
Police Share The Most Absurd Situations They Stumbled Upon Without Being Called
[rebelmouse-image 18358748 is_animated_gif=What is that age old expression we've all used? "As luck would have it!" Who hasn't been on the receiving end of that? The funny thing about that sentiment though is it's lack of definition. I'd like to know... exactly what kind of luck will one be experiencing? As luck would have it, I've stumbled upon... money, love... trouble. That leaves a broad scope. And for many of our police and first responders this saying is an unfortunate way of life.
Redditor _imsophreshie asked Police officers of Reddit: What absurd situation have you just happened upon and realized NO ONE called the cops?
FOLLOW THE BLOOD...
I was responding to a disturbance call in a trailer park that turned out to be BS. As I was leaving I noticed a giant puddle of blood on the ground near a different trailer. Upon further inspection I realized that there was blood all over one of the doors complete with smeared hand prints and blood dripping off the door knob. It looked like a massacre!
I started pounding on the door and this junkie comes out and starts yelling at me for waking her up. I asked her if she was hurt and she said she wasn't she then proceeds to go crazy about all the blood. She has no idea where it came from.
I followed the ungodly amount of blood to a trailer about a block down where there is a giant party taking place. I ask the group of guys standing outside where the injured person is and they all go G-code on me and say they don't know what I am talking about (while standing in the blood trail). I push passed and continue down the road to Oz where at the end of it I find a guy in an what used to be an all white outfit that is now dark red attempting to control his massive head bleed on his own.
I later discovered that he had been trying to break into that other trailer when he drunkenly cut his head on the window that he broke out.
NEXT TIME GO TO IHOP...
[rebelmouse-image 18358749 is_animated_gif=Former LEO...worked a late shift and was driving home and decided to stop for some breakfast at waffle house. I noticed a few people flagging me down as I pulled into the parking lot (which was shared by an auto repair shop)...they point me to the back so I pull over and turn my spotlight on...
On the backside of the repair shop there was a dumpster, and there was a man laying down beside it behind the fence...I could see his feet. Then another homeless man walked out with a bowl and literally walked right by my car toward Waffle House (he was soaked btw).
So I walk over to the man laying down and he's unresponsive...I call in and EMT's arrive and the guy is dead (I still to this day have no idea how or why). I have the homeless guy waiting for me next to waffle house and I ask him what happened and he said "He was out cold, I was pouring water on him to keep him warm..."
Video from the auto shop shows guy walking and collapses next to dumpster (he wasn't shot or anything so who knows, heart attack, stroke, something)...and for 45min. this homeless man walked over to a water hose beside the waffle house, filled a bowl up and poured water on him because it was slightly cool outside and he didn't want him to get too cold (water was cold faucet water btw).
Literally nothing ever came close to the weirdness of that night in my entire career.
I NEVER LEAVE HOME WITHOUT A SOFA CUSHION EITHER...
[rebelmouse-image 18358750 is_animated_gif=This was only a few years back.
Driving along a suburban road one night and a guy wearing only his underwear ran up to our cop car and threw a very large sofa cushion at us. As we slowed down to find out why he had thrown said cushion he tried to jump into the back of the car. We got out and had a chat to the poor guy who told us he had used about an 8 ball of poor quality cocaine and wanted to get out attention to help him.
Kicker was he had been running around the suburban streets all drugged up for about 30 minutes and no one thought it was odd enough to call us. To be fair it wasn't the nicest area.
WHAT IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE?
[rebelmouse-image 18358751 is_animated_gif=Not a cop (I'm a paramedic) but I think this fits. My partner and I were at our post which was in the parking lot of a strip mall that had a bunch of stores and one bar which was known to be pretty sketchy. My partner was taking a little nap (it was around 1 am) and I was watching a movie on my phone, waiting for a call. Eventually I notice a few people coming out of the bar and just sort of lingering in the parking lot. A few more people come out, one lights up a cigarette and they all just stand around. I go back to my movie and 20 minutes later I notice there is now a much larger group lingering outside of the bar. Nothing strange was happening but I thought it was weird that they'd all been there for so long so I decided to check it out.
