45+ New Yorkers Open Up About Their First New York City Apartments

Dealing With the Itch

New York City is known as “the city that never sleeps” because of all the hustle, bustle, and noise that goes on. However, what a lot of you may not know is that some New Yorkers simply can’t sleep because their apartments don’t allow them to. Below you’ll come across real stories from people who shared their unforgettable experiences of living in their first NYC home. Stay tuned!

Dealing With the Itch

While we can sacrifice a great deal in order to save a buck, our health shouldn’t be included in this trade. And having to deal with constant itchy bites at a rapid rate counts as an experience that could impair both our physical and mental health.

Dealing With the Itch

So, we think it’s pretty brave of this renter to even last three nights here. If we were in his position, we’d demand a full refund for having to deal with the itch!

Crazy Lazy

We understand that human beings are prone to being lazy at times, especially when it’s the weekend or vacation time. By all means, we should be able to roam around in our pajamas and do nothing but watch TV. However, with that being said, certain duties cannot be disregarded.

Crazy Lazy

First and foremost, we can never give up on our hygiene. So, reading about how these crazy neighbors were too lazy to walk to the toilet seriously makes us question the current state of humanity.

It’s Raining in My Apartment

Hearing stories about apartment leaks or floods are so common that they’re hardly worth mentioning but what this poor renter went through is a whole different story. Imagine having to frequently bail water off the roof of your apartment at all hours of the night? Eh… no, thank you.

It’s Raining in My Apartment

Even though we cracked up laughing at the imaginative image of this dude in his robe and fireman boots trying to save his belongings, you couldn’t pay us (okay, you could but it would cost you) to trade places with him.

An Overpriced Crawlspace

This part of a building design got its name because there isn’t enough room to stand up in it, so people crawl. Just picture yourself renting a narrow and impractical space like this to live in for $700 per month…

An Overpriced Crawlspace

To make matters worse, the dummy that took this bad deal did so 10 years ago, meaning that once you include the inflation rate over the years, you’ll realize just how much this renter got duped.

A Match Made in Heaven

Most times when we hear about the relationship between a renter and a landlord, the story is built around issues, bad feelings, and a lack of morals but this is not always the case.

A Match Made in Heaven

For this East Harlem resident, his relationship with his landlord was so good that not only did the landlord attend his wedding, but his whole family did as well. Talk about a match made in residential heaven!

Sounds Real Bad

If you read this person’s post about their first apartment in New York, you’ll agree when we say that their former home sounds like a hot mess.

Sounds Real Bad

The critter infestation and loud neighbors are a bad enough combination; add in a caving roof and we’d be running for the hills. It’s no wonder why this Reddit user moved out of the city.

Permanent Couch Potato

A couch potato is a term used to describe a lazy person who usually spends a great amount of time lying on the couch and watching TV. Funnily enough, while this person spent four years sleeping on the couch, he wasn’t really a potato.

Permanent Couch Potato

You see, the couch was his bed because he and his girlfriend broke up but both were too stubborn to give up the cheap apartment. That place must have had crazy good terms considering that an ex-couple lived that way for four years!

Dealing With the Doorman

When we think of a doorman working at a luxury apartment, we often imagine a man smiling and dressed in a fancy uniform. What we don’t think about is their reaction to illegal happenings in their building.

Dealing With the Doorman

Because, in that scenario, they are totally different people. The gentle grin they’re known to display once you enter the building turns into an angry frown — and you better believe they’re going to want something in return for their silence.

A Hole in the Wall

When someone describes a place as “a hole in the wall,” this generally means it’s a small and dingy area that has character. In this particular case, the ground floor apartment described here had literal holes in the wall and no character insight to compensate for it.

A Hole in the Wall

Rather, there were cockroaches, weird-colored leaks in the bathroom, and loud golfers that constantly surrounded the place. Sounds like a recipe for a disastrous first apartment.

An Indoor Treehouse Loft

While the idea of living in a treehouse sounds kind of exciting and romantic, the reality is quite the contrary according to this Reddit user. This person recants the time his girlfriend lived in one.

An Indoor Treehouse Loft

According to him, the holes in the floors were so extreme that you could spy on the neighbor below and there wasn’t even a real door but rather a sheet of cloth. The list goes on with how crummy it was but the fact that it got demolished by a housing inspector tells us enough.

Check Out These Amenities

You know you live in a fancy first apartment when it comes with a 24/7 doorman and waterfall display in the lobby that features a koi pond. In fact, anything that features koi is pretty luxurious since this specific fish is one of the most expensive pets in the world.

Check Out These Amenities

So, if you got to have them in your first NYC apartment, you can consider yourself a lucky fish. Get it? Gosh, we’re on fire here.

