I'm not exactly prone to winning things - but I do have one glorious moment of winnerhood that really is all I need in life. As a child, my church would throw Halloween parties every year.
One year, I was handed a raffle ticket along with my trick-or-treat candy. At the end of the night, ticket numbers were called - mine was the last one called. I still didn't know what the prize was.
Once I made it up to the stage to collect it, I was presented with a box of puppies and prompty LOST MY TEN YEAR OLD MIND. I thought I was just going to cuddle them, but nope! I got to pick out my brother and my best friend for the next decade.
We named our little box puppy Bear not knowing he would grow up to be a massive doberman who weighed triple digits.
My very favorite picture of my brother is him during what we call "the Ginuwine era." He's standing next to Bear wearing an Auntie Anne's Pretzel t-shirt and it looks like a ridiculous 90's r&b album cover. I haven't really won anything since winning Bear, but c'mon... that one win was enough. One Reddit user asked:
Sweepstakes winners of Reddit, what sweepstakes did you win and was it all that you hoped for?
Spoiler Alert: a Halloween puppy in a box is still the best prize ever - but some of these are pretty decent.
HotWheels
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Short story time: I once won a contest for HotWheels. It might've been a regional thing, I'm not sure. But it was 1999/2000. And my local WalMart had a display of HotWheels at the front of the store, with special sheets of paper and entry forms for a contest - Draw your own HotWheels car, and win the full year's collection of cars (it was like 200 cars!). I was 13, and hadn't even bought a HotWheels toy since I was like 8. But whatever, I thought it would've been fun.
I LOVED drawing (I stuck with it, and grew up to be a designer/illustrator, now in my 30s), so drawing a sweet car would be a piece of cake. I drew some kind of rocket powered dune buggy, with multiple views, and technical specs, and I even named it - "Dune-n-Zoom" or something cheesy like that. I mailed it in, and forgot about it.
About 2 months later, I get a letter saying I'd won! The year's HotWheels collection was mine! I just had to fill out some more contact info on their forms, and short questionnaire. Did so honestly, and mailed it back.
And only 4 days later, I got another letter, saying I was disqualified. I was 13, and the contest was only open to kids 5 - 12. So I didn't win the car collection. Got my first taste of the ugly side of Terms and Conditions that year. Still bummed about it.
Graduate Heaven
Was a broke grad student who won free Chipotle for a year, and the same year I had free sandwiches for a year from another place.
Basically yeah, I was happy as hell.
- Enzohere
So Much Marijuana
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Someone I'm close to won a trip to California (big deal in our little town in Ky) for a music festival. They flew her and her husband out, took care of their hotel and food, and gave them $500 in spending money plus tons of other merchandise. The girl who won has intense Gastroparesis. Basically her stomach is paralyzed, she can't eat, and it's unbearably painful. The only thing that helps her? Marijuana. When she can't work and money is tight, most of her weed is given to her and it's not very good.
They gave them hundreds and hundreds of dollars worth of GREAT weed.
She said it was the best week of her life. She actually got to go on a trip where she could smoke legally and enjoy herself without being doubled over in pain.
Chili And The Amish
I almost never win things. I've won something two times in my life, one of which was a few weeks ago.
There was a fall festival that had a chili bar, where each bowl you buy gives you 2 raffle tickets in a prize drawing. The prizes were mostly food or gift certificates.
Well I paid for my bowl and two bowls up front for my wife since she wanted to try different things. They went ahead and gave me all the tickets, so I had 6 total. Then my wife went back for her second bowl, which the lady remembered I had paid for but she gave my wife two tickets for that bowl anyway.. so now we have 8 tickets.
We also got 2 tickets just for coming, apparently everyone got them.. so we had 10 tickets total. I ended up winning a gift basket full of food from a local Amish store. We still haven't finished it all!
Tom's
Worked for a local shoe store my last year of undergrad. TOMS did a contest for multiple companies and when you sold their shoes, X amount of shoes gave you X number of your name put into a drawing. Needless to say I sold the hell out of Toms that month.
Got a call from California at the store one night (live in Indiana) and both my manager and myself lost it when it was a rep from TOMS calling to let me know I had won.
All expenses paid trip to LA with 5 other people representing their respective companies to hang out and learn more about Toms. Badass hotel overlooking a bay, free shoes and shirts, free meals at great restaurants with drinks pretty much anywhere we went. Got to be there for the "Day Without Shoes" where we were with a few celebrities.
