It only takes one foolish act totarnish a good reputationbuilt over decades of hard work. In the same way, it only takes one horrible, ill-advised decision to ruin one’s life forever.
Today, we’re covering the latter. We’ve picked out ahandful of storiesabout people making asingle wrong movethat altered the course of their existence in the worst ways imaginable. Some, unfortunately, took a fatal turn. Ultimately, all of these could have been avoided.
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A 19yo guy in Sydney ate a slug for a dare. Got Rat Lungworm disease. Went into a coma for 18 months, woke up a vegetable confined to wheelchair needing 24 hour care. Died about 10 years later. From eating a single slug…..
In college, my ex’s friend was pulled over for speeding. He had d***s and alcohol in his system and when the cop reached in his truck to grab the keys, he panicked and took off, thinking the cop would let go. The cop did not let go, and was dragged for quite a ways before eventually falling to the ground and hitting his head, resulting in his death. My ex’s friend was charged with capital murder and sentenced to 20 years in a Mississippi state prison. 21 years old and ruined his entire life in 1 night.
A friend of my parents was a good family man who loved his family. One day he was playing with his toddler and was playfully tossing her on the bed. She would get back up giggling and he would toss her again. In one of the tosses he threw her a bit too far and she hit a bed post. She lived but became bed bound unable to even talk. Not quite vegtable but close. He went to jail on child abuse. Lost his wife, his job and his little girl would bever be the same. The guilt was so much he ended it as soon as he could.
I did. Some drugs are fun with little to no consequence, while other, harder drugs completely take over and then theres drugs that fall everywhere in between…. I was a straight A student, Junior in Highschool, was going to prom with my first serious girlfriend in just a few weeks. Everything was going great, except…. I couldnt get any pot at all in the neighborhood I just moved to. After a few days without my normal tree smoke, I finally took the recomendation from a “friend” I just made in the new neighborhood, and purchased what narcotic they were selling. Just to try… figure it might hold me over till i get some green. My FIRST thought right after taking that first hit from the pipe was “How much $ could I sell ALL of my stuff for?” I kid you not, one hit, I WAS COMPLETELY DESTROYED It took a little more than 12 yrs to kick my accidental crack habit. No job, No HS Diploma, no family, no friends, no possessions at all and 12 yrs just gone. And looking back… I really had no choice but to be a crackhead. There was no way I could stop, impossible…. No one wants to be a crackhead… it is the devils drug and I feel so bad for anyone who has ever crossed its path, because I promise… they can not make the choice to stop, no matter how bad they want to.
Pushed his girlfriend down a flight of stairs in front of almost everyone he knew seconds after she announced to everyone that she was pregnant with his kid.I ain’t sure if she miscarried or if she just decided not to have that psychos kid, but he spent a few years in prison over it and he ain’t welcome anywhere no more.She walks with a cane at 30.
Some kid in our senior year of high school pulled the fire alarm every day. He was getting away with it for a while. The school had town officials and the chief of the fire department and police come in and talk about the dangers. The town would send trucks and be without them if there was another emergency. None of that worked. When they offered a reward the kid’s friend’s ratted him out. His family had to pay for all those calls, he was expelled from school and didn’t graduate.
Some teenagers got drunk and ran over a gas station employee when he tried to stop them from stealing gas. They dragged him a few km’s. The blood stained the roads for weeks. They were all tried as adults and got the maximum sentence of 25 years. I think they were charged for second degree homicide.
One of my childhood bullies joined the military immediately after graduation. Soon after that, he got drunk and dove into shallow waters. He broke his back and is now permanently paralyzed, as well as completely unable to do his dream job. He was always a miserable piece of st who always picked on people he deemed less than him, including disabled people. Karma is a raging b*h.
Guy on our school band was crazy gifted. Like, full ride music scholarship, guys in the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra basically recruiting him/hiring him/whatever they do out of highschool.Got drunk, got stupid, punched a brick wall, and broke most of the bones in his hand. He managed to keep the scholarship because he could also sing, but AFAIK never played an instrument on that level again.
