Once the law gets involved, you know any problem is about to go from bad to worse, but sometimes, you’ve got no choice. Read on as these people share the most ridiculous legal drama they’ve ever gotten themselves caught up in.
1. Cult Classics
Okay. So my sister graduated from high school last year and decided to take a gap year. She came across a Craigslist posting by a woman I'll refer to as "Aileen" about how she has a farm and she's looking for kids who want life experience. She said that she'll provide them room and board to work on her farm and how she can teach them all of these great skills.
I never saw the ad, but I remember my sister telling me about it at the time. She was very excited, this opportunity was everything she had been looking for, she had told me. So she began a correspondence with "Aileen." I did not live with my sister, I'm older by five years so I was not on the scene when all of this was going down. Later, I wish I had warned her.
So she ends up going to this place last August, I think, maybe early September. I have only spoken with her through emails since and at first she was happy, everything was good, she was making friends and all of that. I was wondering why she only emailed and she told me there's no phone service on the ranch, since "Aileen" doesn't believe in phones and she takes them to the library for internet access.
That right there was the first time I thought something was a bit off, but my sister was happy so I didn't push it. Over time, the tone of her emails changed. She would talk about her friends there, the animals, all these activities she was doing, but not about "Aileen" much. Then something switched. It gradually became that "Aileen" is all she would talk about.
"Aileen" was telling her some seriously messed up stuff and if she didn't agree with it, everyone else would ignore her existence until she broke down crying and apologized. "Aileen" made her slaughter her favorite chicken, "Aileen" said she needed to cleanse herself and wouldn't let her eat solid food for a week. "Aileen" made her take drugs. Seriously disturbing stuff.
I told her she needed to get out of there, that I'd come pick her up, but she would downplay everything, make excuses for "Aileen," say she was overreacting, that it wasn't as bad as she made it seem, etc. I didn't know what to do at that point. I thought something hinky was going on, but at the same time my sister was an adult and I trusted her judgment at the time.
It's not like I had anything to go off of, a location or anything, and while disturbing, I didn't think anything super egregious was happening. "Aileen" seemed like an eccentric survivalist type, but ultimately harmless. Yes, I was tentatively concerned, is what I'm trying to say, but I felt like my sister was mature and intelligent enough to know when she was in over her head. I was so, so wrong.
My sister emailed me yesterday and I don't feel like that is the case anymore. Something had happened and from what I was able to ascertain, one of the other girls at this place committed some kind of cardinal sin and "Aileen" instructed the other kids to viciously beat this girl. My sister was forced to participate in this. She seemed distraught about it but ultimately blamed the girl because she should have known better than to have done what she did.
I don't know what she did, my sister wouldn't elaborate on it. I stayed up all night poring over all of her emails, looking for some clue to where she was but I couldn't figure anything out. I know my sister took a Greyhound to Lansing, Michigan and Aileen picked her up from the bus station, so I think this freak show is probably in either Eaton, or Ingham but as to more specifics, I have no idea.
I don't think my sister even knows. I have a hunch they're in or around Mason because Aileen made the kids spend the night at Seven Gables. However, I did find out she uses the library in Mason through the IP address, and I’m going to contact the authorities.
2. Second Opinion
It’s three in the morning here, and I haven’t slept much in four days. Apologies if I’m unable to separate my emotions with objectivity. I’m a husband to my wife and a father to two children under 18. In June of 2018, I began having small seizures and went to see my doctor, who referred me to my hospital’s neurology clinic. The clinic ran bloodwork, did a spinal MRI, and a 60 minute EEG.
They concluded that my seizures were psychogenic. For the next year, the seizures grew worse. I went back to the neurology clinic a dozen more times. My wife and I practically were begging for some, any, additional testing to get to the bottom of the seizures. Fed up, in early December of this year I went to see another neurologist and hospital for a second opinion.
I was in the hospital for weeks where they ran much more extensive testing including a complete brain and spinal MRI, brain CT, lumbar puncture, and other more exhaustive EEG tests. On December 23rd, my last day in the hospital, my “second opinion” neurologist and neurosurgeon came in the room. They told my wife and me horrific news. They said that I have a tumor that likely spread from a misdiagnosed growth in my right front parietal lobe, which has spread to the base of my brain stem.
The right frontal tumor is operable, but the cancer in the base of my brain stem is not. The second doctors don’t seem to want to throw the other hospital under the bus, but it’s obvious (at least to my wife and me) that they think my first doctors made some pretty bad mistakes in missing some fairly obvious signs and failing to run some basic tests.
I’m sick to my stomach. I think partly because I’m scared out of my mind for both me and my family, but also at the thought that this could have been avoided. It’s likely I won’t have the strength to find out if, or how, the first hospital messed up. I’m not sure I’ll even be around to find out, let alone ask the questions. No one thinks I should worry and stress about what “could have been done” and say to focus my energy on getting “well” while getting my affairs in order.
I can’t help but rage at my first doctors for what it feels and sounds like is a major screw-up. I already know I’m going after them, whether I’m alive to see it to the end or not.
3. Rolling Back The Empathy
A few days ago, my wife snuck out to Walmart to buy our son the only real thing he's been asking for: a PS4. So one day they are off running around and I figured I'd take the time to get it updated, set up an account, and pay for any subscription it may have, etc. I opened the box and nearly screamed. It has books in it where the console should be.
Great. So I take the receipt and head off to Walmart to explain and get a new one. However nope, I talked to everyone at the store from the CS desk to several managers and they refuse to exchange/refund the console. It was paid for in cash. My wife is a waitress and used tips so I can't just talk to my bank about getting a refund.
I know this must be a common scam people do but we are the victims here and Walmart refuses to exchange it or even refund it. I offered to accept store credit/gift card but even then they said no and told me to leave. I even talked to corporate in their online chat, every way possible, and it's always the same: "We stand behind the decisions of our salaried managers."
Corporate literally does not care and shifts it to the "salaried managers" and their decision. So I've been back to the same Walmart four times to talk to them and the last time they said they would call the authorities. I wasn't yelling or causing issues, I just want the PS4 my wife purchased for our son for Christmas. Is that so hard?
So officers came and the manager says right in front of me, "I believe this man has been trying to scam us, claiming his PS4 had books in the box." The officer gets my story and says there isn't enough to do anything against me. The manager dislikes this and I get permanently banned from the store. So the outcome? No PS4, no refund because it was purchased in cash and I cannot do a chargeback.
If you are ever purchasing anything expensive from Walmart, open the box immediately after purchase and in front of an employee. Merry Christmas Walmart.
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4. I’ll Be Watching You
I am 20 years old, and I got a car from my parents. The car was originally co-signed with my mother, but I have since paid it off and am now the only person on the title. I pay for the car insurance on my own and all other car fees and maintenance. But I just found out something chilling. My father put a GPS on the car when I got it when I was 18 and living in his home.
I have since moved out and he refuses to tell me where the GPS is hidden and I am not able to find it. He will now text me and comment on where I am or where I was, like, "How was the movie you saw?" "Staying late at work today?" and it scares me because he is an abusive person. I feel trapped and this causes a lot of an anxiety for me, but I don’t know what I can do.
5. Red Tape
My girlfriend recently filed a harassment report with her company after repeated inappropriate conversations, unwanted pictures, touching and hugging, and all-around creepy behavior that makes her uncomfortable by some of the males at her job. Upon asking one of her supervisors how to submit the report, she and another girl who had similar issues were immediately taken to HR.
She filed the report and chose to remain anonymous on all the HR paperwork. A few days down the road, she is told by HR that both reports have gone missing and they think it was another supervisor that has misplaced them. This supervisor is a different one than the one that had taken her to HR and in my opinion, should have had nothing to do with handling her reports.
After being told that HR lost the report, the HR lady then goes on to say that she will talk to the specific guys at work and will tell them specifically that they aren't allowed to retaliate against my girlfriend. Even though it was against her wishes to disclose her name to everyone, the HR lady seemed to be going to do it anyway. It's now about a week later and everyone has been particularly bitter and mean to her throughout the week for no apparent reason.
The head supervisor for her department then comes down and says they need to talk. In the meeting is my girlfriend, the head supervisor, another supervisor, and HR. The head supervisor is the only one that talks, and starts off with "That stuff is done and cleared, it's over now," then drops the big one. He continues into how my girlfriend’s work ethic, conduct, and paperwork have all been messed up since she got there and that they were going to write her up.
She has never received any negative paperwork from the company and has only gotten in trouble when she was late due to circumstances out of her control. The supervisor is now pointing out things that have never been brought to her attention as being erroneous and is now using it as a tool to write her up. Naturally, she feels confused and angry about the whole situation.
From other supervisors having hands on her report to losing her report and getting written up for made-up stuff, it's all. so messed-up. Part of the things she was being written up for she had nothing to do with. She will be contacting a lawyer to get their opinion on it and to pursue the next course of action. She has voice recordings of the inappropriate things these guys were saying and asking her as well as an email she sent to HR asking the lady to not reveal her identity.
However, her employers have already disappeared the report so it's her word against theirs whether or not she filed one.
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6. Kick Her To The Curb
My boyfriend has mobility issues and uses either a wheelchair or crutches depending on his pain levels. I’ve done a lot of home improvement projects to ensure he can get around my house easily, including a wheelchair ramp up to my front door. My front door is really recessed from the street due to my lawn and hidden by my porch, so the ramp isn’t very visible from the street.
I painted it to match the house as well. A few months ago, a new family moved across the street and the wife’s never been very friendly with me like my other neighbors are, which I chalked up to her being shy or whatever. However, recently I got a note taped up to my door. Its contents made me want to scream. It said she’s going to sue if I don’t take the ramp down, as it’s an eyesore and “reduces curbside value.”
I have no idea what she means since you can’t see the thing unless you know what to look for and really get up in my property, as confirmed by neighbors and friends. She refused to answer the door when I went over to talk to her about it. I’m trying not to lose my temper over this but it’s hard. There have been many times my boyfriend has been screwed over by so-called “handicap accessible” places, and I don’t want my home to be one of them.
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7. Banking On It
So last week, a check I wrote bounced from an account I have that I rarely use. It's a beneficiary account from when my grandfather passed. I called the bank, where I was informed of a shocking fact. They said that I closed the account to pay for "my wedding." I told them I sure as heck did not and have been married for six years.
After them jerking me around—"Are you sure you're not getting married?" "Did you maybe forget about taking that money for your wedding?"—I finally got them to open a case. Here's the crazy part. I call and basically stalk them to get them to investigate. I finally speak with someone and what happened is they gave my money away to another woman with the same name.
This woman opened a car loan with the bank and because we have the same name, they just hooked her name to my account. She lives in Florida and I live in Colorado. We do not have anything else in common except our first and last name. So she ends up calling the bank and they "assure her" that money is hers and a relative left it to her, so she rushes down and withdraws it all.
I actually figured all this out before the bank did through some good old-fashioned Facebook and Internet stalking. I sent them the info, and boom. Open and shut case. So now, the bank has admitted fault (finally) and will restore the account. They asked me not to file a report, which sort of makes sense (they after all encouraged her to take it) but I have no idea what personal information of mine she has, or what was given to her. And here's the icing on the cake.
I got a letter from the bank yesterday with her personal information on it, including the address, so now they've compromised both our information. Geniuses.
8. Open And Shut Case
I am renting an apartment and my lease ends at the end of the month. My landlord is an older guy who inherited this house; it's not a professional company or anything like that. I do have a lease that says I get 24 hours’ notice for entry except emergencies which I believe is the law itself, but in this case I did not get that notice.
Last week, my landlord texted me shortly after 8 am saying someone is interested in buying the house from him. He has not previously brought up selling it, so this was unexpected. He asked if I could let them in to see the place at 10, and then at 9:30 texted again saying he's guessing I'm at work so he's just going to let them pick up a key from him and lock up when they are done looking.
I did not see these messages until I took lunch at 12. I texted my landlord back saying I thought I am supposed to get notice for entry and I'm not comfortable with him letting people in unattended. He said sorry but they are going out of town and won't be back for two weeks so it was an emergency, though I'm sure that doesn't count in court. But there was a horrible twist.
They robbed me. I have it on security video, but the authorities weren't able to get much information from it because their vehicle is common and has no license plate. They also wore hoods and bandanas so you can't tell much about their faces. They took everything of value such as laptop and TV and even some stupid things like my lamps.
My renter's insurance originally was going to cover it, but said they need a copy of the report, and the report explains the situation that my landlord gave them a key (as opposed to them breaking in). Now the renter's insurance says they cover breaking and entering resulting in loss, but these circumstances makes it a civil issue instead of an insurance issue and I should seek to get reimbursed for my losses by my landlord instead.
Meanwhile my landlord is an idiot and did not even know these people. He met them at Denny’s, only got their first names, and gave them his phone number and told them his own address to pick the key up, but didn't get any of their information whatsoever like phone number or anything. I told him my renter's insurance won't cover this and because this was caused by him literally giving strangers a key to the place, I would like him to reimburse me for my losses.
He says he's sorry but at the end of the day it's these guys that owe me and not him.
9. If The Clothes Fit
So I used to work for a clothing company, and I submitted several designs to them that they rejected and never used. I have since quit and started using the designs I made myself that they didn’t use. Recently, they have contacted me threatening with a cease and desist, even though the property clause in my contract doesn’t apply. None of the designs were made on company time or on company computers.
The designs I’m currently using were designs they asked for when I started as a “baseline” for my work. They said if they liked them, they’d consider using them, but they never expressed interest in them. I brought this up to a lawyer and they laughed. Like I said, I made the designs before I started there on my own computer on my own time. They had no claim to them, and they were just trying to strong-arm a 19-year-old designer.
My lawyer sent back some type of letter and they immediately apologized and said that any designs I didn’t specifically make for customers were mine and mine only. My lawyer said something along the lines of “they can’t afford this type of suit” as they are a mom-and-pop type company. The lawyer did it free of charge. All worked out in my favor!
10. Taking You For A Ride
I used to take the bus daily to get to work. Not a big deal, I'd just mind my own business, sit wherever there is the least amount of people. But every Thursday was awful. Every single Thursday at the stop after I get on, a giant crowd of what I assume to be the mentally challenged kids from the local school would ride the bus too, about 7 or 8, with the woman I assumed was watching over them.
Still, generally not an issue because I'd just put my earbuds in and stay in my own space. But this bus company was not reliable. We have a nice, modern bus that could sit probably 15 people. One day, a little school bus came instead. It had nine seats. Since that point, it was basically up to chance whether or not the big bus came.
So you can see the issue when the bus rolls up to the stop and there aren’t enough seats. I have a heart condition and moderately severe muscular dystrophy. Considering the 15-minute walk to the bus stop, I needed that time to sit down. So, that's what I was doing, as always. The group gets on the bus and I've got my eyes shut with my music playing when the woman in charge taps me on my shoulder.
I look and she looks angry, motioning to one of the younger ones, who was crying because he didn't have a seat. I take out my earbuds and she says to me that I need to give up my seat. The other people that were on the bus already were older than me. When I tell her I need it she says that I need to respect “my elders” and do what she says.
I try my best to explain that medically I can't stand the entire ride and she gets upset with me and says I'm making it up and “ignoring her” since I had headphones on when she was trying to talk to me, I guess. So after a couple of minutes of this, I snap and tell her that the kid can stand and respect me as I'm older than him, and that one of the other kids can give him their seat if it's so important.
She gives me a look like I just offed her cat and stops bothering me. But that wasn’t the end of it, oh no. Two days later when I tried to get on the bus, I was told I was banned from the service. When I called them, they said that it's a part of their policy that the "fully abled" must give up their seats to those that aren't. I explained the medical reasons I needed it and was simply told I have a lower priority because I'm "fully functional" and the boy in question wasn't, even though it was just mentally as far as I ever knew.
He ended up standing the entire ride and it didn't seem to affect him as far as I know, but I feel like making a mentally handicapped child cry makes me the jerk. I don't have a lawyer but my mom has one she said would help me out, though he is currently out of town.
11. An Underdog Victory
I work as an insurance lawyer. One of my firm's partners, as happens sometimes, handed me a small case for our client, and told me to resolve it. Our insured, a man of around 75, was driving his car in the left lane of a four-lane road. The defendant, a lady who had been involved in a grisly murder as an accomplice about 15 years ago, was in the right lane.
The lady side-swiped our insured's vehicle, causing like $4,000 in damages. At the scene, our client said that he was just driving, and then he was side-swiped. The defendant said, "I don't know what happened, officer." The lawsuit was about six or seven months old when I got it, and the partner who was initially handling the case had spoken with the old man on two occasions and sent him a letter.
When I received the file, trial was a few weeks away, so I printed out the pictures of the vehicle, sent a subpoena to the officer, and tried to call the insured. I got a busy signal, so I put the file away. A few days later, I got a call from the officer who filed the report. Her words started a chain reaction of disaster. She said, "I'm not going to make it to court because I'm off on the court date."
"Alright, well, when are you available?" I asked. She paused, then said, “The report is hearsay. You don't need me anyway." "Ma'am, what I need you for is not hearsay. I'll reset this for a date that you are available for." That wasn't helpful. I called the defense attorney, and we pushed the trial out about a month and half.
I issued a new subpoena on the officer. I tried to call our insured again. I got a busy signal. Out of options and ideas, I pulled up our data software and looked up our client...that’s when I made a disturbing discovery. He’d passed the previous month. I'd never had this happen before, so I called the insurance adjuster handling this claim and told them, "Hey, I hate to tell you this, but our client is no longer alive.”
I then talked to the partner who had handed me the case. Instead of dropping the whole thing, he came up with a diabolical plan. He suggested that we fake it. I'd go to court, call the defendant as my witness, call the officer to discuss the scene, then get pictures of the vehicle into evidence using the insurance adjuster, who could also testify to damages.
The insurance adjuster is willing to try, but about a week later, I get a call from the officer, bailing on being a witness again. I really wanted to call her sergeant and complain, but it wasn't worth the trouble. So, now at trial, it's going to be the insurance adjuster and I. We'll probably lose since I have practically zero evidence against the defendant now.
Suddenly, I get a phone call that changes everything. It’s from the defense attorney. On the spot, they suddenly agree to pay the claim in full. I never told that attorney that my client wasn’t even alive anymore, but someday I kind of want to tell him he paid out a ton of money to a ghost.
12. Friends In High Places
I'm a family lawyer, and I was in court representing the mother of two young kids. The dad was representing himself, as was Grandma, with whom the kids were staying for several months while my client finished a college program. Dad took issue with this arrangement, despite being unable to take care of the kids himself because of a disability.
At our first appearance, the judge suggested something that everyone actually agreed to. I was the only lawyer there, so I was tasked with drafting the order. I sent copies to Dad and Grandma, asking them to let me know if they remembered the agreement differently, or if they are okay with my wording. The wheels started to come off immediately.
When he gets the order, Dad calls me right away. He says that he takes issue with my lack of professionalism (no explanation of what he means by that, but okay) and he doesn't consent to the wording of the order. He doesn't suggest alternate wording, though. And then he took it up a notch. He says that my draft has violated his human rights (again, no idea what he's talking about) and he will be forwarding this to the Human Rights Commission, who will be his lawyers from here on out (uh, they won't).
