What wouldn’t we sometimes give to find out a secret or two? In a sick twist of fate, some secrets come out to us totally accidentally and even at times when we least want them to. When it comes to the workplace, 37% of American employees say they have come across confidential information at work about their colleagues, like salaries or bonuses.

Turns out, loads of people have found out certain things involuntarily. One minute, you’re snooping through family Christmas stockings to find some sweets. The next, you’re finding out about your parents’ preferences in bed against your will.

Bored Panda has come across some disturbing and hilarious answers to the question, “What was something you saw you were definitely not supposed to see?” that someone posted online. So, scroll down and find out what knowledge and sights traumatized these poor folks.

#1

Borrowed my Dad’s camera, found out he was gay.

Image credits: TheLaudMoac

#2

Hard drive failed on my dad’s computer.

The data recovery software did a pretty good job really, but I could have done without it recovering lingerie shots of the various women he’s been cheating on my mother with over the years.

Image credits: CMDRTheDarkLord

#3

The code to open all the doors in my primary school at the time. A lot of power to open any locked door for an 8 year old.

Image credits: Nozzles1234

A lot of the stories on this list feature someone sneaking up on people who are being unfaithful. According to a 2015 study, 90% of people in relationships would want to know if their partner is cheating. But a common dilemma people who witness someone else cheating face is whether to tell the other person that their partner is cheating.

According to intimacy coach Georgia Grace, it depends. Here are some things to consider:

1. How sure are you about the infidelity? Did you just hear about it or witness it with your own eyes? If you have proof you can present to the partner and are absolutely sure, it’s more likely they’ll believe you.
2. What’s your relationship with the partner? Are you friends or just acquaintances? People are more likely to believe people they have known for a long time. So, telling on someone you’re only vaguely connected to might backfire – the partner may accuse you of stirring the pot needlessly or even of jealousy.

#4

My dad’s AA chips. Learned it’s why my parents got divorced. Proud of him for being in recovery though.

Image credits: heuristichuman

#5

My like 3rd job I had, at 17, was at a pizza place.

I had 2 managers, 1 male, 1 female, and they were both married to other people.

Well, I went to hand in my drawer at the end of one shift and walked into the office and there they were just making out with some heavy petting.

Their spouses found out. They left their families, and then those 2 managers got married to each other. As far as I know, they’re still together.

Image credits: UnsupportedDevice

#6

I found invitations to my big surprise 18th birthday just lying on the floor a few weeks before the event, I had to act surprised when the time came to walk through the door to the party, which I did. The only thing is, my twin brother also knew (which I didn’t know at the time) and lets just say his acting skills are really bad…
So we both found out in different ways about the surprise party but neither of us knew that we found out about it. So when I walked through the door for the ‘surprise’, I could tell from his reaction that he knew…

Image credits: untg

Grace recommends talking about such a delicate topic as cheating in person. Don’t do it over a phone call or a text. “Deliver this information to them in a safe and respectful way,” she says. She also suggests mentioning something about it to a mutual friend. That way, you can check if there’s really something going on, or if your suspicions are unfounded.

At the end of the day, it’s an incredibly complex issue, and even if some people say they would like to know, they may feel completely different once they’re experiencing it. “You should really never place your values or opinions or ideas on any situation,” Grace explains. “However, it’s vital to create a safe space for people to come to their own conclusions based on the information that they’ve got.”

#7

When I was a young teen I was once leaving my house to go do something in the neighborhood. As soon as I got out of the door I heard my parents at the garage. My mother seemed to be in her car, and my father…was sitting down behind her car, and pleading with her not to leave. My parents were divorcing, and I saw a few scenes that I wish I never had. Not really horrific, but seeing your parents in emotional pain can be rough.

Image credits: Eaglestrike

#8

The salaries of everyone working at the company I was working at – it was a smaller, start-up digital ad agency with about 60 employees total, and someone from HR was making copies of a document that listed everyone’s salary, and left the original on the glass of the copier. I found it, and turned it back in, but not before I went through that list to see what everyone else made, and discovered that a couple new hires working the same position as me were making more than me. So after turning it in, I met with my manager and used my newfound knowledge to my advantage to successfully negotiate for a raise (along with a tacit promise that I wouldn’t divulge what I knew to anyone else in the company).

