1: Attempted Suicide.
“Led a scuba diving tour. While signing the safety waivers and all that one very old man kept telling us that he had a DNR (do not resuscitate). We plainly told him that we are not bound to a DNR and if he passed out for any reason, we would attempt to resuscitate by our safety training.
Pretty much all the divers are assuming this guy is gonna kill himself down there (probably spit out the reg and go quietly into the night).
Dive happens, pretty much everyone is hawkeyed on this guy. I see him go behind a large coral head and lay down in the sand and spit out his reg. He is only at about 60 ft so I grab him and wrestle him to the surface. He will not take my back up regulator so I slam it against his mouth a purge air into his face. We get to the surface and he is fighting me nonstop trying to pull all of his gear off. I throw a very hard punch to his jaw and knock him out (actually trained to do this during dive rescues to keep the panicked person from killing you too)
3 weeks later and he tries to sue my dive shop and myself personally.” – Winkus, Reddit User.
It’s clear that the old man was trying to kill himself. That would be bad for them and their reputation. Even with the sue charges, they can win with the help of witnesses.
2: Open Water Swimming.
“About 15 years ago, I worked as a deckhand on a line of boats that took people out to Fort Sumter. The trip was about an hour each way. One day, we were about halfway there and two teenagers decided it would be fun to jump off and try to swim to shore.
This is in Charleston harbor, which has a pretty solid tidal current, lots of boat traffic, and probably more sharks than one would like to think about.
We ended up having to perform a water rescue on them. Then continued on to the fort, with the Coast Guard coming and picking them up. All in all, an extreme act of stupidity.” – el_schkwappo, Reddit User.
If the risks they mentioned were absent, swimming to the shore wouldn’t be a bad idea. However, it was in this case. The teens should have sought for advice before jumping in.
3: Ashes to Ashes.
“I used to do vineyard and garden tours for a pretty well-known winery. I had a lady ask to see any merlot vines we had so I walked her over and she proceeded to dump ash all over them and yell “We love you Nana! Rest in peace!” Needless to say, you are not allowed to dump human remains on food goods.” – Cheese_and_krakens, Reddit User.
That must have been the death wish of the person who died. Nevertheless, the lady should have informed them what she intended to do and if it was allowed. Obviously, it wasn’t going to be, so she should have bought them instead.
4: Expensive Joke.
“I’m a bush pilot in Alaska and occasionally do glacier air tours if my boss asks (I’m not a fan of doing tours).
One day I’m doing a glacier tour and had probably 7 people onboard and the dude sitting next to me, just looks at me and says “I’m de captain now” and yanks the plane 30 degrees to the right and then let’s go and laughs saying he was just kidding.
There was yelling to follow via my mouth.” – OngoGablogian5, Reddit User.
That was an expensive joke from the guy beside them. That was putting everyone’s life at risk which isn’t funny at all. They were lucky to not have miscalculated or something.
5: Buried in Snow.
“I work in the backcountry ski guiding industry, working my way to becoming a lead guide. Guest are always trying to kill themselves but here’s one that stands out. Right now, I mostly tail guide and pick people up when they fall, which is most of the time.
One particularly deep day I’m sweeping a tree run and all of a sudden there’s a man digging frantically in the snow towards a pair of legs. His wife had fallen head first down slope in a Flattish area. When she lawn darted the first half of her body was buried in the snow and only her legs and feet were visible.
Her husband thought it was a good idea to stand on top we’re her face obviously was and star digging near the exposed part of her body. I guess in the moment he forgot about human anatomy and where her head might be!?
At this point I was maybe 3 minutes behind them so she’d had her face under the surface for a while. I told him to stop and move, yelled “STOP YOU’RE ON HER FACE, I tried added a couple expletives but nothing.
I finally had to grab him by the backpack and power bomb him down the slope. I uncovered her face in under 10 seconds. She gasped for air, had a cry and then proceeded to tear that man to pieces verbally.” – Chasingsnowflakes, Reddit User.
Either the husband was panicking so bad that he didn’t know where her face was. Or he was clueless and was just doing what he felt was right. Thankfully, they were able to save his wife.
6: Petting the Hanuman Langur.
“Used to be a tour guide at a primate sanctuary with a strict ‘no touching policy’. At the end of the tour there’s a suspension bridge, tourists go first, guide goes last as per the rules. I always warn the tourists that the other side is the territory of a Hanuman langur and he doesn’t mess around, keep your distance etc. He doesn’t attack people out of nowhere, but he likes showing his teeth and screaming, which scares tourists.
