Secrets That People Just Couldn’t Keep Bottled Up Any Longer

As the old saying goes, “there is no secret that will not be revealed,” but sometimes, letting some of these out have serious consequences for your relationships with friends, family, and even your future. And we all know that keeping a secret is one of the hardest things to do at times.

From heartwarming and relatable to somber and regrettable, these Reddit users have shared stories that they’ll probably never confide in anyone else except for strangers on the internet.

A TOTAL SNOB

I used to work at a restaurant and one of the servers was having an affair with the general manager. I’m pretty sure she was literally a butt-kisser. She was awful to work with and a total snob.

She got paid more than everyone else and she didn’t have the minimum wage that servers got. Her paycheck said she was a cook and she made an extra $2/hour plus tips. She always got the “good” section of the restaurant.

It was a seat-yourself kind of place so some sections were consistently better than others for tips and she refused to pull her weight or help anyone when they were busy,

But would expect help from others when she was busy and even when she wasn’t busy she’d expect people to help her like bus her tables or make her drinks for her which was part of the server’s job.

And she was allowed to do that because she was literally doing the boss in the office during work. And that’s how everyone knew. Reddit User: HappyChaosOfTheNorth

A LONG TIME TO KEEP A SECRET

My great-grandmother hated me. I was an “illegitimate” child, and my parents split when I was three. When my dad got his girlfriend pregnant, my great-grandmother said that she would cut him out of her life if “He didn’t marry this one.”

My father married my stepmother, who was a single mother, and my great-grandmother was fantastic to my step-brother and my sister, but not me. She flat-out refused to have anything to do with me.

I spent Christmas with the family, but I came home crying to my mum, asking why Grandma wouldn’t talk to me. For the entire four days I was there, she ignored me, while cuddling my brother and sister as much as she could, because they lived in another country by then.

I didn’t find out any of this until after she passed. I wasn’t included in her will—the only grandchild not included out of about 7 grandchildren, and many more great-grandchildren.

My dad took some of his inheritance and passed it on to me, along with a few heirlooms, keeping up the pretense that she didn’t hate me up into my 30s. I was so hated by her that I was only just starting to meet family members, who had no idea I existed.

My dad, siblings, and nana were forbidden to speak about me to other family members, so the few who met me when I was a baby had forgotten I existed. I’m 36 now… It’s a long time to be keeping me a secret from the rest of the family.

My sister only told me all of this a few years ago, though she’d known my great-grandmother hated me from when we were kids because she would speak very hatefully about me behind my back. My nana’s partner confirmed it a couple of months ago, with my mum finally telling me about it the last Christmas I ever saw her. Reddit User: ngatiara

AS IF NOTHING HAPPENED

On the day of an economics mid-term, all 300 students had to go to a big lecture hall to take the test. Because it was such a big group, the professor had to use a microphone to give us instructions.

So after giving this whole speech about the exam, he bid us all good luck and left the lecture to go do some work in his office next door. Well, he didn’t realize one important thing: He had left his microphone on, so while the entire class was silently writing the exam, we listened to the events that unfolded inside his office.

We heard the brief muffled conversation between him and the female TA of our class. Then that conversation stopped. We all realize that they’re being intimate. The TA’s quieted moans were magnified by the speakers in the lecture hall.

The entire class stayed silent. Then, the professor swore loudly and abruptly shut off the microphone. Later, as if nothing had happened, the professor came inside. He was fired a week later. Reddit User: n00bstar

HIDING THE TRUTH

My mother has always wondered why I didn’t have too many friends back in high school. The real reason is a secret that I would never want her to know about. It is because, growing up, my family was always broke and I knew that she was struggling financially.

So, in order to avoid anyone seeing how we lived, I always refused any time people from school wanted to do things with me or have get-togethers at my house. To make matters even worse, I decided during my senior year that I did not want to burden my mother by asking for money when I needed to buy things.

As a result, I started working as much as I could outside of school. This gave me even less time to make friends. I would never want my mother to find out about this, and I would never want her to feel guilty or blame herself for my lack of social life as a child. Reddit User: winenotbecauseofrum

HIS TRUE INTENTIONS

Sometime in the early 90s, my brother passed on in a car crash. For years I grew up idolizing him. My family held him in a very high esteem: He was going to be a lawyer and his loss was seen as the worst possible tragedy.

When I was 16, I discovered a box hidden in a compartment in his closet. What I found inside made my blood run cold. There were journals, sketches, and essentially a plan to kidnap and get rid of a girl from his school.

Whether this would have ever come to fruition or was just a fantasy, I’ll never know…but it messed me up for a good few years. Reddit User: NoLawAtAll

THEY’RE STILL HAPPILY MARRIED

When I was 11 years old, my whole extended family and I went over to a mutual friend’s house for Thanksgiving dinner. It was a very large house, so for most of the night, the children played in the basement while the adults prepared the meal upstairs.

