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People From Abroad Break Down Which Things Make Them Sad About Their Native Country

People From Abroad Break Down Which Things Make Them Sad About Their Native Country
Pixabay

Life in the United States is simultaneously cake and impossible - but if you think things are a magical utopia in other countries, you should probably make more international friends.

'Cause the world is kind of a beautiful dumpster fire everywhere.


One Reddit user asked:

What makes you sad about the country you live in?

And yeah ... turns out the issue is probably not the place, but that humans need to just get it together.

Divided 

It feels like the "Divided" States of America instead of United.

People have seemingly lost the ability to talk to one another in a civil, productive way to achieve a better result for everyone.

- Back2Bach

Online, yes, but in person I just don't see that. I live/work around, right, left, black, white, rich, poor, religious, non religious etc and we all get along fine in political discussions in person.

Social media makes it seem a lot worse, I think. Some people are unreasonable in person, but most of them didn't need social media to be unreasonable

- citizen42701

A Brazilian Grandma

Suspicious Buffy The Vampire Slayer GIFGiphy

I was walking down the street the other day on my way to a friends gathering, when this very ancient-looking lady, dressed like a Brazilian grandma, approached me at a street corner and kindly said something like this: "Oh dear young man, could you please help me cross the street? I am afraid a car can hit me because of my slow pace."

Normally I am very happy to lend a hand and help people out, especially elders, but it was a quiet and poorly illuminated street in a central district of Sao Paulo past 10 pm. That means a perfect place for street crime. I only needed to walk 3 blocks from the subway station to my friend's apartment, and as a local aware of our high crimes rates, I was planning to do it as quickly and unnoticeably as possible. But I said yes.- mavaremkj


The old lady holds my arm firmly and we start crossing at her very slow pace. All of a sudden it felt like something was terribly wrong. "It's a trap" I immediately thought. "She's an actress part of a gang whose members will come out of nowhere, attack me, rob me or do anything at any moment," I thought. It seemed like a really long crossing-the-street minute while I was so sure something bad was going to happen to me. "How could I be so naïve?" and "I'm screwed" were my last thoughts... before reaching to the opposite sidewalk safely.

That was it. She thanked me and went on her way, leaving me feeling COMPLETELY relieved for not being a victim of a gang or something like that, and TERRIBLY bad at the same time for having suspected about her attitude and, worse, her sincere need for help.

That made me realize that my fear of losing my life has largely blocked my sense of trust and empathy for others, and how much of a commonplace this is in Brazil's today society. Of course, we have a lot of problems, but this makes me really sad about my country.

Indigenous Canadians

As an Indigenous person in Canada, I'm extremely sad that my native language was almost wiped out during colonization. All of our remaining speakers are elders. We are doing our best to relearn.

- MisterStarr714

It's not even during the colonization! So many traditions and language was lost during the f*cking residential schools that indigenous kids were forced into. Thousands of children died. Thousands more lost their roots and identity.

The f*cking craziest part was there were still residential schools in THE GODDAMN 1990's! We Canadians should feel immense shame when we think of how our country has completely f*cked an entire group of people, but if you ask the average person on the streets, they probably have some deeply racist opinions about the aboriginal people in the country.

Sh*t hadn't changed. We still treat the indigenous people of Canada like absolute sh*t.

Women have been forced to get hysterectomies, CAS has taken children from families without justification, they are targeted by police, they are targeted for murders because killers know there won't be a serious investigation into the disappearance of an indigenous person. Its nice to think that Canada is so much better than the US in regards to tolerance, but I think a lot of us just have our eyes closed

- 0ngar

Tolerating Intolerance

Netherlands. We've always told ourselves that we're a tolerant nation, to the point that now we've grow accustomed to tolerating intolerance.

I expect a lot of Western Europe is feeling the same.

- the_researcher_

German here. I understand you well.

We are at a point in history where we need to tolerate these QAnon people who endanger our democratic and relatively safe lives with their "Corona isn't real" and "wake up sheeps of the system" bull.

We recently got a young racist douchebag of a woman drawing parallels between herself and Sophie Scholl (a brave woman of the resistance against the Nazis, for those who don't know her) - and we have to tolerate sh*t like that, because otherwise we are hindering them in their right for free speech eye roll.

