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62 Times Everyday Strangers Dropped All Social Norms And Just Did Whatever The Heck They Wanted
It’s extremely easy for life to become dull and mundane. Humans are creatures of habit, so once you settle into a routine, it might take a lot of effort to break it. But if you’ve noticed that your daily commute to the office is mind-numbingly boring, or you’re tired of having the same conversations with your partner every day, we encourage you to start looking around more. Because you never know what you’ll see…
Redditors have been recalling the strangest things they’ve ever witnessed a stranger do in public, so we’ve gathered their best stories below. From exhibiting bizarre behavior to completing random acts of kindness, there’s no question that other people are unpredictable. So enjoy reading through these tales, and be sure to upvote the ones that will inspire you to look up from your phone while riding on the bus!
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#1
On my subway commute to work, I stood right by the doors because my exit was two stops away. The first stop came, the doors opened, and a man walked in, looked me in the eye, said, "My memory foam mattress remembers too much," and continued into the train car without further explanation.
That was two years ago...and like his mattress, I still remember...
RELATED:
#2
I saw a man stop in the middle of a cross walk, examine two leaves he was holding, throw one away with disgust, and eat the other leaf.
Upstaged75 15 hours ago (edited)
Just today I was driving my mom to an appointment and there was a grown man skipping down the sidewalk while carrying 2 stuffed animals. Mom and I looked at each other like WTAF? Hey, if it makes him happy to skip more power to him! 😊
#3
Reading these comments reminds me of the time I got the bus home after a huge night of drinking.
As soon as I got on the bus I realised it was peak hour. There was people in business attire sitting next to me, while I smelt of boxed wine in the clothes I wore yesterday
I sat there eating yoghurt with my fingers and it was only when I saw someone's reaction, that it dawned on me,
I was the weirdest thing they saw that day.
KatSaidThat 5 hours ago
They should get the first train out of brixton/camden/soho on a saturday/sunday morning if it's weird they want.
#4
I saw a woman on the train file her nails. In between filing each nail she would lick the file clean.
*shudder*.
KatSaidThat 5 hours ago
People should not be allowed to trim anything on their body on public transport.
#5
Saw a man wearing shirt with the word “Legend” printed on the front sit down on a park bench, pull out a wheel of Camembert cheese and proceed to eat the entire thing in a few bites. Then stand up and be on his way. A true legend.
Multa Nocte (she/her/86 47) 10 hours ago
That reminds me. Yesterday I was at the nearest weekly marché and bought some goat cheese, which I love and I can share with my cats. It turns out that the lady selling the cheese lives very close to us and if we want, she said we can go and help her walk her goats, which she does every afternoon when she takes them from one field to another. I am pretty psyched!
#6
I was traveling with my mom when i was 18. we were in vatican city and i watched an elderly man with a beautiful yellow scarf do a handstand against a wall in st. peter's basilica, then get up, brush his hands off, and walk away. it was awesome.
#7
Two strangers. but anyway, I was hanging around in downtown seattle when I saw this kid, probably in his early 20s, wearing all black with chains and tattoos and the like, challenge an old man to a chess duel. He just kind of walked up to him and did it, and i watched them play chess (with one of those big chess sets that goes on the sidewalk) for like half an hour waiting for the bus. They didn’t appear to know each other at all. It was great, I think the old man won but I didn’t stick around for the end of it.
ABC NrEleven FCK CENSORISM 31 minutes ago
Years ago, I was on the way to an appointment. In front of a library, an old-school punk saw me and super cheerfully went "heya gal, how are you? Hope you're having a great day! Fancy a game of chess?" - "I'm sorry, I'd love to, but I have an appointment and I can't be late" - "oh what a shame! People nowadays always have appointments, meetings, stuff to attend - nobody got any free time anymore! Ah, anyways, wish you a great day, enjoy the sun!" - I would have looooved to play some chess with him, I'm sure he's got a ton of stories to tell <3
#8
Just yesterday, I saw a guy walking down the street, with a glass of beer. (Consumption of alcohol in public spaces is illegal here for the record.) Another stranger walking the opposite direction approaches him,
"Hey, give me your beer, here's some cash, go buy me a beer and buy yourself one too."
