40 Times People Saw Others Act So Dumb They Had To Fight To Control Their Reactions

The 2024 presidential election.

In 2016, I thought "There's no way people are stupid enough to vote for THAT guy..."

In 2024, I thought "There's no way people are stupid enough to vote for THAT guy AGAIN..."

The pandemic. I used to really have trouble suspending disbelief watching apocalypse movies or shows. I used to say people aren't that dumb. People aren't going to behave like that.

I guess in a way I was right. It's actually much worse.

I work in info security. That should be reason alone, but here is a good one. My company is very large, maybe 150,000 employees in the healthcare sector. So security is tight. We stick to HIPAA, ISO, NIST, CISA, every abbreviated standards and governance body you can think of.

We routinely send out fake phishing emails to everyone. Some are terrible: Misspelling the company name, nothing but a link and some gibberish, 3rd grade grammar, and so on. The links usually bring you to a website we host that says "You clicked on a phishing link! If this were a real phish, you would have potentially infected our organization, put patient information at risk, cost us millions, and DEFINITELY lost your job. Please visit the HR training page and retake the security training program" or something along those lines.

Sometimes, after they click, people with reply to the original phishing email "I think the webpage is broken. Here is my user name and password so I can sign up for the raffle to meet Taylor Swift."

One of them was my boss's boss.

There have been so many recently, but the one that stands out the most to me is people actually believing that some schools are providing litter boxes for students who identify as cats SO MUCH SO that there is actual legislation being proposed to ban the practice...that isn't actually happening.

There’s a tweet from a national park talking about people complaining how hard the trash cans are to open that read:

“there is considerable overlap between our parks smartest bears and our parks dumbest tourists”.

Lots of great answers, here's my anecdotal story...

I used to work in a bookstore. A woman comes ina asking about the "true story" of Lord of the Rings. I assumed she meant a biography of J.R.R. Tolkein or a book about how the books/movies were made. No. She goes on to explain that she is looking for history books about the Middle Ages that talk about the elves and dwarves. She is specifically interested in elves because her whole family is tall and she thinks she might be descended from elves. I very politely explained to her that the book is fictional (aka not true) and that it calls it Middle Earth not Middle Ages. The books are shelved in the fantasy section because they aren't true. She was visibly taken aback and had tears in her eyes as she left the store. I'm not sure if she was sad that it wasn't true or because she wasn't an elf.

That person *drove* to my store. Someone gave her a driver's license and a job and money.

Any time someone tries to board public transport without letting people off first, then acting indignant that they can't get on.

When i see moms posting about hosting “measles parties” so all the kids can purposely get measles and then become immune. They believe the measles vaccine is dangerous so the obvious answer is then give your kids measles on purpose?

One time, I was in Rome and stopped by a cafe outside the Pantheon for a bite and some coffee. It was early, so I was the only one at the restaurant at this point.

A young woman (like, 25 years old) stopped to eat and she was in a hurry, asking if anything could be prepared to-go. The server declined and said (as an alternative) she could order something easy to prepare, like a salad, to expedite her meal.

The woman agreed, sat down, and asked a series of questions:
- “Can you make a sandwich?” (“yes”)
- “Can I take it to go?” (No, I already said that”)
- “How long will it take” (“a few minutes”)
- “Hmmmmm”
- “What’s a caprese salad?”
- “What’s arugula?”
- “What’s mozzarella?”
- “How long does it take to cook?” (the server started huffing at this point - “it takes NO time to cook, it’s a salad!”)
- “Are you sure it will be fast?” (“Yes, the ingredients just need to be assembled”)
- “How long will it take?” (“Under two minutes”)
- I’m vegetarian, is there any meat?” (“No...”)

The exchange went on for well over 5 minutes as the server described each of the 3 ingredients in the caprese salad and constantly reassured her that it’s quick to make. I was eating a caprese salad, so I tried to interject by showing her what it looked like. The woman kept asking the same questions on a loop, yet she was acting like she was about to miss the bus.

Eventually, the server takes her order (the caprese salad), goes to the kitchen, walks out and tells her she won’t be able to make the salad because the kitchen isn’t open yet.

The young woman perks her head up and cheerily says, “oh! Really? No problem!” and walks off.

I was crying laughing. I was literally eating a caprese salad right next to her, so obviously the kitchen wasn’t closed. I had even showed her the salad a few moments ago. After she walked off, the server turned to me and said, “I’m sorry, I just couldn’t deal with her anymore.”.

I had a client i was working with. she was on her 3rd pregnancy, we were on our way to a doctor's appointment and out of nowhere, she says " i didn't know having s*x could get you pregnant till my 2nd baby" i had to fight for my life to control my expressions. because WHATTTTTT.

