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People Explain Which Unimpressive Things Everyone's Weirdly Proud Of

People Explain Which Unimpressive Things Everyone's Weirdly Proud Of
Sander Sammy on Unsplash

I once met a guy who, by all accounts, appeared to have given up. And by that, I mean that they had pretty much decided that life basically ended in the 1970s and early 1980s. He had no interest in modern technology, was remarkably out of the loop when it came to technology or even current events.

This was all very frustrating to witness, but he was actually proud of himself! Proud to not know much–if anything–about the modern world. (And then he complained about how he kept having trouble finding a job.)

It was quite the flex–an unimpressive one at that.


People shared some of their thoughts with us after Redditor metallicmuffin asked the online community:

"What unimpressive things are people idiotically proud of?"

"Missing breaks..."

"Missing breaks at work for a company that wouldn’t care if they died the next day."

Lavenderviolets

This is a big one. It's not cute. Take your break! There's more to life than work!

"Not eating..."

"Not eating any vegetables. Known a few people state it as if it's some kind of achievement giving themselves constipation."

tradandtea123

Knew somebody like this. They wanted to go out on a date.

We did not go out on a date.

"Going into work while sick. Had a coworker who bragged on social media about having strep throat, but was still working because she 'values hard work.'"

Marshmallows_Skies

Some people appear to have missed the memo that risking other people's health is not a bragging right.

"I know people..."

"Drinking a lot. I know people, grown @ss people in their late 20s, who will brag about passing out on their lawns because they couldn’t make it from the car to the front door."

metallicmuffin

To be fair, they're in their 20s and most people are idiots then. They might grow out of it!

"I once had..."

"I once had a coworker brag about how dark his pee is."

[deleted]

Are you seriously telling us that they bragged about their kidneys not working correctly?

"I've heard that..."

"Driving better when drunk. I’ve heard that ridiculous statement more times than I should."

TrinitRosas

If some people seriously believe that, then they should not be allowed to drive.

"I overheard..."

"I overheard a co-worker recently brag to a girl that he'd already had COVID three times and during his most recent bout, he went to the gym every day that he had it."

the_chandler

There are so, so many things wrong with that person's statement. Can you imagine? "Sure, I got COVID, but at least I didn't miss leg day!"

"I keep hearing people..."

"Not being able to cook. I keep hearing people bragging about how the only thing they can do is boil water."

urinmyspot

If you've made it to adulthood and you don't know how to cook for yourself, there's something gravely wrong with this picture.

"Nothing surprises me..."

"Nothing surprises me more than when people are proud of their ignorance."

GoodAndBluts

Knowledge is no guarantee of wisdom but prideful ignorance is proof of its absence.

"I worked with a guy..."

"I worked with a guy who, otherwise very smart, was extremely proud of the fact that he could remove the foil from the neck of a wine bottle without cutting it. He brought it up so many times I lost count. I just let him have it, though, because he seemed to need it."

dvicci

Of all the things in this thread this is the most reasonable thing to be proud of.

Let's face it, it seems like a lot of people have made over-compensating a part of their personalities.

Sadly, they don't even seem to be doing that all too well, which means we'll continue to be largely unimpressed.

Have some observations of your own? Feel free to share them with us in the comments below!

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Unbelievable Pets
Photo by Chewy on Unsplash

We love our furry and feathered friends for their personalities, whether they’re being sweet, misbehaving, or just being weird. Here, people have shared the most unbelievable stories about their beloved pets.

1. The Warning

black and white cat lying on brown bamboo chair inside roomPhoto by Manja Vitolic on Unsplash

About 12 years ago, my cat saved my life.

I'd just gone to bed and my cat raced into my bedroom, meowing and racing around the room. I thought he wanted food, though I'd never seen him this frantic about food before.

I followed him down to the kitchen to fill his food bowl so he'd calm down and I could get some sleep, except that he didn't stop at his food bowl. He raced down to my office, looking back occasionally to make sure I was following him. When I got down there, I couldn't believe my eyes.

I saw that the circuit breaker panel was sparking and then suddenly ignited. Because I was there when it ignited, I was able to turn off the main breaker and put the fire out before it spread.

Chandler Scarborough

2. He Knew Something Was Wrong

short-coated black dog sittingPhoto by Alexander Grey on Unsplash

We had a Black Lab/Weimaraner mix named Moses. He was a big dog, about 100 pounds, but very calm and well-mannered. We had a routine for bedtime; before bed, Moses would go out and do the business, but occasionally during the night he would come and sit on my side of the bed.

Just his presence alone would wake me up and I would take him out and then go back to sleep. He was only allowed one trip out during bedtime. One night, we did our normal routine. My 15-year-old son was in his bedroom playing video games and I let the dog out and then we went to bed.

Around 1 am, he wanted to go out again, so we went. I crawled back into bed with five hours until the alarm went off. Around 3 am, Moses was sitting by my bed, whimpering. I mumbled, “No way, boy, go back to bed, I’m sleeping”. He didn’t move; in fact, he started pawing at my arm.

I was starting to get annoyed and said, “GO AWAY," but he didn’t move and he kept pulling at my arm. He was insistent, whimpering, grabbing at me. As I started to come fully awake, I heard a strange sound as I was trying to focus and figure out what was going on.

I can’t really describe the sound but it was a kind of low growl-moaning and it was coming from my son’s room. I jumped out of bed, fully awake now, and with the adrenaline that only a mom fearing the worst can have, I sprinted to my son’s room to find him in a full-on, grand mal seizure in his bedroom.

Had Moses not awakened me at that particular moment, we may never have known this seizure occurred, because it was summer and my son was staying up late and sleeping until noon most days. So my good boy, Moses, blew my mind when he made sure to let me know that my son was having a seizure in the other room.

Diana Sarabia Gallagher

3. A Dog’s Senses

black and tan german shepherd on green grass field during daytimePhoto by Anna Dudkova on Unsplash

One day, while I was working upstairs in my office, my German Shepherd came upstairs and stood in my office doorway barking at me. Then he walked over to the top of the staircase, barking as he looked down the stairs. He lifted his head, looked toward me, and continued barking.

He walked back and stood in the office doorway again—looking at me, barking. He did this repeatedly for a few minutes while I worked. It became obvious he wanted me to follow him downstairs. I got up and asked him, “What’s the matter?" As soon as I asked this, our house began to shake.

Everything on my walls and shelves were rattling. I did not understand exactly what was happening, but we both ran down the stairs while I yelled, “Let’s get out of here!" We got outside and I felt the ground moving. Then it stopped. We had just experienced an earthquake. They are practically nonexistent in our region.

Somehow, my boy knew it was coming and came upstairs to warn me.

Marie Lawrence

4. One Way To Get Your Attention

russian blue cat lying on brown textilePhoto by Milada Vigerova on Unsplash

For 20 years I was a long-haul truck driver. For the last seven years of that, my orphaned cat, Sooty, was on the truck with me. Sooty, a large Russian Blue mix, was only about a year old when he discovered how to get me to return to the cab and keep him company.

I was in the office of a truck shop making the payment for truck repairs when I heard a horn blaring. A worker came rushing in and said, “Lady, there's a cat in your truck doing that on purpose”. I went to the truck. Sooty stopped, sat in my seat, and looked at me like, “It's about time you showed up”.

After that, I soon learned to cover my steering wheel with a large box to keep him from honking the horn.

C Woodrome

5. Changing Minds And Hearts

dog holding flowerPhoto by Celine Sayuri Tagami on Unsplash

My boyfriend came home one afternoon with a story about a dog he had seen at someone’s house. The poor thing was chained outside and very skinny. He told me the owner had gotten him because he wanted to train him to scare people, but the guy said he was “dumb as a bag of rocks”. He was a pit bull.

The next day I was sitting on the couch when my boyfriend walked through the door…with the dog. I was furious. He didn't listen to me at all! I told him to find the dog another home. No more talk about it! The dog crouched by the door. My boyfriend left to get him some food and stuff in the meantime.

The dog stayed by the door, holding his head down and looking up at me every so often. He wouldn't lift his head. He would strain his eyes to look up at me, but would not lift his head up. The ice on my heart cracked a little.

I found a comfy blanket and put it down on the floor for him. I tried to coax him over but he just sat at the door and stared timidly at me. Nothing. I had to physically push this dog, while he stayed mostly in a sitting position, to the bed beside the couch. He reeked.

Oh no, if this mutt was going to stay in my house he was getting a bath. I was scared as heck. What if he didn't like water? What if he hurt me? I ran the bath and pushed the sitting dog down the hallway. Took a deep breath, and pulled him into the tub. He loved it!

That was the first time I saw any joy in that dog’s eyes. He didn't magically break out of his depressive state, but he really enjoyed the bath. I realized it was probably the first time he had ever felt clean, had ever had a bath, and had ever been touched lovingly by a human. The ice started dripping.

When he was clean and towel-dried, he actually walked down the hall with me. I sat on the couch patting his head and talking to him. My boyfriend came storming through the door with bags in his arms. He made a big racket and the dog jumped up and ran down the hall. I got up and followed him.

I found him crouching in the corner of the hall and he had peed. He had peed most of the way down the hall while running from my boyfriend. I think he thought the man had come to get him. The ice shattered.

He was our dog.

From that moment on, he was showered with love and affection. He was loved more than any dog could dream of being loved and I don't think he took a second of it for granted. What did he do that I couldn't believe?

He changed my mind about wanting him. Corrected my judgment about his breed and showed me I cannot judge a book by its cover.

Meagan Ireland

6. Lassie Eat Your Heart Out

white and brown dog on roadPhoto by Maud Slaats on Unsplash

This story is about our Australian Shepherd, Freddie. My daughter and her family were visiting for a week a few summers ago. Our grandsons were four and seven at the time. We lived in a cottage in the woods, on a private road—literally no traffic except us.

One morning, I was in the kitchen fixing breakfast when my husband walked past and down the hall towards the front of the house, with Max, our youngest grandson, following behind. I heard the front door open and shut, and assumed they had both gone outside.

A few minutes later, I heard Freddie barking…and barking…and barking. It struck me as a bit out of character for Freddie, but I didn't think much more of it. Then my husband came back through the kitchen, at which point I realized that only Max had gone outside, alone, while my husband had gone into the bathroom!

I ran towards the front door in a panic, knowing Max could have disappeared far into the woods by now. But I still heard Freddie barking. When I got outside, I saw that Max was standing in the road and Freddie was standing directly in front of him, barking. If Max turned, Freddie shifted in front of him again, still barking.

It wasn't typical for him to behave like that—and that's when it hit me. I realized then that Freddie was 'herding' Max, making sure he couldn't go anywhere he could get hurt or lost! I was so proud of Freddie, and so grateful that he understood that Max shouldn't be wandering around outside alone.

Karla Chorny

7. Smart Pup

grey dog running on mud during daytimePhoto by Nathalie SPEHNER on Unsplash

It was raining. I put my dog outside while I went shopping. I came home, put some groceries on the kitchen counter, then went to the back door to let my dog in. She was there, covered in mud. Not just a little dirty, but literally drenched in mud. I slid the back door open and told her she can't come in until she was cleaned off.

I put away the shopping, changed into some old clothes, and was ready to go outside and give her a bath…when there she was in front of the door…CLEAN. I dried her off and let her in. I told her she was so good that she could sleep on the bed tonight. The next morning I found the kiddie pool full of mud.

She “understood" and must have bathed herself. She was always a smart dog.

Douglas Scott

8. Why Is It Raining On My Face

brown horsePhoto by Daniel Bonilla on Unsplash

My ex-wife had horses. She was one of the best in the country at rescuing and rehabbing blind horses. We had several on the farm. A new one showed up that we paid $500 for: a Belgian, which is usually a giant horse. This one had a large head and looked like a skeleton with skin stretched over it.

Bull came to us from a horse auction on an Amish farm. If we did not buy him he was literally going to the glue factory. My ex was not having it and asked me for the money; I, as always, could not say no.

