Managers Reveal The Stupidest Reason Customers Have Asked To See Them
Managers are not the yes men customers hope them to be, especially when their requests have gone off the rails. You can't ask a hotel to fire Latino workers. You can't demand a restaurant refund your food because your hair was in it. And expired coupons? Use them before they expire. Managers know when people are trying to pull a fast one, and then they will shame you on Reddit.
Hglittle asked managers of Reddit: What's the stupid reason a customer has asked to see you?
Submissions have been edited for clarity, context, and profanity.
Lady, I think you've had enough.
Restaurant manager here.
We provide complimentary bread baskets on our dinner tables. One lady clicked me over (because who doesn't love that?) to tell me I was running the most unhygienic establishment that she had ever eaten in, and that, with her food hygiene level 3 certificate, she could and should have me shut down.
Why the fuss?
There was some "jam" on the bread, and I had clearly taken used breakfast stock and tried to cost cut by serving contaminated bread at dinner. I'd cut the bread not 10 minutes before, burning my hands on it as it was fresh out of the oven, definitely not leftovers.
I apologized profusely yet non committally, removing the offending bread amid increasingly patronizing comments about how I really ought to know how to run a restaurant and that being so thick as to do this blah blah blah...
On inspection, the red blobs of jam we're drips of red wine from the bottle next to the bread basket, that the lady had poured herself.
Needless to say, I wasn't shut down.
Nope.
I've worked in bars for 9/10 years, from a teen, right through uni and manage a bar. This happened when I was supervisor not manager.
Real quiet night, we have a horseshoe shaped bar so when it's quiet like to have one staff member on either end of the bar and one in the middle so all sides are covered and customers are served as quick as possible. The regular customers know how this system works.
The girl who was covering the middle of the bar had gone to the toilet/to collect some glasses or whatever. One of the regulars walks up and I head over to serve him, he refuses my service for no apparent reason. As soon as the girl who was originally there comes back the regular gets angry... "where the f#&k have you been? I've been waiting ages!" She explains whatever the reason was and he's still shouting, I head over and ask him politely to stop shouting and ask him what he'd like to drink (again).
He kept on and on and on, swearing at us both until I told him I wasn't getting a drink for the rest of the evening and to go home or go somewhere else. The guy gets even angrier, and lunges towards me over the bar with a clenched fist. What he obviously didn't pay attention to was the shelves above the bar for storing glasses, THWACK. Guy smashes his forehead straight into the shelf, all the other regulars laugh.
He loses his mind, and asks to speak to my manager (who was in sight of the whole ordeal and keeping a close eye on things), and tries to get him to punish me for causing him a "serious injury." We all laughed in his face and he sure as hell isn't a regular in this pub anymore!
TL;DR: regular customer gets angry for no reason, tries to punch me, whacks his head pretty hard, then asks my manager to punish me for causing him harm.
Ohh...kay...
Used to be front office manager in a hotel. In our rooms we had three phones. One next to the bed, one in the bathroom and one on the desk. This is already a lot but in the past we also had an additional 4th phone on the side table. So one day a customer asked to see me requesting the 4th phone because you could clearly see the telephone socket in the wall (neatly covered) and thus his room was not complete. I asked him why he needed 4 phones in his room, he said because clearly in the past there were 4 phones and that's what he paid for (we didn't advertise online with 4 phones, but i had maintenance bring up a forth phone nonetheless).
Where it this crazy hotel?
(I also managed a hotel)
Front desk calls me and asks me if we have any spare Bibles because room XX is asking for one. I happily oblige and walk it over myself. I apologize and hand it over to the man. Casually ask him if he normally reads the Bible.
"No... I just like to have it. Just in case."
Me: (thinking to myself) Just in case what?! The rapture happens all of a sudden?!
"Oh ok! Good night sir."
Managed a hotel in rural Georgia (the State in the U.S) and I get a call from our front desk clerk saying someone wants to talk to me.
I head over and this woman just wants to inform me that "she was going to stay at this hotel but noticed that we hire 'them Mexicans' (pointing at our housekeepers) so she won't be staying here anymore."
I politely told her they're Guatemalan and that I appreciate her opinion but don't need her business.
This set her off and she proceeded to go on a rant about how she knows the Sheriff and she'll report me for hiring Illegals (they weren't), and how we were racist, ageist, and sexist against her.
I told her to please do so and pointed at the CCTV.
She stormed off and the Sheriff never showed up.
When you try to pull a fast one, and it backfires spectacularly.
I had this insane woman flag me down at a Chinese Restaurant I used to manage.
She very loudly told me she found a hair in her Mongolian lamb, and showed me a long sauce covered blonde hair. For reference, I had short black hair at the time and the entire kitchen and wait staff on that night had relatively short black hair. The woman had long blonde hair.
Instead of letting her cause more of a scene, I apologized and got the kitchen to make her a new serving to replace the meal (even though she and her kids had essentially eaten the entire serving already.)
The part where sh!t started to really go down was when she came up with her family to pay. She refused to pay her ENTIRE bill due to the "HUGE THICK HAIR I FOUND IN MY FOOD" which she loudly announced to the room. At this point, the restaurant owner came out and started having a screaming match with the woman for trying to rip us off. Her kids appeared to cry on cue.
I sent my boss back to the kitchen and said I would figure it out. I turned to the woman and explained calmly that I would be happy to take the Mongolian Lamb off of her tally (despite the replacement serving) so long as she paid the other $90+ for the rest of the bill.
She refused and called the cops because my boss had yelled at her. No joke.
Best bit was the cops ended up telling the woman she needs to pay her full bill and that emergency services shouldn't be called for such petty reasons.
Happy I'm not in that industry anymore haha...
TLDR; Lady tries to use her own hair to get out of paying for her table's food. Aussie Cops provide quality sass.
