In this day and age, when people feel something is wrong with their bodies, they often turn to the internet first before they seek the expertise of a medical professional. While "Dr. Google" can sometimes be a helpful resource, attempts to address one's own health issues without the guidance of a doctor can have dire consequences. The following stories are of patients who downplayed the severity of their conditions, only to be hit with a hard-to-swallow reality once they finally saw a health expert. Read on for some shocking accounts...

1. Little Red Dots

When I was about 16, I started having these little red irritated spots show up on my arm. My mom was immediately like, "You have psoriasis, just go tanning". So I tanned for about a week and they just got worse. Now I had them all over my body. I even had spots on my eyelids. I went to the doctor finally, and he made a gruesome discovery.

It turned out I had ringworm. Even worse? By tanning, I was basically rubbing them all over with the lotions and incubating them while I tanned.

Blackbird6

2. The Root Of The Problem

My husband and I were messing around and he chased me through the kitchen. When I took a hard left turn, he lost his footing and fell on his side. He’s a big dude, so falling is a bit more horrible for him. He couldn’t put pressure on his leg and he knew immediately he was hurt pretty bad. He was able to crawl to the couch, and once he settled in, he said he wasn’t in too much pain.

He decided to sleep on the couch that night so he wouldn’t have to go upstairs. We made an appointment in the morning for the ER so we wouldn’t have to sit there all day, but they didn’t have an opening until 2 pm, so we just hung out at the house. He was in a decent amount of ambient pain, but it didn’t seem too urgent. Once we got to the hospital, however, we found out the shocking truth.

He had broken his hip, breaking off his entire ball joint from the top of his femur. The nurses said they couldn’t believe that he was able to sit up and sleep on it, which implied that we should have come the night before—and probably by ambulance. It required surgery with some hefty bolts to put it back into place. But the crazy part is that, apparently, a healthy 30-year-old man breaking his femur from standing is highly unusual. That’s when we found out that there was an even more terrifying cause behind it.

After several tests and an MRI, it turned out he was in the early stages of osteoporosis. Even craziest? It was due to a pituitary tumor in his brain. So we discovered a benign brain tumor all because the dude was wearing slippery socks.

yourerightaboutthat

3. A Heavy Burden

I went to the doctor to get a note for a day off work because I didn't feel so great. The doctor poked me in the stomach and said, "That's not normal," then sent me off to have a scan…which took me two months to get around to. Two weeks later, I got a letter from the doctor asking me to come in. When I got there, the doctor went off at me for not coming in sooner...

He told me to go home, pack a bag, and make my way to the Royal Brisbane immediately as it might be cancer. Some more scans later and it was determined not to be cancer, but a four-kilogram cyst. My only symptom was an enlarged stomach and the "You're getting fat" comments from my mother.

ShaddiJ

4. Not One, But Two

My oldest son was 11 years old and he needed a physical for youth tackle football. He had complained that his ankle hurt during the middle of baseball season so she asked if he could take off his shoe. When he did, she immediately pointed to the side of his foot where there was a strange bump and informed us he had a broken foot.

I didn't believe her because he had the same thing on his other foot as well. So she took a look at the other foot and said, "Oh...he has TWO broken feet". She then sent us over to get X-rays from the hospital. I was laughing in my head, thinking it was so crazy that my son, who not only finished playing in a baseball tournament but had also been running and jumping at the swimming pool literally an hour before, had two broken feet.

After the X-rays were completed, my smile quickly faded as the doctor was right. That's when we learned about how completely flat feet can be damaged with stress fractures that go undetected. He was put into a cast for eight weeks and was made to wear special shoes and insoles for the rest of his life. His feet are still deformed, but it has never slowed him down.

Tbjkbe

5. Unorthodox Wincing

I got a new OB-GYN and went for a check-up. I braced myself for the horrible pain, and she immediately stopped. As it turns out, extreme pain down there ISN'T normal, but I'd just had three other OB-GYNs who apparently didn't care that I cried in pain every time I was checked. She called it vulvar vestibulitis, but the most commonly used term now is vulvodynia.

Apparently, there's no known cause, but some doctors think it may be due to having too many nerve endings in the area. I am doing somewhat better now thanks to some physical therapies and a lidocaine ointment that I can apply beforehand.

itsybitsyemu

6. A Quirky Defect

When I was a medical student, a patient and his brother came in together. The patient was just there for a post-op visit after a hernia repair. Turns out, after inspection, he actually had another baseball-sized hernia. Somehow, that’s not the craziest part. His brother, on the other hand, LITERALLY had a football-sized hernia visibly coming out of the left leg of his shorts.

It looked like an inguinal hernia, and he was able to use it as an armrest. I asked him if that bothered him at all, and he just straight up said: "My brother's hernias were painful but this isn't, so I thought it was just a quirky defect". I hope he was lying to save face, but we recommended he get it taken care of.

shaknawefeh

7. Tainted Smile

I work at a dentist’s office. A patient came in for an exam, concerned that a part of her tooth was chipped off. On examination, it was not a chip, but rather a piece of calculus, which is the build-up of hard tartar that covers your teeth over time when you don’t brush them. It can be small deposits, or in this case, an entire “bridge” covering her actual teeth.

She thought the calculus was tooth material and was quite shocked to learn we were actually unable to see her real teeth. We gave her an extensive cleaning to remove it all.

GrayGhoast

8. A Hairy Situation

This one was actually from back when I was a medical student, but it’s still the weirdest thing I’ve seen. It was my last rotation in medical school before graduating and starting residency. I had completed all my requirements and just wanted to take a few interesting electives of things I hadn’t seen yet. This was a dermatology rotation at the VA.

The rotation had been interesting and chill, and I was seeing my third-to-last patient as a medical student. The guy came in and the resident asked him why he was there. He said, “I have hair coming out of my hand". I figured he meant a weird mole with some hair coming out, but this guy (who was probably in his late thirties or early forties) said, “No, the hair is coming out from under the skin".

The resident asked him what he did for a living and he said he was a barber. Apparently, it’s not too uncommon for hair to poke through the skin, especially for barbers who cut men’s hair. It’s short, thin, and can be kinda pokey after all. It was sort of like getting a sliver, but with hair. But the guy said, “No, it’s a lot of hair, look!”

He held up his hand, making a fist, and there were several hairs poking out from between the knuckles of his pointer and middle finger. I stared in confusion, and the resident grabbed some tweezers to pull out maybe a half dozen short black hairs. The guy said, “Yeah, I already pulled out like 50". That's when the resident's face dropped.

We numbed up the backside of his hand between the first and second knuckle and made a little incision. We were shocked at the mass of hair that we uncovered. We started pulling out GOBS of short black hair. A chunk of 20, a chunk of 30, etc. At some point, she got the magnifying glasses out with an attached light and said, “Oh my gosh, there are still more in there! Sir, do you know how all this hair got into your hand?” His answer was so disturbing, it’s unforgettable.

The guy said, “Oh it probably came in through there!” He flipped his hand over to reveal a HOLE in the palmar aspect of his hand’s skin. It turns out, the dude had cut himself like TWO YEARS before this, and it had never healed properly (he was diabetic), so he just kept cutting hair with this open wound on his hand. Probably every day, a few hairs got stuck in his hand. For two years.

Now those hairs had tunneled through the webbing between his first and second fingers from the front of his hand and out the backside. We spent like 30 minutes MILKING his hand and fingers while more and more hair came out. She said, “There’s no way I got it all out, so you have to come back every two weeks for a few months for us to keep removing more hair from your hand".

TheOtherDoctorMike

9. The Denial Is Strong

As a teenager, I was listening to my best friend complain about her bad periods. She snapped at me and asked why I didn't care that she was in so much pain. I basically told her that we all go through it every month: "Everyone bleeds through tampons every hour or so. Everyone hurts all the time. Everyone gets the few moments where it's so painful you can barely stand. Everyone does this for eight days".

She looked at me like I was crazy and said no, that's not normal. I argued and said it's exactly how it is for me...it sucks but what can we do? She gently assured me that what I had just told her was not normal and that I should probably see a doctor.

ToofyTwo

10. A Tickle Under The Rib

I saw this one patient with a really odd condition. While she was asking me why she gets rib pain so often, she literally reached under her own rib and jiggled it with her fingers.  Turns out, there were a lot of other things she could do that she shouldn’t ever be able to. I attributed it to a variant of Ehlers Danlos syndrome, which causes connective tissue abnormalities.

I was so distracted by the popping in and out of her rib that initially, I didn’t even notice how horrifying it was that she could get her hand under there.

myopicchihuahua22

11. The Family Jewels

My 13-year-old son complained to me that he was unbearably itchy down there. I figured probably sweat, so I told him to wash the area thoroughly and make sure to dry well. A couple of days later, he said it was still itchy and getting bigger. Bigger? He said there was no pain or anything, but it was still itchy and swollen. I still didn't think it was anything more than a sweat rash that maybe needed some ointment.

But when we went to the doctor, we were sent off for an ultrasound. The scan showed zero blood flow to the area, so he was immediately transferred to the emergency room. He went in for emergency surgery where the urologist removes one necrotic mass. It had become randomly twisted and passed at least a week prior. The swelling was a major infection setting in, which also caused the itchiness and swelling.

He had no pain whatsoever and the doctor said that was amazing. For most boys, torsion feels like being kicked in the nuts continuously, and by the infected stage he was in, he should have been screaming and crying from the pain. If we had waited any longer, he could have developed sepsis. He had a follow-up surgery a month later to insert a replacement part and to stitch his remaining one in place so it doesn't happen again.

MrsFlip

12. A Little Too Late

I’m a nurse with twenty years of experience and a master's degree. This lady had a non-healing, large wound on her left chest area for six months and painful axillary nodules that she had for six years prior to the wound. Any non-healing wound is immediately assumed as cancer until proven otherwise. Well, this lady had stage four, untreatable cancer—all for a heartbreaking reason.

She just wasn’t taught that cancer was treatable. Clearly, she was not informed about how most women with painful nodules should come in ASAP as the cancer is most treatable when detected early. She died three weeks after her diagnosis.

She was sedated for about two weeks and five days after diagnosis because that’s how she wanted to go. At least she wasn't in pain, and was pretty much asleep for all of it.

dragracesssss

13. Hearing Voices

Psychiatrist here. One of my first patients was a female college student who couldn't sleep because of the voices that constantly talked to her. Apparently, she felt forced to answer them at all times. From what she was saying, I gathered that depending on the particular voice, she was either being cautioned about people or situations or outright pushed towards violent acts.

The voices started appearing when she was 16 if I remember correctly, and we met when she was 20. For four years of her life she believed that it was normal to have such voices in one's head, because, as she explained, many people talk to themselves. To some extent, she was right; but I had to explain to her that most people really talk with themselves and there are no other identities in them.

There’s just an internal dialogue to clarify or resolve issues that bother them in their own privacy, so to speak. She was later diagnosed with schizophrenia.

InhumanVoice

14. Not Quite A Baby...

Nurse here. We had a 67-year-old woman who thought she was pregnant. I've got to say, she did look pregnant since her abdomen was full; similar to those pregnant women who look like they're carrying a basketball when they are at the end. But she was 67. Turned out, it was a 37-pound ovarian cyst, and it was the largest one I had ever seen in my career.

I asked if I could watch the surgery. That thing came out all in one piece, and I'll never forget the sound it made. This was at a community hospital many years ago, before HIPAA, so naturally, the lab announced that anyone who wanted could come down to the lab and view this incredible thing before it was dissected by pathology.

The line at lunchtime was so long you'd think they were giving away free concert tickets.

neverdoneneverready

15. A Life Spared

My psychiatrist saved my life! I have always had heavy and irregular periods, so when I had bleeding that didn't go away for a month, I pretty much just kept on keeping on. Eventually, a doctor referred me to the emergency department because of the constant blood loss, and all I was told was "You've got endometriosis". So for five months, I had a heavy period, with doctors just dismissing it.

Eventually, my roommate called an ambulance when I passed out in the shower. The doctors did a blood test and I was admitted overnight for a blood transfusion. Fun fact—blood transfusions make some people nauseous, which is not a fun way to find out you're allergic to an antiemetic! A few weeks later, at about the six-month mark, I drove for an hour for my regular appointment with my psychiatrist.

He took one look at me and freaked out. He told me to proceed directly to the ER. So I did and was promptly admitted to the ICU with a bilateral pulmonary embolism. I was hours away from suffocating to my end. Turns out, all the birth control that the original doctors had been giving me to shut me up and get rid of me had caused massive clots.

The doctor that looked after me and ultimately saved my life wrote a paper on why it's stupid to ignore a nulligravida (never pregnant) woman in her mid-20s with severe dysfunctional uterine bleeding.

seriouslampshade

16. How Incompetent

I had all the symptoms of a GI bleed, including vomiting blood that looked like coffee grounds. I went to the ER, had an NG tube put in, and spent the night in the ICU. They scoped me the next day and determined I had three minor erosions, then they released me with a script for antacids. I thought I would be okay from there, but I felt awful for the next two weeks.

I was tired, weak, and dizzy, but I dismissed it all because it was "just three minor erosions". Two weeks later, my doctor sent me in to have my blood drawn. My hemoglobin was at 4.6 and my hematocrit was 15.1, which is critically low...like "How are you still standing" low. Long story short, I was rescoped at this new hospital and they found a two-inch tumor in my stomach.

It was a very rare tumor that usually doesn't happen to people under 40, and I'm 33. I had a total of five tumors and half of my stomach removed a few days later. Where my GI found the "erosions" was basically right where my two-inch tumor was. I don't get how he missed it, but he found what he was looking for, and that was that I guess.

All I know is I'm not paying the $7,200 bucks that the hospital wants from me. How they missed a two-inch mass baffles my mind. I'm still waiting on the bill for the week-long stay and the surgery in the second hospital.

vonshiza

17. Never Ignore The Symptoms

My pregnancy was really painful. I was the only woman in my family besides my mother who went through this, and even she didn't get sick at all while pregnant. I thought it was normal that I couldn’t stand straight or go farther than ten feet from the bathroom, or that I spent days on the bathroom floor unable to keep anything down to the point where I would lose track of days.

My fiancé begged and begged for me to go to the ER because of all the pain I had. It turns out, I had an acute UTI that was ready to spread to my kidneys. They told me if I waited any longer, I would have miscarried. The thought definitely makes me hold my baby tighter.

18. A Downhill Spiral

I was the patient. I had a Roux-en-Y gastric bypass in April of 2017. After I went home from the surgery, the expectation was that I would be on a liquid diet for a week, and then slowly start reintroducing soft foods, etc. I even used a check-in app that reviewed how I was feeling, just to monitor if something was wrong.

Two weeks in and I still couldn’t keep down an ounce of protein shake. My husband at the time was getting frustrated with me because he thought I was being deliberately difficult. While he was gone to a city three hours away by plane, I woke up in the middle of the night heaving and dry vomiting. My mother drove me to the hospital in the middle of the night where I spent the next 12 hours having every test imaginable run on me. That’s when doctors made a gruesome discovery.

It turns out, within 24 hours after my surgery, my intestine that was reconnected at the “Y” junction had actually come apart (it was leaking anastomosis, if you want to look it up). Everything I’d tried to eat had just been draining into my abdominal cavity. I was septic and had four large abscesses. After emergency surgery, I spent 10 days in the ICU recovering before I went home.

The surgeon told my mother that if I’d been even 24 hours late getting to the hospital, I wouldn’t have made it. Side note: less than two months later, my husband left me.

Boose81

19. That's A Good Call

One time, I got food poisoning. I'd never had serious food poisoning before, but my boss who I was at a conference with had. After clearing myself completely in a very short period of time, I told her I would probably miss the next day. She asked if I needed anything and I said, "No-no... I'm just trying to drink water but I can't keep it down...I've put all my pillows on the bathroom floor so I can stay close to the toilet".

She brought me ginger tea and asked if they could take me to the hospital. I declined and tried the tea which also came back up. After a while, I was still heaving and I could hardly get up, so I finally let her and a co-worker drive me to the hospital. But I felt so stupid—who goes to the ER for food poisoning? They stabilized me in the ER after a few hours and ran some tests.

They told me then I could go home if I wanted, or stay the night in the hospital if I preferred. I'm really not the type to worry about my health and I always assume things will be fine, but some instinct told me to stay. I felt terrible when they wheeled me over to the hospital and I told them that. The next thing I knew, I was on a hospital bed surrounded by med staff. I had a life-threatening seizure.

not_thatkindofdoctor

20. More Than Just A Headache

I've always had headaches, almost daily. About 10 years ago, I started seeing weird auras that would take up my whole vision, and then I'd get a terrible headache that would make me want to end it all. Maybe once a year that would happen. About three years ago, we got really good insurance. Then, I got several auras in a row, and I started to worry that it was a detached retina or something.

So I went to an ophthalmologist, who dilated my eyes and looked around. He suggested I see a neurologist, and maybe they'd do an MRI. Meanwhile, I had a stomach ache that lasted for a few days—very odd for me, since I don't really get them. But it woke me up in the middle of the night, and I had another aura visual—but no headache.

I saw the neurologist a week later and boy did he like talking about how fat I was. I had three kids in three years, so naturally, I became squishy—not morbidly obese, but I did have some mobility issues. Deal with it. They were able to get me in for the MRI that day, and despite being claustrophobic, it wasn't terrible.

I walked out to the parking lot, and they called me back in. When I got in, she told me I'd had a stroke, and they needed to admit me to the ER. The office was at the hospital already, so she literally just walked me through like two doors, and I didn't even have to wait in the lobby. I spent three days being poked and prodded.

I never really saw the big deal, it was just a stomach ache and dancing lights. I'm doing a lot better now.

MANDALORIAN_WHISKEY

21. Painless Yet Severe

When I was 14 years old, I started getting an upset stomach one night and it wasn't just another bellyache. Maybe a little bit more intense, but I slept through it pretty well. The next morning, my parents got me an appointment with the doctor to see if I was okay. We got through it all, but we had to wait at one point, and it was taking quite a long time.

I told my mom, "We should just go home, it's probably nothing..." and then the next thing I knew, I needed surgery. When I was talking to the doctor before the surgery, he explained that my appendix had burst, and he said I just had a very high tolerance to pain. In fact, he was surprised I was able to sleep through it.

He also explained that if I didn't have surgery when I did, I wouldn't have made it. I can see now why a lot of people think that having a high tolerance to pain isn't necessarily a good thing.

Iron_Archer

22. One Exam Is All It Took

I had been suffering from debilitating pain basically since I was 14 years old. They were worse around my periods and would kind of dull down afterward. I was told this was “normal". When I turned 18, I started searching for answers because the pain was getting worse. I went to seven different doctors in six years. It was constantly being dismissed as “normal” period pains.

One doctor even tried to tell me it was irritable bladder syndrome. I was no medical student, but even I knew that was not a real diagnosis. I was on all kinds of different birth control and pain medications which did not help. At 23, I was finally able to see an OB-GYN who specializes in pelvic pain. She barely even touched me before she was saying, “Oh my! You have endometriosis".

She scheduled me for my first laparoscopic surgery in January. During that surgery, not only did they find that I had the highest and rarest severity of endometriosis with complications, but they also removed several golf-ball-sized cysts that were ready to rupture. She told me I must have a really high pain tolerance because I should not have been able to walk upright into her office that day with everything that they found and removed.

The most amusing part of it all was that before seeing the specialist, I had three ultrasounds and several other exams, but none of them detected or even bothered to look for endometriosis or PCOS. It was that simple pelvic exam that saved my life.

ilvcupcakes

23. Simply Counterproductive

Nurse here. At a get-together with friends (where the drinking got out of hand), I had a friend burn himself in the oven while making pizza, then try to cauterize that burn with his lighter. Fun fact: you cauterize wounds, not burns.

DWimaDerpologist

24. Quack Medicine

I'm a pediatric nurse. This one couple brought their child and he was feeling really weak. After the general admission questions, we discovered that they were into natural treatments. When their infant child developed tummy problems, they decided to give her a bottle of honey water to help with that. The baby was diagnosed with botulism.

dontlikespiders

25. Elastic Heart

A patient came into the ER presenting with very serious heart pain that caused him to pass out frequently, sometimes daily. Apparently, he just thought it was because he was overweight. We had to explain that passing out for no reason is not normal and that he should have told his doctor about it. The problem itself was sort of on and off, so initially, we didn't know what was up because his vitals all looked good.

When none of the meds we gave to him helped, we ended up sending him to the hospital. His heart rate was dangerously high for a pretty sustained period of time (like 45 to 60 minutes), so he started passing out due to a lack of oxygen. Turns out, he had been suffering from minor heart attacks, not realizing how serious they actually were—but that’s not the worst part. 

This had been happening to him since he was at least a teen, if not younger, and his parents never thought to bring him to a doctor about it.

future_nurse19

26. A Nasty Fall

I came off my bike during lunch break at a real slow, walking pace after the wheel jammed on a gutter. I went over the bars and had a nasty landing. My right wrist swelled up almost instantly,  so I isolated it, thinking it was a probable Colles’ fracture. Then, I proceeded to walk the 1.5 km back to the office in cleats; that is, carbon fiber shoes that have no flex in the soles. I had to push the bike too.

I was in a lot of pain, so I went to the hospital for scans. The triage nurse assessed me and came to the same conclusion I did. I was given an ice pack while waiting for the doctor to look at the X-rays. I was in tears the entire time the films were being done and I don’t normally cry either. The only comfort from the radiology tech was “There’s a reason why you’re crying, but I’ll leave that to the doctor".

It turns out, I had sustained bilateral radial head fractures and a broken left wrist. The swelling in my right lower forearm was a reaction to the broken radial head. I spent eight weeks in akimbo slings plus three months of occupational therapy to teach my biceps how to bend my arms again. Nowadays, I only have 90% bone strength in those joints.

W2ttsy

27. And Just Like That...

My father felt a loud pop as I was helping him out of bed. This wasn't unusual and my father thought he just pulled something. However, the pain didn't subside for weeks. I dragged him to the GP, and then to the hospital for a scan. The “pop” turned out to be the back of his rib totally separating, as the bone was mostly powder—and the reason why was awful.

He developed lung cancer from his bad habits as a young adult and it had grown through the back of his lung and into his ribs and spine. He was in palliative care from then on. At least he got to say goodbye to his cat Tilly—I brought her into the hospital and he let her loaf on his chest with her bum in his face for one last time.

Hybernative

28. Will It Ever End?

My best friend was the patient. She was diagnosed with a hernia and was set to have surgery a year later because it wasn’t so bad that she needed to have emergency surgery. Eventually, she decided to go to her home country, because she felt she was being mistreated by the health care workers in her US town. She was scheduled to have a pre-surgery check-up, and then the surgery two weeks later.

Well, when she went for the check-up, she got taken to the table without anesthesia. While she was being operated on, she could see what was happening, which was frightening enough. Then, they uncovered the root of the problem—she had a birth defect that ended up causing a massive cyst to grow. She was in great danger. She had trouble walking and had to take a flight back the day after.

She is doing much better now, but she recently got diagnosed with another hernia on the other side.

Essanamy

29. Secondary Complication

In my freshman year of college, I had a really bad sore throat for a few days. I thought nothing of it and just took a ton of Tylenol until it went away. About a month later, I noticed the joints in my fingers were extremely sore and I could barely make a fist. Next, it was my wrists, elbows, knees, ankles, etc. It reached all my joints and muscles.

It was even painful to lift my eyebrows or touch my scalp. I couldn’t roll over in bed. I literally just lied in bed for days and cried. Finally, my mom, who lived about four hours away, came and took me to the doctor. I couldn’t believe the diagnosis. He said I had something called post-streptococcal arthritis. Turns out, I had strep throat a month prior and because I didn’t treat it with antibiotics, it spread through my body and caused arthritis in literally all of my joints. He prescribed a steroid and pain killers and said good luck!

Man, I’ve had a lot of medical problems in my life but this one was the worst by far. It took another three months for me to start feeling normal again and a full year to get completely back to normal. Nowadays, I catch strep throat extremely easily and I get it at least four to five times a year. If I don’t get it treated within two days, my arthritis flares back up again.

nellietwo

30. Get It Off My Chest

A 40-year-old woman, who was a successful business owner and fully insured, had been taken to the ER by her sister because she was complaining of chest pain. She was asked to put on a gown for an EKG. I will never forget the sight. Her skin literally looked like a green hamburger. Sadly, she did not seek care sooner because she said she was embarrassed by the appearance and odor.

I followed her care as best I could. She went through a bilateral mastectomy, radiation, and chemo. She survived another three months before she passed.

Mojothewonderdog

31. Beyond A Burp

I had been having a problem for about two months where I'd feel some pain or pressure in my chest, specifically in my left lung. If I bounced a bit or tried to take a deep breath, I would normally need to burp which made the pain disappear, so I always thought that I had just swallowed some air or something had gone down the wrong pipe or whatever. No big deal, I thought. I was so wrong.

Over time, it got worse and worse. I would burp more, and once or twice per week,  I would have a splitting pain which made me unable to turn on my left side. I also couldn't sleep at all and was just tossing and turning most nights. I had waited a total of 23 hours from when the pain first started to when I notified my mom "I might have to go to the ER".

Turns out, I had a collapsed lung—not partially deflated, but completely collapsed. It was bad enough that it was pressing up against my heart and disrupting its rhythm. Two operations later, I was okay, and through the glory of healthcare, the total hospital bill I had to pay was only $25.

Edythir

32. A Hero's Weakness

I have what’s called Haglund's deformities in both of my feet. Essentially, I have bones growing from the back of my heels through my Achilles' tendons. Every time I walked or ran, it would rip and tear a bit more, forming scar tissue called a bursa. I would only feel the pain after I had finished running, and the only time I was running was when I was playing rugby.

I had this for close to 20 years. I always thought it was normal as I never really looked at anyone else’s feet in great detail. When I tore all the ligaments in my knee, the doctor saw the lumps and told me that the only way to get rid of them would be to cut through my Achilles, grind the bone away, and then reattach my Achilles. As I would have to learn to walk again,  I essentially just chose to stop playing rugby...

fatfeets

33. Necrotic Neglect

My mom is an RN and she was just telling us about this lady she met while working in the ER a few years ago. This lady was morbidly overweight, diabetic, and bed-bound. She called 9-1-1 because she was worried about a smell coming from her bottom half (again, she was morbidly obese and could not bend over far enough to see what was going on).

She got seen by a doctor who checked her feet out. The doctor apparently said they were as black as a chalkboard and almost completely dead, which was going to result in her losing her feet. When the doctor asked why she didn’t have anyone checking in on her, she said she never thought to bring it up to her kids as she thought the tingling and diabetic pain was normal.

godbullseye

34. Aging Too Fast

I remember saying once in college that if my hands hurt this much now, I’m going to end myself when I develop arthritis. It turned out, I already had it. I was recently diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and hypermobility. The hypermobility is not as severe as EDS, but it’s notable. Just this year, I’ve dislocated a couple of fingers, my wrist a few times, and both kneecaps.

One was a full dislocation that had me on crutches for a few weeks and constantly subluxated. My doctor thinks the inflammation is newer, but that I’ve been dislocating my joints for years. I genuinely thought everyone was in as much constant pain as I was, and that they just managed it better and coped more efficiently.

MorningSaddies

35. Forget About It

I have a ridiculously high pain tolerance. The joke goes that I might lose a couple of limbs and it will take me a while to notice. I had some minor pain around my lower stomach and back. I didn't think of it much—I assumed it was some minor GI issue. I took paracetamol and honestly forgot about it. This went on for several days.

Later that week, I suddenly started feeling seriously ill. Cold sweats, chills, fainting... I thought I might have somehow messed up the medications or something. In the ER, it took just a couple of tests to figure out I had a severe kidney infection, and considering the severity, it had been going on for at least a month. I only felt minor discomfort for the last few days of it.

With_Trees

36. One Wild Night

Last October, after a wild night, I fell into some bushes by the side of the road. Lack of sobriety was definitely a cause, though I always wonder if I'd been pushed. Anyway, it wouldn't be so bad except for some reason, the sidewalk I'd been on was elevated by about 1/2 meter from the base of the bushes. There was a concrete patch (which I later discovered to be a manhole) right where I landed on my right shoulder.

I got up, checked that I had full hand and finger mobility, and if I could bend my elbows. I couldn't lift my arm above my head without some pain, but I figured I should be fine. I cleaned myself up, got home, and went on with life as normal. The next two days it was a bit rough trying to lift my right arm, but after that, it was more or less okay. I dismissed it as a muscle strain.

10 days later, I picked up my daughter and felt a searing pain in the shoulder where I had fallen. It still wasn't so bad, but since it hadn't gone away after 10 days, I thought I should probably get an X-ray done. I had actually gone to see a doctor who asked me to get one done, but it slipped my mind. So fast forward to the X-ray scan—and I heard what you never want to hear. The X-ray technician exclaimed, "Oh!'" right after the first one.

Then, I heard a muted phone call between him and the doctor I had seen earlier that day. When I was dressed and came out, the X-ray technician told me he couldn't believe I'd been walking around for 12 days without pain. My clavicle and collarbone were broken. On the right side, the bone was kind of tilted upwards, and it was totally separated from the left.

By the time I got surgery to get the collarbone fixed, almost four weeks had passed since I fell.

lexancer

37. Eye Spy

Over the course of about three and a half months, I was treated for a sinus infection six times and then misdiagnosed with migraines—I have a family history of them. I would get these headaches that started in my face and trickle down all the way to the base of my skull. It wasn't until I was referred to an eye doctor, just to make sure that my headaches weren't being caused by my eyes, that the "Oh man, this isn't normal" moment happened.

During a routine eye exam, the doctor discovered that my optic nerves were swollen. She finished her exam, then very carefully explained what it could be. She then made an emergency appointment for an MRI. It turned out that I have intracranial hypertension, which means I make too much spinal fluid, and when it doesn't have any place to go, it can back up into my skull.

Less than a week later, I had to have a spinal tap to drain the excess fluid. I had more than one neurologist's jaw drop when they found out that my pressure level was at 33. The swelling in my optic nerves was so bad that by the time I finally saw the doctor who made the diagnosis, my vision was so screwed up that I couldn't read a book.

My mom had to fill out the paperwork because I couldn't see it well enough to fill it out on my own.

Ariadne_Kenmore

38. The Childbirth Equivalent

I was diagnosed with acid reflux, not understanding how people dealt with the pain and discomfort. Jump forward a few months—I started dry heaving one morning (after throwing up everything including sips of water) and I decided to go to the ER. One look and they assumed it was gallbladder issues. They gave me some pain meds, but they didn't help much.

Well, an X-ray and CT scan later, it was determined that I had acute pancreatitis. Apparently, the pain is about equivalent to childbirth, or so I was told. A few days later, after pancreatitis resolved, the doctor wanted to send me home for outpatient gallbladder removal. I argued that I was not leaving without the surgery. The next day, they removed my gallbladder in pieces because it had gangrene onset. Had I left the hospital, who knows what could have happened.

Curious-Unicorn

39. Luck Of The Draw

I’ll state up front that I’m a rather large girl and have been since I was a kid. I'm always tired and I pretty much get called lazy by anyone who knows me. I can never miss meals or I will get so tired that I would fall asleep on my feet. Growing up, I got told constantly that I was attention-seeking and just needed to lose weight, etc. Well, they were all horribly wrong. 

I had multiple blood tests done and they showed I had a slight increase in the size of my red blood cells, but nothing explained why I was so tired. Years later, after noticing some spots appear on my body from my feet to my neck, I started to swell to the size of a balloon. I was told multiple times it was just scabies, so I started peeling off skin in multiple layers right down to the fatty layer.

Later on, the hospital decided that it was a bit more than scabies. Three weeks of pain later, I found out that I had multiple auto-immune diseases. One of them was rooted in a vitamin B12 defect, whereby my antibodies stop the binding of B12 in the stomach, causing pernicious anemia. The reason I am so tired all the time is that my blood cells cannot transport as much oxygen around the body.

I also have a slight gluten sensitivity that was beginning to transform into lactose sensitivity. All my specialists thought my case was very unique. "You’re in your 30s; why was none of this diagnosed as a kid?" Yeah. I wonder why. As for the spots, the doctors at the hospital still have no idea what the heck started that. They just think it’s some variant of a common skin disorder.

CWPDM

40. Letting It Fester

My mom is a medical assistant in a pediatrics office. About two years ago, a lady came in with a gash in her heel. The lady had thought the tingling was a bad sign and that she should get a check-up...but mind you, the gash had been open for weeks. My mom undid the wrapping the lady put on her foot and there were maggots eating at the lady's flesh inside her foot.

My mom and another medical assistant had to dig them out from this lady's foot. The night she told me this, I was dumbfounded by how stupid this woman was not to go to a doctor once she got the gash.

lb_greater_than_rb

41. Saving Money At What Cost?

I had traveled internationally and started having bad stomach problems. I have IBS and assumed my change in diet while traveling triggered the symptoms. I considered going to a doctor but was worried I’d get stuck with a huge bill for a foreign ER visit over probably nothing. I made it through a few more days feeling thoroughly horrible and somehow made it through the two long flights and long car ride home.

Thankfully I had an aisle seat for both flights since I was constantly getting up to use the bathroom. I arrived home on a Sunday evening, and the following Monday was a federal holiday, so my doctor was closed. My insurance charged a lot to go to urgent care, so I figured I’d wait until the following day to go to the doctor. At that point, I was still thinking it might be IBS, but also starting to think it might be food contamination.

When I saw the doctor, she immediately prescribed a strong antibiotic as well as an anti-nausea medication so I could keep it down. I got my test results back a few days later, after I was already feeling better, and discovered I spent a week with E. Coli and campylobacter (another foodborne virus). Had I known how sick I was and how quickly antibiotics would help, I would have gladly paid the premium to see urgent care or even the foreign ER.

polarbearcub

42. Love The Skin You're In

I'm an ER doctor and there’s one case I’ll never forget. I had a patient come in for a cast removal literally YEARS after it had been put on. She had just decided it wasn’t worth taking off. Her leg skin was literally growing OVER the top of the cast and then down it. Once we finally cut the cast off, she was surprised to find that she had no skin underneath...

Instead, the dead tissue over her muscles and bones was being cleaned by about 300 maggots. I knew by the smell that something under there wasn’t right, but wasn’t expecting that. The patient seemed completely fine with it. Whatever.

spiderinside

43. Seeing Black

When I was in high school, I was walking to the bathroom and I immediately felt off. My vision started to dim, the sounds I was hearing became extremely muffled and I lost the ability to stand. I didn't think much about it because those things happened fairly regularly. Since I was in mid-walk, I couldn't catch myself and fell face-first into the tile floor.

I ended up going to the ER for stitches and they were concerned because I had been, in their words, losing consciousness regularly (though, I never actually lost consciousness and was always fully aware). They had me wear a heart monitor for a week and put me on anti-seizure medication. After a couple of tests, the doctors found out that I have really low blood pressure—in the 90s or less, most of the time.

When I stand, it can cause the pressure to drop dramatically. Everything I was experiencing was actually the side effects of shock.

NegativeKarma4Me2013

44. When Dayquil/Nyquil Fails

I was 19 and had what I thought was a bad cold for a little over a week. I lived alone and had only taken a couple of days off work, just resting and doing the Dayquil/Nyquil cycle trying to get over it. My mother came around to return a car I had let her borrow, and when she saw me and learned how long I'd been fighting the cold, she insisted I go see a doctor.

I remember getting into the car and then waking up in recovery several hours later. Apparently, I passed out on the way there and got rushed into the ER where they decided I had pneumonia. A couple of days later, the doctor told me if I'd gone another day, I probably would've died at home. Honestly, I didn't feel that sick.

AM1N0L

45. Bump On The Backside

I have a disfigured tailbone which caused me to have a weird lump right above my backside. It's painful for me to sit normally and do a lot of other things. I grew up thinking that it was normal because I got the injury at a young age, from an inflatable slide mishap. My parents downplayed the issue for years, so I just thought it was fine.

My doctor did not agree. He never did get around to doing something about my tailbone, but I think the problem was that there really wasn't much that he could actually do. There's the option of removing my tailbone which is just going to be horrible, but I'm not really sure what other options there are...but yeah. A bump above the behind is not normal.

awkwarderest

46. Tooth Fairy Goldmine

I work in a dental office. The most common thing we see is people placing aspirin on their gums next to an aching tooth. All that does is severely burn the gums and make the pain worse. I've also met a few people over the years who have taken their own teeth out with a pair of pliers. One guy we saw had a problem tooth, went to pull it out, pulled the wrong one, then tried again, and finally pulled the problem one.

He shattered the alveolar bone in that area and had to be sent to an oral surgeon immediately.

Permalink

47. Glitches In Time

I was rushed to the ER after frequent blackouts and sudden-onset fatigue. I worked a physical labor job and attended college after my shift, so I didn't think anything about the fatigue and the blackouts. I thought it was just my brain giving me a fast forward through mind-numbing tasks. Typically, I would have blackouts while driving because my commute to work was about 45 minutes and my school was about an hour away from my work. I can’t believe how dangerous it was.

I would get on the highway, blink, and the next thing I knew, I was in the parking lot with 45 minutes having passed in an instant. I told my girlfriend about this and she told me something was wrong; but being a dumb 19-year-old, I ignored it. It wasn't until I was at work stacking chairs that it really started to sink in—I had an empty cart, put a chair on it, turned around to pick up another chair, then turned back to a chilling sight. The cart was full—but I didn’t remember filling it.

When I saw the full cart, it was like someone hit me in the back of the head and I instantly felt like I hadn't slept in days. I ended up sitting down and one of my co-workers noticed I was white as a ghost. The guy in charge forced me to go to the hospital even though I insisted I was fine. Once I got to the hospital and got brain scans done, it turned out I was having mild seizures caused by a lack of sleep.

When I told the doctor about my commuting blackouts, he looked like he just saw a ghost. He told me he had no idea how I didn't crash. He basically told me to find a new job and get more sleep.

Hangman_Matt

48. Wrong Self-Diagnosis

We learned of a medical case involving a  man who had a rash on his foot. He googled it and decided it was eczema or some similar inflammatory disease, so ordered and applied a steroid cream. For those who don't know, those kinds of steroids act by dampening the immune system—the overactivity of which is the cause of diseases like eczema and psoriasis.

However, he, in fact, had a fungal infection and was just reducing his body's ability to fight it off. If I remember correctly, by the time he got to the doctor's, he needed it amputated.

keirlikeswhales

49. I'm Not Crying Wolf

One night, when I was 16, I had a very sharp pain in my right side. I tossed and turned for a couple of hours before getting up and knocking on my mom’s bedroom door; a forbidden action. My mother swung the door open and snapped at me. Then, when I explained my pain, she told me it was just heartburn. She ordered me to drink some milk and go back to bed.

I drank the milk, tossed around my bed for a few more hours, and finally passed out from exhaustion. The next day and a few weeks after that, I felt fine. But then, a couple of months later, the pain was back and I woke my mother in the middle of the night again. She gave me the same response as the first time, and I once again just passed out from exhaustion.

Because it was starting to become a pattern, the next time I felt the pain, I didn’t bother going to my mother and just rode it out. This continued until I was 18. My parents were out of town one weekend and the pain came back worse than ever before, waking me from a dead sleep. After hours and hours of utter agony, hurting to move, hurting to lay still, I broke down and called my mother.

On the voicemail I left her, I told her that I thought I was dying. I finally passed out as the sun began to rise. I was woken up by my uncle banging on the front door and he took me to the doctor, who then referred me to an ultrasound and a surgeon. I was able to get the ultrasound done on the same day but the surgeon didn’t have availability until the end of the week. I didn’t think anything of it as, once again, the pain had disappeared by then.

My mom begrudgingly took me to the appointment with the surgeon, but I’m pretty sure she thought I was faking it since I’d been completely fine all week. I remember sitting in the office with the surgeon, just chatting while we waited for the nurse to bring him my ultrasound file. I’ll never forget when she handed it to him. He opened the folder and the smile immediately fell from his face.

Surgeon: Did they give you any pain meds when you went to the doctor? Me: No, just some antibiotics. Why? Surgeon: Nancy, call my 2 pm and tell them we have to reschedule as I’ll be doing emergency surgery. You should have been sent to me last week. I’ll meet you in the ER. So yeah, my gallbladder had apparently been filled with stones since I was 16 and it kept making more for the next two years. The surgeon said he’d never seen anything like it.

All of this could have been avoided if my mother had just listened to me when I first complained to her.

alltheyarnthings

50. Ignoring The Pain

There are so many, but perhaps one of the most stunning cases was the man who thought searing pain while urinating every once in a while was normal. He would have tremendous back pain for a day or so, which he thought was due to advancing age and the highly physical nature of his job. Not incredibly unreasonable, but something he should have still checked out.

Usually, a few days later, he would have searing pain while urinating, then be fine again. Of course, it turned out to be chronic kidney stone formation. He said he never noticed the stones coming out because he never looked down while urinating. Honestly, I still don't understand. I have had kidney stones myself and it definitely feels like something solid is coming out. Baffling.

1skepticalguy

Sources: 1,2

Shows like Jerry Springer and Maury are built on five legendary words: “You are NOT the father!” Anytime those words are said, the crowd goes wild, the couple starts to fight, and the credits roll. But what very few people get to witness are the events leading up to these revelations and the stunning fallouts afterward. These doctors, nurses, and bystanders were lucky enough to see them firsthand, and they’re here to reveal every juicy detail.

1. Pulling A Fast One

My ex-girlfriend delivered a baby while I was in the delivery room and turns out it wasn't mine. She was 16, while I was 15. All along, I was under the impression that the kid was mine and it was time for me to be an adult. I took all the classes, read the books, and worked every night and weekend to save whatever money I could as a 15-year-old.

When I finally got the call that she was in labor, I had somebody rush me to the ER. Luckily for her, it didn't last long—only about six hours—but there was a complication. The baby came out with the umbilical cord wrapped around its neck. The doctor assured us it was going to be OK, but the nurses were prepping for things to go south. When the baby came out, it was a light shade of purple.

The nurses immediately took the baby and put on the smallest mask they had on it; to help it get the oxygen I guess. I was too panicked to ask a lot of questions. They told us they needed to keep the baby on watch overnight, so I stayed in the room with my ex. The next evening, the baby was back in the room with us and all seemed well. The ex was asleep, and the same nurse from the night before came into the room and beckoned me out.

She told me that at risk of her losing her job, she had to break some harsh news to me. She said that kid was not mine and that, while at this stage it wasn't obvious, over the next few weeks it would become clear that the kid was mixed. Since both of us were white, there was a high probability that it wasn't mine. Cue a mixed bag of emotions, and me promptly waking my ex to get a little clarification.

I came to find out that she knew the chances and was just hoping it was mine because it worked better for her. Apparently, her father was old school and conservative, and she didn't want to have to deal with that. I left the hospital to collect my thoughts, and a few weeks later, I was served with child support papers. One DNA test and about six weeks later, I was determined to be 0.0% that kid’s father.

Wherever that nurse is now, I hope her life is amazing. I understand that she was not supposed to get involved in the personal side of things, but she saved me a lot of additional headaches.

2. The Past Is Present

My brother told me this story about a man he used to work with. My brother's work friend is from an eastern European country and he came to the US many, many moons ago to start his family. One of his sons met a nice girl and they planned to get married, but life happened and the girl got pregnant before they could plan something big together.

Regardless, the whole family was excited about the new baby. The father-to-be was absolutely ecstatic and they had a small ceremony just before the baby was born. When the delivery time came, out popped this little boy who was about 50 shades darker than either parent, and the new dad absolutely lost his mind. In his heartbroken rage, he accused his new bride of cheating on him, disowned the child, and raged right out of the delivery room, leaving the new mom all alone with her mountain of shame.

This guy returned to his family and continued his hate-filled rampage. He exclaimed to his family that his new wife had cheated on him because the baby looked nothing like him. The family was shocked, as they never would have believed this sweet young thing would do that to their son. It was absolute shame and misery all around. Well, sitting in a dark little corner of the room, little tiny grandma chirped up and had a story to tell.

Apparently, back in her glory days, during some conflict or another, she had a great summer fling with a French soldier. A Black French soldier. She got knocked up and due to the times, she had to keep the baby, hoping her family didn't throttle her before she could abandon it somewhere. She ended up meeting her husband shortly after getting knocked up, and things just progressed as if it was his child.

And wouldn't you know, the little thing popped out white as snow. She breathed a sigh of relief because that was going to be the easiest lie for her to keep, ever. So this poor guy had been carrying around this super melanin gene his whole life, knocked up his wife, and it decided to all come out on his sweet little boy. Thankfully, the whole family went with him to the hospital.

The grandma had a picture of her old fella as proof, and the husband and wife were reunited.

3. Oops Baby

I've never cheated on my husband, and after our second kid, he had a vasectomy. Cut to a year later—I discovered I was pregnant (and then subsequently lost the pregnancy). I began to freak out because I knew I hadn't done anything wrong, but I was scared everyone else would think I did. Turns out, my husband was embarrassed to do the whole cup thing at his doctor's, so he never did the sperm count test.

He still had a count and needed further "treatment". Scariest darned day of my life.

4. Chosen Family

My fiancé’s father is almost certainly not his biological dad. His mom was just a genuinely terrible human being who didn’t even try to hide the fact she was cheating. But his dad loved him from the second he was born, and when his mom decided four years later she just didn’t want him anymore, she just gave him to his "dad" and rode off. His dad ended up getting remarried and they tried for kids before finding out his sperm count was too low to ever father children (they ended up adopting many years later). He sat my fiancé down when he was 13 and told him the truth. The dad said that if he wanted to do a test they would, but it was up to him.

My fiancé cried and told him he just wanted him to be his dad, and that was the end of that.

5. Too Close For Comfort

I know a girl who was pregnant with her boyfriend's best friend's baby. He found out there was a possibility about a week before she gave birth. I went up to see her once the baby was born and he looked just like the friend, there was no question. I broke the news to her boyfriend and he was absolutely devastated. His parents were also heartbroken and super angry.

They had bought the girl everything she needed, including a $500 car seat and stroller set. She refused to give anything back. She started up a relationship with the friend immediately after having their child, and they're still together a decade later. There is a cruel twist, however. See, the boyfriend and best friend were next-door neighbors.

She moved into the friend’s house after coming home from the hospital, so her ex-boyfriend and his family had to see them basically every day, raising a child that they had believed to be his for the entire pregnancy. I can't even imagine.

6. It’s What’s Inside That Counts

I had a vasectomy. While chatting with the doctor, he told me about another patient he had. This guy had three kids and came in for the snip-snip because he and his wife decided they were done having children. The doctor opened up his sack…and found nothing to snip. This guy was born without the ability to have any children.

The poor doctor had to explain to him what happened. Imagine finding that out that way.

7. Double Trouble

I worked as a lab tech before I became a nurse. We had a set of twins in the NICU that arrived super early and the mom was still in the OR getting sewed up from the cesarean. I was drawing Baby B’s blood when the mom was wheeled over to Baby A’s isolette. She was crying and said, “Oh, thank the heavens you’re not Black! I have been so worried the last seven months".

Newborn babies, especially when they’re born early, are very pink; almost red, even. So if a baby was part-Black, their skin isn’t necessarily dark yet. But looking at the babies, I knew the truth. It was obvious they were going to be Black. The shape of the face, the texture of the hair...plus, Baby B had an intense Mongolian spot, which you generally see in African American babies.

A few weeks later, my NICU coworker told me that the babies were now on a “no-info status,” which indicated a security alert. We couldn’t give anyone information about them, refer to them by name, etc. She said there was a huge fight because the mom’s husband (who was a white guy) obviously noticed that the babies were half-Black and he accused the mom of cheating on him.

The real dad, a Black guy, came in and didn’t realize the mom was even married. Those poor babies.

8. Too Young To Love

I worked in labor and delivery. One day, we had a very young mother come in, accompanied by her parents. She was just 12 years old and the parents looked stuffy. They kept telling her she should've had an abortion and that she was too young to be a mother, etc. Her mother was silent for most of the time but leaked tears for her constantly. While she labored, I received a call from a very young boy who said he was her boyfriend.

Her father wouldn't let him come to the hospital. I explained that I couldn't give out information, but he could talk to her afterward. I went in, told her he had called, and she showed me a picture of him. He was white with straight red hair and a pimply face—the runt of the litter. About an hour later, her Phys. Ed. teacher stopped by to check on her, which I thought was odd. We didn't get many teachers checking on students, as you can imagine.

He was the total opposite of the boyfriend: tall and very muscular with a beautiful smile and rich, chocolate brown skin. The girl's father then accompanied her to the delivery room. Odd again, but OK. The more she pushed, the louder she cried. In between, she kept saying, “Sorry daddy". Finally, out slid a very beautiful, chocolate brown baby boy.

I thought her father was going to pass the heck out on my delivery room floor. I did my usual "It's a boy!" and said nothing else. I handed him off to a nursery nurse and got dad a chair. The girl said, "I'm sorry daddy," over and over again still. Her mom, now frowned up, came to see the baby. She took one look, then started asking God for forgiveness.

I sent her dad home a short bit later, admonishing him to react at home. I set up a time for our counselor to meet with him before I left. After talking to the girl, she admitted her gym teacher had been giving her "special treatment". I explained intimacy to her and she said she'd only kissed the boyfriend, but had stayed after school to be with her gym teacher.

I'm state-mandated to report child mistreatment, so I did. Two weeks later, with her world shattered—her baby was given up for adoption. I wish her the best. This was in 1989.

9. Crisis Averted

My wife and I are both brown-skinned, dark-haired half-Mexicans, and our moms are both 100% white blondes with blue and green eyes. All this to say, we sort of knew it was going to be a genetic gamble with our baby, but the nurse who was assisting with the delivery had no idea. At one point, she got sort of nervous and called for help. Another nurse, likely more senior in position, came in.

She nodded and came over to talk to me. I thought there was something wrong with the baby as she came over and stumbled through some questions. Then, finally, she asked if either of us happened to be blonde growing up. I said I was and that both the baby's grandparents are as blonde as they come. This wave of relief went over her and she brought me over to see this blonde as heck crowning baby head.

It's funny because he looked just like me but with whiter skin. We often get awkward questions about his heritage and my wife always hits them with, "Yeah, we're not sure if he's mine". It's always funny to see people nod for a moment and then go "Wait, what?"

10. Done And Dusted

I had a college buddy whose fiancée was pregnant. They were the "perfect couple". They both had great careers starting out, and everything was butterflies and rainbows, etc. Fast forward to the delivery room—they were in there, and out came a very Black baby. He was quite the pale redhead, and she was a blonde, blue-eyed Texas girl. He made sure everyone was OK, waited for her parents to arrive, then left without saying a word.

He moved all his stuff out of the house while she was in the hospital and cut off all communications with her. Just walked out of their lives in the most stone-cold act I'd ever seen. They were together for nine years, and he just left cold turkey. She tried to contact him at his job a few times, but he quickly moved up the ladder and eventually got a job in another city.

He told me once that he took solace in the fact that her family had already dropped about $10k in a wedding that never happened.

11. Slow News Day

I used to work with a guy whose wife was pregnant. Near the delivery time, everyone at our place of business had a big party with gifts, money, etc. When the big day arrived, her water broke, and they got in the car to go to the hospital. She broke the news to him in a horrific way. She told him the baby was not his and that the kid would be of another race. She also requested that he just drop her off at the hospital and then leave.

He took a few days off work, found a new apartment, moved out, filed for divorce, etc. He called into work and told someone what happened, so the news spread pretty fast. All of the congratulations cards were cleaned up and thrown away. Everyone was very sensitive to his pain. Except, somehow—I don’t know how—I did not get the news.

So on his first day back, I walked into the office he shared with six other guys and said, “Hey hey, Daddio, how’s fatherhood so far? Getting any sleep? Got some pictures? Let’s see the little tyke!” He slowly lifted his head to look at me with a painful gaze. The room was completely silent. One of his workmates stood up, grabbed my arm, and walked me out of the room, shushing me.

“What happened, “ I asked, “Did it pass? What’s the problem?” When he told me everything, I about expired myself. I still feel bad for the dude and it’s been 30 years.

12. Calm And Uncollected

I used to work in the newborn nursery at a hospital. We get the babies right from delivery, clean them up, footprint them, check their vitals, etc. Dads usually came in with the newborns. So one day, this dad came in with this baby. The dad was white, the mom was white, and the baby was very obviously not white. The dad was very quiet standing next to the baby, watching us clean it up.

He said quietly, "I don't think this is my baby". You could tell he was absolutely devastated. We advised him not to sign the birth certificate until he was sure. Not sure what happened after we sent the baby back out to the mom, but I felt awful for the guy.

13. Switched At Birth

This happened with my husband's parents. This was 40+ years ago when they took the baby away to be all cleaned up. My husband's dad looked at the baby and said, "That is not my son!" The nurse says: "Oh, yes it is. Sometimes they just look different after they're cleaned up". But he still asserted, "No! That is definitely not my son!"

Then, down the hall, they heard another parent say to his partner, "WHAT THE HECK, THIS BABY IS WHITE! YOU CHEATED ON ME?!" The nurse got wide-eyed and said, “Let me go check on that" and scooped up the baby. Turns out, they accidentally switched the babies. It's a great story, but wow...Can you imagine if they just hadn't noticed?!

14. Free And Clear

A friend of mine got pregnant in high school. She claimed it was our local doctor’s son’s kid, so he agreed to deliver his grandchild for free. Well, when the child was delivered, it was obviously half African-American, and the doctor’s son and the girl were both white. I think he still delivered it for free, as he was relieved his 14-year-old son wasn’t a dad.

15. Unhappy Birthday

Labor and delivery nurse here. Black babies are usually a lot lighter at birth. Not everyone is aware of this, so I’ve had a few dramatic deliveries where the father looks at the baby and accuses the mom of cheating because the baby isn’t as dark. There’s always a lot of drama, but if the father is accusing the mother of cheating right after the delivery of their child, then their relationship dynamic might not be the best, to begin with.

16. Order Up

I work in anesthesia. One of my colleagues had someone deliver a baby with "Steve's Lunchbox" tattooed above the, er, "birth canal". Not really thinking, the OB-GYN said to the father after the delivery: "Congratulations, Steve". The guy replied that his name was indeed not Steve. I think the doctor felt like a bit of a fool after that one.

17. That’s That, Brittany

I worked in the army hospital in Fort Lewis. A woman came in for belly pain and we found out that she was 10 weeks pregnant. The husband at her bedside started laughing, then he grabbed his coat and left the room. When he explained the situation to us, everything made sense—he said he had been in Afghanistan until three weeks prior. He looked back and her and just said, “Well, that’s that, Brittany".

I always liked how classily he left her while she just silently stared off into space.

18. The Proof Is In The Pudding

When I was born, the Indian doctor told my very, very white parents: "Oh, she looks like an ethnic baby!" It became a funny story years later, but I imagine that it wasn't so funny when my brunette mother had to explain to my blonde dad that yes, the baby with a full head of long, jet-black hair was actually his child. I always wondered if my dad had some doubts about me during the first few months of my life before my hair turned blonde.

19. Caught Red-Handed

I’m a nurse in a Level 4 neonatal ICU. We service the sickest of the sick from our state and the surrounding states, so we see it all. One time, we had a baby that was sick as snot. Lo and behold, we discovered its blood, spinal fluid, etc. was completely septic with herpes. In most babies, we avoid this by treating herpes while the mom is pregnant.

In this case, however, the mom didn’t even know she was a carrier. So where did it come from? This is the awkward and sickening moment when everyone in the room learned the truth. Turns out, the father had an affair and contracted the virus from his lover. So yeah, while the woman’s baby was on the verge of passing, she also found out her husband had been cheating on her. His cheatin’ heart is the reason their baby was sick.

20. Up And Outta Here

My best friend was dating a girl and he knocked her up. They got engaged, then planned to get married right after the baby was born. There were about 10 of us in the waiting room waiting for her to crank out the baby. It was essentially her parents, some of her friends, and some of ours. After we were sitting there for about two hours, he walked out with a smirk on his face.

He said, "Let's go". We all thought something horrible had happened. Her friends asked him how the baby was, and he said, "Fine, but Black". He motioned for us to go, so we followed him. In the parking garage, he told us to follow him to his apartment, then he sent me a text asking if I could put him up for a while. We literally moved him out of his apartment and into my spare bedroom in like an hour, tops.

Her parents didn't know who to be mad at. The confusion on their faces when he told them the baby was Black was priceless.

21. Lost In Translation

I am a nurse working in labor and delivery. Most of the time, if the mom thinks the baby may not be her boyfriend’s or husband’s, they will just have their friend, sister, mom, or whoever is with them there for the delivery and have the dad come to the hospital room after they’ve seen the baby. There are no guarantees because babies can change a lot over a couple of weeks.

Many African American babies have very light skin when they are born and it eventually gets darker. I have had a patient’s husband get upset about the baby being too light (they were both Black) until his mom smacked him and told him that's what he looked like when he was born. Recently, I had something interesting happen that was along the same lines.

This girl came to the hospital in labor with her boyfriend, sister, and friend. The boyfriend didn't seem too engaged during the process, but that was not uncommon. The baby was born and is fine, and the sister sent the dad to get some stuff. Keep in mind: all of the people involved were Hispanic and only spoke Spanish. My Spanish just so happened to be pretty decent.

As soon as the dad left, the sister was like, “I have a question for you” and then proceeded to say something I couldn't understand at all. I asked her to clarify, but I was just not getting it, so I offered to go get the translator. She was like, “No! I don’t want it to be official". She then whipped out her phone and through Google translate asked me, "How can we get a paternity test in the hospital?"

I then had to explain that we really didn't do that, but she could get one at CVS. They told me that the baby didn't look like the couple's other child and that it might be someone else's, but they want to check before telling him. I just apologized and told them how they could get a DNA test at CVS. This wasn't the first time I'd been asked about paternity testing; I just had no idea how to say it in Spanish.

Some hospitals used to offer paternity testing, but many no longer do because it is not usually seen as medically necessary. Also, they usually aren't covered by Medicaid or insurance, so the hospital ends up eating the cost. You don't know anyone else's life circumstances, so it is best to reserve judgment about the choices they have made because not every situation is cut and dry.

Plenty of biological fathers leave and do not support their children, and women are not all lying villains. Life is very gray, just treat people with respect and compassion.

22. Irish Twins

My professor was a labor and delivery nurse, and she once saw a man running between two delivery rooms. See, both the women he had impregnated went into labor and gave birth on the same day. Supposedly, the one he was married to was angry because the woman he cheated on her with was impregnated after the wife, but had her kid 10 minutes before her.

Labor and delivery is apparently the most drama-filled section of hospitals. My significant other is planning to be a nurse and he’s going to work in labor and delivery as well as neonatal this year. I’m excited to hear all the dramatic stories.

23. Almost Got Away With It

My grandmother was a nurse back in her day. Once, she was assisting with delivering a baby and the ostensible father commented that the child looked “good for a premature baby". Without thinking, my blunt, upfront grandmother told the truth sharply: "That baby is not premature". So I guess I know where I get my social obliviousness from now.

24. You Can’t Pick And Choose

I have to give my friend credit for doing something I don't think I could ever do. After being married for years and having a three- and one-year-old with his wife, he discovered that she had been cheating on him. Multiple times, and with multiple men. Anyway, when he found that there was the chance that neither of the kids was his, he bought two paternity tests.

He brought them home, but then the horrible conclusion hit him. He was prepared if they were his. He was prepared if they weren’t. He had NO freaking idea what he would do if one was and one wasn't. So he threw the tests away. They divorced, she keeps seeing people for short times, and he is now remarried to a fantastic person.

25. Stepping Up To The Plate

I had a paternity test done on my son when he was about seven months old. The baby momma constantly told me he wasn't mine, but then came after me for child support. So I got the test done, and he was mine. When my kid was 11 months old, DHS did a random substance test on her and she failed. I then started a two-year battle in juvenile court to not allow the state to "reunify" my child with the mother.

I finally got the juvenile court to release my case to the district court, where we fought for actual custody. During our district court battle, she took my son for a visit, and I got a call from the authorities in a city an hour away that she had been detained in a domestic dispute with her boyfriend at a hotel. They searched her and found all sorts of paraphernalia.

That was the last time she had him unsupervised. We went about two years of her barely calling, seeing him once a month for 10 to 20 minutes, until she finally got detained on "attempt to distribute". She spent three years behind bars and has been out about eight months now. She appears to be clean, and just gave me an extra $100 for child support yesterday.

So we're giving her a shot, but she will remain on supervised visits for a long time. The whole fiasco has been such a blur; it’s hard to remember exactly what, when, or where it happened, especially after years of really not having to deal with her. At the time, it was horrific. She punched me a couple of times, lied under oath, sent me threats, inappropriate photos of her with other men, the list goes on and on.

I've really tried to put a lot of it behind me, and forget about as much of it as I can so she can at least be somewhat a part of my kid’s life because that's what HE wants. I just watch her like a hawk now.

26. Daddy Issues

A distant cousin of mine definitely has children that don’t belong to the father...My cousin was adopted as an infant. She struggled with some developmental issues and has a low IQ compared to most, but can still live on her own with little to no issues. She eventually married a dark-skinned Latino guy several years ago, and they had a son together who has dark hair, dark skin, and dark eyes.

He is easily identified as their son. The real trouble happened years later. Her husband, who we’ll call Javier, has some IQ issues of his own. He's just a little slow when it comes to tasks and reasoning. Anyway, Javier was in the army and got deployed internationally for about six months. When he came home, his wife was four months pregnant...you do the math.

He somehow still believes the baby is his own, even after it was born with pale skin, blonde hair, and blue eyes. If that wasn’t bad enough, it happened AGAIN two years later with another baby—the same blonde hair and blue eyes. Everyone knows she slept with a different man (it was actually her high school boyfriend), but Javier still thinks the children are his.

It’s kind of sad, but at this point, there’s not much we can do. He has raised the kids as his own.

27. Almost Got Away With It…

A good friend of mine was out of the country on an emergency task and I ended up bringing his wife to the ER. We are very close, and all of us went to high school together. I was in the delivery room as she didn’t want to be without anyone there. The baby came out…straight-up Asian. I knew and the doctor knew.

I just walked out of the room right then and there. I had no idea his wife was being unfaithful. All I could hear was her wailing, saying her marriage was over. The nurses quickly picked up on why she was crying. Meanwhile, I called him and told him the news. He explained to his work that a true emergency was at home, so they chartered him a flight.

He filed for divorce right then and there. Only, it got so much worse. During the divorce, it came out that out of their three kids, none of them were my friend's kids. It didn’t just mess him up, it messed the kids up as well because they knew him as "daddy". The court tried to make my friend pay child support for those kids that weren’t his because "they became accustomed" to him as their father.

They claimed he was abandoning them when he had zero biological attachment. Family courts are so biased against men. My friend spent a fortune fighting it out of principle and eventually won. It emotionally ruined him and now he doesn’t trust women. He won’t go on dates or anything because of it. I can’t say I blame him because that is beyond messed up.

28. Down To The Wire

My brother’s friend was in the army and had a short-and-sweet wedding with a woman he had been dating for a few months. She's white American and he's white Hispanic, and the baby came out Black. Until the paternity results came in, she was adamant that the baby was his. She even went to the extent of claiming he was a bad father because he wouldn't claim "his" child.

The results came back and revealed she was a liar. And she thought she was going to stay with him for that army money.

29. Stay-At-Home Scandal

A co-worker’s aunt just found out her dad wasn’t actually her biological dad. She was really big into genealogy and had mapped out her family tree as far as she could go. She also took one of those ancestry DNA tests about two months ago, and her father’s side didn’t line up with what she was expecting. In fact, she didn’t recognize a single name that she was matched with paternally.

She casually asked her dad if he knew any of the names, and he recognized the surname of the maintenance man at the apartment complex where he and his wife lived shortly after they had gotten married. He claimed he was a lousy repairman who always flirted with his wife, etc. The wife had passed a few years ago, so she decided to not tell her dad the news or why she knew those names.

30. Oh, Baby

I was blood typing a newborn once. The mom was an O+, and the baby was AB+... which is more or less not possible. I immediately panicked, because I thought they had mixed up the babies. "Someone has the wrong baby; we're gonna get sued; they're gonna have to give genetic tests the entire nursery; what if they subpoena me for being the idiot who discovered the problem?" All of those thoughts raced through my mind.

After repeating the test three times and getting the same results, I called the floor and told them that they'd either drawn the wrong baby's blood, or they'd switched babies because the mom couldn't be the baby's mother. Nope, it was a donor egg. The redraw matched fine, and everyone was where they were supposed to be. Oh God, my heart, though!

31. Not Me…This Time

First off, my dad wasn't exactly the most faithful man. One of the women he slept with was claiming the child she had was his. There was just one issue: The child was mixed, and both my father and the woman were white as the day is long. It got so heated that their case actually went to The Trisha Show (which is kind of like the Jeremy Kyle Show, but older).

The test results came out, and shockingly enough, he wasn't the father. At one moment during the show, Trisha asked my dad: "Do you have any other kids?" and he just smirked. We never really found out how many women he got pregnant in that time, and it's likely I went to school with my brothers and sisters, but neither of us knew we had the same dad.

I never really found out what happened to the woman or to the baby either, but I truly do hope it grew up healthy and happy. I also hope the mother found peace with herself.

32. Pandora’s Box

A friend of mine and his girlfriend were on again and off again, but she still got pregnant at some point. She swore it was his, but he wanted a paternity test. He moved in with her and her mom, then she had the baby and they took the test. The test took a while to come back, but he and his family were over the moon with the baby, and they kind of started to forget about it.

Then, one day he mentioned it to the girlfriend’s mom and she said, “Oh yeah, she didn’t tell you? It came back a while ago, it’s totally your baby!” Awesome, right? Well, a few months later, they were moving out and he found the test in a box…It was not his baby. He left, but he did try to stay in the baby’s life in the meantime. Sadly, she wouldn’t let him.

33. A Real Man

Nurse here. I once had a couple come in for delivery. The father was Black and the mother was white. The father was so involved and so ecstatic about becoming a father for the second time with this woman. Nothing really seemed off…until she started pushing. The baby girl came out completely white, with dark hair and blue eyes.

Usually, Black babies come out a little pale, but this one was just straight-out white. We had to take the father out for fear of him becoming manic, but he just sat outside the room, on the ground, with his face in his hands. That was one of the saddest moments I think I've ever seen with a father, besides stillbirth. The odd thing after, though, was that the mom didn't want the baby and wanted nothing to do with the biological father; probably out of guilt.

So she left the responsibility of this baby and their other two-year-old boy to this man who didn't even question taking on the child.

34. Clearing The Air

My husband and I were visiting our friends who’d just had a baby. We are the godparents. Anyway, we were standing in the hallway talking to both sets of grandparents. Well, apparently, the hospital has a rule that only five visitors may be present in the hallway, but the security guard had let all six of us in for some reason and we didn’t realize it.

This nasty nurse came up to us, noted that there were six of us, told us someone would have to leave immediately, and then turned to my husband and said, “Oh, are you the daddy?” He had the perfect reply. Without missing a beat, my husband said, “That’s what we’re all trying to figure out here". She got a look of horror on her face and backed away.

35. Back To Square One

I know of a related court case that made it to the state's highest court. So, this Black guy and this white woman who were married ended up separating and they both moved out of the state. Later on, the guy got a phone call from a friend and a relative of his ex, saying that his ex was pregnant and ready to give birth any day now.

The guy drove across the country so he could be there for the delivery. The baby came out white with blue eyes and red hair. The mom said it "must be a trick's baby". Seeing as the guy is Black, he understandably peaced out. Later on, the mom's parental rights were terminated as it was determined she was unfit to be a mother, and the state went about trying to find the biological dad to notify him before the kid could be adopted.

Since the dude was still her husband at the time the child was born, he was legally the presumptive father. The state performed genetic testing and there was a huge twist. Turns out, HE IS THE FATHER. For an extra kick in the pants, the state ended up terminating his parental rights for abandonment. Not a happy ending.

36. Buzzer Beater

A doctor I know was doing his OB-GYN rotation and was training in a very rural and conservative part of the country. It was his first time assisting with delivery. He told me, “I don't know nothin' about birthing no babies, but the attending says, 'Get in there and learn.'” The birth was about to happen, and the woman wanted her husband to leave the room. She insisted.

So the doctor told the husband that he couldn't stay. Plus, medically, we needed to calm the patient to focus on birthing, and she was all angsty with her husband in the room. So the husband left. The birth then completed normally and the first thing the woman asked was, “What color is it?” All the doctor said in reply was, The important thing is that the baby is healthy".

The woman said, “You have to talk to my husband and explain it somehow". At that point, the doctor said, '” I’m sorry, but that is totally not my job. My job was to get the baby out of you and it is out". He then quickly left the room as the husband was on his way in. This lady really was playing the cheating game all the way to the buzzer.

37. Telling On Yourself

My mother used to work in a medical lab many decades ago. One day, another woman who worked in the building was visiting the lab, and during the conversation, she mentioned that she was blood type X, her husband was type Y, and their child was type Z (I don’t remember the specific types). One of the younger lab techs blurted out, “That’s impossible".

The doctor in the lab just stared daggers at him. Luckily, the visitor didn’t notice or didn’t care, and moved along shortly after. My mom still remembers it as one of the most awkward moments she’d ever been privy to.

38. Holier Than Thou

One of my cousins just did a 23andMe test with her dad and discovered that they were not biologically related at all. It was especially horrible because my aunt, her mother, is one of the most ridiculously zealous and judgmental people I have ever met. She screams at the baby cousins when they don't behave perfectly, and she literally threw a pocket Bible at a woman in a grocery store after the woman cursed while on the phone.

She also likes to send me long, unsolicited letters about "God's plan" for my life. Surprisingly, her husband is the most fun and laid-back person I've ever met. He did not deserve this, nor did she.

39. Russian Roulette

This was my great-grandmother’s story. She grew up and in a very bad and poor area of a city near an army base around WWII and WWII. In order to make ends meet, she met up with various men. Our understanding is that she was very good at her job and therefore very popular with all the men around. She did not care what you looked like or your skin color, as long as you paid.

Her first husband finally figured out that she was the infamous “town favorite” when her first kid came out very obviously mixed. They got divorced and she found a second husband who didn't mind…at first. One white child and two mixed babies later, they divorced. Repeat with two out of 11 known living kids being 100% white.

A total of five husbands, as well as several boyfriends and fiancés, walked out on her. The hospital staff apparently used to make bets on how soon she'd be back and what mix the kid would be the next time.

40. What You Don’t Know Won’t Hurt You

My sister got pregnant in high school and later met her now-husband when she was five months pregnant. She is white and her boyfriend is black. The baby daddy, however, was white but not in the picture. At the delivery, I was with our entire family, including my now brother-in-law, visiting the baby. My sister was still in recovery from her C-section.

The brother-in-law picked up my niece, and the nurse looked at him and said, "She should darken up in a few days". We all had a laugh. We knew he wasn't the father, but she didn't. I always wondered if she felt bad or assumed adultery. They have two more girls together and he was able to officially adopt the first baby three years later.

41. Family Resemblance

I'm too young to have witnessed it, but back in the late 1950s or 1960s, my uncle had an affair with a woman who later divorced her husband and became his wife. She had two children with her first husband—or at least, that was the official story that everyone maintained for a good long while. However, it was extremely obvious, based on appearance, that the second of my aunt's two children was my uncle's biological child.

This girl looked nothing like my aunt's first husband or her older half-brother, but she looked exactly like my uncle. As the years went by, the pretense was dropped and was never mentioned again.

42. Cut And Run

My biological father is Greek with very pale skin, and my mom is a white western European mutt. When I was born, I had very dark skin and a full head of thick, black hair. My dad didn’t seem concerned but his mother freaked out. She called my mother and grandmother not-so-nice names and eventually left our lives. My father ended up splitting on us when I was about three weeks old with no explanation.

A couple of months later, my skin lightened, all of my black hair fell, and it turned out he was the father. We’ve never tried to reach back out to his family because, in that first year of my life, they went through a lot of drama including rehab stays, drive-by shootings, an affair followed by a divorce, another baby momma my mother didn’t know about, and so on.

My father and I tried to form a relationship when I was in high school. It went okay at first, and then he got weird very quickly. He urged me to call him dad, insisted on “regular visitation,” and routinely showed up at my friends’ and boyfriends’ houses causing a scene. He also pressured me into getting family pictures taken with his new lady and his five other kids.

By the way, none of us have the same mother, and this is not including the baby he had and ditched before he got together with my mom. I regret ever trying at all. He and his family are still trashy hot messes, and I’m glad my family decided to keep me away from them. The cherry on top—he was working for my husband’s parents when my husband and I first met.

Once my husband’s parents found out who he was and what had happened, they fired him so I would never have to run into him at their business. He had it coming anyway.

43. In The Pink

I was doing epidurals in residency and this Caucasian couple came in. They were from a more rural part of the country and they didn't look or sound particularly educated. Anyhow, the wife was particularly antsy. She was asking when she could go home even though the baby wasn't out yet. Her husband looked bored and uninterested like he'd been there a whole bunch of times.

I usually don't stay in the rooms during delivery, but I just happened to be nearby for this one to give more of the epidural because of a tear immediately after delivery. When I got to the room, the wife was holding her eyes shut and didn't want to see the baby. I looked at the baby and he was obviously Black. Now the husband was paying attention, and he saw what I did.

He kept repeating, "When is that baby gonna pink up?" Louder and louder. The doctor tried to diffuse things by reminding everyone that the moment was critical. He suggested that the baby be taken to the resuscitation area in the NICU and that the father should step out while they repaired the laceration. We called the social worker, then I was called elsewhere, so I don't know what happened afterward...but I can't imagine it was good.

44. Third Time’s The Charm

Long story short, I do marketing for a housing company, and this entails getting testimonials from residents at our properties. This one couple I talked to were probably in their 40s. They told us that their kids were finally out of the house so they decided to downsize. After the formal part of the interview was over, the couple was still talking to us.

They said something like, "Yeah, we couldn't wait to get on with this part of life but...then we accidentally had a third kid. Despite what they say, those dang vasectomies don't work 'cause I still knocked her up!" The wife's eyes were wide and she was looking at us with a panicked expression on her face. My own expression had changed from a smile to pure confusion, but I honestly couldn't help it.

Still not sure if they were telling us the truth or if that guy had actually been raising someone else's kid for 18 years.

45. His Own Mother Wouldn’t Love Him

When I was born, I had to be taken away due to a medical issue. My mother only saw me for a split second. When I finally came back, I was quite tanned because my dad’s side of the family is, but my own mother didn’t even recognize me. She apparently made a big fuss, saying, “This isn’t my child, this baby is Black!” Labor really can mess up your head.

46. Hidden Depths

So this Black couple gave birth to a white baby. Suddenly, the grandma on the mom's side walked in and saw the dad with the baby. Without skipping a beat, the grandmother started talking about how her grandmother was actually white and it involved forbidden love—they met while he was deployed, etc. Turns out, the Black dad was just holding a white family friend's relatively newborn baby who came to visit.

The actual newborn, who was clearly a Black baby, was getting cleaned up in the other room. The couple just laughed it off and the grandma changed the subject, never to speak of the non-existent white grandma again.

47. Blood Is Thicker Than Water

My fiancé's mom is a labor and delivery nurse. One time, she had a patient whose parents were present during her stay at the hospital. The staff there has a whiteboard with some general information about the patients like blood type, time spent in the wing, and how far along. This information is nameless for HIPAA reasons and instead has a patient’s number.

So this patient happened to be the only one in the wing at the time. Her father was walking back from the cafeteria at one point and he noticed the board. He stopped one of the nurses and asked if the blood type for the patient on the board was correct since he knew his daughter was the only patient there. It was B+. The nurse confirmed it was correct.

Turns out, he knew his and his wife's blood type. He was O+ and his wife was A-. This combination will never yield a B+ baby. He brought his wife out and just pointed at the board—a look of shock just washed over her.

48. Never A Dull Moment

My wife is a registered nurse as well as a hospital supervisor. “Code Yellow” is the code over the intercom for security and/or large male nurses needed. It rarely ever happens, but every now and then, over the speakers, you hear a “Code Yellow to Labor and Delivery". You know the reason.

49. Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey

Lauren Lake's Paternity Court is incredible. My favorite case was one where the woman spent almost the entire 25 minutes going over all this "proof" that the kid was this guy’s kid. She used facial similarities and even brought in a witness to attest that she was of good character and wouldn’t cheat. She also tried insulting the guy, saying how awful it was that he denied his child.

Through all of this, the guy just stood there quietly; not saying a word, not defending himself, nothing. Finally, the judge asked if he has anything to say or if he would like to plead his case. He motioned to the only thing on the desk: A manila folder. The plaintiff took it to the judge, and she opened it. Its contents changed the whole case. She read it for a minute, then dismissed the case in the favor of the guy.

Turns out, he had been deployed overseas in Afghanistan during the year before, which was when the pregnancy and birth occurred. He came home after four years and was introduced to "his" two-year-old child.

50. It Doesn’t Add Up

My aunt is a nurse in the maternity ward. She had a couple come in and they were both very Black. Well, the lady had a baby and it was white as heck. Like, totally pale with no trace of any pigment. They put the baby on her mom and the mom started yelling about how it wasn't her baby and they must have taken hers away. In all fairness, women can get very confused after delivery.

She was sobbing and freaking out while the father was just sitting there looking very confused. Even he realized that if she did cheat, there was no way the baby would be THAT white. The doctor and nurses were trying to assure her that it indeed was her baby and that the skin would darken later. But it was something else entirely. It was the mother-in-law who solved the puzzle.

When the guy called his mom, she pointed out that they had a second cousin who was albino and maybe the baby got that gene. Turns out, that's exactly what happened—the baby was albino.

Sources: 1, 2

You can choose your spouse, but unfortunately, you can't choose your spouse's family. From mothers, fathers, sisters, and brothers-in-law, we’ve rounded up the wildest in-law experiences the unluckiest people of the internet have to offer. These stories prove that in-laws can become outlaws in a snap.

1. The Last Straw

Unfortunately, my brother endured a lot of drama in his first marriage. My mother always tried to be supportive of his ex-wife but she was a daughter-in-law straight out of a nightmare. The marriage eventually fell apart when she abandoned their son at daycare and ran away to start a new life. The silver lining is my brother ended up with full custody of my nephew.

The straw that broke the camel's back for my mom was when the estranged daughter-in-law tried to take their son as well as my brother's car. My mom was there to witness the whole thing, including frantically crashing the car into a light pole. Luckily nobody was hurt. My mother never forgave her for that and was active in making sure she never got custody of her son.

2. I Can’t Take It Anymore

My mother-in-law and I have a good relationship but she doesn’t get along with her other daughter-in-law. They tried to go to lunch a couple of times, but the conversation continued to come back to the daughter-in-law telling my mother-in-law how she could change her personality to be less annoying. Seriously. This lasted for a couple of months.

Finally, the daughter-in-law lost her temper and started screaming at our mother-in-law how she could no longer be part of this ruse. She said all her attempts at being friendly were pointless because our mother-in-law was too stupid. To this day they don't get along and family gatherings are always super uncomfortable.

3. Mind Your Manners

My mother-in-law is a self-proclaimed expert on etiquette. If they come over for dinner her first comments are critiques on the place settings. She tells my wife that she “should have Carly (her sister) teach you how to set a table". She stresses out everyone at the table and makes every dinner a formal affair with her instructions.It doesn't upset my wife as much as it does me, but it makes me furious.

She visibly gives preferential treatment to her other daughter more than my wife. Carly is divorced and working a loser job, yet her mom reminds us that she’s "leaving my antiques to Carly, she knows how to appreciate things like that". I know it hurts my wife, but she never admits it.

Disposable70

4. Wrapped In Anxiety

My mother-in-law has anxiety over giving gifts. She asks several times what to get anyone, then asks where to buy it, how much is it, and are they sure they want it. This isn't her just being cautious or detail-oriented, she just hasn't taken the time to know what people like and can’t be bothered to think for herself. I told her for several years to buy something that you think they might like, and it was always odd gift cards or once, a pair of men’s slippers for my eight-year-old son.

Now it's easier telling her exactly what to get. However, she then constantly messages the gift receiver to see if it has been delivered, did they open it, and did they like it. She will start messaging before the birthday or celebration and then continue until it’s verified that they like or dislike the gift. If they dislike it, then the gift receipt is in the wrapping and this is how much it cost.

I spent years suggesting lovely presents for her grandchildren—then she would take all the credit!

ShadowShell78

5. A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words

My brother and I started a successful event photography business. He was the photographer and I managed administration, marketing, accounting, bookings, and web management. Even though he was the main photographer I went to every shoot as secondary and did the leg work of holding lights and running around to take photos of the guests.

I never complained because my brother was the one who invested in equipment and we split everything fifty/fifty. This business was my sole income and after two years all of my bills relied on it. Eventually, I made a terrifying decision. I decided to drop out of university and focus on it full-time. I was close to my brother’s wife and we worked out together three times a week.

I had opened up to her about my mental health struggles and how they were the first people to make me feel safe and understood. I had never opened up like that to anyone else before, and the two of them got to see me at my most vulnerable. One evening, she broke down crying over the fact that my brother spent so much time on the business that she no longer felt secure.

She said that she felt safe when he had a salary job and they were thinking about their future. Now, everything was uncertain and he was always irritable and focused on work. He was having mood swings and getting angry for no reason. With my struggle, I immediately understood! I told her to forget about the workout and to go home and have a talk with him.

I told her to be honest about her feelings and to have a true heart to heart without pride. I told her that my brother loves her more than anything and that if they decide for him to leave the business, I would accept their decision. I told her not to think about me and only see it as a matter that involves the two of them and no one else.

Later that night she texted me that they talked, and everything is good. I told her I was glad and asked what they'd decided regarding the business. She was avoiding the subject and kept saying things like "I'm lucky to have a sister-in-law that worries about me". I let it go and just decided to wait for the business decision. After three days, I asked her again but she still deflected.

I told her, "I do have to know what's happening with work. I have clients waiting to hear back from me". At that point, seemingly out of nowhere, she simply texted back, "I don't know what is going on, but you clearly have unresolved issues and I just can't deal with it. Sorry". I was totally stunned—but this was just the beginning. After a hurtful, pointless back and forth she told me to ask my brother to drop off my stuff from their house.

An hour later, my brother e-mailed me asking for all of the leftover client information that I hadn’t had a chance to update in our software. I seriously couldn't understand what was happening. My other brother went to pick up my stuff, and my sister-in-law told him I told her to break up with my brother and come live with me.

She also said I was salty at my oldest brother for yelling at me when we did business and tried to manipulate her into leaving him. She told this story to everyone, including my mom. They locked me out of the website and all of the software we shared with all the client information. My brother had all the equipment. I had absolutely no qualifications or savings.

I ended up getting checked into the hospital for stress and my older brother came to visit. I was excited he wanted to repair the relationship but all he wanted was tips on how I managed administration and certain high-end clients. Even now as I’m writing, he and his wife have continued the business. They ruined a lot of the relationships I built but are somewhat successful.

6. Love Lock Out

My daughter-in-law decided, after years of manipulating my son, to walk out on him and their two kids. A few hours later she changed her mind and sent him multiple demands to make the marriage work for a week. When he wouldn’t budge, she broke into the house while he was out and changed the locks causing him and their two young kids to be homeless.

7. Full-Time Divide

This story is from one of my mom’s friends. Her son was studying to be an engineer until he met his future spouse. She was very up front that she wanted to be a full-time mom and not work. He ended up dropping out of his degree when she got pregnant and now works at a bad job. She doesn’t let him speak to his family anymore, and my mom’s friend says it feels like she lost her son.

8. An Irish Goodbye

This is about my cousins’ wife, so my aunt’s daughter-in-law. They are both really alike and like to party. The first time I met her was at my grandfather’s funeral. Unfortunate circumstances but you could spot her a mile away. She was dressed like Betty Boop; too much makeup and a sheer, black tube dress. I know everyone processes grief differently but this was unique.

After the funeral, we held a sort of Irish wake at my uncle's house, whereupon my cousin's wife approached every male cousin, asking them to do shots with her. I avoided her, so I was last. She got to me when I was on the driveway with two other cousins. One she had already approached inside. The other cousin, through grinding teeth responded, "The Mother. Of. My. Newborn. Child. Is. Inside".

I'm less creative, so I tried to ignore her hoping she would get bored and leave me alone. At first, she tried to chat. Then she tried to dance. There was no music and I was getting increasingly uncomfortable. She moved around to my back and in a final attempt for attention, bit me! I let out the weirdest yelp and hopped away from her.

Eventually, she got the hint and left. When I checked my backside later, I had a dental impression turning into a purple bruise. I tried to actively avoid her at family functions and heard a rumor that on the morning of their wedding, my aunt offered to pay for 100% of the wedding if my cousin ran away! Neither one of them will confirm or deny.

9. Tell Us What You Need!

My sister-in-law does everything in her power to be negative about my mom. Her reasons range from my mom selling her and my brother a truck instead of giving it to them for free, and feeding her on a real plate instead of a paper plate. She’ll get mad if my mother doesn’t make her soup the same day she gets sick and also furious if my mom texts or calls.

We’ve never been able to understand her mentality but my brother tried his best to keep the peace. Unfortunately, he passed last April, and my sister-in-law made everything about her instead of letting our family grieve. We’re still trying to figure out how to communicate and keep her happy to see our nieces and nephews.

10. Mother-In-Law Detective

Our neighbor became a grandmother and was next-level excited. She began showing us pictures and planning how quickly she could get to her son and his family. She was constantly talking about how hard her daughter-in-law is trying to be a good first-time mom and how stressed out she is. They decide she should fly down two months later, and she secures the time off work.

We were really surprised when she was back home two weeks later and very unhappy. We didn’t want to pry but the whole story came out a couple of days later. When she finally told me, my jaw hit the floor. She had taken the baby out for a walk and realized she forgot baby wipes. She figures she’ll head home a little early and can leave again if the mom wants her to.

As soon as she arrives back in the house she, unfortunately, hears her daughter-in-law screaming a man’s name that was not her son’s from their bedroom. She decides to call her son at work, and he comes home two hours early from work, with the other man stumbling down the sidewalk half-dressed, and the daughter-in-law crying.

She tried to convince her husband it wasn’t what it looked like but our neighbor convinced her son to get a paternity test. She returned home furious and disappointed and her son began divorce proceedings. If she had never gone for the trip who knows how long her daughter-in-law would have kept the secret!

11. Fuel The Fire

Each family has its issues but my in-laws favor my sister-in-law over my husband and it's very obvious. They ignore our phone calls and texts and then act as if we isolate ourselves. When my husband moved out, they didn’t talk to him for a year. When my sister-in-law moved out they bought her a car and paid for her insurance and gas to make sure she came home for visits.

Reddituser1234568905

12. Beep Boop Success

My ex-in-laws always told me I needed a real job. I worked in IT security but that’s not a "real" job to them. My father-in-law was a store clerk before a Sheriff's office dispatch supervisor, and my mother-in-law was unemployed. Their son worked a lot of part-time roles and none of their three daughters have ever worked.

This irritated me, and I was always shunned and talked about negatively. Their friends always looked at me weirdly and wondered why I didn't have a job. I would explain what I did, and when people found out the truth, it was different. I still never felt good enough. My ex-wife always questioned my career choice and it eventually was emotionally damaging, hence the divorce.

At least I got the last laugh, though. Leaving that marriage was the best decision I ever made. I'm doing great in my career. I love the work, and I love what I do. I love my education, my certificates, and my experiences. I'm proud of myself and keep going further every year constantly expanding my knowledge. Plus, I make good money doing it!

PC509

13. What’s In A Name?

My mother-in-law called my husband today and told him she had a list of potential baby names for us to choose from. We had already picked a name and told her our choice. She was shocked and surprised we hadn’t consulted her. She then insisted we should change it to one of her suggestions. My husband quickly shut that down, but I imagine it’s just the beginning.

ToastedMaple

14. Save Your Breath & Bets

My father-in-law has no filter. On my wedding day, during our dinner, I overheard him say, "We'll see how long this lasts". He is also super inconsiderate with other people's time and is constantly hypocritical. I'm not a big fan of his. My mother-in-law, on the other hand, is great and I love her to pieces. I don’t know what she sees in him.

Silas-Alec

15. Day One Debt

My brother’s ex-wife has always caused drama. Before they got their own house they moved in with our family. We have a large age gap so when she moved in I was a teenager. My mom had no problem with me bringing friends back to our house as long as we kept the noise down. My sister-in-law completely took advantage of this, sending my brother down to yell at us when no one else complained.

It made my brother so uncomfortable he would try to leave the house if I had friends over to avoid an argument. One time, he came downstairs to tell us we were being too loud, and my mom overheard. She was in disbelief and blew up. She shouted at my brother before going upstairs and giving my sister-in-law a piece of her mind.

My sister-in-law moved out for a bit but came back eventually and made sure that my brother spent all his time and attention on her. She makes him pay for trips to New York and England because she needs tattoos from Instagram famous artists. We barely hear or see my brother anymore because she’s still holding a grudge from that one night years ago.

In the previous year when they couldn’t travel and had to stay home, she found out how bad my brother’s debt was from funding their lifestyle and she left him. My brother was so embarrassed we didn’t find out for weeks. Even though she left him to pay off everything, the future is bright and we can’t wait to forget she was ever in our lives.

16. Spectrum Of Love

I helped my husband and mother-in-law realize they were on the autism spectrum. As someone on the spectrum who also has ADHD, I’m still the awkward daughter-in-law who has no clue how to connect with people. She accepts me and she’s more of a mum than I’ve ever had and I’m so thankful but I don’t know how to tell her!

17. Supporting Their Granddaughter

I'm the horrible daughter-in-law. One of our kids asked to change pronouns and begin living as a girl, which we fully supported. It wasn't a surprise to us, we've seen it coming for a long time, and had gone so far as to let some family members know that it seemed like our child was on that path. Well, my father-in-law told my husband that I was forcing our child to do this since "I hate men".

We decided that our children would no longer be going to their house unsupervised because we weren't going to subject them to that attitude. Then Covid hit which meant they couldn't see the kids at all. Mother-in-law threw a fit about how unfair all of this was to her. They've both decided I hate them. I have very little sympathy for the corner they've backed themselves into.

18. Presents From Mom

My sister-in-law hasn't worked in ten years, while my brother works sixty hours a week. Even though she gets an allowance for being a stay-at-home mom, she spends it frivolously. My brother went years without a birthday/Christmas/fathers day card or gift from her. My mom used to come down for weeks at a time whenever my sister-in-law was under the weather.

Last year, my mom bought my brother a big, expensive, birthday present. He's worth it, we always try and remind him what he's worth. Well, my sister-in-law threw a temper tantrum. Mum looked her point-blank in the face and said, "You want to argue with me because I treat your husband better than you?"

19. Three Sides To Every Story

From my previous mother-in-law, I’m the villain daughter-in-law, and she's not wrong. My ex-husband only told half of the story. When we first started dating, he lied and said I got mad and broke up with him because he had a female friend. He also said I said if he wants to get back together, he could never see his friend again.

The problem is he was going out until the early hours of the morning with his friend, forgetting about me completely or the plans we had. I chose to end things, and then he begged for me to take him back. At the time I told him he lacks boundaries and I don't think this will work. He offered to stop seeing his friend which I didn’t need or want.

Throughout our marriage, anytime we had a disagreement he'd go to her with his half-truths and she'd eat them up. So to her, I was controlling, evil, and manipulative. He told me she didn’t like me and she treated me horribly because of what he was telling her. I could never understand what I had done wrong but eventually stopped trying.

20. Sparkle & Shine

My first mother-in-law was over the top. She lived five minutes from our apartment, and she came to clean five days a week. She was always telling me to clean more, or how to clean better. All our conversations were about cleaning. She would come over unannounced on my days off when I was laying in bed, and yell at me for being lazy. It was exhausting.

While I was trying to fall back asleep she would tell me what and how she was cleaning, screaming advice from the other rooms. Before I moved in with my ex-husband I cleaned my house three times a week. I left home at fourteen years old and valued my own space. When we moved in together he was twenty-seven and I was twenty-four.

Eventually, I had enough and couldn’t live with it anymore. I was tired of feeling lazy because he wouldn't stand up to his mother. When we broke up, she texted me and asked why I broke up with him. I told her in a kind manner that I thought he had a lot of growing up to do, and that it would be helpful if she would let him do this on his own!

21. Generational Curse

I am writing this on behalf of my grandmother. Unfortunately, my uncle and his wife constantly take from her. My grandparents gave my uncle and his wife everything. They lived on the farm that my grandpa grew up on. My grandparents moved into the ranch next door that my great grandparents built, and my aunt and uncle moved into the farmhouse.

My grandparents owned it all up until my grandpa passed and my uncle convinced my grieving grandma to sign it away to him. He and my aunt auctioned off the farm equipment before my grandpa’s body was even cold, and now they lock up all the sheds and garages. My grandma needs to ask permission now for anything on her property.

When I visit my grandma, I hear the outside basement door creak open and I know it’s my aunt sneaking downstairs to go look for something. My grandma can’t hear that door from the living room so my aunt takes advantage to go unseen. My mom and the rest of my aunts even bought my grandma a fridge and freezer with a lock on it because her food would go missing.

22. Call Me By Your Name

I have three daughters so I have three sons-in-law. I don’t like my middle daughter’s husband but I have a pretty funny story about him. My husband and I own a construction company and had hired him to help us. We were working on remodeling a 1922 house. I had surgery on my right foot so I couldn't drive, but was getting driven around by my daughters or husband.

One day, my sister drove me over to the construction site and my middle son-in-law was there. I accidentally left my cellphone at the site. In my cell, I have my husband saved as his pet name which is Mr. Snowflake. I tried calling my cell to find it but my son-in-law sees Mr. Snowflake on the caller display & goes home to tell my daughter that he thinks that I am having an affair.

My daughter thought it was hilarious and asked him if he was serious. She told him there was no way I was capable of having an affair. The next day hubby and I go back over to the site and I see my cellphone. I am so relieved and call my husband his pet name in front of my daughter and son-in-law, who starts laughing. He then tells us his suspicions and now refers to me as Mrs. Snow.

23. Set The Bar Low

My boyfriends’ sister-in-law sets the bar low for anyone else joining the family. She was already needy before the wedding two years ago, but her insecurities ramped up after the ceremony. They just fight constantly because she says he must be having an affair and he works too much. Meanwhile, he’s only working overtime because she refuses to get a job.

She’s done everything she can to catch him in the act, including calling his parents in the middle of the night screaming about being abandoned, and one time barging into his parents’ house accusing them of hiding him and his mistress. With the pandemic last year he was laid off and now he’s home all the time. Now she’s mad because he’s home too much!

24. Family Values

I have two brothers, and unfortunately, they share the same terrible taste in women. My younger brother met his current fiance while she was dating our older brother. The relationship was horrible from the beginning but continues to get worse every year. In the beginning, she would spread rumors at family gatherings or make a big deal to get invited and then not show up.

She finally chose which brother she wanted to date full time, but doesn’t trust him because of how their relationship started. So she’ll play power games to see if he will always choose her. She’s organized a family dinner in a restaurant and then called after we’ve been waiting that they weren’t coming. She’s canceled weekend trips after they were booked and non-refundable.

While my sister was in university they tried to guilt her into cat-sitting for them every weekend and called her selfish for saying no. Then she jacked up the crazy to 11. She asked my sister to choose between them and our parents, telling her she couldn’t speak to one anymore. She brought it up in a group situation and my sister-in-law made a huge scene.

When our grandmother passed they sulked because my brother didn’t “get enough” from her will. Then they decided to move over 200 miles away from our parents and then got angry that no one helped them move or decorate. My father broke his leg right before they moved and they accused him of doing it on purpose to avoid them.

