Top Stories

People Share The Worst Bulls*** They Ever Had To Handle At Work

Why do I have to put up with this crap?

Some jobs are just not worth the stress. Yes we all need money to survive and thrive but there can be ways to achieve that goal that will not leave you mentally baron. How many of us have looked around the office or state of work we are in and thought.... "Now this is too much?"

Redditor u/gottalovecarina wanted everyone to do some venting about their jobs by asking.... What BS are you dealing with at work right now?


Do I Live Here....

Giphy

Being scheduled on basically every day I was supposed to have off.

PIZZAspartan442

I'm not even supposed to be here today!

viplisson

Such Fashion....

Lately whenever the mother of one of my students pisses off the father (they divorced >4 months ago) he will send all three of their kids in mismatched clothes with shirts that have some variation of "I love my Dad" or "Daddy's kid."

I have not seen the same shirt twice and believe mom throws the shirts out and dad just keeps buying more.

aoacyra

Is This Normal?

"Do this task. What do you need?

- I need 30 computers and 20 USB3 flash drives.

- Here's 15 computers and 7 USB2 flash drives.

- What? I need 30, where's the other 15? And these flash drives won't do, the system won't even work with those.

- Budget cuts, sorry."

Later...

"How's this task going along?

- Everything is set to go, but as is it won't fulfill the task.

- What's keeping you from doing the task?

- I need 15 more computers and 20 USB3 flash drives.

- Ok, we'll order more ASAP, they'll be here in two years. Make sure everything's running by September though."

Are things like this everywhere or is it just at my job?

Prophet086

I'll get back to you....

I have a vendor who gives me the same answer every day that I email him: "Let me check and get back to you."

His shipment has slipped by over two months at this point and it's driving me nuts.

He's doing the same thing to other people in my office on other projects. He's on a quick list to be blacklisted, but unfortunately, the clients love his stuff.

Edit: Furniture, he sells furniture. Why does everyone think it's drugs?

SalemScout

Final Notice....

Giphy

I handed in my notice at work and my boss suddenly stopped talking to me. LOL...

OSB2018

Ha. I handed in mine because they treat me like a punching bag and now they are being nice and chill about everything like they are my best friend.

Should have just been that way to begin with you idiots!

MechMeister

This other Woman?

A third party keeps insisting that an individual worked for my company. They did not. We have searched everywhere. We have punched in every variation of their name, birthday, social security number into our system. Dude didn't work here, and "Well this other woman says he did" isn't an argument.

ETA: As much as I appreciate all the replies, this is not my first rodeo as an attorney, and I wouldn't be complaining if this had a simple fix like "tell them to f--- off" or "stop replying."

SaltySolicitor

Oh the Journeymen....

I manage all the tools, parts, and materials for a small electrical company. We have a ton of little fittings, couplings, and such that are very small and have multiple parts. We recently let one of our journeymen go, and I'm in the process of clearing out his van. Turns out he was hoarding tens of thousands of fittings in his van, all mixed together with absolutely no organization.

To top it off, at least 60% of them were completely disassembled before being just chucked in to drawers, boxes, and bags along with mixed bolts, nuts, fasteners, etc, so it is now my job to take these collections of assorted hardware and dump them out, separate them, and reassemble as many as I can before restocking them in my already overflowing shop.

tonderthrowaway

Nobody Likes You....

It's my boss' birthday, not a lot of folks respect her. I'm new to the department and was asked by Don to collect money on Friday to get her flowers. He was going to bake a cake and bring it in. He was sick yesterday so didn't come to work. I collected a measly 19$ from others, awkward af because no one even likes her, topped it up with my own 10 to get a decent bunch of flowers, bought yesterday evening and brought in this AM.

Don is in and says "I couldn't find the money you collected, do you have it" I said "I used it yesterday to buy the flowers, wasn't that the plan?" He replies with an attitudey "well no..." I ask why it matters and he says. Well I couldn't bake the cake because I was sick so I don't know what we're going to do now if the money's used up, we can't get a cake now"
Another girl nicely chimes in that she will run out and grab a cake and don't worry Don it's all fine. Don's a snippy guy so I don't bother asking him how I was to know he's too ridiculous to go get a cake himself.

