5 Facts About Nutria, the Giant Rodents

Nutria is a new rodent to the United States and apparently they’re here to stay. The rodent hails from South America but has gained a foothold in the U.S., particularly in Louisiana. Nutria can grow to be 20 pounds, they can swim, and they are wreaking havoc by disrupting ecosystems, infrastructure, and crops.

Read on to learn more about these kinda cute but invasive animals and check out the upcoming documentary Rodents of Unusual Size.

1. They reproduce A LOT

Nutria multiply rapidly, making them a huge threat to the lands they occupy. They become sexually mature at only a few months old. Nutria can reproduce up to 3 times a year and sometimes can have litters as big as 13 babies. Their lifespan in the wild is between 3-6 years.

2. They’re widespread

Photo Credit: Pixabay

Nutria are originally from South America, but they have spread out around the globe throughout the last 100 years. Some states imported nutria to help fight weeds, but the wild population has now ballooned out of control. Nutria have been named one of the top 100 invasive species.

3. They’re really bad for the ecosystem

Photo Credit: Max Pixel

Nutria can consume up to 20 percent of their body weight. They eat tons of vegetation that holds wetland soil together, and this leads to erosion. This leads to wetlands becoming open water. This can lead to flooding, especially in places like Louisiana. Nutria also eat crops like sugarcane and rice, and they do major damage to golf courses, bridges, canals, and levees.

4. Nutria used to be big business

Nutria spread around the globe mostly due to the fur trade. They were brought to Louisiana in the 1930s to be raised for their pelts. But some were released or escaped, and as a result, wild nutria flourished along the Gulf Coast. Eventually, the overabundance of nutria led to a falling demand and nutria (and fur in general) fell out of favor. Without trappers to keep an eye on the nutria population, their numbers exploded.

5. You can eat them!

Photo Credit: Pixabay

Yes, you can have a nutria dinner if you wish. Susan Spicer, a chef in New Orleans, says, “The nutria flavor is sort of like the zucchini of the animal world. You can kind of make it work with a lot of different kinds of flavors.” The meat is lean too. And if you eat them, you’ll be doing the environment a favor!

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10+ People Share Their Crazy and Creepy Neighbor Stories

I’m sure most of you can relate to the crazy neighbor story. I’ve had some doozies in the past…the kind you sneak by when they’re sitting on their front porch so you don’t have to deal with them and their craziness.

Right now I’m pretty lucky because my next door neighbors are all very nice and normal. But that hasn’t always been the case…

In this article, AskReddit users share stories about the weird, crazy neighbors they’ve had to deal with.

1. The fence

“We built a fence on our property line (a few feet into ours actually) and the night it was finished I hear banging outside. I go to the sunroom we have downstairs and see a headlamp moving back and forth quickly. I go outside and see my neighbor throwing lead pipes into our fence screaming, “Can you see me now” and kept repeating that over and over again. Soon after he spots me and runs back inside.”

2. Ugh

“Across the street neighbor feeds the stray cats outside. After he empties the food on their plate, he runs his fingers inside of the can and licks the remaining cat food off his fingers.”

3. Crosswords

“So I had a neighbor (80yo or more) widowed guy.

Every time I get the newspaper delivered to my mail box, when I open it : I find the crosswords done (I don’t do them or give a damn). A day I decided to try catch who’s doing my crosswords, day 1 : 8 am, they where already done. Day 2 : 7:30 am already done. Day 3 : 7am I decide to give up.

One day, 4am, I was getting back home from a night out, while I was passing by the mailbox ; nothing yet delivered, so I place my GoPro inside and went sleeping, the next day ; FINALLY GOT IT, it was my neighbor, he has done the crosswords right up on my mailbox, for like 10min (I will try to find the video, but it was absolutely cute, staring at my door time to time, and scratching his head). Next day ; I took him a 1000 crosswords book, drop it right his door, rang the bell and stayed on my car discretely. He took some time to open the door, then found it, I swear it was the happiest person like a kid that got a puppy. He stayed in his porch and passed like 2 hours doing crosswords then felt asleep lol.

The next day : I was getting back home from work, he came to apologize (like a kid that has to confess something) and brought some cookies. We stayed talking about his WW2 service and how the world changed. I frequently bought him crosswords books, until he passed away 1 year ago..

