Everyone's got a story or two about that time where you saw or heard something you shouldn't have. You've probably got some for yourself, things that you've never admitted you saw or heard, things you don't dare to reveal because of the implications involved.
Then again, maybe you just caught some minor stuff. Maybe you were snooping around somewhere private or perhaps you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Whatever you saw and however you saw it, it can be awkward for all parties involved and can certainly change your outlook on the people you think you know best or life in general.
These Redditors possess no such qualms about sharing the things they should never have seen, even if they're a bit shocking and embarrassing. Some of their stories are funny and weird, some are sad revelations, and others still border on the mysterious.
Here are some of the best stories they had to share.
Don't forget to check the comment section below the article for more interesting stories!
#1 Oh, That's Old News
I'm fresh out of school and taking a gap year before starting college. I had managed to get a job working for the United States Air Force at an airbase in the United Kingdom (details of the job aren't important).
So, about 2 am on this particular night in early 1988 the runway lights that are normally off come on briefly, for perhaps 30 seconds then go off. That's when I hear something clearly landing on the runway and off to the right of the runway one of the larger hangars opens its doors. In the pitch black, the light from that hangar is quite spectacular. That's when I see it... a small black triangular aircraft rolls straight into that hangar and within seconds the doors close behind it.
This was my honest thought when I saw that, "I was DEFINITELY not supposed to have seen that." I ended my break and walked back into my building.
A few weeks later we got our first pictures of the F-117 Nighthawk followed by a confirmation it existed. I smiled a little and thought to myself, "I already knew about that..."
#2 An Identity for a Rainy Day
As a middle schooler, I picked up a book at the library, flipped through the pages, and found an application for a replacement birth certificate for some old man. It had every detail about his personal identification on it, so naturally, I took it home thinking, "I'll just hold on to this in case I ever need to assume a fake identity by pretending to be an 80-year-old man and flee the country."
My mom found it and had to explain to me that, no, we don't steal people's identities.
#3 Serendipitous Salary Information
When I started a new job, someone had left a bunch of Human Resource files on the computer I was given. I opened one up, not sure what it was, and I got to see every employee's salary in the company. Even the CEO's. The next day, it was gone. My boss realized his mistake and logged in to my system and deleted the files. It was a memorable experience.
#4 That's Some Indecent Exposure
I went to visit my grandma and grandpa. The front door was locked so I went around through the back and found them gardening... totally naked.
#5 The End Of Two Relationships At Once
During my Freshman year of college, I walk into the kitchen area late at night and there's my girlfriend sitting on the counter... making out with one of my good friends. I just left quietly without them noticing and cut off all contact with both of them. So, pretty sure I wasn't supposed to see that.
#6 Playing It Cool
When I was 14, my friend hosted a birthday party at his house with all the parents invited. I needed to use the bathroom, but the main one was occupied so my friend told me I can use the one in his mom's bedroom. As I walked up to the door, I could hear somebody in there so I decided to wait until they were finished. A good ten minutes later, my friend's mom (who was hosting the party) and another good friend's step-father walk out and see me standing there all confused. They asked what I was doing there and I just said I was waiting to use the bathroom. Surprisingly they played it cool and just said I can use it now and walked off.
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#7 That Doesn't Sound Sanitary
I used to work nights at a manufacturing plant. I went to the bathroom one night, picked out my favorite stall and sat on the toilet to spend the next 10 minutes contemplating life. After a few minutes, a male janitor walked in and started cleaning the bathroom. Another minute later, another male janitor came in to help. They were talking to each other in Spanish and then started kissing near the sinks, not realizing anyone was in the bathroom. I just sat there silently for a while not knowing what to do.
After another minute or two of heavy kissing between the two, I decided to make a few noises so that they knew they weren't alone. My toilet seat creaked when I moved. They both stopped their romance session, looked at my stall, giggled, and ran out of the bathroom leaving all of their cleaning stuff behind. I quickly cleaned up, flushed and ran out. I actually never saw those same janitors again.
#8 Mother-in-Law's Closet
I was helping my mother-in-law clean out her closet. Everything was jokes and laughter until I pull out an unopened romantic pleasure personal item. We were both paralyzed for a moment before she slowly took it out of my hands and mumbled something about it not being hers, and that she had ordered it online. She then backed out of the room and threw it in a cupboard. We then proceeded to clean the rest of the closet.
