Most of us like to think we’re on the same page as other folks, that, by and large, we tend to have a similar perception of reality. However, every once in a while, one has a conversation that is so bizarrely tone-deaf or just unrealistic that it makes one pause and consider.
We’ve gathered some of the worst and most unhinged examples of people being deeply out of touch, as shared by netizens. So get comfortable as you scroll through, prepare to roll your eyes, upvote the most egregious ones and be sure to share your thoughts and personal experiences in the comments down below.
#1
Getting a college degree means getting a fantastic high paying job.
pajamakitten:
It used to be good advice, except everyone took it and degrees became devalued in the process. The 2008 financial crisis also f**ked over the job market in many countries and you needed a lot more than a degree to find a job.
Image source: Sneakerkeeper123, Meniphoto / Envato
#2
“At what altitude do deer become elk?”.
AlphaFoxasour:
Someone asked our forestry and firefighting teacher this. I was told he just walked away from the person asking.
kcareee:
WHAT? Is this a thing?
Image source: kcareee, DennisJacobsen / Envato
#3
My mom told me when I was first job hunting to put on my resume that I was interested in pursuing higher education, because it shows ambition. I actually wasn’t, and that is one of the worst things you can put on a resume if you’re actually looking for full time work.
Nobody wants to hire someone who is going to leave or be unavailable.
Image source: Ghostbuttser, Prostock-studio / Envato
#4
“Money won’t solve your problems”
F*****g shut up. I know that. But I bet I’d be less anxious if I wasn’t scared of a random medical bill or if I wasn’t watching my money daily, or pay for a maid
Or caretaking for my elderly family.
Money will not solve my problems, but it gives me the freedom and opportunity to address them and make them easier to fix.
Image source: bignuggetsbigworld, Blogging Guide / Unsplash
#5
“Mom/Dad/Teacher, I do not know what I want to be when I grow up.”
“You can be anything you want.”
“I just said I don’t know what I want!”
“… You can be whatever you want!
dantheman0991:
I’ll never forget in my junior year of high school when I had to talk to my school GUIDANCE counselor about college applications. I’m the youngest of 3, and both older siblings were doing college. My parents flat out told me that they couldn’t cosign on more school loans, and I was basically on my own.
This woman, whose job has Guidance in the title, calls me into her office, asking about college applications. I hadn’t done any. I was terrified at the thought of the whole prospect of college, much less what I’d study if I ever got there. She was shocked that I hadn’t applied anywhere. She asked what I wanted to do, and I told her that I didn’t know. Her response was to get flustered and I’ll never forget what she said. “I’m not going to waste any more time on this. You can leave.”
F**k you, Ms. Burdick.
Image source: anon, gpointstudio / Envato
#6
I JUST got told by some woman that Māori don’t know what oppression is, which was pretty hilarious.
unoriginal-gangsta:
Probably the same people saying “stop saying Aotearoa – we live in New Zealand” and farmers with their “stop shoving Te Rayo down our throats” well buddy first of all, whose land are you farming on. 🤔
Image source: anon
#7
My brother is a car guy and i’m not. My dude buys a new car every 18-36 months. He said something to me like “Man you can’t even get off the lot for less than $50k nowadays “
During the ‘08 financial crisis i had a conversation with a friend and he said “If you just turn off the TV you wouldn’t even know we were in a recession.”. Like 4 or 5 dudes just started yelling at him. Dude sitting next to him had just lost his job. Others took pay cuts. Other dudes dad had been let go.
most_likely_not_abot:
Was in the Army from 08-13
I honestly would have said the same thing about the financial crisis.
I knew about it from the news. But I didn’t know a lot of people at the time so it didn’t really affect me or my family or anybody I knew besides for my parents retirement, which is big, but not losing your job type of big.
Then I was hanging out with people who had a guaranteed job in the Army the entire crisis. We never talked about it in the Army as it didn’t really affect us at all.
When non military people brought it up I just had to say “oh yea, it sucks out there” or something to make me not seem like an a*s for not being affected at all by it.
Image source: NastyNate4, jm_video / Envato
#8
My managers at work don’t understand depression and think someone can just man up.
F****n wild.
IlyssaValentyne:
So many people don’t know the difference between being depressed and having depression.
Admirable-Valuable-6:
A lot of people also don’t understand just being sad compared to actual depression.
