People Who've Run Away To Start A New Life Reveal Why They Had To Leave
Move over bankruptcy and name changes. These people made themselves vanish in order to start over. But why, and how? Were they successful? Here are some fascinating tales from people who left it all to begin anew.
PatientStick asked, [Serious] People who disappeared to start a new life, what is your story?
Submissions have been edited for clarity, context, and profanity.
Working on a yacht in Tahiti? Living the dream, he is.
Currently disappearing. Got bored in the USA so I looked around for jobs on boats/yachts. I went from alcoholic construction worker to currently a deckhand on a private yacht circumnavigating the globe.
We're currently on our way to Tahiti and I'm excited.
Bail out now, tell everyone later. It's okay to focus on you.
I didn't really disappear, I just flew from the UK to Canada and didn't tell anyone until after.
I wanted a bit of time to make my mind up about what I was doing without any random emotional s*** getting in the way. My friends assumed I'd just f***ed off somewhere as it wasn't that uncommon for me to do.
Told most people where I was after about a month and 6 years later I'm still here.
Some bridges need to be burned.
Father started dating a new woman and suddenly became a massive POS. Emotional and verbal abuse, gaslighting, guilting me out of money by saying he couldn't make bills but then turning around and buying alcohol and new gadgets.. the works. I was stomaching it pretty well until it started to spread to my then 1.5-year-old son. There was one and only one incident of him going after my baby, and the very next day I was loading up a moving truck headed several states away. Thankfully I had made a good friend via an online game who opened up his home to us if we needed to escape.
Changed my number and haven't heard from my father or his gf since, though I was warned by the town sheriff that a man had been calling the police station asking about a girl from out of state that has recently moved into town, he saw my license plate and made the connection. I'll burn that bridge when I get to it.
It takes a lot of strength to do this. You don't need to stay in toxic relationships.
Here's the story. Was with someone who was emotionally abusive toward me. I let them isolate me from friends and family, moved across the country, gave up a lot to be with her. Married her, but I realized that things would likely never improve. One day I packed everything I could into a suitcase, told her it was over. I walked to the train station, got to the airport, called the police to let them know they had a potentiality suicidal person that they ought to check on and flew back home. I felt bad about it, but I'm an exponentially happier and healthier person for it.
Follow your instincts if they tell you to change your circumstances. It's not easy, but you don't get many chances happiness. Take them.
Basic breakup story I guess. I was in my early 20's and I'd been in a pretty lousy relationship for a few years (only really lousy the last 1.5 years). I'd done a lot to try and make the relationship work and it meant I was basically living paycheck to paycheck, working a lot of overtime at a bar.
Then in the space of a few months both my aunt died of cancer that was kind of expected and a family friend died suddenly, so I got in a worse place mentally and didn't have much left to put into the relationship. I was still working a lot of hours to pay our rent, but when I got home I was pretty depressed. My girlfriend was probably already pretty checked out I guess because she cheated pretty soon with a guy in our friendship group, and of course, that ended our relationship pretty suddenly. I moved in with 2 friends and she moved back to her parents.
I felt like I needed a change of scene so just started applying for jobs with loads of holiday companies and got an interview with a ferry company. By the time that came up, I was starting to move on with my life and wasn't so sure about leaving. Then I found out my ex had slept with or hit on pretty much all of my mates since we'd broken up and I decided to get out of dodge.
I never actually meant to leave and not come back or go dark or whatever. I just took the job, spent a summer working on ferries to clear my head with new people, out of all that craziness and went from there. Spent a couple of years working holiday seasons and traveling and then settled into a job and a routine elsewhere. Never looked back.
Changing your name is extreme, but it can provide closure, protection, and a fresh start.
Highly abusive family, grew up surprisingly well but absolutely bombed out of life when I turned 18. Finally got the guts up and saved a scant of money to change my name and get out of the state I lived in. Still struggling a lot, and I live in constant fear that someone will find me, but I can live a half decent life now. Still lots of psychological issues as a result of long-term traumas, but I'm on my own now and its the biggest relief
EDIT Thank you all for your support! Changing my name wasn't too tricky, I had to go in for a meeting with a Justice of Peace, and there was a fair fee (I didn't have a birth certificate because my family refused to hand it over). I was given an identity document that day and was posted my new birth certificate a week later.
This is pretty dramatic, actually.