Shortly after finishing dessert, someone noticed one detail that changed the night entirely. They realized that my uncle and the hostess, who was our family friend, had disappeared up into the master bedroom. Mind you, my aunt and the hostess’s husband were both sitting downstairs.

Every one of us, one by one, went to knock on the door to see what was up, but they refused to come out. I heard some strange noises from behind the door, but I was incredibly confused.

I remember my aunt crying and the husband being extremely angry, but my uncle and the hostess just didn’t come out for almost two hours. When they finally did come out, the hostess was wearing different clothes, and everyone else was incredibly upset.

This was always burned into my memory, so recently, I asked my mom what actually happened that night. Her answer wasn’t at all what I was expecting. It turns out that while we children were playing karaoke downstairs, some of the adults were drinking, and getting wasted upstairs.

My uncle and the hostess had locked themselves into the bedroom to do some blow and eventually became too paranoid to come out—so they say. We still think they were getting busy up there, but who knows. All of the couples involved are still somehow happily married. Reddit User: [deleted]

DISTANT COUSINS

When I was 20 years old my brother let me know that I was adopted. Everyone in the family—I’m the youngest of five—knew and kept it a secret. It turns out my mom and birth mom are distant cousins.  My birth dad was in a biker gang and he and my mom both had addiction problems and had absolutely no clue how to care for a baby.

After I found this out, I saw some pictures of my birth dad, and I was shocked. Turns out I recognized him. He was a regular in the restaurant I worked at the year before I found out about being adopted.

He was always very kind to me and told me he knew some of my distant family but left it at that. It turns out he wasn’t there for the food, he just wanted to see who his daughter was and know that I was turning out ok. Reddit User: megatron336

LOVE LETTERS

My sisters and I found my mom’s fantasy love letters that she wrote to other men besides my father. I know they were fantasy because she didn’t even know half of them and some were happily married. They were the saddest things I’ve ever laid eyes on.

She wrote about how she wanted to run off with these men and have their babies. She would write them, wad them up, and just throw them wherever. I’m surprised my father never found them.

My youngest sister would scream at her, “ARE YOU INSANE, MOTHER!?!” We just thought she was unhappy with my father and never said anything to him about it. Reddit User: [deleted]

HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT

Great-Grandma owned a speakeasy in Philadelphia during the Prohibition. She stashed all of her money away in the form of gold. Eventually, she had the gold turned into picture frames that she then painted black and hung around her house.

We found out after she passed, when my uncle wondered why the picture frames were so heavy when he took them off the walls for the first time in decades. I always thought the black picture frames were ugly but never asked about them. Reddit User: Samo_Whamo

NATURAL CHARM

My grandad was a farmer his whole life. Every animal loved him—and I do seriously mean every animal. Every time we would go to a new place, dogs would be mysteriously coming straight to him, or horses would cuddle up with him.

He just had a charm with them—or so we thought. This illusion was about to be shattered for us. One day, while cleaning out his closet and digging in his pockets to make sure nothing of value was thrown in the wash, we found grains, bits of dried meats, dog treats, and bits of old carrots.

Turned out he didn’t have a natural charm with animals at all! The man had simply been secretly bribing animals with food all this time. Reddit User: MikeBsleepy

ALL-AROUND SHADY

I used to work for Wells Fargo Bank. It was all-around shady. We had to straight-up lie to people to get them over to a banker to open up checking accounts by telling them our policies were changing, and they had to do this.

We had to make sure they had every single product we offered, whether it actually benefited them or not. We weren’t supposed to give up until the customer had them all. This is the most chilling example:

One time a blind lady came up to my window with THREE separate checking accounts under her name, and she didn’t even know why she had them. A banker had opened them all up for her to meet their quota. Once I quit, I moved all of my accounts elsewhere. Reddit User: [deleted]

REAL FAMILY SHOWS UP

My parents saw me as an investment and kept a secret journal of how much they spent on me my entire life. This included what I got for Christmas, birthday gifts, movie tickets, and even when they gave me quarters for the arcade.

Even after I got married, they would track anything they gave us: gifts for the kids, things they bought for our house renovations, etc. Eventually, I found my Mom’s diaries and a handwritten ledger with my name on it, detailing everything when we cleaned out her house.

She also really didn’t like my wife—she repeatedly wrote that I married someone that she felt was from a lower class. She had multiple notebooks detailing what to do when she passed that we found throughout the house. What I found left a pretty bad taste in my mouth.

The notebooks stated that my wife, her family, and her friends were not to enter the house after her passing, nor would they have any of her possessions. Jokes on her, though. It took us six months to clean out their three properties, and guess who showed up to help?

My wife and her family helped me to clean out the three properties, which were completely packed with stuff. They helped me to sell anything that we didn’t want.

My family—the ones from my parent’s side—never showed up until the day of the final property auction. It completely changed my entire view of my parents and their love for me. Reddit User: taint_of_love

I DIDN’T WORK THERE LONG

I worked as a receptionist for a chiropractor. One day, our first appointment came in, so I went in the back to look for him. I walked in on him doing the deed with a co-worker on the table.

