Escalated Quickly: Situations That Went From Zero To Sixty In A Second

By Areeba T

Humans may be known as the apex predators, but we really aren’t the most emotionally stable creatures, are we? “We’re only human” is a term we made for our own mishaps and use it to justify many situations. Our genetic codes require us to work on ourselves, our mindfulness, and oftentimes, our anger. However, today we’ll take a look at some people who couldn’t keep themselves level-headed. They just had to take an otherwise calm and normal situation, and dial it up a few notches to the point where they couldn’t handle it themselves. When we see these kinds of scenarios, our own lapses in self-control look tame in comparison. At least, that’s what we’re telling ourselves, and you. Surely, we wouldn’t react the way these people did.

Tough Love

We all know that one couple – you know the one. They are always so in love with each other. They have around 12 different pet names for their partner, talk to each other in baby speak, and let’s not forget the PDA.

Photo courtesy of funnyjunk.com

All that love, affection, and coddling translate into some very interesting text messages, which one can’t usually bear to read. This couple combined the age-old couple-y activities of play-fighting and cute texts and created a… hostage situation? That’s not what we expected.

Reality TV

We love TVs where the colors and pictures just pop out at you from the display. However, when we talk about that we don’t mean actual objects sticking out of our TVs, but this individual gave new meaning to reality TV.

Photo courtesy of NugNug86 / Imgur

This particular individual might have been a bit too passionate about whatever they were watching on the TV screen because, in a fit of fury, they threw their drink can so hard it lodged itself in the TV screen. That’s some power.

Kevin…come on man

Whenever someone asks about the worst gift someone’s received, it’s a great ice breaker and a well of humorous stories that will never run dry. This approach backfired for a newspaper that planned to run some funny anecdotes for a section.

Photo courtesy of X9pa3Yh / Imgur

Kevin either happened to have a terrible sense of humor, or he had been going through a rough time in his life when he was posed the question, as his killjoy response was “my life.” Where’s all the subtlety gone? Maybe his sense of humor is different than ours.

Maximum security

We all have that one grandparent in our families that are convinced Skynet from The Terminator is out to get us all. Because of this, they take as many steps as they can to remove themselves from technological dependency.

Photo courtesy of DarvinTorres9 / Imgur

In the latest installment of grandparents vs. technology, this pair of lovely ladies cover the other when she makes her ATM transaction to discourage hackers. We just know that at first glance, we didn’t realize there was a second person and had to take a closer look.

Thanks, couldn’t have guessed

We love manufacturers that pay attention to detail in their products, from the packaging to the usage instructions. It shows that they know their product well, and pay attention to their customers’ needs and experience too. We all love a goofy label.

Photo courtesy of kRlRpSv / Imgur

That being said, we shudder to think what circumstances the company felt the need to include this ominous tip for children’s clothing. Perhaps some overtired mother decided to kick two things off the list by washing the kid too? We hope not.

Way down she goes

Although running around in high heels, heavy jewelry and a gigantic gown make for a sure-fire recipe for disaster, that is particular combination is commonplace for weddings. This unlucky bride experienced that disaster firsthand on her special day. Big oof!

Photo courtesy of vidabrilhante.com

Good thing the bride had her other brides (?) close by, who could help her through her unfortunate trip up. Her friends and loved ones were charged with supporting her throughout the day. Except they just… didn’t. It’s every woman for herself out there.

Brothers, amirite?

Say whatever you want, dear viewers, we firmly believe brothers, young or old, are some of the pettiest people to walk the earth. If you’ve grown up in a house of brothers, we know you know exactly what we are talking about.

Photo courtesy of U61b3K4 / Imgur

This girl found that out the hard way when her brother created an entire labyrinth on her computer to hide one project, so she knew never to steal his stuff ever again. We think he just made matters worse.

Challenge accepted

Speaking of making matters worse for themselves, this office worker found their strategy to fend off pen stealers backfiring on themself in this hilarious post. Apparently, their threat about licking all the pens they use didn’t go quite as planned.

Photo courtesy of UaZi9 / Imgur

Either the rest of the staff didn’t think much of their co-worker’s frankly gross threat, or they just decided to beat them at their own game. We see the jar is filled with everything but pens, after all, including some potentially used plasticware.

What the devil?

The devil gets a weird rep in our society. On one hand, a person can be a handsome devil, and on the other hand they can be devilishly cruel. People have some pretty intense about the big red man… no, not Santa Claus.