Image credits: VictorBlimpmuscle

#9

A bit boring, but I found an engagement ring in a closet six months before my boyfriend popped the question. In those six months I kept going back to the closet to put the ring on my finger and admire it.

Image credits: AwkwardBreak

Another common topic on this list was confidential breaches in the workplace. What do you do when you accidentally find out something about other employees or even your boss? If someone sent it to you by mistake, be sure to inform them immediately so that they’re aware and don’t make the same mistake again. The next step is to inform HR or the IT department about the breach. Perhaps the most important thing is not to copy, share, or save the information that you saw.

#10

I found a letter between my parents back when my dad was in the army (10 years before I was born) when cleaning out the house. He was saying how they should get a divorce because it just wasn’t seeming to work out. When I was 16 they did end up getting a divorce, I’ve never talked to them about it.

Image credits: -NoFaithInFate-

#11

Leaving work late one evening, I saw the HR director and CFO in a dark office shredding papers (no, that’s not an euphemism). I didn’t say anything but quietly walked on down the hall. Two weeks later we were raided by the SEC and several people were charged with cooking the books.

Image credits: TheGooOnTheFloor

#12

I once arrived early to pick up a girl for a first date. She was renting a small garden apartment behind a bigger house. It was just after dusk and I walked around the corner. The sliding door was standing open and she was inside walking around, brushing her hair, wearing only her underwear. She did not see me, so I just walked back around that corner and waited another 10 minutes. When I walked round again she had a dress on. I never told her.

edit: Since a few asked. The date went well. I only got to see her underwear again several weeks later.

Image credits: Joe1972

Finding out a secret can put a person in an incredibly awkward position. Some of the stories in this list might make you cringe or shake your head in disbelief, but we’re curious to find out about your experiences, Pandas! Have you ever witnessed something you definitely weren’t supposed to see? How did it go? Let us know in the comments, and while you’re here, don’t forget to check out other unexpected times people saw something they weren’t supposed to!

#13

I tend to have a way of finding things out that I’m not supposed to due to my inquisitive nature, but one that comes to mind was when I left my last job. My general manager wasn’t exactly a warm wooly person and was not pleased that I was leaving. I had to get something out of the managers office and saw my name in an email on the desk. She had told the other two managers to wish me the best of luck in my future career and that I would be missed. I was shocked because she actually took the time to send that out to them. Never heard that from any of them, but seeing it showed that she actually cared.

Image credits: Sgt-Tibbs

#14

Happened to a friend of mine. She was dating this dude forever, they broke up and he moved out, she was devastated. About a month later she was cleaning out old stuff and found a receipt for a ring that he had bought for her and never given her. That’s how she found out that he had once intended to propose, before he fell out of love with her. She was hurt pretty bad about that.

Image credits: anon

#15

My dad’s face as he was listing off all the friends that he lost during Vietnam. He never talks about it because of PTSD. He’s talked to my mom a few times when they are alone.

This time I was a teenager coming in to borrow the car keys. I just walked right in cause the door was open. Then I realized my dad was reciting names. I looked over and saw the pure anguish on his face. Tears streaming. I realized I had overstepped and my mom threw me the keys.

My mom told me that later he started reciting names again and went for over 20 mins and this is on top of what he said before.

I still love him despite giant personality flaws. I wouldn’t wish the pain I saw on his face upon anyone in the world.

Image credits: zatanamag

#16

I was working part-time at a library for a school subject. One day, they made me enter the data for new books into the library’s computer system. As I worked, I did something (don’t know what), that made Windows Outlook display onto the PC screen, along with some e-mails by the librarian’s director to my teacher and to the other librarians. The e-mails basically said that I was really good at my job and very hard-working, and that the collaboration would be very beneficial both for me and them.

I wasn’t supposed to read those messages, but they made me feel really happy.

Image credits: NimegaGunner

#17

Dude robbed a gas station. I was riding my bike in the back saw him take off his mask and get in a car. We made eye contact. I turned my head and acted like I didnt see anything.

Image credits: anon

#18

I do conventions and corporate events for a living.

Was once called into a room to fix a power cable. It was a meeting of a world wide well known house paint manufacturer. It was a closed door meeting and I had to be let in to do my job quickly.