It was the same table the patients sometimes would lay on face-down on. I went back to the front and said, “He’ll be with you in a couple of minutes.” I was disgusted. He was married with two young kids. I didn’t work there long after that. Reddit User: ephendra47

DAMAGED ITEMS

I used to work at Victoria’s Secret—and oh my god, did they have a secret. We were required to refund and take back any used underwear as well as anything else that came back in the store.

It would then immediately go back onto the sales racks, even if it had obviously been worn. I showed my manager a used pair of panties that had a disgusting smell, and she advised me to “just spray perfume on it.”

I would often grab a pair of scissors from the back and accidentally cut the ones that I knew had been worn so they had to “damage” them out and not be sold. Reddit User: [deleted]

SPLIT PERSONALITY

About eight years ago I discovered my wife’s sister’s Reddit account accidentally. It was a variation of a username she’d used for AIM before but with different numbers and no underscore (the numbers were a significant date to her though).

There were too many coincidences in her posts for it not to be her. She was posting on the relationship advice subreddit. When I saw her posts, it broke my heart. Her (now ex-) husband was abusive. We’d known something was off about him but couldn’t really put our finger on it.

I created another account that I only accessed from incognito mode to send her encouragement to leave, and to ask her family or friends (but kinda steered her towards us) for help.

She didn’t want to impose or be a burden on any of them (we’d just had a kid, and I make a bunch of money but we live well within our means so you wouldn’t think this based on appearances, so it was an understandable concern).

I slowly, over several weeks and several different posts she made, convinced her that it’s possible her family realizes something isn’t quite right and would not consider it a burden to help her out.

After their divorce, I deleted that account. Nobody will ever know that the random internet stranger who was weirdly persistent in encouraging my sister-in-law to reach out to her family for help and leave her abusive marriage was actually me. Reddit User: [deleted]

DONATIONS NEEDED

I worked at a Joyce Leslie clothing store. Once a year, I was given the most jaw-dropping task. I had to take a rack of out-of-season and unsold clothes and destroy every garment with scissors. I was supposed to cut the clothes so they couldn’t be worn.  When I asked why they couldn’t just donate them, I was given some nonsensical corporate answer.

The stock boy and I decided to donate them anyway. I spent an hour pretending to cut them. He bagged them and threw them behind the trash bins. I scooped them up on my way home and dropped them at a local women’s shelter. Reddit User: JustGiraffable

SHRED TO BITS

I used to work at David’s Bridal. The company wouldn’t donate discontinued or lightly damaged gowns to charities. They would instead make workers shred the dresses to bits and throw them away.

They would also purposely play “Butterfly Kisses” when they thought you were close to buying a dress and make you imagine being walked down the aisle. If they could make you cry, you were more likely to buy the gown.

The veil stories were mostly baloney to get add-on sales, and the undergarments were ridiculously overpriced. Lastly, the interest on the credit card was nearly 24%.

They would say you could make payments before the no-interest period was over, but they wouldn’t send a bill before then, and good luck finding the address of the company to send your payment to. Reddit User: jennaleek

LIED MY WAY UP

In my freshman year of high school, I ditched class so much that I flunked the year. I moved to a different town over the summer and somehow they lost my “permanent record” in the mail. It was the early 90s, so they had computers, but they weren’t integrated between school districts, so it was just a fat folder of paperwork.

When the new school realized this, they called me in and asked what classes and grades I had, so I straight up lied my way out of having to retake freshman year. Reddit User: axnu

EATING GOOD TONIGHT

I worked at a Red Lobster, and every night, the leftover food would be stored in the walk-in freezer. About once a week, a couple of women would come in to pick it up for the local food bank to help feed needy families or the homeless.

All I would EVER hear them say was, “OOOH yeah, we havin’ lobster for dinner tonight.” Then the other would reply, “Well, I have lobster almost every night. I wish they would start giving us something else.”

You could just see their mouths watering over the free, fairly expensive food they were getting. I knew for a fact that, unfortunately, none of the food we gave ever made it to the food bank with those two in charge of pickups. Reddit User: s0uvenir

TWO WEEKS’ NOTICE

I used to work at a mall kiosk selling straighteners, curlers, hair extensions, and other hair products. I was basically one of those annoying sales ladies who had to approach people walking by and try to get them to sit down and try the products. However, we weren’t actually allowed to approach people.

I was once threatened with a $250 fine by the mall manager. I was caught off guard and completely unaware of that rule. My manager just told me to be more careful. I was also told by my manager to tell customers that all of our products were from Italy. That was a total lie.

Whenever we restocked the shelves with a new shipment, it was my job to take all the “Made in China” stickers off the boxes. We were also told to tell customers that they could exchange the products at any time, but when they came back with any returns, we would nail them with a $30 exchange fee for no real reason.

We would sell VIP passes that would allow the customer to come in and get their hair done for free at the kiosk. When customers would come for their VIP treatment, most of my coworkers and the manager would make up some reason as to why they couldn’t do their hair at that time.

