Eating alone has its pros and cons, but meals after a sad event are a struggle to get through, like when all your friends bail on your birthday dinner at the last minute. Or when you can't afford milk for cereal. Or eating your deceased spouse's leftovers.
Devastatedboy asked Reddit: What's the most depressing meal you've eaten?
Submissions have been edited for clarity, context, and profanity.
Seems negligent, but okay.
Our parents would get so caught up in work sometimes that they wouldn't buy groceries for an inordinately long time, leaving us to forage for whatever scraps were in the kitchen. The worst it ever got was when we could find nothing to eat except a couple bags of bread in the freezer that only had a couple of endpieces left that were badly freezer burned and a block of cheddar that was so old it was dark orange and cracking. We used it to make the most disgusting cheese sandwiches we ever ate in our lives though.
Wow, hard same. Parents both worked doubles for awhile, and my great-aunt would drop off weird industrial sized food items from her church pantry for us. Three gallons of cottage cheese and 5lbs of black olives? Figure something out, kid.
When you realize that you may have an issue.
Pieces of an earlier meal that I carefully pulled back out of the trash.
I was struggling with an eating disorder, and threw away most of my meal thinking that it being in the trash would turn me away from it. I was strong enough to stay away for an hour or two, then decided I didn't give a F-- that it had been in the trash can. (It was my own, the one under my desk, so mostly just paper anyway.) I don't know if I've ever felt so low and disgusting in my life, knowing that it was my own fault and I was a spoiled bitch who chose to live like this.
Similar story here. My lowest point was standing in front of my parents' fridge, feeling hungry and light-headed, but being unable to eat any of the (completely normal) foods.
I know I might do the trashcan thing too, so when I throw any food away, I always crush it and mix it with trash.
Not so lucky.
Lucky Charms with water, because we didnt have milk, I didn't realize that it was depressing at the time but now that I'm older its sad af.
Just told my dad about this post and he said he also did this once as a kid, looks as if it's being passed down the family tree.
When I was fourteen, I poured myself a bowl of cocoa pebbles, realized were out of milk, and just filled the bowl with whipped cream instead.
Disgusting? Yes.
Delicious? Yes.
Sad Thai.
At a local Thai place me and my then girlfriend would always go, the owner always greeted us and was super friendly. Anyway after we broke up I went in as I fancied a green curry. He asked where she was and I explained. He looked sad and and said "oh..." I sat and had my green curry by myself. It felt sad, I just get take out from them now.
Maybe I'd be a terrible business owner, but I'd have given you that one on the house.
This is a lot.
I once had Thanksgiving dinner alone at a truck stop Denny's in Great Falls, Montana.
Great falls, Montana
You win.
Hey, f*ck you. I like it here.
Really? Why?
... I'm from Lethbridge I suppose it's not all that much better. We're relatively close to Glacier and Waterton though that has to count for something.
Because it has the right amount of nothing, I can walk in a bar and they know my name and drink, great fishing all year round, 15 minute drive gets you out to unruined nature. People aren't up their own butt, friendliest weird town I've ever lived in... I can make a modest wage and live like a millionaire compared to those making the same in any large city.
Came over from Belfast, Northern Ireland, I have been in busy, and I have been in nothing... I like the nothing.
Good for you. I grew up out in Montana/Dakotas and have lived in NYC for the past 19 years. I'm definitely retiring in Montana or Vermont someday. I miss the quiet sometimes.
Well, at least you were fed.
My grandmother died and we were over at her house cleaning stuff out, and mom put me in charge of cleaning out the refrigerator.
My grandmother was always someone who hated to waste things. To such an extent that if she opened a can of soda but didn't finish it, she'd put the open can back in the fridge and finish it later, even though it would be flat by that point.
So as I'm cleaning out the refrigerator, I'm crying and taking bites of all the cold leftover food in there. I was thinking that at least some of her food isn't going to waste, and thinking how sad it is that we'll never have one of her home-cooked meals again.
I gather it's a generation thing. Anyone who grew up during the early 20th century has "don't waste food" tattooed on the inside of their skull with a picture of a ration-card next to it.
