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People Share The Real Reasons They Just Up And Quit Their Jobs

People Share The Real Reasons They Just Up And Quit Their Jobs
Photo by Tim Gouw on Unsplash

Quitting your job, ideally, should be something done with forethought and planning. It's a career shift that can take months, if not years to make and that "minimally requires" two weeks notice.

Ideally.


Now ... you and I both know we absolutely do not live in an "ideal" world and sometimes sh*t happens.

Reddit user Broad_post-6496 asked:

What made you quit your job?

Spoiler alert: It pretty much boils down to terrible bosses.

No Heat In Winter

Freezing Parks And Recreation GIF by MOODMAN Giphy

"I worked at a dry cleaners when I was in high school."

"The owner refused to turn the heat on in the middle of winter. She literally locked the thermostat with a key and I had to wear my winter jacket inside the whole shift. It got to the point where I could see my breath inside."

"After this happening multiple times, I called my city's health department to 'anonymously' report unsafe work conditions."

"Health inspector came that day and did a full inspection. Ended up writing multiple violations (fire hazards, unsafe worker conditions, etc.) which all came with a hefty fine."

"I was fully aware the owner would watch the cameras and see me giving the inspector a full tour. I never came back after that day and don't feel bad at all." - ta1234560

Family Business

the don godfather GIF Giphy

"The wide spread nepotism and narcissism."

"As a result, I'll never work for another family-owned business ever again, especially if they promote themselves as being a 'family-like' working environment."

"It just amounts to a lot of unpaid overtime, requests severely outside of your job description, and lots of begging for a minimal raise while the family members get fat checks." - ThatReaperGuy

"To avoid arbitration, our company's HR representative sent out a poll to unrelated departments asking them to 'vote' on the next admin assistant. The choice was between two women."

"The woman who 'won' was the HR rep's best friend." - LudwigWhitecollar

"I just assume everywhere that says they have a 'family-like' workplace means a highly dysfunctional and toxic family lol."

"No thanks. I've got my own family to deal with, I'd rather not add yours." - CappuccinoBoy

No Money, Mo' Problems

The Office Monday GIF by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment Giphy

"Not getting a raise."

"The 'seniors' that knew less and used me as a resource 24/7 for their important client meetings were all making $20k above me. I was also assigned the more technical and hard assignments."

"I asked for a raise and outlined why it was deserved. Boss said I made good points but his 'hands were tied' and I needed to 'Wait til annual reviews and we'll see what we can do.' "

"I put my two weeks in on the spot."

"Within 6 months all my peers, except for one person, were gone."

"Their reasoning? 'We knew if they wouldn't take care of YOU there was no way they'd do anything for us.' "

"They saw how little company valued an employee they heavily relied on, and decided they had no future there." - technical-reality-39

Dennis

Tv Show Lol GIF by It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia Giphy

"Once upon a time I was working as a delivery driver for Pizza Hut. My boss, F*cking Dennis, liked to say that he didn't have to go to college because he went to Pizza Hut University. Yeah, he was THAT GUY."

"I had an old truck that was having some issues and I couldn't deliver pizza. He told me to let him know when I had a working vehicle and he would put me back on the schedule."

"This was right around the Super Bowl."

"He wrote me up for not showing up the day of the game. Another week goes by and he says if I can't show up, he's gonna terminate me."

"At this point, I had just managed to buy a used car and luck would have it, I found a much higher paying job. So I go in and tell him that I'm going to put in my two weeks."

"He replies, 'You got fired the moment your truck stopped working.' and hands me a piece of paper I have to sign to get my last tiny bit of pay."

"It says I was negligent, blah, blah, blah. So I rewrite it and say that he told me to call him when my truck was fixed."

"He flips out and almost comes to blows with me. So I call the general manager and tell him the whole story."

"Sad ending - Dennis lies and gets promoted. F*ck you Dennis; and your stupid dumb mustache." - jimmygibbler

Executives And Emails

Working Jim Carrey GIF Giphy

"In my case it was executives that drove me out."

"Managers were tolerable. My Local leadership was fine. Middle management could be at times Micro-managing but tolerable."

"It was when an Executive VP was calling me to yell at me cause he didn't like something I said in an Email to another employee - an email which this VP nor his staff were involved in. Guess they actually do go through all our Emails."

"That call is what made me start resenting that place. It showed such a lack of trust or respect and exactly how incompetent those execs were if they were spending their time reading low level employees emails rather than literally anything else." - AWACS_Bandog

Tachycardia

tv show lol GIF by Teachers on TV Land Giphy

"I called my boss from the hospital to let her know I'd been rushed in because I stopped breathing and turned blue."

