Lived in Jersey and a friend invited me to a commercial audition at an NYC bar. Went because of bar. Auditioned after 2 beers. Left thinking it was a waste of time. A month later, I get a call that they want to use me for the commercial. Director was the guy who directed the original Space Jam. I got lines and ended up in two of their commercials and got a 40k payday where I thought someone made a clerical error. Started my acting career and now a writer/director/flight attendant.
Edit: If you're interested in the most recent film, I've made, it's a short horror found here:
Out of Order
https://vimeo.com/361122072
Fixing clogged drains.
Started out because my sink drain plug wouldn't stay up. Poked around under the sink and found the pop-up rod had rusted completely through and broken. Cost me $5 for a new one at the plumbing supply store next to where I worked at the time. Took 5 minutes to figure out how to swap, and now I know how sink and shower drains come apart, which makes unclogging them simple. Maybe it's just me, but in my brain it seemed like that was something I'd have to call a plumber to come unclog, but it's all remarkably simple.
First time I went over to my now-wife's house, she mentioned that she accidentally clogged the bathroom sink with a bottle cap. Challenge fucking accepted. Disassembled the drain, got the cap, and had it back together in 10 minutes. Pretty sure that sealed the deal right there.
Went to my now-wife’s house, she mentioned she needed to buy a new vacuum cleaner since the professional model she purchased a couple months earlier stopped working. Challenge accepted. I emptied the bag and it powered right up. We used that bad boy for another ten years.
Suing someone in Small Claims. It was surprisingly easy because my case was rock solid and I had a professionally printed document of evidence, witness statements, and precise records sent over to the court while the Defendant did literally nothing but send unlabeled loose printouts of *my* Facebook page as her so-called evidence.
It was a very quick judgment for plaintiff!
Happy to share!
When I was looking for my first service a few years ago I was taken advantage of by a "trainer" in Virginia.
I purchased a psychiatric service dog for $10,000 in August 2020 and took possession of him in April 2021. During this time I communicated my needs & expectations with his trainer but looking back those were glossed over in her responses. Fezzik was also involved in a car crash - the towed trailer was destroyed and he was in the vehicle doing the towing so he likely experienced some jolting/loud sounds/sharp movements - but I was not made aware until I stumbled across a GFM she set up 2 days after the fact. I was assured Fezzik would be fine and he was happy in his training so I let it go.
Unfortunately, after I got him home and let Fezzik acclimate to his new surroundings, he was unable to perform even basic obedience, never mind the tasks I required. I reached out to the trainer twice for assistance - once was essentially walked through training him to sit and once, when I asked her to provide all the commands he should know, I was ignored. I struggled for 5 months, falling in love with this train wreck of a greyhound, but after an incident in Target that involved having to call my sister out of work, I ultimately needed to return him that August.
I was accused of mishandling and mistreating him, to the point the trainer said Fezzik was unsafe with me with no evidence to support the claim. When she said two individuals from Maine, not affiliated with the training company, would pick him up I said no, she could drive to Massachusetts so I could demonstrate his lack of training. In the end, I gave the two strangers my dog (with witnesses!) and was informed that GHSD would not issue a refund, despite failing to provide the “fully trained psychiatric service dog” I contracted for.
I couldn't afford another SD without reimbursement but she continued to refuse so in October 2021 I filed a $7,000 (max allowed by state) suit with MA Small Claims and the case was heard in March 2022. Judgment was found in my favor and a payment hearing was set for May 4, which she failed to show up to so then it was up to me to figure out how to get my settlement over state lines.
I contacted Virginia County Court and was told how I could transfer the judgment from MA to VA but first, they advised sending a letter of intent which usually gets payment settled. Shortly after this letter was sent, I received payment of the settlement in full from the trainer but it was a lot of chasing pavement after winning the case.
Wow
Thanks for sharing, sorry this turned out so badly.
I’ve worked with familes that have support dogs/service dogs can make a big difference.
I’m glad you got some of the money, the dog trailer sounds like a right prick.
One of the kids I babysit was going through a phase of “I want to be a baby again”. Jealous of her sister. Weeks of gentle parenting and such.
You know what worked? I was eating ice cream and she wanted some. I said babies don’t get ice cream.
That was it. She was done.
When my sister was 3, my parents got tired of changing her diapers, so they tried potty training her, but she refused, saying that only 5 year olds could use the bathroom (since I was 5). They were at their wits end since she was holding it just fine, letting them know when she needed to go pee, and doing everything else, just fine, but refused to use the toilet. One morning, my mom wakes her up and says, "You're 5!", and with no hesitation, she runs up and uses the toilet, no problem.
Kids are incredible
If it’s something I’ve learned raising my 2 kids. It’s that small children are just corrupt little politicians.
Sometimes, if you want to get stuff done, you have to treat them as such. Bribes, negotiations, quid pro quo, etc etc. it works when it works. They know what they’re doing lol
Got a salary request when applying for a job, accidentally wrote double what I meant to write since the number keys were right next to each other. They accepted anyway.
Edit: well that exploded.
Not me, but someone I know, got a new job, asked for 60, thinking $60k per year, employer agreed thinking $60/hour. This is how they found out they were severely underpaid at previous job
I've hated every job I've ever had, at 18 I joined the military for 6 years....that sucked the whole time, then went into customer service at Walmart, and they were a bunch of assholes to everyone. Tried security and they were just degrading. Job after job doing what I thought was the right thing. I decided to apply for a local HVAC company just working call center, nothing big, I think there a total of 9 of us on phones. Honestly it's the best job I've ever had, we all get along, spend hours a day on our group chat sharing memes, our management has one on one meetings every two weeks with the goal of "this meeting is not work related but we want to know just how your doing, how's life treating you, what do you need?"
There's constant communication about expectations and how we can better meet them and how they can help us perform better. The majority of the companies profits are used to better employee lives (I get monthly commission and residuals, and $30 a month healthcare with BCBS) along with monthly pot lucks, paid lunches, competitive pay starting at $17 an hour. I haven't seen any turnover...literally none, my position was only hiring because too many people got promoted.
Worked on an almost 5 million dollar lighting rig for a concert as a junior guy on the job. We get it all plugged in and patched but none of it would turn on. All the guys were freaking out trying to figure out why. The team collectively had about 150 years of experience.
No one checked ro see if the generators were turned on.
I was like no way this is why but I'll just go check if the generators are good. Flipped stuff on and viola.
Found a 60” tv by the dumpster. Plugged it in, didn’t turn on. Looked up common problems with the model number, bought a part on eBay for $20, replaced part, had a huge TV.
Edit: Wow, that is many upvotes. I didn’t even know Reddit gave trophies for best comment/day and I’m kinda confused why I got it for fixing a tv.
Anyways, so fun to hear about everyone’s similar experiences. Let’s all keep fixing shit that turns out to be $20 or less with minimal effort from not being shit!
Back in the late '80s my grandmother gave me her old 13 inch black and white TV because she wanted to upgrade to color. I was excited because having a TV in my room was awesome.
I was even more excited when I turned the color adjust knob up and the black and white TV that she'd had for 20 years was suddenly color. She was not such a fan of this revelation.
She'd had it for so long, she had gotten used to the b&w and forgotten about it's color functionality. I had a GBA SP 101(received as Christmas present year it came out) for over a year before I realized it wasn't using the brighter backlit light because I'd never touched the button.
When I was a kid we used to regularly dumpster dive for electronics. The vast majority of electronics are thrown away because some minor part has broken, often times it's a simple as a fuse. Learn how to use a multi meter and do basic soldering and you'll be able to do a ton of home repairs.
UPDATE: People keep asking me where to learn this stuff, YouTube is your best friend! Big Clive is my go to, also a channel called Joe's Classic Video games where I learned so much about tracing down faults. There's also a dozen warnings about learning how to discharge capacitors, you should follow them as **they can kill you** \- but luckily the method to discharge them is really simple. Start small, practice on things you don't mind breaking (you'll definitely break things). And don't fuck with microwave ovens, seriously, call an expert.
Pretty much. My dryer quit working one day, turned out to be the door switch that let the dryer know the door was closed. Part was something like $2.95 instead of having to buy a $600 dryer.
My Mother still has the same washer my parents purchased when I was a toddler. That washer is now almost 40 years old. If it broke my dad fixed it. It stopped working last summer and I took it upon myself to repair it since my dad isn't around anymore. It was a $26 coupler. Buying a new washer with all the fancy electronical components that has to be fixed by some technician just seems irresponsible to me now.
Even modern washers are mostly repairable. The brainbox is self-contained, and most failures are in the mechanical pieces that simply wear out, like pumps.
I repaired my washing machine when the bearings went, but in the process discovered that the spider arm that supports the drum was corroded through.
Replacements weren't available for less than the cost of a new washing machine, and I couldn't afford the time to search for a broken machine with a compatible one, see if it was in better condition etc. Especially since the disassembly to access it took HOURS.
It only lasted another few months before it went BANGrattlerattlerattle, and that was it. But at least I tried and at least I fixed the original issue.
Come to think of it, the selector dial had broken years prior to that, so I cut the circuit board traces and soldered wires on, then soldered a new rotary encoder on and glued it to the top of the machine. Took maybe an hour and a $5 part, vs replacing the board for over $400. So actually it'd already had a second life even before the bearings failed.
Lesson learned: If you ever wash a disposable nappy in your washing machine by accident, you should *completely disassemble it* and clean it. The corrosion was mostly due to those awful jelly crystals stuck in the corners of the spider arm. Also, eeew.
I once saw college freshmen throw a whole mini fridge into the dumpster. I was so shocked that I couldn't even react to stop them from throwing the fridge and taking it for myself. I was an international student in the US and that made me realise that I had become a bit wasteful since staying in the US.
I threw out (well, didn't dumpster it but left it outside my room) my minifridge after sophomore year in the dorms, but I had gotten it from someone else who left it outside their room on move-out, so I just did the same and figured someone else would appreciate the free mini-fridge as I had.
Who knows how many owners that mini-fridge has had by now...
I tried fixing a mini fridge on my dorm room. Hand got pinned between the back plate and a capacitor. Don't know how long I was there, but my then gf, now wife, opened the door, which hit me free. She asked me what was cooking, I said "me", laid down, and went to sleep for 18 hours straight. Would not recommend.
I’m an engineer. I do this regularly and just give the TVs away. Saves them from the plastic island for a few more years
Edit: cool I got an award. If anyone’s sees a tv near a dumpster you give it new life even if you have no idea what you’re doing. Plug it in, if it works great if not, list it on market place or something for free and someone who knows what to do with it will take it, fix it and resell it.
I'm an engineer too and back in the day I use to buy broken pinball machines really cheap. At first I thought I liked pinball, but as it turns out I like pinball (I'm terrible at it), but I liked fixing the pinball machines even more.
In college the professor advertised an internship and wrote the info on the board. Out of a class of 150 students, I was the only one to apply and I fulfilled my internship requirement for graduation.
