From how we dress and what we eat to how we talk and even what we allow ourselves to feel; we humans need to internalize a lot of rules if we are to properly function in our societies.
But as you probably know, it can be tricky to rationalize if our actions are acceptable or not.
Recently, Reddit user IPlayBongos was browsing the platform when they came across the question "What feels illegal, but isn't?" in one of the subreddits they follow. "I can't remember which one now, but it was a post that had ... one funny answer (I think it was ... about feeling guilty to leave a supermarket without buying anything.)," they told Bored Panda.
"I thought there must be so many other things that feel this way in life so I just went to r/AskReddit to see what people can come up with."
IPlayBongos reposted the same question there and it instantly caught the eye of the 35.6M-big community. So even though it's not technically an original idea, the Redditor did correctly identify the immense potential of entertainment it possessed. And we're really glad they decided to seek more replies because of the nearly 9K comments IPlayBongos has received, many pinpointed the exact circumstances our moral ambiguity kicks in.
Since we at Bored Panda had such a blast going through the discussion, we decided to compile the most interesting ones and bring you in on the fun too. Enjoy!
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A hundred-billion-dollar corporation paying absolutely zero in taxes whilst also owning several billion-dollar businesses.
Bringing your baby home from the hospital the first time. I remember thinking “they’re really going to let me just walk out of here with this fragile infant and no experience?!”
"I would say most of the answers were driven by some expectations that should be fulfilled by some societal measures, but it somehow feels wrong if they are not," IPlayBongos said. "Like in the supermarket example above, it just feels strange to go inside a store and not buy anything because if you leave empty-handed it feels awkward to just pass by the cashier and simply say bye to them or to just slip out around so many paying customers."
Or consider another scenario: you're talking to colleagues during a coffee break and your boss rolls around. "Even if he doesn't say anything and you're perfectly ok joking around on your break, it somehow reminds you of your duties and the fun dies down."
"One of the top comments was a guy who uses a wheelchair, but still can stand up if needed," IPlayBongos added. "It makes perfect sense to use a wheelchair even if you're not completely disabled, but maybe it's also the fault of pop culture and the infinite gags about faking a disability that we feel like wheelchairs are strictly for people with serious disabilities and others are fakes."
The Redditor said it was actually one answer that they did not expect to hear and that is precisely why they like the platform. "There's always someone who faces completely different challenges than you and it is eye opening [to hear about them]," IPlayBongos said.
Asking someone for the money you lent to him/her.
My dear old dad used to say not to lend more money than you're willing to lose. Solid advice, I don't lend money to anyone besides my mom. I never expect her to pay me back because she's mom and has only ever asked twice to borrow money.
It feels illegal getting out of my wheelchair. I’m not paralyzed but it helps to have a wheelchair, but people always think I’m faking a disability when I get out of my chair.
Your employer will tell you you're not allowed to discuss your wages but legally you are and you cannot be fired for it
It may be legal to discuss your wages with fellow employees, but I bet you're two to one if you do it and you tell your boss that they'll figure out a way to fire you.
U.S legislators are allowed to trade stock in and sit on boards of private companies while passing legislation affecting those companies.
Walking out of a store without buying smth
Yep. I would just kinda anxiously nod at security at the exit and fear they'll stop me, thinking I might've shoplifted something. :')
Driving next to a cop at the speed limit
Or in front of. Heck, I get nervous driving behind them because I had a cop use his rear speed radar and some questionable and unsafe driving tactics to goad me into speeding, just long enough for him to drop behind me then pull me over. He ultimately fined me for doing 70 in a 60, saying he could've nailed me for 75. Judge threw it out in court after hearing about his shenanigans on the highway. Apparently he had a habit of using unorthodox and unsafe maneuvers to trick people into breaking a traffic law just so he could ticket them. I still had to pay admin fees but that was nothing compared to the $300 fine itself.
Being a 30-something male and taking your 4 yr old niece to a kid's live musical. My partner and I took my niece to the Frozen live musical today. Because we purchased tickets at late notice, I had to take a seat in the row behind my (female)partner and my niece. The stares I was getting from the other audience members because I was a dude sitting by myself at a kid's musical... I felt like I should've been in prison.
9/10 though would do it again, the Frozen musical was great!
Sitting at the restaurant, not liking the menu, and leaving.
German restaurants usually have the menu posted outside so you can read it before you enter - don't you have this in the US? It saves everyone a lot of trouble, especially if you are vegetarian.
