
Police officers have a hard job and they sometimes have rather frightening experiences while at work.
Here, officers and other professionals share their experiences, inspired by Redditor TerrorBirb who asked today's burning question: Police officers of Reddit, what is the scariest/creepiest thing too happen to you on the job?
"It makes my hair stand up to this day."
Dispatcher here.
Had a woman call in on 911 whispering. Could barley understand anything but I managed to get an address. I kept the line open until the officers got there. Officers get to the house and a male steps out. They asked him why someone dialed into 911. He says must have been an accidental dial and theres no emergency. They obviously find this suspicious so they hang around talking outside to the male and one officer manages to spot a tiny hand stuck out of a small window waving around. They go inside the house and save a female who was beat bad and charged the male with forcible confinement. It makes my hair stand up to this day.
"Was dispatched..."
Police officer here. Was dispatched to hold a scene of a domestic assault where the female was attacked with a metal hook until our forensic team arrived. Was there for approximately three hours in the house by myself. Got a call from a detective assigned to the case to search the house again as the woman's two very young children we're still missing. Found them both dead in the bottom of a closet tied up. I'll never forget this one.
"I responded to a call..."
I responded to a call for a subject shooting a shotgun in his house. When I arrive his mom runs out screaming "He's in his room!!" I have her wait by my car.
Me and another officer enter, I am point man. We make our way to his bedroom and I turn the corner. He is sitting in a chair with a shotgun and looks at me.
He casually greets me, (I had dealt with him before from a past arrest). I attempt to talk to him and try to keep him calm.
After about a minute he just says "Doesn't matter, thanks for trying though." And then shoots himself. Did not survive.
Still haunts me but thanks to therapy and family I have handled as well as I could and I'm still a cop.
"My grandfather..."
My grandfather was a cop for 40+ years. He recently told me a story about getting a call from a neighbor saying they hadn't seen their neighbor, let's call him Bill, for a few days. My grandfather and another cop, John, show up at Bill's house. They knock and knock, but no answer. They check the doors and lo behold, one is unlocked. As they enter the house, my grandfather starts calling out, "Mr. Bill, are you home? Is everything alright?"
This goes on while they search the house. Finally, Officer John goes down the steps to the basement. My grandfather hears him say, "Oh, Mr. Bill, there you are! Is everything alright?" My grandfather goes down the steps to see Bill standing in his basement in his suit, complete with his hat, and one thing that was very, very off.
My grandfather goes, "John, I think Bill is dead."
Dumbfounded, Officer John says, "He's standing right there."
"And you don't see the rope around his neck?"
So, apparently Bill had hung himself with clothing line rope, tied it to a beam in his basement, and kicked away the stool he was standing on. Over the however many days it had been, the rope had "stretched" so much that Bill looked like he was standing in the dark basement.
Out of all the stories I've heard so far, that was the saddest, funniest (because of Officer John's confusion), and darkest story I've heard my grandfather tell.
"This is the call..."
Ex-police officer here. This is the call that made me decide law enforcement wasn't for me. Conducted a no-knock search warrant on a drug house. First officer through the door secures the suspect closest to the door, second officer secures the person second closest to the door, etc. I was the fourth officer in, and of course my suspect ran. I chase him down a hallway, he runs in a room and slams the door. I burst in right after, jump on top of him and get him secured.
Before I cuffed him, he had his hand under the bed. I took him to the living room where the other suspects were being held, go back on the room and look under the bed...double barrel sawed off shotgun. My heart sank. I took a few photos for evidence, and collected the gun. Opened the barrels and found it was loaded with two slugs. I'm not sure he would have shot me had he gotten ahold of it, but it was enough to keep me up for two nights. I resigned 3 weeks later.
"I was working..."
I was working an off-duty job at a local theme park. It was an overnight so the park was completely closed with no one around besides the occasional cleaner or painter. I usually just sit in my patrol car on my laptop but when I get sleepy or need to stretch my legs I get out and go for a walk around the empty park. Let me tell you, amusement parks are really creepy when they are empty at night, but I got used to it. On this particular night I was doing my normal walk, on my phone probably on twitter, when I look up and see a lady who appeared to be in her 60's, nonchalantly sitting at a table in one of the restaurants that was closed.
