These poor people were all in the wrong place at the wrong time, and heard some things they wish they could erase from their memories. Thanks to these brutal revelations and cruel comments, these people learned that ignorance really is bliss.
1. So Much for the Cost of Friendship
I once overheard a former roommate laughing with his girlfriend at the time about how they were taking advantage of me financially. It turned out they’d been using my “utilities” checks to buy games and alcohol instead. Rather than confront them, I called the utilities company to confirm what I’d heard (they hadn’t paid the bill in two months) and moved all my stuff out while they were at work.
To be safe, I also had my name removed from the lease and let the rental company know the girlfriend had been living there for six months.
2. New Laugh, Who Dis?
Back in middle school art class, something funny happened and I laughed really loudly. Right after that, I overheard one of my childhood best friends whisper to someone else, “I really hate trader2488’s laugh.” I immediately looked at him and said, “What?” but he just stared down at the table like he didn’t hear me. That moment actually made me change the way I laugh. It’s completely different from what it used to be.
3. E-Fail
I was copied on an email thread where, about ten messages earlier, one of my employees had called me an idiot and suggested to the others that they not involve me in what they were talking about. I’d always thought we got along well, so it really shook my confidence and brought it down a couple notches. It stung, honestly.
4. Oh Dear, Diary…
At my first sleepover, the people I invited found my diary and started laughing at entries where I’d written about my dad hurting me. I’d accidentally left it in the room, and one of my “friends” went snooping. It got even worse when they wouldn’t stop or hand it back after I rushed in and begged them to. Then everyone laughed even more. That was the first and last time I ever wrote anything that honest in a diary.
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5. With Care Like This, You’re Better Off Alone
I lived next to a guy who cared for his disabled girlfriend. She stayed home with a nurse while he worked to support them and cover her medical care. Everyone really admired him for it. But because I lived right next door, I knew the unsettling truth. When he got drunk, he’d tell her that if she didn’t start being intimate with him, he was going to kick her out.
6. Good Riddance!
I think this happened in ninth grade. There was a girl I had a crush on, but I’d barely talked to her, and she was moving to a new town. A few days before she left, I overheard her saying, “Yeah, I’ll miss pretty much everyone… but I’ll tell you one person I won’t miss: [My name]!” That really stung—like, a lot.
7. Not My Friends
Walked up on a group of people I thought were my friends and caught them talking badly about me, saying I’m a loser and a bunch of other petty stuff. As soon as they noticed me, they got quiet, and I just walked away. Sometimes the people you call friends aren’t really your friends.
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8. Need to Escape
I went to school with a black eye and a busted nose because of my dear old dad. Child services got called to do a home check—and I’ll never forgive my parents for what they told them. My mom and dad told the worker I’d done it to myself, that I was suicidal, and that I’d written in my diary that I wanted to hurt my little brother. I didn’t even have a diary, and of everyone I was close to, my little brother was number one. Their story earned me an even worse black eye and an involuntary stay in a locked ward. I got out as soon as I could.
9. Lies Spread Like a Disease
I overheard the couple next door arguing. The wife was furious because she realized her husband had been cheating on her, but that wasn’t even the worst part. She found out about the affair after she tested positive for chlamydia. He tried to convince her that she must have been the one who was unfaithful. She still lives there. He doesn’t.
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10. Never Enough
I overheard my mom say to my dad, “Why can’t he be like [my sister] and be smart?” I don’t think I’ve ever really gotten over hearing that. I’ve taken some of the hardest classes and I get straight A’s, plus I score in the top 1% on almost every standardized test I’ve taken, so I honestly don’t know what more they want from me.
11. Caught Red-Handed
My boyfriend let me use his iPad so I could watch a movie on Netflix. He still had his Messenger account connected, and messages kept popping up while I was watching. That’s when I found out something really upsetting. I watched it happen in real time as he convinced his best friend’s wife to agree to sleep with him over the upcoming holiday weekend, promising he’d make sure I was out of the way so they could be together in our bed.
Who cares.
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12. Parental Guidance
It was pretty rough having to listen to my parents argue about my dad’s internet history showing inappropriate websites, and then it turned into a full-on fight about their declining intimate life. I was 12 years old.
13. Motivated Through Sass
Some distant relatives visited during the holidays and talked about how my siblings and cousins were all doing amazing in school. They also said that if I didn’t make it in sports, I’d probably be working minimum wage for the rest of my life. More than 10 years later, my sports career fizzled out in college, but I’m the only one out of all those relatives earning in the six-figure range each year and owning my own house. It stung to hear at the time, but I guess I should be grateful for the motivation it gave me—it really pushed my work ethic as a teen.
14. Know-Nothing
I went out to a bar with some friends and an acquaintance who’d been broken up with just a few days earlier. As I made the rounds, I stopped to talk with her and tried to do whatever I could to let her know things would be okay. I’m no therapist, but I did my best, you know? Anyway, after I left the table, I overheard her talking to my ex about me trying to give her advice.
She said, “Well, nobody has ever loved him, so what would he know about any of this?” and then they started laughing like it was the funniest thing. I don’t think they realized I heard, but I grabbed my coat right away and took a long walk home. I don’t need people like that in my life, and I haven’t chosen to see either of them since.
15. The Line Was Very Busy
I picked up the house phone one day and realized there was already a conversation happening. That’s how I found out my stepdad was having an affair with his brother’s wife…
16. Art Attack
A very young girl gave her mother a picture she drew as a gift while riding public transportation. I overheard the mother then dismiss the gift in a rude way. It honestly made me pretty sad.
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17. The Ruiner
Background: I’m 12 years younger than my older sisters, and I wasn’t planned. When I was seven, I overheard my mom crying and saying I was the reason she didn’t love my dad anymore, why we were struggling financially, and why she wasn’t happy—like she didn’t want to be a mom anymore. She even said she “didn’t know how to love someone who ruined her whole life.”
