People Share The Absolute Craziest Names They've Ever Come Across
Reddit user Soy_nanami asked: 'What's the ugliest name you've ever come across?'
Naming a child with a unique name can be quite a challenge, but it is one that many people are willing to take on.
However, there are risks involved.
You don't want to come across as unoriginal, but you also don't want to burden the child with a lifetime of mockery and ridicule for a moniker that didn't seem silly at the time of the naming.
While some people succeed at this, others fail miserably and...well, poor child.
Curious to hear of epic name fail, Redditor Soy_nanami asked:
"What's the ugliest name you've ever come across?"
There's a theme going on here.
"My sister has classmates named Pigeon and Beans."
– Abug_sa_Yawa
"Wait, one was Pigeon and another was Beans, or one poor unfortunate soul was Pigeon And Beans?"
– rancidtuna
If The Names Fit
"my sister had classmates in the 5th grade that were Levi, Jean, Denim, and Blu. not so much ugly I guess. but their names together make a sentence. Blu Denim Levi Jeans."
– puppycatisselfish
"The twins. Fly and button."
– 111110001011
It's A Choice
"X Æ A-XII "It's pronounced 'Kyle' ... F'k off Musk"
– The_Evil_Owl
"No, it's 'Ash.'"
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/05/08/musk-grimes-baby-name/
– rdickeyvii
"I thought it was pronounced Sasha but it's anyone's guess."
– Cali_4_nia
These don't roll off the tongue so easily.
Name Fit For A Villain
"My Great, Great Aunt DARTHULA. She hated the name so much she signed her marriage certificate as 'Thuley'. I had a helluva time tracking her down because of this 🤣"
– StevenGaryStout
"Darth ula was the dark Lord of the family, so powerful and so wise, she could even keep the ones she cared about, from Karens."
– ResistRacism
See Ya Later
"Adeusmano."
"I live in south America. This would be something like "Goodbyebro.'"
– Raigheb
Unfortunate Correlation
"Candida (as in Candida Doyle of Pulp). I'm sorry. What a name. Like the genital fungus?"
– samit2heck
"It's rather sad that these Latin-influenced names have these collocations now. It's a pretty cool name, and means 'white' or 'bright.'"
– curmudgeonpl
Getting into NSFW territory.
Oh Myyy
"A guy I know is called Nuttaporn. Nutty for short."
– pantheonofpolyphony
"Porn is very common in Thai names."
– grosselisse
"I've seen quite a few over years in a call centre but Kok Hung Lo was my all time favourite name."
– bigredmidget
Bordering On A Slur
"I served with a guy in the military whose surname is Fagg, you refer to everyone in the military by their surname. You can imagine how that went down."
– Weak-Tap-5831
"Oooh, the military. Last names were sometimes unfortunately hilarious. The two that come to mind immediately are Browneye ('Browneye aye!') and a girl whose last name was Guzzler or Guzzlar (in the Navy, the third enlisted rank’s title was “Seaman”, which everyone in my rate started out as)"
– Game_Changing_Pawn
They Got Around
"Slutt. Prounced slooth."
– Huge-Advantage7838
"How to make sure your kid gets bullied."
– heisl_
"You can’t fix stupid."
– hyperion420
"People will pronounce that however they please."
– SappySoulTaker
Her Dad Was The Worst
"Went to school back in the 90s and 2000s with a girl named Ashely Head. It came to light one day back in jr. High that her dad's name was Richard 'Dick' Head and their number was listed in the phone book. The prank calls came so fast."
– gil_beard
A Little Jarring
"A friend's mum was called Kunti. Maybe it's not ugly but you definitely get a shock when you hear it the first few times."
– Teefdreams
"Kunti is a common name in India. It’s not pronounced Cuhnty. The u is pronounced like the u in Uber."
– Ill-Inspector7980
It wasn't the ugliest name but a friend told me about a guy he knew whose name was Otis.
His surname was Payne.