I desperately wanted to tell my husband about this awkward event but decided to spare him.
#9 Russian Missile Convoy
I was driving from West Berlin to West Germany in the late 1980s. My boyfriend gave me wrong directions, so I had to take an exit off the Autobahn to turn back and get back to the correct exit.
On the small country road on which we found ourselves, we see a large truck with a missile on it, surrounded by Russian soldiers.
They were as surprised as we were, but just laughed and waved at us, as we got out of there as quickly as possible.
#10 Awkward Employee Reviews
My boss forwarded me an email telling me to do something. I noticed the email chain had his bosses on it too, so I read through the chain. They had asked him to rate all my coworkers, including me, from best to worst.
#11 Wrong Video!
When I was 8 or so my old nanny/babysitter was showing me a video of her time with her boyfriend in Paris. The video blacks out for a few seconds, and then it suddenly cuts to her lying on a hotel bed speaking seductively to someone off camera. She jumped out of her seat, tried to cover my eyes, and told me to never tell anyone.
#12 Dad Gets a Lump of Coal This Year
I once walked into my dad's van while he was with a woman who was not my mom.
My dad had a drinking problem. My mom took me and my brother to go looking for him because he was supposed to be buying Christmas presents. I found his van at an adult beverage establishment. My mom sent me to look inside the van to see if there were presents in there.
I looked back into the back and saw my dad with this woman. He turned and looked at me over his shoulder right in the eye and said in the evilest voice, "Get out."
#13 A Sad Revelation
The other day I was looking for my old passport when I found a few of my dad's old visitor's passports. Now, my Dad is older than most (he's 70 while I'm just a teen), so imagine my surprise when listed under "children" in the passport, there's the name of a kid born in the 1970s. The best part is that the name isn't on later passports of his, so I guess I accidentally found out I have a (dead?) half-brother.
#14 Coach's Special Spaghetti Shower Time
Back in middle school, we had this really strange gym teacher. The guy was about 6'2" and ripped. My friend and I both needed to use the restroom and thought that the locker room toilets would be clean since no one used them throughout the day. When we walked into the locker room, to our left was one big shower room and there was our gym teacher showering while eating spaghetti out of a Tupperware container. Thank god he was wearing swim trunks, but he turned around and said "you guys aren't supposed to be here," so we left.
#15 The Basement Hobby Farm
I was about 8 or 9 and my parents were going to be out of town, so they had me and siblings stay with a family from our church. Once we got to the house (which was really nice, by the way) they had one rule: you can play wherever you want, but the basement is off limits. Me being the little brat that I was, snuck down there first chance I got and was supremely disappointed to only find rows and rows of plants growing under lights.
#16 An Awkward Mix-Up
My 6-year-old cousin asked me if I wanted some chewing gum. I said, "sure if she has some." She then goes to her mother's purse and takes out two packages of male birth control and asks me: What do you want, strawberries or banana?
Next thing I know, I'm shoving male birth control packages in her mother's purse saying "We should first ask your mom before going through her things." So the kid doesn't stop here, she takes the purse, goes in the kitchen where all the family was reunited and asked her mother: Mom, can I have some gum?" Her mom says she doesn't have any. The freaking girl takes the male birth control out of the purse and says: Sure you do, I want the strawberries ones, please.
Imagine her mother's embarrassment...
#17 You Never Keep Swiping!
A longtime friend of mine's dad was showing me pics of a car he was restoring. He accidentally pulled up scandalous pictures of my friend's mom instead. He looked awkward for a minute. He never said anything and then just started looking at car pictures like it never happened.
#18 Hello, Dolly!
When I was younger, my family went to look around a house we were considering buying. I went into the owner's daughter's room and there was a weird blow-up doll on the floor. It was really funny and awkward. We didn't end up buying the house.
#19 Behind the Scenes
I was working the nightshift doing post-production on a well-known reality show. I walked into the men's room and found our (lady) boss in a compromised position with one of the other night guys. They both looked up, we made eye contact through the mirror, and I closed the door without a word. I never brought it up, but she gave me the next night off "for all my hard work."
#20 Eavesdropping on the Fairway
I was golfing with my mother's fiancé when he got a phone call. He had his cell volume turned up really high, and I overheard a woman who wasn't my mother say some things in a seductive voice. I convinced myself that it wasn't my business, or that I'd misunderstood, and dropped it.