Anyway, one tour I get to the other side of the bridge, and a tourist got bitten. He says a monkey just bit him out of nowhere. Asked the other tourists, no he tried to pet the Hanuman. Dumbass got what he deserved.” – Calithileth, Reddit User.
Most tourists find it difficult to keep to instructions. He must have felt, he could tame the Hanuman or the tour guide was joking. He got the confirmation.
7: Out of Control.
“Was on a tour in New Orleans. Guy gets drunk and basically makes a fool of himself and slaps his partner. Everyone else on the tour is like ‘whoa not cool, take a hike’. Gf leaves with him. Next morning we’re all on the bus waiting to roll out to the next destination and we’re not moving. 30 minutes later we’re all getting pissed off, then the couple get on the bus looking sheepish.
By the next stop we learn, the drunk guy ran a bath at the hotel, passed out and it flooded the bathroom, and four floors below into the hotel lobby. The hotel wouldn’t let them leave without paying thousands of dollars. Karma for him.” – Stuckwiththisname, Reddit User.
The guy needs to lay a hold on his public behavior and not get drunk. His girlfriend must have been unaware of him running the bath, maybe she’d have stopped it. He got paid in his own coin.
8: Kids’ Play.
“Not a tour guide, but was doing an English language camp for foreign kids.
Took the kids on a day trip to London, which involved going up the London Eye. While in the queue, one of the kids started shouting that he had a bomb in his bag and he was going to blow everyone up. Almost got all 20 kids in the group kicked out.” – artoftheescape, Reddit User.
The kid must have thought it was funny. He probably saw it in the movies or something and decided to try it out. Either way, he should be punished for that.
9: Irresponsible Mother.
“On an open topped tour bus in London – woman tries to dangle her toddler over the railing, then starts saying she’s going to complain to my manager when I told her to stop. Caught her doing it again and company policy said that anyone endangering their kids like that was to be removed from the tour, so the driver had to come up and march her off.
She still insisted she did nothing wrong. Like, she literally had the kid’s feet on the side rail of the (moving) bus and was just holding him loosely round the waist. One low hanging tree branch, of which there were many on the route, and that kid was gone.” – QuokkaMocha, Reddit User.
She must have thought it was fun and she had a good grip. She was being foolish over putting her kid in danger. She was just being quite irresponsible.
10: Savage and a Thief.
“I was working on a tourist island in Australia when this man pulled out almost all the back feathers of a peacock because he wanted to keep one. He sneaked up behind it, and grabbed a huge handful and yanked them all out. He was immediately escorted off the island. The peacock had a huge bare patch and most of its beautiful feathers were gone :(.” – mugsandcoveve, Reddit User.
That’s sad and painful. He shouldn’t have done that. He was being inconsiderate, brutal and insensitive. We hope the feathers grow back too.
11: School Excursion Gone Wrong.
“I used to work at a heritage site. It was an old military installation with a lot of remaining original structures (bunk beds, cafeteria equipment, computers etc.).
Every day it was a constant effort to remind people (read: kids) NOT to jump on the beds, not to slam doors open, not to punch every button like it owes them money.
The absolute worst was a group of kids on a school trip. Within the first ten minutes we’re walking through the tech portion of the exhibit, where we had a wall lined with Burroughs large systems machines (B5000’s), all behind this little fence about waist-high. I turn to demonstrate some of the pieces, and when I look back at the group one of them had jumped over the barrier, opened one of the units and started pulling out handfuls of digital tape from the reels inside.
I just about jumped on the kid when their teacher did just that. She jumped the barrier, smacked the kid’s hands and took him outside. I immediately ended the tour and had them all refunded, as I couldn’t imagine what else could happen.” – sassymatty, Reddit User.
Everything was original and needed to be untouched. Kids would always be kids though and one or two, at least, will want to always go against the rules. They were kind enough to have the excursion fee refunded.
12: Taking a Dump in the Park.
“They took a big shit in front of the group. So, we tour through streets and parks and make it really clear that the toilets at the beginning of the tour are the only ones for the first 90 minutes of tour. We get to a park about 30 mins into the tour. Not a big park, mind you, it is basically a big roundabout with a swing set, bench and two trees.
I’m in the middle of my spiel in the park when I see a guy at the back of the group, step away, pull his pants down and squat on the grass. Of course, I was stunned and lost my flow which had everyone looking around only to recoil in horror as this guy drops a log like it was nothing. He wasn’t even ashamed.” – Funktopuss, Reddit User.
