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43 Wild Encounters With People Who Thought Confidence Could Replace Intelligence
There are moments in life when someone says something so bafflingly wrong that your brain briefly stops working. Sometimes it’s actually a grown adult confidently asking if the moon is turned off during the day, or someone trying to microwave metal like it’s perfectly reasonable.
Whatever the situation, these encounters tend to stick with you forever, not because they were malicious, but because they were so spectacularly clueless that you almost have to admire the confidence behind them. And when people online were asked to share the exact moment they realized someone was genuinely unintelligent, the responses did not disappoint.
More info: Reddit
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#1
Food was banned on the call floor, but the person in the cubicle across from me was surreptitiously eating peanuts. I couldn't figure out why I was suddenly itchy and developing hives, until I stood up to go to the bathroom and she saw me and freaked out, apologizing and asking if I'm allergic.
So I went to my manager and said I'm having an allergic reaction to peanuts, so and so was eating some and she's really sorry, she didn't know, so I'm going to go home and take Benadryl now.
He asked me if I'd eaten any peanuts. I said no, so and so was eating peanuts. He said I couldn't be having an allergic reaction then, so I didn't need to go home.
I held out my arms and showed him my hives. I told him my eyes were itchy and my face was burning and I needed to go home and take inadvisable amounts of Benadryl now.
He repeated that it was not possible that my symptoms were an allergic reaction because I had not eaten any of the peanuts.
I said okay, I need to go home and treat my mystery symptoms. He said no, of my symptoms were a mystery I shouldn't know how to treat them, so I might as well stay.
I thought about it for a second, then asked him how he thought cat allergies worked. Did he think people ate cats. Or did people with cat allergies develop symptoms from being in the same room as cats.
He asked if I was claiming there was a cat on the call floor.
I said no, I was having an allergic reaction to peanuts in the same way people have allergic reactions to cats.
He reiterated that you cannot have an allergic reaction to peanuts without eating them, and that there are no cats on the call floor.
Which was when I gave up and said I was going home now and I'd see him tomorrow. When he wrote me up for unexcused absence.
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#2
I was having a conversation with a former colleague and I had mentioned that I had gone to a WWI museum that’s in Germany and how I was planning on going to Belgium to see the WWI trenches. With the most straightest face possible, they said, “Belgium isn’t a real country. It’s a make believe country to scare people into thinking the a global war is real. WWII was also fake because there’s no such thing as Egypt” I’m not kidding.
#3
Guy I already thought was a moron in response to me complaining about having a headache: "I don't get headaches. My dad was a physician and he told me I don't have a frontal lobe so I can't get them.".
One reason moments like these tend to stick in people’s minds is that confidence often has more impact than accuracy. As explained by Verywell Mind, people frequently overestimate their own intelligence or knowledge due to cognitive biases that distort self-perception.
One of the key explanations is the Dunning-Kruger effect, where individuals with limited ability in a certain area may lack the awareness needed to recognize their own mistakes, leading to inflated self-assessments. On top of that, illusory superiority can push people to believe they are above average in many everyday skills by favoring information that supports what they already think.
#4
When at dinner, my friends husband said "All I need is a few hours alone with the pyramids and I could figure out how they were built" straight faced.
He worked as a restaurant assistant manager ...
Michael Largey 1 hour ago
"A few hours alone with the pyramids"? Apparently, he intended to beat the information out of them.
#5
This is not THE moment for this guy, just one of many, but it's a personal favorite.
When "Walking D**d" was at it's peak, I had a friend get into it a few seasons late, I wanna say when 4 came out. So I offered to wait to watch the new ones that were airing, and let him catch up to where the show was at at the time, so we could watch together every week going forward.
He binges S1 and 2 ASAP. Constantly texting me how he loves Daryl and Rick and this plot and that, etc etc. I'm replying "I know, right? Just wait for blah blah"
Anyway, his texts start getting weird. He's mentioning characters that aren't on the show, plots that never happened. Says he doesn't understand why the show dropped Rick and Andrea and he doesn't like this new cast. At some point I come out and ask what the hell he's talking about.
