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Mistakes are just lessons waiting to be learned! Unfortunately, some of those mistakes can be very, very expensive. They hit your wallet with the force of a charging rhino, leaving you clutching your head in agony and letting out incomprehensible bleats about how much money just went down the drain.

That’s where the ‘That Looked Expensive’ subreddit comes in. It’s an internet community that’s dedicated to documenting all the hilarious (not to mention painful) times that people made expensive mistakes. Like wrecking their cars. Or planes. (Or presidential campaigns. Sorry, Mike Bloomberg.)

Bored Panda spoke about the best way for people to deal with mistakes and how important a role emotions play in learning from them with researcher and Assistant Professor of Marketing Noelle Nelson from the University of Oregon. She told us that people vary in how much they tend to justify their mistakes. "Some learn early that it's important to accept when you've done something wrong while others get in a habit of justifying/deflecting/making excuses. Everyone, though, has done this to some degree." Scroll down for our in-depth interview with Noelle and for our chat with the founder of the 'That Looked Expensive' subreddit, Approx-, dear Pandas. Remember to upvote your fave expensive blunders and to let us know in the comments what the most expensive thing that you wrecked was and how you did it.

#1

No Matter How Much You Screw Up, You'll Never Ever Have To Tell Your Boss: Sir, I Toppled That 290 Million Dollar Noaa-N Prime Satellite Right Onto The Shop Floor.

No Matter How Much You Screw Up, You'll Never Ever Have To Tell Your Boss: Sir, I Toppled That 290 Million Dollar Noaa-N Prime Satellite Right Onto The Shop Floor.

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Daniela Botella
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And then you see the two people in the back thinking I think we should pack our bags already

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#2

When The Fire Suppression Foam Is Accidentally Released

When The Fire Suppression Foam Is Accidentally Released

5_Frog_Margin Report

#3

When You Forget You Parked On Top Of The Self-Hiding Garage

When You Forget You Parked On Top Of The Self-Hiding Garage

The car at the bottom was flooded. Car at the top was crushed

tsMineDK Report

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Kryogen
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

A stupid mistake. A simple laser detector could avoid this trouble...

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Noelle told Bored Panda that there are a lot of reasons why we justify our mistakes and she told us a couple of the main ones. "We don't like feeling negative emotion and the goal is very often to 'get back' to a positive state. If we can justify something we did wrong, we don't have to feel bad about it anymore."

She continued with the second reasons: "We want to protect our positive self image. Justifying a mistake means that I didn't do anything wrong or whatever went wrong wasn't my fault. That means I can still feel like I'm 'good.'"

Noelle said that her research suggests that taking the time to stop and feel the negative emotions associated with the mistake helps a person learn from that mistake. "We find that it's not enough to just think about the mistake and why it happened. Our brains are designed to be guided by emotion, so actually feeling that negative emotion is important," she said.

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#4

Don't Tailgate A School Bus When Your Car Is Shaped Like A Door Stop

Don't Tailgate A School Bus When Your Car Is Shaped Like A Door Stop

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"In our experiments, people who were asked to feel those negative emotions corrected their behavior on a similar task later on. This happened even though they didn't know the tasks were connected! That suggests that the emotional learning doesn't have to be consciously done by a person; simply making sure to allow oneself to feel those negative emotions leads to learning."

Noelle revealed to us that lately she's been working on research that addresses why people have a hard time changing their minds about important topics and how we might be able to communicate in a way that would help them absorb new information that they don't necessarily agree with. "Generally, how people process emotions and thoughts is important in how they learn, function and interact with their environment."

#7

Your Internet Access Will Be Restored Between January And December 2020

Your Internet Access Will Be Restored Between January And December 2020

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#9

Technician 'Accidentally' Fires Vulcan Cannon & Obliterates F-16 Sitting On The Runway

Technician 'Accidentally' Fires Vulcan Cannon & Obliterates F-16 Sitting On The Runway

J00G0LD Report

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Hans
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If a technician can do this, it is not the technician's fault. Redundant security systems should prevent this from happening!

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Reddit user Approx- told Bored Panda that they started the subreddit back in March 2018, as a result of a comment made by another user, Deathtastic.

According to Approx-, the subreddit grew steadily and naturally gained users since it was first created. "We haven't really done anything in particular to make it grow, other than ensuring content is well moderated," they said.

"I think the appeal of expensive mistakes is twofold. First, it's just straight-up entertainment to see expensive things destroyed. But I think it also gives folks a bit of a sense of relief that maybe their screw-ups aren't all that bad after seeing a multi-million dollar mistake," Aprrox- said.

#10

$5000 Canadian After Someone Using The Microwave To Disinfect It

$5000 Canadian After Someone Using The Microwave To Disinfect It

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#11

Landslide On Highway

Landslide On Highway

voy_conlag_mental Report

#12

If Insurance Companies Had Nightmares...

If Insurance Companies Had Nightmares...

Liberal_Leopard Report

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Russell Ellwardt
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Insurance? If this was an illegal car race indeed, and very likely it was, they ought to refuse to pay.

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The ‘That Looked Expensive’ subreddit has more than 416k members and the community has been going strong since it was first founded.

It’s one thing to mess up as an individual but it’s a whole other ball game when companies or countries mess up. For example, back in 2000, Netflix approached Blockbuster with an idea to take care of the digital part of their company. Blockbuster said ‘no’ and, well, we don’t have to tell you how things worked out over the next two decades for both companies, do we? A ‘yes’ instead of a ‘no’ and we could still have a healthy version of Blockbuster!

