People Who Made A Lot Of Money From Something Totally Random Share Their Story
We all hope for it, yet deep down know never to expect it: the sudden lucky break that leaves us flush with cash.
We conjure images of a tech startup explosion without any grueling all-nighters. Or maybe the dream is a random viral Youtube video that rakes in cash off the ad money.
Others fantasize about more traditional methods of sudden wealth. They hope for a huge legal settlement, a long-lost relative's will, or a sleeping giant of an art piece.
But we don't really expect it to happen. The astronomical odds just aren't enough to orient your life around.
That said, it happens. Some Redditors were a few of the lucky ones. They told their stories in a recent thread.
Sebulista asked, "Redditors who made a lot of money by sheer randomness, what's your story?"
Before the Fall
"I briefly worked with a guy who was in his late 20s, ex military. When he got out, a friend of his he served with told him to buy Bitcoin. He bought several thousand worth when it was nothing and forgot about it."
"When it first started spiking and getting attention on the news, he started looking for the drive because he thought he had some. He did and he had a lot of it. Sold well before the peak."
"Dude made millions. He had an $800,000 house, multiple high end cars and came to work a manual labor job 'because he was bored.' Needless to say, he didn't stay long and all he did was show off his money and clock hours not actually working."
-- uoYredruM
Sudden Bequeathing
"My wife's aunt died. She had been institutionalized her whole life and neither of us had ever even met her. We kind of forgot about it for a few months until my wife's uncle emailed her and said she was going to be getting some money."
"We were like oh, OK, that's kinda weird, but not complaining."
"Then my wife got a phone call from the uncle one evening. I heard a lot of 'ums,' 'OKs,' and 'geeze, wows.' Turned out we were getting over $300,000."
"We were both grinding away making $15 an hour and barely making rent every month, and then boom. Outta nowhere."
"That ended up being the difference between having a house and not having a house, being able to start a family and not being able to start a family, and having a retirement fund vs just hoping not to get evicted every month."
-- RougeCannon
One and Done
"I won $5,000 playing bingo on a cruise. I have only been on one cruise, and it was the only time I have played bingo in my life. I have retired from both.." -- frivus
"Going out on top" -- xkygerx
"First time I went to Vegas after turning 21 I played a slot machine, won $3,000 on my first try. Haven't gambled since" -- phoebe-buffey
A Particular Clientele
"I was a male escort for about 7ish years. Not a sex worker, specifically an escort. I would go with people(Usually women, but sometimes men.) And would pretend to be their perfect boyfriend/partner in front of friends and family/co-workers."
"It started out very much as an accident but ended up making me a ton of money. I recently 'retired' and started focusing on going to school cause I can't do escorting my whole life, and nor did I want because I really dislike people and it was honestly a chore."
"Most of my clients were '1 percenters' which is the reason I made so much money. I did pay taxes on it before anyone asks."
Accidental Art Collectors
"My friend's father was gifted an oil pencil drawing in the late 70s. His family always assumed it was pretty much worthless and I always joked that it looked like my friend had drawn it as a child. This silly angry stick figure drawing ended up being an unsigned piece of art by Jean-Michel Basquiat."
"His family did some digging and eventually had it authenticated by the JMB estate before selling it at Christie's auction house for an amazing sum of money."
"I was absolutely blown away when I learned this. My friend and his family were far from wealthy so to realize they had this unknown treasure just sitting out in the living room for so many years was mind blowing."
-- Zuliman
Dead Drop
"I found 3600 dollars in a food takeout box in the middle of a giant field, I live in a rich area and lot of drug deals happen so it's possible I stole multiple thousands of dollars from a drug dealer on accident" -- Hingadowshow
"someone probably died or lost a limb because of that :X not your fault, just saying" -- OdinWolfe
"I feel like this is the plot to a semi-shitty action film." -- Dudelyllama
A Flash of Excitement
"I started an Amazon private label business on a whim in 2015. I made about 25% of the sale in profit after product, shipping, and advertising costs."
"Sales doubled every month for six months June $4k, July $8k August $18k, September $40k, October $84k November $175k, December $362k."
"I didn't know what to do. I quit my job in January to focus on growing the business, but my time was spent mostly trying to fend off competition copying my listing and posting fraudulent reviews and then lowering my price in the race to the bottom."
"It went well for a few years, but I never made as much as I made that first December."
"Lesson learned: arbitrage isn't a long term business"
Moral: Don't Be a Jerk
"The summer after my freshmen year in college I was walking my little 20lb dog on a street near my house. A neighbor lady was walking her two dogs who were a husky and some other similar sized dog."
"The husky attacked my dog and in the process I got some teeth marks on my wrist. Since the neighbors dog started it and the owner obviously couldn't control it I wanted them to pay the vet fees for my dog which was under 500."
"The guy ended up being a di** about it and my roommates dad was a lawyer so about a year and half later I ended up with about 20k."
-- Br1nkley
One of the Lucky Ones
"I quit a job at a startup that was a mess, and I just wanted to do something relaxing so I took some time of cleaning up an old algorithm I wrote 10 years ago. I told a friend of mine, who told some industry people about it. They contacted me and I got invited to talk about it at a conference and then large companies started getting in touch."
"So far I have signed one 7 figure deal to license it. Its not random but it feels very random. I'm making more in interest now then i ever have earned holding down a job."
"The world is not fair."
-- quelsolaar
Location, Location, Location
"Normal reddit reply of 'not me but' my friend's dad's friend. He decided to open an ice business. Hey, everyone need ice. He bought an old warehouse because it was cheap."
"Government decided to redo the on ramps to the bridge and needed to buy like 1/3rd of his parking lot, maybe say 20 parking spots worth. He didn't care, he had a staff of like 4, never used more than that."
"I never heard exact numbers but I did hear he got more for those spots, than he paid for the property."
-- somedude456
"I bought a waterproof camera..."
