25 Times People Saw A Supposedly Smart Person Make A Dumb Blunder

No matter how hard we try, we have to leave room for human error. While we try to reduce the probabilities of causing an error, as flawed beings it is difficult to erase the possibility altogether. Even the smartest people have their moments when they make 'rookie' mistakes which is totally acceptable because no one is perfect.  Recently, a funny discussion took centre stage on Reddit when someone asked, “What’s the dumbest thing you’ve seen an intelligent person do?” The responses rolled in from an eye doctor who walked into a wall to a grandma who tried to bake an ice cream cake in the oven. Scroll to check out the sometimes funny and sometimes tragic stories, shared in the gallery below. 

#1 Support Trump. I'm not saying this in a cheeky way, necessarily, but I have friends and family that will do mental gymnastics to justify supporting Trump despite a *vast* amount of evidence piled up against him.

Image source: newtrawn, Sharefaith/Pexels (not the actual photo) They will then turn around and believe anything they hear about Biden and family without a shred of evidence to support their position. It's baffling. I'm conservative, but the way Trump has hijacked my party with non-stop false claims is alarming. The way he is undermining trust in our electoral system just because his ego can't handle losing is scary. Smart people in my life falling for it really confuses me. Like *how*?! Maybe my assumption that they are able to critically think is vastly inaccurate.

#2 My Dad is super smart. Like... He's a member of MENSA smart, has several patents he wrote when he was in his early 20's, once asked a flight attendant a bunch of weird questions about the plane we were on so he could do some crazy math equations FOR FUN. You get the picture.

Image source: ThatKinkyLady, Craia/Flickr (not the actual photo) But his smarts were no match for little toddler me crying because my toy pony stopped making noise after I brought into the bathtub. Dad panicked, figured he could dry it out.... In the microwave. He did not seem to make the connection that in order to make those noises it had to have electronic (aka METAL) parta inside it. So pony goes in the microwave and a few seconds later it basically explodes into flames. We were both in shock for a few minutes. Surprisingly I stopped crying because it was so unexpected and then Dad taught me about how metal doesn't go in the microwave.

#3 As a kid I saw my stepfather (a Doctor with several specialist qualifications who did two Masters in the same year on a whim) put his hand under the lawnmower to dislodge something....The lawnmower was still on. He didn't lose fingers permanently but had several months of recovery and skin grafting surgeries. He was academically brilliant but lacked a lot of practical life skills, clearly.

Image source: HipsterPicard, Bill Smith/Flickr (not the actual photo)

#4 I’m an ocean lifeguard - I was driving a truck on a beach that has unstable cliff faces, so part of my job is telling people it’s unsafe to sit under them. I pulled up to a man that was comically sitting on a fallen rock, directly in front of a sign that said, “DANGER FALLING ROCKS.”

Image source: FalconTonguePunch, Matt Browne/Flickr (not the actual photo) Warned him it wasn’t a safe area, and he kinda smirked for a second before looking around, and seeing that I was right. He got very, very embarrassed - turned bright red, head in his hands, visibly upset and very apologetic. I told him it’s fine, and that a lot of people don’t think about things like that. He said, “No, you don’t get it. I should know better, out of anyone. It’s not fine. I’m a geologist.”.

#5 Last week I couldn't find my phone, so I looked down to the phone in my hand and started to try the Find My Phone thing when... oh. (I swear I'm at least reasonably intelligent.).

Image source: Pyran, iam hogir iam hogir/Pexels (not the actual photo)

#6 My cousin (21) got the highest marks in his A levels and GCSE’s in england, he’s now in scotland studying at one of the hardest university’s to get into, one day he decided to hoover the lounge this is how it went:

Image source: DOORFORAKNOB, MART PRODUCTION/Pexels (not the actual photo) *me walks in* “what are you doing?” him- “hoovering the lounge?” me- “you need to plug it in first?” he was pushing the hoover around the room without plugging it in and turning it on.

#7 My psych once asked me what caused my PTSD

Image source: splithoofiewoofies, Thirdman/Pexels (not the actual photo) As I was telling him, I started crying and shaking. "Damn I didn't think the question would make you cry" he responded. THREE PHDS AND YOU DON'T THINK REMEMBERING THE CAUSE OF THEIR PTSD WILL MAKE SOMEONE CRY???

#8 Just this week someone microwaved a fork in the office kitchen. I work at a research institute. Everyone in here has at least a master's in engineering.

Image source: throughalfanoir, Lindsey Turner/Flickr (not the actual photo)

#9 There's a lot of guys who would never get laid if it wasn't for intelligent women who make bad choices.

Image source: Solobotomy, Josh Willink/Pexels (not the actual photo)

#10 Buy a billion dollar platform and tell the main revenue stream to f**k off.