It was Christmas Eve, and she was drunk, talking to her best friend on the phone. It completely broke my heart and my spirit, and honestly, that was just the start of a really painful childhood. Side note: I’m 29 now, and I moved out when I was 15 to protect myself. I don’t have any contact with my parents, and I know it wasn’t my fault I was born… but this memory still really messes with me.
18. Getting the Message
When I was 12, I was home alone and a friend of my dad’s called the house. I let it go to voicemail—honestly, I still wish I’d answered. I overheard him leaving this strange message about how my dad was the best friend he’d ever had. About 10 minutes later, my dad got home, and I told him about the voicemail right away. Dad tried calling him back, but he didn’t answer.
Later we found out he had taken his own life right after leaving that message, which was a really upsetting thing for me to learn at that age.
19. Living in the Past
I met my boyfriend’s family and then stepped into the other room. While I was there, I overheard his mom say, “She seems nice, but I honestly liked your ex more. What ever happened to her?”
20. Well That’s Awkward...
“I don’t want to be in this marriage anymore.” I really didn’t like hearing my parents break up in the next room when I was a kid…
21. Pale But Nice
When I was a preteen, I posted a photo of myself online with a minor celebrity. Later, I found out it had been reposted on a message board, and most of the comments were about how ugly and pale I looked. The only person who said something kind wrote, “Don’t say that—she posts here sometimes, and she’s really nice.”
22. Gotta Fly
My father told me he was too busy to visit us on Christmas. I told him my two-year-old had picked out presents for him, and I was also planning to share that I’m pregnant again. A few days later, I was visiting my brother at his house when my father called to offer him a ride to the airport on Christmas morning. The airport is less than five minutes from our house.
23. Curiosity Killed the Cat
I saw a cassette tape sitting on top of a car, and as a teenager I impulsively reached out and grabbed it. It caught my attention for some reason. When I got home, I decided to put it in the player and listen. Looking back, I really wish I hadn’t.
It was a confession. My best guess is that a lawyer had left it on the roof of their car, and I was the unlucky idiot who picked it up. The kid on the tape sounded around 16, and he was confessing to killing his mother. At one point, the detective asked him, “What did she do when you hurt her?” and the kid just fell apart, sobbing, and said, “She yelled for help.” Something in me broke when I heard that.
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24. Down the Rabbit Hole
I woke up around midnight on Easter when I was about six, hoping to catch a glimpse of the Easter Bunny. Instead, I heard my divorced mom crying to my dad on the phone, asking him to come get my brother and me because she didn’t have any money to buy us chocolate for the holiday. She was really upset, just completely overwhelmed. Looking back, it still breaks my heart.
Back then, though, I was mostly just stunned. So I went back to bed and acted surprised when my dad showed up in the morning to pick us up. He told us the Easter Bunny got confused about which house we were going to be at.
25. The Circle of Life
When I was an undergrad, I worked in a nursing home. A lot of the residents had dementia, and one older woman would often say, “We need to kill those babies.” Sometimes she’d repeat it all night long without realizing I could hear her. She was dealing with a lot, but she still really unsettles me. I hope she’s okay…
26. Cheater Cheater Pumpkin Eater
A few months ago, I overheard my wife say, “You look really handsome, babe!” She was on a FaceTime call with the guy she’d been cheating with, and she didn’t realize I’d come home early from work. It’s still the hardest thing I’ve ever heard. I stood in the hallway listening for a few minutes, then packed a bag and left. We’d been married 10 years, and we have a two-year-old together. It still feels unreal.
27. Roach Rent
I was seven and pretty poor, but I asked my friend if I could stay the night. He called his mom to ask, and I overheard her say, “Tell him no, I don’t want roaches and lice.” That really hurt. To this day, I have major anxiety about keeping my house clean. It wasn’t my fault we didn’t have much, and our roaches sure weren’t paying rent—so please don’t be so judgmental.
28. Smarter Than the Average Bear
I’m a very typical white American from the Midwest. I definitely don’t look like I speak anything other than English, but I’ve actually studied several languages, including Korean. One time I was in Seoul, South Korea, sitting outside and relaxing. A few Korean guys were standing not too far from me, just smoking, laughing, and chatting. Out of curiosity, I started listening in—and honestly, I wish I hadn’t.
They were talking about the “fat, stupid American guy” sitting nearby. They tossed around a bunch of insults and made fun of my personality, intelligence, and appearance. I didn’t give any sign that I understood what they were saying. I just sat there and kept to myself. When it was time to head back inside for work, I walked past them and, in Korean, told them that not all Americans were as stupid as they seemed to think.
The look on their faces when they realized I’d understood everything they said is something that still makes me smile whenever I think about it.
29. The Mean Girls Strike Again
I was in middle school, and I overheard one of the girls doing one of those paper fortune-telling games with the boys, predicting who they were going to date. She opened the paper and said, “Ugh, you’re going to date Fox,” and the guy just went, “Ew.” Yeah, that’s when I realized I wasn’t exactly considered a catch…
30. A Pretty Serious Charge
I once overheard a young boy ask his sister if she remembered how their mom used to hit them when they were little. They couldn’t have been older than nine.
31. Motherly Hate
I was really sick—septic. I was stuck in the ER at the local hospital. I had tubes going in and out of me, I was on IV antibiotics, and I honestly didn’t know if I was going to make it through the night. My family was back at my house, and my niece, who was with me, called them and put the phone on speaker. That’s when I heard my mom telling everyone that she didn’t care about me.
From what she said, she never had. She claimed she was only involved to make sure my nephew was okay. She kept saying I must have picked up some “dirty” illness because I’m gay and because she assumed I’d been sleeping with everyone in town. That wasn’t true—it wasn’t an STD, and I didn’t get it from sleeping around. I haven’t had anything to do with her since. She may be my mother, but she isn’t someone I can call a friend anymore.
32. Little Brats
When I was in sixth grade, during homeroom they sometimes made us walk around the track. I felt awkwardly alone and tried to speed up so I could catch up with a group of girls from my class. Then I heard one of them say, “Oh, keep walking or she’ll catch up to us.” I slowed down and hung back, feeling so lonely, and I was sure everyone could tell I didn’t have anyone to walk with. Kids can be really unkind.
