Have you ever watched someone make a truly horrible life decision and felt powerful to stop it? It seems that this is a scenario we’ve all experienced at least once in our lives. Often it unfolds as if watching a train wreck in slow motion that you find yourself oddly incapable of looking away from. Here you’ll find a collection of some of the top answers from a Reddit thread that asked users, “What was the worst decision you saw someone else make?” The answers that you’ll see range from the relatable to the hilarious to tragic.
So, the next time you find yourself witnessing someone make a mistake that you’re powerless to advise them against, come on in. Here you’ll discover that you’re not alone as you take a look and some of the poorest choices ever made by people from all walks of life.
Some of them may even help you guard yourself against a future ill-advised choice or simply leave you with a good laugh.
Don't forget to check the comment section below the article for more interesting stories!
#25 The Rude RoadKill Awakening
I saw a guy eat roadkill as part of a dare. He had to be hospitalized for three weeks for an infection that led to vomiting that Maxolon wouldn't fix. It eventually led to a hernia which led to sepsis.
#24 Persistence: Not Always The Best Plan
A girl decided not to withdraw from a class she had 55% overall in. She wanted to take the final and see things "to the end." She then complained about how the F she got for the 5 credit hour-long class killed her GPA, as well as some of her scholarships.
phalsephillysports.wordpress.com
#23 When Science Strikes Back
While over at his house, one of my best friends decided on a whim to snort cayenne pepper, "for science."
It went about as well as you could expect.
#22 Do Quit Your Day Job
I was two grades under this girl that was graduating in less than a month. She was brilliant and had amazing grades but she dropped out to become a manager at a Hungry Jacks (Australia).
She ended up getting demoted after a few months because they transferred a new manager in that had 20 years experience.
She could have easily baked the cake and ate it as well but... To this day, I can't understand why she would just drop out like that.
#21 The Overly Passionate Pancake Eater
This happened at a family birthday party at the Pancake Manor. Some cousin-of-a-cousin (18 or 19 at the time, I think) decided to try and impress the cute waitress by ordering eight pancakes, saying he could totally eat them all. Everyone warns him off it, saying it's way too much - even big, burly guys can only do four. He goes ahead with it regardless.
Unsurprisingly, pukes his guts up. The waitress does not give him her number.
#20 The PTA Throw-Down
There was one incident in my hometown that made me want to tear my hair out. A family moved in a few years ago. They had two children, a boy and a girl. The mother was looking for work as a teacher, but there were no openings so she worked as an aide. My mother was on the school board at the time, and she noticed that parents were complaining about the lady as she was apparently ignoring students and favoring others, getting angry when her children got bad grades from the other teachers, etc.
My mom invited her to the next school board meeting to discuss the situation, and the lady went nuts. The conversation broke down into screaming, and the lady swore she would take my mom's spot on the board. Sure enough, when election signups went up online she was the only person who ran against my mom. After months of an attempted smear campaign, my mom won the election with more than 200 votes. The lady only got 5, all from her extended family.
So what does the lady do? She decides to pull both of her children out of public school as she doesn't want them "corrupted" by the teachers and the board. The son was a senior in high school, months away from graduation, and the daughter was in middle school. My sister was in her class, and she said the daughter screamed and kicked her mom as she dragged her out of the classroom to check her out, begging her not to do it. She left all of her stuff in her locker, and the school had to send it to them. When my mom heard the news she was horrified and tried to talk to the family, but the father had been browbeaten by his wife and refused to put the kids back in public.
#19 The World's Stinkiest Mistake
I had a family of skunks that lived by my house for a long time. (I moved; they're probably still there.) They were always very friendly so long as you didn't get too close to the kits or act aggressively towards them. They never let me pet them or anything, but they were perfectly content to hang out on the lawn just a few feet away. I told that to an idiot cousin who was over one day, and she apparently interpreted that to mean that it was okay to try and pet one of the kits. It, uh, didn't quite go according to plan.
#18 The Premium Packaged Pyramid Scheme
While I was studying at a Starbucks I couldn't help but overhear a middle-aged woman talking a 20-something woman into what was definitely a pyramid scheme.
She was selling different makeup packages that the younger woman could sell to her friends. She had gold and premium packages too. Very much a "shake your head in sorrow" moment.
cheatsheet.com
#17 The Visa Digger
My dad left his wife of 27 years, divorced her, and abandoned four children for some older women who lived in the Philippines. He met her online and it turned out she was just using him for a visa to Australia and to get her two kids here as well. He lost his house, car, retirement, and investments.
Sign Up For Our Newsletter
Stories that matter — delivered straight to your inbox.
#16 The Over-Eager Engagement
A girl married her boyfriend the summer after junior year of high school, then they dropped out, and split up before they were even married a year. I don't always judge people for marrying young, but this was clearly a series of bad decisions.
#15 The Overbearing Wall Boxer
I know a guy who was supposedly recruited to be part of Vancouver Symphony Orchestra not even out of high school. He saw his girlfriend dance with another guy at graduation and in a fit of jealousy he punched a brick wall and shattered a dozen bones in his hand, never played an instrument again.
