Even the calmest, most level-headed folks can snap. From frustrating arguments to full-blown fights, these Redditors share those infuriating moments that pushed them over the edge. Buckle up, because these people absolutely lost it.
1. Tea-Timers Got A Talking To
My husband worked in a very hands-on clinic. He had to be super calm and steady because he was poking needles in squeamish patients’ joints, elbows, and knees all day. I was brought into emergency because my labor wasn't progressing, I was running a fever, and the baby was in distress.
He knew an emergency C-section was the only way to go, but these two maternity nurses were calmly chatting over my writhing form like it was tea time. He very calmly asked them twice to call for the anesthetist and get things going. They knew he was always gentle and just nodded along without moving and continued chatting.
I was half stoned when I witnessed him slamming both his palms on the side of the stretcher and yelling, "Is no one listening? Get the consultant in here"!
2. The Hulk Stops Here
When I was a kid, I was at a friend’s house. His dad was the most chill, nicest guy. That day, my friend’s mom, who was also super nice, was across the street talking to the neighbor. The neighbor was one of those guys who never respected common etiquette. He would have music blaring, parked his boat in front of other people’s houses, had cars parked on the lawn, etc.
The neighbor started screaming at the mom, and we all went out on the stoop to see what was happening. As soon as we got outside, the guy called my friend’s mom a nasty word. I’ll never forget what happened next. My friend’s dad heard that and went full Hulk mode.
He ran SCREAMING across the street, decked the guy, and crouched over him, shouting warnings and threats. It took a while for his wife to calm him down. I don’t think any of them had ever seen him react to something in that way—not even the dad himself.
3. Hide Your Scissors
My parents used to be tailors, and they used to do a lot of work from home. They had really big, heavy metal scissors they used to cut fabric. When this happened, I was very young, under 10 for sure. My older brother did something to make me mad. I grabbed the scissors near me and threw them at him. I regretted it instantly. It missed his eyes by a small fraction.
He went ballistic on why would I do something like that. Over 25 years later, the memory still makes me sad because of how close I was to seriously injuring my brother.
4. Genius Idea
I was about 14 years old at school with my sister who was 16 at the time. I had been learning how to wrestle at a couple of gyms since I was eight, mainly for exercise but also for self-defense. Anyway, in steps a mean kid from my sister's class. My sister has red hair, and at the time, was on the heavier side, so she was made fun of often.
This kid thought it was a genius idea to throw a sizeable rock at my sister's head. He was accurate. It hit her head quite hard and she fell to the ground, unconscious. I confronted him, not realizing how bad of a place my sister was in, until I heard "She's bleeding"! I turned to see a lot of blood trickling from my sister's head, then turned back to the kid and blacked out.
When I came to, my hand and knee felt like they had been sliced open. There was blood all over my uniform and the kid was on the ground looking, well, not like he did before. I had done enough damage that he required multiple surgeries and will forever have a speech problem. I cost my parents a lot of money in legal and medical fees, but they never blamed me.
I got expelled from school and had years of therapy because I was considered aggressive. The kid never returned to school. However, I did catch up with him some five years later to give the apology I never got to give him. He was a complete shell of a person and that broke me down pretty badly. I regret that day to my core.
5. His Nerves Got Fried
I worked as a line cook with a chef with whom I became good friends. He was a really chill dude, easy-going, and very fun to cook with. I never really saw him get mad—until one disturbing night. We were getting slammed. One of the servers said something that ticked him off. The next thing I knew, he had sent the deep fryer basket flying across the kitchen.
He nearly missed the dish kid and shattered a light bulb. He stormed off and, five minutes later, after a smoke break, came back and casually continued cooking as if nothing had happened. He apologized about it the next day, and we never talked about it again.
6. Bad Comeback
I had gotten into a fight with my stepdad when I was 14 and got kicked out of the house. My dad picked me up and was lecturing me about making good decisions. He asked me, "Do you want to grow up to be a loser"? I told him "At least I won't work a bad job and grow up to be like you". The instant it left my mouth, I regretted it.
He even shot back with "Exactly. I want you to be better than me," and I could tell it hurt him. The worst part is that he did everything for me and still does. That conversation pops into my head from time to time and I still feel horrible about it. I did apologize to him later that same day.
Regardless, I still think about it and it bothers me that I could say something like that to someone who did nothing but try and make my life infinitely better than his was.
7. Printer Rage
I’m a very peaceful person. I do not freak out and I have never been in a physical fight with anyone, but I was so embarrassed to tell my friends this.
This isn’t that crazy, but my old company spoiled me and my new one did not. We had to buy all our own supplies without being reimbursed, which now I completely understand that’s a work-from-home thing, but this was new to me and I did not want to work from home to begin with.
I was really mad that my training documents were 60 pages long and that I had to print them without reimbursement. This was because I had to print 500 pages of nonsense. I got so mad, I smashed my printer with my foot and kept on smashing it. Then it hurt my foot and cut me, so I threw the whole printer at the wall.
The damage to the wall was pretty minimal, but the printer shattered into like 40,000 pieces and we found more after moving. I thought my boyfriend would be so mad at me but he said, “I’m glad you finally allowed yourself to be mad about something. I don’t care about the printer or the wall. Are you okay”? That’s how I learned it’s okay to be angry once in a while.
8. Better On Paper
I was in a miserable relationship for seven years with cheating on his end. It was a mess. We had a baby together (happy accident since I love her so much), and he swore up and down everything would be different. That’s when I made a disturbing discovery.
I found out he was cheating again. One night, I had been drinking (one of my few nights out) and I woke him up and confronted him. I’m older and wiser now, but in the moment I was crushed and bawling. I really thought he was going to change his ways. I confronted him and he said, “Who cares, I’m sleeping”. So I didn't hold back.
I punched him in the nose. I know a lot of people would say that he got what was coming to him, but after everything he put me through, I felt sick that I had just lowered myself to his level.
I apologized and never did it again to anyone. I left him not long after and went on to better things, but I will always feel ashamed about it. He went on to make a lot of money, marry a beautiful woman, and have a total of three kids (one per mom). But he’s ill, lost his joint custody of his oldest, lost a lot of custody with our daughter, his middle child, and cheated on his wife.
He could be a millionaire and hate life and himself. I live in a nice single wide with my partner and two kids. I have a chronic illness and we have very little to our name. On paper, he went up and I went down. But I laugh every day, my children love and like me and they know I adore them, my partner is kind and patient and loves me and I’m respected as a mom and person by those that know me. He can keep his sauna.
9. Sometimes, You Just Have To Roll With It
My dad is the most mild-mannered, composed, level-headed person I have ever met. I once saw him trip in our garage and land in a bucket of nails and screws, only to realize he had one lodged into his kneecap. He looked over at me and said, “Don’t tell your mom; she’ll overreact”, while he grabbed a pair of pliers and yanked out the screw.
However, whenever something happened to my special needs brother, he would change. He would get this sparkle in his eye that could scare a Navy SEAL. When I was eight years old, my parents took my brother and me to eat at a restaurant. It was a big deal because my brother had recently been diagnosed with a degenerative physical health issue which was racking up huge medical debts, all while my dad lost his job.
We went to our favorite Mexican restaurant and parked in the handicapped spot nearest the front door. I still remember having an unusually light-hearted time in which I could see my parents' stress level subside as we listened to funny stories about the past. We simply enjoyed a memorable dinner with lots of laughter. Looking back, I realized this was a significant expense that my parents probably couldn’t afford and sacrificed so we could have a normal night out as a family.
When we left the restaurant, we found a car parked next to us. Not in a parking spot, but in the yellow stripes immediately next to our van. Usually, this might not be an issue, but my brother was in a wheelchair, and we had a folding ramp, not the hydraulic lifts you see today. This was a Friday night, so traffic was busy and my parents didn’t feel comfortable just backing up into the street to load my brother.
So, my dad went into the restaurant to see if the manager could find the owner of the car and ask him to move. When my dad emerged from the restaurant, I saw a look I had never seen before. It was one of focus, determination, and rage. He looked at my mom and told her to get in the car. She just hopped in and said, “Um ok”, in a way that indicated she knew something might go down.
He turned to me and said, “Watch this”! He unfolded the ramp and slammed it onto the roof of the car next to us. Then he turned to explain that the manager told him, “I’m not responsible for what happens in the parking lot. Why don’t you just figure something out”. So he did. There were only 4–5 groups eating in the restaurant, so the manager could have easily asked someone to move.
We waited for a minute, and the manager came out yelling, “What are you doing? You can’t do that”. That was when my dad lost it! He picked up my brother’s wheelchair with him in it—which weighed about 150–200 lbs—and sat him on the hood of the car while yelling at the manager. He then jumped on the hood of the car and picked up my brother to put him on the roof of the car, giving the manager the business the whole time. And he wasn’t done yet.
He jumped up to the roof and calmly rolled my brother across the ramp and into our van. He told me to get in and calmly told the manager, “I figured something out”. Since that day, I have never seen anything remotely close to the same level of anger from him. We laugh about that story from time to time. We believe that the car in question was the manager’s because any customer could have seen what was happening from inside the restaurant. My dad is always quick to say that he overreacted, but I think he reacted just fine.
10. He Was Clean Out Of Patience
During my previous pre-pandemic job, I worked with a talented, super nice manager named James, who was a total professional and very good with customers. He was one of those guys you would look at, and, from sheer physical size, you'd think he could easily be a bouncer. However, he was just an absolute teddy bear of a human being.
It didn't matter what changes came down from the top of the company or how business was going. This dude was a beacon of positivity. He never got visibly mad or upset and was pure Teflon to bad news. However, one day I got a call from a janitorial service we contracted with. During the call, they asked me to confirm that we had two-day shifts and one overnight shift cleaning our building.
