Some people are uncommonly rational and intelligent—and they STILL make stupidest decisions. As these Redditors share, having an impressive IQ doesn’t necessarily equate to having basic common sense.
1. That’s An “F” For Fool
Sometime back, I had a job at a craft store. Part of my duties was cleaning up; you know, combing through the aisles and gathering up broken stuff. These would be thrown into a specific bin and someone, usually the boss, would check them at close to confirm they were really damaged.
One night, my boss was rummaging through the bin and pulled out a wooden E.
"Who put this here?" She queried. I owned up and she asked why. I casually told her that I figured it was supposed to be an E but one of the prongs was missing. When I saw the look on her face, I knew I'd screwed up.
She paused for a moment, gave me a hard look, and then enlightened me that it was actually the letter F.
2. Longest Drink Ever
One day, I'm at work and I need a little pick-me-up, so I decide to grab a drink. Somehow, I zone out and autopilot to my house. Lucky for me, it's not too far out.
I stroll in, ditch my shirt, and claim my spot on the sofa, remote in hand. I scan the room for my girlfriend, who's usually back by the time I wrap up work. Then it hits me. A glance at the clock tells me that I've still got three hours on my shift.
I throw out a few choice words, button up my shirt again, snatch my soda, and race back to work, hoping no one noticed how long I was gone.
3. Sucking At Common Sense
I accidentally vacuumed up my sock. Figured the best way to deal with it was to dump the vacuum bag out...directly onto my newly cleaned carpet. That wasn't my best day.
4. What A Novel Idea
I grabbed a soda at the zoo, but got no straw. Asked why, and they said the free-roaming animals meant they can't give out straws. I was like, "How do I drink this then?" He looked at me like I was an alien. Then the guy took my soda, lifted the lid off it, and we just held each other's gaze for a while.
5. Let’s Forget That Ever Happened
I worked in this tea shop. Every night, the tea makers we used daily, plus all the sampler jugs and whatnots, had to be cleaned, so we filled a massive sink in the back. I normally turned on the tap and tended to other stuff.
But one time, 30 minutes later, I felt my heart drop - I’d completely forgotten about the darn sink. I'd flooded the entire back room and took me a whole hour just to mop it all up. The one silver lining? I wasn't the first to do it.
6. Mind Boggling Nonsense
During a chat with my boss, he asked if I was at the office. I admitted I wasn't there. When he asked why, I explained my phone was missing. He asked me to check my hand. Odd request, I thought. "Sure, but I need to find my phone," I said.
"Sting, just look at your hand," he insisted. I checked but my hand was empty. He then impatiently snapped, “No, your other hand!" I noticed my other hand was holding the phone. Proud, I exclaimed, "Found it!" He responded, "Yeah, obviously. Now get yourself to work".
7. Not A Gracious Turn Of Events
So, when I was about 12, my mom and I decided to take a bike ride together - our first and only one, as it turned out.
We were coming back from our ride, heading towards our gravel driveway after breezing down the paved road. As we got close, I called out to her, "Hey Mom, check this out!"
Feeling confident, I sped up, planning to impress her with an epic fishtail turn just as she was about to pass by. Only it went horribly wrong.
Unfortunately, our bikes bumped into each other. I managed to stay on my bike, but Mom wasn't so lucky. She tumbled off her bike, landing hard on the gravel driveway. Poor Mom was black and blue on her entire right side for weeks afterwards.
8. A Costly Lesson
I bumped into a piece on the Wall Street Journal site once. It was behind a paywall, so I signed on for their free monthly access. I figured, "Cool, I'll get all smart reading this for the next few weeks. And of course, I’ll remember to end my membership before the month's up".
Turns out, I didn’t open any other article the whole month. Actually, a whole half a year flew by before I remembered to quit.
Basically, my memory lapse cost me $200 for a single article that wasn't even ground-breaking.
9. Surely It Can’t Be That Difficult
For the first time, Mom and I tried to mess with the microwave's power settings. We were microwaving this one thing that needed less power than usual.
We fiddled around with it for like 10 minutes, teasing each other and pushing buttons. Finally, we got it, banged the door shut enthusiastically, and hit start. We high-fived.
Then, 5 minutes later, we heard the beeping and returned - only to notice the frozen meal was still chilling on the counter.
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10. Wrong In So Many Ways
I went to get the mail, but the key wouldn't budge. That made no sense, so I wrestled with that stubborn thing for like five minutes, twisting and pulling, even throwing my whole weight into it.
In the end, I got damn frustrated and used pliers and, surprise surprise, the key snapped! I was ready to scream. Then I took a closer look, and my stomach dropped. It had been the wrong box the whole time, and now my key was broken off in my neighbor's keyhole.
