No ear infections or pneumonia or arthritis yet."

worldbound0514

Dreams and Facts

"You never make anyone up in your dreams you've seen everyone in your dreams somewhere else before and never make anyone up entirely."

"How would you possibly prove that to be true? My partner adamantly believes this and tells me this 'fact' whenever I have a dream about someone I've never met before."

mattshonestreddit

"My late wife used to tell me that before she met me she would have dreams of standing at an alter on her wedding day but could never see the guy's face, no matter how hard she tried. After meeting me the face was filled in with mine. Don't know if it's true but one of those things I like thinking of every now and then when I miss her."

Darthdemented

Cracked

Getting Ready Episode 2 GIF by The Office Giphy

"Some people still believe cracking knuckles causes arthritis."

Choice-Grapefruit-44

"There's a doctor (Donald Unger) that cracked his knuckles a couple of times a day for 60 years, but only on one hand, just to prove it. Both hands remained exactly the same."

MacyTmcterry

I love my knuckles.

Do you have any tall tales to add to the list? Let us know in the comments below.

lottery tickets
Erik Mclean on Unsplash

A lot of workers daydream about some day winning the lottery and being able to say goodbye to their job.

Far too many workers are unhappy with their job duties, workplace dynamics or company culture.

But with a taste for luxuries like housing and food, they keep plugging away, year after year.

However not everyone feels that way about their job.

So what are these compelling careers?

Keep reading... Show less
Therapist talking during session
Photo by Mark Williams on Unsplash

Some people stand firmly stand behind their beliefs that everyone would benefit from therapy and that therapy is life-changing.

It's because of the totally life-changing truth bombs their therapist had dropped during their sessions.

Curious, Redditor anonymiss0018 asked:

"What is a little bombshell your therapist dropped in one of your sessions that completely changed your outlook?"

Communication Issues

"'If you don’t have these problems with any other person in your life, why do you think you’re the problematic person in this one?'"

- maggiebear

"I love this. I have a 'friend' who I always seem to run into misunderstandings with. Every time we had a conversation, it somehow turned into a debate even if it was me talking about my day. The conversations were never easy."

"I always evaluate myself first and take into consideration his critiques. He was very good at convincing me that I was contradicting myself or wasn't good at communicating my thoughts."

"I NEVER had this issue with ANYONE else in my life. I kept trying to figure out where the miscommunication was coming from. In the end, I just minimized contact and now I don't run into this issue."

- chobani_yo

"I read this quote somewhere once (and probably have it a bit wrong): 'It's a waste of time arguing with someone who is determined to misunderstand you.'"

- Reddit

Emotional Regulation

"'You can’t control your emotions, but you can control what you do with them.'"

"At the time, I was a young adult who had learned zero healthy emotional regulation skills (only suppression and shaming) growing up, so this blew my mind."

- lil_mermaid

Tough Relationships

"'It sounds to me like you are trying to convince yourself to stay with your girlfriend. I'm not so sure it should be so difficult.'"

"At the time he said this, I remember it was like he said, 'The earth is flat.' I thought he was crazy when he suggested relationships don't need to be difficult. But eventually, I started to realize I was trying to change myself to stay with this person rather than just being who I am."

"It took me three more months to finally break up with her but from that day on, I vowed to never again abandon myself just to be with someone I had convinced myself was better than me."

- metric88

High-Stress Situation

"I was at a high-stress time, and I asked her how people live like this."

"She replied, 'Oftentimes they have cardiac events.' She said it as an urging to care for myself as much as possible."

- KittenGr8r

The End of Alcohol

"I was struggling with my alcoholism, and we were discussing how I had been cutting back."

"She asked what I would consider success, with regard to my drinking."

"I said I wanted to get to a point where it wasn't interfering with my daily life. I wanted to just be able to have a glass of wine at holiday dinners or family gatherings."

"She simply asked me why. Why was it important for me to drink at those times?"

"It was as if she'd turned on a light. Alcohol had always been a key ingredient in every family function, for my entire life. When I smell bourbon, I think of my uncle. When I smell vermouth, I think of my dad. Alcohol ran through almost every happy childhood memory."

"But, even more than that, I was very afraid of the explanation I'd have to give when family and friends asked why I wasn't having a drink. I had tried to quit before but failed. What if I admitted my problem, only to fall off the wagon?"