Others are running around asking me if I've seen the money because apparently Don's making it well known that I was supposed to collect money but no one has seen the envelope (obviously, I took it yesterday), then I have to explain that I used all the money so I look stupid. Keep throwing in that I was doing exactly as was asked of me but Jesus Don would it kill you to communicate your change of plans to people???

funplans20

Understaffed....

Bar manager and 20% of the staff quit. Owner hasn't hired anyone. It's been 3 months. No one can take unexpected days off or call in sick and inventory is at an all time low. (Except the kegs. So. Many. Kegs.) We keep running out of everything. I (and others) have offered to help over the summer and nothing has come of it.

The restaurant is expanding and we need more employees but my boss is too focused on having us dust (during construction), replacing glassware with crystal, and setting up public accessible training courses to bother with actual management. Oh, and communication is non existent, so I regularly show up to work and have no idea where stuff is or what the new procedures are.

rTheWorst

The Good ole CC....

Giphy

I work with a woman who cc's her boss on all emails. Her boss follows up on all of the emails 5-10 minutes later. They looks like this:

Woman: "Hey Ganglebot, we're starting this new thing so can you send us X, Y and Z when you have a chance - thanks!"

Her boss, 5 min later: "Ganglebot, as per [woman's] initial request, we need these things to move forward. In our previous meeting on May 4th, at 2pm you indicated you could send these to us. I ask you to please send these along ASAP as our initiative depends on good information. Please confirm receipt and indicate when we can expect these documents."

Ganglebot

The Goodbye Girl....

Girlfriend took the time off in advance to see a best friend she hasn't seen in two years for literally one day. Work is currently telling her that they're scheduling a mandatory employee meeting everyone needs to go to or else you get fired. Keep in mind there is barely anything important that ever gets announced at these.

Raichu4u

Next Paycheck...

I was offered a job at another location. I told my boss about it and my current company offered me a raise to stay. I took it. It's been 2 months and I haven't seen the raise in my paycheck yet.

UPDATE: I emailed my boss and asked for an update. They assumed I understood that the raise would begin at our new fiscal year which starts July 1. So it will be in my next paycheck.

SouthernGirl2016

Damn Jeff....

Giphy

Jeff cuts his fingernails every damn day in his office. How do they grow so fast? Is he a werewolf?

Also, he scrapes every last tiny damn bit out of his yogurt container. It's so loud and he does it for like 3 minutes straight.

Costner_Facts

As Time Goes By....

Boss doesn't understand how time works.

HumanoidRobot

I had a boss once come to me and say, "Stop what you're doing, nothing else matters. Focus 100% of your time on this." So I did.

The next week he comes to me again and says the same thing. Literally word for word. I remind him that I'm not finished the super important thing from last week and he says it doesn't matter, the new thing is important, put 100% of my time on it.

The following week he comes to me and asks me if I finished the first task. No, I say, I stopped working on it to work on the new task. But, he says, I told you to work on it 100%.

I said, "You want me to work 100% on task A, AND 100% on task B?"

Yes. Yes he did. Not 50/50. 100/100. He didn't understand time.

shaidyn

The Target. 

I wasn't able to hit the target goal for the cancer screening program I work for this year. Basically my head office asked me to increase the number of people we screen for breast cancer this past year. I agreed to the increased goal but they then didn't increase my budget enough to actually cover it.

So come the end of our fiscal year and I'm having to explain to them over and over why it happened. And my boss JUST called to ask if I can increase my goal more for next year with no additional funds. The Peter principle alive and well.

Col_Walter_Tits

Such a Bot....

Two of my co-workers were promoted out of the department and no one was hired to replace them, leaving me to do the work of three people (minimum). Upon expressing that my own hours weren't enough time to get the work done - even with overtime, I was told, "You have to get it done. If you can't get it done it means we'll have to find someone else who will."

Robot. What you're looking for is a robot willing to work 24/7 for a barely living wage. Got it. Glad to know the company values my mental health.

FuzzyElf47

MARIAH KNOWS!!

Giphy

I do sound for cover band at a hotel that feels like they're better than or at least equal to an act that sells out stadiums. Every night I deal with 5 60+ year old musicians with expectations that would make Mariah Carey say that's too darn much.

Auditor93

Demo...

Client had a full 10 months to review a demo site that we had up. They made a couple of nitpicks and claimed they were happy with it. The site went into staging a few weeks ago and they immediately came up with a list of 50+ issues with it and demand it be fixed or they won't renew the contract.