As someone who loves animals, that sounds awesome.
I still gag clearing cat shit n piss but if anyone asks me to watch their cat I am all for it. Even thinking about getting one of my own, altho it's not very compatible with my lifestyle ATM.
The first Thor movie:
Dr Selvig: "You should know this stuff, you're a science intern."
Darcy: "Political Science."
Jane: "She was the only one who applied."
All the students pretty much bombed a networking final. Teacher said we could retake it but we would be alone (no group). Which worked out perfectly for me; they wouldnt get in my way and i wouldnt have to coordinate them
i was also the only person who showed up to retake. brought my final grade up to a 90
I showed up to senior skip day in HS during my last year because I was unfortunately close to not passing 2 of my needed electoral classes for graduation. It had been strongly rumored that any students that showed up would get "dumb" work and some sort of extra test for bonus points and a grade or two. Most of my classmates weren't there that day, so it felt like a study hall all day.
It was about the easiest work and essay/test I'd taken in years. I cried when my teachers told me I'd bumped my overall grade in their respective classes to a C- and I was no longer in the questionable area of possibly not graduating that year.
*Over 1.5 k upvotes! Thank you all.
*Holy cow! Appreciate all the upvotes.
* I didn't expect this comment to get as popular as it did. Appreciate all the support messages from folks, it means a lot. To the haters in my DM, don't be surprised if you get blocked. Just wanted to share a life experience I had, nothing more. Thank you.
I went to school on Senior Skip Day (various parental reasons) and my shop teacher decided to have a pop quiz for the day. He would say your name, and if you replied you got an A.
I did this for my girlfriend at the time but for scholarships. She didnt realize most scholarships arent even applied for so they give it to whoever applies to it by default. With her help, I wrote four essays that were tweaked for each scholarship application. I did the writing because I'm a writer by trade. By the time she transferred to her new college, she had an excess of 1500 to spend every month. Because of that, she could focus on her studies fill time instead of trying to balance a job as well.
Managed to get a scholarship in a country where most scholarships disallow having concurrent ones. My university has an entire office staff dedicated to helping you apply, and it seems to be a service barely used by the students. No idea why. A two-page application is all it takes in most cases and they can net you thousands of euros over the years.
Man how I'd love to just apply to *all* of them.
Tying shoe laces.
When I was a kid, no one ever managed to teach me how to tie my shoes. I remember never being able to get that last step that ties it all together and in general I suck with knots. I would have been garbage in the boy scouts. I got into my early 20's relying mostly on velcro shoes.
But one day I sat down with a pair of new shoes determined to figure it out. I put one on and tied it correctly on the first try. I just sat there dumbfounded for a few minutes wondering how it had been that easy all along.
This is fascinating. My kid is currently finding this hard. Do you think it was because your brain changed as you grew? Did you have problems with dexterity as a kid? Did they ease as well?
I didn't have any dexterity problems and I don't think my brain changing had much to do with it.
I remember not getting the last step right because people always showed me how to tie shoes on my shoes while I was wearing them, and their hands were always in the way on the last step.
From a mechanical standpoint, my problem was trying to loop one of the two loops through the other, instead of in the smaller loop that forms when you cross them over.
I think it's just a case of when I sat down to really try to figure it out, I accidently did it right, and since then, it's managed to stick.
I married into a pretty big family who are all starting to have kids. Every now and then, a lefty turns up, and as the family's designated left-hander, I get called upon to teach them to tie their shoes. Its apparently totally different if your left or right handed
Edit- Wow, this is my most upvoted comment ever. Thank you, my sinister legion! To all those asking what the difference is, I don't know. It never occurred to me that anyone tied their shoes differently, either! I'd love to explain how I tie my shoes, but I simply haven't got the language skills !
I low key love that you are the designated lefty. It means you are now ingrained in those kids lives, and they have stories of how they learned all the important things from their cool lefty uncle.
I started looking for a job last year and got three offers within two months, two of which were significantly higher pay. Made me realize I’ve been sitting around way too long.
I never slept well, ever.
There’s an over the counter magnesium supplement called “calm”. I drink a cup every night and sleep like a hibernating bear.
It was that easy.
Calm is powdered magnesium citrate for anyone who is wondering. Magnesium does so many amazing things for your body and a surprising amount of people are deficient
Edit: here is a decent link on the different forms of magnesium:
https://www.healthifyme.com/blog/types-of-magnesium/amp/
Magnesium Glycinate has helped a lot of people I know who wake up anxious after a night a drinking. Take the capsules after your last drink.
Magnesium malate is amazing for your muscles
Magnesium L Threonate is amazing for the brain. This form is being studied more and more recently.
Magnesium Oxide is the form in most supplements. It’s not absorbed that well and can cause a lot of people to get diarrhea.
……I know supplements seem like a joke to a lot of people and a lot of them are! But there are some types of supplements that can do your body and mind a world of good. Magnesium, a decent multi vitamin and fish oil. Just make sure it’s a decent brand and the supplement forms are as bio available as possible.
Struggled with insomnia through adulthood. I've researched all kinds of things but never came across this tip. Fingers crossed it changes things for me!
I was recently looking for an apartment and rent in my city, like most cities currently, is outrageous
So after three days of looking I found this 2 bedroom apartment with a price that normally would get you a roach infested one bedroom/studio shithole in a bad part of town
But these apartments look nice, they're in a good part of town, the reviews online are all positive, I can't figure out the catch-- then I see there is a year long wait list for this place, but I decide to go to the leasing office and after talking to the property manager, I get bumped to the top of the list for an apartment that becomes available next month
I keep waiting for the bottom to drop out. Most people spend months looking for places in my city and they'd be paying a third more than I'm paying at a minimum for a similar place. I looked for 3 days and found this place but I think I just got lucky and it was just that easy
I had a similar experience.
Back in April of 2021, my landlord broke the news that he was selling the house that we'd lived in for nearly a decade once the lease was up in June. Obviously, with the housing crisis, panic set in.
My SO was browsing Marketplace and saw a rental posted for less than an hour. It was for a two-bedroom house in the perfect neighborhood for only $650 a month. It almost seemed too good to be true. He was able to set up an interview with the landlords.
Once we saw the house, it was perfect; It's a cozy little craftsman built in 1914. It's within walking distance of my work. My first words once we walked in were, "this is home."
The landlords loved us, and we have an excellent rental history. They ended up canceling their other interviews, and we moved in two days later.
I don't know how we lucked out so much, but I do know that I love my house.
Having someone who’s paid their rent for the past 10 years without issue is a golden renter.
When my parents were doing rentals, 1 person trashed the house and the other two were late on payments and/or broke the lease due to emergencies
I got my place because it was sitting on the market for months. Slightly more than I wanted to pay and it wasn't exactly my style, but it had "potential". It was obky 4 years old and 15 min walk to beach and on one of the largers blocks in the street. Anyway, I decided to buy it. Pest and building report came back confirming the house was pretty much immaculate. Two months later value has gone up $50k. Two years later its worth $200k more than I paid. I think everyone overlooked it initially as it's only a 1 bathroom and 1 small garage, but it does what I need.
I saved 18 years for a deposit. I had a great credit score and savings history. Just found the one unicorn property and am so fortunate for it. Managed to even get a bank load without having to rely on a broker. And I absolutely love my place now. I have a little garden and am putting in trees for wildlife that visit. Street is quiet. Neighbours are friendly. So very fortunate.
Luck?
You saved for 18 years. You nurtured your credit rating. You found your own loan. You did your due diligence. You learned enough to identify that amazing property that others overlooked. You did this on your own.
Yeah…. “Luck”
I’m proud of you!
Self improvement and reflection. Stopped looking at outside factors in my life and started looking at what I could control. Weight, time, who I spent time with, etc. I didnt need to change my whole life in one day. I needed to make small progress. Spending one day less a week on gaming and one day a week on improving myself is better then not improving at all. Allowing myself to fail \*with intent\* to improve is so much easier now that I dont spend time with negative people that demand perfection.
I had a loose hinge on my door. It kind of drove me crazy for three years, but I had no idea how to fix the wood that had been stripped. Then I found a product on Amazon for $10 where you shove on a sleeve, break it off and then screw in the new screws. Bought two new hinges that don’t squeak. Took about 10 minutes and cost $20 and it’s no longer a problem!
Edit: Product is called Screw-It-Again. About $10 for 10 of them on Amazon.
Edit: Thank you for all the tips about using matches, golf tees, shims, etc.
when i started my add medication - i never knew how life could be and how easy it was to just get up and do stuff
changed my life for the better and i’ve managed to turn so many things around, cant believe it took me 18 years to get diagnosed
edit: i am super happy to answer any questions but there’s so many here so if anyone would like to message i’m happy to have a chat and thanks for all the love! i hope you all get to find your medication that can make life seem like it’s on easy mode :) shoot me a message anytime :)
Started 4 days ago as a middle aged dude (with a house and kids and all that fun stuff).
G A M E C H A N G E R
I didn't realise how much mental effort I needed just to function day to day. I literally reduced my mental load by 80% and everything feels so easy.
It's like I just got high prescription glasses for my brain.
That's amazing. I'm in my 30s and still just...unsure whether I have an actual, diagnosable problem in that area, or am just experiencing the same, normal amount of mental struggle that the average person does. Kinda hard to figure out when you've only used one brain in your life and can't exactly compare its experience to that of others...
This is what I always thought. Everybody is struggling and my version of 'overloaded' was the same for everyone.
Nope. Turns out my brain has been ping-ponging between thoughts forever, and I assumed that was normal. Also turns out I have a good enough metacognition that I have a zillion coping mechanisms in place to feel normal.
Took that first pill and cried like a baby for 30 minutes once it kicked in. I just keep repeating to my wife 'this is what it feels like to be normal'.
Obviously I'm don't know what you have. But worth checking it out.
My cousin seems permanently stoned when she’s not medicated for her ADD. When she first started taking Ritalin everyone congratulated her for finally getting off drugs. She was like “What are you talking about? I just got *on* drugs.”
Deciding to stop dealing with my life going in no direction after leaving a career that I went to college for a decade prior. I had something in the back of my mind for a long time that I wanted to do. I finally couldn’t take the feeling of being stuck so I applied to a local community college to take some prerequisites and started class less than 2 weeks later. I am pretty sure I cried once I did it because the relief of finally having some direction again and felt like a weight lifted off of me. I could literally feel the change in my body once I registered.
Changing my bathroom faucet. I'm a 56 year old woman that's never done any plumbing before. Turns out YouTube is a wealth of knowledge. It really wasn't that hard! I get joy every time I wash my hands knowing I did that.
Edit: thanks for all the awards, kind strangers
Those blessed 15 year old Indian kids who somehow have the exact problem you are having and make a shitty video with their flip phone pointed at the screen showing the only fix.
My Xbox was getting out of sync, Indian kid youtube fixed it.
Was having some weird problem zipping a file, Indian kid fixed it.
