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When A Day At Work Turns Into A Nightmare

People Reveal Which Scam They've Actually Fallen For

People Reveal Which Scam They've Actually Fallen For
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Scams are everywhere and the internet has led to increasingly sophisticated frauds that can fool even the most hardened skeptics. Be careful out there - these people have warned you.

BetterFroyo asked the good people of Reddit: What scam did you fall for?

Submissions have been edited for clarity, context, and profanity.

15. This magazine scam.

My college roommate and I fell victim to that magazine scam where people go door to door saying they're selling magazine subscriptions to help raise money for homeless children with AIDS or something. They play on your sympathies and get you to write them a cheque. Spoiler alert: You never get any magazines nor help any children.

I was uneasy about it at the time but I'm uneasy around people in general so I thought I was just being paranoid. Years later, we found out this was a common scamming technique. Big lightbulb moment for me there.

KiraiEclipse

14. A fake DNA test.

When I was eleven, I signed up at "genealogie.de" - a page that, supposedly, helps with finding out more about your heritage. I read through the entire AGBs (not kidding) and there was no indication that it'd cost anything.

A week later I get an email saying I have to pay 60 bucks by May 21st of that year. I'm telling you this because what that sh*t lead to was the actual fun part - since I was only 11, I was scared sh*tless and decided not to tell my parents. I even did some research on how I, as a kid, could get the money to those people.

I was so scared, I scribbled the words "It will all be over on May 21st" on my desk at school - which lead to me being taken aside by a teacher asking me whether I wanted to kill myself. I explained the situation to her, she told me to talk to my parents and it all ended well. We didn't pay a penny, my father wrote them a "what pathetic people would try to scam a child?"-email and the thing was settled.

Schattentochter

13. Instascam.

Instagram ad offered a backpack as free and all you had to pay was shipping. Shipping was vastly overpriced but still lower than what I thought the bag was worth. It never came.

eatscerealwithoutmilk

There's an episode of the Reply All podcast about those "free" product ads on social media. Definitely worth listening to. https://gimletmedia.com/shows/reply-all/dvhe3l/117-the-worlds-most-expensive-free-watch

StorageB107

Fell for this too, with yoga wear on Instagram. Luckily I paid through PayPal and got a full reimbursement.

MrsSchneL

12. More like Ruinscape.

One time on Runescape I fell for the "buy limit" scam. Some dude said he needed help buying feathers but had hit his buy limit. I myself had just recently learned about the buy limits and been inconvenienced as well so I sympathized. If you don't play, the guy basically put up his own items at a marked up price on the general market, tricked me into buying them, then dipped before I got paid back and I was stuck with all of his feathers and no money.

katobabee

Ah yes the Runescape days. Back in those days I remember I got scammed out of a steel platebody. Guy convinced me that it would be duplicated it if I dropped it and pressed alt f4. Wasn't a very bright moment there all those years ago, but then again... it was a steel platebody.

MikiriDragon

11. Don't give money to strangers in parks.

While in high school, was walking through a park and a woman was walking my way. As soon as we passed each other she says: "you dropped something." I turn around and she's holding a gold necklace. I told her it's not mine, she says it's not hers, but agrees that we both found it and I can give her $50 to keep it. I think to myself that it's worth a lot more, so I give ger $50 just to get home and get scolded by my dad for falling for stuff like this. Turns out it'a a well known scam and I paid $50 for a cheap metal necklace.

aleczander1992

This reminds me of the show Better Call Saul. There's an episode where these people have a bulk amount of fake Rolex watches and they pull the same scam on unsuspecting suckers.