Come to find out this man, who watched 1 and 2, knew it inside and out, at some point started watching "Z Nation" instead, getting ***3 f*****g seasons in*** and never once realizing it wasn't Walking D**d.
Michael Largey 1 hour ago
Was he dumb, or is television today so unoriginal that you can't tell one show from another?
#6
I told someone I was a sign language interpreter and they asked if I knew how to read the braille that was nearby. When I explained what sign language was and that it’s primarily used for Deaf people, he said I should learn “just in case”.
There is also an important distinction between intelligence and common sense, which Psychology Today highlights as two very different abilities. Intelligence is generally associated with abstract reasoning, learning complex concepts, and solving unfamiliar problems, while common sense refers to practical judgment shaped by everyday experience.
What feels obvious or logical is not universal, since background, education, and culture all influence how people interpret situations. Because of this, what seems like basic logic to one person can feel completely unfamiliar to another, especially when cognitive shortcuts, overconfidence, or information overload interfere with clear, intuitive judgment.
#7
My ex after a few months dating.
Randomly tells me that North Pole doesn’t exist, it’s just advertising from Coca Cola. I laughed of course, thinking she was joking. She was not. I spent hours explaining that there are in fact two poles. One in the north and another in the south and somehow she insisting that she didn’t understand how could there be one in the north if south already had one pole. I never understood her point. But I made drawings to explain.
Michael Largey 1 hour ago
Take her to north Poland, then south Poland. She'll find Poles in both places.
#8
When someone told me I couldn't go swimming when I was pregnant because I would drown the baby. There's dumb and then there's whatever that is.
Michael Largey 1 hour ago
Also, don't turn out the light or the baby won't be able to read in there.
#9
Helping a friend fill out paperwork online, he tells me that he doesn't know his dad's name, he hasn't seen him since he was little and he only knew him as "dad", he has no clue what his name could be. Then he signed his name with junior at the end. I said "junior?" And he said "yeah, I'm a junior, I'm named after my dad.".
Another layer comes from the difference between being uninformed and being unintelligent, as noted by educator Dan Harkey. Lack of knowledge often comes down to missing information or limited exposure, which can change with learning and experience.
Cognitive ability, however, is described more as a deeper capacity for reasoning, adaptation, and problem-solving. At the same time, what people assume is "common knowledge" is heavily shaped by upbringing and education, meaning that different environments produce very different expectations about what should be obvious.
#10
When my incel cousin tried to explain to me (a pregnant woman)
That women are evil and a lot of them have late term abortions around (7 to 8 months) to spite the man that got them pregnant.
Then when I said name ONE.
HE SAID, A LOT OF WOMEN, TOO MANY TO NAME.
🥴
Obviously we don't speak anymore but like 👁👄👁.
#11
Saw them ask a lady how she knew Spanish. The lady said “because that is what I grew up speaking.”
They said “you don’t look Mexican tho.”
I just shook my head.
#12
When my father-in-law d**d suddenly, my wife and another family member were scrambling to assemble important records to tend to his affairs. With my mother-in-law medically indisposed, she was unable to help.
One thing we needed was the deed to their home. We didn't know where it was. We thought the county clerk office could help.
A panicky looking guy at the clerk's office explained that my father-in-law, being the sole homeowner, is the only one who can make the request. We told him that my FIL was d**d. He looked increasingly panicked. He said, "I don't think other family members can make the inquiry."
We asked what the procedure was in case someone d**d. He said he was not aware of that happening. We asked if my father-in-law was the first person in a town of over 100,000 people, a town first settled in 1651, to ever d*e.
He seemed to come to his senses. We re-iterated our question, and he looked panicked once again. "Is there any chance your father-in-law himself could make the request?"
It was truly a unique experience.
Finally, people do not always respond to being wrong in a straightforward way. Research from Tava Health explains that when beliefs are challenged, it can create cognitive dissonance, a psychological discomfort that comes from holding conflicting ideas.