"I explained that I was, at that moment, sitting with a cannula in my nose and hooked up to multiple machines, which I know she heard because they kept going off because my oxygen was low and I was tachycardic."

"She yelled at me about how disrespectful it was for me to call in two hours before my shift, after I'd worked 12-14 hr days for three months straight. I hung up and emailed her my letter of resignation right then."

"I was a teacher at the time so taking abuse was a normal part of my routine, but I couldn't do it anymore."

"I had bruises from my students, I was so sick I couldn't move (they had to take me for imaging at one point and they had to transfer me onto the MRI bed because I couldn't lift myself), I was coming home in tears every day and dreading going to work."

"The hospital released me saying they couldn't find evidence of anything to explain why I couldn't breathe. I was at another hospital less than a week later where they found 'severe acute bronchitis.' My lungs were almost completely white on the image (which apparently means BAD)."

"I ended up with pneumonia a couple months later and I'm pretty sure it's because bronchitis went on for three months with no treatment because I couldn't get time out of the classroom to see a doctor."

"I'm an office admin now for a construction company and I'm 100% happier." - itsbadtonight

Boss After Boss

Schitts Creek Comedy GIF by CBC Giphy

"It's been bad bosses time after time."

"1st job - they stopped giving me hours to force me to quit."

"2nd job - boss got involved in my personal life and told me if I didn't apologize to a friend of hers, I'd have no more hours."

"3rd job - Company went bust, but I stayed til the last day when the doors closed for the last time because that's how I work."

"4th job - I was severely over worked and underpaid. I was trained as a receptionist and still expected to do that while taking over for a contracts administrator - with almost no training. Oh and all the IT work too. No pay raises despite doing 3 jobs."

"5th job - still here :) Hopefully I'll get to stay a while." - InnocenceBlue

Invaluable, But Only So Far As...

Angry Season 2 GIF by The Office Giphy

"One, the 80 hour work weeks."

"Two, the 2 hour commute, and after having proven that I'm efficient AF working from home, still refusing to convert my position to a fully work from home one."

"But the final straw was my boss's boss's inability to promote me. When there was a vacancy at my boss's level, I worked my a$$ off and had more-than-proved that I could do my boss's job."

"Even so, when I applied for the position, I was told 'You're invaluable, but only so far as helping us hire the person goes.' Meaning: you're amazing at what you do, but you don't kiss our butt nearly as much as you should, so suck it."

"Joke's on them. I found a job that pays 40% more, is completely work from home AND at the level of my boss's boss. Exactly where I should have been. Who's sucking it now?" - sortitall6

People Describe Their Best Chance Encounters | George Takei’s Oh Myyy

Are chance encounters really serendipitous or is it part of some grand master plan? While we may never have an answer for why we come to meet certain people ...

Hiring Someone With A Bladder

season 4 bummer vacation GIF by SpongeBob SquarePants Giphy

"My boss constantly micromanaging my toilet breaks."

"Switched jobs where, surprise, boss doesn't give care about toilet breaks as long the work is in his inbox by the time he asked for it."

"Strange thing, now that I think about it... I don't really know WHAT my old boss wasn't happy about other than the fact that I went to the toilet occasionally and didn't respond within a minute after he messaged me."

"I mean, I still did all the reports he wanted within the time he wanted it, I joined all the weekend overtimes during crunch (also not during crunch)... Guess he just wasn't happy that he employed somebody who had a bladder." - TheDoorDoesntWork

Boss's Dating Life

Come On Reaction GIF Giphy

"My boss started dating my mom."

"We all worked for the same company, but my mom at a different location. Co-workers suddenly assumed I was getting special treatment- many left the location, always leaving us short staffed."

"Anytime my Mom or my Boss were fighting, my Boss would have a massive attitude change towards me and be cruel. I had a mental breakdown because of it."

"She made me work more doubles, too, and I missed a few therapy appointments (that she was very aware of) and didn't come to work for a few days, so she took me off the schedule. Had to get back on medications during this time."

"Asked her to place me back on the next week; she called me in one morning because someone quit, so I went in to cover with her. It was such a depressing morning working with her."

"She was so nasty to me for the two hours I had been there, then she sent me home because my 'attitude sucks.' I asked her to transfer me to a new location, but she told me that she didn't want another manager to deal with my mental problems because they're too problematic, so she refused my transfer request."

"I quit on her after she gave me 5 doubles for the next week, forcing her to work them all."

"I tried to complain to the district manager about my experiences working with her, but nothing happened because they didn't have anyone to fill her position." - AstronomicalArtisan

Singapore

The Office No GIF Giphy

"The company never really cared about its US branch, and always showed blatant favoritism towards the Singapore office."

