245Kviews
30 Delusional And Completely Out-Of-Touch Things People Heard Others Say (New Answers)
Nobody can be correct 100% of the time. We’ve all been misinformed at one point or another, whether it was believing a commonly spread myth (no, that gum you swallowed by accident did not sit in your stomach for seven years) or misunderstanding a situation until more information became available. It’s completely natural for our ideas to grow and develop over time, but confidently spreading objectively wrong ideas is another thing.
Reddit user mouldygoldie reached out to Ask Reddit to hear about the most severe cases of "people being completely out of touch with reality”, and the answers did not disappoint. We’ve gone through and gathered some of the cringiest examples of delusional beliefs for your entertainment, but be warned: reading them may cause an uncontrollable urge to facepalm.
Keep reading to also find an exclusive interview between Bored Panda and Dr. Jim Taylor, a psychologist and author. And if you can handle even more ignorance after reading this list, check out our last publication on the same topic right here.
This post may include affiliate links.
My brother told me “I’m avoiding Asian people if I see them on the street or anything. You know, for safety because of the coronavirus.” He’s Asian. OUR ENTIRE FAMILY IS ASIAN.
As much fun as it is to read these ignorant beliefs, it can be concerning to realize how many people are going about their lives with a warped sense of reality. This made me start to wonder whether reality is relative or if people are just prone to their perceptions becoming indistinguishable from reality.
In a Psychology Today piece titled “Perception Is Not Reality”, Dr. Jim Taylor discussed how perceptions will never be equated to reality, no matter how real they “feel”. He starts by defining the two to clearly state the differences. Perception is “the way of regarding, understanding, or interpreting something; a mental impression”, while reality is “the world or the state of things as they actually exist… existence that is absolute, self-sufficient, or objective, and not subject to human decisions or conventions”.
Work with a girl who is a flat earther and on top of that denied the existence of space. When the topic came up and I disagreed she asked if I had ever been there... obviously I haven't. I told her I have also never been to Japan and that does not mean it doesn't exist.
She complained to management about my intolerance of her beliefs.
Ugh, these people are horrible. I knew a guy, was pretty bright and interesting... until he somehow got hooked up on flat earth. It's like his personality changed completely overnight - became bitter, suspicious, derisive, hostile to anyone who disagreed even slightly. Broke off all ties with me merely because I refused to accept his beliefs. It was as if he got replaced by a different person, an "evil clone" of sorts.
We reached out to Dr. Jim Taylor to ask why humans can be so confident in wrong ideas, and he told us, “Human beings are wired through evolution to seek safety, comfort, and certainty. To change one's beliefs, even in the face of clearly contradictory evidence, disrupts that those three attributes. Additionally, psychologically and emotionally, it is threatening to our self-identity (e.g., as a competent person) and our self-esteem (e.g., how we feel about ourselves) to have to admit that we are wrong about something, particularly beliefs that we hold dear (e.g., religion, politics)."
We also asked him if everyone experiences reality differently. He told us, “Actually, humans experience reality much the same because we are all very much alike in terms of our brain structures and functions. However, we perceive reality through the lenses of past experiences, attitudes, beliefs, needs, goals, and social feedback. That is where so-called reality can differ.”
I used to work at a software company in downtown Boston. One of the best perks of the job at the time was the flexibility in hours. Many folks had regular wfh days. Myself, I knew I could drop my kids off at school, get into the office by 9:30 and my boss had no issue with it whatsoever. Others with kids had similar arrive late or leave early schedules depending on their childcare.
After a few years a new CEO comes in, spends a month observing how the office works, then calls for a company wide meeting. During the meeting she tells everyone she believes having a full office 8-5 is the most productive environment, and at the start of the next month, all wfh was canceled, and she wanted everyone in the office during those set hours. No showing up late or leaving early.
A lively debate ensued, with discussions of there being very little warning, to pleas of flexibility, to concerns of making necessary childcare arrangements - especially given that in many cases (i.e. schools) we couldn't adjust those times. Plus, commuting into Boston sucks.
After listening to all of these arguments, she finally responds with a long speech of appreciating the sacrifices everyone has to make to better the company, everyone doing their part, blah blah blah. She ends it by saying, "I understand where you're all coming from! Years ago when my kids were little, my husband and I had to hire three nannies to cover all of the times we had to work!"
I remember we all looked around at each other, speechless. It was also the moment I realized I would have to start looking for another job. When the millionaire CEO thinks hiring 3 nannies is a relatable example to her middle class employees, it's pretty clear she's not going to change her mind.
Wow just wow. I need a follow up to this like did productivity decline and rampant write ups happen due to a tone deaf and out of touch CEO
My mother, and a several people in my family, believe that God marks people. If someone ultimately has a good soul they're white and I'm sure you can guess where it goes from there. If only non-White did s**tty things that would make sense but you don't even have to look at much of the world to see that is not the case. When I try to bring up that tons of white people do awful things her logic is "they're lost souls that will eventually find their way". Meanwhile she'll believe a non White will never find their way even if they act like they have. The level of delusion this takes is one of the most frightening things to me.
Which version of the Bible are these people reading from seriously? No where in the Book where it's okay to discriminate against anyone including lepers, thieves and prostitutes.
Next, we asked Dr. Taylor why it’s important to keep our perceptions as close to reality as possible, and he told us, “There is actually evidence that so-called positive illusion (i.e., perceptions of ourselves that are slightly more optimistic than our reality) can help us to strive toward and achieve bigger goals). At the same time, if the difference between perception and reality becomes too great, there is a shift from helpful illusion to delusion when a disconnect develops between perception and reality. This is what happens with serious mental illness, for example, and it prevents us from effectively dealing with our shared reality.”