Instead of adjusting their view, individuals may reject new information or reinforce their original belief to avoid that discomfort. Since admitting a mistake can feel like a hit to self-esteem or identity, especially when others are present, defensive reactions like denial or justification often take over, making some positions harder to change even in the face of clear evidence.
#13
My mil.. I don’t know to call it stupidity or superstitious. She genuinely believe that women washing their undies in the same washer as men causes men bad luck and is the reason why their men can’t get rich. She has never washed her undies in the washer and her husband still isn’t rich.
#14
I was dating a doctor. And in hindsight, it was clear that my making more money than him really upset him. But we were having a conversation, and I told him some good news about a promotion I had gotten at work. And he immediately switched the topic to telling me that my pots and pans were giving me cancer. And I was like, "What!? Wait, where are you getting that information?" And he was like, "A scientist!" And I was like, "Who?" 10 mins later, he finally showed me a TikTok video from some random guy (not a scientist). And it wasn't even about my pans, but a completely different brand. And I was like, "Uhhh, don't you like diagnose cancer for a living?"
It was like the veil lifted from my eyes, and I saw him as a complete doofus from there on out. I broke up with him a month later.
Mind you. This man didn't believe in wearing sunscreen.
Michael Largey 1 hour ago
He didn't need sunscreen because his head was always where the sun didn't shine.
#15
I was having a conversation with someone and said that pro choice doesn’t necessarily mean my own personal belief is for abortion, it means I believe others get to make that decision for themselves.
He said it was impossible.
Moments like these are unforgettable because they remind us just how unpredictable people can be. As painful as these interactions can be in the moment, they also tend to become the stories people laugh about for years afterward. Of course, intelligence comes in many forms, and everyone also has their occasional "no thoughts, head empty" moment.
Still, the stories in this thread stand out because the people involved were often completely convinced they were right, which somehow made everything even funnier. Do you want to see the kinds of comments that made strangers instantly lose faith in humanity? Keep scrolling for some of the most ridiculous, baffling, and unintentionally hilarious responses the internet had to offer!
#16
When instead of genuinely finding out why their cat is peeing places that is not the litter, they say it’s because the cat is Virgo.
Still face palming. Do you want to keep complaining that the cat is peeing on your bed or not.
#17
In a world before cell phones updated time automatically during daylight savings time, I had a conversation with a guy complaining about getting up at 2 to set their clock back. I laughed, thinking he was joking and mentioned that I simply set my clock before I go to sleep. He actually began to argue with me that DST started at 2am not 10 pm the night before. I gave him my best "By Jove, I do believe you're right" face and just noped out of that conversation real quick.
True story. Just think, somewhere out there, people like this are voting, driving on our freeways and having children.
#18
Saw a guy on live TV claim that magnets stop working when they get wet. Yet people still voted for this moron.
#19
Unintelligent or lacking critical thinking skills?
My cousin is a flat earther. He's really good at math, so I offered to walk him through the equations used to prove the world is round thousands of years ago.
We did the calculations, by hand, for a 100 level logic class in college.
He refused.
Michael Largey 1 hour ago
Being a flat earther has nothing to do with math or any other set of facts.
#20
A coworker did not know that WW1 happened. They knew about WW2 though. And yes, I am still at loss as to how they made it so far without connecting those two dots.
UKGrandad 1 hour ago
The movie, The Madness of King George, was adapted from the stage play, The Madness of King George III. There is a story - probably apocryphal - that the 'III' was dropped from the movie title because the producers wanted it to do well in America and they feared that Americans might think it was the third movie in a franchise and wouldn't watch it if they thought they'd missed the first two.
#21
I took up an extra task at work, asked my predeccesor to explain something. She ordered an insane amount of product. "Hey, you're ordering 5 times as much as i think we need. Do you happen to know our budget?" "There is no budget." "There must be. Whats our limit this month?" "THERE IS NO BUDGET" I asked the same question 3 times and she just got louder every time. That woman was insanely dumb .
#22
Caught up with an old school friend, who was always very ditzy, and got chatting about other past classmates. They asked if this one kid was still “quite tanned”. I replied that yes, they are still black.
