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In the old days, there was a popular saying that a caravan moves at the speed of the slowest camel. And indeed, the strength of almost any thing or phenomenon is actually determined by the strength of its weakest link. In other words, you can have a great sports team, for example, but the failure of just one athlete can bring literally everything to naught.
The world knows many situations where someone's unfortunate mistake, oversight, or just stupidity actually ruined everything for everyone, and we have written about such stories more than once or twice. Well, it's time for another selection of such examples and tales brought to you by Bored Panda.
More info: Reddit
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#1
Years ago an apartment complex I lived in had a laundromat, and the machines were free to residents. Well, one resident made copies of her key and the place after that was always packed with people that didn't live at the complex. When the owner saw the utilities go up and figured out what was going on, he installed a system where everyone had to pay for laundry.
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#2
All tamper evident packaging stems from an unknown person slipping poisoned capsules into Tylenol bottles in the 80s. Before that nobody needed the jaws of life to open a box of crackers.
Enlee Jones 8 months ago
I remember that being all over the news and seeing tamper proof packaging and caplets for the first time.
#3
I was attending a concert in high school. Sum 41 and Simple Plan. Someone threw a full water bottle on stage and hit the lead singer of Simple Plan in the face. He had to leave to go get stitches. Concert over. Simple Plan had played all of 2 and a half songs....
PeepPeep the duck 8 months ago (edited)
That’s so rude, I took my little sister to see them when they were still new and had kiss chasey starting for them before they were famous , not my music but those boys were lovely
A few days ago, a thread appeared in the AskReddit community, whose author, user u/Big_Recover7977, asked netizens: "What was ruined for everyone by one person being an idiot?" Well, it's not that the culprits of all the problems in the stories told by the people who were among more than 4.4K comments were absolutely idiots...
Sometimes, it was just an unfortunate coincidence or something else. Be that as it may, over 4.3K upvotes is a good reason to make a list of the most interesting stories out there. So, please get comfortable and let's get to reading. Or, just scrolling, who knows.
#4
I heard someone ate an apple once… and someone else took it way too personally.
#5
Remote work. Only takes that one a****t to be running their kid to school, mowing the lawn, taking a nap, or "forgetting to charge their computer" in the middle of the work day to ruin it for everyone.
Robert T 8 months ago
Actually, no. That only matters if you work set hours. I have worked from home for years for a small company and what mattered was whether you pulled your weight or not. I'd go to the supermarket in the middle of working day when all the kids were at school and most people were in work. Need to pick your other half up, no problem. Meant I sometimes worked to 8 or 9 in the evening, but as long as the work got done, we were entirely flexible.
#6
The angry deaf person who got all UC Berkeley lectures removed from YouTube because there were no captions.
Apatheist Account2 8 months ago
I hate the "I can't, so neither can you" selfish approach. Accommodate the disadvantaged, but don't take away from the majority to do it.
Among the stories told by netizens, there are both local failures and legendary and well-known situations—for example, Adam, Eve, and the apple (a story I'm sure you all know).
Stories about how someone's stupid and unreasonable prank disrupted a concert of a popular band, and about how the creator of a viral casual game had a meltdown and simply deleted the app (on the other hand, in the latter case, the guy at least made a hell of a lot of money).
And, of course, there's a viral story about breakdancing at the Olympics, when the highly controversial performance of Australian athlete Rachel Gunn not only became one of the main memes of 2024 but also, perhaps, blocked the sport's further path to the Olympics. At least in 2028, in Los Angeles, breakdancing will no longer be on the competition program...
#7
The kid who c*****d his head open at the swimming hole we hung out at most summer days. We told him not to dive from there, he did anyway, so they closed it off for everyone for ever!
#8
My old apartment complex's gym used to be open 24/7 until this one woman decided to bring her entire CrossFit group at 3 AM. They dropped weights blasted music and damaged equipment.
There are also many office stories when someone's outright stupidity either created a precedent for banning some good thing for the whole staff, or someone simply left a strong-smelling food in the shared refrigerator in the office kitchen.
This is also the 'eternal classic,' when one of your colleagues starts heating up fish in the microwave... Offices and workplaces are generally an almost inexhaustible source of such stories, aren't they?
#10
The jerk at my work who expensed his family's dinner. Now they scrutinize every receipt, and they didn't lose their job. Thanks knucklehead.
