The Stupidest Things People Have Ever Done
Reddit user WoF_IceWing asked: 'What's the stupidest thing you've ever done?'
Everyone does stupid things, and it's not limited to when you're young either.
When I was 10, my best friend and I snuck out of her house in the middle of the night and hitchhiked to Tukery Hill for ice cream. I can't even count all the ways that could've gone wrong.
Eight years later, my friend and I drove his new car on the sheets of ice on our college campus, trying to see how fast we could go.
The tires skidded on the ice several times, and back then, we thought it was fun.
The stupidity spurred on by impulsivity doesn't ever truly go away.
Redditors can attest to that, as they are sharing what may be the stupidest things they've ever done.
It all started when Redditor WoF_IceWing asked:
"What's the stupidest thing you've ever done?"
Stranger Danger, Anyone?
"Maybe not the dumbest but I got into a random person's car without thinking. I was trying to catch the bus and the guy offered to give me a ride to the nearest bus stop. Got lucky that he was just trying to be a good Samaritan."
– yeetgodmcnecha**
"I did this once. It was a bright Sunday morning and pedestrian was walking briskly in the direction I was driving. Offered a lift. She got into the car and I realised what was happening when she asked me, "where do you want to go?""
""Umm, I can drop you off somewhere but we aren't going somewhere together.""
"Felt so stupid. But a pedestrian still got a lift to their place of business so I suppose it worked out!"
– NickyDeeM
"Oh god I did something like this. I stayed at the uni campus drinking with friends, and it got late. I live outside the city where public transport only works until certain hours and I missed the last bus. A dude in a car offered to take me closer to my town for the equivalent of 1 f**king dollar, and as soon as I got in the car, I noticed he f**king REEKED of tequila."
"He drove like a... a**hole the whole way, while picking up other people on a similar situation as mine. We were all scared as f**k. Then he dropped me at an intersection where I could walk to my house, and that was it. No idea if they all made it to their houses."
– kourier6
Cheater, Cheater
"Stayed with an ex after she cheated, just leave folks there's no fixing that sh*t."
"Edit: I'm legitimately depressed that so many of you related to this, hope things have gotten better!"
– Masonaut9
"Second this. He just went on to cheat with a different girl a few months later. When a person shows you who they are the first time, believe them."
– MeasurementFluid994
"Yep, same here, bud. Once a cheater, always a cheater. She was my first true love, and I was blinded by that. She told me and I still took a train and a bus in a blizzard 6 hours to see her. One of the most painful decisions I ever made. Then in my next serious relationship, it happened again, but she had the decency to break up with me because she wanted to keep f**king the guy she cheated on me with."
– Sambizzle17
Death Traps
"Drove my motorcycle down the road at 110 MPH while I was drunk because the girl on the back wanted me to go faster. I was much, MUCH younger than I am now, but it still makes me queasy when I think what could have happened that day. Very, very stupid."
– pliving1969
"I was once one of those girls on the back of the bike. Driving drunk through the Colorado mountains at night, drunk and going fast. That was 15 years ago now. One of the most stupid things I've ever done."
– karebear111
Inventors
"As a 10-year-old, tried to make a homemade grenade, added in airsoft bebes for shrapnel. Thing ended up blowing up in my hand, luckily I didn't have any major injuries"
– RED54115
"I was 8, wanted to make a flaming watering can(?), filled it up 50/50 gasoline water mix, went to garden to water some plants… well emergency response was very fast."
– -2fa
"I had a similar experience as a kid, filled up a bottle of gas from a lighter, stupid little me hand my hand at the opening as I was lighting it so burned my hand quite painfully. I just wanted to make a rocket."
– Pedropie420
"I made a bomb from tightly wrapped gunpowder and a waterproof fuse. I gave it to a friend who took it to high school. I have no idea why we thought that was a good idea. Fortunately, only my parents found out so there were no long-term repercussions."
– fsamuels3
Let's Climb
"Friends and I, super drunk (ya, that's a shock) decided to scale a greenhouse... in the middle of thunderstorm then took turns holding the lightning rod (kinda super low probability russian roulette). The most dangerous part wasn't the above though. It was the getting down from the 3 story high building while it was pouring rain and still slick."
"Honestly surprised we escaped with only some scrapes."
– DiscoInfernus
Quite An Expense
"I bought a house in an attempt to save a failing relationship. The relationship still failed and I ended up with a house (by myself) that I could barely afford payments on and could not afford maintenance."