Yserbius

Are you Busy?

Sharing an office with OSHA specialist. He has literally nothing to do,each morning he fills up the three band aid dispensers that we have and then stares out the window or sits in front of a blank computer screen all day and keeps damn clicking with his pen and annoying the crap out off me.

Meanwhile I have so much stuff to do shits falling off my table, have tons of emails, people constantly asking for help and he then he leans over the monitor and comments "busy today eh?" I swear to god I hear one more pen click or stupid comment we will have our very first work accident and there will be no one to claim it to.

saban45

What's in a Name?

Giphy

Assistant forwarded me a call from a friend/colleague of mine. She got one syllable of my friend's name wrong which wasn't a big deal. The friend and I are working on a big deal so she's called multiple times since then. My assistant has got her name wrong every time and despite me correcting her each time, the corruptions are getting further from the mark.

Happened again yesterday, the worst butchering of the name yet. I wanted to yell at her, but I took a breath and I said "her name is XX. When you consistently say her name wrong it sounds like you're insulting her. I know you're not trying to insult her but she is a personal friend and she brings us a lot of business so please do try to get it right."

I don't think I could have handled that better, but she flipped out at me, then told a bunch of the other staff about what a fool I am. Ugh.

asoiahats

Money

budget issues.

we as a management team just waived our annual increase to make sure there was enough for all of our employees.

as we're giving them their annual reviews, raises and new salary info, they don't know we're not getting anything this year.

Akummu

Chill Out

An inbox full of emails followed by text messages asking if I got the email 2 minutes after it was sent followed by a phone call asking if I got the text message just as the text message notification pops up. The phone call then covers all the information from the email and the text message.

Calm. the. hell. down.

YerMomsASherpa

Musical Employees

smh GIFGiphy

Management is to cheap to pay for another worker so the responsibility is passed to a different person every night. It goes against the policy and procedures of the place but they don't care.

daibz

5 Days 

The sole developer of an application that electrical engineers for some of the biggest companies (Apple, Samsung, Toshiba, etc.) around the world rely on is on a month long adventure in Africa. I am currently the only person maintaining the application and I was given access to the repository just 5 days before the creator became unavailable.

doge_code

Real Issues

My gluten allergy did me dirty. Boss just told me that she's actually going to take the time I spent in my bathroom out of my paycheck. Thank god this is my last week.

Edit: wow guys thank you for all the support! I'm so glad people actually care about issues like these because it's a real problem.

blairwitchreject

A friend of mine just got a settlement of $13,000 for being fired over a health related issue, which they were aware of when she was hired. It's nice change.

BeadleBelfry

Problems in the Stars

bbc two space GIF by BBCGiphy

Astronomer here! I submitted my PhD (yay!) and it turns out part of the process in the country where this is happening (The Netherlands) is I have to pay to get over a hundred copies of my thesis. The department actually recommends 200-300, because "you'll want to give one to everyone in the department, and send them to luminaries in your field, and just save them in case someone wants one in the future..."

Meanwhile everyone not from the Netherlands will stare at you funny if you say this and say they maybe printed out one copy for their parents and another for their adviser because, you know, we have the internet now. Which I 100% agree with; this mainly seems like a great way to kill trees. Unfortunately for the trees though I've realized getting your doctorate is a "their ball, their bat, their rules" situation, and 400 years of tradition doesn't budge easily, so I'm just gonna have to print the damn things. Sooooo stupid!

Andromeda321

What's Up Doc?

I work in a state psychiatric hospital.

The "Doctors" are incompetent and just view it as a puff job to settle into. We treat the patients like crap. We don't treat them, we just feed them drugs. The admin is more concerned with keeping the crappy decision makers happy than actually trying to do what the institution is tasked to do.

And i got in trouble for asking the dietary director "why do you make 200 servings of potatoes for 75 patients".

majikmyk

Where's Mine?

I have own personal sales targets and my branch has an overall target to hit.

My yearly sales target is around £1.2m and with less than a month to go I am currently at £1.8m but the branch fell short 800k.

Everytime in my branch's sales team hit their personal targets too, the branch heavily relies on other sectors sales for specific products for the remainder.

So due to other areas of the company not pulling their weight, my team now look like we're not doing our jobs and are getting crap from HO even though the figures are there in black and white.