May he Rest In Peace ?

4. That’s one way to do it

“Not my neighbor but a friends.

Lady use to put her car in neutral and push it down the drive way because she said it “saved her $$ on gas”

Same lady would also get on her hands and knees and trim her yard with scissors after the lawn care company was done.”

5. “Real nutters”

“Growing up we had some really crazy neighbors that lived across the road from us. The parents were real nutters and abusive to their kids. They would regularly lock their children out the front of their house and lock the front gate so they couldn’t leave with nothing but 1glass of water. Now this is outback Australia where temperatures would regularly reach 40-45 degrees the kids would be screaming and crying out the front. Police would get called they’d come. Kids would go back inside then get put back out once they’d left.

The mother would also come out the front of the house when my Mum would be farewelling or greeting people and start yelling “MRS COLLO89 WHY WONT YOU BE MY FRIEND?!??! I KNOW YOU THINK IM CRAZY. PLEASE BE MY FRIEND!”

A few years ago I heard the mother had been committed to a psychiatric hospital, husband remarried and kids have nothing to do with them now.”

6. Rude neighbors

“My next door neighbors keep using our stuff. They’ve been caught with their hose attached to our water, taking our outdoor chairs etc. They also have no problem honking their car horn repeatedly at any time of day or night when someone isn’t getting out of the house fast enough.”

7. Daily routine

“So he has a truck and a car, both kind of old and beat up. Every day he switches their parking places, and every day he leaves the car running, opens the hood and just stares at the engine for about an hour. He’ll step back for a smoke break, eyes still hard on the running engine from afar. Sometimes he’ll sit in the driver’s seat and listen to the one tape he has left apparently, and it’s Sheryl Crow. Every. Single. Day.”

8. An odd choice

“Oh I just remembered, I also have a neighbor that collects PT Cruisers. He’s got at least 6 of them and washes them all the time. Seems like a weird car to collect. They aren’t vintage or anything.”

9. Maybe he’s not getting fed at home?

“My neighbor’s kid stands on our shared fence and chews it.”

10. Weird, but good

“My wife and I live in a large apartment complex in Chicago. I am not sure which apartment this guy actually lives in, but I always see him zooming out of the courtyard. We call him Future Man.

Future Man does not speak or walk or try to fit into society in anyway. He is easily 6’7 and weights at least 275 pounds. He wears sunglasses at night and I’ve never seen him actually walk. He rides everywhere on one of those two wheeled hover board thingies and at night straps rope lights to his torso that flash incredibly bright red and green light. Sometimes he also has a little Bluetooth speaker clipped to his backpack that blasts some pretty solid 80s/90s hip hop. He does not slow down. He drives it mostly on the road and does not observe such things as stop signs or stop lights.

We have lived in this apartment complex for 5 years and just two weeks ago he acknowledged me for the first time. He simply gave me a head nod and put his hand into a fist as if to say “you’re okay with me.” He said nothing in actuality but I’m still beaming from the experience. He’s my favorite neighbor, but he is weird.”

11. Just in case…

“A friend of mine has a neighbor who sometimes walks around in a gas mask. No one can confirm who he is.”

12. Airbnb

“My neighbors have a tent in their backyard. the tent is listed on air bnb. Wisconsin. It’s sadly gone now and I can’t find the photo. I would post it and ask any stalkers use the side door if they come to murder me. But if I find it I’ll post it.

It’s damn near winter here so it must not have been an all season Coleman tent.”

13. Let him do it

“My neighbor secretly does my yard work.

He’s a very reserved man in his fifties, and my fiancé and I are in our mid/late twenties. Our neighbor never talks to us, and will frantically avoid conversation with other people. He blows the leaves in his yard every single day, even during summer. He also waxes his car once a week. If there’s a storm, the next day he’ll walk around his yard picking up twigs that have broken off of trees until his yard is perfectly clear of twigs. I should mention we live in a forest and both of our yards are at least an acre or so with dozens of trees.

