#1
#2
Probably won't make the top ten here but it felt SO good!
#3
Each of us has our own ideas about what's best to do in the couple of hours before the New Year. Some are summing up the past year, some are making new resolutions, and some are simply preparing to watch the Stranger Things finale.
Well, the user u/AdWilling4308 decided the best thing to do on New Year's Eve was to ask netizens: "What's the weirdest 'this isn't my problem anymore' moment you've ever witnessed?" And you know what? It seems the topic starter was right - at least, the thread already has over 2.1K upvotes, and the number of comments is soon approaching 1K.
In this collection, we've tried to pick the most interesting and sometimes downright ridiculous situations, revelations, and stories. So enjoy reading them with us, because why not?
#4
My then husband called me and told me he’d been arrested for drunk driving, as happened way too often, and needed a ride. He was at the police station and they’d charged him but were letting him go on his own recognizance (things were very different back then). I don’t know why I agreed as we were already separated and living apart. A misguided sense of duty maybe?
When I got there I told him I’d give him a ride back to his car but he was not coming home with me. A cop overheard and said “Ma’am you can’t take him back to his car, he shouldn’t be driving.” I said “OK, fine. You keep him then” and turned around, got in my car and drove away without looking back. I was just so done. I was so done with his alcoholism and everything that goes with it. I’d been enabling him and propping him up so he was semi-functional for far too long.
He was unavailable to attend our divorce hearing because he was in jail for the DUI.
#5
Funny thing was everyone loved him and thought I was a witch.
Then the calls started, where is he, he doesnt return calls, he misses events, he doesnt show up for work, is he ok?
I told them now you see who he really is without all my effort. I am done, not my problem.
#6
Ooo, the look on his face when he realized she no longer had to come running when he yelled for her!
A significant portion of the tales you'll find in this collection tell of people quitting their jobs out of the blue, either because they couldn't stand the unbearable work environment any longer, or because they were completely indifferent to the company and their job responsibilities.
While the former has unfortunately always been a global problem, the latter is partly due to the high turnover rate in the modern economy. Gallup cites statistical data showing that members of younger generations are more prone to job-hopping.
For example, according to Forbes, the average tenure for Gen Z employees in one job during the first five years of their working career is currently around 1.1 years. This is 2.5 times less than that of Gen X employees, and almost three times less than that of Baby Boomers. This doesn't mean that young people are worse performers - they're just different, and this must be taken into account.
#7
For the record, the job was sorting used clothes, not something really important where being away for 4 hours would break the system.
#8
#9
A separate category of stories on our list is related to education. More specifically, situations where teachers sadly realized they couldn't teach anything to students who often had no desire to study. Some educators pack up their belongings and leave the classroom forever, while others sit and silently watch the frantic class, hoping that this contrasting behavior will work.
We've previously cited educators' opinions about students' reluctance to learn and their inability to do so. This applies, incidentally, to both children and adults - for example, the National Literacy Institute cites data that today 54% of adults have literacy levels below a 6th-grade level (20% are below a 5th-grade level).
Overall, as the source notes, low literacy costs the United States up to $2.2 trillion annually. So, the problem is more complex than just tied to individual students or even entire classes. And the solution to this problem must also be complex - only then will it take any effect.
#10
I worked the overnight shift to make the vast majority of the following (& current) morning's donuts.
I use to be an internal auditor for the government, tasked with (believe it or not) finding ways to simplify and/or improve various systems. This is actually my approach to nearly everything in life...there HAS to be a better way.
In fact, I had even improvised a recipe improvement for the signature dough, which DRASTICALLY eliminated over 80% of our stores food waste for the product.
All this to say...
I came in one night to a complete mess. A different (and larger store) had lost the ability to make any product. They told me, I would need to not only make my own production run, but the other's as well.
I asked:
Who from the other store would be assisting...No one; who from mgmt. would be assisting...no one; how would I be additionally compensated...I wouldn't.
On top of that, they had messed up the machine settings, trying to increase the production speed (HIGHLY improper), and were causing about a +10% failure rate in production.
I saw all this. Took off my apron, and said, "No. I'm not doing this. I quit." And, simply walked out, not looking back.
#11
He just handed them the clipboard, told them to sort it out so everyone was happy and walked off.
#12
Manager could only get it to ring up for $2.49 as well. Eventually let me my buy it for 2 and a half bucks, then got someone to go take them all off the shelves. Checker just booked it though - way above their pay grade.
Well, some folks also decide to leave dysfunctional relationships, whether with partners or family members, realizing that the people around them have been overusing their trust, productivity, or skills for years.
Sometimes, when we unwittingly witness something like this, it seems like everything just happened out of the blue - but it could be only the last straw, logically bringing a long process to an inevitable close.
#13
I got a union rep, and video proved that I did not steal a soap and the person that set me up was the liar.
I’ve been planning on retiring in the next three months, but instead I quit immediately, two weeks before Christmas, the busiest time of year at my business. My manager asked me for a dept hand off ($1 million week store.)
She did not get it.
Bonus content: the woman that replaced me thought my job wasn’t that hard and she could do it easily! Within 2 weeks she has stepped down and my manager begged me to come back and train my replacement haha.
#14
#15
Overall, the thirty-five stories we've shared here encompass a whole world, with its joys and tragedies, selflessness and pettiness. And, of course, some blatant entitlement. What unites them is that they're genuinely interesting and sometimes instructive.
So now, dear readers, please feel free to look at all these stories, and probably add your own in the comments below. After all, we truly believe you, too, may have encountered something similar in your own life. So why not share your personal tale with others in case it's really eye-opening or interesting?
#16
So glad he’s in my rear view mirror.
#17
The HR rep's response was to ask me if maybe the reason we're so upset is because we vent our frustrations to eachother and create an echo-chamber that is creating a toxic environment.
I just looked her in the eye...thought about tearing into her about how idiotic that question was...and realized it didn't matter anymore, so I just said "no" with absolutely nothing to go with it so she could think about what she had just asked.
#18
The next day I’m getting phone calls from coworkers asking where the hell I am. The GM hadn’t told anyone he fired me. The daytime manager was panicking because she wasn’t supposed to leave until I got there, and she actually had a flight to catch.
“I’m sorry, but I got fired. I don’t work there anymore. There’s nothing I can do.”.
#19
I went back a couple of days later to see if I could get it to happen again. I took it up front, they got the inventory to come up for a price check. It can up with nothing again. This time, I got the second set for $5.
#20
At the end, she picked up her stuff, took her pursue and left the building after screaming us "we didn't want to learn anything."
I felt so bad for her at the time and even now, because she was so passionate for photography and she was teaching a bunch of kids who didn't want to even be there but needed an easy compulsory elective subject.