People Share Times They Had A Bad Feeling About The "Good Guy" And Turned Out To Be Right
Have you ever had a bad feeling about someone? Nobody seems to see it, but you just feel it in the pit of your stomach. Maybe you're wrong, and they turn out to be great. But sometimes... sometimes you're right. Well, these people were right in BIG ways. If you'd like to read more of their stories, check out the source link at the bottom of this article.
NOTE: This article may be disturbing to some readers, as it deals with themes of drugs, death, and abuse.
At my previous job, the CEO wanted to bump the newest member of the team to manager. I always had a strange feeling about the guy and I made my thoughts very clear to my boss. We were on good terms, in fact I helped bring the company up when it was about to go under, and I just felt that this guy was trouble for the company's future. No one else felt the way I did about him, but the feeling was so strong I told my boss that if they promote him to manager, I'm leaving. I would not stand to see the company fail after I worked my butt off to save it from the dumps multiple times.
In any case, they promoted him to manger, and as promised, I quit. They tried to ask me back, but I was firm, as long as he's manger, I cannot work there.
Fast forward 18 months I get a text from one of my former colleagues. Apparently they had all showed up to work as usual, and the place was locked up. Turns out company got shut down for tax evasion and fraud.
Don't know the details and don't really care for them, but that was one of the biggest "I told you so" moments I've ever had.
I had a very good friend who had a crush on her roommate. We all hung out and got along fine. Problem was, he gave me the chills. We all joked that the friend was like a star who just radiated heat. He, on the other hand, took the heat out of the room.
They ended up with multiple children, moved a few states away, moved back, got married, and I just never was okay with him.
He actually murdered her over a year ago. Now he's in prison for life.
There was a guy who was super popular at the hospital I worked at. He worked in all the "cool" units, like the trauma ICU, ED, and rapid response.
I always got a weird vibe from him.
Turns out he was stealing Fentanyl and dealing it on the side.
When I was 8 my parents invited a family over who had two sons. My mom loved both sons and worked with their mom. The whole family came over for dinner.
The two boys were monsters. I showed them the playroom in the basement and they both proceeded to smack me around and break my toys. My mom didn't believe me when I told her and told me to go downstairs and keep the boys busy.
About twenty minutes later I went back upstairs. My Dad asked why I was up there. I explained that both boys said I was boring and went outside and I didn't know where they were. Both sets of parents spent two hours looking for them. They finally found them several blocks away. My mom blamed me because I was supposed to keep these two older boys entertained in the basement. My Dad refused to let them come over again after hearing from me what happened. These guys were hugely popular with both other kids and parents. No one thought they could do anything wrong.
Later in life? Both guys were arrested for dealing meth. The younger one was arrested for assaulting his girlfriend, he then died a few weeks later from an OD. The older one is currently on parole and lives in his Mom's basement.
I used to work in TV production and I had to write the transcript for an interview for a TV host interview program. By the end of the transcript after watching him speak, sometimes rewinding over and over parts to get the transcript right, it was clear something was off with the guy being interviewed. I'm not going to say the name of the guy, but he was a pretty big celebrity where I live, in Australia.
The whole interview was a performance, the way he gestured and spoke about himself and his illustrious career, and his benevolence and humble beginnings, it was acting. Having watched the interview so closely, I could see he was not being natural at all.
After the program went to air the next day there was a general buzz at the station. It did well. The guy that was interviewed was considered a national treasure. Everyone loved him.
One of the producers at another program at the station was chatting to me about how brilliant the interview was. I was just honest and said what I wrote above. That he didn't seem right, his movements and words were too measured and not sincere and that he seemed to be performing rather than just talking. The producer said to me, "Well he is a performer."
But I never liked him after that. He gave me the creeps.
A few years later he gets charged for a string of sexual assaults, using his celebrity to get away with it for pretty much his whole life, some dating back in the 60's. He's an old man now.
So that's my story.
Oh man, when I was in 7th grade, my former best friend started hanging out with this "cool" guy who had just moved to the area, we'll call him "Nick".
Nick had a tough guy, "I don't care" attitude that she really gravitated to. I couldn't shake his attitude for some reason, and I remember telling her that I didn't trust Nick. She stopped hanging out with me in favor of him.
Nick grew up to be a total crapwipe, got in trouble all the time throughout school, and was eventually expelled from our high school for fighting. She still kept hanging out with him.
3 years later, Nick broke into her and her boyfriend's home with 2 others, and assaulted them.
Soon to be ex brother in law.
He was always cool, had nice watches, a couple of bikes, car etc. Just a little too friendly and felt to me like it was forced.
It turns out he's a narcissist who is walking out of his third marriage as the baby is getting more attention than him.
There's this one woman who is like the stand in grandmother for a large amount of people in my community. She lives on social media so she is 'there' for everybody. Everybody knows her, she knows everybody. Everybody loves her. Everybody tells her things. She's old enough to be a young grandmother or old Aunty to me, so due to her age she is seen as harmless.
However, she stabs people in the back. She will gossip like there's no tomorrow and you bet if you've told her something then everybody she knows will also consequently know about it. If she gets in a position where she needs to take sides she will side with the biggest amount of people. If she doesn't like you, then subsequently everyone else she knows won't like you. But, you know, they will all pretend to like you. It turns into a high school type situation sometimes.
I don't much like her. She's nice enough to me, but I've seen what she does. I'm just glad I see through it all. Social media can really bring out the monsters.
My mom always hated my 5th grade teacher. Everyone really liked him especially my bff's parents. When we were in college, the police discovered that he was really into cannibalism (fantasy, never actually did it himself). Everyone was shocked (small school) but my mom just nodded and said "I told you something was off about him."
In my early teens my aunt was best friends with this guy from her workplace. He seemed nice enough, he spoke softly and he always made decent food. I was constantly telling my family something was wrong with him, to the point of getting in trouble for it. Well he's in jail now, for a crime so bad I don't want to mention it. Sometimes, your gut just knows.
My old drama teacher. Everyone loved him but I knew something wasn't right. Sure enough, he was fired for inappropriate behavior with a student.
Alcohol reveals a lot. I've known several people like this, but one friend in particular: Fine, upstanding family man. Good friend of mine for a while. But when he got drunk, he got belligerent. To everyone. I found out later that his "perfect life" included physically and mentally abusing his wife and children.
To this day, I factor in how people act when intoxicated into what I think about them as people. Happy drunks are generally great people. Sloppy drunks are okay too. Mean drunks have that meanness in them. I don't buy the "alcohol made me do it" mentality. No, alcohol lets you release your true self.
I worked as a supervisor at a waterpark, there were something like 7 other supervisors and 3 managers (let's give them names- Matt, Jess, and Cassie) overseeing 200 lifeguards. One year we had a lifeguard we'll call Kevin. Everybody loved Kevin. Kevin was the coolest. and All the girls loved Kevin. Kevin's such a great lifeguard. The thing was I thought he was a terrible lifeguard, he was always sloppy, shirt untucked, way too relaxed in his chair, and I constantly had to yell at him to focus.
One day while I was trying to explain why he needed to do better I realized he wasn't really listening to me and then said, "Whatever you say, babe." That just struck me as odd and then I started to notice how disrespectful he was to all of the female guards and supervisors, but everyone just wrote it off as playful. I brought it up at the next management team meeting but everyone disagreed with me about it. That was when I found out one of our managers was fast tracking Kevin for a supervisor position and they had already started training him.
About a week later Kevin decided to test his power at the top of a ride by telling the lifeguards he was in charge and to speed up the release times of guests so the lines would move faster. This made the ride super dangerous because people were crashing into each other on the ride. A bunch of people got hurt. After a certain number of people getting hurt from tubes colliding the general manager ran up to the top of the ride to shut everything down, they called in maintenance to shut off the water to that side of the park thinking something was going wrong if people were going that fast down the ride. The General manager with the three managers in tail hoofed it and get there to find what Kevin had done. Our GM (a woman) starts yelling at Kevin and Kevin says to our manager Matt in front of everyone, "Who does this [string of expletives] think she's talking to?" Jess starts to tell Kevin that it's our GM who is everyone's boss and Kevin cuts her off and says, "Honey, why don't you let the men speak."