Needless to say it was a pretty great, long weekend - pretty awesome company and I've been a supporter ever since.
Just 10 Gallons
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I've won movie tickets on the radio a few times, but my mom once won a sweepstakes for 'free gas for a year'. It was actually 10 gallons of gas a week for a year, so it wasn't completely free. Just 10 gallons a week.
Thanks Grandma!
In 7th grade my grandma entered me in a sweepstakes to win a vip experience for the Pittsburgh Penguins from my local newspaper and I won. It was amazing I got to sit in the penalty box during warm ups, stand on the ice during the national anthem, meet a couple players, got signed puck and some other gifts, and amazing seats. Definitely the coolest thing I've ever won.
The Cracker Barrel Treasure
Early 80's, kid me entered random contest at the neighborhood Cracker Barrel. A year or so later got a 1oz solid gold coin in the mail. Not very exciting. I didn't even remember entering the contest.
I still have the coin in a safety deposit box
Waiting For Ariana
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On a whim I entered into a sweepstakes for Ariana Grande tickets and meet and greet. Didn't think I'd win, but I did. The meet and greet was a joke, 1 1/2 hours of waiting for about 2 minutes of seeing her, and the concert was so bad we walked out of it after a handful of songs.
- Austifox
How Many Kids
I won $100 gift certificate to Toys R Us. I called our local shelter and asked how many kids they had. I can't remember the number now, but I went into Toys R Us and asked the manager if they could help. So I bought the exact number of boys a matchbox car, and the exact number of girls a small stuffed animal. The only disappointing thing about it was that because of privacy policies, they didn't allow me to actually give the kids the toys. I had to trust the shelter staff would give them out on my behalf.
That was a good day.
Jeep Grand Cherokee
My Parents won a Jeep Grand Cherokee in a raffle in the mid 90's.
I got to use it as my first car in the early 2000's. Complete junker at that point, but it was still my car. It had a problem where the gear would get stuck between park and reverse. It actually once rolled out of the garage and hit a bunch of trees. Not a good situation. Also happened to me while I was trying to get to second base with Mary. So year the Jeep Grand Cherokee proved to be a great cock blocker.
By the time it was no longer my car, the door hinge had rusted away, and I had to duct tape it shut and jump out of the window duke's of hazard style.
Good times, it actually got donated to a high school for repair practice.
The Accordion Fold
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My aunt used to enter sweeps as a hobby. She worked off a sweepstakes newsletter and entered a few every morning. She has won a car, an above ground pool, countless trips including to Italy and Hawaii, lesser prizes like golf clubs, t shirts, hats. She won many tickets to Broadway shows, movies, concerts, cash. I remember when my daughter was a teenager she got a huge box of full size beauty products and makeup that my aunt won for her. So she was a lucky person in that respect.
However her husband died at 41 leaving her to raise four kids alone. So lucky? No. Did it make her hard life happier? Yes she loved getting the mail each day to see if she had any wins.
I'll share a trick she swore by. When filling out a card with your info that gets thrown in a drop-in box always accordion fold your entry. Then the person picking the winner has more "surface " to grab and it increases the chance you will be picked.
3 Days Later
Entered one of those contests as a kid where I had to buy $X worth of product to qualify, then fill in a participation form and mail it to the company.
Won a bicycle, claimed it and parked it outside my house.
It was stolen 3 days later. I didn't even get to ride on it once.
Had I Taken Someone Else...
I won a trip for 2 to Vegas to see an absolute legend in concert. Airfare and hotel accommodations were paid for, and it included backstage passes and a meet-and-greet. Food was the killer expense, the tickets were in the nosebleed section, and I took someone who I really regretted inviting, so the trip as a whole kinda sucked. But, I got an autograph and photos with the artist, and the concert was amazing. I also got a real kick out of taking photos from the stage looking into the crowd right before the show started.
The prize itself was all I'd hoped for - the free time wasn't. Had I taken someone else or gone alone it would have been a million times better.
- Erin42
No Thanks
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I called in and won a pair of crocs from a local radio station. Needless to say, I never picked them up.
Jim
Won 2 tickets to a UFC fight in Vegas (was living there). None of my best friends could go. My ex-wife suggested that I take "Jim", a friend in our group who had recently moved to town. He ended up bragging the whole time about him screwing all of the girls in my wife's circle but always adds the comment, "...except for your wife, of course!"
Found out shortly thereafter that they were in a month's long affair. Still bugs me 15 yrs later that she encouraged me to hang out with her lover. F*cked up chick. Turned out to be the tip of the iceberg.
