Author: Eric Spring

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Waiters Share The Worst Valentine’s Day Disasters They’ve Ever Seen

Though many justifiably call Valentine’s Day nothing more than a holiday called into existence by jewelry and greeting card companies, chocolate and flower vendors and the service industry, most couples can’t help but celebrate it anyway.

And there’s no shame in that.

Why not spend a night with complete focus on a partner and all things love and romance?

But for a variety of reasons, the holiday can still end in pure chaos.

Redditor Hamsternoir banked on that unfortunate reality when they asked:

“Waiters what Valentine day disasters have you witnessed?”

Of course, marriage proposals are frequently a piece of these stories.

“I was eating in a fine dining establishment (Chili’s) several years ago. In the next booth was a really young guy who had a big bunch of roses on the seat next to him.”

“He kept looking at his watch, looking at the roses, and popping open a ring box for a peek at the ring.”

“He did this for a half hour or so, then began calling and texting someone (presumably his girlfriend) over and over.”

“As we were waiting for our check, he hands my wife the roses, mumbled something, and walked out.”

“Poor guy.” — AZScienceTeacher

It’s even worse when there’s a secret audience. 

“Not a waiter but I was a pastry chef at this big resort in cape cod. We got a special order from this guy who was coming in for his anniversary ( Valentine’s day). He wanted his desert to have ‘Will you marry me?’ written on it so he could pop the question when it came out.”

“He called ahead to the front and back kitchen, even came in himself that morning to make sure it was good to go. The whole crew was behind him. We had cooks all night coming in the ask if it had happened yet.”

“I wrote the inscription on the plate and dressed it to the nines with gold leaf and expensive chocolate. I’m taking a picture of the plate just before it’s set to go out and notice our head waiter come in with a weird look on his face.”

“He says plainly ‘They don’t need it’ “

“She broke up with him before the entrees hit the table.” — jeanlukepikard

In one case, the waitstaff became directly involved.

“There was a note in our reservations that it was an engagement, they wanted champagne, a specific seat, bunch of other stuff. The server comes up to the table with something like ‘so I read we’re celebrating an engagement, congratulations.’ ”

“Confusion from the woman; glaring from the guy. He hadn’t proposed yet. She ruined it.” — ChefHannibal

For one Redditor, the proposal remains a mystery. 

“Old man proposed to old woman. He tried to get off the chair to kneel, tripped and fell and I assume broke something since he couldnt get back up and we had to call an ambulance.”

“My manager had to drive her teeth to the hospital separately because she had taken them out to eat her soup (lord knows why) and left them on the table in the confusion.” — rancid_cu**_bucket

There are, however, other versions of love lost.

“They came in at lunch the day after, so it was pretty empty but it was still for a Valentine’s Day date. They were both pretty nice at the beginning, the guy asked for a picture and whatnot.”

“As the meal went on, the dude got progressively drunker and by the time I brought the check out, the woman was gone.”

“When the dude gave me his card, he said ‘I’ll give you a bit of advice. If you’re taking a girl out to break up with her, do it at a McDonald’s and not an expensive restaurant’.” — _StanleyYelnats

Breakups aren’t always such a spectacle, though.

“These two were on a date and the guy went to go use the bathroom, The girl just up and leaves after he went to the restroom. When the guy came back he sat around for awhile until asking his waitress where she went.”

“She replied with saying that she left. The guy then asked the waitress if she would go on a date with him. The waitress said no.” — OffensiveGender

For this waiter, the relationship in question was hers.

“I was working as a waitress in a Sushi restaurant and Valentine’s Day was an all-hands-on-deck shift.”

“This guy I had just started seeing wanted to go out, but I told him that working in food service, you never get Valentine’s Day off and we’d just have to celebrate the day after or the weekend after.”

“Nope. He got so upset that he went and asked a different girl out, came to the restaurant I worked at on V-Day and sat in MY SECTION.”

“He then proceeded to spend the entire evening making a fool out of himself and making his date uncomfortable as he tried to make me jealous.”

“Needless to say we didn’t go out again. Ever.” — venustas

And there were those juicy stories of infidelity.

“In college I waited tables and Valentine’s Day was always a good one in terms of tips.”

“I once saw a couple come in to eat, halfway through the dinner the mans wife shows up to surprise the couple. The wife took the wine bottle and poured the remnants on the husbands head, took off her ring and told the girlfriend she could have him.”

“He tipped me a $100” — kobra_kyle

This one doesn’t involve a waiter, but it’s just too wild to leave out.

“I was a delivery driver for a fruit bouquet company and I had two arrangements from the same guy.”

“Routes were made for me and the truck was loaded so there was no way I could mess this up. Delivered both arrangements to the appropriate address.”

“I headed back to the store to find the store owner and the guy who sent these in an argument. This idiot put the wrong name to the houses. And it was on the card with the arrangement. Along with the phone numbers.”

“So both women called each other and then called the guy. He tried to say it was my fault. Then the person who took the order. He ordered it ONLINE. All we did was import the order.”

“I hate valentine’s day because of that place but man was that great.” — misfits90

And finally, one waiter saw them all. 

“I had a section one V-day that had a marriage proposal, a 40th anniversary, and a break up all at the same time.”

“The break up was the worst. The guy brought his high class date a gift; a mini ceramic bear holding balloons. He presented it when I was at the table and she looked at it like it was a hot turd.”

“I just knew this was not going to end well. She left at the end of the meal and must have said something because he stayed at the table for another 40 minutes, head down and crying. I felt bad, he saw the celebrations going on at the other tables.” — Odd-Examination

So for those of you celebrating V-Day this year, consider a few lessons: propose in private, don’t use the day to save a relationship, and if you’re cheating, beware!

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People Break Down What They Would Search If Their Phone Could Look 5 Years In The Future

They say if you had tomorrow’s newspaper, you’d be a rich man.

But what about a newspaper from a time far beyond tomorrow? Nothing crazy like the year 2080 or some science fiction-style scenario, but just a few years.

Perhaps you’d make some bets, plan for disaster, or even alter your value system.

Redditor beentothefuture recently prompted folks with a poll on the topic.

They asked:

“You can’t time travel, but your phone has the internet from 5 years in the future. What do you search for first?”

One person had three key concerns. 

“Lottery numbers -> stock prices -> my name.”

“You may ask why my name but it’s very simple as I then can learn if I died until then or got caught for some sh** and are still in prison.” — [deleted]

This Redditor went a bit deeper with their scheme.

“I would start a blog on my pc and then switch to my phone to check if it now has updates from the future. If so, my future self could talk to my present self.”

“I could read about my mistakes and try to avoid them. If a post disappears, that would mean that I did it right.” — thezubek

And this Redditor went even deeper than that.