Image source: bk201kwik, Blake Connally / Unsplash
#9
I had multiple professors think that everyone in my major was gonna come out of college making ~180k a year. Mechanical engineering is good to me, but uhhhh not that good.
Image source: Daedalus308, FoToArtist_1 / Envato
#10
My mom said “no one can really afford their first house, you just have to go for it anyway”.
mightandmagic88:
I’ve heard the same thing about having kids.
Image source: anon, StudioVK / Envato
#11
“You should give me your SUV because I have more kids than you. You can have my Prius. There’s no reason for you to have an SUV with just two kids. I have three, so I should trade with you.” (She was 100% serious)
My sister in law explaining why she should have my car, and that I am a capitalist pig for working hard my whole life, graduating college, joining the army, and getting a good job.. while she skipped school, did d***s, committed arson fraud, went to jail, and has been married 3 times.
Apparently it’s my fault my family is well cared for and hers lives off of federal aid. She just wants “equality ” she says. So she can have the same things that “capitalist slaves” can afford. She said that if she was a man she would have been able to succeed, but I don’t think she’s taking into account the ungodly amount of money she makes every month in alimony and child support that she blows on god knows what. Her kids dont see a dime.
Testiculese:
I can 1-up you on that. Not personally, but someone else bought a 3BR house after working and saving for years, etc., and her sister decided that she would move in with her two kids, and the owner can sleep on the couch.
I would have had only two words to say. “What sister?”
Image source: Mikeku825, KaterinaDalemans / Envato
#12
Men can’t be s**ually harassed. As someone who be assaulted and harassed with people saying I’m a liar. I was f*****g furious.
Image source: StMuerte13
#13
“Money is a social construct, like why do we even need it anyway?”
Spoken like a true trust fund kid who has never been on the breadline…
Image source: anon, Towfiqu barbhuiya / Unsplash
#14
“Unions have never done anything for this country” during a federally mandated 3 day weekend that we were all using to go on vacation.
Image source: anon, Manny Becerra
#15
My previous employers told me they didn’t want me to just survive, but thrive. They also thought minimum wage was sufficient to be able to do that.
Image source: anon, Getty Images
#16
The 27-year-old parent of a 13-year-old student told me that she was the only one allowed to tell her child what to do and if her daughter didnt want to do her math homework, then I was not to “punish her with bad grades.”.
7237R601:
I had to have a disruptive student (4th grade – 10 or 11) removed from my music class 7 times during the 10 week grading period. His grade was obviously a 30% F. Mom (mid-late 20’s) brought in a parent advocate too. Principal changed his grade to a 90% and then brought me in to talk about it. I packed my stuff and didn’t finish the day. Never taught again.
X_stellar_Merc:
Dear lord, and my spouse wants to teach K-12. Not for all the money in the world…I’m sticking to adults. This is a straight up horror story.
MountainCheesesteak:
Tbf, in both of those stories, the problem was the parent, not the child.
Image source: tiffy68, semenay erdoğan
#17
Comments about why I didn’t choose different options in life. I don’t think young people today understand how isolated we were in very small rural towns prior to the internet. I grew up in a town with less than 2000 people that was almost a two hour drive from an actual city. Our town library was a collection of books a lady got together in an old trailer. We didn’t have cable TV most of my childhood, we didn’t even have consistent TV reception back then. I literally did not understand the world outside that town until I got into the military and left.
Macrodope:
I’ve had conversations with Gen Z people on subjects such as WW2.
I noticed they had an inherent difficulty grasping the reality of cultural and political isolation before the existence of the internet.
It was hard laying out how easily a population could be influenced by a doctrine like the Nazi Party for example.
Often it was more of a generalised disgust for previous generations as opposed to understanding the process that lead to horrific events… and without an understanding of the process they are dangerously vulnerable to repeat those same steps whether consciously or unconsciously whilst holding an extremely critical and ignorant stance against those that lived before them.
OP:
I’ve had that conversation too I’ve found when you explain to them that it didn’t start with gas chambers but instead started with questioning what degree of medical care should be given to those who are significantly mentally and physically disabled it makes more sense.
Image source: MotherofJackals, Alba Calbetó / Unsplash
#18
“You wouldn’t have been laid off if you were good at your job. Layoffs don’t affect the ones who are good at their work.”
