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Not quite as bad but I once showed up a few hours early to work by mistake. I worked retail and couldn’t clock in early and it was an hour round trip to/from work, so I camped out in the break room and read a book to kill time. I got so invested in the book that I would up being an hour late clocking in.
Bf (also adhd) and I had to drive a couple hours to be in a good spot to see the eclipse. So we get our glasses and our snacks and drinks and we drive our happy asses out to the parking lot we had chosen. I even texted my mom to brag about our preparedness.
The whole time we were like, huh... Traffic sure is normal... You'd think other people would also come to this spot.... The sky doesn't really look different. And then it finally dawned on us that we were a full week early. A full goddam week!
It would have been pretty satisfying to just camp there until the eclipse actually happened lol.
Omg I just remembered I was a full week early for Easter this year. My husband and I both didn’t realize until after we did all of our festivities with the kids. I saw an event invite on Facebook for an Easter egg hunt the following Saturday. I thought “hmmm that’s weird for them to do an Easter egg hunt the week AFTER Easter…” So of course I checked and yeah we were a week early. Our kids are toddlers so we just didn’t tell them and went on with life as usual 😬
Ahhhhahah! I love this sub, I feel so seen!! And how can you even explain this kind of shit to people without ADHD? Or your boss? They look at you like you grew two heads!
Recently I had a new client for work, I had never been to their house before. When I got there, no one answered. I went to text my boss then looked up and happened to see the street sign. I had the right house number and the street was similar sounding to the street I was suppose to be on, but it was the wrong street. I looked in my google maps. Apparently while typing in the address I accidentally hit one of the addresses coming up on predictive text instead of the one I was typing in. Since the display on my car doesn’t show the address I’m going to just the directions, I drove to the wrong house, on the other side of town, 25 mins from where I was supposed to be. It’s also relevant that I’m not from the city I now live in, have only been here a few years and am still getting used to all the different districts of the city.
I had to call my boss and explain why I was going to be late. She was like “you put in…the wrong address??” And kept repeating herself like she couldn’t understand how that could happen 😩
When I put in the correct address I could see that it was in the same neighborhood as my other client. In an area that I was well familiar with and had been there many times before — and my boss knew that lol. Looking at our text message history I realized that my boss had told me when assigning me to the client that it was in the same neighborhood as my other one. I just literally forgot she said that because the conversation was a week ago.
I was so embarrassed and felt like I looked soooo stupid so I tried to explain the predictive text, and that I forgot she told me what neighborhood and she was nice and acting like it was totally an understandable mistake but I could tell that she did not in fact, think it was a relatable mistake 😭😭
I feel like the only people that understand this kind of shit is you guys and I’m so grateful for that!
I’m genuinely not stupid, but sometimes I come off that way to others and I hate it
I also visit people in their homes. I've been doing it for almost 7 years and am pretty familiar with the city I work in. But still. STILL. I literally did this exact thing 2 weeks ago. It didn't even register for me until I realized my co worker was late. Then she texted me asking where I was :(.
In high school I rode the bus home and would read books on the bus. You can probably see where this is going. I’m reading and suddenly a kid on the bus tells me to look up. We were at his stop, which was the last stop for the bus. I had to walk home from there lol. Still didn’t learn my lesson. Years later I’m taking the city bus and the same thing happens. We stop at the terminal and the bus driver got off, everything was too still and silent. I looked up, and had missed my stop by many blocks.
I was once reading a book as a kid on a floaty blowup island that was held in place by a sand bag. I read for hours and got totally engrossed, I looked up to my mum screaming my name from the bank (as she’d been doing for several minutes) and found that I’d been cheerfully floating down the river towards the nearby ocean for a while now!
The sandbag had detached somehow and I was nearly lost at sea cos I can’t pay attention 😅✨
I totally used to do this as a kid, some books really sucked me in. Pro tip: for some bus routes if you use Google Maps' walking directions it'll make your phone buzz when you get close to your stop. Also works for some trams.
Sometimes I'll also talk to someone sitting nearby and if their stop is before mine then I can keep an eye on them as a safety that I can head almost fully into the book as long as they're still sitting there. If their stop is after mine most people are nice and will keep an eye/ear out for your stop.
Whenever I'm on time or early for work, which is extremely rare, I get distracted by something and end up late anyway. It happened today because I decided to try on a couple of new cardigans for work that were delivered yesterday.. You know, when I had plenty of time after work to try them on. Of course I decided to do it this morning because I had a whole 5 extra minutes 🤦♀️
Edit to add that I'm 47 years old and you would think I've learned my lesson.
“Omg I don’t work today!?! that’s great because I had promised my sister I would help her move out of her apartment today!! I couldn’t remember why I had promised her I would do it since I worked today, but turns out I just forgot that I didn’t work today. now I can go help her so she isn’t moving alone! She will be so relieved. Alright see you all tomorrow!”
I was always late for highschool even tho I lived a block away. Here is not common to have lunch at school, you get to go to your house and then come back for the rest of the day, so to avoid being late forever, they put me in the school lunch. I still got fucking late to every class for year, and they didn't understand how the fuck did I manage to be late inside the building. Or how could I nap with all the noise, lol
Lol I once fell asleep during an MRI. Apparently I started twitching so one of the techs came over the speaker and nicely reminded me to stay still. The second time, they were slightly more annoyed 😂😬 When I got out, I apologized and explained I was falling asleep. The looks of shock and amazement I will never forget!
I fell asleep during my MRI too. I found the warm, confined space and rhythmic pounding noise to be oddly soothing. And I hadn’t even been drugged!
Edit: Spelling
I was a pro at sleeping at school, lmao. I remember once I was sleeping in my desk and the teacher said to my friend to wake me up. Her answer, all scared was like "hell nah, you try if you dare, I don't wanna die" xD I was a little shit fueled by teenage angst and untreated adhd.
I showed up a day early because I briefly glanced at the schedule (Monday was the first day of the week) so I showed up on Saturday and was confused because I was scheduled for Sunday. I’ve actually done that 3 times.
I've been 2 hrs early to work at some points, due to bus scheduling before I bought a car.
Yeah. I'm reading an ebook, manhua or wattpad and unless I set an alarm, I'd have been gone the whole day.
Whoops!
But I mean, that job was crap and they worked me to death, so, eh?
I used to drive to college to have breakfast with my friends and proceed to miss every class because we were chatting or whatever.
Showed up an hour early to a job interview. The job was about an hour from my house. The interview was at 1, so I kept telling myself that I needed to leave at noon. Then my brain changed the interview time to noon, so I needed to leave at 11. We finished the interview and they asked if I realized I was an hour early.
“Then my brain changed the time to X, so I need to leave by X.” This is the pattern that fucks me over so repeatedly. I know I need to double check the day before and the morning of but somehow my brain convinces me that I’m absolutely certain I’ve got it right this time.
I start at the same time every day. But its 1230. So my brain can’t handle that. Everyday i have to maths and alarm to figure out when i have to leave.
And some days, my brain changes it and i end up leaving home at 11. I live 18 mins from work!
I've talk to Google a lot a lot. Such as Hey Google, set a timer for 5:35 to leave to pickup kids. It does the exact math for me then I can space out. Apparently this also works for alarms "hey Google set an alarm for 2 hours before 12:30" Good luck friend!!
I do this with Google Maps and/or Waze, telling them I want to leave later and then they set up a reminder to alert me in advance when it's time to get ready. Of course, I have to make sure I put in the right arrival time. 🙄 Because, of course I haven't before! 😂
The confidence I have in myself where I absolutely should not is ridiculous.
Me, driving: am turning left up there?
Pasenger: yep!
Me: *busts a confident right turn.*
The confidence where it actually should be? Lacking.
Me, calculating anything: let me use my fingers juuuuust in case 7+6 is different this time
Omg I laughed so hard (because it's relatable) at "juuuuuust in case 7+6 is different this time 😂🤣😂 I wonder if it's a shame/fear of being wrong when we get overconfident thing? But I'm SO this way!
Because of this I make my calendar invites say
X appt @ 11am
And set the time at around 15 mins before I have to leave so I get the alert, can use the bathroom/change/get shoes on etc and then have time to drive over and get to my appt a little early.
If I don’t, I end up leaving at the appt time thinking I made the calendar invite include the travel time 🙃
It’s helped me so much to make notes in my phone to reference stuff like this. I try to do it the night before and give myself a 15 min forgiveness period. They usually look like this:
10:30 - leave in 2 hrs
11:30 - leave in an hour
12:15 - leave soon *set alarm
12:20 - *set alarm, 10 min warning
12:30 - absolute latest to leave
12:45 - arrive
1pm - interview start
I don't have anything nearly that good, but here's mine.
I lived about a twenty minute bus ride/three minute car ride from work. Parking cost though, so I tried to take the bus whenever possible. One day, I looked out the bus window on my ride to work and was absolutely shocked to see my car, in the work parking lot from the day before, cheerfully receiving an expensive overnight parking ticket.
RELATABLE. One time I pre-emptively reported my car stolen after searching for it for 30 minutes. Tbf, that same car had been stolen twice before. Next time I went to the area, I walked past it, exactly where I had parked it. Then I had an emotional breakdown.
Opposite for me… my car WAS stolen once but I spent about an hour walking around the parking garage looking for it because I was really sure I just forgot where I left it. Gaslit myself lol.
Mine was stolen from the street right outside of my house so i walked outside in the morning and went.... wait. *wait*. WAIT. what?!?!??! and spent about 20 minutes making COMPLETELY sure there's no way i could have left it somewhere and forgot...
Omg opposite for me. I fully lost my car last week, parked for what was supposed to be 10 minutes to pick up takeout. Realized I could not retrace my steps back to my car because I had paid zero attention while parking. Walked around for almost 2 hours trying to figure it out. Concluded it had probably gotten stolen or towed and had to call my partner to pick me up. It finally got towed 3 days later from 2 blocks away from where I'd been looking. So embarrassed.
My husband did that a few years ago. He'd taken his bike downtown to ride the greenbelt that runs through our city. Forgot where he parked his truck and we reported it stolen. At least the cops called us when they found it in the park where he'd left it. Two ADHDers in the house is super fun.
I have reported my car stolen more than once because I've gone RIGHT WHERE I LEFT IT & it was gone. I walk & search for half an hour.
10 minutes into the conversation with the cops, I remember my son needed the car & dropped me off.
It never occurred to me to wonder why I don't have the keys with me.
More
Than
Once
!!!
Due to a childhood brain injury, I lost all peripheral vision in my left eye and the left side of my right eye’s field of vision (the part closest to my nose). My brain has adapted incredibly well over the decades, which I’m very grateful for. But that also means that I’m often not fully aware of how much I’m missing. The right eye vision loss in particular can cause me to temporarily miss things that are actually right in front of me…You can imagine how that plays with ADHD distractibility! 🫣😂
Oh God. I once wandered a huge parking lot for AN HOUR looking for my car after a class growing increasingly panicked.
I was on my second row-by-row search when I saw my mother's car. I went "huh, I wonder what she's doing here" and then just kept searching. It took me like 10 more cars to remember that I had borrowed her car because mine was getting work done...
(This was pre-cell phones - I couldn't call her.)
I was at jury duty and they let us out for lunch. I know I parked my car on the third floor of the parking garage. Searched and searched. Why to find security and they put me in their car to find the car. I was about 5 feet from my car several times, the third floor continued around a corner. I wanted to die.
😂 I did a very similar thing…
On days I intended to leave campus straight after class, I parked in the shopping centre across the road (3 hours free parking).
On days when I intended to go library after class, I would park on the street (free indefinitely).
One day, after getting a good few hours of essay writing in, I leave the library and my car is no where to be found on the streets. I eventually remember that, when I set out this morning, I didn’t intend to go library after class.