Nothing dramatic. I left home at 16 homeless for a few months, lived with a Gf's family for a couple of years. Mum told the family that I'd stolen money so they cut all ties with me (I hadn't, my mums an arse). I stopped contacting friends because I was dirt poor and couldn't afford a phone.
Three years after I left I started using my first name (in Muslim culture every guy is bloody named Mohamed so we used my middle name for my early life). I moved to a new town newly single, got my dream job and made new friends, got in touch with the old ones and got on with my new life.
Unfortunately homophobia is still rampant in rural America.
I grew up in a tiny semi-isolated American town I'm going to refer to as Hell. I hated the place. I was bullied from the minute we moved there until the minute I left. I was above the level of the high school classes by my freshman year, but -- isolated. No other school. I've got no issue with my parents, but the majority of my extended family is extremely homophobic and would probably disown me if they didn't depend on my dad for money. I was basically just trying to hold it together until I graduated.
When I was 15, I applied to be a foreign exchange student (basically just out of desperation to get out of Hell). Left a few days after I turned 16. I was popular in my new school, I was much less of an angry person when I wasn't getting screamed at all day five days a week, it was just so much better. I was doing college applications by the end of my year there and just realized there was no way I could ever go back. I ended up going to the UK to study law. I was still getting harassed online by people from Hell, so I started going by my middle name. I'm doing alright now though.
I guess I didn't truly "disappear" because some people know where I am, but I'd basically started over twice in two different countries by the time I turned 18. I have trouble with the idea of staying in one place and my mom has to talk me out of moving every time things don't go perfectly smoothly, but I'm sure I'm a lot better of a person than I would have been if I'd stayed.
This is why we celebrate Mother's Day.
When my sister and I were young, my mom was engaged to an abusive man. One morning she dropped us off at school and said this would be our last day, make sure you say goodbye to your friends.
When she picked us up from school, we went directly to the airport and flew to California to live with some family. At the time we'd been living in Michigan.
Racism is a plague and needs to be stopped.
At 17 I had started to date my now current boyfriend of almost 6 years. It was the end of his senior year / my junior year.
-backstory- My mother is 28 years younger than my father and she left him when I was in 7th grade. My father somehow got custody. Story for another time I suppose.
Father is old, born in 1943 old. So he's also a racist. After mom split I went to school and then came home and did nothing. No summer plans, no friends, no after-school activities.
Somehow a friend of S.O. Had posted a picture of us together on Fb and my little brother got wind of it and my dad kicked me out about 2 months before I turned 18 because my boyfriend is black and I am white. I showed the school messages of him threatening to kill me and bf if he ever saw either of us. Cops got involved and deemed that I had to return to my father's house until I was 18. I obviously didn't die, made it through the last three weeks of school, attended my graduation that he wouldn't show up to and never went back. Haven't seen or heard from him or anyone from high school since. There are many more complicated details but that's the gist.
I now hold a stable job since I graduated high school, waited a year and saved up at bfs parents house, then we got our own apartment, our own car, we live frugally and save as much as we can and live comfortably below our means. We both went back to college two years ago and attend part-time because we both work 32 hours a week and I like to think that my f_cked up 'childhood' is pretty far behind me and that I'm adulting really well despite my odds.
It's not selfish to leave if your partner is beyond reproach. It is however important to help as much as they'll let you.
I left someone who regularly threatened suicide, best decision I ever made.
Addiction is a nasty disease, and in Mexico, the cartels are ruthless.
Throwaway time.
15 years ago I was a heavy drug user. I was 25 back then and before using drugs I had a good job and I was being paid well. My so-called best friend introduced me to drugs and while at first, I was hesitant to use them, I thought 'what the hell, what's the worst that can happen?'
Needless to say, I started using more and more and I was spending a few thousand every week on drugs. I started showing less for work until eventually I was fired. I had some money saved up so I wasn't too worried at first until my addiction took most of that money.
Since I always used the same dealer and had already given him thousand of pesos, he told me I had 'good credit' with him and he would give me some drugs but I had to pay him every week. So we did that and it worked for a while until I couldn't pay him every week. I started owing him more and more until eventually, he told me he couldn't give me anymore until I had money on me and could pay him. So one day I was really desperate and broke into his house late at night. I knew he had guns so I was very careful not to wake him up when I was breaking in. Once inside I grabbed a baseball bat he had and started beating him with it. I left him in pretty bad shape and took his money and some drugs I found. At the time I didn't know he was with a cartel so I pretty much stole from the cartel. They started looking for me and word on the street was that they wanted to kill me. So with the money I stole from the dealer I decided the best thing to do was to run away to the U.S. I didn't tell anybody, I decided to travel to the Tijuana and find a 'coyote' there who could pass me. 7 days later I was already in the US.
