People Share The Most Obnoxious Nerd Meltdowns They've Ever Witnessed
The great thing about being a geek or a nerd is that it allows you to unabashedly like stuff. That's really all it is. Everyone is a nerd for something, and that's wonderful! With great nerd-power comes great nerdsponsibility, though. Thing is, when you're a passionate fan of something, you don't always handle it well when the fire of that passion is ... um ... "challenged"?
Sometimes, fans just freak out. Case in point; fans of Rick and Morty attacked McDonald's employees when the locations ran out of a limited-edition sauce that show characters talked about. One curious Reddit user asked:
As we have never shied away from being called a nerd, geek, or fan (not that we could deny it even if we tried) - we thought we knew about the legendary meltdowns. We've had seen some things.
We thought we knew; we had no idea. You probably don't either - but you're about to.
You're welcome.
Charizard, A Crook, And Grandma
When my older brother was 10 and I was like 5, he loved Pokemon. I mean LOVED it; got the cards, got the games, he even got plastic cases for the cards to protect them. Ten year old him went to a convention in town and spent the day talking to some older kids and adults who loved the game. On his way out, he realized that his favorite (and consequently highest valued card) was stolen by one of those adults. We found the guy but no one could prove it was ours card. Of course he hadn't signed it or altered it at all. He was so heart broken to have that card stolen.
My grandma, god bless her soul, went out of her way and re-bought this expensive-ass Charizard holographic thing, for a crazy amount of money online. She then bought a few booster packs, slipped the card into one of the boosters, sealed it with a lighter, then taped all four together so that the last one was the altered booster.
His birthday finally rolls around, and my brother is happy but every Pokémon gift kinda brings him down. He misses that card and is sad about the lack of justice or reprimand for the thief. He gets to the final gift, our grandma's gift. We pull out the video recorder and watch. He goes through the first three boosters, gets some good cards and his friends are laughing and looking at them, he's a little happier. When he gets to the final card in the final pack - and bah god the look on his face at that last card, I swear he was crying and jumping around. He ran straight to Grandma and hugged her so tight.
He thought she had just gotten lucky, but after she passed away we told him the full story. I'll never forget how incredible it was to see both the worst and best of humans over some little card.
Soup
13 years ago, while eating dinner at Dennys, I saw a teenager throw his soup at someone for making a "Next time on Dragonball Z" joke. He threw the soup while berating the person for daring to "make fun of" Dragonball Z.
They weren't at the same table and didn't know each other.
The Jar Jar Riots
I worked at Best Buy when Star Wars Episode 1 was released on DVD for the first time. I had worked the opening shift, and was asked to come in a little early to help set up all the displays.
People were camped outside for a few hours before the store opened. About 30 minutes before the store opened, I could see this seething, undulating mass of humanity crowded outside the doors, waiting for them to open so they could grab their copy. I swear it looked like a few of them were trying to Jedi Mind Trick me into opening the doors early.
I was making jokes with my fellow employees, when my manager came and asked me to stand by the doors so I could direct the incoming horde to the various displays (there were 2 or 3 of them I think). As I took my place near the doors, the store manager approached the front doors of the store to open them, and I saw the entire mass tense like they were about to run a gauntlet.
As soon as the doors opened, the human ocean outside burst its way in. I raised my hand to wave to them in greeting, but before I could get my arm halfway up to greeting position, I was slammed off of my feet as they ran past me. It was like I wasn't even there.
I picked myself up, with no injuries other than my pride, and saw these piranhas devour the first display they came to. Within minutes, the display was empty. Some customers who hadn't grabbed a copy (and didn't realize that we had more in stock), started pushing and shouting, and it looked like there might be a brawl erupting at any moment. I tried to tell everyone that we had more, but they were shouting over me. One kid (maybe 9 or 10 years old) was standing next to his mom and crying because he hadn't managed to get a copy. His mom was trying to console him, while moving him away from the riotous mass in front of them.
I went back to the crowd, finally it got quiet enough so I could explain that we had more in stock. The remaining crowd rushed to the other displays, and I pulled a copy aside for the boy and his mom and handed it to them so they wouldn't have to be near the group who were ready to fight each other.
All of this for f*cking Jar Jar Binks?
Over A Sandwich
The Arby's near me ran a promotion in which it had limited quantities of a deer meat sandwich. Apparently it was only released in certain areas and within those areas, only certain stores got them. The sandwich was a big deal, I guess?
I watched two guys come in and try to order the sandwich. The woman at the counter politely told them that they had sold out hours earlier. One guy started yelling that they had been looking forward to this for weeks, how dare they run out, etc.
The other proceeded to take napkins, straws and containers of ketchup and throw them around the place like it was confetti.
Over a sandwich.