First stranger obliges, gives this man his beer, and goes off with the money to buy some beer. By the time he's back, 2nd guy is finished the beer, 1st guy hands a glass to 2nd guy, and they both go their separate ways. Was pretty amusing.
#9
I was walking through the town I live in a few years ago, and some guy was walking just ahead of me looking like Hagrid from Harry Potter, in a long brown wool coat and long hair and beard, and he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a plant, with roots and everything, dropping soil everywhere. He looks down, repots the plant in his pocket, and reaches into the other side pocket for his wallet. Since then I've been totally in awe of him and I often wonder what he was growing in his coat.
#10
Not weird per se, but funny nonetheless.
She was walking along the beach with a sandwich in one hand, and was throwing rocks into the ocean with the other.
My friends and I watched as she YEETED the sandwich into the sea and stood there shaking her head in disappointment.
#11
You know those sticks that dog walkers use to throw the tennis ball further? I saw a guy just throw the whole thing, with a ball attached. Dude did it twice.
Heather Menard 15 hours ago
I have done it. The ball doesn't come out for some reason and inertia takes over
#12
When I was a child I was with my grandma on the beach and a man who would have been in his 30s was looking under rocks for crabs.
Totally normal thing to do... He was dressed well and gave off no weird vibes.
He found a huge crab and with no hesitation picked it up from under the rock with one hand, unzipped his pants with the other and just dropped it into his underwear. He then let out a massive scream in agony and ran away down the beach.
#13
An old bald man on the train in full lycra who ate a whole 1kg bag of raw potatoes.
#14
At a concert, sitting behind an extremely sunburnt man. I watched him peel off a sheet of his burnt skin and then eat it, as if it was a perfectly normal thing to do.
#15
I had a FedEx guy bend over and eat mushrooms out of my front yard before getting back in the truck and driving off. I wonder if he's still alive. I actually have it on video.
#16
Lady in the airport, nicely dressed. She vomited in the middle of a walkway and just ... kept right on walking, perfectly composed, hardly even broke her stride. As if throwing up on the floor of a crowded public space was just another task to tick off on her list.
Edit: no people, I didn't expect her to just like conjure up a pack of paper towels and clean it up, but her total nonchalance about it seared it into my memory. Also had horrific nausea while pregnant and threw up in many unexpected places, but pretty sure I never pulled it off without so much as missing a step.
KatSaidThat 5 hours ago
I threw up early one Sunday morning in the doorway of Nike Town. Then looked up and apologised to the cameras, kept moving down the street. It was my birthday, we got up early to go clubbing (Oxford Street) but I had serious reflux so went home to sleep it off a bit. Joined the others later again.
#17
Idk why but a lot of weird things happen around me even though I try and stay away from trouble.
Most recent thing was me going out to eat some pho and the guy next to me casually eating noodles with his glasses instead of chopsticks or a fork. Part of me wanted to ask him if he wanted me to get him a pair of chopsticks from the front in case he had a bad knee or something but like I said, I've learned that when weird things happen, to keep quiet and mind my own business.
#18
Old guy on the bus talking on his phone and when he got off his phone it was a bar of soap. When he left the bus he said to the driver "Thank you Captain" .
#19
One time I was on my way to a house inspection and witnessed a man laughing and talking to his chained up bicycle getting progressively angrier until he started screaming and fighting with said bicycle. It was my first introduction to weird city people.
#20
Once had a guy where I work frustrated about something I can’t remember, came to customer service to complain.
After about 10 mins of back and forth arguing he pulled superglue out of his pocket, squeezed some onto the counter, and promptly head-butted the desk. Didn’t even pause his rage.
Once he finally got prised off his eyebrows were still stuck to the desk. Cleaning lady had to come and scrape em off.