I decide not to point out that that's not how this works, and just go with a, "Thanks for letting me know." I point out that the Family Court Rules require me to file the order within a certain amount of time, which is rapidly running out. I ask him when I can expect the HRC to contact me (obviously they won't). Dad tells me that they usually take 3-6 months to deal with things.
I tell him "Okay, well I'm just going to write the court a letter explaining this, so the judge is in the loop." I write the letter, explaining briefly what has happened. I say that I'm unfamiliar with the HRC getting involved in Family Court cases (they don't), and particularly in the drafting of orders (ditto). But this was all an ingenious plan.
I point out that I'm hesitant to file the order since Dad has said he was going to consult counsel, so "I await direction from the Court.” This is actually code for: You see the crazy I’m dealing with? Can you help me out here, Your Honor? The Court office calls me the next day and asks me to send them the draft order, so the judge can look at it.
The day after that, I'm in front of that judge on an unrelated case, and she says, "Oh, and I signed that order from the other case. If he doesn't like it, he can appeal." Mic dropped.
13. The Crooked Lawyer
I am not an attorney, but my boyfriend is, and this tale took place a few years ago in NYC...thus, here is The Tale of (throws dust in campfire) of "The Crooked Lawyer." While looking up this guy's information, it became clear that he was a real jerk. A local paper described him as “a con artist,” and he preyed on unsuspecting victims, took out loans in their name, and falsified information.
Then he’d take off with most of his victim's money. Somehow, he’d avoided justice up until this point...until my boyfriend came along! My boyfriend moved to NYC from a state in the South. Freshly out of law school and riddled with student debt, he found a low-paying personal injury firm and settled in. Since money was tight, he found a roommate on Craigslist named Julie.
Julie is a feisty Latina, and my boyfriend is pretty much Wonder Bread, but they hit it off very well. My boyfriend would go to Julie's job after work (she was a bartender) and they developed a very strong friendship.
During this time, Julie meets a server, named Luis. They hit it off and begin dating. My boyfriend clicks with Luis, and they become a trio. Late nights, nodding off on the subway platform, my boyfriend being taken to Latin clubs...they become the best of friends. Something that will play a role in this tale is that both Julie and Luis (and their families) are in the USA undocumented.
So, Julie and Luis are getting serious, but they don't have a lot of money, so they move in with Luis' elderly parents. My boyfriend finds another place to live and they all still keep in touch. During all of this, Luis' dad had suffered an injury at work. He lost part of his finger and had hired a personal injury attorney—AKA the “Crooked Lawyer” of this story.
Apparently, Luis' dad was supposed to receive a $100k settlement, but some time had passed and still no update. Since Luis and his family didn’t speak English, Julie called Luis' father's insurance and asked about the status of the settlement. Their answer chilled her to the bone. The insurance said, "Oh, the settlement's already been paid out....?"
That's when Julie called my boyfriend and freaked out. Apparently this "personal injury" attorney had a history of being an ambulance chaser, and sought out undocumented clients. He held that over them and took their settlement money for himself, knowing that no one would pursue him and risk deportation. While there had been reports of this jerk, the guy had been getting away with this kind of thing for years.
So, my boyfriend tells Julie to tell the lawyer that she knows what's up. Apparently this guy thought his clients were too stupid to seek retribution. The crooked lawyer then told Julie that he would return the money if she dropped her complaint against him. Still, my boyfriend was livid at this guy taking advantage of people—so he decided to get payback.
He told Julie to record all of her conversations with the lawyer and keep records of any type of contact. During their meetings, the jerk tried to give Julie money to keep quiet about his "plan." She plays along, meets up with him a few times, always recording interactions and "getting money from him." With evidence in place, my boyfriend took everything he had to the NYS Supreme Court.
He told them that he was representing Luis's dad. While on trial, my boyfriend learned that people had filed reports against the other lawyer for years but nobody ever gave a darn until he became involved. It turned out that the guy had taken over $400,000 from clients over the years. It was a long trial, with my boyfriend representing Luis' dad and him having to testify, even though he was terrified that he'd get kicked out of the country.
The crooked lawyer knew my boyfriend had reported him, and he would glare at him from the stand. Long story short, the jerk pleaded guilty to charges of identity theft, among other things. He was also stripped of his ability to practice law and was sentenced to seven years behind bars. And this story has an even better happy ending.
My boyfriend is now the Godfather to Julie and Luis' son. Luis' dad moved back to his native country and bought a beautiful house. All of crooked lawyer’s victims got their money back through the Lawyer's Fund for Client Protection.
14. Darlings And All
I'm a partner in a small New England area firm. I had court this morning with one of my clients who is a very sweet older lady, around 70 years old. We were helping her with an old judgment from her divorce. Long story short, her ex-husband failed to pay something, and we were helping her collect. But the star of the show is something else entirely.
The old lady has a habit of calling everyone “Darling.” E.g. "Do you need my bank statements, darling?" when calling the office. I don't really care what she calls me, she pays and is mega sweet, so we brush it off. But she is also a bit hard of hearing, which is how our case...got interesting. We had the final hearing today, and the judge was keeping things pretty casual and conversational.
He was asking the parties different questions to clarify things before closing the hearing. He asked my client something about her finances, and she didn't hear him. Her words made my face turn red instantly. "I'm sorry, Darling, what was the question?" Oh my God. Help me. There was a moment's pause, and the judge burst out laughing.
"I'm sorry, did you call me...Darling?" He leaned back in his chair, beet red, grinning. She also turned a shade of scarlet. "I...I did, Your Honor." He laughed again, shook his head, and the rest of the hearing proceeded. Upon closing the record, he mentioned that it was the first time he had ever been called “Darling” by anyone. I think we did well, though. Darlings and all.
15. The Queen Of Karens
It was a dispute in which I helped a low-income man seek full custody of his children. His ex was representing herself, and refused to communicate with me in any way. Apparently, she thought she knew the law, and said she didn't have to talk to me without a lawyer. No amount of explaining that I was a lawyer, not an officer, got me anywhere.
Come hearing day, she hadn't submitted anything to the court, and decided that she should get whatever she wanted simply by telling the judge to do it. She was, after all, the "mother" and more entitled to the child, benefits, and child support that went along with the child. Despite what she was saying, she spoke sweetly and was very petite so I knew people would automatically want to side with her.
The judge explained that she hadn't submitted any pleadings, and that she wouldn't prevail unless she asked for a continuance, submitted pleadings, and tried her case. That’s when she transformed into a monster. I must have romanticized the memory, because I swear she was flailing her arms around so fast that I couldn't keep track.
Her entire body was twitching, arms flailing, hands flopping, and head back screaming. She demanded to speak to the judge's boss immediately. She repeatedly made offensive comments about the judge. A non-stop river of psychotic-entitled garbage spewed from her mouth. She wasn't doing the insanely high-pitched-unintelligible scream, either.
She was doing a full-on drill sergeant bellow. The yell was loud, clear, forceful, and disconcertingly deep.
I’ve seen some stuff, but this left me opened-mouthed and staring. My client, however, was familiar with this brand of crazy. He stood up to loudly and politely ask the judge if he could say something. I felt like a jerk at this moment for not staying on point, but I was completely caught by surprise. In an instant, my client took the case from ridiculous to absurd.
The judge allowed my client to speak, and my client used both arms to gesture to crazy and yelled, "This is the stuff I'm talkin 'bout right here. You see this crazy. Nah. Just nah." For the second time that hearing, I didn't remain professional and couldn't contain my laughter. I think laughter, or any sound of happiness, must have been a trigger for her, because Crazy then started trying to physically attack my client.
My client ran to the witness box and ducked down inside in an attempt to shield himself from the attack. There should be officers in each domestic courtroom during hearings, but we all know it'll never happen. Crazy was detained, and screamed the entire time she was dragged away that she was going to talk to the judge's boss about her being disrespected.
My client was awarded full custody, and the mother wasn't awarded any parenting time.
16. Doggone It
So this couple has two dogs. My client tells me that she wants both dogs, and she won't have it any other way. She explains to me that the dogs love each other and NEED to be with one another. She is sobbing uncontrollably in my office, which is something I can normally deal with, but not in this case. She was beyond out of her mind crying.
I often use the Socratic method to explain things to people. First, I told her I love dogs (I do) and I totally understood her situation. I told her that it would really suck to break up my two dogs, so I understood her. Then I said, "But I have to ask you something. If you were a judge, and there were two dogs and two people, how would you divide them up?"
She realized what I was saying and she almost screamed, "Nooooo! You don't understand! They love each other and they can't be broken up!" I said, "I totally understand. I'm just asking you what you think YOU would do, if you were the judge...and there were TWO people and TWO dogs. How could the judge easily settle this matter?"
I was just trying to get her down to reality, so I could maybe figure out if she preferred one dog or if there was another way to settle this. Then she says: "Okay, I get it. Dogs are property. Even though they are my children, the law says they are property." That's right. At this point, I thought she had seen the proverbial light. I soon discovered how wrong I was.
"Okay, so then how about this: I will sell the dogs and that way, the court can't order me to give up the dogs. The dogs will be gone." Ugh. I said, "Ma'am, it sounds like you are saying that you are going to try to pull the wool over the judge’s eyes." I then continued, "I can't even entertain that notion. You think the judge hasn't seen this kind of stuff before? You think you're the only couple who has two dogs? Do you think this is an original idea? I'm not telling a judge that you sold the dogs."
I got her spouse served with the petition. Then she got her revenge: She fired me right before the trial and went in without an attorney. But she was in for a rude awakening. When she told the judge she sold the dogs, she actually thought he would just say, "Okay, well that's that." Instead, the judge said: "Who did you sell them to?"
Excuse me? "WHO DID YOU SELL THEM TO? I want a name and a telephone number. We can make the call right here, from the courtroom. I'm going to verify your story. I know you love these dogs very much, so I know you didn't give them to a stranger. Tell me who you sold the dogs to NOW." Oh gee whiz. She wasn't expecting that. I guess this judge has been a judge before!
Rather than have the judge call her accomplice, who was hiding the dogs and NOT expecting a judge to call, my ex-client admitted that it was a con. She crumbled under the judge's cross exam. The judge gave BOTH dogs to the respondent in the case. Full justice achieved, plus happy ending: Dogs get to stay together, and they surely would have been broken apart otherwise.
17. Down But Not Out
I was representing a defendant being tried for a probation violation, for trespassing and possession. My testimony was going to be focused on the officers who detained him and failed to follow proper procedures—they entered his house without a warrant, and they lied to the phone company about having a warrant to track his phone.
I was feeling tired, but I didn’t think much of it at first. This was a huge mistake, and the beginning of the most dramatic court case of my life. I’m a diabetic, and I didn’t realize I was about to have an episode. We go through the court case, and I'm behaving badly in court and being reprimanded by the judge repeatedly. I eventually start slurring my words and having single sided weaknesses.
The judge recognized something was wrong and put court at recess. The court officers thought I was having a stroke. They called an ambulance, but by the time it arrived, I was already unconscious. As soon as they saw me, they gave me an injectable hormone that forces my blood sugar to go up. 10 minutes and several snacks later, I manage to return to the courtroom and win the case.
18. Deja Vu
The Spanish Supreme Court recently ruled that certain clauses in mortgages from banks were null and void. This mean that we had tons of claims for compensation coming in. One day, there were 10 hearings against the same bank and every plaintiff was assisted by the same lawyer, my colleague. So we had 10 hearings in a row with the same judge and same lawyers, only pausing to let one plaintiff out of the courtroom and the next one in.
It was easy to notice that the bank lawyers didn't have much experience in civil procedure: they tried to introduce evidence they weren't allowed to, or stuff like that. Even worse, after the judge decided against the bank in every one of the points, the lawyers would introduce the points again in the next hearing with same results.
After the fifth or sixth time, this exchange happened: Judge: I already decided over this five times, attorney. Why do you insist on wasting my time? Bank lawyer: Mutters something about guarantees, proper trial, and a right to be heard. Judge: Everyone in this courtroom knows by now there is no basis for your defense. I expect a professional attitude in my court and that the lawyers come prepared to the hearings.
That’s when the bank lawyer started crying, then he made an unhinged confession. “With all due respect, I was hired only for today’s hearings. I didn't get to see any of the case files, and only received instructions to read from. Honestly, I don't even get paid enough for this.” After that, the judge called a recess so the lawyer could calm down.
When we reconvened, the bank lawyer briefly read from her instructions and the judge rejected the allegations one by one like before.
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19. Family Feud
In my country, for child custody cases, the court will often pay for the child to have their own attorney or advocate who isn't working in the interest of either parent. I was representing the child in this case. The custody was over a five-year-old girl. The father was an unemployed alcoholic ex-gangster with a severe prior record.
The mom had a significant psychiatric history and a minor record, plus a reasonably stable stepdad. The mom and the stepdad had won in the past for obvious reasons. The child had complex medical and psychiatric needs, which were being adequately met, but the father had a history of taking the child’s psychiatric medication and denying her medical care during urgent situations.
Pre-trial, we often interview the parents to get an idea of whether they're fit to care for a child. I already knew the dad was unfit and the mom was not perfect but more fit, but I wanted to interview the dad to build my case. The lawyers frequently tell the parents to deny the interview, but sometimes they don't listen to the lawyers. He didn't listen very well and accepted our interview. That was his first mistake.
Before I got in the front door, I noticed an odor of drinks on him and numerous open and empty bottles in and around his living room. He made statements about the mom and physicians controlling the child with prescribed medications. He seemed manic, was living in unsanitary squalor, and it was clear that he had some undiagnosed psychiatric issues, too.
His girlfriend was his age, and she was obviously off her rocker. Interviewing her, she appeared to be in the middle of a psychiatric episode and was very cruel to me. Next I go out to the kiddo, and during the interview the kiddo spills off an obviously coached tangent on mommy drinking and acting funny. Me: "Who told you to say all that?" Kiddo: "Daddy."
The kid was clearly coached. After I get her to tell me the truth, I made a discovery that sent a shiver down my spine. The kid confessed that the dad’s girlfriend was mistreating her physically and emotionally. I immediately haul my butt down to court and file to transfer emergency custody order over to the mom ASAP, plus a protective order against the dad’s girlfriend.
Trial comes up, and both of their attorneys bicker over who's more horrible. My testimony is requested and I drop a half an hour’s worth of revelations on the dad and the girlfriend. They eventually curse at me then leave the courtroom. Eventually, sole custody was awarded to the mom and the child was ordered to receive therapy for trauma.
After interviewing the kid, the authorities find sufficient evidence for an order to detain the girlfriend. In THAT subsequent trial, which only happened a week after the custody one, the girlfriend was sentenced to one year in intensive psychiatric care and 10 years behind bars before any release. I thought the case was over, but I was so wrong. Fast forward to a few weeks later.
I was preparing for another emergency late case at 8 pm, when the dad bursts through the doors of my firm's office. He starts screaming for me, and I meet him at the front window. The front window is bulletproof, the door is locked, and the access is pretty tightly restricted. He's punching the window, kicking it, threatening to hurt me, etc.
We lock him in and call the authorities and the officers come in. Now he gets detained on that charge, finally putting an end to the messiest case I have ever worked on.
20. If It Ain’t Broke…
I had some of my friends over at my house, and one of my friends invited one of her other friends to come over. Then the worst moment of my life happened. She had her MacBook on my couch and when I sat on it, I broke it. Since it was completely my fault I offered to pay her the money for it and she agreed. She got the old one three years ago and it cost $2,200 dollars at the time.
I told her I'd wire her the money in a week to her bank account. She's now emailed me, however, saying that as per our conversation, she's expecting the $2,700 that I have agreed to(!!!!) I didn't know why she added the extra money, so I got her number from my friend and called her. She told me that she's now expecting me to pay for her new upgraded MacBook since she was "upgrading anyway." She said if I don't agree to do that she'll be suing me in Small Claims Court.
21. Little Girl Lost
For the past seven months after moving into my new house with my daughter and dogs, the neighbors’ 16-year-old child, who has pretty severe Down Syndrome, has increasingly been entering my property and home. At first I just talked to the neighbors and they were really sorry and vowed to monitor her more while she's in their backyard.
However, after a few months they just genuinely do not care anymore and brush it off. But it took a turn for the worse. I've installed security cameras in the backyard and front yard purely for my own safety insurance-wise because we do have a pool. She will climb the fence into my yard with a ladder from their shed and let my dogs out.
I've fixed her letting my dogs "free," as she says, by using chains and padlocks on the two gates. Before this became a common occurrence, she even would let the dogs out of the house and then "free" them. Numerous times if my garage door is open, she will leave their backyard and just walk into my house to “free” my dogs. I don't know what the purpose is other than it's something she just has to do for whatever reason.
When she climbs into the backyard (sometimes when I'm not even home) and she cannot get back out, she begins screaming and crying and just shuts down. Before I started chaining and locking my gates because of her releasing my dogs, her parents would just walk in and get her and leave. Now since I've chained it, they took it up a notch.
They start a huge fit about me having her locked in my backyard and they have to climb the fence, bring the ladder over and carry her back over. Somehow this is my fault. Now I'm not really blaming her because she mentally doesn't know any better. Still, she’s lucky my dogs are super nice. I just honestly worry about her safety in the backyard, climbing fences and her seemingly not being watched as she needs to be.
I have a pool and if she falls in when I'm not home she could very well drown. That's why I installed security cameras to cover my own butt if that ever happens. I truly hope it never does but it seems her parents just put her in the backyard and that's it. I've called the local child and family services office (CPS) several times in the past two months to report it because I feel she is at risk with her parents inattentiveness and their seemingly not caring attitude of her just going into people's yards, garages, houses etc.
I have a full garage of power tools, table saws, etc. that I've now had to resort to flipping the breaker off when I open the doors out of fear she may severely injure herself. I feel like I've done everything I can, talked to the parents numerous times, called child and family services, installed cameras, locked my gates further. I just have no idea what to do now? I've debated calling the authorities when she enters but I don't know how that will escalate.
22. Without A Trace
In June 2019, my neighbors came to my door. I’d had some experiences with them before, as they invited us for a BBQ not long after they moved in. They asked me and my wife if we would look after their pets and their house for the next three weeks, as they needed to return to Taiwan since his mother was dying. They even left me $500 dollars for food for their two German Shepherds and their cat. This is where it gets interesting.
I don't know what happened to them, but they just never came back. I don't know if they ended up in some sort of trouble or decided to just not come home at all. Today I found out their basement flooded, probably sometime within the last week. Apparently a pipe burst, but the entire room is completely screwed. I paid to have the leak fixed and I spent all of today using my shop vac to drain their basement to the best of my abilities.
Between this and one of their dogs needing surgery, I have spent several thousand dollars of my own money, and frankly the damage to the basement was pretty awful. I don't have their insurance paperwork, and don't really know if I can even do a claim for them. On top of this, his two giant German Shepherds, while they are amazingly good boys, are becoming almost too much for us to handle.
