"What is the worst mistake of your life?"
A Penny Saved...
"Not putting money away for savings early enough."
"Start early!"
"Make it automatic!!"- NecroJoe
animation saving GIF by MOOTGiphyEducation Should Be Practical, Not A Bragging Right...
"Working my a** off getting 3 useless degrees."
"I fell into the trap of believing that high grades and multiple degrees = good, stable, high paying jobs."
"Lmao."
"Looking back I can’t believe I was so naive."- Kla1996
"Choosing the wrong major in university and now I'm stuck in my career."- AmbitiousPanda9806
"Going to college when I didn't know what I wanted to do. Went because it was 'what we were supposed to do'."
"I went to a magnet high school, so we were never educated about professional certificates or given the tools to start our own business."
"We were just shuffled into college, because we were a 'gifted' school. I even distinctly remember one of our teachers pointing to some of the construction workers out the window and telling us 'that's what happens when you don't go to college'."
"Now I have my degree, way to much f*cking debt and im not even working in the field I got my degree in."
"Thanks brainwashing!"- Quave11
Studying K-Pop GIFGiphyThere's A Great Big World Out There...
"I have many, but the worst could be isolating myself from the real world to the point I started to experience symptoms of psychosis."- negocpu4·
Not Everyone Is A Team Player
"Trusting a supervisor and believing that people at my job will 'do the right thing'.'- Properclearance
A Decision Never To Be Taken Lightly
"Getting married."
"Or 'marrying the wrong person' would be more accurate, I guess."
"We got married in 2001 and just divorced in April, but I left her (for the last time) in 2015 after getting solid proof that she had been cheating."
"She now has 4 kids by 4 different guys."
"Three of them born while we were together and just 1 is mine."
"Tip of this depressing iceberg, unfortunately."- Parabola1979
Season 10 Nbc GIF by One ChicagoGiphyIt's Never Too Early...
"Not buying a house when I was 8."
"I’ll never recover from this."- DiscombobulatedPay51
You Never Know Who You Can Trust
"Letting my mother have complete control of my finances when I got my first job."
"She stole everything from me."- XxieatoutnunsxX
Ulterior Motives Are Sadly Real...
"Trying to help people that didn’t deserve it."- baldeagle1337
if youre sure that will help season 8 GIFGiphySome Bad Habits Are Hard To Break...
"Smoking my first cigarette."
"No doubt."- sicilian504
When You Know You're in a Bad Situation, GET OUT!
"I thought if I was positive and receptive I would be able to climb and earn like my boss did."
"Wasted 7 years making 8 bucks an hour under a boss who made 108/hr (one hundred eight, no typo) at a grocery store. plus Sunday pay."
"He and I found out together that the union let corporate pull the ladder up behind them a decade before."- VAShumpmaker
Never Take A Good Situation For Granted
"Being mean to my wife and son when I was younger."
"We got married at 18 and I was just immature and was always taking my job home and just getting upset over really nothing."
"We’re still married after 32 years and over past several years I have come to realize how lucky I have them in my life and will do anything for them."- VerticalMARS-72
90 Day Fiance Hug GIF by TLCGiphySeeking Help Is Not A Sign Of Weakness
"Years of untreated mental illness."- goodgirlgonebad75
Always Practicality First
"Not paying off my mortgage 17 years ago when I had the money."
"Instead I used it to renovate my house to add two bedrooms and a den."
"At the time I thought it was more important for each of my four kids to have their own room (they were sharing two each before then) and a bigger family room."
"I’m kicking myself because had I used the money to pay off the mortgage instead, I’d have had an extra $3000 a month in my pocket."
"I could have saved up that money and extended my house a few years later."- Keithninety
Sometimes we don't realize we made the wrong decision till it's far too late.
But looking back can't change what can't be undone.
All we can do is look forward, and move on.
"What's the biggest red flag you ignored?"
Bad Luck, Or Bad Habits?
"She had astronomically bad luck."
"She had been falsely accused of plagiarism and kicked out of college."
"She had a DUI on her record even though she wasn’t that drunk but the breathalyzer was miscalibrated and they mixed up her blood sample with a different DUI arrest."
"She got fired from her job for stealing when she didn’t actually steal but got set up."
"Everything just went wrong for her."