#21
There is a coffee shop located In the building I work in. When it was time to close (midnight) I was told a guy was sleeping in the coffee shop. I woke him up and told him I was going to lock the doors and he had to leave. He stood up and opened a bottle of water and poured it on his jeans on his calf. I said “what are you doing?” Meaning like hey you’re getting water all over the floor wth and he just politely said “that’s how they work man” and then left. It still confused the hell out of me.
Edit: He was mid 40s, Canadian tuxedo with a black north face over it and brown leather boots, kinda chubby.
Bi.Felicia 15 hours ago
A "Canadian tuxedo" is a colloquial slang term for wearing denim-on-denim—typically a denim jacket or jean shirt paired with matching jeans.
#22
In my University dorm, one girl ate the same thing every meal.
She would eat sliced bread. Start at the middle and eat until the crust but not eat it. So, she'd have an empty frame of intact bread crust.
Then she'd microwave lettuce and eat it.
#23
When I was a kid I saw a guy in church lick the entire cover of his hymn book, bottom to top, in one long stroke. I was maybe 10 and he was easily 40. It still haunts me to this day.
Edit: Because a few people have asked, no, he wasn’t looking at me. It wasn’t a perverted thing; I was behind and slightly to the side of him so he 10/10 didn’t know I was watching.
#24
I was hanging out in Washington square park by the fountain with my buddy. Hot summer day, people have their feet in the water and just relaxing. I kid you not, a guy comes up jogging, places his water bottle under the fountain and chugs it. Fills it again and jogs away. Me and buddy look at each other like "No Way Dude"!
Upstaged75 15 hours ago
FYI that park is in the middle of NYC. I can only imagine how dirty that water was!
#25
A women got in her car, took a big sip of a smoothie, then proceeded to open her mouth so her small dog could lap up the smoothie in her mouth.
#26
When I worked at PC World I had a customer come in and start browsing landline phones. She then got a call on her mobile phone so decided to take off her jacket and kick off her shoes, take off her socks and lay on the floor of the store whilst talking on her phone. After a while she put the phone down but continued to lay on the floor looking at all the types of landline phone. I ask if she needs a hand and she says she needs help. So I sat down on the floor with her and kicked off my shoes as well and had a good old chat all about landline phones. She ended up buying one with a extended warranty so management didn't care that I just sat on the floor with her.
#27
On the bus once, there was this guy who was shouting at his hand for going numb.
He then threatened his hand and told it that if it didn’t wake back up, he would smash a bottle of alcohol and stab it with the broken end.
I hope the hand filed a report against him.
MeowZedong 13 hours ago
I once saw a crazy lady yelling at her hand for stealing her money on a subway.
#28
I saw a lady top-to-bottom lick her phone to clean the screen. I also saw a dude lint roll his head once.
BeesEelsAndPups 12 hours ago
Okay, as a guy who shaves his head, when the stubble starts to grow in, your head turns into Velcro. Put on a sweater, and you will get lint. Not saying I've done the lint roller thing, but I do understand it
#29
I used to work the front desk at a big museum. We had three sets of double doors at the entrance and there were doorstops there to hold some of them open. One set of doorstops was wooden and on this particular day, they weren't being used so they were just in the corner out of the way.
I watched a woman and her toddler grandson walk in the museum. She pointed down at the wooden doorstops, he picked them up, and they walked out. Not a word was spoken and as far as I know, they never came back. Just took the doorstops and left.
#30
A guy wearing boxers running behind a car which he was chained to by the neck and the waist, he was being escorted by a couple of other cars while people cheered around him
I'm pretty sure there is a context to this , but I was just passing by the town and no one from there could tell me what it was all about.
#31
I saw an old man in a casino eat 40 or so peppermint candies. He would put 5 in his mouth or so then swallow then do it again. These were the ones you would have to suck on for an hour to get anywhere.
David Morgan 9 hours ago
Thats a horrible d***h-by-choking, just waiting to happen. A large, hard mass (they will stick together) being swallowed? Not advisable.