We got the horse to the farm and had the vet come out and she gave him one to two weeks tops. Well, he made it. He was a fighter. We named him Wullvye. We loved the movie The 13th Warrior and named him after the lead viking. We called him Bull for short.

Bull got much better and put on a lot of weight. Despite being blind, he still became the alpha of the herd. The sighted horses even bowed to this mighty horse. But he was a gentle giant. My ex would ride him bareback up the mountain behind our property. But that's not the end of the story.

Bull started to have problems and would not sweat. We had the vet out again. She recommended giving him beer. This is an old race track method. You have not lived till you see a 2,000-pound horse sloshed and swaying back and forth like an intoxicated human while walking.

I know there are many jokes to be made. I know I made them as I laughed my butt off many times. But he endured and was back each night with his herd, his family. But then he became sick again. This time he needed to go to the State Vet school. We got him there. The cost was over $2,000.

As the vets went to put a scope down his throat, he ate it, yes ate it. They did not charge us for it, thankfully, as it cost over $20,000. I do not remember the exact diagnosis, but it was not good and they gave him only months to live. His previous life had taken its toll on his organs.

We did what we could for the guy. He did well for a while and then started to show signs. The day finally came to call the vet and say goodbye. We pulled him out of the pasture and I dug a huge hole with the backhoe as he should always stay with us.

We brought him back in and laid him down. But first, he called out to his herd several times to say goodbye and they responded. The whole herd was on the other side of the fence, everyone; blind and sighted, miniatures and the donkey. The vet did her job and we stayed with him until the end and for a while after.

We covered him as it started to rain. I would bury him when it stopped, but it did not. The rain kept on and on and was a monsoon by feeding time for the horses. Here is where the amazing part begins. The horses never left the fence, not even to eat.

If you know horses, they never pass up a meal, never. They did this night. I checked on them throughout the night and they all stayed on the fence. In the morning, I moved Wullvye into the hole with my ex holding the tarp so the horses could not see. We said our prayers and I filled in the hole.

The ex opened the gate between the pasture and the horses all walked around Bull’s hole one by one and then walked out of the pasture. It was like watching a human funeral procession. I stood in awe and shock along with my ex-wife. The horses went and ate and Cowboy took over the herd; he was second to Bull.

I miss Wullvye even now. I know he is in a better place, running through heaven free of pain and enjoying his just rewards.

Jay Gainer

9. The Rescue

black kittenPhoto by The Lucky Neko on Unsplash

My dog, Dakota, snuck out while I was bringing groceries into the house. I saw her at the creek a few houses down so I finished bringing the groceries in and then grabbed her leash.

I saw that she was on her way home and that she had something in her mouth. She walked by me and into the house then onto her bed. Now I was thinking she’d caught a rabbit and hoped she was not eating it.

I walked in and realized it was a black kitten, and it was getting a bath from her. Dakota and her kitten were together for several years right up to the day Dakota passed.

Debbie Harrington

10. Breakups Are Hard

short-coated tan dogPhoto by Daniel Lincoln on Unsplash

Our family dog was always protective of our daughter. We have three kids, our daughter being the youngest. She was 16-ish and a boy that she was seeing at the time came over. He walked past Jessie, our dog, patted her on the head, and went into my daughter’s room.

About 15 or 20 minutes later he walked out, said bye to the family, and again walked past Jessie. As his foot swung past her, she snapped at his heel. She missed him, thank goodness, and he never even knew what happened or noticed me grabbing her by the collar real quick.

Shocked, as soon as he was outside, I told my daughter, “Jessie just tried to bite Blake!" She said “Good. He just broke up with me!"

Rhonda Conda

11. She’s An Adult

brown short coated dog lying on brown wooden floorPhoto by Aady on Unsplash

I left my Great Dane at the vet to have a cyst removed from between her toes and was to pick her up after work. When I came back, the vet said, “You talk to her as an adult, don’t you?"

I said, “Yes, but how do you know”?

The vet replied, “When I tried to get her into the surgery room, she splayed all four feet and wouldn’t move. I tried coaxing, and calling her sweet names in baby talk—no luck. I finally said, ‘The sooner you come in, the sooner it’ll be over,' and she walked right in”.

Beau Holland

12. Her Little Friend

a small white dog laying on top of a bedPhoto by noelle on Unsplash

Years ago, I lived in a high-rise condo in Chicago. We lived on the 41st floor and there were 10 condo units per floor. At the time, I had two Maltese dogs, Johnny and Edgar. Although they weighed under 15 pounds, I had no idea how big Edgar’s heart really was.

One very cold mid-winter evening, I answered a knock on my door to see my elderly Hungarian neighbor lady standing there, holding a pot in her outstretched arms. She was crying and through her tears and heavy accent she said, “Here. I thought you could use this. I don’t know what to do with this. I don’t need it anymore”.

Then she passed a pot of boiled chicken and rice to me. Upon further discussion, I found out her little Yorkie had passed over the weekend and she always prepared chicken and rice for him nightly. As she turned to walk back to her condo, my little Edgar bolted out of my door and ran ahead of her down the hall.

He sat in front of her door and just looked at the doorknob, completely ignoring my calls for his return. She opened her door and he ran inside, jumped up on the couch, and had made himself comfortable by the time I got there to take him back. “Can he stay for a while?" she asked.

I was unsure what I should do. I did not know her other than in passing on the elevator or in the hall. But I looked at her and then I looked at Edgar, already nestled in on the couch. He was not worried.

So, I finally said yes but only under the condition that she would allow him to come home as soon as he was ready, and she had to leave her door open and I would leave mine open for him to do so. A short time later I heard her door close and when I looked up, Edgar was in my kitchen announcing his return.

The following night at 7 pm Edgar carried on for me to open the kitchen door. I did, and he ran down the hall to her door. He scratched on it until she answered and when she did he pranced inside and jumped on her couch. Again she asked if he could stay and again I agreed.

Throughout the following weeks into the spring, Edgar asked to go. The neighbor opened her door to his scratches and Edgar pranced inside reporting for duty to sit on her couch with her while she worked on her needlepoint and listened to music. An hour or so later he would return.

In the spring she knocked on my door one more time. This time in her extended arms was a plant. “Here," she said. “This plant is my gift to Edgar. I am leaving for the airport now. I am moving back to Hungary. I have family there, but I will surely miss my little friend”.

MD Winner

13. One Way To Stop An Argument

fawn pug in white bathtubPhoto by Heiko Giesberg on Unsplash

I was running a bath and waiting for the water to fill the tub and my dog, Monte, was keeping me company. He basically followed me wherever I went, sleeping at my feet when I had papers to write and sleeping in my bed beside me—with his head on the pillow, just like a person—every night.

My sister came into the bathroom and we got into a huge fight. I don't even remember what it was about. I know we were definitely yelling at each other and each of us was furious with the other. Suddenly, we heard a large splash. Both our heads turned simultaneously to see that Monte was standing in the bathtub.

Monte hated water. He was a huge priss (at 80 pounds) who refused to even put his paws onto damp grass. It took both of us using cheese and more than a little elbow grease to bathe him every month. We were both astonished that Monte was just chilling in a bathtub full of water.

We started laughing so hard that we stopped fighting. After what felt like a few minutes of hysterical laughter, Monte seemed to think his objective was accomplished and jumped back out. We dried him off and he seemed to bask in his success at getting angry siblings to be quiet(er).

Bree P. Strange

14. Where’s Kitty?

a black and white cat sitting in the grassPhoto by Luis van den Bos on Unsplash

I am a veterinarian in a small town. A farmer found Kaycee as a stray and brought her to me after she got hit by a car. She was such a gentle dog. She loved kittens. She liked to put her mouth on them, but she never harmed even the smallest one.

Kaycee was pretty needy, so I took her to work with me nearly every day. We would play a game called “Get the kitty!" If there was a kitten in the building, she’d find it and point it out to me and get all excited. Adult cats were of no interest to her. She tolerated them. They were boring.

We had a black and white kitten as our newest clinic cat. Her name is Cow Spots. We call her Cowy. On this particular day, when Cowy was six months old, and I did not have Kaycee with me like I usually did. Cowy went missing in the morning, but I didn’t know where to look.

When my husband got home from work, I had him bring Kaycee to me at the clinic. I took her around inside the building. I told her, “Get the kitty! Where’s the kitty?" No kitty. I took Kaycee out behind the building. “Get the kitty! Where’s the kitty?"

There’s a house behind the building with an old shed beyond that. Kaycee led me back, sniffing and listening. As we passed the shed, she stopped and looked up at the door. It ran in an overhead track, so the door was loose. I pushed on it and out came Cowy.

She’d slipped out an opening in our back fence, then gone in through that loose shed door to poke about. The door had to be pushed from the outside, so she was stuck. Kaycee saved her life. I would never have found her in there. And that dog knew exactly what I wanted.

Sherrie Hockett

15. The Man Of The House

black smooth-coated dogPhoto by Victor Grabarczyk on Unsplash

Jack is five years old, and a full member of our small family. We don’t treat him like he is the dog—he’s just one of us. And he doesn’t behave like he’s the dog of the family. Our problems are his problems. However trivial they may seem, he tries to understand them and help solve them.

First, he’s the only one in this house dealing with spiders, mice, and other pests. He noticed our reluctance to sort those creatures, so he stepped in. When there’s a spider, we call the only male in the family.

When we can’t find the car keys, the house keys, or other keys, which happens often, he gets off his couch, lets out an annoyed “aaaa—ah," and then proceeds to find the keys for his girls. He never fails.

He’s the one to “answer” when someone knocks at the door, patrols the yard, and makes eye contact with the neighbors. As my previous neighbors put it, “He’s the man of the house”.

He checks on my child several times per night: He gingerly gets off my bed, then goes to check on my daughter, and I can hear a sigh of relief before he cuddles back next to me. Every single night.

He tried to refine his role even more, but living in a dog’s body didn’t help: He broke three keyboards and a mouse before he understood he couldn't use computers.

Teodora Greywoolf

16. Good Dog

black and white short coated dog on green grass fieldPhoto by Conor Brown on Unsplash

When I first got married, we decided to get a dog before our son was born so that he would have a dog companion growing up with him just like I had growing up.

My wife picked out a dog that was eight months old and was, as best as we could tell, a mix between a German Shepherd and a Retriever. She looked more like a Shepherd because of her coat coloring, but Retriever in face shape. My wife decided to name her Samantha (Sammy, for short).

Fast forward a few years and we now have three sons, the youngest of which is about three years old. The two older boys, aged five and seven, went out into our very large backyard to play. There was a strict rule about playing in the backyard which was that nobody was allowed to open the back gate because it led into a drainage ditch.

It only filled with water after a rain and was usually dry, but it had broken concrete lining the bottom. I had to go take care of something in my shed which would only take about 10 minutes. I told my oldest to make sure nothing happened and the three of them were playing in the back corner area where the gate was at.

I remember calling Sammy over to me and telling her to watch the baby (my three-year-old) and make sure he doesn’t get hurt. She jumped up and looked me in the eyes, wagged her tail, and then went off to where the boys were playing. I didn’t really think anything of it until I came back out of the shed to check on them.

I could hear my youngest one whimpering and semi-crying as if something was bothering him, so I looked over to see what was wrong. And that is when I saw something truly amazing.

My three-year-old was trying to pull the latch back on the back fence so he could open it and go out, but Sammy was getting in his face and licking him all while nudging him back away from the gate! I couldn’t believe what I was seeing…he kept smacking her on the back and face, but it didn’t stop her from keeping him away from that fence.

He finally got exasperated and ran away from her crying. As he was running away from her, she looked over at me as if to say, “I got this, hoo-man!" I could go on and on about so many things that Sammy did that surprised us all, but the most amazing thing she did was to come into our lives.

I truly feel that people who own a pet are a better version of themselves.

Sean Smith

17. I’m Satisfied

landscape photography of white box vanPhoto by Joel Moysuh on Unsplash

We adopted a German Shepherd named Rex from our local rescue organization. He was a very sweet dog with an amazingly calm temperament. Except for the mailman. He really, really didn’t like the mailman and seemed to feel that we needed his protection from this daily intruder.

