Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it—sometimes, the dumbest-sounding ideas turn out to be diamonds in the rough, real pearls of wisdom that make our lives a shade better. We’re talking, of course, about life hacks! Specifically, the kinds of hacks that sound like fake nonsense but are real lifesavers for some people.
After redditor Rat-avec-London asked other users of the site to share exactly those kinds of life hacks, they responded with over 26.6k comments. The thread quickly went viral, getting more than 75k upvotes at the time of writing, as well as attracting media attention. Check out some of the most intriguing life hacks that people shared below and upvote the ones that you liked the most. And remember—just because something sounds fake doesn’t mean it is (and vice versa).
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Using your turn signal actually can help other drivers know which direction you plan to go and makes driving safer for everyone
Whenever you accidentally set off your smoke alarm, give your pets a treat so they learn to come to you when there actually is a fire and you need to escape.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with showing up to work, doing the absolute minimum to maintain a job, and going home and enjoying your life. massive lifesaver to one's mental health.
"Work to live, not live to work". Others may choose to work harder, but that's on them - it's all a choice for what is important to the individual, and that's ok if it's different for different people.
Identifying your success in life by only your success at work is not healthy. When you sign an employment agreement, you only need to abide by the job description and the company only needs to abide by paying you and providing benefits. Most larger companies will not care or notice if you make the extra effort. I am fortunate enough to enjoy my work and my employer is small and very considerate of family or health issues. We are paid to provide certain services based on our field of expertise, not warm a seat 9-5. I also know that at any time, due to managerial change, tech changes, or budget cuts, I could be let loose on the 2 weeks notice as provided in my employment contract. Do you time, collect your pay and get out and enjoy life!
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This 'hack' is a recipe for how to never get promoted, ever get a raise and be on the short list for when they do layoffs.
Sadly I've seen way too often where it's the slacker who gets the better raise and the better promotion while the hard worker just gets more dumped on them. When they're finally pushed to the breaking point, management can't understand what went wrong. In some cases when the clientele follow that worker to their new job, that same clueless management either fails to understand why or admit they've lost business over their mismanagement. Welcome to corporate America where the clueless run the company while the ones who keep the business afloat get dumped on.
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Guarantee never feeling good about yourself by doing as little as possible.
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There is ALOT wrong with that because then others end up carrying you. Have respect for your colleagues.
Your company should have more respect for you as an employee if one person doing exactly what their job entails and nothing more creates a lot of extra work for others. That means that you all are being given more responsibilities than is reasonable.
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This all depends where you work and what your role is. There are many jobs out there that actually require you to work, otherwise you stick out like a sore thumb.This is bad advice and can actually put people’s lives in danger. If you are so insignificant at your job and you can get away with giving your minimum, I say good for you. But unfortunately, some of us have jobs that affect other’s lives where it’s morally and ethically wrong not to do much.
I could never do this. It is a personality type thing. The closets I come to this is every now and then when I am just too unfocused. I get a good deal of my self-esteem and self-fulfillment from my work, and even in bad jobs for s**t companies, I couldn't mentally handle not being proud of my work. I have to do it for the majority of my waking hours, I need to feel that what I do during that time is worth more than monetary compensation. Why I work for a non-profit now. I don't want my effort spent making rich people richer. Rather get paid less and feel I am some how benefiting society. But I am lucky to have that choice at all.
The only thing wrong with this is being in the position of lowest hanging fruit when it comes time for layoffs. Also, if you're smart about investing into your job can bring opportunities to move to a different job, or even the ability to create your own job that lets you do something that you do enjoy. Even then it's important to find a way to avoid burnout. That will likely end up with you losing your job because your poor attitude and performance will become obvious.
So your coworkers have to pick up the slack to keep the company running... You're such a good person.
Yep I work with a guy like this who runs shifts. He does the minimum when he closes and screws me over when I open after them.