MoonBasic

10. Just like in "101 Dalmatians."

A man from a gas company said that they were inserting new electricity and gas meters in all the apartments in my block. When I opened the door he walked straight in but showed me his ID, so seemed legit. My shower had been interrupted so I was in a bad mood and very keen to get rid of the guy. He said he just needed to phone his company for proof from me that he had visited as he was new to the job. It turns out that me confirming this on the phone was a voice signature binding me into a new 2 year contract with this service provider, who then wanted to increase the price of my gas and electricity by 100%. After he left I felt uneasy and searched the company, and then phoned citizens advice for help. Turns out they targeted my place because they searched where the students were living as they are more vulnerable.

de-tha-dol

What was the resolution? Tell me you didn't just let them walk over you and you sorted it

chrisms150

Citizens advice were amazing and sorted it all for me. They undid the contract on the grounds that: A) I was lied to as they stated it was a building-wide change when it wasn't B) They had gained entry into my flat without my permission to do so C) The verbal contract was enacted without me knowing so D) My landlord states in my contract that I cannot change my electricity provider without asking for consent first

They also filed grounds against student vulnerability and as I have chronic illnesses they factored that in. I was rewarded £20 'compensation' but in order to access it I had to give them my bank details, which I didn't do.

de-tha-dol

9. Well done, girl.

Girl asked me to throw something away for her. I got up to throw it away and she took my seat.

DahyunMood

Power move.

jacoobz

I do a similar thing with my gf all the time. Whenever I have an empty can or wrapper, I pretend I need to do something which requires both hands, like zipping up my coat or putting something in my wallet and ask her "could you hold this for a moment?"

The first few times she asked when I needed it back after 15 min. Now she realizes what happened as soon as she takes whatever I give her and she throws it at my head.

ISureDoLikePickles

8. Oh, a free trip, you say?

Didn't fall for it entirely, but I recently wrote my name and number onto one of those pink slips saying you could "Win a trip to the bahamas" and was texted about a month later saying that I won. I got so happy. I called their number and apparantely they were paying for the hotel but not anything else. Decided to look more into it and their website (harmony beaches) looks super shady and out of date. Apparantely it's a scam to get you to go to timeshare meetings (people try to convince you to buy expensive stuff and buy into pyramid schemes) Alot of people have been scammed this way. Dodged a bullet honestly.

Fortheloveofchinchin

I get calls like that now and then, and also for a trip to Florida. I live in Florida LOL! And for those who don't know, "winning" a trip to the Bahamas when you live in Florida is about like being told you won a trip to the Grand Canyon when you live in Arizona. I can take a 3 day cruise to the Bahamas for about the same price as a day in mouse world over in Orlando. Besides the timeshare scam, the other scam for these is usually telling you they just need a credit card to pay the taxes and/or port fees. Of course, you know what happens once they have the credit card info!

Faelwolf

7. They're just knives.

Cutco.

Well almost, I "passed" the interview, but apparently so did everyone else except the first person who I suspect was paid to act like she didn't get in judging by her exaggerated "🤷♀️" when she walked out the office as she was looking at us to make Cutco seem exclusive.

I told my dad and he advice me to abandon ship with them ASAP.

kevn3000

6. Yeah, that's not gonna work.

When I was 14 I wanted to get CPR certified so that I could put it on my babysitting flyers. I found some website online that charged me like $20 for an "online certification." Did it and put that sh*t on my flyers only to later realize I had been scammed and it was not possible to get certified online. I'm just glad nobody's kid ever needed CPR because I did NOT know how to do that sh*t (I have since become certified for real through my work).

leslienewp

I can't help but imagine you having that certificate for, like, five years and telling people you're CPR certified. Then one evening you're eating dinner watching Netflix and you just randomly realize you don't actually know how to do CPR.

JediGuyB

I mean...this is accurate lmao. I'm just glad it was while watching Netflix and not while somebody is dying because someone pointed to me and was like "SHE knows CPR!"

leslienewp

5. Think of the future...

Getting money on your birthday and your parents saying they'll "save it."

AlexManon6

Those parents don't end up in good retirement homes.

jimmpony

4. Not a scam per se, but still sketchy.

I was trying to renew my car registration online and was in a hurry. I clicked through everything really fast, and since my name, address, credit card number, etc was saved in my browser, it auto filled out most items and I didn't really need to read any of it. After I paid, I got some strange confirmation email saying I could download the PDF guide about car registration that I bought.

I retraced my steps, and it turns out I clicked an ad on the car registration page that redirected me to a site that looked exactly like the site I was on, but was instead some page to buy this PDF guide. Technically not a scam because in the fine print they do say what you are buying, but it was obviously praying on idiots like me who didn't carefully read the whole page and who blindly clicked on the "renew now" icon.

