July 17, 2020 | Maria Cruz

People Share An Uncomfortable Thing Someone Shouldn’t Have Told Them


It’s not unheard of to share your life with someone, even if you don’t know them very well. You get to talking, stories are exchanged, and a bond is formed. However, some people need to know the difference between sharing and oversharing.

#1 Did You Know?

Me, my wife and buddy were driving home from Christmas. The interstate got shut down so we had to stop for the night and get a hotel. Next to the hotel was an Applebees, which we would never eat at, but we figured why not go for it. So we went in and ordered some half-price apps to take back to the room we were staying in. My buddy was joking around with the bartender and I don't know what prompted her to say this but she just went deadpan and looked at us and was like, "My husband just lost his life." We didn't know what to say so we just kind of looked at each other and walked out. It was weird.

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#2 Marital Problems

A (strange) co-worker, whom I wasn't ever close with, decided to tell me at work — across the entire office — that she and her husband were having marital problems due to lack of relations. He wanted more but since she wasn't trying to get pregnant, she didn't see the point. She said he needed to get over it. This happened loudly, out of nowhere and with no prompting. What made it more uncomfortable was that she was our HR person.

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#3 Moms at the Park

I was chatting with another mom at the park. Now, we can chat about some pretty weird things. Like, discussing your kids' habits would be a normal conversation. Even to some extent, discussing how things are going in the bedroom isn’t that weird. But I’ve had some weird things other moms have confided to me. The one that stands out was a mom who confessed she was a closeted lesbian, in a loveless marriage who has a huge crush on her teenage son’s girlfriend.

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#4 I Shouldn’t Have Said That

I managed a restaurant and a man was there to service the building, HVAC or something. He seemed anxious and started rattling on about his girlfriend and then her brother. For some reason, he added how said brother did inappropriate things with a cow. He then immediately apologized, "I don't know why I said that, I probably shouldn't have told you that, sorry."

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#5 Business Partner

The business partner of my then-boss had just introduced himself to me. He said, “Nice team you've got here. We should all go on a trip to Thailand together. You can sleep with ladies of the night without protection over there! They all have documents from their doctors showing that they're clean!” The dude was also married with two young daughters.

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#6 Helpful Husband

My co-worker went into great detail (including a hand-drawn diagram) about how constipated she was after one of her C-sections. She said she was so uncomfortable that she asked her husband to try to dig some of the stuff out with his finger. So, she put a towel down on the bed, laid on her side, and he got to work. After some successful digging, she rolled over and noticed a butter knife on the bedside table and asked what it was doing there. He responded, “Well, it was too hard for my fingers.” We’re nurses, she told this story at the desk to a group of at least five people. We were all mortified.

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#7 A Friend’s Show

I met a professional acquaintance at a friend's show one night. We knew each other vaguely, having met a couple of times, so we started having small talk. The guy obviously had gotten one too many and felt it was a great time to tell me all about his "dumb moves" from his early adulthood. He shared how his fiancée slept with his best friend and how he became an addict.

It took a turn for the worse when he suddenly felt comfortable enough to describe, in detail, how he and his friends had attacked a teenage boy who was passed out. The acquaintance and his friends were out of it and thought it would be fun to do that while the boy was literally unconscious and unresponsive. I noped out of the conversation right after and hope I'll never run into him again.

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#8 Unprompted Tradition

I see my mechanic maybe around five times a year. We only make small talk here and there, but he definitely takes things too far sometimes. He always tells me how many girls he met online and had relations with since we last met. It's like an unprompted tradition he must get past before we can talk about what's wrong with the car.

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#9 Need to Breathe

I was working the drive-thru and some lady came in asking for an iced coffee with heavy cream. She got to the window and tried to explain the reasons behind getting this drink. “By the way, I’m not getting this for the caffeine. I’m constipated.” That still didn’t phase me, I’m used to weird stuff like this. She continued, “I tried an enema two days ago and that didn’t work at all!” That was where I had to stop and go to the back to breathe. I was not ready for that.