When a customer doesn't know how beer works.
Because a bartender properly poured a beer. It was Stella in the Stella chalice. It's listed in the menu as 13.5 oz and that's the fill line. Dude asked the bartender to top him off as the head had died down a bit. Bartender does so and the guy wants the head completely poured off. Bartender points out the fill line and says that he can't just pour away beer (head is mostly beer). Customer takes this as attitude.
Dude doesn't like it and comes to me and since I hadn't heard this, I immediately point out the fill line. He ended up returning the beer.
I like to think that he had to go to the bathroom where he would have walked passed that lame 9-step perfect Stella pour poster that we have that specifically references the fill line and that the beer is supposed to have head.
Oh, and I had to spend a solid 5 minutes explaining sales tax and how it applies at a restaurant, but not at a grocer.
All this over half a dollar.
Quite a few years ago I was working at a pizza chain and I had someone call in and ask an employee if we would honor a coupon that was over a week expired. My employee told her that we couldn't honor it but he would ask me. Before he got the chance to ask me she decided to make a big fuss/was fairly disrespectful to my employee and wanted to speak to me about it directly. She complained saying it was only expired by "a few days." I backed what my employee had told her, we wouldn't be honoring it.
About 20 minutes later we got a call from her again and this time I had answered. She didn't make it the whole way through asking if we would honor before I told her the answer was still no. We had caller ID so I knew it was her again.
About an hour after the second call the employee who took the first call comes back to me saying there is a woman at the front of the store who wanted to speak to me about him not honoring a coupon. It was the same expired coupon. She told me that she would be going elsewhere for pizza from that point on because our service was terrible, specifically that not honoring an expired coupon for a loyal customer (I had never seen her before and we had no records of orders from her) was "bad business." I told her she was welcome to go elsewhere.
The ultimate kicker is that the coupon was for 50 cents off any order. It wasn't a big deal and I would have absolutely honored it had she not treated my employee like sh!t on the phone.
Tl;dr - customer was rude to my employee so I wouldn't honor her expired coupon.
I have nothing to add.
Asking me what the showtimes were.
They demanded I come over to guest service where they stood tapping their foot impatiently. Keep in mind I am in another part of the building, so it takes me several minutes to walk all the way there.
I get to guest service and ask them what the issue is. They say "We need to know the show times for today" I give them a weird look, as the box office is literally right outside the doors with a huge marquee displaying the digital showtimes. We also had a huge digital maquee sign on the inside of the building in the lobby displaying all of the current showtimes. It was also a weekday, so it was slow.
"We have the showtimes outside on the display board in box office.." I mistakenly told them.
"Well its COLD outside."
This really baffled me as it was nearly 60 degrees that day and the husband was wearing shorts (60 is warm as I live in the northeast) After reading them some showtimes they got mad "Well don't you have anything right now??"
I told them that no, we did not have anything starting in the next five minutes.
They stormed off without buying any tickets.
Don't know how someone ends up that entitled/stupid and complains about standing outside in spring weather.
Of all the stories on here, this one confuses me most. What did they hope to gain by making you repeat the showtimes? How bored do you have to be to find enjoyment in that, and then not even stay for a show?
There always seems to be a paradox between these people having extremely high standards for the delivery and certain little aspects of the product but extremely low standards on the product itself. She was willing to see any crappy movie that started soon, obviously not some kind of film buff that just flew in from Cannes. Same with these people that have melt downs over fast food, or long lines at them. I witnessed a lady at a very crowded convenience store (surrounded by several nice coffee shops btw) yelling at a busy worker because they were ALMOST out of lids and cream, she was able to get everything but every time he tried to ask her what she needed she yelled "just do your job!"
If you're gonna sneak in, be nice.
Was the casino beverage manager in Vegas and was covering the pool bar manager that day.
It was in the middle of summer and the pool team calls me saying an irate woman wanted to speak to the manager.
I make my way out there in 100F heat, while wearing my suit and tie.
This lady was seated in the VIP area and was complaining that her margarita had melted within 10 minutes and wanted me to give her a replacement as it "melted too fast".
Last I checked, being a beverage manager didn't give me control of the elements nor the laws of thermal dynamics. But, I tried to reason with her that it was 100F and we can't prevent ice from melting (but I sure as hell was melting in the sun with my black suit). She was totally livid and insisted that either we get her a replacement or to put her partially consumed drink back into the blender with more ice. Reblending the drink was never gonna happen as it violates a bunch of health codes.
I turned to the pool manager and asked, "Did anyone verify her VIP status?" as VIP guests have an assigned casino host which would liaise with me directly, or I would know who the VIP guests are during the pre-shift brief.
Long story short, she snuck into the VIP area, so I got security to kick her out of the pool in a blink.
This is wholesome content.
Good ending story,
Was a manager for a Music/game cd store back in 2007-9.
Was called in for an old grumpy man returning a CD which was not working.
He was nearly crying, the CD was expensive. It was all very scratched like it went through sandpaper.
We had a no-return policy after the package was opened, as these were original CD's. He came in claiming that the CD was not working.
We usually tested if the CD, if it played and didn't skip, we just gave it back. I tested the CD it actually played.
After a conversation, it did not work in his car, which was parked just outside the shop.
I went with him, perhaps he was not pressing the wrong button.
After arriving at the car and looking at the stereo, it had no CD player, he managed to jam the CD between the dash and the tape player, it did not play, so he removed part of the dash and took it out, and tried again.
After explaining this to him, he literally was crying.
I was unable to refund the CD under the policy. And the CD actually played because the plastic was damaged, but the top was not.
Thinking he will have a heart attack, and feeling sorry for him, I offered to copy the CD to a Tape, and he can keep the CD for when he gets a CD player.
