People Who've Had A Close Encounter With A Murderer Share Their Experience
Sometimes we get proof we have guardian angels.
We throw around the word luck so flippantly. There are many moments in life fueled by luck and often we're so thrilled to experience it, we're just rejoicing. And that is perfectly fine. But life teaches us, we cannot afford to take luck or life for granted. Luck is an understatement when it comes to being unscathed by evil. True evil, walks among us and we interact with the worst of society on the daily and we never even fully comprehend how close to being snuffed out we are. We're all "almost" walking Dateline NBC episodes.
Redditor lolita-cake wanted to hear the chilling misconnections tales with life's most vile by asking who was willing to share the following...
People who had a close encounter with a murderer/serial killer, how did it go? How did you find out that person was dangerous?
****WARNING*****
Some of the following may not be suitable for younger readers. Trigger warnings below.
"holy crap, did you get the same creepy feeling from him I did?"
"A childhood friend of mine had this boyfriend that nobody liked. She ran off and eloped with him. He cheated on her a bunch and there was constant drama (my wife worked with her, and we were some of her few childhood friends still in the area so we were pretty close). Like, she'd come spend the night on our couch occasionally and stuff. An obviously unhealthy and likely abusive marriage."
"He seemed to mellow out when they had kids. At least there wasn't any more overt drama going on and we think he legitimately stopped cheating. He also got really religious. Something about this creeped my wife and me out and made us hate being around him even more than before. It's like when someone is pretending they're happy but you know it's not real."
"Like all the overt anger and drama transformed into something more subtle. On the surface he's turned over a new leaf and is becoming a better person, but it just seems off in a way we can't quite articulate. We tried to be happy for them and supportive, but once they weren't around it was like "holy crap, did you get the same creepy feeling from him I did?"
"Then one day he murdered her. Their kids were at a friend's house at the time. There was evidence that he'd been planning this for over a year. He's in prison for life now."
"We learned not to ignore any red flags or intuitive creeped-out feelings about people after this. Especially about people married to someone we care about."frumpy_teapot
Do Math not Meth....
"I was in high school with this dude who had a reputation for being very hyper and crazy. A lot of people didn't like him but he was not an outcast. For some reason he liked me, and would occasionally ask me to help him with math which I did."
"He later moved to another school and I didn't think of him much again. Until he showed up on the news for beheading a dog and carrying its head around in public. Turns out he had also held an autistic man hostage in his apartment and tortured him, all of this was done on a meth fueled rampage."asap-curry
James.
"Several years back, I used to work with a guy we'll call James. I never felt unsafe around him, but I don't think he was entirely there mentally. A few years after I quit working there, I ran into my old boss and was talking with him for a bit. Turns out, James had killed his wife, fled the scene, and barricaded himself in a barn. Police surrounded the barn, and he had no way of escaping. When police entered the barn, he pointed a gun at a officer, and the police opened fire on him, killing him. The gun he pointed at police didn't even have any bullets in it."thegreatestsnowman1
The Bully.
"This one isn't as dramatic but still kinda freaky."
"When I was in high school (uk) there was this guy who just hated me. So damn much. I don't even know why. He was the definition of roadman and just made my life hell whenever he saw me with his bullying. But whatever. He was just a bully with a stupid perm. I could deal."
"Later on in year 10 he ended up getting arrested for attempted murder."
"Wonder if killing me ever crossed his mind."colespot
The Stalker.
"When I was in high school/early uni, I had a stalker. We had briefly worked together at a restaurant and he asked me out at one point when I was fifteen and he was twenty. I turned him down and for the next six years he would pop up intermittently to harass me and my then-boyfriend. He would message me to say he was jerking off to my pictures then immediately apologize and tell me he had changed, or would message my ex to meet him somewhere so they could fight (my ex who, for the record, had never met him and did not ever go fight)."
"Last year, my stalker made the news for committing the first murder of 2019 in our city. I don't know the details, but according to the news he stabbed a friend and then fled, only to be caught soon after waiting for public transit (he was never the sharpest). My ex and I were broken up by that point and boy was that a weird way to reconnect after ~4 months of little contact. It still freaks me out to know that he was capable of murder and that it could have been me or my ex."brighteyeswhitelies
It was 1989....
"It was 1989, my dad was driving down a road late at night. He lived in Florida. As he was driving, he saw a woman on the side of the road trying to hitch hike. My dad, being kindhearted, slowed down to give her a ride."
"As he slowed down, he had a chill down his spine and had the worst feeling he ever felt. He did not pick up that woman."
"That woman was named Aileen Wournos. She killed a man on that road later in the day."
