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 am at my wit's end with people who are overly polite while driving. I know on paper that sounds like a good thing but when you are polite, you tend to buck the rules. The rules I'm trusting you to follow. So when you buck the rules, even for kindness, I can't be secure as a driver. Now I'm mad.
to be rich
Seriously GIF by Debby RyanGiphy"My "friend" stole a book. I asked him why he stole it when he's rich. He got really offended about the word "rich" and said I need to use the word "wealthy," because "rich" implies he didn't earn what he has. He never earned crap, especially that book."
Theater Trip
"My ex got mad (yelling, followed by a weekend's worth of sulking silent treatment) during a road trip because I didn't know where the movie theater was or how to get there in the city we stopped in for the night. A city in which I had never been. This was years ago, before smartphones & GPS existed."
The Great Divide
"For trying to use a divider to divide his groceries from the person behind him. He told me it "offended" him and he tried to wrestle the divider away from me. He even had the audacity to tell everyone I was the crazy one."
"Oh lord. I worked as a cashier for years. People can be crazy!"
- Amie80
CLEARLY!
"Jealousy is a hell of a drug, mine is "because I changed into a jumpsuit and flats at a wedding after party for my SIL, that I attended with my fiancé, her brother." CLEARLY I was actually hitting on this rando's bf in front of all my future in laws because… I… am disabled and can't stand in heels for more than an hour and wanted to be comfortable - so I guess I should have put a poncho on that says I'm Gross!!"
"To avoid confusing your man, my bad. She legit came up to my chin ready to go "I'm from Boston I'll freaking take you" I guess I'm happy her bf and another groomsman carried her away because my MIL would have slit my throat for fighting at the big money wedding. I for sure could have taken her butt lol "I'm from Boston" I'm from Canada and have thrown shovels of snow heavier than you when I was 12."
Girl!
Real Madrid No GIF by DAZNGiphy"Because I thanked their boyfriend for opening the door for me... Like, what?"
Humans are a mess. We can't have nice things. I think it's because trust has clearly become a mirage. But so many other issues are the problem. And when we can't trust that always leads to anger.
Ignored
ron swanson spinning GIFGiphy"I wasn't at my house, I told the guy I wasn't going to be there and he just ignored me and still went to my house."
Roomies Know...
"My roommates girlfriend was talking about how she needed an oil change for her car. I offered to do it for her and was explaining what all I needed to do it. My roommate got pissed and stormed off throwing a tantrum. They got into an argument because he's thinking me changing her oil is my way of trying to have sex with her. So now it's become an inside joke with me, my girlfriend, and my other roommates."
The Cashier
"I used to work in a store that sold food and this guy and his girlfriend came in, and he was asking me about some of the food. Normal sales conversation stuff. The girlfriend kept inserting herself between us and trying to turn him away from looking directly at me. I gave up on trying to do my actual and literal job and just walked away and she smirked at me the whole time."
"I was also cashiering up front when they got ready to check out, and the girlfriend let someone else go in front of her so they wouldn't be at my register. Ma'am if you're that insecure then that's not everyone else's problem to deal with, therapy is easily available these days."
Chucky Fans
"I used to work in a toy store when I was a teenager and there was this crazy lady who would come in once a week to yell at me because we didn't have any Chucky dolls. From the stupid movie where he comes to life and is evil. At the time, no one had them, because no one made them. Something I informed her of every week. I know they make them now so I hope she's happy."
Check Please!
Michael Buble Check GIF by bublyGiphy"This happened recently, actually. I work at a restaurant, and we're kind of short-staffed right now, so one of my managers, without my permission, decided to sign me up for some extra shifts on a volunteer sign-up form. When I reported this to my head manager, the other manager got mad at me and called me selfish, which is ironic, considering he's the laziest fool I've ever laid eyes on."
Anger in hospitality is a given. So I'll let that one slide, but seriously people... we need to do better. Except when it comes to Chucky. Anger towards Chucky is good. But let's try to be calmer in general.
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Love is crazy. I've finally come to that conclusion. And marriage, you take your life in your hands and just throw caution to the wind in hopes of survival with that step.
When love falls apart, things can get real messy, real fast. And I've always been stunned by people's behavior when love subsides.
More often than not, it's like they become different people. Sometimes people are beset by tragedy and grief and sometimes people smile wide and move on. It's a coin toss.
But my favorite post divorce personality has to be the sudden super villain. Oh honey watch out for them!
