Sometimes the people we respect most let us down in unexpected ways. Whether it be due to disturbing beliefs or hidden secrets, these people took to Quora to event about the exact moment they lost all respect for someone.
1. Cats Come First
I had known this girl for some time before we started dating and I really liked her. It was one of those friendships that unexpectedly turned romantic. The morning after we first slept together, I was making coffee for the two of us and thinking about how we might spend the day together.
I was basically stealthily daydreaming about our whole future. She ruined it all in one second. As I was handing her a mug, she kicked my cat. Now I’m no animal rights activist or anything remotely close to that, I’m just a guy with a pet, and before that moment if you had asked me if I loved my cat I probably would have laughed.
But at that moment I went from wanting to spend the day, maybe even my life, with that girl to never wanting to see her again.
2. A Good Cause
When my oldest son was about 16, he had a very good friend who I will call Joe. Joe came from a broken home and divorced parents.
Because of this, this boy was at my house constantly. I gave him rides from his house to our house, I took him to his driver's classes, he ate many meals with us and stayed the night at our house frequently. He had no structure, no guidance, and no one to teach him about life.
I guess you could say I basically assumed that role. He was a great kid and I would have done anything to help him. At one point, he had been living in a townhouse with his mother and just one of his sisters. I would pick him up from this townhouse and I would bring him to our house so he could hang out with my son and us.
At some point, I realized something was very wrong. The more I observed this townhouse when I was there to pick him up, something just felt off. He finally broke down and told me that his mother had completely abandoned him and his sister.
He was embarrassed and he didn't want anyone to know. The sister had gone to the grandparent's house to live and Joe stayed at the townhouse, even after utilities had been cut off.
I assume the landlord had taken back possession of the townhouse, and Joe now had nowhere to stay. I believe the landlord had disposed of the contents of the townhouse, including all of Joe's clothing.
When I found out this had happened, I went out and bought him some clothes, the basics. Nothing fancy, nothing expensive. I let him stay at our house for several weeks, and tried to help him figure out what he was going to do. But then it somehow all went even more wrong.
The day I lost all respect for my husband was the day that he realized I had gone out and bought Joe clothing. I don't know what my husband's problem was, but he hit the roof. There he was having a tantrum over me spending a couple of hundred dollars on clothes for a kid with nothing.
He obviously disagreed with me purchasing anything for this poor kid, and then these words came out of his sick mouth: "I can't believe you've gone out and done this when we don't even know this kid's lineage".
3. A Midnight Drive
I was in an Uber just last night. My girlfriend and I were going to a bar to meet friends for drinks and celebrate a birthday. We get in the car and he starts driving.
He asks us questions about ourselves. How our night is going, what our plans are, whether we’re married, etc. We’re in a great mood so we take it in stride and start having a full-on conversation with the guy.
He tells us about his wife who he loves very much and all about his kids and the new life they’re starting. We have a great conversation for about 15 minutes before he starts talking about how many hours he’s been working and how hard it’s been on his life at home.
We feel for the guy. Driving an Uber at midnight on a Saturday is not the ideal situation for anybody. But then it took a turn. Before long, he’s talking about how easy his wife has it, how all she has to do is cook, do laundry, wash dishes, kick back, and enjoy the vacations.
He starts talking about what God’s intentions are for man and the reasons why he made men stronger than women. He tells us how a woman could not possibly work the hours a man could and how they’re too weak to put up with the stressful situations that men do.
There was no coming back from that sort of comment. All jovial vibes went out the window. My girlfriend and I sat there in shock, not knowing what to say. Luckily we were close to our destination so there wouldn’t be much of an opportunity to argue.
Before we left, though, I made sure to mention to him that I watched my own mother work two jobs my entire life, waking up early in the morning and not getting back until late at night. I told him how I never saw her shed a tear about our lifestyle and how she provided for me every opportunity this world has to offer.
Yes, a woman was able to do all of that. Who knows if that meant anything to him? It likely went in one ear and out the other. Regardless, every ounce of respect I held for him at that moment vanished. He couldn’t be more wrong.
4. A Little Kindness Goes A Long Way
I was having dinner at a restaurant with a wealthy potential business partner, and a waiter took his plate away thinking he had finished. There was a little food on his plate, and it wasn't obvious whether he had finished.