My grandma is much the same.
My grandpa is the same, despite being halfway across the world. Grew up under japanese occupation in Singapore and would not let the tiniest scrap of meat on a fish's head go into the trash.
Mickey Dees, always there when you need it.
Mom ended up in the hospital just in time for my sisters b-day.
All my sister wanted to do was go see mom and see if she was okay. I said I would take her as I wanted to see mom myself.
Dad ended up screaming that we didn't have the gas to drive to the hospital she was at and that we could do something "Later."
I got pissed, raided my dads coin jar on his bureau, hauled my sister into the car, put $5 into the gas tank, and drove through McDonalds where my sister and I had a hamburger, shared a small fry and a drink and ate in relative silence.
THAT was a depressing meal.
What happened after that, if you don't mind me asking? And is your mom okay?
She's ok. Dad was upset with me for a bit.
Rest is history almost.
Depressing.
A leftover casserole my 2nd wife had made. I ate it when I came home from her funeral.
I have christmas dinner leftovers in my freezer that my mom made. Not sure if I'm going to eat them...but I also don't know if I'll ever be able to recreate her cooking.
Look at it this way, she made it for you. Would she want you to eat it or toss it? You could look at it as a way of honoring her memory.
Exactly, it's either going to be eaten and enjoyed or it's going to linger in the bottom of the freezer almost totally forgotten about for god knows how long, then chucked in the bin like any other piece of rubbish because you either really need the freezer space, the freezer died or you're moving house.
You may as well put it to good use and appreciate the effort and care that went into making it, rather than that person having spent some of their very last days making a weird frozen food shrine to themselves.
Times is tough and we're tired. And yes, I have.
You ever have sleep for dinner?
I have. The worst feeling is waking up not knowing what you're going to eat that day because you have nothing.
Are you doing better now?
Oh yes. Thankfully. Everything got better once I was able to leave home and support myself. Shitty family even took my hard earned money and used it to buy cigarettes instead of food
If you're going through a similar situation just know you'll be okay. It might not be tomorrow, it might hurt and be very hard for a little longer, but you will be fine and not hungry someday. I wish I could hug you and make everything okay.
When your friends had one job, and failed.
I invited some friends to a sushi restaurant for my birthday. I arrived a little early and sat down at the table for 6 I'd reserved, then one by one the texts came in canceling, and not a single person showed up. Even worse, the waitress noticed it was my birthday when she took my ID, so I knew the waitstaff could tell what was going on and felt sorry for me.
To everyone asking, yes, of course I just ditched all those friends and made a completely new set of friends in my mid 20s. And then everyone in the restaurant stood up and clapped. Those friends' names? Albert Einstein, all of them. Either that, or I learned a valuable lesson that if your birthday falls on a weekday and you're an adult, just celebrate it on the nearest weekend instead of asking people to schlep all the way downtown on a Wednesday and being shocked when they bail.
This sh*t right here is why I try and never cancel, even if I legit have a cold or something or I realize I can't stay the whole time.
You never know, you could be the one friend who came through for someone.
I wish I could go back in time and show up to eat all your sushi, friend.
Could be worse...
Some random snacks from 7-11, eaten for Christmas dinner with my father after my mother kicked him out. My father is a piece of sh*t, but I felt like it was still my job to try to hold the family together (and I was kind of afraid that he was planning to kill himself).
This was very close to a situation I was in 5 years ago except I didn't answer my dads calls. He must of thought we all didn't love him or wanna see him anymore cause he did it. It will always eat me up of how different it could have been if I answered and went to see him.
CAAAAAARBS.
Bread sandwich.
Buy a bag of potatoes with that bread. boiler the potato, mash it, fry, stick inbetween bread. nom nom nom.
And there are people who think carbs are the enemy...
No. Never again.
I once microwaved undercooked noodles with leftover meatballs and poured a bunch of ranch on it because it was the closest thing I could find to a pasta sauce. It 'twas a dark time in history.
How'd it taste?
Like sadness with ranch.
Welcome to Sadness Ranch, the home of the failed rodeo clown.