At one point they had a dog that bit me, my partner, and my dad on various occasions. They refused to train it or engage in any kind of dog lessons. They decided instead to tell the family not to come over to their house or our parents’ house if they were there as they wouldn’t be able to relax. They've given the dog away now.

When they got engaged, they didn't invite my stepdaughters to the wedding, just my partner, our daughter, and myself. They said my stepdaughters "aren't really their family"—then couldn't understand why our family declined their invitation to go to their destination wedding. It was scheduled for summer 2020, so we’re still not sure if it happened or not.

25. Mother-In-Law Guidelines

My mother-in-law has not met her six-month-old granddaughter yet because she refuses to listen. Every time we schedule a visit she seems to want to push her agenda on us. My husband is the only child currently with a grandchild, so her excitement is understandable, but we are holding firm. This was happening during the pandemic, and we were stressed about our families’ health.

The first time she tried to schedule a visit was right after I had delivered. We said we’re not comfortable with visitors. She said she would follow CDC guidelines and that she will come over after two weeks of quarantine and a negative COVID test. We still said no and she wanted to know if my family was allowed to visit or if we were targeting only her.

She calls again and my husband told her we would be comfortable with her visiting in a month. She said a month was too long and set a date for three weeks. Then she planned what time she would be there without asking about our newborn schedule. She called back later to tell us she would be wearing a mask and gloves. The visit came and went. Unfortunately, the nightmare wasn't over.

The next visit was scheduled for when they get their COVID shots. We schedule a date to go to their house and then she ends up being scheduled to work while we were there. I asked my husband if we should reschedule and he said his dad will take care of any attitude and we’re still going. She calls to schedule another visit for a month later.

She calls my husband and says she can come down on a day I was at work since I seem to be the one that is preventing her from seeing her granddaughter and “she doesn’t need to see me she just wants to see her granddaughter and son". My husband told her that was not a good idea as I was not home so she will have to wait.

She texts him the next day and says the visit is too far away, can we make it earlier? My husband asks me if that is ok and I told him I have too many things on my schedule at the time. He tells her this and his dad calls the next day to ask what we were so busy with that we can’t carve out the time to let them see their granddaughter.

His dad also says that they would like to sit down and discuss their lack of visitation. They were under the impression that as grandparents they could come over whenever they wanted and are upset with constantly being told no. I told my husband we are canceling the next visit because I feel like it will be an ambush of their agenda.

My father-in-law told my husband that he should be trying to make his mother happy, but my husband said he was going to continue making his wife happy. We told them we will not set any future visit dates until we are comfortable. He was stressed about the strain this would put on their relationship, but he is standing by my side. We have listened to them all of our marriage and I am done now that daughter is born.

FullofLoot

26. Chef’s Kiss

I’m learning the hard way not to mix business with family. After my wife and I took a year-long honeymoon in Taiwan we came home to help take care of her grandmother. While we were away my father-in-law was pleading with us to come home because he couldn’t handle the task. As soon as we started helping he disappeared entirely.

Fast forward 6 months and he adamantly starts pursuing buying and opening a restaurant. My wife and I have both been chefs for over a decade and each had dreams to own a restaurant. This felt like an amazing opportunity, and we found a place that's a potential gold mine after a full remodel. After a month of swinging a sledgehammer, he starts treating me differently.

Little things at first but it eventually develops into him insinuating I don’t have the ability to work in his restaurant. When he said that, I told him I disagreed and he scoffed at me. Then he decided  I'm "out". Even though the four of us are in the licensing contract as equal partners, with bylaws that state that decisions must be unanimous.

dbla08

27. Fridge Freeze-Out

My friend’s brother married a girl he met in college. They’re a happy couple and had a baby girl. His father passed so his mother moved in. At first, everyone got along but after a month, the daughter-in-law put a lock on the fridge and pantry doors and minimized the portion of food the mother-in-law ate. My friend removed her from the house but her brother never confronted his wife.

28. It All Started At The Wedding

I’m getting ready for my wedding and get a call from my stepmother asking about the caterer. My mother-in-law had worked with the company before so I called her for the answer. After we hung up, she stormed in and yelled at me, that I “shouldn’t be worrying about stuff like that!!” Then during photos with parents when I motioned for my stepmother to join, I was told, “No, just your real parents".

29. Mother-In-Law Hide’N Seek

My sister has the worst mother-in-law. She refuses to talk to our mother because she is divorced. When our mom enters the room, mother-in-law leaves. After a while it just got ridiculous and mom would enter a room just for fun. No one feels strongly enough to put their foot down and stop the game.

30. Spouse Tourism

The first time I met my in-laws, who live in a different country, I incidentally became blind and paralyzed. Turned out I had a disease called NMO, similar to multiple sclerosis. We lived with them for three years before my father-in-law let it all out. It honestly broke my heart. He thought my illness was too timely and that I was scamming insurance for medical tourism.

He also thought I was taking advantage of his daughter for money since I was newly disabled. I was shocked and hurt because I looked up to him. I wasn’t close with my dad growing up and was excited for a close male role model. My mother-in-law visibly disliked me from the start. Learning her language made her begrudgingly respect me but they don’t call more than strictly necessary.

31. Spray The Love Away

When we were engaged, my future mother-in-law used to go around the house and spray a can of pesticide on every bug she saw. This gave me panic attacks because it felt like I couldn't breathe in between all the pesticide fumes. When that happened I would retreat to a space I felt safe. This happened even though I kept telling her I can't breathe and to please stop.

One day my fiance came to check on me and I told him what bothered me. Future mother-in-law overheard and started crying. She accused me of being jealous of her relationship with her son, and that I wanted to split them up. The argument broke off our engagement. We are still together but will probably never get married.

Sufficient_Hamster90

32. Secret Spatula Storage

I wish my mother-in-law would stay out of my kitchen. Every time she comes over she rearranges it to her liking. It wouldn’t be so bad if she wasn’t completely clueless on how to organize a kitchen. She also cooks solely with a fork and has ruined countless nonstick frying pans to the point I hide them when she visits.

DKmann

33. Electric Connection

My in-laws love telling me what to do with our money when they are in so much debt and won't take any advice themselves. I’ve been working since I was fifteen and consider my frugal skills top-notch. I suggested they should switch electric companies since they are paying almost five cents more per kWh, or $1,200 more a year.

Chase185

34. Only The RSVP Is Free

My mother-in-law constantly tries to plan family vacations that require me to waste my time and money to attend. Without asking, she'll reserve hotel rooms six months in advance and then tell us she planned a week-long vacation for everyone. If we protest, she immediately guilts us with "but I already booked the rooms".

dotjackel

35. For The Love Of Odin

My in-laws walk into our house when they arrive without knocking, especially when they didn't tell us what time they were coming over. Obviously, this has led to some...awkward situations. We’ve been in the middle of intimacy when my father-in-law announces his arrival. It’s been a mad dash to get dressed and completely unnecessary. Knock, for the love of Odin. It's not that hard to be polite.

Trip_243

36. Got Room For One More?

One morning, my mother-in-law shows up at our door. "I am tired of taking care of myself so I am moving in with my son". My husband was at work so I responded, "Half this house is mine. I don’t think so". Cue massive temper tantrums and husband having to leave work for the day. The authorities helped us explain you cannot just show up at anyone's door and expect to move in.

lisasimpsonfan

37. One Great Husband—Two Terrible Parents

My mother-in-law knows exactly how to get under my skin. She is condescending. She's rude. She called my daughter the name she wanted us to name her for several months until I finally snapped at my husband to sort her out. My father-in-law is absent at best. He’s been divorced from her since my husband was a baby and we only met at the wedding.

LowkeyPony

38. With This Will I Thee Wed

My father-in-law passed this summer, which prompted the family to take out the will for my mother-in-law to get it redone. It was also a nice chance for the family to get together. The will had been the same for thirty years. Due to the large age gap between siblings, my husband’s oldest sister had a six-year-old when he was born.

My mother-in-law looked at her daughter and said, “It says you should get custody of your brother. Do you want me to change that or leave that part in?” After a comical debate, a consensus was reached. No one wanted the responsibility. I was informed that he is now my legal responsibility. Fingers crossed we don’t get a divorce.

39. Life Un-Filtered

My mother-in-law is lovely but her one bad habit is taking unflattering pictures of people and posting them on her Facebook. She doesn’t ask if she can post them and she doesn’t tag you. She’ll also go through your old Facebook albums, download them, and use them to create collages which she’ll post randomly with a caption like “look at my beautiful daughter-in-law!”

whysweetpea

40. The Future Is Bland

My future mother-in-law believes in a lot of trendy homeopathic cures and tends to repeat herself incessantly during meals. My future father-in-law loves to micromanage and state the obvious. His worst feature is his cooking. His steak goes from the freezer straight into boiling water until it reaches a hockey puck texture, and it is then slathered with ketchup.

Glittering-Star-105

41. What Are The Facts?

My in-laws are very into conspiracy theories. They study everything from anti-mask to anti-vax, the earth being flat, and anything else. They shove their beliefs down our throats anytime we visit, even though my husband and I have clearly told them we aren't interested. We ignore all of their messages directing us to website proof and re-routing most conversations.

idfkif

42. Everyone’s Got One

My mother-in-law is beyond opinionated. I used to ignore it, but now with our son, it’s beyond irritating. I’ll explode on my husband constantly just so I don’t explode at her. I’m never feeding him enough or dressing him for the weather correctly. My sister-in-law just had a baby and she’s hearing the same critiques. The difference is she can talk back, while I can’t.

Jaxxie88

43. Wholesome Hug

My husband and his mom had a strained relationship due to politics, which impacted our marriage in the beginning. Everything changed a little over a year ago when I got into legal trouble and my husband called his mom to watch our kids. At the time, I was angry he didn’t call my mom but I had already caused enough trouble and didn’t want to argue.

I’ll never forget coming home at 4 am feeling so embarrassed and overwhelmed and she was there, arms wide open to accept and comfort me. This diminutive church-going Southern mama grabbed me and held me for what seemed like an eternity, but in a good way. We may not agree on most things, but I’ll never forget how loved she made me feel at my lowest, without judgment or pretense.

44. Sugar Is Sweet

Overall, I've got it pretty good, and my mother-in-law is sweet and well-meaning. However, we recently took her in after a bad car accident. She's healing well and only using the walker some of the time, but she'll never be strong enough to go back to her old home. We’ve made all the necessary adaptions and are prepared to have her live with us long-term.

What gets under my skin is her diet. My family is 80% vegetarian and loves half the meal to be lightly cooked or raw vegetables. My kids are adventurous eaters that love a wide variety of spices from all over the world. We have dessert once or twice a week, usually to celebrate something special,l and don't keep juice or soda in the house.

We planted a massive garden to eat real, organic food. Unfortunately, she believes everything is healthier if it's boiled due to living during WWII. Now my kitchen has white bread and soda in the fridge. At my son's birthday, we all had ice cream cake, and she went inside and ate half a jelly donut. I can’t believe how long she’s lived eating this way.

procrast1natrix

45. Father Knows Best

It’s petty, but my soon-to-be father-in-law always knows best. He's right more often than not but it can be super irritating when I'm in the middle of doing something and he comes in unannounced, "You should be doing it this way instead!” I wish he was wrong more but otherwise, I love my in-laws and genuinely enjoy hanging out with them.

808snorkeler

46. Let Me Count The Ways

Both of my in-laws have serious flaws. My father-in-law is in denial about how much he drinks and hides it when possible. He also genuinely believes that the government wants to spy on him and is horrible with money. When he was about to lose his house, we drove ten hours in a moving truck and did all the work for his house to be sold.

We then drove ten hours back and he lived with us for three months. That's when his secret came out. His habit started in the morning, which meant I got yelled at in the morning. He was supposed to stay for a year but I was seven months pregnant and the stress became unbearable. We found him a new place to live, and he is banned from our property.

My mother-in-law is wild and manipulative. When we were planning our wedding, I asked her to help plan the decorative details and she refused. The day before the ceremony and she’s walking around and tearing things down because we hadn’t done it right. My mom also caught her stuffing her purse with all the gift bag items in the bathroom.

Even though we asked for no wedding photos to be posted on social media, she did, with full public settings. She thought she was being helpful and found every single person online to tag them in her album. She threw an epic tantrum when we asked her to take it down and didn’t speak to us for weeks. Now she messages us too much scheduling time with her new grandchild.

Last month, she called us six times to update us on restrictions and give us a timeline plus itinerary for her future planned visit. We still haven’t agreed to this and are waiting to see what happens. Her husband is a great guy, but an awkward conversationalist. He’s a super-smart man but can be very particular, and sometimes I compare him to Sheldon Cooper.

However, the worse of the bunch by a mile is my sister-in-law. She is shallow, entitled, and snarky. She was furious after our child was born. She was enraged because people didn't hold the door for her anymore like they did when she was pregnant. This lasted for a few years. She was also annoyed that she no longer got to use the "pregnant or new mother" parking spots at the local mall.

She became hyper passive aggressive when she realized she no longer had the only grandchild. Personal favorite moment was when she got super offended and blocked her mom for three months because she didn't want to quit her job and become her full-time nanny. Apparently, her mom should have been honored by the request!

purple-paper-punch

47. Daughter-In-Law-Disguise

I wish my son never met her. We lived on the other side of the country from them so we didn't have many visits but managed one or two a year. When we visited, the house was clean, the kids were cared for, and our daughter-in-law was fun to be around. However, once we left, life went back to "normal" for my son and grandkids.

She would say she was going to the store and would not come home for a few days. She did not clean, or cook. My son traveled for business and when he was gone she had many visitors in the house. He would come home to a trashed house, trashed car, trashed everything. She would put the kids to bed, then leave to party.

She kept the two oldest kids home from school when he traveled since she was too busy sleeping from partying all night to take them to school. As he was making plans to leave her and take the kids, our worst nightmare happened. She fatally injured the youngest child and is now awaiting trial. We had no idea how bad it was until it was too late.

48. Powerpoint Perfectionist

This is my sister’s experience after living with our brother and his wife. Our sister-in-law has a very particular way of doing things. She told my sister to not do any cleaning because of her schedule and approach. My sister felt guilty for not helping but listened to our sister-in-law. Lo and behold, she gets upset that my sister is messy. My sister was confused—but it was about to get so much worse.

Sister-in-law made a PowerPoint presentation on everything my sister did wrong. These presentations would range from twenty minutes to an hour. When my sister did help, she was told she was doing it wrong and to stop. Now that she had stopped, she was getting in trouble for not helping. It was a lose-lose situation and my sister sat through multiple presentations while living there.

49. On The Road To Recovery

In our marriage, I’m incredibly lucky because my partner’s family has welcomed me with open arms. Unfortunately, my family is from rural Alabama, southern baptists, and stuck in their ways. The first question my grandparents asked when we started dating “Is he Catholic?” because they loathe catholicism. They also had choice words on his skin color.

Their exact quote on if his skin color wasn’t right, they would have “been very sad and couldn’t allow that in the family". The environment growing up wasn’t great and I have similar mental health issues from my parents. The first time my partner met my parents it ended with yelling and tears. I always feel guilty because I kept my family away from him while his is so welcoming.

I hope they don’t think I avoid contact frequently because I dislike them. I try to message them daily and let them know I appreciate things that they do for us. I know they wish we saw each other more often. I’m trying to be better about it but first and foremost I have to work on being the best human I can be, before wife and daughter-in-law.

50. Two For The Price Of One

This is a story about my brother's ex-wife. She did many terrible things during their marriage including instigating a fight with him over the phone, recording him getting mad, and then reporting him to the local authorities. At the end of the marriage, she stopped making payments on their house, and eventually, it was repossessed. They finally got divorced—but what she did next was the worst of all.

We were all shocked to learn she began dating our younger brother. They lasted for two years and we found out she would have secret dates at my mom’s house. Our brother told us after they broke up that she began giving him attention as young as sixteen years old. Our whole family is disgusted with her.

Sources , 2, 3, 4

Shows like Jerry Springer and Maury are built on five legendary words: “You are NOT the father!” Anytime those words are said, the crowd goes wild, the couple starts to fight, and the credits roll. But what very few people get to witness are the events leading up to these revelations and the stunning fallouts afterward. These doctors, nurses, and bystanders were lucky enough to see them firsthand, and they’re here to reveal every juicy detail.

1. Pulling A Fast One

When I was just 15, I was dating this girl who was a year older than me. She got knocked up and I thought it was mine. Being a good guy, I did everything I could to step up - midnight childcare classes, reading every baby book in sight, and working my butt off to save some money.

When she finally went into labor, I was rushed to the hospital. What followed felt like a nightmare. It was a tense six-hour ordeal with the umbilical cord wrapped around the baby's neck—the color was off when it finally came out. The baby needed oxygen and had to be kept overnight for observation. So I stayed in the hospital room with my ex.

Next evening, the baby was back in the room, everything seemed calm. Until the same nurse who'd been there last night pulled me aside. In a hushed voice, she told me the baby wasn’t mine but someone else’s, probably mixed raced. It was a huge bombshell - both of us were white.

I confronted my ex who confessed that it might be true, but she'd just been hoping the baby was mine to avoid some family drama. Totally rocked, I left the hospital to clear my head. Few weeks later, I'm hit with child support papers. Long story short, a DNA test proved I was not the dad, like zero percent.

Wherever that nurse is, I really owe her one. It wasn't her place to tell me but she did save me from a world of hurt further down the line.

2. The Past Is Present

My brother knew this guy who moved to the U.S. a long time ago to start a family. His son met this girl and they planned to wed, but life happened and she became pregnant before they could have a wedding.

Still, they were all thrilled about the new baby. Just as the baby was due, they got hitched in a small ceremony. But the drama started right in the delivery room: The baby-boy, quite darker than either parent, was born. The bewildered new dad lost his cool. He accused his wife of infidelity, disowned the baby, and stormed out, leaving his wife to cope alone.

Back home, he kept ranting about his wife’s alleged infidelity to his stunned family. It was all incredibly depressing. But there was something none of them realized. Amidst the chaos, the family's petite grandma decided to share an untold story.

Apparently, during the turmoil of her younger days, she once had a wild summer affair with a Black French soldier. She got pregnant and couldn't just abort the baby. Hoping to avoid family outrage, planning to desert the baby somewhere, she luckily met her soon-to-be husband. They got along like it was his child.

Fortunately, the baby turned out to be quite fair-skinned. A massive sigh of relief for her as it made her lie much easier to pull off. This guy had unwittingly been carrying this deep skin tone gene all his life, passed it on to his baby, and it manifested surprisingly in his newborn. Luckily, the entire family accompanied him back to the hospital.

Armed with a photo of her past fling as evidence, the grandma helped to fix things up, and the husband and wife got back together.

3. Oops Baby

I've always been loyal to my husband, never even thought of cheating. After our second munchkin, he got snipped. Fast forward a year—I found out I was pregnant (though sadly, we lost it later). I was totally losing it, not because I cheated, but because I was scared people would think I did. 

But I didn't know the full story. Turns out, my guy was too shy to do the fertility test at his doc's. Yep, still had the swimmers and needed more procedures. Talk about a stressful day!

4. Chosen Family

My fiancé's "dad" probably isn't his real dad. His mom was a real piece of work, always getting involved with other men. But his "dad" adored him from the get-go. When she got tired of being a mom four years later, she just handed him over to his "dad" and disappeared. 

His "dad" later got remarried. They wanted kids but found out his "dad" had a low sperm count, too low to father kids (they adopted years later). At age 13, his "dad" leveled with my fiancé, offering to take a paternity test. My fiancé got all teary-eyed and said he just wanted the man to be his dad, so that was the end of their talk.

5. Too Close For Comfort

This girl I know was pregnant with her boyfriend's best friend's baby. Her boyfriend got wind of it just a week before she delivered. I visited her post-birth, and the baby was a spitting image of the friend - no doubts. I spilled the beans to her bf, and he was destroye. His folks were crushed—and ticked off.

They had showered her with loads of stuff, including a $500 baby seat and stroller combo. She didn't return a single item. Directly after having the baby, she jumped into a relationship with the friend, and they're still going strong after 10 years. But here's the kicker - the boyfriend and best friend were NEIGHBORS.

She moved in with the best friend right after hospital discharge, meaning her ex-bf and his family saw them daily, raising a child they thought was his throughout the pregnancy. I can't even...

6. It’s What’s Inside That Counts

Got a vasectomy. Chatting with the doc, he shared a story about a patient. Dude was a dad of three and decided with his wife - no more kids. So, he goes in for the snip...and the doc can't find anything to cut. Turns out, our man was born with no baby-making ability.

The doc had to break that news. Can't even imagine learning about it in that situation.

7. Double Trouble

Once upon a time, I used to be a lab tech, before I switched to nursing. We had these twins in NICU who were born too early. Their mom was still being stitched up after her c-section when she was taken to Baby A's incubator. She was tearful and said, relieved, "Oh, thank god you're not Black! I’ve been worried sick for the past seven months". But there was something she didn't know.

Newborns, particularly those born prematurely, are really pink, almost red. So, a baby of mixed race wouldn't necessarily have a dark skin tone yet. However, it was clear to me that these babies were of African descent. Their facial features and hair texture gave it away, plus Baby B had a profound Mongolian spot, typical in African American kids.

Sometime later, another NICU staff informed me that the twins were under what we call a "no-info status" which is basically a security protocol. This meant that no one could ask about them or even say their names. Apparently, the mom’s husband (a white dude) had obviously noticed that the babies were mixed race and accused the mom of being unfaithful.

The actual father, a Black man, showed up, totally clueless about the fact that the mom was married. Those poor babies.

8. Too Young To Love

I used to work in labor and delivery. One day, a super young mom came in, just 16, with her old-school parents. They kept going on about how she should’ve gotten an abortion. Her mom stayed quiet but you could see her crying from time to time. In the middle of her labor, a kid calls in, says he’s her boyfriend.

Her dad wouldn't let the kid in. I told him I couldn’t give any info out and he could talk to her later. Later, I let her know he called and she shows me a pic of him—a scruffy redhead, not much to look at. After an hour or so, her gym coach swings by, which was weird because we rarely had teachers visit.

He was nothing like the boyfriend—big and buff, handsome smile, and dark-skinned. When it was time to deliver, her dad walked her in. Strange, but whatever. The more she pushed, the more she cried. “Sorry Daddy," she kept saying. Then bam! Out comes a gorgeous dark-skinned baby boy.

Her dad nearly passed out. I did the usual "It's a boy!" bit and handed him off to another nurse before getting her dad a chair. She kept saying, "I'm sorry, Daddy". Her mom, looking pretty serious, finally saw the baby. She starts praying right there.

I sent Dad home a bit later, told him to chill out at home and arranged a chat with our counselor for him. The girl admitted the gym teacher was her more than just her coach. In my role, I have to report these things, so I filed the report. Sadly, her baby got adopted two weeks later—I wish her all the best. This was back in '89.

9. Crisis Averted

My wife and I, both half-Mexican with brown skin and dark hair, have entirely blonde, blue- and green-eyed moms. We knew our baby's genetics could go either way, but our baby's nurse was clueless about this. At one point, she freaked out and called for backup. A more senior nurse came in.

She moved towards me and seemed nervous. She fumbled through a few questions before asking if I or my wife was blonde as a kid. I shared that I was, and our kid's grandparents are incredibly blonde too. She seemed relieved and showed me our baby's very blonde head.

Funny thing is, he looked like me but paler. We get strange questions about his heritage and my wife cheekily replies, "Yeah, we're not sure if he's mine." It's hilarious watching people process that remark.

10. Done And Dusted

I have this college friend whose gf was expecting. They were like the dream team - both had cool jobs and all seemed peachy. Until the birth, that is. The baby pops out, and it's undeniably African American. My friend is this super pale redheaded dude and his fiancée is a blue-eyed blonde from Texas. He stayed cool, made sure everyone was alright, waited for her parents, and then he split - didn't say a word.

He cleared out their place and ghosted her while she was still in the hospital. Craziest move I've ever seen. They'd been together almost a decade and he just bolted. She tried to reach him at work, but he made some moves at the job and ended up in a different city.

He once shared that he was kinda glad her folks blew about 10 grand on the wedding that never happened.

11. Slow News Day

A workmate's wife was expecting and we threw a big baby shower at the office. But on the day she went into labor, she dropped a bombshell on him: the baby wasn't his and it'd be of another race. She even asked him to just drop her off at the hospital and not stick around.

He was hurt, took time off work and even moved out from their place and filed for a divorce. He filled someone in at work about what happened and word got around quickly. We even trashed all the congratulation cards we had for him. We were all pretty careful not to bring it up when he came back to work—except, I somehow missed the memo.

On his first day back, I walked into the shared office, sounding all cheerful saying, "Hey hey, Daddio, how's fatherhood so far? Getting any sleep? Got some pictures? Let’s see the little tyke!" He looked at me, hurt. The room went silent. That's when another coworker led me out of the room and filled me in on what happened. I was stunned. It's been 30 years and I still feel bad for him.

12. Calm And Uncollected

Used to work in a hospital's newborn nursery. We'd get the babies straight from delivery and do all the usual stuff - clean them, take their footprints, check their health, and so on. The dads usually came in with the new kiddos.

One day, this guy came in with a baby. Both the dad and mom were white, but the baby definitely wasn't. The guy was super quiet, just standing there and watching us clean his supposed kid.

Then, he softly says, "I don't think this is my baby". You could see he was heartbroken. We told him to hold off on signing the birth certificate until he was certain. Don't know what happened after we returned the baby to the mom, but man, I felt really bad for the poor guy.

13. Switched At Birth

Back in the day, right after birth they'd whisk the newborn off to get cleaned up. So the story goes, when my husband was born, they bring back the baby and my father-in-law takes one look and says, "That ain't my kid!" The nurse assures him, "Oh, it is. They just look different after a clean-up". But he stood his ground, "Nope, that's definitely not my boy!"

Then, outta nowhere, they hear some other dad down the hall shouting, "WHAT ON EARTH, THIS BABY IS WHITE! DID YOU CHEAT ON ME?!" The nurse's eyes practically pop out of her head. "Uh, let me go check on that" she says and quickly grabs the baby. Turns out, the rugrats got swapped by accident. Imagine the chaos if no one had noticed!

14. Free And Clear

A friend of mine got knocked up during high school. She said it was the local doctor's son's baby, so the doctor agreed to perform the delivery free of charge. But when the kid was born, it was super clear the child was part African-American. Given both the doc's son and my friend are white, it didn't add up right. 

I'd bet the doc still delivered the baby on the house, probably relieved his 14 year-old-kid didn't become a dad.

15. Unhappy Birthday

I'm a nurse in labor and delivery. You might not know, but Black babies typically have lighter skin when they're born. This has led to a bit of drama in some cases, especially when the dad accuses the mom of being unfaithful just because the baby's skin isn't dark enough. Now, if accusations of cheating are coming up right after birth, their relationship probably isn't on solid ground in the first place!

16. Order Up

I'm an anesthesia guy. At my job, one of my buddies witnessed a funny event recently. There was this lady who came in to give birth with a weird ink-job right above her, um, "hoo-ha", saying "Steve's Lunchbox". In a dazed state post delivery, the gynecologist ended up saying to the dad, "Way to go, Steve!" 

The funny part? The dude wasn't Steve. You could tell the doc felt kinda dumb after that.

17. That’s That, Brittany

I was doing my gig at the army hospital on Fort Lewis when this woman strolls in, clutching her tummy, in a whole world of pain. Some quick checks later, and we realize she's 10 weeks knocked up.

Here's where it gets interesting — her husband's standing right there, right? Dude bursts out laughing, grabs his jacket, and heads out. Now I'm scratching my head, but then he breaks it down for us.

Turns out, he'd been out in Afghanistan till just three weeks ago. He takes this long look at the missus and goes, "Well, that's that, Brittany," leaving her standing in stunned silence. The dude just rock and rolled out of there all smooth, like it's another day at the office.

18. The Proof Is In The Pudding

When I popped into the world, our Indian doctor pointed at me and told my super white folks, "Hey, she's kinda ethnic-looking!” Turns out, it was good for a laugh down the line—but I bet it wasn't such a hoot when my brunette mom had to reassure my blonde dad that the baby, blessed with a mop of pitch-black hair, was indeed his little girl. 

I've always kinda wondered if my dad had moments of “Huh?” during my early days before my hair flipped the switch to blonde.

19. Caught Red-Handed

I work in a top-tier neonatal intensive care unit, helping critically ill babies from all around the region. Once, we had a baby terribly sick with septic herpes, which was unusual as expectant moms with herpes are usually treated. Turns out, the mom wasn't aware she had it. So, how did the baby get it? 

Well, we found out that the dad had an affair and brought the virus home. The mom had to learn about her cheating husband while fearing for her baby's life.

20. Up And Outta Here

My best friend got his girlfriend pregnant, proposed to her, and they planned to get married after their baby was born. A group of about ten of us, including both their families and friends, were in the hospital waiting room, eagerly anticipating the birth. We'd waited for around two hours when my friend came out looking pleased with himself.

"Let's go," was all he said. Given his strange expression, we feared something terrible had happened. When pressed about the baby's wellbeing, all he said was "It's fine, but Black." Then, with a wave of his hand, he directed us to follow him out.

Once we got to the parking lot, he asked us to go to his apartment. He texted me specifically, asking if he could crash at my place for a while. In less than an hour, we moved him from his place to my spare room.

He left her family in a state of shock and disbelief. Their bewildered faces when they heard about the baby's race was quite a sight to behold.

21. Lost In Translation

Sometimes, when there's a question about who the dad could be, the mom will usually have a friend, sister, or their own mom with them during the birth. The potential dad would then come by after they've had a peep at the baby. But it isn't foolproof, you know? Newborns can have a habit of changing a lot in the first few weeks.

Just a little trivia for you: many Black babies are born with pretty light skin that darkens over time. I've seen a dad get all worked up thinking his baby was too fair, only for his own mom to scold him, reminding him that's exactly how he looked as a newborn. Something similar happened recently that caught my attention.

This Spanish-speaking Latina chick strolled into the hospital, ready to pop. She was with her boyfriend, sister, and a girlfriend. The boyfriend seemed a bit inactive during the process, but that's not unusual. After the baby arrived safe and sound, the sister sent the dad on a little errand.

Just for the record, everyone in the room was Hispanic and they strictly spoke Spanish. Luckily, my Spanish game wasn't shabby that day. When the dad was out, the sister hit me with a question that went over my head. Even after trying to make sense of it, I was lost. I offered to find a translator but she quickly shut that down, not wanting things to be "official". After some fiddling on her phone's Google translate, she shot me the big question: "Can we get a paternity test in the hospital?"

I had to break the news to her that we don't do that there, but she could grab a kit from CVS. They were worried because the newborn didn't look much like their other kid, and they suspected the baby might belong to someone else. They wanted to verify it before breaking the news to the potential dad. I apologized and gave them the CVS heads-up. This wasn't my first rodeo with paternity bombshells, it's just that I never had to spell it out in Spanish before.

You might wonder why we don't offer paternity tests in most hospitals anymore. Well, they're often brushed off as non-medical, plus insurance companies tend to not cover them, making the hospitals shoulder the cost. It's really not our place to judge the life stories of others, considering things usually aren't black and white.

There are plenty of deadbeat biological dads out there, and not every woman is weaving a web of lies. Life's pretty grey like that, so it's best to respect others and show a little compassion.

22. Irish Twins

My teacher used to be a maternity nurse and once spoke about a guy dashing between two birthing rooms. Turns out, he'd gotten two women pregnant, and both were delivering the same day. His wife was scorching mad because the woman he'd had an affair with gave birth just 10 minutes before her.

Gotta say, the maternity ward seems to be where all the hospital drama happens. My partner's training to be a nurse and he'll be working there plus neonatal this year. Can't wait to hear all his wild stories!

23. Almost Got Away With It

So, my grandma used to be a nurse. She once helped deliver a baby and the guy who claimed to be the dad said, "Wow, looks good for a preemie." My straight-shooting grandma didn't hesitate: "That's no preemie." Makes sense now where I got my foot-in-mouth habit from.

24. You Can’t Pick And Choose

Kudos to my friend for handling a situation I couldn't imagine. He finds out his wife of many years has played him time and time again, with different guys. Worse, their kids, aged one and three, might not be his. So, he gets two paternity tests.

He brings them home, but a dreadful realization dawned on him. He's ready for them to be his kids. He's ready for them not to be. But he is NOT prepared if one kid was his and the other wasn’t. So, he dumps the tests. They end up splitting, she keeps hopping from relationship to relationship, and he marries a truly wonderful woman.

25. Stepping Up To The Plate

When my son was about seven months old, I got a paternity test. His mom kept saying he wasn't mine, but then she wanted child support. The test said he was mine. DHS tested her for drugs when he was 11 months, and she didn't pass. I fought for two years in juvenile court so the state wouldn't let my kid go back to her.

Finally, the case went to district court, and we fought for custody. During this, she took my son, but got into trouble with her boyfriend at a hotel an hour away. The police found drug stuff on her.

That was her last unsupervised visit. For two years, she hardly called and only saw him briefly once a month. Then she got caught and ended up in jail for three years for trying to sell drugs. She's been out for eight months, appears to be clean, and just gave me an extra $100 for child support.

We're giving her a chance but supervising her visits for a while. The whole thing's been crazy, hard to remember all the details especially since we haven't had to deal with her for so long. Back then, it was awful. She hit me a few times, lied in court, threatened me, sent inappropriate pictures. The list goes on.

I've done my best to move on and forget as much as I can, so she can be somewhat part of my kid’s life because that's what he wants. But you better believe I'm watching her closely.

26. Daddy Issues

I have a cousin, she was adopted as a baby. She's a bit slow, had some developmental issues, but manages her life pretty well. She married this wonderful dark-skinned Latino dude, let's call him Javier. They have a kid together, totally looks likes both of them, obviously his kid.

But, here's where it gets crazy. Few years into the marriage, Javier goes away for his army duty for about six months. He returns to find his wife four months pregnant. You get the picture, right? Still, this guy, Javier, he's completely convinced that the baby is his.

Then, this blonde-haired, blue-eyed baby turns up; looking nothing like them. And as if that wasn’t wild enough, two years later, the same thing happens -- another blonde, blue-eyed baby pops up. Everyone knows she hooked up with her ex-boyfriend from high school, but Javier just won’t believe it. He still thinks the kids are his.

Honestly, it's kinda sad. We can't really do anything though. He's brought up those kids like they were his own.

27. Almost Got Away With It…

A friend of mine was out of town for some urgent work and I ended up taking his wife to the hospital for the big day. We all go way back to high school. She didn't want to be alone during delivery, so I was there too. Then the baby arrives, and it's clearly Asian. The doc and I clue in pretty quick.

I just noped out of there. I had no clue his wife was stepping out. She's bawling her eyes out declaring her marriage toast. The nurses caught on fast. I had to break the news to my friend. He pulls some strings at work, explaining there's a major crisis back home, and he gets flown back.

He doesn't waste time and files for a divorce. But things take a nasty turn. Turns out, none of their three kids are actually his. That screwed up not only him but the kids too, who always saw him as their dad. The court insists he pay child support for these kids because they're used to him as their father.

They accuse him of ditching them when there's zero biological connection. The bias in family courts against guys is just really upsetting. My friend spends a ton on fighting this, purely out of principles, and finally wins. But it broke him psychologically, and trust in women isn't something easy for him now. He's not open to dating, and honestly, who can blame him after that whole fiasco.

28. Down To The Wire

My bro's friend, who's in the military, had a quick wedding with a gal he'd been seeing for a bit. She's a white American and he's a white Hispanic. Surprisingly, their baby was born Black. Until DNA results were in, she insisted it was his child, even accused him of being a lousy dad for not accepting "his" kid.

Test results proved her wrong. Seems like she was hoping to stick around for his army paycheck.

29. Stay-At-Home Scandal

A friend's aunt discovered her dad isn't her real dad. She's a genealogy buff and has mapped her family tree to the nth degree. A couple months back, she did a DNA test and her dad's side of results were unexpected. She didn't know any of the paternal matches.

She casually quizzed her dad about the names, and he recognized one - the handyman from his old apartment complex. This guy was a crappy fixer and a flirt, especially with her mom back in the day. Her mom's not around anymore, so she's keeping the discovery to herself, not telling her dad why she asked about those names.

30. Oh, Baby

There was this time I had to blood type a newborn. Turns out, the mom was O+ and the baby was AB+, which didn't really add up. I freaked out, thinking the babies got mixed up. Thoughts like, "Wrong baby! We're going to be sued! Everyone will need a DNA test! Will they grill me for finding this out?" kept spinning in my head.

After running the test three times and getting the same results, I called the floor and told them that either they got the baby's blood sample wrong or there's been a baby swap as the mom couldn't be the baby's mother. But, nope. The mom used a donor egg. When they tested again, everything was fine and everyone was where they were supposed to be. Man, what a scare that was for my heart!

31. Not Me…This Time

So, my dad wasn't exactly Mr. Dependable when it came to relationships. One lady he was with even said her kid was his. The catch was, the kid was mixed-race, while both my dad and the lady were as white as it gets! Things got wild and they ended up on The Trisha Show for a paternity test - think older version of Jeremy Kyle Show.

When the results rolled out - surprise, surprise - my dad was not the father. Trisha even asked my dad if he had any other kids. He just grinned. I still have no idea how many siblings I might've shared a school with, oblivious to the fact that we've the same dad.

I'm still in the dark about what happened to the lady or her kid. I just really hope they are doing well - you know, the kid grew up healthy and the mom's found some inner peace.

32. Pandora’s Box

My friend and his on-off girlfriend had a kid. She swore it was his, but he wanted a paternity test, so they moved in with her mom and got it done after the baby arrived. The results took some time to come back, but the family was so thrilled about the baby, they kinda forgot about it.

One day, he asked the girlfriend's mom about the results, and she said, "Oh, didn't she tell you? It's definitely your kid!" Amazing, right? But a few months later as they were moving, he found the test results...Turns out, not his kid. He tried to stay in the kid's life, but she wouldn't let him.

33. A Real Man

One time, this mixed-race couple came in, ready to have their baby. The dad, who's Black, was super excited about having his second kid with the mom, who's white. Everything seemed pretty normal, until the baby was born. Now, usually, Black babies come out a bit pale, but this little girl was totally white, like, dark-haired and blue-eyed white. It was such a shock that we had to ask the dad to step outside, just in case he didn't take it well. Poor guy ended up sitting in the hall, head in his hands. It was so heartbreaking, almost as much as a stillbirth, you know?

And if that wasn't enough, the seemingly weirdest thing happened afterward. The mom decided she didn't want the baby and didn't want anything to do with the real dad, probably because she felt guilty. So she bailed, leaving the dad with not just this newborn, but also their two-year-old son. Yet, without a second thought, he stepped up. He took on the responsibility of both kids. Wow.

34. Clearing The Air

Me and my husband visited our pals who just had their baby – we're the godparents. There we were, chatting with both sets of grandparents in the hospital hallway when this snarky nurse shows up. Seems there's a five people rule in the hallway which we didn't know about - the security dude let all six of us in without a fuss.

She counts us, tells one of us to scram, then turns to my husband, asking, "Are you the daddy?" My husband, quick as a flash, quips, "That’s what we’re all trying to figure out here." The look of shock on her face was priceless as she backed off.

35. Back To Square One

There was this court case where a Black guy and a white woman were married. They split up and moved out of state. Later, he found out she was pregnant through a friend. He rushed across the country for the birth, but when the baby came out looking totally different—white with blue eyes and red hair—the mom accused him of not being the dad. He took off understandably. The mom lost custody because she wasn't fit to be a parent, and the state tried to find the real dad before putting the kid up for adoption.

Even though they were married when the baby was born, the state tested his DNA and bam—surprise, he was actually the dad. But here's the kicker: the state still took away his parental rights for leaving. Definitely not a happy ending.

36. Buzzer Beater

A doctor I know was once working in a super rural, rather conservative area. He was gaining experience in OB-GYN and performing his first delivery. He shared with me that he was thrown into the deep end, pretty clueless about this whole baby-delivery business. But when the time came, the mom-to-be insisted her husband leave the room.

So, the doctor asked the man to step out. Besides, to help her focus on giving birth, we needed this gal chill and stress-free, and her husband seemed to be winding her up. With the husband gone, the rest of the delivery went smoothly.

Afterwards, the first thing she asked was about the baby's skin color. All the doctor said back was, "All that matters is that the baby is healthy."

She then wanted the doctor to explain the situation to her husband. The doctor, however, was like, "Look, I'm just doing my job here, which was to deliver your baby. And I've done that." He bolted out of the room just as fast, leaving the husband to walk in. Talk about a woman playing with fire till the very end!

37. Telling On Yourself

Back in the day, my mom used to work in a hospital lab. One time, a coworker came to visit and mentioned that she was blood type X, her husband was blood type Y, and their kid was blood type Z (I forgot the exact types). One of the newest lab guys suddenly said, "That's impossible."

The doc in the lab just glared at him. Thankfully, the coworker didn't catch on or just didn't mind, and she left soon after. To this day, my mom recalls that moment as one of the most uncomfortable she's ever experienced.

38. Holier Than Thou

My cousin recently took a 23andMe test with her dad, only to find out they're not actually biologically related. That wasn't even the worst part though. Her mom, my aunt, is the super judgmental type who freaks out over the smallest things. She's the scream-at-kids-for-being-kids kind of person, even once chucked a pocket Bible at a lady in a grocery store just 'cause she swore on the phone.

Despite her constant nagging about "God's plan," she's married to the chillest guy ever. Seriously, totally doesn't make sense. Needless to say, this whole DNA test thing really bummed him out, and my cousin too for that matter.

39. Russian Roulette

This is my great-granny's tale. She lived in a rough, poor neighborhood near an army base around the time of the world wars. To survive, she was involved with many men. From what I understand, she was quite good at what she did and was a hit amongst the men there. Looks or skin color didn't faze her; if you paid, you were good.

Her first husband found out she was the talked-about town belle when their kid was born visibly mixed-race. They split, and she found husband number two who, at first, was cool with things. Post one white child and a couple of mixed-race children, they too broke up. This trend continued, with only two out of her 11 known kids being fully white.

Over time, with five husbands and some boyfriends and fiancés leaving her, she became a regular at the hospital. Word has it the hospital staff used to wager on her swift return and the ethnicity of her next child.

40. What You Don’t Know Won’t Hurt You

My sister got knocked up in high school and hooked up with her now-husband while five months on. She's white, her man's Black. Baby's dad was white, but MIA. The whole fam, including my bro-in-law, were there when my niece was born. Sister was recovering from her c-section.

My brother-in-law held my niece and one nurse was like, "She should get a bit darker in a few days". We all cracked up. We got the situation, but the nurse didn't. Always wondered if she felt guilty or thought my sis was cheating. They had two more daughters and he officially adopted my niece three years in.

41. Family Resemblance

I wasn't around to see it, but back in the late '50s or '60s, my uncle had a thing on the side with this woman who eventually ditched her husband and married him. There were these two kids that everyone said belonged to the woman and her ex — you know, the official story. But really, anyone could tell their second kid was my uncle's, just by looking.

The girl didn't resemble her supposed dad or her elder half-brother one bit. But she was the spitting image of my uncle. After a few years, everyone quit pretending, and it just wasn't brought up anymore.

42. Cut And Run

My biological dad is Greek with really pale skin, while my mom's a mix of white European backgrounds. When I was born, I had dark skin and a thick head of black hair. My dad didn’t seem fazed, but his mom freaked out big time. She said nasty things to my mom and grandma, then bounced from our lives. Dad took off when I was three weeks old, no explanation.

Few months later, my skin lightened, hair fell out, and turns out he was actually my dad. We never bothered reconnecting with his side 'cause they went through chaos in my first year—rehab, shootings, affairs, divorces, hidden siblings, you name it.

In high school, I tried forming a relationship. Started okay, then he got weird. Pushed to be called "dad," wanted regular visits, showed up at my friends' and boyfriends' places causing scenes. Made me take family pics with his new lady and his other five kids—none with the same mom. Oh, and there's a baby he bailed on before my mom.

Regret even trying. He and his crew are a total mess, glad my fam kept me away. To top it off, he worked for my in-laws when I met my husband. Once they knew his deal, they axed him to save me awkward run-ins. He had it coming, honestly.

43. In The Pink

I was working in a hospital, giving epidurals, when in walks this couple from the sticks. They didn't seem that educated. The wife was super impatient, asking when she could bolt even though the baby wasn't born yet. The husband looked bored out of his mind, like he'd done this a million times.

Normally, I'm not hanging around for the birth, but I happened to be close for this one because of a tear that needed an immediate epidural. When I got in there, the mom didn't want to look at the baby. I checked the baby out, and clear as day, the baby was Black. Suddenly, the dad was all eyes on the situation.

He kept saying, "When's the baby gonna get pink?" over and over, each time louder. It started to get kinda scary. To keep the peace, the doc reminded everyone it's a critical time. He recommended the baby to get checked out in the NICU and asked the dad to step out while they stitched up the tear. We buzzed the social worker, then I got pulled to another case, so I don't know how it panned out in the end...but I can't think it ended well.

44. Third Time’s The Charm

So, basically, I work in marketing for a housing company. Part of my job is collecting stories from people who live in our spots. One time, I talked to this couple in their 40s. They said they wanted to size-down after their kids moved out. But after we finished the official talk, they hung around to chat more.

The guy goes, "We were so ready to start this new chapter... but surprise, we ended up having a third kid. So much for vasectomy, right? Still got her pregnant!" His wife looked like she was on the edge of freaking out. I mean, my face totally went from friendly to white.

Now I can't stop questioning if that was a weird joke or if that guy has truly been raising another man's child for 18 years.

45. His Own Mother Wouldn’t Love Him

After I was born, they whisked me away for a health check. My mom barely met me before I was gone. When I was back, thanks to my dad's genes, I was super tanned. But then, my mom didn't know me and flipped out, like, "This isn't my kid, the baby's Black!" Goes to show, giving birth can mess with your mind.

46. Hidden Depths

This Black couple had a white baby, right? Well, just as the dad's chilling with the baby, the mom's mom strolls in. Straight up, she starts spilling about her own white granny that was part of some forbidden romance back in the day. Plot twist, though - the Black dad was just cradling his white friend's fresh-out-the-oven baby. They'd just popped by for a visit.

Meanwhile, the couple's actual baby, who was obviously Black, was getting freshened up in another room. They all just chuckled over it and granny pivoted to a new topic, never bringing up the tale of the ghostly white granny again.

47. Blood Is Thicker Than Water

My future mother-in-law works in a maternity ward. Once, she had a patient whose mom and dad were there with her. The hospital team keeps a whiteboard with some basic info about the patients like blood type and how long they've been there. They don't use names for privacy reasons.

At that time, this woman was the only patient on the ward. While walking back from the cafeteria, her dad saw the board. Spotting the blood type (B+), he double-checked with the nurse since his daughter was the only patient. The nurse confirmed it was right.

Here's the kicker - he knew his and his wife's blood types. He was O+, she was A-. With this combo, there's no way they could have a B+ kid. Taking his wife over to the board, he just pointed. You could see the shock all over her face.

48. Never A Dull Moment

My wife's a nurse and also runs things at a hospital. "Code Yellow" is the special lingo when they need security or big guy nurses around. Doesn't happen much but sometimes you might hear "Code Yellow to Labor and Delivery" over the loudspeakers. You get the gist.

49. Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey

Pat Court with Lauren Lake is off the hook! My top episode was when a lady basically used the entire 25 minutes trying to convince everyone that her child was this dude's kid. She's showing off "proof" like how the child looked like the dude and even had a pal vouching for her trustworthiness, stating she'd never cheat. She also trashed the guy telling how lousy of him to reject his own child.

The guy was just chill all throughout. He didn't even try defending himself. At last, the judge was like "Do you have anything to say or wanna make a point?" The dude pointed to a lone manila folder on the desk. The lady gave it to the judge for her to go through. Let's just say what was in the folder was a game changer. The judge read through it for a while, then called the hearing off - giving the guy the green light.

Why so? Well, he was stationed over in Afghanistan the whole of last year. That was exactly when the lady was pregnant and even had the baby. He showed up after four years being away to meet "his" toddler for the first time.

50. It Doesn’t Add Up

One day, an African-American couple came in to have their baby. When the baby was born, it was super pale, like no color at all. The mom freaked out, thinking they'd switched her baby. You gotta understand, new moms can get pretty mixed up after giving birth.

She's bawling and losing it, while the dad's just sitting there, super confused. Even he knew that if she'd cheated, the baby wouldn't be THAT light. The med crew tried convincing her that the baby's skin would get darker later, but the real answer was way more interesting.

It took a call to the baby's grandma to find out what was going on. She remembered that they had a distant cousin who was albino, and guessed the baby might have the same thing. Guess what? She was spot on - the baby was albino.

Retail therapy, while not an actual form of therapy, has been used as a band-aid solution or stopgap by many people who suffer from the blues or just plain ennui. But it’s a different picture from the other side—it's the store workers who get the short end of the stick, having to deal with cranky, cumbersome customers. For them, it’s all downhill from there. Read on to find out about some of our readers’ encounters with cranky customers.

1. A Giggling Fit

It was getting near closing time and I was cleaning the self-checkout machines while my manager was topping up the coins and receipt paper. This woman, just shy of 50, came up to the checkout and just stood there with her mostly empty cart. I was waiting to see if she would walk up to the actual register for service, but no; she just stood there.

I finally asked her, "Do you need help?" She replied, "No," and kept standing there. Then, she started giggling loudly to herself in a way that made other people around her uncomfortable. I just kept cleaning and my manager continued filling the machines, all of which were devoid of customers. Finally, the woman spoke loudly, to no one in particular, saying the rudest thing ever: “Do you want to work or not?”

I let out a long breath, then dropped my cloth and spray bottle down. Suddenly, my manager stepped in and replied loudly, "She does have work! She's cleaning right now". Then she motioned for me to keep cleaning. Well, the woman giggled again, really loudly and snottily this time, and said, "I want a checkout". My manager replied, "You had your chance. She asked you if you wanted help. You said no. And now, you're going to have to check yourself out".

The lady started freaking out and demanded to see the manager. My manager destroyed her with one sentence: "You're looking at her". The woman sheepishly checked her own items out while we both watched her. And then my manager giggled loudly, just like the woman had done. It was glorious.

ZookeepergameSea3890

2. A Lucky Gamble

This just happened. A guy walked in and asked me, "What's the $8 lottery package that my wife always gets?" I looked at him, but I couldn't place him. In fact, he didn't look remotely familiar to me. He was not wearing his mask, mind you, but so far, I'd been pretty good at recognizing the people I've only ever seen with masks on since we bought the store.

However, I had no clue who this is. So I asked, "Sir, did you just ask me, a complete stranger, what your wife's preferences are?" He reiterated, "Well, she always gets an $8 package". I told him, "The lottery doesn't have an $8 package". Then, he asked, "Well, what are the standard games?" So, I rattled off all the games until we figured it out.

I handed him his purchase and said, "OK, here you go, sir, and may I highly encourage you not to tell your wife that you asked a complete stranger what her preferences were". I thought that would nip it in the bud, but he just wouldn't quit. He still seemed to think there was nothing amiss and replied, "Well, she's in here all the time". I still said, "But she's not here now, and I don't know who she is".

So, he clarified, "Well, I come in with her sometimes". To end the situation, I said, "OHHH! Well, I have a pretty bad memory so that must be it". What was unsaid was, “It couldn't be that I see a few hundred people a day and you're all just faceless blobs in my memory if you don't come in here pretty much every day and actually have meaningful conversations!” Sheesh.

EvilGreebo

3. Three Strikes

Some years ago, I worked an extra part-time job in the evenings at a small national retail chain in the U.S. that specializes in woodworking tools, supplies and machinery. The vast majority of our customers were great, but every so often we would get one that was a real peach. On the night in question, it was 15 or 20 minutes before closing.

I was at the front counter where the registers are, doing busy work to fill the time before I locked the doors. The sales floor was completely empty, except for me. I heard the doors open and looked up to see a customer walking in. "Hi! Welcome to our store!" I said to him in a genuinely friendly tone. Fish-eyed, he turned his head to glance at me.

He made momentary eye contact before walking past without saying a word. Strike one. A few minutes later, I saw him walking up to the counter, so I asked, "Hey there! Did you find what you were looking for?" Again, without a saying a word, he tossed a few packs of euro hinges on the counter. Strike two. Then, I asked, "OK! Have you shopped with us before?"

I needed to know as it was part of my job to enter our customers' information in our computer system if they'll let us, and if they're in our system, then we ring them up under their account. Rather than answer me, he tossed a postcard-sized piece of paper onto the counter. Strike three. Ding! Ding! Ding!

Now, if someone's in our system, and they give us the month of their birthday, we send them a birthday coupon every year, good for 10% off of everything in a single purchase. There are a few exclusions and conditions clearly printed on the coupon. I picked up the piece of paper he'd thrown in front of me, and it was indeed his birthday coupon.

I used the information on it to pull up his account, noted a key piece of information on the account, and gleefully told him, "OK, sir. I see your birthday isn't until next month, and unfortunately, the birthday coupon is only good for a single purchase during the month of your birth". As I said this, I was holding the coupon up and pointing to the text I was referring to.

I am 90% certain I had my best customer service smile on my face at that point. After standing there and staring at me for a few seconds, he let out a snort of what I presume was disgust, then he turned on his heel, and started heading for the door. "Wait!" I called after him. "You forgot your birthday coupon!" Without stopping or turning, he made a dismissive wave of his hand, went through the door, and disappeared into the night.

Adios and good riddance. At this store, our manager was a super-cool guy who encouraged us to bend over backward to help customers, which I gladly did. Customers came in all the time trying to use their birthday coupons early, and it was never a problem. We'd happily give them the discount anyway, with a friendly reminder that it was supposed to be used during their birth month.

But hey, Ihe wanted to act like that. He couldn't be bothered to show me even common courtesy, nor would he speak even one word to me. That was his choice.

Urban_Jaguar

4. A Watery Chuckle

I work in a large airport at a small convenience store on one of the busiest concourses. I hear it all, especially about our prices. Although we try to keep our margins as low as possible, we still have to pay our rent as a business, and it's about $14k a month. One day, I had an older woman come in and set down an expensive brand of water that was priced around $5.15 after tax.

I knew that she was going to say something about it, so I prepared myself mentally. Indeed, she did say something, and it threw me for a loop. She asked me, “Wanna know something funny?” I said that I did. She said, “This same water in another airport is $2.50". I stared blankly at her for a solid 10 seconds. Finally, I said, “I think I missed the joke".

She then proceeded to insult me, but she still purchased the water before leaving in a huff. Best day I've had in a while.

ambiuousfemalebot

5. A Customized Experience

A customer showed me a ring and asked me about it. I told her that it was a sterling silver lotus ring. The customer then proceeded to show me that it did not fit her. As she wedged it halfway down her finger, she said, “But it does not fit me, see?” Did I look like a jeweler who could resize rings on the spot? No. So I explained to her that we had only one piece of that design left.

A while later, the same lady asked if the artist was local. I said that I wasn't certain that she was from the city, but that all the artists represented in the shop were American. That meant that if she wasn't from our state, then she was from another state. Then the lady said, "Well, duh. If she's not from here then she's from somewhere else". Sigh.

I wanted to eye roll since that was my standard response whenever someone asked about local artists, and I had never gotten such a sour reply before. Most people just wanted to confirm that the thing was at least made in America if not locally. And then she asked me which way her husband had left, so I just pointed to the only exit and said, "That's the only way out".

clockwork_dancer_

6. They Are All This Together

I work for a grocery store that only sells all-natural foods. That means no artificial preservatives, sweeteners, flavors, and such, as well as any items with certain ingredients like high-fructose corn syrup. We have an internal list of ingredients that products cannot contain and even have had to cease carrying some top-selling products after reformulation introduces one or more of them.

Being the type of store that we are, we get people from all over the political spectrum and quite a few on the extreme fringes. This is about a guy who came to our store multiple times. I will refer to him as Mr. Q since I do not even know his name. Mr. Q was a semi-regular customer since before my employment. My first experience with him was indirect.

I was overseeing the front-end and placing some orders with vendors. He went through the line of one of my cashiers, Melissa. Unfortunately for her, Melissa did not have anyone else in her line, so the guy stood there yakking her ear off. Then I heard that chilling phrase. I do not recall what the full sentence was, but he said the magic words: "QAnon".

This immediately made my ears perk up. He could have been someone more on the left, making fun of the QAnon thing or he could be a believer. Once I knew that he was spouting off right-wing conspiracy theories, I told one of the other managers that I was going to go rescue Melissa who was just smiling and nodding.

This involved getting myself to a phone out of sight and then paging the staff member to the loading dock so they could hide for a few minutes. This particular incident happened pre-pandemic, so the store's general manager was still there. As I used the phone right outside his office, I got an odd look from him, until I told him, "Crazy at her lane". He does not suffer fools, so he just chuckled.

This visit was done with. Then, after the pandemic started, my store adopted the policy of "masks must be worn, but if you claim a 'condition,' then you don't have to wear one". This annoyed us because we had so many liars. Mr. Q, of course, was one of those. He was relatively quiet until he checked out. At the exit door, he stopped and turned around.

Then, he started loudly proclaiming how the whole pandemic was a hoax because otherwise "people would be dropped like flies in the streets!" We just rolled our eyes at him and he left quietly, thus, ending that visit. Then came the third and final visit. This happened after our store had decided to go to a "mask-mandatory" policy without the medical exemption.

We got battle-hardened by this since we had to fend off people screaming about how it was against the law and how they were going to sue us, etc. That's when Mr. Q came in, and things started to get interesting. One of the other managers, Aaron, spotted him but he was occupied with a customer, so he alerted me. He also said, "That guy is a fool, so good luck".

Our strategy for dealing with people without masks was to just grab the box of the complimentary ones we offered, approach the person, and ask them if they needed a mask. Most of the time, by then, it was people who simply forgot to put one on...but that wasn't the case with Mr. Q. Our conversation went like this:

I asked him, “Hi! Did you need a mask today?” He simply replied, “I have a medical condition". I clarified, “Sorry, but we still need you to wear a mask to be inside the store. We do offer curbside shopping though. But, since you have a list, we would be more than happy to shop for you and then take payment and bring the bags out to your car".

He, of course, became annoyed and said, “Are you aware of the United States Constitution? Do you know you are violating my rights?” I stood my ground and said, “Sorry, sir, but this is private property and we do require a mask". By this time, Aaron had finished with his customer, so he came over to back me up and said, “Yes. We are not a government entity".

That's when Mr. Q did the unthinkable—he proceeded to dramatically say that he felt sick, then he fake coughed on Aaron and me. So, of course, All semblance of "customer service" and "courtesy" went out the window at that point, and Aaron said, “You need to leave now. You are no longer welcome here". Mr. Q took that as an invitation to go on a random rant about his rights.

So, Aaron told me to call the authorities. Mr. Q then went on another tangent and said, “You guys are poisoning people with the products you sell! What do you have to say for yourselves! I know my rights!” In the meantime, I went over to the phone and started dialing. By that point, we had called them so many times that we knew half the department by name.

Now, Mr. Q realized what I was doing, so he wisely abandoned his cart and left the store. Aaron pulled out his phone, started filming, and followed the guy out. Mr. Q then spent the next five minutes pacing our parking lot, screaming at Aaron. It was truly unhinged. His rants alternated between us poisoning people and targeting Michelle Obama.

Aaron repeated to Mr. Q that he needed to leave and that he was now banned from the store. Then, when he saw Aaron was filming him, he started yelling about how Aaron must be like Michelle Obama too. Thankfully, he just kept pacing. I joined Aaron outside after calling the authorities and getting one of the back-end managers to come up front to watch over the cashiers.

Unfortunately, he left before the authorities arrived. And since he did not buy anything, we did not have his full name to give to them. After showing the general manager the video, we got the verdict that Mr. Q was banned from thereon. That means that the next time he shows up, we call the authorities immediately and then tell the guy he is banned, in front of them.

This would allow them to arrest him on subsequent visits. He wisely has not shown up since then.

Zakkana

7. A Red Flag

We have one of those self-serve lottery machines. Do you play numbers? Mega Millions? Scratch-Offs? You can do it all here at this machine. Except this one grown woman who, I swear, was deliberately just not listening despite saying repeatedly that she did not know what she was doing. I still persevered and tried to explain the process to her.

I said, "OK, so right in the middle of the screen are three big blue boxes. Touch the middle one". The lady touched the Powerball button, which was on the far left, on a row of four boxes. I tried to correct her by saying, "No—that's Powerball. You need to hit the red rectangle at the top right of that window where it says ‘Close’ to close this".

She proceeded to touch the little tiny red button by the quantity bar. I repeated that she had to touch the box with the word 'Close' in it, but she was not listening. Of course, stared intently at the bottom of the screen where there was literally no red at all. This back and forth went on for a good twenty minutes. Somebody just end my misery for me.

EvilGreebo

8. Sunshine On A Rainy Day

This sweet old man made my day! His name is Samuel, and I’m not sure of any medical issues he has, but every time he comes in, he’s sweating buckets and his hands shake pretty bad. The first time that he came in while I was working, we just started talking since he always gets food to go for him and his mom.

He asked me if I had any pets and I told him that my childhood dog Max had passed about a week ago prior, so I just have a cat. He proceeded to tell me the nicest thing a customer has ever said: that my dog was waiting in heaven for me, and that he made it over the rainbow bridge. I cried like a baby after he left.

The third time that he came in, he asked me what college I went to, and how I was amazing for working and going to school full time. I was failing a class at the time and having someone who didn’t know me tell me that I was doing amazing just warmed my heart. When he came in for the fourth time, we continued our discussion.

I told him that I only had a couple of classes left at my community college and that I would be able to start my bachelor's in business. He did not hesitate to gasp and tells me how proud he was of me, and how I will go on to do great things. He then told me that God had blessed me because my hair was so pretty, even though at the time it was unwashed and in a not-so-cute messy bun.

I think that dude is my retail guardian angel. He always shows up when I’m having a rough time, and he makes the day brighter and better.

9. A Ban Challenge

Today, a guy bought something at my checkout. After paying, he went, "Actually, I am banned here. What do we do now?" I stared at him for a solid second, my brain probably making the Windows XP shutdown sound. I was shocked by his audacity, to not only come again after being banned but also telling me about it, after buying something.

I asked my supervisor, who sighed, saying that he got lucky in that case and that I should tell him to take his things and leave. But that wasn't enough for him. He started provoking me, saying, "And what about the next time, huh?" I explained that I wasn't authorized to decide about the duration of his ban and that, in case of doubt, he just shouldn't come again.

He still went on, now outright harassing me, "Yeah, what do you want to do? Do you want to call the authorities? Huh? Huh?" At this point, I was about to cry, because he just kept harassing me and I didn't know what else to tell him. Then a lady in line stood up for me, telling him to leave me alone because he was making me nervous".

Yeah, I can see you're shaking. I wonder why," he blurted out. I was, in fact, shaking because it took all my strength not to cry in front of everyone. After telling the lady to mind her business and being rude to her too for a bit, he finally left. My heart goes out to the lady, who was third in line, and told me, "Honey, don't ever let a man talk you down like that! Always remember: Big ego equals small elsewhere!" That really lifted my spirits!

maybe_im_dark

10. Greasing The Parts

At the time, I was the front desk receptionist at a car dealership that had an attached service and parts department. I dealt with all kinds of people, but this one customer particularly left me dumbfounded. It was around 7 pm, about an hour after the service and parts department had closed. The sales department was open until 8 pm, so I was just going about my business as usual.

A woman walked up to my desk and slammed a 19-liter jug of motor oil down on the counter. That scared me since I was looking away at the time. She immediately demanded that I sell her the oil. I was confused and just kind of...looked at her for a moment. There was no checkout counter at my desk as we were in an entirely different part of the building.

Also, where did she get that? The parts department was closed and the window into the storeroom was locked with a fold-down metal cage. I finally got myself together and told her that the parts department was closed and that I would be unable to sell anything. Her reaction was priceless. She immediately got angry, blowing her top while gesturing to the closest window demanding that I give her the oil.

I suggested for her to go to another shop nearby, as they were open until 9 pm. Surely, she could get oil there. She didn't like that answer and scoffed at me. "I need Kia brand oil, for my Kia brand car". She said it incredibly matter-of-factly and stared at me like I was the dumbest person on the planet. That again caught me off guard.

I have pretty bad anxiety, so I was still mentally and physically reeling from her slamming the bottle down and I was not getting very collected thoughts. I tried to explain that any brand of oil would do and that I'd be happy to help her figure out what would work best so she could pick it up there...but she just kept shaking her head at me.

Finally, she shouted out that she would just come back the following day, that I had been absolutely no help, and stormed out. I noticed then that she had a kid with her. What a great example she set for her children. I did figure out that she had pulled the oil jug down off of a display case in the service department. That was extra amusing to me, imagining someone taking something off of a clearly not-for-sale display shelf because she was mad.

Space_Snakes_

11. Listening In

I have been working throughout COVID in a supermarket. A few months ago, I found out that I have permanent hearing damage and hearing loss from an illness I had from January to February. I am currently in the early stages of an audiology referral and my employer has been really helpful. They are making sure that I can still work in the same roles as before with the same level of confidence.

One day, a customer arrived at the till who, for some reason, misinterpreted one of the offers that we run. Essentially, she wanted the discount but did not want one of the items required for the discount to go through. She did not realize that I have to scan everything and, therefore, charge her for the extra item in question so that she could get the discount.

I processed the transaction in this way but not without her raising her voice and attempting to grab the item that she didn't want out of my hands. At that point, I was quite confused. I could hear parts of this customer's sentences, but she was speaking very quickly and I did not understand why she was getting so incredibly agitated over some frozen peas. Around this time, she also started to badmouth all of my colleagues and myself, saying that we "shouldn't work here if we don't know what offers are on in the store".

She also said that the staff members "know nothing," implying that I was the one who should lose my job because of her adamant misreading of an offer. Through this, I finally understood why exactly she was so angry. So, I asked one of my colleagues to come to the tills in order to assist the customer.

She did not want to engage with me, nor was she capable of having a civilized conversation at that point. My colleague arrived and I began to serve the other customers waiting while the woman went on to my colleague about how I was "incompetent" and "useless". But that's not the worst thing she said—she repeatedly stated that I "wasn't listening" to her, even though I had given her my full attention.

The repeated emphasis this woman put on me not "listening" really hit a nerve. The last thing that I wanted after going through the wringer with various illnesses for the past seven months was to be told that I was losing my hearing. It was permanent, and it was not something that could be fixed in the same way as the previous illnesses.

I have to work a lot harder on the tills due to the aforementioned hearing loss and as much as I try to not care and ignore it, this was just too much for me to handle at the moment. I started to cry in the middle of a transaction while this woman thoroughly berated me for something that I had absolutely no control over.

Somehow, I managed to pass it off as hay fever which I don't think anyone believed. Eventually, it clicked into place for the customer that she was incorrect, and she very quickly went on her way after realizing that she had just completely humiliated herself in a store full of people. There was no apology made to any of my colleagues, or to myself and the other customers in the store.

I had been debating whether or not I needed to get a lanyard clearly stating I have a hearing loss, but it is still very early into the investigation process and I didn't want to buy one before I had any thorough tests done on my ears. But this was the event that cemented that I absolutely needed to get one as soon as possible.

Regardless of my hearing loss, that kind of behavior is absolutely unacceptable and a completely different kind of demeaning. It was the most insulting reaction I have ever seen, and over a bag of frozen peas, no less. If she didn't want them, we had a perfectly acceptable food bank to which they could be donated.

9754213680632

12. A Short Wick

I work at a candle store and this happened yesterday. An older woman came in—she was probably in her 80's but still seemed to have her wits about her. Anyway, she was going on and on about needing a small gift for a guy who did some work in the building she lived in. I told her that we carried a line of skincare and bath products for men.

She scoffed and says that would be weird. So, I said, "How about a candle?" This was because, you know, I work at a candle store. Her response made me curl a fist. She basically said, in an angry voice, "I can't give him a candle. He's not gay!" I was trying very hard to bite my tongue and remind her that we have tons of male customers and even my straight boyfriend likes our candles.

She then had the nerve to say, "That's good for him, but I cannot give the man a candle because he's not gay!" At that point, I  was over it and I walked away. My manager then stepped in because she has a lot more patience for ignorance than I do. After she left and we vented about her, my manager told me that the woman ended up buying a notebook that says, "Slay the day".

ghostchodechad

13. Sole Cost

I no longer work retail, but I used to work at an extremely discounted store, something like Marshalls, TJ Maxx, etc. This incident actually happened a few nights before my last day. We were about to close, and this lady came up to my register to check out. She handed me a pair of Michael Kors baby shoes and asked me how much they are.

I told her the price—$27—and she flipped! She retorted that the price could not be correct. I calmly said, “They are $27, ma’am. Did you still want them?” She replied, “I want them but not for that price". She clearly wanted a discount. I had to clarify: “I’m sorry, ma’am, we don’t do discounts. We’re already an extremely discounted store".

She said in disbelief, “$27 for baby shoes?! That’s crazy". So, seeing her reluctance to pay that much, I assumed that she did not want to buy them anymore. Thus, I offered to put them back for her. She stopped me angrily, saying, “Uh hello? I said that I want them!” I acceded to that but firmly maintained my stance by saying, “OK, ma’am. They’re still going to be $27 though".

She refused to believe me and asked me to check again. So, I flipped the computer screen around and showed her the price. At that moment, she did not know what to do because she was wrong, so she snapped at me to get my manager. The said manager came, confirmed the price, then left.

I thought that was the end of it, but no. Karen then said, “I just don’t understand why they are so much?” I tried to make her understand by saying, “Well, these are Michael Kors, one of the more expensive brands we carry here. If you were to buy these anywhere else then they’d be at least $100. You’re actually getting a pretty good deal".

She still refused to budge and said, “I just don’t believe you. That’s not the real price. And you should know, I work for the Attorney General, and it would be a shame if you lost your job because you’re making up prices". Still trying to maintain my cool, I replied, “There’s no benefit for me to lie to you". She finally became quiet.

What was she thinking? Consider this, lady. I get paid $9 an hour to scan items. What on earth makes you think I make commission? If you want Michael Kors goods then you have to pay Michael Kors prices, even though this was already a bargain.

shrimp-fried-a

14. Limits Are For Other People

This happened around the time when Walmart had just announced its pickup service. We had no sort of "do your shopping for you" or personal shopper positions, so I should have seen the immediate red flag when my customer service manager (CSM) approached a coworker and asked if I wanted to be a personal shopper.

I was mid-transaction, and the coworker was chanting to herself, "Please say yes, please say yes, please say yes". But I was 19 and naive and still believed cranky last-minute Christmas shoppers were the only problem creatures. I also wanted to make my co-worker happy, so I said, "Uh, sure". My CSM briefed me on the woman who had only $85.

I was told to make sure that she stayed around $85, and that was the only introduction or warning I got before I was sent off with the lady, who I never learned the name of, but I will call Audrey, as she was just as cartoonishly whiny as the little girl from the old Little Audrey cartoons. The first red flag that I saw was that she immediately walked over to the garden center to see the Christmas clearance items.

I had just met Audrey, so I assumed she was certainly old enough to know her limits. She was probably around 65 if I had to guess. So, I followed her. But boy, oh, boy, was I entirely wrong. We walked around the garden center and she took notice of the special perfume and cologne sets that companies get specifically as Christmas gift ideas.

She grabbed one and said that it looked really nice and that she would love to try it out. She then placed it in her cart and proceeded to pick out sets for various family members—some nice slippers that massage your feet, and not one, not two, but three Christmas yard decorations with lights.

I politely informed her that she already had easily over $150 worth of stuff in her cart, and she asked me whether I was sure. So, I totaled up the price of all the stuff in her cart and then added on sales tax. She reluctantly put back several of the perfume sets and two of the lawn decorations, and we departed for the next area of the store.

Since she was old-fashioned, she still used a landline phone and informed me that she needed AA batteries for it. She said that she wanted to get rechargeable ones, to save money, and I agreed that may be a good idea...until she picked out $30 batteries. We spent a lot of time there because she specifically wanted batteries that indicated on the package that they were good for phones.

I got her to put back two more Christmas items, but some of her more expensive items remained in the cart. Then I asked her if she was ready to check out—she informed me that she still had to get her groceries. I had easily spent 45 minutes with this lady but I was long overdue for my break...my stomach sank so far that I had to scoop it up off the floor.

But I followed her as she picked out her groceries, all the while reminding her that she had a limited amount of money. At that point, I fully understood why my CSM would lie about this. Once again, I informed her that she had over $150 in her cart so she put a few items back; though, she did not believe me when I still insisted that she was over budget.

Instead, she insisted that we head to the checkout to confirm. Maybe she was one of those people who had to see her total to believe it, or maybe she was just being dumb, but I was too mentally exhausted to deal with it, so I just followed her to a checkout lane and unloaded her cart of items for her. When he recognized her, the cashier looked at me and nodded.

He then asked, "How long did it take?" To that, I indicated that it had been over an hour and he rolled his eyes, saying that sounded about right. But my ordeal was far from over—the cashier rang up all of her stuff with me there to bear witness, and he did not know her limit this time.

So, he did not say anything when we passed it. We made it to something like $193, and Audrey looked at her total and said, "Oh..." She took off a few slabs of meat, which brought it down around $20, and then handed the cashier a flavored drink enhancer and stared at him expectantly. The total was still $172, and she passed him another flavored drink enhancer.

I informed her that we might have to take off one of her more expensive items, like her perfume set or her slippers. She insisted on the slippers but decided the perfume could go. Great! That brought it down to $161, which was still progress. She inched the total down a few items at a time, all the while insisting certain items were off-limits.

I thought she put back the batteries and replaced them with regular batteries since those were much cheaper. The guy had since turned off his light but he still had a line. With his replacement cashier now present and the light still off, we were all trying to talk the lady down from everything she still insisted was necessary.

When we got her down to $120, she started asking us if she could just have some of her items The cashier seemed to know where this was going and told her she could have them if she paid for them. We tried several times to pry more items out of her transaction, but she insisted she needed everything that was left in the cart. It was a nightmare.

She started asking the replacement cashier if she could help her afford the items, to which the cashier told her no. She could literally lose her job for trying to do that. She then turned to the man behind her and asked for money, and he was about to offer to pay the remaining cost until the cashier gave him a look and requested that he please not do that. Clearly, this woman had done this before.

She then told the lady that she was not allowed to solicit at our store and that she was going to have to put some stuff back. Defying the advice, the nice customer behind us gave her $10. The lady put back another frozen item and was at $115. All she would need to do is to put back her cheap plastic lawn ornament...but she continued to whine about how she really needed it and how it would make her yard look so much nicer.

At that point, I sighed and decided to just take the item off her transaction, pay for it myself, and give it to the lady. I was done with it entirely. The cashier, however, told me that I could not do that and that I could lose my job for it. But I took the item to punch out for my break, grabbed my wallet from the back, then purchased the item and gave it to the lady.

I told her that I did not even have a yard and I just wanted it to be over with. The CSM later decided to just ban the lady from the store. I was also allowed to take it easy for the rest of the day. A very stressful ordeal, but the closest thing I could have gotten to a happy ending. And no, I didn't get in trouble, much to my relief.

greyjazz_

15. On The Edge

A lady demanded that I call her a manager today. She wanted to complain about how some items did not have a price on them while others did. She started interrogating me about pricing protocol, but I was on SCO duty today. Though, since I'd never seen her in the store before, I lied and said that I had nothing to do with stocking.

The manager arrived and Queen Karen launched into a full-fledged rant. Then, while she was at the counter complaining, she added a very hand-flailing, gestured complaint that the counter edges were too rough and sharp. She went as far as to say she was lucky that she did not injure herself, otherwise she would have called the health board. I wipe that counter down probably 200 times every day.

I assure you, there is nothing sharp about it because I would be among the first to raise a concern about it if there was. The employees where I work are very aware of how something small like a sharp edge on a cart can end up with a potential lawsuit in this crazy economic and opportunistic climate in which we live right now.

My manager handled it well, but the other associates and I couldn't stop laughing about it all shift. Their loud proclamations about how such-and-such—mostly random things like the color scheme, etc.—could have been fatal for us were just absurd.

ZookeepergameSea3890

16. Make Way

So, I work at a grocery store chain and Tuesdays are what we refer to as "Specials Day". Basically, it's my job to change out last week's special with the current week's special. It is a long and painful project that I volunteered for when I got promoted because I like doing projects that other people do not.

That day, I was doing my thing in the specials aisle. I started getting gradually more and more annoyed since the whole process would be three times faster if they just let me do it when the store was closed, but, for some baffling reason, they wanted the customers to interact with me as I was occupied with 10 pallets of random things.

Near the end of my ninth pallet, I had myself basically pinned into a corner of the aisle. This was a strong nonverbal language that should have signaled to the customers, "Hey, maybe don't walk this way. I'll have to step around my pallet, move my pallet jack, and reset myself if you do". But lo and behold, trouble was headed my way—a lady came walking down the aisle, approaching me at the end.

I am a chill guy, but I don't really talk much to the customers because my store is in an upper-class area and the wealthy folks don't like getting spoken to by some sweaty dude in a uniform. So, when she kept walking towards me, I realized that she was going to try and walk around my pallet or, God forbid, walk on it.

I quickly moved my jack and the pallet and looked up at the ceiling, questioning God for creating oblivious customers. Apparently, that look at the ceiling really truly infuriated her. At first, as she walked through the suddenly clear path, she apologized half-heartedly in that way only some types of customers can pull off.

But her apology read more like "Oh, I am sorry wage person. I sure hope I didn't inconvenience you with my presence". I nodded my head at her "apology" and turned back to move my jack and pallet back to where I was working. Apparently, not only did she expect me to move, but she also really expected me to graciously tell her it was no problem that she made me move my entire working station so she could save 15 steps.

Between not accepting her apology and looking at the ceiling for about three milliseconds, she decided right then and there that I was a menace and needed a talking to. She started with the basic criticism of me being a retail grunt who didn't have a big fake grin on my face the entire day. She topped it off with the classic line that always gets my blood boiling: “I do not think you should be working here if that is going to be your attitude".

She said that while looking at me like I was an animal in a zoo exhibit. I did not reply and just kept working. “What's the worst that can happen?” I thought. I cannot please everyone. Then she got in line. Now, the line to the checkout is situated about 10 feet from where I was working. At that point, the villain, in her mind, had her walkway obstructed.

She went out of her way to loudly criticize me and complain about how I should not be allowed to work at the store. Now, I will be honest with you, I should have just let her have her moment. If I had let her just screech and complain, it probably would have ended there. Maybe a phone call or strongly worded email to corporate. No biggie. I should have just smiled and kept working.

But there was a part of me that needed her to know that yelling at customers about how terrible I am is not how we did things at our store. So, I told her, calm as I could, that she needed to stop making a scene. And when I say something snapped in this woman, it was like someone hit a light switch. Immediately, her phone was recording me and everything got a lot more dangerous.

She was asking leading questions like, "Did you just tell me I can't talk to other customers?" and "Do you think you have the right to break my first amendment?" and "Who's the manager here?" Now, there are two things you can do when someone gets their phones out and records you. You can walk away, potentially get followed, and then you can ask them to stop recording.

Or you can be a fool like me and ask them to stop recording you right away. The latter method, naturally, led to her screaming even louder and accusing me of being a terrible person. She randomly started threatening me, saying that she could have me fired whenever she wanted. At that point, I was just trying to get her to leave.

She had made the scene worse by recording and trying to be the next viral "look at how bad I was treated" internet star, and it was clear that she just wanted to capture my angry reaction on film. I am glad to report that I did not get angry with her. I did not raise my voice at all. I just stood there and let her scream at me. As she finally finished paying for her groceries, I asked her again to please leave if she was going to continue making a scene.

This led to her sitting behind the cashiers and between the doors and waiting for me to walk away so that she could leave. I informed her that I needed to see her leave. She said that she was not leaving until I was out of her sight. I stood my ground and told her that she needed to leave or I would be forced to call the authorities.

Oh, God. She had the wrong reaction to that statement. Most of the time, if someone says, "Hey, this might need to become an official matter," the natural human reaction is to reevaluate what they are doing and decide if they want to continue. For reasons only God knows, this customer's reaction was "Good, call them. I want them here".

Here's the thing. I was not ever going to call them. It was a bottomless threat. What was I going to say to them? "There is a lady screaming at me and recording me?" Worst case scenario, this woman makes the whole situation into some kind of bigger issue and I end up on the news. So, my bluff having been called, I walked into the office and called my direct manager.

I told her what had happened and she basically told me to get back out there and deescalate the situation. I went back to the registers and I actually decided that the best course of action was to tuck tail and just apologize. So, I did. I said to her, "I'm really sorry you had a bad experience today. I hope you can come back and shop here. I understand what went wrong and I will gladly give you corporate's information". And then I told her to have a good day, indicating the door as I said that.

She sort of accepted my apology. Of course, she still went on  about how I was terrible and how I should not work there, but at least she calmed down a little...until she mentioned she was an "investigator". Not seeing a uniform or a badge, I asked her what I thought to be a natural and reasonable question.

I asked, "An investigator for who?" Her exact reply was, "Do not play stupid. You know what kind of investigator". Then she went on to say that she was going to call corporate, let them know that I was only harassing her because she was an immigrant (which was ironic since I am an immigrant too) and that I should expect not to have a job in the next 24 hours.

I just sat there and took it. There was nothing else I could do, really. Sometimes you just have to let them screech so they will leave. As she finally turned to leave, she noticed that I was watching her. So, she came back and said that I could not watch her leave because I was "going to attack" her outside.

I clammed up even more at that comment. As a final shot, she told me that she had "the means to retaliate" in her car and that she'd "gladly use it" if I come outside. She finally left and I called my boss, breaking down in tears of pure frustration, telling her how the de-escalation went. My boss assured me that she was just a crazy lady and that she, my boss, would have my back if this turned into a bigger deal.

TinManGrand

17. Showering The Troubles Away

I am a shift manager two days a week and a cashier for three at a truck stop and rest area. We have fast-food restaurants, showers, parking for big rigs, and passenger vehicles. Today's troubles, like most of the trouble I encounter, revolved around showers. A driver came down, plopped his wet towels on the counter (even after my cashier directed him to a towel bin), and then threw his key onto the pile.

The cashier asked him, again, to place the towels in the bin. He finally grabbed them and said, "Oh, so you guys do not have to touch them". I replied, "Yes, policies have changed some due to the pandemic". In truth, that has been the policy for at least the three years I have worked there, but this seemed to be the quickest way to resolve the matter.

My cashier asked him what shower he was in, and instead of speaking, he held up the numbered key. Though, his finger was blocking the number, so we could not see what it was. When my cashier reached for it, he raised it higher so he had to stretch to get it. At that point, I was starting to get really irritated. His behavior was just so unnecessary.

I told the driver, "Way to make it complicated". This man lost his mind. He got right into my face and said he would hit me hard. I told him to leave, and he started flexing like he was actually going to throw a punch but said, "I'm not going to go for you. But want to know what I will do? I will find your family and mess them up".

I pulled my cellphone out and started recording. The store manager then arrived at the building and heard the tail end of our shouting match with each other. He stepped in between us when the driver came too close. The driver started shouting at him, " Don't get involved, bro. You don't want none of this". My boss replied, "This is my property".

The driver calmed down very quickly, and they stepped outside. My boss told him exactly the same things I had; that he was not to return, etc. The end. Fast forward to the end of my shift—we had yet another driver issue. So, the policy for our showers is that we hold onto something as collateral until we get the shower key and the towels back. 99% of the time, it's a non-issue.

The other 1% of the time, it's a mess. This time, a driver came down, and since my cashier had a few people in line, I thought to ask the driver if he had brought the towels down. The driver said that he had not because he had not been told to do so. The cashier clarified that they had, in fact, told him. The driver just shrugged and said, “I don't care, man. I have a Lyft outside waiting. Give me my keys".

He had left his personal keys as collateral, but since we did not get our items back, I told him he would have to get the towels. He became belligerent to both me and my cashier. At that point, the overnight manager was in, so he got some too. This went on for a few moments; then, in what I thought was a bluff, he said he was calling the authorities.

Spoiler alert, it was not a bluff. Like the guy at the start of my shift, I started recording on my phone. And this guy actually threatened me. After about seven minutes or so, a couple of officers arrived. The guy was belligerent with them too, and he pushed the cashier to the point where they told him he needed to back up and calm down.

One of the troopers came to the back desk where we dealt with the showers. The driver, at that point, looked like he was about to break down in tears. The trooper asked about our policy, and it was explained. The driver told him what he told us, "I am here for a shower. In and out. I do not have time for this. I have a Lyft outside. I just want my keys".

In what I thought would be the best moment of my day, the trooper escorted him upstairs to the showers and made him get the towels. We gave him his keys and receipt for the shower, but I added that after today, we did not want him back on the property. The trooper and the driver walked away, but the trooper made sure that he acknowledged what he had been told.

He asked him, "Did you hear what the manager said? You're not welcome here anymore. If you return, you will be charged with trespassing". I left a note for my boss about what had happened and went home. If the driver had simply said, "Oh sorry, guys. I forgot," or if he just didn't act the way he did, then we would have just given his things back. But he wanted to be petty about it.

I am better at the petty game. My takeaway from today is that my boss is pretty awesome. He had my back, stepped between me and a guy who audibly threatened to harm me and others. He probably will not appreciate that I let the second incident go as far as it ended up going but it is what it is. Sometimes, in retail, you just have to defend yourself.

randomretailworker

18. Smoke Signals

We had a new employee start yesterday. She seemed to be a very sweet girl in her late teens and had a great sense of humor. I took a liking to her instantly. She had never been in charge of a register before, so I was put in charge of training her. I showed her the ropes and let her take over, staying close by in case she needed me.

When it was quiet, I taught her what the procedure was when it came to smokes. She asked me if she had to ID everyone and I told her that she would have to use her judgment. If a person seemed younger than 21 to her, then she should go for it. If they looked older, then it wouldn't be necessary. She seemed to understand, and she was getting the hang of the register quickly.

I figured that I could stop shadowing her and let her do her thing. I told her that I was going to do some stocking, but that I would be close by if she needed anything. In fact, I would be no more than an aisle over. She smiled and said OK. About 10 minutes went by, and I heard somebody yelling. All I could hear the girl say was: “I am sorry, sir,” in the most terrified tone.

I came over to find this old man screaming at her. She was hunched over and looked like she was about ready to cry. Apparently, he had told her that he wanted a particular brand of smokes. She gave him the wrong ones twice and was slow to find the right ones, and then she asked him for his date of birth when she rang it up.

He was yelling about how he was in a rush and needed to go. He saw me and said, "Hey, can you ring me up? This woman does not know anything". I looked at her and saw the tears rolling down her face. That was not OK. I told him to not talk to my coworker that way and informed him that it was her first day. He said, “I see that, but I have to go".

I told him that he obviously did not because if he did, then he would not be screaming at her. He replied with a threat, saying that if I said one more thing, he would never come back to support our store. That was fine with me. I did not want customers who disrespect employees in the store anyway. In the cheeriest tone I can muster, I told him to have a fantastic day.

He stormed out muttering and I consoled the new girl. She was full-on sobbing at this point. What a horrible first day that had to have been. All because some mean person could not show a little empathy.

Godhelpmeplease12

19. Behind The Doors

I just finished working the weekend and, boy, reopening after a lockdown has really brought out the geniuses, huh? Yes, please take your sweet time, ignore the store hours since they are clearly just a suggestion. It is not like we have lives or would like to get home before it starts pouring out. Keeping in line with the genius parade, on Friday, some dude waltzed in 10 minutes before closing.

I greeted him and asked if I could help him find what he was looking for since we were closing soon. He didn't really answer. Fast forward nine and a half minutes—I caught him talking to my coworker for the greater part of his visit, and I knew immediately that he would be trouble. He was mostly about random topics, but clearly, she did not care. Unfortunately,  she was too nice to cut the guy off and say that she was busy.

I start the closing ritual for the store, which involved turning off the open sign, flipping the sign by the door, closing the doors, etc. I also tried to make more noise than usual so that the guy noticed what I was doing. Of course, he did not, since he was too far into his story about wanting to be a hairdresser or something.

I waited about 30 seconds before I abruptly interrupted. I asked my coworker if she was ready to close her register. That tipped the dude off and he finally left...he did not even buy anything. We have had more people like this, all just waiting for the store to close. Then, we have those who are the other way round. We had a woman who was standing at the doors for a while waiting for us to open, and then got into her car and left as I was walking to unlock the doors. This has happened quite a few times and I cannot really wrap my head around that logic.

Spleenzorio

20. With A Smile

One day, I had an old guy come through my register with lumber. I said hello to him and instead of greeting me back, he immediately told me had eight pieces of the stack of lumber on the left. I proceeded to count them and he snapped at me, saying, "I said eight!" I told him that we were supposed to count them. I completed counting and rang up those eight pieces.

He then told me that there were 10 pieces of lumber on the right side of his cart. Once again, I counted them. He said to me, "What school did you go to?" I was so confused by his question that I did not even know what to say. What was interesting is that, despite how cranky he was, he kept smiling at me as if his rude remarks weren't uncalled for.

He was also wearing his mask with his nose hanging out. Once he finished paying and I gave him his receipt, he left the store without saying thank you or anything to me. That guy is definitely up there as one of the worst customers I've ever had. Absolutely no manners and I am still disgusted by his behavior to this day.

RedPillPrincess96

21. Powered Up

On one Saturday afternoon, we had a power surge followed by an outage. It affected all of downtown, but the store was not notified. Now, you would think that people would be understanding...but there was not one empathetic soul in our store that day. People started complaining that we did not have a backup generator. This was, in their eyes, totally the employees’ fault too.

We had one register that could still ring, but the card reader was down, so it was cash only. And the belts would not move. All of this should be obvious, but no. We got questions like, “You mean I can't use my bank card?” despite the fact that we had been repeating that for the last 20 minutes. Add to the mix this one lovely man who kept shouting, "Time to get out the pencils and paper!" because we most definitely know the price of every item in the store.

We finally got everyone out, locked the doors, and put stuff away to enjoy 30 minutes of bliss. The instant the power went back on, people were beating on the door. My manager told them everything had to reboot but, of course, they wanted to shop during that time instead of waiting five more minutes.

munchkinb2982

22. Here We Go Around The Counter

I had a customer who was standing at the cash with items all over the counter, just staring at me. So, I sidled up and cashed them out. All of sudden, the customer left and started browsing the store some more. When he moseyed back up to the counter just moments later, I asked him if he was all set. He said nothing and went off again to look at something else.

Then, after some time, the customer stood impatiently before the register, proclaiming sourly, "Can I get some help over here? I'm ready to cash out". It took everything in me to not give a bratty reaction. As I was ringing him up, I also got hit with the old, "No, I always get 10% off," even though our item rewards system has literally been only 5% off for the past 10 years.

But no, this guy said he always gets a deal here. I had never seen the guy before in my life, but okay. Needless to say, they did not get the claimed discount.

meowmeowlittlemeow

23. Not A Know-it-all

This customer came in 10 minutes before closing. She was looking at jeans up until closing with the help of one of our newer staff members. He had been hired six months ago for the holiday season but received only one shift weekly. At closing, I told my coworker that we were closed, so he told the customer that he would have to bring the items to be cashed out.

The customer continued looking anyway. My coworker took me aside and spilled the truth about the situation—he told me that the guy was being aggressive and almost yelling at him to help. When he came up to the cash, he complained about not being able to find the jeans that he was looking for and said that my coworker should not have been hired because he did not know anything at all.

Bear in mind that my coworker normally works in our shoe department, so he does not know much about casual wear. He then wanted us to call another store in order to look for his size. It was five minutes after closing,  so obviously, no one picked up. The cashier told him that, and he decided to ask for the manager as if that was going to do anything.

Since I am the shift leader, I was the acting manager. I turned around and asked him what he needed, and he started going on about how I needed to hire people with more experience. First of all, I don't even hire people. Secondly, this was the kid's first job—he was barely 16, and he was one of the nicest, most eager-to-please employees that we have.

I almost lost it at that customer. I told him not to talk about my employees like that. I do not even remember what else I said before my cashier jumped in to de-escalate the situation. Maybe I overreacted, but my coworker feels like the little brother at our store.

lionthecouch

24. Selective Vision

Today, I had two unrelated customers really get under my skin. Most of the time, I shrug off mean customers. I let them complain and then reply with "Sorry, company policy" or some other non-response to shut them up. But not today. And the first one was a doozy. This customer was an older lady who had bought four packages of hot dogs.

We currently have a sale for hot dogs: buy two and they are 99 cents each while their normal price is $2.99 each. The limit is one, so it's a pretty good deal; you save $4 overall. However, this lady was angry that only two of her hot dogs had gone for the sale price. I was called up and asked to fix it. The lady claimed that there was no limit mentioned on the sale sign.

So, I got out a sales flier, and before I had even opened it, she claimed that she doesn't read the fliers. That made me instantly angry. I set up a refund and went to get the on-shelf sale tag. And wouldn't you know it, in big bold capital letters the tag read: "Limit offer one per customer". I grabbed the sign and started to go up front to show the customer.

She saw me coming and immediately took off because the cashier had run the refund before I had a chance to get the tag. It irks me that customers can read the sale sign, but selectively ignore parts of it.

gubaguy

25. Needing An Explanation

I had never ever encountered anyone really going off on me at work...Until yesterday. This encounter at my workplace—a burger place—involved a rude customer named Darren, his young daughter, my coworker named Karen, my manager named Bernard, and me.

At my workplace, we organize orders numerically. Once your order is finished, we call out the number and the customer comes to pick up their order at a hand-out area. Now, I am currently training for a new role, so I was close to the handout table, but not working it. I noticed a man, whom I came to know as Darren, standing in front of the table with a receipt in his hand and a burger in the other.

Obviously, I knew he had a complaint. I just didn't expect that it would go like this. I asked him if something was wrong with his order. He said that he had gotten the wrong burger. He was actually calm at this point and he sounded only a slight bit irritated, but there was nothing alarming. I apologized and asked what kind of burger he was missing.

That's when Karen, who was taking orders next to us, jumped in and said, "Oh, I think his daughter grabbed the wrong order. His order is in the back". I later told her that it was not necessary to tell the customers their mistakes in that manner because either way, we were going to fix it for them. It was faster to just fix it rather than play the blame game.

Plus, no one was going to blame her and go on some witch hunt. I just wanted to do my job. At the time, I just said that the food in the back was already cold, so I just needed to know which burger he needed". Instead of answering me, Darren said, "Wait. My daughter grabbed the wrong food though?" Karen said that was what she thought had happened.

So, Darren replied, "Well, can you tell her that? Because I do not want to start a fight if I tell her". At that point, Karen and I looked at each other confused and uncomfortable. He then waved his daughter over. They were a tall duo, but I guessed that she was around 12. I tried to avoid the situation and reiterated, “Really, I can just get the correct burger for you. It's not a big deal at all".

Darren insisted that she needed to “learn this". I then said, "OK. Well, I did not hand out the food, so I cannot say if she grabbed the wrong order. Karen can help with that". Karen quickly washed her hands of the situation by saying, "I can't. I am in the middle of taking orders". That annoyed me and I thought, “Why were you listening to us in the first place then? Why put in your 2 cents when I was already fixing it and we had no issues?”

But my concern, at that point, was Darren, who suddenly really wanted me to do it. His tone made the situation really uncomfortable. Even his daughter started to look extremely uncomfortable. As he started getting irate, more condescending, and loud, I started to just look for a way out. He continued to insist that he wanted to talk to me and know what had happened.

I, once again, expressed my helplessness. "Yes, sir. But unfortunately, I do not know what happened. I was not here handing out the food". He kept cutting me off, so I finally said, "I am going to get my manager for you because I cannot help you any more with this". As I turned to step away, he started screaming at the top of his lungs.

