Genius People Who Beat The System - Part 4

While rules may have their place in society, sometimes they need to be broken. Some people, it turns out, are naturally gifted at finding ingenious and often, hilarious ways to bend the rules to achieve their goals. From the niftiest parking spot you’ll ever know, to the well-paid royal musician who never learned to play an instrument, here are some genius people who beat the system.

Car Parking "Jugaad"

Finding a parking spot in a city can be an absolute nightmare. But one man living in India has decided to approach the lack of parking spaces in an ingenious way that doesn’t require him taking a lengthy walk to an available spot. Utilizing the small space under the stairway leading into his home, the man named Vinu has created a pull-out parking spot using fold-away garage doors and a metal frame.

While it might be possible for the world’s best parallel parker to shimmy inside the gap, Vinu made it easier for himself with the ramp, which pulls out ready for him to reverse onto.

This is India 👑King of Jugaad 😎🔑🇮🇳 : Car Parking Jugaad 🚘 by SHORT FILMS

After skillfully stopping without hitting the rear of the car, it’s a simple matter of flipping the wingmirror in and tucking the car neatly away.

Man Buries Vodka Before Music Festival

People who regularly attend music festivals are all too familiar with the extortionate prices vendors charge inside, particularly for alcohol. But recently, festivalgoers have been getting smarter about saving themselves a pretty penny on drinks. Some have attempted sneaking their own bottles of vodka past security in things like bread, to varying degrees of success.

But in 2017, New Yorker Alex Diamond tried something different that took inspiration from old-timey pirates. Only, the buried treasure in that case was a large bottle filled with vodka. Three weeks before Electric Zoo festival, Alex made his way to Randall’s Island, the site of the festival grounds. Being familiar with the layout from previous years, he buried his alcohol and marked it on Google Maps. Then, when the festival rolled around, he turned up, checked in, and went and dug up his booze.

Prisencolinensinainciusol

In 1972, Italian singer Adriano Celentano played the Italian music industry like a well-tuned fiddle. Celentano had observed how Italians seemed to go crazy over any English song they heard, regardless of whether or not they had any idea what the lyrics meant. So, playing into the fact that Italians and non-English speaking Europeans more widely loved English-sounding music, Celentano made some of his own.

However, to prove his point, he made sure the lyrics to the song didn’t make any sense at all, using made-up nonsense words that merely aimed to replicate the sound of American English. He based his creation on the sounds of phrases and slang you might hear in a record by Bob Dylan, James Brown, or other American singers, to impressive effect. Featuring such nonsensical lines as “chekis mind beginda coll, bebeh sustay yah pushyo ho” and “windosay nashoos nowan hol me dasain, nena holrate maybeget dacolobos dye”, you can sort of hear what he was going for.

Prisencolinensinainciusol (with lyrics) by Alan Starkie

The words sound a little like they could be English to a non-English-speaker, without actually having any meaning whatsoever. The only real English words in the song were the occasional “alright”, added here and there for authenticity. But, just as Celentano had expected, the European public lapped it up, and the song was a hit. It could even be heard throughout the clubs of Britain! In fairness, it was a pretty catchy tune as nonsensical as it may be.

When Nanguo Pretended He Could Play The Yu

Shifting our focus from 1970s Italy back to the ancient Chinese state of Qi, we have one of history’s greatest examples of playing the system. A Chinese historical tale tells of how, in the 4th century B.C, a man named Nanguo joined the royal court orchestra of King Xuan of Qi. Nanguo gained his position by proclaiming to be a highly-skilled player of a wind instrument called a Yu, although in reality he had no idea how to play.

What he did have, though, were the persuasive skills to convince the king without even demonstrating, and the cunning to notice that the orchestra had 300 other Yu players. Among those, he could blend in without playing, completely unnoticed, all while earning a sizeable royal musician’s salary. Nanguo’s ingenious playing the system served him well for several years, until the king passed away and was succeeded by his son.

That new king also enjoyed the music of the Yu, but he had a taste for solo performances. So, eventually, it fell upon Nanguo to give a performance. Facing imminent exposure, Nanguo fled the night before his performance and never returned. Presumably, he left to find another job that didn’t require actually demonstrating any skill or competence.

