16 Ordinary Stories That Have a Big Surprise in the End

Sometimes it may seem that life is divided into stories with predictable outcomes: if you prepare for an exam, you pass it well, if your boss doesn't like you, you get fired, and so on. However, the future is unpredictable, and any situation may end up in a very unexpected way.

• We are living in Florida at the time and my dad goes to the eye doctor because he is seeing double. In all other respects, he’s healthy. He explains his symptoms to the doctor. This was the early 2000s.
  The doctor picks up a medical book on eye problems. He finds the kind of symptoms my dad is describing. The doctor shows him the book. In the book, there is a whole medical page explaining what he is experiencing and a picture of a kid from the 1960s.
  My dad looks at the picture and says, “Doc, that’s me!” The doctor says, “Yes, those are the symptoms you are showing.” My Dad says, “No, really, that’s me in the picture!”
  It turns out my dad had this eye problem when he was a kid, and it was so rare that they took his picture in the 1960s Ohio and slapped him in a book of rare eye problems. He doesn’t remember much about taking the picture, but he did manage to get a copy of it to take home. © flounceymagoo / Reddit
• One day when I was a kid, my mom took me to a fair. The prize in the shooting gallery — a teddy bear — immediately caught my eye. My mom is a former biathlete, she’s a good shot. But a few cans didn’t want to fall no matter what, and then she realized they were just glued on.
  The man from the shooting gallery started to deny it, but suddenly Mom took off her boot and threw it at the cans, but they stood still! The man got very nervous, gave us several prizes, including the teddy bear I wanted so much! © Not everyone will understand / VK

• I was coming out of the subway. A guy was standing there, handing out leaflets advertising windows and doors. The woman who was walking in front of me took a leaflet.
  And this guy ran after her, “What kind of windows do you like? We also have very high quality doors. Let me help you choose.” The woman replied, “Enough, thank you! I just took the leaflet without any reason!”
  And suddenly the guy was like, “Yeah? Well, give it back.” © Not everyone will understand / VK
• I was transferred to a division, within a few months my new supervisor and I hated each other. She was incompetent, and I spoke up when she screwed up. She made my life hell and finally decided to give me a job that she thought would make me quit.
  I packed up my stuff in a box and asked for help moving to my new desk, she said she didn’t have anyone to spare. I was carrying my box and didn’t see a spill on the floor, ironically, just outside her office. I slipped, fell, and broke my knee. I am on permanent disability, very legitimately, received a huge settlement, lifetime healthcare, retired early. She was demoted, then fired, partially due to the way she handled my case.
  This all happened a few years ago, recently when my husband and I were grocery shopping, I saw her in the store. I didn’t want to see her, but my husband caught her eye and gave her a big “thumbs up.” She looked pissed. © longleglady / Reddit
• I never liked walking in heels because I simply can’t. Always trip over something or twist my foot. Today I went to work in heels and decided to visit a shop on the way. It’s raining outside, I’m walking up the tiled steps, twist one foot, the other one slips, and I start falling backwards.
  Suddenly, someone catches me and helps me to my feet. I come to my senses and realize it’s my ex. Leaving, he said, “You’ve never learned to walk in heels, but you are beautiful anyway.” © Caramel / VK

• I was once interviewing a young man. He did well on the test, was pleasant to talk to, seemed ambitious and intelligent. First, we went through his CV, I asked him about his life and hobbies, then we talked about his previous jobs. I asked him why he was fired from his previous job.
  After his answer, I knew for sure that I had to hire him. He said, “Well, I joined a young, friendly team and started to develop my skills. And it turned out that I had to work with my head down!” © Not everyone will understand / VK
• 3 years ago, I broke up with my boyfriend. We live in the same city. I often imagined how we would accidentally bump into each other. And so after a visit to the beauty parlor, when I looked great, I met him. Now he’ll be sorry that he left me!
  But suddenly the wind picked up a bag from the rubbish bin, which was covered in milk, and threw it right into my face. Good thing that my ex didn’t recognize me and walked past me. © Caramel / VK
• Was at a big art show with my wife and kid (3 or 4 at the time). We were walking up to a doorway and I notice a couple of huge nude statues. I mean, like, no big deal to me, but I was worried about what the kid was going to say because he’s a bit of a loud-mouth at the best of times and I didn’t need him yelling about private parts in the middle of a crowded art gallery.
  I realized the worst thing to do was make any kind of a scene about it. No covering eyes or anything, just subtly angling the stroller away from the statues and making a big deal about art things on the opposite side of the aisle. Then, the inevitable happens. I remember it happening in slow motion.
  Kid’s head turns toward the naked statues. Eyes widen. Arm raises and finger points. Mouth slowly opens. “Dad! Look at those statues! They aren’t wearing any socks!” © JCMcFancypants / Reddit