"When she asked why I didn't want to completely quit, it was the first time I saw that last part of the big picture. I'd be willing to drink myself to death in order to avoid being scrutinized, or judged for possible future failures."

"That was the day I quit. I've been sober since May 6th, 2017. 2,407 days."

- sophies_wish

Acceptance vs. Enjoyment

"'Accepting something doesn’t mean you have to like it.'"

"That took away a lot of my inner conflicts about situations because I could accept a situation without expending energy internally fighting against the injustice of it."

- alibelloc

Emotionally Immature Parents

"You are not responsible for your parents' emotional wellbeing. They are independent adults who have been on this earth for many more years than you."

- SmokedPears

Not So Lazy

"'Why do you think you're lazy?' Then she listed off all the things she knows I'm doing for my family, my job, and my life."

"It kind of blew my mind when I struggled to come up with an example."

"She also described family dysfunction as water. Some families are messed up in a way that everyone can see the huge waves across the surface. Others are better at hiding it, but there's still a riptide that you can't see unless you're also in the water."

"It made me realize that trying to keep the surface from ever rippling doesn't erase what is happening underneath."

- flybyknight665

The Harm in People-Pleasing

"'Why do you make people more comfortable when you are uncomfortable?' when talking about people pleasing and fawning."

- ERsandwich

Agree to Disagree

"'Stop trying to get everyone to agree. When you need everyone to agree, the least agreeable person has all the power.'"

This really changed my outlook on planning family events."

- freef

Grieve and Start Anew

"For context, I had a major TBI (traumatic brain injury), seizures, strokes, and all around not a fun brain time when I was 28."

"They said, 'You have to grieve the loss of yourself.'"

"Most people wanted me to go back to how I was. The f**ked up truth is that part of my brain is dead. The person everyone (including myself) knew died. I needed to grieve the loss of myself."

- squeaktoy_la

Multifaceted Identity

"They told me that my job and career is just a way to make money; it's not my life or identity. That took a lot of pressure off me."

- unfairpegasus

Breaking the Cycle

"They validated me."

"'You always talk about not wanting to do to your daughters what your mom did to you. You worry about it so much in every interaction you have ever had with them."

"But your children are 19 and 21 now. They are happy and healthy and they trust you because you’ve never abused them in any way. So I just want to validate for you that you really have broken that cycle of violence."

"You did that. And you should be proud of it. I’m proud of you for it.'"

- puppsmcgee74

The Grieving Process

"I was constantly bringing up how I felt like a completely different person after my mom died... like there was a marked difference between before and after her death."

"But once, she was asking about my hobbies, I got really into describing all the things I loved to do or at least used to do before I got into a deep depression."

"She was like, 'Wow, you seem very passionate.'"

"And I just sat there like, 'Well, I mean, I can't change what I like to do, they're still fun to do.'"

"And it's like she knew when to take a step back, because it was like, wow, I may be super depressed about my mom passing, but I'm still me. I'm still my passions and those don't go away."

"I don't know, maybe it only makes sense to be, but it really started getting me back on track."

- Hannibal680

Sharing the Load

"I've never really had friends. I've had colleagues and classmates and housemates and people who have hung out with me, but I never really felt close to any of them."

"And I did that thing you see on here sometimes; I stopped reaching out to see if I would be reached out to, and I wasn't, which I took as confirmation that they didn't really want me around, or at the very least, that they wouldn't mind my absence."

"I was talking to my therapist about people I'd been close to in college, and she told me to pick one and talk about him. So I did. After I shared some basic stuff like his name and his major etc., and a couple of anecdotes, she asked me what else I knew about him."

"And I couldn't answer. It wasn't really a broadly applicable bombshell, but she said, 'What else?' and I started crying because I realized that for as simple as the question was, my inability to answer spoke volumes."

"I've never had good friends because I've never been a good friend. I'm withdrawn and reserved and I always made others do the work to drag me out, without ever extending my own friendship in a meaningful way in return. If I wanted to have meaningful relationships with other people, I would have to build them."

"I'm still working on this, but I'm trying to make more offers and extend more friendliness to others in my daily life."

- Backupusername

The discoveries in this thread were incredibly touching and profound; it's no wonder these were lasting concepts for these Redditors.

It's important to keep ourselves open to inspiration and insights from others, as we have no idea how their experiences could help us, or how we could help them.

