Professionalism in the workplace is important, but what about professionalism at a beach?

While a dress code in the office helps maintain an appropriate office environment, work events that force employees out of the office can muddy the waters. While you would never drink tequila and tell your co-workers how you really feel about your boss in the break room, a vent session in the hotel bar on a business trip is usually bound to happen...

Especially now with the rise of the #MeToo movement, employers and authority figures are finally being held accountable for their behavior. A safe and comfortable workplace is beneficial not only for the mental health of the staff, but also for work to be done efficiently. In other words, don't be a jerk and everyone will be happy.

When a woman posted in the Reddit "Am I the As*hole" section about whether or not it was appropriate to wear a bikini to work event at the beach, the internet was ready to weigh in. Sure, a bikini in the office would be questionable, but what else do you wear to the beach?

AITA for wearing a bikini during a work trip/vacation?

My company took my team to another city for a week for a conference. It was an extended trip with a lot of free time, so we all did some fun things too and the trip turned out to be half work/half vacation. There is no beach in the city where I usually live, so I suggested that we all go to the beach one afternoon. At the beach, I stripped down to a bikini to sunbathe and go swimming. After I did that, a coworker pulled me aside and said that what I was wearing was inappropriate, that even though we had gone to the beach during the afternoon for fun, we had gone together as a team of colleagues and that we should not be dressed so "unprofessionally".

I did not take him seriously, and just blew him off, I had a lot of fun that day at the beach. However things have escalated at work now, there have been complaints lodged about my lack of professionalism and inability to take criticism and change. Complaints have been lodged with hr and my boss right now. It is worth noting that none of the others were wearing a bikini, they were dressed way more conservatively, even at the beach. AITA?

While it is an important detail that none of her other co-workers were wearing bikinis, it wouldn't be fair for her beach attire to make them search for other problems with her professionalism in the office. Later, she edited the post to provide more details...

Edit : A lot of the guys were wearing swim shorts and no shirt or just a pair of boxers. I don't know how that is appropriate, but I'm not? All the women were wearing more clothes though, not even just bathing suits. The women were wearing t shirts/shirts with longish shorts/capris/pants. It is generally the women in my company who are conservative, but idk why this guy (who was very professionally dressed in just a pair of Jean's shorts) took it up on himself to instigate this

Yup this officially sounds like sexist garbage. If a shirtless man in jean shorts is uncomfortable with a bikini, that's a double standard nobody has time for. Everyone was at a beach, dressed for the beach...

"daydreamer8893" wrote:

NAH but you probably didn’t make a very smart decision. This wasn’t your vacation- even if you had free time it was a work trip with your coworkers paid for by your office. If your work generally has conservative or professional dress common sense, and a viewing of your other coworkers around you at the beach, should have been a signal to you. Are you the asshole - no of course not but we live in a society where appearance matters at work and not being the asshole doesn’t free you from consequences. At this point considering it’s escalated you should probably apologize for the lapse in judgment and hope it blows over.

"boudicas_shield" wrote:

Eh. The men were wandering around shirtless and in swim trunks. Including the guy who complained to her, who was wearing a pair of shorts and nothing else. It’s flat-out discrimination to be pissy that the woman is wearing common beach attire when the men are literally half naked.

"dcostalis" wrote:

100% NTA.

The guys were wearing only boxers? Sexist bullshit. No question.

"kittenoftheeast" wrote:

Read the room in these situations. A work trip is not a regular vacation. Yes you may get some down time, but you have to fit in with your company's culture. You suggested the beach trip (which might have put some colleagues in an awkward situation: I sure as hell wouldn't wear a swimsuit in front of my boss!). It may have made you seem less serious about your job. Basically, if your work is paying for you to be there: you're at work. Act like it. If you want to take a beach vacation do it on your own dime.

"Iystrian" wrote:

what's inappropriate about a bikini on the beach? What were you supposed to wear? If there was a beach dress code, they should have said so in advance.

"archiminos" wrote:

This is utterly bizarre. You're at a beach during free time and you're getting in trouble for wearing a bikini? I'd be looking for a new job at that point.

So, there you have it! While some people think she was wrong to be a woman in a bikini ON A BEACH, most people think it was pretty sexist of her co-worker to call her out when all he was wearing was a pair of jean shorts.

On Sunday night Donald Trump launched a passionate rant against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that quickly escalated into claims that she has committed treason, and therefore, she is the one who should be impeached.

This is not the first time Trump has suggested he is not the political player at fault, he also accused chairman of the House Intelligence Committee Adam Schiff of foul play shortly after Pelosi announced a formal impeachment inquiry.

Trump claimed that Pelosi and Schiff employed illegal tactics during the investigation of his communications with the Ukrainian president.

People were quick to note that members of Congress cannot be impeached, so Trump's demand for Pelosi's impeachment reveal a deep misunderstanding of the political process itself.

Also, it's deeply loaded for Trump to accuse Pelosi of committing a crime as serious as treason, particularly since people have suggested he himself may be guilty of such high crimes.

A few people pointed out how the nature of Trump's attacks on her character create a potentially unsafe atmosphere for her, can contains an implicit call for his supporters to take arms.

This late night Twitter tirade does not read like the words of someone who feels secure in his innocence.

The draft isn't the only thing the Trumps are known for dodging. They're also experts at dodging the hell out of a question, especially when it pertains to them facing consequences for their criminal behavior.

Ivanka Trump was recently asked by a Fox News host to give her thoughts on her dad's impending impeachment and—surprise!—she evaded the question entirely, and is now being thoroughly roasted for it. The President's daughter was asked: "what do you think about everything that's going on right now with the Democrats' attempts to impeach your dad?"

This was her quintessential non-response, accompanied by her compulsively touching her hair (a nervous tic triggered by anxiety, perhaps?):

I think everything’s a question of priorities. We have our priorities in the White House. We’re fighting every day for the American worker.

We’re fighting every day to improve the quality of life for every single person in this country and we’re delivering in that fight and on that promise.

That’s our priority. USMCA – let’s get it passed congress.

Literally no clue what she's talking about, but it's definitely not her dad's impeachment.

Ivanka Trump's awkward, shady response is going viral on Twitter, where people have been quick to call out the bullsh*t.

And some brought receipts.

People were not above commenting on her uncomfortable hair-touching.

Ivanka may be able to run from this question, but she can't hide, even behind that blonde bob.

No one says it better than Gale Turner Strong.

Amen, sister.

Traveling is fun and educational but it's also important to be a good tourist.

There's nothing worse for residents of a major tourist location than being forced to watch people regularly disrespecting their home. While tourism drives the economy and keeps many people employed in tourist destinations, it's still important to remember that people actually live there and what you see in the movies isn't an entire place.

Not everyone who lives in Boston talks about "pahking their cahs" (just most of them). Not everyone who lives in Hawaii is a hula-dancing surfer with flowers in their hair. There's more to Las Vegas and the strip and more to New York City than the crowded, sensory overload of Times Square. And for the love of whatever God you choose, please don't go to the Times Square Olive Garden or chain restaurant when you're in arguably the best city for Italian food. Of course it's always fun to check out a city's most popular places, but next time you're in a heavy tourist location it might be more rewarding to go off the beaten path and see what the locals are up to.

When a recent Reddit user asked, "People who live in ‘vacation destinations’ (Paris, the Bahamas, etc.) what is the most irritating misconception about where you live?" the internet was ready to complain...

1. Reality still exists in Vegas, "kyothinks."

I live in Las Vegas. Listen. What happens in Vegas stays on the internet and also in the stories of every local who saw you do it. Don't do stupid shit.

2. There's more to NYC than Times Square, "gambalore."

Not all of New York City is as crowded as the touristy areas. The vast majority of us aren't navigating through Times Square as part of our daily commutes (but mad sympathy to those who actually have to).

3. Damn, "Reamund."

I only lived there for a little while, but it’s a common misconception that Hawaii is a great place to live. Don’t get me wrong - it might be the most beautiful place on earth and there are many, many exceptional things about living there. But it’s terribly expensive just to grocery shop, let alone try to buy a house. Many people just live with their parents and grandparents because no one can afford to move out. So many houses and apartments/condos are bought as vacation properties, which drives up the price. Then, houses/apartments in residential neighborhoods have a revolving door of vacationers coming in and out, which is disruptive to normal life. (People on vacation care very little about how much noise they’re making, etc.) It’s a catch-22 because so much of Hawaii’s money comes from tourism, but tourism is making it impossible for locals to buy homes.

4. Not all of California is LA, "grand_tiremaster."

I live in California. Non-Californians be like "ohhh wow I love all the palm trees and the beaches, you are so lucky!".

I live in the middle of a desert. Nothing but dirt, joshua trees, 70 mph winds, and sagebrush.

5. Cities without schools don't exist, "glimblade."

I live in Las Vegas. People are occasionally shocked when they hear I work at a school. I've been told several times, "I didn't even think Vegas had schools."

7. Accurate, "scottman586."

Los Angeles, specifically Hollywood. Literally everything about it is underwhelming. The Walk of Fame is cool for 2 seconds, Grauman's Chinese Theatre is smaller than you'd think, the Hollywood sign is just a big ass sign, and no, you're not going to run into a celebrities walking around. All the while it's incredibly crowded, smells terrible, and you have to dodge costumed street performers in droves.

8. Ha, "msbump."

Ppl confusing Dubai for Saudi. I often get asked if I have to cover up when I go outside, and if I can go out without a male chaperone.

Bitch please, we're the Vegas of the Middle East.

9. This is upsetting, "schnit123."

I lived in Hawaii for many years. You wouldn't believe how many people legitimately think everyone in Hawaii lives in grass huts or who are shocked to find out everyone there speaks English or don't know Hawaii is part of the United States, including quite a lot of Americans.

10. This is news to me, "Shaggy_the_GOAT."

We're not all beaches , crazy people and old people ( Florida)

11. Not all of New York state is Manhattan, "pretend_shower."

When I tell people I live in New York, they think I live in a penthouse overlooking Central Park. Let me be clear there’s much more this state has to offer

12. Beantown is not a thing, "Schmabadoop."

Boston.

If you're expecting everyone to talk like a Ben Affleck movie you'll be sorely disappointed.

Also, all caps for those in the back, HARVARD YARD IS A PEDESTRIAN ONLY AREA. SHUT THE FUCK UP ABOUT LEAVING MOTOR VEHICLES THERE!!

No a single person calls this place Beantown. None. Zero. Zip. Nada.

13. Oh no, "leaningtoweravenger."

In some occasions, here in Italy, when visiting medieval towns tourists ask where people go at night when the city closes thinking of it is an amusement park

14. Wise words, "twirlywurlyburly."

New Orleans. No, I don't live in the Quarters, no I don't hang out on Bourbon Street, no I don't eat crawfish everyday, and I only drink maybe a couple glasses of wine a couple days a week. Also, there is so much more to this city than the Quarter that is still in your touristy agenda, so stop getting so drunk that you're sick everyday of your trip and see what else we have!

15. London is for pubs, "Whapwhaaap."

London. People think it's really quaint and idyllic and we all fart around drinking tea and twirling canes. A huge majority of it is a shithole. The buses look very nice on a postcard but they generally stink of piss. The Thames could probably kill you if you dip a toe in. The London Eye is boring as shit.

Pubs are good though.

Even the most "normal" and functional-seeming families are often hiding a lot from the outside world and Instagram. And if any outsider is going to learn the truth, it could very likely be the person being paid to take care of the kids (and potentially snoop through the parents' stuff when they're not home, beware of the Elf on the Shelf!). Someone recently asked babysitters of Reddit to spill on "what seemingly normal parents had dark secrets?"