"Ended up short-selling it. Glad it is over...that includes the house as well."
– freezingprocess
What A Surprise
"I put my hand on a stove once to see if it was hot. It was."
– canuckbuck2020
"My dad did that when he was little. He did it again with the other hand when he was a little older."
– Jungleman6
Curiosity Sounded The Alarm
"I pulled a fire alarm in a motel when I was 5 because I wanted to know what would happen. My parents panicked, whole fire department showed up, I got scolded by the fire chief."
– TheGamingMackV
"Curious about a red button. So I pushed it. It was the emergency stop for an escalator. People stumbled. No one hurt. My dad standing next to me saw people stumbling, looked at me, realized what happened, and said “Let’s go.”"
– King_Ralph1
Ouch!
"I broke my arm playing high school football. I then cut the cast with hedge clippers 2 weeks early to play a pickup football game with friends. I obviously broke it again, much worse. I now have a metal plate and 16 screws in my arm."
– aineperson578
Electrocution Avoided
"A piece of toast broke off inside my toaster and I dug it out with a metal fork. It wasn't until years later I realized how stupid that was."
– Wutchu_fitna_fuc_wit
"I did that. Tripped the circuit breaker for the whole house lol. Very lucky that breaker tripped instead of me, the plastic handle probably helped."
– Quarkly95
"This sounds fake I promise it’s true."
"When I was a kid I used to stick a butter knife in the toaster and poke at (what I think was) the coils because I thought it was cool how it sparked. Wasn’t until years later that I learned NOT to f**kin do that. I don’t know how I never got electrocuted."
– International_Net693
I Did It To Myself
"Gave myself a concussion.I pulled as hard as I could on a bungee cord that I was using to tie down some stuff on my truck,cord broke het my face with metal end and my fist... couldn't see straight for over a week."
– Scrapalicious
Luck Of The Groom
"I got drunk while rafting for my bachelor party and jumped off a cliff. Well, more of a really steep hill of dirt, but it was a good 75 feet tall."
"I survived unscathed, but the guys that tried to stop me apparently thought if my uncoordinated self could do it, anyone could."
"So, one of my guests broke a toe and one of my groomsmen cracked his back. He ended up standing in a back brace, but other than that he was fine."
– graveybrains
Yikes!
Like I said, we all do stupid things!
When we're little, we're inclined to believe things that seem ridiculous when we get older. Most of us believed in Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy at some point. Many of us believed unicorns existed, or that there were monsters hiding under our beds.
When we were 10, my best friend and I convinced our younger brother that we were spies that went to a special spy school in the middle of the night to train. When I was 12, I managed to convince my soccer camp rival that I was pregnant with a carrot. I'm still not sure how that worked!
The point is, when we're children, we tend to believe a lot of silly, or even stupid things. However, some of us carry some of those stupid beliefs into adulthood.
Reddit users shared some of the stupidest things that they or someone they know still believe thanks to Redditor OnionChan_.
He asked:
"What are the stupidest things that some people believe?"
Live Dangerously Or Not At All
"Had a former co-worker who believed it was safer to cross in the middle of oncoming traffic than at a stop light because they were forced to see you that way. We'd be walking and she'd just cross, horns blaring and swerving around her while we waited for the light to change."
"She also believed our manager was on her side though, and she was the lowest paid in the group - even below the minimum the school allowed. It was amazing she was still alive."
– VictoryaChase
Those Cows Are Talented
"Probably late to the party but I thought that cows rolled up those hay bales until I was like 16."
– Whakefieldd
"As someone who spent the last three days throwing hay bales, I wish cows contributed."
– The_Brain_Fuc*ler
It's Like Rain On Your Wedding Day
"Up until 6th grade I thought ironic meant something was made entirely out of iron. I was only corrected on my misunderstanding when my teacher asked me to explain my logic after I commented on how the hole puncher was the only ironic object in the room. I still remember the look of bewilderment on her face as I said it lol."
– NorthEasternDunes
And Also, It's Made Of Cheese
"I knew a woman who believed that there are high-end resorts on the moon that rich people are vacationing at. She was shocked and confused when I told her that I didn't also believe this."
– grannybubbles
Where Do Babies Come From?
"When I was little, I thought children came from your kidneys."
– Myst3rySteve
"You're kidding me."
