Look, sometimes, we get angry. It could be a noisy neighbor, disgusting food, an annoying stranger, or anything in between. Children throw temper tantrums in these cases, but as adults, we're expected to respond to such situations more..".reasonably". However, many adults can also throw a tantrum that can lift the roof off the house—often for completely ridiculous reasons. Read on to hear about some of the craziest adult hissy fits we've ever seen.
1. Getting Saucy
One time, I was at Chik-fil-A when I noticed this guy, probably around 40 years old, banging a tray over and over again on the counter. It was painful to watch. He was raising his voice at the poor employees behind the counter simply because they were out of his all-time favorite sauce. He kept wildly pacing from one end of the counter to the other, shouting to high heaven that he knew for a FACT they had more stashed somewhere in the back.
The guy was downright adamant that he wasn't leaving the premises until they gave him the sauce. But this was just the beginning. It got even more entertaining when the manager decided to step in. Bravely, she approached him and requested him to leave the place. His response literally made me laugh out loud.
The guy transformed into a stubborn kid, plunking himself down on the floor, crossing his arms like a pro and declaring he wasn't budging an inch. I was in stitches, but figured I should grab my food and head out before I got dragged into the drama.
2. It’s Like Flying
I was hanging out at the airport and saw this totally tanked lady throwing a monumental hissy fit, trying to get on her flight. Her speech was sloppy, she was only partly making sense, and had trouble even walking in a straight line. You've gotta feel for the gate agent who had to deal with her. He was super patient, even offering her water while waiting for medical and security backup. He reassured her that rescheduling her flight was totally an option.
But this pampered princess wasn't having any of it. She kicked up a fuss, insisting that she was getting on that flight not matter what. Then things got physical. She tried to board the plane multiple times, eventually needing to be held back physically. She turned nasty, threatening the staff, saying she'd get them fired—even tossed out a deportation threat at a guy wearing a turban.
Oddly enough, she kept asking for each employee's full name — info that was actually on their name tags already. But even after they gave her their names, she wouldn't let up, vowing that she was going to call the head office and get them all canned. The dude in the turban was super cool about it, he even offered to spell out his name for her.
He was like, "Trust me, you're just wasting your time and the company's time, and nothing's gonna come from it". When it finally hit home that she wasn't gonna get her way, she whipped out her cell and started yelling her head off that she was being roughed up and needed her "Daddy".
She was playing the "my dad's important" card, claiming that he was the Attorney General of New Jersey and that she wanted to sue the airline and get the staff canned. Finally, security had enough and escorted her out. But here's the kicker, I did a quick search on the Attorney General of New Jersey at the time - dude doesn't have any daughters.
3. Carded
We're working on THIS local play and it happens to be our main star's birthday amid the crunch-time week of rehearsals. We're all crammed in the theater, but, hey, there's always time for some fun! That's the plan, at least.
One after the other, we all scribble our wishes on a card while our director, in a burst of creativity, decides to whip up a birthday cake. In the middle of a break, we coax the birthday lady on stage for the cake-cutting.
The plan also includes a jolly rendition of “Happy Birthday” and handing her the card. We're trucking along just fine until, out of nowhere, comes an ear-splitting, birds-flying-out-of-trees screech. The whole room goes silent...then the director starts screaming. Apparently, she saw the card making the rounds but no one bothered to ask her. She's miffed, and it’s a pretty big deal.
Things escalate to a crazy climax - our dear director ends up slamming the cake right there on the stage, right in front of our birthday girl. Then she blows a fuse, gives us all a royal dressing down for not being considerate or whatever, and off she goes, huffing and puffing. And that, my friends, is how you say 'Happy birthday' in the theatre.
4. Tantrum Competition
In a well-known Asian mall, a woman went nuts when the guy she was with wouldn't buy her local jewelry. She threw a fit, pounded the counter, and they started yelling at each other. Then he got all preachy about her needing to be a "traditional Chinese woman".
Like a kid, he mocked her by fake crying. She actually cried, then suddenly stopped. I thought she was finished. Turns out, she was just getting started. Bam, she dropped to the ground, kicking and screaming like there's no tomorrow.
5. Too Hot To Handle
So, back when I worked at Starbucks, there was this one lady who totally lost her cool when I said I couldn't make her a latte at 200 degrees. Trust me, I tried getting it through to her that it was super risky and it'd probably just nuke the milk. But, nope, didn't want to hear it. So, I just cranked up the heat as much as I could without triggering a milky apocalypse.
I bet you can guess what happened next: After she got her order, she yelled back at me, complaining her tongue was all burnt because the coffee was ridiculously hot and tasted like trash.
6. A Tall Tale
Our neighbor flipped out over our new two-meter fence. The old one was falling apart, just a meter tall. She'd stare at us over it whenever we were in the garden, so we had to upgrade. She ranted at us for a good ten minutes in the driveway.
Then, barefoot, she stomped across the stone driveway to complain to another neighbor who wasn't even home. Loud banging on the door, waited a bit, and then angrily stomped back past us, across the rough stones, to her house.
Hilarious seeing a 40-year-old acting like a toddler throwing a tantrum. Wish I'd filmed it—she was clearly hurting but wanted to keep up the angry act.
7. More Than A Casual Run-in
Four years back, I happened to be at a gas station to witness an insane tantrum. These two cars, both trying to back out of their parking spots, decided to do a little dance and ended up nudging into each other - slightly curved paths made it inevitable. No real harm done, right? Normally, you'd think, 'Just swap insurance details and continue with your day'. But not these guys.