These 18 stories from babysitters prove that the most "normal"-seeming families are often the ones harboring the wildest, most f*cked up secrets:

1.) From MiniPlesiosaur:

Somewhat wholesome story: I used to babysit for the kids down the street when I was in high school. One night I went into the parents’ bedroom to get something - I think a puzzle - and there was a book on the nightstand called “how to comfort your kids when you’re thinking of divorce” or something like that. The next time I was over, there was a book downstairs (on the mom’s desk) that was “the couples’ therapists’ guide to saving a failing relationship.”

It made me sad because the parents seemed really happy together whenever I saw them. I felt bad that they must have been going through a hard time behind the scenes. My parents had a pretty unhappy marriage so I tried to be extra nice to the kids. I hoped they hadn’t had to listen to their parents fighting.

Anyway, this went on for a few months with no further indications of trouble. I felt like I knew this awful secret that the kids didn’t know. One night I came over to babysit—the mom was in grad school and she had a class—and the same books were sitting on the counter. As the mom was leaving, she was like, “oh, I can’t forget the textbooks!” and grabbed them off the counter. I actually didn’t know what she was studying, so I asked what class she had. Turns out she was studying to be a couples’ and family therapist. The books I saw were her schoolbooks. In retrospect, that made complete sense because the titles were kind of academic, but I immediately assumed they were divorcing.

About a decade later, they are still married and the wife is a very successful couples and family therapist. Go figure.

2.) From FireTrick:

This family I babysat for had a locked room in their basement that, when I opened it one time out of curiosity, had a LOT of nazi stuff in it.

3.) From hydrangeasinbloom:

“My daddy hits my mommy sometimes.” For that one, I was still in high school. I told my mom what she said and my mom went to the police station to report it.

“I like it when you’re here, not the other lady. She’s mean and she makes me sit in the closet.” This little girl was referring to her dad’s girlfriend. I told the dad about it and never saw the girlfriend around again.

And for some comic relief... “My older brother and I play swords in the bathroom, daddy taught us how.” Asked him to show me with his action figures what he meant, expecting the worst, and he says look! And goes in his dad’s closet and pulls out these giant foam swords. Whew!

Thankfully not all in the same house.

4.) From bowserisapleb:

I never really babysat for anyone besides family, but I did dog-sit for a woman and her husband for a while. She gave me a tour of the house the first time I went over there and there was a room in the back of the house that was filled with dildos and other sex toys. She sold them as a side hustle and wanted me to know they were there in case i was uncomfortable. They paid me well and left a great review on the site I was using. I wish they never moved lol I loved their dogs

5.) From damnitmelanie:

I nannied for this very rich family with three kids from the west coast who would come to south Florida for summer vacation every year. The mother was in her thirties, clearly had her kids when she was young, and was very stereotypically hot— blonde, thin, big boobs, perfect teeth. Her husband was a little older, salt and pepper, suuuuper handsome, very George Clooney-esque. Their kids were all blonde-haired, blue-eyed, cute as fuck. They absolutely adored their parents.

Dad would help the kids and mom settle in at the house and then fly back to Cali for work. I babysat 3-5 times a week, 6:30pm-2am. Mom would get all dolled up, leave her wedding ring on the kitchen counter, and come home very late, clearly drunk, and sometimes brought men home with her that she introduced as her “friends.” She would often overpay me, which I never complained about, but I worried for the kids.

6.) From MissPiggyK:

I baby sat a lot when I was 13-15. At the time I lived in a small town. I was a very popular baby sitter as I also worked at the daycare centre. Often I would have kids from two or three different families at once. I didn't care I got triple the pay for having three different groups of kids. I was recently told why I always had groups of kids like that. Turns out the small town had a swingers club and I was the go to baby sitter for their different groups.

7.) From throwawayyyyyyyyy126:

I used to babysit for my next door neighbor who had an 8 year old girl and a 5 year old boy. I was 13 when I started babysitting for them and I knew off the bat the kids were an interesting duo, to say the least, and I have too many stories to tell from when I was watching them. We all went to school together, so when we got off the bus, we'd walk to their apartment and I'd watch them, made sure we got homework done, and make them the Snack of the Day. One day, we had a half day at school, and I think the mom forgot, because when we walked into the apartment, I heard one of the doors shut. At the time, we thought it was an intruder, so I grabbed the 5yo's baseball bat, told them to stay in the room, and I'd do some investigating. I opened the bathroom door, and there was the mom, half naked, with a guy that wasn't her husband. She gave me all the money in her wallet and her business card (she was a photographer) and told me to never speak of it again. I caught her cheating and made out with $400 and a $650 photo shoot package (took pictures for all the upcoming holidays so I could keep giving gifts to my family). I babysat them for about 3 months after, before they moved away.

8.) From Neopetwashout:

I was babysitting once and the kids were wrestling in the living room. All of a sudden the smell of dank filled the room. I hear the kids stop and say "what is that?". One of them had knocked over a big tin can on a shelf and the parents weed stash spilled everywhere. I sent the kids away and cleaned it all up for them and put it back.

9.) From Lil_toad_mode:

I babysat for the local policeman when I was teenager - he always came home very drunk and in a weird mood and one time brought out a home made Ouija board and persuaded me to take part with his buddies. Always paid me really well...

10.) From Girl-Here:

A family member of mine was a babysitter in the 70s. A couple who lived nearby asked her to babysit their baby a few times. I didn’t get the sense that she knew them well. Every time she’d go they said the baby was sleeping and not to disturb the baby by checking on it. The baby never cried. The parents would come home and relieve her. She never saw or heard a baby.

At the time I don’t think my family member thought much of it, but has told me this story several times because it keeps nagging at her. How could a baby be asleep for the entire time she was there, every time. No noises. Nothing. Today, she thinks there must not have been a baby but has no idea why they’d hire her.

11.) From Littlecuckprincess:

I babysit 3-5 times a week.

You’d be surprised at how many sex toys I see. A lot of them are just out in the open. Like they forgot to hide them. I overnighted once and the guest bed had bondage straps. Parents totally forgot about that.

That’s not too surprising. But some of their kinks are.

12.) From itchinandburning:

i used to babysit when i was around 13-14 ish. my neighbors and 3 kids. ages 4,7, and 11. the house was really nice, always clean and tidy. one time they asked me to babysit for a couple hours. okay no big deal. they paid me $6 an hour. when i got there they made the kids shake my hand and say “thank you for babysitting us”. i thought it was weird but it was whatever. the parents left and the kids wanted those dinosaur chicken nuggets so i made them some. as they were eating the 7 yr old asked for a toy, she said it was in her parents dresser. i didn’t want to snoop around but if she wanted the toy, i get it for her. i went into the parents room and found the dresser. i opened the first one and all i see are stacks of cash.. okay. weird but not my business. i went back out to ask the girl what dresser drawer it was in. she goes over and literally points at the second drawer and said “oh don’t open that one, it has bags of sugar in it, that’s what i hear mommy say”. i was like oh.. okay then.. she grabs her toy from the 4th drawer and runs off. i did take a peak in the drawer and sure enough, under the socks were bags of cocaine. i was shocked but i didn’t say anything. i put everything back where it was and left the room. when the parents got back i took the cash and left. never babysat there again. TLDR: babysat some kids and found cocaine in the parents drawer.

13.) From aintnogreatloss:

I was babysitting for my neighbors, & they were super nice people, two kids, very pottery barn people. They would always come home late, with no cash to pay me, but they’d come by my house literally the next day with the cash, so I never minded, but I was always a little confused as to how they spent all their cash at dinner & a movie & somehow didn’t plan to pay the sitter, & how they managed to stay out til 3 am just doing dinner and a movie (& they were pretty wealthy, so it wasn’t like a waiting til payday thing). Once before they left, when they were in the other room saying goodbye to the kids, I went to move the wife’s purse and saw a really big roll of singles. I brushed it off, but then another time their daughter had an allergic reaction & I texted them a SOS. When I got a call back, I picked up & heard club music. It was a couple sittings after that, when I left through the back door and saw the husband in the garage, shaking glitter off their clothes, that I realized they were probably going to a strip club. When I went to college, they switched to using my sister as a sitter, & I sat down with her and explained where they went and not to ask or act suspicious. They were good parents, & it’s not like a problem, it was just super not the vibe they gave off & I kinda found it hilarious.

14.) From UsedToBeOnFire:

I nannied for a wealthy couple (she was a surgeon, he was an architect), and the husband had a study in the house that the wife joked about never being allowed in. Now, I'm a nosy fucker, and I was curious about why you wouldn't let someone in a study, esp since it looked like a fairly normal room: big desk, walls covered in bookshelves, books of architecture everywhere. So one day I just roamed around in there. I didn't really find anything, and I was kinda disappointed, but then I grabbed a book off one of the shelves. The thing had money pressed between it's pages - about $500, if I had to guess. Picked up another book, found the same thing. I think I checked like ten different books, and every single one had money hidden in it.

Still not sure if the dude was just paranoid about banks or if he was intentionally hiding money from his wife.

15.) From Ch4rly0:

I was babysitting at my neighbor's house, they were a young couple (early 30s) with two kids aged 5 and 8. I was sixteen at the time and the first questions they asked me was if I had a boyfriend and if I was a virgin, because they didn't want me seeing boys while babysitting. I think part of the reason why they asked this is because they were pretty wild themselves and probably did crazy stuff when they were younger and babysitting. When they found out I smoked, they always left some cigarettes for me. They always told me that they'd be home around 12 or 1, but most of the times I would fall asleep and they would stumble home completely drunk around 3 in the night. They'd give me way too much money as an excuse, which I obviously didn't mind. After a while the dad started messaging me online, first just asking innocent questions, but after a while they became more sexual in nature. I told him I didn't feel comfortable with that so he stopped. They broke up a while later and the mom started throwing wild parties at their home. I randomly walked by with a friend of mine once and she invited us in and gave us a beer. Me and my friend felt pretty cool, here we were at a grown up party, having beers, until the mom came up to us to offer us some cocaine. We were shocked and declined and left the party quickly after that. I told my parents a couple of years later about all this (after the mom and kids moved) and they were outraged, apparently they always acted like they were very respectable.

16.) From Tekowsen:

I am a dude, and have had dogs for a large portion of my life. I live somewhere pretty close to a small park with a playground and I used to walk and play with my dog there frequently so I would meet this woman who had an adorable daughter quite often. Both she and her daughter liked my dog, so it would often end up with my dog and her daughter playing for a bit while me and the mother were talking about stuff. I am quite laidback and chill, so after talking for some time she asked if I would like to care for her daughter sometime if she was gonna be busy (as she trusted me). As I liked her daughter I didnt mind, we ended up just playing mario kart and chillin on the sofa while I told her stories until she had to go to bed.

The mother came home pretty drunk on a few occasions and we ended up sleeping together a few times. What she hadnt told me about was that she had a husband that was working offshore, the kind of work where he would be gone for weeks at a time with no cell reception, something I kinda found out when I passed her house while walking my dog, seeing a man working in the garage and the garden several days in a row. I asked the woman the next time I met her if she had met someone new as I saw some guy at her home.

Her face changed immediately and she poured it quietly all out to me, she was miserable with her husband cause he was an alcoholic and was rarely at home cause of work where he always worked overtime. She had fallen for me and thought that I was one of the sweetest men she had ever met, and she would rather be with me than with him.

So her nice house, expensive car and all sorts of gadgets were paid by her husband while I as a lowly middle range wage man was boning his wife and bonding with his daughter while he was gone. I felt so bad about it so I told her that we should stay as friends, but that I would keep her secret if she promised to care as well as she could for her daughter, and if shit hits the fan I would look after her daughter.

Its been over 1 year now and we still occasionally talk, but I still feel pretty bad about it all. I just hope the daughter doesnt know.

17.) From useless_anonymous:

I was baby sitting a 2 y/o and a 5 y/o (both male) the kids were fine but the parents acted suspicious whenever i entered their room . They had cameras everywhere and shit

18.) From londonswncpl:

Well on the flip side we normally hire a babysitter so that we can responsibly head out to overnight orgies and couples dates. Not too dark but a fun secret!