"My little brother exists today because my dad chose to not pick that woman up."Reddit
"I'm in the medical field. A few years ago I was on a forensic psychiatry rotation and went with the psychiatrist to do an assessment at the prison. There was a man there who had been convicted with undeniable evidence that he had brutally raped and murdered a woman. We were there to try to determine whether or not he qualified as a "Dangerous Offender" - in the Canadian legal system this means someone at very high risk of re-offending. In practice this meant we were trying to determine whether he qualified as "psychopathic" - meaning someone who does not experience empathy."
Probably a Psychopath.....
"So during the assessment he was friendly, extremely relaxed, casual, and even charming. When asked about specifics ofthe murder he would brush them off or just make very vague statements. At other times he would just smile or say things like "do you really think I could do something like that?" If I had just met him on the street he probably would have seemed like a very nice guy but being aware of his offense he came across as incredibly unnerving."
"TL:DR - met man who was probably a psychopath. He was charming and superficially a nice guy but somehow creepy and unsettling."OGilligan
A Little Different.
"I went to school (elementary - high school) with a guy who showed up at his sister's apartment and brutally murdered her for seemingly no reason at all. I believe he stabbed her multiple times."
"In school he was always a little "different" but was always nice. I had even hung out with him on several occasions at my house, riding dirt bikes, etc. He was in the church youth group with me. He was really into punk music and heavy metal. I think he started smoking pot and drinking towards the end of high school. But that's all fairly normal. There was nothing about him that ever came across as someone who would one day snap and murder his closest family member."
"His sister was a very sweet girl. The saddest part was that her 20 month old son was asleep in his crib in the other room."
"Pretty sure he was the one that called the police and turned himself in."ExistentialCircus
A Bad Apple...
"Many years ago I worked for a large corporation. I became friendly with a couple of the secretaries who were around my age and we would go out, have lunch, hang out on weekends occasionally. The one girl had tremendous self-confidence and was a go-getter and I really admired how unafraid she was to do anything. I wished I had only a tenth of her charisma and fearlessness."
"At least twenty-ish years go by and in that time social media, (FaceBook), became a thing and she was living a great life. She was successful at her corporate career and then changed careers and was also successful there. Got married, had children, big house, got divorced, but still seemed to be doing really well."
"One morning I'm watching the news and there's a story about a cop who was shot and killed by his (estranged) girlfriend and the guy was on his cell phone with his daughter when it happened. It was a headliner for a while however, it took a couple of days before I connected the dots and realized the woman who shot and killed her boyfriend, (the retired cop), was this girl from way back when whom I had admired and envied so much."purplesafehandle
Addiction.
"I was an addict actively using in the area the Seminole Heights Serial killer was active in. I regularly popped into the McDonalds he worked at to use their ATM or bathroom, and one time he personally (with three other female employees) yelled at me to get out of their bathroom. It was less than 5 minutes from my drug dealers house and his MO at the time was to shoot randomly into cars. I regularly waited in mine 30+ minutes to pick up. He was caught and I saw it on the news while taking my meds at my rehab, told the nurses the whole story!" Emma_Stoneddd
Twizzlers.
"There was a time when kidnappings were happening in my home country. I encountered one of the kidnappers at 6 years old, who, true to the stereotype, offered me candy. Lucky for me, the only candy that has ever and can ever entice me to be stupid is Twizzlers. Lucky for me, he only had Nerds and Starburst. I ran off and told him no thanks."
"He picked up another boy that night. He killed him. If he'd had Twizzlers, I'd have paused for at least more than the 15 seconds for him to close the distance. Would I have gone with him for a box? I don't know. Do I question my folks letting me walk home at 6? Kind of. It was 5 minutes from school and things were hard."
"I think about it all the time. That poor kid who probably liked Starburst."RealDegeneracy
Too Interested.
"It was my biological dad's 30th birthday and we decided to throw him a surprise party and invited a bunch of people from his work. My brother and I were in our room playing on the Sega Genesis because it was all adults and we just wanted to stay out of their way. While we were playing together, a dude comes in and sits on our bed to watch us play. He said his name was Danny and asked us a bunch of weird questions. "Do you take the bus to school? How old are you? What's your favorite food?" He gave us a bad vibe and just seemed off somehow."
"Like he was TOO interested in what we were doing. My mom comes in and sees him in there with us and tells us to go watch movies in her room so my brother and I say goodbye and go to her room instead. A couple months later, my parents were watching the news and Danny is on the TV. He ended up being Daniel Conohan Jr, The Hog Trail Killer. He killed over a dozen homosexual men in our area and had tortured them and left them tied to trees in the woods to die."Vaaca_Del_Muerte
In Class.
"I took a class offered by my local municipality for unemployed young adults. They taught us Digital Marketing and basic web design, and at the end of the class, they were supposed to get us jobs. ANYWAY, a few weeks after that class finished, I saw one of the best students in that class on the TV, being held by police. He had killed his 2 yo by beating her to death for crying. I couldn't believe it! He was very calm and quiet and excelled at everything we did in that class. Never crossed my mind he would do something like that."aballofunicorns
Zodiac.
