"What's the most unfair thing you've ever seen?" –– Today's burning question from Redditor overclaimedmalpo is a doozy.
We like to think people get what they deserve, but that's just not true. At any given moment, your world could change in an instant, rocked by some terrible disaster. You never know when that moment will come; those of us who've made it through some dark times are hardened, even somewhat cynical.
After reading these, you'll understand why.
"The store decided..."
Early to mid 90s, Beastie boys were my favorite band at the time and they were on tour. My friends and I camped out all night at the local Ticketmaster and were 2nd in line to buy tickets. By morning, the line was at least a hundred people, probably more. The store decided to open the other door that was near the end of the line. So suddenly the line was reversed and we became second to last in line! People that had arrived merely minutes before were first in line. I'd camped there for tickets before and they never opened that door any other time. I. was. PISSED.
"I took care of a woman..."
I took care of a woman who had cancer and was in her end days. She was young, late 30s, and had 3 sons, ages 9, 11 and 18. Apparently she had only just been diagnosed earlier that year. Earlier in the year, when her husband got the news that she had cancer, he was on his way home to comfort her and was killed in a car accident. So these boys lost both their parents in the span of about 10 months. This woman not only found out she was dying, but then was loaded with the grief of his death and the uncertainty of her children's futures. All of us nurses had to rotate care of her, as no one could leave that room and not be in tears. We didn't want to add to the boys grief.
"The arresting officer..."
My first year working at the DA's office, there was a lady who was arrested and charged with possession of CDS - methamphetamine.
The arresting officer was the best guy we had. Real by the book kinda cop, which put a huge target on his back from the other cops who were....less thorough.
Anyway, the arrest was made following a routine traffic stop. The defendant gave the officer permission to search her vehicle. He found a small baggy with crystal shards in it. The field test came back positive and she was arrested and her car impounded.
That was Friday after 5, so she sat in jail until the following Monday for her initial appearance. That morning, she sat with the other inmates and sobbed throughout the proceedings before her name was called. You might be surprised, but that is really rare. 99% of the time, ppl are pretty resigned or sometimes just annoyed after they've had time to calm down, sober up, and the reality of their situation sinks in.
So when she gets called on by the judge, she gets really loud and is crying so hard, she kept interrupting the judge, who then threatened to remove her from court until she could control herself. Initial appearances are basically just to announce charges, set bail, and schedule the next court date, so there usually isn't cause for a defendant to say much, just state whether they understand their charges.
When asked if she understood, she starts wailing that she didn't do anything, that "it was just candy." And you can probably see where this is going. After we concluded, I contacted the lab to order a rush on the sample attached to her case.
A week later, the results came back as negative for meth or any other CDS. It was cinnamon hard candy that had gotten busted up in the bag in her purse. The defendant, being unable to afford bail, sat in jail that whole time.
Meanwhile, the officer came into our office in tears over what happened. He was convinced that someone in his department had tampered with his field kits, swapping them out for expired ones. Because he never had a kit long enough for it to expire. He worried that this was the perfect excuse the less scrupulous officers would have to pressure the chief of police to fire him over.
And here's where things reached new heights of shittiness: my supervisor decided the way to resolve the problem was to offer the lady a plea deal of the lesser charge for possession and manufacture of an imitation controlled substance. He reasoned that if she couldn't even afford bail, she would not be able to pay an attorney and the public defender would encourage her to take the deal, not being a thorough kind of guy.
Epilogue: I tried quietly talking several defense attorneys into representing her, but none even called her while she was in jail. After 3 more days of futilely trying to help her, I secretly went to the judge with a copy of the lab report. He ordered her immediate release without further comment. No charges were filed. And she never wound up suing everyone involved, though the defense attorneys I spoke with often threatened to do that when they wanted leverage on their other cases. I could have been fired for everything in this paragraph that I did, so it was a pretty big risk but I feel like I stopped a storm of unholy proportions and helped out someone who had fallen through the cracks in the system.
"Guy comes into the ER..."
Guy comes into the ER, MVA, BAC 0.19 over twice the legal limit. Hit another car head on killed the other driver and her passenger, a young couple who had 2 kids at home. They were out on a date night, he did not have a scratch on him.
"Basically he just found out..."
I worked with a guy. He was the sort of colleague that got on with everyone and loved by everyone and made everyone laugh and generally brought the mood up whenever he entered the room. He got banned from driving (don't know why didn't know him when it happened).
Basically he just found out he was becoming a father, it was his 28th birthday and his driving ban was about to be lifted. So was all excited about life. On his birthday night he had run out of booze so decided to go to the shop to buy more when a drunk driver in a stolen car ran into him and flung him in the air so far because he was going so fast and left the scene. He died on that spot.
For someone so happy and jolly and always there to bring people up to be wiped out just like that was just the hardest thing to take.
"When it came time..."
When I was in grade school we had a final group assignment to design a community centre, with my teacher promising a lobster dinner for the group that had the highest mark. I had a bit of a crush on my teacher and thought hey, lobster dinner.
My group busted their asses designing the "Hijinx" after school community centre, calling a long list of businesses to determine membership fees, cost of construction (we got hung up on a lot looking for price of building materials), community outreach programs and a whole lot more. We even helped the special needs kid in our group write a jingle - and we got the highest mark.
When it came time for our lobster dinner, my group stayed in the classroom during recess to enjoy the fruits of our labour. My teacher brings out our "lobster", which was a loaf of bread with googly eyes and paper lobster claws stuck in the side.
It was on that day I learned the true meaning of disappointment.
"People who get wrongfully convicted..."
People who get wrongfully convicted and spend many years in prison. Can you imagine that? Spending half of your life in prison for a crime you didn't commit.
"They also wouldn't let..."
Going to family Court with my dad and losing even though my mother didn't even bother to show up.
They also wouldn't let me testify.
Fact is, she kicked me out at 16 but kept reviving child support - court didn't want to hear it.