It’s easy to think — or be pressured into thinking — that we live in a dog-eat-dog world where people will do whatever it takes to be successful. That our individualist society has become a harsh, cold, and brutal reality where everyone is out for themselves and only “the strong ones” survive. But when that seems to be the case, we’re all in great need of uplifting stories to remind us that it’s not all bad.

So today’s post is all about balancing out the scales and celebrating the heroes who leaned into their humanity and showed the kindness of their spirit. “What’s your ‘gotta take one for the team’ story?” asked user Betanci0 and invited hundreds of selfless Redditors who understand the value of being a part of a group to share their tales on the platform.

Below, we at Bored Panda have gathered some of the most inspiring examples of brave souls who undertook unpleasant missions and made sacrifices for the collective benefit of the team. So continue scrolling to check them all out! Be sure to upvote your favorite ones, and then share this post with friends and family who always have your back, no matter what.

#1

Took a class in college that I didn’t want to take but if I didn’t, the class couldn’t be run and two other people would not be able to graduate.

Image credits: -Firestar-

#2

I work for a small mental health charity when lockdown hit in 2020 I stopped being paid and took on all the administration as we had to make the admin furloughed. Hard times but we managed to continue supporting people for free during the hardest of times

Image credits: playfulpenguin1

#3

Kind of a “gotta take one for the team” but it’s a pretty s****y one. I was a freshman in high school and it was homecoming. Our class pulled a s****y prank on this girl who had a learning disability and voted for her to be the freshman rep. as a joke and she won. Well the guy that got voted to walk with her backed out the day before and I was 2nd in line. Being a freshman, knowing it was a joke and knowing I’d have to walk her down with everyone watching I was mortified but I did it. I remember my step brother giving me s**t and laughing at me and then my step father found out what I was going to do… He chewed my step brother out and was immensely proud of me. I don’t think she ever figured out it was a joke and she was so happy that night. It was probably the highlight of her high school years honestly. Some 25 years later my dad ran into her parents and they still thanked me to him. You just never know whose life you might touch, be kind.

Image credits: TBbtk

#4

I had a junior developer on my team that made a mistake. He had only been there a few months and although the mistake was easy to make, it would end up costing the company $40k. I was a senior dev and relatively untouchable due to a lot of fixed mistakes that others had made. For two days management was talking about who made the mistake and what they would need to do. As soon as I realized who it was (he was unaware at that point that he had done it wrong) I said I did it. Nobody said another word about it except me who quietly explained the correct way to push code changes to the junior dev.

Image credits: Technical-Bet-2023

#5

Was in a car ride with my GF and some family, my GF lets out a nasty fart, and my uncle starts complaining about the smell.

It was the first time my GF met these people, and I figured it would be super awkward if they figured it was her, so I took responsibility for the fart. Besides some more complaints directed at me, nothing else happened.

The fart was hella stinky so I don’t blame them for complaining at all

Image credits: DellSalami

#6

I was an early employee at a game studio and we had fallen on hard times. Myself and the other founders all went to 25% salary for a few months to keep from letting people go. It was VERY hard as I didn’t have much slack in my budget. We made it through. Some of the best times of my life.

Image credits: lastMinute_panic

#7

I was out with a bunch of my friends and the designated driver f****d off and left us about 10 minutes into the party. I did not have my license but I knew the people I was with and I knew they would drive drunk, so I didn’t drink and I drove them home.

Got pulled over by the RCMP, he asked for license and registration, I gave him the registration but said I didn’t have a license (I had let my beginners lapse and didn’t get it because I didn’t have regular access to a car). He started in on me asking me why I was driving without a license and I said pointed to each person in the car and said, drunk, drunk, drunk, drunk and I didn’t drink. He gave me back the registration and said carry on.

This was 35 years ago. Life was different then.
This was rural Canada, no transit, cabs would not take you from where we were to where we were going, too long a drive to make the trip back empty maybe?
The RCMP officer may have known me or recognized me. I didn’t recognize him, but I was being respectful. He pulled me over for a burned out taillight originally, not for my driving skills, I had already gone 20+ miles safely.

Image credits: Wavemanns

#8

I was on a cruise, and they were doing auditions for the “end of trip” show where you’re impersonating a well known performer/song. We were over an hour into the karaoke time and no one had auditioned yet. I’d had a few drinks and figured “what’s the worst that could happen?”

That’s how I found myself performing on stage as Ricky Martin with backup dancers

Image credits: Nokomisu

#9

Friend of mine got on a late night fight at a bar and was sent to the closest police station, everyone left and I was left with him, rode the police car with him and called our lawyer and helped through all the legal procedures to pay bail and get him out. Still had to get to work by 8:00 a.m.