It was puzzling since we only had one day and one overnight cleaning shift. They kept insisting that I must be mistaken and that surely there was a second shift during the day that I was just missing. However, I was the guy who had to regularly review their work and submit feedback to the contracted company, so I was 100% certain that we only ever had a single day shift.
Eventually, I put them on hold and informed James, and like a switch, the dude completely changed his attitude. Gone was the James, who always had a smile on his face and never let anything get to him. In his place arrived a stone-faced mountain of a man who asked me to let him talk to these people. I gave him the phone, he went into his office, and I watched through the window as he became increasingly animated, maybe even to the point of outright yelling.
The truth had come out that we were being charged for this second daytime janitorial shift that had never actually existed. It was like watching a teddy bear turn into a Grizzly in the span of three minutes. After the call, he was able to move past it and return to his normal self, but while he was on the phone, I could tell he was just incensed by the fact we were being billed for services we weren't receiving.
11. Take A Seat
I'll never forget the moment a family walked into the local pub I was working at. This big king-of-the-grill bald alpha patriarch type and his wife and kids came through. I said, "Welcome, where would you like to sit"? And he snapped back, "Well, a table would be nice”. I had the best reply possible ready for him.
Without missing a beat at all, I said "Actually, we usually sit on the chairs here”. I'll never forget the satisfaction of that moment or the look on his face.
12. Friends Till The End
One day during recess, this kid was being a jerk for no reason. He was making fun of people, pushing others, and so on. For some reason, he decided I was worthy of getting punched, so he came from behind me and hit me in the eye. When I returned to class, these two tall kids, one girl and one guy saw I had a bruised eye and had been crying.
The moment they got the chance, they came over and asked me, "Who hurt you"? I remember thinking, “I can't let them know who hurt me. They'll kill him". They kept asking the entire rest of the week until I finally told them. When I did, I felt EXTREMELY guilty. These two kids weren’t the type who were ever seen getting slightly annoyed at anyone.
So when they kept asking me who hurt me, I felt scared for the guy that hit me, and I was right to be afraid. At recess, the day after I told them, I saw them drag the guy behind some trees behind the playground. I couldn't see what they did, but before recess ended, the kid who hit me apologized, and I could tell he had been crying on the way over to me.
I told him it was fine, and the two other kids let him go. After he left, I asked them why they hurt him. Their answer left me speechless. They said, "Because he hurt our friend, and we'll do it again if he tries hitting you again". I felt like crying after they said that but held my tears in. Those two hovered around me for the rest of fifth grade and all of middle school.
Anyone who seemed like they might want to start something with me got chased away by my two friends. They were the first people to ever get angry on my behalf and stick around with me.
13. Can He Fix It?
I was working construction one summer, and the “veteran” guy working with me got into a fight with the foreman. He came back to the floor we were working on all angry, pushing things around. We were up on the fourth floor, and windows hadn’t gone in yet. He picks up a huge level and flings it out the window, and about five seconds later says “Nooooo! That was mine”.
14. I Couldn’t Believe It
There was a girl in my grade in high school who was super quiet and shy. Very often, when we were in a group chatting, she would be quiet. If you turned to her and asked for her opinion, she would put her hands over her mouth, giggle nervously, and take a few steps back. Her mom was also kind of creepy and would follow her everywhere.
The first week of every month, the mom would follow the girl to school and walk around the hallways during class, bored. The rest of the month, she would stay outside the school at a cafe or the rec center, waiting for her daughter. When we would hang out, the mom would follow us from a little distance away. There were rumors that the girl was taken as a child, so that’s why they were like that.
One day, I saw her and her family at the dollar store. So, I started walking over to her to say hi, and suddenly, she started screaming at her mother. It looked like her mom asked her to translate the packaging. She apparently didn't believe her translation was correct because she was screaming, "FINE, DONT BELIEVE ME THEN”!!! It scared the bejeezus out of me.
15. He Was Out Of Line
Ed, the forklift driver, had tried Chantix to quit smoking. We worked in a warehouse with assembly lines packaging refrigerator components. It was a pretty stressful job at times. One day, we were packaging an order, and we ran out of a shelf due to poor communication, so the assembly line had to stop. Ed absolutely snapped.
He took off on his forklift to get the shelves. When he came back with the shelves on his left, he drove through the “spider” area where forklifts weren’t allowed. He slammed through thousands of components and ran his forklift directly into the assembly conveyor belt, destroying the entire operation. Bodies went flying—but the nightmare wasn’t over yet.
He then threw it in reverse and slammed it backward into containers stacked all the way to the ceiling, causing hundreds of metal and glass refrigerator shelves to come raining down. It was terrifying, and he nearly killed eight of us working on the line.
16. Chill No More
One of my teachers in high school was THE calmest dude. He never yelled and never told kids off. He would just laugh and smile and wait for us all to calm down, then continue with his teaching. One day we must have been particularly rowdy, and we weren’t calming down like usual. He couldn’t get a word in edgewise.
I could see him getting increasingly frustrated, and eventually, he just bellowed, “SHUUUUTTT UPPPPP”. The entire class was shocked into silence. He never had to do it again.
17. Raging Over Retirement
I used to see this woman in my building every day. She was much older than me, but we were very friendly and always checked on each other’s lives. However, it was friendly to a certain degree. A couple of years passed. One day, while riding the elevator, she told me that she was saying goodbye. I said I was sorry to see her go and asked why.
She said she was retiring that day. I asked if her office was throwing her a party or if she was being celebrated. She turned to me and her face contorted into an image of rage. She clenched her teeth and said she didn’t tell anyone in her office, including her bosses. She only told the human resources person last week. This was her last day, and she was never returning to see or talk to anyone in her office again.
18. Don’t Pee In Someone’s Shoes
When I was in tenth grade, a classmate of mine peed on my shoes. I didn't snap right then and there, but he made fun of my looks a couple of minutes later. I completely lost it, grabbed him by the neck, and slammed his head into a steel beam. In hindsight, I realize that I could have really injured him, but luckily he got away with a bad concussion.
19. Smells Like Teen Spirit
In high school, an older kid used to persecute me purely because I was friends with his friend (my neighbor). They were jocks, I was not. His favorite was to rip my backpack off my back. One day, I was in a super mad mood because of…teenage angst? I don’t remember what, but he came down the hall, calling me names.
I told him to screw off. He laughed and went to grab my bag. It was my final straw. I swung the bag at him, hitting him in the side of the head, and sending him into the lockers with the other side of his head. He was out cold on the floor. Nobody ever snitched on me, and I never had an issue with him again. He was still a prick to everybody else possible but not me.
20. She Was Usually A Softie
It takes a lot to make my mom yell. On the rare occasion she did, it still felt like she had self-control. However, one morning when we were teenagers, my brother was being really, really difficult. My very sweet, soft-spoken mother yelled, "GODDAMn IT SHAWN", and threw a butter knife down so hard it stuck, 1/4 inch deep, in the oak hardwood floor.
I can still hear the noise it made. We were all very well behaved for the rest of the day. I eventually asked her why she did that. She explained that she felt too angry to hold a knife, even a butter spreader, and was trying to get it out of her hand before she did something stupid.
21. Big Words
I work in hospital security, and we hold a lot of psych patients until they can be transferred to a behavioral facility. This surprisingly strong old man tried to hurt a nurse when she was trying to change his briefs, and I responded first. I was wrestling with the guy and trying to hold him in the bed until backup got there.
He finally calmed down, looked me in the eye, and threatened to hurt me and my wife when he got out of the facility. I knew exactly what to say to put him in his place. I responded, "Big words for a man in a diaper". I've never seen anyone rage harder. The dude genuinely tried his best to hurt me. But thankfully my co-workers got there right afterward and nobody got hurt.
22. Pushed To The Edge
There was a colleague at work who was getting chewed out by a customer about something completely irrelevant. The dude was one of the most placid humans I had ever met, but he just snapped. He tore into this customer for almost ten minutes until the manager came down and took him to one side. I never saw him lose it like that again.
23. The Smallest Kid
This happened when I was in high school. I had been very ill for a long time, and recovered, but was by far the smallest kid at school. Someone decided it was fun to make fun of me. Hitting me, tripping me, etc. Even managed to trip me to fall down the stairs. The rest of the kids commented about it, but could not do much about it.
One day, during physics, he was branding me with a soldering iron. I told him to stop it, but he just continued. I lost it. I do not know how, but he ended up in hospital with a broken arm, several wounds to his face, and lots of bruises. The other kids all testified that he just fell. I never got in problems again.
24. Hoodie Strings
In 10th grade, I was wearing a brand new hoodie and walking back to my desk the week after Christmas. One kid loved to snatch the drawstrings on my hoodies and yank them. This time he pulled too hard and ripped the hood halfway off. Something snapped in my head. I turned around to see if the teacher was still watching his whiteboard, then I turned back and decked him right in his smirking face.
I hit that dude so hard in the eye that he fell out of his chair and the whole class erupted into laughter. Then I quickly sat back down in my chair and turned around just in time to see the teacher notice the commotion and start berating the kid for clowning around on the ground.
25. Talking Smack
I had some neighborhood kid smaller than me decide he wanted to make fun of me because I was nice and easygoing. I ignored him again and again, until one day I went to get another kid from a small party, and he was there. He jumped the fence when he saw me and started talking smack, to which I shrugged my shoulders and said, “Okay”.
He responds by repeatedly punching me in the stomach. Mind you, I'm bigger than him, have a high pain threshold, and a solid core, so I don't so much as flinch. I grab him by the back of his shirt, turn, and run his head directly into a wooden fence. He turns around with a pained expression and I straight-up punch him in the forehead (bad aim) and walk away while like 10 kids just watch.
I was later told I apparently blinded him for like an hour. He talked to me like a week later and asked me to come over to his house and play Ninja Turtles on Super Nintendo. His mom said, “Isn’t this the kid who hit you”? He said yes, but I said, “It’s okay, he deserved it. We’re fine now”. Then we went and played Turtles in Time like the 90s kids we were.