Lastly, Dr. Taylor wanted to add that changing others’ perceptions can be a difficult task. “Aligning perception with contradictory, though accurate, reality can't be accomplished with the presentation of facts, data, and info because the perceptions we hold aren't rational or logical. Research has shown that beliefs can only be changed when threat is removed and people are able to experience the reality that differs from their perceptions and they come to see that their perceptions aren't accurate and are willing to change them (e.g., a person with racial prejudices meets those of other races that don't conform to their beliefs).”
"Do you not envy us?"
One of my guides in North Korea
I don't think they know what's exactly going on outside of their country, but then again - who does? Does media report on wars in Africa and Middle East, for example? No. Even if they do, can you confirm that you trust them? And accordingly, I don't think any of us who haven't been to North Korea could have clear judgment on what's life like there.
As much as we love the internet, it does allow misinformation to run rampant. Donald Trump famously whined about how “fake news” was hurting him during his campaign and presidency, but it is an issue worth addressing. 52% of Americans say that they regularly encounter fake news online, but what’s even more concerning is that 10% of Americans have knowingly shared fake news. The effects of misinformation spread offline as well. 83% of people believe fake news has negatively impacted politics in their country. Certain websites, such as Facebook, are beginning to crack down on misinformation by removing as many fake claims as possible, but readers must always be wary of what they find online.
An ex became really religious and I'd still talk to her sometimes. Somehow the topic of flat earth theories came up and she said she thinks it's actually possible that it could be true. I tried to explain that we have more than enough imagery and data indicating that the earth is round, and she said it could all be planted there by Satan.
You just can't come up with a response to that.
My cousin was spoiled and sheltered her entire childhood through college. Then her parents stupidly cut the leash without any preparation and released her into society.
She quickly got in trouble for bouncing checks all over town. My mom picked her up and asked why the hell she was writing bad checks everywhere. Turns out my cousin was under the impression that as long as you had checks in your checkbook, you had money in your account. She didn’t understand that you deposit in a number and then can spend or withdraw up to that amount.
Please teach your kids basic finance.
Note: this was like 1996 before it turns into a “who writes a check anymore” discussion.
I had a customer come into my office to rent a car. Said she had a reservation for a car, she didn’t. Told her our deposit structure and she SLAMS a $20 bill on the counter and exclaims that’s enough for a deposit. I politely tell her it doesn’t cover her minimum rate. She then proceeds to ask what rank in the military I am. Completely confused, I tell her I am the manager and that has nothing to do with our policy. Then she says she out-ranks me and I was disobeying a superior’s orders. I kicked her out and she threatened to deport me...a completely white Chicagoan male adult. I couldn’t even be mad at her lunacy.
Warped senses of reality can range from innocently believing misconceptions to being consumed by dangerous delusions of grandeur. One particularly dangerous subset of delusional individuals is cult leaders. In 2002, the American Psychological Association formed a “task force to investigate mind control among destructive cults” and to help protect people from falling victim to cults in the future. When it comes to the delusions of the leaders themselves, Stephen J. Morgan told APA that “cult leaders are usually psychopaths with a desire for power and often take ideas from politics, religion and psychology to fulfill their purpose”. “Through mind control, they are able to filter their thoughts and behaviors into ‘fanatical faith and belief’ among followers.”
This was from a Regional manager of Starbucks, after they removed merit based raises that could go up to a 5% increase, changed to a flat 2% increase.
When she asked if people liked the new raise plan,
I said actually no, they feel unmotivated with no reason to perform any better than just normal.
Regional manager “your staff need to realise working isn’t about money”
Great, so the manager would be working for nothing, and their wages could be distributed among the baristas!!! Everybody wins! 🙄
I met a lady who thought that High Fructose Corn Syrup was a conspiracy by the OIL INDUSTRY, to kill more people so that their bodies would be cycled through the earth in order to produce more oil.
Y'know. The oil Cycle. That process that takes billions of years??
Talk about a long con.
Aside from the killing people part, an oil cycle would actually be not that bad of an idea
I will never forget the man who angrily told me, a wheelchair user with no feet and no prosthetics, to go down the stairs if I didn’t want to wait for the elevator (I had been talking to my friend, and mentioned we were going to be a little late because of the huge line).
Care to demonstrate how to go down several flight of stairs on a wheelchair kind sir? No? Mind your f*cking business.
Once they’ve been sucked into a cult, members develop a skewed perception of reality as well. Mind control, or brainwashing, is a tactic “used by cults to recruit and maintain followers”. This can include behavior modification, “such as thought-stopping techniques and instilling an ‘us-versus-them’ mindset, former cult member Steve Hassan told APA. “With thought-stopping techniques, members are taught to stop doubts from entering their consciousness about the cult, often with a key phrase they repeat. Phobia indoctrination is also used, where cults play on a person's irrational fears, with threats such as the person will develop cancer or go insane if he ever leaves or questions the group.”
My 'friend' stole my card information and bought loads of expensive stuff. I asked her if it was her before reporting it, knowing that a) she was going through a tough time and I wanted to give her a chance to make it right and b) that I could be in trouble for conspiracy to fraud if I reported it and they believed I'd got stuff delivered to my friend to claim fraud for the money back. She said no, I thought someone else had done it so I reported it.
When she got arrested she said she didn't think 'they'd take the fraud thing so far'. She thought you could just call up banks to get the money back and they wouldn't investigate.