The potential business partner snapped at the waiter, "What do you think you’re doing"?
The waiter was embarrassed and apologized.
The guy then turned to me and said something like "What an idiot, can’t even do his job properly".
I kept quiet. The waiter didn’t respond rudely back, and the potential business partner instantly lost my respect.
5. Cheese Or Bust
I instantly lost respect for an engineer I once dated who pretended to be all spiritual. He and I had gone into a Chipotle to eat. You know as you walk through the line, the staff asks what you would like to have on your menu item.
When he got to the cheese area, he asked what kind of cheese it was. The staffer told him it was Jack cheese. He went completely off on this staffer, who was likely a student from one of the local colleges.
He berated her about Jack cheese and how no one should eat it, how she should be embarrassed to even offer it, and on and on. I was completely floored. When we got to our table, I unloaded on him with both barrels.
I told him that the poor girl only worked there. She has no say over what cheese was being offered to customers. If he didn’t want the cheese, he should just say no. I told him he should go up and apologize.
He looked stunned, like he had no idea that what he had done was wrong. I never saw him again after that. Insensitive jerk.
Freepik, cookie_studio
6. House Rules
There was this family I met once. We visited them when we were in their city. The family consisted of a father-in-law, a mother-in-law, and a daughter-in-law. The son was not in town.
There were separate rules for the ladies and the men of the house. When the father-in-law or the husband was around, the daughter-in-law of the house had to remain standing.
This 19-year-old girl was showing us her wedding pictures on the desktop, standing and bending to hold the mouse for more than 45 minutes because her father-in-law sat among the people who were seeing it.
My husband and I kept telling her to sit but she just smiled. We didn't know these rules until the father-in-law himself boasted about it.
The ladies in that house were also not allowed to wear anything else except a saree (a traditional Indian dress). They were to keep the food ready at a fixed time. They cannot have food before the male members of the house.
Would you believe, because of this rule, my father-in-law and my husband had their dinner before my mother-in-law and me? We were guests!
The daughter-in-law couldn't speak in front of her father-in-law. If she wanted to say something she had to convey it to her mother-in-law to get it across. I was at a loss for words.
7. Work Ethic
I was only two months into my first job when the business showed signs of going down. It was a start-up and the segment I was working in had absolutely no proper structure or plan. Needless to say, everyone was stressed.
The head of the segment kept putting more and more work on us as people began to get fired. One day, I was asked to wake up super early on weekends to coordinate with some delivery boys for tiffin orders.
By that time, I hadn’t taken a single leave and had plans to go out with family. As my manager was afraid to talk to our head for me, I decided to call him myself. That one call made my blood boil for days. He was probably driving when he picked up my call and I was slightly afraid and hesitant when I told him that I won’t be able to do the weekend job.
His reply not only gave me another push to resign but also made me lose all respect for him. "I don’t care if you want a holiday. If I have to, I’ll kick you into gear to make the work happen".
That was the deal-breaker for me. He had no sense of respect while talking to me. He must have been stressed, but so were we. What he said and the way he said it was absolutely unforgivable.
I had decided in my head that these were not the kind of people I want to work under or work with. I ended up resigning three weeks from that date as the reasons for leaving kept piling up.
8. A Bold Scheme
I met one of my school friends after several years. We talked about life after school, career, etc. She told me that she is getting married. I congratulated her but she did not seem excited at all.
I sensed something was wrong and asked her. She blurted out that she is in love with someone else and does not want to marry this person, but her parents do not approve of her lover. I told her to take a stand against her parents for her love.
She responded that she can't hurt her parents, but she has a plan to get her love, so I asked her about the plan. She said she will get married and a couple of days after the marriage, she'll ask the guy to divorce her.
If he doesn't agree, she will file all sorts of horrible claims against him. Like, she would accuse him of really awful stuff until he divorces her.
I was shocked at her response and the fact that she was so casual about it. It made me question my sanity. That was the most illogical and shallow thing I ever heard in my life. I was instantly filled with disgust and lost all respect for her as soon as I heard it.
