People Describe The Dumbest Thing They've Seen A Coworker Do On The Job
Reddit user Adrian0091 asked: 'What‘s the dumbest thing you‘ve seen a coworker do on the job?'
When I was in college, I worked at a restaurant as a hostess. Since I previously only babysat and tutored, a restaurant was a whole knew world to me.
Two of the girls who worked the same days as me were the ones to train me. They were a couple of years older than I was and had been working there for a year already, so they had a lot of experience. They not only taught me how to do the job, but gave me a lot of tips to make some of the more tedious tasks easier.
They both seemed like responsible girls, so when I came in the week after my training was over, I was shocked to hear they were both fired. According to a server I'd become friends with, the girls had snuck in some alcohol on what was supposed to be a slow day (it was a Tuesday, which was always our slowest day) and decided to have a "party at the host stand."
They got completely wasted and basically kept tripping as they led guests to their seats, even as they told the guests to watch their step. When one of the girls accidentally poured a milkshake over one guest and had to call a manager to smooth things over, they were caught and fired on the spot. I was cringing at their stupidity!
Apparently, I'm not the only one who has had to deal with co-workers doing something utterly stupid while they were on the job. Redditors have borne witness to this and are eager to share their stories.
It all started when Redditor Adrian0091 asked:
"What‘s the dumbest thing you‘ve seen a coworker do on the job?"
Such A Pretty Display
"I asked one of the new kids to stack the shoe department."
"Easy if but a bit boring. I showed her, stack by brand then size, big at the bottom, small top yeah?"
"She decided to organise it by the color of the boxes instead because it looked prettier."
"Took me hours to fix that mess."
– Lizzy_Of_Galtar
Oooh, Burn! (Quite Literally)
"In high school, working at a Chinese restaurant, was there basically to take orders and bus tables. Another dude I vaguely knew from high school got hired there. Nice, popular dude, but not much common sense. Within his first two weeks, he went to make himself some food (we were allowed to do that to a certain extent), and he dropped some wontons into the deep fryer. When he decided they were done, and as we were having a conversation, he just REACHED HIS HAND into the oil to retrieve it. I don’t think I even reacted for a moment or two, and then rushed forward. He somehow ALSO didn’t react for a moment or two before pulling his hand out and yelling out a cartoon-style “YEEOUCH!”"
"He went to the hospital, and quit the job."
– CwAbandon
Umm...Huh?
"One dude once photocopied a slice of pizza. We found cheese and stuff inside the machine for weeks. Was pretty funny though."
– LinusMeindl
"Inside? Did the idiot put the pizza into the document feeder or something?"
– MechanicalHorse
"How else would you feed the machine pizza."
– andtheIToldYouSos
Spelling
"I saw a tattooist I worked with tattoo "Laugh now cry Ladder" across a guy's chest..."
"He was let go, and a few years later, a guy came in with "Warior" across his upper back in bold letters, wanting it fixed. Same tattooist lol."
– hurrythisup
"Cry me a ladder."
– Deleted User
"Cry me a liver."
– iqtrm
"Crimea river."
– MagicSPA
Yikes!
"Telling the manager on duty, “I’m not the one eating it, so why should I care?” when the manager was trying to explain to her how to correctly prepare a customer’s food."
– 2gecko1983
"Watched a coworker of mine at a Pizza Hut (1976) clean off the food prep counter with a gross floor broom. The kitchen was open, so people at the tables could see the food being made, and someone saw him and yelled out to the other customers, and people started walking out."
"Cleared it out."
"Once the manager figured out what happened, he fired the guy on the spot."
– big_d_usernametaken
Misstep After Misstep
"Admitted to not having spoken to any of the business stakeholders, but instead "made up their own story.""
"This was at the end of what was supposed to have been a four-week information-gathering phase of the project."
"That afternoon, when one of the managers went to escort her from the premises, they found her by the printer with a stack of confidential documents."
– WitShortage
No Cell Phones At Work
"Worked with a lot of hazardous chemicals. Had a coworker who was notorious for being on his phone. We had to use a pump to put a hazardous chemical into a tank. Problem was you couldn’t look at the destination and pump the pump at the same time. Someone had to pump and someone had to watch. So I specifically asked said coworker to not look at his phone this one time. Tank overflowed and spilt the chemical everywhere because he was staring at his phone. Took hours to clean up."
– BigTiddyOstrogothGF
"A coworker of mine was fired for using his cellphone in an electrically classified area, cell phone wasn't explosion proof, not to mention the fact no cell phones on the floor, they gave him a warning, second time they walked him out."
"Bad part for him was that his wife found out he was talking to his girlfriend."