#32
Not my story, but one my dad told me. He goes to work very early in the morning, and one day he had stopped in a WaWa to get some coffee. While he was pouring his coffee, he noticed a guy who had already put Coffee in the cup and was now standing in front of the cream dispenser, rotating his entire body like he was hula hooping to mix it together.
#33
I saw a older Asian lady vomit in a plastic shopping bag while on a NYC bus. She tied it up and when we reached the next stop, she flung it out the window and it splattered all over the sidewalk.
#34
I was on the tube (subway) at like 10am on a Tuesday and saw a guy trying to eat his own flip flop...
KatSaidThat 3 hours ago
That guy was probably going home from vauxhall where clubs open at 4am. Well, they did BC (before Covid)... ask me how I know. (It's for service industry people who don't get weekends off)
#35
I went to Italy this summer. When I was in Venice, there was a weird lady in the street that strangely looked a lot like the pigeon lady in Home Alone.
She then proceeded to grab a pigeon that was walking around and put its head in her mouth. She didn’t chew or anything she just left the pigeon in her mouth for about 15 seconds.
I was with my mom and we both looked at each other in disbelief. It was an unusual experience.
#36
One time I was at Wal-Mart and this is by far the strangest thing I’ve seen at one.
I’m behind a lady at the check out. The last item was one zucchini but with a big bite taken out of it.
Cashier: Did you....bite this zucchini?
Stranger: (with a serious look on her face) No
Cashier: .....well do you still want it?
Stranger: Yeah just put it in the bag!
From where I was, I could still see the glimmer of saliva from the bite. But even if she was telling the truth, why the hell would you buy a zucchini someone else bit into?!
I still think about it today.
Edit: I can’t believe my most upvoted comment is about a bitten zucchini. Anyways, thanks Reddit for all your possible gonad related theories on why this lady did what she did. I wouldn’t expect less.
#37
Watched a guy on the sidewalk below the train platform bend down and casually put a pigeon in his pocket then walk away. Dinner is served I guess.
#38
I was on a first date with this guy and we went for a walk in a park. The path could easily fit three people wide, probably 4. He’s on the outside and I’m in the middle and there’s a lady further ahead, jogging toward us.
We start to move over to make sure there’s plenty of room for her to jog by.
We start moving over more, because she seems to be heading straight for us.
As she passes, she swings out her elbow and clocks me in the ribs.
I turned to look at her, and she’s giving me the dirtiest look.
I have no idea who she was and my date had no clue either. I still wonder if he was telling the truth, but he seemed pretty genuinely concerned and bewildered.
Edit: since so many people are asking. This was Canada. We were walking on the right side of the path and moved over to the right side. She was jogging on her right side of the path, and crossed over the “middle” to hit me.
Also, why didn’t I fight her? So there’s the fight, flight, or freeze reactions. I’m a freeze. This day proved it, the two other separate times I’ve been punched in the face by rando’s proves it. Want to randomly hit someone with no consequences? Hit me.
#39
I was once at a hotel in Greece. At the breakfast buffet one morning, I saw an incredibly overweight man enter, go to the continental section and take 12 bread rolls, 12 slices of ham and 12 slices of cheese.
He went and sat at a table, took a knife, and started cutting each roll open and buttering them. Then, one by one, he took a slice of ham and a slice of cheese, folded them up, and placed them inside the rolls. Each roll would then be wrapped up in a napkin and placed inside his bag.
Once he was finished, he went and got his breakfast.
#40
Had to stop the car because a man was crossing the road while walking on all fours and had his arm in a woman's boot that went up to his elbow. He stopped mid away across the road, waved to me and continued crossing the road. While on all fours he was like he was "walking" the boot as if it was an action figure or something.
Bi.Felicia 15 hours ago
😂🤣😭 I would have been laughing my àss off, while also a bit confused and curious, if I'm actually witnessing this guy "walking" with his boot?👢 Or???
#41
A guy on the subway once took a handful of loose nuts out of his pocket and offered me some...I declined.
