I was once dragged along to a presentation on time shares––in Atlantic City, no less––by a friend who saw absolutely nothing wrong with the idea that we had hopped on a bus for a jaunt to Atlantic City in the middle of February only to traipse a barren, depressing boardwalk to a rundown hotel for three hours of poppycock in exchange for airline tickets.
They were better off getting a credit card that gives you air miles with each purchase, but I digress...
And yes, they purchased a time share. Ouch. But I got a free meal out of the day, so who's the real winner here?
After Redditor BrighterChimp asked the online community, "What was (in retrospect) a scam that you absolutely fell for?" people lined up to tell their stories.
Can I say "ouch" again?
Okay, I will: Ouch.
"My wife fell for..."
My wife fell for the "You have a warrant for your arrest if you pay x we will resolve the case and no arrest will be made." BS. They were referring to me.
I work for the government and she thought we were being tipped off and paid the people. I had no warrant, and I would have known myself. I was very mad, this was yeaaars ago.
"I ate..."
Free breakfast that turned into a time share pitch. I ate double breakfast so scam's on them.
"I was young, dumb..."
Cutko Knives. I was young, dumb, needed a job, and had no idea what a Multilevel Marketing scheme was. Fortunately I was too broke to get too deep into it, and I think calling them an MLM might be a bit harsh, but they had me hook line and sinker for about a month.
"They were going to give us..."
Getting sucked into a time share presentation in Las Vegas with my mom. They were going to give us gambling vouchers and some other stuff for what was supposed to be a 15 minute presentation. A couple hours later we bailed empty handed because the presentation would not end and my mom was getting pissed. Lesson learned.
"There was a green pebble..."
Giphy
School trip, went to a souvenir shop. There was a green pebble, literally just a pebble but green. Vendor told me it was an emerald and I ended up paying 5 bucks for it.
"I paid a lot of money..."
Some random real estate seminar back in 2015 or 2016. I paid a lot of money and ended up buying the full course. I luckily came to my senses the next day and went back for the second day of the seminar and got my money back.
"He knew all along..."
My first (and only so far) marriage.
Just after our 2nd anniversary he informed me he didn't love me, had never loved me, and love was a fantasy that people shouldn't pursue. He knew all along he was settling for me, and assumed i knew that and was settling for him too.
"All the times you said you loved me?? You were lying??" I asked.
"Yes, i thought you knew it was just a thing people say that they don't actually mean."
No, no i did not know that. Coincidentally, his green card had just arrived in the mail a few days earlier.
"I'm usually not that dumb..."
A guy on Facebook I didn't know added me and said he thought I was pretty and I should come do a photo shoot and he could make me a model. I was in college and considered it. Luckily my boyfriend at the time, who was usually an overall @ss, was like DO NOT DO THAT you're going to get killed.
Now I'm really into true crime and can't believe how close I almost came to probably getting human trafficked.
I'm usually not that dumb, but I felt really unsexy and just like a worthless garbage bag at the time and I really wanted to believe someone thought I was that beautiful.
"I saw a flyer..."
I saw a flyer for really cheap solar from Solar City. I called the number, they ask for my number. They came over consultation visit but it's was far more expensive that what the flyer said so I turned it down. Now I get calls at all hours of the day from solar companies, energy companies, scam call saying my electricity rates are going to be raised. I really regret it.
"When I was 18..."
When I was 18, I bought a computer for school. I had no idea what I was doing and it was absolutely not what I needed. I was young and dumb and didn't know how to just return it, so I tried to sell it on Craigslist.
This dude says he wants to buy it for his grandma. He wants me to ship it to Nigeria where he's "consulting" and he'll pay me back and then some for the insane cost of shipping. I think it was like $1000.
I was young and very naive, so I agreed. I got as far as boxing the damn thing up and addressing it. Smh. We start working for this guy who claims to be from PayPal, who tells me that the money has come out of the random dude's account and will go straight into mine once I send proof of the shipment. This was where I started to smell a rat (finally) because the "PayPal" was clearly an early attempt at a spoof account, I.e., at first glance it looked like it was from PayPal but even hovering over the email gave a different name. He also had a profile picture on his account.
I ended up reporting the guy to PayPal who immediately confirmed that he was a fraud and I was about to fall for a major scam.
I blocked them both, swallowed my pride, and asked my parents what I should do. I ended up just sending the computer back to wherever I bought it. Got a full refund.
I once had a customer complain I didn't read the menu to her.
Not make suggestions, but literally read the menu to her.
"you guys have a great day"
Giphy"Working in retail I once said 'you guys have a great day' I was reported by an elderly women who objected to not being addressed as 'ma'am'."
"She also objected to 'have a great day' because she had come into the aquarium store because her fish was dead and she was upset that someone would tell her to 'have a great day' when her fish had died."
A measly grand?
"I got sued in small claims court by a mentally ill man who said I stole $1000 worth of roast beef and 2 sun tanning lights from him."
"It got continued twice and by the time we had our day in court, he forgot what he sued me for and just went off on a tirade about me being an a**hole."
On Camera
"I once had a complaint filed against me for calling someone a slur in the elevator. My boss called me in, and we watched the camera footage from the elevator."
"Me and the other person were talking and having a good conversation and laughing with each other. My boss just said 'yeah I watched it earlier and I have no idea what they are talking about'."
"So someone tried to get me fired for no reason."
