It’s no secret that the Big Apple can be a tough place to live.
So when a post on Reddit’s Ask NYC subreddit begged New Yorkers to share their “worst day of NYC-specific accidents,” hundreds of people flooded the comments to regale each other with their most horrifying stories of life in the five boroughs.
The original poster (OP) started the share-a-thon with a story of his own.
After a “nice” day at work, the OP went to a doctor’s appointment, but got on the wrong train, and when they finally got to the doctor’s office, they got “bad news (nothing serious, just annoying).”
A nervous Redditor took to the Ask NYC subreddit to ask for people’s “worst NYC-specific accidents” to “feel better” about their own day
It’s no secret that life in the Big Apple can get messy, but for some of the city’s unhappiest residents, that concept has been taken to a whole new level.
From there, the OP stopped by Whole Foods to get groceries and started walking home.
“I’m feeling good about my big bag and twelve pack of Diet Coke at the moment, until I encounter a loose rock, stumbling block and face plant. Cans fly everywhere. My leg is bleeding and my hands are scraped,” they said.
‘Two nice men help me up and pick up my soft drink. “I’m sobbing at this point as I reassure them that I’m okay, which must have been a confusing experience.”
Back at their apartment, OP goes to wash away her cuts and scrapes from the fall, only to discover that her tap water is “uncolored” – the product of rust, and that the water did not become clear for a long time. then an hour.
‘This felt like one day in New York that, sometime in the future, when my leg feels better, I can laugh about it. I’m sure people who have been here longer than me have much crazier stories,” OP concluded, encouraging others to outdo their own.
And they certainly did.
Among the top-rated entries was a fecal tale of woe.
When they arrived late to see a movie, “they run up the stairs to the subway, I trip and catch myself with my hands.”
Hundreds of Redditors took to the comments section to share their “worst” days in NYC
“Only to see that someone at the top of the stairs had wet diarrhea and it was… running down the stairs… the one I touched,” they recalled grimly.
Another story combined a run-in with projectile vomit and further humiliation upon meeting the new neighbors.
“On an E train that was severely delayed during the night shift due to construction, a homeless man vomited a projectile on me and laughed lol,” the person wrote.
‘It was March and it was snowing, I accidentally left my jacket at the coat check in Manhattan, and I still had a 15-minute walk home at that point.
“My building was family oriented so no one will be awake, we don’t have cameras in the hallway, and the trash area is right across from my apartment.
‘I decide to throw the clothes (they were old) in the garbage chute. Boom, there are my new neighbors while I’m in my bra and thong. “I just looked at them and said, ‘A homeless man threw up on me,’ and went inside and took a shower.”
The neighbors apparently “knocked on the door the next day to see if I was in danger or having some sort of mental episode that was fun… The wife and I actually became friends for a while, but the husband was wary,” she admitted. .
Some stories took place in recent years, others dated back decades
A third narrator recalled their stint as a fashion intern, which got off to an embarrassing start on their “first day.”
After initially showing up at the wrong building, the then-intern had to “take everyone’s lunch order and pick it up.”
‘I forget someone’s latte and immediately tell her I’ll get it for her. She said not to worry about it and kept saying it was fine. She spends the next 30 minutes repeating, “I’m so thirsty,” until I get up and say I’m going to get your latte.
‘I open the door super frustrated and fall down all eleven concrete stairs with a row of models outside. I stand up and my hands are all bloody. Try to keep it together and grab some napkins when I get the latte.
‘I come back and am immediately instructed to hang up all the clothes for the spring collection. They are white and my hands are bloody. Needless to say, I cried and cried that day, but I tell the story and laugh so much now!’
Entries ranged from catastrophic falls to unfortunate encounters with bodily fluids
One man shared a particularly disturbing anecdote from 2007. Notably, this was years before Uber was commonplace, and also long before most people had apps like Google Maps on their phones.
The man had just graduated at the time and was on his way to a job interview. He lived on the northern part of Roosevelt Island – a residential island on the East River between Midtown Manhattan and Queen – and his interview took place in Tribeca, in Lower Manhattan.
“My goal was to get there about 15-20 minutes early,” the man wrote. Given the limited transportation options to get off Roosevelt Island, he was already faced with a minimum 45- to 50-minute commute on public transportation under the best of circumstances.
“I walk out of our building and just miss the red bus that takes you a mile south to the train and tram,” he continued.
‘I decide to walk instead of waiting 15 minutes for the next bus. It’s a burner. I’m also a pretty big guy (I played offensive line for a D1 school in grade school).
‘I’m starting to sweat a lot, but I hope I can get a reprieve from air conditioning in the subway. I get on the train and there are no trains to Manhattan. So I decide to take the tram and then walk a few blocks to the subway. Due to the train delays there is a queue, so I have to wait a while before I can get on the tram.
‘Finally I get on the subway, but there is no air conditioning. What makes it worse is that our train is held up underground for about 10 minutes between stations.
‘I’m starting to turn into a puddle.
‘I get off the subway and realize I’m already five minutes late. Panicked and unfamiliar with the broken network system of the city center, I am turned around. Finally I succeed. I’m about 20 minutes late, I’ve sweated all over my clothes and sweat is beading down my forehead and forearms.
‘After a few minutes, the HR representative and one of the people on the team had the opportunity to meet me. They ask me what happened. I tell them the truth. Their response was “well, it’s clear you’re not the right person here, so you can leave.”
“And as I’m walking out, the team member condescendingly says to me, ‘You know, you really need to try to pay more attention to each other on time.'”
But the twisting story had a happy ending: ‘I eventually got a job at a great account (Warner Bros.) and got to work on films like Harry Potter, The Hangover and The Dark Knight.’
Elsewhere, a teacher recalled a day when she took her students on a field trip to MoMA.
“One of my students got in the way of a hot dog vendor setting up his cart. He started yelling and cursing at her and I could tell she was getting angry, so I stepped in and said, “Hey, I didn’t mean to do that. Please watch your language around my students,” she said.
‘Good. He then told me, and I quote “f**k you and f**k your students, you smelled like** p***yb***h.” FOR MY STUDENTS.
“I grab the student who was originally yelled at by the arm and walk to 5th Ave (thank God the light is green now) as he continues to yell at me. I turn around to make sure I have my group and see two of my male students yelling “don’t you dare talk to my teacher like that” TO HIS FACE which was so sweet but please don’t fight a hot dog vendor our excursion.
“I had to go back and separate them – it was only seconds before they got physical.
A man reported that after his girlfriend slipped on ice and broke her ankle in a park, he ‘commanded’ a ‘wheelbarrow’ to take her to safety
One commentator offered a silver lining to all the harrowing – and often nauseating – stories about life in New York
“Best part? It couldn’t have been after 9:30.’
Among the more recent stories featured, a man described how ‘today’ his ‘girlfriend slipped and broke her ankle on the ice in a park. I got to her and called an ambulance. Waited over an hour in 22 degree weather and said f**k it.
‘I was in charge of a park barrow and two very nice gentlemen helped me wheel her into the street like a drunk in an old movie. On the plus side, the Uber was much cheaper than the ambulance would have been,” he admitted.
To this, one commenter jokingly responded, “Great story. I think we should start a medical rickshaw company to end the ambulance monopoly.”
Regardless, others responded with words of wisdom about coping with harrowing stories of life in New York.
“Everyone always says, ‘If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere,’” one person wrote.
“But I like to change that phrase to say, ‘If you can make it through your WORST day in NYC, then you really can make it anywhere.’ This city humbles you. Tomorrow is a new day soldier.”