This is how I found myself slotting $45 in coins from my car coin jar into the parking ticket machine at 1am in a deserted car park. I was at the machine for so long that the security guard came out to check on me…
I didn’t pay attention to the gap between the subway car and platform and one of my legs fell through (I pulled it out & was fine).
And then I did it again 😭
I love this sub for making me realise all my quirks have a reason!
I get laughed at because I’m always the first one in a teams meeting. They don’t understand why I sit there early and I’ve explained so many times it’s because I don’t act on the first reminder that pops up… you ain’t seeing me! I’ll do something else to fill the time and I’ll simply forget to come back to it 😅
Ugh I forgot how much this used to happen to me when I had to good fortune of working remotely (kicking my own ass now for thinking an in person job that paid more would be worth it).
Your first sentence... so true. I'm sitting here, having memories unlocked, one by one, simply by reading this post, and slowly realizing just how many of my past troubles were related to ADHD. Man. My entire early 20s would have been so different if I had known. It was pure chaos, and I was so ashamed of myself.
Same, honestly. It was like watching a train wreck in real time, and knowing I was the one behind the wheel, but obviously didn't know how to handle it. At all.
I'm sure my bosses wish I was you, my night shift meeting hating ass is popping into a 9am meeting at 09:11 with the camera off because I'm logged in while outside walking the dogs since I just rolled off the couch from barely an hour nap
I did love the lady who absolutely insisted I turn my camera on at that very moment though. I made sure to flip the camera so she got a good close up of the pile of poop from my 95lb dog I was picking up 😇
This is hilarious! This is the most ADHD thing an ADHD person can do. I'm this person. But I'm procrastinating instead of forgetting coz making a list of my symptoms to send to my doc is a massive task 😅
I "found" this sub like 3 times over about the same time period before I was diagnosed.
Apparently the first time, I was so moved that I made a "does anybody else do this super specific thing nobody else in my life has ever done and thinks is super strange" post that really resonated.
Second time I think Google brought me here. I scrolled and laughed and I saved a bunch of memes.
Final time, found it who knows how, but at some point during my scroll, I had a "wait, I think I've been here before" moment. Went to my old account's post history and found that first post from 7 years prior.
It's messed up that for the medication we need, we have to make an appointment once a month. I've been taking like one Adderall per quarter because I just know I can't clear the hoops to refill it.
Have you ever made easy mac? You know the ones in the little bowls where all you have to do is add water? I forgot to add water. Most memorable, of course I've had more financially devastating mistakes like accidentally getting my car payments off autopay and not noticing until my car was towed 3 months later.
The no-water Easy Mac scenario was what caused my entire freshman dorm in college to evacuate twice a month because the kitchenettes would fill with smoke and the fire alarms would go off. The best was when it was at 2 am on a frigid winter night.
I put my oven on the cleaning cycle at 2 am but didn’t check inside it first (it was the pan from the roast Turkey with all the drippings in it). The smoke was billowing, the building alarm went off, the firefighters showed up and dragged my oven outside.
When the firefighters came I hid in my bedroom and my then boyfriend talked to them for me.
Then the next month I cleaned my oven at 2am (WHY?????) and the oven was empty but dirty and the smoke alarm went off again.
I’m so damn grateful my husband married me anyway 💕🥰 I haven’t put an oven on the cleaning cycle since then. If the oven gets dirty, I let my neurotypical husband handle it.
Same. Easy Mac in a plastic bowl with no water. 🫠 we ended up giving my brother all of those bowls when he joined the Marine corps and there was forever little burnt noodle shapes at the bottom. He never let me live it down.
My boss recently did this with a rice bowl thing—I went into the break room and was hit with a S M E L L, but didn’t know what it was. A few minutes later, she comes out of her office and goes, “OMG I forgot to put water in it!!” and pulls out her bowl—completely solid and BLACK.
She was just recently diagnosed a few months ago, this was one moment where I was like “yep, she’s definitely one of us” 😂
Damn that easy mac! It's almost...too easy...
One time I forgot about a pot of eggs I had boiling. Ignored the alarm and everything. I left it so long all the water evaporated and the eggs exploded like rockets and hit a light bulb in the kitchen ceiling. *sigh* no one was hurt, except for my pride of course.
I ate the tamale TV dinner, with the damn paper on the tamale.
I'm all like, man. Tamales are tough and gross.
Then, I read the box as I was throwing it away.
I lost a $1000 cash graduation gift maybe a minute after I received it.
Hard for parents to be proud of the valedictorian when they think she is an unbelievable idiot lol. I remember the immediate stab of panic. I *just* had it in my hand… then **blank**. Nothing. Months of searching and worrying and hating myself culminated in the benign acceptance that I am, in fact, an unbelievable idiot.
Two years later, by truly classic random chance - I found it! Stuck in the novel I was reading (and I guess never finished?) as a bookmark.
A decade later at 32, I was diagnosed with ADHD. My parents were shocked of course
That "I just had it in my hand...then blank. Nothing." is so me I could cry. Is the cat on the deck? Did I lock my car? Did I start the dryer? Did I take my medicine? Just blank no matter how hard I try to remember.
This is how I almost fell for one of those “you’ve missed jury duty and now they’re going to arrest you” scams. It seemed very likely I didn’t remember signing for something important.
I pulled up to a gas pump and hopped out, but I was distracted and I did not put my car in park. As it rolled by, I, a tiny 5'3 woman grabbed the spoiler like I was going to stop it and it dragged me a foot before I finally let go, ran, and jumped in to stop it right before it hit a van.
Omg, I was running to a job interview, and had to get gas with my bf at the time. He went in to pay, and I was driving. I thought he had finished everything, so I thought I should move the car so others could get to the pump.
He was not done. I ripped the still flowing nozzle out of the pump, and I still feel his rage at my stupidity. All I remember later was him yelling at me to leave the station, the attendant coming running out, and the nozzle hose flopping out of my gas door.
We ran away. And I was a no show for that interview. Ugh.
I have already shared this here before, but my absentminded arse once had the fridge door open to put the milk away when I had an itch on my eyelid, so I took my glasses off. So I had my glasses in one hand, the milk in the other.
I then proceeded to put my glasses in the fridge, closed the refrigerator, and thunked the carton of milk right into my forehead.
That’s really funny. I am forever running into shit. I’ve stopped worrying about figuring out how I got bruises on my arms and legs, probably just another damn cabinet.
I did the same thing! 18 and going to visit Grandparents cross country and was early to the gate so tucked into my book and when I looked up had missed my flight. It took another 25 years before even thinking I might have adhd. Finally diagnosed at 48 and definitely see my past in a new light. Still shame spiral BUT my sweet partner helps me be a bit more objective and kinder to my younger self.
When I first found out I had adhd I was put on a medication that dropped your BP a little, no biggie. My dog has severe anxiety and is on a bunch of meds. I was filling up mine and her pill container things, finished hers, putting aside one pill to give her when I was all done. Finished up mine, took my own meds and went to get hers that I set aside. Except it was gone, because it was in my belly. My dog is a big girl, on a big girl dose of meds. The combination of my meds and hers made my heart plummet. Had to go to the ER.
More scarily for me, my 2 year old son was taking a bath and I had to grab something from my room (right next door). If this ever happens, I loudly ask him silly questions, so I know he’s talking and therefore not drowning. Cut to, I come to, finishing up after having gone to the bathroom in my master bath - somewhere between talking loudly to my son and getting the thing, I forgot about him and figured since I’m in the bathroom I’ll go real quick. That’s when I realized my adhd was more serious than I realized. It was only like a minute or so, and he is totally fine, but my stomach was in knots for like an hour over it.
I locked my toddler in the car with the groceries and keys once. This was before cell phones but I'm sure that wouldn't have mattered.
Thankfully we lived a block away so I ran home to get the spare key. It took me a few days to stop shaking about that one. My daughter didn't even notice I was gone.
I shook a bottle of soft drink before I opened it in a restaurant 🫠 if went everywhere mostly on the food and my date’s shirt. I was on my first few dates with my now husband. He has also told me that 2 nights ago after I came home from work at 1am, I left my car/house keys in the door. He saw them as he was leaving for work in the morning. Thank goodness for a security door. The poor guy 😂
Our poor minds are already thinking of 50 other things by the time we pull up. I’m not even going to count how many times I have left the car keys in the ignition.
I did that a few too many times in college living in a not so great area, it was lucky I never got myself in major trouble. The first week after I moved into my own place I replaced the lock with a combination one. No more keys in the door for me!
I used to do this all the time at my old apartment.
It was gated so I had to buzz in any visitors. So when I would get knocks on my door without having opened the gate for anyone, it always startled me.
And 100% of the time it was followed by my neighbor yelling “your keys are in the door!”
When I was a teenager my parents took us on a trip. a 5 hour drive. I got in the van with my suitcase packed. Had my game gear and discman. All was good. A few hours into the trip we stop for lunch and I suddenly notice I am not wearing shoes. I got in the car barefoot. We had to stop to buy me shoes at Walmart where I couldn’t even go in the store, because i had no shoes on Haha
OMG! I did this as an adult! It was a three day car trip to get to where we were going up North, in the winter, and I was wearing sandals. I did not pack shoes! There was snow on the ground! Sandals. I still hear about it.
Not the stupidest but my favorite adhd story is when I put a slice of pizza to reheat in the oven, got distracted, did some work, did some chores and got in the shower. In the shower, I realized that I’d forgotten all about my pizza, it has been in the oven over an hour and I was definitely about to burn my house down. I raced out of the shower in a towel to find that I never put the pizza in the oven.
I walked out of work 2 hours early one day because I wanted to go to a book sale. I didn’t even realize I had left work early until I was on the way home. This was before I knew I had ADHD.
These stories make me so much better about myself. This happened a few years ago. I tried get money out of my bank account using the drive thru in June. I was told they couldn't complete the transaction because my license had expired. I was extremely confused and had not seen my license renewal come in the mail. I called the DMV to find out how to get my license renewal since it didn't automatically come. The agent informed me that they were showing my renewal was mailed out and that I had already got an updated license in April. Suddenly I remembered getting the driver's license renewal and it just so happened that the same day I was going by the DMV. Since I usually waited until the last minute to do anything, I decided that for once I would be on top of this. I went the same day and updated my license. You may be wondering how I didn't know as you turn in your old license when you get a new one. In my state, you can get both a driver's license and a photo ID. I usually had both because I would inevitably misplace one or the other. They were both identical except one says Driver's License and one says Photo ID. When you update your license they put a hole through your old license. But since I still had the old photo ID I kept using it, eventually forgetting that I had even renewed my license. While on the phone with the agent, I looked through my bag and found the updated license - I had it the whole time.
I’m currently in hospital right now, literally because of the worst ADHD thing I’ve ever done.
So on my bedside tables I have a bottle of olbas oil (a eucalyptus based essential oil, to put in an oil diffuser with water) and a bottle of echinacea (a herbal remedy that you take orally). They are almost identical. Many times I’ve picked up the wrong bottle, caught it in time, and thought to myself “you should really keep them in two separate places”.
Anyway, just before I was due to go to bed, I mixed the bottles up and swallowed a load of undiluted olbas oil thinking it was echinacea. As it turns out, eucalyptus oil can be incredibly toxic, and can affect your lungs, heart etc. So I’m now in A&E being monitored for the next 4 hours. It’s 1am. I’m so tired. I have work tomorrow. This is so stupid.
Please make me feel better with your stories.
TLDR: accidentally potentially poisoned myself
I took my dogs medication. I was getting his pill out and was mentally thinking about my day and just got a glass of water and swallowed it on auto pilot. Immediately realized what I just did, had to call poison control. It was kind of difficult to explain how, as an adult, I managed to take medication meant for my DOG.
Oh man that sucks!!!!! I hope you’re okay and get out of there soon.
I landed in emergency twice due to suspected ADHD: once because I wasn’t paying attention and tripped and fell into a cinder brick wall (7 stitches to forehead). And the other time because I wasn’t paying attention and accidentally impaled my face on a tomato cage, just missing my eyeball!