No Happy Meal

While Mcdonald’s is famously known to make people happy through their iconically delicious staples (such as the Happy Meal), you most definitely won’t want to live near one after hearing this story.

No Happy Meal

This one New Yorker’s apartment was directly above a Micky D’s restaurant, so every time the busy joint had repairs, the renter above would suffer. It got so bad that her roommate nearly lost her marbles from the noise. We hope Mcdonald sent a care package of Happy Meals to compensate for the damage.

Where the Love Affair Began

While this renter wasn’t overly satisfied with his first NYC apartment, he certainly fell in love with the wild lifestyle there. It has now been over four years and he still lives to tell the tale of his love affair with the city.

Where the Love Affair Began

Plus, he lives in a better setup than the studio room he shared with a roommate. The only regret this dude seems to have is that no love affair occurred between him and the NYU grad. We guess you can’t have it all.

A Tropical Paradise

While Staten Island has its perks, one would probably not refer to it as a tropical paradise. However, after hearing the way this one renter described his first abode there, you might think differently.

A Tropical Paradise

From hearing about the “ocean breeze” happy kids playing, and the female neighbor with her “tropical bird on her shoulder,” we’re even enticed to know more about this area. It’s nice to hear positive stories sometimes, too.

A Nutty Landlord

No matter how nice a place is, if the landlord is “nutso,” you’re pretty much screwed. Such was the case for this renter in St. George on Staten Island. He was always cold there and while he was promised a fixed heater, it never materialized.

A Nutty Landlord

Another area that never came to fruition was the backyard. Even though the landlord appeared to do hours of gardening each day, she was really just shoveling bags of dirt aimlessly.

A Mysterious Puddle

This next first apartment story is somewhat of a horror story. You see, while hearing about random leaks is the oldest story in the book, it’s the circumstances surrounding the leak that caught our attention.

A Mysterious Puddle

This renter claims that there was no leak in the ceiling or anywhere else to explain the random puddle he found. Perhaps Casper the Friendly Ghost is back in town?

Fishy Business

Sometimes with apartments, the most memorable part is the roommates who you encountered whilst you were there. In this person’s case, he couldn’t forget his flatmates based on their relationship with the pet fish.

Fishy Business

The first person that he shared the place with left his massive fish tank at the apartment so when the next girl moved in, she decided to turn the pets into food for her cat. Wow, that doesn’t sit well with us — imagine turning a pet into a source of food?

A Craigslist Crazy

Jenny’s recount of her roommate from her first apartment experience has got to be high up there on the list of craziest roommates. The obvious first red flag was that they found him via Craigslist, which will always come with some degree of risk, even though no one could have predicted the stunt he pulled.

A Craigslist Crazy

Picture having the police tell you to keep your doors locked because your crazy roommate is on the loose. Poor Jenny!

The Apartment From Hell

When you hear about people’s bad experiences with their first apartments, normal reasons include flooding, leaks, bad neighbors, or bedbugs. In this person’s case, pretty much everything that could go wrong did.

The Apartment From Hell

From feces floods to frozen pipes and bites from bedbugs, all that was missing in this nightmare story is the crazy neighbors. Now, just because they’re not mentioned doesn’t mean to say this renter didn’t deal with them as well.

A Solid Deal

There’s no such thing as the perfect apartment, especially if you’re on a tight budget. The fact that this renter recalls his first one-bedroom apartment ($1100 per month) in Rego Park as “a solid deal” is amusing because he essentially lived in a shoebox.

A Solid Deal

Having to walk up four flights of stairs on a daily basis and deal with a crazy landlord are bonuses, of course! We commend this man for looking at the glass half-full rather than half-empty. Kudos to him!

An Inebriated Landlord

We’d expect a landlord to be somewhat whacky and unprofessional (based on the other stories here) but being inebriated on the job and falling down a flight of stairs is dramatic enough to land our next feature.

An Inebriated Landlord

The poor potential renter who witnessed this behavior was so worried the landlord would fall off the building when he showed her the rooftop. Luckily, he didn’t and all ended well. In fact, he even said he was too overserved to feel the pain of falling down the stairs…

Boxes for Days

While the process of moving is beyond stressful, most people start to relax when boxes are unpacked and things begin to settle. Unfortunately for this couple, due to some religious holiday, they were not given that luxury for a solid nine days.

Boxes for Days

All their belongings were shoved to the center of each room and they had to sleep on the part of the bed that wasn’t full of unpacked boxes. We bet that traumatic flashbacks come flooding back every time they’ve seen a cardboard box since.

A Fake Shake

This next person was convinced her first “cheap dive” was located around the subway since it would randomly shake at times. Turns out, while the subway might have been near to her place, that was not the cause of the building’s instability.

