The world is a really cool and often strange place. We meet all kinds of people and have different experiences. So many people take different paths. Why would these paths ever collide again, right? It makes sense, at least on paper.
A coincidence is defined as a remarkable concurrence of events or circumstances without apparent causal connection.
That means a bunch of little things had to fall in place for a coincidence to happen, which shouldn't be a surprise because life is often all about timing.
That'll be on your mind when you read the following entries.
People shared their thoughts with us after Redditor RichCauliflour asked the online community,
"Hey Reddit, what's the strangest coincidence you've ever personally experienced?"
"My dad..."
"My dad and his twin live far apart. Without even knowing it, they both bought, in the same week, the same car in the same colour."
Garaquarubyline
They're telepathic, aren't they? We love to see it.
"Lost my wallet..."
"Lost my wallet on a trip to Chicago. Found a wallet under the night stand in the hotel. It was not my wallet but belonged to someone who lived two blocks from me in DC."
voice_of_craisin
Hopefully you did a good deed and returned it once you got back!
"Here in my little town..."
"Here in my little town in northwest England there's a good kebab shop from which the lads and I have ordered for years. We've been in there after countless nights out and had them deliver to our doors, so we know the guys who work there pretty well. They're mostly Turkish."
"Once a few of us got together for a short break in Turkey. Having got off the plane, we waited in the car park outside for another pal who'd been on a different flight. As we stood, soaking in the ambience of a new country, none other than the tall guy from our local kebab shop walked across the road right in front of us, two thousand miles from home."
"That was weird."
Superbead
Plot twist: He was an undercover Turkish agent who was also good at kebabing.
"In 1999..."
"In 1999, took my girlfriend to Disney World for a graduation present. While at Epcot, we sat outside and ate while talking about the band I had previously been in. Just then, the guitarist walked up and said 'Hey!'"
codallas
This is so cool! Hopefully you all hung out right then. We are overdue for a cool buddy comedy.
"Seeing Paul McCartney..."
"Seeing Paul McCartney (The Beatles) on TV in 2001, and noticing he was tall. Next day I'm walking down a very quiet street, and walking towards me is a really tall guy, and it was Paul Mcartney. He must've seen my expression so he veered my way, stuck his hand out and said "Hi mate." I was shocked. 18 years later I'm still shocked lol."
[deleted]
What an experience! Apparently he's quite friendly like that.
"I drove 600 miles..."
"I drove 600 miles with my brother and a friend to climb a very remote mountain in the desert."
"None of us were mountain climbers, so this was not a normal thing for us, but we decided to give it a shot. We get there and after climbing a few hundred feet, I look back and notice someone coming up below us."
"I suggest we take a breather and wait for the newcomer and say hi."
"He gets within earshot after about 20 minutes and we start talking while he pauses to rest below us. Turns out we are from the same state (Texas), and both drove almost the same distance to the site."
"He asks where about in the state we live, and it turns out he knows the town."
"He asks if we know a certain family in that town. I point to the friend who came along with me and say, 'Here’s one of them!' ”
"It ends up this guy dated our friend’s older sister several years before that."
"When he finally climbs up the rest of the way we all recognize him! My brother had actually met the guy when he was dating our friend’s sister, but hadn’t seen him since."
"We all made the rest of the climb on this remote mountain almost a thousand miles from home together."
- Onomatopoeia_Utopia
This is a charming story—the world is so much smaller than we think!
"I started a new chapter..."
"I was sitting at the Raleigh-Durham Airport, waiting for my flight to Newark, NJ."
"I started a new chapter in the book I was reading; and it was about someone taking the flight from Raleigh-Durham to Newark."
"The book hadn't been about air travel or either of those locales up until that point, but about Astral projection."
"Definitely one of those moments that makes me think the universe has a sense of humor."
le4t
Indeed it does. We might as well roll with it, don't you agree? It's not like we have a choice.
"I used to get..."
"I used to get two buses home from work. I got off the first one having left my phone and keys on the front seat of the bus without realising. Got on the second bus, went to my favoured front seat and my possessions that I didn’t know were missing were waiting for me. The bus had changed driver and route. Still freaks my nut out to this day."
[deleted]
You really lucked out. This could have ended badly!
"On the way there..."
"I was in St. Augustine on vacation. On the way there I just happened to think about this girl I knew back in college in Orlando. Just sorta wondered what she was up to and the like. Sure as s**t I ran into her in a bar there the first night. She was there celebrating graduating from PA school."