"Twenty years down the tubes."
"As we liked to say, "He fired himself.""
– big_d_usernametaken
Ewww!
"A guy I worked with sent a spreadsheet round with all the women in the office ranked in a spreadsheet and graded overall based on 1-5."
"He was somehow shocked he didn’t pass his probation."
– downfallndirtydeeds
Thank God He Was Fired
"My best friend, he took his mop bucket and poured it down a water fountain instead of using the closet with a sink that was literally right next to the water fountain. He got fired the next day."
"He told me he was in “f**k it” mode with the job and he didn’t care. We worked at a hospital."
– MrFavorable
""Who cares if sick people get exposed to a little bit of antibiotic-resistant flesh-eating bacteria.""
– Brett42
Get Right Back Up
"There were 2 of us installing an air conditioner. He had a bit of work outside that required him going up a ladder about 3 or 4 feet, not high. I was inside doing wiring."
"I heard a loud thud and scream, so I ran out to see what happened. He fell off the ladder. I've seen gruesome injuries from stupid thing like this before, so I ran outside to help him out. No injuries, he picked himself up and got back at it, I went back inside."
"Five minutes later, same thing. I walked out to check on him again after a small fall. He was ok again, but I told him to chill out and watch what he's doing. I went back inside."
"Heard another thud from outside. He fell again. I just looked out the window the third time and went about my business."
– DrVanNostrand6
*Cringing*
"He opened a Skype window (yes, this was ~10 years ago) and started messaging me to sh*t-talk a person who was in the same call as us."
"Except, he forgot he was sharing his screen."
– zyygh
R.I.P. Press
"After checking the correct lock-out tag-out procedure was followed, I assured an employee that it was safe to change dies on a horizontal press. But he was skeptical so unbeknownst to anyone he put a piece of tooling steel about the size of a coffee can under the die base. Some of you know where this is going. He made the tooling change, forgot his “safety measure”, and cycled the press. We all heard a $400k press eat itself in a fantastic swan-song of a noise that would take Stephen King four pages to describe."
– Idontfeelold-much
The Stupidity Of The Human Race
"Late 90’s, I was a custodian in a NYC public school to pay for college. One of my coworkers accidentally spilled about 15 gallons of gasoline in the school parking lot. He didn’t want to get in trouble for spilling that much gas so he thought the best course of action was to burn off the gasoline. Of course gasoline burns with huge billows of black smoke so he panics and tries to put out the fire BY DRIVING HIS CAR OVER THE GIANT PUDDLE OF BURNING GASOLINE. Fire department shows up within minutes and sees him doing donuts in the giant fire and they spend a whole hour screaming at my coworker about how f**king stupid he was."
"Edit: and in 1997 when this happened, gas was 97¢ a gallon. He could have replaced all the gas for less than $15."
– -Words-Words-Words-
"I'm a veteran of the Internet, and enjoy reading accounts like this. I must have read thousands."
"This is, hats off, quite literally one of the most stupid decisions I ever heard anyone make."
– MagicSPA
I really don't want to believe that last one really happened!
Do you have any great stories? Let us know in the comments below.
The Dumbest Thing People Have Pretended To Like To Impress Someone They Were Dating
Reddit user Adventurous-Ebb6556 asked: 'What is the dumbest thing you have pretended to be interested in because you wanted to date someone?'
When I was 11, I developed a crush on a boy who was obsessed with X-Men comics. Wanting something to talk about, I told him I loved the X-Men, and was dying to read the issue he had on his desk, which I knew was new only because my brother was into X-Men and I was the one who took him to the store to purchase it.
The boy seemed pretty impressed and asked me who my favorite X-Men was. I said Wolverine since he was the only one I knew. The boy agreed with my opinion.
That night, I looked up biographies and power descriptions of a bunch of X-Men characters so I would be able to discuss the characters with him the next day. However, the next day, he didn't want to discuss the characters, but the events of the newest issue. He asked me if I had read it, I stupidly said yes, and he asked me what my favorite part was.
I was literally saved by the bell, as class ended at that moment, but the lie seriously backfired. I ended up never speaking to that boy again because I could not get trapped in another X-Men conversation. I never lied to a crush again.
I'm not alone in this. People lie about being interested in all sorts of things -- sometimes really dumb things -- to impress a crush or date. Redditors know this all too well and are eager to share their stories.
It all started when Redditor Adventurous-Ebb6556 asked:
"What is the dumbest thing you have pretended to be interested in because you wanted to date someone?"