Teaching kids how to express empathy and think about other people's feelings is essential, and it can be a lot harder than it sounds. Because of the stages in their brain development, young children have less emotional inhibitions and are often far more reactive. This makes it much harder for them to name and manage their Big Feelings than it is for adults, and many of us are still struggling.

Still, even with their developing kid brains, children who are raised in loving and healthy environments can be taught an awareness of other people's feelings, and how to buck back against their own selfish tendencies.

In a recent post on the Am I The *sshole subreddit, a dad asked if he was wrong for giving his son "a taste of his own medicine" in order to teach him to be nicer to his sister.

"AITA for ripping up something my son made because he did the same to his sister"

When OP saw his 8-year-old son rip up a picture his 6-year-old sister gave him, the little sister immediately broke into tears.

Rather than sit his son down to explain why that was cruel to the little sister, OP decided to give his son a taste of his own medicine.

"So my 6 year old daughter gave my 8 year old son a piece of paper with a picture on it and he ripped it up and said “This means nothing to me.” Right in her face and made her cry. So I grabbed a craft he made me yesterday (nothing sentimental and he didn’t work hard on it) and ripped it up and told him it meant nothing to me."

OP's wife was not so pleased with his parenting tactic, and told him he should've handled the situation differently.

"He cried and ran to my wife and she told me I shouldn’t have done that and it’s different for a brother to be a jerk to their sister but I shouldn’t have stooped to his level but I feel like it was a needed lesson and he wouldn’t do it again because now he knows how it feels.

AITA?"

For OP, the choice to rip his son's art work was a simple matter of teaching the golden rule.

Squashturtle thinks OP should've taught his son a lesson a different way.

"YTA because it’s soooooo different coming from a parent vs sibling. There are different ways to help him see how his action made her feel. Such as the next time she does something mean and hurtful (usually don’t have to wait long with siblings) comfort him but then remind him that she probably felt the same way when he did that to her."

"You say the craft you broke was something that wasn’t sentimental and didn’t work hard on- but that’s through your eyes. He’s an 8 year old and it’s probably a much bigger deal to him."

tacosoverpizza thinks OP should have modeled kindness and not cruelty.

"YTA! Instead of teaching him that his behavior was wrong, you behaved the same way and hurt your child's feelings. This is cruel, and you're setting a terrible example for your kids."

Abeyita is concerned this will give OP's kid the entirely wrong message.

"YTA - so hurting people is OK as long as you are making a point? Cause that's what you told him right now. That being a jackass is OK, as long as you are the one in power.

That's some bad parenting"

Mamachaos46 understands where OP was coming from but doesn't think the execution was ideal.

"EH, I'm a little torn on this one. But I'm going to go with a more extreme situation and see if you still think that doing to him what he did to his sister is the right tactic..."

"What if he hit his sister, punched her right in the face, is punching him in the face the right way to teach him that hitting is wrong? If you did it, he would certainly know how his little sister felt, is that the only way to teach him that?"

"I understand your reasoning, but I also don't think you put a lot of thought into it before you did it, and I think you are here looking for validation after the fact. YTA."

pepperbeast laid out what OP modeled, regardless of intention.

"YTA. Here's what you taught your son: it isn't really wrong to destroy other people's stuff, as long as you're the biggest bully. If you're unhappy about something, get revenge. Your parents are dishonest people who don't really value what you do. It's better to make a big scene than to try to deal with someone's hurt feelings. Empathy isn't worth the effort."

"Seriously, if you want your kids to behave well, stop being a bully and start setting an example."

A lot of these threads don't include follow-ups from the OP, or a clear indication of whether they truly processed everyone's take on the situation. But this thread was an exception, and OP took care to thank everyone for the feedback before sharing his follow up conversation with this son.

"Edit: I have 5 children. Two adult children, a 10 year old and the 8/6 year olds mentioned in this post."

"My 8 year old is the only boy and he has always been a dick to his sister. Ever since he was two years old and she was a newborn. The kid is just mean to her. But he’s not mirroring behavior taught. I have never done anything like this, but he does all the time. I thought perhaps having a “taste of his own medicine” would get the point across."

"I was wrong.

Thank you for the judgment.

I will think long and hard about where to go from here."

"Edit 2: I took my son out to breakfast just him and I, and we talked about my actions and why I did it, and i apologized. There’s no guidebook to parenting. And we all make mistakes.

I will say he had absolutely forgotten about it, ignored my apology (not in a spiteful way) and tried to con me into letting him have chocolate chip pancakes so I think we’re good."

It seems like OP posted the question in good faith and is going to approach similar parenting scenarios with a fresh perspective moving forward.

5. Ellen DeGeneres, because she got called for laughing it up with George W. Bush.

Yesterday, the Dallas Cowboys lost to the Green Bay Packers, and at the same game, Ellen DeGeneres lost the respect of everyone who opposes the Iraq War.

Ellen was chillin in the Cowboys Owner's Suite with her fellow rich person President George W. Bush, who before he was known for being a painter who struggles with ponchos, launched a war that killed over 1 million Iraqis and lead to the creation of ISIS.

People were aghast at how Ellen could so happily hang out with a man who campaigned in 2004 on adding a Constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage.

It's fun timing, as the Bush legacy of attacking LGBTQ rights lives on.

Unlikely friendships are only cute when they're between a puppy and a porcupine.

4. Prince Andrew, because his advisors couldn't come up with a better excuse for why he visited Jeffrey Epstein.

All the money in the world can't buy a good reason to hang out with a pedophile.

Prince Andrew, Queen Elizabeth II's second son, was accused of statutory rape by Virginia Roberts Giuffre, one of Jeffrey Epstein's wards. A video recently resurfaced of Andrew hanging out in Epstein's Upper East Side sex trafficking headquarters in 2010, after Epstein had plead guilty to pedophilia.

The Palace is now floating the line that Andrew visited Epstein to officially end the friendship in person, which is quite courteous of him. If I had any friends who turned out to be sex offenders I would absolutely ghost them, and publicly express my disgust.

According to The Sunday Times, "The Duke of York has told friends that the trip to New York in December 2010 was an attempt to break off contact with the paedophile."

Andrew's "source" told the paper: "The duke has been hammered for one mistake, which took place in 2010. He has apologized again and again for the error of judgment. But what he did wasn’t criminal. It was a mistake. He went to see a friend to tell them he couldn’t be their friend anymore."

The excuse is challenged not only by common sense, but by photographic evidence. The Daily Mailpublished photos of the visit, which show Andrew smiling and waving at young women from inside the townhouse. Was he there to break up with them as well?

The prince/duke/alleged rapist insists that he was unaware of Epstein's crimes during their friendship, even though it was a matter of public record. The FBI is reportedly investigating the connection between the prince and the pedophile, so stay tuned for the official confirmation that this excuse is dumb.

3. The groom-to-be who robbed a bank the day before his wedding to pay for said wedding.

Heath Edward Bumpous told authorities that he robbed a bank in Groveton, Texas to pay for a ring and a venue for his wedding.

"He basically stated that he was getting married tomorrow so he didn’t have enough money for a wedding ring that he wanted to buy and he needed to pay for the wedding venue," Sheriff Woody Wallace told KLTV.

Bumpous walked up to a teller, whipped out his weapon, and demanded money.

Bumpous's fiancé found out about the robbery when she saw the Facebook post with surveillance video stills, and told her man to turn himself in.

He has been booked into the Trinity County jail on an aggravated robbery charge. It's safe to say that he won't make it to the church on time.

2. Donald Trump, because he took another L in court.

Speaking of creepy powerful men who operate with impunity and are surrounded by dumb advisors, Donald Trump was ordered by a federal judge to hand over eight years of tax returns to the Manhattan District Attorney.

While presidents and presidential candidates have willingly made their tax returns public in the name of transparency, Trump has gone to great lengths to keep his secret, because nothing says "I have nothing to hide" like keeping things hidden.

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance is seeking the president's tax returns for his investigations into the porn star hush money payments during the 2016 campaign. Trump sued to keep his secrets secret, but U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero dismissed the lawsuit, and slammed Trump's argument that a president is immune from criminal investigations.

Trump's lawyers appealed the decision—and the judge granted them a stay—but the clock is ticking. Hopefully.

For years we've been told that things were happening that would damage Trump when things still have yet to actually damage him. This could be yet another jam the president wiggles his way out of, but it's still nice to see a judge rule against him.

1. Justin and Hailey Bieber, because they are facing the wrath of Taylor Swift fans.

This whole story sound like a ridiculous word salad, but I promise you, it is real.

Last week on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Taylor Swift shared a fun video of her, post-Lasik surgery, crying over a banana.

Bieber mocked the video on an Instagram Livestream, pissing off funs who were already upset with the Biebs given this summer's drama between Swift and Bieber's manager, Scooter Braun.

Both Taylor Swift stans and casual listeners pointed out the rudeness of Bieber's video after spending the summer begging for her forgiveness.

The backlash was intense enough that Hailey Bieber responded to a Swift fan, insisting that the Biebers mean no offense, and that people upset at them are stupid to let themselves feel that way.

Looking forward to the Biebers' next apology. They've gotten good at this.

Driving at night can be stressful enough without the occurrence of anything out of the ordinary. It's already creepy double checking every turn to make sure you don't hit something, or someone, hidden in the dark.

There's a reason horror movies are often set in the shadows of dark back roads, it's a great hiding spots for creeps and killers, hungry beasts and alien landings. While most night drives are exclusively marked by glaring headlights and empty streets, there are people who have experienced scary night drives plucked straight out of a horror movie.

In a recent Reddit thread, people shared the scariest scenes they've witnessed while driving at night and it'll make you want to carpool every time.

1. orcus74 almost got killed by some cows.

"Scariest only because it nearly killed me:"

"Driving back from a late high school football game that I was covering, I was going through a very remote section of highway in farmland. I was a little zoned out, but the road was straight and wide for a while. I was going along at a good clip when I was vaguely aware that there was suddenly something in my way, but it was almost just a sense of it, not anything I could really see. Something just didn't look right, and I could tell hitting the brakes was not going to help, so I swerved into the opposing lane and passed something large that had been blocking my lane. I still didn't know what it was, but it was large."

"I got turned around and went back slowly to see what the hell I had barely missed. When I got close enough to see better in my headlights, there they were, two very large, completely black cows. They were big enough that my hatchback would have been totally crushed if I'd hit them, and it could've easily been a fatal accident...for me and the cows."

"I called the local police and they sent a car out while I waited to make sure no one else hit them, even though the cows wandered off the road a ways and I hadn't seen another car for quite a while. When they got there, they knew who the cows belonged to and called the guy up all pissed off because this apparently happened more frequently than they liked.

Tl;DR Damn cows nearly killed me."

2. CO_74 saved a young woman's life.

"About 20 years ago, I was driving home from a late wedding DJ gig. I was driving south on a major interstate which was relatively empty at 2:30 AM or so. At one point, in the "narrows", the retaining walls on each side get very high as the highway snakes underneath overpasses."

"Out of nowhere, a young woman jumped down from the retaining wall onto the highway and directly in front of my car. I hit the brakes hard, came to a complete stop, and nearly slammed into her. She looked up, ran to my passenger door and got in looking terrified. She looked between 16 and 20 years old, long blonde hair, and her clothes looked a little dirty. Not homeless dirty, but like she'd fallen down a few times. "I just need to call my mom," she said."

"I tried to calm her down and began moving back down the highway and behind me about 50 feet, I see another figure jump down onto the highway out of my rear view window. I didn't mention this to her and she didn't look back or see the other person. I sped up and went about 4 or 5 exits south. She kept saying over and over, "I just need to call my mom."

"This was before most people had cell phones, so I told her I would take her to one of the 24 hour grocery stores and she could call her mom. I asked her if she needed money for a pay phone, what was wrong, etc. She said nothing other than, "I just need to call my mom."