Pipe down, Ashleigh, you just focus on showing up on time before throwing those stones.
f_ed:
Actually that is so false.
They lay off those who make the most money and those who they could replace for less money.
OP:
Oh believe me, I know. She found out the hard way when her entire department was laid off recently in a corporate restructuring. I made it a point to reach out and offer suggestions to simply “be better at the next job to avoid this happening again.”
yearofthesponge:
The youth who still believes in just deserts still live in a fairy tale.
Image source: forever_29_ish, Getty Images
#19
“If it’s a legitimate r**e, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.” – former US Representative Todd Akin.
Anon:
This guy is terrible. He is wrong. He is also quoting a very common belief that has been in medical science for thousands of years because ARISTOTLE claimed this. And because Aristotle made this claim, innumerable women from ancient times, medieval times, and on through all of history and well into the modern era have paid massive prices, including being put to death for infidelity.
Image source: BadSafecracker, nenetus / Envato
#20
A more lighthearted one than most of these comments, but a male friend in high school joined in a conversation after our female friend said she was planning to lie about being on her period to get out of swimming in PE.
He responded: Well that won’t work, she’s a female teacher so she’ll know you’re lying because she doesn’t have hers!
Turns out he thought all women everywhere get their period at the exact same time every month… we’re all synced up.
His face when we explained… 😂.
Image source: naturemymedicine
#21
In college my mom told me my career choice (a city union job) was stupid. She said it would never get me anywhere and I’d never make any money. Basically called me a loser.
During the pandemic when many people were losing their jobs or hours were getting cut (including my siblings) I still had mine – same hours, same pay, same days off. Thank GOD I didn’t listen to her.
Also I bought a house during the pandemic.
F**k you, mom. 🖕🏼.
notrandyjackson:
People are entitled to their own opinions. Parents being required to encourage everything their child does is silly.The mom has her own lived experiences and determined because of this that getting a city union job was a bad idea. She was trying to warn her, although what actually happened proved her warnings were incorrect. I see nothing harmful or bad in what she said.
Image source: Gbabie88, westend61 / Envato
#22
Currently searching for property in London. My mum goes “don’t worry a doer upper will come along really cheap and you can buy that”… “really cheap” is 500k 🤷♂️.
ImRedditorRick:
The wife and i are basically waiting for another housing crisis so we can afford a small house that would be considered “starter” homes. We’re not going have children so the small, reasonable smaller starter home would be great. But anything that doesn’t need a ton of work is at least $375k. I could have sworn these types of house were around $225k a few years ago.
Image source: s199320, Impactphotography / Envato
#23
A doctor once told me if I went for a long run it would help cure my bipolar disorder. Spoiler alert it didn’t.
ForsakenPriority3767:
He left out eating clean and managing sleep. Also avoiding d**kheads and observing and working on triggers. Staying off alcohol and using organic pot in small doses.
Image source: itsbudgie, dotshock / Envato
#24
“I don’t believe in interracial marriage… If it ain’t white it ain’t right.”
I’ve never heard anyone else say anything that was even close to that bad.
theycallmecliff:
How old was this person, 90? Not that that makes it okay, of course.
OP:
No, I expect she was in her late 30s. That’s one reason I was so surprised. But she was also quite poor and I would be surprised if she was a high school graduate.
Image source: QuarterNote44, Jakob Owens / Unsplash
#25
That I ruined my moms life by being born. She told me this 2 days ago, I’m 14. Like b***h I didnt choose to be born…
Image source: Opiodsarekillas0814, natalya_ugr / Envato
#26
I need to be happy, so I am not anxious.
Image source: dude_seven, YuriArcursPeopleimages
#27
“Dating is so easy these days. If you don’t have someone, it’s your own fault.”
Bruh…
Image source: anon, drazenphoto / Envato
#28
“Women as hot as me don’t watch ‘Lord of the Rings.'”.
Anon:
Too many big words in the subtitles?
Image source: anon, YuriArcursPeopleimages / Envato
#29
When i was 10 i walked home from school and this old lady stormed up to me and starting screaming in my face“you’re brown what are you doing in this part or town? go trash your own neighborhood” and a lot more i shouldn’t put on here. if any one says “they’re old. it’s how they were raised” that is not an excuse they lived through revolutionary times and should be kept up to date on civil rights. f**k. that. s**t.
