Working in someone's home must feel like your walking on eggshells, but instead of organic, free-range eggs its the Fabergé kind. You're in someone else's personal space, their sanctum, where a litany of secrets and revelations could be revealed to you if you open the wrong cabinet or peak under their bed by accident.
You never know what's going to happen when you open their door, and that's what these people found out one day.
Reddit user, ConAir161057, wanted a look into stranger's homes when they asked:
"People whose jobs require them to enter someone else's house, what was the weirdest thing you've seen at a customer's house?"
Everyone has hobbies, and sometimes those hobbies involve collecting things. While you might imagine glass cases filled with small, porcelain baby angels or a wall of comic book art, some people choose to collect "different" things.
When Plants Are Your Children
"Customers built an additional room for their plant, Frank. It was a +30yo schefflera. It had the best sun and a huge pot and automatic watering."
"Def my kind of weird."- x4ty2
Everyone Collects Something
"Taxidermy chickens dressed in raincoats"- TheCookMan1
Leaving Behind What You Don't Want To Use
"I've done foreclosure clean outs. I'm amazed at how many people own sex machines, and how often they are left behind."- turningfoodintopoop
We Just Want Our Guests To Be Comfortable
"One Easter week, I tuned a piano in the home of a girl who was my music student."
"Her mother greeted me at the door in a Playboy Bunny suit and kept offering "refreshments" as I tuned her piano."- Back2Bach
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What people do in their own bedroom with their partners in whatever consensual manner they deem acceptable is up to them.
It's when those choices leave the bedroom and start to impact other people that we have to raise our collective eyebrows.
That's One Way To Discipline...
"I babysat for this family that had a live in maid."
"A little weird but whatever."
"She was nice."
"Dressed in a strange outfit but whatever."
"Parents get back and ask me how the children were."
"Told them I changed a few diapers nothing big."
"Then they asked how the maid was."
"I told them she was fine."
"Woke up the kids once while she was cleaning."
"Mom gets this look on her face and disappears."
"Dad pays me and tips me well!"
"Asks me to check on the kids one last time."
"I do."
"As I’m leaving I go to say goodbye to the Mother."
"She has the maid over her knee, and is just spanking her."
"Obviously I’m horrified."
"They explain their live in maid is actually a live in sex partner."
"So the strangest thing I’ve seen is a live in sex maid while babysitting."- cleaning-meaning
Classiness, Amid The Chaos
"Very large vanity style nudes of the lady, probably from a decade prior."
"Some were normal frames, one was like an old style velvet painting."
"The apartment was in squalor."
"Bugs everywhere, food just left out."
"Then you had those pictures."
"That was the weirdest."- Muliciber
Homes are supposed to be safe space, areas where we can unwind and be ourselves. Unfortunately, who we are can be a lot sadder than anyone might have ever known.
An Inescapable Odor
"It's not what I saw, it's what I didn't see."
"Old cat piss has the pungent aroma of ammonia."
"In this house it hit me like a truck."
"I saw no cats. I saw no dogs. Only humans."- Rhomagus
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Wrong Definition Of A Skylight
"Home healthcare worker."
"Met with a patient who refused to let me enter his house."
"Our first visits were conducted on the street, between his car and mine."
"As he grew to trust me, we graduated to sitting on his front porch."
"The outside of his house had seen better days, and could use some fixing up, but it really wasn't all that bad."
"It was the inside."
"At some point the roof had progressed from 'needs work' to 'caved in' and he essentially had no roof, as it was all hanging down in his living room."
"He didn't have the money to fix it, or a good tarp."
"But he did have the money for a tent."
"And so he lived in a tent inside his house."
"He still had electricity, and a partial roof over the kitchen."- floridianreader
A Testament To What's Lost
"Not really weird but sad."
"An 80-year-old woman who lived alone had a Christian type of 'shrine' dedicated to her daughter in her living room."
"That's pretty normal I guess, she said she had lost her 40 years ago and kept her pictures and small items in it."
"But the thing is, it turned out that her whole house was filled with similar items."
"She had written things that she wanted to say to her daughter on small pieces of paper and taped them all over the walls and the cabinet doors."