Shouldn't Have Lied
"Going antiquing"
"Now we’re married, and we go every weekend"
"Help"
– Hoyle33
"Ah yes, is your home also filled to the brim with things that we will "resell someday""
"I think I have about 10 antique tables in my basement"
– vikingArchitect
A Crazy Route To Success
"Law. She was telling me about working for her dad's law firm during college and she was going to sign up for a Princeton Review LSAT course. I had good grades, a double major that had no career options other than professor in both, so I signed up for the LSAT class to study with her. Ended up getting a full ride to a school that rejected her and she broke up with me. This upcoming Monday I'm scheduled for maybe my 150th jury trial (if I had to guess how many I've done over 15 years)."
– SpiceLaw
"This is reverse Legally Blonde"
– Particular-Sink7141
"illegally brunette?"
– TH3_V3GAS
The Guitar Was More Interesting
"Started playing guitar to impress a girl. Got into guitar and kind of lost interest in the girl."
– Rude_Independence_14
"…then lost interest in all girls…then also guys…then there was just the guitar. We moved to Montana and started a small business selling crocheted guitar cosies."
– classactdynamo
Microsoft Of Course!
"Excel. Dude kept talking about how good he is at it. Wedding is in January."
– Starrydecises
"Make sure he gets it properly on his calendar since Excel is notoriously bad at dates. Clearly he wasn’t."
– raines
Yikes!
"I joined theater at a community college and started dating another actress in the class. I vaguely like musical theater, but I’m not crazy about it. She was tho. She convinced me that I love musical theater and I should transfer to a 4 year university and pursue that as a degree."
"I applied for the musical theater program at a 4 year university, I got accepted, and she and I wound up breaking up after a month at the new school. I didn’t want to deal with changing degree plans."
"I now have a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre and I don’t even like musicals that much.
"I just tell people I have a degree in “theater”"
– Pope00
"You win, dude."
– dearlysacredherosoul
"Have you thought about making a musical about it?"
– TomPal1234
Lie, Exercise
"Was dating a runner who as reeeaallly into distance running. I’ve never ever felt compelled to run but talking about it with him all the time convinced me to try it … I’m running my first half marathon in less than 2 months hahah"
– Ukeiok
"Did you get the guy tho?"
– apell_ri
"Majorly messy. He moved across the world, I visited him, he’s now seeing someone else but will be back in my city in the future. I’m pretty cut up about the whole thing but I guess we’ll see what the future holds"
"at least I’m a runner now hahah"
– Ukeiok
He Was A (Sore) Loser
"Does it count as dumb if I wound up enjoying it? Learned to play Magic the Gathering in middle school because I had a huge crush on one of the guys who played at lunch every day. We hung out a couple times, then he refused to talk to me after the first time I beat him. But I kept playing, still do, and it my late 20's it turned out to be one of the first things my husband and I connected over."
– thing_m_bob_esquire
"You know the kid wasnt the right one when he couldnt be humble in defeat."
– Nnetaru
Ride Like The Wind
"I said I could ride a horse, which I clearly couldn't. She booked a beach ride and after the initial slow walk to the beach she took off on her horse and mine decided that it would be cool to follow them at full speed. I remember praying to any god that would listen to help stop this creature, white-knuckled it until the end."
– pavlovsape
Travel Plans
"I used to have this habit of lying about my ancestry when I was drunk. Really, a lot of the times, I was just f**ked up and confused - my mom is adopted and all she really knows about her lineage is that she is central or Eastern European. She got one of those DNA tests done that tell you where your family is from, and she told me the results, but over time I’ve kind of forgotten them."
"So I’m sitting in a bar, a guy approaches, he sits beside me and he looks sad. I was a couple drinks deep so I began to talk to him about why he was sad, how I could help, etc. I told him that I love to travel when I’m feeling “stuck” in life, and I asked him where he would travel to if he could go anywhere. He said he wanted to go to Russia."
"“How cool, I’m actually Russian!” 🙄 “No way, really? What are the odds?” “I know, crazy, right?”"
"He was quite drunk by this time as well. We started talking about buying plane tickets to Russia together, changing our identities, etc. we actually tried to buy tickets, but found out quickly we needed visas and we were too drunk for that sh*t. I found him really charming, I liked talking to him. I took his number down even though I was going on a two week trip to another state the next day. Got back from my trip, got back to work for a couple weeks, but he was still on my mind so I invited him to hang out."
"Long story short, we’re married now. Fwiw, he does now know that I’m not Russian."
– TripAway7840
Desperation?
"I once went along with a girl who was wiccan and truly believed her pet rock was her familiar and she would talk to it."
– Mad3yez
"I converted to Latvian Orthodoxy when my girlfriend’s parents said that she couldn’t date anyone outside the faith."
