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The Most Ungrateful Jerks

The Most Ungrateful Jerks
Photo by Dorrell Tibbs on Unsplash

Sure, spoiled brats are annoying, but there’s something extra irritating about those moments when you try and do something nice for someone only for them to throw it in your face. These Redditors came together to share their stories of the most ungrateful jerks they’ve ever had to deal with—and they’re so infuriating, they’re unforgettable.

1. Now You See It, Now You Don’t

It was my niece's birthday and she just went to college so I thought I'd get her a laptop for her birthday. Now, I am a student myself but I still want to give her something special. So I searched for a good used laptop and I found a decent Toshiba Satellite. I sold my PSP and some other things so I can afford it. So there we were at the dinner table opening presents. When she opened mine, I couldn't believe her reaction.

"This is it? I thought you'd buy me a brand new one" "You know I can't afford it. It's the best I can do”. "I want a brand new one, not this. This sucks! Worst present ever!” She then shoved the laptop and box across the table and it fell down onto the floor. I picked it up and walked out. My cousin tried to stop me, but I just said "I'll never give her anything again”.

She even had the nerve to call back and asked for the laptop. Apparently, her parents punished her for her behavior and she will now have to buy her own things. No hand-outs or gifts. My friend bought it from me as a favor. He helped me pick it out, and he knows how much I bought for it. The profit was only $10. But the story doesn’t end there.

My niece called this morning, asking for the laptop because she will need it for college. No apology yet, only demands. Her brother said I would cave and give it to her. Heck no, and I’ll never get her a present again.

CarelessMonday

2. If I Could Turn Back Time

person holding pizza in box Photo by Arantxa Aniorte on Unsplash

I delivered a pizza to a low-income type apartment complex. The total was $18, so she handed me a $20 bill rolled up and told me to keep the change. I turned around and started walking down the stairs back to the parking lot while unrolling the $20 to put in my wad of cash. My eyes widened with shock.

Immediately I turned around, went back, knocked, and said: "I don't think you meant to include this inside the twenty," as I extended my hand towards her with the $100 bill in it. She instantly started screaming at me about how she didn't give me a hundred-dollar tip and that I was lucky she didn't call the authorities. She slammed the door, then called my pizza shop to complain.

I told the manager the whole story, and she was put on the do-not-answer list. Crazy lady.

anything_here

3. No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

A couple of years ago, a friend and I were driving across the country in a big moving truck full of my mom’s furniture. We had been on the road for about 18 hours on the second to last day of the trip, so we stopped at a rest stop to stretch our legs and use the bathroom. That’s when we saw a devastating sight. Sitting at the rest stop late at night was an entire family: a mom, a dad, and two young kids. Their car was obviously broken or otherwise not working.

Feeling like I should try and help, I asked the father what was wrong and he told me they had run out of gas and just needed to get to the next town, which was about 40 miles away. I couldn't leave the rest stop with that family stranded, so my friend and I got back in the truck and drove the 40ish miles to the next town, bought gas and a can, and drove all the way back in our huge moving truck. The whole trip back and forth took us about an hour and a half. By the time we got back to the rest stop, we were both about to pass out.

Well, the family was still there waiting and I hopped out to give them the gas they needed so badly. I handed the can to the father and he looked at me and said "I would rather have the money". This caught me off guard as money wouldn't help them get anywhere. That’s when I made a disturbing realization.

It dawned on me that he never wanted gas to begin with and probably had some in the car. He was just fishing for cash and using his kids as bait. I felt really bad for the mom as she was just looking at me the whole time with this expression of "I'm so, so sorry". I was at a loss for words since the dad didn't even want the gas we had just driven for over an hour to get for them. I just set the gas can on the ground, got back in the truck, and left feeling like a giant idiot.

xe0s

4. Casting Pearls Before Swine

girl in pink dress doll Photo by Tengyart on Unsplash

When we were very young, we were very poor. My sister's birthday was coming up; I think she was about seven. We had no money to buy gifts, but my mother had a small piece of white satin cloth and a box of tiny little pearl beads. She hand-sewed this beautiful little wedding gown for my sister's doll and sat up night after night hand sewing these tiny little beads on the dress.

When my sister was given it for her birthday, she reacted in a totally unexpected way—she threw it across the room in disgust, saying “I don't want that, it's my old dolly”. I'll never forget the heartbreak on my mother's face.

Lady_FriendofSpiders

5. Replacement Value

A girl in my high school received a used car on her 16th birthday. She was unhappy with the fact that it was used—three years old—so she intentionally totaled it. Her thinking was that if she totaled this one her parents would have to buy her a new one. But she'd eventually learn her lesson the hard way—she didn't get a new car and had to ride the bus.

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6. That Math Doesn’t Add Up

man in black jacket and blue denim jeans standing beside silver car Photo by Nima Sarram on Unsplash

My older sister Amanda is EXTREMELY spoiled. My dad practically worships the ground she spits on. Well, she's nine years older than me so, of course, she was able to do more things. I used to help my mom at a restaurant every day from when I was 5-8 years old. Because I was so young, people would give me tips throughout the day. When my mom’s shift ended, she would walk me next door to the bank and I would deposit my earnings.

By the time I was 8, I had a little over 800$ saved up. May came around and my sister was going to turn 17. For her birthday she wanted tons of hair styling stuff and makeup. Well, my father had other plans. He convinced me into letting him "borrow" my $800+ and combined it with his $500. He then went out and bought a cheap car for $1,000 and used the other $300ish for seat covers, new tires, a new stereo, etc.

May 5 comes around. We gave my sister the car and she threw the biggest fit ever! She wanted nothing to do with the car. So, she sold it for $700. Dad got his $500 back, Amanda got $200 to spend on hair products, and I got nothing back...just a load of garbage from an ungrateful jerk.

lexxiilou1108

7. Money Can’t Buy You Love

focused photo of a red rose Photo by Jamie Street on Unsplash

Valentine's Day, 2004. Now, I'd never cared about Valentine's Day, but my girlfriend at the time had never been in a serious relationship and she wanted a special Valentine's day. I was more than happy to oblige. That day, I went to the local nursery where I used to work and bought two dozen red roses. I also grabbed an unused delivery invoice.

I still had the uniform—just a T-shirt and hat, but enough to make me look like a legit delivery person. I then spent my entire paycheck on gifts for her, and on food for dinner. Everything: balloons, decorations, red and pink cutesy stuff, and several expensive gifts including an iPod and a new camera. I went back to her house and decorated it, transforming her kitchen and living room into what looked like a display at the mall.

I even did the rose petals on the bed thing, because I was sure my efforts would lead to a romantic evening. Then I enacted the best part of my plan. I looked up her class schedule to figure out where her class was (we had different majors) and proceeded to burst in, pretending to be a delivery person. I gave her the roses and a teddy bear in front of her entire class, even going as far as making her sign the fake delivery invoice. It was her last class of the day so I knew she'd be heading home.

I raced out of there so I could get there first, change, and start cooking dinner. I got there maybe 20 minutes before she did, and everything was going to plan. She was upset when she walked in the door. "Why didn't you wait for me after class”? She asked. I told her I wanted to start dinner before she got home and finish decorating the house. "Oh, I really wanted to go out to dinner tonight. Can we go out to dinner”?

I explained that I was going to make something special at home, and had, in fact, already started cooking. She looked at the table full of presents and the house full of decorations and just sighed, disappointed. Then she really twisted the knife in. "I really wanted this to be a special Valentine's day. Just this once. I was really hoping we could have a special day together but I guess not”.

Never again.

Verdris

8. Honesty Is The Best Policy

grayscale photo of books on shelves Photo by Sean Benesh on Unsplash

When I was younger I worked at a Blockbuster. I was the night shift manager and one night I was working by myself when a customer walked up and handed me a woman’s wallet, saying he found it on the ground. I peeked inside it to find an ID/membership card, so I could look up her account. Sure enough, she had been in the store about 30 minutes earlier so I gave her a call. She seemed pleased on the phone and said she would be right in.

The store policy for something like that was to lock the item in the safe until the customer arrived. I did so and went about my business. About an hour later, the woman came in and asked for her wallet. I told her it was going to be 15 minutes as the safe was timed. That was just the start of my troubles.

This was apparently unacceptable and she asked if I could get it faster than that. I told her no and continued helping other customers while she waited. Once the safe beeped, I grabbed her wallet and handed it to her. I had to put the line of customers on hold while I did this because I wanted her out of the store ASAP. She had spent the last 15 minutes fuming next to my register.

As soon as I handed her the wallet, she said, "My money better be in here". I explained that I honestly had no idea as I didn't open it all the way, and her membership card was on an outer flap anyway. It was one of those large female wallets that were more like a mini purse with lots of flaps and zippers and such.