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#10 Something About Ubers

Every single time I have shared too much info to a stranger, it has been an Uber driver. I often get out of the car thinking, “Why did I just say all that?” There’s just something about being stuck in a car with a complete stranger that makes me feel the need to open up and make it a very uncomfortable situation for both of us.

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#11 Way Too Much Information

A former co-worker, whom I barely knew, told me she was in a relationship with her biological father. They had been together for about 10 years and moved to a new city together. She was only 25 or so. I politely smiled, switched topics, and went home shortly afterwards. Of course, I kept that story to myself, but yikes.

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#12 Worst Professor Ever

Decades ago, my sociology professor was smoking outside of class with some of the guys as I was walking into the building. I asked if the school gave him trouble for engaging in social acts with the students. He replied, “I could be doing something else with my students if you're interested.” Then he winked.

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#13 Rules of Swinging

I had a super weird chick who lived in our neighborhood once who asked me if I knew the "rules" of polygamy and swinging. I was like, "Uh....no?" She then proceeded to tell me some long, rambling story about a house party that her husband was invited to, but not her. They wanted to sleep with her husband but she couldn't come along to participate or watch or whatever. Her husband was probably 6 ft 4, but weighed around 350 lbs. He was probably the original neckbeard. She was no prize either. I doubt anybody wanted to sleep with either of them.

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#14 Hate My Name

My mother told me she named me after a character of a book she had read and made me read it. After I was finished, I just was like, "What did I just read?!" The guy in the book with my name literally passed away after not eating for a month because he loved one little girl. My mom said it was the best book she had ever read. I got nightmares from it, but okay. Yes, I hate my name now.

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#15 Icebreaker Story

Years ago, I lived in Florida. My girlfriend and I went to a Chili’s one night with her co-workers. After they left, we went back inside for one more drink because it was still early. This older guy sits down a few stools away from us and immediately starts giving us some lighthearted talk about football. He then notices my girlfriend typing something on her phone. Within 60 seconds of meeting us, he decided to drop, “Oh, you like looking things up on them phones huh? Google my name.”

We Googled his name and the first result is a news article that names him as the victim of an attempted crime by his wife. She attacked him then ended her own life. The police came after a call of shots. They found him unconscious but alive, medflighted him to a hospital and he woke up later that day. And that was his icebreaker story!

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#16 Ruining Her Shoes

When I was younger, I hung out with a group of friends who drank a lot, but were harmless. I guess one guy thought he could tell us about the time a girl fell asleep while she was having relations with him. He took offense so he did number one in her shoes and took all the beverages from her house. We told him that’s not what we were about and it was really awkward.

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#17 Fried Calamari

"I seriously wouldn't mind sleeping with an octopus. You know, like in anime and stuff." This was said to me by a female co-worker while on the clock, during lunch rush, in the dining room, loud enough for customers to hear. What triggered this confession? I mentioned in passing how much I like fried calamari.

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#18 New Friend

I was sitting with my fiancé’s new friend and she started bragging about how she was manipulating men, including my fiancé, into doing things for her. Then she started showing me these long messages she’d send to guys she had just met on dating sites telling them how my fiancé was her best friend and her standard for guys.

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#19 Uncomfortable Conversation

Someone once told me he considered paying a lady of the night to lose his V-Card. It was back when I worked in retail and he was a co-worker. We didn't talk much, only a couple of words, and only about work. Then one day he came to me, and dropped that. At first, I thought he was joking and tried to laugh it off, but he was serious. He also wanted to hear my opinion, but I told him that this was not a comfortable conversation for me.

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#20 Clothing Store Customer

About two years ago, I worked in a clothing store. One day, an elderly lady came into our store and I asked if she wanted some help. She said yes. We found what she was looking for and she left. She came in again about a week later and looked around the store. After a while, she started talking to me. Now, I'm a pretty open person and a good listener, but I definitely felt like she crossed a line when she told me about the time she was pregnant and her ex-husband attacked her. I felt sad for her, but we'd only chatted once or twice before. She made me feel very uncomfortable; especially since she talked to me like we were longtime friends.