– ExistentialCamper
"Many years ago, School choir. I can’t sing. My parents were bewildered at having to attend a recital to watch me lip sync."
– TalkaboutJoudy
Backfired
"His deep conspiracy theory level fixation with alien coverups... I told him I'm open to the idea of extraterrestrial life and then unwisely agreed to an Ancient Aliens marathon. It lasted about three weeks."
– Throwaway28404028
Dating Diet
"On a first date at a coffee shop, a guy I liked said his family was “sort of Buddhist” and so he grew up eating lots of vegetarian food and plant-based alternatives. I said that was super cool, and that “I always wanted to eat more plant based.”"
"We were both in college, so when we started seeing each other regularly, most of our dates were getting meals together in the dining hall. For MONTHS, I was eating way more vegetarian food (and not good vegetarian food, we’re talking steamed tofu and sometimes unseasoned chickpeas) mostly because I wanted him to think I was cool and respectful of animals."
"Eventually, I decided to come clean and say that I was doing it to impress him but that I needed to stop eating sh*tty dining hall tofu. He then told me he had noticed I would always go for plant based, so he had also been eating more vegetarian also in an attempt to impress me. We ditched the dining hall that night and went for double bacon cheeseburgers."
– Forward-Community708
"Bacon brings people together!"
– ArcheryTXS
Movie Saddness
"It may not be the dumbest content but I have a dumb story about The Hunger Games. Years ago I was interested in a girl who was looking forward to seeing the second Hunger Games movie. So I watched the first one in hopes of taking her out to see the second one. Unfortunately for me she started seeing someone else before we went, so I felt Id wasted my time. Fast forward a year. I started seeing a girl just after Halloween of the next year and she was super excited about seeing the third Hunger Games movie. So, once again, I watched the Hunger Games movies in prep to see it. In keeping with the theme, we split like a week or two before the movie came out, so to date I have seen the first two Hunger Games movies and have no intention of watching any more"
– tenphes31
"This is basically me with Twilight."
– zombieforguitars
"I had a roommate agree to go see the new X-Men with me if I went to the new Harry Potter with her. I had to watch like 3 movies to get caught up and went to the 4th with her in theaters and then she totally bailed on X-Men"
– nAsh_4042615
That story sounds pretty familiar!
When I was young, if I spoke out of line my mother would make me eat soap. And not pleasant smelling Dove bars, disgusting, mustard yellow, industrial dish soaps. I always found that excessive. I maybe could've understood if I had the mouth of a trucker but I'm talking about a stray no or you suck here and there. I did learn a lesson, well several lessons. And I never acquired the mouth of a trucker, well... around her. I won't even get into when I briefly was an altar boy who assumed he was allowed to take hazard pay from the collection plate gatherings. Talk about punishment. I do believe the punishment should fit the crime, but so often the punishers seem to get lost in proving a point rather than paying a penance or consequence.
Redditor u/ZetamusMaximus thought we should chat about the times the punishment different fit the crime by asking..... What's the dumbest thing you've ever been punished for?
The Stink
perfume GIFGiphyI got sent out of drama class because the teacher told me my perfume made me smell like a cheap hooker and when I left the room she sprayed me with her own perfume on my way out.
"WHERE IS YOUR TITLE?!!!"
In college I once got a full letter grade off a paper because I had 7 sources instead of 5.
Same professor almost failed me because my presentation was supposed to be on the last possible day. I didn't actually pick the day I was presenting, by the way. Every presentation was on a different subject and he assigned dates to each one, you just had to pick the subject you were going to research and do the presentation on the day it was assigned. I picked the last one because it was something I was genuinely interested and knowledgeable in.
The day of my presentation comes up and I'm there with my laptop and a backup on a flash drive and he starts the class by saying "I don't want to do any more presentations. If you haven't presented by now you'll get a zero on the assignment," knowing full well I had signed up for that presentation months in advance and was the only person left. Had to go to the Dean and present proof that I had the presentation ready beforehand and that I had signed up for that presentation months in advance. We reached a compromise and I just got a B on the project without having to present.
Dude had it out for me and I'm not sure why, never will be. He even took a letter grade off a paper for my title because he didn't like.... something about it? Idk, he never even told me what his logic was, he just wrote "WHERE IS YOUR TITLE?!?!?" right next to my title which was very clearly up at the top of the page, centered, and following the format he had assigned us.
edit: Oh, senior year I got a very stern talking to from my professor in some bullsh*t class called "Health Through the Life Cycle". Why did I get such a stern talking to? We were having a discussion about whether or not we should allow polygamous marriages and I was the only person in the class against it.
a fat slice
When I was a teenager working at McDonald's a special order came back without tomatoes. So I made the sandwich and sent it up only to have a manager come back and yell at me for not putting tomatoes on the sandwich. He then slaps a fat slice of tomato on the sandwich and send it's up. Turns out an old lady was allergic and I got chewed out. The next day I got fired for it.