"I pulled up to the grocery store and stopped. She got out quickly, but not running, then ducked into the grocery. She didn't say a word to me or look back. I pulled into the gas station across the street and called 911 and told them the entire story and let them know the young woman was inside the grocery store and a description of her."

"I have no idea what happened. I don't know why she did that, what happened to her, who the figure behind us on the highway was - nothing. Really made me super uneasy. I think I did the right thing. I would have tried to do more but she seemed really fragile emotionally and somewhat afraid of me (I am a guy), so I wanted her to just be able to get to where she needed to be."

3. TheRealMeatMan saw a guy covered in blood.

"Was driving with some friends at around 2am, rainy cold night, along a winding section of road with a steep drop off to the river below on one side. We pass a small pull-off and notice a car with no lights on. As we drive by we catch a glimpse of a person standing next to it, and as the headlights hit him we see his shirt is covered in blood all down the front. We don’t stop, but turn around and drive back slowly."

"I roll down my window as we approach, and he just stands there, blood all over his shirt and pants. His car looks fine, couldn’t have been a crash. Out the window I ask if he’s ok, and over the pounding rain and roar of the river below I hear the most distant and sorrow “I’m fine”. Gave me chills, I don’t reply and slowly drive off as my buddy calls the cops. About half an hour later we drive by again and there is an ambulance and a couple cruisers, turns out the guy slit his wrists and was going to jump off into the river, cold rainy and pitch black. Scary where your mind can take you..."

4. fastfood12 never found out what the barricade was for.

"There's a public park near my house, which gets pretty dark at night. I was driving home tired and exhausted after midnight when I realized that someone had dragged all the garbage cans and other large items out into the middle of the road to form a barricade of sorts."

"I'm not sure if it was just a lame prank or if someone was waiting for a car to stop so that they could rob the person. I didn't bother to find out. There was just enough room for my small car to slip through. It's happened twice in the past few weeks, so I'm going to assume it's just some teenagers being jerks."

5. A_Love_Stain assisted a cougar's suicide.

"A big cougar running next to my car then for no reason decided to commit suicide and run under the side. I wasn't sure if it fucked my car up and was terrified to get out and check. Eventually my 18 year old brain decided I should check. It was dead but looking back that was really dumb of me"

6. tomsmith224 accidentally scared a car of teenagers.

"This story is one where I was the one that [unintentionally] scared somebody. I was driving home from a friend’s late one evening (probably around 3am). The town I live in and grew up in has a reputation for being a racist area thanks to a few high profile incidents and a reasonable amount of racist idiots living/having lived here in the past."

"As I approached the town, I was going round a roundabout when a car joins, ignoring my right of way and cuts me off a bit. It was a shit bit of driving but I’m reasonably good at not letting that get to me. What was mildly irritating though was given how keen the driver was to get out onto the roundabout in front of me, he then drove about 5mph below the speed limit on the way into the town and like I said it’s late and I just want to get to bed."

"About a mile later we reach the Main Street of the town which has many turn offs and I’m still sat behind them. They pick one of the quieter turn offs which is the one I usually use to get home. At the end of that street they can go left or right and still end up at the other end of the housing estate."

"They choose right, which is where I need to go. Then they have a few turn offs in both directions before hitting another main road. They choose the quietest turn off, I presume thinking I’m following them and wanting to see if I actually am or if I’m just making my way into the main road. Unfortunately for them, they’ve turned onto my road."

"They’re crawling along it at this point, obviously slightly worried. The driver probably thinks I’m still pissed about being cut off and I’m following him for some sort of revenge. So they decide to pull in and let me pass. They indicate and pull across a driveway which just happened to be mine."

"I had to pull alongside them and open my passenger side window. The driver opens his and there’s 2-3 black teenagers in the car all looking slightly terrified by the pretty big skinhead (not by choice) white guy who has been following them and now pulled up alongside them in the middle of a quiet estate in an area known for being racist."

"The look of relief on his face when I said “sorry mate, that’s my driveway you’re blocking there” was pretty hilarious. Poor kid was scared shitless but somehow in trying to get rid of me made a series of road choices that convinced him he was about to be murdered."

7.OrganicEggWhite suspects the mystery woman had a sinister plan.

"This woman was on the side of the road and asked me to come look at her car, which was parked in a large turn-off. I asked what was wrong and she just kept saying to come look. I apologized and drove away and she just stood there while I drove away. More weird than scary but it was night in the country and I was alone. Edit: I offered to call someone for her but she said no."

8. ChokinMrElmo scared the robbers away.

"One night at around midnight a year ago, a man pulled into my driveway in an SUV. My driveway is quite large and loops around, and he parked with his headlights set to bright and pointed toward my front door. My front door was open with just a locked screen door between us."

"Since it was close to midnight and he parked so strangely, I grabbed one of my handguns before heading to the door to double check that it was locked. I considered closing the the actual door, but if they were there to rob me, they already knew I was home. Plus, they could just be in need of assistance. I set my handgun next to the front door- close enough that I could grab it in under a second and out of view from the outside."

"A man stepped out of the SUV which caused the interior lights of the car to turn on, and through the brights I could just barely see that he wasn't alone. The man approached my front door and greeted me. I asked why he was in front of my home, and he said he was looking for a friend's house. I advised that he wasn't at the right place, and that he should continue on down the road to find the residential area he was probably looking for. He said he came from that direction, and reiterated that he was looking for a friend's house."

"He had a smartphone in his hand, so I suggested that he use it to call his friend for directions. He gave me an excuse about how his friend wouldn't pick up. So I suggested he type his friend's address into google maps and follow the directions to get there. He said he tried that, but he couldn't get it to work. He asked me to come outside of my house, at midnight, to help him type an address into google maps."

"I obviously refused. I said, "Look, bud, it's almost midnight, I don't know you, and you're insistent that I unlock my door and come outside to help you with something a toddler could do." He responded, "Hey, man. don't call the police. I'm a military vet, and I just need some help. So can you please come outside and help me?"

"Now, I feel I should state here that up to this point, the police had not been mentioned at all. So obviously, telling me not to call the police made me want to call the police. I put one hand on my gun before informing him that I would be calling the police, and that he should leave before that happens. He started to protest, but I pulled out the gun and used the side of the barrel to close my actual door. I just wanted to show him that I was armed, but I didn't want to escalate things further by pointing a gun at him."

"He fled while I called the cops, but nothing ever came of it. Then six months ago, my neighbor ran into a similar situation (SUV/ multiple men), only he was asleep when they showed up. A man rang his doorbell close to midnight, he got up, and opened his front door without really looking to see who was there."

"As soon as he did, a man that had been standing to the side of the door out of sight, pointed a shotgun to his head and walked him back into his own house. He sat there for hours with a shotgun pointed at his head while multiple men robbed him. They didn't shoot him, but they did clean him out. He lost everything- jewelry, cash, credit cards, guns, TVs, computers, you name it. They even made him give his PIN number, and drove to go test it while he was still being held at gunpoint."

"I don't know for sure that they were the same people, but if you wanted to get someone into position to pull that same maneuver at my house- knowing that the home owner was watching- blinding them with the brights of an SUV would be a damn good way to do it."

9. boyfromtherat can still hear the screams.

"While working one night was called to attend a head-on car accident with three people killed. The driver of one vehicle wasn’t wearing a seatbelt and the force of the impact had embedded his steering wheel in his forehead. His best mate was in the seat next to him and was conscious and making the most horrific shrieks. Will never forget that image or that sound."

10. allgreentome suspects the woman who charged their car was high on meth.

"I was driving to work at 3 in the morning (I work at an airport) and I was in the middle lane doing 70 MPH when a lady ran AT my car, in the middle of a highway, waving her arms. I swerved into the left lane so fast I couldn’t believe I didn’t hit her later, and kept going. I would have stopped, I really would have, but something in her face didn’t say “I need help.” It was more “I’m on massive amounts of drugs.” When I got to my lot 10 minutes later I called 911 and told them what happened. I never heard anything or saw anything in the papers so I assume she wandered away."

11. Tacos_117 felt like they were in a horror movie.

"I thought I was driving into silent hill when the road looked like it was flaking off and blowing away. Just Nebraska after harvest and the dried husks where blowing away."

12. poltrgiest thinks it might've been aliens.

"A couple of friends and I were coming home from a late afternoon/night hike a few weeks ago, and we decided to pull over near a run-down rest stop so my friend could use the bathroom and the rest of us could stretch our legs. It was maybe 8pm and it’s winter here, so it was pitch black. This area is just thick trees and bushland, so there’s no houses or campgrounds or whatever around. I believe there used to be, but they moved the campground somewhere else because it’s on the side of a mountain and it was too dangerous."

"As we were all getting back into the car, I felt sort of...uneasy. I didn’t want to mention it because I didn’t want my friends to make a big joke about it, but someone else spoke up and said they felt uncomfortable too, and that we should get out of there. We all agreed and as soon as my friend started the car, these lights flickered on in the middle of the trees. We kinda stared at them for a moment - I wanna say there was six or seven of them. Two of them were higher than the others, and then the rest were in a line below them. They kind of bobbed, like somebody was holding a torch or something, but they were way brighter than a torch."

"We started reversing out of the car park, the car still facing these lights, when suddenly they just sped at us through the trees. I don’t know how to explain it, it looked like they were zooming towards us super fast. We were terrified and my friend just flung us out and got the hell out of there."

"I’d have just told myself it was people in the woods, except when we were driving down the road at 60k/hr, we could still see them trailing behind us in the trees, keeping pace. After a couple of seconds, they just disappeared and the rest of the way home was uneventful as ever."

"We have absolutely no idea what that could have been. As far as I know, you can’t get vehicles into the area since it’s overgrown and dangerous, and I don’t know that any person can keep up with a car like that. I’m not a big believer in aliens and UFOs and stuff but tbh if you told me that’s what we saw, I wouldn’t be surprised."

"Edit: a few people have said off roaders or dirtbikes and stuff but the reason I never thought of that was because I didn’t actually hear any engines - however, I was also in a running car and there was a lot of panicked yelling, so I could easily have missed it, haha"

13. inner_x saw a naked guy just chillin'.

"Driving around 1am thru a dirt road, a naked dude was walking by with only shoes on him."

14. Volunteer-Magic saw the apocalypse.

"I was on a road trip with my my wife at the time and her kid. I believe this happened after we passed through New Mexico and went into Texas. It was 3 AM and we come up over a large hill and everything is on fucking fire. Just fields and fields of fire. It looked like the goddamn apocalypse."

I had no fucking clue what I was looking at, but my wife at the time and her kid were completely asleep, so I had no one that could bear witness to this, and I didn’t want to wake anyone up because...fuck, how’d you like it if someone woke you up and everything was on fucking fire?

"This went for several miles, but to this day, the closest thing I can think of was maybe a crop rotation? I don’t know. But the whole time I was driving through, it was like that picture of Ralph Wiggum going, “heh, I’m in danger!”

"EDIT: Couple of words.

EDIT 2: changed “ex” she was my wife at the time. Currently holds the designation of “ex”.

And thanks for everyone responding. For timeline purposes, this was March 2007"

15. sponjireggae77 witnessed a cocaine shipment with their dad.

"When I was a kid, living in Charleston, S.C., my dad took me and my brother to a boat landing on a creek, right off of the Intracoastal Waterway to shoot off some fireworks we had left over from the 4th. (This boat landing was up in the sticks in a place called Wadmalaw Island- very sparsely populated and pitch black at night). When we pulled in the parking lot of the boat landing, (around 11pm), There was a 20'ish foot power boat nestled against the dock."

"The only people there were several guys wearing white boots and loading the back of an SUV with boxes from the boat. There was also a sports car, (not sure what kind). We instantly got the heeby-jeebies, turned around and hauled ass. About 30 seconds later, there was a car speeding towards us in the rear-view mirror. We were already going 80mph, (because my dad was convinced it was drug-related), and it was gaining very quickly on us."