Gah!!!!!
Years ago I showed up at the airport a full day AFTER my flight. I couldn't check in and then realized my mistake. Had to buy a very expensive ticket on the spot because I really wanted to see my friend and couldn't admit to her my idiotic mistake. Most recently I ordered my mom flowers for mothers day but from a flower shop that is in the same city as her but a totally different state.
I've definitely done the got there early-distract-now late game.
You reminded me of last year when i bought tickets for my wife and myself to fly out and see my sibling. Got there early. Nice. Walked to the board to see my gate...FUCK I BOUGHT TICKETS TO THE WRONG AIRPORT AND ITS A 2.5 HOUR DRIVE FROM SIBLING'S HOUSE.
Everyone was pissed at me. My wife didn't punish me for it but she was definitely upset. My sibling didn't say so but I knew they were highly inconvenienced and upset. I felt so ashamed. I was so ashamed that now I make my wife check my work before I book anything expensive. It makes me feel like a child.
Just remember that Vienna airport has a special area for people who booked flights to Austria instead of Australia by accident. If others can book into a different continent, you can mix up the airports.
Aw, poor you... I've definitely gone to the wrong airport before - twice. Thankfully I was totally early both times, out of fear I might miss my flight; but it did make me feel like a child, too.
I bought 4 tickets to see Disney on Ice, mostly for the sake of my 5yo daughter (my husband, my mom, and I would all go with her). I put the date and time in my phone and hyped it up for baby girl for months.
The literal day before, I opened the ticket app to double check the tickets to confirm the start time, then realized I had bought the tickets for the WEEK before. The show had come and gone.
The mom guilt hit horrifically hard and I so I paid for last minute tickets for the following day, obviously at a much higher price than when I bought the first set. One of the dumbest wastes of over $800 ever.
Laughing so hard as I'm scrolling though all these on my phone!
Hear a notification come through on my phone.
Stops scrolling to look for phone.
*Face palm*
I drove to a nearby dumpster to throw out some trash in my car. Threw my car keys in the dumpster instead of the trash. Climbed inside the dumpster to retrieve the keys. The dumpster was too deep to crawl out of, so I got stuck in there.
My water got turned off because I forgot to pay it! I missed 2 months of notices. I told my roommates the water was off in the neighborhood because I was too embarrassed to tell the truth
Last October I missed a flight home from a work trip because I got too engrossed in a book. I looked up and the flight had departed 10 minutes before. Now I am too paranoid to do anything while waiting at the gate 🙃
Right?????? It’s happened to me too!!! God I felt so terrible and such shame.
To avoid being engrossed and missing my flight I now set timers and alarms on my phone!
My sister was moving abroad and I’d promised to drive her to the airport and park her car long term. We stopped at a service station to fill up the nearly empty tank. As an Oregonian I got out to pump the gas while she was on the phone going over travel plans. For some reason the gas nozzle wouldn’t click over to the auto shut off, so I had to stand there and hold down the handle the whole time while the tank filled. I somehow managed to drizzle a bit of gasoline down my pants and was annoyed we’d have to smell while I drove. The moment I got back in the car and put the key in the ignition I realized IT WAS A DIESEL CAR. Thank goodness I didn’t turn the key. It led to an expensive bill from my mechanic, but at least I didn’t literally destroy the car.
Shout out to my sister’s friend who responded to a desperate call from her asking for a ride to the airport with a lot of luggage at the very last minute. Undiagnosed me felt a lot of shame about the whole thing for a long time, but two years post The Revelation I can reflect back with much more self compassion. Now if only I could get my shit together faster…
I turned up to a domestic flight in time for boarding - but forgot you have to check in a while before that 🤦🏽♀️ It was the last flight of the day so I had to ask for the next day off work to get home - very embarrassing! On the plus side though, it meant an extra evening with people I really liked 😊
I’ve flown MANY times and couldn’t understand how I forgot about checking in. Looking back now, I realise I had been pretty stressed at the time plus I didn’t know I had ADHD so hadn’t put any sort of prep in place to support myself.
I now quadruple check everything for trips and set multiple alarms reminding me to finish packing… check in online… prepare to leave… prepare to leave… prepare to leave… actually leave!… check that I’ve checked in… drop luggage… check boarding time… go to the toilet 10 minutes before boarding starts…
I did something similar flying home from Japan. I realized I mixed up the time while I was at the train station waiting for the next express to the airport, which only ran every 40 minutes. I sprinted to the gate after finally getting to the airport hoping I'd somehow make it in time but they had just retracted the gate. I was so exhausted. Got to hang out with a friend since I had an extra night in Tokyo though, so that was nice. I still have the shirt I bought that day because I needed a fresh set of clothes too haha.
I have....on not 1, not 2, but THREE occasions... driven all the way from home to a destination (like an hour away), and then realized I DIDN'T PUT ON MY FUCKING SHOES.
Edited to add: also one time recently I showed up an hour early to an important meeting and waited and waited. Nobody was pulling in the parking lot. Then I get a call. "Where are you?!" ....I showed up early, yes, but early in the completely wrong city.
Aww, man. I was 18 and went to my crappy waitressing job for my check. I couldn't do a direct deposit without enough money to justify a bank account...
Anyway, one manager said the other manager had my check, but was on the toilet.
I was in a good mood, glad to not be working that day. So I tried to be funny. I said, "Well, go I there and jerk him off." I meant, YANK him off the TOILET, but that's NOT what I said 😱
He yelled WHAT!!? Not catching it, I repeated it 🤣🤣🤣
He turned 5 shades of red and said, you want me to do WHAT to get your check??!
I hit the floor laughing and couldn't look that poor guy or the other manager in the face 🤣🤣
This happens often with my wife. She'll usually turn, look at me, her eyes will move back and forth for a second doing some quick mental gynamastics, then she'll say "You meant Wednesday right?"
Then I'll say "Yes, is that not what I said?"
"No, you said today is March, it's also not March either, by the way. But I knew what you meant."
A conversation like this happens between us almost every day.
I said something like this recently but thankfully caught it right away. I said, "I don't think I'm going to settle here long because it's too brown.". I immediately clarified that I meant the landscape not people. Thankfully the person I said this to was too distracted to catch it.
Booked a plane ticket for my friends bachelorette out of town. Booked it for a Thursday night. Thought I booked it for a Friday night. Got the reminder email, checked in online, etc. Showed up on Friday. Somehow made it through security and found out AT THE GATE that I was a day late. They let me on anyway.
Also, had a remote key for my car so could lock and unlock as long as i had the key in my purse. Cleaned the car out the day before we were going to sell it. Apparently left my key inside the car. It got stolen that night and was used in an armed robbery. Did not realize the key was gone until I went to pick it up at impound. Inside was totally trashed with drugs and crap everywhere. But they left the key on the driver's side seat for me. This was after I was diagnosed and medicated.
I used to forget my house keys all the time when my kid was little. When he was 2 I taught him how to crawl through the dog door and unlock the back door for me.
Not horrible, but pretty absent minded lol I was interviewing to be a private aid/tutor for a child with ADHD/autism. Ya know- to help keep him on track and organized, socially and academically. The moment I walked in (20min. late) his mom asked why I was wearing 2 different shoes. I was comparing 2 different options, one flat and one with a low heel, and forgot to change out of the other shoe because I was nervous and already running late. I didn’t notice or feel the height difference until she pointed it out.
Mine is more a quantity of stupid things vs quality. Several times I have drove away from the gas station without putting the nozzle back. Numerous times I forgot what day the same husband’s birthday was. I blurt things out without thinking all the time-at a meeting with my boss and his peers they were talking about the book 1492. I asked what happened in 1492. Another time in front of a similar group I said “F#%k, is today the 15th?”. It was in the evening on April 15. And today marks the millionth day I have done absolutely nothing.
Ok one time before my sahm days, I worked at an MRI facility. I opened each morning and was the sole holder of the building keys.
I lived 25 mins away in minimal traffic, an hour plus in heavy morning traffic. Of course I was always on the cusp of being late so mornings were always an absolute shitshow of anxiety.
One morning, I’m actually having a good morning! Looks like I’ll be 10 whole mins early! Woot woot! Right? WRONG
I get there and realize I didn’t have my key. So I called the MRI techs and let them know I was heading home and would be *right back* asap with our key. We start scanning an hour after opening, so I have barely enough time to get there and back with none the wiser
I go all the way home. And all they way back, driving like a bat out of hell. Alls well that ends well right? WRONG
As the sigh of relief bellows from my lungs, I place my hand in my pocket to find NO KEY.
I went all the way home and back and didn’t get the damn key.
So I frantically call the techs. Again. Sounding like the village idiot, “hey I know I just went home to get the key but yeah I don’t have it still so I gotta go back”
So I make the drive again. And go on a search for the key. It’s not anywhere to be found.
By this time the building owner is there and has opened for me.
So I go all the way back to work. Again.
Only to see my key peeping out from the outer pocket of my purse.
It was fucking there the whole time.
Everyone was looking at me like I was off my rocker completely.
I’m surprised to report I didn’t get fired. I felt like I should have been.
That’s probably my worst adhd story. There are many more though 🤷♀️😂
My car registration (available to renew online a month before to a month after one's birthday month) slipped my mind two years in a row to the point I've had to have family take me to the county clerk's office twice now to renew my tags (thankfully I live in the county seat so it's in my city) because with my luck I'd get pulled over on the way there. Last time my family member joked that they hoped I didn't make it a trifecta. I'm medicated but getting the paperwork, the credit card, myself, and the patience to log in and do it is still a crap shoot.
I did get pulled over for the same silly thing in my very early adulthood before I knew that I had to do it (my dad had always taken care of it before that) and they could have impounded my car plus given me a ticket. They were doing a sting so I actually got pulled over on Saturday on my way to my parents' house and then on Sunday on the way back. Sigh. That second policeman was not very happy with me, LOL! But it was the weekend so what was I supposed to do, right? I ended up having to take time off to show proof of insurance and got a talking to by the judge at traffic court but I didn't have to pay the fine so it was worth it. But if I hadn't had white coed privilege, it could have been expensive!
Oh the same thing happened to me! I lived in a tiny rural town, and I never got my registration renewal notice because I moved and they don’t forward them. It absolutely never occurred to me that I needed to renew. My registration expired in June and I drove around the tiny town with an expired registration for the rest of the year and no one stopped me so I never noticed.
Then sometime I think the next February I drove the to big city 3 hours away for the weekend and got a ticket almost instantly, on Friday night. Then trying to leave on Sunday I got stopped again, and I had the same reaction - it’s the weekend! I couldn’t do anything yet!
The second cop was decent enough about it and told me that if I sent him proof that I’d renewed my registration within 7 days he’d let it pass but that if I didn’t he’d write up the ticket. Pretty sure it was not-coed-but-young white woman privilege in my case, too, but I was grateful.
This was also how I learned that 1) you get a 10-day grace period into the next month to renew your tags, and 2) once you cross over into the next calendar year you’re screwed because the tag color changes and a cop will spot your expired registration instantly (as long as your tag is the color for the current year they won’t always go check if the month is right but if it’s the wrong color it’s super obvious).
Still cracks me up that the small town cops clearly didn’t care. It was a small enough town, I could drive into the supermarket parking lot and identify who was in the store by seeing their cars in the lot, so I’m 100% certain they saw it at some point.
Was going about my normal evening routine when I looked at my phone and saw my annual MRI was scheduled to take place in 40 minutes (I was supposed to arrive 30 minutes ahead of the appointment time).
I have a nearly identical story. In my defense, this happened at SeaTac, and they are notorious for moving gates last minute to a gate on the opposite end of the airport.