The yard obsession doesn’t end with his property line though. At least once a month I’ll come home and our yard is magically groomed: the leaves have been blown (even if we just blew the leaves a few days prior), our gravel driveway has been sprayed for weeds, our tiny section of grass has been mowed, etc. We take care of our yard, I have flower beds I maintain, and we do a big “yard maintenance day” once a month. but it doesn’t come close to our neighbor’s yard maintenance. I’ve even caught him in our yard a couple of times and he just hustles out without saying a word. We have a picket fence around our acre lot, so it makes him silently leaving our yard just a little awkward since he has to walk all the way up to the gate.

I’ve tried to thank him multiple times, but the last time I brought him cookies as a thank you for blowing our leaves he would only open the door a crack, took the cookie tin, dumped the cookies into his hand, handed me back the tin, and quickly shut the door. Now I just leave thank you cards in his mail box.

I’m guessing he’s either bored, has an obsession with yard maintenance, or is just trying to be nice to the young couple next door but really hates social interaction.”

14. She’s doing just fine

“I had a neighbor (alcoholic/druggie) who thought there were two women living in my house; I had dyed my hair blonde from brunette. He continually asked where the brunette was and how she was doing. I finally just said she was fine.”

15. Obsessed with mom

“My parents have a neighbor that is obsessed with my mom. It was innocent enough at first he was just nice and theyd have small conversations. They became friendly and we would invite him over for bbqs and everything. Then he started to get creepy. Every single time my mom would take the dog out he would appear outside and want to talk her. He would find an excuse to come knock on our door every single day.

He got the same haircut and grew the same goatee as my dad and started to dress like my dad. He then went and bought the exact same type of motorcycle as my dad. He started showing up at my moms work bringing her lunch and flowers. Thats when my dad had to confront him and it almost became physical. He has mostly stayed away since then.”

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Unbelievable Things People Used as Tips Instead of Actual Money

It makes my blood boil and I’m not even a waiter.

Why, why, why on Earth do people think it’s okay to not tip servers? Or worse yet, to give them some kind of bullsh*t “advice” or just write something snarky on the tip line of the receipt?

Wait until you see some of the ludicrous things customers left for their servers instead of, you know, the actual money they’re working for.

1.

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Photo Credit: Instagram,l_boogie858

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Photo Credit: Twitter,RVANicole

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Dying Man’s Final Request Honored by Ambulance Drivers

Two ambulance drivers went out of their way when a 72-year-old Australian man, Ron McCartney took his final ride to the hospital for palliative care. His wife Sharon told the ambulance drivers that her husband had been eating very little the previous few days. So the officers, Kate Hanafy and Hanna Hoswell, asked Mr. McCartney what he’d want to eat, if he could have anything. His answer: a caramel sundae. So the crew stopped by McDonald’s to grant Ron his wish.

The Facebook post from the Queensland Ambulance Service read:

“If you could eat anything, what would it be?

We have been left humbled and tinged with sadness after receiving a message of gratitude that underlines an often-unseen aspect of patient care; the caring.

Last week, Gold Coast resident Sharon called an ambulance for her husband Ron’s final journey to hospital and palliative care. Paramedics Kate and Hanna responded and during their initial observations of Ron, Sharon mentioned that he had barely eaten anything over two days. The officers asked Ron, if you could eat anything… what would it be? To which Ron replied, a caramel sundae.

Sharon’s recent message emphasised the enjoyment Ron received from such a simple action and thanked paramedics for the swift and high level of care and compassion shown to him on both this occasion, and their previous interactions over the last few months as well.”

Ron passed away and his daughter expressed her gratitude for the kindness shown to her father. Danielle Smith said, “Thank you so very much to Hannah and Kate, Dad enjoyed this so much and was the last thing he was able to eat by himself. Mum and I cannot thank QAS enough for all the help and compassion you have all given towards us each time we have had to call you.”

Well done, ladies.

 

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7 Fascinating Facts About Different Topics

Spy cats, a real life Simpson house, and Atari are all in this fact set. Read on and fill up that brain of yours with interesting facts!

1. Brilliant

Photo Credit: did you know?

2. Age gaps

Photo Credit: did you know?

3. Spy cats

Photo Credit: did you know?

4. Sacrifice

Photo Credit: did you know?

5. Bob was the best

Photo Credit: did you know?

6. I’d live here

Photo Credit: did you know?

7. Duuuuuude…

Photo Credit: did you know?

