u/Certainlyconfused_

I just bought a 20‑year‑old car with only 78k miles on it. It spent its first year as a dealership rental, and then the woman I bought it from owned it for the next 19 years. The Carfax is spotless, the maintenance history is solid, and she averaged about 4k miles a year. She told me she only drove it to church on Tuesdays and Sundays, plus the occasional grocery run.

She said she was getting too old to be behind the wheel and “wasn’t going to be here much longer,” so she wanted to let the car go. The listing price was $5k, but while we were test‑driving it she dropped it to $3k out of nowhere. She kept talking about when she was my age she thought I was 16. I didn’t have the heart to correct her. I haven’t been 16 in a long time… at least it feels that way.

What really got me was how attached she was to the car. She talked about it like it was a little piece of her routine, something steady she could rely on. She even apologized for the dust on the dashboard, saying she “used to keep it spotless back when she had the energy.” You could tell she took pride in it.

When we finished the test drive, she handed me the keys like she was passing down something meaningful. She said, “Take care of it. It’s been good to me.” And honestly, for a car that’s two decades old, it really has been. No weird noises, no leaks, no rust, no mystery issues just a well‑kept old sedan that lived a quiet life.

Driving it home, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I didn’t just buy a car I inherited someone’s little slice of stability. And for $3k, with a clean history and mileage that low, it feels like I stumbled into one of those rare deals you hear about but never expect to actually find.

About an hour before I sold my first car, the kid buying it noticed my New York plates while I was pulling out the bill of sale. He looked at me and said, “You’re a long way from home.” All I could manage was, “Yeah… something like that.”

We finished the paperwork, went over the basics, and when I handed him the keys I told him, “Do me a favor don’t crash it.” It wasn’t a joke. After everything that car had been through with me, it felt strange watching someone else drive it away. Like closing a chapter, I didn’t realize I’d been carrying around.

I’m a mechanic at a dealership, so I’m constantly test‑driving cars. We also offer free pickup and drop‑off we’ll come to your house, your job, wherever. People use it all the time. I’ve even had to pick up cars out of state because the owner or manager had a friend who “needed a favor.” Basically, if someone has more power than me, I’m the one sent to go get the car.

My problem isn’t the driving. It’s what I’m getting into.

I’ve gotten into cars with mountains of trash so much that I had to shovel it off the seat just to sit down. I’ve gotten into cars with bugs crawling around, rotten food everywhere. One lady told me she went grocery shopping months ago, never brought the bags inside, and hasn’t driven the car since. You can imagine the smell. Actually, no you probably can’t.

Some cars smell like old, defrosted corn dogs. Some smell like someone dragged the car out of a swamp and then pissed and shit in it for good measure. Some smell like cigarettes and depression mixed together. It’s wild.

And look I get it. Everyone needs their car worked on. That’s literally why we’re here. But the same customers who hand us these biohazard-level vehicles are the ones who love to sit there and complain, yell, and blame us for anything they think we did wrong.

Meanwhile, their cars are so disrespectful you wouldn’t invite a friend to sit in them, let alone ask someone to come pick them up and work on them.

And the wildest part? They act shocked shocked when we mention anything about the condition of the car. Like, sir, I’m not judging your life choices, but your vehicle is one bad smell away from becoming a crime scene. with me as the victim, I've open car doors before and had to fight to not throw up in front of the customer

At this point, I’m convinced some people don’t need a mechanic. They need a hazmat team and a therapist.

I've been trying to sell my car because I barely drive it. I've put maybe 300 miles on it in the last three months, compared to my other car that I drive around 1,200 miles a month.

I checked KBB, and the private-party value was around $9,000. A dealership offered me $5,000, or $6,000 if I put it toward another car. I figured I'd list it for $4,500 and let it go quickly. I took the time to write a detailed description, listed the recent repairs, included the VIN, and was completely upfront about the car.

It's been a week. My DMs are full, but apparently nobody actually wants to buy the damn thing. It's nothing but, "Would you take $700?" "Can I have it for free?" "I'm a single mom/dad and I really need a car." "Would you take $2,000?"

