People Ask "Am I Wrong?" In These Revenge Stories
15. Am I Wrong For Taking Back A Birthday Gift From A Rude Kid?
“I am 24f and at the time of this story, I was about 9 years old. I had an across-the-street neighbor that was around my age. We lived in military housing and the parents regularly made the kids get together to keep ‘friends’ because we moved around so much.
Anyway, I was invited to a Barbie sleepover birthday party with 2 other girls. Sorry to mention race but it’s relevant to the story – I am mixed and the other girls were white.
The day before the party we picked out a skip-it to gift to the birthday girl. The day of the party my mom got me packed for the sleepover and sent me across the street.
The party itself went great. We had cake, danced to music, the birthday girl opened her gifts and LOVED the one I got her. Then we started to get settled to watch a movie.
That’s when things took a turn. I noticed the other girls laughing at me and whispering to each other. Then the birthday girl finally said ‘actually your mom said you can’t stay the night because you are dirty and need to go home to take a bath.’ Those words have stuck with me to this day.
I was confused but I believed her. I was 9 and it was her party.
So I grabbed my things and walked back to my house. Naturally, my mom questioned me when I got home and I told her what the birthday girl said. My mom was not happy. We walked back over, informed the parents, and I took back the birthday present. My mom told me it was mine now.
Me being a savage 9 year old played outside with my brand new skip-it while birthday girl watched me from her upstairs window.”
Another User Comments:
“Oh! I so want to hug small you.
When my parents moved us home from Ontario to the small community Dad grew up in, Mum found a woman to babysit my brother and me after school. The very first day, the woman put a board across the door that led from the mudroom to her kitchen and told us – dirty children weren’t allowed in her house. My brother and I were forced to stand in the mudroom for hours with no place to sit while watching her play games with her kids at the table and give them snacks.
We were poor, but my parents kept us very clean. Our clothes may have come from 2nd hand stores and hand-me-downs but they were tidy so we were hurt and confused. I was 4 and my brother was 6 so this went on for 3 days until tiny me got angry and told my Dad what was happening when he picked us up on the third day.
I still remember the hurt and humiliation in his face when I told him what that woman had said. Brother and I never went back but I was told later that my Dad did just to rip her a new one haha. This was almost 50 years ago and I remember those words and the hurt and confusion they caused to this day.
I am so very sorry it happened to you too.” Waifer2016
Another User Comments:
“ITR.
I love the way you triumphantly played with your skip it in full view of her, one can only hope she was thinking if she wasn’t so horrible, she could be playing with it, but privileged kids like that are rarely capable of that type of self-reflection.
I know too well because whenever I was put into a middle-class foster family, their kids thought it was hilarious to point out I was poor, my clothes were out of fashion & never fit & that I must’ve been unwanted because I grew up in children’s homes.
I often wonder if as adults, they realized how hurtful they were.” SydneyPigdog
Another User Comments:
“I’m an Army brat – this kind of thing was common in military housing when I was growing up. I was rarely invited to parties and other social events like that – and when I was, it was usually to be either party filler or the obligatory ‘she’s so-and-so’s kid (my dad was a low-level NCO), we can’t leave her out’ sort of thing.
I tried every way possible to get out of those – I hated being around others.
Knowing the racism I experienced with other military brats back in the day (here in the US and in Europe)… this post gave me the justice I’ve been craving.” caffeineandsnark
Another User Comments:
“ITR. I don’t even know your mom or you, but I love her response. This showed you from a young age that you deserved respect & kindness. I also love that this rude little girl had to watch you enjoy her gift. Perfect karma.” ksw90
14. Am I Wrong For Not Telling My Messy Roomies That There's A Mouse Running Around Our House?
“I’m always forced to clean up after my gross housemates, and certainly not in a passive-aggressive ‘I quietly do everything around here but no one notices’ sort of way. I’m very vocal about how sick I am of the mess in the shared spaces. I’ve tried buying my own cooking gear but everyone just uses it, leaves it dirty, and says it wasn’t them when I try to address it.
Anyway – last night there was another cereal box thrown on the floor beside the recycling bin with leftover crumbs inside and I could hear something rustling round in there. Not a trace of doubt there was a mouse in it.
Sadly, it’s so bad here that having mice temporarily doesn’t make the house any grosser to live in than it already is. I already avoid the kitchen as much as possible – made a station for tea and coffee in my room.
I already store everything in airtight containers and usually in the fridge to protect from flies and mold, plus my stuff is on the highest shelf. Theirs is ‘all low-hanging fruit’ just wafting out of the original torn open packs for the mice to smell.
I wonder how many generations of mice will breed before someone notices poo behind one of the many piles of clutter and rubbish.
Personally, I think the bigger job it becomes to get rid of them the better. The main tenant can experience a massive clean-up job as a result of living a filthy lifestyle and maybe even have to fork out funds for pest control. I certainly won’t be contributing.
‘Oh yeah I noticed a mouse months ago but assumed they were your pets since you are always leaving dirty dishes and food wrappers everywhere to feed them.’ – Lol I probably won’t actually say that but that’s literally how petty I feel.”
Another User Comments:
“This post gave me major PTSD.
I had a roommate who was filthy. I mean literally let her dog poop & pee everywhere, would pick it up but not CLEAN or sanitize it. She always let him get into the trash, bringing empty food containers everywhere. I saw one mouse she thought I was nuts. Within a month the entire living room was covered in mouse poop. (She never ever cleaned). I literally never left my room except to use the bathroom.
I didn’t think they were in my room but when I finally moved out I found mouse poop in my closet! Next place I lived I was so strict. A year later after they renovated the apartment below me, I suddenly saw a mouse. I was OUT. They are gross.” bwmom18
Another User Comments:
“In my experience, an infestation of rodents or bugs will not deter filthy people from their habits.
The mice would drive the clean housemate to fits while likely going unnoticed by the slobs. I hope op finds cleaner housemates.” stompyelephant77
Another User Comments:
“OP do yourself a favor and get out of there. Might take some time, planning, and saving but it’ll be for the better in the long run.
Personal health and hygiene is not something where you want to compromise to the extent you are.
Also, think about the potential of you becoming a bitter person for dealing with below-average standards of cleanliness or just that you are wasting valuable time where you could be more happy and content.
… You can always do petty revenge by calling either the landlord or municipality when you are out of there. If it was my house I’d be less than happy that someone was effectively destroying one of my assets.” LaiDR
Another User Comments:
“Just a heads up, rodents like mice can carry hanta illness, which is a serious disease that frequently ends in death.” science_with_a_smile
Another User Comments:
“Reminds me of my wife’s story from before we met (I’ll use fake names for privacy).
So back when my wife Lisa was at university, she was roommates with her friend Anne. Anne was a messy slob, and Lisa was always cleaning up and was sick of it. She complained to Anne multiple times but nothing really changed.
One of Anne’s worst habits at the time was to buy a rotisserie chicken on their first day off school on the weekend, dig into it at lunchtime, and leave the half-eaten chicken on the dining room table to smell and attract flies (we live in a hot country).
One day Lisa had enough, and after Anne left a half-eaten chicken on the table – Lisa picked up the whole thing and put it on Anne’s bed, and covered it with the sheets – so it was fully in her bed.
Of course, that night was the first time Anne decided to bring her new partner home. When she found it she came out of the room saying ‘Excuse me, I’ll be right back…
LISA!!!’
Anne screamed at Lisa. Lisa said ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t know you were bringing your man home today, but I’ve been asking you for months to stop leaving rotting chicken carcasses on the table.’
Yelling continued. They made up the next day, and there were no more half-eaten chickens left out. Anne ended up marrying that guy. Lisa and Anne are best friends to this day. They say that they ‘balance each other out.’ The four of us actually had dinner together a few nights ago, and we’re seeing them this weekend too.” inderu
13. Am I Wrong For Making An Aggressive Customer Wait Longer For Fries?
“So our fast food restaurant closes at midnight on Sundays, and around 11:15 pm we start transitioning to close and to get ready for the delivery we get, every Sunday. There’s a process here where we play a game of ‘how many fries do we think we’re going to sell in the last 45 minutes,’ and put the bags of them upfront because we know the delivery takes the last hour of our shift like clockwork, and we can’t access the big boxes of french fries due to a line of boxes and dollies and counting items and etc.
Plus our manager specifically says to not go in the walk-in during the delivery, not that we could anyway tonight.
So I’m usually pretty good at guessing, and we had a car pull up who needs fries x 2 large, so I drop four large (half a bag, the last half we had upfront)…. just in case another car pulls up. It did.
That second car pulls up and says ‘Hi, I’d like a BamBurger, Large with Fries, and I need those Fries FRESH.’
I was dumb enough to mention ‘Well today’s your lucky day because I JUST dropped some fries RIGHT now.’
His increasingly pleasant response:
‘I don’t care about those fries yo, you better make me some NEW fries, FRESH.
Don’t give me those fries, make some new ones.’
Enter malicious compliance. Enter another entry into the Jerk Chronicles.
Now, I could have just as easily given him the fries I JUST dropped, because they take around three minutes to cook, so he was pulling up JUST as they were finished, but he clearly said he didn’t want those fries, so what’s a cook to do? Do I lie and say these are not the fries that they thought they were?
