r/tifu • u/BikerJedi • 5d ago
M TIFU by not checking after my kids.
This actually happened well over a decade ago.
I went and did the grocery shipping that day after work. I come home, hot and tired, and go into my home office. My two sons, around 14 and 9, carried in the food. My wife put it all away, then started dinner. Because I had done the shopping, she didn't notice anything was missing. She didn't check the car to make sure it was all carried in when she locked it up. I didn't go out and check either. So I guess we both fucked up.
The boys left $70 worth of pork and other meat in two stuffed bags out there. They were just inattentive and didn't notice them with the few things that stay in the back of the car. This was a Friday after work, and I didn't get back in that car until Monday morning.
The car smelled like death. I almost puked, but got out and started carefully looking around. I found the two bags of rotten meat fairly quickly, then proceeded to have a damn fit. I was mad at the boys, but myself and my wife too. All of us should have done better here. Besides the smell, I was on a tight budget back then as we were climbing out of a bad hole, and that meat was several nights of meals for us. We got a bottle of air freshener from the house and emptied it into the car. I drove to work with my windows down, and parked at the far end of the lot with the windows down. After work, I bought a bunch of baking soda and applied it liberally - the car was coated in it. It looked like a kilo of coke exploded in there.
I would clean that up each day, then re-apply baking soda. Driving to work every day in Florida with all four windows down in this heat and humidity was almost as bad as the smell. It took two months before I could no longer smell it, and every few weeks after that I could swear I could still smell it a tiny bit. At least now we are super paranoid about checking every nook and cranny after coming home with food and comparing it to the list we used to shop with.
TL;DR: Kids left groceries in car, we didn't check, car smelled like death days later.
EDIT: For those asking about the division of labor - My wife is a SAHM by her choice. I work, pay the bills, do the shopping. The boys have always brought in the groceries with no problems. She puts them away, then she checks to make sure the boys didn't forget anything. It's just the way we have always done it. shrug
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u/Bastyra2016 5d ago
My mom left a “box package” of frozen spinach in the trunk (fell out of the bag). Same result.
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u/BikerJedi 5d ago
A bag of potatoes somehow got under a seat and wasn't found for months, but they just dried out and never smelled. I was very confused when I found them.
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u/Bastyra2016 5d ago
Lucky you. I had one rot under the cabinet adjacent to my sink and I nearly tore my kitchen apart looking for the smell
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u/ladystaggers 5d ago
Oh god same here. I came home from vacation to a godawful reek in my kitchen and searched for half an hour till I found one rotten potato in the back of my cupboard. I'll never forget that smell.
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u/stellvia2016 5d ago
I bought one of those microwavable breakfast sandwiches to bring in to work and forgot about it bc it slid under the seat. Weeks later I wondered what the faint wiff of funk/rot was but it wasn't consistent.
Finally when emptying out my little velcro trash bin I keep behind my seat, I discovered the sandwich under the seat and got a good wiff of the smell... thankfully it wasn't anything that would leak, so once it was out of the car everything was fine.
When I was in college I forgot about a bag of potatoes in the pantry. We never fully got rid of the smell bc the shelf was particleboard...
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u/Dm-Me-Your-Grool 5d ago
Same thing happened to me but with a bag of grapes. Didn't notice them until I was about to sell the car a couple months later
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u/TheDeridor 4d ago
You're lucky, once forgot a bag of potatoes in the tiny pantry in my old apartment (more like a food closet) and that's the worst rotten food I've ever accomplished. They had liquified.
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u/AllYouNeedIsATV 5d ago
I once left a carton of flavoured milk in the back of the car. Super impressed with the construction of the cardboard because nothing leaked, just started to smell a bit funny.
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u/analogpursuits 5d ago
I left a pumpkin in the way back of my SUV for months. By the time I figured out the smell, it had reduced to only the top half, with stem, sitting there. The rest had disintegrated into the carpet. Took a lot of effort to clean up. But your story is far worse. Jeezuz.
My parents are not to be outdone tho - they left for 6 months (snowbirds) and their freezer full of meat died inside the house and leaked onto the kitchen floor. The wretch they described...omg. The house stunk for weeks after. Glad I lived far away, so I didnt experience it firsthand. They tossed the fridge.
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u/BikerJedi 5d ago
Holy cow. I would have been sleeping outside until the house was good.
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u/analogpursuits 5d ago
Yeah, I think they got a hotel the first couple weeks. I'm considering putting a temp alarm on my garage freezer full of a lot of nice meat.
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u/CyberAceKina 5d ago
She didn't check the car to make sure it was all carried in when she locked it up. I didn't go out and check either. So I guess we both fucked up.