The driver of one car thought it’d be a brilliant idea to go in for some unusual retaliation. So he runs inside the convenience store and comes out with a big two-liter bottle of Diet Coke and a pack of Mentos. Before anyone can figure what's going on, he douses the other vehicle with an insane eruption of foamy soda, and then, just like that, he speeds off.
Well, talk about entertainment. I was laughing so hard I couldn't breathe. After regaining my composure, I stayed put to help the other lady out - you know, dealing with the cops and all that.
8. As Cheesy As It Gets
One day when I worked at Panera, it was a hectic morning. I was at the register, ringing up a storm of orders. This one guy asked for a toasted bagel to-go and an 8 oz tub of cream cheese.
Since the bagel had to be toasted, it was the kitchen's job to prepare it. I pointed him to where he could hang out and wait while I handled the next customer.
As I'm midway through processing another order, this dude storms over and starts hollering at me. He's throwing around unkind words and questioning why his bagel didn't come with the cream cheese slathered on it. It's just not a thing we did at Panera, and the guy never asked for it to be done like that anyway.
His tantrum was truly spectacular - so severe that the lady I was currently helping actually apologized to me on his behalf after he stomped out of our store.
9. Feeling Jilted
My junior year roommate threw a full-on tantrum on the floor because her ex wasn't talking to her. It was like a real toddler meltdown. And honestly, her ex had legit reasons for not talking.
Our other roommate, trying to study, came out all confused and asked her to go somewhere else. Tantrum girl got up and stormed out because we didn't give her the attention she wanted. She used to be a close friend, but things went downhill fast after that.
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10. Phoning It In
Back when I was in retail at an office supply store selling phone stuff, this lady wanted an iPhone 6 case right after it came out. We didn't have any yet, and when I said that, she lost it. Grown woman, stomping, pouting, crying, "But I want one!"
I tried to help, saying maybe we'd get some soon and went to ask a manager. But she kept pouting, stomping, and whining, "I need it now!" I just walked away. Talk about first world problems...
11. Caught By The Ear
Back in my teens, I worked on a guided tour in my city. It was in a small car made to look like a train, giving folks info about the city while they sat in wagons behind. We also ran a shuttle to a nearby theme park parking spot at set times.
When we weren't on the clock, we didn't ride. Mornings till noon, and then 4 pm to 8 pm were our hours. Tourism had its tantrums, but one really stood out. A family of six caught us off-duty, all parked.
The dad asks for a ride back to their car. I explain we're off-duty, as we'd said earlier. I was not prepared for his response. He calls me a liar, storms to my boss reading in the train. Boss repeats the deal. This is when he REALLY loses it. The guy goes berserk, yelling, punching windows, tears streaming.
His wife and kids bail, embarrassed. Then an old man in their group calmly tells the guy to get down. Instead, he keeps screaming. The old man grabs his ear, yanks him off, and suddenly the guy's wailing, "Sorry, Dad, sorry". Some folks, I tell ya, just wild.
12. Excelling At Excel
So one evening, my former boss thought he had the office to himself. Wouldn't you know it, that's when Excel decides to test his patience. It won't do the calculation right and things quickly escalate. He starts venting his frustration big time, loud and clear. Meanwhile, I'm turned into a statue in my little workstation, afraid that the slightest tap on my keyboard would break his illusion of solitude. Still, I had no clue just what I was about to hear.
He's stubbornly trying to re-do the formula again and again and with each failed attempt, his voice tone scales up. I'm still there, frozen and quiet. Surprisingly, he then breaks down and starts sobbing about the whole Excel ordeal. I'm really not enjoying this live drama at this stage, but I have no exit strategy. The door to freedom is right next to his office, and I can't afford to make even a whisper. I'm literally stuck there.
Just when I thought things couldn't get any worse, he decides to take a break from the computer and stretch his legs. Lucky me, my desk lamp was still on, casting a glow. I hear him approaching and my neurons kick into hyperdrive. What do I do? Then I have the most genius idea of my life. I quickly grab my headphones, put them on and start nodding my head to imaginary music. Just in time! He turns the corner and I hear him say, "Well, that was a bit embarrassing!"
I keep my focus on the screen, creating a portrayal of someone lost in the music. He taps on my shoulder to get my attention and I fake a surprised reaction. I see him; he's perspiring. He repeats, "Well, that was a bit embarrassing. Did you hear my rant?" I faked ignorance and assured him that my music was just too loud. We had a little chat, and that was that.
To say the least, I had never heard such an intense meltdown before in my entire life and I really wouldn't mind if it never happened again. It was seriously spooky!
13. Sole Reason
My ex was a ticking tantrum bomb. We split, then she calls for an event hangout. I foolishly agree—biggest mistake ever. We hit a stall, they're out of her cheap thing, and boom, she explodes.
This was why I came!" Her voice cracks, then full-blown wailing, stomping, hitting displays. Everyone's staring, and I realize I'm done dealing with this.
I didn't owe her anything. I split. She yells, "How dare you leave!" I fire back, "How dare you make a scene over five bucks? Beat it". And I'm out..
14. Tipping Point
In our high school chem class, we all sat at these fancy tables with sinks and these crazy high faucets. On this one day, we were supposed to be doing some experiments, and we had these balance scales out on our tables.
Also, there were these kids who always sat way back in the class, and they were always doing their own stuff. So, while our teacher was explaining about the experiments we were gonna do, these guys, let's call them Dumb and his three sidekicks, were messing around as usual.
Suddenly, one of them, one of Dumb's pals, accidentally broke the faucet. He quickly hid the now-broken faucet because our teacher was still busy explaining the experiment. He turned around, noticed something was odd but couldn't figure it out. Then it hit him - the faucet was missing! His face just changed completely, but he didn't say anything right away.