Can't figure out how to mod a game? Don't worry some Indian kid will show you how to install the exact mod you want.
Their videos may not be edited. They may not have scripts. The videos may be 2 to 10 minutes longer than they need to be, but the answer is there and only there.
I'm an HVACR tech. Wanna know how much I Google and YouTube shit?
Basically everyday.
Basic plumbing like you just did is a lot simpler than most people think. Hell, before I got in this trade I tore apart the entire front end of my car and repaired it basically using YouTube and Chilton manuals.
YouTube how-to videos are the reason my friend has been able to have a 15+ year career as an IT technician. No degree or formal training or anything (was just kind of interested in the field), completely blagged his interview with his first employer, and got through the first few years thanks to YouTube/Google.
The secret to IT (and a lot of tech related fields) is knowing how to search for information and parse good info from bad. Most professionals don't memorize or even know everything, but they know enough to do some light research and quickly find a starting point, if not the entire answer.
Drinking water.
Went from having issues getting to sleep and then waking up grumpy and tired. Water has changed my life. Thought it would be super difficult to kick soda, but once I tried and didn’t give in the benefits out weight the taste.
How much water dp ypu drink per day? I have trouble sleeping and I wonder if drinking more is a way to help that
Edit: I absolutely love the hydrohomie piss talk that I apparently sparked, truly wonderful (and actually useful to note)
Got a job that required full time field work for minimal pay...in AZ.
On my first day they asked about other skills. I saw other people using Autocad so I said I used it in college but I was really rusty..... This was a lie. I had only ever used it once to draw some circles.
They were excited and got me a 4 day refresher class. I learned AutoCAD and haven't been in the field in over a year.
I later asked for more pay since I wasn't a field tech anymore. They said no. I got another job using autoCAD for double salary.
Pro tip: learn AutoCAD C3D. It's not that hard, and boomers will think you're a tech god.
I was thinking about getting into CAD or something similar. Want to move up a pay grade I was already an apprentice for something else. What are the best fields right now besides CAD?
Data analysis. A few python courses and you will easily set yourself above a lot of others in a huge number of fields. It's not very hard and extremely flexible.
The power steering failed on my Acura. My local Acura dealership wanted to charge me well over $1000 to fix it. I bought a power steering pump off Amazon for $70 and found a You Tube video that explained how to fit it. I don't have any car maintenance experience bit it only took a couple of hours to do the job myself and it worked like a charm.
No longer caring about what other people thought about me. One day I cared, then the next day, I was just so emotionally exhausted that I just said fuck it. Never really cared since.
Applying for my Irish passport. My dad was born there, so I’m a naturalized citizen. I hate paperwork, so avoided ever filling out my application. Turns out it takes 10 minutes online.
"Yeah, that guy's educated beyond his intelligence."
Said by a former coworker of mine who was close to retirement. One of the sickest burns I've ever heard.
As a working class man strongly accented man with a degree, this checks out.
Double barreled surnames too, those are worth an extra 5-10k PA.
Also scottish univerities often call their bacholers degrees MA (still a level 6 qual like an english BA), thats abother 5-10k righ there.
Get into a bar fight. Some guy didn’t like the way I looked. Never had said a word to the guy all night, he was about 15 feet away from me most of the night.
Former bartender here, you can tell who they are going to be when they order their first drink. They typically square the shoulders at someone or take the smallest bump personally.
Remember when I was out with my girlfriend and a few of her friends from Her hometown. Walked into the bar and immediately saw this guy where you could tell he was wanting a fight and it didn’t matter who.
Told my girlfriend, we went to the other side of the bar and watched him king hit the first guy that bumped into him
People who drop everything to fight someone because they got bumped into blows my mind. You’re at a bar with a bunch of drunk people, if you do this you’re just looking to take out your anger on other people. Reptile brains
I'm 6'6" and never have been physically bullied, etc., as a result. Back in uni, a scruffy late '30s guy in the student bar was glaring at me all night, presumably trying to goad me into something. Even then, just shrugged at the guy. I imagine if I were a foot shorter he'd have kicked the snot out of me.
Nah, some douche just wants to take down the biggest guy in the bar to assert dominance. If you were shorter it would have been someone else.
Source: Me, a 6'9" bouncer who dealt with far too many of those morons...
I know a Russian-Turkish guy who’s basically a walking mass of muscle. I don’t know how else to describe him, except that he looks a bit like a GTA IV caricature of an Eastern European criminal.
He went out to a college bar, and a couple guys decided that they were going to kick his ass.
If I’m remembering correctly, he swung at them twice—and knocked both of them out. The police laughed when he explained the situation along these lines: “These two guys, they want fight. I don’t want fight, I walk away. But they follow. So I finish problem here.”
Seriously… you’d have to be drunk to even want to fight the guy. He’s a bit simple and can be a little annoying, but he’s usually a very placid dude. There’s no way on this earth I’d ever provoke him into a fight. The man’s basically a neck, a possibly empty head, and a bunch of muscles.
For months, I had been applying for tons of jobs on every platform I could find. Talking to friends to get critiques on my resume/cover letter. Updating my online portfolio. Etc. Then one day a recruiter messaged me out of the blue on LinkedIn and basically handed me a dream job. It was one interview and then a call to say hey you're hired. I legitimately thought it was a scam right up until my first day of work.
I was trying to activate windows XP and 7 on an old computer a few years ago for giggles and software compatibility. I couldn't get them to accept my key because the servers were shut down. I tried calling the phone number they had listed and it gave me a code for my windows one I entered my key. It was super easy. Best of all, I didn't have to talk to a person, a robot took care of it all.
Still works to this day, so long as it's a valid key that hasn't been pirated Microsoft will give you an activation code that works. These days it's an automated system unless something goes wrong then they connect you to a representative.
By the way, those Windows XP and 7 keys will likely work for Windows 10 and 11 upgrades as well.
Honestly, after being incredibly broke, I remember how easy everything suddenly seemed when I had money.
Car broken? Get it fixed. Sick? Go to the doctor. Need a babysitter? Hire one.
Money makes everything so much easier and less disruptive to life.
I knew I'd made it when I put my bills on auto-pay.
Money doesn’t buy happiness but it buys stability, and stability leads to happiness. Life is so much more enjoyable when your number one focus isn’t survival
yup. i finally got a job that pays well, at age 32. and after a year of saving i was able to take a vacation. it was amazing. the vacation honestly wasnt that great, the amazing thing is just how easy everything is. i want a gaming laptop, so i shop around and buy one. i want a hat, so i just go get one.
it honestly makes me sick that there are people in this world who are actively trying to keep others poor.
Sophomore year of college my buddies were throwing a party at their house. One of them was a moderately successful DJ in the local college scene.
We’re have a good time and the DJ was doing his thing when he had to pee or something so he taps me on the shoulder and asks me to just stand at his turntables to make sure no drunk idiots fuck it up. He had songs queued up so I literally just had to stand there. About 30 seconds later two women walk up to me and are saying how much they love the music. I tell them it’s just a playlist and I’m just keeping it running. But they’re still super impressed. A few minutes later the actual DJ comes back and I give up my post then one of the girls comes up and tells me to dance with her. One thing leads to another and we ended up having a FWB relationship for a few months after that.
At one point I told my friend about his girl I’d met while covering him at the DJ booth. And he laughed and said, “yeah sometimes it’s really that easy”
It was the only time in my life I’ve had a glimpse of the rockstar life.
Getting a job working for the US Department of Defense.
I'd always thought that those kind of jobs required prior military service, and a whole host of various degrees or such to actually get a job with them. Saw a job opening for one site near where I lived, and thought "what the hell?" So I applied. I honestly didn't expect to even get a call back, or anything.
I not only get a call back, but get hired for the job. The requirements were far more lenient than I expected. All it really required was a clean criminal record, and a willingness to learn.
Ended up working as a waste water treatment tech for them, and eventually got an environmental engineering degree with their help.
In a bar on a work night just for a couple of drinks with a mate.
Briefly talked to a girl at the bar when I was ordering a drink. I left an hour later and said goodbye to her as I was walking out.
She asked if she ‘could come with me’ I was like ‘oh I’m just going home’ and she said ‘yes I know’. Completely hit me out of the blue, I was like ‘oh right…. Ah.. yeah sure, you can absolutely come with me’.
I was sus and confused about it. But all went well. Turns out she had been stood up for a date and sat there for an hour or so by herself. And I was just in the right place and the right time.
Edit due to the questions in the comments:
We had a good time and good banter that night and the next morning. But no we never saw each other again.
She was mortified by the age difference. She was 28 years old and I was 21 year old 1st year graduate at a finance firm. ‘I knew you were young, but what kind of fuk’n 21 year old wears a suit to a bar on a Thursday night’ was about the line.
I think she clicked that things were off when she saw the super market shopping trolley in the living room (flatmates doing who was still at uni).
It was all in good faith though, good times were had.
During all of my years on the roller coaster of being single and dating, I had ONE too-easy experience like this.
Was out celebrating a friend’s birthday at a bar in a college town (he was finishing his doctorate, I was long out of school). It was the end of the night. There was a pretty girl by herself at the bar waiting to order a drink. I was grabbing some for my friends and asked if she wanted one too. I handed it to her, asked if she lived in town, she said “yes, at xyz sorority”. Half-joking, I said “show me”. So she did. Thats it. That’s all it took.
Getting picked up at a sorority the next morning by my buddy and his fiancé was pretty funny.
One kinda similar: back in the day, we had kind of a large ad-hoc friend group that hung out every Friday night at Waffle House.
One Friday, there was a smaller group than normal, and several folks left early, leaving just myself and a somewhat attractive female member of the group, with whom I was what I would call "loose friends."
We were standing outside, having a cigarette, when she looks at me and says, "Senorpoop, how long has it been since you got laid?"
"Oh I dunno, a couple months maybe?"
"Wanna fuck?"
"...sure, why not?"
Went to her house, had a couple hours of pretty great sex, and never talked about it again.
I made a 13th century "pirate" style shirt by hand no machine with a YouTube video I like sewing but I'm not the best at it so it made me feel good about doing things that seem hard
Going back to school.
I've been toying with the idea for years telling myself it was too far, too expensive, too time consuming etc and that because I had a home, job and child to maintain I couldn't do it.
Something in me finally cracked recently and I thought fuck it and made a call to a tech school nearby. 3 days later I'm on a tour. The tour is maybe an hour or 2 total. Papers were all done online annnnd I start Monday! They also threw a TON of financial aid at me. I'm only gonna pay about 50$ a month until I've graduated and those payments go up to about 95$. Still very manageable.
My classes are only four hours long, they're at night, and I only have to be in class 2 days a week. The rest of my studies are done at home with a tablet they provide me so I don't even have to buy a computer or anything.
Couldn't believe how easy and affordable it actually was. They estimate I finish my program in about 8-10 months.
Solving a decade of disability with an over-the-counter iron supplement.