Loosey Goosey 5 hours ago
When I was in New York a guy sang What A Wonderful World all the way through. He even did the "ooh...yeahhh" at the end. I was the only one who seemed to find this strange as no-one else even looked up. I guess it was just another day for the locals.
#42
On the Expo line in LA a man sat down across from me. I watched as he pulled out a Ziplock bag of spaghetti and ate it with his hands, getting about half of it into his mouth (the rest all over him and the floor). When he was finished eating (with spaghetti sauce still all over his hands) he then pulled out a bottle of lotion and drenched himself in it. He finishes up by pulling a sock out of his pocket and uses it as a napkin. He throws the empty bag, bottle, and sock on the floor and wanders off the train at the next stop.
I've seen more inappropriate things on the train but that was probably the weirdest.
#43
I was in a 7-11 in a decent neighborhood and saw a guy in his 60s (I think) wearing a purple polo shirt and a diaper...and that's it.
#44
All the asian people who snack on whole heads of lettuce they somehow sneak into disney? Its happened more than once and always asian tourists else i would think it was one weird group but its happened multiple times...
#45
Saw a guy in NY with a perfectly good yankee hat on, go into lids and buy the same exact hat. He then put the new one on and just threw away the one he was wearing. Might’ve been the most New York thing I’ve ever seen in my life.
Elladine DesIsles 14 hours ago
I'm thinking sports fan good luck ritual, perhaps the Yankees had just lost a big game and needed some new mojo?
#46
Close tie between seeing a group of Europeans on top of a small mountain in an old castle in CT taking family photos holding a watermelon like a child, and seeing an older Asian man touch tongues with his 5/6 year old daughter. The world is a strange place.
#47
I was at college once and me and another student were sitting in the lunch area outside and this trench coat weirdo with a huge milspec backpack walked into the middle on his own, opened up a fresh bottle of diet coke and then just necked it in one, without burping. He then repeated this with another bottle, got up and left. I haven't been the same since.
#48
I came back from a library all nighter at uni, to find my neighbour in her pj's starting a bbq at 6am. She then proceeded to cook about 20 sausages.
Was that odd I sort of stood blankly watching her do it, whilst wondering if I was sleep deprived tripping or if this was actually real.
Took a photo and went to sleep, was still equally bizarre once I had slept.
Upstaged75 14 hours ago
I did a lot of weird stuff in college too. It's the one time in your left where that sort of thing is somewhat acceptable. 😂
#49
My office has huge windows out to the public patio and we are on the first floor. It's a mirrored finish on the outside and for some reason people think nobody can see them. I once saw a lady on the phone walking around admiring the planter bed, then she puts her purse down on the planter, looks around and picks up a large river rock and put it in her purse and walk away.
Beak Hookage 8 hours ago
Maybe she was planning to clobber someone with her purse later on and steal their wallet.
#50
Theirs a guy in my town that goes swimming and walks home in flip flops and trunks. Which is alright in the summer but I’ve seen him in straight up blizzards before.
#51
This man came downstairs from his apartment over a shop with a box of macaroni and cheese. He then put the mac and cheese on top of a parking meter and proceded to dance with it. After he was done his dance, he kind of bowed to it and went back upstairs leaving it on the meter. An offering to the gods?
#52
Someone going through TSA security with two roombas and nothing else. One Roomba per bin of course.
#53
A woman dual wielding two gallons of milk in a public library. She was actively drinking from one at the time I saw this and it bewildered me.
#54
Used to work in Camden, there's a local lady who will walk down the high street with her plastic stool, and set it up in the middle of the pavement; sit on it and knit. She wears all her own knitted clothing, and if she catches anyone's eye that walks past she'll shout at them.
Upstaged75 14 hours ago
We have a homeless lady in DC who cleans the same square of sidewalk near an intersection over and over again. She sweeps, then she pours some sort of cleaner on it and scrubs. Then she rinses it with a bucket of water and starts all over again. She's been doing it daily for years now. Very sad. She obviously has some sort of untreated mental illness.