He tried to get back to the explanation, but you could tell - something about his voice was off. But Dumb and his gang were too busy messing with the scales to notice. Suddenly, one of them interrupts, "Hey, Teacher, did you know my pencil weighs 35 grams?"
That was the final straw. Our teacher lost it. He got so mad, stormed to the back of the room, grabbed the scale, and went off on everyone about respect, messing up the equipment, and disrupting class.
We were all just frozen in shock. He even threw the weighing pan across the room! After a while, he tried to get himself together. He picked up a stack of papers for the experiment, but his hands were so shaky he could barely hand them out. Eventually, he just left. We kinda sat there for a bit until someone from the school office came down and told us we could leave.
15. Play Time
Back in the day, I was a part-timer at this graphic design place. The CEO put me on this CD project for one of our clients. I practically learned HTML from scratch to get it right - getting it to auto-start, sorting out the layout, designing graphics and cutting this tiny video they had to have.
The one thing I couldn't figure out though, was autoplaying the video. So I stuck a "Press here to roll video" button on it. I thought it was fine. I was very wrong. Boss man lost it. He screamed, "The client's coming in later! If this video doesn’t start when the page loads, that’s it! We're done! They'll scrap everything!"
And right there in front of me, this full-grown, mid-50s dude, starts bawling. Remember, I was just a 19-year old freshman on his first ever gig. He then turns to his colleague, all teary-eyed, "Bill! What do we do?" And Bill just stares at him and goes, "We tell them to hit the button, Steve. Pull yourself together!" Funny enough, in the end, the client didn't even notice the autoplay didn't work. They just hit play and didn’t bat an eyelid.
16. Special Treatment
Once upon a time, I worked at a college association right here in Washington, DC. Every year, we'd throw these conferences for pretty much all job roles in the schools. You know, presidents, vice presidents, CFOs, marketing teams, and so on. The shiny, high-profile president's conference was always in DC. I mean, it made us look legit and gave them the chance to chill with the folks in Congress. Plus, we'd always host it at some fancy hotel or conference center.
I remember this one time, I'm doing my rounds at one of these events, ensuring the signs are right. Suddenly, I see a president from a small, out-of-the-way college laying into the front desk staff at the hotel. Guy was moaning about wanting a discounted room rate, even though he was extremely late. He literally pulls: "Don't you know who I am?"
The front desk guy, bless him, was a rock. He wore this straight face and responded so coolly, "Sorry, I don't know who you are, Sir" and "Can't say I've ever heard of that college". Ended it all with a simple, "Sir, we do not act like that here".
17. Getting What You Paid For
I used to work in this quaint little butcher shop in town. We were small, but we were one of the very few go-to spots for fresh turkeys every Thanksgiving - you know, the kind you could trust. Given that we were how crazy it was during turkey week, I would be logging in some insane hours - from 8 in the morning till seven at night - while also juggling being a student.
Now, as if this bit wasn't brutal enough, in walks this customer who turns my already long week into a downright nightmare. So, for context, we kinda worked on this call-in reservation system where customers would phone-in to reserve their bird, which we'd then arrange and set aside according to their weight preference.
Truth be told, customers couldn’t always get a bird that weighed exactly what they had ordered. I mean, it should be pretty obvious. No one can guarantee a specific 13-pound turkey; the variations are only natural, right?
So Mr. Slightly-Off-His-Rocker rolls in one day to pick up the bird he'd reserved. He tells me his name, I scurry off to get his order. He'd asked for something along the lines of an 11 or 12-pound turkey. Honestly, his bird was a bit heavier than he'd ordered, but we'd only billed him for his requested weight. I do my bit, handed him the bag, shared my holiday cheer - basically meaning for him to hit the road to the payment counter.
The dude looks at the attached tag and then asks with a wall of an incredulous face if I'm messing with him. When I ask if there's a problem, he launches into a tirade about how the turkey wasn't what he'd asked for. I'm like, "We do our best to match everyone's requests, but exact weights aren't always possible. But hey, even if it's larger, we only bill you for the weight that you ordered".
Man, he did not take that well. Started getting loud, raving about me not knowing how to compare numbers, yadda yadda, and of course, wanting to talk to the boss. I'm just standing there, stunned. He's having a jumbo-sized meltdown because he got a bigger bird than he asked for and is actually paying less for it!
The boss man, though, has a knack for dealing with tantrums and told him straight: he could leave, never to return, or stick around and thank me for helping him. Of course, he blows his top, and we end up with a bird back on the shelf.
Wouldn't you know it, the guy reappears again just when we're about to close shop, trying to pull an apology. You can imagine, I've had a loooong day, I'm not about to entertain this. Only when he grovels, ready to pay for his bird that I manage to flash him my brightest smile and break it to him that I'd sold his bird to someone else. The guy just stomps out, mumbling something, and we've not seen him since.
18. Keyed Up
Back in high school, I got a job as a cashier at the local burger joint. Often, folks would leave behind a wallet, phone, or keys after grabbing their grub. If I spotted a lost item, I'd usually tuck it under my cash drawer until the forgetful owner showed up post-meal.
Then, there was this one cranky, middle-aged guy. Things went as usual - he orders, I serve, he munches down his meal. Afterward, he wanders over and asks me about some missing keys. I told him I didn't see anything but offered to help hunt them down and check with my co-workers if they'd seen anything. Ten minutes pass, still no sign of the lost keys.
Around this time, the dinner rush hits and I got to keep the line moving. Mister Grumpy Pants, however, wasn't finished with me. He's convinced I had the keys to his rusty old Lincoln and pretty much loses his mind. Dude actually calls the 9-1-1 on me - currently a 17-year-old cashier - and calls me a stinking liar who took his keys and won't admit it. Meanwhile, everybody knew I was probably the most trustworthy employee at the place.
