You've likely jaywalked at least once in your life, and if you've ever lived in New York, you do it all the time. You've probably never been ticketed for it, either, and you've likely not been conscious of the act to begin with, and most people don't even know the rules against it to begin with.
Other people have done worse––significantly worse. That's what we learned after Redditor atticushoi asked the online community: "What's a crime you committed by accident?"
"When I was 7 or 8..."
GiphyWhen we were really young my sister and I had the cops called on us (by our parents) because we didn't know that smearing peanut butter on random bike seats was a crime.
"I was in IKEA..."
I accidentally stole a bookcase from IKEA.
I was in IKEA with my uncle picking up a few things, then we got to the seconds and returns place right near the checkouts. There was a bookcase that was pretty beat up, but perfect for what I needed. In the seconds section, the manager has some discretion on the pricing. It was marked as half off, around $60. I offered $10. He thought for a second and said 'what the hell, sure' and printed off a new label. Going through the checkout with my uncle, getting everything scanned, I asked him if we had scanned everything to which he said yes. It wasn't until we were half way home that I looked at the receipt and didn't see a charge for $10, and the bookcase wasn't listed anywhere!
"When I was younger..."
GiphyPiracy.
When I was younger, I received a Fire Card (or whatever) for the DS that had a ton of games on that we didn't pay for
"A friend and I..."
A friend and I used to hide and smoke in an abandoned graveyard.
This place hadn't been used in a long time and people used to throw trash inside.
I remember putting out a cigarette and saw a small piece of tissue burn. I made sure to burn it off and left the place.
Went to a mall nearby and it was only about 20 minutes later that we saw the firebrigade and a couple of police cars going in the direction of the graveyard.
All that trash caught fire. They made sure to permanently lock the gate after that.
"Driving around..."
Driving around in places I'm not familiar with. Speeding. So. Much. Speeding.
"I once went..."
GiphyI once went into a local coffee shop, and ended up walking out without paying. I realised I didn't pay until I got home.
"I thought the salad dressing packets..."
I stole salad dressing. At a salad bar, I thought the salad dressing packets were free so I grabbed one and put it in my pocket. No one said anything, I paid for the salad and left. Only the next time I was there, did I notice the sign saying "dressing, $1.00"
"Fully unfolded it..."
Clothes shopping and found a funny shirt I liked (Colorado: How's Your Aspen?), picked it up, and took it to checkout. Scanned, bagged, and took it home. Fully unfolded it to find it was a thin shirt and actually two of them and was only charged for one.
"After a trip..."
GiphyAfter a trip to the grocery store I realized I rang up my organic vegetables... as regular vegetables.
"I realized..."
I bought 2 identical makeup brushes (one for my sister one for me) at Target. I realized I needed to exchange something else from that trip so I went back and while I was looking at the receipt I saw the double charged makeup brush and forgot I had in fact bought two, so I showed it to the customer service lady and she refunded me for one basically no questions asked. I didn't realize my mistake til way later.
"After two years..."
After two years of fairly frequent flying, I realized that my wallet had a mini swiss knife in the side pocket all along. Somehow, the airport scans never picked it up and i didn't realize I was sneaking a weapon on board several times a year.
"In second grade..."
GiphyIn second grade I had to get a signature from my mom for something, but she wasn't awake yet so I signed her signature myself. She gave me a lecture on how that was illegal and I was so sure the cops were gonna break into my house that day.
@LeeMerrittesq/X
@bob_moss/X
@jelanijones/Bluesky
@Aurkayne/X
@sadcommunistdog; @froglok/Bluesky