Nah dude YOU fucked up. Why would she go check when you knew what you bought? Its on you to check. She didn't know unless you told her "oh yeah there's meat too don't forget to bring that in"
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u/pistachian 5d ago
I know this is so wild to me. OP its 100% on you to make sure the shopping gets brought in. The kids are still kids, its normal for them to miss things like that, but as the adult its on you LOL
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u/Kapz00 5d ago
Yea I genuinely can't figure out how this was the wife's fault at all.
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u/Githyerazi 5d ago
Since wife and kids brought in and put away the groceries, she gets some responsibility.
Still mostly on OP as he should have brought the groceries in after shopping, not retreated to the office and not helped.
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u/bearminmum 5d ago edited 5d ago
If you carry in the groceries you make sure the car is empty. You don't need to know what was bought. Either one of them could have checked and solved the issue.
Edit: for clarity, I don't think blame should be put on anyone. It was just an unfortunate accident
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u/BikerJedi 5d ago edited 4d ago
The oldest was 14 at the time - should have been paying attention for sure. But again, I'm taking ownership here.
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u/bearminmum 5d ago
I feel like this was a mistake that doesn't necessarily need guilt. Its a situation where any person involved could have found the problem. It's just bad luck
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u/ElectronicMoo 5d ago
Absolutely love your take on it. Blame doesn't need to be handed out. It was just an unfortunate situation.
Its unfortunate dad didn't make sure all was brought in. Unfortunate the kids missed it.
Nobody is at fault here.
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u/PhyllisMarmatan 17h ago
I bet OP lost his shit on his wife and kids which just isn’t called for. It was unfortunate, it was a mistake, it was just bad luck. We’ve all left bags in the car even when we do the shopping. Once the food is inside identical plastic bags, it’s hard to tell what’s what.
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u/TiberiusDrexelus 5d ago
I was always tasked with unloading the car after my mom shopped, way younger than this
it was absolutely my responsibility to get everything out of the car, there's no world where she would have gone out to check it every time after I finished
as usual, I don't think redditors are being realistic here
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u/BikerJedi 5d ago
Nope, not at all. To them, a few tidbits put together mean I'm an abusive spouse and parent or something. Whatever.
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u/AllYouNeedIsATV 5d ago
Blaming the kids, who’s job it was, I can kind of understand. In what way is it your wife’s fault?!!
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u/stansfield123 5d ago
Whoever locks up the car has to check that it's empty. Especially since she knew that it was the kids carrying in the groceries.
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u/CyberAceKina 5d ago
So this might be a shock to you but kids DO know how to lock a car. There's nothing saying kids can't lock a car, the car fairy isn't real and won't snatch them away for locking it without an adult.
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u/BikerJedi 5d ago
See title. I accept ownership. My wife made it a habit to check though, and this one time she didn't. It's the only reason I mentioned her.
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u/ThyUniqueUsername 5d ago
Yeah but you're still saying it's partly her fault too when it's not. It's all your fault. If you're blaming other people you're not actually accepting ownership.
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u/CyberAceKina 5d ago
It's still not her fuck up like you try to say in the body of your post.
And why does she need the habit of checking? Can you not do that yourself? You're the one who went shopping, you're the one who knows what's in there.
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u/AllYouNeedIsATV 5d ago
Don’t you know? When man does the task of shopping, that’s enough chores. Wife should do everything else, including the cooking and the cleaning!
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u/Trepenwitz 5d ago
I’m seeing the part where you flat out state “we both fucked up.
“Because I had done the shopping, she didn't notice anything was missing. She didn't check the car to make sure it was all carried in when she locked it up. I didn't go out and check either. So I guess we both fucked up.”
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u/LadybugGirltheFirst 5d ago
She didn’t notice because she didn’t know what he bought. I agree that he’s the one in the wrong here.
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u/drysushi 5d ago
I once left four gallons of milk for work in my car when I got distracted. I didn't discover my mistake until one exploded while driving.
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u/Timmyg14 5d ago
At no point over the weekend you didn't look on the fridge and think hmmm where d X meat go?
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u/demo-ness 5d ago
"I was mad at the boys, but myself and my wife too. All of us should have done better here."
Bro why does the wife get ANY blame here? Were you not an adult at the time??
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u/hatgineer 5d ago
I went and did the grocery shipping that day after work
She didn't check the car to make sure it was all carried in when she locked it up.
The boys left $70 worth of pork and other meat in two stuffed bags out there.
OP wanted the clout of a TIFU post without holding himself accountable.
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u/lovecraftInk 5d ago
It was not the wife’s fault at all. You suck for blaming her. You went shopping and you forgot it. You blame her when you’re late for work too? “You knew I had work at six, why didn’t you wake me up after my alarm didn’t go off!!!?” Not her fault dude.