Our GM lost it at that point, called security and had him escorted off the property. She told Matt he should be fired for giving any sort of responsibility to someone willing to put other people's lives at risk, but Matt was always a good employee so instead, since he was the one that wanted to hire Kevin, he now had to fire him and would lose any rights he had in choosing any future higher level employees. I found out all this at the closing meeting that night. They asked me how I saw through Kevin when everyone else loved him. Honestly, I didn't know how other people couldn't see it.
There was a guy in school that was always pretending he didn't know when tests were and that he barely studied, and then got high 90's in everything, even specialist mathematics.
Turns out he had a near eidetic memory and literally didn't forget any of it and knew exactly when everything was. When confronted he said he pretended because he said he wanted people to be envious of him instead of friends so his marks wouldn't be lowered due to study time lost socialising.
That sounded somewhat reasonable in a sad way, until we found out he actually had a seething hatred for everyone there, and he didn't even study much, but used it as a cover to get away from people he thought of as too dumb to talk to. So weird.
When I was little I didn't like my grandma's new boyfriend. Everyone thought he was great, but I made a face and avoided him.
After months of them getting together, my grandma was at her condo and he comes over unannounced, stone cold glare, says nothing, walks toward her slowly. She keeps calling his name, but he's not answering. She gets a horribly bad feeling and asks, "Are you going to kill me?" ..no answer.. He started coming at her faster, and there was no way to get around her couch, so she jumped it like a hurdle and ran away. She called the cops and he was gone.
She moved very shortly after and never heard from him again.
There was this guy who had moved to my town and started working at the bar. He gave me a bad feeling from the beginning. Fellow bartenders hung out with him, gave him hugs, etc. He was nice, but he always had this Eeyore attitude. Like "Oh poor me" with puppy dog eyes. I hugged him once and it felt wrong and I couldn't figure out why.
Well, turns out he is a repeat woman beater. I read 3 separate arrest reports of him abusing 2 different women. Then we found out he was actually hurting one of our coworkers. I'm glad I googled him!
I haven't seen him since we found out and I'm not sure what I would do if I did.
One time this new girl started school and everyone made friends with her right away because she was into the same kind of music as us and she'd lived abroad and stuff, so she was "interesting". However, there was just something I really didn't like about her, and I took no steps to hide it.
Sometimes I wondered if it was jealousy, that I was worried she was stealing my friends. But I thought no, there IS something about her, but I realized that it probably came off that way to everyone else.
She would always make sly little judgmental comments about people that seemed to slip by unnoticed, and sometimes it was the way she looked at people, and how she laughed at people when they were being picked on. She was one of those girls that did/said things to get attention from boys, and revelled in the attention, and thought herself "higher" because of it, but would slag off other girls for doing the same.
The one thing that cemented it for me was when this other girl, who was kind of like a walking target unfortunately, was getting teased by some boys. She dropped her yogurt pot lid (I think she missed the bin, it was a windy day) and the girl I had bad feelings about, who was laughing along with the boys thought it would be cool to join in. She picked up the yogurt lid, walked up behind her and said something implying the other girl was a bin and stuck the lid (which had a little bit of yogurt on it) on her arm.
I saw this and went ballistic. I shouted "Hey!" then stood between them and said some stuff, like calling her pathetic, calling her out for showing off for the boys, said the other girl was one of the nicest girls in school (which was true) and didn't deserve to be treated like a bin. I took the lid off the girl and threw it at the rude girl.
I felt kind of proud of myself, because everyone had stopped laughing and I guess they were taking what I said really seriously. I think I looked like I was about to attack that girl (I was very close). Instead I just ended it with "c'mon [yogurt girl], let's go." and I walked with her to the library, where my other friends were hanging out.
She tried to thank me on the way there but I was still really tense and I was like "It's ok, you're the nicest girl in school, you don't deserve to be treated like that" but I was still very angry, so I didn't like, look at her or smile at her or anything. I felt kind of guilty because I know deep down, my stepping in wasn't really about the injustice of seeing an innocent girl being picked on, it was more about proving that the rude girl was everything I knew she was, and getting it off my chest, which isn't cool. I stepped in but for all the wrong reasons.
My kids' football coach. We make a habit of not discussing coaches or teachers in front of the kids, but I've disliked the guy from day one. He was this cocky, rough dude that would only respond with short 'that's the way it is' type of answers.
He won a few games with a school that hadn't won a game in years so parents talked highly of him. I recognized the year he'd won a couple games also happened to be the first year that every kid had grown up through the local youth football program, as the program had only begun about 8 years earlier. The next year the number declined and no games were won. The 3rd year we saw further declines and all the JV games were cancelled until the very last game of the season.
Well, during the game, this jerk coach spent the entire time riding around on the golf cart, putting away practice equipment for the season, leaving the coaching to his assistants. It was the only game we had even a chance of winning.
I later found out the youth football team still had a couple weeks of their season, but this guy had put their equipment away and locked it up, effectively hindering their practices.
The 4th year, they let him go, and everyone was upset because they thought he was our only hope. Well, happy to say that with a new coach, this has been the best season we've had in years.
This kid on my track team, lets call him Brad. Everyone liked Brad. He was popular and seemed really charming he was that kind of guy that kind of just looks like he's successful just for standing there, so most people were drawn to him. I always got slimy feeling from him. I never hopped on Brad hype train. A few months later, during the summer, he got sent to jail for selling heroin.
I wouldn't say this was a cool person. He had friends, but as far as I'm concerned he was far from popular.
I was in the army at the time, I was actually on my way out. This not-so-popular, but pretty middle-of-the-road guy came to my unit just as my contract was nearing it's end. Most nights during the week, he would come to my barracks room to visit my roommate who was also a new guy. Our barracks room had two separate rooms for each of us, but we shared a small kitchen and a bathroom. Outside in the hallway we had a placard with our names on it and a doorbell next to each name. This dude would ring my doorbell at 10 at night on a weekday (I would be asleep or trying to fall asleep, because we had really early mornings) and ask if my roommate was there.
The first couple times I let it slide, then I told him that he needed to stop ringing my doorbell, that it was clearly marked whose room was whose. He would just laugh and apologize, but I was growing increasingly annoyed with him and started to question his intelligence.
Finally, one night he did it again and I threatened him. I said, "Dude, you keep making the same mistake every night. The next time you ring my doorbell I'm gonna blow up. It's not that hard." Him being him, he just laughed about it. To him, this whole thing was a joke.
Well, sure enough he did it again, so I opened the door, punched him in the face, and slammed the door on him. Anyhow, I get out of the army and quickly forget about him. Then a few years later I'm scrolling though my news feed on Facebook and I see someone I know post a story about an incident in my old unit.
I open it, lo and behold, this guy killed a dude because he was drunk in the barracks and playing with a gun (guns are strictly forbidden in the barracks). I don't know how he didn't know better. I mean, he was in the infantry, so was I. Gun safety is highly impressed upon you, to the point where you're robotic about it. Not only that, but by the time this happened, he done a tour in Afghanistan. You'd imagine he'd have matured a little bit and realized that a gun is a deadly weapon.
I knew this guy was a moron. He should have never been in the infantry, let alone the army, in the first place. From day one, he gave me such a bad feeling. He was just a stupid, irresponsible kid to whom everything was a joke. He's in prison for the better part of 12 years.
Comments have been edited for clarity.
Things All Guys Do But Would Never Admit To
"Reddit user Miguenzo asked: 'What is something all guys do but will never admit to doing?'"
