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People Share The Most Surprising Facts They've Ever Learned

People Share The Most Surprising Facts They've Ever Learned

'This Person Is On Another Level Of Stupid' Experiences

'This Person Is On Another Level Of Stupid' Experiences

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The Creepiest 'Glitches In The Matrix' People Have Ever Experienced

Things That Are Far Rarer Than People Realize

Things That Are Far Rarer Than People Realize

A sign stating "DANGER. DO NOT ENTER" sits in a wooded area

Things People Have Learned Never To F**k Around With

The Dumbest Arguments Ever

The Dumbest Arguments Ever

black and yellow poison sign

Incredibly Dangerous Things Everyone Assumes Are Safe

Confused man

The Most Annoying Myths People Still Cling To

People Explain What People Think Is Quite Common But Is Actually Extremely Rare

People Explain What People Think Is Quite Common But Is Actually Extremely Rare
Branden Skeli on Unsplash

A lot of what we think of as "common occurrences" most likely come through word of mouth.

Stories told from a friend of a friend who knew someone who has a guy who set them up with this extremely rare piece of jewelry that's totally authentic.

Until you find out it's not.

Reddit user, BroodyBatman, wanted to know what's rarer than we might have given it credit for when they asked:

"What’s something very rare that people think is very common?"

Going with the "word of mouth" idea, anecdotal stories, as well as "it happened to them so it could happen to you" type stories can be detrimental to your life, especially if you spend all day thinking it might happen to you.

No, no one is going to sue you for parking in their space.

Every Jewel Trade Everywhere Show Are Liars!

"Turquoise!"

"I'm beginning study to be a jewelsmith and apparently most of the turquoise on the planet has already been mined and used."

"What we use today is a stone called howlite that can visually imitate it."

"If it's real it's likely hand-mined from the few small mines remaining that have some left."

"Real turquoise is very expensive as a result."- Phantasmai

"Yep, same goes for real jade too. The real stuff is expensive and hard to find."

"Most cheap “jade” is aventurine, glass, resin, serpentine or some other kind of stone."

"A lot of jade is also injected with resin and dyed to get the clear, pale-green effect."

"I wanted to buy a jade bangle and did a ton of research and found that the real ones cost at least a few grand with the nice ones being tens of thousands, if not more."

"Also, pretty much all 'jade' facial rollers are not real jade, most are either glass, resin or serpentine, which they like to call 'Xiuyan Jade' because it is found in jade mines but isn’t real jade."- Urban_mist

You're Not Suing For What You Think You're Suing For

"Multimillion dollar personal inconvenience lawsuits."

"You’re not suing McD for millions because your fries were cold."- JK_NC


"And, many times, these lawsuits that are “personal inconvenience” are actually intense lawsuits disguised as inconvenience by the company."

"One example of this is the woman who sued McDonald’s for her coffee being too hot, which seems like an inconvenience, until you realize the coffee was so hot it burned her down to the bone."- imonlyjoiningforthis

Don't Do It For The Fame. Do It Because You Like It.

"Making it big on Youtube/Twitch"- Legenberry817


"Yeah that one guy you watch who “only” has 100-200 viewers on twitch is actually in the top 1% or something lmao it’s crazy"- michael_am

Medical marvels are just that, marvels.

They're rare occurrences that shouldn't be taken as an absolute certainty when you go visit a doctor.

"Anecdotal" does not equal "regularly happens to everyone."

If You Need It, It's Going To Be Rough

"Receiving CPR and surviving with good quality of life."- HelloKidney

"One of my good friends had sudden cardiac arrest due to V-fib."

"Was completely healthy and normal and suddenly dropped dead."

"CPR saved her life and she is back to normal, albeit with a defibrillator now implanted in her chest."

"I think this is the best case scenario."- libertarianlove

Movies Have You Thinking The Wrong Thing

"Photosensitive epilepsy."

"Only 3% of all epileptics are triggered by flashing lights, but it’s what most people think of when you mention seizures."-SPRINT_MON

"Not all seizures are the kind where you fall down and flop around."

"My brother has severe epilepsy, and most of his seizures are just like he's really spaced out."- NeedsMoreTuba

Not As Loud As You Might Think

"Tourette syndrome."