• I’m dating a married man. I like him. It’s been a year. He doesn’t have such passion with his wife as with me.
  I didn’t want to get involved with his family. At first, we dated, he gave me beautiful and expensive gifts. So, he conquered me. I don’t want him to leave his family.
  But recently his wife texted me. She accused me of everything she could. What do I have to do with it? What’s the point of texting me? Why not talking to her own husband?
  I understand they had a row, she kicked him out of the house. He texted me this morning saying he wanted to meet me to talk. Told his wife he loved me. I didn’t want it to turn out this way.
  Yeah, I like him, but only as a man to spend some time with. I don’t want to see him in my flat every day. He’s convinced that I love him and want to be together. So he wants to come over and talk about it. I don’t know how to rewind everything. © Podslushano Pro / VK
• Met my bio dad when I was 23. After a couple of years, he invited myself and my toddler son to come live with him, as I was struggling financially. Wanted to put me in his will, his wife at the time suggested a paternity test “to be sure.” I get the mail in, swab your cheek one.
  6 weeks later, the results came back that he wasn’t the dad. She kicked me out. I was homeless, dropped my son off with his father and explained everything, said give me 3 months to work and save so I could get an apartment again. The father of my son claimed abandonment without telling me and got full custody.
  Plot twist: 2 weeks after that, bio dad’s wife flipped out and in her moment of crazy admitted her triumph of swabbing her own cheek and sending it under my name for the paternity test. We’ve since retested and he’s my father. © Lunatyc84 / Reddit
• I switched to part-time study and got a job at a bank. I work, come home and sit down at my textbooks. I study until 1 or 2 o’clock in the morning, and I get up at 6 a.m. Yesterday all my colleagues, my manager and even the director went to celebrate something. I was not invited, apparently, I am not yet in the team, so I was the only one left to work.
  I sit, angry at this situation and text to my friend, “Suckers, they didn’t even invite me, so I work here alone!” My friend doesn’t reply, so I check my texts and realize that I didn’t send it to my friend, but to my manager. I was already mentally writing a letter of resignation. But 30 minutes later the reply comes, “Got it, next time you go with us, and now you can go home!” © Work Stories / VK

• Recently, my girlfriends and I decided to have dinner at a restaurant. I arrived a little early and decided to order something straight away. The waiters were all busy, so I asked for a menu from the guy sitting at the neighboring table.
  As soon as I approached him, he immediately pulled out a chair for me, said he was waiting for me and started to tell me about himself. I could barely interrupt him and explain that I wasn’t the one he was waiting for. The guy was very embarrassed and apologized. It turned out that he was waiting for a girl he met online, but she was late, and he thought that this girl was me. © Caramel / VK
• I was going through a very difficult period once. Eternal problems with my personal life, endless quarrels with my parents, no one around understood me. It all grew like a snowball, until suddenly I started sobbing right at my workplace. Even my boss had to intervene.
  He took me into his office, poured some water, treated me to fruit, and then with a sincere smile on his face said, “Stacie, if you think that your glass is half empty, pour its contents into a smaller glass, and your life will play with bright colors again!” This was the best advice I’ve ever heard in my life. © Not everyone will understand / VK

• I am a professional jazz singer. But like any singer, I am happy to sing not only jazz, but also other musical genres, including pop, rock and even classical. On Sunday, I was in a particularly good mood, and lo and behold, I received a phone call from a scammer. After I introduced myself, he started asking questions and I decided to sing to him instead of answering.
  I thought he would hang up immediately, but he listened to me silently. I sang the song with feeling. When I finished, he sobbed and said that his grandmother loved this song. He apologized and hung up. © Work Stories / VK
• I graduated law, and got engaged to the girl I had been with through university. We both applied for the same graduate program and ended up working in the same office in Canberra. 3 months before our wedding, I found out she was cheating on me with our mutual boss, and I broke it off with her. Long story short, it got really, really ugly and the two of us ended up in a very bitter court case over property.
  Canberra is a pretty small city and the legal world is pretty bloody small there, too, and everywhere I went I bumped into my ex. It was beginning to seriously get me down (her too, as it transpired), and I applied for an Australian government overseas development job in Tuvalu, a pacific island with about 11,000 population. It’s quite a prestigious job to get, with only 2 positions offered for a 2-year contract on a rotating basis.
  I was successful in the application and moved on-island to start my posting. To discover that my ex was the other successful applicant. I spent the next 2 years sharing a tiny office on a tiny island with the person that I quite honestly loathe more than any other in the world. © larriedbutmooking / Reddit
• Evening, I decided to take a bath after work. I opened the tap, and while the water was running, I decided to do some chores. Got carried away, forgot, caused a small flood. I imagined the neighbors calling the police, making a scandal.
  But the next morning I saw a note on my door, “Thank you for the flood, finally my husband will do the repairs!” © Not everyone will understand / VK

And here's another bunch of stories with an unexpected ending.