When it comes to naming children, there are all kinds of different approaches.
Some parents like to honor the legacy of a late relative, while there are those who prefer naming their baby after a revered fictional character–"Luke" (Skywalker) being one of them.
But let's be honest. Baby naming can get way out of hand, and it's the child who becomes a victim by having to live with a name they might get teased for...like "Blanket."
Curious to hear examples of what some of those might be, Redditor Sarah_Trekkie asked:
"What are some of the craziest baby names you’ve personally been witness to?"
Pity these children with these unfortunate names.
The Three Hs
"Well they weren't babies, but at the summer camp where I worked this summer. 3 brothers: Honor, Heritage, and believe it or not, Henceforth. I felt a little bad for those kids."
– fabook
It's Satisfying
"The manager at a shop near me is named Goodenough."
– Pagan-za
In Case You Missed It A Second Time
"Coworker grew up with a girl named Kelly Kelly Kelly."
– Jimbo---
Metal Head
"Jam Metallica for a baby girl."
– wordofmouthrevisited
S'No Joke
"Sno White, 9th grade classmate."
– cmac1425
Drugs and babies just shouldn't mix.
Pharma Baby
"I work in child welfare and it’s actually more common than you would think for someone to name their child after a drug or strand of drug they were using at the time. So with that information, MF Pitbull and Knucklehead were the two that I saw that were pretty bad. Another sad fact is when a child is immediately removed from a family (they have already been proven not to be fit parents) they’ll give them the name Baby Boy/Girl or Infant until they’re adopted."
"Edit: at the time = time of conception"
"Edit edit: 'they' as in the nursing staff, the birth parents often aren’t coherent enough or don’t care to give a name."
– spacecowboy203
Out With The Old In With The New
"I summer nannied for two kids, siblings who had been adopted by a wonderful woman who immediately changed their given names, which were Crystal and Rocky."
"Edited to add that both babies were born addicted to meth. Forgot that little nugget."
– checkitbec
It's A Choice
"Went to school with a guy named cedar and his last name was post. I always wonder what his parents were thinking."
– jellyschoomarm
It gets worse.
Going By A Gender
"Boy. True story."
– _mybloodyvalentine
What A Pair
"Noodles and papoose."
"I heard these 2 magical names uttered in a single sentence by a woman. 'Noodles! Put papoose down!'"
– MrScribz
Fantasy Household
"Thunderbird, Winter Star, Rainbow, Baby Girl."
"Culturally not that weird, but day to day life outside of the Rez, strong names to live with."
– ghastlyglittering
How Super
"I met a young man named Jor-El."
"Yes, as in Jor-El, father of Kal-El who became Superman on Earth."
– CowboySpencer
Copy That?
"Xerox."
– hand-pic-appreciator
"Were they a clone?"
– jonsconspiracy
"Nah, just a carbon copy."
– iamevilcupcake
The Pressure Is On
"I was at the park with my nephew last week and a woman started calling for her son to get off the swings. His name was Messiah. That seems like a lot to live up to!"
– BatmansKhaleesi
Getting Royal
"King and his brother Prince."
– Shynerbock12
Raising Alarm
"My friend's sister, named her twins Danger and Fury."
– domestic_omnom
Naming Or Labeling
"These girls at my Korean church were named one and two in Korean. It wasn’t that bad since they went to school here but any time a Korean person heard it it was like wtf."
– Kimchiandfries
I would have to say one of the craziest names I've heard of was Otis Payne.
The names individually are actually pretty cool, but when you slap them together and say the full name, well, I can only imagine the amount of jokes this person had to endure.
He probably lost track of the number of times they saw someone doubling over in fake distress–clenching at a problematic part of their body–and saying his full name in jest.
We get it, we get it, "Oh this pain!"
Poor guy...
Any engaged couple looks forward to the big day when after months of planning, they get to tie the knot and declare their love in front of family and friends.
What could possibly go wrong?
It turns out there are so many variables that can contribute to making the bride and groom's celebration a major matrimonial miss.
Curious to hear examples of weddings gone wrong, Redditor lolf**kno asked:
"Those who have been to a ruined wedding, what happened?"
Dramatic brawls and speeches plagued these weddings.
Catty Attendees And Booze
"Very beautiful wedding in a huge barn at this apple orchard. They must have spent a ton of money on the decorations and catering because it looked like something out of a magazine. The ceremony was great, the flower girl did her thing, the vows got everyone choked up. Everything seemed to be going well. Not even 15 minutes into the reception the mothers of the bride and groom getting into a full out brawl, hair pulling, red wine being thrown. Their sons jump in to defend their honor, chairs start being throw, tables are flipped, parents are grabbing children and running for their lives."
