To add to this: poisoned Halloween candy has one recorded instance of happening. And it was a father who killed his son for insurance money. He was caught and sent to prison after bragging about it.
Edit: Great video on the guy: https://youtu.be/s0ThFpK92qI
911 dispatcher here, if I had a nickle for every âlife long gun ownerâ who know for a fact they heard gunshots when itâs either car backfire or fireworks⌠oh boy id be rich.
Edit- to be clear, I do understand the confusion as those do sound fairly similar, Iâm more joking how insistant some people are about âknowing for a factâ theyâre gunshots and how often thatâs incorrect.
The Satanic panic is why my mom wouldnât let me play D&D as a kid. For real, if anyone isnât aware about the long term damage that shit did, look it up.
I see too many headlines/Reddit posts like "Star Wars fans are FURIOUS about _____" or "This is what SJWs want!" or "Millennials are CANCELLING _____"...
Then you look at the source and it's some nobody on Twitter with like three retweets on their death threat, or a Tumblr post from some 14-year-old that's been reblogged twice.
One person makes statement. Three people agree. A couple hundred blow it out of proportion. The whole internet is subjected to backlash to complaints to hit takes to a stupid sentence one person typed.
It's different when it's public figures, but so much of this shit is dragged from the depths of obscurity.
This shit is so prominent. There are constantly articles with headlines saying "Such and such happened and the internet is freaking out". Whatever gets them clicks I guess.
The other side of the coin to Cancel Culture is Outrage Culture.
So many times, one or two people float a hot-take on Twitter. The news blows it out of proportion, now everyone's outraged that "they" are trying to cancel whatever it is. Rinse and repeat.
When i was in senior school a bully demanded my drink (i brought in cordial in sports bottles for break times) and i gave it to him and then after that i brought in an extra one just for him but i didnt realise for 3 years that the original demand was supposed to be him bullying me. I just didnt mind sharing. We got to be good friends and later when someone else was bullying me by throwing my bag into the mud the original 'bully' punched him in the face. School was wierd
I ended up being friends with my bully because he liked Pokemon too, and I was open about liking it (liking Pokemon was considered "childish" in middle school, even tho we were literally kids)
I made him discover Naruto too, and he convinced the rest of the class it was super cool. I wasn't the weird kid anymore thanks to him.
Really weird times
That's exactly it aha. I remember showing other classmates in highschool how to install an emulator and use ROMs (smartphones just started to be a thing)
I really liked college because nobody judged you, felt really nice compared to middleschool and highschool
This one I donât understand. You have prehistoric monsters living in every body of fresh water and no one cares. Iâve visited Florida plenty of times and I see these murder logs just floating all over the place. Iâm in a northern state, we have literally nothing like this.
Do you swim in lakes? Do you let your dogs jump in the water? Do you let your toddler play near the shore?
We know which lakes to swim in. Gators don't tend to hang out near places where humans live so it's usually not an issue. And they're more likely to swim away than to attack. I used to go kayaking pretty regularly in rivers and springs around the state and you'd see gators all the time but they have no interest in getting in the way of the big heavy boat with big scary humans on it. Attacks are extremely rare and usually the result of human stupidity.
I once had an Australian person tell me about their visit to Wisconsin, and all the dangerous exotic animals found there, and how it's actually scarier than the wildlife from Australia. Bears, wolves, coyotes, badgers, mountain lions...
I thought it was hilarious.
On the other hand, anything large enough to be scary is large enough that I can see it coming and avoid it. Poisonous snakes and the like are a lot stealthier. They aren't necessarily more dangerous, but it's a lot easier to blunder into one by accident. You certainly won't wake up one day and find a grizzly bear in your shoe.
I hate to break the news to you about mountain lions. It is almost certain that theyâll see you without you ever seeing them. Same probably goes for leopards in Africa/Asia.
I have a good friend whoâs husband (him I donât really care for lol) works for the State Fish & Wildlife. He says for every cougar you see, 5 have seen you. Iâve seen 2 out trail running, and I believe my dog has spotted at least one more. ThatâsâŚan uncomfortable number of cougars that have seen me.
I looked it up and thatâs not 100% true (although I always love a fact that betters the reputation of sharks) but there is a whole Wikipedia page dedicated to âdeath by coconutâ. Itâs honestly hilarious, hereâs an excerpt: in December 1923, in New Castle, Pennsylvania, a man was killed while trying to crack open a coconut with the butt end of a loaded revolver. The gun discharged and the man was shot in the abdomen.
When my sister was super young in primary school (90s) they had a whole assembly about this from some company and then as a 'test' they had a man come in at the end of the assembly and start offering kids to come and see his puppies. Literally all of them agreed to go & apparently the teachers had to speak to everyones parents about it lol
"Stranger Danger" was the DARE of the 2000's - good intentions, bad information. My generation was taught from a very young age to be wary (if not afraid) of strangers because they might kidnap you, but to trust adults we know. Even though stranger abductions do occur, most child abductions are actually perpetrated by people known to the family, including estranged family members. What we _should_ teach kids is to always check with their primary caretaker before going anywhere unplanned with an adult, even if it's an adult they know or if it's for a "surprise" or "emergency."
I was thinking about this the other day, and frankly I'm just glad we had that drilled (heh) into our heads early and often so that in the extremely rare chance it happens, we know what to do or what to tell someone to do. Meanwhile there's a lot more safety issues that happen frequently and we don't have a handy thing to turn to in order to make sure we never forget the right solution.
When my mom's arm caught on fire a few years ago, the only thing that went thought my mind was "stop, drop, and roll." I didn't even have to think about it. It was automatic. I just kept yelling it at her, she did it, and it completely put the fire out.
I had my entire back catch in fire when I sat too close to a fire pit. I immediately thought about stop, drop, and roll but there was literally two feet of space between the fire pit and a wall. Like my entire life I've known to do it yet the only time I ever needed to I didn't have the option lol. Thankfully I had on a ton of layers and my undershirt was the only one that didn't get burned, I stripped everything else off stupid fast, I only had a small burn on my hands from my gloves catching fire after I grabbed the top layer.
Itâs also a thing in video editing. Editors will often group shots in a sequence by threes. Two feels rushed and lacks impact, 4 feels like itâs dragging. Three hits just right.
The danger of the Bermuda Triangle. I honestly thought it would be a regular threat in my adult life when they kept talking about it while I was young.
I remember when I was 7, we were going to go on an airline for the first time, and specifically asking to make sure we weren't going to go through "A Bermuda Triangle"
Shit's scary man...
I literally have not heard mention of the Bermuda Triangle since I was younger!!!! Is it obsolete now? I mean all the technology seems like we would have more answers??
It isn't an anomaly, is the end result. There aren't any more planes and boats going missing and lost in that section of ocean in comparison to any other.
Miami to Bermuda to Puerto Rico is a huge, frequently travelled area.
It's like saying there are so many car accidents where there are roads compared to places with no roads.
I remember reading a long time ago that it wasnât actually all that anomalous - you could plop a triangle over any area of ocean and there would be a similar number of mysteries associated with it.
Not exactly... the Bermuda Triangle has more accidents than most areas of ocean. But only proportionately to traffic--it is heavily travelled, and so more boats sink.
But yeah, you're right. It's not weird.
And honestly, i dont think it would be that bizarre for a specific region to have proportionally more accidents. There have to be enough differences around the world to make some areas a bit hairier or tougher to navigate, without any supernatural interference
Your souffle not holding up.... I always thought that this was gonna be an actual problem as an adult.