Their last name is extremely common, and their Facebook profiles are private, which gives me very little avenue to tackle this down.
23. An Apple A Day
I quit drinking soda and energy drinks a few months ago and I replaced that habit with drinking Martinelli’s Sparkling Apple Juice. The juice comes in 10 oz. glass bottles that look very similar to Corona bottles. Here lies my issue: This morning I was walking to my car from my apartment and I had a bottle of my juice in one hand and my one-year-old daughter, in her car seat, in the other hand.
My neighbors basically jumped me from behind. One grabbed my daughter’s car seat and the other was punching, kicking, and yelling at me. He was saying stuff like, “The nerve of you to drink and try to drive with your baby.” As a result, my juice bottle shattered in the parking lot, cutting my hand, my cell phone’s screen is destroyed, and I think my nose is fractured.
Most importantly, the neighbor who took my baby went inside his apartment with her and it took 10 minutes of me explaining through the screen door that I was not about drink and drive, but that I WAS DRINKING APPLE JUICE. This all just happened. By the way, I didn’t get any apologies or anything from the neighbors. They said they were doing their “duty” to protect the community.
I called the authorities, and as soon as they pulled up more than a half dozen neighbors came out and gave witness reports.
24. Mother Doesn’t Know Best
I'm 15, and my family is deeply religious. I respect that but sometimes, you know, I'm 15, and I have to, you know, rub one out. I try not to but like...I can't concentrate on anything else if I don't. And if I see a pretty girl, it'll get worse. It basically feels like sleeping to me, if I don't do it I can't function. I don’t know if I'm normal or not. I'm definitely ashamed of it.
But I'm not lying I promise. However, my mom doesn't believe me. My dad is out of the picture so I can't talk to him and ask him if this is a guy thing. Anyway, my mom has tried a lot of things to get me to stop. She took my door off, for example. She grounded me and stuff. I try to hide it so she gives up, but now she's come up with a horrific plan.
She decided to get some kind of device and put it on me so that I can't touch myself. She seemed serious and it wouldn't be out of character for her. She also does other weird things, like on Fridays we can't eat at all because of Jesus. I try to respect that but often times I go out on a bike ride and get food somewhere. Because, well, I get hungry. But then this took a twist.
I told my math teacher about my mother—and she got busted. I got my 13-year-old brother after school yesterday and we went to see my math teacher. I didn't tell him all the details, but I told him my mother wanted to put a device on me to keep me from being intimate. At first he wanted to call our mom but that actually made my brother cry in fear so he didn't because I told him I'd run away and call the authorities if he did.
Still, he called a bunch of people, and about an hour later officers a bunch of other people showed up. Apparently they'd already been suspicious about our neighborhood. That’s when the lid on my family blew right off. Turns out, my mother has been doing things like burning us for punishment that are completely verboten and I honestly never really knew. They also found a stash of substances she apparently does with our preacher.
My mother wasn't home but all my other six siblings who are homeschooled were. Then they went down the street to where my mom and our preacher were and I don't know what happened but they took her in think for drugs and other stuff, but not the preacher. There were a bunch of people who talked to all of us and eventually they took us to a place where they said we'd stay for now.
I should have done this years ago, I feel really bad because I could have had my siblings taken better care of. I don't really know what's happening or going to happen, but the place I'm in now is way cleaner than I'm used to and we have clothes and stuff and food and we don't have to watch toddlers anymore. They weren't happy when they figured out stuff like the burns and that my 11- and 10-year-old sisters can't read at all.
They also weren't very happy with our house I could tell. I hope we don't have to go back.
25. Power Trip
I live in a small town in Wisconsin so law enforcement kind of knows everybody. But there’s this one officer who keeps pulling me over for the craziest and most asinine reasons, like I was too close to the curb or I stopped too close to the stop sign. He’s a young, attractive cop and I’m young and attractive as well, so I’m thinking he’s trying to flirt with me or something?
But the situations are so aggravating and the things he says and does seem like he’s intentionally trying to antagonize me so that I’ll say or do something out of anger and he’ll have an excuse to escalate the situation. But today he crossed the line. He pulled me over again under the guise that I wasn’t going the speed limit (it was 45 and I was going 50) and when he came to my car and said his usual stuff in the most condescending way, he said he had to search ME, not the car, because my car smelled funny.
My car smells like vanilla and I’ve never smoked anything in there so I know he was lying to me again. I told him that if he wants to search me he’ll have to get a female officer to do it, but he said if I don’t comply he’ll detain me. So I got out of the car. He told me to put my hands on my car so I did, and he just starts rubbing me up and down. Not even searching for anything, just rubbing me.
He went over my thighs twice, my lower back, and almost cupped my breasts. I was wearing a skin-tight skirt set, no pockets, and you could clearly see that I had nothing on me. I’m typing this like 30 minutes after it happened, I’m upset and angry and I feel violated. Is there any way I can get him in trouble for this? I have a GoPro in my car but I don’t know if it caught this on camera, as I didn’t check yet.
26. Family Means Love
Hi, so my life is falling apart. A few weeks ago, my father and my stepmother perished in a car accident. They have been married for seven years, and my stepmother had a daughter from a previous marriage who is eight years old. I love her unconditionally as if she were my own sister and I would fight tooth and nail to keep her safe. She has no immediate family other than her father in the area, so he was going to receive full custody of her.
Except this guy is an enormous jerk. The reason my stepmother left him is because he was abusive, although she never reported it, and the reason he was abusive was because my stepsister was born and he didn't want a child. As a result, he has never cared about her, never asked to see her, and has never wanted anything to do with her…until now, that is.
I was at home with my stepsister a few days ago and he knocked on the door. I opened it and we had a really ugly conversation about what was going to happen to my stepsister now that her mother and my father were gone. I told him that if he did end up having custody I would want to be seeing her as often as possible as I consider her my family. His reply stunned me.
He told me, verbatim, "That's not gonna happen, son. I don't want my daughter spending time with half caste blood." He's referring to the fact that my father is mixed race, and that I am too as a result. I slammed the door. I was absolutely livid. But then I got to work. I got a family lawyer who was one of the most kind and helpful people I've ever met in my life.
I told her the circumstances of my stepmom and dad’s passing through tears and sobbing, and then she told me she'd do everything she possibly could to help me. After my stepsister’s bio dad was informed that I would be trying to get full custody, he basically folded within hours. The lawyer told me that it wouldn't have mattered anyway, though.
She said that because he hadn't visited her for such an extended period of time that it was considered "abandonment" in the eyes of the law, and the likelihood of him specifically getting custody was unlikely because of this. After her bio dad said he didn't want my stepsister, I then spent weeks and weeks filing out the right papers and seeing the right people.
I've never signed so many things in my entire life. Because my stepsister had no biological family other than her dad, I was given custody on a silver platter, according to my lawyer. Her bio dad didn't ask for visitation rights, and it appears he didn't even care in the first place, he just wanted my stepsister for no reason other than to further upset me.
Yesterday, I signed the last piece of paper that confirmed that I had 100% custody of my stepsister. After I signed, we both cried and cried for hours. We're both working on processing what happened to her mom and my dad. As I write this, she's asleep next to me with her head on my shoulder. The past two months have hands down been the worst of my entire life.
I consider meeting my stepsister the best thing that's ever happened to me, and adopting her is the single best decision I've ever made. These events have made me realize that family isn't just DNA-based, it's actionable investments in the life of someone you love. I hope you all lead wonderful lives. Give your loved ones a big hug for me.
29. A Bird Of A Different Feather
To make a long story short, I’m a late 20-something living in Oregon. I had a pretty intense goth phase as a tween that I thought I had grown out of. A couple months ago, I was watching a nature program on our local station about crows. The program mentioned that if you feed and befriend them, crows will bring you small gifts. My emo phase came back full force.
I figured that I was laid off and had lots of time, so why not make some crow friends. My plan worked way too well. The resident five crows in my neighborhood have turned into an army of 15 strong. At first my neighbors didn’t mind and enjoyed it. They're mostly elderly and most were in a bird watching club anyway. They thought the fact that I had crows following me around whenever I go outside was funny.
Lately, though, the crows have started defending me. My neighbor came over for a chat and the crows started diving at her. They would not stop until she left my yard. They didn’t make physical contact with her, but they got very close. Honest question: Am I liable if these crows injure someone, since I fed them? I obviously can’t control the crows.
I would rather them not attack my neighbors. But since I technically created this nuisance, could I be financially on the hook for any injuries? To be clear, they're not aggressive 100% of the time. If just the neighbors are out they are friendly normal crows. They only get aggressive when someone gets close to me or my property. Honestly, what have I done?
28. Strings Attached
I worked as head bartender for a local restaurant for a number of years, and there was a regular customer who was there very frequently. I interacted with this customer frequently, too. They tipped exclusively in scratch tickets and specifically called to ask for my schedule, asked me out on multiple occasions, et cetera. Probably about 40 years my senior.
Then I won something from the scratch ticket that wasn't five or 10 dollars; the final amount after taxes was about three months’ salary for me, and I was making good money. I specifically didn't tell the customer, not because I thought they wouldn't want it but because I didn't want them feeling like I owed them something or that I should be thankful towards them.
I did tell a co-worker, and it got to the customer through the grapevine. The next time I came in, he congratulated me, and asked me a question that sent a shiver down my spine. He asked how we wanted to split it. I sternly told him that it was my tip and long story short, he went to my manager, who took his side. I actually quit since I had been planning to anyway since I'm about to finish school. But that wasn't the end.
My manager then GAVE THIS GUY MY EMAIL and he (the customer) emailed me saying that if I didn't agree to give him 50% of the winnings he'd take court action. Do I need to worry about taking his threat seriously? Is there anything I can or should do to protect myself? I'm assuming this is a bluff but I want to have my bases covered.
39. Sleepaway Camp
I am 16 years and two months old. My parents believe I am a disaster and unruly child, but they are delusional parents. My mother has bipolar disorder and does not take her meds regularly and I'm sure my father has undiagnosed mental health problems as well. They have been wanting to send me to a camp for troubled teenagers for a while, and two people recently came to take me without me knowing.
I thought they were kidnapping me. I screamed and my brother who was at home (but wasn't supposed to be) took my father's gun and threatened to kill them. That was when they told us who they are and why they are here. We called the authorities but they did nothing after they talked to our parents. I do not trust my parents anymore and I want to get emancipated. I don't think my parents will object; they will be happy to get rid of me.
30. Two’s Company
Y’all. I’m so annoyed. We’ve been living in our new place for less than a full week and our landlord has popped up over here and tried to just walk in with his key three times. Today I drove up just as he was unlocking our door to walk in and I’m just like, “what are you doing here?” The first time I walked out of my bedroom up to see him just standing in my living room looking at my thermostat.
He literally didn’t even acknowledge the fact that he was in the unit by saying “anyone home?” or anything. I was about to pepper spray the heck out of him because his back was to me and I was home alone. Today he said he needed to do maintenance on the A/C and proceeded to crane his neck to look in every room with a door open and rummage through my cabinets in my kitchen.
I really don’t want to be THAT tenant but I can’t do this for a year. It’s always just him telling me some small stuff that could have been said over the phone. The anxiety of thinking someone is in my house when I’m not home is too much, let alone just waiting for him to pop in while I am. I’ve rented since I was 18 and never had a landlord who just pops up at all hours of the day.
31. Make Yourself At Home
My girlfriend’s landlord entered her house after he talked to her as she was going to work. He believed nobody was home, but I was here lying in bed. I woke up to him coming into the apartment to use the bathroom and then leaving. When I said something as he was leaving, he ignored me. I text my girlfriend about it to see if she had given him permission to enter and she said no.
He did have permission to enter the building at 11 am to show her apartment, but this was at 9:30 am and he had no tenant to show the apartment to. He just came in, used the bathroom and left. He didn’t even finish flushing the toilet and he left poop in it! When I confronted him, he became aggressive with me, made threatening gestures toward me, and started trying to accuse me of wrongfully occupying the building, which is not the case.
He then left the property and came back 20 minutes later and started banging on the door and threatening me and accusing me of wrongfully occupying the space again. When I explained to him that I had every right to be there because I had permission from the tenant to be there, he said “Okay, I’ll let you go this time.” My girlfriend feels uncomfortable here now, big time.
32. No Fly List
I'm going to try to state this as calmly as possibly. My father has cancer, walks with a cane/wheelchair, and has a port for his treatments that is a tube from the side of his chest going to his heart. We came to this country 20 years ago, both my parents speak English well with an accent that is not so thick people have difficulty understanding them in our city, New York.
They sometimes get syntaxes, plurals, and slang wrong, but it's not hard to figure out. However, the cancer and medication make my father very soft-spoken, and his hearing isn't that great (he's nearly 70) and when very upset or flustered, he can have a hard time finding the right words. Today, they were flying to where my sister and her family live in Houston, Texas.
This is also where my father is undergoing some experimental treatments for his cancer. He had permission to travel, and with him he brings a note from his oncologist from home and in Texas, which includes a diagram of his port but not a full list of medication. He also brings a printout from the TSA about traveling with a port and cancer.
My parents arrive 3:45 to a Tennessee airport for a 6:00 flight. Both parents have TSA prep-check and get in line at about 4:00. They are told to get out into the other line. They show their tickets, and the agent consults another one while they wait, all as the other agents are letting people past them. The agents start questioning my father on where he is going, his name, the address on the ID, etc.
My father is having difficulty understanding the agent’s accent, which is very thick, and the agent is responding by speaking louder and louder and more drawn out, making it even harder to understand. Meanwhile, I assume my dad is not speaking his best English, either, as he is flustered and has been standing a while now, but he is trying his best. It ended up going so much worse.
I'm not sure if they asked about the port at this point, but my father tries to give them the info and doctor’s note he has brought, which I think adds to the confusion. They wave him away, scribble something on his and my mom’s ticket, and eventually they get escorted by a third agent to the pre-check line. They don't know why someone walked them to the line, it wasn't to help my dad walk or anything.
Both parents put their things on the scanner, and an agent tells my dad to remove his kufi (he does) and gets a consult with another agent if my mother needs to remove her hijab. She doesn't, as they finally agree on, but later while patting her down, my mother says they nearly pulled it off several times. They go through the bags and bring out my father’s medication.
They tell him he needs prescriptions for it, he gives them the notes, and they say they will hold it until after the pat-down. My father says that’s ok, but again reiterates he has a port and they cannot touch it. He calls it a “device” at one point, which causes the agents to start speaking loudly all at once. My father stands with his hands in the air while my mother tries to explain.
He tries to show it to them and they yell at him to “not undress.” They take him into a small room away from my mother. He is roughly patted down and it took much longer than expected. The agent starts pressing hard on his port and my father cries out. The agent begins to lecture him and say it's needed and they have to figure out what it is, at one point trying to pick up/pull at the port.
My father has survived escaping genocide in our home country, buried his son, and has never once in my lifetime cried in public. I have literally never seen him cry, only my mother has, once. He couldn't stop himself from the tears this time, though, and he cried with pain. He tells the agent to stop, and he is told to stop being “aggressive.”
Again, he is a 5'7, 115-25 lb cancer patient who has never raised his voice or not cooperated. It was just the start, though. The agent keeps going, pressing hard on his legs, causing his knees to buckle and he falls to the floor. The agent stops abruptly, they help him to his feet and offer a chair. My father is white, shaking, and still has tears in his eyes.
They bring my mother into the room, and she had already been roughly patted down herself but is fine. They wait together for another 20-30 minutes, without any of their belongings or phones. The agents finally come in and say they can go board their plane and give a half-hearted apology for “taking security seriously” or something like that.
They take their bags…which are missing my father’s medication. He asks for it and after another 10-15 minutes or so, he gets it back. By this point the plane has left. They now go to the ER to see if the port is damaged and for pain medication. He has now missed a very important scheduled CAT scan and consult with his oncology team, and risks getting put out of the treatment plan.
This is on top of possibly getting charged for not calling 24 hours ahead to reschedule, issues with the insurance, etc. My father is currently in incredible, needless pain, in a strange city hospital. His port is OK but they want to check him out again before flying. My father is an absolutely upstanding man who has done so much for the refugee community, other small business owners, and our neighborhood. He doesn't deserve to be treated like this, nobody does. I plan to take action.
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33. Blood On Their Hands
I think my dad’s company is responsible for his death. My dad passed last week while at work, from a massive heart attack. He was in the bathroom while the attack happened and he tried calling 9-1-1 repeatedly. Here's the thing, though. Six months ago, his company installed some kind of signal blocking device in the bathrooms because employees were going to the toilet and browsing the internet.
The doctors say that if he'd received medical attention within 20 minutes, he might've made it, but they didn't find him until almost two hours after he'd passed. Last month, there was a nasty car wreck just outside his office and apparently ambulances were on the scene within 10 minutes, so I'm sure that if he'd been able to make the call, he might've lived.
I spoke to the company and they've told me to get lost, saying it's private property and they're well within their rights to use jammers how they please.
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34. Yes Means Yes
I’m 18 and in college. Like all 18-year-olds, I mess up. This time, I messed up big time and I ended up pregnant. I waited a week after my pregnancy test came up positive, I went to the doctor to 100% confirm the pregnancy, and my best friend, her boyfriend, my boyfriend, and I took a couples’ trip to NYC so I could have the abortion in a safe environment and have everything taken care of in a timely manner.
We got back to Boston and life went on. I am in therapy to work through my problems regarding the suicide attempts of my older sister and dealing with the repercussions of her mental illness. I have not been diagnosed with any mental illnesses, I’m not considered depressed, I have no history of any kind of any mental illnesses, self-harm, or anything of the sort. I receive my therapy in a non-religious environment.
This is just straight-up confidential counseling because my sister attempted suicide right before I went to college, my parents are toxic, and I needed help with that burden. I told my therapist immediately that I’d had an abortion, and told her my reasons: cost of a baby, not wanting children, I go to a university that I worked my butt off to get into and I’ll be darned if I let an unwanted pregnancy ruin my life.
I also could not raise a child that I disdained. Selfish? Yes. But I’m not sorry. I also informed her that my boyfriend and I are still together and that he and I plan on staying together, the intimacy was between two adults who 100% consented, it was just a mix-up and confusion on both of our parts. He and I split the cost of the procedure with him paying 75% of the cost.
I go home and do homework. At around 4 pm, I get a visit from the Boston PD, who are investigating a case. Their accusations stun me. They think that I’m the victim and my boyfriend is the perpetrator and that I’ve been forced to have an abortion. I ask them where they got this false information and give them proof that both he and I agreed that abortion was the way to go.
After a lot of talking to smooth things over and apologizing, they left. Then I get a call from my parents. They’re ranting on and on about how I’ve sinned in God’s eyes, how I’ve been fornicating and screwed every man in NYC, and how my lack of contact with them is hurting my mother. They screamed down the phone for four hours before telling me that my therapist gave them my address in Boston and they are coming to get me no matter what.
