'Lift the computer two inches and drop it': 25+ Silly solutions that saved the day

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Aug 14, 2023 11:00 AM EDT

The best solution is sometimes the simplest. 

Necessity is the mother of invention, and it's spawning some interesting outcomes for these people. True innovation really does happen when you're at your most desperate. These people replied to an r/AskReddit post requesting people's dumbest solutions to issues that actually worked to resolve the problem. Tons of commenters shared strategies they've used, from "percussive maintenance" to using the wax wrappers from cheese snacks to fix a license plate. 

Some people had really great solutions for getting around fees at doctor appointments. Instead of cancelling their appointment and getting a charge for it, one person just moved up their appointment to three weeks later. Then, they cancelled that. Keep that in mind next time you find yourself needing a last-minute out! I've actually done this life hack before, too. But I wasn't nearly as brazen as that person — I rescheduled then cancelled in two separate calls, just in case the receptionist was onto me and my sneaky plan. Whatever works!

Check out all these excellently dumb answers below — you'll feel like you've learned something for the next time you're in a pinch! Then, check out these hilariously cheap people who couldn't help but squeeze every single penny. 

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  • 01
    Font - 'I called about a pothole at the entrance of my store. They said since it was in my entrance, I'd have to pay for it. I called back as a concerned citizen and it'll be fixed in 72 hours.'
    via Marc-Olivier Jodoin on Unsplash
  • 02
    Font - What is the dumbest solution to a problem that actually worked?
    via u/Sh0tg**Llama
  • 03
    Font - I called about a pothole at the entrance of my store. They said since it was in my entrance, I'd have to pay for it. I called back as a concerned citizen and it'll be fixed in 72 hrs.
    via r/AskReddit
  • 04
    Font - anotherlittlepieceof. I was in college with a real awful set of hand- me-down kitchen utensils. I had my heart set on making almond crusted fish for dinner one night but had no feasible way of crushing the almonds with the knives in my S drawer. So I put them in a plastic bag and wrapped them in a dish towel and ran them over with my SUV a few times in the parking lot. Voila! The fish came out great.
    via u/anotherlittlepieceof
  • 05
    Font - MissNickels Our family cat hated our family dog. Rubbed the dog all over with fresh catnip. New best friends.
    via u/MissNickels
  • 06
    Font - Stellapotamus I went to cancel a doctor's appointment and they said it was a $200 charge without a week's notice. I asked how much it was to reschedule, they said it was free. "Okay, so I need to reschedule for two "1 weeks out.' "Is three weeks okay?" "Yep." "Alright, you're all set for three weeks from now. Anything else I can do for you?"
    via u/Stellapotamus
  • 07
    Font - "Yes, I need to cancel my appointment." "We need a week's notice." "My appointment is three weeks away." "Oh. Okay. Sure." "Thank you." Couldn't believe it worked.
    via u/Stellapotamus
  • 08
    Font - mylesfrost335 My stepdad was taking a sat nav back to the shop as it was acting strange but the bloke serving him refused to take it as the warranty only covers physical damage (not accidental damage) So he just drop kicked it lightly and the bloke just casually said "that'll do sir" and went out back to get a replacement. Wasn't to sure what to think about that
    via u/mylesfrost335
  • 09
    Font - Atsur My folks were in town, and my wife and I wanted to take them to dinner. We head to a nearby mediocre steakhouse at the request of my parents, and it's around 6:00pm. The hostesses tell us there's a minimum 45 minute wait. I get suspicious, as their parking lot had barely any cars, so I peek around into their dining area. There are several open tables that would fit a party of 4. Mildly annoyed, I ask the hostesses why we can't be seated at any of these tables. They reply that
    via u/Atsur
  • 10
    Font - they're being held for future reservations. I get on my smartphone, open the OpenTable app, make a reservation for 6:15pm for a party of 4, and we're seated immediately.
    via u/Atsur
  • 11
    Font - [deleted] There was a nuresing home in Germany and the patients with dementia kept wandering off. They installed a fake bus stop in front of the nursing home so when dementaion patients got out of the building, they would go sit at the fake bus stop and wait for the (non-existent) bus. The bus stop was clearly visible from the main offices, so whenever staff saw someone out there, they would just go and retrieve them. Solved the problem completely.
