People Are Sharing The Moment They Realized Someone Was On Another Level Of Stupid

Whether we like it or not, fleeting moments of stupidity happen. Being dummies now and then—it’s all part of human nature. No news in that department. But the funny part about it is how people we think we know just suddenly turn out to be on a whole new level of stupidity.

So when Reddit user u/bost724 posted the question “What was your 'This person is on another level of stupid' moment?” on r/AskReddit, it instantly got 67.9k upvotes. It turns out, people on Reddit have been through a whole bunch of intolerable stupidities.

From believing that a nuclear power plant is literally a plant, to asking “How many Alaskan dollars is a US dollar worth?” with a full-on straight face, these are some of the most hilarious "seriously?!" moments you couldn't even think of.

#1

The time a friend told me how much he hates potatoes....while eating French fries and I literally blew his mind by telling him French fries are potatoes..

Image credits: Roybutt

#2

Rescued a coworker on the side of the road with a flat tire, waiting for the tow truck, I pointed out the nail at the top of their tire. They scoffed and looked at me like I was the stupidest person in the world and exclaimed

that’s not true bc it’s flat at the bottom

I just walked away and never brought it up again

Image credits: AliCracker

#3

This was my first experience in retail where I learned what many customers would be like.

Seasons were changing, so we put a lot of shirts we had to get rid of in the front and made them 50% off. I was working the register when a woman came up to buy her things. I rang her up and could see a look on her face like something was wrong. That’s when the following happened.

Lady: “Why is this so much.”

Me: “Pardon me?”

Lady: “This should only be $10 not $20.”

I thought that maybe her item was on sale, so I asked if she could point out the sign because I wasn’t aware of it. It was a small store and we didn't have to walk anywhere.

Lady: “This sign here.”

Me: “This sign says that all shirts are 50% off.”

Lady: “Yes, so why is this full price.”

Me: “This is a hat.”

Image credits: AstaticDynamic

Whether it’s a line someone said that sounded utterly stupid, or a thing somebody did that looked just plain foolish, these moments do indeed make us wonder whether people around us are not the smartest ones. At the same time, you start wondering if you are better than them. From common sense to plain talent, what if you just come to have more of it?

Some people secretly (and others, not so much) feel as if they are superior to others. This phenomenon is known as the self-enhancement effect and involves taking a tendentiously positive view of oneself. This research has shown that just like eating, it’s a fundamental part of human nature.

#4

I worked at a restaurant and we had a dish that was just a whole grilled chicken, chopped into pieces. A woman who ordered for delivery called us, absolutely scathing, complaining that her order of one whole chicken only contained TWO chicken breasts. Had to explain to grown ass woman that chicken only have two breasts.

Image credits: eeveion

#5

Dated a guy~ we watched TITANIC.... he thought the movie was stupid because the boat sank. It wasn’t believable. You can’t recover from that. Ever

Image credits: Pripatia01

#6

I got a concussion a while back. A friend of mine told me not to come close because it might be contagious. They weren't kidding.

Image credits: dwight12345

This type of thinking, however, is not to be confused with a superiority complex, which, in psychological terms, is viewed as a defense mechanism to what's really going on with the person.

According to professional counselor Nickia Lowery, “When a person acts superior to another, they really feel that the other is a perceived threat. In some way, they believe others will find out that they really are 'inadequate' and therefore behave in ways that make them feel like they are 'better' than the rest."

These people tend to compare themselves with others, and they continually search for proof that they indeed are better. This becomes a stressful vicious circle, and one may even need professional advice to free themselves from anxiety and mood swings.

#7

I worked at a pet store in college. This customer asked me which food would make his pit bull “swole.” I suggested a high protein food with a good amount of exercise but advised that a lot of it was determined by the dog’s genetics. He asked me if we sold genetics.

Image credits: kolbyrdenham

#8

I was once asked how it felt to come to the US as a refugee (I'm from Germany). She then looked rather surprised when I told her that Hitler has been dead for 75 years and that Germany is one of the more liberal countries in the world these days. She full on thought I fled Nazi Germany.

Image credits: DerSaftshubser

#9

There was a girl in my high school who forced the teacher to pause a documentary about people living in mud huts in Africa because she was upset that they were showing us fictional movies in a history class. It took everyone else in the room to convince her that people actually live like that in some places. Wealthy area living for ya.

Image credits: IWasSayingBourner

#10

Coworker bought a low-flow shower head. He filled the BATHTUB using the new low-flow shower head BECAUSE IT WOULD USE LESS WATER!

