Why let a bad day slide when it can be immortalized for everyone to see it for the rest of time? This is the option picked by these netizens who decide to take a picture of a fail memorable enough to be both funny and painfully relatable.
Mistakes can be everything from catastrophic to inconvenient, but funny, so this article attempts to show a bit of it all, from expensive fails to sheer stupidity. So get comfortable, make sure your sitting vessel is sound, and scroll through. Upvote your favorite fails and be sure to share your thoughts, stories, and experiences in the comments section below.
#1 The Moment I Lost My Glasses
Image credits: YourMomsNext
#2 We Were Really Excited To Use A Lime From Our Lime Tree For The First Time
Image credits: hehatesthesecansz
#3 Went To See The Famous Neuschwanstein Castle And This Was Our View
Image credits: LoveWineNotTheLabel
The fails listed here can fall into a number of categories, from mistakes due to inattention or particularly unwise decisions, all the way to such blatant bad luck that one should check for family curses. Either way, a very human reaction is to blame bad luck.
No matter how rational a person is, there is still an overwhelming amount of belief in ideas of “good” and “bad” luck out there. As Chip Denman has said, “luck is probability taken personally.” Instead of accepting that some days will just be bad, certain people start to assemble logical structures that would “explain” why something improbably unfortunate happened to them in particular.
#4 Of The 69 Things They Tested Me For, I’m Allergic To 60 Of Them
Image credits: lexi_the_leo
#5 Blizzard Blew The Main Door Of My Garage Open Yesterday
Image credits: PCDevine
#6 Someone On The Ferry Forgot To Put The Handbrake On
Image credits: User348844
The psychological games behind the scenes vary from person to person. People more susceptible to gambling addiction might treat most random chances with the so-called gambler’s fallacy, where they believe that a string of bad luck has to be followed by good. This is why a person can continue to dump money into a losing game or investment long past any chance of recovering it.
#7 A Tornado Overnight In Thomaston, Georgia, Ripped A Home Off Its Foundation And Put It In The Road
Image credits: SharingMyStorys
#8 My Friend Was Hit By A Car Running A Stop Sign Today And The Dude Left The Scene, But Hey, At Least He Left Her A Little Souvenir
Image credits: InsignificantOcelot
#9 My Car Broke Down This Morning On My Way To Work And Had To Be Towed. Not 5 Minutes After I Got Home, My Ceiling Collapsed
Image credits: Cthulhetta
In very extreme cases, when a person has a particular streak of bad or good luck, they start to attach significance to completely unrelated things that were happening at the same time. If a person wins at blackjack on two separate Tuesdays, they may now see Tuesday as their “lucky” day, causing them to behave more recklessly on this day, most likely losing them more money in the long run. Some people take this so far that they will only make major life decisions on “lucky days,” which is probably the cause of a lot of “unlucky days” for others who need an answer now.
#10 I’m Allergic To Cats And Slept On A Cat Blanket
Image credits: NeroSkwid
#11 Forgot I Was Heating Oil For French Fries
Image credits: fasada68
#12 The First Photo Is A Wanted Criminal In My Town, And The Second Photo Is Me, Which Is Why I Was Surrounded By 6 Cops While Walking Home Last Night
Took 15 minutes to convince them they had the wrong guy.
Image credits: Unusual-Feeling7527
Other people deny luck and instead believe that a supernatural force caused them to drop their phone down a drain or something similar. In a sense, religion actually removes the necessity to believe in luck, as misfortune can be chalked up to punishment from the divine, and “good” luck is a reward for doing something correctly. Carl Jung described this idea as deriving explanations from “a meaningful coincidence”.
#13 Roadside Paint Job
Image credits: SilveradoSurfer16
#14 Being Escorted To My Car After I Ripped A Hole In My Pants At A Wedding. Went Commando
Image credits: UndrehandDrummond
#15 Hopefully You’re Having A Better Day Than I Am
Image credits: SloxIam
It’s not all wistful thinking, however. If you believe in luck, this thought can function like a placebo, assisting with positive thinking. This can lower stress and make a person more hopeful, which allows for more mental resilience against negative events. Pessimism is by no means “more” rational or unrealistic than optimism, and comes with none of the mental health benefits, besides a strange sense of superiority.
#16 Just Bought A Minivan From A Friend A Few Weeks Ago, Kept Getting Spiderwebs In The Car And Decided To Bug-Bomb It. Found These
Image credits: SoNotCool
#17 Came Home From Work To Find A Few Tons Of Gravel Dumped In My Driveway. No Idea Where It Came From
Image credits: mmoon2281
#18 Over 30 Cars Got Flat Tires On The 405 From A Fallen Box Of Nails
Image credits: TheRealOcsiban
If this all sounds too random, then there is at least some consistent, scientific evidence that by and large “Lucky people generate their own good fortune via four basic principles. They are skilled at creating and noticing chance opportunities, making lucky decisions by listening to their intuition, creating self-fulfilling prophecies via positive expectations, and adopting a resilient attitude that transforms bad luck into good,” according to a ten-year-long study.
