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In life, it’s best to focus on the positives in any situation. You may not be a millionaire, but if you can afford a roof over your head and groceries in your fridge, you’re not doing so bad. Sure, things could always be better, but they could be much, much worse too.
Unfortunately, sometimes people find themselves in situations where, for a moment, it feels like nothing can go right. Redditors have been recalling moments when they managed to be in the wrong place at the exact wrong time, so we’ve compiled a list of their stories below. Whether it was bad luck, karma, or simply the universe playing games, we’ve all been in a situation like this before. So enjoy reading through the stories, and be sure to upvote the ones that you’re glad didn’t happen to you!
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#1
This happened to a coworkers son, he was outside smoking a cigarrette and apparently there was a police chase going on that he didn't know about. The police dog jumped over the fence into his backyard and attacked him, really messed up his arm from what i understand. The cops end up throwing him in the police car, after realizing that they had the wrong guy they let him go and literally told him " Well maybe you should have stayed inside." He's currently going through a lawsuit with them and is probably going to get a big settlement, because they never even filed a police report or anything.
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#2
When I was 16, I was standing up front at a punk rock show, as I always did, singing along to my friends band.
At the climax of the song, a 400lb man jumps off the stage and lands on 85lb girl (me) with both feet, shatters my vertebrae and left me a quadriplegic for 6 months.
Wrong place. Wrong time.
#3
About 3 years ago I was out doing my routine run/walk during one afternoon. I got a stitch in my side and stopped to catch my breath. The neighborhood I was in was familiar to me but about 3 miles away from my house. Apparently I "ducked" out of sight behind a car (I hunched over at the waist trying to stretch out my cramps and stitch) just as a pair of cops came around a corner. They immediately chirped their siren as they pulled up to me and it honest to go startled me. I "reacted in a suspicious manner" and questioned me for a few minutes before they put me in handcuffs and roughly into the backseat of their patrol car.
As I had nothing to hide, I answered all their strange questions as to why I was in this neighborhood, in the middle of the afternoon, out of breath and attempting to hide from the police. "I was running for exercise, I work '2nd shift' so I don't work 8-5, again... running... see my running app history for proof, and I wasn't hiding, I was taking care of a stitch in my side."
They kept me handcuffed in that patrol car for nearly 30 minutes until they finally had to left me go. "Don't let us catch you in this neighborhood again" was how they tried to power trip me. I was 100% respectful and courteous towards them the entire time until that point. I casually told them "No, I don't think so.. I run this routine 3 times a week. It's a public street. Thanks for your suggestion but No.".
#4
My school takes kids on trips around the world for march break. Guess who happened to be in Japan for that big earthquake/tsunami a few years back? A group of Canadian teenaged and teachers. One teacher that was there (all the students are probably in college now) tells of when they were in a bus when the quake hit, and the driver was swerving left and right a little, which they thought was a joke. They were laughing until they noticed the skyscrapers flailing about. Apparently the Japanese were running up to them in the street mid-quake to apologize for the earthquake as well.
#5
When I was six, it was bonfire night and I was meant to be asleep. Of course me and my twin brother were still awake watching the fireworks. My mum came in and asked us if we wanted to go out.
We went to our next door neighbors house and stood outside. We were having a really good time. Then one of the fireworks didn't explode. It fell out the sky and bounced right off the pavement.
Right next to my neck, then exploded. My neck was on fire and my mum rushed me into a shower. It was crazy.
6 months later I got out of hospital. So many surgeries as well. I'll still be getting surgery until I'm 18 or even older.
Oh and my brother got PTSD or something like that.
Billo66 1 hour ago
When I was 9 I slipped into a fire pit for burning trash, I caught myself by putting my hand in to a flaming cooler of plastic and styrofoam. The Doctor said the skin was gone, it was burned to the bone and I would need skin grafts. They bandaged it for a few weeks and when they removed the bandage all the skin was in place, no bones showing, healed. He said it was a miracle. I was only 9 and I knew he mistook melted plastic for skin and bone. lol
#6
I once got hospitalised because a flowerpot came down off a balcony and smashed me on the shoulder. It was an empty one so I guess it could've been heavier, but I briefly passed out from th impact and the pain
Doctors said it was miraculous that it wasnt my head (fell from forth floor, couldve been my skull, etc) but you know what I think would've been more lucky? Not being hit by a flowerpot at all.