"The bride and groom are horrified and leave immediately and head back their honeymoon suite. My fiancé and I left after this as well but we heard from some other friends that most people ended up staying and getting wasted at the open bar on the bride and groom's dime. Apparently, the fight started because one of the groom's sister complimented the bride's grandmother's dress. The bride's mom thought she was being sarcastic and called her a b*tch, then the drama ensued. Mind you they had all been pregaming the wedding pretty hard."
Playing For The Drunk Uncle
"I played a wedding where as we started playing the set, everyone ran outside and nobody was to be seen for the rest of the night."
"I originally assumed it was because nobody liked us but the bride came in afterwards and said there was a huge fight involving multiple members of both families and everyone basically went home upset, injured or in a police van."
"We couldn't stop playing since we were payed and it was our job, and the only person watching was the drunk uncle dancing on his own asking for requests we didn't know."
Maid Of Honor Speech Goes Off The Rails
"Was a guest of friend of the bride, did not know anyone attending. Very expensive over the top place, several hundred guests of this very Italian wedding. Maid of honor grabs mic at the cocktail hour begins her speech, rambling, drunk. Quickly devolves to stating the recently deceased mother of the bride was against this wedding and that's basically what killed her. Plus Vinny will never give up sex workers. She is tackled by several people and dragged away."
"The happy couple is separated and divorced within a year."
Truth Comes To Light
"It was a big wedding, over 300 people. Turns out the bride had been having an affair with her cousin's husband. The cousin had known for a little bit, but waited until the wedding to go table to table letting everyone know the bride was sleeping with her husband. Poor groom was blindsided. Worst part was his father in law was well off and opened up a restaurant for him. Well, he lost his wife and his restaurant."
– admx14
A Roast Becomes A Scorcher
"Maybe not 'ruined' but it definitely got tense."
"Started with the best man/groom's brother just absolutely roasting the bride and her parents. Basically called them gold diggers and stuff in front of several hundred family and friends."
"Then they cut the cake. Apparently, the groom was told under no uncertain terms not to shove cake in her face. Well, he did it anyway and she stormed off, not to be seen for 20 minutes."
"Reception went on as planned, she got wasted and I'm told she passed out that night in the middle of the street while still in her wedding dress. Pure class."
"They're divorced now."
A Hotel Brawl Leads To Jail Time
"A fight broke out between father of the bride, brother of the bride and some guy that just happened to be staying at the hotel. In reality I don't know how much of a 'fight' it was, more just the Dad and Brother assaulting some man. So anyway they were both arrested. Cut to the bride sobbing at breakfast because her Dad and Brother spent the evening of her wedding in jail and now face assault charges for what they did to this poor man."
This is what happens when bad luck crashes weddings.
Tumbling Into The Sunset
"I work at a golf course with a lot of history behind it. We do wedding venues inside the clubhouse and the actual ceremony is held outside by the historic water fountain and large pond."
"First problem was the weather. I live in the high desert and it was very warm. A solid 90 degrees that day and it was also pretty windy. So everyone's outside, no umbrellas, no ezups."
"The next problem, and probably the worst, was the golf cart incident. The bride and groom wanted to 'ride into the sunset' on one of our golf carts. Drive around a little bit on the golf course. To be fair, it is beautiful on the course during sunset. However the cart had somehow gotten a nail in the tire, tire went flat, battery on the cart went crazy and the cart ended up freaking out. It came to an complete stop from 15mph to zero. The wheels and mechanisms locked up, almost seizing. Both the bride and groom (fairly overweight mind you) both fell out and rolled over a few times. They were totally okay, just a few bruises and perhaps a bruised ego or two. So retrieving that cart was fun."
"And last but not least, the power inside the clubhouse went out to do the high winds. There was no after party available. Only the cake was cut, hardly any food was given out. Yeah, not a great day to cover for someone on your day off."
People Share The Most Selfless Thing They've Ever Secretly Done | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
Foggy Memory
"I was not born yet, but my parents rented the observation deck on the Hancock building in Boston for their reception. Tallest building in the city, beautiful view. My dad pored over historic weather charts to figure out what day was statistically most likely to be nice out. Day of the wedding comes and of course, thick fog unlike anything they'd ever seen before. Couldn't see a thing out the windows of the room they had picked specifically for the view."
"Worked out well though, they were happily married for nearly 30 years before cancer took my dad's life a few years ago."
"There's one other funny anecdote from that wedding: The wedding was held in Kings Chapel, which is an incredibly historic church here in downtown Boston that's somewhat of a major tourist attraction. To close that on a weekend afternoon for a wedding, it turns out, was not very expensive. The tourists waiting outside to see the church didn't know that, though, and someone started the rumor that my parents were incredibly wealthy, maybe even Kennedys. As a result, there were tons of people taking photos of them when they left the ceremony. Not sure if any of them ever figured out that my parents were most certainly not rich or famous."
