Seconds matter more than we can realize.
Every decision we make fashions every breath we live.
That is daunting.
Even innocent decisions have life-changing effects.
We can't stop making decisions.
But we have to be prepared for the consequences.
Redditor rentinghappiness wanted to hear stories about the times people saw other people's lives crash and burn; so they asked:
"Do you know (of) someone who ruined their life in just a matter of minutes? If so how did they do it?"
Surfing?
"He was gonna be the one to put our dinky little private school on the map by going to the NFL as a kicker."
"He fell off a picnic table that was being pulled behind a pickup truck at a party. (Pasture Surfing)."
"By the time I saw him again a year later, he could almost feed himself without assistance."
- Wheelin-Woody
New Girl Facepalm GIF by HULUGiphy
ROBBED
"The guy I went to high school with was kicked out of his college ROTC and moved back home. After some time of living at home, his dad walked into his bedroom and went off about him being a lazy a** and needing to do something with his life."
"He decided he was going to take his gun and rob a bank."
"Her gun was supposedly not loaded., but he did successfully rob the bank and get away. Some time passed, and he moved out of his parents’ house and started living it up."
"He eventually told someone he trusted. That person turned him in. He was arrested and charged. He got a count for every person who was in the bank because he had a gun."
"You can decide if he ruined his life when he decided to rob the bank or when he decided to tell someone that he did it."
- dspjst
Too Drunk
"Some guy tried to come into my nightclub when he was clearly too drunk. I made the call to not let him in so he started shouting at me and tried to aggressively walk up to me. I put my hands up in defense and he’s pushing back against me. Then the dude lunged at my boss next to me so my boss shoves him."
"The guy tumbles backward and slams the back of his head on a curb. Paralyzed from the neck down forever. Tried to take my boss to court for $15 million but the camera showed this guy instigating everything."
- ExpiredPilot
NCIS
"Third-hand story from a former co-worker: one of the other Marines at the base where he was stationed in the 90s stole plastic explosives from the test range and tried to sell them at a bar that was literally a line of sight from the base. The first person to show any interest was an NCIS officer. That guy might still be in Leavenworth."
- egmalone
Pointless
"The guy I went to high school was at a bar. Spoke to a girl at the bar, and she said she had a boyfriend, he said ok and left it alone. The boyfriend was not impressed. Waited for him to go out for a smoke and sucker punched him. He Fell hit his head and died… So pointless."
- RobyMac85
After Midnight
"Local police chief did a hit-and-run over the weekend on a parked, unattended vehicle, in his department vehicle. By the end of the day Tuesday he was resigning."
"State police investigated and issued a bunch of summary offense citations. DUI was not among the charges."
"No one was hurt and the guy resigned, but, you know, there's only one reason you drive away from hitting something after midnight."
- felonius_thunk
Blunt Force
"A neighbor, his wife, and his friend (and friend's wife) were at the neighbor's house. The two men both got into arguments with their wives and decided to go out drinking down the street."
"A few hours later I was woken up by my sister banging on my bedroom door (I was staying with them at the time) because a car crashed doing probably 80 in a 25 mph right next to our home. I jumped out of bed and got outside to see the neighbor's car crashed into a tree and two men trapped inside."
"The tree the car hit stopped them from ramming into another neighbor's house and they hit it so hard, the battery was in the street after ours. Their car caught fire and we had to watch them burn, still see it and smell it every now and then when trying to sleep."
"I had never met the wife so I had no idea who she was when she came up and asked me what happened, so I said some guy crashed his car. She took off running after she recognized the car. Can’t believe I told her that her husband died so bluntly."
- 1901Studios
The Crazy Guy
"Security company (this happened before I worked there but some co-workers told me the story) guy was doing well at his job. Got lots of promotions, on his way to lieutenant but was TOO into his job and got a police scanner that he would listen to. One day just as he was getting off work a high-speed chase went by. He hopped in his personal vehicle with his firearm, got to the front of the chase, blocked the suspect in, and pulled his gun. Suddenly the cops were much more interested in the crazy guy with a gun. Got hit with several felony charges."
- GeneralXTL
She Slipped
"Pretty successful woman at a company I worked got drunk, took an Uber home from a party. Realized she left the keys to her apartment behind so she decided to climb up to her 2nd story balcony to get her spare set. She slipped, paralyzed herself, couldn't work for a year, racked up ridiculous medical debt and the pandemic left her position useless so she was let go."
- Cold_Hour
Destroyed
"The man who killed my grandfather had never so much as had a speeding ticket. He was married with kids and fell behind on rent. My grandfather that was in his 80’s worked for the company that rented this guy his home for extra money. Grandpa couldn’t reach him about his rent so went and did a welfare check. The guy panicked and murdered my grandfather. Destroyed more than one life in a matter of 30 seconds."
- Ecstatic_Horse_4110
35 Years
"A guy I know robbed a bank with a note saying something along the lines of 'put the money in the bag.' Was released on bond within a few weeks. Went back to the same bank, with another note, and robbed it again. I think he got 35 years. Multiple instances comprised of multiple minutes each, but yeah."
- itsjustausernam3
1995
"A kid I went to high school with wasn't going to graduate and decided to protest by speeding and doing wheelies on the road in front of the school. On his third round, he passes a pickup truck, hooks his leg on the bumper, and is thrown from the bike right on his head and broke his neck."
"School posthumously graduated him."
"Edited to help clear up questions."
"Happened in 1995 on the Northern Illinois/Southern Wisconsin border."
"I noticed his intelligence has been questioned. Let me share an additional anecdote. His nickname was Bob. When asked what it was backward, he replied without guile or irony that it was Oob."
"Whether you agree with the school's action in graduating him or not, locally it was considered window dressing as the whole town knew of what happened within hours of his accident."
- Soulfiber
105
"The 17-year-old girl that was driving 105mph down a dark desert road at 6:35 am. Next week will have been three years since it happened. She hit me, head-on. And that was it for her. I drive past her memorial on the side of the road every day. And I think about how someone with so much ahead of them, could lose everything due to one bad decision. I lost my teeth that day. But she lost a whole lot more. I hope her family is doing well. This is probably a tough time for them."
- point50tracer
"Work Wife"
"Excluding accidents and fights..."
"The guy got intoxicated at a corporate holiday party and made out at the party (consensual) with 'work wife' who was a one-rank subordinate. HR was unimpressed with the violation of the zero-tolerance policy and fired for cause. Actual wife unimpressed with excuses filed for divorce."
- NotAnotherEmpire
Cardi B Applause GIF by Recording Academy / GRAMMYsGiphy
May of 2023
"My dear friend and ex, who I met back in high school, worked for the Conservation Corps and loved it. He had such a passion for the natural environment and had recently been accepted into university to pursue a degree related to environmental sciences in the fall."
"One day in May of 2023 he was out in the field on a four-wheeler, doing his job, and he was traversing an incline. He somehow lost control and the four-wheeler flipped and crushed him. He was 26. I remember him fondly and often, and I hope he didn’t suffer."
- willerkhale
Flames
"Lit a cigarette in an oil change pit when he was a teen. Flammable waste was illegally being stored down there along with a lot of oil. RIP."
- donnie1977
Season 5 What GIF by The OfficeGiphy
Every second counts.
That sounds so trivial, but it's true.
Do you have any stories to add? Let us know in the comments.
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