I bought a waterproof camera back in 2010 and thought it would be cool to try it out at the new water park that just opened. 1 years later the video blew up making me tons of money monthly. I still make some during the summer months but not much. Now I'm sitting at just over 100,000,000 views.
"I originally secured..."
In the 90s I fostered a dog for some friends who were leaving town and left the dog with me. This dog immediately made an impression upon me, and even though I really didn't want a pet at the time, he was such an amazing dog, he convinced me otherwise. He was super smart, half black lab, half pit bull. I called him "wisdom" because he was so smart.
Fast forward a few years I used him as a mascot for a recording studio I set up. I registered the domain name wisdom.com. My dog passed away several years later and I was heartbroken and depressed for many years. I maintained the domain name even though I didn't really have any projects associated with it. Over the years people made offers on the domain name but I always passed. The domain was a homage to my long lost best friend.
Then in 2000 with the dot-com boom, there was renewed interest in domains and IPOs. I had a few groups bugging me for the domain name and kept increasing their offers. Eventually the numbers got into the "life changing" areas of money, and I couldn't ignore them.
I originally secured the wisdom.com domain name for nothing. In the early days of the Internet, it didn't cost any money to register a domain name. You just had to fill out the right forms. I actually would never have to pay any domain renewal fees if it wasn't for a sysadmin that made changes to the domain and accepted new terms of service that forced me to have to pay renewal fees. Otherwise, the $475,000 I was ultimately offered in cash would have been pure profit. But instead my cost was a few hundred dollars over the year. Still a significant windfall that gave me the opportunity to take that money and create another cool community of wonderful people.
I continue to be in awe that my little dog, Wisdom, had the ability to bestow such an amazing gift upon me so many years later, and I'm determined to use that gift to help others. I took the money to create a special space that is a makerspace and club to help others.
"My neighbor..."
My neighbor died with no friends or family and left everything in her will to us. Everyone always asks if we were great neighbors to her? I'd say no, we were just neighbors and treated her as we would want to be treated and did neighborly duties for her. If it snowed we cleared her driveway without her asking, took care of her cats if she went to the beach, say Hello if we saw her.
She was a tough cookie and an alpha female, would be the best way to put it. She hated if I played basketball in the driveway and when we were cleaning out her garage after she died we found 3 of my old basketballs. But she was also the type of person if she wanted an apple pie she would bake an apple pie and take a slice and bring the rest over to us.
"When they got too old..."
My dad and uncle had distant cousins that lived in town. Retired teachers. We all thought they were poor as church mice. My mom had them for Easter--they didn't want to come to the other celebrations as they hated my grandmother.
When they got too old to live on their own, my mother got their house sold and had them set up in a retirement/convalescent home. We did all the moving ourselves. They loved us kids, so we were brought over to sit and chat with them every few months. My father and uncle never did a thing.
When they died, it turned out they'd invested well and were sitting on a bunch of valuable stocks. They left 25% to my uncle (who called to ask who they were), 25% to my father, and 50% to my mother! It was a great lesson in kindness. My mother was nice because they were "poor" family and ended up getting a huge chunk of cash for her efforts!
"Turned 18..."
Turned 18 and bought 2 $5 lottery tickets as a goof, won $10 and said f**k it let it ride and bought 2 more. Won $1000 and have stayed away from gambling since.
"My dad really loved the idea of it..."
It wasn't so much randomness, and my family isn't filthy rich, but we seriously just threw s*** at a wall to see what would stick.
My family was immensely poor for a while. Credit card debt, bankruptcy when I was born, etc... Well, YouTube came around in 2005. My dad really loved the idea of it and saw potential in the platform. He watched it for years, seeing what people liked. In 2009, my dad decided to do YouTube in his free time, as he likes to be busy and it gave some bonding time with myself. One video after another. One subscriber after another. One viewer after another. Somehow, he ended up getting monetized fairly quickly with YouTube. It was a pretty good amount at the time (a few grand monthly) that it gave my family the stepping stone to get out of poverty level.
We continued the channel for fun even after we got better financially. Even enough to get a slightly bigger house. The channel ended up being put down in 2016 due to unrelated things that caused long hiatuses. I kind of miss it to be honest.
"At first..."
At first I figured I had nothing to contribute to this thread. But when I started reading about people getting severance packages and winning $500 at the casino. Hell, I got a $55k severance package from my last job and won $18k in the lottery.
"I was able to salvage..."
I was in an apartment fire. My apartment wasn't damaged by fire but by thousands of gallons of water from the fire department and a little bit of smoke. My renters insurance payed out the max $30k. I got to salvage BLM it's if my stuff minus all the furniture.
I had to come up with a list over the weekend of all my processions and their value. I think I was at like maybe $10k on my list. My apartment manager and the insurance adjuster just said to make sh*t up basically. So in about a 10 minute time frame I edited my list and BSed it from $10k close to $25k. The adjuster gave very little push back during the inspection and maxed it out cause I would need a hotel temporary.
I was able to salvage most of most processions but it was a lot of trips to the laundromat, and spending the next few months just washing all my stuff. It really sucked as I was living in Airbnb's during the weekdays and staying with my parents 2 hours away on the weekends. And I had to find a new apartment while being effectively homeless. I'd say the hassle was worth at least $10k.
"While waiting for them..."
I went to the Netherlands (you know the country not the....ok I'll stop) for vacation when I was about 11 (?) and went on a biking trip with my uncle. When we finished the tour we were quite far away from where we stayed so my uncles dad came to pick us up by car and drove us back.
Along the road we obviously made some pitstops and there it was in all its glory: a gas station gamble machine.
While waiting for them to finish their duties I went ahead and pressed random buttons and out of nowhere €1 and €2 coins start falling out of it. It continued for about a minute before it stopped. I was perplexed cause I actually hadn't put anything inside so I didn't expect anything.
