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“Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.” Each time we do something, we have a vague idea of what is going to happen next, and we even prepare for a few possible outcomes.
But life does not always go the way we expect it to.
Newton’s third law explains physics but there is also the lesser known law of unintended consequences that shows up in our everyday lives.
You might call in to work and pretend to be sick, thinking the worst that could happen is a scolding from your boss. But would you ever expect that your coworkers actually fall sick and then blame you for it?
These surprising reactions are small but quite noticeable — a chain of events that feels impossible to predict.
Stories about such weird cause-and-effect moments were shared on Reddit, showing that even the simplest actions can lead to the most unexpected results.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
In Oslo, Norway there is nothing stoping you from just entering a bus or tram without a ticket. There is, however, frequent ticket controls.
So one day on the bus from work, the driver anounced over the speakers, that since it was christmas and all she would like to advice us about a ticket control on the and a station 3 stops ahead.
About half the passangers rushed off on the next station.
As she started driving again she announced that there in fact was no control and thanked the rest of us for paying for tickets.
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#2
In Japan, 30 squirrels escaped the Zoo after a storm.
In an effort to retrieve the missing squirrels, they set up traps to capture the squirrels.
Later on the headlines:
"Huge Success: 38 squirrels out of 30 missing were captured.".
#3
My high school English teacher was convinced this girl had plagiarized, but couldn't prove it. As a result she contacted a couple of the colleges this girl was applying to and told them she had plagiarized. Fast forward to two weeks. The teacher is giving us an assignment with a "sample paper" that had earned her an A when she was in college. A couple girls entered it into the reverse search and found out the teacher had plagiarized the paper in the first place. We went to the principal and she had to confess to all of the students (she cried and cried). It was one of the only times I've ever felt good about seeing someone cry.
Cause-and-effect is not an abstract idea, there is actual research behind why a small action can have unintended ripple effects.
Sociologist Robert Merton’s study on unanticipated consequences can help explain why these everyday stories make so much sense.
He believes that actions often have results which are not anticipated by us, and the cause is mostly driven by factors such as ignorance, error or immediate self-interest.
For example, sometimes taking a wrong turn on the road or being late for work can actually save your life when you later find out that there has been an accident on your usual route.
#4
Brother-in-law went to purchase beer from local store. Finds a case of beer and brings it to the counter. He's young-looking, so they card him. The cashier hands back the card, and tells him the total, "27." My brother-in-law responds "No, 25." The cashier changes the price to $25. My brother-in-law accidentally thought the cashier was asking his age, and corrected him. And the cashier thought my brother-in-law was correcting the price. He said it with such confidence that the cashier gave him the discount without another word :D
#5
7th grade. Faked sick to stay home from school and my mom gave my some Advil. Turns out I had developed an allergy to Advil (and any ibuprofen), and my face/throat swelled up. My mom was out and couldn't make it home, so my neighbor had to take me to the hospital to get a Benadryl shot. That was nice.
Karma for faking sick? Maybe. Did I do it again during high school? You betcha.
#6
A girl I was sleeping with told me she was pregnant with my baby. I told her I was infertile (I'm not) so it couldn't be mine. She admitted she was sleeping with a couple of other guys too and it turns out she wasn't actually pregnant, she was just trying to trap someone.
I saw her at the mall a year later with what I assume to be one of the other guys and a new born... poor sap.
Nils Skirnir 2 hours ago
Reminds me of my ex. After our first I got a vasectomy. 3 years later she got pregnant again. I’d had the foresight to be tested after the vasectomy and was firing nowt but blanks. Ended up that she’d had a long running liaison with one of my friends. It’s good for the kid too as his real father has a few genetic anomalies like early baldness and susceptibility for testicular cancer. So that prepared him.
#7
Some years ago in Phoenix, Woman A stole the purse of Woman B from a shopping cart. Within a half hour, Woman A began slamming the credit card at a nearby mall. While still going store to store, she was descended on by an army of agents and officers. It turns out that Woman B was on the FBI Most Wanted list. Not only was the thief arrested in glorious fashion - but her information was used to capture the fugitive within the day.
Some effects can be positive, but sometimes a small mistake can also lead to big setbacks — like oversleeping because your alarm did not go off, causing you to miss an important meeting.
Experts believe that even proper planning and assessing all kinds of risks cannot account for every possible outcome. There are always hidden variables and unpredictable paths, labeled as “unknown unknowns.”
For example, even when you leave your house at your usual time every day, a massive pile-up can block your route eventually delaying you at work.
These kinds of events are sometimes also referred to as “black swans” — events that are unpredictable “because they lie outside the realm of usual experience.”