StorageB107

3. Timeshares. 

Wife and I went to Las Vegas for the first time back in 2015. Wanted to get tickets to a show. They were a bit expensive so we decided to think on it for a while. Walk outside and saw a stand saying they were selling discounted tickets. All you had to do was sit in on some sales thing for two hours the next day.

We thought, "How bad can it be? Let's just say no to anything they say."

Sitting in on that thing was one of the most miserable ways I ever spent two hours in my life.

So if you're going to Las Vegas, avoid anything saying they'll sell you something for a discount. Timeshare meetings are the worst.

Lamneth-X1

2. Craigslist.

A buddy of mine is really gullible and has fallen victim to many scams. When selling his phone on Craigslist he fell for the old "I wanna buy your phone for my relative overseas..." TWICE. Shipped the phone both times only to never receive payment. The other scam he fell for was when he got a call saying he won a $500 gift card to Walmart and all they needed from his was his personal information. Surprisingly he has not fallen victim to identify theft.

berticus726

1. Welcome to the jungle.

First time in New York. I had to recharge my subway card, and was standing behind a guy on the MetroCard machine. A guy walks to me, dressed in MTA uniform and tells me that I don't have to wait. He asks me how much did I want to put on the card, and says he's got one ready for that. Swipes a card on the scanner, I go in, he gives me the card and asks me for the money. That was when I realized it was a scam, but I feared he would get violent or anything so I didn't say nothing, gave him the money and he gave me a card. Needless to say, it was empty.

renoirxchange

In the future go to the police the NYPD takes people scamming or harassing tourists very very seriously. Most scams fall under a three strikes equals mandatory minimum 5 year sentence rule.

Throwmeaway953953

scam

People Reveal The Dumbest Reason They Ever Had To Go To The E.R.

"Reddit user lugulaga asked: 'What is the stupidest reason you went to hospital?'"

Paramedics load a patient into an ambulance
Photo by Mat Napo

Everyone is a bit leery of hospitals.

Even people who have to work there would rather be somewhere else most of the time.

But sometimes, a trip to the hospital is unavoidable.

More specifically, a trip to the ER.

We humans can really get ourselves into some ridiculous health-related situations.

All you can do is try to laugh about it.

And be grateful you lived so you can tell the silly story.

Redditor lugulaga wanted everyone to fess about the times their ER visits were more embarrassing than painful, so they asked:

"What is the stupidest reason you went to the hospital?"

I do my best to stay away from the ER.

I'll even suffer in silence.

Especially if I'm being an idiot.

Intractable

Giphy

"Hiccups that lasted 24 hrs, stopped right when the doctor stepped in the room. Lol."

stargill70

"I’ve seen this a lot. Had a guy last Monday. 'Intractable hiccups.' Fun note: we use Thorazine to treat it. As in the anti-psychotic."

W6RJC

Down the Hatch

"Not me but I had to pick up a mate who swallowed a 50c piece to win a $2 bet. If you don't know, an Australian 50c is quite large. They had to do an endoscopy to get it out. They let him keep the black corroded coin too."

honest-aussie

"My son did this but with an American 25¢ quarter. He had it in his mouth but inhaled it. It was stuck sideways in his airway so luckily he could breathe. They had to put him under and got it out via endoscopy."

"He spent 9 hours with it in his airway and hardly spoke at all. That is the quietest he has ever been since he learned to speak. He was about 9 when this happened, he is autistic, though very high functioning, and was sensory seeking which is why it was in his mouth."

kaismama

While I Sleep

"A bat landed on my head while I was asleep. Rabies shots all around!"

olda**hit

"Ugh, my child had a 'mystery bite' from daycare that we ignored until it started looking infected. Doctors asking about animals and specifying bats-- reminds me that LAST YEAR the daycare had bats removed that were living in the roof but had no sighting since then."

But I said it. So they had to do the rabies shots, including IGG injected directly into the infected bite... on a 2-year-old. Most traumatizing experience of my life... thank goodness she doesn't remember!"

overweightthrowaway3

A Hard WInd

"My husband went because he was in extreme pain and thought he was having a heart attack. Turns out it was wind. He just needed a good fart."

blueboatsky

"I took my 1-week-old son to urgent care because he had abdominal pain for hours and hours. He cried in the waiting room for a couple more hours, then farted three times and immediately fell asleep."