How much did I get you ask? €43 straight cash...which isn't a lot to be fair but as a 11 year old foreigner randomly receiving foreign money out of a gambling machine it made me feel like I was at the top of the world.
Had a bad@ss time at the fair when we got back.
"I used that..."
My father died when I was 17. Social security gave me a check for $10,000
I used that and my life savings to put a 20% down payment on a house in Central Valley of California in 2013.
My house has doubled in price and I pay 1/3 what renting would be.
"We were approached..."
Sold a company in 2008. I got out of the military and had some friends that were starting a small veteran owned defense contracting company. I owned about 18 or so percent of the company when sold.
We were approached by a very large company in 2007 about buying and by early 2008 I had enough money where I didnt have to work probably ever again. I got into real estate investing working for myself with some close friends shortly after that and have owned my own business ever since.
People say "Well I worked incredibly hard to get my business to where it is" and that was true but the other half was just pure luck that I managed to partner with some tremendously smart people. Who I knew has taken me MUCH farther than what i know. Now I work maybe 16 hours a week from my phone or laptop.
"When I was little..."
When I was little, my Dad worked for a national pest control company. They were making people work 70-80 work weeks at minimum wage without paying them overtime. He didn't work there too long as he got sick of being treated like trash. He quit and called the labor board or whoever it would have been. Apparently an investigation was started and about a year or so later, every single person who'd ever worked for them received a check for all of their unpaid overtime! Hearing the story as an adult, I was so damn proud of my Dad.
"Upon research..."
Bought a street sign from a local thrift store for $20 because I thought it looked cool. Upon research I discovered it was a prop from a popular tv show. Think it appeared in the opening credits. Sold it for $700.
"First one..."
I made about $7k on a car I paid $80 for.
This isn't a lot of money, but I was essentially given an older car when I was in college by my parents, all I did was pay a transfer fee. It was an early 90s vehicle in the 2010s so the vehicle had already seen better days.
On two separate occasions the car was parked and hit by someone. First guy left a note and the second I knew the person. We got estimates on the damage to send to the insurance companies.
First one was a broken tail light. Due to some paint damage, a barely noticeable dent, and the color of the vehicle being uncommon the estimate was $1k. We had the insurance company cut us a check for the money and fixed it ourselves. I just fixed the tail light with a junkyard one.
The second incident was someone hitting black ice and sliding in my car. The driver side doors were messed up. Same situation, estimate was around $6700. Insurer cut us a check and we fixed it with junkyard doors that were very close in color. Total cost was maybe $600 to us.
That money helped pay for some tuition/rent while in school.
"I still collect..."
I was 19 at the time and a few years after my grandfather died I got a massive envelope in the mail stuffed with about 50 pages of contracts and forms. Apparently my deadbeat dad forgot to disclose to me and my brother that we owned fractional ownership to mineral rights on some land in Tyler, TX. Apparently quite a few companies were prospecting the land for oil and were driving up the prices of the land leases. Well, one company finally leased the land from all the owners, and I received around 15,000 for my stake in the land contracts.
Being 19, in college, and living a bit of a party lifestyle, I blew most of it, which I still regret to this day, but I did end up buying a t ton of music equipment that helped me to where I am today as a musician. So that was cool.
Looking back now I wish I would have saved or invested it, but at least there is a silver lining in that story.
I still collect monthly royalties on the oil that is being harvested from that land, but it's maybe $100 a month, which is nice.
"I like to think..."
A dude sat next to me on a bench and we had small talk for like 15 minutes, then he got up to leave, shook my hand and walked off.
He'd planted $900 right in my hand. Was so random and smooth.
I like to think I was the chosen one because I have a dazzling personality. But my friend thinks its just because I look homeless and the dude took pity on me.
Either way, it was awesome.
"I only discovered..."
Made a couple of thousand dollars profit off of the random popularity of a lip balm on the internet. You may be familiar with the lip balm eos? The little egg-shape thing? Well, after they became so popular, a rival brand called revo came out. But revo stepped it up a notch and offered a much wider array of different flavors/scents (like lip smackers), released seasonally as limited editions. They were only sold at a few places like Walgreens.
I only discovered that they were selling for greater than purchase price by accident, when i was looking on ebay for a scent i had missed out on. At the time i was doing a good deal of traveling for work, so in my long drives i would hit up the Walgreens i ran across on my way. I was able to locate in more rural locations a good amount of older releases that had sold out in larger cities. My biggest sale was about $200 for $30 in lip balm. The majority were smaller sales for a lot less.
Overall I don't think it was a great exercise in making lots of money. After you factor in the time i spent in labor, the packaging & postage, the fees that went to ebay, etc, it was not much. But It was a very good return on something that was kind of a hobby.
"Plus..."
Started a new job a few years ago with a very nice base salary plus commission incentives if I met my goals. My boss, being the gangster that she is, rushed my hiring so I could start before the end of the fiscal year. The reason for this is because they were doing away with a pension plan at the end of the year but anyone hired prior to the end got grandfathered in. Very thoughtful of her!
My new boss knew something else though that I didn't. The previous rep screwed the company over pretty good going to a direct competitor with no notice, and if the position wasn't filled prior to the end of the fiscal year, they'd still have to pay out the Q4 commission even though he left in Q3.
My "official" start date was 13 days before the end of the fiscal year, but they couldn't get my computer/phone/company car etc so my boss told me to hang tight. So I spent a month fishing, hiking, enjoying time off while still being paid a salary for a job I hadn't even started. When my first paycheck came, my jaw hit the floor. Not only did they pay me my very generous base salary, which was much higher than any job I'd had prior, but they also gave me the Q4 commission check, plus the 10% from Q1-3 that they hold in case you don't make it to quota, plus all the additional comp for being over quota.
After tax, my first paycheck for doing exactly zero work was almost $25k, which is more in a single paycheck than I made in an entire year for the first 3 years of my first job out of college. I called my boss to ask if there had been some kind of mistake, and she said, "Nope. Welcome to [company name]. If you work hard and do well, we take care of our people."