I woke up my pissed off partner to have him pull our rig closer to th edd group. As we approach with our lights on, the group notices us and starts to break apart. A few people scatter and I see that in the middle of the group there is a person on the ground motionless. My partner and I jump out and ask what's going on. Somebody in the group goes "this guy is wasted, he just stumbled out here and fell asleep on the ground" I shout to the man on the ground and he doesn't respond, I check for a pulse and there is none. I start CPR. while my partner gets our jump bag and notifies dispatch. For a full 30 minutes, people had just stood around looking at this dead guy on the ground, some smoking cigarettes, none doing anything about it. There wasn't even a noticeable commotion. Nobody asked if he needed help or called anybody and they probably never would have.
The guy was cool to the touch by the time we got to him, down for at least 30 minutes, we went through the motions but there was no saving him. We transported and he was pronounced at the hospital within 15 minutes.
How hard is it to ask someone if they are Ok? Or to dial 911? How was not one single person in that group not alarmed by seeing a man "sleeping" on the ground in a parking lot?
I've had similar variations of this scene happen at least 3 times while on duty.
GARDENING CAN BE DANGEROUS!
[rebelmouse-image 18358752 is_animated_gif=My father was a village police man in he UK during the 80s, so this is his story. Lady bought a house and after many days/weeks getting settled, she turned her attention to the garden. She started digging some flower beds, but as she was working she came across some small bones in the dirt, baby sized bones.
This house used to belong to a doctor, so the lady puts two and two together and assumes he was a child murderer or maybe did some off-the-books abortions back in the day. This lady is shocked and terrified that her new home could be tainted by this horrible past, but she didn't call the police... Instead she just avoids the garden. Completely. The whole thing weighs heavily on her mind as the years go by.. 5, 10, 15 years (I forget how long exactly but it was at least a decade) until one day she can't take it anymore and calls the police to report the bones.
My dad goes out to investigate, in to the garden where she shows him roughly where they were. He digs around a little (this was the 80s and apparently they were less concerned with disturbing evidence) and finds not a dead baby, but a small plastic skeleton. Poor woman had been living with guilt and fear for decades because of a kids toy.
WHERE THERE IS SMOKE...
[rebelmouse-image 18346812 is_animated_gif=I'm really late to the party here. But three weeks after I started, I was on my way to our off site property control. Just driving through a residential area to avoid the congestion and take a look at my new beat. I drive past a house with smoke pouring out from the eves and two guys watching across the street. They pointed at is as I stopped and said, "I think there's a fire." Think was an understatement. This entire house was filled with smoke, windows were black with soot, and still no call. These two guys were just chatting away and not doing anything. I couldn't see fire, but it was July 10th and a sunny morning. No mistaking a house fire in broad daylight.
So I call it in and try to gain access and yell for any survivors. Keep in mind I have zero fire training, but have half a brain enough to know that if there are any survivors in there I won't be any help to them, and will just be another body to yard out once fire does arrive. I get into the back yard by jumping over the hood of a minivan and sliding across like a Duke brother because there is so much junk everywhere. This takes a piece of the wooden fence and jambs my radio key button open, so everyone can here me breathing, yelling for survivors, etc. I have no idea I've got an open mic at this time. I lay down on the deck and look through the sliding glass door and there is only about 4 inches up from the floor I can see. I continue to yell for survivors but get no response.
As soon as fire gets there, they make a slow entry because the front door has been barricaded. This is when I knew something wasn't right. Suspicions were confirmed when fire fighters yarded out four children, a mother, and father. The father was the last one taken out and the only survivor. Everyone else, except an infant, had been murdered with a kitchen knife.
BLOOD IS ALWAYS THE GIVEAWAY...
[rebelmouse-image 18979736 is_animated_gif=Not in LE anymore, but was for about 12 yrs in a large city. When I was a patrolman, I got a call about someone shooting off fireworks in a strip mall at 2am. These were common calls, so we would usually just go check the area and clear the call. I checked the parking lot and didn't find anything, but noticed the lights were on at one of the strip mall businesses.
I won't say what business it was, but it was owned by a pretty prominent local businessman. Anyways, I got out to check and found the front door unlocked, which was suspicious. We had a lot of burglaries in that area , so I asked dispatch to call a rep for the business. I was clearing the building and found the owner and several other people (all really prominent) in a backroom where a poker table was set up.
One of the guys was sitting down and had a pile of coats in his lap which was really weird and he was acting like he was in pain. I saw blood droplets under his chair and asked him what was wrong. He broke down and moved the coats, then revealed he had a gunshot wound in his thigh.