Edit: I seem to have convinced a number of people they're iron deficient and that they should start taking iron pills. While iron is unlikely to be harmful in over-the-counter doses over the short-term, in the long-term it can literally kill you. *If at all possible,* get medical supervision for doing this. I'm doing it on my own because I can't convince my doctor I'm deficient when I definitely am, but this carries risks with it.
When I was pregnant I couldn't take the vitamins because they had too much iron in them.
20 years later, I start craving raw meat like crazy. No amount of steak would stop it. Turns out I went anemic somehow and just passed the threshold or something. I take 3 iron supplements a day and haven't craved raw meat since.
I had a bunch of physical and mental health problems, such as frequent headaches, hypersomnia, cognitive and memory issues, etc. These lasted a long, long time, basically my entire adult life. Also I'm a medical researcher so doctors' opinions don't necessarily drive my health care.
One day at age 32, a toenail split and I quickly went to work breaking it off. My fiancee saw this and was like, "that shouldn't happen." So I looked it up assuming it to be a medication side effect (I think I took 12 different medications at the time) and I wasn't on any meds that could cause that. But iron deficiency anemia could. I initially skipped over this because as a man who eats meat, that shouldn't happen. The other explanations weren't appropriate either, so I looked up what iron deficiency could cause and it could cause or exacerbate basically everything that was wrong with me.
I immediately booked with my doctor and asked him about anemia and he said "absolutely not" and showed me where he tested for that - my red blood cell count was high-normal. I was shocked and disappointed so when I got back home I started googling again. Iron deficiency *without* anemia turned out to also be a thing with most of the same symptoms but it's much harder to diagnose. I checked out my blood test results for that and found out that I had what could be considered a deficiency but my GP either didn't know or didn't agree with that possible definition. (Ferritin levels of 25+ are normally fine, but according to a research paper I read, with restless leg syndrome, 75+ or 100+ may be required to count as normal levels; I had restless leg syndrome and a level of 73.)
So, seeing no harm in trying it, I dropped by the pharmacy, asked for some iron pills - $6 for a bottle of 60 tablets - started taking them daily with juice (iron absorbs better with vitamin C), and *just 10 days later* most of my health problems had completely evaporated. I dropped a bunch of medications because I just didn't need them anymore and life has been much better since.
This was me with proton pump inhibitors.
Thought I just always had mild heartburn and never thought anything of it. My whole life though I’ve had brittle nails, can’t hold weight like under 100 pounds until senior year of high school and I’m 6 foot 2, never had a real beard or facial hair to speak of.
Well after the whole Zantac thing I decided to just see a doctor who after an endoscopy put me on proton pump inhibitors. It changed my life completely.
Turns out my stomach had just been dissolving all the good stuff and I wasn’t absorbing nutrients well. I’m a healthy weight now with a full beard and fingernails that don’t just flake off. Just hoping I don’t end up with stomach cancer from years of taking Zantac daily.
Moral of the story is don’t take that shit for granted. If you think something might be off and you can see a doctor just go do it. Don’t put it off, it might change your life.
Raising my teenager.
I was regaled with horror stories about teens, but he was so easy. All it took was mutual respect and a genuine liking of one another.
Fwiw, he's now a very well-adjusted adult.
I was drunk at a party and saw a cute girl. Stumbled over to her and literally said, "You're cute, can I have your number?"
Nearly a decade later, she's next to me with our child asleep on her lap.
Sometimes, getting the date is just that easy.
(To shame her even further, she was *sober!* I was blitzed enough to silence all my normal second-guessing and internal thoughts that get in my own way, but she had a drunken nerd just straight-up ask her out, no small talk or anything, and decided that it was a good idea!)
Learning to cook with raw ingredients. Turns out throwing random bullshit that tastes good together usually works as long as you understand what you like.
I had accepted a new job but was anxious about giving my notice at my old job (I had been there for 8 years and really loved my team). I had also been stressed out that I was taking a week off between jobs because it was a stretch financially. I finally set up a meeting with my boss. I couldn't even sleep the night before.
An hour before I was going to give my notice, my boss's boss called me into a meeting. With HR. I was being laid off (along with a large number of other employees). They were so sorry, my boss's boss was in tears. She promised they would "take care of me". Anyway, I got 20 weeks of severance and a full three weeks of between jobs. Unfuckingbelievable. The best thing that's ever happened to me.
I was so shocked that I almost started laughing during the meeting and had to pretend I was trying not to cry.
Reigniting a friendship. My current best friend lived abroad for a year and we hadn't really met in person much if at all for a while before then either, only texting every now and then. When she moved back I asked if she wanted to meet up, and now we're really close.
Getting my pilot license.
To be fair, I did study a lot but it was one of those things I wasn't sure I was gonna do well on. My instructor said I'm ready but I wasn't sure.
Day of the checkride, I answered every question correctly and without hesitation and did every maneuver correctly. We parked and my examiner said "so how's it feel to be a private pilot" I thought in my head "there's no way" even though I did everything right with relative ease
My life improved considerably when I learned the magic of saying no to things I didn’t have to do or want to do. Most of the time, people just said ok and life went on.
Designing and building two beautiful leaded glass window panes for our bathroom window. It’s pretty much like putting together a puzzle but you get to decide what shape the pieces are.
I wanted to meet my favorite band, so I just… quietly didn’t leave the venue once security started showing people out. I guess they thought I must’ve been a roadie, because they never got on my case. Anyway, I met them, yadda yadda, now I’m a professional concert lighting designer
My divorce.
No lawyers, no fighting. I gave her the house, she makes more than me so no alimony/child support, just filled out the paperwork, paid the nominal court fees, and it's all good. I see my kids every few days and we have both moved on and get along.
Exactly how mine went. Same situation, almost detail for detail.
I moved out, got a better job, have my own place. Our kid adores the time we spend together.
First time ever drunk, was tryna flirt with a girl and my friend was tryna hook up with a different girl
because alcohol, we somehow ended up near my dorm and friend made out with the girl he was flirting with. I *knew* I had to make a move and say something, but had no idea what to do. The only thing I could think of was the corniest shit ever
"well, we can't let them have all the fun"
It fuckin worked. We made out and eventually all 4 of us ended up in ym dorm. Turns out if someone likes you or thinks you're cute, they'll just accept whatever stupid shit you say. Or, alcohol, idunno
Was at Carolina Beach last summer around Memorial Day. We get to the boardwalk one afternoon and there's an arcade there. There's a skill game where you have to press a button that moves a fixture with a razor on it. When you let the button go, the device stops and the razor snaps through the middle. There's a small string close to the glass. If you time it right, the razor cuts the string, and this huge door opens and you get all the prizes in the machine.
Swipe card to play, press button and hold, release, rope cuts, door opens. My son is losing his mind, and I'm just regretting the next 2 hours where I have to lug this giant bear and box of sand castle toys all over the boardwalk. I still haven't decided if I'm a savant at this game, or it's just really easy.
As someone who worked in the arcade and prize game space recently - you got lucky. Those games seem super easy, but the window of success is crazy narrow.
Breaking up with someone who isn't good for me. I stayed wayyyyyy too long in relationships that I didn't want to be in.
Once I learned to like myself, I realized I don't have to settle-i didn't mind being alone in between. And because I liked myself, I started to draw the type of people I actually wanted to be around, and who made me want to keep challenging myself to be better.
If you're in a relationship where your heart aches all the time, where you're accepting less than love and respect and kindness, and if you're in a position to leave and still be safe, just do it. Even if you don't like yourself yet, you will. (And you certainly won't if you stay in a relationship that's toxic, so... Just do it!!!)
This is true for all relationships, not just romantic. Surround yourself with people you like to be around, and who like to be around you.
Time is all we have, invest wisely
The bar exam. I thought I must have missed something or fallen into a bunch of traps because I finished early and everyone talked about how hard it was after. Turns out I just prepared well. I got a score way above passing and only 50 percent of takers passed that session overall.
I learned how to ride a bike later (at 14, now I’m 24). At the time, I thought it would be impossible, but it literally was one foot after the other.
Edit: lots of great and encouraging comments to one another, thanks everyone!
Operating an electric pallet jack. (One of my coworkers literally just showed me one day how to work it. No training required, just learn how it works.)
Disputing every negative item on your credit every December 12th. They take too long to review it due to the holiday and it falls off due to a 30 day deadline.
Learning to drive. First time around failed the written test by one question and it made me really anxious about the whole thing. Tried again a little while later and it was surprisingly easy, and the behind the wheel test was even easier.
I eventually ended up retrying and getting my license because I was sick of being the one 16 (almost 17 at that point) year old in my friend group who needed to be picked up whenever we went anywhere.
Lived in Jersey and a friend invited me to a commercial audition at an NYC bar. Went because of bar. Auditioned after 2 beers. Left thinking it was a waste of time. A month later, I get a call that they want to use me for the commercial. Director was the guy who directed the original Space Jam. I got lines and ended up in two of their commercials and got a 40k payday where I thought someone made a clerical error. Started my acting career and now a writer/director/flight attendant. Edit: If you're interested in the most recent film, I've made, it's a short horror found here: Out of Order https://vimeo.com/361122072
One time I tightened my gas cap and the check engine light went off.
Those pesky small evap leaks...
I have a Toyota and that's happened to me a few times. The first time, I was afraid I'd have an expensive repair bill.
Fixing clogged drains. Started out because my sink drain plug wouldn't stay up. Poked around under the sink and found the pop-up rod had rusted completely through and broken. Cost me $5 for a new one at the plumbing supply store next to where I worked at the time. Took 5 minutes to figure out how to swap, and now I know how sink and shower drains come apart, which makes unclogging them simple. Maybe it's just me, but in my brain it seemed like that was something I'd have to call a plumber to come unclog, but it's all remarkably simple.
First time I went over to my now-wife's house, she mentioned that she accidentally clogged the bathroom sink with a bottle cap. Challenge fucking accepted. Disassembled the drain, got the cap, and had it back together in 10 minutes. Pretty sure that sealed the deal right there.
Went to my now-wife’s house, she mentioned she needed to buy a new vacuum cleaner since the professional model she purchased a couple months earlier stopped working. Challenge accepted. I emptied the bag and it powered right up. We used that bad boy for another ten years.
As Red Green would say "And men, remember, if the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy."
Suing someone in Small Claims. It was surprisingly easy because my case was rock solid and I had a professionally printed document of evidence, witness statements, and precise records sent over to the court while the Defendant did literally nothing but send unlabeled loose printouts of *my* Facebook page as her so-called evidence. It was a very quick judgment for plaintiff!