"Not my own story but some family friends of ours had an experience with the zodiac killer. They were together in their car on lovers lane or whatever the spot was called where couples went to hook up. The wife got a weird feeling in her gut and begged the husband to leave. He was kind of upset because he was in town for one night from the military so this was their one night together. Finally she convinced him to leave. They told the only other couple at the spot that they were leaving because at the time the zodiac was known to be active so people kept an eye out for each other. Years later the zodiac wrote into the newspaper detailing one of his killings on lover lane."
"He described the exact car and said there were two couples left and he was going to take both out before one of the couples went up to the other and gave them a heads up before leaving. Right when they left he killed the couple that stayed. Every detail of the night from the date to the cars to the time of night matched up perfectly so they knew it was them who left just in time."jmill0420
Mum's Friend.
"Years ago I went with my Mum to visit a friend of hers. Sat bored out of my mind while they sipped their tea cups and waffled on all afternoon. The friend's rather weird adult son, quite a bit older than me was also there in the house but didn't really engage much, I barely spoke more than a few polite sentences to him."
"My parents didn't tell me till years later but he started stalking me. They would hear all sorts of sounds at night. I had no idea, just carried on as usual. Biked to school, stayed after for gymnastics, biked to the pool for swimming, etc. I'm not sure how long it lasted."
"FFWD a few years, a young girl in our town went missing after school. A week or so later they found her body dumped. You guessed it, it wound up being the son of my Mums' friend. That's when they told me what had happened. Apparently my Mum finally caught him and a word was had with his parents."MamaBear4485
The Ex.
"When I was a kid my mom was stalked by an ex who eventually killed her, his own 3-year-old daughter, and himself. I knew this guy for 1.5-2 years prior to the murders, but I remember the first time something really struck me as 'off' about him."
"I came home from school and found him in our house (he'd broken in, but I didn't know that at the time) going through things in my mom's bedroom. He was acting kind of manic, like he was ruffling through things but not actually doing anything particular and not looking or taking anything. He kept talking to me about how he thought of me as his daughter (news to me, we got along but weren't close) and blah blah emotional stuff. It was weird but he seemed volatile somehow, like he wasn't all there, so I just acted agreeable and started talking as normally as possible about the chores I needed to do before my mom got home from work and left him in the room alone. He left the house shortly after without another word."
"I told my mom about it when she got home, and she was pretty disturbed. Turns out she had just broken up with him (and taken back his key to our house) earlier that day and hadn't told me yet. We realized he had broken into the house (through the garage, iirc), and at a time when he knew I would be there alone."
"That was the beginning of nearly a year of stalking and several break-ins, eventually ending in him murdering her and his daughter before pulling the classic 'death by cop.' "SteamboatMcGee
Kyle.
"When I was a kid back in the 80's, a friend of mine and his friend up around the corner from me were offered money by a guy to go up the field with him. I can't remember the specifics as it's along time ago and I was very young, but I think he offered him money to pick blackberries."
"My friend said no but the other boy said yes and went with him. His body was found the next day - he had been stabbed to death. He was only 8 years old. I remember the months that followed every parent was super weary about leaving any of us play on the streets."
"The kids name was Kyle Curran. It happened in Waterford, Ireland."throwaway57373662
A Spree.
"This isn't an exciting story, but I used to work at an on campus hotel for a Big 12 University. When classes weren't in session, the entire building would be locked down-- only the desk clerk could let you in or out."
"We had a spree killer stay with us for almost a week. I was interviewed by the police to see if I had any information that would help them. I said he used doors like a normal person." Barflyerdammit
The Phony.
"My dad and step mom at the time allowed a guy to move in with them after he got out of prison for a non violent crime. At first, he seemed grateful to them and would help them out by doing chores or helping my dad in his shop. After being around awhile the guy seemed to like me and would flirt occasionally. He had this fake persona of a Christian trying to turn his life around and after awhile I caught on to his crap."
"After months of my parents treating him as one of their own, he left them with debts and moved out while they were at work one day. After hearing of this and other inappropriate things he said about me and our family in general, I'd had enough and took it upon myself to message him and tell him what exactly I thought and I did not mince words. Two months later, he shot a man at point blank range in the face and walked away as if nothing had happened. I still think about that from time to time and how lucky my family and I are."jadednicole
Neighbors.
"A neighbor during my childhood was convicted over a triple murder. She had been in an argument with some people about a horse she owned. My sister had had sleep-overs with her daughter up until her dogs had killed and eaten another neighbors dog. Her partner, also convicted, intimidated the family who's dog was killed and my parents banned us from going to their house. One day they didn't live there anymore and soon after the murders came to light."AussieArlenBales
These were some very close calls!