11. A Close Call
I discovered air dusters are filled with extremely flammable stuff. So I bought one, sprayed a bit into a plastic cup and lit it - just for kicks.
Turns out, not the best idea with a wooden floor and the cup leaning on the wall. Almost set the whole place on fire, but managed to shut it down just in time.
Oh, and by the way, I'm working towards my PhD.
12. A Much Smoother Drive
So, being a lefty, I always used my left foot for the pedals in an automatic car.
Learning to drive was a real challenge 'cause the seat just didn't feel right. My right leg felt cramped like it didn't have enough room, and it was tough figuring how hard to press the pedals.
Took me four years to realize that you're supposed to push the pedals with your right foot. Driving's been a breeze ever since...
13. My Cool Melted Into A Million Pieces
Back when I was in college, I chatted with this chick at the student cafeteria where I worked. Attempting to be smooth, I accidentally knocked over a pizza warmer lamp during our chat. The bulb broke onto a pizza, sending glass all over the place. Ugh...
LightField Studios, Shutterstock
14. I’m So Out Of It
I was showing some folks how to play Spoons - a card game kinda like musical chairs. There's one spoon less than there are people, and if you don't grab a spoon, you're out.
Once everyone got the hang of it after my rundown and some practice games, we were all set. So, feeling pretty good, I got the cards and spoons all sorted and we kicked off the first proper game.
In no time, the game's going...and then it keeps going and going and going. I finally realize I've been picking from both the new cards and the ones already used. Plus, I've apparently forgotten how to count. Whoops.
15. Don’t Execute That Thought
So, my toast was done but I was struggling to get it out. Genius that I am, I thought about using a knife to poke it out. I was just about to put the knife in the toaster when I realized...hold up—knife + toaster = disaster. That was a close call.
16. That’s Way More Adventure Than I Sought
When I was ten, me and my pals liked discovering cool spots around our town. We came across some large pile of wood that looked neat. The elderly owner was cool with us hanging around, but warned us not to climb it. Still, he wasn't too fussed as long as we played safe.
Yet, we totally didn't listen and ended up scaling it anyway. Obviously. It went wrong almost immediately. Entering a hollow space between two big logs, I soon got myself stuck there.
We had to call in the fire department to help me out, which pretty much turned into a town spectacle with everyone crowding around to watch the show.
17. Where Did I Leave My Sense Of Direction?
I got lost. Now, everyone always reminds me that we live in a small town and getting lost should be impossible, but trust me I was mega-lost! Wandered around for nearly two hours in the blazing sun, shoes rubbing my feet raw - not cool.
I was at the point where I said to myself: "You're not finding your way out alone. There's no way".
This was pretty embarrassing because I'm usually the human GPS. I'm the one who rolls his eyes when others are clueless about their whereabouts.
But I can't lie, I was one lost dude. First time ever. Now, I've been wasted and lost before, but this was a whole new level. I was sober, lost, and proper panicking.
So, I dialled the non-emergency help and voila - in 15 minutes, they picked me up and delivered me to my car which was across town.
Here's the kicker: I almost walked right up to my car at one point! But nothing looked familiar so I turned on my heel. Even a huge landmark slipped from my memory.
Man, what a day!
18. It’s All Coming Back Now
I flew back home with my kid, who's 7 months old. Dumped the car at the ferry lot, bag checked, kid tucked in his carrier, and off we went. A few days later, we were heading home on the same ferry. As we docked, I jokingly told my kid, "Hope Mama remembered the keys!"
I hunted everywhere, every inch of our bags but no sign of the keys. Dialed up my folks to check at their end. Nada.
Eventually, called my other half to do a half-hour road trip to the ferry with the emergency set of keys.
Back home, unloading my stuff, it hit me. A day before the trip, I slipped my keys into my diaper bag. Packing things up that day, I just tossed a bottled drink on top. The keys were hidden under it this whole time. A total facepalm moment.
19. Everything Else Turned On Except My Brain
I decided to take a break from my homework one night, so I got up from my table, wanting to find my phone.
My room was pretty dark, and I could hardly see anything. Suddenly, a light bulb flicked in my mind. "Why not use my phone's flashlight to locate my phone!" I thought. Sounds a little silly right? Well just wait...
With that, I picked up my phone, turned on both the flashlight and room light. Guess what? I spent a crazy five minutes searching for my phone, with my phone!
And when I finally realized what was in my hand, trust me, I was VERY glad no one discovered me.