"We knew we couldn't outrun them, (my dad drove an '81 Audi Fox), so before we went around a curve in the road, we killed the headlights and pulled into the driveway of someone's house, ducked down and waited... That car that was chasing us flew by, (must have been going 100mph, easily). We sat there for a few minutes and saw the car going back to the boat landing. Shit could have ended very differently... I'm guessing cocaine shipment?"

"TL;DR Me, my dad and my brother witnessed a drug delivery, got chased and barely escaped

edit: a few words"

16. varsitysmoking saw a crab person.

"I've been waiting/wanting to post this for so long... And now I'm late to the party. Anyway. I was driving very late at night through a pretty big park in NYC but not central park. Now this was after an all night film shoot for one of my friends in college and I had been up for a very long time. As we were driving past the rec building with the pool I see a person(?) galloping on all fours like a crab."

"They were moving so fast and I thought I had just been imagining it, but when I got home my boyfriend at the time who was sitting in the front seat asked me if I saw the crab person. It was super spooky and I just can't explain it."

17. ohfrost doesn't know who was in the mystery car.

"My friend and I used to go drive around our little country town at all times of the day; we'd chat, listen to music, and just sort of drive around for no real reason."

"One night, we decided we were bored and that we should just take a drive around the back country roads and just chill out. The roads were just two way, one lane each, with a speed limit of 45-55, I think. So, we pull out from my parents house and start cruising down a normal road that we take. We pull up to the normal 4-way stop and then keep heading out toward the country where the road gets a little bit more rough. On top of this, because it's actually out in the country, there isn't really any light aside from either the moon or the few houses that you pass on the way out."

"So, on the way out, I start getting this really weird feeling. I've driven this road tons of times before at night and I've never had this feeling before. It felt like a stone in my stomach along with some chills that were going up my legs and my arms. Around the time that I started feeling this, there was a car coming toward us going the opposite direction--we were maybe a mile or so away from one another, probably a bit more than that. My friend and I were still just talking and not really paying much attention to the car coming toward us."

"As it got closer, I remember feeling particularly uncomfortable and the conversation between my friend and I just sort of stopped abruptly. The car that was coming toward us was basically right in front of us at this point and it was about 2-3 yards in front of my car before it flipped its headlights off and veered into our lane, aimed directly at my car. This was all split second; back country road, pitch black, and headlights coming toward us just cut off completely."

"I, by some miracle, managed to swerve to the right, not too violently, to get out of the way. My friend and I were shaken as fuck. I checked my mirrors and just saw the car flip its headlights back on and continue driving from the way we came. I think my friend and I had 5-6 cigarettes between us on the drive home and we decided to cut the drive extremely short because of this weird shit."

"I still have no valid explanation other than maybe it was some drunk dude in a car just fucking around with us. Even writing this, I still get heavy chills lol. It was pretty wild."

Men can be remarkably clueless on the subject of women's bodies. It's almost as if they weren't paying attention in middle school sex ed class?!!??! It can be hilarious when a guy makes a seemingly obvious error about a woman's reproductive organs or menstruation or sex, unless it's a guy you're dating or sleeping with, in which case it's more like tragic.

These 23 stories from women about the "dumbest things" they've heard men say about women's bodies all tread the ever-tenuous line between comedy and tragedy. Read 'em and laugh/weep:

1.) From jaivomi:

A guy in my year saw me buying stuff for my period when i was about 15 years old. He looked at me and muttered slut under his breath... unsure if he really understood what a period was???

2.) From FunkMamaT:

Recently my aunt got cervical cancer. My uncle wasn't feeling well and thought he may have gotten cervical cancer from her.

3.) From sebaskinny:

“just pee out all the blood and finish your period”

4.) From lillycrack:

I was told once that women should “clean out their vagina before sex in case there’s pee in there still”, obviously thinking we pee from the same hole. And forgetting men DO pee from the same hole.

Should note that we all received decent sex Ed at the time but most of the lads sat at the back of the class giggling and making rude comments whenever female anatomy came up so they learned nothing.

5.) From kitkatobuildadreamon:

A friend told me that once she made a comment about having cramps and a headache to her boyfriend and he got all disgusted and said “Well can’t you control that? Like make it stop?”

Not the main reason she dumped him but I’m sure it didn’t help.

6.) From indecentXpo5ure:

When I was 16 I had a guy friend put his hands on either side of my stomach and ask me if he squeezed hard enough would all of my period come out at once and be done with for the month.

The following year I was at the mall with a different guy friend and it happened to be the Victoria’s Secret Semi-Annual Sale where they put all the panties in big boxes separated by size and you kind of rifle through to find the style you like. We were both going through boxes and he held one up and goes, “This one has a pocket!” He was taking about the crotch lining.

7.) From Lil-one:

I was visiting my father when I got my period when I was around 13-14, it was the first time I had been staying at his place when it happened to I had nothing there and wasn't prepared so I had to ask him to take me to the store. SO we go to the store down the aisle and he grabs a box of pads but I was use to using tampons, so I just said "no no dad i actually use these" and grabbed a box of tampons and up to the register we went. Then we get into the car and we sit, he doesn't start it, just sits there, sighs, and then looks as me completely serious and goes "I thought you had to be a non-virgin to use tampons!?" hahaha No Dad, You don't have to be a "non-vigrin" to use tampons, never let him live it down,

8.) From InsomniacBME:

Don’t know if this counts, but a couple friends and I were getting out of the pool, and of course it got cold, so my nips were noticeable, and a male friend commented on it like I could somehow change this fact as we were heading back to the room (from his perspective he didn’t want me to be embarrassed since we were still kind of in public, and he wasn’t sure if I had noticed my own body; of course it had the opposite effect, and of course I know they are noticeable). My other friend was like “dude, why point hers out when she didn’t say anything bout yours.”

9.) From carmelacorleone:

My boss offered to send me home early because he saw the tampon (fresh out of the box, still in wrapper) and got uncomfortable. Like, thanks and all but I live with this shit for a week every month, I'm all good.

10.) From thedistancetohere222:

My ex commented that my tampons were "huge"....Because he had no idea that there is an applicator involved..

To be fair, it was very endearing on a different occasion, when I came home after asking him to pick up a box of tampons for me and he had the little instruction pamphlet spread out on the kitchen table like a road map and greeted me with a dead serious "ok, so here's what we have to do!"

11.) From BisquikLite:

"Wearing bras gives you breast cancer."

Yeah. Thanks dad. You could have just told me you didn't want to take me bra shopping that day.

12.) From H0lyThr0wawayBatman:

My creepy older boyfriend when I was 18 made a comment (in front of friends) about the first time we hooked up and he went down on me (the only time he actually did that).

He said "When I hit your g-spot, your legs clamped down on my head like a vice." I said "You never hit my g-spot. The g-spot is on the inside." He responded in a condescending tone, "You have more than one g-spot, dear."

If I had to pinpoint the exact moment when I realized I was dating an idiot, it'd be right then. How could he even reach my g-spot, let alone apply enough pressure to do any good, unless he had some kind of freaky Gene Simmons tongue? He had to have meant the clit.

13.) From er_bear:

My best friend was having sex with her new boyfriend and unexpectedly got her period. She was extremely embarrassed and upset because they had just started dating, and instead of comforting her his response was to disgustedly say “am I going to get a disease now or something?” She cried.

14.) From MadamNerd:

My ex asked me how I knew my period was over. He was 21 at the time. Now, that wouldn't have even been that bad, but I started to explain how the flow gets lighter until it eventually stops and he cut me off. Said it was gross and he regretted asking.

He also thought any pubic hair on a woman was gross. I get wanting it tidy, but he thought all women should be shaved/waxed all the time. And no, his pubic area was never hair-free.

15.) From Respect4All_512:

"Periods don't hurt."

16.) From itsKaaaaaayshuh:

I know a man who assumed that smaller girls must have tiny vaginas & would break in half during sex with a large penis but big girls had huge vaginas and it would take a huge man to even please them. He was 28 years old...

ETA: I'm talking about weight, not height

17.) From fisty_dingo:

One of the nurses from work is trying to have children. During this process she had to inform her husband, who recieved his sex ed from a Christian school, that he didn't have a uterus and that they wouldn't get pregnant every single time they had unprotected sex.

18.) From PancakesxBacon:

My friend's husband thought women knew they were pregnant by missing just one period and that it started again the next month. It gave me a giggle.

19.) From ActualGuesticles:

My ex was convinced that he could consciously choose the sex of any children he fathered. He'd heard (presumably in some science class) that the sperm "decides" the sex of a baby, which is cool and all. But he got hung up on that phrasing and wouldn't listen to logic.

20.) From Not_really_a_name2:

I’ve known more than one man who believed that women need to pee after sex to push the cum out in order to reduce chances of pregnancy - and would get suspicious of me if I didn’t immediately go pee.. like I was intentionally trying to get pregnant despite having been on birth control at the time.

21.) From Declamatory:

I went on a date with a guy once who thought periods lasted for a month.

22.) From LukewarmJorts:

Not the dumbest but my dad called tampons plugs and it made being a teenager when the plug craze happened really funny to me.

Punk boy:"Check out my new plugs"

Me:-inwardly giggles-

23.) From ironcat09:

Okay, this guy I dated wanted me to have sex with him. But I was in my period and he said “why don’t you just put a make up sponge up there?”

What?

BREAKING: Kardashians are, in fact, capable of feeling shame.

Kylie Jenner recently deleted a video showing off her $3 million (!!!) car after people pointed out that that's enough money to feed a full village. For decades. And with good food.

The car was surrounded by other cars on her driveway, because Kylie kollects kars like your mom collects keychains. She has a lot of cars, and even posts pictures of herself looking horny for cars.

Blast caught a glimpse at the comments that made her delete the post, and they're proof that the proletariat is tired of the excesses of the ruling class and our ready for a revolution.

"How can people justify buying more cars then they possibly need when there are people out there who can’t eat! Like I get it’s your money and you earn it but HOW do you justify not doing good with it I just don’t get it. They money you spent on this you could of fed a village for a year at LEAST," one person wrote.

"Oh yay! Another new car! Meanwhile there's ppl struggling to make ends meet and feed themselves. I'm happy for her but damn when is enough enough?" another commenter added.

Do you hear the people sing, singing the songs of angry men? It is the music of a people who are no longer amused by the rich flaunting their excessive wealth as people are starving and dying!

This picture of Kylie and Kris on a private plane with their Birkin bags is a nice encapsulation of why the planet is on fire.

Meanwhile, people are starving.

“Hard work keeps the wrinkles out of the mind and spirit.”

– Helena Rubinstein

Hard work is overrated. Looking at memes while waiting to clock-out is where the real joy in life comes from. These hilarious workplace memes totally nail the struggle of that 9 to 5 life. Ugh, how many more days until retirement?

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The dictionary defines ghosting as, "the practice of ending a personal relationship with someone by suddenly and without explanation withdrawing from all communication." In other words, totally bailing. Whether you're the one who's been dropped or are the Houdini who's pulled the disappearing act, I hope you'll stick around long enough have a good laugh at these hilarious ghosting memes.

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"Everyone wants me to be a morning person. I could be one, only if morning began after noon."

-Tony Smite

Good morning to everyone except people who don't like memes. For the rest of you awesome folks, this hilarious batch of utterly random memes is sure to help you have a chuckle or two (or 26) this morning. Let's do this!

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Melania Trump's anti-bullying campaign has been the laughingstock of the internet ever since she launched it in 2018 with the extremely mockable slogan "Be Best." Given the amount of backlash her "Be Best" campaign has received, one would expect Melania to abandon ship. But nevertheless, the First Lady has persisted. Yesterday she gave a speech about her campaign, explaining that it's about "helping children and ensuring that we are doing all we can to take care of the next generation." LOL.

