People Share The Time They Scolded A Stranger In Public

It’s nice to imagine the world is full of good people doing good deeds and being kind to each other, but the reality is sadly a little different from that fantasy. Often we see people doing and saying bad things as we go about our day-to-day business, and sometimes can do nothing but turn a blind eye to their misdeeds. Other times, however, enough is enough and those brave souls among us decide to take a stand. It takes a good dose of courage and a dollop of moral outrage, but those who stand up and scold others in public are often serving a greater cause. Not all superheroes wear capes, as we know. Some are simply trainers-wearing middle-aged Dads who have just had enough of your nonsense. 

Here we take a look at thirty real-life stories of people scolding strangers in public. From mean old ladies to misbehaving kids, there’s a public shaming for everyone who deserves it! While some of these made us fist-pump the air in triumph, others had us feeling lucky we weren’t on the receiving end!

Have you ever scolded a stranger in public? Or worse – been scolded by a stranger? After reading this you might feel more emboldened to stand up to bad behavior in the future … or like one of these contributors, to pour a tub of yogurt over them!

28. This Woman Deserved Every Bit Of The Scolding She Received From This Shop Assistant

“Worked at Walmart years ago. When it was slow, cashiers would be sent out to the floor to tidy up the store and help out the people working in different departments. I was helping out a friend of mine in the children’s department one day when a woman and her two kids came into the department. One child was still an infant, but her daughter looked to be around 4 or 5.

The woman was looking around, completely ignoring her daughter who kept trying to tell her mother that she had to go to the restroom. The kid wasn’t whining so much as saying, ‘Mom, I have to go.’ The mother kept ignoring her or absentmindedly telling her to hold it. Finally, the little girl says, ‘Mom! I! Have! To! GO!’, which wakes up the little one. The baby started crying, and the mother finally addresses her daughter by yelling at her for being a pain in the a*s. My friend and I were listening to this (it wasn’t hard to overhear), looking at each other as if to say, ‘Man, what a b*tch’, but there wasn’t much we could really do. Then the woman screamed, ‘Will you shut up!? I wish you had never been born!’

I was stunned. I couldn’t believe anyone would say that to their child. My friend literally dropped what she was doing and said, ‘What did you just say?’ The woman started to say something about minding your own business, but my friend cut her off by launching into one of the most frightening displays of righteous anger I’ve ever seen. She tore into this woman, telling her that it was obvious that the little girl had needed to go to the bathroom because it’s all she had been saying for the past five minutes and that it didn’t matter how frustrated you were with a child, you tell them you wish they hadn’t been born. The scumbag woman couldn’t say anything in her defense because she was caught being a tw*t to her child.

I can’t remember exactly what she said, but I’ll never forget how it ended: My friend finished telling this woman she was a failure as a parent by saying, ‘You’re the reason birth control should be mandatory. Take your kid to the bathroom.’ I could have clapped, it was so perfect. The woman left without saying a word.

My friend got hauled into the office shortly after that (apparently the woman complained to management on the way out), but she said she was completely justified in what she did and would do it again. The manager told her that he agreed with her, gave her a warning, and told her ‘good job.'” gametemplar

27. When You Need To Put On Your Cape And Stand Up For The 7-11 Clerk

“I was in a 7-11 making a purchase once when some yuppie lady interrupted my transaction. She angrily told the cashier that the coffee wasn’t hot. He apologized and told her that he could make another pot right away. She said ‘No, I’m way too busy to wait for that!’ The clerk offered her a refund and she responded with ‘No, I don’t want a refund! I’m busy and I want a hot cup of coffee RIGHT NOW!’

I felt so bad for this Ethiopian clerk who, judging by his accent, hadn’t been in the country for very long and was shocked by her rudeness. I just snapped and said ‘Listen, you stupid yuppie b*tch, he apologized that the coffee wasn’t hot, offered to make you another pot or a refund. What do you expect him to do? The only way for him to comply with your request is to get a time machine and brew another pot before you get here. Does he look like some sort of time-traveling wizard to you!? You need to just shut up, get back into your ridiculous SUV and try to act like an adult!’

She just stood there shaking, I couldn’t tell if it was rage or fear, but after what seemed like an eternity, she ran out of the store and took off. All the people in line clapped for me. The clerk was shocked at my outburst as well but told me, ‘It’s good to know that some people will stand up for strangers in this country.'” x3n0s

26. This Person Got A Round of Applause For Telling Off A Ten-Year-Old Girl

“I used to fly a lot for work, and often had to deal with the typical flying annoyances (crying babies, people who were too wide for their seat, obnoxious drunks hitting on the flight attendants) but the one that sent me over the edge was when a 9-year-old girl in the seat behind me began to kick the back of my chair repeatedly, yelling at the top of her lungs for no reason. I turned around, glared at the girl and at her mother sitting next to her, and simply asked her to stop. The girl almost instantly resumed the kicking and yelling, prompting the flight attendant to come over and speak to the mother and her child.