After handing it to her, I asked for the next customer in line to step up, basically ignoring her. Unfortunately, I was in for a serious ordeal. She started screaming: "MY MONEY IS GONE, YOU TOOK MY MONEY," which really surprised me as she was a pretty normal-looking soccer mom type. I asked the customer I was helping to hold on for a second and I explained to her that I had not personally opened the wallet any further than the first flap.

She started screaming again, saying there were over 200 dollars in it and that she was calling the authorities. I shrugged and told her to go ahead. At that point, I was completely okay with ignoring her. She walked to the back of the store and whipped out her cell phone. I continued helping the line as customers were looking back at the woman. Most of the customers were like, "What a jerk," etc. I just shrugged and smiled.

After the line was cleared, the lady came back to the register and told me, with a super smug look, that the authorities were on their way. "Okay,” I told her. She thought she won, but she couldn't be any more wrong. About an hour later, an officer finally entered the store (she waited right next to my register the entire time) and she started waving at him and pointing at me at the same time.

I saw the cop and rolled my eyes. He asked her to repeat her story and as she was repeating it, he almost completely ignored her. He even started watching the football game that we have playing on our DirectTV kiosk. After she got done, he looked at me, rolled his eyes, and asked: "Did you take the money”?

"Of course not," I said. "I'm sorry there's nothing we can do ma'am," the officer said. He then left the store. As he got to the doors, he held them open for her and told her to leave if her business was complete. I smiled super big, like Cheshire cat big, and told her to have a super day as she left.

After she left, I bought pizza with the 200 bucks I took. Just kidding, but I almost wish that's how the story ended after she embarrassed me like that for close to two hours.

volothebard

9. Choke On It Then

When I was 15, a girl in my driver's ed class turned red and stood up. She put her hands to her throat, but couldn't make a sound. Her eyes looked crazy. She was choking on a piece of candy. Everyone looked for one beat, two beats. I was like, "What the heck" and I stood up, walked over to two tables, and gave her the Heimlich. On the second attempt, the candy flew out like 10 feet, as if it were in a movie or something. She started gasping and bawling. It was a big scene. She thanked me.

I thought that it was over—but my nightmare was just beginning. The next day at class, when our parents were picking us up, she was walking down the hall with her white trash mom. They walked up to me. I was expecting a "thanks" from the mom or something. I'd never seen this woman before and as soon as she got close, she started yelling, "What did you think you were doing? You aren't a doctor or a nurse! You could have broken her ribs! You're lucky I don't get a lawyer and sue your family! I still might!”

Varnu

10. Sounding Like A Broken Record

black Canon DSLR camera Photo by Georgia de Lotz on Unsplash

My mom bought my little sister numerous laptops, iPhones, and cameras on the condition that she take care of them. Everything was broken in a month or two. My mom then bought her a $900 digital SLR that she knows I've been wanting for years because my sister claimed she was going to take a photography course at school. She got the camera, complained that she didn't get any other presents, used it for a day, then let it sit around for six months.

She uses it now for pictures on her blog, but she told my mom she never intended to take a photography course and she could only use the thing on auto. For Easter, I spent a couple of hundred dollars buying her tons of Hunger Games stuff and other random stuff for her Easter basket because I stupidly wanted to do something nice. I'd just pick up random stuff over the course of a few months that I thought she'd like.

She was upset that my mom wouldn't be doing baskets anymore because she was 15, so I thought she'd like my gifts—but I was so, so wrong. She threw a tantrum after she opened everything because we wouldn't hide Easter eggs for her or hide plastic ones filled with money like her friend's parents did. She’s 15, for heaven’s sake. I haven't gotten her a thing since. I bought my mom a MacBook Air to pay her back for years of caring for me—and my sister threw the biggest tantrum ever.

She clawed at my mom's face and tried to take her car because it apparently wasn't fair that my mom got something nice for the first time EVER. My sister has since "accidentally" broken her laptop, hoping I'd buy her one too. Not going to ever happen.

insertnerdyusername

11. A Friend In Need

I had something happen at an ATM. The guy before me had pulled out what looked like $400 and then walked away without taking the cash. I didn't realize what had happened at first, so by the time I put two and two together, he was out of the store. I grabbed the money, ran after him, and caught him in the parking lot.

I handed him the cash and he violently grabbed it from me. Then, he escalated the situation. He started talking trash, saying I was trying to take his money. At some point, his friend mentioned that before he ever met me, he was $400 down, then I came along and he was back to even. He even defended me, telling his friend, "What the heck is wrong with you”?

The guy never did thank me, but his friend did.

CassandraVindicated

12. E-Class Vs. No Class

grayscale photo of mercedes benz sedan on road Photo by Endri Killo on Unsplash

My spouse used to have an old Mercedes E-class. It was like a 1995 or something. He wanted to give it away to my little cousin because her parents couldn't afford to buy her anything like that. So we gave her the Mercedes—but that was a big mistake. She started going on about how we were going to buy a new one and she wanted a new one too.

Immediately after hearing that, my spouse took the keys away from her and gave them to her older brother, right in front of her. The reason we didn't give it to him in the first place was that he had an old Honda that he had paid for himself; however, it was falling apart and needed a lot of work to keep it safe.

We even volunteered to pay for his insurance and his first year of college just to spite his little sister. That felt really good. We haven't bought my female cousin anything in over three years. We don't even send her a birthday card. If you act like that when someone gives you something, you clearly aren't worthy of anything.

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13. Riding The Gravy Train

When my son was six, he was really into trains. He had a fantastic wooden train set with all the bells and whistles, and we spent hours putting it together in different ways and playing. But he kept begging for an electric train, just begging and begging. I told him "Not until you're eight”.

Well, that Christmas I decided to surprise him and I put together a small electric train set on a 4 x 8 piece of plywood. I couldn't spend exorbitant amounts on it, but it was a nice oval with a split-off that went up and over the main track and rejoined. I also made a couple of engines, a few cars, some simple trees, and a crossing with lights. It wasn't much, but I spent hours putting it together after the kids went to bed every night.

Christmas morning came around, all the gifts were unwrapped, and I told my oldest, "There's another surprise for you downstairs”. He ran down and found the train and his eyes lit up, he was so excited. I showed him how to work it, then went upstairs briefly to help pick it up. 10 minutes later, I was coming back downstairs to play with him, and the train set, and he was walking up the stairs. His words shot me straight through the heart.

He looks me in the eye and says, "It's kind of boring," and walked past me. Yeah, I admit it...I cried.

cepheus42

14. Surprise Swap

a black car on a road Photo by Haryad Ali on Unsplash

I used to work for a local car dealership. I was selling the cheapest car on the lot to a dad and his daughter. It was a 2000 Daewoo for $3,000. She was SO excited to have her own car and it was what her dad could afford to buy her. At this same time, another salesperson was selling a brand new Ford Explorer to a dad for a present to his daughter. As I was presenting the Daewoo to the new owners, the daughter of the other dad came in to see her new Explorer.

She started throwing a fit, yelling "I didn't want an Explorer, I wanted an Expedition”! Well, her dad put an end to her tantrum in the most epic way. He walked back into the finance office and he changed the deal. He corroborated with the guy buying the Daewoo and switched the names. The girl crying over her "Explorer" now had an ugly Daewoo and the girl who was really grateful to have a car ended up with a fully loaded paid off Explorer.

I would never have believed it if I had not been the salesperson.

NikitaJ76

15. Make Your Bed & Lie In It

This kid I barely knew asked me for help moving because I'm pretty strong and I can move the couch and stuff. First problem: he had two friends there who were carrying the weight equivalent of a pack of gum up and down the stairs each trip. Then, I took the bed he has apart and his mom had the balls to ask me to speed up because her rental on the truck was only for three hours.

At that point, I turned around and asked her if she wanted to take care of it herself because she was more than welcome to. She just shut up and left me alone. At his new place, I helped him move in and I put the bed back together. That's when I had enough. He told me as I was packing up MY tools: "Oh can you leave your tools here? I have a couple of other things to build but my friends are coming over for dinner”.

I packed my stuff, gave him a piece of mind, and told him that this story would go around campus. I wanted everyone to know how much of an ungrateful little jerk he was.

OneAngryBunch

16. Lesson Learned

red power ranger Photo by Fran on Unsplash

This made me cry. It reminds me of something awful I did as a child. It was my sixth birthday or so, and my mother bought me this little musical statue that you wind up. It's an old record player with cute mice climbing and dancing on it. I opened it and just stared at it, then looked over at my brother's present—we're twins.

He got this remote-controlled Power Ranger Megazord toy. I asked why I didn't get a toy like him. I couldn't play with a fragile musical statue. And I just kept at it too...I'll never forget the look on my mother's face, it still makes me cry. She said she was sorry and started crying. I didn't understand but I knew she was crying because of me.

I started saying I'm sorry and that I did like the present. But she just turned and walked away saying for us to get ready to leave, she had to hurry and drop us off at summer day camp. She was recently divorced and my dad and all other relatives worked during the day so they couldn't watch us.