9. What’s So Funny?
Me, my date, her mother, and her mother’s fiancé were all sitting at a table in a restaurant. We had a nice chat about life, ambitions, music, and anything nice that came to mind.
For whatever reason, I told them that I had never gone parachuting, but wanted to. Her mother started laughing out loud. I was a bit puzzled. She said that she was sorry and that she did not laugh at me, but at this funny thing that happened at the parachuting club nearby. Her next words shocked me to my core.
What she found so funny was that there had been this guy who jumped out of the plane, with his parachute on, but when he pulled the cord, it didn’t deploy. I couldn’t really figure out the funny part, but my respect was gone.
10. Medically Mean
I was a medical equipment agent. While making a sales call on a physician client, the doctor commented on a female patient he had just seen. He told me in disparaging terms that she was an ignorant hill-billy with three kids whose husband had abandoned her.
I had instant sympathy for this lady who was taking care of her children. I experienced instant revulsion from the doctor’s multiple moral transgressions. Breach of her privacy, breach of his oath, his unbelievable arrogance, and lack of compassion to name a few.
11. Brainless
A girl I went to college with was pretty well-respected in our organization. She graduated valedictorian in high school. She was an excellent speaker and got into one of the most difficult courses at our university. She won a national award and later got admitted into an Ivy League school.
The day I lost my respect for her, we were staying at the library. She took a call from her family driver. She ordered him to bring up her bag, raising her voice and berating him for coming late. She dropped the call without saying "thank you" or "goodbye" and rolled her eyes as soon as she put down her phone.
Accomplishments don’t earn you respect, your own respect for others does.
12. Fiancé Fiasco
My fiancé met his ex-girlfriend somewhere. She started talking about how much she still wanted him, and how she would like to get back together.
Now, he didn’t get back with her right away. What he did was much worse. He was "nice" enough to come to me and start talking about how he loved us both, and how he still wanted to marry me, but he wanted to be with her as well, so why don’t we do it? He had asked her, and she was okay with it.
Needless to say, I broke it off right that instant, having lost any shred of love, respect, or consideration then and there, and haven’t spoken to him since. Everything else that had to be handled was handled by his mother, who was equally disgusted at her son’s behavior.
13. Villain Of The Year
One day when I was sitting with my girlfriend, her niece came and started playing with us. My girlfriend never liked her niece’s mom as she used to talk badly about my girlfriend.
So, to take revenge she smacked that two-year-old girl. And when she started crying, my girlfriend hugged her and started laughing like some movie villain. I was shocked!
14. Lunch With Mom
My boyfriend and I have been dating for over three years now. The first time I met his mother was after two months of being in a relationship with him. I was nervous, of course. Being 20 and meeting your boyfriend's mother is not easy for a shy person like myself.
However, I convinced myself to at least fake being confident but gentle at the same time. It was around noon that he came to pick me up from my hotel. My boyfriend, his mother, and I drove up to a nearby cafe and began talking about our families, career choices, and all those things.
The waitress would have been around my age, and she was working the morning shift. She got our orders and asked if we needed anything else. Suddenly, out of nowhere, his mother stands up and begins yelling at the waitress.
According to her, her coffee did not have enough sugar but had an unhealthy amount of ice. She told the waitress that her training is useless and she won't last here long.
Now I'm all for letting someone know if my order is not what I expected. But there was absolutely no need to yell and insult the waitress, who merely brought the order from the kitchen to the table.
It became quite embarrassing, and my boyfriend apologized on behalf of his mother. His mother didn't tip the waitress. We never visited that place again. My respect was definitely gone.
15. Seasonal Friendship
There were two girls in my college who were close. Let's call them Jane and Sally.
One day, I went to Jane's room and found her sobbing uncontrollably. I tried to learn the reason, but it was futile. I believed the reason to be personal, and that she might share it with only Sally. After 10 minutes, Sally peeped into the room through the door.
She saw Jane sobbing but left without uttering a single word. I mistook that Sally might not have noticed her and went to Sally's room. I told her Jane wasn’t doing so well, but Sally kept making excuses.
Sally said she had a cold and would deal with everything later. There was no concern on her face. While I still stood there in her room, she dozed off to sleep, snuggling under her blanket. Her "stick to friends when happy, don't bother when sad" attitude made me lose respect for her instantly.