I copied the CD to a tape, he was happy, and later returned to the shop many to buy tapes, was really friendly to me, saying I remind him of his son who died in the war (while being super grumpy at everybody else) and brought pastry his wife made as gifts every time he came.
TL:DR Gramps stuffed CD in tape player, messed it up, I copied CD to Tape. He became a regular and brought homemade pastry.
What a surprise.
Customer comes to the bar and demands to speak to the manager, won't say why, won't deal with anyone else. He's told I'm not working for another 3 hours and says he'll wait, stands at the bar angrily. Staff call upstairs to me (I live up there) and explain he's just standing there tutting. He realises they're on the phone to me and gets angry because I'm upstairs and won't speak to him.
Went down and asked the problem. "When X ran this pub he used to have Mild on tap for me. You don't. It's disgraceful, what am I mean to drink now?"
I explained that yes, X did stock Mild and when I arrived I audited the stock and realised most of the barrel was getting wasted every week. So I stopped ordering it and switched to an ale that would sell. Dickhead is still angry and says if I order it he'll drink it. I tell him he'll have to drink 9 gallons in 3 days. Still adamant I should order it. So I told him I'd order a barrel, and if it didn't sell he could pay for the wastage.
I got a spare barrel from another pub, tapped it, waited and surprise surprise, he had one pint that week and sheepishly vanished forever.
These people are so annoying.
I worked at a Toyota dealership and a salesman said his customer asked to speak to the manager because Jesus told her that we would provide her with a car. I asked her if Jesus was paying cash or financing. She literally expected us to just go, "Oh ok, well...pick out whatever tickles your fancy!"
As a server I got "Tipped" in Jesus pamphlets every Sunday. I thought about asking them if instead they could pray that Jesus would pay my light bill instead of sending me Bible pamphlets.
The nerve!
Not a manager, but I once had a woman ask me, very rudely, to get her a manager "this instant" because my behavior was "completely unnacceptable."
She'd asked me where something was and I simply said "It's over in (section), I'd show you over but unfortunately I'm tied up with another customer at the moment. Once I'm finished with her I can meet you over there and we can look for it together, or I can call on the radio and see if anyone's able to meet you there sooner."
"It's over in (section), I'd show you over but unfortunately I'm tied up with another customer at the moment. Once I'm finished with her I can meet you over there and we can look for it together, or I can call on the radio and see if anyone's able to meet you there sooner."
Woah woah how the hell do you type these words here? It's the internet, kids can access this stuff!!
The best part is the other customer was with me and as soon as we left the rude one she went "the f*ck was her problem?"
When they think the rules don't apply to them.
I get called over for a price match for a Lego set. I get there, and it's clearly a clearance price from a different location, which is a policy exclusion, of which I inform him.
shows receipt "It's from a different location! You have to honor it!"
"Clearance differs from store to store, but regardless, the price match policy excludes clearance pricing."
"So I'll call customer service and if they overrule you, you'll do it."
I walk away while he makes his call. Of course, he doesn't get his way because the policy is available for literally anyone to read before doing all this horse sh*t.
TL;DR: Just because it's clearance there doesn't mean it is or is going to be here.
Ahh hahahahaha. Damn you physics!
I worked at a marine business for a number of years. I was the head buyer for a long time. One of the things we sold was anchor chain, we sold a lot of chain for boats. We would buy it in bulk and sell it for the same amount as online retailers when you account for shipping. In a lot of cases we sell 250'+ to a single buyer.
I had a customer come in and want to buy 250' of 3/8" chain, this stuff weighed right around 2lbs per foot. He wasn't happy with the price that was listed and asked the sales staff for someone higher up, I was the only one available and had to go deal with this. He pulled up the internet and showed me this place that was 3 states away had it for sales slightly cheaper than what we sold it for. I told him we wouldn't price match and he'd still have to pay shipping. The guy says "No I don't, I'll drive to go get it." Great, go get it.
Fast forward two weeks, guy comes in and I asked about his purchase. Yes, he did buy it and yes he did drive three states away to pick it up in his HONDA CIVIC HATCHBACK. He blew out both rear shocks because the dumbass didn't account for the weight of 250' of anchor chain in the back of a car. It was pure vindication.
He blew out both rear shocks because the dumbass didn't account for the weight of 250' of anchor chain in the back of a car.
I used to work at a lumber yard driving a forklift and I can't tell you how many times someone screamed at me for not putting 2,000 pounds of cement block or concrete in the back of a small S10 truck or loading 700 pounds of lumber on top of a luxury SUV. People are just dumb.
These are the same people who expect you to show up at their house and help unload it for them.
It must be for free and god help you if tell them there will be a delivery charge.
One must really hate their job in order for them to get fired.
Depending on the actual job, it's not that difficult to follow established rules and work protocols. Deviating from them just to get terminated can take more effort.
That is, of course, the employees are completely inept or severely disgruntled and have no problem going on a self-sabotaging mission to be let go.
Why can't they just quit, you ask? Well, that'll be less dramatic.
Strangers online shared what they've witnessed at the workplace when Redditor ImaginaryBank9587 asked:
"How did that one coworker get fired?"
These former employees would do anything for a meal deal.
Egg Thief
"We had an employee cafeteria at a Fortune 500 company. You'd get your food at a counter and bring it, in one of those white foam clamshell containers, to the register where you'd just tell the cashier what you got. This one fellow regularly ordered 3-egg scrambles and told the cashier he had just one egg. He got caught once and told never to do it again. He did it again, and lost a $100k+ job for stealing eggs."
– Yossarian147
Costly Stand-Off
"Similar thing happened at my work, Fortune 500 company, VP of some department, company cafeteria but it was a salad. Would order a salad in line, the kind that they charge by weight and would loiter around until the cashier line got busy and then slip out the exit."