Then people come to look at it and turn into professional tire kickers. One middle-aged guy seriously told me he couldn't pay more than $1,000 because "the engine is going to blow up within a week." Another guy's girlfriend's dad's uncle is apparently a mechanic, so apparently that qualifies him to diagnose the car from home.

Then there are the trade offers: non-running cars, cars that need thousands in repairs, or some absolute shitbox that's five miles from death's door.

The funniest part is that the car has no issues. It's up to date on maintenance, and I'm literally a mechanic. I do my own work, so it doesn't have a huge repair history because I don't take it to a shop for every little thing. The only real documentation is state inspection-related stuff I can't do myself.

I've even had someone drive it for five minutes and tell me the engine was knocking and the transmission was slipping. At this point, I'm starting to wonder if people are looking at the same car I am. 😂

I listed a mechanically sound car for $4,500 because I wanted a quick, fair sale, and somehow I'm getting treated like I'm trying to sell a blown-up junkyard special.

Edit/ update

I waa looking for teens that needed a first car that's why I priced it cheap since it was my first car after posting this i got a message from a this 16yo asking if she could see the car he came to my job with his dad looked at i put it on the lift for him let him test drive it we agreed on 3,500 I got it for 4,500 4 years ago with 50k on it lady was selling it because it needed a thousand dollars worth of work i fixed it for 500 I've put 48k miles on it he's coming back Monday with the money and he's dad is trailering it home since there live 20 miles away and the kid has a permit

I guess the best place to start is that I only get around 25 hours give or take a few of sleep a week. Some days I crash and sleep all day, but that only happens after I’ve been completely exhausted. On a “normal” day, I sleep from about 1 AM to 6 AM if I can fall asleep at all. There are stretches where I go days without sleeping.

I try to pack my days with as much as I can so that by the time night comes, my body has no choice but to shut down. I work 12‑hour shifts, five days a week (7 AM to 7 PM), and I guess it helped a little. I used to sleep from 2 AM to 5 AM, so technically it’s an improvement.

But even when I do sleep, it’s never solid. I wake up every 30 minutes to an hour and a half because of "bad dreams." I wasn’t always like this. It started after my best friend died, and it got worse a year later when a mutual friend someone I had feelings for passed away too they both committed. It’s been 4 and 3 years now, and I guess it still affects me more than I want to admit.

I’ve seen therapists, doctors, tried the medications. None of it has helped

Honestly, I don’t even fully know why I’m writing this. I guess I’m just tired of people telling me my sleep habits aren’t healthy or sustainable. I know that already. I’m not clueless. I’m just stuck.

I guess the best place to start is that I only get around 25 hours give or take a few of sleep a week. Some days I crash and sleep all day, but that only happens after I’ve been completely exhausted. On a “normal” day, I sleep from about 1 AM to 6 AM if I can fall asleep at all. There are stretches where I go days without sleeping.

I try to pack my days with as much as I can so that by the time night comes, my body has no choice but to shut down. I work 12‑hour shifts, five days a week (7 AM to 7 PM), and I guess it helped a little. I used to sleep from 2 AM to 5 AM, so technically it’s an improvement.

But even when I do sleep, it’s never solid. I wake up every 30 minutes to an hour and a half because of "bad dreams." I wasn’t always like this. It started after my best friend died, and it got worse a year later when a mutual friend someone I had feelings for passed away too they both committed. It’s been 4 and 3 years now, and I guess it still affects me more than I want to admit.

I’ve seen therapists, doctors, tried the medications. None of it has helped

Honestly, I don’t even fully know why I’m writing this. I guess I’m just tired of people telling me my sleep habits aren’t healthy or sustainable. I know that already. I’m not clueless. I’m just stuck.

I’m a 20M who works 5 days a week from 7am–7pm. When I got home yesterday, I showered and loaded up The Last of Us Part I. By the time i finished, it was already around 9pm, so I started playing for a bit.

My girlfriend (20F) texted me when she got off work. She comes over almost every day after her shift, and on days she doesn’t work late she’s usually already waiting in my driveway when I get home. Our routine is usually watching a movie or Netflix, cooking together, or going out dinner, a movie, the arcade, the beach, etc.

But yesterday I was already in the middle of playing my game. I went outside to walk her in, and when we sat on my bed, she pulled out her phone, started scrolling, and sent me reels. I kept playing, pausing to look at the reels she showed me, and I asked her about her day. She stayed until about 1am and then went home.