26. Show Me The Money
When I was in my late teens, I was financially irresponsible and borrowed money from my grandparents to move out of my mom’s house. We made a plan on how I would pay it back in installments, and I only missed two payments. For each missed payment, I had called my granddad and asked if it was okay, and he was always cool about it. One day I got a call from him, and he was LIVID.
He was screaming at me on the phone, and I could hear my grandmother crying in the background. He was the angriest I had ever heard anyone in my life be and I was terrified. He wanted to know why I hadn’t made the payment that month, but I was sure I had. It turned out I had accidentally set the automated payment to be drawn from the wrong account, and it hadn’t gone through. It was an honest mistake on my part, and I explained that to him. I transferred the money immediately, and he instantly calmed down.
27. Petty Revenge
When I was in college, it was the first week at a new school. I was on my personal computer waiting for my evening class to start. Someone asked if they could quickly use my computer to log into their student account to see where their class was. I let them do it, but I still had my Facebook account open in the other tab.
They updated my Facebook status to something VERY offensive thinking they were funny, but they forgot to log out of their school account. Once I figured out what they did (thanks to a very furious phone call from my mother), I knew exactly what to do to get revenge. I used their account to drop all of the classes they signed up for. Don’t know what happened after, but it was good revenge.
28. Get Some Sleep
My oldest son was still a baby and I was a fresh teenage dad. It was the middle of the night and he was screaming. I was sleep deprived and I was getting screamed at in my ear. He was sick and cranky and nothing would help. I went to move him, and his baby fist hit me in the eye or something. Either way, I swatted it away really fast and hard and he cried even louder.
I kept rocking him and crying and holding him even after he fell asleep. I felt so bad. Almost nine years later and I still feel awful about it.
29. Pay Day
I had a friend who was a functioning alcoholic, but he was the calmest and most composed guy I have ever known. He never used to raise his voice or swear. Everything was done with meticulous precision. He once explained to me that if you use vulgar language and shout all the time, then you will have nowhere to go when you really do get angry. I had worked with him for about three years.
One week, he had been shafted on his pay, and the manager promised to get it sorted out by the Friday. Friday rolled around, and it had not been corrected. So, my friend walked up to the manager in the open office and declared loudly, "Where is my money? You promised this would be resolved". The whole office went silent, and the look of dread on the manager's face was haunting. The money was in his account by the end of the day.
30. He Went Old School On His Behind
Growing up, my dad’s best friend was a quiet, shy guy who was a bit socially awkward. He wasn't physically harmed in school, but this kid teased him constantly. This would have been in the late 50s or early 60s, so kids were expected to tough it out. My dad would usually confront the brute, but one day, a girl ran up to him and said that his friend and the kid were fighting.
My dad ran over to save his bud, but when he broke through the circle, he was shocked by what he saw. He found the bully flat on his back, his friend sitting on his chest, holding him by the ears and smashing his head into the pavement over and over. My dad tackled him, wrestled him to the ground, and screamed at him, asking what he was doing. Luckily they were kids, so the damage was serious but limited.
The bully escaped with stitches and a concussion, and my dad’s friend had to talk to the school psychologist. He and my dad stayed best friends, and when I met him as an adult, he was still quiet but less shy and awkward.
31. His Anger Multiplied
My math teacher in middle school prided himself on being cool as a cucumber. He would even brag about not being angry and how it was a useless emotion. One day, this kid angered him so badly that he swiped all of the kid's belongings off of the table in front of the whole class and booted him out of the classroom.
32. Christmas With The Cranks
When I was about seven, we had what we now refer to as the "Jerry Springer Christmas". One aunt hated her sister-in-law and started screaming at her. Then the shoving started. Husbands got involved, and it just continued to devolve from there. My mom went straight into mediator mode and tried to calm everyone down, but it wasn't working.
She decided to check on us kids and found my cousin and me holding each other and sobbing because we were scared. The next thing I heard was her scary mom voice screaming over everyone. She was saying, "Listen here. My kid is in there crying on Christmas because [the] family can't keep themselves together for the one day a year we all see each other. You're gonna march your behinds into that room single file and apologize to each kid individually.
“Then, you're going to shut up until I get them out of here. We're going to go find and look at lights, and this family better be the picture of Christmas joy by the time we get back". My mom never cursed in front of me and only used excessive language when things were really bad. That side of the family didn't celebrate Christmas for a few years after that.
33. He Turned In A Snap
I had a friend I knew since childhood who was always happy-go-lucky and smiling. He was the guy you would call at 3 AM with a flat tire, and he would just ask where you were at. He was never one to start anything and always managed to defuse any situation with a smile, an offer of friendship, and a drink. He wasn’t a big dude but had worked in labor-intensive jobs at his family business since he was young, so he was deceptively strong.
Usually, he would pick people up and set them down behind him when breaking up brawls. Something about being picked up by the biceps and just moved without brutality or malice seemed to always take the fight out of people. It was like his superpower. When we were around 21–22, we had a party at our house. This was an every weekend thing at the time.
We were all outside, sitting around a bonfire. A friend of a friend was being a moron. He was getting in people's faces, saying he was going to kick so and so’s behind, and we generally ignored him. He was plastered, and it was his normal behavior, so nobody took him seriously. He got into my friend’s face screaming at him because he was sitting next to his ex-girlfriend.
My friend let it slide since he never gets angry or confrontational. At that point, this other dude had his forehead against my friend’s and was just screaming. I guess something just snapped. Without warning or words, my friend picked up this guy by the throat and slammed him to the ground. Then, he started to beat the snot out of him, never letting go of his grip on the guy’s throat.
We were all frozen for a second. This was the first time we had ever seen our friend be violent. We quickly snapped out of it and ran to get them apart, but we found out that wouldn't be easy. It took five guys to pry the two apart. Once they were apart, our friend snapped out of it and began apologizing to everyone, including the other guy. After that night, I've only seen our friend snap once more.
34. New Charger
My husband’s laptop had a broken charger for years. While I was using it, it totally broke. The laptop won't charge anymore and he claimed I broke it. I was like, this thing was broken for years, we all knew this would happen one day. He still said it was my fault so I ordered two new laptops. One for him and one for me. I'm not sure what I was trying to prove here, but I'm almost $2,000 poorer now.
35. And The Oscar Goes To…
So my dad and I got into an argument when I was six years old, so I wrote my very specific, very rare first name across the side of his brand new car with a stone. When he asked me if I’d done it, I of course denied it profusely. I am talking Meryl Streep in Sophie’s Choice level of acting. I should’ve won an Oscar for it.
His reaction was unforgettable. He sort of laughed and said, “You’re telling me someone else came up to my car and scratched your name across it”? I denied it for a whole afternoon while, in fairness to him, my father giggled to himself. I couldn’t figure out why he was giggling. Surely he was going to skin me alive later and wear me around town on a cold evening.
He said he couldn’t help laughing because the lie was so ludicrous but I stuck by it so resolutely that it was one of the funniest situations he’d ever been in. He KNEW he should punish me, but it was also so marvelous he couldn’t bring himself to be angry. I’m nearly 36. Every time he gets a new car now he says “You’re not mad at me for something, are you”? before he shows it to me. I guess I earned that.
36. Hit The Gas
When I was about eight or nine, my mum was talking to my teacher. She worked at the school and wanted to talk about something, so they sent me to wait in the car. Off I trot with the keys and get into the driver's seat. It was an automatic. I turned the car on and put it in reverse. And the car starts rolling. I panicked, tried to hit the brake, but my mom had put a steering wheel lock around the brake pedal.
So I hit the accelerator instead and the car went into another teacher's car. Did a few thousand dollars’ worth of damage to the other car. My mom still works at the school, and I visited a few years ago. She said, “We have to go see Mrs. M”! We get there, Mrs. M. sees me, smiles and turns to tell the story to her entire grade five class. There's no ego hit quite like having a room full of 10-year-olds laughing at you.
37. The Teacher Was A Factor
In my first semester in college, I was in a math class with a horrible teacher. The entire class hated him. The girl who sat in front of me was very sweet and soft-spoken. One day, I don't remember what set her off, but she just snapped and started screaming at him. It caused such a commotion that someone called security to check if everything was okay. The teacher quickly dismissed security and returned to "teaching" as if nothing had happened.
38. The Calm After The Storm
One time in high school, a couple of mean kids were in this other kid’s face. The dude was just sitting there with no expression, staring straight ahead, clearly not hearing a thing. One of the meanies inched closer, and the kid decked him as hard as he could in the face. The kid was knocked to the floor, speechless, with his nose bleeding everywhere.
The kid then calmly stood up, still with no emotion, slowly packed his things, and made his own way to the principal’s office as if nothing at all had happened. It’s still one of the most brutal things I’ve ever seen. It was like something right out of a movie.
39. Babies Just Cry
My kid had colic. She’d scream from noon to midnight. No amount of walking, shushing, gripe water, feeding, changing, burping, or change of scenery helped. We were told, “Babies just cry”. One day, she started screaming and I lost it. I had been up all night with her, so I’m exhausted. My husband is at work. I’m alone in a foreign country with no one to reach out to for support.
I just wanted her to be quiet. I NEEDED her to be quiet. The anger, the helplessness, the desperation I felt at that moment was terrifying. I forced myself to lay her down in her crib and walk away because I knew I’d do something terrible if I didn’t. I walked out of my apartment, sat down in front of the door so no one could get in, called my husband, and told him in no uncertain terms that I was not okay and I needed him home NOW.