So when the mailman showed up at our front door, Rex would bark ferociously until the mail had been delivered and the mailman was safely on his way. However, one day, to my complete surprise, the mailman came and went with absolutely no reaction from Rex.

So I casually said to him, “Rex, what happened? The mailman came and went and you didn’t even bark”. He stood there, patiently, looking at me while I talked. When I was finished, he walked calmly over to the closed front door, stood there for a moment looking at the door, and then very quietly went, “Woof”.

As in “Satisfied?" If I hadn’t seen him do it, I never would have believed it!

Ginger McKay

18. The Hooligan

person holding gray tabby cat while lying on bedPhoto by Chris Abney on Unsplash

We have a cat named Hooligan—the only cat we’ve not renamed. We adopted him at about six months, knowing he was a Horrible Little Cat. Mostly, he played REALLY rough, so the rescue wanted him to go to a house with experienced cat people AND some older cats to teach him manners…which has mostly worked.

Anyway, after we’d had him for a couple of years, we adopted a pair of kitten siblings—and he immediately ADORED them and took them under his wing, like a combination big brother/uncle.

One morning he came downstairs without the kittens in tow, and when they hadn’t followed in a few minutes, I asked him, “Hooligan! Where are your kittens?" And his eyes went wide, and ears went back, like: “OMG! I forgot the baby on the bus!" and he TORE upstairs—to come down a minute later with the kittens in tow.

Amanda Rene Fisher

19. Cuddly Cat

person holding brown cat on white textilePhoto by Paul Hanaoka on Unsplash

When I was newly pregnant, I was exhausted all the time and needed to rest often. My rescue street tabby, Cazo de Fuerza, who was always affectionate, started a new behavior. As I was lying on my side to nap, Cazo would position himself draped over my hip, so his belly was against my belly—and then he would begin a low satisfied purr.

I've read that cats and dogs can sense an early pregnancy because hormone changes make the mother smell differently; maybe Cazo could also read my physical energy. Whatever it was, he never let me out of his sight from then on and was always purring to my belly whenever I was down.

During the third trimester, I was so huge he had to really stretch to make it across me but he made it!

Susan Spande

20. The Electric Window

golden retriever inside carPhoto by Ja San Miguel on Unsplash

I have three dogs: a Labradoodle, a Standard Poodle, and a Great Dane/Poodle/Lab mix. Driving home one day, my Labradoodle figured out how to open the electric window on my car. The first time may have been an accident but the second time wasn’t and she blocked my hand from the switch.

I have to turn off the windows when she is in my car.

James Barnhart

21. Timeout

dog lying on bedPhoto by Vanessa Serpas on Unsplash

We used to have a brindle mastiff called Zed. He wasn’t the brightest brick in the wall. He was 50 kilograms of lovable dummy.

One of the things that he wasn’t allowed to do was eat the cat’s food but that didn’t stop him from sneakily hoovering it when we weren’t in the room. Zed subscribed to the theory that he only had to do what he’d been told when were around to enforce it.

He had a big blanket-covered basket in the corner where he hung out and slept most of the time but if he misbehaved he went out on the deck for a timeout, which was apparently the most horrifying, cruel, and heartless punishment there was.

He’d cry continuously until he was forgiven and allowed back in whereupon he acted penitent in his corner for a period to demonstrate that he’d learned his lesson and was a better and more moral dog. One time, we left him napping in his basket. My partner and I came in a minute later to find him nose-deep in the cat’s dish.

He looked at us for half a second, stuck his rapacious maw back in the dish, and gulped the scraps down before bailing out the door onto the deck whereupon he sat next to the open door and began to cry and whine as if he was undergoing his timeout punishment.

It was hilarious.

Michelle - MAD PIRATE QUEEN

22. The Medical Alert Dog

a black and white dog laying in the leavesPhoto by Rafaëlla Waasdorp on Unsplash

I suffer from chronic cluster headaches. In a typical 24-hour day I can suffer up to 12 attacks, each lasting between 10 minutes to three hours. The severity of my pain is largely dependent on the speed of self-administered treatments, starting with high-flow oxygen.

My dog, Amber, is an English Springer Spaniel, a breed commonly known for their superior ‘sniffability’. From the age of four and without any encouragement she started sleeping in my bed.

Whilst I loved having her with me—she was of great comfort whilst I cried and screamed—I blamed her tapping of my head and waking me as the cause and start of a cluster attack...that is, until I had a stunning revelation.

I realized her tapping was to warn me of an imminent cluster headache. How clever is she, knowing this some 60–90 seconds before me! Critically, however, her warnings allow me valuable seconds to start treatments, especially oxygen, which on its own can abort an attack in as little as 10 minutes.

Even now, aged ten, she still sleeps curled into my stomach and whilst she no longer wakes me before every attack, she still does so for the more painful ones.

Paul Bowdrey

23. The Proud Pony

brown horse with silver round pendant necklacePhoto by Luisa Peter on Unsplash

My family owns horses. One horse we used to have was an old Morab that my sister and I literally learned how to ride on. His name was Buddy, and he was one of the most amazing animals ever.

When we got him, he was already rather old, and we owned him for the rest of his life. However, he soon got too old to ride. This came to me getting a new horse since I needed one to ride. I got the sweetest little mare ever, whose name was Misty.

The story of how I got her is another story, but after about a year of riding her, I was riding bridleless in our arena to work on our connection. Buddy was in the neighboring pasture with the other horses.

Here’s one thing about Buddy, if he ever saw someone outside and it was within five hours of his dinner time, he’d start pacing. It was the reason we could never keep weight on him, he always walked it off!

As I was riding, Misty and I going through our paces, he came up to the fence. Now, I’m not one to think animals have the same emotions as us, but this is an exception. Usually, Buddy would pace and whine and cause a ruckus, but not this time, no, he literally just stood and watched us, and if I do dare to say, looked…proud.

It shook me to my core, never, in my entire life had I seen any animal with such a human expression. He watched us for half an hour, riding around that arena, and that instance has stuck with me for years, and probably always will.

Kit Anand

24. Silly Kitty

selective focus photography of orange and white cat on brown tablePhoto by Amber Kipp on Unsplash

As wonderful as my cat, Nebula, is…she's kinda dumb. Like, she should wear a helmet for her own safety dumb. She'll starve not realizing there's food in her bowl (that she's sniffing) unless she actually sees you put the food in.

One time she was laying on the floor between my pillows while I was making the bed. I looked at her and thought she was adorable and had to take a picture. So, naturally, I took fifty of them. Well, in the middle of them, she got the scare of a lifetime. Supplied entirely by herself.

In her lying position, she arched her back, flung her tail up like the basic Halloween black cat image, and crossed her eyes just to see a pink, textured horror as it landed on her nose. She ran away meowing bloody murder.

She was spooked by her own tongue.

William Goble

25. She Understood

adult yellow Labrador retrieverPhoto by Noémi Macavei-Katócz on Unsplash

I need to comment quickly on my dog Eliza's walking behavior. She was…an exuberant walker. Sometimes hard to control, high energy. I worked hard to give her enough exercise, even tried to rollerblade with her (not good).

One day, I decided to jog with her. We were about a mile from the house, running on an asphalt path. Suddenly my right foot stops in mid-stride. I had one of those slo-mo moments—I looked down and saw it had caught in the loop of my left shoelace.

I knew I was going to fall and I didn't want to get tangled up in the dog leash so I tossed it, fell to the right of the path where it was grassy, hit hard, and rolled. I was absolutely STUNNED by the fall. I had to lay there a few moments before I could get my wits about me. And then I thought, where's the dog?

She had run off about 20 yards and was standing there with her dopey Lab smile. All I could do was raise my left hand and say, “Eliza, come here”. While I was hurt, I wanted to make sure my dog didn't go out in the street. I needed her by me before I could see to my injuries.

But then I worried about when she got there! Eliza had proximity issues. She loved being CLOSE. I used to say if she could crawl inside my skin, it still wouldn't be close enough. Her big dopey Lab smile suddenly became a furrowed brow. She knew something was wrong.

She came to where I was sitting and stood over me, perpendicular to me, about at my knees. And then just looked at me. I thought, okay, this is weird as I fully expected her to be all over me. But I was able to take an inventory of what hurt, bumps, bruises, etc.

I decided to stand so I could check my hip (I hit really hard) and used Eliza to help support me. She just stood there. When I decided to walk, I thought, ugh, she's going to pull. Nope. Eliza took little baby steps, constantly looking up to check me, matching my slow pace. I finally decided to pick up the pace a little, maybe a slow jog.

She actually held back some, being concerned for me, but then she realized I was mostly okay so she did what she did best—became my exuberant walker out for a good time.

Luis Canedo

26. Holding It In

long-coated black and white dog during daytimePhoto by Baptist Standaert on Unsplash

Hoss, a Border Collie. He had been bred and trained to herd cattle, sold to a rancher, failed to herd cattle, returned, retrained, resold, re-returned, and was going to be put down until the lady who had him before us took him in as a pet.

He had four great years with her before she got into bad health and had to move in with her family across the country in California, so we got Hoss. Then my father passed.

There was nowhere for Hoss to stay while we were at the funeral, so we loaded his food bowl and his three-gallon water jug and apologized to him, but he was going to be on his own from one morning to the next night. We ended up having to stay an additional night.

We got home that third night and accepted that this poor dog had to have pooped and peed somewhere in the house. NOPE! This dog held it for THREE DAYS!

We came home and opened the door, he came out, said hi to us, and ran into the woods to poop and pee his brains out! I don’t know how he did it, but I am so grateful that during a stressful time, he didn’t give me one more unpleasant duty.

David Alan Melson Junior

27. Protecting The Neighbor’s Puppy

brown and black yorkshire terrier puppy playing green tennis ball on green grass field during daytimePhoto by Chris Smith on Unsplash

I had a little Yorkshire Terrier, Freddie. He’s gone now, but several years ago when he was quite elderly, about 15 years old, we were returning from our evening walk as usual when suddenly he stopped, appeared to be listening, and turned back the way we had come, looking at me. Since this had never happened before I went along with it.

Fred retraced his route up around the corner of the crescent we live on. A neighbor was standing on his front step. He said, “There's a puppy running around on the street. He must have got out and he won’t come over to me”. I looked over and saw a neighbor's new puppy, a tiny four-pound Yorkshire terrier, gleefully running about like a demented mosquito.

In the dusk, he was hard to see and could easily be hit by a car. Fred and I crossed the street and the puppy ran over to greet my Fred. Together we walked to the puppy’s house and knocked on the door. He scooted in as soon as the neighbor opened his door. Then Fred turned around and trotted back home. Mission accomplished.

Lynn Sherwood

28. The Tiny Defender

short-coated white and brown puppyPhoto by Alec Favale on Unsplash

My dog and cat are not friends. They share the house and a water bowl in a state of quiet tolerance. You will never find them playing or cuddling, but like most tenuous alliances they proved more than willing to unite against a common enemy.

A few weeks ago, my sister went on a week-long trip to visit her kids and left her two dogs here. My poor cat, who barely tolerates my dog on a good day, was absolutely terrified of these new intruders and spent the entire week hiding in my bedroom.

He did not leave that room for any reason. Even the basic food, water, and litter box reasons. All three of those items were unceremoniously placed in my bedroom and that was that. Unfortunately, my bedroom door happens to be broken.

So about the third or fourth day of dog sitting, I happened to be sitting on my bed with my dog and cat, who had decided to emerge from his hiding place under the bed just for the occasion. Everything was peaceful until Roxy, my sister's absolutely enormous German Shepherd, decided to find out what I was up to.

She pushed open the door and barreled her way into the room. The few times I've seen my cat absolutely terrified, I've noticed that instead of running away he freezes in terror and will not move unless someone or something moves him.