I've had to eat peanuts for dinner.
When I was scraping by living paycheck to paycheck and I had an unexpected car repair that took away all my spending money, I went to the grocery store and bought a few packages of ramen, a bag of rice and a 12-pack of eggs for like $4-$5 in change and can returns that I scrapped together. Ate a ramen/rice/egg bowl for breakfast and dinner for two weeks.
I'm there right now. In college, switched my major late, ended up going a 5th year so financial aid isn't paying the same. I fry my rice with eggs in the morning and just dump sriracha on it. For dinner I eat ramen with more eggs, or if I'm able to afford chicken breast I eat that.
Went from a bodybuilder to hardly being able to keep muscle o due to lack of calories and protein.
Dark.
Food pulled from dumpsters. The expired food still sealed was ok. Half eaten burgers from McDs? Not so much.
During a short time, my family was homeless (my mother took us in the middle of the night to some distant city via bus). My siblings and I would pretty much hang out at this McDonald's up the road from the shelter we lived in. We would watch people eat and take what was left over, digging through the trash cans when employees were too busy.
My little sister still had the habit after we moved back in with my dad. She would randomly appear with a McDonald's cup or half a burger before we even ordered. I tend to leave my cups on the top of the trash cans when I leave any fast food place, and I'm always looking to see if someone needs something. If someone had paid us more than a moment of attention they would have realized we needed far more help than we were receiving.
"If someone had paid us more than a moment of attention they would have realized we needed far more help than we were receiving"
right in the feels
Winner.
When I was in college I was a typical broke teenager and I relied on Subway a lot, mainly for their daily deals which was usually a 6 inch and chips/drink for $4 or something cheap like that. This was also back when they had the rewards points card, so the more purchases you made the more points you got.
Anyway I had enough points on my card for a free foot long and decided to save that until I was really pressed for food.
Most of the time I would get the daily deal and split it over lunch and dinner. Besides that I would have top ramen and whatever soup was on sale.
So anyway, I had a pretty light week of work and my only food for the week had been 2 packets of top ramen and an orange so I was STARVING and I decided to cash in those points for the foot long.
In my mind, I could split it into 4 or 5 meals which would last me another week until I got paid.
Then I got home and started eating while watching tv and before I knew it half the sandwhich was gone and I was eating the 2nd half. In my mind I told myself I needed to save my food since it was all I had but my bodily instincts kept pushing me to eat.
It was a delicious sandwich but those last few bites I had, I did it with tears in my eyes because I knew I wouldn't be eating for a few days.
So yea, sobbing while eating a meatball sub from Subway
EDIT: This was over 10 years ago, I was fresh out of highschool, my first time on my own with no real concept of money or cooking for myself aside from hamburger helper/Rice-a-roni/boxed mac-n-cheese (if you can call those cooking). I did not eat only Subway but as I said it consisted of most of my diet since I could spend $4 and get 2 meals out of it. In my mind it was better than ramen because I could get veggies and meats. I am a lot better off now in terms of making money stretch and using it in the proper ways. I am also very familiar with cooking cheap meals. TLDR: I was young and dumb.
Narcissism is never a particularly attractive quality.
Which is rather ironic, considering narcissists believe they are simply the be all and end all, that everyone wants them or wants to be them.
Yet spending extended periods of time with people who are so egregiously obsessed with themselves can be simply exhausting, as they frequently find a way of veering the conversation back to themselves.
Making it all the more tempting to give them a taste of their own medicine, and find a way to annoy them.
Redditor RockyCasino was curious to hear people's favorite ways to annoy or anger narcissists, leading them to ask:
"How do you get under a narcissist's skin?"
A Bit Underwhelming, No?
"Grey rock technique."
"I don’t know if it was specifically designed to deal with narcissistic people, but it works wonders on people with NPD or just narcissistic traits."
"If they say 'I just won an award that’s only given to a handful of people. I really don’t work that hard (fishing for compliment) though, teehee!'"
"You just say 'that’s cool' and nothing more."
