"We're no longer friends."

For my 18th birthday my parents bought me 18 lottery tickets. It's a sort of tradition in our family. Didn't win anything except another three tickets. The day after my party, my best friend and I were out shopping and I decided I wanted to exchange them for the other tickets so we stopped at the nearest gas station. I won $500. As we were leaving I was considering splitting the money with my friend. Until we got in the car and she told me to buy her a new phone. I was silent for a moment out of shock and she added "that money is mine too, I drove here"

I gave her $10 for gas. We're no longer friends.

teenytinybearcub

"While I was at a jeweler's shop..."

While I was at a jeweler's shop buying my ex-girlfriend's engagement ring, she called and was screaming at me for having got the wrong kind of pot roast for a dinner we were hosting. I stood there, listening to her scream and cuss me out and decided I didn't want to do this for the rest of my life. Happily married now to a woman that is way chill and never screams at me on the phone.

BawlsMcGrady

We certainly don't blame this person.

It's truly amazing what being treated that way can do for your clarity. I developed significant self-respect the more I understood that such treatment is not okay. I'm a much happier and healthier person now.

This next one is pretty relatable.

"It has become a common thing..."

My mother always tells me something obvious whenever I try to do something, then immediately starts bragging to anybody nearby that I would've never figured out how to change that tire/wash those dishes/vacuum that rug if she hadn't told me how to do it. It has become a common thing recently to just drop whatever I'm doing and leave it unfinished until she does it herself. I hate having anyone hover over me just so they can treat me like a brainless moron who only exists for their personal amusement.

djb2589

"Some of the best advice..."

Some of the best advice I've been given is "Don't discourage the behavior you want to see."

As a parent, I try to apply it every day with my children - which is hard, because I've always been really sarcastic by nature, even with my friends and loved ones.

SinkTube

So I pretty much stopped..."

A big name trainer came to the barn where I kept my horse. Totally different discipline, but I had absolutely no problem with her and her dozens of students being there.

I happen to be pretty good at certain things that this trainer simply could not do. She was very well known, but not necessarily GOOD at her job. So she had me give her students pointers from time to time. I love all aspects of the sport, and I enjoy working with younger riders, so I gave them pointers. You can see where this is going- before long, I was essentially teaching her students. She was getting paid hundreds of dollars for me to teach her students.

One night, she used my horse for one of her lessons, and got mad at me because her student couldn't ride it properly. Imagine a banjo player trying to squeak out a tune on a clarinet. It's not that the student *COULDN'T* ride it properly; she just didn't know how to finesse the situation. Essentially the trainer thought that since I was working with the student, the student should be able to ride my horse perfectly. Hell, I couldn't ride my horse perfectly.

So I pretty much stopped coming out when I knew they would be there, and if they were there, I stayed away. As much as I loved working with the kids, that ruined it.

DustinMcRevvis

"I like reading..."

Reading. I like reading but the moment my mom/a teacher tells me to read I just don't feel like it anymore.

Prestigious_Active57

That's a shame.

Reading is wonderful! I am immensely grateful to everyone who fostered my interest in reading.

This next one left us gobsmacked.

"My mum and I had both been thinking..."

My mum and I had both been thinking that what with the pandemic, and with how our house is situated so that it's quite visible when entering our village, we should decorate the house more than we normally do for Christmas. Nothing fancy, just a few more lights outside.

Then we got a village-wide email from a very well-meaning lady saying that since 'Christmas is going to be a little bit different this year' she was launching Operation: Light Up [Village] and wanted us all to put extra effort into the Christmas decorations.

We both instantly went off the idea. We'd really wanted to potentially cheer people up on their drives home, but not if this woman was going to think she was the sole factor in making this happen.

We eventually did decorate the house, and even brought some new multicoloured lights to do it, but it was later than usual, just so that we could make sure we weren't doing it at the same time as the Operation.

Mighty_Meerkat_27

"One Christmas..."

One Christmas, I was going to invite the family to gather at our house for a change (instead of at our aunt's home).

But some are vegans, others allergic to all kinds of foods, while still others insist on having certain "traditional" dishes and that the house had to be decorated a particular way, or "it wouldn't feel like Christmas."

In the end, I just gave up and we went to our aunt's house instead - let her deal with all their demands and complaints.

Back2Bach

"I'd have to gather my strength..."

When I'd call my parents, but the first 20 minutes of the phone call would be me unable to get a word in edgeways while they berated me for not calling more often.

Not surprisingly, this made me demotivated to call the next time, because I knew it couldn't ever be a quick call (I'd need to have a lot of time free to allow room for an actual conversation after the bollocking) and I'd feel awful. Who'd have thought that telling someone they're terrible every time you speak to them makes them dread speaking to you?