- Panzrpack

So Much Potential

Everything. (The Philippines.)

I mean, you could name a dozen other countries that are just politically, economically, even culturally f*cked we are.

But when I read through our history, we had such potential. Our agricultural and industrial sector was pretty good after recovering from WW2. We were either ahead or on par with the likes of Singapore, South Korea, and even Japan. We should be standing alongside those countries as equals today.

But the 70s and 80s were wasted under a brutal dictatorship that embezzled the equivalent of billions of dollars worth of our national capital and left us heavily in debt. The political climate never quite recovered from the cronyism of that era. Our government continues to be extremely corrupt and dismissive of the public's needs.

Our job market is so terrible, a significant portion of our workforce has to migrate overseas for work. The "Overseas Filipino Worker" is like a labor class onto itself, with connotations of people being exported like cattle to prop up a dysfunctional domestic economy. It's also led to the rather negative stereotype that there are Filipinos all over the goddamn place, cos there's hardly a corner of the world where you won't find our people.

Just when things were starting to climb in the early 2010s, we elected the "Trump of the East" in 2016, an authoritarian who has spent the last 4 years dismantling our democratic institutions, persecuting critics, allowing China to infringe on our sovereignty, and waging a brutal war on drugs that has accomplished nothing more than an indiscriminate massacre of the poor. And he's not due to leave office until 2022.

So here we are, a poor, backward, shadow of what we could have been, surrounded by neighboring countries who have long since surpassed us.

- AdvocateSaint

Greek "Superiority"

I live in Greece and incase you didn't know, Greece is heading to hell financially.

I don't mind patriotism but at school they teach you about achievements we accomplished thousands of years ago as if they were yesterday and speak of us as if if we are superior to other countries because some took reference of our ancient vocabulary, and honestly I don't like that.

- AnimeLemon

I Want To Live In People's Imaginations

beauty river GIF by JerologyGiphy

The way people think of it.

People are all: "BEAUTIFUL NATURE!! Freedom in the forest! The graceful mountains. The north-sea..."

Me: Normal county... ???

The way people think of Norway makes me want to live in their imagination... but I can't. The nature and environment people think of - that was before.

I'm never gonna know that. I'm never gonna be in it. It makes me think of people destroying the earth, something that makes me sad.

- Dupain-Cheng

The Police Do Nothing To Stop It

Mexico

Every day there's 10 women who are murdered and our police system does nothing to stop this. There was a case of a CEO who murdered his wife and nobody did anything. The victims even report their abusers many, many times but the police does sh*t and then it's too late.

I live in a pretty calm city but now it's almost regular to hear about a woman being murdered or abducted.

It is horrifying. The fear is real. Even when we weren't in quarantine, we thought twice about even going out with friends or even at night.

In school it was risky to be alone. There were many stories of students who were almost abducted and this is just in my city but there's worse cities that deal with this every day.

- blackeyeangel3

"Outraged"

How tax evasion and small corruption in general is considered normal, despite being one of the causes of our high national debt. Obviously when a major case of corruption is discovered they're all "outraged."

Plus the growing intolerance toward immigration, due to some parties propaganda. I live in Italy

- ImmondoVianello

Unimproved Since The Fall Of The Soviet Union

Bulgaria

Corruption is everywhere. Our wages are laughable and it is even worse when it is time to retire.

Our educational system is mediocre, students are intentionally flunked so they can pay their retake sessions of which associate professors and professors take a chunk out of.

Our healthcare system is pretty much unimproved since the fall of the soviet union. Emergency medicine is late most of the times. Our doctors lie to the patients in order to perform operations that are not needed so they can take money from the state, which is financing some of those procedures.

- bghackerboi

We Used To Be

Germany.

We used to be a country in which everyone pulled in the same direction. Focus on education, expand the great healthcare system, get an balanced economic growth and reduce the number of poor people every year. Everything changed in the last 6-10 years.

Now we are a country filled with hate against those we don't really know and don't even try to understand. Instead of fighting real world problems we fight against right winged politicians who think it's smart to shoot people trying to enter our country or let them drown in the ocean instead of letting them enter the European Union.

We have to fight people who describe German history and it's actual representation as mostly fictional instead of learning from the past. The saddest part in all of this is: these people represent a decent number of people and their political views.