“I would check my mails and message Apps to find out how I’m doing in the future.”

“If the phone continuously updates, so that it always show the internet of in five years. Then I would probably look for scientific breakthroughs like fusion and also for catastrophes. Then I would start writing messages to myself like a diary so I can see them in the present.”

“And also in 2025 I would start copying the messages from then in 5 years and send them to myself so I can see the messages of the next ~100 years assuming I live that long.” — Barti666

And here’s someone who just wants to twist the knife. 

“Nintendo Directs. Then I’ll make ‘predictions’ for a lot of things Nintendo will do, but I’ll phrase it in an increasingly implausible way. After a few Directs, people will hopefully catch on and start believing everything I say.”

“After five years (assuming I can’t look into the future again) I’ll start making random shit up and watch the internet argue about my predictions. Surely this can’t be real… but his track record is impeccable!” — TomAVulpis

This response harkened back to times this sort of thing was already considered. 

“I’d try to be like Bill Murrays character by the end of Ground Hog day. Find out if there’s any needless deaths from preventable accidents that I may be able to change.”

“Obviously I’d have won the lotto too, this would give me plenty of resources and free time to become a local superhero” — Meglamore

This person had one very specific thing on the mind.

“Besides the obvious (lottery, election, myself, etc) I would want to see if opera made a comeback after the pandemic or if the virus was the final nail in the coffin of this art form, which has been slowly headed towards its demise for decades now.” — IoSonCalaf

Another Redditor had a list. 

“queen elizabeth (if there were more searches available)”

“then probably see which countries still exist as they are now,”

“see how covid-19 played out”

“memes so I can make an accurate “this is a meme from the future”

“then see what are the biggest breakthroughs of science in the last 5 years, probably at least medicine and energy”

“also obviously lottery numbers or something” — uhrilahja

One person went full anthropologist.

“If I had unlimited searches I’d probably look up the Reddit frontpage first.”

“There’s a lot of information in there that would give a good general explanation about that timeperiod. And from there on I could search up anything that seems interesting while already having some context.” — juniperzz

Here we have a more personal outlook.

“Win the lotto but not enough to be super rich but enough to settle debts and get started. Also see if there are any major disasters I need to prepare for.”

“And check the obituaries to see if there are any family members I need to see more often/forgive” — neverstayhappy101

This Redditor took a more nuanced approach to “betting.”

“How long does it work for? If it is permanent, lottery numbers once or twice anymore and you would draw attention.then best tech developments and start ups to invest in.”

“Locate the brightest and smartest graduates to come and work for you and enough dirt on politicians to let you get away with what your planning.” — koorcevets

One person had entertainment on the brain. 

“Outcome of sporting events so I can place some bets.”

“Also, I’d look up if my favorite music artists were still alive so if they were to die I could warn them. Wish I could have done this with Adam ‘MCA’ Yauch of the Beastie Boys” — TheA**OfSpock

Here we have an enterprising approach.

“The newest sience break throughs. So i can instead blow everyones minds with my genius” — aeris17471

This contribution was just bleak through and through. 

“End of the Covid pandemic…only to find news articles on the 76th lockdown in 2025, and people still going on about not wearing masks… Q_Q” — Protohype93

One Redditor was tired of broken promises. 

“Cure for type 1 diabetes. Doctors have been saying its five years away for awhile now.” — Surferbro

And plenty of people decided to have some fun with the prompt itself. 

“The internet still exists in five years, so that’s my first worry assuaged…” — welshualegon

“when a youtuber posts so i can truly be first” — Ap_Legendary11

“How many more John Wick films have been made.” — IAmJohnny5ive

“Well, I went to Reddit and found this post. Hello from 2015!” — Refloni

“I’d create a reddit thread asking what people would search for if they had access to internet 5 years ahead of time. Mind blown …” — BradSainty

So in case you thought the lottery idea is where this conversation begins and ends, think again.

People apparently have all sorts of things they can’t help but wonder about.

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People Divulge Which High School Rumor Turned Out To Be True

The high school rumor mill always seemed to be in full swing.

A few hundred teenagers crammed into one or two buildings was apparently ideal conditions for all sorts of steamy stories and imagined thrills to surface every week or so.

By and large, these stories were false. Or at the very least, wildly embellished.

But every once in awhile, one of them turned out to be true. And that was enough to make us believe all the other tales that flew around the hallways.

Redditor Le_Bayou_Cochon apparently wanted to separate fact from fiction.

He asked:

“What high school conspiracy turned out to be true at your school?”

Of course, sexual rumors were a common go-to. 

“There were rumors about a music teacher and a student, but they were both pretty dramatic people and did very little to dismiss the talk. So half the school wanted to believe it for the salacious thrill and half just waved it off as attention seeking and sh**-talking.”

“Teacher got canned without explanation. Most of us just figured it was budget-related. A math teacher filled in on his music/theater roles.”

“Years later I randomly caught up with the student and she said the rumors were true, she freaked out and tried to end things to shake off the reputation, and eventually the teacher showed up trashed and naked on her family’s front lawn, in the rain, yelling out for her.”

“Like a really fu**ed-up version of John Cusack from Say Anything but with less boombox and more drenched wang.” — Dangercakes13

This rumor spanned more than one school. 

“That our IT teacher slept with his students. He was attractive, young, friendly etc, then suddenly a rumour went around the school that he was sleeping with a 6th former (aged 17/18).”

“He was suspended for a while but then ‘decided to leave’ after he was ‘cleared’ of wrongdoing.”

“He got a new job at my cousins high school across town…he did it again there. Got caught with another 17 year old and was fired shortly after.” — Hot_potatoos

In a couple cases, the ending was rather unexpected. 

“Two of the teachers ‘hooking up’ on a Europe class trip. Gone for a week, came back and the rumours started.”

“Two weeks later a rumour started he got divorced.”

“Last week of school they were spotted at a restaurant together.”

“Looked em up a couple years after graduating. They’re married.” — Gone_cognito

“That one of the cheerleaders was dating one of the teachers (in his 40s). A year after graduation, they got married and had a baby. Still together 11 years later.” — Trailmix

Unfortunately, some other rumors were gruesome. 

“There was a girl freshman year who went missing. She ended up being found dead in the river. There were rumors that she was seen on a bridge with her boyfriend the day she went missing. Nothing was ever found and they assumed it was suicide/ an accident.”

“Fast forward 25 years and the boyfriend murdered his best friend of several decades, set a fire to cover it up, and went on the run. Couple days later he killed a woman at a rest stop in the bathroom to steal her car.”

“They reopened the case about the high school girlfriend. That rumor was correct all along. He will be in prison the rest of his life.” — pomegranatepants99

And some were alarming. 

“Lead in the water.”