"Well Tourette is not that uncommon, but the swearing is the most extreme form and it's very uncommon"- chinchenping

""I've only met one person I know for sure was diagnosed with it."

"It was in middle school and also somewhat conveniently around the time Tourettes Guy was popular on YouTube, so that's the only reason I was aware Tourettes was a thing."

"However she just squeaked every few minutes, and after sitting behind her for a week or two I didn't even notice anymore."

"Thankfully she didn't get teased at all for it, and honestly my ADHD restless legs were probably a bigger distraction for anyone seated near us."- workplacetemp

Our parents mean well, right?

Some of us grew up doing what they told us, avoiding dangers because the television told them there was danger to be avoided.

However, as the internet and peering through the veil of falsehood has shown us, there's no danger there.

Only lies.

And candy.

Let's Get Together, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah

"It seem having two loving parents that treated you right is rare when you speak to people"- YellowStar012

"When I was in University my step mom turned sour and began showing post-partum depression, what ever it’s called, and bi-polar disorder. Ruined the entire family."

"When I complained about fighting at home all my friends looked at me and said it was super normal for them."

"Blew me away how many of my friends I’ve known for years had parents constantly fighting and bickering."

"Granted my father raised my brother and I for a while by himself."- JJHookg

Oh No! They Slipped A Fully Loaded Glock Into My Kid's Candy!

"Intentionally tainted Halloween candy"

". Remember growing up some kids couldn't trick or treat because their parents feared psychos who poisoned the candy or slipped razor blades into the tootsie rolls or whatever?"

"Yeah, as far as I can determine it's a myth and never happens."

"If it did, think about how easy it would be to trace and capture said person."- Marxbrosburner

Stranger/More-Likely-Person-You-Know Danger!

"Child abductions by strangers."

"Growing up in the 80s we were taught that if you were by yourself you were liable to be snatched up by a stranger."

"The reality is most abductions are by people the child knows."

"Stranger abductions make the news and often end tragically, but they’re relatively rare."- AndShesNotEvenPretty

That Stuff Was Supposed To Be Everywhere

"As a kid who grew up in the 80’s - quicksand."- 81PBNJ

"Grew up in the 90s and same!"

"But then I was hired at my current job and quicksand was actually included in my hazard training."

"It turns out there is actually some quicksand at some of my jobsites."

"All those hours of cartoons have prepared me for this!"- butterpuppo

So Sad, But So True...

"COMMON SENSE!"- UPGRADE007

Level Your Expectations

"When a celebrity tells you to just follow your dreams as if it will actually happen if they work hard and believe."- saltyredditbae

Won't Stop People From Looking For It

"Wuv. Twue wuv."- the13Guat

"Real love."

"Like I’m not gonna cheat I just want my partner love."- ghhvyjiiijgv

More Like The American Nightmare

"The American Dream."

"It's a shame Americans are brought up to think if you just work hard, all your work will be for a purpose."

"That purpose is uncle Sam and to barely pay you enough to force you to always come back."

"Uncle Sam is the biggest drug dealer."- Chronodro

"The ability to afford to live in solidarity."- Burssia

Someone Else's Reality

"Dreaming about the lives of others without being yourself in the dream."

"I have very vivid dreams and some of them have been full on life stories of people I've never met, but when I ask about other people's experiences I've only met one other person so far who dreams of the lives of other people."

"It's so strange."- novaboros

Pick A Hand, Any Hand!

"I’m not ambidextrous, but whenever I bring that word up people seem to think it’s pretty common."- bagpipesfart

They've Got To Be Out There Somewhere

"A good person that likes you for who you are."- NoBueno07

"A solid group of people/friends you’ve known for years."- SoberSeldom

Obviously, keep your eyes up because there are real dangers out there.

However, don't fall for propaganda meant to make you fear something that has such a low likelihood of happening that getting struck by lightning feels more likely.

Related Articles Around the Web
rare

People Describe The Dumbest Thing They've Seen A Coworker Do On The Job

Reddit user Adrian0091 asked: 'What‘s the dumbest thing you‘ve seen a coworker do on the job?'

woman in black long sleeve shirt using macbook
Photo by Magnet.me on Unsplash

When I was in college, I worked at a restaurant as a hostess. Since I previously only babysat and tutored, a restaurant was a whole knew world to me.