And the banks would just print more money so that no one loses out. What a brilliant mind!
Parents of a 35 years old woman, who was hospitalized after suffering severe anoxic brain damage 20 years ago. She had been in the same ward since, barely conscious.
They refused to get her transferred to a more suitable facility for 20 years, saying that there's no reason to do so: those facilities are for "lost causes", and their daughter is going to make a full recovery, finish school, get married and be totally fine.
Working in hospitals got me quite a collection of these stories, but this one I thought was one of the saddest ones.
My MIL told me that Pepsi has aborted fetuses in it and that drinking it will make you gay. As I was drinking a Pepsi.
Other highlights from her: she doesn’t trust doctors and says they’re all paid off by the government to hide some ominous truth from everyone else.
She believes covid-19 is a hoax and also believes it comes from 5g- how she believes both of them simultaneously is beyond me.
She thinks anxiety and depression are myths and that church is the only answer.
She thinks the only reason people don’t like Donald Trump is because he’s against abortion and if it weren’t for that 100% of the populace would adore him.
I could go on.
Sometimes people even try to capitalize on their delusions. In another harmful example of people spreading false claims, let me introduce you to Belle Gibson. Belle, a now 30-year-old Australian woman, was a popular wellness blogger with over 300,000 Instagram followers. Her claim to fame was that after being given only four months to live, Belle miraculously “cured” her terminal brain cancer through healthy eating. She even went on to publish a recipe book called The Whole Pantry, detailing her “journey of self-education to treat herself through nutrition”, and create an app under the same name. Belle claimed that a portion of the proceeds from the book and app were going to charity.
My old boss at the time was a girl of 26 who got 4 million dollars from her mom a year to play with. Her mom is very wealthy in china. Her daughter is here trying to be a CEO of a company for funzies.
I accidentally got a job at that "company".
One days she told us we were all going on a group outting for bonding. She took us to an outlet mall four hours away. Told the rest of us 7 people that she was going to go shop and she'd see us later. That was code for don't follow me, f*****s. Every 2 hours she'd let us know she was going to go unload her bags to the giant van they rented and would group text us telling us we can meet her there to unload as well. We all get paid under 50k. We have nothing to unload.
By lunch she had proceeded to fill up the van with s**t. She then asks me where all my new stuff is and I said Im budgeting right now. She goes "take out a credit card and go shop! That's the American way!" Seriously. Ok.
By 9 pm her bags were taking up people's seats and they had to sit with her stuff. She spent 30k. The rest of us spent about 70$. We were tired and bored and cold.
To this day I still believe she thinks she did something nice for us, and doesn't understand how polarizing and not at all team bonding that was.
Had a friend who insisted she was in a relationship with a C-list celebrity whom she met once during a comic convention.
All the celebrity’s Instagram and twitter posts were for her and everything had a meaning behind it.
When the celebrity got married, she said that it was just for the media so she and celebrity could live a quiet life.
When he didn’t do anything for her birthday, she had a breakdown. She went to therapy not long after.
My SIL legit believes she’s a strong, independent businesswoman who owns three major businesses. She does three MLM gigs.
Everything came crashing down in Belle’s world in 2015, when she was exposed for faking the entire story and lying about donating to charity. She never had cancer, but she had manipulated millions into believing her claims. She remained in denial, however, even after the house of cards had crumbled. In her 2015 interview with 60 minutes, Belle maintained that having cancer was “her reality” and refused to give a straight answer to any questions, including how old she was. In September of 2017, the Australian government found Belle guilty of five breaches of consumer law and fined her $322,000, but nothing can make up for the precious time and energy those battling wasted trying to miraculously cure themselves through Belle’s methods.
I knew a girl who cheated on her boyfriend. When he found out, he broke up with her. She said "you can't break up with me, it has to be mutual."
it was mutual. He broke up by saying "I'm breaking up with you". She broke up by cheating on him. There's her 'mutual' 🤷♀️
The pastor of a small town church *insisted* that members set up the parish hall and provide food and beverages for 125 people after every Sunday service, even though the average attendance was only around 20 people.
Week after week, month after month, much food would be disposed of and large urns of coffee dumped down the sink - and all because the pastor was in denial about the reality of weekly attendance.
I worked as a tour guide for some museums in my area as a teenager. One of them was an old military fortress from the 1500s.
It had a wonderful view from up top, so we let tourists go up and take photos. However, we (the tour guides) also had to go up every 5 to 10 minutes to make sure there were no problems (like people going into closed areas or damaging the building).
Well, one day I go up for my shift and the first thing I see as I round a corner is a woman standing on the edge of a platform, eyes closed, arms spread.
She had her heels an inch or two from the edge, so if she lost her balance for even a second she would be plumetting down a very high building, right into the middle of a very busy road.
When I asked her to go down, she pointed to her boyfriend, who was taking pictures, and said that it was alright. As the one who actually worked there, and would be in trouble if someone died on my shift, I told her no, it was not fine.
She just looked at me as if she did not understand she could die by pulling a stunt like that (because gravity doesn't exist in her world) and only got down when I threatened to call security (we didn't have security, but I was just tired of her).
It's actually a real problem in my country with tourists, since a lot of them believe locals are "hiding" all the good spots for photos behind silly little "beware" and "do not cross" signs. And not, you know, trying to stop people from dying horrible deaths.