To this day, I have that statue on my shelf, and I'll keep it till the day I die. To remind me that thoughtless words can sometimes do the most damage.

Sanctity_of_Reason

17. As Good As Gold

A co-worker whined that her grandmother gave her a silver necklace for her birthday when "She knows I only ever wear white gold!” I laughed and told her that when my grandparents were alive I only ever got a birthday card and that stopped when I started high school. But the co-worker only got more defensive—she just kept trying to get me to sympathize with her situation.

This co-worker is actually a lovely person but she has lived a very sheltered life.

lampshadesnoopy

18. Forgiven But Not Forgotten

red and white christmas stocking Photo by Donna Spearman on Unsplash

I made Christmas stockings for my wife's two teenage children. I spent hours finding little specialty candies, little toys they'd like, make-up, etc. I tried to make them outrageously nice stockings and happily spent about 200 bucks (that I could not afford) on the two of them.

On Christmas morning, they spent about two seconds looking at them, judged them unworthy, and then just cast them aside. And that's not all. The boy actually stepped on his at one point, breaking one of the toys, and he did not care. To this day, I think he did it on purpose. It sort of ruined the whole "making Christmas nice for the kids" motivation for me.

They are adults now and I guess the fact that I still remember that scene points out how petty I am.

FletcherPratt

19. Odd One Out

Times were very tough the last few years when I was living at home. Everyone in my family worked, and we all helped to pay the mortgage on the house and the bills. We tried to save money and cut costs here and there, but overall, we still lived a pretty comfortable lifestyle.

One day, my father was talking about defaulting on the mortgage. I pushed even harder to save money at that point, and pretty much gave my entire paycheck each week to assist. I explained to him that we needed to get rid of things we did not need. He liked to provide us with everything we wanted, so it did not come naturally to him to cancel a $300 cable and internet bill, for example.

I told him it had to be done. We would drop cable and get super slow internet for $20 a month. My sister walked into the room. At that point, she was 20 years old and she never had a job. She just sat around the house all day. She's done fewer chores in her lifetime than my brother has done in a day. She whined and screamed, telling us not to cancel our cable and internet.

I calmly explained to her that we could not afford it, and that we did not have a choice. But she just wouldn't have it. She stood her ground...though her opinion didn't matter in the discussion anyway. I grabbed the cable boxes and returned them that day, and had the internet dropped to the cheapest they offered.

10 years later, to this day, my sister is still the same exact way. A firm but fair father, a loving but firm mother, two hard-working sons who have paid for everything on their own, with no debt whatsoever…and then there's her. Swapping between welfare and living with my parents. Complaining every step of the way. No appreciation on her part that I have ever seen.

oridjinn

20. I’m Not Lovin’ It

red and white concrete building near palm trees during daytime Photo by Thabang on Unsplash

I work at a McDonald's and a while back, I was taking orders and payments for the drive-thru by myself. A woman came through and ordered two Big Macs, two large fries, and two cokes, which came to a total of like $21. In the time she took to drive from the speaker box to the cashier window, I re-entered them as large meals to save her some money, and as she pulled up, I said "Hey, that'll be $16, thank you."

She eyed me strangely as she fished out some money, and when I held out her change and a receipt, she snatched them out of my hand and looked over what she had ordered. After what seemed like an eternity, she absolutely lost it. She started shouting at me about how she didn't want meals, she just wanted the burgers, fries, and drinks.

It actually comes up pretty frequently as understandably not every customer knows the ins and outs of the McDonald's menu, and generally, when you explain what they've actually paid for, they apologize and are appreciative of the money you've saved them. I started going through the routine with this woman, explaining the components of a meal and how she'd actually saved $5 while still getting exactly what she ordered.

I stood there waiting for her to realize she'd benefited from what I'd done when all of a sudden she started hurling insults at me. Stuff like "I COME THROUGH AND ORDER THIS EVERY WEEK AND IT'S ALWAYS BEEN THE SAME, YOU PRESUMPTUOUS LITTLE JERK," and "HOW DARE YOU THINK I'M SUCH A MORON THAT I DON'T KNOW HOW TO ORDER MY OWN FOOD".

I tried explaining that I didn't think she was a moron, and that it was just my job to give customers the best value. I also said I was sorry that no one had done it before, and you know what she did? She threw her change at me (about 60 cents) and drove off. At this time, a woman in another car had actually come through to order a free cup of water and had driven straight to the payment window. As a result, she had seen most of what the woman had done.

As she pulled up, I was visibly shaking, because, despite the fact that getting yelled at is one of the things you're expected to handle as a drive-thru worker, I'd never been treated that badly. She told me that she saw (and heard) the whole thing and that I was totally in the right. I talked to her for a while and ended up putting through a free coke for her because I appreciated her making sure I was alright.

Eventually, she left and I went into the changerooms to cry.

doodlefiester

21. She Drove Him To It

This father and his 17-year-old daughter came into the dealership to buy her a new car for her birthday. Now, this ain’t no Honda dealership, we sell Porsches. 17-year-olds should not be getting Porsches for their birthday. I don’t care if they made the honor roll every year for their whole life. Well, the girl had her mind set on a 2012 Porsche Panamera 4S, which was a $100,000 car with 400 horsepower, all-wheel drive, and a V8 engine.

The father, seeing the price tag, looked disappointed and said, "Well sweetie, I can’t afford a brand new one, so why don’t we get you a used one? The used ones go for about $85-90k, have barely any miles on them, are Porsche-approved and certified, and come with a warranty worthy of a brand new car." She replied, "Well, it’s not my fault you don’t make enough money for our family”. But then she got even more obnoxious.

She told him: “You’re going to buy me a new one or I’m never speaking to you again”. What really bothered me was that I could see the pain in the father’s eyes when she said this. He looked genuinely hurt that he didn’t make enough money. I wish I was a customer because I would have told her off. The father said, "Alright, we’ll get the new one". The funny thing was he leased it, and she had no idea.

When they got back from the test drive, the salesman told me that the girl disrespected him and her father the entire time. When the salesman was trying to show her all the different features, she flipped out and told him "I think I can figure it out okay, I’m not stupid". Then on the actual test drive, she did over 100 mph on the highway and told the salesman to "shut up" when he asked her to slow down, out of fear for his life.

He said the father just sat there and said nothing.

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22. Eggsplain Yourself

two fried eggs on skillet Photo by Gabriel Gurrola on Unsplash

My wife was rampaging on a Sunday morning for no real reason. She started screaming that she was tired and hungry, so I offered her something to eat to soothe her. She said she wanted fried eggs, and I asked her how many and she said three. So I cooked three fried eggs, and if you've ever fried eggs together, you know that they meld into one giant egg white with three yolks.

I came back with the eggs and she lost her mind. I laughed and asked her what her problem was. She screamed: "I DONT LIKE MY EGGS TO TOUCH". I said forget it and ate the eggs in front of her. Later, I got my revenge. That day, when her friend came over to do something, I came out of the kitchen holding two raw eggs and stood in the doorway of the living room.

Her friend and she looked at me, as I slowly moved the eggs toward one another. As soon as they touched, I started yelling and bellowing. It was very funny for me, and my friend was completely confused.

turkalurk5

23. Setting A Better Example

My friend’s youngest daughter had a Dora the Explorer birthday party for her fourth birthday which was in August, so naturally, I assumed she liked Dora the Explorer. Come Christmas time, I bought her a set of Dora's baby sister and brother—it cost about $30 which is a lot to spend on a child I didn't birth.

She opened it up and started screaming that it was for babies and that she was too old for Dora now. Her mom took her home without her present so I gave the dolls to my youngest, who fell in love with them. A few weeks later, when she came over to our house, she threw the biggest tantrum I'd ever witnessed. She took the dolls home because, apparently to her, they were hers first.

I know that kids don't have a filter when it comes to manners, but I know my kids would never do anything like that. They have received some pretty strange gifts from relatives in the past and they just say thank you and pretend to be excited about it until they get it home.

As to why I let the four-year-old take the dolls back? In the end, it wasn't up to me. I tried to convince her that she hadn't wanted the dolls and that my daughter loved them for her. Her mother, her older sister, and I all told her she was being silly and that she didn't deserve to have the dolls back. She didn't listen and started throwing a tantrum of ginormous proportions.

My daughter who was only 18 months at the time saw all this happening and gave the dolls to the four-year-old. She wasn't upset about handing them over, I think she was actually quite proud of herself because she managed to stop the screaming tantrum. I bought her a set of dolls of her own later that week.

9ninety_nine9

24. Grow Up

MacBook Pro on top of brown table Photo by Kari Shea on Unsplash

When I moved out to study, my parents bought me a computer. They don't really have much money, and it was partly on the loan that they only recently paid off. It was my going-away present and I actually really needed it to study. My sister is a couple of years younger than me. I suppose because of this age gap, she's always felt the need to "outdo" me in terms of possessions.