Not only that, but everything had a maximum and a minimum price. For example, we tried to push our straighteners for $200. The minimum price we could sell them for was $100, which gave us all sorts of negotiating room to make up sales tactics that “end today” in order to throw on “free” products if the customer was dumb enough to buy the straightener for $200.

So, throwing in a “free” straightener was really just selling them both for $100. On Amazon, you can get these straighteners and curlers for $30. The hair serum I had to sell for $75 was only $10 online. They weren’t bad products, just overpriced.

Once I had done the research and found out you could buy the products way cheaper online, I put in my two weeks notice and quit. Reddit User: fuzzyllamafriend

PHONING IT IN

When I ended up in a spelling bee, I quickly realized the girl I was against had put a lot of time and effort into it, whereas I basically just showed up. Plus, she was more on the nerdy side, not a lot going outside of school, and I felt she needed a victory.

So I came up with a plan. She missed a word, so I purposefully missed mine to keep her in the competition. This happened a few times. Later, I missed one on purpose to give her the victory.

She went on to the state competition. The teacher giving the words threw me a look of disgust, as she knew what I did, but no one else ever found out. Reddit User: txbuckeye75034

NO QUESTIONS ASKED

A co-worker retired and I inherited one of his reports, which is one of my employer’s Key Performance Metrics. Every two weeks, it would take him an entire eight-hour day to complete. The first week I was able to automate most of it down to one hour.

Over the next nearly 10 years, I’ve improved it to the point that it runs in less than a minute. I then spend the next eight hours surfing Reddit, watching movies, and just doing whatever I want in my office from home.

All this time, I’ve told my boss it takes me eight hours to perform, and sometimes I’ll tack on extra hours because of “technical issues.” No questions asked as long as it’s in his inbox by the end of the day Friday. Reddit User: miauguau44

DOWNWARD SPIRAL

There was an accident that killed a guy I knew. His parents were left in absolute devastation over the loss of their healthy son, and it nearly ruined them.

The mother went on a brutal downward spiral of drinking and substances, and of course, their other son, who has cerebral palsy and an addiction to pain medication, also went off the rails.

A young girl got knocked up by the guy before he died and she had gone to live across the province with her dad while she had the baby. Ultimately, she gave it up for adoption.

Only a small handful of people know, and of course, his parents are not among them. Somewhere out there, his parents have a grandchild they know nothing about, and a kid is out there with the biggest, most loving family you’ve ever met.

I wonder if he looks like him. The kid would be 18 now and part of me wants to try and find him, but I’d have to give up her secret to do that. It breaks my heart and I’m torn about keeping that knowledge to myself. Reddit User: gasoline_rainbow

RED FLAGS

My cousin was my best friend. She was a year older than me. We loved anime, and we would stay up to binge-watch Inuyasha or other girly shows. She and her brother even lived with us for a couple of years after CPS took them from their mom.

She said we would always be friends and that our kids would grow up with each other as we did. But I just found out it was all a lie. It turned out that she used to touch my little sister inappropriately when they were alone. I found that out last year.

My sister begged me not to confront her. What did she have to say about it? “I’m sorry I did that to you, but I can’t remember most of it.” All those red flags—my little sister trying to switch rooms, the huge personality change she showed after my cousin moved in—all that time, I thought she was jealous.

Now, that cousin is pregnant, and she lies to everyone saying that my family used to take advantage of her and that she had to run away to a better life. The audacity… Reddit User: bears_bee

THE HAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH

I was a former Disneyland employee. It was a standard policy that no one dies in the park. Someone could be decapitated, but the ambulance would have to announce the death after leaving the park grounds.

Also, the Rivers of America ride was kept dirty to hide the tracks for the large boats. So much so that if 60% of a guest’s body is in with the water, Disney has to send you off to get a tetanus shot. Reddit User: [deleted]

PRETEND IT DIDN’T HAPPEN

I’ve seen both of my sisters-in-law without their clothes on. The first time, I accidentally walked in on my brother’s wife whilst she was changing. I didn’t realize she was in the room and just walked in. She knows it was me but, we’ve both just pretended that didn’t happen.

The other time, my wife’s sister asked me to fix her laptop as it wasn’t working. It turns out it hadn’t had a system update for nearly four years and the computer was filled with all kinds of bloatware and malware.

Unfortunately, she kept her pretty explicit photos in a prime position in her downloads folder, which I needed to access to install the updates. I returned her laptop in working condition with a new folder named “Private.” Reddit User: UnfinishedThings

LATCH KEY KID

When I was 10, I was very lonely. My parents had been working day and night to get their start-up business off the ground. It was the classic latch key child scenario. As they say, idle hands are the devil’s workshop.

So after several months of spending my afternoons alone with microwave burritos and Transformers cartoons, I decided to diversify my entertainment selection. But I went way too far.

I proceeded to ransack the entire house, making it appear that a person had broken in and rummaged for money. I broke a window, two lamps, smashed the legs off a chair and pulled every file from the cabinets in the office, and tossed them around the room like confetti.