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#21 Fight For Me

The girl I was dating told me that she had kissed one of my friends on Saturday. I actually appreciated the fact that she was being honest and thanked her for telling me something like this before we were officially a couple. She got mad because I didn't lose my temper. I'm not in high school anymore. I'm not going to go hurt my friend for you. I felt she wanted me to be mad and "fight" for her.

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#22 Dinner Party Chats

I was at a dinner party at a friend's parents' house. His mom asked me when I was going to get married and have children. I told her that I have no interest in either. Apparently, this was the perfect reason for her to then tell me all the gory details of her three pregnancies and births, leaving no disgusting physical description out.

She said this even while everyone was eating and telling her to shut up. She then insisted that I needed to have children because “it's what women are supposed to do” and that it would solve all of my problems. Yeah, I'm sure having a child will solve my trauma, lifelong depression and physical problems, despite the fact that my own doctor has advised against it. Also, I really did not need to hear about how giving birth to my friends destroyed you.

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#23 Mom Group Stuff

I honestly avoid mom group stuff because they've lost the ability to talk about anything that is not motherhood. Also, they tend to complain a lot, which I can understand because of the pressure, but it takes a toll on you. I have friends who happen to have reproduced, but only a few of them are like me, where we don't want to think about kids for a bit, just chill together. I really feel for the moms who kind of lose their social graces because they're locked up with kids all the time and are desperate to just have adult contact. I am very understanding, but yeah - lines must be drawn somewhere.

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#24 Blind Date

While waiting to get my windshield replaced, an older gentleman tried to hook me up with his son. He then told me about his wife who passed away eight months ago and his son’s relationship with his ex-girlfriend (she was pretending to be pregnant). This son is also on the autism spectrum, has psoriasis, and works at the deli counter of a grocery store, where he was forced to wear long sleeves because people were complaining that his skin was flaking into their meat. All within about a half-hour or so.

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#25 Missing Diploma

I was at a family gathering and started talking to a younger cousin who seemed off for some time. After pressing for a time, he swore me to secrecy and told me that he did not get his degree in Dec 2017 because he was suspended by the university. His parents have no idea. We held two graduation parties for him with significant gifts. He had a gown and his parents were in the graduation square. Nobody cared to confirm. He said he resolved the issue with the university and will get his degree at the end of year 2020. I haven’t told anyone.

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#26 Forest Fire Down There

My co-worker told me that he has had flare-ups of STIs over 30 times. He said he couldn’t remember how many times he’d had a Q-tip swab in his private area. He didn’t believe me that I’d never had one myself and constantly brings it up. I don’t know what compels this man to constantly talk about that but he must have a forest fire going on down there.

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#27 All Your Fault

I was walking home from school once when some kid started walking next to me. I had never seen this dude before and he started to talk about how bad his life was and that nobody liked him. He added that he was getting bullied by literally everyone and that he had no friends. The next day, on my way home, I saw that he had mud all over himself because he had fallen into a muddy pit. He was screaming at a little kid that was probably six years younger than him who didn’t have anything to do with it. When he saw me, he instantly started to scream at me like it was my fault.

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#28 First Day on the Job

I was training a new hire at my old job. The guy was a bit off, but that was pretty much the standard for where we were working. I was giving him a tour of the facilities, describing his job duties. He then let me know that his dad ended his life. By the end of my two years of working with him, I sympathized with his dad.

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#29 Without Blinking

Years ago, I was a mental health social worker and had often very ill clients. I will never forget one incident with a schizoaffective client — let's call him Steve. Steve was in his late 40s at the time and living with his elderly father and his mother, who suffered from severe dementia. I was at their house one day for a session and Steve's father mentioned to me that Steve had been acting inappropriate toward his mother, who due to her conditions, wasn't cognizant of what was going on.