“Our high school tap water was dark brown and we weren’t allowed to bring our own waterbottles or get filtered water from the cafeteria without paying $3. We sent hundreds of emails asking the school board to look into it, but they said it was fine.”

“In my senior year, a student did a science fair project on the illegal amount of lead in the tap water, forcing the school to investigate and fix all the taps.” — xJaneyDoe

This example was intriguing—and terrible.

“I attended a newly opened high school that apparently used to be a school for troubled kids. Someone told me there were padded rooms somewhere in the school so I skipped lunch with a friend one day to walk the halls and find them!”

“They did exist, but by next year they were renovated into offices and storage rooms. I thought that was pretty interesting and seriously wondered what went on there before it was turned into a ‘normal’ high school.” — E-macularius

One school was filled with surprises.

Two to be exact.

“That there were tunnels under the school that led to a hidden pool.”

“Confirmed by my father who was a maintenance man for the school district. The tunnels were just utility tunnels, the pool is below the gym floor and was abandoned due to financial reasons.” — pondcypress

In one case, someone tried to hide the past.

“My old math teacher was a WWF wrestler, i recognized him from my childhood days channel surfing and couldn’t find anything about him on google, but i was so sure it was him I just asked.”

“I was right lmao” — TheTastySpoonicorn

This one sounds straight out of a movie.

“My history teacher/tennis coach made moonshine and hosted cock fights in his barn. I ended up becoming friends with his son and it was all true.” — m011yRadar

As does this one. 

“That my high school history teacher was putting whiskey in the 2-liter bottle of Pepsi he carried around everyday.”

“He was caught trying to buy liquor for some senior girls and it resulted in a car chase we all watched. The police had to pull out the spike strips to catch him.” — Tylerurby

And finally, some quick thinking, heroic teachers.

“Due to budget cuts or something all of our metal and woodwork shop machines were to be taken away and replaced with worse versions. The shop teachers and drama teachers that were in the building at the time didn’t like this idea, so they hid all the machines in a false wall somewhere in the building.”

“The people came to pick them up and they told them that people had already come to pick them up and that they were late. They did some looking around and couldn’t find the machines and gave up. A few years and 1 principle later they brought the machines back out from behind the walls.”

“And that’s how the smallest high school of our district with only around 450 students became the best school in the district to learn metal and woodwork.” — imfamuspants

If these are true, there’s no knowing which of the rumors you wrote off in high school may have actually been true too.

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People Explain How Much Damage They’ve Ever Done With A Single Typo

We all know it’s worth the extra few seconds to scan that email draft or go through an essay before submitting it.

And yet, we’re often so excited it’s done we just hit send without a second thought.

Then, in a bizarre example of masochism, we read through the whole thing after it’s too late to change anything.

Of course, it’s during that powerless read-through that we see it—the most embarrassingly timed and placed typo ever.

Redditor DoesntUnderstands was apparently in the mood to have people relive all that cringing.

He asked:

“What is the most damage you’ve ever done with a typo?”

These Redditors made the same mistake.

“g and t are very close on the keyboard and for this reason ‘regards’ is not my favorite email closing.” — AdeptAdaptor

“I mistyped ‘regards’ on an angrily worded email. I was told by my manager that, no matter how annoyed I was, I shouldn’t call people that. It’s hard to explain that it was an accident given the tone of the email.”

“Always take a second and proof read any angry email. And then don’t send it. It isn’t worth it.” — the_hair_of_aenarion

This kind of mistake came up a lot.

“My father in law had just died. I text my other half saying, ‘how’s your dad going?’ Instead of ‘how’s your day going? He was not impressed.” — pooches4life

“Asked a co-worker in a group IM if he’d mind me using his d*ck as mine didn’t seem to be working properly.”

“I meant dock, for my laptop.”

“It wasn’t something I got in trouble for but it’s one of those typo’s that will probably come up in conversation for the next several years.” — phormix

“I used to work for a museum booking group visits and educational programs for tour companies and schools.”

“Was working on a reservation and they had only told me how many students were in the group, but I also needed the number of adults. So, I sent an email to the teacher:

” ‘Hello *teachername*, we’ll also need to know approximately how many sluts will be visiting from your school.’ “

“Luckily, they had a sense of humor:

” ‘Not sure how many of us are sluts, but if you meant “adults” it’s going to be around 8 or 10.’ ” — smokehidesstars

One mistake almost reached a large audience.

“I worked in the architecture industry for many years. One of the aspects of the job, when we were designing a new building in a community, was to present our plans to the public in a place like a community centre or a school gym, and they would be able to voice their concerns.”

“The presentation materials would usually take the form of panels printed on foamcore board and placed around the space; these presentations are called public consultations.”

In one instance, we had printed about 30 boards with the title ‘X Project Public Consultation’ at the top, only the ‘l’ had been forgotten in the word ‘public.’ Hilarity ensued.”

“Luckily the mistake was caught before they placed all the boards, and they were quickly reprinted, which cost a lot of money. If it had been ANY other letter we would have let it slide.” — ToothbrushGames

This one came before they even had the job.

“Submitting forms for a job, got a real awkward call back – ‘Did you mean to check this box saying that yes, you’ve been been involved with illegal distribution of controlled substances? Because you checked no on all the other questions about criminal behavior…’ “

“Nice of the guy to give me a chance to correct it, at least.” — BitterFuture

One Redditor’s screw-up could have been costly, literally. 

“My first finance job had to do with managing corporate cash. I was moving funds from one account to another and accidentally hit an extra zero. I ended up moving $30MM instead of $3MM.”

“Luckily it was between internal accounts, so it was easily reversible, but I didn’t know that at the time. I shat my pants and my boss let me panic for 30 seconds before fixing it.” — Fandorin

Another person was lucky enough to catch people before the holidays. 

” ‘Sorry for the incontinence.’ “

“I meant inconvenience, of course. It went out to a group of managers who reported to my boss.”

“We were going to have really limited office coverage for the holidays, so one of their usual processes was going to be delayed, and I was asked to send the official email about how we were going to do business during the couple of days after Christmas.”

“Fortunately, they were great people and we all laughed.” — liniyedf

This typo had the look of some blunt, harsh truth-telling.

“Typing up minutes to a meeting, ‘(company name) was sh** for 10 days over Christmas period and only responded to emergency jobs.’ “

“Not shut, sh**. To be fair all the folks representing that company agreed that their response times were shit due to the fact that they were shut.” — SparkieMark1977

And there is the old double typo.

“Several years ago, I asked my mom if we could go to ‘butt shows’ that weekend. I meant ‘buy shoes.’ “

“No joke, it changed BOTH words to form the most unfortunate sentence ever. I hate my fat thumbs, lol.” — survivetothrive01

Not all cringey mistakes, though, involve a keyboard.

