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Police Share The Most Absurd Situations They Stumbled Upon Without Being Called

Police Share The Most Absurd Situations They Stumbled Upon Without Being Called

Police Share The Most Absurd Situations They Stumbled Upon Without Being Called

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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...

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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...

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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?

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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!

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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...

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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...

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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!!

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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?

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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...

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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.

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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...

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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!

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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.

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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.

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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...

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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.

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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.

Old Wives' Tales People Still Believe For Some Reason

"Reddit user the_spring_goddess asked: 'What is an old wives tale that people still believe?'"

Close up of an owl tilting their head to side, looking bewildered
Photo by Josh Mills

The old wives' tales.

They are the stories of legend.

I think we all need a big DEEP Google dive though.

Where did they originate?

WHO ARE THE OLD WIVES!

You don't hear about them as much anymore.

It's like science and logic are suddenly a thing.

But they sure are a good way to keep your kids and their behavior in line.

Redditor the_spring_goddess wanted to discuss the tall tales we've all been fed through life, so they asked:

"What is an old wives tale that people still believe?"

"Wait an hour to swim after eating."

What a crock!

So many summer hours wasted.

I want revenge for that one.

Say Nothing

Giphy

"An undercover cop has to tell you he's a cop if you ask him."

LonelyMail5115

"Pretty much most advice when it comes to cops are old wives tales. I’m not even a cop but most of the advice you hear is pretty off."

I_AM_AN_A**HOLE_AMA

Say Something

"That you have to wait 24 hours to report someone missing."

Severe_Airport1426

"I really think this one is important and should be the top regardless. As it’s a piece of advice that needs to be relearned and the only way to do that is through awareness."

crappycurtains

"This used to be true. I think they changed it after some guy named Brandon went missing back in the '80s or '70s. You used to have to wait 24 hours if the missing person was an adult because they had 'a right to be missing' and then everyone realized that was stupid and stopped doing it."

AlbinoShavedGorilla

Body Temps

"That drinking ice cold water after eating oily foods will solidify the oil and permanently remain in your body. I informed my coworker that if your body temperature ever reached that point, you’d have bigger problems than weight gain."

chriseo22

"Oh, I have a cousin who 100% believed this. One of those guys who believed every early 2000s internet rumor and old wives tale. One night I chugged a big glass of ice water after dinner and he started freaking out and saying my guts were gonna harden."

"I sarcastically told him to drive me to the hospital if that happened. Obviously, nothing happened and the next morning I said something like 'Thanks for being on standby in case my guts filled with hardened oil.' He just walked off muttering under his breath."

apocalypticradish

Arms Down

"When I was pregnant, I was told by young and old alike that I should NOT raise my arms above my head or exert myself in such a manner because it could cause cord strangulation to my unborn sons and daughters."

Fatmouse84

10 Years Actually

Unimpressed Uh Huh GIF by Brooklyn Nine-Nine Giphy

"Chewing gum stays in your stomach for 7 years."

REDDIT

"I remember accidentally swallowing a piece of gum when I was a kid in like 1995 and just accepting my fate like welp, gonna have this in my stomach til high school I guess."

Gecko-911

I was so afraid to sallow my gum when I was young.

This tale is haunting.

High/Low

Hungry Debra Messing GIF by Will & Grace Giphy

"You can tell the sex of the baby by how you carry."

LeastFormal9366

"Pregnancy certainly wins awards for the most old wives tales. So much absolute BS was repeated to us by everyone we talked to."

IllIIIlIllIlIIlIllI

The Cursed

"If you’re a woman and you wear opal jewelry but opal is not your birthstone (October), you’ll never be able to have children, or will be widowed, or just generally have bad luck or something. You can counteract this by having a diamond in the same piece of jewelry as the opal, though."

"I have a nice opal ring that my parents gave me years ago, and I’ve had other women give me this 'advice' unprompted more than once when I’ve worn it. I have absolutely no idea where it started, but I’m pretty sure this little chunk of silicate rock has no concept of what month I was born in, let alone of how my reproductive organs work."

SmoreOfBabylon

Stay In

"Going outside with wet hair will make you get pneumonia. Or an earache. Or maybe arthritis. Depends on which old wife you listen to."