Do you have similar experiences to share? Let us know in the comments below.
People Reveal Which Non-Horror Movies Absolutely Traumatized Them As A Kid
Reddit user alina_love_ asked: 'What's a non horror movie that traumatized you as a kid?'
No matter how long ago we saw it, there are some scenes or images from movies that still send shivers down our spine or keep us awake at night to this very day.
Pennywise appearing in the sewer in It, Janet Leigh surprised in the shower in Psycho, Freddy Kreuger's tongue popping out of the telephone in A Nightmare on Elm Street.
Of course, some of the scariest, most disturbing, or most emotionally traumatizing scenes from films might have been featured in films outside of the horror genre.
Even more shockingly, some of these films were primarily marketed towards children!
Redditor alina_love was curious to hear which non-horror films the Reddit community saw as children still send shivers down their spines today, leading them to ask:
"What's a non horror movie that traumatized you as a kid?"
It Was Tim Burton, After All...
"'Pee Wee's big adventure'."
"Large Marge scared the crap out of little me."
"I was even scared of the fortune teller."- BlueStarrSilver·
With A Title Like "Temple Of Doom"...
"'Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom'."
"The scene where the guy gets his heart ripped out traumatized me for years."- Pbhf
That Funeral Scene Though...
"'My Girl'."
"Fear of death, fear of losing a friend, fear of bees, fear of puberty."- heidismiles
macaulay culkin kiss GIFGiphyJurassic Park's Got Nothing On This...
"'The Land Before Time'."
"Watching Little Foot’s mother die was awful."- HourglassSass
He'll Always Regret Not Bringing Her To The Museum...
"'Bridge to Terabithia'."- jumpstart-the-end
"Everything goes so well and it falls apart SO FAST and your left absolutely traumatized."- VortexDestroyer99
The Reason People Hold On To Their Appliances For As Long As They Do...
"The Brave Little Toaster'."- Catgurl
"The junkyard scene alone was responsible for so many nightmares."- ManChildMusician
brave little toaster animation GIF by Coolidge Corner TheatreGiphyAnd Let's Not Forget The Coachman's Smile...
"Disney’s version of 'Pinocchio'."
"The scene where kids are turned into donkeys and kept on the island and then resold was f*cking weird."
"You felt bad for that bully kid after he looked sad and nobody understood what he said because he was a donkey."- earnestlikehemingway
Few Things More Sad And Scary Than Deforestation
"'Ferngully: The Last Rainforest'."
"That evil tree scared me so bad."- slutsdotnet
Anything But "Truly Scrumptious"...
"The 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang' Childcatcher guy!"
"I'm still scared of him!"- Jet_Maypen
child GIFGiphyOffing Children One By One...In A Children's Movie!
"'Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory' boat scene."
"Honorable mention of claustrophobia when Augustus gets stuck in the chocolate tube."
"UGH!"- looseseal-bluth
At Least We Know He Had A "Sole"...
"Who Framed Roger Rabbit."
"That poor shoe….."- dalalice5555
At Least The Song Is Catchy...
"Neverending Story."
"Not even Artax, which was awful, but the Rockbiter and his good strong hands."- marxychick1
Neverending Story 80S GIFGiphyDorothy Gettying Electro Shock Therapy Says it All...
"Return to Oz."- Jeff_Steelflexx
"Horrifying! What about the animated wig heads?"- weensfordayz
The Reigning King Of Childhood Trauma
"Old Yeller."- IceTech59
"I remember watching this on TV during, I think, Wonderful World of Disney (Sunday nights were Disney night on TV)."
"Cried and cried and cried."
"I've never been able to watch it again and I've never shown it to my kids!"- crowwitch
Not All Friendships Are Tenable... A Terrifying Thought
"'The Fox and the Hound'."
"Still makes me incredibly sad, lol."- mental_reincarnation
best friends friendship GIFGiphySometimes, writers and filmmakers simply overestimate what might go over a child's head.
Or, for that matter, they might underestimate their emotional capacity.
Regardless, ask any of Fairuza Balk's fans which is scarier, Return to Oz or The Craft, and their answer will be immediate...
(... and it won't be The Craft...)
Sometimes it's fun to toy with someone.
Especially if it's an enemy or a loved one who simply deserves a good ribbing.
Some cryptic sentences can send anyone into a tailspin.
And oh the fun that can be had.
You have to be as vague as possible and as sincere.
You have to sell the sincerity. That's vital!
And then just watch them implode.
Redditor theary18 wanted to hear about the most creative ways to throw somebody off their game, so they asked:
"What is the best thing to say to someone to subtly f**k with their head?"
I love to come up behind someone and say "I can't believe they would treat you this way. I got you girl!"
Then I scurry away.
Tee-hee...
It's YOU!