Image credits: Much_Committee_9355

#10

My grandmother was getting older & struggling to get to the bathroom everytime. Well one time she didn’t make it & someone had to help her take a bath. I jumped at the opportunity. Got her all cleaned & pretty & smelling great, brushed her hair just before bed too.

Why ?

Because she raised me from 2-5. The learning years, the potty training, the reading/ writing, teaching me to tie my shoes, add & subtract, letters & numbers …. all her. She was patient & kind & understanding & loving & immensely wise. So me giving her a bath ….. s**t, I’d do it again tomorrow. I miss her ….

Image credits: Aggravating_Client36

#11

My ex girlfriend and I worked at a bar in Montreal. she was a waitress and I was Bartender. One in a while a bunch of rich dudes from the states would come up and flaunt their money to the girls we worked with. Buying champagne and such.

One night she was serving them and I got cut early and was waiting until she was done and those dude insisted on giving her drinks. She was coming down with a cold and didn’t want to drink so she kept feeding me drinks intended for her.

Long story short there ended being roofies in the drink and I blacked out and I woke up on my apartment floor and my gf on the couch.

I’m glad I took that one for her..

Image credits: Slurms_Mackenzie42

#12

Was at a house party, being the DD. Sloshed best friend told me he thought my mom was hot and then puked all over the table with all the ladie’s purses sitting on it. I saved them all from doom and then cleaned up the barf while everyone got mad at me for allowing it to happen. I remember apologizing profusely, but looking back, f**k all them, I saved the handbags.

Image credits: ekomenski

#13

my best friend conviced me have a “couple of drinks” together, next thing you know im carrying him on my back at 1 am to his house,( we were 16 at the time), police came and arested us,( it was when quarantine first started in greece, nothing really happened with the cops, they just phoned our parents and waited, both our parents came to the police station, they asked whose idea was it, i knew that if i told it was my friends idea he would be f****d, so i just told them that it was mine, i got grounded for 2 weeks and he got for 1, i actualy told my father a while ago that it was his idea and i took the blame for him, he laughed and said “my son is a loyal friend”.

Image credits: Tzoumass

#14

Having a sleep over at a friends house. Like 5-6 of us. We started what was a babysitting group in school and all became close friends. Regular sleep overs at one friend’s house.

We would all sleep in her parents bed since it was a king and would fit us all. Parents slept in the guest room.

We wake up and someone had wet the bed. We didn’t know who. It wasn’t me. My friend’s Mom is livid. She has all of us stand and tries to figure out who wet the bed. First she asked. No one said anything. Checked our pajamas and it was inconclusive.

So she gave us an ultimatum. If no one admits to it, no more sleep overs. After a couple seconds I say it was me.

I was punished pretty bad. Mostly for not owning up to it originally. Even though it wasn’t even me. And everytime I slept over after that I had to wear a diaper.

But we still got to have regular sleep overs which was worth it.

Image credits: anon

#15

I was at Universal in FL with my best friend and our two boyfriends, waiting in the line for the hulk roller coaster. It was 97 degrees Fahrenheit and the air was like soup, and we had already waited in line for an hour.

I was feeling a little overheated but was ready to wait it out when I took a look at my best friend who looked white as a sheet, like she was about to faint. I finally called it and said “hey guys I’m not feeling it, Steph do you want to go grab food and shop in that store with the good HP stuff?” I could sense the immediate relief from her as we walked out of the line. Her bf is a Florida native and she was trying to put on a brave face, but I knew two more minutes and that chick would have passed the heck out.

We ate ice cream and shopped while we waited ANOTHER HOUR for the guys to get through the line to ride the 2 minute roller coaster. Totally worth it to take the “weak” title for myself to bail.

Image credits: neko_brand

#16

The first year of the pandemic, I stayed on as one of the junior doctors on the COVID ward because I’m lucky enough not to have any medical conditions (and I live alone). Some of my colleagues would have had to make drastic life changes. I remember walking into the tea room and a nurse was crying because her son had severe asthma so her family were temporarily living with the neighbours. She hadn’t hugged her kids in a month.

Image credits: manlikerealities

#17

Calling this a “take one for the team” moment feels insensitive because I gained a wonderful friendship but… here goes.

I work at a big company and in a local team of about 90. One of my direct reports lost a long battle with cancer. I was close with him and gave a eulogy at his funeral. Horribly sad. He had a wife and two daughters.