Less than a minute after the flight attendant had returned to the front of the plane, the kid started at it again. I undid my seatbelt, turned around, and completely ignoring the kid, I ripped into the mother… ‘Is this your kid?? Yes? Then act like a parent and control your daughter. She’s acting like a spoiled little brat. I’ve already spoken to you about this, and so did the flight attendant. Now I don’t care how you deal with your kids when you’re at home but I’m sure not going to put up with your daughter kicking my seat and yelling in my ear for the next 3 hours. If you can’t keep her quiet and behave for a 3-hour flight, you shouldn’t be on a plane.’

Then to the daughter who was smirking while her mom was being reamed out… ‘You think this is funny?’ Death glare until the smirk disappeared… ‘Answer me. DO… YOU… THINK… THIS… IS… FUNNY…?’ The girl finally answers very quietly… ‘no.’ ‘No. I don’t think it’s funny either. You’re going to sit in your chair quietly, and you’re going to watch TV or read a book or something, and above all, you are not going to kick my chair or yell for the rest of this flight… Agreed?’ She just nodded back at me. As I turned back around in my seat and put my seatbelt back on the whole plane gave me a round of applause and the flight attendant gave me free drinks for the rest of the flight. The girl never made a sound louder than a whisper for the rest of the flight.” Circlesmirk

25. Old Man Tips Yogurt Over Soft-Touch Mom

“It wasn’t me, but someone else did. And it was glorious.

I was in a lineup at Costco. In a neighboring line, a lady in a wheelchair was ahead of a boy and mother. The boy kept ramming his grocery cart into the wheelchair, and she politely asked the mother for him to stop. The mother tells her boy to stop, but he keeps doing it anyway and the mom does nothing to stop him. Another person pointed out to the mom that her child was still hurting the lady in the wheelchair, to which she snidely responds ‘I don’t discipline my child. I don’t believe in it.’ An older man (who I guess was at least 75) further up the line walks up to the mother, opens up the tub of yogurt he was about to buy and dumps it right on her head. He then said, ‘My parents didn’t discipline me either,’ and returned to his spot in line. Horrified, the mom takes her child and leaves right away without buying anything. Everyone who saw what just happened broke into applause for the man. My faith in humanity was restored.” Crystal_Rose

24. When Your Good Deed Nets You A Free Trip To Hawaii

“Not me, but my wife at the airport. We were waiting for a flight home from Vegas (god damn was it a good time), it was around 3 in the afternoon and our flight was apparently overbooked. We were hanging out at the bar right next to our gate, still getting our drink on while we waited. We then begin to hear this horrendously loud argument happening at the counter/kiosk/whatever thing. It turns out this couple (both in their mid 50’s, looked generally Seattle hippy) were throwing a raging tantrum over not sitting together. They had booked their flights on Expedia together, but the airline had moved the seats because the flight was so full. They were offered the next flight, but they continued to scream and moan. This goes on for about 5 minutes, and you can see this poor 18-year-old girl behind the counter is just starting to break down.

My wife, out of nowhere, proceeds to get up, walk over to the counter, and just says straight to the poor girl, ignoring the couple, ‘They can have my seat and my husband’s seat, together, if they promise to shut up and leave you alone. We’ll wait for the next flight.’ The couple is shocked, they just stare at her and start giving her the stink eye. But they stay silent. We then proceed to exchange our tickets and get our seats for the next flight.

But wait! There is a bonus here. The flight was overbooked – so we receive vouchers for 2 free round trip tickets to anywhere the airline (Alaska) flies because we had volunteered our seats on an overbooked flight. We ended up using them for flights to Hawaii later that year. And the next flight? It was 30 minutes later.” jaynus

23. When Your Bad Parenting Comes Back To Land In Your Lap

“Some kid was in a restaurant where my mum and I were trying to have a quiet lunch. This kid starts to throw crayons at my mum, literally from the next table. The mum was too busy talking on her phone to care. I tried glaring, but she couldn’t care less. In the end, I walked up to her to confront her and she actually gave me the ‘1-minute finger’. That was it. I picked up all the crayons on the floor, on the table and from in front of the kid, dumped them on her lap and sat back down. I think she was so shocked she just left. The manager of the restaurant gave us a free meal. Apparently that particular woman was known for just letting her kid run a riot.” ChromeDeagle

22. Another Person Who Faced An Annoying Child On A Plane And Won

This person’s father had a similar experience to the one above (what’s up with all these misbehaving young air travelers by the way?) Seems he too handled it like a boss:

“My dad, who was a pilot, was deadheading to work one day when something similar happened. A child behind him was continuously kicking his seat despite numerous attempts from my dad to get him to stop. The child’s father was completely ignoring the situation. After about five minutes of this, my dad turned around and beckoned the child forward and said, ‘If you kick my seat one more time, I’m going to stand up and punch your father in the face.’ There was no more seat kicking.” mylegalthrowaway

21. This Student Got Owned For Yelling At A Blind Man

“About a year ago at my university, there was this blind man who was THE NICEST GUY EVER. Seriously, he takes a full schedule of classes and is always somewhere on campus. He uses a white cane to help guide himself, but still, understandably, gets lost on the large campus plenty of times. He doesn’t really have much of a family left, as he is much older, but he loves learning and says that’s how he wants to spend the rest of his life. Any time I see him, I always say what’s up and walk with him to where he wants to go because he tells some of the coolest stories.

One day I was walking in the hall of one of the campus buildings, and I saw him accidentally brush a girl with his cane, he immediately apologized. This girl was blonde, fake-tan, in Uggs and sweatpants (we have lots of girls like this on campus, they suck). Well, instead of being understandable to the fact that HE IS BLIND, she starts screaming at him and telling him to not be such a ‘pervert.’ He keeps apologizing and saying he didn’t mean to bump her with his cane, but she isn’t having it, she is making a scene.

I’ve never moved so fast in my entire life, I sprinted across the hall and said ‘Hey, what is wrong with you?’ She is shocked, since I guess she didn’t think there was anyone else in the hall watching, and she starts saying how he hit her with his cane and all I do, in the most ‘I’m not angry at you, I’m just disappointed tone’ I can utter, I tell her: ‘That man has more dignity and self-worth than you will ever have. Apologize to him, and leave.’

She got this ‘I just messed up’ look on her face, apologized without even looking at him (not that he would know the difference, I guess, also this all happened in like a split instant) and walked away with her head hanging down. My blind homie graduated last semester too, everything worked out.” F*ckYeahPhotography

20. When Mama Is Really A Sensei Who Doesn’t Tolerate Rude Folks

“So we are hopping out of the car, just arriving at another volleyball tournament when a lady approaches us. She kind of got up in our business and pretty forcefully asks/demands ‘Where is the Tae Kwan Do tournament?!’ We were caught a little off guard by her intense demeanor so my mother responds politely, ‘Oh, I’m sorry, we aren’t sure.’

After this lady doesn’t get the answer she desires and sees that we are clearly unloading the standard tournament paraphernalia (e.g. bag chairs, cooler, bag of spare clothing) she kicks it up a notch. She must have thought we were lying to her and we were going to the tournament and accusingly asks us, ‘Well then, what are you here for?!’

This is when she accidentally flipped my mama’s teacher switch. Mama doesn’t like being talked to like that. Mama doesn’t like people demanding info they don’t need. Mama replies with what she hopes is a conversation ending tone, ‘We are not here for Tae Kwan Do.’

Still, in a rage, the lady attempts to belittle my mother’s intelligence. Mama doesn’t like being belittled. ‘YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU’RE HERE FOR???’ The lady asks my mom with what can only be described as ‘dripping with condescension.’ Now she’s done it.
Mama: ‘I most certainly know why we are here and where I am going, unlike you. I don’t appreciate being talked to in that tone and I don’t think I need to divulge any of my information to you.’
Lady: ‘Well FINE, I’ll be on my way then… and by the way, it’s DOCTOR, to you.’ (She clearly as a superiority complex)

Mama: *As the lady turns her back on us and walks away* ‘Well that’s fine then DOCTOR… but then it’s SENSEI to you.’

The best part of this story is the fact that my mother is a First Degree Black Belt in Tang Soo Do. In our style of karate, you refer to anyone with a first degree or higher as ‘Sensei’ so my mother wasn’t lying when she asked this lady to refer to her by her credentials.”  TheZbeast

19. How To Deal With Movie Noise-Makers? Ruin The Plot!

“WARNING: SPOILER ALERT FOR HUNGER GAMES.

I went to see The Hunger Games. I went to the 4 o’clock show because I thought it would be more empty. It wasn’t and there was a teenage couple sitting behind me talking loudly. 30 minutes into the movie, they still haven’t stopped talking. So I turn around, look them dead in the face and ask them: ‘Hey guys, did you read the books?’ The girl just looked at me wild-eyed and bewildered and replied with: ‘Ummmm….noo’. I looked that little jerk in her face and said: ‘Well I did, and if you two don’t shut up I’m going to tell you what happens and ruin the movie for you.’ That bought me 10 minutes of silence. Then they started talking again, so I turn around and say: ‘Hey! Do you see that little girl “Rue?” She dies.’ Silence the rest of the movie.” Vicrally

18. When You’re Still Momma’s Baby And She’s In Protection Mode

“I’m fresh out of high school flying with my volleyball team to nationals. I’m fairly tall and already crammed into the middle seat when the lady in front of me puts the seat the whole way back. Typically this wouldn’t bother me but the seat she leaned back was for her toddler, who she was currently holding. I asked her kindly if she would move the seat back and she immediately snapped at me in a very rude tone, ‘Don’t you see that I have my baby with me, my baby NEEDS all of this room.’