We should have learned from the last years but it looks like we did not. We drown in politeness and political correctness instead of fighting those who "fight the democracy" as they call it themselves.

Our democratic system seems to fail to protect itself against those who are determined to destroy it.

- El_Com

Something Bad Is Always Coming

Cuba is a country where we can't enjoy good stuff for too long because there is always something bad coming. For example, last year we got a salary increment - but then started a scarcity of food, hygiene supplies and fuel. We had a little bit of money, but almost no public transportation or diversity of food to buy.

This year, due to Covid and lack of tourism, the government decided to get dollars by switching our stores payment method from national money to US dollars.

We cannot purchase those dollars or buy in stores with them, you must own a magnetic card and you must get the money from outside the country. Guess what?


Trump said he had enough of us and forbid banks from send us dollars.

There are many examples, but living in Cuba is like that: something good happens and few weeks or months later something bad comes and F*CKS US, VERY HARD. VEEEERY HARD.

We Cubans are strong, happy people. We have faced adversity and survived troublesome times but F*CK! We just want to live simple, regular, happy lives without worrying about so many f*cking issues all the time.

- Ethan920713

​We Already Went Through This

People saying Refugees (mostly Muslims) should live in separate places designed for themBasically camps. I live in Austria. We already f*cking went through this sh*t and people still support history repeating itself.

- Remarkable_Plant

The Most Blessed And Most Cursed

I live in Pakistan, it is the most blessed and the most cursed country.

Pakistan consists of forests, jungles, precious mines, deserts, sea, mountains and godly windy terrains along with multiple agricultural fertile land.

If utilized properly, Pakistan's economy could've massacred the other top ranked countries. But the only curse is that we have the most corrupted and the scummiest leaders, causing it to just slowly fail.

Even with nuclear power, Pakistan is heavily in debt with the US and other countries. Moreover, Pakistan's founding fathers and later on Prime ministers made some poor decisions to which residents are still suffering from.

- MLA1092K3

Science

neil degrasse tyson GIFGiphy

I don't usually like to post comments like these, but I feel really strongly about this topic.

America.

Simply too many people don't understand or believe in basic science and health principles that should be common sense. Simply too many people fight tooth and nail against wearing masks.

It's so depressing that in the same country with a good amount of the world's leading scientists/doctors you have so many people that don't understand that we can eradicate this damn virus by putting a freaking face covering over out face and by staying 6 feet away from each other.

That in the same country we have so many people that swear up and down that climate change is false yet we're seeing undeniable evidence of climate change wearing away our planet.

That in the same country there are so many people who make their life revolve around politics, even things that were never meant to be politicized in the first place.

I haven't even mentioned the disgustingly expensive healthcare situation

- DanCenFmKeys

Beautiful - But Ugly

Serbia is a really pretty country - like the nature and everything it's so cool.

But the people who live here are stuck with a mindset of people from the 15th century or something. They are all blaming AmEriCA for everything. I see so much ingrained ugly; like just a lot of homophobes , transphobes and racists.

Then they sit around wondering why nobody likes us.

I don't hate it here, actually. It's Beautiful. I hate the people here. Ugly.

- Nanat1me

Lesson Not Learned

We allowed a fascist to run and ruin our country. For the second time!

Like we didn't have enough in 2012 when his party collectively stole more money than the country makes in a year. And they tripled the number since February!

Slovenia

- big_boy_aang

It's Not That Much Fun

Everything is small and there is no variety.

For a country only a few spots down the leaderboard from 1st place, life is surprisingly dull and bleak - unless you're into the same looking old buildings everywhere.

It's nothing like America, the country it's most compared to. In America, if you have something you want to do there is probably a store/place not too far that does it.

Here, if there's something you wanna do it means you need to either go on holiday or expect to drive across the whole country.

England isn't as fun as people make out.

- help-im-stressed



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People Share Their Very Specific Dating Restrictions

Reddit user AceofSpadesYT asked: 'What is your most specific restriction when it comes to dating?'

silhouette photography of couple
Sean Stratton on Unsplash

When it comes to dating, I have my mental checklist. The guy must be kind, intelligent, funny, and a movie buff. He must be adventurous but also doesn't mind a Netflix and Chill date night.