When she got home, she texted me saying she doesn’t come over just for me to play video games. She said she wants quality time together, and if I was going to be focused on the game, she could’ve just gone home and we could’ve called or texted instead.

I told her I thought it was quality time we were both doing our own thing but still together in the same space. I also want to add that I barely play video games. It’s been about a month since I even turned my console on, aside from Netflix or YouTube.

She told me I should play when she’s not around, but that’s basically never. My schedule is: I sleep from around 1am (after she texts me, she made it home safe) to 6am, work 12 hours, get off, and then I’m with her within the hour. Sundays are my only day off that she works, and she works. Saturdays we’re both off, so we spend the whole day together.

I love being around her she’s amazing, but she’s upset that I played video games while she was over. She says, “You should play on the thing you spent money on,” but not when she’s around.

She was still upset when she was leaving, so she didn’t want to give me a hug or a goodnight kiss. I opened the car door for her, and she just said, “Close my door,” and drove off.

I met this woman not naming the place because it’s a small mom‑and‑pop shop and she works there but I go there a lot. Their milkshakes are amazing, and she takes my order so often she doesn’t even ask anymore. One day when the check came, she’d written her number on the bill. I paid, left a tip, headed out, and texted her the next morning so it wouldn’t feel weird.

We planned a date. She mentioned there’d be a car meet later that night. I love cars, so I figured, why not. She sent me the location about 45 minutes from my place, 15 from hers. I got there first, texted her, and waited. She showed up about 20 minutes later with a friend.

The whole time I’d been there, I hadn’t seen a single car. When she arrived, she laughed and said, “Oh, did I say car meet? My bad. I only said that because I knew you were into cars.” So now I’m thinking… great.

We ended up driving around We stopped at a parking garage, her friend took pictures with the car, and then she pulled me aside to talk/ ask if we could have sex. The whole vibe was just… off. I kept trying to steer the conversation back to normal date stuff, but it was clear we were not on the same page.

We got back in the car, and both girls were texting each other nonstop. Eventually we stopped at the gas station where we’d met up. While she went inside, her friend came up to me and asked if I wanted to “fight in the back seat.” I’m slow with hints, so I genuinely thought she meant an actual fight. I said, “Why would I want to fight you?” She got mad, stormed off, and left literally left her friend behind.

I drove the friend home, and on the way, I asked what happened to make her so angry. She told me ir was because i turned her down and the girl I was there for was annoyed the date wasn’t going how she wanted.

All around, it was just a bad date. Later on, I found out she had a kid and a bunch of other things going on that she never mentioned.

the friend did text me on Instagram a few days after the "date" asking who i like more/ who i found more attractive and i told her if i was being 100% honestly i do fuck with goth girl which she was but I'm no longer interested

I’m honestly at the point where I’m ready to give up on having anything nice. The last two years have been straight up hell. I’ve bought THREE cars three and every single one has been turned into a disaster by someone else’s stupidity or malice.

Car #1: Turbo blows, front seal goes, I drop $2,000 fixing it… only for some mystery idiot to smash into it in the Wawa parking lot. Dead zone for cameras, of course. And everyone who “saw it” apparently lost the ability to identify colors because it was “a blue or black car or SUV.” Thanks. Super helpful. Filed a police report, waited a month, they shrug and say they can’t find the person. Sold the car for $1k.

Car #2 (the truck): Someone slashes THREE tires. No clue who. Replace them. Then someone decides to turn right from the straight lane and plows into me. Totaled.

Car #3 (the SUV): Broken into twice. Two different cities. Fix it twice. Then someone CUTS THE BRAKES. old roommate did it because i told him he couldn't borrow my car to go to the club... that's a different story Then someone hits it in a parking lot at least they left a note. Got it fixed. Two weeks later? Hit again. SUV sits in the shop for months. Finally get it back… and two months later someone rear-ends me while I’m literally stopped at a red light.

it’s infuriating on a cosmic level. At this point, I’m convinced the universe has me on some kind of hit list, because no normal person goes through this much chaos over just trying to own a vehicle. I’m tired, I’m frustrated, and honestly, I just want one year ONE where something I buy or plan on buying doesn’t get destroyed by someone else’s stupidity.