Two of the girls who worked the same days as me were the ones to train me. They were a couple of years older than I was and had been working there for a year already, so they had a lot of experience. They not only taught me how to do the job, but gave me a lot of tips to make some of the more tedious tasks easier.

They both seemed like responsible girls, so when I came in the week after my training was over, I was shocked to hear they were both fired. According to a server I'd become friends with, the girls had snuck in some alcohol on what was supposed to be a slow day (it was a Tuesday, which was always our slowest day) and decided to have a "party at the host stand."

They got completely wasted and basically kept tripping as they led guests to their seats, even as they told the guests to watch their step. When one of the girls accidentally poured a milkshake over one guest and had to call a manager to smooth things over, they were caught and fired on the spot. I was cringing at their stupidity!

Apparently, I'm not the only one who has had to deal with co-workers doing something utterly stupid while they were on the job. Redditors have borne witness to this and are eager to share their stories.

It all started when Redditor Adrian0091 asked:

"What‘s the dumbest thing you‘ve seen a coworker do on the job?"

Such A Pretty Display

"I asked one of the new kids to stack the shoe department."

"Easy if but a bit boring. I showed her, stack by brand then size, big at the bottom, small top yeah?"

"She decided to organise it by the color of the boxes instead because it looked prettier."

"Took me hours to fix that mess."

– Lizzy_Of_Galtar

Oooh, Burn! (Quite Literally)

"In high school, working at a Chinese restaurant, was there basically to take orders and bus tables. Another dude I vaguely knew from high school got hired there. Nice, popular dude, but not much common sense. Within his first two weeks, he went to make himself some food (we were allowed to do that to a certain extent), and he dropped some wontons into the deep fryer. When he decided they were done, and as we were having a conversation, he just REACHED HIS HAND into the oil to retrieve it. I don’t think I even reacted for a moment or two, and then rushed forward. He somehow ALSO didn’t react for a moment or two before pulling his hand out and yelling out a cartoon-style “YEEOUCH!”"

"He went to the hospital, and quit the job."

– CwAbandon

Umm...Huh?

"One dude once photocopied a slice of pizza. We found cheese and stuff inside the machine for weeks. Was pretty funny though."

– LinusMeindl

"Inside? Did the idiot put the pizza into the document feeder or something?"

– MechanicalHorse

"How else would you feed the machine pizza."

– andtheIToldYouSos

Spelling

"I saw a tattooist I worked with tattoo "Laugh now cry Ladder" across a guy's chest..."

"He was let go, and a few years later, a guy came in with "Warior" across his upper back in bold letters, wanting it fixed. Same tattooist lol."

– hurrythisup

"Cry me a ladder."

– Deleted User

"Cry me a liver."

– iqtrm

"Crimea river."

– MagicSPA

Yikes!

"Telling the manager on duty, “I’m not the one eating it, so why should I care?” when the manager was trying to explain to her how to correctly prepare a customer’s food."

– 2gecko1983

"Watched a coworker of mine at a Pizza Hut (1976) clean off the food prep counter with a gross floor broom. The kitchen was open, so people at the tables could see the food being made, and someone saw him and yelled out to the other customers, and people started walking out."

"Cleared it out."

"Once the manager figured out what happened, he fired the guy on the spot."

– big_d_usernametaken

Misstep After Misstep

"Admitted to not having spoken to any of the business stakeholders, but instead "made up their own story.""

"This was at the end of what was supposed to have been a four-week information-gathering phase of the project."

"That afternoon, when one of the managers went to escort her from the premises, they found her by the printer with a stack of confidential documents."

– WitShortage

No Cell Phones At Work

"Worked with a lot of hazardous chemicals. Had a coworker who was notorious for being on his phone. We had to use a pump to put a hazardous chemical into a tank. Problem was you couldn’t look at the destination and pump the pump at the same time. Someone had to pump and someone had to watch. So I specifically asked said coworker to not look at his phone this one time. Tank overflowed and spilt the chemical everywhere because he was staring at his phone. Took hours to clean up."