Playlist Fail
"Best friend's mom got remarried and had an expensive, beautiful wedding, but for some reason didn't hire a DJ. Last minute her mom asked me to manage the CD and gave me a list along with verbal instructions of when to play each. I tried to warn her that I simply did not follow, but she told me she had confidence in me."
"Apparently all her life she wanted to walk down the aisle to some specific song, but I just couldn't figure it out. They had to get walking to match the sunset, so she went ahead down the aisle while I flipped through a series of incorrect songs too the horror/amusement of the crowd."
"For years after when I called my friend's house and her stepdad answered, he'd say, 'Is this the guy who f'ked up my wedding? How are ya?'"
Morbid Surprise
"I was best man at my sister in laws wedding (stepped in for the brother of the groom, that's another story entirely)."
"For a whole year of planning all the bride (SIL) wanted was a dove release while they said handwritten vows to each other. Very small, non denominational (most of the family are atheist anyway) wedding."
"Day arrives (early summer) and something is off with the bird handlers. They show up a bit late and are sourcing help from the wedding party to get everything in line. When the time comes to say their vows I help the handler carry the chest with the doves in it over to what is to be the altar where the bride and groom are standing."
"Vows are just about wrapping up and the handler gives ME the signal to open the chest. I open it and see 20-30 DEAD DOVES IN THE CRATE!!!! I immediately close it to try and limit who knows what happened. Too late. The look of horror on the bride's was all that was needed. We spent the next few hours trying to cheer everyone up but by the end of the reception the entire wedding party had organized and filed animal cruelty complaints on the handler. It was all anyone could focus on."
A Really Bad Landing
"This was one I worked at. After the ceremony, right at the start of the reception - photographer was taking 'jumping' photos of the bride and bridesmaids, so they were all jumping in the air while wearing heels. Bride landed and dislocated her knee, then passed out and kept going in and out of consciousness. We called an ambulance who turned up and fixed her knee etc, but she wanted to continue with the wedding. She then had the first course of the meal and threw up down her dress, and had to sit with her mum in another room while everyone else danced etc. Felt so bad for her as she spent the rest of the evening crying."
Tragic losses unfortunately took place leading up to or at a couple's nuptials.
The Wedding Guest Who Left Too Soon
"When I was 6 or 7 I went to a cousin's wedding. Everything was fabulous for little me, so much sugar everywhere, basically heaven. The reception was in a big community center that was reserved for the occasion. Went to the girls' bathroom, passing by the men's room to see my uncle on the floor. Went back to the main room to tell my dad my uncle was looking weird. Well, uncle had a stroke and had died."
"The bride spent the rest of the afternoon crying, and everyone except close family left."
"Bright side is the mariage is still going strong 20 years later, despite what happened that day."
A Terminal Diagnosis
"Leading up to my friends wedding his father had been battling cancer after a terminal diagnosis. And it was touch and go whether he would be well enough to attend the wedding, in the end he was too unwell to attend despite wishing that he could."
"Just as we got to the wedding reception my friend was informed that his father had just passed away. It was devastating."
Wedding Crashers
"Happened to my classmate. He is successful middle level manager, divorced, about 35yo or so. Found a girl of his dreams but from a provincial poor town. The girl insisted to have the wedding in her town to show off her 'success.' The wedding is crashed by her old friends including male friends who are not that sophisticated and have some tense feelings towards the successful groom from the city. Somebody starts a fight in the middle of wedding, groom is trying to stop it and got stabbed in the back. Died right there. And he was my classmate."
An Unfortunate Trespassing
"The wedding was at a state park that's famous for its giant gorge/waterfall. I don't know whose idea this was, but someone suggested a photo overlooking this gorge and everybody was game. The wedding party went around a stone security barrier and the maid of honor literally fell off the cliff to her death. It was like 500+ feet."
With a lot riding on a wedding to go off without a hitch, the mounting pressure is one where something is surely to buckle.
And because wedding guests are usually inebriated and high on the buzz of celebration, they throw caution to the wind and make some choices they wouldn't make under normal circumstances.
People's ill-advised actions can have regretful consequences, but no one expects death to be an outcome.
Fortunately, the weddings I've attended or heard about from friends were not as catastrophic as the anecdotes mentioned above.
While the Redditors' stories are sorrowful, it gives me a sense of relief these devastating examples are rare occurrences.
Sometimes, it becomes extremely clear that it's time to leave.
That goes for short term situations like a bizarre social moment, or longer term commitments like work or relationships.
Whatever the context, there is typically a tipping point moment when all the variables appear to suggest things have become unsafe, wildly uncomfortable, or maybe even a tad illegal.
It's those moments when all you can think about is the door.
Redditor Thotus_Maximus asked:
"What was your biggest 'I'm out' moment?"
Many people talked about the times they went to parties that turned out to be very different from what they had in mind.