"It was everywhere, and it was clear from what she'd written that she had been on her mind 24/7 for the past 40 years."
"My job was to do household chores and basically keep her company while I did it."
"One day she asked me to look for some items that her daughter had made."
"She had misplaced them and was worried that someone had thrown them away by accident."
"I couldn't find them at first, but she looked so defeated that I went to look for them again and actually found them in the back of her storage room."
"She was so happy."
"She said that I reminded her of her daughter because I searched so adamantly and didn't give up."
"She couldn't move very well and had chronic pain and would often talk about wanting to be with her daughter already."
"She was a super nice person, one of the nicest I've worked for."
"She was just in so much pain that I almost hope that she got her wish."- humanoid1013
A most bizarre display
"I’m a forensic entomologist."
" I’ve observed every grotesque remnant of human decomposition and its concomitant evidence of heinous crimes but the most perplexing was a victim’s extensive taxidermy collection congregating like a macabre audience in her living room where she was decomposing."
"They were frozen perpetually in scenes of frenetic gaiety with miniature champagne glasses and a chess table with a vulgar mouse in a tu-tu salaciously positioned upon it for a line serenading rats."
"Debauched rodents were ubiquitous in her living room on every surface."
"I’m certain the white powdered snouts were simulated drug consumption!"
"These creatures solemnized her undignified demise with their impeccable suits reminiscent of debonair aristocrats and one anachronistic ferret petrified in a Liverpool united knitted jumper."
"Taxidermist rodent pornographer was her sobriquet, designated by my flippant colleague, and she became notorious in our lab and the story evokes raucous laughter every time someone remembers."- VelvetDreamers
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Barely acceptable for a pig!
"Babysitter here!"
"I’m not really one to judge people’s houses, but if conditions are bad, then I’m judging."
"When I say 'bad', I mean as in they COULD do something about it, they just didn’t."
"One time, I was babysitting a little boy."
"He was a cute little fellow, very friendly."
"His house was disgusting."
"The parents left for some sort of work dinner, I wasn’t really paying attention."
"Their house was incredibly outdated."
"Then, they give me a small tour of their house."
"It helps me get to know the area and make plans to keep the kid occupied."
"So I get brought up to this kid’s room."
"Unlike the rest of the house, it’s pretty clean."
"It’s your average 6 year old kids room, he seemed pretty proud of it."
"He opened the doors of other rooms, just to show me what’s inside."
"All of the rooms were just plain messy."
"Lots of stains, towels on the ground, SO MANY chips in the walls, the house looked so beat up."
"When we got to the parents room, the kids opened the door and I was horrified."
"The parents room was relatively clean, but it was full of animal pelts and rifles."
"I’m vegetarian."
"I felt like throwing up."
"I think that hunting like this even upsets many meat-eaters."
"These weren’t faux pelts or anything, no, they had been skinned directly by the hunter."
"Of course, I couldn’t tell the child my opinion."
"The best way to preserve the kid’s innocence was to just ignore the current situation."
"So I did."
"We spent a majority of the night playing games in his bedroom, he was a very nice and polite kid."
"I eventually put him to sleep and decided I didn’t want to sit down anywhere, the place was filthy, so I just saw paced around downstairs and scrolled through my phone."
"Parents got home, and the usual stuff a babysitter does happens."
"I get paid and I leave."
"I’m never accepting gigs from those people again."- BananaFatFace
Aracnaphobia!
"One home owner had 50+ pet tarantulas!"- Thief025
The perfect pet
"Not me, but recently had a window salesman out at my house."
"Asked him about the weirdest thing he had ever seen at a customer's house."
"His face lights up and he tells me this story about a trailer where the owners were letting a 500 lbs pot belly big free roam the house."
"Thought he might have been bullsh*tting until he pulled out his phone and actually showed me photos."- PsychedelicGoat42
First impressions can be misleading
"Found a couple who travelled a lot for over night dog sitting since dogs got separation anxiety and also had chickens who needed to be tended to."
"As we go out to this creepy looking storage shed to show me where the chicken feed was, it was floor to ceiling with mannequins all covered in gore, masks, chains, etc."