I left everything back home, my family, friends, memories but most important my addiction. When I made the choice to leave the country I told myself I wasn't gonna do drugs again since my life got out control since I started using drugs.
So yeah, it's been 15 years clean. I have an ok job and a great family here. I'm probably a wanted man by the cartel back in Mexico.
The only person who has control over your life is YOU.
Left my hometown of 10 years because I was ruining my life spending all my money on smoking and being a general loser.
I drove alone 3500+km to start new with no job, house, or money. I landed a job working in a remote community the day after I arrived at my destination, spent 3 months working there before I came back to society and started working in Disability.
Fast forward 5 years and I'm happily married with enough money for a deposit on a house, a new car I go to the gym 6 days a week and have traveled overseas multiple times with the love of my life.
Canadians are so classy, jeez.
I didn't "disappear" in terms of changing my identity or am doing anything secret. But I did disappear from everyone I knew from "back home" fairly suddenly.
I grew up in a medium-sized town in Canada. A fairly laid back city with a good university culture but not much to do in terms of anything else. I got sick of the cold winters, sick of the lack of culture, sick of the social negativity, sick of the lack of opportunity (Youth under/unemployment is a serious thing in Canada), etc.
Decided to move to Paris. Enrolled in a prestigious business school and got in. Within a month I said goodbye to friends, packed up my stuff and got the hell out.
I've lived in Paris, Milan, and parts of UK for the past 5 years and loving it. I'm making great money and because the £&€ is so high compared to the tanking Canadian dollar I can make investments back in Canada fairly easily.
My life is completely different compared to my life in Canada. I can travel to cool European cities very cheaply, enjoy interesting conversation with people from around the world, enjoy mild Winters, and a positive social environment where people root for each other.
One of the things I didn't like about living in Canada is that it was normal for people to try and tear each other down and talk behind people's back. I don't experience that here.
Edit: I'm still very proud to be from Canada and enjoy visiting family and friends. I wouldn't change my journey thus far for anything. But the Winters and lifestyle just weren't for me. Canada is still a great place. I don't mean to come across as trashing the country
This sounds amazing, honestly. Why be tied down in one place?
Haven't disappeared, but I tend to start a new life every few years.
I get bored where I am and want something new and different. New places, new experiences, new people, new things to learn.
I look for a new job, pack up, and move wherever it is, or someplace just to a new place without the job yet, but I prefer having the job lined up first. Sometimes overseas, sometimes within the same country. Preferably overseas whenever the opportunity arises.
Grew up moving ridiculously frequently and seeing a lot of different places. That's stuck with me.
Given that I can work anywhere, maybe I should do this. Who's in?
I was working a successful corporate job straight out of college for several years, and not exactly struggling but not thriving either. A series of bizarre events occurred in my personal life (and within the government...) that made me realize life is too short, too random and all too often dictated by people who don't have your best interest at heart to be stuck doing something that doesn't make you happy if it's not absolutely critical to your survival.
After mulling it over for a bit, I told friends and family I was moving overseas, quit my job, tied up loose ends and got on a plane to another country with no job and a backpack full of clothing. However, I had decent savings and am accustomed to living cheaply so I wasn't entirely unprepared.
So far I've traveled to numerous countries with old friends and relative strangers met people doing things no one was doing back home, gone on beautiful hikes through mountains, swam under waterfalls, snorkeled off multiple coasts, and so many more adventures. I live in a city where I don't need a car, I've been progressing on learning a new language, I finally figured out the direction I want to go in life and am taking active steps to get there, and I feel like I've matured at least five years in the past twelve months.
There are certainly trade-offs: instability, options for job positions, and what the foreseeable future looks like, but if I had the option to redo the last year of my life, I would make the choice to leave every time.
Remember that family isn't defined by blood, and no family is better than a toxic family. Set yourself free.