Coughing in public places
Big companies buying up a whole bunch of housing in some city and renting it out to visitors.
Not liking dogs. People treat it as the worst thing in the world if you aren't deathly allergic and just don't like dogs.
Having fun at work. Your boss walks around the corner and everybody scatters in the most totally not suspicious way.
Bringing reusable grocery bags to a different grocery store than the one the bags are branded as.
I feel completely the opposite - I am always worried that they will ask me to pay for it again if I use it in the shop it came from. No problem with one from another store :).
Card counting in a casino. It’s totally legal within the law, but the security and management will make you feel like a criminal for doing it.
They would be banning you from doing math in your own head, right? Loads of dystopian sci fi novels tell me that's "thought policing."
Purchasing an item with no bag, and leaving the shop with it under your arm
Watching a video on your phone at full volume in a public place, I've done this a few times on accident and I wanted to crawl out of my skin and [pass away].
Taking time off work always feels illegal. Even if it's paid time off I've earned.
The first time driving a car after you've got your license
I have my licence for more than 28 years now and it STILL feels weird.
My dad had a tendency to go to a store and eat and drink off the shelves. Then go pay for the wrapper at the end. Always thought we'd get arrested for that.
This technically is actually illegal. Until you pay for the goods, you do not own them and the shop owner/manager has the right to withdraw any goods from sale. By eating or drinking the produce before you pay for them you are taking away the owner/manager's right to exercise control of their goods.
Walking into a store with a mask on, your hood up, all with sunglasses
This is not illegal but it is shady, First the mask thing is nothing, everyone is wearing or not wearing masks right now, However when you walk into a store with your hood up and sunglasses on inside a store it possibly could put the staff on notice that you - might - be there to steal. I know it's not fair but they don't know you, they've never met you so they have to go with their instincts.
Going to a concert after covid. After the last 2 years of avoiding crowds and people it just feels wrong.
What do they mean "after" covid?... it's still happening... one of my coworkers has been living her life like normal even after mask mandates were lifted... she just tested positive smh...
Yeah, as a person with a compromised immune system, the lifting of the mask mandate is terrifying! If I catch COVID, I will die. I’ve started having panic attacks when I need to leave the house, just because people seem to have collectively decided that the pandemic is “over”!
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Get back to this question after a year or two. We are still not 'after' Covid. Media doesn't like to talk about it anymore, but it doesn't mean the virus went away. Just take a look at Shanghai right now.
I work in an intensive care unit so I know it's still around. But I hear you Chris D.
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It may never go away completely. Everyone who wants the vaccine has gotten it. Everything is open, and everywhere is busy. The real threat is hospitalization, which is below a normal flu season here in the US. Most people with positive tests are asymptomatic, or with maybe bad cold symptoms. Yes, it's still there, yes people may get sick. Shanghai is an outlier, and IMO, the result of overdoing the lockdown. Clearly thats not working for them. Went to the O's opening game, full house of 43000, and no outbreak. We have to live our lives.
Easy for the not-immunocompromised to say. Eh **** them huh
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I WORK at concerts. BIG concerts. In FLORIDA. So now I'm just constantly sick, for freedom, yay.
I'm still uncomfortable going anywhere with other people without a mask. Haven't eaten in a restaurant since Feb 2020.
Covid is just the new flu, its never going away but its not what some people make it out to be. I have gotten covid multiple limes, both of my 40 year old parents have gotten covid and are fine, both of my 70 year old grandparents got covid and are fine, even my 98 year old great grandmother got covid and was fine.
And my brother died! He was in his 40 too, what do I do with this now? Immunocompromised people like me f**k them right?! WTF
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After Covid 🙄 Some of us are still trapped indoors shielding over two years on and my carers company have just had an explosion of Covid positive carers, six at the same time positive. It's still here and will be for a long time 😔
It will take us all a long while to reincorporate ourselves back into a self or normality following this pandemic. I believe many people will feel a bit surreal back in normal society situations sans masks.
I can tell you that it doesn't take long at all. When most precautions were lifted, in around a week or two, everybody acted like nothing ever happened.