#12
Used to work at a large office campus that had 4 wheeled scooters laying around so we could get from one side of the campus to the other quickly. We we're all adults and used them responsibly, They were big and heavy so its not like you could do tricks as if it was a razor scooter.
The d*****s that would also pour vodka into their coffee got too drunk and fell off one of the scooters and lost most of his front teeth, tried to sue the company, and left bad reviews on Glassdoor and LinkedIn after they were fired for being drunk on the job.
In fact, particularly in countries with case law, almost any legislative ban or regulation is actually the result of someone's mistake or failure. Well, all instructions and regulations are in fact written while taking into account possible problems.
So if you, reading some manual, come across a paragraph that contains, as it seems to you, some self-evident thing—don't rush to laughter. Most likely, this paragraph is based on real—and, perhaps, quite sad—experiences.
#13
Told a new colleague getting a company credit card don’t [misuse] it, and you won’t lose it. Colleague goes on first work trip and tries to expense a $100 mani / pedi. Management hears about it, and it leads to several years of draconian receipt review (“how can you prove to us these three coffees were all for team members?”). Stupid all around.
ILoveMySon 8 months ago (edited)
Is anyone else thinking of Michael Scott taking Jim to a "Hooters" lunch on "The Office"? He just got his card back. 😂
#14
In middle school we had a planned field trip to the zoo to celebrate our last yr as middle schoolers. Well one idiot thought it would be a better idea to go out with a bang by starting a food fight in the cafeteria instead.
End of year school trip cancelled for everyone and everyone had to help clean the food fight mess. The cafeteria smelled terrible until the end of the school yr because janitors couldn’t clean food stuck in the high ceilings.
#15
The communal office fridge at my last job. Someone decided to store their experimental kimchi there for three months.
In any case, this selection of almost three dozen diverse stories is definitely worth reading. Or, at least, quickly scrolling to the very end. And then, we'll be sincerely grateful to you if you add some tale from your own memory, or from your life experience, in the comments below. In the end, if you have something interesting to share with folks—why not do it, right?
#17
One kid falls out a window, and all of a sudden every hotel window in my country can open just enough to remind you of the fresh air you arent getting.
#18
Pokemon cards. Watching grown a*s man-boys fight each other in a parking lot for a box of cards.
#19
Coupons. They're not what they used to be because of some people taking advantage of them to such a horrible amount.
Lee Gilliland 8 months ago
And they have to add the line about the coupon being worth a quarter of a cent because some stores had to pay the amount on the coupon IF THE STORES WERE OUT OF THE ITEM.
#20
Halloween candy bowls that are left unattended. People can't just take 1 nowadays smh.
#21
Niche answer, but community volunteers in table top gaming. Many companies used to have people who would join official volunteer groups to promote their games at gaming cons - Privateer Press had Press Gangers, Magic the Gathering had their guys, etc. It helped generate interest in their games.
That doesn't happen any more, mainly because some j*****s decided to sue WotC years ago because they claimed that their volunteer work counted as a form of employment, and that they therefore should be backpaid benefits.
Overnight, many games companies shuttered their programmes to avoid similar law suits. .
#22
McDonald's stopped giving out *real* Happy Meal toys and switched to paper ones. Thanks, some random kid who choked in 1999.
superfluous 8 months ago
They switched to some paper in 2021 to be more green. Recently they announced they are bringing back limited plastic - https://www.mirror.co.uk/money/mcdonalds-makes-major-change-happy-34877188 The last recall I can find for choking hazards was 2014 Hello Kitty whistles - https://www.econotimes.com/McDonalds-Most-Notable-Recalls-Chicken-McNuggets-Happy-Meals-and-More-Shocking-Cases-1687194
#23
We could not use the hallway lockers in school because idiot neighbor brought a gun just because. (But you could use the gym lockers.)
They took away breakroom lockers at work because idiot worker stored years-expired food and junk in it. (But you could use the new "desk day lockers")
....The actual idiots were the ones in charge making those decisions.
Amanda Reinstatler 8 months ago
Its always the idiots making the decisions. Like the Trump administration.