Photo courtesy of unknown source

They had such intense feelings to the point they wanted to make some very intriguing Google searches on how to actually sell your soul to the devil. You’d have to be a real daredevil (pun intended) to want to go that far.

An extreme sweet tooth

We’ve all had one of those days, where everything in the universe seems to be out to get us and nothing seems to go our way. Most people hunker down and just try to get through the day, others just… snap.

Photo courtesy of 2KRyny4 / Imgur

Mr. Mckevitt was not only having a rough day, he’d reached his limit when his Twix bar got stuck in the vending machine and wouldn’t fall into his eager hands. His solution? Commandeer a forklift and destroy the machine, of course!

Poor Hobbit

The Hobbit might show the only adventure he ever went on, but we would pay good money to see what led Mr. Baggins through these drastically different fates. A cinema schedule board spelled out a hilarious new series of the Tolkien classic.

Photo courtesy of dumpaday.com

We believe cinema employees had great fun arranging the schedule for the movies The Hobbit, Disney’s Frozen, and the second Hunger Games installment, Catching Fire. Thankfully, Bilbo in his actual movie faced less drastic conditions. Well, he wasn’t fried or frozen, anyway.

Not again, Debbie

You never want to be that one co-worker no one wants to hang with, or creates unnecessarily tense work environments and petty drama. For the staff at this company, their co-worker Debbie committed the worst of workplace sins: she stole everyone’s food.

Photo courtesy of dailymail.co.uk

One Debbie had firmly made her way onto the entire office blacklist, and a no holds barred offensive was launched against the lady, with every box, delivery bag, and snack sporting a loud and bold “NOT Debbie’s” to discourage more theft.

Well, that was fast

Some say the pursuit is more fun than the reward, that the love fizzles out faster once you’ve actually started to date the person you pined over for so long. This usually means the imagined version of the person is better than the real thing.

Photo courtesy of uberhumor.com

That spark died out extraordinarily fast for this Facebook user, who, within 20 minutes of getting his dream girl Sarah, realized it wasn’t meant to be. We’re not sure what Sarah did to warrant such a reaction, if she did anything at all.

Life, the real adventure

Life truly is a wild unpredictable adventure and through it all, we meet different and unique people. Some become fast friends for life, but circumstances prevent them from checking up on each other, so a reunion is a dream come true.

Photo courtesy of nanoresort.com

When two such friends reconnected after many years through social media, they naturally asked each other what kept them so busy over the time in between. However, one friend’s life story turned out to be an entire movie’s worth of dramatic events!

The vacuum wars

When you start living in an apartment complex, the one thing that can make or break your entire experience is the personality of your neighbors. You might get lucky with quiet and respectful ones, but sometimes our neighbors drive us up the wall.

Photo courtesy of WhiteCodeine / Twitter

Nighttime vacuuming by the upstairs neighbor not only drove this person up the wall, but it also motivated them to take revenge when their neighbor slept by hoovering the ceiling. We predict much stomping and ceiling banging in the future.

Do it for the ‘gram

Posting a picture of you with your furry friend is usually one of the most common uses for social media, and for the most part, is a pretty safe option for posting as well. Well, it is supposed to be anyway.

Photo courtesy of lalalanny / Reddit

As all pet owners are aware, in reality, the task of taking a social media-worthy picture of your pet is an enormous, painful challenge and worse if you’re in the frame with them. This particular cat parent demonstrates exactly why.

So, no coffee?

Life can change dramatically for better or for worse at any given time, and we must be ready for it. For one Twitter user, life was completely turned on its head within a matter of days when he lost his son.

Photo courtesy of BigBadBearDad / Reddit

User Coffee Dad garnered a large following on his account, tweeting about nothing but coffee. Even after alarming news about having lost his son, he seemed to have bounced right back to coffee (not pictured here but we checked up on him). We’re still hoping it was a publicity stunt.

Moms text at the worst times

Mothers have this uncanny ability to sense whether we’re in trouble or if we’re about to get into trouble. They always seem to reach out to us at the absolute worst moments and nothing encapsulates that feeling quite like this post.

Photo courtesy of acidcow.com

This mom definitely sensed something was off at the right time because a simple “on our way” would have sufficed. In this case, her hunch paid off because her kid was watching Sia’s “House On Fire” play in real-time.

Go big or go home

This is laundry for the hardcore. Not just anyone can use this particular washing machine. You need to bide your time, assess your needs, show restraint at times and have the commitment to go all out when the occasion calls for it.