"Cafe worker noticed, told her boss …her boss told corporate security, they start watching for him and due to the guy’s position they watch for a few weeks. 2-3x’s a week he does this for close to a month. Finally they decide ok now it’s ironclad and we can fire him so they walk him out."
"Turns out he thought charging for salad was a ripoff and decided he wasn’t playing the game with the cafe. Well over 300k a year and lost it over a 5.00 salad."
– Due-Pineapple6831
The camera sees all.
Clumsy Ninja
"He was stealing Klondie Bars from the company freezer."
"One of the managers brought in a hidden camera to catch the thief. We all knew the camera was there so he crawled over to the freezer all ninja style to stay under the camera's field of vision."
"It would have worked, except, when he stood back up he tried to do it all fancy, and fell backward back into the camera's view."
– pirateteaparty
He May Have Fooled The GPS Tracker
"Dude would drive to the site, park his work van, then have his GF pick him up and take off for 8 hours, come back and pick up the van, thereby cleverly fooling the GPS tracker in the vehicle..."
"But not the camera pointing directly at the spot where he parked, got picked up, and dropped off. Cost the company a substantial contract. And himself a job."
– Dylsnick
Keep an eye on your baby wherever you go.
Free Baby
"She picked up a customer's baby without permission and walked off with her, the customer was beside herself thinking she'd been kidnapped. Co-worker didn't think she had done anything wrong because she's also a mother...."
– miss_demean0r
Up For Grabs
"My girlfriend had a coworker who did something similar, customer came in with a baby and she just grabbed the baby out of mum's arms and starts rocking it as this was a normal thing in her culture and her fellow co-workers freaked out about it but the mum was actually totally fine with it for some reason. She did not get fired though, they actually gave her a full time contract soon after which was a rare thing where she worked."
– Bubblez4
The Cart Pusher
"We had a cart pusher at target who did the same thing. He def have some mental disabilities, but I wasn’t privy to that info. I just know there were very few tasks he could do and he wasn’t very verbal."
"He was instructed to return carts, so he picked the child up from the child seat in the cart and held it out for the mom to grab after she finished loading the trunk. Mom was mortified, came in to raise hell at guest services. He wasn’t fired, but he also wasn’t allowed to push carts anymore."
– thisisntmyOGaccount
Alcohol and work don't mix.
Workplace Blackout
"Showed up drunk on the job, passed out on a chair in the lobby, then pissed his pants."
– SheZowRaisedByWolves
Sad Story
"At a prior company, we had a programmer who was brilliant. He actually built their computer systems from scratch and was able to update and maintain them. Only problem was, he was a total alcoholic. He was married and his wife did a damn good job getting him to work each day and keeping him reasonably coherent during business hours, probably because he was earning over $300K/year and it was worth her effort."
"Well, I guess she finally had enough of conducting his life and divorced him. He went OFF THE RAILS, like the company sent cops to his house for a wellness check. He was fine, just really drunk. The company paid for him to go to go rehab about three times, they were that invested in him. Each time, he'd stay sober for a bit, but then would be back to his old tricks in a couple of months."
"Eventually, the company hit its breaking point. I think the final straw was when he was in the parking lot, drunk, passed out in his car."
"He was fired and ended up passing from a massive heart attack about six months later, no doubt due to his addiction."
"Very sad story all around as he actually was great guy and an incredible programmer."
– Bleuet73
When I was a young performer in shows at a certain theme park, me and my coworkers got away with a lot of harmless but unprofessional behavior backstage that involved roughhousing and stupid antics out of view of visiting guests.
But when it came to showtime, we were always professional and helped create magical memories for our audiences.
The only time someone was fired was when a coworker tried to sneak a prop–in this case, a wig of a very popular princess–out of the park. Whenever we would "clock out" the security gate, they would always check our belongings for this very reason.
I guess my friend forgot about that part.
The next day, he didn't show up to work and none of us had a clue as to why. The company is so secretive when it comes to stuff like this.
We all eventually found out, and none of this played out dramatically. But one thing was made very clear.
You don't steal a mermaid's wig from this company and think you can get away with it.
For many people, escaping to the woods, either in a tent or a cabin, is just what they need to escape from their current realities and reset their mind.
Allowing themselves to be one with nature, and cut off from technology.
Not everyone finds the woods a peaceful place, however.
Indeed, being cut off from the rest of the world, all the while surrounded by wildlife, it's easy to see why some people find the woods scary, and not at all relaxing.
Particularly if their time in the woods included an experience which made them never want to return, ever again.
"Outdoorsmen of Reddit: What is the most terrifying experience you’ve encountered in the woods?"
In The Company Of Wolves
"Walking in the pitch black out to a deer stand."
"So dark you couldn't see your hand in front of your face."
"Heard some circling around me of something large, it was trotting along."
"No big deal, figured it was a deer."
"Then it stopped and let out the most bone chilling howl I have ever heard."
"So loud it was like it was inside of me."
"A few wolves howled back in the distance and it ran off."
"Needed new underwear."- jubstep45
Who's That Cackling?
"I was backwoods camping in Canada with my ex."
"Deep forest, we'd been out there a day or two and hadn't seen anyone."
"That evening we were in the tent playing cards and heard something in the bushes, making a giant racket."
"It was getting steadily closer."
"It got to the area we were in and stopped."
"We debated what to do but finally opened the tent, both completely freaked out, and found... chickens."
"Three chickens, en route home to an organic farm we didn't know was nearby."- Worldly_Salamander_
GiphyIs That Water I Hear?
"An after dark flash flood that roared through camp."
"Twelve of us...five of them were sleeping in the canyon bottom."
"It's amazing nobody died."
"That was 32 years ago and I still sleep lightly and always pack clean underpants."- BrunoGerace
Stranger By The Lake
"When I was about fifteen yrs old me and some of my friends decided to go camping at a nearby lake."
