Strangers

19 people share true stories of unexpectedly getting a round of applause.

A common trope in sitcoms and movies is the unexpected round-of-applause from a group of people after a momentous occurence. In romantic comedies it&#39;s usually a group of people in a restaurant after a public proposal or confession of love. In real life, people aren&#39;t usually compelled to randomly applaud (outside of traditional situations like a performance or speech). But when it does happen, it&#39;s pretty memorable.Someone asked Reddit: &quot;what is your &#39;and everybody clapped&#39; story that is actually true?&quot; These 19 people who&#39;ve been unexpectedly applauded by a group of people share their cinematic stories:1.) From b_wald81: I was driving some friends home from a christmas party when we hit some black ice, sending the car careening sideways down a 180o offramp. I saved it, and got the damned thing stopped, pointing in the right direction and in our lane, by the time we got to the bottom of the ramp. There was no clapping, but there was cheering. 2.) From aveave5: My high school hosted a talent show every year and each act had a limit of 3-5 mins. One kid was doing karate and this whole dance routine with it. We all loved this because before him there was about a million people singing and we were all very bored. We all thought it was good and enjoyed it but then his music stopped and he motioned for them to keep going. (He had already been at this for about 5 mins). Teacher and stuff were trying to tell him he needed to leave and get off the stage but he didn&rsquo;t know much english and didn&rsquo;t understand them so he just kept going, no music and we all started cheer and stuff. Then teachers went on stage to try and bring him off and right then as a teacher was like literally trying to pull him off (it had been about 10-15 mins at this point) he started doing push-ups with 2 fingers, and then with just his thumbs. Then we all stood up and applauded encouraging to keep going and the guy in the music booth (who was also a high schooler) started playing his music again and he straight up did his act for like 30 mins. By then school was ending and we all got to vote on our favorite act to perform again at our next assembly. He won by a landslide. 3.) From MisterBigDude: In the first round of a huge, prestigious chess tournament, I got paired with the #1-rated player, a foreign grandmaster. Most of the games took place in a giant ballroom, but the top two boards were in a separate room. A big audience sat and watched those two games; the moves were displayed on giant vertical boards that the audience could see. I was a pretty good player, but this was the first time I had ever played a grandmaster, and this guy was famous for being a world-class player, even better than most other grandmasters. The audience assumed he&rsquo;d crush me; so did I. To shorten a long story, I played the game of my life. I got a good position, sacrificed some pieces to put his king in danger, and finally finished him off by threatening an unstoppable checkmate. The audience watched all of this on the giant board. When my opponent shook my hand, indicating that he was resigning, the whole audience started clapping. You rarely hear that at a chess tournament, and I certainly hadn&rsquo;t expected it. (The applause may have bothered the guys playing on board 2, but it didn&rsquo;t last long.) There&rsquo;s a well-known story about an old-time grandmaster who played a winning move that was so brilliant, the spectators showered the board with gold pieces. That didn&rsquo;t happen for me ... but the audience clapping for my upset victory was a perfect moment anyway. 4.) From sethmod: Was being inducted into the national honor society in high school, and had to sit in front of the whole school during the ceremony. I was so nervous I didn&#39;t want to move, so kept my legs crossed. Leg fell asleep, they called my name to come up. I nearly fell down when I tried to put weight on it (again, in front of the entire school). I manage to stumble to the front, where a senior is ready to read off my accomplishments. He puts his arm around me and literally holds me up till I get to light my candle or whatever and got to go sit down, at which point everybody clapped. That was over 20 years ago and my buddies still won&#39;t let me forget it, as they shouldn&#39;t. 5.) From father4future: Took a small role in my high school production of West Side Story to get over my fear of public speaking. Show night comes and one of the gang members (Shark or Jet - I don&#39;t remember) gets down on one knee to deliver his line to me with his fly wide open (unbeknownst to him). He had a dumb look on his face because he was mocking me (Officer Krupke) as part of the scene. The whole thing got the better of me and I lost it (laughing) when I tried to deliver my 2 simple lines. Could. Not. Recover. I eventually laughed out the words, &quot;Aww forget it&quot; and walked off stage. Received a standing O at the end (for being a trooper I guess). Next night, same scenario, except EVERYONE has their flies down this time. Rinse and repeat. And everybody clapped. The end. Needless to say, I only further exacerbated my fear of public speaking. 6.) From CuteHalfling: Went on an aeroplane and everyone clapped when we landed. So many traitors to the British way of life on that plane. I was disgusted. 7.) From bighonkinstiffer: In trucking school this past month I struggled to learn manual... got frustrated as fuck and started getting depressed that I&#39;d never get to truckin. After a few days of grinding and frustration I went to sleep... woke up next morning and got back in. The other student learning with me was in back... i shifted, next gear.. next gear, button flip 6th gear.. downshifted revved and did a double down made a turn and went back to shifting... round and round I went... instructor and classmate clapped for me and cheered me on. I did 300 miles today in a 10 speed peterbuilt on I-4 and 75 North to Georgia with those guys while getting our mileage in. I grinded 2 or 3 gears on offramps but I did it. I am proud of myself today. 