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People Share The Stupidest Things They've Seen Someone Do After Being Told Not To

A man in a blue shirt and shorts falling head first down concrete stairs
man in blue t-shirt and blue denim shorts sitting on concrete stairs during daytime
Photo by Sander Sammy on Unsplash

Reddit user Fyrewall1 asked: 'What's the stupidest thing you've seen someone do despite being expressly told not to do it?'

Oscar Wilde once famously stated, "I can resist anything, except temptation".

And indeed, there is little more tempting than doing something you were explicitly told not to do.


From Eve eating the apple in the Garden of Eden to Red Riding Hood straying from the path to her grandmother's house, one would think the world would have learned by now that there are consequences to ignoring warnings.

Even so, be they children or educated, well-adjusted adults, people still willfully ignore warnings and instructions.

And you'd better believe there were consequences.

Redditor Fyrewall1 was curious to hear about the most jaw-dropping instances of people ignoring the warnings of their superiors, leading them to ask:

"What's the stupidest thing you've seen someone do despite being expressly told not to do it?"

At Least They Planned Ahead...

"When I was in grade 8 we had a science class were we were supposed to be describing the properties of chemicals."

"We were shown how to waft the hand over a vessel to get a smell, not to taste it, etc and then were given a beaker of liquid to write observations about."

"We were constantly warned to follow the protocols we were taught."

"One kid grabbed his beaker, drank it down, and said it's water."

"He was immediately kicked out of class and later that day I heard the teacher talking about how at the last minute he decided to use water as a first chemical instead of an acid because of how stupid this one kid would be."

"He wasn't wrong."- Hammerhil

Message NOT Received...

"I worked tech support for copper phone lines."

"Had an old German sounding lady on the phone saying her phone was electrocuting her while she was holding it."

"The phone she was talking to me on."

"I told her to please stop using the phone and we'd send someone out to see what's going on."

"This lady just kept screaming about how bad it hurt to hold the phone and how much pain she was in."

"I was like lol just hang up idk what to tell you, but she just stayed on the phone in agony until I ended the call."- Grub-lord

To Think He Even Needed That Warning...

"Safety video: 'Do not stick your hand in liquid molten plastic'."

"5 minutes on plant floor Supervisor to Me: 'Hey, take Johnny to the hospital because he stuck his hand in molten plastic and has 3rd degree burns'."

"That was the end of Johnny."

"I never saw him again."- TimeWear6053

Penguin Stay Safe GIF by Pudgy PenguinsGiphy

"Test Dummy" Etymology?...

"The tech next to me was using canned air to clean a dusty computer."

"I noticed he was tilting the can to the side really far to get into the fans so I told him to be careful because if you tilt it too far it'll spray sub zero temp liquid that can freeze-burn your skin."

"He said 'really?' and then immediately turned the can upside down and sprayed directly into his palm."

"I was just speechless while he clutched his hand and cursed."- stanley_leverlock

Mother Knows Best...

"It was me."

"I saw a red hot burner, asked my mom what red feels like."

"She responds telling me not to touch it that it's very hot and will hurt me badly."

"I then decided I wanted to see what red felt like."- somedoofyouwontlike

Let's Hope This Wasn't In The Office...

"One that happens entirely too often."

"Tell the new guy do not watch porn on the company computers."

"Then I get a call from my boss saying the new guy got himself fired for watching porn."

"Seriously people, if it is on their network they can see it."

"Incognito mode will not save you."- Ok_Spell_4165

Homer Simpson Lol GIF by DemicGiphy

Bullseye!

"I was chaperoning a field trip where the 7th graders got to shoot compound bows."

"They were expressly told multiple times to NOT dry fire the bow (pulling back and letting go without an arrow)."

"One kid literally did that as soon as he was handed a bow and broke it."

"Luckily these were small/low strength pullback bows so he didn't get hurt, but he sure as heck got benched for the rest of class."- ConsultantForLife

Dory Can Relate...

"Picking up a box jellyfish and continuing to hold it the entire time it was stinging him."- Zoidberg_Why_Not_31

Being Fired Was The Best Case Scenario!

"Climb into a cardboard baler because he threw his phone in and wanted to check after he already crushed it."

"I yanked the key out, and he was fired immediately."- tryinandsurvivin

Wasted The Day By Wasting No Time...

'I worked in an aquatics store, and I told a new hire to be careful when working in the coral vats because the halogen lights got stupid hot (this was before LeDs and they were out the way of customers) so I told him not to touch."

"As soon as the words left my mouth, he stuck his fingertips on the light."

"Had to get him to A&E (accident and emergency or the ER for the Americans), and almost 20 years later, I can still hear the sizzle of skin."- Ulfgeirr88

Getting Angry Never Helps...

"Pour hot water on their icy windshield."

"Like 4 of us going into the corner store told her not to do it, one of the guys told her in Spanish."

"She looked at us for like a second holding the steaming cup of water."

"Then broke her windshield by pouring hot water on it."

"She then stared at it in total disbelief."

"One of the people who tried to warn her exclaimed in an extremely animated manner."

"Throwing his hands in the air then dropping them down near his knees 'We f*ckin’ told you'..then she cried."- MiasmaFate

When In Doubt, LISTEN!

"A guy I used to work with in a composites factory was moving a 10 ton mold from one part of a machine to another."

"The guys working with him told him not to rotate it after putting it down because he would drop it."

"He immediately rotated it, and it fell to the bottom of the machine, breaking lots of stuff along the way."

"He doesn’t work there anymore."- isurelovemylife

Satisfying Assembly Line GIF by Ricky TrickarttGiphy

He Won't Even Be Able To Count On One Hand The Number Of Times

"New hire running a press brake, which is a large machine used to bend sheet metal."

"The new hire was holding the part with one hand and resting his other hand on the bed of the machine."

"Three different times he was told to NOT put your hand on the bed."

"The last time he was told there was a large amount of four letter words used to try an impress upon him that you do NOT rest your hand on the bed."

"He would keep his hand away for awhile then go right back to it."

"He got into a rhythm and he placed his hand on top of the bottom dies rather than the bed."

"Top dies came down with 35 tons of force and crushed all four fingers"- Empereor_Norton

Maybe Don't Leave Children Unattended?...

"When I was 5 years old, my dad poured some sort of strong and relatively toxic deep cleaning liquid on our wooden dinner table to remove a stain."

"He jokingly told me not to taste it, and left the dining room for a moment while the deliciously green liquid was dissolving the stain."

"I stared at it for a while and proceeded to lick it."- TennoHBZ

And You Thought The TV Series Was Violent...

"Leaving the boardwalk in those areas of Yellowstone where you could break through the surface into a scalding hot spring."

"Also in Yellowstone, approaching a bison 'because they're so cute'."- merciful-tehlu

motion geyser GIFGiphy

It is amazing how much more everyone is tempted to do something after being told not to.

Even when doing so could cost us our jobs... and our fingers...

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