Has Melania Trump even met her husband? The internet immediately responded by calling out the First Lady on the many problem with her alleged concern for "helping children" and "caring" about the future.

People are pointing out the Trump administration's flagrant abuse of children at the border and their disregard for climate change, the biggest threat to the next generation.

Not to mention the fact that her husband is the biggest and possibly most dangerous bully in the world.

The whole thing is such blatant bullsh*t one has to wonder if she's trolling us all, including the President.

Is Melania Trump a trojan horse for the resistance using her platform to drag the Trump family, and eventually bring them all down? Doubtful. But a girl can dream.

A good babysitter is indispensable, and should be compensated as such. If someone is trustworthy and capable enough to care for your kids and watch over your home, that is no small thing.

While a bad babysitter could rob you clean and traumatize your children, a good one can enable countless date nights and help teach your kids crucial life skills. Still, despite the stakes, far too many parents try to low ball and take advantage of skilled babysitters in hopes of saving a buck, and it's insulting to everyone involved.

In a recent post on the Choosing Beggars subreddit, a babysitter shared screenshots of a text exchange with a supremely cheap mom.

It all started when the mom reached out last minute to request babysitting for her three young children, all of whom aren't potty trained.

While the babysitter was professional about the lack of potty training, the mom immediately disputed the babysitter's (surprisingly low) rate.

The entitled mom went on to claim that all her other sitters accepted $8 an hour to watch three kids who need potty training.

While it seems likely the mom was lying to be manipulative, if she's telling the truth those previous babysitters deserve serious back pay.

The babysitter kept it cool, even when confronted with bonkers levels of entitlement, and politely turned the counter offer down.

Rather than accepting the refusal, the mom demanded the babysitter "be grateful" and claimed she used to watch kids for $10 a night.

The babysitter dismounted from the interaction by pointing out just how deluded it is for the mom to expect someone to babysit for $8 an hour in 2019, particularly for multiple kids who aren't potty trained.

Ellen DeGeneres has officially come out as friends with George W. Bush.

When gay icon Ellen DeGeneres was spotted laughing at a football game with President George W. Bush, who campaigned on adding a Constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, people were upset. What is Dory from Finding Nemo doing yukking it up with a war criminal?

Ellen took time out of her show to clear the air: she did not arrive at the Cowboys game on a double date with George and Laura, but yes: she is friends with Dubya.

The host compared Bush's record of invading Iraq, authorizing torture, and bringing about the Great Recession to wearing a fur coat—sometimes people just disagree!

"I'm friends with a lot of people who don't share the same beliefs I have," she said. "I wish people wouldn’t wear fur. I don’t like it, but I’m friends with people who wear fur...But just because I don’t agree with someone on everything doesn’t mean that I’m not going to be friends with them. When I say be kind to one another, I don’t mean only the people that think the same way that you do. I mean be kind to everyone."

For many on Twitter, the "be kind to everyone" doctrine does not extend to disastrous presidents. It's a scary sign of how rich people will soon talk about Trump.

The Right, however, were psyched to have Ellen on board.

Ellen went as far as sharing a tweet on screen that says that the new buddy comedy gives her "faith in America again"...

But she conveniently edited out the "HAHAHA."

Congratulations to Ellen on coming clean. But more importantly, congratulations to George W. Bush on having his reputation reduced from "terrible, harmful president" to "like a person who wears fur."

Veganism is a divisive subject, since people who are vegan tend to be pretty adamant about their lifestyle. While people who are not vegan like to make fun of people who are vegan for ruining all the fun. But whatever you think about veganism as a diet, I think most would agree that it's a dick move to trick a vegan into eating meat. And this is what happened to a 24-year-old woman who shared her story on Reddit. After getting "white girl wasted" at a party, her friends tricked her into eating chicken nuggets. Not cool, bros. But the woman's response is about as divisive as veganism itself: she called the cops.

Now the woman's friends are facing charges and she turned to Reddit's "Am I The A**hole?" forum to ask if she did the right thing by calling the cops on her now ex-friends.

The woman, who is 24, explains that she has been vegan for 10 years and is very serious about it.

To preface this, I (24F) am vegan, and have been for a good 10 years. I have not eaten meat since I was roughly 3-4 years old when I found out where meat comes from (spoiler alert: there were a lot of tears). This is no secret and everyone in my life knows and respects this - or so I thought.

Recently, she got "white girl wasted" at a party and her friends thought it would be "funny" to feed her chicken nuggets as a prank. So they lied and told her they were a faux-meat brand.

Four nights ago, I was at a party and I will admit, I got white girl wasted. My friends thought it would be funny to feed me chicken nuggets as a prank. I checked with them before chowing down "are these vegan?" To which my friends replied "yeah, they're sunfed" (a type of vegan chickenless chicken). They tasted off to me but I figured it was just because I was drunk. I was wrong.

The (ex) friends also posted video of themselves feeding her chicken and then making fun of her. After seeing the videos on Snapchat, the woman took the videos to the cops and reported her (ex) friends for "food tampering." They are now facing charges.

I found out the next day when my sister sent me a message telling me to check my friends Snapchat story. The story was them showing the nugget packaging, and then showing them giving them to me (including the conversation where I asked if it was vegan). The and then later them mocking me and pretending to be me when I found out I ate meat (things like fake crying and yelling "the CHICKENS!!!"). I took a screen recording of the video and took it to the police, on the grounds of food tampering, and now 3 of my (ex) friends are facing charges.

Her ex-friends think she's overreacting to a "harmless prank." But to her, the prank was not harmless. So she took to Reddit, the barometer of human behavior, to ask if she did the wrong thing.

They all think that I'm overreacting to a 'harmless' prank, so Reddit, AITA? In my view, they took advantage of my drunken state, tampered with my food, and publically humiliated me. In their view, it was just a prank.

Commenters are divided. Many are taking her side, since her friends' messed with her food, and also bullied and humiliated her.

watermelonkiwi is "impressed" with how she handled the situation, writing:

NTA I’m impressed and kinda think this is awesome. ETA: I think that it’s awesome you went to the police and they’re taking it seriously.

And ReverseMathematics, a chef, agrees that she's "NTA" (Not the a**hole), writing:

As a chef, you never f*ck with someone food. Ever.

Narkolleptika agrees:

NTA - you don't fuck with other people's food.

And Suisei_0 points out there was also bullying involved:

NTA You're all forgetting that they uploaded a snapchat video making fun of her too, it wasnt just food tampering

While others are arguing that "ESH" (Everyone Sucks Here), because even though her friends behaved badly, she overreacted by getting the police involved.

disco-bloodbath writes:

ESH. Your ex friends are the most assholes, but by involving law enforcement you are fucking with their futures in a real, extreme, and permanent way. This was a horrifying prank, but no one deserves to go down over a drunk (and let’s be real non-harmful) prank. A talking-to and unfriending would have been sufficient and not heartless. You are a major asshole.

And bumbadabim agrees, writing:

ESH just talk about it to them, even make a big scene... But police... Bruh

valaranias also agrees:

They are crappy friends for betraying your trust and giving you meat. They don't deserve to be in your life. However, you are pressing charges against them which could affect they rest of their lives - job prospects, potential earnings, potential jail time (food tampering is a FELONY) - over chicken nuggets. If I was your other friends I would be immediately distancing myself from both the crappy friends (that prank was dumb) AND you. I would be worried about you going nuclear on me if I ever screwed up.

This is a tough one because these friends really do seem like the worst. But the fact that she called the cops on them does seem extreme. What do you think?

The best things in life are free...or exactly one dollar.

A Reddit thread asked the internet "What is the most a dollar has ever gotten you?"

Most people shared stories of impressive bartering accomplishments, but a user who goes by Jfreak7 showed everyone up with the answer, "A wife, three beautiful children and frankly my life as I know it."

He shared the story, which starts as many stories do—with a middle school crush. But this one has a happy ending:

Story time: Back in Jr. High, I liked a girl and flirted with her quite a bit. One time, during a band trip, we stopped at a gas station and she bought me a pack of gum. I tried to pay her back $1 but she refused. So, I slipped the $1 in her pocket. She then slipped the dollar in my backpack and so began the back and forth with the $1 bill. We found silly ways to give it back and forth. I mailed it to her house. She stuffed it in a gum wrapper and offered me a piece. I then decided that I would ask her out on this $1. I wrote, "Will you go out with me" on it and put it in a note and gave it to her. She said yes (of course, it would be a terrible story otherwise, I suppose).

The date went well, and years later, the dollar bill had another chance to shine.

About four years later, I still had the same dollar kept away. On our anniversary, I wrote "Will you marry me" on the bottom of the dollar. We have been married for 15 years and have three awesome kids. We still have that dollar stored away.

Cue the choruses of "Awww!!!!"

What makes the story even better is that the couple still have the dollar bill, and posted a picture.

Beyond the obvious Sharpie proposal, peep the initial middle school back-and-forth.

One more time: Awwwwwwwww!!!

While there's a huge difference between encouraging a loved one to embrace healthy habits and body shaming, finding that line can be difficult at times.

It should be clarified, making assumptions about someone's health based on how their body looks is deeply inappropriate and violating. However, it's a different scenario if a friend or family member asks for support with their health and weight loss goals. Providing loving motivation without perpetuating fat-shaming or toxic attitudes about exercise requires extra intention, since our culture is so steeped in the diet industrial complex.

In a recent post on the Am I The *sshole subreddit, a dad asked if he's wrong for offering to motivate his daughter's weight loss goals with cash.

"AITA for paying my daughter to lose weight?

I (53M) have grown increasingly worried about my daughter's (22F) weight. It has gotten beyond the point of merely an aesthetic issue, and I have genuine concerns about her health."

OP started the post by sharing that he's grown increasingly concerned about his daughter's weight, for health reasons.

"She doesn't live at home, as she recently started graduate school out of town. Our arrangement is that I pay for her tuition and rent, and she has a part time job that covers groceries, utility bills, spending money, etc. This works out well as I am happy to cover these expenses since she is in school. However, she often says that she wishes she earned more money, since she does not have a ton of spending money for leisure activities, clothes, etc."

When they've talked about it, she's been open about wanting to set goals, but right now her finances and schedule is tight with graduate school.

"I have tried to speak to her about her weight, approaching it as delicately as I could. She was actually quite receptive, and I could tell she was a bit hurt but she told me that she knew it was an issue that she should be addressing. However, currently she is not sufficiently motivated to do it, and is busy with her school and part time job so struggles to find time to go to the gym."

As a solution, OP offered to pay her to go to the gym, essentially a $15 an hour motivation.

That way, he figures, she can afford to give up a shift or two throughout the week to get some exercise in.

"I suggested that if she started going to the gym, I would give her extra money. This is to serve as a motivator, but also for practical reasons as she can pick up fewer shifts at her job and have more time to go to the gym."

OP didn't want to base the dollar amount on pounds since he knows that could encourage disordered eating, and he figured an hourly rate encourages the forming of regular exercise habits.

"The deal is $15 per hour spent at the gym. This is working on an honour system since I trust her, and I did not think it would be appropriate to pay her by pounds lost (could encourage unhealthy eating and so on). My wife thinks this is a "disgusting" idea, but I think I am helping her by replacing her shifts at her job with "shifts" at the gym - and financially compensating this.

So, AITA for paying for my daughter to lose weight?"

However, when OP's wife found out about the plan she called it disgusting and completely disagreed with the set up.

"EDIT: A lot of comments about how her diet is the most important thing, rather than exercise. Which is definitely fair. We did also speak about her diet, but her lack of exercise is the facet that had the most clear barrier (lack of time and motivation) which is why that is what I am addressing. Hopefully her diet will improve as well, especially since she should have some extra money in her pockets for more expensive groceries from this arrangement."

lionheart059 doesn't think OP's idea is bad, but pointed out how much more important diet is.