16. Choose Your Friends Carefully
I lost respect for this one guy I knew back in high school. At first, I thought he was a pretty decent guy, so I helped him out a couple of times. Once, he was going to a semi-formal event at school and he asked me for a pair of dress shoes because he didn’t have any.
"Sure, no problem".
Another time, he asked me for some money he needed to buy his girlfriend a present.
"Sure, no problem".
But this one time, right before an exam, I realized I didn’t have a pen to write with and I was panicking because the teacher was really strict and he wouldn’t give you one if you forgot to bring yours. Also, he would not let you stand back up once you’ve been seated.
Fortunately, this same guy was in that class too and he was sitting beside me. I saw three extra pens lying on his desk and so I asked him, "Hey buddy, can I borrow your pen for the exam"?
"Nah man, I don’t trust people with my stuff".
Oh, and he still hasn’t returned the money I lent out to him. Absolutely hypocritical.
17. Out Of Character
I had known a family, intermittently, for over 20 years. I grew to respect and admire them. They were educated, friendly, had a six-figure income, and had civic awards. Then one day one of them tells me that while traveling abroad, he saw someone drop their wallet, and he put his foot over it to ultimately keep it.
I immediately lost all respect for him, and subsequently had to question his family’s character as well.
Wikimedia Commons, Santeri Viinamäki
18. Bestie Betrayal
I once had a childhood friend, Jon, that I’d shared a lifetime of experiences with. Everywhere we went, we’d be together, just like a couple but without romance. As teenagers, we had little money so whatever activities we did to pass the time, we shared everything including our food, drinks, and even our darkest secrets.
I was certain that our friendship would have lasted a lifetime. Little did I know, the end of our journey was just around the corner. As we moved towards our 20s, Jon wanted us to join another friend group to improve our social status.
The new group consisted of both males and females of various ethnic/cultural backgrounds. As a young introvert, it was hard for me to express my emotions toward the new group. For Jon, it seemed quite easy to stand out from the crowd. So as he became more popular, he gained new friends.
One night, we drove out to the clubs together and met up with a few others. As we entered the club, I felt an instant sense of disconnection from Jon while he went off to talk with his new mates.
As I floated around the dance floor with a few acquaintances, I tried my best to ignore the awkwardness of our silence and enjoyed the music. At around the usual time to leave, I went looking for Jon so that we can get ready to head off.
I searched around for over 20 minutes but he was nowhere to be found. I later spoke to another friend who told me that Jon had already left with his friends…and for the first time in my life, I felt abandoned.
I walked over 10 miles home that night, but it gave me lots of time to reflect.
19. A Very Charming Lady
A few years back, I dated a very charming lady. Everything was fine. She was a great communicator, caring, and a total sweetheart. The kind of woman you want to have kids with. Until out of the blue she made a comment during small talk. She said she could never date a Black man. I guess she didn’t realize I was half Black.
20. A Man’s Job
I'm working part-time at a factory and have knowledge of how machines operate. I know a thing or two. One of the sauce machines stopped working because the pipe was clogged. The supervisor was trying to repair it and started blowing out through the tube.
Now, for those who know how to start a flow through a pipe, you have to suck in rather than blow out to start the flow again. I mentioned this to the supervisor. Guess what his reply was. He says yeah, but only a woman knows how to do that.
I ignored the comment and told him that I have seen other people unclog pipes before. That's all I could do because I was at loss for words, as never in my entire life has anyone ever said something so disrespectful.
21. Just New Orleans
I had one of those jaw-dropping moments having lunch with a bunch of co-workers a few years ago. Somehow, we got to talking about the federal response to New Orleans after Katrina. My friend then said, "Yeah, but you know, it’s New Orleans".
The level of disgust with which he said the words "New Orleans" made me think he was making a joke, but when I looked over at him, he was making a valley-girl face as he said it. I was waiting for him to say "just kidding", but he calmly went back to eating his lunch.
To have that much contempt for what that state went through shocked me. Maybe he was having a bad day, but I lost a lot of respect for him at that moment.