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To be honest, if we don't nterpret the "absolute minimum TO MAINTAIN A JOB" so literally, then I agree with this one. Do what you're paid for. If you want a raise, don't get suddenly too ambitious, and, if possible, accept as much as you know you can handle, but no more than that. Learn your limits, no need to push them too far or too sudden. Again, that's, if your working environment allows you to be this way. At my job, although our boss told us directly to try and not stress too much, there's just too much work at the moment and it won't do itself. He's aware of the situation and is trying to help. But at a previous employment, in a small company kind of place, although my minimum was already pretty demanding, they still expected me to sell my soul from the start. I was even told "oh, if you can't go home, you can stay at my place, no problem at all". It really wasn't sexual, btw, just very.... inhumane disguised as kindness. And they never even payed the agreed salary.
Stop acting youre doing something important and just do your job properly. Your false sense of importance is whats stressing you out
What if you actually doing something important? That generalization isn't right. Besides almost every job is important on some level.
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And try to make it easy for your manager to give you a good review by doing the little things right: filling out time cards and other forms correctly, showing up on time, knowing how to write a professional email, getting along with people, not procrastinating on important tasks, etc.
I feel like one's mental health is made even better if they are a person of integrity all the way around. Show up to your job, do good work, go home, do good stuff. Basically, show up and do good in every aspect of your life. Cheating your employer isn't doing good stuff.
Where did they suggest cheating the employer? You read too much into this, they stated minimum, as in everything expected of them. You seem to have heard underperform, which would leave a burden on other employees instead.
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I figured that out late in my career ... late, but I still have a good 25 years to make up for it. I retired early, travel 6 months out of each year, and have no financial worries. I'm content.
Gotta love all the people saying "Just change jobs", as if it's that easy. This isn't The Sims, folks.
There is also absolutely nothing wrong with firing this worker and replacing them with one who puts in more effort.
So if you hire someone who does EVERYTHING you ask of them, you would fire them? Maybe you expect too much of people, if the job you gave them cannot sustain the position.
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Depends on your boss. Assholes make life miserable for themselves and anyone who crosses paths with them.
Yes..this. Life is too short to work your ass off for others. Do your job. Do it good. But don't make it your religion
I used to bust my butt day in and day out...go in early, stay late, take on extra projects, etc., thinking it would show loyalty and good work ethic and figuring that's what it took to get the job done. All it showed was what a fool I was because the one's going in doing the bare minimum expected were getting paid the same, getting the same benefits and even getting the better positions. Never again.
I don't work as hard as I used to because it seemed the person who does the bare minimum or slacks off gets more praise than the hard worker.
Life doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to be good enough for you
I’m a healthcare worker . If I worked only according to my pay people would die. I can not do the minimal .. And to be honest I would never want to . I have a life outside of work I enjoy and I don’t lull myself for my job But i always want to do my best in every aspect of my life .. this attitude is sad
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Depends on the line of work your in.If you intention is to do the bare minimum in order to maintain a job don't choose a career in education , medicine or social work.I mean if you work in the for profit world by all means.
My God, I can't imagine working in an open office like that! Talk about no personal space for 8 hours a day!
Yes there bloody is !!! This is how companies fail if you did this at my work I would fire you immediately I hate this attitude- I have worked with so many people Like you who are do a mediocre job it gives me the shits completely
The truth of this depends on so many things: type of job, type of employer, and your own attitude. I think I would have been miserable if I knew I was doing the absolute minimum, because there would be zero satisfaction.
An advice my dad didn't follow. He left the house at 7 am, returned home at 8 pm as long as I can remember, had a great career, made more than 20,000 a month. He also got cancer when he was 56 and died three and a half months after he turned 60. As a result, I have never done more than necessary, jobwise.
Great for all the lazy people that don't care about their job.
Nothing wrong with doing the minimum if you don't mind a boring self -centered life.
I don't get it..- Can someone explain im just a 3rd grade kid...
But - this would mean spending 8 hours a day doing something I don`t care about. I know not everything is that lucky, but I like the job, the colleagues and it`s just - interesting to find what went wrong and fixing things. I don`t have to enjoy every moment, but the day I don`t care about the work anymore and resolve to doing the minimum is also the day I go looking for a new one. Don`t want to hate 1/3 of my live or even feel nothing about it.
If you're content to stay exactly where you are this is good advice
Isn't there, though? I mean, if you loathe your job, sure. But as a general practice? Really?