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According to Science, Here’s How Often You Should Wash Your Sheets

One of the best feelings in the world is climbing into a freshly made bed covered in clean-smelling sheets, and yet…if you’re the one who has to do the washing and drying and making, the pleasure is diminished about 10% with each task.

Well, science is stepping in with some information that might give you a push to do it a bit more often. How often, you ask?

Photo Credit: Pixabay

At least once a week.

Any longer than that and you’ll find yourself sleeping among a “botanical park” of bacteria, according to NYU microbiologist Philip Tierno.

Along with your own, ‘human’ bacteria, the ones found on skin and in sweat, spit, and other bodily fluids, there’s also pollen, lint, dust mites, and as many as 16 different kinds of fungus – on your pillows alone. Since you spend about a third of your life in your bed, that might be concerning for the cleanest among you.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

If you suffer from allergies or develop other symptoms like sniffling and sneezing without other signs of a cold, your dirty sheets could definitely be to blame.

Tierno talked with Business Insider, and compared sleeping in more than week old sheets to not washing your hands after you touched dog poop in the street. “If you saw what was there – but of course you don’t see it – after a while you have to say to yourself, ‘Do I want to sleep in that?’”

Photo Credit: Pixabay

Since the answer is likely no, stock up on your laundry detergent and get to work. It might not sound like fun now, but once you’re snuggled up in clean sheets and resting assured that no extra allergens are finding their way into your airways, you’ll definitely be glad you did!

h/t: Mental_Floss

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Famous Actors Who Stole Items from Movie Sets

I’ve always been curious if actors or people who work on movie sets get to take any souvenirs after a film wraps.

I bet the guys and gals on the crew probably can’t pick and choose as they please, but you better believe that actors get to take home some goodies.

Here are 10 Hollywood actors who took cool items from movies they worked on.

1. Jennifer Lawrence

Photo Credit: Lionsgate

Lawrence kept the jacket and boots she wore in The Hunger Games and said the items are currently collecting dust in her closet.

2. Daniel Radcliffe

Photo Credit: Warner Bros.

The Harry Potter star decided to go small with his takeaways. Radcliffe kept his glasses at the end of each production. He said, “The ones from the first film are absolutely tiny now, but they are very sweet. – They are all lens-less as well. There was rarely ever any glass in the actual glasses, because of filming problems with reflections.”

3. Robert Downey Jr.

The big movie star pulled a stunt his character Tony Stark probably would’ve and had a 30-foot prop delivered to his office. Downey said, “On the last Avengers, there’s this scene where there’s this ‘A’ which is probably 30 feet tall, and I’m looking at it, and we’re shooting in England, and I go, ‘I need that in my office in Venice. About two weeks ago, a wheeler showed up, I’m like, ‘What the heck is this doing here?’ And they go, ‘This is the ‘A’ you asked for.’ And I go, ‘They brought it?’ So now we have a massive Avengers ‘A’ that will be prominently placed.”

I wonder how big his office is…

4. Chris Pratt

Photo Credit: Marvel Studios

You know Pratt had to swipe that stylin’ jacket he wore in Guardians of the Galaxy. And he did just that.

5. Mark Wahlberg

Photo Credit: New Line Cinema

If you’ve seen Boogie Nights, you’ll never forget the final shot. Mark Wahlberg unzips and we see, ummm, his rather large prosthetic penis. The actor took the prop home and said, “I used to keep it in my desk drawer, and I’d take it out and slap my friends in the face with it. I don’t keep many things from my movies, but that just seemed to have personal significance. [I] didn’t think there would be that much interest in it but maybe I can at some point sell it at auction for charity.”

6. Dakota Johnson

Photo Credit: Universal Pictures

The 50 Shades of Grey actress stole her underwear she wore in the sexy film because “they were comfortable.” Johnson admits she also took a flogger and it’s sitting in her garage collecting dust.

7. Chris Hemsworth

Photo Credit: Marvel Studios

The original Thor’s hammer sold for $50,000, but Hemsworth has multiple replicas from the film in his possession. Hemsworth said, “I’ve got five. One’s in the toilet. It’s next to the toilet, if you need some assistance… Often, people stay in there a little longer and I think it’s because of the hammer. It’s pretty heavy, and one of my sons in particular who’s a beefy little kid certainly is sort of like Papa look, looking I can do it. [Then drops it], so the hammer’s got a few dents in it and scratches.”

