15 People Share Things They Spent Hours On That’s Now Completely Useless

Have you ever spent countless hours working on something, only to realize it was all for nothing? In an online discussion, people shared their stories of something they spent hours on that is now completely useless, and here are a few of their stories. 

1. Education Degree

It's common to have a change in major while at university; it's just unfortunate when you realize that after you've finished the degree. One woman said, “My degree in education when I realized on my first day of teaching that I picked the wrong major.” 

2. Creating an MP3 Collection

With the rise of streaming services, old-school music collections have quickly become obsolete. One man said, “Naming all the files in my mp3 music collection. Hundreds of thousands of songs are all named in the same format with album art, and now we have Spotify.” 

3. Repairing Nuclear Missiles

It's crazy how sometimes a career can take an unexpected turn. One man commented, “I spent half my Army career in various schools learning to repair nuclear missiles. Now, I'm doing desktop support and teaching the new guys how to install printers remotely.” 

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4. Cat Website 

Any large project should have some form of backup, especially when it comes to digital content. Someone said, “In the beginnings of the internet, I spent an insane amount of time creating a very comprehensive website on cats. Stupidly, it was located on one of those free domain hosting sites, and for some reason, the original files on my computer were lost. However, after a few years of being up (a continuous project in work), I got an email from the free domain provider that all websites that started with the letters A to G were accidentally erased from the server. That was it, all irretrievably gone.” 

5. Old Computer Program

With technology constantly evolving, keeping up with the latest trends and updates can be difficult. One man said, “Friend and I wrote a fully functional BBS program just in time for it to be pretty much completely obsolete. I still have it somewhere, but there's no way to run it on any modern computer.” 

6. Webcomic 

One man commented, “My long-running webcomic had well over a thousand strips in the archive but wasn't updating when the site it was hosted on, SmackJeeves, went down. I didn't discover it was completely gone until much later. I discovered I don't have the first hundred or so strips backed up anywhere, and I'm just not bothered going back to it.” It's a shame to lose all that work, but sometimes things are out of our control.

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7. Horseback Riding 

Sometimes, life throws us a curveball, and the dreams we once had are not a reality. One woman said, “Horse riding. I spent a good decade having it as my passion; it started when I was a teenager, and I even went to college to get a Cert III in Horse Husbandry. And then any dreams of returning to horses later in life were dashed when I suffered four herniated lumbar discs in my back and subsequently gained 30kg.”

8. House Remodel

One man said, “Remodeled half my house myself. Still have tinnitus from the one time I didn't wear hearing protection operating a palm nailer reinforcing subfloor. The whole place burned in a wildfire that took out the neighborhood a couple of years later.” It's a tragedy to lose a home, and it's even worse to know that all that hard work on the remodel was for nothing.

9. Scanning Family Photos 

It's frustrating when technology fails us, especially over something important. One woman said, “I spent three years scanning all my family's photos dating back to the 1880s. I received notice of a computer update. Of course, I did the update. The next time I checked my photos, I realized they were all scrambled out of order.” 

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10. Learning Parkour 

One man remarked, “Parkour. I was good at it. Today, I am a software consultant. I maybe did parkour once in the past five years, and that was to pass over a large puddle I was too lazy to go around.” Sometimes, our interests will take us in a completely different direction, and that's just a part of life.

11. Beekeeping 

One woman said,” I spent four years learning everything about beekeeping, and even got to the point that I wanted to expand and quit my job to beekeeper full time. Turns out that I developed an allergy and now can die if I get stung by a bee.” It's always important to know your limitations, even if it's something you're passionate about. 

12. Rebuilding a Motorcycle

One man said, “Motorcycle. I've spent the past year rebuilding it. I went to start it, and I have no idea what's wrong with it.” Maybe in some situations, it's not the end result that matters but the journey to get there. 

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13. Snorkeling 

One man commented, “I was a very good diver. I'd spent thousands of hours and tens, maybe even a hundred thousand pounds on gear, training, and trips over the years. Got COVID, which gave me Pulmonary Emboli, a small hole in my lung, and severe fibrosis. Any of the three is a contraindication to diving. All three mean I'll probably never snorkel, let alone dive again.” It's heartbreaking when something you love doing is taken away from you, but your health should always be the top priority.

14. Chemical Engineering Degree

Someone said, “It took me 8 years to get my Chemical Engineering degree. I never worked a single day as a Chemical Engineer. I'm a Data Analyst now.” Sometimes, it takes time to figure out what we want to do in life, and that's part of the process.

15. VHS Collection 

One man said, “My VHS collection. I recorded dozens of movies and TV shows back in the 80s and 90s, only to have all my tapes destroyed in a flood. Had some irreplaceable stuff too, like videos with family members who are now deceased.” Losing cherished memories can be difficult, especially when you've invested time compiling them. 

 

This post was inspired by this thread.