"Or maybe, just maybe, she was a huge a**hole who couldn’t own up to her own sh*t."- AmatuerCultist
Dubious Track Record
'She told me every guy she dated broke up with her."
"I eventually found out why."- draiman
Can't They Weren't Honest
"'I'm not in a good place to be in a relationship'."
"Yeah, I probably should have listened to that one."- spockgiirl
Drew Barrymore Oops GIF by NETFLIXGiphyThem Against The World
"Everything was always someone else's fault."
"All of his ex's were crazy/wrong."
"His family was problematic."
"Everybody was against him."
"Egad, did I find out about him the hard way."- ricwash
"She rage-quit every relationship she had ever had."
"I was her last friend, so I thought she would hang on to me."
"Nope."- Logical-Pop-458
The Words "I'm Sorry" Can Go A Long Way...
"He never apologized for anything."
"Even stuff that was 100% his fault."
"But my dumba** would have to apologize for everything, even stuff out of my control."- imlovegina
Sorry Taylor Swift GIFGiphyBefore, After, Or During One Wonders...
"He got arrested on our first date."- Sapphyrre
What Were They Trying To Hide?...
"When the person I was seeing would never introduce me to their friends or family."- graces-taylor12
Never Trust A Manipulator
"My gf at the time used the words, while talking about manipulating someone, 'I just always know what to say to make someone feel how I want…' hesitates then looks over to me and says '…but I don’t do that to you because…I care about you too much…'"
"This was pretty late in the relationship’s life, so I think she just barely cared to hide it anymore."
"I was heavily mentally checked out, and accepted this excuse without a second word."
"I did 100% notice it deep inside myself, and I still remember the pang of self hatred."- Terapyn
Manipulate 90 Day Fiance GIF by TLCGiphyWinning Isn't Everything... Or Is It?
"She was such a sore loser."
"Like toss the cards if she was losing at cards or smash and smear all the letters around if she was losing at Scrabble."
"It escalated from there as she would literally corner me in a room and tear into me for something I said."
"I left once as she went to the bathroom, mid-tirade."
"In her pajamas and slippers, she ran down two floors of her apartment's parking garage to stop me."
"Oh, and neither of her own kids would talk to her."
"Her parents and sister didn't speak with her, either."
"But they got the religion and she didn't."
"I just thought I could make it work, everyone has sore points and triggers."
"But I was so relieved when she left."- milescowperthwaite
Read The Room!
"My ex-boyfriend used to tell me how much he wanted to f*ck other people (my sister, my friends, his friends, etc) while we were being intimate."- lightasapetal
Over It Rose GIF by HULUGiphy"Do You Like Scary Movies?"
"First date she told me her favorite movie ever was 'The Exorcist'.”
"Whatever, I love scary movies."
"Soon after, we actually watched a scary movie, she came back from the bathroom wearing a scream mask and holding a kitchen knife because she thought it was funny.'
'I did not, but I was just like ok she’s 'quirky'.”- genekreamer
Patterns...
"The ex-wife had left her two previous partners for someone she had an affair with."
"I didn't think it would happen to me."
"It took 10 years, but it did."- MartyFreeze
"She cheated with me before she broke up with her ex and we got together."
"Imagine my surprised Pikachu face when she was f*cking a bunch of guys behind my back."- Greylings
Surprised Meme GIFGiphyThe Age Old Blame Game...
"Blaming me for things that I had no effect on."
"She got a bad grade on a quiz because I helped her study."
"Blamed me for her dropping her laptop because I was in another room doing my own thing and couldn't hear what she was saying so she had to get up off the couch which led to the dropping of the laptop."
"Blamed me for her not being prepared for a presentation at work because I had a work event instead of 'being there for her' which always meant just sitting there on the couch next to her while she put it together."
"Blamed me for her backing into a pole in a parking lot because I didn't pick her up from work, but I decided we'd meet at a restaurant."
"So many more, nothing was ever her fault."- turkeysandwich1982
It's never wise or fair to prejudge someone.
But if anything about someone causes suspicion, there's absolutely nothing wrong in doing a little investigating.
Possibly saving you a bucket load of trouble down the road.
"What's the most regrettable purchase you've ever made?"
Anything But Luxurious
"When I was in my early 20’s bought a used BMW with 80k miles."