My dog has never before displayed any sign of affection for her housemate. But at this moment, she leaped into action. She jumped right over the pathetic, stricken creature and confronted the intruder. My dog is a teacup Chihuahua and weighs all of four pounds. She is about eight inches tall at her highest point.

But the David and Goliath situation didn't seem to bother her at all. She stood her ground between a now thoroughly interested Roxy and an even more thoroughly petrified cat. She barked and nipped at poor Roxy's face, backing up as her opponent advanced. She ended up standing right over my frozen cat's head in an effort to defend him.

After about 30 seconds of barking, growling, and nipping, Roxy retreated to the safety of the couch. My dog, swollen with pride at having driven off the invader, gave her frightened housemate a triumphant sort of whimper and laid back down.

The cat, his paralysis having left with Roxy, threw a scandalized look around the room, stood up, and retreated back under the bed without so much as a meow of thanks for his tiny defender.

Kate Devlin

29. Knows The Difference

black and white dalmatian puppyPhoto by Balmer Rosario on Unsplash

My wife’s Dalmatian was 92 pounds of solid muscle. One day a door-to-door salesman came to the house with a product my wife was willing to buy. He stepped inside and Sebastian sat at his feet, leaned up against him, and treated him like a family member.

A couple of weeks later he came back but with a product in which my wife was uninterested. But he was a bit pushy and started to come inside. My wife said that he suddenly froze. Following his gaze, she saw Sebastian with saliva dripping off his fangs and a growl so low she said she could only feel it in her stomach and never really heard.

Neither one of us had ever seen him do that, but he obviously knew the difference between friendly and unwanted.

Rick Roberts

30. The Couch

a black and brown dog sitting on top of a lush green fieldPhoto by Sabīne Jaunzeme on Unsplash

Emma, a Rottweiler/Bull Mastiff cross. She ate our couch. She was fine until my wife went back to work; she suffered from separation anxiety and took it out on the couch (the dog, not my wife). But what really amazed me is that I would come home to find the couch in different rooms.

She was a powerful dog and would drag it around the house with her. Still not amazed? The room the couch was in was a sunken living room. She had to pull that sucker up three stairs to get it out of the room. We finally threw out her favorite chew toy when she had it down to the wooden frame.

Mike Neville

31. Sharing Milk Bones

adult golden retriever with cookie bone on nosePhoto by McDobbie Hu on Unsplash

A friend and I were in a hotel room with our two dogs. I pulled out a couple of Milk Bones so they could each have one. My friend reminded me that her dog was allergic to some of the ingredients in Milk Bones, and she said her dog could not have one, but said I should go ahead and give one to my dog.

Her dog went to her kennel, sad that she could not have a Milk Bone. My dog took the Milk Bone I gave her and walked over to the kennel, setting the Milk Bone just inside for the other dog.

Beth Slovick

32. The Loo Cat

brown tabby catPhoto by Jae Park on Unsplash

One of our cats, Neo, a three-year-old rescue, prefers to use the toilet, not kitty litter, when inside. Yep. If he needs to go, he hops up onto the loo seat, faces the door, and does his business. So, before we go to bed, we make sure the lid is up, in case he needs to use the loo.

Ben Longden

33. Simone Says

brown and white duck on gray concrete floorPhoto by Ross Sokolovski on Unsplash

We lived out in the country and had a female duck named Simon. After she laid an egg, we renamed her Simone. She dutifully sat on that unfertilized egg for weeks, only leaving it to eat and drink occasionally.

Well, one day, l was sitting with a friend on the back porch and eyeing Simone under the bush with her egg about 15 yards away from us. l said to my friend, “Poor Simone—she doesn’t know that egg will never hatch”.

No sooner had the words left my mouth than she got up, picked her egg up in her mouth, carried it up to us, and threw it down at our feet! Of course, it just exploded into foul-smelling stuff, and she waddled off in disgust, quacking loudly as if to scold me for not telling her sooner.

She never did lay another egg after that.

Carolyn Rill

34. Jealousy

two brown short-coated dogs laying on bedPhoto by Jared Murray on Unsplash

My dog tried to hide her brother’s new bed. After I adopted my two pit bulls, they slept on my bed every night, Niki by my side and Ringo by my feet…until I got into a serious relationship. My girlfriend moved in with me and my bed just wasn’t big enough to hold two people and two pitties.

I had some old dog beds that the dogs were using, but not at night, so we decided to get some new beds. I went out and got the biggest, softest, most comfortable beds I could find but the pet shop only had one of them. They would get some more the next day. I got the bed home and presented it to Ringo, and he loved it!

He slept on it that night, and Niki had to make do with one of the old beds. The next night, I went into the bedroom and the big, new, ultra-cushioned bed was gone. I looked around the apartment, thinking maybe Ringo dragged it somewhere? I checked everywhere, and didn’t find it…until I went back into the bedroom.

There, on the other side of the bed, was Niki PUSHING Ringo’s new bed UNDER my bed WITH HER PAWS! She took his bed, dragged it over, and was actively hiding it from him. When I stopped laughing, I went and got Niki her bed that night, and never had a problem with this since.

Robin L. Stears

35. Stop Bothering Us

black labrador retriever with red collarPhoto by Samuel Girven on Unsplash

Years ago, we had a female Black Lab. She weighed around 90 pounds—a big dog. We had a JW who wouldn’t take no for an answer. He would come to the door, ring, and knock. I was getting really frustrated that I couldn’t deter him from interrupting my day.

One Sunday, he came to the door. Babe must have sensed how peeved I was about this annoyance. She took off to the front door at a full sprint and went through the screen door barking, with her teeth showing. He fell to the ground. She put her front paws on his chest and stood on him, licking his face as she growled.

I came to the door and told him not to come back again or I would give Babe permission to bite him. We were never visited by JWs again.

Robert Brummett

36. Pajama Parties

litter of dogs fall in line beside wallPhoto by Hannah Lim on Unsplash

Our Bruno loved pajama parties and regularly went on a walkabout at night, collecting all his friends, and bringing them home so that any given morning we would wake up to between six and 12 dogs in the garden! No fighting or barking, just a very civilized gathering of strange dogs who came to have a snack at our house!

Never knew where they came from but in the morning they would leave when the gate was opened, only to return again that evening. Bruno cost us a fortune as we had to raise the height of the wall to keep him in, and them out.

Lesley Smit

37. The Morning Kiss

brown cat across person lying on bedPhoto by Adam Kuylenstierna on Unsplash

My cat, Sweetpea, used to have a habit of kissing me awake in the morning. Not lick; literally sitting on my chest and deliberately putting her really, really ticklish, fuzzy mouth on mine and holding it there. I think she was in that phase of discovering ways to get me out of bed to feed her and her sister.

Erin Wood

38. A Team Effort

black and grey otter animalPhoto by Steve Tsang on Unsplash

Several years ago, I had a group of ferrets: three boys and one tiny girl who was under a pound. One day I came into the kitchen and saw them by the cupboard, so I thought they were wanting a treat. I reached over for the treat bag, just in time to see my little girl poke her nose out of the silverware drawer.

Now, being so tiny, she couldn't reach the cupboard door without a little help. I looked down at the boys, who were all patiently awaiting their treat…and when I pulled their sister out of the drawer…they all looked away as if to disown her.

I placed her on the floor, where everyone sniffed and greeted her. Then within a few moments, I heard scratching at the cupboard. I got up quietly and, peeking around the corner, saw one of my boys getting the cupboard door open just wide enough for his sister to get in.

Within a few seconds, she climbed up the inside of the drawers. Upon reaching the top she poked her head out, looked around, walked up to the treat bag…and pushed it on the floor.

Sandra Lang

39. Separation Anxiety

a german shepherd dog sitting on a dirt roadPhoto by Bella Pisani on Unsplash

I had a Belgian Shepherd named Marley. She was a rescue dog and had separation anxiety. When she was about seven, I had left the house and was driving a two-way main thoroughfare, two blocks from home, when movement caught my eye to my left.

To my surprise, I saw Marley in full sprint in the opposite lane, tongue out, keeping pace with my car and looking at me with a happy glint in her eyes. Just as I was going to react and pull over…suddenly the side of a GMC van blasted by the other way accompanied by a solid THUD! Marley disappeared from sight.

I freaked out, pulled over, and ran back to where she got hit. No sign of her. Then I heard panting behind me. I turned around and there was Marley, wagging her tail, so happy I stopped. I examined her head to tail in my panicked state…and no sign of injury.

Horace Manaford

40. Sweet Stealer

black pug looking at piePhoto by charlesdeluvio on Unsplash

Being a private tutor at home, I put sweets in a bowl on a trolley for pupils to take after each weekly lesson.

One day, I looked out to the back garden from my kitchen window and saw my dog eating something that looked like a sweet. So she must have found one that was dropped on the floor in the hallway! I knew I couldn't get it back from her because by the time I got out there, she would have finished it or run away with it. I was steaming mad.

In no time, she came back through her dog flap, looking pleased, and I could see the wrapper was still on the grass. I turned and yelled at her, “You naughty dog, you stole my sweet! Where is the wrapper? Bring me back the wrapper!" She immediately ran out, took the wrapper, and brought it back to me, again looking pleased with herself.

I was dumbfounded.

Shirley Marr

41. The Singer

a large black dog sitting on top of a tiled floorPhoto by Maiar Shalaby on Unsplash

I had a large dog named Max who I found wandering the neighborhood. One day when he was about six months old, we were relaxing on the couch and I called my sister-in-law to wish her a happy birthday. I knew she was at work so I started singing Happy Birthday to her answering machine.

Suddenly, Max lifted his huge head with a startled look and he started howling with my singing. Startled me so much that I dropped the phone. He stopped howling. I grabbed the phone and finished my song and so did he. So I started testing him. I sang Christmas songs, New Year songs, and everything I could think of. No reaction at all.

He didn’t cover his ears but he was not interested. So I called everyone I knew and sang Happy Birthday and he sang with me. He was strangely in tune.

Dyan Richardson

42. The Weather Cat

white and brown long fur catPhoto by Alvan Nee on Unsplash

Three weeks ago I was at my son’s house getting ready to help him mix and pour concrete for the foundation of a storage shed. He went to the building supply store the night before and got 30 sacks of premix concrete for us to use the next day.

DJ the cat, curious about everything, hopped up into the back of his pickup and was inspecting, sniffing, and patting the sacks of dry mix as we discussed whether to cover them with a tarp.

“Nah, it’s not going to rain,” was our conclusion.

At five in the morning, I was awakened by DJ’s insistent yowls. I lifted the window blind and there she was on the window’s brick ledge carrying on. I thought, “Great. Just when I need some sleep, that cat wakes me up". Then I heard dink…tink…tink-dink…

Tiny raindrops. I hollered for my son and he quickly ran out and covered the concrete sacks with a tarp while I moved his car from under the carport for him to back the truck under. No sooner had he put it under the carport than the heavens opened up and two inches of rain fell in an hour. DJ saved $250 worth of concrete.

Farmall Emta

43. The Persistent Pooper

adultgolden retrieverPhoto by John Price on Unsplash

We have a specific plant in our garden and my dog wouldn't stop pooping on them. Them specifically. So I took some firewood planks and stuck them in the ground as a makeshift fence around them.

It worked for a few days until she crawled past the gap between the plant and the hedge, did a reverse turn, and pooped on my plant again. Persistence at its best!

GoldenAgeComics

44. The Drama Queen

brown rabbit on window during daytimePhoto by Ансплэш Степана on Unsplash

I went out of town for a weekend. I lined up a friend to stay with my rabbit while I was gone. I was just heading back to my house when I suddenly got a call from my friend. She told me to get home NOW. She said the rabbit was acting really weird. Listless, turning down treats—all things that point to the beginnings of GI Stasis which is bad.

I got home and sat with her for about 20 minutes. Yep, she was showing signs. Got her to the emergency vet. $300 for the vet to tell me her diagnosis: drama queen. The rabbit was just upset that I wasn't home.