He shouted, "No, don't walk away from me! Ma'am, I do not want your manager! I am not trying to create a scene here!" Everyone was staring as he was going off and I yelled out Bernard's name. Bernard came over and that is when Darren went back to his calm voice. He told Bernard that he just wanted to know what happened with his order.

I was still standing there and Bernard said, "He wants to talk to you". Darren had a condescending voice when he was talking to me. He gave a half-truth and then asked, "Is that not what happened?" So, I stood quietly, and after he asked again, I said, "Well, I mean, my manager is here. So, yes, I am agreeing that that is what happened".

I also refused to look at him because when I get angry, I cry. I was trying so hard not to let the tears out. Also, because he was bending down to my level, I wanted to punch him. Darren started saying stuff like, "Will you look at me? Why does it feel like you don't want to be talking to me? Do you even want to be here talking to me?"

When he didn't stop his aggression, I absolutely lost it. So, I said, "No, I don't. Bernard, I'm not doing this. I can't do this". And I walked away. I went to the back where three or four different coworkers checked up on me. One even offered to let me punch him to take out my anger. I did not take him up on his offer, but I love that kid.

At that point, I only had like 10 to 15 minutes left on my shift, so I got to go home. Bernard apologized to me and said he didn't expect him to speak to me that way. On one hand, I understand because Darren could come across as a normal calm customer. But on the other hand, this guy was literally just screaming at me. And he was at least 6'3 (192 cms) while I am 4'11 (125 cms).

Even his daughter was taller than me. I told Bernard that it felt a little biased because he was not as condescending with him as he was with me. But Bernard said that he felt it was more to do with height since he was just as tall and built similarly to the customer. Either way, he said that there was something off about that guy anyway, and I agree.

justatatr

26. Too Good To Be True

To preface, it needs to be said that my store does not have coupons. We never have, and we probably never will. On this day, I had a woman come in saying that she wanted to get decor for her new house. I offered to show her what we had available. She then mentioned that she was so excited that she was going to get such a good deal.

I assumed that was because everything she was picking out was 40% off. Spoiler alert: it was not. She proceeded to spend over an hour picking out everything and having us put it behind the counter for her. That was when she finally mentioned, “Oh yes, I was so happy to get a coupon for half off of everything here,” which was the major red flag.

I then asked her if I could see it while also explaining that we did not carry in-store coupons. She proceeded to spend another 30 minutes looking for the supposed coupon. I finally got a glance at her phone and it all made sense—she had pulled up one of those websites that claim to give out coupon codes, but they usually don't work.

It even said in a big text that they uncertified codes. She was perfectly polite the entire time but explaining to her that she couldn't use any of that in-store was exhausting. I know the older generation can have trouble with stuff like that, but it was like she just could not believe that she could not use her coupons. And, of course, she had us put half of it back.

Ellery62

27. An Apple A Day

I had a customer yesterday bring in the clearance item that he bought, which was a MacBook. He came up to the register to return it. That was no problem. For reference, I'm five feet tall and he was a big guy. I followed protocol and opened it. I then checked to see if the laptop was up and running to turn off his iCloud accounts.

When the screen turned on, it was stuck on some weird screen with a mysterious folder labeled with a question mark. That's all it displayed. I didn't give it much thought. As I was processing the return, I noticed on the receipt that the form of payment was a $43 gift card, and the rest of the $1,057 was charged to his card.

Returns work by giving back the money in the same form of payment. So, I was telling him that he would get $43 back to a gift card. He immediately got upset and tried telling me that the last guy who helped him return an item of his but not to his card, but to a gift card. So, he wanted the whole $1,100 to his card.

Normally, I would let the customer know this kind of thing, and they would be OK with it. I was a little overwhelmed, so I called my super. She was held up with something and a minute into waiting, this guy started getting aggravated. He told me, "I don't have all day! C’mon". At that point, I was begging my super on the radio, “Please, I need you here".

She came and checked out the situation. She also investigated the MacBook. I didn't know if the guy didn't disconnect it from his iPhone yet, but his accounts were still attached to his laptop. So, he started getting even more aggravated. Eventually, I called a floor manager up. They were letting him know that there was nothing we could do on our end.

This was because he did something like wipe his system. So, he had to call Apple to disable his accounts or find out why it was not working. He was sitting there, calling Apple, and I guess he was trying to use voice commands because he kept shouting something. Then he started to argue with the floor manager again, so I just walked away to compose myself

In the end, the guy got all his money back to his card and he was still able to return the item, claiming that he'll never buy clearance items from us again.

BrittyBirb

28. Always On Clock

I finished a shift at my work and I was on my way home when I realized that I needed to do some shopping. I could not be bothered to go all the way back to my store, so I went to another shop on the way home. Mind you, I was in my work uniform and it was too hot to wear a coat over it. I was going to be in and out so thought it was no big deal.

How wrong was I?! Well, two minutes in, an elderly couple came up to me and ask, “Excuse me, do you know where the food storage bags are kept? I replied, “I am sorry but I do not work here I'm afraid. They just say, “Oh, right!” They stormed off and, although taken aback, I thought little of it. Instead, I got on with my shopping and headed to the self-service tills.

Just as I was about to finish, the couple came back and they had a manager with them! They told the manager, “This employee of yours refused to help us find our items". The manager looked at me, then said, “I am afraid that this man does not work for us". He pointed to my uniform saying, “He works for another company".

The couple stared at me and said, “We thought he was making that up!” I'd never had a complaint from a customer while shopping in another store before! Well, there is always a first time.

mindlesszombie12

29. Cost Per Spray

I work at a thrift store, and due to COVID, there needs to be a door greeter who greets customers coming in and sprays their hands with hand sanitizer. This was what I was doing when an elderly woman came in. As I sprayed her hands, she started coughing dramatically as though this was the first time anyone had ever done that.

Then, she said, “You sprayed too much. It got into my mouth". I immediately felt bad when she said that, but then she lost me when she said that it had gotten into her mouth. She was clearly wearing a mask. To top it off, as she walked away, she muttered something. It sounded like, “This is going to affect the amount of money I spend today". I don’t get how that affects me, but okay.

Drakelover3000

30. In The Know

This happened this past weekend at my shop. The customers were one of those annoying couples who'd regularly come in and ask questions every time. They would ask things like where the bin bags were or where the rice was as if they weren’t here literally all the time. One day, this couple came up to my till and I start scanning through the items.

Suddenly, the man said, “Can you press subtotal at the end?” I said that I would. This was because, obviously, I was going to have to do it anyway. I thought he was just particular or did not really understand how it worked. Anyway, the total came to around $55 and they were not very happy. They started asking me how much every item cost and to void out other items, which of course I did without a problem.

When they came to scan their voucher, the pop-up appeared as expected, telling me to get a supervisor to authorize the void. I told them, “Because you have removed some products, I have to get someone over to authorize them. They shouldn’t be too long". The man looked at me with confusion and said, “I thought pressing subtotal would make it OK".

This deeply puzzled me. Did he think that of all the people who ever worked my shop— till staff, supervisors, and management—that no one had ever considered or worked this out before? Did he think he, a completely random man, knew more about our till systems? That he knew more than the staff who are on them all day? Strange!

TuxedoCatBoi

31. Time Is Money

I’ve worked in customer service for two years and the amount of stuff I’ve had to deal with is enough to blast God to the 16th dimension. One time, a customer wanted something way high up on the shelves, in the depressing fluorescent lights territory. I told her that I should be back within 10 minutes because I needed to get a ladder. She said that was fine.

Now, I don't even weigh heavy enough to donate blood. I’m a petite little ballerina of a rodent with Campbell soup noodle arms. None of the other workers were around to help as they were dealing with their own stuff, so I dragged this ginormous ladder from the break room all the way across the store to get back to the lady and the merchandise.

Well, I headed back to the desolate ghost town of an aisle and find that the lady decided to take a first-class ticket to Employees’ Time Is Meaningless-Ville. She was nowhere to be seen. Okay, time is money, and people have got things to do and places to be and all that. But don’t act like your time is more valuable than mine, because it's not.

FairRiver3

32. Adventure Time

I currently work at a mall, in a candy store close to the food court. In the food court, there is a play area for kids with different structures to climb and play on. This play area has a no-shoes policy, meaning that to play there, kids have to take their shoes off. Now, kids are attracted to candy and have been known to wander in.

We can tell that they are from the play area because they lack shoes and, usually, we have an employee walk them back. These kids are usually really young, so it scares us a bit when they do not have an adult nearby watching them. Well, today there were three kids, probably siblings, all five years old or younger, that wandered in.

We took note of their lack of shoes and asked them to show us where their parents were; a common tactic to get them to walk back to the playpen and to their adult. Well, this five-year-old was kind of sassy and said, "I am five years old. I don’t need my parents since I walked here on my own". His younger siblings agreed with him.

We then told him that he couldn’t buy anything because he did not have any money. Honestly, though, we will not sell to kids without shoes regardless of whether they have money or not. He and his siblings ran out of the store and we watched them run to the play area. We figured that they went to their parents and moved on.

15 minutes later, they were back with an unexpected vengeance. They all grabbed a bunch of stuff and tried to run out with it, but we stopped them. This time around, my manager walked back to the playpen with them. Later, when she came back, she said that when she got there, the other parents did not want to allow them back in since they had been disruptive and had pushed some of the other kids.

So, she had returned with them in tow and we had to call security to pick up the kids and make an announcement over the PA system. A security guard later said that a woman had picked the children up and was mad at them since she had told them to stay in the playpen while she shopped. Later, I told my friend, who works at one of the restaurants at the food court what had happened and she said that she had spotted them running around the backs of the restaurants.

She had to kick them out from there since it was dangerous for the kids to be there. My only question is, “Who lets their young kids alone in a busy mall while they shop?” Just get a sitter!

The_248593th_ghost

33. Grabbing Luck With Both Hands

Our store has a lottery kiosk. Yesterday, this lady was buying tickets and she ordered me to tell her good luck. She didn't mean to wish her luck, either. She specifically said, "You should say good luck to me when I'm getting lottery tickets". I just told her I grew up doing theatre and I was conditioned not to say good luck. This is sort of true, but I mostly do not say it because I just cannot be bothered by these people.

_curse10_

34. A Question Of Receiving

I had a woman say that she didn’t want her receipt. Then, when I threw it out, she yelled and said that I should give her a receipt. So, I went to print a new one and she immediately said, “No, I want my original receipt". So, I pulled it out of my trash can, which only had receipt paper in it, and she goes, “It’s that one!”

I wondered, “Lady, how would you know? They’re all the same". However, I held my tongue and just say, “No, this is for a smaller purchase. You got a bigger size". I found hers and she huffed off. Fast forward a few days—I looked through the customer feedback box and I was shocked. We get a bad review saying that I was rude, threw out her receipt when she asked for it, and did not print her a new one.

It went on to claim that I just pulled a receipt out of the garbage and didn’t even give her the right receipt. Corporate gave her a gift card. I was done after that.

othermegan

35. A Valuable Lesson

Yesterday was horrible. My relief wasn't on time, and because of our nonsensical late policy, I was technically working for free after my shift ended. So, I was a little cranky when my last customer asked to "just grab one thing really quickly". I said yes, but I was admittedly huffy. The customer decided to "teach me a lesson".

They waited to grab the item until the entire order was through. I cannot void an order over $10, so that wasn't an option. And today was the first of the month, so it was busy and I couldn't afford to have my time whiled away. I just wanted to scream.

36. Time For Change

What is up with the over 50 crowds being inconsiderate and generally just difficult to deal with? I had a retail customer come in at 9:30 am, right after I locked the door to go to the bank. He knocked, so of course, I opened the door and helped him. He got up to the register and paid with two $50 bills and two $1 bills for his $31.94 purchase because he wanted to break up his bills.

He then proceeded to dictate the exact denominations of change that he wanted, which I didn’t have since I hadn't gone to the bank yet. So, I flipped through the change in my cash bag. He saw the denominations that interested him, which happened to be the only change that I really had. He wanted them, but I hesitantly obliged because what else was I going to pay him with?

That was when another customer walked in and wanted to pay with—wait for it—CASH! I hate it here!!! I have also noticed that it’s always the same kind of people who do things like this. They call in two minutes before closing and ask you to stay, or show up 30 minutes before you open and bang on your doors, etc. I cannot finish my home inspection classes fast enough because I am fed up with how rude and seemingly clueless a lot of people can be in public.

Taylor181200

37. An Ill-fitting Argument

I work at Zara as a sales associate. Due to COVID, our dressing rooms are closed because they would be used as a shared space and, therefore, they'd require a wipe down, among other things, every time they would be used. We just do not have the staff to do that. So even though the pandemic is starting to die down, no dressing rooms.

Our return policy is pretty standard, though, so most people do not give us any grief and just buy their items and return or exchange them the next day if they do not fit. No big deal, right? Right. So, this happened while I was walking back and forth from our dressing room, which we are using as an extra stock room, filling up the shelves.

We were in the middle of a big sale, so I was trying to hustle and get everything out there as fast as I could. I was putting knitwear on racks, humming along to the song that was playing, and just generally having a grand old time. Then, approached me. The dreaded demon. Karen. She goes, "Excuuuuuuuuse me!" And I'm immediately on guard.

I turned around and immediately all my warning sensors were going off. She looked like a total Karen. Stringy blonde hair, thin lips, years of sunburn that has ruined her skin, not wearing a mask—but has one pulled down below her chin—and a girl behind her in her late teens that looked absolutely miserable being out with her.

Before I even fully processed it, my brain just said, “Oh boy". I turned on my customer service smile and said, "Hi! How can I help you?" She was immediately in my face, not respecting social distancing at all. She demanded to know if we had a fitting room open, saying, "I was just by your fitting rooms and I saw your sign. Do you have any fitting rooms open?"

The sign clearly said that we did not, but I started with my little spiel. I said, "No, we do not have the fitting rooms open due to COVID, but our return policy still stands, even for the sale, so—" She interrupts me by saying, "But I need a fitting room". She also stepped closer to me so I stepped back. Clearly, she had no respect for our social distancing rules.

I tried to explain again that she couldn't use the fitting room, but she wouldn't have it. "I just saw someone in there". I replied, "I know, ma'am. That was my manager; she's pricing items". That apparently was not a good enough explanation for her, and she rebutted, "So she's back there and I can't be?" I just said "Yes". She still kept trying to get close to me and I kept taking steps back.

She had me quite literally backed into a corner. She proceeded to retort, "This policy is ridiculous. I can't believe this is still instituted, it's completely absurd". She then went on this entire rant about how stupid she thought the whole situation was. Apparently, she felt that she had to explain to me how stores work.

I replied, "Well, ma'am, we are still in the middle of a pandemic, and if we were to open the fitting rooms now, then we wouldn't have the staff to keep them clean and also run the store". She rolled her eyes and just started talking about how stupid and ridiculous it was that we couldn't accommodate her. At that point, I had enough.

I try to get her to stop attacking me for things I cannot control by putting it in perspective, "Ma'am, I'm just a sales associate and this policy comes from corporate. There's really nothing that I can do about this". This apparently enrages her, and she starts demanding that I change the policy right that second and get in touch with corporate to change the policy just for her.

At that moment, I had a divine moment of self-reflection. My third eye opened and I realized that throughout the whole conversation, I had been looking down. I am 5'3" (162 cm), so I don't get to look down at people very often. In arguments, I always feel stupid because I'm yelling up at whoever I am arguing with.

I am clearly not tall, but at that moment, I felt like an Amazonian goddess. I realized that I did not need to fear the Karen because the Karen would never have the dignity of talking down to me in an argument. She was still ranting and raving at this point, talking about how I needed to be the one who instituted the change because it's my job in danger.

I looked at her, gave her my best sales smile, and said, "Zara is an internationally successful company, ma'am. I am pretty confident in my job. You have a nice day, now". And I gave the polite gesture of "Get out of my way". She stormed off, and the daughter, who had been silent and miserable the entire time, whispered, "I am so sorry," and hurries after her mom.

I went to the fitting room and complained to my manager, who made a few choice comments about the Karens who don't take the pandemic seriously. I love that lady, truly. Also, when I got home, I searched for Zara's net worth out of curiosity. Seeing the results, I was relieved. Not worried about my job, not even a little bit.

No-Drive-1941

38. Brand New

I work at a clothing store and our policy is that if the item has been worn, you cannot return or exchange it. So, this guy came in the other day and I was already getting a weird vibe. He was shuffling around and messing up all our displays, just muttering to himself. At that point, I was only walking through the children's department to get to our break room.

But he stopped me to ask a question. He pulled out this filthy pair of children's shoes—absolutely caked in mud—and demanded an exchange. He said, "The shoes have no sole". I took a look inside the shoe, and within seconds I could tell that the shoes had been worn for a long time already. There was absolutely no mistaking it.

In fact, they had been worn so much that the sole had been worn down completely. As in, there were still little chunks of sole at the edges, but they were completely gone at the center. So, I said, "Sir, unfortunately, due to store policy, we cannot return or exchange items that have already been worn". And he replied, "These have never been worn. I need an exchange. I just bought these the other day".

So, I looked around the kid's section for just a minute and I could see that the shoes weren't even out. I tried to explain that to him, but he adamantly kept saying, "No, I bought this the other day. They have never been worn. I need a return". I kept trying to explain to him that he could not return the shoes since they were caked in mud and worn out.

What he said next really flustered me. "I have been coming here for three years. I know the girl downstairs, and I need this return".  I obviously caught him in a lie, but he was not backing off. Fortunately, a lovely coworker of mine walked over and said, "Go take your break, honey. I got this". After my break, I  was walking down to my section of the floor and I could see the two of them, in the exact same spot, still arguing.

I heard him go, "This is downtown New York and I cannot even make a return? This is ridiculous. Just get me the girl downstairs". When my co-worker asked for a name, and he could not give one. I could tell she was getting annoyed and a few seconds later, she met up with me on our escalator and we both just rolled our eyes.

No-Drive-1941

39. Fishing For Trouble

I work at an aquatics store and I manage the freshwater aquariums. Whenever I work at the store, I usually ask people about their fish tanks to help them figure out any problems the tanks may have or recommend the best fish for them. Most of the time, I can help them prevent any beginner mistakes, or just stop their fish from expiring.

A few days ago, a lady came in a few minutes before closing. I was already behind on closing because of other customers, so I was kind of tired. This lady brought in dead fish and a water sample. The parameters looked good, but as a hobbyist myself, I suspected ammonia poisoning for her fish. We did not test for ammonia though.

Furthermore, this lady had done a full water change before her fish kicked it. So, I went through the usual—I explained the proper way to do a water change (25% every week) and also recommend products. She wanted a quick fix despite me explaining that her cycle was a mess and that there was no way that her fish would survive unless she started her cycle all over again.

Such is a process that can take weeks sometimes. Instead of listening, she made up an excuse about how she really needed to take some fish home because her kids want them. I still tried to guide her to a sensible decision. I recommended that she take only two fish so as to not shock the new cycle too much. All went well until she realized something that I had overlooked myself—the fish sale would end in a few days.

Then she insists that she absolutely must take the other fish too. I mentally say, “Alright. Fine. Take your fish". Out loud I remind her that there is a good chance her fish are going to lose their lives unless she is very careful with her cycle. I, finally, send her on her way thirty minutes after closing because she would not listen to any advice that I gave her.

This was despite asking me what she could do and then not wanting to do it because she thought that it was too much work or she did not have time. I explained it later to the manager and she said that if she came back to return those same fish, I was to deny her the sale.

Sabertooth-Fox2020

40. A Calculated Move

In one of my old jobs, I worked in a coffee shop. I really enjoyed it and the people who came in regularly were a dream. One time, the till had broken down, and we resorted to a pen-and-paper process to take people's orders. We also worked out their change correctly by punching it into the calculator. Everything was going well.

Or, it was going well..until this absolute demon of a customer came in. She started rattling off her order. I was hurriedly writing it down and double-checking the prices on the menu. She saw what I was doing and she tutted me as if she was disappointed. She also had the audacity to tap on the broken till and say, "Why aren't you using this? Surely it's easier?"

I pointed to the sign next to them and said as nicely as possible that we were using pen and paper, etc. Then, rolling her eyes, she said her order slowly but with a condescending tone. After taking her order, I took my time repeating it back to her, since she had asked for a lot. Apparently, that was too much for them.

She responded by saying, "I am in a hurry and you are taking too long". I apologized and explained that I simply wished to make sure that the order was correct. Then I proceeded to total up her order with the calculator, and I heard her sighing and huffing as I was typing away the figures. She said, "Why do you need a calculator? Clearly, someone did not finish math, or else you would not be working here".

That was the final straw. I balled up the piece of paper, threw it in the bin next to me, and said, "Another member of staff will be with you to help you shortly". I made my way to the staff area and told my manager what had happened. They told me to relax and said that they would sort it. Needless to say, I watched as my manager went out and made it very clear that the customer’s business was not welcome.

I just wish that I had the sense to throw that balled-up piece of paper in her face. I hate people like that.

cazzwitt1991

41. Delivering It In Style

I work at a shipping store. One day, I was asked to ship something to Iraq to who I assume was a military husband. Well, as a typical Karen, she gave lip and was upset about price and other small things. After a long process, we got the $20 of junk shipped. A few weeks later, she returned to the store, upset. She demanded to see my boss.

She began to chew him out about how I sent the package to the wrong place and how we charged her too much. Her problem was that she wanted to send it to a base, which should have astronomically reduced the price. My boss took one look at her, and shut her up with a single sentence: "Ma’am, how does my employee know a random street address in Iraq unless you told him to send it there?"

Karen was dumbfounded and, after a few moments of being flabbergasted, she rambled back that she would call the local news. She never did that or the other things that she threatened to do. She didn't even write a bad message on Google.

BotR13

42. A Steep Price

A man came in today to exchange a pair of pants. Unfortunately for him, he had bought a $70 pair and a $60 pair on a BOGO 50% sale, so the $60 pair was 50% off. He wanted to exchange the $70 pair for another $60 pair, but the system pairs up items when they're in a BOGO offer. On the receipt, it would've looked like he was returning both pairs and repurchasing the one he wasn't returning, in order to remove the BOGO offer.

After exchanging, he would have had to pay $11 since the BOGO offer was no longer available. He was not happy, as he would have had to pay even though he was returning a more expensive pair. I did him a solid and threw in 25% off. He would've gotten around $5 back, but he still was not happy with the offer. At that point, I knew he was going to be difficult.

He asked to speak to the manager, and as the shift leader, that was me. He wanted more of a discount, but I couldn't reasonably give it to him. He kept getting angry, so I told him to come back tomorrow, and maybe the store manager then would reach a different decision. He agreed and finally left after holding up the line for a little over five minutes.

Well, he never asked me to keep the pants on hold for him. It was our last pair, too, so I put them on my manager's desk, called her, and asked her for a favor. If he comes in tomorrow, she's going to tell him that we don't have them anymore. I also called my girlfriend—my manager's daughter—who works at the closest store to us and asked her to hide their only pair in the back room.

The closest available pair in that guy's size is now two cities over. He kept asking for more and now he will get nothing. It's not much, but it's a victory.

lionthecouch

43. No Matter How You Slice It

I had this one customer one day ask me, "It's 50% off for bag mulch if it has got holes in it, right?" I told him that it was up to the cashier and how big the holes were. He said OK. My sketchiness radar went off, so I went to tell one of my coworkers to keep an eye on him. After a little while, the guy came back with four bags of soil. Each one had a huge slash on top.

They were clean cuts too and not holes from rough handling. He said, “50% each, right?” I had a small line, so I went ahead and rang them up (each bag was like, $4 originally). After I gave him his receipt, he said that he would like me to tape the holes shut. Again, I had a line and explained to him that I could only do that once the line is gone.

That's when he blew his top. He started making a scene, so I told the person behind him that I just needed a few minutes. It took me five minutes and a complaint from another customer for me to get them taped and sealed to his standards. A few days later, I was outside with a new coworker and he asked her, "Do you give a discount on rocks?"

I told her that it would depend on how bad the situation is. At first, I did not recognize him as the same guy—I thought that he said rakes, not rocks. So, he showed up with a few bags totaling roughly $90. He was demanding half off on each, so the coworker asked me what to do. We were only allowed a $50 markdown without any assistance. When I look at his bags, I almost lost it.

Once again, there were clean cuts. I told him that they were just open and none were missing, so we couldn't do the full 50% off. Instead, I helped my coworker take $20 off. He did not like that and kept demanding we give him 50% off, saying that someone ruined his bags. I told my coworker to just mark them down so he could finally leave and we could get our lines moving.

SDragon21

44. Schadenfreude

I work in the produce section at a Trader Joe's clone. It's a hyper-corrupt corporate structure, but for once, I can't blame what happened yesterday on corporate. Here's what went down. So, yesterday, I was nearing the end of my shift and was bringing a few dozen plastic packages of cut fruit out to our cut fruit fridge. At the time I was exhausted.

I didn't think about how I was balancing these packages on my work truck, and they all fell onto the floor—berries and grapes were just flying everywhere. Obviously, this was not a big deal, but this happened right in the center of the store, where our four departments and the doors to the back room converged. The store was also well over capacity with customers doing their Saturday afternoon shopping.

This incident had created a traffic jam of sorts. My manager and I were scrambling to pick everything up, and I was down on my knees trying to pick up the grapes. What infuriated me were the glib jokes and quips that customers felt they needed to make and the fact that even though there was plenty of space for them to get around us, they still grazed their carts within an inch or two of where I was squatting.

I was embarrassed enough, but it just got worse for me. I started hyperventilating and got tunnel vision, and had a panic attack. Even if, from an outsider's perspective, the situation was somewhat comedic, from my perspective, it was exceedingly humiliating and dehumanizing, to be treated as an object. Customers were weaving around me like I didn't exist and provided unnecessary commentary that nobody else cared to hear.

It was the most embarrassed that I've ever been at this job.  In my state, the customers seemed like cackling buzzards swooping around, narrowing in on the prey. We, somehow, managed to clear up the path and get out of the way of the buzzards.

juicesance

45. Discounting It

A doctor came into the store a few days ago with a bag of clothes. She asked if we had discounts for health care workers, to which we said that we did not. The discounts were only for servicemen and teachers or students. Immediately after hearing this, she got upset and said that doctors worked much harder and deserved it more than teachers.

In my eyes, it was rude and ignorant to expect that a well-paid doctor should get a discount over teachers who are severely underpaid. If she could come to our store and spend $300 on clothes and also have other shopping bags on her, I seriously doubt she needed a discount. But it only got worse. She had the audacity to say, "Well, who was working hard during the pandemic? Yeah, doctors! That’s right".

It's true in some ways, but she was also very well paid. Teachers, on the other hand, do so much to teach the younger generation, including future doctors, but they are not paid nearly enough, which is why they often get discounts. It just blew my mind how she sat there bashing teachers for getting a discount as if it was something the employees decided on.

mara_1111

46. Holier Than Thou

The main guy of this Pentecostal church group comes into our store every Sunday and Wednesday. He told one of our servers that she was going to suffer and that she couldn’t serve him because she has tattoos on her arms. He would never wear a mask even at the height of the pandemic. He'd constantly complain about the service and how no one at my restaurant was a good server. But that's not the worse thing he's done.

He also told one of our servers that he was going to call CPS on her because her kids shouldn’t have a mom who has tattoos and piercings. I would love to knock the religious superiority right out of his body through a punch right to the ear.

Ellery62

47. Rules Are For Others

My store is currently closed for in-store shopping and we don’t have a proper click-and-collect set up yet. The system we have basically sends us an email, then we call the customer to confirm. Well, someone called about 30 minutes to close on Saturday and I squeezed her order in at the last minute.

She yelled, "Ugh, whatever," and hung up on my manager. We got back to her within an hour and placed her order. When she came to pick up both on Saturday, she disregarded all our COVID policy signs saying to call the store for pick-ups. Instead, she climbed over the barriers to knock on the store’s door. I was on the phone with a customer when she did this, and my coworker was completely out of sight.

. When she did it again today, I gestured for her to call us. She called, and then when I collected her order and opened the door, she laid into me about how rude I was being. I countered, "I think it was rather rude of you to ignore all our signs and barriers and knock on the door". She got very upset and yelled at me about how she was never coming back. "You'll be lucky to have a job tomorrow," she threatened.

monsterF69

48. Half-baked Notion

I work in a bakery in a grocery store, and we have plexiglass in front of us and in front of our artisan bread for obvious reasons...Or maybe, not-so-obvious reasons to some people. Today, I had a lady reach over the glass, over my case full of cakes, to grab the cake from the top of my pile. She had to struggle to reach it.

Not only that, but all throughout COVID, we had to put all our bread in bags instead of leaving them out in the open. The glass is literally two feet tall. All I could think was, “If you have to struggle to reach over the glass, it probably means you are not supposed to be doing the thing you are doing!” This phenomenon has actually been happening even more since COVID and I'm really just over it.

49. The Fountain Runneth Dry

I run a convenience store inside a mall. Just outside our store is a lovely fountain, only it's drained. It has been that way since before we got the store last year. One day, I was sitting around, enjoying the cool air on my face. Our store is located on a kind of odd angle, where one wall is shorter than the other, and you can see people walking by through the glass windows.

I sat around watching mall traffic while keeping an eye on my game, always alert for trouble. At one point, my idyllic view was interrupted by the sight of a man, clearly with a purpose, striding directly toward me. I didn't even have time to give my usual chipper, "How you doin’ today?" line.  The angry man asked me a question that threw me off-guard: “When are they going to turn on the fountain?”

I apologetically replied that I have no idea. A moment passed and the man’s brow furrowed. It appeared as though he was not sure how to process the fact that I didn't have an answer. Then he said, apparently to make the situation clear to me, “They drained all the fountains!” It was my turn to be confused. Clearly, they drained all the fountains...I'd been looking at the empty fountain all day long, so I would know.

I don't know why he thought I didn't notice...Did he think it was my fault? Maybe he didn't know that the mall makes its own decisions. So, I told him, “You'd have to ask the mall management. We're just a convenience store". He firmly told me, “I will!" And with his sense of duty now apparently locked onto a new target, he stomped on out of the store with the same clear sense of purpose.

EvilGreebo

50. Like Money In Your Pocket

I used to work for Kohls. While there, I had one customer come to the service desk with her receipt, saying that the cashier did not take off her 30% coupon. Usually, this is an easy enough fix, but when I looked at her receipt, the total was $0.00. She had already used Kohl's cash to cover the whole thing. I told her the computer system takes the dollar off coupons first.

It is only afterward that it will then take the percentage off. This is how it works, irrespective of the order in which you scan them. Since her Kohl's cash took care of the total, I told her that the system couldn't take 30% off of $0.00. Apparently, she didn't like that...not one bit. She then started yelling at me and telling me that I was stealing money from her.

I explained to her that Kohl's cash is just a coupon we give to customers and not actual money. She then told me that she wouldn't be shopping at Kohl's again, and she threw her 30% coupon at me before leaving.

siren-halo

51. Dog Days

Several years ago, I used to work as a dog trainer at a very well-known pet supply store. While I was a dog trainer, it was still retail, so of course, I had to do 100 things outside of my job description. As a result, I was working the cash register, stocking, and yes, helping our loyal customers. The store I worked at was an absolute disaster with Karens, too.

Big, white suburban neighborhoods were situated around this store, so they came in like hordes. Well, on this particular day, it was vet day. Basically, a local vet service partnered with the store to offer quick walk-in vet checkups for things like vaccinations. Of course, put "cheap" and "Karens" together and you get the worst workday of your week.

This week, the store was packed. The line went all the way to the front, and we were the biggest store in the area. People were asking me questions left and right, dogs were relieving themselves everywhere, and kids were playing with the dog toys. It was the whole shebang. I was already like a headless chicken, having to juggle five tasks while also prepping for a dog training class. Yay.

But as I was making my way from the vet station helping another customer, I saw her, and she definitely looked like trouble. She had a dark tan, shoulder-length straight hair, sunglasses, and she was dragging a couple of kids down the aisle toward me. She looked like she was wanting to turn into the Hulk and was ready to fight. I prepped myself before I started to say, "How can I help—"

She stopped me in the middle of my sentence by saying one loud word, "Dogs!" She had a crazy gleam in her eyes. I tried to decipher her cryptic message and asked, "Dog...toys? Dog...food?" She then said, “Where are your dogs?” It took a second for my brain to catch up with her shrieks; to understand that she was hoping that we sold dogs.

Now, luckily, big box stores like this one tend to not sell dogs directly. Otherwise, they would get them from puppy mills. But now, unfortunately, I had to inform this lady that we were not that kind of store. I geared myself up for a battle, then said: "I am sorry, ma’am, but we do not sell dogs he—" She cursed and shrieked, then immediately spun around, pulling her kids like ragdolls the entire time.

She then stomped out the door again. It felt like I got hit and run over by words. This interaction was less than 30 seconds, so it was like a new record.  It was then that I decided it would be best if I took my break before doing my next class.

TheBigMystery42

52. Taking A Bow

Several years back, I was working at a small beauty supply store in the southern part of the US. Among other things, we sold little clip-in hairpieces. A family of four had come in and the mom and dad were discussing products in the first aisle while the two little girls were running unsupervised through the store, being loud and making messes.

It was truck day, and I had been stocking shelves out of a shopping cart, referred to as a buggy by many people in that area. It was chock full to the brim. I had gone to the stock room and when I came back 30 seconds later, I saw one of the little girls pushing my cart around the corner of the opposite end of the aisle.

She was standing on her tiptoes and still could not see over the handle. I heard her say something to her mother and her mother told her, "Put that back where you found it". By that time, I had nearly caught up with the kid, who had turned the basket around. She pushed the cart up to me and said proudly, "Ma'am, are you lookin' for yer buggy?"

I replied, "You do not need to be messing with that". That's when the mom's Karen came out. She came roaring around the corner saying how I should not speak directly to her child and that if I had something to say, then I should say it to her. Never mind the fact that the kid had run into a shelf, slipped a bit on the tile floors, and almost turned the basket over on herself on the opposite side of the store from her mother's location.

I did not bother to argue about safety concerns and instead went back to stocking shelves. A little while later, the mother asked me to help her match the color of her hair to the hairpieces. I helped her pick one out, then heard her confirm to her husband that it was the one she wanted. I then went up to the register, while she rounded up her kids.

When she got to the checkout, the hairpiece that she put on the counter was a different one than what I had seen her discussing. I asked her about it and she indicated that the other one was more than she could afford, but she planned to come back for it. I rang her out and they left. The next day, I got to work and the opening clerk said, "I got one of your customers today".

I said, "Oh yeah?" I didn't get customer complaints often, but that particular week, I had someone else come in, while I was off, saying that I was rude. They had been unhappy that I had prevented them from shoplifting but they gave some other bogus reason to complain. When my coworker confirmed this, it was in a tone that made it clear I was in for a ride a bit later.

So, I asked, "Have you ever seen me be rude to a customer?" "No," she answered. "It always seems like you're sweet, but to hear them tell it, you're big and bad". About that time, the door opened, and in walked the hairpiece woman and her kids. It was about to go down. She started laying into me about how she had come to return the hairpiece that she got yesterday.

We did not take returns on hairpieces in the first place. However, she said that in the process of trying to return it with my co-worker, they had found a discrepancy between the item that she was trying to return and the one I had rang up. So, my coworker had asked her to come back during my shift so I could assist with the return.

This woman pulled the product that she wanted to return out and it was a different product than the one she purchased from me—in fact, it was the one that I had heard her tell her husband she wanted...and it was in a different product box. I told her as much, and she started screaming, saying that I better not be calling her a liar.

She also started making thinly veiled physical threats. In the meantime, one of her darling kids had come back around the sales counter where I was standing and she was trying to get my attention to get in on the action. I was ignoring the girl, but she kept tapping me on the hip. I whirled around and curtly said, "Don't touch me".

Then, remembering the scene from the day before, I snapped my head back to the mom and smiled sweetly. Through gritted teeth, but with the most upbeat voice, I said, "I am sorry, could you please tell your child not to touch me and remove her from behind the counter. It's not safe for her to be back here". She snarled, "That's better".

She barked a command at her kid, then made it clear that she would be back in an hour to continue her reign of terror. Shortly after she left, our store manager arrived unexpectedly early for the closing shift. We brought her up to speed on what had been going on. When the lady came back, I happened to be in the stock room.

My manager closed the stock room door and told me in the sternest voice ever: "Do NOT come out". I could only hear snippets through the door, so I don't know exactly what happened. I got the picture that we must have given her some money back as a one-time thing, probably because the other option was to refer to corporate, who would have given her money back.

But then I very clearly heard the woman's voice ring across the store, "Go get her and bring her out here. I am going to snatch her up and…" "You will not lay a hand on my employee," my manager emphatically interrupted. I did not hear any of the exchange after that, because I was so shocked at my sweet, proper manager's firm retort.

My coworker, apparently, was similarly surprised. The consensus among the employees after that was that we were pretty proud of how tough our manager could be if needed. They also decided that if I was being rude to a "customer," it was probably someone stealing.

foxytigerduckfire

Source: 1

Everyone has experienced at least one bad date in their lives. From cringe-inducing creeps to full-fledged psychopaths, you never know who the person sitting across from you will turn into by the end of the night. The following Redditors shared their stories of bad first dates and they're so horrible, they'll make you want to stay single. Read on for some messy tales:

1. Bathroom Break

Being totally into my coworker, I was over the moon when she agreed to go out with me. But in less than a minute, the magic went up in smoke. While we were in some back alley, she said she needed to pee but did something completely disturbing instead.

She pulled down her jeans, pooped behind a dumpster, and used a newspaper from it to clean up. After that, I just couldn't keep the conversation going.

2. Not In The Stars

Our first date happened at a sushi joint. She asked me about my zodiac sign. "Scorpio", I answered. Then, outta nowhere, she reached across the table and gave me a stinging slap. I was totally baffled and managed a "What...?". She just calmly said, "I NEVER date Scorpios".

I darted off to the washroom to gather my thoughts. By the time I returned, she'd vanished, but not before settling the entire bill. Whew, bullet dodged.

3. Toe Thanks

I was excited to meet this dude at his home for the first time. I was really digging him...until I saw his living room. There was this gross heap of toenail clippings right on his coffee table - not just a recent trim, we're talking a collection here. He knew I was coming over! I high-tailed it outta there.

4. Not A Gentleman

This dude and I were finally grabbing a bite after a few weeks of talking. Suddenly, he dropped a bombshell that I was never prepared for: "You know, for us to work, you'll need to mingle, right? My friends and I have a thing for sharing girls". I was speechless!

After stuttering a bit, I told him this wasn't gonna fly. I asked for a takeaway box and my half of the bill.

5. Mutual Attraction

I was on my way to meet a blind date. As she opened her door and saw me, her first reaction was a disgusted "Ew". For some reason, I responded with "Yeah, I agree". Then, I just walked away. The whole date lasted less than five minutes.

6. Dodged That One

I met this dude on a dating app. Guy shows up, eyes as big as basketballs, acting all kinds of weird. Told me he'd left his wallet at home, so I agreed to cover our first round. We then left for a second place, so we could meet his friends who'd lend him some cash. Important note: All the while, dude was rattling off pure gibberish.

I still figured, "Hey, maybe give him a shot," until he started sharing this freaky tale about chucking his ex's tiny dog in the pool and how it almost drowned. He was laughing the whole time. I knew then, I had to get out. FAST. Just as we were close to the pub, he gets a call. We were already 30 minutes into the date and bar-hopping.

He chugged his drink in record time while he handled his call. I grabbed the opportunity and told him I'd meet up inside the pub since it was just a few steps away. Anything to get a head start. And then I booked it right past the bar and legged it home.

7. Made For TV

This took me to this Kumdo session on our first day - it's like Korean swordplay. Pretty neat, right? Except it was a high-level class, and I ended up looking like a total moron. Still, good times...until I discovered she'd been pretty sketchy. She didn't bring me just to hang out, but to be a part of this documentary about foreigners in Korea.

I was floored, but what could I do? I was already up to my neck in it. Next, we dropped by her boss's house for some makgeolli, and the whole crew started grilling me. They kept throwing us couple questions as if we'd been an item for ages. I guess they had no clue it was our first night out together.

So here's me, trying to dodge cringey questions without making us both look bad on TV.

8. The Den

He asked me to chill at his place while he got ready. No sweat. When I got in, he really wanted to show me his "playroom". Aside from a TV and sofa, the apartment was basically empty. His room though, fully decked out. Already got my creep vibes tingling, then he really pushed it. I was totally grossed out by his next request.

Try on the handcuffs on his bed? No, thanks! Luckily, I planned a rescue call from a buddy at 30 min into the date and faked a crisis.

9. Judgmental

I had to pick him up one night, and he was just nagging about every little thing - my car, how I drove, my song choices, even why I wasn't talking much. But what really got to me was when he said, "My buddies are dying to meet you. I gotta show 'em you're not imaginary". That's when I bolted.

10. Not A Family Guy

He asked me and a friend to join a dodgeball game with his friends, whom I'd never met. Things were decent—I was kinda sidelining while he was focused on his mates. It was cool though, 'cause I had my friend there too. We were chilling in the parking lot, waiting for the game, when suddenly, dude aimed a ball at my waist and threw it full speed. He then hollers, "Smack, right in the jewels!"

I glanced at my friend, signaling it's time to go. I said my goodbyes then. Got home, saw my phone was bombarded with texts saying I was being "childish".

11. One Thing After Another

I hit up a bar and vibed with this cute girl. She suggested going to her place, but some friends joined us at the bar. By closing time, they were all a bit wobbly and one friend was stubborn about not leaving her truck in the bar lot.

So, I said I'd drive her truck. We got nearly to their place but the parking was tricky. She wanted to take over (bad idea) and she pulled the "It's my truck" card so I gave in because, well, it was her ride. I never should have let her get behind the wheel.

Within a beat, she knew she messed up - backed the truck into a ditch and got stuck. We all ended up muddy, trying to free the truck, and in the chaos, the girl I'd met lost her wallet. I dived in the mud and water to find it. Back at her place, with the excitement over, we wound up eating deli stuff from Safeway on her kitchen floor at some ridiculous hour.

I crashed on her couch, woke up early, and thought, "She's cool, just the truck drama spoiled it". I looked to leave my number before I left. I couldn’t find a pen and paper...but what I did find was a court date notice pinned to her door for a domestic case. I split and wrote the night off as a weird one.

12. My Crazy Ex-Boyfriend

Our date started with a nice, casual walk. The dude didn't pause his rant for an hour, trashing everything under the sun. He couldn't care less about me. It was miserable, and it was only going to get worse. We hit a restaurant, where he went ahead and ordered my food without asking. Dude shrugged off the bartender who warned him about the tight lid on his juice bottle. Tried opening it himself and ended up wearing the juice all over his shirt!

He goes off on the staff like it was their fault. I was mortified. Yet, he didn't care about yelling in public. Kept boasting that he'd fire folks like the bartender when he becomes a manager. Um, ok.

When it came time to pay, I offered to split the bill since he'd mentioned he was short on money. Clearly, I didn't wanna see him again and didn’t wanna feel like I owed him anything. Dude lost his mind, causing a scene again. I put money on the table and walked out.

He was still yelling when I left—then he grabbed my hand, telling me to wait up. When I suggested I grab a taxi, he insisted on walking me home to 'protect' me. To avoid a scene, I agreed. The walk was silent until I tried to break away, but he insisted on tailing me for 'safety' reasons.

I was freaked by this point but the worst was yet to hit. At my gate, he tried forcing himself on me, insisting I owed him because we dated, and he 'spent' on me. Pushing him off, I got a $20 bill thrown at me as he spat, "Here, we're done!" I scrambled in and bolted my gate shut.

He didn't leave quietly. I had to threaten him with the law to make him go. The kicker? His aunt was my neighbor and my mom knew his. The gall the woman had to ask how the date went the next day! I gave her a piece: "You should've raised him better". They ghosted me after. Suits me just fine.

13. I Spy

We were hitting it off online and decided to meet face-to-face. He arrived with a lit-up Bluetooth headset on. Even during drinks, it was still on. I mustered some courage and asked him to remove it during dinner. His response was so much creepier than I expected: He confidently said, "No worries! You have all my attention. It isn't a phone headset. It's a camera".

14. Expensive Taste

She was all about going to this super fancy restaurant on our first day. Once we were there, she went all out - a $25 starter, $45 steak, and a $15 drink. And she just wouldn't put her phone down, always on a call or replying to a text. The server clocked this and gave me a nod from behind her. Turns out, she had a plan.

When I made an excuse to get up, the server already had our bills split. Server asked if I wanted to pay for my stuff and bounce, leaving her at the table. And I was like, "Sure, that sounds perfect!" So, that's exactly what I did.

15. If You Invite Two Friends

Rewind to high school, there was this stunning girl, Melissa, in some of my classes. Teenage pregnancy wasn't as prominent in the late nineties, which made her even more intriguing since she had a kid. But that didn't change how attractive she was to me.

Whenever there was an opportunity to be near her, I seized it. She needed help studying? I'm there. She wanted someone to chat with? Consider it sorted. But I lacked the confidence to ask her out. I was no Chris Hemsworth during high school, so it took ages to gather the courage to ask her. When I finally did, she agreed!

Our game plan was simple; I'd choose the dining spot and she’d take care of the entertainment. Then suddenly, our date night took a wild turn. She showed up with her sister. A clear red flag I should have availed to bail, but no, dumb ol' me just went along.

Post dinner, she had a 'surprise' for me which she was certain I’d love. As we entered a small convention center, I had no clue what I'd signed up for. Too late then, as it hit me like a ton of bricks when I saw the sign outside one of the rooms -- a pyramid scheme. Let's not even discuss the sense of drastic failure and misery I felt during the entirety of that lecture and gathering.

To top it all off, they didn't even sit with me. Being fashionably late to the event meant they found seats elsewhere while I handled the barrage of questions from strangers alone. Through the fog of my mortification and disappointment, I don’t even remember spotting Melissa or her sister at the event.

The night concluded with us back home where, with a straight face, she told me she had a wonderful time. I mirrored her sentiment, trying to be polite and bid her sister farewell. I never glanced Melissa's way after that.

16. Thanks But No Thanks

We started talking online. Back then, I was a "pack-a-day" kinda person and I mentioned it to him. He didn't mind because apparently, he was also a smoker. Then we thought, why not grab a coffee at Starbucks? As I saw him for the first time, he greets me with "Hi. Just so you know, when I said I smoke, I was referring to crack". I was like "Oh. See ya!" and just walked off.

17. Double Date

She glanced past me, and said, "Hey, my other date is here".

18. No Game

He was late by about 45 minutes, but it was pretty crappy out, so I didn't care. We got to the cafe and the moment I removed my coat, he makes a cringey comment about my "A-game," or my "D-game", hinting at my bust size. It was so awkward that even the folks two tables down stopped to look at him.

19. Pet Peeve

She took her pet rat along, chilling in her bra, munching on fries. She offhandedly mentioned having some warrants out for her, but not to worry because they were in other states. So, I pretended there was some urgent stuff I had to handle and bolted.

20. Slashing Good Time

This dude showed up with two of his friends, totally outta the blue. They were all loaded. Managed to nab a waitress's attention while one of the guys ducked out. Just as I put my food order in, my blind date and his remaining friend told me they'd already eaten. Then, third-wheel-guy strolls back in and I nearly choked - dude's arm is gushing blood from some gnarly gash.

I high-tailed it to my car to get my first-aid kit and gave the wound a quick clean and butterfly stitch. Slapped on some band-aids and told dude to raise his arm while our waitress called an ambulance. Freshened myself up, and when I got back - I'm shook - date and his remaining friend had polished off my dinner. I pocketed my kit and purse and just bounced.

21. Netflix And No Chill

She was just a mean person. Maybe she was having a tough day, who can say, but she made a comment I didn't appreciate. We went to this hip, affordable restaurant on a Friday night, and it was packed. All she did was complain about the service being slow and claimed they couldn't hear her over the noise.

She bothered other guests, but it wasn't smart or funny, just cruel and small. The last straw was a hurtful comment about how I looked. It might have been playful teasing to her, but it hit me hard. I quickly finished my meal and asked for the bill.

This awkward waiting time of around five to ten minutes followed. I got up, left enough cash to cover my meal and a big tip for us both. Given how she'd treated the staff, I knew she will not leave a tip. I then started to put on my jacket.

She questioned, "Cold much?" "No". "So, where to next?" "Home". She looked lost briefly, then smirked and replied, "Cool, Netflix sounds good". Realizing what she thought I meant, I clarified, "No, I meant I'm heading home...by myself". And, just like that, I left the restaurant and hit the street.

22. Uncontrollable Urge

My buddy's friend and I went to grab a bite. While we were ordering, he started saying stuff like, "After I finish my food, you're next". I chuckled, thinking he's just messing around due to nerves. Then he asked the waitress for a strong drink.

I declined, mentioning I had to drive. He gave me a weird look and said, "You're not leaving after just one drink. You're staying the night". The waitress seemed shocked. Seeing this, I told him he had to knock it off. He apologized and calmed down, but that didn't last.

In no time, he was back at being creepy. Things like, "I can't hold it anymore. So we leave now, or get ready to join the table". I excused myself, went to the waitress, paid for our food, and slipped out without a word.

23. Stalker

Things were going smoothly until one afternoon when we went bar hopping and hit a food truck festival. Weird thing was, the same guy kept showing up where we went.

When I tipped off a bouncer about the possible stalker, he politely asked the guy to leave. My date saw this, ran to the bouncer and dropped a bombshell - the 'stalker' was actually her husband! Turns out, they get kicks from watching each other on dates.

Needless to say, I bounced and reported them to the cops.

24. Weird Pal

I was chatting with this dude who's a math professor. He asked me out to some open-air show where he was the "star". When I showed up, I realized it was a church picnic, and he was playing Satan. He introduced me to his fam, who were all obsessed with Weird Al - like, they wouldn't listen to anything else.

His sister then decided to grill me about why I went to a private school. What I didn't know was that he'd spilled all the beans about me - every chat we'd ever had. To escape, I pretended there was an emergency. Later, he tried to score a second date, planning to drag me to the state fair with his entire clan.

25. Don’t Cross Streams

I went on a blind date. She brought me to a weird party and wanted us to pee on a dude. I was like, "Nah, I'm good. I'll stick to the urinal," and then I bounced.

26. Too Casual

This guy rocked up to dinner in joggers, nattering on about only dating nurses because he's a slob and they look after him. But wait, it gets worse. He blabbed about his ex, who, after a hard day at work, came round to do his washing. Now, I'm a chef, but he told me he'd "give me a chance" based on my cooking skills.

When we left, there was a street performer pulling a crowd, and we stopped to watch. I sneaked to the back of the spectators and then made a quick exit.

27. Mute Date

He was all quiet, didn't say much even when I asked questions. Just shot me this stare. Got the nerve to bail after sitting there for like 20 minutes. Good thing we were at a nearby Tim's, made it a breeze to get the heck outta there and get home.

28. Not In Your Future

She claimed that she could see angels in three different colors. Apparently, during one of her "encounters," the angel was covered in dark scales, with red glowing lights coming out from her skin underneath. The angel came to her in the middle of the night, crawled to her bed, then placed its hand on her shoulder in order to cast an evil spirit out of her room.

If that wasn't creepy enough, she then said that while I was in the bathroom, an angel came to her and informed her of my chilling fate. She said she knew when I was going to die and how it would happen. I told her I'd be right back, saying that I left something in the bathroom. But I left instead, completely creeped out by her. I still wonder what strange stuff she was getting into.

29. Great Expectations

I beat her to the restaurant and got us a table. When she arrived, she strolled over, we had a handshake and I helped her settle into her chair. Then our server swung by to take our orders. But instead of answering, she shot me a curveball question: "What's your annual salary?" I sorta stuttered out an "Excuse me?" because it caught me off guard.

She bore into me with her stare and repeated, "What's your yearly earnings?" I shot a glance at our server who looked as uncomfortable as I felt, thanked them for their help, then turned to my "date". I apologized and told her I gotta bounce. So, I stood up and exited stage left.

30. Three Of A Kind

Met up with a girl for lunch. Nice out, so we sat in the open. She was a bit quirky but no major alarm bells... until she dropped a bomb: "Yo, my husbands on his way with our dog. Come say hi". Totally blindsided me, but before I knew it, they were both there. We made small talk, I kinda ignored the dog, cause the whole thing was pretty awkward.

Picked up the tab, made a quick exit, left them to do their thing. The guy seemed cool, he definitely deserved better.

31. Not A Match

I swiped right on this chick on Tinder - she was a "furry" and I'm not but she's hot and I was down for some fun. We planned to chill at her downtown apartment, which was mind-blowingly fancy.

Then I walked into her living room and found a dude. Her roomie? Nope. A buddy? Nah. This guy was her boyfriend. Suddenly it clicked - she was polyamorous and hadn't mentioned it. Major no-go for me.

I awkwardly sat through her trying to make nice between me and the guy, but he didn't seem to want to chat. Didn't bother me too much - I wasn't too keen on him either. I split after about an hour. Not a great experience, to say the least.

32. Stay Inside

During lockdown, I had my first online date. This girl couldn't stop talking about how bad outdoor cats are for the environment. Regardless of the convo starter, we always ended up back there—it did my head in.

33. Replacement Dad

So, I met this chick online. Her profile looked cool, really fun. We agreed to meet up at Denny's. When we got there though, she dropped some bombshells on me. Turned out, she was a decade older than she had told me and was a divorced mom of two.

Seems like she was on the hunt for a new dad for her kids and thought I might be the guy. She even had a specific income in mind that I should be making. After picking up the bill, I politely peaced out. That was my biggest "No way, Jose!" moment in my dating life.

34. Chivalry Is Gone

I drove us to the restaurant. As I was about to parallel park, he insisted on doing it, stating that women aren't good at it. Great start, buddy. At the meal, he disregarded the female staff. Met a couple of rad surfer guys when I left the ladies' room; they told me my guy was lousy. Lots of warning signs. I laughed it off before heading back.

As we left, the surfers were outside too. I bid them goodbye, and my guy freaked, shouting, "She's with me!" I asked him to wait outside the car so I could unlock it. But nah, I just peeled out, leaving him dumbstruck. The surfers cheered me on, shouting, "Get it, girl!" What a good ending to a downright cringeworthy date.

35. Not Ready

On a hot summer day, I was heading to pick up a girl for a date in my cooled-down car. Once I got to her place, she hopped in. Not long into the drive, she requested I turn off the A/C. She felt like she was getting sucked in. Strange, but I shrugged it off and did as she asked.

Few more minutes on the road, she took out a water bottle from her bag. Then, out of the blue, she asked if she could brush her teeth in my car. That's when I realized it wasn't gonna work out. I made a U-turn and drove her back home. Without a doubt, probably one of the most bizarre dates I've ever been on.

36. Merry Christmas Rusty

The first sign something was off was the guy's age. Apparently, he'd lied about it on his dating app...turned out he was the same age as my dad. Despite this, I decided to give it a shot anyway. Huge mistake. When we were chatting before the date, I mentioned I liked F1 racing, and he mentioned going to the Canadian Grand Prix once. To back up his claim, he even brought an old photo album.

Before he showed me the slightly out-of-focus Grand Prix pictures, he went through aged photos of his ex-girlfriends and ex-wives from the '70s. You know the type, curly perms, bright blue eyeshadow, and cheap, tacky lingerie. He also showed me a photo of a beautiful Irish Setter. My exact words were, "Nice dog". He responded by telling me how he'd run over the dog with his truck one Christmas. What a way to celebrate, huh, kids? Dad just crushed poor Rusty. After that, I decided to call it a night.

37. Don’t Be Stingy

She kicked up a fuss for free food just because they didn't put ketchup on her burger at a restaurant. Imagine, all that drama just for missing ketchup as if it's the apocalypse or something. There was a ketchup bottle on our table!

38. Your Insecurities Are Showing

She always teased me. Although we're both 26 and in the same stage of our career, she made ageist jokes, calling me old. One day, I'd had enough and told her, "This isn't fun for me anymore, I'm leaving". I paid the bill and left.

She later confessed she was mean because she was covering up her own failures. She said she felt bad about her age. But to me, it sounded like she insulted others when feeling insecure. Nah, not cool.

39. Too Excited

My first date with this dude from an online dating site was a trip to the Scientology museum in London. I thought, "Hey, that's different and could be a good chat starter, so why not?" Man, was I off! He was super serious about the whole museum thing, reading all the info at each display and grilling the museum guy about how to join Scientology. He seemed way too curious to be just casually interested. Plus, he was seriously sweating. Like, a TROUBLING amount.

40. Family First

So, I had my first date with this high school guy. Post-dinner, we hit his place for a bonfire. I met his dad and stepmom, then we chilled on his balcony. His folks could totally see us chillin' from their living room.

Outta nowhere, he says, "I told my dad I'd always score that first-date kiss". I couldn't believe how awkward it was. But what came next was even weirder. He pulled me off my chair, and I was sitting awkwardly, half-straddling him, while he tried to make out with me. I nixed that pronto and dialed up a friend for a quick exit. The worst part? His parents were practically next to us. No way were we going to talk after that drama.

41. Utterly Delicious

My date couldn't keep in his groans in every time I munched on a breadstick at Olive Garden. When I asked, he nonchalantly said that women eating turned him on. I had my sister on standby at a close-by Target just in case, and I sent her an urgent "Get here NOW" message. I just stood up and split.

42. Won’t You Be My Neighbor

I didn't even realize that it was a date, honestly. A few years back, after moving into a new neighborhood, the dude living two doors down invited me and my kiddos to a bonfire. He had a daughter, around the same age as mine and reassured me it'd be a family-friendly gig. And so, we headed over.

The kids had a blast, running around together. I planted myself next to a woman, thinking, "Nice! A chance to mingle with the locals". It was fun, until she asked how her bro and I hooked up. After clarifying I just lived next door, she squealed, thrilled that her bro had bagged a girlfriend - me! I mean, what?!

Apparently, he'd announced to everyone that I was his new flame. He thought introducing me to the fam at this bonfire was romantic, or something. I almost wondered if I'd walked into a hidden camera show. It got weirder when he cozies up, hand on my shoulder, calling me someone else's name! Everyone's grinning ear to ear, while I'm red-faced, stuttering, "Uh, no. I just met you a few days back… moved here two weeks ago".

I rounded up my kids, made a quick exit, and kept clear of bonfire guy after that. His daughter could chill with my kids, but only in a neighborhood group. Never found out what tall tale he spun to his family about my jet-speed departure.

43. Momma’s Boy

So, before I hooked up with my hubby, I went out with this guy I found on a dating app. He seemed alright - kind of sweet and ordinary, so we planned to catch up over a coffee in a park. We'd barely started chatting when he drops the bomb about owning a cat. Being an animal lover, I was like, "Aww, what's its name?" Then comes the stunner - he lists not one but fifteen names! Yup. The dude owned fifteen cats with his mom.

Speaking of, he was still living with his mom, and the wheels he was in? Mom's, but he claimed he was keeping it in check. And he hadn't stopped there, he'd already mentioned our date to her and shown her my pic. The most jaw-dropping bit? His mom thought we'd have pretty decent-looking kids together. I was like, "What?" and bolted.

Fast forward a couple of days, and he manages to track me down on social media, even though he didn't even know my last name. He was pinging me non-stop for like, three weeks, asking why I wasn't answering his calls or texts. So, I just blocked him. I thought I was in the clear and got back to my routine... but he still didn't quit. He snooped me out on yet another dating app and started messaging me there!

His messages were downright creepy, to be honest. He kept yakking about how we'd be this awesome couple and how I'd be a super wife. He even went on about how pretty he thought I was, but then suggested I consider going blonde. Like, seriously? Such a weirdo.

44. Miscommunication

I met this exchange student while playing soccer at college. He was pleasant and we hung out often. Once, he invited me to dinner. At this point, I was recovering from a tough breakup and wasn't ready to date, and I told him so. He said he was okay with just being friends.

The dinner went fine until he decided to lift me without a heads up. I wasn't comfortable and asked him to put me down. His justification was that he'd seen my old Facebook photos, knew I was once a bit heavier, but now I looked good, hence I shouldn't be self-conscious.

Even though this weirded me out, I brushed it off as a cultural gap since he'd been friendly earlier. Later, he invited me to his place to meet his roommates. Thinking it was all platonic, I agreed.

Soon as we got there, he took me to his room, pulled out a headscarf, claimed it belonged to his mom and his future wife would wear it. Then, he placed it on my head. Taken aback, I tried to hand it back but he insisted I keep it. I was feeling very awkward and responded that I couldn't accept such a meaningful gift from him.

Suddenly, he grabbed me, fell back onto his bed still holding me and tried to kiss me. I pushed him away and yelled at him, but he attempted it again. I quickly ran out while he watered me down with insults. The next day he texted me, calling me cold and overreactive.

I blocked him immediately. A few days later, he was outside my workplace when I was finishing, holding a wireless phone charger. Apparently, according to him, I hadn't been texting him because my phone had charging issues.

45. Child’s Play

About a year and a half ago, I was in my twenties, recently heartbroken and recovering from a four-year relationship. The dude dumped me while considering popping the question, and frankly, that scared me. During my single life, an adorable former colleague asked me out. I'd been solo for three months, and hey, no harm in dating again, right? I was a tad anxious — first date post big-breakup — but he was a nice guy, so I figured why not.

Just when I was keen, he texted, admitting he hated driving and had let his license expire. First red flag, but anyways, I drove an hour to pick him up. He routed me to a mall which left me puzzled, but I went along — maybe it's coffee, hang out, and chill. But the first thing he did was squeal about a sculpture of questionable shape and gave himself a good laugh.

And then, Rainforest Cafe and his fascination for their robotic gorillas. Strange, but it's just a date, right? I wanted a drink for my nerves, he agreed, and I ordered a spiked cranberry. This guy surprises me by ordering from the kids menu and gets a plastic smoothie holder with a cartoon king of the jungle smiling at me — filled with chocolate milk.

He mumbled he wasn't a fan of liquor and was excited about the toy that came with his drink. Adding to the weird, he tried convincing me to fake a birthday so that we could score a free dessert because he loved sparklers. As he reveled in his strange plans, I found myself regretfully teary, discreetly using my cocktail napkin as a tissue. 

46. Don’t Dare Compare

My first year at college, I connected with a guy on OK Cupid, leading to our first dinner date. He offered to pick me up, but it felt a bit sketchy because he was older. Over dinner, he chatted about his successful post-college start-up. It was impressive, even if he was a bit boastful about it all.

After ordering food, he propositioned a strange game: comparing our wallets. Yep, it was real. He proudly paraded his credit cards, flaunting their sky-high limits. He finished with, "Obviously, you can't foot this bill but don't sweat, I've got you".

I was mad and tried arguing but he wouldn't hear a word. As we left, he wanted me to check out his car, parked closer to the entrance than mine. It was a white van with no windows. He was quite keen for me to jump in the back with him, right there in the parking lot. Thank god I drove myself!

47. Eat Fresh

I had a date with a dude I met online. He's like, "Dress nice, I'm taking you to dinner". Ends up at Subway and scores a foot-long teriyaki chicken sub. Looks at me, goes like, "I guess you're cool with teriyaki chicken". We munched on the sub in his car. Needless to say, date number two isn't happening.

48. Nay To PDA

So, I planned to meet up with a lady in her 30s at Starbucks. Once there, I found a woman who looked nearer to 50 and was much bigger than she'd made out on her profile. Right away, she's chatting about super private stuff, like my preferred positions. All this in a Starbucks packed with people, including kids.

Normally I'm chill, but this was too much. So, when she reaches for my hand, I said, "Hey, not a fan of PDA". Made up a polite out and left, telling her I wasn't feeling well. Thought that was the end of it, but nope.

She trailed me out, got a bit handsy, tried to grind against me, even went in for a kiss. I firmly reminded her that PDA wasn't my game and after a few tries, she finally let me get in my car for a restless escape. After that, I mentally hung the 'Closed' sign on my dating life for a while.

49. Beyond Inappropriate

Swiped right on a guy from an app and things seemed cool, so we got a bite and took a stroll around town. Everything was chill until we hit this alley. Dude stopped, looked straight at me and dropped the creepiest line I've ever heard on a date: "You look so hot, I feel like jumping you now".

I thought I heard wrong so I made him repeat, and he just made it worse: "I want to throw you down and jump you now!" I called him out on his twisted statement and split, but he caught up claiming it was all a joke. However, as my train pulled in, he said it AGAIN, blaming me for looking too tempting.

I ditched him then and there, told him to lose my number. Despite my clear message, he blew up my phone all week, griping about me not getting his humor, calling me 'probably a tease anyway'.

50. Red Flags

So this guy was about a decade older than my 19-year-old self. Since I didn't have a set of wheels, he fetched me from my pad. We had dinner and it was kinda weird, but we had scheduled a bowling sesh after, and I was too timid to ditch the plan. Just shrugged it off and went with the flow. But then, things got dodgy when he claimed to lose his way to the bowling alley.

Next thing I knew, we were in the depths of a pitch-dark forest. I was genuinely scared, I was sure that it wasn't just my anxiety upping its game. The guy was super creepy and there was this outright eerie air around him. Luckily, after an unnerving ride, we did end up at the bowling alley.

Playing smart, I excused myself to the washroom, and when I returned, I faked having puked and asked him to drop me home. To my relief, he obliged without any detours this time. Post that, I went MIA on him, but the creep still found my email and hit me with a guilt-trip for ghosting him.

Honestly, I was just relieved to get out of there in one piece. I relocated ASAP since he knew where I hung my hat. From then, I've always made sure to meet my dates directly at the venue, and I stick to Ubers for getting around.

51. First And Last Date

I went on a date with an amazing woman I met online. We hit it off while chatting for weeks beforehand. The date was awesome—we clicked instantly, had tons in common, and spent the evening at a fancy lounge, laughing, chatting, and feeling a real connection.

Eventually, we started talking about being single parents to daughters the same age. When she showed me a pic of her kid, I did the same. Then things got crazy. She recognized my daughter, even knew her name. I hadn't mentioned her name. Scrambling, she suddenly claimed that our daughters knew each other, despite living far apart. But then she blew the secret: She let slip that she new my ex.

At the time, things were rocky between my ex and me. Between knowing my daughter AND knowing my jerk of an ex? I don't know WHAT she was planning, but it couldn't have been good. I got the heck out of there.

For centuries we’ve wondered how the ancient Egyptians built the magnificent pyramids of Giza. Historians and archaeologists still debate the construction method, the size and skill of the workforce, and the sourcing of the materials. But an amazing discovery on the shores of the Red Sea has shed new light on the age-old mystery.

History Recorded On Papyrus

French archaeologists Pierre Tallet and Gregory Marouard were researching man-made caves at the ancient Red Sea harbor of Wadi al-Jarf when they discovered several papyrus logbooks. Curiosity mounted when the scrolls were dated at the 26th year of the reign of the Pharaoh Khufu, in whose honor the Great Pyramid was built.

A Description Of The Building Of The Great Pyramid

The papyri were written by a man named Merer, an inspector and mid-level supervisor of a crew of workers. Merer wrote daily logs of his crew’s activities transporting heavy blocks of limestone down the Nile River on boats. Their destination? Giza.

A Detailed Record Of Activities

The papyri give a record of several months of work. Merer’s crew transported limestone blocks from the Tura quarry that lies upstream of the Giza site. Tallet worked out that each round trip took around three or four days. Each block weighed around two or three metric tonnes, and the boat hauled as many as 30 stones on each trip. Merer never wrote exactly what the stones were for, but Tallet has inferred that the stones were part of the exterior cladding of the pyramid’s sides.

More Amazing Clues

Though Merer never said the stones were for the pyramid specifically, he does make mention of the original name for the Great Pyramid. Merer also mentions the name of a high-ranking official in the Pharaoh’s administration who oversaw the harbor at Giza where the stones would have been offloaded. The diary is a great step forward in understanding how the ancient Egyptians transported the heavy blocks to the pyramid site.

Other Papyri

The bulk of the most valuable information about the pyramids is contained in two papyri. There are several other papyri included in the original Wadi al-Jarf discovery that describe other building projects or are more fragmentary in their contents.

A Prestigious Job

Tallet and his fellow researchers have been able to work out much more about the nature of the work and Merer’s crew. The royal boats were a privilege to work on, and those lucky enough to get a job there were fed well. Hauling stones around is hard work, and the crew enjoyed a solid diet of meat, fish, poultry, and beer. Dates, honey, and beans were also important foods for the workers. Pottery items with inscriptions also indicate the important status of the work.

Skilled And Valued Workers

The evident skill and status of the workers seems to have done away with older theories that the pyramids were built by hordes of poor slaves. Merer's record shows that he and his men were often rewarded with gifts.

An Ancient Port For Building Pyramids

Researchers still dispute the exact location of the port where the stones were offloaded, in addition to when such a port would have been usable. The annual summer flooding of the Nile was a key event that would have affected the location and schedule of such a port. 

Work Ongoing

Excavation continues at Wadi al-Jarf. If one priceless set of papyrus scrolls was found, maybe there are more! The storage galleries also contain amazing information about the kinds of items used and food consumed by the ancient Egyptians. The tomb of King Tutankhamen was the greatest discovery of the 20th Century, but the discovery of the papyrus diary of Merer was called “the greatest discovery in Egypt in the 21st century” by Egyptian archaeologist Zahi Hawass. Though much has been learned about ancient Egypt, there are still many mysteries to explore.

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Setting the Stage: Oil, War, and Federal Reserves

After WWI, the US Navy converted its fleet from coal to oil. To safeguard oil supplies, the federal government set aside several oil-rich areas as naval petroleum reserves. Among these was Teapot Dome, a geological oil formation in Wyoming. Two other major reserves were located in California.

I’m Just Going To Shift These Oil Reserves

These oil reserves would ensure that the Navy would have fuel in case of national emergency. But that changed in 1921 when Harding’s Secretary of the Interior, Albert B Fall, had oversight of the reserves transferred from the Navy Department to his Interior Department. What followed was one of the most shocking betrayals of public trust in US history.

Secret Leases and Hidden Money

With the reserves now under his control, Fall secretly leased drilling rights to two major oil companies: Sinclair Oil (which gained rights to Teapot Dome) and Pan-American Petroleum (which received access to the California reserves). These leases were issued without competitive bidding, against standard procedure for federal contracts.

A Big Payoff

In exchange, Fall received bribes of more than $400,000 (equivalent to over $6 million today), funneled through loans, cash, and “gifts.” At the time, these transactions were hidden from public view, and Fall presented the leases as routine and in the national interest.

Exposure and Investigation

The scandal might have remained buried were it not for the persistence of journalists and a few determined senators. Reports of suspicious behavior and unusual leases led to a Senate investigation in 1922, spearheaded by Senator Thomas J Walsh of Montana.

A Paper Trail

The investigation turned up a paper trail of shady deals, financial records, and witness testimony leading directly to Fall. In 1924 the public finally learned the extent of the corruption. The revelations shocked the nation, as Harding had campaigned on a promise to return the US government to “normalcy” and honesty after the turmoil of WW I.

Fall’s Fall from Grace

Albert Fall was the first former Cabinet member in US history to be convicted of a felony committed while in office. In 1929 he was found guilty of accepting bribes from oil executives. He was sentenced to a year in prison and a $100,000 fine. Later the expression “fall guy” was said to have come from Fall, but the expression was already in common use by the 1920s.

Oilmen Cleared

Ironically, the oilmen who paid the bribes—Harry Sinclair and Edward Doheny—were acquitted of bribery charges. This contradiction sparked public outrage and added to the sense that justice was unfairly applied when it came to the powerful.

Impact on the Harding Administration

Harding was never personally implicated in the scandal and died in office in 1923, but the Teapot Dome affair tainted his legacy. Historians rank him among the worst US presidents due to the rampant corruption and cronyism under his watch. Harding appointed many friends and political allies to high offices, many of whom were later linked to abuses of power and corruption schemes.

Lasting Legacy of the Scandal

The Teapot Dome Scandal changed how Americans viewed the federal government. It led to increased demands for transparency, oversight, and ethics in public service. It also prompted reforms in the handling of government leases and contracts. The Supreme Court ruled that the oil leases were fraudulently obtained and returned control of them to the US government.

Conclusion: A Symbol of Political Betrayal

The Teapot Dome Scandal remains one of the most infamous corruption cases in American history, and serves as a warning of what can happen when greed comes before public duty.

Though Teapot Dome has been eclipsed by Watergate in the public memory, its lessons are more relevant than ever.

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From Mailman To Medical "Expert"

Born in 1958 in East Germany, Gert Postel trained as a mailman, not a doctor. But from early on he showed a sharp mind and a deep fascination with language and authority. He successfully impersonated a doctor in September 1982 in Flensburg by using a jargon-heavy application and verbal flim-flam to obtain a position he was grossly unqualified for.

He Had An Axe To Grind

Postel’s motivation wasn’t entirely financial—he seemed to have a genuine contempt for the psychiatric establishment, which he viewed as pseudo-scientific and easily conned. His resentment stemmed from his belief that his mother, who suffered from chronic depression, had lost her life to the improper administration of antidepressants by psychiatrists.

He Fooled The System—Spectacularly

Postel's most audacious con came in the 90s when he secured a job as chief psychiatrist at the Zschadrass district hospital, one of the largest mental institutions in the former East Germany. Using forged documents and an impressive interview performance, Postel beat 40 qualified applicants for the job. Shockingly, Postel applied under his own name and got the job even though he’d been convicted in 1984 for forging academic documents in the Flensburg case.

A Respected Member Of The Profession

For 18 months Postel performed his duties without detection. He attended conferences, gave lectures, and even conducted diagnoses and treatment plans—all while being completely untrained. His staff and patients had no idea they were dealing with a fraud.

An Imposter Is Unmasked

Postel’s downfall came in 1997 when his application for a more senior position triggered a more thorough background check. Authorities discovered his real identity and prior impersonations. He was arrested and tried in court, where the extent of his deception shocked the public and medical community.

Judgment

In 1999, Gert Postel was sentenced to four years in prison for fraud and impersonation. During his trial, he remained defiant, claiming that his successful masquerade proved how fragile and performative medical authority can be.

A Celebrity Of Deception

Far from being humbled by his exposure, Postel emerged from prison with a kind of cult status in Germany. He gave interviews, wrote a memoir titled "Doktorspiele" (a pun that translates roughly to “Doctor Games”), and became a folk antihero for skeptics of psychiatric medicine.

Public Opinion Split Down The Middle

To some, Postel is a cautionary tale about institutional arrogance. To others, he’s a dangerous con artist who put lives at risk. Postel himself seems to relish the ambiguity of his legacy, often blurring the line between critique and narcissism.

Ethics, Psychiatry, And The Power of Performance

The Postel case raised uncomfortable questions for Germany’s healthcare system. How could someone with no formal training rise to such a position undetected? What does it say about the criteria used to evaluate professional competence? Is psychiatry especially vulnerable to such deception, or would other fields be just as susceptible?

Critics Cry Credentialism

Critics argue that Postel exposed a system more concerned with appearances and credentials than with true understanding and critical thinking. Supporters of psychiatry emphasize the danger he posed to vulnerable patients and warn against romanticizing his actions.

A Lesson In Credibility

Gert Postel’s story is a bizarre reminder that confidence, language, and presentation can sometimes be mistaken for competence. His con was elaborate, sustained, and devastating to the idea that titles and degrees always signal expertise.

An Imposter’s Legacy

While he may have fooled the system, Postel exploited trust, and the ethical questions around his story remain controversial. Whether clever critic or reckless fraud, Gert Postel remains one of the greatest imposters of our time—a man who diagnosed the weaknesses of the system by playing its game better than the professionals.

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Who Was Wallis Simpson?

Born Bessie Wallis Warfield in 1896 in Pennsylvania, Wallis Simpson’s roots were far from royal or aristocratic lineage. Though her extended family had some social standing, she was nowhere near the upper crust of British society. When she met Edward, Wallis had already been married twice. In fact, she was still married to Ernest Simpson, a British-American shipping executive, when she began her relationship with the then-Prince of Wales in the early 1930s.

Twice-Divorced In A Conservative Era

Wallis’s divorces were the most scandalous aspect of her background. In 1936, divorce carried deep stigma, especially for the Church of England, of which the monarch is the Supreme Governor. The church didn’t recognize remarriage after divorce if a spouse was still living, which made it religiously unacceptable for Edward to marry Wallis. His insistence on doing so would place him in direct opposition to church doctrine and political expectations.

Egad! An American "Commoner”

Wallis . Royals were expected to marry within the aristocracy or European royalty—preferably someone of noble birth and impeccable reputation. To the British establishment, Wallis was viewed as a foreign interloper. She was also seen as socially ambitious, conniving, and lacking in the refined dignity expected of a queen consort.

Rumors Swirled

Wallis was soon the subject of rumors in the British and American press, though many were never substantiated. Stories abounded about her sexual prowess, unusual behavior, and . Her ties with people sympathetic to Germany in the years leading up to WWII—paired with Edward’s own controversial pro-German leanings—amplified public suspicion and undermined the couple’s credibility.

Abdication Crisis

When Edward became king in January 1936, he made it clear that he intended to marry Wallis once her divorce was finalized. The British government opposed the match, fearing public backlash and a constitutional crisis. Faced with the choice between the woman he loved and the crown, Edward chose Wallis.

Edward Addressed The Nation

On December 11, 1936, in a dramatic radio broadcast, he abdicated the throne—becoming the only British monarch to do so voluntarily. His brother, Albert, ascended the throne as King George VI, and Edward became the Duke of Windsor.

They Tied The Knot

Wallis and Edward married in 1937 in France, with no members of the royal family in attendance. Though given the title Duchess of Windsor, Wallis was denied the style of “Her Royal Highness,” a lasting sign of royal disapproval. They lived much of their lives in exile, primarily in France. Their relationship with the royal family remained distant, and their perceived sympathy toward Nazi Germany during WWII cast a long shadow.

A Long Life Of Leisure

The couple lived a life of easy retirement, travelling often between the United States and their home in Paris. Edward passed in 1972 of throat cancer, and Wallis in 1986 after a long period of declining health. Though the couple's story has long since been eclipsed by other events, Wallis helped turn the monarchy’s path toward what it is today. Wallis remains one of the Royal family's most controversial figures.

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The Arrival of a “Princess”

It started when a young woman showed up in the village of Almondsbury in Gloucestershire, England. Barefoot, dressed in a black turban and long black shawl, she spoke a language no one recognized. Unable to communicate with anyone and obviously agitated, she was taken in by the local magistrate, Samuel Worrall and his sympathetic wife.

A Fantastic Tale

Despite the language barrier, the woman made odd gestures and drew strange symbols, which only fueled speculation even more. At last, with the help of a Portuguese sailor who claimed to understand her, a wild tale emerged: she was Princess Caraboo of Javasu, a distant island in the Indian Ocean. She’d been kidnapped by pirates but had bravely escaped by jumping overboard and swimming to safety. Pirates were a common hazard of the era, and the woman's story caught on.

The High Society Sensation

At first the English gentry were captivated by the mysterious visitor. The Worralls, impressed with her beauty and grace, welcomed her into their home. Newspapers spread the story of the exotic princess. Locals and nobles alike came to visit her, enchanted by her regal demeanor and oddball habits. She was given fine clothes, portraits were painted of her, and the press couldn’t get enough of the mysterious visitor. People in the 1800s were just as fascinated by royalty as they are now, and Princess Caraboo became a full-blown celebrity.

The Truth is Revealed

But the spell didn’t last. A boarding house owner from Bristol recognized the woman from a newspaper sketch as one of her former tenants and revealed her true identity. It turned out that the “Princess” was Mary Wilcox, a cobbler’s daughter from Devon. She was no royal—just a young woman with a vivid imagination and a talent for theatrics.

A Self-Trained Imposter

Meanwhile, Oxford scholars had analyzed her foreign writings and dismissed them as “a humbug language”—basically a joke. Mary had invented the language herself and studied various foreign customs by reading books. Her story was an elaborate fiction, acted out with remarkable confidence and flair. Once exposed, many of her admirers felt duped—others, surprisingly, were impressed by her nerve and creativity.

From Imposter to Folk Hero

Now that the public knew the truth, Mary’s charm won people over again. The public, including the Worralls, forgave her. She wasn’t prosecuted for fraud, likely because she hadn’t stolen anything or signed any false documents. Her only crime was deception—as hoaxes go, it was a fairly harmless, even entertaining affair.

A Brief Career

Mary’s story then took some unexpected turns. She traveled to the United States where she attempted to revive her persona, performing as Princess Caraboo on stage. After a few years, she returned to England and faded from the public eye. She married a man named Robert Baker, worked modest jobs, and sold leeches to a local hospital (a common medical practice at the time). She passed in 1864 and was buried in an unmarked grave in a cemetery in Bristol.

Why Her Story Endures

Princess Caraboo’s tale has fascinated people for two centuries. She’s inspired books, plays, and even a 1994 film starring Phoebe Cates. Her story taps into the allure of mystery, the power of performance, and the deep human desire to believe in something extraordinary—even when they should know better.

Stories Too Good To Be True

More than anything, Caraboo’s story is a reminder of how social perception and appearances can be manipulated, especially when people want to be fooled. In a world fascinated by the exotic and the unknown, Mary Wilcox saw an opportunity—and took it. In the process she became a part of the lore of England.

Conclusion: A Royal Legacy of Deception

Princess Caraboo’s deception wasn’t driven by malice, but by the desire to escape the drudgery of poverty in 19th-century England. Her story isn’t just about a hoax, but about class identity, imagination, and the blurred line between fact and fiction. And for a brief moment, a shoemaker’s daughter became a princess in the eyes of the world.

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The night of September 1, 1859 was a memorable one. People all over the United States and the rest of the world were able to witness the aurora borealis for the first time. Normally a feature of the northern latitudes, that night the auroras were visible as far south as Cuba, Panama, and Colombia, a most unusual occurrence. But the pretty view of the night sky was really a product of our turbulent and dynamic solar system.

A System-Wide Shut Down

The only telecommunications system in use in 1859 was the telegraph. Using Morse code through a system of wires, operators communicated by tapping Morse keys and listening through headphones to collect the incoming signals. But something was radically wrong on that September evening. 

Burns And Shocks

Some telegraph operators reported being showered with sparks while receiving burns and shocks. While most operators couldn’t communicate, there were some who later reported being able to transmit and receive messages with their power shut off. Meanwhile, a pair of amateur astronomers in England were hard at work recording their observations of the sun. It was like nothing they’d seen before.

Discovery Of Solar Flares

Richard Carrington and Richard Hodgson had both recorded their observations of several sunspots. They published their findings separately in a journal of the Royal Astronomical Society. An American mathematician named Elias Loomis published his findings of an intense disturbance in the Earth’s magnetic field and the two events were later correlated, leading to a better understanding of planet Earth and the enormous solar storm that had caused the disruption.

What If A Similar Event Happened Today?

We are far more dependent on telecommunications technology than the people of 1859 were. A solar storm of the same intensity as the Carrington flare would wreak havoc on GPS systems and any other communications that depend on satellite technology. Worse, the sudden pulse of energy could induce currents in power lines that would knock out transformers and power supplies. How prepared are we for a solar megastorm?

Keeping The World Up And Running

Scientists understand a lot more about solar storms than they used to and can use technology to predict an intense solar storm within a few hours of its occurrence. While there are some strategies in place to mitigate the effects of regular minor solar flare activity, the effects of a Carrington Event today are hard to predict. Lloyd’s of London reported in 2013 that such an event could even lead to large scale disruptions in services and potential widespread social unrest. That’s not encouraging! But how soon can we expect the next Carrington-sized event?

A Star’s Time Scale

According to a paper published in the Astrophysical Journal in 2021, events of the magnitude of 10 times the power of the Carrington Event should be expected once every 3,000 years. In the meantime, a solar flare in 2012 was at least as strong as the Carrington but narrowly missed Earth. Had it hit home, it would have caused $2 trillion in damage. Whatever the case, it's fair to say that it’s only a matter of time before the next Big One!

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Prohibition Was The Spark

The passage of the 18th Amendment in 1920 started the Prohibition era, creating a booming black market for booze. With enormous profits to be made, rival gangs struggled for control of speakeasies, smuggling routes, and supply networks. Into this chaotic landscape stepped Al Capone. Originally from Brooklyn, Capone moved to Chicago as a young man under the wing of mob boss Johnny Torrio.

He Was A Natural

Torrio initially ran a relatively disciplined organization, but the Prohibition era brought shocking new levels of violence. With his menacing scarred face, Capone quickly rose through the ranks by proving he could not only handle the brutality—but master it.

Capone Takes Control

Johnny Torrio was badly wounded in a 1925 hit attempt by a rival gang. He retired and handed the organization over to Capone. Capone now tightened his grip on Chicago's underworld using bribery, intimidation, and threatening people's lives.

A Wave Of Terror

He arranged hits on rival gang leaders, expanded smuggling routes, and absorbed smaller gangs into his empire—often through intimidation. Drive-bys, bombings, and street ambushes were a routine part of Capone’s drive for absolute supremacy over the Windy City. But the mayhem escalated to new heights in 1929.

He Chose A Special Day

The most ruthless display of Capone’s brutality came on February 14, 1929: the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. Capone’s men, disguised as police officers, executed seven members of George “Bugs” Moran’s rival Gang in a North Clark Street garage. Though Capone was never directly linked to the event, most people believed it to be his doing.

He Sent A Message

The wipeout was one of the most famous incidents in American history and sent a chilling message to Capone’s enemies: no one was safe, and no level of public spectacle was off-limits. It marked a terrifying turning point where the violence became impossible to ignore, even for the public that had once glamorized gangsters.

A Campaign Of Corruption

Capone’s control went beyond gangland. He bribed city officials, police officers, and judges to ensure immunity from prosecution. Those who couldn’t be bought were often threatened—or done away with. Violence wasn’t limited to rival gangs; journalists, law enforcement, and politicians lived in the shadow of Capone.

Tension On The Streets

Ordinary citizens were also caught up in the conflict. Gunfights frequently erupted on busy streets, and bombings became commonplace as gangs fought for their turf. Chicago earned the nickname "The Bloody City" as the toll climbed—more than 500 gangland slayings between 1925 and 1930.

His Tool Was Fear

What made Capone truly terrifying wasn’t just his capacity for violence, but his strategic use of it. He understood that terror was a tool for revenge but also for reputation. By instilling fear in his enemies and in the public, he made resistance feel futile. Capone cultivated his image as enforcer while publicly donating to charities and appearing in the press as a legitimate businessman. But it was the business side of things that lead to his downfall.

Unexpected Downfall

Capone was finally nabbed by the authorities for tax evasion in 1931, leading to his conviction and sentencing to 11 years in federal prison, including a five year stint in Alcatraz. But Capone’s brutal path to the top remains one of the darkest chapters in Mafia history. His path from low level thug to Public Enemy Number One serves as a lesson to us all about how quickly lawlessness can grow in the shadow of fear.

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He Made The Most Of An Opportunity

Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna was born in Veracruz state in 1794. Growing up in the steamy region gave him an immunity to the yellow fever that frequently ravaged the area. Based in Veracruz as a young army officer, Santa Anna rose quickly through the ranks as few outsiders wanted to come to the disease-prone region to take command. 

He Fought Against Independence

When the Mexican War of Independence broke out in 1810, the young Santa Anna initially fought for the Spanish crown against the rebels. But in a move that would become a pattern through his life, he switched sides in 1821 after a high-ranking Royalist officer joined the rebellion. Mexico won its independence from Spain soon after.

Chaos Reigns

The period in Mexico from 1821–1835 was marked by political and economic upheaval. Santa Anna became the governor and virtual dictator or “caudillo” of Veracruz and frequently participated in coups and other complex political maneuverings of that era.

Strongman

After Santa Anna emerged as the president, he and his men violently crushed a rebellion in Zacatecas and other Mexican states. But Santa Anna’s fury soon fell on the Mexican territory of Texas that was now being overrun by American settlers. He quickly pushed north into the Lone Star State.

Defeat In Texas

Calling himself “The Napoleon of the West” in honor of his lifelong idol, Santa Anna led his men against fierce resistance at the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas. He finally took the fort, but his aggressive strategy cost him horrendous casualties. Santa Anna and his forces were eventually routed by the Texans at San Jacinto. In the aftermath Santa Anna disguised himself but was captured. He had no choice but to give Texas its independence, making the start of a new phase in the history of the Wild West.

He Gave A Leg

The defeat by the Texans cost Santa Anna the presidency as well. But Santa Anna was unbowed. In 1838, he leaped to the defense of Veracruz when French forces landed nearby. The so-called “Pastry War” saw Santa Anna lose a leg. His wounds gave him the boost to his reputation he needed in order to re-enter Mexican politics.

A State Funeral…For A Leg

Santa Anna’s boundless energy and scheming brought him back to the presidency in 1842. Upon coming to power, the first thing he did was exhume his amputated leg and give it a state parade and funeral ceremony in Mexico City. The leg wouldn’t remain in the ground long, as angry mobs later dug it up in a demonstration against Santa Anna’s rule.

A National And Personal Disaster

The outbreak of conflict with the United States in 1846 brought further calamity to Mexico. Santa Anna made the terrible decision to march his men long distances without adequate supplies. The struggle saw Mexico lose a vast stretch of territory in the American Southwest that had once belonged to Spain. To add to the sting of defeat, US servicemen captured Santa Anna’s prosthetic leg at the Battle of Cerro Gordo. The peg leg now sits in a museum in Springfield, Illinois. The Mexican government has asked to repatriate the false limb back to Mexico without success.

Selling Too Low

Santa Anna returned to the presidency one last time in 1853. He made one final disastrous decision to sell an enormous swathe of Mexican territory to the Americans in southern Arizona. Known as the Gadsden Purchase, it was prime land for a planned railway route. Wanting immediate cash, Santa Anna settled on the paltry sum of $250,000. Santa Anna’s poor dealmaking brought calls for his removal from office, and he soon headed into exile.

Fast-Buck Scheme

Though Santa Anna would be absent for the chaotic events in Mexico in the 1860s, he was far from idle. He brought a shipment of chicle to New York City. Santa Anna believed that the sticky substance tapped from the Mexican sapodilla tree would make a great substitute for rubber. With dollar signs in his eyes, Santa Anna thought he would make a mint from the gooey material and finance his return to power.

A Common Everyday Item

Entrepreneur Thomas Adams found the chicle unsuitable as a rubber substitute, but he used the material to concoct the first chewing gum. William Wrigley Jr later adapted the invention to make a fortune selling the Chiclets that we still see—and chew—today. So the next time you pop a piece of gum in your mouth, remember General Santa Anna!

Final Act

Unlike his hero Napoleon, Santa Anna was finally allowed to return from exile as an old man in 1874. Now nearly blind, he breathed his last in 1876. His struggles finally over, the old General was buried with full state honors in Mexico City. 

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A Track Record Of Achievement

Leslie Groves graduated fourth in his class at West Point in 1918, and joined the US Army Corps of Engineers. His impact was immediate. Groves took part in a survey to find a canal route across Nicaragua. After Nicaragua was hit by an earthquake in 1931, Groves successfully managed the beleaguered country’s water supply. In 1941 he supervised the construction of the Defence Department’s new headquarters: the enormous Pentagon building. With more success came more responsibility.

Handpicked For A Make-Or-Break Project

Over the years Groves had become notorious for his intensity and drive to get things done. The urgency of the Manhattan Project made the US government settle on Groves as project manager. Groves had been hoping for an overseas combat posting just to get away from the gruelling workload of the Pentagon project. Learning of his new assignment, he glumly mumbled, “Oh, that thing”. But he quickly applied himself to the Manhattan Project.

First Major Decision

The first critical decision Groves had to make was the appointment of the lead physicist. Recognizing J Robert Oppenheimer’s ambition and understanding of the importance of the project, he chose Oppenheimer as the scientific director. While Groves was later criticized by some for overlooking Oppenheimer’s past associations with Communists, it was clear from later results that Groves had made a brilliant choice.

Other Major Decisions

It was Groves who chose the site of Oak Ridge, Tennessee for the refinement of the fissile raw materials for the Manhattan Project. Given sweeping signing authority, Groves was also responsible for sourcing the necessary raw uranium from Congo and northern Canada. Groves and Oppenheimer were the ones who chose the remote Los Alamos site in New Mexico for the construction and testing. 

Management Style

It was scientific genius that brought the success of the Manhattan Project, but it couldn’t have happened without Groves’ relentless management. With his wide-ranging authority, Groves had a direct line to the President. He didn’t allow middle managers or other government departments to interfere with the project engineers. If there was a problem or the engineers needed something, Groves immediately went to work to solve the problem.

A Contradictory Legacy

The success of the Manhattan Project led to the end of WWII. Leslie Groves is still recognized for his achievements as a project manager. While engineers on the Manhattan Project recognized Groves as one of the most difficult, demanding, and critical bosses they’d ever worked for, they praised his decisiveness, accountability, work ethic, and ruthless commitment to getting things done.

A World Changed Forever

The success of the Manhattan Project changed the world forever by creating the world’s most devastating weapon. While the goal of the project was controversial, you can’t argue about the impact of Leslie Groves. After infamous project management failures like the 1986 Challenger disaster and the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill, people still look back at Groves and wonder if his management style would’ve made a difference.

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The Making Of A Michelangelo Classic

Commissioned by Pope Julius II in 1508, Michelangelo worked on the famous ceiling for four years. He later returned to paint The Last Judgment fresco on the altar wall in 1541 for the unfortunate Pope Clement VII. The paintings represent some of Michelangelo’s finest work, and are a monument to the Italian Renaissance. But time takes a toll.

The Ravages Of The Centuries

People were noticing the slow deterioration of the ceiling frescoes as early as the 1600s, when saltpetre was seen deposited on the painting’s surface by water leaking through the roof. Numerous restoration projects have been carried out over the centuries, including one effort in the 1930s to remove grime and soot. By the late 1970s, the paintings needed more work.

A More Ambitious Restoration

The new restoration project was undertaken in 1980 and was far more ambitious than previous attempts. The frescoes had a film of soot from candles and city traffic exhaust fumes. There were cracks in the ceiling due to the progressive shifting of the iconic building. Water had also seeped slowly through these cracks as well. The team headed by Gianluigi Colalucci had their work cut out for them.

The Technique of The Master

Despite the painting’s condition, the restorers found that the original paint layer was in good condition. This was due to Michelangelo’s use of the classic fresco technique of applying paint to wet plaster to form an indivisible bond between the two materials.

Restoration Methods

The restoration team used polyvinyl acetate resin to reattach any loose pieces of plaster to the original surface. The team used an arsenal of different solvents to attack the materials coating the paint surface. Distilled water was key in removing soot and other gummy or sticky substances. Salt deposits were treated by a chemical solution and then a weak solution of acrylic polymer was applied for protection.

A Mixed Response

When the ceiling restoration was done in 1994, it was met with praise by much of the public who loved the new bright colors and visible details. Pope John Paul II also loved it. But many art critics and historians were not so happy with the result. They said that any restoration work was fundamentally changing the nature of Michelangelo’s work, and that previous restorations had already done terrible damage. 

A Game Plan For The Future

The Sistine Chapel will be around long after we’re all gone. To preserve the priceless treasure for the future, the Vatican has coordinated with an engineering firm and installed a comprehensive system of air filtration, temperature and humidity controls, and air circulation to keep dirt particles away from the painting.

Judge For Yourself

Whatever anyone says, the Sistine Chapel frescoes should be on the bucket list of those who love great art. Even if you aren’t an art lover, gazing up at that ceiling may turn you into one!

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The Growing Danger On The Ground

December 30 was a day like any other in Mukuku village, Kenya—except for the over 1,000-lb, 10-foot-wide titanium ring that was found smoldering in a field. The ring was quickly identified as space junk that had fallen out of orbit, its titanium structure preventing it from burning up in the ferocious temperatures of re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere. Had it fallen on homes or other buildings, the consequences of the event would’ve been catastrophic.