– HertogJanVanBrabant
Someone Needs To Look At A Map
"Heard some guy say "Florida doesn't exist, the government made it up". He wasn't joking"
– BigBounceZac
"That's nonsense. Wyoming is the only fictional state."
– themattboard
"Technically the government made up every single state. Like how every word is made up."
– HyperSpaceSurfer
One Of The Biggest Conspiracy Theories
"Flat earth"
– New-Highway868
"if the earth was flat, cats would have knocked everything off the edge by now."
– stormquiver
"I just want to know what is the purpose of the conspiracy? Like if the earth really was flat what would be the purpose of hiding that?"
– afellowchucker
Nothing To Do But Laugh
"We use only 33% of a traffic light. Imagine how fast traffic would flow if we used 100% instead!"
– dracosdracos
"I got into this argument with someone once. I ended it with "Let me remove 90% of your brain and let's see how well you function.""
– Stoomba
Milk Is Milk Is Milk
"I saw a video of a vegan, drinking strawberry milk the nesquick brand. They said “it’s vegan because it’s strawberry milk. Not like cow milk. You know what I mean?” I get how they can have misunderstood due to almond milk, soy milk etc. but still, I found it very stupid and I feel like it’s very common knowledge that it’s strawberry flavored, like chocolate milk."
– _Plutooo_
"Really difficult to milk all those tiny little nipples on the outside of the strawberries. Takes a lot of work"
– Jothomp79
No Words
"NSFW"
"Up until I think our sophomore year of Highschool, one of my best friends at the time thought that for guys, your pee is stored in your balls. This friend was a dude by the way."
– rainylikesstuff
You Can Also See The Sun...
"That from the east coast, California is farther to get to than the moon. Because you can see the moon"
– Illustrious_Charge88
Where Is The Proof?
"here in the philippines there's an old belief where If you eat conjoined fruits while being pregnant the baby that your delivering will be conjoined twins."
– PotatoKevin409
This One Is Kind Of Sad
"I thought Alaska was an island and not a part of the North American continent so there’s that"
– Hour-Egg-3011
Maybe In The Animated World
"That if you look at a screen for too long your eyes go square"
– FluffyJo22
WHAT?!?!
"Santa isn’t real"
– cry_me_river
I WISH This Was True!
"For the longest time, I thought fascism was like racism but for faces--discriminating based on beauty standards, basically. Ah, to be teenager me calling random people fascists again..."
– MaelstromNyxus
Um...Huh?
"My primary school teacher for trying to teach me that Noah's Ark carried fucking dinosaurs.
T-Rex and Steggasauras and all."
– sroche24
That Sounds Painful!
"i had a partner who genuinely believed they put acrylic nails into your finger, like they do in the practice nail videos. they thought they legitimately pushed them under your cuticles."
– peach_png
Can't Reason With What's Not There!
"Ghosts. My MIL told me that she’d rather have a robber in her house in the middle of the night than a ghost. She said she can reason with a robber but not with a ghost."
– sad-butsocial
Double, Double Toil and Trouble
"That crystals have magical powers"
– Outlier25
That made me laugh out loud, and not because of its ridiculousness. I admit, for a long time, I believed that too!
One of the golden rules of the job search, heck of life, is always make a good first impression. It is the bare minimum to show up for a job interview prepared and able to fill out an application, or have a coherent resume. It's like Life Skills 101. Apparently that was a class many of us seem to have slept through or played hooky during. How in the world some people think they're going to find employment in their current state of being is mind boggling. But also highly entertaining.
Redditor u/ramennewtls wanted to get those in hiring positions to help us all out when it comes to the do's and do nots of trying to find a job by asking...Employers, what's the weirdest/stupidest answer you've seen on a job application?
Priceless....
michael jackson popcorn GIFGiphyI worked for a small company, and this resume got passed around. Turns out it was someone I'd worked with at my previous company.
He was claiming to be the lead developer on a project that I wrote from the ground up with one other person (not him).
I told my boss that we should interview this person for entertainment value only, and why. So we did. I left people with the gotcha questions to ask, and he tried to bull his way through each one. I was the last interviewer, and the look on his face when I walked through the door was priceless.
Written by Hand....
I was interviewing internal candidates for a job at our location. The job posting asked for your last review and a letter of interest, basically a cover letter.
We have computers and printers available for any employee to use but one woman in her 40s, pretty intelligent, decided to hand write her letter of interest on a scrap piece of 5"x7" ripped paper. WTF? The kicker was she wrote in the letter something like "I bet nobody else took the time to write a personal hand written letter."