22. Evilest Woman Ever
My partner and I met a woman while we were on vacation in California. She was about our age and we were both buying groceries. We chatted and eventually got on the topic of pets. We had a Labrador who was an important family member and learned she had several pets.
Turned out she had moved recently and couldn’t bring them along. Her reaction was utterly deranged. Instead of finding a shelter or selling them, she had them put down. Frankly, we just wanted to get away as soon as possible. Maybe there was more to the story but we didn’t stick around.
23. Too Much Attention
My ex-girlfriend and I became very good friends three years after our break up. Since we parted ways on good terms, it wasn't awkward in any way. My ex-girlfriend had lost her father when we were dating.
Recently though, her uncle (her mother's only brother) passed too. She called me up in tears and told me that her mother was crying uncontrollably and she couldn't reach her and was afraid something would go wrong as she lives in another state.
I then immediately booked her on the next flight home, kept following up with her and checking on her every hour, and went to the airport to ensure she was safe. The next day, my girl best friend messaged me and told me "You are paying your ex too much attention, I don't like this".
That second, I lost all respect I had for my best friend. She was a girl and couldn't understand another girl's tough situation.
Freepik, drobotdean
24. Watch Yourself
Maybe I was a bit naive here. There was this one colleague who I had looked up to. I saw him as a wise man, successful, and kind. He always took time for young, up-and-coming employees.
One day, I sat across from him in a meeting, in a room that has see-through glass. A young girl walked past, and this colleague almost fell out of his chair looking, and couldn’t stop smiling. I know it sounds ridiculous, but at that moment, I couldn’t see him the same way ever again.
25. Would Have Embarrassed Mel Gibson
I once worked for a retailer with repeat customers, so we got to know the local regulars quite well. Or so I thought. There was this one man who came in several times a week. He was always quietly joking and friendly.
But this one day, with no provocation, he launched into a horrific rant that would have embarrassed Mel Gibson. After that, I never thought of him the same way I had before.
26. Sudden Jump
I realized that one of my English teachers was giving higher marks to more popular girls. When the new English teacher arrived, my marks suddenly jumped by about 15 to 20 points. The same girls were then complaining that their marks were horribly low.
I also then realized that much of the time, students are at the mercy of their teacher’s egos and biases.
27. He Was Hungry
On day one of my outpatient surgery rotation in medical school, I was following the attendant I had just met to an operation area. As we’re walking through the hospital, he goes "man, I’m starving". His next actions stunned me. He then proceeds to walk over to a breakfast tray outside of a patient’s room and opens it up.
He took a muffin, a hard-boiled egg, and an apple. Adios, respect!
Freepik, drobotdean
28. A Helping Hand
Once I was going somewhere on my tandem bike with one of my friends. While waiting at the signal, I saw a blind girl trying hard to cross a very crowded road. Since I was in the driver’s seat and the signal was about to turn green, I asked my friend to quickly get down and help the girl cross the road.
She just said, "I'll feel embarrassed". I said, "There is nothing to be embarrassed about. Please go and help her". She told me "Nope, I'm not getting off the bike. I'm not here to help a stranger. You can go if you want to".
So I parked the bike on the roadside and asked my friend to get off the bike, then I went to that girl and helped her cross the road. After I came back, my friend started shouting at me. When I asked what happened, she said, "You embarrassed me by leaving me alone here".
That was the moment when I instantly lost respect for my friend.
29. Green With Greed
My sister-in-law changed after my brother started making a lot of money. At first, they were pretty poor. They had gotten married at 19, and my grandmother helped them in so many ways.
She paid for their wedding, let them live with her rent-free, helped them buy their first home and gave them a ton of money to fix it up, and gave them credit cards to help them when they had their first child and couldn’t afford diapers.
Not to mention that my brother’s mom abandoned him as an infant and my grandmother raised him by herself. Now, 15 years later, my brother is a millionaire and our grandmother lives in an in-law suite on their property.
She doesn’t have any more money, because she gave it all away, and now lives off of $1000/month. Now, my brother lets her live there for free and pays for her cell phone bill. But my sister-in-law always makes my grandmother feel so guilty about them spending any money on her.
My grandmother just wants to help and feel useful by cooking, cleaning, and babysitting their three kids, but my sister-in-law complains about how annoying my grandmother is because she does their laundry the wrong way or does their dishes the wrong way.