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#13

If You’re Having A Bad Day, Just Know That At Least You Didn’t Shatter A 16,000$ Bottle Of Victory In Europe, 1945 Château Mouton Rothschild

If You’re Having A Bad Day, Just Know That At Least You Didn’t Shatter A 16,000$ Bottle Of Victory In Europe, 1945 Château Mouton Rothschild

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Orionpax75
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That's nothing a wine merchant in the late 80's broke a 1787 Château Margaux that was valued at.... hold your hats.... half a million and was owned by Thomas Jefferson! True story

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#14

The Slide Opened Inside The Aircraft

The Slide Opened Inside The Aircraft

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Another costly blunder happened when the so-called ‘Walkie-Talkie’ skyscraper was built in London. It took millions of pounds to fix a huge issue: the southern wall of the skyscraper was covered with reflective glass that was causing fires and melting cars. Yeah, you read the right—actually melting cars like a heat beam that some comic book villain would use.

We all know that failure’s a part of life and we can’t avoid it forever. So it’s important to learn how to handle it in the right way. Common sense tells us to let things go but that might not be what’s best for us.

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#19

New Boeing 737 Fuselages Wrecked In Train Derailment In Montana (July 2014)

New Boeing 737 Fuselages Wrecked In Train Derailment In Montana (July 2014)

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ThatGuv
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Aircraft fuselages first began crawling onto dry land about 400 million years ago, kicking off an evolutionary chain of events that led to winged creatures called Airliners. But their reasons for exiting the sea have been uncertain to this day...

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#20

Don’t Leave Your Malinois With Your Porsche

Don’t Leave Your Malinois With Your Porsche

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Little Wonder
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I had to google, so to save other people googling - a Malinois is a breed of dog.

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#23

Should’ve Thought That Through...

Should’ve Thought That Through...

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Pamela24
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

How? How? How do you not think this through? I come from a country with no sea access and know that this is completely stupid of an idea!

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#24

This Guy Sunk His Raptor And Jeep Trying To Save His $300,000 Boat That Was Sinking

This Guy Sunk His Raptor And Jeep Trying To Save His $300,000 Boat That Was Sinking

SloppyToppyDownSouth Report

#25

Two Carnival Cruise Ships Colliding

Two Carnival Cruise Ships Colliding

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#26

Aston Martin That Was Worth £1.5m.

Aston Martin That Was Worth £1.5m.

Jorarl Report

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Mihran Hovnanian
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

full article: https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/four-year-old-hurt-classic-9745468

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#28

It Will Hurt The Wallet

It Will Hurt The Wallet

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#29

Someone Forgot To Lower The Dump On The Truck

Someone Forgot To Lower The Dump On The Truck

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#30

See The Problem There Is That The Back Fell Off

See The Problem There Is That The Back Fell Off

OvercastHaze Report

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Lisa
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That looks somewhat intentional considering the weight in the bed of the truck and the placement of the lift.

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#32

Jim Bean Wearhouse Fire That Was Left To Burn Through 45 Thousand Barrels Of Whiskey To Avoid Runoff Into Nearby Water Sources

Jim Bean Wearhouse Fire That Was Left To Burn Through 45 Thousand Barrels Of Whiskey To Avoid Runoff Into Nearby Water Sources

liamurray12 Report

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MJ1
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I had to Google it: the fire was caused by lightning. The bourbon streamed into the River, fish died of it. I think they left the alcohol burn, therefor it would not run in the water furthermore.

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#34

Flipped The Apc And Crashed A Truck That’s Gotta Be Expensive

Flipped The Apc And Crashed A Truck That’s Gotta Be Expensive

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#37

Residential Homes Built In South Dakota Over Undisclosed Abandoned Gypsum Mine... Sinkhole Renders Entire Neighborhood’s Property Values Now Worthless.

Residential Homes Built In South Dakota Over Undisclosed Abandoned Gypsum Mine... Sinkhole Renders Entire Neighborhood’s Property Values Now Worthless.

Dan Austin/Paha Sapa Grotto Report

#38

Rag Left In Engine After Repairs Turned To Shreds

Rag Left In Engine After Repairs Turned To Shreds

Geovestigator Report

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#39

300,000$ Porsche Crashed During Test Drive

300,000$ Porsche Crashed During Test Drive

urmommyre Report

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Rabbit Carrot
Community Member
3 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This happens far too often on test drives with powerful cars. If you’ve only ever driven a Focus you won’t be able to a handle a super car. Know your limits and use less gas.

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#40

Trailer Full Of New 2020 Shelby Gt500s Tipped Over In Detroit Today.

Trailer Full Of New 2020 Shelby Gt500s Tipped Over In Detroit Today.

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#42

When You Want Your Insurance Adjuster To Pay More Attention To Your Claim

When You Want Your Insurance Adjuster To Pay More Attention To Your Claim

Ienjoyduckscompany Report

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Demi Zwaan
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Those are actually influencers that have nothing to do with the boat. They’re just using it as a prop.

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#43

Hope Insurance Covers This

Hope Insurance Covers This

andocromn Report

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Downunderdude
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You might want to fill up the petrol while you pump up that tyre...

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#44

What Happens When A Bandsaw Hits A Nail

What Happens When A Bandsaw Hits A Nail

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#45

Porsche Panamera Hybrid vs. Tesla Model S

Porsche Panamera Hybrid vs. Tesla Model S

PhilpotBlevins Report

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WilvanderHeijden
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The one that rear ends is always at fault in my country. No discussions possible. Standard court ruling: You should have kept enough distance to stop before hitting the other vehicle. No matter what circumstances or what the other driver did.

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Note: this post originally had 75 images. It’s been shortened to the top 45 images based on user votes.