33. Unsweet Vindication
I once overheard my friend’s mom telling her son—who was my partner on our canoe trip—that the reason I kept complaining about leg pain all day was because I was just being wimpy and liked to complain. A few weeks later, I found out I had a bone tumor in my leg.
34. Room-Hate
I had just moved into my dorm for my second year of college. My roommate was my best friend since ninth grade. My stuff hadn’t arrived yet, and it was time for me to register, so I asked if I could use his computer. He said sure. I sat down, and he had AIM open to a chat with another good friend of ours.
I didn’t scroll up, but from what I could see on the screen, they were talking about how weird I was and how terrible it would be to room with me. I closed it so he wouldn’t realize later that I’d seen it, registered, and left. We still lived together that year, but we didn’t hang out at all. We just shared the space. I never asked him to do anything as friends, and he never asked me.
Move-out day that year was the last time we spoke. That was more than ten years ago. We talked every day for six years, and then we just didn’t. I still don’t know if I did or said something that changed how he felt about me, or if he never really liked me in the first place. If it’s the second one, it really messes with how you trust future friendships. And if it’s the first, that’s rough too—knowing you might be able to accidentally say or do something that can end a five-year friendship without even realizing it.
35. The Beat of Your Own Drum
“He acts like people actually like him! Someone needs to tell him—we only hang out with him because he’ll do almost anything you ask him to. He’s basically just being used.” This was said by a girl I had a huge crush on.
36. Mother Issues
I overheard my mother telling the rest of my family that my baby passed away because of my negligence. In truth, my baby passed away from SIDS. After I heard her say that, I didn’t have a relationship with my mother for a year…especially because she later said it directly to my face, even after multiple doctors, funeral directors, and therapists explained that SIDS can’t be intentionally caused.
37. Not a Child No More
My mother passed away suddenly, and I received a file she’d meant to give me before she died. It included a psychological profile, tests, personality results, and other materials. That part didn’t surprise me—I’m autistic, and I was in therapy as a child. But then I read the section about my family and how hard it was for them to live with me. According to it, my brothers and my dad struggled so much that they wished I’d never been born. My parents’ divorce was described as being largely because of me. My brothers were embarrassed by me.
I was never expected to live on my own. There were conversations about assisted living, or even an institution, but somehow I managed to leave home as soon as I turned 18. I got married, had kids, and even though I struggle a lot, I make it work. I even have a good relationship with my brothers, even if they still have a hard time treating me like an adult. It’s like going through life feeling like everyone can see you as disabled except you—and then finding out you were right.
38. Minding His Own Business?
I once overheard my ex in his office on a “business” call that sounded a lot like he was cheating…
39. Foster the People
I was listening to two of my kindergarten students talking about Christmas the day before break. One asked, “Do you believe in Santa?” The other replied, “Yeah, but he doesn’t come to my house because I’m in foster care.” That really broke my heart.
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40. The Importance of Equality
I was working on a product that kept getting delayed. My boss was sure the delays were because I wasn’t doing a good job, but I knew there was an issue on the production line contaminating the product and making it behave incorrectly. It was incredibly stressful because I had no support, and I still had to get it done. So, with tears of frustration in my eyes, I finally snapped and said something like, “Okay, fine. I guess this is just how we do business now. I’ll push it through.” About an hour later, I heard him outside the door—and what he said made me furious.
In a high-pitched, condescending, mocking “girl voice” (I’m the only woman on my team), he said, “Okay, fine. I guess this is just how we do business now. I’ll push it through.” He did it in front of the whole team, then retold our conversation in a way that made me look awful. And the worst part? I was right all along. There really was a production problem. But did I get any credit for finding it? Of course not. My boss did.
Now my team doesn’t respect me the same way, and people talk down to me. It feels terrible that I let my emotions show just once, and in a matter of minutes, everyone’s perception of me changed so much that I can’t get anyone to take what I say seriously. It’s gotten to the point that I’m looking for another job, and I’m willing to take a significant pay cut just to get away from the “emotional woman” label that’s following me around.
41. Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
My downstairs neighbors got into a really loud argument one night. I couldn’t help but listen when I heard a woman shouting, “Did you sleep with her?! Did you sleep with her?!” again and again. That was an interesting night.
42. Malpractice Mary
I have an odd neurological issue in my shoulder and arm that no one has ever been able to diagnose. During a really bad flare-up, a friend referred me to a physical therapist. I saw her once, and she immediately recommended surgery. I was very hesitant to go along with that, but I didn’t outright refuse—I called the surgeon she suggested, but it turned out he wasn’t taking new patients. At my second appointment, there was a scheduling mix-up and I arrived 30 minutes early.
I sat in the front office and overheard the therapist making small talk with another patient about how “her next patient” was supposedly trying to make up some kind of malpractice case and refusing to follow her advice. The receptionist was sitting right in front of me and clearly heard it too, but didn’t step in to stop it… so it went on for quite a while.
If I really had been someone trying to build a case against her, she basically handed me everything I’d need.
43. Well, That Was Mature
I was in college back in the early days of Facebook, when the feed was still a pretty new feature. One day I was scrolling and saw that some girls I was friendly with had posted a photo album of an art project they made: a hanging mobile. It was made from a coat hanger, and dangling from it were pictures of guys they thought were really creepy, plus photos of a few guys at our school who had a reputation for being kind of odd.
Then I saw my own picture hanging there too, and I was crushed. These were girls I knew and considered friends. I messaged them to confront them, but I tried to do it calmly and respectfully—telling them I was genuinely hurt to see myself included, and apologizing if I’d ever done something to upset or offend them. They were really embarrassed, but they also responded in a mature way and apologized.
They told me they actually wanted to be my friend. They also (fairly) pointed out some things about my behavior that explained why they’d put my photo there in the first place, and it gave me a lot to think about and work on so I could be better. This happened about 10 years ago and I still think about it. I even still have the old Facebook message thread from back then.