#19 I Had A Cystic Pimple On My Forehead That Swole Up Pretty Good. Then The Swelling Migrated Down And Now I Look Like An Animorph
Image credits: Tre_Amplitude
#20 Found My Car Like This When I Took A Break At Work
Image credits: TheOnlyOneWhoKnows
#21 My Grandparents Were Planning On Fixing Up This Old Stove, Guess They’ll Have To Wait
Image credits: MJMaggio14
Other researchers have found that the perception of good luck and having a good mood do seem linked at some level. The inverse is just as true, that people who legitimately believe they are unlucky are more likely to suffer from anxiety and depression.
#22 Neighbor’s Boyfriend Living Above Us Accidentally Discharged A Firearm Through Our Bedroom Ceiling
Image credits: _AbacusMC_
#23 What Do You Even Do At This Point?
Image credits: sippyside
#24 Cactus Stuck In Hair
Image credits: lharry33
Some “good luck” rituals do even have some positive effects, for example, in some places, blowing left and right before crossing train tracks is considered important. This, naturally, also allows people to actually see if a train is coming, increasing the likelihood of not being hit. Walking under ladders is a classic example of a thing you should not do according to superstition, but it does perhaps also help one not get crushed by a ladder.
#25 ATM Turned Off After Taking My Deposit And Did Not Show Up On My Account
Image credits: LordSeptember
#26 Just Finished Chopping 2 Years Worth Of Firewood Just For The Barn I Was Storing The Firewood In To Burn Down
Image credits: BeastlyBucaroos
#27 I Broke Both My Feet Last Night
Image credits: minaylee
In some places, certain numbers are seen as lucky, so people take extra steps to get “lucky” phone numbers, license plates, and even addresses. While it perhaps goes without saying, there is basically no evidence that any number, particularly one chosen randomly or by an urban planner, is more lucky than another, although one could see how a landlord with a “lucky” plot number would be quick to capitalize on this.
#28 I Just Broke The Door Handle Of My Apartment And Cut Myself. I’m Also Locked In
Image credits: Kyscool
#29 Right Before I Left The Trampoline Park, I Put Back On My Blue Shoes. It Wasn’t Until I Got Home I Realized I Didn’t Wear My Blue Shoes To The Trampoline Park
Image credits: puntini
#30 Hubby Was Unemployed For 9 Months. Finally Landed A Job That’s Not Temp Or A Contract Gig. 5 Minutes After Clocking In, He Trips On Some Carpet And Breaks His Leg
Image credits: square_2_square
All in all, while an optimistic outlook is perhaps for the best, there is no reason to trust “luck” to prevent any of the disasters, fails, and mistakes seen here. Common sense precautions can never be too “common,” so please be smart. But, if you enjoy seeing more fails, Bored Panda has got you covered, you can find our other collections of misfortune here and here.
#31 I Got Some Bojangles This Morning And Took A Bite Out Of My Cajun Filet, And It’s Just Straight Up Raw
Image credits: sea_bear9
#32 I Thought I Was So Smart For Keeping A Cover On My Toothbrush At All Times
Image credits: Juxtra_
#33 My Kid Got A Box Of Onions Instead Of Nuggets In His Happy Meal
Image credits: Pit_it_and_quit_it
#34 Came Home From Working All Night To Discover My (Townhouse) Neighbors Didn’t Put Out Their Fireworks Completely Last Night
Image credits: Fooberdoober97420
#35 Went To Costco To Grab A Rotisserie Chicken For The Weekend, But This Lady Beat Everyone To It
Image credits: Hustleham7
#36 I Accidentally Branded Rachael Ray’s Name On Myself With One Of Her Roasting Trays
Image credits: doyouhaveeyedrops
#37 Girlfriend Was Helping Cut My Hair, She Was Doing A Fantastic Job Until I Heard A Gasp
Image credits: GentlemanCookie
#38 Buddy Crashes A Porsche On A Test Drive First Corner Out Of The Dealership
Image credits: TheTrashman44
#39 My Grandparent’s Lawn Got Raided By Boars Overnight
Image credits: Nyathra
#40 I’m Going To Damn Bed
Image credits: 19632211
#41 My Daughter Asked If I Was Doing A Magic Trick
Image credits: SparrowFiero
#42 My Coworker Went To A Skatepark After Work
Image credits: Howie_Dictor
#43 My Bike Broke In Half, 8 Kilometers From My Home
Image credits: Cweed23
#44 My Parents Live ~40 Feet Off The Highway, This Morning A Drunk Driver Plowed Into Their Home
Image credits: CalebEast
#45 Who Left The Water Running?
Image credits: VinneBabarino
#46 Traveling From Alabama To California For My Wife’s Job. Someone Cut The Roof Bag Off Of My Car In Albuquerque. Lost All Of Our Clothes
Image credits: BlindPanda21
#47 I Have 30 Seconds To Sweep This Up Before The Cat Pees On It
Image credits: stvckmind
#48 Unfortunate Find On The Side Of My Coffee Cup. Bet My Immune System Didn’t See This One Coming
Image credits: wagewild
#49 My Zipper Broke At Work, Right Before A Few Important Meetings
Image credits: illigal
#50 Nobody Told Me There Was No Floor Support In The Attic
Image credits: RainbowForHire