“I wouldn’t say damage to other people but more my self. Was in a mod interview via text for something and the owner just flat out asked me ‘Will you abuse your powers?’ and I meant to say ‘I absolutely will not.’ But I forgot the ‘Not.’ “

“I cringed at my self so I just backed out of the mod interview. Haha.” — TheThirteenthNeef

For a second, this one was tragic.

“A couple years ago my grandpa had surgery for pancreatic cancer. What my mom MEANT to text me is ‘the surgeons will give an update soon’ which instead somehow came out as ‘the surgeons will give up soon’ ” — Tokidoki99

But as far as “damage” goes, this one might take the cake. 

“Years ago I took down the entire web infrastructure of a large (millions of daily users) company with a single additional . in a line of PHP code.”

“Does that count?” — recaffeinated

It’s a list that ought to convince us all to double check the things we type before we send them.

But let’s face it, we’ll never do that.

And we’ll just keep cringing along.

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People Break Down The Dumbest Traditions They’ve Ever Witnessed

Traditions have a way of connecting us to our past.

We learn them from our parents, our grandparents or even an understanding of our cultural background.

And it can be comforting to carry out many of these traditions. They give us a sense of long-term regularity amidst all the chaos of current events and people coming and going in our lives.

But for all that comfort, there are a whole lot of head-scraching moments.

These are the times we wonder:

“How and why did this get started and why the hell are we still doing it?”

One Redditor asked:

“What is the dumbest tradition?”

Of course wedding traditions came up a lot—these come out of Lebanon.

“So we have this tradition in some parts of Lebanon. Once you have your wedding, the bride’s male relatives are supposed to ‘kidnap’ the groom. The bride should go back to her parent’s for 2 nights a night after the wedding.”

“when the priest/shiek asks the bride.. do you take this man as your husband.. the bride should refuse to answer the question twice .. she should answer yes at the 3rd time. As a sign of showing that she’s not desperate to marry the groom.” — Ghost_Leb

But as we know, Lebanon isn’t the only place with bizarre wedding moments. 

“Garter and Bouquet tosses at Weddings.”

“Hate ‘em, always have. Think they’re outdated and I’m so thrilled most of my clients (I’m in the wedding industry) are steering away from them.”

“Seriously, who wants to have their husband go up their skirt in front of their parents?”

“[to be fair]; a decent amount of my clients are older” — caitycc

Then came talk of the clothes.

“White wedding dresses.White is the most unflattering color,makes you look 50lbs heavier and doesn’t outline your body at all.”

“The ONE day it’s about you and your S.O and ur not even gonna pick ur favorite color dress? LAME I’m wearing a black and peach pink dress to my wedding?” — chocolatecakeslicee

One person was more involved with the lead-up to marriage.

“That the man has to propose.”

“When I want to get married I will ask him.”

“Also to add asking the parents for approval. We are all adults, we don’t need your permission to get married” — MinnesotoanPerson

This comment took aim at the whole universe of wedding traditions.

“I got married a few years back and I can tell you that at least 75% of wedding traditions are stupid and should be abolished.”

“If you’re getting married and there’s something you’re “supposed to do” that you just don’t care about, seriously, skip it. You will still have plenty to do and honestly you’ll barely remember the day once it’s done anyway.”

“It all goes by so fast, it’s insane. Ignore everyone else, skip the things that you think are dumb, and just enjoy your day. Absolutely no one will remember if you did that cringey garter dance or threw your bouquet.”

“Traditions are just peer pressure from dead people.” — KitchenSwillForPigs

And then there are the things people do far after the wedding. 

” ‘Staying together for the kids’ “

“Not 100% sure this counts/is a tradition but it sure feels like one with how often people do it.”

“Like dude, just admit your marriage/relationship is failing, be adults about it, and separate instead of pretending you’re doing it for a good reason. As an adult who’s parents did this, I can PROMISE you you’re only hurting your kids and yourselves by doing this.” — SaphireJames

Moving on from weddings, this person was thinking more about daily life. 

“The false kindness rules. I’m talking about the ones that make you refuse a gift, expecting it to be offered to you once more, and other kinds of such rules.”

“The thing is such rules are usually very local, often limited to a particular village, and conflict with the rules of different areas.”

“Imagine that in your area, being offered a gift means being respected highly, and it is rude to reject a gift. While in some other area, being offered a gift means you are supposed to refuse twice and only accept if the offer is repeated for the third time.”

“The result? You meet someone. She offers you a gift. You don’t really like chocolate, but you accept because you don’t want to sound rude. Then she makes a weird face, as if you stole it from her.”

“And she doesn’t seem to be into you, but keeps offering you coffee and dinner, and pretends that the date was successful, only to block you on tinder afterwards.” — King_Dagda

This commenter was thinking politically.

“The dumbest tradition we (Brits) have is having a monarchy. Giving people who serve no purpose prestige, respect and wealth based solely on their bloodline is ridiculous.”

“It’s a perpetuation of the idea that some genes are superior to others and have more worth.” — Negative-Net-9455

This one is just bizarre. 

“Up until he died (although someone else is probably carrying on the tradition), a Canadian weekly agriculture newspaper used to publish the annual findings of a guy who forecasted the weather by reading the entrails (spleen) of a slaughtered pig.” — tangcameo

As is this one. 

“Tar barrel running in Ottery St Mary, England.”

“Yes you are correct, hot tar coming out of a barrel being ran down a street with spectators watching.”

“Even listed as an attraction! Come down to South Devon and get yourself burnt! Fun times ?” — Baconator08

And this one too. 

“In Russia,there’s a tradition among cosmonauts when they go out to the launch pad. The bus they ride on stops half way so the cosmonauts can get out and piss on the tires.” — TeamNathanFTW

We end with a timely example.

“Said this before, but the thing about having your scared/crying child take a picture with dept. store Santa then sending it out as your x-mas card/e-card. How is that at all cute?”

“If they are happy and all, fine. But not if they are clearly in terror.” — John32070

With your help, all these strange behaviors can be phased out for good.

But of course, there’s always someone that seems to still be into it.

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People Explain The Reason They Walked Out Of A Job Interview

Job interviews are a major head game.

On one hand, they’re very exciting. An invitation to interview is one of the later steps in the journey to landing a new job.

And yet, they’re wildly performative, forcing us not to be ourselves, be polite, show off our skills and demonstrate general likability all in less than an hour.

It’s no wonder Redditor JimmySaulGene wondered about one of the more chaotic ways that could all go down.

They asked:

“People who walked out of a job interview, why did you do it?”  

For one person, it all came down to personality.