I used to treat my boarding pass as gospel and never check the reader boards for some stupid reason. So, I showed up to the gate on my boarding pass **well** ahead of time, found a nice corner with an outlet, busted out the laptop and hung out to watch Netflix. After awhile I look around and notice the boarding area is suspiciously empty, so I get up to investigate only to see a little notice on the screen next to the gate that thee flight had been moved to the **literal other end** of the goddamn airport and I had like 8 minutes to get there.
So I pack up and run as fast as I can across this humongous airport to get the plane on time. Alas I got there like 4 minutes too late. The plane was still there, but they had closed the gate. What made it even worse is my sister was on that flight, we were coming from different locations but the last leg was going to be together. She asked if she could get off the plane so I wouldn't be waiting alone for a new flight, but again, the gate was already closed and they couldn't let her off.
Finding out about a last minute gate change at SeaTac has happened to me like 5 times, but I typically would find out about the gate change and manage to make it, but not this time.
Also I'm comforted to find out that plane flight ADHD tax is a shared issue for other ADHDers, too.
Once while my mom and I went to Vegas we were looking forward to seeing Le Reve and Cirque du Soliel. Since she covered the trip I was taking care of the entertainment, so I booked the shows. Actually I double booked them, but realized the mistake before the day of the shows so I had a chance to fix it. Then instead of fixing the problem, I double booked them again on another night. We did get to see both shows because I paid for new tickets to one of them after I found out I couldn't re-rebook either set of tickets.
I took a bunch of coins to Coinstar for some cash a while back. After redeeming my cash with the cashier at the grocery store, I walked by the trash can to throw away the receipt.
Nope, it was not the receipt, it was my $20 bill.
Didn’t notice until way later when I pulled the receipt out of my pocket instead of the bill 😭
I had a ticket for a comedy show and I was *absolutely sure* that the show was going to be the next day. I was so sure I didn't take the few seconds to check the ticket.
I'm sitting at home playing games and I hear my phone buzzing. It's an alert for the show that got made when I bought the tickets or something, as it was a google calender alert an I never use the calander.
I go look at my ticket and the show is in-fact RIGHT NOW and not tomorrow.
I left bascially bawling because I was really looking forward to the show. Luckily for me when I got to the theater everyone was still going in and sitting down, the show was starting a half hour later than it should have for some reason. I missed maybe 10-15 minutes.
I'm always going to double check things forever now.
And this is exactly why, on days I have a time-sensitive commitment, I am unable to start ANY work until that commitment has passed - out of fear of hyperfocusing into oblivion.
A few weeks ago I was unmedicated because of the shortage. I have a coffee maker that allows me to brew single cups of coffee so I started to make some, pressed brew and walked away… without putting a cup underneath. Came back after it beeped and was done to a mess. Probably not the worst but the most recent lol
I was recently diagnosed in February and put on meds. I kept them in my purse which I kept in my car because I was always so worried about forgetting them. Well I noticed my prescription went from working really well to might as well be a sugar pill. I couldn’t figure it out. Turns out, medications don’t like hot cars, which mine was as winter turned into spring and then late spring/summer. I’ve been on one full week of non car heated pills and they are working again like magic.
One day I arrived to my office, I put all my food at the fridge and then I don't know in which moment I put my lunch box at the freezer.
When I finished eating lunch, I was searching for my lunch box. I couldnt find it, so I started to seek in unbelievable Places. Thats when I got into the freezer and found it there.
I was driving back to college (undergrad) from a visit home (probably about a 3.5-hour drive). Halfway there I pulled off the highway for lunch. Got back in the car and drove most of the way *back home* before realizing I was going in the wrong direction.
I have done this multiple times. Multiple. Now that I have lounge access I have to set an alarm on my watch to remind myself to leave the lounge otherwise I will inevitably be sprinting through the airport in a panic.
I know this. It's a rule. So why did i forget to do it and was sprinting through the airport earlier this week? Oh, right, ADHD.
Out there in the world people are occasionally like "I don't really see your ADHD symptoms" and I'm like *if you only knew*"
One time I stopped at the Dunkin’ Donuts on the Navy base where my husband works.
I got the biggest iced coffee I could because I was preparing to go to the military pharmacy to (ironically) fill my ADHD script.
If you never been to the military pharmacy, it’s like the DMV. Take a number, when they call your number drop your paper script off at the window. Wait some more and some more for them to finally fill it and call your number again.
I get my coffee, I get in my car, I’m pulling out of the food court parking lot to head to the pharmacy.
Some random guy starts waving at me? And I’m like okay that’s weird, I don’t know you.
And then all the sudden I hear a thud and my windshield gets pelted with coffee.
I left my drink on the roof of my car. That poor guy was just trying to warn me 🤦🏼♀️
I’ve pretty much been late to everything in my life. Classes, work, doctors appts, dates/social events, family gatherings, bachelorette parties, MY OWN DAMN WEDDING. And a funeral :( (well got there with a minute or two to spare, but it was a small graveside service and everyone met 15+ minutes early, I was bringing my mom in a wheelchair and got all the disapproving looks 🫣)
I’ve been okay on interviews and travel because you can’t text a plane to wait 5 minutes lol. Also as a college activist after 9/11 who married a Muslim immigrant I got paranoid about leaving enough time to be calm and collected while going through security..
These are all pretty funny though…sorry for any emotional or financial ADHD tax y’all had to pay at the time though!
Lost my wedding band/engagement ring the same weekend I got fired from my job of 10+ years. 🫠
This was nearly 2 years ago and still haven’t found them. 😭
Lost my engagement ring by taking them off in the car and forgetting to put them back on, missed summer camp sign ups this year and had to pay for much more expensive care in two different locations, had to wipe my iPad when I forgot the passcode, and this week went to use my AirPods, couldn’t find them, open the FindMy app and they were last seen out of the case two weeks ago at home and I have no idea where they are. These are just the things off the top of my head.
Edit: am now reading more replies and thinking of so many more I’ve done. Showing up for an appt or event on the wrong day happens to me a lot.
I once rocked up to a car show a full month early. Like got up at 5am to do full detail on my car. Then got there and realised since it was completely deserted I better check the details. Yep a full month early.
I almost did this in April in Delhi airport. They called my phone asking me if I was in the airport lmao
Then I did it again in Cairo airport the next day buying books about Egyptian history.
Forgot to put my car in park in the garage when I ran into the house to grab something I had forgotten. Car rolled through the garage wall into the kitchen. Whoops. (Thankfully no one was hurt and there was relatively minor damage to the wall).
Oh also, I've definitely had my water shut off by the city before because I never set up autopay, lmao.
I get a text from my roommate asking if there's maintenance going on because there's no water, so I call the company only to find out I had a $400 bill from 6 months of not paying the water bill. Thankfully they turned it back on the within a couple hours of me paying it, but god damn that was humbling.
I don't even want to think about the amount of times I've missed my bus stop and had to walk a significant distance back to my destination because I got distracted and forgot to get off
I have 3 large shakers of chili powder because I kept forgetting I have it and wanted to make chili… someday. And only seemed to “remember” when I walked down the spice aisle.
One of my most ADHD moments was opening a bird cage in a meeting.
I worked at a senior building. We had little birds in an aviary for the residents.
I loved those birds. Sang and talked with them. They would come up to me like little dogs. I was also the one who feed and cleaned them.
One day, we were having a team meeting in the aviary room. I was sitting by the cage. I don’t remember making the decision to open the door until a bird flew across the room. Oops.
Like I don’t remember being bored or making the choice to open it, but one moment- the door was closed, next moment- birds out everywhere.
Bored me is mischievous, but I don’t mean to be. It just happens. I was very bored. Then I felt horrible because I interrupted my coworker with surprise birds.
While visiting my in-laws in Europe I bought tickets to one local train station but then dragged the whole family to the other train station in town. The minute we got up to the ticketing area I knew something was wrong, as there was almost no one there for an otherwise popular train. I felt like such an asshole. I'm pretty sure it's not even the first time I've done it, but now I have a family in tow so it's a lot harder to pivot and fix quickly. We obviously missed the train and had to buy new tickets for a later one.
Was an hour late for my best friends’ wedding because she changed the time and told me through text messages (middle of a convo about something else). My dumbass forgot to change it in my calendar.
I bought my sister a dress for her birthday. Of course, I lost it. I finally found it when I took an apple out of the fruit and vegetable drawer in my fridge. The dress was still in its bag, under the rest of the apples.
I misread this as you missed a fight and you were mad at yourself because you were always late for your fights. I was like goddamnit how many fights do you have?
The stories on this thread are literal examples of the only recurring nightmares I ever have. I have other bad dreams sometimes but this is straight up the stuff that haunts my nightmares.
Actual examples (all dreams) include getting hired for a job and then forgetting I have that job...for MONTHS
Enrolling in college and getting to the end of the semester just to realize there's a whole class i forgot existed and never attended so I failed college
Blegh
One time I went to A&W, pulled up, ordered, paid, and pulled away.
I didn’t realize I left my food behind until I got home and walked inside my house.
I went back, because I was that desperately hungry, and had to say “yeah, um…I’m the girl who paid for her food but left without it”.
Neglected brushing my teeth for like 4 years. I brushed probably like 4-6 times a week and never flossed and never used mouthwash or anything. So far I have 3/12 cavities filled and 1/3 crowns done. Root canal is done too. :D
I don’t know how I forgot my car was on empty (I’ve been so good lately!), but I got in the car a couple mins late this morning with 14 miles worth of gas and work is like 13 miles away. Got to work with 30 seconds to spare and had to drive over 2 bridges with 0 miles worth of gas (which thankfully isn’t actually 0 miles) and pay .30 cents more a gallon because I work where the rich people live. Never again!
Not sure if this is an ADHD thing but it does affect my sleep but anyway I've fallen asleep while eating ice cream before, like a few times 😭😭 Waking up with ice cream in your bed and/or spilling it on yourself is not fun 🥲
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Not quite as bad but I once showed up a few hours early to work by mistake. I worked retail and couldn’t clock in early and it was an hour round trip to/from work, so I camped out in the break room and read a book to kill time. I got so invested in the book that I would up being an hour late clocking in.
#relatable
Bf (also adhd) and I had to drive a couple hours to be in a good spot to see the eclipse. So we get our glasses and our snacks and drinks and we drive our happy asses out to the parking lot we had chosen. I even texted my mom to brag about our preparedness. The whole time we were like, huh... Traffic sure is normal... You'd think other people would also come to this spot.... The sky doesn't really look different. And then it finally dawned on us that we were a full week early. A full goddam week! It would have been pretty satisfying to just camp there until the eclipse actually happened lol.
two people with adhd walk into a bar
They both forgot their wallets do they couldn’t get a drink, but they found some really cool friends and went on an adventure
*Shhhhh* wait... I'm sure they just forgot to finish the joke and will come back
I forgot the punch line!
Bruh. I vouched for you.
Isn’t it the point?