Fishing With A Drill

Sometimes, being a genius is as simple as using technology to make a task easier. That was the approach adopted by one man on a deep-water fishing trip off the coast of New York State in 2019. Usually, reeling in a fishing lure from as far down as 200ft can be a little tiring on the wrists but not for our next guy.

Using a simple, modified drill attachment, he could reel in his catch as easily as tightening a screw. Catching a haddock and a seabass, dinner was guaranteed to be tasty that night although, he might not have worked up an appetite, considering how effortless the catch was!

شخص رائع by NetBites

The Undocumented Border Patrol

When you’re living as an undocumented immigrant, it’s often just a matter of time before the country’s government catches up with you and sends you back home. But back in 2012, one undocumented Mexican man avoided being deported in the ballsiest way imaginable: by becoming a border patrol officer himself!

By acquiring a fake birth certificate, he was able to skip the usual difficulties of finding a legitimate job as an illegal immigrant and evaded detection by hiding in plain sight. While there was a certain level of genius to his plan, considering his job involved sending migrants back over the border, you can’t help wondering if he felt bad.

Either way, his ruse continued without a hitch for a full 6 years, until a background check update found his birth certificate to be fraudulent. The discovery ultimately ended in the ballsy fellow’s conviction on 3 counts of fraud, but it was certainly a bold way to play the system while it lasted.

Loading A Jet Ski Into A Station Wagon

When someone who thinks outside of the box encounters a problem requiring tools they don’t have, they needn’t go to the store to buy them. They just figure out a way to solve their problem outside the regular parameters! Like for our next guy, who bought himself a brand new jet ski but neglected to buy himself a trailer to attach to his car to transport it in. After a fun test-ride, he’s left without an easy means of getting the jet ski back home but for this guy, it’s no biggie.

He gets a friend to risk getting a slightly wet car in favor of the greater good of the jet ski, by backing their vehicle down a ramp at the water’s edge. With the trunk popped open, all it takes is some precise steering to line it up. With a final rev of the jet ski’s engine, it slides neatly inside. Sure, the backseats might be a little damp for a while, but it’s a small price to pay for the stubborn-hearted victory of not buying a trailer.

Getting A Free Ride With The Takeaway

The next system-beating champion brings a delightful combination of boldness and genius, alongside a hefty portion of “why didn’t I think of that?!” When Reddit user ‘AFCJL12’ was still at college, they came up with a hilariously inventive way of sticking within their meagre student budget while simultaneously getting fed, and getting a ride home. When a night on the town was coming to a close, instead of forking out for a taxi, the Redditor would stroll over to a nearby late-night takeout place.

From there, he’d order food, paying for it to be delivered to his home. Then, presumably with the help of a little sweet-talking he’d convince the delivery driver to let him hop in their car, dropping home the Redditor alongside his food! Amazingly, that actually worked, and even with the meal included, always worked out cheaper than paying for a real taxi!

One-Person Teamwork

The lockdowns implemented throughout the nations of the world at various points in 2020 came with a lot of challenges. With people’s contact with their friends and family limited, it could get pretty lonesome, and for those who usually loved playing team sports, their favorite pastime was rendered almost impossible. Social-distancing meant that even kicking a soccer ball around with pals in someone’s back yard was banned for a while.

But one young soccer fan in Dublin, Ireland found a clever way around that, allowing him to get goalie practice without his teammates. Rebounding the ball off the fence provided a perfect way to simulate an incoming strike, which he could attempt to save.

WATCH | YOUNG LAD FINDS NEW WAY OF PLAYING FOOTBALL DURING LOCKDOWN by موضوع اليوم

The best part is, seeing as he’s doing the shooting and the saving, he could argue that no matter whether he saves or scores a goal, he wins both ways. But what’s certain is that that kid’s ingenious method of overcoming the rules and limitations of social distancing is the real win.

Beating Black Friday

The next ingenious beater-of-the-system is Reddit user ‘GleepGlopDC’, who cleverly secured themselves some bargains during the total chaos of Black Friday sales. Each year, in America in particular, as soon as the shutters are opened on stores launching Black Friday sales in late November, things get crazy, fast. People push, shove, and yell their way to the best bargains, and the stores rapidly devolve into a free-for-all.