Extremely Sus
"Went to a friend of a friend's 35th birthday party. There were like 3 people there when we showed up. Birthday boy says everyone's in the basement. Okay cool."
"We go down to the basement. Someone's DJing, they've got cool lighting, there's like 30 people dancing. After a minute or 2 we realize everyone in the basement is like 13. Nope Nope Nope."
THAT Kinda Party
"Lived in a hotel for a while when I was 18-19. One day a bunch of people I've met at the pool wanted to go up to this dudes room and party. I thought we were gonna drink, smoke, and have a conversation, but that's not how it went."
"While everyone went up there, I had to go back to my room and change clothes. When I finally went to join them, I walked in and saw this dude injecting hard drugs. I sh** you not, this dude turned completely blue and dropped to the ground like a rock. When I saw that, I just dipped."
"He got picked up by an ambulance and survived. When I saw him in the elevator the next day, he seemed like a completely different person. Seein' stuff like that (that wasn't my first time witnessing od's), I think kept me away from the drugs that can kill you easily."
The Great Escape
"I was at a party when I was a teen. Cops turned up. I was stuck upstairs. But there was a balcony and underneath a pool. And beyond the pool a gate leading to an alley."
"So I jumped in the pool."
"But when I resurfaced there were already two cops standing there looking at me."
A Heist
"When I was at a party and we heard another party happening up the street. We joined in for an hour or two and mingled before heading back to ours. One of my friends realised we left all our alcohol at the other house so a group went back to collect it."
"Turns out they stole literally all the alcohol from that party and brought it back to ours. Next thing we heard a group from this other party were coming to take it back and by then everyone was already drunk, high and angry."
"I decided my best course of action was to call an uber and head home right before shit got real ugly. As the uber was pulling away I heard blood curdling screams coming from the house lol."
-- JA_Wolf
His Disgusting Lair
"When I was 23 years old, I Was hanging out with friends at a park, they brought someone new and he's pretty cool 27 year old dude. Hella chill and was funny af, made some of us cry from too much laughter."
"Anyways, later that night we all go to his place to play Monopoly on his ps4. As soon as we enter his room, everywhere was literally littered with hentai. Usually I'm ok with that stuff cuz I don't judge ppl. But this sh** was fu**ing pedo:"
Every poster and figurine was literally naked little girls. And I mean under age girls, I know they are cuz I watched some of these animes when I was in high school. One example was the little girl from Sword art online. I forgot her name but she was literally the youngest one and this dude had her in a pretzel sex shape figurine. It was fu**ing disgusting."
"I noped out seconds later saying, "sorry, but I don't wanna hang with someone who is into this sh**. Peace.' Half of my friends left with me"
Other Redditors recalled the times they encountered strangers that did not appear to have their best interest at heart, to say the least.
Business Dealings
"Was approached by someone and we talked about how we went to the same college and I showed him some of my art work, he thought it was pretty cool and offered me an opportunity and wanted to talk more later because I was at work at the time."
"I met up with him and his girlfriend and he told about what he mentioned. As I say there listening, it sounded familiar and BAM! It hit me. It was a pyramid scheme, it had nothing to do with art or any job prospects, I told him I wasn't interested many times in the nicest way possible l, but boy did they look pi**ed."
-- MythrPeace
People Describe The Worst Adult Tantrum They've Ever Witnessed | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
Last-Second Decision
"I got stuck in an airport overnight as my flight was cancelled due to weather and I was starving because all the stores were closed. Some employee offered to show me where to get food so I followed him."
"He then opened a door to outside in the parking lot and motioned outside. I quickly said 'no thanks' and walked away."
-- ARCDad
One Star
"I was travelling around Fiji and arrived at a hostel and got shown to the dorm, it smelled a bit weird but thought nothing of it. The owner was super friendly, offered me food and had some really cute puppies running around the sitting room.
"When I went back to the dorm to get something from my backpack I noticed that the smell was puppy doodoo, all over one end of the room (previously not visible from where I had been stood), with flies buzzing around it. On top of that, I then noticed fleas crawling on the bunk mattress (presumably from the cute puppies)."
"I picked up my pack and left without saying anything, felt a bit bad as I hadn't payed for the lunch but it was massive 'nope' moment."
-- lushgurter21
Drawing the Line at Hissing
"I was cutting through someone's rural-ish property as a tween and one of their goats popped up out of the bushes and blocked my path. I was about to go around him when he hissed at me. I turned right around and walked home the long way."
"I've been hissed at by a wide variety of animals (including men.. Ayyyeeoooo!) But I sure as sh** wasn't about to get Black Phillip'ed."
And finally, some talked about when it became very clear that their work situation needed to end, like yesterday.
Quotas Reign Supreme
"I got buried by heavy packages while loading a truck for Fedex. It took 3 people to get me out. I was bloody, bruised, and had trouble lifting my arm."