"It was a 3-4 hr hike, and the nearest house was Maybe 3 hr away."
"We brought some homemade wine and drank the whole night and ate poorly grilled hot dogs."
"Life was good."
"We all shared the tent so it was crowded as f*ck in the tent but we all fell asleep around 2 am."
"At 4 I wake up because i can feel someone running their hand down my forearm."
"Not that unlikely that someone brushes up against me since there wasn't any space to move around in the crowded tent."
"But this is the arm that is facing the tent."
"So someone touched me from the outside of the tent."
"I sit up and gets instantly horrified to see that all my friends are sound asleep in the tent with me."
"I put on my deepest voice and shout 'whoever the f*ck you are you need to leave'."
"And a manly low voice answers me 'you should pack up your stuff and leave', not threatening or aggressive."
"Just calmly and in a dead kinda way."
"By now all my friends are awake and are just looking at me."
"No words just pure horror in their eyes."
"I say: 'Okay, we will go, but you need to leave'."
"Hurry up"
"When we get out of the tent this man, who is f*cking huge btw has taken the little row boat that was laying at the bank and gotten into it and is just sitting in the middel of the lake and watching us pack up our stuff and trying to get the f*ck away asap."
"We had to walk around the lake at our way back and he was just sitting there watching us."
"We never went back."
"This was 17 years ago in a rural Scandinavian country."
"We have a 'free to roam law' so we where not trespassing."
"We knew our way around the small town we grew up, everybody knows everybody."
"There have been no people missing and or found dead."
"Never."
"There hasn't been a murder in generations."
"We told our parents who at first tried to calm us down and they said that we where probably overreacting."
"But the way he caressed my arm before he told us to go was not normal."
"When we told them everything and What he said to us we where told to never go back."
"After covid we all met up and the subject came up and we tried to do some digging."
"There are no houses or cabins anywhere near."
"The lake is way too small to fish in."
"When he was sitting dead center in his little boat there was Maybe 60 feet to land on all sides."
"No one has ever seen this man before or after."- Withthisaccountican
Water Band GIF by TennisGiphyLose Lose Situation
"As a Boy Scout, we found a bunch of scorpions in our Adirondack."
"We ran outside screaming our heads off, and then lightening struck a tree like 20 yards away."
"We turned on our heels and ran straight back to the scorpions."- captainkatalis
A Bit Too Much Holiday Spirit
"Many years ago, when I was about 14, I was hiking deep in the woods behind my house with some friends."
"We were miles away from home- further than any of us had ever gone before."
"And we came up to the edge of a clearing and a little further down the tree line, we saw a lump of clothes underneath an old deer stand."
"We got a little closer and we could make out legs and arms and boots."
"They were wet from rain and had been there for a while."
"Obviously, our first thought was that it was a hunter who had an accident and fallen out of his stand and was dead."
"We were freaked out and it took us a little bit to get up the nerve to get a better look."
"It wasn't until we were practically on top of it that we realized that it was a dummy."
"We had wandered all the way up to the edge of a big Christmas Tree farm's property and the dummy was part of their decorations from a haunted hayride thing they did."
"They must have forgotten about it when closing up for the year."
"We had a good laugh but we were all scared sh*tless for a few minutes."- Ocksu2
season 1 premiere GIF by Jersey Shore Family VacationGiphyThe Bear Necessities
"I work in the bush and sometimes spend months out there."
"Most terrifying was seeing a bear start to circle me right as the helicopter pilot radioed me to say he couldn't get to my location because of the weather."
"Luckily I had a shotgun with me, and eventually the pilot got down to me, but yeah, sitting there in the sleet while watching that grizzly slowly and sneakily try to cut around my position in the fading light was absolutely terrifying."
"The whole time I was trying to come up with possible ways to keep from being outflanked and to keep visual contact with it in case I had to shoot it."
"This was in the late fall, so the bear probably hadn't put on enough fat for the year and was looking to supplement it."
"Spooky stuff!"- Psychological_Put395
Not A Terribly Uncommon Discovery In The Woods...
"I was backpacking with my dog and about 12 miles from the road and trailhead."
"So pretty far from people though popular enough that other hikers might be around."
"Though we saw no-one all day."
"About 2 a.m. my dog started this really low deep growl and wakes me up."
"Turn on my headlamp and see his teeth showing and he's right on top of me."
"I hear heavy footsteps (black bear / moose?) near the tent."
"I leash my dog so he doesn't tear thru the tent and the footsteps move further away, but keep circling my tent."
"All of my food and toiletries are hung in a tree in a bear bag - nothing in the tent to draw a bear's attention."
"I clap my hands - something is still slowly circling - not something a moose would do, and a bear might if he wanted food - but I've got nothing and a really big dog with me."
"I decide to step out of the tent with the leash in one hand and bear spray in the other - yelling 'hey bear'."
"The footsteps stop - dog's nose is in the air telling me to look right - but nothing in my headlamp that I can see."
"Didn't hear anything run off, but it's quiet."
"I give it 5 minutes or so, get back in the tent, and it starts up again - slowly circling maybe 50 feet from me."
"Maybe an hour later, I hear the footsteps wander off into the woods."
"At dawn, I take the dog, and the bear spray, and start looking for tracks."
"I find a clear path in the leaves that had been trampled, but no tracks."
"The dogs nose is on the ground, and I follow his lead - and he follows the loop around our campsite."
"We finally see a few human footprint - not shoe tracks - a regular size (not bigfoot) bare human foot."
"Plus - yup a human turd and toilet paper."
"Some a**hole was wandering around the middle of nowhere, near the tent and circling my tent for an hour or more, and left a dump for me to find."