I then called my mother and told her I’d just gotten home and found the place burglarized. She told me to get out of the house and called the authorities on her way home. They arrived with their sirens blaring at about the same time she rolled up. They stormed the house, screaming come out with your hands up!

When I saw them bashing through my front door, I knew that I had probably gone a little too far this time. Long story short, a detective came to take a report after the patrol had cleared the premises.

As I was sitting on my living room sofa, surrounded by the tattered remains of my dirty work, the detective looked me in the eyes and said, “There was no break-in, was there?” I was terrified.

The man looked right into my soul and knew the truth. And I knew he knew so lying was pointless. I burst into tears and started blubbering. He walked over, put his hand on my shoulder and said it’ll be alright.

Thankfully, I was young enough to escape any charges. My parents weren’t too harsh with their punishment either. I guess they figured it was more a cry for help than the actions of a burgeoning sociopath. Reddit User: koushakandystore

NO NEED TO BURDEN HER

My girlfriend, soon-to-be fiancé, has no idea of my extreme mental health struggle in the past, how I used to be medicated and even checked myself into a hospital when I was extremely suicidal from said medications.

I’ve since been fine and haven’t had an issue of anxiety or depression in years BUT it still hurts me knowing my brain could be so dark. When she talks about depression or anxiety she just doesn’t understand because she’s never had to deal with it. So, I’ve kept it to myself to not put my old burden on her. Reddit User: No_Search_575

CUSTOMER SERVICE NIGHTMARE

I used to be a customer service employee for 13 years. The surveys we would send out after we closed a ticket determined whether or not customer service representatives would keep their jobs.

If they get enough bad surveys, they go to the bottom of the stack, and they’re the first ones to be fired or laid off. Unfortunately, when people fill out these surveys, most of the time, they are grading the experience they had with the product, not the customer service.

They don’t realize it is the customer service person who is affected by the survey, not the company itself. The company doesn’t do anything with those surveys other than grade the personnel.

You might think they would take the feedback and use it to make their product or service better or to improve their management processes so that you have a better overall customer service experience, but they do not.

It’s all a numbers game. Since a majority of the surveys are going to come back with negative responses, usually because the customers are angry that their product was broken, the managers hold on to them. When it comes time to reduce staff, they use these surveys to justify laying off or firing people.

As a result, when someone applies for unemployment, the company can deny the application, stating that they were a bad employee because they got lots of bad reviews. Reddit User: [deleted]

5-SECOND RULE

I worked at KFC. If we dropped any uncooked chicken on the floor, we were expected to wash it off and cook it. If we dropped cooked chicken, we just threw it back on the fryer for a second or two.

My 23-year-old manager at the time refused to make us serve the dropped chicken. He was fired, and most of the other staff, including myself, left with him. Reddit User: [deleted]

MY BOSS HAS NO IDEA

My boss has a daughter that is the same age as me and he brought her to work one day so she can use the office printer for her college applications. We do security for a building where everyone is working from home so it was just me, him, and her.

My boss tells me to show her to the fourth floor and just keep her company so she’s not by herself. We got to talking, we’re flirting hard, and eventually, we made out and traded numbers.

We’ve been hooking up every month when she’s in town from school for the past six months now. My boss has no idea. Reddit User: Ok_Development5020

POTLUCK WOES

I cheated on my wife when she wasn’t looking at a family potluck. My wife and her sister put their peanut butter cupcakes side by side on the table and her sister makes crazy good cupcakes.

My sister-in-law made peanut butter cupcakes with real peanut butter filling AND filled them with Reese’s Peanut Butter chips. So good! Meanwhile, my wife only put a tiny bit of peanut butter topping on hers with no PB filling.

I kept making excuses to go back to the dessert table and scarf down my sis in laws cupcakes especially when little kids were near it to make it look like they were eating most of the cupcakes. Didn’t even touch my wife’s cupcakes. Reddit User: spicedpumpkins

WE COULDN’T MAKE IT WORK

Before dating my girlfriend, I was with a girl for something like eight years. I was certain we were going to marry and be together forever. But for some reason, I just felt like we weren’t going to be able to make it work out with our lives going separate ways (with a job, college, and the long distance).

I wanted it to, but I ended it because I thought it’d be best for us both. It worked out well for both of us in that we did succeed more in life. But there’s a dark secret hanging over both of us.

My ex just got married a few weeks ago to second place. I call him second place because that’s what he is, and she and I both know it. Prior to her getting married, we professed to each other that we still loved each other after I had a fight with my girlfriend.

My ex said (after getting married) that if I had asked for her back just then, she would have come running.  I didn’t, because I wanted to have integrity and not break up her relationship or mine. I just wanted to make things work for everyone.

It was the easiest way for all involved. My girlfriend and I’s fight has really put a wedge in our relationship for me, emotionally. I’m not able to connect with her anywhere near where I was before. I feel like she’s only a friend these days.