“Years ago, I went to an interview, and sat down with the man who was to interview me. Sat in silence while he read something on his computer for a few minutes, then waited for a minute or so while he looked over my resume (it was a small business, he is the same person who called me to set up the interview and he’d had the resume for a few days.)”

“He finally looked up at me and said, ‘Well, I’m not sure why you applied for this job; you really don’t have any of the skills or experience I’m looking for.’ He was just so arrogant and I felt like he was trying to make a power move to make a lowball offer.”

“I didn’t apply to any job that I wasn’t qualified for. I was just instantly pissed that he was playing games. I calmly said, ‘Then I’m not sure why you‘re wasting my time,’ and I stood and walked to the door.”

“He said something like, ‘Oh, no, let’s talk,’ and I told him I wasn’t interested in working for him.”

“I had a job already, I just wasn’t terribly happy with it, so I really didn’t feel like putting up with his b.s.” — RumBunBun

Another person was stunned by a big twist. 

“Showed up for a construction/trades workers ‘hiring event.’ I’m a plumber by trade and work was bleak as hell in my city at the time, so I went. Sh** looked legit until they sat us down to speak about the work scope.”

“They claimed to be one of the companies that were building Rogers Place in Edmonton. After they gave us sketchy details they said ‘however, if you don’t want to do that you can….’ And started speaking about how to do door to door sales of mostly chocolate in the higher end communities around the city.”

“They talked construction for maybe 15 minutes and the rest was door to door chocolate sales and unicef fundraising and how we can have an income of 150k+ a year doing that. I left probably 20 minutes into that. I had a friend who champed it out and stay the entire time. The stories he told me were hilarious.”

“Ironically, 30 minutes after I left, I got a call from a company who was actually a contractor on the Rogers Place job and ended up working for them for 4+ years.” — kokumslayer69

In this example, the Redditor was a fly on the wall.

“The guy interviewing me interrupted the interview to scream at one of his employees. Like red in the face screaming and berating the guy. And then tried to just pick up where we left off like it was nothing. No thank you.” — DrunkBeavis

This Redditor just had a bad feeling. 

“I’m a vet tech. Interviewed at a primary care, single doctor practice. The manager was over 25 minutes late to my interview. While I waited for her, the front desk staff ignored me while they talked crap about the techs, manager, and clients.”

“The manager said they did not believe in referring to any specialists, because ‘Dr. A is a specialist in everything from grizzly bears to canaries.’ He was not, he hadn’t even done a rotating internship and definitely had not done any type of residency program.”

“I had already worked in a toxic clinic, but at least the doctors were competent. When she asked if I had any questions, I just asked if I could have my resume back, so I didn’t waste the paper.” — Karbar049

This one was, well, just bizarre.

“Applied for a software developer position for an online retailer. First round of interviews was a traditional technical skills and whiteboard coding session, second round was a cultural fit interview with HR.”

“I assumed it would be an one on one interview with HR, it was a room with 20 something people applying for anything from legal to finance.”

“They asked us to stand up, then crawl into a ball and pretend we were flowers opening. At this point I honestly thought it was some kind of prank, then I saw everybody around me doing it.”

“I just said thanks for the opportunity and left.” — neolabaque

Another case came down to timing. 

“I once went to a job interview for a large welding shop, in the middle of a rain storm. After talking to the interviewer for 30 or so minutes, he walked me out to the shop floor to take a welding test. The machine we went to was in decent condition, but was literally sitting in a puddle of water.”

“The welding table’s legs were rusty and not grounded well, and also in said puddle. Over half the shop was flooded. I turned around and said ‘No thank you.’ Then proceeded to walk out the door. My life is worth more than $20 an hour.” — Alpha_Hellhound

This Redditor played with nothing to lose. 

“I should have; I stayed there out of morbid curiosity to see how low they would go, but I had made the decision I wasn’t gonna work there early in the process.”

“I’m glad I stayed. The last thing that happened in the interview was the CEO personally asking us all to promise that, if we ever make a mistake, the company will calculate how much that mistake cost us, and we will voluntarily pay the company that amount.” — Oudeis16

And of course, there was the guy selling snake oil. 

“I was approached at work (bagger for a major grocery store chain when I was 16) by a guy who asked me if I would be interested in making $1100 a week. He told me to meet him at one of the empty businesses in the same plaza after work.”

“He went on this long spiel about the melaleuka tree from Australia and how his company made soaps and shampoo out of it. Then he told me for $500 he would train me how to sell the products. I just turned and walked out the door with him yelling behind me that I would never amount to anything with my attitude.” — DeusEx-Machinist

This person strayed slightly from the prompt, but what a story. 

“Slightly different – I actually interviewed and was hiring by a call center that focused on getting donations for a variety of non-profit organizations (I was desperate). It was on a Thursday, and I was told to show up the following Monday.”

“When I showed up Monday morning, the entire business unit was completely empty. Like, stripped to the floor, wires hanging from the roof empty.”

“When I was there the week before, I saw around 20-25 cubicles of people all working diligently, a managers desk at the far back, and waiting area chairs with a table, all in one large room. To this day I have no idea what happened, I just know they got out of there quick in 3 days time.” — Digideegs

This Redditor found out how to have a good time regardless.

“Pyramid scheme advertised as ‘sales and marketing.’ “

“It was a group interview. They served wine for fu**s sake! They had obvious stooges initiating conversation about how great this opportunity was.”

“I got very drunk and stopped being polite about it.” — wonderbrawl

For most of us, interviews are pretty standard fare.

But should they turn out like one of these, feel free to show yourself out.

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People Share Their Best ‘How The Hell Do You Know That?’ Factoids

We all love a good fun fact.

They expand our mind just a tiny, gentle amount. Sometimes they bring a smirk to our face. And other times they’re reliable as hell during an awkward ice breaker.

So it’s not a bad idea to keep a few in your back pocket for when, say, you’ve just started a job or a first date is going horribly.

Thankfully, Redditor pygmypuffonacid was looking out for us when they asked:

“What are some ‘why the fu** do you know that information’ facts?”

Of course, you can’t go wrong with animal facts, like this one about squid. 

“Squid can literally give themselves brain damage by eating something too big. Their brain is a donut shape and the esophagus runs through it.” — orbitofnormal

Or this one, about a crustacean. 

“Crayfish (or lobster?) have a sort of open channel like an ear that helps them balance. A few grains of sand sit in it and because gravity is pulling the grains down they always know which way is up.”

“However if you put magnetic metal shavings into the holes and hold a large strong magnet above them they’ll start to swim upside down.” — XamiaArc

And do not forget about whales.

“only 10% of a whales sperm enters the mate, 90% goes into the ocean. meaning that drinking ocean water is drinking a percentage of whale cum” — SugonmaBalls

But of course, human bodies are just as bizarre. 