Col_Water
And you got together, right? Or is this something we only hear about in romatic comedies?
Life can be very strange, don't you agree? There's nothing like a seemingly out-of-this-world coincidence to make you feel that the world isn't such a big place after all.
Have some stories of your own? Tell us more in the comments below!
When you first hear of couples sleeping in separate rooms, you might think this is a sign of a marriage on the rocks.
It isn't always the case, though it's understandable why the average person would think.
Society gives us this idea that married couples should do everything together, so the idea that a couple might sleep in separate rooms sounds like heresy!
If anything, however, doing so might just be the reason why some marriages work.
So why do people decide sleeping in different rooms makes sense?
We heard some people share their reasons why they do this after Redditor Dalewin asked the online community:
"Married couples who sleep in separate rooms, why do you do this?"
"My grandfather built a small apartment..."
"My grandparents do this. My grandfather built a small apartment on the second floor of their house. They do it because they have different sleep schedules and in general they spend much of the day apart because they like it that way. But they always eat lunch and dinner together, and my grandfather loves to listen to her soft footsteps throughout the day."
"He calls her “the woman next door.” It’s really cute."
kthrynnn
The "soft footsteps" is the cutest!
"My mother claims..."
"My parents do this. My Mom likes to sleep with the TV on, my Dad snores and steals sheets. My mother claims sleeping separately saved their marriage."
Slav_Vapor
It might as well have! Stealing sheets is an unforgiveable sin, by the way. I get it.
"I know an older couple..."
"I know an older couple that have separate rooms. From what I can tell, they’re very much in love, and very clearly and openly affectionate with each other. Apparently her snoring is next level. Like, their dog starts barking if he’s nearby."
jsffs
A terrible snorer can definitely put one half of a couple in a very bad mood! Sounds like they've found a solution that works for them.
"They both snore..."
"Girlfriend’s parents do this. They both snore and do it to get away from each other’s snoring. I didn’t think it was that bad until they talked about having to sleep in the same bed during their trip in Europe. They were at each other’s throats because if one fell asleep, the other couldn’t."
OverthinkingMachine
Get them matching CPAP machines and problem is solved. They would be healthier too.
"My parents slept in separate beds..."
"My parents slept in separate beds as did my great grandparents. For my great grandparents it was a comfort thing. Grandma didn’t like not being able to move around the bed at will. She and grandpa loved each other dearly and she passed not long after he did because she missed him so much."
"For my parents it was a couple things. As my dad aged his sleep cycle went weird. He would be able to sleep a couple hours and then be up half the night and fall asleep again about the time my mom was getting up for work. Also my mom has sleep apnea and uses a CPAP."
"It made hella noise back then. Dad was half deaf and the sound still bothered him. Out of respect for each other they decided it was better to have separate bedrooms."
WyoGirl79
That should make many couples feel better about sleeping separately. Doing so doesn't necessarily mean that your marriage is falling apart.
"Sometimes..."
"Sometimes I have to sleep on the couch because I get hypersensitive to sound, especially human sound, and don’t like the noise his whole existence makes. He gets it, luckily."
[deleted]
It sounds like you might be dealing with misophonia.
"I am an absolutely terrible..."
"I do this. I am an absolutely terrible person to share a bed with. I snore like a passing semi truck and apparently (I'm told) flail wildly in my sleep. When we first got married I kept waking up to an empty bed. She would join me for an hour until I was asleep, then retreat to the couch."
"After a week or two I got fed up and just went to the couch first. Then started several months of us trading off for the couch. Eventually I just went and bought a twin mattress and tossed it in the office. That became my bed. And when we got a bigger house, I just setup in a separate room."
pineapplesarepeoplet
Have you been checked for sleep apnea? A lot of people don't realize they have it or how bad it's gotten until they get hooked up to a CPAP for the first time in a sleep study.
"He wakes up..."
"Different sleep cycles and work schedules. He wakes up 3 hours before me."
Soumeyab
That would do it. And some people are very sensitive to the sounds of people moving and waking up next to them, especially so early.
"I've been asked..."
"Sleep cycles and she violently tosses around. I've been asked by my commander if I got into a fight when I showed up to duty with a black eye."
[deleted]
Did you tell your commander the truth? Or do they think you just like to get into fights?
"She likes it freezing..."