"They called us in about 10 minutes after that. The doctor said, "As long as you guys are here, let's see how he's doing" and gave him the standard well-baby check. I thought that was nice."

EvadingDoom

Not the Thumb

big bang theory paper cut GIFGiphy

"When I was 8 I was bored so I got a bottle of Gatorade from my pantry and grabbed a kitchen knife then proceeded to stab it over the sink to see how easily the knife would go through the thicker plastic of the bottle… almost lost my thumb."

New_Moon_Lotus

Kids and kitchen knives, a most deadly combination.

Merry Nothing

Freak Out Running GIF by TLCGiphy

"Christmas Day, I dislocated my knee attempting to kick my brother during a sparring match. Needless to say, my martial arts career was over."

IDontThereforeIAmNot

Broken

"I was at a house party, all the bathrooms were full. Went outside, and decided I should crawl under the porch to pee. Everything went well until I tripped on the way out and rolled my ankle. Shrugged it off, limped back upstairs and someone said 'Your ankle is broken.' Sure enough, bone sticking out. DD took me to the hospital and got me ice cream on the way home. I miss you, Kyle. You're the best."

Ubermassive

Knobbed

"Butt cheek injuries caused by a door. I hate touching door knobs with my hands and always use my forearm to rub against the doorknob in a downward motion using friction to turn the knob. Was joking around with my gf saying I can open a door with my buttcheek exactly like how I use my forearm. Jumped at the door butt first and the little metal thing that guides the door cut my buttcheek (I think they call it strike plate or latch strike)."

"The cut wasn’t a clean cut because the thing wasn’t that sharp. 30+ stitches."

"After that, she had to stand behind me holding a bowl to cover my wound every time I take a shower so it doesn’t get wet, and we live in a hot country so she has to do that twice a day for like a month."

Normal-Focus9248

We did Nothing...

"I’m an ER doctor. About once a year I see a very nice young female who comes to the ER with three or four family members because her fingers are blue. They have always googled all sorts of fancy and exotic diseases that they are worried about. 100% of the time the patient has brand-new blue jeans on."

"Without saying a word I just grab an alcohol swab and wipe the blue dye off of their hands, and then I do the same thing to their jeans to show them it’s the same color. The collective sigh from the family is always what does it for me. Not surprisingly, half the time the patient doesn’t believe me and is angry that 'we did nothing.'"

Dan-z-man

All Sewed Up

Tongue Out GIF by MOODMANGiphy

"When I was about 3, I was running up the stairs in my house and fell. I hit my chin on a step and bit my tongue nearly off. My parents took me to the local hospital where they sewed up the gash in my tongue without anesthetic. I still remember it to this day."

Salty_Fixer

I feel faint after reading all this.

Thank the Lord no one brought up any eye issues.

I'd be on the floor.

er visits

Straight Men Confess Who They Secretly Have A 'Man Crush' On

topless man
Norbert Buduczki on Unsplash

Personal preferences aside, there are some people that are almost universally recognized as physically attractive.

It's common in society for most people to comment on another person's looks.

But heterosexual men are generally discouraged from remarking on other men's appeal.

That doesn't mean they don't have man crushes though!

Keep reading...Show less
crushes

People Reveal The Scariest Person They've Ever Met

Startled woman
Photo by Jaroslav Devia on Unsplash

Content Warning: True Crime Topics

It's hard to know what's going on in someone's head without having their mind ourselves, but we can make assumptions based on how they behave.

Some people have a serious vibe about them that other people know better than to mess with, with some of those vibes downright terrifying.

Redditor sludge_factory_777 asked:

"Who is the scariest person you have ever met?"

Jail Besties

"I got a DUI back in 2009 and was taken to the Placer County drunk tank. A guy with tattoos all over his face approached me..."

"He wanted to offer me his roll of toilet paper for a pillow. He introduced himself as the 'Sac City Psycho,' and he told me he would watch over me to make sure nobody f**ked with me, because he could tell I did not have much experience in jail."

"Now looking back on it, I guess for a few hours there, I was his b***h."

"Super nice guy, though. I 10 out of 10 would be his b***h again."