"The CEO was toxic, and would always complain that we didn't work hard enough, and that he wanted everyone to work 9-9, and would mandate it for the US offices if he could."

"I saw the writing on the wall when they stopped hiring replacements in the US office. The last straw was when they said that we were no longer using C# for our software, despite the fact that it's what all the developers specialized in, and what all our software was written in."

"Apparently, the .NET runtime was just too much of a hassle to deal with, so we were switching to C++/JS effective immediately. There was some backpedaling when they realized how long it would take to migrate some of our larger services from C# to C++ (I guess they thought it would be a straight-port or something?)"

"Anyway, it was a good idea to jump ship. 6 months after I left that (during Christmas time) that they announced they were closing the US office, and moving all development to Singapore/China." - VeloxFox

Lost An Employee And A Customer

Goodbye GIF Giphy

"I was moving away for college."

"I actually left earlier than I'd originally planned because my coworkers started teasing me and being passive aggressive just because I was going to college and leaving them. I realized just how bitter they all were."

"I'm fortunate enough to get an education while they're spending their lives in a dead-end, minimum wage job, wasting all their money on booze and drugs. I'm glad I found out just how toxic a place that really was."

"It was a pit of misery, but I thought I at least had friends. I was fortunate enough to get out of it. If your wondering, it was just a local grocery store, but after working there I refuse to shop there anymore." - Arcinbiblo12

Scoop

french fries GIF Giphy

"Worked at Wendy's - it was the first and only job I've ever quit. Nothing catastrophic, but they gave me like 4 hours a week during the summer when I requested more, and just stopped my training right in the middle of it."

"You're supposed to watch this series of videos; they start with basic stuff like food safety and sexual harassment, then go from there. Once I watched the one about manning the fry station they handed me a uniform and said 'ok get to work.' "

"I hadn't learned how to do anything else. Other employees rotated positions daily, making sandwiches and being at the register and whatnot."

"Quitting was frequent, and a lot of new hires came in during the brief time I worked there. I talked to them; they had all been trained on how to do everything."

"Not me. I spent my entire shift scooping fries and putting them in the containers, and they would yell at me because I wasn't fast enough."

"I had a panic attack once during a lunch rush and asked if I could go on break, they sent me home."

"It just was not worth the $15 per hour pay that was my sole motivation for accepting the job. Other duties were dull, but it's really demeaning to just scoop the whole shift." - chrisb0302

Fidgety

parks and recreation chair GIF Giphy

"Spent 6 years recovering from a bad fall. Could have died. Nearly lost my leg. Still have almost constant severe pain."

"Boss was the CFO. I'm middle management."

"After a board meeting, my boss tells me I needed to 'improve how I sit in a chair and stop fidgeting.' I reminded the boss that I am disabled and fidget because I am trying not to scream in pain."

"Boss feigns regret, then essentially repeats the advice. Stop fidgeting."

"I live in a small town, so word gets around. This wasn't worth suing over; I just went to the nearest competitor, got hired, and dedicated myself to making my new company successful."

"New company CEO says I'm the best he's ever worked with. I apologized for being fidgety and he gave me the biggest 'so what?' look I've ever seen." - Powerful-Care-9964

Whatever THIS Is...

Karen Reaction GIF by MOODMAN Giphy

"With my last job, it was definitely my manager."

"She insisted on having very graphic, adult conversations about sex and stuff which I tried to avoid and when I did, she would be like, 'What's WRONG with you? What, are you some kind of prude?' "

"She was also very passive-aggressive when it came to my husband and our relationship. She once asked me about my husband's job, how many hours he worked, etc."

"When I told her, she said, 'Well if that was MY husband, and he worked THAT many hours, I would tell him to just get the f*ck out, because I need him to be home more than THAT!' "

"My husband had a 2hr commute every day at that time, and worked about 50 hrs a week. This didn't bother me one bit because that had been the case for most of our marriage up to that point."

"She also acted like it was a crime for us to go on vacation (gasp!) as much as we do (2-3X per year) because she was (when she wasn't at work) a 'travel agent' and didn't get to go anywhere."

"She also kind of acted like there was something inherently wrong with me because I only have one kid."

"My body just did not handle pregnancy particularly well, getting pregnant wasn't ever easy for me and the second (and last time) I got pregnant, I had a miscarriage."

"I had accepted at that point that I was only ever going to have one child and was (and am) mostly OK with that."

"She acted like how dare I only have one child, that my son was going to grow up to be some kind of weirdo psychopath because he didn't have any siblings."

"She was 100% directly the reason I quit." - knockmeyourlobes

Response after response - Reddit basically just gave us different takes on the old idea that people don't leave jobs, they leave bosses.

So ask yourself, what was the reason YOU quit? Was it a management issue? Sound off in the comments!

