Redditors Share Their "This Person Doesn't Understand How The Real World Works" Stories

Some people just have no idea how the real world works. Is it obliviousness? Sure. Entitlement? Definitely. Or maybe, certain folks just aren't gonna pan out, no matter what advantages they have in life. And it's usually the privileged few who are totally clueless.

celiman asked, What is your "This person has no idea how the real world works" moment?

Submissions have been edited for clarity, context, and profanity.

My cousin and I were talking one day and I mentioned that I had a horrible sense of direction, whereas my brother could be dropped off in a cornfield and find his way home.

She replied that it was easy to find your direction, just remember "Never Eat Shredded Wheat" and you will know where North is.

I laughed and said that was for remembering the directions in order, not for finding which way was which. We argued for 20 minutes until I told her to show me how it works.

She stands up and points forward and says "Never Eat Shredded Wheat!" and points to the direction she was facing when she stood up. "That's North!"

So I told her to face me and then find North. She does it again... "Never Eat Shredded Wheat!" and points at me and says "that's North".

So ask her if North just changed? She says no. "But North was that way a minute ago?"

She looks confused and says "Why didn't that work?"

I told her it was because she was an idiot.

Guy sold his Rent-a-Center TV and couldn't understand why they threatened to charge him for theft.

My sister-in-law got into an argument with her brother/my husband and me, stopped speaking to us, blocked us on Facebook... and then threatened to sue us for visitation rights to our six-month-old.

My brother wanted to be a "game designer". I asked how that was going and what he had been doing.

Mom had gone to Walmart to pick up some art supplies so he could get "Designing".

He did not really know what coding was in terms of game design and did not know graphic design. He thought he could simply just draw up some swords and guns and shields and someone would pay him to do this for a living. With zero experience.

He's almost 30.

My little brother who was (and I fear still kinda is) adamant that he would grow up to be an actor all through high school without trying to pursue any acting related things. Quit drama club freshman year and never looked back. Didn't work towards getting into an acting program in college. Spent more time on his video games than acting, but I guess he was just banking on being discovered and put into roles due to handsomeness. It's hard enough to make that dream work for people who are actually trying.

I was in the Army with someone who wanted to know when the maids came to do laundry in Basic Training.

They lived with a dark bedroom for 7 days waiting for the real estate manager of their rental property to come and change the light bulb.

Had a woman call into work (banking) and ask for her mortgage payoff. It was like 40 thousandish.... she said there was no way that was right because her payment book only had 3 more coupons in it and she thought it was done when the coupons were. She couldn't comprehend that she had a 30-year mortgage and that she didn't get a coupon book for all 30 years, she only got three years at a time and because she had an adjustable rate. I had to call backups to explain to her that she still owed 27 more years.

Edit to add: Location: rural PA

Probably a tiny home that needs work, 40k is possible in this area still.

Coupon books tell you when your payment is due and what amount - if you don't bank online or want to mail a payment in. Amish and old folks still don't use the internet here as a norm.??????????????

I worked on a group project with these two girls in high school. We had met up at a library over the weekend and when I pulled into the parking lot one of them said something about my car. I said "yeah, I love this car but someone keyed it in a parking lot all down the passenger side. Look how deep it is!"

I told her I couldn't fix it beyond some touch-up paint either because that would require sanding it down and all that. She looked me dead in the eye with a look like I was crazy and said "well why don't you go buy some elbow grease? I hear that fixes everything".

Dead serious. Girl had heard about "just give it some elbow grease" and got it into her head that this was a product you could buy to fix just about anything. She did not contribute much to our group project.

Fellow college student: I don't understand why other students keep looking for free food. If they really need more money, why don't they just get more student loans?

I had to explain to him that, at some point, they stop giving you student loans. Also that not everyone had parents who were willing/able to support their children, and that even if you did pull out more loans then that's more money you have to pay back after university comparative to your expected entry-level pay schedule in your field.

At our marriage prep retreat, there was a couple who was 20/21 years old. The girl was still in college, her fiance worked at a radio station. She said their plan was to get married right after she graduated and start having kids, and she would be a stay at home mom. One of the other couples asked if they had discussed how the finances would work with that, and she said she doesn't have any bills right now so it shouldn't be that hard.

One time I made the mistake of trying to do laundry in my dorm's laundry room during parents weekend. I walked in to see rows of haggard looking mothers with massive bags of their children's clothes. Laundry is free at our school, and the machines are ridiculously simple to use.

This kid at my school thought taxes weren't real and just a story.

Was good friends with this girl in college. I knew she was spoiled (free reign of daddy's credit card) but it was never a big deal. After college, she couldn't grasp why I couldn't spend the next 6-12 months backpacking through Europe with her, which she wanted to do because she didn't feel like getting a job yet. The idea that I had to get a job to support myself and start paying back student loans was completely foreign to her. Her answer to everything was "have your parents pay for it!". Sorry honey, that is not how the real world works.

Met a guy at uni who thought Chinese people would be unaffected by the rise of superbugs because they were too smart to fall victim to it.

Both a pharmacy student and a Chinese person could not convince him otherwise.

When I sold my first car, the guy who bought it from me got it for his son. Who was on his fifth car. He'd had his license for less than two years.

And they weren't a wealthy family - he had to keep buying cheaper and cheaper cars each time. I'd heard it through the grapevine that he had crashed my old car too.

My dad asked if he could borrow my cat. I said no. He replied, "It's okay, I'll just rent one." I didn't point out that cat rentals aren't a thing. I still don't know why he needed a cat.

My ex-wife demanded to know where I was going on vacation and who I was going with. I had to explain to her for the 871st time what "divorced" meant.

Former barista here. A customer came through the drive-thru one afternoon, ordering a custom drink that cost about $5. While on the phone, he dug change out of the corners of his van and handed me what amounted to less than $3. I continued looking at him with my hand extended, half full of dirty coins, when he just shrugged and said, "That's all I got." I repeated the total and said he hadn't given me enough. "Can't you just spot me with your tips?" Um, EXCUSE ME? First, no, that's literally my grocery money, and second, our company had a strict policy against doing just that. But I simply apologized and said no, I couldn't do that. He blew up at me, saying I wasn't "being very neighborly." I again apologized and explained how I relied on my tip money to, you know, EAT. Instead, he screamed at me again, "You suck, you REALLY suck!" before driving away. Side note: it was a small town and most people there don't know how the real world works.

A friend of mine saw a guy getting arrested in college- the kid was struggling and cussing out the cops like crazy- "do you know who my father is?!" A cop humored him and asked. "He owns the number one used car dealership in upstate New York!"

We were in Massachusetts. They were unimpressed by his legacy and took him in.

EDIT- I do not know any used car dealers in upstate New York and this was 1995