Men can be a mystery.
They like to hide as much as they can about themselves.
In truth, the rest of the world already suspects most of whatever behaviors they're trying to bury.
But often, it's so healthy to unburden yourself whenever you can.
Isn't it also comforting to know we aren't alone on this?
You do that? ME TOO!
Redditor Miguenzo wanted all the men out there to make some confessions, so they asked:
"What is something all guys do but will never admit to doing?"
Going to the bathroom sitting down more often than you think.
That's a guy truth I'll admit to.
I like to be comfortable.
Playtime
"I play with my penis more than any other object, by far."
killsafety
"And not even in a sexual way. Sometimes just flopping it from left to right while watching TV."
OneMorePotion
"This is what my wife had a hard time understanding. Just cause I'm messing with it, doesn't mean I'm aroused. I'm just fidgeting and that's my object."
Cigarettelegs
HER
"Imagine your entire life with a girl you just met."
Old_Situation4990
"Did this this weekend. The most beautiful woman working as a barmaid I have ever seen."
"However, I know it's annoying having someone hit on you while working and working in a bar she must get it all the time. so I kept quiet ordered my drinks and didn't bother her. She remembered what I was drinking by the 3rd drink. that was enough for me. LMAO."
EngineersMasterPlan
Think About It
"Daydream about insane scenarios that will never happen where you're the main hero that swoops in to save the day. Common examples include things like thinking you could figure out how to land an entire airplane in an emergency, thinking about 'What happens if there's a robbery and I stop the bad guy,' thinking about saving someone from a burning building, thinking you could save someone's life if there's a random medical emergency, etc."
bbbbbthatsfivebees
Spoons and Forks
"Not sure if this is for all guys, but my BF will never ever admit that he prefers to be the little spoon 😭."
raviolixx
"I’m over a foot taller than my wife, so I often joke that 'she’s my better third.' But I HATE being a big spoon. Nothing makes me happier in my marriage like being a little spoon, curled up, while she runs her fingers through my hair… Just thinking about is releasing the endorphins. We will hit 29 years together in a couple of months, and it not only never gets old, it gets better with age."
ZacInStl
Pick Away
"Nose picking is more common than anyone will admit."
oldwhitch
"Nose picking is probably the most efficient way to get uncomfortable buggers out of your nose."
AllDressedJalapenos
Ugh. Nose pickers. Stop it. Just stop it!
Whoops
"Morning pees sometimes go sideways and there's annoying cleaning up to do."
Apprehensive_Sky9062
Sniffed
"Sniff our armpits to be sure they don't stink or we enjoy the smell."
Individual-Option514
"This one is def gender neutral. I've had several girlfriends be embarrassed that I 'caught them' smell-checking themselves. As if they thought it was some secret weird thing they do and nobody else did. LOL."
Zeallust
"When I get nervous I stick my hands under my arms and then I sniff my armpit smell off my fingers and it calms me back down."
Papaya_flight
Inch by Inch
"Measuring their penis. Yeah, some will admit it. But some refuse to admit it."
Just4TheSpamAndEggs
"I don’t need a tape measure to know what disappointment looks like."
flightlessf**kbucket
Haven't done it in a while. At this point, I'm too afraid it's gotten smaller. If that's possible."
Double_Win_9405
"I have honestly never measured my d*ck. Girls I dated did. The numbers really mean nothing to me. I only cared if it was too small. Once girls told me it wasn't, I was satisfied."
esoteric_enigma
I Feel Pretty
"Being friendlier to attractive women."
JoeSchmoe314159
"Attractive women are scarier for many, so a lot of us probably come off as aloof or rude whatever towards them because we just kind of ignore them (actually are just too nervous to address them directly)."
"This isn't such a thing for me now that I'm in my 30s and have a long-time committed partner. No pressure... lol. But I know when I was a younger guy in the dating pool, the very attractive women were terrifying... lol."
bossmcsauce
"Attractive people actually get treated better in most areas of life in general. It’s called Pretty Privilege. Attractive people are trusted more easily, looked up to more, invited to more things, talked to more, can get a raise easier, and obviously can date easier."
Ur_Fav_Step-Redditor
At least once
"If you're single; Having feelings/Attraction to almost every female friend you've got. Doesn't have to be strong feelings. Doesn't have to be romantic. But you've thought about it. At least once. Maybe three times."
TA2556
"Definitely not universal. This stopped happening to me after I started and finished one major relationship."
"You develop a sense for what you actually want -- and how much more valuable friendship can be than any random romance."
"Also, as a straight guy, having uncomplicated friendships with multiple women is a great way to just get out in life, meet people and situations you never would've otherwise, and not bog down your own psyche. Really elevated my 20s."
MRIchalk
Underneath
"Kicking ice cube under the fridge when falls."
Subject-Inflation805
"Gotta feed those shadow critters."
UnRealmCorp
I love the ice cube kick.
I think it's gender universal.
The Bible advises people to judge not, lest they be judged.
Which seems to have been lost in translation for too many purported adherents to its teachings.
On a secular level, we're told to not judge a book by its cover, but sometimes...
Sometimes it's hard not to get judgy.
Reddit user dolphinsR4evr asked:
"What is something you have a hard time not judging people about?"
Parents
"Being proud of being awful and absolute a**holes to their children."
~ YamAnxious
"I (female, 15) was on a train with my mother (female, 50) a couple years ago. We were enjoying our trip, laughing and playing together."
"We were sitting next to a man and his wife. They were about 60 years old."
"He started talking to us out of the blue and he said some things like 'a mother and her daughter shouldn't be friends', 'a daughter should hate her mother bc she's strict', and randomly bringing up his children."
"When we got off the train, we looked at each other and laughed about it, but I actually felt so bad about his kids."
~ justlookawaybruh
Give a Hoot
"Leaving trash in nature or anywhere really. I don't get it."
~ AbsoluteEva
"One of my pet peeves are people who throw their empty beer or energy drink cans off ski lifts."
"The lifties have to hike up the hill with trash bags picking up the litter. The people who do this have no respect for nature or the employees."
~ sretep66
Where Ya Headed?
"People who don't use their turn signals."
~ cutiecakepiecookie
"Even better, the ones who turn on the turn signal after they’re already turning."
~ SomeKindoflove27
"At least in these instances, it might just be a last second 'oh f'k sorry I forgot'."
"The ones who never use it are entitled."
~ GeneralZaroff1
"They shall hence be known as after-turners."
~ bryfy77
"How about the ones that have their blinkers on to move Right but move Left?"
~ MealComprehensive865
"No" Is A Complete Sentence!
"People pressuring others to do something after the other person already said 'no'."
~ Orchid_wildflower
"As someone who just doesn't enjoy drinking, it's so tiring answering the same questions at every single function."
"'No. I don't want a drink. No. I'm not an alcoholic. Thank you for the concern. I just don't want to drink'."
"It's like it's unfathomable for someone not to enjoy drinking."
~ TheDarkKnightFell
"'You’re just having a coke? Why‽‽'”
"Because it actually tastes good, it’s half the price, I can drive home after and I can actually enjoy my day tomorrow.”
~ Majestic-Marcus
"I AM an alcoholic and was amazed at how many people I considered to be friends tried this when I quit drinking."
"'Oh just a few won't hurt', 'you can't really have a problem if it was that easy to stop', 'don't worry', etc..."
~ yerbard
"5.5 years sober here."
"It. Is. Wild!"
"People will straight up try and bully you into drinking like, nah..."
~ jessieesmithreese519
"I gave up alcohol and marijuana last summer. I rarely socialize anymore with people outside my family."
"Seems like everyone in my age group needs some type of substance in order to relax and hang out. I'm especially put off by the wave of women calling wine 'mommy juice'."
~ Mammoth_Monk1793
"I hate how much of this culture's socialization is based around some type of substance use."