"Like a double car garage sized filled to the brim with limbs, torso's, heads, etc."
"I kind of froze and was shocked, there was probably like 75-100 of mangled gory a** mannequins in there."
"Wife could see I was like wtf and she laughed and said that they are huge Halloween buffs and every October they have a huge Halloween party for the whole block."
"They asked me to help them hang them a few months later and it was a lot of fun! "
"They had about 2 acre back yard with a trail, and they did hay rides through 'the haunted forest'."
"Even had a little cemetery with a bunch of spooky stuff! "
"Party kicked a**, and I ended up dog sitting/house sitting and other projects for them for about 6-7 years before I moved."- Woah_man34
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Multi-purpose room
"86 yr old man’s house, a giant train set in a room full of tape cassette porno movies."- Jeebzus2014
Who knows what dangers lurk below...
"My husband is a chimney sweep in the North Shore of Massachusetts."
"He was working in a home that had an unused in-law basement apartment."
"While on the way to inspect the boiler room, he was greeted by a life size Crypt Keeper doll wearing a reflective vest sitting in a wheel chair in the kitchen."- SuperClassyKind
Be kind. You never know what someone might be going through.
When we're intoxicated, or even the slightest bit tipsy from having a little too much to drink, our immediate perspective on things is hazy.
But there's nothing like a bit of alarming news or a jarring incident to snap us out of the fog and focus on the moment.
Sometimes alcohol isn't always to blame for our impairment.
It can be a state of mind, like a perpetual numbness from being complacent in life, and all it takes is one shocking moment to rattle us back to our senses.
Curious to hear from strangers online about this type of scenario, Redditor Known_Challenge_7150 asked:
"What’s one thing that sobered you up real quick?"
These individuals were witness to shocking events that sobered them up right quick.
Bleeding Out
"Got out of a taxi and found a naked man profusely bleeding from his head crawling up the driveway in my condo. Called him an ambulance completely forgot I was absolutely wasted until 45 minutes later when I'd helped him translate and in to an amublance and stepped in my front door."
"Later a few days later learned he'd slipped in the tub and literally crawled out for help. Poor dude. He was fine but I genuinely thought he was going to die there."
– DongLaiCha
Tragic News
"At a bachelor party and we got a phone call that the groom’s father had suddenly passed."
– accountnameredacted
Bottom Of The Barrel
"I went to visit my parents back in July. I was homeless and deep into fentanyl addiction so I lost a lot of weight. My folks could see it. They knew something was up. Anyway, I spent the night and I was getting ready to leave in the morning and I looked at myself in the mirror for a good long time. I finally had enough and told them everything. They took me to detox, from there I went to rehab. Graduated in August and been living with them ever since then. I have 160 days clean and sober."
– Crotch-Monster
A reality check can be enough for some people to snap out of it.
Like Father, Like Son
"Was driving a drunk friend home, he had been on a bender again and was smart enough to call me for a lift rather than try and drive. As I helped in to his house his mother came down the stairs and said 'your as drunk as your father' and went back upstairs. I haven't seen him drunk since then, he still drinks but the thought of turning into his dad scared him out of hard drinking."
– psycospaz
Busted
"Flashing blue lights."
– FiddleOfGold
"This sobered me up just thinking about it."
– redmaple_syrup
Losing Sight
"Woke up to no sight in one eye. I had cataract surgery so just thought one of the lenses had slipped and it was an easy fix. Eye doc says nope, you had a stroke. I loved soy sauce, teriyaki sauce and salty food, which caused high blood pressure, which caused retina damage. Over six months was able to get most of my eyesight back with medication, and all back within a year. Trying to navigate life with one eye was very sobering. Started taking HBP much more seriously."
– MissHibernia
Quitting The Bottle
"Looked up someone I went to highschool with who was an awesome guy. Found out he had been dead for 3 years from alcoholism, at age 33. I made an overnight change. I hadn't started drinking that night yet, 10 months ago. Haven't touched it again since."
– omgtater
These disturbing moments were enough for Redditors to immediately come to their senses.