Needless to say, the strategy worked. I'm still with the company and plan to retire from here. I happily work my ass off and am proud of the work I do and the service my company provides. Plus they do stuff like this all the time (usually on a much smaller scale) to make sure their employees are well taken care of.
"Not nearly as much..."
I had a side gig as a karaoke host at a bar shortly after graduating college and one Sunday evening a very drunk patron came in holding a LOT of hundred-dollar bills. He had bet on a bunch of football games, slapped down three bills on the table, and said they were mine as long as I just played music and there wasn't karaoke. Luckily for me, the machine was broken and the owner couldn't come to fix it until a few hours later. The drunk fella was already long gone by then.
Not nearly as much money as most of the stories on here, but I thought it was a nice random bonus.
"I was randomly born into..."
Inheritance. I was randomly born into the "right" family. Yay me. Now I'm supposed to carry myself like I earned it and complain about anyone who wants "government handouts." I'm supposed to be grateful that I've been spared from a cruel society that lets the poor die of causes that I am now safe from. Not even grateful, but entitled.
"I cried."
I didn't receive so much as money but a whole house.
Over the last five years I've helped out a really, really awesome friend of mine. Guy helped me to get a better job, a car recently, and balance my finances. I'm also close with his roommate who has slight autism I've started to help out the last year because he's been getting worse. Roommate is in his mid-fifties and we've been I serious talks about his retirement and care as he gets older. Otherwise sweet guy, helped me to learn how to drive and always thinks of others first.
Well, good friend mentioned he was buying a house and bringing his roommate with him to continue to care for him. Mentioned the place has four rooms and made an offer for me to move in. I gladly accepted and he helped me move out of the small bedroom I was renting at the time.
And I've helped these two through thick and thin, and they've done the same for me. A month after we move in to the new house my friend hits me with the news that it's mine. If something happens to him or his roommate I'm setup to the inherit the house. I asked him if he was sure and he adamant about it. Pointed out no one in his family or roommates had ever bothered to offer any help or assistance.
I cried. As someone whose been forced to move due to bad circumstances multiple times it was a big shock to me to be given a home like that. I always help these two because I care about them and they do the same in return without ever asking for me to pay them back.
"About a decade ago..."
About a decade ago, our local newspaper had an online contest for a minivan. All you had to do was answer one question correctly. But, they didn't set a limit on the number of entries, so I (and, apparently, this other person; you could see the votes for each answer), stuffed the box. Although I didn't win the minivan, I did win second prize, a $2,000 BestBuy gift card.
Last year, a charity that I'm a part of had a fundraiser outing at our local ballpark. They picked my ticket from the 50/50 raffle. I also remembered that if you were still there at the stadium when they drew it, they'd add some extra cash, so I received over $1,300.
"While there..."
Far from a rags to riches story, more of a life goes on story.
A few years ago between 2 credit cards I was 14k in debt, I was living on my own for the first time, kept buying sh!t I didn't really need, only paying minimums on my cards, and my salary was steadily decreasing at my bs call center job.
I started looking for another place to work since my pay was on par with just about anywhere else I had the skills to apply to, and suddenly my dad dies. We didn't really get along, he lived back East, divorced, broke, and I flew back to put him to rest with my sister.
While there we found a few bank statements she would handle, and my mom, maybe because he was her only husband, insisted on a casket and the army took care of his burial. In the months to come I received a 10k from one insurance company, and 5 from another, suddenly I had money, and I wisely cleared my debt. I found another mediocre job, and a few years later my sister finally sent me my part of his estate, maybe 14k. I used that money, along with my 401k to live off of while I went back to school, and got a job in tech. I started out pretty low since I'm in support, but since then I now make a respectable amount of money, and I'm proud of myself after 8 years I pay off my credit card every month and reap the rewards instead of getting sucked dry for interest.
To put out some numbers I made $10-12/hr at the call center, piece rate pay, at my current job I'm making 70k. If you want to know why the pay was decreasing it's because every 3-6 months the manager would change the pay scale, making it "better" for everyone, I was making $15-17/hr when I started.
People Break Down The First Thing They Do When Entering A Hotel Room
Reddit user BlundeRuss asked: 'What’s the first thing you do when you get into a hotel room?'
My family went on a lot trips when I was young, and we always stayed in hotel rooms. Around the time my brother and I were old enough to stay in a room by ourselves (our parents would stay in another one, usually across the hall), he also became a bit of a germaphobe.
At the time, I actually believed hotels changed the sheets on the beds daily, so when my brother fretted about the cleanliness of the hotels, I reassured him they were fine. He believed me at first, since I was his big sister, but by the time he was 12, he got suspicious.
During one of our trips, he decided to test this by making a mark on his pillow cover with a pen and turning the pillow cover inside out before we left for sightseeing the next morning. When we returned, he turned the pillow cover back, and his mark was still there, proving that the sheets hadn't been changed. He only had to do this one more time, during our next trip, for me to realize this wasn't a one-off.
Ever since, and even now in adulthood, my brother and I always intentionally spill something on our sheets during our first night in order to get clean sheets, at least for the duration of our stay. This, in fact, is the first thing we do.
I'm not the only person who does something a bit quirky like this when they first enter a hotel rooms. Plenty or Redditors have stories about this and are ready to share.
It all started when Redditor BlundeRuss asked:
"What’s the first thing you do when you get into a hotel room?"
Preparing For Sights
"Go to the balcony to see if it's going to be public nudity or private nudity during my morning coffee."
– hoffarmy
"I love that this doesn’t change your plans, just prepares your mind. Excellence."
– sewahyelah
Show Me The Truth
"Put my bags up on something and check the mattress. I also bought a UV flashlight but after using it at home I’ve decided that bringing it to a hotel would be unnecessary torture. Nothing is clean when you shine the thing on it. And I mean nothing."
