Life is weird, in general, but sometimes it gets extra weird. I used to have a customer that would call the 24-hour convenience store I worked at every morning at exactly 2:30 a.m. every day for the Pick-3 and Pick-4 lottery numbers. We were one of only 3 stores in town that were open all night.
It totally freaked me out the first couple of times, but rapidly became a normal part of the job, so I suppose weird is a relative term.
Reddit user arthur2652 asked:
"What is the weirdest thing you ever witnessed?"
Wrong House
I answered the wrong phone, in the wrong house, and got the right person.
Let me explain ...
I used to do computer repair work in highschool. This was back in the days of the MODEM, which was a device that connected to your phone line.
My boss complained that his modem was dead, and as was standard procedure of the time, I connected a phone to the modem to check for a dial tone.
Almost immediately, the phone rang. This is odd, since this phone line isn't published, and never has a phone connected to it. So, I figured it was going to be a wrong number and answered it.
As soon as I picked it up and said 'Hello?', I got 'Hey <User1539>, it's Rob, you want to come to the mall to see a movie with me tonight?'.
I asked 'How did you get this number?', and he explained that he didn't know I was at work, and dialed (he thought) my home phone number.
He must have mis-dialed my home phone number, and accidentally keyed in the number for a phone that's never connected, at my job, where I happened to be testing the line at that very second.
He dialed the wrong number, got the wrong phone, and got the right person.
The chances of that must be astronomical.
Bathroom Break
One time I was driving through Nevada, probably about 30 minutes before Vegas. My friend and I were headed to Utah from California, and needed a bathroom break, so we stopped at some gas station for a minute. While we were in the bathroom, 4 FedEx delivery employees in their full uniforms came walking in, and all 4 piled into 1 bathroom stall, without a word being spoken. Also, not a sound in the stall. My friend and I looked at eachother and speedwalked out, barely able to contain our laughter. Once we were outside, there was no FedEx vehicle in sight. I really have no idea what the explanation for that was.
Sudden Stop
I was driving down the freeway and traffic came to a sudden stop. Up ahead were half a dozen police cruisers. We slowly filed past in the inside emergency lane and a number of officers were behind their doors, weapons drawn. As I get closer I see one officer running for his life. What had a dozen trained cops so on edge? A goat. The cops were trying to wrangle a goat that had escaped from the adjacent field.
Somehow I wish all traffic jams ended that way
Ladder
This is pretty tame and innocent, but still a 10/10 on my weird scale.
At a property out in the country, I was speaking with an elderly home owner when I noticed a ladder laying horizontally connecting a 2nd floor bedroom window with a tree outside.
I asked about it, and her eyes went wide. She said to me:
"I will tell you, if you promise to tell no one."
"OK, sure."
Giphy
"Please. You must tell no one - but that is for the raccoon."
"You...have a raccoon?"
"I raised him from a baby. Once he grew up, he became mean towards me and I can no longer hold him. The ladder is how he gets in and out of the house. Every evening, we have tea and toast together, then he goes out for the night and returns in the morning."
"Oh. Well...that doesn't sound too bad."
Then she brought me in the house, and took out a box from under the sink.
It was full of things like earrings, necklaces, rings, coins, and watches - anything at all shiny.
"He brings me things. If the neighbours find out, they will take him. Please tell no one."
"Um...yeah, sure."
TL;DR - elderly woman in an abusive relationship with a klepto raccoon has a treasure chest.
Strobes
One night I woke up unexpectedly and noticed red and blue strobes seeping in through my curtains.
I looked out the window and there was a pair of police squad cars blocking the intersection in front of my house.
I looked around the neighborhood from inside my house, and could see the next two closest intersections were blocked off, too. If I stared long enough I could make out red and blue strobes coming from a fourth intersection in my neighborhood.
So I sat in my living room, watching 7 or 8 squad cars, blocking 4 intersections with their lights on, but no sirens. I watched them for an hour waiting for something to happen. After an hour of boredom I couldn't take it anymore and I went back to bed.
There was nothing reported in the papers, there was nothing on Nextdoor, there was nothing I could find on the internet. It was like it didn't happen.
FedEx
My go-to answer for this is a FedEx guy unloading boxes into an empty field.
I think he thought no one was around - I was alone at the office, and I don't own a car so the lot was empty. This FedEx truck pulls up not far from my window and the guy hops out and heaves two boxes into this shallow depression. Once he drove off I went out and checked and those boxes were addressed to a hospital.
I tried contacting FedEx about it - I figured they'd have, like, schedules or package manifests or something to track down who was due to be driving what, but all they asked me is what color the FedEx logo on the truck was (and the apologized for my inconvenience, wtf). Apparently there are different colors, and they mean different things.