Meanwhile, the products end up strewn across the floor, often being stepped on, damaging the packaging and often the contents inside. But GleepGlopDC figured out a way to not only avoid having to enter gladiatorial combat for low-priced consumer goods, but also of keeping the ones they wanted safe, ready for easy collection.

All they did was stroll down to Best Buy a day or so before the sale launched, and picked out some items they suspected would undergo price-drops in the sales. Then, they hid them where no one was likely to look: inside the drums of dryers and washing-machines, which presumably they’d checked weren’t going in the sale too!

When Black Friday rolled around, GleepGlop simply strolled into store after the morning’s chaos had slightly subsided, opened up their makeshift storage containers, and retrieved their now heavily-discounted items. Much to the horror of those scavenging for remaining bargains, who’d walked right past them without noticing.

The Pineapple Shirt

Everybody knows high school photo day can be a real bore but a necessary one to provide grandma with the photos she demanded every year. But back in 2015, a Reddit user shared the way people in his year-group made one picture day a little different at their high school in Arkansas.

On the day, several guys passed around a goofy pineapple shirt to wear, and when the year group’s photos came through, the outcome was pure brilliance. The shirt pops up again and again on the print-out, with each wearer struggling to hold back laughter at the knowledge of how ridiculous the photos would look.

In fact, by the end of the day’s photographs, the smug grins were growing noticeable. It was certainly a unique way to step outside the regular, boring boundaries of picture day! I’d like to think, 30 years from now, the pineapple boys will reunite, each in a pineapple shirt of their own, for a pineapple party to commemorate that momentous occasion.

Beating The Shoe In The Door Policy

While colleges are usually thought of as places where people are free to explore their romantic interests without any hurdles or repercussions, that’s not always the case. For instance, some strongly-Christian colleges in the USA enforce strict rules aiming to prevent any, unwholesome encounters between male and female students. Sometimes, that takes the form of a "shoe in the door" policy.

That rule means dormitory bedroom doors must be propped open with something like a shoe at all times when a girl has a boy in her room, and vice-versa. The aim is to prevent any privacy or concealment of what might be going on inside, but one couple defeated their college’s shoe-in-the-door policy in a hilarious way. By stacking up all the shoes in their possession, they technically complied with the rule, while also blocking anyone from seeing what they might be getting up to.

Phone Charger Tricks

In our smartphone dominated world, running out of charge is some people’s worst nightmare. To avoid that, some people come up with creative and hilarious solutions. One person figured out charging cables fit perfectly into the tiny hands of Lego minifigures, and came up with an inventive way to overcome the annoyance of their cable slipping off their desk.

But some phone-related issues that require some creative charging are more to do with rules about the phones themselves. Like the problem faced by one kid, whose parents banned him from taking his phone to his room at night. He solved that problem, and allowed himself to enjoy late-night YouTube to his heart’s content, by doing this.

With the charger plugged into the case, his parents who never took a close enough look remained none-the-wiser. So, for any parents out there trying to get their kids to leave their gadgets alone at night, remember: the devil’s in the details.

Creative Disobedience

Beating the system doesn’t always mean breaking the rules. Sometimes, the best approach is to follow instructions, but with your own added flair to make it a little more enjoyable for you. For example, one kid was told to go outside and get some exercise on his bike, but couldn’t be bothered with all the effort of pedaling.

So, while he did oblige his orders to go cycling, he made things easier for himself by bringing his hoverboard along to provide some motorized driving-force.

Kids are masters at that type of passive-aggressive compliance, as further evidenced by photographs like the post below.

That above was the aftermath of one mother telling her 6 year old to get his clothes off the floor. He went down a very literal route of technically just doing what he was told. And as everybody knows, technically correct is the best kind of correct.

Clawing A Victory

While we’ve learned a lot of people thinking outside the box to achieve victory so far, one kid focused much more inside the box to secure a win in 2014. In April that year, in Lincoln, Nebraska, a mother was struck by panic when she noticed her 3 year old son had disappeared from her apartment without a trace.