Image credits: pdfrg

#11

I locked my purse with my keys and cell phone in my apartment. I went to the office to ask maintenance to let me in. The woman at the desk said she would call maintenance and asked for a phone number they could reach me at. I said there wasn’t one because my cell phone was locked in my apartment. She insisted she needed a number. I said I could give her the number but that I wouldn’t be able to answer if they called. She suggested I get my phone out of my apartment so that I could answer when they called. I rolled my eyes at her and said if I could get in my apartment to get my cell phone I wouldn’t need maintenance to let me in. She never did understand me. But maintenance did show up ten minutes later.

Image credits: Suzanne_Marie

#12

I used to work with a girl who was sweet but so dumb. We were in a meeting once and somehow someone mentioned baked ham. My manager said "Ugh I hate ham. It looks like human flesh." The girl I mentioned was sitting next to me and looked horrified and whispered "Does ham really come from people?"

Image credits: Ally862

#13

I work for Parks Canada in Yoho National Park. I have been asked the question (seriously), “Where do you keep the animals at night?” twice in my career. To this day I still find great joy imagining what they thought was going on each night as we “collected” every large animal in the Parks.

Image credits: nakednfamous

#14

Back when the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster happened we were discussing how the reactor had failed in a science class. 5 minutes into the conversation a girl piped up and said "I don't see what the big deal is. Why can't we just regrow it?"

She dead ass thought a nuclear power plant was... A plant

Image credits: BroomStickLegend

#15

I’m an identical twin, and have been asked all manner of utterly ridiculous questions about it throughout my life. But I think the stupidest was when a girl once asked me “do you ever get yourselves mixed up with each other?” I responded “are you asking me if I ever sometimes think I’m my brother?” she replied, “yeah.”

No. I don’t.

Image credits: Rottenox

#16

I was friends with with a guy who believed those fake apple adverts like "Apple Wave - Microwave your phone for instant battery charge" I was so dumbfounded that he actually fell for it. When I saw him the week after and he had a new phone it all clicked for me

Image credits: TheChosenOne118

#17

Knew a girl in middle school that didn't understand the concept of perspective

She also thought North was whichever direction you were facing at the time

Image credits: QalliMaaaa

#18

Dude burned down his convenience store for an insurance claim, and stopped the milk and bread deliveries the day before.

Image credits: parsons525

#19

When a dumb as a brick girl that I went to high school with asked our history teacher if she’d ever owned a slave.

Image credits: masdawg

#20

I had to explain to a girl why you couldnt grow your hair down in front of your face and just cut out eye holes. Even explaining it her she couldnt grasp it and brushed me off as being "too smart."

Image credits: Beef_jumps

#21

My wife's cousin and her husband/not-baby-daddy-of her-unborn-child fell on self induced hard times and needed a place to stay for a bit. We setup a queen sized air mattress in the living room for them. For 3 weeks I woke up to go to work and every morning saw them sleeping on it sideways with their legs hanging off the edge. Then one day she asked me to buy her a bigger air mattress because this one was hard on their backs. I told her to turn her body (the f**king thing even has a built in pillow on one end). Her response was that then they couldn't see the TV. THEN F**KING TURN THE AIR MATTRESS TO FACE THE TV! That's the story of how I became an asshole to the trailer trash side of the family.

The bad part is that its only one of many stories. The husband was a cook at Applebee's. The baby daddy was a cook at Applebee's, and her new husband was......another cook from the same f**king Applebee's. All working together.

Image credits: Swervyswervy

#22

Spent 7 years working for TSA. Had a pretty sweet detail where I would assist passengers who did not have ID or assist TSA agents if they had questions about the validity of the given ID.

I get a call on the radio asking for assistance in verifying an ID. I come over and ask what the issue is, agent hands me a driver’s license and says “Can’t accept this Canadian ID”. Hearing this, I assume it’s expired or the wrong name.

I take a look and see that it is an Alaskan driver’s license. I quickly approve the passenger and send them on their way. I then spent 10 minutes explaining that a) Canadian DL’s are acceptable according to TSA regulations and b) Alaska has never been a Canadian territory.

This coworker has a Masters degree in mathematics and served 25 years in the US Air Force

#23

This story is in good faith.

I was asking my friend, J, when he learned about 9/11. He started telling me this specific story of how he walked outside and saw smoke everywhere and how he asked his mom about it, he claimed she said planes hit the towers.

I stared at him, just silently taking in the story.

We live in the Midwest, there was no way he saw the debris from the towers.

Also we were born in 2003.

#24

Had someone ask me “is Europe on Earth?”

Image credits: KenKaneki94

#25

My sister asked if the Eiffel Tower was in Paris or France and couldn't understand how it could be in both...