Naked Lady
I once saw a completely naked lady standing in the kitchen of a restaurant. With several of the employees just standing there cooking, like she wasn't even standing there. And the kitchen wasn't even hidden, there was a big window from the dining area where anyone could look in. To this day I still have no clue as to what the fuck was going on in that kitchen.
Gardening Gloves
A woman would always come into the store where I worked with a pair of gardening gloves and two big purses. She'd go through the discarded ATM receipts and write things in this little notebook. She would do the same with the prices of random merchandise. She would never buy anything and He would spend at least 15 minutes doing this nearly every day.
My store manager asked if he could help her with anything exactly once and she literally snarled at him to leave her alone. When I started working at a completely different store in the area, I saw that she did the same thing. Not sure if she has a mental condition or if she's just really strange and likes to track the prices of things.
Parking Space
Once I pulled into my parking space and noticed a kid (maybe 12?) holding his bike and staring into a trash can. I decided to sit tight and observe what was going on. Without missing a beat he fished a bouquet of flowers out of the trash, took a few large *bites* out of it, tossed it back in the can, and rode off chewing. It's been 15 years and I still think about it sometimes....
Four Dudes
I saw four dudes walking around my campus dressed as Teletubbies playing brass instruments late at night.
Keep your eyes on the swivel. You never know what you may witness.
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But sometimes, the wisdom imparted by friends isn't always helpful or relevant to the situation.
Curious to hear from strangers online who could do without specific knowledge, Redditor Saibotnl1 asked:
"What life advice can just f'k off?"
These Redditors have a problem with how certain people have on outlook on life.
Time To Rest
"Sleep when you’re dead."
"Cool, but you’re going to be dead a lot sooner."
– Tag2graff
Irrelevant Sadness
"People have it so much worse than you so don’t be sad!"
– notrachelmar
"To that I like to say, 'people have it so much better than you so don't be happy!'"
– ___jupiter____
Your Life Path
"Almost anything relating to what age you must be in order to buy a house, have children, marry, have a profession, or do anything else. Seriously, everyone's life is different from everyone else's. Make your life the way you want it to be. If you so desire. Up to you."
– Frn071
On The Contrary
“Cheaters never prosper”
"Yes, they f'king do."
– waqasnaseem07
People can get out of any situation they find displeasing.
But others feel people should just "stick it out."
Ignoring Bullies
"Just ignore bullys or get someone else to handle it for you. I have never seen this work, only makes it worse. The only effective way I've seen to deal with them is by not making yourself an easy target and make them scared to f'k with you again. If going psycho on their a** is the only thing they'll respond to that's their fault. Also want to add in schools they will punish you for self defense but that punishment is only sitting around a few hours in detention or sitting around at home with a suspension. The punishment is temporary boredom, it's absolutely nothing compared to being bullied and when it's over the important message will still stand that you will not tolerate being a victim."
– User Delted
Remain to be Miserable
"Stick it out"
"Whether that's sh**ty jobs, shi**y relationships, shi**y living situations..."
"By all means don't just give up on things when you face challenges, but if something feels wrong or is wrecking your peace then take some control and change it if you can!"
– petitezoey
"Easy for you to say," might be an auto-response to these suggestions for many people.
Invitation For Recklesslessness
"Live like everyday was your last"
Yall know what people do when they learn they have a single day left to live?"
– LimeGrass619
A Possible Consequence
"I did that as a teenager and ended up homeless and addicted to heroin. Didn’t pan out for me too well."
"19 years sober though today."
– Open-Section-7263
A Practical Approach
"If I knew with certainty that I had one day left, I'd double-check all my financials, my will, and my insurance policies, make sure my wife had all of my passwords and knew where all the money was, spend the rest of the day with her and the kids, then call the medical examiner and ask to lie down on the gurney so that when I die they won't strain their back moving my remains out of my house."
– Asteriad
Nose Stuck In A Book
"Work while they sleep. Study while they party"
"That's not a recipe for success, that's a recipe for a lot of white hairs, burnout syndrome and a stroke before your 40s..."
– Khomuna
Doesn't Apply To Everyone
"Do what you love and money will follow"
"I love walking my dogs and grilling food for my friends but That sh*t doesn't pay the bills as well as my engineering degree!"
– Elons_android
While people's intentions are good, they're better off keeping their two cents in their own pockets.
Not everyone likes to hear platitudes.
Sometimes, people just want to know they're not alone with their problems over listening to unlikely solutions that are nothing more than superficial pick-me-ups.
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