Photo courtesy of 4oQEswm / Imgur

Laundry is leveled up to an extreme sport with the hilarious configurations on this washing machine. There are no speeds, water levels, no wash modes. Just small and extra-large, no in-between. Either we buy new clothes in respective sizes or find a new machine.

Almost got it

Sometimes, the age-old lesson to “try, try again” is definitely not the best course of action, and many times it is best to just let it go. Of course, that’s easier said than done; some people really have attachment issues to work through.

Photo courtesy of 89ANG2J / Imgur

Take this situation, for example. One would assume after a few tries that they’re just not getting a soda that day. And by a few tries, we mean three, max. This? This warrants some serious questions. What even happened here?

Through the roof

Every child’s dream, from the moment they attended their first concert or watched their first music film, has been to make it to the big stage and do a stage dive, crowd surfing over the heads of their adoring fans.

Photo courtesy of diaforetiko.gr

This accommodating set of people agreed to bring this groom’s vision to life on his special day. As an added treat, they tossed the man into the air only they were a little too enthusiastic, and they propelled the poor man straight into the ceiling.

Crying over spilled soup

There are things we love so dearly that you just know you should never mess with. It could be a car, a priceless collection, a childhood diary, and in some (very, very few) cases, it is our precious can of soup.

Photo courtesy of brightside.me

We understand that after a long, hard day or on a cold evening a bowl of soup is the perfect thing to warm your body and soul, and being so devastated over soup you’ve dropped that you’d break down seems like the right reaction.

Trade secrets

Dogs hate mailmen – like, really hate them. We’re not sure why they have such resentment for the people who bring word and messages from our loved ones and acquaintances. We guess they are just doing their canine duty of protecting their family.

Photo courtesy of KD4EZsT / Imgur

For one postman, however, the dog turned out to be a wingman of sorts. After one lady’s dog attacked the delivery man, she felt obligated to help and apologize to him, and it turned out to be the beginning of a new love for them both.

Prescription glasses, anyone?

Our eyes often play tricks on us, making us see things in the dark, UFOs in the distance, the list never ends. We have no clue why our eyes and minds do that to us though; perhaps our brains hate monotony.

Photo courtesy of CrapLocalNews / Twitter

A perfect example comes in the form of a frantic call from someone who reported a monstrous bird lying motionless in their backyard. Officers arrived expecting to wrestle a raptor and went away with the barbeque cover that was in the backyard.

A cutting remark

Anyone who is an active user of social media has inevitably come across the extraordinary force of nature that is the internet super fans or stans as they’re called. They’re endlessly supportive of their idol and absolutely relentless if irked.

Photo courtesy of R/thatHappened / Reddit

Heaven forbid you get on their bad side, as an unfortunate schoolgirl found out the hard way. A flyaway snipe at popular idol Justin Beiber landed her with an unexpected haircut, as she was overheard by a die-hard Beiber fan, or Belieber.

Galaxy brain

The scope and possibilities for AI are quite literally limitless, with computing powers and problem solving beyond anything we could imagine. That being said, we as humans inevitably turned the powerful software into a source of entertainment, namely Cleverbot.

Photo courtesy of unknown source

Cleverbot is one such bit of software that was used as a virtual companion like Siri would be, except it was mainly used for conversational purposes, learning, and evolving to have some eerily intelligent chats, but it missed the mark here.

You’re an idiot sandwich

Cooking is an essential skill we need in life, but let’s be honest; some of us really don’t have it. A few people can whip up entire gourmet meals, the rest of us take our life into our hands boiling water.

Photo courtesy of dailylolpics.com

One such person was so new (or bad at) cooking that they completely forgot the basics of how microwaves work aka food heats up very quickly in there. So instead of making some delicious warm cereal, they made oatmeal crisps.

One-way to heaven?

Road signs are essential to road safety and to minimize accidents. Imagine if you didn’t know the next turn was one way and you ended up in mortal danger. They can make or ‘brake’ (pun intended) your experience as a driver.

Photo courtesy of SuckieMcSuck / Imgur

The signs are varied and very informative. There are signs to let us know of a school area ahead, signs to let us know there’s construction to look out for, and… signs to warn us of sudden catastrophic acts of God?

Stacks on stacks on stacks

Pancakes are the perfect breakfast on the weekend because let’s face it, no one has time to make them during the week. But the wait is worth it. Soft, pillowy pancakes topped with fruit and syrup? One of life’s few joys.

Photo courtesy of mynameis_garrett / Reddit

One of the small snags while making pancakes is that we tend to get the ratios wrong for the batter. Thankfully this guide tells us exactly what ratios to use to make the perfect amount, whether you need to feed a family or a flash mob.