– Fatguy73
Temperature Check
"One of my close friends travels a ton for business. She also loves to sleep in a f**king ice box."
"She has found some resource for how to basically jailbreak hotel thermostats. Each hotel thermostat has a specific key sequence that unlocks the lower temps that the hotel normally doesn’t allow guests to set because, you know, money."
– Sp4ceh0rse
"I do this in every hotel."
– jubilee__
Sweet Relief
"Set bags down."
"Look at room for cleanliness."
"Take a dump."
– PuzzledCitron8728
"I showed up early to a hotel after 12 hours straight of driving. Took forever for them to get me in the room (really it was probably only 30 minutes and they were super accommodating)."
"Anyways, I had been feeling the tyrannical gouging of a sh*t demon trying to claw it's way out for about half an hour beforehand. I ran down the hall, opened the door, threw my bag at something, and was kinda hovering over the toilet just in time. Hadn't put cheek to rim yet and my darling baby began his exit."
"It wasn't until after I looked up that I realized neither door was the self-closing kind and you could see all the way in from the hallway."
– coreylahe
"You’ve unlocked a childhood memory. I stayed in a lot of hotels while growing up and I saw someone in your position once, trail of belongings leading to the toilet. So I went and shut the door for him."
– scarfknitter
Disney Magic
"Find the bible and flip through it. When my sister and I were kids, we went to Disney, and I think she asked why is there always a bible in the drawer, waved it by the spine and 20 bucks fell out. So I always check now."
– TyWiggly
"I found $100 that way. 5 crisp 20's,. I was pretty broke at the time too."
– weisblattsnut
Always Check
"First, I look at the area between the mattress and headboard for any signs of bed bugs, then under the sheets. I’ve never encountered them, but I’ve heard so many horror stories that I’m paranoid about them."
– triceraquake
"As someone who worked in hotels, I always double check the door locks and then inspect for bed bugs."
– Chatterbxer
Yikes!
"Look for cameras. I'm a paranoid f**k."
– Gubble_Buppie
"If anyone wants to see an overweight guy in his mid-40s eat pringles in his underwear while reading Stephen King novels, then they have my flabby white blessing."
– oppernaR
"They sell surprisingly easy to use scanners on Amazon. I found a camera in an air bb bedroom alarm clock, threw a towel over it and got the whole stay for free. Some will detect signals but the best way is there’s a looking glass that’s red and it emits a light and you turn off all the lights and look around the room. Any active camera will shine like a cats eyes when you skim over it."
– Vacation_Kinkycouple
The Things We Find
"I check in odd places to see if anyone stashed drugs or money. You would be surprised at all the sh*t I’ve found over the years!"
– Deathbot-420
"We found an axe under the bed once."
– Punkstarbabe
Ick.
"Yank the comforter off the bed and throw it in the corner. they rarely wash those things."
– whatever32657
"I discovered this recently while calling home to say good night to everyone. Dried food stuck to the comforter. Threw that bad boy off the bed."
– DuchessofSquee
"I cleaned an air BnB for a little while and I was so disturbed when they told me they didn't wash the comforter because hotels don't.... Like I guess I get it because they're heavy and they're trying to save water on the washes but yuck dude... Cleaning that air Bnb made me NEVER want to book one because of the sh*t the owners wouldn't LET me clean... I don't think I'd ever survive as a maid for a hotel, I could never travel again lol."
– ModestMeeshka
It's A Process
"Make a condom for the TV remote control. Take the ice bag from the ice bucket and put the remote in it. Now I never have to touch the remote."
– dontknowafunnyname2
"I'm sure disinfectant wipes could do the job."
– Pheobe0228
Check For Monsters...People Monsters
"Make sure no one is hiding under the bed or in the bathroom 😂😅"
– HeadInTheClouds916
"I travel a lot for work…and I’m shocked no one else mentioned this. First I check the closet, under the bed, the bathroom for a hiding serial killer…then check the mattress for bedbugs…"
– pdxmikaela
Today I Learned
"Check for cleanliness and then take pictures Traffickcam."
"Traffickcam is an app where you take specific pictures of your room and then upload them to their database. They use these pictures to check on the location of human trafficking victims."
– slappymasterson
"Take a picture of the room and post it on the Trafickcam app so if the room or similar has been used by human traffickers maybe it will help find someone."
– CatsInTrenchCoat
And thanks to those last two stories, I'm a little scared to stay in another hotel.
Small acts of kindness that only a few know about can change the world.
You never know.
One smile can change one person's day.
And that person could carry it on.
So doing it ourselves may be the only answer.Redditor sashayingthru wanted to discuss the ways we know the world is still good, so they asked:
"What small act of kindness were you once shown that you will never forget?"
As someone who has waited on many tables, just tip properly.
You'll go to Heaven.
Strangers
Robin Williams Dancing GIF by 20th Century Fox Home EntertainmentGiphy"I once walked to a store to buy bags for my vacuum cleaner and I forgot to take my wallet. The shop owner gave me the bags, shook my hand, and told me to bring him to money tomorrow. He put his trust in a total stranger to do the right thing and I did."
Independent-Bike8810
In the Rain
"A man in a full business suit with a briefcase handed me an umbrella in a torrential rain storm and wouldn't take no for an answer. I still had to walk through Times Square to get to the train and I'm sure he got soaked going wherever he was going. A couple of weeks later, I gave the umbrella to a lost girl in my neighborhood when it started to rain and she didn't have one. Felt like the universe wanted it to happen."
"I'll never forget that man though."
im_not_bovvered
Leggo my Lego
"When I was maybe 4 or 5 years old, I made friends with another kid in an airport, and he was playing with a couple glued glued-together Lego cars. Me and that kid played for like an hour with those things and when it was time to go our separate ways and board the plane, the kid insisted I keep one of the cars, and while I insisted he should keep them, he said it was proof that we were friends, and to this day roughly 20 years later, I still have that car packed up with my childhood mementos box."