Luckily, my bosses had my back and didn't believe this guy's tall tale for a sec. Officers showed up, reviewed the security footage, and didn't get a whiff of me doing anything fishy. But, nope - this wasn't enough proof for Keyless Lincoln Guy. The cops finally suggest he might have possibly chucked his keys in the trash.
The look on his face when he's elbow-deep in the garbage and fishes out his keys? Priceless. Not even a sorry grumbled in my direction though. The cops can't help but roll their eyes as they lead him out the door.
19. Underappreciated
My 35-year-old older sister got upset during breakfast in Hawaii. She showed me a pic on her phone, I glanced, said, "Nice". Turns out, she wanted more attention.
She ran off to Mom, then cried in the bedroom, skipping breakfast. Dad tried to soothe her, and suddenly I'm the bad guy in her story. They wanted me to apologize, but I bounced—I had snorkeling and loco mocos waiting, no time for that drama.
20. A Flawless Celebration
I used to ice the cakes at the neighborhood grocery store. There was this lady who ordered this tiny toy kit for her cake way, way in advance. Despite that, she didn't want to pay upfront or stash the toy till the cake day. So basically, we ended up babysitting this Minnie Mouse piece for months with her name attached.
To spare my colleagues the drama, I offered to do the decorating. When she showed up, she went off about a tiny defect in the toy and demanded a replacement. The hitch? Our supplier had pulled the plug on them, so no more Minnies. She pretty much lost her mind then. She called up everyone from the store boss to the bigwigs at corporate.
I vet she would've called the Almighty had she had His digits. One co-worker tried to calm her, and she responded by hurtling cakes everywhere and stomping them into the floor. Her hubby showed up, got the lowdown, and instead of being the voice of reason, he barged back inside and turned the volume up to eleven in my face.
Because of this fiasco, I was grilled for letting a customer into our side of the counter. Plus, I had a two-hour drive to snatch up one of the last few toys from some other store. They better have had the party of their life for their kid's second birthday.
21. Flipping The Deal
Our Airbnb host sprung a surprise breakfast charge of 15 euros per person, each day, on us, despite her page stating it was only five euros. She never mentioned any price change until a few days into our stay. When we kindly pointed out her initial price, she'd launch into long venting sessions about how we should be the ones making her breakfast for that rate and how pricey everything in her house was.
In addition to that, she'd share unrelated stories about waking up early, her wrinkly skin, her husband breaking his foot while picking lemons years ago, and more. Our response was always that no one was compelling her to provide breakfast and have it priced so. Instead of understanding, she completely snapped.
She tore up papers, claimed we were exploiting her and ended up kicking our family, including two little kids, out of her house in a foreign country. The warning bells had been ringing for us throughout the stay but we shrugged it off thinking she was an Airbnb "super host" with an excellent rating. Also, even before the breakfast fiasco, she was pretty unpredictable - often barging into our rooms, snooping around our beds, rearranging furniture, among other things.
22. Read My Mind
There was this woman I had the "pleasure" of sharing office space with once upon a time. I swear, she had a full-on meltdown one fine day just because one of our team members had made a breakfast run to McDonald's just for themselves. And the kicker? They'd asked her if she wanted anything.
Her reply? "I'm OK". Everybody heard it, loud and clear. But when our coworker walked back in with his bag of McMuffins and coffee... the girl just lost it - couldn't wrap her head around the fact that he didn't grab her a McGriddle. Honestly, it was wild to watch.
23. Home Free
My ex and I were about to exit a parking garage, totally on track for a free exit, but the car in front of us was just creeping on. We pulled up to the booth and, bam, the sweet old lady working there says one dollar, please. Yeah, one single buck. My ex flips his lid, arguing that if Granny Speed wasn't so slow, we could've gotten out for free.
The poor woman looked scared out of her wits. I tried cooling my ex down, but he amped it up, bellowing at the woman, calling her this, that, and the other thing, telling her to get good at her job. We start fighting because the whole thing is absurd. I coughed up the dollar. He slammed on the gas. And just like that, he and I spent the rest of the day in a stupid fight. You'd think he was Jekyll and Hyde because barely anyone caught glimpses of this side of him.
That's because my ex had almost everyone fooled, man, believing he was some sort of saint. I lost people who just could not wrap their heads around why I'd dump such an amazing guy. I mean, c'mon, if you're going to explode at an elderly woman over a single dollar, you're far from amazing, pal.
24. Making Space
I'm at the airport, in line behind this family—a mom, dad, and two kids. Mom loses it when they're told they don't have the proper documentation for the kids. She's crying about her sick grandma while screaming at the workers. Meanwhile, dad's sorting the kids out.
Suddenly, mom goes wild, ramming the stroller into someone nearby. The crowd's silent, except for one "World Star." Security shows up and mom bolts, leaving her family behind. Just like that, she's gone. It was so bizarre.
25. Putting Price On It
I was on this family trip and my cousin, who's like 35 and totally rolling in dough, managed to lose his sunglasses in the water. Despite him having a decent job, his mom - my dear Aunt - decided to replace his lost pair. They all went sunglasses shopping and came across a pair that cost a whopping 400 bucks. You see? My cousin, he just had to have them.
Yet you should have seen him... He practically had a meltdown right there in the store because he wanted the sunglasses so bad. He was like, "Hey, if you didn't want to buy me a pair, then why even offer in the first place?" He didn't stop there. He also goes, "You know I have expensive taste". It blew my mind.
And here's the best part: After finally getting his pricey sunglasses, he was ecstatic, like a kindergartner with a fresh scoop of ice cream. Pretty wild stuff, huh?
