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“Not My Proudest Moment”: 30 Times People Realized They Were Doing Something The Wrong Way
Many would likely agree that despite how much experience we’ve gathered, there’s always something new to learn. That becomes clear as day at times that make people go, “Is that how I was supposed to use this??”
Whether it’s an object, an application, a language, or something else people might use, they're not immune to doing it wrong, which often calls for an “oh sh… oe” moment. Such moments were once discussed on an ‘Ask Reddit’ thread, started by a netizen who wanted to know what people have been doing wrong for years before learning that theirs wasn’t the right way. Quite a few redditors shared their stories, so if you’re curious to see what they would mess up, scroll down to find their answers on the list below.
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#1
I used to fill the kettle by the spout... my parents have always done it this way, I thought the center part was mainly for decoration, but not functional. I don’t know why I never questioned this.
One day I bought a new tea kettle and my husband was like [why?] what is inside this, and with great ease, opened the center to pull out a manual with instructions and what not.
I was drinking dirty paper water for like 2 weeks.
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#2
My wife and I have this ceiling fan/light in our bedroom in the house we moved into two years ago. It has a remote control for the fan and lights.
About a year and a half ago the lights suddenly stopped working. The fan works well and we didn't have a tonne of money so we've just lived with lamps in the room, always being frustrated with how [darn] dark it is.
I was scrolling some other thread on ~~askreddit~~ TIFU a few weeks ago and the top post was a guy talking about how his lights stopped working years ago, and then he found out that it was just dimmed (which you do by holding *down* the button on the remote).
It sounded so much like our fan I went and tried it.
Dimmed.
#3
I owned a light blue colored microwave for about three years that a family member gave me for a housewarming gift. Thought it was cool; never saw a blue microwave before. One night, a buddy asked why I never took the blue plastic wrap off my microwave, then proceeded to peel it off for me. [darn]; that b***h is silver. Still miss my blue microwave sometimes though...
#4
I always thought eggplant tasted "itchy", like itchy was a flavor, like sour or salty. Fed some to my baby and his face turned red wherever the eggplant touched, and I realized we're both just allergic to eggplant. And itchy isn't a flavor.
#5
Living in a foreign country where I was actively learning the language. Social cues go a long way when learning a language on the spot. That being said, someone once said a phrase to me while serving a hot dish, which I assumed as meaning "excuse me". After going through crowds and lines, replicating the same phrase in an attempt to be respectful of those around me, I abruptly found out that the phrase actually meant "enjoy". Hind sight, completely makes sense. The odd looks I would get by saying "enjoy" while squeezing past people all of a sudden made sense.
#6
My name is Ryan.
It took me until I was in 1st grade to realize my name wasn't *in* the alphabet.
My mom had told me my name was in the alphabet, and I felt so lucky. She obviously meant the letters *to spell* my name were in the alphabet.
But nope. It took that long to realize the alphabet didn't go "W, X, *Ryan* Z....
#7
Back in the early 2010s, my boyfriend and I had a PlayStation that we used for Netflix etc since we didn’t have a smart tv. The controller was on such a short cord that we would always have to get up from the couch to change the program or push any buttons. My boyfriend also used to have to sit on the floor up close to the tv to play his video games, since the cord was so short.
One day my brother came to visit. We put something on Netflix, and got up to use the remote like we always did. My brother proceeds to unplug the controller, hands it to us, and says “you realize this is a WIRELESS controller right?”
We are dumbfounded. Why would there be a cord coming from it? Turns out that’s just to charge our wireless controller.
Mind. Blown.
#8
My SO and I were in a fight and he said "You are unbelievably selfish and impossible to talk to". Somehow my defense mechanisms were not engaged at that moment because I *heard* him and realized it was true. I saw for the first time that I had been (mostly) an a*****e all my life - that is - super defensive and wrong about a lot of things (aka a "narcissist"). I have since had to *learn* how to be kind, to listen, to give back and while it has been very hard (I still cringe often when I think back on many moments in my life) I now know *I* was wrong, my life is so much better.
EDIT: Thank you all for the upvotes, the silver and the gold. For those of you who suffer from the same affliction and want to make a change or two I highly recommend daily meditation and reading the stoics and/or checking out The School of Life .com (a brilliant "how to" guide for living a better life).
#9
Well... This was a few years ago. I was the director of IT for a very large company. I was given a new cellphone and told to setup my voicemail.
I don’t know that when I recorded my name it would be played to whomever I leave a voice mail for.
Well the name I recorded was, “Dooder84 Corporate IT Godddd!!!”
I worked there for 4 years until someone in the hallway referred to me as the “corporate IT GoD!”
I was so embarrassed.....
#10
I am lactose intolerant. I genuinely did not know this for the first 25+ years of my life. I always had to go to the bathroom after eating something with cheese in it. One day it just clicked: I bought some Lactaid, took it before the next time I ate cheese, and I didn't have to go to the bathroom.