"My manager came over and chastised me for my package count being too low. Walked out immediately."
-- Azuenz
Leaving Him a Stressful Day
"I worked in a contact centre several years ago. It was super busy and calls didn't stop coming. For some reason, my stupid boss removed everyone else from the queue for some stupid training, leaving me alone to handle all the calls. I messaged him a few times on Microsoft Teams, asking what was happening with no reply."
"After two hours, I shut down my computer and walked out of the company. I just recently withdrawn my last salary, so no regret whatsoever."
-- faridfreddy
Corruption At Its Finest
"I worked for a blood analysis lab machine company for about 6 months. Hated every minute of it because I was working well over 60 hours a week every week. I wouldn't be leaving some hospitals until after 11pm sometimes. The management would never support the techs, the customer is always right, that BS."
"So one week at during the over the phone team meeting, the manager actually asked on of the younger techs to complete paperwork and submit it. Which is normal, but the manager was having him submit the repair paperwork and schedule the repair when they got around to it. He wanted the tech to pencil whip documentation we submit to the FDA so he could a quarterly bonus."
"Managers who's group hits all the pm's, gets a very nice size check. Had the tech done that and the machine failed before it was serviced, somebody could have died and he might have gone to jail. I left that job the next day."
Out With a Bang
"I walked out of a job two hours into a shift and left them without anyone who could do my job."
"As a parting gift, I threw the manual I'd written in the rubbish and didn't bother removing or giving anyone my passwords to stuff so they couldn't do anything."
-- KittikatB
Quite Enough of That
"I got to work one morning and saw all these notes on the desks. They were the mad scrawlings of one of my bosses. One was a strange note to the other boss who was her bf and the rest were new office rules that made me report to her for everything."
"I was the only member of staff they had and I hated her as she kept lying about me, saying I was hiding her work (I wasn't she was just lazy and unless and tried to blame me). I typed up my resignation and left it on the bosses desk. Fu** them both."
Good Time to Go
"When Chipotle's first came to town, the factory I was working at decided to order Chipotle for everybody...well it was my job that day too mop the bathroom floors... Lunchtime hit and about 1:00 hit suddenly everybody in the entire factory had to use bathroom all at once... Yeah, I was like, I'm not mopping any of that up. Turned in my apron and my safety glasses and walked out."
"Just in case if you're wondering, this factory did not have a house cleaning service, all the factory employees were given specific cleaning jobs per week. It was our section of the factory job to take care of the bathroom areas."
-- droppedhero
Perhaps this list will give you the strength to turn your back on a situation when it's the time to.
Our interactions with strangers can be pleasant – whether it's a fellow customer at a store smiling at us or talking sports or other mutual interests with a friendly bartender.
But then there are those who you just can't figure out but engage in a conversation with anyway until something in your gut tells you to abort.
Whether it's an ominous situation or a mysterious individual, your instincts telling you something is not right is usually accurate and what happens next depends on whether or not you act on what your inner voice tells you.
Curious to hear from the experiences of strangers on the internet, Redditor thenereidsofneptune asked:
"What is Your Best 'I'm in Danger' Story?
These predicaments could have resulted in severe consequences. Or not.
Bearly Escaped
"Driving through jasper on our way to leduc when my dad saw a family on the side of the road looking off into the bush off the side of the road. So we pull over and walk over to ask if they need any help. They say that they saw a bear in there and were throwing rocks at it to get it to come out so they could take pictures. My dad told us to get back to the car and we sped off down the highway. To this day i wonder what happened to those idiots."
Crash-Landing
"Not me, but a really close friend was going through flight school and they were going through emergency procedures and the instructor asked something along the lines of."
"What would you do if you noticed the power was lost?"
"And at that very moment, the aircraft lost power and my buddy said 'Well that's a neat trick and makes it feel real.' To which the instructor said 'No, that's not me. This is real.' Apparently, my buddy giggled and said 'oh no.'"
"And then they had to crash into the gulf and he swam away."
"I can't think of a better example than that."
The Thing In The Bushes
"When I was about 5-6, my mom and her best friend took us kids out huckleberry picking. We brought a battery power radio so we were making noise and would not startle any wildlife. We were all kind of spread out around these wild berry bushes. The adults heard this snorting, stomping, and sounds of a large animal moving through the dense overgrown areas coming towards us. They freaked out, screaming for us kids to run to them so we could run to the truck together. Moms friend threw her FULL bucket of huckleberries (5 gallon bucket, took all day to fill) at whatever was coming, hoping to distract it..."
"It was a cow."
You never know what strangers are capable of, especially where drugs are involved.