"So we can't just hang out and talk? We need to smoke, or drink, or some other bullsh*t??"
~ MrProdigal884
Special Place in Hell
"Poor treatment of pets."
~ Willing-Survey7448
"Buying a $3500 puppy for their kid at Christmas and dumping the dog at the pound a few months later when they realize how challenging raising a cute puppy can be. I will judge you."
"*glances down at purebred husky from pound sitting on couch snuggling with favorite toys….*"
~ lightpennies
"I see that often (I volunteer at our local shelter) and it really makes me angry seeing the people come in and just surrender the dog because they couldn't be bothered to put in the time and dedication."
"Dogs aren't a damn appliance. They are living, breathing beings with feelings."
"There honestly should be a database that those people get added to that prevents them from ever having a dog in the future if that's the reason why they are surrendering a dog (or any other animal)."
"And I get that there are legimate reasons for surrendering an animal (owner dies and surviving family cannot properly care for it, loss of housing and job, etc...)."
~ FirehawkLS1
"I once knew a woman who moved in with her boyfriend like people do. They both had dogs. Dogs did not get along."
"She'd had her dog 4 years and just went, ok I'll take it to the pound and give it up since they won't stop fighting. After only one month."
"Then complained about being sad for her lost dog (that went to one of those, if it doesn't get adopted, it'll get put down, places)."
"Her boyfriend just bought her a new dog to raise and train with his dog."
"I was so disgusted, I am not friends with them anymore."
~ TheMightyBluzah
Move Along
"Being oblivious of how much space they're taking up in public."
"I used to work in a building where you had to swipe your key card to enter through a turnstile, and the system was a bit slow. They were around 400 people working there, you can imagine how there was always a queue."
"Every day there was some d*ckhead having a conversation in front of the turnstiles, completely ignoring the people wanting to pass."
"Every day there was some dude getting to the front of the queue and only then realizing they needed their key card to get through."
"Everybody knew how annoying the process was, how can you care that little about other people?"
"Related: Placing your backpack on a seat in a crowded bus/train, blocking a supermarket aisle with your trolley."
~ thursday-anywhere
Use Your Indoor Voice
"Being extremely loud and bragging in a public place or restaurant."
~ anonnautilus
"I will never forget the time I rode a train late at night and one family took up half the car with their kids. They ran around making an absolute ruckus."
"One older lady politely asked if they could quiet down since 'everyone was tired'."
"The acting matriarch of the group yelled at her, 'Don't you dare tell my kids what to do! Hey, Kids! You can be AS LOUD AS YOU WANT!!!'."
"'Yaaaaay!'."
"I have to imagine they all grew up to be total a**holes."
~ PorkRoll2022
"And that's my neighbor. She encourages her kids to yell and scream, and joins in with them....encouraging them by yelling 'This is OUR HOUSE!'."
"She's actually the first adult I've ever met who had her kids on the lawn on July 4th, whooping and yelling 'USA! USA! Number ONE!!'."
"Yeah, I think we all judge her."
~ Francesca_N_Furter
Don't Be a Richard
"I hate people that feel the need to constantly bring others down and make them feel bad about things they enjoy."
"It's so sad to watch someone's enthusiasm about their hobby deflate because another person decided to be a d*ck about it."
~ ReporterOk4531
"Working with kids, it’s something I try to nip in the bud. Unfortunately, there’s way too many adults doing that to kids."
"My cousins’ dreams were crushed as kids by the adults in my family. Talents went to waste because of that. Even as a child myself, I knew it was wrong."
~ mstrss9
STFU, Tom!
"Man I think of myself as a relatively tough person who generally dgaf what people think of me, but I'm 38 and overweight and I realized I wanted to try roller blading again (this was abt 8 mos after having my third child)."
"This one d*ckhead neighbor was out in his yard and made fun of me to my face as I skated up the road (legit first time roller blading in like 20 years) and I haven't put them back on since."
"I even said 'hey don't give me a hard time, I haven't done this in years!' And he rolled his eyes and said 'yeah I can tell'."
"He made me feel so small and stupid. I'm mad at myself for not being tougher than that idiot's stupid comments."
~ allegedlys3
"He's a bully. So sorry this happened. Can't wait for you to try again. I learned to do pull-ups very late in life. Took me months."
"Everyone at the gym was very encouraging. I would never have made it without the extra support. My family was not as supportive."
"This is me supporting you. Go get em! You got this!"
~ VelcroSea
"Just remind yourself that people who make fun of someone making an effort are the biggest losers on the planet."
"Losers hate to watch people on the path to success."
~ rm-rd
"Yeah--OP, he's the small and stupid one. And if you can manage it, re-rollerblading will be both fun on its own AND a major victory against your a-hole neighbor."
~ Cat_Prismatic
"I hope you put the blades back on and either give him the finger or wear a shirt that says 'shut the hell up Tom' whenever youre outside blading your troubles away."
~ sinverguenza
"To all you subcommenters, you are a lovely group of people and thank you so much for your encouragement! Yeah, f'k that guy."
"When I get the guts up to go try again (I'll prob wait a few weeks til it's not hotter than the devil's taint outside), I will think of y'all."
~ allegedlys3
Well, 💩
"Not cleaning up after their dog. Just get a doggy bag people."
~ jfg1435
"There’s crap all over sidewalks in my neighborhood. I just can’t fathom the mindset of these people that won’t pick up after their dogs."
~ zrayburton
"It's even worse when there's trashcans next to free doggy bags on the neighborhood trail, and you still see dogsh*t all over the place. Zero f'king excuse at that point besides being a lazy pr*ck."
~ Pooonther
"Especially people who own large dogs. Like excuse me this is what you signed up for when you got your large a** dog."
"At my old apartment complex there was dog sh*t EVERYWHERE and it was always the human sized ones. So disgusting."
"If I ever see someone not picking it up I will absolutely yell at them."
~ AudreyFish
Excuse You
"People with no sense of self awareness, so they stop in the middle of walkways, entrances or crosswalks for no reason."
~ progressiveanarchy
"And grocery aisles. At least apologize if blocking the aisle."
~ weaselblackberry8
"Yeah people get way too absorbed in what they personally have going on, and are totally oblivious to their surroundings as a result."
~ zakku_88
"My husband was this person. Absolutely no awareness of the inconsiderate mess."
"When we first took a trip together and he stopped in the middle of the airport and put his bag down I was like… 'I Don't Know WHERE you learned this but you don’t do this anymore'."
"And now he’s learned."
~ BusinessClassBarbie
Abandon Ship
"A parent leaving and ignoring one family to get a new significant other and raise that persons children."
~ blyblotbloidberg
"Generally it is getting a new partner (who doesn’t have kids) AND create a new batch of kids, forgetting the existing kids."
~ VeganMonkey
"This happened to a friend of mine. Thirty years ago his mother walked out, abandoning him and his sister."
"They were both under ten years old. She never contacted them again. She moved on and had more kids with someone else."
"Things like that always kind of surprise me because we’ve all been conditioned to expect mothers to always love and want to take care of their children. Mother love is supposed to be unconditional, right?"
"Sadly, not always. Sometimes there are extenuating circumstances, sometimes not. My friend does not really know why his mom left them."
"Nowadays he says he doesn’t care because it’s been so long that it feels to him like she died—but I think he still hurts. Everybody needs a mother sometimes."
"Sometimes people are just sh*tty for no good reason. It’s hard to accept."
~ miniguinea
"Overheard a convo a mom was having with her pre/early teen daughter at a restaurant once. I was their server."
"Essentially daughter had to go live with her dad because they didn't have enough room in moms new family."
"The specific phrase 'I have a new family now' was used. I haven't mentioned it yet, but mom was preggo."
"Lots of tears and mom came across as a complete a**hole."
~ ElbisCochuelo1
Sometimes we as a society are too judgmental.
But there are times it's really difficult not to judge someone's words or actions.