...it was mind blowing. I have no idea how I didn't make the connection for years. So I guess you could say instead of having a "Oh s**t" moment I had a "No s**t" moment.
#11
We bought a nice liquor cabinet. We got it delivered and noticed it was a bit shorter than we thought. No biggie. Three years later, we’re moving. Lift up cabinet and these beautiful, ornate, screw on legs wrapped in tape and bubble wrap fall off the bottom. Looks so much better now!
#12
After moving to a new city I went to the laundromat and the Korean lady working was yelling at me about something I couldn’t understand. After some pantomime it became clear that she was upset I was putting in the wrong detergent but it was the same kind I have been using for 8 years (since moving away to college and behind). Turns out I’ve been washing my clothes with only fabric softener for nearly a decade. They always smelled good so I never really thought about it. Not my proudest moment.
#13
When I was a kid and was acting up, my dad would always threaten to leave me at this mean old lady’s house. Her name was Helen Handbasket. Fast forward about 28 years later and it clicks out of nowhere while I was on a customer call at work.
Customer: This whole network is going to h**l in a handbasket.
Me: HA! I’m an idiot.
Customer: Did you figure it out?
Me: OH! No. Not yet.
#14
Found out I was lighting incense wrong. Boyfriend and I got a bunch to add to our collection of nice smells and we would light them and they would just start a little inferno. Convinced we were buying cheap, garbage incense we stopped using them. I proceed to buy a different brand in a hope those would work. I test light and same thing it just goes up in an inferno. Roommate informs us you are supposed to blow them out once they catch. Oops.
#15
My mom has been pronouncing Massachusetts "Massa Two [poops]" for years and no one corrected her because they thought she just had strong feelings about Massachusetts.
#16
My family always had a cup next to the bathroom sink in case you needed to rinse your mouth after brushing your teeth or maybe get a quick drink of water in the middle of the night. My grandma had the same cup at her house. I used it for years whenever I was thirsty. One day she saw me doing this and said, “Don’t use that cup. Thats where grandma puts her teeth.”.
#17
Since the dawn of time, I would pick up the silverware and utensils out of their tray in the dishwasher and put them away in their drawers then go back and pick up more out of the dishwasher. Then one day I saw my wife lift the tray out of the dishwasher and I legit stood there with my mouth open.
#18
When i first got a debit card and would go out to eat at restaurants with my friends, i would leave a cash tip on the table. when i got the receipt to put how much i was paying i would write down how much money i left on the table. for at least 6 months i gave double tips to every waitress i had...
#19
When I was 5 a pizza hut employee told me that the powder on the breadsticks was called fairy dust. Ordered extra fairy dust on my breadsticks until I was around 14 when an employee said ‘do you mean garlic salt?’ It still devastates me to realize how obtuse I was.
#20
Not mine, but my dad has been spelling his name wrong his whole life (he’s 51). His name is Jeffrey, and he’s been spelling it like that since he learned how to spell his name. A few months ago my mom pulled out his birth certificate, and we all learned it’s actually spelled Jeffery. Not sure if he spells it correctly now, but it was definitely an “oh s**t” moment for him.
#21
Not cause I’ve been doing something wrong my entire life but saw it wrong. I’m colorblind and my entire life I thought peanut butter was green until I turned 19. And when I found out it was brown my mind was blown. It took so long because no one really talks about the color of things like that.
#22
My mom refused to show me how to use a tampon because she thought I should stick to pads because they were "safer". This was back when googling how to do things wasn't an option, and I was the first in my friend group to get my period and a little sheepish about it.
So basically I was shoving that s****r up there with the entire applicator for like 2 years, wondering why tampons didn't seem to work that well for me.
It wasn't until I was in h**h school, and one of my friends went on a c*****e against "plastic waste" and started advocating for tampons with no applicators that all of a sudden I realized I had massively f****d up.
#23
I taught myself how to play clarinet.
Six months later someone told me that I'd been playing with the mouthpiece upside down.
#24
When I was a kid, I was told that the paper that came on cupcakes/muffins was edible.
I would spend a decade eating them like this (paper and all), until a friend pointed it out.
#25
My mom use to refer to me as a “bull in a china shop”. Always heard it as “bowl in a china shop”. Thinking it was a compliment. At about 22 I hear someone else use the phrase and realized she meant “bull”, not “bowl”.
#27
For years I would struggle to take the cap off new deodorant (the one under the lid). It always is so stuck down onto the deodorant stick.
I had an "ah-ha" moment a year or so ago that I could simply crank the deodorant stick up until the cap could easily be removed.
I'm 34. It took me until age 34 to realize this.
Edit: thank you for my first silver! I'm glad I can teach the world about opening new deodorant sticks more easily.
Edit 2: and thank you for my first gold! What a great day!
#28
I didn't realise I had to brush the BACK of my teeth as well as the front (I was a dumb kid - I blame toothpaste adverts) unto I was 15. Had 9 filings and a root canal.
#30
Travel frequently for work and only just noticed that most laptop bags have a strap to place over a rolling suitcase handle.
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