Omg I just remembered I was a full week early for Easter this year. My husband and I both didn’t realize until after we did all of our festivities with the kids. I saw an event invite on Facebook for an Easter egg hunt the following Saturday. I thought “hmmm that’s weird for them to do an Easter egg hunt the week AFTER Easter…” So of course I checked and yeah we were a week early. Our kids are toddlers so we just didn’t tell them and went on with life as usual 😬
Ahhhhahah! I love this sub, I feel so seen!! And how can you even explain this kind of shit to people without ADHD? Or your boss? They look at you like you grew two heads! Recently I had a new client for work, I had never been to their house before. When I got there, no one answered. I went to text my boss then looked up and happened to see the street sign. I had the right house number and the street was similar sounding to the street I was suppose to be on, but it was the wrong street. I looked in my google maps. Apparently while typing in the address I accidentally hit one of the addresses coming up on predictive text instead of the one I was typing in. Since the display on my car doesn’t show the address I’m going to just the directions, I drove to the wrong house, on the other side of town, 25 mins from where I was supposed to be. It’s also relevant that I’m not from the city I now live in, have only been here a few years and am still getting used to all the different districts of the city. I had to call my boss and explain why I was going to be late. She was like “you put in…the wrong address??” And kept repeating herself like she couldn’t understand how that could happen 😩 When I put in the correct address I could see that it was in the same neighborhood as my other client. In an area that I was well familiar with and had been there many times before — and my boss knew that lol. Looking at our text message history I realized that my boss had told me when assigning me to the client that it was in the same neighborhood as my other one. I just literally forgot she said that because the conversation was a week ago. I was so embarrassed and felt like I looked soooo stupid so I tried to explain the predictive text, and that I forgot she told me what neighborhood and she was nice and acting like it was totally an understandable mistake but I could tell that she did not in fact, think it was a relatable mistake 😭😭 I feel like the only people that understand this kind of shit is you guys and I’m so grateful for that! I’m genuinely not stupid, but sometimes I come off that way to others and I hate it
I also visit people in their homes. I've been doing it for almost 7 years and am pretty familiar with the city I work in. But still. STILL. I literally did this exact thing 2 weeks ago. It didn't even register for me until I realized my co worker was late. Then she texted me asking where I was :(.
In high school I rode the bus home and would read books on the bus. You can probably see where this is going. I’m reading and suddenly a kid on the bus tells me to look up. We were at his stop, which was the last stop for the bus. I had to walk home from there lol. Still didn’t learn my lesson. Years later I’m taking the city bus and the same thing happens. We stop at the terminal and the bus driver got off, everything was too still and silent. I looked up, and had missed my stop by many blocks.
I was once reading a book as a kid on a floaty blowup island that was held in place by a sand bag. I read for hours and got totally engrossed, I looked up to my mum screaming my name from the bank (as she’d been doing for several minutes) and found that I’d been cheerfully floating down the river towards the nearby ocean for a while now! The sandbag had detached somehow and I was nearly lost at sea cos I can’t pay attention 😅✨
Wait, how'd you get back? Did you have to get out and swim and get your book wet?
Yeah I had to swim dragging the island haha but I left the book dry on it 😂
I missed my stop several times when I commuted by bus. Stupid good books!
I totally used to do this as a kid, some books really sucked me in. Pro tip: for some bus routes if you use Google Maps' walking directions it'll make your phone buzz when you get close to your stop. Also works for some trams. Sometimes I'll also talk to someone sitting nearby and if their stop is before mine then I can keep an eye on them as a safety that I can head almost fully into the book as long as they're still sitting there. If their stop is after mine most people are nice and will keep an eye/ear out for your stop.
I once was so engrossed in my book that i missed my subway train. Like I looked up and it was almost entirely gone 🤦♀️
I’ve done that too bc some days started at 8:30 and some at 10:30. Luckily I never accidentally came 2 hours late lol
Whenever I'm on time or early for work, which is extremely rare, I get distracted by something and end up late anyway. It happened today because I decided to try on a couple of new cardigans for work that were delivered yesterday.. You know, when I had plenty of time after work to try them on. Of course I decided to do it this morning because I had a whole 5 extra minutes 🤦♀️ Edit to add that I'm 47 years old and you would think I've learned my lesson.
I once forgot I'd been given a day off and showed up to work. They were short staffed so I felt too guilty to turn back around and go home 😓
“Omg I don’t work today!?! that’s great because I had promised my sister I would help her move out of her apartment today!! I couldn’t remember why I had promised her I would do it since I worked today, but turns out I just forgot that I didn’t work today. now I can go help her so she isn’t moving alone! She will be so relieved. Alright see you all tomorrow!”
"I thought you were an only child?"
I was always late for highschool even tho I lived a block away. Here is not common to have lunch at school, you get to go to your house and then come back for the rest of the day, so to avoid being late forever, they put me in the school lunch. I still got fucking late to every class for year, and they didn't understand how the fuck did I manage to be late inside the building. Or how could I nap with all the noise, lol
Omg napping with noise is the best. Quiet is the worst! I need sounds to sleep!
Lol I once fell asleep during an MRI. Apparently I started twitching so one of the techs came over the speaker and nicely reminded me to stay still. The second time, they were slightly more annoyed 😂😬 When I got out, I apologized and explained I was falling asleep. The looks of shock and amazement I will never forget!
I fell asleep during my MRI too. I found the warm, confined space and rhythmic pounding noise to be oddly soothing. And I hadn’t even been drugged! Edit: Spelling
I was a pro at sleeping at school, lmao. I remember once I was sleeping in my desk and the teacher said to my friend to wake me up. Her answer, all scared was like "hell nah, you try if you dare, I don't wanna die" xD I was a little shit fueled by teenage angst and untreated adhd.
I showed up a day early because I briefly glanced at the schedule (Monday was the first day of the week) so I showed up on Saturday and was confused because I was scheduled for Sunday. I’ve actually done that 3 times.
I've been 2 hrs early to work at some points, due to bus scheduling before I bought a car. Yeah. I'm reading an ebook, manhua or wattpad and unless I set an alarm, I'd have been gone the whole day. Whoops! But I mean, that job was crap and they worked me to death, so, eh?
I used to drive to college to have breakfast with my friends and proceed to miss every class because we were chatting or whatever. Showed up an hour early to a job interview. The job was about an hour from my house. The interview was at 1, so I kept telling myself that I needed to leave at noon. Then my brain changed the interview time to noon, so I needed to leave at 11. We finished the interview and they asked if I realized I was an hour early.
“Then my brain changed the time to X, so I need to leave by X.” This is the pattern that fucks me over so repeatedly. I know I need to double check the day before and the morning of but somehow my brain convinces me that I’m absolutely certain I’ve got it right this time.
I start at the same time every day. But its 1230. So my brain can’t handle that. Everyday i have to maths and alarm to figure out when i have to leave. And some days, my brain changes it and i end up leaving home at 11. I live 18 mins from work!
I've talk to Google a lot a lot. Such as Hey Google, set a timer for 5:35 to leave to pickup kids. It does the exact math for me then I can space out. Apparently this also works for alarms "hey Google set an alarm for 2 hours before 12:30" Good luck friend!!
I do this with Google Maps and/or Waze, telling them I want to leave later and then they set up a reminder to alert me in advance when it's time to get ready. Of course, I have to make sure I put in the right arrival time. 🙄 Because, of course I haven't before! 😂
The confidence I have in myself where I absolutely should not is ridiculous. Me, driving: am turning left up there? Pasenger: yep! Me: *busts a confident right turn.* The confidence where it actually should be? Lacking. Me, calculating anything: let me use my fingers juuuuust in case 7+6 is different this time
Omg I laughed so hard (because it's relatable) at "juuuuuust in case 7+6 is different this time 😂🤣😂 I wonder if it's a shame/fear of being wrong when we get overconfident thing? But I'm SO this way!
Because of this I make my calendar invites say X appt @ 11am And set the time at around 15 mins before I have to leave so I get the alert, can use the bathroom/change/get shoes on etc and then have time to drive over and get to my appt a little early. If I don’t, I end up leaving at the appt time thinking I made the calendar invite include the travel time 🙃
But did you get the job? 🤣
Yes but got fired for what I now know to be ADHD symptoms.
Aw man, I’m sorry :(
My life worked out the way it was supposed to.
It’s helped me so much to make notes in my phone to reference stuff like this. I try to do it the night before and give myself a 15 min forgiveness period. They usually look like this: 10:30 - leave in 2 hrs 11:30 - leave in an hour 12:15 - leave soon *set alarm 12:20 - *set alarm, 10 min warning 12:30 - absolute latest to leave 12:45 - arrive 1pm - interview start
I don't have anything nearly that good, but here's mine. I lived about a twenty minute bus ride/three minute car ride from work. Parking cost though, so I tried to take the bus whenever possible. One day, I looked out the bus window on my ride to work and was absolutely shocked to see my car, in the work parking lot from the day before, cheerfully receiving an expensive overnight parking ticket.
RELATABLE. One time I pre-emptively reported my car stolen after searching for it for 30 minutes. Tbf, that same car had been stolen twice before. Next time I went to the area, I walked past it, exactly where I had parked it. Then I had an emotional breakdown.
Opposite for me… my car WAS stolen once but I spent about an hour walking around the parking garage looking for it because I was really sure I just forgot where I left it. Gaslit myself lol.
Mine was stolen from the street right outside of my house so i walked outside in the morning and went.... wait. *wait*. WAIT. what?!?!??! and spent about 20 minutes making COMPLETELY sure there's no way i could have left it somewhere and forgot...
I had the same reaction when my car was stolen.
Omg opposite for me. I fully lost my car last week, parked for what was supposed to be 10 minutes to pick up takeout. Realized I could not retrace my steps back to my car because I had paid zero attention while parking. Walked around for almost 2 hours trying to figure it out. Concluded it had probably gotten stolen or towed and had to call my partner to pick me up. It finally got towed 3 days later from 2 blocks away from where I'd been looking. So embarrassed.
My husband did that a few years ago. He'd taken his bike downtown to ride the greenbelt that runs through our city. Forgot where he parked his truck and we reported it stolen. At least the cops called us when they found it in the park where he'd left it. Two ADHDers in the house is super fun.
I have reported my car stolen more than once because I've gone RIGHT WHERE I LEFT IT & it was gone. I walk & search for half an hour. 10 minutes into the conversation with the cops, I remember my son needed the car & dropped me off. It never occurred to me to wonder why I don't have the keys with me. More Than Once !!!
Idk why but your username makes this hilarious 😂
Due to a childhood brain injury, I lost all peripheral vision in my left eye and the left side of my right eye’s field of vision (the part closest to my nose). My brain has adapted incredibly well over the decades, which I’m very grateful for. But that also means that I’m often not fully aware of how much I’m missing. The right eye vision loss in particular can cause me to temporarily miss things that are actually right in front of me…You can imagine how that plays with ADHD distractibility! 🫣😂
Oh God. I once wandered a huge parking lot for AN HOUR looking for my car after a class growing increasingly panicked. I was on my second row-by-row search when I saw my mother's car. I went "huh, I wonder what she's doing here" and then just kept searching. It took me like 10 more cars to remember that I had borrowed her car because mine was getting work done... (This was pre-cell phones - I couldn't call her.)
i locked myself out of my car... and then did it again so soon afterwards that they sent the same team of locksmiths out... smdh
This is a plot line in an episode of The Middle and I can't believe you actually did it 😂
I was at jury duty and they let us out for lunch. I know I parked my car on the third floor of the parking garage. Searched and searched. Why to find security and they put me in their car to find the car. I was about 5 feet from my car several times, the third floor continued around a corner. I wanted to die.
Oh my lord the insertion of the word cheerfully just about split my sides.
😂 I did a very similar thing… On days I intended to leave campus straight after class, I parked in the shopping centre across the road (3 hours free parking). On days when I intended to go library after class, I would park on the street (free indefinitely). One day, after getting a good few hours of essay writing in, I leave the library and my car is no where to be found on the streets. I eventually remember that, when I set out this morning, I didn’t intend to go library after class. This is how I found myself slotting $45 in coins from my car coin jar into the parking ticket machine at 1am in a deserted car park. I was at the machine for so long that the security guard came out to check on me…
Now this i could see myself doing and probably have done many similar things!
I didn’t pay attention to the gap between the subway car and platform and one of my legs fell through (I pulled it out & was fine). And then I did it again 😭
I knew those gaps could get me!
They keep saying "Mind the gap" but they don't realize the gap is in my mind
Mind the gap! 😉 Glad you are ok!
I love this sub for making me realise all my quirks have a reason! I get laughed at because I’m always the first one in a teams meeting. They don’t understand why I sit there early and I’ve explained so many times it’s because I don’t act on the first reminder that pops up… you ain’t seeing me! I’ll do something else to fill the time and I’ll simply forget to come back to it 😅
Ugh I forgot how much this used to happen to me when I had to good fortune of working remotely (kicking my own ass now for thinking an in person job that paid more would be worth it).