Image source: need-help121
#30
“You’re not a real Christian. You’re depressed, and if you were truly a real Christian, you’d be filled with God’s light.”.
Image source: OpALbatross, zamrznutitonovi / Envato
#31
“Man, you millennials just don’t want to buy homes all you want to do is rent, I don’t get it.”.
Image source: FantasticDeparture4, Brock Wegner
#32
“oh, they speak Spanish in Spain? I didn’t know that.”.
Image source: attaboy000, Curated Lifestyle
#33
One guy on the team I used to supervise, when told our work dress code was going to change to “no jeans when you have to visit a client” said he doesn’t own anything other than jeans. Dude, you make $100,000 a year – go buy a pair of pants.
Image source: 10S_NE1
#34
“girls don’t actually really like video games, they just pretend to for attention”
just a few months ago, I literally ditched the guy I was dating in order to sit in a dark room, alone, and play Baldur’s Gate for 8 hours straight.
Image source: abnabatchan
#35
Coworker said to me before the pandemic during a talk about raising the minimum wage to a living wage:
“Minimum wage jobs aren’t real jobs. Nobody gives a f**k if they all quit! Those are supposed to be entry level jobs for teenagers anyway.”
That sentiment aged not so good.
Image source: NeverGoFullKeytar, Getty Images
#36
We know you’ve been doing the role for awhile, You’ll officially get the promotion if you just keep at it…
Image source: Mardanis
#37
“Nobody likes a jack of all trades, focus on one thing”.
Ed_DaVolta:
Macguyver would like a word with you.
simbahart11:
A jack of all trade Master of none, is better than a master of one.
Image source: dtmi1212, zamrznutitonovi / Envato
#38
I had a disagreement with someone online that it was Sunday for me (Australia) and an American girl being her Saturday. I asked her if she knew about different time zones and she told me she knew about them but still disagreed it was my sunday.
Image source: Sensitive-Cherry-398
#39
I was told as an intern that I needed to rethink if I really wanted a career because nobody liked me. Anyways 2 years later I’m working at my dream job and she got fired at hers lol.
Image source: Belugha89, nikki_meel / Envato
#40
The entire theory of tabula rasa or the blank slate. Basically that everyone starts life equally. That’s f*****g idiotic from every single conceivable angle.
Image source: Twon28
#41
A 45 year old friend said he wouldn’t take the covid vaccine because it might make him sterile.
Image source: degilliland36, Getty Images
#42
Getting a $350k investment was easy for me because I’m hot 😭.
Image source: anon, Getty Images
#43
Almost anything to do with history.
I once saw a teen Redditor tell an Asian person that rice was “pretty new” to the American diet, and that “40 years ago” (so, the 1970s) “most Americans would have heard of rice, but very few would have it in their pantrys [sic] and most had not tried it”.
Rice. The kid thought *rice* was a “new, exotic food” in the US… in the 1970s.
Image source: tunaman808
#44
Close to 15 years ago, my young nephew told me that he hoped the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan weren’t over by the time he turned 18 so he could go fight. This was while he was visiting me at Walter Reed, recovering from gunshot wounds and third degree burns. He did end up enlisting, and the wars weren’t over yet, but he got sent to Leavenworth as a CO and never saw combat before getting a dishonorable discharge for bringing weed into a secure facility.
Image source: Bruce9058
#45
“I want to learn to play the piano using only YouTube and I think learning to read music is a waste of time. How long will it take me to play Rachmaninoff?”
– various daily posts on music subs.
Image source: moonwillow60606
#46
Women have it so easy because if they have financial trouble they can just start an OnlyFans account.
Image source: DogMom814, Alexander Grey
#47
That I should hire more women as my field of work is male dominated. Which, to be fair it is but three of my five employees are women, my business partner is a woman so…
Image source: MangyDog4742
#48
“I never compliment men, because they get too much of that from society.”.
Image source: anon
#49
Guy said mushrooms are mammals because they are not plants.
Image source: palimostyle
#50
A guy I know his parents are ready well of, lots of old family wealth. I told him it is hard to find a place for myself because it is really expensive. He told me to just ask my parents to buy me a house. His parents did that for him. I told him that not every parent can afford to do that. He said that my parents should have worked harder.