Hell on earth

“Let’s, maybe, NOT cause widespread panic and have doomsday preppers’ dreams come true today?” That’s probably what the chief editor was screaming at the poor intern who got the numbers wrong on the weather forecast screen for this news channel.

Photo courtesy of funcage.com

Due to an unfortunate typo, the weather forecast of the week turned into a doomsday warning for the unwitting viewers. The temperature jumped from a mild 27 degrees to a whopping 267 in one day. Talk about a sizzler. Careful out there!

Well, we warned you

The universe is always ready to give us a sign to help us along our path in life; we just have to be open and receptive to them. Learning to recognize these signs is also very important, as they are everywhere.

Photo courtesy of SlothFanatic94 / Reddit

They can be as nigh invisible or as subtle as a sledgehammer. This person had a very obvious sign they could have heeded, but they chose to ignore it and fell victim to the aggressive killer geese they were warned against.

Make way for the bride

This one is definitely something to write home about. A wedding can be the most magical yet monotonous day in existence. Sure, there’s a blushing bride, happy parents, glowing reception, and of course, food, but it usually follows a predictable pattern, right?

Photo courtesy of piximus.net

What if the fabulous chariot in which the bride arrives turns out to be a police escort? Well, that’s certainly going to spice up the proceedings, with the uniformed officers walking the bride down the aisle instead of a family member!

Great responsibility

There are many times when we have to make important, life-altering decisions that mark the milestones of our journey on this planet. These choices can reveal themselves in the strangest and unexpected of ways. In school, at family dinners, in…. the office bathroom?

Photo courtesy of Zergcollective / Imgur

The employees took their life into their hands using this company bathroom, as they were faced with an ominous decision while using the toilet: either flush responsibly or risk a planetary level catastrophe. Seeing as we’re all still alive, the tactic worked.

Oh joy…

Gotta love good ol’ office banter. It’s one of the few things about a desk job that makes the days bearable. But what if the workplace jokes are initiated by your boss with absolutely no sense of humor? That has to be so awkward.

Photo courtesy of science-a2z.com

We’re sure no one wants to see something like this every time they come in and when they leave the workplace. Either some of these employees need to work on their workplace etiquette or the boss needs to leave the jokes to the staff.

Millionaire lemonade stand

Petty fights in workplaces where people have to spend the majority of their day are bound to happen. You are not exactly there for leisure. It is a high-paced, stressful environment where the smallest inconvenience (or even non-inconvenience) could set someone off.

Photo courtesy of onedio.com

The fights, however, are usually subtle, like note passing as kids. And in this bout, we’d have to side with the opposition because they really do have a point. It’s okay to want your personal space to be respected, but to announce it in comic sans?

Ice cold revenge

We’re always looking for some top-tier pranks to bring the people who tick us off down a few notches. After all, what is the use of sitting down and talking things through when you can make your feelings known in a far more memorable manner?

Photo courtesy of CakeLikeBeth / Twitter

Beth here had one too many sit-downs with their flatmate and knew words had no effect on them. So, they took matters into their own hands and came up with a deviously brilliant way to make sure the flatmate never crossed them again.

Well, how?

The internet is this wonderful, magical place where you can get the information and data you need to answer every single one of your questions. It also has this very nifty feature where you can see if your ideas align with others, known as top searches.

Photo courtesy of solastyear / Imgur

For example, this is what most people look for with the phrase “how do you kill.” Bedbugs we understand; they are absolute menaces. Zombies are also fair game, you can never be too careful. But why 11 million people, and what’s the answer?

Yep that’ll do it

Rule number one on the internet, and especially on social media: never ever ask someone to one-up you on anything. Whether it is a certain achievement, whether you have something to flex or even certain opinions, just never do it.

Photo courtesy of MemeMuseumCurator / Imgur

This Facebook user found that out the hard way when they asked if there was anything creepier than a certain scenario they painted. What resulted was a competition of who could make the scariest one-liner possible. All they gained from the question was nightmare fuel.

It was YOU

If you’ve ever wondered when the phrase “that escalated quickly” even got so popular, there’s an entire timeline to depict its rise to power. It happens more often than you’d think; every phrase has its moment in the sunshine and spotlight.

Photo courtesy of flowingdata.com

The phrase “that escalated quickly” gained traction in 2013 and through the power of memes and social media, spread like wildfire across the globe. But unlike most popular phrases, this one didn’t die out, it’s now gonna haunt us for all eternity.