I love my job, like for real. But my job finances my life. My life happen on my own personal time, using the money I earned when I lend some of my time to my employer.
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If you are getting paid minimum wage I don't see any reason to kill yourself doing a job.just do what is expected and go home
I work with a person like this. He's deeply obsessed with doing the barest minimum and actually gets quite upset when you point out that he's grossly neglecting his responsibilities and letting down our customers - and the team. We work in IT Support and have a big job keeping everything running. The result is me working overtime without pay to sort out what he can't be bothered to, while he pulls every trick in the book to avoid working, taking unauthorised / undeserved time off, extended lunches, and generally shirks his responsibilities. Money for nothing. That's a scam, and extremely selfish. Well being? I don't think so. To compensate, I end up regularly overworking, and the customers have to rely exclusively on me when they want something important done. I can't wait to see the back of him!
That sounds more like someone under performing than maintaining their role.
Load More Replies... Agree. And when you work like this don't complain about your compensation.
In an earlier interview, I spoke about life hacks that sound absolutely silly with British comedian Ariane Sherine, from London. She helped me settle the age-old question about whether something that sounds and looks dumb is actually stupid or not.
“It’s actually very smart, and it’s a shame if people don’t use it for fear of looking dumb!" Ariane told Bored Panda, pointing out that we sometimes prioritize our reputations over what actually works. And we’re sometimes scared to test something out because it might make us look like utter fools.
If you've forgotten an acquaintance's name, just ask them what their name is, and after they tell you, say "no, your last name." Works like a charm and they never suspect a thing.
If at a place where you don't speak the language, learn the words for please and thank you. Those, and a smile, will get you far.
It's also helpful to learn, "I'm sorry officer. I didn't know she was your daughter"
if you are ever attacked by a dog, push your forearm INTO the bite. This pries the jaws apart and prevents them from clamping down. If a dog is attacking you, the best thing you can do is offer your forearm, push as far back as possible, and then grab the dog by the scruff of its neck with your other hand to hold it. The dog is now functionally muzzled and you have control of its head. The sooner and harder you push into the bite, the less damage the bite will do.
Ariane explained that people often look down on ideas that sound dumb on a theoretical level because we want others to think we’re way smarter than we might actually be. That’s how much our reputations matter to us (whether we’re aware of this or not).
Wear the same colours as the zoo employees, the animals will come right up to you.
This is also useful when you're walking off with the animal to your car to take him home.
From the amazing book ‘The Gift of Fear’ by Gavin DeBecker: “A woman alone who needs assistance is actually far better off choosing someone and asking for help, as opposed to waiting for an unsolicited approach. The person you choose is nowhere near as likely to bring you hazard as is the person who chooses you.”
Don’t wait for help either because you might not get it. I’ve been in a situation where I was being harassed by a man in broad daylight in a populated public place—multiple people saw it happening and no one helped. This may seem obvious now but it wasn’t obvious to me back then—do not be concerned with politeness when someone’s intentions toward you are not good. It’s okay to be “rude” to get away from someone who is trying to coerce you into doing something you do not want to do.
If you feel suicidal or depressed....don't focus on hope. It is enough to just stay curious. Curiosity has the power to keep you alive far longer than hope ever will. Curiosity leads to engaging work and this leads to opportunity.
"Everybody wants to think they’re smart (even if they’re actually Donald Trump!) and people hate feeling stupid or being duped. If a piece of advice doesn’t sound helpful, I guess people who see themselves as clever will automatically reject it rather than try it and risk feeling dumb," the comedian said this is why we may avoid doing silly things.
When you're freaking out, need to relax, e.g. when a chiro is about to crack your neck or anything along those lines, wiggle your toes. Apparently your brain can't do both, freaking out and wiggling toes, tensing up and wiggling toes etc
25% of 18 is the same as 18% of 25. Percentages are reversible and one is easier to figure out than the other one.
It you start to cough while eating or drinking, essentially the “went down the wrong pipe”, immediately lift both your arms up in the air and keep them held up for a few seconds. The act opens your airways and will allow you to catch your breath. Also helps food or drink travel downward.