My parents divorced when I was 16. It was both of their second marriage after like 18 years or something. My mother (adoptive, nonetheless) became abusive as soon as my dad left the state. So I disappeared. I went to Atlanta, Georgia by myself. I took a taxi to New York City and took a cheap $40 Chinese bus ride down to Beaufort Highway and almost immediately found a job in tech repair. Was down there for 24 months before I moved to the same state as my dad. During those 2 years, I didn't talk with anybody in my whole family. People were concerned. I didn't care. My brother went into the Navy when I was like 12 and became a juiced up meathead douche. My sister was always controlling and verbally abusive. I can't say I'd be sad if they were gone. I filed a restraining order against my mother after she kept harassing me over text, call, and email. Best decision I ever made.
People Share The Funniest Thing They've Ever Seen That They Weren't Allowed To Laugh At
Hilarious moments are blind to timing. They seem to strike at the absolute worst times, when laughing would be completely inappropriate.
Thankfully, Crying Can Look Like Laughing
<p>"Great Uncle's funeral.</p><p>"The vicar was doing his thing, but when he said 'our soul,' in his posh-ish accent it sounds just like 'arsehole' and it got me. I managed to keep it together the first time, but after the second one I could barely hold it back...."</p><p>"It was something like, '<em>our soul is something we should cherish, it defines who we are...'</em>"</p><p>"I was stifling laughter to the point of tears, my mum said after she thought I was crying."</p><p>-- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/l0i8mb/whats_the_funniest_thing_youve_seen_someone_do/gjtmy9t?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">F***TheseNewPlastics</a></p>One Man Show
<p>"A guy was acting as his own attorney. He was questioning himself in court by standing up, asking a question, then sitting down to answer it."</p><p>"The judge finally looked at him and said, 'Sit down, Mr. X.' I almost lost it, but managed to hold my court demeanor."</p><p>-- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/l0i8mb/whats_the_funniest_thing_youve_seen_someone_do/gjttk7u?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">Hellabore</a></p>A Dick Manifesto
<p>"At my friend's grandfather's funeral. The first sentence of the pastor's speech was 'We are all here because we love Dick so much.' His name was Richard."</p><p>"This holy man gave a 15 minute speech about his love of Dick and how Dick changed his life. My wife and I did not make eye contact through the entire thing for fear of busting out laughing in a quiet crowded church."</p><p>"It took me about a year to ask my friend his thoughts about it and apparently he was close to losing it too."</p><p>-- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/l0i8mb/whats_the_funniest_thing_youve_seen_someone_do/gjtzut0?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">TigerGuitarist</a></p>Til the Very End
<p>"A friend of mine who was always late to work died after an epileptic fit. The undertakers and vicar got delayed and he was late to his own funeral and it was the most fitting and hilarious moment and he'd have loved it."</p><p>"But obviously you can't burst out laughing when the staff at a funeral tell you that he's not there yet."</p><p>-- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/l0i8mb/whats_the_funniest_thing_youve_seen_someone_do/gjtpoko?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">Miraclefish</a></p>Corpse Slapped
<p>"I was in a cadaver lab for an anatomy class, and that week we were learning hip and upper leg muscles. My group were at the table and one of the guys proceeded to roll the cadaver leg over, from looking at the hamstring to study the quads."</p><p>"We didn't realise that the leg belonged to a male until its manhood slapped him straight on the back of his hand."</p><p>"Entire group was breathing super hard trying not to laugh and appear disrespectful in the eyes of the tutors, but I honestly reckon the guy would've been laughing with us."</p><p>-- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/l0i8mb/whats_the_funniest_thing_youve_seen_someone_do/gjttrul?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">code1520</a></p>Taking It in Stride
<p>"Paramedic here, watched a drunk falling down a bunch of stairs."</p><p>"He then just screamed at his friend to get him a new beer because he dropped his. Nearly pissed myself."</p><p>-- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/l0i8mb/whats_the_funniest_thing_youve_seen_someone_do/gjtn6y8?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">Sir_f***_off</a></p>She Knows Not What She Doesn't Know