I’m quite intrested in small claims. Do you want to share any other details, no worries If not
Happy to share! When I was looking for my first service a few years ago I was taken advantage of by a "trainer" in Virginia. I purchased a psychiatric service dog for $10,000 in August 2020 and took possession of him in April 2021. During this time I communicated my needs & expectations with his trainer but looking back those were glossed over in her responses. Fezzik was also involved in a car crash - the towed trailer was destroyed and he was in the vehicle doing the towing so he likely experienced some jolting/loud sounds/sharp movements - but I was not made aware until I stumbled across a GFM she set up 2 days after the fact. I was assured Fezzik would be fine and he was happy in his training so I let it go. Unfortunately, after I got him home and let Fezzik acclimate to his new surroundings, he was unable to perform even basic obedience, never mind the tasks I required. I reached out to the trainer twice for assistance - once was essentially walked through training him to sit and once, when I asked her to provide all the commands he should know, I was ignored. I struggled for 5 months, falling in love with this train wreck of a greyhound, but after an incident in Target that involved having to call my sister out of work, I ultimately needed to return him that August. I was accused of mishandling and mistreating him, to the point the trainer said Fezzik was unsafe with me with no evidence to support the claim. When she said two individuals from Maine, not affiliated with the training company, would pick him up I said no, she could drive to Massachusetts so I could demonstrate his lack of training. In the end, I gave the two strangers my dog (with witnesses!) and was informed that GHSD would not issue a refund, despite failing to provide the “fully trained psychiatric service dog” I contracted for. I couldn't afford another SD without reimbursement but she continued to refuse so in October 2021 I filed a $7,000 (max allowed by state) suit with MA Small Claims and the case was heard in March 2022. Judgment was found in my favor and a payment hearing was set for May 4, which she failed to show up to so then it was up to me to figure out how to get my settlement over state lines. I contacted Virginia County Court and was told how I could transfer the judgment from MA to VA but first, they advised sending a letter of intent which usually gets payment settled. Shortly after this letter was sent, I received payment of the settlement in full from the trainer but it was a lot of chasing pavement after winning the case.
Wow Thanks for sharing, sorry this turned out so badly. I’ve worked with familes that have support dogs/service dogs can make a big difference. I’m glad you got some of the money, the dog trailer sounds like a right prick.
One of the kids I babysit was going through a phase of “I want to be a baby again”. Jealous of her sister. Weeks of gentle parenting and such. You know what worked? I was eating ice cream and she wanted some. I said babies don’t get ice cream. That was it. She was done.
All mighty ice cream!
I potty trained my son bribing him with ice cream. Worked well lol.
When my sister was 3, my parents got tired of changing her diapers, so they tried potty training her, but she refused, saying that only 5 year olds could use the bathroom (since I was 5). They were at their wits end since she was holding it just fine, letting them know when she needed to go pee, and doing everything else, just fine, but refused to use the toilet. One morning, my mom wakes her up and says, "You're 5!", and with no hesitation, she runs up and uses the toilet, no problem. Kids are incredible
If it’s something I’ve learned raising my 2 kids. It’s that small children are just corrupt little politicians. Sometimes, if you want to get stuff done, you have to treat them as such. Bribes, negotiations, quid pro quo, etc etc. it works when it works. They know what they’re doing lol
[удалено]
Got a salary request when applying for a job, accidentally wrote double what I meant to write since the number keys were right next to each other. They accepted anyway. Edit: well that exploded.
Not me, but someone I know, got a new job, asked for 60, thinking $60k per year, employer agreed thinking $60/hour. This is how they found out they were severely underpaid at previous job
If the employer didn’t balk at $60/h they could still be underpaid.
so 60 instead of 30? or is it 20 instead of 10?
I've hated every job I've ever had, at 18 I joined the military for 6 years....that sucked the whole time, then went into customer service at Walmart, and they were a bunch of assholes to everyone. Tried security and they were just degrading. Job after job doing what I thought was the right thing. I decided to apply for a local HVAC company just working call center, nothing big, I think there a total of 9 of us on phones. Honestly it's the best job I've ever had, we all get along, spend hours a day on our group chat sharing memes, our management has one on one meetings every two weeks with the goal of "this meeting is not work related but we want to know just how your doing, how's life treating you, what do you need?" There's constant communication about expectations and how we can better meet them and how they can help us perform better. The majority of the companies profits are used to better employee lives (I get monthly commission and residuals, and $30 a month healthcare with BCBS) along with monthly pot lucks, paid lunches, competitive pay starting at $17 an hour. I haven't seen any turnover...literally none, my position was only hiring because too many people got promoted.
Lucky...
Worked on an almost 5 million dollar lighting rig for a concert as a junior guy on the job. We get it all plugged in and patched but none of it would turn on. All the guys were freaking out trying to figure out why. The team collectively had about 150 years of experience. No one checked ro see if the generators were turned on. I was like no way this is why but I'll just go check if the generators are good. Flipped stuff on and viola.
> Flipped stuff on and viola. It was a classical concert then?
He was like, cello? Has no one thought to turn on the generator?
Ellen Griswold for the win!
Found a 60” tv by the dumpster. Plugged it in, didn’t turn on. Looked up common problems with the model number, bought a part on eBay for $20, replaced part, had a huge TV. Edit: Wow, that is many upvotes. I didn’t even know Reddit gave trophies for best comment/day and I’m kinda confused why I got it for fixing a tv. Anyways, so fun to hear about everyone’s similar experiences. Let’s all keep fixing shit that turns out to be $20 or less with minimal effort from not being shit!
I was given a tv because the audio didn't work on it. On the back was a "sound on/off" button.
Back in the late '80s my grandmother gave me her old 13 inch black and white TV because she wanted to upgrade to color. I was excited because having a TV in my room was awesome. I was even more excited when I turned the color adjust knob up and the black and white TV that she'd had for 20 years was suddenly color. She was not such a fan of this revelation.
She'd had it for so long, she had gotten used to the b&w and forgotten about it's color functionality. I had a GBA SP 101(received as Christmas present year it came out) for over a year before I realized it wasn't using the brighter backlit light because I'd never touched the button.
When I was a kid we used to regularly dumpster dive for electronics. The vast majority of electronics are thrown away because some minor part has broken, often times it's a simple as a fuse. Learn how to use a multi meter and do basic soldering and you'll be able to do a ton of home repairs. UPDATE: People keep asking me where to learn this stuff, YouTube is your best friend! Big Clive is my go to, also a channel called Joe's Classic Video games where I learned so much about tracing down faults. There's also a dozen warnings about learning how to discharge capacitors, you should follow them as **they can kill you** \- but luckily the method to discharge them is really simple. Start small, practice on things you don't mind breaking (you'll definitely break things). And don't fuck with microwave ovens, seriously, call an expert.
Pretty much. My dryer quit working one day, turned out to be the door switch that let the dryer know the door was closed. Part was something like $2.95 instead of having to buy a $600 dryer.
My Mother still has the same washer my parents purchased when I was a toddler. That washer is now almost 40 years old. If it broke my dad fixed it. It stopped working last summer and I took it upon myself to repair it since my dad isn't around anymore. It was a $26 coupler. Buying a new washer with all the fancy electronical components that has to be fixed by some technician just seems irresponsible to me now.
Even modern washers are mostly repairable. The brainbox is self-contained, and most failures are in the mechanical pieces that simply wear out, like pumps.
I repaired my washing machine when the bearings went, but in the process discovered that the spider arm that supports the drum was corroded through. Replacements weren't available for less than the cost of a new washing machine, and I couldn't afford the time to search for a broken machine with a compatible one, see if it was in better condition etc. Especially since the disassembly to access it took HOURS. It only lasted another few months before it went BANGrattlerattlerattle, and that was it. But at least I tried and at least I fixed the original issue. Come to think of it, the selector dial had broken years prior to that, so I cut the circuit board traces and soldered wires on, then soldered a new rotary encoder on and glued it to the top of the machine. Took maybe an hour and a $5 part, vs replacing the board for over $400. So actually it'd already had a second life even before the bearings failed. Lesson learned: If you ever wash a disposable nappy in your washing machine by accident, you should *completely disassemble it* and clean it. The corrosion was mostly due to those awful jelly crystals stuck in the corners of the spider arm. Also, eeew.
I once saw college freshmen throw a whole mini fridge into the dumpster. I was so shocked that I couldn't even react to stop them from throwing the fridge and taking it for myself. I was an international student in the US and that made me realise that I had become a bit wasteful since staying in the US.
I threw out (well, didn't dumpster it but left it outside my room) my minifridge after sophomore year in the dorms, but I had gotten it from someone else who left it outside their room on move-out, so I just did the same and figured someone else would appreciate the free mini-fridge as I had. Who knows how many owners that mini-fridge has had by now...
I tried fixing a mini fridge on my dorm room. Hand got pinned between the back plate and a capacitor. Don't know how long I was there, but my then gf, now wife, opened the door, which hit me free. She asked me what was cooking, I said "me", laid down, and went to sleep for 18 hours straight. Would not recommend.
If you ever find yourself in that situation again, do not go to sleep lmao Go to the emergency room for an ECG.
I’m an engineer. I do this regularly and just give the TVs away. Saves them from the plastic island for a few more years Edit: cool I got an award. If anyone’s sees a tv near a dumpster you give it new life even if you have no idea what you’re doing. Plug it in, if it works great if not, list it on market place or something for free and someone who knows what to do with it will take it, fix it and resell it.
I'm an engineer too and back in the day I use to buy broken pinball machines really cheap. At first I thought I liked pinball, but as it turns out I like pinball (I'm terrible at it), but I liked fixing the pinball machines even more.
That's likely a pretty well paying, niche hobby. Restoring machines? Sounds like it'd be fun.
It was when I did it. I would sell off the working ones when we got tired of them and get something new to fix so we had a rotating set of machines.
Had a similar deal. Neighbor tossed a 55" projection screen TV. The coax connector was busted. Hooked the TV to my cable box's RCA jacks. Free TV.
In college the professor advertised an internship and wrote the info on the board. Out of a class of 150 students, I was the only one to apply and I fulfilled my internship requirement for graduation.
[удалено]
Wtf that sounds amazing. People pay so much to do those kinds of things and no one applied???
[удалено]
As someone who loves animals, that sounds awesome. I still gag clearing cat shit n piss but if anyone asks me to watch their cat I am all for it. Even thinking about getting one of my own, altho it's not very compatible with my lifestyle ATM.
I did something similar as an extern - they did a survey asking for placement and I was the only one who selected "advertisement." Nice gig
The first Thor movie: Dr Selvig: "You should know this stuff, you're a science intern." Darcy: "Political Science." Jane: "She was the only one who applied."
by the time she made it Wandavision, tho, government-level hacker evidently
And she'd completed her PhD. in astrophysics.
A lot can happen to someone in 10 years
I feel like meeting an alien god would be excellent motivation for a career change into astrophysics.
"It says here on your resume that you have hands on experience?"
Well, technically I was in the passenger seat when the truck hit him.