They didn’t stop talking as I did my work.

“we’ve pulled all the units from production and recalled all units on the shelves, but the ones still in transit can not be recalled. They might be caught when they reach the sales floor if the retailers are still watching the recall, but it will have been weeks since we issued it.”

The guy who then responds to that states that they can prove they did their diligence in court with the recall and any units sold to consumers will be the retailers fault.

I never did get to hear what the recall was for but they seemed pretty tense over it, legally speaking. So I doubt it was quality control.

Image credits: Team_Braniel

#19

I came home from working my second job to my now ex wife with some guy in our house.

Image credits: anon

#20

A woman using a sink as a bidet.

Image credits: anon

#21

As a kid I saw the scene from Poltergeist where the clown pulls the kid under the bed. My entire bedroom was filled with clown pictures and toys.

I was upset.

Image credits: MoronTheMoron

#22

My principal bribed off an inspector and he saw me see him, we made eye contact for 10 seconds and i didn’t say anything, no one knows

Edit:people are saying this is fake, bribes are something natural in romania and i did exagerate with the 10 secs lol we did make eye contact. What you guys need to understand is that this is happening in a 3rd world country in a school in which most of the kids have a record, i am pretty smart but don’t get me wrong the school and class i was in was a bad one, i was the smartest of the stupidest you can say. My 9(that was my grade) would have been a 5 or 6 in another school, but my grades did inflate a bit(from 8.23 to 9.47) don’t believe if you don’t want but i am telling you all i know.

Image credits: anon

#23

I accidentally found someone’s notice of performance improvement plan on our company open access SharePoint site. Went straight to my manager so they could quietly inform the manager of the person and have it removed. The person on the performance plan quickly became a top performer and closed the second biggest deal in the region not long after their manager was replaced.

Image credits: AxiomStatic

#24

My severance check. Apparently someone at the payroll company addressed it to me instead of HR. Opened it at my desk and laughed, packed up my things and left.

Image credits: BougieB_83

#25

Way back in high school I was in Honours Anatomy and Physiology while also fighting a serious case of senioritis. Now I wanted a good grade on the final to keep my A and get a good GPA for the quarter, but I didn’t study anything at all.

Now to the story: day of the final. I had it at 8:30AM (finals week had 2 finals a day that lasted like 2 and a half hours each) and got to school at around 7:45 AM to do some last minute studying on the human skull. I was sitting outside the classroom when my teacher comes by holding a stack of papers and her laptop, walks in the room places them down and comes back outside. She passes me and asks me to come help her bring more stuff in from her car while she runs to the office for something. Being the teachers pet I was, I said yes and followed her to her car.
My teacher proceeds to grab a single white piece of paper, place it on top of a stack of papers, and hand me the stack telling me to take this into her room and to start letting people into her room as well. So I take the papers in, take the top paper off, and of course it’s not the final we were taking… It’s the answer key. Now the test is 100 problems and 50 fill in the blanks on diagrams of various parts of the body (anatomical and physiological) — test was about to be hard.
I take my phone out, take pictures of every page, and go to my seat in the far back, way away from her desk and very obscured from her view due to more papers and books she had stacked.
Luckily the pictures were of the version of the test I got, so I got 115% after the curve…

She never expected a thing because throughout the year I was always a pretty good student and was considered one of the “good kids” by all my teachers (I was known by pretty much everyone in school due to my participation in school and family presence in the community).

Now I just barely got through university 🙂 but GPA doesn’t matter when you have a career 🤙🏼.

Image credits: Jayrock122

#26

I am on mobile so sorry up front.
My first vacation with my family as a kid (probably 03 or 04), we go to Wisconsin Dells. Towards the end of the trip I remember hearing a ambulance siren and it’s getting closer and closer. Next thing I know, my mom is telling me to close my eyes, and being a 3 or 4 year old, I didnt listen. I saw the emt’s and lifeguards on top of a girl my age at the time (3 or 4), and rushing her to the ambulance. She ended up not being able to be recessitated*. She had gone off the cliff in a pool that was 2 ft, and sunk to the bottom of a 9 ft part. This was right next to where we were.
TlDr: first vacation ever as a little kid, see a little girl drown in the pool within 20 ft of me.
Edit: This occured at the Polynesian Resort

Image credits: Untold_Legend1234

#27

My wife and I vacationed to London a couple years ago. After dinner, we decided to go try out some local pubs because, ya know, London. We didn’t want to go to the tourist trap places so we followed around some locals.