After I hung up, I took a deep breath, walked back inside, and held my screaming infant until my husband got home. In the end, she’s fine, I’m fine, we’re all fine. I did what they tell you to do: put them down in a safe place and walk away. I have never been to the absolute breaking point again in my life. I can’t explain it to anyone who hasn’t been in that place. I wouldn’t be able to explain it to myself if I hadn’t been there.
40. Get The Tattoo
My parents approved a very invasive, unnecessary surgery for me when I was a child, and the ultimate results still affect me to this day. When I was 19, my mother found out I was getting a tattoo somehow and started berating me about it. The tattoo was really important to me, and I felt like I was reclaiming my body as my own through that gesture.
I was naturally furious with her. I pulled up my shirt, showed her the four-inch hideous scar she had agreed to put on my body, and said, "Yeah mom, it would be a real shame if I permanently disfigured my body with a tattoo". She cried.
41. Good Friends
I worked on a college campus a long time ago, and we were having some retreat over the summer where they dropped like 200 kids off to stay for a few days. Lots of problems were being caused by them not respecting anything and just being stupid kids. I was getting super annoyed with them, especially since I worked in the library, and they would not shut up.
Anyway, fast forward to like, day three. I leave work and see my car covered in branches, leaves, and other floral debris. I was seeing red, looked at the kids across the street in the commons yard, and just unleashed myself upon them. I yelled so loud I was echoing across campus. The vein in my forehead pounding so hard my ears burned.
The kids were scared, I was mad, and my boss was so concerned that he asked if I needed to take tomorrow off to cool down. I told him I was fine, but these kids were on my last nerve. Anyway, like five years later, I was telling one of my best friends this story, and he dropped a bombshell on me. It wasn't the kids.
It was him and a fellow friend of ours. They wanted to prank me since they knew the kids were driving me crazy. I probably stared at him for like two solid minutes before saying "I told those kids if I caught them anywhere near my car, it would be the last thing they'd do". Then I started laughing. He definitely got me.
42. The Importance Of Sleep
Back when I was 18, I was single-handedly keeping the household afloat. I was working two jobs and taking 22 credits at school. I was taking care of my younger sisters pretty much completely. Taking them to the doctor, dentist, orthodontist, therapist, school back and forth, helping with homework, going to parent-teacher conferences, going to volunteering obligations, making all of their meals, cleaning the house, grocery shopping, taking care of the pets, all of the laundry, everything.
Then on top of that, I was also taking care of our mother. Taking her to and from doctors, bringing her meds and meals, begging her to get out of bed and go on a walk or at least sit on the deck for a little sun. I was getting about two to five hours of sleep at night. I was burning out fast. My little sister (13 at the time) wasn’t helping with anything.
I could see she was going down a dark path and it was making things more difficult. I felt so helpless because I could keep the household running but I couldn’t help her. One day I was begging her to just take the trash out of her room. Not even clean the room, just take the trash out. There was food in there that was rotting and making it smell.
I just couldn’t find the time to do it for her. It ended up turning into a massive blowout fight. At the end, she said “Well, maybe I should just leave,” and before I had even fully processed what she said, I replied, “Well, it would certainly make things easier for me”! I didn’t sleep more than 45 minutes at a time for almost a month after that. I just kept going into her room to check on her and make sure she was still there and hadn’t done anything.
My sister is doing better now but I can never forget what I said and I will never be able to forgive myself for it.
43. Ringing To An End
One of my coworkers was a calm, quiet, easygoing dude. We had a receptionist at the time who was terrible. She would constantly leave the front desk phones unattended. We would have to stop mid-service to answer them ourselves and check people in and out. One day, she pulled her same nonsense. The phones were ringing, people were waiting, and she was nowhere to be seen. Well, my normally calm co-worker wasn’t going to take it anymore.
He just sighed and screamed her name in the loudest, angriest, most fed-up-I'm-done-scream. She scurried her trifling little self back up to the front in seconds like a little cockroach that knew it had messed up.
44. Tackle Royale
Back in high school, every time during lunch break, I would visit my friends in a different section to hang out. I knew a guy who was the most chill dude. He laughed a lot, participated in friendly banter, and cracked the occasional joke but generally preferred to listen in on the conversations. One day, I decided to hang out in his class as usual.
I greeted him with a "Hey man", but he just looked at me, took off his student ID, and gave it to me. Then out of nowhere, he TACKLED one of our classmates. He started punching the life out of this guy and hitting him with everything he got his hands on. Everyone was screaming while I was just holding his student ID, dumbfounded. Apparently, the classmate he beat up had been harassing and insulting him.
45. Careful At The Cookout
I was made fun of by a kid in high school every day. I got physical with him a few times but he wouldn't let up, and I hated his guts. We went to different colleges, and I never saw him again. A few months into my second year of college, I was at a family cookout and a woman I didn't know mentioned he had died in a car crash a month or so before.
It was like a weight lifted off my shoulders hearing that, and I kind of laughed in relief. I let it all out—and it turned into a nightmare. She asked me what that was about, and I explained and said I wasn't sorry it had happened. I was being honest, he was a bad guy and made me extremely depressed and was the main factor in my anxiety at the time. Well, there was one thing that I didn’t know.
The woman I was talking to was his mom.
46. Hey Batter!
My friend’s husband entered my bedroom after my husband at the time left for work. They stayed the night due to a power outage in their neighborhood. He came into my room before daylight to use our bathroom. He had another to go to, but didn't. Long story short, he started touching me. In the moment I froze—but later, I got revenge.
Later in the day, I confronted him about it with my husband and my friend there. I insisted that I could handle it. I went inside, grabbed my son’s bat, and walked back out. I told him to look at me and that he had one chance to admit what he did. Let me tell you when he said “I don't know what you're talking about,” I swung with all of my might when he got to “you're”.
It felt like slow motion. His watch flew off and I broke his arm. Not just broke, snapped both his ulna and radius. Had he not run, I'd have crushed his skull. I have no regrets and I would 100% do it all over again. I never heard from either again. A mutual friend told me about his arm. I relayed that if I ever saw or heard from him again we would both be locked away.
47. Trying Their Best
When I was 14 years old, I was a super unruly kid. I lived with my mom who was poor. She kicked me out for spring break and told me I had to live with my dad to help straighten out my behavior. I told her that actually, I’m just going to live with dad for good. He was wealthier and I wanted a better situation for myself.
My mom couldn’t understand why I had chosen my dad over her and convinced herself that I didn’t love her and I was being selfish. I was being selfish. But I loved her so much and still do. She used to write me letters saying she missed me and asking why I didn’t love her anymore, and it made me not want to talk to her as much because it was a major guilt trip.
Well, she got back into drinking and she died a year later. I still think she left this world without me ever letting her know how much I love her, and it’s really heartbreaking. Never be short with your parents. They’re always trying their best even if they’re not the best.
48. Leapin’ Lizards
My middle school homeroom teacher was amazing. She was a science teacher and had a chameleon in a huge wall-sized cage. It had branches for climbing, water, and tunnels. It was a perfect environment. One day before school started, she walked into her classroom while some kids were poking the chameleon with sticks. Big mistake.
The teacher physically radiated anger. She dragged them to the office, then when she came back, she told us to hang out or play science hockey until first period while she went to cool down in the office.
49. Allegedly
As a 15-year-old, I allegedly stomped on another kid's leg over and over till it broke because he stole and ruined my little sister's bike. We were very poor and the bike was the first thing my little sister had gotten that wasn't a hand-me-down. He didn't deserve that and my total loss of control. It could have been one of my worst moments. Allegedly.
50. Sink Or Swim
As a child and preteen, I was on a year-round swim team. It was two or three hours a day, five days a week practice, then meets on the weekends. There was another swimmer, a few years older than me, that made fun of me constantly along with a couple of his friends. I would get tripped, slammed into lockers, whipped with wet towels, and much more.
One day when I was around 10, they were going at it yet again. Of course, there were no coaches or other adults around. After being chased, knocked down, spit on, slammed against a locker, and more, I took refuge in a bathroom stall, standing on the toilet so he could not reach me. The group of them were banging on the door and really whooping it up.
I snapped. I did the only thing my prepubescent brain could think of: I peed on him. I aimed my peashooter at the crack between the door and divider. I then fired off a golden shower that would win an award. My hot spray covered him from head to toe. As you can imagine, the laughs turned into screams. Of course, they immediately tried to point to me as the aggressor to the coach but several other onlookers set them straight.
My "punishment" was to change for two weeks in a separate area. His? Kicked off the team. Strangely enough, nobody picked on me after that anymore.
51. Keep It Casual
In high school, I was staying the night at my girlfriend's house because we were going to see a concert the next day and it was a long drive. We were meeting up with almost a dozen of our friends and we had all been excited about it for ages. As we're lying in bed the night before, she hits me with the “I love you” for the first time.
My 17-year-old brain didn't want to ruin the concert the next day, so I just said it back even though I didn't feel it. I thought we were a casual thing, nothing too serious. Suddenly that “casual” relationship felt pretty serious, and I broke her heart when I ended it a couple of months later. I really shouldn't have said it.
52. The One
I broke it off with a fiancée last fall. "A fiancée" is putting it lightly, she was the one. My mental health began to consume me over the last few years, and eventually, it got to the point where my paranoia was telling me that she was hurting me and slowing me down. I am so thankful for the time we did have together, and I've accepted that I'll never have her back. What an amazing woman though.
53. Sister Smacked Some Sense Into Us
My mom and I fought about finances, life, and generally everything when the financial crisis of 2008 started to affect us. We were shouting at each other, bringing up every hurtful incident from my birth till that day. Things began to fly—it was carnage. My sister grabbed my mom and pushed her to sit beside me while scolding us about our behavior. Then she smacked both of us on the face. We were totally stunned and shut up. She told us we should keep it together in dire times instead of arguing.