Like just sitting there in the dark. This really confused the hell out of me and she was not dressed like an employee. I tapped on the window and she turned her head and stared straight at me. I asked loudly what she was doing and she just turned her head back away from me and ignored me. I tried to open the door and it was locked. I called on the radio for park security to come over there and confirm if this lady was supposed to be there while I walked back to my car to get the set of keys I kept in there.
As I walk back to the front of the restaurant 2 security guards are walking up at the same time as me. one of them peers in the window and asks "somebody was in here?" I look and the lady is no longer at the table. We get it open and search every crevice of this place and there was not a soul in there. You can say I was a little freaked out. We went back and checked the exterior cameras and nobody entered or exited. To this day this creeps me out and I can't explain it
"I had a dude OD..."
I had a dude OD on heroin while trying to get something from his bedside table. He collapsed into it and choked to death with his head in the top drawer because he couldn't move. The best he could do is kind of hug it.
So in the morning mum comes in and sees him, drags him off and puts him on the floor before calling 000. He is left exactly as he died.
We arrived and he is on his back with all his limbs up like a bug, kind of like a crawling position but on his back. His face and neck was red but his throat had a white line where the drawer was resting to choke him, at a glance it looked like his throat was sliced because of the color difference. It wasn't scary so much, it just looked bizarre and isn't what you expect at 7am.
I don't think I'll ever forget the sound of the undertakers straightening out the rigor mortisey joints.
"Responded..."
Responded to a single vehicle crash out in the county. Found the car, it had left the road, crashed through a fence, rolled at least three times, came to rest right side up. The driver was mangled pretty bad, and actual paramedic says he's deceased, we secure the scene, wait for the coroner. Coroner gets there, declares him dead, starts his investigation/documentation.
About 20 minutes into it, we are all near the coroner van discussing the situation. We are about 20 feet from the victim car. The driver (who hasn't been removed yet) sits up, looks around, and starts the car. We all jumped about five feet straight into the air. Driver survived. Loads of investigation into how two trained pros declared a live man dead.
"I felt bad for both."
This older lady calls because her husband went outside to cut wood and didn't come back for lunch. He was recently diagnosed with a terminal illness. Anyway, we end up locating him in his barn hanging by the neck from a rafter. He tells me to grab his thighs while he cuts the rope.
Once the rope was cut the old guy flopped over my shoulder which forced all the air out of him through his throat and voice box. I can't really describe it but it was like the loudest and longest moan i'd ever heard. I screamed and dropped him. I felt bad for both.
"I worked night shift..."
Not a cop, but a former EMT. I worked night shift, and this was either the night before or night of Halloween. We get a call to BFE for "generalized pain," which is a giant red flag for us because that could range from "I hurt my finger" to "I got shot and I'm dying but I don't want the cops to come." Now, since this is night shift, we get this call about 3 am. So we get there, and it's a creepy old lady who get us to go into the house from the garage. Why? Because she has a tv blocking the front door out of fear of zombies or something showing up to rob her. Weird, right? Well, this garage was pitch black.
We asked her to turn on the light and she wouldn't do it because squirrels chewed up the wires. So my partner and I kind of gave a weird look to each other but didn't think much of it, since we thought it was some Halloween thing. We go inside, and there a single mattress on the floor. No other furniture besides that tv blocking the front door. The patient is the crazy lady's daughter. She's got chronic pain so it's nbd. So, we get her to the truck and something seems off with the crazy lady. So I automatically close the door to the truck, leaving the medic and patient in there, since he's much bigger than me and can handle himself and a patient already strapped to the stretcher.
So I'm outside the truck and crazy old lady is standing there with her arm in a sling that she had just put on. I asked her to leave so I could go to the hospital. She tries to hand me a Diet Coke for her daughter and I refuse. This sets her off. She throws the coke and runs off towards the house, but only a few feet before she turns back around and starts coming at me. I see something in her hand...she had pulled a knife out. My paramedic then opens the door to tell me he's ready to go and it startles the lady enough for me to be like "aight leggo" and off we go to the hospital. I went home and cried. That was the first time I was almost killed on duty. And it was 3 am at Halloween.
"One that just recently happened to me..."