For Me GIF by Liz HuettGiphy"Just tack on the phrase 'given your history' to any question you ask someone."
"Are you sure you want another drink? Given your history?"
"Do you mind driving? Given your history?"
hamletreset
Mean Kids...
"I moved to my elementary school in the 5th grade. Mid-year, a boy came up to me and said, 'I really thought you were gonna be somebody.' I'm now 45 and I'm still like, what the f**k was he talking about?"
NicklePlatedSkull
"Likely something they heard a parent say to someone. Kids love to repeat the dumb stuff you say the next day at school."
itsallgoodman2002
"All jokes aside he probably thought you were someone else. I've done the same things countless times and it's happened to me a few."
Download_more_ramram
"I would interpret this as this kid hearing there's gonna be a 'new kid' and then their imagination ran wild as to who this new star is going to be, that it will be like in some kid movie or something, but you turned out to be just another kid student."
i_was_planned
I Like You
"I don't get why other people don't like you."
Dependent_Main2643
"Another variant is..."
"I don’t care what everyone else is saying. I think you’re great!"
"They’ll take it as a compliment at first but then they’ll think about it and it’ll eat away at them."
Oh-Cool-Story-Bro
"A guy I work with says this time to me every time I help him 'I don’t care what everyone else says about you you’re alright. Literally everyone else. We did a poll.' XD guy says some crazy s**t. When he started he tried to convince us he was a flat earther. He just likes fucking with people."
ThreeBeatles
Rumors
“'I heard about you.'"
ignorantpigeon
"Whenever I hear this I always respond with 'if it’s all good, it’s all lies.' Usually shows my sense of humor and if it is bad things they heard it usually lightens the mood."
ElApolloLoco
"Years ago I worked at a cafe and function venue which was sold after a few years to a new catering company. The first time I met the new restaurant manager I introduced myself and she exclaimed 'Oh, you’re winoforever!' and I was a bit weirded out. Then not long later I met the new owner and she also said 'Oh, you’re winoforever!' I still wonder twenty years later what they’d both heard about me."
winoforever_slurp_
Problems
Drunk Party Girl GIFGiphy"Go up to someone at a party and say: 'I just want you to know that personally, I have no problem with you being here.'"
LuketheMook
"I once got drunk and effectively said that to a girl at a wedding. 'I don't care what everyone else thinks, I always liked you' or something like that."
Supersnazz
Parties are the perfect setting for these shenanigans.
Especially with the drinkers.
But get them at least semi-sober.
I got You
Okaay What GIF by ABC NetworkGiphy"If you are chatting with someone and another person walks up look at them and say 'I just want you to know that I was defending you' then turn and walk off. It's a good 2fer."
could_use_a_snack
Hush
"'We know, but don't worry, we'll keep it a secret.'"
ch3rrycsmos_
"A friend in high school (actually still a current friend) said something similar to me and it definitely f**ked with my head. 'You know you're not fooling anyone, right?' He wouldn't elaborate and it took me the rest of the day to figure out he was f**king with me. As a guy with imposter syndrome, especially as a teen, that had me turned for a bit."
ablackcloudupahead
You Again
"If it’s someone you interact with repeatedly, always introduce yourself as if you’ve never met before."
Stillwater215
"I keep doing this to a guy I see very occasionally. He's a friend of my sister-in-law, but I've introduced myself to him at least four times. Right now, I'm trying to picture his face and I totally can't, so if I see him again, I'll introduce myself again. He remembers me though. And I don't have this issue with anyone else, I just can't remember this guy's face for some reason."
KrtekJim
Big Mouth
"You really need to brush your teeth."
setthepinnacle
"Somebody jokingly left a message on the 'tip' line that said 'Take a breath mint.'"
"I'm like 90% sure it was just the first thing that came to his head but it f**ked with me for weeks. I was self-conscious when talking to people, being close to them with my mouth open, and I'd constantly be brushing longer/harder taking mouthwash a couple extra times a day, and using mints."
ToFaceA_god
Head Issues
Think About It GIF by IdentityGiphy"Give all your friends a few dollars to compliment their hat if they’re not wearing one. When 50 people insist you’re wearing a hat, you start to think you’re wearing a hat. It will drive them insane."
Stillwater215
Hats off for that last one. That's harmless but devious.
Do you have any tips to add? Let us know in the comments below.
People Who Said 'F**k It' And Did Something Crazy Describe What Happened
Societal pressures shape how people act most of the time, but every now and then someone comes along who doesn't care what other people think.
They do what they want, when they want without guilt or remorse.
According to President Theodore Roosevelt:
"Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat."
Much less rare are the times when otherwise conscientious people decide to throw caution to the wind. Almost everyone had at least one moment in life when they decide to go for it.
Damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead, right?
How things turn out after such a decision can make for some interesting stories.