I'd have to gather my strength before a call--it could never be after a long day or anything because that would be so much harder to take--and prepare a list of what I wanted to talk about so I didn't forget from being so miserable by the time they finished their tirade. It took so much planning and emotional work.

How hard is it to say, "It's great to hear from you! How've you been?" Or at least to question whether all your children avoiding speaking to you might not possibly be your own fault, and try to change that?

FrankSonata

"One day in class..."

This might not be a good example, but I had a good friend in high school, who I hung out with a decent amount. We were pretty close, and shared a lot about our personal lives with each other

One day in class I was sitting with him, his girl, and a few other acquaintances. I asked if he would like to hang out the coming weekend. His response was to laugh and ask if I did ANYTHING other than hang out with him, proceeding to (loudly) explain that he knew I hadn't done anything the previous weekend and if it weren't for him I would just sit at home all the time.

I've never wanted to redact an invitation so strongly.

sad_plankton

"The dozens of times..."

The dozens of times I have come up with a YouTube video idea that I thought was cool late at night only to wake up the next day and think, "Meh, I don't really care anymore."

randomguywnoname

"Made me realize..."

I helped out at my kid's school wherever I could. I wasn't working so I was happy to be rostered in the uniform shop, bake for the cake stalls, supervise the disco and hand out flyers.

School sent out a letter saying parents weren't doing enough to support the school and it was "mandatory" that every parent did four hours of volunteering per year.

Made me realise how much I'd over delivered and how unappreciated my efforts were. Calculated I'd done about 30 years of my mandate and didn't give them a second more of my time after that!

(Yes you read that right, mandatory volunteering).

Smiler_Sal

"Well, as can be expected..."

When I had to get glasses, I also wanted to get contacts, so as to not have to deal with the hassle of glasses. Obviously, putting things in your eyes is unnatural and against all instincts your body has, so they have someone help you learn how to put them in, and they make sure you can get them in and out successfully at least three times before you leave. The woman that was showing me was super unhelpful, and had terrible customer service. I think I was 21, so I know how to regulate myself, and can recognize when certain things happen.

Well, as can be expected, as I was bringing this foreign object close to my eye to put it in, my eye didn't like the idea, and I had to fight my instincts to keep it open. I also had to worry about my eye drying out, as I was moving slowly to avoid poking myself in the eye, or dropping the contact lens, or putting it in there folded or something. This woman, though, was very rude and annoying, and felt the need to keep telling me the same things over and over. "Don't blink. Open your eyes. Put it in."

Yes, I know, I'm aware of how this is supposed to work. No matter how many times I told her I got it, she wouldn't shut up and leave me alone. She kept saying "blink" every time I blinked. "Yes, I know I blinked! It's my own eye, I can feel it!" But she kept on, every single time. I was so pissed off at her. I wanted to just throw the contact back at her and tell her to shut up, but I just kept trying, to get out of there as quickly as possible.

Whiteums

"The following semester..."

I was friends with someone who I had several classes with, but they didn't fully grasp the subject. Since I wanted to help I tutored them for about an hour before every class. I didn't mind since I was helping a friend and the review paid off for me a couple of times. At the end of the semester I needed help in a different class because of a disability I have. The task was light for someone physically able, would take around 10 minutes, and was the difference between the project being done or not. So I asked them and they asked for money. Not even mentioning the tutoring, I offered to buy drinks afterward because it felt weird to just pay someone after giving them so much free help, but they insisted on cash. I declined, didn't finish the project, and told myself that I wasn't going to tutor them again. I just didn't tell them that.

The following semester we had multiple classes together and they still struggled. So I kept my word to myself and watched them fail two classes while dropping a third I wasn't in, but was based on the basic skills I had been tutoring them in in the previous semester so could have helped. They kept hinting at wanting help and I just ignored it. The regained free time was nice and seeing how one-sided our "friendship" had been allowed me some schadenfreude at their failure, but they did get revenge by physically attacking me in a way that targeted my disability at the end of the semester so that sucked.

NeonArlechnnio

This pretty much sums up my own experience with contacts.

It was terrible and the woman at the shop made me so uncomfortable the more she yelled at me. It made me nervous. And being nervous certainly wasn't going to help me put this foreign object into my eye. I stuck with glasses until LASIK a while later.

This next one made us think, Why would you do a thing like that?

"When I was a little kid..."

When I was a little kid, I promised myself that when I grew up, I would make a bowl of cake frosting and just eat the whole bowl, without bothering with the cake part.

capilot

There really is something to be said about being made to do things.

In that scenario, even the things you want to do sound like things you're better off avoiding.

But seriously, I just don't have much of a sweet tooth so the idea of eating cake frosting––just cake frosting––kinda grosses me out.

Have some stories of your own? Feel free to share them in the comments below!