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Many times, it’s hard to tell in the moment when you’ve dodged a bullet that you would have regretted taking for the rest of your life. In hindsight, though, the relief can be crystal clear.
#12. Go to sleep instead.
“Was in Vegas during the concert shooting. We arrived a couple of days prior and the stage where it happened was already set up. Everytime we passed by the stage my dad kept telling me “we should go there, looks fun”. While I was in Vegas we went to a Golden Knights game and planned to go see what that stage was all about afterwards. I was so tired during the game that I could barely keep my eyes open. My dad noticed and told me we would go to the hotel to sleep instead of the concert.”
#11. On the way home
“Leaving work one day and I let someone else merge in ahead of me. We both get to a Traffic light and stop. The light turns green and we both start driving through the intersection. A SUV comes throught the guard rails and off the overpass just past the intersection and lands ON the car ahead of me. The car is flattened.
If I had been more agressive that would have been me.”
#10. A “friend.”
“Didn’t lend money to a “friend” because I was broke, few months later he disappeared with several thousands he had stolen from my other friends.”
#9. Missed my ferry.
“I missed my ferry on 9/11, making me late to work. I saw the plane fly into the building from my next ferry.”
#8. Get out of jail free.
“I didn’t understand how tickets worked. There was a fee and a court date and I assumed I had to go to court that day and pay it there.
Missed the court date.
Went to the district attorney’s office and she looked right my 17 year old ass and said “Here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to reduce your speed, I’m going to completely ignore the fact that you were out after your curfew, I won’t have a warrant out for your arrest, and you’ll just have to pay a large fine. This is an almost literal get out of jail free card, don’t waste it.”
I wanted to hug her through the glass, and I don’t think I said thank you enough.”
#7. I’d be a flapjack.
“I once slipped on ice and into the street right after a truck went by. I had stopped to pick up my phone moments before, if that didn’t happen I’d be a flapjack right now.”
#6. It probably would have been me.
“I had a ticket to the theatre 9 showing of Batman in Aurora 2012. I was the closing waitress at work that night and got “screwed” by a table coming in 5 minutes before closing. The person sitting next to my bff was killed- it probably would have me sitting there.”
#5. The wrong house.
“Buying the wrong house. Put an offer on a house that needed some work. Offer was refused. House sold a year later for $100,000 less than my offer. Bullet dodged.”
#4. Don’t rush.
“We were all set and ready to put an offer on a house. Did the paperwork with the realtor, signed the check, put down the offer. The realtor was super pushy but the room was 90 degrees and we weren’t thinking straight. After signing the papers we go to see the house again with my in laws and notice a TON of issues we hadn’t seen before. Got really anxious, big issues like plumbing, a huge wrap around deck that needed work, etc but we were stuck now.
Got a call the next day from the realtor saying that we never signed the bottom of the offer paperwork and can we please come sign it RIGHT AWAY. We decided not to and are going to wait a bit and do this smarter next time.
Don’t rush when buying your first home folks.
EDIT: this was the very first step in the process, prior to any inspection or anything. So by not having signed the offer we didn’t end up wasting any money.”
#3. Moved out.
“Moved out of an apartment complex this year where I did not have renters insurance. It burned down 4 days later.
EDIT: I appreciate all of your concerns! I have renters insurance now and won’t ever be without it again.”
#2. She had to pee.
“Not my story, but my moms. When she was a senior in high school, a bunch of seniors went up to the mountains to drink a week before graduation. Someone’s dad worked as a ranger, so we was able to secure the keys to everyone’s cars so they couldn’t drive drunk or anything reckless. Mom’s best friends show up late in their topless jeep. They drink and do a bunch of drugs and decide to go stump jumping in the jeep. They drive up the path a bit, messed out of their minds, and my mom begs them to stop and wait for her while she pees. She hops out, goes to do her thing, her friends leave her. She hikes back to camp and tells everyone and so they go out looking for her 3 friends. Finds them the next morning, jeep completely turned over, everyone dead. If my mom went with them, she would have died too.
It absolutely messed her up, and shes said shes never had a best friend since that, despite her being very social and a wonderful person.”
#1. My dream job.
Got offered my dream job running an offshore aquaculture facility. Had to choose between the job and my SO’s future (long story). I reluctantly declined the job. A few months later i heard the facility was dealing with a serious disease issue and had no chance of being sustainable. Had i taken the job, i would have most likely being single living in a tiny seaside shit-hole town, the job would have sucked, and i would have only worked there for max three months before the place shut down.
Edit: been lots of comments as to the long version about the SO. She has depression and is trying her best to make the most of it. In her late twenties she decided to try and get a degree. For someone who could barely get out of bed in the morning, hold any long term job, this was somewhat ambitious. She started studies the year we moved in together. Studies went well, but as the degree went on, exam times loomed etc etc i had to take over more and more of the household tasks. Essentially all she had to do was college stuff. I did all the shopping, cooking, cleaning, get her out of bed, make sure she work too hard, etc. We had a routine (not a very fun one) but she was doing well so all was fine. Depression wise she was doing much better, although it did rear its ugly head during stress times. I got offered the job mid way through her final year. Her work load was higher than ever. Had i taken the job and moved out, she would have suddenly had to adapt to doing things i had taken over, which for someone with depression would have been very very bad. Id seen how she would react to minor changes in her schedule, so something this big would have set her back years. So although i had to give up the dream job, i knew she wouldnt have graduated had i left. She did graduate (top of the class), is doing much better depression wise, and now has a full time job. I initially never even told her i got offered the job, let alone turn in down. I waited a few weeks until she was in a better space to tell her.
h/t: Reddit