Mental illness can definitely be a contributing factor to people believing false ideas. In fact, “delusional disorder” is a mental illness where people cannot distinguish between what is real and what is imagined. The Cleveland Clinic explains that, “People with delusional disorder experience non-bizarre delusions, which involve situations that could occur in real life, such as being followed, poisoned, deceived, conspired against, or loved from a distance. These delusions usually involve the misinterpretation of perceptions or experiences. In reality, however, the situations are either not true at all or highly exaggerated.”
I was a stable hand of a very upper tier barn in a wealthy part of the country. The staff have to sign non-disclosure agreements to protect clients.
On one particularly scorching July day, I overheard a client venting to another about how she was "incredibly stressed" and "going to have a mental breakdown" because her first choice catering company was all booked up for the weekend of her last minute yacht party.
I'm paycheck to paycheck and had probably a total of 3 days off since christmas. I would love for a yacht party to be my basis for a mental breakdown. Needless to say, the staff had a healthy chuckle on that one.
Can you imagine the horror of having to go to the second choice caterer for your yacht party?
My parents' neighbour thought that her garden was too small for her sons to play in. So when she met my parents for the first time, the first thing she actually said was "Can you give me some of your garden so my sons have more space to play in?". Thankfully my parents just said no.
For context, they live in a very expensive neighbourhood where houses cost on average from £750,000 to £1 million. The gardens in that neighbourhood are a lot bigger on average than the majority of gardens in the UK. I've never heard a story of somebody being as painfully out of touch as that woman.
EDIT: There's a lot of comments from Americans clarifying what our gardens actually are. A British garden is what you guys call a backyard!
In college I had a roommate from the most sheltered part of Long Island. We met an exchange student from Switzerland and I swear to god she said this in complete seriousness: "Oh wow I didn't know people actually lived in Switzerland, I thought there were just banks there!"
Of course, I, a Swiss, wake up in a bank everyday, go to the next ATM and eat bills for breakfast before I take a stroll to the next gold bunker to polish shiny metal for the rest of my day, just as the Erebor dwarf I actually am.
While the Cleveland Clinic notes that delusions can be a symptom of more common disorders, such as schizophrenia, “delusional disorder itself is rather rare”. There are several different types of delusional disorder which all manifest in different ways. These types include erotomanic, grandiose, jealous, persecutory, somatic, and mixed. The disorder can also be caused by genetic, biological or environmental/psychological factors. The Cleveland Clinic adds that “people who tend to be isolated, such as immigrants or those with poor sight and hearing, appear to be more vulnerable to developing delusional disorder”.
I knew someone who unironically tried to convine that not only is Pokemon demonic, but they exist in real life and there are reported cases of then attacking and harming people
A friend posted on his story that he’s tired of seeing everyone posting bad haircuts on social media. Saying that since he has “financial stability”(Forex pyramid scheme.) that if they don’t have $30 for a haircut, they need to “re-evaluate their lives.” He had no clue these people were posting at home haircuts during a global pandemic...
Logan Paul thinking that putting up a video of a suicide victim was a good idea to his mostly child-to-preteen audience.
Yeah I know he apologized but the guy literally spent time editing the footage before uploading it, thinking it would be good idea. Wtf?
Whether it’s a lie we tell ourselves for protection or a false belief we’ve picked up from the internet, believing delusions can become a dangerous game. Being out of touch with reality can be anything from living an extravagant life unaware of those less fortunate to someone believing they’re the savior of our world. Enjoy reading the rest of these stories, and don’t forget to upvote the ones you find most fascinating. Then let us know in the comments if you have any personal stories dealing with delusional individuals and how you managed to keep yourself grounded.
I went to a private international school in London as a teenager, most kids there had parents working good jobs but in-between them were some filthy rich kids with parents in the oil industry or something similar.
In 8th grade we were talking about our easter break and my friend from Belgium was talking about how his family had decided last minute to go there over the break, but had decided to drive there because there were no flights available.
Then this Russian billionaire classmate of mine asked him "why don´t you take a private jet?". She was so clueless when we started laughing.
I'm fairly convinced that my current shift supervisor thinks anyone who works an overtime shift is doing it out of loyalty to the company, and not because of the 1.5x pay rate.
My boss's wife 28, she grew up in a wealthy family and married to a man who was 3rd generation owning the company he was in, they were a regional power, etc.
She was talking to a staff that in general - made 36K a year, mumbling about a staffer who was on his Honeymoon.
"Tennessee?! HA! Tennessee?!" She looked around the room for everyone to join in. "My GOD! How did she agree to that? We did Hawaii and that was *least* I told him was acceptable."
Working in a pharmacy
>Hello. Can I get the yellow ones please?
* Sorry, could I get your name first?
>It doesn't matter, I just need the yellow round ones.
* Did you have a prescription.
>No. I always get them here - little yellow round ones.
It went on like this for literally 20 something minutes.
Here's what I found out in that time:
By little yellow round ones, he meant red/orange circular Xarelto tablets. He had been on a lower dose a couple of years ago, he had not filled the yellow ones in over 18 months.
There was one dispense tech who knew his name and knew his doctor, by sheer coincidence, she'd greeted him every time he came in for the last 2-3 years.
He physically had no idea how a pharmacy works. He'd only even been to this one, only ever picked up one medication and only through one tech who knew the doctor sent his scripts through everu few months.
It was surreal, explaining reality to somebody who by pure fortune had never experienced it.
A former friend who is absolutely convinced that all Muslims are in on a terrorist conspiracy to overthrow “British culture”.
Any time such a discussion comes up, I like to ask him to define “British culture” which he never can. I also like to ask him how many Muslims he has met or knows personally, to which he explains he’d never speak to a “paki”.