A Fake Shake

She later found out that the building itself was marked as unsafe due to its impaired foundation and the vibrations she felt was actually the place collapsing. How splendid? Well, it wasn’t a complete waste as she was happy to have saved up from the low rent.

A ‘Clean’ Flood

This next victim of apartment horror stories experienced what we’re calling a ‘clean’ flood that came as a result of toilet-bowl cleaner. Well, the cleaning detergent was only the catalyst as the real reason for the water explosion had to do with how old the plumbing system was.

A ‘Clean’ Flood

The story only gets worse from here as the flood brought about a colony of ants, followed by a mouse. The poor renter had to leave his apartment for the night because the situation was not conducive to live in.

Mice City

When most people look for a new apartment in the city, the criteria generally includes nice views, a safe area, close to public transportation…yada yada, you get the point. What’s most definitely not on that list is checking for mice/bugs but this Reddit user suffered from enough rodent troubles in her first apartment to give her genuine PTSD.

Mice City

While she initially loved her converted warehouse of an apartment due to its large size and cheap bills, it all changed for the worse when she dealt with “dirty roommates.”

Sounds Good to Us

This next apartment abode in the city sounds like a good deal to us — a one-bedroom on first avenue in Manhattan for a little over $1,000. Also, it was featured on the first floor so no lugging groceries up the stairs was required.

Sounds Good to Us

If that doesn’t sound good enough, there was also access to the roof to enjoy the views of The Big Apple. The only downside was that the subway was a far walk away but hey, we’d still take it!

A Pigeon-Infested Place

The better part of this next person’s story was that the apartment was also home to pigeons and mice that resided in the oven. Yes, we emphasize that was the least of this Reddit user’s worries. The real issue at hand here was that the place had a super impractical design, with no electrical outlets in the kitchen.

A Pigeon-Infested Place

Meaning that if you wanted to use the fridge, you’d have to go to someone’s bedroom to find it. Oh, and how could we forget — the whole rental agreement was illegal.

Lesson Learned

While we hate hearing stories about people getting swindled out of their money, there’s often a greater lesson behind it. These pieces of wisdom include knowing who to trust and learning how to break the naivety curse.

Lesson Learned

For this storyteller, it took getting duped out of half a month’s rent deposit to make a change and after that dreaded experience, he was able to find a great apartment deal.

Place of Meat

This next storyteller takes us back to the late ’90s to recant his first apartment experience. He described that time to be “a heated market” like today, whereby if you don’t sign the rental contract on the spot you’ll risk losing the place.

Place of Meat

For the most part, he seemed happy with his affordable rental but the opportunity cost of it meant having to deal with the smell of rotten meat, a tiny apartment, and witnessing some dubious activity.

The Sleep Issue

It’s all fun and games in an apartment of roommates, until adulthood kicks in. That was precisely the case for this dude who lived in a four-bedroom in Washington Heights back in 2009. When he and another roommate got jobs that required them to become early risers, it caused contention with the other two who lived a more laidback lifestyle.

The Sleep Issue

The final kicker was when they hosted a Halloween party on a weeknight without informing the hard workers… that was enough for this dude to call it quits.

Goodbye, New York

Our next story is pretty interesting — meet this ex-New Yorker who takes us back on his/her journey with renting apartments in The Big Apple from 1988 to 1995. Considering the earlier dates, it’s clear that the cost of rent is rather exorbitant.

Goodbye, New York

This was a big part of the reason why our storyteller here decided to leave New York’s bustle and hotdog stations, in pursuit of a British life that most probably includes tea and crumpets.

Living in a Bukowski Novel

Henry Charles Bukowski is an American author known for his novels that show the harsh reality of living in a corrupt and poverty-stricken society. So, this Reddit user comparing his first apartment building to that just goes to show how gloomy it must have been.

Living in a Bukowski Novel

Then again, he finished his story off on a seemingly positive note writing “good times.” While this is for sure a literary use of sarcasm, it seems this poster can take it on the chin.

A Shady Roommate

There are few less uncomfortable situations in life than having to share a studio apartment with a crazy stranger but such was the case for this Redditor. Imagine only being separated by a thin sheet of paper?

A Shady Roommate

Unfortunately, this guy saw and heard things from his female roommate that he cannot forget but he drew the line when he witnessed her being a thief. Then in return in a typical unethical fashion, she stole from him too.

Magic in the City

Hearing this person’s unbelievable experience with finding her roommate in a cab and signing her dream place all within a few days truly gives us such optimism toward New York. It even reminds us of the lyrics to Alicia Keys’ most famous song, ‘New York.’

Magic in the City

The song emphasizes the magic of The Big Apple and nicely ties in with what this poster said about how it felt that the city was working in her favor. There is no better feeling than that of knowing you’re exactly where you should be.