Congestion In Orbit

Low Earth orbit is a layer of space that spans from 100 to 1200 miles above the Earth’s surface. This orbital space contains all the satellites and space stations that people have launched skyward. Well, all except those that have already plunged to Earth.

The First Signs Of A Problem

Skylab was launched as the first working space research station in 1973, but its orbit decayed by 1978. As the 100-ton station plummeted out of orbit, NASA engineers tried to guide it over the Indian Ocean, but some sections fell in Western Australia. Noone was hurt, but it was the start of a hazard that has only got worse in the decades since.

Threat Escalation

Space agencies now estimate that there are approximately 600,000 pieces of space junk between the size of 1–10 centimeters spinning around Earth. Worse, as more debris clutters Low Earth orbit, collisions between these fragments create even more debris that change direction in unpredictable ways. The pieces include everything from small fasteners to flakes of paint. As more and more pieces of debris are generated, these also go into orbit, hurtling around the planet at 4–5 miles a second, or 18,000 miles an hour.

Bits And Pieces

While small pieces represent a danger to satellites, the International Space Station, and spacewalking astronauts, it’s the 36,000 chunks of debris larger than 10 centimeters that are an even bigger danger. Very few of the commercial satellites can be controlled on re-entry, meaning that the threat to people on the ground will only grow in the years ahead.

Tracking The Incoming Danger

While the threat to Earth from asteroids has been a constant since the dawn of time and can be monitored by humans, the threat from large man-made objects is different due to the sheer number of them up there. Some say that if the problem gets bad enough, Low Earth orbit would become unusable for future satellites, and future space exploration put on hold. With 3,000 defunct satellites aimlessly spinning around Earth, it’s a problem that isn’t going away anytime soon.

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Towering Above The Competition

The Saturn V had to power a crew of astronauts into Earth orbit to position them for the subsequent launch of the Lunar Module to the moon. This required a complicated launch sequence carried out in stages, so the rocket ended up being immense. At 336 feet long and 33 feet in diameter, it remains the biggest rocket ever built.

First Stage: Getting Airborne

The bottom section was the Saturn V’s biggest and heaviest section at 138 feet long. It contained the fuel reservoir and five engines to get the rocket off the ground and up to 40 miles above the earth’s surface. Powered by kerosene and liquid oxygen, the first stage burned three tons of propellant per second. 

Second Stage: Through The Upper Atmosphere

With the rocket now in Earth’s upper atmosphere, the spent lower section was dropped off and the second stage powered up. This stage was powered by five smaller engines and got the remaining sections of the rocket through the Earth’s atmosphere into orbit. Nine minutes after launch, the second stage dropped off the rocket at an altitude of 109 miles above the Earth’s surface.

Third Stage: Towards The Moon

Now in orbit, the Saturn V was only 58 feet long. This final stage used its one rocket engine for what was called Trans-Lunar Injection: setting the course for the final trip to the Moon. Once this rocket stage was done, it too dropped away, leaving only the Lunar Command Module to complete the final mission.

Advanced Electronics

While the physical scale of the Saturn V was imposing, its onboard control module was even more impressive. Built by IBM, the instrument board consisted of digital and analog computers that ran the rocket's guidance systems. With a ride that saw humans thrust into space in under ten minutes, the split-second timing of the rocket stages and their firing sequences had to be carried out by the control unit.

Strong Support

Getting the Saturn V into position was a major engineering effort itself. The Saturn was assembled vertically in place in its own specially built structure and then rolled into position with its launch tower on a huge 3,600-ton platform on treads. The Saturn V itself weighed an additional 3,300 tons.

An Awesome Spectacle

There were few experiences more spectacular than the final countdown and liftoff of the Saturn V at Cape Canaveral. After the initial firing of the engines, the Saturn V took eight seconds to get off the ground, and 12 seconds to clear the tower. The astronauts at the top of the rocket were subjected to 4 G of force on their ascent through the sky.

A Milestone Of Human Progress

The Saturn V showed what NASA engineers were capable of when given a virtually unlimited budget and a tight project timeline. But the Saturn V was more than a marvel of technology; it was a major benchmark in the history of human progress.  It remains the most powerful rocket ever built and flown by humans. Today’s rockets follow in the Saturn V’s path to a great future of space exploration.

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Hired on the fly to lay down the law in a lawless land, Judge Roy Bean practiced his own brand of justice from behind the bar of a saloon. With a checkered past and no formal education, Bean had unusual methods, but they seemed to work in maintaining peace in Pecos County, Texas.

A Character With A Murky Past

Roy Bean was born in Kentucky back in 1825, and left home at a young age. After drifting down to New Orleans and onward into Texas, Bean opened a trading post with a brother in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico. There, Bean got into a gunfight that ended in the demise of a Mexican desperado. Bean fled the area to avoid charges by Mexican authorities, making his way to San Diego, California where another of his older brothers, Joshua, was the mayor.

A Hit With The Ladies

The young Bean was considered a devilishly handsome ladies’ man, and he soon found himself in conflict with other men in San Diego. After wounding a man in a duel, Bean wound up in jail where he received a steady flow of gifts from local women. One of these gifts was a delivery of tamales that had a knife hidden inside them. Bean used the knife to dig through his cell wall and make a daring escape from jail. But Bean soon found himself in trouble again.

Surviving A Hanging

Bean inherited a saloon in San Gabriel, California from his brother Joshua, who’d lost his life in another fight over a woman. Roy Bean then got involved with a woman who was engaged to a Mexican officer. Bean challenged the officer to a duel and won, with fatal results for his opponent. The victim’s friends placed Bean on a horse with a noose around his neck that would hang him when the horse moved, but the rope had enough stretch to spare Bean’s life. Deciding to cut his losses, Bean fled to New Mexico, and then on to Texas.

Bean Sets Up Shop

Bean lived the next 20 years in San Antonio, getting married along the way. He and wife Virginia Chavez had four kids together. But Bean was far too unruly a character to stay in this situation much longer. He headed west in 1882 to run a saloon for the thirsty railroad workers who were laying track across the lonely territory of West Texas. It was there that he found his claim to fame.

A Chaotic Situation

The county commissioners and Texas rangers agreed that they didn’t have the resources to police the rowdy railway worker encampments and surrounding areas. Though Roy Bean had found himself on the wrong side of the law for most of his life, he was soon appointed the county justice of the peace by the desperate local authorities.

An Unorthodox Court

In his new position of responsibility, Bean carried out his duties from behind the bar of his saloon called “The Jersey Lilly” after his favorite actress Lillie Langtry. Referring to a Texas book of statutes, and using his 41-caliber revolver as a gavel, his rulings didn’t always fit people’s notion of fair justice, especially in the case of the killer of a Chinese railway worker. Bean acquitted the man after his Irish railway worker cohorts threatened a riot. Most of his other cases treated far less serious matters.

Not A Hanging Judge

Though Bean acquired the reputation as a hanging judge, he never had anyone hanged. He sometimes staged hangings to discourage would-be lawbreakers, but often let guilty men off with fines. One unusual case involved the discovery of a dead man with a pistol in his pocket and $40. Bean fined the deceased $40 for carrying a concealed weapon. Unsuccessful in his own marriage, Bean wryly ended all wedding ceremonies with the remark, “and may God have mercy on your souls”.

A Colorful But Tough Character Joins The Wild West Legend

Despite his eccentric ways, Judge Roy Bean was repeatedly re-elected until 1896, and continued in private law practice until he passed away in 1903. Bean’s youth showed him to be a much harder and more dangerous character than his later judicial career would indicate. His life was the subject of three westerns, including The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972) starring Paul Newman in the title role.

Judge Roy Bean Today

Judge Roy Bean’s original saloon and courthouse still stands in the town of Langtry, Texas as part of a museum and visitor center. It’s a fitting memorial to the life and times of one of the Wild West’s most unusual characters.

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If you’ve ever wondered why so many place names in the southwestern states have Spanish-sounding names, you’ve come to the right place! Coronado was an adventurer and conquistador whose bold expedition in the Southwest explored an enormous swathe of territory. It eventually led to a new wave of expansion that added to the already enormous Spanish Empire.

Governor Of A New Territory

Francisco Vazquez de Coronado was born in Salamanca, Spain in 1510 and first came to Mexico in 1535 as part of the entourage of the new Viceroy. Mexico had come under the control of Spain only 14 years earlier in 1521 as the conquistador Hernan Cortez brought about the shocking collapse of the Aztec Empire. Coronado was delegated as governor of Jalisco, Sinaloa, and Nayarit. It was there in 1539 that Coronado sent forth the Friar Marcos de Niza and a companion to explore and spread the word of God northward into New Mexico.

Coronado Hears A Wild Tale

When de Niza came back from his northern wanderings, he reported to Coronado the story of a fantastic city of gold called Cibola, that stood on a hilltop. As de Niza hadn’t entered Cibola and there was no one else to corroborate the story, Coronado wanted to know more about the city. There was nothing like gold to enflame the imagination of a conquistador and Coronado was no exception. He organized an expedition of his own northward.

A Dazzling Vision

Coronado was gripped by the vision of the famous fable of the Seven Cities of Gold. He mounted an expedition of 15 horsemen, 400 Spanish, and up to 2,000 Indian allies. This group, together with family members, slaves, and attendants trekked up the west coast of Mexico. The sparse vegetation and meager water meant that the group had to separate into smaller groups to be able to sustain themselves.

A Crushing Disappointment

The arduous journey through the scrublands and desert of northern Mexico eventually brought the expedition within range of the location that Friar de Niza had described, in the Sulphur Springs Valley of eastern Arizona. But instead of a shining city of gold, there was only a collection of mud-brick pueblos constructed by the local Zuni Indians. A fuming Coronado fired de Niza and sent him back to Mexico City.

Conquistador

The expedition was hard pressed to survive on the rugged and sparse terrain of the Southwest. Coronado’s men demanded entry into the Zuni pueblo of Hawikuh, but the Zunis refused. The Spanish seized the small settlement and used it as a base for more scouting expeditions in the region.

A Misleading Guide

Having long grown weary of the Spaniards, the Zuni Indians finally settled on a great way to get rid of them: tell them there was gold far off somewhere in another area. Taking the word of a local guide, Coronado journeyed as far as the Arkansas River in central Kansas with a smaller expeditionary force. Suddenly finding himself in the middle of nowhere on the vast flat expanse of the Great Plains, in 1541 Coronado realized he’d made a historic mistake. He decided to cut his losses and headed for home in disappointment.

Coming Up Empty

Not only had Coronado not found a trace of the wealth described by de Niza, he had lost a fortune in financing the expedition. After he returned home, he was forced to declare bankruptcy. His troubles didn’t end there as he was accused of committing war crimes in his attacks on the Indian villagers. Though he was eventually cleared by a local court, a Spanish court convicted him on the same charges.

The Limits Of Conquest

Coronado lived in Mexico City where he took his last breath in 1554, the victim of a sudden infection. Though he’d once dreamed great dreams and taken huge risks to make his vision come true, he lived out the rest of his life in poverty. He didn’t live to see it, but Coronado’s vision and bold risk-taking helped pave the way for later Spanish colonization of the American Southwest and the enduring Spanish cultural presence throughout the region.

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Catherine Howard reigned for barely a year-and-a-half. She seemingly left behind no children or legacies—except for one huge tragedy. She was the fifth wife of King Henry VIII, and only the second English queen to ever be executed for adultery and treason. The first, Anne Boleyn, has gone down in infamy. But Catherine's history is even darker.

1. Keep It in the Family

King Henry VIII definitely had a type. Not only were all of his six wives distantly related, Catherine Howard was actually very close kin to his other doomed queen, the infamous Anne Boleyn. The women were first cousins, sharing blood as well as a bloody ends. Yet in many ways, Anne Boleyn's infamous fate was nothing compared to Catherine's downfall.

2. Good-Time Gal

Because Medieval records are notoriously lax, we don't always have reliable information about the personalities of Henry VIII's queens. Catherine Howard, however, is a total exception. Practically everyone agreed that she was vivacious and lively, and no one ever described her as devout or bookish. In other words, this girl could flirt.

3. Moving on up

Catherine ended up meeting and snagging King Henry in an utterly scandalous way. Catherine actually served as the lady-in-waiting to Henry's fourth queen, Anne of Cleves. The king didn't really take to his new German bride, but he definitely liked Anne’s pretty and young maid, Catherine Howard. So he set about getting what he wanted.

4. Pay Day

Henry claimed he had never known "the like to any woman" when it came to Catherine, and within months of starting her career at court, she was reaping the benefits of being a king’s mistress. Sure, Henry was middle-aged and she was only 17 years old, but she and her family received fabulous gifts in return. Still, historians say there's a darker side to story. 

5. Bring Honor to Your Family

According to certain experts, Catherine's ambitious uncle the Duke of Norfolk may have pushed her into Henry's arms, manipulating both his niece and Henry’s feelings in order to gain more influence over the realm. Given what we know now, maybe all this familial pressure eventually got to be too much for Catherine.

6. Just Hot Enough

Auburn-haired, petite, and fair, Catherine met the beauty standards of early-modern Europe, and people said she had a "gentle, earnest face". Only the French ambassador Charles de Marillac offered a mildly dissenting view by reporting her as a “moderate beauty,” though he also called her "delightful". Maybe he just didn’t want Catherine to have a big head.

7. New Hire

Henry annulled his marriage to Anne of Cleves after just six months of marriage on July 9, 1540. Now a free agent, he wasted zero time making it official with his sidepiece, our own Catherine Howard. The pair married on July 28, 1540, a scandalous 19 days after his annulment from Anne went through. And if that wasn’t enough drama…

8. One Wedding and One Funeral

Catherine and Henry were married on the same day of Thomas Cromwell’s execution for high treason. Cromwell had been the mastermind behind Henry’s marriage to Anne of Cleves; the marriage’s failure put Cromwell out of favor and left him vulnerable to his enemies and Henry’s wrath. Ironically, it also paved the way for Catherine to come to court and meet Henry.

9. Bend the Knee, Collect the Crown

Catherine’s official queenly motto was “Non autre volonte que la sienna,” which means “No other will but his". It was a display of queenly obedience as sweet as it was strategic...but in hindsight, it foretold her brutal, untimely end.

10. Anything for My Princess

Henry and Catherine's marriage started out well enough, and it was certainly fit for a queen. Though no coronation was on the horizon, the royal couple went on a lavish honeymoon through England. King Henry, feeling extra "young at heart," also went on huge shopping sprees for his sweetums, "indulg[ing] her every whim". But their first storm was just around the corner.

11. A Royal Tantrum

The winter after their wedding, King Henry showed his violent side. By this time, his legs were riddled with ulcers, and the agonizing pain made him alternately depressed and furious. He even rose to paranoia, accusing his aides of being "lying time-servers". He was not an easy husband to be around, and maybe this explains Catherine's behavior.

12. Miss Mystery

Surprisingly for such a highborn lady, the details about Catherine’s early life are mostly a mystery. We don’t know what year she was born—although people generally believe it was around 1523. We don’t even know what the birth order was in her huge family: The future queen might have been about her father’s fifth child but, impressively, her mother’s tenth.

13. Cheaper by the Dozen Is Depressing in Real Life

Despite her aristocratic birth, Catherine spent most of her childhood in poverty. While her father Edmund Howard was the son of a duke, he was a younger son and just one of 21 children (Thanks, Medieval birth control). This also meant that daddy Howard would inherit almost nothing, leading Catherine to dream of snagging wealth and riches another way entirely.

14. Dance With Me

To give you an idea of just how "lively" Catherine Howard really was, she adored dancing and did it whenever she could, but even it couldn't hold her interest for long. Apparently she would often get distracted in the middle of her dancing lessons and start making jokes. Later on, some would say that her wandering mind gave her a wandering eye...

15. Daddy Small Bucks

Catherine's childhood was riddled with more misfortune than any one girl could handle. Her father was absent much of her life, and her mother Joyce passed in 1528 when Catherine was only five years old. This left the girl young, poor, and vulnerable in a world that ate pretty little girls for breakfast. We'll see how that worked out.

16. Away From Home

With her father abroad and her mother gone, Catherine went to live with her step-grandmother, Agnes Howard. But it was hardly a disciplined upbringing: Agnes was an old woman, often away at court in London, and generally disinterested in her wards. This lack of supervision left Catherine disturbingly vulnerable.

17. Girls' Night

Catherine picked up some unsettling habits while she was at her step-grandma's. Specifically, she became friends with a set of older girls who snuck men into their bedrooms at night. In return, these stand-up guys would ply the girls with gifts of wine, food, and other baubles. Sooner or later, it was bound to get Catherine into trouble...

18. Vamp or Victim?

During Catherine's infamous fall from grace (more on that later), Henry VIII started digging into her past—and found one detail among many that made his blood run cold. When she was just 13 years old, Catherine began a "romance" with her much older music teacher, Henry Mannox. The real story, however, is much grosser than that.

19. May-December Romance

Given that Catherine was barely into her teen years at the time and Mannox was a 36-year-old man, most modern historians believe that he took advantage of the young girl. Mannox himself testified at her trial that they had intimate contact, though they never consummated their "relationship". Well, Catherine, had her own words to say about that.

20. Creepy Old Man

Even if other people claimed Catherine was "asking for it" when it came to Mannox, the queen denied this vehemently in her trial. As she told the court, "Being but a young girl, I suffered him at sundry times to handle and touch the secret parts of my body". Translation: That guy was gross and I wish I could forget him. Sadly, this wasn't the only skeleton in Catherine's closet.

21. The Nose Knows

Judging by one of the most definitive portraits we have of Catherine, she inherited "the Howard nose," which had a distinctive hook on the end.

22. Not Living to Learn

Catherine was, er not exactly the most educated of Henry VIII’s queens. With her impoverished upbringing, she didn't really have the means to collect as many "accomplishments" as some of Henry's other women. She could read and write—although letter writing would contribute to her downfall—she could dance well, and she could play music.

23. A New Man in Her Life

Before she was ever queen, a man named Francis Dereham spelled the end for Catherine Howard. After her creepy introduction to love with Henry Mannox, the teenaged Catherine became lovers with Dereham, who was about 10 years older than her and worked on her grandmother's estate. Now this relationship had some very "adult" behaviors...

24. Marriage 1.0

Unlike Catherine's affair with Mannox, her relationship with Dereham was definitely consummated. Even more seriously, they referred to each other as “husband” and “wife," and were engaged to be engaged. Moreover, many of Catherine’s roommates were aware of her naughty little arrangement. That is, until it came to a disastrous end.

25. Star-Crossed Lovers

Catherine's step-grandmother discovered her ward's affair with Dereham in 1539. The old lady did not take the misconduct kindly: She banned Dereham from the premises, and he eventually went away to Ireland. Before he did, though, some speculate that the couple exchange vows. True or not, this had catastrophic implications.

26. Two Times a Lady

If this is true, Catherine was as good as married when she wed King Henry VIII, and had therefore committed treason at the exact moment she became Queen of England. Sadly, the young, flirtatious Catherine might have gotten away with all of this, if it weren't for one fatal error—and, as we'll see, one fateful letter.

27. Just Do a Partner Tattoo Next Time

Like her famous first cousin Anne Boleyn, Catherine had a taste for French fashion, and Henry treated her to an abundance of new French dresses. These frocks were generally more modern and sexier than the usual English fare, which suited the flirty Catherine just fine. She also had her “No other will but his” motto sewn in gold at the edges of her sleeves.

28. Big Man in the City

Catherine was the youngest of Henry VIII’s brides, which might be why she acted so foolishly. Henry was about 30 years older, as well as much bigger and sicker. By 1540, his waist measured at 52 inches. Seeing as so many accounts of Catherine emphasize her youth and petite figure, the queen must have noticed the contrast. And that wasn't the only marital issue.

29. Family Feud

Catherine had an extremely tense relationship with her eldest stepchild, Mary Tudor. After all, Catherine was up to seven years younger than Mary herself. But when Mary showed her disrespect, Catherine doled out a cruel punishment. After another tiff, the enraged Catherine banished two of Mary’s own ladies from court, isolating the princess.

30. Peace Pomander

Though it must sting when your trophy stepmom pulls rank, Mary knew she had to stay in line if she wanted to stay alive. By May of 1541, the tensions between the two women had cooled down. As a "good little girl" gift, Catherine even gave Mary a gold pomander of jewels and pearls. For the record, I also welcome all olive branches in the form of jewelry.

31. Cousin’s Pet

Catherine definitely played favorites, and her most beloved stepchild was Henry’s daughter by Anne Boleyn, the future Elizabeth I. After all, she was closely related to the girl. The mostly-neglected seven-year-old was treated to the “place of honor” at her stepmother's dinner table, and Catherine made a point to invite Elizabeth to court.

32. What a Haul

In public, Anne of Cleves didn’t seem to resent her old lady-in-waiting Catherine at all. Anne even visited court for one Christmas and gifted the couple some horses. In turn, Catherine gave her ex-boss a ring and two puppies as Christmas gifts, and the two danced together. But as we'll see, under the surface was a much different story.

33. Salt and Culpeper

Although she was now Henry's queen, Catherine was still hiding ruinous secrets. While she was still a maid-of-honor to Anne of Cleves, Catherine was also courted by a favorite of the King, Thomas Culpeper. She was even considering marriage until Henry came along. When she became queen, her relationship with Culpeper didn't exactly stop...

34. Three's Company

The debate still rages about just how much contact Catherine and Thomas had with each other after she became Queen of England, but the answer definitely isn't "none". Without a shadow of a doubt, the emotional aspect of their relationship was still going strong while Catherine shared Henry's bed, but other signs point to even more treasonous behaviour.

35. Sneaking Around

Culpeper and Queen Catherine frequently set up secret meetings through one of her ladies-in-waiting, Jane Boleyn. During these rendezvous, they would talk, touch, and maybe more. This behavior alone might have been enough to arouse King Henry VIII's jealousy and suspicions, but Catherine had even bigger problems.

36. A Friend in Need...

Ever since she became queen, all of Catherine's old "friends" from her earlier dorm life came out of the woodwork, and they weren't so friendly anymore. Many of them started contacting her and asking for favors. In return, they would keep mum about all the goings-on they had witnessed during her youth with Francis Dereham and others. But it only took one person to ruin her.

37. What Happens in the Dorm Doesn’t Stay in the Dorm

In the end, one of Catherine’s old friends was the first to “turn” her in. When John Lascelles asked his sister, Mary, why she wouldn’t petition her old dorm buddy for a job at court, Mary responded that she didn’t approve of Catherine’s “light” ways from their Lambeth days. John reported this to the Archbishop of Canterbury, who then found out about Catherine’s pre-contract of marriage to Francis Dereham.

38. Dog People

Catherine didn't just spend all her time flirting with boys, she also had a warm-hearted and nurturing facet to her personality. She loved all animals, but she was particularly fond of dogs.

39. When It Rains, It Pours

The Archbishop's scandalous discovery was bad, but it was about to get even worse. You see, these early investigations against Catherine weren’t for adultery; the pre-contract was probably enough to remove her from the throne, but maybe not execute her for treason. But when Henry's aides looked into it, all Catherine's lies unraveled. 

40. Tell Me More

Thomas Cranmer questioned the queen's lady-in-waiting Jane Boleyn in relation to Catherine's conduct, but he got much more than he bargained for. All of a sudden, Boleyn broke down and told the interrogators about Catherine’s secret little meetings with Thomas Culpeper. Not what they were looking for, but it was more than enough.

41. This Is Why You Clean Your Inbox

The heat was turning way up on Queen Catherine, and investigators got permission to rip apart her chambers. What they found was the final nail in the coffin. They uncovered a letter from Howard to Thomas Culpeper, written in her distinct handwriting. But it wasn't just any old letter—it contents all but buried her.

42. Eat Your Words

In the fateful letter, Catherine reveals that her heart belongs to Culpeper, not Henry. As she wrote, "When I think again that you shall depart from me again it makes my heart die to think what fortune I have that I cannot be always in your company". She signed the letter “Yours as long as life endures". That life would not endure long.

43. Charm School

While Catherine Howard wasn’t the most prosperous or well-educated lady in Henry VIII’s court, you could at least say she was well-mannered. The French ambassador Charles de Marillac once described Catherine as possessing “superlative grace” and a “modest” bearing, which in those times, they really liked in women.

44. That’s What You Get for Trusting People

Initially, Henry was unwilling to believe that his sweet fifth wife could ever be dishonest with him. When he first received a letter of accusations against Catherine, the King insisted it was a forgery and ordered a private investigation only so her name could be cleared. After a few days, however, things took a turn for the worse.

45. Holier Than Thou

Henry quickly changed his mind about Catherine's innocence, and instead started trying to win the breakup as best he could.  When the warrant for Catherine's arrest came down, Henry oh-so-conveniently arranged to be praying in a chapel. That way, he looked extra good and merciful as he signed away his wife's life.

46. No Way out

When Catherine found out she was being investigated, her response was chilling. She was so distressed that she was practically incoherent, and the Archbishop started become worried she was at risk of harming herself. He actually ordered the servants to remove all sharp objects from her chambers to protect her. After all, Catherine knew what Henry had done to her cousin Anne...

47. Even Monarchs Get the Blues

Look, I don't want you to feel too bad for King Henry VIII in all of this, but he wasn't exactly handling the situation well, either. According to sources close to the king, he sank further into depression, which he dealt with mostly by drinking copious amounts of wine and ordering more women up to his bedchambers. Okay, yeah, I don't feel that bad.

48. Hail Mary Pass

According to one story, Queen Catherine's arrest couldn't have gone more horrifically. Apparently, she briefly escaped her captivity and ran to where King Henry was hearing mass. Before she could make it to the door and beg for her life, the young Queen was dragged back to her apartments, kicking and screaming all the way.

49. Queen to the Tomb

Catherine might have saved herself at the end, but that's not how it went down. If she had admitted to a pre-contract with Dereham, Henry could simply banish her from court and crown. But to the end, Catherine insisted that she and Dereham had never had any kind of agreement. In fact, she made a much more shocking allegation.

50. It Wasn't Me

According to one version of Catherine's confession letter, not only had she and Dereham never made an engagement with each other, the older man had all but forced himself on her during the course of their relations. As Catherine puts it in her own writing, “Francis Dereham by many persuasions procured me to his vicious purpose".

51. Queen No More

Furious that Catherine hadn't really loved him for him, Henry VIII stripped Howard of her queenship on November 23, 1541. She spent the rest of the winter under supervision at a former convent far away from the King. As a result, Christmas celebrations were canceled that year. Henry was simply too bummed out.

52. Gone Baby Gone

Back in spring 1541, there were rumors that Catherine was pregnant. Sadly, no baby ever materialized—either by mistake or miscarriage, no one is quite sure. Who knows what an heir could have done to save Catherine's life?

53. Dirty Little Secret

When Henry's men detained and interrogated Thomas Culpeper, he made a disturbing confession. Although he did claim he and Howard refrained from intercourse, he did own that things were very much headed in that direction. As he admitted, "He meant to do ill with the Queen and that likewise the Queen so minded with him".

54. Mrs. Cleves, I Believe You Are Trying to Seduce Me

When Henry's ex-wife Anne of Cleves heard about Catherine's fall from favor, some say her dark side came out to play. There are hints that Anne saw Catherine's execution as an opportunity, and that she held hope of becoming queen again once Catherine was gone. Her brother even took a private meeting with Henry to try to pressure the king into taking his sister back. Gee, thanks Anne, I thought we were friends.

55. The Black Sheep of the Family

To this day, we have no definitive portrait of Catherine Howard, though experts are almost certain a portrait by Hans Holbein the Younger is of the doomed queen. After Catherine's execution, people weren't so keen on keeping her in the king's memory. Even her own family removed their portrait of her from their home gallery. Ouch.

56. Getting Ahead

Henry VIII was incensed at his queen, but he also didn't forget about any of the little guys—namely, Thomas Culpeper and Catherine's ex-"husband," Francis Dereham. Culpeper received a “dignified” execution with a simple beheading on December 10, 1541. But Henry had an even worse fate in store for Francis Dereham.

57. Not a Way to Go

After hearing the allegations, the king sentenced Dereham to an ignominious end. The poor man, who had done nothing more than love a single lady way back when, got hanged, drawn, and quartered for high treason on the same day as Thomas Culpeper. That is not a good way to go. Around this time, Catherine was preparing for her own gruesome end...

58. Let This Be a Warning

Just days before her execution, Henry's men transferred Catherine via barge to the infamous Tower of London. Reportedly, Catherine was so panicked and wild that the aides had to shove her into the boat. Even more morbidly, their route to the Tower passed directly under London Bridge, giving Catherine a clear view of the heads of both Culpeper and Dereham, which were now proudly displayed on stakes.

59. Scared Stiff

When Catherine Howard walked to the execution block that fateful day, many people commented on how still and composed she looked. The reality was much sadder. Not only was she pale and breathless, she was actually so terrified she could barely move properly, and had to request help to climb onto the scaffold.

60. Practice Makes Perfect

On the eve of her execution, Catherine asked for a chopping block. She allegedly spent hours laying her head up and down, again and again, making sure she would get it just right on the big day.

61. My Bloody Valentine

Queen Catherine Howard was beheaded on February 13, 1542, just a day before Valentine’s Day, with a single stroke of the executioner's axe. Ironically, it was Henry VIII himself who would make Valentine’s Day an official English holiday in 1537. Who knew he was decreeing a special occasion to be bummed seven years later?

62. Two for the Price of One

Catherine may have died with a single axe stroke, but her end was a double feature. Jane Boleyn, the lady-in-waiting who assisted her affair with Thomas Culpeper, was beheaded right after her mistress.

63. God Save the Queen

Catherine was a teen queen to the bitter end. She was about 17 when she came to the throne, and her reign was brutally short. On the day of her execution, she was only around 19 years old. She had ruled for less than two years.

64. Forget You

Upon her execution, King Henry VIII treated even Catherine's cold body with disdain. He buried her and her maid Jane Boleyn in an unmarked grave in the chapel St. Peter ad Vincula. Henry hadn't even attended her execution.

65. A Me Without a Thorn

Henry VIII supposedly declared Catherine his “rose without a thorn". Supposedly, the king struck a coin with such words in Howard's honor. Only he probably didn’t. While Henry did mint a crowned rose coin with these words, he made it some 14 years before he ever met Catherine. It was also dedicated to himself, reading in Latin, “‘Henry is a dazzling rose without a thorn". Self-love is important, I guess.

66. Oh, K

Catherine Howard lived in a time before standardized spelling, so sometimes her name is written as “Katheryn". This is how she signs her name in a love letter to Thomas Culpeper, so don’t get confused if you see it again somewhere else.

67. Looking Out for Number 1

Many of Catherine’s relatives were detained for their suspected knowledge of her past in the bedroom. Some of them handled the accusations with dignity, but her uncle Thomas Howard was an absolute disgrace. He wrote a groveling letter to Henry and laid the blame entirely on his stepmother and Catherine herself.  Nice one, Thom.

68. Don't Call Me Queen

Catherine Howard's "reign" was too short and troubled to even have a coronation. That ceremony would have come if she had ever gotten pregnant with Henry's child, which obviously never happened.

69. I Fought the Law and the Law Won

If you're reading and thinking, “Pre-contracts and heavy flirting with your crush hardly sounds like treason,” you were not alone. So, while Howard was detained, Parliament passed a new law that made it treason for a king’s wife to not disclose her intimate past to the king. It also made it illegal for her to even encourage adultery. This closed that legal loophole and, with it, Catherine’s metaphorical noose.

70. Who Needs a Reason?

Howard's execution sent shockwaves throughout Tudor England, particularly for the young Princess Elizabeth. At the news, an eight-year-old Elizabeth allegedly vowed that she would never marry. After all, she'd already seen her mother go the same way. There were many reasons why Elizabeth never wed, but Catherine’s execution sure makes for a good “Rosebud” story, doesn't it?

71. Not Just an Airhead

Despite her youth and inexperience as Queen, Catherine was one smart cookie. She was a key part in convincing King Henry to release the poet Sir Thomas Wyatt. This actually wasn't the first time Wyatt had been captured—he was detained as a suspect during Anne Boleyn’s trial—so the fact that Catherine managed to do it was a huge feat, and suggests she possessed some major political potential that was cut off too soon.

72. Ghost With the Most

The tale of Catherine Howard's desperate escape and attempt to plead for her life while Henry was at mass is now one of the most famous ghost stories in royal history. If you go to Hampton Court Palace, they say you can catch a glimpse of a screaming specter in white, rushing down the “Haunted Gallery". That would be Catherine's ghost, trying and failing to save herself once more.

73. Crosswords

When King Henry VIII first learned of Catherine’s emotional affair with his own favorite courtier, Thomas Culpeper, he did not take it lying down. His deranged response is impossible to forget. Henry reportedly flew into a rage and called for a sword, all so he could kill his wife himself right then and there. Obviously, he eventually had the matter outsourced.

74. Wordplay

Folklore says that Catherine's last words as she went to the block were “I die a Queen, but I would rather have died the wife of Culpeper". This is a myth—but her real final words were even more heartbreaking. Howard was repentant, crying that she deserved “to die a thousand deaths” for betraying a king who always treated her so “graciously". But there's actually another story behind these words.

75. A Dame Til the End

As it turns out, most nobles who got executed tended to apologize, even if they were innocent of their charges. Because their words were sure to get back to the monarch, they wanted to protect the surviving families involved. So in apologizing so profusely, Howard was actually committing a selfless act for her and Culpeper's relatives.

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21

A look of surprise is never something you want to see on a doctor's face. The following stories are of patients who downplayed the severity of their conditions—to the eventual horror of their medical professionals.

1. Ignoring The Pain

There are so many, but perhaps one of the most stunning cases was the man who thought searing pain while urinating every once in a while was normal. He would have tremendous back pain for a day or so, which he thought was due to advancing age and the highly physical nature of his job. Not incredibly unreasonable, but something he should have still checked out.

Usually, a few days later, he would have searing pain while urinating, then be fine again. Of course, it turned out to be chronic kidney stone formation. He said he never noticed the stones coming out because he never looked down while urinating. Honestly, I still don't understand. I have had kidney stones myself and it definitely feels like something solid is coming out. Baffling.

2. Unorthodox Wincing

I got a new OB-GYN and went for a check-up. I braced myself for the horrible pain, and she immediately stopped. As it turns out, extreme pain down there ISN'T normal, but I'd just had three other OB-GYNs who apparently didn't care that I cried in pain every time I was checked. She called it vulvar vestibulitis, but the most commonly used term now is vulvodynia.

Apparently, there's no known cause, but some doctors think it may be due to having too many nerve endings in the area. I am doing somewhat better now thanks to some physical therapies and a lidocaine ointment that I can apply beforehand.

3. Glitches In Time

I was rushed to the ER after frequent blackouts and sudden-onset fatigue. I worked a physical labor job and attended college after my shift, so I didn't think anything about the fatigue and the blackouts. I thought it was just my brain giving me a fast forward through mind-numbing tasks. Typically, I would have blackouts while driving because my commute to work was about 45 minutes and my school was about an hour away from my work. I can’t believe how dangerous it was. 

I would get on the highway, blink, and the next thing I knew, I was in the parking lot with 45 minutes having passed in an instant. I told my girlfriend about this and she told me something was wrong; but being a dumb 19-year-old, I ignored it. It wasn't until I was at work stacking chairs that it really started to sink in—I had an empty cart, put a chair on it, turned around to pick up another chair, then turned back to a chilling sight. The cart was full—but I didn’t remember filling it.

When I saw the full cart, it was like someone hit me in the back of the head and I instantly felt like I hadn't slept in days. I ended up sitting down and one of my co-workers noticed I was white as a ghost. The guy in charge forced me to go to the hospital even though I insisted I was fine. Once I got to the hospital and got brain scans done, it turned out I was having mild seizures caused by a lack of sleep.

When I told the doctor about my commuting blackouts, he looked like he just saw a ghost. He told me he had no idea how I didn't crash. He basically told me to find a new job and get more sleep.

4. The Root Of The Problem

My husband and I were messing around and he chased me through the kitchen. When I took a hard left turn, he lost his footing and fell on his side. He’s a big dude, so falling is a bit more horrible for him. He couldn’t put pressure on his leg and he knew immediately he was hurt pretty bad. He was able to crawl to the couch, and once he settled in, he said he wasn’t in too much pain.

He decided to sleep on the couch that night so he wouldn’t have to go upstairs. We made an appointment in the morning for the ER so we wouldn’t have to sit there all day, but they didn’t have an opening until 2 pm, so we just hung out at the house. He was in a decent amount of ambient pain, but it didn’t seem too urgent. Once we got to the hospital, however, we found out the shocking truth.

He had broken his hip, breaking off his entire ball joint from the top of his femur. The nurses said they couldn’t believe that he was able to sit up and sleep on it, which implied that we should have come the night before—and probably by ambulance. It required surgery with some hefty bolts to put it back into place. But the crazy part is that, apparently, a healthy 30-year-old man breaking his femur from standing is highly unusual. That’s when we found out that there was an even more terrifying cause behind it. 

After several tests and an MRI, it turned out he was in the early stages of osteoporosis. Even craziest? It was due to a pituitary tumor in his brain. So we discovered a benign brain tumor all because the dude was wearing slippery socks.

5. Not One, But Two

My oldest son was 11 years old and he needed a physical for youth tackle football. He had complained that his ankle hurt during the middle of baseball season so she asked if he could take off his shoe. When he did, she immediately pointed to the side of his foot where there was a strange bump and informed us he had a broken foot.

I didn't believe her because he had the same thing on his other foot as well. So she took a look at the other foot and said, "Oh...he has TWO broken feet". She then sent us over to get X-rays from the hospital. I was laughing in my head, thinking it was so crazy that my son, who not only finished playing in a baseball tournament but had also been running and jumping at the swimming pool literally an hour before, had two broken feet.

After the X-rays were completed, my smile quickly faded as the doctor was right. That's when we learned about how completely flat feet can be damaged with stress fractures that go undetected. He was put into a cast for eight weeks and was made to wear special shoes and insoles for the rest of his life. His feet are still deformed, but it has never slowed him down.

6. A Quirky Defect

When I was a medical student, a patient and his brother came in together. The patient was just there for a post-op visit after a hernia repair. Turns out, after inspection, he actually had another baseball-sized hernia. Somehow, that’s not the craziest part. His brother, on the other hand, LITERALLY had a football-sized hernia visibly coming out of the left leg of his shorts.

It looked like an inguinal hernia, and he was able to use it as an armrest. I asked him if that bothered him at all, and he just straight up said: "My brother's hernias were painful but this isn't, so I thought it was just a quirky defect". I hope he was lying to save face, but we recommended he get it taken care of.

7. Tainted Smile

I work at a dentist’s office. A patient came in for an exam, concerned that a part of her tooth was chipped off. On examination, it was not a chip, but rather a piece of calculus, which is the build-up of hard tartar that covers your teeth over time when you don’t brush them. It can be small deposits, or in this case, an entire “bridge” covering her actual teeth.

She thought the calculus was tooth material and was quite shocked to learn we were actually unable to see her real teeth. We gave her an extensive cleaning to remove it all.

8. A Hairy Situation

This one was actually from back when I was a medical student, but it’s still the weirdest thing I’ve seen. It was my last rotation in medical school before graduating and starting residency. I had completed all my requirements and just wanted to take a few interesting electives of things I hadn’t seen yet. This was a dermatology rotation at the VA.

The rotation had been interesting and chill, and I was seeing my third-to-last patient as a medical student. The guy came in and the resident asked him why he was there. He said, “I have hair coming out of my hand". I figured he meant a weird mole with some hair coming out, but this guy (who was probably in his late thirties or early forties) said, “No, the hair is coming out from under the skin".

The resident asked him what he did for a living and he said he was a barber. Apparently, it’s not too uncommon for hair to poke through the skin, especially for barbers who cut men’s hair. It’s short, thin, and can be kinda pokey after all. It was sort of like getting a sliver, but with hair. But the guy said, “No, it’s a lot of hair, look!”

He held up his hand, making a fist, and there were several hairs poking out from between the knuckles of his pointer and middle finger. I stared in confusion, and the resident grabbed some tweezers to pull out maybe a half dozen short black hairs. The guy said, “Yeah, I already pulled out like 50". That's when the resident's face dropped.

We numbed up the backside of his hand between the first and second knuckle and made a little incision. We were shocked at the mass of hair that we uncovered. We started pulling out GOBS of short black hair. A chunk of 20, a chunk of 30, etc. At some point, she got the magnifying glasses out with an attached light and said, “Oh my gosh, there are still more in there! Sir, do you know how all this hair got into your hand?” His answer was so disturbing, it’s unforgettable. 

The guy said, “Oh it probably came in through there!” He flipped his hand over to reveal a HOLE in the palmar aspect of his hand’s skin. It turns out, the dude had cut himself like TWO YEARS before this, and it had never healed properly (he was diabetic), so he just kept cutting hair with this open wound on his hand. Probably every day, a few hairs got stuck in his hand. For two years.

Now those hairs had tunneled through the webbing between his first and second fingers from the front of his hand and out the backside. We spent like 30 minutes MILKING his hand and fingers while more and more hair came out. She said, “There’s no way I got it all out, so you have to come back every two weeks for a few months for us to keep removing more hair from your hand".

9. The Denial Is Strong

As a teenager, I was listening to my best friend complain about her bad periods. She snapped at me and asked why I didn't care that she was in so much pain. I basically told her that we all go through it every month: "Everyone bleeds through tampons every hour or so. Everyone hurts all the time. Everyone gets the few moments where it's so painful you can barely stand. Everyone does this for eight days".

She looked at me like I was crazy and said no, that's not normal. I argued and said it's exactly how it is for me...it sucks but what can we do? She gently assured me that what I had just told her was not normal and that I should probably see a doctor.

10. Tooth Fairy Goldmine

I work in a dental office. The most common thing we see is people placing aspirin on their gums next to an aching tooth. All that does is severely burn the gums and make the pain worse. I've also met a few people over the years who have taken their own teeth out with a pair of pliers. One guy we saw had a problem tooth, went to pull it out, pulled the wrong one, then tried again, and finally pulled the problem one.

He shattered the alveolar bone in that area and had to be sent to an oral surgeon immediately.

11. The Family Jewels

My 13-year-old son complained to me that he was unbearably itchy down there. I figured probably sweat, so I told him to wash the area thoroughly and make sure to dry well. A couple of days later, he said it was still itchy and getting bigger. Bigger? He said there was no pain or anything, but it was still itchy and swollen. I still didn't think it was anything more than a sweat rash that maybe needed some ointment.

But when we went to the doctor, we were sent off for an ultrasound. The scan showed zero blood flow to the area, so he was immediately transferred to the emergency room. He went in for emergency surgery where the urologist removes one necrotic mass. It had become randomly twisted and passed at least a week prior. The swelling was a major infection setting in, which also caused the itchiness and swelling.

He had no pain whatsoever and the doctor said that was amazing. For most boys, torsion feels like being kicked in the nuts continuously, and by the infected stage he was in, he should have been screaming and crying from the pain. If we had waited any longer, he could have developed sepsis. He had a follow-up surgery a month later to insert a replacement part and to stitch his remaining one in place so it doesn't happen again.

12. A Little Too Late

I’m a nurse with twenty years of experience and a master's degree. This lady had a non-healing, large wound on her left chest area for six months and painful axillary nodules that she had for six years prior to the wound. Any non-healing wound is immediately assumed as cancer until proven otherwise. Well, this lady had stage four, untreatable cancer—all for a heartbreaking reason.

She just wasn’t taught that cancer was treatable. Clearly, she was not informed about how most women with painful nodules should come in ASAP as the cancer is most treatable when detected early. She died three weeks after her diagnosis.

She was sedated for about two weeks and five days after diagnosis because that’s how she wanted to go. At least she wasn't in pain, and was pretty much asleep for all of it.

13. Hearing Voices

Psychiatrist here. One of my first patients was a female college student who couldn't sleep because of the voices that constantly talked to her. Apparently, she felt forced to answer them at all times. From what she was saying, I gathered that depending on the particular voice, she was either being cautioned about people or situations or outright pushed towards violent acts.

The voices started appearing when she was 16 if I remember correctly, and we met when she was 20. For four years of her life she believed that it was normal to have such voices in one's head, because, as she explained, many people talk to themselves. To some extent, she was right; but I had to explain to her that most people really talk with themselves and there are no other identities in them.

There’s just an internal dialogue to clarify or resolve issues that bother them in their own privacy, so to speak. She was later diagnosed with schizophrenia.

14. Not Quite A Baby...

Nurse here. We had a 67-year-old woman who thought she was pregnant. I've got to say, she did look pregnant since her abdomen was full; similar to those pregnant women who look like they're carrying a basketball when they are at the end. But she was 67. Turned out, it was a 37-pound ovarian cyst, and it was the largest one I had ever seen in my career.

I asked if I could watch the surgery. That thing came out all in one piece, and I'll never forget the sound it made. This was at a community hospital many years ago, before HIPAA, so naturally, the lab announced that anyone who wanted could come down to the lab and view this incredible thing before it was dissected by pathology.

The line at lunchtime was so long you'd think they were giving away free concert tickets.

15. A Life Spared

My psychiatrist saved my life! I have always had heavy and irregular periods, so when I had bleeding that didn't go away for a month, I pretty much just kept on keeping on. Eventually, a doctor referred me to the emergency department because of the constant blood loss, and all I was told was "You've got endometriosis". So for five months, I had a heavy period, with doctors just dismissing it.

Eventually, my roommate called an ambulance when I passed out in the shower. The doctors did a blood test and I was admitted overnight for a blood transfusion. Fun fact—blood transfusions make some people nauseous, which is not a fun way to find out you're allergic to an antiemetic! A few weeks later, at about the six-month mark, I drove for an hour for my regular appointment with my psychiatrist.

He took one look at me and freaked out. He told me to proceed directly to the ER. So I did and was promptly admitted to the ICU with a bilateral pulmonary embolism. I was hours away from suffocating to my end. Turns out, all the birth control that the original doctors had been giving me to shut me up and get rid of me had caused massive clots.

The doctor that looked after me and ultimately saved my life wrote a paper on why it's stupid to ignore a nulligravida (never pregnant) woman in her mid-20s with severe dysfunctional uterine bleeding.

16. How Incompetent

I had all the symptoms of a GI bleed, including vomiting blood that looked like coffee grounds. I went to the ER, had an NG tube put in, and spent the night in the ICU. They scoped me the next day and determined I had three minor erosions, then they released me with a script for antacids. I thought I would be okay from there, but I felt awful for the next two weeks.

I was tired, weak, and dizzy, but I dismissed it all because it was "just three minor erosions". Two weeks later, my doctor sent me in to have my blood drawn. My hemoglobin was at 4.6 and my hematocrit was 15.1, which is critically low...like "How are you still standing" low. Long story short, I was rescoped at this new hospital and they found a two-inch tumor in my stomach.

It was a very rare tumor that usually doesn't happen to people under 40, and I'm 33. I had a total of five tumors and half of my stomach removed a few days later. Where my GI found the "erosions" was basically right where my two-inch tumor was. I don't get how he missed it, but he found what he was looking for, and that was that I guess.

All I know is I'm not paying the $7,200 bucks that the hospital wants from me. How they missed a two-inch mass baffles my mind. I'm still waiting on the bill for the week-long stay and the surgery in the second hospital.

17. Never Ignore The Symptoms

My pregnancy was really painful. I was the only woman in my family besides my mother who went through this, and even she didn't get sick at all while pregnant. I thought it was normal that I couldn’t stand straight or go farther than ten feet from the bathroom, or that I spent days on the bathroom floor unable to keep anything down to the point where I would lose track of days.

My fiancé begged and begged for me to go to the ER because of all the pain I had. It turns out, I had an acute UTI that was ready to spread to my kidneys. They told me if I waited any longer, I would have miscarried. The thought definitely makes me hold my baby tighter.

18. A Downhill Spiral

I was the patient. I had a Roux-en-Y gastric bypass in April of 2017. After I went home from the surgery, the expectation was that I would be on a liquid diet for a week, and then slowly start reintroducing soft foods, etc. I even used a check-in app that reviewed how I was feeling, just to monitor if something was wrong.

Two weeks in and I still couldn’t keep down an ounce of protein shake. My husband at the time was getting frustrated with me because he thought I was being deliberately difficult. While he was gone to a city three hours away by plane, I woke up in the middle of the night heaving and dry vomiting. My mother drove me to the hospital in the middle of the night where I spent the next 12 hours having every test imaginable run on me. That’s when doctors made a gruesome discovery. 

It turns out, within 24 hours after my surgery, my intestine that was reconnected at the “Y” junction had actually come apart (it was leaking anastomosis, if you want to look it up). Everything I’d tried to eat had just been draining into my abdominal cavity. I was septic and had four large abscesses. After emergency surgery, I spent 10 days in the ICU recovering before I went home.

The surgeon told my mother that if I’d been even 24 hours late getting to the hospital, I wouldn’t have made it. Side note: less than two months later, my husband left me.

19. That's A Good Call

One time, I got food poisoning. I'd never had serious food poisoning before, but my boss who I was at a conference with had. After clearing myself completely in a very short period of time, I told her I would probably miss the next day. She asked if I needed anything and I said, "No-no... I'm just trying to drink water but I can't keep it down...I've put all my pillows on the bathroom floor so I can stay close to the toilet".

She brought me ginger tea and asked if they could take me to the hospital. I declined and tried the tea which also came back up. After a while, I was still heaving and I could hardly get up, so I finally let her and a co-worker drive me to the hospital. But I felt so stupid—who goes to the ER for food poisoning? They stabilized me in the ER after a few hours and ran some tests.

They told me then I could go home if I wanted, or stay the night in the hospital if I preferred. I'm really not the type to worry about my health and I always assume things will be fine, but some instinct told me to stay. I felt terrible when they wheeled me over to the hospital and I told them that. The next thing I knew, I was on a hospital bed surrounded by med staff. I had a life-threatening seizure.

20. More Than Just A Headache

I've always had headaches, almost daily. About 10 years ago, I started seeing weird auras that would take up my whole vision, and then I'd get a terrible headache that would make me want to end it all. Maybe once a year that would happen. About three years ago, we got really good insurance. Then, I got several auras in a row, and I started to worry that it was a detached retina or something.

So I went to an ophthalmologist, who dilated my eyes and looked around. He suggested I see a neurologist, and maybe they'd do an MRI. Meanwhile, I had a stomach ache that lasted for a few days—very odd for me, since I don't really get them. But it woke me up in the middle of the night, and I had another aura visual—but no headache.

I saw the neurologist a week later and boy did he like talking about how fat I was. I had three kids in three years, so naturally, I became squishy—not morbidly obese, but I did have some mobility issues. Deal with it. They were able to get me in for the MRI that day, and despite being claustrophobic, it wasn't terrible.

I walked out to the parking lot, and they called me back in. When I got in, she told me I'd had a stroke, and they needed to admit me to the ER. The office was at the hospital already, so she literally just walked me through like two doors, and I didn't even have to wait in the lobby. I spent three days being poked and prodded.

I never really saw the big deal, it was just a stomach ache and dancing lights. I'm doing a lot better now.

21. Painless Yet Severe

When I was 14 years old, I started getting an upset stomach one night and it wasn't just another bellyache. Maybe a little bit more intense, but I slept through it pretty well. The next morning, my parents got me an appointment with the doctor to see if I was okay. We got through it all, but we had to wait at one point, and it was taking quite a long time.

I told my mom, "We should just go home, it's probably nothing..." and then the next thing I knew, I needed surgery. When I was talking to the doctor before the surgery, he explained that my appendix had burst, and he said I just had a very high tolerance to pain. In fact, he was surprised I was able to sleep through it.

He also explained that if I didn't have surgery when I did, I wouldn't have made it. I can see now why a lot of people think that having a high tolerance to pain isn't necessarily a good thing.

22. One Exam Is All It Took

I had been suffering from debilitating pain basically since I was 14 years old. They were worse around my periods and would kind of dull down afterward. I was told this was “normal". When I turned 18, I started searching for answers because the pain was getting worse. I went to seven different doctors in six years. It was constantly being dismissed as “normal” period pains.

One doctor even tried to tell me it was irritable bladder syndrome. I was no medical student, but even I knew that was not a real diagnosis. I was on all kinds of different birth control and pain medications which did not help. At 23, I was finally able to see an OB-GYN who specializes in pelvic pain. She barely even touched me before she was saying, “Oh my! You have endometriosis".

She scheduled me for my first laparoscopic surgery in January. During that surgery, not only did they find that I had the highest and rarest severity of endometriosis with complications, but they also removed several golf-ball-sized cysts that were ready to rupture. She told me I must have a really high pain tolerance because I should not have been able to walk upright into her office that day with everything that they found and removed.

The most amusing part of it all was that before seeing the specialist, I had three ultrasounds and several other exams, but none of them detected or even bothered to look for endometriosis or PCOS. It was that simple pelvic exam that saved my life.

23. Simply Counterproductive

Nurse here. At a get-together with friends (where the drinking got out of hand), I had a friend burn himself in the oven while making pizza, then try to cauterize that burn with his lighter. Fun fact: you cauterize wounds, not burns.

24. Quack Medicine

I'm a pediatric nurse. This one couple brought their child and he was feeling really weak. After the general admission questions, we discovered that they were into natural treatments. When their infant child developed tummy problems, they decided to give her a bottle of honey water to help with that. The baby was diagnosed with botulism.

25. Elastic Heart

A patient came into the ER presenting with very serious heart pain that caused him to pass out frequently, sometimes daily. Apparently, he just thought it was because he was overweight. We had to explain that passing out for no reason is not normal and that he should have told his doctor about it. The problem itself was sort of on and off, so initially, we didn't know what was up because his vitals all looked good.

When none of the meds we gave to him helped, we ended up sending him to the hospital. His heart rate was dangerously high for a pretty sustained period of time (like 45 to 60 minutes), so he started passing out due to a lack of oxygen. Turns out, he had been suffering from minor heart attacks, not realizing how serious they actually were—but that’s not the worst part. 

This had been happening to him since he was at least a teen, if not younger, and his parents never thought to bring him to a doctor about it.

26. A Nasty Fall

I came off my bike during lunch break at a real slow, walking pace after the wheel jammed on a gutter. I went over the bars and had a nasty landing. My right wrist swelled up almost instantly,  so I isolated it, thinking it was a probable Colles’ fracture. Then, I proceeded to walk the 1.5 km back to the office in cleats; that is, carbon fiber shoes that have no flex in the soles. I had to push the bike too.

I was in a lot of pain, so I went to the hospital for scans. The triage nurse assessed me and came to the same conclusion I did. I was given an ice pack while waiting for the doctor to look at the X-rays. I was in tears the entire time the films were being done and I don’t normally cry either. The only comfort from the radiology tech was “There’s a reason why you’re crying, but I’ll leave that to the doctor".

It turns out, I had sustained bilateral radial head fractures and a broken left wrist. The swelling in my right lower forearm was a reaction to the broken radial head. I spent eight weeks in akimbo slings plus three months of occupational therapy to teach my biceps how to bend my arms again. Nowadays, I only have 90% bone strength in those joints.

27. And Just Like That...

My father felt a loud pop as I was helping him out of bed. This wasn't unusual and my father thought he just pulled something. However, the pain didn't subside for weeks. I dragged him to the GP, and then to the hospital for a scan. The “pop” turned out to be the back of his rib totally separating, as the bone was mostly powder—and the reason why was awful. 

He developed lung cancer from his bad habits as a young adult and it had grown through the back of his lung and into his ribs and spine. He was in palliative care from then on. At least he got to say goodbye to his cat Tilly—I brought her into the hospital and he let her loaf on his chest with her bum in his face for one last time.

28. Will It Ever End?

My best friend was the patient. She was diagnosed with a hernia and was set to have surgery a year later because it wasn’t so bad that she needed to have emergency surgery. Eventually, she decided to go to her home country, because she felt she was being mistreated by the health care workers in her US town. She was scheduled to have a pre-surgery check-up, and then the surgery two weeks later.

Well, when she went for the check-up, she got taken to the table without anesthesia. While she was being operated on, she could see what was happening, which was frightening enough. Then, they uncovered the root of the problem—she had a birth defect that ended up causing a massive cyst to grow. She was in great danger. She had trouble walking and had to take a flight back the day after.

She is doing much better now, but she recently got diagnosed with another hernia on the other side.

29. Secondary Complication

In my freshman year of college, I had a really bad sore throat for a few days. I thought nothing of it and just took a ton of Tylenol until it went away. About a month later, I noticed the joints in my fingers were extremely sore and I could barely make a fist. Next, it was my wrists, elbows, knees, ankles, etc. It reached all my joints and muscles.

It was even painful to lift my eyebrows or touch my scalp. I couldn’t roll over in bed. I literally just lied in bed for days and cried. Finally, my mom, who lived about four hours away, came and took me to the doctor. I couldn’t believe the diagnosis. He said I had something called post-streptococcal arthritis. Turns out, I had strep throat a month prior and because I didn’t treat it with antibiotics, it spread through my body and caused arthritis in literally all of my joints. He prescribed a steroid and pain killers and said good luck!

Man, I’ve had a lot of medical problems in my life but this one was the worst by far. It took another three months for me to start feeling normal again and a full year to get completely back to normal. Nowadays, I catch strep throat extremely easily and I get it at least four to five times a year. If I don’t get it treated within two days, my arthritis flares back up again.

30. Get It Off My Chest

A 40-year-old woman, who was a successful business owner and fully insured, had been taken to the ER by her sister because she was complaining of chest pain. She was asked to put on a gown for an EKG. I will never forget the sight. Her skin literally looked like a green hamburger. Sadly, she did not seek care sooner because she said she was embarrassed by the appearance and odor.

I followed her care as best I could. She went through a bilateral mastectomy, radiation, and chemo. She survived another three months before she passed.

31. Beyond A Burp

I had been having a problem for about two months where I'd feel some pain or pressure in my chest, specifically in my left lung. If I bounced a bit or tried to take a deep breath, I would normally need to burp which made the pain disappear, so I always thought that I had just swallowed some air or something had gone down the wrong pipe or whatever. No big deal, I thought. I was so wrong. 

Over time, it got worse and worse. I would burp more, and once or twice per week,  I would have a splitting pain which made me unable to turn on my left side. I also couldn't sleep at all and was just tossing and turning most nights. I had waited a total of 23 hours from when the pain first started to when I notified my mom "I might have to go to the ER".

Turns out, I had a collapsed lung—not partially deflated, but completely collapsed. It was bad enough that it was pressing up against my heart and disrupting its rhythm. Two operations later, I was okay, and through the glory of healthcare, the total hospital bill I had to pay was only $25.

32. A Hero's Weakness

I have what’s called Haglund's deformities in both of my feet. Essentially, I have bones growing from the back of my heels through my Achilles' tendons. Every time I walked or ran, it would rip and tear a bit more, forming scar tissue called a bursa. I would only feel the pain after I had finished running, and the only time I was running was when I was playing rugby.

I had this for close to 20 years. I always thought it was normal as I never really looked at anyone else’s feet in great detail. When I tore all the ligaments in my knee, the doctor saw the lumps and told me that the only way to get rid of them would be to cut through my Achilles, grind the bone away, and then reattach my Achilles. As I would have to learn to walk again,  I essentially just chose to stop playing rugby...

33. Necrotic Neglect

My mom is an RN and she was just telling us about this lady she met while working in the ER a few years ago. This lady was morbidly overweight, diabetic, and bed-bound. She called 9-1-1 because she was worried about a smell coming from her bottom half (again, she was morbidly obese and could not bend over far enough to see what was going on).

She got seen by a doctor who checked her feet out. The doctor apparently said they were as black as a chalkboard and almost completely dead, which was going to result in her losing her feet. When the doctor asked why she didn’t have anyone checking in on her, she said she never thought to bring it up to her kids as she thought the tingling and diabetic pain was normal.

34. Aging Too Fast

I remember saying once in college that if my hands hurt this much now, I’m going to end myself when I develop arthritis. It turned out, I already had it. I was recently diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and hypermobility. The hypermobility is not as severe as EDS, but it’s notable. Just this year, I’ve dislocated a couple of fingers, my wrist a few times, and both kneecaps.

One was a full dislocation that had me on crutches for a few weeks and constantly subluxated. My doctor thinks the inflammation is newer, but that I’ve been dislocating my joints for years. I genuinely thought everyone was in as much constant pain as I was, and that they just managed it better and coped more efficiently.

35. Forget About It

I have a ridiculously high pain tolerance. The joke goes that I might lose a couple of limbs and it will take me a while to notice. I had some minor pain around my lower stomach and back. I didn't think of it much—I assumed it was some minor GI issue. I took paracetamol and honestly forgot about it. This went on for several days.

Later that week, I suddenly started feeling seriously ill. Cold sweats, chills, fainting... I thought I might have somehow messed up the medications or something. In the ER, it took just a couple of tests to figure out I had a severe kidney infection, and considering the severity, it had been going on for at least a month. I only felt minor discomfort for the last few days of it.

36. One Wild Night

Last October, after a wild night, I fell into some bushes by the side of the road. Lack of sobriety was definitely a cause, though I always wonder if I'd been pushed. Anyway, it wouldn't be so bad except for some reason, the sidewalk I'd been on was elevated by about 1/2 meter from the base of the bushes. There was a concrete patch (which I later discovered to be a manhole) right where I landed on my right shoulder.

I got up, checked that I had full hand and finger mobility, and if I could bend my elbows. I couldn't lift my arm above my head without some pain, but I figured I should be fine. I cleaned myself up, got home, and went on with life as normal. The next two days it was a bit rough trying to lift my right arm, but after that, it was more or less okay. I dismissed it as a muscle strain.

10 days later, I picked up my daughter and felt a searing pain in the shoulder where I had fallen. It still wasn't so bad, but since it hadn't gone away after 10 days, I thought I should probably get an X-ray done. I had actually gone to see a doctor who asked me to get one done, but it slipped my mind. So fast forward to the X-ray scan—and I heard what you never want to hear. The X-ray technician exclaimed, "Oh!'" right after the first one.

Then, I heard a muted phone call between him and the doctor I had seen earlier that day. When I was dressed and came out, the X-ray technician told me he couldn't believe I'd been walking around for 12 days without pain. My clavicle and collarbone were broken. On the right side, the bone was kind of tilted upwards, and it was totally separated from the left.

By the time I got surgery to get the collarbone fixed, almost four weeks had passed since I fell.

37. Eye Spy

Over the course of about three and a half months, I was treated for a sinus infection six times and then misdiagnosed with migraines—I have a family history of them. I would get these headaches that started in my face and trickle down all the way to the base of my skull. It wasn't until I was referred to an eye doctor, just to make sure that my headaches weren't being caused by my eyes, that the "Oh man, this isn't normal" moment happened.

During a routine eye exam, the doctor discovered that my optic nerves were swollen. She finished her exam, then very carefully explained what it could be. She then made an emergency appointment for an MRI. It turned out that I have intracranial hypertension, which means I make too much spinal fluid, and when it doesn't have any place to go, it can back up into my skull.

Less than a week later, I had to have a spinal tap to drain the excess fluid. I had more than one neurologist's jaw drop when they found out that my pressure level was at 33. The swelling in my optic nerves was so bad that by the time I finally saw the doctor who made the diagnosis, my vision was so screwed up that I couldn't read a book.

My mom had to fill out the paperwork because I couldn't see it well enough to fill it out on my own.

38. The Childbirth Equivalent

I was diagnosed with acid reflux, not understanding how people dealt with the pain and discomfort. Jump forward a few months—I started dry heaving one morning (after throwing up everything including sips of water) and I decided to go to the ER. One look and they assumed it was gallbladder issues. They gave me some pain meds, but they didn't help much.

Well, an X-ray and CT scan later, it was determined that I had acute pancreatitis. Apparently, the pain is about equivalent to childbirth, or so I was told. A few days later, after pancreatitis resolved, the doctor wanted to send me home for outpatient gallbladder removal. I argued that I was not leaving without the surgery. The next day, they removed my gallbladder in pieces because it had gangrene onset. Had I left the hospital, who knows what could have happened.

39. Luck Of The Draw

I’ll state up front that I’m a rather large girl and have been since I was a kid. I'm always tired and I pretty much get called lazy by anyone who knows me. I can never miss meals or I will get so tired that I would fall asleep on my feet. Growing up, I got told constantly that I was attention-seeking and just needed to lose weight, etc. Well, they were all horribly wrong. 

I had multiple blood tests done and they showed I had a slight increase in the size of my red blood cells, but nothing explained why I was so tired. Years later, after noticing some spots appear on my body from my feet to my neck, I started to swell to the size of a balloon. I was told multiple times it was just scabies, so I started peeling off skin in multiple layers right down to the fatty layer.

Later on, the hospital decided that it was a bit more than scabies. Three weeks of pain later, I found out that I had multiple auto-immune diseases. One of them was rooted in a vitamin B12 defect, whereby my antibodies stop the binding of B12 in the stomach, causing pernicious anemia. The reason I am so tired all the time is that my blood cells cannot transport as much oxygen around the body.

I also have a slight gluten sensitivity that was beginning to transform into lactose sensitivity. All my specialists thought my case was very unique. "You’re in your 30s; why was none of this diagnosed as a kid?" Yeah. I wonder why. As for the spots, the doctors at the hospital still have no idea what the heck started that. They just think it’s some variant of a common skin disorder.

40. Letting It Fester

My mom is a medical assistant in a pediatrics office. About two years ago, a lady came in with a gash in her heel. The lady had thought the tingling was a bad sign and that she should get a check-up...but mind you, the gash had been open for weeks. My mom undid the wrapping the lady put on her foot and there were maggots eating at the lady's flesh inside her foot.

My mom and another medical assistant had to dig them out from this lady's foot. The night she told me this, I was dumbfounded by how stupid this woman was not to go to a doctor once she got the gash.

41. Saving Money At What Cost?

I had traveled internationally and started having bad stomach problems. I have IBS and assumed my change in diet while traveling triggered the symptoms. I considered going to a doctor but was worried I’d get stuck with a huge bill for a foreign ER visit over probably nothing. I made it through a few more days feeling thoroughly horrible and somehow made it through the two long flights and long car ride home.

Thankfully I had an aisle seat for both flights since I was constantly getting up to use the bathroom. I arrived home on a Sunday evening, and the following Monday was a federal holiday, so my doctor was closed. My insurance charged a lot to go to urgent care, so I figured I’d wait until the following day to go to the doctor. At that point, I was still thinking it might be IBS, but also starting to think it might be food contamination.

When I saw the doctor, she immediately prescribed a strong antibiotic as well as an anti-nausea medication so I could keep it down. I got my test results back a few days later, after I was already feeling better, and discovered I spent a week with E. Coli and campylobacter (another foodborne virus). Had I known how sick I was and how quickly antibiotics would help, I would have gladly paid the premium to see urgent care or even the foreign ER.

42. Love The Skin You're In

I'm an ER doctor and there’s one case I’ll never forget. I had a patient come in for a cast removal literally YEARS after it had been put on. She had just decided it wasn’t worth taking off. Her leg skin was literally growing OVER the top of the cast and then down it. Once we finally cut the cast off, she was surprised to find that she had no skin underneath...

Instead, the dead tissue over her muscles and bones was being cleaned by about 300 maggots. I knew by the smell that something under there wasn’t right, but wasn’t expecting that. The patient seemed completely fine with it. Whatever.

43. Seeing Black

When I was in high school, I was walking to the bathroom and I immediately felt off. My vision started to dim, the sounds I was hearing became extremely muffled and I lost the ability to stand. I didn't think much about it because those things happened fairly regularly. Since I was in mid-walk, I couldn't catch myself and fell face-first into the tile floor.

I ended up going to the ER for stitches and they were concerned because I had been, in their words, losing consciousness regularly (though, I never actually lost consciousness and was always fully aware). They had me wear a heart monitor for a week and put me on anti-seizure medication. After a couple of tests, the doctors found out that I have really low blood pressure—in the 90s or less, most of the time.

When I stand, it can cause the pressure to drop dramatically. Everything I was experiencing was actually the side effects of shock.

44. When Dayquil/Nyquil Fails

I was 19 and had what I thought was a bad cold for a little over a week. I lived alone and had only taken a couple of days off work, just resting and doing the Dayquil/Nyquil cycle trying to get over it. My mother came around to return a car I had let her borrow, and when she saw me and learned how long I'd been fighting the cold, she insisted I go see a doctor.

I remember getting into the car and then waking up in recovery several hours later. Apparently, I passed out on the way there and got rushed into the ER where they decided I had pneumonia. A couple of days later, the doctor told me if I'd gone another day, I probably would've died at home. Honestly, I didn't feel that sick.

45. Bump On The Backside

I have a disfigured tailbone which caused me to have a weird lump right above my backside. It's painful for me to sit normally and do a lot of other things. I grew up thinking that it was normal because I got the injury at a young age, from an inflatable slide mishap. My parents downplayed the issue for years, so I just thought it was fine.

My doctor did not agree. He never did get around to doing something about my tailbone, but I think the problem was that there really wasn't much that he could actually do. There's the option of removing my tailbone which is just going to be horrible, but I'm not really sure what other options there are...but yeah. A bump above the butt is not normal.

46. A Tickle Under The Rib

I saw this one patient with a really odd condition. While she was asking me why she gets rib pain so often, she literally reached under her own rib and jiggled it with her fingers.  Turns out, there were a lot of other things she could do that she shouldn’t ever be able to. I attributed it to a variant of Ehlers Danlos syndrome, which causes connective tissue abnormalities.

I was so distracted by the popping in and out of her rib that initially, I didn’t even notice how horrifying it was that she could get her hand under there.

47. Wrong Self-Diagnosis

I had a man come in to see me with a rash on his foot. He googled it and decided it was eczema or some similar inflammatory disease, so he ordered and applied a steroid cream. 

For those who don't know, those kinds of steroids act by dampening the immune system—the overactivity of which is the cause of diseases like eczema and psoriasis. But it is NOT a treatment for everything. As soon as he told me what he'd used, my stomach dropped.

I had him pull off his sock—but nothing could have prepared me for what had happened to that man's foot. It turns out, he had a fungal infection, and the steroids were just reducing his body's ability to fight it off. You do NOT want to see what foot with a fungal infection looks like after a week of steroid cream...

There was nothing we could do by then. He lost the foot, even though the infection is extremely treatable.

48. I'm Not Crying Wolf

One night, when I was 16, I had a very sharp pain in my right side. I tossed and turned for a couple of hours before getting up and knocking on my mom’s bedroom door; a forbidden action. My mother swung the door open and snapped at me. Then, when I explained my pain, she told me it was just heartburn. She ordered me to drink some milk and go back to bed.

I drank the milk, tossed around my bed for a few more hours, and finally passed out from exhaustion. The next day and a few weeks after that, I felt fine. But then, a couple of months later, the pain was back and I woke my mother in the middle of the night again. She gave me the same response as the first time, and I once again just passed out from exhaustion.

Because it was starting to become a pattern, the next time I felt the pain, I didn’t bother going to my mother and just rode it out. This continued until I was 18. My parents were out of town one weekend and the pain came back worse than ever before, waking me from a dead sleep. After hours and hours of utter agony, hurting to move, hurting to lay still, I broke down and called my mother.

On the voicemail I left her, I told her that I thought I was dying. I finally passed out as the sun began to rise. I was woken up by my uncle banging on the front door and he took me to the doctor, who then referred me to an ultrasound and a surgeon. I was able to get the ultrasound done on the same day but the surgeon didn’t have availability until the end of the week. I didn’t think anything of it as, once again, the pain had disappeared by then.

My mom begrudgingly took me to the appointment with the surgeon, but I’m pretty sure she thought I was faking it since I’d been completely fine all week. I remember sitting in the office with the surgeon, just chatting while we waited for the nurse to bring him my ultrasound file. I’ll never forget when she handed it to him. He opened the folder and the smile immediately fell from his face.

Surgeon: Did they give you any pain meds when you went to the doctor? Me: No, just some antibiotics. Why? Surgeon: Nancy, call my 2 pm and tell them we have to reschedule as I’ll be doing emergency surgery. You should have been sent to me last week. I’ll meet you in the ER. So yeah, my gallbladder had apparently been filled with stones since I was 16 and it kept making more for the next two years. The surgeon said he’d never seen anything like it.

All of this could have been avoided if my mother had just listened to me when I first complained to her.

49. Little Red Dots

When I was about 16, I started having these little red irritated spots show up on my arm. My mom was immediately like, "You have psoriasis, just go tanning". So I tanned for about a week and they just got worse. Now I had them all over my body. I even had spots on my eyelids. I went to the doctor finally, and he made a gruesome discovery.

It turned out I had ringworm. Even worse? By tanning, I was basically rubbing them all over with the lotions and incubating them while I tanned.

50. A Heavy Burden

I went to the doctor to get a note for a day off work because I didn't feel so great. The doctor poked me in the stomach and said, "That's not normal," then sent me off to have a scan…which took me two months to get around to. Two weeks later, I got a letter from the doctor asking me to come in. When I got there, the doctor went off at me for not coming in sooner...

He told me to go home, pack a bag, and make my way to the Royal Brisbane immediately as it might be cancer. Some more scans later and it was determined not to be cancer, but a four-kilogram cyst. My only symptom was an enlarged stomach and the "You're getting fat" comments from my mother.

Sources: 1,2

You can choose your spouse, but unfortunately, you can't choose your spouse's family. From mothers, fathers, sisters, and brothers-in-law, we’ve rounded up the wildest in-law experiences the unluckiest people of the internet have to offer. These stories prove that in-laws can become outlaws in a snap.

1. The Last Straw

Unfortunately, my brother endured a lot of drama in his first marriage. My mother always tried to be supportive of his ex-wife but she was a daughter-in-law straight out of a nightmare. The marriage eventually fell apart when she abandoned their son at daycare and ran away to start a new life. The silver lining is my brother ended up with full custody of my nephew.

The straw that broke the camel's back for my mom was when the estranged daughter-in-law tried to take their son as well as my brother's car. My mom was there to witness the whole thing, including frantically crashing the car into a light pole. Luckily nobody was hurt. My mother never forgave her for that and was active in making sure she never got custody of her son.

2. I Can’t Take It Anymore

My mother-in-law and I have a good relationship but she doesn’t get along with her other daughter-in-law. They tried to go to lunch a couple of times, but the conversation continued to come back to the daughter-in-law telling my mother-in-law how she could change her personality to be less annoying. Seriously. This lasted for a couple of months.

Finally, the daughter-in-law lost her temper and started screaming at our mother-in-law how she could no longer be part of this ruse. She said all her attempts at being friendly were pointless because our mother-in-law was too stupid. To this day they don't get along and family gatherings are always super uncomfortable.

3. Mind Your Manners

My mother-in-law is a self-proclaimed expert on etiquette. If they come over for dinner her first comments are critiques on the place settings. She tells my wife that she “should have Carly (her sister) teach you how to set a table". She stresses out everyone at the table and makes every dinner a formal affair with her instructions.It doesn't upset my wife as much as it does me, but it makes me furious.

She visibly gives preferential treatment to her other daughter more than my wife. Carly is divorced and working a loser job, yet her mom reminds us that she’s "leaving my antiques to Carly, she knows how to appreciate things like that". I know it hurts my wife, but she never admits it.

Disposable70

4. Wrapped In Anxiety

My mother-in-law has anxiety over giving gifts. She asks several times what to get anyone, then asks where to buy it, how much is it, and are they sure they want it. This isn't her just being cautious or detail-oriented, she just hasn't taken the time to know what people like and can’t be bothered to think for herself. I told her for several years to buy something that you think they might like, and it was always odd gift cards or once, a pair of men’s slippers for my eight-year-old son.

Now it's easier telling her exactly what to get. However, she then constantly messages the gift receiver to see if it has been delivered, did they open it, and did they like it. She will start messaging before the birthday or celebration and then continue until it’s verified that they like or dislike the gift. If they dislike it, then the gift receipt is in the wrapping and this is how much it cost.

I spent years suggesting lovely presents for her grandchildren—then she would take all the credit!

ShadowShell78

5. A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words

My brother and I started a successful event photography business. He was the photographer and I managed administration, marketing, accounting, bookings, and web management. Even though he was the main photographer I went to every shoot as secondary and did the leg work of holding lights and running around to take photos of the guests.

I never complained because my brother was the one who invested in equipment and we split everything fifty/fifty. This business was my sole income and after two years all of my bills relied on it. Eventually, I made a terrifying decision. I decided to drop out of university and focus on it full-time. I was close to my brother’s wife and we worked out together three times a week.

I had opened up to her about my mental health struggles and how they were the first people to make me feel safe and understood. I had never opened up like that to anyone else before, and the two of them got to see me at my most vulnerable. One evening, she broke down crying over the fact that my brother spent so much time on the business that she no longer felt secure.

She said that she felt safe when he had a salary job and they were thinking about their future. Now, everything was uncertain and he was always irritable and focused on work. He was having mood swings and getting angry for no reason. With my struggle, I immediately understood! I told her to forget about the workout and to go home and have a talk with him.

I told her to be honest about her feelings and to have a true heart to heart without pride. I told her that my brother loves her more than anything and that if they decide for him to leave the business, I would accept their decision. I told her not to think about me and only see it as a matter that involves the two of them and no one else.

Later that night she texted me that they talked, and everything is good. I told her I was glad and asked what they'd decided regarding the business. She was avoiding the subject and kept saying things like "I'm lucky to have a sister-in-law that worries about me". I let it go and just decided to wait for the business decision. After three days, I asked her again but she still deflected.

I told her, "I do have to know what's happening with work. I have clients waiting to hear back from me". At that point, seemingly out of nowhere, she simply texted back, "I don't know what is going on, but you clearly have unresolved issues and I just can't deal with it. Sorry". I was totally stunned—but this was just the beginning. After a hurtful, pointless back and forth she told me to ask my brother to drop off my stuff from their house.

An hour later, my brother e-mailed me asking for all of the leftover client information that I hadn’t had a chance to update in our software. I seriously couldn't understand what was happening. My other brother went to pick up my stuff, and my sister-in-law told him I told her to break up with my brother and come live with me.

She also said I was salty at my oldest brother for yelling at me when we did business and tried to manipulate her into leaving him. She told this story to everyone, including my mom. They locked me out of the website and all of the software we shared with all the client information. My brother had all the equipment. I had absolutely no qualifications or savings.

I ended up getting checked into the hospital for stress and my older brother came to visit. I was excited he wanted to repair the relationship but all he wanted was tips on how I managed administration and certain high-end clients. Even now as I’m writing, he and his wife have continued the business. They ruined a lot of the relationships I built but are somewhat successful.

6. Love Lock Out

My daughter-in-law decided, after years of manipulating my son, to walk out on him and their two kids. A few hours later she changed her mind and sent him multiple demands to make the marriage work for a week. When he wouldn’t budge, she broke into the house while he was out and changed the locks causing him and their two young kids to be homeless.

7. Full-Time Divide

This story is from one of my mom’s friends. Her son was studying to be an engineer until he met his future spouse. She was very up front that she wanted to be a full-time mom and not work. He ended up dropping out of his degree when she got pregnant and now works at a bad job. She doesn’t let him speak to his family anymore, and my mom’s friend says it feels like she lost her son.

8. An Irish Goodbye

This is about my cousins’ wife, so my aunt’s daughter-in-law. They are both really alike and like to party. The first time I met her was at my grandfather’s funeral. Unfortunate circumstances but you could spot her a mile away. She was dressed like Betty Boop; too much makeup and a sheer, black tube dress. I know everyone processes grief differently but this was unique.

After the funeral, we held a sort of Irish wake at my uncle's house, whereupon my cousin's wife approached every male cousin, asking them to do shots with her. I avoided her, so I was last. She got to me when I was on the driveway with two other cousins. One she had already approached inside. The other cousin, through grinding teeth responded, "The Mother. Of. My. Newborn. Child. Is. Inside".

I'm less creative, so I tried to ignore her hoping she would get bored and leave me alone. At first, she tried to chat. Then she tried to dance. There was no music and I was getting increasingly uncomfortable. She moved around to my back and in a final attempt for attention, bit me! I let out the weirdest yelp and hopped away from her.

Eventually, she got the hint and left. When I checked my backside later, I had a dental impression turning into a purple bruise. I tried to actively avoid her at family functions and heard a rumor that on the morning of their wedding, my aunt offered to pay for 100% of the wedding if my cousin ran away! Neither one of them will confirm or deny.

9. Tell Us What You Need!

My sister-in-law does everything in her power to be negative about my mom. Her reasons range from my mom selling her and my brother a truck instead of giving it to them for free, and feeding her on a real plate instead of a paper plate. She’ll get mad if my mother doesn’t make her soup the same day she gets sick and also furious if my mom texts or calls.

We’ve never been able to understand her mentality but my brother tried his best to keep the peace. Unfortunately, he passed last April, and my sister-in-law made everything about her instead of letting our family grieve. We’re still trying to figure out how to communicate and keep her happy to see our nieces and nephews.

10. On The Road To Recovery

In our marriage, I’m incredibly lucky because my partner’s family has welcomed me with open arms. Unfortunately, my family is from rural Alabama, southern baptists, and stuck in their ways. The first question my grandparents asked when we started dating “Is he Catholic?” because they loathe catholicism. They also had choice words on his skin color.

Their exact quote on if his skin color wasn’t right, they would have “been very sad and couldn’t allow that in the family". The environment growing up wasn’t great and I have similar mental health issues from my parents. The first time my partner met my parents it ended with yelling and tears. I always feel guilty because I kept my family away from him while his is so welcoming.

I hope they don’t think I avoid contact frequently because I dislike them. I try to message them daily and let them know I appreciate things that they do for us. I know they wish we saw each other more often. I’m trying to be better about it but first and foremost I have to work on being the best human I can be, before wife and daughter-in-law.

11. Fuel The Fire

Each family has its issues but my in-laws favor my sister-in-law over my husband and it's very obvious. They ignore our phone calls and texts and then act as if we isolate ourselves. When my husband moved out, they didn’t talk to him for a year. When my sister-in-law moved out they bought her a car and paid for her insurance and gas to make sure she came home for visits.

Reddituser1234568905

12. Beep Boop Success

My ex-in-laws always told me I needed a real job. I worked in IT security but that’s not a "real" job to them. My father-in-law was a store clerk before a Sheriff's office dispatch supervisor, and my mother-in-law was unemployed. Their son worked a lot of part-time roles and none of their three daughters have ever worked.

This irritated me, and I was always shunned and talked about negatively. Their friends always looked at me weirdly and wondered why I didn't have a job. I would explain what I did, and when people found out the truth, it was different. I still never felt good enough. My ex-wife always questioned my career choice and it eventually was emotionally damaging, hence the divorce.

At least I got the last laugh, though. Leaving that marriage was the best decision I ever made. I'm doing great in my career. I love the work, and I love what I do. I love my education, my certificates, and my experiences. I'm proud of myself and keep going further every year constantly expanding my knowledge. Plus, I make good money doing it!

PC509

13. What’s In A Name?

My mother-in-law called my husband today and told him she had a list of potential baby names for us to choose from. We had already picked a name and told her our choice. She was shocked and surprised we hadn’t consulted her. She then insisted we should change it to one of her suggestions. My husband quickly shut that down, but I imagine it’s just the beginning.

ToastedMaple

14. Save Your Breath & Bets

My father-in-law has no filter. On my wedding day, during our dinner, I overheard him say, "We'll see how long this lasts". He is also super inconsiderate with other people's time and is constantly hypocritical. I'm not a big fan of his. My mother-in-law, on the other hand, is great and I love her to pieces. I don’t know what she sees in him.

Silas-Alec

15. Day One Debt

My brother’s ex-wife has always caused drama. Before they got their own house they moved in with our family. We have a large age gap so when she moved in I was a teenager. My mom had no problem with me bringing friends back to our house as long as we kept the noise down. My sister-in-law completely took advantage of this, sending my brother down to yell at us when no one else complained.

It made my brother so uncomfortable he would try to leave the house if I had friends over to avoid an argument. One time, he came downstairs to tell us we were being too loud, and my mom overheard. She was in disbelief and blew up. She shouted at my brother before going upstairs and giving my sister-in-law a piece of her mind.

My sister-in-law moved out for a bit but came back eventually and made sure that my brother spent all his time and attention on her. She makes him pay for trips to New York and England because she needs tattoos from Instagram famous artists. We barely hear or see my brother anymore because she’s still holding a grudge from that one night years ago.

In the previous year when they couldn’t travel and had to stay home, she found out how bad my brother’s debt was from funding their lifestyle and she left him. My brother was so embarrassed we didn’t find out for weeks. Even though she left him to pay off everything, the future is bright and we can’t wait to forget she was ever in our lives.

16. Spectrum Of Love

I helped my husband and mother-in-law realize they were on the autism spectrum. As someone on the spectrum who also has ADHD, I’m still the awkward daughter-in-law who has no clue how to connect with people. She accepts me and she’s more of a mum than I’ve ever had and I’m so thankful but I don’t know how to tell her!

17. Supporting Their Granddaughter

I'm the horrible daughter-in-law. One of our kids asked to change pronouns and begin living as a girl, which we fully supported. It wasn't a surprise to us, we've seen it coming for a long time, and had gone so far as to let some family members know that it seemed like our child was on that path. Well, my father-in-law told my husband that I was forcing our child to do this since "I hate men".

We decided that our children would no longer be going to their house unsupervised because we weren't going to subject them to that attitude. Then Covid hit which meant they couldn't see the kids at all. Mother-in-law threw a fit about how unfair all of this was to her. They've both decided I hate them. I have very little sympathy for the corner they've backed themselves into.

18. Presents From Mom

My sister-in-law hasn't worked in ten years, while my brother works sixty hours a week. Even though she gets an allowance for being a stay-at-home mom, she spends it frivolously. My brother went years without a birthday/Christmas/fathers day card or gift from her. My mom used to come down for weeks at a time whenever my sister-in-law was under the weather.

Last year, my mom bought my brother a big, expensive, birthday present. He's worth it, we always try and remind him what he's worth. Well, my sister-in-law threw a temper tantrum. Mum looked her point-blank in the face and said, "You want to argue with me because I treat your husband better than you?"

19. Three Sides To Every Story

From my previous mother-in-law, I’m the villain daughter-in-law, and she's not wrong. My ex-husband only told half of the story. When we first started dating, he lied and said I got mad and broke up with him because he had a female friend. He also said I said if he wants to get back together, he could never see his friend again.

The problem is he was going out until the early hours of the morning with his friend, forgetting about me completely or the plans we had. I chose to end things, and then he begged for me to take him back. At the time I told him he lacks boundaries and I don't think this will work. He offered to stop seeing his friend which I didn’t need or want.

Throughout our marriage, anytime we had a disagreement he'd go to her with his half-truths and she'd eat them up. So to her, I was controlling, evil, and manipulative. He told me she didn’t like me and she treated me horribly because of what he was telling her. I could never understand what I had done wrong but eventually stopped trying.

20. Sparkle & Shine

My first mother-in-law was over the top. She lived five minutes from our apartment, and she came to clean five days a week. She was always telling me to clean more, or how to clean better. All our conversations were about cleaning. She would come over unannounced on my days off when I was laying in bed, and yell at me for being lazy. It was exhausting.

While I was trying to fall back asleep she would tell me what and how she was cleaning, screaming advice from the other rooms. Before I moved in with my ex-husband I cleaned my house three times a week. I left home at fourteen years old and valued my own space. When we moved in together he was twenty-seven and I was twenty-four.

Eventually, I had enough and couldn’t live with it anymore. I was tired of feeling lazy because he wouldn't stand up to his mother. When we broke up, she texted me and asked why I broke up with him. I told her in a kind manner that I thought he had a lot of growing up to do, and that it would be helpful if she would let him do this on his own!

21. Generational Curse

I am writing this on behalf of my grandmother. Unfortunately, my uncle and his wife constantly take from her. My grandparents gave my uncle and his wife everything. They lived on the farm that my grandpa grew up on. My grandparents moved into the ranch next door that my great grandparents built, and my aunt and uncle moved into the farmhouse.

My grandparents owned it all up until my grandpa passed and my uncle convinced my grieving grandma to sign it away to him. He and my aunt auctioned off the farm equipment before my grandpa’s body was even cold, and now they lock up all the sheds and garages. My grandma needs to ask permission now for anything on her property.

When I visit my grandma, I hear the outside basement door creak open and I know it’s my aunt sneaking downstairs to go look for something. My grandma can’t hear that door from the living room so my aunt takes advantage to go unseen. My mom and the rest of my aunts even bought my grandma a fridge and freezer with a lock on it because her food would go missing.

22. Call Me By Your Name

I have three daughters so I have three sons-in-law. I don’t like my middle daughter’s husband but I have a pretty funny story about him. My husband and I own a construction company and had hired him to help us. We were working on remodeling a 1922 house. I had surgery on my right foot so I couldn't drive, but was getting driven around by my daughters or husband.

One day, my sister drove me over to the construction site and my middle son-in-law was there. I accidentally left my cellphone at the site. In my cell, I have my husband saved as his pet name which is Mr. Snowflake. I tried calling my cell to find it but my son-in-law sees Mr. Snowflake on the caller display & goes home to tell my daughter that he thinks that I am having an affair.

My daughter thought it was hilarious and asked him if he was serious. She told him there was no way I was capable of having an affair. The next day hubby and I go back over to the site and I see my cellphone. I am so relieved and call my husband his pet name in front of my daughter and son-in-law, who starts laughing. He then tells us his suspicions and now refers to me as Mrs. Snow.

23. Set The Bar Low

My boyfriends’ sister-in-law sets the bar low for anyone else joining the family. She was already needy before the wedding two years ago, but her insecurities ramped up after the ceremony. They just fight constantly because she says he must be having an affair and he works too much. Meanwhile, he’s only working overtime because she refuses to get a job.

She’s done everything she can to catch him in the act, including calling his parents in the middle of the night screaming about being abandoned, and one time barging into his parents’ house accusing them of hiding him and his mistress. With the pandemic last year he was laid off and now he’s home all the time. Now she’s mad because he’s home too much!

24. Family Values

I have two brothers, and unfortunately, they share the same terrible taste in women. My younger brother met his current fiance while she was dating our older brother. The relationship was horrible from the beginning but continues to get worse every year. In the beginning, she would spread rumors at family gatherings or make a big deal to get invited and then not show up.

She finally chose which brother she wanted to date full time, but doesn’t trust him because of how their relationship started. So she’ll play power games to see if he will always choose her. She’s organized a family dinner in a restaurant and then called after we’ve been waiting that they weren’t coming. She’s canceled weekend trips after they were booked and non-refundable.

While my sister was in university they tried to guilt her into cat-sitting for them every weekend and called her selfish for saying no. Then she jacked up the crazy to 11. She asked my sister to choose between them and our parents, telling her she couldn’t speak to one anymore. She brought it up in a group situation and my sister-in-law made a huge scene.

When our grandmother passed they sulked because my brother didn’t “get enough” from her will. Then they decided to move over 200 miles away from our parents and then got angry that no one helped them move or decorate. My father broke his leg right before they moved and they accused him of doing it on purpose to avoid them.

At one point they had a dog that bit me, my partner, and my dad on various occasions. They refused to train it or engage in any kind of dog lessons. They decided instead to tell the family not to come over to their house or our parents’ house if they were there as they wouldn’t be able to relax. They've given the dog away now.

When they got engaged, they didn't invite my stepdaughters to the wedding, just my partner, our daughter, and myself. They said my stepdaughters "aren't really their family"—then couldn't understand why our family declined their invitation to go to their destination wedding. It was scheduled for summer 2020, so we’re still not sure if it happened or not.

25. Mother-In-Law Guidelines

My mother-in-law has not met her six-month-old granddaughter yet because she refuses to listen. Every time we schedule a visit she seems to want to push her agenda on us. My husband is the only child currently with a grandchild, so her excitement is understandable, but we are holding firm. This was happening during the pandemic, and we were stressed about our families’ health.

The first time she tried to schedule a visit was right after I had delivered. We said we’re not comfortable with visitors. She said she would follow CDC guidelines and that she will come over after two weeks of quarantine and a negative COVID test. We still said no and she wanted to know if my family was allowed to visit or if we were targeting only her.

She calls again and my husband told her we would be comfortable with her visiting in a month. She said a month was too long and set a date for three weeks. Then she planned what time she would be there without asking about our newborn schedule. She called back later to tell us she would be wearing a mask and gloves. The visit came and went. Unfortunately, the nightmare wasn't over.

The next visit was scheduled for when they get their COVID shots. We schedule a date to go to their house and then she ends up being scheduled to work while we were there. I asked my husband if we should reschedule and he said his dad will take care of any attitude and we’re still going. She calls to schedule another visit for a month later.

She calls my husband and says she can come down on a day I was at work since I seem to be the one that is preventing her from seeing her granddaughter and “she doesn’t need to see me she just wants to see her granddaughter and son". My husband told her that was not a good idea as I was not home so she will have to wait.

She texts him the next day and says the visit is too far away, can we make it earlier? My husband asks me if that is ok and I told him I have too many things on my schedule at the time. He tells her this and his dad calls the next day to ask what we were so busy with that we can’t carve out the time to let them see their granddaughter.

His dad also says that they would like to sit down and discuss their lack of visitation. They were under the impression that as grandparents they could come over whenever they wanted and are upset with constantly being told no. I told my husband we are canceling the next visit because I feel like it will be an ambush of their agenda.

My father-in-law told my husband that he should be trying to make his mother happy, but my husband said he was going to continue making his wife happy. We told them we will not set any future visit dates until we are comfortable. He was stressed about the strain this would put on their relationship, but he is standing by my side. We have listened to them all of our marriage and I am done now that daughter is born.

FullofLoot

26. Chef’s Kiss

I’m learning the hard way not to mix business with family. After my wife and I took a year-long honeymoon in Taiwan we came home to help take care of her grandmother. While we were away my father-in-law was pleading with us to come home because he couldn’t handle the task. As soon as we started helping he disappeared entirely.

Fast forward 6 months and he adamantly starts pursuing buying and opening a restaurant. My wife and I have both been chefs for over a decade and each had dreams to own a restaurant. This felt like an amazing opportunity, and we found a place that's a potential gold mine after a full remodel. After a month of swinging a sledgehammer, he starts treating me differently.

Little things at first but it eventually develops into him insinuating I don’t have the ability to work in his restaurant. When he said that, I told him I disagreed and he scoffed at me. Then he decided  I'm "out". Even though the four of us are in the licensing contract as equal partners, with bylaws that state that decisions must be unanimous.

dbla08

27. Fridge Freeze-Out

My friend’s brother married a girl he met in college. They’re a happy couple and had a baby girl. His father passed so his mother moved in. At first, everyone got along but after a month, the daughter-in-law put a lock on the fridge and pantry doors and minimized the portion of food the mother-in-law ate. My friend removed her from the house but her brother never confronted his wife.

28. It All Started At The Wedding

I’m getting ready for my wedding and get a call from my stepmother asking about the caterer. My mother-in-law had worked with the company before so I called her for the answer. After we hung up, she stormed in and yelled at me, that I “shouldn’t be worrying about stuff like that!!” Then during photos with parents when I motioned for my stepmother to join, I was told, “No, just your real parents".

29. Mother-In-Law Hide’N Seek

My sister has the worst mother-in-law. She refuses to talk to our mother because she is divorced. When our mom enters the room, mother-in-law leaves. After a while it just got ridiculous and mom would enter a room just for fun. No one feels strongly enough to put their foot down and stop the game.

30. Spouse Tourism

The first time I met my in-laws, who live in a different country, I incidentally became blind and paralyzed. Turned out I had a disease called NMO, similar to multiple sclerosis. We lived with them for three years before my father-in-law let it all out. It honestly broke my heart. He thought my illness was too timely and that I was scamming insurance for medical tourism.