Image source: venom121212, LinkedIn Sales Navigator/pexels (not the actual photo)

#11 Someone with a Harvard PhD in biochemistry told me that it never occurred to them that different colors of Nespresso pods in their office meant different types or blends of coffee. It was just all coffee and sometimes the coffee was good, sometimes it was off, and sometimes it felt like it did nothing. It wasn't until they mentioned the last point to a co-worker, that the co-worker pointed out that this person was in the process of loading a decaf pod into the machines.

Image source: BS_Creative, aaron_anderer/Flickr (not the actual photo)

#12 Computer tech here, traveling for work, I checked into the hotel. My room is on the first floor. I get in the elevator and press 1. Nothing happened. I press it again a few times. The other guy in the elevator says "Hey buddy, you're already on the first floor." "Oh... Yeah." I was really burned out.

Image source: mike_e_mcgee, Aaron/Flickr (not the actual photo)

#13 My brother lit a firecracker, got distracted and put it in his pocket.

Image source: luckykobold, bfishadow/Flickr (not the actual photo)

#14 My grandmother infamously tried to make an ice cream cake back when those were a new thing in the early 80s. She put ice cream on the cake batter…and put it in the oven. My grandfather said it was tasty though.

Image source: Ruffffian, Valeria Boltneva/Pexels (not the actual photo)

#15 Physician got a flat on his high end Mercedes.

Image source: RationalDB8, Mike Bird/Pexels (not the actual photo) Mr Fixit decided to take things into his own hands, dismounted the wheel and got a ride to the tire store. “I need a tire for my Mercedes.” “Where’s the flat one?” They asked, presuming they could either repair it or get the specs. “I threw it away, it was flat.” Dumb**s threw the entire wheel and tire into a dumpster and it was gone when he returned. Car had to be towed, new OEM wheel ordered. What may have been a $10 flat repair put his car out of commission for over a week and cost more than $1,000. This was in the ‘80s.

#16 I knew a many of people completely ruin their future by storming the capitol. Totally smart people. I talked to one recently after avoiding contact with him and he told me about his life since then.

Image source: qleptt, Tom Fisk/Pexels (not the actual photo) He cannot get a job at all no matter what the job is he cannot get it. He recorded it all on his phone so of course the FBI found him pretty easily. Took his phone. But the weirdest thing: he no longer owns a phone. He has like this nokia looking government provided phone that does absolutely nothing but call and text. Of course all messages sent and received are monitored. I literally don’t know how he’s supposed to advance in life like I don’t know if he will ever find a job.

#17 This week I had to explain gravity to a group of people and they didn't believe me.?.

Image source: Leonetta852, fauxels/Pexels (not the actual photo)

#18 Watch Fox News.

Image source: Designer-String3569, Nothing Ahead/Pexels (not the actual photo)

#19 Bought balloons for a house warming party, blew them up by mouth, and didn't understand why they didn't float. Granted, she grew up a Jehovah's Witness and wasn't around balloons a lot.

Image source: jtho78, Tirachard Kumtanom/Pexels (not the actual photo)

#20 I once had the great pleasure of getting to ask our very experienced master electrician who had decades in powering giant events but one day couldn't get his computer to boot:. "Uh, Mike? Are you sure it's plugged in?"(it was not).

Image source: defenestrayed, Luis Quintero/Pexels (not the actual photo)

#21 Go down the entire anti vax big pharma bad rabbit hole. Threw away the free bowl cancer screening kit our government sends out every two years once you turn 50. Now, she is undergoing chemo for bowel cancer. (Fixed major typo).

Image source: cruiserman_80, Ivan Samkov/Pexels (not the actual photo)

#22 My friend was dropping me off home after a day of hanging out, and he tried to argue with me on which street that I live on. Dude is an engineer.

Image source: synchrei, JESHOOTS.com/Pexels (not the actual photo)

#23 A cardiologist I worked with was contacted by "Apple" about his computer security. He gave them access to his laptop and was working with the guy to set something up on there when I got suspicious and googled for him.

Image source: Suspicious-Elk-3631, Кирилл Абрамов/Pexels (not the actual photo) I ran to his office to show him the apple website, saying they would never contact you by phone, and if you do, it's a scam. He immediately ended the call and shut the computer down. He had to make many phone calls and change MANY passwords as it was his work laptop. Thankfully, no harm was done. Proof that even highly educated doctors can be scammed.

#24 My eye doctor walked into the wall once during an exam. My EYE DOCTOR ?.

Image source: Nunya_biz_nas, Ksenia Chernaya/Pexels (not the actual photo)

#25 He coded a full on website in his notepad, then when he tried to copy it, he deleted everything by accident. guess he was shocked so he immediately closed notepad. then he realized he just ruined his last chance of undoing it.

Image source: Bokajako, Mizuno K/Pexels (not the actual photo)