The Suit and Tie Change-Up

Ever needed to lie about your age in order to get a discount? Yeah, we’ve pretty much all been caught up in that web of fibs but this poster’s story takes the cake. He chose to stay in a hotel upon first moving to NYC and for a student rate of $22 per night, he had found himself a viable deal.

The Suit and Tie Change-Up

The issue was, he was not a student but a suit and tie wearing worker. This mishap meant that he had to do several outfit changes a day to keep up the facade. Effort much?

A Backyard Party

Isn’t it somewhat of a fantasy to have a full-time street fair right outside your apartment? Think about all the cotton candy and rides you would enjoy… Well, while that may seem too chaotic for you, this particular storyteller was overjoyed to hear that her first apartment in NYC was overlooking a fair.

A Backyard Party

She had even fantasized of seeing it go on for months to come but unfortunately as soon as she moved in, the fair ended. More importantly, let’s hope the apartment itself was great.

A Smelly Roommate

The only matter worse than dealing with a smelly apartment is having to deal with a smelly roommate. This was the unfortunate case for this Washington Heights resident who moved into his first NYC apartment with two other roommates. One was stinky and the other was pedantic… sounds like a reeking nightmare.

A Smelly Roommate

Upon some detective work to determine the “source of the smell’, this poster discovered that the smelly roommate had a fungal problem and he refused to deal with it! How gross?

Hell’s Roommate

Oh, the irony that this person dealt with hell’s roommate while living in the area of Hell’s Kitchen in NYC. This said roomie did everything one would imagine a bad flatmate to do – from being behind on rent to always leaving the place a pigsty.

Hell’s Roommate

She also hoarded way too much stuff and yet continuously shopped, plus she kept the air conditioner on all the time. The cherry on top of her being a hellish roommate was that she ignored the house rules and let many unwanted guests stay over…

Risky Business

Would it bother you to live in an apartment where the corners are all skew? We know it’s a strange thing to think about but this Redditor settled for uneven floors and a lack of security in return for a cheap rental.

Risky Business

Plus, he enjoyed his neighbors and the smell of the nearby Kentucky Fried Chicken which also happened to get robbed a few times. This dude most probably enjoys living life on the edge…

Daddy Knows Best

This next story warms our hearts because this guy and his girlfriend moved into their first place together in Queens and his dad tagged along to help. He painted the walls and uneven made himself a prime unpacker — how sweet is that?

Daddy Knows Best

While he wasn’t 100% sold on city living versus suburbia, he still supported his son and made the process for him and his girlfriend easier. Here’s to more dads like that!

Pockets of Cheapness

We at BigGlobalTravel love Madeleine’s story because it’s different from the status quo — she actually found the rental prices in New York to be cheaper compared to her old home in San Francisco. Madeleine currently happily resides in Harlem along with two other roommates.

Pockets of Cheapness

She even went on to say that NYC has “pockets of cheapness” that were lacking in her old city. We’re overjoyed that she’s found her pocket of sunshine.

No-Fee Happiness

Not having to pay a broker’s fee is definitely not common practice in NYC but Rifat Mursalin happened to strike luck when he moved from Atlanta. The key to his success was that he was not caught up in trying to live in or around Manhattan, which is known to be the most expensive part of the city.

No-Fee Happiness

Instead, Rifat happily settled in East Williamsburg along with one roommate. And yes, we need to re-emphasize that the Brooklyn apartment required no broker’s fee!

A Two-in-One Special

Imagine moving into an apartment where your bathroom is literally in your kitchen? While it sounds meme-worthy, it is in fact a real thing. Just look at the picture for yourself. While we don’t know for sure who agreed to live in this two-in-one special, we really enjoyed the Twitter comments about it.

A Two-in-One Special

Our personal favorite came from @hirosemaryhello who smartly noticed that you can snack from your fridge whilst indulging in a hot bath. That sounds like a good deal to us!

Hide the Price

This next renter, Ms. Kristen Pride decided to rent her first place in the area where she grew up — Brooklyn. While she seems happy with her decision, she chose to omit the price of her rental from her father. He doesn’t agree with the inflated cost of living that has come as a result of gentrification.

Hide the Price

He was even quoted saying, “This is crazy, people shouldn’t be paying this much in Bed-Study!” If we were Kristen, we probably would have also kept the cost to ourselves; you know like when you make a fancy purchase and hide the shopping bags?

A Smart Millenial

Renter Matt Gelman found his sublet for $1,300 per month in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. He also managed to avoid an agency fee by finding his first apartment through a Facebook group.

A Smart Millenial

We commend him for dodging that high cost and using social media as a mediator in his apartment search process. This millennial definitely knows how to cut corners in an efficient and safe way. Hands up for Matt!