Edit: Woah. My top rated comment is me announcing one of my sister's airhead moments haha. I feel like I need to defend her now.

This happened when she was like 14. She's 26 now. She went on to graduate from college and graduated top of her class.

She later clarified that she meant to ask if the Eiffel Tower was in Paris or elsewhere in France but she clearly didn't say it like that.

She's gonna kill me when I tell her how much attention this got.

Image credits: Mirror_hsif

#26

Classmate was convinced that winning the lottery is 50% chance

because you either win it / not

in last year of highschool

Image credits: jackspedicy05

#27

In high school I met a boy who asked me for a hygienic cloth because he thought he had a period, actually he only sat on a melted popsicle

Image credits: Lady_Croma

#28

I moved to the UK from Germany. A guy asked me if we had colours in Germany.

Image credits: honeypiehorses

#29

I once worked in a midwestern grocery store deli and I was trying to explain to a woman that the name brand and generic brand of the macaroni salad that we carried were in fact identical. The woman yelled at me saying she could only have the generic brand because “one is made with mayo and the other is made with mayonnaise and I don’t like mayo”. When I tried to explain that mayo is an abbreviation of mayonnaise, she just said “I’m from the south, I know my food” and tutted away.

Image credits: lauraligator

#30

Ex flatmate cancelled the gas and electricity contract because it was too expensive. Wondered why we had no more electricity nor gas. She thought we paid 90€ a month to get a hotline 24/7 in case of problem.

Image credits: saoirse_eli

#31

Someone in my history class argued that Mussolini was a type of pasta

#32

A friend didn't have coins for a vending machine but did have a dollar. She folded up the dollar and forced it into the coin slot and then did not understand why she did not get her item.

For me: I had a concussion and was getting X-rays taken. They gave me a lead blanket to wrap around my twig and berries. I took it and wrapped it around me like a cape. I could not understand what they wanted me to do.

#33

I had to explain to a woman that apples did not contain any gluten, meat, or dairy ingredients. How can one think apples contain dairy? She thought gluten was found in every major grain, and that apples were a grain because they have seeds.

#34

She thought the capital of Saudi Arabia was “hummus”

I wish I could make this up

Image credits: shadesOfcool

#35

I had a co-worker who could never figure out what time her 15 minute break was over. We were both bank tellers.

#36

Yesterday my mom said “It’s kinda weird how The Fourth Of July has fell on the same day of the year the past couple years.” I was dying and she was so confused

#37

Someone told me that minorities were never oppressed, then linked an article from The Onion as their source. They were serious.

#38

I went to a church youth group about five years ago (I’m an atheist so I went with a friend). The group I was in was talking about Jesus when this one girl piped up to say:

“Imagine how hard it was for Jesus. I mean, he was Jewish, so he didn’t even believe in himself!”

I have no idea what that girl was talking about, but not a goddamn day goes by when I don’t think of that. Then there was the pastor who seemed to believe Scientology was a religion devoted to knowledge and science, but that’s another story.

Image credits: PickleBoy223

#39

I met a guy who got hit by a train. Not that bad, but a year later he went to show his daughter where and how he got hit by the train and he got hit again.

#40

My boss asked me to file the spam mail. This man was one of those people who think they are the smartest person in the room. So spam folder Okay... weird, but okay. I couldn’t find any spam mail that wasn’t already in the spam folder. Afternoon comes and he stomps over to my desk area and wants to know why the spam isn’t in the spam folder as he throws a Manila folder on my desk. The folder was labeled spam. He prints spam mail out and files it. And with any sign of skepticism on my face, he’d insist the IT guy told him that’s where spam goes so he got himself a folder and that was it. I had to get the f**k out.

#41

We were talking about the Irish potato famine in college, and this one girl said “Oh wow! I thought it was the potato family.” As if that wasn’t enough, she later asked “why were they so eager to get jobs? If I was that hungry I wouldn’t even try to get a job.” Man, I wish I was joking.

#42

“I can’t use this I’m left handed”

It was a f**king shovel and I was the idiot that thought a left handed shovel existed.

#43

Former co-worker thought the only country in Asia was China.

#44

Summer camp counselor made all the kids on a school bus keep the windows up on a hot day because "they could feel the Air Conditoning" coming from the front of the bus.

It was so hot and I (maybe 10 years old at the time) had to explain to the 40 year old counselor that the "air conditioning" they were feeling was the wind coming in through the bus drivers open window. She still didn't believe me.

I begged her to ask the bus driver to confirm the bus did not have air conditioning but she didn't want to bother him while he was driving. It was like a 1 hour bus trip.