I still wonder how he got to adulthood without knowing that not everyone is as rich as his family. His parents got him a car for his 18th birthday even though he didn’t had his license yet.
Image source: Dutch_Rayan
#51
“Oh you wear hearing aids? Is that the latest fashion fad now?”.
Image source: CutMonster, GN Group
#52
My uncle says s*x is not important in a relationship. He’s about 54, divorced, his wife cheated on him.
Image source: SRG4Life
#53
“As a young doctor, you will have to volunteer for ten years!”
This came out from the mouth of a man who is the director of one of the biggest university hospitals in my country’s capital.
And yeah, the entire region is suffering from a shortage of medical personnel, and lots of doctors, nurses, technicians, and others are leaving the country for much more lucrative job openings in Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, the US, and Canada… Technically, only in the country’s capital, in order to refill the numbers, they would need to hire the entire next 4 generations of graduating doctors just to keep things afloat.
And yeah, no one is interested to work for the next decade for free. Lots of young doctors are in their late 20s, wasted at least 20 years of their lives in education and training, so no one is eager to work for free, especially with a medical license and taking into account that you could make astronomical amounts of money as a doctor anywhere in the Western Europe.
Image source: FabulousVile
#54
Not someone else, and nothing serious but….. My senior year of high school in astronomy there was a painting of the solar system on the wall and after a month in the class I looked at my best friend and said, “Why are there planets between the Earth and the sun on there? That s**t is wrong.”
At one point in the following conversation I told him, “Well the other planets would block us from seeing the sun if they were closer.” :).
Image source: anon
#55
That the case against Derek Chauvin for George Floyd’s murder was flimsy.
(This was said near the end of the trial after Dr. Tobin’s testimony. The person who said it was a blue collar guy who worked 10+ hours a days, he was just ignorant. Once I talked to him and explained the evidence he reevaluated his opinion).
Image source: Gluteusmaximus1898
#56
“Get a saxophone player. They’ll add a lot of dynamic to your band”
“…dad, we play thrash metal.”.
Image source: hydrochloric_bukkake, Rishabh Sharma / Unsplash
#57
My step mother in law told me she could never drive a Mercedes (as if it was too much of snobby thing to do) as she drives away in a Lexus and her husband has a $100K Audi. 1st world problems.
Image source: Donzer72, Brandon Russell / Unsplash
#58
A friends mom sad to me last year: “I can’t be racist against black people if i have a relative who is black”.
Image source: death2sarge
#59
That boomers never had to work for what we have.
That’s boomers could graduate high school, get a job with no training, buy a house and car and have kids. Also no generation until now, has had to work their way up in salary in jobs
Those comments were said directly to me.
I had an employee who lied about their skills during the interview, lied on their resume. I hired them as an electronics tech which they assured me they had training and experience. They claimed they could troubleshoot circuits , find the fault and replace the components with no assistance. After a couple weeks it became very apparent they did not know anything about electronics. To the point that when asked to sort a pile of assorted components and put them in marked bins. They simply said, I have no idea what any of these things are. While we were terminating him, he told us that we couldn’t fire him because we were required to place him in other jobs until he was successful. The HR rep simply said, “Ah sorry, that’s not how it works”…
These are an absolutely insane and false take on how things used to be.
Image source: GadreelsSword
#60
‘It’s worse when women cheat, it’s different when men do it, it’s not as bad’
🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄.
Image source: The_AmyrlinSeat
#61
Boomer in-laws. “Why aren’t you guys further ahead financially?”
Well..let’s see here. You graduated from university that only cost 3000 dollars, but got jobs right away, and then lived in your parents basement until THEY bought you your first house and when you wanted to start your own business those same parents gave you seed money…and 30 years later when it started going under and into receivership, those parents of yours died and left you half a million dollars to bail yourself out..then you sold the house they bought for you for another half million and are pleasurably blowing through it on a beach in Portugal.
We of course, finished university 10s of thousands of dollars in the hole, paid our own rent and our own way, never got a penny from you, and when MY parents died, like you, they spent all the money they saved/inherited/got for free from their “greatest generation ” parents and all I inherited was their tax debts on the estate. Or…as you put it…we just aren’t working hard enough”.
C***s.