My mother is a 2nd-grade teacher and is sitting next to me. She quickly gets vocal when confronted with rude people. Without missing a beat she responds in her best ‘teacher voice’ and ‘teacher glare’, ‘Well, I also have my baby with me, he is 6’4” and extremely uncomfortable with your unoccupied chair resting on his knees. Could you please move it back or are we going to have an issue?’

The lady looked a little shocked, realized her mistake, apologized, and untilted the chair.” TheZbeast

17. Nobody Likes A Grocery Line Hopper – Especially This Guy

“I’m ashamed to admit it but this is a habit of mine, whenever I see anyone drop litter, or who is acting in an incredibly rude manner, I tell them off. Too many entitled people out there who think they can just do whatever they want. Just last week I was at the supermarket and there was a woman who had about 3 items on the belt speaking away on her phone. When a little old lady went over to put her stuff on the belt the woman on the phone said ‘What are you doing? This is my space, I’m just waiting for my husband to come with the rest of our stuff.’

This got me cross enough as it was but then up strolls this man with a cart that was almost over-flowing with stuff, and I just couldn’t hold my tongue. Turns out this awful woman had been hogging space on the belt and telling her husband what to get over the phone! I mean what the heck, so I told her that she and her husband could go to the back of the long line they were causing, (I was in the next line over) they both got all upset and I demanded to see the manager. They called the manager and I explained how vile and selfish they had been, and to his credit, the manager told me I was right, sent the people to the back and comped the old lady’s groceries to apologize for her inconvenience (she only had about 4 items anyway).” tomdwilliams

16. This Guy Totally Outranked His Fellow Movie Goers And It Was Awesome

“My buddy and I were at a movie and there were these dudes who were talking about how they had just got out of basic training were bashing the movie and laughing, making rude comments, etc. Well, my buddy tells them to ‘Pipe down’ and they flip him off but quiet down. After the movie, we are at the front of the pack right behind the 6 or 7 guys being rude and my buddy says ‘That was really rude to everyone how you were behaving’ and one of them (the loudest) whips out his military I.D. and says ‘Yeah, well I’m a marine and I fight for your freedoms.’ My buddy who just happens to be an officer whips out his and says ‘I’m a marine officer and just because you have the honor of wearing a uniform doesn’t give you the right to be a sh*t spewing p*sshead.’ Then he made them stand at attention right at the door of the movie theater and apologize to every patron exiting.” Jayhoe03

15. When Your McDonald’s Order Comes With A Side Of Justice

“I used to work at McDonald’s when I was in high school so I sympathize with other teenage fast-food workers. A while ago, I was in the local McDonalds where I used to work, and it was apparent that it was the cashier’s first day working there, but he seemed to be doing okay. He entered something wrong though and asked his manager how to fix it and the manager comes over and starts tearing into him in front of all the customers, calling him ‘an idiot’ and ‘an inbred monkey’ and so on.

After I received my order at the counter, I asked the manager to come over and told him ‘Please do not talk to that cashier that way ever again. Just because you are a day shift manager at Mcdonalds does not make you a superior human being, and gives you no right to treat others, especially your employees, like dirt.’ After I sat down the other manager came over a brought me some apple pies and thanked me for standing up to that guy. Apparently he acted like that towards everyone.” miniskirtninja

14. Moral Of This Story? Nice People Get Free Bread!

“I was at a Panera Bread around the holidays a few years ago. It was full-on shopping season, and the place is close to some shopping malls, so it was extremely busy. This older couple ordered coffee, and the lady behind the counter gave them a to-go cup, saying ‘I’m sorry, we ran out of clean mugs, and the dishwasher is running now, but I didn’t want to make you wait’ or something like that (very polite). The lady got ANGRY and started screaming about bad service. She actually yelled ‘I need a HERE cup, not a to-go cup!’ The poor girl behind the counter kept apologizing and saying they would be done in a minute but the lady just kept moaning.

Meanwhile, another employee comes up to take my order, so I ordered my drink and said as loud as I could ‘And a to-go cup is FINE with me; unlike some people, I understand the drink will taste the same!’ The old lady freaked about how rude I was while I waited for my drink. The manager comes out and gives me a free loaf of their holiday bread ‘for being so patient.’ Old people left, still mad.

Didn’t exactly scold her, but made a loud comment in defense of the employee.” baconbabe456

13. Rude To Your Waiter? Beware, They Bite Back

“I have worked at Chili’s for about 5 years now. There have been so many experiences with rude people I have lost count, but this was the worst one by far.