<p>"Just two nights ago my picky daughter was telling us that she didn't like meat loaf, no way, no how."</p><p>"Then she described a Japanese hamburger steak that she wanted to make: hamburger, bread crumbs, egg, ketchup, soy sauce, etc."</p><p>"When she was done, I said that she described the exact thing sitting on her plate, and she got really mad. Laughing only made her madder. Couldn't stop laughing though."</p><p>-- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/l0i8mb/whats_the_funniest_thing_youve_seen_someone_do/gjtqbvz?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">GooberMcNutly</a></p>Nothing Else to Say
<p>"I was watching hunger games in theaters and the Rue death scene caused a reaction from the person behind me that left me laughing so hard I thought the people who didn't hear her would think I was a horrible person."</p><p>"Right when the spear hits her I heard this 'O DAMN' from behind me like the most stereotypical dumb reaction gif sound effect of a dude getting kicked in the nads."</p><p>"It clashed with the scene so much and was the only time the person ever spoke it just cracked me up"</p><p>-- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/l0i8mb/whats_the_funniest_thing_youve_seen_someone_do/gjtsk7v?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">nightbrother42</a></p>Committed Revenge
<p>"Helping a Grade 2 class (~8 year olds) and one of the kids was just so loud. He was running around the class when one of the girls held out her arm and clotheslined him."</p><p>"I was able to keep a straight face for that but she kneeled down and yelled, 'Boom!' at him."</p><p>"He started crying, they both got a detention, and I almost bit through my tongue."</p><p>-- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/l0i8mb/whats_the_funniest_thing_youve_seen_someone_do/gjtq3xu?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">asolitarycandle</a></p>Growing Into It
<p>"My step Dad was an Italian from Manhattan. He had the classic Italian mobster accent. We all live in Minnesota, born and raised. So his accent was definitely different from what we're used to."</p><p>"My brother loved to playfully make fun of him by imitating him by saying classic Italian mobster exclamations along with the hand mannerisms. Stepdad was a laid back guy and found it funny and the banter between those two was very light hearted."</p><p>"So, one day, we were having a small get together at our house with my mom, stepdad, my brother and a few friends. We were all hanging out outside when my 4 year old daughter excited started saying 'Uncle Pauly, Uncle Pauly! Watch this!'"</p><p>"As everyone watched, she went over to a piece of dog poop, pointed at it by shaking her open palmed hands, and exclaimed in the most perfect Italian Mobster accent 'What the f*** is thiiiis?!' She even did the head bob perfectly."</p><p>"We all stifled laughter."</p><p>-- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/l0i8mb/whats_the_funniest_thing_youve_seen_someone_do/gjtpug3?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">Spookyredd</a></p>Working with dogs is a field like few others. Though a job at a veterinary clinic, animal shelter, or training class may have its moments of tragedy and frustration, the unique hilarity that dogs bring is a real treat.
Quite the Bone
<p>"A client of mine has a Doberman girl that once got stuck in a doorway because she was carrying a long bone and couldn't figure out on her own how to proceed."</p><p>"Ever since that incident, this dog won't walk through any door no matter how wide as long as she's got anything in her muzzle, be it a bone or a tiny little cracker."</p><p>"She is sweet, but really dull."</p><p>-- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/kx9rll/people_who_work_with_dogs_professionally_who_was/gj9pntj?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">Kleene_Dilljurke</a></p>Unobservant and Phobic
<p>"I work with dogs professionally but the dumbest one I ever met was one of mine. He was a very large Great Dane who somehow developed a fear of hardwood floors."</p><p>"The worst part is he would walk through a hallway or room without realizing it was hardwood, and then as soon as he realized it he would sit himself down and refuse to move anywhere."</p><p>"I miss the idiot"</p><p>-- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/kx9rll/people_who_work_with_dogs_professionally_who_was/gj962la?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">Galacticheartofgold</a></p>Give Them an Inch...