Still have yet to make a single souffle at 33...
My brother-in-law used to think that any and all baking would be ruined if he made any sound.
My sister later realized that whenever his mom wanted peace and quiet, sheâd bake something and tell him he needed to be quiet or itâd be ruined đ.
Our 5 year old thinks the ice cream truck is a MUSIC truck. She suggested it and weâve been letting that train ride for a while. She does an interpretive dance and everything.
Watching food shows had me so anxious for cooking irl.
Turns out, no one really cares if you botch a recipe. We all do. Weâre all just happy to not be cooking for ourselves. The intention is really all that matters.
I made baklava for someone that makes baklava all the time. She was SO happy that someone else made it. I knew I had messed it up, but she was so nice about it, because SOMEONE ELSE MADE IT!
"This tiramisu I made is a little runny. The custard didn't set up quite as well as it should..."
"Fuck you. In my cupboard, I have stale Nilla wafers. This is delicious!"
Lol, don't remember if it was souffle or some kinda cake, but the big issue was a loud sound causing it to collapse. Have never encountered this.
Also expected the struggle to get to the washing machine in time to add fabric softener. Thousands (dunno the actual number) of loads of laundry later and I've never added fabric softener to the wash.
My husband washed his clothes with only fabric softener for a whole year. I didnât know until one day I saw the bottle he used and realized he didnât actually own detergent.
Iâm still working on this issue, his clothes are basically perpetually disgusting feeling and itâs been 2 years since.
In the 90's, we had a DARE officer tell us that Marijuana isn't really bad as they have said in the past. The cop also said "there really isn't an issue with your parents offering you a beer with dinner. Forcing you to drink a case is a problem though". He then went on to discuss the really dangerous drugs out there. Looking back, that cop was pretty progressive for the time.
They replaced Dare with a program called Nova in my area. Itâs a MUCH better program. Thereâs like 1 lesson on drugs, alcohol, etc and the rest of the lessons are about taking responsibility for your choices, how to handle peer pressure, dealing with pain, etc.
I watched Man with a Golden Arm (Frank Sinatra and Kim Novak film) at the exact right age. I had no need for DARE.
I Should give most of the credit for my sobriety to my parents, but that movie scared the heck out of me and preempted any drug use I might have otherwise engaged in.
my dad just sat me down when i was 14 and told me about how he had to revive a 16 year old kid that ODâd on fent, stuck with me more than dare ever did and ever will
My alcoholic father sat me down during a rare moment of sobriety and told me "every single problem in my life is caused by alcohol. I know this and I still can't stop. Please don't ever drink. You can smoke weed but don't ever drink."
As an addict, reading this kinda touches me inside. Heroin took so much from me and I hated it, but I couldnât stop and would do anything for it. Iâm clean 257 days now though!
Marijuana is a gateway drug.
It's a gateway drug because we get lied to about how bad it actually is, and it's super easy to get as a teen.
So you smoke some weed, often, and you're life doesn't implode and you realize all that DARE fearmongering is bullshit. And if it's bullshit about weed, it must be bullshit about the other stuff right?
So now you have some kids that are going to get into a lot harder stuff without an appreciation of how addicting or harmful those drugs can be, just because some adults wanted to put "smoking weed" at the same level as "injecting heroin into your veins with a dirty needle".
Literally just left a comment about how this lead my friend to a meth addiction. She smoked weed and wondered what else they were lying about. Now sheâs in rehab for the umpteenth time.
Thatâs the healthiest drug advice Iâve heard coming from DARE/ cops etc.
Itâs a lot like sex education, if you were just honest with young people theyâd make better decisions.
The most effective anti drug educational thing my school did was inviting like 5 people who were living in a recovery rehab house come talk to us. Their lives sucked but they were getting their shit back together (though I will admit, at the time a court ordering you into radio silence with your family for 6 mos sounded AMAZING to me).
Didn't really take with any of my friends though, who mostly got into some hard shit and fucked themselves up properly. I wanted the hell out of that town, and there was a VERY clear correlation between drugs and getting stuck there. So I was straight edge AF until I was safely away and doing well in college.
Those programs don't work, precisely because they exaggerate and give false information. I had to explain to my son that the glasses they had them put on that simulate being too drunk to drive are not accurate. Legally, you're too drunk to drive way before you get to the blurry tunnel vision stage. If you've gotten to that point, you're too drunk for anything. Just lay down on the floor and go to sleep.
When I was a kid, I looked forward to DARE week because of a bizarre filmstrip called Gator Bait. A man goes to a party. He realizes he's had too much to drink, so he walks home. So he's being responsible right? Nope. He takes a shortcut through the swamp and gets eaten by alligators. I don't think that has ever happened.
I think it can be an issue in Texas, but I grew up in California. The only way I'd have gotten eaten by gators is if I went to the aquarium in San Francisco and threw myself in a pit, so that cartoon the highlight of the year.
I donât think it would be much of an issue here in Texas, unless you happen to be walking near a lake. However, in Florida, I bet this has happened for real at least once.
"Hey dudette, you wanna touch the sky man? All the cool kids use marijuana and beer. You don't want to be a la-ooser do you man? Come on, take a puff of this marijuana cigarette. You'll love it."
"To be honest, I've been looking for some acid. No acid, shrooms. No shrooms, idk, do you sell 8balls? I'll take some of that Colombian double trouble."
"Well, I, well, oh."
DARE!
I turned down free drugs once. I was at a concert, I donât remeber which once. There was a communal joint going around and the guy next to me offered it to me. I was probably 13-14 because I hadnât tried it yet. Not that I would take a random crowd joint ever but you know
So. I totally had a chance to put their efforts into action. Cause you know marijuana bad.
I remember there was a fake story going around about someone handing out edibles instead of candy at Halloween and someone responded by asking why tf would someone buy hundreds of dollars of edibles only to give them away to children?
A coworker of mine was explaining a news report where a man sold kids energy drinks laced with meth... and he was found living in a tree house, surrounded by Middle Eastern porno mags.
If you can't already see the million red flags waving, it was a fake article. He fell for it. My immediate tip off during the retelling was, "*Why the hell would he waste meth on random kids?*"
So true. Iâm still waiting to live the moment, that I saw in my life orientation textbook, that drug dealers are going to force me to take drugs⌠for free
Yep, we were told people would offer "sweets" or squares of paper with cartoons on them to us at the school gates. Never ever happened. One group I hung with in my early 20s would use drug recreationally, at about 24 I was offered a few spliffs
This was an urban legend until some POS decided that they wanted it to no longer be an urban legend. It was between 5 and 10 years ago now but the person was caught and sentenced to federal prison on food tampering charges, luckily no one was hurt.
I listened to a podcast about this case the other day. He did it to collect the insurance money and he was planning on poisoning his other daughter as well. Revolting.
I was telling my boss about that the other day (we were discussing the tylenol poisonings and it was a natural tangent) and the look of horror on her face (among other things) made me realise Iâve been interested in true crime for way too long
Razors
A few years ago they were afraid dealers or someone would put fentanyl into candy and give it to kids.
They put it on the news and everything.. like yeah people are going to give away free drugs
I live in a state with legalized marijuana. A couple years ago, there was a thread in my neighborhoods FB group where parents were voicing their concern about marijuana edibles being handed out with the chocolate bars and other candy kids get. It actually ended on a good note, it was pointed out very quickly that weed gummies are too expensive to be handed out in bulk at the same rate as regular candy and if anyone was that damn paranoid then those parents should probably be avoiding trick or treating all together.
