30 People Who Messed Around And Found Out

Some things can be learned without having to go through a traumatic experience; after all, common sense can go a long way. But there are certain life lessons that we can only understand if we go through them ourselves.

People in this popular Reddit thread realized this by accident. Their unfortunate “messed around and found out” stories range from learning that ducks can bite to discovering that poison ivy is actually poisonous. If you’re curious to know more about how this went down, scroll down below.

We also reached out to AyrionUpaka, who started this discussion in the first place.

You can find our interview with them below!

#1

#2

#3

Bored Panda reached out to AyrionUpaka, who kindly agreed to tell us what inspired them to start this discussion online.

"It's a fairly common saying I hear quite often. It's a warning, and it got me thinking about what happened to those who chose not to heed the warning. This subreddit seemed like a great place to ask for a large and varied response. Although I really wasn't expecting a response quite so large."

#4

Image credits: crasea

#5

Image credits: feckless_ellipsis

#6

Image credits: msjammies73

If they were to answer this question themselves, they would go back in time to when they were just six years old.

"The playground teachers always warned us not to venture behind the outbuilding towards the back of the playground since it was dangerous back there.

One day, I heard a bunch of kids playing behind the building, and curiosity got the better of me, so I went to join them. Unfortunately, I wasn't paying attention to where I was walking and found the "danger" when I accidentally stepped on a board with an upturned, rusty nail in it. The nail slid straight into my heel.

Almost immediately after, a teacher found us all, scolded us, and told us to come out. Another unfortunate part of the story is that they wrongly believed I was crying because I'd been caught breaking the rules, so they didn't think to ask me if anything else was wrong. As a 6-year-old, I was shy and not very articulate, so it took them a fair while to figure out that I was actually injured. My mom was called, and I got to take the rest of the day off school, so it's not an entirely unhappy ending."

#7

Image credits: SnoopsMom

#8

Image credits: Complete-One-5520

#9

Image credits: Telwardamus

For them, life lessons learned the hard way seem to stay in memory longer. "I always believe positive reinforcement is the way to go when teaching lessons, but lessons learned the hard way do tend to stick out for me personally. I'm 34 now and remember being 6 years old behind that school building like it was yesterday, but I'd find it more difficult to conjure on the fly a memory of a lesson learned via positive enforcement."

#10

#11

Image credits: honeyonbiscuits

#12

Image credits: Cautious_Meal_5852

They signed off by saying, "I appreciate all the stories that were shared on the post and found it super interesting reading through all of them. My favorite was the user who was warned by their dad that ducks have teeth and can bite.

It reminded me of my own story that I shared above since both come from childhood misadventures. One of the ones I felt worse for was the guy who warned his opponent in a fight and was an expert in kickboxing. Poor guy. I think the responses on the post all showed a clear message that it is for sure best not to mess around and find out."