"My grandma and grandad do. She likes it freezing and he likes it boiling."
NotwithstandingNick
Sounds like they've found a way to solve a simple problem!
As you can see, couples do what they can to make their relationships work. Marriage is hard—separate rooms might just make things much easier!
Have some stories of your own? Tell us more in the comments below!
How Married People Try To Screw Each Other Over According To Divorce Lawyers
Divorce lawyers see a lot of drama.
Divorce can be a very messy process and tensions and emotions can run high. That's why so many couples have a hard time disentangling themselves from each other... and the worst matches have been known to do everything in their power to screw the other party over.
Sometimes the results are funny and sometimes they're horrible (or maybe even a mix of both).
Nevertheless, we heard a lot about some messy, messy people and their even messier divorce drama after Redditor DarkFander14 asked the online community:
"Divorce lawyers of Reddit, what is the most insane (evil, funny, dumb) way a spouse has tried to screw the other?"
"Turns out she's been collecting..."
"I am not a lawyer but work in the court system. One case that came in was a couple divorcing on mutual terms, the husband had one child with her and the wife had a child from the previous marriage. He agreed to pay child support for both children, I guess he really cared about this other enough to support her even though it isn’t his obligation."
"Judge signs the order, they go to set up the child support account and it gets kicked back saying you can’t have two accounts for one child. Turns out she’s been collecting child support from the biological father the entire time and never told him. She basically tried to milk two fathers for one child... and the other attorney knew about it."
Dikutoy
Wow! Imagine if she had succeeded. Sounds like she totally expected to.
"Decided that day..."
"Not my case, but during my first year of law school lawyers from different practices came to give us a peek behind the curtain of different areas."
"The divorce lawyer told the story of rather well to do couple that spent months and months and many tens of thousands of dollars fighting over absolutely everything all the way down to a single ceramic ashtray. He couldn’t remember the significance, but somehow it had come through the husband’s family."
"Even after everything else had been decided, they spent many more months and nearly $100,000 fighting over just this ashtray. Then, after a court hearing the wife finally won the ashtray. She promptly strode out to the white courthouse steps...and smashed the ceramic ashtray. Left the pieces all over for the husband to see on his way out."
"Decided that day I would not be a divorce lawyer."
105degrees_andrising
Honestly, it sounds like you made the right decision. This story is insane.
"He gave her..."
"I didn't handle the divorce, I handled parts of the aftermath. In the divorce, she went AWOL, was living in a truck somewhere, and just couldn't handle it mentally."
He gave her five of his nine companies. They were the ones that owed seven figures in payroll taxes. He had made her the bookkeeper on paper. She spent decades trying to shake the IRS for the results."
[deleted]
Is there a way to say, no, I don't want this, or is it just that she didn't know about the debt? I would image she didn't know, and that her lawyer didn't know the right questions to ask.
"The first case I ever worked..."
"I’m a lawyer but have had a very limited amount of experience in divorce cases. The first case I ever worked the husband shaved/waxed every single hair off his body in an attempt to avoid a court-mandated drug test."
NegligentNeanderthal
"Wife spent the next several years..."
"Worst I saw was a decades long case. Husband had been in a motorcycle accident, suffered brain damage. Has severely limited capacity going forward. Got a huge settlement afterwards."
"Wife spent the next several years stealing the entirety of the guy's money and property variously by forging his signature or putting documents in front of him that he couldn't understand and telling him they were something benign so he'd sign it."
"She then forged a bunch of letters from a tax authority and convinced him he was about to go to jail and further convinced him to flee the country."
"He finally came back several years later to find out everything he owned was in her name and one of the documents he was told to sign were divorce papers."
"Dude got left with nothing. I moved on before I found out how the story ended."
dissociator
This is nightmarish. I can only imagine how horrible the pain must have been for that man.
"A soon-to-be ex-husband..."
"A soon-to-be ex-husband left his wife's prized Koi to die on the doorstep of their house. Apparently the value of these fish (six in total) was over $100,000. She was, according to her lawyer, so distraught that she couldn't be in court. Only in LA."
[deleted]
Is this not destruction of livestock/property and animal abuse? Koi are really long lived fish and can become a bit friendly too.
"The final object..."
"Not my divorce, but my divorce lawyer told me about a case she was involved in where both clients were so petty that they had to all meet to argue over literally every single scrap of everything. The final object that neither would settle on was a ceramic rabbit statue, a really generic one from Home Depot or whatever."