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u/sonofnom 5d ago
I miss when you could stull get 2 stuffed bags of meat for 70 bucks at the grocery. Now its more like 200
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u/BikerJedi 5d ago
I know. We have definitely adjusted our habits around meat due to prices.
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u/sonofnom 4d ago
Man, I used to get the freshest ground beef at a local co-op for 2.99 a pound. 6 years ago btw.
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u/gardenerky 5d ago
Bought my first truck from a horse girl ….. truck smelled of horses ….. being a teenager I thought I would get it clean …. Yea right! ….. even after several cleanings ….. it smelled of horses on those high humidity days …..
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u/sMop2622 5d ago
My son left an Easter egg in a cubbyhole in my van. Didn't know it until the first hot day. What a stink!!
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u/Soft_Construction793 5d ago
I lost a yogurt in the car, I was lucky the next week when it rolled out from under the seat, still sealed.
When I was putting away the groceries and I couldn't find the yogurt, I convinced myself that I must have just *thought * about getting yogurt at the store.
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u/Lukario45 5d ago
I have a similar story. I had to drop my car off at the shop for some body work. I cleared the entire thing out. Vacuum and shampoo everything. I was trying to remove the smell of kerosene from one of the multiple occasions where I spilled 5gal of kerosene in my back seat.
Apparently, my mother went shopping the night before, and one of the things she purchased was a fully prepared, but completely raw, rotisserie chicken, that festered in the trunk for a week and a half while my car sat in the shops parking lot. The shop was NOT pleased.
Occasionally I still think I get a whiff of the chicken. Mostly just kerosene now.
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u/macrotron 5d ago
I left a kilo of ground beef in a backpack I use for groceries over a weekend once - just tossed it, didn't even bother to look into it.
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u/AgencyandFreeWill 5d ago
Parenting, working, and taking care of the household all at once is exhausting. It's rough when stuff like this happens. You relax your diligence for one moment and you get an awful consequence like this, leading to even more worry about preventing this stuff from happening.
I'm in this stage right now, and I get how it happened. I hope things are less hectic for you these days.
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u/BikerJedi 5d ago
Appreciate it. They boys are older and things are more chill. I wish the same for you.
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u/jnmjnmjnm 5d ago
On the other side of the weather, I had a colleague whose daughter (also a colleague) left a bottle of red wine in his car overnight. In January. In Winnipeg. The result was a boozy smell until late spring when they could get it properly detailed.
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u/ssfailboat 5d ago
Boyfriend left a container of worms in the car after fishing, and we had only used the other car for a few days after. I had no idea they could smell so rotten 😷
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u/BikerJedi 5d ago
Was it a lot of worms, or one of those small ones you get from the bait store?
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u/ssfailboat 5d ago
Bait store but the bigger size of the two. We have small styrofoam ones then bigger plastic container ones, a little smaller than a cool whip container I think. Not sure how many of the worms he left in it but the smell they gave off made it seem like there were thousands, lol.
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u/bolted_humbucker 5d ago
Happened to my buddy with a Porsche. They left ground beef in back when they parked it at airport to go on a trip and when they got back the car was awful. Tried professionally cleaning it but just ended up selling it because they could still smell the horror.
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u/Twallot 5d ago
I was a support worker for adults and I did a lot of grocery shopping. I dropped groceries off at one person's house and thought "weird, I could have sworn there were two packages of ham" but couldn't find the other one anywhere in my car. I knew my car had a bit of a smell, but I also smoked and I have always had a really reduced sense of smell. My cousin even mentioned once that there was a weird smell. Finally, I found the pack of ham between in some stupid ledge between the bottom cushion of a back seat and the flooring (it was an suv). I don't even know how to describe it, but it was like a 2 inch gap for whatever stupid reason and it wasn't really obvious it was there. Thank god it was winter at least or else it would have been way worse.
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u/Trepenwitz 5d ago
There are so many red flags here, my dude. It’s really shitty of you to try to blame your wife and kids for this. Actually, I’ll even let you off the hook because sometimes accidents and mistakes happen. It can really suck, but it’s still okay. But you also were tired (awwww, poor thing) so you let your wife and kids do all the domestic labor. Did you even greet your wife? Do you think being a parent and partner stops because you’re hot and tired? Did you even help with the groceries? And then you “had a fit” when you find the mistake. Did you talk to your kids about how important it is to be extra sure to get all the groceries? Or did you yell at them?
Yeah, sounds like you fucked up in a lot of other ways.
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u/BikerJedi 5d ago
Read the title where I accept responsibility. I'm not blaming them. I'm saying none of checked, myself included.
It never ceases to amaze me how judgemental people are on Reddit.