A few years later, my mom's now-husband was revealed to be a serial cheater, with active partners numbering in the dozens. They're divorced now and I still feel guilty for not saying anything.
#21 Remember That One Time?
I was in the 7th grade, so I was almost 12 when this happened. I woke up in the middle of the night and I heard my mom screaming. I jump up and get ready to defend my mom. I opened up my parents' bedroom door and my mom was definitely not in trouble. My dad was also there if you know what I mean. I didn't understand it at the time, but I wanted to get out of there before they noticed me. However, I fainted instead.
That was something I was definitely not supposed to see. Forever scarred. I'm now 25 and my dad still likes to bring it up at Christmas dinner.
#22 Christmas Hoax
One Christmas Eve I couldn't sleep at all so I went to the kitchen to get some water or something and out in the living room were my parents setting out presents and eating the cookies I had left out. They said that Santa was running late and was in such a big hurry that he just dropped off the presents and asked them to put them out for him.
#23 Operation Bladder
I was a contractor in Afghanistan working at Jalalabad airfield. I woke up to empty my bladder and have a smoke. On the other side of the runway, I saw a few helicopters take off, but didn't hear anything. I thought it was strange as the base was dead silent, but didn't think too much about it.
It was only later when I read the news that it was the SEAL team raid for Osama bin Laden.
Because of my bladder, I was probably the first non-military or government person to see those stealth helicopters.
#24 The Rendezvous in the Abandoned Bathroom
When I was still in high school, I walked into the almost-never-used bathroom (it was close to some rooms, but even if you were in those rooms you'd avoid it for a better one). As I was walking in, I saw two sets of feet in one of the stalls. One guy walks out of the stall and leaves as I'm peeing, then the other guy leaves shortly afterward. I could feel them glaring at my back.
I'm not sure what kind of rendezvous I interrupted, but I shouldn't have been there in any case.
#25 Ben Affleck's #SSN
Years ago I was working for a company. My position allowed me access to server files for various departments. I was bored one day and I was poking through those files to see what else the company had going on. I found a contract for a production deal with Ben Affleck, and his social security number was included (for payroll purposes). I closed the file because I knew I should not have been looking at that, even if it was accessible.
#26 Please Turn Around
When I was about 5, my mom took me to the bank because she needed something out of the safety deposit box. It was right when they were opening up. They asked us to turn around while they unlocked the vault, but I peeked. According to family lore, I went around the rest of the day chanting the numbers of the combination.
#27 Wait What?
I used to work in hotel doing room service. This used to happen A LOT! People order a sandwich and think the up to 45 minutes means it'll take 45 minutes. They then run a bath or something and answer the door half naked.
The one that sticks in my mind was a 20 something business woman I'd built up a relationship with. Nice, but always working, quite serious and dressed quite conservatively. I was shocked when she opened the door half naked and I could not only see she had her lady parts pierced, but was covered in tattoos. She did not seem the type.
#28 A Real Life Alien
One night, after drinking with some friends, we decided some 3 am McDonalds was the perfect closer for the night. Walk in, order, sit down. We ended up sitting close enough to hear these three guys around their mid 60's talking about alien conspiracies. It was quite entertaining. Well, the bladder battle struck and my friend and I have to go to the washroom. My friend goes in first, instantly turns around super wide eyed and just told me to look in the last stall. I walk in, go to the handicap stall and saw the glory.
There, I see a mid 60's gentleman with his pants to his ankles, holding his shirt up peeing. Imagine Butters in his retirement years. But, the crazy part is this dude made a nest of toilet paper around the toilet. I mean, around the base and up to the seat. Must have been like 3 rolls of toilet paper used. He didn't notice us and we slipped back to our table crying from laughter and awe.
Guy comes out, joins his alien friends and they just carry on. I think I saw an actual alien I want supposed to see.
#29 'Fun Toy'
My sister asked my dad and I to fix her bed frame while she was at work, and after we took off the mattress, her 'fun toy' was just laying there. Fortunately, she's pretty messy so it was easy to find a handy clothes pile on the floor to move over it before my dad noticed. But still...
#30 Nothing But A Faint Memory
When I was visiting Grandma and pop I ran down the hall to my guest room and glanced into the master bedroom to see dear old gram naked to the waist staring dejectedly into her mirror. It wasn't the old breasts that scared me, but realizing the sadness of fading beauty in an old woman was much too revealing and personal.