"Jokes on them - I haven't blow-dried my hair in decades and usually leave the house with wet hair in the morning. On winter mornings, the tips of my hair get frozen. No ear infections or pneumonia or arthritis yet."

worldbound0514

Dreams and Facts

"You never make anyone up in your dreams you've seen everyone in your dreams somewhere else before and never make anyone up entirely."

"How would you possibly prove that to be true? My partner adamantly believes this and tells me this 'fact' whenever I have a dream about someone I've never met before."

mattshonestreddit

"My late wife used to tell me that before she met me she would have dreams of standing at an alter on her wedding day but could never see the guy's face, no matter how hard she tried. After meeting me the face was filled in with mine. Don't know if it's true but one of those things I like thinking of every now and then when I miss her."

Darthdemented

Cracked

Getting Ready Episode 2 GIF by The Office Giphy

"Some people still believe cracking knuckles causes arthritis."

Choice-Grapefruit-44

"There's a doctor (Donald Unger) that cracked his knuckles a couple of times a day for 60 years, but only on one hand, just to prove it. Both hands remained exactly the same."

MacyTmcterry

I love my knuckles.

Do you have any tall tales to add to the list? Let us know in the comments below.

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A lot of workers daydream about some day winning the lottery and being able to say goodbye to their job.

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Therapist talking during session
Photo by Mark Williams on Unsplash

Some people stand firmly stand behind their beliefs that everyone would benefit from therapy and that therapy is life-changing.

It's because of the totally life-changing truth bombs their therapist had dropped during their sessions.

Curious, Redditor anonymiss0018 asked:

"What is a little bombshell your therapist dropped in one of your sessions that completely changed your outlook?"

Communication Issues

"'If you don’t have these problems with any other person in your life, why do you think you’re the problematic person in this one?'"

- maggiebear

"I love this. I have a 'friend' who I always seem to run into misunderstandings with. Every time we had a conversation, it somehow turned into a debate even if it was me talking about my day. The conversations were never easy."

"I always evaluate myself first and take into consideration his critiques. He was very good at convincing me that I was contradicting myself or wasn't good at communicating my thoughts."

"I NEVER had this issue with ANYONE else in my life. I kept trying to figure out where the miscommunication was coming from. In the end, I just minimized contact and now I don't run into this issue."

- chobani_yo

"I read this quote somewhere once (and probably have it a bit wrong): 'It's a waste of time arguing with someone who is determined to misunderstand you.'"

- Reddit

Emotional Regulation

"'You can’t control your emotions, but you can control what you do with them.'"

"At the time, I was a young adult who had learned zero healthy emotional regulation skills (only suppression and shaming) growing up, so this blew my mind."

- lil_mermaid

Tough Relationships

"'It sounds to me like you are trying to convince yourself to stay with your girlfriend. I'm not so sure it should be so difficult.'"

"At the time he said this, I remember it was like he said, 'The earth is flat.' I thought he was crazy when he suggested relationships don't need to be difficult. But eventually, I started to realize I was trying to change myself to stay with this person rather than just being who I am."

"It took me three more months to finally break up with her but from that day on, I vowed to never again abandon myself just to be with someone I had convinced myself was better than me."

- metric88

High-Stress Situation

"I was at a high-stress time, and I asked her how people live like this."

"She replied, 'Oftentimes they have cardiac events.' She said it as an urging to care for myself as much as possible."

- KittenGr8r

The End of Alcohol

"I was struggling with my alcoholism, and we were discussing how I had been cutting back."

"She asked what I would consider success, with regard to my drinking."

"I said I wanted to get to a point where it wasn't interfering with my daily life. I wanted to just be able to have a glass of wine at holiday dinners or family gatherings."

"She simply asked me why. Why was it important for me to drink at those times?"

"It was as if she'd turned on a light. Alcohol had always been a key ingredient in every family function, for my entire life. When I smell bourbon, I think of my uncle. When I smell vermouth, I think of my dad. Alcohol ran through almost every happy childhood memory."

"But, even more than that, I was very afraid of the explanation I'd have to give when family and friends asked why I wasn't having a drink. I had tried to quit before but failed. What if I admitted my problem, only to fall off the wagon?"

"When she asked why I didn't want to completely quit, it was the first time I saw that last part of the big picture. I'd be willing to drink myself to death in order to avoid being scrutinized, or judged for possible future failures."