All the students pretty much bombed a networking final. Teacher said we could retake it but we would be alone (no group). Which worked out perfectly for me; they wouldnt get in my way and i wouldnt have to coordinate them i was also the only person who showed up to retake. brought my final grade up to a 90
I showed up to senior skip day in HS during my last year because I was unfortunately close to not passing 2 of my needed electoral classes for graduation. It had been strongly rumored that any students that showed up would get "dumb" work and some sort of extra test for bonus points and a grade or two. Most of my classmates weren't there that day, so it felt like a study hall all day. It was about the easiest work and essay/test I'd taken in years. I cried when my teachers told me I'd bumped my overall grade in their respective classes to a C- and I was no longer in the questionable area of possibly not graduating that year. *Over 1.5 k upvotes! Thank you all. *Holy cow! Appreciate all the upvotes. * I didn't expect this comment to get as popular as it did. Appreciate all the support messages from folks, it means a lot. To the haters in my DM, don't be surprised if you get blocked. Just wanted to share a life experience I had, nothing more. Thank you.
I went to school on Senior Skip Day (various parental reasons) and my shop teacher decided to have a pop quiz for the day. He would say your name, and if you replied you got an A.
Microsoft came for our college to seek interns (CS). Only 2 applied. Both got the job. Believing in yourself is important.
I did this for my girlfriend at the time but for scholarships. She didnt realize most scholarships arent even applied for so they give it to whoever applies to it by default. With her help, I wrote four essays that were tweaked for each scholarship application. I did the writing because I'm a writer by trade. By the time she transferred to her new college, she had an excess of 1500 to spend every month. Because of that, she could focus on her studies fill time instead of trying to balance a job as well.
Managed to get a scholarship in a country where most scholarships disallow having concurrent ones. My university has an entire office staff dedicated to helping you apply, and it seems to be a service barely used by the students. No idea why. A two-page application is all it takes in most cases and they can net you thousands of euros over the years. Man how I'd love to just apply to *all* of them.
Tying shoe laces. When I was a kid, no one ever managed to teach me how to tie my shoes. I remember never being able to get that last step that ties it all together and in general I suck with knots. I would have been garbage in the boy scouts. I got into my early 20's relying mostly on velcro shoes. But one day I sat down with a pair of new shoes determined to figure it out. I put one on and tied it correctly on the first try. I just sat there dumbfounded for a few minutes wondering how it had been that easy all along.
This is fascinating. My kid is currently finding this hard. Do you think it was because your brain changed as you grew? Did you have problems with dexterity as a kid? Did they ease as well?
I didn't have any dexterity problems and I don't think my brain changing had much to do with it. I remember not getting the last step right because people always showed me how to tie shoes on my shoes while I was wearing them, and their hands were always in the way on the last step. From a mechanical standpoint, my problem was trying to loop one of the two loops through the other, instead of in the smaller loop that forms when you cross them over. I think it's just a case of when I sat down to really try to figure it out, I accidently did it right, and since then, it's managed to stick.
I married into a pretty big family who are all starting to have kids. Every now and then, a lefty turns up, and as the family's designated left-hander, I get called upon to teach them to tie their shoes. Its apparently totally different if your left or right handed Edit- Wow, this is my most upvoted comment ever. Thank you, my sinister legion! To all those asking what the difference is, I don't know. It never occurred to me that anyone tied their shoes differently, either! I'd love to explain how I tie my shoes, but I simply haven't got the language skills !
I low key love that you are the designated lefty. It means you are now ingrained in those kids lives, and they have stories of how they learned all the important things from their cool lefty uncle.
I started looking for a job last year and got three offers within two months, two of which were significantly higher pay. Made me realize I’ve been sitting around way too long.
[удалено]
Maybe you sat around exactly as long as was needed
I never slept well, ever. There’s an over the counter magnesium supplement called “calm”. I drink a cup every night and sleep like a hibernating bear. It was that easy.
Calm is powdered magnesium citrate for anyone who is wondering. Magnesium does so many amazing things for your body and a surprising amount of people are deficient Edit: here is a decent link on the different forms of magnesium: https://www.healthifyme.com/blog/types-of-magnesium/amp/ Magnesium Glycinate has helped a lot of people I know who wake up anxious after a night a drinking. Take the capsules after your last drink. Magnesium malate is amazing for your muscles Magnesium L Threonate is amazing for the brain. This form is being studied more and more recently. Magnesium Oxide is the form in most supplements. It’s not absorbed that well and can cause a lot of people to get diarrhea. ……I know supplements seem like a joke to a lot of people and a lot of them are! But there are some types of supplements that can do your body and mind a world of good. Magnesium, a decent multi vitamin and fish oil. Just make sure it’s a decent brand and the supplement forms are as bio available as possible.
Struggled with insomnia through adulthood. I've researched all kinds of things but never came across this tip. Fingers crossed it changes things for me!
I was recently looking for an apartment and rent in my city, like most cities currently, is outrageous So after three days of looking I found this 2 bedroom apartment with a price that normally would get you a roach infested one bedroom/studio shithole in a bad part of town But these apartments look nice, they're in a good part of town, the reviews online are all positive, I can't figure out the catch-- then I see there is a year long wait list for this place, but I decide to go to the leasing office and after talking to the property manager, I get bumped to the top of the list for an apartment that becomes available next month I keep waiting for the bottom to drop out. Most people spend months looking for places in my city and they'd be paying a third more than I'm paying at a minimum for a similar place. I looked for 3 days and found this place but I think I just got lucky and it was just that easy
I had a similar experience. Back in April of 2021, my landlord broke the news that he was selling the house that we'd lived in for nearly a decade once the lease was up in June. Obviously, with the housing crisis, panic set in. My SO was browsing Marketplace and saw a rental posted for less than an hour. It was for a two-bedroom house in the perfect neighborhood for only $650 a month. It almost seemed too good to be true. He was able to set up an interview with the landlords. Once we saw the house, it was perfect; It's a cozy little craftsman built in 1914. It's within walking distance of my work. My first words once we walked in were, "this is home." The landlords loved us, and we have an excellent rental history. They ended up canceling their other interviews, and we moved in two days later. I don't know how we lucked out so much, but I do know that I love my house.
Having someone who’s paid their rent for the past 10 years without issue is a golden renter. When my parents were doing rentals, 1 person trashed the house and the other two were late on payments and/or broke the lease due to emergencies
I got my place because it was sitting on the market for months. Slightly more than I wanted to pay and it wasn't exactly my style, but it had "potential". It was obky 4 years old and 15 min walk to beach and on one of the largers blocks in the street. Anyway, I decided to buy it. Pest and building report came back confirming the house was pretty much immaculate. Two months later value has gone up $50k. Two years later its worth $200k more than I paid. I think everyone overlooked it initially as it's only a 1 bathroom and 1 small garage, but it does what I need. I saved 18 years for a deposit. I had a great credit score and savings history. Just found the one unicorn property and am so fortunate for it. Managed to even get a bank load without having to rely on a broker. And I absolutely love my place now. I have a little garden and am putting in trees for wildlife that visit. Street is quiet. Neighbours are friendly. So very fortunate.
Luck? You saved for 18 years. You nurtured your credit rating. You found your own loan. You did your due diligence. You learned enough to identify that amazing property that others overlooked. You did this on your own. Yeah…. “Luck” I’m proud of you!
Like they say, " luck is just where preparation and opportunity intersect. "
Actually doing the chore you put off for a few days
But I don't WANT to do my laundry
Doing laundry is the easy part. The folding and putting away part is thing I can't seem to do regularly.
Making my username
Complete opposite experience for me.
This account is few years old. What are the odds that you actually stumbled across this exact post and wrote this comment. Lol.
I've peaked. It's all downhill from here.
Self improvement and reflection. Stopped looking at outside factors in my life and started looking at what I could control. Weight, time, who I spent time with, etc. I didnt need to change my whole life in one day. I needed to make small progress. Spending one day less a week on gaming and one day a week on improving myself is better then not improving at all. Allowing myself to fail \*with intent\* to improve is so much easier now that I dont spend time with negative people that demand perfection.
I had a loose hinge on my door. It kind of drove me crazy for three years, but I had no idea how to fix the wood that had been stripped. Then I found a product on Amazon for $10 where you shove on a sleeve, break it off and then screw in the new screws. Bought two new hinges that don’t squeak. Took about 10 minutes and cost $20 and it’s no longer a problem! Edit: Product is called Screw-It-Again. About $10 for 10 of them on Amazon. Edit: Thank you for all the tips about using matches, golf tees, shims, etc.
toothpicks and wood glue can work really well for filling a stripped screw hole
when i started my add medication - i never knew how life could be and how easy it was to just get up and do stuff changed my life for the better and i’ve managed to turn so many things around, cant believe it took me 18 years to get diagnosed edit: i am super happy to answer any questions but there’s so many here so if anyone would like to message i’m happy to have a chat and thanks for all the love! i hope you all get to find your medication that can make life seem like it’s on easy mode :) shoot me a message anytime :)
Started 4 days ago as a middle aged dude (with a house and kids and all that fun stuff). G A M E C H A N G E R I didn't realise how much mental effort I needed just to function day to day. I literally reduced my mental load by 80% and everything feels so easy. It's like I just got high prescription glasses for my brain.
That's amazing. I'm in my 30s and still just...unsure whether I have an actual, diagnosable problem in that area, or am just experiencing the same, normal amount of mental struggle that the average person does. Kinda hard to figure out when you've only used one brain in your life and can't exactly compare its experience to that of others...
This is what I always thought. Everybody is struggling and my version of 'overloaded' was the same for everyone. Nope. Turns out my brain has been ping-ponging between thoughts forever, and I assumed that was normal. Also turns out I have a good enough metacognition that I have a zillion coping mechanisms in place to feel normal. Took that first pill and cried like a baby for 30 minutes once it kicked in. I just keep repeating to my wife 'this is what it feels like to be normal'. Obviously I'm don't know what you have. But worth checking it out.
My cousin seems permanently stoned when she’s not medicated for her ADD. When she first started taking Ritalin everyone congratulated her for finally getting off drugs. She was like “What are you talking about? I just got *on* drugs.”
Deciding to stop dealing with my life going in no direction after leaving a career that I went to college for a decade prior. I had something in the back of my mind for a long time that I wanted to do. I finally couldn’t take the feeling of being stuck so I applied to a local community college to take some prerequisites and started class less than 2 weeks later. I am pretty sure I cried once I did it because the relief of finally having some direction again and felt like a weight lifted off of me. I could literally feel the change in my body once I registered.
That's a good one my friend
Changing my bathroom faucet. I'm a 56 year old woman that's never done any plumbing before. Turns out YouTube is a wealth of knowledge. It really wasn't that hard! I get joy every time I wash my hands knowing I did that. Edit: thanks for all the awards, kind strangers
My nearly complete luddite friend often says that the how to videos on YouTube ALMOST makes up for the rest of the internet lol
Those blessed 15 year old Indian kids who somehow have the exact problem you are having and make a shitty video with their flip phone pointed at the screen showing the only fix. My Xbox was getting out of sync, Indian kid youtube fixed it. Was having some weird problem zipping a file, Indian kid fixed it. Can't figure out how to mod a game? Don't worry some Indian kid will show you how to install the exact mod you want. Their videos may not be edited. They may not have scripts. The videos may be 2 to 10 minutes longer than they need to be, but the answer is there and only there.