"That friend of mine was a good kid. Hope he’s doin' well."
givebooks
Don't Cry Tammy
"My husband and I were sitting on our porch holding hands and crying, just feeling overwhelmed because we were waiting to find out whether or not my tumor was cancerous. Our neighbor saw it when he was coming home. About half an hour later he came over with some freshly baked cookies. He didn't even say anything, just smiled, handed them to us, and then went back home."
"Just thinking about that moment has me crying again. From his kindness, not the fear. Tammy the Ti**y Tumor turned out benign!"
Reflection_Secure
Coasting...
Fail Will Ferrell GIF by Paramount PicturesGiphy"I literally coasted into a gas station out of gas on my motorcycle, then realized I didn't have my wallet. Some lady saw me patting all my pockets and I was upset and offered to fill up my tank. I only let her put $5 in, which on a bike is a lot. But it meant so much to me."
Twours1944
Give people gas as often as possible..
Pay it forward.
Generosity
happy silent film GIF by Charlie ChaplinGiphy"My realtor took less commission so that I could get my dream home. It was a rare find in a great neighborhood."
SheLight2
Egged Away
"Years ago my car got egged real badly overnight while parked on the driveway of our duplex. We had to go somewhere the next morning so took the wife’s car. Came back hours later and my car was shining like new on the driveway. The neighbor whose name I didn’t even know at that point had washed it for me while we were away."
Ceristimo
Are those still a thing?
"I was in maybe 4th grade and my parents just had my younger sister, so newborn focused. I went to my school lunch, opened my paper bag (are those still a thing?), and unwrapped the foil holding my sandwich. There was nothing inside. It was actually just 2 slices of dry white slice bread and I was sad."
"Literally, my table mates all chipped in various components and made me the most amazing ham and cheese sandwich I’ve ever had. I’ve been chasing that dragon of ham sandwich since but I’m sure it was the response and not the ingredients that I loved."
I_Am_The_Grapevine
Thanks guys...
"19 years old, first apartment, first winter, first winter utility bill. I smiled and told my coworker I'd just pay it, skip lunch, and eat cheap Mac and cheese for dinner. It'll be ok. All that month co-workers accidentally got extra chips from the vending machine. A wife packed an extra sandwich. A box of my favorite crackers would be on my desk when I came in. It was still hard but I didn't starve. Thanks, you guys."
alady12
Just Tears
Big Brother Omg GIF by Global TVGiphy"I was on the subway, sitting there crying because I had just ended a relationship. I wasn't making any noise, just tears, but the guy sitting next to me gave me some tissues. I'll never forget that."
screamingcupcakes
Some of the best people ride the subway.
Everyone has tissues.
The Exact Moment People Realized Their Significant Other Was Toxic
Content Warning: Toxic Behavior
As much as we might like to hope otherwise, not all relationships are meant to work out.
Not only are some couples not meant to be, but sometimes there are super valid reasons for a relationship to end beyond simply not being compatible, like toxic behaviors.
But a significant other being toxic will not be obvious upon first meeting them or going on a first date with them. Otherwise, we never would have dated them in the first place.
Redditor BlackenSphinx asked:
"What did your partner say or do that made you realize that they were a toxic person?"
Actions Speak Louder Than Words
"When they kept apologizing for the same thing, then doing it anyway, never changing for the past 10 years."
- crunchy_soupp
"My wife got a quote from a teacher that we've tried to instill in our kids:"
"'Saying sorry means not doing it again.'"
"Obviously, accidents aren't included, but yeah when you hurt someone and apologize, don't do that thing again."
- JollySquatter
A New Kind of Arranged Marriage
"Lots of things, but I think probably the worst and most impactful was when she peed on a stick for her friend while she was pregnant."
"Her friend then convinced her boyfriend to marry her. They were divorced several years later, after what I can only assume was an absolutely awful marriage."
- conspirized
Emotional Abuse
"'Nobody as good looking as me will ever love your personality.'"
- MrNobody26501
"Ugh, that's the kind of s**t I'd think about and let eat me away for YEARS."
- SenorDangerw**k
In Sickness and In Health
"I was at a party with my ex-wife and someone brought out a newspaper with headlines about a local official being in an accident and being paralyzed."
"My ex-wife, without hesitation, said, 'If that happened to my husband, I would be out of here.'"
- nobody333254
"My biggest motivator of leaving an ex was that I couldn’t see him taking care of me if something were to happen to me."
- Puzzleheaded_Elk6243
Children Come First
"This one is minor, but I had an ex who wanted to buy her daughter some new shoes. We were at an outlet mall and they had a BOGO (Buy One, Get One Free) sale."
"She found a cute pair for herself but was having trouble finding a pair for her daughter."
"I love being helpful and found a pair that fit her daughter's personality to a T."
"But she wouldn't buy them because they were $5 more expensive than the pair she was getting for herself."
"Both were combined under $50, and she wasn't hurting for cash. She just refused to spend more on her daughter than on herself out of principle."
- Calm-and-worthy
"This one reallyyyyy irritates me. She sounds like the kind of 'parent' who wouldn't give up a meal to make sure their baby ate if it came down to it."
"As someone who has to make that decision nearly every day... my baby eats, even if I don't. Always."
- DakotaTheAtlas
The Silent Treatment
"We weren't living together, but he randomly cut me off for like a full week. He wouldn't answer my texts or anything. We were long-distance (different colleges halfway across the country) so I couldn't, like, go check on him."
"Anyway, he finally comes back and tells me it was a punishment for not being interesting enough. He liked me because I was an intellectual who would have Deep Conversations (tm) with him and I'd been talking too much about things he didn't find interesting."
"I dumped him shortly after and he acted like it came out of nowhere."
- baby_yaga
Overly Critical
"He criticized everybody. He was mean about his family, his friends, and his colleagues. It seemed very small at first, I knew he was depressed and so was naturally more cynical and had a low view of himself, but he'd laugh and joke with friends on the phone or in person for hours and then the minute they were gone... Awful."