It becomes clear. My therapist called the authorities, reported a false attack and forced abortion, violated all sorts of confidentiality, and had the nerve to track my parents down. I never gave her their number, address, or personal information. She did not know their names, and I only ever called them mom and dad. I never gave her any sort of go-ahead to do anything.
Officers are still hounding me, I’m freaking out and constantly having panic attacks, my therapist is making things worse by CONTINUING to knowingly provide false information to the authorities (although I gave them the information that should have ended this all). But that’s not all. The therapist is also saying that I have Stockholm Syndrome and that’s why I won’t report my boyfriend, and I’m at a loss for what to do.
I also know why she’s having some weird witch hunt. My boyfriend is in a fraternity and in her mind, that’s the root of all evil because frat houses are awful. I’ve also started to get calls from the NYPD investigating the “forced abortion” and I’m freaking out and don’t know what to do. This is serious. The therapist is continuing to call and labeling me with various mental illnesses so she gets her point across and so I’m not taken seriously. The last time officers called was last night.
35. Fence Etiquette
Today I came home to a new fence in my backyard...and nobody knows where it came from. We live in a row home and the house attached to ours is vacant. It's been on the market since before we moved in, and nobody's lived in it for at least seven years. There was a small cast-iron fence between the two yards (on my property line) that went from under the fire escape to the brick garage.
I removed that fence as it was on my property about a month ago and installed brand new, beautiful sod. Well, I come home today and this disgusting, mismatched random combination of fences has been erected between the yards. Part of it goes over my property line, crushing the sod, at the bottom of the fire escape. The leprechauns or whoever installed it stepped all over my grass to do so, and to top it all off, they gave us the ugly side, which is totally against fence etiquette.
I don't know who owns it, so I called the real estate agent. He was just as shocked as I was when I told him there had been a fence built at a house he is selling. He had no idea. He'll be in contact with the owner of the property tomorrow, but she is a 70-year-old woman who doesn't live here, and he said he can't imagine why she would have a fence built. I asked my neighbor on the other side if she saw anything. She didn't. What do I do about this fence?
36. Missing In Action
I will have been in this rental property for 10 years this year. In all that time, I've never actually met my landlord. He lives in another state. He used to have properties both in my state and in his state, but after the recession in 2008 he mostly pulled everything back to his state. My original lease was for the first year here, after that we never signed another lease but we've never had any issues at all about that.
I've always paid the rent by making a deposit directly to his account at his bank. When anything goes wrong, he's quick to hire repairmen. We've had a good relationship for the last decade, even if we don't know what the other looks like in person. But now…we have a huge problem. We think he may have croaked. Our rent is due, but we both lost our jobs and we wanted to talk to our landlord about postponing payments until we started working again.
Except the landlord's phone goes straight to voicemail. More than that, the voicemail box is full every time we call. He hasn't responded to texts or emails. We've been trying to get a hold of him for over two weeks now. Although I've never seen him, he sounds like an older dude and I'm worried about him. I'm also worried about my household.
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37. Bug Bear
My boyfriend’s hobby is to take reclaimed wood, custom cut it, and make tabletops or shelves out of them, selling some tables for $400 or more. I had three of these seven-feet long oak wood pieces sitting on the side of my house for a month, out to dry in the sun, on planks. Those pieces can be sold for $1,200 or more when finished. Then my worst nightmare happened.
This lady that lives in the area assumed they were for the trash and publicized the wood online as "next to a dumpster and going to a landfill." My recycling bin was next to this wood, on the back end of my house. I came home to my wood missing and I found her post online, giving it away for free with my exact home address for all to see.
Someone, unknowingly thinking it was this woman's to give away, snagged them. I contacted the guy and got it back. I then wrote the woman a message, showing her a screenshot of the NY State Government Property Lines website of my property’s border, which she clearly crossed over to take the photo of the wood on my property.
I told her to never do that again and mind her own business. Her response was: "I am quite too busy to read all this, either way it was a mistake. Good luck out there in this world, it sure is a bear." After that passive-aggressive stuff, I knew I had to get revenge. I went to the authorities and filed for trespassing. The officer said I could get her for possible larceny.
I'm glad she's going to get what's coming to her because I am now completely uncomfortable with doing future projects in my own yard and the entire town I live in now knows my exact address attached to my name because of this lady. Maybe if she was more kind I would have let bygones be bygones, but now I'm thinking, "the world sure can be a bear."
38. Arrive Alive
So.....my girlfriend went out for a couple drinks with her friend tonight. She didn’t drink much and she waited until she knew she was sober to drive home. When the time came, she drove herself and her roommate home in her roommate’s car. On her way, she noticed that the headlights were off, and flipped them on a couple of blocks down the road.
A minute or two later, she was pulled over by an officer. She admitted to having a couple of drinks and the officer asked her to get out of the vehicle. This is when it gets interesting. The officer made her take her glasses off, in the dark...during a snowstorm...to perform the sobriety test. He then declared that she was drunk WITHOUT HAVING HER BLOW TO TEST HER.
He then detained her at the spot. At the station, she blew way below the limit. The lady at the booking desk told her to get an attorney when she heard what the result was.
39. It Doesn’t Run In The Family
I'm 16 and my demonic sister is 15. She has never been right since we were little kids. Always violent. She bashed me in the head with a metal pipe when I was five because I wouldn't let her ride my bike. All of my life I've been putting up with her and I have had enough. She hits me, breaks my things, literally stuck a knife in me last year, took the keys to my car and banged it up twice this year.
My parents won’t do anything about it. She's already in alternative school for stalking another girl in her class. I really don't know what is wrong with her. She's not slow or anything like that. Before she got kicked out of regular school she was in the gifted program. My parents think she's like this misunderstood genius or whatever. They refuse to involve the authorities because it's a "family issue." Which brings us to today.
My parents forced me to let her tag along with me and my friends because honestly she doesn't have any except for this delinquent at the alternative school she is supposedly dating. Anyway, I was hanging out with my friends today and of course the demon was with us. We decided to go to the Dollar Tree to get some snacks. Demon didn't buy anything.
As we left the store, I could hear something in her bag like a rattling noise. I confronted her and this little witch took a bunch of cough pills! I don't know why. So I told her I was going to call mom. I pulled out my phone right there and she punched me in the face. I was really angry she did that in front of my friends and no way was I going to let her embarrass me, so we started fighting.
I took her down and had her pinned on the ground. That's what you have to do; pin her and let her tire herself because she will NOT stop otherwise. I had her arms pinned and she started flailing her legs and kicking me. She got me in the throat as I was letting her go. I was getting off of her when she kicked me right smack in my face, full force, and broke my nose.
Blood was gushing everywhere and she didn't even care, she just left. It took forever to stop the bleeding and my face is swollen and ugly. My friend gave me a bunch of Tylenol and it still hurts. I came home and told my parents immediately. Their reply made my blood boil. They asked me what did I do to upset her. I was so angry I told them I was calling the authorities, but they stopped me again.
Something needs to be done about her because she's getting a lot worse and my mom is eight months pregnant now and I'm really scared for my little brother when he gets here.
40. Skeletons In The Closet
I’m 16 and I have good reason to think my mom and dad aren't my real parents. I had a much older sister who completed suicide when I was six and she was 26. All of her stuff is in the basement in boxes. I don't remember too much about her honestly and it makes me sad sometimes. My parents don't talk much about her.
There's also a painting in our house that she painted. It's a very nice painting of a swamp, and it's my favorite thing. Anyway, one day I decided to go looking through all of her stuff, mostly for more pictures. What I found was a bunch of notebooks of writing she did, mostly poetry. I felt weird reading them at first because they were mostly about her depression…then I read a story that cut me to the bone.
I read this one that was about how she had a baby and someone took him away. It's really short and I didn't really understand it, like a lot of it seemed metaphorical I guess is the word. Anyways, I asked my mom if she ever had a baby and my mom was really weird about it. She wanted to know why I would ask that. I said I just found some stuff in the basement and was curious.
She got mad at me and told me not to snoop and said she didn't have kids. Then I started thinking about it. I am the spitting image of my sister but I don't look like my mom or dad. I casually asked my mom to see my birth certificate the next day and she got mad again and wouldn't let me see it.
41. Keep An Open Mind
My mom and stepdad are really into "new age" science and beliefs. I've never agreed with them on this but didn't know how extreme it was. Recently, they have become involved in an extremely weird "support group." I say that in quotes because I have no clue who they are. When I'm around they never mention any group names or what "organization" they work for or are a part of.
Because of this, I have not had much luck finding out stuff as "new age cult" gives too many results to look into. This Monday, my mom and stepdad sat me and my four siblings down. They told us that we will be moving at the end of the month to a more "stable" location within a spiritual community. Oh, and that's just the start. According to them, they plan to pull all five of us out of school here and enroll us in their "mind awakening" school wherever we move.
I tried to get anything out of them but they refused to talk to me at all about it. According to them, because I’m still a child in "mind, body, and spirit,” I need to listen to them not ask questions. I’m 16. I've actually been freaking out since then and have been trying to get advice but I've been unable to. They cut off the internet, phone, and TV and they have been keeping a laser focus on me and my siblings since then.
I'm currently at a friend’s house and this is the only way I've actually got access to the internet. This seems like a cult 100% to me. Last night they had three people come and talk to me and my siblings, and what they told us was absolutely crazy. I was talked to alone by an old man who told me about how my mind is "closed" and that I will slowly learn to open it as my parents have and that the "leaders" will love to meet me and put me in their programs.
I need to know what I can do here. My dad has shared custody of me but I’ve had no contact with him since they told us. He is supposed to have a call with me every night but my mom claims he's been "informed" and supports this 100%. I tried calling him this morning but he didn't answer. He lives in another state so it's kind of hard to get into contact with him outside of phone and email.
I'm at a friend’s house because I was able to leave the house for the first time in a week this morning after I told my parents I wanted to go to the park, but came here and told my friend everything. Her parents are not home but she's trying to call them and I plan to stay here tonight if I can. My parents have forbid me from using the internet because it's "full of lies from them."
I'm so lost right now it makes me sick. I do not want to go with them to this obvious compound. I also will be going and buying a burner phone tomorrow and withdrawing all my money from the bank.
42. Get It Off Your Chest
I had breast cancer about a year and a half ago. I got surgery and luckily I didn’t have to undergo chemo or radiation. Surgery was able to remove all my tumors. I still have check-ups and screenings occasionally, however, and have to miss work. Another co-worker in another department has breast cancer but unfortunately was unable to have it removed by only surgery and had to be out longer.
She is still undergoing treatment. I declined reconstruction on my breasts so I was able to come back to work at 3 1/2 weeks. I have no breast on my left side, just a flat scar—no breast tissue and I have no nipple and only a smaller amount of breast tissue on my right side. They removed a lot of breast tissue with a lumpectomy but were able to salvage about 55% of the tissue.
My co-workers and my immediate supervisor have been talking about my breast cancer for weeks because I had to miss an important meeting for an MRI and a bone scan. I requested it off and got my manager and HR to approve it. But now this co-worker and supervisor have been spreading rumors that because I came back to work so soon that I didn’t actually have breast cancer.
I wear a prosthetic at work so no one sees me flat. They are saying everyone they know with any cancer always has to take a lot of time off work and I seem fine. Someone said they saw me out at the store—this was after an oncology appointment that was approved by my manager, and I did stop by the grocery store on my way home—and I looked fine.
Again, I am not on chemo so my appointments are check-ups and blood draws. I feel fine after. They are emotionally draining but physically I feel great. It got to the point where I was scared to even take appointments because I knew coming back to work would be the worst. Again, my manager has always been supportive and HR too. This is just my supervisor and my co-workers.
I have surgery coming up to help with some scarring. They are just going to clean up some of the tissue now that everything has healed and I have been cancer-free for over a year. I let my supervisor know they are thinking about scheduling it for the summer and he said, “Right, the cancer thing again.” One particular day last week, I got upset because I heard them in the office next door talking about me.
They were saying I was scamming everyone and that I didn’t deserve the upcoming raises. They talked again about how I didn’t have cancer. Then I did something supremely stupid. I got upset, walked over, lifted my shirt and prosthetic bra, and showed them the scars on my chest. I did cover my remaining 55% there breast with no nipple with my hand, but my scars were on display for all to see.
I then told them to go screw themselves and went back to my desk. This was on Friday at 3:30 pm. I left at 4:30 like I always do. No one has said anything. It is now Monday and I am worried. I had time to think over the weekend and realized it was a huge mistake. I should have just gone to HR about the gossip. I have seen my manager but they haven’t said anything.
My supervisor hasn’t said anything. None of my gossiping co-workers have said anything. The ones that don’t gossip haven’t said anything and are acting like normal. What should I do to un-mess this up? What can I expect them to do to me?
43. Famous For The Wrong Reasons
My butt has been a location on Facebook since 2012 and I can't get it removed. I wish this was fake but it's not. The first thing you see when you type in my full name on Google is "Original Poster's Butt.” This page was created in 2012, and I was only 15 at the time. I have reported it a million times, and even asked friends to report it. It's humiliating.
I tried requesting the name change of the page and reported it under every option possible. Facebook says it doesn't violate terms. I tried claiming it as my business since at the bottom of the page it claims to be automatically generated off interest of the topic, and it wouldn't let me claim it. It was never a business. I was a child. I feel so hopeless.
44. Let It Go
Five years ago, I was stalked for six months by a guy I knew less than a month as an actual person. We dated very briefly; I broke things off and things seemed amicable…until he started showing up outside my house and demanding I be with him or else. He had decided that he was a good man and he deserved a chance. He threatened that if he didn't get a chance, he'd kill me or hopefully I’d kill myself.
After six months of daily threats, 10+ reports, multiple restraining order attempts, moving, and getting rid of all social media, he found me anyway and kicked my door in at midnight. This is where my world spun out of control. I shot him in the chest in self-defense, and he was finally sentenced and went behind bars. I thought I was done with him. I was so, so wrong.
I guess he was on parole for about four months after his release recently because I immediately started receiving messages and comments from him afterward; he just picked right back up where he left off. I contacted the parole board and they said he was released from supervision a few days before. I have contacted the authorities and was approved for a restraining order but of course they haven’t been able to serve it.
They said they can’t prove the messages are from him despite him using his name, posting his pictures, and literally commenting my name and talking about the shooting in the comment replies. The detective is waiting for a subpoena to prove it’s him. I am documenting every bit of harassment of course…but I am just...exhausted. I am so incredibly frustrated with the lack of help available and closed doors there are for people being stalked.
45. A Friend In Need
Last month, a friend of mine began to cross a flooded river in his car with me in it. I jumped out because I'd been caught on a flooded causeway before. I now have a letter from his lawyer asking for damages because the car was washed off the causeway and written off. I'm pretty sure this is a case of my (probably ex) friend being an idiot on a lawyer's letterhead or not telling his lawyer the whole story.
When I'm in the middle of it, it feels a lot different though. Early in November, we went to pick up car parts after work that my friend I'll call Aaron (because his name's Aaron and I think he's being an idiot) had bought on eBay. We had to go through some back roads to get to the property and picked it up and all was well. It'd been raining for part of the day but really picked up when we were loading the parts.
We got to a causeway we'd passed only an hour before, but it was now covered in what looked like half a meter of water and we stopped. I'd been navigating and knew we could back up and take another much longer route, even though the highway was just a bit on the other side of the causeway. There was no way I'd go through the water as it looked, because I'd been caught on a causeway 20 years ago in less water and had my car pushed off into the river.
I didn't want to risk it. I didn't lose that car but it was one of the scariest moments of my life. I said we had to turn back and could take a different road and that it would take us via a bridge over the same river. Aaron decided to push on and started moving and I panicked and got straight out. It was FAR more water than I'd had to go through when I nearly lost my car and life before.
Aaron didn't even get halfway across before the water pushed his car off the side, rolled it completely over, and it ended upright on the bank downstream. He was EXTREMELY lucky not to drown, and I ran down and helped him out. Immediately he was aggressive and combative because he said with my weight in the car he'd have made it across.
The car is commodore wagon with a couple hundred kg of eBay parts in the back, so it's not like I'd have made much difference. We phoned for help and the river went down within an hour and we made it across the causeway by foot. We haven't spoken since and he's avoided me in places we usually go. But on Friday I received a letter from a lawyer I know is real in our town, but it sounds like it was written by my friend.
It's asking for $50k for the car and personal damages because I made the car unsafe by getting out. It was a 1997 commodore, maybe worth $1,500 on a good day. I think he's being a jerk.
46. You Get What You Give
I’m not sure what to do. Earlier today, my neighbor came pounding on my door shouting at me. When I finally got him to stop yelling, I found out that he was flying his drone in my backyard again and this time my dog finally managed to catch it and destroy it. He claims this was a $900 drone and I had to pay him right then and there. I refused and closed the door in his face.
A couple of hours later, an officer showed up to retrieve the drone. It was still in my yard, but my dog completely ignored it once it stopped buzzing. The officer asked about the situation. He said the neighbor called them, stating that I refused him access to my yard to get it. That's not true, he never asked. I'm worried the neighbor will try to press charges against me for the destruction of property or sue me.
He has a history of flying his drone low over my yard to tease my dog. I have asked him to stop several times, which he always refuses, telling me that I don't own the air above my yard. I have called the authorities to complain once before, as he was doing "fly bys" over my dog and getting very close to hitting him. The authorities didn't say he couldn't fly it in my yard but did ask him to stop doing so in order to avoid conflict. That only seemed to egg him on.
47. Too Close For Comfort
Background: my mom worked at a very small hospital in a very small town for 30+ years and is close to most of the doctors, nurses, and office workers, not only in the hospital but around the whole town as well. My GP, who I have seen since I was ~10 years old, is one of the people my mother is close with. I moved away for college when I was 18 but continued seeing him due to just not wanting to mess with finding a new GP and my mom wanting me to continue seeing him, since I've seen him half my life. This was a huge mistake.
I get routine blood work done to measure how my liver is doing as well as monitor the levels of a certain medication I take to make sure that I'm not getting too little/too much. The results of this information or the fact that I have those tests done isn't a big secret I want to keep, they don't really mean anything unless I were to become sick and they don't test for information, like say illicit drugs.
The first time I had this work done, I hadn't been to that doctor in a while to really remember if this had happened in the past, but they called my mom with my results. They even told her specifics, like what my liver enzymes were and what the medication level was. Again, it's not like to my mother this is anything I want to hide, but it was a little concerning that she got the call and I never received any call about my results.
I go in for these monthly, so the next month that I went I told the woman working in the lab of the office that I wanted to update my information to make sure I got the results. I thought also since I had been seeing this doctor since I was 10, I probably had never given them my phone number. A few days later, it happened again.
My mother again got the call and called to tell me my results; I again got no call from the office. Once again, not a big deal, but since this happened when I explicitly gave my phone number in place of my mother's, I was a little ticked off that I wasn't called again. I chose to wait until my next lab work to say anything again anyway. At this visit, I had both lab work and an appointment to get a refill on birth control.