Well, she threw a massive tantrum when I was leaving because our parents had said no to her when she asked to go on an overseas trip. When I said something about it, she screamed about how I got to have a computer. My parents then got her a new PS3 that she never used to even out, plus a fancy laptop the following year so she could browse Facebook and not do anything productive.

That said, she does thank me for the gifts I get her now. She used to always complain if it wasn't something she liked, but not anymore. Some people are slower at growing up I guess.

kindersunrise

25. Everyone Has A Breaking Point

I have a friend that knew she had to be out of her place in a few months. No exact date, but whatever. She called me at around 6 pm at night saying she had to be out of her place the next day by 1 pm or the authorities would be escorting her out. I should also mention she has three kids.

Now, the moving wouldn't have been such a big deal. Her problem was she hadn't found anywhere to go. I wish I could say it was due to a lack of places, but it was just because she hadn't looked. So within 12 hours, I asked a different friend that she had NEVER met if she could stay with them until she got an apartment and moved her. That ended up being the worst idea ever.

Fast forward a month later, and she'd totally screwed over my generous friends. Financially, with her attitude, and with her lies. I was embarrassed and apologized. Eventually, she got her own place, but because she was not great at life, had no way to move. My friends were sick of her, so I decided to help move her since I felt I caused all this drama in the first place.

This is what became the final straw. I noticed she didn't have a crib mattress for one of her daughters. I offered to let her use mine because my son just got a big boy bed. She started screaming at me saying it was hers, and she even went as far as to say she has no friends that ever help her. I stood there in shock for about two seconds, told her to never call me again, and I walked out of the apartment.

Erixie

26. Opening A Can Of Worms

man in white and blue crew neck t-shirt Photo by Ryan Snaadt on Unsplash

I had a co-worker who was a good friend of mine choking in the lunch room. I reached over and gave her the Heimlich, everything went well. The next day her husband comes into the office to scream at me for touching his wife, that I had left a bruise across her ribcage, and he was going to sue me for everything I had, and THEN he was going to beat me.

I got right into his face and very quietly asked if he would have preferred that she had died...and that if he wants to arrange it to look like an accident, he should let people know ahead of time so we don't interfere. Guy actually started crying.

Later, I found out the disturbing truth. She told me that he confessed that he thought we were having an affair and that the bruising was because of some rough activity in the bedroom.

inibrius

27. The Grass Is Definitely Greener

My co-worker's sister was at the office. I ended up chatting with her around 7 pm while she waited for her brother to finish up work. I hung around only because she was kind of pretty and single. Big mistake. After mentioning her father paid 100% of her $100,000 tuition, a car, and all her living expenses, she started laying into her dad for promising only $500,000 as her future graduation gift.

She was expecting something more along the lines of $750k to $1 million so she was super mad and kept talking about what a tightwad he was being. Apparently, she changed her major one too many times for her father's taste and was living the lifestyle of a "forever student". This was when I was struggling to pay off my college loans, not earning very much, and barely staying afloat by paying my rent and covering my expenses.

permalink

28. Put Him Back In The Car And Leave Him There

a person standing next to a car with smoke coming out of it Photo by Johannes Blenke on Unsplash

Around 2:30 am on a Friday night, my friend and I witnessed the horrifying sight. A pickup truck run a red light and barreled through a white taxi van doing about 50 miles per hour. No brakes, just a big crash. The white van instantly spun around a couple of times until it hit a light pole. My friend and I were in complete shock but were the only ones around, so we got out of my truck to go help.

On the way to the van, my friend called 9-1-1, and a fire started flaring up from inside the crumpled hood. The man inside was bleeding everywhere and he was obviously very hurt, however, the driver’s door was smashed so much I couldn't open the door. The passenger door was blocked and resting against the light pole. By this time, the fire under the hood was starting to engulf the front part of the van and it was getting very hot.

I took my shirt off, wrapped it around my hand, and then broke out what was left of the glass on the driver’s side door. I proceeded to pull the man head first out of the van with the help of my friend and we dragged him about 30 feet away to a grassy area by an office building.

About two minutes later, the entire front portion of the van was in flames. Another minute later, the fire department showed up and put it out. I gave my information and such to the officers. The man I pulled from the van thanked me over and over again. I thought I had done my good deed for the day...but I was so wrong.

One week later, I was served papers, stating I caused physical and emotional damage and distress to the man. He was suing me for $100,000. One awesome public defender, three witnesses, and four days in court later, he lost.

maverickaz

29. That’s A Big L

A guy working at Big W (a chain retailer similar to Target for people in the US) was checking people's bags outside the door when a little kid knocked down a promotion sign. The guy stopped what he was doing to rush over and fix the sign. When he smiled at the mother, her response was totally uncalled for. She just stared coldly at him and kept walking with her pram. The poor guy was just being friendly.

subtly_irrelevant

30. Two Wrongs Don’t Make A Right

man in white button up shirt holding black and white box Photo by Jessie McCall on Unsplash

I worked at a restaurant when this happened. A guy finishes eating and then goes to the bathroom, the bus boys assume he's gone and start bussing his table. He comes back screaming for a manager stating that he left his phone on the table and the bus boys must have stolen it. He demanded that the manager search the bus boys.

He was promptly told no, we're not doing that. The guy calls the authorities. They show up and tell him: "Sorry sir, that's abandoned property, how do you know a customer didn't take it”? The guy stormed off.

GoodOlSpence

31. It’s Not Just Ungrateful Kids

Last Christmas, a husband wanted to get his wife a brand new laptop so she could start using the internet for shopping, etc. He purchased from us, after much deliberation, a brand new Samsung 13" Chromebook. A few days later, the wife marched him back into the store demanding that I refund the order and supply her with a MacBook.

She then had the nerve to take it further. She told her husband he was useless and that he didn't listen or understand her. The phrase "open your ears" was used repeatedly. It really boiled my blood.

permalink

32. Nothing’s Good Enough

vegetable salad on black ceramic plate Photo by Vicky Ng on Unsplash

One time at work, they provided free lunch for everyone. It was all laid out, all you had to do was fix a plate. Apparently, that wasn't simple enough—things got heated real quick. Several of my co-workers got angry because they had to walk into the other room and get it. They felt like it should have been brought to their desks.

permalink

33. Ghosted

My wife and I had just moved into our first place on our own. After being on our own for about three months, my wife's sister calls her crying. Her sister, husband, and daughter had lost their home in a fire about a year prior and had been staying with some friends who were kind enough to let them stay with them.

We had an extra bedroom so we decided to let them come stay with us until they got back on their feet. It was supposed to only be a few weeks, but it turned into eight months. For eight months we let them stay with us rent-free; the only thing we asked them to pay was the difference in the electric bill each month, which amounted to only $30 to $50 a month.

I should mention that we were violating our lease by letting them stay with us. We hid them from our landlord for a while but eventually, she figured it out. Fortunately, she felt sorry for them and said it was okay for them to stay a little longer. But after the eighth month, she sent us a letter saying that if they weren't out in a week then we'd be violating our lease. So we had to ask them to go. Their reaction was seriously devastating.

Almost immediately after they left, they deleted us off Facebook, and never talked to us again. When we tried to get into contact with them to see why they were mad at us, my wife's sister claimed she was angry that we asked them to help out with the electric bill. And because of that, they weren't able to buy tickets to go see A Perfect Circle.

But my wife and I had bought ourselves tickets, and I even bought my little sister a ticket too since she's never seen them live before. And apparently, they were angry at us for this.

Ericyoung0322

34. In The Name Of The Moon, I’d Punish her

woman in white and blue sleeveless dress standing indoors Photo by Alex Sheldon on Unsplash

I made the mistake of being nostalgic while at my uncle's house and watching an old episode of Sailor Moon online. My younger cousin who's about ten watched it with me and was instantly obsessed. Her birthday is in August and I've been babysitting her for years, so I've seen her ridiculous birthday lists.

That year, she demanded that she get a full-on Halloween costume of Sailor Moon, complete with red boots, a scepter, and long flowing blond hair. My aunt searched tirelessly online—but to order one of those really nice cosplay costumes with custom measurements can be hundreds of dollars.

Instead, she made it, slaved over stitched this costume, and created this wig and little leg covers all for one day of my younger cousin’s life. It was honestly very good, and much better than some of the stuff they sell online. She presented it to her on Halloween—and my cousin shocked everyone. She just cried, threw down the costume, and started screaming and stepping on it; telling her mom how much she hated it and how it wasn't even close to what she wanted.

FreeTheGingers

35. There’s No Pleasing Her

This past Christmas, I went home to visit my family for our first Christmas together in 10 years. Because it was our first in so long, everyone was there—about 20 of us. Being Sicilians, we celebrate Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with lots of food. We were all at my mother's house, and she was stressing about everyone being there, so I ended up cooking all of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day dinner.