Aerial view of a church in a small town
Sander Weeteling/Unsplash

There's something comforting about living in a small town.

It's characterized by close communities where neighbors know each other by name and there is an abundance of kindness extended to others.

Gift-giving is a commonality, as is the sharing of recipes, and people going out of their way to help each other in a time of need.

The pace of living in small towns is also a striking contradiction to city life, where crowds of people go about their busy lives without much interaction.

Curious to hear more examples of what small town living is like, Redditor official_biz asked:

"What's the most 'small town' thing you've witnessed?"

These are positive examples of a tight-knit community.

Live Updates

"We have a village Facebook page. Every time the ice cream man drives into the village, the entire page goes ballistic. People send live updates of where the van is and which direction he's heading. The ice cream man has started accepting DMs so he knows which streets to go down."

– PyrrhuraMolinae

Brush With The Law

"I’m from a town of less than 2,000 people. When I worked at the grocery store there people would often drop off stuff for my family members because they didn’t want to drive all the way down to our house. I no longer live there but recently got a call from my daughter. She had been stopped for speeding and handed over her license and insurance which happens to be in my mother’s name. The officer goes 'Hey, you’re Donnie’s granddaughter! I ain’t gonna write you a ticket but I’m telling Donnie when I see him tomorrow cause we’re going fishing.' She replied 'I think I’d rather have the ticket.'”

- Reddit

Roadside Catchup

"The traffic on the 'main street' of my town is so sparse, two drivers going opposite directions can stop and talk to each other for a few minutes without causing any problem."

– anon

When things go wrong, people take notice without incident.

Bank Robbery

"A guy robbed a bank and everyone knew immediately who he was and the teller got mad at him."

– AlexRyang

"A local bank was robbed and one of the tellers told the police to bring her a yearbook from about ten years earlier and she would be able to point the robber out. He had been in the grade before hers in school."

– Strict_Condition_632

Wise Woman

"When I worked at the bank in town there was an older lady that had worked there through 5 mergers."

"She knew everyone, there was a young guy yelling at me one day. She walked out of the back and he immediately quieted. She went off about telling his grandmother that he was treating young women like sh*t. She also said that if he didn’t straighten up not one girl in town would ever marry him she would make sure of it."

– ilurvekittens

Intoxicated Local

"Town drunk was paralyzed and used a motorized wheelchair to get around. I was driving home one Saturday night and said town drunk was passed out in his wheelchair doing circles almost directly in the town square. Had to call his brother who came and picked him up on a rollback truck. Strapped him down and drove off into the cold dark night."

– DoodooExplosion

Grazing Over To The Bar

"In my former small town, there was an older guy who'd lost his license after getting a few DUIs. Every day, he would ride his John Deere lawnmower to the corner bar around 3PM and sit around watching TV and sipping his beer well into the night. Then he'd head the couple miles back home on his mower. He even had a little canvass shell he put on when it rained or got too cold."

– brown_pleated_slacks

It's not surprising how small town people behave differently than those who are from metropolitan areas.

Welcoming Committee

"I lived in a small town. When I moved there, people would ask, 'Whose house did you buy?'"

–MoonieNine

"Move to a small town. 30 years later, you are still the new guy."

– impiousdrifter

"I lived in a small town for most of my childhood but I wasn't "from there" because my grandparents weren't from there."

– raisinghellwithtrees

"Worked with an older guy, relative of the owner of the business, he was 73. I asked him if he was a local, he said 'no his parents moved here when he was two.'"

– realneil

A Busy Day

"Lived in a town of about 5,000: A woman walked into the DMV on a Friday, saw that there were 3 people ahead of her and left to come back another time when they weren't so busy."

– KenmoreToast

Who Let The Dogs Out?

"My dogs got out while i was working. the police called my niece's elementary school (she was a 5th grader) to get her to round them up and take them back home."

– mediocrelpn

"There was a small kennel behind the police station for runaways. They called us saying they had our dog, and moments later our dog showed up home. He broke out of jail."

– Worried_Place_917

While life in a small town sounds appealing, I don't know if I can ever live in one.

I'm so used to life in big cities, I think it would be quite unnerving to adjust in a neighborhood where everyone literally knows your business.

I would be paranoid.

And I'm sure the same could be said of life in the big city.

Would you consider making the switch to life in a different setting?