My sister-in-law was complaining one day to me (about grandma bleaching her kitchen towels) and she said, "We don’t owe her anything, we could be making a profit renting that house out". I told her right then and there that if my brother had heard her say that, he would have immediately put her in her place.
I lost every ounce of respect for her at that moment. She used to be so down-to-earth and kind. Money really changes some people.
30. Money For Mom
When I was a teenager, my mom used to come into my room in the mornings when she thought I was asleep and take cash from me. Lots of other things happened after that, but my respect was gone from then on.
31. A Bad Kid
I was in the cub scouts when I was nine. One day, my parents just stopped taking me to the meetings without telling me why. I asked my mom and dad about it a couple of times. What they finally told me made me cry. They said it was because I got kicked out.
They told me the other scout members didn’t like me and that the scout counselors told my parents to remove me from their program because I was a "bad kid". I was seriously confused by the news at first because I thought I had gotten along with just about everyone there, and I never really had any problems with any of the counselors.
My parents had me believe that they were receiving tons of complaints about me from both my peers and the people who were in charge. The truth was so much worse. I was removed from the cub scouts simply because they didn’t feel like taking me there anymore.
This was revealed to me years later when I brought the topic up with my mom. She told me she and my father were just too tired to drive me to every meeting. My older brother had a car, but he had better things to do. They made the decision to lie to me because they thought I would protest if they told me the truth.
So, they had to come up with a lie that seemed the most believable at the time. I understand people have had way worse things happen to them. I get that. I also understand that my parents worked a lot to provide shelter and food for me.
I believe they really were too tired to drive me across town in the evenings. I just don’t understand why my parents thought they had to gaslight me like that. That probably would explain why I have trust issues. The respect was definitely gone.
32. Sinful Sweets
We used to have a super nice cleaning lady, who my mom would straight-up humiliate.
This lady had a binge eating problem and my mom would take pleasure in buying sweets and leaving them around the kitchen in hopes the lady would eat them, which she always did. Then, my mom would confront her about that, her weight, her eating habits, and the like.
Seriously, this lady was an amazing person and my mom, for some bizarre reason, fixated on making her miserable.
33. Horrible Parents
My parents kicked me out without telling me when I was 13. The way I found out was horrific. I came home and my key didn't fit in the lock. I saw some garbage bags standing by the side of the house, which turned out to be my clothes.
I knocked on the window to be let in and my mom closed the curtains, and that's when I really knew what was up. They thought I was just an annoying kid, but I was later diagnosed with autism. I have no respect for them.
34. A Messy Divorce
I lost a significant amount of respect for my mother for not only divorcing my father but cheating on him before the divorce was finalized…only to immediately marry the guy she was cheating on my dad with. But wait, it gets worse. This new man happened to be my dad’s best friend.
My dad is far from perfect, and she might’ve had her reasons for divorcing apart from the guy in question, but there was no respect for my father’s feelings at all.
35. Marital Advice
When I got married, my mother took me aside to share some motherly advice. She said, "Men have needs. When you are married, you need to meet those needs, even if you don’t always feel like it".
She also gave me a book about how to have a successful marriage. One section described how you get money from your husband by manipulating him. I have no respect for that woman.
36. Loans Between Lovers
I lost all respect for my ex-girlfriend. I used to respect her a lot and she was still my everything even after we broke up. I loved her a lot, and I used to pray for her well-being.
The day when I lost respect for her was when I asked her to repay a loan I had given her when she needed money. Every time I asked her to return my money she was ready with an excuse, but after some time she stopped replying to my messages entirely.
I felt like the dumbest person on earth. It's been seven months and I’m still waiting for my money.
37. Terrible Twin
My mother was an identical twin. She passed on in 2001. On their birthday in October, I called her twin and wished her a happy birthday, and asked my aunt how she was doing. I thought she'd be missing mom. I wasn't prepared for her reply. To my shock, her answer was "Thank God, I finally get a birthday just for me".
She had always been selfish, but I loved her despite that. That statement was like a light switch, and all my respect was gone.