He also thought I was taking advantage of his daughter for money since I was newly disabled. I was shocked and hurt because I looked up to him. I wasn’t close with my dad growing up and was excited for a close male role model. My mother-in-law visibly disliked me from the start. Learning her language made her begrudgingly respect me but they don’t call more than strictly necessary.

31. Spray The Love Away

When we were engaged, my future mother-in-law used to go around the house and spray a can of pesticide on every bug she saw. This gave me panic attacks because it felt like I couldn't breathe in between all the pesticide fumes. When that happened I would retreat to a space I felt safe. This happened even though I kept telling her I can't breathe and to please stop.

One day my fiance came to check on me and I told him what bothered me. Future mother-in-law overheard and started crying. She accused me of being jealous of her relationship with her son, and that I wanted to split them up. The argument broke off our engagement. We are still together but will probably never get married.

Sufficient_Hamster90

32. Secret Spatula Storage

I wish my mother-in-law would stay out of my kitchen. Every time she comes over she rearranges it to her liking. It wouldn’t be so bad if she wasn’t completely clueless on how to organize a kitchen. She also cooks solely with a fork and has ruined countless nonstick frying pans to the point I hide them when she visits.

DKmann

33. Electric Connection

My in-laws love telling me what to do with our money when they are in so much debt and won't take any advice themselves. I’ve been working since I was fifteen and consider my frugal skills top-notch. I suggested they should switch electric companies since they are paying almost five cents more per kWh, or $1,200 more a year.

Chase185

34. Only The RSVP Is Free

My mother-in-law constantly tries to plan family vacations that require me to waste my time and money to attend. Without asking, she'll reserve hotel rooms six months in advance and then tell us she planned a week-long vacation for everyone. If we protest, she immediately guilts us with "but I already booked the rooms".

dotjackel

35. For The Love Of Odin

My in-laws walk into our house when they arrive without knocking, especially when they didn't tell us what time they were coming over. Obviously, this has led to some...awkward situations. We’ve been in the middle of intimacy when my father-in-law announces his arrival. It’s been a mad dash to get dressed and completely unnecessary. Knock, for the love of Odin. It's not that hard to be polite.

Trip_243

36. Got Room For One More?

One morning, my mother-in-law shows up at our door. "I am tired of taking care of myself so I am moving in with my son". My husband was at work so I responded, "Half this house is mine. I don’t think so". Cue massive temper tantrums and husband having to leave work for the day. The authorities helped us explain you cannot just show up at anyone's door and expect to move in.

lisasimpsonfan

37. One Great Husband—Two Terrible Parents

My mother-in-law knows exactly how to get under my skin. She is condescending. She's rude. She called my daughter the name she wanted us to name her for several months until I finally snapped at my husband to sort her out. My father-in-law is absent at best. He’s been divorced from her since my husband was a baby and we only met at the wedding.

LowkeyPony

38. With This Will I Thee Wed

My father-in-law passed this summer, which prompted the family to take out the will for my mother-in-law to get it redone. It was also a nice chance for the family to get together. The will had been the same for thirty years. Due to the large age gap between siblings, my husband’s oldest sister had a six-year-old when he was born.

My mother-in-law looked at her daughter and said, “It says you should get custody of your brother. Do you want me to change that or leave that part in?” After a comical debate, a consensus was reached. No one wanted the responsibility. I was informed that he is now my legal responsibility. Fingers crossed we don’t get a divorce.

39. Life Un-Filtered

My mother-in-law is lovely but her one bad habit is taking unflattering pictures of people and posting them on her Facebook. She doesn’t ask if she can post them and she doesn’t tag you. She’ll also go through your old Facebook albums, download them, and use them to create collages which she’ll post randomly with a caption like “look at my beautiful daughter-in-law!”

whysweetpea

40. The Future Is Bland

My future mother-in-law believes in a lot of trendy homeopathic cures and tends to repeat herself incessantly during meals. My future father-in-law loves to micromanage and state the obvious. His worst feature is his cooking. His steak goes from the freezer straight into boiling water until it reaches a hockey puck texture, and it is then slathered with ketchup.

Glittering-Star-105

41. What Are The Facts?

My in-laws are very into conspiracy theories. They study everything from anti-mask to anti-vax, the earth being flat, and anything else. They shove their beliefs down our throats anytime we visit, even though my husband and I have clearly told them we aren't interested. We ignore all of their messages directing us to website proof and re-routing most conversations.

idfkif

42. Everyone’s Got One

My mother-in-law is beyond opinionated. I used to ignore it, but now with our son, it’s beyond irritating. I’ll explode on my husband constantly just so I don’t explode at her. I’m never feeding him enough or dressing him for the weather correctly. My sister-in-law just had a baby and she’s hearing the same critiques. The difference is she can talk back, while I can’t.

Jaxxie88

43. Wholesome Hug

My husband and his mom had a strained relationship due to politics, which impacted our marriage in the beginning. Everything changed a little over a year ago when I got into legal trouble and my husband called his mom to watch our kids. At the time, I was angry he didn’t call my mom but I had already caused enough trouble and didn’t want to argue.

I’ll never forget coming home at 4 am feeling so embarrassed and overwhelmed and she was there, arms wide open to accept and comfort me. This diminutive church-going Southern mama grabbed me and held me for what seemed like an eternity, but in a good way. We may not agree on most things, but I’ll never forget how loved she made me feel at my lowest, without judgment or pretense.

44. Sugar Is Sweet

Overall, I've got it pretty good, and my mother-in-law is sweet and well-meaning. However, we recently took her in after a bad car accident. She's healing well and only using the walker some of the time, but she'll never be strong enough to go back to her old home. We’ve made all the necessary adaptions and are prepared to have her live with us long-term.

What gets under my skin is her diet. My family is 80% vegetarian and loves half the meal to be lightly cooked or raw vegetables. My kids are adventurous eaters that love a wide variety of spices from all over the world. We have dessert once or twice a week, usually to celebrate something special,l and don't keep juice or soda in the house.

We planted a massive garden to eat real, organic food. Unfortunately, she believes everything is healthier if it's boiled due to living during WWII. Now my kitchen has white bread and soda in the fridge. At my son's birthday, we all had ice cream cake, and she went inside and ate half a jelly donut. I can’t believe how long she’s lived eating this way.

procrast1natrix

45. Father Knows Best

It’s petty, but my soon-to-be father-in-law always knows best. He's right more often than not but it can be super irritating when I'm in the middle of doing something and he comes in unannounced, "You should be doing it this way instead!” I wish he was wrong more but otherwise, I love my in-laws and genuinely enjoy hanging out with them.

808snorkeler

46. Let Me Count The Ways

Both of my in-laws have serious flaws. My father-in-law is in denial about how much he drinks and hides it when possible. He also genuinely believes that the government wants to spy on him and is horrible with money. When he was about to lose his house, we drove ten hours in a moving truck and did all the work for his house to be sold.

We then drove ten hours back and he lived with us for three months. That's when his secret came out. His habit started in the morning, which meant I got yelled at in the morning. He was supposed to stay for a year but I was seven months pregnant and the stress became unbearable. We found him a new place to live, and he is banned from our property.

My mother-in-law is wild and manipulative. When we were planning our wedding, I asked her to help plan the decorative details and she refused. The day before the ceremony and she’s walking around and tearing things down because we hadn’t done it right. My mom also caught her stuffing her purse with all the gift bag items in the bathroom.

Even though we asked for no wedding photos to be posted on social media, she did, with full public settings. She thought she was being helpful and found every single person online to tag them in her album. She threw an epic tantrum when we asked her to take it down and didn’t speak to us for weeks. Now she messages us too much scheduling time with her new grandchild.

Last month, she called us six times to update us on restrictions and give us a timeline plus itinerary for her future planned visit. We still haven’t agreed to this and are waiting to see what happens. Her husband is a great guy, but an awkward conversationalist. He’s a super-smart man but can be very particular, and sometimes I compare him to Sheldon Cooper.

However, the worse of the bunch by a mile is my sister-in-law. She is shallow, entitled, and snarky. She was furious after our child was born. She was enraged because people didn't hold the door for her anymore like they did when she was pregnant. This lasted for a few years. She was also annoyed that she no longer got to use the "pregnant or new mother" parking spots at the local mall.

She became hyper passive aggressive when she realized she no longer had the only grandchild. Personal favorite moment was when she got super offended and blocked her mom for three months because she didn't want to quit her job and become her full-time nanny. Apparently, her mom should have been honored by the request!

purple-paper-punch

47. Daughter-In-Law-Disguise

I wish my son never met her. We lived on the other side of the country from them so we didn't have many visits but managed one or two a year. When we visited, the house was clean, the kids were cared for, and our daughter-in-law was fun to be around. However, once we left, life went back to "normal" for my son and grandkids.

She would say she was going to the store and would not come home for a few days. She did not clean, or cook. My son traveled for business and when he was gone she had many visitors in the house. He would come home to a trashed house, trashed car, trashed everything. She would put the kids to bed, then leave to party.

She kept the two oldest kids home from school when he traveled since she was too busy sleeping from partying all night to take them to school. As he was making plans to leave her and take the kids, our worst nightmare happened. She fatally injured the youngest child and is now awaiting trial. We had no idea how bad it was until it was too late.

48. Powerpoint Perfectionist

This is my sister’s experience after living with our brother and his wife. Our sister-in-law has a very particular way of doing things. She told my sister to not do any cleaning because of her schedule and approach. My sister felt guilty for not helping but listened to our sister-in-law. Lo and behold, she gets upset that my sister is messy. My sister was confused—but it was about to get so much worse.

Sister-in-law made a PowerPoint presentation on everything my sister did wrong. These presentations would range from twenty minutes to an hour. When my sister did help, she was told she was doing it wrong and to stop. Now that she had stopped, she was getting in trouble for not helping. It was a lose-lose situation and my sister sat through multiple presentations while living there.

49. Mother-In-Law Detective

Our neighbor became a grandmother and was next-level excited. She began showing us pictures and planning how quickly she could get to her son and his family. She was constantly talking about how hard her daughter-in-law is trying to be a good first-time mom and how stressed out she is. They decide she should fly down two months later, and she secures the time off work.

We were really surprised when she was back home two weeks later and very unhappy. We didn’t want to pry but the whole story came out a couple of days later. When she finally told me, my jaw hit the floor. She had taken the baby out for a walk and realized she forgot baby wipes. She figures she’ll head home a little early and can leave again if the mom wants her to.

As soon as she arrives back in the house she, unfortunately, hears her daughter-in-law screaming a man’s name that was not her son’s from their bedroom. She decides to call her son at work, and he comes home two hours early from work, with the other man stumbling down the sidewalk half-dressed, and the daughter-in-law crying.

She tried to convince her husband it wasn’t what it looked like but our neighbor convinced her son to get a paternity test. She returned home furious and disappointed and her son began divorce proceedings. If she had never gone for the trip who knows how long her daughter-in-law would have kept the secret!

50. Two For The Price Of One

This is a story about my brother's ex-wife. She did many terrible things during their marriage including instigating a fight with him over the phone, recording him getting mad, and then reporting him to the local authorities. At the end of the marriage, she stopped making payments on their house, and eventually, it was repossessed. They finally got divorced—but what she did next was the worst of all.

We were all shocked to learn she began dating our younger brother. They lasted for two years and we found out she would have secret dates at my mom’s house. Our brother told us after they broke up that she began giving him attention as young as sixteen years old. Our whole family is disgusted with her.

Sources , 2, 3, 4

It's one thing when a customer is terrible. At least you don't have to see them every single day! We've all had that one co-worker—and these people are sharing the worst of the worst. 

1. A Shady Past

We hired a guy on a trial basis. He was super polite and careful when speaking to me, but several of my female employees told me that he was creepy when I wasn't around. After his first five days, one of them came to me and said almost verbatim: "There's something very wrong with this man". She just had a gut feeling about him. So I ran a background check on him and...yep, his record was sickening.

For what it’s worth, this was almost 20 years ago when it was not standard procedure to run background checks, and I was not in charge of that regardless. In this case, I requested it specifically from HR because the safety of my employees appeared to be at risk, but not one other time in my career did I feel the need to ask for one.

2. In The Money

I knew a guy who worked at Subway back when they gave out stamps. Basically, for every six inches of sub you bought, you earned a stamp. Once you filled a card with eight stamps, you could get a free six-inch sub. So this guy started only giving stamps to customers who asked for them. If they didn't ask, he pocketed their stamps and grew a sizeable stack of complete stamp cards. Then he set his brilliant plan into motion.

Over time, he started cashing them in. Like, when a customer paid with cash, he would ring it in as a freebie, place his own completed stamp card in the till, and pocket the cash. The customer got their sub, the till was balanced, and he had an extra five to 10 bucks in his pocket. He worked there for a few years, and the word was he racked up a few thousand dollars running this scheme.

I have no idea if anybody complained or if he was ever caught, but he did buy a motorbike.

3. Every Dog Has Its Day

There was this guy named Gus who worked in retail with me. My boss told me, "Hey, this guy's got anxiety, go easy on him OK?" So I was like, okay, that's cool, I can relate. I did everything I could to help him make sense of the infernal godforsaken hellscape that is retail. He started off with little mistakes that were forgivable things—forgetting a task, accidentally giving the wrong information...things like that.

However, he quickly devolved in popularity as his complacency grew over time and his helpful attitude shrank. Gus started screwing around during his shift, getting caught on his phone while ignoring backup cashier calls, etc. He would also make stabbing motions behind the manager's back to other employees, then and play it all off like he was some innocent dope who didn't know any better.

None of this got him fired. Day after day, there was a new complaint from a different employee about some responsibilities he shirked. He also got reported for telling customers blatantly wrong info, saying stuff like, "Oh yeah, we have another location up on the hill" when we didn't. We had no idea whose son he was or whatever because that was apparently all kosher. What ACTUALLY got him fired was a doozy.

One day, he brought a dog wearing a super-expensive dog collar into work. He claimed he almost hit the dog on the way to work and it was running around wild, etc. He then tried to sell the dog collar to a customer, and even pushed to "adopt out" the dog to a co-worker. This co-worker was competent enough to take the dog to a vet, whereupon they found a microchip and contacted the actual owners.

THAT'S where the fun started. It came out that Gus never found the dog at all. He straight up KIDNAPPED this dog from his neighbor and tried to pawn it off, knowing full well what he was doing. The guy lawyered up immediately, tried to sue Gus, and threatened to sue the store and the store manager if Gus wasn't fired. Suffice to say, Gus was gone the very same evening. We talked about him for years and years.

4. I Don’t Like The Cut Of His Jib

This guy was teasing another employee really, really badly. Like, American high school movies in the '80s badly. When I found out the reason why, I couldn't believe it. He was from out of town. That was it. I thought there HAD to be more to the drama, so I went to the location, interviewed a few people, watched it happen myself, and…yeah, it seemed like this guy could NOT take the fact that this kid was from another state.

I was absolutely expecting the sort of drama that location was more famous for—like baby daddies, sleeping with someone’s wife, etc. But nope…

5. We’re All Friends Here

I was the head night auditor at an upscale airport hotel. We had a young night auditor who put a room into “out of order” status and let his friends party in it...for an “intimate group event” that he joined during his lunch break. He got caught because of a noise complaint. We called the authorities, and he was fired and blacklisted from being hired back.

6. The Tip Of The Iceberg

The finance director was having an affair with his assistant, who was married to a different employee in the company. That's not the insane part, though. What's insane is how we found out. I was the HR director at the time, and a court investigation is still underway, so some details have been changed. One day, the CEO approached me about rumors of the finance director’s affair.

In retrospect, maybe I should've dug into it, but things were busy enough, so I discouraged him from listening to scuttlebutt. I said we should only worry if we thought there was an operational impact. Private lives are private, in my opinion. A few weeks later, our auditors got in touch to point out that a subcontractor had the same company name as a dormant business owned by the finance director.

A quick call to him followed and he confirmed that it was a mere coincidence. “That's funny,” said the auditor, “Because it has the same tax number, too". Whoops! Things happened quickly after that.The finance director, who was on holiday, resigned before we could push him with extreme prejudice. But at the end of the investigation, it turned out that he had set up a pal to work as a subcontractor so he could cream the profits off work sent his way.

Plus, he'd also been making creative use of the company credit card and had authorized a company loan to himself. A check of the company cell phone records showed that there had been communication between his ex-assistant and him since he jumped. So we recovered her phone, examined the SMS history, and found out not only that she was telling him about the progress of our internal investigation, but also the full history of their affair, with explicit detail.

The assistant's marriage imploded. She resigned. In the end, the whole affair swept up multiple employees who'd been involved in the fraud, gutted the finance team, and taught us all some valuable lessons.

7. Imperfect Strangers

I found out that this guy was stalking a female employee. We worked at a 24-hour retailer and she was a morning shift worker while he was a night shift worker. Basically, there was no way they knew each other. Then, one day, I was filling in for a different manager and he came into the break room, taking pictures of the morning shift schedule.

I asked him why and he told me some story about another employee who just wanted him to send their schedule to them. I came in on my day off later that week during the day shift and caught him staring at her from a different aisle while she was stocking. She had no idea. The full story was so creepy, though. He would follow her home and watch her house and all that.

She was 17, he was 38. I called the authorities and had him escorted off the property. I also helped her get in touch with the right resources for a restraining order. He ended up violating the order multiple times and the last I heard, he’s behind bars.

8. Do You Know Who I Am?

I was working in a bank. We had a teller who was about 19 years old and he got really angry at the way a customer would send in her deposits at the drive-up window. He ended up complaining about the customer on a public Facebook post. But, oh, that was far from all.He also tagged the lady, as well as her store, in the post!

The customer, who was furious of course, called the bank and told me. I told the customer we would investigate, and then I asked the teller. He straight-up admitted it, saying, "What's she going to do about it? My grandfather is friends with the bank president". I called HR and the bank president on a conference call.

The girl lost her job in less than 15 minutes of me receiving the call from the customer. Breach of customer confidentiality in banking is a MAJOR law violation.

9. Power Plays

I worked in a factory. There was a kid whose father was the regional manager, so he felt like he could do whatever he wanted. This kid was maybe 18 years old and went around flashing a knife at people he didn’t like...which was basically everyone. It had a six-inch blade and he kept it under his shirt in a holster. He also harassed all the women, never did any work and blamed the temps for his failures.

He would constantly be pushing up against women and telling them what he wanted to do to them, and he eventook personal information from the computers for employee records to get their phone numbers and addresses. How he got access was easy—the manager above him let him use the computer with his password whenever he wanted because he always pulled the “I can do what I want because my dad is the regional manager" card.

He had tons of complaints against him. The authorities even showed up once and detained him at work, but nothing ever came of it. They took his knife as far as I know, but he had a new one a week later. Before I left, he was made a full manager, and whenever anyone went directly to his dad, his dad just sighed and kind of zoned out, acting like he couldn’t hear.

It was a messed up place, but luckily it closed down a few years back. I don’t know where he’s at now. A funny detail to add is some girl there did actually date him for like a month for some reason. She said it was literally the worst intimacy she ever had, so we got to have a laugh at him for a few days. That said, they had a massive argument and she was “let go” the next day when they broke up.

10. Let’s Go To The Tape

A colleague checked out of the mediocre but adequate hotel where we were having a conference and checked into a 5-star luxury resort. She then submitted an expense report for her stay. She claimed that she felt unsafe in the original hotel, but did not elaborate. Someone called the hotel, which checked the security camera footage. We all thought she was crazy,but we were proven way wrong.

At least four separate men tried to enter her room that first night. No wonder she left.

11. Work Is A Four-Letter Word

I was a supervisor at a movie theatre. We had a new hire, who had been on the job less than a week, throw a very loud, unbelievably childish tantrum in front of a lobby full of customers. It was a sight to behold. And why'd she do it? Because her direct supervisor asked her to sweep up some popcorn that a customer spilled. She kept screaming, "I ain't cleaning up someone else's mess! Make them do it!"

She was 24 years old. The meltdown she had when she got fired for her tantrum was nuclear, with lots of screaming and threats about how her parents were going to "call the company and get everyone fired!" The next day, someone claiming to be her dad did call and told us that we were “going to rehire my daughter and apologize to her or else".

But nothing more came of it—the top manager just laughed and hung up. I've never seen such an epic, entitled tantrum before or since.

12. Oh, Poop

Our construction worker took a dump in the toilet of a vacant apartment that didn't have running water and then left without saying anything. All the workers were aware that they are supposed to use the bathrooms in the offices and clubhouses because the vacant units never have running water. The complex didn’t find it until three days later when they brought in a potential tenant for a walkthrough.

It had been over 100 degrees all week. The woman I spoke to said there wasn’t any toilet paper, either.

13. An Acquired Taste

I had a co-worker who always had a really strong stench, and I thought it was just bad BO. Turns out, she was addicted to mothballs and she was licking them during working hours. The chemicals gave off an unbelievably strong smell through the skin. We got complaints about her odor but didn’t take them seriously since we thought people were just being jerks.

That is until someone saw her actively licking mothballs on the job. I was leaving my job when this was discovered and I was sworn to secrecy because it’s not the kind of thing we can advertise around our office. It was the kind of smell where you could never really quite put a finger on what it was, but once we figured it out, it made a lot of sense.

It doesn’t smell exactly like the real thing...more like it’s been processed through the body and skin.

14. Phoning It In

I’m an HR head. I once got a call from a “private chat administrator” informing us that our official account was unpaid. They said they would take court action if we didn’t pay immediately. I thought it was a joke. And then we got an official notice! At that point, HR investigated, and the “chat” company sent us a copy of the phone calls.

As soon I played it, my co-worker’s face went white. She screamed, “I know this guy, he works in the supply chain!” Apparently, he had been making these chat calls using our company landline. We politely told him to pay up and settle the matter, and then we issued him a final warning letter. He’s lucky he didn’t lose his job that day.

15. Why Can’t We Be Friends?

I work the night shift at a packing line. We had two new temps in, and they were polar opposites. One was a super bubbly religious guy who was pretty emotional. Like, he cried during his favorite songs. The other guy was grungy, pretty cynical, but a darned good worker. Well, they both ended up working on adjacent lines and I was training them.

Things were great until the bubbly guy decided it was his mission to befriend the grunge guy. The grunge dude wanted to be left alone so he could work, but the bubbly guy kept going to our team lead to tell her he couldn’t understand why the grunge guy wouldn’t be his friend. My team lead, who was oblivious and despised by most of our crew, came down and told them to play nice and be friends.

I told her that bubbles needed to leave grunge alone, but she wouldn’t have it. Grunge walked out, and bubbles cried for two nights straight. He never came back.

16. You Think You Know Someone

We had this guy as a delivery driver. He was super nice, quiet, and never showed any signs of anger even in stressful situations. Then we started getting calls, mainly from older women, saying that our delivery driver was cutting them off, flipping them off, and calling them names. I didn’t believe it at first. I thought maybe they cut him off, he honked, and they wanted him fired so made up some big story.

Then I saw that the back window got busted out of the vehicle and the radio looked like it got punched out for whatever reason. Everything came together and we found out he had huge anger issues. He stopped showing up so it resolved itself, but it was crazy how good of a front he put on.

17. Long And Strong

This girl left an unbelievable and non-flushable gigantic poop both in and out of the toilet. I went into the bathroom to deal with what I thought was surely an exaggeration and probably just a standard, nasty diarrhea mess. But no. There was a single, unbroken, enormous log that was hanging down over the outside of the toilet seat, going up over the seat and back down through the hole into the drain, as far as the eye could see.

All in one piece. Flushing it had no effect. None. It didn't budge, it didn't wiggle. Nothing. Gravity didn't even pull it apart when it hung over the side of the bowl halfway to the ground. It was...well, it was unbelievable. No one knew what to do. No one wanted to clean it up. Someone wondered aloud if we should send her to the hospital. Honestly, I can't remember what happened next, only that there were tools involved, but I can still see that monster poop like it was yesterday.

It was in 1997. I could never look her in the face again. I just kept wondering HOW? Mattie, wherever you are, I hope you're doing better.

18. Drive Me Crazy

This happened recently at my driving job. I got this person through our training process and we set him out to train. The trainer came in, exasperated. Apparently, this dude couldn’t even drive, which was supposed to be the easy part of the job. He also couldn’t secure cargo, which was more challenging, but still a relatively straightforward task.

He started crying while driving, and he ignored instructions. This went on for a week. Eventually, the trainer said he was not going to be able to pass the guy. I told my boss his options were to have him retrain under another trainer, do a ride-along with him so he could draw his own conclusions, or just end the guy. Eventually, my boss opted to do the ride-along with him.

The guy nearly caused a wreck, all while doing exactly what I told him not to do just three minutes before. During his ride-along, he ran two stop signs and nearly had a head-on collision. My boss wanted to give him another week as long as he didn’t mess up his paperwork...but then he proceeded to back out of the lot with both hands off the wheel. Yeah, that was it.

19. Fake It Till You Break It

I got hired as a long-term temp with one other person to do some basic data entry work at a major brand that pretty much everyone has heard of. It was at their corporate headquarters too, so pretty prestigious. Anyway, we went through all of this on-boarding stuff in the morning that required us to get photo IDs and figure out parking and all that stuff.

Then, after two or three hours, we were introduced to one of the employees in the new department. They began telling us what we were going to be doing. None of it seemed overly difficult and I figured that while it was a new system I had never used before, I'd be able to work it out in a few days as long as I asked questions and took notes.

And that was the thing that made me realize that the other person who got hired with me probably lied on her resume. She was completely out of her depth—she didn't take any notes or ask any questions. And whenever I glanced at her, I could see flashes of panic on her face. Well, lunchtime came and when we came back, she said that another company had called her and offered her a permanent position so she couldn't work with us any longer.

Both myself and the person training us knew what was going on, but I'll give the other lady credit for finding a way out without losing face too badly. The takeaway here is: Yes, "Fake It Until You Make it" can and does work. But you gotta be able to fake it. You can't fake faking it.

20. Best Friends For Never

I had a co-worker who was adamant about being my friend, and I did not reciprocate. It got to the point where I went to the owner of the company and straight up told them, “Please tell this guy I am here to work. I don’t want to be friends. I just want to work my job and then go home". I had told him several times before that that he was making my job difficult and I didn’t want to be friends.

I thought it was finally resolved when I went to the owners. I was so, so wrong. The next day, he came in and told me, “Even if you don’t want to be friends, I still see you as my best friend". Eventually, I went in to quit, and instead, they called me into the office to let me go. They said even though I was their hardest worker and got the most customer satisfaction the atmosphere was "too tense" when we both were working.

See, he had anger issues and would curse up a storm if I didn’t respond kindly to friendly banter. In front of customers. He would literally ignore customers to ask me things like, “What’s your favorite movie?” making me have to stop what I was doing to help the customer. He’d then go into the backroom and kick something or spew just tons of profanity that you could hear if I didn’t answer his question.

He even had a habit of yelling at and harassing customers. Anyway, the owners decided it was my fault for not wanting to be his friend. So they let me go. Really. Then they handed me a paycheck for $20 and told me not to worry, they hadn’t taken the taxes out. I heard they made him a manager and then later fired him after finding out he was taking merchandise.

I liked that job until he was hired.

21. Thank You, Next

My document-processing clerk was getting married and going on his honeymoon, so I got a short-term temp. It wasn't a temp-to-hire, and everything was out in the open through a legit temp agency that generally performed thorough screening. Well, on the temp's very first day, he showed up with a box of things: photos, mugs, office equipment, and stuff to decorate a cubicle with.

I advised them not to unpack since we were getting right into training. Within two hours after I cut him loose on a computer and told him, "Let me know if you need anything or have any questions," he said, "This mouse is hurting my wrist. It gave me carpal tunnel. I'm going to need worker's comp paperwork". I made an immediate call to the agency to end this contract.

I then told the temp, "Your paperwork is at the temp agency office. Go ahead and go see your rep there". He left their box of stuff behind and I had to have the temp agency pick it up.

22. Working For The Weekend

My co-worker at a sandwich shop when I was 17 would “steal hours” by coming back to the store to clock himself out a couple of hours after he left. We made minimum wage and he was canned after the fourth time he did it. He took, at most, 40 dollars with that brilliant strategy.

23. Red Redemption

I had a horrible supervisor once. I was working in the snack bar at a local Target, and we'd gone through a handful of employees who just didn't work out for whatever reason. Then, they hired this guy—I'll call him Red because he had reddish hair. He was to be a supervisor. He was probably in his late 20s, early 30s, somewhere around there. He was also a total jerk.

In case you don’t know, all the department leads at Target had walkie-talkies and headsets. Red had neither because we just didn't need them in the snack bar. Red, however, insisted that we did and threw a fit to multiple department leads, including the customer service lead, about it. Because of the store's location, we often had construction workers come in to grab a quick breakfast.

One of the construction workers who came in regularly for about two to three weeks was a lady, and Red decided to try and hit on her. When she told him she was married, he upped the ante. One day, she came in, and before she could even walk up to the counter, he reached out and grabbed her hand, trying to pull her towards him. Baaaad idea.

The next day, her husband, who was several inches taller, heavier, and more muscular than Red, came in and told him to leave his wife alone or he was gonna get it. Another time, Red started hitting on one of the pharmacists. She didn't want anything to do with him, so he followed her out to her car. When she locked the door and told him to get lost, he walked to the back of the car and started pushing up and down on the bumper.

This obviously freaked her out and she called the authorities. The absolute last straw was when he pulled a no-call, no-show. I'd left a note for our lead supervisor about his no-call, no-show and Red became absolutely furious at me. Like, screaming in my face, threatening to hit me. THAT got him fired. Why his other creepy behavior didn't, I’ll never know.

24. It’s Always The Quiet Ones

We had an employee that was actively robbing local banks on his days off. I believe he hit eight to nine different banks before he got caught, and we only found out about it during an early morning FBI raid of the employee locker/break rooms, which was done in conjunction with a raid of his house. To say it was a shock was an understatement. He wasn’t even top 20 of my list of potential felonious employees.

25. What Goes Around Comes Around

My boss at a tech company was incredibly awful to me. Among many other things, she made me do push-ups for every minute I was late due to public transportation delays—even though the delays were somewhat normal for the commute I had. For “team bonding,” she would take us out to drinks and proceed to get blacked out. She was also sleeping with two of the other people on my team.

There were multiple times at said “team bonding” events where she and one of my other colleagues disappeared into a bathroom...I brought up some of this with HR when I quit, but no one ever looked into it. All the same, she ended up getting fired a few years later due to harassment. Worst boss EVER.

26. The Jewel Mule

The critical items at our jewelry counter were anything over $500 and they had to be counted at the start and end of each shift. Well, items kept going missing, and one of the other employees complained that it was a certain lady stuffing it up her hot pocket. Security took her to the bathroom. It was true. She had a men's necklace shoved up there.

I can't imagine who she was going to give that to.

27. No Really, Pick On Somebody Your Own Size

I worked at a huge, well-known international company. There was this young, straight-out-of-college guy who we had just hired—as in, his first day had been the same week. He had moved from Eastern Europe to our corporate location. Cue company ski trip, with lots of free booze—some of his new colleagues who he thought were his "friends" told him that this woman was checking him out.

He started hitting on her, and mind you, he was already tipsy at that point. She told him to knock it off and that she wasn't interested. He kept being pushy. This large, scary dude beside the woman also told him to knock it off. He swung at the large, scary dude, and promptly found himself face first in the snow. The woman in question? Head of global HR. The large, scary dude? Head of global corporate security. The young schmuck? Fired.

28. Watch Your Mouth

I was a shift lead at a gas station. I had a customer tell me that one of my guys, who was like 80 years old, told him to “screw off” after the customer rolled his eyes at the price of an item. I talked to my guy because I was sure that, at the very least, the circumstances were different than the customer had claimed. Nope. It happened just like the customer said.

My guy apparently didn't realize his speaker was still turned on and said his spiel as soon as the customer's back was turned. The guy turned around and that started an even bigger verbal fight. I was mulling over what to do about it, but the very next morning, the employee showed up to work wasted, yelling about a bonus check that we owed him. That's when he got fired.

29. Party On, Sue

I used to work as a night auditor at a hotel, and one day I was told that one of the daytime workers was fired. She was this really sweet older lady who worked part-time. It was really hard to get fired there, so I was very curious. I soon regretted finding out the answer.Several customers had complained about her, concerned that there was something very off.

She was slurring and just seemed very off that day. Management was also concerned, at first thinking there was a medical issue. After a few more incidents, they checked the cameras and found out she was taking shots of straight Smirnoff throughout her shift. Like, an absurd number of shots. I can't remember how much, but I remember being rather impressed that she could function in any capacity.

30. Out To Lunch

I worked for a staffing agency early in my career. One day, we got a call that one of our placements was taking his lunch break and not clocking out for it. Oh, and he was taking two-hour lunch breaks. Also, he brought in his George Foreman grill and cooked for himself in a highly flammable warehouse. So many crazy stories from that place…

31. The Wrong Man

My boss lost an internal power struggle and was soon fired. The official reason given was that he was submitting doctored expense reports. I wasn’t promoted, but was still given all of his responsibilities...plus I inherited his administrative assistant. Suddenly, charges for car service, local hotels, and local stores appeared on my corporate credit card.

I asked the assistant about the charges and she gave me an explanation that was plausible but that I knew wasn’t accurate. So I called the credit card company and contested the charges until they provided more information. I also started doing some of my own research on the charges. That's when it all became frighteningly clear.Turns out, the assistant was a drinker who lived with her dog in the local hotel—a hotel that I was getting charged for.

She was also having the car service pick up her booze at the local store and deliver it to her at the hotel. Why? Apparently, her dog had a nervous condition and he liked that hotel. He would get upset if she went out to the store after she got back from work, so she used the car service so she wouldn’t leave and upset the dog. She charged the expenses to our corporate cards because we “owed” her for making her come to work and leave her dog alone.

I got her fired and successfully fought the credit card charges. Even though I found the person actually committing the expense report problems, my boss was still considered “fired for cause” because he signed those expense reports.

32. A Bad Egg

I just fired an intern because he thought it'd be funny to smack one of the girls on the butt...except, that was just the tip of the iceberg. Upon further investigation, she had been having anxiety coming to work because he would ask all sorts of ridiculously inappropriate questions. For example, he once asked her if she had a good weekend.

When she told him yes or some plain answer, he then asked her if it was because she slept with her boyfriend a lot. Needless to say, her anxiety was warranted and we fired him as soon as we could. The mood in my group seems a bit more relaxed this week...

33. Everybody Has A Breaking Point

This was shortly before I joined the company. I'm the dispatcher for a local food delivery service. Anyway, we had this driver and she apparently decided enough was enough one day. The complaint was that she was an hour late and was very confrontational and messy. While being sternly reprimanded, we got another call from the customer.

They had opened the order, only to find mashed up a French fry and ketchup soup that she had made of a kid’s meal in the order. The chicken fingers were also eaten down to the burnt ends. They got a full refund and were offered a fresh meal brought by another driver, but they refused. When we confronted the original driver, her reply was “What? I was hungry. The fat little porker who answered the door could have missed a meal or two. What are you going to do? Fire me?"

She then tried to sue for discrimination because she claimed she was fired because she was gay.

34. It’s Not A Good Fit

I ran an in-house training course, and an apprentice from another department was sent along to see if she’d be a good fit for the job. It was a small room lined with computers along three walls, with me and a projector at the front. We had lots of practical examples to work on throughout the day, so each person sat at a computer for the duration.

We all agreed on a 30-minute lunch break, but she demanded a longer lunch as she had “things to do". I declined her 1.5-hour lunch break, and she took it anyway. She then used her computer to apply for another job during the practical part of the course. She had chosen a computer at the back, so I couldn't see what was on her screen from my position at the front—or, at least, she thought.

I paused to get everyone’s attention but she was so engrossed in what she was doing that she didn’t notice. I let the silence hang, which usually works to get people looking up sheepishly, but she still didn’t notice. Everyone in the course was now looking at her screen and we could all see she was applying for another job. We got through the course and I reported her to her manager, who fired her.

She left the company a negative Facebook review naming me as someone who harassed her because of her mental health.

35. Full Of Hot Air

I’m a mechanic. I had a co-worker who would poke a hole into customers’ tires just so they would come back and buy more—yes, he did it to new tires as well. We finally caught him one day after I found it odd that it was only the customersheput tires on that kept coming back for more tires. At first, I thought maybe he wasn't putting enough air into them, so I kind of hawk-eyed him without him knowing.

Sure enough, he would put the tire on the rim, and then he would put a small slit with his pocket knife into the tread on the tire. Caught him red-handed. Fired on the spot. Screw you, Brett.

36. All Signs Point To “Fired”

I managed a girl who was a loose cannon. She was a drinker who had multiple appointments every week. Psych, physio, solicitors, all of it. She was constantly disappearing from work at random hours for like half a day, and as her drinking intensified, she would show up stinking of booze. I’m a former drinker and the same age, so I tried my best with her.

Anyway, she was on the long stretch towards getting performance-managed, but she sped it up herself. We shared a building with the council and knew all of the staff, including the council rangers who patrol the streets and give tickets, etc. One morning, on her way to work, she saw a street sign she wanted to take to give to a friend (I cannot tell you why).

She pulled a screwdriver from her bag (why she had it, again, I cannot say) and unscrewed it while standing on a milk crate…in front of one of the rangers. She then brought it into the office, told everyone, and asked another staff member to hide it for her in case a ranger came looking for it. Then she also put photos of it on Instagram with the office and company signage in the background.

We had a meeting planned that day about her absenteeism and she told me about her little crime too because she thought it was a good laugh. Anyway, it took a few days, but she quit when HR started investigating.

37. High On Your Own Supply

I worked an administrative job and a new hire came in. We thought something was up with him as he was always spaced out, but we decided maybe he was just settling in. Then, one day, he called in sick only to turn up five minutes later...having no recollection of our conversation, he went up the stairs to the office and walked straight into a wall.

When he got to his desk, he watched sports on his computer which facing the whole office. We asked him to highlight some lines on a page and he colored the whole page in instead. We told our boss we thought he was on something. The boss thought we were exaggerating—that is until he kept doing things like this and we had to let him go.

We later found out he was a dealer selling out of his bedroom.

38. Wasn’t Me

I only know of this because it involved myself. I was a new hire at a security company, and I’d only been there about four months, give or take. One week, I was given a new assignment with a couple of other guys on rotation. Someone who got hired a week or so before I did gave me the obligatory tour of the site and pointed out some hot spots.

They showed me some key equipment that needed an eye on them, etc. Less than a week of shifts go by, and the same guy offered me a bump. I declined. Then, just over a month later, I had a perfectly fine shift with no issues. About an hour before my next shift started, my boss called me up, furious at me. Obviously confused, I got to the place early.

Well, the place had been turned over. The equipment is gone, the fence is busted wide open, the works. One of the on-site trailers has been broken into where just over a grand was taken from a safe I knew nothing about because it was always locked. Still, I was blamed as the culprit. It took less than five minutes of conversation with the boss to get it ironed out.

See, not only had stuff gone missing from this place, but other stuff had gone missing from other sites the other guy had been to before. For example, one of the things that were taken was towable, and they found it in the guy's driveway. He might as well have dipped his hands in red paint. Needless to say, he didn't work for that company after that.

39. Don’t Mix Business With Pleasure

I was working for an agency in New York City, and we went to a series of client meetings for starting a new project in Boston. One of the project managers who worked for the same agency in the LA office flew in and joined us for the week-long meetings with the customer. He was a super nice guy who did his homework and gave really good presentations.

Everyone liked him. After wrapping the meetings the whole week, I flew back to New York that Friday. The next week, there were supposed to be video conferences with the client, but they sent an email at the last minute saying that they are canceling all the meetings. Well, none of us thought much about it and carried on with the day. Until we found out the chilling reason for the drop.

In the evening, we learned from our boss that this “super nice” guy had sent his intimate photos to one of the female members of our client group. None of us could believe this, but it turned out to be completely true.

40. You Can’t Hide

I was a production control analyst in a call center about 10 years ago. I saw and heard more than you'd probably believe, and helped to term out more people than I will ever be comfortable with. The most insane but true complaint came from the housekeeping staff. The janitor walked up to me one day and said, "I got to close the men's restroom for a bit. I don't know who done it, but you need to find him".

Someone had smeared poop all over the walls in there. It took some detective work, but we found him; a guy had been hiding his mental issues when he started work there, and apparently, he hadn't been taking his medications in a while because he didn't want us to find out, even though he had insurance through us. So he went nuts and started smearing his own poop all over the restrooms.

There were apparently some other aberrations that led us to him and were listed as the actual behavioral reasons for his firing, but I never got the details.

41. Hope It Was Worth It

When I worked at Sam’s Club, one of the cashiers pocketed a few grand from his drawer and put it on Facebook. We were a new club, so if that much money went missing, it would have taken them a while to figure it out. Or so I was told. However, one of the managers overheard and they put two and two together. He was fired and then put behind bars.

42. Five Second Rule

One of my current co-workers told me this story the other day: He used to be a manager at a fast-food restaurant. He said that one night, after a busy rush, a woman called his store to complain that her fried food item had hair all over it. The manager denied this claim and assured the lady that the food items had never been in contact with hair, and would never have left the store in a dirty manner.

He backed his store and employees all the way and insisted that the woman was mistaken. Upon further investigation, one of the kitchen employees admitted that she had dropped a food item on the floor that night and didn’t want to risk having the customer wait an extra five minutes to make a new one. So yeah, very hairy burger, order up.

43. Feedback Welcome

I was reviewing employee evaluations at a Fortune 500 company, and one of them complimented an employee for improving as “he hadn't yet eaten any glue this quarter". I thought it was a mean joke about his intelligence, so I went to the manager and asked if there was a way she could cut the insults. Manager: “It's not an insult. I caught him eating glue twice last year. Wrote him up for it, too. He's the reason the folks in documents have had to switch to different glue types".

In these same comment evaluations, I found a comment card in our suggestions box that said, "Improve your seafood selection! Your trout made me sick!" We were a hardware store. The boss mentioned it at the next store meeting, laughing and taking bets on which customer left it and which store she'd mistaken us for. Marko, one of the assistant managers, went white as a sheet.

Boss: “What's the matter, Marko? Trout got your tongue?” Marko: “Umm, no, but that might have been me. I told a couple of customers about all the fish I caught on my vacation, and one of them asked if I'd caught any trout". So he sold them some trout.

44. Surf And Turfed

I once had a co-worker selling our shrimp from the dumpster. He picked them out after brunches, popped a few on a skewer, and then sold them in the bars that night. He eventually got caught in a bar with the manager, and the CCTV caught him dumpster diving.

45. A Hard Day’s Work

I spent my summers in college working as a laborer for a construction company. We were doing a bunch of renovations in an active hospital, so noise and dust were a huge concern. We were a small crew and just starting renovations on an area with a super tight schedule, so the company hired a subcontractor for some of the work. Enter these two clowns who showed up to do some demolition work.

The foreman gave them the talk about how they may be used to doing things a certain way, but as they would be working in an active hospital, he'd rather the work take longer than for them to make a huge mess or a lot of noise. An hour later, we apparently got multiple complaints about the noise and the mess, so the foreman called me up and told me to go over there and clean up. He also said he'd be by shortly to see what the heck was going on.

These dudes had dust and broken pieces of wall everywhere. I could hear them halfway down the hall, just smashing away without a care in the world. The foreman showed up and we walked into the room to witness this dude standing on a pile of rubble, swinging a sledgehammer over his head at a brick wall that he'd removed the bottom. Somehow, the rest of the wall was still hanging from the ceiling...I have no idea how.

The guy wasn't even wearing a hard hat, apparently oblivious that at any moment that wall might give way and crush him. The foreman lost his mind on these guys. He kicked them out immediately and got on the phone with their company and told them he didn't want to see these guys on-site again. Lots of choice four-letter words were used, and he even threatened to fire the subcontractor entirely and get someone else to do the work.

46. Toxic Environment

I had a number of complaints about a new member of staff soon after she started. They said that she kept taking off her shoes, pulling dry skin from her feet, and eating it. I thought the other staff was lying and being mean about her just because they didn't like her...Until I saw her do it. She didn't finish the week, but not because we fired her.

She quit about a week later. She didn't really get on with the other staff because they all thought she was a bit gross, and she quickly got into a bad mood because of it. That said, I'm not entirely blaming her. It’s a small group of staff, and they all collectively decide pretty quickly if they like or dislike someone. If they decide they like you, you're golden.

If they decide they don't like you, however, you are shut out. By all of them. It’s quite a brutal environment psychologically. She got cold-shouldered pretty quickly, and left before the week was out.

47. I’m Special

Early in my Navy career, there was this kid whose after-hours stunts were absolutely legendary. He was a nice guy who always seemed to be smiling, but the stories about his off-duty antics were just insane. Nothing crazy dark, just WILD. For example, he solicited a contract marriage on Craigslist, with benefits. He also paid his “wife” an allowance as part of the contract.

He loved to pay for intimacy while he drove around with someone else in the back seat— he’d pay them to sit there, too. He has a big, weird list of bedroom proclivities. Anyway, it finally got to the point where his supervisor was concerned enough to refer him to a mental health specialist. By the way, that does not happenin the Navy. Usually, you'd be hung out to dry or end up behind bars LONG before anyone ever considers the mental health option.

He ended up being the only guy I’ve ever known to be a medically diagnosed psychopath. As he put it, smiling, “They said I have an inability to experience human empathy!” He had to go home.

48. You Don’t Need It Where You’re Going

My coworker at the cemetery was selling plots, pocketing the money ($750), then selling the same plots to other families. The other families would show up ready to bury their deceased, only to find the graves already being used. He got away with it for a year before they caught up with him and he got fired. No idea how he thought he'd get away with it.

49. Mental Health Check

He was a new hire. He was kind of weird and definitely suffering from a lack of social skills, but whatever. Well, fast forward a few days—a customer came back to return a sweater, claiming that when they got home, there was blood on it. We looked. Yeah, there was blood. We looked up the transaction, which was only made about 45 minutes earlier.

The new hire had set it up. We went to find him, but he wasn't in his department. But that was not necessarily a big deal, since we had to go back into the warehouse for stuff all the time. So now we went to find him in the back and there he was, in the warehouse, cutting himself with a razor blade and bleeding all over the place.

50. The Doctor Is Out

I used to work at a rural hospital in Texas. We had a surgeon who was always asking the assisting nurses to leave the OR to get some random supplies. Fun fact: you are never supposed to have only one person in the OR, but he would always figure out some way. These were minimally invasive surgeries that just required sedation, so there were no other assists besides nurses.

He was the only physician. The door would also “mysteriously” lock and the nurse would have to knock to get back in. One of our nurses got fed up and knew something was going on, so she set up her phone to video him. That footage still haunts me to this day.It turned out he had been taking his, uh, “manhood” out around the patient. He was of course fired, but horrifically, he did not lose his license.

51. Stranger Than Fiction

Many years ago, the bookshop I worked at in the UK hired a new employee with terminal cancer. It was very sad since she was quite young. She wasn't around too much due to the chemotherapy, but when she was in, she worked in the children's department, and she was actually a pretty good salesperson. She was also was a huge fan of a fairly major American children's author.

She ran the UK branch of his fan club and knew him personally. He occasionally flew her out to the States for events. One day, she wasn't in, and all employees were called to a staff meeting. We were informed that she had passed. There was a lot of sadness, and her close colleagues were devastated. Then, we found out the jaw-dropping truth.

A few days later, one of our staff happened to go into a branch of McDonald’s in a nearby town. Guess who was working behind the counter? Go on, guess. Turns out, she was never ill. She had made the whole cancer thing up and also faked her own passing for reasons that we never really fully understood. The general consensus was that it started out as a way to connect with her favorite author and kind of spiraled from there.

In the end, she couldn't handle living the lie anymore and so... she had her mother tell people that she’d passed. Then she got a job at McDonald's a few miles down the road and was surprised when she got found out. That was a pretty what-the-heck sort of experience for us all.

Sources: 1, 2

Everybody knows that working in customer service is a thankless job at the very best and horrific at the very worst. But sometimes, it’s not the customer who is the problem—it’s the employees. The following retail, service, and office employees dealt with screeching Karens at the counter, only to turn around and find out the disturbing truth about their own co-workers in the backroom.

1. Stranger Than Fiction

Many years ago, the bookshop I worked at in the UK hired a new employee with terminal cancer. It was very sad since she was quite young. She wasn't around too much due to the chemotherapy, but when she was in, she worked in the children's department, and she was actually a pretty good salesperson. She was also was a huge fan of a fairly major American children's author.

She ran the UK branch of his fan club and knew him personally. He occasionally flew her out to the States for events. One day, she wasn't in, and all employees were called to a staff meeting. We were informed that she had passed. There was a lot of sadness, and her close colleagues were devastated. Then, we found out the jaw-dropping truth.

A few days later, one of our staff happened to go into a branch of McDonald’s in a nearby town. Guess who was working behind the counter? Go on, guess. Turns out, she was never ill. She had made the whole cancer thing up and also faked her own passingfor reasons that we never really fully understood. The general consensus was that it started out as a way to connect with her favorite author and kind of spiraled from there.

In the end, she couldn't handle living the lie anymore and so... she had her mother tell people that she’d passed. Then she got a job at McDonald's a few miles down the road and was surprised when she got found out. That was a pretty what-the-heck sort of experience for us all.

vaz_de_firenze

2. I’m Special

Early in my Navy career, there was this kid whose after-hours stunts were absolutely legendary. He was a nice guy who always seemed to be smiling, but the stories about his off-duty antics were just insane. Nothing crazy dark, just WILD. For example, he solicited a contract marriage on Craigslist, with benefits. He also paid his “wife” an allowance as part of the contract.

He loved to pay for intimacy while he drove around with someone else in the back seat— he’d pay them to sit there, too. He has a big, weird list of bedroom proclivities. Anyway, it finally got to the point where his supervisor was concerned enough to refer him to a mental health specialist. By the way, that does not happenin the Navy. Usually, you'd be hung out to dry or end up behind bars LONG before anyone ever considers the mental health option.

He ended up being the only guy I’ve ever known to be a medically diagnosed psychopath. As he put it, smiling, “They said I have an inability to experience human empathy!” He had to go home.

MoneyDoh

3. The Tip Of The Iceberg

The finance director was having an affair with his assistant, who was married to a different employee in the company. That's not the insane part, though. What's insane is how we found out. I was the HR director at the time, and a court investigation is still underway, so some details have been changed. One day, the CEO approached me about rumors of the finance director’s affair.

In retrospect, maybe I should've dug into it, but things were busy enough, so I discouraged him from listening to scuttlebutt. I said we should only worry if we thought there was an operational impact. Private lives are private, in my opinion. A few weeks later, our auditors got in touch to point out that a subcontractor had the same company name as a dormant business owned by the finance director.

A quick call to him followed and he confirmed that it was a mere coincidence. “That's funny,” said the auditor, “Because it has the same tax number, too". Whoops! Things happened quickly after that.The finance director, who was on holiday, resigned before we could push him with extreme prejudice. But at the end of the investigation, it turned out that he had set up a pal to work as a subcontractor so he could cream the profits off work sent his way.

Plus, he'd also been making creative use of the company credit card and had authorized a company loan to himself. A check of the company cell phone records showed that there had been communication between his ex-assistant and him since he jumped. So we recovered her phone, examined the SMS history, and found out not only that she was telling him about the progress of our internal investigation, but also the full history of their affair, with explicit detail.

The assistant's marriage imploded. She resigned. In the end, the whole affair swept up multiple employees who'd been involved in the fraud, gutted the finance team, and taught us all some valuable lessons.

precintomega

4.We’re All Friends Here

I was the head night auditor at an upscale airport hotel. We had a young night auditor who put a room into “out of order” status and let his friends party in it...for an “intimate group event” that he joined during his lunch break. He got caught because of a noise complaint. We called the authorities, and he was fired and blacklisted from being hired back.

Faethor_Ferenczy

5.Do You Know Who I Am?

I was working in a bank. We had a teller who was about 19 years old and he got really angry at the way a customer would send in her deposits at the drive-up window. He ended up complaining about the customer on a public Facebook post. But, oh, that was far from all.He also tagged the lady, as well as her store, in the post!

The customer, who was furious of course, called the bank and told me. I told the customer we would investigate, and then I asked the teller. He straight-up admitted it, saying, "What's she going to do about it? My grandfather is friends with the bank president". I called HR and the bank president on a conference call.

The girl lost her job in less than 15 minutes of me receiving the call from the customer. Breach of customer confidentiality in banking is a MAJOR law violation.

guessdragon

6. Power Plays

I worked in a factory. There was a kid whose father was the regional manager, so he felt like he could do whatever he wanted. This kid was maybe 18 years old and went around flashing a knife at people he didn’t like...which was basically everyone. It had a six-inch blade and he kept it under his shirt in a holster. He also harassed all the women, never did any work and blamed the temps for his failures.

He would constantly be pushing up against women and telling them what he wanted to do to them, and he eventook personal information from the computers for employee records to get their phone numbers and addresses. How he got access was easy—the manager above him let him use the computer with his password whenever he wanted because he always pulled the “I can do what I want because my dad is the regional manager" card.

He had tons of complaints against him. The authorities even showed up once and detained him at work, but nothing ever came of it. They took his knife as far as I know, but he had a new one a week later. Before I left, he was made a full manager, and whenever anyone went directly to his dad, his dad just sighed and kind of zoned out, acting like he couldn’t hear.

It was a messed up place, but luckily it closed down a few years back. I don’t know where he’s at now. A funny detail to add is some girl there did actually date him for like a month for some reason. She said it was literally the worst intimacy she ever had, so we got to have a laugh at him for a few days. That said, they had a massive argument and she was “let go” the next day when they broke up.

Responsible_Raisin88

7. A Shady Past

We hired a guy on a trial basis. He was super polite and careful when speaking to me, but several of my female employees told me that he was creepy when I wasn't around. After his first five days, one of them came to me and said almost verbatim: "I think he's a molester". She just had a gut feeling about him. So I ran a background check on him and...yep, he was convicted.

For what it’s worth, this was almost 20 years ago when it was not standard procedure to run background checks, and I was not in charge of that regardless. In this case, I requested it specifically from HR because the safety of my employees appeared to be at risk, but not one other time in my career did I feel the need to ask for one.

ThriftStoreUnicorn

8. In The Money

I knew a guy who worked at Subway back when they gave out stamps. Basically, for every six inches of sub you bought, you earned a stamp. Once you filled a card with eight stamps, you could get a free six-inch sub. So this guy started only giving stamps to customers who asked for them. If they didn't ask, he pocketed their stamps and grew a sizeable stack of complete stamp cards. Then he set his brilliant plan into motion.

Over time, he started cashing them in. Like, when a customer paid with cash, he would ring it in as a freebie, place his own completed stamp card in the till, and pocket the cash. The customer got their sub, the till was balanced, and he had an extra five to 10 bucks in his pocket. He worked there for a few years, and the word was he racked up a few thousand dollars running this scheme.

I have no idea if anybody complained or if he was ever caught, but he did buy a motorbike.

gutterferret

9. Every Dog Has Its Day

There was this guy named Gus who worked in retail with me. My boss told me, "Hey, this guy's got anxiety, go easy on him OK?" So I was like, okay, that's cool, I can relate. I did everything I could to help him make sense of the infernal godforsaken hellscape that is retail. He started off with little mistakes that were forgivable things—forgetting a task, accidentally giving the wrong information...things like that.

However, he quickly devolved in popularity as his complacency grew over time and his helpful attitude shrank. Gus started screwing around during his shift, getting caught on his phone while ignoring backup cashier calls, etc. He would also make stabbing motions behind the manager's back to other employees, then and play it all off like he was some innocent dope who didn't know any better.

None of this got him fired. Day after day, there was a new complaint from a different employee about some responsibilities he shirked. He also got reported for telling customers blatantly wrong info, saying stuff like, "Oh yeah, we have another location up on the hill" when we didn't. We had no idea whose son he was or whatever because that was apparently all kosher. What ACTUALLY got him fired was a doozy.

One day, he brought a dog wearing a super-expensive dog collar into work. He claimed he almost hit the dog on the way to work and it was running around wild, etc. He then tried to sell the dog collar to a customer, and even pushed to "adopt out" the dog to a co-worker. This co-worker was competent enough to take the dog to a vet, whereupon they found a microchip and contacted the actual owners.

THAT'S where the fun started. It came out that Gus never found the dog at all. He straight up KIDNAPPED this dog from his neighbor and tried to pawn it off, knowing full well what he was doing. The guy lawyered up immediately, tried to sue Gus, and threatened to sue the store and the store manager if Gus wasn't fired. Suffice to say, Gus was gone the very same evening. We talked about him for years and years.

10.Let’s Go To The Tape

A colleague checked out of the mediocre but adequate hotel where we were having a conference and checked into a 5-star luxury resort. She then submitted an expense report for her stay. She claimed that she felt unsafe in the original hotel, but did not elaborate. Someone called the hotel, which checked the security camera footage. We all thought she was crazy,but we were proven way wrong.

At least four separate men tried to enter her room that first night. No wonder she left.

tuesdayteatime

11. Work Is A Four-Letter Word

I was a supervisor at a movie theatre. We had a new hire, who had been on the job less than a week, throw a very loud, unbelievably childish tantrum in front of a lobby full of customers. It was a sight to behold. And why'd she do it? Because her direct supervisor asked her to sweep up some popcorn that a customer spilled. She kept screaming, "I ain't cleaning up someone else's mess! Make them do it!"

She was 24 years old. The meltdown she had when she got fired for her tantrum was nuclear, with lots of screaming and threats about how her parents were going to "call the company and get everyone fired!" The next day, someone claiming to be her dad did call and told us that we were “going to rehire my daughter and apologize to her or else".

But nothing more came of it—the top manager just laughed and hung up. I've never seen such an epic, entitled tantrum before or since.

FarmerTex

12. Oh, Poop

Our construction worker took a dump in the toilet of a vacant apartment that didn't have running water and then left without saying anything. All the workers were aware that they are supposed to use the bathrooms in the offices and clubhouses because the vacant units never have running water. The complex didn’t find it until three days later when they brought in a potential tenant for a walkthrough.

It had been over 100 degrees all week. The woman I spoke to said there wasn’t any toilet paper, either.

easy0lucky0free

13. An Acquired Taste

I had a co-worker who always had a really strong stench, and I thought it was just bad BO. Turns out, she was addicted to mothballs and she was licking them during working hours. The chemicals gave off an unbelievably strong smell through the skin. We got complaints about her odor but didn’t take them seriously since we thought people were just being jerks.

That is until someone saw her actively licking mothballs on the job. I was leaving my job when this was discovered and I was sworn to secrecy because it’s not the kind of thing we can advertise around our office. It was the kind of smell where you could never really quite put a finger on what it was, but once we figured it out, it made a lot of sense.

It doesn’t smell exactly like the real thing...more like it’s been processed through the body and skin.

sleepylun3

14. Phoning It In

I’m an HR head. I once got a call from a “private chat administrator” informing us that our official account was unpaid. They said they would take court action if we didn’t pay immediately. I thought it was a joke. And then we got an official notice! At that point, HR investigated, and the “chat” company sent us a copy of the phone calls.

As soon I played it, my co-worker’s face went white. She screamed, “I know this guy, he works in the supply chain!” Apparently, he had been making these chat calls using our company landline. We politely told him to pay up and settle the matter, and then we issued him a final warning letter. He’s lucky he didn’t lose his job that day.

ridersofthestorms

15. Why Can’t We Be Friends?

I work the night shift at a packing line. We had two new temps in, and they were polar opposites. One was a super bubbly religious guy who was pretty emotional. Like, he cried during his favorite songs. The other guy was grungy, pretty cynical, but a darned good worker. Well, they both ended up working on adjacent lines and I was training them.

Things were great until the bubbly guy decided it was his mission to befriend the grunge guy. The grunge dude wanted to be left alone so he could work, but the bubbly guy kept going to our team lead to tell her he couldn’t understand why the grunge guy wouldn’t be his friend. My team lead, who was oblivious and despised by most of our crew, came down and told them to play nice and be friends.

I told her that bubbles needed to leave grunge alone, but she wouldn’t have it. Grunge walked out, and bubbles cried for two nights straight. He never came back.

andrea519

16. You Think You Know Someone

We had this guy as a delivery driver. He was super nice, quiet, and never showed any signs of anger even in stressful situations. Then we started getting calls, mainly from older women, saying that our delivery driver was cutting them off, flipping them off, and calling them names. I didn’t believe it at first. I thought maybe they cut him off, he honked, and they wanted him fired so made up some big story.

Then I saw that the back window got busted out of the vehicle and the radio looked like it got punched out for whatever reason. Everything came together and we found out he had huge anger issues. He stopped showing up so it resolved itself, but it was crazy how good of a front he put on.

IdahoBaker

17. Long And Strong

This girl left an unbelievable and non-flushable gigantic poop both in and out of the toilet. I went into the bathroom to deal with what I thought was surely an exaggeration and probably just a standard, nasty diarrhea mess. But no. There was a single, unbroken, enormous log that was hanging down over the outside of the toilet seat, going up over the seat and back down through the hole into the drain, as far as the eye could see.

All in one piece. Flushing it had no effect. None. It didn't budge, it didn't wiggle. Nothing. Gravity didn't even pull it apart when it hung over the side of the bowl halfway to the ground. It was...well, it was unbelievable. No one knew what to do. No one wanted to clean it up. Someone wondered aloud if we should send her to the hospital. Honestly, I can't remember what happened next, only that there were tools involved, but I can still see that monster poop like it was yesterday.

It was in 1997. I could never look her in the face again. I just kept wondering HOW? Mattie, wherever you are, I hope you're doing better.

becausefrog

18. Drive Me Crazy

This happened recently at my driving job. I got this person through our training process and we set him out to train. The trainer came in, exasperated. Apparently, this dude couldn’t even drive, which was supposed to be the easy part of the job. He also couldn’t secure cargo, which was more challenging, but still a relatively straightforward task.

He started crying while driving, and he ignored instructions. This went on for a week. Eventually, the trainer said he was not going to be able to pass the guy. I told my boss his options were to have him retrain under another trainer, do a ride-along with him so he could draw his own conclusions, or just end the guy. Eventually, my boss opted to do the ride-along with him.

The guy nearly caused a wreck, all while doing exactly what I told him not to do just three minutes before. During his ride-along, he ran two stop signs and nearly had a head-on collision. My boss wanted to give him another week as long as he didn’t mess up his paperwork...but then he proceeded to back out of the lot with both hands off the wheel. Yeah, that was it.

KP_Wrath

19. Fake It Till You Break It

I got hired as a long-term temp with one other person to do some basic data entry work at a major brand that pretty much everyone has heard of. It was at their corporate headquarters too, so pretty prestigious. Anyway, we went through all of this on-boarding stuff in the morning that required us to get photo IDs and figure out parking and all that stuff.

Then, after two or three hours, we were introduced to one of the employees in the new department. They began telling us what we were going to be doing. None of it seemed overly difficult and I figured that while it was a new system I had never used before, I'd be able to work it out in a few days as long as I asked questions and took notes.

And that was the thing that made me realize that the other person who got hired with me probably lied on her resume. She was completely out of her depth—she didn't take any notes or ask any questions. And whenever I glanced at her, I could see flashes of panic on her face. Well, lunchtime came and when we came back, she said that another company had called her and offered her a permanent position so she couldn't work with us any longer.

Both myself and the person training us knew what was going on, but I'll give the other lady credit for finding a way out without losing face too badly. The takeaway here is: Yes, "Fake It Until You Make it" can and does work. But you gotta be able to fake it. You can't fake faking it.

PunchBeard

20. Best Friends For Never

I had a co-worker who was adamant about being my friend, and I did not reciprocate. It got to the point where I went to the owner of the company and straight up told them, “Please tell this guy I am here to work. I don’t want to be friends. I just want to work my job and then go home". I had told him several times before that that he was making my job difficult and I didn’t want to be friends.

I thought it was finally resolved when I went to the owners. I was so, so wrong. The next day, he came in and told me, “Even if you don’t want to be friends, I still see you as my best friend". Eventually, I went in to quit, and instead, they called me into the office to let me go. They said even though I was their hardest worker and got the most customer satisfaction the atmosphere was "too tense" when we both were working.

See, he had anger issues and would curse up a storm if I didn’t respond kindly to friendly banter. In front of customers. He would literally ignore customers to ask me things like, “What’s your favorite movie?” making me have to stop what I was doing to help the customer. He’d then go into the backroom and kick something or spew just tons of profanity that you could hear if I didn’t answer his question.

He even had a habit of yelling at and harassing customers. Anyway, the owners decided it was my fault for not wanting to be his friend. So they let me go. Really. Then they handed me a paycheck for $20 and told me not to worry, they hadn’t taken the taxes out. I heard they made him a manager and then later fired him after finding out he was taking merchandise.

I liked that job until he was hired.

IHaveFunWithMe

21. Thank You, Next

My document-processing clerk was getting married and going on his honeymoon, so I got a short-term temp. It wasn't a temp-to-hire, and everything was out in the open through a legit temp agency that generally performed thorough screening. Well, on the temp's very first day, he showed up with a box of things: photos, mugs, office equipment, and stuff to decorate a cubicle with.

I advised them not to unpack since we were getting right into training. Within two hours after I cut him loose on a computer and told him, "Let me know if you need anything or have any questions," he said, "This mouse is hurting my wrist. It gave me carpal tunnel. I'm going to need worker's comp paperwork". I made an immediate call to the agency to end this contract.

I then told the temp, "Your paperwork is at the temp agency office. Go ahead and go see your rep there". He left their box of stuff behind and I had to have the temp agency pick it up.

pienoceros

22.Working For The Weekend

My co-worker at a sandwich shop when I was 17 would “steal hours” by coming back to the store to clock himself out a couple of hours after he left. We made minimum wage and he was canned after the fourth time he did it. He took, at most, 40 dollars with that brilliant strategy.

spanx17

23. Red Redemption

I had a horrible supervisor once. I was working in the snack bar at a local Target, and we'd gone through a handful of employees who just didn't work out for whatever reason. Then, they hired this guy—I'll call him Red because he had reddish hair. He was to be a supervisor. He was probably in his late 20s, early 30s, somewhere around there. He was also a total jerk.

In case you don’t know, all the department leads at Target had walkie-talkies and headsets. Red had neither because we just didn't need them in the snack bar. Red, however, insisted that we did and threw a fit to multiple department leads, including the customer service lead, about it. Because of the store's location, we often had construction workers come in to grab a quick breakfast.

One of the construction workers who came in regularly for about two to three weeks was a lady, and Red decided to try and hit on her. When she told him she was married, he upped the ante. One day, she came in, and before she could even walk up to the counter, he reached out and grabbed her hand, trying to pull her towards him. Baaaad idea.

The next day, her husband, who was several inches taller, heavier, and more muscular than Red, came in and told him to leave his wife alone or he was gonna get it. Another time, Red started hitting on one of the pharmacists. She didn't want anything to do with him, so he followed her out to her car. When she locked the door and told him to get lost, he walked to the back of the car and started pushing up and down on the bumper.

This obviously freaked her out and she called the authorities. The absolute last straw was when he pulled a no-call, no-show. I'd left a note for our lead supervisor about his no-call, no-show and Red became absolutely furious at me. Like, screaming in my face, threatening to hit me. THAT got him fired. Why his other creepy behavior didn't, I’ll never know.

KnockMeYourLobes

24. It’s Always The Quiet Ones

We had an employee that was actively robbing local banks on his days off. I believe he hit eight to nine different banks before he got caught, and we only found out about it during an early morning FBI raid of the employee locker/break rooms, which was done in conjunction with a raid of his house. To say it was a shock was an understatement. He wasn’t even top 20 of my list of potential felonious employees.

naptrapped

25. What Goes Around Comes Around

My boss at a tech company was incredibly awful to me. Among many other things, she made me do push-ups for every minute I was late due to public transportation delays—even though the delays were somewhat normal for the commute I had. For “team bonding,” she would take us out to drinks and proceed to get blacked out. She was also sleeping with two of the other people on my team.

There were multiple times at said “team bonding” events where she and one of my other colleagues disappeared into a bathroom...I brought up some of this with HR when I quit, but no one ever looked into it. All the same, she ended up getting fired a few years later due to harassment. Worst boss EVER.

daisybunny

26. The Jewel Mule

The critical items at our jewelry counter were anything over $500 and they had to be counted at the start and end of each shift. Well, items kept going missing, and one of the other employees complained that it was a certain lady stuffing it up her hot pocket. Security took her to the bathroom. It was true. She had a men's necklace shoved up there.

I can't imagine who she was going to give that to.

stuckNTX_plzsendHelp

27. No Really, Pick On Somebody Your Own Size

I worked at a huge, well-known international company. There was this young, straight-out-of-college guy who we had just hired—as in, his first day had been the same week. He had moved from Eastern Europe to our corporate location. Cue company ski trip, with lots of free booze—some of his new colleagues who he thought were his "friends" told him that this woman was checking him out.

He started hitting on her, and mind you, he was already tipsy at that point. She told him to knock it off and that she wasn't interested. He kept being pushy. This large, scary dude beside the woman also told him to knock it off. He swung at the large, scary dude, and promptly found himself face first in the snow. The woman in question? Head of global HR. The large, scary dude? Head of global corporate security. The young schmuck? Fired.

arkaydee

28. Watch Your Mouth

I was a shift lead at a gas station. I had a customer tell me that one of my guys, who was like 80 years old, told him to “screw off” after the customer rolled his eyes at the price of an item. I talked to my guy because I was sure that, at the very least, the circumstances were different than the customer had claimed. Nope. It happened just like the customer said.

My guy apparently didn't realize his speaker was still turned on and said his spiel as soon as the customer's back was turned. The guy turned around and that started an even bigger verbal fight. I was mulling over what to do about it, but the very next morning, the employee showed up to work wasted, yelling about a bonus check that we owed him. That's when he got fired.

IOnlySayMeanThings

29. Party On, Sue

I used to work as a night auditor at a hotel, and one day I was told that one of the daytime workers was fired. She was this really sweet older lady who worked part-time. It was really hard to get fired there, so I was very curious. I soon regretted finding out the answer.Several customers had complained about her, concerned that there was something very off.

She was slurring and just seemed very off that day. Management was also concerned, at first thinking there was a medical issue. After a few more incidents, they checked the cameras and found out she was taking shots of straight Smirnoff throughout her shift. Like, an absurd number of shots. I can't remember how much, but I remember being rather impressed that she could function in any capacity.

EndyBendy33

30. Out To Lunch

I worked for a staffing agency early in my career. One day, we got a call that one of our placements was taking his lunch break and not clocking out for it. Oh, and he was taking two-hour lunch breaks. Also, he brought in his George Foreman grill and cooked for himself in a highly flammable warehouse. So many crazy stories from that place…

windwalker28

31. The Wrong Man

My boss lost an internal power struggle and was soon fired. The official reason given was that he was submitting doctored expense reports. I wasn’t promoted, but was still given all of his responsibilities...plus I inherited his administrative assistant. Suddenly, charges for car service, local hotels, and local stores appeared on my corporate credit card.

I asked the assistant about the charges and she gave me an explanation that was plausible but that I knew wasn’t accurate. So I called the credit card company and contested the charges until they provided more information. I also started doing some of my own research on the charges. That's when it all became frighteningly clear.Turns out, the assistant was a drinker who lived with her dog in the local hotel—a hotel that I was getting charged for.

She was also having the car service pick up her booze at the local store and deliver it to her at the hotel. Why? Apparently, her dog had a nervous condition and he liked that hotel. He would get upset if she went out to the store after she got back from work, so she used the car service so she wouldn’t leave and upset the dog. She charged the expenses to our corporate cards because we “owed” her for making her come to work and leave her dog alone.

I got her fired and successfully fought the credit card charges. Even though I found the person actually committing the expense report problems, my boss was still considered “fired for cause” because he signed those expense reports.

ajmsnr

32. A Bad Egg

I just fired an intern because he thought it'd be funny to smack one of the girls on the butt...except, that was just the tip of the iceberg. Upon further investigation, she had been having anxiety coming to work because he would ask all sorts of ridiculously inappropriate questions. For example, he once asked her if she had a good weekend.

When she told him yes or some plain answer, he then asked her if it was because she slept with her boyfriend a lot. Needless to say, her anxiety was warranted and we fired him as soon as we could. The mood in my group seems a bit more relaxed this week...

BabyEinstein2016

33. Everybody Has A Breaking Point

This was shortly before I joined the company. I'm the dispatcher for a local food delivery service. Anyway, we had this driver and she apparently decided enough was enough one day. The complaint was that she was an hour late and was very confrontational and messy. While being sternly reprimanded, we got another call from the customer.

They had opened the order, only to find mashed up a French fry and ketchup soup that she had made of a kid’s meal in the order. The chicken fingers were also eaten down to the burnt ends. They got a full refund and were offered a fresh meal brought by another driver, but they refused. When we confronted the original driver, her reply was “What? I was hungry. The fat little porker who answered the door could have missed a meal or two. What are you going to do? Fire me?"

She then tried to sue for discrimination because she claimed she was fired because she was gay.

Professional_March54

34. It’s Not A Good Fit

I ran an in-house training course, and an apprentice from another department was sent along to see if she’d be a good fit for the job. It was a small room lined with computers along three walls, with me and a projector at the front. We had lots of practical examples to work on throughout the day, so each person sat at a computer for the duration.

We all agreed on a 30-minute lunch break, but she demanded a longer lunch as she had “things to do". I declined her 1.5-hour lunch break, and she took it anyway. She then used her computer to apply for another job during the practical part of the course. She had chosen a computer at the back, so I couldn't see what was on her screen from my position at the front—or, at least, she thought.

I paused to get everyone’s attention but she was so engrossed in what she was doing that she didn’t notice. I let the silence hang, which usually works to get people looking up sheepishly, but she still didn’t notice. Everyone in the course was now looking at her screen and we could all see she was applying for another job. We got through the course and I reported her to her manager, who fired her.

She left the company a negative Facebook review naming me as someone who harassed her because of her mental health.

_PacificSpecific_

35. Full Of Hot Air

I’m a mechanic. I had a co-worker who would poke a hole into customers’ tires just so they would come back and buy more—yes, he did it to new tires as well. We finally caught him one day after I found it odd that it was only the customersheput tires on that kept coming back for more tires. At first, I thought maybe he wasn't putting enough air into them, so I kind of hawk-eyed him without him knowing.

Sure enough, he would put the tire on the rim, and then he would put a small slit with his pocket knife into the tread on the tire. Caught him red-handed. Fired on the spot. Screw you, Brett.

The_Sad_

36. All Signs Point To “Fired”

I managed a girl who was a loose cannon. She was a drinker who had multiple appointments every week. Psych, physio, solicitors, all of it. She was constantly disappearing from work at random hours for like half a day, and as her drinking intensified, she would show up stinking of booze. I’m a former drinker and the same age, so I tried my best with her.

Anyway, she was on the long stretch towards getting performance-managed, but she sped it up herself. We shared a building with the council and knew all of the staff, including the council rangers who patrol the streets and give tickets, etc. One morning, on her way to work, she saw a street sign she wanted to take to give to a friend (I cannot tell you why).

She pulled a screwdriver from her bag (why she had it, again, I cannot say) and unscrewed it while standing on a milk crate…in front of one of the rangers. She then brought it into the office, told everyone, and asked another staff member to hide it for her in case a ranger came looking for it. Then she also put photos of it on Instagram with the office and company signage in the background.

We had a meeting planned that day about her absenteeism and she told me about her little crime too because she thought it was a good laugh. Anyway, it took a few days, but she quit when HR started investigating.

SaltedCaramelDraino

37. High On Your Own Supply

I worked an administrative job and a new hire came in. We thought something was up with him as he was always spaced out, but we decided maybe he was just settling in. Then, one day, he called in sick only to turn up five minutes later...having no recollection of our conversation, he went up the stairs to the office and walked straight into a wall.

When he got to his desk, he watched sports on his computer which facing the whole office. We asked him to highlight some lines on a page and he colored the whole page in instead. We told our boss we thought he was on something. The boss thought we were exaggerating—that is until he kept doing things like this and we had to let him go.

We later found out he was a dealer selling out of his bedroom.

Necessary-Fox4780

38. Wasn’t Me

I only know of this because it involved myself. I was a new hire at a security company, and I’d only been there about four months, give or take. One week, I was given a new assignment with a couple of other guys on rotation. Someone who got hired a week or so before I did gave me the obligatory tour of the site and pointed out some hot spots.

They showed me some key equipment that needed an eye on them, etc. Less than a week of shifts go by, and the same guy offered me a bump. I declined. Then, just over a month later, I had a perfectly fine shift with no issues. About an hour before my next shift started, my boss called me up, furious at me. Obviously confused, I got to the place early.

Well, the place had been turned over. The equipment is gone, the fence is busted wide open, the works. One of the on-site trailers has been broken into where just over a grand was taken from a safe I knew nothing about because it was always locked. Still, I was blamed as the culprit. It took less than five minutes of conversation with the boss to get it ironed out.

See, not only had stuff gone missing from this place, but other stuff had gone missing from other sites the other guy had been to before. For example, one of the things that were taken was towable, and they found it in the guy's driveway. He might as well have dipped his hands in red paint. Needless to say, he didn't work for that company after that.

Nogarda

39. Don’t Mix Business With Pleasure

I was working for an agency in New York City, and we went to a series of client meetings for starting a new project in Boston. One of the project managers who worked for the same agency in the LA office flew in and joined us for the week-long meetings with the customer. He was a super nice guy who did his homework and gave really good presentations.

Everyone liked him. After wrapping the meetings the whole week, I flew back to New York that Friday. The next week, there were supposed to be video conferences with the client, but they sent an email at the last minute saying that they are canceling all the meetings. Well, none of us thought much about it and carried on with the day. Until we found out the chilling reason for the drop.

In the evening, we learned from our boss that this “super nice” guy had sent his intimate photos to one of the female members of our client group. None of us could believe this, but it turned out to be completely true.

prajesh1986

40. You Can’t Hide

I was a production control analyst in a call center about 10 years ago. I saw and heard more than you'd probably believe, and helped to term out more people than I will ever be comfortable with. The most insane but true complaint came from the housekeeping staff. The janitor walked up to me one day and said, "I got to close the men's restroom for a bit. I don't know who done it, but you need to find him".

Someone had smeared poop all over the walls in there. It took some detective work, but we found him; a guy had been hiding his mental issues when he started work there, and apparently, he hadn't been taking his medications in a while because he didn't want us to find out, even though he had insurance through us. So he went nuts and started smearing his own poop all over the restrooms.

There were apparently some other aberrations that led us to him and were listed as the actual behavioral reasons for his firing, but I never got the details.

AnArdentAtavism

41.Hope It Was Worth It

When I worked at Sam’s Club, one of the cashiers pocketed a few grand from his drawer and put it on Facebook. We were a new club, so if that much money went missing, it would have taken them a while to figure it out. Or so I was told. However, one of the managers overheard and they put two and two together. He was fired and then put behind bars.

Spirited_Dot_2629

42. Five Second Rule

One of my current co-workers told me this story the other day: He used to be a manager at a fast-food restaurant. He said that one night, after a busy rush, a woman called his store to complain that her fried food item had hair all over it. The manager denied this claim and assured the lady that the food items had never been in contact with hair, and would never have left the store in a dirty manner.

He backed his store and employees all the way and insisted that the woman was mistaken. Upon further investigation, one of the kitchen employees admitted that she had dropped a food item on the floor that night and didn’t want to risk having the customer wait an extra five minutes to make a new one. So yeah, very hairy burger, order up.

43. Feedback Welcome

I was reviewing employee evaluations at a Fortune 500 company, and one of them complimented an employee for improving as “he hadn't yet eaten any glue this quarter". I thought it was a mean joke about his intelligence, so I went to the manager and asked if there was a way she could cut the insults. Manager: “It's not an insult. I caught him eating glue twice last year. Wrote him up for it, too. He's the reason the folks in documents have had to switch to different glue types".

In these same comment evaluations, I found a comment card in our suggestions box that said, "Improve your seafood selection! Your trout made me sick!" We were a hardware store. The boss mentioned it at the next store meeting, laughing and taking bets on which customer left it and which store she'd mistaken us for. Marko, one of the assistant managers, went white as a sheet.

Boss: “What's the matter, Marko? Trout got your tongue?” Marko: “Umm, no, but that might have been me. I told a couple of customers about all the fish I caught on my vacation, and one of them asked if I'd caught any trout". So he sold them some trout.

technos

44.Surf And Turfed

I once had a co-worker selling our shrimp from the dumpster. He picked them out after brunches, popped a few on a skewer, and then sold them in the bars that night. He eventually got caught in a bar with the manager, and the CCTV caught him dumpster diving.

pineapplewin

45. A Hard Day’s Work

I spent my summers in college working as a laborer for a construction company. We were doing a bunch of renovations in an active hospital, so noise and dust were a huge concern. We were a small crew and just starting renovations on an area with a super tight schedule, so the company hired a subcontractor for some of the work. Enter these two clowns who showed up to do some demolition work.

The foreman gave them the talk about how they may be used to doing things a certain way, but as they would be working in an active hospital, he'd rather the work take longer than for them to make a huge mess or a lot of noise. An hour later, we apparently got multiple complaints about the noise and the mess, so the foreman called me up and told me to go over there and clean up. He also said he'd be by shortly to see what the heck was going on.

These dudes had dust and broken pieces of wall everywhere. I could hear them halfway down the hall, just smashing away without a care in the world. The foreman showed up and we walked into the room to witness this dude standing on a pile of rubble, swinging a sledgehammer over his head at a brick wall that he'd removed the bottom. Somehow, the rest of the wall was still hanging from the ceiling...I have no idea how.

The guy wasn't even wearing a hard hat, apparently oblivious that at any moment that wall might give way and crush him. The foreman lost his mind on these guys. He kicked them out immediately and got on the phone with their company and told them he didn't want to see these guys on-site again. Lots of choice four-letter words were used, and he even threatened to fire the subcontractor entirely and get someone else to do the work.

Davran

46. Toxic Environment

I had a number of complaints about a new member of staff soon after she started. They said that she kept taking off her shoes, pulling dry skin from her feet, and eating it. I thought the other staff was lying and being mean about her just because they didn't like her...Until I saw her do it. She didn't finish the week, but not because we fired her.

She quit about a week later. She didn't really get on with the other staff because they all thought she was a bit gross, and she quickly got into a bad mood because of it. That said, I'm not entirely blaming her. It’s a small group of staff, and they all collectively decide pretty quickly if they like or dislike someone. If they decide they like you, you're golden.

If they decide they don't like you, however, you are shut out. By all of them. It’s quite a brutal environment psychologically. She got cold-shouldered pretty quickly, and left before the week was out.

47. You Don’t Need It Where You’re Going

The cemetery director was selling plots, pocketing the money ($750), then selling the same plots to other families. The other families would show up ready to bury their deceased, only to find the graves already being used. He got away with it for a year.

ChumBucket311

48. Mental Health Check

He was a new hire. He was kind of weird and definitely suffering from a lack of social skills, but whatever. Well, fast forward a few days—a customer came back to return a piece of merchandise, claiming that when they got home, there was blood on it. We looked. Yeah, there was blood. We looked up the transaction, which was only made about 45 minutes earlier.

The new hire had set it up. We went to find him, but he wasn't in his department. But that was not necessarily a big deal, since we had to go back into the warehouse for stuff all the time. So now we went to find him in the back and there he was, in the warehouse, cutting his wrists with a razor blade and bleeding all over the place.

Osiris32

49.Imperfect Strangers

I found out that this guy was stalking a female employee. We worked at a 24-hour retailer and she was a morning shift worker while he was a night shift worker. Basically, there was no way they knew each other. Then, one day, I was filling in for a different manager and he came into the break room, taking pictures of the morning shift schedule.

I asked him why and he told me some story about another employee who just wanted him to send their schedule to them. I came in on my day off later that week during the day shift and caught him staring at her from a different aisle while she was stocking. She had no idea. The full story was so creepy, though.He would follow her home and watch her house and all that.

She was 17, he was 38. I called the authorities and had him escorted off the property. I also helped her get in touch with the right resources for a restraining order. He ended up violating the order multiple times and the last I heard, he’s behind bars.

notimprezaed

50.The Doctor Is Out

I used to work at a rural hospital in Texas. We had a surgeon who was always asking the assisting nurses to leave the OR to get some random supplies. Fun fact: you are never supposed to have only one person in the OR, but he would always figure out some way. These were minimally invasive surgeries that just required sedation, so there were no other assists besides nurses.

He was the only physician. The door would also “mysteriously” lock and the nurse would have to knock to get back in. One of our nurses got fed up and knew something was going on, so she set up her phone to video him. That footage still haunts me to this day.It turned out he had been taking his, uh, “manhood” out around the patient. He was of course fired, but horrifically, he did not lose his license.

Future_Custard_

51. I Don’t Like The Cut Of His Jib

This guy was teasing another employee really, really badly. Like, American high school movies in the '80s badly. The reason? He was from out of town. That was it. I thought there HAD to be more to the drama, so I went to the location, interviewed a few people, watched it happen myself, and…yeah, it seemed like this guy could NOT take the fact that this kid was from another state.

I was absolutely expecting the sort of drama that location was more famous for—like baby daddies, sleeping with someone’s wife, etc. But nope…

Wit-wat-4

Sources: 1, 2

Five legendary words are the reason shows like Jerry Springer and Maury were so good: “You are NOT the father!”

1. Calm And Uncollected

I used to work in the newborn nursery at a hospital. We get the babies right from delivery, clean them up, footprint them, check their vitals, etc. Dads usually came in with the newborns. So one day, this dad came in with this baby. The dad was white, the mom was white, and the baby was very obviously not white. The dad was very quiet standing next to the baby, watching us clean it up.

He said quietly, "I don't think this is my baby". You could tell he was absolutely devastated. We advised him not to sign the birth certificate until he was sure. Not sure what happened after we sent the baby back out to the mom, but I felt awful for the guy.

2. Oops Baby

I've never cheated on my husband, and after our second kid, he had a vasectomy. Cut to a year later—I discovered I was pregnant (and then subsequently lost the pregnancy). I began to freak out because I knew I hadn't done anything wrong, but I was scared everyone else would think I did. Turns out, my husband was embarrassed to do the whole cup thing at his doctor's, so he never did the sperm count test.

He still had a count and needed further "treatment". Scariest darned day of my life.

3. Chosen Family

My fiancé’s father is almost certainly not his biological dad. His mom was just a genuinely terrible human being who didn’t even try to hide the fact she was cheating. But his dad loved him from the second he was born, and when his mom decided four years later she just didn’t want him anymore, she just gave him to his "dad" and rode off. His dad ended up getting remarried and they tried for kids before finding out his sperm count was too low to ever father children (they ended up adopting many years later). He sat my fiancé down when he was 13 and told him the truth. The dad said that if he wanted to do a test they would, but it was up to him.

My fiancé cried and told him he just wanted him to be his dad, and that was the end of that.

4. Never A Dull Moment

My wife is a registered nurse as well as a hospital supervisor. “Code Yellow” is the code over the intercom for security and/or large male nurses needed. It rarely ever happens, but every now and then, over the speakers, you hear a “Code Yellow to Labor and Delivery". You know the reason.

5. His Own Mother Wouldn’t Love Him

When I was born, I had to be taken away due to a medical issue. My mother only saw me for a split second. When I finally came back, I was quite tanned because my dad’s side of the family is, but my own mother didn’t even recognize me. She apparently made a big fuss, saying, “This isn’t my child, this baby is Black!” Labor really can mess up your head.

6. Double Trouble

I worked as a lab tech before I became a nurse. We had a set of twins in the NICU that arrived super early and the mom was still in the OR getting sewed up from the cesarean. I was drawing Baby B’s blood when the mom was wheeled over to Baby A’s isolette. She was crying and said, “Oh, thank the heavens you’re not Black! I have been so worried the last seven months".

Newborn babies, especially when they’re born early, are very pink; almost red, even. So if a baby was part-Black, their skin isn’t necessarily dark yet. But looking at the babies, I knew the truth. It was obvious they were going to be Black. The shape of the face, the texture of the hair...plus, Baby B had an intense Mongolian spot, which you generally see in African American babies.

A few weeks later, my NICU coworker told me that the babies were now on a “no-info status,” which indicated a security alert. We couldn’t give anyone information about them, refer to them by name, etc. She said there was a huge fight because the mom’s husband (who was a white guy) obviously noticed that the babies were half-Black and he accused the mom of cheating on him.

The real dad, a Black guy, came in and didn’t realize the mom was even married. Those poor babies.

7. Too Young To Love

I worked in labor and delivery. One day, we had a very young mother come in, accompanied by her parents. She was just 12 years old and the parents looked stuffy. They kept telling her she should've had an abortion and that she was too young to be a mother, etc. Her mother was silent for most of the time but leaked tears for her constantly. While she labored, I received a call from a very young boy who said he was her boyfriend.

Her father wouldn't let him come to the hospital. I explained that I couldn't give out information, but he could talk to her afterward. I went in, told her he had called, and she showed me a picture of him. He was white with straight red hair and a pimply face—the runt of the litter. About an hour later, her Phys. Ed. teacher stopped by to check on her, which I thought was odd. We didn't get many teachers checking on students, as you can imagine.

He was the total opposite of the boyfriend: tall and very muscular with a beautiful smile and rich, chocolate brown skin. The girl's father then accompanied her to the delivery room. Odd again, but OK. The more she pushed, the louder she cried. In between, she kept saying, “Sorry daddy". Finally, out slid a very beautiful, chocolate brown baby boy.

I thought her father was going to pass the heck out on my delivery room floor. I did my usual "It's a boy!" and said nothing else. I handed him off to a nursery nurse and got dad a chair. The girl said, "I'm sorry daddy," over and over again still. Her mom, now frowned up, came to see the baby. She took one look, then started asking God for forgiveness.

I sent her dad home a short bit later, admonishing him to react at home. I set up a time for our counselor to meet with him before I left. After talking to the girl, she admitted her gym teacher had been giving her "special treatment". I explained intimacy to her and she said she'd only kissed the boyfriend, but had stayed after school to be with her gym teacher.

I'm state-mandated to report child mistreatment, so I did. Two weeks later, with her world shattered—her baby was given up for adoption. I wish her the best. This was in 1989.

8. Crisis Averted

My wife and I are both brown-skinned, dark-haired half-Mexicans, and our moms are both 100% white blondes with blue and green eyes. All this to say, we sort of knew it was going to be a genetic gamble with our baby, but the nurse who was assisting with the delivery had no idea. At one point, she got sort of nervous and called for help. Another nurse, likely more senior in position, came in.

She nodded and came over to talk to me. I thought there was something wrong with the baby as she came over and stumbled through some questions. Then, finally, she asked if either of us happened to be blonde growing up. I said I was and that both the baby's grandparents are as blonde as they come. This wave of relief went over her and she brought me over to see this blonde as heck crowning baby head.

It's funny because he looked just like me but with whiter skin. We often get awkward questions about his heritage and my wife always hits them with, "Yeah, we're not sure if he's mine". It's always funny to see people nod for a moment and then go "Wait, what?"

9. Done And Dusted

I had a college buddy whose fiancée was pregnant. They were the "perfect couple". They both had great careers starting out, and everything was butterflies and rainbows, etc. Fast forward to the delivery room—they were in there, and out came a very Black baby. He was quite the pale redhead, and she was a blonde, blue-eyed Texas girl. He made sure everyone was OK, waited for her parents to arrive, then left without saying a word.

He moved all his stuff out of the house while she was in the hospital and cut off all communications with her. Just walked out of their lives in the most stone-cold act I'd ever seen. They were together for nine years, and he just left cold turkey. She tried to contact him at his job a few times, but he quickly moved up the ladder and eventually got a job in another city.

He told me once that he took solace in the fact that her family had already dropped about $10k in a wedding that never happened.

10. Slow News Day

I used to work with a guy whose wife was pregnant. Near the delivery time, everyone at our place of business had a big party with gifts, money, etc. When the big day arrived, her water broke, and they got in the car to go to the hospital. She broke the news to him in a horrific way. She told him the baby was not his and that the kid would be of another race. She also requested that he just drop her off at the hospital and then leave.

He took a few days off work, found a new apartment, moved out, filed for divorce, etc. He called into work and told someone what happened, so the news spread pretty fast. All of the congratulations cards were cleaned up and thrown away. Everyone was very sensitive to his pain. Except, somehow—I don’t know how—I did not get the news.

So on his first day back, I walked into the office he shared with six other guys and said, “Hey hey, Daddio, how’s fatherhood so far? Getting any sleep? Got some pictures? Let’s see the little tyke!” He slowly lifted his head to look at me with a painful gaze. The room was completely silent. One of his workmates stood up, grabbed my arm, and walked me out of the room, shushing me.

“What happened, “ I asked, “Did it pass? What’s the problem?” When he told me everything, I about expired myself. I still feel bad for the dude and it’s been 30 years.

11. Pulling A Fast One

My ex-girlfriend delivered a baby while I was in the delivery room and turns out it wasn't mine. She was 16, while I was 15. All along, I was under the impression that the kid was mine and it was time for me to be an adult. I took all the classes, read the books, and worked every night and weekend to save whatever money I could as a 15-year-old.

When I finally got the call that she was in labor, I had somebody rush me to the ER. Luckily for her, it didn't last long—only about six hours—but there was a complication. The baby came out with the umbilical cord wrapped around its neck. The doctor assured us it was going to be OK, but the nurses were prepping for things to go south. When the baby came out, it was a light shade of purple.

The nurses immediately took the baby and put on the smallest mask they had on it; to help it get the oxygen I guess. I was too panicked to ask a lot of questions. They told us they needed to keep the baby on watch overnight, so I stayed in the room with my ex. The next evening, the baby was back in the room with us and all seemed well. The ex was asleep, and the same nurse from the night before came into the room and beckoned me out.

She told me that at risk of her losing her job, she had to break some harsh news to me. She said that kid was not mine and that, while at this stage it wasn't obvious, over the next few weeks it would become clear that the kid was mixed. Since both of us were white, there was a high probability that it wasn't mine. Cue a mixed bag of emotions, and me promptly waking my ex to get a little clarification.

I came to find out that she knew the chances and was just hoping it was mine because it worked better for her. Apparently, her father was old school and conservative, and she didn't want to have to deal with that. I left the hospital to collect my thoughts, and a few weeks later, I was served with child support papers. One DNA test and about six weeks later, I was determined to be 0.0% that kid’s father.

Wherever that nurse is now, I hope her life is amazing. I understand that she was not supposed to get involved in the personal side of things, but she saved me a lot of additional headaches.

12. The Past Is Present

My brother told me this story about a man he used to work with. My brother's work friend is from an eastern European country and he came to the US many, many moons ago to start his family. One of his sons met a nice girl and they planned to get married, but life happened and the girl got pregnant before they could plan something big together.

Regardless, the whole family was excited about the new baby. The father-to-be was absolutely ecstatic and they had a small ceremony just before the baby was born. When the delivery time came, out popped this little boy who was about 50 shades darker than either parent, and the new dad absolutely lost his mind. In his heartbroken rage, he accused his new bride of cheating on him, disowned the child, and raged right out of the delivery room, leaving the new mom all alone with her mountain of shame.

This guy returned to his family and continued his hate-filled rampage. He exclaimed to his family that his new wife had cheated on him because the baby looked nothing like him. The family was shocked, as they never would have believed this sweet young thing would do that to their son. It was absolute shame and misery all around. Well, sitting in a dark little corner of the room, little tiny grandma chirped up and had a story to tell.

Apparently, back in her glory days, during some conflict or another, she had a great summer fling with a French soldier. A Black French soldier. She got knocked up and due to the times, she had to keep the baby, hoping her family didn't throttle her before she could abandon it somewhere. She ended up meeting her husband shortly after getting knocked up, and things just progressed as if it was his child.