"They’ll try another line or two, so you may have to repeat the process."- False-Guess
Ignorance Is TRULY Bliss
"Don't try to."
"Just ignore them."- Envy_The_King
"Ignore them."- mimijane73
ron swanson spinning GIFGiphySeriously, Just Ignore Them!
"Give them zero attention."
"That will drive them insane."- sigmindm
"My father is a narcissist."
"Ignoring them will almost certainly get under their skin and even make them angry."- handsomejack191
Band Together!
"Start communicating with the other people they manipulate."
"Narcissists will often pit people against each other."
"They like to keep the people they lie to separated so they don't communicate with one another and possibly figure out they're being manipulate."
"When you start communicating with them independently, it takes away the narcissists feeling of power and control."
- JulzEastwood
Don't Take The Bait!
"Hot damn."
" think my mom's one."
"She LOVES pushing people's buttons til they snap at her, then acting like she's been wronged."
"But it totally enrages her if you don't engage her baiting game."- Altruistic_Proof_272
Take Your Pick...
"Things that worked for me were ignoring them, being very unemotional, not reacting to their contrived insults, limiting eye contact and keeping interactions very short."- Nice_Feeling4398
Move On, And Don't Look Back
"When you live a really happy life and forget about them."
"Like genuinely, take the time, heal from the trauma, block them from all social media, they will lash out, so it's best to establish distance before moving on."- Minghaolegs
Leaving James Harden GIF by Farmers Insurance ®GiphyIndeed, for people who thrive off of being the center of attention, nothing could possibly annoy them more than being ignored.
Unless, perhaps, everyone devotes their attention to someone else in plain sight of them...
With more and more unfortunate stories about misconduct in the news, there is an understandably low opinion of police officers in the United States.
Though we should always remember that the corrupt or ill-suited cops we read about in the news do not represent all police officers.
For law enforcement is by all means necessary, and can be an extremely taxing job, both physically and emotionally.
With many police officers coming in contact with people who have gone through experiences no one deserves to go through.
Redditor Fish_f*cker12300 was curious to hear some of the most unfortunate things police officers have been told by convicts they've come in contact with, leading them to ask:
"Cops of Reddit what is the saddest thing a criminal has said?"
Cold Comfort At It's Worst
"I nicked a guy for attempted murder once."
"I had met him before a few times, usually when he was a suspect."
"He just said 'even now, you're still the closest thing I've got to a proper friend'."- ConsTisi
They Learn At A Young Age, For Better Or Worse
"Work security in a town's retail supermarket."
"Watched the local drug dealer force his son of about 8 to shoplift some pastries."
"Nothing about this boy would have made him stand out as this man's son, just an ordinary looking kid but his father wanted to make him into a man by teaching him how to steal."
"Four years later and this boy is clearly his fathers son."- Seoirse82
Their Fate Is Already In the Cards
"Ex cop."
"Speaking to a juvenile in the cells with a butt load of warrants for stealing cars and armed robberies."
"Told me the only way he could get toys is if he stole them, and his parents would never help him with his homework but showed him what to say to get free McDonald's and how to avoid getting caught shop lifting."
"Some kids have no hope and are just going to end up in the system."- Terror_Tanuki
Some Rob Out Of Necessity
"A lot of stores were looted, and people were walking off with multiple TVs, appliances etc."
"Some citizen journalist was out on the streets, stopping looters, and interviewing them."
"It's winter, it's dark, and suddenly this little kid appears, holding a single bag."
"All alone."
"Couldn't have been more than 8."
"The citizen journalist stops him, and demands to see what's in the bag."
"He opens it up."
"One t-shirt."
"One jersey."
"One pair of pants."
"One pair of shoes."
"A three pack of underwear."
"This little kid had followed a group of adults into a chaotic situation and taken what he needed, and only what he needed."
"I can't watch the clip without sobbing."
"The interviewer sent the kid off with his little bag of one single, looted outfit."
"The final shot is of this tiny little thing, walking into the darkness, barefoot and alone."
"It was absolutely heartbreaking."- GCB78
Victims Of Circumstance
"Afghan in 2011-2012."