I made the traditional feast of fish for Christmas Eve, as well as cookies and cannoli. I roasted prime rib and broiled lobster tails for Christmas day dinner. I did all this for 20 people. My whole family thanked me profusely–and then there was my mother. She yelled at me for leaving the kitchen messy, which my brothers cleaned up anyway.

dma1965

36. Return To Sender

pile of printing papers Photo by Alexander Grey on Unsplash

The previous owner of my house occasionally still gets mail delivered to this address. He and I both work at the same university, in different departments. I generally take his mail to his department's main office/secretary, rather than writing "not at this address" on the envelope and putting the mail back into the box.

One day, I "bundled" two mail items—apparently, that was a massive mistake. It caused him to think I waited for the second piece of mail to arrive and thus delaying his mail. I happened to be on my way out of his department's mail room when I overheard him exploding to his department's secretary, complaining loudly that this was very important mail and that for me not to give it to him right away was "just unconscionable”.

So I coughed a bit louder than necessary, drew his attention to me, and left, not saying a word.

From then on, all his mail got the "not at this address" treatment.

blonderengel

37. Petty Revenge Is The Best Revenge

I worked in the cell phone department at an electronics store for quite a while. When the new iPhone 4S came out, I saw a lot of pretty astounding things. 16-year-old girls routinely cried because I wouldn't let them make changes to their parent's family plans or sign them up for new contracts, etc.

But one of the most astounding things I ever witnessed was a man who came in with his daughter who looked to be about 14-ish. The daughter was dressed in showy designer clothes from head to toe. Her dad walked up to me and says "She wants the iPhone 4S 64GB in white”. I'm a critic of Apple products and I saw the dad squirm when I told him that even on a brand new three-year contract, it would still be around $300.

Also, because it was an Apple product, if he needed any warranty work done, he'd have to send it away. My little corner of nowhere doesn't have an Apple store. I showed him the Samsung Galaxy S II, which was new at the time, and how it was faster, had a more durable screen, had better internet capabilities, etc etc.

He called his daughter over to see the Android device. That's when it all hit the fan. This kid started screaming at me "You're trying to trick my dad into getting me this loser phone so I'll be an outcast, you jerk"!

Needless to say, I may not have gotten the sale that day, but I did get the amusement of watching a 14 year-old-girl get dragged out of the store by security. I should note that her father profusely apologized to me and handed me a crisp $20 for my trouble.

38. Sit Down & Shut Up

people in bus Photo by Mark Cook on Unsplash

Back in college, I use to ride the city bus to and from my apartment to campus. Pretty much everyone did. My bus would sometimes get crowded so all of the seats would fill up and people would stand. Anyway, this tiny girl gets on the bus carrying a large box. I was seated but gave up my seat to her because I tend to give up my seat to the elderly. Her behavior was appalling.

She took my seat without giving a thank you and said: "You only gave me your seat because you didn't want me to fall on you”. God, I hate people sometimes.

impactplayer

39. Blinded By The Light

I did an insane amount of work on an old couple's house and yard, for no payment, because they were too fragile, and their property was in bad shape. I worked most days after school and every Sunday for about two months painting, cleaning, removing trees and shrubs, repairing windows, rehanging doors, pulling up nasty carpet, and replacing plumbing fixtures that had rusted to the point of failure.

When I was done, they called me over. I thought I’d get a thank you—I was so wrong. They told me to pray for the great things God has done for them over the past two months. I walked out without saying anything.

Later, I was at my grandparent's house, where I lived at the time, acting all dejected. My great uncle, who was a priest, asked what was wrong. I explained. He said to me "People like that have been brainwashed from childhood to believe that all good things come directly from miracles or people acting as agents of god's will. All bad things are attributed to Satan. They feel you are the acting agent of the lord in this situation, don't take that as not being appreciated. They just don't know anything else”.

It made me feel a lot better but at the same time kind of sad for them.

creepyredditloaner

40. Karma Strikes Again

Frozen Princess Anna doll Photo by Sandra Gabriel on Unsplash

When I was very young, maybe six, my mother took us to her friends' house for New Years' Eve. We were pretty poor, and her friends were a lot better off. They had a beautiful house with marble counters, a piano, and all kinds of stuff. Her friend was gracious enough to give us kids small presents.

Mine was a gorgeous domino doll with porcelain hands, a porcelain face, and a silk outfit. I still cringe thinking about what I told her. I said I was too old for dolls. My poor mother must have been humiliated. I was banished to the playroom with the other kids, where I started feeling...not so well. By the time we went home, I felt awful and itchy.

I got chicken pox because I was rude.

mari_who

41. Gone Fishin’

My 45-year-old sister who lives with my parents screamed and threw a temper tantrum like a four-year-old at my terminally ill father, whose only offense was accidentally waking her up at 6 am because he was getting ready to go fishing and made too much noise. She then made a veiled threat to my father ("I won't be around to bother you much longer") to try to make him feel like garbage.

To make things worse, she told me that she had taken a handful of pills when I went back inside to grab my hat. I just told her she was crazy, put on my hat, and we went fishing. When we came back and she was on the couch, still watching TV. I guess the pills didn't work.

Poxx

42. Now That’s A Twist

a nintendo wii game system sitting on top of a wooden table Photo by Denise Jans on Unsplash

After getting close to $500 in gifts for Christmas, my sister tore down the tree, kicked other people's gifts, and started yelling and crying, because she didn't see a Wii among her presents. This was when they were really hard to find. Well, there was something that she didn’t realize—and it made her curl up in embarrassment when she found out.

We actually did get her a Wii, she just didn't get to it yet. I even had to take on a second-holiday job at an online gaming store to get it. She was a 24-year-old med student at the time.

permalink

43. Beggars Can’t Be Choosers

My father was a surgeon. He never turned a case down, and frequently did pro bono work. I worked in his office when I was a teen, filing insurance. One case was a woman who had a lump on her breast and no insurance. Because the lumpectomy was positive, he operated on her, avoiding a radical mastectomy. On the day of her follow-up, he had been called to the ER.

She then began to unleash her fury on him. She berated him to the staff for being so inconsiderate. When he came into the office, she saw him through the reception window, yelled at him for wasting her time, and told him she was going to go find another doctor—all in front of the other people in the waiting room and the nurses and staff. She also said she was reporting him to the medical board, which she did. They investigate every complaint.

Hers was that he was "curt" with her and rude. They spent his time on this investigation about a month later. She stormed out of the office and never returned. He absorbed every fee associated with the case and still didn't stop donating his services, which makes me proud to this day.

Unshavenhelga

44. Never Enough

person using laptop computer holding card Photo by rupixen.com on Unsplash

My brother is the worst. There was one exact quote that sent me over the edge. He told my mom: "What have you ever done for me? Raising my daughter doesn't count”! Say what? My mom is raising his six-year-old daughter even though she is over 50 and just wants to enjoy her older years since she dedicated so much of her life and time to us.

She willingly offered her home to this little girl with a MAJOR expensive time consuming medical condition so she could have a stable happy home. She constantly goes to the opposite side of town, brings him to her house—a total of 1 hour 30 minutes of driving—so he can help her around the house, and then he demands payment. He gets mad every time she won't give him money.

He does not have a driver’s license and he screamed at her for two hours because she wouldn't let him borrow money to buy a car. I have yet to see him pay back any "borrowed" money. My grandmother just bought him top and bottom dentures because he messed up his teeth so bad they all had to be pulled and he got mad because she won't pay for implants instead of dentures.

That’s not even the worst part. I still am not sure how, but a scam check in the amount of $5,000 was sent to my dad's house. My dad graciously deposited the check into his bank account and withdrew the money (stupid bank). He gave it to my brother because they have the same name. SHOCKINGLY, the check bounced and the bank started accusing my dad of fraud.

My grandparents had to pay off the bank so they wouldn't press charges. When they attempted to talk to my brother about a payment plan to pay them back he threatened their lives and now can't understand why my dad's side of the family can't stand him. He was never stupid enough to try it on me—except once. Luckily his best friend is also a friend of mine. I still don't know why she sticks around, he isn't good to her either.

She warned me before he got too far into the scam and ever since then I refuse to provide him with money or anything else. He constantly says I am a jerk and I never help him, but when my mom needs a babysitter for his kid, who is there every time? Even though I have to rearrange my whole schedule at work, I have to get up earlier and stay up later to ensure that she has everything she needs.

I do it for him, I do it for her, and I do it for my mom. But evidently, his daughter doesn't count.

permalink

45. You Can’t Take It With You

I have an acquaintance who is 50ish. He’s threatening to take his parents, who are in their '80s, to court because they're five-star larking around the world and he's terrified that there won't be anything significant left to inherit. He's been living his life based on the assumption that he'll be getting a 7 figure payout when his parents kick. So his retirement depends on getting their money.