Whenever I point out he’s a racist piece of s***, he always comes up with the “Muslims aren’t a race” nonsense.
Well, technically Muslims are not a race. It's a belief. As there are Arab and Chinese Christians.
My step brother:
Got into a weird gnostic religious group and thought he could convert people by talking to them (harassing them) Socrates style, except without any ability to carry out a philosophical conversation. Also assuming workplace is a fine occasion to do this. When he'd get fired from his temp jobs he'd assume it's a conspiracy and fight against enlightenment. (This is more funny then deluded as a side note, but one of the group activities is to have to rewrite their religious book by hand, which he diligently did and it wasn't a small book either. Turned out he used the wrong color ink which for some reason invalidated the whole thing)
Got a job in a restaurant as a waiter. Assumed for whatever unimaginable reason that the proper way to act for waiters is to bow after taking the order. When his supervisor asked him to stop he lectured the supervisor on proper waitstaff manners
Wanted to propose to a 50+ year old woman who has until then shown no signs of being interested in him. Luckily he believed in the tradition to first ask fathers permission so he asked his dad who talked him out of it
Had an idea to join the military to convert them from the inside
At one point believed the sun rays can sustain you but luckily never really bothered to practice it
Is totally against capitalism and wants to live a free life as a wandering philosopher rather than live as a working drone like everyone else, however does believe the working drones in his family should support his noble pursuit while also chastising them for selling out
and more
There is a girl at my work that always b**ches about not making enough bc she makes 200-300 a paycheck. Then is always the first to leave early and always shows up late and has other ppl take her shifts. She asked me how I make 600-800 a paycheck. I said bc I work more. I’m currently at work taking over HER shift. She doesn’t realize if you don’t work more you’ll be paid less
A Republican informed me that Trump had brought "class" back to the White House.
My mother and father were given $20,000 by my grandparents in 1965. My parents were able to buy a house with the money.
Fast forward 50 years, my mother gave me and my sisters $10,000 each. She was unable to understand that we could not buy houses for half the price 50 years later and accused us of not being good with money because she was able to do it. At the time she was sitting on a s**t ton of money in the bank and was 100% aware that to buy a house in her neighborhood would cost around $1,000,000 so, 100 times the amount of money she gave us and 50 times as much money as her parents gave her 50 years earlier.
God, if only I could be so good with money as she wss.
Not saying the $10k wasn't nice. Just saying she expected us to become her neighbors with no understanding of inflation, while thinking half the amount she was given 50 years earlier should be enough while knowing full well the value of her house.
“My son got the flu shot and turned gay from it! I demand a compensation!” Or, “I have the coupon! It doesn’t matter if it’s expired, I HAVE THE COUPON SO GIVE ME THE FLIPPIN DISCOUNT!”
Edit: Thanks for the replies and likes, guys
My coworker doing Amway and Worldwide Dream Builders thinks hes gonna own a castle in europe in a few years. He also thinks he'll be retired in december (we're only in our 20s). Currently hes losing about $1300 per month while "making" about $200.
He's been doing this for 5 years but I met him 3 years ago. Back then, he said he was gonna be retired in a few months. A few months went by and he was still working. Then he said by the end of the year. End of year came, still not retired. Oh it turns out he meant end of next year he'd be retired. End of that year came and still not retired. Now he's sure he'll be able to retire by this december.
If after FIVE years you're still losing $1100 a month and you still dont see the problem, you deserve to lose your money to this scam. Mlms completely brainwash people to the point where you cant save them anymore.
Yes, but it's because they've been told over and over again by their organization that they ARE qualified and they ARE experts, and they're doing their friends a favor by sharing this secret knowledge with them. They're being groomed for Dunning-Kruger. None of the people I know who've been sucked in started out that way.
Load More Replies...Oh yeah. While in my workshop I turned on the radio (AM) to catch the weather and heard a commercial for a beautiful opportunity to make all kinds of money. And the owner of the company stated he found the best and easiest way to make all the money you would want and have a "residual income" as well. The website he advertised was a shell company for Agway. So, Amway is still at it trying to sucker people in. I imagine they're successful at doing so, otherwise this add wouldn't be on the air many times a day, day after day, week after week, month after month.
Load More Replies...Well, if he doubles up on his efforts he'll lose $2600/month... but on the bright side, he'll be making $400/month. Wow! You think after 5 years of losing money something would click inside his head. Or was that clicking noise his the gears in his brain slipping?
People who think that because something that happened is not their fault, they don't have to take responsibility for the outcome. I'm a vet tech and I can't even tell you how many times someone has brought their dog in because it got attacked by a stray dog on a walk and told me "but it's not my fault my dog got attacked!" when they didn't have the money to pay for the laceration repair on their dog.
what are you gonna do? chase the dog down and make him hand over his wallet? it's not our fault either! vet care is part of owning a dog!
Accidents happen. If you step on a snake in the woods that you didn't see, you didn't mean to step on him. But you probably still got bitten and have to deal with it.
I have an aunt who's never really worked a day in her life because her husband created his own business early on in life. They live in a McMansion and I was over once and we got to talking about fitness, and she told me "Oh yeah we send Pamela to this special training gym, its only 200$ a week, you should try it!"
The fact that to her it was "*only* 200$" really kills me. I made 9.95 an hour at the time. She's nice enough but not in touch with reality at all.
Had to tell my friend that he should not quit his family business to work at a café. Beacuse no, it's not "laid back work", and no you don't make "$4000 per month".
We all know at least one of the million online "influencers" who are really just young women in swimsuits who start every video with "Hey guys..." and have never made a single dollar from her "sponsors." Sorry, but truth is truth.