Most of this is similar to the mental checklists other people have. Of course, I can be flexible. If someone is nice and I'm having fun with them, they don't necessarily have to check all the boxes.

However, I have one specific dating restriction that is a dealbreaker regardless of how many boxes the person checks, and that's religion. I've never been a fan, and now I'm an atheist, and I would want my partner to be as well. That's because I want kids, and the last thing I want is for us to argue about how to raise the kids when it comes to religion.

I'm not the only person who has one specific dating restriction. Everyone has that one thing that is a dealbreaker when it comes to a romantic relationship. Redditors certainly do, and they are ready to share.

It all started when Redditor AceofSpadesYT asked:

"What is your most specific restriction when it comes to dating?"

It's Just A Joke!

"No cruel or rude pranks."

– detective_kiara

"I saw a post by someone whose boyfriend "pranked" her by pretending to be dead on the kitchen floor. That is exactly how she had found her previous partner, dead on the kitchen floor, which her current boyfriend knew. He was surprised she dumped him and didn't think it was funny."

– innocuousspeculation

We're (Not) Gonna Party!

"No party people. Nothing wrong with it, I just ain't dealing with that sh*t."

– PlantBasedStangl

"True. I like planning weekend stuff, but it has to be something meaningful - visiting a different city, movie marathon, mountain hike, fancy lunch, all okay. But... clubbing and drinking? How f**king old are we, 19? No thank you, I'm old and have no energy for listening to music I don't like while being surrounded by 50 people that I don't give a single half of a sh*t about."

– PlantBasedStangl

LOL

"Same sense of humor. I have 0 interest sharing physical space with someone who doesn't laugh with me."

– Legendary_Lamb2020

My Ears Are Bleeding!

"I'm a light sleeper. I cannot date a snorer. I can hear snores through ear plugs AND a fan blowing. It's not you, it's me."

– YourLocalOrca

At that point, it does sound like them 😂

– CuriousRedditor98

Funemployed

"Have a f**king job."

– Cuss-Mustard

"Found this difficult when I was funemployed. Was fortunate enough to be able to live off savings for a bit."

"People reacted oddly to it. “But what do you do???”"

"Was dating at the same time and some girls had the same sentiment. “You don’t have a job?”"

"I had a good enough job that I didn’t need one anymore. And one lined up 8 months from then. But there were two girls specifically who treated it as a deal breaker."

– DigNitty

"I had a similar situation. I worked a high-paying job for a few years that demanded a ton of my time and had crazy hours. It burnt me out badly and I lived off of the savings from that job for a while and tried to date now that I actually had free time. I had more money in my bank account during that time than at any other point in my life but so many people were put off by me being funemployed and assumed I was looking to leech. But I guess there’s really no way to know someone's history and hard not to assume. Now I work full-time and have way less money overall but it looks better..."

– Pinsit

Just Breathe

"No smoking. Ever. I'm not kissing an ashtray, or smelling an ashtray. Instant turn off."

–fishfood19

"100% I broke up with an old gf because she started smoking behind my back knowing I’ve got asthma and it was always a hard pass. She thought I was joking but it showed me that she was also untrustworthy."

– Jonowl89

That'll Do It

"I guess my husband restricts my dating."

– HeinousEncephalon

"My wife has the same rule. But the jokes on her, I get around it by dating her!"

– AuralRapist

Prehistoric Love

"Must like dinosaurs."

– Grungeceratops

"That goes without saying."

– Plain_Chacalaca

What's In A Name?

"Cannot have the same name as any of my relatives."

– Poorly-Drawn-Beagle

"My last ex had the same name as my Dad and I reeeeeeaally didn't like it. So, fair."

– severaltalkingducks

Be Polite

"If they’re rude to people they’ll never see again (Waitstaff, cashiers, etc) I’m out."

"I can’t respect anyone who doesn’t respect themselves, and when you’re not polite to people you’re disrespecting yourself."

– OctopusCandleCompany

God Only Knows

"When I was dating, you had to be an atheist. I don't mess with religion. And I genuinely just don't think atheists + religious people work out."