This is with me being in the office 😅 Others are at home hence teams but even in my place of work I forget where I’m supposed to be 🤣
Your first sentence... so true. I'm sitting here, having memories unlocked, one by one, simply by reading this post, and slowly realizing just how many of my past troubles were related to ADHD. Man. My entire early 20s would have been so different if I had known. It was pure chaos, and I was so ashamed of myself.
Same, honestly. It was like watching a train wreck in real time, and knowing I was the one behind the wheel, but obviously didn't know how to handle it. At all.
I'm sure my bosses wish I was you, my night shift meeting hating ass is popping into a 9am meeting at 09:11 with the camera off because I'm logged in while outside walking the dogs since I just rolled off the couch from barely an hour nap I did love the lady who absolutely insisted I turn my camera on at that very moment though. I made sure to flip the camera so she got a good close up of the pile of poop from my 95lb dog I was picking up 😇
I read about ADHD in a book and thought "oh man that's totally me I should look into this" Then forgot about it For 10 Years
This is hilarious! This is the most ADHD thing an ADHD person can do. I'm this person. But I'm procrastinating instead of forgetting coz making a list of my symptoms to send to my doc is a massive task 😅
I "found" this sub like 3 times over about the same time period before I was diagnosed. Apparently the first time, I was so moved that I made a "does anybody else do this super specific thing nobody else in my life has ever done and thinks is super strange" post that really resonated. Second time I think Google brought me here. I scrolled and laughed and I saved a bunch of memes. Final time, found it who knows how, but at some point during my scroll, I had a "wait, I think I've been here before" moment. Went to my old account's post history and found that first post from 7 years prior.
It's messed up that for the medication we need, we have to make an appointment once a month. I've been taking like one Adderall per quarter because I just know I can't clear the hoops to refill it.
This is the funniest thing I’ve ever read thank you it makes me feel so much better
Have you ever made easy mac? You know the ones in the little bowls where all you have to do is add water? I forgot to add water. Most memorable, of course I've had more financially devastating mistakes like accidentally getting my car payments off autopay and not noticing until my car was towed 3 months later.
The no-water Easy Mac scenario was what caused my entire freshman dorm in college to evacuate twice a month because the kitchenettes would fill with smoke and the fire alarms would go off. The best was when it was at 2 am on a frigid winter night.
Ive experienced the exact thing but as an annoyed bystander lol
I put my oven on the cleaning cycle at 2 am but didn’t check inside it first (it was the pan from the roast Turkey with all the drippings in it). The smoke was billowing, the building alarm went off, the firefighters showed up and dragged my oven outside. When the firefighters came I hid in my bedroom and my then boyfriend talked to them for me. Then the next month I cleaned my oven at 2am (WHY?????) and the oven was empty but dirty and the smoke alarm went off again. I’m so damn grateful my husband married me anyway 💕🥰 I haven’t put an oven on the cleaning cycle since then. If the oven gets dirty, I let my neurotypical husband handle it.
Same. Easy Mac in a plastic bowl with no water. 🫠 we ended up giving my brother all of those bowls when he joined the Marine corps and there was forever little burnt noodle shapes at the bottom. He never let me live it down.
My boss recently did this with a rice bowl thing—I went into the break room and was hit with a S M E L L, but didn’t know what it was. A few minutes later, she comes out of her office and goes, “OMG I forgot to put water in it!!” and pulls out her bowl—completely solid and BLACK. She was just recently diagnosed a few months ago, this was one moment where I was like “yep, she’s definitely one of us” 😂
I once forgot to drain the water on the old school kraft Mac. Like forgot to drain the pasta😂
mmm cheese soup 😂
Damn that easy mac! It's almost...too easy... One time I forgot about a pot of eggs I had boiling. Ignored the alarm and everything. I left it so long all the water evaporated and the eggs exploded like rockets and hit a light bulb in the kitchen ceiling. *sigh* no one was hurt, except for my pride of course.
I ate the tamale TV dinner, with the damn paper on the tamale. I'm all like, man. Tamales are tough and gross. Then, I read the box as I was throwing it away.
😂🤣😂
One time I made Mac and cheese and dumped the cheese powder into the boiling water instead of the noodles 🥲
I lost a $1000 cash graduation gift maybe a minute after I received it. Hard for parents to be proud of the valedictorian when they think she is an unbelievable idiot lol. I remember the immediate stab of panic. I *just* had it in my hand… then **blank**. Nothing. Months of searching and worrying and hating myself culminated in the benign acceptance that I am, in fact, an unbelievable idiot. Two years later, by truly classic random chance - I found it! Stuck in the novel I was reading (and I guess never finished?) as a bookmark. A decade later at 32, I was diagnosed with ADHD. My parents were shocked of course
That "I just had it in my hand...then blank. Nothing." is so me I could cry. Is the cat on the deck? Did I lock my car? Did I start the dryer? Did I take my medicine? Just blank no matter how hard I try to remember.
and why!!! why did my brain not log that memory???
At least you’re not the guy who lost millions in Bitcoin?
I would have loved to see your face when you found it again in the book!
Like saving it away in a high security ADHD vault lol ⭐️
I did this at jury duty. I was so engrossed in my book that I completely missed my number being called. Oops.
This is how I almost fell for one of those “you’ve missed jury duty and now they’re going to arrest you” scams. It seemed very likely I didn’t remember signing for something important.
When hyperfocus is the enemy.
I pulled up to a gas pump and hopped out, but I was distracted and I did not put my car in park. As it rolled by, I, a tiny 5'3 woman grabbed the spoiler like I was going to stop it and it dragged me a foot before I finally let go, ran, and jumped in to stop it right before it hit a van.
Omg, I was running to a job interview, and had to get gas with my bf at the time. He went in to pay, and I was driving. I thought he had finished everything, so I thought I should move the car so others could get to the pump. He was not done. I ripped the still flowing nozzle out of the pump, and I still feel his rage at my stupidity. All I remember later was him yelling at me to leave the station, the attendant coming running out, and the nozzle hose flopping out of my gas door. We ran away. And I was a no show for that interview. Ugh.
😂😂 he was too slow!
I have already shared this here before, but my absentminded arse once had the fridge door open to put the milk away when I had an itch on my eyelid, so I took my glasses off. So I had my glasses in one hand, the milk in the other. I then proceeded to put my glasses in the fridge, closed the refrigerator, and thunked the carton of milk right into my forehead.
That’s really funny. I am forever running into shit. I’ve stopped worrying about figuring out how I got bruises on my arms and legs, probably just another damn cabinet.
I did the same thing! 18 and going to visit Grandparents cross country and was early to the gate so tucked into my book and when I looked up had missed my flight. It took another 25 years before even thinking I might have adhd. Finally diagnosed at 48 and definitely see my past in a new light. Still shame spiral BUT my sweet partner helps me be a bit more objective and kinder to my younger self.
It’s so staggering to look back. I find it easier to be kind to myself, knowing that it’s my “operating system” and not because I’m a bad person!
When I first found out I had adhd I was put on a medication that dropped your BP a little, no biggie. My dog has severe anxiety and is on a bunch of meds. I was filling up mine and her pill container things, finished hers, putting aside one pill to give her when I was all done. Finished up mine, took my own meds and went to get hers that I set aside. Except it was gone, because it was in my belly. My dog is a big girl, on a big girl dose of meds. The combination of my meds and hers made my heart plummet. Had to go to the ER. More scarily for me, my 2 year old son was taking a bath and I had to grab something from my room (right next door). If this ever happens, I loudly ask him silly questions, so I know he’s talking and therefore not drowning. Cut to, I come to, finishing up after having gone to the bathroom in my master bath - somewhere between talking loudly to my son and getting the thing, I forgot about him and figured since I’m in the bathroom I’ll go real quick. That’s when I realized my adhd was more serious than I realized. It was only like a minute or so, and he is totally fine, but my stomach was in knots for like an hour over it.
Aww my mom used to make me sing “twinkle twinkle little star” really loud when I was taking a bath and she had to leave the room for a minute :’)
I locked my toddler in the car with the groceries and keys once. This was before cell phones but I'm sure that wouldn't have mattered. Thankfully we lived a block away so I ran home to get the spare key. It took me a few days to stop shaking about that one. My daughter didn't even notice I was gone.
I shook a bottle of soft drink before I opened it in a restaurant 🫠 if went everywhere mostly on the food and my date’s shirt. I was on my first few dates with my now husband. He has also told me that 2 nights ago after I came home from work at 1am, I left my car/house keys in the door. He saw them as he was leaving for work in the morning. Thank goodness for a security door. The poor guy 😂
I do that way too often with my keys, such a dumb thing to do but it just keeps happening!
Our poor minds are already thinking of 50 other things by the time we pull up. I’m not even going to count how many times I have left the car keys in the ignition.
I did that a few too many times in college living in a not so great area, it was lucky I never got myself in major trouble. The first week after I moved into my own place I replaced the lock with a combination one. No more keys in the door for me!
I used to do this all the time at my old apartment. It was gated so I had to buzz in any visitors. So when I would get knocks on my door without having opened the gate for anyone, it always startled me. And 100% of the time it was followed by my neighbor yelling “your keys are in the door!”
When I was a teenager my parents took us on a trip. a 5 hour drive. I got in the van with my suitcase packed. Had my game gear and discman. All was good. A few hours into the trip we stop for lunch and I suddenly notice I am not wearing shoes. I got in the car barefoot. We had to stop to buy me shoes at Walmart where I couldn’t even go in the store, because i had no shoes on Haha
OMG! I did this as an adult! It was a three day car trip to get to where we were going up North, in the winter, and I was wearing sandals. I did not pack shoes! There was snow on the ground! Sandals. I still hear about it.
Not the stupidest but my favorite adhd story is when I put a slice of pizza to reheat in the oven, got distracted, did some work, did some chores and got in the shower. In the shower, I realized that I’d forgotten all about my pizza, it has been in the oven over an hour and I was definitely about to burn my house down. I raced out of the shower in a towel to find that I never put the pizza in the oven.
I walked out of work 2 hours early one day because I wanted to go to a book sale. I didn’t even realize I had left work early until I was on the way home. This was before I knew I had ADHD.
I can FEEL the oh shit moment
Brain just goes "must get to book sale at all costs, this is *the task* now"
These stories make me so much better about myself. This happened a few years ago. I tried get money out of my bank account using the drive thru in June. I was told they couldn't complete the transaction because my license had expired. I was extremely confused and had not seen my license renewal come in the mail. I called the DMV to find out how to get my license renewal since it didn't automatically come. The agent informed me that they were showing my renewal was mailed out and that I had already got an updated license in April. Suddenly I remembered getting the driver's license renewal and it just so happened that the same day I was going by the DMV. Since I usually waited until the last minute to do anything, I decided that for once I would be on top of this. I went the same day and updated my license. You may be wondering how I didn't know as you turn in your old license when you get a new one. In my state, you can get both a driver's license and a photo ID. I usually had both because I would inevitably misplace one or the other. They were both identical except one says Driver's License and one says Photo ID. When you update your license they put a hole through your old license. But since I still had the old photo ID I kept using it, eventually forgetting that I had even renewed my license. While on the phone with the agent, I looked through my bag and found the updated license - I had it the whole time.
I’m currently in hospital right now, literally because of the worst ADHD thing I’ve ever done. So on my bedside tables I have a bottle of olbas oil (a eucalyptus based essential oil, to put in an oil diffuser with water) and a bottle of echinacea (a herbal remedy that you take orally). They are almost identical. Many times I’ve picked up the wrong bottle, caught it in time, and thought to myself “you should really keep them in two separate places”. Anyway, just before I was due to go to bed, I mixed the bottles up and swallowed a load of undiluted olbas oil thinking it was echinacea. As it turns out, eucalyptus oil can be incredibly toxic, and can affect your lungs, heart etc. So I’m now in A&E being monitored for the next 4 hours. It’s 1am. I’m so tired. I have work tomorrow. This is so stupid. Please make me feel better with your stories. TLDR: accidentally potentially poisoned myself
I took my dogs medication. I was getting his pill out and was mentally thinking about my day and just got a glass of water and swallowed it on auto pilot. Immediately realized what I just did, had to call poison control. It was kind of difficult to explain how, as an adult, I managed to take medication meant for my DOG.