I tell him it’s gonna be a while on the new fries.
He waits.
I clean the Frosty machine, a 6-minute job (I’m quick and thorough), right in front of the window.
And waits.
He honks. I apologize sincerely and explain that the fries are inaccessible until the delivery driver can get everything moved, shouldn’t be that much longer, then we can drop them. Maybe ten minutes.
And waits.
I stock the nugget sauces, being mindful that I’m being watched like a hawk so I pretend to look off in the middle distance of our restaurant like there is something going on there.
He waits some more.
Finally, Coworker runs up (literally, in his slip NONresistant shoes) with the box and we toss them into the fry bin.
All of a sudden he honks more emphatically now, and I come to the window to hear him yelling ‘What?? They’re FROZEN!!! I wanted FRESH!!!’
He screeches off into the night, no food in sight.
But alas!
Read him his rights!
Officer Pay it Forward drives in for his usual, stops CaptainFreshFries, gives the Fry guy a ticket for aggressive driving (a big no-no and huge fine in AZ), and comes into line to get his freshly made fries.
I know this because the officer is a regular to our drive-thru, and always pays for the person behind him, like always. I guess we should call him Officer Pay it Backward.”
Another User Comments:
“ITR. This is a steady classic move from late customers. Many times they are fishing for something free. I can’t tell you how many times people asked if we had 4 or five different things until they hit one we didn’t have ready.
They would order that and ask how long it would take. When told it would be 15-20mins because the fryers had to heat back up, they are all smiles and happily agree to wait. I can’t tell you how many times they would walk back up to the counter about 10 minutes into waiting and ask what they were going to get for free for their inconvenience.
When they are told ‘service with a smile’ or ‘nothing’ a handful of those people would act all outraged and a few actually stormed out in a huff after getting their money back, with the drink they’d basically stolen at that point.
It makes me think they went to another place where someone was close to closing time and felt generous so they gave these people some of the stuff they were about to throw away anyway, saying it was for their inconvenience.
Now like a scavenger that got a free meal they remember what got them that meal and try to repeat those tactics. Inconvenience?!? Nobody is forcing you to eat there. They were acting like they had paid reservations at a 5-star restaurant instead of being an entitled jerk with main character syndrome.” BRAINS-getsome
Another User Comments:
“So I don’t know about your restaurant, but I was under the impression that many fast-food restaurants use frozen (not fresh) fries, and that ‘make them fresh’ just means that they have been very recently cooked and have not sat under a heat lamp for very long.
But what do I know? Not much. I think that Captain Picky got what he deserved: no fries and a ticket. But I’m a mean old lady.” ResidentOldLady
Another User Comments:
“You’re good. I’ve worked in fast food and retail before. Some of the people you get in those places are just jerks. Taking them down a peg isn’t bad in my opinion as long as you don’t get fired for doing it.” darkicedragon7
Another User Comments:
“ITR.
I worked at a fast-food place in high school, one very busy shift an older man at the cash demanded salt-free fries because he was on a salt-free diet.
So when the basket of fries comes up out of the fryer I used clean tongs to put them in the paper fry holder. I hand them to him and with a big grin on his face says, ‘where is the salt?’ I just pointed and said behind you next to the straws. I kept a neutral face, I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of him seeing me annoyed.” hecknono
12. Am I Wrong For Using My Cousin's Fear Of Clowns To Get Back At Her?
“Ok, so my cousin is a prankster. She likes telling jokes and one of her favorites is during the holidays. She likes to tell me my uncle, her dad, is coming to pick me up. If I’m being honest, my uncle is not a nice man. He yells at me and everyone for everything, he lies about people to make them look bad and him look good, he makes fun of me for being overweight.
He’s very verbally abusive, it’s gotten to the point where I’ve pretty much gray rocked him (Which is basically No Contact).
And her favorite prank is telling me that he’s coming to pick me up to take me to family gatherings, which I usually avoid going to if he’s there. And 2 hours in the car with him? That’s literally a nightmare. So, a couple of weeks ago, she lied and told me he called and was gonna come pick me up for my birthday.
I felt like I was having a panic attack. I remember crying, hyperventilating, I was pacing back and forth trying to figure some way out of it. (And yes. Visiting him is just that bad). She started laughing, I told her that’s not funny. She knows how I feel about that man. She said, ‘Don’t you feel better now that you know he’s not actually coming?’
I haven’t forgotten that.
It’s been 2 weeks, I’ve had enough of that prank. I wanted to prank her, to kinda get her back. I remembered her biggest fear. Clowns. She’s been scared to death of clowns since she was a kid. So, I had a friend, that’s over 6 feet tall, dress up in a scary-looking clown suit. I told her I got a free dinner for 2 coupons for my birthday at her favorite restaurant and wanted to share it with her to bait her.
We left and I had my clown in place.
The plan was to stop in the middle of this old rural road and stop the car at a specific spot. Where my friend was hiding. Everything went to plan, my friend parked his old junk car in the ditch on the side of the road. I stopped and said we need to check it out, see if they need help.
While she’s looking in it and looking around for the owner, I sneak back to my car. My clown runs out of an old barn and straight for us. She saw him, froze and started screaming, she ran to my car but I sped off before she could get in (I didn’t abandon her, I just drove over a hill to where she couldn’t see me from where the old car was and watched in my rearview mirror).
She tried running with the clown chasing her, screaming for help. He caught up to her and she got on her knees and started crying. He laughed and revealed it was a joke, I drove back and started laughing with him. She told me that wasn’t funny and I repeated what she told me, the ‘Don’t you feel better’ line. She screamed and yelled the whole car ride at me, that I could’ve ‘Scared her to death.’ I told her that’s how I feel when she tells me about my uncle.”
Another User Comments:
“‘Do to others as they would do unto you.’ You fulfilled your obligation OP.
Beautiful work. On a different note, what she did was not a prank. She knew your uncle torments you and thought it was ‘funny’ for you to feel that way? I’m glad you gave her a taste of her own medicine and maybe it will change her. We can hope.” Gates_of_Echos
Another User Comments:
“I think people are being a bit harsh on the cousin too. If the uncle is so terrible to OP I can’t really imagine living or being raised by them.
Undoubtedly your morals might be a bit messed up, not to mention the cousin may be on the receiving end of a lot of the pain too. I think someone should have set them down and talked to them about their behavior first as well as seeing how their mental state is. If OP is soo terrified of her uncle and rarely has to see him, I can’t imagine how awful it must be to have to go home to that every night” PuppyMom987
Another User Comments:
“As soon as she started screaming and yelling at you because you got revenge on her, you should have stopped the car and told her that you could always take her back to your clown friend.
Would have likely shut her up long enough for you to tell her that she dished it out on you, so if she doesn’t like the taste of her own medicine, then that’s her own fault, and to not pull that nonsense on you ever again. ITR.” Fangs_McWolf
Another User Comments:
“ITR. That’s a pretty good one. Harmless. Hopefully taught her a lesson. A friend of mine is terrified of clowns and people on stilts because it looks so unnatural.
We did an event and had a clown on stilts sneak up on him and chase him. He ran through a doorway thinking the stilt walker wouldn’t make it. The lady went through the doorway like it was nothing. The look on his face was priceless.” ozzy_thedog
Another User Comments:
“ITW. You probably went too far with this one. Why? You essentially forced your cousin into an extreme flight or fight response. She chose the flight option, but seeing that she was being chased and abandoned from her perspective she could have easily turned around and attacked your clown friend.” BoredDellTechnician
11. Am I Wrong For Making A Lazy Student Fail Our Class?
“During the final trimester of my last year in high school, we had to do a group project that needed to be finished by the end of the trimester and was evaluated and graded in front of a jury of teachers, instead of an exam. I was paired with the biggest jerk in class. Imagine a really entitled, arrogant jerk. Every time we were supposed to work on the project, he would have some excuse to not show up and demand I would work on it alone to make sure the project stayed on track.
In the beginning, I tried to complain and talk to the teacher, but she would just say ‘Make it work, it’s your project.’ After a while, I stopped planning work meetings altogether. He would call me to ask how the project was going and I would say something like ‘Yeah, it’s going well,’ ‘I think it’s almost finished’ or ‘I’ll send you the presentation to prepare for the jury.’ Little did he know, I had a trump card in my hand…
The project counted for 40% of the final grade. I, doing well in the class, already got about 55 of the other 60%, so even if I got a 0 on the project, I would still pass the class. The jerk had less… a lot less.
After it became clear he was just going to use my work to pass the class and the teacher didn’t care, I decided to throw out all work for the project and keep the jerk in the dark.
That last bit went a lot easier than I expected, as he was happy with me telling him that everything was on track. In the last week before the jury presentation, things became harder. The jerk wanted me to send the presentation, so he knew which part he had to present. I managed to stall a few days with excuses, but 2 days before the jury presentation, I finally sent him an email with the PowerPoint, which was actually an mp3 file with a changed file extension.
The next day, I switched off my phone. In the evening, I called him back with the excuse my phone had issues and he was panicking that there was something wrong with the PowerPoint. I told him not to worry, I will check it out tonight and have a working PowerPoint for tomorrow. I would come to the school at 8 AM, so he could practice his part of the presentation before the jury appointment at 9 AM.