Yeah, how dare young women use the tools that is shoved towards them. Damned if they do, damned if they don't.
My sister in law. Kicked out by her boyfriend, comes to stay with us for a few days. We suggest looking for a flat/ cheap house to rent near us. She won’t live in the scummy part of town near us, she’d like a three bed house with garden in the best part of town. She has no savings and isn’t sure if she has a job (was a part time cashier in a super market, stopped going to work when covid came (note, not furloughed, super market still open, she’s just not going in).
When I suggested maybe she couldn’t afford £500k on a family home on her salary, she suggested she’d “just get a council house”. Disregarding the huge waiting list and the fact that most council properties are I the ghetto parts of town!
This is just the crust of a deep layer of unhinged fantasy world that she lives in.
One bully of a boss asking the three people who suffered most from his behaviour if they would want to move to a new employer with him as a team. Hmm.... how about "no way in hell"?
Had a dorm mate he was kicked out of the dorm .
He would c**p all over the common bathroom and leave it . Didn't understand why everyone else was upset .
This happened several times until he was removed. Unbelievable!
I was at a bar and some guy was giving an impromptu lecture of why millennials are so broke and blamed it all on us being lazy students who don’t want to work and go to school. When asked what he did he was a property owner and owned a few apartment buildings. Then someone chimes up with he fact he doesn’t own any properties he manages them for his uncle who pays him to do nothing all day.
My cousin's wife got very sick while we were at a wedding in Mexico BecAuse she drank NO WATER. Only alcohol. She said, "There were ice chips in my drinks, so I thought it was enough."
Anyways, she complained because at the hospital some of the staff didn't speak English.
YOU'RE IN A SPANISH-SPEAKING COUNTRY!!!!!
You cant drink the water in mexico if your not from there. I have several friends and cousins who have family there and they have told me only brush your teeth with bottle water and no ice that was her mistake and also dont open your mouth in the shower. They call it Montezuma's revenge. Even if they were born there and have lived in the US for a while they can't drink it anymore either my cousin's wife made that mistake she is from Chihuahua
Just yesterday I made a service call to the home of a long time customer, I had always enjoyed conversations with her. This time was different however, she started off by asking me if I was “buying in” to all the “fake” COVID-19 sham. She went on to tell me that all this shut down nonsense was just a sneaky way for the Democrats to make Trump look bad so Biden can steal this falls election. Then she started ranting away about Bill Gates and how he was assisting the government to implant microchips in everyone so the government can spy on us. Her next rant was “they” (who ever they were) was installing 5G towers on every phone pole in our neighborhoods to infect us with this “alleged” COVID-19 that she still claimed as being fake? Now, I don’t watch much television. . . is she getting brain washed by all this propaganda b******t FOX news pukes out daily? What the hell happened to rational thoughts and the ability to reason?
I literally have covid right now so this pisses me off. I'm on the mend and feeling better each day. I understand maybe thinking it's not as bad as they say, or believing in some conspiracy theories about it (while I don't *understand* since so many people have died, at least I can understand they might be getting brainwashed into believing this) but to completely deny the existence of the issue simply because you haven't gotten it is so ridiculous. It's like saying cancer doesn't really exist because you haven't gotten it. It reminds me of the Russian people who are denying what's going on in Ukraine because they are watching the state-run news..
I’m often the only person wearing a mask in my office.
The number of people who have sat down beside me or leaned into my space to “Explain why they don’t need a mask” is too damn high.
Oh you’d stay home for The DAY if you felt sick? Oh you think you already had covid last week? Oh masks make you touch your face more? Yeah, go ahead and tell me how you’ve washed your hands twice today by 4 pm.
I didn't like people in my bubble before the pandemic... This makes my skin crawl.
This girl at school literally expects everything to be perfect and all about her. I was having more anxiety attacks and more on edge due to an event in my life at the time and she saw me crying in the corner of the field all by myself and she was shouting at me for not being with her at her time of need which was when she got a detention for chewing gum. I wanted to tell her that the event in my life was a bigger problem but i knew she wouldnt care. Seriously we're both 14 and she throws tantrums by screaming on the floor like a 4 year old kid when she gets the "wrong" grade or she gets in trouble. Try having a tantrum when you are at work or something important i dont think itll work out for her.
I dated this girl who believed her roommates were spying on her. That every time they had friends over and were hanging out in the common space and laughing, it was because they were spying on her in her room. She also believed the government was spying on her and her parents directly. Us dating lasted about a week and ended not just because the red flags, but because she tried to drop by unannounced after only being on a couple dates.
I knew a girl who got pregnant while she was a drug addict. She managed to clean her self up and so did the father for a while. Shortly after the baby was born he was using meth and hitting her. She messaged me and asked to "borrow" $1500 to get a plane ticket back to where her parents lived. I couldn't afford $1500 but I did lend her the money to get a bus back. Then she started doing MLM and only fans. Like 4 months later she stole money from her mom to go back to the boyfriend and sent me a message calling me a POS for trying to get between her and the father of her child and that I was the issue in their relationship. Got a message a few days ago asking for more money but not as a loan as an investment (she wanted me to buy 40 tubes of tooth paste)
My sister. Grew up with everything handed to her, and literally cried when her 1st car wasn't the color she wanted. Married rich. Can't fathom why I can't take off work whenever it suits me, and says stuff like "I wouldn't ask my boss for a week off, I would tell him I am taking the week off".