<p>"I volunteered for an organisation training guide dogs for blind people. One of the dogs graduated training and was assigned to a blind young lady. It costs €40,000 to get the dog trained to this point. Dog successfully guides her to work every day safely with no problems."</p><p>"Then it's pissing rain one day so her dad asks her to collect her and the dog and drop them to the office. The next day the dog just refuses to work and literally never worked a day again for her."</p><p>"I think it just didn't see the point when she could get in the car if she wanted!! "</p><p>-- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/kx9rll/people_who_work_with_dogs_professionally_who_was/gj9qnn3?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">whatever_the_f***_</a></p>Bruce the Golden Sniffer
<p>"Bruce. A big old bloodhound who, on multiple occasions, would stick his nose right under other dogs while they peed." -- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/kx9rll/people_who_work_with_dogs_professionally_who_was/gj9p4wr?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">DavidWestSideStory<br></a></p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"My dog is so submissive that he let a bigger, meaner dog pee all over him while he grinned. If he could talk he would've said, 'Look mom! I made a friend!'" -- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/kx9rll/people_who_work_with_dogs_professionally_who_was/gjan5zi?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">NeedsMoreTuba</a></p>Trouble With the Back Half
<p>"My boyfriend walks a large Dalmatian who is the most uncoordinated dog I've ever seen. He just can't jump. Has no sense of what his back legs are doing."</p><p>"When my boyfriend comes to pick him up he tries to get into the van by jumping normally with his front legs but fails to follow through with the back, so just stands excitedly leaning on the floor of the van, doing frantic tippy-taps with his back feet on the ground outside."</p><p>"And he's a big dog, he could step right in without even jumping."</p><p>"No amount of showing him by actually moving his limbs has made it click for him, so he does his partial jump then one of us hoists his butt end in too."</p><p>-- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/kx9rll/people_who_work_with_dogs_professionally_who_was/gj9zw9h?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">Semele5183</a></p>Howling at Herself
<p>"Used to volunteer at a Human Society and I remember this one dog who was terrified of shadows."</p><p>"The kicker? This was an akita/husky mix so every time she saw a shadow she would howl loudly till the shadow went away."</p><p>"Last I knew she got adopted by a farmer and was happily chasing cows."</p><p>-- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/kx9rll/people_who_work_with_dogs_professionally_who_was/gj9pf8c?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">WaYaADisi1</a></p>A Paradoxical Reaction
<p>"I used to work at a shelter, so I guess this counts. One of our dogs had excitement-induced narcolepsy (called cataplexy). So, he'd fall asleep whenever he was too happy. Playing with other dog? Fall asleep. It snowed? Fall asleep. Get people food? Fall asleep."</p><p>"We adopted him."</p><p>"In a home, we figured out he was afraid of doorways. This doof would turn around and walk backwards through doorways instead because that was less scary."</p><p>"He was also no fan of hardwood floors or ceiling fans. Solid 50lb of staffy, biggest coward ever."</p><p>"He was the best dog."</p><p>-- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/kx9rll/people_who_work_with_dogs_professionally_who_was/gj9vdtw?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">foolhardywaffle</a></p>Crossing Wires
<p>"Was walking a golden lab and this poor dog smelled something interesting. Decided to pee on it and lifted his leg."</p><p>"Mid pee decided to smell it again and ended up peeing on his own face. Dog was something else."</p><p>-- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/kx9rll/people_who_work_with_dogs_professionally_who_was/gj9qcew?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">ARKITIZE_ME_CAPTAIN</a></p>A Quick and Relentless Wagging
<p>"My mom's pit/lab mix is dumb. He has a crazy long tail and it wags at like 35 mph."</p><p>"The other day he was wagging his tail and it was smacking the edge of the fridge. It hurt, he whined. Instead of moving or holding his tail still he just stood there whacking it against the fridge and whining."</p><p>"I finally moved him away from the fridge and he sat and licked it for a while. He's a good boi, but he ain't bright."</p><p>-- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/kx9rll/people_who_work_with_dogs_professionally_who_was/gj9jf81?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">J_DayDay</a></p>Baby Steps
<p>"My sister's dog was dumb. One day I decided to teach it to sit on command, the way I had taught a couple of other dogs. So, every time I brought him in from the backyard I'd get a treat from on top of the refrigerator and go through training."</p><p>"It took much longer than I thought it would, but eventually the dog would sit on command."</p><p>"Then I discovered it only knew what 'sit' meant when he was facing the refrigerator. So, more training, Every time I brought him in, I'd have him face a new direction until he made the connection and would sit on command."</p><p>"Then I discovered he only knew how to do it in the kitchen."</p><p>"A dumb, dumb dog."</p><p>-- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/kx9rll/people_who_work_with_dogs_professionally_who_was/gjamg6g?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">suddenly_satire</a></p>People Break Down The Worst Examples Of A TV Show Dumping A Major Cast Member And Trying To Continue
We're all aware television shows are fake and, heck, even the ones pretending to be real have a certain level of fabrication permeating throughout. That's not why we watch, though, we watch because we want to be invested into believing in a show's characters and their journeys. So when a character is mysteriously removed from a show with zero explanation it can leave a bad taste in our mouths that never goes away.