My doctor asked me to do a pregnancy test in with this blood work due to me running out of said birth control a few days earlier. I wasn't worried that I was pregnant, but I knew that now it was serious time to make them stop calling my mom with my results. I asked the lady drawing my blood to confirm my phone number to see if it even got put in last time.
It did, so on my way out I stopped to talk to the women who always work in the office/at the desk and tell them explicitly that I and I alone want to be called for my results, not my mother. They nonchalantly agreed and I asked them to check my phone number on the system they use in the office, and it was there. I happened to be visiting in town during this time and staying with my mom, who, you guessed it, got the phone call right in front of me telling her my results, including the negative pregnancy test. That’s when my mom BLEW UP at me.
She starts asking why I needed to take a pregnancy test, even though I didn't think this was a big deal especially since it was negative. That all blew over, but at this point I was so mad that she kept getting this information. I ended up getting into it with my mom, telling her that that was a direct breach of HIPAA and she knows it after working in a hospital.
She laughed it off and said something about the doctor knowing me since I was born, her being friends with the office ladies and the doctor, and the one that hit me the most: "It's not a big deal, I'm your mom!" Since then, I've been getting my lab work done elsewhere. To no surprise, there are no issues. I don't really know what to do here. Since I cut ties with that doctor, I no longer have personal problems with this, but I don’t want him to do it to anyone else.
48. Everything Has A Price
So my parents are heavily Mormon and we just recently had a tithing settlement, and when they asked me if I had paid my tithing I told them no. They then asked me if I had a plan to “fix” that and I told them that I worked too hard just to give that money away. Anyways so afterward, my mom, who is my account co-owner as I am under 18, decided to take 10% of my bank account out and refuses to give it back.
This isn’t right, so I planned to slowly, over the next few days, withdraw the money over time. But then it got ridiculous. Turns out, my dad is sick of my mom overspending so he did two things. He’s stopped paying tithing himself AND swapped my mom’s credit card for a debit card. My mom took my money to pay off tithing for him and she gave me roughly $200 back.
She said she’ll give me the rest back and that she’s still disappointed in me for not paying my tithing. Still, it doesn’t sound like I’m getting my money back any time soon. Both my parents are in a significant amount of debt, and my parents fought a lot yesterday apparently. My mom spent almost $10,000 on stuff for the past month or so.
My dad has started making cuts in our budget to fix this, tithing being one of them. I’m still following through with taking my money and putting it in a place where my parents can’t touch it. Just in case they get any ideas.
49. You Can Always Do More
I am a 16-year-old Junior in high school and work part-time at a gym. I generally open the gym on weekends at 7 am, and am alone in the building until our housekeeping staff comes in at 8:00. It starts out slow as members come in, and usually picks up around 9 when our Sales staff and General Manager come in. The gym is a two-story facility.
Earlier this morning around 8ish, I was approached by another member who stated there was a woman in the locker room downstairs who was laying on a bench shaking and presumably having a seizure. So I RUN downstairs to the locker room, and sure enough, there is a woman shaking uncontrollably, but breathing. I had my cell phone with me and immediately called 9-1-1.
I stayed on the phone with the dispatcher while waiting for the EMTs and paramedics, who arrived about five minutes later. The dispatcher stated I should absolutely NOT try to perform CPR/First Aid (I am licensed) or move her, only to hold onto her to make sure she did not fall off the bench. The EMTs manage to revive her, and she gets wheeled out of the gym and to the hospital.
I'd say we were in the locker room for about 20 minutes trying to convince her to go—she was VERY stubborn. There was a personal trainer who was there to help me and for whom I am EXTREMELY grateful. I filled out an Incident report and filed it with our GM when he came in. We have had concerns with this member before, as she has health issues.
The thing is, I have absolutely no idea how long she was suffering from a seizure. It looked as if she was in the midst of changing into gym gear when it happened. She checked in shortly after 7:15 am. I just received a text message from my GM and she is now threatening to sue us for her seizure. Can she come after me personally?? As I said, I have no idea how long she was in that state for and I am terrified.
50. Service With A Smile
I'm a clerk in a civil court. My job includes dealing with lawyers and parties who walk up to our counter. Sometimes, it's better for some parties not to show up here, though. This is a story about one of those times, which happened at my previous workplace. In walks a bulky gentleman, who looked like he could destroy a person with a single punch.
"I wanna know what's da deal with my suit, yo," he barks, while basically throwing his ID at me. Since he didn't give me a lawsuit number, I would have to input his SSN number in my system to get a list of the suits he was a party in, and then see which one belongs to my court, if any. My system is already very slow, but that day it was particularly slow.
I was waiting for the list to show up and he starts to tap his hand at the counter and then screams "HURRY UP, BRO, I GOT PLACES TO BE." His demeanor ticks me off, but I keep my face straight. Finally, the list shows up. There are two lawsuits to his SSN: A family suit for alimony—and something much darker. A suit for... Third degree murder.
Oh, and it comes with a pending bench warrant. Now, were it a lesser charge AND were he not discourteous, I would probably just warn him that he has a warrant and tell him to surrender himself to the authorities. I'm not a bailiff, so it's not my job to detain anyone. I could, however, nudge the court officer in the right direction, know what I mean? So I launch my ingenious plan.
"Sir, there's a problem with your suit and I need to make a phone call so someone with the right skill set can help you." He scoffs and berates me for being an incompetent public worker and talks about how I'm wasting his time. Well, don't worry, sir, soon enough you'll have plenty of time. I call the court authorities and tell them about the guy at my counter.
Not five minutes later, three officers show up with his bench warrant in hand. They go through the procedures and he doesn't fight or try to run, but yells the same thing many times, while walking with them: "I AIN'T HURT NO ONE, YO! IT WAS AN ACCIDENT, I SWEAR!" OK, sir. How about you go ahead and tell that to the jury.
51. Revenge Of The Dads
This one's a messy one. I'm a family law lawyer, and I was representing the kids in this one. Four kids. Three different dads; the mom was getting divorced from her husband. Mom had custody of all four. All the petitions against each other were complicated. One of the dads wanted the other dads’ kids too, the mom wanted sole custody of all the kids, the divorce guy wanted his kid and another. It was VERY confusing to figure out who and what everyone wanted already. But it got worse.
It turns out that mom was on probation AND on the national violent offenders list, had an ankle bracelet and everything. Despite all of that, she still got temporary custody of the kids. Her ankle bracelet forbids her from going out of the county, and the judge in the custody case forbid her from leaving the province as well.
Well, the mom and children didn't show up to appearance #3. Myself and all three petitioners motioned for the respondent’s ankle bracelet to be tracked. The judge made the phone call, and it was pinged outside of the county, just inside the province. Court is put at recess, and the roads department go try to get her. What they found stunned them.
They discovered her ankle bracelet off the side of the highway at an exit ramp to the next province. National guard get called, and they track her phone to her parents’ house in the next province. Once they track her down, they detain her. The children are brought back by child protection services, and the judge awards temporary custody of each child to each respective dad.
After all of that, there was one more twist. At the next court appearance, the dads start complaining about the mom sending them threats from behind bars. Then, because this couldn't end without one last catastrophe, one of the dads decides to set the mom’s old house on fire. He gets taken into custody, then his kid gets put with another one of the dads. That case was a RIDE from start to finish.
52. A Real Sicko
I’m a judge who presides over an emergency family court. My saddest case wasn't just one suit, but several separate petitions for emergency custody. A bunch of family members wanted to override a long-term custody plan that was previously ruled in favor of the mother. When I read all the files, they almost broke my heart.
I reviewed the petitions from dad, maternal grandmother, and family friend, which all talked about one of the children being in the emergency department with a chemical burn from an oven cleaner. They also all had substantial reasons for why the other parties shouldn't get custody. My plan was to call everybody in and dismiss the claim, because based on the petitions, it sounded like the injury was an accident.
I bring everyone in and explain why I'm dismissing the claims and denying the petitions, basically saying a simple accident isn't a basis for an emergency custody order to overrule a standing court order. That’s when they confessed the dark truth. All three parties clarified this wasn't an accident, nor was it one injury.
Apparently the mom was intentionally spraying dots of oven cleaner over the entire body of her child. She was doing this to present the kid to the ER, with the subsequent burns, claiming it was a horrible rash. She must have had some kind of mental issue because she did it so many times that her doctor figured out that something very wrong was at work. Learning about all that raises the stakes of this case so much more than I had first thought.
I call social services to ensure they had an investigator out, which they did. But we still had one more disaster to go. Around this time, mom arrives and storms into the courtroom, yelling and crying that she wouldn't harm her child. I lost my cool with her just a little bit, and she admitted that “just a bit of oven cleaner” got on the kid, but she didn't create the rash.
The mother was incredibly disruptive and made a threat to the father, so I had the authorities detain her in contempt of court until the next night. This ticked off the dad, who also started yelling at me for having his wife detained, so I had him held in contempt for the next night as well. The other family members left. You think this is the end of it? Nope.
This is now a week later. The social services investigator is present in the early hours of the morning, filing an emergency protective custody order for that child and all five siblings, ranging from three yeas old to 17. After an audit of medical records, we discovered that the oven cleaner was just the tip of the iceberg. This lady had been harming her kids and passing it off as illnesses for years.
These included using what was suspected to be chemicals to cause rashes, nurses having a concern over the mom possibly accessing a child's IV and injecting something, etc. Also, the mom was a nurse but her license was on a 15-year suspension. We ended up ordering emergency joint custody between social services and a third cousin of the children.
I'm not sure what the final outcome was, but that's my first for-sure case of Munchausen’s by proxy.
53. He Knows What He Wants
My aunt is an officer, and has been for the past 27 years. She's seen a lot of messed up stuff, but this case takes the cake. About 20 years ago, she was called to court as a witness in a case. The case was delayed for some reason, so she was waiting in the hallway when suddenly her radio piped up with something like "additional officer assistance requested at the courthouse."
She responded that she was already there and asked what was going on. "Suspect turned violent after being told defecation in front of the judge was not allowed" was the slightly surreal reply from dispatch. So she found the courtroom where this went down, and as she walked in, her jaw dropped. She found a suspect and two other officers involved in what can only be described as a poop wrestling match.
There was poop all over, and the suspect used that as a sort of nasty lube to slither out of all sticky situations in order to stay free. charged in, grabbed the guy's arm and tried to cuff him. He resisted. Soon she was also covered in excrement...but eventually she, with help from the other officers, managed to cuff him and get his trousers up.
It turned out that the guy was in court because he was a serial public defecator. The judge had asked him "Sir, why do you keep doing that?" and the defendant had replied that it was just "so liberating," dropped his trousers, and squatted on the floor to squeeze out a Cleveland steamer. The case my aunt was there for was delayed even further while the judge allowed her to go shower and change.
The defecator got some time behind bars and fines. So lawyers, if your client does something stupid, just remember that at least they didn't poop on the floor while standing trial for pooping on the floor...
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54. A Game Of Telephone
I have a funny story from when I was a law student observing court matters. That day, I was witnessing hearings for bail release. This guy came on his own, with a warrant on him for theft. So probably, his lawyer told him to willingly turn himself in, so the judge would be more compassionate, especially about the bail. It did not go the way he planned.
Judge: Young man, that warrant was issued last year, but it's only now that you wake up and come to court? Lawyer: Mr. Judge, my client has enormous difficulties communicating because he does not have a cell phone. Judge: Ok, but you can always try to reach him. Lawyer: Yes, but unfortunately, without a cell phone, I couldn't reach him to give him proper advice.
Judge: Let me hear from the defendant himself. Sir, what were you doing all this time, knowing that you had a warrant on your name ? Defendant: Mr. Judge, everything is a communication problem. My previous lawyer tried to warn me that a warrant was issued. But again, I didn't have a cell phone at the time, so no communication was possible.
The judge then takes off his glasses, looks at the defendant with a glacial look, and utters a phrase that changes everything. Judge: Young man, the warrant was issued because you are accused of stealing cell phones. I burst into laughter, the court laughed, and my teacher laughed when he read my report on that.
55. All The President’s Men
I’m a defense attorney, and I work a small town misdemeanor docket. One day, I had an intake meeting with this gentleman, who is as nice as can be, and who was charged with an extremely low level public nuisance offense.
However, there were aspects of the interview that did not ring particularly true. Like when he claimed to be the President of the US, who needed to be relieved of the burden of this court case so that he could return to treaty negotiations in Washington DC. I nod, and we have a pleasant conversation as I note the need to approach the bench at the upcoming court date and request time to arrange a psychological evaluation.
We go to court. Part of the routine process in this court is for the defendant, upon being called, to step up to the podium with counsel and state their name and birth date for the record. So, my client gets up, provides his name, and gets halfway through his birth date before he stops and shakes his head. What he said next may be the greatest line I've ever heard in a court room.
"I'm sorry your honor, I forgot, you blew my CIA cover. My actual birth date is (insert random date here)." The judge, to her credit, took this wholly in stride. Also, I'll note, there was no anger or accusation in client's tone. He was, in his mind, just reciting facts. The judge, without me needing to walk up to request time, goes ahead and gives me a date far enough out for the evaluation.
As I head out, the prosecutor grabs me, and asked if that was legit or if I thought the client was acting crazy for effect. I inform him that I believe it is legitimate, and, in a bit of a surprise move, he just shakes his head, and says, "This isn't worth it for a public nuisance charge. Just get me an agreed order dismissing." Easiest dismissal ever. I cleared the President/CIA Operative, and he returned to keeping America safe. Either that, or he is an evil genius.
56. From The Mouths Of Babes
I preside over an emergency family court on the night shift. We handle a lot of the emergency custody issues, protective orders, etc. Although evidence is definitely required, this is an emergency court. The threshold is pretty low for me to take a protective action—I handle immediate safety, the other appropriate courts untangle the rest.
Around 11 pm, one of our former frequent fliers (yep...that's just as sad as it sounds) is brings her three kids that she's had since I've last seen her, a three-year old and five-year old twins. She's filing for emergency protective custody of her children and an order of protection against her husband. She and the children both stated that they were mistreated.
However, I recognized the story, as in the past she used the darn near same template to file complaints of mistreatment against every ex she's ever broken up with. Anyway, with this one she wants a protective order for her and her kids against the husband, she wants emergency custody, and she specifically wants provisions allowing her to move out of the area.
I talk with the children in private. That’s when all her lies unravel. They tell me with exceptionally little hesitation that the mom coached them, they love their dad, and their mom is "crazy" (their own words). The kids also stated that mom hits them a lot. I was able figure out via one of the five-year-olds that the parents were "being unmarried"— again, his own words.
So now I have a lady going through a divorce in my court filing (almost certainly false) emergency orders. I confront the mom about the divorce and her previous patterns of filing the same claim against different exes, and she did not like that. She started yelling at me, saying I'm a part of a victim-blaming system, how I'm just as bad as her husband, etc.
She was crying (lots of noise, but no tears) and most unnervingly, the children seemed unfazed. All of a sudden, she's coming out and saying that the husband tried to run her over with a van, that he's done other violent things, etc. Kids seemed like “what the heck?” It turned out, the wife was desperately trying to get us to produce those orders so she could delay the initial suit for divorce and leave the country.
That's not what happened. We called the husband/father to court, and were surprised to find that actually seemed quite level-headed and calm. We granted him half an emergency custody order of the children, on the basis of protection from psychological mistreatment and neglect. We also filed an emergency eviction, forcing her to move out of their shared house.
I reported the whole saga to social services, and those kids got a happy ending. But man, I needed a stiff drink after wrapping up that case.
57. Do I Know You?
Ex-public defender assistant here. Two friends of mine were building a summer house and got scammed out of approximately five thousand dollars by their material supplier. Of course, the guy was using a fake name and ID, so it took a while for the authorities to identify his real name. After we managed to find his true identity, we started to do a background check, looking for past convictions.
We came upon a shocking realization. I had already met the jerk. Three years ago, while I was still working at the public defender’s office, a case of his got assigned to me. I managed to save his sorry butt after he was accused of, guess what, scamming someone out of a few bucks. This truly sounds like a cosmic prank, and all I have to say is Karma's a witch.
58. Catch Me If You Can
I'm a court marshal. Something one of my responsibilities is to serve court orders. Order service is a very complicated gig here, with many finicky rules. So, I've been chasing around a homeless guy for about two months to try to serve a protective order so that he stops harassing a client. If I can't physically give it to the homeless guy, the order doesn't fully count, meaning the person who needs protection is still at risk. Long story short: It's really important that I get this paperwork to this guy.
But to serve a protective order of this specific type, I need to do a ton of extra stuff. I have to introduce myself in front of the recipient with no obstacles (no doors in the way, etc). I need to show them the order, hand them the order, explain that they're being served with a protective order, and say that it's effective immediately.
I've been in contact with a family member of his to keep me updated on his location so I can hopefully give him the order, but this guy is impossible to catch. I've had him run after I knock on several different houses trying to find him. He's sped off after I tried to serve him at his car. He's jumped and run out of a third-story window of an apartment. I even tried to serve him in the hospital emergency department and he still managed to run away.
But finally, I found him sleeping in his car. I knew this was my big shot, so I was smart about it this time. I brought a wheel clamp and clamped it onto his car before knocking. The guy tries to speed off, but doesn't realize he's stuck. Watching him mess up his car and admit defeat? Priceless. Handing over an order never felt so good.
59. The Tables Have Turned
This is a story from an attorney who rented an office from my first firm. I did not know him at the time of this story, but this was his favorite hearing ever, so much so that he spent money to order the official transcript just so he could show people the level of crazy he had to deal with. And guys, this case was truly next level insanity.
The attorney here was a defense attorney. In this particular case, his client was a little old lady who had gotten caught trespassing. She'd gone to a business she had been banned from before. She'd been caught on security cameras and had resisted getting cuffed when the authorities came and escorted her out.
After hearing about all this, the attorney thought the old lady must have some kind of mental illness, but she'd passed a competency exam. Then he had a pre-trial hearing with this lady and realized that even though she'd technically passed the exam, this lady was nowhere near sane. So he came up with an absolutely ingenious plan: He told her crazy side of the story.
So, when the head of security took the stand, the attorney used him as a way to show how nutty his client was. He asked, "Is it true that people have been coming into your establishment wearing masks of my client's face?" Witness: (confusedly) No... Attorney: "Is it true that you and/or your employees have edited films to feature my client's face?"
Witness: No. Attorney: "Is it true that you and/or your employees broke into my client's house and took the dress she was wearing when she had a liaison with Bill Clinton?" Witness: No... Client: (standing up and shouting) It was a nightgown! Judge: May I speak to the attorneys up here? (when they arrive) There's no way she's competent to stand trial.
Genius.
60. Karma Will Get You
I'm a courtroom assistant. We do both security and practical assistance like moving displays, escorting juries, and some ceremonial stuff as well. One day, I was at the sentencing of an evil, evil man with several huge offenses. He stalked, kidnapped, and murdered a locally famous and growing pop artist. And as though that wasn't bad enough, the poor girl was pregnant at the time.