Qanon cultists. It’s not that they just follow one crazy conspiracy rabbit hole after another, it’s that they are true believers, radical in that belief and them get extremely insulting if you don’t believe them or accept all of their crazy thoughts as gospel.
They start calling you the crazy one for not accepting their crazy beliefs.
My uncles. When my grandpa (my dad's dad) was I'll and it was obvious that he wouldn't live long (he had cancer and multiple other health issues. Probably developed a mild form of dementia too). At that time I was 17.
It was not grandpa himself who was out of touch with reality but my two uncles.
When grandpa had only a few more weeks to live the doctors sent him home so he didn't have to die in a hospital. They gave my grandma some painkillers for him so it would be easier. One day when my grandma was about to give him his meds one of my uncles apparently read that the painkillers can be addictive so he and my other uncles took them away from my grandma and hid them! Their reasoning was that she wanted that he gets addicted to the meds. They argued and it got so bad that grandpa called the doctors to take him back to the hospital! His doctor came and (not literally) kicked my uncles asses.
Usually my grandma is the out of touch one but when my grandpa was I'll she actually was the most reasonable person if them all...
At that time we all were mad at my uncles of course (and still kinda are tbh...) but I think it's also kinda sad. They just didn't really want to accept that their father was about to die...
They are actually kinda reasonable, sometimes they talk dumb s**t but I think that's just regular dumb s**t, but in that situation I think they went a bit insane (which is kinda understandable but at the same time: wtf?)
My uncle was an orthopedic surgeon. He refused to allow anybody to give his sister the morphine that had been prescribed by her doctor as she was dying of cancer. She was in terrible agony, but Uncle John would go ballistic on anybody who tried to administer the morphine "because she would get hooked."
Boris Johnson (UK Prime minister) not knowing the price of basic groceries such as milk and bread....
Middle class here - I don't know the price of milk, eggs or butter because I NEED those ... they're the absolute last to come off the list and they last a bit longer than other things. I know the price of coffee, veggies, a package of meat (chicken, meat, poultry, etc), even oatmeal. Just a thought or two.
I knew a dude who believed that he had the soul of a literal dragon who was trapped in human form.
He also believed in Ickeian lizard people, but they're different things apparently.
It's a little bit sad because this probably is actually a psychiatric case, but it's interesting to see how propaganda, politics, and a propensity for mental illness can interact.
I know a woman who was a conspiracy theorist before it was popular. The news media she was consuming combined with her predisposition to mental illness (I suspect undiagnosed BPD or schizophrenia) to make her completely paranoid that her neighbors and family members couldn't be trusted, much less doctors and scientists.
I knew that she had once reported one of her neighbors to the FBI, having become convinced that he was a terrorist. But when that was all I knew about her, I assumed that maybe she had a valid reason for that concern.
I didn't realize how out of touch she was was until she started sending me e-mails alleging that the Affordable Care Act was part of some massive conspiracy by the government to take over healthcare and kill off old people and disabled children (because the government isn't already almost solely responsible for caring for those groups via Medicaid and Medicare...?) .
What was really scary was that when I sent her links to reliable sources like the American Medical Association and the Library of Congress contradicting her views, she would pretend that the links were broken or fake. I wonder sometimes if she really believed that, like if she blotted out the memory of what they said because they were too challenging to her worldview, or something.
What's really bizarre is that her husband was exactly the same way. He got involved in our conversations a couple of times, and he seemed totally supportive of his wife's views that the neighbors were terrorists and the government was out to kill them through...universal healthcare?
Maybe he was just supporting his wife the only way he could think of? Or it just meant an easier life, pretending to be outraged over the same things?
My Father. He is an habitual liar. I somehow think he believes his own lies. Over the past couple of years I've noticed he doesnt actually have anything new to say. Sort of regurgitates sentences in slightly different ways. Its caused his business to fail. He lied to everyone that was employed there saying he had to liquidate the company. Going so far as to tell people he met with lawyers and the process has been started. I did some digging and found out there were no lawyers or liquidation. He just tried to duck the system. I have no contact with him but my brother says he is still trying to use the same tactics. I just feel he believes everything. Sort of like living in his own head. Very sad that he damaged lives in the process.
I worked on shifts with a guy for years who thought every single person was out to get him. I’ve never met anyone who had such a warped sense of reality.
He would joke on with someone then go away for the weekend and stew on one particular thing, then come in on Monday absolutely raging over taking something the complete wrong way.
I’ve seen him attack 2 people and heard about a third. Thing is he’s so dopey, everyone thinks he’s harmless and “that’s just the way he is”.
A guy I trained as an apprentice has just started on shifts with him, doesn’t take anyone being a d**k well at all. I think they’ll do well together haha.
I had a fat, ugly, unemployed friend who believed he deserved a perfect 10 girlfriend. He only asked out women that were WAYYYYYY out of his league. It was so cringey. He truly had no self awareness. In the club he would walk up to supermodel types and ask them out and would come back angry when he was (always) shot down. He eventually moved to Brazil because he was convinced American women were too smug to appreciate his excellence.
And the crazy thing was that he wasn’t just playing any “confidence is sexy” game or anything. He 100% believed in this. He saw himself as a god.
My friend in college thought babies came from anus and vaginas are just for sex
My previous housemate -- I would honestly love to live in her head for a day to understand how she sees the world. I also wish I were a therapist so I could "diagnose" her -- god I've so many oddball stories about her.
The biggest "out of touch with reality" example I can give is that she thought it was "alternative" for me to be a fan of Marvel movies (I suspect because I'm a woman). Not *"I don't like the MCU and I don't know how you can watch it"* no no, she really thought it was a niche interest that not many other people shared.
