13 People Who Got Smacked by Life’s Unexpected Irony

Life loves to play its little jokes on us. Just when you think you’ve got everything figured out, it throws in a twist so ironic you can’t help but laugh — or cry. These stories from everyday people prove that the universe has a sense of humor, whether we’re ready for it or not.

• When I was in high school, two girls with similar names had dated the same two guys and then switched, which was already scandalous in our small school. Here comes the twist: it turns out that the two guys, who were football players, were in a relationship behind the girls’ backs. So, in both relationships, the girls were being cheated on by their boyfriends with their ex-boyfriends. © 1pptouch / Reddit

• I used to tell everyone I’d never be one of those people who spend money on expensive coffee every day. “It’s a waste, just make it at home,” I said. Then I started going to this tiny coffee shop near my office, just once, because I was too tired one morning. Now, I go there every day, not for the coffee, but because the barista remembers my name, asks how my day is, and gives me a smile that I can’t get out of my head.

• My sister went to the doctor for an allergic reaction. They gave her Benadryl, and that was how she discovered she is allergic to it. © phessler / Reddit

• A girl I was friends with in high school tended to “get all the guys,” especially the ones I liked. She dated the first guy I ever really liked and, shortly after, moved on to the first guy who ever asked me out (I’d said no, suspecting he liked her better).
  Fast forward a couple of years—guy #1 had finally come out of the closet. I ran into him at a town fair, and he was dating guy #2. My friend never found out. © Choralation / Reddit

• Back in middle school, I won the school spelling bee, earning my own special picture in the yearbook. I excitedly purchased my yearbook and flipped to the page, only to find that they had spelled my name wrong. © Walt3rM0ndal3 / Reddit

• My husband was paying so much money in child support for his first child, and we had made plans for how we were going to save the money and put it toward different things once he was done paying it/the child turned 18 and graduated high school. (It was a significant chunk every month, so we had some good plans, including fixing our car, getting the house fixed up some, putting aside some money for our kids’ savings, etc.)
  On the Friday that was supposed to be the first paycheck without the support payment taken out, not only was it still taken out, but my husband died of heatstroke in the car. © jennythegreat / Reddit

• I was sitting with my friend in biology class in primary school. The lesson was about human eyes, and in the books, we had these colorful circles with dots that were supposed to have numbers in them. If you didn’t see any numbers, you were colorblind. I asked my friend, and he hadn’t seen the numbers either, just like me. So, we assumed the book was printed wrong or something.
  The next year, our whole class went to the doctor’s office, and it turned out that out of all 30 students, only my friend and I were colorblind. © ajuc / Reddit

• My dad always told me to marry someone who could fix things around the house so I wouldn’t have to call for help. I took that advice so seriously that I married a handyman who could fix anything. Two months into our marriage, he got a job offer across the country and moved for “just a year.” It’s been five years. The irony? I’m still calling someone else to fix the sink.

• I used to say I’d never cry over a breakup because “life is too short.” Then my boyfriend of five years left me with nothing but a short text. I didn’t cry that day. I didn’t cry the next day. A week later, I dropped a jar of pickles on the kitchen floor, and as the pieces scattered, I found myself sobbing, sitting in pickle juice, realizing it wasn’t about the pickles at all.

• My father’s doctor told us a story about the time he was performing heart surgery on a patient. During the surgery, he started having sharp pain in his arm and shoulder, and he recognized all the signs; he knew a heart attack was coming.
  He called a fellow doctor to be on standby just in case, finished the main surgery, and left the stitching to someone else. He was then put in the next bed to the patient he had been operating on. © higz / Reddit

• Soon after buying a new (used) car, I had a feeling one morning that I should get a spare key for it. So that day, I made time to go to a locksmith to do that. When I got home, I locked not only the original key but also the bag with the new key in the car, and I had to pay a bundle to get the car open. © lphoenix / Reddit

• I said to my hairdresser, “It’s funny, you’re the only male hairdresser I have met that is NOT gay”. He really wasn’t, he had a wife and 2 kids. The next time I visited him, he got divorced and had his boyfriend that moved in. © QuestionsTheArgument / Reddit

• My father’s employer hands out the most useless items as awards. One year, they went several months without any lost-time injuries, so they handed out a spatula for flipping pancakes or the like, with the “safety” logo on it. The first time we used it, the poorly filed plastic edge cut my father’s hand open—and it was a deep cut, too. Blood all over the kitchen. © octothorped / Reddit

Life’s ironic twists remind us that no matter how carefully we plan, some of the best (and strangest) moments happen when we least expect them. Have you ever found yourself caught in one of these random life jokes? Tell us your story in the comments.