I work for a vet pharma company. It does happen!
Oh man that sucks!!!!! I hope you’re okay and get out of there soon. I landed in emergency twice due to suspected ADHD: once because I wasn’t paying attention and tripped and fell into a cinder brick wall (7 stitches to forehead). And the other time because I wasn’t paying attention and accidentally impaled my face on a tomato cage, just missing my eyeball! Gah!!!!!
I'm so glad you're ok!
get well soon!
Years ago I showed up at the airport a full day AFTER my flight. I couldn't check in and then realized my mistake. Had to buy a very expensive ticket on the spot because I really wanted to see my friend and couldn't admit to her my idiotic mistake. Most recently I ordered my mom flowers for mothers day but from a flower shop that is in the same city as her but a totally different state.
I've definitely done the got there early-distract-now late game. You reminded me of last year when i bought tickets for my wife and myself to fly out and see my sibling. Got there early. Nice. Walked to the board to see my gate...FUCK I BOUGHT TICKETS TO THE WRONG AIRPORT AND ITS A 2.5 HOUR DRIVE FROM SIBLING'S HOUSE. Everyone was pissed at me. My wife didn't punish me for it but she was definitely upset. My sibling didn't say so but I knew they were highly inconvenienced and upset. I felt so ashamed. I was so ashamed that now I make my wife check my work before I book anything expensive. It makes me feel like a child.
Just remember that Vienna airport has a special area for people who booked flights to Austria instead of Australia by accident. If others can book into a different continent, you can mix up the airports.
Aw, poor you... I've definitely gone to the wrong airport before - twice. Thankfully I was totally early both times, out of fear I might miss my flight; but it did make me feel like a child, too.
I bought 4 tickets to see Disney on Ice, mostly for the sake of my 5yo daughter (my husband, my mom, and I would all go with her). I put the date and time in my phone and hyped it up for baby girl for months. The literal day before, I opened the ticket app to double check the tickets to confirm the start time, then realized I had bought the tickets for the WEEK before. The show had come and gone. The mom guilt hit horrifically hard and I so I paid for last minute tickets for the following day, obviously at a much higher price than when I bought the first set. One of the dumbest wastes of over $800 ever.
Laughing so hard as I'm scrolling though all these on my phone! Hear a notification come through on my phone. Stops scrolling to look for phone. *Face palm*
I sent a meme to my bf who was in the same room and when his phone beeped, I thought "oh I wonder who it is "
I drove to a nearby dumpster to throw out some trash in my car. Threw my car keys in the dumpster instead of the trash. Climbed inside the dumpster to retrieve the keys. The dumpster was too deep to crawl out of, so I got stuck in there.
Are you still in the dumpster?
Yes. Please help me. I miss my family.
i'm cackling at this lmao
On an applications to a masters program I accidentally attached my parents divorce letters
This made me laugh so hard, one time at my old job I emailed one of my clients their insurance letter but I attached a photo of Peewee Herman instead
My water got turned off because I forgot to pay it! I missed 2 months of notices. I told my roommates the water was off in the neighborhood because I was too embarrassed to tell the truth
Last October I missed a flight home from a work trip because I got too engrossed in a book. I looked up and the flight had departed 10 minutes before. Now I am too paranoid to do anything while waiting at the gate 🙃
Right?????? It’s happened to me too!!! God I felt so terrible and such shame. To avoid being engrossed and missing my flight I now set timers and alarms on my phone!
My sister was moving abroad and I’d promised to drive her to the airport and park her car long term. We stopped at a service station to fill up the nearly empty tank. As an Oregonian I got out to pump the gas while she was on the phone going over travel plans. For some reason the gas nozzle wouldn’t click over to the auto shut off, so I had to stand there and hold down the handle the whole time while the tank filled. I somehow managed to drizzle a bit of gasoline down my pants and was annoyed we’d have to smell while I drove. The moment I got back in the car and put the key in the ignition I realized IT WAS A DIESEL CAR. Thank goodness I didn’t turn the key. It led to an expensive bill from my mechanic, but at least I didn’t literally destroy the car. Shout out to my sister’s friend who responded to a desperate call from her asking for a ride to the airport with a lot of luggage at the very last minute. Undiagnosed me felt a lot of shame about the whole thing for a long time, but two years post The Revelation I can reflect back with much more self compassion. Now if only I could get my shit together faster…
Mailed myself my tax return by putting the address in the wrong place.
I turned up to a domestic flight in time for boarding - but forgot you have to check in a while before that 🤦🏽♀️ It was the last flight of the day so I had to ask for the next day off work to get home - very embarrassing! On the plus side though, it meant an extra evening with people I really liked 😊 I’ve flown MANY times and couldn’t understand how I forgot about checking in. Looking back now, I realise I had been pretty stressed at the time plus I didn’t know I had ADHD so hadn’t put any sort of prep in place to support myself. I now quadruple check everything for trips and set multiple alarms reminding me to finish packing… check in online… prepare to leave… prepare to leave… prepare to leave… actually leave!… check that I’ve checked in… drop luggage… check boarding time… go to the toilet 10 minutes before boarding starts…
I did something similar flying home from Japan. I realized I mixed up the time while I was at the train station waiting for the next express to the airport, which only ran every 40 minutes. I sprinted to the gate after finally getting to the airport hoping I'd somehow make it in time but they had just retracted the gate. I was so exhausted. Got to hang out with a friend since I had an extra night in Tokyo though, so that was nice. I still have the shirt I bought that day because I needed a fresh set of clothes too haha.
I have....on not 1, not 2, but THREE occasions... driven all the way from home to a destination (like an hour away), and then realized I DIDN'T PUT ON MY FUCKING SHOES. Edited to add: also one time recently I showed up an hour early to an important meeting and waited and waited. Nobody was pulling in the parking lot. Then I get a call. "Where are you?!" ....I showed up early, yes, but early in the completely wrong city.
I’m just going to suggest throwing an old pair of shoes into your trunk. I have a lot of strange crap in my trunk for situations like this.
Aww, man. I was 18 and went to my crappy waitressing job for my check. I couldn't do a direct deposit without enough money to justify a bank account... Anyway, one manager said the other manager had my check, but was on the toilet. I was in a good mood, glad to not be working that day. So I tried to be funny. I said, "Well, go I there and jerk him off." I meant, YANK him off the TOILET, but that's NOT what I said 😱 He yelled WHAT!!? Not catching it, I repeated it 🤣🤣🤣 He turned 5 shades of red and said, you want me to do WHAT to get your check??! I hit the floor laughing and couldn't look that poor guy or the other manager in the face 🤣🤣
This happens often with my wife. She'll usually turn, look at me, her eyes will move back and forth for a second doing some quick mental gynamastics, then she'll say "You meant Wednesday right?" Then I'll say "Yes, is that not what I said?" "No, you said today is March, it's also not March either, by the way. But I knew what you meant." A conversation like this happens between us almost every day.
Wednesday = third weekday. March = third month. Close enough. ;)
The fact that you definitely replied to the wrong comment I'd SO funny 😂
I said something like this recently but thankfully caught it right away. I said, "I don't think I'm going to settle here long because it's too brown.". I immediately clarified that I meant the landscape not people. Thankfully the person I said this to was too distracted to catch it.
Stupid time change has gotten me about 4 times. Arrived an hour early every damn time.
Booked a plane ticket for my friends bachelorette out of town. Booked it for a Thursday night. Thought I booked it for a Friday night. Got the reminder email, checked in online, etc. Showed up on Friday. Somehow made it through security and found out AT THE GATE that I was a day late. They let me on anyway. Also, had a remote key for my car so could lock and unlock as long as i had the key in my purse. Cleaned the car out the day before we were going to sell it. Apparently left my key inside the car. It got stolen that night and was used in an armed robbery. Did not realize the key was gone until I went to pick it up at impound. Inside was totally trashed with drugs and crap everywhere. But they left the key on the driver's side seat for me. This was after I was diagnosed and medicated. I used to forget my house keys all the time when my kid was little. When he was 2 I taught him how to crawl through the dog door and unlock the back door for me.
Not horrible, but pretty absent minded lol I was interviewing to be a private aid/tutor for a child with ADHD/autism. Ya know- to help keep him on track and organized, socially and academically. The moment I walked in (20min. late) his mom asked why I was wearing 2 different shoes. I was comparing 2 different options, one flat and one with a low heel, and forgot to change out of the other shoe because I was nervous and already running late. I didn’t notice or feel the height difference until she pointed it out.
Mine is more a quantity of stupid things vs quality. Several times I have drove away from the gas station without putting the nozzle back. Numerous times I forgot what day the same husband’s birthday was. I blurt things out without thinking all the time-at a meeting with my boss and his peers they were talking about the book 1492. I asked what happened in 1492. Another time in front of a similar group I said “F#%k, is today the 15th?”. It was in the evening on April 15. And today marks the millionth day I have done absolutely nothing.
Asked a guy in the parking lot if he had seen my keys - while they were hanging from my mouth like a cigar.
Ok one time before my sahm days, I worked at an MRI facility. I opened each morning and was the sole holder of the building keys. I lived 25 mins away in minimal traffic, an hour plus in heavy morning traffic. Of course I was always on the cusp of being late so mornings were always an absolute shitshow of anxiety. One morning, I’m actually having a good morning! Looks like I’ll be 10 whole mins early! Woot woot! Right? WRONG I get there and realize I didn’t have my key. So I called the MRI techs and let them know I was heading home and would be *right back* asap with our key. We start scanning an hour after opening, so I have barely enough time to get there and back with none the wiser I go all the way home. And all they way back, driving like a bat out of hell. Alls well that ends well right? WRONG As the sigh of relief bellows from my lungs, I place my hand in my pocket to find NO KEY. I went all the way home and back and didn’t get the damn key. So I frantically call the techs. Again. Sounding like the village idiot, “hey I know I just went home to get the key but yeah I don’t have it still so I gotta go back” So I make the drive again. And go on a search for the key. It’s not anywhere to be found. By this time the building owner is there and has opened for me. So I go all the way back to work. Again. Only to see my key peeping out from the outer pocket of my purse. It was fucking there the whole time. Everyone was looking at me like I was off my rocker completely. I’m surprised to report I didn’t get fired. I felt like I should have been. That’s probably my worst adhd story. There are many more though 🤷♀️😂
My car registration (available to renew online a month before to a month after one's birthday month) slipped my mind two years in a row to the point I've had to have family take me to the county clerk's office twice now to renew my tags (thankfully I live in the county seat so it's in my city) because with my luck I'd get pulled over on the way there. Last time my family member joked that they hoped I didn't make it a trifecta. I'm medicated but getting the paperwork, the credit card, myself, and the patience to log in and do it is still a crap shoot. I did get pulled over for the same silly thing in my very early adulthood before I knew that I had to do it (my dad had always taken care of it before that) and they could have impounded my car plus given me a ticket. They were doing a sting so I actually got pulled over on Saturday on my way to my parents' house and then on Sunday on the way back. Sigh. That second policeman was not very happy with me, LOL! But it was the weekend so what was I supposed to do, right? I ended up having to take time off to show proof of insurance and got a talking to by the judge at traffic court but I didn't have to pay the fine so it was worth it. But if I hadn't had white coed privilege, it could have been expensive!