How did he react to the news that they were getting a reverse mortgage on the house? Full-on screaming hissy fit. Dying (almost) broke = doing it right in my opinion.

bloodguard

46. Where We’re Going, We Don’t Need Cartoons

black coupe parked on parking lot during daytime Photo by Mohamed Osama on Unsplash

When I was a kid, I was home sick from school one day. My mom told me she'd go rent a movie for me to watch. Expecting a cartoon, I got really excited since I loved cartoons, and back then they were seldom on TV. She came home and had brought a live-action film. I was so disappointed I cried and yelled for a while, and said I didn't want to watch it. I would soon eat those very words.

She was like "Fine, I'll watch it on my own”! When she started watching it I pretended not to watch, but I couldn't help not watching it. It turned out it was the best movie I had ever seen. It made me both appreciate live-action films and convinced me my mom always knew what was best for me. The movie was Back to the Future.

Scambrero

47. From A Fuss Over Nothing To Nothing To Fuss Over

My mother's friend threw his daughter a birthday party. This was a fairly affluent family, so she got a big party with all of her friends, and this girl got a lot of nice stuff. She got dolls, a dollhouse, various toys, a freaking horse with all of the riding gear, and the promise of lessons and everything she could ever need for the horse.

This brat got what millions of little girls all over the country dream of, and you know what she did? She flipped her lid because it was the wrong dollhouse. She got a horse and she threw a huge screaming temper tantrum over the (enormous) dollhouse.

Now, I shall digress a bit and tell you about her father. Her dad came from Africa to the US as a refugee, and most of his friends and family were killed. This guy competed in the Olympics and worked so hard to become a doctor. As one might expect, this guy did not take kindly to his daughter's obvious lack of appreciation for her privileged lifestyle so he cut that stuff right out. He made sure she got what she deserved.

He canceled the party right then. The guests still got to eat cake and keep their party favors, but he packed up all the toys and took them back to the store, He even took the horse back and grounded the heck out of his spoiled kid.

Bakoro

48. That Act Of Kindness Fell Flat

red mercedes benz c class Photo by Denny Müller on Unsplash

I saw this woman on the side of the road who had a flat tire and was clearly having issues changing it. So I decided to halt my run and go see if I could help out. I strolled over and offered my services to her—she accepted, but she backed away a pretty far distance. I proceeded to change her tire and helped get her on her way.

As soon as I finished, I proceeded to extend my arm for a handshake. Her reaction was chilling. She said, "Back away, I have 9-1-1 on my phone right now and all I have to do is press call”. I don't know if she thought I was going to attack her or something, but you don't just do that to someone who just helped you change your tire. Flabbergasted, I ran away and I haven't seen that woman since.

I don't understand what she may have been through in the past, but if it was that uncomfortable for her to accept help from a stranger, then she should have just thanked me for offering but still graciously declined. Instead, she accepted my help and then threatened to call 9-1-1 on me.

Unfriendly_alien

49. Scarred For Life

I was visiting friends at their farm years ago. I was with my friend from high school, his wife, and their daughter who was about 16. The daughter was out saddling her horse when the horse kicked her in the chest. The aftermath was brutal—it collapsed her throat and she couldn’t breathe. I performed an emergency tracheotomy saving her life. Well, about two months later, I got a letter from a lawyer.

They changed their mind about how grateful they were and decided to sue me for leaving a scar from the tracheotomy.

permalink

50. Code Red

orange parrot Photo by Kevin Mueller on Unsplash

I work at a pet store. A few months ago, we had a scarlet macaw up for sale. I was weighing her in the front of the store since we have to track their growth when we get them.

A little kid and her grandfather came into the store while I was doing this. The little girl, who looked about 10 years old—as in, old enough to know better—RAN towards the bird.

That was already not good, but it got even worse. It took me a good 10 minutes to coax the poor bird out of her cage to get her weighed. She was a very timid bird, and she was slow to trust people. Anyway, the little girl was running at me, while I had a very large bird on my arm, and she ended up spooking the bird. It jumped off of my arm and luckily landed on the register counter where there was also a scale, thankfully.

As politely as I could, I asked the girl to please take a few steps back because the bird was very afraid. I told her she could watch, but she needed to keep her distance. She was okay with that for about 10 seconds. After I weighed the bird, I got her to step back up onto my arm and I told the little girl I had to take her back to her cage now and give her some treats for being a good bird.

This did not go over well. The little girl followed me back to the cage and kept asking if she could pet the bird. In case you don't know much about birds, scarlet macaws have VERY large and VERY strong beaks. If they feel threatened enough, they will defend themselves with that beak, and I have no doubt that they could easily take a finger off if they wanted to.

So she asked if she could pet it. I told her no, I'm sorry, but she doesn't like strangers touching her, and she might try to bite you, I don't want you to get hurt. Wrong thing to say, apparently. "I WANNA PET THE BIRD!!! LET ME PET IT! LET ME PET THE BIRD”! She started throwing a temper tantrum, and I just ignored her at this point, since the macaw was starting to bite ME on the arm. I still have bruises from this.

I just wanted to get her in the cage and get the girl as far away as possible. And the whole time, her grandfather was just standing there watching. He didn't say anything; he just let her carry on. So I got the bird back into the cage, and she was now on the other side, sticking her fingers in. Again, I asked her to back up, since the bird could lunge and bite her very easily. So she backs up.

Thank God, I was thinking to myself. Maybe she'll go look at the hamsters or something else now. Nope. She went up to her grandfather and literally screamed at him, "BUY ME THAT BIRD! I WANT THAT BIRD! BUY IT FOR ME”! He just looked at me and asked how much it was. My jaw nearly dropped to the floor.

First off, I told him the bird was $2,000. Plus the cost of the cage, plus food, substrate, etc. Second, I told him they can live quite a long time. On average in captivity, they can get up to 50 years old, and sometimes longer. This bird was not something you buy just because a 10-year-old girl demanded it.

I actually had to stand there and talk him out of buying this bird for about 10 minutes. At least I could figure out where this girl got her attitude from. He was about to buy a screaming 10-year-old a $2,000 bird without a second thought. Good lord. I lost some of my faith in humanity that day. Luckily, they walked out of the store after that, though she did not leave quietly. She was kicking and screaming the whole way out of the store. I haven't seen them since.

nonsensicalalexis

People Describe The Creepiest Things They Ever Witnessed As A Kid

"Reddit user -2sweetcaramel- asked: 'What’s the creepiest thing you saw as a kid?'"

Four mistreated baby dolls are hung by barb wire
Photo by J Lopez

For many childhood memories are overrun by living nightmares.

Yes, children are resilient, but that doesn't mean that the things we see as babes don't follow us forever.

The horrors of the world are no stranger to the young.

Redditor -2sweetcaramel- wanted to see who was willing to share about the worst things we've seen as kids, so they asked:

"What’s the creepiest thing you saw as a kid?"

Serious Danger

"Me and my best friend would explore the drainage tunnels under the Vegas area where we grew up. These were miles long and it was always really cool down there so it was a good way to escape the heat of our scorching hot summers. We went into this one that goes under the Fiesta casino and found a camp with a bunch of homeless people."

"Mind you we are like 11 years old lol. And we just kept going like it was nothing. It wasn’t scary then but when I look back at it we could have been in some serious danger. Our parents had no idea we did this or where we were and we had no cellphones. We could have been kidnapped and never have been found."

oofboof2020

Waiting for Food

"I was at a portillos once when I was 12 and I was waiting with my little brother at a booth while my parents got our food. This guy was standing with his tray kind of watching me then after a couple of minutes he started to walk over really fast not breaking eye contact with me."

"He was 2 feet from the table and my dad came out of nowhere and scared the s**t out of him. He looked so surprised and just said he wanted to see if I’d get scared or not. He left his tray full of food near the door and left. My folks reported him but we never went to that location again since we found a better one closer to home."

nowhereboy1964

Captain Hobo to the Rescue

"When I was a pretty young teen, my friends and I were horsing around in San Francisco and started hanging out to smoke with some homeless guys. Another homeless dude came up and began aggressively trying to shake us down for anything (money, smokes, a ride, drugs- all of it) and wouldn’t take no for an answer."

"We got in over our heads and could tell this guy was now riling the other 2 guys up and they were acting like they wanted to jump us. Some grandfather-looking old homeless man appeared out of nowhere and yelled at us to get the f**k out of here- nice kids like us don’t belong down here at this hour!!"

"Captain Hobo saved our lives that night. My parents sincerely thought we were at a mall all day lol."

FartAttack911

Survival

tsunami GIF Giphy

"I was 7 and survived the 2004 tsunami in Thailand. Witnessed the wave rise way above the already massive palm trees (approx. 40ft?) and my family and I watched/heard the wave crash into the ground from a rooftop."

faithfulpoo

These Tsunami stories are just tragic.