It’s either the guy couldn’t control himself anymore and had to go. Or he was unashamed and didn’t see any need to take the first toilet instruction since he felt he could do it anywhere. It could be a number of reasons but that was too uncultured and disgusting.
13: Tour Clown.
“I work at a brewery tap room and take people on brewery tours. During fermentation CO2 is produced and excess comes out through a run off pipe and into a water bucket. One of the attendees (who was being a pain and trying to be funny but nobody was laughing) asked me what the pipe was for, so I gladly explained.
He then asked what would happen if he breathed it in… in disbelief of his stupidity I told him he would pass out/damage his brain, he then proceeded to grab the pipe and take a breath. He was then ejected and barred. Some people are just beyond belief.” – tedandrassy, Reddit User.
He was trying like they said. Playing around with chemicals, gases etc. can pose a lot of risks to the people. He got what he deserved.
14: Costly Misbehaviors.
“Took a class of middle schoolers to a museum and one of my students dragged his hand across a 3000-year-old Indian painting. Later on, I found out the object was almost certainly a reproduction but I nearly died of rage on the spot.” – AleredEgo, Reddit User.
There’s always a ‘don’t touch’ policy on paintings. Wait, do most kids follow rules? Well, he’s lucky it was a reproduction.
15: False Alarm.
“Tour guide at a university. We got a lot of guests that really, really don’t want to be there. Mostly misbehaved kids from a poor area of the city.
We toured at all times, even during finals week. As many may know, sound can travel oddly in a in lecture centers. Our lecture centers have windows around them, and like 6 kids thought it would be hilarious to smash on the windows.
From the inside it sounds like gunshots are being shot from outside, or at least muffled gunshots. Watched 100+ students flee the classroom during their final exam. We got a lot of shit for that. (It isn’t easy corralling a group of 30+ students… that’s the chaperones job!)” – FoldFold, Reddit User.
Like they said, the kids were uninterested. Once kids are not intrigued or don’t care for something, they misbehave. They did it to probably entertain themselves and ended up putting everyone on the run.
16: Ignorance.
“I once was a tour guide in high school for a group of young Chinese students coming to the rural US on a sort of “fresh air” trip. They told us beforehand that we had to keep the kids away from water because apparently parents don’t value swimming lessons in China and there is such little open swimmable water that no one learns on their own. We were also told that the kids think swimming happens “naturally” — like if you go into water, you’ll immediately start swimming.
Anyways, one of our excursions was to a local reservoir and the plan was to hike up a hill nearby to overlook the reservoir lake, get a few photos, and then leave. When we got to the top, it started POURING rain like I had never seen before. I’m talking so much rain you can’t see 5 feet in front of you. Then lightning starts striking the lake and I’m still trying to keep it cool even though I had never been so close to lightning before.
The students were taking it well and laughing, which was good, until they started running directly for the lake and jump in. Apparently, they had also never learned about electricity conducting through water, so I’m freaking out and start pulling them out of the water (they weren’t in very far) and a couple of them complain that their phones were wet… in the rain.
No one got hurt, but it was a crazy day. We got back on the bus and the kids started drinking liquor in the back (they ranged ages 9-16) and I had to bust them for that too.” – NegativeBee, Reddit User.
They were told to keep them away from water beforehand which helped them to stay vigilant. The kids should have been told about why they were removed from the water. They were ignorant and it almost got them killed.
17: Taking a Dump in an Exhibition Room.
“Friend of mine does tours of whiskey museums in Dublin. Someone took a shit in one of the exhibition rooms.” – Eoinoconn, Reddit User.
Its either the person had stomach flu and lost control. Or they were being nasty intentionally. Either way, we’re quite sure he must have gotten kicked out, fined or something.
18: Going Against the Rules.
“I’m in the middle of talking and someone’s phone rings. Ok, that happens sometimes, and usually they’d just cancel the call or step outside. Nope, this guy answers the call and starts talking on the phone, only a few meters from where I’m standing.
I think, ‘Oh he’ll just quickly explain he’s busy and end the call’, nope! He starts a conversation… The rest of the group glare at him and I’m put in an awkward position because my workplace put a huge emphasis on politeness. So, I suggest to him to continue his call in the hallway, just outside the room we were in, to which he replied ‘No, I’m fine here’, and went back to his phone conversation.
I’m doing my best to talk to the rest of the group (about 25 people), but he’s so loud! Eventually this Chinese woman yells across the room at him “Shut up, we want to listen to the lady, not you” which worked. But I just couldn’t imagine the nerve to ruin everyone’s experience like that, cos you’re too selfish to talk on the phone outside.
