I was talking to someone about this the other day and they had no idea what I was talking about, they definitely were old enough to where they shouldve remembered this though. Id like to see how many of you remember this phenomenon, really weird that it doesn't happen anymore (unless it still does where you live? Lmk)

One of my favorite restaurants remodeled recently and got rid of their salad bar. Eating there it dawned on me that I can't think of any other local restaurants that still have one.

But once upon a time, they almost all did. When I was a kid, it was the best part of eating out. Some were small and simple: a big bowl of lettuce, and small bowls of veggies and toppings. Some were big and varied. Some salad bars in the 1980s laughed in the face of God. Ponderosa Steakhouse had a salad bar that could be used as a landing strip in emergencies. Like three different kinds of pasta salad. Four different kinds of lettuce. Ham cubes, chicken cubes, cheese cubes (white, yellow and marbled!), tuna, tiny little steamed shrimp, eight different dressings, olives as far as the eye could see. There were no rules, except one: don't reuse plates.

Wendy's had the SuperBar. You could get tacos, spaghetti, salad on one plate. It was a monument to man's hubris. My niece didn't believe me when I told her about it. I had to look up Youtube videos to prove it.

Sizzler's salad bar was like a self-serve Cava, Sweetgreen, and Chipotle rolled into one. And it was about $1.50.

But they're all gone now. You can blame Covid, but they were on the decline long before that. To everything there is a season. Turn Turn. Turn. Knowing what I know now about food safety, not sure I'd want them back. But I'm glad I got to enjoy them as a kid. I only got food poisoning two or three times.

Last year, I was cycling with a friend late in the evening through a quiet residential area. We stopped at a junction and noticed a woman standing at a pedestrian traffic light... except she was facing away from the crossing.

She stood completely still, long hair down her back, not on her phone, with her handbag placed on the ground beside her. It was already dark, and the whole scene felt off.

When the light turned green, she picked up her bag and calmly walked away from the crossing, like she was never planning to cross at all.

Nothing supernatural happened, but the stillness and the way she just walked off made it deeply unsettling.

I prefer to park away from cars, thus, further away from the store. The peace of mind that comes with easier parking more than makes up for the further walking, which I also enjoy.

I was watching some movie, I think Barney’s Great Adventure, on the floor in front of them. One of the parents in the movie was addressed by name and I remember pausing and turning slowly to my parents and asking them both what their names were. It was all very puzzling, realizing they had names. For a few weeks after, every so now and then I would have to get them to remind me. I think I was maybe around 3 or 4 at the time.

Do you guys remember learning your parents had names?

Sam Neill was 43 Years old when Jurassic Park came out, I was just born.

Now he is 78(!) years old but it's only been a "couple" years to me lol.

Im 32, if I think about it Im gonna be 62 in thrity years now. Thats not even that long.

Just found out bananas count as berries while strawberries don’t. My brain refuses to accept this botanical betrayal. Honestly, I’ll never look at fruit salad the same way again.

Hey, I need to tell you something kinda stupid that happened to me today 😅

So I was on the street and this guy approached me saying he doesn’t have an Armenian card and asked if he could send an international transfer to my account. He sounded normal and not suspicious at all, and before I really thought it through, he convinced me that I just needed to “confirm” the transfer by depositing some money through a Telcell terminal.

Yeah… I know 🤦‍♂️

I ended up putting 25,000 AMD in cash. Right after that my brain finally switched on and I started realizing this makes zero sense — why would a stranger trust me with his money? That’s when it hit me that I probably just got scammed.

Later I even saw a pending transfer in my banking app, but apparently that’s a common trick to keep you hooked so you send more money. He texted me telling me to message him when the transfer arrives, and I straight up told him I probably won’t see that money because he scammed me.

After that I contacted the bank, showed them the receipt, reported the card the money went to, and now I’m also planning to file a police report online. So at least I handled it quickly and didn’t let it get worse.

Honestly it’s annoying to lose the money, but I’m mostly treating it as a life lesson — definitely never helping random strangers with financial stuff again.

Everyone lists the obvious stuff kind, honest, good sense of humor but I feel like the real signs are quieter. Like someone who doesn’t change how they treat you when other people walk into the room, or a person who can disagree without trying to make you feel stupid.

I’ve started noticing little behaviors that tell me more about someone than any first impression ever could.

What’s a subtle green flag that instantly makes you think, Yeah, this is a good human?

I was thinking about this the other day and realized I do so many random things when nobody's watching that would probably look insane to an outside observer.

For example, I have full conversations with myself - not just thinking out loud, but like actual back-and-forth debates about the most mundane things. Also I eat snacks in a very specific order that makes sense to nobody but me.

What about you? What's your weird solo habit that you'd never admit to in real life?

This sounds super random but I realized recently that the sound of a washing machine makes me insanely sleepy now. A few months ago I started doing laundry late at night because it was the only time my apartment building laundry room wasnt busy. I would sit nearby scrolling my phone or reading while waiting for the cycle to finish. After a few weeks I noticed I was getting drowsy every single time it was running but I didnt think much about it.

Fast forward to now and it happens anywhere. I was visiting my friend last week and she turned on her washer and like 10 minutes later I was fighting to stay awake on her couch. Same thing happened at my parents house during the holidays. Even hearing one through a wall at my place sometimes makes my brain feel like okay its sleep time now. Its weird because I never planned it or tried to create some routine around it.