"And I know... There's going to be someone who comments (assuming there are enough upvotes) who says "I worked out with my spouse who's religious and I'm not!" but you're the exception. When it comes to making decisions long-term, how to spend your money, where you think you'll go after you die, not to mention basic morality (!), and if you have children - that's a huge hurdle."

– Lulu_42

"We worked it out. It's absolutely an exception and not the rule. Don't do it if you can avoid it."

– Alcoraiden

Let's Move Tonight (Literally)

"They need to be ok with cold weather."

"I grew up in the north, live in the south, and I'm tolerating it until I can move back north. If someone says they hate the cold it's an instant turn-off because I don't want to drag someone into a climate they hate."

"The same thing also applies to walkability. I want to move somewhere walkable, and I hope to meet someone with that same goal rather than try to talk them into it."

– ThePresidentCantSwim

"Let me know when you find this mythical northern walkable community."

– Partner-Elijah

My Purr-fect Match

"Cat has to approve."

– Possible-Source-2454

Non-Negotiable

"They need to be male. Kind of important."

– RMHaney

"So weird, I want the complete opposite."

– eightvo

Yeah, the male thing is kind of important for me too!

Do you have anything to add? Let us know in the comments.

Life is full of shock and surprise.

Apparently, that is part of the fun.

Who hasn't been left stunned by life events?

We always think we're immune to way too many things.

Anything and everything is possible.

It's important to be ready.

Redditor Bob_the_peasant wanted to hear about the things that have left people SHOOK, so they asked:

"What 'That can’t happen to me' thing happened to you?'"

I haven't been left that shocked that often.

I'm always expecting the worst, so I'm prepared.

But you never know.

I'm Dead

Snakes Imacelebau GIF by I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! AustraliaGiphy

"A snake fell out of a tree and bit me on the head."

"ETA: I have always been more scared of snakes than anyone I know, so it’s just so ironic that this happened to me of all people."

amanitachill

Crash Into Me

"A car crashed through my kitchen last year."

aster636

"I woke up to a truck parking in my bathtub 2 weeks before Christmas a few years ago. I watched my sink roll past my bedroom door followed by a hubcap. The driver managed to cross a median, 3-lane road, up an embankment, through an iron fence and between trees. He'd been involved in an altercation nearby and was fleeing the scene."

anjie59k

Hot Air

Swinging Hot Air Balloon GIF by Red BullGiphy

"My family and I were in a hot air balloon crash."

GymDoll2000

"My friend had one crash into her pool when she was a kid."

Environmental-Car481

This is why hot air balloons and skydiving are just a HELL no for me.

Always have. Always will.

Tragic

Cat No GIF by Looney TunesGiphy

"My wife cheated on me with my best friend. They’re moving in together next month. I’m in a new city thousands of miles away. I found out a month ago."

Tssodie

Bad Penguin

"Everyone else’s stories are very sad so here’s something a bit lighter. I’ve mentioned this story before but I got bitten on the neck by a penguin."

"I was at an event where the local zoo had a penguin and owl sitting on tables with handlers so you could take a picture next to them. The penguin went for my glass of wine, I moved the wine, and it bit me on the neck hard enough to bruise. They removed the penguin after that. 😂."

archaeologistbarbie

All Gone

"Our house burned in a wildfire, we lost absolutely everything we owned and only salvaged a single coffee 3 cup."

"On the good side: There was a boy I crushed on all through high school. We went to summer camp together and I adored him. We ended up getting together in our 20s after reconnecting, and have now been together more than 20 years, married almost 17. We’re as madly in love as ever."

toomuchisjustenough

Good Luck

"Homelessness. It came swiftly and out of nowhere. had no savings and the landlord sold the house I was in. couldn’t afford a new place so lived in my car with my dog for a few months. ended up finding community assistance and got into an apartment."

jumbospicyslimjim

"I can’t even imagine being in that situation. Hopefully, this is just the start of things turning around for you. Sending you good energy!"

frappbarqueen

Early Michael Myers

"About 10 years ago, I was stabbed in the arm with a flathead screwdriver. It was a coworker whom I had previously gotten along well with. He had stopped taking benzos and smoking weed a few days before and was on a hair trigger. I said something sarcastic, and he just snapped."

Mr_Spaghetti_Hands

Bad Landing

Bad Day Seagull GIF by Sound FXGiphy

"I was lying on the beach and a seagull flying very high took a poop and it went straight in my mouth."