Also, the place I worked allowed photos but had a strict ‘No photos of the staff’ rule for privacy reasons. I always explained this at the start and 99% of people were cool. One day I had a particularly happy snapper who got right up in a staff member face to take a photo, like I’m taking centimeters from his face to take a photo. The staffer was just some rando middle aged white dude, so I’m not sure why the fascination, but he was livid. It’s like I saw it happen in slow motion so couldn’t do anything to stop it. That guy was removed from the tour.” – eifos, Reddit User.
The first guy must have thought it was OK to receive his call during the tour…he should have stepped out. Some people ignore rules, must have been why the other guy thought it was cool to go ahead and take a picture. In the end, they got what they deserved.
19: Carelessness.
“I had a guest snorkeling. He tries to grab the tail of a barracuda as he swam up behind it. Luckily, I was able to hit the guest with a dive fin from the boat to stop him before he got ahold.
If he had grabbed on, I’m sure he would have been ripped to pieces by that fish.” – fkirwan82, Reddit User.
They did the right thing to save the guy’s life as shouting might not have helped. The guy must have been mad for getting hit and probably complained. Either way, he’ll be glad they did unless he was ready to die.
20: Theft.
“Couple of guys I used to play cricket with went on a school trip to Auschwitz and decided to steal a small pair of glasses and some buttons they found half buried in the ground.
They were detained by Polish police while they were leaving the site.
Hard to know what goes through people’s heads sometimes.” – manbearnoodle, Reddit User.
We’re also wondering what was going through their minds. It’s either they thought they could take anything and it didn’t matter. Or they wanted to take something back as proof or reminder. It was a stupid idea in the end.
21: Ignoring Danger Signs.
“Not a tour guide but I guess you could say I work in the tourism industry. I work ground crew for a company that does Helicopter tours. Number one rule for customers is “DON’T WALK UNDER THE TAIL BOOM, THE ROTOR WILL KILL YOU AND IT WILL HURT”.
It’s unbelievable how many people have a death wish out there. People see the fastest way to the other side of the helicopter and don’t stop to think “Oh hey, that spinning blade may or may not slice my whole fucking head off let’s see how close we can get to it!” – VersaceMango, Reddit User.
Most people like adventures…the wrong way. They should have followed the rules and only gotten close at a reasonable angle. You don’t need anyone to tell you that spinning blades will harm you unless you want to kill yourself on purpose.
22: Too Close for Comfort.
“Tour guide/boat captain in the Caribbean.
We had about 40/50 people on the boat, got off. We would normally go feed swimming pigs which someone would get nipped from them from doing stupid shit but nothing too serious.
Well the next stop after that was another island where we would hand feed turtle, sharks, and stingrays. So, we would tell the people to hold it with the palm open and food in the middle for the stingrays and they would come over the top and take it out. The turtles and the sharks put it in the water holding it in the tips and when they are coming for it let go.
Well of course, this dingus decided he would be tough and feed this baby shark, no longer than your forearm without letting go. Shark proceeds to bite his fingers, he screams and jumps up out of the water and flicks it off of his hand, pulling one of his fingernails off in the process.
So that’s one I always remember.” – SketchyMedicalAdvice, Reddit User.
The ‘tough’ guy must have thought that he was going to be careful enough. Or that the baby shark wouldn’t harm him, after all it’s a baby shark, right? He didn’t expect what was coming.
23: Cat Calling.
“I used to give tours at my university. There was a group of middle schoolers I was giving a tour to (to show them why they should want to go college…yatta yatta).
There was this one kid who kept trying to sneak away and was whistling at just about every girl who walked by. Weird. Okay, whatever, he thinks he’s a big shot.
Then a very attractive girl comes jogging by us, and he tried to GRAB HER and starts AIR HUMPING while he watches her run away from us. I was mortified.
I ended the tour. I was done with him. The teachers didn’t even care, that was probably the worst part.” – Plooza, Reddit User.
It’s either they were too irritated to continue the tour because of the guy’s attitude. Or they were trying to avoid anything else. The teachers should have stepped in too unless they were uninterested in the tour as well or didn’t care what the kids did.
24: Sexual Pervert.
“Didn’t happen to me, but one of my company’s tour guides was on a flight with a bunch of middle schoolers.
One of the boys got caught jerking it. In his seat. Next to a girl who wasn’t even from his school.” – Lucidspoon, Reddit User.
The guy was a sexual pervert which is disgusting. The girl would have felt very terrible or mad when she found out too. We’re quite sure he got the right punishment for his actions.
25: Close Call.