"Hiking and backpacking is incredibly safe. I've been doing this for decades, and this is the only weird experience I've ever had."
"The hiking community is incredibly friendly."
"The trails have become more crowded since covid, and your definitely seeing more people on trails, and less trail courtesy (litter - leaving dog poop bags, pooping too close to the trail and not burying you poop)."
"Also - I was very far away from civilization. "
"Bad guys don't hike 12 miles to do harm, and I'm pretty sure they don't carry toilet paper."
"I've hiked thousand of miles without a single dangerous human interaction."
"What I think happened?"
"Much as I'd love to say it was a young sasquatch, a skin walker or a wendigo - I'm guessing it was a disoriented backpacker that left their tent to crap, and got confused."
"I was hiking a somewhat popular long loop trail, and I believe someone was probably hiking the opposite way, and stopped somewhere off trail ahead of me."
"I was backwoods camping - not at a campground."
"Regulations are that you need to be 200 feet off the trail and into the woods to set up a camp."
"So they could have been a quarter mile ahead on the trail and I wouldn't have known unless they were noisy (or smelly enough for my dog to let me know)."
"The most likely explanation is that they were heavily under the influence, got up to crap, and got lost on their way back to their tent, and found my site."
"They approach my tent and realized they were wrong, and tried to find their way back to their camp."
"Then they heard my dog, and me yelling to scare off a bear, and either thought we were a risk to them, or too lit to answer back."
"The circle around my camp was several hundred feet - and my tent wouldn't be visible for most of the loop - I was camping between several spruce trees."
"I didn't get back to sleep!"
"I couldn't get back to sleep."
"It was late Sept and sunrise was around 6 a.m."
"When we found the poop pile, I relaxed - I really didn't think there would be anyone nearby as we were in a very tough area to get to - requiring going over 2 mountain summits from my direction, and 6 other mountains in the other direction."
"The total hike was about 40 miles IIRC."
"We were going to be out for 3 nights, and 4 days."
"After I realized it was a human, my first assumption was that there was a lost hiker."
"I texted a friend that does Search and Rescue in the area t see if there were any reports of lost or overdue hikers."
"If there had been, I would have had my dog try to follow that trail to see if I could have found their campsite."
"As no one was missing, we broke camp and went on our way."
"He was the best dog ever."
"I lost him about 5 years ago."
"I knew that dog would die for me."
"Several years after this incident, I got diagnosed with cancer. **(**ETA - I've been in remission for several years and things look good)."
"This dog was so in tune with me that he knew how sh*tty I was going to feel before I did."
"He would walk with me to the bathroom, and sit right next to me as a puked my guts up."
"He'd walk me back to bed and let me rest my hand on his back if I needed a little help walking."
"Everyone has a heart dog - he was mine."
"I swear he knew I had cancer before I did."
"He used to sniff me right where my tumor was located."
"I still get teary eye'd thinking of him."
"Rest in peace big guy."- BionicGimpster
What Is It Reaction GIF by Nebraska Humane SocietyGiphyIt's What They Didn't See Or Hear...
"Absolute silence. No wind, no animals, nothing. One second there were all the sounds of nature, then nothing. Lasted for a few seconds that felt like an eternity." Reddit
There's a reason that so many fairy tales and scary stories are set deep in the woods.
For while staying alert and using your best judgment will no doubt keep you safe, the possibilities of what could happen to you are endless, and terrifying.
The older you get, the more you realize that having a worldview can be a disappointing aspect of life.
It's all the knowledge we acquire.
Sure, the more you know, the smarter you get.
But the more you know, the less you can pretend.
History can be difficult to learn.
Everything opinion and thought can change in an instant.
Sometimes that is a great thing.
Sometimes... not so much.
Redditor FlickTheSwitch167 wanted to hear about the times the truth of the world, just ruined it all, so they asked:
"What Historical fact have you learnt that ruined everything you ever thought you knew about this life?"
I feel like all of history is a lie. The more I learn, the less I'm shocked.
Aflame...
awesome rock on GIFGiphy"More of a fun one, but lighters predate strike matches by a couple of centuries. They originated from repurposed flintlock pistols that ignited tinder shoved in the barrel that was set aflame by the trigger mechanism."
Kataphractoi
Ice Ice Baby...
"Ancient Antarctica was actually a rainforest, a lush and verdant paradise, filled with flora and fauna. Despite the interesting fact that there was a whole continent of animals who lived on this planet that we’ll never know about - as their remains are locked beneath miles of ice."
"It blew my mind that Antarctica only fully froze over about 35 million years ago, despite breaking from its supercontinent ~ 180 million years ago."
"That means Antarctica supported independent life for ~ 145 million years, which ruined any sense I have for time and perspective. We really are specks on this planet."
oohaaahz
GONE
"There was a Spanish explorer that first visited the Inca empire and saw lots of prosperous cities and a great civilization, and told his peers about it when he returned home. But when other folks went to visit the said cities they found nothing but jungle and thought the explorer lied about his story."
"The fact that blew my mind is that nowadays we discovered that his story was true and the people he encountered died from diseases brought into the new world. And the cities and civilization they build were consumed by jungle in the span of a few years."
Manu82134
Modern Day
"Can't remember the exact quote but it went something like, If the entirety of human (Homo) history was condensed into a 500-page book, modern anatomical humans wouldn't show up until page 450, and homosapiens wouldn't build empires until page 490, the atomic bomb and the foundation of Rome would be on the final page and only a paragraph apart."
"And yet in all of this, the vast amount of technological advancements from the discovery of the atom to the modern day would fit in the last few sentences, of the last paragraph of the last page. And people wonder why we are reckless, we're still effectively great apes but with shiny toys."