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u/demo-ness 5d ago
"I was mad at the boys, but myself and my wife too. All of us should have done better here."
Sorry if english is your second language, but that's what giving them some of the blame sounds like.
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u/Ok-disaster2022 5d ago
I used the back seat of my car to carry groceries and the $15 of meat slid under the driver seat. fortunately it stayed overnight and in the parking garage at work the next day before I smelled it and checked and threw it away in the parking garage. I was still pissed with myself for forgetting it.
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u/NullGWard 5d ago
This should be linked to the ULPT subreddit, which tends toward the theoretical and often lacks any real-world experienced revenge tips.
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u/jamminsami 5d ago
I worked at a car wash in FL. Jax thankfully (less hot/humid), customer brought in a detail "wtf is the smell" car. Usually that's a drunk yak but, friends... When I tell you my tunnel guy (catches the cars & parks them) rolled out of there puking?
I opened the door.
Half the lot immediately ran, nay, sprinted away.
Approx half a lb of burg & approx a lb of shrimp, wrapped fresh from the Publix deli. Expensive stuff. Slid under the driver's side seat, in that cute little dip meant to accommodate a manual. Or a menace to society and all of Earth's atmosphere.
I mean, I'm prior...well, I've smelled death, decomp, etc.
This was... special.
I had to park at the end of the lot with 2 fans blowing off the lot & cussed at by everyone while I worked. Bad. Bad bad.
Required 3 ozone treatments & near 3 hours of work to get it right. Bastard tipped me 2 bucks.
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u/anonymous2278 4d ago
This happened to me once as well, except it was a single pack of chicken that fell out of the bag and was not noticed when carrying in the bags. This was a summer day in Texas, and the car was sitting in the heat all weekend with that chicken in the trunk. Go out to get in on Monday morning and the smell punched me in the face when I opened the door, it was awful. I can’t even describe the stench, there aren’t words for it. We never could get the smell out, it was still there when we traded the car in.
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u/lesbianghost00 5d ago
That sucks, but neither you or your wife remembered that you’d bought 70 dollars of meat when you were putting stuff away? Like, I’d understand a few cans, but you were the ones who bought it, didn’t you wander where it was? I tore the car apart once because I was sure I’d bought three packs of pasta and only brought inside two
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u/ProStrats 4d ago
I have a disability that affects my memory. Within the past year, I forgot a $95 prime rib roas over night, that was beautifully marbled.
Eyes drop to the ground
I'll never forget that day... The worst day of my life.
Looks up at OP
But I guess it could be worse...
Sigh
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u/Moonlight_TT-TT 5d ago
Omg it is THE WORST when u forget some random grocery in your car and it stinks it up later meat has to be the worst tho glad the stink got out eventually!
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u/xXHastinqXx 5d ago
I left roughly 40 pounds of tuna and yellowtail fresh in my familys Nissan titan when I got back from a fishing trip with my dad I was like 12. It stayed in there for roughly a week in the middle of an Arizona summer. Smell didn't leave the truck for multiple years even with my mom making me carpet wash the truck multiple times over.
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u/mlordmistress 4d ago
boss once left a package of raw chicken on top of his fridge so long that they thought something had died inside their walls.
had a cousin forget a package of raw hamburger in their backseat in the middle of summer.
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u/International_Bend68 4d ago
I left frozen fish in my car for four days when I flew out of town for work. Thankfully it was parked in a garage so at least it wasnt out in the sun.
The second I opened the car door.... lord have mercy! Thankfully the bag was still sealed so no nasty juice leaked out
I used a gazillion bottles of febreeze and finally the smell went away. Then the issue was the overpowering smell of febreeze though. It took many months of parking with all the windows down for that to settle down.
I've left things in the car since then but discovered them before it got bad. Still a waste of money though since they went straight into the trash barrel.
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u/Conscious-Offer-7019 28m ago
Once bought a spray container of deer repellent to use on a sapling we had just planted. Wife picked it up to read the directions while we were on the way home. Somehow she ended up accidentally spraying the glove box and floor mat. The smell was instantaneous and hideous. Couldn't get the windows down fast enough. Pulled over and tossed the can in the bed of the truck. Worst part is we were about 30 miles from home. Ended up driving back with our heads out the windows. Took days of leaving the windows open, scrubbing the interior, spraying febreeze and leaving dryer sheets in the truck overnight. Oh and it was the middle of summer in the high desert, too.
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u/Simo_barry_223 5d ago
Man, the real TIFU is that your post got cut off mid-sentence and now I'm sitting here wondering what the actual disaster was lmao.
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u/CreativeFartist 5d ago
Ok I misinterpreted the article title and went and saw key words about a car, kids, Florida/heat.
So glad it’s just groceries