He had a friend who I didn’t know beyond her name, but I knew they were tight because they always took breaks together. She happened to be off continent when he died (it was somewhat sudden) and missed his funeral. She wasn’t a particularly warm person and was a bit stand off-ish when I’d see her in communal office spaces. I have a busy life and had trouble with the idea of supporting what might become an obligatory friendship… but she seemed different after his death and so after about a month I sent her an email and said something to the effect of “I know we don’t know each other well but we both knew well. I don’t want to be presumptuous so feel free to ignore me entirely, but if you ever need a friend, I’m here”. She responded and we became casual friends, and she ended up telling me that, in her words, she “reached out to the universe” that week for a reason not to take her own life. I guess my email arriving the next day was the sign. She has never said this but I think she was pretty in love with our mutual friend and he was her main social connection. She is a wonderful person and very kind and very committed to her relationships despite having only a few. She is fiercely loyal and defensive of her friends. I admire her greatly. We’re not a match in terms of our interests or personality, and somehow I feel like a stand in, there to get her through week after week until she decides on her next direction. I am happy to be there for her and she teaches me a lot about myself, and she listens to me when I’m sad too. It’s been a while… I should check in on her.

**Update**

Checked in on my friend. I told her I was cleaning my garage and remembering our snowshoe adventure from a few years ago. She said “thanks for thinking of me” and that she was doing well. I found out while we were all working from home she moved to a place that is a 5 minute walk away from my place. We’re going to go for a stroll and I’ll introduce her to my 1 year old!

Image credits: blue_friend

#18

Earlier this year, me and my band mates were at Seaworld and in the line for Mako and while we were getting in, we tried to put our stuff away in the containers that were to the left of the ride after waiting about half an hour in the line. We then discovered that only loose articles were allowed in the basket and that we would all have to get off the ride and go downstairs to get a locker then do the line again. I realized it’d be a waste of time since it was a school trip and time was limited, so I grabbed everyone’s items, stepped off of the ride and took one for the team so they could all go on the ride

Edit: First off, thanks for the upvotes, secondly, I might need more explanation. To put the stuff away I would’ve had to run down stairs, get a locker, and hope to god that all of the bags would fit but that would’ve taken forever and I didn’t want people to wait for so long just to do that, so instead I just sat down near the exit and held all the bags. Also to clarify, this wasn’t 100% an act of fear, only like 20-30% but it was mainly that it sucked to have waited so long and see some of my closest friends get so upset over a stupid policy. Also also, they are good friends, they offered to wait for me to go on again and to go in the line again later on but I said no since, we had like 2 more rides to do and around 2 hours left.

Image credits: NickDaRedditor

#19

Buddy was married with two young children, who was unable to get away from his job, wife and kids. His wife is also a bit of a helicopter wife if that makes sense. My buddy and I have a bond over baseball, hadn’t seen him in a long time so we went to a Blue Jays game. During the game his wife constantly texted him reminding he had to come straight home, when was the game going to be over. My buddy stated “it’s a Saturday afternoon, i haven’t seen you in ages or been out in a while, I want to go to a pub after for drinks but need an excuse that will give me an extra hour or two.

On Saturdays , the Jays would have Jr. Jays Saturdays, where 45 minutes after the game , if you were 12 and under, you could wait in a long line and run the bases. I told my buddy to tell his wife that I was trying to hit on a hot single mom who had a baby but also a 4 year old who wanted to the run bases and offered to take the 4 year old around the bases with the intent to get her number. Mision accomplished as we headed after the game for a couple beers. A month later I was at his house and the first thing his wife says to me, “you are such a pathetic f#%k’n sleezeball!”

Image credits: OMC78

#20

We were 15 hours in our 2-event shift. Lots of clients, set up, moving around, etc, my watch recorded 14 miles of walking. It was also snowing.

My 7 team members were barely walking straight and had knee pain, had to lie on the floor, by the end.

Anyway, both events were over and it’s time for cleanup. The leader says “only one person needs to stay to sweep, so the rest can go home”.

I’m in the military so I volunteered. My joints hurt but not as bad. They all hugged me on their way out and I stayed an extra 90 minutes to clean up.

Image credits: Iwork3jobs

#21

A friend of a friend that I didn’t particularly know got stuck without a ride home (3 hours away) while she was visiting my city. I had to drive her all the way home and then drive back to my house(6 hours total) after working 14 hours that day. got to wake up and go to work the next morning still pretty tired, but my buddy was happy and I would hope if I got stuck in an unfamiliar city like that somebody would help me out too.

Image credits: danjons2

#22

When my loving and dear mother went to the hospital last month due to terminal brain cancer. Only two people could visit for her entire stay due to covid security. My father was one of the two and the last spot was between my sister and me. I let my sister have the last spot without debating or arguing. After two days of not being able to visit, they were able to convince the hospital management to make an amendment and let me in. Unfortunately I missed out on two of the last five days she had left..