Decoupagetheworld

45. That’ll Show You

blue parakeet on handPhoto by Alexander Grey on Unsplash

One time, my bird was really mad about bedtime. She flew to the curtain, peeped loudly until I watched, then pooped on the curtain while looking straight at me. She was poop-trained and definitely knew what she was doing.

DaughterEarth

46. The Disrespectful Dog

two golden retriever on floorPhoto by REGINE THOLEN on Unsplash

One of my dogs used the other dog as a stepping stool to climb up on the couch. Straight up, he walked on top of the one laying next to the couch to get up there. Just blatant disrespect.

nhstadt

47. A Cat And His Bell

russian blue cat lying on white textilePhoto by Milada Vigerova on Unsplash

I have a little cat. My neighbor has a colony of feral cats living on her property and she called me one day and said, “Hey, you’ve got to come over and see this kitten”.

So I went over and we were talking on her front verandah and she said, “Here he comes”. This tiny ball of gray fur bounced around the corner of the house and ran straight up to us. He promptly climbed up my jeans and curled up in my hands.

It was so hard putting him down and going home, but I knew I’d be back for him the next day. I needed to get some stuff together for him first: a bed, a litter tray, food and water bowls, and kitten food.

This little kitten literally fell into my lap. He had one toy that was his absolute favorite. It was a little plush, stuffed red bell, with a jingly bell on it, that came in a cat’s Christmas stocking. He would carry it all over the house. You would hear the little bell coming and then he’d trot into the room with it in his mouth.

Then I discovered something that I thought was a fluke the first time, but after a few times, I realized it wasn't a fluke after all. This cat would fetch. I’ve had cats that would chase fluffy things on a string and pounce on balls rolling across the floor, but not actively fetch.

He dropped the little red bell at my feet. I picked it up and threw it across the room for him to chase. And then he brought it back and dropped it at my feet again. I was gobsmacked. I threw it across the room again and he joyfully chased it, picked it up, trotted back to me, and dropped it again.

Sarah Blair

48. But Can He Fit Four

brown and white short coated dog sitting on brown sand during daytimePhoto by Vidhey PV on Unsplash

At the dog park, years back, we were approaching a pond. There was this big dog in the water that looked horribly disfigured—like it must’ve tried fetching a live grenade. Poor thing. Whatever; life goes on. He was happily playing with two other dogs in the water.

As I got closer, trying to discreetly check out his messed up mouth parts, the dog dropped three tennis balls out of his mouth and suddenly went back to being a normal, non-disfigured Boxer!

LetsJerkCircular

49. Maybe She Just Wanted Another Bath

black and grey otter animalPhoto by Steve Tsang on Unsplash

For Christmas, my mom bought me a cute, four-legged, long fuzzy bundle of joy. My ferret Harli Quinn! I had never owned a ferret before so learning the ways of my new fur baby was somewhat challenging.

After reading blog posts, articles, and books on the ways of the ferret I somehow overlooked the part where ferrets were natural-born borrowers.

With that said, when it came time for Harli's first bath, I was 100% prepared! Water a little above lukewarm but not as hot as humans prefer, name-brand ferret deodorizing shampoo, and a pink rubber duck family pack ready for ferret bath fun! All I needed was the weasel.

Luckily she was standing by my feet, curious as to what I was doing in the kitchen sink, so I picked her up and slowly put her in. I could tell this wasn't her first bath. Unfortunately, she didn't seem as excited about it as I thought, so I picked her up and added some cool water just to rule out any temperature issues.

Put her back in and nope! It was the total opposite reaction to the ‘ferrets during bath time' videos I had watched on YouTube. No fun splashing, circle-swimming, rubber-duck-playing, ferret-loving-to-swim for her. She just stood there patiently waiting for me to clean and rinse her.

So, I shampooed her and began rinsing her off. Just when all of the soap suds were out of her fur, ferret poop filled the sink. So, we shampooed one more time and had a successful rinse. I reach over to grab the towel that I thought I put on the right side of the sink, but then I realize it was actually behind me, well over an arm’s length away.

I didn't want to make her even colder by running her to the other side of the kitchen so I left her in the sink as I made the fastest ‘other side of the kitchen dash' I had ever made in my life. I turned to run back to the sink to find that Harli was missing!

My initial thought was “Oh no! My poor baby fell off the counter and is hurt, cold, and…” Before I could finish my thought I heard scraping in the plastic pot of my chili pepper plant on the sink counter by the window.

As I walked closer, Miracle Grow was being flung in every direction, and I have to admit the trajectory in which the dirt flew was pretty impressive for such a small critter. Within the seconds it took for me to grab a towel and run to the pepper plant, Harli had already made her way to the bottom of the little bush and was covered in dirt—again.

Christina Willett

50. Oh, Mandy

shallow focus photo of long-coated black and white puppyPhoto by Andrea Lightfoot on Unsplash

I adopted a five-month-old Border Collie mix puppy from local animal control. They didn’t bring her out to meet me. After I filled out the paperwork and paid the fee, the tech came out and said she’d take me back and let me get her out of the kennel.

I knew this was not their normal policy, but didn’t really think anything about it. I had the slip leash ready, and when the gate was opened, this poor pup nearly went into convulsions. She cowered in the back corner and screeched. They finally told me everything they had failed to say earlier.

She had been owned by a man who mercilessly hit her, kicked her for a potty accident, and screamed at her just because. He’d destroyed her spirit. I did not change my mind about taking her with me. I carried her to my car and settled both of us in. I spent a good amount of time just stroking and talking softly to her.

She was a little calmer so I started towards home but took the very long way. After an extended period of time in the car together we finally arrived. I took her out back to meet our other dog, fed her, and left her alone for a while.

The first few times I went out the sliding door to see her, she jumped in the bushes and stayed hidden until she heard me say her name. Then she would come out and greet me. I was at home another two months before I moved into the house at my dad’s tree farm.

I would let Mandy out early in the morning, and she still continued to hide as my dad would get out of his truck to open the gate into the nursery. When I brought her home, I vowed I would protect her and keep her safe. By the time we’d been living at the tree farm for about two months, she totally became MY protector.

When a stranger would drive up to the house, she was so calm, but stayed about three feet away from them as they got out of the car and walked to my door. The moment the person finished knocking, Mandy would gently clamp onto their ankle, not hurting them but a definite warning.

When I answered the door, she still held on. I’d be asked to call her off, but I told them I had to know who they were and what they wanted. Once I was satisfied all I had to say was, “They’re OK, Mandy”. Not excitedly, but calmly, very matter of fact.

She did this for the rest of her life. And she did not discriminate. She did this to a number of my dad’s customers, utility workers, personal friends, and one time a detective—twice.

Jody Oakes

When Your Gut Feeling Is Right
Photo by Jaclyn Moy on Unsplash

We all have that little voice inside of us that tells us what to do and warns us of impending doom. These Redditors listened to their spidey senses and got themselves out of some sticky situations. Keep reading to hear their harrowing tales; they will reaffirm that everyone should indeed trust their gut!

1. Through The Looking Grass

man in blue and red motorcycle suit riding motocross dirt bikePhoto by Billy Freeman on Unsplash

I almost drove through a big patch of tall grass on my dirt bike just for fun, but at the last second hit the brakes and turned around. I didn't know why. The next time I went there, I made a chilling discovery: I found out that there was a 75-foot cliff over a river right behind it that I would have just flown off of at top speed. Because of the scenery, you couldn't tell at all by looking ahead at it. I still don't know what made me stop back then.

Quiet_Stranger_5622

2. Nerves Of Steel

Danger Hard Hat Area signagePhoto by Kevin Jarrett on Unsplash

I was working in the sales office at an engineering company. I was asked to record the serial numbers off a stack of large steel plates on the shop floor. I had to get someone with crane operating experience to lift the top plate so I could read the one underneath. The guy lifted it directly upwards about six feet. I was just about to lean underneath when I stopped dead: A little voice inside my head said, "Don't do that, mate".

“Get him to move the overhead plate to one side". Just as I thought that the clamp holding the plate failed and it fell to the ground right in front of me. It must've weighed about a ton. If it'd fallen on my head, I would have been an instant goner.

dineramallama

3. The Eyes Said It All

closeup photography of man's eyePhoto by ahmed zid on Unsplash

My GF met up with a work friend at a bar. This girl was with a guy who gave me seriously bad vibes. He was fake-friendly, but his eyes were crazy; my GF didn't see it. I wasn't having it. I told her I was leaving, and she really needed to come. We fought, I left, and she came running after. The next morning, we found what he'd done, and my blood ran cold. Turns out, out the guy put a knife through someone's chest later that night. I straight-up said, “I told you so. He was crazy”.

S_204

4. Caught By A Cough

black handle knife on green grass field during daytimePhoto by Mirvuqar Abdulov on Unsplash

My boyfriend at the time and I were housesitting for his uncle. My boyfriend was at work, and I was bathing our son before bed. I had the bathroom window very slightly cracked and heard a cough from outside. This house was in a residential neighborhood, so it could have been a neighbor. Then the weirdest thing happened. I suddenly felt anxious and scared. I literally felt a chill go down my spine. Something told me to go make sure the back door was locked.

I left my two-year-old son alone in a towel in the bathroom and ran to the back door. As I placed my hand on the doorknob, locking it, I came face to face with someone through the glass, who had his hand on the outside doorknob. He started pounding on the door and jiggling the doorknob, saying he was looking for someone. I just told him, “No, they're not here”.

He kept jiggling the doorknob. I ran to my son and grabbed my cell phone to call for help. I was housesitting, so I had no idea what the address was or where the house phone was. I called emergency services from the bathroom on my cell while hearing loud pounding on the back door. The dispatcher told me to find a house phone, piece of mail, or anything with an address.

I located the house phone and called from that. I have no idea how the authorities got there so quickly, but just as I heard the back door glass break, the guy on the phone told me to cover my son’s head with a blanket and run out the front door into the backseat of the officer’s car. I ran out the front door and saw six or more cruisers, and went straight into the waiting car.

After they cuffed the guy, they asked me if the machete on the back porch belonged to the owners of the house. Had I not trusted my gut that the cough sounded a little too close and to check the back door, he would've walked right into an unlocked house with a 19-year-old female and her young son alone. He had been burglarizing houses and had a backpack full of pilfered goods and was also high.

Liketheweatherpnw

5. Move It Or Lose It

brown cardboard boxes on white metal rackPhoto by CHUTTERSNAP on Unsplash

I was a temp worker at a warehouse. One day, my boss—who had no training on the forklift—told me to climb up on a ladder and move something out of the way. My gut said, "Tell her to turn the forklift off first", so I did. She scoffed and said it was unnecessary, so she got this other guy to move it because I was being "difficult".

I wish I hadn't been so right. She moved the fork up and smashed his fingers against the ceiling, breaking every finger on his hand aside from his thumb.

xarthos

6. Man’s Best Friend

black labrador retriever puppy in close up photographyPhoto by Ryan Phillips on Unsplash

My first black lab was about ten months old when we went to a local park early one morning to walk the trails. We had just finished a long trail and were resting. I was sitting on a bench when my dog's hair stood up, and he started to growl. When I looked up, I saw a man walking toward me. His eyes didn't look right, and I knew he was high.

When my dog growled, he stopped. He gave a smirky smile and asked if my dog would bite. I told him he definitely would if the guy came any closer. He hesitated for a moment, and then he turned and walked away. To this day, I am certain he meant to harm me. If I hadn't trusted my dog, I hate to think what would have happened.

angelangelica16

7. The Man In The Van

yellow van parked beside brown brick buildingPhoto by Claudio Schwarz on Unsplash

When I was 10, I was walking to my friend’s house. A van stopped me to ask for directions to the park. A man was driving, and the female passenger was the one who spoke to me. We had been taught in school—and by my parents—that adults should never ask kids for directions. In school, they told us if anyone ever stops you, take a giant step back before running away, so they can't grab you.