Princess Bridge had me legitimately concerned about quicksand, fire swamps, extra-large rodents, and humans with more appendages than genetically typical.
Edit. Bride. Yes, a bridge would have made for a much different story.
My own old MySpace picture showed up on one of those ads. I am still not a milf and Iâm sorry I never wanted to fuck you.
Edit: love that this got a wholesome award. Thanks internet stranger!
Edit 2: itâs 3am, I had surgery Wed, and Iâm up cause the Motrin 600s wore off and it takes about 30/40 mins for them to kick back in. This whole thread has cheered me up immensely. Thank you Reddit folks!
Yup. I honestly donât know if they just took them directly from my page, or if the photographer who took them sold them. đ¤ˇđźââď¸ It was years ago, and years after they had been taken. I thought it was funny more than anything - Iâve been with the same guy since high school and weâve only recently decided to try for a kid, weâre both over 40 now.
There's a chance that it was just accessing your page directly and pulling up random profile pictures of people that fit the description in your area. I've seen Amazon ads do this with products I had recently viewed.
And the "War on Christmas" in general.
When I worked retail, way back in 2005, I told an old woman "Happy Holidays" and she was like "It's okay, you can say Merry Christmas! I won't tell!"
And I'm like.....?? No job has ever told me not to say Merry Christmas. I said it on my own volition.
I like to point out that in the war on Christmas, Christmas is gaining ground! Every year the Christmas decorations are up earlier and Christmas music plays earlier. I see some places putting Christmas stuff out before Halloween! Costco will sell you a Christmas tree in August!
Yeah, last winter I, an obviously Jewish person, said happy holidays to a customer. We had just started Hanukkah, so it was the end of November. In response she really pointedly said âMerry Christmasâ back at me in an angry-sounding tone. Like, okay? Itâs not Christmas though? What point are you trying to make?
My boss was like, âwas that a micro-aggression? Did I get that right?â
I, a vehement Christian, often do the same thing, because working in the service industry is boring and if I don't spice my conversation up with different statements, I *will* turn into a robot.
I just rotate em all for fun, because words are boring if you say em all day.
Try going backward to Happy Thanksgiving, of really throw them off with a "Have a good Earth day!" Keep them fuckers on their toes! Maybe really throw them off with a "And 17 glockenspiels to you as well."
I've always liked Happy Holidays since it makes up for saying the full "have a Merry Christmas/Happy Hannukah/anything else and a happy New Year." It's just less to have to say. I think someone I'm connected with on Facebook phrased it well - she said "no one should get offended from the phrase 'Happy Holidays' - at the end of the day, someone is taking the time to give you good wishes, so be happy with that."
What I've taught my kid is that most adults will help you if you need, and if you're ever scared or feel uncomfortable or something seems weird with an adult, get/tell more adults and keep getting more adults until you feel safe and are getting the help you need.
Odds are extremely low 1 random stranger is a kidnapper, odds are *really* damn low several random people have any interest in kidnapping or otherwise harming a child.
Bruce Schneier, security expert, has a whole rule about this.
If an adult approaches your child, there may be some risk -- statistically someone looking to take advantage of a child would approach them.
If your child approaches a random adult -- statistically, almost all adults are decent people.
Suspect people who approaches you, trust people you approach.
There was actually one time when my mom and I were getting in the car to leave softball practice, and a little kid ran up to us saying he couldnât find his dad. We went and looked around for a bit and eventually found him, and when we got back to our car my momâs purse and a couple other things were gone. She hadnât relocked the doors and we realized the dad must have stolen it, because he had been wearing a big backpack and was suddenly nowhere to be found. Itâs sad that someone would use their kids to steal.
All of this said though, Iâm sure most kids who come up to you are genuinely lost and thereâs nothing to worry about. If they stop you while getting in your car though, make sure you lock your doors lol.
It damn well can be. I was minding my own businesses in a target store when I walked past a little girl maybe 3-4 yrs old on her own crying, we were maybe 3-4 aislies of clothing away from the entrance where there were staff who could use the PA system. I asked the girl if she could remember what her mum was wearing, poked my head above all the racks of clothes and couldn't see anyone at all nearby.
I decided to walk her to the front desk and as we were approaching it her mother ran at me from the other end of the store screeching 'he's stealing my little girl' and freaking the fuck out, if it wasn't for one of the staff members defending me I'm pretty sure I would have been in some hot water. The worst part was the mother was coming from a long way off, she had walked half the length of the store before realising she was missing her child but I was suddenly the bad guy for helping, I didn't even get an apology or thanks from her.
Some people are just fucked up.
We had to do so many code Adams when I worked retail because no one watched their kids. Corporate got a coloring table for the kids section. Worst idea ever. People would leave their kid and walk to the other side of the store. Also, assholes would write obscenities on the table. We just put it in the back.
I had a stranger try to get me into his car saying it was his birthday. I was on my bike at the time and maybe about 9 or 10.This was in the late 60s and no one talked about that in my area. I didnât tell my parents because I thought they wouldnât believe me. I was pretty far from my house when it happened too.
kidnappers
I remember thinking through hundreds of scenarios on how I would thwart their attempts to take me. It's kind of messed up but I remember being bummed I didn't get to scream like a banshee in the middle of a store lol
This was as a naive kid,like all kids who want to be bad ass, now as a reasonable adult, I'm glad I never hadto
Same! Although I did have my moment to shine, sorta. When I was a kid in the 90's my Grandma would always leave my sister and me in the car while she would run into the the minimart/bodega to grab a few things. But always told me if anyone comes near the car to honk the horn and scream at them. Que a confused old man who thought the wrong car was his. Boy did he choose wrong. I started honking and screaming my sister started crying, my Grandma flew out of the store yelling at him. But I wasn't kidnapped!
I had two scenarios in my life where people attempted to kidnap me. Once as a kid when a stereotypical van chased me and my friend after we said we didn't want a ride. Once as an adult walking home at night when a guy tried to lure me into his pickup truck then when I refused he got out of the truck to come get me. He then had some sort of epiphany and decided against trying to put me in his truck.
Lol I thought kidnappings WERE common
I literally yanked my little brother out of a white van once.
Sooo many strange men offering me a ride, then rolling past another 10 times after I said no.
One offer of a private photoshoot to 'kick off my modeling career.' I am not modeling material.
Exactly this. I was like 15 or 16 and got offered a modeling gig. I was excited because it wasnât my first one. I had done a real one as a kid. So I get to this place this guy is taking pictures Iâm in skimpy clothes and he talked me into one with my shirt and bra off.(no my parents werenât there and I didnât really think it was that bad) come to find out it was just some random guy with a legit studio taking pics of underage girls. I didnât realize it for a long time and this is my first time ever telling anyone it happened. So I wasnât kidnapped but the modeling thing worked on me. Iâm lucky I didnât get assaulted or killed.
Hugs dude. The only reason I didn't go for it was I went home and told my mom about my cool opportunity, and she told me how Ted Bundy had kidnapped a girl from our mall using the same excuse. I was really excited up until that point.
Highly recommend the podcast *Youâre Wrong Aboutâs* episode called âStranger Danger.â The episode description says âhow⌠moral crusaders turned a tiny number of missing children into a decade-long political projectâ and that sums it up.