Just throw ya hands in the air... And waive around like you just don't care! :)
One of the British comedian’s favorite life hacks has to do with avocados and how to check if they’re ripe. Ariane pointed out that avocados have an “inbuilt ripeness sensor” that lets you distinguish if it’s still green, ripe, or overripe.
If you’ve got a splinter below your skin surface, wrap a banana peel around it. Wet side against your skin. It will draw the splinter out most of the time. I don’t know how but it fricken works. Banana voodoo. Banavoodoo. Banadoo?
If your car is overheating, turn your heat on full blast.
When you turn the heat on in a car, it pulls heat from the engine into the cab, thus cooling the engine.
And roll down the windows. Working in Little Rock, AR, had to do this often in the summer rush hour traffic...which didn't rush.
If you're watching YouTube on your phone just scroll to the end and restart the vid to skip all ads.
Why TF does YouTube think abruptly cutting away in the middle of a video that’s less than 10 minutes long won’t royally piss people off—-especially not even doing it in a section of the video where it would make sense? YouTube is playing a very dangerous game with that practice. Piss enough people off, and viewership will drop dramatically.
“You know how hard it is to tell whether an avocado’s ripe before cutting into it? Simply twist the stem. If it doesn’t come off, it’s underripe; if it comes off and is green underneath, it’s ripe; if it’s brown underneath, it’s overripe. Voila—no more rock hard or mushy grey avocados!" she shared. The comedian added that it’s ironic how avocados marketed as ‘ripe’ in supermarkets are usually anything but.
Sleep on big decisions.
You think most clearly in the morning, and often after some time passes you realize you were about to make a big mistake.
German expression "I' ll sleep over it", in French "La nuit porte conseil - The night brings advice"
Makeup remover on deodorant stains.
My husband has a lot of T-shirts with white/stained armpits, so I gave it a shot.
It worked. :o
Counting really slowly with the goal of reaching 150 is a decent way to fall asleep. If you have any thoughts during it just let them play out, and if you forget what number you're on just go from what you last remember. If you make any major movements just start again.
The goal is to force your brain in to slowing down and not having any jerky motions or thoughts, and eventually reaching such a level of carelessness that you eventually fall asleep without realising. Helped me quite a few times, especially with rain sounds, hope it helps some of you too!
I don't usually have trouble sleeping but when I do what best works for me is taking a random letter from the alphabet and trying to find as many vegetables and fruit starting from that letter.
Like with plenty of new ideas and inventions, chance plays an important element when it comes to discovering new and useful life hacks. Whether through experimentation or lucky coincidence, we might end up finding a pearl of wisdom among the weeds.
More life advice than a life hack, but: “A dropped knife doesn’t have a handle.” If you ever drop a kitchen knife or other bladed instrument, just let it fall. Trying to catch it will almost certainly give you a nasty slice on the hand.
My involuntary reaction has always been to try to lift both feet off the floor at the same time.
Run your wrists under cold water or rub an ice cube on your pulse points to cool down all over quickly when you get overheated. It seems obvious but I didn’t realize it until last summer working in a warehouse with no ac.
If you’ve written on a dry erase board (or any glossy surface) with a permanent marker (like a Sharpie) just draw over it with a dry erase marker and it will wipe right off.
Hi! I'm pooh & I just use hand sanitizers (100% recommended by a fellow bear)
And despite how funny it might sound, life hacks are an expression of how wonderful the scientific method is, riding on the wave that is human ingenuity. We might lose hope in humanity from time to time, but just the fact that there are hundreds of people sharing useful life hacks is enough to restore our faith in our intelligence as a species a tiny bit,
Gently rocking back and forth while pooping. I’ve never had any problems in the bathroom, but I happened to be sitting on the toilet when I read the comment so I decided to give it a test drive. I was pleasantly surprised at how quick and effortless the whole experience was and I haven’t gone back to my old stationary technique since.
Dawn dish soap is better for cleaning tubs than any bathroom cleaner. Consider that when you bathe you’re mostly washing of body oils/dirt/skin. Dawn is so effective at cleaning oil it’s used to clean up after oil spills. You can use a small amount and it cleans pretty effortlessly with circles on a sponge.