She actually once said *"It's so nice that you and (boyfriend) both care about Marvel movies, I think it would be hard for you to find someone else who likes them so much"*
OH!!! More is coming to me as I type this! The BEST, was I came home one day and she'd been to see Spiderman: Homecoming, and she was SHOCKED to discover it was linked to the MCU, I told her I was surprised she'd gone to see a superhero movie as that's not her bag and she was like *"No, it's different, it's Spiderman"* -- What does that mean?? And no, she didn't like Homecoming because she didn't "get" the Iron Man involvement.
I guess my question to both of you would be this: Do either of you know that NONE OF THIS IS REAL?
My step-fathers grandpa suffered from psychosis in a strange way. He wasn’t able to distinguish mirror reflections from real life. He would often be found talking to the mirrors (his reflection) for hours. Later on, he wasn’t allowed to have any mirrors because he would believe that “that man” was there to kill him and often would turn violent. Turn violent as in he would start punching and clawing against the mirrors.
I worked with a dementia sufferer, who had the same problem. The care home had to paint his bathroom mirror black, because he tried to attack the "strange man in the room, who wouldn't stop staring at him".
Watching celebrities try to do everyday tasks and not know how, like get gas (Oprah Winfrey) and use a cell phone (Joe Biden).
Older folks are usually pretty uncomfortable with devices like mobile phones. My grandma was a doctor and could perform surgery with her eyes closed... but ATM's and mobile phones horrified her, she was never good with them (and I did my best to teach her how to use them, and always encouraged her to).
I once worked with a lovely girl, sweet as anything but wasn't exactly the brightest star in the sky. One time myself and a few colleagues (including her) were talking about renewable energy and got on to the subject of wind turbines. She was genuinely shocked to learn that wind turbines didn't actually generate the wind. She just assumed during the summer or non windy days they were turned off.
I have a serbian friend who insists that serbia invented (a) the alphabet (b) ceramics (c) civilisation.
40-something year old teacher told us to craft a project on a board. It had to include the Romanian flag. After we were finished, she complained the flag was supposed to be red, yellow, and then blue, and that we had to turn ours upside down. Her proof? One of those cloth flag ribbons on a trophy/medal on a cupboard in class.
Doing interviews for a seasonal entry level supervisory position. 6-7 months on and laid off with recall rights for the remainder. Paid very well and a lot of people wanted the position. Interviews were lined up and many were remote as people had off season jobs, university etc. Called up one fellow and got "Don't you bastards know I'm on my time off!" Was *very* suprised when he did not get the job. Honestly thought it would just be handed to him as he was the "best and obvious choice".
I had a girlfriend from California that didn't know what caves were. She knew about mines, but holes in the ground that are just THERE? How could that ever happen. I showed her pictures of crystal cave. Nuhuh. That's not real. Someone dug that. I showed her Mammoth Cave. An elephant dug that. Ok, what about the cave paintings in France. Showed her pictures. Someone gave a kid some crayons. In a cave? His mum dug that. Really? She was serious. I was astounded.
For Cubans to blame the USA about their poverty. We had a 45-minute speech about how Americans are at fault for the Cubans to have free houses, free health care, etc. but are poor. How it takes them a full year's salary before they can buy a TV and all that jazz. They say they are super friendly and great hosts to any other people in the world. And yet, here we are, arriving in Cuba at 10pm and it's the only time they get a flight in and they know people have been in the airplane for hours but nothing is open, not even a bar or a small diner for people to eat before going to bed. Everyone starved until the next day.
I once worked with a lovely girl, sweet as anything but wasn't exactly the brightest star in the sky. One time myself and a few colleagues (including her) were talking about renewable energy and got on to the subject of wind turbines. She was genuinely shocked to learn that wind turbines didn't actually generate the wind. She just assumed during the summer or non windy days they were turned off.
I have a serbian friend who insists that serbia invented (a) the alphabet (b) ceramics (c) civilisation.
40-something year old teacher told us to craft a project on a board. It had to include the Romanian flag. After we were finished, she complained the flag was supposed to be red, yellow, and then blue, and that we had to turn ours upside down. Her proof? One of those cloth flag ribbons on a trophy/medal on a cupboard in class.
Doing interviews for a seasonal entry level supervisory position. 6-7 months on and laid off with recall rights for the remainder. Paid very well and a lot of people wanted the position. Interviews were lined up and many were remote as people had off season jobs, university etc. Called up one fellow and got "Don't you bastards know I'm on my time off!" Was *very* suprised when he did not get the job. Honestly thought it would just be handed to him as he was the "best and obvious choice".
I had a girlfriend from California that didn't know what caves were. She knew about mines, but holes in the ground that are just THERE? How could that ever happen. I showed her pictures of crystal cave. Nuhuh. That's not real. Someone dug that. I showed her Mammoth Cave. An elephant dug that. Ok, what about the cave paintings in France. Showed her pictures. Someone gave a kid some crayons. In a cave? His mum dug that. Really? She was serious. I was astounded.
For Cubans to blame the USA about their poverty. We had a 45-minute speech about how Americans are at fault for the Cubans to have free houses, free health care, etc. but are poor. How it takes them a full year's salary before they can buy a TV and all that jazz. They say they are super friendly and great hosts to any other people in the world. And yet, here we are, arriving in Cuba at 10pm and it's the only time they get a flight in and they know people have been in the airplane for hours but nothing is open, not even a bar or a small diner for people to eat before going to bed. Everyone starved until the next day.