We’ve all been there, right? Those moments when someone offers you advice, and you think, “Nah, I got this.” Well, get ready to cringe and maybe even chuckle a bit as we dive into some real-life stories about those times when people didn’t quite take the advice seriously and ended up paying a hefty price. It’s a rollercoaster of “I told you so” moments, and you won’t want to miss it! All content has been edited for clarity purposes.
Table of contents
1. “He Only Had Himself To Blame”
“My best friend had been dating a girl for 5 years. She loved him beyond comprehension. She would never think of leaving him and thought they were going the distance. Everyone else thought so, too. My friend had some reservations because he felt insecure about how she made six figures while he was struggling to find his way. However, she was a great girl and everyone agreed. I figured it was only a matter of time before he also found a great career and they lived happily ever after.
Then walks in ‘Brittany.’ She was a 20-year-old wannabe social media model who had him wrapped around her finger from day one. My friend never cheated on his girlfriend before, but his self-hatred and habit of self-sabotage led him to carry on an affair with Brittany for months. His side relationship was great at first, but it quickly turned into nothing but drama. Brittany eventually gave him an ultimatum: leave his girlfriend for her, or they’re finished. He was conflicted.
Eventually, my friend came to me for advice. I told him to drop Brittany and stick with his girlfriend. I gave him a million reasons why, and I thought I got through to him. His life with his long-term girlfriend was the future of the life he’d always dreamed of. They’d have kids, a house, happiness, the whole nine yards.
I told him, ‘There’s no future with Brittany,’ and I thought I stuck the landing.
Despite asking for my advice and me seemingly getting through to him, he brushed me off and asked for advice from another friend of his. This friend was the typical ‘Chad.’ A real frat-bro type. This friend told him to keep seeing Brittany and dump his ‘average-looking’ girlfriend.
So, my friend did just that. He keeps Brittany and breaks up with his perfect girlfriend. For the next few months, Brittany was nothing but drama. She played with his head constantly. She posted social media pictures with other guys, tried to make him jealous, and sent him angry texts all hours of the night.
My friend and Brittany’s relationship fizzled out after six months. A few years later, he hasn’t even found a girlfriend close to the one he gave up. I doubted he ever would. He gave up a fantastic future with an amazing girl for idiotic reasons. He only had himself to blame.
I never gave him the, ‘I told you so’ speech, but he knew EXACTLY what I thought about the situation.”
2. “It Was A Total Loss”
“Years ago, I worked for an electrician. At my job, I mainly did residential types of work at houses and businesses.
One day, my buddy asked me to take a look at some electrical problems at his work. Since it was on my way home, I agreed. It was at a recently-opened restaurant which had been previously closed for years.
My buddy explained, ‘One of the waitresses burned herself on one of the outlets near the bar.’
The place was huge. It had three electrical panels, and all of them were overstuffed with extra wires, fuses, and extension cords. You couldn’t even close the doors on the panels because they were so full.
I immediately told my buddy, ‘This is a major fire hazard. You need to tell the owners to call a licensed electrical contractor right now.’
He replied, ‘I don’t think the owners will agree. They can’t afford it, but I’ll let them know.’
The NEXT NIGHT on my way back from work, the place was engulfed in flames. It was a total loss.
I couldn’t say I didn’t try to tell him.”
3. “Pet Owners Rarely Listened To Me”
“I worked as a vet technician. A lot of my job was telling people, ‘I told you so.’
I always stressed, ‘Spay your dog or else they’ll get pyometra. Keep their cone on after surgery, or else they’ll lick their sutures open. Don’t feed your dog McDonald’s, or else they’ll get pancreatitis,’ but pet owners rarely listened to me.
The most recent issue I had with a pet owner was with their dog, a little Yorkie named ‘Max.’ The owner visited with Max to get some basic vaccines. However, in the area we were in, cases of Leptospirosis were skyrocketing. Dogs could contract this disease from coming in contact with urine and feces from wild animals like raccoons and skunks. It caused acute kidney failure within two weeks of picking it up.
I offered the owner the Leptospirosis vaccine for Max and explained why he needed it. The owner was great and loved the dog with all of his heart, as did his family. However, since the owner was young, he said he’d have to ask his mom.
‘I promise I’ll come back later and get the vaccine,’ he explained.
Fine, no worries. Max was a well-loved little dog. However, the owner never came back.
Two months later, the owner and Max came back into the clinic. Max was lethargic and not moving around much. Of course, it was Leptospirosis. I’d never seen so much regret from a pet owner before. He kept apologizing like he could somehow take it back.
At this point, the entire family was in the clinic weeping and begging to help Max. Luckily, after three weeks of fluid therapy, Max was fine. But their bill was over $6000 when they could have just given Max a $20 vaccine instead.
I felt bad, but sometimes there wasn’t anything I could do to convince people to do what was right for their pets.”
4. “At Least I Tried Helping”
“When I was in college, I had a roommate, ‘Amy.’ Amy drank—a lot. I tried to tell her how I thought she needed to slow down her drinking. I reasoned that she always put herself in dangerous situations and made horrible decisions while drinking.
As I expected, Amy didn’t like my input at all. She threw a tantrum screamed, and cried, ‘You’re such a know-it-all all! What are you? My mother? Leave me alone and mind your own business!’
The next week, she drove drunk and wrapped her car around a tree on campus. She wasn’t wearing a seatbelt. Luckily, she survived. However, she broke a lot of bones in her face and ended up looking like a monster for months.
When it was all said and done, she healed and ended up getting the help she needed. At least I tried helping.”