Long story short, these guys had a high stakes poker game every week and someone tried to rob it and things went sideways. The dude robbing it shot this guy in the leg, which some citizen heard and called in a fireworks call. The guys involved in the game weren't going to call the cops and were arranging to have a doctor come treat him "off the books." Gambling is illegal in the state I worked in, but we honestly wouldn't have given a crap.
We actually caught the guy that did it, but the DA wouldn't prosecute because the victim / witnesses didn't want to testify or be involved. The victim recovered fine. One of the guys who I interviewed told me that they were robbed of over $30,000.
BLINK!!
[rebelmouse-image 18979737 is_animated_gif=Started my four-to-midnight shift by heading directly to get a coffee. Beautiful summer day, people everywhere. I pull into the parking space and see a dude lying on the ground in front of a park bench.
I jumped out of my cruiser, grabbed my first aid bag, and called it in. The guy was conscious but not really responsive. It sounds like a movie but we were doing the old_"blink if you can hear me" _deal. The rescue finally arrived and took him to the hospital. I found out later on that the poor guy had suffered a severe grand mal seizure and was still in an episode when I rolled up on him.
The frustrating part was the dozens of people milling about that couldn't even bother themselves to call 911 nevermind find out of the guy was ok ????
SOMEDAYS ARE JUST TOO MUCH.
[rebelmouse-image 18979738 is_animated_gif=I do mountain bike patrol in a smallish/medium sized city. Was just riding one morning just after rush hour and spotted a little kid probably 3-4 years old standing on the side of the road with no parents in sight. Stopped and asked him where his parents were and he just kinda shrugged. Called it in and some dude ran out of some townhomes across the street and said the little dude was standing out there for a few hours and he was watching him to "keep an eye on him." There were people around and everything, but we never got a call for it.
Long story short, he wandered out of the room him and his mom were staying in nearby and wandered out to the street. Place was a shelter for women and he was able to get out past the manager and a court police officer. Mom had died from a heroin overdose 3 days prior and when the little guy got hungry he got out of the room and wandered out to the street. No one even went to check on her either despite the smell.
EVERYTHING IN MODERATION.
[rebelmouse-image 18979740 is_animated_gif=Current police officer.
Was driving an emphasis patrol in a hot spot area known to be a car prowl area. A house party is going on, three people are face down in the yard and people are just standing around them like.... uhhhhhhhh.... cool!
One died due to suffocation on vomit. One suffered brain damage from a drunk fall and the third one lived. Based on my investigation they were like that for 15 or more minutes. With dozens of people around.
NO HEADPHONES? DUH.
[rebelmouse-image 18346901 is_animated_gif=Known drug dealer shot another guy. It's a smaller town. Looking for him but couldn't find for hours and hours.
He had snuck into some other random guys basement. Random guy finds him down there and is totally cool with this drug dealer guy with a gun just hiding in his basement (he didn't know him). He just carrys on with his day doesn't call the cops.
Eventually at 4am the hiding drug dealer is bored now and starts playing music on his phone. Well apparently that was what pissed the homeowner off to call the cops.
Because the dude started playing music...
DO YOU SMELL SMOKE?
[rebelmouse-image 18979741 is_animated_gif=My brother in law was on his way home from the night shift a few months ago, and happened to drive past a house that was on fire.
he ran up to the door, beat on it with no answer, broke the door down and ended up rescuing a woman and her child/children (I'm not sure how many kids there were). they were all fast asleep and had no idea the house was on fire.
GOD BLESS OUR FIRST RESPONDERS...
[rebelmouse-image 18979742 is_animated_gif=Obligatory not a cop, but I am an EMT.
We were waiting at a light right as we were headed back to the station for our end of shift. We see a man running like Usain bolt across the crosswalk to beat the light and a woman chasing him. My partner and I both look at each other and he says "she's gonna get hit..." the car in the rightmost lane guns it as the light turns green and the next thing we see is flip flops flying and a pair of legs in the air. Female was plowed over and landed on her face in the street. We immediately turn on our lights and hop out of the ambulance. When we get to the girl she's unconscious, pissed herself, and is bleeding from multiple lacerations on her limbs and a nasty head wound. My partner (who is a paramedic) starts his assessment as I go to grab a backboard and c-collar and call it into dispatch.