20. This Idea Is Going Up In Flames
Once, I wondered, "Why not just burn trash instead of tossing it? It'd save us the trouble of taking it out often". But I took it another level.
Like the idiot child I was, I set my trash can ablaze...indoors. I realized my mistake quickly, put it out in a panic, and never got caught.
21. Mind Your Head, If You Remember
Walking onto the plane, I spotted a bar between the overhead compartments and the tops of the seats. I just knew I'd end up smacking my noggin on it, so I kept telling myself, "Watch your head".
Doesn't matter though, the minute I saw my seat, I forgot all about it. And yep, you guessed it - my head met that sneaky bar at full force. Had a wicked goose egg by the time I got off the plane.
l i g h t p o e t, Shutterstock
22. I Need My Caffeine Fix
It was 4 AM. I was trying to make some coffee, so I heated up water and threw it into a cup. Eventually, I was like,"Aw man, I didn't even add the coffee!"...after drinking the entire thing.
23. Safe But Sorry
So, I'm not about to claim I'm super smart, but my sister is quite the genius with her PhD in trade law.
When she decided to move to a sketchy part of a new city, our mom handed her a can of pepper spray for protection. In Denmark, having one isn't exactly legal, but it's not a big crime either.
Not long after, she visited London and forgot to take the pepper spray out of her bag. No one noticed it when she got there, but she spotted a discard bin for items that you can't take on planes on her way back.
Checking her bag, she realized she should probably toss the can before passing through security—but she was too late. A guard saw her doing this and it turned out, in England, pepper spray is considered as serious as carrying a semi-automatic gun. So, they detained her, even put her on a watch list, and she couldn't go back for two years.
Fast forward to around two years later, she was working for an oil company and had to go their London HQ. Thankfully, she did it without any problems, but I'll tell you, she was terrified.
24. Not My Proudest Moment
I went to my boyfriend's place and he had this electric kettle. At my house, we've got electric and stovetop kettles.
One morning, my nose picked up this burnt smell and I realized the water wasn't getting hot. That's when it hit me - I'd put the electric kettle on the stove.
I should probably let you know, I'm studying to become a chef.
25. My Eyes Deceive Me
So, my mom and I were chilling in the left-turn lane, stuck at a red light. Right across from us, there was this little beige car waiting to turn.
Now, I noticed something weird about that car—it seemed like there was a guy's head sticking out the top! The dude even had a helmet on. So, I nudged my mom and was like, "Mom, check this out! That dude's head is totally poking out of his car!"
My mom shows no surprise, just responds casually, "Well, good for him, rocking a helmet and all. At least the wind won't mess up his eyes".
The moment their signal flashes green, the beige car clears off and guess what we see? There was a biker hiding right behind it the entire time! We couldn't stop laughing about it until we got home.
26. Poorly Executed
I was rushing and figured I’d multi-task - dry my hair while brushing my teeth. Things were cool till I turned on the faucet. Duh, having the blow dryer close to running water wasn’t my smartest move. Almost zapped myself all because I was strapped for time.
27. That Sure Stings
My wife put some hand sanitizer before popping in her contact lens even after I told her it wasn't a good idea. Her screams proved I was in the right.
28. Spelling 101
I'm a Philly native but went to school in Louisiana. In the first paper I penned for history, I kept calling these generals "PHANATICS". I was 19 and, yeah, actually thought that was the correct spelling.
A few weeks later, I came into to class in a Sixers' jersey. My professor halted his lecture and, in total surprise, blurts out, "You're from Philly? You seriously think that's how fanatic is spelled?"
To which I replied, "Isn't that the right way?"
29. Pucker Up, You’re About To Be Amazed
My ex, even with an Oxford MBA, didn't know lemons and limes were different. Once, he gave me "limes" from his lemon tree that were actually just green lemons. And he was nearly 30.
30. Blame The User
So, I gave my friend an old iPhone of mine. She's super smart, has a PhD and all. I made sure she knew she'd need to get a new sim card for it. After all, it was her phone now. And she did, she bought a sim card.
But, the next day? She's on the phone, telling me it's not working. Turns on fine, but no data. After trying a few things, I asked if she'd actually put the sim card in.
I honestly don't know what she thought a sim card did before this, but she definitely gets it now.
31. Are There Any Critical Thinkers In The House?
I'm a nursing student and was living with some med students on hospital grounds for a project.
One weekend, we were warned about a planned power cut due to some emergency tests that were going ahead. Because of this, we lost electricity, including to our kitchen appliances like the coffee maker.
Now, you'd think to just go grab a coffee from the shop on-site or use the gas stove, right? Nope, these smarty-pants med students were clustered in our kitchen, freaking out about not being able to make coffee.