26. What A View
I'm worked in the ticket booth at a pretty big Broadway theater and man, you won't believe the antics people get up to just to get in by the time the show starts. The glass at the box office ain't just for show, I can tell you that. One Sunday, we're putting on this short run of RENT - not its first run in town, mind you.
The crowd is barely half the 2,800 seats we got, so it's looking like a chill Sunday shift. I'm on M-Z at the will-call window, but since I'm closest to the door, I get all the drama. Got around 30 tickets waiting to be picked up, so I'm just chilling post-opening.
So, house manager opens up for seating with an hour to showtime. The first lady at my window is a complete head-case. Rolls up, shoves her tickets through and starts shouting, "This is thievery!" Her teen daughter's with her, dressed up all swanky. You can tell they're small-town folks in the big city for the Broadway spectacle.
Few minutes go by before she chills out, all the while hollering "Thievery!" at everyone walking past. Checking her tickets, she's got prime seats, center floor, row 12 on the aisle. She is bent outta shape over the seats being obstructed - a head scratcher for me 'cause these seats are always grade-A.
”There's a mammoth guitar blocking the view! We can't see the stage!" she says. I'm at a loss, so after pinpointing their seats on the chart and confirming those were the ones they sat in, I decide to show her in.
She's raving, her kid's crying, it's a whole mess. I take them to their seats, tell her they're exactly the ones she bought, which by the way were great. No obstruction whatsoever. Madam Clam-Up doesn't utter a peep, just plants her keister on the chair.
Her daughter then mumbles something about sitting house-right first, which gives me a thought. I asked the usher, and it turns out she brushed past him when asked for her tickets, then made her "Thievery!" debut. Her choice of words still baffles me, man.
27. Righting A Wrong
There's this rule at my grocery store that if a price tag doesn't match the real deal, you get the item at no charge. One day, this sweet old lady spots a price discrepancy. I send a guy from my team to take a look, and yep - wrong price. I ask the guy to remove the label while I work on nullifying the cost for her. I gently tell her that because the price isn't accurate, she'll get the product for free.
But boy oh boy! Instead of being pleased, she cranks up the volume, insisting that the tagged price was lower than it should be. Taking a deep breath, I repeat that indeed it is incorrect, and that's why we are offering the merchandise on the house. Seems like she's totally deaf to the "free" part and is just fixated on the error, giving me a piece of her mind. I really try to drive my point, emphasizing, "Mam! The tag price is off. You're walking away with this item for absolutely zero dollars!" But it's like talking to a wall. Seemed like she was more into throwing a tantrum than understanding.
28. Not On The Wishlist
A while back, before my stepmom's birthday—which is always just as Mother's Day is coming up. My siblings and I wanted to surprise her with a ring—our birthstones set in it. Dad chipped in, we got a custom ring, and we were thrilled. We had no CLUE what was coming.
On Mother's Day, we give her the ring, and she flips. Yelling, throwing stuff, crying, calling me names. Dad, usually calm, loses it too, shouting back.
She storms out for three days. Her beef? She wanted a new dishwasher. Dad had already bought it for her birthday but canceled it right then. As if it mattered, I was stuck handwashing dishes anyway. Ended up witnessing a huge fight and still had to scrub those dishes.
29. Sporting Spirit
A few Christmases back, I pitched the idea of a family board game night. Everything started off with Scrabble. I took "praying," tweaked it into "sprayings," and scored an easy 50 points. But, my brother wasn't having it. He insisted it wasn't a real word. I proved him wrong with a quick Google search, but he felt the need to check the official Scrabble dictionary himself.
Wouldn't ya know it, "sprayings" wasn't in it. I tried to soothe him, remind him it was all a fun game. That just set him off more. He ended up in a huff, flipping the board and scattering letters everywhere before storming off. Talk about a drama queen.
But, he wasn't done—not by a long shot. We thought we could smooth things over with a game of Monopoly later that night. Mr. Board Game Expert, my brother, was ready to show off, while the rest of us were more like Monopoly rookies.
My sister wasn't really feeling it and chose to annoy him by refusing to trade properties. As she resisted, my brother's mood started to boil over. Didn't help that mum was totally taking sister's side in this one, which only made him madder. In the end, he chucked another board-flipping tantrum, lighting up the room with tiny plastic houses and stuff.
He started laying into mom, blaming her for our sister's "difficult" childhood. His rant ended with dad sobbing—first time I'd ever seen that—and an uneasy silence blanketing the room. And get this. My brother was 28 at the time. 28! Can you believe it?
30. Colorful Business
My friend, his wife, and I were planning to hit a mutual friend's Xmas party the next day. I ended up at his place a day early to prep the cake I was bringing, kick back and play some games. His wife's sister was there too.
Arriving there, I find his wife chilling in the lounge with her sister. The wife's perched on the sofa folding laundry, while the sister's nestled up in an armchair, cradling her newborn. A new model Keurig, a present for his wife, was discretely hidden under a blanket near the Christmas tree - he hadn't had time to wrap it yet. Their adorable two-year-old, playing nearby, curiously uncovered the Keurig.
That's when the wife went full meltdown.
This woman, who usually works as a big shot in a hospital ward, suddenly morphs into a volcano. She hurls a basket of neatly folded clothes onto the floor, tips the rest of the clothes from her lap onto the ground, and slides off the sofa, weeping. Why? Because her hubby botched the color of the Keurig.
She's bawling, blasting him about how he clearly doesn't give two hoots about her. All this fuss over a wrong colored kitchen gadget. She threatens divorce, claiming he never gets anything right. Over the color of a coffee maker!