#8
Needed a day off work so I claimed I had food poisoning from the dinner I ate with colleagues the night before. So the lie didn't backfire I had to stick with the story and told the same thing to whoever asked, including those colleagues. When I emailed work saying why I wasn't in, just under half the people i ate with claimed to be feeling unwell that day too and agreed we should never revisit that restaurant. Two of them even went home that afternoon due to ill stomachs. There was nothing wrong with me or the food.
#9
One day in high school our teacher got sick, so they sent a substitute. It was hard not to notice that he had a giant squint.
One moment, he stopped lecturing and said: "You! Throw out that chewing gum".
FOUR students stood up to do it.
#10
I called in sick to work when I was in high school, and the next time I saw my manager, she had called off for like 3 days, blaming me for making her ill... I was faking, all my symptoms were made up.
#11
So one day many years ago, I'm sitting down at dinner with the rest of my family when the phone rings. My Dad casually answers the phone with a "Hello, Sergeant!" and glares at my brother. Now, my Dad is an EMT in town, and he's very friendly with most of the local police and fire/ambulance volunteers. My newly 18 brother upon hearing my Dad answer the phone turns to my Mom and says, "Mom, I'm really sorry but last night I got pulled over and got a speeding ticket". A moment after this my Dad hangs up the phone, and explains it was just an army recruiter looking to get in touch with my brother. My Mom explains to my Dad what just happened, many laughs were had, and my brother had his license taken away for a bit.
Some of these stories can also be explained through the chaos theory which says that even tiny causes can set off a chain reaction.
One of the popular examples is Play-Doh. Manufactured by a soap company in the 1930s, it was originally meant to clean coal dust off wallpaper. But kids turned it into a creative toy, eventually forcing the company to rework it. Now, it is being used by millions of children around the globe. The manufacturer probably imagined a hundred ways the material could be used, but never this.
The chaos theory basically reminds us to always expect the unexpected, even in simple or predictable situations. There are a lot of variables at play, it is impossible to fully know how things will turn out and also because, life is full of surprises.
#12
My dad worked at a lab in Germany for a year during college and helped write an article for some German science journal. When he later got back to the US, he took a course for medical terminology in German for some easy credit. On the final they had to translate some articles from abroad... one of the articles was the one my dad co-authored.
#13
I got pulled over in a parking lot for reckless driving when i was 17 or 18. I received an ultimatum from the officer after getting screamed at. I would either be written a ticket or the cop himself would come to my house and talk to my parents about my driving. I chose going without a ticket, since I'd already gotten 1 or 2 before then. I knew I'd be in worse trouble if I didn't confess. I called my mom and told her, which resulted in a severe punishment.
Turns out my parents already had plans that night so they didn't even get home until late. I still don't know if that cop showed up, however my friend saw an officer leave the development.
TL;DR ratted myself out for reckless driving to my parents before the police officer did. parents never came home.
#14
This happened about a decade ago. Hanging with friends around a Bon-fire when I drunkenly decide to be jealous and obnoxious towards my bf of that time. We get into a huge fight bc I'm being really jealous about one of his coworkers and will not back down from my argument that he should not have her phone number in his contact book (oh young stupid love). Well, I storm off into the woods cursing, he is following, while everyone else is by the fire drinking. In the middle of him trying to console me, we hear a loud POP sound and people screaming, panicking. We run back to the fire and some people are screaming, some are crying and some are just looking dumbfounded. Turns out, one of the guys put a huge branch on top of the fire and was standing and then jumping on this branch to break it. Well, it broke, he fell into the fire and covered everyone with hot coal and molten plastic (from his clothes)! Everyone around yhe fire was burned in some way or another. And he was covered in first and second degree burns on his back am legs. My sister had burns all the way up the front of her legs to her lower thigh and her left foot has a scar where a coal must have set and burned her. Pretty much everyone at the party was burned besides my boyfriend and myself.
**TLDR: My drunken jealousy saved me and my boyfriend from possibly getting burned during a party**.
#15
An ex-boss of mine was a key player in the implementation of ACH deposits for paychecks at Westinghouse back in the mid 80's. The morning this new and exciting payroll perk was announced, he had dozens of distraught Westinghouse old-timers lined up outside his office. It seems these men had all worked at Westinghouse for decades and never told their wives they ever got a raise (or at least very much downplayed their year over year salary bumps). Sheer panic had set in.
#16
That reminded me of a day in my seventh grade English class. Someone made an envelope out of a page of paper, wrote take one on it, and put sticks of gum in it. It was passed around to the entire class.
The teacher saw a person or two chewing gum, and said something to the effect of "You guys know it's against school policy. Throw the gum out now and avoid trouble." The entire class gets up and tosses out their gum. The teacher was very surprised. The look on her face was priceless.