On the Sand

Scared The Launch GIF by CTV Giphy

"We were a group of kids who went to swim in a local lake. And there was a dead body on the beach with their hands raised and their legs bent unnaturally that local police just took out of the same lake. I've never put my foot in these waters again."

oyloff

Be Clever

"I was walking to school and I was about 5 or 6 years old and some guy pulled up beside me in his car and asked if I would get in. He also offered me sweets to do so. I said no. The creepy bit was when he calmly said ‘clever boy’ to me, then drove off. I’ve never even told my parents or anyone else about this as it would most likely freak them out."

OstneyPiz

Bad Jokes

"Dad's side of the family pranked me by burying a fake body on our back property and had me dig it up to find valuables. Was only allowed to use a lantern for light. They stuffed old clothes with chicken bones. Sheetrock mud where the head was... Random fake jewelry as the treasures... I was like maybe 10 or 11.. I remember digging up the boot first and started gagging because it became real at that point."

Alegan239

YOU

Who Are You Reaction GIF by MOODMAN Giphy

"Woke up to find my little brother staring at me in the dark, asking, Are you really you?"

PrettyLola2004

Siblings can really be a bunch of creepers.

No one should talk to others in the dark though.

Woman stressed at work
Photo by JESHOOTS.COM on Unsplash

When we hear about other people's jobs, we've surely all done that thing where we make assumptions about the work they do and maybe even judge them for having such an easy or unimportant job.

But some jobs are much harder than they look.

Redditor CeleryLover4U asked:

"What's a job or profession that seems easy but is incredibly challenging?"

Customer Service

"Anything customer-facing. The public is dumb and horrendous."

- gwarrior5

"My go-to explanation is, 'Anyone can do it, but few can do it for long.'"

- Conscious_Camel4830

"The further I get in my corporate career, the less I believe I will ever again be capable of working a public-facing job. I don’t know how I did it in the past. I couldn’t handle it in the present."

"I know people are only getting worse about how they treat workers. It is disturbing, embarrassing, and draining for everyone."

- First-Combination-12

High Stakes

"A pharmacist."

"You face the public. Your mistake can literally kill someone."

- VaeSapiens

"Yes, Pharmacist. So many people think their job is essentially the same as any other kind of retail worker and they just prepare prescriptions written by a doctor without having to know anything about them."

"They are very highly trained in, well, pharmacology; and it's not uncommon for a pharmacist to notice things like potentially dangerous drug interactions that the doctor hadn't."

- Worth_University_884

Teaching Woes

"Two nuggets of wisdom from my mentor teacher when I was younger:"

"'Teaching is the easiest job to do poorly and the hardest job to do well,' and 'You get to choose two of the following three: Friends, family, or being a good teacher. You don't have enough time to do all three.'"

"We all know colleagues or remember teachers who were lazy and chose the easy route, but any teacher who is trying to be a good teacher has probably sacrificed their friends and their sleep for little pay and a stressful work environment. There's a reason something like half quit the profession within the first five years."

- bq87

Creativity Is "Easy"

"Some creative professions, such as designers, are often perceived as 'easy' due to their creative nature. However, they may face the constant need to find inspiration, deal with criticism, and meet deadlines."

- rubberduckyis

"EVERYBODY thinks they are a designer, up until the point of having to do the work. But come critique time, mysteriously, EVERYBODY IS A F**KING DESIGNER AGAIN."

"The most important skill to have as a designer is THICK SKIN."

- whitepepper

Care Fatigue Is Real

"Care work."

"I wish it could be taken for granted that no one thinks it's easy. But unfortunately, many people still see it as an unskilled job and have no idea of the many emotional complexities, or of how much empathy, all the time, is needed to form the sorts of relationships with service users that they really need."

- MangoMatiLemonMelon

Physical Labor Generally Wins

"I’m going to say most types of unskilled labor and that’s because there’s such little (visible) reward and such a huge amount of bulls**t. I’ve done customer service, barista, sales, serving, etc; and it was all much harder than my cushy desk job that actually can be considered life or death."

- anachronistika

Their Memory Banks Must Be Wild

"I don't know if I'd call it incredibly challenging, but being one of those old school taxi drivers who know the city like the back of his hand and can literally just drive wherever being told nothing but an address is pretty impressively skilled."

"Not sure if it's still like this, but British cabbies used to be legendary for this. I'm 40 and I don't think most young people appreciate how much the quality of cab service has gone down since the advent of things like Uber."

"Nowadays it's just kind of expected that a rideshare/cab driver doesn't know exactly where you're trying to get and has to rely on GPS directions that they often f up. Back when I was in college, cabbies were complete experts on their city."

"More even than knowing how to get somewhere, they could also give you advice. You could just generally describe a type of bar/club/business you're looking for, and they'll take you right to one that was spot on. Especially in really big cities like NYC."

- Yak-Mak-5000

Professional Cooking

"Being a chef."

- Canadian_bro7

"I would love to meet the person who thinks being a chef is easy! I cook my own food and it’s not only OK to eat but I make a batch of it so I have some for later. So, to make food that is above good and portion it correctly many times a day and do it consistently with minimal wastage (so they make a profit), strikes me as extremely difficult."

- ChuckDeBongo

Team Leading, Oof

"Anything that involves a lot of people skills and socializing. I thought these positions were just the bulls**t of sitting in meetings all day and not a lot of work happening but having to be the one leading those meetings and doing public speaking is taxing in a way I didn’t realize."

- Counterboudd

Not a Pet Sitter At All

"Veterinary Technician."

"Do the job of an RN, anesthesiology tech, dental hygienist, radiology tech, phlebotomist, lab tech, and CNA, but probably don’t make a living wage and have people undervalue your career because you 'play with puppies and kittens all day.'"

- forthegoddessathena

Harder Than It Looks!

"Sometimes, when my brain is fried from thinking and my ego is shot from not fixing the problem, I want to be a garbage man... not a ton of thinking, just put the trash in the truck, and a lot of them have trucks that do it for you!"

"But if the robot either doesn't work or you don't have one on your truck, it smells really bad, the pay isn't what it used to be, you might find a dead body and certainly find dead animal carcasses... and people are id**ts, overfilling their bags, just to have them fall apart before you get to the truck, not putting their trash out and then blaming you, making you come back out."

"Your body probably is sore every day, and you have to take two baths before you can kiss your wife..."

"Ehh, maybe things are not so bad where I am."

- Joebroni1414

Twiddling Thumbs and Listening

"Therapist here. I’ve always said that it’s pretty easy to be an okay therapist—as in, it’s not that hard to listen to people’s problems and say, 'Oh wow, that’s so hard, poor you.'"

"But to be a good therapist? To know when your client is getting stuck in the same patterns, or to notice what your client isn’t saying? To realize that they’re only ever saying how amazing their spouse is, and to think, 'Hmm, nobody’s marriage is perfect, something’s going on there'?"

"To be able to ask questions like, 'Hey, we’ve been talking a lot about your job, but what’s going on with your family?' And then to be able to call them on their s**t, but with kindness and empathy? Balancing that s**t is hard."

"Anybody can have empathy, but knowing when to use empathy and when and how to challenge someone is so much harder. And that’s only one dimension of what makes being a therapist challenging."

- mylovelanguageiswine

Constant Updates

​"For the most part, my job is really easy (marketing tech). But having to constantly stay on top of new platforms, new tech, updates, etc etc is exhausting and overwhelming and I really hate it."

"Also, the constant responsibility to locate and execute opportunities to optimize things and increase value for higher-ups. Nobody in corporate roles can ever just reach a point of being 'good enough.' More and better is always required."

"Just some of the big reasons I’m considering a career change."

- GlizzyMcGuire_

Performing Is Not Easy

"Performing arts and other types of art. People think it’s a cakewalk or 'not a real job,' not realizing the literal lifetime of training, rejection, and perseverance that it takes to reach a professional level and how insanely competitive those spaces are."

- ThrowRA1r3a5

All About Perception

"I suspect everything fits this. Consider that someone whose job is stacking boxes in a warehouse has to know how to lift boxes, how many can be stacked, know if certain ones must be easily accessible, know how to use any equipment that is used to move boxes around."

"Not to mention if some have hazardous or fragile materials inside, if some HAVE to be stacked on the bottom, if a mistake is made and all the boxes have to be restacked, etc."

"But everyone else is like, 'They're just stacking boxes.'"

- DrHugh

It's easy to make assumptions about someone else's work and responsibilities when we haven't lived with performing those tasks ourselves.

This gave us some things to think about, and it certainly reminded us that nothing good comes of making assumptions, especially when it minimizes someone else's experiences.

Left-handed person holding a Sharpie
Kelly Sikkema/Unsplash

Many of us who are right-handed never even think about how the world is designed to cater to us.

It probably doesn't even cross your mind that 10% of the world's population is left-handed.

Because of this, there tends to be a stigma for being left-handed since society tends to associate the left with negative things.

For example, the phrase "two left feet" applies to those who are clumsy and therefore, incapable of dancing.