31. Faking It
There's this lady who caused a car wreck. She's going off about how the other guy is just "playing it up for the insurance" while we're trying to get him onto the stretcher. She totally loses it when the officer tells her the guy's not doing too hot. Drops like a ton to the ground and whines, "If he's acting, then I got whiplash too". I could not believe what I was seeing.
And there we are, prepping this guy's chest for the AED because he's going downhill super fast. Her handbag was chilling in the middle of the road, and yeah - we kinda ran it over when we whipped the ambulance around to head for the hospital. Total accident, I swear. Anyway, thankfully the guy pulled through. He's likely in for a tough healing journey though. Don't text and drive, y'all. It's always other folks who end up paying for it.
32. Playing To No Audience
It was the tail end of summer '94 when I got an invite to see Carrot Top. The show was maybe about 20 minutes deep when the dude started losing it. Seemed like there was some issue with the monitors or something, because he was on a rant about how great his jokes were, and how much they've been a hit at other places.
Just to be clear, he was making the crowd chuckle, as you'd expect. But he didn't seem to be getting any of that vibe and that got him all spiraling out. He started pulling props out of his box, quicker and quicker, raising his voice too. Before long, the guy totally collapsed. Everything turned awkward in no time.
Next thing you know, he's crying, drops his stuff, hid his face, and bolted. The crowd was left scratching their heads, not really sure what the deal was with him. Carrot Top didn't make it back on stage, and after a few more beats, the lights flipped on, and we all cleared out—only 20 minutes into the show.
33. Egg On Face
A few years back, we had this guy come into our store. He was all riled up, wanting to return a box of eggs. According to him, the eggs he bought from us had expired, and he even had this month-old egg carton as evidence. Now, what made the whole thing fishy was the fact that his receipt showed he bought eggs during a sale week.
During that time, our store was stocking up on eggs pretty frequently. I'd say about four to six times a day, 'cause we sold easily six dozen boxes of eggs every night. So there was no chance he bought expired eggs from us that week.
Our store policy was pretty clear that we did not take back refrigerated items or any unfinished products. So our store manager, just following the rules, denied the guy his refund for his 99-cent egg box.
Well, the guy freaked out and took the whole thing to our district office. The district manager then personally calls this guy to our store, hands him a $200 gift card, shops with him, chats him up. Then, the guy mentions wanting to get a shingles shot, so our manager tells our pharmacy to give this guy the shot, worth around $270, for free...all on our store's tab.
Long story short, this guy, who tried to pull one over on us for 99 cents, ended up walking out with nearly $500 worth of stuff. And all because corporate didn't support a manager who was just sticking to the rules.
34. High Fashion
My ex was rummaging through her wardrobe, on a mission to find something. Then out of nowhere, she went ballistic, chucking clothes left and right. Why? because her maid had mixed them all up and she couldn't find this one particular shirt. Now bear in mind, all this was going down in Mexico City, whereas I'm a chill Canadian dude.
So yeah, it kind of left me a bit blown away. Anyway, I couldn't help but crack up and tell her she was totally overreacting. LOL.
35. No Surprise
When I was around ten, I messed up big time and prematurely spilled the beans about my mom's Christmas present to her, on the night before Christmas, no less. Her reaction was extreme to say the least— she shouted so much she completely lost her voice by the morning. To make it even more dramatic, she began to unwrap all of my gifts and chucked them at me. She then flipped off all the lights and stormed off to her bedroom, leaving me all alone in the dark, surrounded by wrapping paper and my own gifts. To this day, I'm not too sure what got her so worked up.
36. Me First
Just last month, I was at a Disney store and saw the most ridiculous scene. There were these two middle-aged ladies, both alone, screaming at each other about who got at the store first. Funny thing is, it was pretty empty - no line or anything. And the best part? Their whole trip to the place was purely to get collector's items to flip for a profit.
37. VIP Access
I once worked at a big state sports stadium. On New Year's Eve, I was on private suites duty. You know, those swanky, expensive rooms where clients are whined and dined. We made it clear: the suites were closing at midnight — guests were to use the function rooms after.
The function rooms had all the trimmings: food, drinks, and games, but the suites were a no-go after 10pm. Through emails, flyers and face-to-face reminders, we'd taken pains to convey this to guests. After all, staffers too wanted to ring in the New Year, hence the prompt closure.
All my suite-guests got it, save for one fella I'm calling Entitled Man-Baby (EMB). When I kindly reminded EMB about the 10pm closure, he quickly dismissed me and walked off. His friend just waved me away. At 9:55pm, they were still chilling, drinks in tow, ordering more. Reiterating the imminent closure, EMB retorted claiming his friendship with *insert sports announcer's name* and refusing to leave.
Despite my clarification on the matter, EMB remained defiant, bluntly ignoring me. He overstayed by an hour and a half, until my boss, and their boss, and then security tried reasoning with him. His friends lost control as he threw a spectacular tantrum — quintessential spoiled brat style. He hollered in a falsetto, "I'm not going anywhere. We know ‘sports announcer.’ I'm staying".
To describe his friends' reactions as shocked would be an understatement — they had enjoyed his show until then, but this was too much. There was a deafening 30-second silence before my boss's boss just shrugged, "Yeah, okay," and ducked out. Soon after, the sports-announcer pal showed up, apologized for the "miscommunication," and led them to a private room. They left at 11:45pm and I spent midnight on a train, heading home.
38. Money Matters
There was this girl in our group of friends when we were all in our 20s. Let's just say she lived a pretty pampered life. Her parents were incredible – they came from abroad, started their own successful construction business, and after her dad survived a health scare, he decided to show more love by spending quality time with the family.