While I personally think it's a cool name when read together, I'm sure he was subjected to lots of mockery.
So, if you read this Otis Payne, I feel for you for all the ribbing, or "Payne" you must've suffered through.
"Ohhh-dis Payne!"
Staying at a decent hotel can be a luxurious experience–whether it's during a vacation or a business trip.
It's a temporary home away from home, and the change of scenery from the confines of your bedroom at home is like a breath of fresh air.
Curious to hear from hotel employees about the bizarre incidences that have transpired on their watch, Redditor Slider-678 asked:
"Hotel workers, what is your craziest story?"
If you think the cleaning staff is expected to always go above and beyond by doing more than just turning down the bed, you have another think coming.
Why I Quit My Job
"I worked in a decent hotel in college, was the night auditor. One night the police came in and went directly to a room around 2am. They escorted a prostitute out and asked to speak to the manager."
"After they were done speaking with my manager the officer handed me the phone and she told me to go in and clean up the room. I never made beds or did any of that so I wasn't sure exactly what she wanted. I went to the room and there was trash everywhere. There were uncapped syringes, used packages that had contained drugs and general filth everywhere. I called the manager back to tell her that I wasn't touching anything because of the uncapped syringes. They were literally all over the place and I wasn't going to pick up piles of clothes or move blankets."
"The manager said that if I didn't clean the room I was fired. I said fine, you have a half an hour to get here because I am leaving. I was the only one there overnight. As she pulled into the parking lot a short time later I walked over to my car, didn't even wait for her to get inside."
– EntrepreneurNo1145
Slow Attacker
"Working at a luxury hotel, I once got a call to remove a snail from a guests room as it was 'coming after them' and that they were 'afraid for their young child.'”
– Additional-Car2163
Rage is real.
Deescalating Violence
"I worked night shift, and was the only employee in the entire hotel from 11pm to 6am. Around 3 am I get a few calls about a fight in an upstairs hallway. I grab a pair of scissors and tuck it up my sleeve and make my way upstairs to see what is going on. When I get there there are 2 guys having a full on brawl. I'm 6,2 and very broad shouldered, but these guys were taller and ripped as hell."
"As I approached a 3rd guy, just as large as the other 2, comes out of a room with a knife yelling 'get the f'k off him'. I stop a ways away and just shout at them. They all stop immediately and look at me. I'm getting ready to run for it when they all just deflate. Knife guy drops the knife, the others let go of eachother, they all hang their head, and one mumbles 'I'm sorry.' under his breath."
"They looked like a bunch of toddlers who had just gotten caught stealing cookies. I told them they would have to leave right now, or I would call the police, and they all just nodded. They followed me onto the elevator, and spent the whole time apologizing and pouting while I escorted them out. I have never seen a situation go from 100 to 0 so fast."
– Vypernorad
Standoff Over A Girl
"Some guest was in the parking lot, waving a gun around & threatening to shoot up the place, resulting in a tense stand-off with cops for about an hour before they finally took him down (alive). The impetus behind the whole thing? He, his buddy, & the buddy's wife had gone out that night with the intent that the wife was gonna let the gun guy f'k her up the a**, but she got cold feet at the last minute and they locked him out of the room when he got mad. So, yeah, he was so drunk and wanted to tap that a** so badly that he decided to threaten a whole hotel."
– throwtheclownaway20
Kitchen Brawl
"High strung cook had an argument with a-type bistro attendant. It just kept escalating to a pull-apart brawl when a kitchen knife got involved. The pair crashed through the swinging door and was rolling on the carpet when the regional manager just happened to be walking in. Cops were called, I think both got fired or arrested."
– The68Guns
These items left behind by former hotel room occupants are not your everyday pick of the litter.
The New Employee
"I have a friend that owns a small motel just off a highway. I would hang out with him and chat on some late nights. One night, he got a call that one of the guest heard a loud crash in the room next door. Checked the computer and saw that the room was unoccupied. Friend and I go to check it out. We knock and there is no answer. He opens the door and there was a cat in the room."