- mowtown1
The Blushing Bride
My sister won her wedding dress. It was a contest on Facebook with a traveling wedding dress sale. One of the conditions of winning her dress was working the day of the dress sale. I worked the event with her as well as the other girls in the bridal party. It was a lot of fun actually, she got to choose her dress before the event started (worth 800$ at the sale, much more retail), and the woman running it liked how well we worked she paid us each 50$ which we didn't expect.
Red Power Ranger
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When I was about 8 or 9 I think Toys"R"Us was doing lottery for a life size red power ranger that talked when you pushed the symbol on his chest. My family ended up winning and thought it would be a good idea to put it in me and my younger brothers room but turns out a 5'8" man standing in the corner of your room is scary for children. It ended up in the basement but became a wonderful Halloween decoration to this day. 10/10 would win red power ranger again.
- trap266
Forgotten
When I was a kid I won a draw for a free birthday party at my favorite restaurant!
Unfortunately I had written my birthdate (07/04) in dd/mm, and they read it in mm/dd, so they called in June.
They told me to call back in March and they would give it to me, so I did and they had forgotten :(
Change Of Plan
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I won 4 tickets to a movie at the IMAX theater from a spin the wheel type contest.
Went to the theater to get the tickets. When I realized that these tickets were not zero out and are showing the full price on them. Ask my friend to try and return them since we had an hour before the movie started.
They have us back like $55, so we all took off brought a bunch of beer and like two grams of weed.
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When we're intoxicated, or even the slightest bit tipsy from having a little too much to drink, our immediate perspective on things is hazy.
But there's nothing like a bit of alarming news or a jarring incident to snap us out of the fog and focus on the moment.
Sometimes alcohol isn't always to blame for our impairment.
It can be a state of mind, like a perpetual numbness from being complacent in life, and all it takes is one shocking moment to rattle us back to our senses.
Curious to hear from strangers online about this type of scenario, Redditor Known_Challenge_7150 asked:
"What’s one thing that sobered you up real quick?"
These individuals were witness to shocking events that sobered them up right quick.
Bleeding Out
"Got out of a taxi and found a naked man profusely bleeding from his head crawling up the driveway in my condo. Called him an ambulance completely forgot I was absolutely wasted until 45 minutes later when I'd helped him translate and in to an amublance and stepped in my front door."
"Later a few days later learned he'd slipped in the tub and literally crawled out for help. Poor dude. He was fine but I genuinely thought he was going to die there."
– DongLaiCha
Tragic News
"At a bachelor party and we got a phone call that the groom’s father had suddenly passed."
– accountnameredacted
Bottom Of The Barrel
"I went to visit my parents back in July. I was homeless and deep into fentanyl addiction so I lost a lot of weight. My folks could see it. They knew something was up. Anyway, I spent the night and I was getting ready to leave in the morning and I looked at myself in the mirror for a good long time. I finally had enough and told them everything. They took me to detox, from there I went to rehab. Graduated in August and been living with them ever since then. I have 160 days clean and sober."
– Crotch-Monster
A reality check can be enough for some people to snap out of it.
Like Father, Like Son
"Was driving a drunk friend home, he had been on a bender again and was smart enough to call me for a lift rather than try and drive. As I helped in to his house his mother came down the stairs and said 'your as drunk as your father' and went back upstairs. I haven't seen him drunk since then, he still drinks but the thought of turning into his dad scared him out of hard drinking."
– psycospaz
Busted
"Flashing blue lights."
– FiddleOfGold
"This sobered me up just thinking about it."
– redmaple_syrup
Losing Sight
"Woke up to no sight in one eye. I had cataract surgery so just thought one of the lenses had slipped and it was an easy fix. Eye doc says nope, you had a stroke. I loved soy sauce, teriyaki sauce and salty food, which caused high blood pressure, which caused retina damage. Over six months was able to get most of my eyesight back with medication, and all back within a year. Trying to navigate life with one eye was very sobering. Started taking HBP much more seriously."
– MissHibernia
Quitting The Bottle
"Looked up someone I went to highschool with who was an awesome guy. Found out he had been dead for 3 years from alcoholism, at age 33. I made an overnight change. I hadn't started drinking that night yet, 10 months ago. Haven't touched it again since."
– omgtater
These disturbing moments were enough for Redditors to immediately come to their senses.