I’m waiting tables about this time of year (aka graduation time) and I have a party of 25 call ahead (at about 7) and say they will be arriving in 30 minutes. We set the table up for them and were anticipating their arrival. They actually end up showing up about an hour and a half later than they said they would. We had since broken up the big table and sat other smaller parties there. They arrived and were angry that their table wasn’t ready for them and the really soft-spoken sweet host that was working that night simply explained to them that we thought they had chosen somewhere else to go since they hadn’t come sooner. The lady that was speaking to the host immediately bursts out saying that we should have known that they were still coming and that she knew Chili’s was a terrible idea and that we are all terrible at our jobs. The host, almost in tears says that we will set up another table for them in a closed section and that I will be taking care of them. I should also mention these same people come in all the time and are rude to everyone and NEVER tip and always complain so they can get free food.

When I wait on large parties by myself, I always start everyone out with water just because it takes a little bit to take everyone’s drink order and get it out to them and I figure it is better to at least have some water available while you are waiting. As soon as we get them settled in, several start complaining that they don’t want water and I was rude to not offer them a different option. I simply explain to them that I will be bringing them whatever they would like and that the water was just to hold them for the time being. They proceed to tell me that I am an idiot and tell me to ‘get this mess out of my face’ (referring to the water). Most of the people order strawberry lemonade, I make all of the drinks and bring them out to them. People then start to complain that ‘this tastes nasty’. They tell me it doesn’t taste anything like what it did last time and I tell them that we make it by measurement every time but I would be glad to make a new batch for them.

I go and pour out what we had, and make another batch of the strawberry lemonade and take it out to them and they again complain that it is nasty. I offer to get them something else and they say, ‘we just want a waiter that isn’t a dumba*s and knows how to make strawberry lemonade.’ I go get the manager to explain that we make it the same way every time and they roll their eyes and tell the manager that I was being rude to them.

Fast forward to when they are eating their meal they start being really rude to me. They started pouring their drinks out on the floor on purpose, throwing food at me and insulting me right in front of my face. I had a couple of other tables that complained that this large party was being extremely loud (which they were). I go over and ask if they mind being a little quieter as it was disturbing the other tables in the restaurant. One kid then yells, ‘OH YOU THINK I’M TOO LOUD?’ They all start being even louder than before and some tables even got up and left.

That was the final straw. I yelled over them and told them they were no longer welcome at our restaurant. That shut them up. One kid told me that I couldn’t do that and I said when you start causing our other good paying customers to leave I can do what I want, now get out. They had the nerve to ask for boxes for their food which they hadn’t touched because they were too busy being loud. I told them that I could care less if they wanted their food and that they needed to leave. My manager and I stood at the door smiling watching them all walkout. One girl told me that I ruined her graduation party, I informed her that she had no class and got what she deserved. A few of them stayed and talked to my manager begging him to allow them back because it was their favorite place to eat. He told them that they cost the company money when they came in and that they were never welcome back. I haven’t seen them since. ” OrijinalJamz

12. He Pierced His Septum In Front Of An Old Lady To Teach Her A Lesson

“I’m at a gas station. There is a line of about 5 of us. The kid ringing everyone up has gauged earrings. He is doing an awesome job, being super polite, etc.

This old lady behind me says to the other, ‘This kid is such an idiot and so disgusting. I wish I didn’t have to put up with people like that.’ My ears are gauged, but I have no plugs in an I have a very large septum piercing, but I don’t have it in. For some reason, the ring is in my pocket.

This old lady goes on and on, making sure she is loud enough that the kid can hear her and she is embarrassing him. After he rings me up, I turn around and say ‘I’m so sorry to eavesdrop, but I couldn’t agree more. I hear some people put crap like that through their eyebrows, lips, and even their noses….’

She smiles with satisfaction temporarily… I take out my nose ring which looks very sharp. I say, ‘I wonder if it hurts?’ I start pushing it through the hole very comfortably as it is healed, but I am making screaming noises as if I am piercing it right then and there. There is this BIG black dude… like 320, 6ft7 behind her and his eyes were SO big.

After pushing it through and letting out a sigh I said to her ‘It’s not so bad after all. Honestly, I am glad to see this young man has a job at all in today’s economy, and the only thing I find offensive is your blatant disregard for other people’s feelings and that perfume you are wearing that smells like a flower threw up. Oh well… Have a great day!’