And wouldn't you know, the little thing popped out white as snow. She breathed a sigh of relief because that was going to be the easiest lie for her to keep, ever. So this poor guy had been carrying around this super melanin gene his whole life, knocked up his wife, and it decided to all come out on his sweet little boy. Thankfully, the whole family went with him to the hospital.

The grandma had a picture of her old fella as proof, and the husband and wife were reunited.

13. Switched At Birth

This happened with my husband's parents. This was 40+ years ago when they took the baby away to be all cleaned up. My husband's dad looked at the baby and said, "That is not my son!" The nurse says: "Oh, yes it is. Sometimes they just look different after they're cleaned up". But he still asserted, "No! That is definitely not my son!"

Then, down the hall, they heard another parent say to his partner, "WHAT THE HECK, THIS BABY IS WHITE! YOU CHEATED ON ME?!" The nurse got wide-eyed and said, “Let me go check on that" and scooped up the baby. Turns out, they accidentally switched the babies. It's a great story, but wow...Can you imagine if they just hadn't noticed?!

14. Free And Clear

A friend of mine got pregnant in high school. She claimed it was our local doctor’s son’s kid, so he agreed to deliver his grandchild for free. Well, when the child was delivered, it was obviously half African-American, and the doctor’s son and the girl were both white. I think he still delivered it for free, as he was relieved his 14-year-old son wasn’t a dad.

15. Unhappy Birthday

Labor and delivery nurse here. Black babies are usually a lot lighter at birth. Not everyone is aware of this, so I’ve had a few dramatic deliveries where the father looks at the baby and accuses the mom of cheating because the baby isn’t as dark. There’s always a lot of drama, but if the father is accusing the mother of cheating right after the delivery of their child, then their relationship dynamic might not be the best, to begin with.

16. Order Up

I work in anesthesia. One of my colleagues had someone deliver a baby with "Steve's Lunchbox" tattooed above the, er, "birth canal". Not really thinking, the OB-GYN said to the father after the delivery: "Congratulations, Steve". The guy replied that his name was indeed not Steve. I think the doctor felt like a bit of a fool after that one.

17. That’s That, Brittany

I worked in the army hospital in Fort Lewis. A woman came in for belly pain and we found out that she was 10 weeks pregnant. The husband at her bedside started laughing, then he grabbed his coat and left the room. When he explained the situation to us, everything made sense—he said he had been in Afghanistan until three weeks prior. He looked back and her and just said, “Well, that’s that, Brittany".

I always liked how classily he left her while she just silently stared off into space.

18. The Proof Is In The Pudding

When I was born, the Indian doctor told my very, very white parents: "Oh, she looks like an ethnic baby!" It became a funny story years later, but I imagine that it wasn't so funny when my brunette mother had to explain to my blonde dad that yes, the baby with a full head of long, jet-black hair was actually his child. I always wondered if my dad had some doubts about me during the first few months of my life before my hair turned blonde.

19. Caught Red-Handed

I’m a nurse in a Level 4 neonatal ICU. We service the sickest of the sick from our state and the surrounding states, so we see it all. One time, we had a baby that was sick as snot. Lo and behold, we discovered its blood, spinal fluid, etc. was completely septic with herpes. In most babies, we avoid this by treating herpes while the mom is pregnant.

In this case, however, the mom didn’t even know she was a carrier. So where did it come from? This is the awkward and sickening moment when everyone in the room learned the truth. Turns out, the father had an affair and contracted the virus from his lover. So yeah, while the woman’s baby was on the verge of passing, she also found out her husband had been cheating on her. His cheatin’ heart is the reason their baby was sick.

20. Up And Outta Here

My best friend was dating a girl and he knocked her up. They got engaged, then planned to get married right after the baby was born. There were about 10 of us in the waiting room waiting for her to crank out the baby. It was essentially her parents, some of her friends, and some of ours. After we were sitting there for about two hours, he walked out with a smirk on his face.

He said, "Let's go". We all thought something horrible had happened. Her friends asked him how the baby was, and he said, "Fine, but Black". He motioned for us to go, so we followed him. In the parking garage, he told us to follow him to his apartment, then he sent me a text asking if I could put him up for a while. We literally moved him out of his apartment and into my spare bedroom in like an hour, tops.

Her parents didn't know who to be mad at. The confusion on their faces when he told them the baby was Black was priceless.

21. Lost In Translation

I am a nurse working in labor and delivery. Most of the time, if the mom thinks the baby may not be her boyfriend’s or husband’s, they will just have their friend, sister, mom, or whoever is with them there for the delivery and have the dad come to the hospital room after they’ve seen the baby. There are no guarantees because babies can change a lot over a couple of weeks.

Many African American babies have very light skin when they are born and it eventually gets darker. I have had a patient’s husband get upset about the baby being too light (they were both Black) until his mom smacked him and told him that's what he looked like when he was born. Recently, I had something interesting happen that was along the same lines.

This girl came to the hospital in labor with her boyfriend, sister, and friend. The boyfriend didn't seem too engaged during the process, but that was not uncommon. The baby was born and is fine, and the sister sent the dad to get some stuff. Keep in mind: all of the people involved were Hispanic and only spoke Spanish. My Spanish just so happened to be pretty decent.

As soon as the dad left, the sister was like, “I have a question for you” and then proceeded to say something I couldn't understand at all. I asked her to clarify, but I was just not getting it, so I offered to go get the translator. She was like, “No! I don’t want it to be official". She then whipped out her phone and through Google translate asked me, "How can we get a paternity test in the hospital?"

I then had to explain that we really didn't do that, but she could get one at CVS. They told me that the baby didn't look like the couple's other child and that it might be someone else's, but they want to check before telling him. I just apologized and told them how they could get a DNA test at CVS. This wasn't the first time I'd been asked about paternity testing; I just had no idea how to say it in Spanish.

Some hospitals used to offer paternity testing, but many no longer do because it is not usually seen as medically necessary. Also, they usually aren't covered by Medicaid or insurance, so the hospital ends up eating the cost. You don't know anyone else's life circumstances, so it is best to reserve judgment about the choices they have made because not every situation is cut and dry.

Plenty of biological fathers leave and do not support their children, and women are not all lying villains. Life is very gray, just treat people with respect and compassion.

22. Irish Twins

My professor was a labor and delivery nurse, and she once saw a man running between two delivery rooms. See, both the women he had impregnated went into labor and gave birth on the same day. Supposedly, the one he was married to was angry because the woman he cheated on her with was impregnated after the wife, but had her kid 10 minutes before her.

Labor and delivery is apparently the most drama-filled section of hospitals. My significant other is planning to be a nurse and he’s going to work in labor and delivery as well as neonatal this year. I’m excited to hear all the dramatic stories.

23. Almost Got Away With It

My grandmother was a nurse back in her day. Once, she was assisting with delivering a baby and the ostensible father commented that the child looked “good for a premature baby". Without thinking, my blunt, upfront grandmother told the truth sharply: "That baby is not premature". So I guess I know where I get my social obliviousness from now.

24. You Can’t Pick And Choose

I have to give my friend credit for doing something I don't think I could ever do. After being married for years and having a three- and one-year-old with his wife, he discovered that she had been cheating on him. Multiple times, and with multiple men. Anyway, when he found that there was the chance that neither of the kids was his, he bought two paternity tests.

He brought them home, but then the horrible conclusion hit him. He was prepared if they were his. He was prepared if they weren’t. He had NO freaking idea what he would do if one was and one wasn't. So he threw the tests away. They divorced, she keeps seeing people for short times, and he is now remarried to a fantastic person.

25. Stepping Up To The Plate

I had a paternity test done on my son when he was about seven months old. The baby momma constantly told me he wasn't mine, but then came after me for child support. So I got the test done, and he was mine. When my kid was 11 months old, DHS did a random substance test on her and she failed. I then started a two-year battle in juvenile court to not allow the state to "reunify" my child with the mother.

I finally got the juvenile court to release my case to the district court, where we fought for actual custody. During our district court battle, she took my son for a visit, and I got a call from the authorities in a city an hour away that she had been detained in a domestic dispute with her boyfriend at a hotel. They searched her and found all sorts of paraphernalia.

That was the last time she had him unsupervised. We went about two years of her barely calling, seeing him once a month for 10 to 20 minutes, until she finally got detained on "attempt to distribute". She spent three years behind bars and has been out about eight months now. She appears to be clean, and just gave me an extra $100 for child support yesterday.

So we're giving her a shot, but she will remain on supervised visits for a long time. The whole fiasco has been such a blur; it’s hard to remember exactly what, when, or where it happened, especially after years of really not having to deal with her. At the time, it was horrific. She punched me a couple of times, lied under oath, sent me threats, inappropriate photos of her with other men, the list goes on and on.

I've really tried to put a lot of it behind me, and forget about as much of it as I can so she can at least be somewhat a part of my kid’s life because that's what HE wants. I just watch her like a hawk now.

26. Daddy Issues

A distant cousin of mine definitely has children that don’t belong to the father...My cousin was adopted as an infant. She struggled with some developmental issues and has a low IQ compared to most, but can still live on her own with little to no issues. She eventually married a dark-skinned Latino guy several years ago, and they had a son together who has dark hair, dark skin, and dark eyes.

He is easily identified as their son. The real trouble happened years later. Her husband, who we’ll call Javier, has some IQ issues of his own. He's just a little slow when it comes to tasks and reasoning. Anyway, Javier was in the army and got deployed internationally for about six months. When he came home, his wife was four months pregnant...you do the math.

He somehow still believes the baby is his own, even after it was born with pale skin, blonde hair, and blue eyes. If that wasn’t bad enough, it happened AGAIN two years later with another baby—the same blonde hair and blue eyes. Everyone knows she slept with a different man (it was actually her high school boyfriend), but Javier still thinks the children are his.

It’s kind of sad, but at this point, there’s not much we can do. He has raised the kids as his own.

27. Almost Got Away With It…

A good friend of mine was out of the country on an emergency task and I ended up bringing his wife to the ER. We are very close, and all of us went to high school together. I was in the delivery room as she didn’t want to be without anyone there. The baby came out…straight-up Asian. I knew and the doctor knew.

I just walked out of the room right then and there. I had no idea his wife was being unfaithful. All I could hear was her wailing, saying her marriage was over. The nurses quickly picked up on why she was crying. Meanwhile, I called him and told him the news. He explained to his work that a true emergency was at home, so they chartered him a flight.

He filed for divorce right then and there. Only, it got so much worse. During the divorce, it came out that out of their three kids, none of them were my friend's kids. It didn’t just mess him up, it messed the kids up as well because they knew him as "daddy". The court tried to make my friend pay child support for those kids that weren’t his because "they became accustomed" to him as their father.

They claimed he was abandoning them when he had zero biological attachment. Family courts are so biased against men. My friend spent a fortune fighting it out of principle and eventually won. It emotionally ruined him and now he doesn’t trust women. He won’t go on dates or anything because of it. I can’t say I blame him because that is beyond messed up.

28. Down To The Wire

My brother’s friend was in the army and had a short-and-sweet wedding with a woman he had been dating for a few months. She's white American and he's white Hispanic, and the baby came out Black. Until the paternity results came in, she was adamant that the baby was his. She even went to the extent of claiming he was a bad father because he wouldn't claim "his" child.

The results came back and revealed she was a liar. And she thought she was going to stay with him for that army money.

29. Stay-At-Home Scandal

A co-worker’s aunt just found out her dad wasn’t actually her biological dad. She was really big into genealogy and had mapped out her family tree as far as she could go. She also took one of those ancestry DNA tests about two months ago, and her father’s side didn’t line up with what she was expecting. In fact, she didn’t recognize a single name that she was matched with paternally.

She casually asked her dad if he knew any of the names, and he recognized the surname of the maintenance man at the apartment complex where he and his wife lived shortly after they had gotten married. He claimed he was a lousy repairman who always flirted with his wife, etc. The wife had passed a few years ago, so she decided to not tell her dad the news or why she knew those names.

30. Oh, Baby

I was blood typing a newborn once. The mom was an O+, and the baby was AB+... which is more or less not possible. I immediately panicked, because I thought they had mixed up the babies. "Someone has the wrong baby; we're gonna get sued; they're gonna have to give genetic tests the entire nursery; what if they subpoena me for being the idiot who discovered the problem?" All of those thoughts raced through my mind.

After repeating the test three times and getting the same results, I called the floor and told them that they'd either drawn the wrong baby's blood, or they'd switched babies because the mom couldn't be the baby's mother. Nope, it was a donor egg. The redraw matched fine, and everyone was where they were supposed to be. Oh God, my heart, though!

31. Not Me…This Time

First off, my dad wasn't exactly the most faithful man. One of the women he slept with was claiming the child she had was his. There was just one issue: The child was mixed, and both my father and the woman were white as the day is long. It got so heated that their case actually went to The Trisha Show (which is kind of like the Jeremy Kyle Show, but older).

The test results came out, and shockingly enough, he wasn't the father. At one moment during the show, Trisha asked my dad: "Do you have any other kids?" and he just smirked. We never really found out how many women he got pregnant in that time, and it's likely I went to school with my brothers and sisters, but neither of us knew we had the same dad.

I never really found out what happened to the woman or to the baby either, but I truly do hope it grew up healthy and happy. I also hope the mother found peace with herself.

32. Pandora’s Box

A friend of mine and his girlfriend were on again and off again, but she still got pregnant at some point. She swore it was his, but he wanted a paternity test. He moved in with her and her mom, then she had the baby and they took the test. The test took a while to come back, but he and his family were over the moon with the baby, and they kind of started to forget about it.

Then, one day he mentioned it to the girlfriend’s mom and she said, “Oh yeah, she didn’t tell you? It came back a while ago, it’s totally your baby!” Awesome, right? Well, a few months later, they were moving out and he found the test in a box…It was not his baby. He left, but he did try to stay in the baby’s life in the meantime. Sadly, she wouldn’t let him.

33. A Real Man

Nurse here. I once had a couple come in for delivery. The father was Black and the mother was white. The father was so involved and so ecstatic about becoming a father for the second time with this woman. Nothing really seemed off…until she started pushing. The baby girl came out completely white, with dark hair and blue eyes.

Usually, Black babies come out a little pale, but this one was just straight-out white. We had to take the father out for fear of him becoming manic, but he just sat outside the room, on the ground, with his face in his hands. That was one of the saddest moments I think I've ever seen with a father, besides stillbirth. The odd thing after, though, was that the mom didn't want the baby and wanted nothing to do with the biological father; probably out of guilt.

So she left the responsibility of this baby and their other two-year-old boy to this man who didn't even question taking on the child.

34. Clearing The Air

My husband and I were visiting our friends who’d just had a baby. We are the godparents. Anyway, we were standing in the hallway talking to both sets of grandparents. Well, apparently, the hospital has a rule that only five visitors may be present in the hallway, but the security guard had let all six of us in for some reason and we didn’t realize it.

This nasty nurse came up to us, noted that there were six of us, told us someone would have to leave immediately, and then turned to my husband and said, “Oh, are you the daddy?” He had the perfect reply. Without missing a beat, my husband said, “That’s what we’re all trying to figure out here". She got a look of horror on her face and backed away.

35. Back To Square One

I know of a related court case that made it to the state's highest court. So, this Black guy and this white woman who were married ended up separating and they both moved out of the state. Later on, the guy got a phone call from a friend and a relative of his ex, saying that his ex was pregnant and ready to give birth any day now.

The guy drove across the country so he could be there for the delivery. The baby came out white with blue eyes and red hair. The mom said it "must be a trick's baby". Seeing as the guy is Black, he understandably peaced out. Later on, the mom's parental rights were terminated as it was determined she was unfit to be a mother, and the state went about trying to find the biological dad to notify him before the kid could be adopted.

Since the dude was still her husband at the time the child was born, he was legally the presumptive father. The state performed genetic testing and there was a huge twist. Turns out, HE IS THE FATHER. For an extra kick in the pants, the state ended up terminating his parental rights for abandonment. Not a happy ending.

36. Buzzer Beater

A doctor I know was doing his OB-GYN rotation and was training in a very rural and conservative part of the country. It was his first time assisting with delivery. He told me, “I don't know nothin' about birthing no babies, but the attending says, 'Get in there and learn.'” The birth was about to happen, and the woman wanted her husband to leave the room. She insisted.

So the doctor told the husband that he couldn't stay. Plus, medically, we needed to calm the patient to focus on birthing, and she was all angsty with her husband in the room. So the husband left. The birth then completed normally and the first thing the woman asked was, “What color is it?” All the doctor said in reply was, The important thing is that the baby is healthy".

The woman said, “You have to talk to my husband and explain it somehow". At that point, the doctor said, '” I’m sorry, but that is totally not my job. My job was to get the baby out of you and it is out". He then quickly left the room as the husband was on his way in. This lady really was playing the cheating game all the way to the buzzer.

37. Telling On Yourself

My mother used to work in a medical lab many decades ago. One day, another woman who worked in the building was visiting the lab, and during the conversation, she mentioned that she was blood type X, her husband was type Y, and their child was type Z (I don’t remember the specific types). One of the younger lab techs blurted out, “That’s impossible".

The doctor in the lab just stared daggers at him. Luckily, the visitor didn’t notice or didn’t care, and moved along shortly after. My mom still remembers it as one of the most awkward moments she’d ever been privy to.

38. Holier Than Thou

One of my cousins just did a 23andMe test with her dad and discovered that they were not biologically related at all. It was especially horrible because my aunt, her mother, is one of the most ridiculously zealous and judgmental people I have ever met. She screams at the baby cousins when they don't behave perfectly, and she literally threw a pocket Bible at a woman in a grocery store after the woman cursed while on the phone.

She also likes to send me long, unsolicited letters about "God's plan" for my life. Surprisingly, her husband is the most fun and laid-back person I've ever met. He did not deserve this, nor did she.

39. Russian Roulette

This was my great-grandmother’s story. She grew up and in a very bad and poor area of a city near an army base around WWII and WWII. In order to make ends meet, she met up with various men. Our understanding is that she was very good at her job and therefore very popular with all the men around. She did not care what you looked like or your skin color, as long as you paid.

Her first husband finally figured out that she was the infamous “town favorite” when her first kid came out very obviously mixed. They got divorced and she found a second husband who didn't mind…at first. One white child and two mixed babies later, they divorced. Repeat with two out of 11 known living kids being 100% white.

A total of five husbands, as well as several boyfriends and fiancés, walked out on her. The hospital staff apparently used to make bets on how soon she'd be back and what mix the kid would be the next time.

40. What You Don’t Know Won’t Hurt You

My sister got pregnant in high school and later met her now-husband when she was five months pregnant. She is white and her boyfriend is black. The baby daddy, however, was white but not in the picture. At the delivery, I was with our entire family, including my now brother-in-law, visiting the baby. My sister was still in recovery from her C-section.

The brother-in-law picked up my niece, and the nurse looked at him and said, "She should darken up in a few days". We all had a laugh. We knew he wasn't the father, but she didn't. I always wondered if she felt bad or assumed adultery. They have two more girls together and he was able to officially adopt the first baby three years later.

41. Family Resemblance

I'm too young to have witnessed it, but back in the late 1950s or 1960s, my uncle had an affair with a woman who later divorced her husband and became his wife. She had two children with her first husband—or at least, that was the official story that everyone maintained for a good long while. However, it was extremely obvious, based on appearance, that the second of my aunt's two children was my uncle's biological child.

This girl looked nothing like my aunt's first husband or her older half-brother, but she looked exactly like my uncle. As the years went by, the pretense was dropped and was never mentioned again.

42. Cut And Run

My biological father is Greek with very pale skin, and my mom is a white western European mutt. When I was born, I had very dark skin and a full head of thick, black hair. My dad didn’t seem concerned but his mother freaked out. She called my mother and grandmother not-so-nice names and eventually left our lives. My father ended up splitting on us when I was about three weeks old with no explanation.

A couple of months later, my skin lightened, all of my black hair fell, and it turned out he was the father. We’ve never tried to reach back out to his family because, in that first year of my life, they went through a lot of drama including rehab stays, drive-by shootings, an affair followed by a divorce, another baby momma my mother didn’t know about, and so on.

My father and I tried to form a relationship when I was in high school. It went okay at first, and then he got weird very quickly. He urged me to call him dad, insisted on “regular visitation,” and routinely showed up at my friends’ and boyfriends’ houses causing a scene. He also pressured me into getting family pictures taken with his new lady and his five other kids.

By the way, none of us have the same mother, and this is not including the baby he had and ditched before he got together with my mom. I regret ever trying at all. He and his family are still trashy hot messes, and I’m glad my family decided to keep me away from them. The cherry on top—he was working for my husband’s parents when my husband and I first met.

Once my husband’s parents found out who he was and what had happened, they fired him so I would never have to run into him at their business. He had it coming anyway.

43. In The Pink

I was doing epidurals in residency and this Caucasian couple came in. They were from a more rural part of the country and they didn't look or sound particularly educated. Anyhow, the wife was particularly antsy. She was asking when she could go home even though the baby wasn't out yet. Her husband looked bored and uninterested like he'd been there a whole bunch of times.

I usually don't stay in the rooms during delivery, but I just happened to be nearby for this one to give more of the epidural because of a tear immediately after delivery. When I got to the room, the wife was holding her eyes shut and didn't want to see the baby. I looked at the baby and he was obviously Black. Now the husband was paying attention, and he saw what I did.

He kept repeating, "When is that baby gonna pink up?" Louder and louder. The doctor tried to diffuse things by reminding everyone that the moment was critical. He suggested that the baby be taken to the resuscitation area in the NICU and that the father should step out while they repaired the laceration. We called the social worker, then I was called elsewhere, so I don't know what happened afterward...but I can't imagine it was good.

44. Third Time’s The Charm

Long story short, I do marketing for a housing company, and this entails getting testimonials from residents at our properties. This one couple I talked to were probably in their 40s. They told us that their kids were finally out of the house so they decided to downsize. After the formal part of the interview was over, the couple was still talking to us.

They said something like, "Yeah, we couldn't wait to get on with this part of life but...then we accidentally had a third kid. Despite what they say, those dang vasectomies don't work 'cause I still knocked her up!" The wife's eyes were wide and she was looking at us with a panicked expression on her face. My own expression had changed from a smile to pure confusion, but I honestly couldn't help it.

Still not sure if they were telling us the truth or if that guy had actually been raising someone else's kid for 18 years.

45. Hidden Depths

So this Black couple gave birth to a white baby. Suddenly, the grandma on the mom's side walked in and saw the dad with the baby. Without skipping a beat, the grandmother started talking about how her grandmother was actually white and it involved forbidden love—they met while he was deployed, etc. Turns out, the Black dad was just holding a white family friend's relatively newborn baby who came to visit.

The actual newborn, who was clearly a Black baby, was getting cleaned up in the other room. The couple just laughed it off and the grandma changed the subject, never to speak of the non-existent white grandma again.

46. Blood Is Thicker Than Water

My fiancé's mom is a labor and delivery nurse. One time, she had a patient whose parents were present during her stay at the hospital. The staff there has a whiteboard with some general information about the patients like blood type, time spent in the wing, and how far along. This information is nameless for HIPAA reasons and instead has a patient’s number.

So this patient happened to be the only one in the wing at the time. Her father was walking back from the cafeteria at one point and he noticed the board. He stopped one of the nurses and asked if the blood type for the patient on the board was correct since he knew his daughter was the only patient there. It was B+. The nurse confirmed it was correct.

Turns out, he knew his and his wife's blood type. He was O+ and his wife was A-. This combination will never yield a B+ baby. He brought his wife out and just pointed at the board—a look of shock just washed over her.

47. It’s What’s Inside That Counts

I had a vasectomy. While chatting with the doctor, he told me about another patient he had. This guy had three kids and came in for the snip-snip because he and his wife decided they were done having children. The doctor opened up his sack…and found nothing to snip. This guy was born without the ability to have any children.

The poor doctor had to explain to him what happened. Imagine finding that out that way.

48. Too Close For Comfort

I know a girl who was pregnant with her boyfriend's best friend's baby. He found out there was a possibility about a week before she gave birth. I went up to see her once the baby was born and he looked just like the friend, there was no question. I broke the news to her boyfriend and he was absolutely devastated. His parents were also heartbroken and super angry.

They had bought the girl everything she needed, including a $500 car seat and stroller set. She refused to give anything back. She started up a relationship with the friend immediately after having their child, and they're still together a decade later. There is a cruel twist, however. See, the boyfriend and best friend were next-door neighbors.

She moved into the friend’s house after coming home from the hospital, so her ex-boyfriend and his family had to see them basically every day, raising a child that they had believed to be his for the entire pregnancy. I can't even imagine.

49. Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey

Lauren Lake's Paternity Court is incredible. My favorite case was one where the woman spent almost the entire 25 minutes going over all this "proof" that the kid was this guy’s kid. She used facial similarities and even brought in a witness to attest that she was of good character and wouldn’t cheat. She also tried insulting the guy, saying how awful it was that he denied his child.

Through all of this, the guy just stood there quietly; not saying a word, not defending himself, nothing. Finally, the judge asked if he has anything to say or if he would like to plead his case. He motioned to the only thing on the desk: A manila folder. The plaintiff took it to the judge, and she opened it. Its contents changed the whole case. She read it for a minute, then dismissed the case in the favor of the guy.

Turns out, he had been deployed overseas in Afghanistan during the year before, which was when the pregnancy and birth occurred. He came home after four years and was introduced to "his" two-year-old child.

50. It Doesn’t Add Up

My aunt is a nurse in the maternity ward. She had a couple come in and they were both very Black. Well, the lady had a baby and it was white as heck. Like, totally pale with no trace of any pigment. They put the baby on her mom and the mom started yelling about how it wasn't her baby and they must have taken hers away. In all fairness, women can get very confused after delivery.

She was sobbing and freaking out while the father was just sitting there looking very confused. Even he realized that if she did cheat, there was no way the baby would be THAT white. The doctor and nurses were trying to assure her that it indeed was her baby and that the skin would darken later. But it was something else entirely. It was the mother-in-law who solved the puzzle.

When the guy called his mom, she pointed out that they had a second cousin who was albino and maybe the baby got that gene. Turns out, that's exactly what happened—the baby was albino.

Sources: 1, 2

We were always told the customer is always right. Well, do you think THESE people are right? Do you?!

1. A Giggling Fit

It was getting near closing time and I was cleaning the self-checkout machines while my manager was topping up the coins and receipt paper. This woman, just shy of 50, came up to the checkout and just stood there with her mostly empty cart. I was waiting to see if she would walk up to the actual register for service, but no; she just stood there.

I finally asked her, "Do you need help?" She replied, "No," and kept standing there. Then, she started giggling loudly to herself in a way that made other people around her uncomfortable. I just kept cleaning and my manager continued filling the machines, all of which were devoid of customers. Finally, the woman spoke loudly, to no one in particular, saying the rudest thing ever: “Do you want to work or not?”

I let out a long breath, then dropped my cloth and spray bottle down. Suddenly, my manager stepped in and replied loudly, "She does have work! She's cleaning right now". Then she motioned for me to keep cleaning. Well, the woman giggled again, really loudly and snottily this time, and said, "I want a checkout". My manager replied, "You had your chance. She asked you if you wanted help. You said no. And now, you're going to have to check yourself out".

The lady started freaking out and demanded to see the manager. My manager destroyed her with one sentence: "You're looking at her". The woman sheepishly checked her own items out while we both watched her. And then my manager giggled loudly, just like the woman had done. It was glorious.

2. A Lucky Gamble

This just happened. A guy walked in and asked me, "What's the $8 lottery package that my wife always gets?" I looked at him, but I couldn't place him. In fact, he didn't look remotely familiar to me. He was not wearing his mask, mind you, but so far, I'd been pretty good at recognizing the people I've only ever seen with masks on since we bought the store.

However, I had no clue who this is. So I asked, "Sir, did you just ask me, a complete stranger, what your wife's preferences are?" He reiterated, "Well, she always gets an $8 package". I told him, "The lottery doesn't have an $8 package". Then, he asked, "Well, what are the standard games?" So, I rattled off all the games until we figured it out.

I handed him his purchase and said, "OK, here you go, sir, and may I highly encourage you not to tell your wife that you asked a complete stranger what her preferences were". I thought that would nip it in the bud, but he just wouldn't quit. He still seemed to think there was nothing amiss and replied, "Well, she's in here all the time". I still said, "But she's not here now, and I don't know who she is".

So, he clarified, "Well, I come in with her sometimes". To end the situation, I said, "OHHH! Well, I have a pretty bad memory so that must be it". What was unsaid was, “It couldn't be that I see a few hundred people a day and you're all just faceless blobs in my memory if you don't come in here pretty much every day and actually have meaningful conversations!” Sheesh.

3. Three Strikes

Some years ago, I worked an extra part-time job in the evenings at a small national retail chain in the U.S. that specializes in woodworking tools, supplies and machinery. The vast majority of our customers were great, but every so often we would get one that was a real peach. On the night in question, it was 15 or 20 minutes before closing.

I was at the front counter where the registers are, doing busy work to fill the time before I locked the doors. The sales floor was completely empty, except for me. I heard the doors open and looked up to see a customer walking in. "Hi! Welcome to our store!" I said to him in a genuinely friendly tone. Fish-eyed, he turned his head to glance at me.

He made momentary eye contact before walking past without saying a word. Strike one. A few minutes later, I saw him walking up to the counter, so I asked, "Hey there! Did you find what you were looking for?" Again, without a saying a word, he tossed a few packs of euro hinges on the counter. Strike two. Then, I asked, "OK! Have you shopped with us before?"

I needed to know as it was part of my job to enter our customers' information in our computer system if they'll let us, and if they're in our system, then we ring them up under their account. Rather than answer me, he tossed a postcard-sized piece of paper onto the counter. Strike three. Ding! Ding! Ding!

Now, if someone's in our system, and they give us the month of their birthday, we send them a birthday coupon every year, good for 10% off of everything in a single purchase. There are a few exclusions and conditions clearly printed on the coupon. I picked up the piece of paper he'd thrown in front of me, and it was indeed his birthday coupon.

I used the information on it to pull up his account, noted a key piece of information on the account, and gleefully told him, "OK, sir. I see your birthday isn't until next month, and unfortunately, the birthday coupon is only good for a single purchase during the month of your birth". As I said this, I was holding the coupon up and pointing to the text I was referring to.

I am 90% certain I had my best customer service smile on my face at that point. After standing there and staring at me for a few seconds, he let out a snort of what I presume was disgust, then he turned on his heel, and started heading for the door. "Wait!" I called after him. "You forgot your birthday coupon!" Without stopping or turning, he made a dismissive wave of his hand, went through the door, and disappeared into the night.

Adios and good riddance. At this store, our manager was a super-cool guy who encouraged us to bend over backward to help customers, which I gladly did. Customers came in all the time trying to use their birthday coupons early, and it was never a problem. We'd happily give them the discount anyway, with a friendly reminder that it was supposed to be used during their birth month.

But hey, Ihe wanted to act like that. He couldn't be bothered to show me even common courtesy, nor would he speak even one word to me. That was his choice.

4. A Watery Chuckle

I work in a large airport at a small convenience store on one of the busiest concourses. I hear it all, especially about our prices. Although we try to keep our margins as low as possible, we still have to pay our rent as a business, and it's about $14k a month. One day, I had an older woman come in and set down an expensive brand of water that was priced around $5.15 after tax.

I knew that she was going to say something about it, so I prepared myself mentally. Indeed, she did say something, and it threw me for a loop. She asked me, “Wanna know something funny?” I said that I did. She said, “This same water in another airport is $2.50". I stared blankly at her for a solid 10 seconds. Finally, I said, “I think I missed the joke".

She then proceeded to insult me, but she still purchased the water before leaving in a huff. Best day I've had in a while.

5. A Customized Experience

A customer showed me a ring and asked me about it. I told her that it was a sterling silver lotus ring. The customer then proceeded to show me that it did not fit her. As she wedged it halfway down her finger, she said, “But it does not fit me, see?” Did I look like a jeweler who could resize rings on the spot? No. So I explained to her that we had only one piece of that design left.

A while later, the same lady asked if the artist was local. I said that I wasn't certain that she was from the city, but that all the artists represented in the shop were American. That meant that if she wasn't from our state, then she was from another state. Then the lady said, "Well, duh. If she's not from here then she's from somewhere else". Sigh.

I wanted to eye roll since that was my standard response whenever someone asked about local artists, and I had never gotten such a sour reply before. Most people just wanted to confirm that the thing was at least made in America if not locally. And then she asked me which way her husband had left, so I just pointed to the only exit and said, "That's the only way out".

6. They Are All This Together

I work for a grocery store that only sells all-natural foods. That means no artificial preservatives, sweeteners, flavors, and such, as well as any items with certain ingredients like high-fructose corn syrup. We have an internal list of ingredients that products cannot contain and even have had to cease carrying some top-selling products after reformulation introduces one or more of them.

Being the type of store that we are, we get people from all over the political spectrum and quite a few on the extreme fringes. This is about a guy who came to our store multiple times. I will refer to him as Mr. Q since I do not even know his name. Mr. Q was a semi-regular customer since before my employment. My first experience with him was indirect.

I was overseeing the front-end and placing some orders with vendors. He went through the line of one of my cashiers, Melissa. Unfortunately for her, Melissa did not have anyone else in her line, so the guy stood there yakking her ear off. Then I heard that chilling phrase. I do not recall what the full sentence was, but he said the magic words: "QAnon".

This immediately made my ears perk up. He could have been someone more on the left, making fun of the QAnon thing or he could be a believer. Once I knew that he was spouting off right-wing conspiracy theories, I told one of the other managers that I was going to go rescue Melissa who was just smiling and nodding.

This involved getting myself to a phone out of sight and then paging the staff member to the loading dock so they could hide for a few minutes. This particular incident happened pre-pandemic, so the store's general manager was still there. As I used the phone right outside his office, I got an odd look from him, until I told him, "Crazy at her lane". He does not suffer fools, so he just chuckled.

This visit was done with. Then, after the pandemic started, my store adopted the policy of "masks must be worn, but if you claim a 'condition,' then you don't have to wear one". This annoyed us because we had so many liars. Mr. Q, of course, was one of those. He was relatively quiet until he checked out. At the exit door, he stopped and turned around.

Then, he started loudly proclaiming how the whole pandemic was a hoax because otherwise "people would be dropped like flies in the streets!" We just rolled our eyes at him and he left quietly, thus, ending that visit. Then came the third and final visit. This happened after our store had decided to go to a "mask-mandatory" policy without the medical exemption.

We got battle-hardened by this since we had to fend off people screaming about how it was against the law and how they were going to sue us, etc. That's when Mr. Q came in, and things started to get interesting. One of the other managers, Aaron, spotted him but he was occupied with a customer, so he alerted me. He also said, "That guy is a fool, so good luck".

Our strategy for dealing with people without masks was to just grab the box of the complimentary ones we offered, approach the person, and ask them if they needed a mask. Most of the time, by then, it was people who simply forgot to put one on...but that wasn't the case with Mr. Q. Our conversation went like this:

I asked him, “Hi! Did you need a mask today?” He simply replied, “I have a medical condition". I clarified, “Sorry, but we still need you to wear a mask to be inside the store. We do offer curbside shopping though. But, since you have a list, we would be more than happy to shop for you and then take payment and bring the bags out to your car".

He, of course, became annoyed and said, “Are you aware of the United States Constitution? Do you know you are violating my rights?” I stood my ground and said, “Sorry, sir, but this is private property and we do require a mask". By this time, Aaron had finished with his customer, so he came over to back me up and said, “Yes. We are not a government entity".

That's when Mr. Q did the unthinkable—he proceeded to dramatically say that he felt sick, then he fake coughed on Aaron and me. So, of course, All semblance of "customer service" and "courtesy" went out the window at that point, and Aaron said, “You need to leave now. You are no longer welcome here". Mr. Q took that as an invitation to go on a random rant about his rights.

So, Aaron told me to call the authorities. Mr. Q then went on another tangent and said, “You guys are poisoning people with the products you sell! What do you have to say for yourselves! I know my rights!” In the meantime, I went over to the phone and started dialing. By that point, we had called them so many times that we knew half the department by name.

Now, Mr. Q realized what I was doing, so he wisely abandoned his cart and left the store. Aaron pulled out his phone, started filming, and followed the guy out. Mr. Q then spent the next five minutes pacing our parking lot, screaming at Aaron. It was truly unhinged. His rants alternated between us poisoning people and targeting Michelle Obama.

Aaron repeated to Mr. Q that he needed to leave and that he was now banned from the store. Then, when he saw Aaron was filming him, he started yelling about how Aaron must be like Michelle Obama too. Thankfully, he just kept pacing. I joined Aaron outside after calling the authorities and getting one of the back-end managers to come up front to watch over the cashiers.

Unfortunately, he left before the authorities arrived. And since he did not buy anything, we did not have his full name to give to them. After showing the general manager the video, we got the verdict that Mr. Q was banned from thereon. That means that the next time he shows up, we call the authorities immediately and then tell the guy he is banned, in front of them.

This would allow them to arrest him on subsequent visits. He wisely has not shown up since then.

7. A Red Flag

We have one of those self-serve lottery machines. Do you play numbers? Mega Millions? Scratch-Offs? You can do it all here at this machine. Except this one grown woman who, I swear, was deliberately just not listening despite saying repeatedly that she did not know what she was doing. I still persevered and tried to explain the process to her.

I said, "OK, so right in the middle of the screen are three big blue boxes. Touch the middle one". The lady touched the Powerball button, which was on the far left, on a row of four boxes. I tried to correct her by saying, "No—that's Powerball. You need to hit the red rectangle at the top right of that window where it says ‘Close’ to close this".

She proceeded to touch the little tiny red button by the quantity bar. I repeated that she had to touch the box with the word 'Close' in it, but she was not listening. Of course, stared intently at the bottom of the screen where there was literally no red at all. This back and forth went on for a good twenty minutes. Somebody just end my misery for me.

8. Sunshine On A Rainy Day

This sweet old man made my day! His name is Samuel, and I’m not sure of any medical issues he has, but every time he comes in, he’s sweating buckets and his hands shake pretty bad. The first time that he came in while I was working, we just started talking since he always gets food to go for him and his mom.

He asked me if I had any pets and I told him that my childhood dog Max had passed about a week ago prior, so I just have a cat. He proceeded to tell me the nicest thing a customer has ever said: that my dog was waiting in heaven for me, and that he made it over the rainbow bridge. I cried like a baby after he left.

The third time that he came in, he asked me what college I went to, and how I was amazing for working and going to school full time. I was failing a class at the time and having someone who didn’t know me tell me that I was doing amazing just warmed my heart. When he came in for the fourth time, we continued our discussion.

I told him that I only had a couple of classes left at my community college and that I would be able to start my bachelor's in business. He did not hesitate to gasp and tells me how proud he was of me, and how I will go on to do great things. He then told me that God had blessed me because my hair was so pretty, even though at the time it was unwashed and in a not-so-cute messy bun.

I think that dude is my retail guardian angel. He always shows up when I’m having a rough time, and he makes the day brighter and better.

9. A Ban Challenge

Today, a guy bought something at my checkout. After paying, he went, "Actually, I am banned here. What do we do now?" I stared at him for a solid second, my brain probably making the Windows XP shutdown sound. I was shocked by his audacity, to not only come again after being banned but also telling me about it, after buying something.

I asked my supervisor, who sighed, saying that he got lucky in that case and that I should tell him to take his things and leave. But that wasn't enough for him. He started provoking me, saying, "And what about the next time, huh?" I explained that I wasn't authorized to decide about the duration of his ban and that, in case of doubt, he just shouldn't come again.

He still went on, now outright harassing me, "Yeah, what do you want to do? Do you want to call the authorities? Huh? Huh?" At this point, I was about to cry, because he just kept harassing me and I didn't know what else to tell him. Then a lady in line stood up for me, telling him to leave me alone because he was making me nervous".

Yeah, I can see you're shaking. I wonder why," he blurted out. I was, in fact, shaking because it took all my strength not to cry in front of everyone. After telling the lady to mind her business and being rude to her too for a bit, he finally left. My heart goes out to the lady, who was third in line, and told me, "Honey, don't ever let a man talk you down like that! Always remember: Big ego equals small elsewhere!" That really lifted my spirits!

10. Like Money In Your Pocket

I used to work for Kohls. While there, I had one customer come to the service desk with her receipt, saying that the cashier did not take off her 30% coupon. Usually, this is an easy enough fix, but when I looked at her receipt, the total was $0.00. She had already used Kohl's cash to cover the whole thing. I told her the computer system takes the dollar off coupons first.

It is only afterward that it will then take the percentage off. This is how it works, irrespective of the order in which you scan them. Since her Kohl's cash took care of the total, I told her that the system couldn't take 30% off of $0.00. Apparently, she didn't like that...not one bit. She then started yelling at me and telling me that I was stealing money from her.

I explained to her that Kohl's cash is just a coupon we give to customers and not actual money. She then told me that she wouldn't be shopping at Kohl's again, and she threw her 30% coupon at me before leaving.

11. Listening In

I have been working throughout COVID in a supermarket. A few months ago, I found out that I have permanent hearing damage and hearing loss from an illness I had from January to February. I am currently in the early stages of an audiology referral and my employer has been really helpful. They are making sure that I can still work in the same roles as before with the same level of confidence.

One day, a customer arrived at the till who, for some reason, misinterpreted one of the offers that we run. Essentially, she wanted the discount but did not want one of the items required for the discount to go through. She did not realize that I have to scan everything and, therefore, charge her for the extra item in question so that she could get the discount.

I processed the transaction in this way but not without her raising her voice and attempting to grab the item that she didn't want out of my hands. At that point, I was quite confused. I could hear parts of this customer's sentences, but she was speaking very quickly and I did not understand why she was getting so incredibly agitated over some frozen peas. Around this time, she also started to badmouth all of my colleagues and myself, saying that we "shouldn't work here if we don't know what offers are on in the store".

She also said that the staff members "know nothing," implying that I was the one who should lose my job because of her adamant misreading of an offer. Through this, I finally understood why exactly she was so angry. So, I asked one of my colleagues to come to the tills in order to assist the customer.

She did not want to engage with me, nor was she capable of having a civilized conversation at that point. My colleague arrived and I began to serve the other customers waiting while the woman went on to my colleague about how I was "incompetent" and "useless". But that's not the worst thing she said—she repeatedly stated that I "wasn't listening" to her, even though I had given her my full attention.

The repeated emphasis this woman put on me not "listening" really hit a nerve. The last thing that I wanted after going through the wringer with various illnesses for the past seven months was to be told that I was losing my hearing. It was permanent, and it was not something that could be fixed in the same way as the previous illnesses.

I have to work a lot harder on the tills due to the aforementioned hearing loss and as much as I try to not care and ignore it, this was just too much for me to handle at the moment. I started to cry in the middle of a transaction while this woman thoroughly berated me for something that I had absolutely no control over.

Somehow, I managed to pass it off as hay fever which I don't think anyone believed. Eventually, it clicked into place for the customer that she was incorrect, and she very quickly went on her way after realizing that she had just completely humiliated herself in a store full of people. There was no apology made to any of my colleagues, or to myself and the other customers in the store.

I had been debating whether or not I needed to get a lanyard clearly stating I have a hearing loss, but it is still very early into the investigation process and I didn't want to buy one before I had any thorough tests done on my ears. But this was the event that cemented that I absolutely needed to get one as soon as possible.

Regardless of my hearing loss, that kind of behavior is absolutely unacceptable and a completely different kind of demeaning. It was the most insulting reaction I have ever seen, and over a bag of frozen peas, no less. If she didn't want them, we had a perfectly acceptable food bank to which they could be donated.

12. Half-baked Notion

I work in a bakery in a grocery store, and we have plexiglass in front of us and in front of our artisan bread for obvious reasons...Or maybe, not-so-obvious reasons to some people. Today, I had a lady reach over the glass, over my case full of cakes, to grab the cake from the top of my pile. She had to struggle to reach it.

Not only that, but all throughout COVID, we had to put all our bread in bags instead of leaving them out in the open. The glass is literally two feet tall. All I could think was, “If you have to struggle to reach over the glass, it probably means you are not supposed to be doing the thing you are doing!” This phenomenon has actually been happening even more since COVID and I'm really just over it.

13. Sole Cost

I no longer work retail, but I used to work at an extremely discounted store, something like Marshalls, TJ Maxx, etc. This incident actually happened a few nights before my last day. We were about to close, and this lady came up to my register to check out. She handed me a pair of Michael Kors baby shoes and asked me how much they are.

I told her the price—$27—and she flipped! She retorted that the price could not be correct. I calmly said, “They are $27, ma’am. Did you still want them?” She replied, “I want them but not for that price". She clearly wanted a discount. I had to clarify: “I’m sorry, ma’am, we don’t do discounts. We’re already an extremely discounted store".

She said in disbelief, “$27 for baby shoes?! That’s crazy". So, seeing her reluctance to pay that much, I assumed that she did not want to buy them anymore. Thus, I offered to put them back for her. She stopped me angrily, saying, “Uh hello? I said that I want them!” I acceded to that but firmly maintained my stance by saying, “OK, ma’am. They’re still going to be $27 though".

She refused to believe me and asked me to check again. So, I flipped the computer screen around and showed her the price. At that moment, she did not know what to do because she was wrong, so she snapped at me to get my manager. The said manager came, confirmed the price, then left.

I thought that was the end of it, but no. Karen then said, “I just don’t understand why they are so much?” I tried to make her understand by saying, “Well, these are Michael Kors, one of the more expensive brands we carry here. If you were to buy these anywhere else then they’d be at least $100. You’re actually getting a pretty good deal".

She still refused to budge and said, “I just don’t believe you. That’s not the real price. And you should know, I work for the Attorney General, and it would be a shame if you lost your job because you’re making up prices". Still trying to maintain my cool, I replied, “There’s no benefit for me to lie to you". She finally became quiet.

What was she thinking? Consider this, lady. I get paid $9 an hour to scan items. What on earth makes you think I make commission? If you want Michael Kors goods then you have to pay Michael Kors prices, even though this was already a bargain.

14. Limits Are For Other People

This happened around the time when Walmart had just announced its pickup service. We had no sort of "do your shopping for you" or personal shopper positions, so I should have seen the immediate red flag when my customer service manager (CSM) approached a coworker and asked if I wanted to be a personal shopper.

I was mid-transaction, and the coworker was chanting to herself, "Please say yes, please say yes, please say yes". But I was 19 and naive and still believed cranky last-minute Christmas shoppers were the only problem creatures. I also wanted to make my co-worker happy, so I said, "Uh, sure". My CSM briefed me on the woman who had only $85.

I was told to make sure that she stayed around $85, and that was the only introduction or warning I got before I was sent off with the lady, who I never learned the name of, but I will call Audrey, as she was just as cartoonishly whiny as the little girl from the old Little Audrey cartoons. The first red flag that I saw was that she immediately walked over to the garden center to see the Christmas clearance items.

I had just met Audrey, so I assumed she was certainly old enough to know her limits. She was probably around 65 if I had to guess. So, I followed her. But boy, oh, boy, was I entirely wrong. We walked around the garden center and she took notice of the special perfume and cologne sets that companies get specifically as Christmas gift ideas.

She grabbed one and said that it looked really nice and that she would love to try it out. She then placed it in her cart and proceeded to pick out sets for various family members—some nice slippers that massage your feet, and not one, not two, but three Christmas yard decorations with lights.

I politely informed her that she already had easily over $150 worth of stuff in her cart, and she asked me whether I was sure. So, I totaled up the price of all the stuff in her cart and then added on sales tax. She reluctantly put back several of the perfume sets and two of the lawn decorations, and we departed for the next area of the store.

Since she was old-fashioned, she still used a landline phone and informed me that she needed AA batteries for it. She said that she wanted to get rechargeable ones, to save money, and I agreed that may be a good idea...until she picked out $30 batteries. We spent a lot of time there because she specifically wanted batteries that indicated on the package that they were good for phones.

I got her to put back two more Christmas items, but some of her more expensive items remained in the cart. Then I asked her if she was ready to check out—she informed me that she still had to get her groceries. I had easily spent 45 minutes with this lady but I was long overdue for my break...my stomach sank so far that I had to scoop it up off the floor.

But I followed her as she picked out her groceries, all the while reminding her that she had a limited amount of money. At that point, I fully understood why my CSM would lie about this. Once again, I informed her that she had over $150 in her cart so she put a few items back; though, she did not believe me when I still insisted that she was over budget.

Instead, she insisted that we head to the checkout to confirm. Maybe she was one of those people who had to see her total to believe it, or maybe she was just being dumb, but I was too mentally exhausted to deal with it, so I just followed her to a checkout lane and unloaded her cart of items for her. When he recognized her, the cashier looked at me and nodded.

He then asked, "How long did it take?" To that, I indicated that it had been over an hour and he rolled his eyes, saying that sounded about right. But my ordeal was far from over—the cashier rang up all of her stuff with me there to bear witness, and he did not know her limit this time.

So, he did not say anything when we passed it. We made it to something like $193, and Audrey looked at her total and said, "Oh..." She took off a few slabs of meat, which brought it down around $20, and then handed the cashier a flavored drink enhancer and stared at him expectantly. The total was still $172, and she passed him another flavored drink enhancer.

I informed her that we might have to take off one of her more expensive items, like her perfume set or her slippers. She insisted on the slippers but decided the perfume could go. Great! That brought it down to $161, which was still progress. She inched the total down a few items at a time, all the while insisting certain items were off-limits.

I thought she put back the batteries and replaced them with regular batteries since those were much cheaper. The guy had since turned off his light but he still had a line. With his replacement cashier now present and the light still off, we were all trying to talk the lady down from everything she still insisted was necessary.

When we got her down to $120, she started asking us if she could just have some of her items The cashier seemed to know where this was going and told her she could have them if she paid for them. We tried several times to pry more items out of her transaction, but she insisted she needed everything that was left in the cart. It was a nightmare.

She started asking the replacement cashier if she could help her afford the items, to which the cashier told her no. She could literally lose her job for trying to do that. She then turned to the man behind her and asked for money, and he was about to offer to pay the remaining cost until the cashier gave him a look and requested that he please not do that. Clearly, this woman had done this before.

She then told the lady that she was not allowed to solicit at our store and that she was going to have to put some stuff back. Defying the advice, the nice customer behind us gave her $10. The lady put back another frozen item and was at $115. All she would need to do is to put back her cheap plastic lawn ornament...but she continued to whine about how she really needed it and how it would make her yard look so much nicer.

At that point, I sighed and decided to just take the item off her transaction, pay for it myself, and give it to the lady. I was done with it entirely. The cashier, however, told me that I could not do that and that I could lose my job for it. But I took the item to punch out for my break, grabbed my wallet from the back, then purchased the item and gave it to the lady.

I told her that I did not even have a yard and I just wanted it to be over with. The CSM later decided to just ban the lady from the store. I was also allowed to take it easy for the rest of the day. A very stressful ordeal, but the closest thing I could have gotten to a happy ending. And no, I didn't get in trouble, much to my relief.

15. On The Edge

A lady demanded that I call her a manager today. She wanted to complain about how some items did not have a price on them while others did. She started interrogating me about pricing protocol, but I was on SCO duty today. Though, since I'd never seen her in the store before, I lied and said that I had nothing to do with stocking.

The manager arrived and Queen Karen launched into a full-fledged rant. Then, while she was at the counter complaining, she added a very hand-flailing, gestured complaint that the counter edges were too rough and sharp. She went as far as to say she was lucky that she did not injure herself, otherwise she would have called the health board. I wipe that counter down probably 200 times every day.

I assure you, there is nothing sharp about it because I would be among the first to raise a concern about it if there was. The employees where I work are very aware of how something small like a sharp edge on a cart can end up with a potential lawsuit in this crazy economic and opportunistic climate in which we live right now.

My manager handled it well, but the other associates and I couldn't stop laughing about it all shift. Their loud proclamations about how such-and-such—mostly random things like the color scheme, etc.—could have been fatal for us were just absurd.

16. Make Way

So, I work at a grocery store chain and Tuesdays are what we refer to as "Specials Day". Basically, it's my job to change out last week's special with the current week's special. It is a long and painful project that I volunteered for when I got promoted because I like doing projects that other people do not.

That day, I was doing my thing in the specials aisle. I started getting gradually more and more annoyed since the whole process would be three times faster if they just let me do it when the store was closed, but, for some baffling reason, they wanted the customers to interact with me as I was occupied with 10 pallets of random things.

Near the end of my ninth pallet, I had myself basically pinned into a corner of the aisle. This was a strong nonverbal language that should have signaled to the customers, "Hey, maybe don't walk this way. I'll have to step around my pallet, move my pallet jack, and reset myself if you do". But lo and behold, trouble was headed my way—a lady came walking down the aisle, approaching me at the end.

I am a chill guy, but I don't really talk much to the customers because my store is in an upper-class area and the wealthy folks don't like getting spoken to by some sweaty dude in a uniform. So, when she kept walking towards me, I realized that she was going to try and walk around my pallet or, God forbid, walk on it.

I quickly moved my jack and the pallet and looked up at the ceiling, questioning God for creating oblivious customers. Apparently, that look at the ceiling really truly infuriated her. At first, as she walked through the suddenly clear path, she apologized half-heartedly in that way only some types of customers can pull off.

But her apology read more like "Oh, I am sorry wage person. I sure hope I didn't inconvenience you with my presence". I nodded my head at her "apology" and turned back to move my jack and pallet back to where I was working. Apparently, not only did she expect me to move, but she also really expected me to graciously tell her it was no problem that she made me move my entire working station so she could save 15 steps.

Between not accepting her apology and looking at the ceiling for about three milliseconds, she decided right then and there that I was a menace and needed a talking to. She started with the basic criticism of me being a retail grunt who didn't have a big fake grin on my face the entire day. She topped it off with the classic line that always gets my blood boiling: “I do not think you should be working here if that is going to be your attitude".

She said that while looking at me like I was an animal in a zoo exhibit. I did not reply and just kept working. “What's the worst that can happen?” I thought. I cannot please everyone. Then she got in line. Now, the line to the checkout is situated about 10 feet from where I was working. At that point, the villain, in her mind, had her walkway obstructed.

She went out of her way to loudly criticize me and complain about how I should not be allowed to work at the store. Now, I will be honest with you, I should have just let her have her moment. If I had let her just screech and complain, it probably would have ended there. Maybe a phone call or strongly worded email to corporate. No biggie. I should have just smiled and kept working.

But there was a part of me that needed her to know that yelling at customers about how terrible I am is not how we did things at our store. So, I told her, calm as I could, that she needed to stop making a scene. And when I say something snapped in this woman, it was like someone hit a light switch. Immediately, her phone was recording me and everything got a lot more dangerous.

She was asking leading questions like, "Did you just tell me I can't talk to other customers?" and "Do you think you have the right to break my first amendment?" and "Who's the manager here?" Now, there are two things you can do when someone gets their phones out and records you. You can walk away, potentially get followed, and then you can ask them to stop recording.

Or you can be a fool like me and ask them to stop recording you right away. The latter method, naturally, led to her screaming even louder and accusing me of being a terrible person. She randomly started threatening me, saying that she could have me fired whenever she wanted. At that point, I was just trying to get her to leave.

She had made the scene worse by recording and trying to be the next viral "look at how bad I was treated" internet star, and it was clear that she just wanted to capture my angry reaction on film. I am glad to report that I did not get angry with her. I did not raise my voice at all. I just stood there and let her scream at me. As she finally finished paying for her groceries, I asked her again to please leave if she was going to continue making a scene.

This led to her sitting behind the cashiers and between the doors and waiting for me to walk away so that she could leave. I informed her that I needed to see her leave. She said that she was not leaving until I was out of her sight. I stood my ground and told her that she needed to leave or I would be forced to call the authorities.

Oh, God. She had the wrong reaction to that statement. Most of the time, if someone says, "Hey, this might need to become an official matter," the natural human reaction is to reevaluate what they are doing and decide if they want to continue. For reasons only God knows, this customer's reaction was "Good, call them. I want them here".

Here's the thing. I was not ever going to call them. It was a bottomless threat. What was I going to say to them? "There is a lady screaming at me and recording me?" Worst case scenario, this woman makes the whole situation into some kind of bigger issue and I end up on the news. So, my bluff having been called, I walked into the office and called my direct manager.

I told her what had happened and she basically told me to get back out there and deescalate the situation. I went back to the registers and I actually decided that the best course of action was to tuck tail and just apologize. So, I did. I said to her, "I'm really sorry you had a bad experience today. I hope you can come back and shop here. I understand what went wrong and I will gladly give you corporate's information". And then I told her to have a good day, indicating the door as I said that.

She sort of accepted my apology. Of course, she still went on  about how I was terrible and how I should not work there, but at least she calmed down a little...until she mentioned she was an "investigator". Not seeing a uniform or a badge, I asked her what I thought to be a natural and reasonable question.

I asked, "An investigator for who?" Her exact reply was, "Do not play stupid. You know what kind of investigator". Then she went on to say that she was going to call corporate, let them know that I was only harassing her because she was an immigrant (which was ironic since I am an immigrant too) and that I should expect not to have a job in the next 24 hours.

I just sat there and took it. There was nothing else I could do, really. Sometimes you just have to let them screech so they will leave. As she finally turned to leave, she noticed that I was watching her. So, she came back and said that I could not watch her leave because I was "going to attack" her outside.

I clammed up even more at that comment. As a final shot, she told me that she had "the means to retaliate" in her car and that she'd "gladly use it" if I come outside. She finally left and I called my boss, breaking down in tears of pure frustration, telling her how the de-escalation went. My boss assured me that she was just a crazy lady and that she, my boss, would have my back if this turned into a bigger deal.

17. Showering The Troubles Away

I am a shift manager two days a week and a cashier for three at a truck stop and rest area. We have fast-food restaurants, showers, parking for big rigs, and passenger vehicles. Today's troubles, like most of the trouble I encounter, revolved around showers. A driver came down, plopped his wet towels on the counter (even after my cashier directed him to a towel bin), and then threw his key onto the pile.

The cashier asked him, again, to place the towels in the bin. He finally grabbed them and said, "Oh, so you guys do not have to touch them". I replied, "Yes, policies have changed some due to the pandemic". In truth, that has been the policy for at least the three years I have worked there, but this seemed to be the quickest way to resolve the matter.

My cashier asked him what shower he was in, and instead of speaking, he held up the numbered key. Though, his finger was blocking the number, so we could not see what it was. When my cashier reached for it, he raised it higher so he had to stretch to get it. At that point, I was starting to get really irritated. His behavior was just so unnecessary.

I told the driver, "Way to make it complicated". This man lost his mind. He got right into my face and said he would hit me hard. I told him to leave, and he started flexing like he was actually going to throw a punch but said, "I'm not going to go for you. But want to know what I will do? I will find your family and mess them up".

I pulled my cellphone out and started recording. The store manager then arrived at the building and heard the tail end of our shouting match with each other. He stepped in between us when the driver came too close. The driver started shouting at him, " Don't get involved, bro. You don't want none of this". My boss replied, "This is my property".

The driver calmed down very quickly, and they stepped outside. My boss told him exactly the same things I had; that he was not to return, etc. The end. Fast forward to the end of my shift—we had yet another driver issue. So, the policy for our showers is that we hold onto something as collateral until we get the shower key and the towels back. 99% of the time, it's a non-issue.

The other 1% of the time, it's a mess. This time, a driver came down, and since my cashier had a few people in line, I thought to ask the driver if he had brought the towels down. The driver said that he had not because he had not been told to do so. The cashier clarified that they had, in fact, told him. The driver just shrugged and said, “I don't care, man. I have a Lyft outside waiting. Give me my keys".

He had left his personal keys as collateral, but since we did not get our items back, I told him he would have to get the towels. He became belligerent to both me and my cashier. At that point, the overnight manager was in, so he got some too. This went on for a few moments; then, in what I thought was a bluff, he said he was calling the authorities.

Spoiler alert, it was not a bluff. Like the guy at the start of my shift, I started recording on my phone. And this guy actually threatened me. After about seven minutes or so, a couple of officers arrived. The guy was belligerent with them too, and he pushed the cashier to the point where they told him he needed to back up and calm down.

One of the troopers came to the back desk where we dealt with the showers. The driver, at that point, looked like he was about to break down in tears. The trooper asked about our policy, and it was explained. The driver told him what he told us, "I am here for a shower. In and out. I do not have time for this. I have a Lyft outside. I just want my keys".

In what I thought would be the best moment of my day, the trooper escorted him upstairs to the showers and made him get the towels. We gave him his keys and receipt for the shower, but I added that after today, we did not want him back on the property. The trooper and the driver walked away, but the trooper made sure that he acknowledged what he had been told.

He asked him, "Did you hear what the manager said? You're not welcome here anymore. If you return, you will be charged with trespassing". I left a note for my boss about what had happened and went home. If the driver had simply said, "Oh sorry, guys. I forgot," or if he just didn't act the way he did, then we would have just given his things back. But he wanted to be petty about it.

I am better at the petty game. My takeaway from today is that my boss is pretty awesome. He had my back, stepped between me and a guy who audibly threatened to harm me and others. He probably will not appreciate that I let the second incident go as far as it ended up going but it is what it is. Sometimes, in retail, you just have to defend yourself.

18. Smoke Signals

We had a new employee start yesterday. She seemed to be a very sweet girl in her late teens and had a great sense of humor. I took a liking to her instantly. She had never been in charge of a register before, so I was put in charge of training her. I showed her the ropes and let her take over, staying close by in case she needed me.

When it was quiet, I taught her what the procedure was when it came to smokes. She asked me if she had to ID everyone and I told her that she would have to use her judgment. If a person seemed younger than 21 to her, then she should go for it. If they looked older, then it wouldn't be necessary. She seemed to understand, and she was getting the hang of the register quickly.

I figured that I could stop shadowing her and let her do her thing. I told her that I was going to do some stocking, but that I would be close by if she needed anything. In fact, I would be no more than an aisle over. She smiled and said OK. About 10 minutes went by, and I heard somebody yelling. All I could hear the girl say was: “I am sorry, sir,” in the most terrified tone.

I came over to find this old man screaming at her. She was hunched over and looked like she was about ready to cry. Apparently, he had told her that he wanted a particular brand of smokes. She gave him the wrong ones twice and was slow to find the right ones, and then she asked him for his date of birth when she rang it up.

He was yelling about how he was in a rush and needed to go. He saw me and said, "Hey, can you ring me up? This woman does not know anything". I looked at her and saw the tears rolling down her face. That was not OK. I told him to not talk to my coworker that way and informed him that it was her first day. He said, “I see that, but I have to go".

I told him that he obviously did not because if he did, then he would not be screaming at her. He replied with a threat, saying that if I said one more thing, he would never come back to support our store. That was fine with me. I did not want customers who disrespect employees in the store anyway. In the cheeriest tone I can muster, I told him to have a fantastic day.

He stormed out muttering and I consoled the new girl. She was full-on sobbing at this point. What a horrible first day that had to have been. All because some mean person could not show a little empathy.

19. Behind The Doors

I just finished working the weekend and, boy, reopening after a lockdown has really brought out the geniuses, huh? Yes, please take your sweet time, ignore the store hours since they are clearly just a suggestion. It is not like we have lives or would like to get home before it starts pouring out. Keeping in line with the genius parade, on Friday, some dude waltzed in 10 minutes before closing.

I greeted him and asked if I could help him find what he was looking for since we were closing soon. He didn't really answer. Fast forward nine and a half minutes—I caught him talking to my coworker for the greater part of his visit, and I knew immediately that he would be trouble. He was mostly about random topics, but clearly, she did not care. Unfortunately,  she was too nice to cut the guy off and say that she was busy.

I start the closing ritual for the store, which involved turning off the open sign, flipping the sign by the door, closing the doors, etc. I also tried to make more noise than usual so that the guy noticed what I was doing. Of course, he did not, since he was too far into his story about wanting to be a hairdresser or something.

I waited about 30 seconds before I abruptly interrupted. I asked my coworker if she was ready to close her register. That tipped the dude off and he finally left...he did not even buy anything. We have had more people like this, all just waiting for the store to close. Then, we have those who are the other way round. We had a woman who was standing at the doors for a while waiting for us to open, and then got into her car and left as I was walking to unlock the doors. This has happened quite a few times and I cannot really wrap my head around that logic.

20. With A Smile

One day, I had an old guy come through my register with lumber. I said hello to him and instead of greeting me back, he immediately told me had eight pieces of the stack of lumber on the left. I proceeded to count them and he snapped at me, saying, "I said eight!" I told him that we were supposed to count them. I completed counting and rang up those eight pieces.

He then told me that there were 10 pieces of lumber on the right side of his cart. Once again, I counted them. He said to me, "What school did you go to?" I was so confused by his question that I did not even know what to say. What was interesting is that, despite how cranky he was, he kept smiling at me as if his rude remarks weren't uncalled for.

He was also wearing his mask with his nose hanging out. Once he finished paying and I gave him his receipt, he left the store without saying thank you or anything to me. That guy is definitely up there as one of the worst customers I've ever had. Absolutely no manners and I am still disgusted by his behavior to this day.

21. Powered Up

On one Saturday afternoon, we had a power surge followed by an outage. It affected all of downtown, but the store was not notified. Now, you would think that people would be understanding...but there was not one empathetic soul in our store that day. People started complaining that we did not have a backup generator. This was, in their eyes, totally the employees’ fault too.

We had one register that could still ring, but the card reader was down, so it was cash only. And the belts would not move. All of this should be obvious, but no. We got questions like, “You mean I can't use my bank card?” despite the fact that we had been repeating that for the last 20 minutes. Add to the mix this one lovely man who kept shouting, "Time to get out the pencils and paper!" because we most definitely know the price of every item in the store.

We finally got everyone out, locked the doors, and put stuff away to enjoy 30 minutes of bliss. The instant the power went back on, people were beating on the door. My manager told them everything had to reboot but, of course, they wanted to shop during that time instead of waiting five more minutes.

22. Here We Go Around The Counter

I had a customer who was standing at the cash with items all over the counter, just staring at me. So, I sidled up and cashed them out. All of sudden, the customer left and started browsing the store some more. When he moseyed back up to the counter just moments later, I asked him if he was all set. He said nothing and went off again to look at something else.

Then, after some time, the customer stood impatiently before the register, proclaiming sourly, "Can I get some help over here? I'm ready to cash out". It took everything in me to not give a bratty reaction. As I was ringing him up, I also got hit with the old, "No, I always get 10% off," even though our item rewards system has literally been only 5% off for the past 10 years.

But no, this guy said he always gets a deal here. I had never seen the guy before in my life, but okay. Needless to say, they did not get the claimed discount.

23. Not A Know-it-all

This customer came in 10 minutes before closing. She was looking at jeans up until closing with the help of one of our newer staff members. He had been hired six months ago for the holiday season but received only one shift weekly. At closing, I told my coworker that we were closed, so he told the customer that he would have to bring the items to be cashed out.

The customer continued looking anyway. My coworker took me aside and spilled the truth about the situation—he told me that the guy was being aggressive and almost yelling at him to help. When he came up to the cash, he complained about not being able to find the jeans that he was looking for and said that my coworker should not have been hired because he did not know anything at all.

Bear in mind that my coworker normally works in our shoe department, so he does not know much about casual wear. He then wanted us to call another store in order to look for his size. It was five minutes after closing,  so obviously, no one picked up. The cashier told him that, and he decided to ask for the manager as if that was going to do anything.

Since I am the shift leader, I was the acting manager. I turned around and asked him what he needed, and he started going on about how I needed to hire people with more experience. First of all, I don't even hire people. Secondly, this was the kid's first job—he was barely 16, and he was one of the nicest, most eager-to-please employees that we have.

I almost lost it at that customer. I told him not to talk about my employees like that. I do not even remember what else I said before my cashier jumped in to de-escalate the situation. Maybe I overreacted, but my coworker feels like the little brother at our store.

24. Selective Vision

Today, I had two unrelated customers really get under my skin. Most of the time, I shrug off mean customers. I let them complain and then reply with "Sorry, company policy" or some other non-response to shut them up. But not today. And the first one was a doozy. This customer was an older lady who had bought four packages of hot dogs.

We currently have a sale for hot dogs: buy two and they are 99 cents each while their normal price is $2.99 each. The limit is one, so it's a pretty good deal; you save $4 overall. However, this lady was angry that only two of her hot dogs had gone for the sale price. I was called up and asked to fix it. The lady claimed that there was no limit mentioned on the sale sign.

So, I got out a sales flier, and before I had even opened it, she claimed that she doesn't read the fliers. That made me instantly angry. I set up a refund and went to get the on-shelf sale tag. And wouldn't you know it, in big bold capital letters the tag read: "Limit offer one per customer". I grabbed the sign and started to go up front to show the customer.

She saw me coming and immediately took off because the cashier had run the refund before I had a chance to get the tag. It irks me that customers can read the sale sign, but selectively ignore parts of it.

25. Needing An Explanation

I had never ever encountered anyone really going off on me at work...Until yesterday. This encounter at my workplace—a burger place—involved a rude customer named Darren, his young daughter, my coworker named Karen, my manager named Bernard, and me.

At my workplace, we organize orders numerically. Once your order is finished, we call out the number and the customer comes to pick up their order at a hand-out area. Now, I am currently training for a new role, so I was close to the handout table, but not working it. I noticed a man, whom I came to know as Darren, standing in front of the table with a receipt in his hand and a burger in the other.

Obviously, I knew he had a complaint. I just didn't expect that it would go like this. I asked him if something was wrong with his order. He said that he had gotten the wrong burger. He was actually calm at this point and he sounded only a slight bit irritated, but there was nothing alarming. I apologized and asked what kind of burger he was missing.

That's when Karen, who was taking orders next to us, jumped in and said, "Oh, I think his daughter grabbed the wrong order. His order is in the back". I later told her that it was not necessary to tell the customers their mistakes in that manner because either way, we were going to fix it for them. It was faster to just fix it rather than play the blame game.

Plus, no one was going to blame her and go on some witch hunt. I just wanted to do my job. At the time, I just said that the food in the back was already cold, so I just needed to know which burger he needed". Instead of answering me, Darren said, "Wait. My daughter grabbed the wrong food though?" Karen said that was what she thought had happened.

So, Darren replied, "Well, can you tell her that? Because I do not want to start a fight if I tell her". At that point, Karen and I looked at each other confused and uncomfortable. He then waved his daughter over. They were a tall duo, but I guessed that she was around 12. I tried to avoid the situation and reiterated, “Really, I can just get the correct burger for you. It's not a big deal at all".

Darren insisted that she needed to “learn this". I then said, "OK. Well, I did not hand out the food, so I cannot say if she grabbed the wrong order. Karen can help with that". Karen quickly washed her hands of the situation by saying, "I can't. I am in the middle of taking orders". That annoyed me and I thought, “Why were you listening to us in the first place then? Why put in your 2 cents when I was already fixing it and we had no issues?”

But my concern, at that point, was Darren, who suddenly really wanted me to do it. His tone made the situation really uncomfortable. Even his daughter started to look extremely uncomfortable. As he started getting irate, more condescending, and loud, I started to just look for a way out. He continued to insist that he wanted to talk to me and know what had happened.

I, once again, expressed my helplessness. "Yes, sir. But unfortunately, I do not know what happened. I was not here handing out the food". He kept cutting me off, so I finally said, "I am going to get my manager for you because I cannot help you any more with this". As I turned to step away, he started screaming at the top of his lungs.

He shouted, "No, don't walk away from me! Ma'am, I do not want your manager! I am not trying to create a scene here!" Everyone was staring as he was going off and I yelled out Bernard's name. Bernard came over and that is when Darren went back to his calm voice. He told Bernard that he just wanted to know what happened with his order.

I was still standing there and Bernard said, "He wants to talk to you". Darren had a condescending voice when he was talking to me. He gave a half-truth and then asked, "Is that not what happened?" So, I stood quietly, and after he asked again, I said, "Well, I mean, my manager is here. So, yes, I am agreeing that that is what happened".

I also refused to look at him because when I get angry, I cry. I was trying so hard not to let the tears out. Also, because he was bending down to my level, I wanted to punch him. Darren started saying stuff like, "Will you look at me? Why does it feel like you don't want to be talking to me? Do you even want to be here talking to me?"

When he didn't stop his aggression, I absolutely lost it. So, I said, "No, I don't. Bernard, I'm not doing this. I can't do this". And I walked away. I went to the back where three or four different coworkers checked up on me. One even offered to let me punch him to take out my anger. I did not take him up on his offer, but I love that kid.

At that point, I only had like 10 to 15 minutes left on my shift, so I got to go home. Bernard apologized to me and said he didn't expect him to speak to me that way. On one hand, I understand because Darren could come across as a normal calm customer. But on the other hand, this guy was literally just screaming at me. And he was at least 6'3 (192 cms) while I am 4'11 (125 cms).

Even his daughter was taller than me. I told Bernard that it felt a little biased because he was not as condescending with him as he was with me. But Bernard said that he felt it was more to do with height since he was just as tall and built similarly to the customer. Either way, he said that there was something off about that guy anyway, and I agree.

26. Too Good To Be True

To preface, it needs to be said that my store does not have coupons. We never have, and we probably never will. On this day, I had a woman come in saying that she wanted to get decor for her new house. I offered to show her what we had available. She then mentioned that she was so excited that she was going to get such a good deal.

I assumed that was because everything she was picking out was 40% off. Spoiler alert: it was not. She proceeded to spend over an hour picking out everything and having us put it behind the counter for her. That was when she finally mentioned, “Oh yes, I was so happy to get a coupon for half off of everything here,” which was the major red flag.

I then asked her if I could see it while also explaining that we did not carry in-store coupons. She proceeded to spend another 30 minutes looking for the supposed coupon. I finally got a glance at her phone and it all made sense—she had pulled up one of those websites that claim to give out coupon codes, but they usually don't work.

It even said in a big text that they uncertified codes. She was perfectly polite the entire time but explaining to her that she couldn't use any of that in-store was exhausting. I know the older generation can have trouble with stuff like that, but it was like she just could not believe that she could not use her coupons. And, of course, she had us put half of it back.

27. An Apple A Day

I had a customer yesterday bring in the clearance item that he bought, which was a MacBook. He came up to the register to return it. That was no problem. For reference, I'm five feet tall and he was a big guy. I followed protocol and opened it. I then checked to see if the laptop was up and running to turn off his iCloud accounts.

When the screen turned on, it was stuck on some weird screen with a mysterious folder labeled with a question mark. That's all it displayed. I didn't give it much thought. As I was processing the return, I noticed on the receipt that the form of payment was a $43 gift card, and the rest of the $1,057 was charged to his card.

Returns work by giving back the money in the same form of payment. So, I was telling him that he would get $43 back to a gift card. He immediately got upset and tried telling me that the last guy who helped him return an item of his but not to his card, but to a gift card. So, he wanted the whole $1,100 to his card.

Normally, I would let the customer know this kind of thing, and they would be OK with it. I was a little overwhelmed, so I called my super. She was held up with something and a minute into waiting, this guy started getting aggravated. He told me, "I don't have all day! C’mon". At that point, I was begging my super on the radio, “Please, I need you here".

She came and checked out the situation. She also investigated the MacBook. I didn't know if the guy didn't disconnect it from his iPhone yet, but his accounts were still attached to his laptop. So, he started getting even more aggravated. Eventually, I called a floor manager up. They were letting him know that there was nothing we could do on our end.

This was because he did something like wipe his system. So, he had to call Apple to disable his accounts or find out why it was not working. He was sitting there, calling Apple, and I guess he was trying to use voice commands because he kept shouting something. Then he started to argue with the floor manager again, so I just walked away to compose myself

In the end, the guy got all his money back to his card and he was still able to return the item, claiming that he'll never buy clearance items from us again.

28. Always On Clock

I finished a shift at my work and I was on my way home when I realized that I needed to do some shopping. I could not be bothered to go all the way back to my store, so I went to another shop on the way home. Mind you, I was in my work uniform and it was too hot to wear a coat over it. I was going to be in and out so thought it was no big deal.

How wrong was I?! Well, two minutes in, an elderly couple came up to me and ask, “Excuse me, do you know where the food storage bags are kept? I replied, “I am sorry but I do not work here I'm afraid. They just say, “Oh, right!” They stormed off and, although taken aback, I thought little of it. Instead, I got on with my shopping and headed to the self-service tills.

Just as I was about to finish, the couple came back and they had a manager with them! They told the manager, “This employee of yours refused to help us find our items". The manager looked at me, then said, “I am afraid that this man does not work for us". He pointed to my uniform saying, “He works for another company".

The couple stared at me and said, “We thought he was making that up!” I'd never had a complaint from a customer while shopping in another store before! Well, there is always a first time.

29. Cost Per Spray

I work at a thrift store, and due to COVID, there needs to be a door greeter who greets customers coming in and sprays their hands with hand sanitizer. This was what I was doing when an elderly woman came in. As I sprayed her hands, she started coughing dramatically as though this was the first time anyone had ever done that.

Then, she said, “You sprayed too much. It got into my mouth". I immediately felt bad when she said that, but then she lost me when she said that it had gotten into her mouth. She was clearly wearing a mask. To top it off, as she walked away, she muttered something. It sounded like, “This is going to affect the amount of money I spend today". I don’t get how that affects me, but okay.

30. In The Know

This happened this past weekend at my shop. The customers were one of those annoying couples who'd regularly come in and ask questions every time. They would ask things like where the bin bags were or where the rice was as if they weren’t here literally all the time. One day, this couple came up to my till and I start scanning through the items.

Suddenly, the man said, “Can you press subtotal at the end?” I said that I would. This was because, obviously, I was going to have to do it anyway. I thought he was just particular or did not really understand how it worked. Anyway, the total came to around $55 and they were not very happy. They started asking me how much every item cost and to void out other items, which of course I did without a problem.

When they came to scan their voucher, the pop-up appeared as expected, telling me to get a supervisor to authorize the void. I told them, “Because you have removed some products, I have to get someone over to authorize them. They shouldn’t be too long". The man looked at me with confusion and said, “I thought pressing subtotal would make it OK".

This deeply puzzled me. Did he think that of all the people who ever worked my shop— till staff, supervisors, and management—that no one had ever considered or worked this out before? Did he think he, a completely random man, knew more about our till systems? That he knew more than the staff who are on them all day? Strange!

31. Time Is Money

I’ve worked in customer service for two years and the amount of stuff I’ve had to deal with is enough to blast God to the 16th dimension. One time, a customer wanted something way high up on the shelves, in the depressing fluorescent lights territory. I told her that I should be back within 10 minutes because I needed to get a ladder. She said that was fine.

Now, I don't even weigh heavy enough to donate blood. I’m a petite little ballerina of a rodent with Campbell soup noodle arms. None of the other workers were around to help as they were dealing with their own stuff, so I dragged this ginormous ladder from the break room all the way across the store to get back to the lady and the merchandise.

Well, I headed back to the desolate ghost town of an aisle and find that the lady decided to take a first-class ticket to Employees’ Time Is Meaningless-Ville. She was nowhere to be seen. Okay, time is money, and people have got things to do and places to be and all that. But don’t act like your time is more valuable than mine, because it's not.

32. Adventure Time

I currently work at a mall, in a candy store close to the food court. In the food court, there is a play area for kids with different structures to climb and play on. This play area has a no-shoes policy, meaning that to play there, kids have to take their shoes off. Now, kids are attracted to candy and have been known to wander in.

We can tell that they are from the play area because they lack shoes and, usually, we have an employee walk them back. These kids are usually really young, so it scares us a bit when they do not have an adult nearby watching them. Well, today there were three kids, probably siblings, all five years old or younger, that wandered in.

We took note of their lack of shoes and asked them to show us where their parents were; a common tactic to get them to walk back to the playpen and to their adult. Well, this five-year-old was kind of sassy and said, "I am five years old. I don’t need my parents since I walked here on my own". His younger siblings agreed with him.

We then told him that he couldn’t buy anything because he did not have any money. Honestly, though, we will not sell to kids without shoes regardless of whether they have money or not. He and his siblings ran out of the store and we watched them run to the play area. We figured that they went to their parents and moved on.

15 minutes later, they were back with an unexpected vengeance. They all grabbed a bunch of stuff and tried to run out with it, but we stopped them. This time around, my manager walked back to the playpen with them. Later, when she came back, she said that when she got there, the other parents did not want to allow them back in since they had been disruptive and had pushed some of the other kids.

So, she had returned with them in tow and we had to call security to pick up the kids and make an announcement over the PA system. A security guard later said that a woman had picked the children up and was mad at them since she had told them to stay in the playpen while she shopped. Later, I told my friend, who works at one of the restaurants at the food court what had happened and she said that she had spotted them running around the backs of the restaurants.

She had to kick them out from there since it was dangerous for the kids to be there. My only question is, “Who lets their young kids alone in a busy mall while they shop?” Just get a sitter!

33. Grabbing Luck With Both Hands

Our store has a lottery kiosk. Yesterday, this lady was buying tickets and she ordered me to tell her good luck. She didn't mean to wish her luck, either. She specifically said, "You should say good luck to me when I'm getting lottery tickets". I just told her I grew up doing theatre and I was conditioned not to say good luck. This is sort of true, but I mostly do not say it because I just cannot be bothered by these people.

34. A Question Of Receiving

I had a woman say that she didn’t want her receipt. Then, when I threw it out, she yelled and said that I should give her a receipt. So, I went to print a new one and she immediately said, “No, I want my original receipt". So, I pulled it out of my trash can, which only had receipt paper in it, and she goes, “It’s that one!”

I wondered, “Lady, how would you know? They’re all the same". However, I held my tongue and just say, “No, this is for a smaller purchase. You got a bigger size". I found hers and she huffed off. Fast forward a few days—I looked through the customer feedback box and I was shocked. We get a bad review saying that I was rude, threw out her receipt when she asked for it, and did not print her a new one.

It went on to claim that I just pulled a receipt out of the garbage and didn’t even give her the right receipt. Corporate gave her a gift card. I was done after that.

35. A Valuable Lesson

Yesterday was horrible. My relief wasn't on time, and because of our nonsensical late policy, I was technically working for free after my shift ended. So, I was a little cranky when my last customer asked to "just grab one thing really quickly". I said yes, but I was admittedly huffy. The customer decided to "teach me a lesson".

They waited to grab the item until the entire order was through. I cannot void an order over $10, so that wasn't an option. And today was the first of the month, so it was busy and I couldn't afford to have my time whiled away. I just wanted to scream.

36. Time For Change

What is up with the over 50 crowds being inconsiderate and generally just difficult to deal with? I had a retail customer come in at 9:30 am, right after I locked the door to go to the bank. He knocked, so of course, I opened the door and helped him. He got up to the register and paid with two $50 bills and two $1 bills for his $31.94 purchase because he wanted to break up his bills.

He then proceeded to dictate the exact denominations of change that he wanted, which I didn’t have since I hadn't gone to the bank yet. So, I flipped through the change in my cash bag. He saw the denominations that interested him, which happened to be the only change that I really had. He wanted them, but I hesitantly obliged because what else was I going to pay him with?

That was when another customer walked in and wanted to pay with—wait for it—CASH! I hate it here!!! I have also noticed that it’s always the same kind of people who do things like this. They call in two minutes before closing and ask you to stay, or show up 30 minutes before you open and bang on your doors, etc. I cannot finish my home inspection classes fast enough because I am fed up with how rude and seemingly clueless a lot of people can be in public.

37. An Ill-fitting Argument

I work at Zara as a sales associate. Due to COVID, our dressing rooms are closed because they would be used as a shared space and, therefore, they'd require a wipe down, among other things, every time they would be used. We just do not have the staff to do that. So even though the pandemic is starting to die down, no dressing rooms.

Our return policy is pretty standard, though, so most people do not give us any grief and just buy their items and return or exchange them the next day if they do not fit. No big deal, right? Right. So, this happened while I was walking back and forth from our dressing room, which we are using as an extra stock room, filling up the shelves.

We were in the middle of a big sale, so I was trying to hustle and get everything out there as fast as I could. I was putting knitwear on racks, humming along to the song that was playing, and just generally having a grand old time. Then, approached me. The dreaded demon. Karen. She goes, "Excuuuuuuuuse me!" And I'm immediately on guard.

I turned around and immediately all my warning sensors were going off. She looked like a total Karen. Stringy blonde hair, thin lips, years of sunburn that has ruined her skin, not wearing a mask—but has one pulled down below her chin—and a girl behind her in her late teens that looked absolutely miserable being out with her.

Before I even fully processed it, my brain just said, “Oh boy". I turned on my customer service smile and said, "Hi! How can I help you?" She was immediately in my face, not respecting social distancing at all. She demanded to know if we had a fitting room open, saying, "I was just by your fitting rooms and I saw your sign. Do you have any fitting rooms open?"

The sign clearly said that we did not, but I started with my little spiel. I said, "No, we do not have the fitting rooms open due to COVID, but our return policy still stands, even for the sale, so—" She interrupts me by saying, "But I need a fitting room". She also stepped closer to me so I stepped back. Clearly, she had no respect for our social distancing rules.

I tried to explain again that she couldn't use the fitting room, but she wouldn't have it. "I just saw someone in there". I replied, "I know, ma'am. That was my manager; she's pricing items". That apparently was not a good enough explanation for her, and she rebutted, "So she's back there and I can't be?" I just said "Yes". She still kept trying to get close to me and I kept taking steps back.

She had me quite literally backed into a corner. She proceeded to retort, "This policy is ridiculous. I can't believe this is still instituted, it's completely absurd". She then went on this entire rant about how stupid she thought the whole situation was. Apparently, she felt that she had to explain to me how stores work.

I replied, "Well, ma'am, we are still in the middle of a pandemic, and if we were to open the fitting rooms now, then we wouldn't have the staff to keep them clean and also run the store". She rolled her eyes and just started talking about how stupid and ridiculous it was that we couldn't accommodate her. At that point, I had enough.

I try to get her to stop attacking me for things I cannot control by putting it in perspective, "Ma'am, I'm just a sales associate and this policy comes from corporate. There's really nothing that I can do about this". This apparently enrages her, and she starts demanding that I change the policy right that second and get in touch with corporate to change the policy just for her.

At that moment, I had a divine moment of self-reflection. My third eye opened and I realized that throughout the whole conversation, I had been looking down. I am 5'3" (162 cm), so I don't get to look down at people very often. In arguments, I always feel stupid because I'm yelling up at whoever I am arguing with.

I am clearly not tall, but at that moment, I felt like an Amazonian goddess. I realized that I did not need to fear the Karen because the Karen would never have the dignity of talking down to me in an argument. She was still ranting and raving at this point, talking about how I needed to be the one who instituted the change because it's my job in danger.

I looked at her, gave her my best sales smile, and said, "Zara is an internationally successful company, ma'am. I am pretty confident in my job. You have a nice day, now". And I gave the polite gesture of "Get out of my way". She stormed off, and the daughter, who had been silent and miserable the entire time, whispered, "I am so sorry," and hurries after her mom.

I went to the fitting room and complained to my manager, who made a few choice comments about the Karens who don't take the pandemic seriously. I love that lady, truly. Also, when I got home, I searched for Zara's net worth out of curiosity. Seeing the results, I was relieved. Not worried about my job, not even a little bit.

38. Brand New

I work at a clothing store and our policy is that if the item has been worn, you cannot return or exchange it. So, this guy came in the other day and I was already getting a weird vibe. He was shuffling around and messing up all our displays, just muttering to himself. At that point, I was only walking through the children's department to get to our break room.

But he stopped me to ask a question. He pulled out this filthy pair of children's shoes—absolutely caked in mud—and demanded an exchange. He said, "The shoes have no sole". I took a look inside the shoe, and within seconds I could tell that the shoes had been worn for a long time already. There was absolutely no mistaking it.

In fact, they had been worn so much that the sole had been worn down completely. As in, there were still little chunks of sole at the edges, but they were completely gone at the center. So, I said, "Sir, unfortunately, due to store policy, we cannot return or exchange items that have already been worn". And he replied, "These have never been worn. I need an exchange. I just bought these the other day".

So, I looked around the kid's section for just a minute and I could see that the shoes weren't even out. I tried to explain that to him, but he adamantly kept saying, "No, I bought this the other day. They have never been worn. I need a return". I kept trying to explain to him that he could not return the shoes since they were caked in mud and worn out.

What he said next really flustered me. "I have been coming here for three years. I know the girl downstairs, and I need this return".  I obviously caught him in a lie, but he was not backing off. Fortunately, a lovely coworker of mine walked over and said, "Go take your break, honey. I got this". After my break, I  was walking down to my section of the floor and I could see the two of them, in the exact same spot, still arguing.

I heard him go, "This is downtown New York and I cannot even make a return? This is ridiculous. Just get me the girl downstairs". When my co-worker asked for a name, and he could not give one. I could tell she was getting annoyed and a few seconds later, she met up with me on our escalator and we both just rolled our eyes.

39. Fishing For Trouble

I work at an aquatics store and I manage the freshwater aquariums. Whenever I work at the store, I usually ask people about their fish tanks to help them figure out any problems the tanks may have or recommend the best fish for them. Most of the time, I can help them prevent any beginner mistakes, or just stop their fish from expiring.

A few days ago, a lady came in a few minutes before closing. I was already behind on closing because of other customers, so I was kind of tired. This lady brought in dead fish and a water sample. The parameters looked good, but as a hobbyist myself, I suspected ammonia poisoning for her fish. We did not test for ammonia though.

Furthermore, this lady had done a full water change before her fish kicked it. So, I went through the usual—I explained the proper way to do a water change (25% every week) and also recommend products. She wanted a quick fix despite me explaining that her cycle was a mess and that there was no way that her fish would survive unless she started her cycle all over again.

Such is a process that can take weeks sometimes. Instead of listening, she made up an excuse about how she really needed to take some fish home because her kids want them. I still tried to guide her to a sensible decision. I recommended that she take only two fish so as to not shock the new cycle too much. All went well until she realized something that I had overlooked myself—the fish sale would end in a few days.

Then she insists that she absolutely must take the other fish too. I mentally say, “Alright. Fine. Take your fish". Out loud I remind her that there is a good chance her fish are going to lose their lives unless she is very careful with her cycle. I, finally, send her on her way thirty minutes after closing because she would not listen to any advice that I gave her.

This was despite asking me what she could do and then not wanting to do it because she thought that it was too much work or she did not have time. I explained it later to the manager and she said that if she came back to return those same fish, I was to deny her the sale.

40. A Calculated Move

In one of my old jobs, I worked in a coffee shop. I really enjoyed it and the people who came in regularly were a dream. One time, the till had broken down, and we resorted to a pen-and-paper process to take people's orders. We also worked out their change correctly by punching it into the calculator. Everything was going well.

Or, it was going well..until this absolute demon of a customer came in. She started rattling off her order. I was hurriedly writing it down and double-checking the prices on the menu. She saw what I was doing and she tutted me as if she was disappointed. She also had the audacity to tap on the broken till and say, "Why aren't you using this? Surely it's easier?"

I pointed to the sign next to them and said as nicely as possible that we were using pen and paper, etc. Then, rolling her eyes, she said her order slowly but with a condescending tone. After taking her order, I took my time repeating it back to her, since she had asked for a lot. Apparently, that was too much for them.

She responded by saying, "I am in a hurry and you are taking too long". I apologized and explained that I simply wished to make sure that the order was correct. Then I proceeded to total up her order with the calculator, and I heard her sighing and huffing as I was typing away the figures. She said, "Why do you need a calculator? Clearly, someone did not finish math, or else you would not be working here".

That was the final straw. I balled up the piece of paper, threw it in the bin next to me, and said, "Another member of staff will be with you to help you shortly". I made my way to the staff area and told my manager what had happened. They told me to relax and said that they would sort it. Needless to say, I watched as my manager went out and made it very clear that the customer’s business was not welcome.

I just wish that I had the sense to throw that balled-up piece of paper in her face. I hate people like that.

41. Delivering It In Style

I work at a shipping store. One day, I was asked to ship something to Iraq to who I assume was a military husband. Well, as a typical Karen, she gave lip and was upset about price and other small things. After a long process, we got the $20 of junk shipped. A few weeks later, she returned to the store, upset. She demanded to see my boss.

She began to chew him out about how I sent the package to the wrong place and how we charged her too much. Her problem was that she wanted to send it to a base, which should have astronomically reduced the price. My boss took one look at her, and shut her up with a single sentence: "Ma’am, how does my employee know a random street address in Iraq unless you told him to send it there?"

Karen was dumbfounded and, after a few moments of being flabbergasted, she rambled back that she would call the local news. She never did that or the other things that she threatened to do. She didn't even write a bad message on Google.

42. A Steep Price

A man came in today to exchange a pair of pants. Unfortunately for him, he had bought a $70 pair and a $60 pair on a BOGO 50% sale, so the $60 pair was 50% off. He wanted to exchange the $70 pair for another $60 pair, but the system pairs up items when they're in a BOGO offer. On the receipt, it would've looked like he was returning both pairs and repurchasing the one he wasn't returning, in order to remove the BOGO offer.

After exchanging, he would have had to pay $11 since the BOGO offer was no longer available. He was not happy, as he would have had to pay even though he was returning a more expensive pair. I did him a solid and threw in 25% off. He would've gotten around $5 back, but he still was not happy with the offer. At that point, I knew he was going to be difficult.

He asked to speak to the manager, and as the shift leader, that was me. He wanted more of a discount, but I couldn't reasonably give it to him. He kept getting angry, so I told him to come back tomorrow, and maybe the store manager then would reach a different decision. He agreed and finally left after holding up the line for a little over five minutes.

Well, he never asked me to keep the pants on hold for him. It was our last pair, too, so I put them on my manager's desk, called her, and asked her for a favor. If he comes in tomorrow, she's going to tell him that we don't have them anymore. I also called my girlfriend—my manager's daughter—who works at the closest store to us and asked her to hide their only pair in the back room.

The closest available pair in that guy's size is now two cities over. He kept asking for more and now he will get nothing. It's not much, but it's a victory.

43. No Matter How You Slice It

I had this one customer one day ask me, "It's 50% off for bag mulch if it has got holes in it, right?" I told him that it was up to the cashier and how big the holes were. He said OK. My sketchiness radar went off, so I went to tell one of my coworkers to keep an eye on him. After a little while, the guy came back with four bags of soil. Each one had a huge slash on top.

They were clean cuts too and not holes from rough handling. He said, “50% each, right?” I had a small line, so I went ahead and rang them up (each bag was like, $4 originally). After I gave him his receipt, he said that he would like me to tape the holes shut. Again, I had a line and explained to him that I could only do that once the line is gone.

That's when he blew his top. He started making a scene, so I told the person behind him that I just needed a few minutes. It took me five minutes and a complaint from another customer for me to get them taped and sealed to his standards. A few days later, I was outside with a new coworker and he asked her, "Do you give a discount on rocks?"

I told her that it would depend on how bad the situation is. At first, I did not recognize him as the same guy—I thought that he said rakes, not rocks. So, he showed up with a few bags totaling roughly $90. He was demanding half off on each, so the coworker asked me what to do. We were only allowed a $50 markdown without any assistance. When I look at his bags, I almost lost it.

Once again, there were clean cuts. I told him that they were just open and none were missing, so we couldn't do the full 50% off. Instead, I helped my coworker take $20 off. He did not like that and kept demanding we give him 50% off, saying that someone ruined his bags. I told my coworker to just mark them down so he could finally leave and we could get our lines moving.

44. Schadenfreude

I work in the produce section at a Trader Joe's clone. It's a hyper-corrupt corporate structure, but for once, I can't blame what happened yesterday on corporate. Here's what went down. So, yesterday, I was nearing the end of my shift and was bringing a few dozen plastic packages of cut fruit out to our cut fruit fridge. At the time I was exhausted.