"Was on patrol pretty much doing cop work sometimes."
"We’d go door to door or compound to compound and our Lieutenant would talk to locals with our translator."
"During one of the meetings I was inside working as a sort of guard for my Lt."
"The guy he was talking to came up positive for gun trace residue and was a confirmed Taliban in the eye scanner thing we had."
"When my Lt questioned him before we detained him, he told my Lt that he didn’t want to fight us, but if he didn’t the Taliban would kill his family."
"I was 18-19 and my Lt was 24-25, now I’m 29 and I realize that war was all f*cked."- surf0302
Desperate To Change Their Circumstance
"I worked in a day program and a prevocational program."
"My clients came from institutions and were doing program as part of their conditions of release."
"One of my groups ran a hotdogs cart and they profit shared, after cart expenses."
"They made very little, they were on assistance so it wasn't an income supplement it was more of a perk."
"Anyways I had this one woman, she had been a sex worker since she 12, she was in her 40s."
"Her first week was a nightmare."
"She was late."
"Struggled to cut the onions."
"Spilt everything."
"But she showed up each day late, frantic and crying to not be fired."
"She worked for 1 hour each day."
"The following week when she came to pick up her pay, a whole whopping $11.50, she burst into tears."
"I thought it was because it was it was so little money."
"She acted as if I had given her a thousand dollars and an Oscar."
"She clutched the little envelope and cried."
"She said 'it's the first money I ever made not on my back'."
"'Never thought I could'."
"We hugged she skipped off happily."
"Then I sobbed in the bathroom for 5 minutes."- MoxieAndSass
A Warning For Others...
"Sex worker asked if I had a daughter & likely could tell by my face that I did before I could answer."
"Tell her she's two bad choices away."- jjreason
Day in and day out, cops and others working in criminal justice are forced to come face to face with the fact that not everyone is dealt an equal hand in life.
And learn that some people break the law, not for self-gain, but because they truly and utterly feel that they have no other choice.
Making the need for programs to help them find a better path forward all the more important.
The term "fan" is believed to be derived from "fanatic" or "fanatical.
Meaning "a person filled with excessive and single-minded zeal".
Indeed, some fans simply can't hide their excitement for their favorite franchises, sports teams, recording artists, or political figures, no matter how hard they try.
Resulting in the birth of such monikers as "Trekkies", "Beliebers", or "Cumberb*tches."
And while these passionate, some might say obsessive, fan bases often find compatriots at conventions, premieres and meet-ups, those unfamiliar with the apples of their respective eyes might be confused by their level of fandom, if not down right annoyed.
"What is the most annoying fan base?"
Crime Enthusiasts
"This will probably get buried, but back in 2012-2015 I was in the Creepypasta Fandom."
"The people in that Fandom were psychotic, it was crazy."- ElenoaL
"Serial killer fans."- xcxaxsxpxexr
Bring On The Clap-Backs...
"The fanbase of Rupauls Drag Race is pretty notorious for sending death threats to the hard working talented people they’re supposed to be a fan of."- rubenblom
Rupauls Drag Race Reaction GIFGiphyAll Of Them. Literally, ALL OF THEM!
"Any fan base if you go deep enough."
"Just go to one of those subs for a small Netflix show you’ve binged in a day."- qwerty12qwerty
"Evil Is Out There"... It's The Fans!
"Coming from a genuine fan of the show, I think that the Supernatural fanbase needs to pipe the f*ck down."- AaryanKearns
My Favorite Group Is Better Than Yours!!!
"Kpop fans who take things a bit too far."
"I had friends who'd have fights over who is 'worthy' to be called the wife of one of the kpop idols, no they weren't joking."- Caprisal
K Pop Reaction GIFGiphyHence The State Of American Politics...
"Politicians' fan base."- NikinhoRobo
It's A Hedgehog Guys...
"Sonic fans are always a gamble."
"They can be so god damn wholesome and nice but then you got the f*cking weirdos."
"I don’t mean the kids who make fan characters."
"I personally don’t know why they are hated I find it to be wholesome seeing kids make art based of their interests."