8. Simon Pegg

Photo Credit: Paramount Pictures

Simon Pegg managed to get his Starfleet badge from Star Trek: Into Darkness home with him. Pegg said, “On the first film, every day we’d hand back our badge and I had a Starfleet ring. This one, I stole my badge. It was on my costume when I got back to my trailer and it’s a beautiful little brass thing. And I put it in my bag.” Can’t blame Scotty for that one.

9. Emma Watson

Photo Credit: Warner Bros.

Radcliffe’s co-star Emma Watson also pillaged the set of Harry Potter films, taking her invisibility cloak, wand, and the time-turner.

10. James Caan

Photo Credit: Columbia Pictures

And to end on a creepy note, Mr. Caan liked the Royal 10 typewriter he used in Misery so much he took it home.

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10 People Share the Most BS TED Talks They’ve Ever Heard

Millions of people watch and listen to influential Ted Talks on a wide range of subjects. These lectures are educational and have been all the rage for a while now.

But apparently, not everyone is convinced that all TED Talks are “ideas worth spreading.”. AskReddit users chimed in and dished on the TED Talks they thought were total BS.

1. Brilliant!

“TEDx.

Rethinking Stairs.

According to this guy we should descend stairs backwards.”

2. Cancer

“Anita Moorjani.

She talked about how she was dying from stage 4 lymphoma, and had fluid in her lungs and tumors the size of lemons all over her body and was living out her last moments…

She then said that she saw heaven and saw “why I got cancer” and “how to cure it” so when she woke up, she said her tumors had shrunk 70% in four days, and by the time she left the hospital a week later, she was completely cancer free.

There was a doctor that treated her that later came out and said that she was refusing chemotherapy for a year and a half, and once she started chemo she began making her full recovery.

Edit: According to Wikipedia, it was someone that got access to her medical files with her permission and came out and talked about it.”

3. BS

“Elizabeth Holmes giving a TedMed about Theranos.

Even before finding out all the data was fabricated, none of the talk really went anywhere, just claiming how they were going to revolutionize healthcare. She also has a really weird and patronizing style of talking and the whole Steve Jobs turtleneck thing.”

4. Female leaders

“Sheryl Sandberg’s TED Talk on why we have too few female leaders. She later used much of the same material for “Lean In”.

After the success of “Lean In”, Sandberg’s husband died. Once Sandberg became a single parent (albeit a wealthy and extremely well resourced one), she realized how utterly useless her advice was to the vast majority of working women. To her credit, she owned her mistake (at least temporarily).”

5. The lawyer

“A lot of Ted talks are on subjects which are a matter of opinion, (behaviour, motivation etc) and can’t be proven right or wrong

However there was a TED talk (not TEDeX) about how a lawyer was working with someone on death row. He gave a compelling speech about how his clients past was awful, that he’d been abandoned by his parents and lived on his own at the age of 14. He fell into a gang and committed his first murder, landing him on death row.

He spends 5-10 minutes talking about the appeal system and how it can be better in the American death row system. Stating that his client should have gotten more help than he got, and that youth education systems would prevent crimes like this happening

Anyway, it turns out his client didn’t have a bad, parent-less, or gang ridden childhood. (He was raised by two loving parents in a semi-wealthy family)

Lied for 20 minutes straight about how his client had such a hard life. When actually his life (up until the murder) was the easiest life imaginable.”

6. You sure he was a scientist?

“There’s one with a scientist who didn’t know the Holographic Principal already exists and then explained it very badly.

It’s a hypothesis that the universe is a projection of information on a 2D plane.

He give a rambling analogy about a computer, and trying to figure out how it works by using a microscope to look at the pixel elements on the screen, and that’s how science works or something.”

7. Sounds like it…

“One about education and “grit”. Is was vague and unoriginal.”