    via u/deleted
  • 12
    Font - o Roger ThatKid I once owned a subaru and drove a half hour away to a friend's house. On the way home, the brakes lost all their fluid. When I stepped on the Brake pedal, the car just coasted. This was in the middle of a blizzard. Nobody else was on the road... so in my head, it made the most logical sense to drive it home right then and there, rather than wait for a tow truck during a blizzard. I took back roads and stayed in 1st or 2nd gear, 20 mph at most, and braked to a stop with the
    via u/RogerThatKid
  • 13
    Font - ajnixonm Back when I was in 6th form at school, we had new sofas in the common room (a room where our year could hang out and relax/work/listen to music on our time off). They had been there only a couple of days before one of the legs snapped off one of the sofas. Now we could have attempted to fix it, or just left it missing a leg but there were often checks and cleaners moving furniture would have noticed it was broken and we would have got in trouble for "not respecting school propert
    via u/ajnixonm
  • 14
    Font - So we did the only sensible thing, which was break all the legs off the sofa, and then all the sofas in the room so they were all at the same height. We stashed the legs in the ceiling, and nobody knew a thing.
    via u/ajnixonm
  • 15
    Font - PhilUpTheCup I read this somewhere so I'm not sure if it's true but: An airport was having complaints that luggage was taking too long to get to baggage claim. The airports solution was to move baggage claim even farther away from the gates. The complaints stopped because a lot of the time spent waiting was now spent just walking there. The actual time it took to get your luggage wasn't any faster
    via u/PhilUpTheCup
  • 16
    Font - friskfyr32 An officially recommended solution to a common problem with the Apple 3 was to "lift the computer two inches and drop it".
    via u/friskfyr32
  • 17
    Font - o fragrantvegetable We had a problem with an order so I wrote an email (from my email address) to customer support asking them on how to proceed. They told me that since the order was done in my girlfriends name they couldn't give me this information for privacy reasons. So I just replied (still from my email address) with: I hereby allow fragrantvegetable to inquire information about my order. Regards, <insert girlfriends name here>
    via u/fragrantvegetable
  • 18
    Font - Apparently that was proof enough for them to give me said information, which actually was just to call a certain number. Why that information fell under their privacy policy in the first place, is still a mystery to me.
    via u/fragrantvegetable
  • 19
    Font - Had to send in a letter once, the envelopes had no sticky adhesive and couldn't find the tape at home. My dad who's pretty much as old as Confucius just grabs a grain of rice out of my bowl and used it as the adhesive. It worked so well. Edit: since people keep asking, it was just cooked white rice I was eating for dinner,.
    via r/AskReddit
  • 20
    Font - ThatsNotHow You Eat There is a retaining wall in my back yard. The neighbor's yard is about 3' higher than my own, and the retaining wall is right on the property line. The wall was lookin really shabby when I first moved in. So I asked the neighbor if he'd like to go halves on fixing it. I wanted something less ugly in my yard and, I assumed, he wanted to keep his yard out of mine.
    via u/ThatsNotHowYouEat
  • 21
    Font - Dude refused and flipped the f out. He insisted it was my wall, not his (the city disagreed) and that I needed to f right off. So I told him that if he felt the wall was mine I'd be taking it down. He flips me the bird. Nice. Two weeks later I have a contractor coming to give me an estimate on some foundation repair work. Nothing major, some carbon fiber reinforcement to be added. I was also breaking up a small concrete slab on the side of my house not facing this neighbor. So the contrac
    via u/ThatsNotHowYouEat
  • 22
    Font - We had some brief discussions outside. Went inside and he did his thing. Then we talked for a while outside a bit longer, all the while I'm holding this stupid sledge hammer. Neighbor comes over 15 minutes later and is seriously freaked out because he assumed that I was about to take down the wall and was hiring this guy for, well, something related. He agrees to get the wall repaired, at his expense, because he really doesn't want me to demo the wall.