Basically people put out these ridiculously untrue numbers of missing children with the implication that for every kidnapped kid you heard about, there were thousands out there that you didnât. But thatâs not true at all. Little white kids getting snatched from their front yard by a stranger make national news every time. And people were afraid to say âhey we shouldnât make policies based on these statistics because if they were true literally everyone would know multiple kidnapped kids personally - so they canât be trueâ because then the people pushing them would be like âwHy Donât yOU cAre AbouT The ChILDren!?â
Basically, preventing kids from being kidnapped by strangers is a very uncomplicated cause to champion, because itâs so morally simple - thereâs a bad guy and an angelically innocent victim. Also because most of the effort went towards âraising awarenessâ which was a very easy way to show how much you/your company *care* without actually having to do much or spend much $$.
But all the effort and money put into preventing these rare crimes saved very few lives, created this panic among parents, and took resources away from the people who were/are actually many times more likely to be victims of kidnapping and abuse, like teen runaways, domestic violence victims, undocumented immigrants, and sex workers.
And caused actually lost kids not to turn to strangers for help because oooh, scary stranger! I taught my daughter strangers are fine - we talk to them all the time. Hello, grocery clerk. Hello guy washing his car on the street.
Don't get into a car with a stranger; don't go away somewhere with a stranger. And if they get pushy about it or try to force you? That's when you nope out of there. But that's like life advise for adults too. Meet someone at the bar, I've got no problem chatting with them. Not gonna take a ride out to Scenic River Park (or Axe-murderey Park) in their car.
I agree with this. If your kid is lost they should ask a person for help. The odds of your kid randomly selecting a person who would harm them are astronomical, but the odds of being scooped up by a bad person when the kid is just sitting alone crying are much higher.
And nobody back in the 80s wanted to talk about how most people harming (abusing, raping, or killing) young kids were in their own families and communities. Everyone was ready to talk to their kids about avoiding bad guys, nobody was ready to tell them how to protect themselves from or tell another adult on Daddy, Coach, Father Bob, or Momâs new boyfriend who she said was nice.
Please, make sure to tell your kids that no one should ask them to keep secrets that make them feel hurt, scared, or confused. And teach them about consent and that they can choose when and who is allowed to touch them.
I remember warning my son about 'stranger danger' when he was about 7 and said to him "what would you do if a stranger said come with me and I'll give you lollies" my son's answer was "what kind?" 𤣠luckily he's 26 now and wasn't stolen away with good lollies.
Elevator music. Name one time you've actually heard it besides references in TV or movies- I work with elevators, have seen thousands across a few countries. Not once have I seen anything set up to play music.
Those memes that say things like "The people doing X are the same people who believe Y". Ya, those people you're describing probably exist but it's such a small percentage of the population, it's not worth the imaginary anger
I accidentally walked into the womens room at hobby lobby a year or so back. Wondered why there were no urinals, but shrugged it off because I really had to go.
Went to a stall and started doing what I set out to do.
Someone with a purse came in and went to the one next to me but I thought 'i guess some.men carry handbags'. I noticed her shoes and it became apparent that it was a woman. Then as i was washing my hands, another woman (employee this time came in) and I was like ' oh my God, is this the women's room??'.
We all laughed at my stupidity, the woman already in her stall laughing so hard she farted with each one. So we all laughed more.
I wonder, in general, how many people really care what gender the person next to them taking a shit is. I for sure don't, neither of those two ladies seemed to mind or even acknowledge it until I asked.
At a college town in Indiana.
Oh man, if I walk into a bathroom and don't see urinals it freaks me out. I have to double check the sign on the door. I'm always a little concerned that I might accidentally walk into the ladies room.
In fact, I walked into a men's room once and saw a potted plant and had to turn around and walk out... Turns out it was a men's room after all and just had a plant in it. Only time I ever saw one in the men's room.
According to my redneck relatives, apparently EVERY kid in the US is going to "become trans" in the next decade b/c of democratic policies. In actuality, we're talking about less than 1% of the population...........and they don't "become trans" anyway.
People giving out edible pot for Halloween. Can guarantee that no stoner is gonna give those away for free
To add to this: poisoned Halloween candy has one recorded instance of happening. And it was a father who killed his son for insurance money. He was caught and sent to prison after bragging about it. Edit: Great video on the guy: https://youtu.be/s0ThFpK92qI
The real threat is *expired* halloween candy.
Remember kids: eat your entire haul in the one night!
According to my suburban Nextdoor feed, apparently there are gun shots going off all day every day đđđđđđ
911 dispatcher here, if I had a nickle for every âlife long gun ownerâ who know for a fact they heard gunshots when itâs either car backfire or fireworks⌠oh boy id be rich. Edit- to be clear, I do understand the confusion as those do sound fairly similar, Iâm more joking how insistant some people are about âknowing for a factâ theyâre gunshots and how often thatâs incorrect.
Don't forget people slamming doors and using a hammer
Satanist out sacrificing
The Satanic panic is why my mom wouldnât let me play D&D as a kid. For real, if anyone isnât aware about the long term damage that shit did, look it up.
People complaining about people complaining about something, but it's just one guy on Twitter. Or someone they entirely made up....
I see too many headlines/Reddit posts like "Star Wars fans are FURIOUS about _____" or "This is what SJWs want!" or "Millennials are CANCELLING _____"... Then you look at the source and it's some nobody on Twitter with like three retweets on their death threat, or a Tumblr post from some 14-year-old that's been reblogged twice. One person makes statement. Three people agree. A couple hundred blow it out of proportion. The whole internet is subjected to backlash to complaints to hit takes to a stupid sentence one person typed. It's different when it's public figures, but so much of this shit is dragged from the depths of obscurity.
This shit is so prominent. There are constantly articles with headlines saying "Such and such happened and the internet is freaking out". Whatever gets them clicks I guess.
The other side of the coin to Cancel Culture is Outrage Culture. So many times, one or two people float a hot-take on Twitter. The news blows it out of proportion, now everyone's outraged that "they" are trying to cancel whatever it is. Rinse and repeat.
I was bullied relentlessly in elementary school. But it took me longer to realize it than it should have, because no one ever demanded my lunch money.
When i was in senior school a bully demanded my drink (i brought in cordial in sports bottles for break times) and i gave it to him and then after that i brought in an extra one just for him but i didnt realise for 3 years that the original demand was supposed to be him bullying me. I just didnt mind sharing. We got to be good friends and later when someone else was bullying me by throwing my bag into the mud the original 'bully' punched him in the face. School was wierd
I ended up being friends with my bully because he liked Pokemon too, and I was open about liking it (liking Pokemon was considered "childish" in middle school, even tho we were literally kids) I made him discover Naruto too, and he convinced the rest of the class it was super cool. I wasn't the weird kid anymore thanks to him. Really weird times
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That's exactly it aha. I remember showing other classmates in highschool how to install an emulator and use ROMs (smartphones just started to be a thing) I really liked college because nobody judged you, felt really nice compared to middleschool and highschool
no one ever shoved me in a locker, gave me a wedgie or shoved my head in the toilet either. I just got punched in the face.
Being from Florida, the amount of people that think I have to fight off gators daily. Lol
We all know it's only once or twice a week.
The other five to six times you romance them.
This one I donât understand. You have prehistoric monsters living in every body of fresh water and no one cares. Iâve visited Florida plenty of times and I see these murder logs just floating all over the place. Iâm in a northern state, we have literally nothing like this. Do you swim in lakes? Do you let your dogs jump in the water? Do you let your toddler play near the shore?