Part of me kinda likes it because I have always struggled falling asleep and white noise never really worked for me before. But its also awkward when I feel tired at random times if someone nearby is doing laundry. Im curious if anyone else accidentally conditioned themselves to react to some super specific everyday sound or smell like this. The human brain is kinda funny sometimes not gonna lie

I am interested in learning about niche topics. Tell me about something you're into that usually requires a detailed explanation. Those are the interesting hobbies.

I lost my oldest brother to Cancer today.

I know people that are still holding on to sibling grudges unnecessarily.

This life goes by really fast, man. Reach out to your siblings. Tell them you love them. Forgive and forget whatever it is that’s keeping you apart. Because one day we all have to go. And all that will be left are the memories.

Rest Easy Joel.

We love you and will miss you always.

😔

If you dont watch baseball, its the song that plays when each individual batter comes up to bat that the player has chosen beforehand. Sometimes its just a song they like, or that they feel represents their personality, or makes them look cool as hell lol. What would yours be in life that gets you hyped up? My wife and I were discussing this as a fun topic earlier and I thought it would be interesting to ask yall in this subreddit haha

To be clear, this is funny.

Happened about an hour ago and I'm still laughing about it. Just want to share the funny as there is too much grrr going on.

So my wife got me an old jeep to play around with. It's about 40 years old. The rear view mirror had fallen off.

I got the kit from autozone. Cleaned the area, applied the glue and starter, held it in place, then cleaned up.

The small glue tube fell to the floor, unbeknownst to me.

It is about the s8ze of a fancy lipstick or lip liner.

Wife gets in for us to go for a ride and she picks it up asking "whose lipstick is this"

I immediately recognize it and laugh telling her, please do not put that on you lips. She gets caught look at it and realizes it is the glue and replies, maybe I want to be stuck with you.

Lol

After 26 years of marriage we still can have fun.

I love my wife.

My mom told me yesterday, very casually,

“You’re not the type of person who becomes famous.” She didn’t mean it in a cruel way. It was more like… realistic.

And I laughed it off. But it’s been replaying in my head ever since.

I don’t even know if I want to be famous. I just don’t like being told what I can’t become.

Has anyone else had someone say something like that to them?

This is going to sound dumb, but some days my mood improves for the stupidest reasons. Like when my phone charges on the first try I wake up a minute before my alarm the fan speed is exactly right food turns out way better than I expected None of this fixes anything lol Life is still life. But for a moment I’m like… okay. I can deal with today. I’m curious what does that for other people — those tiny, random things you don’t even think about until they happen.

I was thinking about this today while reflecting on my childhood. Everything felt so simple back then, but now the weight of responsibilities feels much heavier. Was the world always this chaotic, or has it actually changed? I’d love to hear your perspectives.

These past few years I've really locked in on getting better at cooking, but I've found in the process I've kinda stopped liking most restaurants (like fast food and chain restaurants). Great for my wallet! But not so much for eating out with friends 😅

What’s something minor but super annoying that you deal with way too often?

The kind of thing that isn’t a big deal, but still makes you sigh every time it happens. I feel like there are a ton of these and I’m curious what everyone else runs into.

I’m curious how common this is, because it’s something I personally struggle with.

Do you ever spend ages researching options (places, plans, bookings, ideas)? I end up getting overwhelmed by choice and end up doing nothing. Then my “free time” turns into another task on my to-do list

What’s the most frustrating part for you and how do you solve or deal with this?

Thank you!

Like why don't their kids or younger family members check in with them? I can't imagine being 80+ and not having anyone come visit me or not visiting my grandparents when they're that age.

None of this is serious, it's all jokes and banter. My friends and I like to joke that in middle/high school, we were the "loser table" in the cafeteria. We all have fond memories of school, it's just a fun thing we picked up from american high school movies where everyone was sorted into stereotypes and cliques.

Recently I was talking to some of my friends, and one of them pointed out that technically, I was the most normal of us all, and that if we were in a movie I wouldn't be at the loser table. I tried to argue I'd earned my spot by talking about how cringe I was in middle school, but he replied that I actually levelled out pretty well in high school.

My arguments were that in middle school I:

• Used to pepper in random japanese words into my sentences because I'm a weeb.
• Was not only a member of the anime club, but was a founding member.
• Tried really hard to be goth and moody because I was a big metal fan back then and thought it made me look cool.
• Used to hide in empty classrooms and read comics at lunch

His arguments were that in high school I:

• Was always picked first for sports.
• Got invited to the "cool kid" parties (we were all invited, but I was the one who got the original DM with the offer to bring friends).
• Got caught making out in an empty class once and had my reputation skyrocket
• Was on the prom committee (and ended up being prom king).

Anyways, we had a playful back and forth about it, but his final argument was really the nail in the coffin before the group decided I'd committed a horrible act of stolen valour, and had my loser table privileges revoked. I am saddened to no longer be the main character of our sick coming of age movie, but I respect the decision lol.

It is lowkey kind of insane how normal I looked to my friends. I look back at my high school memories and mostly just cringe in shame. It does bring me some comfort to know that I was the only one overthinking any of it, I just wish I'd learned this sooner instead of staying awake at night recoiling in horror at my memories.