54. Uncle Suck
For years my aunt was always super calm, joking, and in a good mood. I had never seen her angry at anything or heard her curse—until one Christmas. My mom had two younger brothers. One uncle was a complete jerk, and the younger one was a pretty average guy and got along with everyone. For years my grandma enabled my jerk uncle, and despite my grandpa's best efforts, he just became more of a moron.
The previous summer, my jerk uncle and my now ex-aunt separated with a divorce pending. She was still nice to her nieces and nephews and called my grandma to ask if she could drop off our Christmas gifts. My grandma said that was fine. She showed up, and my uncle was mad. My grandma told all of us children, including the jerk uncle's daughter, to stay in the family room.
My mom came in and said that my jerk uncle tried to punch his wife in the face and my good uncle pulled him back. They fell through the neighbor's split rail fence. My always super calm aunt stood up and said, "I've had it with his wife-beating. I'm calling the authorities. I've had it with this psycho". I was stunned. I couldn’t believe it.
My grandma was in a panic because, again, she enabled it, and him going behind bars would likely cost him his job. The jerk uncle took off, and shortly after, we all left. Christmas ended a bit early that year. To this day, I've yet to hear my aunt curse again and have only ever seen her get upset about something. It was again about my jerk uncle.
55. His Anger Was Right On Target
I worked with a guy at scout camp who was in charge of the archery range. He was a super quiet and reserved guy, very nice and down to earth. One day we had a scout draw his bow and point it at one of his friends as a joke. I’ve never seen a kid get the fear of God put in him so fast after my friend ripped him apart for that.
56. Out Of The Frying Pan
I am a very "you should never hit people" kind of person. This being said, I did have one incident where I lost it in the heat of the moment. I hit my boyfriend's friend with a frying pan that I was cooking eggs with. He was one of those people who no one liked. Even my boyfriend didn't like him, he was just hanging out with him for "old time’s sake”. He was constantly mean to me despite me trying to be civil with him.
I can't even remember what he did, but it was the kind of thing that would make most people black out with rage. Despite the oil burns and bruises, he never pressed charges. My boyfriend said that he didn't because he was afraid to admit a girl beat him up. This kind of upsets me because I am against the stereotypes that men face that make them afraid to come forward as victims. I had so many mixed feelings about it. I was disappointed in myself, but also he sucks.
57. Hey Mom!
In my early teens, my friend was over. We were playing video games and he was mad that he lost and said something about my mom being fat. Later, she walks down the stairs into the living room and I immediately say, “Mom, James said you’re fat”! She has and does struggle with her weight and body image. The look of sadness in her eyes. Poor woman.
58. From The Heart
When I was 11, my older brother (16) and I were fighting over who was going to do the dishes that night. Now, my brother had a heart condition from birth. My mom told me that my brother's heart had two chambers and one pump and was facing backward. There were multiple times in his life when he was in severe danger, especially before the age of two. Through multiple catheterizations and procedures, he made it to 16.
The night we had our fight was the night before a routine catheterization. In a fit of anger, I screamed at him, "I hope you don't survive". It’s the moment in my life that I regret the most. Little did I know that just two days later I was going to be getting what I wished for, and I never got to say how sorry or stupid I was for saying it. That was 17 years ago this year.
Not a day goes by that I don't regret what I said.
59. The Story Of Joe And Jill
I was in the US Coast Guard, and along the way, I met a really calm guy, Joe. He was soft-spoken yet still authoritative when need be. He was always nice to others and worked hard. Then there was another worker, Jill. Jill was always on a power trip, annoying, loud, and disrespectful to anyone lower ranking than her. I could go on for days about her.
One night while on duty, Joe and his crew were out on a rescue case for over six hours. He and the crew got back to the station at 2 or 3 AM. They were so tired they collapsed on the couches in the lounge, which was connected to the conference/training room. It was divided by a folding partition you could pull out of the wall.
There was a note on the door to the big room that said, “Crew is sleeping from late night case. Do not disturb”. When morning came, Jill completely ignored the note, busted into the room, turned on all the lights, and began talking and laughing way too loud for that hour. She started to tell a ridiculous sea story. Joe immediately got up from the couch like a rocket and walked towards the partition in the wall. He was mumbling and cursing under his breath.
He was vigorously fighting the partition, yanking it from the wall and pulling it across the 20-foot-long rail. Jill was watching him, and as he was almost done, she said, “I can leave if you want”. Completely unwarranted, Joe yelled, “THAT’S WHAT THE DOOR IS FOR”! He closed the partition and laid back down. No one said a word, but I think everyone gained a little more respect for Joe that day.
60. Wrong Answer!
My science teacher was usually a pretty cheery and funny guy. I remember one day, half of the class didn’t do the homework, so he gave us a lecture on how we should work harder. He wasn’t too angry but was just a bit disappointed and talked in that generic strict upset teacher voice. For some reason, I looked up at him with a smirk on my face and said, “OK”. What happened next was seriously unhinged.
He then decided to release all the pent-up anger in his life on me and screamed as loud as he could for the next five minutes straight. It was the angriest he had ever been, and he was known not to lose his temper and be level-headed most of the time.
61. A First-Grader Finished Him
When I was in first grade, this sixth grader would follow my friends and me after school and harass us. He would pull our backpacks, mock us, trip us, throw things at us, etc. One day, he was pulling on my backpack laughing, and my friends were yelling at him, begging him to let go. According to a neighbor who saw the whole thing, my face went stony and emotionless for a moment.
Then, I pulled my arms out of my backpack straps, turned around, and punched him square in the nose. I was usually the calm one. His dad tried to get mad at my dad, but apparently, the boy failed to mention that I was a first grader.
62. Vacuum That Up
Back in college, I walked in on my boyfriend cheating on me. I grabbed the nearest thing, which was a giant Dyson vacuum, and pitched it at them. I got them both in one shot. It felt good in the moment, but afterward, I felt bad. Not because they were both bleeding, but because it was a really nice vacuum that I had spent good money on.
63. Hear Her Out
My wife started crying in the middle of the night saying that she thought she didn't love me anymore. I was really tired and had to wake up early for work the next day, so I asked if it was the same complaints she's always had. When she nodded, I was so irritated that I said I wasn't going to change into the person she wanted me to be.
She left the bedroom and asked for a divorce about a month later. If I could go back and change one night of my life, that would be it. It probably wouldn't have saved our marriage, but at the very least, I should've heard her out. And that mistake just lurks in the back of my head always.
64. Crystal Ball
I work in medical research for a client notorious in the industry for being incredibly rude. They continuously pin their deficiencies on another team and often yell at us. It's unbearable. This week, their global project leader was reading me a letter about items they knew we asked about but never gave us, as well as information that we didn’t know. I couldn’t hold back any longer.
I told her, "I left my crystal ball at home so I wasn't aware of this communication, and if you sent it to us, the pony hasn't arrived carrying it yet". Needless to say, our directorship level laughed at it because they recognize this client is terrible but brings money in the door.
Public Domain Pictures
65. It Was The Final Straw
In high school, I had a cool, chill teacher who liked me because I was one of the few who did the homework. He played movies for us and was a real stand-up guy. Close to finals, a lot of my classmates stopped doing homework. In a fit of rage, he yelled for a few minutes before he slammed a broom on the wall and knocked the clock off of the wall with it. It was extremely loud.
Then, he sat next to me and laughed before saying sort of quietly, “Look, you can hear a pen drop right now”.
66. She Made Her Mark
My Spanish teacher was a really laid-back and chill person who knew how to speak “teen lingo” and acted more like one of us than a teacher. One day, the ADHD kid was being a particular nuisance, and the teacher snapped. She grabbed a marker, tossed it, and nailed him clean in the forehead. No one got in any trouble because we all respected her for that move, including the kid who got headshot with a marker.
67. He Booked On Out
One time, my ninth-grade math teacher, who was usually super chill, had the class doing some Kahoots. Some kids were throwing books at each other. The teacher walked over and tried to get them to stop. One of the kids threw a book at him, and I guess that was the last straw. He proceeded to pick up said book and slammed it against this kid's head.
Then, he yelled at everyone who was throwing books—which was about half the class—to get out of the classroom. He retired the next day, and we didn't have an actual math teacher until about a month later. Even then, it was only the football coach going over basic stuff until we got the 12th-grade math teacher 11 days before school ended.
68. She Was A German Legend
I had a bio teacher in high school who once snapped. She was a super sweet German woman who was always very calm—almost too calm and forgiving for a teacher. A lot of people in my class openly disrespected her for weeks. They would talk during class, talk when she was handing out assignments, didn't do the work, etc.—just absolute teenage idiots.
One day, she finally told them to be quiet or leave the room. They did not listen at all. What followed was months of built-up rage towards these specific students. She started to raise her voice, lecturing them on their behavior for about five minutes. One of them said something like "whatever", so she snapped and started screaming at them.
She hurled insults and reminded them that they ruined class for everyone else. It was glorious! Some tried to defend themselves, but she cut them off every time. The more she talked, the angrier she got. And the angrier she got, the more her accent started showing. So, for 45 minutes, she yelled with a mad German accent. It was scary. I wasn't even guilty but was legitimately scared. They stopped being idiots after that lesson.
69. Twinning
Not the worst thing I've done, but this was an awful foot-in-mouth moment that is seared into my brain. I had an extremely embarrassing conversation with a distant cousin who happened to be adopted, unbeknownst to me. When she stopped to visit, my mom introduced us via FaceTime and we went through family photos.
She, unfortunately, came across a photo of my mom and I, to which I awkwardly blurted, "I look nothing like my mom, but I am my dad's twin. You'll have to see a picture of him. At least you'd know I wasn't adopted". It made sense in my mind since I am the only fair-skinned individual in my family aside from my dad, but I suddenly regretted it when she said, "You know I'm adopted, right"?
No, I did not know. Somebody definitely should have mentioned that beforehand.