"I rationalized it for too long and then realized it would be the same about me. Then convinced myself it wouldn't be because he always hyped me up... Until I heard it."
"He played the victim so, so well. Scary, really."
- Important_Sprinkles9
Ableism at Its Finest
"I had an ex say. 'What could you possibly be depressed about?'"
"I was an id**t and stayed with her for three more years after that."
- WhatIsAJahBone
Not Over Their Ex
"He slept with his ex frequently for six months... in the house that I bought us... in my childhood bed that I took with me from home... all whilst I was at work."
"He was changing over phones from an old school brick type to an iPhone. He went out to work and his old phone kept buzzing. I saw a very familiar name pop up…"
"He told me that she was crazy and they weren’t in contact as she was obsessed with him (Red flag, I know). There are some things I read that I wish I could erase from my memory."
"When everything was out in the open, she began bullying me online about it."
"We were engaged. as well. Lucky I found out before we got married!"
- MissQII
Different Definitions of "Cheating"
"She cheated on me with a Yankees player because I 'cheated on her first.'"
"How did I cheat? By going to her favorite burger spot without her while she was having sushi with her girlfriends."
"I found out she cheated with three other guys too."
- HawaiianSteak
"Somehow the most venom in this story came from 'a Yankee player,' lol (laughing out loud)."
- SoftcoverWand44
"I'm guessing he's either a Mets or Red Sox fan."
- ScorpionX-123
Gone with the Rose-Colored Glasses
"It wasn't so much what he was saying but the action he did about it."
"He used to tell me all the time that I should get contact lenses because he wanted to see what I looked like without glasses."
"I need glasses full time to see because I have an extremely bad prescription and astigmatism. They're both very high and it's impossible to see without glasses. If I take my glasses off, I can't even find them so I have to make sure I know exactly where I set them."
"One day out of town for a large event we had been planning to attend for over a year, he hid my glasses and acted like he couldn't find them."
"I had NEVER had glasses just disappear. It might take me a while to find them, but if I have someone else around me, it's usually somewhere obvious."
"I figured, 'Oh, that's okay, I have prescription sunglasses on me, as well; I'll just wear sunglasses for the event.' I asked him to pull them out of my bag as they were in a zip glass case, I know for a fact they are in there because I switched them out after arriving at the hotel."
"He pulled out the case and tried to tell me they weren't in there and that I must have dropped them somewhere."
"I begged him to help me search the hotel, I called downstairs, I had staff members helping me search, and I was in the lobby on my hands and knees feeling around trying to find them."
"He was busy getting ready upstairs and told me to just go to the event without them; I'll be fine."
"I absolutely refuse to leave without my glasses. I told him to go have a good time but I'm not leaving the hotel room and going into a crowded strange place in a strange city being unable to see."
"Well suddenly, right before we're about to leave, he pretended he found my glasses and they were just sitting on the bathroom counter the whole time. As if I didn't search every single inch and feel around every inch of that vanity."
"After some crying, he admitted that he hid both of my glasses because he just wanted me to see that it's not so bad and that if I just go without them for a little while my eyes will adjust and I'll be able to see fine."
- ConceptAggravating95
Silence to the Extreme
"I had a girlfriend who got mad at me, and I had no idea why. For three days, she would call, say nothing, and if I hung up, she would call back."
"I turned off my phone, and she'd call my parents or show up at my house (in high school still living with my parents). This went on for three days. I basically didn't sleep."
"I was a senior and still in school, and she had graduated the year before. On the third night, she yelled at me for keeping her up, and it was the end of the fight."
"The next day, I asked what I did. She said nothing she was just angry and wanted to fight."
"It took me going to college and her finding some other poor sap to torture to finally get away from her. I was young and naive, and now know I should have involved a court order and police."
"It was h**l. But from it, I ended up with my now wife, and without that h**l, I would not be where I am today, which is something I would never change."
- FineSL
The Most Controlling of the Controlling
"She yelled at me for wanting to talk to my family after she and my dad had a minor argument. She also blocked my old friends, family, and coworkers in my phone while I slept."
- Arcane_booty_Magic
"Throw the whole girl away."
- BlackenSphinx
"I did that a month ago, and this has been the best month I've had in three years."
- Arcane_booty_Magic
These accounts were terribly eye-opening, and they're a great reminder that a toxic relationship may not be identifiable until it's made glaringly obvious to us.
Fortunately, all of these Redditors were talking about exes, which means that they were able to move beyond these tough situations.
People love horror films because they know the terror depicted on the big screen is pure Hollywood magic and completely fake.
But when it comes to true-life terrors, even the most dedicated horror film aficionados can be left trembling in their boots.
Curious to hear some of the most absolutely hair-raising events from strangers online, Redditor Ok-Bid-1179 asked:
"What’s the scariest 100% true story you’ve heard of?"
These real-life stories may keep you up at night.
Befriending A Murderer
"My uncle was in a bar one night and started talking to this random guy. He described him as 'a really nice guy.'"
"He met him a few other times in the same bar. They drank and talked about random stuff. Soon after, my uncle stopped seeing the guy at the bar."
"Idk how long after, but my uncle got notified that he had jury duty. He showed up and found out what it was for. A serial killer and the killer was his friend from the bar. Derrick Todd Lee."
"My uncle was promptly dismissed from jury duty for obvious reasons."
– I_am_dean
People had sinister stories related to jobs.
Late Night Shift Employee
"I work midnight shift at a gas station and I have for quite awhile at various stations in different areas with varying levels of criminal activity."
"I have regulars, of course. I’m a small-statured woman (as is my partner the other half of the week, and we’ve always been partners) so these regulars often worry about us and keep watch on creepy occurrences when they can."