I still feel that way was best, but every day I think about her and every day I know that if we found ourselves single again, we’d be back together. We were perfect for each other…the timing and distance just got in the way. If my girlfriend knew this, she’d probably stab me in the face. Reddit User: [deleted]

THAT’S NOT THE WORST OF IT

I used to work at a major rental tuxedo store. We used to color in black collars with Sharpies and burn lapels to make them stop fraying, minutes before the suits headed out the door.

The jackets were not dry cleaned, and the vests were rarely washed, just Febrezed 10,000 times. Neck grime would still be visible around the collars. But that’s not the most horrifying part.

We’ve found wasps nests in a few of the tuxes, probably from some wasp-ridden corner of the warehouse, and pocket handkerchiefs were made out of cut-up ties.

Even though a rental would cost $200, the jacket and pants were purchased from the manufacturer for around $95 total. The tuxes were also an identical fit and material as the non-name brands but rebranded by high-end designers. Reddit User: TheGetz

NO DONATIONS ALLOWED

I used to work at a pharmacy and was surprised at how much medicine would go to waste. Anytime we sent medications to homes, and they were paid for by Medicare/Medicaid or whatever, they would be considered “used.”

We would literally get huge trash containers full of unopened boxes, pill packages, etc., that had to be destroyed. It made me sick to my stomach. We weren’t permitted to donate these medications to people who actually needed them either because it was not allowed. Reddit User: tswpoker1

ONE CREDIT SHORT

I never graduated high school, but I have an engineering degree. I moved from one province to another and skipped a year of school halfway through the year, missing a grade nine tech credit.

During graduation, they called my name, I went up to the front, accepted my diploma folder, took photos with the principal, sat back down, and opened the folder. There was no diploma. All my friends had diplomas in theirs. I met the guidance counselor the next day and asked what was up.

She told me I was one credit short but the university I applied to had already accepted me based on my mid-term grades without seeing a full transcript. The guidance counselor made the issue go away…and I successfully attended university and got my degree. Reddit User: bisantium

OUT AND PROUD

I am the only openly bisexual guy in my broader friend group. I’ve done stuff, in secret, with quite a few of my so-called “straight” guy friends, but none of them know this about each other, only with me.

They all believe they are the only ones to have done anything with me. Most of the time, it’s just drunken experimental nights at their request, nothing too serious. Some liked it more than others.

They all act like it’s the most taboo thing ever. If only they knew that a bunch of their other friends have done it too, they probably wouldn’t feel so weird about it. Reddit User: slugan192

LIVING IN TOTAL SQUALOR

When my great-uncle passed in the late 90s, he had been living in total squalor in an apartment in the Bronx. His wife had really awful dementia and had passed a year or so earlier.

All of our family offered to take him in, but he didn’t want to move.  My mom would call him once per week and some of us tried to see him, but he didn’t want to be seen in person.

When we eventually found out that he had passed, his body had been in the apartment for some time. People in hazmat suits had to go in not just because of the decomposing body, but because of how bad the apartment was.

Entire boxes full of cockroaches, 40-year-old magazines stacked to the ceiling, the smell of decay and rot, and that sort of thing. Well, they also found something other than refuse—and it was utterly bizarre.

It turned out that despite these atrocious conditions, he had a huge stock portfolio of major companies, all of which had been issued in the 1940s and 1950s.

The man was sitting on a very comfortable amount of money—enough to have bought a nice apartment in Manhattan even at the time, in order to live out the rest of his days. It’s too bad because he was a really lovely guy and we’d have loved to take care of him.

We could’ve even used his own money to help him if he wanted to. But such is life, I suppose. My grandfather wound up inheriting it all and eventually distributed it evenly to all of the family about six years later. Reddit User: kl0

AN UNLIKELY CULPRIT

In eighth grade, someone’s phone alarm would go off for minutes at a time in each class. It was extremely loud and annoying and it would interrupt each class a couple of times.

Some of the classes were with well-known strict teachers and they especially would get furious because they had to wait for the beep to stop before they could proceed with teaching.

Every classmate saw the matter as the biggest mystery and when the sound would go off, we would all stare at each other trying to resolve it. During one of the breaks, I looked in my backpack for money…and I made a hilarious discovery.

I found one of those old Nokia phones in the first pocket. It turns out that every single time I leaned back on my chair, I would press the buttons, making the alarm go off.

I couldn’t believe the annoyance and angry teachers scolding us was caused unintentionally by me. Of course, I didn’t tell anyone especially since I wasn’t a favorite among anyone. I was mortified the moment I found out. Reddit User: Macaroon-True

UNFAIR PRESSURE

My fiancée is the only person I actually enjoy being around. I don’t say that out loud because it puts unfair pressure on her and exposes my antisocial tendencies.

I wasn’t always this way—it kind of happened over the past six or seven years after a deep depression and struggle with substance issues. I’ve been happy and drug-free for several years…but I haven’t been the same.

Whenever I manage to make myself hang out with friends, I generally sit there thinking about how long I should stay before I can duck out and go home without looking unfriendly.