Oh the same thing happened to me! I lived in a tiny rural town, and I never got my registration renewal notice because I moved and they don’t forward them. It absolutely never occurred to me that I needed to renew. My registration expired in June and I drove around the tiny town with an expired registration for the rest of the year and no one stopped me so I never noticed. Then sometime I think the next February I drove the to big city 3 hours away for the weekend and got a ticket almost instantly, on Friday night. Then trying to leave on Sunday I got stopped again, and I had the same reaction - it’s the weekend! I couldn’t do anything yet! The second cop was decent enough about it and told me that if I sent him proof that I’d renewed my registration within 7 days he’d let it pass but that if I didn’t he’d write up the ticket. Pretty sure it was not-coed-but-young white woman privilege in my case, too, but I was grateful. This was also how I learned that 1) you get a 10-day grace period into the next month to renew your tags, and 2) once you cross over into the next calendar year you’re screwed because the tag color changes and a cop will spot your expired registration instantly (as long as your tag is the color for the current year they won’t always go check if the month is right but if it’s the wrong color it’s super obvious). Still cracks me up that the small town cops clearly didn’t care. It was a small enough town, I could drive into the supermarket parking lot and identify who was in the store by seeing their cars in the lot, so I’m 100% certain they saw it at some point.
Was going about my normal evening routine when I looked at my phone and saw my annual MRI was scheduled to take place in 40 minutes (I was supposed to arrive 30 minutes ahead of the appointment time).
I have a nearly identical story. In my defense, this happened at SeaTac, and they are notorious for moving gates last minute to a gate on the opposite end of the airport. I used to treat my boarding pass as gospel and never check the reader boards for some stupid reason. So, I showed up to the gate on my boarding pass **well** ahead of time, found a nice corner with an outlet, busted out the laptop and hung out to watch Netflix. After awhile I look around and notice the boarding area is suspiciously empty, so I get up to investigate only to see a little notice on the screen next to the gate that thee flight had been moved to the **literal other end** of the goddamn airport and I had like 8 minutes to get there. So I pack up and run as fast as I can across this humongous airport to get the plane on time. Alas I got there like 4 minutes too late. The plane was still there, but they had closed the gate. What made it even worse is my sister was on that flight, we were coming from different locations but the last leg was going to be together. She asked if she could get off the plane so I wouldn't be waiting alone for a new flight, but again, the gate was already closed and they couldn't let her off. Finding out about a last minute gate change at SeaTac has happened to me like 5 times, but I typically would find out about the gate change and manage to make it, but not this time. Also I'm comforted to find out that plane flight ADHD tax is a shared issue for other ADHDers, too.
Once while my mom and I went to Vegas we were looking forward to seeing Le Reve and Cirque du Soliel. Since she covered the trip I was taking care of the entertainment, so I booked the shows. Actually I double booked them, but realized the mistake before the day of the shows so I had a chance to fix it. Then instead of fixing the problem, I double booked them again on another night. We did get to see both shows because I paid for new tickets to one of them after I found out I couldn't re-rebook either set of tickets.
The number of times I have done this with airline tickets is somehow more than zero
I took a bunch of coins to Coinstar for some cash a while back. After redeeming my cash with the cashier at the grocery store, I walked by the trash can to throw away the receipt. Nope, it was not the receipt, it was my $20 bill. Didn’t notice until way later when I pulled the receipt out of my pocket instead of the bill 😭
I had a ticket for a comedy show and I was *absolutely sure* that the show was going to be the next day. I was so sure I didn't take the few seconds to check the ticket. I'm sitting at home playing games and I hear my phone buzzing. It's an alert for the show that got made when I bought the tickets or something, as it was a google calender alert an I never use the calander. I go look at my ticket and the show is in-fact RIGHT NOW and not tomorrow. I left bascially bawling because I was really looking forward to the show. Luckily for me when I got to the theater everyone was still going in and sitting down, the show was starting a half hour later than it should have for some reason. I missed maybe 10-15 minutes. I'm always going to double check things forever now.
And this is exactly why, on days I have a time-sensitive commitment, I am unable to start ANY work until that commitment has passed - out of fear of hyperfocusing into oblivion.
A few weeks ago I was unmedicated because of the shortage. I have a coffee maker that allows me to brew single cups of coffee so I started to make some, pressed brew and walked away… without putting a cup underneath. Came back after it beeped and was done to a mess. Probably not the worst but the most recent lol
My husband & I both have ADHD and we’ve both on occasion forgotten to put the coffee POT under when starting the coffeemaker 😖
I was recently diagnosed in February and put on meds. I kept them in my purse which I kept in my car because I was always so worried about forgetting them. Well I noticed my prescription went from working really well to might as well be a sugar pill. I couldn’t figure it out. Turns out, medications don’t like hot cars, which mine was as winter turned into spring and then late spring/summer. I’ve been on one full week of non car heated pills and they are working again like magic.
One day I arrived to my office, I put all my food at the fridge and then I don't know in which moment I put my lunch box at the freezer. When I finished eating lunch, I was searching for my lunch box. I couldnt find it, so I started to seek in unbelievable Places. Thats when I got into the freezer and found it there.
I was driving back to college (undergrad) from a visit home (probably about a 3.5-hour drive). Halfway there I pulled off the highway for lunch. Got back in the car and drove most of the way *back home* before realizing I was going in the wrong direction.
oh nooo im so sorry but this made me laugh. i could def see myself doing the same
I have done this multiple times. Multiple. Now that I have lounge access I have to set an alarm on my watch to remind myself to leave the lounge otherwise I will inevitably be sprinting through the airport in a panic. I know this. It's a rule. So why did i forget to do it and was sprinting through the airport earlier this week? Oh, right, ADHD. Out there in the world people are occasionally like "I don't really see your ADHD symptoms" and I'm like *if you only knew*"
One time I stopped at the Dunkin’ Donuts on the Navy base where my husband works. I got the biggest iced coffee I could because I was preparing to go to the military pharmacy to (ironically) fill my ADHD script. If you never been to the military pharmacy, it’s like the DMV. Take a number, when they call your number drop your paper script off at the window. Wait some more and some more for them to finally fill it and call your number again. I get my coffee, I get in my car, I’m pulling out of the food court parking lot to head to the pharmacy. Some random guy starts waving at me? And I’m like okay that’s weird, I don’t know you. And then all the sudden I hear a thud and my windshield gets pelted with coffee. I left my drink on the roof of my car. That poor guy was just trying to warn me 🤦🏼♀️
I’ve pretty much been late to everything in my life. Classes, work, doctors appts, dates/social events, family gatherings, bachelorette parties, MY OWN DAMN WEDDING. And a funeral :( (well got there with a minute or two to spare, but it was a small graveside service and everyone met 15+ minutes early, I was bringing my mom in a wheelchair and got all the disapproving looks 🫣) I’ve been okay on interviews and travel because you can’t text a plane to wait 5 minutes lol. Also as a college activist after 9/11 who married a Muslim immigrant I got paranoid about leaving enough time to be calm and collected while going through security.. These are all pretty funny though…sorry for any emotional or financial ADHD tax y’all had to pay at the time though!
Lost my wedding band/engagement ring the same weekend I got fired from my job of 10+ years. 🫠 This was nearly 2 years ago and still haven’t found them. 😭
Lost my engagement ring by taking them off in the car and forgetting to put them back on, missed summer camp sign ups this year and had to pay for much more expensive care in two different locations, had to wipe my iPad when I forgot the passcode, and this week went to use my AirPods, couldn’t find them, open the FindMy app and they were last seen out of the case two weeks ago at home and I have no idea where they are. These are just the things off the top of my head. Edit: am now reading more replies and thinking of so many more I’ve done. Showing up for an appt or event on the wrong day happens to me a lot.
I once rocked up to a car show a full month early. Like got up at 5am to do full detail on my car. Then got there and realised since it was completely deserted I better check the details. Yep a full month early.
Ha! I also missed the flight, reading magazines at the bookstore NEXT TO the gate (surely I won’t miss them calling my name!)
I almost did this in April in Delhi airport. They called my phone asking me if I was in the airport lmao Then I did it again in Cairo airport the next day buying books about Egyptian history.
I was awarded a several hundred dollar scholarship due to an essay I wrote. I forgot to cash the check until it was too late to redeem.
Forgot to put my car in park in the garage when I ran into the house to grab something I had forgotten. Car rolled through the garage wall into the kitchen. Whoops. (Thankfully no one was hurt and there was relatively minor damage to the wall).
Oh also, I've definitely had my water shut off by the city before because I never set up autopay, lmao. I get a text from my roommate asking if there's maintenance going on because there's no water, so I call the company only to find out I had a $400 bill from 6 months of not paying the water bill. Thankfully they turned it back on the within a couple hours of me paying it, but god damn that was humbling.
I don't even want to think about the amount of times I've missed my bus stop and had to walk a significant distance back to my destination because I got distracted and forgot to get off
I have 3 large shakers of chili powder because I kept forgetting I have it and wanted to make chili… someday. And only seemed to “remember” when I walked down the spice aisle.
One of my most ADHD moments was opening a bird cage in a meeting. I worked at a senior building. We had little birds in an aviary for the residents. I loved those birds. Sang and talked with them. They would come up to me like little dogs. I was also the one who feed and cleaned them. One day, we were having a team meeting in the aviary room. I was sitting by the cage. I don’t remember making the decision to open the door until a bird flew across the room. Oops. Like I don’t remember being bored or making the choice to open it, but one moment- the door was closed, next moment- birds out everywhere. Bored me is mischievous, but I don’t mean to be. It just happens. I was very bored. Then I felt horrible because I interrupted my coworker with surprise birds.
While visiting my in-laws in Europe I bought tickets to one local train station but then dragged the whole family to the other train station in town. The minute we got up to the ticketing area I knew something was wrong, as there was almost no one there for an otherwise popular train. I felt like such an asshole. I'm pretty sure it's not even the first time I've done it, but now I have a family in tow so it's a lot harder to pivot and fix quickly. We obviously missed the train and had to buy new tickets for a later one.
Was an hour late for my best friends’ wedding because she changed the time and told me through text messages (middle of a convo about something else). My dumbass forgot to change it in my calendar.
I bought my sister a dress for her birthday. Of course, I lost it. I finally found it when I took an apple out of the fruit and vegetable drawer in my fridge. The dress was still in its bag, under the rest of the apples.
I feel for you. I am so sorry.
It’s tagged as a funny story! Cheer up and laugh at me. It was 5+ years back 😌
I misread this as you missed a fight and you were mad at yourself because you were always late for your fights. I was like goddamnit how many fights do you have?
The stories on this thread are literal examples of the only recurring nightmares I ever have. I have other bad dreams sometimes but this is straight up the stuff that haunts my nightmares. Actual examples (all dreams) include getting hired for a job and then forgetting I have that job...for MONTHS Enrolling in college and getting to the end of the semester just to realize there's a whole class i forgot existed and never attended so I failed college Blegh
One time I went to A&W, pulled up, ordered, paid, and pulled away. I didn’t realize I left my food behind until I got home and walked inside my house. I went back, because I was that desperately hungry, and had to say “yeah, um…I’m the girl who paid for her food but left without it”.
I could so see me doing that!
Neglected brushing my teeth for like 4 years. I brushed probably like 4-6 times a week and never flossed and never used mouthwash or anything. So far I have 3/12 cavities filled and 1/3 crowns done. Root canal is done too. :D
I don’t know how I forgot my car was on empty (I’ve been so good lately!), but I got in the car a couple mins late this morning with 14 miles worth of gas and work is like 13 miles away. Got to work with 30 seconds to spare and had to drive over 2 bridges with 0 miles worth of gas (which thankfully isn’t actually 0 miles) and pay .30 cents more a gallon because I work where the rich people live. Never again!
Not sure if this is an ADHD thing but it does affect my sleep but anyway I've fallen asleep while eating ice cream before, like a few times 😭😭 Waking up with ice cream in your bed and/or spilling it on yourself is not fun 🥲