"I had one man who worked in the metro an hour away who would stop in every morning for his cigarettes. He never smiled or seemed friendly, and as I often do, I tried to think of what I could do that might make him smile one day."
"It took many months but I finally pulled it off by having his cigarettes ready on the counter and already scanned for him to pay for as he walked in. He smiled, and then asked me"
“Do you ever get scared on the night shift? You small girl, is not safe.”
"I said I sometimes did but we could lock the doors and hide if we had to, and that the provincial police (think state troopers, if you’re American) had a station close by and came in often to get their highway vehicles washed. I had a good rapport with those police. He nodded and then told me a story about when he first moved to our country from Eastern Europe with his wife and child back in the late 80’s, early 90’s."
"He fell asleep at work one night at the gas station he worked midnights at. When he woke up, the phone had been ringing for hours and his manager was shaking him violently asking if he was alright. He was fine, he said, what was the problem? He was sorry he fell asleep."
"His manager screamed that it was fine he fell asleep, to look outside. All of their motor oil was missing and the outside of the place was a mess."
"The thieves had come and swiped all the oil and left him be because he slept through the entire thing, and then moved down the road to the next station for an encore. At that station, the clerk was awake and fought back, so the thieves stabbed him to death and left him to bleed out."
"When he finished telling me this, he concluded with."
“If you ever feel sleepy just lock the door and do it, it might save your life”
"I don’t work at that station anymore but I think about that guy all the time and wonder how his grandkids are."
"Here is a link to an article talking about how that poor other clerk’s killers were finally found 25 years later:"
https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/mobile/arrest-made-in-1990-murder-of-gas-station-attendant-1.2650933
– IgnorethisIamstupid
Trapped
"There was an incident in Trinidad where some maintenance divers were removing a plug from an oil pipeline and were instantly sucked into it. One was able to escape but the other 4 were trapped for days in a small, oil coated pipe for days with only a small air pocket to breathe in before they died. Thinking about it in detail and imagining what it must have been like for them makes me extremely uncomfortable."
– superficial_user
There's no creepier place than being in the woods. Especially when these sorts of encounters happen.
The Wrong Friends
"When I was 17 I was hanging out with 2 friends and they wanted to go smoke in the woods. I didn't feel like it so I drove them and waited in the car."
"After a while I was getting bored and decided to go meet them but there were 4 paths going off in different directions so I just took the biggest one. After walking for a few minutes in the pitch black forest (before flashlights on phones), I come across this dip in the trail and on the other side is a bench lightly visible due to the moonlight."
"On the the bench is sitting a man and another one in standing in front of him but I can only make out silhouettes. Being sure these are my friends I yell out to them before walking over. If you ever walked the woods at night it's just an uneasy feeling all around so I was cautious to begin with."
"Well it turns out, juste after yelling out to my 'friends,' both silouhettes turn around towards me. Not a word, not a sound, the guy sitting down starts sprinting FULL F'KING SPEED towards me in complete silence. I got the absolute f'k out of there sprinting also the other way and tripping over sh*t because I couldn't see anything."
"I finally get out and lock myself in my car, but I was really worried for my friends. Maybe a minute later I see them both coming out of a completely different path, they also confirmed they never saw me or anyone else. My heart still sinks just thinking about that dude sprinting in silence wtf was that sh*t."
– NoFutureGuy
The Homeless Camp
"Weird....I have a similar story!"
"Years ago I remember sneaking out of my friends house at night to really do nothing but walk around the neighborhood and hide from car headlights. We were young and bored. There was a 'homeless' camp that was down in some woods off the railroad tracks not too far from his house. We had seen the trail and knew what was back there."
"One of the homeless guys that lived there was actually an old friend of my buddies Dad, and he had stopped over a few times and my friends Dad let him shower there and everything. He could have worked if he wanted, but legit told us he just liked living 'off the grid'. Just wanted to give you some backstory on the reason why we thought it would be cool and 'safe' to go check it out at night."
"We were a bit nervous at first thinking what if we get there and his Dads friend isn't there...so we were sneaking up on it. It was a longer walk than we thought. We got kind of close and saw there was a fire going lighting up the woods a bit."
"We start sneaking closer but the trail seemed to continue straight, while the camp set off the trail to the left. We got idk maybe 100 feet from the camp (about 30 meters) and we looked down the trail and saw a faint silhouette of what we thought was a person. The silhouette looked like it was coming from deeper in the woods towards the camp. We froze and ducked slightly to the side of the trail."
"I told my friend that I didn't like it, and we should just sneak the hell out. He said he had the same feeling. As I said, the fire at the camp was just enough to light the area well enough to see. We end up slowly creeping slightly off the trail back to the railroad tracks. We get probably 30-40 or so feet (9-12 meters) and I told him I would rather just hit the trail and just slowly walk back because the bushes and trees and everything were hard to navigate and I would rather be able to see something coming so we could book it out. We played football and were both pretty fast."
"We slide out of the brush and see the silhouette has gotten closer, however moving further from the fire, the light was dimmer, but we could still make out someone or something was standing there moving closer. My first thought was that maybe they saw us duck into the bushes and were coming to check, but it just felt off. My friend and I looked at each other and both mutually and silently decided to pick up the pace. Almost on que, we both looked back and the silhouette was now BOOKING IT TOWARDS US ABSOULTELY SILENT. No noise, just fast movement. We high tail it as fast as we can."
Thankfully, the trail was wide so we weren't bumping into each other or anything. Neither of us looked back until we hit the railroad tracks, then hit the railroad track bridge and were on the other side. I looked back as I was slowing down, past the bridge and didn't see anyone. We got back to his house pretty fast and luckily that was the end of it."
– ZekeMoss18
Life is full of many creepy mysteries.
It's no wonder many films are based on actual events.
The ones that terrify me the most are the home invasion movies like The Strangers.
It may have been Hollywood that dramatized events depicted in the film, but there's no doubt such horrific events that have happened in real life are enough to keep us up at night and on high alert.