Competitive_Show6205

This is why I say... "Never trust a seagull!"

They are minions of the devil.

Person cooking in home kitchen
Conscious Design on Unsplash

We've all heard the phrase, "You can't eat at everybody's house," but some of us have a few examples of our own to live by.

From not properly cleaning the environment to questionable hygiene ourselves, there are countless reasons why a person may not want to eat what you've cooked after watching you prepare it.

Bracing themselves, Redditor 195901 asked:

"What is your 'you can't eat at everybody's house' horror story?"

Fly Spray Sandwiches

"I told my dad my sandwich tasted like fly spray at my grandma's house. He didn’t believe me."

"Two days later, I caught my grandma spraying the benches 'clean' with the two-dollar fly spray you find at the cheap store."

"Dad figured it was safe to make sandwiches straight on the countertop because they looked clean. I dragged him over to see and he apologized and took my sister and me for fish and chips for lunch."

- littlehungrygiraffe

Special Seasoning Deviled Eggs

"My crackpot aunt served us a lovely tray of deviled eggs, complete with very old paprika sprinkled on top. So old, in fact, the many weevils mixed in it were dead."

- PhoneboothLynn

A Disturbing Surprise

"I visited a friend's house who was living with his mother, and she asked if I wanted a coffee and I said I would."

"Upon getting to the bottom of the cup and taking the last few gulps, I found there was a used bandaid stuck to the bottom… I never ate or drank there again."

- MrRailton

In Need of Child Protective Services

"I was babysitting a kid in a pretty dirty house. I was told to wake him up, supervise bathing and changing clothes, and feed him. I was welcome to whatever was in the fridge. Okay. The house and his clothes were filthy."

"Then, when I opened the cabinets, floods of roaches poured out. There were roaches in every opened box and container."

"I took him back to my house and returned him later that day. I hope the boy ended up in a better situation. I found out CPS (Child Protective Services) got involved shortly after."

- Alltheprettydresses

Traumatized by Raisins

"I was gonna complain about raisins in the potato salad but the other comments on here are scary. Oh my god."

- tcumber

"When I was a young kid, I stayed over at a friend's place, and his mom made veal or something with godd**n raisins INSIDE the meat somehow. It was so nasty, I never forgot it."

- User2716057

You WISH That Was Vinegar

"My MIL fished around in the green bin (compost bin) with her bare hands, didn't wash them, WIPED her GARBAGE JUICE HANDS on the tea towel, and then WENT BACK TO PREPPING THE SALAD."

"She also got horrifically offended if I didn't want to eat at her house."

- 116843189

Poor Home Hygiene

"My first boyfriend’s parents invited me for Thanksgiving. I came over a few days before Christmas and all the same dirty dishes from Thanksgiving were still in the kitchen. I passed on coming over for Christmas dinner."

- MinimalistHomestead

Every Surface Covered

"I went to a friend's house after school, he was going to teach a group of us to play D&D (Dungeons and Dragons)."

"We got there and his house was disgusting. I'm not the neatest person but the carpet hadn't been vacuumed in forever, clothes were all over the place, and dirty dishes were stacked everywhere."

"I tried to be polite even though the place reeked, but at some point, he was like, 'Who wants snacks!'"

"He picked up a bowl that was crusted with stuff, splashed in some water, wiped it with a towel that clearly hadn't been washed that decade, and poured chips into it. Then he asked if we wanted to stay for dinner. We did not."

- KnittinAndB***hin

O Holy Expiration Dates

"When I was a kid, Christmas Eve was always celebrated at Grandma's. I always got sick afterward. Like, Merry Christmas, you're going to puke now."

"It wasn't until I was all grown up and helping her out in the last weeks of her life that I learned why. She did not believe in expiration dates on anything!"

- SundayMorningTrisha

An Immune System to Remember

"My grandma made me a food phobic from a young age. Whether it was ramen with moths floating on top, or chunky milk in my cereal, it just scarred me for life."

"Dinner at her house was always a fight. Not eating her food was not an option. I'm not sure why that was the hill she would always choose to die on, because she was an amazing grandma other than this."

"Expiration dates aren't a thing. If the cheese was moldy, you cut it off... I think living through the great depression and raising kids in poverty changed her mindset on food."