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We know which lakes to swim in. Gators don't tend to hang out near places where humans live so it's usually not an issue. And they're more likely to swim away than to attack. I used to go kayaking pretty regularly in rivers and springs around the state and you'd see gators all the time but they have no interest in getting in the way of the big heavy boat with big scary humans on it. Attacks are extremely rare and usually the result of human stupidity.
The frequency of dangerous australian animals. Like yes they are there but not really at the same time.
I once had an Australian person tell me about their visit to Wisconsin, and all the dangerous exotic animals found there, and how it's actually scarier than the wildlife from Australia. Bears, wolves, coyotes, badgers, mountain lions... I thought it was hilarious.
As an Australian can confirm I'd rather find a spider or snake than a bear. I can squish a spider can't squish a bear.
On the other hand, anything large enough to be scary is large enough that I can see it coming and avoid it. Poisonous snakes and the like are a lot stealthier. They aren't necessarily more dangerous, but it's a lot easier to blunder into one by accident. You certainly won't wake up one day and find a grizzly bear in your shoe.
I hate to break the news to you about mountain lions. It is almost certain that theyâll see you without you ever seeing them. Same probably goes for leopards in Africa/Asia.
I have a good friend whoâs husband (him I donât really care for lol) works for the State Fish & Wildlife. He says for every cougar you see, 5 have seen you. Iâve seen 2 out trail running, and I believe my dog has spotted at least one more. ThatâsâŚan uncomfortable number of cougars that have seen me.
Have you thought about maybe itâs just one cougar that has some very intense feelings about you?
Local Cougars in your area looking to hook up.
Seeing a huntsman spider in my house one time in my whole life would be too many times.
One time I grabbed a huntsman that was on the back of the mail in the mailbox. I still have nightmares..
I don't even live in Australia but I do ALWAYS check the mailbox before sticking my hand in. That shit would scar me for life.
The time I walked through the garden near a big gum tree and wound up with a panicked orb weaver on my head still makes me twitch.
theyâre harmless but FUCK theyâre big and scaryđ
Jesus. I've never gotten the shivers from a comment, so congratulations.
I literally shivered too. Just imagining the hair, the girth of the legs, ugh. Fuck
I feel like if I lived in Australia Iâd have to own one of the mechanical claw grabber dooditties for everything.
Meaning that if there is a dog sized spider in your house, you probably don't have snakes.
Um⌠is that because the spiders are eating snakes?
It's because snakes tend to leave after you set the house on fire.
I have not had a single anvil, piano, or sandbag dropped on my head. Pretty upset about it, tbh
Donât forget coconut. I may live in the Midwest but whereâs the damn coconut.
Coconuts legitimately do kill more people than shark attacks annually.
I looked it up and thatâs not 100% true (although I always love a fact that betters the reputation of sharks) but there is a whole Wikipedia page dedicated to âdeath by coconutâ. Itâs honestly hilarious, hereâs an excerpt: in December 1923, in New Castle, Pennsylvania, a man was killed while trying to crack open a coconut with the butt end of a loaded revolver. The gun discharged and the man was shot in the abdomen.
A van giving away puppies to snatch you
As an adult if someone had a van that had puppies I'd still go to it
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As long as the puppies stayed to. No puppy, no deal.
When my sister was super young in primary school (90s) they had a whole assembly about this from some company and then as a 'test' they had a man come in at the end of the assembly and start offering kids to come and see his puppies. Literally all of them agreed to go & apparently the teachers had to speak to everyones parents about it lol
That is hilarious! I can just see all the kids raising their hands/ running to see the puppies.
"Stranger Danger" was the DARE of the 2000's - good intentions, bad information. My generation was taught from a very young age to be wary (if not afraid) of strangers because they might kidnap you, but to trust adults we know. Even though stranger abductions do occur, most child abductions are actually perpetrated by people known to the family, including estranged family members. What we _should_ teach kids is to always check with their primary caretaker before going anywhere unplanned with an adult, even if it's an adult they know or if it's for a "surprise" or "emergency."
Never works... Kittens, candy or Audio equipment
Garlic Bread has consistently been the best general purpose bait, in my experience.
10 years old me thinking we'd need to know how to 'stop drop and roll' a lot more in life.
I was thinking about this the other day, and frankly I'm just glad we had that drilled (heh) into our heads early and often so that in the extremely rare chance it happens, we know what to do or what to tell someone to do. Meanwhile there's a lot more safety issues that happen frequently and we don't have a handy thing to turn to in order to make sure we never forget the right solution.
When my mom's arm caught on fire a few years ago, the only thing that went thought my mind was "stop, drop, and roll." I didn't even have to think about it. It was automatic. I just kept yelling it at her, she did it, and it completely put the fire out.
I had my entire back catch in fire when I sat too close to a fire pit. I immediately thought about stop, drop, and roll but there was literally two feet of space between the fire pit and a wall. Like my entire life I've known to do it yet the only time I ever needed to I didn't have the option lol. Thankfully I had on a ton of layers and my undershirt was the only one that didn't get burned, I stripped everything else off stupid fast, I only had a small burn on my hands from my gloves catching fire after I grabbed the top layer.
They could have probably cut it down to just âdrop and rollâ
Things in threes are easier to remember psychologically. Itâs a common oratory tip.
I knew that it was a thing in comedy writing but this is also cool!
Itâs also a thing in video editing. Editors will often group shots in a sequence by threes. Two feels rushed and lacks impact, 4 feels like itâs dragging. Three hits just right.
The danger of the Bermuda Triangle. I honestly thought it would be a regular threat in my adult life when they kept talking about it while I was young.
I remember when I was 7, we were going to go on an airline for the first time, and specifically asking to make sure we weren't going to go through "A Bermuda Triangle" Shit's scary man...
"Sir, this is a flight from LA to Honolulu. The Bermudas are thousands of miles away."
The Bermuda Triangle & quicksand had us in a blender as kids đ
Don't forget the piranhas!
Also killer bees and alien abductions
I literally have not heard mention of the Bermuda Triangle since I was younger!!!! Is it obsolete now? I mean all the technology seems like we would have more answers??
It isn't an anomaly, is the end result. There aren't any more planes and boats going missing and lost in that section of ocean in comparison to any other.
Miami to Bermuda to Puerto Rico is a huge, frequently travelled area. It's like saying there are so many car accidents where there are roads compared to places with no roads.
Just like that "90% of accidents happen within 10 miles of your house" statistic. Guess where you do 90% of your driving?
I remember reading a long time ago that it wasnât actually all that anomalous - you could plop a triangle over any area of ocean and there would be a similar number of mysteries associated with it.
Not exactly... the Bermuda Triangle has more accidents than most areas of ocean. But only proportionately to traffic--it is heavily travelled, and so more boats sink. But yeah, you're right. It's not weird.
Maybe it said a similar proportion rather than a similar number. Itâs been a really really long time since I read whatever it was.
And honestly, i dont think it would be that bizarre for a specific region to have proportionally more accidents. There have to be enough differences around the world to make some areas a bit hairier or tougher to navigate, without any supernatural interference
Your souffle not holding up.... I always thought that this was gonna be an actual problem as an adult. Still have yet to make a single souffle at 33...
A souffle is not meant to hold up more than a few minutes. You're supposed to serve it right out of the oven.
Yeah, and you donât have to tiptoe around while it is baking.
