Jane Austen famously taught readers not to judge others based on first impressions in her classic novel Pride and Prejudice.
As someone who may instantly turn you off when first meeting them could prove to be the love of your life.
That doesn't mean, however, that first impressions are always inaccurate.
Sometimes, we'll meet people who don't seem like the sort of person we would normally think we're going to be friends with but are willing to give them a second or third chance.
Only to discover that our suspicions were accurate, unfortunately.
Then, there are the times when it is loud and clear after one conversation that friendships with certain individuals are never going to pan out.
Redditor DDelirium46 was curious to hear about times where people instantly knew they didn't care for the person they were talking to, leading them to ask:
"Have you ever listened to a person talk for less than a minute and known you weren't going to get along with that person? What did they say?"
Merging Friend Groups Can Be Dangerous
"Yes this guy hopped into our discord group a few months back."
"He was a friend of a friend, but he didn't think to just add him to our server not our group chat."
"We all hop into a call and first thing he does is make some remarks that are very politically sensitive, sends some graphic photos and made some inappropriate remarks."
"Didn't expect to meet someone and have him offend 6 people in the span of 10 minutes."- tremors51000·
Offense Taken!
"Told me 'Yeah all women are b*tches, you included."
"No offense."
"Within the first 2 minutes of knowing me."- PotentialCranberry40
Lechery At It's Worst
"Years ago, me and my ex-husband went to see a movie with an older colleague of his."
"Before the movie we had dinner at like a chain restaurant/steakhouse type place, staff on the floor was all 20ish."
"I never met this man before but in the first few minutes of sitting down and looking at the menu he very confidently told us how he came there a lot and flirted with the female staff because 'they love the attention'."
"The best part?"
"His daughter worked there."
"All I could think was how I would literally cringe myself through the floor if I was 20 and my 50yo dad came into my place of work and perved on my co-workers because he didn't understand that they only put up with him 'cause they are paid to do so."- singingsilence
Alicia Silverstone Cherilyn Horowitz GIF by filmeditorGiphyJob Interviews Are A Two Way Street
"I was in a job interview once and the manager cut me off mid-sentence to jump to a weird conclusion.
"Him: 'What do you think the performance of this algorithm would be?'"
"Me: 'Oh, it'll be 'n' times--'"
"Him: 'Oh, you think it's going to be 'n'? You think it'll be 'n'??!! That's ridiculous, there's no way it would just be 'n'!'"
"Me: Uhhhh, you gotta let me finish speaking'."
"He then cut me off mid sentence twice more during our conversation."
"We... didn't get along."
"Dude was a total tool."- ArrenEnladCG
Meanwhile, They Could Tell They Wouldn't Be Friends
"'There are different levels to being a psychic, I'm on the purple level so I can talk to the dead'."
"Said a new employee at my previous job."
"Nope."- Lumisateessa
Duplicity Isn't A Good Look On Anyone
"They talk negatively about someone else in a very judgy way."
"There was this mom in my daughter's school who seemed to 'know" everyone, she talked to me and she spoke so bad about these people'."
"Then moments later I saw her interacting in a 'friendly' way, with those she was judging."
"My eyes rolled so much I could see my brain telling me not to get involved with her."
"And I was right, because by the time school year ends, her 'friends' hated her and they were talking behind her back too."- eveningsand14-1311
Go Away Goodbye GIFGiphyBarely Attempting To Hide Their Bigotry...
"'I know I'm not supposed to ask, but I need to know'."
"It's not for work or anything-- what religion are you?'"
"HR manager."- l0R3-R
Why Was She Even Invited?
"She showed up to a little get-together and the person who invited her said that they would be taking bets on who could sit with her for more than 30 minutes."
"10 bucks per person. Winner kept the pot."
"I assumed they were just being rude and planned to tell her of her 'friends' plans as soon as she showed up."
"She walked in, looked at me and scoffed, and asked if the grey car outside belonged to me."
"I said yes."
"She told me that with the money that car cost, I could have bought something nicer."
"Ok, well whatever."
"I went to get a drink and sat to watch the crowd gather around her."
"I already didn't like her but she went on to tell everyone about how she could never date someone who had a crappy credit score or couldn't pay their vehicles off after buying it."
"Someone who wanted to quit the contest asked for a cigarette, she opened up her purse and showed everyone a fresh pack of smokes and then told everyone why she doesn't smoke and why anyone who asks for a cigarette is either too broke to buy them or doesn't plan ahead of times."
"The guy asked her for one of her cigarettes, she said no and put them back in her purse."
"She talked about all the cars she 'bought' basically her parents would co-sign for her and pay the car off to build her credit and she would give them a few thousand to pay them back."
"She was nuts and wouldn't stop talking."
"I disliked her but was also fascinated with her. She was super weird."