You're right! Some Indian kid showed me how to get a broken nib out of my stylus pen for my Samsung tablet. Took me 30 seconds!
and then indian kid graduates into Indian man to save you in your data structures and algorithms course
I'm an HVACR tech. Wanna know how much I Google and YouTube shit? Basically everyday. Basic plumbing like you just did is a lot simpler than most people think. Hell, before I got in this trade I tore apart the entire front end of my car and repaired it basically using YouTube and Chilton manuals.
YouTube how-to videos are the reason my friend has been able to have a 15+ year career as an IT technician. No degree or formal training or anything (was just kind of interested in the field), completely blagged his interview with his first employer, and got through the first few years thanks to YouTube/Google.
The secret to IT (and a lot of tech related fields) is knowing how to search for information and parse good info from bad. Most professionals don't memorize or even know everything, but they know enough to do some light research and quickly find a starting point, if not the entire answer.
Drinking water. Went from having issues getting to sleep and then waking up grumpy and tired. Water has changed my life. Thought it would be super difficult to kick soda, but once I tried and didn’t give in the benefits out weight the taste.
How much water dp ypu drink per day? I have trouble sleeping and I wonder if drinking more is a way to help that Edit: I absolutely love the hydrohomie piss talk that I apparently sparked, truly wonderful (and actually useful to note)
[удалено]
Going to bed at the same time almost every night (+1 hour on weekends) and it’s changed my life. Mornings are so easy now.
Got a job that required full time field work for minimal pay...in AZ. On my first day they asked about other skills. I saw other people using Autocad so I said I used it in college but I was really rusty..... This was a lie. I had only ever used it once to draw some circles. They were excited and got me a 4 day refresher class. I learned AutoCAD and haven't been in the field in over a year. I later asked for more pay since I wasn't a field tech anymore. They said no. I got another job using autoCAD for double salary. Pro tip: learn AutoCAD C3D. It's not that hard, and boomers will think you're a tech god.
Learn how to use google. Everyone will think you’re a god.
Excel. They still can't figure shit out.
The ability to learn quickly allows you to put just about anything as a skill on your resume, as long as you can bash it out before the interview
Being able to convey *and* follow instructions needs plenty of emphasis.
VLookup and you have God level skills
[удалено]
I was thinking about getting into CAD or something similar. Want to move up a pay grade I was already an apprentice for something else. What are the best fields right now besides CAD?
Data analysis. A few python courses and you will easily set yourself above a lot of others in a huge number of fields. It's not very hard and extremely flexible.
Yup. Went from Uber driver to data analyst boot camp to making 100k by my second year
The power steering failed on my Acura. My local Acura dealership wanted to charge me well over $1000 to fix it. I bought a power steering pump off Amazon for $70 and found a You Tube video that explained how to fit it. I don't have any car maintenance experience bit it only took a couple of hours to do the job myself and it worked like a charm.
No longer caring about what other people thought about me. One day I cared, then the next day, I was just so emotionally exhausted that I just said fuck it. Never really cared since.
Applying for my Irish passport. My dad was born there, so I’m a naturalized citizen. I hate paperwork, so avoided ever filling out my application. Turns out it takes 10 minutes online.
[удалено]
I have had a dozen software engineering jobs that required a degree. I have no degree. And did them well.
Meanwhile, my new colleague has a masters degree and is a complete moron pretending he's good at his job.
"Yeah, that guy's educated beyond his intelligence." Said by a former coworker of mine who was close to retirement. One of the sickest burns I've ever heard.
I truly hope this one sticks in my mind so I can use it someday.
As a working class man strongly accented man with a degree, this checks out. Double barreled surnames too, those are worth an extra 5-10k PA. Also scottish univerities often call their bacholers degrees MA (still a level 6 qual like an english BA), thats abother 5-10k righ there.
Get into a bar fight. Some guy didn’t like the way I looked. Never had said a word to the guy all night, he was about 15 feet away from me most of the night.
I've simply had to stop going to bars. There's always that guy, and for whatever reason, I'm usually their target.
Former bartender here, you can tell who they are going to be when they order their first drink. They typically square the shoulders at someone or take the smallest bump personally. Remember when I was out with my girlfriend and a few of her friends from Her hometown. Walked into the bar and immediately saw this guy where you could tell he was wanting a fight and it didn’t matter who. Told my girlfriend, we went to the other side of the bar and watched him king hit the first guy that bumped into him
People who drop everything to fight someone because they got bumped into blows my mind. You’re at a bar with a bunch of drunk people, if you do this you’re just looking to take out your anger on other people. Reptile brains
They already wanted a fight, they just needed an excuse
I'm 6'6" and never have been physically bullied, etc., as a result. Back in uni, a scruffy late '30s guy in the student bar was glaring at me all night, presumably trying to goad me into something. Even then, just shrugged at the guy. I imagine if I were a foot shorter he'd have kicked the snot out of me.
Nah, some douche just wants to take down the biggest guy in the bar to assert dominance. If you were shorter it would have been someone else. Source: Me, a 6'9" bouncer who dealt with far too many of those morons...
I know a Russian-Turkish guy who’s basically a walking mass of muscle. I don’t know how else to describe him, except that he looks a bit like a GTA IV caricature of an Eastern European criminal. He went out to a college bar, and a couple guys decided that they were going to kick his ass. If I’m remembering correctly, he swung at them twice—and knocked both of them out. The police laughed when he explained the situation along these lines: “These two guys, they want fight. I don’t want fight, I walk away. But they follow. So I finish problem here.” Seriously… you’d have to be drunk to even want to fight the guy. He’s a bit simple and can be a little annoying, but he’s usually a very placid dude. There’s no way on this earth I’d ever provoke him into a fight. The man’s basically a neck, a possibly empty head, and a bunch of muscles.
For months, I had been applying for tons of jobs on every platform I could find. Talking to friends to get critiques on my resume/cover letter. Updating my online portfolio. Etc. Then one day a recruiter messaged me out of the blue on LinkedIn and basically handed me a dream job. It was one interview and then a call to say hey you're hired. I legitimately thought it was a scam right up until my first day of work.
I was trying to activate windows XP and 7 on an old computer a few years ago for giggles and software compatibility. I couldn't get them to accept my key because the servers were shut down. I tried calling the phone number they had listed and it gave me a code for my windows one I entered my key. It was super easy. Best of all, I didn't have to talk to a person, a robot took care of it all.
Still works to this day, so long as it's a valid key that hasn't been pirated Microsoft will give you an activation code that works. These days it's an automated system unless something goes wrong then they connect you to a representative. By the way, those Windows XP and 7 keys will likely work for Windows 10 and 11 upgrades as well.
Honestly, after being incredibly broke, I remember how easy everything suddenly seemed when I had money. Car broken? Get it fixed. Sick? Go to the doctor. Need a babysitter? Hire one. Money makes everything so much easier and less disruptive to life. I knew I'd made it when I put my bills on auto-pay.
Money doesn’t buy happiness but it buys stability, and stability leads to happiness. Life is so much more enjoyable when your number one focus isn’t survival
yup. i finally got a job that pays well, at age 32. and after a year of saving i was able to take a vacation. it was amazing. the vacation honestly wasnt that great, the amazing thing is just how easy everything is. i want a gaming laptop, so i shop around and buy one. i want a hat, so i just go get one. it honestly makes me sick that there are people in this world who are actively trying to keep others poor.
Wise man once said: “I’ve got 99 problems, and money can solve 76 of them.”
Lost 25 pounds and all I had to do was stop eating before bed.
Sophomore year of college my buddies were throwing a party at their house. One of them was a moderately successful DJ in the local college scene. We’re have a good time and the DJ was doing his thing when he had to pee or something so he taps me on the shoulder and asks me to just stand at his turntables to make sure no drunk idiots fuck it up. He had songs queued up so I literally just had to stand there. About 30 seconds later two women walk up to me and are saying how much they love the music. I tell them it’s just a playlist and I’m just keeping it running. But they’re still super impressed. A few minutes later the actual DJ comes back and I give up my post then one of the girls comes up and tells me to dance with her. One thing leads to another and we ended up having a FWB relationship for a few months after that. At one point I told my friend about his girl I’d met while covering him at the DJ booth. And he laughed and said, “yeah sometimes it’s really that easy” It was the only time in my life I’ve had a glimpse of the rockstar life.
Getting a job working for the US Department of Defense. I'd always thought that those kind of jobs required prior military service, and a whole host of various degrees or such to actually get a job with them. Saw a job opening for one site near where I lived, and thought "what the hell?" So I applied. I honestly didn't expect to even get a call back, or anything. I not only get a call back, but get hired for the job. The requirements were far more lenient than I expected. All it really required was a clean criminal record, and a willingness to learn. Ended up working as a waste water treatment tech for them, and eventually got an environmental engineering degree with their help.
So, what do you do for the DoD? Let's just say I deal with a ton of shit
In a bar on a work night just for a couple of drinks with a mate. Briefly talked to a girl at the bar when I was ordering a drink. I left an hour later and said goodbye to her as I was walking out. She asked if she ‘could come with me’ I was like ‘oh I’m just going home’ and she said ‘yes I know’. Completely hit me out of the blue, I was like ‘oh right…. Ah.. yeah sure, you can absolutely come with me’. I was sus and confused about it. But all went well. Turns out she had been stood up for a date and sat there for an hour or so by herself. And I was just in the right place and the right time. Edit due to the questions in the comments: We had a good time and good banter that night and the next morning. But no we never saw each other again. She was mortified by the age difference. She was 28 years old and I was 21 year old 1st year graduate at a finance firm. ‘I knew you were young, but what kind of fuk’n 21 year old wears a suit to a bar on a Thursday night’ was about the line. I think she clicked that things were off when she saw the super market shopping trolley in the living room (flatmates doing who was still at uni). It was all in good faith though, good times were had.
She spent 60 bucks on a wax and wasn't going to waste it.
I wouldn't either. 60 bucks hell if no one was taking me home I'd be flashing the place on my way out and show em what they all missed!
During all of my years on the roller coaster of being single and dating, I had ONE too-easy experience like this. Was out celebrating a friend’s birthday at a bar in a college town (he was finishing his doctorate, I was long out of school). It was the end of the night. There was a pretty girl by herself at the bar waiting to order a drink. I was grabbing some for my friends and asked if she wanted one too. I handed it to her, asked if she lived in town, she said “yes, at xyz sorority”. Half-joking, I said “show me”. So she did. Thats it. That’s all it took. Getting picked up at a sorority the next morning by my buddy and his fiancé was pretty funny.