I used to say conspiracy theories were my guilty pleasure. I got a kick out of how silly they were… that was until they became mainstream “common knowledge.” Jeezzus mf’s… those are just supposed to be funny stories for the cover of National Enquirer, not s**t we actually believe. I am no longer tickled by conspiracy theories.

My hobby is electronics. I often repair stuff for friends.

I went to college in San Diego, Ca and used to know a "hot rich girl" crew that I hung out with on occasion. 

Well, one day, a girl from that group reached out asking if I did laptop repair. I said yes, and that I would have some time to look at it in a few days.

Well, I went to her house and the machine in question was an Apple MacbookAir Pro2.

She said that she had already *thrown the previous laptop in the garbage* and this was the replacement they sent, which was also broken. She also said if I couldn't fix it *I was welcome to keep it*. Keep in mind, this was when that model had just come out. Not an inexpensive trash item.

I said we should take a look at what is going on before we make those decisions. I go to turn it on and it's dead, so I ask for the charging cable.

I swear to god yall it was the meme of the lady doing calculus in her head. This girl deada*s told me it doesn't have a charger. I said it should have come with one. She was ADAMANT that laptops do not need to charge. 

Apparently, she had gone on a trip somewhere but didn't bring a charger. Her ex had set up the computer and it had, I guess, never moved or been unplugged from its place on the desk until then. She assumed it was "broken" when the battery died.

I desperately tried, and failed, to explain that the laptop needs to charge, just like her phone. She insisted that was wrong because, obviously, "phones and computers are different".

Long story short, she refused to charge it, gave it to me, and went through another 2 "replacement" laptops before her dad put his foot down.

Three instances actually...

1. I had woman knock on my door one day and ask if I can "turn off my wifi for a bit" She is parked out in front of my house waiting for someone and my signal is so strong it is "making her sick." She was enraged when I told her that's not a thing nor is it my problem. This is one of those things I had even seen on the internet before and thought it was fake. Turns out...nope...these people are real.

2. The whole flat-earth thing. I thought it was a joke at first, but people really are this stupid.

3. I work in EMS/Public Safety. I lost a lot of faith in humanity and the intelligence of people during the COVID Pandemic. My wife and I (who also works in healthcare) went from hero's to "Clearly part of a giant scheme that is here to k**l us all.".

Coworker had maxed out her credit card and didn’t know how to be able to use it again. I asked her if she was just making the minimum payment, and she said, “What payment?”

She DIDNT KNOW she had to pay back the money she used on the card!!! Just thought it was “free money”!

I think COVID really opened the floodgates for science/medical disinformation. It's honestly really disheartening as a scientist (toxicologist) working in the biomedical field. I think the disinfo currently circulating that's making me heavy sigh the most is the people who are convinced that the ~chemicals~ in sunscreen is what causes cancer, not the UV rays from the sun. There's absolutely nothing you can say to convince these people otherwise. They heard it from a wellness grifter on TikTok, so it's obviously true.

Every time I read about someone backing up off the edge of a cliff while taking a selfie.

The church my now ex was attending started a collection for a married couple that was having problems conceiving, and they thought it was time to consult a fertility doctor.
Turn out this couple in their late 20's were not having s*x. When this was discovered, no one at that church thought it was ridiculous. My sexually active girlfriend's reaction was that "It could happen to anyone.".

Before the internet, I used to work in a bookstore. A college age student came in and asked for a book called "Raft of Mice". I looked it up on the inventory system. Nope. I asked her what class was requiring this title. She didn't remember. I asked her if she had a syllabus. No such luck. But...she had written it down and had her notebook with her. Great. I looked at the note and it said "The Wrath" and "Many Mice". Aha! I asked if the author was John Steinbeck. Maybe.

I explained to her that while there were no books with any of the three titles, she had given me, there were two books called "The Grapes of Wrath" and "Of Mice and Men" and both books were by John Steinbeck.

She insisted I was wrong. O.k. She left without purchasing the books. She returned two hours later all huffy and rolled her eyes at me when she purchased the two Steinbeck books. I rang her up, giving her my best smile.

Years ago, someone posted a video of a water spraying from a sprinkler system. She said "What are THEY putting in our water?". She didn't understand why it made a rainbow.

I was trying to tell *anyone* a fun fact I learned about Australia so I started with “you know how the seasons in the southern hemisphere are opposite from ours?” And it took me like 6 people before someone already knew that. THAT WAS NOT THE FUN FACT THATS JUST COMMON KNOWLEDGE. (or so I thought).