38. Still Not Over It
Do you know who I’ve instantly lost respect for? Will Smith. He slapped Chris Rock in front of millions of people at the Oscars. Enough said.
39. A Fun Family Outing
So it was September, and my girlfriend Olivia and I were invited by her mother and brother to a local hibachi restaurant to celebrate the day her brother was rid of cancer. Nice sentiment, but the mom only did it because she had a Groupon.
So we eat our food (it was delicious) and the waitress comes out and takes our plates off. I said thanks, my girlfriend said thanks, and her brother nodded his head. All of a sudden I see her mother pull over the waitress and say, "Wow you really know how to speak English very well".
I sat there stunned and dumbfounded at the amount of ignorance this woman displayed.
40. Moving Blues
My best friend, Sarah, was about to move away. After I heard this, I discussed this topic with my close friend, Andrew. Andrew was very kind and helped me get through it, and I was grateful.
Then, the day before Sarah moved, she walked up to me. Now, Sarah had a short temper. Like, she would get mad if I touched her wall and would scream at me for knocking a curtain rod down. I thought it was normal at the time (I don't anymore) but was cautious not to make her mad.
So, anyways, Sarah walks up to me, frowning. She asked me why I told Andrew she was moving. I was lost for words at first, but then I told her I thought she was moving. She hushed me and told me it was not finalized before cussing me out.
Sarah yelled, then stormed off. I just stopped in my tracks. I replayed what had happened, and then felt immediate hate for her. I didn't want to yell at her back but secretly despised her. Luckily, she did end up moving.
41. But It’s Empty
After my mother’s funeral, I was walking towards the gate of the graveyard to exit. My cousin approached me and said, "Milton, what are you doing with your house"? I looked at her, confused. She said, "Since your dad will be flying with you to Dubai, what will you do with your house"?
I told her, "Nothing, it will sit there, as it has for 30 years".
She said, "This is crazy, you'll just keep the house locked? Why can’t I stay in it"?
I plainly told her, "I’d rather burn that house than give it to you".
You could say somewhere in that conversation I lost my respect for her.
42. Off-Site Rendezvous
I was very good friends with this girl. She was working with a leading bank and had developed feelings for her then-Vice President. During this time, she was in a nine-year-long relationship with her boyfriend.
She confided to me that once during an off-site event, they bumped into each other in the course of the evening and the conversation went from strictly professional to personal. During the off-site, they kinda hit it off. Mind you, she was still dating that boyfriend of hers. But it went from bad to worse.
A few months later another off-site happens, again during the evening sessions they get too close in a physical sense. The next day when she came back, I picked her up as decided. A little while later she broke down and confessed everything.
That day, that moment she said "I don't care if he's married or not, I'm not going to abandon what we have" was the moment I lost all the respect I had for her.
43. She Changed So Fast
I lost respect for my wife. Don’t get me wrong, I love her a lot. But I have never seen someone change colors so fast. She never gets along with anyone. I have never seen her making new friends or getting along with people.
All the relatives that she got from my side after the wedding, she has almost cut ties with them. We argue and fight every now and then over stupid things. I feel helpless because I have to try to get along with her because we are married.
She doesn’t respect my parents or my sister. I do not doubt that my family is falling apart and soon when we have kids, they are not going to get any grandparents to love because of the hatred that she has in her heart toward them.
I love her but I hate her. I would not think twice before getting out of this marriage if it wasn’t for my parents and my family.
44. Rude Boy
About 20 years ago, I agreed to have lunch with a guy who was interested in dating me. I had been recently divorced and just had my third child. I had known this person socially for a number of years and he was quite attractive, so I gave him the benefit of doubt even though I wasn’t ready for another relationship.
We went to a Thai restaurant in my neighborhood, where I was a regular patron. His disrespectful and condescending behavior toward the staff at the restaurant was horrible. I instantly lost all respect.
45. Game Changer
I'm 70, and a lady of 81 and I were in the initial stages of a relationship. Neither one of us knew where this was going, but we were having fun trying to figure it out. There were minor differences in almost everything, as would be expected.
We were watching television when it was reported that the soon-to-be-elected congressman from Montana got into an altercation with a news reporter. I mentioned it was unfortunate that it came to violence. My lady friend said, "the reporter had it coming".