44. I Know You Are, But What Am I?
My cousin Raphael, who speaks Farsi, was at the mall once when he heard a Persian woman scolding her son and saying, “Don’t eat so much or you’ll get fat like that man.” It took him a moment to catch the uncomfortable part—she was pointing straight at him. So he replied in Farsi and yelled, “Don’t call me fat! You’re fat!”
Honestly, there’s something satisfying about seeing the look on someone’s face when they realize you understood every word they said.
45. It’s Just Gamer Rage, It’s Just Gamer Rage
At that point in my life, I was really depressed and desperately needed to talk to my mom, who’s the person I’m closest to in my family. I walked to her room, and when I got to the doorway, I saw my brother leaning over her shoulder while she was playing a video game.
When the other player lost, they started throwing a tantrum, and my brother said, “Wow. She’s such a drama queen. She could rival [my name] for the biggest diva ever.” Right when I needed her most, my mom laughed along with him. I felt completely betrayed and spent the next few hours crying my eyes out.
46. Gunfight
I overheard two guys on the subway in New York City having one of the most unsettling conversations I’ve ever heard. They were debating what the “perfect” handgun caliber would be for taking someone out. One was a smaller guy who insisted the best Glock would be a 9mm because that’s what law enforcement uses. Then the bigger guy started shaking his head and launched into a short talk about anatomy and ballistics.
He went on to claim that a “professional” would use a .22 instead, because it’s harder to trace, the ammo is cheap, and you could hit someone in the head without people realizing it was a gunshot. I couldn’t help thinking those two must have been on their way to some kind of hired-gun convention.
47. You Were No Accident
I once overheard my mother say, about my younger sister, “I only had her so I wouldn’t have to go to work anymore.” Later, I realized that as I got old enough to need less supervision, my mom understood she’d be expected to actually contribute financially like most people.
That clearly wasn’t something she wanted, so she “accidentally” got pregnant again. It took me a long time to fully understand what I’d heard. Not surprisingly, my mom and I don’t have the best relationship.
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48. You Never Know Who You’re Really Dealing With
Around 2004 or 2005, I was at a meeting. During a restroom break, I overheard two men talking. One of them said his brother had died in the Pentagon attack. Not long after, his brother’s widow gave birth to their second child. Then, about a year later, she passed away from cancer.
The man I heard speaking said he had adopted his brother’s children. He and his wife had never planned to have kids, but they stepped in to raise them. It was a huge change, but he cared deeply about the kids and was doing the best he could for them.
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49. Allergic to That Peanut Butter
"Jimmy, I am sick and tired of you sticking your body parts in the peanut butter jar!" Jimmy is my brother, and I was in the living room eating a PB&J sandwich.
50. Third Time’s the Charm
I once saw a couple sitting on a park bench, quietly talking to each other. The guy said something, and the girl giggled and said, “No.” He said it again, and she laughed a little louder and said, “No,” again. When he leaned in a third time, she finally snapped and loudly said, “NO! Sarah, we’ve talked about this, and I’m not going to pee on you!” Uhhhh… okay.
51. We Know What You’re Up to!
I grew up in Norway, and I speak about six languages at different levels, so I’ve got more than my fair share of stories about understanding things I probably wasn’t supposed to. The best one, though, happened when I was studying in Prague. One night I went out with some Czech friends—all girls.
We ended up at a bar, sitting at a table right next to a group of Norwegian guys who were in town for a weekend party trip. They were pretty drunk, and of course they immediately started flirting with me and my friends, in that typical heavily accented English a lot of Norwegians speak. While they flirted, they also talked among themselves about each girl’s looks—only it didn’t stop there.
They were also saying things like, “I’m totally going to get lucky tonight,” and similar comments. The whole time, I translated what they were saying into Czech for my friends. So there was plenty of entertainment happening at both tables.
As the Norwegians kept buying more drinks, they got bolder and more confident, and the Czechs played along and got more and more flirty too. After a few hours of this, the girls and I suddenly decided to end the night—pretty abruptly. The Norwegian guys looked completely confused.
They couldn’t figure out why we’d gone cold so fast. That’s when I delivered the final twist. I walked over and said, in perfect Norwegian, “Nice meeting you, guys—good luck!” Then we watched them turn bright red and headed out.
52. Insides Out
This was around a pretty rough-looking group of people. Without any context, I heard, “So then he stands up, and his organs just start spilling out. We’re sitting there waiting for the ride to the hospital, and the guy is just casually holding his intestines, having a cigarette.” I figured it was best not to ask any questions and just quickly walked away. Far, far away.
53. Riches to Rags
I was repairing a woman’s computer when, right in front of me, she got a phone call telling her that her mother had suddenly passed away. In an instant, she went from a confident Executive Assistant to a vulnerable little girl. It was truly heartbreaking.
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54. A Weighty Dilemma
When I was a youth pastor, I overheard a parent from the youth group talking with one of my coworkers about my weight and acting like I didn’t care about my life. They said I was setting a terrible example for the students and that I was ignoring my health. They even said I wouldn’t make it past 30 (I’m 27).
Then the mom said the only reason she joined the church’s hiring committee was to get me fired because of my weight. She claimed she’d worked her way onto the committee and pressured the pastor so she could make me sign a contract saying that if I didn’t lose weight, I’d be let go. In the end, I don’t work there anymore, because I chose to leave on my own.
55. Goodbye, Nurse
“If another nurse had been taking care of him, he’d be alive right now.” I spent the whole night running back and forth trying to stabilize a patient, while my rude coworker sat there making comments about how incompetent they thought I was. Neither of them did anything to help. When the patient crashed, both of them suddenly disappeared, and it was nurses from the other end of the hallway who came in to help with the code.
They showed up only after everything was over, and then I overheard one of them say that. After that, they went to the unit manager and said I was incompetent and crying at the bedside. Thankfully, neither of them works on the unit anymore.