40+ College Professor Stories That Are So Horrible

These Professors Might Be a Little Too Passionate

College is supposed to be a fun experience and it mostly is, unless you have one or true professors from hell. We scoured Reddit to bring you the most hilarious, cringe-worthy, astonishing, and bizarre college professors’ stories. Some of those stories kept us awake at night (not really, but close enough). Overall, we can say that some professors are simply too weird to be real, but they are. We felt bad for their poor students, who had to deal with some really crazy experiences.

Ha, Psych!

College math is 10 times harder than high school math, that’s a harsh fact. What could make it even more complicated is when your college professor solves complex algebra problems in the wrong way and for the most sinister reasons.

Ha, Psych!

You might think that they just confused a few numbers, but as it turns out, they did it on purpose! They deliberately solved it the wrong way and then showed the correct way of doing it. Is that a new teaching method that we’ve never heard of before? Boo!

Hail Caesar Hail!

Studying an ancient language in college may sound like a fun idea, and it really is if your professor is great. It looks like this teacher, however, was a little too inspired by the Romans. Acting like a real Roman domina, she ruled her kingdom — we mean, class — with an iron fist.

Hail Caesar Hail!

Judging by this Reddit story, it seems like she considered her students to be nothing more than dull barbarians who had to get accustomed to the Roman way of life. Clearly, she crossed the Rubicon there — more than once.

Please Open Your Books to Page 1759

It’s annoying when you get to college and discover that in addition to paying enormous fees to the institution you’ve enrolled in, you also have to pay for the books your professor wrote for their own classes.

Please Open Your Books to Page 1759

We wonder, what’s the point of taking classes with these professors when you can just read the books they wrote? In this case, in addition to buying the professor’s textbook, the OP also had to decipher their illegible handwriting because the book wasn’t typed. To us, it sounds like they went to study in a medieval university.

Geolodrama

No, you didn’t misread the title. It’s just that we have no other way to describe this class. This geology professor thought that it’s a good idea to teach geology by writing a play about it. Why on Earth would they do that?

Geolodrama

What’s even worse, since it’s a coursebook, they also charged money for it. We wonder if they also offered their students to purchase mineral rights. Clearly, this professor mixed their classes. Drama 101 isn’t taught until next semester, professor.

Near Perfect Paper

There’s something about professors and their unwillingness to give out good grades no matter how hard their students have worked to earn them. This is the case here as well. This Reddit user shared their experience about studying with an English professor who just refused to give them an “A.”

Near Perfect Paper

Instead, what they got was a near score of 89.9, which is technically an “A-.” We imagine this professor to be a character straight out of a Charles Dickens novel. Maybe they shouldn’t have asked for more…

Hostage Situation

Cheating on an exam in college is apparently a lot worse than doing it in high school. We always knew that cheating is considered one of the highest forms of academic misconduct, but we hardly expected this.

Hostage Situation

This college professor literally held their students hostage until someone fessed up. It’s too bad his plan backfired, as the students just up and left after they got tired of sitting around.

Road to Victory

College professors asking their students to buy the books they wrote for their classes isn’t unusual, but what we really liked about this case is this student’s reaction. This college professor wrote their own book about WWII and even drew their own maps (did they actually fight in the war?), which makes it impressive indeed.

Road to Victory

This OP was outraged that they had to purchase the book and ultimately ended up burning it, symbolically reminding us of the burning of the Reichstag.

Truant Professor

Teachers are supposed to set an example for their students, at least in theory. You know, practice what you preach and all that. In this case, this couldn’t be further from the truth. This professor had a strict policy regarding class attendance — too bad she forgot to mention that the same rules don’t apply to her.

Truant Professor

According to our calculations, she missed about a third of the class she was supposed to teach that semester. Does that mean she has to turn in her doctoral thesis and resign?

This Is Art

Professors are notoriously known for having inflated egos (we apologize to anyone who’s a professor and reading this, but deep down you know it’s true). This art professor seems to have taken his job way too seriously.

This Is Art

He personally reminds us of those self-proclaimed experts who turn out to be complete charlatans (not that we’re insinuating anything here). In fact, if we can play the intellectuals here, he reminds us of the king from The Little Prince.

Oh, Deer!

We thought that we were clear about our zero absence policy (just read what we wrote earlier), but we can show some sympathy sometimes too — unlike this professor here. This Reddit user shared his college memories, which included being late to an exam because he hit a deer on the way to campus.

Oh, Deer!

Can you guess what happened? The professor rejected their “excuse” and failed them. We feel especially bad for the deer that practically died for nothing.

Turn a Blind Eye

We couldn’t believe this story when we first read it. A college professor turning a blind eye on cheating students? After we picked up our jaw from the floor, we rushed to the keyboard to tell the world about it.

Turn a Blind Eye

To us, it seems like the professor was tired of his students acting so immaturely that he couldn’t care less about their scandalous behavior. At least he had the decency of telling them to do it discreetly. We hope this wasn’t a class about ethics.