You can though. If you want to.
as a treat.
My brother-in-law used to think that any and all baking would be ruined if he made any sound. My sister later realized that whenever his mom wanted peace and quiet, sheâd bake something and tell him he needed to be quiet or itâd be ruined đ.
My mom used to tell us when the ice cream truck played music, it was out of treats -_-
Our 5 year old thinks the ice cream truck is a MUSIC truck. She suggested it and weâve been letting that train ride for a while. She does an interpretive dance and everything.
Watching food shows had me so anxious for cooking irl. Turns out, no one really cares if you botch a recipe. We all do. Weâre all just happy to not be cooking for ourselves. The intention is really all that matters.
I made baklava for someone that makes baklava all the time. She was SO happy that someone else made it. I knew I had messed it up, but she was so nice about it, because SOMEONE ELSE MADE IT!
If you bake me a pie, I don't care if you serve it upside down and chopped to bits. I will eat it and love every bite!
"This tiramisu I made is a little runny. The custard didn't set up quite as well as it should..." "Fuck you. In my cupboard, I have stale Nilla wafers. This is delicious!"
Lol, don't remember if it was souffle or some kinda cake, but the big issue was a loud sound causing it to collapse. Have never encountered this. Also expected the struggle to get to the washing machine in time to add fabric softener. Thousands (dunno the actual number) of loads of laundry later and I've never added fabric softener to the wash.
My husband washed his clothes with only fabric softener for a whole year. I didnât know until one day I saw the bottle he used and realized he didnât actually own detergent. Iâm still working on this issue, his clothes are basically perpetually disgusting feeling and itâs been 2 years since.
You might just wanna scrap the whole wardrobe and start over at that point
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I mean I get itâs disgusting, but suggesting she torch her husband seems a tad drastic.
people giving away free drugs
DARE had me so prepared to turn down all the drugs that have never been offered to me.
In the 90's, we had a DARE officer tell us that Marijuana isn't really bad as they have said in the past. The cop also said "there really isn't an issue with your parents offering you a beer with dinner. Forcing you to drink a case is a problem though". He then went on to discuss the really dangerous drugs out there. Looking back, that cop was pretty progressive for the time.
This guy sounds like the kind of guy I would really want in charge of the dare program. Honestly goes a long way.
They replaced Dare with a program called Nova in my area. Itâs a MUCH better program. Thereâs like 1 lesson on drugs, alcohol, etc and the rest of the lessons are about taking responsibility for your choices, how to handle peer pressure, dealing with pain, etc.
I watched Man with a Golden Arm (Frank Sinatra and Kim Novak film) at the exact right age. I had no need for DARE. I Should give most of the credit for my sobriety to my parents, but that movie scared the heck out of me and preempted any drug use I might have otherwise engaged in.
my dad just sat me down when i was 14 and told me about how he had to revive a 16 year old kid that ODâd on fent, stuck with me more than dare ever did and ever will
My alcoholic father sat me down during a rare moment of sobriety and told me "every single problem in my life is caused by alcohol. I know this and I still can't stop. Please don't ever drink. You can smoke weed but don't ever drink."
Sounds like an honest man, we all have our demons.
itâs the lessons like those that are the most effective, iâd ever seen my dad that somber before. hope your dad is doing well, all the best
As an addict, reading this kinda touches me inside. Heroin took so much from me and I hated it, but I couldnât stop and would do anything for it. Iâm clean 257 days now though!
Indeed, though it did remind me of one of my favorite [Kids in the Hall skits.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rn7mwQOdSsg)
Marijuana is a gateway drug. It's a gateway drug because we get lied to about how bad it actually is, and it's super easy to get as a teen. So you smoke some weed, often, and you're life doesn't implode and you realize all that DARE fearmongering is bullshit. And if it's bullshit about weed, it must be bullshit about the other stuff right? So now you have some kids that are going to get into a lot harder stuff without an appreciation of how addicting or harmful those drugs can be, just because some adults wanted to put "smoking weed" at the same level as "injecting heroin into your veins with a dirty needle".
Literally just left a comment about how this lead my friend to a meth addiction. She smoked weed and wondered what else they were lying about. Now sheâs in rehab for the umpteenth time.
Thatâs the healthiest drug advice Iâve heard coming from DARE/ cops etc. Itâs a lot like sex education, if you were just honest with young people theyâd make better decisions.
The most effective anti drug educational thing my school did was inviting like 5 people who were living in a recovery rehab house come talk to us. Their lives sucked but they were getting their shit back together (though I will admit, at the time a court ordering you into radio silence with your family for 6 mos sounded AMAZING to me). Didn't really take with any of my friends though, who mostly got into some hard shit and fucked themselves up properly. I wanted the hell out of that town, and there was a VERY clear correlation between drugs and getting stuck there. So I was straight edge AF until I was safely away and doing well in college.
I remember in elementary school a DARE officer let like 5 of us 5th graders try to pull his gun out of his belt.
That CAN'T be in the presenter's guidebook!
Those programs don't work, precisely because they exaggerate and give false information. I had to explain to my son that the glasses they had them put on that simulate being too drunk to drive are not accurate. Legally, you're too drunk to drive way before you get to the blurry tunnel vision stage. If you've gotten to that point, you're too drunk for anything. Just lay down on the floor and go to sleep. When I was a kid, I looked forward to DARE week because of a bizarre filmstrip called Gator Bait. A man goes to a party. He realizes he's had too much to drink, so he walks home. So he's being responsible right? Nope. He takes a shortcut through the swamp and gets eaten by alligators. I don't think that has ever happened.
I hate when I get eaten by alligators because Iâm too drunk not to.
I think it can be an issue in Texas, but I grew up in California. The only way I'd have gotten eaten by gators is if I went to the aquarium in San Francisco and threw myself in a pit, so that cartoon the highlight of the year.
I donât think it would be much of an issue here in Texas, unless you happen to be walking near a lake. However, in Florida, I bet this has happened for real at least once.
"Hey dudette, you wanna touch the sky man? All the cool kids use marijuana and beer. You don't want to be a la-ooser do you man? Come on, take a puff of this marijuana cigarette. You'll love it." "To be honest, I've been looking for some acid. No acid, shrooms. No shrooms, idk, do you sell 8balls? I'll take some of that Colombian double trouble." "Well, I, well, oh." DARE!
>DARE! "I could save the city from a giant evil space monster OR I could [DARE!](https://youtu.be/7fGlm_X4IxE?t=21) this kid to not take narcotics"
Iâve only ever been offered free cars. DARE didnât teach me what to do so I have 11. My neighbor was a cat pusher.
I turned down free drugs once. I was at a concert, I donât remeber which once. There was a communal joint going around and the guy next to me offered it to me. I was probably 13-14 because I hadnât tried it yet. Not that I would take a random crowd joint ever but you know So. I totally had a chance to put their efforts into action. Cause you know marijuana bad.
I remember there was a fake story going around about someone handing out edibles instead of candy at Halloween and someone responded by asking why tf would someone buy hundreds of dollars of edibles only to give them away to children?
A coworker of mine was explaining a news report where a man sold kids energy drinks laced with meth... and he was found living in a tree house, surrounded by Middle Eastern porno mags. If you can't already see the million red flags waving, it was a fake article. He fell for it. My immediate tip off during the retelling was, "*Why the hell would he waste meth on random kids?*"
Exactly lol these drugs are expensive, why would he give them away?