"There was something like 15-20 people there and most entered the 'contest' I think the pot got up to 100-120 bucks."
"The winner was just some guy who I didn't know, he spent the money getting every one McDonald's and beer, so he was pretty cool."
"She was about 22-23, she had just finished getting her High School Diploma because she had dropped out to 'make money' according to her."
"I think she sold some milk shake things and fitness plans with some MLM."
"I'm not 100% what happened to her."
"She wasn't a my friend but she did show up to a few parties I was at and she seemed calmer."
"She used to bring her own bottle of liquor and wouldn't share which was kind of funny because on one occasion they caught her filling her bottle with a bottle of jack that some one had brought and left on the kitchen counter, but she swore that all she drank was Hennessey and Fireball."- Commentingunreddit
Cecily Strong Reaction GIF by Saturday Night LiveGiphyIt Is Never Attractive To Gloat
"I was listening to the NEXIVM podcast and the clip of the founder saying he has 225 IQ."
"If I walked into a room and heard someone say that I’d walk right back out."- Fabulous-Bandicoot40
Can't Say The Same About You Though...
"'You don't scare me'."
"Wasn't trying to scare you in the slightest."- That49er
Scared Saturday Night Live GIF by HULUGiphy...Both Could Still Be True...
“'Some people might say I’m an a**hole but I just tell it how it is'.”
"99% chance they are an a**hole that I don’t want to be around."- ProudMany9215
Negative Influence
"Was a customer at work, naturally I wouldn’t be friends."
"But even in a setting where we could become friends it wasn’t happening."
"I came up to her to see if she had any questions about our critters (I work in a pet shop) and the very first thing she asked was if parakeets could talk because she wanted to teach them racial slurs."
"Biggest nope of my life."- Quitechsol
It's fair to think that everyone deserves a second chance.
However, second chances must be earned, and not everyone is worthy of them.
Curious to hear from strangers online about their developmental growth, Redditor 1234kyou_ asked:
"What did you swear in your childhood you would never do, but ended up doing anyways?"
Some hobbies that delighted us as kids never really go away as these Redditors have experienced.
The "Bird Creep"
"Birdwatching. I used to think it was the lamest way someone could spend their time when I was a kid. How could anyone just sit around and look at birds? What are you, some kind of bird creep? ... 20 years later and I'm obsessed with birds. Love hearing their songs and seeing all the beautiful colors."
– Koala-teas
Unfilled Dream
"Give up drawing."
"I actually broke my own heart when I recently found a school project we did back when I was a kid. We had to write a letter for our future selves and mine starts with: 'Hey, did you become an artist already? I really hope you did not become a boring adult with a boring job who gave up on his dreams and passions.'"
"Well, sorry little me, but I kinda did."
– Aesma_
Tending To One's Garden
"Gardening. We had a large garden. We raised and preserved what we grew. It was me and my sister's job to care for this garden. This was back when whipping your child was acceptable punishment. I was whipped sooo many times, because I hated that I had to grew and preserved vegetables I did not like. I hated it! Swore I'd never have a garden. Never do THAT to my kids. Then I had kids. A switch flipped in my head. I had to have a garden! I never made my kids take care of it. Gardening was my 'me' time. But being little kids, they wanted to be with mom and 'help' with the garden. I 'gave' them an area and they were allowed to grow whatever they wanted. If it was a fruit or vegetables , they had to eat it. As a result, they both love gardening and neither are picky eaters."
– Eogh21
When it comes to keeping it in the family, it's not always the goal.
Like Father...
"I have become my father."
– jer1303
Like Mother...
"I have become my mom.... even the voice is similar."
– rogue1206
Dad's Cynicism
"I've taken on a lot more of my dad's cynicism than I would like, but mostly I have my mom's wonder and carefreeness."
"But my dad is rich and mom is poor."
"He does not share the wealth he just shares 'you should've done X like this'. But his advice is the level of 'tear down the sign punch them in the face and say you're looking at your new employee'. I've also never heard a single dad joke from him."
– BugTester350
Posthumous Disapproval
"When I was touring houses to buy before the pandemic, my mother's spirit must have possessed me because I opened my mouth and her voice said 'i don't know, i don't think I could live in a house without both a coat closet and a linen closet.'"
– TJtherock
Adulting is hard.
The Financial Hole
"Get into debt I can't pay off."
– lilviviv
Potty-Mouth
"I said I wouldn’t curse unless a nuke was dropped on my house. That was a f'king lie."
– -notjosh-
Can't Wait, Don't Hate
"Have sex before marriage. Thank f'k I never made good on that one since I'm 41 and have never been married."
– squid1891
I'm a pretty fussy eater. Always have been.
I grew up in a Japanese family where regularly eating natto was a thing.
Natto is a Japanese dish made from Bacillus subtilis-fermented soybeans. It's known to have magical health benefits but the smell is overwhelmingly powerful, and the nutty taste leaves little to be desired.
