Getting pulled over by police really sucks. Getting a ticket really sucks. But just because you're pulled over doesn't mean you're necessarily getting a ticket. These people could have gotten away with it, but they blew it.
Mark_Levins asked: "Officers of Reddit, when has an excusable action turned into a moment of 'well...now I gotta arrest you'?"
We're impressed by his patience.
"I was a Park Ranger and we used to have a bunch of kids who liked to sit on a hill and smoke weed. Now they walked in and out and were just goofy kids and basically behaved so I left them be until Travis came along.
Travis had a joint in his hand as I walked up, he was told to toss it in the drain. Travis takes a big ole hit and exhaled in my face. I still let it go but began to simmer, he pinches the cherry and tries to pocket the joint. That was it Travis gets clipped, dumbass had an ounce in his sock and several blunts in his pocket. Stupid."
The worst type of person.
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"Every drunk, tough guy at a party I'm breaking up will most certainly go to jail when he otherwise woulda been free to go. Ironically, we're rarely there to make an arrest.
For thought: there's 2-6 of us and 20-50 of you. If you get in anyway combative or aggressive with a us, in front of your friends, we will nip that in the bud. Getting swarmed by the suddenly courageous is unpleasant. Minus the baton strike, the movie Superbad portrays it adequately. Just leave."
......wow.
"This was a kid I went to school with. He is a whack job and always has been. He was expelled from my middle school for writing bomb threats.
A couple years ago (he was 19 I think), a member of his family found a gun that he had and turned it into the police. All he had to do was either ignore it and lose his gun or go in and prove that he had paper work to back it up. Instead he chose to go in and claim to be a homeland security agent (with a fake badge to back it up). Police searched his home and found an arsenal of weapons and explosives."
Maybe it's time to look for a new roommate.
"An ex-roommate of mine decided to stop off in a town she wasn't familiar with on her way home from work to smoke with some friends she'd met recently. After staying just long enough to smoke a bunch, she drove down the road, not paying attention, and swerved right in front of a cop.
I've since visited this town, and it very much has a vibe of pulls you over "Hi, do you need directions?" I'd bet that's what the cop was thinking when he pulled her over. She managed to escalate this to refusing to take a breathalyzer, to yelling at the cop for harassing her, to pinching the guy when he cuffed her.
I was on a lease with this person, and didn't want to be responsible for her part of the rent, so I drove out and bailed her out after midnight on a weekday so that she could go to work the next day. Bail, of course, started off as $40, for a traffic violation, and escalated to several hundred when it turned out she had technically assaulted an officer. And the next day she goes to work with a bad attitude, gets fired, and GOES BACK TO THE SAME TOWN, AND GETS PULLED OVER AGAIN."
The dog also had a warrant.
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"I was on a ride along with a State Trooper. He pulled this girl over and after running her info she had a warrant so she needed to be taken in. She didn't want to leave her dog and car on the side of the road so she asked to see if her boyfriend could come pick her car up.
20 mins later the boyfriend was there. Trooper ran his license to make sure he was good to drive. He had a warrant also, so he went to jail too."
Not a real thing.
"Pretty much every sovereign citizen digs themselves a hole when they get stopped. What could be a simple speeding ticket/warning escalates into multiple tickets and usually a criminal charge for resisting arrest.
Also, if your having a verbal argument and you call the cops, it's probably not a good idea to tell someone else you're going to kill them while the cops are present. That's the easiest lockup you'll ever get."
Not so confident now, huh?
"WAS a cop. Best one that immediately comes to mind was a kid who was speeding - nothing crazy, just like 10mph over. Pulled him over, and was in the process of giving him a warning when I noticed he had a radar detector.
I point at it, and he smiles and confidently says "It's ok, you can have one if you have a permit."
"Do you have a permit?"
"...uh, no."
Ticket. Sorry bud."
Big mistake.
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"Not a cop, but we heard some rumbling around in the garage (we left the garage door open on accident) and when I went to check, there was a 18 year old girl drunk off her standing in my garage. (BTW, if you think you're going to be a big bad ass when there's an intruder in your home, think again because I screamed like a little girl!). Seeing that it was a young girl and my life wasn't in immediate danger, I called the cops while my wife and MIL got her story. Turns out the neighbors had a small party and kicked her out for being an jerk, she wondered into my garage to steal cigarettes.