She wakes up and immediately starts screaming about her boyfriend leaving her. She stands up and tries to run after him, face plants on the curb, and proceeds to lose a tooth. We finally calmed her down enough to get her onto the gurney, mind you she wouldn't listen and kept trying to walk around after suffering a couple head injuries. Once we get her into the back of the ambulance and out of the road into a nearby parking lot the driver that hit her rolls up. By now firefighters are on scene and asking what the hell is going on, we give them the lowdown and my partner tells them we can handle it so they leave, confused and somewhat trepidatious. We talk to this women for a while while insisting that she needs to go the hospital, but she keeps saying that she can't go and she needs to find her boyfriend. Meanwhile the driver who hit her is apologizing to me and saying she wants to help anyway she can. The woman keeps saying she can't go the hospital. After we got her cleaned up and bandage all the wounds she asks if we can take her to her boyfriends house. Well as an EMT I can do one of 2 things, either take you to the hospital or leave you where you are. She refuses transport vehemently so my partner and I tell her that we can't take her anywhere. She then proceeds to hop out of the ambulance and ask the driver who just hit her if she would take her to her boyfriends house if she didn't call the cops. Sure as shit before we can even radio in that the patient was refusing transport to the hospital she's rolling away in the car that just hit her and tossed her 8ft in the air. It's not the craziest story but one of the few that we just happened to be there for.
THAT IS WHY I MAKE COFFEE OR TEA AT HOME.
[rebelmouse-image 18979743 is_animated_gif=Let's see... there was the dead homeless guy on the sidewalk that people thought _"oh he's drunk and passed out". _He was laying awkwardly, not like the homeless usually sleep. I got out to check on him and realized he was dead. The most absurd part was the people walking around him to go to work/get coffee/etc. as if it was business as usual. Once the commotion started and I taped off the scene, I was then accused of shooting and killing him by a passerby.
THE FUN NEVER ENDS...
[rebelmouse-image 18979744 is_animated_gif=I'm not LEO, but I moved out of Racine, WI in the 90's because in the last three weeks I lived there there were 24 drive-by shootings, and three of those happened when there were already cops at the scene for unrelated reasons.
STAY STRONG!
[rebelmouse-image 18979745 is_animated_gif=I was off duty playing poker with some neighbors and friends. One of the guys at the table is a Vietnam vet. In the middle of a hand he downs his glass of scotch hits himself in the chest and lights a cigarette he stands up and says "well I'm having a heart attack" he then walks out and drives to the hospital. Everyone thought he was joking. Sure enough he had and survived a heart attack
THE THINGS YOU'LL NEVER UNSEE.
[rebelmouse-image 18979746 is_animated_gif=I remember not long after I started (9 years ago) a woman came to the police department saying she hadn't heard from her boyfriend in 3 days. She told me where he lived and once I got there there was no answer.
I was able to gain entry and noticed the ripe smell of death. There was tweaker shit everywhere, stuff taken apart, random tools and motors and all kinds of stuff tweakers "work" on. The house was near pitch black due to all the foil and blankets covering the windows.
As I began to clear the house I walked into one of the kitchen entries and as I turned the corner I looked into a big wall mirror and saw the reflection of her boyfriend hanging from a doorway. His body was a death gray and his neck had stretched at least 8 inches. I remember having to pick him up and pull the belt from the doorway. That image has stayed with me everyday since.
I WANT A DONKEY.
[rebelmouse-image 18979747 is_animated_gif=Not a cop but my apartment got broken into a few years ago. It was one of those off campus college apartments. We called the police who came at about 430am. Our neighbors were playing loud music which was pretty typical for them. When they arrive they are taking to the report when the officer I was talking to ask if our neighbors are always loud and I told him it was only on Saturday and Thursdays and how it didn't really bother us, but before they left they knocked and pounded until they finally answered, when they opened the door there was horse or a donkey in the living room, several studio cameras and 3 or 4 people who were apparently filming a donkey show. I know those cops were probably expecting some weed maybe a few minors drinking but not a donkey show.
LESS IS MORE Y'ALL...
[rebelmouse-image 18979748 is_animated_gif=Ex-officer here. Got called to a noise complaint and my partner and I knock on the door as it's actually pretty rowdy and could be heard across the street. Turns out there was a Hen's night full of drunken thirty-somethings and the cop stripper was running late.