#24
The national paper had an annual literary quiz contest for years with questions so obscure that if you looked them up back then in the early days of google you’d have to virus scan your computer after. I was one of the winners twice, winning merch. The last time they ran it I teamed up with two other contests winners and we shared the questions and our guesses and answers on a bulletin board site. Little did we know that you could google search within the site where we posted them all (again, early days of google). They ended up with a flood of entries cribbed from our collected answers. A few months later they retired the contest.
superfluous 8 months ago
They retired the contest because of too many entries??? Too many same entries???
#25
Lowes stopped doing military discounts because a few started buying lumber in bulk and selling it among other stuff.
Bored Sailor 8 months ago
Well it is back if it did go away, can even use it online if you registered correctly. Only cannot use it on discounted items, as they are already discounted. After tax saves me 2%.
#26
When I was a kid, pokemon was banned from tv in my country because some idiot kid decided he was pidgeotto and jumped out of a window.
Lee451 Henderson 8 months ago
When I was a kid George Reeves made commercials telling kids that "they could NOT fly like Superman" and not to try. Moe Howard made commercials telling kids not to eye poke people the way the Three Stooges did
#27
The first thing that popped into my head was the creator of Flappy Bird having a breakdown and deleting the app.
Cerise Hood 8 months ago
The creator of the game was shocked at how addictive the game became and then deleted it from the app store.
#28
UK motorways originally had no speed limit, until a team from AC motors decided to use one to test their 185mph Cobra they were preparing for Le Mans.
The 70mph limit was introduced the next year.
#29
Whoever leaked the cutscenes for Smash Brothers single player. As a result, Nintendo just cut the entire thing out.
What do you think ?
Libstak 8 months ago
Worked in logistics with a bunch of men. They expected us women to clean up after them in the break room every day aka. Wash the dishes or put them in the dish washer. We females just didn't use the break room. The manager lost it over the pile up of dishes and warned the men that anything left in the sink was going straight in the bin. Over a week there was suddenly no communal dishes left, just a teaspoon on a chain for coffee. Men came into office asking for a cup or plate from us girls who had our own stashes from home. Suffer losers.
Huddo's sister 8 months ago
Similar happened in my year 12 common room, but it was everyone except about 3 or 4 of us that were leaving dirty dishes in the sink. Then one day during homeroom my friend and I had permission from the coordinator to throw them out if front of everyone.
Load More Replies...
Enlee Jones 8 months ago
A place I used to work at used to allow us to surf the net when things were slow, but then blocked all websites except CNN, Fox News, and Weather.com because some moron got caught looking at, ahem, inappropriate material.
2x4b523p 8 months ago
A bully in my school grabbed other kid’s swimming goggles, stretched them and let go. Poor kid went blind in one eye. So instead of expelling the bully from school and be done with it, goggles were banned during swimming class for everyone. This was municipal swimming pool shared by all schools in town, it was chlorinated on extreme level. Entire class would have stingy red raw eyes for rest of the day.
superfluous 8 months ago
But you know how dangerous swim goggles are! /s of course!
Load More Replies... Libstak 8 months ago
Worked in logistics with a bunch of men. They expected us women to clean up after them in the break room every day aka. Wash the dishes or put them in the dish washer. We females just didn't use the break room. The manager lost it over the pile up of dishes and warned the men that anything left in the sink was going straight in the bin. Over a week there was suddenly no communal dishes left, just a teaspoon on a chain for coffee. Men came into office asking for a cup or plate from us girls who had our own stashes from home. Suffer losers.
Huddo's sister 8 months ago
Similar happened in my year 12 common room, but it was everyone except about 3 or 4 of us that were leaving dirty dishes in the sink. Then one day during homeroom my friend and I had permission from the coordinator to throw them out if front of everyone.
Load More Replies... Enlee Jones 8 months ago
A place I used to work at used to allow us to surf the net when things were slow, but then blocked all websites except CNN, Fox News, and Weather.com because some moron got caught looking at, ahem, inappropriate material.
2x4b523p 8 months ago
A bully in my school grabbed other kid’s swimming goggles, stretched them and let go. Poor kid went blind in one eye. So instead of expelling the bully from school and be done with it, goggles were banned during swimming class for everyone. This was municipal swimming pool shared by all schools in town, it was chlorinated on extreme level. Entire class would have stingy red raw eyes for rest of the day.
superfluous 8 months ago
But you know how dangerous swim goggles are! /s of course!
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