Image credits: tripleburn

#23

A freshman with a cast and crutches was getting yelled at by the school bus driver for “being too slow” while getting to her assigned seat at the back of the bus back in highschool. She was in band so in addition to having to go down the narrow aisle with crutches she also had to carry a big instrument case. This was the 4th day in a row this had happened and I finally had enough so I helped her to her seat and called the bus driver a stuck up b***h and a few other choice words which ended in her saying if I want to stick up for said girl I can get her punishment too. I flipped her(the bus driver) off and walked home the next 2 years. Still dont regret it.

#24

My friend picked out terrible bridesmaid dresses. If you can picture it: Structured goldenrod cheap transparent chiffon with a body clinging tank top slip the size of a napkin underneath. Sort of that twee shabby chic prairie style that was en vogue a decade ago. My husband called me an, and I quote, “Amish s**t”.

All the bridesmaids hated them but bride friend was type A and no one wanted to complain. I fell on my sword and begged her to let me pick something different because of my weight, as I was the chonkiest one in the party. I absolutely refused to stand in front of people in that handkerchief.

She wanted everyone to match so she switched to a much more flattering one. I got a group hug from all the bridesmaids in secret. It’s been a decade and she still brings it up occasionally that the first dress was fine and everyone else liked it

Image credits: throneofthornes

#25

I took one for the team when I kept my alcoholic ex out of the dating pool for a few years. You’re welcome, ladies.

Image credits: literarytrash

#26

Walking home from work one night, had just gotten off of a shift at like 2 AM. Was walking back through my college campus, and I hear a slight moan from the bushes in front of the library. Dude that lived on my dorm floor was passed out, vomit on him, completely wasted. Wasn’t really responsive, couldn’t get any words out of him. I knew he needed help, like bad. I’m not a huge guy (6′, 170 ish) but he was small (5’5, 130 ish). I then made the executive decision to text his girlfriend that I found him, and fireman carried him 3 blocks to the emergency room on campus. F****r never even thanked me for it.

#27

In 2018nafter Chiefs lost in the AFC championship game, I said I’d give my R nut for them to win the Superbowl.

In 2020 they won.
In 2020 I got testicular cancer.

Lambardi’s: 1
Balls: 1

#28

I went to a wedding this past October. I’m friends with both the bride and groom, as they’ve been together for the better part of a decade and have done most things together. As such, I knew a good portion of the people at their moderately sized wedding (about 40 guests). There were only a handful of single men, including myself and my friend Jon, and even fewer single women, honestly really only one. Let’s call her Emily. I didn’t know Emily, she was somehow related to the bride. She was in her mid-thirties, about 5’10, had done some modeling, and was recently divorced. Suffice it to say, Emily is drop dead gorgeous and extremely available. Jon is also an extremely good looking guy and recently single, and he swoops in on her during the cocktail hour before the ceremony even begins. They really hit it off, which is nice. I didn’t have any intention of pursuing her and I was glad to see him have an opening.

The reception venue kicked us all out at 10 and the after-party was at the air bnb that myself and another friend had rented for the weekend (we both came in from out of town). Virtually all the guests under 50 end up back at the house, including the wedding band, whom we are also friends with. It was a great time, tons of music and dancing. Emily and Jon were both there and were clearly infatuated with one another. Jon would like to move things to a bedroom, but both their hotels are far away. The house only had 2 bedrooms, and I’d taken the master since I booked the place. Jon didn’t want to ask me, but my other friend (who was also staying there) asked on his behalf if they could “use” the bedroom for the night. Knowing that they both probably needed it I obliged and took a comforter to sleep on the love seat in the living room when the party finally broke up around 5 am.

The next morning Jon and the happy couple came back over to say hello/goodbye as people were leaving that day. Jon thanked me profusely for giving up my bed for him. I was very bleary and hung over, but the best thing I could think to say was the line from the end of Saving Private Ryan: “earn this.” Apparently he had.

#29

I was 16 and working my first job at Wendy’s. One of the older guys there was Native American, had been in the Vietnam War and knew a lot of martial arts. We were friends, but horsed around a lot at work.
One day, knowing full well this dude could fight, I lurked around a corner, and when he walked by, I faked a jab at his head with a mop handle.
He had me on the ground bleeding in under a second, I didn’t even see what he did! He immediately started apologizing, the manager ran back to the dish room to see what happened.
I flat out lied to the manager. Told him I slipped on the wet floor. My friend was trying to explain, and I just kept telling him to shut up every time he opened his mouth. Totally wasn’t his fault, I caused it, and he had a family to support.
The manager kept trying to get him to admit what happened, but I would not let him speak. I didn’t give a c**p about that job, they could fire me and it was no big deal.
We ended up going out for beers after work and laughing about it, but he had busted my nose and given me 2 black eyes so fast I never saw it coming.