    via u/ThatsNotHowYouEat
  • 23
    Font - In the end, he had the old wall removed and re- poured and I hired a mason to do some nice looking stone work over the poured concrete. I got a nicer looking yard and he took care of his dilapidated property all because I happened to be outside with a sledge hammer.
    via u/ThatsNotHowYouEat
  • 24
    Font - Dante_2. Bought a "not chargeable" iPhone 5s from a second hand store for bargain. Used a toothpick to clean the contact. Phone is chargeable now and works perfectly.
    via u/Dante_2
  • 25
    Gesture - ransom0374 Restarting a computer does SO MUCH
    via u/ransom0374
  • 26
    Font - M berthejew Used the wax from a Babybel cheese round to secure the license plate tucked in the back window. It was a rental and we didn't want to scratch anything up by putting the plate on, but the racket was driving me crazy. Two chunks of wax on the corners and I could sleep on the road trip. I also used it on my screen door in the same way because the weather stripping was worn out and my landlord was a cheap a. Stopped the rattling.
    via u/berthejew
  • 27
    Font - SSmtb Drove to a neighboring town 80 miles away with one burned out headlight, remaining headlight went out while in said town. I had no money, and shops were closed regardless. These were dual beam, so although I had lost both headlights, the high beams worked. I didn't make it out of town with getting honked at and flashed repeatedly by angry passing motorists, and understandably so.
    via u/SSmtb
  • 28
    Font - What was I to do? I continued down the highway and made it about 15 miles before I'm pulled over by the first officer to see me. I explain the situation, officer has no suggestions (this was before cell phones), tells me I can go but that I won't make it home without getting stopped again. I pull over at the next exit, get a free water, dump it in the dirt, make a thin mud, and smeared it over my lights. Worked like a charm, no more honks or flashes, passed multiple officers.
    via u/SSmtb
  • 29
    Font - pastelroyalty My psych professor told us about this patient. She was a woman in her late 40's, suffering from OCD and paranoia. Everyday while she drove to work, she would panic that she left her curling iron on, and it was going to burn her house down. So she would turn around, drive home, make sure it was unplugged, and then leave again.
    via u/pastelroyalty
  • 30
    Font - But as time went on she started making multiple trips home, sometimes in the middle of the day, and she was about to lose her job over this. No therapy was working, her medications weren't working, coping techniques weren't working. Nothing could calm this woman. Then she saw my professor. And my professor told her to bring her curling iron in the car with her. So if she got nervous that it was still plugged in, she could look over and see that it was next to her.
    via u/pastelroyalty
  • 31
    Font - Scrappy_Larue My car got pummeled in a terrible hail storm. Little dents over every surface of the car. My insurance would only write it off as a total loss, and I didn't want to give the car up. A friend pointed out that since I live in the desert, the heat will likely fix a lot of those dents over time. That's exactly what happened. A year later, you had to look carefully to find dents where there used to be a hundred of them. Ignoring the problem fixed it.
    via u/Scrappy_Larue
  • 32
    Font - ChrisLW A few years ago, my parents bought a sound bar from Best Buy, around mid-November. Two weeks later, Black Friday rolls around, and the sound bar is on sale. I happened to be visiting, so we roll over to Best Buy, receipt in hand, to see about getting a price adjustment. It's busy, but not terribly so... but the manager flat refuses, and says they won't do any price adjustments on Black Friday sales. I can tell my parents are about to blow a fuse, so I pull them away.
    via u/ChrisLW
  • 33
    Font - Instead, we go over to the speaker section, grab the identical sound bar, and take it up front to buy (at the lower price.) As soon as we're done at checkout, we take the box to the customer service counter, and return it with the old (higher price) receipt, no questions asked.
    via u/ChrisLW
  • 34
    Font - mutedphonecalls When my cousin was moving into his new town house we couldn't fit the boxspring up the stairs. I jokingly suggested we use his balcony rails as a pulley to drag it up. 25 dollars of rope from Home Depot later, we had the box spring up to the 3rd floor
    via u/mutedphonecalls