Overall this means that there is no 20% payrise and I'll have to keep scraping the barrel for another year just to keep living.

Mac_redbaron

The First 38...

Got a 4th job to help manage bills, save up and pay off some debt. Job pays very well and hourly too, consisting of writing on a topic I'm very passionate about and love to discuss with people and share knowledge on. I already have plenty written for my own personal use and this company basically wants to license me to use it and have me write more.

First 38 hours of work is creating hyperlinks in my sources. Copy article name, paste into Google, click PubMed link, find full-text article or copy DOI into SciHub, copy link, paste into source, copy article name, create hyperlink. Rinse and repeat, for 38 freaking hours.

Not what I imagined myself doing.

Cannibeans

The Voice

mimi faust tone GIF by VH1Giphy

Accidentally mentioned to my boss that my relationship was ending. He just asked me about it in front of my coworkers, and I got a stern talking to for the tone of voice I used when I told him I'd prefer not to talk about it.

MynameisPOG

Want to "know" more? Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again. Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.

REDDIT

People Reveal The Weirdest Thing About Themselves

Reddit user Isitjustmedownhere asked: 'Give an example; how weird are you really?'

Let's get one thing straight: no one is normal. We're all weird in our own ways, and that is actually normal.

Of course, that doesn't mean we don't all have that one strange trait or quirk that outweighs all the other weirdness we possess.

For me, it's the fact that I'm almost 30 years old, and I still have an imaginary friend. Her name is Sarah, she has red hair and green eyes, and I strongly believe that, since I lived in India when I created her and there were no actual people with red hair around, she was based on Daphne Blake from Scooby-Doo.

I also didn't know the name Sarah when I created her, so that came later. I know she's not really there, hence the term 'imaginary friend,' but she's kind of always been around. We all have conversations in our heads; mine are with Sarah. She keeps me on task and efficient.

My mom thinks I'm crazy that I still have an imaginary friend, and writing about her like this makes me think I may actually be crazy, but I don't mind. As I said, we're all weird, and we all have that one trait that outweighs all the other weirdness.

Redditors know this all too well and are eager to share their weird traits.

It all started when Redditor Isitjustmedownhere asked:

"Give an example; how weird are you really?"

Monsters Under My Bed

"My bed doesn't touch any wall."

"Edit: I guess i should clarify im not rich."

– Practical_Eye_3600

"Gosh the monsters can get you from any angle then."

– bikergirlr7

"At first I thought this was a flex on how big your bedroom is, but then I realized you're just a psycho 😁"

– zenOFiniquity8

Can You See Why?

"I bought one of those super-powerful fans to dry a basement carpet. Afterwards, I realized that it can point straight up and that it would be amazing to use on myself post-shower. Now I squeegee my body with my hands, step out of the shower and get blasted by a wide jet of room-temp air. I barely use my towel at all. Wife thinks I'm weird."

– KingBooRadley

Remember

"In 1990 when I was 8 years old and bored on a field trip, I saw a black Oldsmobile Cutlass driving down the street on a hot day to where you could see that mirage like distortion from the heat on the road. I took a “snapshot” by blinking my eyes and told myself “I wonder how long I can remember this image” ….well."

– AquamarineCheetah

"Even before smartphones, I always take "snapshots" by blinking my eyes hoping I'll remember every detail so I can draw it when I get home. Unfortunately, I may have taken so much snapshots that I can no longer remember every detail I want to draw."

"Makes me think my "memory is full.""

– Reasonable-Pirate902

Same, Same

"I have eaten the same lunch every day for the past 4 years and I'm not bored yet."

– OhhGoood

"How f**king big was this lunch when you started?"

– notmyrealnam3

Not Sure Who Was Weirder

"Had a line cook that worked for us for 6 months never said much. My sous chef once told him with no context, "Baw wit da baw daw bang daw bang diggy diggy." The guy smiled, left, and never came back."

– Frostygrunt

Imagination

"I pace around my house for hours listening to music imagining that I have done all the things I simply lack the brain capacity to do, or in some really bizarre scenarios, I can really get immersed in these imaginations sometimes I don't know if this is some form of schizophrenia or what."

– RandomSharinganUser

"I do the same exact thing, sometimes for hours. When I was young it would be a ridiculous amount of time and many years later it’s sort of trickled off into almost nothing (almost). It’s weird but I just thought it’s how my brain processes sh*t."

