As much as we're not supposed to feel satisfaction upon observing the struggles of other people, it can be hard to resist a silent, internal fist pump when some blunder occurs immediately after we tried to help the person prevent it.
It is all a result of stubbornness.
The person we're trying to help is stubborn. They think they know the best way to do something, or the exact information required for a given moment.
And, on top of that, they think we're being stubborn when we try to intervene.
So all of our attempts to help fall on deaf ears. And the results can be as calamitous as they are satisfying.
Many people chose to talk about the times their friends or family ended up producing some truly entertaining physical comedy.
And the laughter was only enhanced with the knowledge that they'd just predicted the whole thing.
ZAP
"Was picking beans with my sister and mom. To this day I still don't know why the fence was electric but it was. I touched it and I got zapped. It wasn't too bad but it hurt. I jumped away and my sister saw me, I said that it was an electric fence."
"Of course she just thought I was pranking her. I was trying to tell her the whole time we picked beans but she didn't believe me. Right at the end she touched the fence and she didn't see it coming at all... Her face was just like, 'Oh shi-' "
"Loved the car ride home, 'I told you... Idiot.' "
"My sister and I were out sledding when we were kids at this place with a really steep hill. I had unknowingly gone down a sled path that had a jump in it, and when I landed it really hurt my back."
"So when I got back up to the top of the hill I told my sister 'don't go that way, the jump really hurts.' She called me a baby and didn't believe me that it really hurt so she decided she would go down that path on her sled."
"Well, she hit the jump and didn't get back up, turns out she fell so hard she had broken her leg. When we finally got her back up the hill and to the car, I got to tell her 'I told you so.' "
Others recalled the times they trusted their instincts, only to be gaslighted by medical professionals.
But they did, eventually, get the help they needed. And the mixture of pride and frustration toward the other doctor was palpable.
Non-MD Spouse
"Had a weirdly dark freckle. The color of chocolate. I showed spouse and he called me a hypochondriac and if I go to a doctor, I'd be wasting their time."
"I went to the dermatologist. It was melanoma."
-- weaponizedpastry
Years of Itchy Apples
"Since I was 14, my throat got itchy when I ate apples. I told my mom but she thought I just didn't want to eat apples and forced me to eat them."
"Went to the doctor's office and got a test for allergies."
"Turns out, I'm allergic to apples, peaches, and many other fruits."
People Break Down The Best Loophole They've Ever Exploited
This Was a Baby We're Talking About Here!
"My newborn baby was projectile vomiting after every feeding. I took her to the doctor several times, always ended up being sent away with suggestions to try a different formula. I tried like 4 different ones, no change."
"The 4th or 5th visit, they sent me away again with the same recommendation even though I pleaded with them to figure out what was wrong with my baby. I left the office and drove to the ER instead. She ended up having emergency surgery that day."
"The surgeon said she would have starved to death (or maybe dehydrated?) had she gone much longer without the surgery. I gave the doctors in that office a piece of my mind."
"Went to the doctor on and off for breathing problems to no avail. A lot of 'rub some dirt on it' mentality. Wound up in the ER as a result of an asthma attack. Kept the bracelet on and everything when I went back the next week to see him."
"I told my mom (who is a nurse) that I am sick and she said I was lying. After 2 months and a lot of blood coughed up she took me to the doctor. I had pneumonia and a double ear infection. I also had a bunch other issues that I can't really remember. I had to take 7 medications and have to use a nebulizer daily."
"That was the biggest I told you so moment I ever had."
And some people discussed the times they knew or predicted a piece of information, but couldn't seem to persuade someone else through dialogue or conversation.
But, of course, the truth always came out.
Chose the Wrong Partner
"Lawyer here. Fired a partner who I found some real irregularities in their spending habits vs. what they were making after he couldn't provide a good answer to where it came from. Other partner left and started a new firm with them because they disagreed with my decision and refused to look at the evidence."
"Turns out he stole 500k of a clients money, got disbarred, and is now facing prison time. I told her to look at the evidence and she didn't listen. 🤷🏼♂️"
"Someone started talking about a bottle of Newman's Own salad dressing while at dinner with my family and I said something like 'I'm pretty sure that was started by the Actor/Race car driver Paul Newman.' to which one of my siblings replied 'No it was someone else.' "
"I grabbed the bottle and turned it around and started reading the label out loud. The first sentence was 'Paul Newman's career was acting, but his passion was auto racing.' I stopped reading after that."
"Any time I'm asked to give an expected time to deliver on a project, give an honest assessment, and then told that estimate seems too large and the bosses give a much shorter timeframe."
"My original estimation is nearly always the more accurate of the two. Why ask questions you don't want to know the answer to anyway?"
"I spent months telling my mother to get a dash camera, I even sent her a link to a cheap one on Amazon so she would at bare minimum have something, some time later she got a new car and in less than a week she got into an accident (she was fine), but because she couldn't prove that the other driver was at fault their insurance company would only pay for some of the damage (car was totaled)."
"The worst part is that she still hasn't gotten a damn camera..."
"I once owned a dog who was very stubborn and independent. She lived a feral life in the mountains as a young pup, and I feel like that played a role. She felt more like a roommate than a pet."
"She was having heart trouble when she got older so she had to get a chest scan at the vet. These two men came out to get her, so I gave them a heads up that she would absolutely dislike being flipped on her back and held there for the scan (flipping a dog on it's back is putting it in a pretty submissive position)."
"One of the guys interrupted me and basically said they were professionals and I had to just let them work. They snapped a muzzle on her and took her to the back."
"A few seconds pass, then I hear a crash and a few yells. One of the guys who took her comes out and sheepishly asks for my help."
"It turns out as soon as they flipped her on her back she kicked out of their arms, unclipped her muzzle, removed it with her front paws, then made a mad dash for freedom."
"I caught her roaming around the back of the vet's office and she was perfectly well behaved while I held her for the scan. I felt bad for two guys she escaped from, but I had tried to warn them."
"I've talked about this cheating scandal at my high school before. Something I never mentioned was my friend was about to ask for the answers to a test that he really needed."
"Told him not to do it, wasn't worth and all. Thankfully, he didn't do it. When the whole scandal came out, three kids got expelled, eight suspended, I know a dozen more were caught but I don't know what happened to them. My friend's teacher ended up giving him and a few other kids an A just for being honest. Apparently, he was one of the few kids in that class that didn't cheat."
First, know that, at the end of the day, you can only do your best to share your opinion. You need to accept that they're going to do what they're going to do.
Second, when someone tries to give you advice, maybe take a moment to listen.
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