KatSaidThat 33 minutes ago
London doesn't usually get freaky weather but a few years ago we had some HECTIC gales. We didn't expect a 100kg+ potted plant on the [flat] roof to be blown off, smashing a marble table outside to bits. It sounded like a b**b going off. The plant got replaced and the two of them are now very much secured in place. The weird thing was that the candles on the table outside of a neighbour stayed upright.
#7
During my freshman year of high school, there was a huge food fight and a ton of actual fighting that happened. Just to give you an idea of how bad it was, a newspaper for the Southern California area wrote an article calling them "riots" and said they were over the election. Neither of those were true, but we had a lot of police on campus, and they shortened our passing period to about 2 minutes.
During the big food fight, I was just trying to get away from everything. That is, until some jerk decided to throw a rock the size of a baseball at my back. I had a huge welt on my back for about a year. And then some jerk teacher tried to give me detention for participating in the food fight.
SINCE WHEN IS A ROCK FOOD?
#8
I was just about to head home after a night out in London, so I was casually standing at the coat check waiting my turn. However, I happened to be standing at the coat check when a guy was being thrown out of the club. This guy happened to be a little crazy, because as he went past me, he grabbed my shoulder, went to headbutt me, and at the same time bit a chunk out of my lip. I ended up needing plastic surgery on my lip, and about 5 years on I still have no feeling in that part of my lip!
Paul C. 20 minutes ago
I was at a club and a guy was being thrown out by bouncers. For some reason they released their grip as they passed me and he swung a punch at me, giving me a fat lip. I wasn't too happy about it until I found out later that he was a boxer and had broken another guys jaw earlier. Apparently his girlfriend had dumped him and he was just looking for trouble. I suppose I got off lightly.
#9
So I was dating this guy a while back. He was going to visit his parents in another state so I asked if I could borrow his car for the week and use it to go grocery shopping and all that. He agrees and I go to Target one night for said groceries. Next day, I get up to go to work and the public transport is all shut down for some emergency so I call my boss tell him I'm going to be late and decide to go back for the car (. When I get back to my street I discover that the car has been towed.
Now I'm late to work since I have to go all the way back to the public transportation. I find out on my break where the car is and that it's going to cost me $130 to get it back. I don't get out of work until 10:45 and the tow company is in a bad neighborhood that I then proceed to get lost in.
At about 11:30 I finally see the sign for the company (it's on an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper taped to a chain link fence, real easy to spot) across the street from me. At the same moment a guy runs down the cross street, a cop car follows, a cop jumps out, screams "GET ON THE GROUND!" and then tackles the guy. I walk quickly across the street to get away from, you know, the guy getting arrested and am nearing the end of my journey when another cop car swings in front of me and the (female) cop yells, "STOP HANDS IN THE AIR" Obviously I do just that and then realize that's she's radio-ing the other cop to ask if I was involved. At this point I burst out laughing at the epically awful luck of my day, which probably convinced her I wasn't involved but she still took my license and gave me a brief search. Finally got the car back and then...it took me an hour to find a parking spot. And that is when I quit at this whole car thing.
TL;DR Was late to work, got boyfriend's car towed, got lost in a bad neighborhood on way to get car, witnessed arrest, was briefly questioned as a possible accomplice with dude arrested, had to pay $130 to get car back, took an hour to find parking, shook fist at the skies.
#10
Was standing around in high school looking at my class schedule because I was a lost brand new freshman. Couple of senior guys decide to do a mock fight to freak out the underclassmen. One does a huge overstated punch in my direction and his friend ducks at just the right time for it to lay me out.
#11
I grew up most of my life in a very small Kentucky town. I went through the usual redneck phase from ages 15-19ish. I had a 1998 Dodge ram with a confederate flag in the back window.
One night my friend and I were riding around when we decided to go circle the high school and see if anyone was hanging out in the back parking lot. We come across a small truck that had been beaten with a concrete block. Window's smashed, hood beat in and tail lights and head lights shattered. Upon closer inspection we realize we know who's truck it is. It was a black guy's that was a few years older than us.
