1. It saved his relationship
My roommate punched himself in the eye and faked being jumped, because his girlfriend was about to break up with him. They are now married.
2. He let his father die
I know a guy I grew up with who was beat all the time by his on/off alcoholic lumberjack dad.
One day the dad died from some heart failure or what not and when the cause of death report came out, it claimed he had been conscious after the incident had happened before he had died. My friend had told the police he had not been home but had biked to a friends house to see if he wanted to go play basketball.
I found out later at a party where we were drunk, when I asked him how it had been to come home to dead dad, that he had been home all the time and had heard his dad scream/gasp in pain and fall over but that he had just stood there, first empty, then smiling, as his dad withered in pain and slowly expired into unconsciousness and died. Then only when my friend was certain his dad was not waking up again, he called “911”.
Don’t hit your kids and expect them to come through for you.
3. Big bucks kept shushed
I found out my dad won the lottery. He won around $250,000 and has never told me or my brothers. It took some digging to find so I never told anyone because I figure if he hasn’t told his family then he doesn’t want anyone to know.
4. Found dick pics sent to my daughter
I found the dick pics my (now) son-in-law sent my daughter. She had backed up her computer to an external hard drive and didn’t realize they went, too.
5. Had no idea what he was going through
Not recent, but I used to be in a Quake clan with another guy, we would play night and day. Lots of great matches, smack talk, conversations late into the night. I found out one day from a mutual friend that his mother was dying of cancer — slowly and very painfully. That’s what he was dealing with every day when he wasn’t death-matching.
I never told him I knew. I figured sometimes you just need to escape from reality. Gaming was the one place where he could forget his troubles and not have to think about them. If he wanted me to know he would have told me.
So instead we laughed a lot and talked about Quake and I was happy to be there for him.
— coupland
6. Uncle went to jail to protect child
The person knows I know but I would never tell my family. When my cousin was 5 or six he was not part of our family yet. My uncle met his mom and they fell in love and moved in with each other.
My cousin was still with his dad and my uncle and aunt were trying to get custody but her ex was a very wealthy man. Apparently he was also sexually abusing my cousin but it was hard to prove and her ex had some really good lawyers.
My uncle was not a rich man but they needed money for a lawyer and a special therapist for my cousin so they could win the case. He robbed his workplace for the cash to pay all the fees needed to get my cousin away from his dad. My uncle’s work found out and had him arrested he had to go to jail for 2 years, he told my family and everyone that he got a job abroad and had to leave for a few years so that he could pay for my cousins lawyers.
Everyone in my family still thinks that he went abroad to make extra cash only me and his wife know that he was in jail. My cousin is a very successful well adjusted happy man now, he doesn’t really remember anything about living with his dad. My uncle says he would do it again a thousand times if it meant my cousin growing up safe.
7. Secret about a co-worker
One day while looking through Flickr, I came across some nude pictures of my coworker. She has lots of photo albums on her account. Turns out she and her husband are swingers. I work with her on a daily basis. I would never tell her I have seen them.
8. Those candles weren’t for lighting (apparently)
When I first got married my sister in law was living with us. One day, while she was at work, she called and asked that I email something to her from her desktop. This was prior to texting and email on phones being so prevalent.
So, I used her laptop and her outlook to send the attachment. I checked the sent items to make sure it went through with the attachment and found an email she had sent to someone of a bunch of pictures of her with lit candles shoved up her ass. I never said anything but had to start hiding all of our stick candles in fear that she’d ass tip all my Yankees
— OGcodyc
9. Didn’t want to know that…
A close friend that I roomed with at college once had me log into their email to print out tickets. Found the tickets but also a decent amount of evidence that he had a strong scat fetish. Not sure that there is ever a way to bring that up in conversion.
10. Mom wanted to leave dad
My mom passed away a few years ago from Cancer. She went for an operation for something mundane and they found out she had cancer.
My parents worked hard and were good at saving. My mom managed the finances and did an amazing job. Now my dad is alone and keeps on telling me, “I wish your mom was here, I don’t know what to do with all this money. She would have known how to spend it together.”