She finally got hot enough and asked the bus driver if the bus had air conditioning. And he jokingly said "The bus only has air conditioning when the windows are down and the wheels are turning." She then looked back at me and said" See? I told you the bus had air conditioning" and proceeded to force us to keep the windows up.

#45

“How much is a half dollar worth?” She was the newest teller my boss hired. Will never forget that moment.

#46

I asked a girl when the last time was that she changed her oil. She said, “oil?... you mean gas?”

#47

Anyone who wears a mask but doesn’t pull it up over their nose

#48

One of the dumbest things I have ever heard anyone say is, "The spork is 'the devil's utensil' because it is the amalgamation of the masculine fork and the feminine spoon and is trying to blur gender lines in society."

#49

I had an ex ask me if the moon was north

#50

Demolished my right foot (and a bunch of other shit) in a motorcycle crash and had to have the top of my foot removed. Guy I worked with asked me when it would grow back. I explained that the skin and stuff was going to have to be grafted, but the tendons and bones that had been removed were gone forever. He looked me dead in the eye and asked "why don't they just cut the whole fucking thing off and let it grow back?"

#51

I once had two people come up to me arguing about whether spiders exist

#52

Person 1: "I can't find my keys."

Person 2: "Should I call you?"

#53

In 8th grade art class we were taking about famous painter and someone brought up Michelangelo. A girl in the back said (paraphrasing) "Michelangelo isn't real, he's a turtle". The entire class collectively face-palmed.

#54

When I was in high school, I took a film class where we'd watch a movie and discuss it after. So we watched Saving Private Ryan, and the credits start to roll, and I hear one of the other students: "wait so who won?" turns out he was on the edge of his seat to see who won WWII.

#55

My friend is allergic to walnuts. One day, he made this sandwich in our college dorm. It had walnuts garnished on top of the bread. i then remember him telling me “oh look there’s walnuts on here” and proceeds to eat the entire sandwich. (At the time I didn’t know he was allergic). I leave to shower and when I come back there are two paramedics in our dorm taking him out on a stretcher. The following day I asked what happened to which he replies something along the line “I accidentally ate some walnuts which I’m allergic to, and by the time I went to get a Benadryl, my throat had started to close and I couldn’t swallow it so I had to call 911”. I was just utterly shocked how he even let this entire situation happen. I really couldn’t believe it. He had known there were walnuts on the bread and still ate it?! College days, am I right?

#56

Going through security and the person says I need to show a different form of ID. I ask why because I gave them my driver’s license. They say I need a US document like a green card or something. I’m a US citizen... then I realized... I explained how District of Columbia is long for DC. Like Washington DC. As in the capital of our country.

#57

When I was younger I was mad that everyone else had an accent and I didn’t... Three years later I realized that I did in fact have an accent and that I was on another level of stupid.

#58

My friend's girlfriend regularly says some stupid s**t. We're all in our 30s and she recently told me she can't read the "clock with hands."

#59

Someone once told me that the moon was full all summer. You don't even have to be smart to see that's not true, just look up at night.

#60

I worked at a meat desk for a summer job, and a woman came in and asked if we had any meat without spices or sauces. She then proceeded to tell us that "the doctor" had said that her dogs got sick because she kept feeding them pizza and they couldn't handle the spices. She then said "oh but they love pizza so much, I feel bad for them. I'm probably still gonna feed them pizza"

#61

Not me but a friend worked in a call center for a CC company in the disputes department. The number one item people called to say they never purchased....’Interest Charge’.

#62

A old coworker was telling me that theres people out there that think Alaska is an island. I laughed in disbelief but another coworker overheard and was flabbergasted "WHAT? It's not? But it's always drawn off to the side with Hawaii?!" Point made.

Another time a guy with a really thick accent walked in, same girl was like "oh wow I like your accent where are you from?" Said guy: " Have a guess" her response? "HAVEAGUESS? I've never heard of that place before!" And walked away.

She is super sweet, just slightly oblivious.

#63

Me (when I was a kid). I had a real old transistor radio, asked my parents for a newer radio, so I could receive and listen to newer music.

#64

When I was in high school, there were these two girls that constantly just... blew my mind. One of them asked “what does insignificance mean?” and the other replied “why something is significant.” The first girl looked at her and went “ooh ok I get it.”

#65

I work retail. Had a customer a few weeks back pull her mask down to cough into the open air and then pull it back up. Really makes you wonder why there are people like this in the world.

#66

I've had a few but the most recent was myself.

My partner was installing a new baby gate and I complained that it wasn't as high as the one we had before. He said, "there's only about 30mm of difference". I angrily replied, "are you joking?!?! there's at least 2-3cm of difference".