The cops show up, and tell her that she can go home with her mom since I decided to not press charges. Mom convinces her to get in the car, they start to drive off while we are making small talk with the officers.
The mom gets the drunk girl in the car and to the end of the block (4 houses down), and she opens the door and runs. The cops take off after her telling us thanks but she's going to jail now.
I just think about what a chance the officers and I gave this young lady to go home free and clear and she screwed it up."
What did he think was going to happen?
"This happened two nights ago. I stop a car because his license plate light is out (must be visible from 60 feet or less). No biggie, operators not going to know this unless we stop them and most often, were just probing for a more serious offense. 10/10 give a verbal warning for this infraction.
I request a license and registration per policy and the operator then demands to know why I stopped them. I advise them that per department policy, I don't have to tell them until I obtain their license and registration as I request a second time. Operator then goes off about how they know their civil rights and what I MUST do on a traffic stop. I advise the operator that "it's an arrestable offense in insert my state for failure to submit to a police officer your license and registration upon lawful request and that I have to ask you exactly 1 time before I can charge you with failure to submit so for the 3rd and final time, please provide me with your license and registration."
Operator again goes off about his civil rights. I ask if he's sure he doesn't want give me his drivers license and registration. He again refuses and gets himself arrested...for a stupid plate light. Turns out he wasn't licensed and didn't have a license to give. But he could of said that. Either way, he was going to be charged with something."
At least he was honest?
"Not sure if this is what you meant, but...stopped a guy as his car showed as having no insurance. He was super confused about the whole thing, positive he had insurance and was full of the "I've never been stopped by the police before"(which was probably true). Either way, ran some checks with the insurance people and yeah, turns out he was insured, just wasn't showing up for some reason.
He's still apologetic, sorry for wasting our time, nice guy all round. We are literally getting back into our car and the guy is suddenly walking back and saying "I honestly do have insurance, I'm always honest, like, I had a few drinks earlier too you should probably know".
Look at my colleague with a shared look of disbelief, slowly get back out the car and breathalyse the guy aaaaand yep. Almost twice over the limit. Promptly arrested for drink driving. He didn't smell one whiff of booze and seemed fully sober to both of us. What on earth compelled him to tell us as we were leaving that he'd been drinking I'll never know."
Good thing the cop listened to this person.
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"While riding with a police officer on duty I saw a guy blow a red light. I told the officer, but he said he couldn't give him a ticket since he didn't see it happen. I mentioned that the guy had no tail lights as well - so he begrudgingly stopped the truck.
When we walked up to the window the officer asked, "do you know why I stopped you?" to which the guy responded with "yea, cause I blew that red light." The officer looked at me and shook his head then asked, "why did you blow that red light?" "Because the brakes are bad in this truck and I couldn't stop that fast." The guy ended up having a warrant and had weed in his truck.
The officer, who I rode with often, asked me to write out the tickets (he'd sign them) while he did the arrest paperwork. I wrote him for no tail lights and for unsafe equipment (the brakes.) The officer asked why I didn't write him for running the red light - I said, "because you said you didn't see it." He was like, yea well, he admitted it - that's enough for me.
Moral of the story if you have a warrant or weed in your truck don't drive around with bad breaks, no tail lights and running stop lights."
Bad idea.
"We had an undercover store cop in our grocery and business was slow so he checked the parking lot and found a guy working on his car.
The store cop would check in on him and even helped him work on it. When done, the driver pulled a bag of weed and offered to get him high, so he arrested him.
The cop said 'the bag was too big to let him go.'"
This spiraled into something worse.
"We got called to a disorderly guy in a trailer park. We get there, get everything calmed down, get everyone's information, and run NCIC checks to make sure no one has any warrants. At that, barring someone having a warrant, no one was getting arrested and we weren't even writing a report.
The disorderly guy gives a bad name because he thought he had a warrant. We go to put cuffs on him and gives his real name...and he didn't have a warrant. We arrest him for giving false information. While we're finishing up, the guy decides to slam his on head repeatedly into my sgt's brand new patrol car (literally picked up the day before and it didn't even have 100 miles on it.) All caught on video, so now he also gets a destruction of property charge and then goes to hospital for an emergency commitment because after doing that he made suicidal statements."