Unplanned House Guests
"Me and a buddy Woke up in someone’s living room, realized neither one of us knew the people, they were just nice and let 2 drunk guys sleep on their living room floor. We didn’t even say goodbye."
– Oneinsevenbillion75
Serious Health Warning
"Elevated liver enzymes."
"And the knowledge that this sh** was gonna kill me and I just couldn't orphan my family over it."
"So I opted for recovery, instead."
"Clean and sober since June 5, 2009."
– Far_Meal8674
The Joyride
"Grew up in a rural area. The little town hosted dances at the hockey arena, everyone (adults and kids) went and they overserved everyone, regardless of age. I was maybe 16 or 17 and was absolutely sh*tfaced, and jumped in the back of someone's truck with about 8 other people to go back to someone's cottage for after dance drinking. The driver (still don't know who it was) started racing one of his buddies and we whipped around small dirt roads, flying around blind corners on the wrong side of the road, going god knows how fast. It was basically a disaster waiting to happen. It was crazy scary and I was sober and thankful to be alive when we finally arrived."
– foxfood9116
The human psyche is a fascinating thing, isn't it?
How we can automatically focus on something urgent at a crucial time, even after getting buzzed from drinking too much alcohol.
But as we're in the thick of the holidays, it's a good reminder to drink responsibly and stay off the roads if you drive to your celebratory destination.
Cheers. Stay safe. And happy holidays.
We've all complained or vented about something in our lives which, in the grand scheme of things, wasn't exactly a problem, or is very easily solved.
Then there are those who complain about things that others almost hope will happen to them at some point in their lives.
These are known as "first world problems", as they are problems that pretty much only the world's one percent faces.
From having to fly business class instead of first class, or being served Roederer instead of Dom Pérignon, these complaints are often met with amusement, bewilderment, or even anger.
Redditor jennimackenzie was curious to hear the most absurd "first world problems" anyone ever complained about, leading them to ask:
"What’s the most ridiculous 'first world problem' you’ve seen people get worked up over?"
"Tale As Old As Time..."
"I once knew a mom who was legitimately devastated, to the point of tears/grief, because a doctor predicted her 8 year old daughter's final height to be around 5'2","
"Which wasn't tall enough to get cast as Belle at Disney World."
"That was the child's (and her mother's) only dream in life, apparently."
"Didn't appreciate my suggestion that she could be Minnie or Mickey."
"Lol!"
"Only a face character would do!"- TravelLovingMom
"Must Be Funny, In A Rich Man's World..."
"My boss from about a decade ago was this insanely rich dude who always went to the bank to get fresh and crisp currency."
"He'd call the bank in advance to make sure they had some on hand."
"I think he was a germaphobe."
"He had a trash can that he'd throw $1 and $5 bills in that he thought was 'dirty' and regularly just donated it vs spending it."
"I asked him why he did this and he said it was too much trouble and asked if I wanted it."
"I said f*ck yeah dumped it into my bag and when I got home it was close to $400 in singles and fives.
"Another time, he wanted to upgrade all the computers in his studio, so we went to a store and bought 10 PCs."
"They all had $150 mail in rebates and he wasn't bothered to go through the trouble of mailing them in."
"3 weeks later I received $1500 after spending a whole afternoon filling out all those goddamn forms."- azninvasion2000
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Who Wore It Better?
"When I was about 19 years old, I was at my boyfriends family BBQ."
"I was wearing this pretty floral sundress."
"His cousins girlfriend showed up in the same dress and she was SO mad that she went and changed."
"I will never understand being upset when someone is wearing the same thing as you.'
"Did you really think that your shirt you bought off the rack is going to be unique to you?"
"No."- mertsey627
Seeing Red! Or Blue In This Case...
"The blue of the balloons wasn't quite the same as the bridesmaid's sashes."
"Years ago my wife and I attended a wedding."
"It was very low key."
"The dinner was in the dining hall at the university where the couple met, cinder block walls and all."
"It was a Baptist wedding - no booze and very serious."
"The dark blue balloons attempting to liven up the hall were a slightly darker shade of blue than the sashes on the bridesmaid's dresses."
