No one’s immune to an occasional brain freeze; and not the one you get after eating ice cream too fast. We’re talking about the moments you zone out for a second and do something completely without thinking.
Sometimes such moments have no unusual consequences. But they can also result in something as bizarre as leaving your comb in the fridge or throwing the spoon into the trash can while the empty yogurt cup is sent flying towards the sink (likely a been there, done that kind of deal to most of us here).
People on Reddit showed that brain freezes go way further than throwing utensils away. They shared their stories after user ItsaHelen asked the ‘Ask Reddit’ community what’s something weird, funny, or embarrassing that they’ve done on autopilot. Redditors provided lots of examples ranging from regrettable to hilarious, which you will find on the list below.
In order to better understand what happens in our brain during such autopilot moments, Bored Panda has reached out to a professor at the department of psychiatry at McGill University, Maria Natasha Rajah.
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I always take my shirt off after my shoes when I get undressed.
So there I was at around 4:30 in the morning headed through security to fly across country for a festival. I'm nowhere close to awake and I'm totally running on autopilot. I'm throwing my stuff on the conveyor, I take my shoes off, and I started to take my shirt off and the (FFS why was she attractive) TSA lady was like "Slow down sir we just met".
I didn't know they came with a sense of humor.
The pipe underneath my sink was broken so I put a bucket below it to catch the water leaking out. When it was full I poured it back in the sink...and proceeded to flood my kitchen.
Stopped at a stop sign and waited at least a minute and a half for it to turn green.
Prof. Maria Natasha Rajah explained that the moment our brain seems to shut down for a sec is actually a lapse in attention and/or absentmindedness at play.
“When we engage in planned motor behaviors we usually need to sustain our attention and also utilize cognitive control and executive functions that help us to prepare and behave in a strategic, organized manner,” she told Bored Panda.
“These functions are associated with the intact functioning of the frontal-thalamic-parietal system. However, when we are tired or distracted our attention can lapse and there is a resulting disorganization in the execution of a planned behavior.”
I used to work for Comcast in their call center. I worked 3PM-12AM so the only thing that was open when I would get off work was McDonalds.
During the holidays they have unlimited overtime. Me being 19 and having no obligations at the time decided to just work non-stop until I fell down at my desk. I worked 3 days straight of OT taking my mandatory breaks every couple of hours and napping in the lunch room here and there.
Finally I decided I'd had enough and started on my way home at around 2AM one morning. I stopped at the McDonalds drivethrough because I wanted something hot to eat. Up until this point I'd subsisted on mints and packs of crackers from a vending machine.
The conversation went something like this:
Drivethru lady: Go ahead and order when you're ready
Me: Thanks for calling comcast, home of the triple play, My name is lbaile200 how can I assist you today!?
*A very long pause*
I ended up sleeping in the parking lot of that McDonalds for about 12 hours in my car. The manager eventually knocked on my window and asked me if I was homeless and if I needed to come in and warm up.
I was looking all over for my keys and finally thought that I might have left them in the car. I went outside and my car was locked. So I pulled my keys out of my pocket, unlocked the door, opened the door and realized how much of an idiot I am.
For those interested in what is responsible for our actions done on autopilot, the professor revealed that it’s mostly habitual behavior evoked by certain stimuli. “When your sustained attentional and cognitive control systems are compromised, you will behave in very bottom-up, perceptually driven and habitual ways; for example, you see the trash so whatever is in your hand (e.g. spoon) gets thrown in,” she explained.
She expanded on what parts of the brain are responsible for the brain freeze-like moments: “'Autopilot' is when you are engaged in highly learned habitual behaviors that are inflexible and stimulus-response mediated. This type of behavior has been linked to decreased involvement of prefrontal and parietal regions and are more related to engagement of the basal ganglia, brainstem and dopamine rich substantia nigra and ventral tegmental area.”
According to Prof. Rajah, the way to avoid such autopilot moments is “maintaining attention and being in the present moment and monitoring ongoing behaviors.”
I kissed my wife's best friend. It was totally innocent and something we laughed about.
I had to take a bus to work everyday at about 4 am. My wife usually drove me to the stop so that I didn't have to leave my car there for 14 hours.
My wife's friend was staying with us while she looked for a job and house in the area. She was getting up early anyways so she decided she would take me and let my wife sleep. When we got to the stop, I just instinctively leaned over and kissed her goodbye. She had a dumbfounded look on her face, and mine instantly turned red as I realized what I'd done. I just said "sorry, it was a habit."
My wife poked fun at me for days for putting the moves on her friend.
As a teenager, I worked at McDonald's. My McDonald's was 24 hours and, during the summer, I worked the overnight shift. My sleep schedule would get all messed up.
My parents woke me up for dinner one evening. I zombie walked to the table and sat down. My dad asked me to say grace. I bow my head and say, "thank you for choosing McDonald's, may I take your order?"