One that just recently happened to me that was pretty creepy, I had an assist with rescue call. Dispatch said the caller came home from the store and found her sister unconscious in her bed. When we got there, you could clearly tell that her sister was deceased. What was creepy is that since rescue came to the house first, they really didn't take a look around until we got there. There were obvious signs of a burglary to the home. Broken window in the back room with the broken glass on the inside of the home. It also looked like she may have been strangled. Rescue took her since she still showed signs of life, but they said it had to of happened within the last hour of them arriving. I felt so bad for her sister that found her.
"Medically retired..."
I was assaulted by a co worker and then assaulted by the chief. I'm a dude.
Medically retired after being assaulted on the job. Both employees still there.
"Back when I was working patrol..."
Back when I was working patrol, my partner and I got a welfare check call for an elderly man whose out-of-state family couldn't get in contact with. These are the worst calls, because you know what is behind that door. The family gave us authorization to enter if there was no answer. And there wasn't.
The front door was locked, but we were able to open the garage door and go in through that door. The garage gave us signs of what was to come inside the house. It was filled with junk from floor to ceiling front to back, with just a little walkway to the door to the house. After taking a few steps in to the garage, we knew what we would find. The smell was overwhelming.
So far, there is nothing creepy or scary about this, as this wasn't my first body I found or seen. After making our way through the trash pathways in the living room and kitchen, we made our way to the master bedroom. We found him sitting in a rocking chair in his bedroom. Because decomp had already set in, there were no muscles holding him together. So his upper body was leaning to the right at an almost perfect 90 degrees. It was really creepy to see a body bent that way without having any type of trauma. (He passed from natural causes.)
"Was searching..."
Was searching a house for an intruder and the homeowner forgot to tell me about the mannequin wearing a trench coat in the middle of the basement in the dark. Nearly sh@t myself.
"When I was in my early 20s..."
When I was in my early 20s, I had a neighbor who was a paramedic. I really admired her, and we were good friends for several years. I thought I might also like to be a paramedic, so she suggested that I go on a ride along with her one night. At about 1am, a call came in for a car wreck, and we sped over. A family in a car had been in a pile up between two semis.
"The parents were dead on the scene..."
The parents where dead on the scene, but their teenage daughter was still alive, crushed between the front and back seat of their vehicle, which collapsed into itself like an accordion. She kept calling for her mother. "Mama! Mama!" It was the most horrific thing I've ever experienced. She didn't make it, and I did not become a paramedic.
"They later interviewed the guy..."
Not me but my dad. He's a road officer and about two years ago he was patrolling when he heard an engine revving behind him. By the time he looked up and a guy in a pickup trunk has rear-ended him. He calls it in on his radio, thinking it was just an accidental something when the guy reverses and hits him again. My dad realized it was on purpose and as the guy tries to take off, my dad turns his car into the truck as it goes by. He must have hit something good because it disabled the guys truck. My dad tries to get out but can't move his leg. So he just keeps the guy on point telling him to keep his hands up. The guy starts hitting himself in the face saying "Kill me, kill me. I'm going to kill you." My dad didn't see any weapon and the guy didn't get out of his car, so he just kept him in sight until back up arrived. They arrested the guy and took my dad to the hospital.
When I got to my dad he told me that he was afraid because he couldn't feel or move his leg. He was worried he was never going to walk again. Lucky there was no serious damage and after some physical therapy he was able to get most of the feeling back and can walk.
They later interviewed the guy and he said he had no regrets. He wanted to die and thought he would go out death by cop. He even said something along the lines of killing my dad in the crash to make the other officers angry. So yeah... that's our scariest story.
"Had a call that a woman who lived alone..."
Had a call that a woman who lived alone with her dogs and had not been seen for some time.
Myself and a colleague forced entry to the property and were met by the three dogs in an agitated state. Searched the place and in the living room was a couch with an object sticking up from it. Despite it being daytime and visibility good, I couldn't work out what it was. It looked like an arm sticking vertically up.
Walked around it a couple of times then realised it was the spine of the partially eaten resident. Most of the midsection of the body was gone with just a piece of skin joining the legs to the upper torso. The legs had been dragged over to the head causing the spine to stick up out of the body.
It was horrific but we did our enquiries, the dogs were removed as were the remains. There were no suspicious circumstances so despite the horrific nature of it, it was treated as a sudden death. A cleaning crew was organised.