"Zero sentimental value but since it was the final item, neither side wanted to "lose" the last thing and they dragged it out over 3 separate meetings for this one thing. I don't remember which ended up getting it, but once they settled it and signed everything, the "winning" party stuck it on their lawyer's desk as a gift and walked out."
Much_Difference
They must have felt so cool yet looked so stupid.
"He texted his wife..."
"Had a client whose wife wanted him out of the house. I told him not to leave, just move to a different bedroom for the time being because once he was out the chances of him ever getting back in were slim."
"He texted his wife and told her he was staying in the house. She called back and left a VM that she wanted him out and if he wasn't out soon, she would start taking out her unhappiness on the children, and would remind the children that mommy was being mean to them because daddy wouldn't leave."
Armada5
This sounds like a perfect way to lose custody. Wow.
"Spouse had been out..."
"Divorce lawyer here. Spouse had been out of the house for weeks. She waited until he was on a business trip, came into the house, turned on all of the faucets, plugged the drains, turned off the furnace, and left. It was -10 degrees . He came back five days later. The house was ruined. The water froze and cracked the foundation."
Slagathar1
I'm guessing no insurance... or insurance didn't cover a deliberate act of damage, or something.
"He claimed that his ex-wife..."
"I don't practice divorce law, but I did an internship with a family law judge in law school that involved me sitting in on a lot of stuff. One divorced couple came in because the ex-husband wanted to lower his spousal support payments, due to his lowered income, great financial responsibilities, and the fact that his ex-wife was declining to seek paid employment, all of which sounds reasonable on the face."
"It turned out that while his income had been lowered due to 'cuts', his new wife, who technically worked as his 'assistant' (and had done so prior to the divorce) was now making quadruple her salary, more than he ever had."
"He claimed that his ex-wife had "unpaid renters" living with her and could have money to survive if she charged them rent— it turned out they were the couple's shared 18 year old twins who were living at home having just graduating high school and were going to keep living at home while starting college in the fall."
"(It also later turned out that he allowed his step daughter and her two children to live with him and his wife rent free and paid for her college. His ex-wife produced evidence that he told his own kids to figure out paying for college themselves.)"
"He claimed that his ex-wife worked as a nanny for free by choice and should be getting paid for work elsewhere. The kids she watched for free were their three joint grandchildren from their eldest child, two of which were severely disabled."
"He claimed that when he married his new wife he gained over fifteen new dependants, which was technically true, but those dependants were all in Mexico and included his new wife's grown siblings and their families, none of whom he had ever met."
"This dude was shocked when spousal support wasn't decreased."
wolfmalfoy
It sounds like he’s trying to bleed his ex wife dry, not realizing he’s being bled dry by the new one!
Well, well, well... I think I just won't get married now.
Yeah, I need some time to think about that one.
Oh, and please don't be like any of these people. Just don't. The world will thank you later.
Have some stories of your own? Tell us about them in the comments below!
Years ago, people insisted that the best way to get a job would be to just walk into an office and hand someone your resume.
And you know what? I suppose that—for a time—it worked.
The job market of today is nothing like the job market of the past, and, truth be told, I did follow that advice when I was younger (and yes, I managed to secure a job or two in the process).
But given the state of things, it's clear that advice like this doesn't hold up anymore, and it's far from the only advice that falls into this bracket.
People shared their thoughts with us after Redditor The Managah asked the online community:
"What was great advice 20 years ago, but definitely isn’t now?"
"In high school..."
"In high school as part of one of my classes they brought in a lady who worked HR for some recruiting firm for a few days to teach us how to do resumes and cover letters and such and she told us even if a place has an option to apply online always go in person and pick up an application because no one takes online applications seriously."
profJesusFish
I wonder where this recruiter is now. Surely she's eaten her words.
"My dad..."
"My dad told me once, "Son you shouldn't schedule a single vacation day the first year of your job. It shows you're committed.""
DayDreams9119
Yeah, good luck with that. If I have vacation days, I'm definitely taking them.
"Don't forget..."
"Don't forget to print out your directions from MapQuest before you leave."
stugaut35
Oh yes... GPS has totally changed the game, hasn't it?
"You need to memorize..."
"You need to memorize this because you won't have the info accessible later."
[deleted]
Ever heard of open book tests? The most important skill isn't knowing the right answer, it's knowing how to find out the right answer. And that's gotten much easier.