I was talking to my boyfriend while he was eating a sandwich.
In mid sentence, he ripped a piece off and threw it at my face. He looked stunned when I didn't open my mouth and catch it (we have a dog)
We both nearly pee'd laughing
I was feeling an encroaching sickness coming upon me one time, so I decided to be proactive and make myself a couple of days' worth of the most baller chicken soup I could manage in advance, so I'd be able to eat well even when I was dying of the lurgy. I chopped the carrots, I sorted the onions, I stewed the chicken bones, and I cooked that m**********r down for eight hours into the most delicious stock you could imagine.
Then I poured it all through a colander into the sink.
"have a good day sir."
"Love you too."
Awkward shuffle out of Panera.
I lived in the same house for 16 years. Moved out. Years later I did some summer work as a construction worker....on MY old house! First day I walked in, mindlessly did what I ALWAYS did when I came in , waltzed Into the kitchen during the family’s breakfast, opened the fridge and peered inside for a long while looking for something to eat.
I came to myself (dude I don’t live here anymore), looked up, and the family was all staring at me from the breakfast table, forks in mid air. At this unknown construction worker making himself right at home. I was so embarrassed I backed out, stammering the whole time and trying to have them understand “I’m so sorry I used to live here”. Wasn’t allowed inside work at that job site for a while
I had recently been attending a lot of martial arts classes at night. One morning at work I accidentally bowed at my boss when I entered his office. This was in the US, neither of us are of Asian descent, and yes he noticed.
It was awkward.
I’m an ex-bus driver and many times on my way home from work, I would go to pull into a bus stop, in my car...
Go to the cinema to watch Quantum of Solace. Walk in five minutes late. Furious car chase on screen.
Instinctively try to find my seatbelt.
I was working the backline at an Arby's WAY back in the day. We used to get our sub buns footlong, but all the subs we sold were 6 inch. I literally reached into the bag, grabbed a sub roll, cut it in half, and then put the knife back in the bag and tried to cut another sandwich with the sub bun. My manager saw it and DIED.
"Here you go, if you need anything else, just let me know!", as I graciously put down the plate with food I cooked for the only person in the room. Me.
Washed an apple at the sink. Dried it with a paper towel. Turned and tossed the apple in the trash and stood there holding the towel like an idiot.
I've been working with children for 7 years now. When I'm drunk/tired/otherwise distracted, I go into teacher mode. If I'm travelling with people, I'll count them on and off public transport, I offer everyone water and snacks if I have them, and even tell complete strangers to "use your walking feet/inside voice" if they're running or shouting.
I didn't even know I was doing it til my boyfriend pointed it out to me.
I've worked as a caregiver for adults with mental and physical disabilities for more than a decade now. I'm a caregiver. I do basic cares, which include helping many adult men do their daily activities, things like: shaving, buttoning shirts, making sure belts are on correctly, so on and so forth.
Once on a date, I was a bit buzzed. I fixed my date's shirt, and told him he needed to look in the mirror and see if he wanted a shave.
Reposting my own comment from a few years ago in a similar thread, because I still think this is my best response to this question.
Came into work to work front of house after several extended nights of profound insomnia. I was holding up ok until a gal walks up with a dog in her arms. I always chat people up about their dogs because A. Dogs are awesome and B. people love to talk about their dogs, and often tip a little more when they feel like they've actually connected with you.
Today though... I didn't have two neurons to rub together to break from the script of "hey what can I get you... here's your total... do you want a receipt?" and so I lean over the counter like a drunk, lock my sleep-starved, unfocused googly eyes on this poor lady, and blurt out-
"your dog. Who is he" and then expectantly stare at her like that was a normal and not at all insane thing that I just kinda vomited at her. She kinda stared at me and clutched her dog a little closer and I think I probably went a little cross-eyed and tried to salvage the conversation by talking more. I don't remember what I said but it was definitely not an improvement on the situation. It may not have even been a coherent sentence.
I could see this happening to me and I don’t like it. Sleep deprivation is a wondrous thing that does curious things to already crazy people
Undressing to shower, I threw my underwear into the toilet instead of the laundry and flushed it.
I drove home from Phoenix to Prescott, forgetting the fact that I had moved to Flagstaff about a month prior. Got all the way to my old driveway before realizing my error. (Both Prescott and Flagstaff are north of Phoenix, but are about 1.75 hours apart from each other).
Trying to unlock the front door of my house with my car remote.
Edit: Wow, platinum! Thanks so much kind stranger!
I saw a TikTok recently where a poor overworked nurse tried to open her home front door by swiping her work badge on her video doorbell. Her realization after the second attempt is all the feels.
I used to work on a farm & we always took our boots off before entering the homestead for meal breaks. One afternoon I absent-mindedly unbuttoned my jeans and started to take them off instead of my boots. I guess my brain decided I was done for the day!
