When a Generation X worker in the U.S. set out to find a replacement for their too-bright computer monitor, they did not expect the replacement to already be part of their digital history.
The Reddit user, who took to the platform under u/used-opposite-7363, shared the twist-filled story on the popular r/ThriftStoreHauls forum, where their account of unwittingly buying back their own discarded monitor struck a chord with plenty of viewers. Since it was posted on December 3, the post has received more than 2,800 upvotes, sparking a wave of amused and nostalgic responses from fellow Reddit users.
“I went to the thrift store looking for a smaller computer monitor. My current monitor is actually a TV, also purchased at a thrift store, and I think it is burning out my retinas,” the user wrote. “The dimmest setting is still too bright.”
The poster spotted a familiar-looking HP monitor on the shelves. At just $6, it seemed like a practical find.
“I paid $6 for it. Brought it home, cleaned it up, plugged it in and hooray, it works,” they continued.
But once the monitor was set up and in use, something caught their eye—a strange mark in the corner of the screen that sparked an unsettling sense of déjà vu.
“I thought someone had written on it in marker but it actually is a pixelized defect of some kind,” the user said. “Then my mind flashed back to the original monitor that came with this computer.”
They remembered their son once asking about the very same flaw. At the time, they had decided the “little pink pixely scribble” was reason enough to toss the monitor. That moment of realization was swift and unexpected.
“That is when I realized this is my monitor. I bought back my own monitor that I had tried to throw away,” the poster added. “I had curbed this monitor outside the garbage by my apt complex. One of the old ladies who lives here must have picked it up and brought it to the thrift store.”
The story—filled with a mix of thrift store serendipity and irony—resonated with Reddit readers who poked fun at the boomerang-like journey the monitor had taken.
“This story is straight out of a cartoon,” one viewer said. Their comment has been upvoted over 200 times.
“If this were a cartoon world, my monitor would be asking me right now, ‘how could you do this to me, I sat alone on a shelf for months!!’” the Reddit user had joked in the post.
Despite its cosmetic flaw, the monitor was welcomed back into their home for good.
“Scratch be damned, this monitor never tried to hurt my eyes like the last one. I’m keeping her,” they concluded.
“The Brave Little Monitor went through a lot to come back home,” an amused viewer commented.
Newsweek reached out to u/used-opposite-7363 for more information.
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