His dad, all of a sudden, confronted him in the living room after telling this to me. He said, "You’re being disgraceful. That is my wife and your mother". Without so much as blinking, Steve replied, "What's the big deal?" I lost my mind right there. We had to get Steve out of the house obviously and it got escalated to Adult Protective Services.

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#30 Yellow and Wrinkled

A girl I had to work with explained to me why part of her shirt was yellow and wrinkled. The yellow part was from the cat relieving itself and it was wrinkled because she slept in it. She also hadn’t done laundry in two weeks. Yes, she smelled and yes, I told her she did. The next girl working with me confessed that she slept with 50 people at work. She was married and had three kids. She then told me not to tell anyone. I barely knew her, but I'm sure people already knew this about her.

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#31 Daycare Center

I used to work at a daycare center over the summer as an aide to an older teacher. On one occasion, a mom came to pick up their kid and just started ranting about how they have marital issues because the husband thinks they're an unfit parent. She added how they didn’t even sleep together either… in front of the kids.

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#32 Please Go Away

I was sitting in the lobby of the funeral home in my hometown awaiting my grandma's funeral to start. One of the ushers started talking to me, but any conversation was kind of unwanted given the situation. He was the dad of some guy I graduated high school with several years ago. I didn't really know him well at all, probably never talked to him once. But this guy kept going on and on about how extremely fat his son had gotten, all the while trying to find a picture of his son to show to me. I was just like, please don't talk to me anymore.

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#33 Trip to Thailand

When I was in college, I went to the study abroad office to inquire about a scholarship to study in Japan. Instead, I ended up in a room with a weirdo student worker who had just spent a year backpacking in SE Asia, trying to talk me into going to Thailand because ladies of the night were so cheap and plentiful. I’m pretty sure he lost his virginity there. He told me all he knew about how to tell the regular massage places from the dirty ones. He told me in great detail about his escapades and exactly how much it was for different “calibers” or girls. Also, I was 19 years old and a girl.

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#34 None of Your Business

Every now and then, my aunt will ask me about my private life. I always tell her it's none of her business. The last time she asked me, I accidentally let it slip out that I lost my V-Card and her whole tone of voice changed. She asked how big I was and how surprised she was to see how big I was. I was weirded out by this and kept telling her it was none of her business.

She then told me that when I was a baby and she'd change my diapers, she'd make fun of me to my parents and grandparents for being a baby with a big member. This was already uncomfortable, but the fact that we were in the waiting room for me to get my haircut, I know the lady next to us heard it. It was terrible.

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#35 Trying for a Baby

I asked a colleague during a late shift how her day had been so far. She started telling me that her and her husband were trying for another baby but were having trouble conceiving. Her story was complete with detail about positions used. She ended the conversation by telling me she had a “bit of chafing going on down there now.”

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#36 First Day of Class

I met this guy on the first day of class. We started having small talk and stuff like that. Not five minutes into the conversation and he told me what he likes from women when he’s intimate with them. It caught me off guard. I was only talking to him about how this class was going to be interesting, so I don’t know what prompted that.

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#37 Entire Life Story

I was bartending and a lady told me her entire life story, including times she was attacked by a man. That probably happens often to bartenders, but I don’t bartend often to know for sure. So, that was the most intense one I’ve had. I’m honestly not an approachable person at all, so she must tell her life story to everybody.

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#38 Within Earshot

On only my third day at college, one of my classmates came over at lunchtime to chat. I didn’t mind until she started talking about her boyfriend’s warts. We’d only spoken a couple times previously. Needless to say, I didn’t finish my sandwich. Additionally, I’ve been at my retail job about eight months now. My boss likes to chat when it’s quiet, usually about what she’s cooked recently or the dinner parties she’s thrown. One time, though, she began telling me about finding a photo in her teenage daughter’s room and how she had to cut contact between her daughter and the friend she suspected the daughter had got it from. I cannot stress how little context there was to that story. Yes, there were customers walking around the shop at the time, probably in earshot.