#23
We all know that correlation does not imply causation, but I swear to the almighty god that every person I've worked with in my field the last 20 years are weapons-grade incompetent if they have an MBA. I don't know what it is, but they have zero common sense or critical thinking skills.
Michael Largey 57 minutes ago
They think having an MBA and knowing what you're talking about is a causation relationship. In truth, they're lucky if it's even a correlation.
#24
They told me they didn't believe the Artemis 2 mission happened.
Known this person my entire life. Only recently has she been anti-science, conspiracy theory, anti-vaccine, flat earth nonsense.
Coincidentally it started when she started dating the most roided out criminal cop I've ever met. I don't know him too well but it doesn't seem like a coincidence that her distrust in anything logical started the same time she started dating this dude.
Michael Largey 58 minutes ago
I actually had too look up what "roided out" meant because I could not figure out what Preparation H might have to do with criminality.
#25
When someone thought the moon was just a light in the sky, like a lamp, that was a solid moment of realization for me.
#26
I had a temp job working in a hospital to do filing of medical records. They had another person who came in as part of a program to also do filing. It wasn't really all her fault. Her Mom stopped making her go to school when she was about 6 years old. In order to help her learn to file, I had to teach her the alphabet. It wasn't even that that I considered unintelligent, it was the tantrums. She could recognize the letters, just the concept of putting them in an order was beyond her and she would throw fits. She was a grown adult with 2 children of her own by that point. I figured out a solution. I made sure she always used one of those flip boards that are made to help you organize papers for filing. Probably all a foreign concept in today's digital age. Filing of actual paper medical records was outdated even then.
#27
Had a psychology class once at a technical school and the teacher gave us an activity. Basically you've crash landed in the desert and have fifteen items that we had to rank in order of importance. After we ranked them individually we had to group up and agree on a ranking. One woman in my group was convinced the compass item was of the most importance because you could "point it at the ground and it would find where water was." Even after the teacher explained she was thinking of a dividing rod she wasn't swayed.
#28
When I showed them that their impression of an event that happened was completely incorrect, and they responded that it doesn't matter and the fact that they found it believable that they were right and I was wrong was somehow just proof that they could have been right, so in a way they're still right.
Buddy I showed you the video of exactly what happened.
#29
When they constantly contradicted themselves and jumped through logical hoops in an argument just so they could win. They didn't understand that I still remained unconvinced and now I no longer respected their critical thinking skills, but hey, at least they got to call me an idiot 64 times.
#30
While speak to a woman I know I mentioned that Jesus was supposedly a carpenter. "That can't be true", she said, "they didn't even have carpets back then".
...which is incorrect on multiple counts.
#31
I was playing a*******s creed: Origins, and mind you I went to college for history, my older brother comes up to me, sees some of the ancient Greeks in togas on the screen and asks me who they were, I say “Greeks” or “Ancient Greeks” something like that… and he is in disbelief, jaw dropped and everything, he replies “wait, Greeks actually existed”? Mf thought Greeks were only mythological characters because his extent knowledge of Greece is “Greek Mythology” he thought the actual society of people were myths.
#32
Wife's cousin's girlfriend was trying to tell us all about how she is shifting into a tech career and is in classes at her local community college. For 10 minutes she tried to explain to me that I (a senior software engineer) was wrong and that HTML is indeed a programming language.. no matter how many times I explained to her that it was indeed not..
#33
A college educated couple, one with a Master’s degree, watched Mermaid:The Body Found and thought it was real.
#34
Called my doctors office after an encounter with a bat, wanting advice about whether I need a rabies vaccine. The call screener asks me what symptoms I have. I explain that I have no symptoms and that rabies is always f***l after symptoms occur. She tells me that she cannot schedule an appointment if I cannot name my symptoms.
#35
When my former step dad told me you could see China from the Pacific Coast with a strong enough telescope while trying to convince me the horizon isn't real. Discovered he's a dumb a*s flat earther that day.