Image source: DrDiarrhea
#62
A friend of mine tried arguing that even though he has been unemployed since out of high school, that he worked more hours on his summer job then I did working 12 hour days 6 days a week for 9 years.
Image source: anon
#63
It’s an old argument. Tax the richest 1% and we can pay down our federal debt. Our debt stands at 24 trillion. Economist say at our rate of payment it will take 700 years to pay it down.
Image source: anon
#64
Soccer isn’t a contact sport.
Image source: anon
#65
I’m always hearing about how life was easier like 30-50 years ago when it wasn’t.
Image source: AuggieNorth
#66
I was told that it’s not possible to have a condescending tone in online comments because it’s text, not speech. Just happened five minutes ago.
The stupidity. It burns.
Image source: shackbleep
#67
When a young person says they don’t vote, I get upset. Everyone should learn about their rights, responsibilities, and how their lives are affected by each level of government. It is more important now than ever to make informed decisions on what you want your future to look like. Around the world, our rights and freedoms are in danger. Young people will be impacted the most by decisions made by the voters in their jurisdiction. They need to be more involved.
Image source: jamaicanadiens
#68
One time my sister asked me to buy her tampons. She was like, 14 and wanted to try them instead of pads, so I grabbed her some on my way home from work one day. I get home and my dad asks me what’s in the bag, so I tell him it’s tampons for my sister. This grown adult man looks me in my face and says “isn’t she too young for those?” Hey, what the hell do you mean actually? So he explains to me that she’s only 14 and as far as he knows, a virgin. I had to explain to my own father that you do not need to lose your virginity as a prerequisite to using tampons. He was single-fathering at the time and up until that point he had just deferred all the Girl Stuff to my mom, so I think he was just grateful one of his kids was old enough to take over the Girl Stuff so he didn’t have to 😂.
Image source: TheWeenieBandit
#69
A friend of mine once told me “some women like to b hit!!!” I asked how he came to that conclusion. “ because they ask for it “…
We weren’t mates for long….
Image source: Whizbang76
#70
“Just be you and people will like you”
I am a quiet and shy person at best. I’m not good with social situations and have a bit of a temper when people push boundaries. I mask that extremely well by playing by the rules with social situations. People don’t like me for me. They like me for what they expect from me. The only person who knows who I truly am is my gf. Only person who I let my gentle side out with.
Anon:
Then change if you don’t like yourself. If you are quiet and shy at best as a man you’re limiting yourself from opportunities. Best of luck!
Image source: burglicious, Victoria Romulo / Unsplash
#71
For reference: I’m white (It has a lot to do with what happens in story. I was at a Jersey Mikes I used to frequent once waiting to order a sandwich. There was a Mexican couple who were in front of me also waiting. The girlfriend is afraid of the sandwiches not being filling enough as they were ‘White People food’. The BF immediately picked up on me being right behind her and not-so-subtly pointed out that I was literally right behind the GF and I heard exactly what she was saying. When she saw me the GF went as white as my skin color. To be honest, I was laughing hard on the inside at the whole thing. What makes it funnier is that the person who was making people’s sandwiches (and who I was acquainted with) was African American and had also heard the GF. The two of us just shared a look like ‘How the f**k did she offend the both of us?’. Needless to say, after the couple got their order, they left like they had to take a s**t really, really badly but didn’t want to disturb everyone else.
Image source: tcrpgfan
#72
A 25 year old told me last week that he wanted to retire at 30. I said “aww, that’s cute”.
Image source: MissHell303
#73
“It’s women who control the gender of the baby”
“You’re a bad person because you have a body count…. No I’m a guy, it’s different”.
Image source: SlayersGirl4Life
#74
Men commenting on girls with glasses that they ‘have given up’. It’s a belief that should have been abandoned in the 40s and 50s but it’s surprisingly common still.
Image source: tubelcek
#75
I should wear gloves when picking up heavy objects so i dont mess up my “girly hands”.
Image source: anon
#76
Someone just told me that babies in the womb are not babies unless they can’t survive on their own own (poor attempt at using the viability argument). It’s like saying that people with diabetes are not people since they are not viable without their meds.
These people are not only stupid, they are stupid on purpose. Just to say mean and nonsensical things to trigger you.
Image source: ILoveGirls_I, Getty Images
Follow Us