When putting a paint can lid back on the can, first put down a layer of cling film (saran wrap). This will stop the lid sticking to the can once the paint on the lid has dried.
Which of these life hacks did you find to be the most useful? Which ones were a complete surprise to you, dear Pandas? Do you have any fake-sounding-but-real hacks to share with all the other Readers here? Drop us a comment below!
Crayons are flammable and will provide about an hour of light as a candle if you lit the top.
Use a wet knife to chop onions, it reduces tears if you have sensitive eyes.
It really works!! I could barely make it through chopping half an onion without needing multiple breaks before I tried this. Just keep the faucet running and dip your knife under periodically while chopping. I still get a little reaction, but nowhere near as bad.
Don’t leave the faucet running, please. Have a container next to you filled with water rather.
"Pay yourself first". No matter how much or how little you make. Take 10% of your paycheck and put it in an emergency fund before you buy or pay for anything else. That strategy has saved me on numerous occasions.
Mosquitos Bites be gone!
This hack is the most valuable thing I’ve learned in my whole life.
Heat of the back of a spoon with hot water. Then apply the back of the spoon to the bite. I usually do it twice for good measure. The spoon needs to be hot enough to keep on the skin without burning yourself. So test the heat before you press it down. Keep it on until the heat dissipates. Bite will stop itching almost immediately...usually the bite ha completely disappeared within an hour.
This only works with mosquitoes from my experience.
I have used ice cubes for the same result for many years. Rub until the area is numb. By the time it warms up, no more itch. I am guessing the increased blood flow to warm it up helps dilute/carry away the toxin?
If you're going to climb a ladder or work on your roof, wear a bike helmet.
Every male should know this. If you want to get rid of an awkward boner flex any muscle in your body maybe an arm. For a minute. The blood will rush to that muscle and away from your D. Crisis averted.
During pollen season... rinse your hair before bed. Otherwise you’re just depositing pollen on your pillowcase every night and then rolling your face in it all night. And then multiply that by how many nights you use the same pillowcase.
Rubbing vegetable oil (or any cooking oil) on your hands after you cut up jalapeños or other hot peppers. It gets rid of the awfulness that would normally be left on your hands from the peppers. I rub my hands with oil and then wash it off with dish soap. I can totally remove my contacts after doing this. It’s crazy how well this works.
Sounds interesting, but I will test it some other way...just in case.
The cheapest, most effective, and safest insecticide against roaches (especially those huge “water bug” roaches that we have in the South) is a spray bottle of mostly water with just a little liquid dish soap in it.
Shake the bottle & get the water a little foamy, then spray the roaches. They will run, scrabble, and attempt escape, of course, but they will die. The soap film suffocates them faster than any chemicals will.
I know two ways to get rid of roaches. I moved into a place that had an infestation and was working for a guy who had a Masters in Entomology. He said just make sure everything is dry. You can't starve a roach - they will literally eat anything. But always keep your pipes dry, wipe out your sinks, etc. When they have no access to water they will leave. That's all I did. They were gone in a couple weeks and never came back. The other idea is what's stated here but you don't have to spray to roach. Just put out some little dishes of water with a couple drops of soap in them. The roaches will drink it and die.
Drinking a cup of water with your alcoholic drink, waking up Alive not dead.
I hesitantly submit squeegeeing yourself off before getting out of the shower. It's so simple I was dubious, but just use your hands to quickly wipe off excess water and bingo, you're not cold getting out.
Microwave tip: Put a cup of water on the tray with whatever you are microwaving, it always makes it taste better and "fresher".
If your ring gets stuck on your finger windex will slide it right off. Worked at a jewelry store for five plus years.
Eating candied ginger helps with nausea. Any ginger really, but candied ginger is much better tasting.
Vinegar in a plastic bag with rubber band tied around any faucet will make the faucet like-new. I'm talking decade old rust and stuff gone...and water flows like the first day.
Getting 8 hours of time on bed, not necessarily sleep, is mental magic
Note: this post originally had 91 images. It’s been shortened to the top 40 images based on user votes.
I'm confused as to where the "fake sounding" element in the article title comes in. These all seem like perfectly plausible bits of advice.