Schools where I live have started changing how grades are entered, leaning heavily into the No Child Left Behind mindset. Now, students can’t score lower than 50% on any assignment. That means a kid could go an entire year without turning in a single piece of work and still get a 50% for every missing assignment.

The problem is obvious: if you push this system far enough, you end up with students who never learned the material, never did the work, and still pass because the school refuses to hold them back. Then these same students enter the real world where there is no safety net like that and they’re completely unprepared for life, work, or responsibility.
The supporters of this approach argue that:

• It keeps struggling students from giving up entirely.
• It focuses on mastery over punishment.
• It reduces the impact of one bad day or missed assignment.
•  the downsides are pretty glaring:
• It can remove accountability and work ethic incentives.
• It sends the wrong message about effort and consequences.
• It risks graduating students without the skills they need in the real world
• The bigger issue is that if schools don’t pair this policy with strong intervention, tutoring, and engagement strategies, it becomes a safety net with no ladder students don’t fall, but they also don’t climb.

On top of all that, these are the same kids who end up in drivers ed, health class, and eventually in the workforce building our future. When I was in school, I can’t even count how many classmates couldn’t do basic math or read above a third‑grade level. If schools keep inflating grades and pushing students forward no matter what, we’re setting up an entire generation to graduate without the skills they actually need and then throwing them into a world that won’t protect them the way the school system does. And let’s not even get started on what happens when two people who benefited from this system end up having a kid. You’re basically stacking generational problems on top of each other. If both parents grew up being pushed through school without learning basic math, reading, or life skills, what do you think happens when they’re responsible for raising the next generation?

I do get that this program will probably get pulled back or never reach a level where all of these worst‑case scenarios actually happen. But for the kids who did benefit from it, there’s no easy way to undo the effects. Once a student has been pushed through years of school without ever being allowed to fail, without ever being held accountable, and without ever learning the basics, you can’t just flip a switch and fix that.

My coworker and I were talking about cars, and I mentioned that I’d love to find a Monte Carlo SS in good condition. He told me he knew someone who had one and was looking to sell it. I got the guy’s information, reached out to him, and we set up a time to meet.

He had a 1986 Monte Carlo SS that was black and red. I test-drove it and looked it over, and honestly, it was everything I had been looking for. It was in great condition and only had about 30,000 miles on it.

After the test drive, we went back to his apartment, turned the car off, and got out to talk about the price. While we were discussing the deal, someone backed into the Monte Carlo and caused a significant amount of damage. The person who hit it took off. the driver was a friend of the renter of the apartment next to him so refused to give any useful information on who the dude was, and we didn't catch a plate, and his apartment doesn't have cameras

The owner turned to me and asked if I was still interested in buying the car. I told him no, got in my car, and left. That was last night.

This morning, both the owner and my coworker have been blowing up my phone telling me that I need to buy the car because now it’s damaged and I was the one who put miles on it during the test drive.

Honestly, I don’t care about the miles I put on it. I’m not buying the car because it’s now damaged, and I don’t feel like I should be responsible for something that happened after I finished the test drive and got out of the car.

The bigger issue is that now my coworker is mad and pissed off at me over the whole situation, and I don’t really know what I’m supposed to do about it.

I’m gonna try my best to say this without sounding like a bad person or a complete dick, but my whole life it’s felt like I have empathy somewhere inside me, I just don’t always feel connected to it. I can care about people and understand what they’re feeling, but at the same time, I struggle to actually feel like I care as deeply as I feel like I’m supposed to.

I’ve always had a hard time forming connections, and especially with keeping them. It’s not necessarily that I don’t value people or that I want to hurt anyone. I just genuinely don’t know how to maintain connections sometimes. A friend will ask me to hang out and I’ll say “maybe next time,” and then somehow what feels like a few days turns into a year. I’ll see a message or a phone call and just… not answer. And most of the time, I don’t even have a real reason why I didn’t.

And even when I do actually show up, I’ll sometimes leave early because I start feeling like I’m throwing off the vibe or making things worse just by being there. I’ll sit there and overthink whether people actually want me around, and eventually I’d rather just leave than risk feeling like I’m making everyone uncomfortable.