The next morning, I arrived at school a little before 9 AM, having switched off my phone again. When he saw me, he approached me with a mix of panic and anger, but before I could explain anything, we were called into the room with the jury for our presentation. I just told the jerk to not worry and let me do the talking.
We greeted the jury and I started the introduction: ‘The original idea of today was for us to present our project xyz.
But, since I already have enough points to pass the class and Mr. Jerk over here couldn’t be bothered to put in any effort, I decided to skip it and, instead, have a nice day off today. That concludes our presentation, thank you for your attention.’
I just walked out on 4 confused teachers and 1 jerk with a mouth opened so wide, it looked like he was trying to eat a club sandwich vertically.
Naturally, there was some backlash in the days after that. The teacher called for an explanation, but in the end, recognized I was a good student and I indeed already passed the class without the project. Jerk was angry that he had to study over the summer for a re-exam. All in all, I was happy to have graduated and looked forward to going to college the next year.
After the summer, I heard from friends that the jerk failed his re-exam and that that, combined with other bad grades, caused him to have to redo his last year. Karma is a pain.”
Another User Comments:
“ITR. I dealt with group project freeloaders all through college. Sadly, I was never able to achieve this level of revenge. Well done.
Now that I am a teacher, I try my best to weed out the freeloaders by using an easy project in the first month.
In the next project, the freeloaders are put in their own group. They still get my assistance…but have no one to glom onto.” AXPendergast
Another User Comments:
“Sounds like he deserved it.
However, it makes me think of a group project I had. It started out well. It was me and three others. We weren’t super close but we all got along and I felt great about it. The girl was put in charge and the project was broken down into sections.
So, while I had my own part, it all connected.
Anyway. At that time I was experiencing depression that was getting worse, due to a whole host of issues. I missed two group sessions. TWO.
So, the girl, without checking to see WHY I had missed these meetings, just decided to ice me out. This was nearing the end of the school year, and we were having really bad weather, so, we missed about a week of class.
But the project was still due when we were going to return.
So, this whole week I am emailing, calling. And this girl just ignores me. Again, I have my tiny part completed but I don’t have any ‘bridges’ that connect it all together.
The day of the presentation arrives. I get there early. The teacher was a jerk, also. I suspect the girl had told him I didn’t show up.
Again, no context… I wanted to die, I hated myself… things were really bad for me. But they both had decided I was lazy.
I confronted the girl at the door, I think I even called her a witch. At that point, I was so frustrated.
As it turned out, the other two guys hadn’t done their part. So, just on what I knew, I tied the presentation together.
I made it work. The girl was shocked, she thought I didn’t care.
It was so worth it to see the look on her face when I was the one saving her butt.
The group project had a paper associated with it as well and the teacher conveniently ‘lost’ mine. This mattered because it was supposed to contain valuable feedback for me to use later. Not to mention it being tied to my grade.
I forget why sending another copy didn’t come into play. But it was probably because the school year was just about over. I threatened to complain to the dean because it was so clear the teacher had a vendetta against me, that 6 hours after that email, I had an A in the class.
I was a good student but my grade had been a C.
Even though it ‘worked out’ for me, I still harbor feelings that I was misunderstood and neither the girl nor teacher even bothered to hear my side of the story.
Mental health matters.” ImaginationDoctor
Another User Comments:
“ITR. This is why I haaaaated group projects like this in school. People say you have to do the equivalent in work once you’re out but here’s one huge difference: if you don’t do work in the real world, you get fired. I’m a programmer now, a member of a team that is always collaborating on one project or another. Like most companies that do coding nowadays, we do Agile, which includes meeting up once a day to discuss what we’re working on and what we’re blocked by, and every couple of weeks displaying our progress to our peers and some of the people who will be consuming it (we literally call this part ‘show and tell’).
Several months ago we had one of our teammates admit she didn’t do any work during one two week period. My boss didn’t tell us to ‘work it out amongst yourselves.’ He fired her on the spot.
If you’re willing to do this to your students (or the equivalent – ‘I’ve been told you didn’t do any work for this and there’s still time left for the rest of the group to salvage it so I’m kicking you off of it and you get a zero’), then and only then should you be assigning these things.
Heck, a daily standup sounds like a great idea as well.” johnnyslick
Another User Comments:
“ITW. I wanted to say how much of a jerk thing this is to do. I understand how satisfying it must’ve felt but you had literally no benefit of it. Just force him to do all the work by telling him you already passed. What you did takes it too far. And honestly, humanity would be so much better if people would stop doing mean stuff for pure satisfaction.” DerJeweler
Another User Comments:
“‘In the last week before the jury presentation, things became harder.
The jerk wanted me to send the presentation.’
What you did was great, but I was thinking, what if you came clean at this point? 1 week before the project is due, just tell him that you thought about it and decided you don’t need this project to pass the class.
He’d be sweating for a week. It would be hilarious if he complained to the teacher that you weren’t doing any work. There’s even a chance he would have spent the week making a half-baked project for you guys, which would also be funny.” RedditIsNeat0
10. Am I Wrong For Leaving The Restaurant Without Any Way Of Recreating My Famous Gumbo?
“At the restaurant I used to work at, there was a chef who made the best gumbo I have ever had. However, the management where I worked was awful. The only employees who stayed for very long were the ones who were paid well, eg Mr. Gumbo. Customers knew him by name. Then one day, he called in sick (which he had never done before) and they didn’t let him.
He had enough, and quit. But he also burned a few bridges. He took all his notes, which had ratios, spices, times, and temperatures. Everything. We had no idea how to make his gumbo. They then tasked me with recreating it. When it was nowhere near as good, most of the gumbo customers, which was a lot of them, left. I quit shortly after. From what I heard from my friends who still worked there, the business almost went under.
This was his way of making the management pay.”
Another User Comments:
“I worked in a kitchen where the chef outlined our duties and the order of priority (eg for me it was wash dishes BEFORE you prep the bread baskets). These rules were written on large pieces of butcher’s paper above each workstation. Kitchen ran like clockwork even on nights we did 3 covers. He had an argument with the management, and quit on the spot.
Tore down his instructions as he left. It was CHAOS after that and the restaurant lost a lot of money and customers in the middle of peak season. Never anger a key member of staff unless you are prepared for them to walk out. Most places aren’t; they rely on the skill or organization of one person and without them, everything falls to trash.” Catacombs3
Another User Comments:
“This was always the most baffling thing for me about working in this industry.
As much as we harp about food safety and sanitation, we’re not allowed to be sick. Ever. I get that in any job that’s a thing where if there’s no one to replace you, they need you. I just… yeah it’s mind-boggling.
Most restaurants I’ve worked in would rather you die on the line and be coughing around food than give you a night to rest and get better.
At the last place I worked, our chef worked 17 hour days, and then the owner would rent him out for corporate events at night that he had to do for free, because of ‘exposure.’
Then one day, he was sick and of course, he couldn’t call out. He had been having health issues for a while because of that place. He cut his hand, and then as he was trying to bandage it up – he had a heart attack.
He was in the hospital for a week, and when he came back – the restaurant forced him into a position in their warehouse where he was basically demoted all the way down the rungs into obscurity. That man gave that place his soul, and they did him like that because they couldn’t trust him not to be a liability.
I was always loyal to that place because of my chef.
When they did that to him, I bounced. ITR.” anoukdaae
Another User Comments:
“So I wonder if anybody with good experience in intellectual property law could chime in. I’ve heard that if you create recipes while at a place and leave the business can sue you for the recipes. I’ve also heard that a business is owed none of your intellectual property unless you signed a specific contract stating any recipes made while at the company were property of the company.
Is intellectual property law black and white or is it a grey area?” ATXweirdobrew
Another User Comments:
“Hate to break it to all of you but this is pretty much par for the course as far as kitchens go, most of the restaurants I’ve worked at are super short-staffed to begin with so someone calling in sick is just unheard of. I’ve seen some dishwashers get away with that on slow nights but most of the time if you’re scheduled on the line we literally have no one to replace you if you don’t come in.” XxcontaminatexX
Another User Comments:
“ITR. That’s bad management there. If someone who never calls out sick, calls out sick, they are SICK & you don’t want someone that sick cooking food.” Evil_Mel
9. Am I Wrong For Putting Salt In My Creamer For My Brother To Drink?
“For context, I’m an adult living with my parents. I buy all of my own groceries and also buy groceries to cook dinners throughout the week for my entire family. But I do buy certain things just for myself and I keep those things either in my room in a small cabinet or in the fridge and let those in the household know that I bought them for my own use, not for the family.
My mom and dad respect this, but my teenage brother does not. He frequently goes into my room and takes my food (not to mention other things!) and takes my things out of the fridge too.
Recently, I started buying myself cold brew coffee and a nice creamer to go in it. I wasn’t cheap with my choices because I was buying it as a ‘treat’ for myself on bad mental health days.
I don’t drink coffee every day, but when I’d like some, I wanted it there at the house to drink instead of wasting even more money by going out to Starbucks or whatever.
Now the day I bring this stuff home from the store, I told my brother that I had purchased it for myself and to please not drink any of it. I didn’t end up drinking any that day, but the next day when I went to fix myself a cup, the creamer had been opened and there was a significant amount missing.