70. Get It Right The First Time
At work, our project management team undercut and mismanaged a project so badly. They wanted to get minimum viable products out, so they made them cheaply with the goal to roll out improvements later. The product was released and they all patted themselves on the back and moved on. Then that minimum viable product broke.
In a meeting we had with our directors about the broken product and how to fix it, I asked, "How come we couldn't afford to do it right, but we can afford to do it twice"? No regrets.
71. Physical Damage
I worked in cellphone sales for a few years. A woman came in with a fairly new flip phone (this was 2018, we just still sold them). She was complaining because one of the sides of the screen was dangling off. She said she didn't do anything, it just snapped, and demanded a new phone. I told her, “That looks like physical damage, and we don't have any coverage for that since you didn't buy a phone protection warranty".
She insisted it wasn't physical damage and the phone just sucks and broke itself. She started freaking out and calling me all kinds of names and swinging her phone in my face. Then the top half of the phone LITERALLY snapped off and landed on the counter in front of me. I just looked her in the eyes and said: "Well, that was definitely physical damage".
She lost it at my comment and it was weirdly satisfying.
72. Family Of Freaks
A friend and I were heading out of town together for work. He suggested we spend the night at his mom's and sister's place because we had an early flight, and they were close to the airport. This family was nuts. We were on the east coast, close to the ocean. My friend had recently mudded some drywall for his mom, and because of the humidity, it took a long time to dry.
However, his mom kept yelling at him to paint it. His sister's kid, who was about two years old, was drinking coffee at midnight, and the family only screamed at each other. I was only able to keep my composure with them for about three hours before I lost it. I screamed at everyone and retreated to the garden shed where my friend had built his own refuge.
73. My Ex Left Me Shaking
I'm the usually calm one, but then my ex-wife came to crash at my place after a break-up sent her into a spiral. She and the kid came to visit me for a weekend just before he was to move back in for school. The weekend turned into her spending a week in the psych ward. I sat in the ER with her for eight hours, started a new job the next morning, visited her when she asked, and helped our kid do his online schooling from a fast food restaurant because we didn't have WiFi at the house.
She ended up staying with me for two months. I slept on a pallet on my own floor so she could have my bed. One day, all this stress steamrolled into one disturbing argument. She called me stupid, knowing I'm very sensitive about my intelligence levels. I just blew up and was screaming back at her. I was so mad I was shaking. My throat hurt from being so loud, and at one point wanted to reach out and smack her.
I've never felt the urge to hit someone before, and it scared me. I'm the same man whose own mother didn't hear me raise my voice until I was 25.
74. Lollipalooza
I had this deputy principal who was the calmest and nicest teacher ever. One day we were having a fun day with 800 students. There were attractions with free prizes, a haunted house, obstacle course, basketball, etc. Every booth was run by year six students, and every booth had a glass jar of lollies. Each student would guess how many. At the end of the day, each lolly jar was given away to the closest guess.
My principal was organizing this. One student who won a jar was on their way down to their seat when they dropped the glass jar, and chaos ensued. Trying to calmly manage the 800 students was challenging, and suddenly, he just snapped. He started screaming at the students to quiet down. Everyone froze, teachers and students alike. We had never seen this side of him, and I never did again.
75. No Critiques
I didn’t realize the nature of my comment when I wrote it, but in high school, one of my teachers did end-of-the-year anonymous evaluations. Everyone hated him, and I understood why, but I still did well in his class. I wrote, “I don’t have any critiques about your teaching, but I think you should work on being a better person”.
76. At Your Desk
I was in the fifth grade in the mid-90s. The teacher was going to read to us and as a treat, we were allowed to sit ON our desks. Well, the kid next to me, named Keith, decided to place his hand on my desk as I was attempting to climb on top. Finding a human hand where there should have only been a desk startled me, of course.
Without thinking I shoved the already-perched-on-his-desk Keith with more force than was apparently necessary to get my displeasure across. But the force wasn’t the only problem. The thing is, the hand Keith placed under me, happened to be attached to the only arm he had. See, Keith had a birth defect and was born with only one arm, which I didn’t know.
As such, the image of Keith attempting to regain balance, with one normal arm, and one “stub” fruitlessly flapping in the air, will be forever burned into my mind. Like a baby bird, attempting to save itself from falling out of the nest. Keith hit the floor and immediately started crying. Permanent damage to anyone? No. A permanently jarring memory? Absolutely.
77. Love Letter
In my freshman year of college, there was a girl in our summer teen theater group that had a crush on me. And for whatever reason, I wasn't really into her. There was nothing wrong with her, I just didn't reciprocate. She sent me a love letter and it was pretty self-deprecating, and she had clearly put a lot of work into it.
One of our other friends took it and read it out loud and I just let her. To this day, probably one of my biggest regrets is that I never got to apologize to that girl.
78. I Couldn’t Stand For It Anymore!
I'm usually a very calm person and rarely lose it. I did this one shift in a nursing home, and there was an aggressive resident. Nothing would calm her down. She kept hitting the caregivers, leaving them with scratches and bruises. I lost my marbles because management was just turning a blind eye to it, saying they had already tried everything.
Nobody was standing up for these girls who were petrified, physically shaking, and crying. I ended up calling for an ambulance, and the authorities had the resident taken in for a mental health check. She was ultimately sectioned and diagnosed with schizophrenia.
79. Better Business Blowout
The mechanic I used to take my car to was a jovial, friendly guy. Customers, employees, and everyone loved him. One day, I brought my car in, and while it was being serviced, I sat in the waiting room reading. A man came in to talk to the mechanic. He identified himself as being from the Better Business Bureau. He made completely unreasonable demands on behalf of another customer.
He did it in such a voice that even I wanted to punch him, and I have never punched anyone in my life. The mechanic went ballistic. I had never seen someone lose their cool like that and would have never expected it from him. He screamed at the BBB guy for 45 minutes. The BBB guy stood there silently and unabashed, making the mechanic angrier. I left for a while and came back, and the mechanic was still yelling.
I don’t know how it ended, but later the mechanic said, “Sorry you had to see that, but boy did it feel good”.
80. Granny Had Some Gusto
I was on set with this lovely woman playing my grandma. She was extremely soft-spoken, super sweet, and never got upset. One of the other cast members was pregnant. The AC had to be turned off during scenes for noise reasons. We were doing this one scene that took place in a cramped space, and it was probably 80 or so degrees in there. The pregnant woman was sweating and really didn’t look good.
The older woman asked if the pregnant woman could take a break, and the director said, “Let’s just go one more time”, so we went again. They said, “One more time”, six times, and the older woman went off. She said, “NO. NOT ONE MORE TIME. SHE IS SEVEN MONTHS PREGNANT, IN PAIN, AND ABOUT TO COLLAPSE. THE SCENE CAN WAIT. TAKE TWO SECONDS, AND GET HER OUT OF HERE”.
Everyone was shocked. It was incredible. Nothing could make this director cave except this 78-year-old powerhouse telling him off for the first time in five years of us all working together. We got her out, and she actually did faint. We had a long cast and crew meeting about respect and when to speak up. I look up to that woman with all that I am.
81. Watch The Remote
I once threw my Apple remote at my TV out of anger because Hulu skipped my paused playback of a hockey game I had waited all week for and ruined the game. Well, I paid for it—literally. My significant other was upset because it was the weekend and we were without a TV, so I immediately bought the biggest TV possible at the nearby Target that night to atone for myself.
Now we had a huge 75-inch flatscreen that we didn’t need. After hours of furiously trying to set up and mount the behemoth, it became immediately clear with just a few minutes of watching that the TV was too big and close for the small apartment living room and we were stuck with it.
82. What’s My Line
I was in an acting class in college, and we were doing a scene where a couple was having a big drawn-out fight. Multiple pairs went through the scene, and I studied it pretty hard, so I knew all the lines. We're about halfway through our performance when my partner clearly forgets what her line is. And because everyone was doing that scene, they could tell she had forgotten, as well.
Her next line was supposed to be: "Well, I'm sorry I asked"! I'm not usually a quick thinker on my feet, but I just filled the second or two of awkward silence with "I bet you're sorry you asked, huh"!? And continued on with my lines. Not overly cool per se, but the class and professor loved it and all laughed. Probably the only quick-witted thing I've ever done in my life.
83. Suspended
Back in high school, I was a slow fat kid. For PE, we'd jog about a kilometer to the beach, have a swimming lesson, then jog back. I was the last one back to the school grounds and the teacher was standing at the gate. He told me that cause I was too slow, he was going to lock the gate and I'd have to jog to the next one.
I said that I'd consider him locking me out of school grounds to be a suspension and just go home. He let me in straight away. I kind of wished he'd tried calling my bluff so I could have followed through and just gone home.
84. Beware Of The Quiet Ones
I was actually the “normally calm” person in this scenario. I’ve always been very shy and hated confrontation. But, there was a girl in my hometown known for being a high school meanie. She was one of those girls who loved to pick on my friends and especially me. She’d shove us at the clubs and try to pick fights every time we saw her.
The thing that sparked it was that one night, she elbowed my friend in her back really hard. I just lost it. I don’t think anyone’s ever seen me so angry, and I am not a scary person by any means, but I got right in her face and scared the daylights out of her. Seeing the quiet girl go psycho on someone is pretty intimidating. She just stood there, too scared to speak, and we never had issues again.
85. He Flipped Out
I had a history teacher in high school who was an incredible guy. He was a very warm and understanding person and looked after the other misfits and me. There was this really obnoxious kid during my freshman year who made a very snide remark, as he was known for doing. This teacher must’ve had enough that day because he proceeded to flip a desk, call this kid a name, and booted him out of the classroom.
86. Words Of Warning
My dad was a really nice calm dude, but one day, the neighbor boy hit me in the face with a pan. The next time my dad saw him outside, he walked menacingly to the fence and yelled, "Next time you touch my daughter, I'll rip your head off and hand it to your parents". Even as an adult, that dude is still afraid of my dad 20 years later.