Unplanned House Guests
"Me and a buddy Woke up in someone’s living room, realized neither one of us knew the people, they were just nice and let 2 drunk guys sleep on their living room floor. We didn’t even say goodbye."
– Oneinsevenbillion75
Serious Health Warning
"Elevated liver enzymes."
"And the knowledge that this sh** was gonna kill me and I just couldn't orphan my family over it."
"So I opted for recovery, instead."
"Clean and sober since June 5, 2009."
– Far_Meal8674
The Joyride
"Grew up in a rural area. The little town hosted dances at the hockey arena, everyone (adults and kids) went and they overserved everyone, regardless of age. I was maybe 16 or 17 and was absolutely sh*tfaced, and jumped in the back of someone's truck with about 8 other people to go back to someone's cottage for after dance drinking. The driver (still don't know who it was) started racing one of his buddies and we whipped around small dirt roads, flying around blind corners on the wrong side of the road, going god knows how fast. It was basically a disaster waiting to happen. It was crazy scary and I was sober and thankful to be alive when we finally arrived."
– foxfood9116
The human psyche is a fascinating thing, isn't it?
How we can automatically focus on something urgent at a crucial time, even after getting buzzed from drinking too much alcohol.
But as we're in the thick of the holidays, it's a good reminder to drink responsibly and stay off the roads if you drive to your celebratory destination.
Cheers. Stay safe. And happy holidays.
We've all complained or vented about something in our lives which, in the grand scheme of things, wasn't exactly a problem, or is very easily solved.
Then there are those who complain about things that others almost hope will happen to them at some point in their lives.
These are known as "first world problems", as they are problems that pretty much only the world's one percent faces.
From having to fly business class instead of first class, or being served Roederer instead of Dom Pérignon, these complaints are often met with amusement, bewilderment, or even anger.
Redditor jennimackenzie was curious to hear the most absurd "first world problems" anyone ever complained about, leading them to ask:
"What’s the most ridiculous 'first world problem' you’ve seen people get worked up over?"
"Tale As Old As Time..."
"I once knew a mom who was legitimately devastated, to the point of tears/grief, because a doctor predicted her 8 year old daughter's final height to be around 5'2","
"Which wasn't tall enough to get cast as Belle at Disney World."
"That was the child's (and her mother's) only dream in life, apparently."
"Didn't appreciate my suggestion that she could be Minnie or Mickey."
"Lol!"
"Only a face character would do!"- TravelLovingMom
"Must Be Funny, In A Rich Man's World..."
"My boss from about a decade ago was this insanely rich dude who always went to the bank to get fresh and crisp currency."
"He'd call the bank in advance to make sure they had some on hand."
"I think he was a germaphobe."
"He had a trash can that he'd throw $1 and $5 bills in that he thought was 'dirty' and regularly just donated it vs spending it."
"I asked him why he did this and he said it was too much trouble and asked if I wanted it."
"I said f*ck yeah dumped it into my bag and when I got home it was close to $400 in singles and fives.
"Another time, he wanted to upgrade all the computers in his studio, so we went to a store and bought 10 PCs."
"They all had $150 mail in rebates and he wasn't bothered to go through the trouble of mailing them in."
"3 weeks later I received $1500 after spending a whole afternoon filling out all those goddamn forms."- azninvasion2000
Money Burn GIF by nog
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Who Wore It Better?
"When I was about 19 years old, I was at my boyfriends family BBQ."
"I was wearing this pretty floral sundress."
"His cousins girlfriend showed up in the same dress and she was SO mad that she went and changed."
"I will never understand being upset when someone is wearing the same thing as you.'
"Did you really think that your shirt you bought off the rack is going to be unique to you?"
"No."- mertsey627
Seeing Red! Or Blue In This Case...
"The blue of the balloons wasn't quite the same as the bridesmaid's sashes."
"Years ago my wife and I attended a wedding."
"It was very low key."
"The dinner was in the dining hall at the university where the couple met, cinder block walls and all."
"It was a Baptist wedding - no booze and very serious."
"The dark blue balloons attempting to liven up the hall were a slightly darker shade of blue than the sashes on the bridesmaid's dresses."
"The bride lost here sh*t and absolutely raved for nearly an hour."
"I can't remember how they finally managed to talk her down."- mechant_papa
south park wedding GIF
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See You In Court!
"Rich neighbors who end up in expensive court battles because they disagree about where a tree can be planted or whether the color of a fence fits in with the street’s 'amenity'."
'These disputes get really heated and rack up huge lawyers’ bills."
