# Stupidest Thing You've Ever Done? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 22, 2004, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-thing-youve-ever-done/241376 "2004-04-22T04:39:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Winston\_Smith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e95f7d/32.png) [@Winston\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Smith)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2004, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-thing-youve-ever-done/241376/41 "2004-04-23T17:22:47Z")
While on a ski trip, we left a keg party to go to the mountain (Sunday River). It was about midnight, and there was a lift running, so we hopped on. After 10 minutes or so, I realized “Holy shit! What the hell are we doing?!? Nobody knows we’re up here, and someone could come along and shut down the lift at any moment, and we’d be stuck here, on the chair, in the cold, all night.” Looking back, I guess six hours in the freezing cold wouldn’t mean certain death, but at the time I was scared shitless, and made a convincing enough case that to my pals (one on the chair with me, and two guys a couple chairs back) agreed that if we actually made it to the top we should get the hell off and walk down. Which we did. So there we were, in middle of the night, drunk, _walking down_ a friggin’ mountain. Heh. The lift was still running an hour later when we got to the bottom. ---
**Author:** ![TwoTrouts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a9adbd/32.png) [@TwoTrouts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwoTrouts)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2004, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-thing-youve-ever-done/241376/42 "2004-04-23T18:26:55Z")
May I relate an instance by my teenage daughter while I was present? She’s at the wheel of the family car, having just received her license. I had the audacity to correct her on one of the finer points of driving. With a roll of her eyes she responds, “Sheesh! Driving is easy! It’s all common sense!” She then proceeds to pull out into oncoming traffic. Multi-vehicle accident shuts down the road. Totals the car. Airbags HURT, dammit! Cuts, bumps, and bruises all around, but no one seriously injured… thankfully. ---
**Author:** ![Tristan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tristan/32/18058_2.png) [@Tristan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tristan)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2004, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-thing-youve-ever-done/241376/43 "2004-04-23T18:59:25Z")
> [@scoob](#): > > When I was 12 a buddy and I decided to try huffing gas… > > After the smoke cleared, the house had taken $80,000 in structural damage and had to be torn down (replaced by a very nice vet clinic, iirc); my mother’s plant collection, valued in the 5 digit range, was obliterated, as were a large % of my uncle’s 33 record collection (sorry guys); my friend was release from the hospital after 16 long weeks and 3 very painful skin grafts. > > beaten. Breaking into a car with a loaded rifle, setting up said rifle, and waiting for a man to walk through a door with the intention of shooting him. I left before he came through the door. Lucky for him, and lucky for me in retrospect. I’m much better now. Beaten? ---
**Author:** ![MrFantsyPants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ba0ec/32.png) [@MrFantsyPants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrFantsyPants)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2004, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-thing-youve-ever-done/241376/44 "2004-04-24T01:17:30Z")
Three days of canoeing from the nearest anything, I was frying fish (fresh northern pike) in a folding camp fry pan. Tried to flip the fish like I flip pancakes at home. The pan folded, sending the fish and searing oil into my face. Blind in both eyes for two days, unable to paddle out, horrible, horrible pain, no possible way to keep the wounds clean. (not the stupidest I’ve ever done perhaps, but the one with perhaps the worst potential consequences, and damn, I should have known better.) ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Serpentine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3be4f8/32.png) [@Silver\_Serpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Serpentine)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2004, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-thing-youve-ever-done/241376/45 "2004-04-24T02:06:27Z")
I went to my first reptile show about a year ago in Indy. While there, I saw a BEAUTIFUL Ball Python, labelled as “Pinstripe.” It was $90, so I decided that it’d be a bad idea to buy something that expensive without telling The Cody, plus my dad had said No More Snakes while I lived with him (which was a temporary thing). About a month later, I see a picture of the exact same pattern, only correctly labelled [“Spider.”](http://www.newenglandreptile.com/ball_spider.html) Apparently, the guy selling this little “pinstripe” was an importer who didn’t really understand all the morphs. A Spider Morph Ball Python is worth [$12,000-$19,000](http://www.newenglandreptile.com/spider_available.html). :eek: I could’ve bought a nice $12,000 snake for $90. I feel so stupid whenever I think about that. ---
**Author:** ![5\_time\_champ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/5/278dde/32.png) [@5\_time\_champ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5_time_champ)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2004, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-thing-youve-ever-done/241376/46 "2004-04-24T02:29:48Z")
Well, there was that 1975 AMC Pacer that I purchased, actually ordered straight it from the factory. ---
**Author:** ![TheOnlySaneOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/67e7ee/32.png) [@TheOnlySaneOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheOnlySaneOne)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2004, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-thing-youve-ever-done/241376/47 "2004-04-24T04:04:43Z")
> [@Exgineer](#): > > I had my first driving lesson when I was 12. > > I murdered a tree. I had my first driving lesson at the age of eight. At the top of a hill. In the passenger’s seat. By wondering “Hmm…does the car still move if I put it in drive without a key?” I was very, very lucky. ---
