Every new year, we tell ourselves, "this will be my year!" But when has that ever been true? It's impossible to have a flawless year, and we're bound to have a few screw-ups. But what happens when those screw-ups cost major money? These Redditors will tell you.
u/onlinebeing asked: What was your most expensive f*ck up of 2019?
Starting off strong.
I work at a company that handles PHI (personal health info). I work in the mail room stuffing those packets. I stuffed two peoples PHIs in one packet and the company ended up getting sued for 1.2 million.
Winner winner chicken dinner.
OOF.
GiphyA few months ago I bought a $190 Visa gift card at Family Dollar, only to drop it into a manhole on my way home.
Please tell me you bought it for a dollar.
That's how it be sometimes.
My boiler wasn't working, so got a plumber.
A line was pinched, or maybe had frozen, it worked fine when the plumber got there, £160 and he didn't do anything.
Our alarm wouldn't stop going off, so we called a security guy. £75 for him to walk in, unplug a battery and hand over an invoice.
"Rerental"?
I was contemplating moving out of my apartment but didn't want to pay the lease break fee of 2600 so my apartment sold me on the idea of a 'rerental'.
Meaning I would pay 500 for my apartment to be listed for rental and if someone moved in, I would be in the clear. 500 and I would be out scot-free. The only caveat was that I had to pay the rent until that happened. If someone moved in mid-month, I get the rest back.
Ok, bet.
Well, I pay rent the 1st month thinking my apartment will go fast since it's the only 1 bedroom floor plan without expensive upgrades but I found out that they don't list it as available on the website. So, It doesn't get rented in month 1.
Boom, 1300$ gone. The apartment is empty and I have paid for the move + move in costs for the new place.
That means I am now paying rent in my empty old apartment and my new place.
At the end of the first month, I decide I cant afford to pay rent in two places again so I tell them that Ill just go ahead and pay the lease break fee thinking I'll just suck it up and be done with it.
They say okay, however caveat #2 is that I now have to give a 30 day notice to vacate (even though I have already vacated) and then pay the fee.
So I had to pay yet another month of rent in this empty apartment AND the lease break fee in the same month + the rent at my new place.
If I had just paid the lease break fee originally, I would have saved so much. And this is why I don't gamble.
That's rough.
GiphyI was engaged in June. I was no longer engaged in September. Whole lot of money down the drain.
You've saved yourself potentially much more my friend.
Guess not.
So apparently not all brake pads squeak when they need to be replaced. Sometimes you find out when you hear the horrible loud grinding noise of metal on metal and assume you're about to die. New brake pads and rotors all around I suppose.
Bad puppies!
I left a nearly full box of Raisin Bran on the kitchen table, left to hang out with a friend. Came back home to find that between my three dogs, they'd ripped into and eaten all of it.
Just now paid off the $3,000 vet bill, finally. All the dogs survived.
Not a terrible suggestion.
GiphyI just got my new social security card and driver's license and changed my name legally after getting married last November. Guess who's getting divorced and needs to change their name again? This girl.
Find someone to marry with the same last name.
Never leave your wallet on your seat.
Not mine, but my wife's.
Left her wallet sitting in the passenger seat when she went in to work. Came back to a smashed window and no wallet.
So just over $400 to replace the window (deductible for the insurance was $500), and about $100 in cash that was in said wallet. Plus the headache of replacing all of her IDs, credit cards, etc.
College is such a pain.
Finished school that I paid out of pocket for, went into my internship, and absolutely hated the field. Decided I'm going back to school for something else.
There's been people who graduate with a MASTER's in teaching, teach school for a year and then decide F*CK THIS.
An unwillingness to learn
"I feel like the classic example is being unable to change your opinion or idea when you are presented with new information."
"You don’t have to set everything you believe in stone."- Rusty_of_Shackleford
"I think a key thing that separates the intelligent from the less intelligent is curiosity and how far you actually go to learn."- TuxedoWolf07
When even they don't know what they're talking about.
"Maybe not unintelligence but ignorance."
"People getting angry when I ask them to explain what they just meant as I want to understand them and not misunderstand."- smokinstuff·
"Getting angry when someone ask them to explain their point."- SuvenPan
Working Julie Andrews GIFGiphyIt's never attractive to gloat
"Obsessively telling everybody how intelligent you are."- terribleUsername18
It's ok to admit defeat every now and then...
"Playing 'last word' in an argument you've lost."- LennonMcCartney65
"Being defensive when corrected instead of just accepting it."- Marthstewart123
"Claiming they are always right but not being able to argument why or have a serious debate about it."- GReatChinook
Drop The Mic GIF by In Real LifeGiphyAre you sure about that?