We had just left when we realised that we had not found the pelvis. We didn't want the cleaning crew to find it so went back and did another search. Still no trace of it, the dogs must have completely consumed the entire pelvis.
"911 dispatcher."
911 dispatcher. Not this last Easter but the one prior when it was on April Fools day, I had just recently gone through a difficult break up with someone I admittedly still love today. I was leaving for work and noticed a note left under the windshield wiper of my Jeep. It read "I'm sorry and I love you." It was from my ex and that really kind of set my tone for the day. Fast forward maybe 45 minutes, it was a relatively slow morning for working in the metro. I believe it was the second call I took that morning of a hysterical woman stating her boyfriend shot himself in the head, it was difficult to get information from her as you could imagine but what made it difficult was that I could hear him making sounds that did not sound human, gagging, gasping for air, difficulty breathing and retching. I remember thinking how this woman just lost someone she loved, she had witness him take his life. I also remember thinking how I never want to lose someone that I love again - not that my break up even holds a light to what she went through. Anyways, he still had a pulse by the time the officers arrived and by the time he reached the hospital. I don't know if he lived or not, I'd imagine he succumbed to his injuries.
"I was called to the scene..."
I'm a CSI.
I was called to the scene of a man who was presumed dead already. He was found in the woods, skin pale and drenched from the rain passing over earlier. He was shot execution style in the back of the head, which was eventually determined to be the cause of death. We had the team block off the area and the nearby road, and then the body was placed on a stretcher to be taken for autopsy. When it was moved, the body moaned softly, and it scared the shit outta me.
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Comedy is in a very tricky place right now.
There is so much to NOT laugh about in this world.
In truth, many of us have forgotten how to laugh.
And certain jokes that are told, make people afraid to laugh.
So what do we do?
We tell inappropriate jokes apparently.
Let's hear some...
Redditor CrewCreation wanted to hear some "risky" comedy. So they asked:
"What’s the best morbid joke you know?"
***WARNING: THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS SENSITIVE MATERIAL. PROCEED WITH CAUTION!***
I can't think of anything hilarious at the moment. Make us LOL.
Lady
"I have this friend, love him to bits, but his wife has a tendency of just constantly showing everyone pictures of their son at every social event. At the start it was understandable, but now I'm just like 'Lady, it's been two years; they're not going to find him.'"
UnoriginalUse
at 9am...
"Not the most morbid but I love Anthony Jeselnik’s story about his neighbor who has Alzheimer’s. 'One of my next door neighbors is a 90 year old man suffering from Alzheimer’s. And every single morning at 9am he knocks on my door and asks me if I have seen his wife.'"
"'Which means that every single morning at 9am I have to explain to a 90 year old man suffering from Alzheimer’s that his wife has been dead for quite some time. Now I’ve thought about moving. I have thought about just not answering my door in the morning. But to be honest, it’s worth it… just to see the smile on his face.”
dreagan021
Comedy?
"Why can't orphans play baseball? They don't know where home is."
GW2RNGR
"Why can't orphans play tennis? They get confused when they hear love."
JayDub506
People who make comedy are evil. LOL.
The Darkness
"Dark humor is like food; not everyone gets it."
storm_the_castle
God Laughs?
"A Holocaust survivor dies and goes to heaven, where she meets God. To break the tension she tells God a joke about the Holocaust, but God doesn’t laugh. The lady shrugs and says 'I guess you had to be there.'"
“'I guess you had to be there' is a common expression used when someone doesn’t laugh at a joke. It means that the comedy may not translate without the context of the situation."
"In this case the Holocaust survivor is saying it, meaning that during the Holocaust God was nowhere to be found. It’s not really a joke about the Holocaust, but the absurdity of belief in a benevolent God. Hilarious right?"
semimillennial
Oh Baby
"How many dead babies does it take to fix a light bulb? More than 3 cause my garage is still dark."
sirnibs3
I don't know whether to laugh or cry. Because I don't know what it says about us as people if we laugh. Oye.
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Life can change in an instant.
It can always change for the better.
Just ask any lottery winner.
Sadly, life can also take a turn for the worst and leave people shattered beyond repair.
Watching someone's life fall apart in a short amount of time is difficult.