Sometimes in the shower I fill my mouth up with water and just kind of let it pour out. Was brushing my teeth standing in the bathroom one day, fully dressed before work. I just let the toothpaste pour slowly out of my mouth and onto my clothes as if I were in the shower... now every time I brush my teeth my boyfriend warns me not to spit all over myself.
Opposite of autopilot, when i woke up and went to bathroom to brush my teeth, I just stood there, for the life of me I couldn’t remember which toothbrush was mine
I was tired at the time, but sat down on the toilet thinking that the seat was up and just [urinated] all over the seat, floor and myself.
Not a great thing to do ..or clean up at 3AM
I put my three-year old on the toilet. "Why aren't you doing a wee?" I asked. "My pants are still up". Oh yeah *facepalm"
I tried putting the milk bottle back in the microwave then got mad when it didn't fit. I only stopped trying cause my brother was there watching and he start laughing.
Got in my car to buy groceries and drove the 45 minutes to work.
PS. But the actually embarrassing one is when you are a homecare nurse and you walk into one of your patients home at 9pm expecting them to have milk and bread in stock.
Was signing for a parcel on one of those electronic things delivery drivers use, and I wasn't paying any attention and ended up staring at it for a minute and then just drawing a straight line on the screen and handing it back
He was confused
So hard to even make a barely legible signature on those things.
My wife's friend & her husband were leaving after having dinner at our house. As they're leaving, she says "love you" to my wife. Naturally, I respond "love you t... uuuuuh... yeah, goodnight."
Note: this post originally had 86 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
And another one I'd forgotten about until now. This was after working at Steak n Shake but before I started working at the call center. I lived with my sister, helping her to care for my niece who was a baby at the time. I was super tired and decided I wanted a nice cup of hot chocolate before going to bed. Heated up the water, got myself a mug and opened up the container of hot chocolate and got a scoop of the powder out before I stopped. Something seemed wrong about the hot chocolate powder so I stood at the counter for a few minutes trying to get my brain working again before I realized that what I held was not actually a scoop of hot chocolate powder. Instead I was holding a scoop of baby formula. Took me way too long to figure out that I was not actually trying to make myself a cup of hot baby formula.
Not tired but interrupted, when I make pasta I often use some of the cheap, granulated Parmesan that comes in a bottle like a giant salt shaker. Normally I get the pasta ready, take out the Parmesan shake it up a bit to make sure it's not clumping, take the lid off and sprinkle it on the pasta. Except something interrupted me between taking the lid off and pouring it on the pasta. Anyway come back a minute later and give the Parmesan a really good shake. So... Parmesan all over the kitchen floor, on the table, on the top of the fridge, all over me and my dogs and the curtains. The dogs at least were happy.
I have done this with a bottle of cream. Had to wipe down a few of the kitchen walls...
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I was in a Men's room, standing at the urinal, facing the wall, of course, and doing my thing. I heard the very distinctive clip-clop of high heels and panic that I might be in the Women's room by mistake. While standing at a urinal. It didn't last much longer than it took you to read that, but it was there for a second.
I was once misled by some bad signage and found myself entering a men's room suspisciously devoid of urinals. Was a very confusing 5 seconds.
Load More Replies... And another one I'd forgotten about until now. This was after working at Steak n Shake but before I started working at the call center. I lived with my sister, helping her to care for my niece who was a baby at the time. I was super tired and decided I wanted a nice cup of hot chocolate before going to bed. Heated up the water, got myself a mug and opened up the container of hot chocolate and got a scoop of the powder out before I stopped. Something seemed wrong about the hot chocolate powder so I stood at the counter for a few minutes trying to get my brain working again before I realized that what I held was not actually a scoop of hot chocolate powder. Instead I was holding a scoop of baby formula. Took me way too long to figure out that I was not actually trying to make myself a cup of hot baby formula.
Not tired but interrupted, when I make pasta I often use some of the cheap, granulated Parmesan that comes in a bottle like a giant salt shaker. Normally I get the pasta ready, take out the Parmesan shake it up a bit to make sure it's not clumping, take the lid off and sprinkle it on the pasta. Except something interrupted me between taking the lid off and pouring it on the pasta. Anyway come back a minute later and give the Parmesan a really good shake. So... Parmesan all over the kitchen floor, on the table, on the top of the fridge, all over me and my dogs and the curtains. The dogs at least were happy.
I have done this with a bottle of cream. Had to wipe down a few of the kitchen walls...
Load More Replies... I was in a Men's room, standing at the urinal, facing the wall, of course, and doing my thing. I heard the very distinctive clip-clop of high heels and panic that I might be in the Women's room by mistake. While standing at a urinal. It didn't last much longer than it took you to read that, but it was there for a second.
I was once misled by some bad signage and found myself entering a men's room suspisciously devoid of urinals. Was a very confusing 5 seconds.
Load More Replies...