What do you find hard not to judge?
We've all heard our fair share of conspiracy theories, like Big Brother watching us, or the Earth being flat, or birds not being real (seriously, what is that about?).
We've even seen some theories get confirmed over the years, like our mobile devices "always" listening to us, though some remain unconvinced about the purposes behind that fact.
But there are some conspiracy theories out there that are far more unsettling than others, and some people have some very good reasons for why they believe in them and are deeply terrified by them.
Ready to hear some theories, Redditor sublimefan123 asked:
"What's the scariest conspiracy theory you believe is 100% true?"
But Where's the Lie?
"Octopi are aliens, and you can't convince me otherwise."
"Those motherf**kers came from a meteor or something. Their brain development rate compared to all other species is off the charts."
- venom121212
"Right? Name me ONE other motherf**kier that has eight different brainlets hanging out in their thinky-feely tentacles. That s**t's wild."
- PepurrPotts
"Samuel L. Jackson would LOVE this conversation."
- TheBookishAndTheBard
The Mafia Makes the Best Pillows
"The excessive number of mattress stores in cities; often within close proximity to each other. Money laundering fronts for the mafia is a distinct possibility."
- mansonsturtle
"In reality, it's due to a certain type of marketing technique."
"A lot of times, people won't drive to multiple mattress stores. They'll just drive to one. However, if the other mattress store is right next door, they are more likely to check it out and see if they can find something better, comfier, at a better price."
"So you usually see them grouped together. You'll see the same with auto dealerships."
- MaxHannibal
"Says the mafioso!!!! Caught you!"
- RambisRevenge
Educating Future Laborers, Not Individuals
"US education system knowingly underfunded to maintain a large unskilled labor force."
"Originally this made sense as we needed people to work the world's largest breadbasket and mine raw materials. Now those jobs are highly mechanized and automated."
"Combine this with a shift to main US exports being tech- and chem-based, and our intentionally woeful education system is coming back to bite us."
"Students aren't being taught how to be self-sustaining individuals. They're being taught how to memorize, to forget, and to serve."
- 89inerEcho
A Voluntary Trend
"'Throwback Thursday' or '#tbt' just appeared one day out of the blue, with the distinct goal of being a silly internet craze to post pictures from the past and compare it to modern-day photos."
"But I believe it was a project created by three-letter United States federal government organizations to encourage large portions of the population to post weekly photos of their past and present to enhance their aging and genetic algorithms."
"It would be hard to get access to everyone's old photos unless they had physical access to everyone's houses and snuck into each house to make copies of said photos. Why do all that when you could make it a fun new trend and let the people voluntarily give you the photos en masse?"
- yourusernameistaken
Distractions in the Media
"Insane wackjob conspiracies purposefully get propagated to detract from actual shady s**t that goes on."
"What's more? It f**king works."
"If you see someone even mention something that might be a conspiracy, that person is automatically determined to be a lunatic. Dangerous when you consider just how corrupt government, military, and corporations are."
- somethingdarkside45
Let the Women Have Their Pockets
"Big purses... I think that pocket-book companies have strong-armed, bought, or convinced women's clothing companies to make pockets ineffectual so that purses remain relevant."
- roygbpcub
"To add onto this, tech companies have bought into big purses and that's why phones have gotten continuously larger, so they can't fit in pockets no matter what."
"Seriously, though, I think the true reason why pockets for women's pants are so ineffectual is that women's clothing is selling a specific body type (slim) that protruding hips would go against."
"This really needs to be talked about more. Not only does it set a standard for women to have to look a certain way, but it also sends the message that women should ignore their own comfort or needs in order to conform enough to be attractive."
- that_personoverthere
Gut Health and Mental Health
"Food quality is intentionally low to increase the "need" for medication & supplements. Adequate health care is unaffordable to keep the workers in the ACA gap from living long enough to benefit from the social security that they have contributed to for their whole working lives."
- borkydorkyporky
"The food we have been eating in the United States is a huge part of the mental illness going on today."
- TheBozKnight
"I started eating 'cleaner,' and I am not perfect, but I notice such a tremendous change in my energy and overall being for the positive."
- purplehotcheeto
"100%, it is now being accepted and studied that our gut is directly connected to our brain and has a huge impact on mental health."
- SeatLong5131
The Unusual Rich
"I firmly believe rich people (given the few I've interacted with) think way, way differently than normal people. That shouldn't be surprising given the fact that they have enough money and probably power to basically do whatever they want and nobody will stop and say, 'Not enough money in the world that I should let you.'"
"They live with far fewer boundaries than most of us."
- MisanthropeNotAutist
No More Dentist Appointments
"Scientists have found a way to protect our teeth from plaque and cavities years ago but because of the lobbying money, they have been stopped from commercializing it."
- sonia72quebec
Pluto Held a Grudge
"We live in a plutocracy."
- Bad_Inteligence
"That's impossible, Pluto's not even a planet anymore."
- zsero1138
"Why do you think they demoted it to begin with?"
- AlwaysSaysRobot
Passing the Test
"Remember when we redirected that asteroid last year as a test, called DART? Yeah, I don't think that was a test."
"It doesn't matter, though. I'm glad it worked."
- no_onion_no_cry
A Troubling Trade
"That Reagan conspired with the Revolutionary Iranian government to not free US hostages until and unless he was elected in 1980."
"The Iranian hostage crisis was very damaging politically for Carter, who was a very likable and decent man. Americans sitting in Iranian jail cells severely eroded Carter's political position going into the 1980 election, and Reagan knew it."
"The hostages were released on the very day that Reagan took office, 20 Jan. 1981, literally, just MINUTES after he was sworn in. To this day, Iran has offered no formal explanation."
- VibrantPianoNetwork
No Progress
"I wouldn't say 'believe' as it's more highly suspect that it's true:"
"The American political system has one party with two sides. One side placates the populace while making as little change as possible. When people get fed up with that side they vote in the other, who rushes in pro-one percent policy and other things that further consolidate power away from the populace."
"That way we are always taking one step forward but three steps back."
- Patcher404
The Uno Reverse Card
""Questions like this get posted online by Feds so they can aggregate popular or new conspiracies. (This is a sarcastic comment but also... not.)"
- FactualStatue
"I think about this sometimes. Create bulls**t online just to see which groups are the most susceptible, or post stuff like this to get new ideas of what to push."
- V1CTORW0ND00M
They're All We Have...
"No one is secretly in charge from the shadows. The politicians we have are actually the leaders of the world and are genuinely what people voted for."
"There are few things scarier than that."
- m0le
Whether or not we choose to believe in these theories, it's clear why they would be terrifying to those who choose to believe in them.
But also, some of these arguments are pretty compelling, and it's equally understandable how a person could come to believe some of these theories.
Conspiracy theories don't all have to be about bird props and witch hunts, after all.
Valentine’s Day is a day of love and romance, but not for everyone. For some, Valentine’s Day is a day for broken hearts, breakups and blowups. Workers and patrons at restaurants and bars have a front-row seat to some of the most awkward, abysmal and just plain awful Valentine’s Day moments, where attempts at love don’t always have a fairy tale ending.
Three’s A Crowd
I used to be a professional musician and the four-piece band I was in got booked for a Valentine’s Day event in a local bar. The guitarist invited his girlfriend down so they could be together on the night. What he hadn't counted on was his WIFE getting the night off work and coming to the show too as a Valentine’s surprise.
Everything was fine for the first set of the night. Then the problems began when both the girlfriend and the wife met in the band room backstage. Most of the band escaped the obvious row that was coming and waited by the bar for the second set. What we saw next was the most outrageous show of a woman’s scorn anyone has ever seen!
The wife ran onstage and began trashing his guitars and all his pedals, leads, and amp. No one dared to stop her. She was rightly angry. Shortly after she left the stage, the girlfriend had her turn, destroying whatever was left of his gear. Between both cheated women, they caused around $2,000 worth of damage to his set up. Needless to say, we played the second set as a three-piece, but it was quite a show!