Sacrifice For The Devil
"I used to work in a group home. I was working a night shift and one of the residents was pacing by his room. I asked him what he was doing, he went into his room quickly. I assumed he was on meth since that's what he liked doing. Thought not much of it until a few hours goes by. I go to get some water and heat up my food, and he is standing in the hallway. Again, I ask him how he's doing and try to check in with him. This guy starts speaking in some made-up language in a loud whisper (think Harry Potter talking to the basalisk). He then takes like 4 steps slowly toward me then stops. He says 'I can't stop him forever.'"
"I call police for his and the the safety of the house."
"Police show up and talk to him for a bit in private. One officer comes back to my office and says 'yeeeah, he's not himself right now. Said the date was May 50, 2100.' It was January... and 2015. They took him away. They also found and took a pocket knife off of him and gave it to me for safekeeping."
"Now if that wasn't already messed up, I went back on the security footage and I saw him stand outside of my office door (outside my view) for like 30 minutes without me realizing. Standing still, like in paranormal activity."
"I checked the camera from when he was speaking the weird language, and he was standing there for like 20 minutes heavy breathing before I walked by."
"2 weeks goes by and he's released from the hospital sober and mentally present again. He decided to move out of the house. He came by to grab his stuff, and pulled me aside to apologize. I forgave him and tried to brush it off. Buddy looks me in the eyes and said that he was planning on killing me that night for a blood sacrafice since he was seeing some crazy stuff and he believed a demon was controlling him, but the police ruined his plan."
"I kept the knife as a morbid souvenir."
The following people these Redditors engaged with were very suspect. No drugs were apparently involved, but they were apparently quite mental.
Former Flat Earthers Explain What Finally Made Them Come Around | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
Regionally Profiled
"So, just for context, I'm Scottish. I was on Holiday in Durham and it was late afternoon. We just arrived and we were going to visit the Cathedral."
"So these lads (likely students, they were obviously on a night out or something) came up to me and were like 'hey do you know how to get to so-and-so street' and I was like 'sorry, I'm not from here.' Suddenly the guy got mad and was all 'are you Irish, ARE YOU IRISH?!' And I was like 'No I'm Scottish' (but I was sure I was going to get beaten up because, let's be honest, if he's like this to someone who's Irish then he'll not exactly be hunky Dory with Scots), but when I said that his demenor did a 180 and he was all 'oh right, you're cool, sorry to bother you' and walked off."
"And that's the story of when I was nearly hatecrimed because someone thought I was Irish."
– OhHiGCHQ
Red Flags
"Went out for a drink with a pretty girl I got talking to on a bus. She was a bit awkward, but seemed kinda fun. She kept talking about her roommate, and the crazy hi-jinks they got up to. She even joked that we would have a threesome if I went back to her place."
"We went back to hers... at which point I found out that her roommate was a barbie doll that she talked to like it was a real person. Her place clearly hadn't been cleaned for years, and the toilet was full of green 'matter.'"
"The final straw for me was when I stepped on her cat's corpse..."
Not The Basement
"Couple of years ago I was picking up a chair I had bought from craigslist. I drove to this guys house and got a creepy vibe instantly when I stepped inside, for reasons I can't really understand to this day. After a minute or so of small talk, where he was mostly busy staring at me and not completely focused on the conversation, he asked me to follow him down to the basement where the chair supposedly was. As he went for the staircase he raised the volume of the music playing to a level that was distinctly louder than normal."
"I noped the f'k out and went straight home again."
In middle school, I was not a popular kid. So it surprised me when my fellow classmates who were viewed as "popular" actually engaged in a conversation with me during lunch when I was sitting by myself.
They asked me what my favorite food was and what TV shows I watched. I genuinely thought they were interested in me, but I was also skeptical about their forced friendliness.
My suspicions were confirmed when, in my peripheral vision, I saw their buddies dragging a trashcan over towards me.
I blurted, "gotta go!" and I darted. Those jerks were going to throw me in the garbage!
Chocolate milk hair and spaghetti sauce-drenched shirt was avoided that day, thanks to my gut instincts. Damn bullies.
I was visiting family in LA and I randomly suggested we check out the places we went to when my older brother and I were younger.
One day, we decided to visit the house where I was born.
I have no memory of that house near East Los Angeles since we moved to another house when I was two. But we pulled up to the house and I got out of the car and looked around the front yard.
A guy emerged from the home and we locked eyes. I didn't say anything out of fear went back into the car where my family sat waiting. My mother, however, insisted I go back out and explain to the guy why we were there in order to avoid further suspicion.
The man understandably stared me down and I told him this was the house where I was born. His surly expression changed instantly and he insisted my family come inside and meet his mom and dad and tour their home.
Under different circumstances, I'm not sure if we would have experienced the same outcome. To me, this is my one-in-a-million story.
Curious to hear from strangers online, Redditor IcarusTheTaker asked:
"(Serious) What is your "1 In a Million" story?"
Connections
Interactions with strangers led to mind-blowing discoveries for these Redditors.