"It knocked over a lamp and smashed it. It was super friendly and came right to us. We took it back to the office and looked at the room records. The prior person that was in the room abandoned the cat when he checked out three days earlier. He was already on the other side of the country when we called him, and he said he was not coming back for the cat."
"My friend took ownership of the cat and now she is the motel cat. She walks all around the property and takes care of any mice or critters. She even has her picture on the wall as one of the 'employees'. Not sure why the maid service did not see it when the room was being cleaned. We think that the vacuum scared the cat and she hid somewhere. Still was a dick move of the old owner to leave the cat behind."
– mrsheikh
"Someone left their boa at ours. Who knows where it was hiding when the housekeepers cleaned the room, but when the next guests checked in and crawled into the bed, it was under the pillows. It scared them SO bad. We had to call animal control to come get it."
– bittyitty
Is It Alive?
"Found one of those black fuzzy caterpillars in a room. I carried it outside, oh so carefully not to lose it. Put it down on sidewalk and it didn't move. I picked it back up to make sure it was alive and realized it was someone's fake eye lash."
– Love-Dizzy
People are wild.
A Whiff Of Senior Sex
"When I was 15 I was a bus boy at a local resort (Little America, Cheyenne, WY). Occasionally, the restaurant I worked in would ask one of the bus staff to deliver room service to one of the rooms, they always asked male staff for safety reasons."
"On one occasion I was asked to deliver a tray to a room. I took the tray to the room and a scantily clad woman answered the door. I never went in the room but could see there were about 8-9 men and woman in their 60’s-70’s (almost all of them nude) in the room. . . even at 15 I knew the room smelled like sex. I remember I was tipped well."
"Went back to work, no one ever asked how things went and I never really mentioned it to anyone because I didn’t think anyone would believe me."
– wyoflyboy68
Ask And Ye Shall Recieve
"Probably not the best story to share on politically-correct Reddit, but I also worked room service in my late teens. There was a female waitress in the restaurant that constantly complained about the males-only policy for room service. After weeks of being chewed on, the hotel manager finally relented and let her carry every other order. She lasted 2 weeks before she said no more and quit doing room service."
"I saw my fair share of sexcapades, but she was getting the full-frontal nude creepers ordering one drink at a time. Poor girl wasn't prepared for all of that. This would have been late 1980's."
– PantherChicken
Sure, a getaway in a nice hotel is always something to look forward to.
But based on some of these stories, ignorance is bliss.
That doesn't keep me from peeling off the bed covers that are presumably never washed and keeping my shoes on in the rooms I've booked for vacations.
After all, who knows what remains trapped in all of the fabrics and draperies?
If only hotel walls could speak.
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...
The best stories are ones with exciting plot twists.
But the next best type of stories are the ones that continue spiraling out of control.
Curious to hear examples of this, Redditor _Mitnix_ asked:
"What's your best 'oh you thought this was bad, it gets worse' story?"
It's story time. You may want to buckle up.
It All Started With A Cat
"This is a long one, but I promise it's worth it:"
"A buddy of mine was cat-sitting for a friend of his while the guy was out of town on a vacation. My buddy didn't have a car, so the dude told him that if he needed to go out and pick up more cat food or anything, he could borrow the car."
"At the time, my buddy was living right down the street from this guy, staying at his parents' house. So my buddy was just going over for a few hours each day to feed the cat and keep it company, then going back home."
"Meanwhile, he's also been flirting with this woman online. She lives several states away, but he feels like they seem to be getting pretty serious. So he decides to take some liberties, really push the envelope on where he'll pick up cat food from, and he takes his friend's car on a little multi-state road trip."
"This is insane, right? Just atrociously bad judgement, especially since someone does need to feed the cat. To solve this, he left his parents a note. It read, 'I am camping in the woods behind our house. Please go over to ____'s and feed his cat. I'll let you know when I'm home.'"