Just Desserts
At the beginning of the evening, a man at our restaurant gave me a ring to bring out to his table with dessert. The couple began arguing before they even ordered and ended up screaming at each other in the restaurant. My manager made me ask the guy, as discreetly as I could, if he still wanted the ring with the dessert. It was that bad.
I didn't want to, but I asked. Big. Mistake. He then started to scream at me that of course he still wanted the ring. He was right, after all, it wasn't my business. So I brought out the ring. She said, "Are you serious?" and left. Then the man screamed at me again when I wouldn't let him chase after her and leave without paying.
In the end, the guy just threw the money on the table with a huge tip, but I think he just gave what he had and left. He had made such an insane scene that we had to give free desserts to the tables next to them to make up for ruining their evening. After the service, I told my manager I was never questioning a client's request again.
One Ring To Fail Them All
There was a couple seated a few places away from us. They sat far enough away so that we couldn't hear the conversation, but it was obvious that they were arguing. The waiter did his spiel on the set tasting menu and handed out a beverage list. The guy orders a bottle of vino for both of them and she interrupts with, "I'm good I'll just have water."
They continued over a very uncomfortable meal, during which he kept asking stuff. She'd respond with increasingly annoyed no's. The waiter returns and notices that appetizers hadn't even been touched yet. He tops off her water and his drink, then asks if everything was tasting alright. He finishes with an, "I'll give you guys some more time to enjoy."
She was now loudly enough that we could understand her now. "I can't keep doing this with you." She angrily forks into her appetizer and finishes just in time for the entree to arrive. The arguing continues, and the guy is looking increasingly nervous. Suddenly, he gets down on one knee. She said, "Oh God, no." He takes her hand to put the ring on it.
She snatches her hand away like he's lava. He still wasn’t reading the signals and said, "Will you do..." She bursts into tears. Everyone in the entire restaurant, who didn’t really understand the context of the situation, sighed an audible "Awww!" She said, "I can't believe you would even ask after what you did. I told you I needed space. I don't even know if I can trust you anymore."
After that, things were kind of a blur. I think she threw a couple of $20s on the table, then ran out. He stayed on the ground, still holding up the ring like he wasn't done proposing yet. The waiter returned with one of those sweet lava cakes topped with a little "She said yes!" thing. It was absolutely excruciating from beginning to end.
Wing And A Prayer
A couple comes in and sits down in my section. I walk over just as the lady stands to go to the restroom and grab their drink orders. The lady goes to the bathroom and the gentleman says he knows what they want for appetizers. He orders boneless wings in two sauces. I run off to fetch their drinks and put their order in.
A couple of minutes later I'm returning with their appetizer. By this point, the lady had returned to the table. I set the basket down and she stares at it with surprise. "What's this?" I reply, "It's the appetizer that was ordered. Is it okay?" This woman turns to her partner and proceeds to loudly and thoroughly chew him out. How dare he order wings for an appetizer when he knew she wanted wings for dinner!
She runs on and on about how stupid he was for ordering wings first and I could just see the poor guy curl in on himself and slowly die inside. I stated I would give them a few more minutes and hurried away. The dinner was very tense and awkward after that. They barely spoke to me and I swear didn't utter another word to each other.
I felt so bad for the guy because he ordered wings since she obviously must have made it clear she wanted them and got torn a new one for it.
No Stalling
I went into the bathroom at a restaurant on Valentine’s Day and made an...interesting discovery. Not only was there a man in the woman's washroom, he was down on one knee, sobbing as he proposed to a woman in a bathroom stall. She said no.
Silent Night
I witnessed one of the most awkward dates on Valentine's Day from a table that sat across from us. Both the guy and girl were on their phones the entire night, when the waitress came to get their food order neither even looked up at her to order. I was close enough to them where I would be able to hear their conversation.
Not a word was ever said. The girl at one point abruptly stood up and left (me thinking she was going to ditch the guy) but she came back and sat down. Again no exchange of words, not even a " where did you go?" That couple finished before us, and when the bill came they both awkwardly stared at it and didn't touch it.
The waitress came back 10 minutes later to check on them and said something like " I'll come back when you are ready" with the most uncomfortable smile on her face. Finally, the guy just takes the book bill thing and puts his card in. They leave.
Love Hits The Brakes
I've worked in restaurants for 14 years, so you know my worst Valentine's Day story is going to be a doozy. One time, I had a guy ask me to help him bring the ring and champagne after dinner so he could propose to his girlfriend. Being a woman and wanting to witness the romance, I hid around the corner so I could kind of peek at them.
They were lovey-dovey all through dinner and everything seemed good and I fully expected her to say yes when he asked. She didn’t. In fact, the woman did not react well at all. She told him no and that she was planning on breaking up with him. She added the only reason she was on this date with him is that he said he bought her something special for Valentine's Day.
She thought he was going to buy her the car she asked him for, and she was going to dump him next week. Then she said since you didn't get the car, she's dumping him now and she left! The guy was devastated! I felt so bad for him. I will remember her for the rest of my life because how could I not? What a greedy woman.
Sweet Ending
We had a classic of a couple coming in all dressed up and out for their romantic dinner, but as the meal went on they gradually got tenser and their muttered argument slowly became very loud. Walking back over to refill drinks or take plates seemed to make it even worse, but I couldn't just leave their (very small) table covered in the stuff.
By dessert, WWIII had broken out, and the evening ended with the guy getting a bowl of chocolate cake and ice cream emptied over his head. I still have no idea what they were arguing about, but the poor guy just sort of shoved a load of money on the table and ran out of there after his partner.
Pizza Prognosticator
I used to work at a very local, family-owned, pizza place. It was packed and we only had two counter girls (myself and my girlfriend, whose dad owned the restaurant). We had a special on these really cute heart-shaped pizzas. One couple ordered one of them and my girlfriend brought it out, but got bumped because it was so crowded.
When she dropped the pizza it broke clean in half which I have to admit was super weird because it was sliced into eighths. The girl who ordered the pizza had a zodiac tattoo and was wearing a bunch of crystals. She got up immediately, pointed at the pizza and started yelling about how it was a sign and stormed out of the store after breaking up with him. We think he dodged a bullet.
Flowing With Emotion
A woman was eight months pregnant. A guy brings her in for Valentine's Day and has the mariachi band sing their love song. He pulls out the expected ring and she says yes. Things looked perfect! Only spicy Mexican food is perhaps not the best choice when your eight months pregnant. She hurriedly shuffled to the restroom five times. The fifth, she...didn't quite make it.
It's a tiny community, so I met them years later at a wedding party. I walked up and introduced myself. I mentioned I had met them years ago. "I was there years ago when y'all got engaged. The emotions were just... flowing that night?" The husband laughed until he cried, the poor wife just covered her face in shame.
Living Large
I used to work the drive-through at Burger King and I overheard this conversation on Valentine's Day while taking a car's order. Girl: “Get me a #3.” Guy: “It's Valentine's Day baby, you can supersize it!”
Do Or Dine
I was a waiter at The Pasta House. At this time, another server was pregnant and trying to cover as many shifts as possible before she had the baby. In February, she asked if she could work Valentine's Day for me and I said sure. Dinner reservations fell through for my date and me so we decided to see if I could get a table at the restaurant where I worked.
I walked in the door only to see that they were absolutely slammed. The place was FULL of customers. As I came in, my manager said, "Thank God you got my message. She we went into labor and we need you to take tables." I told them I wasn't there to work, but to go on a date. My boss was so mad that I didn't get to work that he fired me. On Valentine's Day!
Dress For Unsuccess
My wife and I were out for Valentine's day and the couple next to us were having a breakup dinner. Oh, and it got worse. They were breaking up right before their impending wedding. She was in an early 90's prom dress. He was in a suit jacket and tie. She was loaded and getting loud about losing the deposit for the reception hall. She finally took a swing at him and the host escorted them both out.