Family Secrets
"My dad died when I was 12. We had a favorite picture of him that my uncle made prints of and gave to us kids, and my two half-brothers, as well as other family members."
"Fast forward 15 years or so. My brother and his roommate are at a bar and pick up a couple of women and bring them back to their place. The women spend the night. The next morning, the woman that slept with my brother's roommate sees my dad picture on the mantle, turns white and says 'Who's that?'"
"That's my roommates dad. He passed away a while ago."
"Oh, thank God! I REALLY need to talk to him."
"That's how we found out we had a half-sister we never knew about."
"My dad got a girl pregnant in highschool and she decided to go it alone. She moved across the state and never contacted my dad other than to say it's a girl and what her name was."
"Our half sister never knew what dad's name was until word got to her mom that he had died. The mom contacted our mom and they had a conversation. My mom had known everything and had kept it to herself. My mom then had a copy of the photo sent."
"Half sister was visiting her friend, when they met up with my brother and roommate in a random bar in a random city."
"Family secrets, man."
Passengers
"My friend was on the tube (london) and was forced to get off at an earlier stop due to line works. He was relatively new to london and didnt know what to do so he got talking to a guy who sat opposite him and he was heading the same way and he welcomed my friend to come with him. They started making small talk and asked about where they were from originally. Turns out the guy was from the next town over from where he lived. The next part is where it really gets 1 in a million. When my friend said that he knew the town and told him where he was from, the guy is like 'no way, my grandma used to live there' The guys grandma lived next to my friend, and it turns out they used to play together when were around 5/6 years of age (they are both around 30 at this time). When they realised this they recognised eachother."
"If the train never had to stop they would have carried on their journeys and never known."
High School Buddy
"Went to New Orleans for Halloween a few years ago with a few friends. Ended up at the famous Cafe Du Monde for some Beignets. Was sitting at our table with my 4 travel friends, when I let out a loud laugh."
"Right behind me I hear someone say 'wtf, I know that laugh, that's gotta be whopper68!'. I turn around as he turns around. It's an old high school buddy that had just gotten off a plane on a last second trip decision to fly to New Orleans to meet his fiancé's parents before they flew back home."
"Hadn't seen em in 10+years."
Familiar Face
"I was on a motor vehicle collision call out as a volunteer fire fighter. There was freezing rain on the Trans Canada highway and around 30 cars in the ditch. I checked on one lady in a flat bed tow truck who looked distraught because she just wrecked her vehicle. After speaking with her she seemed okay and I went about my business."
"A couple of years later I was hanging out with friends and family around Christmas and my brother-in-law mentioned he had a flight attendant friend staying over on her day off. She seemed really familiar, and after a while I figured out that she was the lady in the vehicle I checked in on during the freezing rain accident! What are the chances?"
People Share The 'Dirty Secrets' That Their Bosses Don't Want Customers To Know
There's a lot businesses hope their customers believe, and there are many business practices you wouldn't dare believe. These are some of the secrets Reddit ...Odds
Luck of the draw? Right place and time? Who knows?
Dad's Luck
"Me and my dad were on a hike, in the middle of the woods. We brought out knives, for whittling. So, we are carving out sticks, and he accidentally cuts himself. Nothing too bad, but it was big enough that you can't ignore. Then he notices something under the rock he is sitting on. It is a box, with a multiple bandaids in it."
"Also whenever he is looking for a parking spot, he finds one, right in front of where he needs to go."
What Are The Odds
"I have a distant relative that was an author. I'm always trying to find the few books of hers that I don't have. I bought a copy of one off a used book seller via the internet several years ago. When it came it had an inscription inside the front cover from the author to my grandmother (I'm sure it's her, she had a very unique nickname). This book had come out of my grandmother's library and been around the country to come back to me!"
Small World
"I met a girl on a bus in Mexico traveling to Guadalajara. We sat next to each other and hit it off. She was only in Mexico for another couple of days but we exchanged numbers. We never ended up staying in contact but ran into each other 8 years later in Oklahoma City and found out that her family grew up with my best friend's family. Crazy stuff!"
The Dodge King
"So here is the shortened version, i was playing dodgeball and was the last one on my team, i had three people throw a ball at me at the same time, i walked forward with my arms out as if accepting the fact that I couldn't dodge it even if i tried, and then they all barely missed me, never happened again and when i play dodgeball with the same people everyone calls me the dodge king and wont attack me."
Free Car On Tinder
"I met a girl on tinder, she came over and we... Well anyway before she left she told me she'd like me to go to her house the next day so i said sure! The next day she gives me her address and its in a different state but i live relatively close so i head over and she tells me to park out front by the mail box, ok sure. I go inside and we start making tea and just as the water starts to boil i hear a CRASH... Her 89 year old neighbor totaled my car, a lil dinky '95 saturn, with her brand new mercedes. So now im stuck. In another state. With a girl ive known for, oh about 16 hours.