It’s hard for me to have conversations with people because I just think things like, “When are they going to leave me alone?” or “When can I leave?” I’m pretty good at hiding it and have several people who consider me to be their friend, but I secretly get no enjoyment out of those relationships.

I’m not sure why my fiancée is different, but it makes me very afraid of losing her. I’m almost positive I won’t find anyone else that I will be able to love like I do her.

There have been a few months here and there in the past where we split up and I went out on dates with several other women—some of them were very pretty and very nice, but I absolutely hated the entire process and never followed through on subsequent dates. Reddit User: Cheese_Pancakes

FEELING HOMESICK

In university, I befriended a guy who was into heavy metal music. He was quite different compared to me. I was sporty and on the university football team, while he was big on metal music and substances.

He had come from the other side of the country and I could tell he felt quite lonely. He was also just barely surviving financially. I used to invite him into my room with some of my other friends, and it would always end up with us talking about conspiracy theories until the early hours.

When we were going out, I would drag him with me and I would stick a $20 or so in his pocket. I started a cook-off with him in the halls as he wasn’t sure how to cook. I gave him a few recipes and he ran with them.

He was a great guy–we liked totally different things, but at the same time, we connected. Anyway, one of these nights, I forced him out because he was looking homesick in his room. He was tipsy and when we were walking home, he made a confession I’ve never forgotten.

He put his arm around me and said: “You know, if it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t be here right now.” I thought he was referring to him being out and about, so I responded, “I know; you were tough to persuade to come out.”

He then said, “No, not this; I meant that you saved me so many times and you don’t know it.” Being confused, I asked what he meant. “Dude, I’m so unhappy here that I’ve thought about ending it all, only for you to come in and start talking to me.” I was in shock.

I remember him looking straight at me as if he hadn’t just confessed his darkest secret. He just smiled and motioned to the takeaway stand, asking if I wanted anything and saying that he was buying.

A few weeks later, we broke for Christmas and we all went back to where we came from for the holidays. He rang me and he was in the car with a friend driving back to university to get his stuff. I remember him sounding so relieved. He thanked me for everything.

It was only later that I realized the difference I made, and it messed with my head a little bit. I started thinking about how things might have played out if I hadn’t initiated all of those times. I sincerely hope he’s doing well nowadays and that he’s no longer feeling homesick. Reddit User: interyama

NOT QUITE FRESH

I used to work at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. We were forced to do all sorts of disgusting stuff. The white chocolate was blended with Crisco shortening, and when the caramel apples sat out and became moldy, we sampled them to customers.

If chocolate strawberries did not sell, we would put them in the fridge for the next day. When they became shriveled, moldy, and disgusting, we had to drizzle them with chocolate again to hide it.

When the chocolate would become dusty and have a white film called “bloom” on it, we would have to polish it with wet paper towels to make it shiny again. And for the record, none of the chocolate was made there, we had it shipped from Colorado. Reddit User: grenfusion

DOUBLE DUTY

When I was nine, I went over to my neighbor’s house (I would usually go hang out with my adult neighbors because they would let me watch TV and give me snacks in exchange for helping them) with the intention of seeing if I could play with the foster puppies she had.

Well, she wasn’t there, but her door was unlocked so I just went in and played with the puppies. When I walked out of the house, she was coming down the driveway (there was a bunch of stuff in front of her door blocking it from view from the driveway).

I just pretended like I had been waiting for a minute and we walked in and I got to play with the puppies again. Reddit User: CarousalOfDucks

THEY SHOULD BE ASHAMED

In a place I used to work, there was a fridge with bottles of juice. I thought they were just for everyone and I took a cup from time to time, always using my coffee mug instead of a glass.

One day, I was sitting right next to the only balcony on this floor and so I was chatting with the smokers. One of these was the boss’s secretary. After a couple of weeks, she ranted to me how inconsiderate people are.

She always brings her favorite juice and puts it in the fridge and people drink her juice and she’s starting to be really fed up with that and is thinking about reporting this to the boss.

And I was sitting there, with my coffee mug, sipping her juice, nodding and agreeing how rude this is and how these people should be ashamed of themselves. Reddit User: Lafaellar

ONE LETTER REVEALED EVERYTHING

This happened during my best friend’s grandfather’s funeral. He had left a letter to be read during the service. For a long time, the family was under the impression he was born an orphan and had no biological family living.

That bombshell of a letter quickly revealed the truth and changed how the family saw their grandfather. The letter detailed how he ran away from home after his wealthy pastor father started extorting people’s money.

He saw through the lies being peddled to vulnerable people, changed his name, and went halfway across the country to start a new life. The letter also revealed the names of his brothers and sisters, many of whom were still living.

None of the family wanted to reach out to those siblings after they learned about what his father had done. That side of the family continues the practice of extorting people for their hard-earned money.