During a session I built a tower of wooden blocks and he insisted my parents punish me if it fell down.
Since it was a tower made of wooden blocks it fell down and I was punished (banned from playing SNES or something).
He was later banned from practicing psychology for some reason or other.
Deep Dislike
I had a teacher in middle school who just outright hated me. The day before a major project was due she had me show her what I had, and then proceeded to tell me I had done it all wrong. I went home and "corrected" it, staying up pretty late to change what she told me to.
So the first person goes up to present, and it's done JUST the same as I had done. Second person goes up, same thing. Then, when there's time for one more person to go, she looks around the room pretending to look for another person to go before her eyes lighting up as they rest on me, knowing I had done the assignment wrong due to her comments and now I can't go back home to do it right. So I go up and it looks like crap and I of course get a bad grade.
Nobody believed me that she had lied to me and when I of course got a bad grade, she finally had what she needed to make sure I was academically suspended from my sport causing me to break down in class. Later a different teacher overheard me talking crap about it and saying I'd love to get her back and I got expelled for threatening a teacher.
Lesson Learned
At my school we had to wear our ID's visibly (most wore it around the neck). This was the first year of the school requiring this, so it was new to everyone.
Around halfway through the first semester, I forgot my ID at home. We had block scheduling (half my classes one day, half the next) and I had two backpacks, one for each day. I put my ID away and forgot to transfer it to the next day's bag once I got home. Easy mistake to make.
Due to my parent's work schedules and the distance to school, I got dropped off super early, like over an hour before school started. I realized I was missing my ID, so I went to the office to get a temp one since there was absolutely no way of getting my ID from home.
I got it. But I also got detention. Which was the punishment for being caught without your ID.
Funny thing was I knew that if I just went to classes and stuff like normal the teachers probably wouldn't have noticed/cared that I didn't have my ID and there's a solid 90% chance I wouldn't have gotten any punishment at all for not having it.
So thanks school, you taught me that the punishment for trying to make things right for an honest mistake that doesn't hurt anyone is the exact same as not trying to make things right... only I'm guaranteed to get caught if I try to make things right. So it's better to conceal your mistakes and hope nobody notices.
Great lesson.
Damage
I was recently fired for following COVID safety protocols. A coworker was feeling ill, so I quietly gave her a thermometer to take her temperature. It was "damaging to the image of the company." We came to an agreement that if they honored my unemployment claim, I wouldn't tear them a new one.
Now I can get out of that industry and ensure my safety. I'm pretty cool with it in the long run. I was satisfied with our arrangement. Plus, even if I decided to sue and won the case, the publicity would possibly complicate my future employment opportunities. Also, I fear conflict.
Keep your 50!
Seth Meyers Goodbye GIF by Late Night with Seth MeyersGiphyAt my old job, I had my annual review. They told me that I did the work of 3 people and they loved me but because I used my sick/personal time earlier in the month (my kid was sick) that they 'really look down on employees that use the sick/personal without any prior authorization/notice.'
Then they had the balls to tell me if I know my kid is asthmatic that I should avoid taking any vacation hours in the summer (separate time off from sick/personal time) if I know he is going to get sick in the fall.
Instead of the bullcrap 50 cent raise, I only got 30 cents because of that. 50 cents was max.
I no longer work there.
Ruled
One of the requirements in my grad program is seminar attendance. There's sign in sheets that are collected during the seminar.
And then because someone who rigidly followed the rules did what they asked and emailed explaining their situation, that's how we found out they never checked them.
Multiple people missed that seminar. The only one who was chastised and warned by the administration was the one who let them know he wouldn't be there. Punished for following the rules.
God Bless
scared season 1 GIF by The White PrincessGiphyI started going to a sort of catholic club. One day, the rosary thing took a little longer. I got home one hour late and was grounded for three months. FOR PRAYING AT A CHURCH.
Being Social
Logging on to my personal Gmail on a school laptop. Because those were not for social media. I got a 3 day Suspension.
I remember a study hall teacher I had way back in high school flipped out about me using Facebook.
I had done all my homework, and not only that, another student near me was on Facebook and I could see papers sprawled out all over the desk.
To be fair, that teacher singled me out so goddamn much.
You're Sorry!!
incredulous excuse me GIFGiphyFinding a wallet in a mall. A woman started screaming while I pick up, accusing me of stealing. Security took me to their office, a hour later they let me go, saying she drop and was recorded.