(manager and up)
"I once was told there was a high-level (manager and up) meeting being held about me… on account of my emails being written too well. :/ "
"I can write quick, well-worded emails, and someone in upper management thought that I must have been spending too much time writing my emails, possibly as a means of appearing to be superior to others."
Closed
Giphy"I worked at McDonalds. A man put a complaint in because I wouldn't let him in after we'd already shut."
Yeah, closed means closed.
You had time to get there during open hours. See you tomorrow.
We have lives too.
No thank you...
Giphy"Got a complaint filed against me by a customer for unnecessary rudeness because I turned down a guy's offer to take me out on a date."
"He asked me (repeatedly) while I was working. Dude was at least in his mid 40s; I was 16."
a scarlet letter...
"When I was a teenager working at an ice cream store, a secret shopper wrote that I was 'friendly but did not smile'."
"This write up was posted on the bulletin board like it was a scarlet letter of shame and the manager talked to me about smiling more."
"30 years later, I am still friendly but unsmiling."
A Little Off
"I had a coworker from a different department call me this morning and threatened me for something his boss had done regarding something I have no control over."
"I eventually got him to sheepishly admit that there was nothing I had control over in the situation and he was mad his boss had made the decision without consulting him first."
"Government work attracts some odd balls."
I hate retail!
"I was working in a lighting store (ceiling lights, chandeliers, etc). Secret shoppers would get sent over to us every so often and they were usually pretty obvious."
"This guy claimed he needed ceiling fans for his home so I go through the whole thing finding fans that work in his rooms, suit the design of his home, airflow needs, etc. But obviously without a specific need to buy something requiring electrical wiring this guy left without purchasing."
"He wrote that I was excellent in every way but didn't try to upsell him anything."
"At the next staff meeting the manager read this out, tried shame me in front of everyone and stressed that we need to try and sell people crap they don't even need."
"How the heck do I upsell a damn ceiling fan? 'Hey would you like a $2000 crystal chandelier with your fans? How about a set of garden lights?' I hate retail."
Stay Literate...
Read Friends Tv GIFGiphy"I once had a coworker file an HR complaint against me for reading books at lunch."
"I told HR that he's probably just offended I'm not reading hardcore pornography magazines on the clock like he does."
I'm so glad I work at home with only dogs and a cat.
And when I go outside I avoid eye contact for all of these reasons.
Find some inner peace folks.
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Farewell
Giphy"Say goodbye to all my friends, go outside and take my dog on a long walk and then back home to have pizza and await my fate."
Eat Wherever
"Eat McDonald's at a Burger King. What they gonna do, send me to jail for life."
"I'd buy two large fries and two large cokes at Mcdonald's and take them over to Burger King and order two whoppers for lunch."
"I know this is satire, but a buddy of mine once got kicked out of a McDonald's lobby for bringing in KFC. We were all in high school and meeting to do homework but instead we all ended up leaving."
You've Got Mail
"Send out a chain message to everyone I know saying that if you don't share this with 10 people, the person you received this message from will die tomorrow."
"Plus add on that if the people they share it to don't share it to 10 other people, they will die themselves."
- Jhawk163
Go Big!
"If I'm guaranteed 24 hours alive I will do a ton of extremely dangerous crap because I can't die until the 24 hours are up."
"You could get badly injured and live your last hours suffering in a hospital sooo..."
"Morphine drip is how a lot of us go anyhow. Doesn't seem so bad."
Bank robber?
Well that should keep the time lively, but I don't understand doing things that could cut short what little time there already is.
To each their own, I guess.
Out & About
Giphy"If I'm gonna die, then they might as well know. I'm coming out, doing what I want for once and having the most comforting day in my life."
Expose it All
"Tell everyone I love how I feel and then get all my passwords and crap in order so people can close out all my online activities. Then go hold my wife until I die... well, probably I'll go sit in the emergency room to die so my wife doesn't have to remember me dying in her arms the rest of her life."
Free $$$
"Rack up as much debt as I can buying expensive things and hiding them for my family to find later (after the estate has been sorted out)."
"Makes me wonder if I have 50k in CC debt and 75k in the bank, does my family get all 75 or will the bank be legally entitled to get 50k back?"
"The banks get 50k and your family gets the leftovers. If you don't have enough money then your estate is dissolved and your family gets nothing, the debt goes away (unless someone tricks your fam into paying the debt with their money)."
- OHYAMTB
Send the Message
"Spend the 24 hours with my kids and family cultivating a few last precious memories for them. Also a few hours staving off sleep recording messages for them to be able to listen to when they are older - things they aren't old enough to hear, but I would like them to hear from me when they are ready for the message."
I don't know anymore...
"Well, I wouldn't live long enough to face the consequences for whatever I do, so I'd do some things I see as bad ideas at the moment:"
"I'd cuss out my most hated person in the world. Forget that guy."
"I'd tell my best friend (former best friend? I don't know anymore...) how I feel about them, and apologize for hiding it."
"Other than that, I dunno what I'd do, maybe spend time with friends or family or panic. Make sure to let everyone know that I wouldn't be around much longer."
Where to Begin?
Giphy"Fix my will, delete all electronics, call a firm to take my stuff to goodwill, call a real estate agent and put apartment for sale, give my organs to hospital. And if time, I reckon a good nap and massage would be nice too."
Is there really a best way to spend your last 24 hours?
You can't travel, that's time consuming. There will always be so much more to do.
Que será, será, I suppose.
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