Her poofy dress knocked over a couple of drinks on the way out. What an emotional rollercoaster.
Wasted Space
I worked as a hostess at a busy higher-end restaurant. I was working at the front door with my friend. The place was packed and the waitlist was extremely long. A woman came in by herself and was a little upset to have to wait for a table. Since she was only a party of one, we found a space for her at the bar while she waited. It was about an hour wait for a table. While sitting tight for a table, this woman proceeded to get completely wasted.
She kept coming up to us and asking about her table and we kept updating her about the time. While she was standing there, a group of people came in and we sat them right away because they had reservations. She then started yelling at us and dumped her drink on my friend's head. The manager did not kick her out. We still had to accommodate her.
Ex’s and Oh’s
I've seen a doozy or two in my time as wait staff at El Nonno's. The worst one is when my girlfriend came in with my best friend. I thought they were there to surprise me. Nope, this was their way of telling me that they're dating each other now. And I was stuck as their server. But this pales in comparison to when they visited the restaurant the next time.
So my now ex-girlfriend and ex-best friend came in again and had their wires completely crossed. My ex-girlfriend thought she was going to get a marriage proposal, but my ex-friend came to the restaurant to come out of the closet and confess his love for me. Then three was the time my boyfriend and my former boss came in together, and I naively thought this was a surprise.
It turns out they both forgot I worked there and came in to have an affair. My ex-boss was cheating on his wife, and my boyfriend was cheating on me. That restaurant was insane.
Insult To Injury
I was eating in a restaurant on Valentine’s Day and saw this guy kneel to propose. We were all happy for them until the girl said no. She used some lame excuse, something along the lines of, “Mike, I just don’t think that you’re the one, you know? Poor Mike is all sad and gets up to leave. He comes back two minutes later to get his wallet and sees her doing something shocking.
Literally minutes after turning down a proposal, this girl is talking to the waiter at the restaurant and, get this, swapping numbers with him. Mikey grabs some random couples’ drink and throws it on the floor yelling about their year-long relationship ending. He then stormed off and she just grabs the nearest guy and jams her tongue down his throat.
A Bad Reaction
As a bartender, I saw a guest in the restaurant throw up on his steak not even a minute after it was placed in front of him. His date kept surprisingly calm for that scenario.
Head-Banger
One of our favorite regular customers brought in her boyfriend for the first time and in her excitement, she bumped into a table and knocked someone’s cup off, which isn’t bad but in her haste to pick up the cup she hit her head on the corner of the metal table and cut her forehead open. It looked like a horror movie scene.
We cleaned her up and gave them a stack of free food cards because she’s awesome and we love her.
Checking Out
Yesterday in the grocery store I worked at, an angry couple came in right at 11:59 p.m., and tried to buy some booze after midnight. Our machines won’t let us do that after midnight. The couple got angry at each other and kept calling each other names in front of me. Finally, she says: “I’ve had it! I hate you anyway! I’m dumping you!” Guy: “You aren’t hot anyway!” Neither bought anything and scurried off.
Happy Valentine’s Day.
Not Using His Noodle
So, I had some guy who couldn't understand the concept of ravioli. He kept asking if we served "hollowed out spaghetti" (his words) and stuffed it with lobster. I said no, but we did use pasta. He kept reiterating that he wanted pasta. It finally dawned on me, "Sir, do you think that spaghetti is the Italian word for pasta?"
His date was unimpressed, but I finally get him down for an order of lobster ravioli, even though he still seemed unaware of what he was ordering. After he got his food, ate one of the ravioli, he said to me, like I was the dumbest guy on the planet, "Bro, all you had to do was tell me that they were Boyardee’s. I know what those are."
Material Girl
I was just getting off of work around 3 p.m. so I headed to do some grocery shopping and I saw a guy looking frantically through his shopping bags so I asked if he needed help with something. He confessed that he had bought a Wal-Mart necklace for his girlfriend because she told him if she didn't get something expensive she would leave him.
He had purchased it, but he had taken his eyes his bags for a moment and when he checked his bags again, the necklace was gone. He told me he had just been laid off and didn't have the heart to tell her no. I felt about an inch tall, helping him try to find a cheap necklace, knowing that no matter how good a guy or how bad a circumstance, some people are so materialistic that someone giving their all is still not enough.
I hate Valentine's day, I wasn't single last night, but boy I feel heartbroken for that guy.
Ring Of Fire
I worked at a fine dining restaurant years ago. A middle-aged guy came up to me, handed me a gorgeous sapphire and diamond ring and asked me to have the pastry chef include it with his companion's dessert. The chef found beautiful blooms to decorate her dessert plate and placed the ring in the middle of one. Her reaction, however, wasn’t what anyone expected.
She saw the ring, took it out of the flower, and placed it on the table. Then, she picked up her fork and started to eat her dessert without saying anything at all. The ring must have been an extravagant apology on his part and she was having none of it. I was tempted to say that if she didn't want the ring, I'd take it off her hands!
A Messy Breakup
I bartend. I'm assuming this couple was on a date. They just ordered their food. In less than 10 minutes of their date, I saw the girl take a drink and throw it on the guy. It hit the people behind him, the walls, and it soaked the floor too. She immediately walked out in tears. The guy's face as he just sat there soaked was indescribable. It was the most movie-like break up I've ever seen happen in real life.
Raw Responses
So the pizza place I work for cuts all the pepperoni pizzas into hearts and we had to make about 450 of those, plus 250 more pizzas, in four hours. Our slogan is “Take and Bake”, so we make the pizzas and you take them and bake them at home. Several times, we had people get their pizzas at the end of the line and go “It’s not cooked.” Deadpan, my coworker looked at them and said “Yes.” to every single one of them.
Also, I took a phone call, and I said “When will you be coming to get your pizza?” and she goes, “Actually I’d like it delivered.” Needless to say, we didn’t deliver it, and she hung up.
Sweet Nothings
Last year I worked at a high-end sweets shop. Everything is top-notch as advertised, it was what people were willing to do for it that scared me. Chocolate covered strawberries? $50 per box of four. We couldn't keep them in stock, and more than a few sweaty husbands begged us to make more and throw them in any container we had.
One guy walking in on Valentine's morning offered to pay us double, even without the fancy romantic packaging (we didn't take it). We had also sold a big embroidered heart-shaped box for nearly $100. One guy asked us how much it cost, left, and came back later with his friend. He'd asked him for a loan. To buy V-Day chocolates. Relationships are wild.
Abrupt Ending
One of my friends is a server at a fancy restaurant in my city. He said that on one Valentine's Day, he walked by a table and heard the boyfriend say, "Well, once again, I'm sorry to disappoint" in a really nasty tone. Things got real awkward and quiet for another 20 minutes, then the couple got their check and quickly walked out.
Trying To Impress
We had a reservation for a kid’s birthday party on the bus (our restaurant has an old-school bus fitted with retro tables). A preteen couple comes in and the guy gets mad because we told him we couldn’t seat them on the bus due to the reservation. He tried to force his way up after being told repeatedly no. Pretty sure he was trying to impress his date, who watched this all unfold and looked completely mortified.
This One Is Sad...
My friends and I met up at this big food court to hang out. One of my pals got there an hour early and saw this one dude with a bouquet and a giant teddy bear. Almost five hours later we came back to the food court for lunch and the guy was still there with no date. He left shortly after and we watched him make a call, throw the flowers at the ground, pick them back up, and leave.
One Man’s Trash...
A few years ago my family and I bought some ice cream and when we went to throw the wrappers in a garbage can on the street, we found a perfectly intact and nice bouquet inside. We got the bouquet out, and we could tell it had been thrown out recently. There was a card but it only had the name of the florist on it. So we took it with us.