"That was the day I quit. I've been sober since May 6th, 2017. 2,407 days."

- sophies_wish

Acceptance vs. Enjoyment

"'Accepting something doesn’t mean you have to like it.'"

"That took away a lot of my inner conflicts about situations because I could accept a situation without expending energy internally fighting against the injustice of it."

- alibelloc

Emotionally Immature Parents

"You are not responsible for your parents' emotional wellbeing. They are independent adults who have been on this earth for many more years than you."

- SmokedPears

Not So Lazy

"'Why do you think you're lazy?' Then she listed off all the things she knows I'm doing for my family, my job, and my life."

"It kind of blew my mind when I struggled to come up with an example."

"She also described family dysfunction as water. Some families are messed up in a way that everyone can see the huge waves across the surface. Others are better at hiding it, but there's still a riptide that you can't see unless you're also in the water."

"It made me realize that trying to keep the surface from ever rippling doesn't erase what is happening underneath."

- flybyknight665

The Harm in People-Pleasing

"'Why do you make people more comfortable when you are uncomfortable?' when talking about people pleasing and fawning."

- ERsandwich

Agree to Disagree

"'Stop trying to get everyone to agree. When you need everyone to agree, the least agreeable person has all the power.'"

This really changed my outlook on planning family events."

- freef

Grieve and Start Anew

"For context, I had a major TBI (traumatic brain injury), seizures, strokes, and all around not a fun brain time when I was 28."

"They said, 'You have to grieve the loss of yourself.'"

"Most people wanted me to go back to how I was. The f**ked up truth is that part of my brain is dead. The person everyone (including myself) knew died. I needed to grieve the loss of myself."

- squeaktoy_la

Multifaceted Identity

"They told me that my job and career is just a way to make money; it's not my life or identity. That took a lot of pressure off me."

- unfairpegasus

Breaking the Cycle

"They validated me."

"'You always talk about not wanting to do to your daughters what your mom did to you. You worry about it so much in every interaction you have ever had with them."

"But your children are 19 and 21 now. They are happy and healthy and they trust you because you’ve never abused them in any way. So I just want to validate for you that you really have broken that cycle of violence."

"You did that. And you should be proud of it. I’m proud of you for it.'"

- puppsmcgee74

The Grieving Process

"I was constantly bringing up how I felt like a completely different person after my mom died... like there was a marked difference between before and after her death."

"But once, she was asking about my hobbies, I got really into describing all the things I loved to do or at least used to do before I got into a deep depression."

"She was like, 'Wow, you seem very passionate.'"

"And I just sat there like, 'Well, I mean, I can't change what I like to do, they're still fun to do.'"

"And it's like she knew when to take a step back, because it was like, wow, I may be super depressed about my mom passing, but I'm still me. I'm still my passions and those don't go away."

"I don't know, maybe it only makes sense to be, but it really started getting me back on track."

- Hannibal680

Sharing the Load

"I've never really had friends. I've had colleagues and classmates and housemates and people who have hung out with me, but I never really felt close to any of them."

"And I did that thing you see on here sometimes; I stopped reaching out to see if I would be reached out to, and I wasn't, which I took as confirmation that they didn't really want me around, or at the very least, that they wouldn't mind my absence."

"I was talking to my therapist about people I'd been close to in college, and she told me to pick one and talk about him. So I did. After I shared some basic stuff like his name and his major etc., and a couple of anecdotes, she asked me what else I knew about him."

"And I couldn't answer. It wasn't really a broadly applicable bombshell, but she said, 'What else?' and I started crying because I realized that for as simple as the question was, my inability to answer spoke volumes."

"I've never had good friends because I've never been a good friend. I'm withdrawn and reserved and I always made others do the work to drag me out, without ever extending my own friendship in a meaningful way in return. If I wanted to have meaningful relationships with other people, I would have to build them."

"I'm still working on this, but I'm trying to make more offers and extend more friendliness to others in my daily life."

- Backupusername

The discoveries in this thread were incredibly touching and profound; it's no wonder these were lasting concepts for these Redditors.

It's important to keep ourselves open to inspiration and insights from others, as we have no idea how their experiences could help us, or how we could help them.

