All actions have consequences, both good and bad. Take a look at these AskReddit users’ stories of people they know who ruined their lives in a split second.

1. Drug References

Not me but a friend was in AP Chem and they were working with some Sodium-something and his classmate snorted it as a cocaine joke. He was rushed to the ER and now his risk for Nasal and Lung cancer is through the roof. His predicted lifespan is like mid 30s maybe early 40s now and it was all for a shitty drug reference.

2. Physical Assault

She went through 4 years of college, 4 years of medical school, was about to finish her 4th and last year of residency, acquired hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt along the way… And blew it all after she physically assaulted somebody.

3. Not Drunk

My college roommate hit a patch of wet leaves on his motorcycle and hit the curb. The bike flipped and hit him in the chest. When the cops arrived he was disoriented and bruised but otherwise okay. The cops thought he was drunk and took him in. In the drunk tank he complained that he couldn’t breathe. The nurse looked him over and said he was fine. Later, he collapsed in his cell. The cops woke him up, handcuffed him and drove him to the hospital. When they got there, he was dead. Punctured lung. Suffocated.
He was 23 and a senior at a very good college. he worked full-time and paid his own way. He was funny and kind and empathetic. He was supposed to be someone important.
You’d think over time I would miss him less, but as I get older I just think of who he would be as an older person. As a parent I think of the wonderful kids denied a chance to exist because of the stupidity of multiple officers and it surprises me the visceral, primal sadness I still feel about his loss.

4. WHAT?

This happened in a 2 week period.
A friend of mine lost his kitchen job due to layoffs. Looked in the paper for a job he could get quick so he can make his bills, rent, etc. Finds a listing for a company looking for a driver/delivery person asap, he has a car so he figures it would be a good quick fix. Calls and gets the job over the phone and is told he starts the next evening. Gets a “company” cellphone and does his first pick-up. Turns out its an escort agency and he’s picking up and dropping off the talent. Does this for a few nights and starts getting to know the girls. Turns out they’re all addicted to crack – big surprise. They get the idea in his head that he’s doing all the ground work so he might as well post the ads himself and get his own phone and they’ll work for him. So we’re about week into this adventure and he’s gone from line cook to pimp. Fast forward a couple of days into pimping and he comes to the conclusion that all these girls spend their money on is crack so why not cut out the middle man and start paying them in what they want? He doesn’t know where to get crack but his kitchen buddies can hook him up with coke. Gets a bag of coke and googles how to make crack (yes really). Whips up a batch of kitchen crack and then is concerned that maybe he didn’t make it correctly – so logically he should try it first before giving it to his ladies. 36 hour crack binge later, he’s hooked and proceeds to sell off everything including the car and phone in the next few days. I dropped by his place to hang out around day 10 (I had no idea any of this was going on), he meets me at the door explains what he’s been up to for the past few days and says he doesn’t want me there unless I’d like to pay and hook up with one of the crackheads in his living room – strangely I declined.
Last time I saw him he was cracked out yelling at people for change on a downtown street.
14 days and his entire life turned to garbage.

5. Not the groom

At a bachelor party in Vegas doing a stripclub tour. We would always set a time to meet back at the limo before going to the next one. One dude fell in love and went into the VIP room with a dancer. Told him we were leaving after staying an extra 30 min. He waved us on and we left. Next morning we went back after he didn’t show at the hotel room. He was being “detained” by dancers for owing them 9k in lap dances but had maxed out all his cards and withdrew all his cash…. ON DANCES. That money was supposed to pay for his upcoming honeymoon.