87. Switch Side Are You On?
My best friend was a gentle and kind soul. When we were in our mid-20s, his roommate was seeing this guy who was clearly bad news. One night, he was pounding on the door and screaming for her, and my pal and I were watching some movie, hanging out. We answered the door because this guy was big, and he was saying he would break it if need be.
The guy made it as far as the living room before my friend just said, "No", and pointed at him with a furious stare that I had never seen before or since. The guy actually backed down. I'm a pretty lightweight woman, so this nutcase would have gone through me like nothing. However, during that situation, my friend just switched gears. Then, he switched back to his gentle self. I never knew he had it in him until the chips were down.
88. Feeling Froggy?
I knew a big burly former Marine from Iraq who was back stateside, this huge mountain of a man. We came to face each other in one of the narrow corridors of the office where one of us was gonna have to turn sideways. Neither of us turned, but we stopped. I'm six-foot-one, 260 pounds, and he still towered over me.
He was a nice guy, but still a little on edge from being in the army. He looked me in the eye and said, "You feeling froggy"? It truly was like something out of a movie. Without blinking I replied, "You better jump". We both cracked up and turned sideways, while the office breathed a collective sigh of relief.
89. Spellcheck
I am a fourth-grade teacher. One day, I was up at the board and struggling to remember how to spell a particular word. I was trying to make light of it, telling the kids that sometimes adults need help with spelling too. I should’ve known never to give a kid an opening for a sick burn. One student replied, “It is because you were poorly educated. But don’t worry, we are poorly educated too”. Double whammy.
90. A Messy Mistake
My childhood friend died when I was about 20. He liked my drawings, so I wrote him a goodbye letter on the back of one of my drawings. He had been cremated, and I found myself alone in a room with the urn, so I opened it up. His ashes were in a bag, so I stuffed the drawing down alongside the bag, thinking that way I could hide it from his family. Big mistake.
When I did that, the bag ripped and I got his ashes all over my hands. I brushed off what I could into the urn but had to wash some of him down the sink. It was awful and I’m still guilty about it decades later.
91. He Didn’t Let This One Float By
I invited my two neighbors who both have kids my son’s age for his fifth birthday party. We had been neighborly for the past two years. One of my neighbors had a boy named David who could be a menace. He liked to hit sometimes, and his mother didn’t like to do anything about it.
I was inside at the time, and David swung an inflatable ax at my child, then took it and pretended to poke my other neighbor’s daughter in her rear.
The girl’s father saw that and asked David to get out of the pool. This guy was usually super chill, and we had never seen him raise his voice ever. But David just kept poking his daughter. He grabbed the kid and yanked him out of the pool. The boy left the party, and the father went off yelling that he was going to beat up David’s dad.
92. The Law Was Not On Her Side
My law teacher in high school was super cool and always calm. She was a successful lawyer before she made the career switch, and you could really tell from her behavior. She had this air around her that made it clear that you shouldn’t mess with her. However, she never showed off, never raised her voice, never lost her patience with the students, or made snappy remarks.
Everyone respected her, except for this one girl. This girl was a typical class bully. Everyone had enough of her, but no one could do much because of the way she always phrased her insults as if she was merely stating her opinion and didn’t mean anything bad by it. She had started to feel like she could get away with anything.
One day, this girl was trash-talking the teacher in the middle of her class, whispering to her friend but loud enough so everyone could hear. The teacher very calmly walked through the classroom as if she hadn’t heard it. The girl and her friend were laughing, thinking they had gotten away with it. Then, the teacher quietly stopped behind the girl.
She put her hands on the girl’s shoulders and whispered, in the same manner, the girl had been doing, “Get out”. The girl froze. You could tell from her face that she realized she had pushed it too far. She actually went a bit pale. When she didn’t immediately react, the teacher just calmly added, “Now”. The girl was suspended after that.
93. Vindicated
I’m usually a pretty chill guy, and I’ll let a lot slide because it’s easier and healthier not to be angry. I went to the hardware store, and it started raining just as I got there. I saw a guy waiting under some cover in front of his car for a slight break in the rain. So, I just parked, put my indicator on, and gave him a wave to say take his time.
It took about five minutes before a slight break came. Just as he started reversing, an older lady pulled up, looked me straight in the eye, and took the spot the second the guy pulled out. I beeped my horn, and she didn’t even respond. I was furious. I found another spot pretty quickly, but that wasn’t the point. I confronted her, and she tried to say she didn’t see/hear me.
I blew it and called this old lady a lying, selfish woman. She got all huffy, saying, “You can’t talk to me like that”, and looked around for support. A guy who’d seen it all said, “Lady, don’t look at me. He’s got a point”.
94. Mosquito Season
I haven’t done anything like this since or before, but I had a moment when I was being harassed at school in grade five by a small jerk kid who just wouldn’t shut up with teasing and everything for a few years. I had been in school with him since grade one and he was always taking shots at me. I’ve always been on the tall and big side of kids.
This guy was small but he was like a mosquito, he just would harass everyone whenever he could. No matter how many times I asked him to stop or leave me alone, he kept on doing it day after day. One day I was grabbing my stuff from my locker and he came over and started harassing me for no reason. I told him to stop or I was gonna ram his head through the lockers cause I had enough.
He mocked and started poking me saying I was weak and wouldn’t do it. I snapped and I did. I picked him up by both arms like a cartoon and threw him into the lockers. I remember he looked absolutely terrified. I dented the locker I rammed his head into knocking him clean out. He came to, had a big bump but didn’t bleed or anything.
The locker was caved in completely, and I remember the first thought I had was I hoped he was okay. I got into trouble even though it was the first time I had done anything like that and I had been harassed for years. I felt terrible because he was so tiny compared to me and I destroyed him. He never said a word to me in harassment again and kept clear of me. He would get super quiet whenever I was around.
I have never been aggressive like that again and I always take the passive route since then. I remember how terrified he looked, the power I had over him when I thought he had taken that power from me for all those years. I should have NEVER done that to him, but I was a child and didn’t know how to get my power and dignity back.
The incident has made me realize how strong I actually am and I didn’t like unleashing it in anger like that. Sticks with me to this day and I’m almost 40.
95. Trouble At The Lake
When my sister was in high school in the early 2000s, she was hanging out with a rougher crowd. The crowd she usually hung out with didn't do much harm, they just skipped a lot of school. The worst thing any of her real friends did was take his mom's car at night to pick up his girlfriend and go to the lake. Pretty standard rebel teen stuff.
However, one of those friends had an older brother, let's call him Daniel. Let’s just say Daniel was a pretty unhinged dude. Plus, he's a 20-something hanging out with teenagers. They're all hanging out at the lake, sitting in the trunk of his car, and he's hitting on my sister. She was super uncomfortable and this dude was not taking no for an answer.
Daniel, being a hick in the south, was walking around shirtless. He also happened to have a piercing in his nipple. He finally leans over, grabs my sister's head, and tries to kiss her. My sister panics, obviously. So she does what any reasonable person would do: grabs his nipple ring and yanks as hard as she can. She ripped the ring right out.
He falls off of the trunk, screaming. My sister books it back to her car and drives home. She gets home and my mom goes "What’s that on your hand"? She still had the nipple ring on her finger, and a ton of blood obviously. This inspired my sister to hang out with a better crowd.
96. He Went Mental Over Some Merch
My friend had been playing a gig with his band. Before they played their set, someone took some merchandise from the merch table and ran. The band played the show. After the gig, my plastered mate saw someone outside the gig wearing one of the new shirt designs that the band had brought with them. He walked up to the man in the shirt.
He complimented him on it, then started whaling on the guy. I jumped in and wrestled him off the kid he was beating. But there was something he hadn’t known. This poor guy was a big fan of the band and had bought the shirt from the band at the gig. The actual crook was never found.
97. He Broke Loose Of His Cool
I had a friend—a former Marine—who didn’t lose his cool, ever. We were walking out of the mall, and we heard this guy railing at his girlfriend, berating her, and yelling that she was useless and had embarrassed him. Then he smacked her across the face. My friend immediately stopped in his tracks. He then walked over to them, grabbed the hand he hit her with, and broke two of his fingers.
He said something to the guy before he started walking toward his car again. I knew the guy for five years and only saw him mad that one time.
98. Show Stopper
I was pretty quiet in high school unless someone said or did something profoundly stupid. I was in color guard from the 10th to 12th grades. One night, when I was a senior, it was game night, and we were getting ready for a performance. One of my friends took a phone call, then excused herself outside. After a few minutes, I went to check on her. What she told me made me blood run cold. Her mom had called to tell her sister had attempted to take her life and was on her way to the hospital.
I was good friends with the older sister as well. I was comforting her and trying to control the crowd that was growing. This nasty instructor that we came over to ask what was the matter. I told her the girl’s sister was in the hospital, and it wasn’t looking great. She said to this poor girl, “Well, this is school, not home, so you should just leave those feelings at the door. We have a performance”.
I pretty much blacked out and berated this woman. I backed her up all the way inside the building and to the front of the room. She was so horrified, she ran out of the building with her bag, but forgot her shoes. She had to run back in and get them five minutes later. I never apologized, and it was never spoken of again.
99. Cast Out Of Class
My ninth-grade social studies teacher was usually a really soft-spoken, nice dude. One day, we had class right after the lunch break. Everybody came in and took their seats, except for one girl. She put her binder and textbook down at her own desk, then went over and stood near her friend’s desk and began talking to her. The teacher told her to take a seat, but she just ignored him.
Without one word, the teacher got up from his desk, walked over to the girl’s desk, grabbed her binder and textbook, then stepped out of the classroom and launched her stuff down the hallway. The girl saw this and ran out of the classroom to get her things. As soon as she stepped out, the teacher slammed the door and locked it behind her. But the most unforgettable part was what he said about it. He then looked at the class and said, "Even dogs can be taught to sit".