He just blankly stared at me for a good 10 seconds before I realised.

#67

I once forgot to bring my laptop to school so my mum had to bring it in. My maths teacher was notified and she sent me a message telling me to pick up my laptop at the front office, but the only way I could see the message is if I had my laptop with me.

#68

I got a bad grade in geography in highschool, my teacher kept trying to push me and suggested I talk to my parents about it. I told my mom I was failing geography and she said "how f**king stupid can you really be Justin, how do you fail geography it's just shapes" I'll never forget that one.

#69

Watching a man try to open the locked front door of my shop while a bright red closed sign was literally inches from his face. He kept looking at the door like it was just stuck.

#70

Ahhh, at the time I was working at a grocery store that had a Coinstar machine. Basically you could place all of your unwrapped change in it and it would be converted for a small fee that you could use for actual cash. I was walking past and noticed a women struggle with the machine. I stopped to help her, turns out she had accidentally hit “Spanish” as a language selection. I quickly explained what she needed to do figuring she couldn’t read Spanish (we were in the US) and this is where her struggles came from. So I run through how it works and show her where the receipt will print out that she can turn in at customer service for the cash. She turns and looks at me and says “but I don’t want Spanish money”. Sigh, then I have to explain to her that she would get paid in US dollars.

#71

A few years ago my roommate was accepted to NYU and texted me a picture of the letter and said “Finally get to see a different country!”

We live in America.

#72

My teacher telling me that a "private company" is just a combination of the words private and company without really explaining the meaning of it, then telling me that I ask stupid quesitons

#73

When I read yesterday that people think ocean water and sand are giving them coronavirus, rather than realizing its because they are spending time on a crowded beach with strangers. Smh

#74

I’ve commented this before once or twice, but my step brother was baffled that dogs were colourblind because he saw his reflection in our dog’s eye and it was in colour... not a black and white reflection... so how could the dog be colourblind? I tried explaining it to him and I don’t think he really got it

Another instance: he thought babies were born aged 1 (he’s a white dude and not living in a culture where they do count from 1). I told him nah that’s not how it works, so he tried to count back from the current year to his birthday year, lost count a few times and got confused, then decided it was an “agree to disagree” situation where neither of us could be sure who was right. Bruh

Oh another thing: he told me he thought every book should have a quick summary of what’s happening and who the characters are ON EVERY PAGE, because he was sick of picking up a book after a while and forgetting what was happening and who the characters were

#75

I started eating healthier and not the junk in my former fast food job.
Coworker looks at me, “why you eating this rabbit food and not something filling?”
“Ah, I’ve been here a few minutes. Starting to feel run down eating fast food everyday. Wanted something healthy”.
“They are charging you for the food anyway you might as well eat it”.
“Health is your wealth and all that. I can’t stop them charging me, but I don’t have to eat the food”.
“And this is healthy? How do you know it is healthy? Did you grow it?”

Wow, such logic. Pass me the cheeseburgers cause some pesticides on this definitely renders it worse than processed crap.

#76

When I found out one of my friends from high school thought it was Roberty Lee, not Robert E Lee.

#77

I was helping a colleague with his graduate thesis film. My job was to animate a solar eclipse, since we couldn't shoot one for real.

I animated it using some real life reference footage to make it look realistic. When I showed him, he asked why the moon was black and had no detail. I asked him if he had ever seen a solar eclipse and he replied "yes of course, but I want this one to look surreal since it's the moon in front of the sun, it's not like a normal solar eclipse."

At this point it became clear something was amiss, and after asking a few more clarifying questions it became clear he had no idea that the large object passing in front of the sun during a solar eclipse is, in fact, the moon. I confronted him about it and he apologized for "not being great with astrology."

#78

High school teacher here. I gave a multiple choice quiz to a student this year. I go to grade the first question and instead of choosing option A, B, C, or D, he wrote in his own option and circled it:

"E) I don't know."

He went on to do this for roughly two thirds of the questions on the quiz.

I appreciated the honestly... but guessing to have a chance at some points or at the very least just leaving it blank might've been a bit wiser. Oh well.

Obviously I followed up with the kid to see what the deal was. In the end we sorted things out. I wouldn't say they were on another level of stupid, they didn't "do" school in the traditional way. Ended up having a great year together.

#79

I was a co-hostess with a girl in a restaurant, watching ads on a hanging TV for a new movie. At the end, it said 'coming soon to a theater near you,' to which she turned to me with wide eyes & genuinely asked "how do they know where I live?"

#80

A customer at a fabric store came in to return a 7/8 yard cut piece of fabric because she said I charged her almost as much as a full yard would have cost.