Talking to the Ceiling

We said it before and we are going to say it again, teachers are supposed to set an example to their students. Sometimes they completely fail to do it. This public speaking professor used to come hungover to every class and what’s worse, he used to lie on the table and lecture while staring at the ceiling.

Talking to the Ceiling

He also had the audacity to tell this Reddit user, a former student of his, that they shouldn’t pursue a career in this field — a pot calling the kettle black.

Too General

College professors can be very entitled, thinking that their opinion is the only one that counts and that other opinions are irrelevant. The problem gets worse when these college professors treat their student papers in the same manner.

Too General

This lecturer didn’t even bother to read this poor student’s essay and just determined that it’s “too general.” We wonder if she has X-ray vision that enables her to scan through the whole paper without reading it. If not, how can she say it’s too general if she hasn’t even read it?!

Worship Me

There are so many things that are just so wrong about this story, we don’t even know where to start. Let’s begin by saying that this professor should be taught the difference between fact and opinion. They seem to be a little confused between the two.

Worship Me

Second, any lesson should follow a logical flow — teaching at random and jumping from topic to topic doesn’t count as teaching. Third, being nice to female students and rude to male students is a cause for alarm.

But Where Is “It”?

This student seems to have disturbed the natural order of things (or electrons, which revolve in orbitals for your information) by questioning something they shouldn’t have questioned — how can one determine the exact position of an electron?

But Where Is “It”?

In response, their chemistry professor got really angry and, according to what the OP wrote, “threatened” them. Don’t worry, though. The professor then offered to take her student down to the library for some extra help. All praise the Goddess of Chemistry!

Field Trip

We believe that everyone should act as humanely as possible and show compassion when the circumstances require it. This story, however, made us doubt if some are even capable of that.

Field Trip

While this college student was struggling with the loss of their best friend and had to obviously attend his funeral, their professor didn’t really seem to care, as they insisted on them joining some field trip… to the library! Yes, we were shocked as much as you probably are now.

Play by Ear

Cases in which the student outgrows the master are not very uncommon. Normally, your teacher should just be cool about it if not elated, because that also says something about their teaching skills.

Play by Ear

In this case, it looks like that this piano master didn’t like the idea that her student could play by ear, meaning they can play perfectly and don’t really need their teacher’s help. What’s worse, this teacher began ranting about it, even claiming that they were “unrefined” (what’s that even supposed to mean?).

Teaching Since the Revolutionary War

We’ve all had that one professor who was so old, you could swear that they’ve been teaching since the Middle Ages. This story reminds us of professor Cuthbert Beans from Harry Potter, who’s technically a ghost of the dead professor — but, this ghost still keeps coming to the lecture hall to teach.

Teaching Since the Revolutionary War

We’re not implying anything here in relation to this physics professor but, judging by the description, we simply can’t help but notice similarities between the two.

No Idea What I Am Doing

Let’s be clear about something first — if you’re a teacher, you’re supposed to know the material better than your students and if you don’t, don’t teach it. It seems like this math professor was simply pretending to be a math teacher because, from the sounds of it, they didn’t really know what they were teaching.

No Idea What I Am Doing

Avoiding students’ questions? Reading the explanations straight from the textbook? Forgetting how to solve a math equation halfway through? Something’s a little fishy here.

Double Space

There’s something funny about teachers who are responsible for teaching a technological subject, but sometimes lack basic knowledge about related topics. In this case, the shoemaker’s son always goes barefoot.

Double Space

What’s the point of knowing how to code if you think that double-spacing means literally pressing the space bar twice between each word? We really don’t know whether we should cry or laugh or both. Some teachers are simply too weird to be real.

We Will Show Them!

We don’t really know how to relate to the following story. This student had to inform their professor about the most terrible terrorist attack in the history of the United States and instead of sending everyone home to be with their loved ones, he calmly responded by saying that “we will fight the terrorists by staying in class.”

We Will Show Them!

Well, this is certainly not Churchill’s “we will fight them at the beaches” kind of response. Get your books and pens ready, men! We will show them what Americans are made of!

Mind Your Own Business, Professor

Teachers aren’t supposed to shove their noses into their students’ private lives, especially in college where everyone is an adult. This story made us really annoyed and disgusted by this professor’s behavior.

Mind Your Own Business, Professor

This professor apparently almost failed a student of his simply because her ex-boyfriend walked into his office and started ranting about how terrible she is, adding all kinds of unflattering terms to describe her supposed behavior. This is beyond unacceptable, in our opinion.

Just No

Studying with foreign professors could be an amazing experience, assuming you can understand what they’re saying. This clearly wasn’t the case with this professor, who was from Cameroon and came to the US to teach statistics.