“Former whitewater rafting guide. There’s a calmer section of the river people can, if they choose to, hop out and swim through. They are wearing life jackets so you can just float through it.
This woman decides she wants to try it and hops out. After she pops up, she slowly tilts forward until just the back of her jacket is out of the water and she’s completely still. After 5 or so seconds of this I start to realize this might not be intentional and paddle over and physically pick her head up above the water followed by her gasping for air. I haul her in the boat and ask what happened.
She said she didn’t know what to do as she’d “never been submerged in water before”. 1) Why are you on a whitewater rafting trip? 2) Why didn’t your strategy involve moving your body?” – b771, Reddit User.
She must have felt the life jacket would keep her in place even if she didn’t have swimming skills or water submersion experience. They were surprised as to why she came on the tour without any experience which was pretty dangerous. Thankfully, they recognized that she was in danger before it was too late.
26: She Refused to Take Her Earrings Off.
“My cousin is a tourist guide and biologist, most of his tours are in Africa. He instructed his group of 20-25 people including kids not to wear any type of earrings or collars especially shiny stuff since they were about to go into a thick forest to try to see a bunch of animals.
This is very important because 20-25 make a lot of noise which makes wild animals run away or hide, it’s even worse if they’re wearing shiny stuff they can spot from far away. Ok so this woman complains, decides to wear shiny earrings anyway, cousin tells her to get rid of them or she isn’t coming with the group so she obeys but puts them on a bit later.
Some species of monkeys in that area LOVE shiny stuff. They ripped the earrings from her ears.” – shave_your_teeth_pls, Reddit User.
She refused to take off her ear rings either because she felt the tour guide was bluffing. Or she was afraid she would lose them. Either way, she was attacked and left with an avoidable painful experience.
27: Weird Mother.
“I was giving a tour of my university to the mother of a potential student. She tried to recruit me into a popular pyramid scheme and then, when I tried to change the subject by asking what she did in her spare time, she told me about her conspiracy theories that she gives public talks on.
They included the dangers of Wi-Fi, 5G, and chemtrails, and that the moon landings were faked by Stanley Kubrick, who was shortly thereafter assassinated by the CIA and replaced by a clone.
I cut the tour short. Felt pretty sorry for her daughter who appeared to think these theories were reasonable and had also been recruited into her mother’s pyramid scheme at 17.” – bluecheese12, Reddit User.
They had to cut the tour short to escape the mother’s troubling theories. It’s either she had read books or something that suggested those thoughts to her or she made them up on her own. They felt sorry for her daughter who was already recruited in her conspiracy scheme because she would just end up sounding or looking crazy to others.
28: Insensitive.
“I was on a tour with my family in Cambodia and we visited Angkor Wat. Now as everyone knows, Angkor Wat is teeming with tourists day and night. There was a long line to climb the Bakan (basically the topmost tower, wherein the steps are very steep). It was a hot day and when it was almost our turn, a middle-aged man took two steps, fell backward and started having a seizure.
People came to his help immediately. However, one man who was also crowding around him did nothing but pull out his cellphone and start recording. Thankfully, everyone noticed and started yelling at the guy to put that shit away. He acted like the victim though and he said he was “Just trying to help”.
What a twat.” – coturnixxx, Reddit User.
That was a terrible thing to do. He probably was looking to post it on social media. If he ever needed to pull out his phone, he should have called for help. His excuse was pretty weak.
29: Horny Couple.
“We were in Australia, visiting Uluru. There was a section where it was so sacred that photographs were not even permitted; I leave this couple alone to take in the scenery and I come back approx. 7 minutes later to see them full blown naked f**king the brains out of each other.” – WindInTheGarden, Reddit User.
They probably gave the couple some privacy so that they could bask in the beauty together. The couple must have seized the opportunity to have ‘memorable’ sex. Or they had planned it all along during the trip. That must have been pretty embarrassing.
30: No Respect for Nature.
“Was on a tour of a small cave system somewhere in west Texas. It was really beautiful and right after the guide told us how long it took for all the stalagmites and stalactites to form, she turned around to move on and some guy leans way over and snaps off a small one and shoved it in his pocket!!!
I was so surprised I just stared at him and he smiled and winked at me like we had really gotten away with something and I was a co-conspirator or something.” – Sonsea2, Reddit User.
The guy was either so fascinated with the information he just heard and ripped the small one off for personal reasons. Or he just didn’t care and was having fun with the ‘another will form’ on his mind. He probably winked at her expecting her to keep quiet or understand that it wasn’t a bad thing.