Curious to hear more about the challenges facing those with the other dominant hand, Redditor johnnyportillo95 asked:

"What’s something left-handed people have to deal with that right-handed people wouldn’t even think about?"

If only manufacturers appealed to an ambidextrous world.

Furniture Obstacle

"Those desks or couch chairs that have a small desk attached. They do make left handed/sided ones but they are few and far between."

– Prussian__Princess

"And they’re only on one side of the lecture hall, and it’s never a good seat. There is ONE front row, lefty desk in the entire room and it’s in the far corner, obscured by an ancient overhead projector."

– earwighoney

Everyday Objects For Everyday People

"as a left-handed person myself, one thing we often deal with is finding left-handed tools or equipment. many everyday objects, like scissors or can openers, are designed with right-handed people in mind, which can make certain tasks a bit more challenging for us lefties. we also have to adapt to a right-handed world when it comes to writing on whiteboards or using certain computer mice."

– J0rdan_24

Dangerous Tools

"The biggest risk is power tools. I taught myself to use all power tools right handed because of risks using them left handed."

"Trivial, I love dry boards but they are super hard to write on."

– diegojones4

It's hard to play when you're born with a physical disadvantage.

Sports Disadvantage

"Allright, Sports when you are young. Every demonstration from PE teachers are right handed. You cant just copy the movements they teach you you need to flip them and your tiny brain struggoes to process it. As well, 98% of the cheap sports equipment the school uses is right handed."

– AjCheeze

No Future In Softball

"I tried to bat right handed for so long in gym class growing up because the gym teacher never asked me what my dominant side was and the thought never occurred to me as a child to mention it! Needless to say I never became a softball star."

– Leftover-Cheese

Find A Glove That Fits

"In softball and baseball we need a specific glove for our right hand that's often impossible to find unless you own one, and we have to bat on the other side of the plate."

– BowlerSea1569

"I was one of two left-handers in a 4-team Little League in the 1980s. Nobody could pitch to me. I got a lot of "hit by pitch" walks out of it."

– Jef_Wheaton

These examples are understandably annoying.

Shocking Observation

"Having right handed people make comments whenever they see us write, like we’re some kind of alien."

– UsefulIdiot85

"'Woah! You're left-handed????'"

"I find myself noticing when someone is a lefty, and sometimes I comment on it, but I try not to. I'm primarily left-handed (im a right handed wroter but do everything else left), and every single time I go to eat with my family, someone says, "Oh hey, give SilverGladiolus22 the left hand spot, they're left-handed," and inevitably someone says, 'Wait, really?' Lol."

– SilverGladiolus22

Can't Admire The Mug

"We never get to look at the cute graphics on coffee mugs while we’re drinking from them."

– vanetti

"I just realized…I always thought the graphics were made so someone else could read them while you drink. Hmmm."

– Bubbly-Anteater7345

"I'm right-handed and I often wondered why the graphics were turned towards the drinker instead of out for others to see."

– Material-Imagination

The Writing On The Wall

"Writing on whiteboards is a nightmare. I have to float my hand, which tires out my arm quickly, and I can't see what I've already written to keep the line straight."

– darkjedi39

"Also as a teacher, it means I'm standing to the left of where I'm writing, so I'm blocking everything I write. I have to frequently finish writing, then step out of the way so people can see, instead of just being able to stand on the right side the whole time."

– dancingbanana123

Immeasurable

"Rulers."

"How the f'k is no one talking about rulers? It's from 30cm to 0 cm to me, or I have to twist my arms to know the measure I want to trace over it."

– fourangers

Just Can't Win

"EVERYTHING. The world has always been based around people being right handed. As a Chef, my knife skills SUCKED until I worked with a Left Handed Chef. Then it all made sense."

"Literally, everything we do must be observed, then flipped around in our heads, then executed. This is why Lefties die sooner, on average, than Righties."

"I had to learn how to be ambidextrous, just to complete basic tasks (sports, driving a manual, using scissors, etc). I am used to it now, and do many things right handed out of necessity, as wall as parents and teachers 'forcing' it upon me."

"But, at least we are not put to death anymore, simply for using the wrong hand (look it up, it happened)."

"Ole Righty, always keeping us down."

– igenus44

The world doesn't need another demographic to feel "othered" for being different.

But if you're right-handed and tend to make assumptions about left-handed people, you may want to observe the following.

Ronald Yeo, PhD, professor of psychology at the University of Texas-Austin told CNN:

"We shouldn’t assume much about people’s personalities or health just because of the hand they write with."
"And we certainly shouldn’t worry about lefties’ chances of success: After all (as of 2015), five of our last seven U.S. presidents have been either left- or mixed-handed."

Word.

Dog lying down on a bed
Photo by Conner Baker on Unsplash

Not all pet owners have the same relationship with their pets.

While anyone who decides to become a pet owner, or pet parent as some say, love their pets equally, some never ever let them leave their side.

Taking their pet with them to work, running errands, even on vacations.

Many pet parents even allow their pets to share their bed with them when going to sleep.

For others though, this is where a line is finally drawn.

Redditor Piggythelavasurfer was curious to hear whether pet owners allowed their pets to share their bed with them, as well as the reasons why they do/don't, leading them to ask:

"Do you let your pet sleep in your bed? Why/why not?"

The Tiny Issue Of Water...

"Absolutely not."

"I have fish."- Senior-Meal3649

Everyone Gets Lonely Eventually...

"I adopted an eleven year old cat the day before Halloween."

"She has mostly lived in my closet since I got her, and she hasn’t been too interested in coming out."

"Last night, she came out of my closet and jumped up on my bed, and crawled under my covers and curled up by my feet to sleep."

"I was so happy!"- YellowBeastJeep

The Comforting Reminder That You're Not Alone...

"I recently lost my Greyhound but I used to let him sleep on my bed with me."

"The company was nice and he was no trouble to have on my bed."- HoodedMenace3

Hungry Cookie GIF by De Graafschap Dierenartsen Giphy

What Do You Mean Allow?

"I have no choice."

"She is a cat, cats do whatever they want."- Small_cat1412

"He lets me sleep in my bed."- Poorly-Drawn-Beagle

Wouldn't Have It Any Other Way

"I carry my old boy upstairs to bed every night."- worst_in_show

Hug GIF by The BarkPost Giphy

Who Needs An Alarm Clock?

"I let my two cats sleep with me."

"They're so full of love and just want cuddles all the time."

"And so do I."

"We've all developed a lil routine."

"Get to bed, oldest sleeps on my feet to keep them warm, youngest lies in my arm while I lie on my side (she the little spoon), then when I snooze my alarm for work in the morning the youngest paws at my face and meeps loudly to wake me up."- GhostofaFlea_

Whose Bed Is It Anyway?

"Yes."

"They're also kind enough to let me squeeze into whatever space they've left for me."

"Although I do get a few dirty looks off them."- Therealkaylor

"I found this tiny kitten screaming her head off under a car."

"Would not come out."

"Got some food and some water in dishes."

"I stood by the tire so she couldn't see my feet."

"She got curious about the food and water and started gobbling it down."

"I thought she would bolt when I squatted down."

"She was too busy eating."

"I grabbed her by the nape of the neck and all four legs went straight out and she tried to scratch me to death."

"I got her in the door and tossed her toward the couch."

"She ricocheted off the couch as if she was a ping pong off a table and I lost sight of her."

"I put out food and water and a sandbox and did not see that kitten for three days."

"On the third day, I came home and she was on my bed pillow."

"I thought she would bolt when I came near, but she didn't."

"I wanted to sleep so I tried to scoot her little butt off my pillow."

"She would not go."

"I put my head down to sleep and that is the way it was from then on."

"She ran the roost."- Logical_Cherry_7588

sleepy kitten GIF Giphy

Sleeping Is A Prerequisite...

"No, he's a cat and he cannot keep still during the night."

"He walks across the headboard, opens the closet doors, jumps into the windows and rustles the blinds, etc."

"If he would sleep he could stay, but alas, he's a ramblin' man."- Spong_Durnflungle

Saying No Just Isn't An Option...

"'Let'."

"Lol."

"It's a cat's world and I'm happy to be on her good side."- milaren

Felines Only!

"The cat does, the dog doesn't and the horse certainly does not either."- Xcrowzz

Angry Tom And Jerry GIF by Boomerang Official Giphy

Is That My Hair On That Pillow?

"My dog is perfect."

"She comes up, cuddles til we start to fall asleep, then gets down to sleep on her bed so she doesn't get too hot."

"Jumps back up in the early morning for wake up cuddles."

"The hair everywhere is the only downside but she is so cozy, what can you do."- HoodieWinchester

It is easy to understand how some people are able to fall asleep more easily knowing their friend and protector is there, in bed, with them.

Though we can't blame others who don't want to run the risk of being scratched or bitten in the middle of the night either...