What does a bad day look like?

What does a bad day look like? This series takes a look at the mildly frustrating to the seriously unfortunate.

Tune in every Tuesday for a new edition, or scroll down to browse previous topics.

Snowboarding injuries

January 6, 2026

Did you know the risk of head injury while snowboarding is double the risk for skiers, and much higher in severity? See the safety guidelines for snowboarders below from the National Institute of Health.

Small spill, big deal

December 30, 2025

Watch where you store water bottles in your vehicle. A guy in Florida, Michael McCormick, learned this lesson the hard way when he tapped the brakes and an airborne water bottle landed in the floorboard of his beloved all-electric Hyundai Ioniq 5. Water seeped from the plastic missile into his ankles and the wiring.

Yahoo Finance describes the incident, “Minutes later, warning lights lit up the dashboard. By the time he made it home, his turn signals had failed and the car wouldn’t shut off. At the dealership, the service team delivered the bad news: moisture had damaged the wiring harnesses beneath the seat and floorboard. Sand on the driver’s side may have played a role, too. The fix was replacing the entire floor and driver’s seat wiring system at $11,882.08 — none of which was covered under warranty or insurance.”

Gap landslide

December 16, 2025

Severe rainfall occurred in the fall in Tennessee’s Newfound Gap, near Alum Cave Trailhead, causing subsequent and intermittent closures of US 441. US 441 connects Tennessee with North Carolina for visitors to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, the nation’s most-visited national park. Now, snow and ice are compounding the problems of safe traveling along steep grades and narrow curves.

Watch the video:

Sweating at the gym!

December 9, 2025

Yesterday was leg-day at the gym. I rested my drawstring bag on the StairMaster, hopped on top, and climbed for about 15 minutes.

When I finished, there was a problem: my bag seemingly vanished. It wasn’t anywhere near the machine, and I was 100% sure that I had placed it right next to me.

My wallet and my car keys were in this bag, so I was really hoping no one snatched it.

I hurried to the front desk and asked if anyone had turned in a bag. My bag wasn’t there, but I was relieved to see my car was still in the parking lot.

I retraced my steps to no luck. A staff member offered to tilt the StairMaster up so I can look underneath, but that proved to be fruitless, too.

“I can open the machine up to see if it got sucked inside,” he suggested.

“If there’s a chance that’ll get my keys back, I think it’s worth a try!” I said.

After a few minutes of unscrewing, my bag popped right out of the machine — caked in a thick layer of dust, hair, and grime!

This week’s edition was written by Jacob.

Don’t go near the sea turtles

December 2, 2025

Apparently, a man in Hawaii wanted a video with a green sea turtle pretty badly . . . enough to grab the sea turtle and stand it up against him after requesting a woman to film him holding the member of the protected species. Public outrage at the shared video immediately began trending.

Hawaiian law for the honu (green sea turtle) dictates that one must stay 10 feet away. Harassment of the protected species is a misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in prison and at least a $250.00 fine. Conservation officials with Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) have already begun their investigation and continually warn the public with signage and other means. There’s a hotline specifically for mistreatment or emergencies of marine life.

Shortchanged, short-staffed

November 25, 2025

The worst job I ever had was sitting the front desk at a hotel during third shift.

I had worked as a front desk receptionist at my dormitory for two years, so I figured this position could keep me busy during the summer.

During the interview, the hotel manager Jay seemed impressed with my experience. He said he couldn’t offer me the pay rate offered on the job posting, though, because I didn’t have any hotel experience. 

I didn’t really care about the money, so I shrugged my shoulders and accepted the $2 reduction in the hourly wage.

I should have realized then he was a complete crook.

A coworker who managed the desk at second shift, Lindsey, made it clear that she didn’t really like Jay because of his dishonesty.

That summer, the pool was completely unavailable due to recurring maintenance problems. Jay had recently fired our maintenance person.

Guests frequently complained about this to her, because the website boasted a large pool and said nothing about unavailability.

Lindsey brought this up to Jay, but he said it was going to be fixed soon, anyways. I don’t believe it was fixed by the time winter rolled around.

Brenda, who worked the desk during first shift, was also growing impatient with Jay.

After our cook quit, she was expected to fill this spot on top of her own responsibilities. So, whenever she wasn’t checking in guests, she needed to run to the kitchen to prepare the buffet.

When Brenda asked for compensation for juggling two jobs at once, Jay said he could only offer a measly additional dollar an hour.

All four desk receptionists, myself included, quit that August.

I imagine Jay was having at least a few bad days while he scrambled to completely replace his workforce. Hopefully, this taught him a lesson in shortchanging his staff and being underhanded with clients.

Workers don’t quit jobs just because they’re hard. Workers quit jobs that make it hard to maintain motivation.

Good people don’t like to know they’re nickel-and-diming their customers. And no one likes to feel like they’re unappreciated.

The values management practices has ripples on the culture of your company. 

This week’s edition was written by Jacob.

A mini-moon?

November 18, 2025

Did you hear that Earth now has a mini-moon? Well, really, it’s an asteroid — called “temporary asteroid 2025 PN7.” The new fixture in the sky was discovered by a would-be astronomer in August and is reported to be a quasi-satellite which aligns by gravity with Earth along its way around the sun.

The asteroid will likely be in its current orbit for decades but poses no threat to Earth. The bad day part? You cannot see it with your naked eye. Boo! Hiss!

30 seconds is worth 24 hours

November 11, 2025

A friend of mine, Riley, is a flight attendant at a major airline. 

This can be a fairly taxing position, as the role requires strong communication, time-management, and emotional regulation skills. To avoid fatigue, a flight attendant cannot work seven days in a row.

Riley was scheduled to work Thursday and Friday (2 days), then Sunday through Wednesday (4 days).

If a delay were to occur on Friday that caused him to work “past 02:00 [AM] on a day off”, his contract entitled him to a schedule change.

Lo and behold, Friday’s flight was delayed, and the trip extended to 2 AM exactly.

Upon requesting a schedule change, however, he was denied. His superiors informed him that this compensation is only offered if a trip extends past 2 AM, not at 2 AM.

Needless to say, Riley will wait an extra thirty seconds to disembark the plane if he’s ever in this situation again.

This week’s edition was written by Jacob.

Is your car on the list?

November 4, 2025

Did you know there is a list of the “most stolen cars”? I didn’t . . .until I mentioned a particular model to a car salesman who told me about a list of easy-to-steal cars. The vehicles are identified on the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and Highway Loss Data Institute’s (IIHS-HLDI) “Most-Stolen Vehicles” list.

By the way, I was relieved that my car model was not on the list!

Two drones, a crane, and boom!

Two Amazon Prime Air drones were involved in striking the boom of a crane in Tolleson, Colorado, and the investigation is being handled by NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) and the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration. The FAA stated that no one was injured in the accident.

“We’ve resumed drone delivery in Tolleson while continuing to support ongoing reviews by relevant agencies,” Amazon spokesperson Terrence Clark told The Hill on Friday. Drone deliveries were put on pause Thursday.