"Boom. Problem solved, right?"
"Except that the 'woods behind our house' are about 20 yards deep. It takes less than five minutes to walk through them and come out into the neighboring housing development. So his parents went looking for him, calling out for him, and couldn't find him. They got worried and contacted a family friend, a local police officer. He subsequently got a hold of the fire department. There was a full-on search party combing through about 1/50th of an acre of woods. Unsurprisingly, they were coming up with nothing."
"This was before cell phones were common, so my buddy was completely unaware that his plan had fallen apart. He was cruising along on his 12-hour drive, expecting to get to this girl's house just in time for dinner. Except he didn't have a GPS. So he got lost. Very lost. Like, by the time he turned up at this woman's house, it was almost midnight."
"When he got there, she was crying her eyes out. He assured her that it was okay, he was fine, wasn't hurt or in a wreck or anything, he'd just gotten lost. And she said, 'No, no, I wasn't worried about you. My dad just died in a motorcycle accident.'"
"So he bailed on his cat-sitting duties, stole a car, and inspired his parents to file a missing-persons just so he could awkwardly watch a woman cry for a few hours and then drive back home."
– GavinBelsonsAlexa
The Beekeeper's Nightmare
"I will try to keep it short. I am a beekeeper. My 3rd year of beekeeping, I suddenly developed a severe allergy to bee stings. It was spring and I was installing bees for the beginning of the season. I was up to the last hive, went to install that package of bees and one stung me right in the top of my head."
"I finished up a few minutes after and went up toward the house to do some other things. I started feeling flush and I could feel my heart racing. After I few minutes I realized I was having an anaphylactic reaction."
"If you’ve never had one, aside from the physical symptoms, they also say you will get a feeling of impending doom. That was spot on. I absolutely felt I was going to die and people do die from these reactions."
"So I am now in the house and desperately searching for Benadryl of which I have none. I am also having trouble breathing, my body is going haywire and I feel like I’m going to black out shortly."
"I call my mom, who lives an hour away, to call 911 because I feel like I will be unconscious soon. She says okay, phone rings 30 seconds later. It’s my mom, she goes 'I called 911 but they said you have to call'. This was my first wtf."
"So I call and it’s a very typical 911 call she is trying to keep me talking and I essentially started vomiting and she is still on the line and I am waiting and waiting for this alleged ambulance."
"A full half hour goes by. At this point I am actually coming out of the reaction. So I go to sit at my kitchen counter. I’m still on the line with the 911 dispatcher. I see the ambulance pull up and I say, oh they’re here. She’s like great, are you okay? I’m like yes and then she says goodbye and hangs up."
"I see the EMTs outside but my driveway has a gate so they are just standing there and they ring the bell on my gate and I am just looking at them, dumbfounded. Like I called for an emergency over a half hour ago, and they’re gonna roll up here and ring my bell and wait for me to come out when I more than likely could be unconscious or dead on the floor."
"I literally had to go out and let them in. Then they basically talked me in to going to the hospital to get checked out. Another huge mistake because this took place in the 2 months in my entire life when I didn’t have health insurance. So I ended up paying $4000 for a late ambulance and some IV Benadryl and epinephrine."
"Oh which also reminds me, a paramedic also showed, put the IV in when I agreed to go to the hospital. Then I felt something dripping and turns out he put it in my artery rather than a vein and it was just pushing the fluid out of the IV."
"0/10 would not go through any of that again…but I did 10 years later when I had another anaphylactic reaction due to a bee sting. However this went a lot smoother and I had epi-pens and a responsive ambulance."
– soline
Oil Everywhere
"Arrive home from work, my house reeks of oil."
"Go in the basement, and there's a pool of oil, with my stuff floating in it. The oil filter on my burner rotted out (it was defective and recalled, but the tech never bothered to notify me or replace it). Call up the tech, he throws a new one, charges me the emergency call fee, and advises I call HO insurance before running away (it was his fault, I didn't know it yet)."