I was interviewing an external kid in his early 20s for an entry level stocking job. I asked one of the stock questions "Give me an example of a time you had a disagreement with a coworker?"
He goes into a story about some trivial argument where he and another coworker ended up getting into a fist fight at an A&W Restaurant. I felt kind of bad that he thought I that was an OK story to tell at a job Interview.
"What is the attitude of a satellite?"
I was the candidate for this one. Due to how the Indian College system works, I was forced to participate in a written test for a company which did aerospace focused software. I was not interested in actually clearing the test. 10 years later, I still remember answering "What is the attitude of a satellite?" With "The satellites attitude i.e. mood describes whether or not it wishes to remain in orbit.
Satellites with a bad attitude are normally scrapped otherwise they may decide to crash out of orbit or get into fights with other satellites".
(I had continued this for a 6-7 line paragraph)
I wonder what the evaluators thought of me....
Crush It.
I had a job posting out and a potential candidate reached out to have a chat about the role (senior management position). I told him my calendar was up to date and to book me.
He booked me for 1pm the following day with his phone number in the "location". At 1:02pm I call his number. He was waiting for his food at a burger place.
So we're chatting, he gets his food and says "I'm going to crush this burger while we talk."
He was shocked when he didn't get a formal interview.
@ "don't be stupid"
sanford smh GIFGiphyNot so much an answer, but I've seen a shocking amount of resumes and applications with really awkward and unprofessional email addresses. Before being a position where I reviewed resumes I never would have thought so many people would provide and email address like "baddest_b*ch420" or sexymama_69" to a potential employer, but a lot of people do.
The Bare Minimum
I wasn't necessarily an employer, but i was a manager of a small restaurant. The owner valued my input but i couldn't hire or fire anyone without his permission.
I had a kid bring in his application, and i guess he was making jokes and forgot to fix it. Under "expected pay" he wrote "minimum crap".
He was hired and he was not a good fit.
Nevermind.
It wasn't really anything on the resume or application. Still very entertaining.
Hiring for a call center position in my Department. Man passes the phone interview (done by the CEO of the company) and was told to come in for the face to face interview with the managers of the department.
He shows up and answers a few questions before asking what job he was applying for at the company. I replied that it was for a call center position and he looked disappointed. He then began asking if there were any other positions open (there were not at the time).
I begin to end the interview and I ask him about his past experience. He says that he was always upper management. Then asks if we were hiring for a CEO position at the company. No Dude... No. You literally talked with our CEO during the phone interview. Position is filled. Thanks. Ended the interview after that part.
It was one of the worst interviews that I have ever been through. He was unbelievably un prepared and applying for an entry level position.
Serving Time.
Not an employer but I worked in HR back in the '70s. One applicant under the question regarding convictions wrote that he'd served 6 years in prison for the murder of his wife's lover. He finished by saying that he and his wife were back together.
You're Released
We were hiring externally for an account manager and that void was highly coveted by many of the supervisors on the account. Hired this one guy and told him he had to go through the agent training and we would see where he is at, but under no circumstance was he to tell anyone what he was hired to do.
First day of training he introduces himself to the whole company as the next account manager, blows off training completely, and bombs the final knowledge test.
He was released.
Just Pray.
I Will Survive Jesus GIF by hoppipGiphyHad someone put down "Jesus" for a reference.
Without a last name and contact details? That's pretty unprofessional.
"Kleptoes"
Had a chef once apply with, "good at helping my coworkers thieve whilst the restaurant is at its busiest."
I'm sure he meant thrive but us chefs aren't to be trusted.
At my old job, I think if someone put that on their resume they'd be hired on the spot. I liked to joke that we probably should've stopped searching for people at Kleptomaniacs Anonymous meetings.
"So.... Rong"
GiphyI was working in retail in high school when someone came and dropped off a paper application. In the section about criminal history they checked yes they had prior convictions. In the space provided to state what the legal issues were they simply wrote "rong place rong time". We kept that application around for a while.
"Touchdown"
I received a resume that was just their high school football accomplishments, no other experience written down. There was even a link to his highlight video. He also included a head shot of him in his football pads. He was 24.
Sports CVs usually include a picture of you like that. As well as teams/competitions you've played in, highlights, your weight, height, etc. That sort of thing.
A sports CV is meant to be a profile for you as an athlete. To send to teams you want to join. Or something your agent sends to teams for transfers.