Well while we were looking at the truck a car drove by with tinted windows. Whoever those people were told the guy who owned the truck that me and my friend had totaled it in the school parking lot.
To make a long story short, the man eventually caught up with us in the Wal-Mart parking lot that night and confronted us about the situation. We all knew each other but not on a personal level. I was able to get him to calm down and think about everything and to take our story into consideration and he did. Luckily I had a good reputation in the small town of not being an jerk and he believed it wasn't us.
Just for the record, I was not racist and am not racist. Was just a stupid redneck teenager.
highwaycrossingfrog 2 hours ago
Just straighten this out for me (British): even as a dumb teenager, why would you have a Confederate flag in your car window?
#12
First quarter of college I went to a class for an entire week that wasn't a class I signed up for. When I wasn't on the class list, my professor just assumed I might have been a late entry. I even bought the textbook, did a few homework assignments and had a quiz before realizing my mistake. And I didn't even really realize my mistake, the professor had to go and double check his class list before finding the error of my ways. And that's the story or how my $130 textbook became a $30 textbook in less than two weeks.
#13
Cops threw me and a friend in cuffs when we were walking home from lunch. Someone nearby had reported an attempted break-in so of course we were the most likely culprits T_T.
#14
I used to play baseball back in high school. When it would rain we would practice on the basketball courts in our gym. My buddy and I are playing catch and at this point we're at opposite ends of the court throwing fairly hard. As I release a throw, I notice the door behind my friend opening. As it opens outward it pushes his arm forward causing him to narrowly miss the ball. On the other side of that door was someone walking to the girls locker room holding a cake and balloons, as it was her birthday. The ball laser beamed through the doorway and nailed this poor girl in the forehead. She dropped sending the cake to the ground and the balloons to the roof of the gym. She ended up being okay, aside from having baseball seam imprints on her head for the next few days.
#16
When i was deployed to Afghanistan. Got off the plane, and within 30 seconds, rockets and mortars starting exploding around us. Day one of 365.
#17
I was going skateboarding after school, and I was changing from khakis to jeans in the school parking lot really quickly. The next day, my principal called me into his office and showed me a video frame of me in my boxers in the parking lot and gave me a detention for indecency. Apparently some other kid had peeled out of the parking lot like a jerk and they were reviewing the tapes to see who it was when they found me with me pants down...
#18
I once almost got kicked out of high school. I was at my physics club meeting, it ran late, and I was heading to the car. Some girl popped out of a room, just as I walked by, startling me, I jumped a bit and gasped, kept moving. Next day, called to the principal's office. I was accused of, get this, video taping girls changing. Now, being 17 at the time ,I would have loved to have that magical video, but alas, it was 2002 and no one had any such recording device,and no tape. I was still made to serve a week suspension due to "how this looked."
It was private, Catholic school, nothing at all could be done, ever, about anything. There are no rules or justice in those schools unless you are popular or have money.
Robert Cosgrove 3 hours ago
"Get this" ! Stick to your story and emphasise how shocked you were and how it was unfair. Some people might even believe you.
#19
On a packed train around 1AM where a good amount of people were drunk. Sat in front of someone who projectile vomited all over my seat and got some in my hair.
Billo66 1 hour ago (edited)
Did you know Metro-Link in St. Louis has no bathrooms, anywhere? I do, now. I held it so hard I did permanent damage. Finally got off at Grand of all places and let it go on the tracks. A cop comes over and asks why three white boys (my friends too) were at Grand. I explained my dilemma and he stood with us till the next train came. That's the story of how I went to see Iron & Wine with Calexico in pee-pee pants. At least I got front row :) In the next edition, how I slid down a giant muddy hill going in to see Ozzy (Bark at the Moon) & Motley Crue (Shout at the Devil) Caked in mud I looked like "The Thing".
#20
I was making a catapult with a couple classmates for a Latin competition/convention coming up in a couple weeks. More accurately, it was a trebuchet, and the competition parameters were that it could not be pulled by a human and had to throw a beanbag.
So, the task is kinda rough but the guy was an overachiever, and the girl hot in a nerdy way, so we really go apeshit on this thing. We go to this field in the burbs and start to tool with the sling pin and the amount of weight.