"Everything in that car was crazy expensive to fix."
"Had it for a 1.5 years before I sold it."
"The amount of money I spend on buying+fixing that car I could have bought I brand new BMW."
"Learned my lesson, never buy used luxury cars."- Steve83725
And So Began A Habit They'd Do Anything To Break...
"That first pack of cigarettes."
"Should have never started."- xipisiw577
...BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...
"A $300 pogo stick."
"I still don't know what the f*ck I was thinking when I ordered that thing."- xayep54838
bart simpson pogo stick GIFGiphyYou'd Think Science Lovers Would Have Been More Meticulous...
"A shower curtain with the periodic table."
"We couldn't find it here in Denmark so I had to order it from the US which meant a huge shipping fee."
"Then there was added a custums fee making the total price almost $100."
"All of this would not have been so bad if not for the fact that we forgot to check the measurements, as it turned out to be only 180 cm long leaving a big gap at the bottom where water would splash through making the floor soaking wet."- xipisiw577
Not As Advertised
"A remote control car I begged and saved for when I was 9."
"It was terrible and I still haven’t got over the disappointment 30 odd years later."- thencamethethunder
Way To Soon...
"I bought a planner in January 2020."- Dear-Original-675
Typography No Refunds GIF by Abel M'VadaGiphyOof...
"2 engagement and wedding rings."- Tawebuse
Planning Ahead Doesn't Always Pay Off
"I was engaged for a little over a year, and since she didn't want to be on the pill, we used condoms."
"One time we ran out, and I bought a great big box of new ones, different flavors and ribbings and what not."
"Then the relationship ended, and I could feel the box lying there in my drawer, mocking me, almost untouched."-nadoba1473
winter olympics lol GIF by Animation Domination High-DefGiphyGood For One Good Ride?
"Gotrax scooter."
"That company is a joke."
"Their products' life cycle is measured in weeks before your scooter is a piece of plastic going to the landfill."
"I tried going through their customer service for repair parts and got some covered by warranty, only to have those parts break after a few days of light use."
"Even worse, when I asked for a tracking number for the parts, their CSR emailed me a spreadsheet of EVERY part order they had that day, complete with names, addresses, emails, telephone numbers."
"Only thing missing was the CC numbers."- AdWonderful5920
Hopefully They At Least Look Nice
"I bought some running shoes, I enjoy sitting down."- kenow18890
Timing Is Everything
"I bought a KIA two months before the Kiaboyz TikTok challenge went viral."
"Of course some teens tried to steal my car causing $2,500 worth of damage to my ignition and steering column."- Aldous_Hoaxley
car driving GIF by A Magical MessGiphyPlanning Ahead To The Max...
"A grave for me besides my father's grave."
"Bought it for $6.000 +- it was bad because there was a monthly fee $40 +- , after 5 years paying that fee I've had enough so I decided to sell my grave."
"Then i couldn’t sell due to one contract clause wich gives the cemetery practically all the selling money."
"As i result i had to return the grave to the cemetery for nothing."
"Good for them , stupid me lost all that money."- Icy_Cow4578
No Golden Ticket Either...
"When I was about three years old, I was with my family in a store that sold trading cards."
"There were a lot of packs of cards everywhere with different colors and pictures on them."
"All fairly standard trading card size."
"But then there was this one package that was definitely not a pack of cards."
"It was a candy bar."
"I could tell because it was extra long and shaped exactly like a candy bar."
"I asked my parents to buy it, but they didn’t want to."
"They asked why I wanted these cards so bad and I explained that they weren’t cards, but a candy bar."
"I essentially threw a fit until they decided it was just be easier to buy it for me."
"And then with some help, I opened my first and only ever pack of NASCAR trading cards."
"Definitely not a candy bar."
"I was inconsolable at the time, and still think about it to this day."- BillionaireGhost
tom and jerry eating GIF by Boomerang OfficialGiphyAdvertising can be very persuasive, and sometimes all it takes is looking at a picture to make us think we positively need to have something.
Once we unwrap this, possibly expensive, impulse buy though, we are reminded that imagination and fantasy is always more appealing than reality.
"Americans of Reddit, what places in America should foreigners avoid at all cost?"