The look on her face was priceless, the kid was smiling for the first time since I had entered the store and the big black dude behind her smiled and gave me a thumbs-up as I left. In retrospect, I was probably just as much as a bully as she was, but I felt better knowing that if only for a minute, she might understand what she makes other people feel like by making such stupid comments out loud.” anon

11. Super Nanny Ain’t Taking None Of This Mother’s Nonsense

“I work as a nanny and frequently take my charge to the park where we do the normal make friends and play routine. There’s a mom I see frequently, whose youngest child we play with. Well, one morning, we’re playing, I look up and I’m alone with the 2 toddlers and her older child, a pre-schooler. I called for her and looked around for 15 minutes, before calling the police. 20 minutes later and I still don’t see her, but the police and a social worker arrived, take my statement, then leave with the abandoned children. As I’m walking down the street, about a block from the park, the mom comes running up to me and points to the park and asks where the hell her kids are, I tell her what happened and an argument ensues.

She’s enraged that I didn’t just sit and wait at the park with her kids, she just ran to the store after all and I’m a nanny, I should be able to handle extra kids. I proceed to, as calmly as I can with the baby present, tell her what kind of mother she is, how much she endangered her child and a general earful about being an irresponsible, expectant, human being.

There was some kind of court hearing after this, where she claimed I was babysitting the kids and called maliciously, but when she couldn’t provide the judge my name or contact info, I was in the clear. I was not privy to how it worked out for her and the kids though.” Calamitybambi

10. There’s Nothing Quite Like Scolding A Person Parked Illegally In A Mobility Parking Spot

“My Dad was driving around with his terminally ill friend. They needed to go to a pharmacy and seeing as how my Dad’s friend gets short of breath easily, they were hoping for a handicap spot. Unfortunately, none were vacant so they had to park farther away. As they were walking up to the store, a squat muscular man comes walking out of the pharmacy and starts to open up the door of his Ford F150 parked in a handicap spot that he clearly didn’t need to be in (nor did he have a sticker). My Dad’s friend called out to him as he was getting in: ‘Excuse me?’

‘Yes?’
‘Is your handicap physical or mental?’
The guy’s face went white as a ghost and he quickly got into his truck and pulled away.” jimmythejet

9. This Traveler Went Nuts On A Fellow Flyer And Got Free Drinks For His Troubles

“I’m a pretty mellow guy who travels for a living. I don’t really let the small things get to me.

A couple of years ago, I was on a flight that was already running 30 minutes late. I was already thinking to myself that the connection was going to be tight, most likely involving running or a brisk walk for a mile or so through Atlanta.

I’m one of the last to board the plane and I had to check my bag since there was no more room. The 4 or 5 people behind did the same thing. What are you going to do? Well, I work my way down the aisle and there is a guy there asking people to shift bags, move stuff that won’t move, etc. He is trying to get his ‘oversized’ bag to fit and there was no room. He calls for the flight attendant who walks up and says ‘Sir, we are out of space. You will have to check your bag’. Well, that was it for him.

He goes OFF on her. Starts yelling ‘This airline sucks’, ‘I’m a million-mile member’, ‘I want your employee number and name’ and so on. At that point, I pretty much mentally snapped. I felt horrible for the flight attendant, who was just doing her job, and this guy spent 5 minutes making an as* out of himself and burning up time that we could be airborne. People were gawking, looking away, cringing, and overall just hoping he would stop so they could move on. I just yelled ‘SHUT UP. SHUT THE HELL UP!’

At this point, I was shaking with anger. I then went off. ‘Take your bag to the front of the plane, check it, and stop with this insanity. You are what is wrong with air travel. Your sense of entitlement makes me want to puke. If you are a million-mile flyer, you know the rules of flying. You should know how this works. Why punish everyone on this flight. You have insulted this lovely young lady, you have made everyone on this plane uncomfortable with your little ‘show’ and I’m now another 5 minutes late for my connection. I want you and your little Napoleon Complex issues (he was about 5′ 5″) to shut up and sit down. Do WE have a problem?’ He started spluttering and looking all flustered, but didn’t say a single word.

Somebody at the back of the plane started clapping. Soon the whole plane was applauding me. I just sat down and waited while everyone clapped and this guy took a long walk of shame to front of the plane. The flight attendant thanked me and so did everyone else. I didn’t mean to do it but I just can’t stand people like that. The best part, I had free drinks for the flight, the FA gave me a stack of ‘free drink’ cards for my next couple of flights and one of the passengers gave me a voucher for free wifi that he had won. It was very satisfying.” DangerIsHereOnReddit

8. This Guy Stuck Up For A Homeless Stranger

“One time I was at a show in Philadelphia, it was in between bands and everyone was milling around outside the venue. As I was standing, talking to some friends, I noticed 5 or 6 wannabe hardcore kids harassing this homeless guy. They’re kind of pushing him around, forcing him to take pictures with them, and talking down to him. Eventually, the guy slumps down on a wall pulling his knees up and starts crying as these guys are degrading him more and more. One of them shoves his camera phone in the dude’s face saying he’s gonna make him famous on YouTube. At this point I’ve seen and heard enough and just lose it.

