Some of us are definitely worse than others, but I think it’s safe to say that many people out there do questionable things that really aren’t worth it.
At all.
Like, not even a little bit.
Why do we do the things we do…?
Folks on AskReddit talked about the most high risk, low reward things they’ve ever done in their lives.
Let’s see what went down!
1. Pretty pointless.
“I stole every wheel off the chairs in my high school’s computer lab as a joke during a 20-minute break.
I still have one of them.
Probably could’ve gotten expelled just for a slightly funny joke and a useless chair wheel.”
2. For what?
“Lots and lots of illegal graffiti. For about 3 years it was all I cared about.
Hanging off ledges and bridges, climbing up the sides of buildings, being on roofs, hiding under trains, being in dangerous places by myself at 3am, abandoned buildings, squatter houses, rough neighborhoods. Not to mention the risk of criminal prosecution.
Paint doesn’t just fall into your lap either, one year I spent $5,000 on spray paint on top of getting it any other ways I could. Homeless guy with a knife, a couple of gangsters tried to rob me, a freight train was about a foot away from running over me. (Not all at the same time lol but those were some of the worst bits)
And for what? Just to put some paint on a wall or train and take a photo of it.”
3. Not worth it.
“I once climbed an old truss bridge to get some neat pictures of myself.
I climbed under it and sat on the beams beneath the bridge, I climbed the the very top, I hung off the edge of the bridge above several rocks.
Once I got done I showed the pictures to my friends and they said they sucked.”
4. Whoa!
“Snuck a girl over and had unprotected s** while my parents were home.
Got syphilis at 17.”
5. No reward at all.
“During an all-nighter study session with my college roommate we decided we wanted to get some McDonald’s.
It was around 1 am, so we left all of our stuff in a common study room (laptops and all- wtf) and got in my car. It was pitch black, super foggy with my lights on, and raining to top it all off. I couldn’t see more than a foot in front of my car so we were driving 10mph down the highway on no sleep.
After less than 5 terrifying minutes we decided the cheeseburgers weren’t worth it and went home. Essentially high risk, no reward.”
6. Cherry pie.
“While in Army basic in 2004, I took a piece of cherry pie during dinner chow, covered it under 2 slices of bread and ate it before eating any of my actual dinner.
One of the guys in my platoon saw me but never said anything. If the Drill Sergeants would have caught me they would have made me (and my platoon) pay with a round of 200 (push-ups, sit-ups, burpees) and most likely mountain climbers unit a few of us threw up.
It was the first thing I ate with sugar in 2 and a half months and it was DELICIOUS! Especially since I never got caught!”
7. Pretty risky.
“I was stationed at GITMO (worked exterior security, nothing in the facility itself) and its actually a pretty laid back place to work. Anywho theres a bunch of different beaches we could swim at and me and a few others thought it would be fun to swim down around the fences and snap some pictures on the Cuba side.
Turns out they really didn’t like that. They didn’t approach us but there was an announcement made that doing such was highly illegal, they shut down the adjoining beaches and they demanded we come forward.
We never did and they never figured it out..but yeah we basically risked an international incident for a couple of pictures. Stupidest thing I’ve ever done.”
8. Tell no one.
“Sent my boss a glitter bomb, never told anyone who sent it.
The whole organization, thousands of people, know it happened, boss flipped out when glitter went everywhere.
I’ll never tell anyone.”
9. Shoplifting.
“Stole some random season of Seinfeld DVDs from Walmart by putting them under my hoodie.
Alarm went off as I left but it was 1 am so no one did s**t.
Just kept on walking.”
10. Insane.
“Smuggled €250,000 (drug money, taped to my chest) through 4 countries for the princely sum of £3000.
I risked my freedom for a sofa, a nice sofa, but still.
2/10 would not do again.”
11. A lot of this going on.
“Hid an ab**ive boyfriend from the cops.
Ended up breaking up with him afterwards and going to jail for a day (I was super lucky, harboring a fugitive is a felony, folks). I risked having a permanent felony on my record for a dude without a job who regularly verbally abused me.
Without a doubt the stupidest thing I’ve ever done because I thought I loved him and wanted to be with him forever.”
12. Road rage.
“Once got in a fit of road rage…
A guy cut me off on the interstate, so I honked at him (wasn’t a quick honk, it was a longer one, few seconds)
Guy slows down and matches the speed of the car in the right lane, so I’m blocked now.
I flash my headlights and honk again
He proceeds to spit out his sunroof and it hits my windshield
He then accelerates heavily back to speed
I floor it, move to the right lane and move to pass him
He floors it, now we’re both going faster (definitely got over 85mph, limit was 65 IIRC)
Coming up quickly on a delivery truck in the right lane (he’s still in the left, I’m in the right) I punch it harder
I just barely get in ahead of him then cut him off, maybe 50ft before the delivery truck.
I slow down and match the speed of the delivery truck. Wait for probably a minute at that speed (speed limit) then pass the delivery truck and move right. (he had been tailgating me and half driving on the shoulder)
Guy floors and flies past, I return to going 5 over the speed limit.
Lots of risk, zero reward. I was a complete idiot and there was nothing to gain. Saved no time and endangered at least 3 lives, if not more (mine, other guy, and delivery truck).”
Okay, now we want to hear from you.
In the comments, tell us about the most high risk, low reward thing you’ve ever done in your life.
We can’t wait to hear your stories!