“Leave a human body soaking in a solution of lye and water for several months and it will dissolve into liquid and soft bone dust which can be washed down a drain, leaving no evidence behind.”

“If you need to speed the process up you can heat the water up to just short of boiling and dissolve the body in ~6 hours.” — hananobira

Same goes for human desires.

“Some foot fetishes occur because the part of the brain that controls feeling in the feet is positioned right next to the part that produces libido, and sometimes the wires within the brain become crossed.” — S_is_for_Smeagol

And how about a fact involving humans and animals both. 

“When someone dies in an area where insects can get to them, their face often decomposes first. There’s lots of nice holes on and next to the face that are great for egg-laying.”

“Then, the bugs eat your face and buzz off.” — tapiocatsar

History tidbits are always fascinating too.

Take this beer saga, for example.  

“That Rolling Rock beer almost went bankrupt in the 1990’s. As a last ditch effort they hired a new marketing exec to turn their fortunes around.”

“In their big meeting with all the board members waiting in anticipation for his big reveal he told them to just raise the price. They were ready to fire him on the spot, because they couldn’t sell any at the cheapo price.”

“Then he told them why – their price point was less than Budweiser at the time and that was the standard by which people judged the quality of a beer. He reasoned that if they increased the price to the next tier above Bud and did nothing else, people would believe it was a better beer, even though it was the same as it ever was.”

“It turned into their ad campaign and they thumbed their noses at all the yuppies who drank it by the case in college in the 70’s and 80’s who started buying it again because it was now a ‘better’ beer. It was wildly successful and saved the company.” — Finklemaier

Not all men from history are so admirable, though.

“Andrei Chikatilo, a serial killer from the USSR who was convicted of sexually assaulting and murdering at least 52 women and children, was arrested and questioned by police six years before his official apprehension date.”

“This was because police took a blood sample from him that was different than the blood group of the semen found at the scene of one of his crimes. However, obviously, Chikatilo was guilty.”

“He had a rare genetic condition in which the blood groups of his blood & saliva and his semen are different, which is how he was questioned and released.” — sylveonstarr

This guy was awful too. 

“John Kellogg (inventer of corn flakes) was a huge advocate for circumcision because he believed it would prevent us from masturbating.”

“Also he tried normalizing putting acid on the clitoris for the same reason” — TrystenConn

This guy, on the other hand, was just so unlucky. 

“Valery Khodemchuk was an engineer working the Night Shift at Chernobyl’s Reactor 4 the night it exploded.”

“He was the very first person killed in the accident, as he likely died instantly when his body was vaporized by the blast. His remains were never recovered, and the ruins now serve as his tomb.” — TheMadmanAndre

And this fella was off his rocker. 

“Opicinus de Canistris, an Italian priest who lived during the 13th and 14th centuries, believed that parts of his body metaphysically represented regions of the world, and that if he felt pain in one area, then it could mean that disaster was about to fall on that region.”

“He also drew a metaphysical “world map” that was basically pictures of random people and animals stuck together instead of an actual map of the world.”

“He actually managed to get the Pope at the time on his side. It speaks volumes about the state of science in the Middle Ages that this blatant psychotic could promote his beliefs under the guise of serving Christianity.” — ugagradlady

This fact concerned a fictional guy. 

“In Silence of the Lambs, when Hannibal Lector gives the infamous quote ‘I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti,’ it’s a reference that he’s off his meds.”

“Some antipsychotics have negative interactions with beans, red wine, and organ meats. It’s kind of an odd joke though, because Hannibal Lector is a diagnosed psychopath in the movie, and psychopathy isn’t treated with antipsychotics.” — [deleted]

Here’s hoping these facts aren’t too unnerving to dust off at a party or a team-builder.

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Therapists Describe Fascinating Facts About Human Psychology

Humans have long been obsessed with exploring outward. People have always roamed the earth to see what there was to see.

And in the last 50+ years, we’ve launched into outer space, charting sights and objects further away than we can even comprehend.

But we don’t have to go further than our own skulls to witness things just as mysterious.

Redditor WaterPide is clearly aware of this and wanted some help uncovering a bit more knowledge about it all.

They asked:

“Therapists of reddit, what are some interesting psychological facts about humans?”

One therapist was fascinated by irrationality.

“Something that makes me wonder how we survived as a species and then answers my question at the same time:

“People will adhere to what they believe to be true over what they know to be true.”

“Politics, religion, anxiety, depression, staying with an abuser are all examples. Even when they are able to state what they know, their beliefs interfere and that cognitive dissonance will resolve closer to their belief.”

“As a therapist, it’s my job to help them know what they know and slowly alter their beliefs to be more consistent with what they know. Too quick of a change strengthens the belief system.”

“It amazes me every time a patient has an epiphany and then almost immediately reverts.” — symp4thy

Someone else brought up another example.

“Most maladaptive things that people get stuck in likely saved their life at some point. Most humans don’t do things to hurt themselves intentionally.”

“Examples: self harm may keep someone from attempting suicide to reduce pain or shift emotional pain to physical pain, which may be more ‘manageable;’ someone with an eating disorder likely developed it to cope with intensive trauma or feelings of a loss of control in their life; someone’s anxiety feels like it can them ‘safe” from being hurt.”

“Seeing people through this lens helps me never get frustrated with people because they are doing what they had to do to survive. Either consciously or unconsciously, it makes sense.” — Luci_purr666

That theme continued.

“All behavior has a purpose.”

“An extension of this: there is no such thing as people being lazy. If people aren’t doing something others think they should, it’s for a reason, even if said person doesn’t know that reason either.”

“It might be an avoidance tactic, a learned behavior, or even their body/mind feeling overwhelmed and requiring rest before they take on different tasks.”

“Following that, if people are trying to rest and get nagged nonstop, they never actually get to rest and hence, never get to build up the energy to tackle the things on their to-do lists.” — Pages57

But then there were those who mentioned promising methods. 

“Motivational Interviewing exists for a reason.”

“I constantly run across comments on Reddit that say things like ‘If your therapist isn’t telling you to get out of this relationship NOW, then you need a new therapist!’ But humans have a tendency to dig their heels in when told to do something they feel ambivalent about.”

“There are ways to help people realize what’s going to be best for them that DON’T involve giving straight advice. In fact I’d say giving straight advice can be one of the least effective methods for a lot of people/issues.”

“And these people in our office probably have a dozen friends ALREADY giving them that advice, and they’re still not acting on it.”

“I’m a clinical psychologist.” — revolutionutena

And that wasn’t the only promising approach.

“I am a parent child psychotherapist. I work with children under 6 and their caregivers who have experienced trauma. In a nutshell, the healing comes from the caregiver talking to the child about what happened.”