Things didn't get sorted until I came out and kind of spelled out what they could do. They're all smart, sure, but sometimes they really lack common sense.
32. It Felt Right At The Time
So, let me tell you about this guy I know. He chose to attend a local community college instead of a far-off university, just to stay near his girlfriend. Unfortunately, this didn't work out too well for him academically because all he really wanted to do was hang with her.
Roughly a year down the line, they broke up. Honestly, it worked out better for him in the greater scheme of things, she was a nightmare, but his academic performance never bounced back. He ended up going to a university lower in rank compared to his initial acceptance, earning a degree that didn't leave him with many employment opportunities.
Yup, I'm talking about me...
33. The Room Is Brighter Than Me
Chillin' on a restaurant patio, a server let us know they were gonna slide open the windows to freshen up the place.
Post window action, he moseyed over to us and asked us if the sun was too bright. On autopilot, I ended up staring directly at it. In that case, yes: The sun was much too bright...
34. Welcome To My Club
So, I used to show off by drifting on the backroads in my old Bronco II.
Surprise surprise, I ended up skidding on ice and smashed into a tall curb, leaving several car parts, my license plate, and my pride behind.
So to all the folks I've called fools or idiots, just remember: I'm a member of that club too.
35. Joke’s On Me
A while back, me, my sisters, and our fellas took a trip to New York. I was super pumped to see the planetarium, and it was crazy cool - the sights, the sounds, everything.
The big laugh of the trip came when we were heading out. I blurted out, all excited, "Can you believe the sun is a star!?"
They all just looked at me and cracked up. Thought I was pulling their leg. No joke though, I somehow never picked up on that before. I said it loud enough for the whole place to hear too. They've never let me live it down.
36. Recipe For Disaster
At my job, a colleague showed me how to whip up croutons. Her instructions were to toss them with butter and seasonings in a large plastic container, then bake 'em at 400 degrees.
Taking the advice, I mixed 'em up and, though a little uncertain, I slid the entire container into the oven.
Luckily, it just collapsed onto itself without a big mess, only costing us some stale bread and one container. While I played it cool and concealed my blunder from most of the office, my colleague could only giggle.
37. Message Received—Well, Kinda
So, my mom usually left us notes around our home. I found one in the bathroom that said, "Store toothbrushes in the cup and put toothpaste aside".
Being savvy from a young age, I didn't want mom to think I didn't get it. So, I chose a bright blue marker and scribbled on the note's back, something like, "Hey Mom, Got it!"
Sadly, the marker leaked through, and mom's words were drowned in blue. I couldn't figure out why she was so upset.
38. Mom, Where Are We?
My mom and I took a trip to Naples not too long ago. We got there late in the night after a pretty tiresome flight. Payed for a cab ride to our rented flat, only to find out the owner had switched up our booking and we had to haul ourselves to another location.
This was at 2 in the morning, mind you. Everything was closed up tight, there wasn't a soul around.
After what felt like forever, we made it to the correct building, though it took us a further hour to actually find our room. We finally managed to navigate the maze and landed ourselves in a subway-styled room. My brain was mush at that point—but I'm still not proud of what happened next.
I legit thought we were at a train station. All these maps were plastered everywhere that got me thinking we had to catch a train to our room. My mom gets a good laugh out of it to this day.
39. Sweet Dreams
Coming back home, I was dead tired from the endless work hours. I punched my hospital access code into the garage keypad. No dice. Sleep-deprivation made me think it was busted.
I didn't have any keys, so catching Z's in the car until my wife returned seemed like the plan.
Seeing my car, she thought I had passed out in the guest room after a few tough days. So, she didn't bug me. I ended up sleeping in the car until the next day.
40. Reeling From Embarrassment
So when I was about 14, I was at my uncle's party. I announced to everyone that I wanted to watch 300 in climax. I meant to say IMAX.
Even now, they won't let me live it down.
41. When Intelligent People Celebrate A Birthday…
On my 15th birthday, my buddies and I hung out at my place to party. We shoved candles into the cake my mom bought. After belting out "Happy Birthday", I blew the candles out.
That's when my mom peeped in and realized we forgot to get the cake out of the box. We had just lifted the lid off without really thinking further.
Imagine, four straight A students with one being a genius (my friend), who didn't think of the fire hazard from a cake on fire in a cardboard box.
42. To Err Is Human—But It’s Still So Embarrassing
So, I was hanging out, watching a movie with my buddy studying film. He gave some props to the color tint the movie had.
Fast forward half an hour, and I was like, "Wow, they filmed this entire thing in a tent?"