Despite her best efforts, she couldn’t find the boy anywhere, and soon called the police, fearing for the worst. But, at the same time, the police received another call; only, that one was from the employees at a bowling alley across the street from the panicking mother’s apartment. The staff had spotted a young child, who turned out to be the woman’s son, playing with the stuffed animals inside an arcade claw-machine at the bowling alley!

The boy was soon released from the machine he’d maneuvered himself up into and returned to his very relieved and thoroughly confused mother. How he managed to escape the apartment, made it across the street and inside the machine remains uncertain to this day. But one thing’s clear: when that mini-Houdini child sees an opportunity to win, he takes it!

Kids Beating School

As we’ve seen, kids are some of the best people at getting around inconvenient rules. I suppose it’s inevitable; after all, kids tend to be subjected to more seemingly-pointless rules than adults, especially in school. That makes them expert rule-breakers, and some can do it with such skill they should probably consider it as a career. Those kinds of skills are on clear display here, with this kid below using his empty jacket sleeve as a fake arm, allowing him to secretly text in class.

With those kinds of brains on display, that kid probably doesn’t even need to be paying attention to whatever he’s supposed to be writing down. A similar display of someone sneaking a glance at something more interesting than what the teacher’s saying is shown in the image below.

That young fellow has carefully propped his phone up at just the right angle to keep it out of the teacher’s line of sight, but perfectly within his. With a little side-eye, he can watch the game, while the teacher continues to ramble on about Pythagoras theorem.

But sometimes, after a day spent deceiving adults, it’s the kids who need to be tricked themselves. And as it turns out, parents are pretty good at that type of thing. There’s no better proof of that than one mom’s solution to her kid’s refusal to drink his medicine. With a simple bit of sleight of hand pretending to be giving her son a sip of Pepsi, this mother got him to drink his medicine down willingly through a straw.

He’s probably not been around long enough to be all that familiar with how Pepsi is supposed to taste. But while that might seem like the kind of thing that’d only work on young kids, I’m pretty sure it’d work just as well with a glass of wine to get grandma to take her eye medicine.

The Linked Headstones Of Het Oude Kerkhof

Some people in this world are so naturally rebellious, that against all odds, they continue to rebel even when they’re 6 feet under. At least, that’s the impression you might get from an unusual pair of graves found in the city of Roermond in the Netherlands.

Those headstones feature stone arms reaching over the dividing wall of two cemeteries, one Protestant and one Catholic. The graves belong to a married couple who due to Dutch laws at the time of their deaths in the 19th century couldn’t be buried in the same cemetery. The law only permitted those of the same faith to be buried in the same sacred site.

Given that the husband was Protestant, while the wife was Catholic, the only way to show their unity after death was by joining their graves over the wall. It’s a pretty heart-warming sight, and also one that raises the finger to a pointless rule created in the name of division rather than unity. Bending the gravesite rules in such a way.

One Mo’ Mower

Unless you’ve got a couple of cold ones at hand and some good tunes blasting on a sunny day, mowing the lawn can be a real bore. But unfortunately, that grueling task is an essential one if you want to keep your home presentable. Like any chore people are compelled to do against their will, though, some folks always find a way to apply the phrase "work smarter, not harder" to the task.

Like one guy, in Miami, Florida making his own sit-down mower by attaching his push-mower to the back of his minibike. Because what mundane task isn’t more fun when there’s a minibike involved? But while that guy certainly exhibited some smarts, his idea was just the beginning. In a very American manner, one man mowing the grass at Mississippi’s Bobby Chain Airport took that idea and ran with it, proving that 9 mowers are better than one.

With a much wider mowing area, 9 mower man is guaranteeing himself less time out on the field, and more time to think up his next crazy idea. Perhaps it’ll be a full, 50-mower army capable of mowing entire football fields in a matter of seconds? Or even a squadron of flying mowers, dive bombing unsuspecting lawns from above? Only time will tell, we can only wait for what piece of cutting-hedge technology is coming next from that lawn-cruising genius.

If you were amazed at these genius people who beat the system, you might want to read part 3, part 2 and part 1. Thanks for reading!