You don't use a sports CV for a actual job with the public. That makes no sense.
"Clowning"
GiphySaw a resume that, under the education tab, went from "Marine Officer Training School" to simply "Clown School."
Not even the specific one, just "Clown School."
"Listen Y'all..."
Old retail manager used to joke about one candidate he interviewed. A felony charge isn't a deal breaker for them so they ask applicants to be honest about them. "So about that drug charge... I just want y'all to know I wasn't usin' it, I just sold it."
"A Cup of Pee"
Hiring for a convenience store in the US, so we always scraped the bottom of the barrel and hired anyone who showed up to the interview. In this particular region, meth was so rampant that we drug tested potential employees. I did the interview, gave the kid the urinalysis kit to bring to the clinic a block away, called the clinic and said you can expect him shortly to administer the pee test. He never showed at the clinic.
Didn't answer his phone. He came back to the store a week later, proudly holding a cup of urine that he was there to turn in. I asked him politely to please take the cup of pee out of my store and to never return. He looked confused. I then asked him why he didn't go directly to the clinic after the interview. He said he wanted to wait till he could pass the drug test! God bless his simple heart.
"Woah Willie...."
GiphyAn applicant for a job as a paid tenor soloist in performing a series of Bach cantatas was asked:
Please list sacred choral works (including cantatas) for which you have served as tenor soloist.
He responded: "None. But I can sing "Shotgun Willie" in the style of Willie Nelson."
"Hey Vanna"
In the cover letter: "I have a 2011 Toyota Corolla" and "I keep things organized with STICKERS!!!" Caps and multiple exclamations and all.
Different girl ignored the instructions to apply online, showed up in jeans and a baseball cap, asked if we were still hiring and when we said yes, she threw her arms in the air like Vanna White on Wheel of Fortune and shouted, "here I am!" My coworkers said the look on face was priceless.
"Paperwork"
I had someone bring in a resume that was scrawled out on notebook paper ripped from a spiral bound notebook and they didn't even tear off the edge so it was clean!
This was for a high level position. They wore a suit, carried a portfolio (which I assume had a spiral notebook in it) and never offered a word as to why they jotted down a resume in the parking lot.
"Why You Should Hire Me"
GiphyWhenever anyone gets an interview to work in my department, our whole team looks over their resume and can ask the applicant questions. There was a guy who applied for a mid-career position and had a few connections with some higher ups in our company.
So they immediately scheduled an interview for him without actually reviewing his resume. When our team looked at his resume, he had it titled "Why You Should Hire Me" and had a bunch of run-on sentences and misspelled words. Our team was confused and thought he made a mistake. Apparently, he thought he had the job because of his connections, so he didn't take the whole applying process seriously. He didn't get the job.
Adulthood comes fast. So fast, in fact, that it surrounds a person before they've completed all the necessary training. So people learn as they go, filling in those cracks and blind spots.
But what if someone doesn't cover all the bases?
It's possible that someone finds him or herself deep into their adult life, largely competent, but with a few things they never covered. Then, something sheds light on the oversight. It's the most embarrassing, abrasive form of education ever.
Often, it's a roommate or a friend that delivers the painful message. That's right, the objective horror of never learning a fundamental task must be experienced publicly.
Redditors who were once that messenger recently gathered to discuss the times they took someone to school on the basics of daily life.
arual_x asked, "What's the most horrifying 'how do you not know how to do this?' moment you've experienced with another person whilst adulting?"
Yes, That is Part of the Home
"When my friend bought a house a month into home ownership she asked me, very pissed off, when the city was coming to cut her lawn because it's starting to look like weeds."
"It was awkward when I had to explain that she needs to cut her own lawn or hire someone."
Way Too Casual About Microbes
"Had to ask my roommate to please wash his hands after touching raw chicken. He was cool to just...go about his day before I asked. He thought I was being a wacko neat freak."
"Same guy also thought his sheets wouldn't fit in the washing machine so he just...never washed them."
"When I asked him please not drop silverware down the garbage disposal and leave it he said I had too many house rules."
Just Saved Her a LOT of Money on Vacuums
"My ex best friend had told me that she had needed to buy another new vacuum cleaner, the 3rd that month. I asked her what was wrong with it and she said 'It's not picking things up anymore!' "
"So I asked if she had dumped out the container... she didn't know that was a thing."