Aerial view of a church in a small town
Sander Weeteling/Unsplash

There's something comforting about living in a small town.

It's characterized by close communities where neighbors know each other by name and there is an abundance of kindness extended to others.

Gift-giving is a commonality, as is the sharing of recipes, and people going out of their way to help each other in a time of need.

The pace of living in small towns is also a striking contradiction to city life, where crowds of people go about their busy lives without much interaction.

Curious to hear more examples of what small town living is like, Redditor official_biz asked:

"What's the most 'small town' thing you've witnessed?"

These are positive examples of a tight-knit community.

Live Updates

"We have a village Facebook page. Every time the ice cream man drives into the village, the entire page goes ballistic. People send live updates of where the van is and which direction he's heading. The ice cream man has started accepting DMs so he knows which streets to go down."

– PyrrhuraMolinae

Brush With The Law

"I’m from a town of less than 2,000 people. When I worked at the grocery store there people would often drop off stuff for my family members because they didn’t want to drive all the way down to our house. I no longer live there but recently got a call from my daughter. She had been stopped for speeding and handed over her license and insurance which happens to be in my mother’s name. The officer goes 'Hey, you’re Donnie’s granddaughter! I ain’t gonna write you a ticket but I’m telling Donnie when I see him tomorrow cause we’re going fishing.' She replied 'I think I’d rather have the ticket.'”

- Reddit

Roadside Catchup

"The traffic on the 'main street' of my town is so sparse, two drivers going opposite directions can stop and talk to each other for a few minutes without causing any problem."

– anon

When things go wrong, people take notice without incident.

Bank Robbery

"A guy robbed a bank and everyone knew immediately who he was and the teller got mad at him."

– AlexRyang

"A local bank was robbed and one of the tellers told the police to bring her a yearbook from about ten years earlier and she would be able to point the robber out. He had been in the grade before hers in school."

– Strict_Condition_632

Wise Woman

"When I worked at the bank in town there was an older lady that had worked there through 5 mergers."

"She knew everyone, there was a young guy yelling at me one day. She walked out of the back and he immediately quieted. She went off about telling his grandmother that he was treating young women like sh*t. She also said that if he didn’t straighten up not one girl in town would ever marry him she would make sure of it."

– ilurvekittens

Intoxicated Local

"Town drunk was paralyzed and used a motorized wheelchair to get around. I was driving home one Saturday night and said town drunk was passed out in his wheelchair doing circles almost directly in the town square. Had to call his brother who came and picked him up on a rollback truck. Strapped him down and drove off into the cold dark night."

– DoodooExplosion

Grazing Over To The Bar

"In my former small town, there was an older guy who'd lost his license after getting a few DUIs. Every day, he would ride his John Deere lawnmower to the corner bar around 3PM and sit around watching TV and sipping his beer well into the night. Then he'd head the couple miles back home on his mower. He even had a little canvass shell he put on when it rained or got too cold."

– brown_pleated_slacks

It's not surprising how small town people behave differently than those who are from metropolitan areas.

Welcoming Committee

"I lived in a small town. When I moved there, people would ask, 'Whose house did you buy?'"

–MoonieNine

"Move to a small town. 30 years later, you are still the new guy."

– impiousdrifter

"I lived in a small town for most of my childhood but I wasn't "from there" because my grandparents weren't from there."

– raisinghellwithtrees

"Worked with an older guy, relative of the owner of the business, he was 73. I asked him if he was a local, he said 'no his parents moved here when he was two.'"

– realneil

A Busy Day

"Lived in a town of about 5,000: A woman walked into the DMV on a Friday, saw that there were 3 people ahead of her and left to come back another time when they weren't so busy."

– KenmoreToast

Who Let The Dogs Out?

"My dogs got out while i was working. the police called my niece's elementary school (she was a 5th grader) to get her to round them up and take them back home."

– mediocrelpn

"There was a small kennel behind the police station for runaways. They called us saying they had our dog, and moments later our dog showed up home. He broke out of jail."

– Worried_Place_917

While life in a small town sounds appealing, I don't know if I can ever live in one.

I'm so used to life in big cities, I think it would be quite unnerving to adjust in a neighborhood where everyone literally knows your business.

I would be paranoid.

And I'm sure the same could be said of life in the big city.

Would you consider making the switch to life in a different setting?