Just No

While statistics is not an easy subject, regardless of who’s teaching it, things can be a lot worse if you don’t understand what the professor is saying. What’s even worse, when you beg the professor to go over the material one more time before the exam just for them to bluntly refuse.

Show Some Work

We all make mistakes, that includes our teachers and college professors as well. The obvious thing to do is acknowledge that and try to do something to fix it. It seems like this professor couldn’t care less about making a mistake on a test that they wrote.

Show Some Work

What was their excuse, though? “You should’ve at least showed some work.” What do you mean by “show some work”? It’s your fault that this question has no correct answer! What were your students supposed to do — invent a question of their own?

Too Passionate About the Subject

Personally, we adore teachers who are really passionate about what they teach. It always adds a flavor, even to the dullest of classes. Sometimes, however, too much passion isn’t something welcome.

Too Passionate About the Subject

This story made us laugh really hard when we imagined this anthropology professor doing that local dance from Fiji. We believe that this was part of a very important class presentation. Can you do it again professor? We’re not sure if we got it the first time.

“I’m From Chicago”

Racism shouldn’t be tolerated by anyone. What’s more, we feel like it should be obvious that racism isn’t something that should even be present in a classroom environment. In all honesty, we’re extremely disgusted by this professor’s behavior.

“I’m From Chicago”

We’re just glad that the gal stood up for herself. Can you imagine the look on that professor’s face? We hope that if there’s one life lesson that they won’t forget, it’s this. Let us spell that out for you — r-a-c-i-s-t.

Sprechen Sie Deutsch?

Studying foreign languages is a fun but can also be quite a difficult experience. Studying them in college can be even more challenging, however. While we have our own reservations about this professor’s teaching method, we’re more concerned about their unwillingness to teach grammar.

Sprechen Sie Deutsch?

How can you study a language without possibly knowing anything about the grammatical rules it follows? It seems like it didn’t stop this professor from teaching full semesters without devoting time to this important subject. Perhaps that’s just the “German” way of doing things.

“If I Can, So Can You”

This is going to be one of those stories again — a college professor who thinks that they’re as perfect as can be and won’t change a thing about the way they do things. In this case, a whole class clearly was in the dark about the material and still, the stubborn professor refused to make any concessions.

“If I Can, So Can You”

What was his excuse? If he can complete the test in 30 minutes, so can his students — but, he wrote it! Where’s the logic in that? Wait, there’s none, apparently. This is college, not Sparta!

False Accusations

This anonymous Reddit user shared a story about a college professor who bluntly asked them something totally insulting, as if this student gave their college paper no thought whatsoever. We find it unbelievable and unacceptable on so many levels.

False Accusations

What went through this professor’s mind when she wrote such a terrible thing on her student’s essay? No wonder why the university fired her, after 17 consecutive complaints. We’re just happy that this OP ultimately got an “A” from the university.

Don’t Want to Be Here

Let’s admit it — we don’t always feel like coming to class and sitting through the entire lecture while the professor jabbers on and on. What happens when it’s the other way around?

Don’t Want to Be Here

This professor just walked in on the first day of the semester and stated blatantly that teaching this course is a waste of his valuable time. Excuse us? What are we paying college fees for? Sadly, this wasn’t part of some stupid joke. Oh, college.

No Hands

Some college professors sometimes forget that they’re not totalitarian leaders and that the classroom isn’t their own private kingdom. This college professor refused to allow her students to raise their hands in class and told anyone that contradicted her opinion they were wrong.

No Hands

Apparently, the only opinion that counted in her class was hers and hers only. Anyone found guilty of holding different views will be sent away for good. We’re kidding, but you get the idea.

Just Wasting Your Time

When we first read this story, we weren’t sure if it was referring to college or middle school. We were surprised to learn that they actually did talk about college, for real. We don’t know what has gotten into this professor, but it seems like teaching wasn’t really a priority of his at all.

Just Wasting Your Time

Again, this begs the question, what were the students paying for then? To spend an entire semester reading from a book during class or just aimlessly copying their homework into a scantron sheet? This is ridiculous.

Late, too Late

Rules are rules, but sometimes, it’s okay to bend them if you’re not a heartless professor. This poor student had to submit a paper that was due at the beginning of class — no exceptions, apparently. Unfortunately, the OP got held up due to crowds of students in the hallways.

Late, too Late

This means that they were only delayed by six to seven minutes. However, their cruel-hearted professor refused to accept their paper. While they seem to be quite chill about it, we’re not. We demand justice.

The Syllabus

Sometimes, you get an assignment from your teacher or college professor and wonder what on Earth went through that person’s mind when they were preparing it. It’s not that we’re complaining about difficult assignments or long-term papers — it’s just that we can’t help but wonder what the point of the following assignment is.