"This was February in NY, about 13F out, and obviously the burner wasn't on while sitting in a pool of oil. But, they get there pretty quickly soak it up, and get things running so my pipes don't freeze."
"Only way to get the smell out is to dry clean everything I own, then shampoo all the carpets, run deodorizers, etc. Takes weeks. Had a headache the whole time."
"Turns out, my basement has cracks, most of it leaked through. They had to cut out my foundation and dig out the contaminated soil."
"Oil in soil means DEC gets involved. Whole new can of worms as they now had to monitor the process, test at every step. Big enough deal I have a spill number in their database."
"A 20 yard dumpster, with 20 yards of oil soaked sand, is so heavy that it broke through my driveway, destroying it. They did that twice, took out my entire driveway."
"Remember how I said this was in February? March brought the COVID shutdown."
"I spent over a year with my basement in shambles, holes in my driveway, plastic sheets taped up, no washer/dryer, and all sorts of equipment kicking around."
"The next spring, they're back and working, and screwed everything up. Not going to get into every detail, but after a big fight, I managed to get rid of them and bring in a new company to fix their screwups and finish the job. Old crew got very difficult when the new crew requested permits and reports. Turns out, they never bothered. Had to do all that before they could start working again."
"New company dropped a storage crate on my yard to store my stuff while working, destroyed my grass, took out a sprinkler, took out my neighbor's driveway curb, got concrete all over my brickwork, but at least the nightmare was finally over."
– MyNameIsRay
The Depressed Employee
"I worked with a guy who had previously dealt with 999/911 calls. He got very stressed out by it, so ended up getting a job spending a year looking after the ground for some gentry estate in Scotland to get over it."
"After that he came to work for us in it support for a while. He was really nice, really friendly, but he got stressed by everything remotely negative. If he couldn't solve a problem straight away it would throw him for a loop. He needed a smoke break every hour. We gave him the support we could as an employer, time outs, pretty much what we could within reason but he wasn't really with it."
"Eventually he quit. I saw him a few times after that, always shaking, scared to cross the road even. His partner left him."
"The last I recall seeing him was him walking up the other side of the street. I called out but he didn't reply."
"And then he threw himself in front of a train."
– ASK_IF_IM_PENGUIN
In Deep Grief
"My dad was cheating on my mom with a woman a year younger than me (22) when he was mid 40's."
"Christmas time, he's sitting in church next to my mom crying, but won't tell her why."
"Younger brother knows dad is cheating and thinks maybe the side piece broke up with him and so confronts him."
"Turns out girl died in a car crash."
– Business_Loquat5658
The Seance Gone Wrong
"A work friend told me about a party where some of his friends decided to prank a mate of his. The target was one of the underdogs in the group, and he was often the butt of their japes."
"In advance of the party the pranksters jig-sawed a hole in the top of a coffee table that was going to be thrown out. With a cloth thrown over it the coffee table looked fine."
"Anyway, when the party was well and truly underway at one point the host suggested they hold a seance. Everyone who was in on the prank agreed, and a large group of guests clustered round the coffee table where, unbeknownst to the intended victim, one of the guests was hiding, concealed under the table and the cloth."
"So the seance started and the host started intoning spookily, something like...'Eddie...!...I hear a VOICE, Eddie! It's someone who knows YOU, Eddie!'"
"The guy at this point is white and starting to tremble while the room is chuckling behind their hands."
"The voice wants you to go closer to the table so you can hear their voice, Eddie! Closer! Closer!"
"Eddie is wide-eyed with terror at this point and goes close to the table - at a signal, the guy hidden underneath the table stuck his arm up through the hole in the top of the coffee table as if a spooky form was rising up from the table surface under the sheet."