– BigTiddyOstrogothGF

"A coworker of mine was fired for using his cellphone in an electrically classified area, cell phone wasn't explosion proof, not to mention the fact no cell phones on the floor, they gave him a warning, second time they walked him out."

"Bad part for him was that his wife found out he was talking to his girlfriend."

"Twenty years down the tubes."

"As we liked to say, "He fired himself.""

– big_d_usernametaken

Ewww!

"A guy I worked with sent a spreadsheet round with all the women in the office ranked in a spreadsheet and graded overall based on 1-5."

"He was somehow shocked he didn’t pass his probation."

– downfallndirtydeeds

Thank God He Was Fired

"My best friend, he took his mop bucket and poured it down a water fountain instead of using the closet with a sink that was literally right next to the water fountain. He got fired the next day."

"He told me he was in “f**k it” mode with the job and he didn’t care. We worked at a hospital."

– MrFavorable

""Who cares if sick people get exposed to a little bit of antibiotic-resistant flesh-eating bacteria.""

– Brett42

Get Right Back Up

"There were 2 of us installing an air conditioner. He had a bit of work outside that required him going up a ladder about 3 or 4 feet, not high. I was inside doing wiring."

"I heard a loud thud and scream, so I ran out to see what happened. He fell off the ladder. I've seen gruesome injuries from stupid thing like this before, so I ran outside to help him out. No injuries, he picked himself up and got back at it, I went back inside."

"Five minutes later, same thing. I walked out to check on him again after a small fall. He was ok again, but I told him to chill out and watch what he's doing. I went back inside."

"Heard another thud from outside. He fell again. I just looked out the window the third time and went about my business."

– DrVanNostrand6

*Cringing*

"He opened a Skype window (yes, this was ~10 years ago) and started messaging me to sh*t-talk a person who was in the same call as us."

"Except, he forgot he was sharing his screen."

– zyygh

R.I.P. Press

"After checking the correct lock-out tag-out procedure was followed, I assured an employee that it was safe to change dies on a horizontal press. But he was skeptical so unbeknownst to anyone he put a piece of tooling steel about the size of a coffee can under the die base. Some of you know where this is going. He made the tooling change, forgot his “safety measure”, and cycled the press. We all heard a $400k press eat itself in a fantastic swan-song of a noise that would take Stephen King four pages to describe."

– Idontfeelold-much

The Stupidity Of The Human Race

"Late 90’s, I was a custodian in a NYC public school to pay for college. One of my coworkers accidentally spilled about 15 gallons of gasoline in the school parking lot. He didn’t want to get in trouble for spilling that much gas so he thought the best course of action was to burn off the gasoline. Of course gasoline burns with huge billows of black smoke so he panics and tries to put out the fire BY DRIVING HIS CAR OVER THE GIANT PUDDLE OF BURNING GASOLINE. Fire department shows up within minutes and sees him doing donuts in the giant fire and they spend a whole hour screaming at my coworker about how f**king stupid he was."

"Edit: and in 1997 when this happened, gas was 97¢ a gallon. He could have replaced all the gas for less than $15."

– -Words-Words-Words-

"I'm a veteran of the Internet, and enjoy reading accounts like this. I must have read thousands."

"This is, hats off, quite literally one of the most stupid decisions I ever heard anyone make."

– MagicSPA

I really don't want to believe that last one really happened!

Do you have any great stories? Let us know in the comments below.

on the job

Things People Truly Believe The U.S. Government Is Hiding From Us

Caution Tape at the United States Capitol in Washington D.C.
Photo by Andy Feliciotti

There are certain theories most deem to be "crackpot."

But, there are some conspiracy theories that have a surprising amount of evidence behind them.

Enough that those conspiracies almost seem to hold water as it were.

If only we could all get a little truth from the higher-ups.

A little truth goes a long way, but they insist on holding onto secrets and lies.

I have a laundry list of questions.

And I'm not the only one.

Redditor CommonBeginning3132 wanted to hear about everyone's theories on what we're NOT being told by our elected officials, so they asked:

"What is something that you’re for sure the US government is hiding from us?"

I want to know about the money they "burn."

I refuse to believe it's all trashed.

The Harvest

artificial intelligence no GIF by ADWEEKGiphy

"That comment sections are just one large data harvest of random human thoughts and that data is used to fine-tune AI."