"Im talking about the people who rage over any criticism towards the games, comics, developers, etc."- CaptainCringeOng
You Know They've Gone Too Far When They Name Themselves...
"I'm put off by any fanbase that has a collective name."
"'The B-Hive' and so forth."
"In almost every case it feels really forced."
"Football (soccer) Twitter is full of d*ckheads too.'
'The further away from the team's home ground they live, the worse they get.'
Euro 2016 England GIF by SporzaGiphyTechno Wars
"Playstation VS Xbox ."
'iPhone vs Android."
"Those people."- L33HDX
There's nothing wrong being a fan of someone or something, no matter how fanatical you get.
Though it would be in everyone's best interest to learn how to temper those feelings around others, as not everyone will share your passionate feelings.
Just ask any Yankees fan who's dared to wear their team's cap in Boston...
Usually when we meet someone for the first time whether at a social function, at work, or randomly in public, we generally have a good Spidey sense about the type of person they are.
Even with alcohol in the mix, our instincts can be dulled but we still continue engaging with someone who seems outgoing and friendly enough at the bar.
But we also have the ability to tell right away if that person doesn't have good intentions.
Curious to hear of possible identifiers signaling that someone is suspicious, Redditor PsychologicalPop8776 asked:
"What is a subtle sign someone isn’t a good person?"
These familiar types of behavior really shows a person's true colors.
It Works Both Ways
"They believe that respect is earned but demand it immediately from you."
– GrilledCheeser
Prelude To A Diss
"Or, conversely, when they love to constantly say 'With all due respect' right before they disrespect someone."
– putdownthekitten
A World Of Their Own
"Someone who is incapable of reflecting. They are the centre of their own universe. They are unable to grasp the big picture or how they fit within it. Everyone has a place in the larger picture, which is their small view of the world."
– No_Maximumdse
Untrustworthy
"They share private information about others with you."
– RaeDeclin
Spewing Falsities
"Casual unnecessary lying."
– Dense_Composer_8479
Saying "sorry" is too much for some people to say.
Passing On Responsibility
"Not owning up to their mistakes and always attributing it to someone or something else."
– tiredandsad1
Feigning Ignorance
"My mom's famous line when caught doing something wrong 'Well, I didn't know' instead of 'I'm sorry.'"
– Dre4mGl1tch
Familiar Quote
"Obligatory posting of The Narcissist's Prayer:"
'That didn’t happen.
And if it did, it wasn’t that bad.
And if it was, that’s not a big deal.
And if it is, that’s not my fault.
And if it was, I didn’t mean it.
And if I did, you deserved it.'
– fanbreeze
Sometimes, it's the visible signals that indicate what kind of person someone is.
The Polluter
"Littering. It's not a violent act or anything, but it does indicate a lack of respect that usually carries into other aspects of the person's life."
– BeskarVagina
Red Flag
"Yes. Watched a guy stick his gum on the underside of the bar and instantly knew we wouldn’t be going on another date."
– muscle_princess_
Parking Lot Protocol
"Yes, kinda along the same lines of people who don’t return their grocery cart. That lack of respect."
– marlynwor
Communicating With Drivers
"I feel the same way about a number of things people do when driving, specifically using your turn signal. The use of your signal lets other drivers (and sometimes pedestrians) know your intent - allowing them to better anticipate your actions. Not using it indicates you are only thinking about yourself...which is probably how you live the rest of your life."
– evilthales
I was in a packed movie theater once when I saw a woman sitting by herself. She wasn't waiting on anyone but she still saved a seat on either side of her.
When a couple entered her row, one of them politely asked if it would be cool if the woman moved down one seat so she could sit together with her boyfriend.
The woman said, "No" and stayed in her seat. I could hear a chorus of snickers from other audience members witnessing this.
Shocked, the girlfriend said, "Really? You're a horrible person."
Yeah, sounds about right.
Throughout the entire movie, the couple–who wound up flanking the woman on either side of her in their respective seats–kept passing the popcorn bucket to each other right in front of the woman.
In addition to the movie, this was a satisfying plot line to watch.