#30

It’s not so much a “Gotta take one for the team” story, but a classmate was really behind on the school work we had, and I mean it, REALLY behind, they had to stay late to finish the work, I didn’t want the classmate to be alone, so I decided to stay and told the teacher I could teach them a thing or two while they’re finishing their work

We graduated together, weren’t really friends, but I would like to think he’ll remember me in the future

Image credits: YFNSMJL

#31

I was in Vegas with some friends, and we were at a rooftop club getting bottle service. One of my friends, Ed, hooks up with a girl—let’s call her Nancy. Ed and Nancy really hit it off, and they go back to his room together at the end of the night.

The next night, we’re hanging out again and having dinner, and Ed has invited Nancy to join us. She does. So does her angry lesbian friend/roommate Carol. (There’s a long backstory that I never really learned; something about how Carol was divorcing her husband, hated men, was living with Nancy for the time being, and probably had an unrequited crush on Nancy, but I never got the details.)

Nancy was obviously looking to continue the previous night’s activities with Ed, as was Ed. Carol, however, was bound and determined to prevent that from happening, so she’d invited herself along and wouldn’t leave Nancy’s side.

In order to give Ed an opening, I started talking with Carol. We got into an involved discussion about the on-going Winter Olympics and the suicidal nature of luge and skeleton. It was actually a fun conversation. But while we were talking, Ed and Nancy slipped away. When Carol noticed that they were gone, her demeanor immediately changed, she clammed up, and she left soon after.

Ed thanked me profusely the next morning.

Image credits: big_sugi

#32

In high school Spanish class we all had to write a story in Spanish outlining our summer vacation. When it was time to present to the class, no one wanted to go first. That awkward silence when the teacher asked ‘who wanted to go first’ was deafening. I decided to raise my hand and start everyone off. I was terrified (hate public speaking) and was horrible at Spanish, so going first was a huge stressor. Anyway, after that class was over my teacher pulled me aside and thanked me for going first and gave me extra credit.

Image credits: BAM225

#33

Went to a huge house party when I wasn’t drinking just to hang out with friends and get anyone a ride if they needed. Cops busted it, and while they were there, my buddy began showing signs of severe alcohol poisoning- lips turning blue, convulsions, etc.. As literally the only sober person there, I had to convince the cops to call an ambulance for him, then got them to trust me to leave with the ambulance to be there while he was in the er. Spent the night and the next morning sitting in a waiting room as he got iv drips all night. They only brought me in when he was finally sober enough to start freaking out about not knowing where he was. He settled in at that point, and, once he was good and ready for discharge, I took his goofy a*s to breakfast. We were solid friends up till then, but we’ve basically been brothers since then.

#34

Science project kind of exploded in the lab so I took the blame since the rest of the group was failing due to them being absent and I was doing fine in that class so I took the blame and got suspended so they could finish (they said one of us had to talk or they took it away) no one was really at fault it was all of us but we all ended up getting A’s

#35

A bunch of friends and myself were going on an 8 mile hike during a group camping trip. Before we left, one of our friends kept voicing his skepticism about being able to complete an 8 mile hike. His girlfriend kept urging him to go because she didn’t want to hang back with him, she wanted to hike. So, he ends up going.

About an hour and a half into the hike, we are going up a series of switchbacks and the dude just can’t do it anymore. He tells us that he is going back. We all kind of look to his girlfriend to see if she is going to accompany him back and she just turns around to keep moving forward.

A couple of us were in the back kind of looking back towards him and then up towards the others who are continuing on and then of of my other friends says, “should someone go with him?”, and we all kind of look at each other hesitantly.

I finally jump in and say I will go back with him so that everyone else can keep going. I catch up to him and he says I didn’t have to do that but I tell him that I don’t want him being alone all day. We make it back to camp and he immediately goes to take a nap and I end up sitting at camp by myself for the next few hours until the rest of the people get back… I guess I should have listened to him when he said I didn’t have to come back with him…

Image credits: mrboom74

#36

I taught at an elementary school in my early 20’s. At the end of the year, we would always put on a dance for 5th graders as like a last hurrah before moving on to middle school.

One year, we hired a DJ and it was really great. The kids and families were having a great time. Out of nowhere the DJ announces a “Father/Daughter” dance. Most of the girls pulled their Dad’s out to the floor and started dancing, but not all of them. A couple of co-workers and I noticed the girls who didn’t have Dads kind of cowering in a corner of the dance floor. We walked over and started dancing with them.

This wasn’t a big deal at all, and honestly was pretty forgettable, but cut to a few years later… I was attending a college graduation for a family friend. One of those girls was graduating that day as well. She comes up to me and tells me how that meant a lot to her and that it’s one of her favorite memories from school.