Infamous Internet Rumors That Ended Up Being True

Reddit user strakerak asked: 'What started out as an internet rumor that ended up being infamously true?'

boy playing at laptop inside room
Photo by Ludovic Toinel on Unsplash

In 2017, I returned to my office after my lunch break to hear my supervisors discussing Tom Petty. This seemed like a random topic to me until one of my supervisors told me Tom Petty had passed away. He was a huge fan of Petty and spent the next hour or so combing through the internet to get more information.

He came back into the room my other supervisor and I were working in and announced that Tom Petty wasn't dead after all. News outlets had jumped the gun to announce his death, but he was actually still alive.

The next day, I came in to find out that Tom Petty was dead; the news may have been premature, but true.

This is a classic example of the rumor being started on the internet. Sometimes, like with the news of Tom Petty's death, the rumor can run wild and appear everywhere. Other times, the rumor can be seen by just a few people and dismissed. However, a lot of times, these rumors turn out to be true.

Redditors know a lot of internet rumors that turned out to be true, and are eager to share.

It all started when Redditor strakerak asked:

"What started out as an internet rumor that ended up being infamously true?"

The King Of Pop

"Michael Jackson writing the music for Sonic 3."

"He actually did, but was never credited on the game because it would breach his contract with his record label."

– -WigglyLine-

"He did the same when he appeared on The Simpsons. He appeared under a pseudonym, and the Producers said it was an impersonator."

"Only years later they confirmed it really was Michael."

"His singing voice was actually done by an impersonator, though."

– given2fly_

The Truth Comes Out

"In 1998, US Men’s National Team captain John Harkes was shockingly cut from the team right before the World Cup. The coach claimed it was because Harkes wouldn’t fit into his new preferred formation, but rumors flew on the early internet that it was actually because he had slept with his teammate Eric Wynalda’s wife. The rumor was so well-known in soccer circles that Harkes expressly denied it in his autobiography the next year."

"Fast forward 12 years to 2010 and Wynalda admits it’s true. The coach then came out and admitted it was why he dropped Harkes, but that he’d planned to keep the secret as long as Wynalda did."

– guyfromsoccer

Video Evidence

"The Tim Burton Hansel and Gretel that aired once on halloween in the 80's."

"I heard for years that it was fake but I knew it was real because my dad recorded everything in the 80s and he recorded that. We let a good friend of ours borrow it and switch it over from VHS to DVD and soon after that it made its way on to the internet , and there it is now. I know it's our copy because the tracking in the beginning is screwed up. Still have the VHS."

– Frozenthickness

"There was a similar story with a Nickelodeon movie called Cry Baby Lane. It was supposed to be so scary that Nickelodeon got complaints and denied its existence for years. Someone uploaded a taped copy to youtube about a decade ago."

– PattiAllen

The Movie Business

"That North Korea hacked Sony Pictures because of The Interview movie."

"I worked in the movie business at the time and the account managers at Sony all basically needed to get new identities as all of their personal information got leaked online."

OldMastodon5363

"My partner worked on that movie and the production bought all the crew 1 year of an identity theft tracking service."

CMV_Viremia

Keep Away From The Ears Of Kids

"Some banned episodes or scenes of cartoons."

"For example, I remember there was a Dexter’s Lab cartoon where he clones evil versions of DeDe and himself and they swear like every other word (censored of course), and people debated whether it even existed cause they only aired it like once. Now it’s pretty accessible online."

– Spledidlife

Yes, It's True

"Echelon, a massive electronic espionage system by the US and allies to intercept all electronic messages, especially emails."

"In the mid-nineties it was a topic on conspiracy BBS boards. A lot of people in my bubble at the time (mainly uni students in Europe) were including fake threats to the US in the their email signatures as a way to "protest" and "fill the system with false alarms" (obviously useless)."

"Then, in 1999-2000 came out to be true and a lot of security service agencies from UK and other US allies started to admit they were part of the espionage network."

– latflickr

How The Mighty Fell

"John Edward’s love child."

– ACam574

"A reminder that he was cheating on his wife while she was hospitalized for cancer treatment."

– Fanclock314

Ugh...

"Carrie Fisher's heart attack. Some a**hole who was on the same flight was livetweeting the whole medical emergency and justified it by insisting she was just making sure the family was informed."

– everylastlight

It Actually Happened

"Every year around her birthday there was a rumor that Betty White died. When I heard she died, I scoffed, saying that dumb rumor is back.... then saw it on the news. I was in shock."

– Known-Committee8679

"The fact that Betty died literally right before she turned 100 is such a Betty White way to go out."

– Paganigsegg

Big Actor, Small Roles

"I distinctly remember some rumors about the reason why Bruce Willis was taking so many roles in sh*tty movies before it was announced he has dementia."