So, I took a step back and told them I didn’t know where the park was. The lady said, "I can't hear you; come closer". At that moment, I knew in my gut something was wrong. Out of fear, I almost listened to her, but then the sliding door on the van started to open, and I took off running faster than I'd ever run in my life. I ran all the way to my friend’s house. I told her parents everything, and they called my parents and the authorities.

The authorities came to her house and talked to me. They said that two other kids in our neighborhood reported the same van stopping and trying to talk to them. It was weird because before the van even stopped beside me, I had this sick feeling in my gut. As soon as it started rolling down the street, I knew something bad was about to happen. It was a couple of months before I had the guts to walk to my friend’s house again.

shadowball46

8. A Mother’s Intuition

a car that is sitting in the grassPhoto by Tobias Tullius on Unsplash

I was always a good kid, and my mom knew all of my friends. I asked to go on a small road trip with a friend during my senior year to see a college, plus go to a party there the friend knew about. My mom agreed. Then, suddenly, before the weekend trip, she just said, “No, I don’t want you to go. It doesn’t feel right.” She gave no explanation, so I was confused and furious at her as my friend was leaving.

I knew she was going to have so much fun with cute college boys and touring the campus. She barely made it an hour away and her car was T-boned by a truck, destroying the passenger side where I would have been.

Snarkybish03

9. Mama’s Man Was A Monster

When I was a teen, my mother was dating this “cool” guy. To my mother, he was a catch. He was built and very friendly and charismatic, however, I never liked him. This man just always made my skin crawl and my gut would go crazy when he was around. I would argue with my mother constantly because she would get mad that I didn't comply and I would always keep my siblings away.

I would make sure to be mean and annoying, and just a complete jerk to him and my mom when he was around. He left her after a few months and she blamed me for it. A few months later, his picture was in the local news. When I read the story, my stomach dropped. He was taken into custody for child trafficking. I remember yelling at my mother and pointing my finger at her, telling her I knew he was a bad man! Thanks to me, my siblings weren't his next victims!

zeronopes

10. He Couldn’t Stomach The Pain

man wiping mouse with tissue paperPhoto by Brittany Colette on Unsplash

My husband and I weren't married at the time, but we had just bought a house and were living the dream. One night, I woke up at about 3 AM and he wasn't in bed. I walked out to the living room to find him on the couch. I asked if he was OK and he said yes; his stomach just hurt and he didn't want to wake me by getting up. Then, he ran to the bathroom to puke.

All the hair on the back of my neck stood up, and I asked him, "Where does your stomach hurt"? As he was doubling over, he told me on his right side. Alarm bells started going off in my head. I told him to get dressed, and that we were going to the ER. He tried to protest, but I MADE him get in the car with a bucket and some electrolytes. It was about a 40-minute drive to the hospital, and we made it about halfway before he made me pull over, and begged for the pain to stop.

I thought he wasn’t going to make it. We got to the ER, and they gave him meds, drew blood, and did an ultrasound. It showed a stone passing, and they said he would be OK in a few hours, but they would follow up with surgery. It didn't sit right with me. They said his white blood count wasn't elevated, but it was. Granted, it was only a little and could be explained by the stone passing.

His pain took three days to go away, and he was still not great even after that. Six days after the ER visit, we had our appointment with the surgery department. She said that the reason it took a hot minute for his pain to go away was actually that the stone was stuck and too big to pass. There was a very slight thickening of his gallbladder, which could suggest a little infection, so better to take the gallbladder out in the next week or so.

I still had an incredibly uneasy feeling. My husband had no fever, no more pain, and no symptoms, but something was WRONG. I don't know how I knew, but I KNEW. The case manager came in and said that they had an opening for surgery the next day. My husband said that he needed a few days to arrange for work, etc., and the case manager said no problem.

When they left to get the schedule, I looked at my husband and told him to do the surgery the next day; I begged him until he caved. The 45-minute laparoscopic surgery turned into four hours of opening him up the old-fashioned way, a gallbladder moments away from bursting, infected on the inside AND the outside, filled with pockets of infection, and dying. Even the bile ducts had pockets of infection.

His surgeon had never seen one so bad, especially not on someone who walked into the hospital feeling FINE on their own two feet that morning. The tests showed it was salmonella. The pathologist in infectious diseases didn't believe the person it came out of was alive and came up to see him in recovery. Had any of the pockets burst, or had the gallbladder itself burst, he would have been septic with salmonella.

The surgeon said that it would have ended his life before they figured out it was salmonella and got the right antibiotic into him. He spent four more days in the hospital, had seven more procedures to put in stents where the bile ducts were because they weren't healing, and four months of a drainage tube sticking out his side. But he's here, and alive today because I just KNEW something was wrong from the start.

KknhgnhInepa0cnB11

11. Almost Up A Tree

man in orange shirt sitting on tree branchPhoto by henry perks on Unsplash

A couple of years ago, we had a ton of snow and a delayed spring. When the snow finally started to melt, it was very rapid. So much so that some areas had little creeks forming. My dad and I were on a walk on a trail and stopped to admire a culvert that got torn apart by the newly formed river. A large tree had already fallen down onto the path because the ground had completely eroded at the base.

I was looking at another tree near the riverbank and thought it was likely going to fall in a day or two. "That tree is going to fall too I bet" I told him. I watched it swaying slightly for a moment. Then it stopped swaying, and I just stared at it for a couple seconds. Then I went into full panic mode. I yelled, “Run”, and we just ran without looking back while several trees all started coming down in a chain reaction. The tree I was mesmerized by struck right where we were standing.

Regnes

12. Close To Being Cooked

black and white gas stovePhoto by KWON JUNHO on Unsplash

I was living in Spain with my best friend while we studied Spanish. One evening, we were feeling sluggish and a bit off after eating dinner. We barely made it through half a movie before we looked at each other and discussed whether we were becoming sick, and should just call it an early evening and head to bed. We quickly got ready for bed, feeling sickish.

I was turning off the lights in the living room when I had a lightbulb moment of checking out the gas. We were using a gas stove where you had to turn the gas thingy on and off upon using the stove itself. It turned out the gas was still on after we turned the stove off after cooking. It was leaking gas into the small apartment we lived in the entire evening. If we would have gone to sleep, we would have never woken up again.

rando_bowner

13. My Train Of Thought Saved Me

red chevrolet camaro on road during daytimePhoto by Meritt Thomas on Unsplash

I was driving home from a friend’s house in my Mustang late one night. I was getting it down a back road when I heard this loud, “SLOW DOWN NOW” in my head; it was louder than the music I had cranked up. I immediately slowed down to well below the speed limit, and when I came around the next turn, there was a train coming across the unmarked tracks.

There were warning signs about the tracks, and I knew they were there as I had traveled that road many times. However, there were no lights or cross arms, and I had never seen a train on those tracks before. Add that to the fact that there were woods on either side of the road, it would be almost impossible to know if a train was coming at night.

Thephilosopherkmh

14. The Odds Were Looking Bad

people dancing inside room with green lightsPhoto by Antoine J. on Unsplash

When I was in my late teens/early 20s, I was with a girlfriend at a club. We met some guys who said they were throwing a party. I was driving, so I figured it couldn't hurt to check it out. We got to a hotel room and it was just us two girls with at least four guys. I already felt something bad would happen, but I decided to drink as much of their booze before bugging out.

I remember quite vividly standing at the mini fridge and my friend was sitting on one of the two beds. She was holding a drink and talking about how sloshed she was when these guys started moving in on her like a group of hyenas. I immediately knew we had to get out. I just walked over to her and told her I needed to talk to her outside.

I grabbed her by the wrist and kept walking down the stairs from the hotel door. She fought me the entire time, and I had to scream at her to get in the car. By the time the guys figured out we were leaving, they were at the door of their room, throwing things at my car. I know I saved my friend from a very dangerous situation.

Donthurlemogurlx

15. Down The Dark Alley

empty street between buildings during night timePhoto by Morica Pham on Unsplash

I finished work late. After I get off the bus, I usually walk through an alley that's pitch black. That night, my gut told me, “Take the big detour”, so I did. The next morning three bodies were found in that alley. The time of their passing was three minutes after I decided to take the other route. That alley was specifically known for a lot of illicit activities. Unfortunately, the gang members got the wrong people—they were tourists.

Illustrious-Rice-168

16. Baby Tomorrow Would Be Too Late

closeup photography of pregnant woman wearing blue pantyPhoto by Ignacio Campo on Unsplash

I realized in my 39th week of pregnancy that my baby hadn't been moving as much in the past 36 hours. I decided it was best to make sure everything was all right, so we went to the ER. I had preeclampsia, and the baby had the umbilical cord around his neck, swimming in meconium. They put me on magnesium sulfate to bring my blood pressure down and gave me an emergency C-section. My son and I needed a few days to recover, but we're alive and well now. If I had decided to keep waiting, both of us might not have made it.

JessonBI89

17. Hat’s Off To Mom

black and orange metal machine on green grass field during daytimePhoto by David Thielen on Unsplash

I was working for an oilfield company, and we were doing some maintenance on a hydraulic pump jack. I had to be lifted in a basket about twenty feet in the air by the crane I was working on to loosen a couple of nuts so we could remove a part. Once I got up there, I took my hard hat off because it was so hot out. I figured, “Hey, what could possibly drop on my head when I'm higher up than anything around me?”

I loosened the first nut and then thought about how mad my mom would be if something happened, so I put my hard hat back on. When I loosened the last nut, the pump jack torpedoed up because the operator hadn't depressurized it like he said he had. This massive nut flew straight up in the air, and before I could figure out what was happening, it landed square on my hard hat.

I've never experienced anything like it. The force made me drop to my knees. The guy operating the crane saw me drop and immediately lowered the basket to the ground. I walked away with a kink in my neck and a huge dent in my hard hat. I often think about what would have happened if I hadn't put it back on.

OCDalyn

18. DVT Almost Ended Me

a red emergency sign in front of a large buildingPhoto by Robert Linder on Unsplash

A couple of weeks into recovering from a fractured hip, I noticed my calf/foot turning red when standing up. A day or so later, it felt like a minor muscle cramp in my calf, and my foot was a little clammy. My mom said I was overthinking it, but I knew something was wrong and went to the ER. I was diagnosed with a deep vein thrombosis, then five days later had a pulmonary embolism.

Had I not gotten it checked out as quickly as I did, the clot could have continued to grow, which would have increased its potential danger. Thankfully, the clot was small, and the damage was minimal all things considered!

MilkyWeekend420

19. Blame It On The Rain

a close up of a rain covered windowPhoto by Eastman Childs on Unsplash

I was casually walking home, and then a drop of water fell on my head. My first thought was, “Is it raining”? However, for some reason, my gut was all like, “Run”! So, naturally, I listened to my gut and ran. As I was doing so, a whole air conditioner came crashing down at the exact spot where I was standing.

rhuwiwhx

20. Seconds Away From Sepsis

man in red shirt driving carPhoto by Mat Napo on Unsplash

I had a lot of congestion and a wicked cough for like a week, to the point that my ribs hurt. My doctor thought it was just a sinus infection that was draining into my ears and chest. Finally, my pain started to get worse. I figured it was just muscle soreness from all of the coughing I was doing, but something in my gut said to call for an ambulance.

By the time paramedics got to me a couple of minutes later, I was barely able to breathe. One look at their faces and I knew I was in serious trouble. It turned out that I had an abscess in my lung which had ruptured. The accumulated pus and fluid had collapsed my lung, and I was in the first stages of sepsis.

destinyofdoors

21. Escape From Disaster

three man sitting on gray surfacePhoto by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash

I was at a party off campus with a very annoying friend of my then-girlfriend. We were waiting for my girlfriend and another of her friends to show up. The guys hosting the party were sketchy-looking and I had a “get a drink and get out” vibe. I was talking to someone I knew from class and I turned around and saw my wife’s friend, who was fine ten minutes prior, stumbling while some dude was walking her to the basement.