8. That doesn’t sound right…

“I think the most bs, legit ted talk i’ve seen was that guy who talked about curing aging. he gave no specifics or anything he just made claims about how you could start with extending life span and eventually cure aging and that if you’re 35 or under thanks to extending life spans you could be immortal too.

it was the most vacuous ted talk i’d ever seen. it was entirely devoid of any facts or useful information.

edit: found it https://www.ted.com/talks/aubrey_de_grey_says_we_can_avoid_aging?language=en “

9. Not a good performance

“Not sure who it was, but in one there was a girl who said how her violin teacher said it’d be impossible for her to play a piece, and she went on to learn it in a week out of defiance.

She then plays it for the audience.

Badly.

Almost every note is botched, and I can’t help but agree with the teacher. The comment section has the same mindset.”

10. Not buying it

“This woman talking about how technology was causing kids to respect their parents less.”

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15 Kids Share the Best ‘Mom Things’ They’ve Experienced

We love our moms, so how about a little appreciation for the funny, weird, and quirky stuff that moms do? Dad jokes and funny dad articles are everywhere and that’s why this AskReddit is so perfect – finally we’re appreciating all of those little eccentricities that make moms moms. So read on, and then why don’t you give your mother a call, huh?

1. Split personality

“Mom screaming at the kids … phone rings … total personality shift! The caller would never believe we were fearing for our lives .03 seconds ago!”

2. A mom classic

“Be sure to use the bathroom before you go anywhere. You never know when you’re going to find the next one.

I live 2 minutes from work and still use the bathroom before I leave.”

3. Expert advice

“Hearing a ‘fact’ from an ‘expert’ on the news once and believing it forever.

i.e. My mom still thinks I should be getting nine hours and fifteen minutes of sleep after hearing that figure on the Today Show over a decade ago.”

4. ‘Drink a lot of fluids’

“Me: (describes some type of physical ailment) Mom: “How much water have you drank today?”

Every time.”

5. A warning

“OMG A NATURAL DISASTER/MURDER/MAJOR CRIME HAPPENED IN A COUNTRY YOU WANT TO VISIT ONE DAY. YOU SHOULD NEVER EVER GO THERE. EVER.”

6. Just like Kramer

“While driving with you in the passenger seat they throw their arm across you if they have to hit the brakes.”

7. Loud! Noises!

“Tom! Dave! Brad! YOU! Stop that!”

8. Might get chilly

“Temp might get down into the 70s. “Make sure you bring a jacket” – A jacket is what you wear when your mother is cold.”

9. Slamming cutlery

“My mom would angrily wash the dishes. All you would hear was slamming cutlery. It was terrifying.”

10. Mom strength

“Moms are freakishly strong when they need to be. I remember my wife running away from a pissed off skunk, one kid in each arm.”

11. So true

“Texting with 1 finger whilst holding the phone entirely in the palm of their other hand.”

12. Mom calls

“Mom 1 min ago: “Where are you??”

Mom 2 min ago: “Why aren’t you picking up my calls?”

Mom 3 min ago: “You are normally home at 5:32pm on the dot, it is 5:33pm, are you home? Where are you?”

Then you call her back less than a minute after the last call/text and she doesn’t answer.”

13. Grooming

“Licked her fingers to straighten out your eye brows/stray hair/etc.”

14. Rage cleaning

“Vacuuming when they’re angry so everyone knows they’re angry and everyone is super uncomfortable and it’s loud and scary and I just want to die.”

15. Moms are the best

“Mom knows why you hate that bitch Shelby from high school and goes out of her way to casually let you know that last Thursday she saw Shelby at the gym, and goddamn has she gotten fat.

Love you, Mom.”

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15 Teachers Confess the Trashiest Things They’ve Seen Parents Do

Sometimes, mom and dad behave worse than their children. On top of the low pay and dealing with kids, throw in the parents for good measure! America’s teachers have to put up with a lot of bullsh*t.

In this AskReddit thread, teachers share their tales of parents behaving badly.

1. Put some clothes on

“My mom’s a teacher and in order to talk to a parent about a child that was struggling due to the school enviornment, she arranged to meet at the parents house. Keep in mind this was scheduled in advance with a set time.

The dad awnsered the door 100% naked and tried to have the meeting with him naked on the front porch.

My mom doesn’t do anything outside the school anymore.”

2. A sad story

“Mother came to a school sports day swigging from a bottle of wine. We always felt desperately sorry for her daughter, because whenever she returned to school following a holiday at home (this was a boarding school) we had to wash all her clothes because they reeked of cigarettes, and this poor little girl was easily the most unhappy child I’ve ever seen.”