He didn't respond, but it hit me real quick that I goofed up.
43. That Incident Just Sticks With Me Everywhere Now
When I was an 8-year-old kid, I was hanging out with my dad in the garage. I had this pack of Big League chew gum with me. Seeing it, dad told me, “Look, kiddo, never put this in your eye”.
I was like, “Cool, I won’t”. Seems simple, right? Well...
Next, I went into the house and popped upstairs to my bathroom. I chomped down on a whole heap of gum, took it out, and - don't ask why - stuck it on my eye.
The gum was actually the perfect kind of sticky. It latched on to my brow and lashes, effectively gluing my eye shut.
Panicking, I dashed downstairs for my dad’s help, all googly-eyed with the massive chunk of gum.
I can still hear my dad's incredulous yells.
44. Time To Hit The Hay
Man, pulling a 36-hour shift had completely drained me. My final chore for the day was unloading hay from my truck with a work buddy. Suddenly, a little mouse jumped out from one of the bales. It ran across the roof and then, woosh! It slid right into the cab area of the truck.
My mate and I looked around for it but it was nowhere to be seen. Totally wiped and unimpressed, I told him I'd be seriously mad if it stayed and I eventually found a bunch of mouse eggs in my truck.
45. Not Rising To The Occasion
Last summer, I was helping my dad at his bakery. Our job was to make heaps of bread dough, about 100 kg at a time.
One day, we were going through our usual routine. Dad mixed the dough and then we prepped it. This involved yanking out chunks of the dough, weighing it, and plopping it onto the table - all super fast and all by hand. Once that was done, we just waited for the dough to puff up.
But, this particular time, ten minutes flew by and our dough pretty much looked the same. That's when my colleague and I were startled by my dad yelling some colorful words. He'd only gone and forgotten to add the yeast!
Of course, that meant we spent the next 45 minutes twiddling our thumbs while waiting for a new 100 kg batch of dough to rise.
The funny thing is, Dad's been in the bakery business for about 20 years and he's never left out the yeast before.
46. A Big Fail On All Levels
So this one time, I poured myself some soda out of a mega-sized bottle into a glass. Got a wild idea, so I flipped the glass upside down over the soda bottle, aiming to send it all back. Spoiler: it was a total disaster.
This all went down while I was in high school, with my sister's cute friends as my super unimpressed audience. Made a crazy mess, and they've never let me live it down.
47. Stop, This Is An Emergency—Or Is It?
On my way home, I heard sirens blaring. They were super loud so I thought they must be nearby.
As I got to a crossroad, I figured they'd be coming through anytime, I decided to pull over and wait for whomever it was to rush by. But oddly, no one else did. And strangely, no sirens zoomed past.
Turns out, I was just by the fire station. They do this siren test every first Saturday of the month at noon. So yeah, I halted for a simple test run. Classic me.
48. I Don’t Know Everything
I hit up my bro before I ran to the market with with our dad, like, "Yo, you want anything?" He's like, "Sure, grab me some cereal and bagels".
I'm like, "What bagels you want?" He says, "Doesn't matter. Everything, I guess".
Once I got back, I chucked him his cereal and bagels. He looked at the pile in front of him and burst out laughing. Look, I didn't know that "everything" bagels were a thing. I thought my brother wanted all the bagel varieties.
Dude had his pick from plain, onion, cinnamon raisin, and whole wheat bagels. No everything bagels, though. Must have messed them.
49. Ouch, My Ego Hurts
Every one of my tasks at work involves inputting a unique, 20-digit code. I literally have to do this dozens of times a day, it’s so annoying. Then one day, someone watching over my shoulder said, “Wait, are you seriously typing out that number?” Annoyed, I was like, “Of course! That’s the very first thing you have to…” then it suddenly hit me.
My coworker was like, “You know you can just…” before I cut in “YES I SEE THAT NOW THANK YOU.” Yeah, the concept of copy and paste just...didn't occur to me. And here's the kicker - I work in IT.
50. Let’s Pair That With More Nonsensical Thinking
I bumped into my boss while I was walking into work. I gave a friendly hello, but he just looked at me weirdly. Without a word, he just pointed at my feet: “Does that look right to you?” I looked, and my stomach dropped. I was wearing one dress shoe…and one sneaker.
My face went pale—I felt so stupid! But then, in a moment of brilliance, I thought up the perfect lie. I said, "Oh, I just had surgery in my toe and this is the only thing I can wear. Hopefully by tomorrow I'll be healed up enough to wear my regular shoes. The next thing I knew, my boss was apologizing for being insensitive.
Never been so proud of myself in my life.
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