- NagoGmo

Innocent Until Feeling the Vibes

"I did an internship at a jail and met a dude awaiting trial on a triple homicide."

"The guy just had that vibe around him that just made you feel uncomfortable. Just being in his presence, you could feel the air change around you."

"Everyone in that room felt and respected it."

- throughthequad

The Magnetic Personality Type

"I once did one of those corporate mock jury panels. The little scientist analytics guy came out halfway through to shoot the breeze and holy h**l, I never understood what people meant by having a magnetic personality until then."

"We were clamoring over this dude. It was completely involuntary. He asked me a question and it was an out-of-body experience watching myself act like a golden retriever."

"I was so freaked out that I avoided him like the plague the rest of the panel. Nice dude. Seemed chill, but he could have started a cult with a snap of his fingers. Absolutely terrifying."

- Bridge-etti

Top-Notch Security

"I once as a medical student was doing a rotation in the state mental prison. We had to do a basic physical on this guy."

"There was a chair in the middle of the room, bolted to the floor. He had cuffs on his wrists and feet secured to the chair. Nine guards were in the room surrounding us, not more than five feet from the chair in a circle."

"He was off, just not there, and didn't want to cooperate. He looked at me, saw my coat, and said, 'That guy is from the university. I want to talk to him.'"

"I still don't know what he had done, but after a few months of the rotation, no one else had that degree of security for medical visits. No one else was even close."

- rykh7

Biker Aesthetic

"My cousin. He's a high-ranking member of a pretty well-known one-percent motorcycle club. The dude stands maybe five feet, seven inches tall, and he is of average build. He has no visible tattoos and is super soft-spoken."

"Everything about him says he should be a banker, not a biker. I have never seen him even raise his voice once but that dude scares the absolute s**t out of me. He gives off strong psycho energy."

- SignificantFix8218

Scary Dude with a Big Heart

"I live in New Mexico and met 'Big Dragon' from 'Beyond Scared Straight.' He does outreach like that with troubled kids."

"I was working as a teacher at YDDC, and they brought him down. The dude is no joke."

"I shook his hand, and you could just tell, the only reason he was not killing people was he didn't want to, because if he did, the guards would have not been able to do anything about it."

- Soundwave-1976

Murderous Besties

"I got arrested for public intoxication in the mid-to-late 90's and was put in a normal cell because the drunk tank was full. About ten minutes later, I was woken up and hastily moved to an adjoining cell."

"I visited with the guy in the first cell I was in for a few hours. When I was bailed out, I bumped knuckles with Gary, the guy in the second cell, and left."

"I later found out he was Gary Kleypas, and he was being held on first-degree murder... of a college student."

- TheJonnieP

Completely Out of Place

​"I was working at a bar in a pretty small town when we had a drifter come in on a random midweek night. The second he walked through the door, everyone I worked with and was at the bar said they felt cold."

"The dude had incredibly sunken eyes, pale white skin, dingy dirty hair, and visibly sharp-looking teeth. If I were to explain what a mako shark as a human would be, that’s this guy."

"He said he was passing through and was looking for 'stuff ordinary people can’t find' and then proceeded to show photos on his phone of odd areas he had been to previously. Nothing was off about the photos, but everyone I saw gave me more chills."

"Nothing was happening, no one was there, but everything had this feeling of 'I’m not supposed to be here.'"

" The dude left and asked me to follow him on Instagram, which I did. He posted last a few years ago up in Jackson Hole and said he’d be staying off for a while. Odd dude. We all were quite relieved when his cab showed up."

- Expensive_Change_893

The Doll Whisperer

"My grandpa's second wife, Angie. She was a hateful woman. I don't believe in people being 100% anything, but she was pure evil."

"She had a collection of porcelain dolls in a corner of their house when I was very young, and she would always try to talk to me through them, giving each of them their own creepy voices. One time, I touched a Pillsbury dough boy figure on her shelf, and she swatted my hand with a metal ruler."

"She was in her 70s when I was a young kid, and I'm 30 now. I heard from my aunt that she's still alive somewhere near where she lived with my grandpa (which makes me believe she is some kind of hag witch) and that she's committed insurance fraud, like, a lot."