This was easily avoidable.
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"Not a cop, but around here a hispanic man got pulled over for broken taillight, or something like that. The cop told him to get it fixed and was going to let him go.
As the cop was about to walk away the guy in the car said "No cocaine!" Cop was like, "Excuse me?" "No cocaine in back."
Cop proceeds to ask the guy to step out of the car. and to open the trunk. The entire trunk was filled to the brim with bricks of coke."
How kind of them.
"Not an arrest but a citation. I was at house for a burglary call and asked the homeowner where the money had been taken from. He says "the end table". I point to one of two end tables and ask "this end table?" He walks to the end table, says "yeah, took it right out of this drawer" and opens the drawer.
I look at the open drawer and see the burglar was kind enough to leave the homeowner's half ounce of marijuana."
When we're intoxicated, or even the slightest bit tipsy from having a little too much to drink, our immediate perspective on things is hazy.
But there's nothing like a bit of alarming news or a jarring incident to snap us out of the fog and focus on the moment.
Sometimes alcohol isn't always to blame for our impairment.
It can be a state of mind, like a perpetual numbness from being complacent in life, and all it takes is one shocking moment to rattle us back to our senses.
Curious to hear from strangers online about this type of scenario, Redditor Known_Challenge_7150 asked:
"What’s one thing that sobered you up real quick?"
These individuals were witness to shocking events that sobered them up right quick.
Bleeding Out
"Got out of a taxi and found a naked man profusely bleeding from his head crawling up the driveway in my condo. Called him an ambulance completely forgot I was absolutely wasted until 45 minutes later when I'd helped him translate and in to an amublance and stepped in my front door."
"Later a few days later learned he'd slipped in the tub and literally crawled out for help. Poor dude. He was fine but I genuinely thought he was going to die there."
– DongLaiCha
Tragic News
"At a bachelor party and we got a phone call that the groom’s father had suddenly passed."
– accountnameredacted
Bottom Of The Barrel
"I went to visit my parents back in July. I was homeless and deep into fentanyl addiction so I lost a lot of weight. My folks could see it. They knew something was up. Anyway, I spent the night and I was getting ready to leave in the morning and I looked at myself in the mirror for a good long time. I finally had enough and told them everything. They took me to detox, from there I went to rehab. Graduated in August and been living with them ever since then. I have 160 days clean and sober."
– Crotch-Monster
A reality check can be enough for some people to snap out of it.
Like Father, Like Son
"Was driving a drunk friend home, he had been on a bender again and was smart enough to call me for a lift rather than try and drive. As I helped in to his house his mother came down the stairs and said 'your as drunk as your father' and went back upstairs. I haven't seen him drunk since then, he still drinks but the thought of turning into his dad scared him out of hard drinking."
– psycospaz
Busted
"Flashing blue lights."
– FiddleOfGold
"This sobered me up just thinking about it."
– redmaple_syrup
Losing Sight
"Woke up to no sight in one eye. I had cataract surgery so just thought one of the lenses had slipped and it was an easy fix. Eye doc says nope, you had a stroke. I loved soy sauce, teriyaki sauce and salty food, which caused high blood pressure, which caused retina damage. Over six months was able to get most of my eyesight back with medication, and all back within a year. Trying to navigate life with one eye was very sobering. Started taking HBP much more seriously."
– MissHibernia
Quitting The Bottle
"Looked up someone I went to highschool with who was an awesome guy. Found out he had been dead for 3 years from alcoholism, at age 33. I made an overnight change. I hadn't started drinking that night yet, 10 months ago. Haven't touched it again since."
– omgtater
These disturbing moments were enough for Redditors to immediately come to their senses.
Unplanned House Guests
"Me and a buddy Woke up in someone’s living room, realized neither one of us knew the people, they were just nice and let 2 drunk guys sleep on their living room floor. We didn’t even say goodbye."
– Oneinsevenbillion75
Serious Health Warning
"Elevated liver enzymes."
"And the knowledge that this sh** was gonna kill me and I just couldn't orphan my family over it."
"So I opted for recovery, instead."
"Clean and sober since June 5, 2009."