I don’t remember exactly what I said, but I remember flipping on these dudes for about five minutes. Along the lines of how that guy has nothing and you have everything compared to him, yet you are worthless. How disgusting what they were doing was, how sad and pathetic they were. I didn’t care it was 5 or 6 guys who could probably together beat my face in. I knew that there was no threat towards the end of my tirade when they were all staring at the ground, red in the face clearly ashamed of what they did. As my verbal berating ended, I was greeted to resounding applause from everyone. I helped the old guy up and took him to WaWa and bought him some dinner. He was weeping on the way there, thanking me, saying he never had anyone stick up for him in his entire life and how I came out of nowhere to help him. Felt good man.” SirDeezNuts

7. This Special Needs Kid Was Lucky To Have Such A Good Friend

“I must have only been 13 at the time…

I worked a lot with special needs students at my school. I’ve been working with people with disabilities my entire life. One day, I came into one of my classes to find one of my fellow students who had Downs Syndrome huddled on the floor with a bunch of girls standing around him, pointing and jeering. I immediately dropped to my knees to talk to him, and I find out he’d had an accident, and the girls were making fun of him for it. He was crying and shaking. I soothed him, managed to get him to stand up, and got one of the other students to take him to the special needs classroom. I then turned to these girls (who I barely knew because they were the rich, pretty girls), looked every one of them in the eye, and proceeded to verbally hamstring them. They got such an earful that they were all blushing and hanging their heads by the end of it; I made one girl cry. anyesuki

6. She Made A Stand To Save Her Dad’s Hurt Feelings

“I was on vacation a few years ago with my parents. My dad had planned for us to have this amazing dinner at a very fancy, and a very small restaurant. The restaurant was literally the first floor of a small/medium-sized house. Seeing as the place was so small all the customers had to keep their voices down so as not to disturb everyone else, we sat down for dinner and were immediately overwhelmed by a man talking loudly at the table next to us. Not only was he basically yelling but he was saying very inappropriate and racist comments. He obviously had too much to drink but everyone at his table looked too scared to say anything to him.

My family and I tried to have our dinner and ignore him, but it was getting really hard to ignore. My poor dad who had planned this great dinner looked so crestfallen. Whenever someone upsets a family member of mine I snap. I turned around and said very clearly and loudly ‘Could you please keep your voice down. I can hardly hear anything besides your voice’. The guy was speechless. Probably because I was a 18-year-old girl telling him nicely to shut up in front of an entire restaurant.” dededexter

5. When Your Russian Movie Menace Ends Up Feeding You Snacks

“I was in the movie theater seeing The Hunger Games after my entire family read the book, (don’t worry, no spoilers) and the theater quickly became packed. Well, this couple sat next to me, both of them around 6’5”, and speaking Russian. It wasn’t that they were annoying me, but this giant of a man was stretching his leg basically over mine. Since I knew they were speaking Russian earlier, I pulled up the translator on my phone and translated, ‘If you move your leg over any farther, you’ll have to buy me dinner.’ And when I said that, he looked over and I gave him a wink. He apologizes between fits of laughter and gave me some whoppers. Win.

TL;DR: Me, a 16-year-old male, hit on a Russian jolly green giant, he gave me whoppers.” anon

4. Woman Almost Gets Hit By A Subway Train, Screams At Her Rescuer

“One morning while waiting for the subway, I saw a woman at the other end of the platform drop her CD player onto the tracks, shortly before a train was about to arrive (It was in sight and moving). I thought ‘Oh, poor thing, lost her CD player,’ but then she rather obviously started getting in position to jump onto the tracks.

I flipped out and started screaming at her at the top of my lungs ‘NO, STOP, YOU’LL BE KILLED’, barreling down the platform, grabbing people and throwing them out of my way in my effort to get to her in time to save her life. Fortunately, she stopped to look at me and didn’t jump, and the station attendants came running when they heard me. When I got to her she flew into a rage at how dare I tell her what to do, as the train came screeching to an emergency halt halfway into the station. I was so furious I chewed her out thoroughly, as I did so the station attendants arrived, smiled at me, grabbed her, and threw her out of the station, screaming bloody murder at them all the way and denouncing me as the devil himself. Kinda makes me wish I’d let her jump, but it would probably have made me late for work if they’d hit her or she’d touched the third rail.” themcp

3. This Gas Station Employee Came To The Rescue Of His Manager

“I was working at a gas station about 10 years ago, my manager was a little on the plus size. Still very beautiful, but also very insecure about her weight. Some guy comes in to pay for gas he had just pumped, and is using all change. She counts the money out and tells him that he is short by x amount, so he takes the rest of the change in his hand, and bounces it off the counter at her and says, “Just take it all you fat b*tch!” and walks out the door. I was putting candy away in one of the aisles and happened to be walking up to the front as this happened. He got out to his car by the pump when I caught up to him, pushed him into the gas pump w/ my forearm on his neck and said ‘Please go inside, and apologize, and this doesn’t have to go any further.’ He went in, said I’m sorry, and then walked out to his car and left. I never saw the guy in the store again after that.” kng091003

2. These Golfing Granddads Showed Some Obnoxious Guys How To Behave

Back in the mid-80’s my buddy and I played a round of golf one day on a very crowded course. Every single hole had a minimum 15 – 30 minute wait to tee-off. We were lucky to be teamed up with these two really old guys in their mid-80’s. These two guys were hilarious. They told jokes the entire 6 hours it took to play 9 holes. Oh yeah… and they were both really small… like 5’6” at the most, and maybe 120 pounds.