The Syllabus

This poor student (along with their classmates) had to rewrite the syllabus word for word, which basically means they had to copy it. Mind you that this is supposed to be college. So much for “higher” education.

Who Are You? Never Mind!

If you’re a teacher, you’re expected to make a conscious effort to remember the names of your students, even if you’re only going to spend one semester with them. It seems like this professor didn’t think so. No wonder why this OP confessed that they didn’t care about this class — we wouldn’t either.

Who Are You? Never Mind!

This is so off-putting. How are people expected to take this course seriously if their own professor tells them she won’t bother learning their names because it’s only one semester? What a joke!

Japanese Math

We mentioned earlier that studying with a foreign academic could be a fun experience, provided that you can understand what they’re saying. Here, however, this was hardly the case.

Japanese Math

This Japanese professor struggled with English while teaching, so he substituted the words he didn’t know with Japanese equivalents because, you know, math is math. Luckily, the professor had a TA who spoke English. The day (and the whole semester) was saved.

Rock & Roll

You’d think that a class about the history of rock ‘n’ roll would be the most interesting thing on a student’s schedule — especially if they’re a music lover.

Rock & Roll

After reading this story, though, we can only assume that the OP begs to differ considering that their spacey professor barely ever showed up. Then again, we can’t say that we’re so shocked by just how zonked the professor seemed to be during class, knowing what he got up to during the ’60s.

He Thinks He Should Teach

We all had at least one really eccentric teacher in our lives. Normally, one would encounter them during their college years. This biochemistry teacher seems to fill this role just perfectly as he used the third person to speak about what “they” did during the weekend.

He Thinks He Should Teach

This probably sets a new record, at least in our book. We also liked the fact that the professor included a question about what “they” did during the weekend on the final exam. Teachers are a weird lot.

Terrazzo Floor

Law school is hard, but this is just insane. Yes, future lawyers are expected to be proficient in what they do, but knowing what a “terrazzo” floor is hardly relevant to the case in question, your Honor. This professor expected his students to know every single word in the cases they examined during the lecture.

Terrazzo Floor

This makes sense, except for the fact that he literally meant every single word, including knowing what a “terrazzo” floor is. We googled it by the way — it’s just some composite material used for, well, covering floors.

Not Their Fault

While sometimes, it’s really the professor’s fault, this may not always be the case. We thought this is going to be another one of those stories about a scatter-minded professor who keeps forgetting what’s what. However, this time she actually had a good reason for it.

Not Their Fault

The professor discovered that she was suffering from Alzheimer’s. This, of course, explains everything. We felt bad both for her and her students. At least her “bad” evolution wouldn’t matter because she isn’t likely to continue teaching anyway.

I Want to Speak to Your Parents

As kids, you were probably terrified to get a letter from school. It appears that this college professor wanted to embrace the same method. We bet they didn’t get the memo that people in college are adults, meaning that you can’t take these matters up with their parents.

I Want to Speak to Your Parents

In fact, we feel quite ridiculous even writing this up. This should be obvious, professor. Too bad you don’t need a teaching license to work in college — maybe this way these incidents would have been spared.

“You Look Terrible”

There is something quaint about old professors. They often tend to be mellow, forgetful, and are always curious about the lives of “you young people.” However, some of them abuse their age, tenure, and privilege and simply don’t care about teaching anymore.

“You Look Terrible”

This could get worse if they abuse their position and talk in a derogatory way. This professor simply told a student one day that they looked terrible. Excuse me, sir? Who are you to say such things? Wait until the dean hears about it! We took this very personally.

Nobody Leaves!

We already mentioned a story about a professor who took his entire class hostage. This reminded us of that. This poor student had to leave the class 10 minutes early in order to make it on time to another class, but the professor clearly had other ideas as she yelled at them.

Nobody Leaves!

We think she took the whole mandatory attendance thing way too seriously. We get it, attendance is indeed important for success, but there’s a limit. We have only one thing to say to her — lady, calm down!

Lost Cause

In order for a student to succeed, all they need is someone to believe in them. It seems like this professor didn’t follow this decree. This Reddit user shared a story that happened to another student.

Lost Cause

They overheard their professor telling someone that if they can’t figure how to do something five weeks into the semester, they should drop the degree. We were shocked, just like the anonymous Reddit user who posted the story. This is definitely no way to treat your students.

Library School

For some reason, this story reminded us of Professor Snape’s potion class. We don’t mean to say that this professor actually reminds us of Snape, but the fact that they actually concocted something that preserves books sounded very Harry Potter-esque to us.

Library School

However, it seems like it didn’t get more exciting than that. What’s more, it appears that they only got the job because their spouse works at the same institution. This wouldn’t have happened in Hogwarts — just saying.