Honestly, I’m surprised some of my friends don’t hate me. I don’t really understand how people can like me when 9/10 times I feel like I’m just being mean, rude, or difficult, and somehow they’ll just laugh it off, think I’m joking, or tell me I’m funny.

I was talking to a female friend about this, and she said that because I’m gifted, maybe the way I form relationships is just different. All I could really say was, “Or maybe I’m just burned out.” That led her to ask me if I actually feel any gratification from the things I do, because I’ve accomplished things that people my age only dream of, yet I don’t really feel much from any of it. I can recognize that I’ve done things that are objectively impressive, but actually feeling proud or fulfilled by them is a completely different thing.

I’m not saying any of this because I want people to feel sorry for me, and I’m not trying to excuse the way I act. I just genuinely don’t understand myself sometimes. I know I care about people in some way, but I have a really hard time showing it, maintaining relationships, or even understanding why I pull away from people I actually like.

The same thing seems to happen with things I accomplish. I can do something that should mean a lot to me, something that I know is objectively a big deal, and then I just move on like it was nothing. There’s no real sense of accomplishment afterward. It’s just… done.

And I think that’s what confuses me the most. I know I’m capable of caring. I know I’m capable of accomplishing things. I know I have people in my life who genuinely seem to care about me. I just don’t always feel connected to any of it, and I honestly don’t know why.

And honestly, I think that’s one of the things about myself I struggle with the most. I know there’s supposed to be something there connection, pride, excitement, gratification, whatever but a lot of the time I just feel detached from it. more on the side I'm glad it's over than anything else

The Distance Between Me and Everything else is so far away

TL;DR: About two weeks after turning 19, I started dating a 20-year-old single mom after we had originally agreed to stay friends. Within the first week, she wanted me to move in and got angry when I wouldn't. She also asked for $500 for rent after quitting her job, but I could only afford to give her $200 because of my own bills and college expenses. While I was away for school, another guy contacted me with proof he had been seeing her, so I ended the relationship after only a few weeks. She then told people I used her, sent manipulative messages, falsely implied she had died months later, admitted she faked it, and asked to get back together. I responded by sending a picture of me and my new girlfriend, and she blocked me.

About two weeks after I turned 19, I started hanging out with a 20-year-old girl. We agreed from the start that we would just be friends. A big reason was that we were in completely different stages of life. I worked 12-hour shifts while going to college part time, and she was a single mom who also worked.

Even though we were just friends, I'd stop by her place once or twice a week after work. We'd watch TV or a movie, talk for hours, sometimes take a nap, and I'd usually pick up food, snacks, or something her baby needed on my way over.

One night she texted me saying the door was unlocked and to come upstairs. Her baby was staying with her mom that night. When I walked in, the atmosphere was different than usual music playing, we ended up having sex and that night changed our relationship... We ended up making things official shortly afterward.

Unfortunately, things went downhill almost immediately.

Within the first week of dating, she asked me to move in with her. I told her I felt it was way too soon, and I still had a year left on my lease. She said those were just excuses but eventually dropped the conversation.

A couple of days later, she told me she was $500 short on rent. By that point, she had quit her job because, in her words, they "had her messed up." I explained that I couldn't afford to give her $500 because I had my own responsibilities. Between tuition ($1,200/month), rent and utilities ($2,100), car insurance ($140), gas (about $200), and other expenses, I was already spending around $3,640 every month. I worked flat rate, so my income fluctuated. Most months I made between $4,500 and $5,000 before taxes, and I'd only made $6,000 once. I offered to help with $200 comfortably, but she got upset because she knew I made decent money and thought I should give her more.

We argued on and off for the next few days. Eventually I left to go back to school, which was about a seven-hour drive away. While I was gone, she kept texting me about how much she missed me and talking about everything we'd do when I got back.

The night before I was supposed to return, I received a text from an unknown number. It included pictures of her front door, her living room, and another photo that made it clear someone else was at her house. I didn't respond and just continued packing for my drive back.

About an hour or two into the drive, that same number kept calling me. I finally answered. The guy claimed he had been seeing her and said he found my number because she had left her iPad unlocked. He admitted he had gone through our messages and wanted me to know what had happened between them.