Some are in prison. Some are living off the father’s money in comfort and luxury, having never worked a day in their lives. Reddit User: MexicanAlemundo

I’M KICKING MYSELF

Around a week after I met my current SO, I got a message from my old on-and-off friend with benefits: “Wanna grab a quick drink?” I knew what he really meant (“dtf?”) and I wasn’t sure whether I was up for that.

At this time, my current SO and I hadn’t known each other that long and had only been on one or two dates. We weren’t exclusive and hadn’t done any of the fooling around. I also wasn’t looking for anything serious—in the autumn, I would be moving out of the country.

I didn’t really want to get too attached, and I saw our relationship pretty much as a fun summer fling. When we weren’t hooking up, my FWB and I were fairly good friends.

I convinced myself there was nothing wrong in going because I could just catch up with him and leave it at that. What’s the harm in that? I knew I was fooling myself—but I didn’t know how much I’d regret it.

When we met up, he (my FWB) noticed I was a bit more reserved than usual, and I ended up telling him I was kind of dating someone. That’s cool, he says, no pressure; we’ll just have a drink and a chat, and then go our own separate ways.

Needless to say, that’s not all that actually happened. Even though I know my SO and I hadn’t agreed to be exclusive at the time, looking back on it, I feel kind of terrible. We ended up falling hard for each other, and I think it’d kinda break his heart if he knew.

Nobody else knows, and I doubt that he’ll ever find out but…but I’m just kicking myself internally for letting myself screw up the beginning of our otherwise wonderful relationship. Reddit User: _tallduck

THE OVERNIGHT SHIFT

I worked overnight in the dairy department of a Wal-Mart—and it was a downright horror show. We would often get returns or stuff that had been left out in the store. It was our job to put it back into the cooler; however, there was no thought given as to how long these things were left out.

It didn’t matter if a gallon of milk had been sitting out for five minutes or five hours. It was put into a cart and wheeled back into the cooler, and probably put back out on the shelf.

This is done in the name of “expediency,” which is what drives every policy at Wal-Mart. Things don’t get done right—they get done fast. Therefore, if a dairy employee finds milk outside the cooler, it would probably go on a return pallet.

Dairy employees knew better than to put room-temperature milk back in the cooler. The store then would get a refund on the milk we would send back to the milk company.

However, regular employees were trained to put it in a basket, wheel it into a cooler, and hand it off to the next guy, who was probably being told to “get this stuff back on the shelf.”

Meanwhile, eggs would come in with general freight. There were no returns on eggs. So, once again, if a dairy employee picked them up, they probably got ditched in the giant bin of milk/eggs/flour that would sit outside the cooler.

It would ferment and smell terrible but never see the shelf—unless someone got yelled at to put it back out. I hated every minute of working there. Reddit User: JakeRidesAgain

A REASONABLE AMOUNT OF PARTYING

Throughout college, my fiancée and I would host various drinking get-togethers, and proceed to party college style. I would mix drinks, and my fiancée would pour shots. I love to mix drinks and I am known for it! My entire friend group thinks I make incredibly strong drinks. Even my fiancée. But they didn’t know my secret.

I would, and still do, make cocktails or margaritas with half a shot, and then provide a straw. I would pour a bit of the liquid into the straw or right on top unmixed, so it tastes stronger.

All of them at the time loved shots and partying hard, and I didn’t want anyone to get sick and still don’t. Sometimes I would do a full shot, but never more than one, especially on big party nights. Additionally, I would switch out shots with water and lime juice. Reddit User: pastalovin_feminist

MY LIFE FLASHED BEFORE MY EYES

Some family friends came over with their crew of four young kids, all between 6-12 years old. All the kids usually went outside to play hide and seek. We lived on a farm with five outbuildings on about 6-7 acres.

My dad instructed us not to go in one small shed as he had goose eggs in there, that was in incubation and had to stay warm. The game starts and I make a beeline for the shed, as I know no players would dare to go in the shed as my dad had a terrible temper.

The incubator is glowing with its bright light and I unplug it, thinking 5-10 minutes would be okay. When I go to plug it back in, I realize I had actually pulled the cord out of the plug part.

My life flashed before me, knowing I was going to get the belt in front of everyone there, I dropped the cord, snuck out of the shed, and hid at the back of the house, lying on the ground. Ultimately, my dad accused the second youngest of the visiting family and held a grudge for the rest of the time.  Reddit User: Kzkaynoh58

IT’S ONLY MONEY

My dad told me how my mom forged his signature to remortgage the house so she could go shopping. When he found out, all my mom could say was: “It’s only money.” But that wasn’t the worst part.

My Dad also bailed her out of her credit card debts, which were in the tens of thousands. He even had to refinance part of the house to pay for a multiple credit card bill of close to $50k.

When I was clearing out my parents’ house to sell it, I found a sheet of paper with the math working out how much my mom owed. She had nothing to show for her spending.

My dad said the only reason he didn’t leave was because of me and my brother. I never told my mom because I knew she would lie about it. My dad passed two years before my mom, and I miss him a lot. Reddit User: CaptH3inzB3anz