#17
In my general bio class the professor gave us a take home quiz and told us to treat it just as if it was in class. No books, internet, or collaborating. A couple days later he asked that anybody that had cheated come to his office to talk to him and they could figure something out but if they didn't confess and he found out they cheated they would be really sorry. Around 50 people ended up going in and admitting to cheating on the quiz. He really had no way of knowing if anybody had cheated but he was the department head and had a big influence in writing the committee letter for pre-professional students and nobody wanted to risk pissing him off.
#18
I was playing video games in the back of my world history class in 10th grade, I hear the teacher call my name, so I walk up and hand them my ds. They were asking me for field trip money I said I'd bring that day. We just had a staring contest for a minute before I said "wait. Here's the money.".
#19
Not me but my girlfriend probably about 4 years ago. She was supposed to go to work, but wanted to come see me. I told her no constantly to go to work, but to no avail she came and saw me. She told her boss that she couldn't come because she was in a car accident. guess what happened a week later when we were driving to her house....
#20
Something similar to this happened my freshman year of college. After a writing assignment in an English class the professor came in and turned his back to all the students. He stated that someone in the class has blatantly plagiarized on their paper and he demanded that after class that person come meet with him in his office to discuss the matter. If the person showed up then he would be lenient with their punishment. I noticed everyone's eyes get wide and dart to each other. I knew I didn't plagiarize so after class I gathered my things and headed out of the building. On my way past the professors office I noticed a line of 20 students waiting to see him.
Zig Zag Wanderer 2 hours ago (edited)
SomeONE in the class has plagiarised. And 20 students don't realise that 19 others are waiting in line? Either made up, or his peers are very stupid.
#21
I was on a plane once, and we were preparing to taxi. They had already asked several times that we all turn our phones off. The pilot then comes on the intercom and says "Our equipment is showing that there are still 3 cell phones turned on in the aircraft." The guy next to me freaked out and frantically did a battery pull on his phone. Such nonsense. Very effective, though.
#22
Similar: big career deciding theoretical electrical engineering exam. Everyone was lazy during the semester, so everyone was sweating apart from a few that actually did well. Half way through the prof exclaims "may the young man in the back who's reading off his cheat sheet please stand up and hand in his work." before everyone could turn their heads two guys were standing up.
#23
Back in high school our cell phones were suppose to be turned off and put away in our locker. This emo girl decided "to pass out" in the washroom..that was like the third time she pulled that stunt to get out of class..ambulance and all..after she was found the teacher ran back to the class and asked if anyone had a cell phone on them to call 911 and that we would not get in trouble..out of 15 girls 10 of them pulled their cells outta their pockets.
#24
I once worked for a single owner business where the owner was a complete jerk. That wasn’t too bad, I didn’t mind him being a total jerk. He’d often make fun of people and I’d laugh with him. But then he screwed me on a commissions check. He said that since he was the guy who introduced me to the client I didn’t deserve the commission.
So I started stealing from him. From *him* not the business. He was the kind of guy that kept a ton of personal things at work. So I started taking a cigar or three here, a bottle of booze there. He’d catch it and get pissed off and would rant at me and then be a bigger jerk to everyone.
Then, one time, he was a total jerk and was threatening to dock everyone’s pay for it. That night I took it all. All his booze, all his cigars. His diamond watch, a 1911 with two mags he had in his desk. And more things I can’t remember. I think I even took the roll away desk and the his chair as well as the video camera he has on his bookshelf to film his room.
Next day he sends out a notice to everyone that he knows who had been stealing from the company. He had film. And if they would come forward he’d not have them arrested. Half the office confessed to stealing from the business.
So he bluffed and caught ½ the office.
Tobias Reaper 2 hours ago (edited)
and the award for the thing that didn't happen the most goes to
#25
I was sitting in a class at boot camp when the company commander (CC) snuck in and started trying to catch someone doing something stupid.
I had noticed him, and was starting to doze off. The CC slammed his fist down on the desk of the guy behind me and yelled, "WAKE THE HELL UP!!"
Three people, myself included, bolted straight up and apologized. We all had to pull double watch for two nights =-/.
Nils Skirnir 2 hours ago
Those classes were hell. Seems like they should’ve been heaven. Chairs, fans, open windows, cool, etc. But it was a trap as we were so exhausted that as soon as we’d stop moving, we’d fall asleep
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Tobias Reaper 2 hours ago
they should change the title of this to that happened because these totally happened and are not made up
Tobias Reaper 2 hours ago
they should change the title of this to that happened because these totally happened and are not made up
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