“We call it ‘speaking the unspeakable.’ Basically young children know something bad is going on; domestic violence, abuse, neglect, loss, and they need a grown up to help them play and talk about it, otherwise they make up their own stories about what is going on and its often totally incorrect and self blaming.”

“Infants, toddlers and preschoolers have the capacity to be talked to about scary things. They can handle it if the adult can find a way to regulate through the re-telling and tolerate the subsequent emotions.”

“I’ve explained addiction, severe neglect, loss, and emotional abuse to 3 and 4 year olds. They are amazing and can handle it.” — Jacsheagood

One method was less transparent.

“psychiatric nurse here. redirection is a hell of a skill. for example, we had a patient screaming at us and peacocking, just ready to fight someone. he had glasses on his head and i mentioned i liked them. he said ‘i need them to read books.’ “

“i asked him about the books he read and we had a whole discussion about that and he completely forgot what he was angry about.”

“learning about it in school i was super skeptical, but seeing it work and using it often is incredible. sometimes a small distraction from our feelings is all we need.” — speedlimits65

One approach verges on the physical body. 

“The more senses you can engage in an anxiety reduction strategy, the better it will work.”

“Like the poster mentioned earlier, your brain does not differentiate why it is ramping the nervous system up. So you have to send it the clear message that this is a safe moment to not be hyperaroused.” — Coffeephreak

And then there were those who shared intriguing factoids. 

“Although there is no way to bring back the memories, playing music to dementia sufferers can bring back the feelings. The study was prompted when a dementia sufferer started crying happy tears to a song.”

“He told the care staff that he had no idea why but he felt really happy. His wife later identified the song as the one she walked down the aisle to on her wedding day.” — RaysAreBaes

Not all were so closely tied to therapy. 

“sitting at an unstable table or chair makes you feel like your conversations (and relationships with the person you are talking to) are rocky, unpredictable, and unstable as well.”

“on the flip side, holding a warm drink makes you feel warmth and friendliness with the people you are talking to.”

“translation: if you need to have a serious talk with someone, give them a warm drink and make sure their chair is level” — hugerefuse

We close with a couple head-scratchers.

“Your eyes can actually see your nose and it would take up more of the corners of your vision had your brain not trained itself to ignore it.”

“Basically, your brain learns to filter out information it finds not useful.”

“Also, our memory is so vulnerable to decay that when you remember something from a while ago, you’re probably just remembering the last time you thought about it instead of the actual event itself.” — IamMayFields

It’s a list that might make you feel a little skeptical about what you yourself are thinking.

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People Divulge Which Inventions Have Done More Harm Than Good For Society

As time trudges on, technology seems to advance at a lightning pace.

Way back when it began with simple tools like wheels and arrows. Then came irrigation and buildings.

After that, industrial machinery was a game changer, followed by computers and the internet.

But despite every generation’s rose-colored descriptions of the future, has it all been for good?

That’s what Redditor idc_aboutusernames wondered when they posted the question:

“What invention has done more harm than good?”

One you may have heard about. 

“Imma go out on a limb and say the polygraph test” — throwrahousearrest

“Polygraph test. Even its inventor, John Larson, regrets his invention upon realizing how law enforcement would exploit the average citizen with it.” — Arctic_Cobra71

More than one person had planet Earth on the mind.

“Coffee pods. Even the creator deeply regrets his invention and the environmental impact it has had.” — Lasting_Wonder

“Individually packaged foods and snacks.”

“I work at a grocery store and it’s abhorrent to me how much crap there is and how well it sells. I mean, Christ, yesterday I stocked ‘Nutella to go’ packs that are… Nutella with pretzel sticks. They’re tiny and come in small plastic tubs.”

“Or those large bags of Reese’s cups that come individually wrapped, or these ridiculous 1oz bags of freeze dried fruit that we sell which are absurdly popular, especially for how relatively expensive they are at $3 a bag.”

“I get that plastic itself isn’t bad, but this is egregious to me, especially with how much my generation (I’m 34) has had overuse of landfills drilled into our skulls.” — drlavkian

One person offered up a surprising choice. 

“There’s been really interesting discourse relating to the cotton gin. Prior to the cotton gin, many farmers did not consider cotton to be a worthwhile crop to grow, as it was so tough to process due to the seeds in cotton that the amount of slaves it would take just to process a small amount by hand would cost more than the cotton they would produce.”

“With the invention of the cotton gin, a few number of slaves could process essentially as much cotton as you could produce.”

“This skyrocketed demand for slaves in the Americas, and while slavery obviously had existed for quite some time in America, the invention of the cotton gin doubled the amount of slaves in 10 years, and multiplied fivefold by 1850.”

“This invention propelled the chattel slavery of the South to new heights, you could make the argument its invention profoundly compounded all racial issues in America since its inception.” — grahamster00

This one may have been written at work. 

“40 hour work week. Who decided you need to work this much in order to make enough money to even be considered worthy of survival?”

“I could understand that regularly having people commit to 40 hours of hard work thats equally distributed would hypothetically improve efficiency and push us toward a better future, but holy fu** is it not working.”

“Mental health issues, goverment dependency, and poverty shouldnt be an issue for the employed. The current wage disparity between minimum wage and livable wage is a joke.” — codeblue94

Recent inventions were on the chopping block too. 

“Airbnb. Started as an opportunity for people to rent out a spare room and meet travellers. Has morphed into a short-term rental platform where wealthy second home owners let entire homes or apartments at the expense of local communities.”

“Residents in once peaceful neighbourhoods are forced to endure all the impacts that come with living next to makeshift unregulated hotels and group accommodation.”

“Loud parties any night of the week, a steady stream of strangers in apartment blocks or residential streets, parking congestion, masses of rubbish, security issues, loss of community all become commonplace.”

“Long-term rentals dry up because Airbnb is more lucrative and local businesses, in some cases even local hospitals, can’t find staff as they have nowhere to live. Long-term locals find themselves kicked out of their rentals to make way for another more lucrative Airbnb.”

“They are left with nowhere to go as other long-term rentals have gone the same way and it’s pushed prices up so much that buying a property is no longer an option.”

“Residential neighbourhoods become a smattering of hotels without the volunteers and local people that once gave the place the sense of community that attracted many visitors to the area in the first place.”

“Most Airbnb users wouldn’t be aware of the detrimental impacts Airbnb can have for local communities.” — Overall-Reception-59

One Redditor went after the mundane. 

“Soft close toilet seats. Either all toilets should have them or none should. The current roulette is too stressful.” — 476c796e

“Those plastic containers that are like crimp plastic stitch welded around the entire edge and it’s super thick plastic that will slice your sh** open.” — RacingboomThePleb

Some things are just too good to be true. 