  • 35
    Font - blackbird2379 There was a small, but noticeable dent in the side of my car for several years. Some of my friends and I were playing basketball in a parking lot and a hard pass caused it. It was honestly no big deal. Fast forward a few years. I'm chatting in the parking lot with a woman I work with. She spots the dent and says, "I can fix that right up." She goes back to her car and gets a plunger. She plunged the dent right out of my car. Like it was never there.
    via u/blackbird2379
  • 36
    Font - Chahles88 A toothpaste factory had a problem: Due to the way the production line was set up, sometimes empty boxes were shipped without the tube inside. People with experience in designing duction lines will tell you how difficult it is to have everything happen with timings so precise that every single unit coming off of it is perfect 100% of the time. Small variations in the environment (which cannot be controlled in a cost-effective fashion) mean quality assurance checks must be smartl
    via u/Chahles88
  • 37
    Font - supermarket won't get frustrated and purchase another product instead. Understanding how important that was, the CEO of the toothpaste factory gathered the top people in the company together. Since their own engineering department was already stretched too thin, they decided to hire an external engineering company to solve their empty boxes problem. The project followed the usual process: budget and project sponsor allocated, RFP (request for proposal), third- parties selected, and six mo
    via u/Chahles88
  • 38
    Font - quality and everyone in the project had a great time. The problem was solved by using high- tech precision scales that would sound a bell and flash lights whenever a toothpaste box would weigh less than it should. The line would stop, and someone had to walk over and yank the defective box off the line, then press another button to re-start the line. A short time later, the CEO decided to have a look at the ROI (return on investment) of the project: amazing results! No empty boxes ever sh
    via u/Chahles88
  • 39
    Font - complaints, and they were gaining market share. "That was some money well spent!" he said, before looking closely at the other statistics in the report. The number of defects picked up by the scales was 0 after three weeks of production use. How could that be? It should have been picking up at least a dozen a day, so maybe there was something wrong with the report. He filed a bug against it, and after some investigation, the engineers indicated the statistics were indeed correct. The scal
    via u/Chahles88
  • 40
    Font - Perplexed, the CEO traveled down to the factory and walked up to the part of the line where the precision scales were installed. A few feet before the scale, a $20 desk fan was blowing any empty boxes off the belt and into a bin. Puzzled, the CEO turned to one of the workers who stated, "Oh, that... One of the guys put it there 'cause he was tired of walking over every time the d bell rang!"
    via u/Chahles88
  • 41
    Font - sunnysidedown101. I have an LG tv that I bought second-hand in college. After a few moves, even with TLC, it started to go on the fritz. It randomly will shut off every 30 seconds some days and be completely fine others. So I googled it and if you smack it right above where the power cord enters the TV, just one good smack, it's supposed to fix it. I did and it's worked ever since. I believe this is called 'percussive maintenance'.
    via u/sunnysidedown101
  • 42
    Font - [deleted] I was in high school, I had a huge test that I didn't study for and was known at the school for ditching classes. I really needed to pass this test so after the bell dismissing us from the class prior, I walked myself straight to the office, told the secretary that I was caught swearing in the halls and was sent there to see the principal by one of the staff. I sat on the bench and waited for 20 minutes for the principal to call me in. The next 45
    via u/deleted
  • 43
    Font - minutes consisted of him scrolling the staff directory asking me which teacher it was that sent me and lecturing me about behaving appropriately in the halls. Needless to say I missed the class and my principal wrote me a note excusing me. That night, I studied my a off and passed the test the following day. Boo ya!
    via u/deleted

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ask reddit dads problem solved smart smart people dumb people problem work smarter not harder fixed broken dumb solution there I fixed it
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