Those Signs Are Not Just Decorations
"If you go to a national park and you disregard the signs, you're going to die."
"It's not a joke."
"Treat buffalo like field puppies?"
"You're going to die."
"Try to pet the brown bear?"
"You're going to die."
"See that moose and want to feed it?"
"You're probably already dead."
"Oh look, a rattlesnake! "
"*dead*"
"Want to swim in Old Faithful?"
"You're going to die painfully and completely dissolve into a soup."
"Sh*t is dangerous here and if you don't respect it you'll be lucky to die quick."- Xanza
"If you’re in a National park, listen to what the caution signs say and don’t venture off of paths."
"One is because of wildlife and the other is because humans don’t need to ruin everything in nature, just to get a photo."
"Also, don’t fall into the Grand Canyon." - Yawheyy
grand canyon arizona GIF by Go USA JpGiphyKnow Your Limits And Be Prepared
"Don’t hike into the wilderness of Colorado (especially 14ers) without knowing wilderness survival and responsibilities."
"Tourists die on our mountains and in Rocky Mountain National Park all the time."
"Do your research!"
"Altitude is no joke."- eyjafjallajokul_
Some Things Are Worth The Added Expense...
"Not American but as a visitor trying to travel on the cheap, I made the mistake of booking a greyhound bus ride."
"There's a reason why it was cheap lol."- toadkarter1993
The Name Should Be A Clue
"Death Valley in the summer especially if you consider yourself a strong hiker, and live in a cooler climate."
"It has that name for a reason."- FabFrench
death valley documentary GIFGiphyOr Even Dip Your Toes...
"The hot springs in yellowstone are not hot tubs do not swim in them."- needs_grammarly
"Steaming Acidic hot springs in Yellowstone."- SuvenPan
Every City Has One...
"Anywhere with a Rainforest Cafe and a Wax Museum on the same street is a tourist trap."- Klytus_Im-Bored
homer simpson episode 13 GIFGiphyMaps Exist For A Reason
"Avoid going to one location thinking another location across the country is a short trip."- Jebediah_Vorbeck
So Much For "Brotherly Love"
"The Kensington area of North Philadelphia."
"Don't."
"Just don't."- amhildreth
Even If You're A Night Owl
"Most of Downtown Los Angeles at night."
"When the streets get quiet and the locals go home, that's your cue to go back to your hotel or a more popular hotspot."- muststayawaketonod·
los angeles city GIF by The Broad MuseumGiphyAracnaphobia!
"Pueblo Colorado."- External-Traffic-916
"F*ck Peublo and its mass Tarantula Migration."- paustulio
Not The Where, But The What
"It's not 'places' as much as 'situations' that you should avoid."
"Depending on where you're from, you'll have some of these instincts, but not others."
"It's not all or nothing."
"But here's some situations I can see happening to a European, as an example."
"Getting stranded in the desert."
"Whether you're hiking without water, or driving too far on a single tank of gas, there's a real risk of being stranded without very immediate help, and no cell reception."
"Underestimating travel time."
"You're not going to see NYC and LA on the same trip."
"They're three time zones apart."
"They are exactly as far apart as London, England and Baku, Azerbaijan."
"You'll either be driving for a week, or flying."
"Even things that seem close, like NYC and DC, are not actually that close."
"It would be about 6 hours of driving or train to get from one to the other."
"Trespassing."
"It is taken VERY seriously here, and you could wind up shot if you are on the wrong person's land."
"We do not have the right to roam."
"And we do have the right to bear arms."
"Some states even have 'castle laws' which considers trespassing to be sufficient reason to shoot someone in 'self defense'."
"Any places people are mentioning are places that Americans wouldn't go to either if they could help it."
"But if I can say one place in particular, it would be Camden, NJ."
"It's just across the river from Philadelphia, and has a couple of tourist draws like the Aquarium or the concert venue, but anywhere that's not those specific places is incredibly unsafe."- pHScale
Season 9 Reaction GIF by The OfficeGiphyLike any country, America has its fair share of underwhelming and unsafe destinations.
Thankfully, most of these places aren't written up in guidebooks, and won't be high on the list of any foreign visitors.
Sadly, guidebooks still might not stop them from shelling out loads of money for very mediocre food at a noisy theme restaurant...