#14 The Termite Money Trap
A colleague of a friend came into work excited about having bought a new house. She thought she'd got a great deal because they took like $50,000 off the original price.
Why? Because they found out the place was completely infested with termites. Really all she bought was a very expensive piece of land.
No, she wasn't deceived or mislead by the previous owner. She KNOWINGLY bought Termite City.
YouTube
#13 The Not-So-Fickle Soldier
A guy I knew in the military who made enough money during a deployment to pay off his student debt.
He bought a car instead.
#12 The Shortsighted Gamble
My friend met a girl at a wedding on the last night of a short overseas trip and decided to cancel his flight home the next day and stay in a foreign country with no job, no place to live, barely any money, and a tourist visa, just to try and get with her.
...this was five years ago and they're engaged now, so I guess the decision was in a way the best decision he ever made! Still seemed reeeeaaally shortsighted at the time, though.
#11 The Lesson Learned First Hand
My high school math teacher is probably one of the smartest people I have ever met. One thing he said to someone in our class was "Never go to a certain college for a girl." Come to find out he had passed up some ridiculous full-ride Ivy League scholarship to stay with his high school girlfriend. Then she broke up with him about 6 months after they got to college. Either that, or he was trying to teach a bunch of 16-year-olds a lesson. Hard to say.
#10 The Dark Side Of High School Sweethearts
My cousin dropped a full ride baseball scholarship at a college in a town he grew up wanting to move to for a girl he started dating his senior year of high school.
She was two years younger than him. He went to a state school instead that's 40 minutes from his hometown. She cheated on him and they broke up not long after school started. Ouch.
#9 The Stunned Smoker
My idiot friend badly shocked himself trying to light a cigarette with his electric arc stun gun.
#8 Trivia Night Gone Wrong
At Trivia night at a TGIFridays, one of the questions was, "Which band originally wrote and sang 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps'?" I said it was the Beatles but a friend said that it was Prince. Cue a bunch of people saying, "Wait... You know, I think you're right!" "Yeah, he had that awesome live solo a few years ago!" I insisted it was the Beatles, so we put it to a vote. I lost the vote. And we lost that point.
#7 World's Worst Skunk Defense
I witnessed my friend kick a skunk in order to get it away from him. Bad decision.
#6 The Panic-Selling Property Owners
A couple bought a property in a part of Montana that was having an influx of tourist money and "nouveau riche." The wife wasn't happy; she wanted to live in Las Vegas, so she decorated the house in gaudy neon colors.
After a few years, the wife got her wish. They put it on the market for $500,000 (around what they originally paid). No takers, so they pulled it off the market.
Two years later, boom, 2008. Real estate is now at a whole new low. The couple completely panics. They couldn't afford this place if they sold their grandmothers. They end up selling the house, 16 acres of land (with water source), and several outbuildings for $125,000--25 cents on the dollar compared to the original price. Sold it, in fact, to a couple that had dreamt of owning the place for years.
I don't know if the wife ever got to live all of her Las Vegas dreams, but I do know that my best friend and her husband are doing great on their 16-acre dream property.
It took my best friend almost a full year to paint over all the neon colors, though.
The moral of this story: never panic-sell a property, especially if you have bad taste in decor.
#5 The Pepper Eye Debacle
Some idiot I used to know was convinced pepper in the eye wasn't nearly as painful as people made it sound. We just watched him pour pepper in his open eyes and laughed when the screaming began.
Serge the Car Hauler/ Youtube
#4 The Not-So Cunning Cut-Off
I once saw someone else decide to cut off a bus I was on as we were approaching a red light. The driver said, "Hold on, this guy's an idiot." We slammed into the truck, the truck slammed into the light post across the intersection.
#3 The Overly Confident Dart Dare Devil
I had a friend ask another friend to shoot him with a blow dart. First, the guy shot him in the leg, but my friend thought that was too easy (he was an overly confident marine reserve), so he asked him to shoot him in the side. The guy did and it punctured his lung, though he wouldn't admit it.
Then, trying to play it cool, he decided to "go home," when really he was "going to the hospital." We all followed him to his car trying to convince him to let one of us drive or call an ambulance, but he just kept saying nothing was wrong. He collapsed right as he unlocked his car and we had to call 911. He's fine, aside from his injured ego and dim wits.
#2 The Boastful Bride
A girl I know spent $50,000 on a wedding for a marriage that lasted 6 months.
#1 Never Mess Around With Niagra Falls
When I was about 7 years old I was in the car with my parents, going across the bridge from Niagara Falls, Ontario to Niagara Falls, NY. The deadly Niagara River is right below. There was quite a wait due to traffic so we were pretty much stopped.
A bunch of teenagers were goofing around. They were hopping out of their car and play fighting, etc. One guy hopped up on the railing of the bridge and did a handstand. It was terrifying. His friends yelled at him and he hopped down.
Then he did it again and fell over the railing to his death.
ourlifeexperiments.blogspot.com