8.) From marriedwithpets: Did a 5k race dressed as Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz last October...everyone (race volunteers, people that have already finished, and spectators) were all mildly cheering as folks approached/crossed the finish line, but about two dozen feet from the end I started skipping like I was on the yellow brick road and off to see the Wizard! It was like a Munchkinland farewell because the vague cheers turned into ROARS AND THUNDERING APPLAUSE. I was Dorothy Gale and I just dropped my house on a mfing witch 9.) From Freeagnt: Many years ago, I was at a SF Giants game at Candlestick Park. This was back when they were owned by a man named Bob Lurie, who was trying to sell the team to Florida. The game went into extra innings and ended up tying the record for the longest extra inning game ever played there. It was so late in the evening, they were showing &quot;Late Night with Dave Letterman&quot; on the big screen, in between innings. Seeing Letterman reminded me of this bit he once did involving the owner of GE (his boss) and a megaphone. So with the Giants on the field, and barely 200 die hard fans left in the park, I yelled at the top on my voice, &quot;MY NAME IS BOB LURIE, AND I&#39;M NOT WEARING ANY PANTS!&quot; I swear to God, SF infielder Robbie Thompson and one of the umpires cranked their heads around and looked in my direction in the upper section. The crowd erupted in laughter, and I got a STANDING ovation. 10.) From TorrontesChardonnay: I was bullied fairly badly at school, one day while playing table football at break time one of the twats started on me. Basically started shouting at me till he went red, threatened to beat me up so I told him to go through with it. He pushed me, so I picked him up onto my shoulder one handed. Walked out the door threw him to the floor, locked the door after and he had to walk the whole way round the school. Pretty much everyone around me cheered, he lost his reputation overnight, and I never had issues with people starting on me after. Only regret is not responding earlier as it would have likely stopped a few years earlier. 11.) From StrangePondWoman: I was at a showing of Rocky Horror at a friend&#39;s college; it was my third time at one, but my first time at THAT one. I quickly learned the things you yell at the screen during the film may be regional. At the movie&#39;s (arguable) climax, a character is turned into marble statue where one breast is noticeably larger than the other. Prepared from my past two showings and confident from my success shouting in unison with strangers, I bellowed &#39;NOW THAT&#39;S WHAT I CALL A BLT: A BIG LEFT TIT.&#39; It was around &#39;WHAT&#39; I realized literally no one else was yelling. No one. I started to pull back and wanted to go quiet, but I felt my brain refuse to back down. I finished the bellow halfway down my seat in embarrassment, but then the best thing possible happened. Everyone laughed. Then some people clapped. Then more people clapped. Most of them hadn&#39;t heard it before, and most of them thought it was hilarious. It was genuinely one of the best moments of my life, I&#39;m taking that shit to my grave. 12.) From AdditionalAlias: High school guy&rsquo;s cheerleading event for homecoming, my senior year. Southern baptist school, so very conservative. Normally the guys could bring their own CDs for the cheer music, but the year before the guys had included rap in their playlist (nothing with swearing, even; they did one of those sort of lame but also wholesome rap-vs-country dance off things). The school admins freaked out and limited future events to a single CD of songs that the faculty had approved of. My male classmates complained that our show was gonna suck. Constantly. They were so mad and fed up. Then homecoming day rolls around, and cheer guys shut off gym lights and do a fucking blacklight show to Glitch Mob&rsquo;s We Can Make The World Stop. They circumvented the music restriction by playing the music themselves. We had a literal music prodigy in our grade, and his guitar was on point. Metal garage cans with neon drumsticks for percussion, elaborate slow-mo re-enactment of an epic football game&mdash;it was jaw-dropping incredible, and all the more so because no one knew it was going to happen. The guys had been fake practicing a boring routine at school for weeks, then practiced the real thing in secret. And then in the final, lights-on scene, a dude grabbed his junk and did a hip thrust. The school increased restrictions even further after that, but our grade got to go down in history for topping the rap-country dance battle and permanently neutering the guys cheerleading event for future generations. Sadly, no one got it on video. The guys had been so busy emphasizing how awful their show would be, no one thought to record it. 13.) ​​​​​​​From Gorilla-Samurai: Freshman year in college, life is good, oldest professor in campus (50 years teaching) was a serious hardass and I handle stress with humor, so one day he comes into the classroom with his zipper down, people start chuckling and he proceeds with his class up to a point where he puts his foot on a chair to rest his leg, making the zipper gap wider, chick on the seat closest to it turns red as a beet and people chuckle again. I raise my hand and he points at me, I ask him to come closer, he refuses and tells me to just spit it, I ask him once more to come closer, he gets upset and tells me that if it isn&#39;t pertaining to his lecture, I&#39;ll be given a written warning, I assure him that while not pertaining to class, he&#39;d very much appreciate the information, he gets even more upset and tells me to cut the crap and share it with the class, people start losing it and chuckles become actual laughs, so I tell him his fly is down, classroom erupts in laughter and everybody claps, he tells me that in 50+ years of teaching, it was the second time it happened to him. Needless to say, I dropped out and switched fields. 