Friend of mine from a wealthy Middle Eastern country/family didn’t quite ruin his life but f****d it up for a while. Was in Canada on a student visa but was working after graduating and had applied for permanent residency. Got rejected, so he took out every credit card he could find and ran them all up because he was leaving the country forever that week. Tells his parents he is coming home and why - mom makes a few phone calls and turns out the kid had screwed up some paperwork, and it was no problem to get it fixed up and approved. That was 15 years ago and he still lives here, but his credit card debt was more than his annual salary and his parents (correctly) told him he was an idiot and to pay it himself. He also lost out on a job opportunity the next year because his credit was such a disaster.
Old coworker went to Vegas, felt really good about his odds due to the liquor and ended up betting his entire life savings on roulette and lost. He ended up losing his house, his wife, kids, and from what I’ve seen he lives in a tiny apartment and works a min wage job.
Me! I didn’t believe my mom she said she’d kick me out at 18, so I never bothered to get a part time job to save money. My 18th birthday came around, and I said “nope” to her when she asked if I’d gotten a job or had living arrangements figured out. The next day, I came home from a friend’s place to a laundry basket of clothing at the door. She drove me to a homeless shelter and never let me come back home.
I had a classmate who tried to OD to end his life. He survived. He was in a coma for like a year, then when he woke up he couldn’t talk or even remember who he was. He’s getting better slowly but he’s now mentally disabled. Just so brutal. He’s only 22. I know the brain is an amazing thing, so hopefully he’ll get to some sort of normal eventually, but he’s never going to be the same.
My brother got into the car with his friend, whom he knew had drank too much. He quite literally ruined/ended his life. I’m not looking for attention or condolences, but just remember that it’s not just being the drunk driver that you have to think about.
He didn’t properly secure a ladder on a building site. He then fell off said ladder and fractured three vertebrae. Lucky enough not to be paralysed, but he spent nearly 2 months in hospital and then three months in a body cast from his armpits to his arsehole. His missus took this opportunity to leave him for a yuppie scumbag, taking his kids with her. He’s been battling with depression and chronic pain for over a decade since then.
My dad once saw a patient who was a seemingly normal, well-adjusted family man in his early 40s with no major health issues and in good physical shape. He was in town for a business trip and had suddenly gone blind. Come to find out, while out with his colleagues, he had tried coke for the first time in his life. It was cut with a something that created a blockage in his optic nerve and now he’s blind forever. This caused him to lose his job. He had a wife and kids and was the sole bread winner.
Guy I knew in uni was inebriated and decided to try and clear a very tall spiked wrought iron fence. He impaled his balls and did not get to keep them.
I have an acquaintance that was always overconfident, approaching arrogance.I could tolerate him as he was charismatic and not far into arrogant territory.One day he thought he could keep something he found at work. Cameras everywhere. The owner knew where it was and was able to track the item to him.Fired when the investigation showed him carrying it out. 30+ years with the company.Sadly it wasn’t the first time his ego got him in trouble.
Friend was having a beer in a tavern. Some guys came in and started messing with my friend. He moved seats twice and then got up to leave when one of the guys threw a punch. My friend threw ONE punch back and the guy he hit landed in the ICU and wasnt expected to live. Friend was sitting in jail waiting just waiting for the guy he punched to either die or recover.Turns out the guy he punched recovered. Friend took a reduced charge of aggravated assault…a felony. One punch.
The daughter of a friend of my mom. This was quite a few years ago, but “coma drinking” was for whatever insane reason really popular with the youth here. And yes, it is exactly what the name implies, you drink until you black out. She actually did go into a coma and from what I understand, suffered minor brain damage.
Guys got drunk in HS, drove off the highway, didn’t make the turn at 90 mph, five dead.
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She decided she didn’t want to be a wife and mom anymore after having 4 kids (all under age of 14). Left her family and moved in with a guy on parole for assaulting a young teen. Kids want nothing to do with her. Rest of family and community have had it.
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Old friend of mine relapsed and ODed on fentanyl 3 days ago. Opioids have ruined my area. I’ve lost 4 or 5 out of 70 classmates I graduated with 10 years ago, all gone from over dosing.