– KampferMann

"RedLetterMedia did a deep dive on his recent movie activity to try and work out why exactly he was taking part in basically scam-movies. They noticed he had an earpiece in one of the scenes and joked that the director was feeding him lines. I remember they even disclaimed over the rumours at the time, and possible made a follow-up vid when it was revealed to the public."

– CardinalCreepia

What To Do Next?

"That the writer of LOST were making it up as they went."

"Turned out to be absolutely true."

– homarjr

That last one was kind of obvious!

Do you have any to add? Let us know in the comment below.

Person holding large stack of books
Photo by Jay Lamm on Unsplash

Whether you're naturally interested in fun facts and trivia or not, it's always nice to know a few that you can pull out of your pocket at a moment's notice as a nice conversation starter.

But there are some fun facts out there that are so weird, people become more preoccupied with how the teller found out that information rather than the information itself.

Redditor Dry_Bus_935 asked:

"What is your 'don't ask me how I know' random fact?"

Nuclear Fail Safe

"You have quite a lot of time, certainly more than ten seconds, to turn back on the main pumps of a nuclear reactor once you have accidentally turned them off."

- egorf

"I'm not surprised. The amount of fail safes, redundancies, and emergency scenario planning for nuclear power plants is insane."

"I toured a nuclear plant and wrote my high school senior thesis on the plans put in place to ensure the Fukushima disaster would not happen at that plant."

"I'm sure the secondary pumps are plenty capable of handling the reactor until the main pumps are repaired or just turned back on."

- Borderlandsman

Happy Cat

"If your cat chews on fresh eucalyptus, they might start hallucinating and fall over repeatedly, leading to a $400 emergency vet bill just to be told she’s just kinda high."

- oddidealstronghold

"And, that's part of why koalas love it. Little stoners."

- littlebluefoxy

Archaeology: Do Not Lick

"Old human bones are very porous, so if you lick them, they’ll stick to your tongue."

- clanculcarius

Sharing is Caring

"A pigeon will only eat a Starburst if you chew it up a little bit first. Just to clarify: chew the Starburst, not the pigeon."

- OhTheHueManatee

"Instructions unclear. Pigeon unhappy."

- Wild-Lychee-3312

Intriguing Anatomy

"Everyone is here with the creepy crime stuff, and I'm just like, 'A soft fur rat has 22 nipples.'"

- horroscoblue

"Okay, so either they have really small nipples, their nipples overlap, or they have nipples in places where there shouldn't be nipples."

"(I've never written the word 'nipples' so many times in a singular sentence before.)"

- GdeGraaf

'Don't Ask Me,' Indeed!

"Turmeric can be used as clothes dye. It is capable of permanently dyeing cotton cloth even after it has passed through the digestive tract of an adult male."

- SlefeMcDichael

"You s**t your pants, didn't you?"

- PMmecrossstitch

"I'd prefer not to answer that question."

- SlefeMcDichael

High-Risk Survival Skills

"If you ever trying to survive in the Arctic, don’t eat polar bear liver. It is so high in vitamin A, it will kill you."

- WrongWayCorrigan-361

"It's also surrounded by a lethal amount of angry polar bear."

- horanc2

Real-Life Spies

"TV shows and movies go out of their way to make military/intelligence officers look bada**."

"But real-life 'spies,' by design and training, are boring. They have regular houses and standard second-hand cars, they dress down, and they have vague, boring job titles (accounts receivable) as cover, and they do not draw attention to themselves. Most come from specialized academia."

- Ok_Worth_1093

Haunting Reality

"Your muscles can keep twitching for several hours after you die."

- JustDave62

"Also, beards can appear to grow. This is however not because the beard itself grows but because the skin shrinks."

- RRautamaa

"I worked at a morgue for over eight years. If you grasp the hand of a dead body to move the arm, the hand will grasp back, but that's just muscles and tendons reacting to the tension."

- goneferalinid

The Sneakiness of Drowning

"When a drowning victim is revived, get them to a hospital as soon as possible. Drowning is the leading cause of death of kids from the age of one to seven and is ruled as accidental drowning when it comes to secondary drowning or dry drowning."

"Basically, your lungs are full of water despite being revived. Your lungs will absorb the liquid, but not before your body acidifies from high levels of carbon dioxide. The only chance to survive is to have the lungs pumped with oxygen via CPAP machine and time."

"Also, drowning is extremely quiet. You don’t hear the victim go under. And if you see flailing, do not attempt to save the victim otherwise you’ll become another drowning victim. Throw them a lifeline and hope their amygdala realizes that a rope or something is floating near them and grabs on it."