"EXPECTorant"
"I had a friend who I noticed took Mucinex A LOT. I've used it occasionally, when I've been congested, but it seemed abnormal how often I saw him taking it. I finally asked him why he was taking it one time, because he didn't seem sick at all, and he looked puzzled and said 'well, I think I'm getting sick.' "
"I pressed further and he said 'because it's an expectorant. It turns out he thought 'you take an expectorant when you are EXPECTING to get sick.' "
Clearly Not a Sailor
"I had to teach my friend how to tie his shoes, he either wore velcro or tucked the laces into the shoe up until that point." -- Camelllama666
"My mom wouldn't buy me velcro shoes until I demonstrated that I could tie laces if needed." -- Dyolf_Knip
"TBH I would have felt zero sympathy for them until like 2 months ago when I got a dress that ties in the back. Not that it's any excuse in their case, but like... holy sh**, it's like being a dumb child all over again and I was humbled." -- ApathyToTheMax
Caught With the Melting Gun
"One of roommates in college would go though plastic spatulas like crazy. She'd melt them and wouldn't say anything about it. She'd only tell me when I'd go to use it and wonder why it was messed up. She'd always say it was due to the spatula being made of cheap plastic. No."
"I finally caught her one day. She'd be cooking something and would walk away LEAVING THE PLASTIC SPATULA IN THE PAN WHILE IT WAS STILL ON!"
Dinner With a Chisel and Fork
"I had a roommate at university who's 'cooking' method was put baked beans in a Tupperware, seal the lid, turn on microwave, when lid pops and explodes beans everywhere they're cooked."
"One time I came home to find the oven on and smoking a bit. Opened the door to find what was an entire lasagne bubbling on the bottom of the oven. He bought himself a frozen lasagna, step 1 'remove outer packaging' step 2 'place on middle tray of preheated oven' "
"He literally thought that outer packaging was anything outside of the lasagne, so he tore away that shell that the lasagne cooks in and placed it straight on the rack, so as it defrosted it just fell through the rack and all over the oven"
-- Thejustinset
2 is Better than One
"My friend in college once lamented, 'ugh. I have to pee and I just put a tampon in like five minutes ago. I hate having to pull them out dry. Also it's such a waste.' "
"Her mother taught her that there is only one hole down there and peeing with a tampon in is not possible. It will fuck up your bladder. Took a lot of me showing articles and diagrams and answering questions to convince her there are, indeed, two holes."
"She peed while the tampon was still in and called her mother in utter shock to share the good news."
An Enviable 40 Years
"A friend who was pushing 40 had never paid a bill before. She had gone from living with her parents to living in a dorm to living with her parents again until she got married, then she got divorced and was living on her own for the first time."
"Got a text from her asking if my power was out too, then she realized it was just her. Her excuse was she never paid attention to the bills because she thought they were 'receipts' and that the cost was included in her rent."
"Her water was cut off a couple weeks later and we had to talk about that, too."
DO NOT SOAP TURKEYS
"Not sure if this counts but when I took a food-safe course someone asked if they could wash a turkey with dish soap."
"He failed the course."
-- SaltyJerm
Oil is Oil is Oil
"I've got two. A girl I knew in college. Her dad called once to remind her that every so often she needed to put oil in her truck. She did."
"Then her truck started smelling like french fries and then died. Even after trying to explain it, she couldn't understand that this was directly related to the quart of vegetable oil she put in the motor."
-- snowman818
The Permanent Solution?
"I had to jump a friends car that wouldn't start. It had a hard time but I finally got it running. She immediately turns off the car and says, 'thanks so much I'll call you later!' " -- foundinthewild1
"I did this as a kid when my dad had asked a stranger to jump our car. Idk exactly how old i was, i would guess around 12 and i had never jumped a car before. My dad had me in the drivers seat while he was by the hood with them."
"They were putting their jumper cables away and my dad had to explain what id done and ask for them again."
Off Ya Go, Kiddo!
"I had a relative try to put her son on the school bus his first day if kindergarten and got upset when the driver refused to let him on because he wasn't on the list."
"She never registered him for school and just thought she could put him on the bus and send him." -- whotiesyourshoes
"This makes sense to me. Where are you supposed to learn about school registration? They don't teach that one in school! The elementary school near me has little signs out front every year, but what if you never drive past it?" -- pinano
As Good a Place as Any
"In the late 90s. Had a co-worker who complained about her PC being slow. Took a look and the hard drive was full. Largest folder was her recycle bin. She had never ever emptied it in years of use."