"Eddie flipped. I mean, Eddie FREAKED. While the room laughed he collapsed in tears, hyperventilating, screaming, sobbing, thrashing around. He was past inconsolable, it seemed like he'd lapsed into absolute psychological breakdown, and it didn't at all help when the prank was revealed to him."
"As he lay on the floor hysterical and literally inconsolable, one of the guests finally made the decision to call his mother - who was furious when she heard about the prank, because Eddie's father had passed away a few days before, and he hadn't told anyone."
"In the end it seems they had to call 999 and a medic arrived who sedated him. I don't know if he went in for observation or was allowed home, but you can bet that the hosts got grounded and ass-kicked by parents left, right, and centre after word got round."
– MagicSPA
These Redditors have been dealt with some major blows.
People who say that things will always get better, are partially right. Things do come around, eventually.
But you never know how many curve balls life has to throw at you until there's a resolution.
Want to "know" more?
Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
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*The following article contains discussion of suicide/self-harm.
Many of us strive to do better in life and be the best versions of ourselves.
At least that's the hope since there is always room for improvement for the good of humanity.
But in order to take the necessary steps, we must first acknowledge our missteps and learn from them.
And sometimes, in spite of our best intentions, life can deal to us unexpected blows, and it's up to us to rise above it all.
Curious to hear about life experiences from strangers, Redditor MikBrasil asked:
"People of Reddit, what is the situation that you thought to yourself 'Yeah, this is my all-time low?'"
A series of bad life choices and circumstances led people to experiences their biggest regrets.
Nowhere To Go But Up
"Last year my mental health finally hit rock bottom. I was over my marriage, I hate being in the military, and I had little to no interest in anything. I drank heavily for about a month. I’m talkin whole handles in a day."
"One of those nights I planned to take my life. I was going to write out my note to the family and sit in my shower, bathroom door locked, and blow my brains out. I got as far as putting the barrel in my mouth but I was the only one with my kids and I couldn’t bring myself to do it."
"Next day I had a psychiatric appointment and told them about my struggles and my plans to kill myself. They shipped me off to a mental health program for military members. I was there for two months going thru therapy, processing my traumas, and learning all of the science behind mental health."
"During that time my wife left me for another man, moved out of our home, and I had no idea until I got out and returned to an empty home. I think that time of my life and really that moment after I got home to an empty house, after working my a** off to better my mental health, definitely was the lowest point of my life."
"But on the bright side a year later I’m a lot happier. There’s no where to go but up once you hit that all time low."
– Manonthemoonxv
A Family Problem
"When I went to my ex-wife’s parents to plead for help dealing with their gambling addicted daughter. Poured my guts out explaining that if we didn’t get help for her soon we’d lose the only house our 3 sons have ever known. Over the last year we were together I stopped counting her loses once I hit $100k. Casino apps are no joke."
"Anyway, her parents explained they had no idea en would step in asap. 2 weeks later my ex and her family got together over the weekend. They didn’t tell me anything other than keep an eye on the boys. No problem, figured it was an intervention."
"Nope. They all went to the casino together. I filed 2 months later after realizing I could secure the house for my kids."
– andS0NS
A Dark And Lonely Period
"For me it was the time I invested my money, my time and lost my relationship for an agency I built with my best friend. That was a solid 3 years then he(my bestfriend) took all our clients and team and made a new agency and left me with all the debts and misery. Yep that was my All time low, no love-life, no money, no work, and disappointed my family. fast forward 3 years, Almost done paying my debts, created a new team, new clients, but it was a hard 3 years to do it all by myself."
– stevedeleon1991
For some, it doesn't get any lower than body image and body functions.
Health Problem
"When I got in my car and my gut was so big that even with the seat as far back as it could go, it would dig into the steering wheel. I had to suck in my gut before making turns."
"Heaviest i'd been in my life. 100 lbs down from that weight though. Still going strong."
– ThatoneguyTonight
Mudslide
"When I had been on a 3 day party trip and was going back to my apartment on the train. Started to sweat like mad and my stomach did NOT feel good. Tried to waddle myself home like a penguin, clenching my buttcheeks all the way. About 200m from my apartment building it didn’t work anymore and I sh*t my pants."