It was about 11pm when we got to the last pub. Was a nice looking place with a younger crowd. I really had to pee, but I couldn’t find a restroom anywhere. I walked up to the guy working the front door and asked him where the restroom was. He looked at me kinda funny and said, “Upstairs. First door on your left.” I thanked him and scurried back into the bar.

The staircase was in the back left corner, blocked by a table. I found it odd. I had to ask the group sitting at the table to move to let me slide by. They thought it was strange too, by the looks on their faces. You could tell that these stairs weren’t meant to be used, but I had been drinking and my bladder was about to bust.

As I reach the next floor there’s a long hallway with about 5 doors. The bouncer had told me it was the first door on the left, so, I tried it. Nope, it was a dark room with empty kegs. Pretty normal, maybe he meant the right door? Nope, dark room with extra supplies. I started to wonder if I was too drunk to follow directions, but then I noticed that I could see light under the door at the end of the hallway. That must be the bathroom, or so I thought.

I open up the door to find a group of people in very sharp business attire seated around an oval table. They were clearly having a meeting of some sort, with their laptops out. They were incredibly surprised to see me. They all froze in place and we all looked at each other for a good 15-30 seconds. Finally, one of the guys says, “What the hell are you doing, mate?” I replied, “I’m just looking for the bathroom, the door guy told me it was up here.” They all looked a little confused, but the guy responded, “We don’t have a restroom in this building, now please leave.”

I apologized and closed the door, then headed back down the stair case confused as hell. The good news was that my urge to pee went away. I slid past the group at the table and returned to my wife, who had ordered some fish and chips, and told her all about what happened. We both agreed it was strange, but ordered another round and thought nothing of it.

About 5 minutes later, I notice the guy in the very nice looking suit come down the same stairs. He saw me, then went to the security guy at the front and said something to him, then pointed at me. The bouncer walks up to me and says, “You guys have to leave.” I told him that I had not paid my tab yet, and he said not to worry about, just go ahead and leave. I obliged.

My wife and I stand outside of the bar while we wait for our uber to take us back to our hotel. The bouncer is sitting their just staring at us. It was a very awkward 5 minute wait. When our Uber gets there, the bouncer says in a very Jamaican accent, “You all have a very good night!”, followed by a very loud laugh.

To this day, one of the weirdest events of my life. Why were they having a business meeting at 11pm, in a pub, on a Saturday night? Why did the bouncer tell me to go upstairs when he knew there was no bathroom? Why did they kick us out afterwards? Why did the bouncer creepily laugh at us?

We have no idea what happened, but we love to tell this story and see what everyone’s theories are.

Image credits: tarheelsrule441

#28

An email from my Dad’s mistress on his computer.

Mentioned it to my Mum and that’s when she told me my Dad had been having an affair for the past 7 years and I have a half sister because of it.

Image credits: anon

#29

A while back someone posted a video of a father singing to his baby in the NICU after an emergency C-Section. The baby had been taken out early because the mom has passed away unexpectedly overnight. The baby was gone shortly after.

After I watched that, I felt like I had intruded i on someone’s private moment with their child, and that I was not supposed to see that. I filter the links I click on a lot more carefully now. I hope that man has found a way to begin his healing.

Edit: For those asking, yes, it’s the man singing Blackbird.

Image credits: CptTritium

#30

Years ago a colleague had an old smartphone that he brought in to give to another coworker as theirs broke. The phone was sitting on the new owners desk but she hadn’t yet tried it out, as it was still charging after months of not being used. We were talking about how cool it was with the coworker (smartphones were not widespread yet), and I picked it up to see how it felt in my hand. I pressed a button and the first thing that I saw was a Google search for “lump on butt”. I quickly put the phone back down.