The sad truth is before my mom went for her operation, she planned on leaving my dad after the whole ordeal was over. She told this to me privately. My dad basically told me he had the same plan privately.
After she got diagnosed, he stood by her side and worked from home for months so he could take care of her. He also did an amazing job arranging all aspects of her funeral, even though my mom entrusted that to her sisters.
I told my sister, but I don’t think I could ever tell him.
11. Didn’t expect the end.
My ex used to go through my browser history and emails. She never found anything, but always thought I was up to something.
I knew this because I read her diary every day.
— canyoustopp
12. Tattled on my co-worker to help him
I used to work overnight security a couple of years ago. My partner (we will call him Bill) was struggling with some stuff left over from the Iraq war, and so we spent a lot of time getting to know each other better. Eventually, I promoted up to Supervisor, and then Assistant Director of Security.
One night, the guy who had replaced me on overnights called to complain about Bill coming in 3 hours late and drunk off his ass. I knew the guy was not good at keeping his lips sealed, and if I didn’t say something to my boss right away then he would. So, I called my boss (who usually shows up right after overnight leaves) and told him what was going on. My boss was also an Iraq veteran and he knew about the struggles Bill was having and how close the two of us had become, so I felt it would be better coming from my lips.
My boss came in early, caught Bill red-handed, and suspended him for a week. I’m instructed that when he gets back, to schedule him for day shifts so he can be supervised. We kept the whole thing hush hush and assumed he would improve once he was on day shifts.
So I do exactly that. Bill was elated to be working with me again and with our other buddies during the day (we were like one big family kind of. Really miss that place sometimes). He got better at his job, started sleeping regularly, and stopped drinking. Bill told me he was back on days because he wanted to be, he was tired of overnights. He never told me about the drinking, and I never told him I knew. We both kept that secret until he took his own life 2 months ago. Rest in Peace Bill, you are missed.
13. My mom was pressed into an abortion
My father admitted that he pressured my mother into an abortion before my brother and I were born. It was a huge wake-up call that kept me from going down a pretty shitty road with a guy I worked with, but I’ll never forget the look on his face when he admitted that to me. And I will never tell her that I know.
14. Overheard younger sister say she was going to kill herself
I have a couple friends who are siblings in our friends group.
Myself and two others were in a Skype call with the younger sister while the older one was at work. We essentially heard her admit she was going to commit suicide that day. We had figured she was depressed and tried to help her the best we could.
The three of us and a couple parents ended up at her dad’s house and found her with her wrist sliced open in the bathtub and out cold from ODing. I slapped a tourniquet on and used towels to try to stop the bleeding while a parent called an ambulance.
The responding paramedics said that even though she didn’t cut her wrists properly, she still would have died if we didn’t show up and try to stop the bleeding.
Her older sister doesn’t know due to her parents request and it’s a closely kept secret in the group. Whoever wasn’t there doesn’t know. Her father (who hated me for different reasons) always invites me out to different events, but still keeps up the impression he doesn’t like me. It’s kind of weird.
— EBeast99
15. Married man gets $10 BJ outside gallery
A bummy kid we had to gently eject from a gallery opening spent his exit begging for a few bucks, offering to suck anyone’s dick for $10. It was an odd moment anyway, capped by an odd, sad offer.
Later, I went out on the fire escape for a smoke. In the alley below was a straight acquaintance — like square straight, married with kids and a boring career — leaning against the wall, bum guy’s head bobbing against his crotch, getting a $10 BJ from a sketchy tweaker.
My first instinct was to make some noise, my second was “I just don’t want to be involved in this”. Of course upon reentering the party, acquaintance’s wife was the first goddamned person who spoke to me. “Hey, have you seen bob? Is he out sneaking a smoke?” It was a weird moment. I’ve said nothing for a decade.
— sightlab
16. Cuck porn
When my brother came to visit for the holidays, he left his iPad on the counter and had Reddit up. I saw his username and that he had a ton of post karma, went back to my computer, and looked him up.
Cuck porn. Most of him and his ex-wife. Some with his new fiancee. It was pretty traumatizing.