"I emptied recycle, cleared Temp folder and the PC started working fine. She was happy until..... Her big excel tracking sheet was gone. Oh No. She did not know where it was on file explorer, so I asked her to show me how she opened it."
"She goes to the little storage container on her desktop, named Recycle Bin, and it was normally at the top, but now it's gone. No backup. Oops... She cried to management that I 'destroyed her computer.' "
"Manager laughed when I told her the truth."
-- MrRGG
Powder is Powder is Powder
"My ex and I were cooking together and one of the pans got too hot, and we had a minor grease fire."
"She grabbed a bag of flour."
"As tempted as I was to slap it out of her hands, I didn't want to aerate a bunch of flour next to a grease fire, so I grabbed it with both hands and forced it (and her, because she wouldn't let go) over to the counter top, and then dropped the lid on the pan."
"I asked her what her logic was, and she said, 'Well, you're supposed to put baking soda on a grease fire and not water, right?' "
" 'Yes. Why did you try to use flour?' "
" 'What's the difference? They're both white powder.' "
Things NOT Passed Down From Generation to Generation
"My wife's entire family not grasping that you need to put water in a steam iron" -- hadleybox
"That is amazing. The fact that it is an inherited trait makes it even more glorious." -- arual_x
"A friend of mine thought that it was only for the 'internal mechanism' of the iron and he used to periodically release all the steam away from the clothes." -- Loricolus
What a Tangled Web We Weave
"Had a guy constantly asking what time it is...by the 6th time I said 'bro,there is a clock right there' he said 'I don't know how to read it...grown a** man.".
"Couple weeks later on Facebook someone shared a picture of cursive writing he made fun of the people who couldn't read it...I posted a picture of a clock and said what time does this say...he blocked me"
To be called a person of principle is typically a feather in one's cap. Staunch, unwavering convictions about ideals are a wonderful expression of humanity, right?
Not if those convictions land you with an injury or a room of people laughing at you.
Redditor's gathered to discuss the absolute dumbest things they've ever done to get the upper hand on a an argument. To shut any debate down and deliver the ultimate persuasion, they opted for the pragmatic approach: do the thing they say you can't or won't.
Prepare for stupidity and 20/20 hindsight.
CherryCola32 asked, "What is the stupidest thing you've done just to show you could do it?"
Explosion on the Wrong End
"In grade school, maybe age 11 or 12, I had these cheap jeans. I figured out that I could flex my belly and pop the button open, found this funny and guy friends in class got a laugh too. One of them turns to a girl, hey girl checkout what OP can do."
"I flex my belly and let out a huge fart while the button popped open. She turned away, my buddy laughed, and i never did this trick again."
Biohazard
"A buddy bet I couldn't finish the spiciest chicken sandwich at this joint known for insanely spicy chicken in under 30 minutes. I knew I f***ed up when they gave me gloves to eat the sandwich so the sauce couldn't touch my skin and made me sign a waiver. Won the bet, but really I lost in the end."
The Dunk of No Return
"In 2001, my sister got me a Sony phone, a tiny little thing with a flip down front. She worked in a phone shop and got discount. On the box, it said the phone was waterproof and there were tiny rubber seals in places."
"I believed them."
"At the pub where I worked, this aspect came up in conversation. Some guy said the phone couldn't be waterproof, and that shower proof was probably more accurate. Remembering the box, I argued the point . . . And dropped my phone into a pint of beer in an effort to prove it."
"I was wrong. Brutal but well-earned life lesson."
THWACK
"Cliff diving, saw a old man do a front flip off a 40 foot cliff. I said if he can do it, so can I. I did the flip alright, followed by a belly flop that Zeus could hear. Knocked the air out of me, but luckily people were floating near by to save my dumb a**." -- Skarface08
"I bruised my a** by jumping off a similar height rock and landing in a seated position" -- theknightmanager
Another Dunk, a Little Warmer
"When I was around 12, I was neglecting to flush my piss. Too busy playing armored core. So my dear mother brings me into the bathroom, and tells me if I don't flush next time, she's going to dip my hands in the piss. I looked at her, made a hammer fist, smashed it in the toilet, covered myself in piss, only a little on her(thank god.)"
"I wasn't even a malicious child, just salivated at the opportunity to show I could withstand the punishment and was thus unafraid."
A Big Ol' Swig
"I was about 4 years old and my grandfather was making something with buttermilk. I saw it in his hand, and I cried and screamed and begged to have some. He kept saying 'No, you won't like it!' but I persisted. He finally poured me an entire glass."