That took more explaining than it should have, but they eventually turned the music down...
THIS IS A HAPPY STORY.
[rebelmouse-image 18354561 is_animated_gif=Right place right time story. We pulled into the gas station and I was standing in there and this dude runs in screaming at me to make his baby breath and I legit thought this guy was messing with me. But I run outside with him and his 8 week old baby girl that he had adopted THAT day was sitting in her car seat as blue as could be. My partner and I did CPR on her, got her breathing, put her on the chopper and the flight nurse called us later that day and said she made it and was doing fine.
Friends And Relatives Of Porn Stars Explain How They First Reacted When They Found Out
Sex work is work.
We really have to let go of the purist idea of sex.
People can do whatever they want with their bodies.
And make quite a fabulous living at the same time.
Porn has long been looked down upon but now thanks to the rise of OnlyFans and such, everybody is becoming more acclimated.
Is it the dream? Probably not for most.
Is it wrong? Absolutely not.
So what if you knew somebody doing it?
Is that an issue? Why?
Redditorh00psz004wanted to hear about the times people learned the profession of a loved one or acquaintance and it a bit of a surprise.
They asked:
"Friends or family of porn stars what was your first reaction when you found out?"
I have known several porn stars. All good people and a load of fun. And no, I won't name names.
Her Niche
"I had a roommate who did porn. She told us about it herself and was very open about it. She was popular in a very niche kink, but didn’t work enough to be able to support herself solely off of porn. Now she has a masters in education and works as an elementary school teacher."
bittyitty
Mommy Dearest
"My mother is a porn star. It kind of tore our relationship apart. We were never close in the first place because she was a terrible mother but that pushed me over the edge to not want to talk to her anymore. I was 13 when I found out by the way. I didn't just find out, I saw. Things change in your mind when you see your mom's anal fisting porn. (I wish that was a joke)."
undergroundpolarbear
In the Woods
"I found my flatmate on a porn site too 😬 The shoot took place out on a hike somewhere (I believe she told me about the sexual encounter over a drink one night but not the fact it was all over the internet). I absolutely shat myself when I realised it was her- I felt so yucky and guilty for seeing her like that. I immediately shut everything down and didn't look at porn for ages afterwards lol."
Devojka_Iz_Svemira
That Girl
"First thought: Oh wow, she has nice breasts."
"Second thought: Yea, that's not gonna look good for her mom."
"The woman in question was a student in the grade below me in high school. I knew her sister and their mom was a teacher at that school."
slick1260
Something is Familiar
"Was browsing and came across one of my housemate titled 'Russian teen amateur.' First, she's Mexican. Second, she's like 28. Third, THAT'S MY F**ING BED!!"
voice_of_craisin
It must be daunting when you recognize the stars and your apartment. Like, you could've at least invited me.
Freaky & Brilliant
"My friend got into the porn industry because it’s much more lucrative than her degreed field (microbiology). I wasn’t surprised at all because she’s uninhibited and freaky anyway, and just assured her I had no issues or judgements about it."
xxplodingboy
Those We Lose
"Male porn actor here! My mom found out... and she was surprisingly way more chill than I thought she'd be. Of course she hates it and doesn't want me doing it, but she was essentially like 'the past is the past, now let's never talk about this again.'" I actually lost a group of friends over it."
"Not sure how they found out but apparently they started talking behind my back about it on Facebook. One of those guys reached out to me to let me know what was happening, and that he personally didn't care. I reached out to the group but they weren't interested in hearing what I had to say, and pretty much cut me off. I think they were worried that it might somehow affect them professionally in a negative way."
"I've had a few girlfriends/girls I was seeing find out. So far most have been fairly cool about it. One actually cried upon finding out, but at her insistence we watched a few of my vids together, and it was absurd enough that we could both laugh about it. My other friends (the true friends) were just like okay, cool."
pornishard
Family Matters
"Okay. So I woke up one day to a text sent from my cousin, M. Who sent me a pornhub link to another cousin, S. Apparently she has been doing it for awhile, and got another cousin involved in her sexual endeavors, T. So now I have family members who do porn and took Incest Porn a little too literally."
forskin_curtains
Mind your Business
"Recently in my friends group it came to light that one of our buddies wife's sister (F 23) started an OF page over the pandemic (she lost her job as a hair stylist, and where we live was in lockdown for quite a long time), and now has a page on PornHub, even a sub-reddit. She does mainly solo stuff, but pretty heavy with one particular kink."