1oo. Leave It Well Enough Alone
For the past few months, I've suspected that my upstairs neighbor has been taking some of my mail. I buy a lot of things online like books and craft supplies and every now and then there's been small things that were meant to arrive on a certain day that never did. One day, I caught her wandering around my front door. When I asked her what she was doing she said "Oh, I was looking for something I think I dropped into your yard”.
I got surveillance cameras installed a while ago, which were not noticeable to my neighbors. The camera that's pointed at my front door isn't visible from the driveway. So here comes the trap. I purchased a few postage boxes to set up for her. The first one was a glitter bomb. I set up the box to make sure she would get glitter to the face as soon as she opened it.
I packed it to make it look like a postage parcel, then sat it at my front door. 20 minutes later I saw her walking to my front door. She looked around then picked up the box and walked away. My only regret is that I didn't get to see her reaction when she got a face full of glitter. I haven't noticed any other mail going missing after that, but she will regret it if she does it again.
101. So Many Bottled Up Emotions
I'm a Sommelier, also known as that jerk who tries to sell you wine in a restaurant. Several months ago, a table full of middle-aged women wanted to know what our sweetest wine by the glass was. The alpha whiner of the group had her heart set on asserting herself and putting on a show for her crew. Keep in mind, I was new to the job and wasn't really keen on the idea that "the customer is always right" just yet.
Our interaction went as follows. Me: “Our sweetest by-the-glass wine? That would be our (insert brand name here) Riesling from Mosel, Germany. Low alcohol content level, with lots of residual sugar that's balanced by a strong acidic backbone". Her: "Riesling's not sweet". Me: "Not all Riesling, correct. But this one definitely is". I had no idea what I was getting into.
Her: "No, I spent six months in Germany once and didn't have a sweet Riesling the entire time". Me: "That may be the case, but Mosel is world-renowned for their sweeter style, and the other benefits I mentioned, ma’am". Her: "You know what, I don't think you know what you're talking about because I actually lived there. Have you"?
Me: "No mam, I have not". Her: "Exactly. You know what, I see that you have a Gewurztraminer by the glass. I KNOW that's a sweet wine, so I 'll just have that”. Me: "The Riesling is far sweeter, ma’am. The Gewurztraminer is barely off-dry. It's more dry than it is sweet". Her: "I know what I'm talking about, just get me the wine please".
Me: "Absolutely". At this point, I'm ready. I'm going to prove this woman wrong in the best way possible. I go up to the bartender and tell him to pour me a Riesling instead of the Gewurztraminer. I hand deliver the glass of it to the table and announce: "Your Gewurztraminer, ma’am". I walk away and watch from a distance with a Grinch-like eating grin.
She falls into my trap and takes the first sip. I return to the table. Me: "How is it"? Her: "It's delicious. Very sweet. Much sweeter than Riesling. Just like I knew it would be". Me: "Glad you like it, but I did just talk to the bartender and, as it turns out, he accidentally poured you the Riesling". She instantly turns beet red. Her: "So this isn't Gewurztraminer"?
Me: "No ma’am, my apologies. Would you like a glass of that instead of the one you currently have"? The grin on my face has at this point been upgraded to a full-blown maniac smile and a twinkling of the eye. She responds tersely, with bitterness oozing from her mouth. Her: "No, this will be fine". Me: "Lovely, enjoy the rest of your evening".
The moral of the story? I don't know everything about the drinks I sell. That much is true. In fact, I hardly know anything in the grand scheme of it all. Especially compared to some real experts out there. But when I do talk about the products I work with, you can guarantee I'll know what the heck I'm saying is correct.
102. Like Mother, Like Daughter
My ex had always mentioned how she would love to see a Montreal Canadiens hockey game. Seeing as her birthday was coming up, I decided I would spare no expense to get tickets. So after some searching, I managed to find tickets just behind the Habs' bench about 10-15 rows up. They were not cheap seats. When her birthday came, I handed her the envelope containing her birthday card with the tickets.
She opened it, and upon seeing what the envelope contained, she smiled one of those sarcastic, "Thanks, it's really greeeaaaaat, it's what I always wanted," kind of smiles. I picked up on the obvious disappointment on her face, and asked, “What? You don't like your gift? You DID say you wanted to see a Canadiens game, right?”
She replied, "Well yeah, but that would be a gift for like, whenever. For my birthday, I wanted something shiny, like earrings or a necklace or a ring". I was so shocked by that response that all I could bring myself to say was, "Sorry, sweety, I'll make it up to you. But we can still go to the game tonight". She replied with, "No way! If you think I'm gonna spend MY birthday sitting in a cold ice rink instead doing what I choose to, you're mistaken, Mister"!
I was absolutely FUMING at that point. She told me, "As punishment for not getting me what I really wanted, for not knowing me as well as you should by not getting me what I really wanted, I'm going out with my girls tonight. You can scalp the tickets and give me the cash you make, and that's a start for me to forgive you"! At that point, she got out of my car and slammed the door. I ended it the very next day.
When her mom found out what happened, she called me and told me that the whole thing could easily be made good if I just went out and bought her a ring as she wanted. If I were to do that, she would take me back, and all would be well. I replied, “Now I see why your daughter is so materialistic. She has a very good role model". Two days later, I met the woman who would become my wife.
When I got her tickets to see her favorite team, the Penguins, she was so happy; she cried at how thoughtful my gift was.
103. Just a Reminder
My annoying co-worker loved saying dumb stuff to get a rise out of me. One day, I made him regret it. He shouted at me from across the floor that “there's a woman on the phone, and she says she's pregnant, and she thinks the baby might be yours". I just shouted back at him, “Tell your mom to stop calling me at work".
104. The Art Of Fighting
I taught high school art. I had a student become furious with me and eventually threaten to hit me. I tried to give the kid an easy out because I knew he wouldn't do it, and nothing good could come of embarrassing him. However, he wouldn't have it and continued to threaten me. Finally, I gave him an ultimatum—I told him to just go ahead and either take a swing at me or get out of my room.
He was now even more furious that I called his bluff. So in retaliation, he threw a jar of paint at the wall as he stormed out of the room. It made a huge splatter, which he assumed I would have to clean up. Instead, I created a silhouette of Ryu and the paint became the Hadouken. When he came back from suspension he had this look of defeat. Other students thought it was badass.
105. Trouble Spot
Back when I was little, we lived across from a popular public pool on a tiny street, so parking was premium. We had issues with people parking across our driveway, but we were close with the pool owner and would get him to ask over the loudspeakers, and whoever parked the car would come over, apologize to us, and move.
But one day after coming home from school, I saw somebody had the audacity to not park in our driveway but inside our garage. My dad was dumbfounded. We went over to make the usual announcement. Then this woman in her 30s came stomping over in a huff and said she would fix it when she had finished her exercise routine. So, my dad just parked behind her, and we went out for dinner for a few hours.
She was mad, but she didn't learn her lesson and kept doing it two to four times a month! Eventually, my dad stopped caring about parking her in and let her out at his leisure. It wasn't our problem just hers. She even called officers on us. They just told her not to park on private property and then wrote her a citation. Then one morning, she had the gall to park us in our own driveway. Dad had had enough.
He made sure she was doing her laps, grabbed a coat hanger, jimmied the door open, dismantled the passenger seat, and left it on the curb by the pool exit. He then waited on our front deck, sipping his tea as she came out of the pool to get her car. She walked by the passenger seat without a second glance. Scowling at him as she got in her car, she did a double-take as she went to put her bag down.
She freaked out, realizing that my dad had had access to her car the whole time. She ran over, grabbed her seat, put it in the trunk, and drove off. We never heard from her again.
106. Keep Your Friends Close…
I suspected that my wife was cheating on me with a co-worker. I confronted both who responded by calling me a jealous husband. They were just best friends and I needed to understand that. So, I befriended him, became his workout partner, and learned everything I could about him. I’d even invited him to my dinner table.
Physical revenge was often considered, but neither he nor she was worth me spending a life sentence in prison for. I played dumb. He was a bodybuilder and taking steroids. He wasn't incredibly smart and had just barely gotten through college. And he was working minimum pay jobs while he worked towards his true desire.
He was applying for the firefighter school in our major metro city. If accepted, it would be a lifetime job for him and a career he’d wanted since he was young. He talked often during our workout sessions about how much it meant to him. I have had countless EMS and fire department contacts through my healthcare career.
He also knew I was knowledgeable about medicine. After he started to ask questions about steroids, I made sure to give him just enough info to have him want to ask me more. I then made sure he started emailing me his steroid questions. Ironically, he used an account that even had his full name in the address.
After a private investigator confirmed the affair, I moved my plan into action. So, when I was ready to leave my wife, I contacted several of the FD officers who sat on the review board. I gave them the emails from one of their candidates admitting he was using substances and lied about it during the interview process. He was slated to be a part of the incoming class as he’d done quite well. But he was rejected.
I used my contacts in the EMS community to make sure that he’d never be accepted to a major fire department within a 200-mile radius. He and my wife took my dream marriage, so I took something that had just a profound effect.
107. Minors Must Be Accompanied
I'm a therapist. I was halfway through a counseling session with a couple with a four-month-old baby. I asked about the baby, and the mom said, “She’s in bed at home". I said, “Ah, grandparents babysitting"? The dad went, “No, she is at home alone. Nothing can happen to her. We bought a special mattress. One where she can’t suffocate".
At this point, my jaw was on the floor, and I was just staring at them for a couple of seconds. Then I asked how long it took them to get here. They told me about 15 minutes, so I said, “Alright, the session’s over. I want you guys to go home immediately and call me when you arrive. Please hurry. And never ever leave your baby alone"!