56. Mom’s Little Cross to Bear
When I was around 10 or 11, I went through a really rough time emotionally. The ADHD medication I was taking started affecting me in a bad way, and that mixed with normal pre-teen angst turned me into a real handful. I got into a lot of fights at school and was basically an emotional mess.
One night, I was lying on the couch with my eyes closed—quiet for what felt like the first time in months—and I heard my mom tell my brother that raising me was really hard, and that sometimes she wished I was someone else’s responsibility. I know she was exhausted and frustrated, but I’ve never forgotten it, and I’ve also never brought it up with her.
57. This Threesome Was Really a Foursome
My last apartment had especially thin walls between units. One night, I was reading in bed and ended up as an accidental witness to a pretty nasty argument between the couple next door. It went on for almost an hour and seemed to be the end of their relationship—she said she was going to leave him and the apartment the next day. The longer it went on, the more curious I got, and eventually I started piecing the whole wild story together.
I didn’t really know them personally—just enough to wave hello, help carry groceries, that kind of good-neighbor stuff. From what I could tell, the couple had gotten bored with their private life, so they decided to act on a fantasy and invite another man to join them. I guess it worked for a while, but when the woman came home early from a work trip, she found her partner and the other guy in the middle of things without her.
She completely lost it, and it sounded like after that they tried to fix the relationship—but she caught them together two more times (the most recent being the night before the argument I was, honestly, listening to). The next morning, neither of them could hold eye contact with me for very long.
58. A History of Bad Overhearings
I overheard two of my only friends at the time making plans to go out later and saying they needed to “ditch the redhead.” That was me. They’d been my only friends for as long as I could remember. Another time, I told my mom I was dating a girl she knew and seemed to really like. Right after, I heard my mom on the phone telling one of her friends she was disappointed in the girl’s choice and hoped she’d date other people instead.
59. Revenge: A Dish Best Served Dirty
In sophomore year of high school, three girls teased me nonstop. I heard a lot of things that hurt, but the worst was one day when my dad was helping me carry supplies into school for a project. We walked past one of the girls and some of her friends who didn’t know me, and I heard her say really loudly, “Why does she dress like that? She’s so weird. She’s literally always happy about every little thing, it’s so annoying.”
My dad and I both heard it. He’s pretty socially awkward, so he couldn’t bring himself to say anything. I also think he didn’t want to admit he heard it because he assumed I wouldn’t want him to bring it up. But I saw it in his eyes—his heart just sank. I can imagine how much it hurt him. I know I’d fall apart if someone ever said something cruel about him, whether he was there or not.
Over time, it got worse. They would tweet about me, and if I tried to stand up for myself, they’d push back even harder. They made up nicknames and whispered them when I was giving presentations to throw me off. One time I found out my grandmother passed away while I was in class, and one of the girls shouted, “Oh my gosh, she’s crying!” One of them even messed up a school project I’d worked on.
Eventually, I hit my limit. During a free period, I went into the auditorium and just cried. I didn’t realize the tech director was in there with a few of my peers. They came over, and I remember asking, “How do you deal with it when someone doesn’t like you?” They all knew exactly who I meant. They were so kind to me. They told me I was beautiful and smart, and that in a small school like ours, most people actually liked me—and that the mean girls couldn’t handle that. That moment really stayed with me.
Then in senior year, one of them tried to ruin something I’d worked on for months by taking my project and tearing it apart. The principal knew what I’d been dealing with and told me that if I thought it was sabotage, they would treat it that way, and it could mean suspension or even expulsion. I believe in karma, so I told them I believed her that it was an accident, and she only got detention.
And yes—karma did show up later. One of them got in serious trouble a few weeks after graduation. Another got dumped and started dealing with random hair loss. The third dropped out of college. And then I got my own small payback on the girl who ruined my project.
She had the nerve to ask to borrow concealer. So I reached to the bottom of my backpack and pulled out this old, four-year-old concealer stick I kept forgetting to throw away because it always made me break out. It didn’t even have a cap, so I wiped off the little bits of dirt and crumbs to make it look usable, and I let her borrow it. She came in later that week with awful skin—she had broken out everywhere. I didn’t even feel bad. It was honestly just kind of funny.
60. When It All Came Crashing Down
Years ago, my mom found out my dad was having an affair. I overheard her yelling at the top of her lungs, while my dad was crying and begging her to forgive him and take him back. After that, I never saw my dad the same way again.
61. Judging a Book by Its Cover
My friend’s son speaks fluent Spanish, but he’s white—so when he brought his wife’s minivan in to get detailed, the Spanish-speaking workers cleaning it were talking nonstop about how clueless and messy they thought he was, and saying he should make his kids clean the van themselves. But that was just the start.
Then they kept going about how cheap Americans are, and how he probably wouldn’t even leave a tip for all the hard work they were doing. When they finished, my friend’s son walked right over to thank them, told them how much he appreciated the job they did, and gave them a big tip—all in Spanish, so there was no question he understood every word they’d said.
62. One Big Happy Family
I was sitting at a bar when I heard the bartender say this to another customer: “Did I tell you I’m going to be either a grandmother or a great-aunt?” The customer looked confused, so she explained with these totally unforgettable words. She said, “Yeah, my son and his wife got into a fight, so she slept with his cousin (my nephew), and now she’s pregnant, and they don’t know who the father is.” And I was like, what?!
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63. Letting the Cat Out of the Bag
When the officers came to my door to tell me my upstairs neighbor had died, I overheard the EMTs say something really upsetting. One of them sighed, looked at the other, and said, “We’re going to have to double bag him.” I understand why, but it’s still not something you want to hear about someone you used to talk to every day. Poor guy.
64. Raised as Their Own
I was looking for some old clothes in the storage area of our house when I came across a file folder filled with old papers. I casually flipped through them and found out that I’m adopted. My parents brought me home when I was just a baby and never told me that, biologically, I’m not theirs. Then, a couple months later, my biological sister reached out and got in touch with me.