3. Not exactly role models

“Wreck their car buying drugs on the way to pick their child up from pre-school, and then try to get another parent to cover for them with their estranged husband.”

4. Holy sh*t

“Woman I used to babysit for worked in a school as an assistant or some sh*t in Toronto, she always told this story about how the class rabbit would go home with a new kid each weekend. They kept trying to avoid giving one kid the bunny for the weekend because it was clear his home life wasn’t the best. But they finally caved and let him take the rabbit home.

The parents killed the rabbit and ate it. They killed the class bunny and fried it up for dinner. They weren’t even ashamed when they told the teacher what happened on Monday. Said they were out of groceries or something.”

5. Mom the thief

“Work at a school where over 80% of our population lives under the poverty line. I keep a cabinet full of hygiene products for kids to take. Deodorant, lotion, chapstick, hair gel, feminine hygiene products, shampoo, conditioner, those kinds of things in travel sizes. Being a teen is hard enough without having to cope with hygiene problems due to lack of funds at home. So one day the entire thing is empty. Odd. I refill the cabinet and two days later all of it is gone again. Refill with the last of my supplies, catch the kid in the act of sweeping everything in his bag. I stop him, take him in the other room and talk to him. He told his mother about the cabinet. She ordered him to bring her everything he could get. She was returning the items to Walmart for store credit to buy cigarettes and beer. I told him to tell her the cabinet is locked now. I bought a bike lock so it was not a lie. It was sickening.

Update: The lock was only on until the student left. It has been on the honor system for 15 years, over 1,700 student and only one abuser of the system; I call that a good record.

Some asked or commented about feminine hygiene products and their availability at the nurse or health office. I added them early on to the cabinet when I found out that the nurse charged 0.50 for them and refused to let girls take one on credit.”

6. The bad parent Hall of Fame

“Well, in my profession it’s more often what the parents don’t do that wins them the parent of the year award. But I do have a couple hall of Famers. I’m a special education teacher, so I deal with kids with all kinds of physical, emotional and academic disabilities. I took care of a little girl once who had a number of complications due to spina bifida. Her mother couldn’t be bothered to take care of her. The little girl wore diapers and was cath’d.

She required 3-5 diaper changes a day. Mom would only send 5 diapers a week. The thing is, she was getting full services from her community, so she was being provided with plenty of supplies. We suspect Mom was probably selling the extras. I ended up just buying her diapers. Mom would not change her catheter regularly. We would change her out at school, but other than that she’d go another 24 hours before a change out. Longer, if it was a weekend.

Mom told us to ‘f off’ when we’d call and tell her to take her to a doctor. Found out later in the year that she also had scabies. We offered to administer the medications and creams at school. Mom told us to go to hell. Girl would come to school in men’s underwear, xxl shirts and size 16 pants. She was 8. Finally discovered that her 9 year old sister was changing her diapers and dressing her everyday, and sister couldn’t find any other cleanish clothes to put on her. Moms response “I’m busy. I have to get to work in the mornings.””

7. Classy

“Staff raised money to get an 8 year old girl a winter coat (live in rural Canada). Girl came to school the next day in a t shirt in the dead of winter, her mom wearing the brand new, child sized jacket.

Edit: For those wondering – the principal confronted her about it and mom told her to f*ck off and anything her kids owned belonged to her and she could do what she wanted with it. Children’s Aide was called and that student lives with a very nice foster family now.”

8. Commando

“The cafeteria, which is used for parent meetings, has tables with fixed bench seating. You have to swing a leg over to sit down.

Parent wore a short skirt and was commando. She also got up several times.”

9. Face palm

“This one was pretty funny. A parent brought out a pack of sweets or something and her son asked “can I have some?” To which the mother responded “where’s your f*cking manners? How about f*cking please?”

I face-palmed so hard.”

10. Trashy and sad

“I work in a school in one of the most socially deprived areas of the UK. At parents evening, we give every parent a printout of their child’s grades in each subject, alongside their target grades.

Last year, we had the parent of an 11 year old respond to this printout by shouting “what the f*ck am I going to do with this? I can’t f*cking read can I?” This was in front of other children, parents and her child’s teachers.