You have to wonder if there really is such a thing as karma, bad luck, or Voodoo.
Redditor OkImagination5852 wanted to hear about the times we've been witness to personal disaster. They asked:
"People who witness a person's life crumble in a single day, what happened?"
I have lived through a lot of bad days. But thankfully they've been one disaster at a time days. So I guess I'm lucky.
Horror
"A friend of a friend had his entire family killed overnight. He was from my college and was home visiting his family. His parents, siblings, and extended family were all there together. One night, while they were all asleep, his father got up, took out a gun, and went on a shooting spree. He then killed himself."
"Everyone except this guy died on the spot. When my friend visited him at the hospital, the guy was still in shock. He had no idea why his father did that. This was more than a decade ago, and I have no idea how he's doing now."
DeadOnDeparture98
The IRS Called
"Knew a guy who had a nice house, wife, 3 kids. Machine shop in his garage, Snap On tool truck, sign out front, great mechanic. Never incorporated, didn't pay taxes on his business, cash only. Took nice vacations, bought a boat, then a camper. Five years later, the IRS came. I don't know what they estimated he owed but they seized everything. He lives alone in a trailer now."
Nobody_Wins_13
2 at Once
"My mom’s dad and dad’s mom both died on the same day. Completely unrelated. We were pretty messed up for awhile. It was 2010. Mom's dad had emphysema (lifetime smoker) and was pretty sick for a few weeks. I was in college at the time and came home to be with him, because we knew he was about to pass. Dad's mom was in the nursing home, as she had had a stroke and also had dementia (she often thought I was my dad, she thought we were in the 70s, etc.)."
"She took a turn for the worst, and so my dad left the hospice my grandpa was at and went to be with her. The towns they were in were about an hour apart, so I stayed behind with my mom to comfort her when her dad passed. A few hours go by, and he passes peacefully (huge thanks to the hospice workers for their respect and grace during this time)."
"Within an hour or so of his passing, we get a call from my dad saying that his mother had passed as well. It was a terribly dark day in our family, and the next couple years for me in college were pretty much a blur. Thankfully, things got better in time and we are all doing well now."
She lost everything...
"Her husband left her after previously persuading her to remortgage their house to save his business and he's already made her take multiple credit cards out in her name. She lost everything. He did it the week after their youngest turned 18 so he wouldn't have to pay child support. He'd obviously been planning for years."
Ieatclowns
a black sheep...
"My cousin was in a motorcycle accident with her boyfriend. Her boyfriend died. She broke her back. When she was in the hospital she learned she was pregnant. It's been 16 years and we're still trying our best, she took an all too familiar path of drugs, burning bridges and more pregnancies."
"At this point she's fairly stable and clean as far as I know but a bit of a black sheep. Her mother has custody of all one of her kids. She has her youngest and seems to be doing good by her, but who knows. It's been hard on everyone, especially her mother and her brother."
Paradigm6790
Well this is the stuff of nightmares. I'm grateful for every moment I have alive.
Several lawsuits are filed...
"Here is multiple lives ruined in an instant. A friend was over at some other people house, drugs were involved. They had been playing with a gun. My friend points the gun at a girl, pulls the trigger and shoots her in the head. Girl dies, friend gets locked up until he turns 18. Parents at the house get arrested because they knew what the kids were doing. Friends mom goes into a depression and ends up getting evicted from her house. Several lawsuits are filed."
sentondan
Gone Forever
"It was me... got in a car accident and suffered a traumatic spinal and brain injury that I had no chance of surviving... a 7 vertebrae spinal fusion, yrs of physical and mental therapy... 18 yrs later and the pieces, though many forever gone, are finally coming back together."
2boneskuLL
A Bad Night
"He trashed his fathers vacation house with an axe before setting it on fire, stabbed the neighbor nearly to death, stole their car and then crashed it into a cop car so bad the cops were injured. He also got his girl pregnant, so once he is out of prison they're gonna start a family."
Dumbing_It_Down
"dangerous"
"Pregnant friend found out husband (43) was having an affair with young woman (19) who was a volunteer at their ecolodge. Friend had 'dangerous' pregnancy and had to spend a lot of time in bed. This betrayal destroyed their marriage, split the little town where they lived and caused two employees to quit because witnessing the affair going on was just too painful."