This must have been the last thing he searched for when he last used it a long time ago, and forgot about it…

Image credits: higgs8

#31

I was in elementary school playing basketball, I shot the ball but it ended up going over the fence on the other side was someone’s backyard. My teacher requested that after school I knock on the door of the house where the ball had landed to get it back and so I did. I did not expect a woman wrapped in a towel with one of her nipples revealed to answer the door. I was shocked but carried on with my mission.

For those wondering, she stated she did not have the ball.

#32

What everyone in my company made, salary-wise, CEO and all high ranks included. It was a very detailed excel file meant for the owners of the company.

For every tier you went up, the salary pretty much doubled.

#33

Was a little kid, went looking for something in the house. Opened a closet in the basement that I usually never looked into and found a huge stack of Christmas presents. Walked over to them and saw they all said “from Santa”.

Why would Santa deliver presents 2 weeks early? And why would he leave them in the basement closet?

Oh.

#34

So I’m fresh out of school and taking a gap year before starting university. I’d managed to get a job working for the USAF at an airbase in the UK (details of the job aren’t important).

So, about 2am on this particular night in early 1988 the runway lights that are normally off come on briefly, for perhaps 30 seconds then go off. That’s when I hear something clearly landing on the runway and off to the right of the runway one of the larger hangars opens its doors. In the pitch black, the light from that hangar is quite spectacular. That’s when I see it, a small black triangular aircraft rolls straight into that hangar and within seconds the doors close behind it.

This was my honest thought when I saw that, “I was DEFINITELY not supposed to have seen that.” I put my cigarette (hey, I was young and dumb) out and walked back into my building.

A few weeks later we got our first pictures of the F-117 Nighthawk followed by a confirmation it existed. I smiled a little and thought to myself, “Already knew about that…”.

#35

As a middle schooler, I picked up a book at the library, flipped through the pages and found an application for a replacement birth certificate for some old man. It had every detail about his personal identification on it, so naturally I took it home thinking, “I’ll just hold onto this incase I ever need to assume a fake identity by pretending to be an 80 year old man and flee the country.”

My mom found it and had to explain to me that no we don’t steal people’s identities.

#36

Went to visit grandma and grandpa. The front door was locked so I went around through the back and found them gardening totally naked.

#37

Freshman year of college, walk into the kitchen area late at night and there’s my girlfriend sitting on the counter….making out with one of my good friends. I just left quietly without them noticing and cut off all contact with both of them. So, pretty sure I wasn’t supposed to see that.

#38

When I was 14 and friend hosted a birthday party at his house with all the parents invited. Needed to use the restroom but the main one was occupied so my friend told me I can use the one in his moms bedroom. As I walked up to the door I could hear somebody in there so I decided to wait until whoever was in there was finished. A good 10 minutes later, my friends mom (who was hosting the party) and another good friends step-father walk out and see me standing there all confused. They asked what I was doing there and I just said I was waiting to use the bathroom. Surprisingly they played it cool and just said I can use it now and walked off.

#39

I used to work nights at a manufacturing plant. I went to the bathroom one night, picked out my favorite stall and sat on the toilet to spend the next 10 minutes contemplating life. After a few minutes, a male janitor walked in and started cleaning the bathroom. Another minute later, another male janitor came in to help. They were talking to each other in Spanish and then started kissing near the sinks, not realizing anyone was in the bathroom. I just sat there silently for a while not knowing what to do. After another minute or two of heavy kissing between the two, I decided to make a few noises so that they knew they weren’t alone. My toilet seat creaked when I moved. They both stopped their romance session, looked at my stall, giggled, and ran out of the bathroom leaving all of their cleaning stuff behind. I quickly cleaned up, flushed and ran out. I actually never saw those same janitors again.

#40

I was about 8 or 9 and my parents were going to be out of town so they had me and siblings stay with a family from our church. Once we got to the house (which was really nice BTW) they had one rule, you can play wherever you want but the basement is off limits. I was snuck down there first chance I got and was supremely disappointed to only find rows and rows of plants growing under lights.

#41

When I was little, my father set a password on a computer I was using for playing games. I wanted him to type the password (while I was away), but set a camera to record it. Hid it behind a pile of books.

The trick was, the camera back in the days was only able to record for 30 seconds, so I had to call my father and run out of the room, so he could type it as quickly as possible. It stopped filming just as he hit Enter.

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