"When we found out, most of use guys were not surprised as she always had a promiscuous attitude. I feel for my buddy though, him, his wife are born again Christian, and it has destroyed the relationship between the sisters, as well, it has also created a huge rift in his wife's family, were half want to shun her, and the half are accepting, (the parents are divorced, so there is lots of people in play)."
"It also doesn't help that one of our other buddies went on a massive hunt for all the links and videos and sent them to us all, and presumably many more people, absolutely pissing off our buddy, as I guess he feels obligated in trying to defend his wife's family, it has created a rift between them, and overall a very messy situation."
cynicalyak
Who Cares?
"I overheard my parents fighting and heard my dad scream, “WHO GIVES A F**K IF I SMOKE POT AND YOU’RE A PORNSTAR?!?” As a slightly innocent 10 y.o. I was pretty shocked."
GoAndrevv
Sex is fun. And if you can make cash doing it, more power to you.
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In this day and age, with the state of the world what it is... it's a miracle people aren't sobbing at every gas pump, cash register and red light.
Tears are healthy.
Unless they're being used for manipulation or a tantrum.
We release emotion with our tears.
And one of the most emotional places to be is at work.
That can be a sobfest.
So what is the best way to help in that situation?
Let's compare notes and tissue brands.
Redditortiredoflandwanted to hear about the times they had to deal with emotions at work.
They asked:
"How do you handle people crying at work?"
I have cried many a time over the years. Especially when waiting tables. A hug always helped.
Condolences
"As a funeral director, I tend to just touch them on their arm and hand them tissues. And stay quiet."
Oct92018
Cry on Me
"I usually provide a tissue. I often get hugged. My last job, we had a meeting and one of the people in the meeting, well, she seemed off. Everyone filed out and I kind of lingered, asked, 'Hey, is there something wrong you want to talk about?' Boom, waterworks, she had to put her cat down this morning, etc. I am the guy in the office people cry on, I guess."
Nadaesque
to a science...
"I'm a teacher, so it's a near daily occurrence for me. I have a jar full of candy - usually chocolate- on my desk (the kids call it sad candy), a chair, and a big round plush bird toy just the right size for hugging. His name is Sherbert, cause he's colored like rainbow sherbet. They can talk it out with me or just cry in silence if they'd rather, but I just sit with them until they're ready to re-join the world. It's sad, but I have this crap down to a science."
ThePhiff
The Stress of It All
"I work for a 911 center, you better believe there is crying. Especially when an employee is new and they give CPR to an infant and its not a positive turnout, someone kills themself while you are talking to them on the phone. Pretty soon your heart and soul die and you can deal with it, but something especially awful happens and it hits you. I have been doing it for 28 years and have seen plenty people come and go, who couldn't handle the stress?"
One-Butterscotch-786
Fur Babies
"In the veterinary industry, unfortunately, if you notice a co-worker is or has been crying, usually you pretend not to have noticed, maybe ask them nonchalantly if they can do something for you that isn't client-facing for a while like fill prescriptions, and don't bring it up later unless you're friends outside of work."
"Everybody cries at work at some point, and it's not even usually about a sick/dying animal. If a client is crying though, you have to be sensitive, empathetic, comforting, gentle, offer them privacy and condolences without smothering them."
"Clients cry for the reasons you expect, and of course it's hard to see them through it, because dealing with a sick or dying pet is hard. Staff will often shed a tear in these appointments too, but most often when a co-worker is crying it's because another person went out of their way to hurt them. Be kind to your veterinary staff folks, we feel pain too."
sainttawny
People do seem to cry a lot. Makes sense, I do.
I'm Here
"'Is there anything I can do?' Then just listen. Often the listening is enough."
Pavlock
Kindness
"I work in healthcare, so this happens quite frequently. Usually it’s patients. Most often, people just want their feelings validated and that someone understands them. That’s all. Being empathetic goes a long way."
moscowmulesplz
"Yes! Empathy truly goes a long way!"