“Slot Machines. Once you get a taste of winning some money back, it gets eaten up in no time. You might think you can beat the system, but that’s how they suck you in and take you for all you are worth.”

“These things are rigged to payout when a lot of money has been fed into them so you have to be extremely lucky to get the big jackpot.” — Missrcl

A few were clarified within the past year. 

“Data mining and ad delivery services disguised as social media.” — sev1nk

“Facebook. It was a Pandora’s box, but we didn’t realize it until a decade later.” — mrsal511

“The 24-hour news cycle” — BSH72

And there are no shortage right here on the internet.

“Pop-up ads. Think of all the malware and viruses that people have fallen victim to because of pop-up ads, plus they are just annoying. Even the inventor of them apologized for creating them.” — -eDgAR-

“Targeted ads and internet trackers. These have done a lot of bad and practically no good.” — Anzuweeb

Finally, do not forget about the lungs. 

“Cigarettes. Those things ruined my life. I don’t smoke them anymore and have had to resource to other things. Peer pressure and wanting to fit in is an a**hole” — Sam_in_peas

“Asbestos. Now people are getting rid of it” — sc4rii

It’s a list that might make you stop and look around the next time something new and exciting comes out.

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People Break Down The Most Overrated Historical Figures

One of the coolest things about reading history is realizing just how bananas all those real people were.

Kings, military leaders, pioneers of art, and explorers—there are countless examples of people who, if they’d been dreamed up in a book or a movie, would be too far-fetched to even believe.

And yet they were very real.

But with all those stories come the tendencies to over-hype, omit key details, or just buy into false narratives entirely.

Redditor ReallyRealMaoZedong apparently was in the mood for skepticism when he asked:

“Who is the most overrated person in history?”

One person called out the youth. 

“King Tut. He didn’t really do much, he was just a boy who unfortunately died young. We just happened to find his tomb and that made him famous lol.”

“The tomb itself, while amazing and much to learn from, is a result of his culture and the line he happened to be born into, not really anything HE chose to do.” — barbaramillicent

Another King was in the crosshairs too. 

“King Arthur. Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.”

“Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.” — bozwold

This guy, while not a king, was still on the chopping block. 

“I don’t know about ‘most overrated’ but MaoZeDong was a brilliant guerrilla leader who transitioned into be very good at retaining power while being very bad at running a country.”

“I would not hang giant portraits of the guy all over my country.” — dieinafirenazi

One person went after someone so often idealized. 

“Gandhi.”

  • “He didn’t really win India freedom – WW 2 did.”
  • “His support of the Khilafat movement gave a big boost to Muslim separatism in India”
  • “His agreement to partition resulted in 1 million deaths”
  • “His idea of ‘self sufficient villages’ resulted in India continuing to remain poor and backward and failing to industrialise.”
  • “His promotion of Nehru over far more competent leaders in the Congress”

“I can go on…” — 00__starstruck__00

Even the folk heroes out there were worthy targets.

“Not in all history, but Chris McCandless was a f’king moron who does not deserve to be romanticised.”

“Against all advice, he strolled out into the Alaskan wilderness with no idea what he was doing, with no map, underprepared, undersupplied and with no research into seasonal dangers, smashed up some cabins, shot a moose despite not being able to preserve or store the meat…”

“…thought he could teach himself to identify edible wild mishrooms, didn’t look beyond the river crossing he initially used where he would have found a hand-operated cable car half a mile away and died – probably from eating strange seeds – in an abandoned bus on a known hunting trail.”

“He was not pioneering, or inspiring, or bold, or free, he was f’king stupid and somehow this inspires people!” — Mischief_Makers

Then came a surprising choice.

“Hitler. Hear me out!”

“National Socialism and Antisemitism was not something he invented and I am pretty sure that if it wasn’t for him somebody else like Goebbels or Hess would have become German dictator.”

“When people say, oh if only Hitler wasn’t born then WW2 or the Shoa would not have happened, that’s utter bullsh*t. I wish while teaching about the Holocaust, people would put it into context.”

“The climate of polarization in the 1920s in Germany is very similar to what is going on now in the USA. People were and are seeking out extremists with conspiracy theories to follow because they look for scapegoats.”

“The man on the top is just a symptom for a systemic problem which lies much deeper.” — marlenshka

One person added some truth to an all-too simple legacy. 

“Ben Bradlee. He was lionized for going after Nixon as editor of the Washington Post.”

“But he lied under oath during the trial of a Black man who was accused of murdering one of Kennedy’s mistresses, all because he was friends with JFK and wanted to cover up his indiscretions. An innocent Black man nearly went to the electric chair.”

“He only pursued the truth when the president was a Republican.” — The_Bee_Sneeze

Then some so-called shrewd navigating was called into question.

“Charles de Gaulle. MF was an officer of the army that lost half of France in 2 weeks to the Germans in WW2. Flees like a cockroach to the UK where somehow embodies the spirit of the resistance, somehow receives the title of General, even though his tasks were not dangerous nor fundamental.”

“When the allies take over France, he is not in any of the strategic discussions among generals of different armies, nonetheless he walks into Paris as their great liberator. Couple of years later gets elected president (because somehow he has managed to keep his popularity??).”

“While president, North African colonies declare war (and independence) from France. Many people die, and the french economy and territories takes a huge blow. Also he managed to dismantle the oldest European university of the world (Université de Paris)…”

“But nooooo! His name is on an airport, many avenues and countless plazas accross France.” — KarmaWhoreRepeating

Oh, and remember those summer reading books?

“Ayn Rand. Elitist prick, complete nutbag, husband abuser, most likely committed infidelity. Moreover, her ideas are terrible. So dumb.”

“She clearly thinks poor=dumb and useless, when she doesn’t realize how privileged education is what makes someone ‘productive’ in the way that she imagined.”

“She even says it in Atlas Shrugged, John gault and Francisco wouldn’t have become who they were if they hadn’t had that one philosophy teacher who became a short order cook because the world is so mediocre and undeserving of his genius.”

“And the saddest part is so many people after reading Atlas Shrugged are like ‘yeah, selfishness is the best, anyone who is poor is weak and stupid. My life is good and it’s impossible to have a good life unless you won it for yourself so I must be the best person ever and all you plebs can eat my sh**.’ “

“Randian economics is a conflict in terms.” — Begotten_Glint

One case illustrated the power of martyrdom. 

“John F. Kennedy.”

“Pill-popping, booty-slaying, trust-fund, back alley politician who conveniently only took an interest in civil rights in preparation for re-election.”

“He was handsome, charming, and his tragic death made him seem much better than he actually was.” — Way_2_Go_Donny

So there you have it.

Hope this list didn’t deflate any of your heroes.

But if it did, consider the value of being in the know.