JitterySuperCoffee
Tastes and Colors
All Stars Reaction GIF by LifetimeGiphy"Ruined in an interesting, not bad way: ancient Greek and Roman polychrome. The Parthenon temple looked a bit like Disneyland."
ipakookapi
"Same goes for European churches. Statues were painted in flashy colors. The ones outside got washed blanc but there are still some inside that still have their color. By today's standard, it would be considered tacky and bad taste."
chinchenping
One does want a hint of color. Right?
Part of that World
Happy The Little Mermaid GIF by Disney PrincessGiphy"Prehistoric, but still: Given that humans tend to concentrate along coastlines, and that sea levels have risen a bunch in the last 200 000 years, it is likely that our conception of human prehistory is fantastically distorted due to most of it being lost under the sea."
HaggeHagglin
Pennies and Pennies
"Victorian era London was a terrible place to be alive as a member of the working class. If I recall correctly. You could pay a penny to sit indoors on a bench but no sleeping! Two Pennies and you could swing your arms over a rope and sleep standing up or if you made hella money that day you could pay 4 Pennies and sleep in a coffin. The water is undrinkable and children expected working hours were 12 to 18 a day starting at 4 yrs old. By those standards, a lot of us would look like royalty to them."
UnicornBrainsRPointy
Horrendous Horrors
"Learning about the depth and breadth of slavery in human history was a real eye-opener. We have really detailed documents from more modern history to show WHY that idea is so heinous, but it's always been a significant part of cultures all around the world serving as anything from a social construct to the very currency of war and with autonomy ranging from that of livestock to that of a low caste."
"Evidence of slavery predates written records and is even included in the code of Hammurabi where it was already an established institution and we still haven't stamped it out today, April 10th, 2023, where slavery affects an estimated 46 million people (that's more than the total population of California, and approximately the population of Spain). It's crazy how awful humans have always been to one another and that we still can't seem to hold each other accountable for basic human rights, despite indelible proof."
FridayInc
Far Far Away
"When I learned that NASA had discovered over 100 billion GALAXIES and saw the image to put into perspective that our entire solar system is only about the size of a coin compared to our galaxy which in relation would be the size of the United States. We are so incredibly small within the universe."
cheeseburghers
A Strange Loop
Over It Ugh GIFGiphy"If you look at the history of mankind, you quickly see that nobody ever learned from our history."
Plastik-Mann
"History shows again and again how nature points out the folly of man."
Kvesh
If history has taught us anything, it's that we're doomed.
But let's keep learning.
Whether we're huge television watchers or not, most of us have at least one television show that we've really enjoyed.
And all too often, the show ends long before we're ready for that final episode, and we dream of a reunion episode or encore season.
Redditor Putrid_Cry19 asked:
"Which canceled TV show deserved another season?"
Anne with an E
"Anne with an E."
- Unusual-Neck9547
"Three seasons, and just when Gilbert and Anne realize their feelings, it gets canceled. Excuse me, what?!"
- thesnoodlee
"Especially when you have so much source material to work with. Heck, the old adaptation went along with an older Anne and followed her life."
- No_Eyed_Dear
The Black Donnellys
"The Black Donnellys."
- Lookslikeseen
"Did they even get a complete first season? That show was canceled 15 years ago, and I’m still mad about it!! The cast was amazing and all of them fit perfectly in their roles. The story was intriguing. I can’t figure out why it ended so abruptly."
- mandyama
"I always scroll far enough down on these posts until I find 'The Black Donnellys.' F**king great show and I was glad they at least put the final episodes online. They were pulled from TV mid-season and I remember just being really bummed it wasn't on."
- GrimwoldMcTheesbyIV
Lodge 49
"'Lodge 49:' it was the dose of weirdness, reality-bending metaphysics, philosophy, blue-collar camaraderie, and kindness I needed weekly. Great cast, great cameos."
"I guess AMC needed the empty slot so they could have more 'Walking Dead' spinoffs or shows where people talk about the previous show they just aired."
- AdamInvader
The Last Kingdom
"'The Last Kingdom.' They had to rush through so much in Season 5 that it overwhelms you, although it still manages to give a great send-off to the series. F**king Netflix canceling great shows but keeps renewing 'Big Mouth,' lol (laughing out loud)."
"Highly recommend 'The Last Kingdom' if anyone hasn't watched it."
- OneThicBoii
Sense8
"'Sense8.' The writers convinced Netflix to do a special series ending episode but it didn't do the show justice. You could tell it was a rushed ending. One more season and it could have been much better paced."
"If I remember correctly, the reason it was canceled was that it was extremely expensive to make."
- Interjessing-Salary
Stargate Universe
"Stargate Universe."
- Ulkrum
"I was hoping I'd see someone else say 'SGU.' I really did enjoy it, different from SG1 and SGA, but I was enjoying it. Really want to know what happened to Eli after everyone else went to sleep for a bit. Like come on, it's like Schrodinger's cat! I need to know."
- Mad-Ma84
"They literally left this show with the ability to pick it up again."
"S4 episode 1: Eli wakes everyone up from their Cyro sleep. Due to whatever mechanical failure or attack, these pods didn’t work and these characters have been killed off, some of them aged."
"Stargate opens up and new characters board the Destiny."
- Jon_F**kin_Snow
"And someone brings Eli a clean shirt. But just one."
- MrVeazey
The Tick
"The Tick."
- dreadrabbit1
"I agree. And it doesn't matter which version you're talking about, the answer is yes, that version deserved another season."
- Funandgeeky
The Punisher
"The Punisher, with Jon Bernthal."
- xXxLordViperScorpion
"Absolutely hands down! He was crazy good in it."
- MessagefromA
Carnivale
"'Carnivale.' I loved the world that was built in that show."
- m0rris0n_hotel
"This is one that gets me. Thanks for nothing, Management."
- the_murders_of_crowe
"This was the show I came looking for. I think the show creator had three more seasons lined up."