- Dfiggsmeister

Not Everyone's Favorite Chocolate

"Hershey’s chocolate has the strong smell of vomit or feces to some people (me), and that’s because they use butyric acid as a preservative. Butyric acid is the compound that makes vomit smell so bad."

"Edit: Digging further into it, there are some claims that they may not be “adding” the butyric acid, but rather it is occurring from essentially spoiling the milk in their milk chocolate. Either way, the butyric acid and putrid smell remains a part of their product."

- hefewiseman1

"That explains the weird aftertaste I always get! I don’t smell it but their chocolate always has this super unpleasant sharp/acidic aftertaste that I find repulsive. I assume this is why!!"

- PomegranateNo975

Do Not Lick the Asbestos

"Asbestos tastes like chalk. And if you lick it, it has the texture of extremely gritty sandpaper. Which is actually the feeling of microscopic asbestos needles piercing your flesh!"

- TooYoungToBeThisOld1

Mapping Out the War

"Beginning in 1911 in anticipation of the outbreak of WW1 in 1914, two statesmen, one from England and one from France, began visiting locations in France that they believed would be the settings for a number of major battles that would occur during the great war."

"Long bike rides through these future battle zones in the countryside and weeks spent building a foundation for a French-Anglo codebook that would later prove important in helping win the war."

- fjordperfect123

Avoiding Lawsuits > Protecting Patients

"Doctors, or surgeons more specifically, that make too many mistakes during surgery, ie, leaving instruments in patients, frequently gets ‘quietly traded’ to other hospitals where they continue their path of destruction with the patients not being aware of their past record. Hospitals tend to keep quiet about the matter to avoid lawsuits."

- Kittytigris

Bonus Points: Do This While Having Lunch in Your Car

"If you overfill a fast food gravy cup and then put a lid on, it will create a pressurized gravy stream that sprays all over your face and uniform while your coworker looks on in horror."

- thechaosjester776

This subReddit thread was so a roller-coaster of random facts, we've surely all walked away learning something.

But the biggest takeaway might just be: Maybe don't lick so many things.

Shocked woman covering her mouth
vaitheeswaran Nataraj/Unsplash

When we're intoxicated, or even the slightest bit tipsy from having a little too much to drink, our immediate perspective on things is hazy.

But there's nothing like a bit of alarming news or a jarring incident to snap us out of the fog and focus on the moment.

Sometimes alcohol isn't always to blame for our impairment.

It can be a state of mind, like a perpetual numbness from being complacent in life, and all it takes is one shocking moment to rattle us back to our senses.

Curious to hear from strangers online about this type of scenario, Redditor Known_Challenge_7150 asked:

"What’s one thing that sobered you up real quick?"

These individuals were witness to shocking events that sobered them up right quick.

Bleeding Out

"Got out of a taxi and found a naked man profusely bleeding from his head crawling up the driveway in my condo. Called him an ambulance completely forgot I was absolutely wasted until 45 minutes later when I'd helped him translate and in to an amublance and stepped in my front door."

"Later a few days later learned he'd slipped in the tub and literally crawled out for help. Poor dude. He was fine but I genuinely thought he was going to die there."

– DongLaiCha

Tragic News

"At a bachelor party and we got a phone call that the groom’s father had suddenly passed."

– accountnameredacted

Bottom Of The Barrel

"I went to visit my parents back in July. I was homeless and deep into fentanyl addiction so I lost a lot of weight. My folks could see it. They knew something was up. Anyway, I spent the night and I was getting ready to leave in the morning and I looked at myself in the mirror for a good long time. I finally had enough and told them everything. They took me to detox, from there I went to rehab. Graduated in August and been living with them ever since then. I have 160 days clean and sober."

– Crotch-Monster

A reality check can be enough for some people to snap out of it.

Like Father, Like Son

"Was driving a drunk friend home, he had been on a bender again and was smart enough to call me for a lift rather than try and drive. As I helped in to his house his mother came down the stairs and said 'your as drunk as your father' and went back upstairs. I haven't seen him drunk since then, he still drinks but the thought of turning into his dad scared him out of hard drinking."

– psycospaz

Busted

"Flashing blue lights."

– FiddleOfGold

"This sobered me up just thinking about it."

– redmaple_syrup

Losing Sight

"Woke up to no sight in one eye. I had cataract surgery so just thought one of the lenses had slipped and it was an easy fix. Eye doc says nope, you had a stroke. I loved soy sauce, teriyaki sauce and salty food, which caused high blood pressure, which caused retina damage. Over six months was able to get most of my eyesight back with medication, and all back within a year. Trying to navigate life with one eye was very sobering. Started taking HBP much more seriously."