Not Gone, Just Reborn
<p>Top Gear</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/kzbj5p/whats_the_most_egregious_example_of_a_tv_show/gjmtbm7?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3">SleazyP_317</a></p><p>Came here to say this. Top Geat BBC is nothing w/o Jezza, Crash and Mr. Slowly.</p><p>I watched a few episodes of the reboot and its a total joke.</p><p>On the other hand i bought amazon prime because of Grand Tour.</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/kzbj5p/whats_the_most_egregious_example_of_a_tv_show/gjn0amm?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3">InfraredDiarrhea</a></p>No More Troy & Abed In The Morning
<p>Community</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/kzbj5p/whats_the_most_egregious_example_of_a_tv_show/gjmpsib?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3">DystopianTruth</a></p><p>It definitely lost some of its charm without Troy, but Hickey, Elroy, and Frankie were decent. It was still a good show without Troy, just not as good.</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/kzbj5p/whats_the_most_egregious_example_of_a_tv_show/gjmxss8?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3">emueller5251</a></p>Fired For Good Cause
<p>Criminal Minds comes to mind for me. Thomas Gibson definitely deserved to be fired, but once he was gone the show felt completely different. They should have stopped there instead of trying another season.</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/kzbj5p/whats_the_most_egregious_example_of_a_tv_show/gjmmzxg?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3">PaladiinDM<br></a></p><p>To be fair, they pulled it off once before, when Mandy Patinkin left. Hotch was very much the solid center of the group, after that though, and they never really found someone to fill that role. I love Prentiss, but she doesn't fill that void, and Rossi wouldn't really do either. They would need to find someone that had chemistry with the other characters but still had the darkness that Hotch brought.</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/kzbj5p/whats_the_most_egregious_example_of_a_tv_show/gjn2yso?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3">Irishpanda1971</a></p>How Does Your Family Work?
<p>Dukes of Hazzard for one season tried to replace Bo and Luke with two other Duke cousins.</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/kzbj5p/whats_the_most_egregious_example_of_a_tv_show/gjmvpsh?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3">heelspider</a></p><p>The Coy and Vance situation made the whole Duke family tree even more suspicious. Bo, Luke, Daisy, Coy and Vance all called each other cousin, and called Jesse "uncle". None of them were siblings. Were these all just random children that Jesse "found" and raised? Did Jesse have 5 siblings who each had a child that they were unwilling/unable to care for? Did they all leave their kids with Jesse because a moonshine runner was considered the most respectable? There probably aren't too many social workers in Hazard County, but someone really needs to look into this.</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/kzbj5p/whats_the_most_egregious_example_of_a_tv_show/gjn0a18?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3">thalanos42</a></p>Yeeeeeah!
<p>CSI after Grissom left was never the same</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/kzbj5p/whats_the_most_egregious_example_of_a_tv_show/gjnzt40?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3">gk101991</a></p><p>I thought Liev Schreiber's short guest-stint standing in for William Petersen was good, but Grissom was kind of integral.</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/kzbj5p/whats_the_most_egregious_example_of_a_tv_show/gjotz3j?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3">Reciprocity2209</a></p>A Magical Missing Sister! Of Course!
<p>So what always hit me as funny was in the TV Show Charmed.</p><p>Basically the entire concept was about three sisters being the chosen triad that together could do amazing magic.</p><p>After a couple seasons all three of them were on the floor "Dying" and it cut off.</p><p>Next season apparently two of the sisters had been saved, the but the last one had died off screen and the entire thing was skipped over. "You saved me, X saved Y, but that left Z to die!"</p><p>But how can a show that's entirely about the power of three sisters being the chosen ones continue with one of them gone? Easy, they find a long lost sister and activate her magic!</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/kzbj5p/whats_the_most_egregious_example_of_a_tv_show/gjnpe9b?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3">ericbomb</a></p>Steve?