"The bride lost here sh*t and absolutely raved for nearly an hour."
"I can't remember how they finally managed to talk her down."- mechant_papa
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See You In Court!
"Rich neighbors who end up in expensive court battles because they disagree about where a tree can be planted or whether the color of a fence fits in with the street’s 'amenity'."
'These disputes get really heated and rack up huge lawyers’ bills."
"The most pathetic part is after the judgement when they are arguing about who should pay the other party’s costs."
"Lots of affidavits filed citing the 'emotional distress' they had to endure, or painting themselves as brave warriors who were forced to take a stand to fight for 'justice'."
"Also lots of pompous litigants insisting that the judge refer to them by their 'Dr' title."
"An absolutely insane dumpster fire of entitled rich people problems."- ElectrocRaisin
It's Always People With Money Who Don't Want To Pay!
"I work in a public library."
"People will get so so mad if they have to be put on a wait list for a book."
"A popular book that just came out."
"Ok our services are not only free but so are the books."
"You’re welcome, a**holes."- Switchbladekitten
A Warm Butt Is A Happy Butt!
"My own."
"We have a bidet toilet seat (Fabulous! Everyone should have one!) and not only does it wash your bum and blow dry it, but the seat's heated!"
"It's shocking how much a heated toilet seat makes the whole process more agreeable."
"Except: We had a power outage and I went to use the toilet and the seat was cold!"
"Unacceptable!"
"This shall not stand!"
"I was really upset because it didn't feel good."
"Then I stopped and thought: This is the most first-world problem anyone's ever had."
"I was really pissed because my heiny was tepid."
"I got over it."- DeathGrover
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Holy Matrimony!
"Weddings are a gold mine for this question."
"People get so hyped up over their 'most important day of their life'."
"They'll destroy friendships, go into debt, and have crazy expectations."
"It's not always the couple who go crazy, either."
"Sometimes, it's the parents or another family member who feels entitled to control the wedding."
"It's just a party."
"Be considerate of guests, have plenty of food and drinks, and enjoy it."- magicrowantree
When Fast Food Isn't Fast Enough...
"Having to pull off to the side to wait for a drive-thru order to be brought out to you because your food isn't ready and there's a line building up behind you."- demanbmore
In Case You Don't Think Customer Service Employees Are Undervalued...
"I was working the return desk at a Target next to a military base so I have so many stories."
"One of my favorites was a lady who had her baby shower before revealing the gender and was livid that she had received floral newborn diapers when she’s having a boy."
"It was a huge box of super expensive, all organic diapers, that we didn’t carry and therefore could not return."
"I cannot accurately express her fury and disgust."
"How dare either suggest her boy could wear feminine diapers."
"I suggested she donate them if she didn’t want to use them and she instead threw away the entire box."
"When she left we pulled it out and threw it in our donate bin."
"There have also been multiple times where mom’s order massive toys and when we bring them out to the car they get furious that they aren’t wrapped."
"We don’t offer wrapping services."
"Here’s the thing, if you don’t want your kids to see the toys you got them for Christmas or their bit to day DON'T BRING THE CHILD WHEN YOU PICK IT UP."
'I’ve had multiple women scream and curse me out that I had ruined their kids Christmas by bringing the toys they ordered out to the car like they requested."- clever-mermaid-mae
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Happiest Place On Earth!
"I used to work for Disney."
"That in itself should tell you everything."
"However for fun I'll give you two specific stories one form our tech department and one from my wife who worked bookings."
"I specifically worked for their call center to help with technical issues with magic band and the website."
"Suddenly got worse huh?"
"A right of passage call everyone has at least one story of is the 'Dome call'."
"Basically there is a subset of Disney Guest (TM) that believes if it rains at Walt Disney world there is someone that will push a button to encapsulate the whole of Disney property in a dome to keep out the rain."
"I'm not kidding."
"If this button is not pushed they call our tech department to angrily ask why."
"My wife worked booking."
"Pretty much everything including Bibbidi Bobbidi boutique and Pirate's league."
"These two things did roughly the same thing difference being price and theme."