65. Family Brunch
My family and I were at a restaurant, and a father and his daughter (I’ll call her D) were sitting in the booth right across the aisle from us. D looked like she couldn’t have been more than about 20. The whole time, she talked nonstop about her ex-boyfriend, Chris. Apparently, Chris was married to someone else, and D didn’t seem to care at all.
She said it was his wife’s fault for not being “good enough” to keep him faithful. Well, it turns out Chris was still sleeping with his wife the entire time, because she ended up pregnant. When D found out, she was furious. She told Chris he had to choose between her and his wife.
At first, Chris chose D. Then he learned that his unborn baby had congenital heart defects. After that, he called off the divorce, broke up with D, and moved back in with his wife to help her through it. D sat there quietly for a moment, looking genuinely stunned, and then said something along the lines of, “I don’t know why he picked her and that baby. So what if it dies? They can always have another one.”
But that wasn’t even the worst part. Her dad finally spoke up and asked, “So, your mom and Chris aren’t getting divorced?” Your mom and Chris?! Your MOM?! So this young woman was having an obvious affair with her much older stepfather, tried to make him choose between her and her pregnant mother, and then made a cold comment about her unborn brother.
66. Taking the Hint
I’ve always struggled with social anxiety, and I finally felt like I was getting a pretty good handle on it. I texted one of the girls about where we’d be meeting while I was on my way to her apartment. Before I could even knock, I heard her saying, “Oh my god. She’s so annoying—why couldn’t she just get the hint?”
After that, for the next few minutes, I listened to all these people—people who always said they’d never judge me and that we were like family—just talking badly about me for no reason. All the progress I’d made with my social anxiety felt like it slid right back down the hill. The only small bit of satisfaction I got was later, when she tried to invite me to her wedding, and I didn’t even bother replying.
67. Everybody Wins
I was at a sleepover with my three best friends and woke up in the middle of the night. As I tried to fall back asleep, I heard my name, so of course I listened. Two of my “friends” were talking about how to slowly push me out of the group. It felt like they went on forever—saying I was weird, that I was boring, that I was a lot of work to be around. It honestly crushed me.
But on the bright side, I ended up finding a new group of friends and told them everything. After that, my old friends were basically ignored by everyone outside their little circle. So they got what they wanted, and I got what I didn’t realize I truly needed. In the end, I’d call that a win-win situation, wouldn’t you?
68. Care Not Reciprocated
I overheard my mother telling a relative that I was useless, selfish, arrogant, difficult, and stupid for giving up on my education. I was 16. I’d just transferred from a private college-prep school 7 miles away to a public school 1 mile away (for both, I walked and took public buses). At the same time, I was my mom’s caregiver, housekeeper, bill-payer, shopper, gardener, handyman, security, and courier—basically on call 24/7.
I had no social life, and I worked part-time. I’d been handling all of this on my own for three years, even though I was the youngest of seven siblings. I was stunned. It felt like getting hit out of nowhere. I stood there in my apron and rubber gloves, holding a laundry basket, and just cried. It wasn’t only what she said, which was awful—it was the situation around it.
She was lying, and I realized she was doing it to make me look so bad that if I ever reached out for help, no one would want to help me. I learned a hard lesson that day.
69. Get Better Looking
It wasn’t something I overheard, but something I accidentally saw—messages popping up on my mother-in-law’s iPad while she was texting her friend from another room. She was saying I used to be attractive, that I’m fat now, and that her son is basically a saint for still being with me. It honestly broke my heart. What a nightmare.
70. The Hate Club
When I was in fifth grade, one of my friends accidentally invited me to an online chatroom called “I hate llCloudIXll.” Once someone noticed I was there, they went off on me, listing everything they thought was wrong with me and saying why nobody at school liked me. Then everyone else in the chatroom jumped in too and said some really cruel things. Some of what they said is still stuck in my head.
They told me I should hurt myself and said no one would miss me. A few people I thought were close friends even joined in and agreed with it. After that, I started hurting myself, and I basically went through the rest of middle school and high school without friends, because I couldn’t trust anyone or let people get close. Even now, I can count my real friends on one hand. Kids can be really cruel.
71. Not Your Fault
I found out my dad had paranoid schizophrenia one night when I overheard my grandma praying for him (she thought I was asleep). I was about 16, but I honestly thought his behavior was totally normal because I’d grown up around it. I cried myself to sleep that night, and then I did some research to try to understand what it meant.
It was a really hard time, but things only got harder. My dad and I started fighting a lot—maybe because he was getting worse, or maybe because I was finally seeing everything differently. After so many conflicts, my mum eventually told him to move out, and their divorce was really messy. I still feel guilty about how much we fought. Sometimes I wonder if things would be different if I’d never found out.
He lives alone now and isn’t allowed to have contact with any of us—even though it didn’t start out that way. My siblings used to visit him, but he began hurting them because he believed it would stop “people from hearing their thoughts.” I feel awful when I think about him living by himself without any family around him.
72. Breaking Oath
My mother and father were both careless enough to write awful “letters to the judge” who presided over my sister’s case. The letters were a sad attempt to somehow make me the bad guy and portray my sister as “a good person.” My sister was charged with child neglect.
I had zero involvement and live in a different state. The letters were dated on my birthday. That was the final straw for me with their behavior.
73. Getting Serious
Two of my students were talking about a guy who’d been texting one of the girls in my class. I figured it was just middle school drama, and the day kept moving. Later, I overheard the girl they’d been talking about say, “I think I’m scared.” Something about that didn’t feel right. So I went back over and said, “Hey, do you need to talk to me about anything?”
She thought about it for a minute, then asked if we could talk in private. It turned out the guy had sent her an inappropriate photo of himself—and, to make it worse, he wasn’t someone their age. It was a teacher from one of her extracurricular activities. That was not a good day.
74. Some Things Are Worse Than Nothing
When my friend was 18, his dad removed him from the will and then passed away suddenly. What was odd was that they’d always had a good relationship, so it felt suspicious.
After that, his dad’s wife kicked him out of the house with no money. On Christmas Eve, my friend went back to pick up some photos he’d left behind and ended up seeing something he wasn’t meant to see. That’s when he realized how manipulative she could be.