The coffee had not been opened. I questioned him about it and he claimed that he hadn’t had any, so I checked with my parents on the off chance that they had. Neither of them drinks coffee or uses creamer in anything ever, so I knew it wasn’t them. My brother eventually confessed that he had taken some and poured it into his milk to drink.
I reminded him that this was my creamer and to please not drink anymore. He said okay and we both moved on with our lives.
Flash forward to today, I went to get some coffee and noticed that my coffee jug was significantly less full and my creamer was almost gone. I had enough for one glass of iced coffee.
I’m livid. I know it’s just coffee and I shouldn’t be this worked up about it but it’s honestly just a pattern of disrespect that is making me angry.
He’s picked the lock to my bedroom door multiple times, used my computer to look at adult content, stolen candy and food from my desk, stolen password-protected electronics from my room, and then ‘wiped’ them to factory settings so that he could use them (essentially erasing all the data on the device as well)… All of this in the past month. Our parents have taken all of his privileges away, but nothing stops or even seems to faze him.
So today, after adding the remaining creamer to my iced coffee, I filled the container back up with a combination of milk, vanilla flavoring, and just an obscene amount of salt. I know this isn’t going to make up for what he took and he likely won’t ever drink it in my sight, so I won’t get to see his face when he discovers it. But, just the thought that he’s going to get a mouthful of this disgusting concoction fills me with glee.
And MAYBE, just MAYBE, he’ll stop drinking my stuff.”
Another User Comments:
“ITR. Reminds me of the time I shared a flat with about 7 other people, and someone was stealing my good coffee. At that time, I still drank instant coffee, and on the limited budget I had at the time, this coffee cost A LOT. And some jerk (I never found out who was it) was taking it, without giving a single damn.
So, I bought another coffee from Lidl; one that tasted like burnt rubber, and was basically undrinkable unless you were REALLY desperate. So, I let this thief slowly empty my coffee container (while I also had my coffees), and then refilled it with this absolutely disgusting thing.
That was the last time my coffee ever got taken – the next day, when I checked, my coffee was less by about 1/3 of the container, but ever since, no one would touch my coffee anymore.
And this was quite mild. If I had gotten my hands on some dry laxative, I sure as heck would add that instead of the rubber-tasting coffee.” NefInDaHouse
Another User Comments:
“Get one of those 5Lb bags of Haribo sugar-free gummy bears. Make absolutely sure he knows they’re yours. Then when he eats half the bag, he’ll spend the next 2 days wondering if his intestines are getting flushed down the toilet.
At least that way, he can’t accuse you of doctoring anything or doing it to him on purpose. After all, it’s just a commercially available candy. Who knew it had that effect?
Or, while he’s out, take his doorknob apart and cut off the little half-circle part that actuates the latch to open it. Then put it back together, and leave the door partially open. When he goes in and shuts the door, he won’t be able to open it again.
Throw a cleaning rag soaked with bleach into his laundry. First will be the white spots, but it will weaken the fabric and start causing holes after several more washes.
Remove the hinge pins from his bedroom door, and then place the door back in position. When he opens it, it’ll just collapse down on the floor.
There are several wonderfully petty, and somewhat evil things you could do to him.
Just make his life a nightmare for disrespecting you and your stuff.” bmorris0042
Another User Comments:
“How old is the brother? Old enough to know better, I’m sure…but if he’s HS age and still pulling this kind of stuff, pretty sure he’s doing it for the attention/conflict than anything else.
Which means you need to escalate, otherwise he will continue because it is clear he doesn’t fear the consequences of his actions so far.
You need to make him think twice about doing it again. Nothing irreversibly evil, but memorable. Perhaps something totally embarrassing – you know your brother, so I’m sure you can come up with something that will actually get under his skin, skitter up his spine and lay eggs.” DukkhaWaynhim
Another User Comments:
“ITR. Is anyone gonna comment on how the brother is PICKING A LOCK TO STEAL ELECTRONICS FROM OP????? Like that’s a crime and should be treated like one?? I assume he gives them back later which is when you find that they’ve been wiped but I would honest to god consider if it might be worth getting the police involved.
Maybe they won’t take it seriously because you live in the same house but breaking into a locked door to take expensive items is pretty overtly criminal.
If he’s willing to pick your lock and take things, who else’s private property is he going to break into? The neighbors? A store?” Reddit User
Another User Comments:
“I don’t know what you can do.
Maybe it is time for more parental consequences.
Until brother can be trusted with respecting your door, his room doesn’t get to have a door. If he doesn’t respect your property then he has to pay for secure storage for your things like a heavy-duty locked cabinet. If he can’t be trusted to behave when alone, then he doesn’t get to stay home unsupervised.
Unless his behavior is beyond his control and he needs assistance, he has to want to change. His situation needs to become so undesirable that he chooses to behave.
His total lack of self-control for someone who is nearly an adult is concerning. If something doesn’t change and he continues this behavior as an adult, he will be limiting his future options.
Good luck.” latents
8. Am I Wrong For Tricking My "Friend" Into Taking A Difficult Class?
“When I was in college, we had a group project and one of the people in the group was required to submit the final presentation. A girl I considered my friend was in this class with me and she was chosen in our group to do the submitting. I sent her my slideshow file and on the day of the presentation, I realized she messed up all the words in my presentation and rearranged things.
My presentation looked sloppy and I felt embarrassed during my portion of the presentation. It was too late for me to fix it so I went along with my presentation anyways. I ended up getting a bad grade on it since it was all messed up.
When I confronted her, she denied messing with it and went to the professor and told on me. She said I was being unthankful for her submitting my presentation slides.
After this happened I was upset but it was my word against hers. I couldn’t do anything about it so I accepted the bad grade.
At the beginning of the next semester, she ran into me and acted like nothing ever happened. She was complaining that she couldn’t find an easy class this semester and she needed a class she could get an easy A in. I became very petty and told her to take a class I took last semester which was insanely hard and not a lot of people could pass.
She was so happy to listen and ended up enrolling in that class.
Later in the semester she came up to me in a bad mood and said that she had to drop that class and couldn’t believe I thought it was easy. Because of this, she had to pay the tuition even though she dropped it. I don’t feel bad about this. She messed with my grade in which I would’ve had to retake this class again, so I got my petty revenge.”
Another User Comments:
“If you prepared your presentation on your PC, and emailed it to her, there is date stamped proof that she tampered with the work you sent her.
In the future, always BCC yourself a copy of the email where you send group contributions so you have an audit trail which will cover you in scenarios like this.” Carrie56
Another User Comments:
“I reckon there’s a good chance she didn’t actually mess with your presentation and it was just the formatting got messed up either by the submission portal or just moving it to another computer etc.” Ill_Tea_1142
Another User Comments:
“ITR. I am glad she had to pay, one way or another.” RJack151
7. Am I Wrong For Ruining The Life Of A Violent Soldier?
“I was working as a civilian with the US Military Overseas and I lived off base in an apartment complex popular among the US Military. One morning I accidentally hit another soldier’s vehicle.
Upon exiting the vehicle I noticed that both our vehicles were what you could call a Hooptie. A Hooptie is an old car that is pretty beat up that has been passed around from service to service member and they generally sell for $1,000-$2,000.
I also recognized that I was at fault for the accident. It was a very minor accident. His rear bumper was dented in slightly. But I could hear both our cars still running
I approached the driver who had already gotten out and he was in uniform. I apologized and said if it was alright with him I’d like to negotiate a payment that I will pay him in cash and we don’t involve the authorities.
I wanted to keep this simple. I’ll be honest the accident was so minor I honestly expected him to say ‘Nah man it’s good’ but even if he wanted some money I’d have paid him. I have always been of the opinion if you have a fender bender and can negotiate agreeable terms between both parties it’s best to not involve insurance/police.
He told me he wanted to call the police, I said we could call the police or we could go on base together and I could give him $300.
He said that wasn’t enough. So I upped my offer to $500. He proceeded to punch me in the face. It was a sucker punch, he got into his car and took off and in the process nearly ran me over.
Now I had a black box in my car which recorded everything. I went to the provost marshall office on base (The police station) and reported the accident and the assault and showed the MP the footage.
Which they used his license plate to track him down. I was also asked if I wanted to involve the local authorities/press criminal charges off base.
Honestly, I felt like the soldier would learn his lesson if I let UMCJ (the Military Court basically) handle this and I said ‘Not at this time.’ I was told it was an option.
The end result was the soldier in question got 60 days of extra duty, a reduction in rank, and forfeited a portion of his paycheck.
Essentially if he dealt with that, this would have been the end of the whole ordeal. Honestly, at this point, I assumed our little ordeal was over.
Well, a few days after his punishment was decided on, which was not long after the incident itself I was in the commissary (Grocery store on base) shopping when the soldier who assaulted saw me and began to insult me.
I told him he needed to calm down, that he should learn his lesson. He told me I was a coward who didn’t know how to take a punch. I reminded him that I held back on destroying his life. He told me he’s already been punished and I can’t touch him again.
He left me be.
A store employee witnessed the entire encounter and I got the employee’s detail and reported this interaction to his command.
His commander told me he had been ordered to not interact with me and would take action. His commander also recommended me I involve the local authorities since this soldier obviously isn’t learning his lesson.