Jack Frost Confessional
It was 1997 and my parents took 6 year old me to see Jack Frost. I f*cking loved the sh*t out of that movie from the very beginning and thoroughly enjoyed watching the whole thing... until the ending. I had an absolute meltdown when the movie ended the way it did (spoiler alert: he melts away).
I made an complete scene in the movie theater and I don't think I've ever cried like that before or after that day.
The Two-Week Boyfriend
I had a boyfriend for about two weeks who was really into Magic The Gathering. He'd get angry while playing and flip tables on a weekly basis.
The second time it happened I was out.
Narut-Oh No!
Wife and I took our nieces to the Naruto movie premiere. The movie was good, but the audience was lots of mainly teenage girls who were screaming and cheering every time Naruto had a scene. Because it was the premiere, they had a documentary afterwards about the cast. Turns out Naruto is played by a middle aged Irish-American lady.
Ever heard a several hundred young teenage girls fantasies just evaporate all at the same time? It was epic. There were tears, there were shouts of anger.
My Little Mouth-Breather
I was in college to be a SpEd teacher and thus was very nice while working at my mall job. I was especially kind and patient with anyone who seemed to be having trouble out in public. Unfortunately, there was a guy who thought because I was nice, I must want to date him. He followed me a bit at work, but one day he followed me from the corner of the street into the mall, a full mile. My manager and I reported it to security. The guards banned him after my manager explained that he had been asked to not come back to our shop previously for harassing me. He would just follow me around and breathe. It would freak customers out because I'd be trying to help them and he'd be hovering and mouth-breathing right behind me.
Told you that to tell you this:
McDonald's had My Little Pony toys a few years back. The cops got called to the location down the block from my house because some Brony went in for a Rarity or a Pinkie Pie (I can't remember which one it was), they were all out. He straight had the most maximum fedora fit on the face of the planet. He tried to knock down the toy display to get the toy he wanted out of it, except it's bolted to the wall.
Found out later from one of the workers that it was the same guy I got banned from the mall. I was highly unsurprised.
Things Got A Little Heated
Worked at a paintball place about a year ago. This kid came in for his birthday party and had ALL the kit. Camos, battlepack, his own mask, the lot. He was definitely a _Call Of Duty _fanboy because after the first match I could tell he had never set foot in an actual paintball field before. His skills were all "video game" moves that don't actually translate to real life. His team lost four times in a row and he threw a massive temper tantrum and started rage shooting. He shot the other team, his own team, employees, etc. He was on a little paintball shooting spree.
I took his gun off him and told it was the end of his day playing paintball. The kid starts screaming like I've never heard - he was shouting that it's HIS birthday and it's HIS game and he can do what he wants. I turned around to take the rest of group back and leave my supervisor to calm him down and bring him back later. Then I was hit by something, and something HOT. Turns out the kid had bought a flare to use in game, lit it and threw it at me!
I grabbed him by the overalls and pulled him back to base camp. Banned for life.
Didn't get too big of a burn, but you bet I spoke to the kids parents.They were shocked and looked embarrassed, I presume he must have been one of these pent up anger kids.
Pumpkin Spice Latte
Used to work at Starbucks. The fits people throw over their Pumpkin Spice Lattes are just fucking maddening. Towards the end of the season they would drive around for hours trying to get "one last Pumpkin Spice Latte."
A woman screamed at me and started crying because she'd been ASSURED on some forum that our store still had the syrup but we'd run out. She was convinced we were hoarding it for ourselves. 40 year old woman sobbing like an infant because of f*cking syrup.
They're not even that tasty!
SuperSobbing
I was shopping for Batman comics at the shop and I heard a scream behind me. I turned and looked and is was as if someone pulled the string from this 40 year old man's body. He just collapsed and went fetal on the floor and started crying because DC killed Superman. He was doing what the kids call "ugly crying" He laid there for 30 minutes and other Superman fans helped him to a chair and got him some water.
Hermione Granger Is Beautiful
In the fifth grade there was this kid in my class who was obsessed with Hermione Granger. Not Emma Watson, but her character from Harry Potter. I'm talking 15-20 different pictures in his locker and like plastered on his folders, binders, etc. In short: it was too much.
One day a kid in our class said Hermione looked like a boy. Wrong move. He lost it. Instantly started crying. Bawling is a better description. Then after about 30 seconds of utter emotional meltdown he attacked the kid, clawing at his eyes, pulling hair, all the while screaming at the top of his lungs:
**"Hermione Granger is beautiful! Hermione Granger is beautiful!" **
One of the strangest experiences of my life.
Skyrim Screamer
I was at the Skyrim midnight launch. We only had one store in town that got shipments and they were almost all gone with pre-orders. Dude walked to the counter and asked for a copy, but had no preorder. "Sorry mate, none left. We had very limited copies that weren't preorders".