Still waiting for apologies, was like six years ago.
No Coughing
Once coughed in class and the teacher ranted that she didn't expect me to have that sort of outburst (she thought I was laughing or crazy).
Okay this reminds me of the two separate times a teacher accused me of faking being sick for attention. In grades 3 and 7 I had a persistent cough that lasted for weeks. And both times after about the 3rd day my teachers convinced themselves I was doing it on purpose. First time was Pneumonia, second was Whooping Cough.
Day Camp Issues
I went to some summer day camp thing with an emphasis on sports when I was like 5. A bunch of my friends from school were there as well.
We were all just hanging out in the gym, I think playing basketball, when one of the counselors just abruptly rounded us up and put us in time-out. I assume it was something one of my friends did, because to this day I still have no clue wtf I did lol.
tanking....
I have epilepsy. I didn't call my work to let them know I couldn't make it that day, I was in the Hospital and could not get my cellphone. In hindsight I could have asked a Nurse to get me the number, but after a seizure i'm not thinking straight for a good 2 days or more.
Later, I get home and see I have numerous missed calls and texts, I ignore it all and wait until my next shift.
My boss calls me in and basically told me not to have another seizure. Since I never enrolled in FMLA (my fault) he claimed me having a seizure cost the company money. My brain messed up caused, a multi billion dollar company to lose money? I must be a top asset apparently..... Or these fools are about to tank.
Sing Out
mic singing GIFGiphyMy parents used to make me do singing competitions when I was in elementary/middle school. After hours of continuous practicing, I'd start forgetting the intricacies of the song (ie. trills, crescendos, whatnot) or I'd briefly zone out and mindlessly sing. Got grounded nearly every practice for that.
Looking Into It
One time this kid that constantly bullied me every day in middle school was bullying me at recess so I did what I was taught To do and stood up for myself and chased him away. Next thing I know he punches me hard in the stomach. I tell my mom after school and she drives me back to tell administration.
The school knew that I was always getting bullied and after "looking into it" my assistant principal for my grade and the principal sat me down at recess and told me it was my fault because I "instigated" it even though he was making fun of me. Then they told me the usual "if you kept your interests to yourself they wouldn't bully you". I didn't really get a punishment per say, just a slap on the wrist for expressing myself.
It's just a spill....
For spilling soda my teacher brought to the Christmas party. The 2 liter bottle was already shaken up, perhaps from the ride in her car. I didn't know this and soda spilled all over me, the carpet, and her mother's cooler that she deiced to bring. She turned red with anger and shouted at me, making the room go quiet and having all eyes on me (I understand that she was mad I got soda on her mother's cooler, but why bring it if this kind of thing were to be expected with 12-13 year old kids?).
Everyone watched me as she made me wet a cloth and try to clean the mess on the carpet as I cried (this was in 6th grade and when my anxiety was at it's absolute worst). No one was allowed to help me and it was so embarrassing for me. I got called "crybaby" after the whole ordeal.
After that, she tried to make it seem like it never happened and tried to be all buddy-buddy with me after that. I didn't talk to her for the rest of the year for anything, I was too scared of her after that. Looking back on it, it makes me angry how she dealt with the situation.
I'm a Nerd
One time in middle school I got suspended recess time for carrying a notepad.
It was 4th grade, and after lunch was recess time, go out and play and burn off some energy. Sometimes kids would get punished and not allowed to go out for recess, they would have stay inside.
I was feeling asocial that day, so I brought a notepad and pen to work on this D&D campaign I was running.
A teacher saw me carrying that, and just assumed it was because I was on suspended recess. I tried explaining that I just wanted to write outside, and asked her to find the person who ordered that punishment, but she didn't want to listen.
I wasn't too upset, as my goal was to sit quietly and write/brain storm, but it was still messed up as I felt like I was being punished for being a nerd.... would have been nice to be a nerd outside.
Wrong Answer
smh GIFGiphyFor having an anxiety attack brought on by the very teacher who then punished me for it and told me to get over it.
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Unfortunately, adults are not as infallible as we would like to believe.
More often than not, in fact, kids show themselves to be smarter than adults. Especially when adults say things like this.
u/Thailamrtll asked:
Reddit, what is the dumbest thing you've ever heard an adult say?
Here were some of those answers.
More Debt Is Never The Answer
"you should rack up some more credit card debt then just declare bankruptcy, you know, have some fun and make it more worth it"
My 'wise' older brother when I was talking about my 10k in debt (which is now paid off).