"She had a beautiful baby girl (to go with her other two girls, lol) and after the breakup was clinically depressed. Worked hard and got a divorce (she had a great lawyer); got the business back on track; beat her depression and now is planning a great vacation trip with her girls."
"Meantime, Dad has generous visitation but just 'hasn't gotten around to' buying a car seat so he can pick up the baby and for a long time asked my friend, 'Can you drop the girls off at my Mom's?'"
NoBSforGma
Lost it All...
"Recently, I know of a guy that had borrowed all his family’s life savings for the most part to participate in the whole game stop stock thing happening… he lost every penny of his money (credit card advances), and his parents retirement, and every other dime he could get… it makes me sick to even think of it."
Bangbangsmashsmash
Well those are A LOT of bad days. Good luck to all of you.
If you or someone you know is struggling, you can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
To find help outside the United States, the International Association for Suicide Prevention has resources available at https://www.iasp.info/resources/Crisis_Centres/
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Those who are wealthy have the luxury of acquiring the best of the best–whether it's dinner at a Michelin-starred restaurant or status-identifying clothing from Chanel or Yves Saint Laurent.
But even the rich have their limits when it comes to frivolous spending before casting judgment on friends or colleagues.
Curious to hear examples of this, Redditor Sasquatchfl asked:
"Rich people of Reddit, what's the craziest/most unethical thing you've seen people in your circle spend money on?"
Expensive experiences were a priority over prized possessions.
Live Sushi
"An ex worked for Dell in the late 90s/early 2000s. He was pretty high up and there were lots of partiers in his work circle. Went to a party hosted by one of the dellionaires and there was a body sushi girl. I don’t know what was paid to her, but it was one of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever seen."
– 5hrs4hrs3hrs2hrs1mor
Pissing Contest
"Paid a group of homeless guys to only use the bathroom on a competitors business. Eventually bought that place for a massive discount."
– Haboobalub
Let's Work Out
"My mother woke up one morning and said she felt she was way too fat and she wanted to get a treadmill. The treadmill wouldn’t be a problem, but then she saw where it would be and didn’t like the lighting. Fast forward 2 months later there’s a 40k outdoor gym built and connected to the house. She hasn’t used it once."
– Herrera5449_
Taking A Leap
"Travelled with a bunch of ex 'friends' all fairly wealthy."
"First trip to SE Asia together and as an ex-local I was a de-facto tour guide (despite not being there in over a decade)"
"They somehow found and offered a bunch of kids diving off cliffs to jump for spare change."
"They increasingly challenged each other to land their coins as close to the cliff base and small surrounding rocks for the kids to dive for."
– Satakans
It's about the finer things in life.
Expensive Party Gag
"A 3k ouija board from Gwen Paltrow's store. I didn't even know it was a thing until the dude brought it out. I really wanted to cut it up and see what it was made from. Looked nice don't get me wrong but the thing is basically a party gag. For 3 grand, it better summon a demon that's all I'm saying."
– con_this
Slow Burn
"$600 USD for a candle."
– Jeffranks
It's not always about the things you acquire.
Minor Inconvenience
"I know a guy who went to get a new drivers license and had to pay ~$100k in back parking tickets, then joked about it after."
"Apparently he couldn't get a permit to park in front of his house, so he just did anyway, and accepted like a $200 fine everyday."
– melodyze
For A Successful Election
"Not me, but I know a guy who crowd funded (read: threw a bunch of money into, then solicited more at a flea market) $80,000 toward his friend's DA election campaign. The guy won. So far, this has paid back at least $120K in avoided legal fees. I know some rich people. Most of them are more boring than you think. Hell, most of them drive Hondas, Toyotas, and Nissans."
– KP_Wrath
The Lance Corporal
"I was stationed with a Lance Corporal who was wealthy beyond means after selling some of his patents. He owned and piloted four helicopters. Lived in a palatial waterfront house in Jacksonville, NC."
"The cheapest one cost 400K. That's the one he trained on. The most expensive was about 1.2 million. That's 1.2 million 1981 dollars. The two he's got now are about 5 million each."
"Had a floating landing pad out back moored to his dock and another landing pad in the back yard. Kept two helicopters and a Rolls inside his custom-built hangar at Norfolk International Airport."