I’m struggling to understand the bit where it’s supposed to be fake. A lot of these aren’t relevant in the UK but there’s some sound advice on many of these posts.
Live the way the title says “shared by people “. Who else would be sharing it? Animals? Aliens??
My cat is The Terminator. If it moves, he kills. He ate his first kill and threw up within seconds. Never seen him so disgusted. Now he just kills them and calls me to give him a treat. He's turned mercinary.
wish mine was like that, instead she catches them and then walks around growling until someone manages to corner her and take it away (whether it's dead or not)
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My favorite life hack that is pretty unbelievable until you try it: remove smells from your hands (fish, garlic, etc.) by rubbing them on stainless steel while you wash them. If you have a stainless steel sink it works great. They even make stainless steel bars of "soap" for this purpose. Works like magic.
Here's a lifehack for hiccups that works 100% of the time for me, 100%. No more drinking upside down or making someone surprise you, no. Take a deep breath, as deep as you can. Then, bring your teeth together and blow out on an S, making a snake sound, sssssssss! 🐍Blow air out real slowly like that. When you're out of air, push some more out, try it, there is usually a little more left. Then take another deep breath and do it again. Two to five times should do the trick. If you hic while doing the sssssss, just get straight back into the sssSSSssing 🐍and keep focused. This is a common singing exercise, and there is some science to why it works. Hiccups is an involuntary spasm of the diaphragm, which is a muscle that sits like a belt around your lungs. Singing, and especially this exercise, is focused on the diaphragm, so this distracts it for a minute and it "forgets" the spasm. Voila! Hiccups no more!
One time I had the hiccups and so as a joke my grandpa told me to look in the mirror to scare myself. Going along with it just because, I actually went and just looked in the mirror and my hiccups were gone afterwards. Voodoo magic
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If you have a song stuck in your head, sing the last few lines and then announce the next song to yourself.
On the flip side, I've nearly gotten into accidents because of drivers who use their turn signals when they're not turning. I hate driving.
I'm confused as to where the "fake sounding" element in the article title comes in. These all seem like perfectly plausible bits of advice.
I’m struggling to understand the bit where it’s supposed to be fake. A lot of these aren’t relevant in the UK but there’s some sound advice on many of these posts.
Live the way the title says “shared by people “. Who else would be sharing it? Animals? Aliens??
My cat is The Terminator. If it moves, he kills. He ate his first kill and threw up within seconds. Never seen him so disgusted. Now he just kills them and calls me to give him a treat. He's turned mercinary.
wish mine was like that, instead she catches them and then walks around growling until someone manages to corner her and take it away (whether it's dead or not)
Load More Replies... My favorite life hack that is pretty unbelievable until you try it: remove smells from your hands (fish, garlic, etc.) by rubbing them on stainless steel while you wash them. If you have a stainless steel sink it works great. They even make stainless steel bars of "soap" for this purpose. Works like magic.
Here's a lifehack for hiccups that works 100% of the time for me, 100%. No more drinking upside down or making someone surprise you, no. Take a deep breath, as deep as you can. Then, bring your teeth together and blow out on an S, making a snake sound, sssssssss! 🐍Blow air out real slowly like that. When you're out of air, push some more out, try it, there is usually a little more left. Then take another deep breath and do it again. Two to five times should do the trick. If you hic while doing the sssssss, just get straight back into the sssSSSssing 🐍and keep focused. This is a common singing exercise, and there is some science to why it works. Hiccups is an involuntary spasm of the diaphragm, which is a muscle that sits like a belt around your lungs. Singing, and especially this exercise, is focused on the diaphragm, so this distracts it for a minute and it "forgets" the spasm. Voila! Hiccups no more!
One time I had the hiccups and so as a joke my grandpa told me to look in the mirror to scare myself. Going along with it just because, I actually went and just looked in the mirror and my hiccups were gone afterwards. Voodoo magic
Load More Replies... If you have a song stuck in your head, sing the last few lines and then announce the next song to yourself.
On the flip side, I've nearly gotten into accidents because of drivers who use their turn signals when they're not turning. I hate driving.