​SLObro152

"Well, time to break out the REAL gibberish then."

nogtank

Past Due Date

"How many members of Congress are taking medications that would early retire anyone in the private sector."

TheBubbaDave"

There are likely several members of Congress taking Aricept or Namenda for dementia. Typically once someone needs to start taking those kinds of meds, they're no longer capable of working in an office job (or any job, to be honest)."

BananaPants430

"I wonder at what moment aging politicians realize they're no longer considered a leader in their party and from now on they'll just be occupying a seat for that party for the rest of their lives."

Stumpfinger1

Live Missiles

"I'm convinced that our ICBM protection system is far more accurate than the Pentagon is willing to admit."

KCalifornia19

"The problem with a system protecting the US from nuclear attack is that such a system, no matter how well designed, would be hugely complex, can never be fully tested, and must be close to 100% effective on its first use to have any value."

Renaissance_Slacker

"I was in the navy and my ship was the designated ICBM test ship for the new AEGIS system, we shot down decoy missiles all the time and were 100% effective."

"The missiles are live, there are just no active warheads on them."

iSniffMyPooper

Locations

"The location of nuclear submarines."

Pennsyltuckey54

"The only people who know exactly where the subs are are the navigational and commanding officers on the sub. Even the intelligence and commanding officers that assign the zones for the subs don’t know exactly where they are at any given point. Only the general area they are designated."

TheEveryEmpireFalls

Look Up

Hover Area 51 GIF by GashhudsGiphy

"UFOs and not the alien kind. I'm talking about super high-end secret stuff the military has and is still testing out."

​DiamondOrBust

Are they out there?

Will we ever truly know?

They keep a tight lid on that one.

Follow the Money

Bugs Bunny Money GIF by Looney TunesGiphy

"How many politicians have secret offshore bank accounts full of embezzled taxpayer dollars."

​Firetaymer70

Money Talks

"The impact wealthy individuals with personal interests have in politics, inside and abroad."

contessamiau

"Just remember when they talk about American interests abroad they aren't talking about the normal citizen's interests. Realistically what happens in some far away land is going to have little impact on my daily life. What they are really talking about is corporate interests every single time. Smedley Butler tried to warn us almost 100 years ago but we just brushed him off."

Slumminwhitey

Budgets

"Good Lord. Clearly, no one commenting here has ever known anyone working for the federal government. The biggest secret they’re keeping from you is that every government agency spends money like a coke addict in the month of September so that their budgets won’t get slashed in the next fiscal year."

tonovay

"Every single bureaucratic organization in the world does this. It’s not a secret at all."

sdreal

What Did They Find?

"I have a very personal reason for wanting to know what they found at Roswell. My grandfather was in the Air Force and was present at the site. All he ever said about it was, 'It wasn’t a damn weather balloon,' then shut down. He was low-ranking, basically just there to drive the higher-ranking personnel, but he saw something, and I wanted to know what it was! He also firmly believed in aliens, so that just adds to my curiosity, especially given how Southern Baptist he was."

GloInTheDarkUnicorn

Happenstance

Always Sunny Reaction GIFGiphy

"Used to believe in this stuff until I started working in government. I’m now convinced that most conspiracy theories can be explained by pure incompetence."

Puzzleheaded_Ice_233

Do you have anything to add? Let us know in the comments below.

government

People Break Down The Most Ridiculous Majors They've Ever Heard Of

College classroom
Dom Fou/Unsplash

Many high school graduates face the conundrum of what to major in when they go on to pursue higher education.

Teens who haven't already sparked an interest in a particular field by the time they graduate wind up buying more time waiting for enlightenment by electing "undecided."

But to avoid any stigma of being an idle scholar, some students settle on majors they thought never existed.

"Fun with pasta," anyone?

While such a major might not exist, I wouldn't put it past some academia for coming up with it.

Curious to hear what those unheard-of specialized fields of study are out there, Redditor GazelleHistorical705 asked:

"What is the most ridiculous college major you’ve ever heard of?"

Majors with one word, please.

Sounds Like A Hard Major

"PENIS. My school offered a major in Political Economy of Newly Industrialized Societies, but eventually realized the acronym and changed the name. Pity. I hope some were able to get their degrees with a concentration in PENIS."