#37

Wife was suffering badly with post natal depression, my employer let me take a couple of weeks off to try and help her through the worst of it. During this time she would often go to rest in bed or go to support groups while I had the kids. One time while the kids were asleep, I had a quick scroll through TikTok and a video came up with a tough guy talking about how sometimes men struggle in silence and that sometimes when you ask if they are ok perhaps they really are not, that one broke me. I had to go and hide in the bathroom and cried for a solid 10 mins. It wasn’t that helpful but doing that in private without asking for help allowed me to keep it contained enough that I maintained the facade of being the pillar of strength holding my family up. Fast forward a few months and with the help of amazing charities and her own strength she is back in a very good place and I was able to emotionally have a sigh of relief and work through my own traumas of the subject. I did this so that she or my girls didn’t think that what was going on was negatively affecting me.

#38

This past summer, on a trail crew in Alaska. Our crew was flown out to remote airstrips for maintenance. We were sent to one particularly remote area the week that a serious storm system was to roll in. Six of us out there, two full time USFS staff and us four on the trail crew spending all of our time in separate tents. It rained over a foot while we were there and on the day we were to be extracted we were told that the conditions were too bad for the small plane to retrieve us so we spent an extra day in the field. The next day comes and we are told the weather has calmed enough for the pilot to arrive that morning with only enough room for four passengers and our gear. I volunteered to stay behind and wait for what we were informed would be another eight hours before the plane could return for us, if the weather stayed stable enough, if not the next day. I stayed behind with one of the FS workers freezing in the rain while the rest of my team returned to the warm dry compound. Luckily we were evacuated later that same day but it was a few hours delayed from the initial estimate. I found the trip to be pretty fun still.

#39

December 2019. My boyfriend and I accompanied my cousins, I’ll call them Ryan and Jake (who are brothers) (and Jake’s fiancée who was 8 months pregnant, Maddie) to a party that Ryan’s company was hosting at a country club and told him he could bring a few guests. It wasn’t black tie but it was pretty formal.

We all went outside to get some fresh air, but Maddie starts having back pain, so Jake puts his jacket on the ground for her to sit before we headed back, keep in mind it was nighttime but there was enough lights on the property that everything was illuminated. Maddie gets increasingly uncomfortable, she tries to stand up and her water breaks. My boyfriend, nor Jake had their car keys on them either, they were left in their wallets along with their phones. I was the only one who had my phone on me, I call 911 and the call doesn’t go through, so we wait it out and I call again, I get through to someone, and I was taught to give them your address first. I tell them a woman’s water broke and before I get confirmation that they sent someone, the call got disconnected and I had no service. At this point it’s been about 20 mins and Jake was timing her contractions, they were getting increasingly painful. We all soon come to realize that help is not coming and someone has to deliver their baby. Everyone immediately looks at me because I had dropped out of school where I could get certified to be a CNA, stupid decision, I know. Now I had learned about it and done it on a mannequin but never in a real person, especially in these circumstances. So there I am, 22 years old, on my knees on the lawn of a country club, wearing a satin cocktail dress, delivering my cousin’s baby, while his brother and my boyfriend are still trying to get through to 911. 10 mins later, an ambulance arrives and takes Maddie and Jake to the hospital, my boyfriend and I had reservations on a hotel room that night but we decided to go to the hospital instead. Fast forward about 30 mins, me, my boyfriend and Ryan are sitting in the waiting room, them wearing a tux and me wearing a $600 dress that is now needs to be dry cleaned because childbirth is messy and my hands and arms covered in dried blood. Everyone ended up being ok, Ryan took an uber home, and my boyfriend and I still made good use of our hotel room. Took one for the team? Absolutely. Was I absolutely terrified? Totally. But all jokes aside, it was an eventful night that I’ll never forget. And I’m now in med school, they all convinced me it was my calling. Funny how life happens

#40

Before I became more confident in public speaking I would always volunteer for reading aloud in classes because I was, legitimately, the only student that could read words with more than two syllables without stumbling over myself. This is for the team because throughout middle and early high school I had virtually zero self-confidence and was kind of a slacker on top of that but my sheer hatred from hearing everyone else stumble through a sentence like a drunken monkey and subsequently eating through class time trying to get through whatever it is they had us reading at the time encouraged this habit.

It was good practice in hindsight and by the time we got to senior year and the likes of Macbeth I was consistently given the most frequent reading segments for a reason.

It should be noted I’m from Kentucky but have actively worked against the negative aspects of the southern speech pattern, imagine southern drawl and sluring for ye olden English and you can get a feel for why this bullet was taken for the team.