It just is not throwing it very far, just all the way around and then straight at the ground, maybe 15 feet. Feeling shame and frustration, we try to give ourselves proof of concept so we grab a potato that I had brought with me for the contingency and I take the weights off and set it all up and prepare to fire it with me pulling the bar down.
SO, I pull it down, and this potato swings out and around. This potato FLIES. Perfect 45 degree arc, majestically turning end over end in the late afternoon light. This launch is that slow-mo last second 3-point shot from an Air Bud movie. Cutting into the grandiose music playing in my head, a little girls soccer team doing their weekly drills, had the nerve to practice across the field from us, heartened from our anemic 15 foot failures from before.
The potato lands. . .80 yards away right on top of the smallest girl on the team's head. Shards of it fly in an arc like a Diablo 2 Assassin's Fan of Blades. She drops to the ground and starts bawling. Worse, her team mom immediately screeches, and orange slices flying, makes a beeline for us with her kitten heels throwing up divots in the field.
Somehow, she doesn't sue us or call the cops on us, (I tend to think being white, seemingly aspiring engineers, and having a team of little children around her caused this mercy) her daughter stops crying miraculously, (to this day I still don't understand how we didn't knock the girl out, the potato was *uncooked*), and we quickly disassembled the machine so it could fit in the back of my station wagon and fled in shame.
And no we didn't win.
#21
I have a friend who was an American businessman who was at a meeting in northern Beijing in 1989. What else happened in northern Beijing in 1989? The Tiannamen Square protests.
My friend managed to get on literally the last flight out of Beijing before martial law was declared.
#22
As a teenager, I worked at a retirement home (doing IT stuff mainly).
There was a big blackout in Eastern US and Canada in 2003. I was scheduled to leave work at 4pm, and SHOULD HAVE GONE HOME ON TIME.
Instead I lolly gagged around, and the power went out shortly at 4, and didn't come back till late into the night.
Because I was there, I got to witness the insanity of old people freaking out over the lights going out, but more than that, the panic when they realized they didn't really have emergency plans of any sort for a prolonged outage. This meant no real power for lights, elevators, air conditioning, or you know, things like medical equipment that really mattered to those people.
It was panda-moan-ium within 10 minutes of the lights going out! Nurses were freaking out and losing their minds. In the end it was a really terrible experience, I literally had to go door to door asking people in the neighbourhood if they had backup generators we could borrow to keep people alive (I'm not sure it was really that extreme, but that's what they told me to say). In the end, we had people playing Bridge sitting around a generator all plugged into it in four or five rooms throughout the complex. There were others in ice baths to keep the heat down, and I have no idea where they found the ice. When the power wasn't restored that night, we had some of them sharing beds so they could stay plugged into the power in central locations.
Anyhow, probably good I was there to help out, but it was a horrible experience. The worst thing was when I had to help them clean out the industrial freezer they had. Two-three days later with no power, all the meat and dairy thawed and went bad, along with anything else in there. The worst smell I can remember.
#23
About a year before I realized I needed glasses I was at a school trip for a week. The building was somehow built into a cliff, with a plaza leaning over it from which you could look into some of the windows. Now as I later found out some of those windows lead to the girls showers. A group of friends were standing there, gawking and shouting that we should all get over there. Many boys with smiles, and then some girls with disgust on their faces were gathering there. Most guys realized what was going to happen and bolted, me and my best friends were still there when the teacher came. I got detention along with them for something I (unfortunately) didn't see.
And I still didn't realize I needed glasses (yet).
#24
My family went to my uncles and my cousin and I got bored. We decided to go for a walk. We walk to the elementary school and see some kid running around on the roof. My cousin recognized him from school. We watch him for a bit then keep walking.
We get a few blocks away and a police car pulls up. Someone called the police and reported kids on the roof of the school.We are questioned and deny we were on the roof. My cousin didn't want to snitch on the kid so he said he didn't know who it was. They decide we are the kids from the roof.
They arrest us for trespassing, defacing public property, vandalism, and obstructing a police officer. Our parents have to come pick us up at jail(we were 12).
Our parents don't believe us as we plead our case. We had both been in a little trouble with the cops so they were not buying our story. I was grounded for 9 months, had to go to court, had to pay restitution(a wall was spray painted). I was given 100hrs of community service, had to see a court ordered shrink, was told I had to write an essay about how wrong I was and re- appear in court 6 month later.