Dude just lost it. Started rambling about how f--ed up his life his and his one piece of hope was Elder Scrolls. He literally starts the waterworks as he starts knocking sh*t around the store as he's leaving. Yelling at people for taking his game from him. We could hear him screaming and I mean gut wrenching screaming, all the way down the road.
Guy was mentally unhinged.
Discrimination Against Furries
I used to be a manager at PetSmart years ago. One day I got called up to the front for "customer service" which usually meant I was about to get yelled at over expired coupons.
Nope.
It was a girl in full-on furry gear holding pamphlets asking me if she could walk around the store in her suit handing out pamphlets on furry culture. She also thought it would be fun for people to interact with a furry in a pet store. Of course, I politely told her no. She started to essentially beg me so I tried to offer the usual excuses "it's corporate policy," "it's a safety issue." Honestly, it IS a safety issue. She could have gotten attacked if she approached the wrong animal in the wrong way. A giant animal with no animal scent is terrifying for some dogs.
She would NOT relent. I started to become irritated at this point and told her she would have to leave. Her response was to start SCREAMING AND BARKING at me. BARKING. Apparently I was discriminating against furries - her words, not mine.
She did finally leave after a few minutes of that but it was quite a sight to behold.
The Mufasa Melt-Down
My sister was 4 and I was 5 when my mom took us to see The Lion King to cheer us up. My dad had just been in a horrible car wreck and was gonna be in the hospital for a few months. She didn't know about Mufasa and we both lost our sh*t in the theater and panicked, scream-asking if our dad was gonna die too. That freaked out the other kids around us...
Basically the whole theater dissolved into crying children in under a minute. It was the most traumatic thing I've ever experienced.
Rest In Pieces, Baloo
When the 2nd LOTR movie was in theaters, there was an incident when I tried to see it. As the film got close to the huge battle, the fire alarm went off. Everyone exits, and it turns out to be nothing. For some reason the theater either wouldn't or couldn't resume the movie where it was and decided to pass out vouchers instead. Probably an equipment issue. In the back of the crowd I heard some long-haired neckbeard yell about how he had to take off work to see this movie.
Neck beard then proceeded to beat the crap out of a Jungle Book 2 cardboard cutout. RIP Baloo the Bear.
iPhone The Cops
Customer wanted to get an iPhone fifteen minutes before closing, but says he needs to run home and get his cash. I tell him we are going to close at 5 if he is not here. His mom waits in the store. I figure if he's a few minutes late, it's fine but I made it clear he has 5 minutes. At 5:15 I tell his mother that we are already counting cash and that I cannot sell her son a phone anymore. The dude arrives fifteen minutes after that and I unlock the door to let his mother out.
The dude starts to go thug life on me while his mom is pleading not to do anything. He shoves the door open and pushes me and demands his phone. I immediately tell my employees not to get involved and just call the cops. He went crazy and started cursing everyone out (there's like 6 of us, mostly girls except for me and another dude.) his mom is screaming In Spanish begging him not to do anything and pleading with me as well.
You can tell this wasn't the first time he got like this. Finally, when the dude heard us on the phone with the cops he walked to his car - but not before threatening to key all of our cars. Nothing happened. I saw the dude at Chili's a week later with his boys.
He recognized me, we locked eyes. He didn't do sh*t.
Entitled Brats Get Nothing
When Pokémon Sun/Moon came out, I was in a store trying to pick between the two. The store only had one copy of each game on the shelves, and as I'm holding the two versions, looking at them both trying to decide which version to get, when this big kid runs up. He tries to shove me out the way and when he sees that there aren't any on the shelves, he literally just screams in the middle of the shop.
No words. No tears. Just screaming
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!"
Then he saw I was holding the games. He tried to pull them out of my hands, but I pulled back and wouldn't let go. This little liar screams for his mom saying that I took them from him and won't give them back. His mum comes over and starts having a go at me, saying I'm stealing from a child, how dare I take them off him, he deserves the game, I don't, blah blah blah.
The employee who was on the shop floor explained to her that I was here before both of them and already had the games in hand before the child showed up. The woman then demanded that she get one of the games, and the employee explained that is was up to me whether I was going to buy either or both. The kid is still trying to yank them out of my hands through the entire exchange.
I walked out the shop 5 minutes later with both copies of the game and flashing big cheesy grin to mother and child. I returned one for a full refund the next day.
Hard To Hear Day's Night
Not me but my dad (in the 60s). He won a radio contest to go see A Hard Day's Night at the local movie theater (all shows were sold out). He was really psyched to see it because he was a big Beatles fan. The screaming girls were SO loud every time the Beatles faces appeared that he couldn't hear any dialogue.
He left in the middle of the show.
H/T: Reddit