– MissHibernia

Quitting The Bottle

"Looked up someone I went to highschool with who was an awesome guy. Found out he had been dead for 3 years from alcoholism, at age 33. I made an overnight change. I hadn't started drinking that night yet, 10 months ago. Haven't touched it again since."

– omgtater

These disturbing moments were enough for Redditors to immediately come to their senses.

Unplanned House Guests

"Me and a buddy Woke up in someone’s living room, realized neither one of us knew the people, they were just nice and let 2 drunk guys sleep on their living room floor. We didn’t even say goodbye."

– Oneinsevenbillion75

Serious Health Warning

"Elevated liver enzymes."

"And the knowledge that this sh** was gonna kill me and I just couldn't orphan my family over it."

"So I opted for recovery, instead."

"Clean and sober since June 5, 2009."

– Far_Meal8674

The Joyride

"Grew up in a rural area. The little town hosted dances at the hockey arena, everyone (adults and kids) went and they overserved everyone, regardless of age. I was maybe 16 or 17 and was absolutely sh*tfaced, and jumped in the back of someone's truck with about 8 other people to go back to someone's cottage for after dance drinking. The driver (still don't know who it was) started racing one of his buddies and we whipped around small dirt roads, flying around blind corners on the wrong side of the road, going god knows how fast. It was basically a disaster waiting to happen. It was crazy scary and I was sober and thankful to be alive when we finally arrived."

– foxfood9116

The human psyche is a fascinating thing, isn't it?

How we can automatically focus on something urgent at a crucial time, even after getting buzzed from drinking too much alcohol.

But as we're in the thick of the holidays, it's a good reminder to drink responsibly and stay off the roads if you drive to your celebratory destination.

Cheers. Stay safe. And happy holidays.

Woman holding multiple shopping bags
Photo by freestocks on Unsplash

We've all complained or vented about something in our lives which, in the grand scheme of things, wasn't exactly a problem, or is very easily solved.

Then there are those who complain about things that others almost hope will happen to them at some point in their lives.

These are known as "first world problems", as they are problems that pretty much only the world's one percent faces.

From having to fly business class instead of first class, or being served Roederer instead of Dom Pérignon, these complaints are often met with amusement, bewilderment, or even anger.

Redditor jennimackenzie was curious to hear the most absurd "first world problems" anyone ever complained about, leading them to ask:

"What’s the most ridiculous 'first world problem' you’ve seen people get worked up over?"

"Tale As Old As Time..."

"I once knew a mom who was legitimately devastated, to the point of tears/grief, because a doctor predicted her 8 year old daughter's final height to be around 5'2","

"Which wasn't tall enough to get cast as Belle at Disney World."

"That was the child's (and her mother's) only dream in life, apparently."

"Didn't appreciate my suggestion that she could be Minnie or Mickey."

"Lol!"

"Only a face character would do!"- TravelLovingMom

"Must Be Funny, In A Rich Man's World..."

"My boss from about a decade ago was this insanely rich dude who always went to the bank to get fresh and crisp currency."

"He'd call the bank in advance to make sure they had some on hand."

"I think he was a germaphobe."

"He had a trash can that he'd throw $1 and $5 bills in that he thought was 'dirty' and regularly just donated it vs spending it."

"I asked him why he did this and he said it was too much trouble and asked if I wanted it."

"I said f*ck yeah dumped it into my bag and when I got home it was close to $400 in singles and fives.

"Another time, he wanted to upgrade all the computers in his studio, so we went to a store and bought 10 PCs."

"They all had $150 mail in rebates and he wasn't bothered to go through the trouble of mailing them in."

"3 weeks later I received $1500 after spending a whole afternoon filling out all those goddamn forms."- azninvasion2000

Money Burn GIF by nog Giphy

Who Wore It Better?

"When I was about 19 years old, I was at my boyfriends family BBQ."

"I was wearing this pretty floral sundress."

"His cousins girlfriend showed up in the same dress and she was SO mad that she went and changed."

"I will never understand being upset when someone is wearing the same thing as you.'

"Did you really think that your shirt you bought off the rack is going to be unique to you?"

"No."- mertsey627

Seeing Red! Or Blue In This Case...

"The blue of the balloons wasn't quite the same as the bridesmaid's sashes."

"Years ago my wife and I attended a wedding."

"It was very low key."

"The dinner was in the dining hall at the university where the couple met, cinder block walls and all."

"It was a Baptist wedding - no booze and very serious."

"The dark blue balloons attempting to liven up the hall were a slightly darker shade of blue than the sashes on the bridesmaid's dresses."

"The bride lost here sh*t and absolutely raved for nearly an hour."

"I can't remember how they finally managed to talk her down."- mechant_papa

south park wedding GIF Giphy

See You In Court!