"I mean obviously, she's doing something right because she's 91. She must have the immunity of a superhero."

- tha_stormin_mormon

Neighborly Love

"I used to help an old neighbor out with grocery shopping, I’d drop the bags at her door and she’d give me a check for the amount of groceries. She’d give me homemade cookies once in a while, chocolate chips."

"I didn’t ever eat them because one time I caught sight of her apartment. It was a large studio, a small kitchen, and tv, and a bed/couch. And there were about 20 cans of cat food, half-eaten, and one million flies and small maggots in different stages of growth, dishes with crusty food stuck to them, and a wall of empty beer cans."

"After I saw that, and got a whiff of her apartment, I started helping her with taking garbage out and putting groceries away, cleaning out her fridge, and making sure her cat was healthy."

"A couple of months later, she got the virus, ended up at a rehab facility, and passed within two weeks."

"Some people need help and a little company…"

- SnooPeripherals6557

No Longer Rice

"A girl I was interested in at the time had cats. I came to her house one day to pick her up for a date and he had a large sack of rice open in her pantry with the pantry door open."

"One of the cats hopped out of the sack of rice and she just casually laughed at it like, 'Oh, they are always getting into things.'"

"I came over the following weekend that SAME sack of rice was in the pantry and I could hear one of them tussling around in it again, we stopped dating sometime after that but anytime she offered to cook for me I immediately pivoted to taking her out to eat instead."

- justad**nfool

"Those cats probably used it as litter."

- Anonymanx

"Yeah, that was my fear."

- justad**nfool

Could Have Warned Her

"My mom told me one about going over to her aunt Virginia's house. She, her parents, and her siblings were sat around the kitchen while her aunt cooked, and my mom could not figure out why no one else was having ANY of this incredibly delicious bread that was on the table."

"She was on her third slice when her aunt stepped out to do something else, and my mom was told by her brother to go look in the flour bin."

"It was absolutely filled with miller moth larvae. Aunt Virginia had been losing her eyesight for years."

- smoothiefruit

"It's f**ked of her parents not to warn her not to eat the bread... like, what the f**k, you KNOW the bread isn't safe, so you're not eating it, but you're fine with letting your daughter have three slices?"

- whydontthissitework

Bad to the Point of Malnutrition

"I graduated high school at 6' 10" tall, but weighing only 120 pounds."

"That's not skinny, that's emaciated."

"The food prepared by my bio-mom was so bad that it wasn't providing me with the nutrients or calories I needed to survive. I went off to college where I had to cook for myself (I wasn't allowed to cook at home because my father insisted that "cooking was women's work")."

"Not only did I discover that food didn't have to be burnt to a crisp, flavorless, or boiled until everything was grey. I also discovered that food can be made to taste good, and using things like salt, or pepper, spices, or various condiments can make it taste amazing."

"The "freshman 15" likely saved my life."

"The thing is, I don't think that my biomom was even aware that her food was that disgusting. Whenever we went out for dinner (which was more often than what my father wanted, but he was the one who insisted on going), she did nothing but complain about how the food was undercooked, 'practically raw,' or 'too spicy,' to eat."

"When she went to other people's houses (including her own extended family) she would criticize them for 'doing it wrong' when she watched them cook anything. She would often end up refusing to eat their food because she 'watched them ruin it,' when they cooked it. We never had guests over to eat her cooking. Ever."

- Galaxy_Ranger_Bob

Clean Hands

"We have a chili contest every year at work around Thanksgiving and I've stopped participating in voting for it because I want to know whose I'm eating before taking any. I work with some great people, but I wouldn't eat at or anything from their house. Strangely enough, the guy I absolutely despise I'll gladly eat his chili because he is clean and well kept and I know his house is."

"I also work with a bunch of people who don't wash their hands after using the bathroom in any capacity and we've secretly kept a list so to avoid any potlucks where they take food or to get food before they do."

- SafewordisJohnCandy

We're left with chills after reading these stories.

Where some people might make some mistakes in the kitchen out of just not knowing, like not properly washing rice before cooking it, most of these are just careless mistakes that have disgusting, if not dangerous, results.