I refused to take credit for it and never wrote the essay. The shrink actually backed me on this in court. She told the judge that she had doubt's about my guilt. My parents didn't back me though.
The next year we move to the same school district. I blamed the kid that was on the roof for my misfortune and the third day at my new school I beat him. I know it wasn't his fault the cops didn't do their jobs but in my 13yr old mind it made sense. I was suspended for a week and told that any more trouble would get me expelled for the year. On the bright side he admitted to committing the crime we were punished for so my parents finally believed me.
#25
This is actually the story of how me and my now fiancé met. I was living and working on a vacation island in Summer, 2013. After a long day of work, I was trying to find a family friends house that I was supposed to babysit for about an hour that night. There are no cars or lights on the island, just golf carts. I ended up down loading the flash light app on my phone to be able to find the house number that I was to go to. After a couple failed attempts, I found it.
Fast forward an hour later to when I'm walking home. I get to the main road and a public safety car pulls me over and asked if I was on (X Street) that night which was where I had just come from babysitting. I told him yes, and he immediately shoves me against his vehicle and hand cuffs me and takes me down to their station.
They leave me for an hour in a locked room, and then he just comes in and said I was a suspect for attempted breaking and entering, and let's me go like nothing ever happened.
Fast forward two months later I am a freshman at my new college. I got talking to this girl about the island I worked on and she said that her and her friends had gone to the island that summer as well. And then she dropped this, "Apparently we got this guy like arrested or something on accident." Keep in mind said school is a 7 hour drive to the college so by no means are they close. The look of disbelief/shock/horror on my face must have been unreal because this girl looked like she thought I was going to stab her.
We get to talking, and turns out their whole group of friends had stayed right next door to where I was babysitting, and the older girls had played a prank on the younger girls which resulted in them calling the police and giving them my description as I walked past the house. This girl was actually my s/o 's best friend and introduced us that night.
TL;DR Detained for attempted breaking and entering led to meeting future fiancé.
#26
I walked out to my car at work to grab some headphones so I can get some work done with my jam on. While I was in the car the CEO shows up on a surprise visit. She made some remark about it being nice for me to show up two hours late. I Should have asked her that it was nice for her to show up two hours late... a few weeks laters I got the pink slip.
#27
What was almost the greatest moment of my soccer career. 90th minute, my team down 1, I let a shot go from well outside the box. Made great connection with the ball, more than enough pace to beat the keeper. Thr ball sails past the outstretched keeper... and over the bar striking a 4 year old girl in the head. She was just eating ice cream looking at the grass.
#28
One of my friends was finishing year 12 (last year of high school in Australia) and had his 'muck-up day', which involves a scavanger hunt, where you complete tasks for points (50 points for stealing a local sign etc). He came over to my house at about 2pm in the afternoon to borrow a balaclava as he needed it for one of the tasks. I walked out of my house to meet him on the road wearing the balaclava as i thought it would be funny. I spoke to him for about a minute while wearing it, then handed it over. around then i noticed a family a few doors up from my house staring and pointing at us. I am a fairly shy person so i said seeya later and walked inside. A few minutes later my dad pulled up at home (he is a real estate agent) and told me that some people staying in units he rents out house was robbed about 10 minutes ago and they saw someone in a balaclava walking around the front of our house. A few phones, a laptop and some handbags got stolen and i had to walk up the road and explain the situation to the people, i still don't think they fully believed that i didn't do it either because they were so shocked at being robbed in the broad daylight. no one will probably see this because its an old thread and i wasted like 10 minutes yew.
#29
In grade 2, I was getting up to sharpen my pencil during art and the class loud with all the kids talking and working. As soon as I was up, my teacher said "Damnit Wiles, I'm tired of your shenanigans, go sit outside until recess!" I didn't know what to do so I went outside. As soon as the door closed, it popped open again, another kid about 2 rows behind me was coming to sit outside.
Turns out, we both had the same name and he was the one getting yelled at. Stayed friends with him until Uni.
#30
Last weekend I was doing a bit of late night driving. Was talking to a friend on the phone. She wanted to meet up at a McDonald's that I had never been to before. So I said sure. Once I got there I walked up to the door. It was closed. I was at the wrong McDonald's at the wrong time.
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