<img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTUwNjI5NS9vcmlnaW4uZ2lmIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxNDQ4MzYzOH0.REXjY78pt4sWn-5qE7H59G_cUJUX9DrTJz0Zx1qzNV8/img.gif?width=980" id="46946" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="028c340e3ef77df21e78dbbd493921e8" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="480" data-height="362" />confused homer simpson GIFGiphy<p>Blues Clues</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/kzbj5p/whats_the_most_egregious_example_of_a_tv_show/gjn5dl1?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3">SonicFanBOI0655</a></p><p>As a child I remember being very confused and not realizing right away it was a different person.</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/kzbj5p/whats_the_most_egregious_example_of_a_tv_show/gjncf6a?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3">CardWitch</a></p>I Want To Believe
<p>The X-Files after David Duchovny left.</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/kzbj5p/whats_the_most_egregious_example_of_a_tv_show/gjmutr1?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3">KungFu-omega-warrior</a></p><p>Something was missing when Mulder was gone. Scully and Mulder dealing with the monster of the week type episodes were the best.</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/kzbj5p/whats_the_most_egregious_example_of_a_tv_show/gjn2b0h?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3">adumberscully</a></p>It's A Teaching Hospital...Get It?
<p>Scrubs final season was so bad that even Dr Cox couldn't save it.</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/kzbj5p/whats_the_most_egregious_example_of_a_tv_show/gjmuvku?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3">TheGodDamnLobo</a></p><p>It was meant to be a spinof series but wasn't allowed to be branded as such.</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/kzbj5p/whats_the_most_egregious_example_of_a_tv_show/gjn5df9?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3">Shirley_Schmidthoe</a></p>We ALL Hate Randy
<p>That '70s Show</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/kzbj5p/whats_the_most_egregious_example_of_a_tv_show/gjmso47?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3">dottmatrix</a></p><p>We all hate Randy</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/kzbj5p/whats_the_most_egregious_example_of_a_tv_show/gjmvc4h?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3">BelichickRockneGOATS</a></p><p>Randy embodies everything people hate about late series main cast replacements. He's a buff pretty boy, unlike Eric, but is still marketed as being a sensitive, nerdy guy, which is what made up a big part of Eric's appeal. He bonds with Red like Eric never could, he immediately takes Eric's place as Donna's love interest and is shunted into the main group without pretense and with little defined character. He's basically Poochie, from the Simpsons, but unironically.</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/kzbj5p/whats_the_most_egregious_example_of_a_tv_show/gjnus5r?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3">AReluctantEssayist</a></p>Perhaps The Biggest Of All
<p>The Office comes to mind, though I enjoy the later seasons too.</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/kzbj5p/whats_the_most_egregious_example_of_a_tv_show/gjms8wv?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3">FievelWentWest</a></p><p>This is the one for me. I'm fine with folks enjoying the last few seasons (and I guarantee there's post-Carrell episodes I enjoy as well) but by and large, it lost a lot of its magic without him. That said, I imagine some key writers departing were also responsible for the tonal shift (where some characters turned into the cartoon versions of themselves while others were seemingly reinvented on the fly).</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/kzbj5p/whats_the_most_egregious_example_of_a_tv_show/gjncumm?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3">rake2204</a></p>Yeesh...
<img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTUwNTY3NC9vcmlnaW4uZ2lmIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyOTMwNjYzNX0.s1tW_kEDJV64A1lU1gf94wpoDz7SUUgCNrE9Szbo71g/img.gif?width=980" id="0c390" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="46c41116ca2fcc11d28d18d9bb333548" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="320" data-height="240" />nervous the simpsons GIFGiphy<p>John Ritter, from 8 Simple Rules for Dating my Teenage Daughter.</p><p>The main character died in the beginning of the second season*. It's a family sit-com, but I remember liking it. And it was starting to build a bit of a following when it happened.</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/kzbj5p/whats_the_most_egregious_example_of_a_tv_show/gjmvns7?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3">ConneryFTW</a></p><p>John Ritter. Died from aortic dissection. So sad.</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/kzbj5p/whats_the_most_egregious_example_of_a_tv_show/gjndilh?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3">werdzishard</a></p>Image by Michal Jarmoluk from Pixabay |
There's something quite wonderful about finding a loophole and taking advantage of it... especially when you're broke. (Trust me, it could mean the difference between surviving and well, not.)
When I was really poor, for example, I used to go to a Burger King to get cheap burgers with what little money I had. The food was filling and helped tide me over. I eventually found a glitch on the app that allowed me to add two extra burgers to my order. Trust me, it saved me on my worst days. (As you can imagine, I am really sick of fast food now that I'm much more financially stable.)
After Redditor Thym3Travr asked the online community, "What loophole did you exploit mercilessly?" people shared their stories.