#55
I worked at a radio station & was doing a remote at a car dealership. A woman walked up to us wearing a shirt, an apron type skirt (no back) and men’s boots...and nothing else. She had spray paint all around her mouth and kept asking to buy the ‘special car’. It freaked me out.
#56
Was walking up Buchanan Street in Glasgow and I walked by this guy who was walking as slow as a snail, like almost slow motion. Might have been for an arty thing but it was pretty weird in a fast busy crowd.
#57
Saw someone watering the tree in their front lawn with a watering can at midnight. There was a massive storm about 20 minutes later.
You could see it coming while he was watering the tree.
#59
A man sat on my front door step about a year ago and was banging his head against the door whilst scratching at the wood with his nails. I had no idea who he was or why he chose my door to have an episode at. He moaned occasionally. He stayed there for about two hours. I was understandably a little unnerved by his behaviour.
Then he got up and wandered off. Never saw him again.
#60
Saw a homeless midget with hair as long as he was riding on the back of a Great Dane. He was legitimately patrolling traffic at a reasonably busy intersection for at least a week for no apparent reason. Maybe the actual thing that is weirder is how everybody seemed to follow suit as if it was normal protocol.
Upstaged75 14 hours ago
Midget is a derogatory/offensive term. You should use dwarf or little person instead.
#61
A guy in a bar asked if I wanted an oyster, I said yes.
He then reached down to a backpack that was full of oysters on ice, shucked a few, pulled out hot sauce from a side pocket. We tapped our shells together and ate some oysters.
#62
Saw a group of Spaniards on the subway in NYC who’d bought some m&m’s from a kid who was selling them and then they proceed to have a ball tossing them up into the air and catching them with their mouths. We arrive at their stop and they don’t realize it until the doors are about to close so they jump up and run to the door but one of them was just about to make a toss. He missed, it bounced off his face, fell to the floor, and rolled about ten feet away so on his way to the door, he quickly picked it up and popped it into his mouth and exited.
I then turned to the woman sitting next to me who’d been putting on her elaborate eye makeup for the whole ride and said “did you see that?” And right as she was saying “yeah, so gross” I noticed that the underside of her fingernails were so covered in black grime it looked like she might have been homeless.
Edit: I see people cutting their toenails often enough that I’m desensitized to it.
What do you think ?
David Morgan 9 hours ago
There are a LOT of mentally-divergent people in the world, and it's only because we have things like broadcast news and the internet that we are realising quite how many of them there are. Some are ill, some are damaged, some just don't realise how their behaviour is seen by other people - I think every single one of us has a behaviour that someone somewhere would think was bizarre or unpleasant, it's just that we haven't met them and heard that other perspective.
KatSaidThat 3 hours ago
It takes a fair amount for Londoners to stop and stare at weird stuff. We see so much of what outsiders think is weird so often, it takes someone else's reaction for it to come into our periphery. 😆
BookFanatic 4 hours ago
It was weird to me at the time (I realize that's on me) but when I met my first crossdresser I was absolutely fascinated. I was in my 20s (yes, I was VERY sheltered as an 80s kid) and we had quite the discussion on the best types of nail polish and where to buy cute skirts.
David Morgan 9 hours ago
There are a LOT of mentally-divergent people in the world, and it's only because we have things like broadcast news and the internet that we are realising quite how many of them there are. Some are ill, some are damaged, some just don't realise how their behaviour is seen by other people - I think every single one of us has a behaviour that someone somewhere would think was bizarre or unpleasant, it's just that we haven't met them and heard that other perspective.
KatSaidThat 3 hours ago
It takes a fair amount for Londoners to stop and stare at weird stuff. We see so much of what outsiders think is weird so often, it takes someone else's reaction for it to come into our periphery. 😆
BookFanatic 4 hours ago
It was weird to me at the time (I realize that's on me) but when I met my first crossdresser I was absolutely fascinated. I was in my 20s (yes, I was VERY sheltered as an 80s kid) and we had quite the discussion on the best types of nail polish and where to buy cute skirts.
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