So this Evil Man, as he will be referred to from here on out, was on suicide precautions as he made threats against his own life, so he was in spiffy paper clothes. At this point in the day, we were well into victim impact statements; the victim had a large family and there were something like 35 individuals addressing the court. We're something like 28 statements into it, and next up was the grandfather.
These are always really emotional. Families are always really upset for good reason, but this 80+ old guy is the worst I can remember. He was crying, breathing heavily, and shaking for the entire sentencing. He was called to make his statement, starts walking up, about past the council table. He then turns and tackles the attorneys and Evil Man.
He didn't get much in on the Evil Man, maybe a kick and two punches, before 15 of us pile up on him. He was taken into custody, and it quickly became apparent that Evil Man got what was coming. Evil Man is screaming and gagging for about 20 seconds, then he starts convulsing. He came back in about two minutes choking/gagging, really bad.
We put him on his side and get an ambulance on the way, the rest of the gallery was evacuated and the court went into recess. By time the ambulance arrives, he's not breathing, only twitching, and has no pulse. They do CPR, take him out to the hospital, where he passed that day. Coroners report said his brainstem was damaged, his skull was broken, and his brain herniated through a break in his skull.
The granddad was interviewed by national officers who have jurisdiction of courts. He said that he'd been planning that for days, he felt no remorse, said if he had time he would have done the attorneys in, too. It also came out that the granddad was in the mob back in the day, and had 40 years behind bars prior to this for drowning someone in petrol and lighting their corpse on fire.
He was suspected but not confirmed to be involved in several other high profile attacks. He was charged with a slew of offenses, but found not guilty of everything except contempt of court, to which he was originally sentenced to four years but it was reduced to terminal probation with home confinement due to his health.
61. In The Driver’s Seat
I had a client once who wanted to get her car seats reimbursed. No problem, I told her. I sent the photos we had on file along with the Amazon price listings she sent us to the insurance company. The company emails me back a few days later stating that they need actual receipts or some kind of proof of purchase before they do anything.
I call the client, and she says she doesn't have any receipts because she bought them over a year ago and didn't hang on to the receipts. That's fine, I told her, any proof of payment would do. I asked if she could maybe find a bank statement showing how much she paid for the seats, or maybe call the company she bought them from and see if they could look into their records and provide her with something.
She just says, "Well they can't do that. I paid in cash." It's important to know now that the car seats were several hundred dollars each, and the total was about a thousand, so I was more than slightly shocked. "Do you mean you paid with a debit card instead of credit?" "No, I paid in cash. Like paper." So I call the insurance company again and explain the situation.
They very kindly agree to provide reimbursement for the amount given on the Amazon listing, provided that the client sends photos of the car seats with the straps cut through to prove that they can't be used anymore. I call the client back, and she LOSES it. How dare we ask for more photos from her! Is it not enough that she gave us photos of the car seats on her driveway in the first place?
Many of her relatives have been in car accidents, and they all got their car seats reimbursed, no questions asked. What kind of attorney's office are we if we can't even get this small thing reimbursed for her? I explain again that literally all she needs to do is take a scissor to the straps and send us the photos, and really, the insurance company is being very generous with this agreement.
She tells me that she can't do that because she tossed the car seats ages ago and hangs up on me. But she wasn’t done. A few days later, she calls back and asks me what the status of the reimbursement is. I tell her that, per our previous conversation, the insurance would not reimburse her without proof of payment or proof of the car seats no longer being usable, and since she paid in cash, lost the receipts, and junked the car seats, there was nothing I could do.
She then tells me that she didn't actually junk the car seats, she gave them to a lady in her neighborhood. A hoarder, apparently, who collects car seats. Great, I tell her. Go find the lady and ask if you can take back your car seats or borrow them long enough to cut the straps and take a picture. She goes on and on in circles about why this is impossible, why I'm being unreasonable, why our whole firm is being outrageously incompetent, etc etc etc. Finally, she asks me this whammy of a question.
"You have photos of car seats from other cases, don't you? Why don't you just use one of those photos?" Ma'am. MA'AM. The insurance company already knows what model your car seats are because I already sent them photos and listings. I do not have photos on file of car seats that match yours. And even if I did, I wouldn't send them to the IC because newsflash! That is insurance fraud!
I don't care if your relatives' attorneys did that for them! We are not them! I will not be helping you with this! I refuse to be involved in so stupid a plot! One of the attorneys catches me mid-explanation and says, "Tell her that's a freaking felony.” I duly relay the message as I am ordered. She goes into a deeper rage and demands to speak to an attorney.
So I transfer her. She ended up dropping the case eventually, thank god.
62. Out Of The Woodwork
When I was 14, a close family friend assaulted me. I got pregnant but gave the baby up for adoption when I was 15. I knew the child was adopted by distant family members who lived a state away, but I did not know their names or what they were like. We received a sum of $2,500 dollars when they took her from the hospital. I do not remember signing anything.
I do not know what happened to the “friend” who hurt me; I asked to be kept out of the process as much as possible. My mother said he was sentenced but I don't know if he's still in there, how long he was in, or if he even went to jail. I have two other children, ages 10 and 7 and am now married. My husband knows about my daughter but has deferred to me on how we should handle the situation. Recently, it has all blown up.
A month ago, I received a Facebook message from a woman who says she is my daughter. I believe she is, because of her appearance and that fact she has the same genetic condition as my attacker. She told me that she wanted to get to know me. I spent hours going through her Facebook page, trying to decide what to do. I found myself disgusted by her.
There are a lot of similarities between her and “the friend” as she is rude, vulgar, whiny, and smokes illicit substances. She is married but has a publicly strained relationship with her husband and refers to him by cruel nicknames. I decided that I would not be comfortable meeting her. I blocked her without responding. After a week, I began to receive letters from her.
Four letters in total. I did not read those either but recently received a phone call three days ago. I finally answered. I told her that I was not interested in getting to know her and that she should leave me and my family alone or I would get the authorities involved. Her answer chilled me. She began to berate me. She told me that my family was her family.
She accused me of not going through proper adoption procedures and that I had maliciously sold her to an awful couple as punishment for being born and that I had held back important information. Without medical records, she lived life as a very sick child and was deeply in debt from the genetic testing necessary to diagnose her illness. She told me that she would be making contact with my family whether I liked it or not.
She also said she would subpoena me for her father's name if I did not comply and that I could possibly go behind bars for selling a baby. When I began to cry, she offered me a cruel alternative. Her genetic condition makes getting pregnant more difficult. If I agreed to pay for a round of IVF, she would consider us "even" and would only try to make contact with her father.
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63. Money In The Bank
I am 19, and I currently live in New York City. My parents passed when my brothers and I were young. The eldest was 11, the second was seven, and I was five. They left money for each of us once we turned 18 to help with college and life expenses. I turned 18 last year, and went through the process of getting the money. It was in March 2019 that I finally got it.
It turned out to be a large sum, around $230,000. I decided to split the money into two accounts: $75,000 into a savings account that no one was supposed to be able to touch, and the rest into my checking account. I wasn't spending much every month, and my grandma has only taken out a few thousand to take care of bills. Yesterday, it came to my attention that my entire checking account had been bled dry.
There are now only $200 dollars to my name. I called the bank, and we found several instances of transfers of large sums of money over the six month period after I deposited the money. I'll admit, I really should have been paying more attention, but I was sure only me and my grandma had access to the account and I got no warning from the bank about any of these transfers. Then we figured out the whole awful story.
We tracked where the transfers were going, and they were going straight into my middle brother's account. He had somehow gotten a hold of my info. When I confronted him, he said he had spent it all and only had about $4,000 left. He spent it all—a whole $197,000—on food and on in-game purchases. I know it sounds unbelievable, but after looking at his bank statements, it's true.
It's just line after line of Uber Eats, Postmates, and game purchases. My grandma wants me to forgive him and let him work to make the money back, but this man just finished community school and has no work experience. It would take YEARS for him to make that money back on minimum wage. I’ve decided to call the authorities on him as well as sue the bank.
64. Smells Like Teen Spirit
I felt nauseated after being sick for a few weeks, so I went to the nurse's office at my school. There was only one nurse there, and I was the only student there. I explained my situation and requested that due to my asthma, she turn off her essential oil diffuser. She refused. Two more students came in, and they explained what problem they had.
Both of them said that the essential oils were making it hard to breathe, and she denied that this was even possible. I believe that one of them also had asthma. I was having a large amount of difficulty breathing, so I told her that this was a health and safety issue. She got angry and asked me to leave the room. She had not yet attempted to diagnose me. I fully plan on reporting her.
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65. An Unclean Break
I met my husband four years ago, just before moving to Georgia. Shortly after my move he followed me, and we fell in love. We lived together from 2015 onward, and in mid-November 2018 we married. Then it all unraveled. Today I discovered that virtually everything he has ever told me or demonstrated about his life was a complete fabrication.
From specific medical issues to jobs (past and present) to education to family relationships to the claim that his first language was not English to phone conversations that never happened to people he knows to...if you can think it, he has lied about it. We live together but my name is on the lease and I hold the title on both of our cars.
He has some belongings in our home, but most of it has been purchased with money that I have earned over our four years together, plus money from my personal savings account. I am totally open to letting him walk with all of “his” stuff, and even signing the older car to him. But other than that, a quick internet search makes it look like I might have grounds for annulment of my marriage. That’s what I’ll be pursuing.
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66. Here Kitty Kitty
My mom has a history of mental health issues; however, she was seeing a doctor and everything was straightening out. I moved in with my boyfriend and when we moved, the landlords refused to let us have a pet. My mom offered to take care of our kitty, and she agreed that I can get him anytime I want to. We have a verbal and written agreements that Kitty is still mine, and she’ll let me get him whenever my living situation allows pets.
Over the weekend, my mom had a mental break. She took a bunch of her boyfriend’s stuff and mailed it to me to sell on eBay. When I refused to do that for her and sent the box back to her, she got mad—and she said she got a horrific revenge. She sent me message after message explaining how she beheaded my cat and his head will be on my doorstep Monday morning.
I also found out she quit taking her medication, and she went off the deep end. I called the authorities and animal control. They did a wellness check and to my surprise, Kitty was alive and healthy. After the officers left, she demanded that I come by her house and get Kitty, and if I don’t, she’ll behead him for real this time. So I went to her house and when I went to claim Kitty, she refused to give him up.
I called the officers back out, and this is where it went from frustrating to infuriating. According to them, since the cat has technically lived with her for more than three days, the cat is hers. I showed them our contract, her threatening messages, and showed them where she told me to get him. They said that they can only take custody of the cat if she actually harms him, and since he was still alive and unharmed, they said I’d need a court order to officially get custody of the cat.
After I went home, she kept sending threats, so I blocked her number. I ended up going to the hospital because I thought I was having a heart attack. Anyways. I don’t know what to do from here. All I know is, I believe her threats are credible and I need immediate custody of my cat before she actually crosses the line and actually hurts him.
Also, my landlords are understanding of the situation and will let me house my cat. I’ve had him since he was two days old, nursed him, and took total ownership of him. He’s now 10 years old and I just need him to be safe.
67. A Pain In The Butt
My mother took my sister to the doctor for a colonoscopy so she could drive her back after. While there, my sister wakes up during the procedure. She admits she was kicking up a fuss. Apparently, she was too sedated to actually verbalize her pain so she basically just screamed and cried. She could hear the doctor telling the nurses, "this sometimes happens during the procedure, it's just the body's response. I know it's upsetting but she's not awake and can't feel anything."
When it's over and my sister is back in her room, my sister told my mom what happened. She was still crying and extremely upset. It was painful but also terrifying to not be understood by the doctors. The doctor came in to tell them how it went. When he saw her, his reaction was horrific. He immediately launched into this speech about, "Yeah sorry she's crying, all young women do this. It's called 'being a teenage girl,' we see it all the time here."
My mom says "Uh, she's saying she was awake during the procedure." The doctor had this look of shock on his face. He kind of rambles for a while and then jumps into this thing about, "Well her blood pressure was getting too low so we couldn't give her any more sedation." My mom said "Alright...But she's in a lot of pain here, is there something we can do about that?"
The doctor literally said, "If I could give you a pill to cure being a young woman, I would. But I can't, so she's all yours, mom," and he left. The nurse was horrified and said, "You should not be seeing this doctor again." She apologized a bunch and gave my family a referral to a new doctor. We're going to file a complaint with our state regarding his comments about not having a pill to cure being a young woman.
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68. Not Supposed To Look Like That
I had my first child six weeks and three days ago. During delivery, I tore and had to get stitches. The doctor on call didn't tell me how many stitches I got, where he put them, or even what type of tear I had. Then I had my six weeks check-up on Monday and when I finally get a room, I realize my doctor didn't have any notes or know anything about my delivery from the doctor on call.
She had to ask me if I got stitches and if the doctor on call gave me any information about them. I had to tell her I had no idea, I was out of it after delivering my son, I couldn't even hold him. When she finally gets to checking to make sure everything is healed up properly, her face changes and she tells me we have a problem. She then pulls out a notepad and begins to explain that the way my vagina was stitched caused it to heal in a weird way.
She then draws the opening and shades out the middle of the hole. I now have two mini holes that not even a pen tip could fit into! She tells me I have to have surgery because the problem isn't going to resolve itself. I already had a traumatic time healing from the birthing process and I now have to go back through what traumatized me to begin with. I’m going to look into suing that doctor.
69. Wild Ones
I have a co-worker who is a bit of a “character,” to put it nicely. Recently, they’ve been bragging about how they’re going to get revenge on their ex by filing a false bite report for their dog. They claimed that the dog will be euthanized as the ex supposedly hasn’t paid for a dog license. The co-worker said they’re willing to do it “as often as it takes” and also planned on filing false dog-at-large reports.
They think this is very clever and have bragged about it multiple times. This is despite them knowing that I’m a huge animal lover. The worst part is the co-worker broke up with their ex because the co-worker was cheating and the ex wouldn’t forgive it. My boss does know about it, as the co-worker bragged to him about it, too. This co-worker is still on a probationary period and I don’t think he’s going to keep them after it ends.
I figured calling animal control could be a good first step but wondered if I’d be mistaken for a friend of the ex’s. I just didn’t want to sit back and do nothing, though, if there’s a chance an innocent dog is going to be hurt or worse due to this piece of work. I’ve never gotten involved in a situation like this before and am not overly comfortable doing so, but wanted to help if I can...so I actually called up the ex.
They weren’t overly surprised that the co-worker would do this but were still pretty shaken. They’re going to make sure not to let the dog out of sight, and got an official report as well as vet records to show animal control if they come knocking. The ex has filed for a temporary restraining order and is working on a permanent one. They've also installed home security cameras and cary a copy of the report and a one-page vet record showing the dog is spayed and vaccinated.
The dog has also been to obedience school and they wrote a letter saying she hasn’t shown any human or dog aggression. Animal control are very good around here. They assured us both that euthanasia is an absolute last resort in any case and that they’d require extra proof from this co-worker should she report anything. Additionally, since the co-worker has a restraining order to boot, the co-worker can’t be “bitten” by the dog without violating it.
And the department also says they don’t allow totally anonymous reporting—you can keep your name secret from the dog’s owner, but not animal control. So the dog is safe, and the ex is forewarned and forearmed. I’d call it a win.
70. Door Don’t
I have a small but somewhat successful takeaway business in Australia that does pick-up and delivery. For the past month or so, Door Dash drivers have been coming into my shop and picking up food for customers. We finally picked up on it and I called Door Dash and to my surprise, my menu (which was incorrect, with food and prices) were on there.
I asked them how this happened and to take me down. They told me it was done automatically. They never asked me or informed me. I told them to take me down immediately. They said okay. About a week passes and I'm still getting Door Dashers. More and more frequently. I call them again and this time they try to argue with me, saying that they are doing me a favor, insisting I stay with them.
I explain I am losing money with them because instead of people paying me a delivery fee for my own drivers to deliver the food, they are paying Door dash instead. They tried to plead with me to stay. I said no and even now I'm only temporarily removed from their website for two weeks. I feel like I've been wronged. I don't want another business making money off my success and I want compensation.
71. No Fake Friends
My fiancé and I adopted a dog from a rescue a couple of weeks ago. Then I received a Facebook friend request the evening after doggo came home from the lady who had been fostering him. She also happens to be one of the co-founders of the rescue. I have very few friends on Facebook (literally just 28 people) because I only want to share my life with good friends and family, basically just people I trust, so I didn't accept the request.
I didn't actually take any action at all, I just ignored it. This backfired on me in the worst way. A few days later, I received an email from the woman "reminding" me to accept her request and that I need to post a photo of my dog weekly so that she knows the dog is doing well and is still with me. I told her I wasn't comfortable with adding her on Facebook since I didn't really know her, but would be happy to send her periodic updates.
Apparently, this wasn't good enough, and she responded with an incredibly snooty email saying that she requires social media contact in order to be able to assess how the dogs are doing and make sure they are in a good home and that adopters are adhering to the contract. She also said that if I refuse to accept her friend request, she may have to take “action” and have our dog forcibly removed from our home.
NOWHERE in the contract does it state that I must be Facebook friends with her, and when I asked the friend who recommended this rescue if she had to do this, she said she didn't, but that this person is kind of known to be very involved and protective of the dogs she adopts out. Do I have to actually do this, and can the rescue actually take my dog back if I don't? I'm even more uncomfortable with the idea now knowing how overbearing she is. It's just a boundary thing to me.
72. Fighting Like Cats And Dogs
We live in the city limits of Wake county Raleigh NC where there are strict leash laws. Our new neighbors moved in next door about six months ago and have two large Labradors who are let out the back door into the open yards each day and night. One of their dogs is very sweet and well-behaved, while the other is rather aggressive and will charge at people and other dogs.
We have asked them multiple times to walk their dogs on leashes and explained about the city leash laws of our state and county, but they refuse to keep them on leashes. Two months ago, one of their labs charged at myself and my small beagle from across the yard. The next few seconds still make me so angry. The dog’s owner just sat there and watched as I tried to fight off her dog while picking up my beagle.
The dog bit my arm enough to draw blood, and I kicked her dog to get it to stop and back off from its attack. The owner then went into a rage over me doing this and the next day filed a complaint against me. That backfired because they contacted me for my side of the story and ended up charging the neighbor a $250 violation. I didn't file an animal control report because my bite wasn't that bad and I thought the fine would set them straight.
Also, it's not the dog’s fault her owner is an idiot. They continued to let their dogs run free and we have multiple videos of them letting their dogs run free and of the aggressive dog running onto our porch and throwing her body against our glass door, trying to get at our dogs inside our house. Last month, I confronted our neighbor with the multiple videos and told her she needed to walk them on leashes and we were no longer willing to be afraid to use our back porch or walk our dogs anymore.
I told her this was the last time we'd be nicely asking her and next time we'd call animal control. Fast forward to six days ago, when I wokee up to a nightmare. It was the sound of one of my dogs, for lack of better term, screaming. I jumped out of bed and ran into the yard where my sister and one of my beagles were being attacked by her dog. AGAIN.