They spoiled her with fantastic vacations, a new car, high-end accessories - you name it, she had it. They even dropped a big chunk of cash for her house down-payment, about half the cost, and letting her have easy-to-handle mortgage payments. One day, she phones me, crying like crazy. When she told me why, well, it took all my willpower not to blow a fuse.
She's upset because her mom and dad, who take care of basically all her expenses - while she burns her paycheck on style and partying - are asking her to pull some cash from her savings to pay for a lawyer to handle the house deal. She's on the verge of a breakdown and can't understand why. I had to make it clear to her that for most people, their life savings go into their first home.
I reminded her that her parents have gifted her incredible things that not many others ever receive. We closed that call, and later she butt-dialed me, giving me a front-row seat to her raging at her parents about the lawyer's fees. She told them she hated them, they were awful, and she never wanted to see them again. Yeah...she wasn't our friend for long after that.
39. Dealing With A No Deal
So, I'm working a retail gig around either Christmas or Easter - one of the big holiday times. I'm out front wrestling with grocery carts, and wander in for my much-needed break. The customer service desk is swamped, and while I'm hanging out waiting for a chance to ask about my break, I spot a fuming customer kicking up a ruckus.
She was at the checkout going full psycho. I had no clue what she was on about, but it had her riled up like nothing else. The cashier, clearly fed up with being the shouting lady's verbal punching bag, yells over to the customer service girls, "Hey, can someone help this lady out?" Without skipping a beat, one of the girls fires back, "Sure, but she can cool her jets and wait her turn!"
Honestly that nearly had me bust a gut, but I had to make myself scarce, all while trying to keep my laughter under wraps, well out of sight from the loudest, angriest person I'd ever encountered. I eventually found out what had gotten her so mad. We had a holiday special going - if you spent $25 on stuff, you'd get a discount on ham.
This woman had chalked up $23.50, not counting the ham. Rather than just grab some gum or a chocolate bar to hit the amount, she decided it was more logical to have a meltdown worthy of an Oscar. Eventually, she just huffed out, leaving her full cart smack bang in the middle of the lane and holding up everyone behind her.
40. Staking A Claim
Quite a few years back, the whole family went to watch my sister's ballet performance - and that's me, my mom, stepdad, gramps and granny, and my aunt and uncle. The theatre was this massive place - tons of seats packed into really long rows. Anyway, as we're walking down to find some good spots, I noticed this large family.
Having the advantage of my size and age, my granny asked me to dash ahead and save some seats for us. The mom from the large family spotted me making a beeline for the seats. She shot me this nasty glare and started nudging her way through the crowd to the seats where I was headed. By that time, though, my family had already plopped down.
Our seats were amazing. The large family from earlier began filling up the row directly in front of us. I recall the rows could fit 15 or 16 people, tops. They filled their whole row and still had around 13 people standing. But here's the thing — they needed more space, and our family was right in their path.
So, the mom stands up and tries to persuade us to give up our row for her rather large family. We all instantly declined — we got here first and, plus, there was a couple and their sleeping baby one seat over from us. She. Was. Furious. She started yelling about how important it was for her family to stick together.
She added that since she had paid for entering, those were her seats according to the ticket numbers. The way it's done in this theatre is that there are A seats, B seats, and so on. But just because your ticket says “Ticket A34” doesn't mean you own seat “A34.” It just means you get to sit anywhere in the A section.
She just couldn't get it and started throwing a tantrum, which woke up the baby. So now she's on a full-blown yelling spree at us, scaring a toddler into tears, and her family seemed quite embarrassed. The crowd wore expressions of shock and disgust at her behavior while her husband mumbled something like, “Must have missed her medication...”
After her rather loud venting episode, a security officer came by and escorted her out.
41. A Blanket Apology
Grandma crafted sweet outdoor-inspired quilts for my brother and me. Out of nowhere, my brother, who was 21 back then and living in Mississippi, popped up in Alabama where the rest of us live. He brought his new girlfriend, without a heads up to any of us. Then, he had the audacity to ask for his quilt AND mine too—one for her. I was like, "No way, dude".
His reaction? He grabs his $400 sunglasses and crushes them in his hand! He's there, hand bleeding from the shattered glass, shoving it in my face, and going, "Look, what you made me do!" Then he just booked it out of there.
His girlfriend was so mortified, she actually apologized on his behalf to our entire family. Honestly, I like her better than him.
42. The Last Cheer
My sister-in-law used to be a cheerleader for the NFL years ago. We were in the middle of this family game once when someone accidentally broke her pen. Not just any pen, mind you; it had her NFL teams' logo on it. After the pen broke, she just broke down and took off downstairs. She was sobbing because she's out of the cheerleading gig now and can't get another pen like that.
Being the new one to the family, I honestly asked if she was for real. You could've heard a pin drop, it was that silent. Turns out, she was dead serious.
43. A Picky Eater
I work at this low-key pub, and the VP of our union used to come and grab lunch here a couple times a week for a few years. Absolute creature of habit, he'd always order the buffalo wrap. Kinda hilarious, actually, because it seemed like it disappointed him every. Single. Time. He'd come up with an assortment of complaints, like, “Do they actually think this is a wrap?” or “What happened to the fillings?” or “Why's this thing so massive today?”
But you know what takes the cake? The day he got it in his head that they'd slipped ranch dressing in there instead of blue cheese. Dude lost it, and he was all like, “Is this bloody ranch? I can't stand ranch!”, and then he just chucks it down on the plate right there in front of me. Man's closing in on 50 - you can't make this stuff up.
44. Juiced Up
I worked at a grocery store that was right underneath a round-the-clock gym. Part of our job as check-out guys and gals was to get our cash registers ready before our shifts kicked off. One day during a busy stretch, a school-aged girl was in the middle of setting up when this massive dude in workout clothes, clutching a tiny Nudie juice, decided he needed service.