– Kolkeia

If Only

"Even as an adult I still think that if you are in a car that goes over a cliff; and right as you are about to hit the ground if you jump up you can avoid the damage and will land safely. I know I'm wrong. You shut up. I'm not crying."

– ShotCompetition2593

Pet Food

"As a kid I would snack on my dog's Milkbones."

– drummerskillit

"Haha, I have a clear memory of myself doing this as well. I was around 3 y/o. Needless to say no one was supervising me."

– Isitjustmedownhere

"When I was younger, one of my responsibilities was to feed the pet fish every day. Instead, I would hide under the futon in the spare bedroom and eat the fish food."

– -GateKeep-

My Favorite Subject

"I'm autistic and have always had a thing for insects. My neurotypical best friend and I used to hang out at this local bar to talk to girls, back in the late 90s. One time he claimed that my tendency to circle conversations back to insects was hurting my game. The next time we went to that bar (with a few other friends), he turned and said sternly "No talking about bugs. Or space, or statistics or other bullsh*t but mainly no bugs." I felt like he was losing his mind over nothing."

"It was summer, the bar had its windows open. Our group hit it off with a group of young ladies, We were all chatting and having a good time. I was talking to one of these girls, my buddy was behind her facing away from me talking to a few other people."

"A cloudless sulphur flies in and lands on little thing that holds coasters."

"Cue Jordan Peele sweating gif."

"The girl notices my tension, and asks if I am looking at the leaf. "Actually, that's a lepidoptera called..." I looked at the back of my friend's head, he wasn't looking, "I mean a butterfly..." I poked it and it spread its wings the girl says "oh that's a BUG?!" and I still remember my friend turning around slowly to look at me with chastisement. The ONE thing he told me not to do."

"I was 21, and was completely not aware that I already had a rep for being an oddball. It got worse from there."

– Phormicidae

*Teeth Chatter*

"I bite ice cream sometimes."

RedditbOiiiiiiiiii

"That's how I am with popsicles. My wife shudders every single time."

monobarreller

Never Speak Of This

"I put ice in my milk."

– GTFOakaFOD

"You should keep that kind of thing to yourself. Even when asked."

– We-R-Doomed

"There's some disturbing sh*t in this thread, but this one takes the cake."

– RatonaMuffin

More Than Super Hearing

"I can hear the television while it's on mute."

– Tira13e

"What does it say to you, child?"

– Mama_Skip

Yikes!

"I put mustard on my omelettes."

– Deleted User

"Oh."

– NotCrustOr-filling

Evened Up

"Whenever I say a word and feel like I used a half of my mouth more than the other half, I have to even it out by saying the word again using the other half of my mouth more. If I don't do it correctly, that can go on forever until I feel it's ok."

"I do it silently so I don't creep people out."

– LesPaltaX

"That sounds like a symptom of OCD (I have it myself). Some people with OCD feel like certain actions have to be balanced (like counting or making sure physical movements are even). You should find a therapist who specializes in OCD, because they can help you."

– MoonlightKayla

I totally have the same need for things to be balanced! Guess I'm weird and a little OCD!

Close up face of a woman in bed, staring into the camera
Photo by Jen Theodore

Experiencing death is a fascinating and frightening idea.

Who doesn't want to know what is waiting for us on the other side?

But so many of us want to know and then come back and live a little longer.

It would be so great to be sure there is something else.

But the whole dying part is not that great, so we'll have to rely on other people's accounts.

Redditor AlaskaStiletto wanted to hear from everyone who has returned to life, so they asked:

"Redditors who have 'died' and come back to life, what did you see?"

Sensations

Happy Good Vibes GIF by Major League SoccerGiphy

"My dad's heart stopped when he had a heart attack and he had to be brought back to life. He kept the paper copy of the heart monitor which shows he flatlined. He said he felt an overwhelming sensation of peace, like nothing he had felt before."

PeachesnPain

Recovery

"I had surgical complications in 2010 that caused a great deal of blood loss. As a result, I had extremely low blood pressure and could barely stay awake. I remember feeling like I was surrounded by loved ones who had passed. They were in a circle around me and I knew they were there to guide me onwards. I told them I was not ready to go because my kids needed me and I came back."