We had to meet with my grandma and her boyfriend right after, and they were like ''Why are you bringing us such a nice bouquet out of the blue like that?'' and we were just laughing as we just picked it up from a garbage can. We told them the story and they kept the bouquet for a week.
This One Takes The (Cheese)Cake
My wife and I went to Cheesecake Factory for lunch, in a bid to avoid the crowds. Next to us, a dude got down on one knee and proposed (yes, in a Cheesecake Factory). The waitress was filming it, people were watching, she saw the ring and started crying, he smiled, and all looked good. Oh, how wrong we were. When my wife and I left 20 minutes later, she was still crying, covering her face, and he wasn’t smiling anymore.
I couldn’t hear well enough to know what they were talking about, but they kept speaking in low voices. Didn’t look good.
Forget Me Not
I walked into a grocery store which was pretty packed with frantic-looking Valentine’s Day shoppers. I walked in at the same time as another man with a confused look on his face and I heard him say out loud to himself, “Man, the store is pretty packed for a Friday evening.” Then, we both turn the corner and are met with all of the last minute flower arrangements and Valentine’s cards layout.
I see the man completely freeze and again out loud, he says “Oh.. no... no no no! Today is Valentine’s Day? Oh no!” As he quickly runs to the chocolate section, joining the rest of the panic-stricken dudes with the same looks on their faces. Hope those dudes are all still alive this morning.
Location Revealed
I worked a 14-hour shift then wanted to meet up with my boyfriend afterwards to give him his Valentine’s Day gift. He gave me an address and when I showed up, my jaw dropped. I realized it’s a sleazy club (he did not tell me what it was and only gave me an address that I used to call an Uber). So I went inside, balloons and gift in-hand, I found him, dropped off his gift and Uber’d back home alone.
Bad News And Good News
I had a man who was verbally inappropriate at his wife at my table, and I don’t mean talking over her and being rude. I mean saying things like, “What do you think you’re doing you stupid bimbo?” and, “I’ll give you $36,000 to get out of here right now you piece of slime.” I had four different tables complain about them and we eventually asked them to leave.
I’ve never seen anything like it before, at one point the guy went to the restroom and I went up to the wife and asked if I could help in any way and if she was alright. I’ve never wanted to assault someone in my life more than that piece of garbage. We also had something really good happen when our chef and her girlfriend got engaged at the end of the night! It kind of balanced it out.
“Utter Madness”
I ran the front desk to a hotel solo one Valentine’s Day. It was utter madness. We sold out with reservations, and there was a solid stream of locals coming in expecting to get rooms and then arguments with their disappointed dates when they were informed that we were booked solid. There were complaints from travellers just passing through and an older couple staying for a sports event about "loud amorous noises" emanating from rooms near theirs.
The phones were ringing off the hook from people looking to book Jacuzzi rooms when everyone in the city had been reserved in advance. There was a ridiculously inebriated guy getting dropped off in a taxi expecting to get a room after we'd sold out. He was irate and yelling, "What am I supposed to do now? Go sleep in the streets?"
Someone thought it would be a great idea to dump a trail of glitter and rose petals down an entire hallway leading to their room. And this was just the 3-11 p.m. shift. R.I.P. third shift and the morning housekeepers.
Table Service
When I was a server/bartender we had a frequent escort come to our restaurant. It was pretty obvious she was an escort as this restaurant was in a wealthy neighborhood and she would be with a different man every time. Once when I served her she said to me I'd make good money if I joined her company. So on Valentine's Day, she came in…
She was wearing big, gold hoop earrings, chest hanging out of a floral dress and fake designer bag. She sat down with an elderly man who I figured was married because he was wearing a wedding band. Anyway, long story short she was doing something inappropriate to the man under the table. The manager kicked her out and she never came back
McLove
I was in McDonald’s and I see two people at a table having a Valentine’s Day date with a red tablecloth and candles with fancy napkins and their order number card on the table. Honestly, props to them. Looked fun.
Recipe For Disaster
One man, one very angry woman, one very full glass of merlot, and one impeccably white button-up shirt. You can guess what happened.
Nothing Special
Had a woman come into a fine dining restaurant and tell me she was allergic to allium (garlic, shallots, etc), processed sugar, gluten, and salt. It's a four-course prix fixe menu for $150/person. Her partner had an excellent meal and such a wonderful experience. She essentially had crispy rice, steamed broccoli and cauliflower, pepper rubbed Arctic char, and skipped dessert. She did not have a wonderful experience.
I would have felt bad for her, but we go out of our way to give them the menu ahead of time, call to confirm that you're okay with the reservation and menu, and approve that the $150 price was legit. But she just kept throwing a stink because she must have expected us to create an entirely new menu just for her and it should have been just as amazing as the other food our 250 guests were eating. In the end, I charged her full price and got that 20% tip.
A note for those who don't restaurant often: Don't assume you're special on a holiday where everyone thinks they're special. You're not that special.
Faking It
I was at a fast-food place alone on Valentine's Day because I'm a lonely guy. The dude in front of me straight up asked the cashier if the cook could make the best looking burger possible because he forgot he was cooking for his wife and wanted to pass it off at home as though he made it for a romantic dinner. Oh, buddy.
Skin Deep
We're in the last hour of service, but we've about emptied out. A couple sat at the bar for about 30 minutes before ordering potato skins two minutes before closing and then asked me to remake them twice. They gave me some dirty looks when I put all my 'go home' stuff near them, so I said, "I'm not sure if anyone told you, but it's my Valentine's day too".
Phone Fail
A guy and girl come in. They order food and everything seems all good, then the girl leaves her phone and goes to the bathroom. The guy picks up her phone and starts snooping and the girl comes back and catches him red-handed. She is understandably angry and asks for their food to go. When she gets it she socks him in the chest and leaves. He paid for everything and quietly left immediately after.
Love Requires Patience
I work at a pizza place, where we served heart-shaped pizzas for Valentine’s Day. They took twice as long to put in a pan, and nobody was allowed to order ahead of time. Online orders weren’t going through properly so we had some customers waiting for their pizza for a solid 40-50 minutes. Short-staffed on delivery drivers as well. Overall pretty stressful.
A Waiting Game
A group sitting at a table next to mine had an absolute meltdown because their food took too long to arrive. Most of them just left and the last few asked if they could just box it up and leave when the food arrived. They got it all on the house.
Breaking The Silence
I was working in an extremely quiet, high end bar a couple of years ago, one couple was sitting in a corner booth having a screaming argument. Very, very awkward.
Don’t Make Eye Contact
I've seen too many Valentine’s Day couples who spend 99% of the time looking at their phones. So sad. So lonely.
Take The Good With Bad
I work at a small local Mexican restaurant. I can't think of any disaster that happened at work for Valentine’s Day, but my girlfriend did dump me before I left for work. Then a girl from one of my tables left her number so the universe is looking out for me.
Love Hurts
Worst Valentine's Day I ever saw? Easy. I once witnessed a full-blown divorce discussion, in which the woman left and the man finished the last three courses of their tasting menu when she waited for a taxi in our lounge.
Valentine’s Lost
My mom has been a waitress for more than 25 years and has worked her fair share of Valentine's Days. She says she's sen a lot of sad stuff, but it's the worst when little old men or women come in and eat alone because their husband or wife had passed recently and they just sit there and cry. My mom will sit down with them and give them hugs.
What’s The Problem?
I had a brief stint as a waiter in high school. This one couple looks very sweet and loving, with no apparent problems. The girl got down on her knee and asked him to marry her. The man's response was chilling. He started laughing hysterically and explained to her that proposing is a man's job, not a woman's. She was furious.
She started screaming about how inappropriate that was, then got her stuff and stormed out. He looked completely bewildered.
Misunderstandings
Her: Man, this is a great steak!
Him: Did you say this is a great date?
Her: ....no