My sister had curled around our dog and was being repeatedly bitten by the neighbors’ dog. I tackled the neighbors’ dog and (not proud to say as a lifelong animal lover) proceed to grab the dog by her neck and force her to the ground by her neck and shove her head into the ground while practically sitting on the dog to control her.
The neighbor finally got her dog inside. The results were my dog had a huge chunk ripped out of her throat, multiple rips in both ears, six broken teeth on her bottom jaw, a shattered front paw and a broken arm, and multiple bites to her face and rib cage. My dog needed all broken teeth removed, pins in her arm and paw, dozens of stitches, and a skin graft (had no idea they could do this for dogs) to close the hole in her neck.
My sister needed 38 stitches from the bites she received, I ended up with 29 stitches from bites I received, and all three of us are on a plethora of antibiotics and follow-up care including rabies shots for my sister and me because her dog had no current shots. Those shots are not pleasant in any way. Our combined medical/vet bills are 29k with still needing follow-up visits for all of us over the next few months.
My neighbor is refusing to pay anything at all and claims she's not at fault because our yard isn't fenced. She's also claiming she's going to sue us because apparently I broke two of her dog’s ribs when I tackled her to the ground. I cleared out my savings account to make the basic payments to save my dog’s life and don't have any more money to hire a lawyer.
We can hardly afford the co-pays on our insurance to get our rabies treatments and prescriptions filled. I filed to get an advance on my pay but it can take up to two weeks to go through and I was served with a court summons today for injuries to her dog and her pain and suffering from the trauma of her hurt pet. The claim also states that I intentionally caused harm to her pet and used unnecessary force to subdue her pet.
I'm a 4'10 female and my sister is a 4' 8 female. Her dog is almost as big as I am. I really don't know where to start or how to deal with this. I feel like we have a solid case due to the videos and the paperwork from the first time she tried to blame us. I also have messages that span her time as our neighbor via the Nextdoor app where she admits to walking her pets off-leash and her refusal to stop because it's "her house."
With not many other options, we took drastic measures. We each submitted an official report. The officer called animal control and viewed it as a good use of their weekend emergency service because the neighbor did not/could not provide proof of a rabies shot and is viewed as a public health risk and no one can confirm the dog’s aggression isn't attributed to that.
That's probably not the case but city law requires all dogs within city limits to be registered with the city and up to date on all shots. The officer suggested that we take our dogs and cars and leave the neighborhood between 2:00 pm to 6:00 pm or until we receive a follow-up call from animal control. He also suggested we call our homeowners’ insurance after we were done at the station and had a report to give them.
They took photos of our injuries and said we need to take pictures of our dog once we got home. We already took photos of ourselves and dog last night, but they wanted their own to file with the report. We asked about getting a protection or restraining order but he said it would be very hard to do because we'd have the burden of proof showing that she maliciously and intentionally used her dog to harm us.
My boyfriend went out this morning and bought two cameras and a stack of SD cards. He has one set up to look out over our back yard and one looking out to where we park our cars and front porch. This lady is still letting her dogs run out free after the attack and we can get that on video. My sister, dogs, and I are going to spend the night at my boyfriend’s house tonight just so we can stay clear of the crazy neighbor. But we went further than that.
We messaged most of the neighbors on our row and a few of them have had bad experiences and are willing to write statements. The kicker is the family directly behind us has a teenage son who took a VIDEO on his phone of the big attack! The neighbor dog had tried to attack her son’s cat while he was on the back porch once, so when her son heard the yelling he whipped out his phone.
I haven't seen it yet but his mother said they'll gladly turn it over to our lawyer and write statements.
73. Squatter’s Rights
I just moved and it was just me and a couple of friends unloading, so we left some things on the street next to the moving truck while we did heavier items like desks, shelves, etc. as a team. I came out after bringing in some more boxes (I had been gone roughly 15 minutes) to find a guy had loaded my couch into the bed of his truck. I ran up to him and explained I own the couch.
He said since it was on the street corner, it’s public property and he’s within his rights to take it. He drove off before I could block his car. I did get his license plate and went to the station make a report, but they asked me if it was in fact on the curb. I said it was, but it was also pretty obviously next to a moving truck, and it was wrapped up and surrounded by boxes.
They didn’t say anything that inspired hope. The couch has been in the family for three generations now and while it probably isn’t worth more than a few hundred bucks, it is sentimentally priceless.
74. Soup Surprise
I’m currently on vacation visiting family for Christmas. I’m a vegan by choice, but I am also allergic to red meat. I was bitten by a “lone star tick,” which caused me to develop a severe allergy to meat. My family makes fun of me for being vegan, though I cook for myself for all meals and don’t mention it much at all. Anyway, I guess some of my extended family didn’t know the severity of my allergy because my younger cousin chopped up steak (extremely finely I guess) and put it in my butternut squash soup.
Shortly after I ate some of my soup, an awful feeling crept over me. I couldn’t breathe and was breaking out in hives. I woke up in the hospital on Christmas Day, as my mom called an ambulance when she saw my face was swelling. My cousin didn’t say sorry when I started breaking out in hives. He started laughing and told me what he had done.
I woke up to a text from him saying “stop overreacting, you need protein” with a picture of a slaughtered cow. His parents aren’t very well off, but my God do I want to pursue him in court.
75. Hold Please
A former Air BnB guest put a hold on my mail for everyone at my address and has been paying to hold the mail for two months. It’s kind of a genius revenge tactic, but the ones who suffered the most are my new renters. One guy has a thyroid problem and had to repurchase $500 in meds. A lot of people missed paychecks or credit cards. One lady missed the receipt of a Death Certificate.
We thought someone was taking the mail from the mailbox at first, but then we started watching the mailman just skip over the house every day and some "test" mail didn't move. So I tried calling the USPS and that got me nowhere. Going down in person was the only way to do this I guess. Turns out, some lady who we'd kicked out for being nasty, attracting bugs, and breaking furniture was mad or something or maybe using my address like a personal PO Box?
Who knows. The post office was really nice about it though and gave me back all my mail. Still, how could this have happened? Surely this can't be allowed. I got copies of her hold requests too as proof it was her. She hadn't lived there in two weeks when she put in the first one.
76. Clear Out
Tonight when my husband got home from work, he told me devastating news. He informed me that he wants a divorce and will be leaving until it's done. This is not a huge surprise honestly, as ever since our daughter was born we've just not been getting along. What is a surprise is its suddenness. I've been a stay-at-home mom since our daughter was born two years ago, it just didn't make sense to work and spend 90% of what I made on daycare. But worse was to come.
So in talking to him before he was finished packing, he told me, "Good luck with the mortgage and bills, I've taken MY money out of our bank account and turned off your card on MY credit." Again, I would say I was shocked, but I really am not. He's very mean when he's angry and never has seemed to connect with his daughter. He wanted a boy and from the day we got the word we were having a daughter he's been distant.
I obviously need an attorney. I logged into our bank account, and sure enough, it's at $5. I don't see how he can just leave us with nothing all of the sudden, and not enough for me to defend myself.
77. Airing The Dirty Laundry
I moved into my apartment at the start of January, and since then I have been convinced that someone was taking my underwear. Every floor has a pair of washer/dryer units, and since moving in I have had almost a dozen different things just disappear from the washer or dryer. The laundry room is so tiny that there is nowhere to sit, aside from sitting on top of one of the machines, so it makes it very hard to wait and see what’s happening.
Two weeks ago, I went and bought a bunch of new things, and when I went to go remove stuff from the washer, I noticed that several things I had just bought went missing. Armed with this and the fact it was early Saturday morning, I went to our landlord and she was able to tell me during the 35 minutes of washing, the only person who entered was my next-door neighbor’s son.
Now at this point, I was furious and confronted the parents. The parents called me a liar, and basically told me off. They absolutely refused to believe me. Yet since confronting them I had nothing go missing for a while. But today I put laundry in and started cleaning my unit. When I went to go drop trash off, I checked the laundry—and witnessed a shocking sight.
I discovered our neighbors’ son, red-handed, going through the dryer I was using. I again confronted the parents, and they immediately started screaming at me for targeting their son, and threatened to call the authorities on me for harassing their son. They also threatened to sue me for "slandering" their son by implying he is a pervert.
78. Ring The Alarm
So this past Friday, our entire apartment building was evacuated after a "bum-like person" (landlady's words) broke into the building and busted a gas pipe at around midnight. We COMPLETELY slept through it. I found out about it the next night at work (which is nearby) when my co-worker asked where my boyfriend and I were the night before during the gas leak.
He filled me in on what had happened and that everyone was outside the building, and that there were fire trucks, works.Just afterward, a fire marshal inspected our alarm that's connected to the building and said it needed to be replaced because it doesn’t work. It has yet to be replaced and when my boyfriend confronted our landlady about it via text, she refused to give us a copy of the order for our replacement alarm.
She also blamed us for not hearing the commotion and waking up (I sleep with ear plugs and my boyfriend is a heavy sleeper), didn't apologize, and told us if we don't feel comfortable she'd make arrangements for us to move out. All we asked for was the alarm for our unit. Luckily neither we nor our cats are hurt or anything, but if the gas leak had been any more serious we could've been in trouble.
My boyfriend's dad is a real estate agent and the first thing he cited was the law that landlords need to have an evacuation plan for all tenants and units. I dislike confrontation and feel like we were too harsh in our texts, but c’mon. My dad is telling me to report the landlady to the tenant tribunal or the fire department.
79. The Cat’s Out Of The Bag
I went out of town for five days and a co-worker offered to check on my four cats while I was away. I came home to find they had no food or water and their litter box hadn't been cleaned in days. My oldest girl was in really bad shape, and she couldn't move her back legs at all. I thought she just fell down the stairs and broke her back.
I took her to the ICU and the doctor ran a lot of tests. They revealed my worst nightmare. The doctor explained to me that nothing was broken. She was actually extremely dehydrated, likely due to not having access to water in days. This caused a previously unknown/undiagnosed diabetic episode, which sent her into shock. She suffered for two days in the ICU before the doctor told me she was only getting worse and a decision had to be made.
There was nothing they could do and she was terrified and suffering. I stayed by her side as they euthanized her. That was about three days ago. My heart is in pieces. There is no signed document of my friend agreeing to watch my cats, but I have text messages of when I tried to check in on them, then 42 messages in the morning and another four hours worth of messages from this friend trying to blame me for not reminding her and not telling her about an undiagnosed condition, and even blaming me for trusting her.
I know I'm angry and grieving. But because of what this person did, my cat suffered for days until I had to let her go. I want to take her to court.
80. Nuts To That
My son’s school is completely ignoring his allergy to peanuts. This has been an ongoing issue since the second day of school, where he was given peanut butter crackers. We sort of brushed it off as a new school year, new students, teachers a bit frazzled dealing with first graders, no real big deal. His allergy isn't really severe but still not fun to deal with and can potentially become life-threatening.
We had already informed the school of his allergy before the year started and even talked directly to the teacher about it because the default snack during the day if no other parents brought in a snack is peanut butter crackers. We even offered to purchase a special alternative for him, but they said it was unnecessary as they have other alternatives.
So we figured the issue was over…when a few weeks later it happened again. This time they claimed he grabbed another student’s snack and ran off to eat it before they could stop him. Now, my little one can be a little bit of a hard-head and I can potentially see this happening, so again we talked to him about peanuts and how dangerous they are to him.
He continued to adamantly deny doing that and said Mrs. gave them to him. We then decide a meeting with the principal is in order, not to blame the teacher or accuse her of lying but to hopefully get this under control. Again a few weeks of no more issues, then it happened again. When I heard their story, I was immediately suspicious.
Once again the story is "he grabbed it and ran off and ate the whole package before we caught him." Okay, so a six-year-old managed to grab an unopened package of crackers, elude a teacher and an aide, and eat the whole package before he's caught? Twice? He's crying and swearing to us he was given them, and after so many incidents we have to start believing him.
Another meeting with the principal and teacher gives us a "Do not worry! This won't happen again." We have another long sit down with our son to explain that even if it's given to you, ask to make sure it doesn't have peanuts or other nuts in it. Then, the very next school day (the meeting was on Friday) he's given another snack of peanut butter crackers, but this time he asks if there is nuts in it and THEN he's given the alternative.
We figure it kind of sucks that the kid has to be the adult right here but at the end of the day he's learning to ask about nuts. We send an email to the principal detailing the issue and say that the next stop is the school board if he is given peanuts again. We get a response back: "If he's asking now, what's the problem? He should have known to ask to begin with. We are teachers not parents."
We had no issues for a while until this week. Some parent brought in PB&J sandwiches for snack time and he was given one. He forgot to ask about nuts but thought "it was only in the crackers." But that's not all. We find out the parent WAS aware of a nut allergy in the class (it's on the parent snack sheet) and brought in just a jelly one that was made separate from the peanut butter ones.
He was not given this one. We spent a day at the hospital. We've had endless talks with him about nuts and do our best to teach him, but some of the blame has to be on the teachers here, right? Do schools not have an obligation to deal with allergies? The school lunch seems to have zero issues with this and has never given him a nut when there are several things on the menu rotation that contain them. He gets a special tray that was nowhere near any nuts.
81. Absent Mom
I will probably consult with a lawyer in the near future. I have a daughter (13) with an ex who was not in her life. We were young, in our early 20s, when she was born. My ex wasn't ready to give up her life and be a mom yet, so I assumed full custody. She had another child when our daughter was nine and never spoke to our daughter again or really acknowledged her.
I remarried as well and my wife has been an amazing stepmom to my daughter. My daughter was diagnosed with cancer in 2016. I made sure to let my ex know of course and sent periodic updates. She didn't visit or call and basically, things went on as normal. In December 2019, it became apparent that her fight was drawing to a close and there was nothing anyone could do.
I sent the following email: "Jess, I want to let you know that we got the results of E's scan today. The cancer has spread significantly with several new growths and no change to the old sites. At this time, doctors are advising that treatment is unlikely to be successful and we would be better off providing her with comfort care instead.
She will be a lot more comfortable and be allowed to go home, which she really wants. L, the doctors, and I have all talked to her as well as child life. She has agreed that it's time to come home. She is being discharged tomorrow to hospice at home. As always, she would love to see/hear from you." She replied to that email a short time later with "Thank you for the update."
She didn't call or reach out to our daughter at all. After coming home from the hospital, my daughter asked me to mail a letter and to send an email she'd written to her mother. I don't know what the letter or email said but I know that neither one was replied to. In January, our daughter passed. I sent the following emails: "Jess, I wish I didn't have to write this email. Our sweet E passed her sleep. It was very peaceful. I will send another email with funeral details. Don't hesitate to reach out if you need anything."
And then I sent one about the funeral. This is the important part of that email: "Jess, In addition, we have decided on cremation. Please let me know if you would like any of her ashes. I can even get them made into jewelry or put in an urn for you and have it shipped if that's easier for you." She replied to that one thanking me and telling me she would rather not have the ashes and that I could do what I liked with them.
We did. We gave some to my mother, had some turned into jewelry for my wife and three younger girls, I kept some, and we buried some in a few of her favorite places. At this point, the only ashes that physically exist are mine, my mother's, and my wife and daughters'. Fast forward to the end of February, and I get an email from my ex stating that she'd had a change of heart and asking if she could have some of our daughter's ashes.
I told her that unfortunately, we didn't have any "left,” but that my wife offered to send her the necklace she had made. She declined and did seem a little offended that we'd offered but it was all we had to give. A few days ago, I received a notice that she was suing me for emotional damages for "failing to offer her our shared child's cremains" and "offering a used necklace" and some other nonsense.
I'm going to be honest: I feel like the only person who is being emotionally damaged here is me. I'm dealing with a huge devastating loss of my first child, my best buddy, my constant companion while also dealing with the stress of two young kids who don't understand AND a brand new baby. I feel like I've been nothing but nice and communicative to her and this is what I get for it?
I'm angry, I'm tired, and I'm frustrated. Realistically, I don't even have the emotional energy to fight it and I'm seriously considering throwing some money at it and hoping it goes away.
82. A Mother’s Love
I'm a judge. One day, I oversaw a custody battle where the dad was trying to get joint custody. It's granted, and he's about to have his first weekend with the kids. Mom is not having it in the slightest. So Mom does the unthinkable. She has the father killed. In the aftermath, Grandma (Dad's mom) attempts to get guardianship of the kids.
It's discovered that Mom conspired to have Grandma offed, too. Mom is brought before the judge for her hearing. She is sobbing. "BUT I'M THEIR MOTHER!!!!!" Judge isn't having it. "You're their mother. So?" The woman stops crying almost immediately, proving she faked her "tears" from before. She's still currently behind bars.
83. You Have The Right To Remain Stupid
My job is helping people use the rights they are allowed while behind bars. One day, a client called, stating that they were going to turn themselves in for violating a protective order. That was enough for me to get sent out. I try to figure out what's going on, and learn that the client's ex-girlfriend took out a retroactive protective order and he's admitting to breaking it.
That's a huge “Oh god” moment for me, because you need to do something seriously messed up with significant proof to get retroactive protective order. Anyway, I advise him of his rights when interacting with officers as clearly as I can. Then I make sure he understands and urge him not to void his rights. Well, he voided his rights apparently without hesitation, and he spilled the beans to the officer about everything.
The story was even crazier than I ever expected. It turned out that there was no active valid protective order at the time of the alleged offense. Instead, the ex-girlfriend applied for a retroactive protective order, got denied, then had her friend serve him a fake retroactive order. When he breached the order that doesn't exist, she applied for a new regular protective order, was approved.
But there was one problem: the order wasn't active yet because it hadn't been served. Despite this, the ex-girlfriend didn't hesitate to void it by sending him harassing text messages! She ended up going in on production of false documents, distribution of false documents, breach of protective order, and electronic harassment.
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84. The Early Bird Gets No Worm
I had a genius client today who called in and was very rude to my assistant. Old twit claims that he called twice in the morning and nobody answered his calls. Turns out, this geezer had called the office at 7:45 am and again at 8:25 am. Our posted hours are 9-5, plus our voicemail system states our hours. PLUS what office is open at 7:45 in the morning?!
When he finally did manage to speak to a lawyer, all he did was get really mad that we recommended that he get a new will done because all the people named in his existing will are deceased. There's no helping some people.
85. Do You Know Who I Am?
This happened several years ago. My father was a superior court judge, and about 60 years old at the time. He was driving on a city street when a young kid blew through a stop sign and ran into him. Dad was on a through street with no stop sign, so it's pretty obvious that the kid was at fault. Nobody was hurt, thankfully, but the kid was very upset about it and jumped out of his car, cussing a blue streak.
"You crazy old man, you shouldn't be on the road. I'm going to sue you! I'll have you taken in for a hit-and-run, you can't you look where you're going," along with a series of other colorful words. My dad looks at him, cool as a cucumber, and totally destroys the kid. He says he isn't going anywhere, so hit-and-run wouldn't apply.
Kid keeps on cussing, stomping around, and generally being a real jerk. Fairly soon, an officer shows up. Young kid goes off on the officer about getting this crazy old man off the road, yadda yadda. Dad gives the cop his license, registration, insurance, and business card. Officer turns to him and says, "Your honor, can you tell me what happened?"