– Far_Meal8674
The Joyride
"Grew up in a rural area. The little town hosted dances at the hockey arena, everyone (adults and kids) went and they overserved everyone, regardless of age. I was maybe 16 or 17 and was absolutely sh*tfaced, and jumped in the back of someone's truck with about 8 other people to go back to someone's cottage for after dance drinking. The driver (still don't know who it was) started racing one of his buddies and we whipped around small dirt roads, flying around blind corners on the wrong side of the road, going god knows how fast. It was basically a disaster waiting to happen. It was crazy scary and I was sober and thankful to be alive when we finally arrived."
– foxfood9116
The human psyche is a fascinating thing, isn't it?
How we can automatically focus on something urgent at a crucial time, even after getting buzzed from drinking too much alcohol.
But as we're in the thick of the holidays, it's a good reminder to drink responsibly and stay off the roads if you drive to your celebratory destination.
Cheers. Stay safe. And happy holidays.
We've all complained or vented about something in our lives which, in the grand scheme of things, wasn't exactly a problem, or is very easily solved.
Then there are those who complain about things that others almost hope will happen to them at some point in their lives.
These are known as "first world problems", as they are problems that pretty much only the world's one percent faces.
From having to fly business class instead of first class, or being served Roederer instead of Dom Pérignon, these complaints are often met with amusement, bewilderment, or even anger.
Redditor jennimackenzie was curious to hear the most absurd "first world problems" anyone ever complained about, leading them to ask:
"What’s the most ridiculous 'first world problem' you’ve seen people get worked up over?"
"Tale As Old As Time..."
"I once knew a mom who was legitimately devastated, to the point of tears/grief, because a doctor predicted her 8 year old daughter's final height to be around 5'2","
"Which wasn't tall enough to get cast as Belle at Disney World."
"That was the child's (and her mother's) only dream in life, apparently."
"Didn't appreciate my suggestion that she could be Minnie or Mickey."
"Lol!"
"Only a face character would do!"- TravelLovingMom
"Must Be Funny, In A Rich Man's World..."
"My boss from about a decade ago was this insanely rich dude who always went to the bank to get fresh and crisp currency."
"He'd call the bank in advance to make sure they had some on hand."
"I think he was a germaphobe."
"He had a trash can that he'd throw $1 and $5 bills in that he thought was 'dirty' and regularly just donated it vs spending it."
"I asked him why he did this and he said it was too much trouble and asked if I wanted it."
"I said f*ck yeah dumped it into my bag and when I got home it was close to $400 in singles and fives.
"Another time, he wanted to upgrade all the computers in his studio, so we went to a store and bought 10 PCs."
"They all had $150 mail in rebates and he wasn't bothered to go through the trouble of mailing them in."
"3 weeks later I received $1500 after spending a whole afternoon filling out all those goddamn forms."- azninvasion2000
Money Burn GIF by nog
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Who Wore It Better?
"When I was about 19 years old, I was at my boyfriends family BBQ."
"I was wearing this pretty floral sundress."
"His cousins girlfriend showed up in the same dress and she was SO mad that she went and changed."
"I will never understand being upset when someone is wearing the same thing as you.'
"Did you really think that your shirt you bought off the rack is going to be unique to you?"
"No."- mertsey627
Seeing Red! Or Blue In This Case...
"The blue of the balloons wasn't quite the same as the bridesmaid's sashes."
"Years ago my wife and I attended a wedding."
"It was very low key."
"The dinner was in the dining hall at the university where the couple met, cinder block walls and all."
"It was a Baptist wedding - no booze and very serious."
"The dark blue balloons attempting to liven up the hall were a slightly darker shade of blue than the sashes on the bridesmaid's dresses."
"The bride lost here sh*t and absolutely raved for nearly an hour."
"I can't remember how they finally managed to talk her down."- mechant_papa
south park wedding GIF
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See You In Court!
"Rich neighbors who end up in expensive court battles because they disagree about where a tree can be planted or whether the color of a fence fits in with the street’s 'amenity'."
'These disputes get really heated and rack up huge lawyers’ bills."
"The most pathetic part is after the judgement when they are arguing about who should pay the other party’s costs."
"Lots of affidavits filed citing the 'emotional distress' they had to endure, or painting themselves as brave warriors who were forced to take a stand to fight for 'justice'."