- LepreConArtist

Constant High-Alert

​"I was at a bar and this guy walked in and immediately it felt like I was on alert. My spine turned to ice when I saw his eyes look at me, they were almost sunken into his face as if he was peeking out from behind a portrait. He moved like a cat stalking prey."

"Over time, he made his way over to me and made polite conversation, but his words felt disjointed, almost like he was translating them before speaking them. There was nothing aggressive or insulting about anything he was doing."

"In fact, he was quite polite. but everything about this guy was setting off every nerve I had. He was even smiling through most of it, but it felt as if his lips were stapled back."

- Cyanora

Reverse 'Breaking Bad'

"When I was pretty young, I was hanging out with an older friend, and I found out one of her close friends from school became a high-ranking member of a cartel. He got cancer and was allowed to sort of 'retire' from the cartel to spend the last few years with his family."

"I met him at a party of hers...He was very polite, but I had no intention of spending more time around him!"

- xain_the_id**t

Soldier Vibes

"A dude who hung out with a friend of mine back in the 1980s was a Vietnam vet, one of the advance forces guys or whatever they called them."

"He looked like he could bite the top off of a fire hydrant."

- Earthling1a

A Good Egg. Or Rock.

​"A p**sed off Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson."

"Let me explain A few years ago, I was part of a charity event with Power of Pain (a family friend who I call my aunt, Barby, owns the charity for neuropathy and other immune disorders), and funnily enough, we somehow got Dwayne Johnson as a guest (we had contacted him but didn't expect him to actually come)."

"He was a f**king great guy. Honestly, best f**king dude in the world."

"Anyway, after the event, a lot of us went to a Denny's down the road to celebrate, not expecting him to be there, though he was invited. He showed up like 20 minutes after we all got there and he was having a blast hanging out eating Pancakes."

"Unbeknownst to the rest of us, there was a domestic dispute across the Dennys, a couple who seemed like they were about to break up, but more like the guy was just an abusive a**hole screaming at his girlfriend the whole time and her just in tears."

"Dwayne caught wind of what was going on, stood up, put on his 'Rock' persona, and had a f**king screaming match with this guy. The guy was just receding further and further into his shell and eventually he just f**king left."

"Dwayne paid the girl's bill, helped her stop crying, and walked her out to her car. He then came back in with a smile and continued having a good night and finished his Pancakes."

"He's a beautiful, kind-hearted man, but if you p**s him off, he WILL make you s**t yourself. Remember, they call him 'The Rock' for a reason."

"Best night of my life. Moral of the story: Be nice to people, because if you're not, you may find yourself in a situation you just can't win."

- Ok_Experience_6877

It's easy to see how these are the people that Redditors viewed as the scariest and most intimidating people that they had met. Even if a person hasn't done terrible things, sometimes people just have a vibe about them that makes you think they have the potential, or at least the power.

scary people

Split-Second Decisions That Saved Someone's Life

Man lying on edge of tennis court OR man falling off edge of structure
Martin Sanchez/Usplash

Life can be viewed as a series of moments in quick succession each influenced by a preceding event.

At any given time, things can go awry, but somehow things manage to fall in line much like an elaborate maze of dominos.

But one misplaced domino can cause the whole rigorous set-up to come to an unsatisfying end–unless the faulty piece is corrected just in time before the domino in front of it squarely taps it.

If you've been lucky, a last-minute decision in your life has been properly adjusted to avoid catastrophe.

Curious to hear about close-call situations from strangers online, Redditor True_Egg_5685e_Egg_5685 asked:

"What split second decision have you made in your life, that if you hadn't made it you would have died?"

Life can be treacherous in the fast lane.

Unwarranted Lane Change

"Driving 80 miles per hour on a lonely interstate in the middle of the night. Decided to change lanes for no reason, and ended up missing a crumpled car in the middle of the lane I just left. It looked like a professionally crushed car that had fallen off of a truck. No light lenses or reflectors."

– Upper-Job5130

Unseen Obstacle

"I was driving through Dallas on I-20 at like 2am once and had a similar experience. No other cars, just me doing 80mph, and I just absentmindedly changed from the middle to the right lane for no real reason. Suddenly there's a blacked out sedan just parked in the middle lane, no lights on and no people in sight. I thought I was hallucinating, it happened so fast."