That's Not How Adaptation Works
I watched a documentary about health in pregnancy and how the NHS helps expectant mothers to give up smoking and eat more healthily etc. One mum-to-be was having real problems giving up cigarettes and ultimately ended up being unable to even cut down her habit. She attempted to justify it by claiming she thought smoking while pregnant might actually be a good thing, because the 'baby's lungs would be stronger than ones in a baby born to a non-smoker, as they're being exposed to smoking while they're still in the womb'.
Just Untrue
"Aluminum isn't a metal because it isn't magnetic"
One of the many gems of wisdom my mother has shared
People Who Won't Be Wrong
"The moon's distance from the earth is less than 100 kilometers."
When corrected, he just said "Well, then it's probably 110 kilometers."
Ah Okay Lets Wish For World-Shattering Conflict
My sister, 27 yo, said this about a year ago: "Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan - all those wars are so small and so boring. Why can't we have something bigger that people will actually talk about like a world war? It's much more entertaining than the same country and conflict over and over again."
Fish Are Still Animals
Have a friend who's vegan. We went out and she ordered Salmon. I was like "wait arent you vegan?" she said yeah, and so i asked why she ordered salmon then since she didnt eat animals. Her response?
"Salmons a fish not an animal"
She also thinks ice cream is just frozen milk. Like yeah i know vegans cant have normal ice cream because there is milk in it but like...i get the impression that she believes if you put milk in the freezer overnight youll have ice cream in the morning.
¿?¿?¿?¿?
"Gay men can't get women pregnant."
Yes, they were serious. No, I didn't stick around to argue that out, you can't win against that level of ignorance.
And Then Tech Kept Evolving
Circa 1982: Don't go into Computer Science. There's already so much software available! How much longer can it be before it's all written? There'll be no jobs for all these CS grads then.
Hashtag Emphysema
"Smoking next to a BABY is OK because nothing happened to my children when I smoked next to them", my dad after I confronted him when I found him smoking a cigarette right beside his grandson.
NOPE.
"The stress from quitting drinking is worse for the baby than drinking."
I'm a bartender and a pregnant woman used this line on me. She wasn't showing and I had already served her 5 drinks. I found out she was pregnant when I overheard her husband chiding her that any more drinks would be "bad for the baby." After that, she was shut down and banned. She didn't like it, of course.
Anybody who works in customer service knows that the customer is most certainly not always right.
And yet, sometimes they really insist they are, even when they are so not. And sometimes the questions they ask are so tantamount to this point that you want to look around for a camera on a reality TV show and see if you're being punk'd.
Spoiler: You aren't...
Redditor Dashigos asked:
What was the dumbest thing you've ever been asked by a customer?
Here were some of those answers.
Oh My, Karen
"I used to work at Enterprise Rent-A-Car (We'll pick you up!). I went to pick up a customer (worth noting she was renting a car for a weekend getaway), called her when I got to her apt, and she came downstairs and had this conversation:"
Lady: "Ok, I'll follow you back to the office"
Me (confused): "I'm here to pick you up and drive you back to the office."
Lady: "What am I supposed to do with my car?"
Me: "Were you planning on leaving your car at our lot over the weekend?"
Lady: "No"
Me (more confused): "Why are you going to follow me in your car? I can drive you back to the office, finish the paperwork, and you can take the rental car from there."
Lady "(not grasping the concept): Well how are you going to get back?"
Me: "I'll drive us both, in this rental car, back to the office, where we can do the paperwork and you can take the rental car from there. That way, your personal car is still at your apt. And when you return the car on Monday, you can drive the rental car back to us, we'll close out the paperwork, and we'll give you a ride home. Sound like a plan?"
Lady: "That doesn't make sense. You're making this way too difficult. I'll just follow you in my car."
Me "(thinking the customer is always right!): Ok!"
"We get back to the office, I finish the paperwork (still astonished she qualified to rent a car), and hand her the keys to the car."
Lady: "Ok, how do I get my car back to my apt?"
Me: ...
Lady: "Can you drive my car back to my apt?"
Me: "I'm not authorized to drive your car. You're welcome to leave it here on the lot over the weekend if you want."
Lady: "Ok, can you drive the rental car and follow me back to my house so I can drop off my car?"
Me: "This is what I was trying to do when I picked you up! There was no need to take 2 cars."
Lady: "I'd like to speak to your manager."
Possibly Drugs?
"Context - I was 16 during this"
"I work at chick fil a and I'm taking orders as you do, guy walks up and asks "Aren't you supposed to be in school?". I look down at the clock and see it's 6 pm. I look at him confused and say "No it's 6 pm". He asks again, I say the same thing again."