Reddit user Alone-and-affraid asked:
"People who just said 'F*ck it' and did the thing, how did it turn out?"
Noping Out
"I quit my factory job of 2.5 years during the 2020 events to go work at a slaughterhouse. I had nothing to fall back on besides this job."
"I did training there for a week before they decided I was ready to go work on a line."
"I was at the line for an hour, just watching the other guys work and I knew immediately that this wasn’t something I could do; it was far too fast paced, far too much to remember and with the job involving razor sharp knives, I feared for my safety."
"I walked out of the job during my first break and didn’t return. Went to Staples, printed out some resumes and dropped off about 20 of them before walking into a rebar manufacturing place that hired me on the spot without an interview."
"The rebar job was fun as hell, my coworkers were fantastic, and it paid $3 an hour more than the slaughterhouse. 11/10 decision, there."
~ TTungsteNN
No Business Like Show Business
"Was working a job that paid little and was hazardous due to chemicals and bad health and safety. Wanted to stick it out cause it was a skill I wanted to get good at and also being able to buy food is nice."
"But the general work environment was sh*t."
"One day at work I got a text from a random number asking if I wanted a job on a film, where I'd be basically painting costume items. They didn't give me any information about it at all."
"But I said f*ck it, and quit my job with my sights set on the big screen."
"Now I work in the film industry pretty much full time where my job involves painting and making weird sh*t all day with cool people. More stress and way longer hours, but way more enjoyable and fulfilling."
"And now I have money to buy my self cool sh*t whenever I want it."
~ edakit
Take This Job And...
"After a major falling out with my bosses I stormed out of my job with zero notice. Left the company car keys at reception and went."
"Zero plans, zero transport home."
"On my long walk home I hatched a plan to become a freelance developer and I have now been doing it for 20 years."
~ SickPuppy01
Up, Up and Away
"Changed careers from IT to Aviation (Pilot).
"Took the $130,000 loan out, and said 'Fuck It'. I am about to get my PPL, from there its IFR certification, then Commerical, and then my CFI so I can get my hours and get paid (little but its still making money and obtaining hours)."
~ Spartan0536
"My friend's husband switched from dental hygienist to pilot and he was in his late 30s. He started with zero hours and worked his way up through the various stages.
"He's a first officer at one of the major US airlines now and loves it."
"His wife's salary kept the family afloat during his slave wage years."
~ rabidstoat
Taking a Leap of Faith
"My work is very niche, so niche we were less than 20 to do it at a professional/commercial level in a city like Chicago."
"After the facility I ran a crew at closed, I spent a bit over a year looking for a similar job anywhere in the US and Canada without success."
"I did get a decent amount of interviews just to get ghosted every single time, no one would hire me due to my disability (Crohn's and Ostomy bag, which prevents me from doing a small part of the job and can be worked around without issues)."
"After all that time all I could find was a 2-days a week part time job, working under the first person I mentored."
"Did that for a few months and struggled financially until I saw a job posting for something in Singapore."
"I said why the hell not, sent my application through email and got an interview set up for the next day and within 90min of that interview they were ready to send me a contract."
"7 weeks later I was on the plane with 3 suitcases, moving across the world to a place (and continent) I've never been to."
"I'm 2 months into the job and already feel like I have a purpose again, the job is pretty damn chill, the pay is real good. The company is also really happy with my work so far and their decision of bringing me in."
"That's just the job part, the city/country is amazing (besides for the constant heat but that's just a small detail)."
"Zero f*cking regrets."
~ azgrows
Work From Home
"For years prior to the pandemic I'd heard about Work From Home scams. It had always been a dream of mine as someone that had suffered insane commutes to work from home."
"During the pandemic I figured f*ck it I'll see what's out there. Found an old employer of mine was hiring for WFH."
"I applied, got the job and have been with them now for a little over 2 years. A year or so of that time as the night shift lead."
"It's amazing. I have no commute. My workload is relatively light. I spend most of my work hours waiting for work so I listen to music, read books, watch TV etc..."
"Unless I finally go back to school and get my degree this is the closest I'll get to retired."
"With my current schedule I only work 3 nights a week."
~ jackfaire
Alls Not Well That Ended Unwell
"I had worked at a company for almost 10 years. I never got promoted and had hit the salary cap for my position so I could not get a raise."
"I tried for promotions, but they made you take a personality test for higher level positions, and I 'wasn't the right fit'. They then had some budget cuts and couldn't justify my salary so I was let go."
"A friend of mine had been planning for years to open a business, but didn't have the capital or time to get it off the ground. He was very convincing and confident, so I invested everything into it."
"I thought that since we were both 'smart' and knowledgeable about the product we could make it work without experience, but I was wrong."
"My friend was the product guy and I was 'the face' as the business had a huge social aspect."