"The most pathetic part is after the judgement when they are arguing about who should pay the other party’s costs."
"Lots of affidavits filed citing the 'emotional distress' they had to endure, or painting themselves as brave warriors who were forced to take a stand to fight for 'justice'."
"Also lots of pompous litigants insisting that the judge refer to them by their 'Dr' title."
"An absolutely insane dumpster fire of entitled rich people problems."- ElectrocRaisin
It's Always People With Money Who Don't Want To Pay!
"I work in a public library."
"People will get so so mad if they have to be put on a wait list for a book."
"A popular book that just came out."
"Ok our services are not only free but so are the books."
"You’re welcome, a**holes."- Switchbladekitten
A Warm Butt Is A Happy Butt!
"My own."
"We have a bidet toilet seat (Fabulous! Everyone should have one!) and not only does it wash your bum and blow dry it, but the seat's heated!"
"It's shocking how much a heated toilet seat makes the whole process more agreeable."
"Except: We had a power outage and I went to use the toilet and the seat was cold!"
"Unacceptable!"
"This shall not stand!"
"I was really upset because it didn't feel good."
"Then I stopped and thought: This is the most first-world problem anyone's ever had."
"I was really pissed because my heiny was tepid."
"I got over it."- DeathGrover
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Holy Matrimony!
"Weddings are a gold mine for this question."
"People get so hyped up over their 'most important day of their life'."
"They'll destroy friendships, go into debt, and have crazy expectations."
"It's not always the couple who go crazy, either."
"Sometimes, it's the parents or another family member who feels entitled to control the wedding."
"It's just a party."
"Be considerate of guests, have plenty of food and drinks, and enjoy it."- magicrowantree
When Fast Food Isn't Fast Enough...
"Having to pull off to the side to wait for a drive-thru order to be brought out to you because your food isn't ready and there's a line building up behind you."- demanbmore
In Case You Don't Think Customer Service Employees Are Undervalued...
"I was working the return desk at a Target next to a military base so I have so many stories."
"One of my favorites was a lady who had her baby shower before revealing the gender and was livid that she had received floral newborn diapers when she’s having a boy."
"It was a huge box of super expensive, all organic diapers, that we didn’t carry and therefore could not return."
"I cannot accurately express her fury and disgust."
"How dare either suggest her boy could wear feminine diapers."
"I suggested she donate them if she didn’t want to use them and she instead threw away the entire box."
"When she left we pulled it out and threw it in our donate bin."
"There have also been multiple times where mom’s order massive toys and when we bring them out to the car they get furious that they aren’t wrapped."
"We don’t offer wrapping services."
"Here’s the thing, if you don’t want your kids to see the toys you got them for Christmas or their bit to day DON'T BRING THE CHILD WHEN YOU PICK IT UP."
'I’ve had multiple women scream and curse me out that I had ruined their kids Christmas by bringing the toys they ordered out to the car like they requested."- clever-mermaid-mae
Customer Service Waiting GIF by Juno Calypso
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Happiest Place On Earth!
"I used to work for Disney."
"That in itself should tell you everything."
"However for fun I'll give you two specific stories one form our tech department and one from my wife who worked bookings."
"I specifically worked for their call center to help with technical issues with magic band and the website."
"Suddenly got worse huh?"
"A right of passage call everyone has at least one story of is the 'Dome call'."
"Basically there is a subset of Disney Guest (TM) that believes if it rains at Walt Disney world there is someone that will push a button to encapsulate the whole of Disney property in a dome to keep out the rain."
"I'm not kidding."
"If this button is not pushed they call our tech department to angrily ask why."
"My wife worked booking."
"Pretty much everything including Bibbidi Bobbidi boutique and Pirate's league."
"These two things did roughly the same thing difference being price and theme."
"BBB was expensive did more and was focused on princesses, pirates league did a bit less and focused on mermaids and pirates."
"Lady called up my wife, and got pissed about BBB being booked up (It goes FAAAAST)."
"Karen: 'Im going to give the phone to my daughter and I want you to tell her how you are ruining her vacation by not letting her do BBB'."
"Wife proceeds to explain how pirate's league is so much cooler and how she can be a mermaid or pirate and basically gets the kid to start demanding to their parents about how they want to be a mermaid instead of a princess."- trollsong
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The horror!
Being booked into a junior suite at Disney World instead of an executive suite!
It's almost as bad as having no money for groceries, or no food to feed you children...
Said absolutely no one.