He knew where she kept a spare key, so he let himself in. As he walked toward his old room, he noticed his stepmom’s phone on a table, and a text popped up. It said something like, “I’m so glad we got away with it and can finally be together. He didn’t deserve it anyway.”
My friend became convinced she pressured his dad to cut him out of the will, and that she may have played a role in his death with someone she was secretly involved with. He’s in law school now and plans to go into estate law to help others deal with situations like the one he went through.
75. Old News
After talking with my grandpa on the phone, I realized he hadn’t hung up properly. I overheard him telling my uncle that I was ungrateful. At that point, I had been visiting him every week for a year and cleaning his whole bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, hallway, and living room each time—usually bringing some food or dessert with me, too.
I moved out of town not long after that.
76. Head Down
“Deejay? Who could ever love an ugly dog like that?” said the guy I was in love with when I was 17, not realizing I’d just walked into the room behind him. In a single day, I went from feeling like I was an okay person who’d probably deserve love someday to avoiding eye contact with people on the street, just so I wouldn’t make them have to see my face.
77. But My Teacher Said
A high school teacher told me that she overheard me telling a friend, “I’ll probably just ask X out,” when we were talking about getting a group together to go see *The Corpse Bride*. She walked up to me afterward and said, “You’ve got to be kidding. No one would ever date you.” Thanks…
78. The Storm Before the Calm
I accidentally found out why my parents divorced.
I was ten when they split up, and they never really explained it, just said their marriage wasn’t working anymore. I didn’t think much of it at the time, so I didn’t ask. But over the next few years, I overheard bits and pieces of things they said and eventually connected the dots. Basically, my mom had an affair with the man who’s now my stepdad. They worked at the same high school, and my mom had even taught each of his kids.
When my dad started getting suspicious, he installed a keylogger on the family computer and checked her phone, and he found some texts, emails, and searches that didn’t look right. He also hired a private investigator. One day, the PI followed my mom to the airport and started talking to her like he was just some random person. She fell for it and ended up admitting everything to him, thinking he was just a stranger.
I met my now-stepdad a little under a year after the separation, but I didn’t meet his kids or the rest of his family until a few years later. It also turns out he was having an affair too, and I was introduced to him and my brothers while he was still married.
79. There Is No Giraffe Currency
My mom lived in Thailand for a couple of years when she was in high school. One day, a group of girls were ferrying people across a stream, and one of the passengers riding at the same time as my mom was really tall and skinny. The girls started joking in Thai that he looked like a giraffe.
When they reached the other side and the girls held out their hands for payment, the man just said in perfect Thai, “Giraffes don’t have money,” and walked off.
80. Keep Your Private Life Private
I once overheard a girl I had a huge crush on in middle school describing to her friends, in pretty graphic detail, what she and her boyfriend were doing when they had time alone. Put it this way: it didn’t seem normal at all, especially considering we were only in seventh grade. My crush on her faded a bit after that, and I couldn’t stop picturing the things she’d put in my head.
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81. Hammer Away
I recently overheard my mom—who’s been complaining about stomach aches—say she “needed a jackhammer to get the poop out.” Really, Mom. Thanks for that.
82. The Great Protector
My wife had a falling out with a few friends of mine that she met through me. We’d known them for a long time, but I’d known them much longer. One night I got upset with her because they were always asking why she never came around anymore, and she absolutely refused to see them. I’d always assumed it was because of that small side project they tried to do together that didn’t work out.
Then one day I was driving my wife somewhere, and I started getting on her case about how she wouldn’t just make up with them and move on like they did. It bothered me that she never came with me when I went over there. Finally, she broke and told me the painful truth: whenever she went over there without me, they would talk badly about me—putting down my personality, my humor, and a lot more.
I guess they thought she’d be fine with it, like a joking, “Ha, your husband can be such a [whatever], right?” But she wasn’t fine with it at all. She’s not a confrontational person, so she didn’t really speak up, but she was disgusted by the way they talked about me behind my back and didn’t want anything to do with them.
She’d been letting me believe it was all on her, and she carried that because she knew the truth would hurt my feelings. And it did.
83. Ladies and Germs
I speak German. One day at my job at a museum, a group of people came in—but they weren’t there to see the exhibits. They just wanted to sit on our benches, toss a soccer ball around, and basically act like they were outside having a picnic, not inside a museum. I asked them to stop throwing the ball and to keep their voices down. Their reaction really got under my skin.
They didn’t respond and just kept doing what they were doing, like I wasn’t even there. Then I heard one of the girls say in German, “That woman is so dumb. We can do whatever we want here—the ball won’t hurt anything.” I immediately answered in German, “Yes, it can. You need to either stop kicking the ball around or leave.” They looked shocked and left right away.
84. A Helping Hand from Far Away
While I was stationed in Germany, I lived in an apartment building with four floors, and I was on the top floor. The apartments were laid out the same on each side, and the bathrooms were right near the front doors. A couple lived two floors below me. Everyone suspected the husband was abusing his wife in one way or another—we never saw her, and she seemed completely shut in. We called the authorities more than once, but without evidence, there wasn’t much they could do.
One day, as I was walking upstairs, I heard him yelling like he always did. I usually stopped near their door to listen, just in case I heard her in trouble. When I paused that time, I heard him shout something that made my stomach drop: “You don’t have to cut yourself just because I hit you!” It sounded like she was in the bathroom hurting herself because she was exhausted from the abuse.
I called 911 right away. I had a sense of how long it would take them to arrive, so just before they showed up, I started pounding on his door. He opened it, furious, and I immediately confronted him. The whole building could hear me—along with the MPs when they arrived. He was taken in, and she was taken to the hospital. I’m just grateful I stopped and listened.
85. It Was a Happy Divorce
I was using my ex-wife’s laptop when a bunch of messages started popping up on Messenger. I’m not proud of it, but I started reading them. I really wish I hadn’t. I found out she’d sent a photo of a completely packed storage unit to her best friend in South Carolina. It had furniture, appliances—basically everything she’d need to set up an apartment on her own. I held onto that for a few months before finally bringing it up out of the blue.