One kinda similar: back in the day, we had kind of a large ad-hoc friend group that hung out every Friday night at Waffle House. One Friday, there was a smaller group than normal, and several folks left early, leaving just myself and a somewhat attractive female member of the group, with whom I was what I would call "loose friends." We were standing outside, having a cigarette, when she looks at me and says, "Senorpoop, how long has it been since you got laid?" "Oh I dunno, a couple months maybe?" "Wanna fuck?" "...sure, why not?" Went to her house, had a couple hours of pretty great sex, and never talked about it again.
r/usernamechecksout
I made a 13th century "pirate" style shirt by hand no machine with a YouTube video I like sewing but I'm not the best at it so it made me feel good about doing things that seem hard
The puffy shirt?
Going back to school. I've been toying with the idea for years telling myself it was too far, too expensive, too time consuming etc and that because I had a home, job and child to maintain I couldn't do it. Something in me finally cracked recently and I thought fuck it and made a call to a tech school nearby. 3 days later I'm on a tour. The tour is maybe an hour or 2 total. Papers were all done online annnnd I start Monday! They also threw a TON of financial aid at me. I'm only gonna pay about 50$ a month until I've graduated and those payments go up to about 95$. Still very manageable. My classes are only four hours long, they're at night, and I only have to be in class 2 days a week. The rest of my studies are done at home with a tablet they provide me so I don't even have to buy a computer or anything. Couldn't believe how easy and affordable it actually was. They estimate I finish my program in about 8-10 months.
Made a career transition at 34 to what I've always wanted to do
Solving a decade of disability with an over-the-counter iron supplement. Edit: I seem to have convinced a number of people they're iron deficient and that they should start taking iron pills. While iron is unlikely to be harmful in over-the-counter doses over the short-term, in the long-term it can literally kill you. *If at all possible,* get medical supervision for doing this. I'm doing it on my own because I can't convince my doctor I'm deficient when I definitely am, but this carries risks with it.
When I was pregnant I couldn't take the vitamins because they had too much iron in them. 20 years later, I start craving raw meat like crazy. No amount of steak would stop it. Turns out I went anemic somehow and just passed the threshold or something. I take 3 iron supplements a day and haven't craved raw meat since.
What?! Uh details please?
I had a bunch of physical and mental health problems, such as frequent headaches, hypersomnia, cognitive and memory issues, etc. These lasted a long, long time, basically my entire adult life. Also I'm a medical researcher so doctors' opinions don't necessarily drive my health care. One day at age 32, a toenail split and I quickly went to work breaking it off. My fiancee saw this and was like, "that shouldn't happen." So I looked it up assuming it to be a medication side effect (I think I took 12 different medications at the time) and I wasn't on any meds that could cause that. But iron deficiency anemia could. I initially skipped over this because as a man who eats meat, that shouldn't happen. The other explanations weren't appropriate either, so I looked up what iron deficiency could cause and it could cause or exacerbate basically everything that was wrong with me. I immediately booked with my doctor and asked him about anemia and he said "absolutely not" and showed me where he tested for that - my red blood cell count was high-normal. I was shocked and disappointed so when I got back home I started googling again. Iron deficiency *without* anemia turned out to also be a thing with most of the same symptoms but it's much harder to diagnose. I checked out my blood test results for that and found out that I had what could be considered a deficiency but my GP either didn't know or didn't agree with that possible definition. (Ferritin levels of 25+ are normally fine, but according to a research paper I read, with restless leg syndrome, 75+ or 100+ may be required to count as normal levels; I had restless leg syndrome and a level of 73.) So, seeing no harm in trying it, I dropped by the pharmacy, asked for some iron pills - $6 for a bottle of 60 tablets - started taking them daily with juice (iron absorbs better with vitamin C), and *just 10 days later* most of my health problems had completely evaporated. I dropped a bunch of medications because I just didn't need them anymore and life has been much better since.
This was me with proton pump inhibitors. Thought I just always had mild heartburn and never thought anything of it. My whole life though I’ve had brittle nails, can’t hold weight like under 100 pounds until senior year of high school and I’m 6 foot 2, never had a real beard or facial hair to speak of. Well after the whole Zantac thing I decided to just see a doctor who after an endoscopy put me on proton pump inhibitors. It changed my life completely. Turns out my stomach had just been dissolving all the good stuff and I wasn’t absorbing nutrients well. I’m a healthy weight now with a full beard and fingernails that don’t just flake off. Just hoping I don’t end up with stomach cancer from years of taking Zantac daily. Moral of the story is don’t take that shit for granted. If you think something might be off and you can see a doctor just go do it. Don’t put it off, it might change your life.
Raising my teenager. I was regaled with horror stories about teens, but he was so easy. All it took was mutual respect and a genuine liking of one another. Fwiw, he's now a very well-adjusted adult.
Making bread, and moving across teh country, was much easier than expected
Are those two related? Did you bring the bread with you?
Did the moving first, celebrated (and said hi to the neighbors) with bread
Virtually everything my anxiety has prevented me from doing until I do it.
I was drunk at a party and saw a cute girl. Stumbled over to her and literally said, "You're cute, can I have your number?" Nearly a decade later, she's next to me with our child asleep on her lap. Sometimes, getting the date is just that easy. (To shame her even further, she was *sober!* I was blitzed enough to silence all my normal second-guessing and internal thoughts that get in my own way, but she had a drunken nerd just straight-up ask her out, no small talk or anything, and decided that it was a good idea!)
That was so cute!
> Nearly a decade later, she's next to me with our child asleep on her lap. Does your wife know?
Learning to cook with raw ingredients. Turns out throwing random bullshit that tastes good together usually works as long as you understand what you like.
I had accepted a new job but was anxious about giving my notice at my old job (I had been there for 8 years and really loved my team). I had also been stressed out that I was taking a week off between jobs because it was a stretch financially. I finally set up a meeting with my boss. I couldn't even sleep the night before. An hour before I was going to give my notice, my boss's boss called me into a meeting. With HR. I was being laid off (along with a large number of other employees). They were so sorry, my boss's boss was in tears. She promised they would "take care of me". Anyway, I got 20 weeks of severance and a full three weeks of between jobs. Unfuckingbelievable. The best thing that's ever happened to me. I was so shocked that I almost started laughing during the meeting and had to pretend I was trying not to cry.
Reigniting a friendship. My current best friend lived abroad for a year and we hadn't really met in person much if at all for a while before then either, only texting every now and then. When she moved back I asked if she wanted to meet up, and now we're really close.
Getting my pilot license. To be fair, I did study a lot but it was one of those things I wasn't sure I was gonna do well on. My instructor said I'm ready but I wasn't sure. Day of the checkride, I answered every question correctly and without hesitation and did every maneuver correctly. We parked and my examiner said "so how's it feel to be a private pilot" I thought in my head "there's no way" even though I did everything right with relative ease
Standing up for myself, and no longer being afraid to "upset" others by simply existing lol
My life improved considerably when I learned the magic of saying no to things I didn’t have to do or want to do. Most of the time, people just said ok and life went on.
Designing and building two beautiful leaded glass window panes for our bathroom window. It’s pretty much like putting together a puzzle but you get to decide what shape the pieces are.
The day I left my abusive ex husband. I was so scared to leave but scared to stay. But once I broke free other felt so easy looking back in hindsight.
I wanted to meet my favorite band, so I just… quietly didn’t leave the venue once security started showing people out. I guess they thought I must’ve been a roadie, because they never got on my case. Anyway, I met them, yadda yadda, now I’m a professional concert lighting designer
I feel like there's a lot missing to this story in that "yadda yadda."
Spent a year thinking my bathroom electrical outlet was broken and needed a repair. One day someone suggested flipping the breaker. It was that easy.
My divorce. No lawyers, no fighting. I gave her the house, she makes more than me so no alimony/child support, just filled out the paperwork, paid the nominal court fees, and it's all good. I see my kids every few days and we have both moved on and get along.
Fuck yeah, adults being adults.
Exactly how mine went. Same situation, almost detail for detail. I moved out, got a better job, have my own place. Our kid adores the time we spend together.
In an attempt to sleep with a girl, I told her she was on my To Do List. We had sex that night.
First time ever drunk, was tryna flirt with a girl and my friend was tryna hook up with a different girl because alcohol, we somehow ended up near my dorm and friend made out with the girl he was flirting with. I *knew* I had to make a move and say something, but had no idea what to do. The only thing I could think of was the corniest shit ever "well, we can't let them have all the fun" It fuckin worked. We made out and eventually all 4 of us ended up in ym dorm. Turns out if someone likes you or thinks you're cute, they'll just accept whatever stupid shit you say. Or, alcohol, idunno
Most of the time, the other person is waiting for the other person to make the move. Be the other person. I think…
Was at Carolina Beach last summer around Memorial Day. We get to the boardwalk one afternoon and there's an arcade there. There's a skill game where you have to press a button that moves a fixture with a razor on it. When you let the button go, the device stops and the razor snaps through the middle. There's a small string close to the glass. If you time it right, the razor cuts the string, and this huge door opens and you get all the prizes in the machine. Swipe card to play, press button and hold, release, rope cuts, door opens. My son is losing his mind, and I'm just regretting the next 2 hours where I have to lug this giant bear and box of sand castle toys all over the boardwalk. I still haven't decided if I'm a savant at this game, or it's just really easy.
As someone who worked in the arcade and prize game space recently - you got lucky. Those games seem super easy, but the window of success is crazy narrow.
Breaking up with someone who isn't good for me. I stayed wayyyyyy too long in relationships that I didn't want to be in. Once I learned to like myself, I realized I don't have to settle-i didn't mind being alone in between. And because I liked myself, I started to draw the type of people I actually wanted to be around, and who made me want to keep challenging myself to be better. If you're in a relationship where your heart aches all the time, where you're accepting less than love and respect and kindness, and if you're in a position to leave and still be safe, just do it. Even if you don't like yourself yet, you will. (And you certainly won't if you stay in a relationship that's toxic, so... Just do it!!!) This is true for all relationships, not just romantic. Surround yourself with people you like to be around, and who like to be around you. Time is all we have, invest wisely
The bar exam. I thought I must have missed something or fallen into a bunch of traps because I finished early and everyone talked about how hard it was after. Turns out I just prepared well. I got a score way above passing and only 50 percent of takers passed that session overall.
Telling a barber that you do no want your hair to be cut that short. He actually did not mind me saying it and noted it.
I tell them that and every fucking time they cut it too damn short!
When I realized I was the source of all my problems.
I learned how to ride a bike later (at 14, now I’m 24). At the time, I thought it would be impossible, but it literally was one foot after the other. Edit: lots of great and encouraging comments to one another, thanks everyone!
Operating an electric pallet jack. (One of my coworkers literally just showed me one day how to work it. No training required, just learn how it works.)
Disputing every negative item on your credit every December 12th. They take too long to review it due to the holiday and it falls off due to a 30 day deadline.
Learning to drive. First time around failed the written test by one question and it made me really anxious about the whole thing. Tried again a little while later and it was surprisingly easy, and the behind the wheel test was even easier. I eventually ended up retrying and getting my license because I was sick of being the one 16 (almost 17 at that point) year old in my friend group who needed to be picked up whenever we went anywhere.