I ran over and told him to get off of my girlfriend and I was suddenly surrounded by three guys, telling me to get lost, and they were all partying downstairs. The guy who I was talking to walked over with some of his friends and I took the opportunity to get her out of the party, called my girlfriend, and told her not to go. We met up at the local Waffle House, and we fed her friend, gave her coffee, and got her to her room.

I later found out another girl wasn’t as lucky. The guys held her in the basement for three days. Even worse, they didn’t do a day in prison, because the girl left town and never came back. I always felt guilty about it, although I still don’t know what I could have done differently.

noiamnotsam

22. A Mistaken Midwife

person wearing gray shirt putting baby on scalePhoto by Christian Bowen on Unsplash

I had planned to have my second child at a birthing center with a midwife. I started to labor at home, and when it was time, we got to the birthing center. After about four hours of true laboring—pushing and all—they asked to check my cervix because I was not making any progress. They told me my cervix wasn’t all the way dilated. I told them it was time to go to a hospital and request a C-section.

They told me it was fine and my cervix would eventually dilate. I insisted, and they prepared my transfer. At the hospital, I told them that I needed a C-section. They assured me I was fine, and as I was pushing, there was talk amongst themselves about how the baby should be here any minute, and there was no way I was getting a C-section. They were horribly wrong.

No less than twenty minutes later, they couldn’t find the baby’s heartbeat and when they did, its heart rate was dropping rapidly, and mine was suddenly spiking to dangerous levels. The rest was a blur. I was pulled onto a bed and wheeled into the OR. The last thing I remember was my husband being pushed out of the OR and me saying just go; I'm going to be okay.

I woke up to my husband holding our beautiful daughter. If I hadn't gone to the hospital and listened to the midwife instead, my daughter and I might have both lost our lives that night.

Hev-e_D

23. Left In A Panic

a large truck with a large tank on the backPhoto by Jason Mitrione on Unsplash

When I was eight years old, we had a “special” quiz in school. It was worth a small amount of our grade but the rule was that we only got the points if we took it home, showed our parents, had them sign it, and returned it the next day. We lived a 40-minute drive from school and about halfway there, I started panicking and I didn’t know why.

We were between these two semi trucks, a gasoline tanker, and a cement truck. My mom pulled over so we could talk it out, and then I remembered my quiz! We were going to be early, so we sped home, grabbed the quiz, and headed back to school. As we got about two miles past where my mom had pulled off the road to talk to me, we saw that the cement truck had rear-ended the gas tanker, which then exploded.

The charred remains of both trucks, dozens of emergency vehicles of all kinds, and a huge swath of melted asphalt and burnt grass around the road told the story. Our little 1984-made subcompact would have been sandwiched right in the middle. My mom turned to me and said, “You should trust your panic attacks”.

hiyabankranger

24. Deep Sea Adventure

a person swimming in the water near a coral reefPhoto by Maja Novak on Unsplash

My ex and I were snorkeling. We were on holiday and spent most days at the beach snorkeling without incident, but something this day felt...different. We were snorkeling along a rocky area near a drop-off. I had this horrible feeling that we were being watched and felt very uneasy. I signaled my ex to the surface. I told him I felt weird and that we needed to go back to the beach.

He protested because he was having fun, but I was adamant. Lo and behold, we got to the beach, and everyone was standing and pointing to the water. We looked back to see a large bull shark coming close to the shore. Not long after, a helicopter was seen tracking it down the coast. My ex never questioned my intuition again.

Different-Escape-440

25. The Long Walk Home

person passing alone on bridge during nighttimePhoto by Andreas Rasmussen on Unsplash

My sister and I went to the city for our birthday. We stayed in a hotel downtown, and since we were so close, we decided to walk to the bar. We got there and were having a great time, but it was getting late. The last call rolled around, and I decided to get us one more drink each. A man was at the bar and we made conversation. He said he was alone, so I invited him to our table. I'd regret that decision almost immediately.

When we got to our table, another man was standing there talking to my sister. The men claimed to not know each other, stating that they were from completely different states, but they seemed quite chummy. Also, they were quite insistent that they needed to walk us to our hotel room. It hit me, and I knew something wasn't right.

I asked my sister to come to the bathroom with me, and I informed her that I felt something was off, but she just thought I was overreacting. I told her we couldn't walk, we had to get an Uber or Lyft. The last call came, and the staff told us we needed to leave. I asked them to please give us some time because we were trying to get a ride back to the hotel. For whatever reason, I could not get the Uber or Lyft app to work.

The staff told us they'd ask the guys to leave, and we could wait a few minutes, but then we had to go. My sister still thought nothing was wrong. We went to leave and both men were standing by the doors waiting on us. The staff told us we couldn’t stay any longer, but we could go out the back doors, so we did. But we weren't out of danger yet. We began walking down the alley and got to the sidewalk that would lead us back to our hotel, but we'd have to walk under this sketchy and dimly lit bridge.

My sister said if we ran, we could make it to the hotel. I told her no, because we didn't know where the men were. I spotted a night-shift city worker. We approached him and I explained the situation. We were still trying to get a ride, but it still wasn’t working. As we stood there with the city worker, the two men came walking around the corner together, and they headed straight for us.

The man that I was talking to at the bar got in my face and said, "What's wrong? You didn't want us to walk you"? I already had my pepper spray in hand, aiming. I told him, "Get away from us". He repeated the same questions while he stepped closer. I told him again with my finger on the trigger of the pepper spray and a loud, stern voice to "GET OUT OF MY FACE AND AWAY FROM MY SISTER".

They both walked away while glaring at us. We continued to stand with the city worker while we tried to get a ride, but it still wouldn't work. A group of officers came strolling down the sidewalk. I asked them to walk us, and they did all the way to the hotel. I'm very thankful for them and that I didn't leave my pepper spray. There's no telling what could've happened.

Numerous_Surprise517

26. Mishap At The Mall

Dunkin Coffee shop during daytimePhoto by Joan Oger on Unsplash

I had a rare day off work and decided to get some Christmas shopping done. It was late November and the mall near me was having some really good sales. But as I was driving there, I started having this weird anxious feeling. The closer I got, the more anxious and uneasy I felt. So, instead of going right to the mall, I stopped at Dunkin Donuts for a drink and snack.

I couldn’t shake the anxiety, so I sat in the parking lot for a bit while I ate and drank. I opened up the news on my phone and the first thing that popped up was a shooting at the mall I was headed to. I went straight home, and did all of my Christmas shopping online that year.

NoSleepNoCoffee1

27. Going The Bear Minimum

wildlife photography of brown bear cubPhoto by 🇸🇮 Janko Ferlič on Unsplash

I was in the Army, and working a late night in November; it was maybe past 9 PM. The road I would take back was a back road, which was fine to drive during the day, but there were zero streetlights, so I only had headlights to see the road. It was also a heavily wooded area. I told myself to drive below the speed limit in case a deer might pop out.

Right when I had the instinct, a bear cub ran right across the road. If I had been maintaining speed, I'd have hit the thing. Perhaps the cub would have gotten injured, but where there's a cub, there's bound to be its mother.

laineDdednaHdeR

28. Better Dread Ted

My gal pal and I were about 15–16 years old in 1975. We were at a rural county fair in WA State when a well-dressed man in his 30s came up to ask us to help him get his VW out of a ditch about a mile down the road. It didn’t make much sense that a man of that age would ask young girls when male officers and guys older than us were all over.

So, we told him to get lost and went to tell an officer this guy was asking this of us teenagers. When I was 21, I went to work for the same county’s Sheriff’s Department, and I saw that man’s picture posted everywhere. That man was Ted Bundy.

CharacterRest7829

29. Saved By A Second Opinion

two men wearing blue lab coatsPhoto by Olga Guryanova on Unsplash

I had my gallbladder removed, and I didn’t feel quite right afterward. I was told I was overreacting to normal pain at the hospital, but I was still uneasy and went to another afterward, against my surgeon’s recommendation. I ended up having an extra bile duct that wasn’t closed and was emptying into my abdomen. I was admitted for a while while they fixed it and then dealt with pancreatic issues that popped up from the damage.

29noodles

30. Rocketing Away From Doom

a red and white rocket ship flying through the skyPhoto by Andy Hermawan on Unsplash

In high school, we had an unhealthy preoccupation with making small explosives from model rocket engine powder. In this case, we used a spent CO2 cartridge packed full of the powder, with a short mortar fuse, stuffed inside a crab trap buoy—a monument to terrible decisions. I held the device as it was lit, intending to throw it, but the fuse burned out.

My friend said, “Maybe we should relight it”. I said forget it as I threw it as hard and as far as I possibly could. The styrofoam buoy landed some distance away, bounced once, and exploded with what sounded like a giant blast. There wasn’t a piece of that buoy left larger than a crumb, and the blast radius was wide. If I’d held on to that thing, the best-case scenario is that I wouldn’t have a right hand. Given the proximity to my face, it would likely have been much, much worse.

Hewfe

31. A Keen Eye For Danger

white and orange cat sitting on brown wooden tablePhoto by Kelly on Unsplash

I had two one-and-a-half-year-old cats as well as a six-month-old. I was giving my three cats supervised outside time. It was just before noon on a sunny day, which was a nice break from the fog we normally had. The cats were chasing butterflies, chattering at birds, eating cat grass, and getting buzzed on the catnip I grew for them. I was relaxing in my patio chair reading a book when suddenly I got the sense that something was amiss.

I looked up from my book and, out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw a flash of red and dark brown in a blurred reflection on the window of my sunroom. I just knew something was about to happen if I didn't act. I quickly called for my older cats to go inside, which they did.

Then, I looked over to the little one who was rolling around on a patch of warm cement just soaking up all the sun.

I walked over and stood above it when suddenly a red-tailed hawk had just circled around the corner of the house and was coming in hot. The hawk, having realized I moved and was now guarding the kitten, quickly aborted its attempt to snatch up the meal it so desired. Had my gut instinct not alerted me to the danger, my older cats and I would have surely been grieving over a much different story.

TheFrostyrune

32. Field Trip Fail

people inside dinosaur fossil museum during daytimePhoto by Chris Nguyen on Unsplash

In third grade, my class took a late springtime field trip to a famous museum on the East Coast. We all went outside to grab our lunches from the bus and eat on the concrete stairs that led to the entrance of the museum. I wasn't very hungry and finished early. The student-teacher ratio was high, so we weren't well chaperoned.

As others continued to eat their lunch, I decided to look around and kept walking until I found the side of the museum. It led to an empty alley. I looked for no more than two seconds before deciding to turn around. As soon as I did, my eyes met those of a man in his early 30s who was walking toward me. His eyes shifted, and I immediately started running back toward the group, shouting my teacher’s name, who was not even in sight.

The man immediately turned around and speed-walked back into the crowd of passersby on the sidewalk. I believe the man thought I was going to continue into the alley, upon which time he most likely would have attempted to abduct me. He seemed very surprised that I immediately sensed danger. I have little doubt that I would have gone missing if I had decided to continue exploring that alley.

DoesLogicHurtYou

33. Flipping Out

red truck on road during daytimePhoto by Josiah Farrow on Unsplash

We were coming home from a big trip. Our friends were in one car, my dad in another, and my mom, sisters, and me in the last car. I was 17 and learning how to drive. I was supposed to be driving to get some experience, but my mom decided last minute she would drive. I was a little mad, but she said she had a feeling. We were in our little convoy about to get on the highway when all of a sudden, our friend’s car went flying into the shoulder.

Mom and I were worried they blew a tire. Then suddenly, my dad’s car ran off into the shoulder. Then, we finally saw it: Before my mom and I could question why, a semi-truck was mid-flip and coming right at us. My mom, being the ninja she is, put the car in reverse and started driving BACKWARDS. The truck flipped again and landed on its side and was sliding toward us.

My mom had to slam on the brakes to avoid oncoming traffic. The truck slid to a stop 15 feet away from the car. Our friends and my dad were safe, and they rushed to the truck to help the driver and his wife. The driver had taken the turn too fast. His load got ahead of him, and he lost control. The wife was bleeding from a minor cut on her head, but luckily, no one was seriously hurt.