– OhMaiMai

Hidden Objective

"Golf."

"It was made so the Vice Chancellor could buy a private golf course for the university, so he could play on it. I believe it had 5 enrollments ever, and one was a joke that didnt show up or pay. It got cancelled the first year, but he got to enjoy his own personal golf course for some years after."

– jadelink88

Just Throwing Ideas

"Frisbee. A friends roommate at Amherst was in some kind of 'create your own major' thing and chose frisbee. His family had momey and college was just a formality."

– hightower65

Certain concepts as a major were hard to grasp.

Seed Of Despotism

"IIRC, like 20 years ago some college in Indiana offered a major in World Domination."

– Rev_Christopheles

"You can only get a job as a henchman with a BS."

"You need a full PhD to be an evil mastermind."

– JimBean823

A Vague Focus

"PhD in general studies."

– dravik

"Tf do you even write your dissertation about."

– Fragile_Line

"Everything."

– ProsciuttoPizza

"Generally."

– cropguru357

Let's Take It Outside

"An old friend has a Bachelor's degree in Outdoor Activities. He was never able to explain exactly what that meant, though."

– EnlargedBit371

"A guy I know majored in Recreation."

– kmsc87

"When I was there, my college had one of the top Parks Recreation and Tourism Management (PRTM) programs in the country."

"It had the nickname 'Party Right Through May.'”

"It was extremely popular with student athletes, especially football players."

"There’s always a demand for graduates too. It seems like one of those fields where you shouldn’t need a college degree to do the work, but you need one to get in the door."

– JimBeam823

Going At Your Own Pace

"When I was in uni my friend dated a guy who was majoring in leisure studies. I used to joke that leisure studies is a 4 year program, but if you’re good enough at it you can do it in 6."

– Mtldoggogogo

Things went up a notch.

Arghhh Ya Kiddin' Me?

"At MIT you can be certified in being a pirate if you complete the courses of pistol, archery, sailing, and fencing."

– yhdreytaweatrst

"It’s not a major, it’s a certificate. But if I ever get my own office it’s going in a very nice diploma frame and I’m gonna see who notices."

– PoorCorrelation

Veritable Hodgepodge

"My university had an Interdisciplinary Studies department that served mainly to get super duper seniors graduated. They would cobble together the random credits people got because they changed majors every semester into a 'degree.' You get some wild majors like a BA in Culinary Traditions and Music in the Former British Empire."

– pinelands1901

Sapphic Education

"My college briefly had a major in Nordic Lesbianism."

– WhizzleTeabags

"I've read many of the responses on here where most of them weren't ridiculous imo but you gave the best one!"

– 90DayTroll

"HUH."

– OP

Make It Up

"At a graduation at the University of Redlands. They have a degree whereby you basically take the classes you want and call it what you want."

"The degree conferred was, I kid you not: 'Still trying to figure out who I am.'”

– dmur726

Clearly there's a major for all occasions.

But at the end of the day, does it really matter as long as you have a BA in something to show you were academically tenacious?

Now go out there and carve out your own path, young scholars!

Just make sure you can pay off those student loans.

Maybe there should be a major on how to avoid debt.

college

People Who Lost Their Jobs To Artificial Intelligence Share Their Experiences

human robot illustration

Possessed Photography on Unsplash

Artificial intelligence (AI) is defined as:

"the theory and development of computer systems able to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making and translation between languages."

AI is broken down into four types—from most basic to most advanced:

  1. Reactive machines
  2. Limited memory
  3. Theory of mind
  4. Self-awareness

The first two—reactive machines and limited memory—currently exist.

Reactive machines AI have no memory—it responds directly to current information. An example is a recommendation based on your streaming activity.

Limited memory looks into the past and monitors specific objects or situations over time, and adds the information to adapt responses. Self-driving cars are a good example of limited memory AI.

The other types—theory of mind and self-awareness—don't exist yet.

Theory of mind AI would be able to understand intentions and predict behavior while adjusting its own responses, simulating human interpersonal relationships.

The final step in AI is self-awareness. These would be systems that have a sense of self, a conscious understanding of their existence.

As AI advances, some human work functions will be done cheaper or more efficiently by AI.

Keep reading...Show less
work