Load More Replies... In the 90s, I was a bartender and the cast of Sesame Street Live came in. They were a blast so I invited them to a house party the next night. They were a blast and we called them by their character names all night. They were at our house until 4am and we drank a lot, smoked a lot, sniffed a lot and a few were on Molly. They had to be at the venue at 7am. They reserved tickets for my roommate and I. Next morning roommate was so hungover, he stayed home. I showed up. Our seats were front row center and it was me a 30 year old man sitting by an empty seat front row at Sesame Street Live. I kept telling people my niece was really sick, but made me come so I could tell her everything. It gets worse. They pulled me on stage for the Trash Can Dance. There I was hungover as f**k on stage at Sesame Street Live. They were talking to me because no one could hear them over the music. It was HILARIOUS! Such a great time and I love telling the story.
This is NOT after Covid - this is life WITH Covid. Learn it people, Covid isn't going any where soon.
At the airport today. Mask mandates were just dropped. Holy cow it looks wired. Waiting to get reprimanded!
I went to an Ice Nine Kills/ Motionless in White concert a couple weeks ago. It was definitely weird being shoulder to shoulder with people, especially with no mask! Great concert though; good times!
Ughhh I wanted to go to a Trinity of terror concert soon bad
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Well, I went to cinema after two years... people just have to be vaccinated and wear masks, but still...
I am SOOOOO glad concerts are back!!! Doesn't feel wrong to me at all!
Still going on, I doubt there will be a world without COVID...still glad to go to live concerts again
Was it wrong before covid? Of course not. Is it wrong now? Of course not. Living in the South, our quarantine mandates only lasted about 3 months. Its called personal responsibility,and our state governments made sure we could exercise that right. Hell,.most states didn't enforce the lockdowns and mask mandates. If you want to quarantine, by all means, quarantine. That's your right. Same with masks and distancing. You do you. But just know, the science is pretty clear that the lockdowns did more harm than good. Look at the results from Florida vs California or New York. Florida was better off in every measure. What the studies can't measure though, is the long-term effects, such as your anxiety of going out and enjoying your life. Go live your life. Don't wait for the governmemt to give you permission to do so. That will never happen as the government never ever gives up control.
Getting a haircut from someone other than your regular hairdresser
Pulling your pants down when you have 2 pairs of pants
Note: this post originally had 50 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
Changing your daughter's diaper on the front seat of your truck in winter at a gas station feels like child abuse even though the men's room doesn't have a place to do that.
Trust me, it’s much cleaner doing that in the car. Public bathrooms are no places to change a child.
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Being handicapped and needing to exercise your “head of the line” privilege, or any other accommodation, always feels very illegal to me. I try really hard to not be that person, but sometimes my pain is just too much and I need to get my stuff done fast. The dirty looks people give (even the employees) are enough to make me want to never leave my house again.
You can always go in front of me. My mother is disabled and she is treated awfully for needing a mobility scooter or help in the store or using services that are available to her. It is almost to the point that she would rather stay home and have me go. I like to take her with me so she gets out of the house (plus we have a good time) and I make people feel bad if they make her feel bad. You don't owe anyone an explanation for using the services you need and you can have my place in line.
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When you go and check somebody’s profile on this site or others and go check their old posts
Yeah it feels like stalking or snooping through someones private information.
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Knew someone who said her foster parents told her it was illegal for women not to wear a bra.
Wow, I can relate to that. My mother got me to wear one when I had absolutely nothing to show (at the time). Same mentality.
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Buying a shirt at a store and then wearing that shirt to the same store the same week.
When your parents tell you you can do something while their gone I always feel like a criminal doing like did I hear them wrong and im gonna get in trouble?
I know right? My parents tell me to eat whatever and when I touch the snacks that are meant to be eaten once in a while I feel so nervous
Load More Replies... Feeling guilty at leaving a bad marriage because of what job he had, using cloth diapers when everyone else didn't, marrying my soul mate because I got a 2nd chance at love. The list is longer but someone pointed those out to me specifically as to not feel guilty. It's hard but I've done it; working on the list.
Because of the job? Why, what was wrong with it?
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Being 39 and pregnant. I'm sorry me having a baby isn't what people expected. Honestly neither did I but that's not the point. I'm happy to be blessed and if you're going to have a problem with that then I don't want you to be a part of my life!
Years ago, I left the eye doctor after having my eyes dilated. I entered a grocery store wearing my sunglasses. A customer approached and loudly berated me for wearing shades indoors. Some people!