When she kindly asked him if he could hang tight for five minutes until her register was good to go, he freaked out. Dude rolled his eyes, yelled like a madman, chucked the juice on the floor and stormed off like a toddler having a tantrum. It wasn't exactly the worst thing ever, but it blew my mind how a full-grown man could lose his cool at a young girl over a 200 ml bottle of juice. I bailed on that job about a month later.
45. A Question Of Fluency
I have an IELTS certification in English and people always say I'm super fluent, even American tourists—thanks, video games. So, one night at dinner, I teased my stepmom about having better pronunciation than my dad. He's a businessman, always on calls in English with Americans and Chinese folks. Well, he flipped. Yelled at her, grounded me for a month—no hanging out with friends. Then he stormed off, not even finishing dinner.
46. A Matter Of Taste
The other day I was hanging out at a friend's party. People started talking about what they've been up to, and I shared about this cool K-pop thing I went to. You wouldn't believe it but my friend's sibling, this dude in his late-20s or early-30s who absolutely can't stand K-pop, totally lost his cool. He pretty much spent the remainder of the party throwing shade at me, which honestly just turned the whole vibe sour.
Poor guy, around 30 years old, and his day got ruined just because I said I'm into a certain type of music he doesn't vibe with. I mean, to each their own, right? If you don't dig it, that's cool, it doesn't bug me. But if you're going to get all bent out of shape just because I'm into it, well buddy, that's on you.
47. Spicing It Up
Back in 2010, I was working my very first job at this local pizza joint. One day, this guy orders a pizza online. To be honest, I can't remember what he ordered exactly, but I remember one thing — dude had a thing against green peppers.
This guy storms up to the counter lugging a whole, untouched large pizza in nothing but his bare hands. And then, he caps it all off with tossing it slam-dunk style across the counter, loudly exclaiming, "I didn’t want any freaking green peppers", before he huffed off.
And us? We just stood there, mouths hanging open, totally blown away.
48. First Impressions
I was pretty new at this retail job when this girl walks in. I'm doing my best but I'm kinda fumbling about, trying to pull up her membership info. She gets pretty impatient, all like, "Any chance you could speed up?" and "I never have to wait like this, seriously".
I'm apologetic, telling her I'm new and all. Finally, I find her name in the system, and I can't believe my eyes – it's the same as my boyfriend's. I couldn't help but ask - "Are you guys related?" She fires back with, "Yeah, and so what?" I'm like, "Well, funny story, he's my better half. It's so cool to meet you. I'll have to let him know - he'll be so pumped".
I go to shake her hand, and man does she hightail it out of there. She must've realized what she'd done cause she just booked it. It was quite the grown-up meltdown - never seen anything quite like it!
49. Angling For An Invite
It was Thanksgiving and my mother-in-law decides to show up unannounced, right after trying to mess up our wedding just a month earlier. She was fuming because I wouldn't let her in my house. And, get this, she ended up hurling a pie right through my window. Not only did the whole thing smash to pieces, even my poor pup got a cut on her paw from the glass!
Believe it or not, she was actually surprised that we didn't invite her because she’s "family". I mean, come on! She's been nothing but a nightmare to us. Would you invite the devil to your Thanksgiving dinner? I don't think so! Getting that window replaced wasn't cheap either, it set us back a cool $4200! Our home has these huge, custom windows dating back to the 60s. And still, she wonders why we keep our distance. Yup, still a mystery.
50. Tabling It
So here I am, working as a hostess at this swanky, newly-opened Italian restaurant, right smack in the throes of our first winter season. It was teeming with customers who wanted a hearty Italian feast on a freezing evening. Our house was full, literally every single table was occupied. As soon as a table cleared, I guided this group of four - a pair of couples - to their seats.
As we were winding our way to the table, one woman mumbled to her buddy, "Oh, boy, I hope they're not leading us to that table". Guess which table they were getting. Yup, the very table she dreaded, and you guessed it - it was the only one available. Once we arrived at said table, she began to stomp her feet in protest like a petulant toddler, vehemently shaking her head and wailing, "No, no, no! I don't want this table!"
I tried to reason with her that this was our only open table, but that just set her off. Her husband attempted to soothe her down while she was on the brink of tears. I suggested some alternatives: Take a seat outdoors in the chilly December weather or pass on the indoor table to someone else and wait for another table to open up.
At this point, she blew a fuse at me, accusing me of being a "horrible hostess". I felt a little bad, but, come on. It was a bustling Saturday evening, our restaurant was still in its infancy, and the place was bustling. I mean, I gave her possible fixes, just putting it out there.
51. Repeat Offender
This wild story happened on my third day at this phone store gig. This lady storms in and literally throws her phone at me, claiming it's a fake Galaxy S3. I check, it's legit, but she's not buying it.
Boss says no refund, it's past 14 days. She goes berserk—pounding, yelling, "Give me my money!" Total Donkey Kong mode, fists flying.
I offer an exchange, nope, she's still Donkey Kong-ing, now stomping too. Says she can't feed her kids with this 'garbage' phone, demands cash. I stick to policy, she screeches, bolts out, gets in her car, and drives OVER the divider, failing miserably and spinning her wheels on the grass.
Months later, she's back with another S3 because her kid wrecked the first. Then claims it's "defective," cue Donkey Kong round two. Won't leave, stomping, yelling at everyone.
I threaten to call the authorities, she bolts. Later, I tell the story to a friend, and his eyes go wide. Oh, he knows EXACTLY who I'm talking about. that's when I find out she's banned from Walmart and several local restaurants. Quite a character, this one.
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