Young kid suddenly stops yelling, and looks like he's seen a ghost. Turns to the officer and says, "This guy's a judge??? My dad turns to the kid and says, "That's correct. If you would like to bring your parents by the courthouse some time, I'd be happy to perform the ceremony at no charge." I thought the officer was going to lose it on the spot. Kid got a ticket and was found at fault for the accident.
86. Christmas At Court
One Christmas Eve, a woman comes in with her two sons and files an emergency petition for sole custody. They had just arrived to spend the holidays with her and informed her about how abusive their dad was to them. So she fills out the paperwork, staff is going over it, and a probation officer comes to tell me that the next time I see this woman, I need to tell her to stay put because she has to go through a substance screening.
I find the woman and awkwardly delivered the news. It went better than expected. She took it all in stride and agreed. And after that interaction, I thought to myself that for someone who is spending Christmas Eve at court, petitioning for sole custody because the father of her children is mistreating said children...she was really chipper. Yeah, I'd soon learn why.
She tested positive for a whole whack of feel-good substances. Regardless, she was brought before the judge. Dad was called up so he could appear telephonically. Oh ho, the judge was unhappy with both of them. Turns out, dad had full custody, and mom was only supposed to have supervised visitation with the kids. Why? Because this lady COULD NOT parent.
The poor kids sometimes didn't have enough to eat. And she would leave them unsupervised for hours at a time while she went to do...whatever it was that she did. The judge was reading all this stuff from the previous cases onto the record in a really flat, matter-of-fact tone. "[Mom] complains that she doesn't receive enough in child support for the children. [Mom] still has enough money to afford substances.”
The judge asked the dad why he sent the kids to the mother they're not supposed to be alone with. Dad said he didn't want her to not be part of their lives. Judge scolded him regardless. Good intentions, bad execution. And this wasn't the first time she cried wolf about dad. And to top it all off, throughout the hearing, this woman is switching between sobbing loudly, laughing like a maniac, and stone cold sarcasm. Her petition to be the kids' only care-taker was denied.
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87. By Any Other Name
So, I was a law clerk at a small firm in a northern state for two years during law school. The firm had been around for several decades, and it had a name like "Davidson, Roberts, McIntyre, and Johnson." Well, Davidson had started the firm. Roberts had joined within a few years. Roberts had passed about 20 years before I became a clerk, and Davidson had passed a few years before I became a clerk.
The firm name hadn't changed, though. When I became a clerk, McIntyre was the senior partner, and there were four other partners in at the firm, plus an associate. One of the partners was Davidson's son, we'll call him Joe. One day, I was called to the front desk to cover the phones because our receptionist was out. I was sitting at the front desk, and an older man walked up to me.
"I need to speak to an attorney." "Alright. What kind of case is it?" "Well, I don't know. Can I just speak to attorney Davidson?" "Joe Davidson?" "I just want to speak to the Davidson on the sign out front." "Oh. Well, he's dead." The man cocked his head, and said, "Well, can speak to attorney Roberts?" "Sir, he's gone, as well."
The old man just stared at me. I called around and found someone to come talk to the man finally. I don't know if we took him on as a client though. It was a really strange interaction.
88. I Don’t Think That Word Means What You Think It Means
This was unbelievable. My co-worker’s girlfriend filed for divorce a few weeks ago. That's right, girlfriend. They aren't married, and common-law doesn't apply in my state. They lived together for five years. She has a job. She isn't on the mortgage. And she left him a few months ago. There are no kids involved. They were never engaged.
In the "divorce," she wants him to leave his house and she wants to be the one to move back in. She also wants him to pay her $2,800 a month for some reason. I referred him to my divorce attorney, and now that attorney is probably going to represent him. The chick is nuts. She has already tried to get a restraining order against him that was dismissed.
89. Dog Eat Dog
There is an eight-month-old male German Shepherd that is not fixed living in our apartment building. I have a six-month-old Australian Shepherd. We live on the fifth floor and the German Shepherd lives about four doors down. We run into each other quite often since we live on the same floor and both use the elevator. He has attacked my Aussie in the elevator twice, both times on the leash while the owner would unsuccessfully try to pull him away.
He attacked him another time outdoors, which was the first time we discovered the GS was hostile. The worst occasion was when we went to a pet store about a block away. When we walked inside, the GS was off his leash and immediately started attacking my Aussie. The owner did not immediately intervene. I got down to try to get between the GS and my dog and he bit my arm as well in the process.
After about a 20-second struggle, the pet store owner was the one who ran over and pulled the GS off me while the owner stood there and looked confused. I took pictures after the event. I had a winter coat on so my arm just had red marks and scratches, but my Aussie’s paw was bleeding and he limped around for about five minutes. I first spoke with the apartment building and asked for their advice.
They said as long as the owners were taking preventative measures, such as a muzzle, they would not intervene. I spoke with the owner of the GS after this and they agreed to get a muzzle for their GS just for on the grounds. However, the attacks have happened so often that I do not think they can easily control their dog. My Aussie is also now afraid to enter the elevator and pet store since he associates it with where he’s been attacked prior, and also hides from the GS if he sees him in public.
After seeing the GS and the owner for about a week after these events, I kept noticing that they do not have any kind of muzzle still. I spoke with her today, and when I heard her response, I wanted to slap her. She said that after thinking on the issue she has decided to not get the muzzle. She said that the GS is an emotional support dog, and with a muzzle, he would not be able to do his job.
I suggested then maybe using a gentle leader leash, that way if he lunges the leash would close his mouth. She said she is not comfortable with that. I do not know the logistic of emotional support dogs, but I do know they do not have the same rights as service dogs. I feel so stuck now. I feel that if I go to the apartment building at this point they will say there is nothing they can do.
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90. Mistaken Identity
One day, this deputy knocked on our door and my wife answered. They asked her name, she told them, and they asked her to step outside. She declined because she wasn't wearing shoes. He said "OK, we will do this inside then," and stepped in the door. He told her that he was there to detain her. She's never even had so much as a parking ticket in her life.
She protested that she had done nothing wrong and that she had a common name, figuring it might be mistaken identity. Finally, they agreed to let her get her ID. After examining it, they went and looked up the birthday of their suspect and found that they were indeed different, so they left. I'm still very, very upset that this happened.
If she had stepped outside, they would have likely detained her on the spot. She did not have her phone, and I would have had no idea what had happened to her. I would like to file whatever complaints I can, and ideally, to find the judge who signed the warrant to complain how poorly the deputies did in trying to arrest the correct person.
91. Keeping Up With The Joneses
The home in question here belongs to my parents, but I housesit for weeks or months at a time for them and deal with their neighbors enough to care. So anyway, these neighbors moved in a year or two ago and have made life so uncomfortable for my parents (and me) that they are actually talking about selling their home to move away.
This is their marriage home with ALL their memories. I thought they were selling because they wanted to move out of state, but have since found out it is because of the neighbors. My parents’ neighbors’ kid (a very immature 20-year-old) has a beater he leaves parked in front of my parents’ front yard. He has it parked in the middle so that it takes up ALL the space and no one can park on either side of it without blocking a driveway.
It has been in three wrecks in the past year and currently, he won’t drive it. Why? I don't know. Perhaps it isn't in running condition anymore. All I know is it hasn't been driven in over a month....well, until what happens next. I want to also mention the neighbors have a full garage. They also have the same size space in front of their yard to park in, which happens to always be empty unless they have company.
Their driveway can and does fit three of their cars, including another beater that has never left the driveway since they moved in. I politely asked him to move his car when I saw him several weeks ago and he flipped out on me, cursing and screaming at me. He followed me to my car and was yelling at my car door window, to the point it had fog from his breath.
Several days later, I visited my parents and he had his friends parking in front of his car so as to block the driveway partially while still leaving the spaces empty behind his car. I spoke with my parents and they said the kid had his friends doing that ever since I had asked him to move his car, as some kind of payback. They said he's really mean and to just let it go.
This did not sit right to me, so later after visiting I went to the neighbors’ home to speak to the parents. I explained the situation and asked them to speak with the boy about moving the car and told them about his behavior towards me with the disrespect and language. Bad idea. I assumed they were decent, normal people and this was just an out-of-control teen.
I assumed mom would just say, “Billy, go move your car” or something and it would be taken care of. Turns out, he got it from mom and dad. I get the dad yelling at me to get off his property as the mom (from another room) starts bellowing about how I did NOT just tell her how to parent and he can do whatever he wants and screw me and my parents.
I didn't know this at that time, but have since found out my parents believe the neighbors keyed their car about six months ago. My mom asked the neighbor mom and son to not smoke at the edge of their driveway, as it’s right next to my parents’ bedroom window and they would be awakened by them talking in the middle of the night.
Apparently, that set them off and they would talk extra loud and would hold up a phone playing music to their window as a “screw you” to my mom and dad after that. That's also when their car got keyed So since I made the mistake of talking to the neighbor parents, the feud has ratcheted up. It's no longer just the kid's one car and his friends when they come over.
Now the parents are retaliating too. They finally moved the beater, but only to move their cars from the driveway to taking up the two spaces in front of our yard adjacent to their driveway. The one car parked just enough to have the front poking into our driveway. The beater was moved so it’s parked on the OTHER side of our driveway in front of our other neighbor's yard but also sticking out enough to just be in the way of our driveway, too.
This has been going on for a few weeks now. My parents just seem to want to let it go. Not only do they say the street parking is technically public parking and they can't officially complain about it, but they complain the neighbors will only retaliate worse. My parents travel a lot and my work makes it so I can’t always be there to sit the house for them.
They fear the neighbors will do something to their property when they are gone. I used to think they were over-reacting and the neighbors’ kid was just rude, but this isn't right.
92. Bite The Hand That Feeds
Two large pit bulls got loose from their owner’s grip and attacked my dog unprovoked. This is the second time it has happened with those same dogs. She is refusing to pay vet bills this time because “I shouldn’t have been walking my dog around her apartment.” The first time I let it go because she paid the vet bills and my dog got the care she needed.
She is a medium sized, 35lb dog. This time, I turned a corner with my dog and her dogs saw mine, overpowered her, and even though I picked my dog up, they bit her leg and dragged her down before going for her neck. I screamed for help and eventually, people came out to help. One bystander said I “should avoid that area because I know her dogs live there.”
And I guess they convinced the owner that it was MY fault that her dogs attacked my dog. My dog has a reputation around the complex for barking and trying to intimidate people, but I keep her in check and hold a short leash because of that. My dog has never attacked anyone or anything and has never gotten out of my control because I know how to handle her.
This lady said that “my dog is known to provoke reactions” and is using that to justify why her dogs attacked mine. I’ve already called animal control and I am about to file a complaint to the property manager of my building. I also have puncture wounds on my hand from her dog when I was trying to get its jaws off my dog. It's just ridiculous.
93. Don’t Get Greedy
My ex-wife has custody and wanted me to allow her new husband to adopt our son. She told me that I have to do this or else she will take me to court to force me to do this. They married this year. She divorced me four years ago, and our son is seven. Well, she ended up taking me to court. Her lawyer focused a lot on my record, which had happened before I even met her, and she married me knowing about it.
Her lawyer claimed otherwise and said that I had hidden my record from her and she only learned about it after our marriage. This was a slam-dunk for me and my lawyer to disprove. I had email communications with her acknowledging my record. Meanwhile, she stupidly insisted the emails not being in her inbox is proof that the emails are made up.
Perhaps she seriously thought deleting the emails from her account would delete them from mine too. Her own lawyer looked really upset after this. She dropped the case immediately after that hearing. Her own husband apologized to me, said he wouldn't have agreed to come forward for adoption if he knew the truth. He was a decent guy.
My ex lied to him about me to get him to adopt my son. It's been a couple of months since then and according to my son, they're now separated. I'm talking to my lawyer to change the custody agreement, too.
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94. Together For Never
My husband has been cheating on me for our whole relationship of 10+years and served me with divorce papers just now. He wants me out of the apartment by next Friday, but I am too embarrassed to tell my family. In my culture, no one gets a divorce and I don’t know where to start. I know I need to get a lawyer but I’m completely confused and blindsided right now.
He’s being completely irrational and doesn’t want me to have anything. Not the furniture in the house, the food in the fridge, or our dog. But it gets so much worse. We don’t have a prenup. I met him when I was 19 and he had opened up his first restaurant in the city. I really thought we’d grow old together. I know, stupid of me not to cover my butt, but I was with him for so long that I got really comfortable and couldn’t imagine him doing this.
We bought a condo in New York and most of it was paid for by me and my family but it is in his name. I’m scared of losing the house since my parents and I put so much into it. But I also can’t afford to keep the house on my own for more than a few months unless I ask my parents for help, which I’m also embarrassed to ask for. Can his infidelity help me out here?
More than that, he bought me a car for my birthday just last year and is telling me I have to leave the car with him—so I have no way of moving any of my stuff out. Plus, I am a co-signer on two of the small loans that he has on his restaurants. I’m also invested in them and they’re a great second source of income. Let me tell you, this SUCKS.
95. Miracle Babies
My ex-wife is suing me for child support…but I don't even have the “equipment.” I lost it when I was 14 due to a major health problem. I married a woman who at the time claimed to be asexual, however eventually she told me that she was pregnant with twins with a man she was sleeping with. We divorced before the children were born. This is now four years later.
So I received a letter in the mail that said I'm being sued for child support. The children are definitely not mine and we divorced before they were even born. I'm in a horrible situation, my health is very poor and my finances are very, very limited. I'm barely affording to survive here.
96. Joy Ride Gone Wrong
So I dropped my Subaru WRX off to be serviced at a third-party service center. They called me to tell me my car was ready for pick up. When I arrived today, I waited around two hours while they were getting my car ready for pickup…to finally be told that they accidentally gave it to another customer. They offered a rental car for the meantime until they can get it back, which they said would hopefully be in the next few days. But that’s not what happened at all.
I called the authorities and the employees got mad and stressed out immediately. Turns out one of the managers took it for a joyride and wrecked it, which they admitted to. I still have not seen it but I was told the damage was extensive and that I would be held liable for payment to fix part of it. At this point, I’m going to get a lawyer involved.
I shouldn't have to pay for anything they have messed up on. Even if they offer to cover fixing it, I’m a little uneasy about that. Now that it has been in a collision it has much less value and could be prone to future problems. They said if I didn't get lawyers involved they would cut me a deal, but I’m really not having that. Not to mention, they have been lying to me for hours.
At this point, I am pressing charges against them for theft, and I have filed official complaints with the Motor Vehicle Dealer Board and the Office of the Attorney General Consumer Protection Section, and I will be suing for an undisclosed but reasonably high amount.
97. Restraining Order Backfire
A wife filed for a restraining order because she wanted the house during her divorce. The husband has a good job, like $200k per year. The employer finds out about the restraining order and fires the husband. He was a very specialized employee, so the only job he can find close to the house and his daughter is $50k. Ooh boy, did this not go well.
The house gets foreclosed. Child support is set at less than $500 per month. The wife has to get a job as a waitress.
98. An Iron Clad Defense
I was an Assistant DA in a college town in Texas. A fellow prosecutor (in plain clothes) overheard this exchange between a defendant and his attorney in the courthouse hallway. "Why don't they dismiss this case? The paper says 'State of Texas v. ______,' but I didn't punch the state of Texas. I punched my wife." Oh, buddy…
99. Simple Physics
I remember having to defend myself on a speeding accusation. I had footage of the dashcam, which clearly showed me not speeding. I was going 30 mph, but the officer claimed I was driving 50 mph. The dashcam footage showed him driving at 40 mph and catching up to me fairly quickly. That’s when he decided to pipe in and make a fool of himself.
He asked, "If you were really going 30, then why did I have to go 40 to catch up to you?” I responded, “Because in order to catch up to anything, you have to go faster than what you're following. If I was going 50, you would have never caught up to me while going 40.”
100. The Wedding Photographer
I represented the husband in a divorce. On the day of the trial, opposing counsel presented shocking evidence. The wife’s attorneys produced photographs that they claimed proved adultery. The photos were of my client, the husband, wearing lingerie and a long brown wig, engaging in act of intimacy with another man. I was able to successfully exclude this from evidence...because the wife was the photographer.
101. A Good Foundation
So, I do a lot of insurance work, and I try cases of all kinds, large and small. I had a small case, over about $2,600, from where a contractor drove into a retaining wall at this lady's house and damaged it. He wouldn't fix it, and, after like eight months, the homeowner allowed her insurance company—my client—to have it fixed and then sent the bill to the contractor.
Surprise surprise, the contractor wouldn't pay. There was lots of squabbling between my client and the contractor's insurance company, who offered less than $500 on a $2,600 bill. We had a trial to settle it. I brought our claims adjuster and the homeowner. The defense attorney brought the contractor and an adjuster from the contractor's insurance company.
Everything goes fine with questioning the homeowner, who was a sweet, middle-aged woman. She, like most people, knows nothing about the finer points of masonry. Then, we get to my claims adjuster. He says, "Well, we paid $2,600 to have this fixed, but I'm not an expert on masonry." However, he also discussed how estimates on masonry were made.
I close my proof. Next, the contractor gets up on the stand. They go over what exactly happened with the retaining wall. Then, he testifies that he "knows for a fact" that the $2,600 invoice includes overhead and profit and accuses my client of "running a scam." The judge strikes the answer. I look down at the estimate for repair and grin from ear to ear.
It says, in bold print, "This amount does not include overhead or profit." I look at the invoice. It's the same amount as the estimate. This guy is lying through his teeth—and I’m going to catch him. On cross examination, I show the contractor the invoice. "Sir, this is a $2,600 invoice for repair, correct." "Yes." Then I show him the estimate.
"Sir, this is a $2,600 estimate for the same repairs, correct?" "Yes." "They're the same amount, correct?" "Yes." "Does the estimate say it does not include profit or overhead?" "Uh..." "Does it?" "Yes." "Didn't you just testify that you knew for a fact that the estimate included overhead?" "I don't know." "What don't you know?"
At this point, the contractor is furious and beats his hand on the stand. "It doesn't include overhead and profit, does it?" "I guess not." "But you said it did, right?" I pass the witness. But I wasn’t done yet. Next, the defense attorney calls the contractor's insurance company's adjuster. He testifies about how much he thought it should cost, like $500.00.
I cross-examine him. "How did you make this estimate?" "I put the numbers into a computer program." "How do you know what numbers to put in?" "Uh..." "Are you a contractor?" "No." "Are you an expert in masonry?" "No." "Have you ever worked in construction?" "No." "And the computer programs spits out what you put in?" "Yes."
"And you can just put in whatever numbers you want?" "Yes." "And it makes an estimate based on the numbers you pick?" "Yes." "But you don't know anything about masonry?" "No." The adjuster just testified that he made up the estimate. Defense closes proof. And the judge takes the matter under advisement. So let’s recap all this glory.
The contractor lied and was discredited, and the adjuster for the contractor admitted he just made everything up. We got $1,000 out of the trial. Less than half of what we sought but double what the defendant argued it should be. It was a win in my book.
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