"I wouldn't say anyone is an asshole (NAH), but I would say it's more important that your daughter looks at and adjusts her diet rather than just going to the gym all the time. Nothing crazy like fad dieting, a crash diet, etc - Sustainable, long-term changes. Things like removing sugary drinks, portion control, and counting her calories and then sticking to it."

"Dieting is going to play a much larger role in healthy weight loss for her than time spent at the gym (without even getting into what kind of exercise she does, if she's hitting her target heart rate, etc)."

yellowbloods thinks the set up makes sense given OP's daughter's desire for more spending money.

"NAH, but imo in this situation ops not really “paying (her) to lose weight”, they’re just trying to give her the motivation she needs to help her to maintain healthy habits."

Hexomin doesn't think anyone in the situation is wrong, but also thinks motivating healthy eating habits is crucial.

"NAH, but I have my doubts about it’s efficacy.

You lose weight in the kitchen, not the gym. It’s generally easier to create a calorie deficit through dietary change than through exercise. Going to the gym still has a lot of significant benefits, but it’s not necessarily sufficient for weight loss, depending on your diet."

Donutsaretasty68 reminded OP how important it is to make sure his daughter is actually on board.

"YWBTA if she clearly said no and you kept pushing her to do it. I can see it’s out of love, but please be careful that this doesn’t turn and bite you."

"NAH if she accepts your help and goes along with it. Motivation comes in different forms. I wouldn’t keep pressing the issues with her very busy schedule. When she can get to it she will. It still has to come from within too.

Edited because my phone sucks."

ccap19 has been in OP's daughter's shoes, and thinks he's handling it in a very harmful way.

"Going to throw out another perspective here. I’ve been in almost exactly this situation with my father at a similar age, and in a very similar situation. I won’t go full on YTA but I think your wife is right."

"My dad offered me a similar situation, I got to have a car, for free, if I lost weight, by a certain date.This situation has effected me negatively ever since. It made it very apparent that my father felt my body was not sufficient. Sure, I was receptive at the time he offered it like your daughter was, but only because I wanted the car, and because any other reaction felt inappropriate."

"I’ll also add that it didn’t work, I did not lose enough of the weight, and the car was not enough of a motivator to make me do so. I personally think the motivation to change your body needs to come intrinsically. But the situation just damaged my relationship with my father in the long run."

"You can’t undo what you’ve said, but you can address it in a positive and healthy way, and that’s what I would suggest. I don’t know your personal relationship with your daughter, but in the future, it’s best not to address her weight unless she brings it up first, in my opinion."

rupertgilesisacat thinks OP should stop now, before he permanently damages the relationship.

"NAH but please please please please don't do this. My mum has spent the last ten years of my life trying to control my weight with bribes, with paying for a personal trainer, with all sorts. All it did was push a wedge between us. At one point she kept an excel spreadsheet of my weight. I know you're doing this because you care about her, but I promise you this will become the central focus of your relationship and that is not what you want. And the problem is, where does it stop? When will be skinny enough for you? If she is going to lose weight, it's going to be because she wants to. You putting a monetary value on it is going to make her feel like she's a disappointment, like nothing else she does matters and like a failure."

sakemelly thinks that, however well intentioned OP may be, this is a deeply harmful idea.

"Yta. With the best intentions, I'm sure. You love her and want her to be healthier. And there is nothing wrong with offering to pay for her gym membership, if you can afford it and she can't. In fact, it would be really nice of you. But linking your payments to her compliance sends her a very clear message. I am fat, I am ugly, no one will ever love me the way I am, my own dad doesn't love me because I'm fat. Others' suggestions to link money to weight loss are even worse, and a good way to help create or reinforce an eating disorder. She knows she's fat. She's talked to her doctor about it. She looks in the mirror every day. It will not help her one iota to be reminded of that. Just love her."

What do you think? Does this idea promote unhealthy body image and a policing of OP's daughter's body, or is it a smart way to motivate an active lifestyle?

Every job comes with its fair share of stories, but working a job with house calls involves an extra dose of hyper personal strange run-ins.

Entering the intimate space of people's homes can make you witness to a bevy of lifestyles, ranging from aspirational to downright terrifying. In the context of a party or friendship, you can call out the weirdness and get the hell out. But if you're on the clock, you often have to suck it up while internally screaming about the bizarre space you've stepped into.

In a recent Reddit thread, people who make house calls for work shared the strangest things they've seen on the job, and it makes the rest of our workplace stories seem tame.

1. hU0N5000 found their neighbor's secret performance room.

"Few years ago I was volunteering with the city council helping people clean their houses after the neighborhood I lived in had been flooded. One house belonged to a Chinese couple who ran the local convenience store. They had asked our crew to help remove water damaged carpet from the ground floor rooms of their house so it could be thrown away."

"As we were removing this carpet, we realized that it ran in one piece under a closed door and into a locked room, so we asked the lady of the house if she wanted us to cut it off at the door and leave whatever was in the locked room behind, or if she wanted to open the room and have us remove the carpet in there also. She responded, "I'll check with my husband what to do. That's his special room."

"This lead to some nervously puzzled looks from our crew. What does a middle aged Chinese man who owns a convenience store keep in his "special room"? Eventually the wife came back with a set of keys and told us that we could remove the carpet in the room and she unlocked the door. We all crowded around as the door opened to reveal."

"A room with carpet up the walls, a mirror ball on the ceiling, a stage at one end with a PA standard sound system, a projector, and in the corner just about the fanciest karaoke machine I'd ever seen. Special room indeed."

2. jl101794 will never forget the vision of a body desecrated by cats.

"I'm a firefighter/EMT so its pretty normal to find a dead body, but one will always stay with me. There was this middle aged guy who lived in his van out in a parking lot somewhat out of town. He never bothered anybody, so the police just let him stay there. It was around middle of July in Arizona (so about 105-110 degree heat) and we got a call to go check on him. Nobody had seen him for a while, and somebody had complained of a foul odor coming from his van."

"We all knew what we were gonna find, but nothing could prepare us for what we actually came across. I opened the back door to his van and a cloud of flies flew out so thick you couldn't see through it. I was immediately punched in the face by the stench of death, and when the flies cleared out we finally got a look at what was in there. The guy had been dead for at least 2 weeks and his cats had survived by eating the fleshier parts of his body. I've seen my fair share of dead bodies, but something about a guy who had been in a van for 2 weeks in Arizona summer heat with cats eating his body that just sticks with you."

3. Ed98208 met a baby chestnut.

"I used to volunteer for a wildlife rescue and did a pickup at a very elderly woman's house where she had found a baby bird. When I got there she carefully uncovered it from the towel she'd placed it in, and it was just a chestnut."

4. AgonizingFury couldn't complete the haunted job.

"I used to install Dish Network for a living.

I was installing for an elderly lady, who complained that her "sister's" TV always showed the same thing hers did. I had a 2 tv installation order so I figured that would be OK."

"I finished the installation and was demonstrating the system when she looked at the full length mirror and complained that her sister's tv was still showing the same thing.

Noped out of there as quick as I could, and left notes on the account in case she called in."

5. receding_punchline can't unsee the mortality room.

"A couple of years ago I worked for a cleaning company. One of my first days on the job, I was cleaning a woman's house and entered a room on the second floor that - I kid you not - was full of only clocks and mirrors. I've never been so aware of my own mortality."

6. roidetective will never forget the corpse chair.

When I was young we used to clean up after fires. The soot goes everywhere, so everything has to be cleaned (insurance covers it).

Even dildos, polaroid nudes and all other sex toys. We would have to go through their drawers and clean everything, and I always warned them. This was in the late 80's, so there was no internet then, but at that time Polaroid nudes were popular.

As for creepiest, I once had to attempt to clean a fancy chair that had had a rotting corpse on it for weeks. The chair was expensive, so we had to prove to the insurance company that it wasn't cleanable.

**Edit: Typo

7. BigBolognaSandwich stepped in years worth of feces.

"Poop. I do hardwood flooring and to hook up our big machine I have to get to the breaker box typically in the basement. When I tell these people they just say "do what you do. Do you need me to show you where it is?" and I tell them I'm good at sniffing them out. I walk down the stairs and realize I'm standing in dog shit. Years worth of it. Old white dried out shit and today's shit and everything in between. I yell up to one of my guys to bring a hammer and nails so I can hang my cable so it doesn't touch the floor. It was horrific."

"I can still smell it and it has been at least 15 years. Most people are embarrassed by their basement and I reassure them that I have seen worse because I have seen the worst. Those fuckers didn't even acknowledge it. $400 job that I would walk off now. Also if you pet their dogs your hand smelled like shit. I'm a different man now and if I saw this today I would take those dogs away. I hated typing this out."

8. Grabbsy2 can't eat wonton soup ever again.

"Dead body" might not really be surprising, here, but I still cant eat certain foods after experiencing it, and certain smells make me sick, too."

"I was working for a condo building, letting air conditioning guys look at units within condos. I was just a key holder. One of the last units of the day was a condo, knocked on the door, no answer, opened the door, immediate waft of foul smell. Just some rotten eggs, maybe?

Enter the unit, see some moldy bread on the counter, sweaty looking cake (condensation) on the stove."

"Its pretty fuckin rank in here" I say to the guys. I look into the bedroom and see an older black woman with kindof a bad blonde dye job, hunched over in bed, in a bit of a yoga pose? ("sat up" in bed, but head at feet, legs crossed) Im immediately embarrassed. "Sorry ma'am, I didnt know you were home!" I said.

No movement.I take a step closer. "Ma'am?"

"Shes fuckin dead, dude." One of the air conditioning guys says, as he hurries out of the unit. His only evidence is the smell, and my tone of voice when I said "Ma'am?"

"I step a little closer, the woman's skin is "bruised" and has mouldy patches on it. This is not a "yoga pose", this is a "settling in to the bed" pose."

"Some facts I later learned from the police: Shes a young caucasian blonde woman (i.e. not an older black woman). Last diary entry 10 days prior, pill bottles and last will and testament on the bedside table.

Food I cant eat: wonton soup (first thing I tried to eat, 8 hours later). Smell I cant handle: dirty fridge (e.g. mouldy items left by careless coworker)

I also no longer fantasize about how cool the zombie apocalypse would be."

"edit: Sorry for the Rorschach-esque narration. Im on mobile so that was the fastest way to tell the story. Funny side note, the 9-11 operator spent a full 2 minutes trying to get the security guard to touch the body, to make sure she was not actually still alive.

Also I got the employee of the month award, and a $100 gift certificate.

Though, it was admittedly a slow month."

9. whittlingcanbefatal helped save a guy's life.

"When I was in college I was a pizza delivery driver for a small local pizzeria in a very upscale area. I saw some weird and/or cool stuff, but this one stands out. This takes place over a couple of weeks."

"While not out on a delivery, the drivers answer the phones to take orders. I took an order from an obviously drunk man. Fast forward a few days, and take another order from the same guy, again he is very drunk. A few days later I come into work and there is a message posted by the phones to not take orders from the address of the drunk guy. He had written bad checks to pay for the pizzas he had ordered."

"He calls again. Drunk. I tell him we cannot take his order because of the bad checks. He begs me. It sounds like he is crying. I say it's OK if he pays cash. He says he will. Another driver gets sent with the pizza and instructions to only accept cash. About 20 minutes later the driver calls to say that the guy doesn't have any cash. The guy wants the driver to bring him to an ATM. I tell the driver just to come back. When the driver gets back he's almost in tears. The guy is pathetic. He's wasted drunk and there are bottles scattered all over his beautiful place. I put the pizza on top of the oven, since after the shift we get to eat the mistakes."

"The guy calls back. He's crying, begging for food. I tell him there's nothing I can do. He says he hasn't eaten in however long. Again, I buckle and tell him I'll give him the pizza after the shift if nobody wants to eat it."