There was this group of 4 guys playing 3 foursomes behind us that day… and they were giants. I’m big, 6″ 3 1/2″, and about 225 pounds) but each one of 4 guys was several inches taller than me and many pounds heavier (of solid muscle). And they were extremely rude and obnoxious. They treated everyone horribly and tried to pick fights with other golfers.

Finally, at about the 6th hole, the rudest most obnoxious of the 4 giants had had enough. He pushed through the crowd and told me to get off the tee (I was getting ready to tee off). He pushed me out of the way and kicked my ball off the tee. He said to his buddies, ‘come on guys, I’m tired of waiting, we’re just gonna play thru’. He then teed up his ball and prepared to hit it as his buddies stood on the tee leering at everyone daring them to do or say anything.

So no we have a bit of a predicament. My manhood has been challenged and my buddy and I were obviously going to have to fight these 4 giants (I’m sure they would’ve kicked our butts). Just then, the only person who could really do anything to fix this problem stepped forward.

One of the tiny 85-year-old guys stepped forward and yelled, ‘Hey, what do you think you’re doing?’ He marched right up to the huge guy on the tee while carrying his driver in his hand. I’ll never forget this next part.

The old guy was holding his driver by the handle as he approached the big guy, he then, ever so deftly flipped the driver into the air and caught the club by its head. Then, holding the driver by the head, used the handle end of the driver to poke the big giant guy in the chest… really hard. He kept poking the big guy in the chest while walking closer and closer to him, thus forcing the big guy to back up.

Once this tiny little old man had pushed this big guy off the tee, the tiny old man turned around, walked up to the big guy’s ball (which was sitting on top of the tee still), line himself up over the ball and proceeded to drive the big guys ball straight into the woods.
Then the other tiny little guy (who, by this time, was standing in front of the other 3 big guys) said something like, ‘Boys, you better get back to your place in line or there’s gonna be real trouble. Because I don’t care how big you are, I WILL kick your all your a*sses.’

Then the other little old man who had just hit the ball into the woods, turned to the big dude he had just humiliated and said something like, ‘Boy, you better get back there with your friends, and on your way, you need to apologize to all these good people. You’re lucky that I don’t know your mother, or I’d call her and tell her what an a$$hole you are. Now git, before I whip your a$$.’

Everyone standing there waiting their turn to tee off broke out into simultaneous applause. The big guys were so humiliated by what had just happened that they grabbed their clubs and left. It was so cool to watch those old guys put those big young jerks in their place. And the best part was that since the big young jerks were definitely looking for a fight, the only ones who could really stand up to them were the 5’6″ 120 pound 85-year-olds.

The golf game continued and the two old men went back to entertaining everyone with one funny non-stop joke after another.”  bowhunter_fta

1. Girl’s Idol Calls Out The Guy Who Knocked Her Down During His Gig

“I was 16 years old and had gone with some friends to see Fugazi play at a small venue. There was, of course, one particularly rowdy drunk punk rock mohawk guy in the same part of the audience as us, flailing around, ‘hardcore’ dancing, etc. We mostly ignored him, because it’s a rock show, and to some extent, you kind of expect that behavior, right? Well, this guy gets it in his head that he’s going to crowd surf, only nobody really wants to hold him up. In a matter of seconds, he comes lurching across the heads of several people, and I look up just in time to see him come crashing into me right before we slam onto the paved floor.

Ian MacKaye (lead singer of Fugazi) saw the whole thing. He immediately stops playing and signals for everyone to stop. He grabs the mic, and starts publicly shaming and berating mohawk guy, the gist of it was that everyone wants to have a good time, but you don’t go to shows and act like an idiot in the crowd because you could hurt someone else, and you especially don’t hurt girls. MacKaye yells at the guy to get out of his show; I’m only just now getting up off the floor after being a bit dazed. Ian asks if I’m ok, I lift up my arm and give a thumbs-up, then he says, ‘OK then, let’s rock.'” anon

Phew – that’s a lot of public scolding for one day! It makes us glad we’ve never been on the receiving end of some of these people’s public shamings! Have you ever been told off in public? Or told someone off yourself? Let us know how it went down in the comments!