Redditor u/hyperyog wanted to hear all the tea from the divorcees out there by asking:
Divorced Redditors, what is the craziest thing you or your former spouse did after divorce?
I once had a friend who burned her ex's house down when he wasn't home. He had started seeing someone almost immediately, so she thought, lemme set their sparks. Yeah, she wasn't well. Whatever happened to just a quick goodbye?
Swiped
dean winters crying GIF by MayhemGiphy"She removed the retaining clips for my windshield wipers, but put the wipers back on the arms. First storm after I got my car back from her, driver side wiper flew off the car on Interstate 40. Good times."
Sicko!
"He wrote suicide notes and put them in my kids backpacks for them/me to find. Then he turned off his phone and went to a coworkers house to play crib and have drinks.. all the while knowing I would be freaking out searching for him thinking he was in danger or worse. Thankfully my kids didn't see the notes and didn't know what was going on. This was just one of the many, many crazy things he did. Two years out and he just recently stopped showing up at my work and driving by my house at night."
A Sad End
"Died of a drug overdose. To be fair, her drug addiction was the reason for the divorce, so maybe that isn't too crazy."
"That's so incredibly difficult to have gone through. I unfortunately know the depths of this kind of pain, and while I'm sure the circumstances surrounding it are different, the loss that still happened is a tragedy. My condolences."
Bye Girl
"Stalked me for 5 years. Would make fake social media profiles to try to follow me (which I would block endlessly) and would try to find where I worked so she could talk to me. This lady cheated on me with 7 different men 2 months after we were married. I kicked her a** to the curb and made her sign the court papers."
"When we had our day in court she cried in the judges office while I just wanted to get this crap done. After, my dad was with me and he threw 50 dollars at her and told her to "change your freaking last name." Good guy Pops. I haven't seen or heard from her in about 5 years, thank goodness."
- Letharos
Take it All!
skin care spinning GIF by Primal Life OrganicsGiphy"I had an ex-boyfriend go through my apartment and take back every gift he had given me that he could find. Then he went in my bedside table and took the condoms. And the vibrator he had given me."
See now, when I'm out... I'm out! I don't want to see you, hear from you or know you. I wish you well in life, but please live it far from me. Anyone agree? Clearly not the people here. Let's continue...
For the Boy
bicycling father and son GIF by NETFLIXGiphy"All I wanted was custody of my son, I gave her everything else except one of our cars. She fought me through 5 hearings, I won. She never came to see him again."
Dangerous Woman
"My ex cheated on me the week my mom died in the hospital. She spent a year and a half trying to get in touch with me. She would call my old work and make fake accounts trying to message me on FB. It was insane. She later sends a certified letter explaining she was sorry that she did what she did and that she aborted our child."
"Wanted me to meet her somewhere so she could apologize face to face. She already married some other guy that she had children with and was still trying to get in touch with me. I never understood her."
- orstius
Be Gone
"After years of telling me she wanted a child, that she wanted to be a mom, that her life's dream was to be a stay at home mom, she got pregnant with the first guy she slept with while we were getting divorced and put the kid up for adoption even before it was born. This was a long-standing thing with her, she always wanted something (car, house, dog, cat, marriage, etc) and the second she got it she immediately hated it."
The "Actor"!
"Called me and pretended he had been hit by a car while we were talking. He even tried to voice the crowd that had gathered around his "body." God-awful acting, but pretty funny listening to him try to mimic a woman's voice. Points for trying to be inclusive, I guess."
"I think he was trying to get me to re-live my trauma of being on the phone with a friend who actually HAD been hit by a car while we were talking. Too bad he didn't realize that hearing the real thing is worlds different than hearing a dumba** try to act it out."
Money Blues
"I was sending 600 dollars a month to support my daughter because she's the only thing I give a sh!t about. My ex texts me and tells me I need to be sending 1200 a month because she's broke and can't pay her bills and I should feel guilty about it. She left me for another guy while I was on deployment I told her to go screw herself--call my lawyer."
Pop Off
Tom Hanks Drinking GIF by The Good FilmsGiphy"Took the sodas from the fridge as he walked out the door. Dumfounded."
See, I blame Alanis Morissette and her "Jagged Little Pill" album. All I'm going to say is... the secret song. I think she gave people ideas. (I love that song) Y'all, seek therapy if you can't shake people. When it's done, let it be done.
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