"A few hours later the pizza is still on the oven, so I drive it over to the guy's house. I knock on the door, I can hear something going on inside but no answer. As I turn to leave, the door opens and the guy invites me in. I try to decline. I just want to give him the food and leave, but he insists he wants to pay me. We walk into the kitchen and there must be a hundred empty vodka bottles. He pours himself another vodka and he gets his check book. He offers me a drink and I decline. He apologizes for the way he answered the door. He said hookers have been coming over and stealing from him."

"In the middle of writing the check, we are making small talk. I don't recall exactly how, but I try to tell him he needs to get some help; rehab. Suddenly, there's a knock on the door and gets really scared and shushes me. He said it's probably a hooker coming back to steal more."

"The door opens and a woman walks in. I'm really freaked now, thinking it's a murderous hooker. She's obviously freaked by my presence. It's his wife. She tells me she's his wife and wants to know who the fuck I am. I tell her I'm just delivering pizza."

"Once we get everything sorted out, she's a bit dubious, but pleasant. She tells me the guy's sad story. He fell off the wagon, so she left him and knows all about the hookers, etc. and has frozen his money.

She writes me a personal check for the pizza with a generous tip, which I cashed and after giving the pizza place its cut, split the tip with the other driver, about 10 bucks each."

"Fast forward a few days. I'm back at work and the boss hands me a letter. It is from the woman thanking me to my boss. My kindness convinced her husband to go back into rehab. My boss asked what was I thinking. It was none of my business to get involved; got fired.

tl;dr felt sorry for guy on two week bender. get fired for my trouble."

"Edit: I just wanted to add a thanks to everybody for all of the kind comments and clarify a few things that in my attempt to keep it short may have been unclear.

1. I was never quite sure why I got fired. I know it had to do with this, but in general my boss was a good boss and very open-minded. It was a dodgy situation that I got a driver into and I walked into a dodgy situation too, even though it was on my own time. What I remember most clearly about the conversation when I was shown the letter and fired was that my boss said that it was none of my business.

2. I didn't really do as much as I should have to encourage the guy to get help. I was in an uncomfortable situation with a drunk and I didn't want to piss him off. I think his estranged wife showing up when she did with a third, neutral person there was probably more influential than anything said."

10. ablino_rhino's sister is traumatized by the smell.

"My sister does deliveries for a small pharmacy. Before one of her first deliveries her boss told her that if she couldn't handle the smell she didn't have to go inside. Well, this woman was bedridden and had been shitting in a trash can next to her bed. There was also a dead cat decomposing in the living room."

11. NumberC is unsure what the bathroom snacks were for.

"I used to do pest control. While baiting a house for roaches I made my way to their bathroom...and on top of the toilet tank there was a decorative bowl. Nothing out of the ordinary right? Well the bowl wasnt full of extra tp or washcloths..it was full of white-cheddar cheeto puffs."

12. CYKAABYLATT almost sat into a stab wound.

"Not me but my mom. She's a visiting physical therapist

She used to work in a small city in the area, with some bad areas, and she had to do therapy for a rather overweight guy who was pretty paranoid about the people in his complex (granted most of us would be too) but my mom sat down on the couch and felt something hard underneath the cushion."

"She had the guy get what it was, and it was a stick, with a large knife taped to the end. She had almost sat on the knife too. She asked him if there was anything else like that in or around the area she needed to work in, and he managed to remove multiple knives, makeshift spears, and a syringe based weapon. He was HIV positive.

My mom discharged him shortly."

13. NeverEnufWTF may have found a torture room.

"Construction inspector here. I was looking at a house about to be renovated by new buyers. The basement was all wood-paneled walls, Spanish tile floors, and shit-tons of animal heads mounted on the walls; very old-school "hunting lodge" style."

"Except there was also a room off the basement, behind a bookcase "hidden door" that I only noticed because I was trying to understand the relationship between the foundation and the main floor. Small room, maybe 80 SF. The ceiling had a single fluorescent fixture, recessed, with a heavy steel grating over it. The floor and walls were covered in sheet vinyl, and there was a single metal chair in the room. It was sitting over a floor drain."

"I noped the fuck right out of there. The renovation never happened; the owners tore the house down and built a new one. I still can't drive by that site without feeling a chill."

14. fort___kickass had a David Lynch style home visit.

"Electrician Apprentice. The dyed pink cockerspaniel humping its owners right leg furiously as he sat on the lounge smiling like a mad man"

15. ChillingMarmoset saw a questionable wall of heroes.

"For 20 years, I've spent my summers designing home theater systems. After the installers finish, I go by the house a few days later to check on things. Fully 75% of the time I hit play on the DVD player, porn starts playing. (And yet I forget to check before hitting play, every damn time. Not sure who's dumber. Me or the clients.) Oh..and the recent one...Went by the client's house to do the usual check-in."

"He showed me his "Wall of Heroes" in the foyer. It consisted of framed, autographed pictures of Charles Manson, Ted Bundy, and Henry Lee Lucas. (And a few others I'm forgetting.) Plus some framed letters from them. "Wall of Heroes" indeed."

16. christianthegreen walked into a very specific theme room.

"I work in apartment complexes and constantly go into people's units, once we were taking over a property and doing this we had to go into every single apartment and room to check for the conditions of things."

"One of the apartments I went in to had a room that was covered in nothing but pictures of ceiling fans. There was a bed in the middle of the room, and a small computer monitor in a corner, and hundreds of pictures of fans, big and small, all over the walls. Fans from magazines, fans printed out, fans fans fans."

17. dunegrassrecon is lucky they made it out alive.

"I own and operate my own HVAC company, and that experience combined with working for other, larger contractors over the last 10+ years has had me work in thousands of peoples' homes doing service and sales throughout a very large service area. I've been in homes ranging from multi-million dollar homes where I don't even meet the owner because they want privacy, to single wide trailers where there may have been a meth lab in the back room."

"Creepiest thing happened when I was in my very early twenties, fresh into the trade. Pulled up to a manufactured home secluded in the backcountry, that had boarded windows and no stairs to the porch. Thinking I was at the wrong house, I started pulling way when a very large ~30 year old man comes running out yelling to me that I'm in the right place."

"I walk into the home and am overwhelmed with a putrid stench. The home isn't filthy, but it's cluttered into the point of borderline hoarder status. While I'm working on the furnace, the dude is playing Call of Duty on a 60"+ flatscreen, at full volume/bass on a very loud surround sound. Dude was so caught up in the action he was screaming at the TV like he was in live combat."

"When I finish up diagnosing the problem, I walk into the living room and the dude looks at me like he forgot I was there with a terrified look on his face. I ask if I can talk to him for a minute so I can give him the rundown and quote. He walks up to me, and as I start explaining the work done and quote it's like I'm talking to a brick wall, complete nothingness in his eyes. After I finish talking he just stares at me through an awkwardly long moment of silence. I kinda wave at him like, hey man, you aright? Eventually he snaps out of it and just hands me a credit card. So I tell him okay, let me do the repairs and we'll square up the bill after. He nods, goes back to the couch, and cranks the CoD again."

"I finish the work and walk back in the living room with the invoice, and this time he jumps up and yells, "what the fuck man?! you can't just walk up behind me like that!" Dumbfounded, I apologize and let him know I'm done with the work. He signs the invoice, I give him his copy. He then apologies for blowing up, and goes into normal human mode telling me about how he's a middle eastern war vet with PTSD, and sometimes can be a bit edgy/jumpy. He goes on to tell me that he lives out there alone with very minimal human contact, and that I'm the first person he's seen in a long time. He then starts telling me more about himself, and how his injuries sustain in the service keeps him confined to the house. I can tell he's enjoying the human contact at this point so I hang around and bullshit with him for a bit."

"After a little while, he pulls out a bag of weed and mentions that he uses medical cannabis for relief. He asks me if I want to smoke one with him, and I politely decline being as how I'm at work, need to drive, etc. He gets kind of offended, but I thank him and let him know I need to get going. He asks if I can just hang out for a minute longer, and feeling sympathetic, I oblige."

"Now this is where shit gets really weird. The dude smokes down a couple bowls while holding relatively normal conversation, then out of nowhere he starts going on about how his wife, family and friends have basically abandoned him, and how much he resents all of them for it. Feeling legitimately bad for the dude, I continue to talk with him for a bit and try to steer the convo away from such a dark place. Now the dude is super baked, and out of nowhere I see that lifeless look in his eyes again. He stops talking, and starts just staring at me again. Feeling a bit alarmed I let him know I'd really better get going, when all of the sudden he says something along the lines of, "I see things, man." I reply, "oh, umm, what ya mean?" He says, "Beings, man. Figures. They're constantly watching me and make my life a living hell."

"Not knowing what to say, I just kind of reply something like, "oh... damn, that's f*cked up, do you see a professional about this kind of thing?" He says something along the lines of "I tried, they tell me that I'm the problem when I know it's not me, it's them, the beings. They're everywhere. They're all around us, right now as we speak." I tell him no, brother, it's just me and you here right now, it's all good. He says, "what you can't fucking see them?!" and I tell him no, we're good man, it's just us. He starts getting a fiery look in his eye and says, "you're just like the rest of them, telling me I'm the fucking crazy one. You all try to put me on this medication rather than just fucking listen to me."

"Starting to feel spooked, I just tell him the kind of stuff like, "hey I'm on your side my dude, and they're just trying to help you, I think you should trust your doctors," etc. So I start to kind of move toward the door and let him know I'm gonna head out, and that I hope he finds relief. He jumps up and goes off on me about how I'm just like the rest of them, and I'm just going to leave him up there, all alone to die. Feeling a combination of threatened and bad for the dude, not knowing what to do, I just try to comfort him some more and deescalate, as I can see he's still got that crazy look in his eye. He follows me toward the door, rambling more about the things he sees and how everyone is against him. I notice a small arsenal of guns right next to the door and start to go into panic mode like this dude might do something fucking crazy."

"He then follows me outside, so I turn around and try to shake his hand and part ways. He starts walking to my side like he's going to try to get behind me, so I'm like "what the fuck are you doing dude?" While he's still rambling nonsense. So I said fuck it, bee-lined for my truck to get the fuck out of there. He followed me at a fast walking pace, still rambling as he stares me down as I get into my truck and reverse away as quickly as possibly. As I drive away I still see him standing there looking like a fucking crazy man."

"This happened probably ~8 years ago, so I'm a bit blurry on some of the details, but it was probably one of the more unsettling experiences I've had. There was only a short period of time where while talking to him did I feel like we were actually communicating on a normal level, and after he got super fucking stoned is when he just lost it."

"Not only was it unsettling, but it was sad. I still feel legitimately bad for this dude and hope he was able to find relief and happiness. I notified my office staff of what happened and that they may want to notify the proper authorities for a welfare check, and to my knowledge they did, though I'm not sure if anything ever came of it."

"One thing is for certain, and that's anyone with a combination of severe PTSD, depression and likely schizophrenia definitely shouldn't smoke cannabis. I'm a regular cannabis enthusiast myself, and am damn glad I didn't smoke with that dude, because I really wouldn't have been able to handle that situation if I'd been stoned out of my mind."

"So yeah, that story ended up being a bit longer than I'd expected. I've had all sorts of crazy shit happen while working in peoples' homes, but that one really sticks out in my mind."

18. Milkshake89 hopes the girl in the closet is okay now.

"I used to install residential replacement windows. My boss and I have to walk in out of almost every room that has a window. We go into this ranch style home, I noticed a small bed and pillow on the floor in a closet. Kind of looked like a dogs bed. Then throughout the day I notice they don't have a dog, they don't have a TV, they don't have any electronics, no kids toys. But what they do have is an adopted middle Eastern girl."

"That was where she slept. Mind you they have a little girl (5 yrs old maybe) with her own room and a little boy (7 yrs old maybe) with his own room both with gate latches on the outside of the door. She slept in a fucking closet. I mentioned it to my boss. Said he's run into this kind of thing before, called them "Bible beaters". He brushed it off. I didn't. I called the police, anonymously. Idk what happened. I didn't work for that guy much longer."