"Also lots of pompous litigants insisting that the judge refer to them by their 'Dr' title."
"An absolutely insane dumpster fire of entitled rich people problems."- ElectrocRaisin
It's Always People With Money Who Don't Want To Pay!
"I work in a public library."
"People will get so so mad if they have to be put on a wait list for a book."
"A popular book that just came out."
"Ok our services are not only free but so are the books."
"You’re welcome, a**holes."- Switchbladekitten
A Warm Butt Is A Happy Butt!
"My own."
"We have a bidet toilet seat (Fabulous! Everyone should have one!) and not only does it wash your bum and blow dry it, but the seat's heated!"
"It's shocking how much a heated toilet seat makes the whole process more agreeable."
"Except: We had a power outage and I went to use the toilet and the seat was cold!"
"Unacceptable!"
"This shall not stand!"
"I was really upset because it didn't feel good."
"Then I stopped and thought: This is the most first-world problem anyone's ever had."
"I was really pissed because my heiny was tepid."
"I got over it."- DeathGrover
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Holy Matrimony!
"Weddings are a gold mine for this question."
"People get so hyped up over their 'most important day of their life'."
"They'll destroy friendships, go into debt, and have crazy expectations."
"It's not always the couple who go crazy, either."
"Sometimes, it's the parents or another family member who feels entitled to control the wedding."
"It's just a party."
"Be considerate of guests, have plenty of food and drinks, and enjoy it."- magicrowantree
When Fast Food Isn't Fast Enough...
"Having to pull off to the side to wait for a drive-thru order to be brought out to you because your food isn't ready and there's a line building up behind you."- demanbmore
In Case You Don't Think Customer Service Employees Are Undervalued...
"I was working the return desk at a Target next to a military base so I have so many stories."
"One of my favorites was a lady who had her baby shower before revealing the gender and was livid that she had received floral newborn diapers when she’s having a boy."
"It was a huge box of super expensive, all organic diapers, that we didn’t carry and therefore could not return."
"I cannot accurately express her fury and disgust."
"How dare either suggest her boy could wear feminine diapers."
"I suggested she donate them if she didn’t want to use them and she instead threw away the entire box."
"When she left we pulled it out and threw it in our donate bin."
"There have also been multiple times where mom’s order massive toys and when we bring them out to the car they get furious that they aren’t wrapped."
"We don’t offer wrapping services."
"Here’s the thing, if you don’t want your kids to see the toys you got them for Christmas or their bit to day DON'T BRING THE CHILD WHEN YOU PICK IT UP."
'I’ve had multiple women scream and curse me out that I had ruined their kids Christmas by bringing the toys they ordered out to the car like they requested."- clever-mermaid-mae
Customer Service Waiting GIF by Juno Calypso
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Happiest Place On Earth!
"I used to work for Disney."
"That in itself should tell you everything."
"However for fun I'll give you two specific stories one form our tech department and one from my wife who worked bookings."
"I specifically worked for their call center to help with technical issues with magic band and the website."
"Suddenly got worse huh?"
"A right of passage call everyone has at least one story of is the 'Dome call'."
"Basically there is a subset of Disney Guest (TM) that believes if it rains at Walt Disney world there is someone that will push a button to encapsulate the whole of Disney property in a dome to keep out the rain."
"I'm not kidding."
"If this button is not pushed they call our tech department to angrily ask why."
"My wife worked booking."
"Pretty much everything including Bibbidi Bobbidi boutique and Pirate's league."
"These two things did roughly the same thing difference being price and theme."
"BBB was expensive did more and was focused on princesses, pirates league did a bit less and focused on mermaids and pirates."
"Lady called up my wife, and got pissed about BBB being booked up (It goes FAAAAST)."
"Karen: 'Im going to give the phone to my daughter and I want you to tell her how you are ruining her vacation by not letting her do BBB'."
"Wife proceeds to explain how pirate's league is so much cooler and how she can be a mermaid or pirate and basically gets the kid to start demanding to their parents about how they want to be a mermaid instead of a princess."- trollsong
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The horror!
Being booked into a junior suite at Disney World instead of an executive suite!
It's almost as bad as having no money for groceries, or no food to feed you children...
Said absolutely no one.