ElBarbon026
Alone
"Saw a chick crying at work, sitting outside. Half wanted to ask her if she was ok but when someone is crying hard sometimes they just want to be left alone in their feelings and it must be embarrassing enough to cry at work, so I left her alone and kept walking."
KiwiCatPNW
He is Awful
"Many years ago I (male) was having an extended discussion with a female coworker about something technical and I noticed that she would periodically start crying during our talk. I was so dense that I thought (perhaps out of intended politeness) that I should just ignore this and go on."
"For some reason I have often thought about this and reflected on the fact that it would have been much more humane to at least ask her if she was OK, if she would prefer to talk later, if she would like to talk instead about what was upsetting."
"Later I heard from someone else that she had travelled to the area from another state with her boyfriend. He had a job at another company nearby that was expanding rapidly and she had received the news that he was already cheating on her with multiple coworkers."
fund0us
I'm Blind
"I follow the golden rule so I ignore them, pretend not to see them, and later talk to them normally like nothing happened, because that is what I want in their position."
xyanon36
"Same! I tend to get more upset if someone checks on me, because now I'm embarrassed and feel exposed on top of what's causing me to cry in the first place. Since I never want to be the cause of that, I won't ever approach someone in that state."
Annonymous_97
There is no perfect way to comfort somebody. You just do it. Or apparently... look away.
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When it comes to religion, a person either believes in a god or doesn't believe that a higher power exists.
But people are more complex than that. As we evolve throughout our respective journeys in life, we are known to vacillate between conforming to some ideas while dismissing others.
What we used to believe in no longer applies based on our negative experiences and vice versa.
Does it work the same way with faith and believing in God?
Curious to hear from non-religious people online, Redditor Graysie-Redux asked:
"Atheists of Reddit: What could change your mind?"

The proof is in the pudding.
Proper Comeuppance
"Every single paedophile/rapist in religious positions of power being simultaneously struck by lightning."
– serharridan
Evidence
"Any actual evidence. Also change my mind about which god(s)? Yahweh, Zeus, Osiris, Amaterasu?"
"I'm always amused by people not understanding what athiesm is. It's not a belief. Its a rejection of a claim and that's it. It's not what evidence would convince me otherwise, it's what evidence do you have. I observe said evidence and say that's not sufficient evidence because..."
– Rdr198829
Deeper Persuasion Required
"Nothing could suddenly change my mind into believing in the Christian (all-knowing, all-powerful, all-loving) God. Proof of an entity with reality-changing powers would certainly change my world-view, but only to the point where I recognize that such a thing exists in the known universe. Ability does not imply divinity (or altruism)"
– Piercewise1
A Father's Experience After A Heart Attack
"My dad is an atheist, and had a major heart attack last year which came extremely close to killing him many times. He was in a coma for more than a month."
"During that time, several Christian family members wondered if he was having a religious experience, had seen/spoken to god or maybe his late daughter as an angel, and would awake as a religious man now."
"I said there was zero chance. Even if he did actually have these experiences and then come out of the coma and tell us about them, he would never say 'I talked to god while I was in a coma.' He would say 'The chemicals in my brain did an interesting thing while I was in a coma.'”
"As it happened, he did live and was able to tell us about his experience. None of it was remotely religious. It was mostly memories of thinking the hospital staff were torturing him."
"The closest thing he had during the coma was a dream where he saw my wife telling him that my dead sister and my wife’s dead sister were talking in heaven."
– PRGuyHere
These atheists believe in heavy sarcasm.
The Mythic Creature
"As a former atheist, what changed my mind was that, i learned the flying spaghetti monster existed."
– ThundaCrossSplitAtak
Egyptian Deity
"Christians, what would convince you to worship the Egyptian god Ra?"
– RedofPaw
"Whichever one, Christ or Ra, shows up in front of me first and bitch slaps me."
"Edit: if one of you offering to slap me are a God please teleport to my location to prove it you coward."
– RikenVorkovin
Money Talks
"I don't even need proof. I'll believe in him for €10m. I accept cash."
– ShadyShamaster
"Now that's a conversion method I could get into."
– yomommasofat3
The jury is still out for these Redditors.
Time To See Someone
"Don't know if there's anything. If some god appeared I'd still wonder if this was some hallucination and make an appointment with a psychologist."