"My nurse later said she was afraid she’d find me dead every time she came into the room."

"It took months, and blood transfusions, but I recovered."

good_golly99

Take Me Back

"Overwhelming peace and happiness. A bright airy and floating feeling. I live a very stressful life. Imagine finding out the person you have had a crush on reveals they have the same feelings for you and then you win the lotto later that day - that was the feeling I had."

"I never feared death afterward and am relieved when I hear of people dying after suffering from an illness."

rayrayrayray

Free

The Light Minnie GIF by (G)I-DLEGiphy

"I had a heart surgery with near-death experience, for me at least (well the possibility that those effects are caused by morphine is also there) I just saw black and nothing else but it was warm and I had such inner peace, its weird as I sometimes still think about it and wish this feeling of being so light and free again."

TooReDTooHigh

This is why I hate surgery.

You just never know.

Shocked

Giphy

"More of a near-death experience. I was electrocuted. I felt like I was in a deep hole looking straight up in the sky. My life flashed before me. Felt sad for my family, but I had a deep sense of peace."

Admirable_Buyer6528

The SOB

"Nursing in the ICU, we’ve had people try to die on us many times during the years, some successfully. One guy stood out to me. His heart stopped. We called a code, are working on him, and suddenly he comes to. We hadn’t vented him yet, so he was able to talk, and he started screaming, 'Don’t let them take me, don’t let them take me, they are coming,' he was scared and yelling."

"Then he yelled a little more, as we tried to calm him down, he screamed, 'No, No,' and gestured towards the end of the bed, and died again. We didn’t get him back. It was seriously creepy. We called his son to tell him the news, and the son said basically, 'Good, he was an SOB.'”

1-cupcake-at-a-time

Colors

"My sister died and said it was extremely peaceful. She said it was very loud like a train station and lots of talking and she was stuck in this area that was like a curtain with lots of beautiful colors (colors that you don’t see in real life according to her) a man told her 'He was sorry, but she had to go back as it wasn’t her time.'"

Hannah_LL7

"I had a really similar experience except I was in an endless garden with flowers that were colors I had never seen before. It was quiet and peaceful and a woman in a dress looked at me, shook her head, and just said 'Not yet.' As I was coming back, it was extremely loud, like everyone in the world was trying to talk all at once. It was all very disorienting but it changed my perspective on life!"

huntokarrr

The Fog

"I was in a gray fog with a girl who looked a lot like a young version of my grandmother (who was still alive) but dressed like a pioneer in the 1800s she didn't say anything but kept pulling me towards an opening in the wall. I kept refusing to go because I was so tired."

"I finally got tired of her nagging and went and that's when I came to. I had bled out during a c-section and my heart could not beat without blood. They had to deliver the baby and sew up the bleeders. refill me with blood before they could restart my heart so, like, at least 12 minutes gone."

Fluffy-Hotel-5184

Through the Walls

"My spouse was dead for a couple of minutes one miserable night. She maintains that she saw nothing, but only heard people talking about her like through a wall. The only thing she remembers for absolute certain was begging an ER nurse that she didn't want to die."

"She's quite alive and well today."

Hot-Refrigerator6583

Well let's all be happy to be alive.

It seems to be all we have.

Man's waist line
Santhosh Vaithiyanathan/Unsplash

Trying to lose weight is a struggle understood by many people regardless of size.

The goal of reaching a healthy weight may seem unattainable, but with diet and exercise, it can pay off through persistence and discipline.

Seeing the pounds gradually drop off can also be a great motivator and incentivize people to stay the course.

Those who've achieved their respective weight goals shared their experiences when Redditor apprenti8455 asked:

"People who lost a lot of weight, what surprises you the most now?"

Redditors didn't see these coming.

Shiver Me Timbers

"I’m always cold now!"

– Telrom_1

"I had a coworker lose over 130 pounds five or six years ago. I’ve never seen him without a jacket on since."

– r7ndom

"140 lbs lost here starting just before COVID, I feel like that little old lady that's always cold, damn this top comment was on point lmao."

– mr_remy

Drawing Concern

"I lost 100 pounds over a year and a half but since I’m old(70’s) it seems few people comment on it because (I think) they think I’m wasting away from some terminal illness."