Really great friend in high school huffed glue in her bed room one night and died. It was really weird bc no one knew she was doing inhalants, and she didn’t fit the glue huffing stereotype: she was extremely social and well liked; extremely smart, athletic, she was the head chair in band in her section, and really into jazz band; but at night, she’d huff f*****g glue.
My father…Years ago he started a trucking company with his best friend at the time. The HQ of the company was in a neighbor state, a six hours drive or about 40 minute flight. And for some reason, my dad just wouldn’t visit his company. Even with my mother pressing him to actually take care of his business, he would alway say he trusted his friend and since he only did the accounting for the company he only needed the reports his friend would send him. Long story short, his “best friend” scammed him out a million bucks, driving both their company and my family to complete bankruptcy and fucked off to live in some tropical paradise
A co-worker of mine who had a very successful management-level job at a big corporation paralyzed themselves from the waist down after trying to climb up a rain pipe on a drunken dare.They couldn’t work for almost a year, returned in a very junior position, and were basically making minimum wage. Their life savings disappeared in a couple of months despite them being amazing at saving and last I saw them they were made redundant when COVID hit. no idea what their situation is now.
Actually I have one of these, but it’s a terrible story. It was someone that I knew but not well. He and his wife had a small kid. The wife was driving the kid to care, forgot the kid was in the car and went to work. The kid died in the heat of the car. It was on the news, they showed aerial photos of where car was and stuff.Posting this from an alt as I don’t want people joining the dots on who that is.
Middle management type man where I used to work, came into the office every other day. He was known to be a stand up guy, good family man, even a good boss (as good as it gets when it comes to management at least).He got caught having sex with the new hire. Lost his job, his marriage, and his kids stopped talking to him. That was two years ago, last news I got he’s living in a studio apparemment with a mattress on the floor, and already spent half his savings on alcohol.
A friend’s daughter was riding her motorcycle on a backroad she’d lived on for most of her life. She blew through a stop sign going about 90 and t-boned a Jeep. The impact shattered nearly every bone in her body. Last I heard she was wheelchair bound and the doctors still weren’t sure if keeping her leg was better than amputation. She’s in PT, and probably will be for the rest of her life. Apparently they’re optimistic, but she’ll never be the same. Plus she had three small kids with a deadbeat, stoner ex.
Had a choir teacher at my middle school who was accused of inappropriate behavior with a student. Before charges were even made, he took his life that evening after he left school. I remember them playing the dispatch call of himself telling the police where they’ll find his body.
He cheated over his girlfriend of 7 years. People found out 2 months after their engagement. His family is slowly disowning him.
I once worked as a personal assistant for a person who broke his neck due to diving into snow that was a little too hard.
One of my mom’s clients fell for a scam and lost $100,000.
Alcohol and a motorcycle.
Gambling. All their savings, the house, a motorbike. She walked out - eventually - got her life back. Him? Who knows.
Had a friend who was a compulsive spender. Buy a $9000 sports motorcycle. Spend $1200 getting it customized. Trade it in 9 months later for $3000 towards another new one. Guy could probably have a house and be ahead on mortgage with all of the money he’s spent on stuff he was stupid about.Well, one day, he must’ve put his credit card number into a “Hot Singles In Your Area” scam. Woke up and his bank account had been cleaned out. Needed to move back into his parents' house and declare bankruptcy.Also borrowed $1000 from me that I never saw a cent of before he ghosted me. Sad thing about the situation is, even though I did want the money back, I had no intention of disowning his friendship.
I won’t say ruined but friend in high school who always got better grades than me went to college, joined the kind of frat where there’s never not dried beer on the floor, flunked out of school, briefly married and divorced someone he just met and is now just kind of crazy and alone.
We’ll ask my sister she got arrested for embezzlement and computer fraud in the same day then 12 days later got arrested for domestic violence in another county. She did a really good job of ruining her life because she confessed immediately to the embezzlement. She’s not very bright, I swear. The crimes were bad enough but confessing gives no leverage to plea bargain. Invoke your 5th amendment right to remain silent, request a lawyer, don’t just confess. Then to be out on bail and commit yet another crime I just can’t with her.
Got married to an idiot.
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