"Within 3 months I realized that my friend's product knowledge was just based on what he liked, and not any real research. It fell apart pretty quick.
"I tried to salvage it but the initial product mistakes were too much. I tried to take control and right the ship but I got blamed for all the failure."
"I should've tried to collaborate but I was angry, and then I went to the only person that was on my side, my business partner's ex. It was wrong but I was losing everything and needed something."
"So I lost my condo, my life savings, and all of my friends. The business partner's ex then left me after the business collapsed because I was broke."
"It got worse from there. Let's just say that saying f*ck it can ruin everything."
~ CarboniteCopy
Moving On Up
"In my young age I walked out of my job as a programming analyst at a large multi billion $ company because I felt undervalued everyday of my job by my direct supervisor/manager."
"But I landed in another large multi billion dollar company as senior developer after 3 rounds of interviews—with 40% raise within 2 weeks."
"I was called back by previous employer after around 3 months giving me a 100% raise because they realized that I was providing them everyday solutions in their technical operations that ended up not solvable by even external consultants who were paid 300-400$ per hour."
"I rejected the offer but showed the offer to current employer who happily matched the salary after seeing my work for 3 months and promoted me to lead developer. Stayed there for 8 years before switching—this was in early 2000."
~ notyourregularninja
Change Of Scenery
"Seventeen years ago the wife and I lived in Japan, and had been there for almost 9 years. Our daughter started getting death threats in school when she moved to middle school; different kids than elementary, where the parents were really nice to us."
"Anyway, when we talked to her teacher about it, she pretty much said 'It's her fault for being loud and wearing earrings' (my daughter is half Hungarian, and babies get earrings here; it's a cultural thing)."
"We told her this and she said it attracts too much attention."
"Also, she told us to dye her hair black (it's brown) so she'd fit in better. We noped out, and moved to Hungary (at a time when Hungary was not even slightly in good financial shape, and about to be IMF-loaned).
"My parents thought we were crazy; my dad even told me I'd made a mistake."
"Things turned out very well. Daughter got stable again after some terrible thoughts because of what kids did to her in Japan."
"I found a decent job and after a LOT of weirdness ended up at a good workplace; wife runs our little company now, which is okay-ish (though current inflation, man...)."
"We actually own our own home, which felt impossible in Japan."
~ inostranetsember
Switching Things Up
"I changed careers on nothing more than a suggestion from a friend."
"It worked out amazingly."
~ CoffeeAndBrass
Heaven on Earth
"Two years ago, I walked out my job, broke my lease, shoved as much of my belongings into a badly malfunctioning car and drove across the Rocky Mountains to find the sea."
"I didn’t have a plan, I didn’t know if the car would survive (it broke down within weeks after the trip was done and I sold it for scrap)."
"I honestly didn’t care if I had a place to live... I needed to see the ocean, to smell it, to dip my toes in the brine and feel small again."
"And if I had nowhere to go and no way to survive once I got there, I had every intention of weighing down my pockets with stones and just walking into the water to end it all."
"I was not in a good place, mentally or emotionally. You don’t walk out on your life like that if you have anything to live for."
"But I connected with estranged family here, and they gave me shelter until I found work and a new home."
"I’m happy now, really truly steadily happy, fulfilled, proud of myself and what I’m doing, more so than I’ve ever felt in my entire life."
"The air is cleaner here, I wake up every morning and, rain or shine, I take a bike ride through rolling hills of emerald farm fields and deep whispering pine trees."
"I’m greeted in the mornings by wild robins, and I fall asleep at night to the music of rain dancing through the boughs of the trees and a chorus of singing frogs."
"I find myself standing outside, staring at the vast river of stars in the unpolluted and sacred darkness of the night sky, and I watch the beautiful pink and orange waves of the rising sun cresting over the mountains."
"I have found a Heaven on Earth, and I am thankful, every minute of every day, for this wild place I call home and the wonderful people who picked me up when I had fallen down."
"I don’t recommend anyone else do something as stupid and impulsive, or self-destructive as I did, but it wound up being the best decision I have ever made."
~ JodyJamesBrenton
Have you ever just said to heck with what anyone else thinks?
How did things turn out?
Share your story in the comments.
The Weirdest Thing People's Partners Did That Totally Turned Them On
Part of the fun of dating and being in a relationship are the unexpected, impulsive moments.
What's funny is how these could be equally arousing moments, too, even if they're moments that we never expected to make us feel that way.
Redditor thann3 asked:
"What is the weirdest thing your partner did that turned you on?"
Backing Up
"When he backs into a parking spot, he puts his right hand on the back of my seat when he looks behind him."
"Hnnnngggggghhh. Gets me going and I don't know why."
- evilpinkmoney
"Every time someone mentions this, I am reminded of the time I did it and accidentally backhanded this girl in the face."