"I took one swig and I'm sure he could see the disgust on my face, because he looked like he had won."
"I stared at him right in his eyeballs as I chugged the entire glass."
The Bait and Switch
"My partner was a heavy smoker, and at the time, I'd never touched a cigarette. I would subtly—and sometimes not-so-subtly, but always lovingly—urge her to quit. She told me I had no idea how hard it was. I decided to take up smoking for about a month and then quit just to show her I could do it."
"That was ten years ago. I'm on a pack a day. She no longer smokes."
Reclaiming the Clock
"Parents put a curfew on the computer when I was ~12 during summer break. No gaming from 10pm-6am."
"A reasonable person would go to bed at 10-10:30 and wake up at 7 to play, right? 12 year old me just stood stayed up until 6am, woke up my parents, and played until noon. Then died until dinner."
"Rinse and repeat for a few days until my parents got sick of waking up at 6am. Then I went back to gaming until like 2am."
-- Hailene2092
Technically, You Did Do It
"Walked through the brush of our treeline to get a football to prove it wasn't poison ivy. I did it. I got the football."
"It was poison ivy." -- Hellboy32607
"I once did something similar, but it turns out I'm immune to poison ivy."
"The rest of my friends? Not so much." -- aetherwaves
Lingering Defeat After a Victory
"I stabbed my leg with a pencil in elementary school. I told people I couldn't really feel much pain (which, at the time, was true). There was a spot on my leg from the lead for years." -- movealongnowpeople
"Lol, I still have a piece of graphite in my left hand from getting stabbed with a pencil 33 years ago." -- Dyolf_Knip
Not How That Works
"I told my 6th grade friends I could just jump off a two story roof and not get hurt. Guess who only got a scraped knee that day? Not me. I broke my leg." -- DemiDork231
"There's always that kid in elementary that thinks he can fly." -- Obyson
Tase (Tease)
"Let a friend tase me in the butt for 1000 pesos (about 30 US cents lmao)" -- uhhvet
"When you get tased in the ass for 30 cents, you're doing it for the kink, not the money" -- __xor__
'My best friend's husband took my tazer and tazed me through my jeans and the material of the back pocket. The pain was something else. I also had a red mark on my booty for days."
"I will get him back one of these days. I am certian of that...'" -- fr332B3M3
Extraordinary Gut Health?
"Chugged way too much Apple cider vinegar.....huge mistake." -- dhensonjazz
"The implication that there's an appropriate amount of apple cider vinegar that one could chug is excellent." -- FoldupRabbit1
"I just got sympathetic heartburn from this." -- buff_history
Dumb, Horrifying Children
"As a kid I told my friends I could hold my breath for a long time, long enough to pass out, in fact. And that's exactly what I proceeded to do." -- hellbentforleisure
"My friends and used to have those breathing contests in the pool where you'd go underwater and see who could hold in their breath the longest. I'm a really competitive person so of course I won."
"I passed out in the pool when I was 9 doing this. The lifeguard was too busy flirting to care and he thought I was faking it." -- slightlylessright
Faster, Faster, FASTER!!
"Played that stupid f***ing 5 finger filet game with a compass back when I was in school. As I got more confidence I obviously got faster and inevitably the point went right into the side of my finger tip. F***ing idiot." -- Borodave88
"I played that stupid game at scout camp... I stopped after one of the younger scouts got to cocky because he could go faster than us older guys and sliced about 1/2 inch into the webbing between his fingers.. I can still see the blood." -- xdrakennx
All Claims to Iron Hands Died Then and There
"when i was 6 I stapled my fingers because i had convinced all of my friends that i had iron hands" -- ShelikeMykicks
"I was around that age too and I was fiddling around with a stapler and stapled my pointer fingers together. It was the skin just next to the nails so it barely hurt."
"I went downstairs to tell my mom who was doing laundry that I stapled my fingers together. I still remember the look on her face to this day." -- Frankfertt
The Feeding Approach of an Anaconda
"Won a doughnut eating contest. In 10 minutes I ate about 17 doughnuts, and seconds before the time was up and I had all my thoughts set on having a hearty cleansing puke a motherf***er who wasn't even taking part yelled that throwing up afterwards should disqualify you."
"Somebody counted that I took in a few days worth of calories. My appetite came back two days after."
-- _citizenzero
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