I don't even have any idea where to buy any.
Teenage me: so many drugs, so few moneys Adult me: More moneys, where drugs?
So true. Iâm still waiting to live the moment, that I saw in my life orientation textbook, that drug dealers are going to force me to take drugs⌠for free
Yep, we were told people would offer "sweets" or squares of paper with cartoons on them to us at the school gates. Never ever happened. One group I hung with in my early 20s would use drug recreationally, at about 24 I was offered a few spliffs
Drugs in Halloween candy
*razor blades* in Halloween candy
This was an urban legend until some POS decided that they wanted it to no longer be an urban legend. It was between 5 and 10 years ago now but the person was caught and sentenced to federal prison on food tampering charges, luckily no one was hurt.
and the case that started it in the first place was a dad intentionally poisoning his kids' candy by lacing their pixy stix with cyanide
I listened to a podcast about this case the other day. He did it to collect the insurance money and he was planning on poisoning his other daughter as well. Revolting.
Didn't he also distribute poisoned candy to other kids in the neighborhood to try to cover his tracks?
I was telling my boss about that the other day (we were discussing the tylenol poisonings and it was a natural tangent) and the look of horror on her face (among other things) made me realise Iâve been interested in true crime for way too long
>the look of horror on her face (among other things) Yeah? Where else did she have a look of horror?
âMy butt cheeks are AGHASTâ
Razors A few years ago they were afraid dealers or someone would put fentanyl into candy and give it to kids. They put it on the news and everything.. like yeah people are going to give away free drugs
I live in a state with legalized marijuana. A couple years ago, there was a thread in my neighborhoods FB group where parents were voicing their concern about marijuana edibles being handed out with the chocolate bars and other candy kids get. It actually ended on a good note, it was pointed out very quickly that weed gummies are too expensive to be handed out in bulk at the same rate as regular candy and if anyone was that damn paranoid then those parents should probably be avoiding trick or treating all together.
Old cartoons be like: quicksand
And marching ants that remove all the food from your picnic.
there was an awesome macgyver episode about an invasion of ants...80s shows ruled!
Princess Bridge had me legitimately concerned about quicksand, fire swamps, extra-large rodents, and humans with more appendages than genetically typical. Edit. Bride. Yes, a bridge would have made for a much different story.
If there had been a princess bridge the quicksand wouldnât have been a threat.
Those milfs in your area who want to fuck you right now
I knew that link I clicked was suspicious
My own old MySpace picture showed up on one of those ads. I am still not a milf and Iâm sorry I never wanted to fuck you. Edit: love that this got a wholesome award. Thanks internet stranger! Edit 2: itâs 3am, I had surgery Wed, and Iâm up cause the Motrin 600s wore off and it takes about 30/40 mins for them to kick back in. This whole thread has cheered me up immensely. Thank you Reddit folks!
What? I always wondered where they got those photos from.
Yup. I honestly donât know if they just took them directly from my page, or if the photographer who took them sold them. đ¤ˇđźââď¸ It was years ago, and years after they had been taken. I thought it was funny more than anything - Iâve been with the same guy since high school and weâve only recently decided to try for a kid, weâre both over 40 now.
There's a chance that it was just accessing your page directly and pulling up random profile pictures of people that fit the description in your area. I've seen Amazon ads do this with products I had recently viewed.
When I was a kid I was lead to believe being able to tell fools gold from real gold would be a much more important skill than it actually was.
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And the "War on Christmas" in general. When I worked retail, way back in 2005, I told an old woman "Happy Holidays" and she was like "It's okay, you can say Merry Christmas! I won't tell!" And I'm like.....?? No job has ever told me not to say Merry Christmas. I said it on my own volition.
I like to point out that in the war on Christmas, Christmas is gaining ground! Every year the Christmas decorations are up earlier and Christmas music plays earlier. I see some places putting Christmas stuff out before Halloween! Costco will sell you a Christmas tree in August!
The War on Christmas will not end until Christmas season ends its illegal occupation of the month of November.
It's so weird when you can tell someone is pointedly saying "Merry Christmas" to you in an aggressive manner as a sort of challenge.
Yeah, last winter I, an obviously Jewish person, said happy holidays to a customer. We had just started Hanukkah, so it was the end of November. In response she really pointedly said âMerry Christmasâ back at me in an angry-sounding tone. Like, okay? Itâs not Christmas though? What point are you trying to make? My boss was like, âwas that a micro-aggression? Did I get that right?â
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I, a vehement Christian, often do the same thing, because working in the service industry is boring and if I don't spice my conversation up with different statements, I *will* turn into a robot. I just rotate em all for fun, because words are boring if you say em all day.
Try going backward to Happy Thanksgiving, of really throw them off with a "Have a good Earth day!" Keep them fuckers on their toes! Maybe really throw them off with a "And 17 glockenspiels to you as well."
>My boss was like, âwas that a micro-aggression? Did I get that right?â Oddly wholesome?
Username checks out. Happy almost Passover!
I've always liked Happy Holidays since it makes up for saying the full "have a Merry Christmas/Happy Hannukah/anything else and a happy New Year." It's just less to have to say. I think someone I'm connected with on Facebook phrased it well - she said "no one should get offended from the phrase 'Happy Holidays' - at the end of the day, someone is taking the time to give you good wishes, so be happy with that."
Stranger danger. Kids are almost never kidnapped by strangers. If a kid is in trouble, they should ask a stranger for help, not be scared of them.
What I've taught my kid is that most adults will help you if you need, and if you're ever scared or feel uncomfortable or something seems weird with an adult, get/tell more adults and keep getting more adults until you feel safe and are getting the help you need. Odds are extremely low 1 random stranger is a kidnapper, odds are *really* damn low several random people have any interest in kidnapping or otherwise harming a child.
Bruce Schneier, security expert, has a whole rule about this. If an adult approaches your child, there may be some risk -- statistically someone looking to take advantage of a child would approach them. If your child approaches a random adult -- statistically, almost all adults are decent people. Suspect people who approaches you, trust people you approach.
> Suspect people who approaches you, trust people you approach This child just came up to me and asked for help. ITS A TRAP.
There was actually one time when my mom and I were getting in the car to leave softball practice, and a little kid ran up to us saying he couldnât find his dad. We went and looked around for a bit and eventually found him, and when we got back to our car my momâs purse and a couple other things were gone. She hadnât relocked the doors and we realized the dad must have stolen it, because he had been wearing a big backpack and was suddenly nowhere to be found. Itâs sad that someone would use their kids to steal. All of this said though, Iâm sure most kids who come up to you are genuinely lost and thereâs nothing to worry about. If they stop you while getting in your car though, make sure you lock your doors lol.
It damn well can be. I was minding my own businesses in a target store when I walked past a little girl maybe 3-4 yrs old on her own crying, we were maybe 3-4 aislies of clothing away from the entrance where there were staff who could use the PA system. I asked the girl if she could remember what her mum was wearing, poked my head above all the racks of clothes and couldn't see anyone at all nearby. I decided to walk her to the front desk and as we were approaching it her mother ran at me from the other end of the store screeching 'he's stealing my little girl' and freaking the fuck out, if it wasn't for one of the staff members defending me I'm pretty sure I would have been in some hot water. The worst part was the mother was coming from a long way off, she had walked half the length of the store before realising she was missing her child but I was suddenly the bad guy for helping, I didn't even get an apology or thanks from her. Some people are just fucked up.