#41

These last holidays, I’ve stayed on-call at my work so the rest of my team could take it off to spend time with their families.

My facility remained open throughout that time, so we were all required to work unless we had put in PTO. The bonus was nice, but based on the year prior, I did not expect any tasks that needed to be done as the only other people working at my facility were other on-call staff. So, I sent home my team after our meeting in the morning, and told them to clock in/out like normal (remotely via phone, per COVID guideline) so that no one had to use PTO and no one would lose their bonus for calling in that week (it had snowed some, so a few people weren’t going to make it in). My supervisor had no idea, and truthfully it probably wasn’t allowed, but as long as we had coverage, it was very doable.

However, about halfway into the Netflix marath– I mean, shift on Christmas, I got slammed with a bunch of adhoc tasks that needed to be done by the end of the day. Most of them I could complete by myself albeit taking some more time than usual, but other tasks I would have needed another person or two to actually do. I did as much as I could, and “eloquently” diverted some of the bigger work with some email lingo.

This pretty much happened again for New Years.

I didn’t really get in trouble, but my team did receive a report from some higher-ups that we had fallen behind on some tasks which caused significant delay for the rest of the facility, but I took it upon myself to do the damage control. But hey, everyone had a great holiday, and I pretty much secured some secret days off to use later in the year when someone else can cover for me.

#42

A bit late to this one, but at work:

I was wrapping up on a 3pm-12am shift. Boss calls the store and practically *begs* me to do overtime and show up at 6am tomorrow because the 6-3 person called out and I’m the only one who didn’t say no. Well, I needed the money and figured it’d look good vying for a promotion, but also said I’d be tired and not to expect greatness but I can hold down the fort until 10am, then I had to be out. He agreed and thanked me.

Next morning rolls around, and I thought we had an agreement that I wasn’t exactly in the best condition but he totally forgot I guess. Because he was halfway up my a*s about lagging behind in everything and wasn’t moving as fast as I usually do because I was running on 3 hours of sleep at most.

Told him that I thought we had an agreement that I was not going to be up to my usual standards because of how little downtime I had. He was like “I still expect you do be able to maintain the bare minimum workload”. This guy has unrealistically high standards, but I’d have expected maybe he’d not be a piece of s**t for once since I did this as a favor.

After that shift was over I made it very well known that I was not to be called for that kinda s**t ever again and from that day forward just did the bare minimum to not get fired. That event taught me that in most jobs management does not give a singular f**k about you.

#43

Not sure if this counts but pulling my family out of a crashed car when half unconscious myself. Don’t remember much after it, just smoke, my sister on the grass obviously screaming in pain but I could only hear a loud pitched noise in my ears then boom hospital ceiling. We all survived. 🙂

#44

One time my best friend had a psychotic break down and her mom called a wellness check on her, So she got in her car and left her apartment and I was able to get into her Apple ID and follow her location, and I followed her for about an hour before I found her parked at a gas station. When I pulled up to the scene, she was bloody holding a knife (because she had literally stabbed herself in the leg) and there were four cop cars surrounding her. I got out of my car, took the knife out of her hand, threw it In the passenger seat and somehow convinced the cops to let her come with me. I legit almost died for this b***h

#45

Alright, so there was this one time a few years ago where I was put in a group with two girls, and we had to make a diorama depicting the trial of Louis Riel (it’s a Manitoba thing) for the history fair. I spent the two weeks leading up to the project dickin’ around, even though I was supposed to do a third of the work. I arrive at school the day of the heritage fair to discover that my groupmates had also spent the past two weeks doing whatever the girl version of dickin’ around is. Now, we’ve got about ten minutes to make a passable shoebox diorama, and we don’t even have a shoebox. One of the girls says “If you can make the teacher say we don’t have to present the diorama, we’ll both kiss you” and instead of a normal excuse like “my dog ate it” or “my grandma died” I proceed to do the single dumbest thing I could think of. I climbed about halfway up the spiderweb rope pyramid thing that playgrounds always seem to have, and being the 10 year old r-tard that I was, I threw myself off of it. I hit the pebbles at the bottom of the playground, realized that I had f****d up, and began crying and shouting “I FELL AND I NEED TO GO TO THE HOSPITAL” until a teacher carried me to the office where they could contact my mother. I only needed a few stitches, and they still had to present our nonexistent diorama. I never did end up getting that kiss tho.

#46

I’m a lead tech at work. I always take one for the team. You f****d something up? Let’s fix it. Anyone asks? Blame me. I have the kind of personality that I never get in trouble. Management really likes me. I get away with stuff all the time. So, yeah, let me take the hit and you learn from your mistake.

#47

Oh boy, my time to shine.