– Destriant_of_Perish
Seeing Is Believing
"I think for me god would have to appear on a societal level in addition to seeing them myself. If my friends and relatives (who are also mostly atheist or agnostic) testified to also seeing god, as well as the general public and it became a known thing that god was real and making appearances I would probably believe it too."
– Feral_doves
Hearing It From The Source
"A god showing me they're real."
"Not a person telling me why their god is real. That's evidence of nothing."
"Gods shouldn't need middlemen."
– Vic_Hedges
There is not enough convincing that can persuade atheists to believe in an all-powerful, omniscient entity.
Many of them would attest to a higher power if they could be presented with tangible evidence of its existence.
Yet, I'm pretty sure most people who claim to have faith have not witnessed any appearances by God.
So this is an interesting conversation about what leads people to believe or completely dismiss the possibility that there might be something greater out there than any of us can ever imagine.
What do you think?
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A life of convenience.
Wouldn't that be lovely?
Can you imagine driving around and only encountering green lights?
Or always having the phone battery charged?
That is what dreams are made of.
What if you were given a superpower to make all of that happen?
What would you do with it?
RedditorAdAppropriate6975wanted hear about what small, good things some of us would do for others if we had the power.
They asked:
"You’ve been granted the power to bless people with minor conveniences. How do you make their lives slightly better?"
I'd be giving people money.
Even if it's just singles.
That's a small start.
Thank You
"You'll always remember why you walked into a room or where you last put the item you need."
icantthinkofaname940
Faster
"From this day forward, you will always choose the fastest-moving line."
Irishzombieman
"That's impossible for me. It's a fundamental, immutable law of the universe. To change that would be to nullify all of existence as we know it. Hitting stop lights is part of the same fundamental physical force."
brndm
PROPER POCKETS FOR ALL!!!
"May your cellphone always have enough charge when you need it. Also, for the ladies: May you always have at least one pocket on your outfit."
APeacefulWarrior
"40m here. I bought a pair of light airy linen pants for summer. Thought I had bought the same brand as a pair I bought last summer and LOVED. First difference I noticed was a lack of back pocket… thought oh… that’s weird."
"Then I tried to put my wallet in my front pocket and it was too shallow. Wallet literally couldn’t sit in the pocket. Pocket so shallow as to be unusable. I finally understood your pain ladies. I had no idea. I’m so sorry. Consider me an ally in the PROPER POCKETS FOR ALL battle going forward."
Ignominia
Be There
"Your keys, wallet, and phone are always where you expect them to be."
MisterBastahrd
"Hopefully you don’t start having misguided expectations lol. I’m imagining a guy recognizing this happen and experimenting. He imagines his wallet is in an irretrievable void, then searches his house and finds it nowhere. Knowing that it’s gone, he would never expect it to be anywhere he’d find it."
um-souffle
My butter is always a mess, so this would be perfect.
THIS!!!
"Everybody's talking voice actually sounds like the one they hear in their heads."
Daft_Sauce
"Wait people hear the voice in their heads? For me it's not like a voice but more like... floating words or so. I never really tried to describe it but it's sure AF not an actual voice Or are you talking about the way you hear your own voice while actually talking?"
Interesting-Gear-819
"I feel like I'm the only one who doesn't hate the sound of my own voice."
JokicCheeseburgerMan
To match is Divine
"From this day forward all of your socks shall magically be waterproof and nothing will ever stick to them."
Joe-Schmeaux
"I threw out all socks I owned and then bought a couple boxes of the same kind of sock. I just throw all my socks in a bin now and pick two at random. Never need to throw away one sock because the matching on got a hole."
5348345T
"Now everyone has single use socks, because they won't live in a world that permanently smells like feet. Socks become the number one target of Greenpeace. You go into hiding due to the environmental disaster you have created."
andrewNZ_on_reddit
The Zzzzsss...
"The power to fall asleep once your head hits the pillow."
227743
"Clearly I don't think big enough, my blessing was going to be: every night when you fluff/squish/arrange your pillow to go to sleep, it's perfect the first time."
sonyka
"I can do this and my wife always complains about it. I can literally decide to fall asleep, turn around and be gone in seconds. Has always been like this, don’t know why."
KevinSpence
Perfection
"The toilet seat will always be in the correct state depending on your business when entering the bathroom."
Acceptable_Not-good
I would love for someone to do ALL of those things for me. Please and thank you.
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