**Author:** ![MonsterOnAStick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@MonsterOnAStick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonsterOnAStick)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2004, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-thing-youve-ever-done/241376/48 "2004-04-24T04:13:34Z")
I was working two jobs; one was my current full-time one and the other was theoretically at the low end of part time but in reality was almost full time. I was getting very little sleep most days and none at all on many days. I drove the ten miles into town on winding two-lane roads, and then drove through downtown, during morning rush hour, after I had gone without sleep for 30+ hours. My body was driving correctly but my brain kept going to sleep. I would just sort of zone out, then come to and marvel that I had gone half a mile with no memory of doing so. I was extremely lucky I didn’t kill myself or anybody else. This memory is one of the reasons I’m hesitating to pick up a second job, even though I need the money very badly right now. ---
**Author:** ![drm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@drm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drm)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2004, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-thing-youve-ever-done/241376/49 "2004-04-24T04:23:02Z")
> [@](#): > > _originally posted by OM Waterfall_ > Does swan-diving from 20 feet into a hammock beat this? Oh yeah, the “little to no good” thing also applies here I don’t either of us should write these down on Graduate School Applications. The trampoline did at least slow me down (otherwise bones would be broken) plus it was spring time so the ground was very very soft. I can’t see a hammock doing much of anything at all to slow you down. Plus, upon closer inspection, the tower was closer to 35 feet (50 was a WAG, it’s been a while). ---
**Author:** ![drm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@drm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drm)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2004, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-thing-youve-ever-done/241376/50 "2004-04-24T04:25:13Z")
…just thought I should clear that up so that people don’t think I’m indestructable. ---
**Author:** ![mamakat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e56c9b/32.png) [@mamakat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mamakat)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2004, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-thing-youve-ever-done/241376/51 "2004-04-24T06:57:15Z")
Bringing a grenade to school in my back pack in fourth grade!! ---
**Author:** ![Den\_Mum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9adbd/32.png) [@Den\_Mum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Den_Mum)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2004, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-thing-youve-ever-done/241376/52 "2004-04-24T18:59:56Z")
Gee, there have almost been too many to contemplate and probably many much worse than the one that stands out in my mind but here it is anyway. I am actively involved in the revitalization of the old downtown in the city we live in. I send out a newsy, e-mail update weekly promoting events, businesses etc. in this area…the darn thing goes out to about a thousand people. I was talking about an event that was coming up that I was emceeing and I mentioned that they should come, even if only to point and laugh at my lack of public speaking ability. However, it went out as “pubic speaking”. I was told by friends that work for the City that they had all done that but doubt that they got the response that I did. I got emails back from over twenty people, including the District Attorney, a well known local minister, my adult daughter ☹ all telling me how sad they would be to have to miss my “pubic speaking event” ! ---
**Author:** ![sidle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee59a6/32.png) [@sidle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sidle)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2004, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-thing-youve-ever-done/241376/53 "2004-04-25T14:57:36Z")
> [@Ottoerotic](#): > > Oh man, I have lots of these stories, but I recently superglued my eyelid shut. :smack: When my baby had his eyes checked, the Opthamologist said they see kids ALL THE TIME who have done this. Not a big deal, he said; it will eventually wash away, and it doesn’t damage the eye. Actually they use a form of it for surgery. ---
**Author:** ![Janx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Janx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Janx)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2004, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-thing-youve-ever-done/241376/54 "2004-04-25T19:39:45Z")
Burned my penis while ironing naked. Yes that’s right. I am tall, the ironing board is low. The mid section of my wanker is just even with the ironing surface. Out of the shower, start to get ready for work, Honeyyyy, have you seen my blouse? Yeah, it’s over th… KSSSssssssss! ---
**Author:** ![lawoot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/35a633/32.png) [@lawoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawoot)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2004, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-thing-youve-ever-done/241376/55 "2004-05-02T20:25:27Z")
> [@tpayne](#): > > “Catching air” in the family’s Chevelle at age 17… there was a hill on a road that I drove all the time (on the way to the liquor store in the next county…) - it was one of those hills that you’d sort of lose your stomach on at about 50 mph… I hit it at 110 and put the car in the air. It was nighttime, so I still remember seeing all the sparks in my rearview mirror after we landed. > > As I said, this was on the way TO the liquor store… sober… the regularly scheduled stupid drunk driving came later, on the way home. What… Accepting that job transfer to Detroit doesn’t rank up there? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![woodstock989](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f05b48/32.png) [@woodstock989](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstock989)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2004, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-thing-youve-ever-done/241376/56 "2004-05-02T21:17:50Z")
Posted by **Calm Kiwi** : > [@](#): > > ALL my other stupidest times involve penises so I won’t share them. Glad to see I’m not the only person who can say that. :dubious: Surely not the stupidest, but sticks out in my mind: Almost burnt the kitchen down was I was a kid - proof that ‘latch key kids’ is not a good idea. Right up there with: Got myself left at a gas station when I was about 3. (No, they weren’t trying to get rid of me…it was my fault.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-thing-youve-ever-done/241376.md?page=2)