"Had to then sh*t the rest out on the pavement, and get home asap. I don’t think you could even measure the level of shame, anxiety and stupidity I felt at that time"
– manwithtubeinhishead
People who struggled with addiction shared their stories.
Publicly Embarrassed
"The amount of times I a grown woman have peed myself in public, drunk is insane. Anyway, I'm two weeks sober today and never touching the sh*t again in my life. Here's to you doing better too. You got this, my boy."
– IreallEwannasay
Faced With Ultimatum
"I was at work, still drunk from the night before. I was starting to panic realizing that I would have a client in my office in a half hour and I looked like sh*t and felt worse."
"The kicker? I worked in a drug and alcohol treatment center. I was the financial person and did the intake process with every client before they went to see their counselor."
"I ended up going to my boss, fessing up, admitting that I had a problem and being told that I needed to get help or I’d have to be let go. I was faced with losing my job, which would lead to losing my home and probably custody of my child. I realized I was on the path to becoming my father and stepmother and I did NOT want that. I had to make a choice and my whole life hinged on that choice."
"I’ve been sober over 17 years now."
– FairyDustSailor
Regretful Trade
"I pawned my wedding ring to get money to feed my pill addiction. It opened my eyes though and I ended up cleaning up after a few more months and getting my ring back. My wife worked her ass off to buy me that ring and I was such an addicted piece of sh*t that I pawned it for a fix. Glad that moment finally woke me up though. 11 years clean now."
– 1980pzx
Keeping Inventory
"When I think to myself 'do I have enough alcohol to get myself through the weekend?' and buy a bottle of Vodka just in case. Then spending the weekend feeling like sh*t and hating myself wondering why I'm not happy."
"Negative feedback loops exist and are a b*tch. If you get remove yourself from it for 2 weeks, I promise you'll get better."
"Edit: it's a positive feedback loop, even though the experience is negative. It builds on itself."
– YargainBargain
These Redditors didn't plan to end up where they found themselves.
The Accident Survivor
"Woke up with a tube down my throat, brace around my neck, cuts and bruises everywhere, unable to move with two cops right above me. I had to sit there while they explained to me I was hit by a driver who ran a light. I had to drop out of school for a year, lost my job and was in/out of treatments for over a year."
"All because of someone’s stupid decision."
"Edit: should have mentioned this, I wasn’t in a car. I was crossing a well lite crosswalk. And yes, I waited until the sign turned green and looked around for cars, still wasn’t enough to save me."
– BranwenTheRiveter
Living Conditions
"When I rented a 'room' in a house, and it was the 4’ x 7’ floor space behind a home basement bar, you could smell the dead rats in the wall."
– Canary_Trap
Rude Awakening
"Psych ward. I remember waking up and thinking 'I never thought I'd see this day.'"
– IntrepidMage
The incidents these Redditors experienced were beyond their control.
Devastating Discovery
"The day I found my fiance dead in her tub after having a seizure. It has been a little over a year now and I'm definitely doing better, but I don't think I'll ever have the happiness that i used to have."
– krummysunshine
Commiserating
"My brother died suddenly from a seizure, it still cuts deep. Her love for you will still be there, it will help you through the dark times too. When you’re ready to open your heart again, she will be happy for you. Remember she wouldn’t want you to be sad or alone. Big hugs x"
– heidivodka
Unfortunately, for many people, their life's wake-up call to do better doesn't come until they've scraped the bottom of the barrel.
Hopefully, those at their lowest lows can recognize the signs that will encourage them to get out of the rut.
They may not know it, but there is always someone caring enough to help guide them out of the darkness.
If you or someone you know is struggling, you can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
To find help outside the United States, the International Association for Suicide Prevention has resources available at https://www.iasp.info/resources/Crisis_Centres/