Oops. Game changer. The opposite of empathy is a bully. We parted ways, each to our separate views of peace and harmony…or lack thereof.
46. High Profile
When my wife received her master's degree from Austin Peay University in 1985, I attended the ceremony in my dress uniform (101st Airborne). Then-Senator Al Gore was the guest speaker.
Afterward, he gravitated my way, speaking eloquently about his time as a platoon leader in Vietnam. About 10 years later, discussing him with several vets I know, one of them, let’s call him Rick, said he had worked with Gore on several occasions in Vietnam.
Rick was a photographer and said Gore was a reporter and had his own security detail because he was a Senator’s son, and most of the time his commander sent him back to the States early. He was not a platoon leader as claimed; he was a spoiled, entitled brat whose father got him a cushy job after forcing him to serve in order to promote his future political career. He lost my respect that day.
47. The Bad Brother
My sister got pregnant at 17 and married the father. After my niece was born, I went to visit them. My new brother-in-law didn't say much and I really didn't engage with him either. I figured he was tired from late-night baby crying and didn't want to talk.
After the visit, I drove to the gas station directly across the street from their apartment to fill up my car. While I was pumping gas, someone wrapped their arms around me and whispered in my ear that I looked great. I turned around and was shocked at what I saw. It was my new brother-in-law.
I reminded him of his wife and baby and told him that if he ever touched me again that I would make sure that my niece was an only child. He backed away and swore he would never do anything like that again. I didn't tell my sister, but I should have.
He cheated on her at least six times that she knows about, and maybe if I had told her she would have left him sooner. That moment caused me to lose all respect for him.
freepik, Racool_studio
48. Quite Easy
I was on a date with a lady some years back. She had a decent job, came from a good family, and was making decent money.
She and I went to a restaurant for dinner, and when the bill came it had a small service charge on top of it. She did not offer to pay, so I paid instead and left the tip. It was fine by me, I wasn't expecting her to pay anyway.
She then asked me why I left a tip when the bill already had a 5% service charge. I tried to explain to her that I was experienced in working late hours and it was tough. I think they deserved a tip for working late because I know how it feels. Before I could finish what I was saying, she went on an embarrassing, demeaning rant.
"What they're doing is quite easy", she said, "they just wait on customers, clean tables, and serve food. They don't deserve a tip".
To make the situation worse, her voice was loud enough that the waiter at the next table overheard her. I was so embarrassed that I stormed out. She followed me and wondered why my mood turned sour. She thought it was because she didn't pay the bill, which infuriated me more.
Since that night, I never spoke to that person ever again. I don't have any respect left for her.
49. A Nice Coat
My aunt and her husband were very religious. They went to church every Sunday and had a prayer meeting every Wednesday evening.
One time their church was gathering up clothing donations for the poor. My parents were good people and carefully took their older clothes out of their closets. They made sure the clothes were clean and didn't have spots or tears. Then they gave the batch of clothes to my aunt to take to church.
A couple of weeks later, my mother saw my aunt wearing a nice winter coat. When mom said, "Isn't that the coat I donated to the church collection"? My aunt replied, "Yes but this is too nice to give to a poor person so I decided to keep it for myself". I lost all respect for her.
50. Monster-In-Law
I lost all respect for my mother-in-law the first time I met her. I pulled up in my silver Chrysler Sebring, rocking my $5 sunglasses, tiny red shorts for the Texas heat, and a huge smile on my face, ready for my millionth date with my now husband. I was pregnant at the time as well.
I waited patiently curbside, but instead of my boyfriend exiting the yellow brick house, his mother came out. I was not prepared to meet her so I looked on nervously as she quickly approached my car. I lowered my window, chirped a bright hello, and then met her red and angry face.
She disregarded my happy demeanor, then she asked a question that made my jaw drop. "Are you faking a pregnancy to make my son stay with you?" I was shocked and the new pregnancy hormones didn't help.
I felt upset, confused, and humiliated, but responded with a low and deflated, "No, I really am pregnant". My boyfriend finally emerged and kissed his mom goodbye. To my surprise, he stated that when he had announced our pregnancy to her, she had seemed excited.
I knew then that I should start suiting up for a long battle.