"People always wonder..."
"People always wonder how some people get to be soo creepy but they forgot that they've been brought up by a generation who thought the best way to get a woman was agressive flirting techniques, actual stalking and being overly possessive."
umbraldisappointment
An excellent point — and it's difficult to unlearn those habits!
"Getting a diploma..."
"Getting a diploma will secure your life."
[deleted]
But will it though? Will it?
"You're searching..."
"You're searching for a soulmate on the internet? Lord you must be insane."
yanks8190
Funny how times change. The script on this has flipped completely.
"To look after..."
"To look after your phone battery you should let it go all the way down to 0% and then charge fully to 100%."
PangolinMandolin
Who is the monster who told you that one and how did they get away with it for so long?
"Sure..."
"Buy that house!! Sure it seems weird that you qualified for such a high home loan but I'm sure they wouldn't offer it to you if you couldn't afford it."
JD_85
Oh, dear, the people who experienced the 2008 financial crisis would like a word.
"To this day..."
"To this day, my mom believes the way to apply for ANY job, is to walk in and hand your future boss your paper resume. Whether or not they're actively hiring."
IAmBabs
Oh wow, she really needs to get with the times on this one. If you do that these days, it's an easy way to get your resume discarded.
Times certainly do change — and fast.
It's no wonder some people can't keep up!
Have some other advice to share? Tell us more in the comments below!
Ah, the 1990s. A simpler time.
Blockbuster Video was king. I remember when DVDs first became a thing and they were such a novelty item. We kept our VCR with us for a long time even as we upgraded. There was something about going to the store and just browsing for a long time and coming across cool and interesting titles that took my breath away.
I recently watched this Netflix show called Blockbuster, a comedy about the last Blockbuster in the United States. I cannot recommend it. The 1990s fill us with such nostalgia, of course, it's just a shame to see people capitalize on that nostalgia in such an uncreative way.
People shared their memories with us after Redditor LoneStar2920 asked the online community:
"'90s kids of Reddit, what do you miss most about the '90s?"
"Malls."
"Malls, there was literally everything there. I lived at that place. Also, for some reason, floppy disks. I don't know why, but I really miss them."
rabid-panda
It's been kind of sad seeing malls go. They were really the center of the universe for kids growing up at that time.
"Waking up on Saturday morning, eating a bowl of cereal while watching cartoons. Then hopping on my bike to ride to my best friend’s house to see if she could hang out with me."
Thicki_Mikki
Aww, this is so wholesome. Remember when people played outside?!
"I used to record..."
"The music. I used to record the local pop radio station on cassette and there would be pop, ska, punk, rap, electronica, hard rock, grunge all kinds of things. The summer songs were always catchy and fun."
gapajeff
You can thank the Telecommunications Act of 1997 and Clear Channel for this ending.
"Summer afternoons..."
"Summer afternoons, where you had no digital distractions and for that you had to come up with (often stupid) ideas. Also MTV." -Reddit
Honestly, MTV was often the distraction!
"Being able to own things..."
"Being able to own things without having to take out a subscriptions."
qzcl
We're looking at you, Adobe!
"I miss going to video stores..."
"I miss going to video stores and browsing."
sonic_towerTrying to figure out what movie to watch was always a fun time! So many choices!
"Basically just living in the moment."
"Technology has helped us a lot and I do enjoy it. But I miss the days where I woke up and had the sheer motivation to go outside to the park, or to genuinely sit down with friends and have a meal and not have the need to rush anywhere else. Basically just living in the moment."
623568
Tell us more about this so-called park you speak of.
"Being able to sleep."
"Being able to sleep. Having an imagination. Having dreams and artistic ideas."
[deleted
It sounds like adulthood ruined these things for you.
"Having to watch the scroll..."
"Having to watch the scroll at bottom of the TV screen to see if you got a snow day. Anticipation of the charts then excitement to sled ride all day long. That feeling can never be duplicated."
ClearAssistance87
Yes! The anticipation was a killer.
"Geocities web pages, made with heart, not for money."
[deleted]
Aww, man, Geocities takes me back. It was nice that people could have a website for free hosted on a server that was relatively fast and reliable.
Nostalgia is killing us. If you'll excuse us, we're going to go watch old Cartoon Network shows.
Remember when that channel was good? My age is definitely showing.
Have some memories of your own? Feel free to share them with us in the comments below!