– dee-fondy

"Congrats on the weight loss! It’s honestly a real accomplishment 🙂"

"Working in oncology, I can never comment on someone’s weight loss unless I specifically know it was on purpose, regardless of their age. I think it kind of ruffles feathers at times, but like I don’t want to congratulate someone for having cancer or something. It’s a weird place to be in."

– LizardofDeath

Unleashing Insults

"I remember when I lost the first big chunk of weight (around 50 lbs) it was like it gave some people license to talk sh*t about the 'old' me. Old coworkers, friends, made a lot of not just negative, but harsh comments about what I used to look like. One person I met after the big loss saw a picture of me prior and said, 'Wow, we wouldn’t even be friends!'”

"It wasn’t extremely common, but I was a little alarmed by some of the attention. My weight has been up and down since then, but every time I gain a little it gets me a little down thinking about those things people said."

– alanamablamaspama

Not Everything Goes After Losing Weight

"The loose skin is a bit unexpected."

– KeltarCentauri

"I haven’t experienced it myself, but surgery to remove skin takes a long time to recover. Longer than bariatric surgery and usually isn’t covered by insurance unless you have both."

– KatMagic1977

"It definitely does take a long time to recover. My Dad dropped a little over 200 pounds a few years back and decided to go through with skin removal surgery to deal with the excess. His procedure was extensive, as in he had skin taken from just about every part of his body excluding his head, and he went through hell for weeks in recovery, and he was bedridden for a lot of it."

– Jaew96

These Redditors shared their pleasantly surprising experiences.

Shopping

"I can buy clothes in any store I want."

– WaySavvyD

"When I lost weight I was dying to go find cute, smaller clothes and I really struggled. As someone who had always been restricted to one or two stores that catered to plus-sized clothing, a full mall of shops with items in my size was daunting. Too many options and not enough knowledge of brands that were good vs cheap. I usually went home pretty frustrated."

– ganache98012

No More Symptoms

"Lost about 80 pounds in the past year and a half, biggest thing that I’ve noticed that I haven’t seen mentioned on here yet is my acid reflux and heartburn are basically gone. I used to be popping tums every couple hours and now they just sit in the medicine cabinet collecting dust."

– colleennicole93

Expanding Capabilities

"I'm all for not judging people by their appearance and I recognise that there are unhealthy, unachievable beauty standards, but one thing that is undeniable is that I can just do stuff now. Just stamina and flexibility alone are worth it, appearance is tertiary at best."

– Ramblonius

People Change Their Tune

"How much nicer people are to you."

"My feet weren't 'wide' they were 'fat.'"

– LiZZygsu

"Have to agree. Lost 220 lbs, people make eye contact and hold open doors and stuff"

"And on the foot thing, I also lost a full shoe size numerically and also wear regular width now 😅"

– awholedamngarden

It's gonna take some getting used to.

Bones Everywhere

"Having bones. Collarbones, wrist bones, knee bones, hip bones, ribs. I have so many bones sticking out everywhere and it’s weird as hell."

– Princess-Pancake-97

"I noticed the shadow of my ribs the other day and it threw me, there’s a whole skeleton in here."

– bekastrange

Knee Pillow

"Right?! And they’re so … pointy! Now I get why people sleep with pillows between their legs - the knee bones laying on top of each other (side sleeper here) is weird and jarring."

– snic2030

"I lost only 40 pounds within the last year or so. I’m struggling to relate to most of these comments as I feel like I just 'slimmed down' rather than dropped a ton. But wow, the pillow between the knees at night. YES! I can relate to this. I think a lot of my weight was in my thighs. I never needed to do this up until recently."

– Strongbad23

More Mobility

"I’ve lost 100 lbs since 2020. It’s a collection of little things that surprise me. For at least 10 years I couldn’t put on socks, or tie my shoes. I couldn’t bend over and pick something up. I couldn’t climb a ladder to fix something. Simple things like that I can do now that fascinate me."

"Edit: Some additional little things are sitting in a chair with arms, sitting in a booth in a restaurant, being able to shop in a normal store AND not needing to buy the biggest size there, being able to easily wipe my butt, and looking down and being able to see my penis."

– dma1965

People making significant changes, whether for mental or physical health, can surely find a newfound perspective on life.

But they can also discover different issues they never saw coming.

That being said, overcoming any challenge in life is laudable, especially if it leads to gaining confidence and ditching insecurities.