So I did. I contacted an attorney. The attorney was unsure if we could successfully sue the soldier and said he would need a cash payment to take the case. Honestly, I was mad and I wanted to teach this guy a lesson.
I agreed, it was not cheap.
To keep this story short, we ended up in a court off base. We presented our evidence. The soldier in question had decided to represent himself. Several times in the court he had outbursts. The Judge ended up granting me a judgment of approx $50,000 USD. When the judgment was given the soldier called the Judge a jerk, and that the Army would cover for him.
So the Judge changed his judgment to $80,000 and the Judge then asked me if I also wanted to press charges against this soldier in criminal court. Honestly, it was obvious this guy wasn’t going to learn a lesson. I told the judge I wanted to pursue criminal charges in addition to the judgment.
My lawyer later advised me that if I ever wanted to see the funds I should pursue an international hold.
With my judgment, it’s likely that a judge would grant me an international hold. An international hold is basically where this soldier would not be allowed to leave the country until I was paid my $80,000. Also, he told me that according to the agreement between the US Military and the host country the US Military would honor the international hold. Basically, the US Military would not protect him or move him out of the country to avoid punishment.
Honestly, by this point, I had paid my lawyer thousands of dollars, and I honestly didn’t feel like paying thousands of dollars and getting nothing for it. So I said yes I want to go forward with the international hold.
About a month later the international hold was granted, and the US Military was informed of this. 2 months after that the criminal case was over and the soldier was sentenced to 90 days in jail.
By this point, the soldier had been moved onto the base into his barracks by his commander. I remember the day I was informed the MPs handed him over to the local authorities to begin his 90-day jail sentence. Did I mention he still owed me $80,000?
I heard nothing for a year, and then one day I get a call from his commander, his commander wants me to make a statement in regards to the case.
I go in and make the statement. During the statement, I find out the US Military was in the process of chaptering the soldier out of the US Military. The commander also informed me that he was close to coming up with the funds to pay me so he could have the international hold lifted. The commander also asked me if my lawyer would be willing to make a statement.
I contacted my lawyer who also made a statement about the facts of the case.
A few weeks later his ex-wife contacted me, when this all started I knew he was married, guess his wife decided to divorce him. She informed me that his ex-husband had the funds and needed the details on how to pay me. I provided her the details, and a few days later I got the payment and contacted his ex-wife to inform her I had been paid.
She then asked me to send a receipt so he could have the international hold lifted and return to the states. I asked her how he got the funds, she said he maxed out his credit, and also had family help out. Also during this conversation, I had found out the Army had chaptered him out of the Military.
I sent her the receipt and that was the last I ever heard from his side.”
Another User Comments:
“ITR.
The fender bender became irrelevant the moment he took a swing at you. It flipped from a civil dispute to a criminal action which automatically flips the civil action off in the eyes of most cops. That’s what the cops told me, anyway.
I had a similar incident when I bumped a guy’s car and when I got out all apologetic he took a swing at me (fortunately I have good reflexes for an old guy).
His buddy dragged him back to his car and two observers called 911 so the cops showed up minutes later.
Unfortunately, no one got his plates.” Quibblicous
Another User Comments:
“It’s so refreshing to hear that someone put a guy like this in his place. So many damn posts I read, the person let it go because they didn’t want the bother. And then, nobody learns a lesson and the aggressor will go on to do it again to someone else.
If someone acts like they have nothing but contempt for you and the law, then crush them (figuratively) with everything at your disposal. At every opportunity, you did that and didn’t back down. You give them a chance for an out like you did when you decided to hold off on pressing charges with local authorities, but he kept going so you pulled out all the stops.
I can’t tell you how much I love this post.
You’re a god damn bona fide hero.” darxide23
Another User Comments:
“Wow, some people are just jerks and need to be taught a lesson. Too bad he will still be a jerk and most likely will not humble himself. He’ll blame everyone and everything on his hardships and try to make it seem like it was nowhere near his fault.
Screw em. Glad you got paid.” gpeterson89
Another User Comments:
“Former soldier here. I am glad you pursued all the avenues possible against this guy. A ton of American soldiers are absolute pieces of trash thinking they can get away with everything cause ‘I’m serving the country.’ Too many times I have seen soldiers fight, destroy property, hook up with other wives and intimidate the husband. I am so over these idiots shaving the huge Macho attitude and thinking nothing is going to happen.
I am glad he lost most of his stuff and I hope you enjoy the money you got from this.” bafan90
Another User Comments:
“ITW. Honestly, this seems kind of trashy on your part. Take what was owed for your legal fees and maybe a couple thousand more and give the rest back to his ex-wife so she could pay off family members that helped him out. I hope he did not have kids. $80,000 is way too much compensation to you for what he did. He is a hot head and he needs to learn to control his temper but you ran into his car and started this mess.” Conair003
But always at least swap insurance info, tags and licenses numbers. Best to have officer's so they can issue written statements to the insurance companies, but at least swap info, if damage occurred
6. Am I Wrong For Ruining My Ex's Chance At Joining A Sorority?
“So I am a sophomore in a fraternity at an SEC school with a very large Greek system. This happened in the fall of 2018.
I was seeing a girl one class below me for nearly 3 years before this happened. We met in high school and went out for one year after I graduated during my freshman year in college. (It was in state and less than a two-hour drive away.) She was planning to attend that school in the fall as well.
Since the beginning of her senior year, she had been very excited about joining a sorority.
Fast forward to the summer of 2018. A buddy of mine who is still in high school had told me rumors of her two-timing me with someone who graduated from my high school but still lives in my hometown. While we were hanging out one day she left her phone and I found both text messages and Snapchats confirming this.
It made me sick and I could barely eat or sleep for days after this. Whenever I found this out though, I left immediately and ghosted her for several days after and was able to chalk it off as something else after I had decided what I would do. She had no idea I knew at the moment.
I had shared this however with my fraternity brothers, including one whose partner is a ‘chi pi’, or one of the older girls that leads them around during rush.
Many SEC schools, including mine, have a rule that girls participating in rush were supposed to be dry (sober) and could not hang out with fraternities the week of rush, and not doing so would result in being automatically dropped from rush.
My brother’s partner was able to pull some strings and specifically get my ex in her group for rush. It is now after freshman move-in and officially ‘dry week’ and my ex has no idea that I know and it’s killing me.
I invite her over to the fraternity house, we hook up, I give her a beer and take numerous Snapchats making sure the label of the beer is showing and use the Snapchat filter for the date, and a Snapchat filter that says ‘the delts’ that is unique to our fraternity house. I make sure to save them, kiss her goodbye and tell her she’ll do great tomorrow.
The next morning the first thing I do is text the saved pictures to my brother’s partner, which she had been expecting. She shows them to whoever is in charge of sorority recruitment, my ex is dropped from it and she calls me crying. I tell her I knew she two-timed me, that we’re done, and block her on everything. The last I heard of her was that she transferred to a community college in our hometown at Christmas.
Revenge feels nice, especially since I ruined her freshman year of college but having someone betray you will take you to a dark place.”
Another User Comments:
“I thought about this a bit and considered it too far at first… I just know how much my fraternity means to me and wouldn’t want anyone to take that experience from me. But decided that it is a ‘fair’ revenge plan (still pro) because of the following reasons:
You trusted her when she was away, she broke that trust.
She trusted you when she came to visit (keeping it secret), you broke that trust. ‘Fair’ trade?
She made the choice to be at a frat and drink while in rush week, you may have planned it, but that is on her.” CjoewD
Another User Comments:
“ITR. I am 48, long past college, but I still remember my sorority experiences and what a big deal they were. I was at a school in the Northeast US and Greek life was a very small part of my school.
HOWEVER..in an SEC school, sororities are a VERY BIG DEAL. Like huge – I live in the south now (well sort of -Florida – lol) and I know people who are already talking about how important it is that their little Becky gets in Kappa Kappa Gamma at (SEC school) when she goes there 10 years from now. So, I can only begin to imagine how absolutely devastating this was for your ex.
This was a very well-planned and executed revenge. Nice job OP.” Lovehatepassionpain
Another User Comments:
“This would be better revenge if you didn’t take pictures of yourself (and your fraternity, since it occurred at the Delt house) providing booze to a minor and then share the evidence.” Moar_Cuddles_Please
5. Am I Wrong For Putting An Out-Of-Towner's Wallet In The Mail?
“In the early 2000s, I worked in an Irish Pub on 2nd Ave and 9th ST in Manhattan. We were used to seeing midwestern men on a business trip announce that they ‘will get the bill! This one is one me!’, only to regret it when they see the bill (sticker shock) and realize that drinks in Manhattan don’t cost the same as their local, dive bar.
Enter Ohio Businessman (OB). So, this group of guys comes in and starts ordering beers. One guy, OB, announces loudly to ‘order whatever you want; this tab is on me!’ So, they rack up a tab of around $400 in just over three hours. When the bill is brought to OB, he starts yelling about being overcharged. ‘There is NO WAY this is our bill! We didn’t drink this much!’ I approach the table to try to help.
Me: What seems to be the problem?
OB: This WITCH is trying to overcharge us! She’s trying to charge us for extra drinks!
Me: What is the problem with the bill?
OB: Well, first of all, there are 6 shots on the bill. We never had any shots!