I didn't think about how I was balancing these packages on my work truck, and they all fell onto the floor—berries and grapes were just flying everywhere. Obviously, this was not a big deal, but this happened right in the center of the store, where our four departments and the doors to the back room converged. The store was also well over capacity with customers doing their Saturday afternoon shopping.

This incident had created a traffic jam of sorts. My manager and I were scrambling to pick everything up, and I was down on my knees trying to pick up the grapes. What infuriated me were the glib jokes and quips that customers felt they needed to make and the fact that even though there was plenty of space for them to get around us, they still grazed their carts within an inch or two of where I was squatting.

I was embarrassed enough, but it just got worse for me. I started hyperventilating and got tunnel vision, and had a panic attack. Even if, from an outsider's perspective, the situation was somewhat comedic, from my perspective, it was exceedingly humiliating and dehumanizing, to be treated as an object. Customers were weaving around me like I didn't exist and provided unnecessary commentary that nobody else cared to hear.

It was the most embarrassed that I've ever been at this job. In my state, the customers seemed like cackling buzzards swooping around, narrowing in on the prey. We, somehow, managed to clear up the path and get out of the way of the buzzards.

45. Discounting It

A doctor came into the store a few days ago with a bag of clothes. She asked if we had discounts for health care workers, to which we said that we did not. The discounts were only for servicemen and teachers or students. Immediately after hearing this, she got upset and said that doctors worked much harder and deserved it more than teachers.

In my eyes, it was rude and ignorant to expect that a well-paid doctor should get a discount over teachers who are severely underpaid. If she could come to our store and spend $300 on clothes and also have other shopping bags on her, I seriously doubt she needed a discount. But it only got worse. She had the audacity to say, "Well, who was working hard during the pandemic? Yeah, doctors! That’s right".

It's true in some ways, but she was also very well paid. Teachers, on the other hand, do so much to teach the younger generation, including future doctors, but they are not paid nearly enough, which is why they often get discounts. It just blew my mind how she sat there bashing teachers for getting a discount as if it was something the employees decided on.

46. Holier Than Thou

The main guy of this Pentecostal church group comes into our store every Sunday and Wednesday. He told one of our servers that she was going to suffer and that she couldn’t serve him because she has tattoos on her arms. He would never wear a mask even at the height of the pandemic. He'd constantly complain about the service and how no one at my restaurant was a good server. But that's not the worse thing he's done.

He also told one of our servers that he was going to call CPS on her because her kids shouldn’t have a mom who has tattoos and piercings. I would love to knock the religious superiority right out of his body through a punch right to the ear.

47. Rules Are For Others

My store is currently closed for in-store shopping and we don’t have a proper click-and-collect set up yet. The system we have basically sends us an email, then we call the customer to confirm. Well, someone called about 30 minutes to close on Saturday and I squeezed her order in at the last minute.

She yelled, "Ugh, whatever," and hung up on my manager. We got back to her within an hour and placed her order. When she came to pick up both on Saturday, she disregarded all our COVID policy signs saying to call the store for pick-ups. Instead, she climbed over the barriers to knock on the store’s door. I was on the phone with a customer when she did this, and my coworker was completely out of sight.

When she did it again today, I gestured for her to call us. She called, and then when I collected her order and opened the door, she laid into me about how rude I was being. I countered, "I think it was rather rude of you to ignore all our signs and barriers and knock on the door". She got very upset and yelled at me about how she was never coming back. "You'll be lucky to have a job tomorrow," she threatened.

48. The Fountain Runneth Dry

I run a convenience store inside a mall. Just outside our store is a lovely fountain, only it's drained. It has been that way since before we got the store last year. One day, I was sitting around, enjoying the cool air on my face. Our store is located on a kind of odd angle, where one wall is shorter than the other, and you can see people walking by through the glass windows.

I sat around watching mall traffic while keeping an eye on my game, always alert for trouble. At one point, my idyllic view was interrupted by the sight of a man, clearly with a purpose, striding directly toward me. I didn't even have time to give my usual chipper, "How you doin’ today?" line.  The angry man asked me a question that threw me off-guard: “When are they going to turn on the fountain?”

I apologetically replied that I have no idea. A moment passed and the man’s brow furrowed. It appeared as though he was not sure how to process the fact that I didn't have an answer. Then he said, apparently to make the situation clear to me, “They drained all the fountains!” It was my turn to be confused. Clearly, they drained all the fountains...I'd been looking at the empty fountain all day long, so I would know.

I don't know why he thought I didn't notice...Did he think it was my fault? Maybe he didn't know that the mall makes its own decisions. So, I told him, “You'd have to ask the mall management. We're just a convenience store". He firmly told me, “I will!" And with his sense of duty now apparently locked onto a new target, he stomped on out of the store with the same clear sense of purpose.

49. Greasing The Parts

At the time, I was the front desk receptionist at a car dealership that had an attached service and parts department. I dealt with all kinds of people, but this one customer particularly left me dumbfounded. It was around 7 pm, about an hour after the service and parts department had closed. The sales department was open until 8 pm, so I was just going about my business as usual.

A woman walked up to my desk and slammed a 19-liter jug of motor oil down on the counter. That scared me since I was looking away at the time. She immediately demanded that I sell her the oil. I was confused and just kind of...looked at her for a moment. There was no checkout counter at my desk as we were in an entirely different part of the building.

Also, where did she get that? The parts department was closed and the window into the storeroom was locked with a fold-down metal cage. I finally got myself together and told her that the parts department was closed and that I would be unable to sell anything. Her reaction was priceless. She immediately got angry, blowing her top while gesturing to the closest window demanding that I give her the oil.

I suggested for her to go to another shop nearby, as they were open until 9 pm. Surely, she could get oil there. She didn't like that answer and scoffed at me. "I need Kia brand oil, for my Kia brand car". She said it incredibly matter-of-factly and stared at me like I was the dumbest person on the planet. That again caught me off guard.

I have pretty bad anxiety, so I was still mentally and physically reeling from her slamming the bottle down and I was not getting very collected thoughts. I tried to explain that any brand of oil would do and that I'd be happy to help her figure out what would work best so she could pick it up there...but she just kept shaking her head at me.

Finally, she shouted out that she would just come back the following day, that I had been absolutely no help, and stormed out. I noticed then that she had a kid with her. What a great example she set for her children. I did figure out that she had pulled the oil jug down off of a display case in the service department. That was extra amusing to me, imagining someone taking something off of a clearly not-for-sale display shelf because she was mad.

50. Dog Days

Several years ago, I used to work as a dog trainer at a very well-known pet supply store. While I was a dog trainer, it was still retail, so of course, I had to do 100 things outside of my job description. As a result, I was working the cash register, stocking, and yes, helping our loyal customers. The store I worked at was an absolute disaster with Karens, too.

Big, white suburban neighborhoods were situated around this store, so they came in like hordes. Well, on this particular day, it was vet day. Basically, a local vet service partnered with the store to offer quick walk-in vet checkups for things like vaccinations. Of course, put "cheap" and "Karens" together and you get the worst workday of your week.

This week, the store was packed. The line went all the way to the front, and we were the biggest store in the area. People were asking me questions left and right, dogs were relieving themselves everywhere, and kids were playing with the dog toys. It was the whole shebang. I was already like a headless chicken, having to juggle five tasks while also prepping for a dog training class. Yay.

But as I was making my way from the vet station helping another customer, I saw her, and she definitely looked like trouble. She had a dark tan, shoulder-length straight hair, sunglasses, and she was dragging a couple of kids down the aisle toward me. She looked like she was wanting to turn into the Hulk and was ready to fight. I prepped myself before I started to say, "How can I help—"

She stopped me in the middle of my sentence by saying one loud word, "Dogs!" She had a crazy gleam in her eyes. I tried to decipher her cryptic message and asked, "Dog...toys? Dog...food?" She then said, “Where are your dogs?” It took a second for my brain to catch up with her shrieks; to understand that she was hoping that we sold dogs.

Now, luckily, big box stores like this one tend to not sell dogs directly. Otherwise, they would get them from puppy mills. But now, unfortunately, I had to inform this lady that we were not that kind of store. I geared myself up for a battle, then said: "I am sorry, ma’am, but we do not sell dogs he—" She cursed and shrieked, then immediately spun around, pulling her kids like ragdolls the entire time.

She then stomped out the door again. It felt like I got hit and run over by words. This interaction was less than 30 seconds, so it was like a new record.  It was then that I decided it would be best if I took my break before doing my next class.

51. Taking A Bow

Several years back, I was working at a small beauty supply store in the southern part of the US. Among other things, we sold little clip-in hairpieces. A family of four had come in and the mom and dad were discussing products in the first aisle while the two little girls were running unsupervised through the store, being loud and making messes.

It was truck day, and I had been stocking shelves out of a shopping cart, referred to as a buggy by many people in that area. It was chock full to the brim. I had gone to the stock room and when I came back 30 seconds later, I saw one of the little girls pushing my cart around the corner of the opposite end of the aisle.

She was standing on her tiptoes and still could not see over the handle. I heard her say something to her mother and her mother told her, "Put that back where you found it". By that time, I had nearly caught up with the kid, who had turned the basket around. She pushed the cart up to me and said proudly, "Ma'am, are you lookin' for yer buggy?"

I replied, "You do not need to be messing with that". That's when the mom's Karen came out. She came roaring around the corner saying how I should not speak directly to her child and that if I had something to say, then I should say it to her. Never mind the fact that the kid had run into a shelf, slipped a bit on the tile floors, and almost turned the basket over on herself on the opposite side of the store from her mother's location.

I did not bother to argue about safety concerns and instead went back to stocking shelves. A little while later, the mother asked me to help her match the color of her hair to the hairpieces. I helped her pick one out, then heard her confirm to her husband that it was the one she wanted. I then went up to the register, while she rounded up her kids.

When she got to the checkout, the hairpiece that she put on the counter was a different one than what I had seen her discussing. I asked her about it and she indicated that the other one was more than she could afford, but she planned to come back for it. I rang her out and they left. The next day, I got to work and the opening clerk said, "I got one of your customers today".

I said, "Oh yeah?" I didn't get customer complaints often, but that particular week, I had someone else come in, while I was off, saying that I was rude. They had been unhappy that I had prevented them from shoplifting but they gave some other bogus reason to complain. When my coworker confirmed this, it was in a tone that made it clear I was in for a ride a bit later.

So, I asked, "Have you ever seen me be rude to a customer?" "No," she answered. "It always seems like you're sweet, but to hear them tell it, you're big and bad". About that time, the door opened, and in walked the hairpiece woman and her kids. It was about to go down. She started laying into me about how she had come to return the hairpiece that she got yesterday.

We did not take returns on hairpieces in the first place. However, she said that in the process of trying to return it with my co-worker, they had found a discrepancy between the item that she was trying to return and the one I had rang up. So, my coworker had asked her to come back during my shift so I could assist with the return.

This woman pulled the product that she wanted to return out and it was a different product than the one she purchased from me—in fact, it was the one that I had heard her tell her husband she wanted...and it was in a different product box. I told her as much, and she started screaming, saying that I better not be calling her a liar.

She also started making thinly veiled physical threats. In the meantime, one of her darling kids had come back around the sales counter where I was standing and she was trying to get my attention to get in on the action. I was ignoring the girl, but she kept tapping me on the hip. I whirled around and curtly said, "Don't touch me".

Then, remembering the scene from the day before, I snapped my head back to the mom and smiled sweetly. Through gritted teeth, but with the most upbeat voice, I said, "I am sorry, could you please tell your child not to touch me and remove her from behind the counter. It's not safe for her to be back here". She snarled, "That's better".

She barked a command at her kid, then made it clear that she would be back in an hour to continue her reign of terror. Shortly after she left, our store manager arrived unexpectedly early for the closing shift. We brought her up to speed on what had been going on. When the lady came back, I happened to be in the stock room.

My manager closed the stock room door and told me in the sternest voice ever: "Do NOT come out". I could only hear snippets through the door, so I don't know exactly what happened. I got the picture that we must have given her some money back as a one-time thing, probably because the other option was to refer to corporate, who would have given her money back.

But then I very clearly heard the woman's voice ring across the store, "Go get her and bring her out here. I am going to snatch her up and…" "You will not lay a hand on my employee," my manager emphatically interrupted. I did not hear any of the exchange after that, because I was so shocked at my sweet, proper manager's firm retort.

My coworker, apparently, was similarly surprised. The consensus among the employees after that was that we were pretty proud of how tough our manager could be if needed. They also decided that if I was being rude to a "customer," it was probably someone stealing.

52. A Short Wick

I work at a candle store and this happened yesterday. An older woman came in—she was probably in her 80's but still seemed to have her wits about her. Anyway, she was going on and on about needing a small gift for a guy who did some work in the building she lived in. I told her that we carried a line of skincare and bath products for men.

She scoffed and says that would be weird. So, I said, "How about a candle?" This was because, you know, I work at a candle store. Her response made me curl a fist. She basically said, in an angry voice, "I can't give him a candle. He's not gay!" I was trying very hard to bite my tongue and remind her that we have tons of male customers and even my straight boyfriend likes our candles.

She then had the nerve to say, "That's good for him, but I cannot give the man a candle because he's not gay!" At that point, I  was over it and I walked away. My manager then stepped in because she has a lot more patience for ignorance than I do. After she left and we vented about her, my manager told me that the woman ended up buying a notebook that says, "Slay the day".

Source: Reddit

Retail therapy, while not an actual form of therapy, has been used as a band-aid solution or stopgap by many people who suffer from the blues or just plain ennui. But it’s a different picture from the other side—it's the store workers who get the short end of the stick, having to deal with cranky, cumbersome customers. For them, it’s all downhill from there. Read on to find out about some of our readers’ encounters with cranky customers.

1. A Giggling Fit

It was getting near closing time and I was cleaning the self-checkout machines while my manager was topping up the coins and receipt paper. This woman, just shy of 50, came up to the checkout and just stood there with her mostly empty cart. I was waiting to see if she would walk up to the actual register for service, but no; she just stood there.

I finally asked her, "Do you need help?" She replied, "No," and kept standing there. Then, she started giggling loudly to herself in a way that made other people around her uncomfortable. I just kept cleaning and my manager continued filling the machines, all of which were devoid of customers. Finally, the woman spoke loudly, to no one in particular, saying the rudest thing ever: “Do you want to work or not?”

I let out a long breath, then dropped my cloth and spray bottle down. Suddenly, my manager stepped in and replied loudly, "She does have work! She's cleaning right now". Then she motioned for me to keep cleaning. Well, the woman giggled again, really loudly and snottily this time, and said, "I want a checkout". My manager replied, "You had your chance. She asked you if you wanted help. You said no. And now, you're going to have to check yourself out".

The lady started freaking out and demanded to see the manager. My manager destroyed her with one sentence: "You're looking at her". The woman sheepishly checked her own items out while we both watched her. And then my manager giggled loudly, just like the woman had done. It was glorious.

2. A Lucky Gamble

This just happened. A guy walked in and asked me, "What's the $8 lottery package that my wife always gets?" I looked at him, but I couldn't place him. In fact, he didn't look remotely familiar to me. He was not wearing his mask, mind you, but so far, I'd been pretty good at recognizing the people I've only ever seen with masks on since we bought the store.

However, I had no clue who this is. So I asked, "Sir, did you just ask me, a complete stranger, what your wife's preferences are?" He reiterated, "Well, she always gets an $8 package". I told him, "The lottery doesn't have an $8 package". Then, he asked, "Well, what are the standard games?" So, I rattled off all the games until we figured it out.

I handed him his purchase and said, "OK, here you go, sir, and may I highly encourage you not to tell your wife that you asked a complete stranger what her preferences were". I thought that would nip it in the bud, but he just wouldn't quit. He still seemed to think there was nothing amiss and replied, "Well, she's in here all the time". I still said, "But she's not here now, and I don't know who she is".

So, he clarified, "Well, I come in with her sometimes". To end the situation, I said, "OHHH! Well, I have a pretty bad memory so that must be it". What was unsaid was, “It couldn't be that I see a few hundred people a day and you're all just faceless blobs in my memory if you don't come in here pretty much every day and actually have meaningful conversations!” Sheesh.

3. Three Strikes

Some years ago, I worked an extra part-time job in the evenings at a small national retail chain in the U.S. that specializes in woodworking tools, supplies and machinery. The vast majority of our customers were great, but every so often we would get one that was a real peach. On the night in question, it was 15 or 20 minutes before closing.

I was at the front counter where the registers are, doing busy work to fill the time before I locked the doors. The sales floor was completely empty, except for me. I heard the doors open and looked up to see a customer walking in. "Hi! Welcome to our store!" I said to him in a genuinely friendly tone. Fish-eyed, he turned his head to glance at me.

He made momentary eye contact before walking past without saying a word. Strike one. A few minutes later, I saw him walking up to the counter, so I asked, "Hey there! Did you find what you were looking for?" Again, without a saying a word, he tossed a few packs of euro hinges on the counter. Strike two. Then, I asked, "OK! Have you shopped with us before?"

I needed to know as it was part of my job to enter our customers' information in our computer system if they'll let us, and if they're in our system, then we ring them up under their account. Rather than answer me, he tossed a postcard-sized piece of paper onto the counter. Strike three. Ding! Ding! Ding!

Now, if someone's in our system, and they give us the month of their birthday, we send them a birthday coupon every year, good for 10% off of everything in a single purchase. There are a few exclusions and conditions clearly printed on the coupon. I picked up the piece of paper he'd thrown in front of me, and it was indeed his birthday coupon.

I used the information on it to pull up his account, noted a key piece of information on the account, and gleefully told him, "OK, sir. I see your birthday isn't until next month, and unfortunately, the birthday coupon is only good for a single purchase during the month of your birth". As I said this, I was holding the coupon up and pointing to the text I was referring to.

I am 90% certain I had my best customer service smile on my face at that point. After standing there and staring at me for a few seconds, he let out a snort of what I presume was disgust, then he turned on his heel, and started heading for the door. "Wait!" I called after him. "You forgot your birthday coupon!" Without stopping or turning, he made a dismissive wave of his hand, went through the door, and disappeared into the night.

Adios and good riddance. At this store, our manager was a super-cool guy who encouraged us to bend over backward to help customers, which I gladly did. Customers came in all the time trying to use their birthday coupons early, and it was never a problem. We'd happily give them the discount anyway, with a friendly reminder that it was supposed to be used during their birth month.

But hey, Ihe wanted to act like that. He couldn't be bothered to show me even common courtesy, nor would he speak even one word to me. That was his choice.

4. A Watery Chuckle

I work in a large airport at a small convenience store on one of the busiest concourses. I hear it all, especially about our prices. Although we try to keep our margins as low as possible, we still have to pay our rent as a business, and it's about $14k a month. One day, I had an older woman come in and set down an expensive brand of water that was priced around $5.15 after tax.

I knew that she was going to say something about it, so I prepared myself mentally. Indeed, she did say something, and it threw me for a loop. She asked me, “Wanna know something funny?” I said that I did. She said, “This same water in another airport is $2.50". I stared blankly at her for a solid 10 seconds. Finally, I said, “I think I missed the joke".

She then proceeded to insult me, but she still purchased the water before leaving in a huff. Best day I've had in a while.

5. A Customized Experience

A customer showed me a ring and asked me about it. I told her that it was a sterling silver lotus ring. The customer then proceeded to show me that it did not fit her. As she wedged it halfway down her finger, she said, “But it does not fit me, see?” Did I look like a jeweler who could resize rings on the spot? No. So I explained to her that we had only one piece of that design left.

A while later, the same lady asked if the artist was local. I said that I wasn't certain that she was from the city, but that all the artists represented in the shop were American. That meant that if she wasn't from our state, then she was from another state. Then the lady said, "Well, duh. If she's not from here then she's from somewhere else". Sigh.

I wanted to eye roll since that was my standard response whenever someone asked about local artists, and I had never gotten such a sour reply before. Most people just wanted to confirm that the thing was at least made in America if not locally. And then she asked me which way her husband had left, so I just pointed to the only exit and said, "That's the only way out".

6. They Are All This Together

I work for a grocery store that only sells all-natural foods. That means no artificial preservatives, sweeteners, flavors, and such, as well as any items with certain ingredients like high-fructose corn syrup. We have an internal list of ingredients that products cannot contain and even have had to cease carrying some top-selling products after reformulation introduces one or more of them.

Being the type of store that we are, we get people from all over the political spectrum and quite a few on the extreme fringes. This is about a guy who came to our store multiple times. I will refer to him as Mr. Q since I do not even know his name. Mr. Q was a semi-regular customer since before my employment. My first experience with him was indirect.

I was overseeing the front-end and placing some orders with vendors. He went through the line of one of my cashiers, Melissa. Unfortunately for her, Melissa did not have anyone else in her line, so the guy stood there yakking her ear off. Then I heard that chilling phrase. I do not recall what the full sentence was, but he said the magic words: "QAnon".

This immediately made my ears perk up. He could have been someone more on the left, making fun of the QAnon thing or he could be a believer. Once I knew that he was spouting off right-wing conspiracy theories, I told one of the other managers that I was going to go rescue Melissa who was just smiling and nodding.

This involved getting myself to a phone out of sight and then paging the staff member to the loading dock so they could hide for a few minutes. This particular incident happened pre-pandemic, so the store's general manager was still there. As I used the phone right outside his office, I got an odd look from him, until I told him, "Crazy at her lane". He does not suffer fools, so he just chuckled.

This visit was done with. Then, after the pandemic started, my store adopted the policy of "masks must be worn, but if you claim a 'condition,' then you don't have to wear one". This annoyed us because we had so many liars. Mr. Q, of course, was one of those. He was relatively quiet until he checked out. At the exit door, he stopped and turned around.

Then, he started loudly proclaiming how the whole pandemic was a hoax because otherwise "people would be dropped like flies in the streets!" We just rolled our eyes at him and he left quietly, thus, ending that visit. Then came the third and final visit. This happened after our store had decided to go to a "mask-mandatory" policy without the medical exemption.

We got battle-hardened by this since we had to fend off people screaming about how it was against the law and how they were going to sue us, etc. That's when Mr. Q came in, and things started to get interesting. One of the other managers, Aaron, spotted him but he was occupied with a customer, so he alerted me. He also said, "That guy is a fool, so good luck".

Our strategy for dealing with people without masks was to just grab the box of the complimentary ones we offered, approach the person, and ask them if they needed a mask. Most of the time, by then, it was people who simply forgot to put one on...but that wasn't the case with Mr. Q. Our conversation went like this:

I asked him, “Hi! Did you need a mask today?” He simply replied, “I have a medical condition". I clarified, “Sorry, but we still need you to wear a mask to be inside the store. We do offer curbside shopping though. But, since you have a list, we would be more than happy to shop for you and then take payment and bring the bags out to your car".

He, of course, became annoyed and said, “Are you aware of the United States Constitution? Do you know you are violating my rights?” I stood my ground and said, “Sorry, sir, but this is private property and we do require a mask". By this time, Aaron had finished with his customer, so he came over to back me up and said, “Yes. We are not a government entity".

That's when Mr. Q did the unthinkable—he proceeded to dramatically say that he felt sick, then he fake coughed on Aaron and me. So, of course, All semblance of "customer service" and "courtesy" went out the window at that point, and Aaron said, “You need to leave now. You are no longer welcome here". Mr. Q took that as an invitation to go on a random rant about his rights.

So, Aaron told me to call the authorities. Mr. Q then went on another tangent and said, “You guys are poisoning people with the products you sell! What do you have to say for yourselves! I know my rights!” In the meantime, I went over to the phone and started dialing. By that point, we had called them so many times that we knew half the department by name.

Now, Mr. Q realized what I was doing, so he wisely abandoned his cart and left the store. Aaron pulled out his phone, started filming, and followed the guy out. Mr. Q then spent the next five minutes pacing our parking lot, screaming at Aaron. It was truly unhinged. His rants alternated between us poisoning people and targeting Michelle Obama.

Aaron repeated to Mr. Q that he needed to leave and that he was now banned from the store. Then, when he saw Aaron was filming him, he started yelling about how Aaron must be like Michelle Obama too. Thankfully, he just kept pacing. I joined Aaron outside after calling the authorities and getting one of the back-end managers to come up front to watch over the cashiers.

Unfortunately, he left before the authorities arrived. And since he did not buy anything, we did not have his full name to give to them. After showing the general manager the video, we got the verdict that Mr. Q was banned from thereon. That means that the next time he shows up, we call the authorities immediately and then tell the guy he is banned, in front of them.

This would allow them to arrest him on subsequent visits. He wisely has not shown up since then.

7. A Red Flag

We have one of those self-serve lottery machines. Do you play numbers? Mega Millions? Scratch-Offs? You can do it all here at this machine. Except this one grown woman who, I swear, was deliberately just not listening despite saying repeatedly that she did not know what she was doing. I still persevered and tried to explain the process to her.

I said, "OK, so right in the middle of the screen are three big blue boxes. Touch the middle one". The lady touched the Powerball button, which was on the far left, on a row of four boxes. I tried to correct her by saying, "No—that's Powerball. You need to hit the red rectangle at the top right of that window where it says ‘Close’ to close this".

She proceeded to touch the little tiny red button by the quantity bar. I repeated that she had to touch the box with the word 'Close' in it, but she was not listening. Of course, stared intently at the bottom of the screen where there was literally no red at all. This back and forth went on for a good twenty minutes. Somebody just end my misery for me.

8. Sunshine On A Rainy Day

This sweet old man made my day! His name is Samuel, and I’m not sure of any medical issues he has, but every time he comes in, he’s sweating buckets and his hands shake pretty bad. The first time that he came in while I was working, we just started talking since he always gets food to go for him and his mom.

He asked me if I had any pets and I told him that my childhood dog Max had passed about a week ago prior, so I just have a cat. He proceeded to tell me the nicest thing a customer has ever said: that my dog was waiting in heaven for me, and that he made it over the rainbow bridge. I cried like a baby after he left.

The third time that he came in, he asked me what college I went to, and how I was amazing for working and going to school full time. I was failing a class at the time and having someone who didn’t know me tell me that I was doing amazing just warmed my heart. When he came in for the fourth time, we continued our discussion.

I told him that I only had a couple of classes left at my community college and that I would be able to start my bachelor's in business. He did not hesitate to gasp and tells me how proud he was of me, and how I will go on to do great things. He then told me that God had blessed me because my hair was so pretty, even though at the time it was unwashed and in a not-so-cute messy bun.

I think that dude is my retail guardian angel. He always shows up when I’m having a rough time, and he makes the day brighter and better.

9. A Ban Challenge

Today, a guy bought something at my checkout. After paying, he went, "Actually, I am banned here. What do we do now?" I stared at him for a solid second, my brain probably making the Windows XP shutdown sound. I was shocked by his audacity, to not only come again after being banned but also telling me about it, after buying something.

I asked my supervisor, who sighed, saying that he got lucky in that case and that I should tell him to take his things and leave. But that wasn't enough for him. He started provoking me, saying, "And what about the next time, huh?" I explained that I wasn't authorized to decide about the duration of his ban and that, in case of doubt, he just shouldn't come again.

He still went on, now outright harassing me, "Yeah, what do you want to do? Do you want to call the authorities? Huh? Huh?" At this point, I was about to cry, because he just kept harassing me and I didn't know what else to tell him. Then a lady in line stood up for me, telling him to leave me alone because he was making me nervous".

Yeah, I can see you're shaking. I wonder why," he blurted out. I was, in fact, shaking because it took all my strength not to cry in front of everyone. After telling the lady to mind her business and being rude to her too for a bit, he finally left. My heart goes out to the lady, who was third in line, and told me, "Honey, don't ever let a man talk you down like that! Always remember: Big ego equals small elsewhere!" That really lifted my spirits!

10. Like Money In Your Pocket

I used to work for Kohls. While there, I had one customer come to the service desk with her receipt, saying that the cashier did not take off her 30% coupon. Usually, this is an easy enough fix, but when I looked at her receipt, the total was $0.00. She had already used Kohl's cash to cover the whole thing. I told her the computer system takes the dollar off coupons first.

It is only afterward that it will then take the percentage off. This is how it works, irrespective of the order in which you scan them. Since her Kohl's cash took care of the total, I told her that the system couldn't take 30% off of $0.00. Apparently, she didn't like that...not one bit. She then started yelling at me and telling me that I was stealing money from her.

I explained to her that Kohl's cash is just a coupon we give to customers and not actual money. She then told me that she wouldn't be shopping at Kohl's again, and she threw her 30% coupon at me before leaving.

11. Listening In

I have been working throughout COVID in a supermarket. A few months ago, I found out that I have permanent hearing damage and hearing loss from an illness I had from January to February. I am currently in the early stages of an audiology referral and my employer has been really helpful. They are making sure that I can still work in the same roles as before with the same level of confidence.

One day, a customer arrived at the till who, for some reason, misinterpreted one of the offers that we run. Essentially, she wanted the discount but did not want one of the items required for the discount to go through. She did not realize that I have to scan everything and, therefore, charge her for the extra item in question so that she could get the discount.

I processed the transaction in this way but not without her raising her voice and attempting to grab the item that she didn't want out of my hands. At that point, I was quite confused. I could hear parts of this customer's sentences, but she was speaking very quickly and I did not understand why she was getting so incredibly agitated over some frozen peas. Around this time, she also started to badmouth all of my colleagues and myself, saying that we "shouldn't work here if we don't know what offers are on in the store".

She also said that the staff members "know nothing," implying that I was the one who should lose my job because of her adamant misreading of an offer. Through this, I finally understood why exactly she was so angry. So, I asked one of my colleagues to come to the tills in order to assist the customer.

She did not want to engage with me, nor was she capable of having a civilized conversation at that point. My colleague arrived and I began to serve the other customers waiting while the woman went on to my colleague about how I was "incompetent" and "useless". But that's not the worst thing she said—she repeatedly stated that I "wasn't listening" to her, even though I had given her my full attention.

The repeated emphasis this woman put on me not "listening" really hit a nerve. The last thing that I wanted after going through the wringer with various illnesses for the past seven months was to be told that I was losing my hearing. It was permanent, and it was not something that could be fixed in the same way as the previous illnesses.

I have to work a lot harder on the tills due to the aforementioned hearing loss and as much as I try to not care and ignore it, this was just too much for me to handle at the moment. I started to cry in the middle of a transaction while this woman thoroughly berated me for something that I had absolutely no control over.

Somehow, I managed to pass it off as hay fever which I don't think anyone believed. Eventually, it clicked into place for the customer that she was incorrect, and she very quickly went on her way after realizing that she had just completely humiliated herself in a store full of people. There was no apology made to any of my colleagues, or to myself and the other customers in the store.

I had been debating whether or not I needed to get a lanyard clearly stating I have a hearing loss, but it is still very early into the investigation process and I didn't want to buy one before I had any thorough tests done on my ears. But this was the event that cemented that I absolutely needed to get one as soon as possible.

Regardless of my hearing loss, that kind of behavior is absolutely unacceptable and a completely different kind of demeaning. It was the most insulting reaction I have ever seen, and over a bag of frozen peas, no less. If she didn't want them, we had a perfectly acceptable food bank to which they could be donated.

12. A Short Wick

I work at a candle store and this happened yesterday. An older woman came in—she was probably in her 80's but still seemed to have her wits about her. Anyway, she was going on and on about needing a small gift for a guy who did some work in the building she lived in. I told her that we carried a line of skincare and bath products for men.

She scoffed and says that would be weird. So, I said, "How about a candle?" This was because, you know, I work at a candle store. Her response made me curl a fist. She basically said, in an angry voice, "I can't give him a candle. He's not gay!" I was trying very hard to bite my tongue and remind her that we have tons of male customers and even my straight boyfriend likes our candles.

She then had the nerve to say, "That's good for him, but I cannot give the man a candle because he's not gay!" At that point, I  was over it and I walked away. My manager then stepped in because she has a lot more patience for ignorance than I do. After she left and we vented about her, my manager told me that the woman ended up buying a notebook that says, "Slay the day".

13. Sole Cost

I no longer work retail, but I used to work at an extremely discounted store, something like Marshalls, TJ Maxx, etc. This incident actually happened a few nights before my last day. We were about to close, and this lady came up to my register to check out. She handed me a pair of Michael Kors baby shoes and asked me how much they are.

I told her the price—$27—and she flipped! She retorted that the price could not be correct. I calmly said, “They are $27, ma’am. Did you still want them?” She replied, “I want them but not for that price". She clearly wanted a discount. I had to clarify: “I’m sorry, ma’am, we don’t do discounts. We’re already an extremely discounted store".

She said in disbelief, “$27 for baby shoes?! That’s crazy". So, seeing her reluctance to pay that much, I assumed that she did not want to buy them anymore. Thus, I offered to put them back for her. She stopped me angrily, saying, “Uh hello? I said that I want them!” I acceded to that but firmly maintained my stance by saying, “OK, ma’am. They’re still going to be $27 though".

She refused to believe me and asked me to check again. So, I flipped the computer screen around and showed her the price. At that moment, she did not know what to do because she was wrong, so she snapped at me to get my manager. The said manager came, confirmed the price, then left.

I thought that was the end of it, but no. Karen then said, “I just don’t understand why they are so much?” I tried to make her understand by saying, “Well, these are Michael Kors, one of the more expensive brands we carry here. If you were to buy these anywhere else then they’d be at least $100. You’re actually getting a pretty good deal".

She still refused to budge and said, “I just don’t believe you. That’s not the real price. And you should know, I work for the Attorney General, and it would be a shame if you lost your job because you’re making up prices". Still trying to maintain my cool, I replied, “There’s no benefit for me to lie to you". She finally became quiet.

What was she thinking? Consider this, lady. I get paid $9 an hour to scan items. What on earth makes you think I make commission? If you want Michael Kors goods then you have to pay Michael Kors prices, even though this was already a bargain.

14. Limits Are For Other People

This happened around the time when Walmart had just announced its pickup service. We had no sort of "do your shopping for you" or personal shopper positions, so I should have seen the immediate red flag when my customer service manager (CSM) approached a coworker and asked if I wanted to be a personal shopper.

I was mid-transaction, and the coworker was chanting to herself, "Please say yes, please say yes, please say yes". But I was 19 and naive and still believed cranky last-minute Christmas shoppers were the only problem creatures. I also wanted to make my co-worker happy, so I said, "Uh, sure". My CSM briefed me on the woman who had only $85.

I was told to make sure that she stayed around $85, and that was the only introduction or warning I got before I was sent off with the lady, who I never learned the name of, but I will call Audrey, as she was just as cartoonishly whiny as the little girl from the old Little Audrey cartoons. The first red flag that I saw was that she immediately walked over to the garden center to see the Christmas clearance items.

I had just met Audrey, so I assumed she was certainly old enough to know her limits. She was probably around 65 if I had to guess. So, I followed her. But boy, oh, boy, was I entirely wrong. We walked around the garden center and she took notice of the special perfume and cologne sets that companies get specifically as Christmas gift ideas.

She grabbed one and said that it looked really nice and that she would love to try it out. She then placed it in her cart and proceeded to pick out sets for various family members—some nice slippers that massage your feet, and not one, not two, but three Christmas yard decorations with lights.

I politely informed her that she already had easily over $150 worth of stuff in her cart, and she asked me whether I was sure. So, I totaled up the price of all the stuff in her cart and then added on sales tax. She reluctantly put back several of the perfume sets and two of the lawn decorations, and we departed for the next area of the store.

Since she was old-fashioned, she still used a landline phone and informed me that she needed AA batteries for it. She said that she wanted to get rechargeable ones, to save money, and I agreed that may be a good idea...until she picked out $30 batteries. We spent a lot of time there because she specifically wanted batteries that indicated on the package that they were good for phones.

I got her to put back two more Christmas items, but some of her more expensive items remained in the cart. Then I asked her if she was ready to check out—she informed me that she still had to get her groceries. I had easily spent 45 minutes with this lady but I was long overdue for my break...my stomach sank so far that I had to scoop it up off the floor.

But I followed her as she picked out her groceries, all the while reminding her that she had a limited amount of money. At that point, I fully understood why my CSM would lie about this. Once again, I informed her that she had over $150 in her cart so she put a few items back; though, she did not believe me when I still insisted that she was over budget.

Instead, she insisted that we head to the checkout to confirm. Maybe she was one of those people who had to see her total to believe it, or maybe she was just being dumb, but I was too mentally exhausted to deal with it, so I just followed her to a checkout lane and unloaded her cart of items for her. When he recognized her, the cashier looked at me and nodded.

He then asked, "How long did it take?" To that, I indicated that it had been over an hour and he rolled his eyes, saying that sounded about right. But my ordeal was far from over—the cashier rang up all of her stuff with me there to bear witness, and he did not know her limit this time.

So, he did not say anything when we passed it. We made it to something like $193, and Audrey looked at her total and said, "Oh..." She took off a few slabs of meat, which brought it down around $20, and then handed the cashier a flavored drink enhancer and stared at him expectantly. The total was still $172, and she passed him another flavored drink enhancer.

I informed her that we might have to take off one of her more expensive items, like her perfume set or her slippers. She insisted on the slippers but decided the perfume could go. Great! That brought it down to $161, which was still progress. She inched the total down a few items at a time, all the while insisting certain items were off-limits.

I thought she put back the batteries and replaced them with regular batteries since those were much cheaper. The guy had since turned off his light but he still had a line. With his replacement cashier now present and the light still off, we were all trying to talk the lady down from everything she still insisted was necessary.

When we got her down to $120, she started asking us if she could just have some of her items The cashier seemed to know where this was going and told her she could have them if she paid for them. We tried several times to pry more items out of her transaction, but she insisted she needed everything that was left in the cart. It was a nightmare.

She started asking the replacement cashier if she could help her afford the items, to which the cashier told her no. She could literally lose her job for trying to do that. She then turned to the man behind her and asked for money, and he was about to offer to pay the remaining cost until the cashier gave him a look and requested that he please not do that. Clearly, this woman had done this before.

She then told the lady that she was not allowed to solicit at our store and that she was going to have to put some stuff back. Defying the advice, the nice customer behind us gave her $10. The lady put back another frozen item and was at $115. All she would need to do is to put back her cheap plastic lawn ornament...but she continued to whine about how she really needed it and how it would make her yard look so much nicer.

At that point, I sighed and decided to just take the item off her transaction, pay for it myself, and give it to the lady. I was done with it entirely. The cashier, however, told me that I could not do that and that I could lose my job for it. But I took the item to punch out for my break, grabbed my wallet from the back, then purchased the item and gave it to the lady.

I told her that I did not even have a yard and I just wanted it to be over with. The CSM later decided to just ban the lady from the store. I was also allowed to take it easy for the rest of the day. A very stressful ordeal, but the closest thing I could have gotten to a happy ending. And no, I didn't get in trouble, much to my relief.

15. On The Edge

A lady demanded that I call her a manager today. She wanted to complain about how some items did not have a price on them while others did. She started interrogating me about pricing protocol, but I was on SCO duty today. Though, since I'd never seen her in the store before, I lied and said that I had nothing to do with stocking.

The manager arrived and Queen Karen launched into a full-fledged rant. Then, while she was at the counter complaining, she added a very hand-flailing, gestured complaint that the counter edges were too rough and sharp. She went as far as to say she was lucky that she did not injure herself, otherwise she would have called the health board. I wipe that counter down probably 200 times every day.

I assure you, there is nothing sharp about it because I would be among the first to raise a concern about it if there was. The employees where I work are very aware of how something small like a sharp edge on a cart can end up with a potential lawsuit in this crazy economic and opportunistic climate in which we live right now.

My manager handled it well, but the other associates and I couldn't stop laughing about it all shift. Their loud proclamations about how such-and-such—mostly random things like the color scheme, etc.—could have been fatal for us were just absurd.

16. Make Way

So, I work at a grocery store chain and Tuesdays are what we refer to as "Specials Day". Basically, it's my job to change out last week's special with the current week's special. It is a long and painful project that I volunteered for when I got promoted because I like doing projects that other people do not.

That day, I was doing my thing in the specials aisle. I started getting gradually more and more annoyed since the whole process would be three times faster if they just let me do it when the store was closed, but, for some baffling reason, they wanted the customers to interact with me as I was occupied with 10 pallets of random things.

Near the end of my ninth pallet, I had myself basically pinned into a corner of the aisle. This was a strong nonverbal language that should have signaled to the customers, "Hey, maybe don't walk this way. I'll have to step around my pallet, move my pallet jack, and reset myself if you do". But lo and behold, trouble was headed my way—a lady came walking down the aisle, approaching me at the end.

I am a chill guy, but I don't really talk much to the customers because my store is in an upper-class area and the wealthy folks don't like getting spoken to by some sweaty dude in a uniform. So, when she kept walking towards me, I realized that she was going to try and walk around my pallet or, God forbid, walk on it.

I quickly moved my jack and the pallet and looked up at the ceiling, questioning God for creating oblivious customers. Apparently, that look at the ceiling really truly infuriated her. At first, as she walked through the suddenly clear path, she apologized half-heartedly in that way only some types of customers can pull off.

But her apology read more like "Oh, I am sorry wage person. I sure hope I didn't inconvenience you with my presence". I nodded my head at her "apology" and turned back to move my jack and pallet back to where I was working. Apparently, not only did she expect me to move, but she also really expected me to graciously tell her it was no problem that she made me move my entire working station so she could save 15 steps.

Between not accepting her apology and looking at the ceiling for about three milliseconds, she decided right then and there that I was a menace and needed a talking to. She started with the basic criticism of me being a retail grunt who didn't have a big fake grin on my face the entire day. She topped it off with the classic line that always gets my blood boiling: “I do not think you should be working here if that is going to be your attitude".

She said that while looking at me like I was an animal in a zoo exhibit. I did not reply and just kept working. “What's the worst that can happen?” I thought. I cannot please everyone. Then she got in line. Now, the line to the checkout is situated about 10 feet from where I was working. At that point, the villain, in her mind, had her walkway obstructed.

She went out of her way to loudly criticize me and complain about how I should not be allowed to work at the store. Now, I will be honest with you, I should have just let her have her moment. If I had let her just screech and complain, it probably would have ended there. Maybe a phone call or strongly worded email to corporate. No biggie. I should have just smiled and kept working.

But there was a part of me that needed her to know that yelling at customers about how terrible I am is not how we did things at our store. So, I told her, calm as I could, that she needed to stop making a scene. And when I say something snapped in this woman, it was like someone hit a light switch. Immediately, her phone was recording me and everything got a lot more dangerous.

She was asking leading questions like, "Did you just tell me I can't talk to other customers?" and "Do you think you have the right to break my first amendment?" and "Who's the manager here?" Now, there are two things you can do when someone gets their phones out and records you. You can walk away, potentially get followed, and then you can ask them to stop recording.

Or you can be a fool like me and ask them to stop recording you right away. The latter method, naturally, led to her screaming even louder and accusing me of being a terrible person. She randomly started threatening me, saying that she could have me fired whenever she wanted. At that point, I was just trying to get her to leave.

She had made the scene worse by recording and trying to be the next viral "look at how bad I was treated" internet star, and it was clear that she just wanted to capture my angry reaction on film. I am glad to report that I did not get angry with her. I did not raise my voice at all. I just stood there and let her scream at me. As she finally finished paying for her groceries, I asked her again to please leave if she was going to continue making a scene.

This led to her sitting behind the cashiers and between the doors and waiting for me to walk away so that she could leave. I informed her that I needed to see her leave. She said that she was not leaving until I was out of her sight. I stood my ground and told her that she needed to leave or I would be forced to call the authorities.

Oh, God. She had the wrong reaction to that statement. Most of the time, if someone says, "Hey, this might need to become an official matter," the natural human reaction is to reevaluate what they are doing and decide if they want to continue. For reasons only God knows, this customer's reaction was "Good, call them. I want them here".

Here's the thing. I was not ever going to call them. It was a bottomless threat. What was I going to say to them? "There is a lady screaming at me and recording me?" Worst case scenario, this woman makes the whole situation into some kind of bigger issue and I end up on the news. So, my bluff having been called, I walked into the office and called my direct manager.

I told her what had happened and she basically told me to get back out there and deescalate the situation. I went back to the registers and I actually decided that the best course of action was to tuck tail and just apologize. So, I did. I said to her, "I'm really sorry you had a bad experience today. I hope you can come back and shop here. I understand what went wrong and I will gladly give you corporate's information". And then I told her to have a good day, indicating the door as I said that.

She sort of accepted my apology. Of course, she still went on  about how I was terrible and how I should not work there, but at least she calmed down a little...until she mentioned she was an "investigator". Not seeing a uniform or a badge, I asked her what I thought to be a natural and reasonable question.

I asked, "An investigator for who?" Her exact reply was, "Do not play stupid. You know what kind of investigator". Then she went on to say that she was going to call corporate, let them know that I was only harassing her because she was an immigrant (which was ironic since I am an immigrant too) and that I should expect not to have a job in the next 24 hours.

I just sat there and took it. There was nothing else I could do, really. Sometimes you just have to let them screech so they will leave. As she finally turned to leave, she noticed that I was watching her. So, she came back and said that I could not watch her leave because I was "going to attack" her outside.

I clammed up even more at that comment. As a final shot, she told me that she had "the means to retaliate" in her car and that she'd "gladly use it" if I come outside. She finally left and I called my boss, breaking down in tears of pure frustration, telling her how the de-escalation went. My boss assured me that she was just a crazy lady and that she, my boss, would have my back if this turned into a bigger deal.

17. Showering The Troubles Away

I am a shift manager two days a week and a cashier for three at a truck stop and rest area. We have fast-food restaurants, showers, parking for big rigs, and passenger vehicles. Today's troubles, like most of the trouble I encounter, revolved around showers. A driver came down, plopped his wet towels on the counter (even after my cashier directed him to a towel bin), and then threw his key onto the pile.

The cashier asked him, again, to place the towels in the bin. He finally grabbed them and said, "Oh, so you guys do not have to touch them". I replied, "Yes, policies have changed some due to the pandemic". In truth, that has been the policy for at least the three years I have worked there, but this seemed to be the quickest way to resolve the matter.

My cashier asked him what shower he was in, and instead of speaking, he held up the numbered key. Though, his finger was blocking the number, so we could not see what it was. When my cashier reached for it, he raised it higher so he had to stretch to get it. At that point, I was starting to get really irritated. His behavior was just so unnecessary.

I told the driver, "Way to make it complicated". This man lost his mind. He got right into my face and said he would hit me hard. I told him to leave, and he started flexing like he was actually going to throw a punch but said, "I'm not going to go for you. But want to know what I will do? I will find your family and mess them up".

I pulled my cellphone out and started recording. The store manager then arrived at the building and heard the tail end of our shouting match with each other. He stepped in between us when the driver came too close. The driver started shouting at him, " Don't get involved, bro. You don't want none of this". My boss replied, "This is my property".

The driver calmed down very quickly, and they stepped outside. My boss told him exactly the same things I had; that he was not to return, etc. The end. Fast forward to the end of my shift—we had yet another driver issue. So, the policy for our showers is that we hold onto something as collateral until we get the shower key and the towels back. 99% of the time, it's a non-issue.

The other 1% of the time, it's a mess. This time, a driver came down, and since my cashier had a few people in line, I thought to ask the driver if he had brought the towels down. The driver said that he had not because he had not been told to do so. The cashier clarified that they had, in fact, told him. The driver just shrugged and said, “I don't care, man. I have a Lyft outside waiting. Give me my keys".

He had left his personal keys as collateral, but since we did not get our items back, I told him he would have to get the towels. He became belligerent to both me and my cashier. At that point, the overnight manager was in, so he got some too. This went on for a few moments; then, in what I thought was a bluff, he said he was calling the authorities.

Spoiler alert, it was not a bluff. Like the guy at the start of my shift, I started recording on my phone. And this guy actually threatened me. After about seven minutes or so, a couple of officers arrived. The guy was belligerent with them too, and he pushed the cashier to the point where they told him he needed to back up and calm down.

One of the troopers came to the back desk where we dealt with the showers. The driver, at that point, looked like he was about to break down in tears. The trooper asked about our policy, and it was explained. The driver told him what he told us, "I am here for a shower. In and out. I do not have time for this. I have a Lyft outside. I just want my keys".

In what I thought would be the best moment of my day, the trooper escorted him upstairs to the showers and made him get the towels. We gave him his keys and receipt for the shower, but I added that after today, we did not want him back on the property. The trooper and the driver walked away, but the trooper made sure that he acknowledged what he had been told.

He asked him, "Did you hear what the manager said? You're not welcome here anymore. If you return, you will be charged with trespassing". I left a note for my boss about what had happened and went home. If the driver had simply said, "Oh sorry, guys. I forgot," or if he just didn't act the way he did, then we would have just given his things back. But he wanted to be petty about it.

I am better at the petty game. My takeaway from today is that my boss is pretty awesome. He had my back, stepped between me and a guy who audibly threatened to harm me and others. He probably will not appreciate that I let the second incident go as far as it ended up going but it is what it is. Sometimes, in retail, you just have to defend yourself.

18. Smoke Signals

We had a new employee start yesterday. She seemed to be a very sweet girl in her late teens and had a great sense of humor. I took a liking to her instantly. She had never been in charge of a register before, so I was put in charge of training her. I showed her the ropes and let her take over, staying close by in case she needed me.

When it was quiet, I taught her what the procedure was when it came to smokes. She asked me if she had to ID everyone and I told her that she would have to use her judgment. If a person seemed younger than 21 to her, then she should go for it. If they looked older, then it wouldn't be necessary. She seemed to understand, and she was getting the hang of the register quickly.

I figured that I could stop shadowing her and let her do her thing. I told her that I was going to do some stocking, but that I would be close by if she needed anything. In fact, I would be no more than an aisle over. She smiled and said OK. About 10 minutes went by, and I heard somebody yelling. All I could hear the girl say was: “I am sorry, sir,” in the most terrified tone.

I came over to find this old man screaming at her. She was hunched over and looked like she was about ready to cry. Apparently, he had told her that he wanted a particular brand of smokes. She gave him the wrong ones twice and was slow to find the right ones, and then she asked him for his date of birth when she rang it up.

He was yelling about how he was in a rush and needed to go. He saw me and said, "Hey, can you ring me up? This woman does not know anything". I looked at her and saw the tears rolling down her face. That was not OK. I told him to not talk to my coworker that way and informed him that it was her first day. He said, “I see that, but I have to go".

I told him that he obviously did not because if he did, then he would not be screaming at her. He replied with a threat, saying that if I said one more thing, he would never come back to support our store. That was fine with me. I did not want customers who disrespect employees in the store anyway. In the cheeriest tone I can muster, I told him to have a fantastic day.

He stormed out muttering and I consoled the new girl. She was full-on sobbing at this point. What a horrible first day that had to have been. All because some mean person could not show a little empathy.

19. Behind The Doors

I just finished working the weekend and, boy, reopening after a lockdown has really brought out the geniuses, huh? Yes, please take your sweet time, ignore the store hours since they are clearly just a suggestion. It is not like we have lives or would like to get home before it starts pouring out. Keeping in line with the genius parade, on Friday, some dude waltzed in 10 minutes before closing.

I greeted him and asked if I could help him find what he was looking for since we were closing soon. He didn't really answer. Fast forward nine and a half minutes—I caught him talking to my coworker for the greater part of his visit, and I knew immediately that he would be trouble. He was mostly about random topics, but clearly, she did not care. Unfortunately,  she was too nice to cut the guy off and say that she was busy.

I start the closing ritual for the store, which involved turning off the open sign, flipping the sign by the door, closing the doors, etc. I also tried to make more noise than usual so that the guy noticed what I was doing. Of course, he did not, since he was too far into his story about wanting to be a hairdresser or something.

I waited about 30 seconds before I abruptly interrupted. I asked my coworker if she was ready to close her register. That tipped the dude off and he finally left...he did not even buy anything. We have had more people like this, all just waiting for the store to close. Then, we have those who are the other way round. We had a woman who was standing at the doors for a while waiting for us to open, and then got into her car and left as I was walking to unlock the doors. This has happened quite a few times and I cannot really wrap my head around that logic.

20. With A Smile

One day, I had an old guy come through my register with lumber. I said hello to him and instead of greeting me back, he immediately told me had eight pieces of the stack of lumber on the left. I proceeded to count them and he snapped at me, saying, "I said eight!" I told him that we were supposed to count them. I completed counting and rang up those eight pieces.

He then told me that there were 10 pieces of lumber on the right side of his cart. Once again, I counted them. He said to me, "What school did you go to?" I was so confused by his question that I did not even know what to say. What was interesting is that, despite how cranky he was, he kept smiling at me as if his rude remarks weren't uncalled for.

He was also wearing his mask with his nose hanging out. Once he finished paying and I gave him his receipt, he left the store without saying thank you or anything to me. That guy is definitely up there as one of the worst customers I've ever had. Absolutely no manners and I am still disgusted by his behavior to this day.

21. Powered Up

On one Saturday afternoon, we had a power surge followed by an outage. It affected all of downtown, but the store was not notified. Now, you would think that people would be understanding...but there was not one empathetic soul in our store that day. People started complaining that we did not have a backup generator. This was, in their eyes, totally the employees’ fault too.

We had one register that could still ring, but the card reader was down, so it was cash only. And the belts would not move. All of this should be obvious, but no. We got questions like, “You mean I can't use my bank card?” despite the fact that we had been repeating that for the last 20 minutes. Add to the mix this one lovely man who kept shouting, "Time to get out the pencils and paper!" because we most definitely know the price of every item in the store.

We finally got everyone out, locked the doors, and put stuff away to enjoy 30 minutes of bliss. The instant the power went back on, people were beating on the door. My manager told them everything had to reboot but, of course, they wanted to shop during that time instead of waiting five more minutes.

22. Here We Go Around The Counter

I had a customer who was standing at the cash with items all over the counter, just staring at me. So, I sidled up and cashed them out. All of sudden, the customer left and started browsing the store some more. When he moseyed back up to the counter just moments later, I asked him if he was all set. He said nothing and went off again to look at something else.

Then, after some time, the customer stood impatiently before the register, proclaiming sourly, "Can I get some help over here? I'm ready to cash out". It took everything in me to not give a bratty reaction. As I was ringing him up, I also got hit with the old, "No, I always get 10% off," even though our item rewards system has literally been only 5% off for the past 10 years.

But no, this guy said he always gets a deal here. I had never seen the guy before in my life, but okay. Needless to say, they did not get the claimed discount.

23. Not A Know-it-all

This customer came in 10 minutes before closing. She was looking at jeans up until closing with the help of one of our newer staff members. He had been hired six months ago for the holiday season but received only one shift weekly. At closing, I told my coworker that we were closed, so he told the customer that he would have to bring the items to be cashed out.

The customer continued looking anyway. My coworker took me aside and spilled the truth about the situation—he told me that the guy was being aggressive and almost yelling at him to help. When he came up to the cash, he complained about not being able to find the jeans that he was looking for and said that my coworker should not have been hired because he did not know anything at all.

Bear in mind that my coworker normally works in our shoe department, so he does not know much about casual wear. He then wanted us to call another store in order to look for his size. It was five minutes after closing,  so obviously, no one picked up. The cashier told him that, and he decided to ask for the manager as if that was going to do anything.

Since I am the shift leader, I was the acting manager. I turned around and asked him what he needed, and he started going on about how I needed to hire people with more experience. First of all, I don't even hire people. Secondly, this was the kid's first job—he was barely 16, and he was one of the nicest, most eager-to-please employees that we have.

I almost lost it at that customer. I told him not to talk about my employees like that. I do not even remember what else I said before my cashier jumped in to de-escalate the situation. Maybe I overreacted, but my coworker feels like the little brother at our store.

24. Selective Vision

Today, I had two unrelated customers really get under my skin. Most of the time, I shrug off mean customers. I let them complain and then reply with "Sorry, company policy" or some other non-response to shut them up. But not today. And the first one was a doozy. This customer was an older lady who had bought four packages of hot dogs.

We currently have a sale for hot dogs: buy two and they are 99 cents each while their normal price is $2.99 each. The limit is one, so it's a pretty good deal; you save $4 overall. However, this lady was angry that only two of her hot dogs had gone for the sale price. I was called up and asked to fix it. The lady claimed that there was no limit mentioned on the sale sign.

So, I got out a sales flier, and before I had even opened it, she claimed that she doesn't read the fliers. That made me instantly angry. I set up a refund and went to get the on-shelf sale tag. And wouldn't you know it, in big bold capital letters the tag read: "Limit offer one per customer". I grabbed the sign and started to go up front to show the customer.

She saw me coming and immediately took off because the cashier had run the refund before I had a chance to get the tag. It irks me that customers can read the sale sign, but selectively ignore parts of it.

25. Needing An Explanation

I had never ever encountered anyone really going off on me at work...Until yesterday. This encounter at my workplace—a burger place—involved a rude customer named Darren, his young daughter, my coworker named Karen, my manager named Bernard, and me.

At my workplace, we organize orders numerically. Once your order is finished, we call out the number and the customer comes to pick up their order at a hand-out area. Now, I am currently training for a new role, so I was close to the handout table, but not working it. I noticed a man, whom I came to know as Darren, standing in front of the table with a receipt in his hand and a burger in the other.

Obviously, I knew he had a complaint. I just didn't expect that it would go like this. I asked him if something was wrong with his order. He said that he had gotten the wrong burger. He was actually calm at this point and he sounded only a slight bit irritated, but there was nothing alarming. I apologized and asked what kind of burger he was missing.

That's when Karen, who was taking orders next to us, jumped in and said, "Oh, I think his daughter grabbed the wrong order. His order is in the back". I later told her that it was not necessary to tell the customers their mistakes in that manner because either way, we were going to fix it for them. It was faster to just fix it rather than play the blame game.

Plus, no one was going to blame her and go on some witch hunt. I just wanted to do my job. At the time, I just said that the food in the back was already cold, so I just needed to know which burger he needed". Instead of answering me, Darren said, "Wait. My daughter grabbed the wrong food though?" Karen said that was what she thought had happened.

So, Darren replied, "Well, can you tell her that? Because I do not want to start a fight if I tell her". At that point, Karen and I looked at each other confused and uncomfortable. He then waved his daughter over. They were a tall duo, but I guessed that she was around 12. I tried to avoid the situation and reiterated, “Really, I can just get the correct burger for you. It's not a big deal at all".

Darren insisted that she needed to “learn this". I then said, "OK. Well, I did not hand out the food, so I cannot say if she grabbed the wrong order. Karen can help with that". Karen quickly washed her hands of the situation by saying, "I can't. I am in the middle of taking orders". That annoyed me and I thought, “Why were you listening to us in the first place then? Why put in your 2 cents when I was already fixing it and we had no issues?”

But my concern, at that point, was Darren, who suddenly really wanted me to do it. His tone made the situation really uncomfortable. Even his daughter started to look extremely uncomfortable. As he started getting irate, more condescending, and loud, I started to just look for a way out. He continued to insist that he wanted to talk to me and know what had happened.

I, once again, expressed my helplessness. "Yes, sir. But unfortunately, I do not know what happened. I was not here handing out the food". He kept cutting me off, so I finally said, "I am going to get my manager for you because I cannot help you any more with this". As I turned to step away, he started screaming at the top of his lungs.

He shouted, "No, don't walk away from me! Ma'am, I do not want your manager! I am not trying to create a scene here!" Everyone was staring as he was going off and I yelled out Bernard's name. Bernard came over and that is when Darren went back to his calm voice. He told Bernard that he just wanted to know what happened with his order.

I was still standing there and Bernard said, "He wants to talk to you". Darren had a condescending voice when he was talking to me. He gave a half-truth and then asked, "Is that not what happened?" So, I stood quietly, and after he asked again, I said, "Well, I mean, my manager is here. So, yes, I am agreeing that that is what happened".

I also refused to look at him because when I get angry, I cry. I was trying so hard not to let the tears out. Also, because he was bending down to my level, I wanted to punch him. Darren started saying stuff like, "Will you look at me? Why does it feel like you don't want to be talking to me? Do you even want to be here talking to me?"

When he didn't stop his aggression, I absolutely lost it. So, I said, "No, I don't. Bernard, I'm not doing this. I can't do this". And I walked away. I went to the back where three or four different coworkers checked up on me. One even offered to let me punch him to take out my anger. I did not take him up on his offer, but I love that kid.

At that point, I only had like 10 to 15 minutes left on my shift, so I got to go home. Bernard apologized to me and said he didn't expect him to speak to me that way. On one hand, I understand because Darren could come across as a normal calm customer. But on the other hand, this guy was literally just screaming at me. And he was at least 6'3 (192 cms) while I am 4'11 (125 cms).

Even his daughter was taller than me. I told Bernard that it felt a little biased because he was not as condescending with him as he was with me. But Bernard said that he felt it was more to do with height since he was just as tall and built similarly to the customer. Either way, he said that there was something off about that guy anyway, and I agree.

26. Too Good To Be True

To preface, it needs to be said that my store does not have coupons. We never have, and we probably never will. On this day, I had a woman come in saying that she wanted to get decor for her new house. I offered to show her what we had available. She then mentioned that she was so excited that she was going to get such a good deal.

I assumed that was because everything she was picking out was 40% off. Spoiler alert: it was not. She proceeded to spend over an hour picking out everything and having us put it behind the counter for her. That was when she finally mentioned, “Oh yes, I was so happy to get a coupon for half off of everything here,” which was the major red flag.

I then asked her if I could see it while also explaining that we did not carry in-store coupons. She proceeded to spend another 30 minutes looking for the supposed coupon. I finally got a glance at her phone and it all made sense—she had pulled up one of those websites that claim to give out coupon codes, but they usually don't work.

It even said in a big text that they uncertified codes. She was perfectly polite the entire time but explaining to her that she couldn't use any of that in-store was exhausting. I know the older generation can have trouble with stuff like that, but it was like she just could not believe that she could not use her coupons. And, of course, she had us put half of it back.

27. An Apple A Day

I had a customer yesterday bring in the clearance item that he bought, which was a MacBook. He came up to the register to return it. That was no problem. For reference, I'm five feet tall and he was a big guy. I followed protocol and opened it. I then checked to see if the laptop was up and running to turn off his iCloud accounts.

When the screen turned on, it was stuck on some weird screen with a mysterious folder labeled with a question mark. That's all it displayed. I didn't give it much thought. As I was processing the return, I noticed on the receipt that the form of payment was a $43 gift card, and the rest of the $1,057 was charged to his card.

Returns work by giving back the money in the same form of payment. So, I was telling him that he would get $43 back to a gift card. He immediately got upset and tried telling me that the last guy who helped him return an item of his but not to his card, but to a gift card. So, he wanted the whole $1,100 to his card.

Normally, I would let the customer know this kind of thing, and they would be OK with it. I was a little overwhelmed, so I called my super. She was held up with something and a minute into waiting, this guy started getting aggravated. He told me, "I don't have all day! C’mon". At that point, I was begging my super on the radio, “Please, I need you here".

She came and checked out the situation. She also investigated the MacBook. I didn't know if the guy didn't disconnect it from his iPhone yet, but his accounts were still attached to his laptop. So, he started getting even more aggravated. Eventually, I called a floor manager up. They were letting him know that there was nothing we could do on our end.

This was because he did something like wipe his system. So, he had to call Apple to disable his accounts or find out why it was not working. He was sitting there, calling Apple, and I guess he was trying to use voice commands because he kept shouting something. Then he started to argue with the floor manager again, so I just walked away to compose myself

In the end, the guy got all his money back to his card and he was still able to return the item, claiming that he'll never buy clearance items from us again.

28. Always On Clock

I finished a shift at my work and I was on my way home when I realized that I needed to do some shopping. I could not be bothered to go all the way back to my store, so I went to another shop on the way home. Mind you, I was in my work uniform and it was too hot to wear a coat over it. I was going to be in and out so thought it was no big deal.

How wrong was I?! Well, two minutes in, an elderly couple came up to me and ask, “Excuse me, do you know where the food storage bags are kept? I replied, “I am sorry but I do not work here I'm afraid. They just say, “Oh, right!” They stormed off and, although taken aback, I thought little of it. Instead, I got on with my shopping and headed to the self-service tills.

Just as I was about to finish, the couple came back and they had a manager with them! They told the manager, “This employee of yours refused to help us find our items". The manager looked at me, then said, “I am afraid that this man does not work for us". He pointed to my uniform saying, “He works for another company".

The couple stared at me and said, “We thought he was making that up!” I'd never had a complaint from a customer while shopping in another store before! Well, there is always a first time.

29. Cost Per Spray

I work at a thrift store, and due to COVID, there needs to be a door greeter who greets customers coming in and sprays their hands with hand sanitizer. This was what I was doing when an elderly woman came in. As I sprayed her hands, she started coughing dramatically as though this was the first time anyone had ever done that.

Then, she said, “You sprayed too much. It got into my mouth". I immediately felt bad when she said that, but then she lost me when she said that it had gotten into her mouth. She was clearly wearing a mask. To top it off, as she walked away, she muttered something. It sounded like, “This is going to affect the amount of money I spend today". I don’t get how that affects me, but okay.

30. In The Know

This happened this past weekend at my shop. The customers were one of those annoying couples who'd regularly come in and ask questions every time. They would ask things like where the bin bags were or where the rice was as if they weren’t here literally all the time. One day, this couple came up to my till and I start scanning through the items.

Suddenly, the man said, “Can you press subtotal at the end?” I said that I would. This was because, obviously, I was going to have to do it anyway. I thought he was just particular or did not really understand how it worked. Anyway, the total came to around $55 and they were not very happy. They started asking me how much every item cost and to void out other items, which of course I did without a problem.

When they came to scan their voucher, the pop-up appeared as expected, telling me to get a supervisor to authorize the void. I told them, “Because you have removed some products, I have to get someone over to authorize them. They shouldn’t be too long". The man looked at me with confusion and said, “I thought pressing subtotal would make it OK".

This deeply puzzled me. Did he think that of all the people who ever worked my shop— till staff, supervisors, and management—that no one had ever considered or worked this out before? Did he think he, a completely random man, knew more about our till systems? That he knew more than the staff who are on them all day? Strange!

31. Time Is Money

I’ve worked in customer service for two years and the amount of stuff I’ve had to deal with is enough to blast God to the 16th dimension. One time, a customer wanted something way high up on the shelves, in the depressing fluorescent lights territory. I told her that I should be back within 10 minutes because I needed to get a ladder. She said that was fine.

Now, I don't even weigh heavy enough to donate blood. I’m a petite little ballerina of a rodent with Campbell soup noodle arms. None of the other workers were around to help as they were dealing with their own stuff, so I dragged this ginormous ladder from the break room all the way across the store to get back to the lady and the merchandise.

Well, I headed back to the desolate ghost town of an aisle and find that the lady decided to take a first-class ticket to Employees’ Time Is Meaningless-Ville. She was nowhere to be seen. Okay, time is money, and people have got things to do and places to be and all that. But don’t act like your time is more valuable than mine, because it's not.

32. Adventure Time

I currently work at a mall, in a candy store close to the food court. In the food court, there is a play area for kids with different structures to climb and play on. This play area has a no-shoes policy, meaning that to play there, kids have to take their shoes off. Now, kids are attracted to candy and have been known to wander in.

We can tell that they are from the play area because they lack shoes and, usually, we have an employee walk them back. These kids are usually really young, so it scares us a bit when they do not have an adult nearby watching them. Well, today there were three kids, probably siblings, all five years old or younger, that wandered in.

We took note of their lack of shoes and asked them to show us where their parents were; a common tactic to get them to walk back to the playpen and to their adult. Well, this five-year-old was kind of sassy and said, "I am five years old. I don’t need my parents since I walked here on my own". His younger siblings agreed with him.

We then told him that he couldn’t buy anything because he did not have any money. Honestly, though, we will not sell to kids without shoes regardless of whether they have money or not. He and his siblings ran out of the store and we watched them run to the play area. We figured that they went to their parents and moved on.

15 minutes later, they were back with an unexpected vengeance. They all grabbed a bunch of stuff and tried to run out with it, but we stopped them. This time around, my manager walked back to the playpen with them. Later, when she came back, she said that when she got there, the other parents did not want to allow them back in since they had been disruptive and had pushed some of the other kids.

So, she had returned with them in tow and we had to call security to pick up the kids and make an announcement over the PA system. A security guard later said that a woman had picked the children up and was mad at them since she had told them to stay in the playpen while she shopped. Later, I told my friend, who works at one of the restaurants at the food court what had happened and she said that she had spotted them running around the backs of the restaurants.

She had to kick them out from there since it was dangerous for the kids to be there. My only question is, “Who lets their young kids alone in a busy mall while they shop?” Just get a sitter!

33. Grabbing Luck With Both Hands

Our store has a lottery kiosk. Yesterday, this lady was buying tickets and she ordered me to tell her good luck. She didn't mean to wish her luck, either. She specifically said, "You should say good luck to me when I'm getting lottery tickets". I just told her I grew up doing theatre and I was conditioned not to say good luck. This is sort of true, but I mostly do not say it because I just cannot be bothered by these people.

34. A Question Of Receiving

I had a woman say that she didn’t want her receipt. Then, when I threw it out, she yelled and said that I should give her a receipt. So, I went to print a new one and she immediately said, “No, I want my original receipt". So, I pulled it out of my trash can, which only had receipt paper in it, and she goes, “It’s that one!”

I wondered, “Lady, how would you know? They’re all the same". However, I held my tongue and just say, “No, this is for a smaller purchase. You got a bigger size". I found hers and she huffed off. Fast forward a few days—I looked through the customer feedback box and I was shocked. We get a bad review saying that I was rude, threw out her receipt when she asked for it, and did not print her a new one.

It went on to claim that I just pulled a receipt out of the garbage and didn’t even give her the right receipt. Corporate gave her a gift card. I was done after that.

35. A Valuable Lesson

Yesterday was horrible. My relief wasn't on time, and because of our nonsensical late policy, I was technically working for free after my shift ended. So, I was a little cranky when my last customer asked to "just grab one thing really quickly". I said yes, but I was admittedly huffy. The customer decided to "teach me a lesson".

They waited to grab the item until the entire order was through. I cannot void an order over $10, so that wasn't an option. And today was the first of the month, so it was busy and I couldn't afford to have my time whiled away. I just wanted to scream.

36. Time For Change

What is up with the over 50 crowds being inconsiderate and generally just difficult to deal with? I had a retail customer come in at 9:30 am, right after I locked the door to go to the bank. He knocked, so of course, I opened the door and helped him. He got up to the register and paid with two $50 bills and two $1 bills for his $31.94 purchase because he wanted to break up his bills.

He then proceeded to dictate the exact denominations of change that he wanted, which I didn’t have since I hadn't gone to the bank yet. So, I flipped through the change in my cash bag. He saw the denominations that interested him, which happened to be the only change that I really had. He wanted them, but I hesitantly obliged because what else was I going to pay him with?

That was when another customer walked in and wanted to pay with—wait for it—CASH! I hate it here!!! I have also noticed that it’s always the same kind of people who do things like this. They call in two minutes before closing and ask you to stay, or show up 30 minutes before you open and bang on your doors, etc. I cannot finish my home inspection classes fast enough because I am fed up with how rude and seemingly clueless a lot of people can be in public.

37. An Ill-fitting Argument

I work at Zara as a sales associate. Due to COVID, our dressing rooms are closed because they would be used as a shared space and, therefore, they'd require a wipe down, among other things, every time they would be used. We just do not have the staff to do that. So even though the pandemic is starting to die down, no dressing rooms.

Our return policy is pretty standard, though, so most people do not give us any grief and just buy their items and return or exchange them the next day if they do not fit. No big deal, right? Right. So, this happened while I was walking back and forth from our dressing room, which we are using as an extra stock room, filling up the shelves.

We were in the middle of a big sale, so I was trying to hustle and get everything out there as fast as I could. I was putting knitwear on racks, humming along to the song that was playing, and just generally having a grand old time. Then, approached me. The dreaded demon. Karen. She goes, "Excuuuuuuuuse me!" And I'm immediately on guard.

I turned around and immediately all my warning sensors were going off. She looked like a total Karen. Stringy blonde hair, thin lips, years of sunburn that has ruined her skin, not wearing a mask—but has one pulled down below her chin—and a girl behind her in her late teens that looked absolutely miserable being out with her.

Before I even fully processed it, my brain just said, “Oh boy". I turned on my customer service smile and said, "Hi! How can I help you?" She was immediately in my face, not respecting social distancing at all. She demanded to know if we had a fitting room open, saying, "I was just by your fitting rooms and I saw your sign. Do you have any fitting rooms open?"

The sign clearly said that we did not, but I started with my little spiel. I said, "No, we do not have the fitting rooms open due to COVID, but our return policy still stands, even for the sale, so—" She interrupts me by saying, "But I need a fitting room". She also stepped closer to me so I stepped back. Clearly, she had no respect for our social distancing rules.

I tried to explain again that she couldn't use the fitting room, but she wouldn't have it. "I just saw someone in there". I replied, "I know, ma'am. That was my manager; she's pricing items". That apparently was not a good enough explanation for her, and she rebutted, "So she's back there and I can't be?" I just said "Yes". She still kept trying to get close to me and I kept taking steps back.

She had me quite literally backed into a corner. She proceeded to retort, "This policy is ridiculous. I can't believe this is still instituted, it's completely absurd". She then went on this entire rant about how stupid she thought the whole situation was. Apparently, she felt that she had to explain to me how stores work.

I replied, "Well, ma'am, we are still in the middle of a pandemic, and if we were to open the fitting rooms now, then we wouldn't have the staff to keep them clean and also run the store". She rolled her eyes and just started talking about how stupid and ridiculous it was that we couldn't accommodate her. At that point, I had enough.

I try to get her to stop attacking me for things I cannot control by putting it in perspective, "Ma'am, I'm just a sales associate and this policy comes from corporate. There's really nothing that I can do about this". This apparently enrages her, and she starts demanding that I change the policy right that second and get in touch with corporate to change the policy just for her.

At that moment, I had a divine moment of self-reflection. My third eye opened and I realized that throughout the whole conversation, I had been looking down. I am 5'3" (162 cm), so I don't get to look down at people very often. In arguments, I always feel stupid because I'm yelling up at whoever I am arguing with.

I am clearly not tall, but at that moment, I felt like an Amazonian goddess. I realized that I did not need to fear the Karen because the Karen would never have the dignity of talking down to me in an argument. She was still ranting and raving at this point, talking about how I needed to be the one who instituted the change because it's my job in danger.

I looked at her, gave her my best sales smile, and said, "Zara is an internationally successful company, ma'am. I am pretty confident in my job. You have a nice day, now". And I gave the polite gesture of "Get out of my way". She stormed off, and the daughter, who had been silent and miserable the entire time, whispered, "I am so sorry," and hurries after her mom.

I went to the fitting room and complained to my manager, who made a few choice comments about the Karens who don't take the pandemic seriously. I love that lady, truly. Also, when I got home, I searched for Zara's net worth out of curiosity. Seeing the results, I was relieved. Not worried about my job, not even a little bit.

38. Brand New

I work at a clothing store and our policy is that if the item has been worn, you cannot return or exchange it. So, this guy came in the other day and I was already getting a weird vibe. He was shuffling around and messing up all our displays, just muttering to himself. At that point, I was only walking through the children's department to get to our break room.

But he stopped me to ask a question. He pulled out this filthy pair of children's shoes—absolutely caked in mud—and demanded an exchange. He said, "The shoes have no sole". I took a look inside the shoe, and within seconds I could tell that the shoes had been worn for a long time already. There was absolutely no mistaking it.

In fact, they had been worn so much that the sole had been worn down completely. As in, there were still little chunks of sole at the edges, but they were completely gone at the center. So, I said, "Sir, unfortunately, due to store policy, we cannot return or exchange items that have already been worn". And he replied, "These have never been worn. I need an exchange. I just bought these the other day".

So, I looked around the kid's section for just a minute and I could see that the shoes weren't even out. I tried to explain that to him, but he adamantly kept saying, "No, I bought this the other day. They have never been worn. I need a return". I kept trying to explain to him that he could not return the shoes since they were caked in mud and worn out.

What he said next really flustered me. "I have been coming here for three years. I know the girl downstairs, and I need this return".  I obviously caught him in a lie, but he was not backing off. Fortunately, a lovely coworker of mine walked over and said, "Go take your break, honey. I got this". After my break, I  was walking down to my section of the floor and I could see the two of them, in the exact same spot, still arguing.

I heard him go, "This is downtown New York and I cannot even make a return? This is ridiculous. Just get me the girl downstairs". When my co-worker asked for a name, and he could not give one. I could tell she was getting annoyed and a few seconds later, she met up with me on our escalator and we both just rolled our eyes.

39. Fishing For Trouble

I work at an aquatics store and I manage the freshwater aquariums. Whenever I work at the store, I usually ask people about their fish tanks to help them figure out any problems the tanks may have or recommend the best fish for them. Most of the time, I can help them prevent any beginner mistakes, or just stop their fish from expiring.

A few days ago, a lady came in a few minutes before closing. I was already behind on closing because of other customers, so I was kind of tired. This lady brought in dead fish and a water sample. The parameters looked good, but as a hobbyist myself, I suspected ammonia poisoning for her fish. We did not test for ammonia though.

Furthermore, this lady had done a full water change before her fish kicked it. So, I went through the usual—I explained the proper way to do a water change (25% every week) and also recommend products. She wanted a quick fix despite me explaining that her cycle was a mess and that there was no way that her fish would survive unless she started her cycle all over again.

Such is a process that can take weeks sometimes. Instead of listening, she made up an excuse about how she really needed to take some fish home because her kids want them. I still tried to guide her to a sensible decision. I recommended that she take only two fish so as to not shock the new cycle too much. All went well until she realized something that I had overlooked myself—the fish sale would end in a few days.

Then she insists that she absolutely must take the other fish too. I mentally say, “Alright. Fine. Take your fish". Out loud I remind her that there is a good chance her fish are going to lose their lives unless she is very careful with her cycle. I, finally, send her on her way thirty minutes after closing because she would not listen to any advice that I gave her.

This was despite asking me what she could do and then not wanting to do it because she thought that it was too much work or she did not have time. I explained it later to the manager and she said that if she came back to return those same fish, I was to deny her the sale.

40. A Calculated Move

In one of my old jobs, I worked in a coffee shop. I really enjoyed it and the people who came in regularly were a dream. One time, the till had broken down, and we resorted to a pen-and-paper process to take people's orders. We also worked out their change correctly by punching it into the calculator. Everything was going well.

Or, it was going well..until this absolute demon of a customer came in. She started rattling off her order. I was hurriedly writing it down and double-checking the prices on the menu. She saw what I was doing and she tutted me as if she was disappointed. She also had the audacity to tap on the broken till and say, "Why aren't you using this? Surely it's easier?"

I pointed to the sign next to them and said as nicely as possible that we were using pen and paper, etc. Then, rolling her eyes, she said her order slowly but with a condescending tone. After taking her order, I took my time repeating it back to her, since she had asked for a lot. Apparently, that was too much for them.

She responded by saying, "I am in a hurry and you are taking too long". I apologized and explained that I simply wished to make sure that the order was correct. Then I proceeded to total up her order with the calculator, and I heard her sighing and huffing as I was typing away the figures. She said, "Why do you need a calculator? Clearly, someone did not finish math, or else you would not be working here".

That was the final straw. I balled up the piece of paper, threw it in the bin next to me, and said, "Another member of staff will be with you to help you shortly". I made my way to the staff area and told my manager what had happened. They told me to relax and said that they would sort it. Needless to say, I watched as my manager went out and made it very clear that the customer’s business was not welcome.

I just wish that I had the sense to throw that balled-up piece of paper in her face. I hate people like that.

41. Delivering It In Style

I work at a shipping store. One day, I was asked to ship something to Iraq to who I assume was a military husband. Well, as a typical Karen, she gave lip and was upset about price and other small things. After a long process, we got the $20 of junk shipped. A few weeks later, she returned to the store, upset. She demanded to see my boss.

She began to chew him out about how I sent the package to the wrong place and how we charged her too much. Her problem was that she wanted to send it to a base, which should have astronomically reduced the price. My boss took one look at her, and shut her up with a single sentence: "Ma’am, how does my employee know a random street address in Iraq unless you told him to send it there?"

Karen was dumbfounded and, after a few moments of being flabbergasted, she rambled back that she would call the local news. She never did that or the other things that she threatened to do. She didn't even write a bad message on Google.

42. A Steep Price

A man came in today to exchange a pair of pants. Unfortunately for him, he had bought a $70 pair and a $60 pair on a BOGO 50% sale, so the $60 pair was 50% off. He wanted to exchange the $70 pair for another $60 pair, but the system pairs up items when they're in a BOGO offer. On the receipt, it would've looked like he was returning both pairs and repurchasing the one he wasn't returning, in order to remove the BOGO offer.

After exchanging, he would have had to pay $11 since the BOGO offer was no longer available. He was not happy, as he would have had to pay even though he was returning a more expensive pair. I did him a solid and threw in 25% off. He would've gotten around $5 back, but he still was not happy with the offer. At that point, I knew he was going to be difficult.

He asked to speak to the manager, and as the shift leader, that was me. He wanted more of a discount, but I couldn't reasonably give it to him. He kept getting angry, so I told him to come back tomorrow, and maybe the store manager then would reach a different decision. He agreed and finally left after holding up the line for a little over five minutes.

Well, he never asked me to keep the pants on hold for him. It was our last pair, too, so I put them on my manager's desk, called her, and asked her for a favor. If he comes in tomorrow, she's going to tell him that we don't have them anymore. I also called my girlfriend—my manager's daughter—who works at the closest store to us and asked her to hide their only pair in the back room.

The closest available pair in that guy's size is now two cities over. He kept asking for more and now he will get nothing. It's not much, but it's a victory.

43. No Matter How You Slice It

I had this one customer one day ask me, "It's 50% off for bag mulch if it has got holes in it, right?" I told him that it was up to the cashier and how big the holes were. He said OK. My sketchiness radar went off, so I went to tell one of my coworkers to keep an eye on him. After a little while, the guy came back with four bags of soil. Each one had a huge slash on top.

They were clean cuts too and not holes from rough handling. He said, “50% each, right?” I had a small line, so I went ahead and rang them up (each bag was like, $4 originally). After I gave him his receipt, he said that he would like me to tape the holes shut. Again, I had a line and explained to him that I could only do that once the line is gone.

That's when he blew his top. He started making a scene, so I told the person behind him that I just needed a few minutes. It took me five minutes and a complaint from another customer for me to get them taped and sealed to his standards. A few days later, I was outside with a new coworker and he asked her, "Do you give a discount on rocks?"

I told her that it would depend on how bad the situation is. At first, I did not recognize him as the same guy—I thought that he said rakes, not rocks. So, he showed up with a few bags totaling roughly $90. He was demanding half off on each, so the coworker asked me what to do. We were only allowed a $50 markdown without any assistance. When I look at his bags, I almost lost it.

Once again, there were clean cuts. I told him that they were just open and none were missing, so we couldn't do the full 50% off. Instead, I helped my coworker take $20 off. He did not like that and kept demanding we give him 50% off, saying that someone ruined his bags. I told my coworker to just mark them down so he could finally leave and we could get our lines moving.

44. Schadenfreude

I work in the produce section at a Trader Joe's clone. It's a hyper-corrupt corporate structure, but for once, I can't blame what happened yesterday on corporate. Here's what went down. So, yesterday, I was nearing the end of my shift and was bringing a few dozen plastic packages of cut fruit out to our cut fruit fridge. At the time I was exhausted.

I didn't think about how I was balancing these packages on my work truck, and they all fell onto the floor—berries and grapes were just flying everywhere. Obviously, this was not a big deal, but this happened right in the center of the store, where our four departments and the doors to the back room converged. The store was also well over capacity with customers doing their Saturday afternoon shopping.

This incident had created a traffic jam of sorts. My manager and I were scrambling to pick everything up, and I was down on my knees trying to pick up the grapes. What infuriated me were the glib jokes and quips that customers felt they needed to make and the fact that even though there was plenty of space for them to get around us, they still grazed their carts within an inch or two of where I was squatting.

I was embarrassed enough, but it just got worse for me. I started hyperventilating and got tunnel vision, and had a panic attack. Even if, from an outsider's perspective, the situation was somewhat comedic, from my perspective, it was exceedingly humiliating and dehumanizing, to be treated as an object. Customers were weaving around me like I didn't exist and provided unnecessary commentary that nobody else cared to hear.

It was the most embarrassed that I've ever been at this job.  In my state, the customers seemed like cackling buzzards swooping around, narrowing in on the prey. We, somehow, managed to clear up the path and get out of the way of the buzzards.

45. Discounting It

A doctor came into the store a few days ago with a bag of clothes. She asked if we had discounts for health care workers, to which we said that we did not. The discounts were only for servicemen and teachers or students. Immediately after hearing this, she got upset and said that doctors worked much harder and deserved it more than teachers.

In my eyes, it was rude and ignorant to expect that a well-paid doctor should get a discount over teachers who are severely underpaid. If she could come to our store and spend $300 on clothes and also have other shopping bags on her, I seriously doubt she needed a discount. But it only got worse. She had the audacity to say, "Well, who was working hard during the pandemic? Yeah, doctors! That’s right".

It's true in some ways, but she was also very well paid. Teachers, on the other hand, do so much to teach the younger generation, including future doctors, but they are not paid nearly enough, which is why they often get discounts. It just blew my mind how she sat there bashing teachers for getting a discount as if it was something the employees decided on.

46. Holier Than Thou

The main guy of this Pentecostal church group comes into our store every Sunday and Wednesday. He told one of our servers that she was going to suffer and that she couldn’t serve him because she has tattoos on her arms. He would never wear a mask even at the height of the pandemic. He'd constantly complain about the service and how no one at my restaurant was a good server. But that's not the worse thing he's done.

He also told one of our servers that he was going to call CPS on her because her kids shouldn’t have a mom who has tattoos and piercings. I would love to knock the religious superiority right out of his body through a punch right to the ear.

47. Rules Are For Others

My store is currently closed for in-store shopping and we don’t have a proper click-and-collect set up yet. The system we have basically sends us an email, then we call the customer to confirm. Well, someone called about 30 minutes to close on Saturday and I squeezed her order in at the last minute.

She yelled, "Ugh, whatever," and hung up on my manager. We got back to her within an hour and placed her order. When she came to pick up both on Saturday, she disregarded all our COVID policy signs saying to call the store for pick-ups. Instead, she climbed over the barriers to knock on the store’s door. I was on the phone with a customer when she did this, and my coworker was completely out of sight.

. When she did it again today, I gestured for her to call us. She called, and then when I collected her order and opened the door, she laid into me about how rude I was being. I countered, "I think it was rather rude of you to ignore all our signs and barriers and knock on the door". She got very upset and yelled at me about how she was never coming back. "You'll be lucky to have a job tomorrow," she threatened.

48. Half-baked Notion

I work in a bakery in a grocery store, and we have plexiglass in front of us and in front of our artisan bread for obvious reasons...Or maybe, not-so-obvious reasons to some people. Today, I had a lady reach over the glass, over my case full of cakes, to grab the cake from the top of my pile. She had to struggle to reach it.

Not only that, but all throughout COVID, we had to put all our bread in bags instead of leaving them out in the open. The glass is literally two feet tall. All I could think was, “If you have to struggle to reach over the glass, it probably means you are not supposed to be doing the thing you are doing!” This phenomenon has actually been happening even more since COVID and I'm really just over it.

49. The Fountain Runneth Dry

I run a convenience store inside a mall. Just outside our store is a lovely fountain, only it's drained. It has been that way since before we got the store last year. One day, I was sitting around, enjoying the cool air on my face. Our store is located on a kind of odd angle, where one wall is shorter than the other, and you can see people walking by through the glass windows.

I sat around watching mall traffic while keeping an eye on my game, always alert for trouble. At one point, my idyllic view was interrupted by the sight of a man, clearly with a purpose, striding directly toward me. I didn't even have time to give my usual chipper, "How you doin’ today?" line.  The angry man asked me a question that threw me off-guard: “When are they going to turn on the fountain?”

I apologetically replied that I have no idea. A moment passed and the man’s brow furrowed. It appeared as though he was not sure how to process the fact that I didn't have an answer. Then he said, apparently to make the situation clear to me, “They drained all the fountains!” It was my turn to be confused. Clearly, they drained all the fountains...I'd been looking at the empty fountain all day long, so I would know.

I don't know why he thought I didn't notice...Did he think it was my fault? Maybe he didn't know that the mall makes its own decisions. So, I told him, “You'd have to ask the mall management. We're just a convenience store". He firmly told me, “I will!" And with his sense of duty now apparently locked onto a new target, he stomped on out of the store with the same clear sense of purpose.

50. Greasing The Parts

At the time, I was the front desk receptionist at a car dealership that had an attached service and parts department. I dealt with all kinds of people, but this one customer particularly left me dumbfounded. It was around 7 pm, about an hour after the service and parts department had closed. The sales department was open until 8 pm, so I was just going about my business as usual.

A woman walked up to my desk and slammed a 19-liter jug of motor oil down on the counter. That scared me since I was looking away at the time. She immediately demanded that I sell her the oil. I was confused and just kind of...looked at her for a moment. There was no checkout counter at my desk as we were in an entirely different part of the building.

Also, where did she get that? The parts department was closed and the window into the storeroom was locked with a fold-down metal cage. I finally got myself together and told her that the parts department was closed and that I would be unable to sell anything. Her reaction was priceless. She immediately got angry, blowing her top while gesturing to the closest window demanding that I give her the oil.

I suggested for her to go to another shop nearby, as they were open until 9 pm. Surely, she could get oil there. She didn't like that answer and scoffed at me. "I need Kia brand oil, for my Kia brand car". She said it incredibly matter-of-factly and stared at me like I was the dumbest person on the planet. That again caught me off guard.

I have pretty bad anxiety, so I was still mentally and physically reeling from her slamming the bottle down and I was not getting very collected thoughts. I tried to explain that any brand of oil would do and that I'd be happy to help her figure out what would work best so she could pick it up there...but she just kept shaking her head at me.

Finally, she shouted out that she would just come back the following day, that I had been absolutely no help, and stormed out. I noticed then that she had a kid with her. What a great example she set for her children. I did figure out that she had pulled the oil jug down off of a display case in the service department. That was extra amusing to me, imagining someone taking something off of a clearly not-for-sale display shelf because she was mad.

51. Dog Days

Several years ago, I used to work as a dog trainer at a very well-known pet supply store. While I was a dog trainer, it was still retail, so of course, I had to do 100 things outside of my job description. As a result, I was working the cash register, stocking, and yes, helping our loyal customers. The store I worked at was an absolute disaster with Karens, too.

Big, white suburban neighborhoods were situated around this store, so they came in like hordes. Well, on this particular day, it was vet day. Basically, a local vet service partnered with the store to offer quick walk-in vet checkups for things like vaccinations. Of course, put "cheap" and "Karens" together and you get the worst workday of your week.

This week, the store was packed. The line went all the way to the front, and we were the biggest store in the area. People were asking me questions left and right, dogs were relieving themselves everywhere, and kids were playing with the dog toys. It was the whole shebang. I was already like a headless chicken, having to juggle five tasks while also prepping for a dog training class. Yay.

But as I was making my way from the vet station helping another customer, I saw her, and she definitely looked like trouble. She had a dark tan, shoulder-length straight hair, sunglasses, and she was dragging a couple of kids down the aisle toward me. She looked like she was wanting to turn into the Hulk and was ready to fight. I prepped myself before I started to say, "How can I help—"

She stopped me in the middle of my sentence by saying one loud word, "Dogs!" She had a crazy gleam in her eyes. I tried to decipher her cryptic message and asked, "Dog...toys? Dog...food?" She then said, “Where are your dogs?” It took a second for my brain to catch up with her shrieks; to understand that she was hoping that we sold dogs.

Now, luckily, big box stores like this one tend to not sell dogs directly. Otherwise, they would get them from puppy mills. But now, unfortunately, I had to inform this lady that we were not that kind of store. I geared myself up for a battle, then said: "I am sorry, ma’am, but we do not sell dogs he—" She cursed and shrieked, then immediately spun around, pulling her kids like ragdolls the entire time.

She then stomped out the door again. It felt like I got hit and run over by words. This interaction was less than 30 seconds, so it was like a new record.  It was then that I decided it would be best if I took my break before doing my next class.

52. Taking A Bow

Several years back, I was working at a small beauty supply store in the southern part of the US. Among other things, we sold little clip-in hairpieces. A family of four had come in and the mom and dad were discussing products in the first aisle while the two little girls were running unsupervised through the store, being loud and making messes.

It was truck day, and I had been stocking shelves out of a shopping cart, referred to as a buggy by many people in that area. It was chock full to the brim. I had gone to the stock room and when I came back 30 seconds later, I saw one of the little girls pushing my cart around the corner of the opposite end of the aisle.

She was standing on her tiptoes and still could not see over the handle. I heard her say something to her mother and her mother told her, "Put that back where you found it". By that time, I had nearly caught up with the kid, who had turned the basket around. She pushed the cart up to me and said proudly, "Ma'am, are you lookin' for yer buggy?"

I replied, "You do not need to be messing with that". That's when the mom's Karen came out. She came roaring around the corner saying how I should not speak directly to her child and that if I had something to say, then I should say it to her. Never mind the fact that the kid had run into a shelf, slipped a bit on the tile floors, and almost turned the basket over on herself on the opposite side of the store from her mother's location.

I did not bother to argue about safety concerns and instead went back to stocking shelves. A little while later, the mother asked me to help her match the color of her hair to the hairpieces. I helped her pick one out, then heard her confirm to her husband that it was the one she wanted. I then went up to the register, while she rounded up her kids.

When she got to the checkout, the hairpiece that she put on the counter was a different one than what I had seen her discussing. I asked her about it and she indicated that the other one was more than she could afford, but she planned to come back for it. I rang her out and they left. The next day, I got to work and the opening clerk said, "I got one of your customers today".

I said, "Oh yeah?" I didn't get customer complaints often, but that particular week, I had someone else come in, while I was off, saying that I was rude. They had been unhappy that I had prevented them from shoplifting but they gave some other bogus reason to complain. When my coworker confirmed this, it was in a tone that made it clear I was in for a ride a bit later.

So, I asked, "Have you ever seen me be rude to a customer?" "No," she answered. "It always seems like you're sweet, but to hear them tell it, you're big and bad". About that time, the door opened, and in walked the hairpiece woman and her kids. It was about to go down. She started laying into me about how she had come to return the hairpiece that she got yesterday.

We did not take returns on hairpieces in the first place. However, she said that in the process of trying to return it with my co-worker, they had found a discrepancy between the item that she was trying to return and the one I had rang up. So, my coworker had asked her to come back during my shift so I could assist with the return.

This woman pulled the product that she wanted to return out and it was a different product than the one she purchased from me—in fact, it was the one that I had heard her tell her husband she wanted...and it was in a different product box. I told her as much, and she started screaming, saying that I better not be calling her a liar.

She also started making thinly veiled physical threats. In the meantime, one of her darling kids had come back around the sales counter where I was standing and she was trying to get my attention to get in on the action. I was ignoring the girl, but she kept tapping me on the hip. I whirled around and curtly said, "Don't touch me".

Then, remembering the scene from the day before, I snapped my head back to the mom and smiled sweetly. Through gritted teeth, but with the most upbeat voice, I said, "I am sorry, could you please tell your child not to touch me and remove her from behind the counter. It's not safe for her to be back here". She snarled, "That's better".

She barked a command at her kid, then made it clear that she would be back in an hour to continue her reign of terror. Shortly after she left, our store manager arrived unexpectedly early for the closing shift. We brought her up to speed on what had been going on. When the lady came back, I happened to be in the stock room.

My manager closed the stock room door and told me in the sternest voice ever: "Do NOT come out". I could only hear snippets through the door, so I don't know exactly what happened. I got the picture that we must have given her some money back as a one-time thing, probably because the other option was to refer to corporate, who would have given her money back.