"Constantly saying 'facts' that are extremely false."
"Gets on my nerves."- Sharkifish
Read the instructions!!!
"I just started driving for UberXL."
"The amount of people who think they can fit 8 people with all their luggage into a midsize SUV is astonishing."
"You can see which car comes to pick you up and it says fits 5 people."
"If you have a piece of luggage each then it's more like 3 people."
"I had one group sit there and stare me down like they didn't understand."
"I swear some people just have a mental limit for figuring things out and they all find each other and never get anywhere."- predict_irrational
One should always reserve judgment, as one never knows for sure what lurks beneath the surface.
Even if more often and not, you are left with little to nothing which encourages you to see what's there.
Overprotective parents tend to be evasive about discussing the birds and the bees with their kids because they feel it's not up to them to have that conversation.
Remember Carrie White's religious mom who refused to talk about intimacy with her 16-year-old?
We all know how that turned out in the classic Stephen King novel.
Anyway, parents turning down an opportunity to have the uncomfortable convo or having their kids miss out on sex education can lead a child to potentially develop damaging misunderstandings about their body and puberty.
The effects of which were explored when Redditor sparklingshanaya asked:
"What’s a sexual misconception you had for way too long?"
It helps to have an earlier understanding about your body when you're younger.
Sex Education
"As a girl, I had no real idea of where/what the vagina was until I was like 11 or 12. My mom didn't give me a real sex talk, just a puberty/body book that said 'the vagina is between the woman's legs' and just had a full frontal diagram (legs closed) of a woman with an arrow pointing to her pelvic region. I also didn't know a period lasted longer than a day until I got mine at 14, and then wondered why it was still going on the next day."
"When my mom realized how abysmal my sex education was, her solution was to rent a video from the library about it and make me watch it on the big family TV in the living room at like 3pm. Granted— it was a very educational video but I won't ever forget one of the educators (a 50 year old woman) talking about how to give a satisfactory blow job."
– ash-on-fire
Hard Epiphany
"Ok so I grew up in a VERY conservative household. Was not allowed to take sex ed in middle school and they helicoptered in high school. Any internet access they had access to view so I never watched porn/looked at pics. Absolutely nothing. So for a long time I thought penises were shaped like a smaller pringles can. I thought it was just like...a straight up cylinder. Moved out at 17 and googled some things and man I had men's anatomy SO wrong."
– WholeLottaIntrovert
Wrong End Of The Stick
"Friend of mine has a similar background and I just about lost my mind when she said the balls are the END of the penis. Like she had seen those doodles and had it upside down so they just dangle off the end of the shaft lmaooo."
– xchakrumx
Let's get verbal about getting oral.
Satisfy A Woman
"Learn to go down on a woman, like become a master at it. Do this."
– ecallawsamoht
Excuse For Supper
"I second this. Been married for 20 years and it's something I'm happy to do."
"Get involved, people."
"Edit: thanks for the medals and upvotes, people! Be assured that I'll be celebrating tonight."
– AhabVanCleef
Semantics
"Friend of a friend thought it meant kissing. And they were like 19. So glad they found out through a conversation and not through a dude asking for it, or her talking about it. That would've been extremely confusing for everyone."
– SilverWaters793
Pucker Up
"My friend back in middle school thought a blowjob meant to literally blow on it. I still tease her about it to this day."
– Ashurii_desu
Failed Expectations
"Man, I thought I was gonna get so many blow jobs. That’s just not true."
– Studying_Politics
As young adolescents, these Redditors got these terminologies mixed up.
Dirty Talk
"When I was around middle school age I thought that oral sex meant talking dirty :’)"
– strawbrykat
"I used to sext with my girlfriend in high school. When we broke up, she just went crazy and told everyone in our grade that I was great at 'oral sex' (she meant sexting💀) School hasn’t been the same since then."
– Particular-Ad4356
Learning By Example
"I was kind of sheltered growing up, and like most sheltered kids, I learned a lot about sex through porn. I kept seeing 'blowjob' videos, and (i had no idea what a blowjob) assumed it was some kind of sex blooper. Like, something got messed up and the director said 'Oh darn, you blew it! Let’s take it from the top.'”
– Danny_my_boy
I had sex education in sixth grade after my parents gave the school permission for me to attend the special assembly centering on the topic.
But I remember how vague the instructor was. By the time I eventually had my first nocturnal emission, I remember being terrified, yet simultaneously elated. It was very confusing, and I didn't know what happened.
I remember reflecting back to sixth grade and thinking the school must've skipped that part in sex ed.