- coolmike69420
The Mick
"The Mick."
- Full-Ask3638
"I said the same!! I love that show."
- No-Teacher9713
"I came here to say this. That show was hilarious. As a Sunny fan, it was great to see Kaitlin Olson take even more of a lead role, and really helped me appreciate what she brought to the show. I was so bummed it got canceled."
- Childish_Calrissian
1899
"1899."
- TheGreyPotato
"I remember when everyone thought it wouldn't get canceled just because 'Dark' was allowed to be fully completed."
"'1899' had so much potential, especially after the ending scene of the Season One finale. Such a shame."
- HahaLookyHere
Santa Clarita Diet
"I'm still salty about 'Santa Clarita Diet' being canceled. I need to see what's next for Joel!"
- lemonjelly88
"Netflix: You should watch Santa Clarita Diet. You really should. You really, really should. Here are 15 gajillion recommendations!"
"Me: Okay, fine! ...Hey, this is really good. When's the next season coming out?"
"Netflix: Oh, we canceled that."
- GarbledReverie
"I love how well Timothy Olyphant portrays a man who's on the edge of a complete breakdown whilst Drew Barrymore is living her best life. Such a great show."
- unluckypig
"One of my all-time favorite shows. I will never forgive Netflix for robbing us of seeing what happens to zombie Joel."
"Timothy Olyphant and Drew Barrymore's chemistry was so on point. This show made me realize what kind of a relationship I want with my spouse, lol (laughing out loud). They were the best 'relationship goals' I've ever seen on TV!"
- thathunzygirl
"This is my answer for every single AskReddit post that asks about canceled TV shows. I will never freaking forgive Netflix for canceling 'Santa Clarita.'"
- spooteeespoothead
My Name Is Earl
"'My Name is Earl.'"
- ftran998
"Greg Garcia did an AMA where he shared how he envisioned the ending:"
"'I had always had an ending to 'Earl,' and I’m sorry I didn’t get the chance to see it happen. You’ve got a show about a guy with a list, so not seeing him finish it is a bummer. But the truth is, he wasn’t ever going to finish the list.'"
"'The basic idea of the ending was that while he was stuck on a really hard list item, he was going to start to get frustrated that he was never going to finish it. Then he runs into someone who had a list of their own, and Earl was on it. They needed to make up for something bad they had done to Earl. He asks them where they got the idea of making a list, and they tell him that someone came to them with a list and that person got the idea from someone else...'"
"'Earl eventually realizes that his list started a chain reaction of people with lists and that he’s finally put more good into the world than bad. So at that point, he was going to tear up his list and go live his life. Walk into the sunset a free man. With good karma.'"
- edlee98765
"Oh wow, that's such a good wrap-up for the show that even just reading it feels like some solid closure. Wish it had gotten made, but it's the perfect capstone for the series."
- l3rn
The Last Man on Earth
"'The Last Man on Earth.'"
- Historical_Ad2890
"I f**king loved this show. I get that the style of humor and awkwardness wasn’t for everyone, but godd**n, this show made me laugh more than most shows do."
- The_Number_None
"I need closure closure closure."
- Klutzy-Addition5003
The Dirk Gentlys Holistic Detective Agency
"Dirk Gentlys Holistic Detective Agency."
"A lot of people didn't like the 2nd season, which is completely fair. It's hard to live up to the expectations of such a solid first season."
"The reason I personally would like a 3rd season is that the cliffhanger is so. d**n. tasty. Also, I want more Rowdy 3 (6?), Alan Tudyk, and Tyler Labine."
"I recognize that it deviates completely from the source material, and I understand why a lot of people are upset by that. There are a lot of examples where I hated the adaptation (looking at you, 'World War Z'), but I personally believe this is a perfect example of how you take inspiration and run with it."
"A dark, gritty version where Dirk was the fat slob the books described him as might also be fantastic, and I'd probably watch the shit out of it."
"However, I think this adaptation captures the whimsical nonsense of Douglas Adam's writing perfectly, and I'm ok with it. It's just a shame that the show was attached to such a scumbag. Otherwise, we might have seen that third season that gave us all the answers they teased."
- GrownThenBrewed
"That show is still my absolute favorite."
"With absolute bangers like:"
"'The Rowdy Three!'"
"'But there are four of them!'"
"'I'm WILDLY aware.'"
"They captured Douglas Adams's whimsical nonsense so perfectly in that show."
"I feel like the second series went completely off the rails, but I still loved it."
- Conductor_Cat
"This was so gloriously, bizarrely brilliant. It was completely different from the (excellent) books, but it took on some of the core ideas and added a bunch of its own, then ran with them in multiple directions all at once."
"It was a joy to watch and made me feel an almost childlike wonder. It surprised and delighted me; a modern-day fairy-tale for grown-ups. Gutted me when it was canceled."
- wretched_cretin
Teen Titans
"This may seem a bit childish, but Teen Titans. The original one from 2003."
- Sadblackcat666
"It’s a bummer because every character got one season where they were the focus of the ongoing plot. Season One was Robin, Season Two was Terra, Season Three was Cyborg, Season Four was Raven, and Season Five was Beast Boy."
"It was set up perfectly to have a sixth season focused on Starfire and we never got it."
- JRBehr
"I rewatched the whole series fairly recently. It really was such a unique show for the time. I remember seeing reruns on Boomerang after the series had finished airing on CN. It's unfortunate that they no longer air anything from the original series or movie."
"Season Five absolutely ended in a way that demanded something more, and the movie did not scratch that itch."
- ChrisTheKnight03
This is a great reminder of how entertainment can bring people together, first as a fandom and later for the nostalgia.
And there are quality selections here that absolutely should have gotten more time, and deserve a watch from those who haven't seen these shows before.