LOL I know you can't but you should have taken them off that person would have backed the hell off in .2 seconds once they saw your huuuuuuge pupillsss @.@
Load More Replies... being religious, being vegan, being a human, liking modern music. if you are any of these, you will constantly be shamed online
Or being NON-Religious, or just simply being a "white male"
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Eating/drinking anything from the food court/ in store restaurant while walking around the store. Going into a mall business with a drink you bought at the food court. I had a friend with 3 kids who didn't have time to shop and cook dinner, or even sit in a restaurant because one parent was in the hospital and the other was sick. She bought fries and chicken nuggets at the McDonald's in Walmart, dropped them into the fast food bag, and the kids just walked around with her and pulled out food as they were hungry. Technically creative and genius solution. Felt so weird and illegal and borderline trashy. But I guess you just do what you got to do.
I use reusable grocery shopping bags and the first time using them it felt wrong. Like they would think I was stealing. Especially because there are no cashiers so it's all self check. And then I got stopped at the door and they emptied all the bags and checked my receipt. Took 30min. My ice cream melted.
Wait until you use the reusable bags as a market basket before purchase. That really feels illegal.
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These are all such bad examples. Things that legitimately feel illegal within tax code, law, etc should be widely know lest they never be fixed via regulation
Changing your daughter's diaper on the front seat of your truck in winter at a gas station feels like child abuse even though the men's room doesn't have a place to do that.
Trust me, it’s much cleaner doing that in the car. Public bathrooms are no places to change a child.
Load More Replies... Being handicapped and needing to exercise your “head of the line” privilege, or any other accommodation, always feels very illegal to me. I try really hard to not be that person, but sometimes my pain is just too much and I need to get my stuff done fast. The dirty looks people give (even the employees) are enough to make me want to never leave my house again.
You can always go in front of me. My mother is disabled and she is treated awfully for needing a mobility scooter or help in the store or using services that are available to her. It is almost to the point that she would rather stay home and have me go. I like to take her with me so she gets out of the house (plus we have a good time) and I make people feel bad if they make her feel bad. You don't owe anyone an explanation for using the services you need and you can have my place in line.
Load More Replies... When you go and check somebody’s profile on this site or others and go check their old posts
Yeah it feels like stalking or snooping through someones private information.
Load More Replies... Knew someone who said her foster parents told her it was illegal for women not to wear a bra.
Wow, I can relate to that. My mother got me to wear one when I had absolutely nothing to show (at the time). Same mentality.
Load More Replies... Buying a shirt at a store and then wearing that shirt to the same store the same week.
When your parents tell you you can do something while their gone I always feel like a criminal doing like did I hear them wrong and im gonna get in trouble?
I know right? My parents tell me to eat whatever and when I touch the snacks that are meant to be eaten once in a while I feel so nervous
Load More Replies... Feeling guilty at leaving a bad marriage because of what job he had, using cloth diapers when everyone else didn't, marrying my soul mate because I got a 2nd chance at love. The list is longer but someone pointed those out to me specifically as to not feel guilty. It's hard but I've done it; working on the list.
Because of the job? Why, what was wrong with it?
Load More Replies... Being 39 and pregnant. I'm sorry me having a baby isn't what people expected. Honestly neither did I but that's not the point. I'm happy to be blessed and if you're going to have a problem with that then I don't want you to be a part of my life!
Years ago, I left the eye doctor after having my eyes dilated. I entered a grocery store wearing my sunglasses. A customer approached and loudly berated me for wearing shades indoors. Some people!
LOL I know you can't but you should have taken them off that person would have backed the hell off in .2 seconds once they saw your huuuuuuge pupillsss @.@
Load More Replies... being religious, being vegan, being a human, liking modern music. if you are any of these, you will constantly be shamed online
Or being NON-Religious, or just simply being a "white male"
Load More Replies... Eating/drinking anything from the food court/ in store restaurant while walking around the store. Going into a mall business with a drink you bought at the food court. I had a friend with 3 kids who didn't have time to shop and cook dinner, or even sit in a restaurant because one parent was in the hospital and the other was sick. She bought fries and chicken nuggets at the McDonald's in Walmart, dropped them into the fast food bag, and the kids just walked around with her and pulled out food as they were hungry. Technically creative and genius solution. Felt so weird and illegal and borderline trashy. But I guess you just do what you got to do.
I use reusable grocery shopping bags and the first time using them it felt wrong. Like they would think I was stealing. Especially because there are no cashiers so it's all self check. And then I got stopped at the door and they emptied all the bags and checked my receipt. Took 30min. My ice cream melted.
Wait until you use the reusable bags as a market basket before purchase. That really feels illegal.
Load More Replies... These are all such bad examples. Things that legitimately feel illegal within tax code, law, etc should be widely know lest they never be fixed via regulation