14.) From Jakov_Salinsky: Me and 3 friends performed &ldquo;Chop Suey&rdquo; by System of a Down for a school talent show, finally giving me the opportunity to show off my awesome drum skills. We were only an honorable mention but we still got a standing ovation and pretty much became the fan-favorite performance of the night. Plus, everyone clapped again when our band boarded the bus to get pizza. 15.) From DarkHoneyPot: True story: I used to constantly cut class in high school. One day, for whatever reason, I showed up to English class. Just my luck it&rsquo;s midterm time. I take the test. The next week when I showed up, late of course, I walked in and everyone started clapping. I&rsquo;m like wth. Turns out I not only got the highest score in the class but also the whole school. My teacher was so proud and really took a personal interest in me after that. He would give me books to read all the time. He was my favorite teacher till he died. 16.) From TiberiusGracchus133: I was at six flags great adventure. We boarded the great American scream machine, a huge steel roller coaster. Me and my buddy picked the last car, so we&rsquo;d really feel the whip. We slowly go up the first hill - click, click, click ... then, just as the first car goes over the hill, we stop. It is silent at the tip of the hill, high in New Jersey. We hear the wind blow and wait, but the coaster doesn&rsquo;t move. Finally we hear this sound behind us. Thump, thump, thump. This kid comes walking up the stairs next to the coaster to talk to us all. &ldquo;There is a sensor out,&rdquo; he says. He explained that the coaster stopped because one of the sensors further along on the ride wasn&rsquo;t responding. They were trying to get it sorted out, and then they would release us. He said it would be ok, but they couldn&rsquo;t take us back down. We just had to hang tight until they sorted it out. We spent maybe 20 minutes up in the air, discussing what would happen next. Would we have to walk back down? Would they even tell us if part of the coaster was broken? Finally, the coaster started rolling over that first hill. I have never heard such completely real screams of terror. At every twist, every turn, we realistically thought we might be at the end. When we finally got back to the end of the ride, all the people left in line clapped. We got out and my buddy kissed the ground. The scream machine was closed for several hours after that, and I never rode it again. I felt like I&rsquo;d played my hand, and I was glad to walk away. I still like roller coasters, but I maybe have a little more fear of them than most people. 17.) ​​​​​​​From BusinessMowgli: When I was in highschool, my ex and I decided to dress up as Thing 1 and Thing 2. I mean the full on onsies, gloves and blue hair wigs, the whole outfit haha I usually got there around 30 min before school started, so it was just me Thing 2 by myself waiting for my Thing 1. She finally gets to school about like 5 minutes before school started; and my ex was suuuuper shy and introverted so, naturally I started running across the school to give her a hug and kiss right? I ran in my bright red outfit and bright blue headed wig, I was really noticable. I finally get to her and give her a hug and kiss, only to realize that my entire school started clapping and in unison heard such heart warming &quot;awwwww&quot;, it was honestly such a cute moment in my highschool years :&#39;) 18.) From DaughterEarth: I was sitting on a train, on the phone with my mom, looking forward to getting home. The train stopped at a station and I saw a lot of motion in my peripheral. I looked and saw a guy dragging a girl by her hair. I have no idea what happened in the next minute or two. Next thing I knew I was standing near the guy, girl, and another girl who was with them, screaming at the guy that &quot;I DON&#39;T GIVE A FUCK, YOU DO NOT DRAG A GIRL BY HER HAIR LIKE THAT!&quot; And then he ran away lol. It&#39;s funny because at the time I was a tiny 20 yo woman. Like 120 lbs max, in a mini skirt and heels. And that guy ran away from me lmao. And then at that point a group of very tall and fit men came up to ask if we were okay. You know what I want to know? Why is it me that did something? Why didn&#39;t that group of much more capable dudes do something? Why did they wait until I made the situation safe? Bystander effect kills people, seriously. Anyways I guess that guy had been arguing with the girls. He then maced them and started dragging one of them across the platform. Security showed up and I waited for the next train. Also according to my mom I just stopped talking and hung up, so she was pretty worried for a while. 19.) ​​​​​​​From mallardmcgee: My wife was due to give birth while i was still in my last round of apprenticeship schooling (2 month blocks of schooling every couple years). She was induced on a friday and my daughter was born shortly after. Monday morning i stayed home from school so my wife could get some sleep. I messaged one of the guys to let them know i would be there around lunchtime. I arrived at the college, my whole class was in the cafeteria (about 20 guys). I got a round of applause when i walked in the door. Felt pretty good to my tired new parent ass. 

A common trope in sitcoms and movies is the unexpected round-of-applause from a group of people after a momentous occurence. In romantic comedies it&#39;s usually a group of people in a restaurant after a public proposal or confession of...