Me: Sir, there are six empty shot glasses on the table.
OB: Okaaayyy… maybe we had the shots, but there is NO way we drank this many beers!
Me: Sir, there are six of you.
You have been here for over three hours. At that rate, this bill says you and your friends have averaged 1 beer per 45 minutes. Does that sound outrageous to you?
OB: Uhh…
Friends of OB: It’s fine, let us pay…
OB: NO! I WILL PAY!
Me: Ok.
So he pays. He tips $7.37. Because this would make his expense report total out to the closest $10.
After this, the waitress comes up to me to tell me he left his wallet in the booth.
She is shaking. She tells me she wants to chuck it in the trash. I tell her to hand it to me; I’ll take care of this.
I take the driver’s license out of the wallet, put it on top, and rubber band the lot. (Keep in mind: government-issued ID = free postage) and walk a block up the street to drop this in a USPS box.
OB comes back, asking about his wallet. I tell him what I did. He goes off on me about ‘what am I supposed to do for money?’ ‘My hotel key was in there!’ He even threatened to call the police, to which I responded, ‘for what? Going out of my way to make sure your belongings made it back to you?!’
He kept going on about how he had NO money, no hotel key, no cards for the rest of his visit.
I know he left before it ever occurred to him to ask, ‘how would he get on that flight home?’
Welcome to NYC, jerk!”
Another User Comments:
“ESH. Gotta kinda feel bad for the dude. Gets hammered thinking he can do something good for his friends but instead gets a tab of $400. He was a jerk even though someone else was probably paying the bill sure, but does that mean he deserves to have all of his stuff taken away, no (even though it’ll probably be replaced by corporate.) Will say it was nuclear revenge though.
Woulda been really well deserved if he had done something other than yell at the poor waitress. (Just tell me if he did and all I said was stupid.)” Better_Green_Man
Another User Comments:
“ITW. I mean…6 guys had 4 beers each, and six shots. 24 beers, and 6 shots. That averages to $13.33 per drink, counting a shot as a drink. Inflation since 2000 has been 49%, so in today’s money, the tab was as near as makes no difference $600 for 30 drinks.
That’s $20 per drink…counting shots as drinks. Now, I don’t expect ‘Dollar Pitchers’ college town prices in Manhattan, but…Jesus. That’s ridiculous prices, and I’d bet your bar didn’t put prices on anything (since nobody does on booze for some reason).
I’m just a simple guy from Tennessee, but even the ripoff honkytonks in Nashville aren’t charging you $20 a drink. Your bar had obscene prices, and y’all never bothered to tell these guys how much drinks were even though you clearly knew they had no idea (based on how you presented this, it was a recurring theme).
Simply put, you were trying to take advantage of unsuspecting people on trips to an unfamiliar area. When someone gets angry and leaves a bad tip, you got mad at them for not playing along. To top off the trashy cake, you go out of your way to ruin their trip because they didn’t like getting charged the equivalent of $20 per drink.
People like you are why people like us don’t like city folks.” vivere_aut_mori
Another User Comments:
“‘Because this would make his expense report total out to the closest $10.’
This is the part that made me howl.
It’s not even his money! Most of these guys just expense the life out of everything anyways, and 90% of the time nobody back at the head shed even looks at the form, they just pay it no questions asked. That’s why there are tons of expensive steakhouses in the financial district of every major city — the suits eating there don’t care about the price because someone else is paying the tab.
To get upset with you over the amount of not-his-money he spent is hilarious.
Heck, with a lot of these business trips, if you don’t spend a ton of funds on meals and travel during your trip, the company nukes your budget for such next year, so you’re forced to spend 400 bucks on drinks if you wanna be able to do it next time around.” ywgflyer
Another User Comments:
“ITR. OP did do the right thing. How else could he have possibly gotten it to him? He maybe could have waited until the end of the business day, but still.
I say it’s nuclear because it screwed him AND was actually the right and decent thing to do, lol.” [deleted]
4. Am I Wrong For Getting DoorDash Karen Fired?
“So I used to work at this restaurant in the downtown city. Terrible job experience, but it was a job. One day, we get slammed. Usually, it’s because of a game night since this burger place is right behind a baseball field, but this day was different. First of all, I was already angry. My coworker who thought he was the manager showed up an hour late so I had to open the entire front of the restaurant alone within 30 minutes because people were already waiting in the parking lot.
Coworker shows up, I don’t say a word to him. Oh well, move on with the day. Day goes on, and I come in for my shift. Soccer teams come over after a tournament. I’m talking about 100 players with a line out the door. On shifts like this, some of the kitchen staff had to drop everything and help the other front of house employees (including myself) deliver orders because we’re taking orders, cleaning tables, putting orders together, delivering them, serving drinks (I did this when I was 18), AND making milkshakes.
The customers were great. All of the players that came in were so nice and we had no issues. No impatience, no complaints, nothing. Just a nice day. They tipped us nicely, as well, so we really appreciated that.
I should probably mention at this point that we take DoorDash orders, which is where Karen comes in. For those of you who don’t know, DoorDashers are people who are paid by a customer to go get food from a restaurant and bring it to them.
We get in our usual rush and three other coworkers and I are obviously multitasking and rushing to keep everyone happy. The DoorDash tablet goes off. I confirm it and start prepping the order. Mind you, this included a milkshake. I’m not going to go ahead and make the milkshake because god only knows when this woman is gonna show up. The rest of the order is ready to go and she shows up while we’re helping other customers.
Let me tell you about this woman. By definition, a Karen. She had the typical Karen cut with the eyes of a freaking white walker. I’m talking bright blue eyes (obviously fake because they were Twitter logo blue and almost solid) that peer into your soul in a split second. I swear, I saw the gates of the underworld in her eyes. So, I’m just going to call her Karen.
She starts getting impatient and asks me how much longer it’ll be. I apologize and tell her that it won’t be much longer and I go to start the milkshake. She starts flipping out at my coworkers and as I’m passing her to get the rest of the DoorDash order, she starts laying it on me. Screaming at me because ‘I didn’t have the milkshake ready’ and that ‘I was costing her tips.’ The woman was wearing Lululemon Yoga Pants and had expensive color contacts in.
She would be fine without three dollars. The sort-of manager comes out to talk to her. Let’s call him C. C comes out and explains the situation. She doesn’t accept what he’s saying and starts screaming in front of two hundred people about how she won’t get tips and ‘how hard is it to make one milkshake.’ Karen gives us the typical ‘I want to speak to the manager,’ and the manager just so happens to be C.
He tells her he is the manager. He asks her to leave and she continues her rant, calling C a coward about five or six times. Karen finally leaves.
I’m fuming about this lunatic coming in and making everyone uncomfortable, so I do a little digging. Turns out, if you go onto the tablet, you can find the previous DoorDashers who come into the restaurant to get orders.
I remember the name of the customer who ordered, so I go onto the tablet to find the DoorDasher’s name. I find her name and cellphone number on the order history and information. I get into contact with the DoorDash company and explain the harassment we endured from Karen and give them her name and contact number, saying she was from (redacted city). They tell me they’ll look into it.
They contacted me later and informed me that it was taken care of and we never saw her again, as she regularly took orders from us. We all went on our merry way and occasionally called each other cowards as our own little inside joke.
I feel as if I should specify this but we also got a strongly worded email from this woman stating how angry she was etc and mentioned she lost her job because of it AND that she knew one of us said something.
I mean, duh.”
Another User Comments:
“So, as a person who, unfortunately, did DoorDash for 2 years, I completely understand how annoying it is for a restaurant to not have the order ready when it is supposed to be ready. On the other side, as a person who has also worked in several restaurants which work with DoorDash, I completely understand how difficult it can be to have an order ready on time especially in a rush like this.
But all in all, you do not freak out like this Karen did. Ever. In my experience with DoorDash, if you let the customer know what’s going on and you’re waiting and waiting for the order, they’ll end up tipping you more as a sign of appreciation.” ponderosa47
Another User Comments:
“ITR. Every restaurant has these jerks now who push in front of all the other customers with their insulated bags and start demanding stuff.
There are so many of these delivery services and it’s made every restaurant like a traffic lane full of taxi drivers who don’t respect all the other drivers who are in just as much of a rush. Like I don’t care if this is your livelihood, it doesn’t come at everyone else’s expense. I’ll never order delivery and I never have.” TR8R2199
Another User Comments:
“ITR. I am currently an instacart shopper – personal shopper for groceries, etc.
Many customers order items from the deli, like sub, etc that require us to work directly with the grocery store staff. We are timed so speed is important, plus it’s a numbers game… more orders mean more money.
However. I am -without fail- exceedingly nice to all the store employees I deal with. Over the past year or so, I have built decent relationships with them, to the point where, in several of my stores, the employees will go out of their way to help me.
I will NEVER understand how someone working a gig economy job can justify being rude to restaurant/grocery employees! We depend on these people and kindness goes a long way.
In fact, many of the employees I work with at various stores will tell me that they refuse to do extra for other IC shoppers who behave like ‘Karen’ did in your story. Personally, even if I am annoyed about a long wait, or something similar, I keep it to myself.