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#39 Can’t Walk Away

I worked retail and asked a lady if she needed help finding anything. She then told me all about her daughter who had an eating disorder. Like, I understand she's upset. But, dude. I was very uncomfortable for about 30 minutes as I talked to her because I'm not going to just walk away from a crying woman. But God, I wanted to.

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#40 Comic Book Couple

I had a very shy and awkward friend who worked in a comic book store. One day, a regular pair of customers asked him if he wanted to play Magic the Gathering and board games with them this weekend. He agreed as they were nice people and seemed cool. He went to their house and they proceeded to feed him as much wine as possible with hardly any gaming. It then became apparent that they were trying to seduce him. He noped out of there and none of us believed him until the same couple tried the same trick on his co-worker.

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#41 Absolutely No Prompting

All I said was, “Nice weather we're having.” The gas station attendant then replied, “Yeah. The last time I spent too much time in the sun, I got a melanoma that I had to get surgery for. I've found a new freckle, so I should probably go get that checked out too." He continued for some time with absolutely no prompting from me.

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#42 Showing Her the Ropes

Back when I was in high school, I had a job working in retail. We had a new hire and I was showing her the ropes on her first day. At one point, we were just chatting about nothing in particular and she said, out of the blue, "I really want to pierce my private area, but I can't imagine wearing skirts for a few weeks while it heals."

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#43 A Bad Choice

I was at work and a guy looked at me and asked, “Do you think it’s immoral to eat children?” I thought I was losing my mind and had misheard him because he said it with such certainty. It was creepy. He had a friend who was surprised as I was. His pal told me he’d been discharged from hospital that day. I smiled, turned and thought, “What kind of hospital was it and was it a good choice to let him out?”

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#44 Out of Nowhere

I was in a golf tournament with two of my friends and a fourth guy who was married to one of my co-workers. Around the fifth hole, the random spouse guy says to me, completely unprompted and unsolicited, "You could totally sleep with my wife if you ever wanted to.” The other three of us just stared at each other, completely baffled as to why this dude would say this.

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#45 The Look On Your Face

This young guy I used to work with bragged one day about having relations with our 60-year-old co-worker in a car outside of his house. He was the kind of guy that slept with anything that walked and loved to brag about it. I could tell he wasn’t really proud of this one, despite going on about it (and seeing my face after telling me).

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#46 Confessional Booth

I was working for a lab and was registering a person, talking about why they needed labs done. Next thing I know, the guy takes off his shoe and sock, puts his foot on my desk, and says, "Yeah. See this open sore?!" Sure enough, the guy had a nasty, infected-looking sore on his foot that smelled like rotten cheese mixed with fish. It was horrible and weeping on my desk. After he left, I had to try to not throw up as I cleaned my desk. I swear the things people would open up about was insane. We started calling our booths confessionals because that's what people treated them like.

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#47 Working at Walmart

When I was 16, I had a job at Walmart. One day, as I was going through the motions of, “Hi, how are you?" and scanning their groceries, this customer shared way too much. She decided to tell me she found her neighbor on the floor of the bathroom. Being 16, I had no idea how to respond to that. Even now, I still don't know.

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#48 In the Basement

I was helping some guy at the photo kiosk in my store. He started telling me about his adopted daughter and how she had a lot of problems when she was younger. He also told me about the room they had in the basement that they had to lock her up in. He said she was much better at that point, though. He had to pick up my lanyard to read my nametag, too, which I found really creepy. My male co-workers and boss just thought it was funny.

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#49 That Went Well

My 20-year-old nephew's 34-year-old girlfriend — who he was dating for two months — told us something nuts at Christmas. It was our first time meeting her, but she said that she was trying to get pregnant within the next six months with him. Also, they had fertility testing and her ex-husband was living with them as well. It went over just as well as you would have expected.

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#50 PTA Meeting

I was sitting next to a mom I didn’t know at a PTA meeting. She introduced herself and we chatted for a bit before the meeting started. She told me she had had a miscarriage the day before. This was maybe the third thing I ever heard her say. I was so shocked and all I could do was tell her how sorry I was to hear that. I then asked if she was okay. It was really sad.

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