We were sitting on the couch one night, and I just turned to her and said, “So, I know about the storage unit.” It was the last thing she expected to hear because she thought she’d kept it quiet. The conversation actually went pretty well, though, and we ended up deciding we were going to file for divorce. The divorce was finalized on March 3rd of this year.
86. The Hurt You Give Yourself
It was about a year after my mom died, so I was around 11 and my sister was 13. We didn’t have the best relationship back then—it was pretty rocky—but we still had good moments. One weekend, she had a band competition, and I got dropped off with her. When it was time for her to perform, she handed me her phone to hold onto. I started looking through it, like the nosy 11-year-old little sister I was.
I thought I’d find some fun eighth-grade gossip or maybe a secret boyfriend, but what I found was something I wasn’t prepared for. There were dozens of pictures of self-harm—blood in sinks, and words carved into my sister’s skin. At that age, I didn’t even understand that self-harm was something people did. I didn’t bring it up to my sister until years later, but right away it made me rethink all our fights and realize how much pain we were both carrying, and how much our whole family was struggling.
My sister and I are best friends now, and seeing those pictures helped me understand what I needed to change about our relationship. But even now, they still stay with me.
87. Brother From Another Mother
The other day, I was looking for my old passport when I came across a few of my dad’s old visitor passports. My dad is older than most (he’s 70, and I’m a teen), so you can imagine how surprised I was when I saw that, under “children” in one passport, there was a kid listed who was born in the 1970s. The strangest part is that the name doesn’t show up on any of his later passports, so I’m kind of wondering if I just accidentally found out I have a half-brother—maybe one who passed away?
Well… then.
88. It Was Supposed to Be a Surprise!
I ended up finding my own severance cheque. Looks like someone at the payroll company mailed it to me instead of HR. I opened it at my desk, laughed, packed up my things, and walked out.
89. He’s Not Wrong
I’d been dating a girl I met through our school’s theater group (we were building the sets, not acting). One day she brought her dad in to show off her work, and the two of them are chatting in German. I’d never met him, so I’m just keeping to myself and waiting for a good moment to introduce myself—when he suddenly starts talking to her, in German, about some idiot wearing sandals at a construction site (me).
So I climb down off a pile of wood and say, in German, “Well, so far I’ve managed not to hurt myself, and they’re just really comfortable!”
And to make it even better, while he’s still standing there with this shocked look, she goes, “So, Dad, this is my boyfriend… the one I told you about who speaks German…”
90. Trading Places
When my oldest sister passed away, my older sister was crying to my mom about how alone she felt. My mom tried to comfort her and said, “You still have vampedvixen, though.” But my sister replied, “Who cares about her? I want [oldest sister] back.” I kind of understand the grief behind it… but this happened around the same time my mom told me to my face that it should have been me who died instead.
Her reasoning was that I don’t have a husband or kids like my oldest sister did. It felt like no one in my family wanted me, and like they all wished I could’ve traded places with the sister we lost. That’s honestly one of the worst feelings I can imagine. And people wonder why I’m depressed now… yeah, I wonder why.
91. Imprisoned By Lies
My grandma got drunk and let it slip that my mom is a convicted felon. She also blurted out that my grandfather had a child outside his marriage…with my aunt. I started connecting the dots.
My aunt is my mom’s sister, my uncle is my aunt’s son (and my mom’s brother), and my cousin is my aunt’s child—my uncle’s sibling—and my mom’s niece. It’s such a mess. Thank goodness my mom doesn’t know that I know.
92. Just...Don't
I speak Bengali, and about three years ago, on a regular school day, a couple of friends and I were heading to lunch. We were just talking about random stuff when we walked past the main office. One of my friends made up an excuse about forgetting something and went inside, and like a good friend, I followed him in. He walked up to the desk and started talking, and I waited by the door.
All of a sudden, I heard someone say in Bengali, “The kid standing by the door is fat. You’re never going to be this fat, are you?” I turned around and saw a woman with a small sixth grader standing next to her. She smiled at me and walked past. As she went by, I said, in Bengali, “Did you really think I didn’t hear you?” She stopped for a second, looked at me, and then just kept walking faster.
93. The Girls That Never Were
When I was 15, I was broke and searching around the house for spare change. I was home alone then. I went into my parents’ room and found a metal box with a padlock on it. My curiosity got the better of me, so I looked around for the key. I found it, unlocked the box, and saw letters and a journal inside—written by my mom. They were things she’d written for therapy.
I found out my mom had three miscarriages before she had me. Reading those letters made me cry (I’m definitely a momma’s boy). She had been expecting girls each time.
She had always wanted a daughter named Mary Catherine. After she had me, she needed surgery and couldn’t have any more kids afterward. Ever since then, I’ve felt really sad for her. If I ever get married and have a daughter, I think I’m going to name her Mary Catherine.
94. So Much for the Language of Love
A friend of mine divorced his wife because, whenever her family came over, she would only speak French. She was Spanish, and so was her family. On top of that, her family spoke English, French, and Spanish, while he only spoke English and Spanish.
She got bored with the marriage, and her family would basically talk badly about him right in front of him. He didn’t realize it until he recorded one of their conversations during a visit and had it translated, and then he found out what was really being said.
95. Cashier Revenge
The other day a Chinese couple came through my checkout line, and I asked them all the usual questions. Then, in Mandarin, the wife said, “Tell that girl to go faster.” I just smiled at her and acted like I had no idea what she meant. She kept making comments in Chinese about how my hair looked like a boy’s (I have short hair—honestly it’s not even that short) and how her grandfather would’ve been faster than I was.
Then she added in Chinese, “Make sure she doesn’t forget the water.” I smiled and said something that made her freeze—I simply said, “I won’t forget the water.” Her face went pale, and her husband said, “This is why you shouldn’t talk badly about people!” It was pretty satisfying.
Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4