"Rich neighbors who end up in expensive court battles because they disagree about where a tree can be planted or whether the color of a fence fits in with the street’s 'amenity'."

'These disputes get really heated and rack up huge lawyers’ bills."

"The most pathetic part is after the judgement when they are arguing about who should pay the other party’s costs."

"Lots of affidavits filed citing the 'emotional distress' they had to endure, or painting themselves as brave warriors who were forced to take a stand to fight for 'justice'."

"Also lots of pompous litigants insisting that the judge refer to them by their 'Dr' title."

"An absolutely insane dumpster fire of entitled rich people problems."- ElectrocRaisin

It's Always People With Money Who Don't Want To Pay!

"I work in a public library."

"People will get so so mad if they have to be put on a wait list for a book."

"A popular book that just came out."

"Ok our services are not only free but so are the books."

"You’re welcome, a**holes."- Switchbladekitten

A Warm Butt Is A Happy Butt!

"My own."

"We have a bidet toilet seat (Fabulous! Everyone should have one!) and not only does it wash your bum and blow dry it, but the seat's heated!"

"It's shocking how much a heated toilet seat makes the whole process more agreeable."

"Except: We had a power outage and I went to use the toilet and the seat was cold!"

"Unacceptable!"

"This shall not stand!"

"I was really upset because it didn't feel good."

"Then I stopped and thought: This is the most first-world problem anyone's ever had."

"I was really pissed because my heiny was tepid."

"I got over it."- DeathGrover

homer simpson episode 23 GIF Giphy

Holy Matrimony!

"Weddings are a gold mine for this question."

"People get so hyped up over their 'most important day of their life'."

"They'll destroy friendships, go into debt, and have crazy expectations."

"It's not always the couple who go crazy, either."

"Sometimes, it's the parents or another family member who feels entitled to control the wedding."

"It's just a party."

"Be considerate of guests, have plenty of food and drinks, and enjoy it."- magicrowantree

When Fast Food Isn't Fast Enough...

"Having to pull off to the side to wait for a drive-thru order to be brought out to you because your food isn't ready and there's a line building up behind you."- demanbmore

In Case You Don't Think Customer Service Employees Are Undervalued...

"I was working the return desk at a Target next to a military base so I have so many stories."

"One of my favorites was a lady who had her baby shower before revealing the gender and was livid that she had received floral newborn diapers when she’s having a boy."

"It was a huge box of super expensive, all organic diapers, that we didn’t carry and therefore could not return."

"I cannot accurately express her fury and disgust."

"How dare either suggest her boy could wear feminine diapers."

"I suggested she donate them if she didn’t want to use them and she instead threw away the entire box."

"When she left we pulled it out and threw it in our donate bin."

"There have also been multiple times where mom’s order massive toys and when we bring them out to the car they get furious that they aren’t wrapped."

"We don’t offer wrapping services."

"Here’s the thing, if you don’t want your kids to see the toys you got them for Christmas or their bit to day DON'T BRING THE CHILD WHEN YOU PICK IT UP."

'I’ve had multiple women scream and curse me out that I had ruined their kids Christmas by bringing the toys they ordered out to the car like they requested."- clever-mermaid-mae

Customer Service Waiting GIF by Juno Calypso Giphy

Happiest Place On Earth!

"I used to work for Disney."

"That in itself should tell you everything."

"However for fun I'll give you two specific stories one form our tech department and one from my wife who worked bookings."

"I specifically worked for their call center to help with technical issues with magic band and the website."

"Suddenly got worse huh?"

"A right of passage call everyone has at least one story of is the 'Dome call'."

"Basically there is a subset of Disney Guest (TM) that believes if it rains at Walt Disney world there is someone that will push a button to encapsulate the whole of Disney property in a dome to keep out the rain."

"I'm not kidding."

"If this button is not pushed they call our tech department to angrily ask why."

"My wife worked booking."

"Pretty much everything including Bibbidi Bobbidi boutique and Pirate's league."

"These two things did roughly the same thing difference being price and theme."

"BBB was expensive did more and was focused on princesses, pirates league did a bit less and focused on mermaids and pirates."

"Lady called up my wife, and got pissed about BBB being booked up (It goes FAAAAST)."

"Karen: 'Im going to give the phone to my daughter and I want you to tell her how you are ruining her vacation by not letting her do BBB'."

"Wife proceeds to explain how pirate's league is so much cooler and how she can be a mermaid or pirate and basically gets the kid to start demanding to their parents about how they want to be a mermaid instead of a princess."- trollsong

Disney World GIF Giphy

The horror!

Being booked into a junior suite at Disney World instead of an executive suite!

It's almost as bad as having no money for groceries, or no food to feed you children...

Said absolutely no one.