#31 And That Son, Is How I Saw My First Ever...
My mom was the high school girls basketball coach when I was in 8th grade. Was waiting for her to get done with practice one day and while I was standing in the hall way next to her office, three girls from the senior class came running out of the locker room, one with no top on, laughing about something.
I had only about 3 seconds of a glimpse but that was the moment I saw my first pair of breasts! What a sight.
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#32 Scratches Tell All
I learned at 6 that Santa was not really bringing me presents when I had my door cracked open on Christmas Eve and saw my dad and my cat wrestling with a present that my dad was trying in vain to get out of my cat's clutches. The scratches down his arm the next morning confirmed that it wasn't a dream.
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#33 Victory
I asked my last boss for a raise as I was being underpaid by 3 dollars. She said, "Of course! You are well deserving of a raise." She later accidentally forwarded me an email stating to her boss that I did not deserve a raise at all, and that if anything I need be replaced.
I'm now her boss. Victory.
Forbes
#34 Space Mountain
I was on Space Mountain once and the lights came on and the emergency exit stuff all activated. Turns out you don't get launched into space at all. It's just a roller coaster!
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#35 Skeletons In The Closet.
I went to a catholic school that was in a 140 year old building. The guys bathroom had a small old wood door and one day it was unlocked. We wondered through it and found some of the more questionable stuff schools used to own like slapping paddles, dunce caps and a chair with straps.
We also found a skeleton with writing all over it so we Scooby doo'd out of there.
Yes, I am now, 13 years later, aware of of medical and teaching skeletons.
#36 Turn That Tape OFF!
For my high school lacrosse team, one of the parents put together a montage of pictures and highlights from the season. They didn't double check all the footage, so after a picture of my teammate scoring a goal, the video immediately transitioned into footage of said player's dad and mom in the bedroom being intimate.
#37 Feeling Skiddish
My neighbor's panties flew into my backyard when she was hang drying her laundry. They were covered in skid marks. Gross.
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#38 The Flash
When I was in 7th grade, there were these 4 girls who were the "hot" girls of junior high. I guess one of them lost a bet, or took a dare, or something - I never found out the reason behind this.
Anyway, right in the middle of History class, one of them turned sideways in her desk, fully unbuttoned her shirt, opened it all the way, and flashed that half of the room (she had a bra on). A couple of the other girls in that clique giggled, and she quickly closed her shirt up, the whole thing lasting maybe 2-3 seconds. No one else said a thing; the teacher didn't see anything and just kept teaching. As far as I know, I'm the only one who saw anything. None of those girls even saw me looking.
That was a HUGE thing for 12-year-old me to see, so I still remember it perfectly 25 years later - how her hair was done that day, the shirt she was wearing, what her bra looked like. I'm sure it "inspired" me at night for a long time after that.
#39 Shake It Like A Polaroid Picture
I found a box at my dad's house with dozens, if not hundreds, of Polaroids of him and women who were not my mother.
#40 What A Find
I had to stay late in class before recess one day when I was in 5th grade. As I was leaving the class I walked past a garbage can. The homework assignments we literally just handed in no more than five minutes before were in there.
I grabbed them out of the trash and handed them to the teacher, letting her know they must have accidentally fallen in.
She took them from me, told me that they were supposed to be there, and put them back.
That was the last assignment I ever did for that woman. She didn't even bother to check who did them. She just gave us grades based on how she felt we did.
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#41 Why Do You Need That?
I worked in a nursing home connected to senior citizen apartments. As I was crossing the parking lot one of the independent residents was bringing in groceries and dropped a bag. I helped her pick up the spilled groceries.It was mostly tubes of KY Jelly. I did my best not to react while I repacked her bag, I think I asked her if there was a sale on toothpaste to make her think I hadn't seen what it really was. But I knew.
hkgolden
#42 I Do
My engagement ring before my fiancé proposed! We are happily engaged now and it's a secret I'll take to the grave!
#43 Class Act
My best friend's dad entered his room while everyone was relaxing playing Xbox, fresh out of the shower, towelling his junk. Super classy.
#44 I See You
My uncle making out with his mistress. My aunt asked me about it and I told her everything. No regrets. I was 13.
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