- kingoflint282
That Reading Voice
"In high school, this girl had a soothing voice. Every time she read out loud, I had goosebumps and she gave me butterflies."
- donbruh
Overwhelmingly Happy
"I can’t think of anything weird my husband did, but the first night of our honeymoon, we were talking about the wedding and our future, and I started crying because I was so happy (and told him that’s why I was crying)."
"He was smiling and gave me a kiss and then whispered, 'I don’t know why, but you crying just now turned me on.'"
"Lol (laughing out loud), it didn’t turn me on, but it did make me laugh, and I thought it was weird-cute."
- snarkylarkie
Safety First
"On the first date, he put my seatbelt on. It surprised me because I heard of men opening doors for their dates but not putting their seatbelt on. It just showed a very caring yet masculine side of him."
"The tension of knowing we wanted of each other but agreed to take it slow just made me go feral in my head."
"A year and a half later, he still does it to this day. He even gets 'mad' when I don't let him. I still blush when he does it, especially when other people are in the car with us."
- eeeeriemarie
Certain Accessories
"It wasn't my girlfriend, but over a Skype call maybe a decade ago when I was a teenager, I was on a call with a female friend I had the hots for."
"I casually mentioned that I had a thing for girls in glasses."
"She gasped, told me to wait there, and scurried downstairs. About 20 seconds later, she rushed back up, jumped onto her bed with her jaw resting on her fists, and low and behold, she was wearing glasses."
"We laughed, I didn't know what to say, but that was the cutest and sexiest way of letting me know she liked me."
- GemoDorgon
Good Chemistry
"I know it sounds weird, but her breath is intoxicating. It’s naturally somewhat sweet, and of course, she thinks I’m crazy."
"Edit: We know it’s not diabetes, ketosis, or any other medical issue. We’ve been together for over 30 years and it’s just good chemistry."
- yoooozername
That Deep Stare
"An ex-girlfriend of mine looked at me in a certain way every now and again that just did something to me, like a bit of a stare deep into my soul knowing she wants all of me. Every day I hope someone will recreate and enhance it."
- SamCham10
The Perfect Sweater
"When she wears THAT sweater, I'm powerless."
- wastedmytwenties
"Can someone link a pic of this type of sweater? Asking for a friend."
- schnaizer91
The Sleeve Roll Trick
"My boyfriend rolled up his sleeves kind of slowly the other day, and I felt like I couldn’t hear anything for like a solid minute, lollllll (laughing out loud)."
- farrah_barra
The Corniest Jokes
"This man will make the corniest joke in the whole world, and then his whole face lights up as he giggles at it. Gets me every time."
- Hobbbitttuallly
The Perfect Wine Pour
"We had our honeymoon in Italy and he noticed the waitstaff poured wine really beautifully, so he replicated it. Now I have him pour all my drinks for me."
"For some reason, the way his wrist moves when he pours really gets me going."
- chicken-and-awfuls
Specific Arm Movements
"Two things."
"When he's working on something mechanical and he starts getting serious, he'll flip his cap backward. It's an absent-minded thing and F**K is it sexy. And when he's working overhead, the way his arms flex. Watching him lift things into our attic is an instant turn-on. It's f**king weird, but godD**N does it do it for me."
"Also when I wear something sexy or low cut and he's not expecting it, he'll stutter if he's mid-sentence. We'll be talking from another room for instance, and I'll toss on a revealing shirt and walk in there and he'll lose his train of thought. Or shake his head like he needs to clear it. Your man making you feel sexy is the ultimate sexy move."
- shimmydownnow
Love Language: Physical Touch
"It's the gentle physical touch in public. That little 'Love you' touch as they scurry away to do a thing. Those random touches turn me on so quickly."
- 1beeratatime
Totally Saved It
"He fixed the shower in my truly horrible, low-rent grad school apartment and changed the oil on my car. Not sure why, but that just did things to me."
"If you were to ask my husband, self-deprecating humor would probably be his answer."
"On our first date, he and I went to see this stage production of 'Jekyll and Hyde.' At the bar, they were selling these cute little shots of Bailey's/Kahlua, with each liquor on separate sides of the glass. Me, being incredibly graceful in all things always, completely dumped the Bailey's half onto my blouse."
"His eyes got all big, not sure how to react, and I just sighed, turned to him, and reintroduced myself like, 'Hi, I'm (my name). This kind of thing happens a lot.'"
"He busted up laughing, I ordered a scotch, and we've been together for the past 11 years."
- anyesuki
Simply Existing
"Exist. My girlfriend could literally just stand there and I could and would get a chill down my spine."
- andytheloser12
While we were expecting these responses to be, well, weird, most of these were actually pretty cute or heartwarming.
Sometimes when it comes to relationships and intimacy, something can feel weird simply because it's unexpected, but maybe the unexpected moments are among the best parts of the relationship!