You catch more bees with honey instead of vinegar.” Lovehatepassionpain
Another User Comments:
“ITW. Holy man you’re petty. When I read your long rant, all I can think of is you saying to yourself, ‘I’m on the inside part of the business, the restaurant side, I did this cause god knows when a DoorDash person will pick it up.’
You and this Karen’s motives were different.
Does it matter if she wore Lululemon yoga pants? Maybe she worked for it? Maybe it was a gift? Does every person with a low-paying job have to consciously look poor so they don’t offend the ‘rich’ folks that get paid big bucks serving food at a restaurant?
Whatever happened to just shrugging it off and just using a coping mechanism? You called in to get someone fired, do you also spit in customers’ food if they end up fitting this Karen mold you created in your mind?
What if your doctor or surgeon thought of you as a Karen? Should he/she botch a surgery to mess with you?” [deleted]
Another User Comments:
“ITW. DoorDashers are in desperate financial situations. Maybe just divorced (since you said she had expensive clothes). Who else would do this work? Be nice and patient with people like this. Maybe the next step is homeless. No need to go nuclear on small people trying to survive.” funfu
3. Am I Wrong For Not Explaining The Combo Deal To The Rude Customer?
“I worked at a KFC for about 6 months as my first job, and this happened towards the end of my stay.
One of our managers, who I’ll dub ‘Jay’ is pretty strict with us in order to keep up with time and company policy, but we didn’t mind as he usually worked on line with us, rather than sitting in the office all day. And he does not have patience for rude people.
And on one typical military payday Friday (in towns next to military bases, all soldiers come in force on payday), we were slammed, and he was working the register when a lady orders one of our 12 piece buckets, biscuits and all.
Now usually you can save some funds by ordering them as a meal, gives you drinks as well. So as usual, he asks what drink she wants, intending to make it a meal automatically.
She declines the drinks. He tries to explain: ‘Ma’am, if we make it a meal, you’ll-‘
And she cuts him off, with ‘I don’t care, I don’t need drinks.’
As I said before, he hates rude people, so he immediately shuts up, smiles at me, and says, ‘OP, can I get a 12 piece family fill up, and don’t worry about the drinks.’ Before turning to her and finishing the order, which took a moment as we couldn’t simply press the combo button anymore, rather we had to ring up all items themselves..
He then had to ring up every single item individually, which racks up the price given the number of items. And then finishes the order, which was well above what the normal price would be.
It initially went off without a hitch, but unfortunately for us at the time, (retelling a funny story later wasn’t really a thought at the time, rather we just wanted to keep the line moving) the family behind her ordered another 12 piece family fill up, but they ordered the combo.
As Jay was finishing up the second family order, the first one stepped aside to check the bags for everything, then they hear the price. Jay rang the second family for almost half the price of theirs, and she storms over.
‘How come theirs is so cheap, we ordered the same thing,’ she asks.
To which Jay replies, wearing the standard-issue customer service smile: ‘You said you didn’t want no combo, ma’am, so I rang them up individually, ma’am, so you paid for them, not as a combo, but as the order you insisted on me making, ma’am.’
She then asks for the manager, claiming we were scamming her, to which Jay responds by walking behind the wall and coming back two seconds later wearing his manager vest.
And Jay says, ‘Hello, I heard we had a problem and I came to see what I can help with.’
She grabs her food and leaves.”
Another User Comments:
“People working in fast food are regularly told to ask customers to up-size or get extra things, so it’s pretty fair to assume that’s what was happening, although she could have just let him finish speaking.
I’m just glad that meals being cheaper with a drink isn’t a thing where I am.
I’m assuming that OP is probably from the USA. I always order without a drink and would be pretty upset if it would be cheaper to be wasteful.” Niccin
Another User Comments:
“ESH. Being rude to staff is no excuse. At the same time, this is just a dumb system that encourages the wastage of food and drinks. A lot of people genuinely don’t want drinks, why should they have to pay more.
Would companies prefer I just buy the drinks and put them straight in the trash causing product wastage and more clean-up work for them? An ideal solution would have been to ring it up as a meal regardless of drinks. Customer’s rudeness aside, this was not ideal. Not only the customer wasn’t happy, which is fine, but the manager spent more time and effort doing the thing that would have cost them a fraction of the time.” pipic_picnip
Another User Comments:
“ITW.
Yeah maybe I’m nicer than most people. But I’ve worked service jobs and I wouldn’t have let someone cutting me off like that factor into making her pay a crazy price. Cursing at me? Sure. But a simple ‘I don’t want drinks.’ Nah. I would still inform them of the discount before I rang it up.
I do agree that wording is key.
Don’t even have to say both prices tho.
A simple ‘Ma’am your order will be cheaper as a combo’ would get almost every person to agree to getting drinks.
Just say words like cheaper or discount before the combo/meal part and people will respond better.” Traditional_Emu_2008
Another User Comments:
“ESH. That’s kinda stupid all around, both sides. As a customer, I would have ordered the combo if it was cheaper. As a manager, I would have just rung her up like a combo and not made the drink.
Either way would have avoided unnecessary drama. Sounds like this story was just for revenge satisfaction.” slantedangle
Another User Comments:
“ITR. To not see that a combo meal with drinks is cheaper than a combo meal with no drinks, is just either completely blind, stupid, or oblivious. I personally would buy the combo to get a drink whether or not I was thirsty, because when I begin eating, I might get thirsty, and then it’s just good luck to have a drink, and if it’s cheaper with the drink, I’ll usually just go with it.” NRNstephaniemorelli
2. Am I Wrong For Getting My Scammer Ex Put In Jail?
“Around the time that I got my first full-time job and finished college, I decided I was ready to venture out and start seeing people. I had heard about this amazing app through a few of my co-workers, so I decided to give it a shot. After about a week on the app, I finally matched with a woman who we will call Talia.
Talia lived in a different city than I did but the day we matched, she said she was visiting a cousin.
We messaged through the app, and after verifying she was real through her social media profiles, we exchanged phone numbers. She said she was employed full-time, had an apartment and her own car, and was somehow still single. We talked for about two weeks on the phone, always at night after my shift at work, before we finally had a chance to meet when our schedules matched up.
I drove my beat-up 1996 Honda Civic to her town, spent that Friday night (I forget where we ate that night), and in the morning we had breakfast at Waffle House. Talia did have her own apartment; however, she lived next door to her grandmother, who I awkwardly had to meet the next morning. I learned from Talia that her car was actually in her grandmother’s name and her apartment was in the name of her ‘cousin.’ She went so far as to show me family portraits, with her ‘cousin,’ to talk about her abusive ‘ex,’ and even shared with me how her laundry room was embarrassingly infested with flies and roaches.
We officially changed our social media to in a relationship that day. Keep in mind that this was my first relationship in almost four years so I was excited.
Talia also told me that day that she had been fired from work about a week earlier but was too embarrassed to tell me. I asked how she had kept up her bills and she said that her grandma and dad had been helping her.
Talia asked if I could help her make her car payment, which was due that weekend. I refused.
She then explained that she could get a payday loan (which is banned in our state) and could put it into my checking account. I felt uneasy about it and asked if there was another way she could get the loan. Talia said that she couldn’t use her grandma or dad’s accounts because they had burned her in the past.
I thought it was weird but she started crying. So I called my bank (where I had an account since high school graduation) and opened a linked checking account. I gave Talia the new checking account number and routing number. Talia contacted a payday loan company in Alabama and by Sunday morning, she had the funds in my linked checking account.
Per our agreement, I gave her the funds.
Talia promised to repay the loan within two weeks. I had my reservations but went back home and back to work Monday. Talia called me on Wednesday and said she had a new job. I asked if she had the payday loan squared away with her first paycheck. She said she did, but I still got charged $47.00 two weeks after she set up the loan.
I called my bank, called Talia to verify the loan was going through her and terminated the charge from the payday loan as I was not the signed person.
Talia and I agreed to meet on Memorial Day weekend two weeks later. She stated that her dad had given her a check for the entire loan amount ($1800) and that she would deposit it into my bank near her.
Like a fool, I let her deposit the check right before Memorial Day weekend.
Two weeks later, the payday loan company charged another $47.00 plus penalty fees and another $47.00. The $1800 check bounced. Talia stopped answering her calls and blocked me on everything. I called my bank and informed them that I was a victim of fraud. Within hours, my main checking account (into which my paycheck had gone), my savings account (with $800 saved for a new car), and the new checking account were closed.
My best friend from college (we’ll call him Clark) found Talia had two of every social media account: the one she shared with me and the one on which she had a partner. Her ‘cousin; from her family photos was actually her significant other since high school (Talia was 22, 23). Her partner (we’ll call him Jason) was in prison but from their social media posts, she was visiting him once a month, minimum, and had plans to marry him.
I spent days trying to get back my accounts and my funds. One of the representatives from my bank, Clark and my mom, advised that I should press charges for fraud. My bank mailed me a copy of the bounced check for criminal investigation purposes and it showed Jason’s name and not Talia’s father’s name as the owner of the check.
That’s when I decided to get revenge.
As mentioned before, Talia’s apartment had a minor infestation of roaches and flies in her laundry room. While I went through legal agencies to pursue pressing charges of forgery on the check, fraud, etc., I found the name and phone number of Talia’s apartment complex. I left a message for the apartment complex management that Talia and her grandmother both had filthy apartments.