"He drove a pair of Rolls-Royces. He also toyed with a 900K Miami-Vice type speedboat. He also housed and transported his squad to Camp Lejeune and back in a custom mini-bus."
– ApplicationConnect55
The dude was very giving and lived a very clean life. He'd fly us to Norfolk, pickup the car and we'd do our shopping and eating. Hop in a chopper and return home. He'd fly his fire team down to Miami on weekends. He kept a Limo there and wore a chauffer's outfit and did all the driving.
He bought a full-service and licensed pub in Northern Ireland. He lives there with his wife. Does a lot of charity work there. We still keep in touch."
– ApplicationConnect55
When there's plenty of money going around, there's no need to worry about a single thing.
That peace of mind is a luxury in itself.
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When marriages or relationships fall apart, infidelity is not always the cause.
Curious to hear from strangers online, Redditor Liam_Tang asked:
"People who've divorced, aside from adultery, what were the irreconcilable differences that ended the marriage?"

You think you know a person when you walk down the aisle.
These Redditors were in for a rude awakening.
Pet Neglect
"My wife divorced her ex for many reasons, but the final straw was when she went out of town for a few days, and when she got back he had not fed or given water to the dog. The dog lived a long and happy life after that."
– StrangeCrimes
Obsessed With A Crush
"Not me, but I had an old coworker that divorced his wife for spending their entire savings on candy crush and games of the same type."
– Hexis40
Compatibility Musts
"ITT: Intimacy (sex/romance), beliefs (religion/spirituality/politics), kids, and I haven’t seen it yet but it’s coming: finances."
"The big four. You REALLY need to discuss these things in detail BEFORE getting married."
– rabbiskittles
Physical violence is a legit reason for people to peace out of a relationship.
The Flattening
"She threatened to hit me with a hammer."
– michaelrohansmith
Hitting The Bottle
"She became an abusive alcoholic. It was sad but I had to get out."
– diegojones4
Emotional pain is too damaging to recover from.
Truth Hurts
"She told me as we stood in front of the judge ending our 7 year marriage, 'I never loved you, I just wanted kids.'"
– Pinch_Dogs
Can't Fix Angry
"She was beautiful/smart but an angry angry person. I thought I could be sweet to her and 'fix' that. Heh. She kicked the crap out of me emotionally. Wife II has been a walk in the roses for 32 years now :)"
– lowlandr
A change of heart is worthless if comes too late.
"We Could've Had A Nice Marriage
"He could not understand that my wants and needs were as important as his wants and needs. We tried to make it work for 7 years. During that time, for things that were really important to me, I tried explaining logically, asking nicely, begging, crying, yelling, passive aggressiveness... cycled back through all of these options multiple times."
"(If I knew something was important to him, I would do that. For example, he was really into sports, so I went to all his events, even though that is not at all my thing.) When I finally threw up my hands and told him it was time to get a divorce, he suddenly panicked and said 'What can I do? Do you want me to do half the chores? I'll do it! Do you want me to get a job? I'll do it! Do you want me to buy you presents for your birthday? I'll do it!'"
"So, in other words, he could have been doing that all along, but just couldn't be bothered. That made me so angry. We could have had a nice marriage that we both enjoyed, but no, by the time he saw the light, that ship had sailed."
"We are both happily remarried now (to different people) and I joke that his new wife owes me a thank you note. It was his experience with me that taught him to listen to her and take her needs seriously."
– Bluebird-True
"What Can I Do?"
"My ex was exactly like this. I didn't marry him but when I told him let's break up, he went all like, what can I do? Let's get engaged, let's look at houses, etc. Basically all the pre-marriage topics that we should be discussing about after being together for 7 years."
"I got so angry and straight up told him it's too late... I don't need you anymore."
– gudetarako
As much as a couple wants to stay together, unforeseen circumstances can eventually tear people apart.
Very few people can maintain healthy long-distance relationships.
When a new job opportunity takes a significant other away, would you begrudge them for wanting a better position to earn more money? Or is it better for them to reluctantly turn down the opportunity so they could stay with you? Do either scenarios breed resentment?
These were questions I've often asked myself with past relationships, and my answers varied depending on the person I was with.
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