#36
The moment he started just repeating Chronically Online Tumblr Drama at me and being *super* bigoted against trans people, despite being trans himself. I realized he was just super gullible, and believed the first thing anyone told him about whatever topic he was learning about. Had absolutely 0 critical thinking skills whatsoever.
#37
Edit: I’m aware of the redhead thing. My husband is aware as well. It’s that she was concerned that no one would KNOW he has red hair.
My mother in law told me I needed to let the surgeon know my husband has red hair because they need to tell the anesthesiologist he would need more anesthesia. My husband has a full head of hair, a beard, and lots of body hair.
She also told us we couldn’t do a destination wedding because no one could take off all week to drive to Florida to go to the Virgin Islands. Her friend took a cruise out of MIA and went there, so she assumed that to leave the US to get to the VI you had to drive to Florida first. Because that’s what her friend did.
She told everyone my husband works at a call center. He is a senior director of analytics and AI at a fintech.
She said my brother in law and I have basically the same job. He is a mechanic at a pork processing plant. I am a manager of pilot training at an airline.
#38
A conspiracy loving coworker once said, "You know, the average person is carrying around 20 to 30 pounds of p**p in their body."
To be fair, he certainly is that full of s**t, but the majority of people are not.
#39
Dated a girl in college, and she was constantly telling me about this impossibly hard biology class she had.
One day, I talked to a friend of mine who was like, "Oh you're seeing her? We're in biology together!"
I was like, "Oh yeah, she's always telling me how hard that class is!"
My friend looked...crestfallen?
I was like, "Oh god, that class isn't hard at all, is it?"
Their stammering said it all.
Wasn't the only clue, but it was the moment I realized.
Michael Largey 46 minutes ago
As a teacher, I can tell you that two equally intelligent people in the same class can easily experience quite different levels of difficulty.
#40
When I heard that a customer ordered a decaf tea, and she grabbed a regular tea bag then poured in decaf coffee...
#41
Coworker, at lunch he d**d seriously told me he had seen an documentary about pigs being smarter then humans. I tried laughing it off but he kept insisting it was true.
Michael Largey 47 minutes ago
I remember that documentary. It was called "Recent Elections in America".
#42
When a member of Congress asked if a, "small camera" swallowed for a colonoscopy could be used for a remote gynecological exam to assess pregnancy. 🤦🏼♀️.
Michael Largey 45 minutes ago
That congressman didn't need a camera for his colonoscopy as he already had a direct line of sight.
#43
I was told I should meet this "brilliant" and "talented" marketing genius at a company that we had just taken on as a client.
When I did get a meeting with her to discuss our project with the company we sat down in her office. She was in mid conversation with her assistant and they were fervently discussing the work done by a Mexican astrologer on a Spanish language network was far superior to any astrology work done by anyone in the US. "It's like Mexican Coke is better that US Coke."
After introductions, she interrupted our chat several times to "dose" herself with essential oils with drops on her tounge.
She checked her phone several times and got annoyed by one of the messages. She dropped her phone in an empty paint can she had under her desk. I asked why she just did that, and she said it "calms the phone down."
She claimed to be a bestselling author, but it was just a self-published book, about 90 pages, on Amazon. She said she had sold thousands, and then said she had stacks of boxes of the book in her rented storage locker.
Everyone in the company had a copy in their office. I borrowed a copy, read it in one day. It was complete gibberish. No coherent structure, no real practical information. It was just paragraph after paragraph of the same sounding motivational junk about "going for your dreams." The author picture was really good though.
She was really respected and looked up to as a young super successful entrepreneur of the future and a role model within the company.
Our conversation didn't really go anywhere as she was very distracted and had leave for a meeting soon.
In the six months I was assigned to this project I only saw her a few days a week, and was "out of the country" for several months at a time. I asked someone at the company about her constant absences, and he said, "hey, she's one of our company's rising rockstars." As soon as I heard the word rockstar... I knew.
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CommunityMember 1 hour ago
Wow, I see BP started the week off with a number of pointless posts.
CommunityMember 1 hour ago
Wow, I see BP started the week off with a number of pointless posts.
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