People shared the most ‘idiotic things’ they got away with – 14 classic instances of ‘what were you thinking?’

Doing stupid things is part of the human condition, but have you ever done something so dimwitted you can’t believe you got away with it? These people have, and shared their stories after heywhatwait asked the question on Reddit:

‘What idiotic thing have you done that you can’t believe you got away with?’

1.

‘When I was younger and on holiday with the ‘rents at a caravan park I’d sneaked off for a smoke whilst they were out getting some food shopping in. I get back to the caravan, wander in to again an empty caravan and proceed to start eating the new food they’d brought back.

‘I then look out the window and see my parents offloading the food shopping into a different caravan. I’d just let myself in to some strangers caravan and started eating their food. Made a quick getaway before they returned.’
– ahoneybadger3

2.

‘Cooked breakfast using the gas hob. Went to London for a long weekend. Came home to find the hob still lit and the whole house very, very warm.’
– Inevitable-Slide-104

3.

‘When I was a kid (9ish, maybe 10) I went round to my mates. We were mucking around chasing each other, play fighting etc. I ran to the bottom of the garden and noticed they had a bow and arrow.

‘Without really thinking about it I picked it up and shot it down the length of the garden, back towards the house. As it made a massive clunk hitting one of the windows, I realised that I could have shot one of my mates. Terrifying.’
– Most_Moose_2637

4.

‘A couple of months ago we left the front door wide open, went away for a week, and only realised when we came home. We live on a fairly busy street, but the door is side facing. Nothing stolen, but I haven’t braved looking in the loft yet.’
– PapaJ

5.

‘I dropped a heavy claw hammer from 6ft up a stepladder when my baby was crawling on the floor. Over 10 years later I still get a small cold hand round my heart when I think about it! Total total total idiot.’
– alancake

6.

‘Aged about 11 I was making toast and realised why it always left a patch of the toast untoasted. The little metal flaps weren’t open inside the toaster, it was clearly visible with all the other bits having a red glow except one part. So I grab a knife from the drawer and use it to pry the metal open.

‘Switch it back on and fantastic it’s working but not perfect so I insert the knife again and BANG. The toaster smokes and stops working, so I put it back acting like nothing happened. About two weeks later my parents replace it as faulty. Wasn’t until a few years later I realised how close I’d come to killing myself.’
– Underclasscoder

7.

‘One Sunday night I realised I didn’t have any cash for my child’s school dinner money so I popped over to the cashpoint to take some out. There was a lot less money in the account than I expected and I walked home furiously calculating how to manage till payday.

‘When I got home I realised that my car was missing. That’s when I remembered that I had driven there. Ran back to find it door ajar, lights on and engine running!’
– annieme7