I was a tour guide at a privately owned cave system in Missouri right after high school. The job was alright, though the crowds could get hectic at times.

I was working the closing shift on a slow fall day. Not a lot of tours that time of year, so it had been a quiet day of playing solitaire on the ticket booth computer and doing what little cleaning was required.

In walks a small family, and since the place is empty I can hear them talking, saying things about how they came as kids and were running late on a vacation, but wanted to stop. They come up to the booth, I sell their tickets, and they mill about waiting for the tour to start.

The other tour guide comes out of the cave with a small group, and after a brief exchange of words he sits to man the ticket booth while I went to lead the tour for the family. (We let people who just missed a tour catch up to the current running tour so they don’t have to wait an hour or more.)

The cave we toured had two major branches, which we had to walk down and up each time. The first, longer branch followed an underground river, and had lots of active formations and water features. The family is loving the tour, and since it’s small I can show off little details most don’t get to see.

We reach the turn around point, and we usually let them see complete darkness at that point. It was in this darkness when the die was cast and my fate was sealed.

You see, I had had Taco Bell for lunch before that shift. In the dark, while the family oohed and aahed at the darkness, my stomach began training for the Olympics in gymnastics. With no one to relieve me of the tour, I soldiered on, with hope as my guide.

Unfortunately, the shorter arm of the cave is quite filled with stairs. That day, I learned the total length of time I could retain my bowels (roughly an hour).

I finished the tour (including a light show I ran manually by flipping switches), and led the family from the cave, drawers full of shame.

I went to the bathroom to clean myself and dispose of my clothing…

… And the gift shop girl kills the lights in the building and leaves for home.

#48

Back in early high school days I worked a fast food job and had coworkers who were cool enough to buy me booze. I would drink or sell that booze to other kids who weren’t in as fortunate of a position. One kid I sold to ratted on me after they got caught. Being a smaller town the police officer on the case knew my mother and called us both in so I could be questioned. The officer demanded I rat on who had bought it for me, saying things like I’d be fine if I told the truth and if I didn’t I’d face charges. On the fly the best story I could come up with was that I had snatched it from a party the week prior because I knew someone would buy it and I needed money. That wasn’t good enough and my punishment was repainting a board room in the department. I couldn’t put a number on it or anything but this room was HUGE and the walls were beat to s**t. I spent 3 days a week for an entire summer finishing it all. Not heroic or anything but I still like to think I did the right thing lol

#49

In college my friend and I went to a party at a house. I met a girl there and her and I hit it off, hanging out together, kissing and drinking. She had a friend who was on not the most conventionally attractive girl who was obviously hitting on my friend. My friend, being the dam fine wingman that he was, played it cool, chatted with her friend, not leading her on or really flirting, but keeping her friend occupied. Well, sad night around 2am they tell us they have to go, so they leave and they drive like half way across town to go home. My buddies relieved, but I was bummed. We were up a bit longer though and I kept texting this girl, finally at like 4 am she says hey, were coming back and picking both of you up, I say that’s awesome we’re both super excited. I tell my buddy and he says no, I finally convince him, along with my other friends, to take one for the team, it’s late as hell, I’m worried if anything goes wrong it’s all gonna get called off. So they pick us up and we go to their house and we go to our separate bedrooms. In the morning we leave and he just looks at me and says you owe me you sunnova b***h.

#50

When there’s a huge bug in the room and you and your friends are just too scared to go anywhere near it, let alone kill it.

I always think, “well someone’s gotta do it…”

That someone’s usually me

#51

Owning up to cigarettes that weren’t mine for a friend, didnt matter in the end as they were caught with them again later

#52

High school. 10th grade.

Me and 3 of my classmates decided to skip P.E. It’s was not my idea btw. Anyways, the teacher notices us being gone and starts searching for us. During this time, we were in the nearby café, drinking coffee and chatting.

When we decided to go back, the P.E teacher was waiting for by the school gate. She was mad as hell. She ask whose idea it was to skip the class. I said “Mine”. The teacher dragged me to the principal’s office where I received a long scolding. The principal called my parents and my mom came after the end of the school day. To say that she was furious would be an understatement.

Long story short – I was suspended for a month, was grounded for 3 months by mom and she took my computer cable during this time.

Looking back, it wasn’t worth it.

#53

When my uncle got here my parents let him stay with us till he could find somewhere to live,one day he had brought some spicy chips and we were eating them in the living room,next thing I know my younger sibling is crying because he got some dust of it in his eye and my parents were trying to figure out who brought them.They blamed me cuz I usually buy spicy chips and so I took the blame because I wouldn’t want to be in the position in where some people let you live in there house and you accidentally hurt their baby,I just got scolded so no biggie there
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