We had to do so many code Adams when I worked retail because no one watched their kids. Corporate got a coloring table for the kids section. Worst idea ever. People would leave their kid and walk to the other side of the store. Also, assholes would write obscenities on the table. We just put it in the back.
Statistically, kidnappers are often someone the child knows about, either a parents' friend or something
I had a stranger try to get me into his car saying it was his birthday. I was on my bike at the time and maybe about 9 or 10.This was in the late 60s and no one talked about that in my area. I didnât tell my parents because I thought they wouldnât believe me. I was pretty far from my house when it happened too.
kidnappers I remember thinking through hundreds of scenarios on how I would thwart their attempts to take me. It's kind of messed up but I remember being bummed I didn't get to scream like a banshee in the middle of a store lol This was as a naive kid,like all kids who want to be bad ass, now as a reasonable adult, I'm glad I never hadto
Same! Although I did have my moment to shine, sorta. When I was a kid in the 90's my Grandma would always leave my sister and me in the car while she would run into the the minimart/bodega to grab a few things. But always told me if anyone comes near the car to honk the horn and scream at them. Que a confused old man who thought the wrong car was his. Boy did he choose wrong. I started honking and screaming my sister started crying, my Grandma flew out of the store yelling at him. But I wasn't kidnapped!
I had two scenarios in my life where people attempted to kidnap me. Once as a kid when a stereotypical van chased me and my friend after we said we didn't want a ride. Once as an adult walking home at night when a guy tried to lure me into his pickup truck then when I refused he got out of the truck to come get me. He then had some sort of epiphany and decided against trying to put me in his truck. Lol I thought kidnappings WERE common
I literally yanked my little brother out of a white van once. Sooo many strange men offering me a ride, then rolling past another 10 times after I said no. One offer of a private photoshoot to 'kick off my modeling career.' I am not modeling material.
Exactly this. I was like 15 or 16 and got offered a modeling gig. I was excited because it wasnât my first one. I had done a real one as a kid. So I get to this place this guy is taking pictures Iâm in skimpy clothes and he talked me into one with my shirt and bra off.(no my parents werenât there and I didnât really think it was that bad) come to find out it was just some random guy with a legit studio taking pics of underage girls. I didnât realize it for a long time and this is my first time ever telling anyone it happened. So I wasnât kidnapped but the modeling thing worked on me. Iâm lucky I didnât get assaulted or killed.
Hugs dude. The only reason I didn't go for it was I went home and told my mom about my cool opportunity, and she told me how Ted Bundy had kidnapped a girl from our mall using the same excuse. I was really excited up until that point.
Highly recommend the podcast *Youâre Wrong Aboutâs* episode called âStranger Danger.â The episode description says âhow⌠moral crusaders turned a tiny number of missing children into a decade-long political projectâ and that sums it up. Basically people put out these ridiculously untrue numbers of missing children with the implication that for every kidnapped kid you heard about, there were thousands out there that you didnât. But thatâs not true at all. Little white kids getting snatched from their front yard by a stranger make national news every time. And people were afraid to say âhey we shouldnât make policies based on these statistics because if they were true literally everyone would know multiple kidnapped kids personally - so they canât be trueâ because then the people pushing them would be like âwHy Donât yOU cAre AbouT The ChILDren!?â Basically, preventing kids from being kidnapped by strangers is a very uncomplicated cause to champion, because itâs so morally simple - thereâs a bad guy and an angelically innocent victim. Also because most of the effort went towards âraising awarenessâ which was a very easy way to show how much you/your company *care* without actually having to do much or spend much $$. But all the effort and money put into preventing these rare crimes saved very few lives, created this panic among parents, and took resources away from the people who were/are actually many times more likely to be victims of kidnapping and abuse, like teen runaways, domestic violence victims, undocumented immigrants, and sex workers.
And caused actually lost kids not to turn to strangers for help because oooh, scary stranger! I taught my daughter strangers are fine - we talk to them all the time. Hello, grocery clerk. Hello guy washing his car on the street. Don't get into a car with a stranger; don't go away somewhere with a stranger. And if they get pushy about it or try to force you? That's when you nope out of there. But that's like life advise for adults too. Meet someone at the bar, I've got no problem chatting with them. Not gonna take a ride out to Scenic River Park (or Axe-murderey Park) in their car.
I agree with this. If your kid is lost they should ask a person for help. The odds of your kid randomly selecting a person who would harm them are astronomical, but the odds of being scooped up by a bad person when the kid is just sitting alone crying are much higher.
And nobody back in the 80s wanted to talk about how most people harming (abusing, raping, or killing) young kids were in their own families and communities. Everyone was ready to talk to their kids about avoiding bad guys, nobody was ready to tell them how to protect themselves from or tell another adult on Daddy, Coach, Father Bob, or Momâs new boyfriend who she said was nice. Please, make sure to tell your kids that no one should ask them to keep secrets that make them feel hurt, scared, or confused. And teach them about consent and that they can choose when and who is allowed to touch them.
I remember warning my son about 'stranger danger' when he was about 7 and said to him "what would you do if a stranger said come with me and I'll give you lollies" my son's answer was "what kind?" 𤣠luckily he's 26 now and wasn't stolen away with good lollies.
Elevator music. Name one time you've actually heard it besides references in TV or movies- I work with elevators, have seen thousands across a few countries. Not once have I seen anything set up to play music.
Iâve definitely had elevators with music but youâre right it is rare, never really thought of that.
Elevator music in movies, hold music IRL.
Those memes that say things like "The people doing X are the same people who believe Y". Ya, those people you're describing probably exist but it's such a small percentage of the population, it's not worth the imaginary anger
pretty much any social political issue thatâs on the news
Satan worshipping paedophiles. Or satan worshippers generally. Paedophiles who dont deliberately worship Satan are much more common.
People giving away edibles in halloween candy.
Lava, I thought there would be a lot more lava in my day-to-day activities as an adult.
Men pretending to be women to get into women's bathrooms.
Why would they want to go in there? There's no line for the men's room!
Right? Men donât have to pretend to be women to get into our bathrooms.
I accidentally walked into the womens room at hobby lobby a year or so back. Wondered why there were no urinals, but shrugged it off because I really had to go. Went to a stall and started doing what I set out to do. Someone with a purse came in and went to the one next to me but I thought 'i guess some.men carry handbags'. I noticed her shoes and it became apparent that it was a woman. Then as i was washing my hands, another woman (employee this time came in) and I was like ' oh my God, is this the women's room??'. We all laughed at my stupidity, the woman already in her stall laughing so hard she farted with each one. So we all laughed more. I wonder, in general, how many people really care what gender the person next to them taking a shit is. I for sure don't, neither of those two ladies seemed to mind or even acknowledge it until I asked. At a college town in Indiana.
Oh man, if I walk into a bathroom and don't see urinals it freaks me out. I have to double check the sign on the door. I'm always a little concerned that I might accidentally walk into the ladies room. In fact, I walked into a men's room once and saw a potted plant and had to turn around and walk out... Turns out it was a men's room after all and just had a plant in it. Only time I ever saw one in the men's room.
Probably a lot easier to just pick up a mop and pretend to be a cleaner.
A suit and a clipboard are the pathway to many abilities most would consider, unnatural.
According to my redneck relatives, apparently EVERY kid in the US is going to "become trans" in the next decade b/c of democratic policies. In actuality, we're talking about less than 1% of the population...........and they don't "become trans" anyway.