Well she feels TERRIBLE and has me stay the night and takes me to work in the morning. Well at work i get a call from Mr. Tinder girl saying how he understands ive been friends with his daughter for a while and he heard what happened and is literally buying me a car while on the phone with him! Turns out he was a multi millionaire and worked on Wall st."
"No i did not stay with her. Money can buy negative happiness apparently and also spoil you rotten."
"R.I.P. Michael J. Fox, my '95 Saturn that shook a lot, thanks for the insurance money :'|"
– newguyay
Drunk Hotel Heiress
"Amazing story!"
"I was on a vacation with some friends and on our way home from a alcohol and other things infused night we found a girl sleeping on a bench right in front of a closed coffe shop. As she was clearly not a hobo (judging from her clothing) we tried to wake her up and talk to her, because in this part of the city it was very unsafe, especially for a young girl dressed up for a night in the club... She was very drunk and could barely talk, after a couple of minutes she vomited and was desperately embarrassed. We weren't so sure of what to do, she was starting to feel save around us but was clearly very uncomfortable. We managed to get her address from her and decided to order a taxi. We were five guys, so we decided three of us should just head home, while I and a friend brought the girl to her apartment. Finally there, we asked for her keys, when she realized that she had lost her bag!
We called our buddies but none of them answered their phones. Well, we weren't exactly sober so we decided to smash in the door to her place, brought her to bed and wrote a short letter, mentioning the broken door, that her bag was missing and left an anonymous email-address for her to contact us if she wanted. Right when we got out of her appartment our buddies called, he had her bag, totally forgot that he took it when she was vomiting (as mentioned, a lot of alcohol has flown this night...). He took a cab and brought us the bag, we went up there again, put the bag beside her bed, plugged in the phone, saw a friend of hers was concerned, unlocked the phone with the passed out girls fingerprints, wrote a message to calm her concerned friend, plugged the phone to recharge, and added some lines to the before-mentioned letter."
"We headed home to sleep out our intoxication."
"The next day around noon we got an email from the girl. She was in the city for university, the apartment was not rented but BOUGHT by her father just so she has a place to live near uni. Her father was the owner of the second most expensive and exclusive hotel in the country. She was very, very thankful, said the smashed door was no problem at all, and after speaking to her father, we all have an all-inclusive weekend at the hotel for free!"
Genetics
Uncommon medical conditions and egg mutations take the spotlight.
Mutated Egg
"I cracked an egg and two yolks came out. I cracked another and three yolks came out. This was one after the other. Or consecutive as you might say in English."
"English isn't my first language, sorry for any mistakes."
Fascinating Patient
"I have 3 different unrelated liver diseases the odds of having all three is about 1/ 2,000,000."
"I have Non alcohol fatty liver disease (1/4) weight related, hemochromatosis (1/300) genetic, alpha 1 antitrypsin deficiency (1/1700) genetic."
"The two genetic conditions are in completely unrelated genes, it was just bad luck!"
"The docs tell me I am fascinating medically, My blood test results are somewhat wacky, when they did a liver biopsy my liver was bright orange (its normally dark red / purple) but I am still alive and not expected to die anytime soon."
Physical Anamoly
"I was born with a hole in the internal walls in my heart."
"Apparently this is pretty rare."
– sorude27
Miracle Being Alive
"Took a common medication for a sinus infection when I was 15, and ended up with something called Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis Syndrome. The 'lesser' but more well known is called Steven Johnson's Syndrome."
"Basically it's a reaction that acts like a burn, attack's your mucous membranes and your skin blisters up and peels off. Like, I had no face, and almost all the skin north of my legs was gone. Pretty much awful."
"If I remember correctly the case rate is like 1 per million per year, and the mortality rate is basically tied to the % of skin you lose. Most lose 10-30%, I ended up losing 80%. Spent 2 months in ICU burn unit. An absolute miracle I'm alive. I didn't even end up needing skin grafts and didn't get infections which are a big issue when you just...don't have skin. To look at me now you'd never know, except for some uneven skin tone and low profile white spiderwebbing scars where the "burns" were deepest."
Continuing with my one-in-a-million story, my family accepted the invitation and we walked around. The family was warm, kind, and let us take pictures.
My family was ecstatic and emotional walking around in a familiar environment.
We took a group photo in the living room with the current homeowners before we left, and the guy I initially had contact with told me his mother said we were welcome to visit again any time, and that they would serve us Menudo. (They were a lovely Mexican family.)
I'm glad my mom insisted I go back and explain to the son why we were there. Had it been a different – and not as welcoming – family, we probably would never get to have that night of enjoying Menudo we are now looking forward to.
This example of a Japanese and a Mexican family interacting despite a language barrier between parents was an example of the American dream my dad sought for after leaving Japan so many years ago.