Many people not used to eating exotic foods can't stand the flavor and slimy, sticky texture–let alone the pungent aroma.
I swore as a child that would be the one food I would never eat again after having a bad experience.
And yet, here I am as an adult, eating it for breakfast 2-3 times a week after truly understanding the health benefits.
Natto–which is rich in protein, vitamins, and minerals– helps maintain healthy cholesterol levels, reduces blood pressure, and can prevent heart disease. Some studies have suggested it can prevent certain cancers.
Once I trained myself to get used to flavor and smell, I actually crave it now.
It's definitely an acquired taste, but it's crazy to know that we are all capable of liking or appreciating something previously thought of as repulsive once we set our mind to it.
"Hiring managers of Reddit: What makes you immediately throw out a résumé?"
Not In It For The Long Run
"I once received an application from a man in his 60s."
"Solid CV, lots of experience."
"In his cover letter he wrote 'I'm applying because the Job Centre asked me to'."
"Please note that I intend to retire in 6 months time'."
"We had a good laugh, then sent him a very polite rejection letter and wished him a great retirement."-BeerPoweredNonsense
Season 1 Lol GIF by NBCGiphyMake Sure They Actually Get The Right Document...
"One time I had someone upload how to upload their resume from Dropbox instead of their resume."- rabidwhale
Always Proof Read!
"I'll usually still interview unless there is no relevant experience, but I've seen some atrocious resumes."
"I've seen people use crutch words like 'uh' in writing for a job description."
"I've also seen a sentence 4 lines long with zero punctuation."
"The same resume will have 'attention to detail' as a skill set."
"I've interviewed for one of those resumes, and the applicant said 'I dunno" to about 80% of my questions, and it turned out he didn't even know what job he applied for'."
"It's not that I'm overly picky, but if someone can't spend the 20 minutes or less that it takes to proof read their resume, are they going to put a lot of effort into their job?"
"Maybe, but it's hard to know."- ChristyM4ck
Read Book Club GIFMake Sure It's Legible
"The only time I have ever had to throw out a resume was because someone possibly had it in a bag with their lunch and the paper was soaking wet and dissolving as I tried to unfold it."
"It was just unacceptable to process."
"The application was left in a drop box so I don’t know if it was a prank or an actual applicant."- 416unknown
Unprofessional Email Address
"Back in 98 I asked a new group of hires at GIECO to write their email addresses on a list that was passed around."
"Remember email was kinda new back then.. "
"One young female employee's email address included 'mybaldc**tchie'."- catjugglinpimp
the messengers aol GIFNever Send Someone In Your Place
"It’s been a long time but I used to do hiring for a cinema."
"Staff were often young, for many it was a first job, making popcorn and selling tickets type of gig."
"I would not pursue anything where parents came in with a CV for their teenager or if parents were contacting me on behalf of their teen."
"Big red flag."
"Either their kid didn’t want he job in the first place or they’re incapable of taking initiative and it doesn’t bode well for how they’d be as an employee."- FigJamAndCitrus
"Having your parents submit your resume while you stand silently beside them."- krim2182
It's Pure, Dumb Luck!
"I remember a meme or maybe a tv skit from a while back."
"The hiring manager had a huge pile of resumes on his desk."
"Someone asked how he was going to sift through them all."
"He took 2/3rds of the pile, threw them in the trash, and remarked 'I don't hire unlucky people'."
"Lol."- SpecialSpite7115
Im Out Breaking News GIF by Homes.comGiphyAll About The Formatting
"This doesn’t matter 100% of the time but bad formatting."
"If it’s hard to read I probably won’t read it."- Far-Gain-3081
Depends On The Job
"If it's a professional position, significant spelling errors will make me pass on a resume."
"If it's a warehouse job or something, I'm less concerned."- staffsargent
Don't Treat It Like A Text Message!
"Former hiring manager here."
"I tossed MULTIPLE resumes that used text message abbreviations throughout the resume and cover letter and one that included emojis."
"While you can do pretty much anything from your phone, it doesn’t mean you should."- spectacularuhoh
text texting GIF by Fifth HarmonyGiphyChoose Your References Wisely
"Not me, but a friend who checks resumes/CVs had a belter."
"Candidate had a conviction and his reference was his friend 'Baz'."- LexiRae24
Make Sure You Have The Relevant Skills
"I know it’s pretty specific but If your looking for a scheduling job make sure you know how to use Excel and clearly state it on your resume."
"It will probably get thrown out otherwise."- LoyalPlanets
As stated before, no two hiring departments will have exactly the same prerequisites and red flags, so no matter how hard you work, your resume is never going to please everyone.
That being said, multiple misspellings and a cheeky e-mail address are a surefire guarantee of not pleasing anyone.