"BBB was expensive did more and was focused on princesses, pirates league did a bit less and focused on mermaids and pirates."
"Lady called up my wife, and got pissed about BBB being booked up (It goes FAAAAST)."
"Karen: 'Im going to give the phone to my daughter and I want you to tell her how you are ruining her vacation by not letting her do BBB'."
"Wife proceeds to explain how pirate's league is so much cooler and how she can be a mermaid or pirate and basically gets the kid to start demanding to their parents about how they want to be a mermaid instead of a princess."- trollsong
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The horror!
Being booked into a junior suite at Disney World instead of an executive suite!
It's almost as bad as having no money for groceries, or no food to feed you children...
Said absolutely no one.
For many childhood memories are overrun by living nightmares.
Yes, children are resilient, but that doesn't mean that the things we see as babes don't follow us forever.
The horrors of the world are no stranger to the young.
Redditor -2sweetcaramel- wanted to see who was willing to share about the worst things we've seen as kids, so they asked:
"What’s the creepiest thing you saw as a kid?"
Serious Danger
"Me and my best friend would explore the drainage tunnels under the Vegas area where we grew up. These were miles long and it was always really cool down there so it was a good way to escape the heat of our scorching hot summers. We went into this one that goes under the Fiesta casino and found a camp with a bunch of homeless people."
"Mind you we are like 11 years old lol. And we just kept going like it was nothing. It wasn’t scary then but when I look back at it we could have been in some serious danger. Our parents had no idea we did this or where we were and we had no cellphones. We could have been kidnapped and never have been found."
oofboof2020
Waiting for Food
"I was at a portillos once when I was 12 and I was waiting with my little brother at a booth while my parents got our food. This guy was standing with his tray kind of watching me then after a couple of minutes he started to walk over really fast not breaking eye contact with me."
"He was 2 feet from the table and my dad came out of nowhere and scared the s**t out of him. He looked so surprised and just said he wanted to see if I’d get scared or not. He left his tray full of food near the door and left. My folks reported him but we never went to that location again since we found a better one closer to home."
nowhereboy1964
Captain Hobo to the Rescue
"When I was a pretty young teen, my friends and I were horsing around in San Francisco and started hanging out to smoke with some homeless guys. Another homeless dude came up and began aggressively trying to shake us down for anything (money, smokes, a ride, drugs- all of it) and wouldn’t take no for an answer."
"We got in over our heads and could tell this guy was now riling the other 2 guys up and they were acting like they wanted to jump us. Some grandfather-looking old homeless man appeared out of nowhere and yelled at us to get the f**k out of here- nice kids like us don’t belong down here at this hour!!"
"Captain Hobo saved our lives that night. My parents sincerely thought we were at a mall all day lol."
FartAttack911
Survival
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"I was 7 and survived the 2004 tsunami in Thailand. Witnessed the wave rise way above the already massive palm trees (approx. 40ft?) and my family and I watched/heard the wave crash into the ground from a rooftop."
faithfulpoo
These Tsunami stories are just tragic.
On the Sand
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"We were a group of kids who went to swim in a local lake. And there was a dead body on the beach with their hands raised and their legs bent unnaturally that local police just took out of the same lake. I've never put my foot in these waters again."
oyloff
Be Clever
"I was walking to school and I was about 5 or 6 years old and some guy pulled up beside me in his car and asked if I would get in. He also offered me sweets to do so. I said no. The creepy bit was when he calmly said ‘clever boy’ to me, then drove off. I’ve never even told my parents or anyone else about this as it would most likely freak them out."
OstneyPiz
Bad Jokes
"Dad's side of the family pranked me by burying a fake body on our back property and had me dig it up to find valuables. Was only allowed to use a lantern for light. They stuffed old clothes with chicken bones. Sheetrock mud where the head was... Random fake jewelry as the treasures... I was like maybe 10 or 11.. I remember digging up the boot first and started gagging because it became real at that point."
Alegan239
YOU
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"Woke up to find my little brother staring at me in the dark, asking, Are you really you?"
PrettyLola2004
Siblings can really be a bunch of creepers.
No one should talk to others in the dark though.