Collection of VHS tapes
Bruno Guerrero/Unsplash

What makes us all unique is our passions and the things we love, whether it's singing in the shower, reading books, or listening to specific music artists.

Unfortunately, we live in a world where we are judged for our various tastes and interests thanks to social media, and it makes us consciously selective about sharing the things we love on the internet.

Curious to hear about people's personal desires under anonymity, Redditor sweet_chick283 asked:

"What do you secretly love that you would never admit to in public?"

These aren't really chores for the following Redditors.

Good Clean Fun

"Mopping, im a janitor and generally hate my work... but damn mopping is so good."

– MrDDog06

"When you have a great rhythm going it is something special. I get the same feeling while I vacuum, but won’t let my wife know I enjoy it."

– Bogus_34

Act Of Unwrinkling

"Ironing clothes. A dozen of them. Can’t explain how it relaxes me. I told one person and they looked at me like I’m crazy."

– eerie_white_glow

"My mum misses the days when dad would be out on a Friday night, my brother out with friends and me upstairs quietly playing PS1. She would pour herself a Bacardi & Coke and do the ironing while watching her TV shows."

"I'm sure she doesn't really miss it now that we've moved out and they've retired but it was her wind-down after a busy working week so I can see how people can find it relaxing."

– xdq

Our solo actions can spark joy.

Big Brother Is Watching

"pretending to be on the Truman show and whenever im in my house i act all inconspicuous so they dont know that i know that they’re watching me."

– Bec_121

"C’mon man, you’re not supposed to let him know. You signed a contract when signing up for live views. I’m reporting you."

– doeswaspsmakehoney

The Multi-Tasker

"Playing video games naked at home while eating cheese."

– thickening_agent

Releasing The Kraken

"I love the feeling when you've eaten good fibre and let out a solid long train log in the toilet. That feeling is heavenly."

– therapoootic

"Even better when it’s a clean wipe and not a poo crayon."

– TheWarmestHugz

Ultimate Comfort

"My (male 41) weekend routine is coming home from work, make hot chocolate, start a fire, dress in a ugly pink nightgown made for old ladies and watch forensic files."

– crazyloomis

Some people are obsessed with collecting things.

So Kawai

"Sanrio stationery stores. All those different multicolor pens, a thousand kinds of erasers, spiral bound notebooks galore... my kids sadly have absolutely no appreciation for this wonderland..."

– HavingNotAttained

It's A Staple

"Office supplies have a weird, special place in my heart ever since I was a kid. They don't even have to be 'cute' necessarily."

"Japan's legendary stationery stores is unironically a reason I want to go."

– _CozyLavender_

Not Caring Anymore

"The older I get the shorter that list gets. Not because I love less things, but because I don't care about hiding it."

– Bi-Beast

"YES!! I'm 53 now. I'm working my first job in public since 2006. Today is Halloween and we're allowed to dress up so I am sitting here waiting to go to work dressed as a VERY bad Wednesday Addams. My bf said I'd 'look stupid' because no one else will probably dress up and I'm like, 'WHO CARES!' My makeup looks horrible and not like I practiced, but I DO NOT CARE! I'm having fun with it anyhow and I don't care if my coworkers dress up or not. I'm bein' ME! :)"

– deanie1970

Honorable mentions start here.

The Savior

"Picking up worms from the street and sidewalks when it rains and moving them into the dirt so they don’t burn in the sun, every time it rains I do this."

– sky_kitten89

Hero Of The Moment

"Yoooo I scoot SO many snails and worms. I work as a tech/mechanic at an automotive shop, I had a peoject car towed to my house the other day and it was covered in snails. I saw them when the tow guy/coworker was unloading and I was like, 'oh! It comes with free snails!' and began moving them. He laughed then realized and said, '... Oh, you're serious. Uh... Okay.'"

"I don't care who knows it. These little things barely can look out for themselves, why shouldn't we if we can take a moment to help? I don't care what happens next, it probably doesn't matter overall but I can help this moment."

– chris14020

Why should some of the hidden desires mentioned above have to be secret?

Redditors opening up about some of these would make them a hit at parties–no shaming.

As a matter of fact, I'll totally be down for a Forensic Files viewing party where we all make hot chocolate, light the fireplace, and cozy up together in our respective pink ugly nightgowns for old ladies.