Within a week, Clark showed me that Talia had posted a request for temporary housing for her and her grandma since her parents wouldn’t let her move in.
Talia’s payday loan company began calling me, as Talia had given them my phone number instead of hers and they had not received payment yet. I was still reviewing my legal options at the time. One day, I answered and notified the rep that Talia had fraudulently used my checking account. The rep who called me transferred me to their legal department, who was very interested.
It turned out that Talia’s grandma and her father owed to the payday loan company. It wasn’t a lot separately but the payday loan company had enough evidence, with my claim, that Talia was the ringleader using her family’s accounts.
I turned over my evidence, including Talia’s text messages promising to pay, the copy of the bounced check, and my bank statements. By the end of the year, Talia was arrested on several charges.
Her grandma and father were also arrested but took pleas for lesser charges in exchange for turning over evidence on her. I didn’t have to testify at the trial but I kept informed: Talia’s grandma had had a minor heart attack when she was arrested and had a more significant one during the trial. I’m not sure if her grandma lived or died after the trial.
Despite this, Talia went to prison for multiple counts and will serve more than a decade behind bars.”
Another User Comments:
“So what I’ve got from this story and some of your comments.
You spoke to this girl a lot on the phone (mistake #1, you get to know people in person not over the phone where you can falsely romanticize them.) Then you meet and hook up the first night……
opening you up for being manipulated.
She talked about her ‘abusive ex’ and you just bought into it (mistake #2, girls who’ve been abused don’t just open up about that to basically a stranger.)
You immediately status yourselves as in a relationship (mistake #3, you’re dumb nuff said.)
She asked you for funds and you didn’t tell her to screw off. (mistake #4)
She asked you to do something illegal and you didn’t run.
(mistake #5)
You opened a linked bank account for her using your credentials (mistake #6, how much of an idiot do you have to be like honestly loaning cash sure I get, but being this dumb deserves a New Level Stupid award.)
All this to me sounds like you got what you deserved not using a single sense of that brain you have. And on top of that, you have zero remorse for potentially killing an old lady who from the way you word it in other comments is a ‘fall person.’ (I’m not sure of her involvement but I generally wouldn’t condone feeling good about yourself potentially killing someone.) ESH.” scrumANDtonic
Another User Comments:
“ITR.
That was a great read. Good for you! I kinda wish I had done the same thing back when this happened to me:
I had an ex I had to take to small claims court because she ran up our shared cell phone bill by $600 (back when minutes/texts/etc were all limited) talking to the guy she was two-timing me with. She got process served at work (she was a jail clerk for the county sheriff’s office so double the fun for me, plus really convenient for the process server).
She begged me to drop the case and, like a fool, I did. She paid me $200 upfront with the rest to come over the next two months.
She disappeared and I’ve never heard from her again, which is just fine by me. Last I heard through mutual friends she broke up a marriage at work, married the guy, made him quit the job, and now he does taxidermy.
I’m not really sure what she does but I hope they and their little family are all happy.” citking
Another User Comments:
“I just can’t believe the audacity of these women. She was probably leading you on for two weeks while she was finishing up with her last victim. Has you immediately calling her your partner upon meeting. Spends a night with you and then asks for funds.
Nobody can say ‘no’ to their partner. You’re a sucker, but stuff happens and you learned a valuable lesson. I’m glad you took her to the full extent of the law, and thankfully she blocked you after she took your funds and didn’t continue to lead you on and con you.”
Another User Comments:
“ITR. Honestly, you were smart, you did everything right, and you have nothing to be ashamed of.
Think of this as a learning experience. I’m a kind person and to me, it’s hard to imagine the awful things some people are capable of, chin up though – there really are good people in the world. Beware checks, money orders, and people with a history of bad behavior. I personally don’t want someone who lies, scams, or steals ANYWHERE near me.
At least you got a cool story out of it – stay classy and be safe.” rwramire1
1. Am I Wrong For Setting A Stranger's Car On Fire?
“Set the WABAC machine to the year 2000. I’m living in a trashy apartment over a storefront, so parking was limited. Now, this was the middle of winter, and I didn’t have a car at that period in my life, but my partner at the time did. She was coming over in a couple of hours, and finding parking on the street is a gamble, so I wanted to dig out a parking spot for her out of the snowbank in the alley behind my building.
I didn’t own a snow shovel, so using a hammer, old plastic ice cream bucket, and my bare hands I dug out a chunk about 3m by 2m by 2m to make room for her to park. I don’t know if you can appreciate how much snow that is, but it was a LOT of work, especially considering my lack of proper equipment. This isn’t freshly fallen snow either, this is a snowbank packed by a plow.
Practically ice. But whatever, we do crazy things for love, right? But apparently, I had too much faith in humanity. I thought the cardboard sign I left in the newly-cleared parking spot that said ‘I spent an hour and a half digging this out for someone specific–please do not park here,’ would be enough.
Nope. Wouldn’t be writing this if it had been. Naturally, some jerk of a Lexus owner threw the sign in the dumpster and stole the spot.
(I remember it was red) I hadn’t told my partner about my plan to dig out the parking spot, mostly because I didn’t want to look like a wuss if it was too much work and I gave up. So I just stewed on it, imagining all the things I could do.
My partner ended up finding a spot on the street a block away, and we had a good evening anyway.
She had to work the next day, so she took off around 2 am, and I stayed up until maybe around 4 am. The car was still there, and I was still angry. By this time all the bars were closed, the neighbors were asleep, and the streets were quiet. Couldn’t ask for a better opportunity to ruin someone’s stuff. I went outside with a bottle of anhydrous isopropanol I kept around as a solvent, doused the car’s tires, and set them on fire.
I nabbed the cardboard sign from the dumpster and used it to quickly scrape the snow and cover my tracks, then took it back inside with me. No point leaving evidence behind.
Over the course of the next few minutes, I heard BANG…..KAPOW….BLAM….BOOOM…as the tires burst one by one. I had honestly expected the whole car to go up in flames, but each burst was apparently forceful enough to put out each individual tire, as well as blast a sizeable divot in the snowpack.
Nothing happened until the next day, but police were eventually called. They were knocking on doors, asking if anyone saw something. Nope sorry, must’ve slept right through it. Good luck officer, hope you catch the guy. I turned on my police scanner to keep tabs on things, mostly out of fear of getting caught. But there were no witnesses, and I learned the owner only had liability insurance.
What kind of idiot buys a Lexus but not full coverage? I would soon find out.
When I went outside to survey my handiwork under the guise of taking out the trash and being a curious resident, oh man yeah that guy was gonna need to get his WHOLE car resprayed. The car looked fine structurally but I did probably more than 2 grand worth of cosmetic damage, not to mention needing 4 new tires.
I also got a look at the guy who owned the car, and the image I had created in my head of what a person would look like that would so unapologetically steal someone’s hard work…was completely accurate. He was a grade-A first class board-certified textbook jerk. Orange fake tan, way too much hair product, leather pants…weapons-grade jerkery, a decade before Jersey Shore was a thing.
I regret nothing.
Never saw that car again. Got away scot-free.”
Another User Comments:
“ITW. I’m all for a bit of revenge when someone is a jerk but to be fair the guy just parked in a public place. Despite your hastily crafted sign, he did legally have a right to park there (unless I’ve missed something?). Sure it’s an inconsiderate thing to do after someone has put the effort into clearing a space but c’mon…..
It’s a public parking spot.
It feels to me that you are the ‘jerk’ in this story op as causing thousands of dollars worth of damage to personal property for no other reason than someone parked in a space that you took upon yourself to claim territory over despite having no right to do so.
I get it’s frustrating but my opinion is that you went way overboard and shouldn’t use a tenuous description of the victim’s personal appearance to mitigate your own appalling behavior.
Hopefully, as others have pointed out, this is just a made-up story anyway and no genuine damage was done. It seems that scientifically, it’s very unlikely to be true.
If it is, however, then you were a jerk IMO. Way more of a jerk than the guy who parked his car legally.” Feltch_McAvity
Another User Comments:
“(3) Regardless of the question of whether or not lit IPA should pop the tires anyway (it shouldn’t, but meh),
why do you have 100% IPA anyway? That’s overkill.
Waste of money and a special order, imho.
(2) Who goes to that kind of effort to clear a parking spot? Even for yourself, it’s not believable. That’s like the old walking uphill, through the snow, to get to school… both ways.
(1) Lastly, unless you got something (anything) to park there in the meantime, someone was going to inevitably take the spot. You can’t expect it to just be left there, stolen my fat, white butt.
It’s public property. How stupid is that? Talk about entitlement.
There’s more poop in this story than a milk farm. Get real, man.” dahrealvortex
Another User Comments:
“Nice one fella. Personally, I would have done his lights and windows as well, but that’s just me. Good luck for the future.” 17BigTrees
Another User Comments:
“If you spent an hour digging out your spot and the sign said so, then since the guy read the sign he probably told the police that. So all they have to do is find a witness who saw you digging during that hour to know it was likely you who did it. Sounds very risky.” Frapcaster
Metaspoon Slow or Crashing?
If Metaspoon is causing your browser to crash or run slowly, please try viewing the article in Lite Mode and it should run more smoothly!