"Then he yells "Alright, EFF YOU" and leaves"
This Is A Special Level
"I used to work at the UPS store in high school. Our last pickup was at 7:00 and we closed at 8:00 pm. Since we had private information and people's personal mailboxes in the store, security was a big deal."
"It was 8:30. Our tills were counted down, the alarm was set, our copiers, fax machine, and computers were shut down, our lights were off, and we had closed and locked a ginormous red gate that separated the entrance from the rest of the store."
"Some woman ran up to the door, and like some demon in a horror movie, she hurled herself against the glass and screeched like a banshee."
"Keep in mind, we are very obviously closed with a sign saying we are closed, no lights on, and a giant red gate drawn down over the store."
"She began pounding on the glass and frantically yelling at us. My coworker worried something was wrong, like maybe she was being chased and needed help."
"He carefully opened the door just a crack to ask what was wrong. She immediately tried to wedge her hands and head in the crack and asked "Are ya'll open?" We informed her that we obviously weren't."
"Her logic was "well you opened the door so now you have to help me".
"She began wailing and crying that she had to mail a package. We explained that even if we were open, our last pick up was an hour and a half ago and we couldn't even mail it until tomorrow."
"She protested and protested and we eventually got the door shut and locked. So we just stood there awkwardly in the dark, hoping she would leave. She kept pounding on the glass and saying "I know you're open!!!!"
"As we debated what to do and if we should call the cops, this lady pulled out her cell phone and called the cops herself!"
"The cops arrived, we explained the situation, and the woman accused us of lying, despite the sign on the door saying we closed an hour ago at this point."
"Then, in front of the officer and on security camera, the woman launched herself at my coworker and hit him in the face. She immediately jumped back and began fake crying that he had assaulted her."
"We were dumbfounded. She ended up getting arrested and my coworker pressed charges."
"So the stupidest question I got was "Are you open?".
Tues, Sat....Same Diff!
"When I was a teenager I had a customer try to fight me because we didn't do the taco Tuesday discount for him."
"It was the weekend..."
Drive Into A Ditch I Guess
"This was by far the most memorable dumb customer encounter. Years ago I worked for an Audi dealership as a greeter/shuttle driver and one blissfully quiet afternoon, a middle aged woman in a beige A6 pulled into the drive. Here's how the exchange went down:"
Me: "Good afternoon. How can I help you today?"
Her: "This light came on! (She points to the check engine light with concern in her voice)"
Me: "Yes. That's the check engine light..."
Her: "(interrupting me): No! It's this one!!! (the CEL was the only light on at this point in time)"
Me: "Yes. That's the check engine light."
Her: "Well what does it mean?"
Me: "There are literally thousands of different things that can turn that light on but if you go into the office there, one of our service advisors can plug in a little computer and they'll tell you what's wrong."
Her: "(scoffs condescendingly) So you don't know what it means..."
Me: "Ma'am I think they can help you better than I."
Not The Same Thing But Ok
"When I worked in a call center for home phone service, I had a guy call and angrily ask why we were still charging him for his phone service, since he had unplugged his phone from the wall a month ago."
All Living Things Need Water Sandra
"I used to work in a pet store. One night a woman came in and said she had ordered a puppy off the internet and he would be arriving in the next few days. She had never owned a pet and asked several dumb questions, but the one that I'll always remember is "Do puppies need water?"
Tasty Plastique
"I used to work in a phone shop."
"Had someone come in asking why their phone wasn't working properly. It was visibly scorched and melty. I asked why it looked that way. They said, it came up with an error message saying it had been too cold (not an error message I had heard of before, but I know phones can bring up errors for being too hot, so who knows) and so they had put it under the grill to heat it up."
"The grill."
"Their first point of call was to cook it."
"I said, that's why their phone wasn't working, and no it was not covered under the guarantee."
.................
"IT, got a ticket from a lady saying her screen is blank. I call, because I saw her in orientation and to be honest she seemed to have never used a computer before (despite being 19, and her title as a receptionist)."
"Ma'am is your computer on?"
"I don't know, how would I check?"
"coworker next to her grunts and turns on computer for her"
"Oh! Ok it's on, now do I have to type out my username AND password to log on?"
"............................."
"No words could properly describe how I felt in that moment."
It's Cause She's Embarrassed
"A woman came to the check out and handed me a bag of mozzarella. She asked me what the ingredients were and if there were any chemicals in it. I turned the bag around and started to read the ingredients out to her. She grabbed the bag out of my hand, angrily said "I could have done that myself " and stormed off."
I guess we've put the age old adage to rest. There are absolutely stupid questions.
Do you have anything to add? Let us know in the comments below.