Final edit: People seem to be torn on seeing this as just trashy, or more as sad as if I might be picking on her a bit. Just to be clear, I’m not making fun of her. A quick laugh behind closed doors at things like this seems to give a bit of levity for teachers in schools like mine. It can be tough. But I think the majority of people who work in these areas do it because they want to help conquer some of the social inequalities or issues that people are facing. Whether that’s for pure humanistic beliefs, their own ego, or just because it feels like you’re accomplishing something. Maybe a bit of each.

Regardless, I feel sympathy for the woman in question, and her daughter. One of the aims of my job is to help prevent people reaching adulthood without the necessary skills to thrive. Her behavior doesn’t change that, and doesn’t make me assume I’m a higher class of person than she is, just dealt a different hand I guess.”

11. Mother of the year

“I volunteer at after school programs to help tutor.

I had a student earlier this year. Good kid. Loves math, loves computers. Wants to be a programmer when he grows up. He’s really struggling in 7th grade because he has no computer at home. We have to do his online assignments at the program, but we only meet twice a week.

I pulled his mom aside and explained how he could be doing MUCH better in school with some kind of PC and internet access at home. She says she cant afford a computer. I tell her that for $200 I could piece all the parts together myself for a fully functional set-up that would be sufficient for at least the next few years. I’d even build it with him so he could learn some extremely valuable information. I’d even front her half, but she’d have to pay me back. She says no way, still way out of her budget.

Mind you, while we’re having this conversation, she’s barely looking up to speak to me. Too busy scrolling thru the gram on her iPhone X.

I say f*ck it, I’ll do it myself. Scrap together all of the parts I can for free, I only had to buy an hdd. The set-up was really out of date, but still worked. Gave it to them. Kid was thrilled.

About a month later I notice he’s trying to finish all his hw at the program again. I ask his mom if everything’s OK with the computer. She says it broke down. I say OK, what happened? I’ll pick it up and try to fix it. She says she had to throw it away. I pull the kid aside and ask him. He tells me she sold it to her cousin for $50.

I really don’t like calling people trashy when they’re apparently stuck in a culture of poverty. Maybe she needed that $50 for the light bill, or groceries. But at the same time she spends 3x that amount on her cell phone each month, so it really just broke my heart. It was like she’s doing everything in her power to ensure the kid has no f*cking chance at a decent life.”

12. Mandated reporter

“I called a parent about a behavior issue. I must have been on speakerphone, because I heard the kid come home. Parent starts screaming at and whaling on the kid. Cussing, calling them all sorts of names. I don’t even know if the parent remembered I was on the phone. I hung up the phone and went to my principal. Teachers are mandated reporters, don’t hit your kids in front of a teacher.”

13. Sexual advances

“Our vice principal is an former Army Sergeant who’s built like a tank. He’s well liked and an amazing role model in a community where many of our kids don’t have a good male role models.

On several occasions I’ve seen mothers step well over the line and make very sexual comments to him directly in front of their kids. I mean in plain sight of their own children and in ways the kids notice. He’s always very respectful and often asks another staff member to join him if he sees one of these parents coming to talk, but it’s pretty damn trashy when it comes to some of the innuendo I’ve overheard.

These aren’t jokes either. They try to get handsy with him too.”

14. Not party time

“My cousin is a teacher and she once had a parent come to a parent/teacher conference extremely drunk and right before the meeting tried to start doing lines. Police were called and so was CPS. The school also had to call 911 once because a parent overdosed in the parking lot while waiting to pick up their kid and the poor kid was too young to understand why their mom was slumped over in their car.”

15. Outrageous

“I taught elementary school, I had a 3rd grader who was well behind all the other children in reading skills, he seemed capable of reading, but just never put forth any effort. So I would pull him aside every chance I got and tutor him, it was paying off, he was progressing nicely.

Then his mother showed up one afternoon mad as hell because the boy was learning to read. It took me a while to figure out what she was screaming about, it seems she was receiving disability payments because her boy was ‘retarded’ and incapable of reading, if the case worker found out the boy could read the payments would stop.

Luckily she caused such a commotion that the assistant principal got involved and she was threatened with arrest. But the poor little boy was scared whenever I tried to teach him.”

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