– glum_hedgehog

Why Coffee Is Essential

"Fell asleep at the wheel, woke up and corrected my steering without panicking."

"Drowsy driving is just as dangerous as drunk driving. Never again !"

– Nielas_Aran_76

T"his happened to me when I was in my late teens. I was burning both ends of the stick and was driving home from working and falling asleep. I remember it so clearly. Nodding off, waking and being thankful I didn't crash and then nodding right back off again. I'm amazed I didn't kill myself. I did eventually hit a divider and popped two tires. I must've been going very fast. I don't know why I'm not dead."

– boringcranberry

You never know when a pedestrian is where they shouldn't be. Or when a car is traveling where it shouldn't.

Wayward Wanderer

"I'm from Northern Ireland and my brother and I were coming home from a night out, he was the designated driver. We were doing 70mph on the motorway and he moved into the fast lane and missed a guy walking on the motorway, dressed in black, by about a foot. So scary 😰."

– garymason74

Reckless Driver

"Grabbing a middle schooler's backpack as she was about to cross without looking and staying on the sidewalk instead of crossing the road. (I was in high school at the time)"

"The reason?"

"The red car that had almost ran me over a few weeks before was barrelling down the street at high speed."

"Car zooms past at the moment the kid and myself would have been in the middle of the road."

"Same driver. I recognized the shade of blonde hair."

– MerryMelody-Symphony

These people survived a terrorist attack.

At The Time Of Signing

"Was in a bombing. Knelt down to sign something when the detonation happened. Glass shards were a hair away from killing me. The person who gave me the paper to sign technically saved me, they’re fine too."

– PinkBedazzledLeotard

"Story time! My grandfathers family lived in Halifax at the time. My great uncle George was a newborn. They had him in his pram facing the window. For some reason my aunt went in and turned his pram around so it wasn't facing the window anymore, then she left the room. As she was leaving the room, the windows blew in. If she hadn't turned the pram he would have been shredded by glass."

– Lexifer31

These individuals continue counting their blessings.

Retrieving A Forgotten Item

"I went to ride my bike and almost forgot my helmet, I honestly debated grabbing it since I was only planning on doing a few miles; last minute I decided I might as well have it and then half a mile out I got hit by a car. Helmet was busted as hell but other than a concussion I was fine"

– SunfireElfAmaya

Narrow Missssssss

"Nowhere near as extreme as some of these, but I used to go for walks in a nature park right behind my neighborhood, usually with headphones. On one such walk, I happened to look down to see the foot I was currently stepping with was about 6 inches from coming down on a diamondback rattlesnake. It was arched back, ready to strike, rattle going, but I couldn't hear it over my music. Leapt back immediately and walked around it without issue, but holy crap, it gets my heart going just thinking about it."

– pownij

Life-Saving Maneuver

"I was caught in a bar brawl. Tumbled to the bottom of a crowd and was pressed to the floor when some psycho was on my back choking me. Couldn't move and couldn't breathe. I thought that was it. I was gonna die on the floor of a New Jersey nightclub. Suddenly I remembered a move my wrestling coach taught us to break grips. I found his thumb, folded it like a fist and squeezed as hard as I could. It cracked like a stick. I could hear him scream in my ear and he hopped off. I pushed up and swung my way out. I was choked so hard that both of my eyes were full blood red, no whites and I cracked a molar. That was a close one and who knows what would have happened if I didn't recall that one random move or if I never wrestled to begin with. Scary."

– Ghostface5000

A moment that still sends shivers down my spine was when I nearly avoided a head-on collision with an 18-wheeler that had been zig-zagging between the different sides of a busy street.

The presumably drunk driver was speeding and towards me and I had to decide whether to swerve into the parked cars on the street or steer the other way and risk driving into cars careening toward me.

I decided for the former and turned the steering wheel towards the parked cars, just as the truck clipped the back corner of my Nissan Maxima.

My vehicle spun 180, but thankfully, I managed to slam onto the curb where no cars were parked.

The semi-kept going. It was a hit-and-run. And I count my blessings that I live to tell about the fact that I didn't steer my wheel towards the left which would've had me on a collision course, head-on, into the semi.

life