At that point, we had only been dating for about two or three weeks. I told him I didn't really care anymore and ended the relationship with her.

After the breakup, she told our mutual friends that I had only been interested in one thing and left after I got what I wanted, which wasn't true. She later sent me a long message saying she loved me and threatening to kill herself before blocking me. The next day, she posted on Instagram, so I blocked her there too and moved on.

Months later, she unblocked me and pretended to be her sister, blaming me for her death. After a few messages, she admitted she had faked the entire story, said she missed me, and asked if we could see each other again.

Instead of arguing, I simply sent her a picture of me and my new girlfriend.

She blocked me immediately.

I did end up seeing her again at a gender reveal i went to with my girlfriend a few months later we didn't talk she gave me a few dirty looks and her baby kept trying to come to me and she really didn't like that but out of respect I didn't try to hold her or anything like that gave a wave and moved away

sadly, I will never run out of stories to tell i have not had a good run at this dating thing

TLDR When i was 18M, a 22F‑year‑old customer asked for me number after i worked on her car. we two texted daily for two weeks and planned to see Venom: The Last Dance together. i even bought the tickets. The day before the date, she canceled, saying she needed to pay her car insurance even though i were covering the date and insurance is a monthly bill. Her mom got involved and said: She shouldn’t go out if her bills aren’t paid. If i was “serious,” i should pay her car insurance. i needed to buy her a house or a car before taking her on a date. i realized the situation was delusional and stopped talking to her. Months later, she randomly texted me a topless photo and her address, telling me to come over. i declined and she blocked me Two years passed with no contact. Today, while job hunting, she called me out of nowhere with “hiiiiiiii Mr. mechanic did you miss me?” i hung up. She then texted asking for $100 for her phone bill, then $50 when i didn’t respond. i told her there’s no reason i’d give her money, and that was that.

So, 2 years ago when I was 18, I met this woman (22) at work, I'm a mechanic she came in for an oil change and a few other things that I didn't care to remember I work on over 7 cars a day 5 days a week I don't remember every one they blur together after a few hundred but she ended up asking to speak to me about the repairs done we talked and at the end she ended up asking for my number we texted for a while and was going to go see Venom: The Last Dance together planned it out 2 weeks before hand and was going to see it on release day I brought the tickets we talked every day for the 2 weeks and the day before she called me and said she couldn't go because she had to pay for car insurance me not understanding what that had to do with the date since I was the one paying and car insurance is a monthly bill it was due last month its due this month and it'll be due next month but that was the end of that for a while stopped talking about it I asked if we were still on for tomorrow and she said she'll have to check with her mom she hung up and called me back an hour later and said her mom said she couldn't go because her car insurance is due and she shouldn't be going out if her bills aren't paid again I said something on the lines of if I'm paying for everything I don't see why you can't see a movie but I guess I understand then her mother starts talking to her she ends up muting so I didn't hear what was said but when she came back she said her mom said I should be paying her car insurance if I'm serious about her I'm at the point where I'm like are we or aren't we seeing the movie and the more they talk the more I'm like I'll find someone else to go with me but she finally gets back to me with an answer after she talked to her mother more and they came up with I wasn't serious about her because I haven't offered to pay her bills and if I want to take her on a date I need to buy her a house or a car first ( I wish I was lying I'm being dead ass) so I accepted they were 100% doing some type of drugs and mentally moved on already and hung up she called me back a little later to explain that she and her mom have high standards because her mom remarried rich and her stepdad brought her mom a house and a car by the 5th date ( both the house and car is in his name soooooo...) but after that we stopped talked for a few months and she texted me one random night with a topless picture and her address asking me to come over I turned her down ofc she hit me with the you don't know what you're missing bleh bleh bleh blocked me thought that would be the end of me and it was for 2 years till today i was putting in applications looking for a new job I get a call from a unsaved number answered because it could be someone I applied to and I hear hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii Mr. mechanic did you miss me I was about to saying who is this but then it clicked without saying a word just hung up then she texted me asking if I could send her $100 to pay her phone bill I left her on seen and she then asked if I could at least send her 50 bucks I replied of all people you could have asked you asked me there's literally no gain for me to just you 100 bucks other than me being out of 100 bucks