Arra13375

34. That Nothing Was Something

woman in red shirt sitting in front of computerPhoto by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash

I started showing symptoms of having serious health problems—passing out, seizures, etc. I went to a neurologist who sent me to one single MRI and deemed the mass in my brain to be “nothing”. My gut told me to not trust it, so I went to my doctor and asked for a second opinion. I was sent to a neurosurgeon who put me through a bunch of tests and procedures.

I found out that not only was it a brain tumor, but it was turning into something dangerous. It had the same mutation cells found only in cancer and in the big brain cancer that has a low survival rate. My gut feeling gave me a chance.

Brontolope11

35. A Double Scoop Of Danger

person holding ice creamPhoto by Kyle Hinkson on Unsplash

I was playing at my friend’s house when all of a sudden, a car pulled up. It was his dad, who was not allowed to see either of his sons and was not in the picture. He asked us, “Do y’all wanna get some ice cream”? I hesitated and said no and that I should ask my dad first. I went home right then. The next day, I didn’t see my friend, or the next day after that. Then the news got out.

The dad abducted both of his sons and took them to Brazil. It took months to get them back, as Brazil wouldn’t extradite them. Once the dad was back in the US, he ended up taking his own life. I didn’t see the oldest son until years later when we were doing driver’s ed together. I don’t know if something would’ve happened to me, but I’m glad I trusted my gut and went home.

tward1803

36. Running The Red

traffic light at yellowPhoto by Carlos Alberto Gómez Iñiguez on Unsplash

I was a teenager and first learning how to drive. I was at an intersection where a lot of accidents happen. For some reason, one day, even though the light turned green, I hesitated for just a bit longer than normal before proceeding into the intersection. Sure enough, about three seconds later, someone going way over the speed limit ran the red light for the intersection.

I'm almost positive I would've been a goner due to being T-boned super hard, as their timing would've been right on target to have collided, head-on, with my driver's side door in my small sedan.

Euphoric-Willow-1120

37. Ditching The Dog

white and brown long coat large dogPhoto by Pauline Loroy on Unsplash

I had just got back home from fishing with the pup all day and realized I needed some stuff to make dinner. I got the dog ready to go again and then thought, "I better just leave you here so you can see Mom when she gets home", and I let him back in the house. Five minutes down the highway, I had a guy pull out in front of me while I was doing 60 mph.

He absolutely demolished my truck. I poked a hole in the windshield with my head, bent the steering column up into the dash with my chest, and broke my knee on the lower dash. My dog would have for sure been ejected; I'm glad he wasn't there!

MountainHipie

38. A Feeling From My Ex

white and black abstract paintingPhoto by Maurice Pehle on Unsplash

Years ago, I was in between houses. I had a new place lined up but it wouldn’t be ready for about six weeks. My little sister lived in the area, so I decided to crash on her couch. My ex and I had been broken up for about six months at that point. It was a decently amicable breakup; we were still in the same friend group and got along.

One night my ex called me up crying, saying she had a feeling something bad was going to happen and asked me to please come spend the night with her. So, at like midnight on a weekday, I got in my car and drove over to calm her down and spend the night. The next morning, I drove back over to my little sister's house and found there were cruisers all up and down the street.

Some idiot had gone cruising, randomly blasting at people's houses. My sister was fine; her room was in the back of the house. However, the couch I stayed on backed up against the front wall, right next to the front door. Sure enough, there were three bullet holes in the couch. Knowing how I like to sleep, I think all three of them would have hit me.

PunkThug

39. Dealing With Captain Sketch

closed gray wooden doorPhoto by MARK ADRIANE on Unsplash

Years ago, I had a dealer who would always ask where I lived. The dude was a bit off, so I avoided specifics when replying. One afternoon, my roommate went along with me, and everything went smoothly until we were about to get into the car. Captain Sketch asked him where we lived, and my roommate blurted out the building and apartment number.

About eight hours later, we were watching The X-Files, and the doorknob started to jiggle. Next thing we knew, we were holding the dealer guy and his buddy until they listened for a bit, and we were sure they understood what was going to happen if they tried that again.

Meanderingversion

40. The Ride Of His Life

silver and black car enginePhoto by Clark Van Der Beken on Unsplash

My cousin was about to leave a party with two other dudes. He opened the car door, and all of a sudden, he decided against it, and he walked back into the house. The two dudes waited for a beat, then left. On their way home, the driver lost control of the car and crashed head-on into a tree. One lost his life on the spot, and the other at the hospital. The car ended up in three major pieces, none of which look like they could occupy a person.

soda_cookie

41. Buckle Up!

black leather car seat with seat beltPhoto by Maxim Hopman on Unsplash

I used to hate wearing seat belts in the passenger seat. One day I was with my friend helping him with a few errands, and he asked me if I wanted to tag along for a drive. I told him no I didn’t feel like it, but he managed to convince me by saying we won't go too far and we would be back in an hour. I guess because I was feeling off, I wore a seat belt. After ten minutes, my friend got distracted and almost ran over someone and swerved hard. We hit a wall, and I'm pretty sure I would have flown through the windshield if I didn't wear a seatbelt that day.

uhh-no123

42. Merging Maniac

cars on road during daytimePhoto by Çağlar Oskay on Unsplash

I was driving on a highway and had a bad feeling about the car next to me. I just felt like they were going to try to merge when I was next to them, even though they gave no indication of doing so and had been driving normally up until that point. A few minutes later, they merged without a signal, but since I was wary of them, I was able to slam on my brakes and avoided being hit.

ranaiki

43. Bed And Brake Fast

cars on road during daytimePhoto by luis enrique on Unsplash

I was driving on a freeway and an SUV pulling a trailer with a king mattress got on and cut me off to get around a slow car. I instantly had a Final Destination moment flash and backed off. A car got mad that I slowed down and was tailgating me angrily. It was super windy, and I saw the mattress start to flap. I put my hazards on to warn the jerk behind me, but he decided to race fast around me and flip me off.

While flipping me off, the mattress flew up about 30 feet in the air and landed right in the middle of the road. I have a tiny car and would probably be gone if I didn't back off far enough AND I saved the jerk’s life. We both calmly swerved onto the shoulders on both sides since we had enough space to be able to react.

aboxofGoldfish

44. I Was Almost Bus-ted

a red bus driving down a street next to a traffic lightPhoto by Brian Jones on Unsplash

When I lived in Toronto, I was about to cross Dufferin. I'd only looked to my right, not my left. I took a step onto the street when I felt this feeling like I needed to go back onto the sidewalk immediately. I took a step back onto the sidewalk and about a foot off the street. Suddenly, a city bus hurtled past my face at what felt like super speed.

Ellidyre

45. Remembering September 11th

text, letterPhoto by Martina Mainetti on Unsplash

On September 11, 2001, I was almost put on Flight 93. I was flying out of Boston the day before to Los Angeles, but the flight was overbooked. They tried to put me on Flight 93 for the next day—September 11. It would have meant staying at my dad's house for the night, and it was the next direct flight. I've been on that flight route many times between Boston and LAX, but I oddly decided to take a flight to the south that would have connected me to LA.

By the time we got to the airport, we missed the connection and were told to stay the night. At that point, I got into a screaming match with the airline. Something in my chest said if I didn't fly out that night, I'd be trapped. They put me on a flight to Vegas, and it was up to me to get to LAX. I got to Vegas, and caught the last direct flight home to LA. I woke up the next day to a new world. I had 20 voicemail messages on my phone from people worried I perished in the crash.

sykospark

46. Punt The Produce And Split

white and red labeled pack on white shelfPhoto by Franki Chamaki on Unsplash

I was tasked by my mother to get groceries from a shop. It was about three to four blocks down from where I was. About 15 feet near the shop, I saw my best friend's father's vehicle—he was a law enforcement officer. I knew from experience that sometimes bad things happen when the force uses private-owned vehicles, and my gut instinct told me to leave immediately.

I ditched getting the groceries and started walking back home; I heard firing from the distance. Later that day, the local news reported that the very shop I was going to was getting burglarized. Officers intervened, hit four of the five suspects and shrapnel injured three pedestrians.

Kozo_Da_Boy

47. I Was A Shoo-In For Doom

man in the middle of bridge looking to his phonePhoto by Tevin Trinh on Unsplash

My first boyfriend and I lived in a medium-ish town in the Midwest, and I was a painfully shy girl. I was head over heels for him. He had a thing for red stilettos, and I wanted to impress him, and bought a pair. He loved them, and I wore them to a lot of places. One particular weekend, we were supposed to go on one of our picnics, but I just wasn’t feeling it; something felt really off.

He was a bit older than me, and I worshiped the ground he walked on, but not that Friday. The more he begged me to go to one of our picnics, the more I refused. My stomach was in knots, and finally, I vomited on our porch, where we were arguing, and he left. Over the next week, people discovered a random red stiletto floating in the river and then a body was fished out. When I learned the truth, I wanted to be sick.

My boyfriend had another girl on the side, and he killed her sometime that weekend. They apparently did the same “picnics” that we did. I could have been in that girl’s place.

fuggystudent18

48. Avoiding A College Catastrophe

laughing people in partyPhoto by Samantha Gades on Unsplash

I had my younger brother visit me in college. We had somewhat of a party house, so we were all having fun playing drinking games. We all passed out late at night after some rounds. I went to my bedroom and my brother fell asleep on the couch. The rest of the partiers were sleeping on couches, on the floor, and in empty bedrooms. I passed out around 1 AM when all of a sudden I woke up.

It was about 3 AM, and I looked around wondering what woke me up. Usually, I’d turn over, and fall back asleep in seconds, but this felt weird. I was wide awake, looking around my dark room, and something was definitely off. I got up and opened the door, slipping out into the living room to investigate. There was nothing unusual. But I knew there had to be a reason.

I stepped into the living room and saw my brother sleeping on his back on the couch, head cocked up nestled over the arm of the couch. I looked around for a sec; there was nothing odd about the front door and nothing out the windows. Then, mere moments after entering that room, my brother started gurgling, dry heaving, and began to vomit.

I rushed over to him, turning him over onto his side, making sure it was all coming out onto the floor. I shook him awake, cleaned him up, assured him it was fine, and waited for him to fall back asleep. I cleaned up the floor and couch and then proceeded to sit and watch him for the rest of the night. That was the night I trusted my gut, and I’m glad I didn’t go back to bed.

DKalosc

49. A Lesson In Intuition

girl swims on swimming poolPhoto by Raj Rana on Unsplash

Back in 2010, I was supposed to attend a swimming lesson since it was the first lesson at the institute that day. Also, my mom was supposed to go to work as usual. I, for some reason, got a feeling of dread and decided to laze around the entire day and stayed home. My mom wasn't feeling well, so she didn't go to work either. It was on the 29th of March and we lived in Russia.

Just a couple of hours later, my worried aunt called us to say that there were explosions on the Moscow subway. Two radicals blew themselves up along with a lot of people on Park Kultury and Lubyanka stations. The pool I was supposed to be at was at Park Kultury, and I would've arrived there right around the time the devices went off.

BrowningBDA9

50. Cause For Celebration

woman in bathtubPhoto by Taisiia Stupak on Unsplash

My girlfriend and I had returned to our hotel room from a long night out bar hopping, searching for a place to celebrate NYE the next night. My girlfriend was completely trashed. She wanted to take a shower before going to bed, and I sat on the edge of the bed, laid back, and fell asleep. If I’m plastered, once I'm asleep, I will not be waking up for the next four hours minimum, however, this night was different.

I was RIPPED awake out of nowhere with a horrible feeling in my gut. Something was VERY WRONG. I immediately ran to the bathroom, where I saw the tub overflowing and my ex with her lips and nose floating millimeters above the surface of the water in the tub. Her foot and leg had stopped the drain, so I immediately grabbed her up. She was barely conscious; I dried her off and put her to bed. If I hadn't grabbed her up, I'm certain she would have drowned.

IrregularHumanBeingg