But then I very clearly heard the woman's voice ring across the store, "Go get her and bring her out here. I am going to snatch her up and…" "You will not lay a hand on my employee," my manager emphatically interrupted. I did not hear any of the exchange after that, because I was so shocked at my sweet, proper manager's firm retort.

My coworker, apparently, was similarly surprised. The consensus among the employees after that was that we were pretty proud of how tough our manager could be if needed. They also decided that if I was being rude to a "customer," it was probably someone stealing.

Source: Reddit

Dating is hard, we've all got to accept that sooner or later—but it's not supposed to be THIS hard.

1. Change Of Plans

I went on a date after talking with someone for a couple of weeks. The conversation online was pleasant and involved the usual small talk about hobbies, interests, etc., There were no red flags, or so I thought...We arranged to meet in the city for a coffee. When I arrived and she was already there...and she looked nothing like her pictures.

I thought to myself, "Oh, well most people tend to embellish their photos. Let's see what she's like in person". That's when I messed up BIG time. We got to talking and at one point, she asked me what I'd be doing the following weekend. I love camping and exploring, so I just told her I had a camping trip with my mates.

She asked me if she could come along and I replied, "Um, no...We only just met". She then proceeded to lose her cool, throwing a tantrum as if we'd.been dating for years. "How dare you not take me along," she snapped at me. Yet, even after she caused a scene, my idiot self decided to see the date through to the end. She continued to ask me more questions about the trip, asking which campsite I'd be going to.

I gave her a rough estimate of the location and she replied, "Oh, that's nice. I'll see you there..". I thought that was a weird response and reiterated that I was not comfortable with that. She replied, "No. I'm going there no matter what you say. You won't see me coming". She then let out a maniacal laugh. That was the last straw for me. I stood up, placed my money on the table to pay for my coffee, and walked away.

2. Three’s Company

I met a girl on Craigslist. After a few messages, we set up a date at a bar downtown. I showed up and there was an unexpected surprise waiting for me at our table—she was already there with a guy friend. No biggie; I just assumed she was playing it safe. They were at a two-person table and the place was packed. They already had drinks, so I grabbed one for myself and put it on my tab.

My date and her friend proceeded to ignore me. I tried to join in on their conversation a few times but neither of them acknowledged me. Even when I directly spoke to them to get their attention, I got one-word answers with attitude. So, I finished my drink, paid my bill, and left without saying a word. Later, I get a barrage of messages from her calling me mean and awful for sticking them with their own tab.

3. Small Town Woes

I was on a dating app in a smallish town and I had already gone on a few boring dates. But eventually, I matched with this one girl who agreed to meet with me. I was thrilled, but there was something very odd about her and the conversation we had. She was eager to meet; almost too eager. I got to the Starbucks and waited inside for about twenty minutes past our agreed meet time.

The girl texted me to tell me she was running late, and she asked me to stand outside so she could see me as she drove by. I looked over and there ws another dude standing on the sidewalk with his phone in his hand. I recognized him from the gym, so I asked him if he was also meeting a girl. It turned out the girl was pulling a fast one on us both as revenge for her girlfriend who we both apparently dated.

4. The Sound Of Silence

On our date, we went to Dave and Buster's. I could tell she was uncomfortable. I tried to bring up topics for us to talk about, but I was only getting one-word answers or literally, “I don’t know,” even when I asked her questions about herself. We sat in silence for about five minutes before she finally showed signs of life.

She got up to go to the bathroom and when she came back, I just straight up said to her, “Hey, if you’re not having a good time, you’re more than welcome to leave. It’s perfectly fine". That's when things went completely south. She got insulted by what I said and picked up her purse to leave. I repeated myself and said, “If you’re having fun, I’m more than happy to stay, but like, we’re not even talking right now".

So she got up and left and I ordered another drink, waited a bit to watch the rest of the game on TV, then left. I got a text from her saying how insulted she was that I would ask her if she wanted to leave, etc. I just said, “I tried talking to you for 15 minutes and got no responses". She then explained that sometimes she just doesn’t feel like talking and I was cruel for not being okay with that.

5. A Quick End

I sat down and he immediately said, "Oh yes, you are hotter than your pictures and you're my girlfriend now". Cleary, he came on real strong. I chalked it up to keenness at first or maybe a weird sense of humor. I figured I'd at least stick around for a drink or two, just to feel it out. I even offered to buy the first round, partly as an excuse to get away from the table for a second.

I made some unrelated comment to the bartender that made him laugh, and when I got back to the table, my date caught me completely off guard. He started yelling and slamming his fists on the table, demanding that I tell him what I said to the bartender and whether I thought he was good-looking or not. He had somehow gotten jealous of this bartender five minutes after meeting me.

6. Miscommunication?

I had a crush on this guy in high school and my friend kept urging me to talk to him. I finally got the nerve to ask him out and apparently, he liked me too, or so I thought. We talked often and exchanged notes in the hallway. He even asked me to homecoming and I said yes. I was so excited; I bought a new dress and everything!

But when I got to the football game, everything changed for the worst. I saw my crush in the stands and I told him I was going to go sit with him for the game. He told me I couldn’t do that. I asked him why and he said it was because he was with—get this—his girlfriend. I was devastated and embarrassed, to say the least.

7. Why Did He Even Come Over?

I invited this guy from Tinder over to my place because he seemed pretty nice and we had a lot in common. He was decent looking on his profile, so I thought, why not? For context, I had just moved into my apartment and I didn't have a nice setup yet besides a table and a few chairs. The second he walked in, he waved the first red flag—he asked me why I didn't have any slippers for guests.

I was a bit confused but figured maybe he just lived in a fancier household than me (and yes, he made it clear he did). I said I didn't have any slippers, and he just shrugged it off. We then went to my balcony to hang out and he spent twenty minutes crying about how much he still loved and missed his ex-girlfriend. I just nodded along to be nice, but it was strange.

We eventually went back inside and he immediately started grilling me about my lack of furniture. "Where’s your TV? Couch?" When I explained that I didn't have the money at the moment to buy nice furniture, he scoffed and just kept nitpicking.

8. Maybe She’s A Werewolf

I went on a date with a girl in college, a cutie from my class who I had been trying to get a date with for a while. I picked her up to drive to dinner, and it’s worth mentioning I live in Wisconsin and it was January, so it was pretty cold outside. While I was driving, she startled me with her next move—she proceeded to undo her belt, open the door, leap out of the car into a snowbank, and run into the woods.

I had to chase her down and convince her to get back in the car with me before she lost her feet to frostbite. We didn't date anymore, but I did check in on her every once in a while.

9. Cats, Cats, Everywhere There’s Cats

I met this girl online. She seemed nice, geeky, and into a lot of the same nerd stuff that I was. She was cute in her photos too. She dodged me several times about going on an actual date, but finally, we managed to set something up. She wanted me to come to her house so she could make us dinner and watch a movie together. We were both introverts, so that was fine by me.

She said she lived in Houston, but it was actually over an hour outside of it. When I got to her 'house', my jaw dropped—it was actually a trailer in the middle of the woods on a wooded lot full of trash. Turns out, they didn't have trash service, so she basically just threw it outside. At first, I thought I was seeing cats everywhere, but it turned out to be cats mixed in with a few massive rats.

Still, I'd driven an hour plus, and I was already there, so I climbed up the decrepit deck and knocked on the door. When she opened it, the smell of cat urine poured out of the trailer and invaded my nostrils. When I got inside, there were more cats everywhere. Orange cats, brown cats, old cats, young cats. Cats everywhere.

Her mom was "cooking dinner" for us, which was frozen microwaved dinner. This girl then dragged me to her room and attacked me like an animal in heat. I told her I had to go to the restroom but it was covered in cat waste and litter. Just box after box, in the shower and everything. I couldn't do it. I went and told her I’d forgotten flowers in my car and drove away as fast as I could.

10. Oh, Those Summer Nights

A couple of years ago I went on a date with this girl who I had a crush on in my college math class. I was too scared to ask her out and didn’t do so until one summer day when she hit me up on Snapchat asking about some tea places that I knew of. I told her some places, then I shot my shot, saying we should check one out together.

She agreed. I picked her up and we went to the tea place. We had a really nice time and even played Jenga. I didn’t want the date to end, so I took her to a lighthouse on the beach. We got to know each other so well and had nothing but a great time laughing the night away. Night eventually came and she had to go home, but we planned on hanging out again soon.

A week or two later, I woke up and checked my Instagram. The first post I saw made my blood run cold. It was her with another dude at the same beach holding on to each other. Mind you, she told me she was single and not talking to anyone. I was heartbroken even though we only hung out that one time.

11. At Least She Didn’t Feel Awkward

When I was in high school, I went on a date with a friend of a friend. We went and saw a movie, then went out for dinner. I was nervous and awkward, and it ended without much fanfare. The date went OK, and there wasn't a second one, but that's not the bad part. About a month later, I went to a party at our mutual friend's house.

I saw her there and was afraid it might be a little awkward. I had no idea she was invited. About an hour into the party, she came up and started talking to the mutual friend, while I was standing nearby. After a few minutes of talking, the girl I had gone on a less-than-awesome date with came up and introduced herself to me.

12. Truth Is Subjective

I invited a girl from Tinder over to my house after a very steamy conversation (led by her). After bringing her to my place, she proceeded to absolutely ignore me and at best give me one-word answers to every line of the get-to-know-you conversation, acting like I was inconveniencing her by taking her attention away from her phone.

Any time I tried to make a move, I got shot down instantly. This went on for a few hours, so I put Netflix on. Big mistake on my part, apparently. Just as I was about to say it was time to leave, with no warning whatsoever, she straddled me and started aggressively making out with me. It was disgusting—a bunch of food residue from her mouth got into mine. She hadn’t brushed her teeth.

I noped out of that and we had a very quiet drive back to her house. Before I even left her driveway, she was texting me saying how great it went and that she wanted to see me again soon. Needless to say, that did not happen!

13. You’re As Old As You Feel

I went on a date with a guy on Bumble. We made plans for him to pick me up and go to a local restaurant for dinner. It ended up snowing the night before and the road had developed a layer of ice on top. I suggested rescheduling, but he insisted. He picked me up, and when leaving my neighborhood, he started to slide on the ice. My life flashed before my eyes and we ended up rear-ending the car at the end of my road.

Thankfully, everyone was okay. I was pretty shaken up, but we continued on with dinner and the rest of the night was pretty mild. The following Monday, his insurance ended up calling me, asking what happened. I called him to say I didn’t want to get any further involved after having spent forever on the phone with the adjustor and he responded by asking me out.

Not only that, but he ended up standing me up anyway. He claimed, “in his older age” he tends to be more forgetful…He was 27.

14. You’re Focused On The Wrong Thing

My date phoned me the morning before our date at 2 am to say she was so excited about our date. Then, mid-conversation, she crashed her car. After that, I didn’t hear from her until the date—I had to pick her up at that point because totaled her car. The date started well and I took her to a fancy sushi place, but she did not eat one piece as she was talking the entire time.

I slowly established that she had not slept for a few days and her eyes were rolling. I settled the bill and took her home to a very judgmental roommate. As I was walking back to my car, I heard a bloodcurdling shriek..."Where is my goodnight kiss?!" My anxiety kicked in and I started running to my car. I looked back and she was chasing me, still screaming.

Neighbors from all over her complex started watching from their homes but I somehow managed to escape. Months later, I ran into her roommate out on the town and she said, "Oh yes, you were the one who ate all the sushi".

15. It’s Too Much

I met this guy Ron on OkCupid. He seemed nice enough, even though he was older than his profile said. We chatted over the phone a few times and he came across okay enough to meet. So, we did. I went to his house for the first meeting because I was honest in telling him what wouldn't be happening. I figured he was gentleman enough to respect my wishes.

We chatted for a while on his back porch and watched a movie in his living room. But then he started to act weird around me—he would touch me and I reminded him that wasn't happening and to please stop. "You're just so beautiful, I can't help myself". He could help himself. I was suddenly "very tired" and wanted to head home. He started texting me, just constantly bombarding me with compliments and it was smothering.

I talked about boundaries with him, but he just ignored me. He even offered me a key to his house. so I could pop over anytime. He wanted to get a dog so I could come over and walk it while he was at work. He also mentioned a work trip to Hawaii several months in advance and told me he wanted to take me. I started to pull away from him a little and explained that he was being too much too fast.

After a long break, we decided to meet up again because I make bad choices sometimes, admittedly. Things just got worse from that point on. He started touching me again, smothering me. He legitimately would not leave his hands to himself, so I leaned forward on my knees so he couldn't touch me. I told him I was leaving and he walked me back to my truck because it was late and dark.

He hugged me and wouldn't let go. I tried pulling back and telling him to let go, panicking, but he wouldn't. I started to nervously laugh because I was in full panic mode. I opened my door and he stood beside it, not letting me close it. I couldn't drive my car forward because I was in a parking garage and there was a car in front of me. If I go reversed, my door would have probably gotten torn off.

When I went ballistic and screamed at him to move, he backed up, made a snarky remark, and I finally went home. He started texting me again—long, long paragraphs about how when I "hugged him" he felt sparks he'd never felt before, how I mean so much to him, and how he's never felt this connected. I just stopped responding.

He started texting me more, I don't answer. Then he got mean, but I still didn't answer. I headed to work the next Monday and showed the text messages and his face to security and told them to not let him on campus. Security couldn't believe the text messages. I learned my lesson BIG TIME with him.

16. What Did I Say?

I met a girl through a friend at a party and we went on a few dates. On one of them, we ended up at a hotel and decided to stay the whole weekend. The last night, after a few drinks, we were chatting under the sheets. Drinks, snacks, good times. Suddenly, she switched to a whole other conversation. Not a simple switching of subjects, either.

This was a quick and smooth transition from a real conversation to one that was between her and…someone else. I was confused, but I brushed it off. This happened a couple of times. The third time though, I had to say something; I couldn’t just let it go. It was horrifying—she was weirded out and was just as confused as I was when I listened to the things she said.

I told her it was like she had parallel conversations going on in her head. She became visibly frightened by herself and nervously panicked, ultimately breaking down and thinking she was crazy. I tried to comfort her until we fell asleep. I found out later she was diagnosed bipolar, but never really heard from her after that night.

17. Strongly Opinionated

I went on a date with a girl who suggested a restaurant but it was closed when we got there. She told me it was where she'd had her wedding reception after marrying her much older husband. Then, at the next restaurant, she revealed her true colors—immediately asked me how I felt about Trump while telling me how great she thought he was before I answered.,

Then she drank most of the bottle of vino we ordered, made rude comments in the restaurant out loud, and told me constantly that she made more than I did (I'm not sure if she was right, but it was a weird thing to care about regardless). She told me she forgot my name twice and spent the entire car ride back to her place trying to convince me Obama's birth certificate was a forgery.

18. Older, Not Wiser

I was 18 with a Plenty of Fish profile and I got catfished by this dude who was about 20 years older than me. We met at Starbucks and upon seeing him, I knew I was out of my depth, but I didn't know what to do so I went along with the date. Worst decision ever. He would ask me my interests and then shoot them down. For example, he'd be like: “You're into Harry Potter? I think that is so childish!”

I knew I needed to nope out of there, but he kept insisting I come over to his place. He used the fact he bought me a coffee to make me feel guilty. I agreed to go to a park but that was the most he was going to get. I said I had to drive separately as I had to go somewhere later and during the drive, I called a friend and asked her to call me in fifteen minutes to give me an excuse to bail.

At the park, he mentioned that he knew he was older and attributed that to my "strange" behavior. He found it so odd that I did not want to see his house—he explained that he only invited me because he felt a connection and knew I wouldn't want to meet him if I knew he wasn't like his picture anymore. Not long after my bailout call came, he became so cold and it was scary.

Thankfully, I slipped off after a very awkward hug.

19. The Divine Plan

I went on a first date with a guy after meeting him on a dating site. The phone calls went well so I thought, why not. We met at the mall. Right off the bat, I got a weird vibe. He proceeded to tell me how many kids we would have, and how he would physically punish them whenever they were disobedient. The guy was fully serious, too—he said we had to do it because "it’s what God wants".

He ended up following me to my car and I was thankful it was daytime in a busy mall with a security guard watching.  He then tried to make out me, but I slapped him and drove away.

20. The Wrong Film

The guy was hot and interesting, so I invited him over thinking we’d have some casual fun. He arrived and it was going fine—we had loads in common including film taste. We decided to watch a movie and settled on Nymphomaniac, which neither of us had seen or known much about. Little did we know what we were getting ourselves into. 

It was a very disturbing film for various reasons, awkward and painful viewing. It totally ruined the mood. We finished the movie and mutually decided to end the date. I didn’t bother to arrange another date.

21. Oldest Trick In The Book

I got to the restaurant first and waited outside. When he arrived, he was extremely energetic past the point of being normal. When we sat down, I could see his eyes were dilated and unblinking. I assumed by that point he had done some sort of substance before the date. We agreed to have one drink at the restaurant, then go somewhere else for food.

During the drink portion of the date, he told me he could get me a good job selling cars at his business and then asked me to move in with him to annoy his ex-wife. I just chuckled and brushed it off. I told him I'd meet him at the restaurant and he shocked me with his next move—he followed me to my car, got in on the passenger side, and wanted me to drive him there.

I was a little freaked out but I tried to roll with it. We got to the restaurant and the vibes were all off at that point. I was significantly freaked out, so I used the bathroom excuse to ditch him and leave. I got to the front and realized I left my purse behind, so I asked the hostess for help. I told her to please find a way to get me out of the date. Fast forward about ten minutes and a glass of pinot later.

The manager came in making his rounds to the tables, stopped at ours, and asked for my name. He said I had a phone call up at the front. Not the smoothest line, but I went with it. I told my date I'd be right back, then grabbed my purse and hightailed it out of there.

22. It’s Shark Week Every Week

She had a weird obsession with sharks. She had shark decals on her car, shark tattoos, and wouldn't talk about anything but sharks. After lunch, she revealed she had no money, so I had to pay. I was going to anyway, but for her to bring no money on a date and just presume I would pay was pretty insulting.

23. Multi-Level Madness

We met up at a café. Within the first minute, he pulled out a bunch of brochures and started telling me how amazing Amway and its products are. He told me all about how you could gain access to all kinds of cool events and stuff by becoming a sales rep, etc. I was pretty annoyed that I was scammed into an MLM pitch meeting and I told him so.

After I said that, he completely lost it. He got extremely angry and defensive. He said: "I'm not trying to recruit you! I knew you were from Michigan and Amway was founded there, so I thought it'd be a good topic!" Right. I told him I was leaving and asked the waiter for the check. The dude literally then screamed: "SEPARATE CHECKS!" at the waiter, drawing the attention of everyone in the cafe.

I started getting a bit freaked out and was scared to walk to my car because the dude was literally shaking with rage. I was terrified he'd try to follow me, so when we went outside, I remained standing by the café door thinking he would walk ahead to his car first. Nope. Instead, he took it as an opportunity to stand there and scream at me in the parking lot.

H was still insisting he wasn't trying to recruit me and said I ruined the date by accusing him. As if somehow him yelling at me in a parking lot is going to change my mind. Finally, I couldn't take anymore—I just went to my car, locked the doors quickly, and drove multiple circles before going home.

24. If The Shoe Fits…

I was taking part in a college "Cinderella" activity where girls put one of their shoes in a pile. A guy would pick a shoe and he'd go out on a date with the girl who the shoe belonged to. My roommates and I all did it as a group and it was supposed to be fun...until the weirdest guy picked my shoe. I honored the activity and went on the date, which was at a bowling alley.

Every time I got up to bowl, he would shout at the top of his lungs like: "THAT'S MY DATE!" He also shot put the bowling ball and probably ruined the lane. Sometimes his throws were so bad they would go down someone else's lane. At one point, he tried to kiss me in front of everyone...It was terrible.

25. Just Make A Decision

I matched with a girl on Bumble and we talked over the course of a few weeks. We made plans to meet u one weekend. I texted her the day before to see if we were still on. She didn't reply until the day of. She said that she actually had somewhere to be later in the day, but asked me if I wanted to get coffee before then.

She also asked me if I could pick her up because her car was in the shop. I said yes to both, like a true idiot. She asked me if I knew of any places we could go. I said there was a Starbucks in my area, but she asked me if I knew of any places other than Starbucks. I went on Google, found a neat little local coffee place, and threw that one by her.

She didn't respond for 45 minutes. I ended up shooting her another text asking her how that sounded. She replied back that it sounded good, but the place was closing within the next twenty minutes. I went back to Google and found a different coffee place in her area that didn't close for another two hours. I threw that one by her and then she texted back asking if we could take a raincheck.

I said, "Sure," but didn't have much intention of reaching out to her again. She had already flaked twice before and the fact that she basically ended up wasting most of my afternoon kind of dampened my interest a bit.

26. We’re All Confused

It was our third date and we decided to go to a club. It was getting pretty late so we ordered a Lyft to beat the crowds of people trying to exit at the same time. We exited the club and someone pulled my arm hard when we got outside. I turned around and my face went white—a random guy was accusing me of ghosting him and leaving him at a club with the bill.

I told him he had me confused with someone else which only made him more and more upset. He kept reaching and pulling at my arms. My date pushed the random guy away and pulled me closer, which only set him off even more. Security noticed and thought we were causing an issue with the dude. My date tried explaining what was going on and the random dude lunged at me.

I remember I had my taser with me, so I took it out and laid it on him. He fell to the ground, confused. I'm pretty sure he mistook me for someone else, but that was terrifying.

27. Third Wheel

I had been talking to a woman for a couple of weeks and she ran hot and cold. Mostly cold. I was thinking about moving on from her, but then one lonely Saturday night, she called and invited me to a bar for a few drinks. I told myself, why not, and went. when I got there, she was with one of her girlfriends. Her friend was a late 20-something and chatty as anything.

Immediately, I could tell my date was far more interested in her friend’s welfare than in me. It later came out that the friend’s husband was a jealous weirdo. I played along, had a few drinks, and listened to the friend vent her problems, but it was clear I was not part of the night’s festivities. Whatever. It was better than being home alone on a Saturday night. Then, an hour or so later, things got interesting—the weirdo husband showed up.

He charged up to our table, whipped out a camera, and took a picture of all of us. He muttered some vague threat to his wife before leaving. The friend got super upset and decided to go home. My date wanted to walk her out and we went outside to say goodbyes. She walked away and I turned around, thinking finally I got my date to myself.

Then I see she'd already hopped inside her car. She drove off without even a wave goodbye, leaving me all alone. I went back into the bar had a couple more drinks hoping to meet someone, but I suck at bars. I went home an hour later.

28. Too Much, Too Soon

I met a guy online about 20 years ago. He was really smart and funny, so I gave him my number. I really enjoyed talking with him. I’m 5’7” and he said he was the same height. I was in my early 20s and he said he was in his early 30s. We decided to meet up on a Saturday morning and go to the flea market which was huge in our area at the time.

When we finally met up, I shook my head in disappointment—he was only 5’4” and in his early 40s, easy. I was mad that he had lied to me, but I really liked him and decided to continue with the date. It was my first time meeting this guy face to face, and he was all over me. Kissing me, hugging me, holding my hand, and I had a difficult time walking around because he was literally attached to my side.

It was just way too much. After the market, he wanted me to come up to his hotel room. When I said no, he was hurt and disappointed. I’m grateful that he didn’t get angry and abusive, but at the time, I couldn’t get away from him fast enough. He quickly moved on.

29. Entertain Me

I showed up for a coffee date and about five minutes in, I knew it wasn't going to be a fit. But I figured hey, might as well be polite. After about fifteen minutes of trying to make conversation and getting back one-word responses, I paused. I told her that part of my job was to talk with all sorts of people and that I was struggling to keep the conversation going with her. I then asked if she was okay.

I was legitimately concerned for her because her behavior was so abnormal, and plus, the anecdotal evidence is that I'm a fun and easy date. Her response was chilling: "Oh it's just funny watching you struggle". I stared at her for a few seconds, then told her she was a terrible person and left. I still shake my head at that one.

30. A Journey

I started chatting with this girl on Tinder. She was cute and we got on really well. I asked her out for a drink and she said sure. As I was getting ready, she texted to say she was running a bit late. Fair enough—I figured I'd go on time, grab us a table at the bar, and have a cheeky pint to calm my nerves. When I got there, she asked if I could just meet her halfway.

Since it was getting dark, I agreed to meet with her. I was walking and walking but there was no sign of her. She kept texting me updates, telling me which roads to turn on and whatnot, but I was starting to feel a little uncomfortable with it all. Eventually, I came to a house. I hesitantly knocked on the door and some chick in nearly see-through leggings and a matching black top opened the door.

She looked nothing at all like her profile and I felt I'd been catfished. She welcomed me in saying she'd just be a few more minutes and we can go. Me being me, I decided to be polite and play along to the end of the night knowing full well I was never going to talk to her again. We went inside where she then had a screaming competition with her mom and stormed off to her room.

I awkwardly followed, and when I entered her room, I discovered her secret—she was a massive hoarder. Her room was a mess. In the middle of her bed, there was a half-eaten kebab. She invited me to join her and I awkwardly sat on the edge of the bed while she ate it. After chatting for a bit, I mentioned going back out for that drink but she said she wanted to stay in.

When it started to get late, she tried to make several moves on me but I politely turned her down. I excused myself to go to the loo, noped it out the house, and went home. When she realized I'd gone, she texted me a bombardment of nasty messages and threatened to come round mine with a bunch of her mates and hurt me.

I ignored it until she texted me my own address (which I'd never told her) and said she'd see me in a few. Thankfully she never turned up!

31. On Thin Ice

I went on what was supposed to be a simple coffee date, but our shopping center was hosting an ice rink that she absolutely wanted to go to. I have poor stability even on solid ground, but I thought maybe a bit of messing around on an ice rink would make her laugh. Nope. Within seconds, I slipped and outright twisted my ankle and wrist.

I needed help being carried out to sit on a bench and try to recover. But here's the kicker—she couldn't care less and continued skating by herself, attracting the attention of another skater. I watched the two of them leave without her even looking back to check on me.

32. Dinner And A Show

There was a girl in my IT support training session and she knew so little about computers I was positive she walked into the wrong class and just stuck around. I figured maybe she just wasn’t used to working in an enterprise-level company and maybe she was just out of her element. Either way, I didn’t think she was sticking around so I asked her out.

I later found out that she was an aspiring actress and not a computer professional at all; she just wanted to see if she could play one. The date wasn’t so bad but shortly after the food arrived, her behavior became startlingly weird—started playing with her food. I mean, full-on making sounds while playing with it. I noticed, then made a comment like, “Don’t play with your food,” as a joke.

But she just glared at me then went back to playing with her food. I think I gave her the benefit of the doubt for long enough at that point. She was really attractive which was why I probably looked past everything...but when she started singing to her steak, I kind of just gave up.

33. Fate Can Be Funny

I finally went on a date with a guy from work who had asked me out about 20 times. It was as awful as expected. He would sit silently staring at my chest then suddenly blurt out some ‘fun fact’ before going back to boob-watching. So, I went to the loo and climbed out the window; except, the worst-case scenario happened—I got stuck. So stuck that the restaurant had to phone for the fire brigade to get me out.

My date had come into the bathroom to watch, but all he did was keep staring at my bum, trying to touch it. The firemen threw him out so he went round the back of the pub (where my top half was sticking out) and tried kissing me there. As my arms were through the hole, I managed to land a right hook on his face.

The firemen made him leave. When I saw him at work the next day, he had a massive black eye and told everyone I had freaked out and attacked him! About three years later, I met my now-husband. One date night, whilst out with friends, my husband was asked about funny moments at his job. Coincidentally, he is a fireman. He told the story of a woman who was trapped in a bathroom window trying to escape a date!

34. Ah, Young Love

One time in the eighth grade, I finally got the courage to ask this girl out. She just so happened to be the friend of my best friend’s current girlfriend, so we decided to make it a double date. During the movie, everything was going as planned. I sat by her while my friend sat with his girlfriend. Then we saw a couple of her girlfriends walk into the theater.

They happened to see the girl I was with right away. She then motioned with her hand for her friends to come over there. When her friends got to where we were sitting, the girl I asked out turned to me and asked, "Can you scoot down a seat so I can sit next to my friends?" I said sure, so I got up, and just walked out of the theater.

35. No One Had Fun That Day

The girl was totally normal, nice, and well-mannered. It was the circumstances that made it awful. We decided to meet at this bar/grill with a big outdoor patio in the late afternoon one weekend. We got there and the place was PACKED, so the hostess sat us at a small table for two. As soon as we sat, we heard an older woman say my date’s name in kind of a shocked tone.

My date turned her head and her face dropped. It was her MOM! Her mother just happened to be there getting some drinks with friends, so we had to spend our whole first date making chit-chat and sipping our drinks with her mother about five feet away.

36. Red Hot Love

I once invited a girl I liked a lot to see a movie and she agreed. We chatted about this and that before the movie started and out of the blue, she mentioned her boyfriend. I kept talking as if it was no issue, but halfway through the movie, I excused myself to the bathroom. I walked out and planned to never see her again.

She called me about a week later saying had lied about the boyfriend because she was nervous. I liked her so much that I decided I would give her another chance. On the second date, it didn't get any better. She told me she was a volunteer firefighter which was cool. But the only thing she was interested in was... fire. "Have you ever seen a house burn? It's so beautiful!"

Fire this, fire that on and on through the evening. Every time I tried to draw the topic away from fires, she found a way to come back to it. Needless to say, I never called her again!

37. Did It Hurt When You Fell… From Bed?

We were getting it on and he launched me out of bed. My head broke the fall. I kept blacking out so he took me to the ER. As I was sitting in bed with a neck brace on, awaiting tests, he asked if he could see me again. I just stared at him. Twelve hours later, I was released with a severe concussion. The doctor asked me to take a month off of work.

I couldn’t do that so she lowered it to a week if I agreed to sleep during most of it. So, for seven days, I was on medication that knocked me completely out. I would wake up long enough to eat, drink some water, pee, and take more medication. The adult cuddling wasn’t even that good… and no, I never saw him again.

38. An Unsettling Turn Of Events

I met a girl online who was beautiful, fit, and smart, but a little older; only by about five years. She was a dentist and we had an awesome date. She came over and we did the deed—she scratched up my back and all, but whatever, it was great. That morning, I woke up to the sound of plates breaking. I ran downstairs and saw her throwing out all my plates into the trashcan.

I calmly asked her why she was doing that and she said I deserved better plates. OK, I suppose so. Then she asked to go upstairs and cuddle. That's when things got scary. She started whispering to me about how she lost her ability to practice dentistry and that she was not what she seemed. I laughed a little and started to get nervous. When I asked her if she was OK, She ran off to my bathroom and locked the door.

At that point, I was pretty terrified she was going to either use my razor on herself or on me. I heard the sound of canisters being emptied out and nervously asked what she was doing. She came out and says she made a mistake. She was married and has a child but she was not allowed to see her kid or stay at the house. At that point, I realized I was dealing with someone ill.

I told her to come downstairs and I'd cook her some eggs. I had no plates anymore, so I offered to take her out for a quick sandwich. We headed over to the place and not a single word was exchanged. I picked up both sandwiches and we ate them on a bench outside. She said thank you and called me cute, then left me there. She just walked away without a word and I didn’t hear from her again.

39. The Art Of Pitching Woo

I was 10 years old and had a huge crush on my best guy friend who probably still thought girls had cooties. Being a hopeless romantic, I decided what better date to go on than dinner and a movie. My mother, as our chaperone, brought us to Olive Garden where I excused myself to the bathroom and proceeded to change into the only dress I owned.

Then we went out to the movies where I insisted that my mother and sister sit in a different row from us and, faking the damsel in distress, asked him if he would hold my hand if I got scared. Even better, when we dropped him off at home that night, to his horror, I kissed him on the cheek in front of his mom and older sister.

I then spent the next few YEARS being ridiculed about the whole event while his sister told the story to all our friends every chance she got. Needless to say, I embarrassed myself pretty well, and probably scarred this poor boy for most of his prepubescent life.

40. Jokes On Him

I showed up at the pub and he looked only vaguely like his pictures. I thought well, I'm not really attracted to him, but maybe he has a good personality. As we went deeper into the date, I got my answer. He started asking me questions about my interests and then dissecting and belittling my answers. The one that I remember the most was, "What kind of movies do you like?"

I replied that I like comedies, to which he responded, "Oh, I only like documentaries because I actually can learn something. I surround myself with friends who are funny so that's where I get my humor". After several interactions like that, I just went home. I was surprised when he texted me asking if I wanted to hang out again. He does know how to be funny after all.

41. A Whirlwind Romance

I excitedly met up with this girl at a bar and the first thing she told me is that my hair is gross. I take very good care of my hair; she just doesn’t like long hair on dudes. We got the pleasantries out of the way and then she went on to brag about how she'd been with several guys who were over six feet (I’m 5’8"). She then asked me to send her $30 because “These nails didn’t do themselves".

But that's not even the worst part. Continuing on, she started roasting me for living with my family even though she also lived with her family. At the end of the date, she asked me to sit in her car with her. I agreed and we talked for a bit. It got a bit too political, which I didn't like, but it was better than hearing about her escapades. After a while, she told me that she was leaving because some other guy had just arrived to pick her up.

42. Three’s A Crowd

I once went with a larger group of friends to an outdoor movie festival that was happening in a remote place. You could only get there by boat, but it still attracted quite a number of people. The options were camping or a super expensive hotel. I was in college, so we camped. The place also had an outside bar and restaurant.

I was sharing my tent with my then-girlfriend and one of my exes had tagged along because we were on good terms and she was part of my group of friends. Fast forward to the first evening of the festival and we were grabbing dinner at the venue. I bumped into another of my exes. Being the polite person that I am, I said hi and asked her how she was doing.

She later sat down at the same table. Things were beginning to get awkward for me at that point. As I was finishing my food, guess what? Another ex showed up with her current boyfriend and sat down at the table. Mind you, at that moment, there was my current girlfriend and three of my exes sitting at the same table, along with some other people.

One of my friends decided to make things extra weird by very loudly pointing out the situation and ensuring everyone there knew who everyone else was. Needless to say, I had a freshly minted ex by the time the night was over.

43. Mistake Number One

I talked to this guy on OkCupid for about three or four days. I learned an important lesson after I made the mistake of telling him where I work. One night, he told me that he was going to the casino with his friends. In the morning, he said that he won some money and used it to buy me a gift because he really felt that this was going to be something special.

I told him I was uncomfortable with him buying me a gift as we had only been chatting with each other for a few days. But he didn't want to hear it—he replied that he was going to take the next bus and get off at the stop near my work. He told me to meet him there if I wanted the gift and if I felt the same way. I didn’t respond.

I also didn’t show up. When I left work for the day hours later, I saw him sitting at the bus stop with a brown paper bag in his hands. I blocked him and changed jobs. It was just a fast-food part-time thing during college, so I was easily able to find something else. I didn’t feel safe working there anymore.

44. Memory Of A Goldfish

I’d been messaging a girl on Tinder for a couple of weeks. We even spoke on the phone some nights and she seemed pretty cool. We organized a date to check out a food market in the city and I offered to pick her up from her place. I let her know when I was on my way, but when I got there and let her know I was outside, there was no answer.

She lived in a gated apartment block so all I could really do was call and text. I must have waited out there for about 20 minutes trying to let her know I had arrived, but still no response. I went to grab myself a burrito near her place and she called me later with an update that made my blood boil—she told me she’d "forgotten about our date"… even though I literally called her like 30 minutes beforehand to confirm.

Anyway, she begged me to come back, and stupidly I obliged. By the time we went out, most places to eat were closed and she didn’t want to go to any bars or anything. She barely made an effort to engage in conversation and was just scrolling on her phone while we drove around. In the end, we decided to just call it a night.

45. A Sly Twist Of Fate

This was the first woman I went on a date with after getting out of the army. She pretended to twist her ankle in the restroom as the bill came out. She then had me carry her, fireman style, outside to her car where she tried to convince me she couldn't drive because it put pressure on her foot (she was trying to get me to invite her back to my place, I assume).

When I asked her if any family members could pick her up, she said no. I was standing outside the driver's door at the time and she asked if I could just look inside to see if her foot looked normal. My naïve self just leaned in and that was a big mistake–she tried to kiss me. I pulled back saying I wasn't feeling that kind of connection.

She called me a terrible person, then burned out of the parking lot. She later proceeded to blow up my phone saying how sorry she was and that we were soulmates.

46. He Tried So Hard And Yet…

I convinced a girl who I was crazy about to go out on a date with me. I knew I had to make it count. We lived by the ocean and she had dropped the hint that she had never been out on the pier at our local beach. Challenge accepted. I nervously drove her down to the beach and we proceeded to slowly walk out on the pier together.

She seemed hesitant from the beginning. We stopped short of the end and I leaned against the railing over the water while she stood back a bit from the edge. She didn’t really seem into it at all. Awkwardly I said, “This is a great view, huh?” Just then, two pigeons flew up and landed at our feet. “Sweet, chicks dig birds,” I thought to myself.

To my horror, the birds began to make passionate pigeon love in front of us while neither of us spoke. I had never witnessed such athletic passion. I quickly scanned around and saw a couple holding roses on the other side of the pier. “Awesome, they look romantic, chicks dig romance,” I thought to myself. We quickly walked away stood next to the happy couple.

The man and woman were holding each other and both holding roses but something seemed off. I glanced up and noticed that both were sobbing, the girl I was with noticed too. As we were both looking, the couple took their roses and cast them into the sea. I had posted us up next to a funeral, some kind of sea burial.

Welp, I had executed one of the worst dates of all time. Just as I had accepted my failure, my date started getting fidgety. Based on her body language and her expression it dawned that she hadn't told me about the pier as a hint but because she was terrified of it. Turns out she had a fear of heights and the ocean.

47. It Could Have Gone Better

I met this girl on the Internet and she seemed really nice and down-to-earth. We had a lot in common including our hobbies and politics and stuff like that, so I thought we might hit it off. We agreed to meet up in person at a coffee place. Now, bear in mind that I'm not super attractive and up to this point, she hadn't seen any pictures of me.

Instead, we had pre-arranged recognition signals. She walked in the door and I spotted her by her clothing instantly, so started waving. She got this sort of uncertain look on her face, then walked over and said, "Sam?" and when I say yes, she just said, "Haha...NO".

48. A Relaxing Vacation

I met this guy. We vibed right away and started hooking up within a day or two. This guy swept me off my feet and I couldn't help but think, “Yes! FINALLY, a real man". Then, one day he said to me: “I know this house we could go stay at for the weekend if you’re interested". Sounds great, right? But then we got there and he said he forgot his key...so he proceeded to get a crowbar.

That freaked me out, so I asked him to explain exactly whose house we were at. He assured me that it was his dad’s summer house and he definitely had permission to use it. I ignored my gut instinct and decided I was probably just freaking out for nothing and overreacting. We stayed there for about four days, with no more issues.

I slept in the master bedroom, showered there, made food in the kitchen, the works. When we left, this guy said, “Look what I got".  He proceeded to show me jewelry and some credit cards from the house. I was starting to truly panic now. As naïve as I was, I still thought it was his dad’s house and he was just having a rebellious moment.

And that’s when he fessed up. I realized that I’d just helped him burglarize this home. It wasn't even his dad's house; it was his mom's ex-boyfriend’s house, and let me tell you—they did NOT give him permission to be there. His stepdad even had a restraining order on him for a similar incident a few years before.

So fast forward a few weeks—I got pulled over and snatched out of my car for having been involved in this whole thing because these people had rightfully pressed charges. I ended up narrowly avoiding doing serious time.

49. #BadDate

My date got mad at me for wanting to leave when all she did the entire time was mess around on her phone and post selfies of her and the coffee I bought her. I checked her Instagram profile later on (she wanted me to follow and like her photos) and the caption was disturbing. It was something like, "Treated myself #blessed #sogood #coffee". And yet, she couldn't hold a conversation at all.

50. A Whole Mess

When we went back to my house after a bike trip, she fell and broke her cervical spine. I had to take her to the ER I work at—she got admitted and put into a halo in the ICU. I met her family there. We dated for something like nine months after that, but then she totally ghosted me. Months later, out of the blue, I got served by a sheriff—she was suing me for a million dollars over her injury.

It went on and on and even to trial. It came out she had lied to me and was still married when she went on date with me. Worse yet, she ghosted me because she was also cheating on me with another guy and she was pregnant with him at the time. He even testified about her disability at the trial.

Source: Reddit

Dating can be an incredibly tumultuous endeavor that leaves one or both parties heartbroken. These brave Redditors shared their sordid tales of love and lust, and unfortunately, only a few of them made it out unscathed. If you're single and looking to get into the dating scene, consider their stories a warning of the horrors that can arise:

1. Change Of Plans

I went on a date after talking with someone for a couple of weeks. The conversation online was pleasant and involved the usual small talk about hobbies, interests, etc., There were no red flags, or so I thought...We arranged to meet in the city for a coffee. When I arrived and she was already there...and she looked nothing like her pictures.

I thought to myself, "Oh, well most people tend to embellish their photos. Let's see what she's like in person". That's when I messed up BIG time. We got to talking and at one point, she asked me what I'd be doing the following weekend. I love camping and exploring, so I just told her I had a camping trip with my mates.

She asked me if she could come along and I replied, "Um, no...We only just met". She then proceeded to lose her cool, throwing a tantrum as if we'd.been dating for years. "How dare you not take me along," she snapped at me. Yet, even after she caused a scene, my idiot self decided to see the date through to the end. She continued to ask me more questions about the trip, asking which campsite I'd be going to.

I gave her a rough estimate of the location and she replied, "Oh, that's nice. I'll see you there..". I thought that was a weird response and reiterated that I was not comfortable with that. She replied, "No. I'm going there no matter what you say. You won't see me coming". She then let out a maniacal laugh. That was the last straw for me. I stood up, placed my money on the table to pay for my coffee, and walked away.

2. Three’s Company

I met a girl on Craigslist. After a few messages, we set up a date at a bar downtown. I showed up and there was an unexpected surprise waiting for me at our table—she was already there with a guy friend. No biggie; I just assumed she was playing it safe. They were at a two-person table and the place was packed. They already had drinks, so I grabbed one for myself and put it on my tab.

My date and her friend proceeded to ignore me. I tried to join in on their conversation a few times but neither of them acknowledged me. Even when I directly spoke to them to get their attention, I got one-word answers with attitude. So, I finished my drink, paid my bill, and left without saying a word. Later, I get a barrage of messages from her calling me mean and awful for sticking them with their own tab.

3. Small Town Woes

I was on a dating app in a smallish town and I had already gone on a few boring dates. But eventually, I matched with this one girl who agreed to meet with me. I was thrilled, but there was something very odd about her and the conversation we had. She was eager to meet; almost too eager. I got to the Starbucks and waited inside for about twenty minutes past our agreed meet time.

The girl texted me to tell me she was running late, and she asked me to stand outside so she could see me as she drove by. I looked over and there ws another dude standing on the sidewalk with his phone in his hand. I recognized him from the gym, so I asked him if he was also meeting a girl. It turned out the girl was pulling a fast one on us both as revenge for her girlfriend who we both apparently dated.

4. The Sound Of Silence

On our date, we went to Dave and Buster's. I could tell she was uncomfortable. I tried to bring up topics for us to talk about, but I was only getting one-word answers or literally, “I don’t know,” even when I asked her questions about herself. We sat in silence for about five minutes before she finally showed signs of life.

She got up to go to the bathroom and when she came back, I just straight up said to her, “Hey, if you’re not having a good time, you’re more than welcome to leave. It’s perfectly fine". That's when things went completely south. She got insulted by what I said and picked up her purse to leave. I repeated myself and said, “If you’re having fun, I’m more than happy to stay, but like, we’re not even talking right now".

So she got up and left and I ordered another drink, waited a bit to watch the rest of the game on TV, then left. I got a text from her saying how insulted she was that I would ask her if she wanted to leave, etc. I just said, “I tried talking to you for 15 minutes and got no responses". She then explained that sometimes she just doesn’t feel like talking and I was cruel for not being okay with that.

5. A Quick End

I sat down and he immediately said, "Oh yes, you are hotter than your pictures and you're my girlfriend now". Cleary, he came on real strong. I chalked it up to keenness at first or maybe a weird sense of humor. I figured I'd at least stick around for a drink or two, just to feel it out. I even offered to buy the first round, partly as an excuse to get away from the table for a second.

I made some unrelated comment to the bartender that made him laugh, and when I got back to the table, my date caught me completely off guard. He started yelling and slamming his fists on the table, demanding that I tell him what I said to the bartender and whether I thought he was good-looking or not. He had somehow gotten jealous of this bartender five minutes after meeting me.

6. Miscommunication?

I had a crush on this guy in high school and my friend kept urging me to talk to him. I finally got the nerve to ask him out and apparently, he liked me too, or so I thought. We talked often and exchanged notes in the hallway. He even asked me to homecoming and I said yes. I was so excited; I bought a new dress and everything!

But when I got to the football game, everything changed for the worst. I saw my crush in the stands and I told him I was going to go sit with him for the game. He told me I couldn’t do that. I asked him why and he said it was because he was with—get this—his girlfriend. I was devastated and embarrassed, to say the least.

7. Why Did He Even Come Over?

I invited this guy from Tinder over to my place because he seemed pretty nice and we had a lot in common. He was decent looking on his profile, so I thought, why not? For context, I had just moved into my apartment and I didn't have a nice setup yet besides a table and a few chairs. The second he walked in, he waved the first red flag—he asked me why I didn't have any slippers for guests.

I was a bit confused but figured maybe he just lived in a fancier household than me (and yes, he made it clear he did). I said I didn't have any slippers, and he just shrugged it off. We then went to my balcony to hang out and he spent twenty minutes crying about how much he still loved and missed his ex-girlfriend. I just nodded along to be nice, but it was strange.

We eventually went back inside and he immediately started grilling me about my lack of furniture. "Where’s your TV? Couch?" When I explained that I didn't have the money at the moment to buy nice furniture, he scoffed and just kept nitpicking.

8. Maybe She’s A Werewolf

I went on a date with a girl in college, a cutie from my class who I had been trying to get a date with for a while. I picked her up to drive to dinner, and it’s worth mentioning I live in Wisconsin and it was January, so it was pretty cold outside. While I was driving, she startled me with her next move—she proceeded to undo her belt, open the door, leap out of the car into a snowbank, and run into the woods.

I had to chase her down and convince her to get back in the car with me before she lost her feet to frostbite. We didn't date anymore, but I did check in on her every once in a while.

9. #BadDate

My date got mad at me for wanting to leave when all she did the entire time was mess around on her phone and post selfies of her and the coffee I bought her. I checked her Instagram profile later on (she wanted me to follow and like her photos) and the caption was disturbing. It was something like, "Treated myself #blessed #sogood #coffee". And yet, she couldn't hold a conversation at all.

10. A Whole Mess

When we went back to my house after a bike trip, she fell and broke her cervical spine. I had to take her to the ER I work at—she got admitted and put into a halo in the ICU. I met her family there. We dated for something like nine months after that, but then she totally ghosted me. Months later, out of the blue, I got served by a sheriff—she was suing me for a million dollars over her injury.

It went on and on and even to trial. It came out she had lied to me and was still married when she went on date with me. Worse yet, she ghosted me because she was also cheating on me with another guy and she was pregnant with him at the time. He even testified about her disability at the trial.

11. At Least She Didn’t Feel Awkward

When I was in high school, I went on a date with a friend of a friend. We went and saw a movie, then went out for dinner. I was nervous and awkward, and it ended without much fanfare. The date went OK, and there wasn't a second one, but that's not the bad part. About a month later, I went to a party at our mutual friend's house.

I saw her there and was afraid it might be a little awkward. I had no idea she was invited. About an hour into the party, she came up and started talking to the mutual friend, while I was standing nearby. After a few minutes of talking, the girl I had gone on a less-than-awesome date with came up and introduced herself to me.

12. Truth Is Subjective

I invited a girl from Tinder over to my house after a very steamy conversation (led by her). After bringing her to my place, she proceeded to absolutely ignore me and at best give me one-word answers to every line of the get-to-know-you conversation, acting like I was inconveniencing her by taking her attention away from her phone.

Any time I tried to make a move, I got shot down instantly. This went on for a few hours, so I put Netflix on. Big mistake on my part, apparently. Just as I was about to say it was time to leave, with no warning whatsoever, she straddled me and started aggressively making out with me. It was disgusting—a bunch of food residue from her mouth got into mine. She hadn’t brushed her teeth.

I noped out of that and we had a very quiet drive back to her house. Before I even left her driveway, she was texting me saying how great it went and that she wanted to see me again soon. Needless to say, that did not happen!

13. You’re As Old As You Feel

I went on a date with a guy on Bumble. We made plans for him to pick me up and go to a local restaurant for dinner. It ended up snowing the night before and the road had developed a layer of ice on top. I suggested rescheduling, but he insisted. He picked me up, and when leaving my neighborhood, he started to slide on the ice. My life flashed before my eyes and we ended up rear-ending the car at the end of my road.

Thankfully, everyone was okay. I was pretty shaken up, but we continued on with dinner and the rest of the night was pretty mild. The following Monday, his insurance ended up calling me, asking what happened. I called him to say I didn’t want to get any further involved after having spent forever on the phone with the adjustor and he responded by asking me out.

Not only that, but he ended up standing me up anyway. He claimed, “in his older age” he tends to be more forgetful…He was 27.

14. You’re Focused On The Wrong Thing

My date phoned me the morning before our date at 2 am to say she was so excited about our date. Then, mid-conversation, she crashed her car. After that, I didn’t hear from her until the date—I had to pick her up at that point because totaled her car. The date started well and I took her to a fancy sushi place, but she did not eat one piece as she was talking the entire time.

I slowly established that she had not slept for a few days and her eyes were rolling. I settled the bill and took her home to a very judgmental roommate. As I was walking back to my car, I heard a bloodcurdling shriek..."Where is my goodnight kiss?!" My anxiety kicked in and I started running to my car. I looked back and she was chasing me, still screaming.

Neighbors from all over her complex started watching from their homes but I somehow managed to escape. Months later, I ran into her roommate out on the town and she said, "Oh yes, you were the one who ate all the sushi".

15. It’s Too Much

I met this guy Ron on OkCupid. He seemed nice enough, even though he was older than his profile said. We chatted over the phone a few times and he came across okay enough to meet. So, we did. I went to his house for the first meeting because I was honest in telling him what wouldn't be happening. I figured he was gentleman enough to respect my wishes.

We chatted for a while on his back porch and watched a movie in his living room. But then he started to act weird around me—he would touch me and I reminded him that wasn't happening and to please stop. "You're just so beautiful, I can't help myself". He could help himself. I was suddenly "very tired" and wanted to head home. He started texting me, just constantly bombarding me with compliments and it was smothering.

I talked about boundaries with him, but he just ignored me. He even offered me a key to his house. so I could pop over anytime. He wanted to get a dog so I could come over and walk it while he was at work. He also mentioned a work trip to Hawaii several months in advance and told me he wanted to take me. I started to pull away from him a little and explained that he was being too much too fast.

After a long break, we decided to meet up again because I make bad choices sometimes, admittedly. Things just got worse from that point on. He started touching me again, smothering me. He legitimately would not leave his hands to himself, so I leaned forward on my knees so he couldn't touch me. I told him I was leaving and he walked me back to my truck because it was late and dark.

He hugged me and wouldn't let go. I tried pulling back and telling him to let go, panicking, but he wouldn't. I started to nervously laugh because I was in full panic mode. I opened my door and he stood beside it, not letting me close it. I couldn't drive my car forward because I was in a parking garage and there was a car in front of me. If I go reversed, my door would have probably gotten torn off.

When I went ballistic and screamed at him to move, he backed up, made a snarky remark, and I finally went home. He started texting me again—long, long paragraphs about how when I "hugged him" he felt sparks he'd never felt before, how I mean so much to him, and how he's never felt this connected. I just stopped responding.

He started texting me more, I don't answer. Then he got mean, but I still didn't answer. I headed to work the next Monday and showed the text messages and his face to security and told them to not let him on campus. Security couldn't believe the text messages. I learned my lesson BIG TIME with him.

16. What Did I Say?

I met a girl through a friend at a party and we went on a few dates. On one of them, we ended up at a hotel and decided to stay the whole weekend. The last night, after a few drinks, we were chatting under the sheets. Drinks, snacks, good times. Suddenly, she switched to a whole other conversation. Not a simple switching of subjects, either.

This was a quick and smooth transition from a real conversation to one that was between her and…someone else. I was confused, but I brushed it off. This happened a couple of times. The third time though, I had to say something; I couldn’t just let it go. It was horrifying—she was weirded out and was just as confused as I was when I listened to the things she said.

I told her it was like she had parallel conversations going on in her head. She became visibly frightened by herself and nervously panicked, ultimately breaking down and thinking she was crazy. I tried to comfort her until we fell asleep. I found out later she was diagnosed bipolar, but never really heard from her after that night.

17. Strongly Opinionated

I went on a date with a girl who suggested a restaurant but it was closed when we got there. She told me it was where she'd had her wedding reception after marrying her much older husband. Then, at the next restaurant, she revealed her true colors—immediately asked me how I felt about Trump while telling me how great she thought he was before I answered.,

Then she drank most of the bottle of vino we ordered, made rude comments in the restaurant out loud, and told me constantly that she made more than I did (I'm not sure if she was right, but it was a weird thing to care about regardless). She told me she forgot my name twice and spent the entire car ride back to her place trying to convince me Obama's birth certificate was a forgery.

18. Older, Not Wiser

I was 18 with a Plenty of Fish profile and I got catfished by this dude who was about 20 years older than me. We met at Starbucks and upon seeing him, I knew I was out of my depth, but I didn't know what to do so I went along with the date. Worst decision ever. He would ask me my interests and then shoot them down. For example, he'd be like: “You're into Harry Potter? I think that is so childish!”

I knew I needed to nope out of there, but he kept insisting I come over to his place. He used the fact he bought me a coffee to make me feel guilty. I agreed to go to a park but that was the most he was going to get. I said I had to drive separately as I had to go somewhere later and during the drive, I called a friend and asked her to call me in fifteen minutes to give me an excuse to bail.

At the park, he mentioned that he knew he was older and attributed that to my "strange" behavior. He found it so odd that I did not want to see his house—he explained that he only invited me because he felt a connection and knew I wouldn't want to meet him if I knew he wasn't like his picture anymore. Not long after my bailout call came, he became so cold and it was scary.

Thankfully, I slipped off after a very awkward hug.

19. The Divine Plan

I went on a first date with a guy after meeting him on a dating site. The phone calls went well so I thought, why not. We met at the mall. Right off the bat, I got a weird vibe. He proceeded to tell me how many kids we would have, and how he would physically punish them whenever they were disobedient. The guy was fully serious, too—he said we had to do it because "it’s what God wants".

He ended up following me to my car and I was thankful it was daytime in a busy mall with a security guard watching.  He then tried to make out me, but I slapped him and drove away.

20. The Wrong Film

The guy was hot and interesting, so I invited him over thinking we’d have some casual fun. He arrived and it was going fine—we had loads in common including film taste. We decided to watch a movie and settled on Nymphomaniac, which neither of us had seen or known much about. Little did we know what we were getting ourselves into. 

It was a very disturbing film for various reasons, awkward and painful viewing. It totally ruined the mood. We finished the movie and mutually decided to end the date. I didn’t bother to arrange another date.

21. Oldest Trick In The Book

I got to the restaurant first and waited outside. When he arrived, he was extremely energetic past the point of being normal. When we sat down, I could see his eyes were dilated and unblinking. I assumed by that point he had done some sort of substance before the date. We agreed to have one drink at the restaurant, then go somewhere else for food.

During the drink portion of the date, he told me he could get me a good job selling cars at his business and then asked me to move in with him to annoy his ex-wife. I just chuckled and brushed it off. I told him I'd meet him at the restaurant and he shocked me with his next move—he followed me to my car, got in on the passenger side, and wanted me to drive him there.

I was a little freaked out but I tried to roll with it. We got to the restaurant and the vibes were all off at that point. I was significantly freaked out, so I used the bathroom excuse to ditch him and leave. I got to the front and realized I left my purse behind, so I asked the hostess for help. I told her to please find a way to get me out of the date. Fast forward about ten minutes and a glass of pinot later.

The manager came in making his rounds to the tables, stopped at ours, and asked for my name. He said I had a phone call up at the front. Not the smoothest line, but I went with it. I told my date I'd be right back, then grabbed my purse and hightailed it out of there.

22. It’s Shark Week Every Week

She had a weird obsession with sharks. She had shark decals on her car, shark tattoos, and wouldn't talk about anything but sharks. After lunch, she revealed she had no money, so I had to pay. I was going to anyway, but for her to bring no money on a date and just presume I would pay was pretty insulting.

23. Multi-Level Madness

We met up at a café. Within the first minute, he pulled out a bunch of brochures and started telling me how amazing Amway and its products are. He told me all about how you could gain access to all kinds of cool events and stuff by becoming a sales rep, etc. I was pretty annoyed that I was scammed into an MLM pitch meeting and I told him so.

After I said that, he completely lost it. He got extremely angry and defensive. He said: "I'm not trying to recruit you! I knew you were from Michigan and Amway was founded there, so I thought it'd be a good topic!" Right. I told him I was leaving and asked the waiter for the check. The dude literally then screamed: "SEPARATE CHECKS!" at the waiter, drawing the attention of everyone in the cafe.

I started getting a bit freaked out and was scared to walk to my car because the dude was literally shaking with rage. I was terrified he'd try to follow me, so when we went outside, I remained standing by the café door thinking he would walk ahead to his car first. Nope. Instead, he took it as an opportunity to stand there and scream at me in the parking lot.

H was still insisting he wasn't trying to recruit me and said I ruined the date by accusing him. As if somehow him yelling at me in a parking lot is going to change my mind. Finally, I couldn't take anymore—I just went to my car, locked the doors quickly, and drove multiple circles before going home.

24. If The Shoe Fits…

I was taking part in a college "Cinderella" activity where girls put one of their shoes in a pile. A guy would pick a shoe and he'd go out on a date with the girl who the shoe belonged to. My roommates and I all did it as a group and it was supposed to be fun...until the weirdest guy picked my shoe. I honored the activity and went on the date, which was at a bowling alley.

Every time I got up to bowl, he would shout at the top of his lungs like: "THAT'S MY DATE!" He also shot put the bowling ball and probably ruined the lane. Sometimes his throws were so bad they would go down someone else's lane. At one point, he tried to kiss me in front of everyone...It was terrible.

25. Just Make A Decision

I matched with a girl on Bumble and we talked over the course of a few weeks. We made plans to meet u one weekend. I texted her the day before to see if we were still on. She didn't reply until the day of. She said that she actually had somewhere to be later in the day, but asked me if I wanted to get coffee before then.

She also asked me if I could pick her up because her car was in the shop. I said yes to both, like a true idiot. She asked me if I knew of any places we could go. I said there was a Starbucks in my area, but she asked me if I knew of any places other than Starbucks. I went on Google, found a neat little local coffee place, and threw that one by her.

She didn't respond for 45 minutes. I ended up shooting her another text asking her how that sounded. She replied back that it sounded good, but the place was closing within the next twenty minutes. I went back to Google and found a different coffee place in her area that didn't close for another two hours. I threw that one by her and then she texted back asking if we could take a raincheck.

I said, "Sure," but didn't have much intention of reaching out to her again. She had already flaked twice before and the fact that she basically ended up wasting most of my afternoon kind of dampened my interest a bit.

26. We’re All Confused

It was our third date and we decided to go to a club. It was getting pretty late so we ordered a Lyft to beat the crowds of people trying to exit at the same time. We exited the club and someone pulled my arm hard when we got outside. I turned around and my face went white—a random guy was accusing me of ghosting him and leaving him at a club with the bill.

I told him he had me confused with someone else which only made him more and more upset. He kept reaching and pulling at my arms. My date pushed the random guy away and pulled me closer, which only set him off even more. Security noticed and thought we were causing an issue with the dude. My date tried explaining what was going on and the random dude lunged at me.

I remember I had my taser with me, so I took it out and laid it on him. He fell to the ground, confused. I'm pretty sure he mistook me for someone else, but that was terrifying.

27. Third Wheel

I had been talking to a woman for a couple of weeks and she ran hot and cold. Mostly cold. I was thinking about moving on from her, but then one lonely Saturday night, she called and invited me to a bar for a few drinks. I told myself, why not, and went. when I got there, she was with one of her girlfriends. Her friend was a late 20-something and chatty as anything.

Immediately, I could tell my date was far more interested in her friend’s welfare than in me. It later came out that the friend’s husband was a jealous weirdo. I played along, had a few drinks, and listened to the friend vent her problems, but it was clear I was not part of the night’s festivities. Whatever. It was better than being home alone on a Saturday night. Then, an hour or so later, things got interesting—the weirdo husband showed up.

He charged up to our table, whipped out a camera, and took a picture of all of us. He muttered some vague threat to his wife before leaving. The friend got super upset and decided to go home. My date wanted to walk her out and we went outside to say goodbyes. She walked away and I turned around, thinking finally I got my date to myself.

Then I see she'd already hopped inside her car. She drove off without even a wave goodbye, leaving me all alone. I went back into the bar had a couple more drinks hoping to meet someone, but I suck at bars. I went home an hour later.

28. Too Much, Too Soon

I met a guy online about 20 years ago. He was really smart and funny, so I gave him my number. I really enjoyed talking with him. I’m 5’7” and he said he was the same height. I was in my early 20s and he said he was in his early 30s. We decided to meet up on a Saturday morning and go to the flea market which was huge in our area at the time.

When we finally met up, I shook my head in disappointment—he was only 5’4” and in his early 40s, easy. I was mad that he had lied to me, but I really liked him and decided to continue with the date. It was my first time meeting this guy face to face, and he was all over me. Kissing me, hugging me, holding my hand, and I had a difficult time walking around because he was literally attached to my side.

It was just way too much. After the market, he wanted me to come up to his hotel room. When I said no, he was hurt and disappointed. I’m grateful that he didn’t get angry and abusive, but at the time, I couldn’t get away from him fast enough. He quickly moved on.

29. Entertain Me

I showed up for a coffee date and about five minutes in, I knew it wasn't going to be a fit. But I figured hey, might as well be polite. After about fifteen minutes of trying to make conversation and getting back one-word responses, I paused. I told her that part of my job was to talk with all sorts of people and that I was struggling to keep the conversation going with her. I then asked if she was okay.

I was legitimately concerned for her because her behavior was so abnormal, and plus, the anecdotal evidence is that I'm a fun and easy date. Her response was chilling: "Oh it's just funny watching you struggle". I stared at her for a few seconds, then told her she was a terrible person and left. I still shake my head at that one.

30. A Journey

I started chatting with this girl on Tinder. She was cute and we got on really well. I asked her out for a drink and she said sure. As I was getting ready, she texted to say she was running a bit late. Fair enough—I figured I'd go on time, grab us a table at the bar, and have a cheeky pint to calm my nerves. When I got there, she asked if I could just meet her halfway.

Since it was getting dark, I agreed to meet with her. I was walking and walking but there was no sign of her. She kept texting me updates, telling me which roads to turn on and whatnot, but I was starting to feel a little uncomfortable with it all. Eventually, I came to a house. I hesitantly knocked on the door and some chick in nearly see-through leggings and a matching black top opened the door.

She looked nothing at all like her profile and I felt I'd been catfished. She welcomed me in saying she'd just be a few more minutes and we can go. Me being me, I decided to be polite and play along to the end of the night knowing full well I was never going to talk to her again. We went inside where she then had a screaming competition with her mom and stormed off to her room.

I awkwardly followed, and when I entered her room, I discovered her secret—she was a massive hoarder. Her room was a mess. In the middle of her bed, there was a half-eaten kebab. She invited me to join her and I awkwardly sat on the edge of the bed while she ate it. After chatting for a bit, I mentioned going back out for that drink but she said she wanted to stay in.

When it started to get late, she tried to make several moves on me but I politely turned her down. I excused myself to go to the loo, noped it out the house, and went home. When she realized I'd gone, she texted me a bombardment of nasty messages and threatened to come round mine with a bunch of her mates and hurt me.

I ignored it until she texted me my own address (which I'd never told her) and said she'd see me in a few. Thankfully she never turned up!

31. On Thin Ice

I went on what was supposed to be a simple coffee date, but our shopping center was hosting an ice rink that she absolutely wanted to go to. I have poor stability even on solid ground, but I thought maybe a bit of messing around on an ice rink would make her laugh. Nope. Within seconds, I slipped and outright twisted my ankle and wrist.

I needed help being carried out to sit on a bench and try to recover. But here's the kicker—she couldn't care less and continued skating by herself, attracting the attention of another skater. I watched the two of them leave without her even looking back to check on me.

32. Dinner And A Show

There was a girl in my IT support training session and she knew so little about computers I was positive she walked into the wrong class and just stuck around. I figured maybe she just wasn’t used to working in an enterprise-level company and maybe she was just out of her element. Either way, I didn’t think she was sticking around so I asked her out.

I later found out that she was an aspiring actress and not a computer professional at all; she just wanted to see if she could play one. The date wasn’t so bad but shortly after the food arrived, her behavior became startlingly weird—started playing with her food. I mean, full-on making sounds while playing with it. I noticed, then made a comment like, “Don’t play with your food,” as a joke.

But she just glared at me then went back to playing with her food. I think I gave her the benefit of the doubt for long enough at that point. She was really attractive which was why I probably looked past everything...but when she started singing to her steak, I kind of just gave up.

33. Fate Can Be Funny

I finally went on a date with a guy from work who had asked me out about 20 times. It was as awful as expected. He would sit silently staring at my chest then suddenly blurt out some ‘fun fact’ before going back to boob-watching. So, I went to the loo and climbed out the window; except, the worst-case scenario happened—I got stuck. So stuck that the restaurant had to phone for the fire brigade to get me out.

My date had come into the bathroom to watch, but all he did was keep staring at my bum, trying to touch it. The firemen threw him out so he went round the back of the pub (where my top half was sticking out) and tried kissing me there. As my arms were through the hole, I managed to land a right hook on his face.

The firemen made him leave. When I saw him at work the next day, he had a massive black eye and told everyone I had freaked out and attacked him! About three years later, I met my now-husband. One date night, whilst out with friends, my husband was asked about funny moments at his job. Coincidentally, he is a fireman. He told the story of a woman who was trapped in a bathroom window trying to escape a date!

34. Ah, Young Love

One time in the eighth grade, I finally got the courage to ask this girl out. She just so happened to be the friend of my best friend’s current girlfriend, so we decided to make it a double date. During the movie, everything was going as planned. I sat by her while my friend sat with his girlfriend. Then we saw a couple of her girlfriends walk into the theater.

They happened to see the girl I was with right away. She then motioned with her hand for her friends to come over there. When her friends got to where we were sitting, the girl I asked out turned to me and asked, "Can you scoot down a seat so I can sit next to my friends?" I said sure, so I got up, and just walked out of the theater.

35. No One Had Fun That Day

The girl was totally normal, nice, and well-mannered. It was the circumstances that made it awful. We decided to meet at this bar/grill with a big outdoor patio in the late afternoon one weekend. We got there and the place was PACKED, so the hostess sat us at a small table for two. As soon as we sat, we heard an older woman say my date’s name in kind of a shocked tone.

My date turned her head and her face dropped. It was her MOM! Her mother just happened to be there getting some drinks with friends, so we had to spend our whole first date making chit-chat and sipping our drinks with her mother about five feet away.

36. Red Hot Love

I once invited a girl I liked a lot to see a movie and she agreed. We chatted about this and that before the movie started and out of the blue, she mentioned her boyfriend. I kept talking as if it was no issue, but halfway through the movie, I excused myself to the bathroom. I walked out and planned to never see her again.

She called me about a week later saying had lied about the boyfriend because she was nervous. I liked her so much that I decided I would give her another chance. On the second date, it didn't get any better. She told me she was a volunteer firefighter which was cool. But the only thing she was interested in was... fire. "Have you ever seen a house burn? It's so beautiful!"

Fire this, fire that on and on through the evening. Every time I tried to draw the topic away from fires, she found a way to come back to it. Needless to say, I never called her again!

37. Did It Hurt When You Fell… From Bed?

We were getting it on and he launched me out of bed. My head broke the fall. I kept blacking out so he took me to the ER. As I was sitting in bed with a neck brace on, awaiting tests, he asked if he could see me again. I just stared at him. Twelve hours later, I was released with a severe concussion. The doctor asked me to take a month off of work.

I couldn’t do that so she lowered it to a week if I agreed to sleep during most of it. So, for seven days, I was on medication that knocked me completely out. I would wake up long enough to eat, drink some water, pee, and take more medication. The adult cuddling wasn’t even that good… and no, I never saw him again.

38. An Unsettling Turn Of Events

I met a girl online who was beautiful, fit, and smart, but a little older; only by about five years. She was a dentist and we had an awesome date. She came over and we did the deed—she scratched up my back and all, but whatever, it was great. That morning, I woke up to the sound of plates breaking. I ran downstairs and saw her throwing out all my plates into the trashcan.

I calmly asked her why she was doing that and she said I deserved better plates. OK, I suppose so. Then she asked to go upstairs and cuddle. That's when things got scary. She started whispering to me about how she lost her ability to practice dentistry and that she was not what she seemed. I laughed a little and started to get nervous. When I asked her if she was OK, She ran off to my bathroom and locked the door.

At that point, I was pretty terrified she was going to either use my razor on herself or on me. I heard the sound of canisters being emptied out and nervously asked what she was doing. She came out and says she made a mistake. She was married and has a child but she was not allowed to see her kid or stay at the house. At that point, I realized I was dealing with someone ill.

I told her to come downstairs and I'd cook her some eggs. I had no plates anymore, so I offered to take her out for a quick sandwich. We headed over to the place and not a single word was exchanged. I picked up both sandwiches and we ate them on a bench outside. She said thank you and called me cute, then left me there. She just walked away without a word and I didn’t hear from her again.

39. The Art Of Pitching Woo

I was 10 years old and had a huge crush on my best guy friend who probably still thought girls had cooties. Being a hopeless romantic, I decided what better date to go on than dinner and a movie. My mother, as our chaperone, brought us to Olive Garden where I excused myself to the bathroom and proceeded to change into the only dress I owned.

Then we went out to the movies where I insisted that my mother and sister sit in a different row from us and, faking the damsel in distress, asked him if he would hold my hand if I got scared. Even better, when we dropped him off at home that night, to his horror, I kissed him on the cheek in front of his mom and older sister.

I then spent the next few YEARS being ridiculed about the whole event while his sister told the story to all our friends every chance she got. Needless to say, I embarrassed myself pretty well, and probably scarred this poor boy for most of his prepubescent life.

40. Jokes On Him

I showed up at the pub and he looked only vaguely like his pictures. I thought well, I'm not really attracted to him, but maybe he has a good personality. As we went deeper into the date, I got my answer. He started asking me questions about my interests and then dissecting and belittling my answers. The one that I remember the most was, "What kind of movies do you like?"

I replied that I like comedies, to which he responded, "Oh, I only like documentaries because I actually can learn something. I surround myself with friends who are funny so that's where I get my humor". After several interactions like that, I just went home. I was surprised when he texted me asking if I wanted to hang out again. He does know how to be funny after all.

41. A Whirlwind Romance

I excitedly met up with this girl at a bar and the first thing she told me is that my hair is gross. I take very good care of my hair; she just doesn’t like long hair on dudes. We got the pleasantries out of the way and then she went on to brag about how she'd been with several guys who were over six feet (I’m 5’8"). She then asked me to send her $30 because “These nails didn’t do themselves".

But that's not even the worst part. Continuing on, she started roasting me for living with my family even though she also lived with her family. At the end of the date, she asked me to sit in her car with her. I agreed and we talked for a bit. It got a bit too political, which I didn't like, but it was better than hearing about her escapades. After a while, she told me that she was leaving because some other guy had just arrived to pick her up.

42. Three’s A Crowd

I once went with a larger group of friends to an outdoor movie festival that was happening in a remote place. You could only get there by boat, but it still attracted quite a number of people. The options were camping or a super expensive hotel. I was in college, so we camped. The place also had an outside bar and restaurant.

I was sharing my tent with my then-girlfriend and one of my exes had tagged along because we were on good terms and she was part of my group of friends. Fast forward to the first evening of the festival and we were grabbing dinner at the venue. I bumped into another of my exes. Being the polite person that I am, I said hi and asked her how she was doing.

She later sat down at the same table. Things were beginning to get awkward for me at that point. As I was finishing my food, guess what? Another ex showed up with her current boyfriend and sat down at the table. Mind you, at that moment, there was my current girlfriend and three of my exes sitting at the same table, along with some other people.

One of my friends decided to make things extra weird by very loudly pointing out the situation and ensuring everyone there knew who everyone else was. Needless to say, I had a freshly minted ex by the time the night was over.

43. Mistake Number One

I talked to this guy on OkCupid for about three or four days. I learned an important lesson after I made the mistake of telling him where I work. One night, he told me that he was going to the casino with his friends. In the morning, he said that he won some money and used it to buy me a gift because he really felt that this was going to be something special.

I told him I was uncomfortable with him buying me a gift as we had only been chatting with each other for a few days. But he didn't want to hear it—he replied that he was going to take the next bus and get off at the stop near my work. He told me to meet him there if I wanted the gift and if I felt the same way. I didn’t respond.

I also didn’t show up. When I left work for the day hours later, I saw him sitting at the bus stop with a brown paper bag in his hands. I blocked him and changed jobs. It was just a fast-food part-time thing during college, so I was easily able to find something else. I didn’t feel safe working there anymore.

44. Memory Of A Goldfish

I’d been messaging a girl on Tinder for a couple of weeks. We even spoke on the phone some nights and she seemed pretty cool. We organized a date to check out a food market in the city and I offered to pick her up from her place. I let her know when I was on my way, but when I got there and let her know I was outside, there was no answer.

She lived in a gated apartment block so all I could really do was call and text. I must have waited out there for about 20 minutes trying to let her know I had arrived, but still no response. I went to grab myself a burrito near her place and she called me later with an update that made my blood boil—she told me she’d "forgotten about our date"… even though I literally called her like 30 minutes beforehand to confirm.

Anyway, she begged me to come back, and stupidly I obliged. By the time we went out, most places to eat were closed and she didn’t want to go to any bars or anything. She barely made an effort to engage in conversation and was just scrolling on her phone while we drove around. In the end, we decided to just call it a night.

45. A Sly Twist Of Fate

This was the first woman I went on a date with after getting out of the army. She pretended to twist her ankle in the restroom as the bill came out. She then had me carry her, fireman style, outside to her car where she tried to convince me she couldn't drive because it put pressure on her foot (she was trying to get me to invite her back to my place, I assume).

When I asked her if any family members could pick her up, she said no. I was standing outside the driver's door at the time and she asked if I could just look inside to see if her foot looked normal. My naïve self just leaned in and that was a big mistake–she tried to kiss me. I pulled back saying I wasn't feeling that kind of connection.

She called me a terrible person, then burned out of the parking lot. She later proceeded to blow up my phone saying how sorry she was and that we were soulmates.

46. He Tried So Hard And Yet…

I convinced a girl who I was crazy about to go out on a date with me. I knew I had to make it count. We lived by the ocean and she had dropped the hint that she had never been out on the pier at our local beach. Challenge accepted. I nervously drove her down to the beach and we proceeded to slowly walk out on the pier together.

She seemed hesitant from the beginning. We stopped short of the end and I leaned against the railing over the water while she stood back a bit from the edge. She didn’t really seem into it at all. Awkwardly I said, “This is a great view, huh?” Just then, two pigeons flew up and landed at our feet. “Sweet, chicks dig birds,” I thought to myself.

To my horror, the birds began to make passionate pigeon love in front of us while neither of us spoke. I had never witnessed such athletic passion. I quickly scanned around and saw a couple holding roses on the other side of the pier. “Awesome, they look romantic, chicks dig romance,” I thought to myself. We quickly walked away stood next to the happy couple.

The man and woman were holding each other and both holding roses but something seemed off. I glanced up and noticed that both were sobbing, the girl I was with noticed too. As we were both looking, the couple took their roses and cast them into the sea. I had posted us up next to a funeral, some kind of sea burial.

Welp, I had executed one of the worst dates of all time. Just as I had accepted my failure, my date started getting fidgety. Based on her body language and her expression it dawned that she hadn't told me about the pier as a hint but because she was terrified of it. Turns out she had a fear of heights and the ocean.

47. It Could Have Gone Better

I met this girl on the Internet and she seemed really nice and down-to-earth. We had a lot in common including our hobbies and politics and stuff like that, so I thought we might hit it off. We agreed to meet up in person at a coffee place. Now, bear in mind that I'm not super attractive and up to this point, she hadn't seen any pictures of me.

Instead, we had pre-arranged recognition signals. She walked in the door and I spotted her by her clothing instantly, so started waving. She got this sort of uncertain look on her face, then walked over and said, "Sam?" and when I say yes, she just said, "Haha...NO".

48. A Relaxing Vacation

I met this guy. We vibed right away and started hooking up within a day or two. This guy swept me off my feet and I couldn't help but think, “Yes! FINALLY, a real man". Then, one day he said to me: “I know this house we could go stay at for the weekend if you’re interested". Sounds great, right? But then we got there and he said he forgot his key...so he proceeded to get a crowbar.

That freaked me out, so I asked him to explain exactly whose house we were at. He assured me that it was his dad’s summer house and he definitely had permission to use it. I ignored my gut instinct and decided I was probably just freaking out for nothing and overreacting. We stayed there for about four days, with no more issues.

I slept in the master bedroom, showered there, made food in the kitchen, the works. When we left, this guy said, “Look what I got".  He proceeded to show me jewelry and some credit cards from the house. I was starting to truly panic now. As naïve as I was, I still thought it was his dad’s house and he was just having a rebellious moment.

And that’s when he fessed up. I realized that I’d just helped him burglarize this home. It wasn't even his dad's house; it was his mom's ex-boyfriend’s house, and let me tell you—they did NOT give him permission to be there. His stepdad even had a restraining order on him for a similar incident a few years before.

So fast forward a few weeks—I got pulled over and snatched out of my car for having been involved in this whole thing because these people had rightfully pressed charges. I ended up narrowly avoiding doing serious time.

49. Cats, Cats, Everywhere There’s Cats

I met this girl online. She seemed nice, geeky, and into a lot of the same nerd stuff that I was. She was cute in her photos too. She dodged me several times about going on an actual date, but finally, we managed to set something up. She wanted me to come to her house so she could make us dinner and watch a movie together. We were both introverts, so that was fine by me.

She said she lived in Houston, but it was actually over an hour outside of it. When I got to her 'house', my jaw dropped—it was actually a trailer in the middle of the woods on a wooded lot full of trash. Turns out, they didn't have trash service, so she basically just threw it outside. At first, I thought I was seeing cats everywhere, but it turned out to be cats mixed in with a few massive rats.

Still, I'd driven an hour plus, and I was already there, so I climbed up the decrepit deck and knocked on the door. When she opened it, the smell of cat urine poured out of the trailer and invaded my nostrils. When I got inside, there were more cats everywhere. Orange cats, brown cats, old cats, young cats. Cats everywhere.

Her mom was "cooking dinner" for us, which was frozen microwaved dinner. This girl then dragged me to her room and attacked me like an animal in heat. I told her I had to go to the restroom but it was covered in cat waste and litter. Just box after box, in the shower and everything. I couldn't do it. I went and told her I’d forgotten flowers in my car and drove away as fast as I could.

50. Oh, Those Summer Nights

A couple of years ago I went on a date with this girl who I had a crush on in my college math class. I was too scared to ask her out and didn’t do so until one summer day when she hit me up on Snapchat asking about some tea places that I knew of. I told her some places, then I shot my shot, saying we should check one out together.

She agreed. I picked her up and we went to the tea place. We had a really nice time and even played Jenga. I didn’t want the date to end, so I took her to a lighthouse on the beach. We got to know each other so well and had nothing but a great time laughing the night away. Night eventually came and she had to go home, but we planned on hanging out again soon.

A week or two later, I woke up and checked my Instagram. The first post I saw made my blood run cold. It was her with another dude at the same beach holding on to each other. Mind you, she told me she was single and not talking to anyone. I was heartbroken even though we only hung out that one time.

Sources: 1, 2

The holidays are supposed to be a time of tremendous joy that we all look forward to every year—but what happens when they’re not? As much fun as they can be under ordinary circumstances, they can really suck when life gets in the way and spoils our ability to enjoy them. So what exactly does it take to ruin the most wonderful time of the year? These poor people know first hand.

1. Sudden Tragedy

Last Christmas Eve, my mom sadly left us at 71 years old. Then, on New Year's Eve, we also lost my dad to a heart attack at the age of 78. Needless to say, this really took a toll on the holiday season for me and my family. Just when we thought things couldn't get worse, our whole family ended up with horrible stomach problems from the meal that was catered at the church for the funeral. It might sound kind of funny now, but it wasn't at ALL in the moment…

2. Not Exactly the Ideal Christmas Dinner

My Christmas took a nosedive this year when my mother-in-law attempted to give my oldest child a mango, despite the fact that they've had an allergy to it for the past 11 years. My oldest was straight-up shocked: "Why would you do that?! Grandma, I can't eat those!" 

But Grandma just shrugged it off with, "It'll be fine, it's Christmas!" Well, that's a hard no. Last time I checked, food allergies aren't known for taking a holiday break, you know...

3. Farewell, My Feline Friend

Out of nowhere, my precious cat Nero left us on Christmas Eve. I had been his caretaker for nearly 15 years, and he held such a special place in my heart. Nero, I miss you always.

4. There’s No Place Like Home for the Holidays

I'm based in Vancouver, a city where most of its residents aren't even originally from here. Just about everyone I know here, including my friends and my girlfriend, are from other places. This means they all head back to their respective homes when Christmas rolls around. 

So, for the past three years, I've spent the holiday season all by myself. That's what usually spoils my Christmas. It just feels too lonely.

5. Dinner Reservations

Once, our house lost power on Christmas Eve. Despite our pleas to the utility company, they were unable to assist. The outage lasted all through Christmas, with no power to run our fridge. Our home-cooked holiday feast spoiled. Ultimately, we ended up eating our Christmas dinner at McDonald's.

6. Showing Them All Who’s Boss

Who spoilt Christmas this year? Yep, that would be me! I was asked to join a cozy dinner by my boss and his big family. Even though I was so nervous I was shaking like a leaf, the evening was going quite well—until my disastrous mistake.

Just to paint the picture, my boss had recently promoted me to manager at his small-scale company with just five of us there. He found out that I was about to spend my Christmas solo and decided he couldn’t let that happen. So, he kindly asked me to join his family's celebration. He also insisted on driving me back home after the dinner.

Now, here's the twist. After living in a bustling city, I haven't had to step into a car for a very long time. So much so that this journey home was my first car ride in nearly a year. As soon as I got into my boss's fancy car, my stomach turned. Desperately needing some fresh air, I tried to roll down the window, but it was child locked, probably because of my boss's newborn baby.

Feeling cornered and reduced to a puddle of misery, there was a point where I knew I couldn't hold back. And then, the unthinkable happened. I vomited inside of my boss's car! After the floodgates opened, I felt mortified. I immediately offered to get it cleaned, while being red with embarrassment, and his response floored me. He simply said, "No worries, I’m more concerned about your wellbeing." Guess I really hit the jackpot with this boss!

7. A Slight Change of Plans

If something could spoil Christmas, this was definitely it. My soon-to-be wife suddenly chose to call off our wedding, ending our relationship that had spanned over several years. This happened just a few days before the winter celebrations were about to start. 

She left me utterly heartbroken. It was simply so hard to find holiday cheer after experiencing a blow like that...

8. Let’s All Wish Him a Speedy Recovery

On December 14 this year, I got the most devastating news ever. My brother had been struck by a vehicle and suffered severe, dreadful injuries. Despite the doctors' best efforts, he's still in the hospital, in a medically-induced coma. Needless to say, finding any joy in the holiday season this year has been incredibly tough for me.

9. Not Quite Words of Love

Christmas was spoiled for me when my dad made a rude comment about my girlfriend during our holiday visit. When he said it, my jaw literally dropped. I We felt we had to leave after that, particularly since he wouldn't say sorry. He defended himself by saying, "That's what 'they're' called". Definitely not a pleasant Christmas dinner for anyone. Cheers, dad.

10. Sounds Like You Have Some Nutty People in Your Family!

This year, my Christmas was completely ruined because everyone strangely overlooked my nut allergy and went ahead to use nuts in all our meals. Consequently, I had to spend Christmas in the ICU. Appreciate it, team family!

11. Not Exactly Model Behavior

I gifted my boyfriend a model kit for Christmas, assuming he'd be over the moon. Turns out, I missed the mark. He labeled it as "cheap," suggesting that it might not even be worth his time to put together. Adding insult to injury, he reassured me not to let it deter me from getting him more gifts down the line. 

His reaction left me feeling like dirt, casting a shadow over my entire Christmas experience.

12. Something Was Missing

What put a damper on my Christmas this year was my sister's absence. She recently moved overseas and couldn't get back in time for the holidays. I initially didn't think it would affect me, but I found myself missing her profoundly. We shared countless Christmas customs that are simply not the same without her, and I felt a missing sense of joy during this year's Christmas dinner.

While I'm grateful she's still alive and well, Christmas felt lonelier without her than I ever anticipated. It was not a terrible holiday, just that it lacked the familial completeness I'm used to during Christmas.

13. Brotherly Love

What really spoiled Christmas for me this year was the argument my brother sparked with my sister about who was responsible for winning WWII. It was absolutely insane. He was definitely mistaken, and she wasn't about to let him off the hook. Things escalated to the point where he was shouting and calling her an idiot, which is when we decided to leave. 

And get this - my sister isn't just making things up. She holds a degree in political science and is even a world history teacher.

14. It’s All About the Attitude

Last Christmas, post-lunch, my brother suffered a pretty severe migraine, so bad he had to throw up multiple times. Upon recovering enough to join us, he raised both of his arms and enthusiastically declared, "Hooray! This Christmas is a calorie-free affair for me!" 

Immediately after, he was promptly told to shut up and he returned to catching some shut-eye for the remainder of the day.

15. A New Christmas Tradition

Working retail on Christmas morning really took the joy out of the holiday for me. The store was so crowded, making my shift quite tense. But, because it's so busy, the higher-ups will likely keep the store open next Christmas too. They might even decide to extend the opening hours that day in the future.

16. Bugged

I woke up with a nasty stomach flu at 5:00 am on Christmas Day. I felt awful, but it was so much worse than I realized. I ended up getting sick eight times, which meant I had to miss out on going to my dad's and my grandparents' for dinner. I had been looking forward to this Christmas more than any before. Yet, in the end, I found myself alone, stuck in bed feeling queasy. Oh joy!

17. To Save My Uncle, I Have to Become My Uncle

Our uncle recently left his kids due to his struggles with substance abuse. It's a tough situation, but my sister's reaction was just plain nuts. She started drinking heavily and mentioned wanting to use drugs with our uncle in a "safe setting", hoping it would help him reconnect with reality — whatever she meant by that.

She assured us she wouldn't "become an addict," and that she "just wants to understand his experience" so she can attempt to aid him. The past few hours have been emotionally draining as we've tried to convince her that this approach just won't work.

18. Oh What a Terrible Morning

During this Christmas, my dear great aunt was unfortunately deported and oh boy, I got a darn cup lodged in my garbage disposal. What a terrible day it's been!

19. Worried Sick

Christmas was ruined for me when a typhoon tore through my family's hometown in the Philippines. Due to the eight hour time difference, we spent all of Christmas Day checking our phones constantly for any updates. It was a total nightmare. After a stressful 36 hours with no word from them, everyone was incredibly exhausted and edge. 

Thankfully, it turns out everyone is safe and sound, although the damage is quite significant. I'll have to wait till their electricity is restored for the full story, but for now, I'm relieved and can breathe a little easier.

20. Dinner and a Show

What messed up my Christmas this year? Well, it was chowing down on an immense plate of turkey and gravy, and topping it off with a HEFTY serving of broccoli casserole. I don't need to tell you that the two-hour drive back home after that was far from enjoyable...

21. A Bad Year to Be a Gift

This year, our Christmas was kind of a disaster, thanks to two unfortunate events. To start, my inquisitive little five-year-old just couldn't resist the temptation and peeped at all his presents three days before Christmas. Then, just when I thought that was bad enough, something disgusting happened: Our pooch decided to relieve himself on our Christmas tree, the pretty tree skirt, and yep, over everyone's presents as well. Guess that's our version of having a Merry Christmas.

22. My Way or the Highway

This year, my sister put a damper on our family's Christmas celebrations. She was going through a rough patch mentally and had adopted a "misery loves company" mindset that lasted the whole week. Made everyone miserable.

23. Dropping Like Flies

Christmas got completely thrown off track this year because everyone in my family came down with the flu. And I'm not talking about your standard flu either. We're talking about the chaotic, race-to-the-bathroom-first kind of flu. Nobody was left untouched and it was a total disaster. 

One by one, my family members succumbed to the sickness until all our festive plans laid in ruins, like a pile of crumbled gingerbread cookies.

24. If You Don’t Have Your Health, You Don’t Have Anything

The festive season took a serious downward turn this year—right about the time the flu hit and left me on the toilet for all of Christmas morning.

25. Terrible Timing

This Christmas was really tough for me as my grandma was in the hospital. The worst part was, I wasn't able to visit her because I was stuck at work the whole time.

26. But Tell Us What She Really Thinks!

This year, my Christmas was spoiled because my mom screamed at me, accusing me of being an inconsiderate, unpleasant, self-absorbed daughter. She's being so annoying and unreasonable, it took the joy out of the holiday for me.

27. May He Rest in Peace

The reason Christmas was tough for me this year was because I lost my dad on December 22nd. We had his cremation on December 26th. I spent Christmas Day at the funeral home with his body, arranging the memorial service. I spent an hour alongside him on a bed, having a one-sided conversation, expressing to him how deeply I missed him and hoping beyond hope he would stir awake.

28. I’ve Got a Secret

This Christmas really lost its charm for me when I discovered that my 19-year-old sister had secretly tied the knot with her boyfriend and hasn't broken the news to us. It seems she's keeping it under wraps till she comes to visit. To put it mildly, we're not the biggest fans of her boyfriend, or rather, husband, who we feel doesn't treat her as well as she should be treated. This Christmas might shape up to be quite the spectacle...

29. Mother's Little Helper

It seems like every holiday season, my family falls into major disagreements. This year was the first time I lost my cool. I'm 32. Here's the shortest version possible: I'm half-Korean and half-white. My mom's Korean, my dad is white, and his family is the only side we have here in the US.

Over the years, I've noticed certain relatives from my father's side treat my mom poorly. She's never included in plans, and my brother and I often feel like outsiders. To be honest, I'm less concerned with how they treat me. Each year, we usually bite the bullet and get through the holiday season as it's just a couple of times a year.

Despite the way they treat her, my mom buys them gifts every year without expecting something in return. She never complains. My 80-year-old grandma on the white side of my family is truly the only tie keeping us connected to these relatives. I witnessed multiple times, just this Christmas, an aunt speak rudely to my mom, treat her like she doesn't understand English and belittle her over simple things like "Where should I sit?"

Seeing my mom shrink back in silence was too much. It was this aunt, more than anyone else, that pushed me to my limit. I lost my temper. They all froze when I exploded, demanding my mom be treated with respect and as an equal in her own home. I couldn't bear to see her talked down to over simple questions, especially when she's been fluent in English for over 35 years. I had enough of witnessing this year after year and promised it would not continue.

The outburst made my aunt so upset that she stormed out. As she left, I handed her the gift from my mom, saying, "For 30 years, I've seen my mom present you with a gift each year. She always treats you with equality and respect. I've never seen you do the same for her." She didn't respond, but to my surprise, she apologized to my mom before exiting.

Before departing, I apologized to everyone for my outburst, explaining my frustration. It was shocking to them, but they seemed to understand a bit more afterwards. Despite this, the incident caused tension and people left early. The constant family drama has led my grandma to consider not hosting Christmas in the future, which I feel guilty about. Still, I can't deny the pride I feel for defending my mom.

Upon leaving, my mom gave me one of her long, comforting hugs. All she did was ask if I wanted one of my favorite Korean dishes. It was her way of saying she was proud of me. It felt good. And with Grandma's 80th birthday coming up, I bet people will think twice about disrespecting my mom. Cheers and here's to a Happy New Year!

30. Double Whammy

I had a less than ideal Christmas this year as I was by myself, with nothing but my feelings to keep me company. There wasn't even any tasty food to enjoy.

31. He Should Probably Get That Checked Out...

What dampened my holiday spirit this year was discovering that one of my cousins is not in the best of health. I hadn't laid eyes on him for a little while, and during that time, he's developed a hernia, specifically in his groin area. Disturbingly, it has enlarged to the size of a soccer ball. Despite being just 27, he's become so unwell that he appears and sounds more like a person in their mid-40s. But that's not even the most upsetting part.

Unnervingly, he rejects the idea of seeking medical help for his condition. He's had a long history of dealing with depression and I'm concerned that he may be resigning himself to an untimely end.

32. Spoiling the Party

What really put a damper on my festive spirit this year was discovering my family had a Christmas gathering... and I wasn't included.

In the days leading up to the 25th, I received a card from them about a charity event. I assumed it was their subtle hint that they weren't planning any family festivities this year. Shockingly, it turned out to be an indirect way of saying I wasn't on the guest list.

33. It May Never Feel Right Again

My little boy left us during the summer. The holiday season, especially Christmas, just didn't seem the same this year.

34. Time Doesn’t Heal All

A couple of months back, I made the tough call to exclude my difficult mother from my life. As luck would have it, the holidays rolled around and my grandmother along with some cousins thought I should catch the Christmas cheer and make amends with my mother. Their reason? "It's Christmas!" But I'm not one to forgive a person who hasn't shown any remorse. 

I'm not about to welcome people like that back into my life just because it's a festive period. Navigating through this situation was truly challenging for me. Undeniably, it put a damper on my Christmas celebrations this year.

35. Turning on the Waterworks

This year's Christmas turned sour thanks to my grumpy grandma. She's always had a knack for unpleasantness, but this time, she crossed a line. Shockingly, she even brought my normally stoic mom to tears. Trust me, that's rare – my mom's a rock, always keeping her emotions in check. So, if she was weeping this badly, you can just imagine the level of drama we experienced at Christmas...

36. O Come All Ye Unfaithful

I discovered my husband's infidelity during our Christmas at home 15 years ago, and those days were incredibly hard for me. The thought of celebrating the festive season was far from my thoughts that year. Luckily, just a year later, I was in a position to reflect and appreciate my current Christmas over the one from the previous year. Sending out a big heartfelt hug to anyone who's ever experienced something like this.

37. Father Doesn’t Always Know Best

Growing up, almost every single Christmas was spoiled for me due to my father's struggle with drinking. Each festive season, he would come up with different lies to account for the lack of presents. The most common excuse was "I forgot them in my work truck". He'd bring up this line even after Christmas, in hopes that we would eventually let it slide. In truth, we'd stop asking, but we always remembered.

We'd often come across him on Christmas Day, half asleep in his car from the night's drinking spree. His temperament would also generally sour during holidays, turning violent. This probably underpins my long-standing disdain for Christmas.

Nonetheless, I now have a wonderful girlfriend and her loving family who include me in their Christmas celebrations each year. It's due to them that, for once, I am actually beginning to find joy in the holiday season.

38. The Sound Of Silence

It's Christmas, and there's this strange, low humming sound that's permeating my home. The source seems to be outside our possessions. This can be attributed to our terraced house setup, as noises from any corner can easily carry through the entire row.

The sound is reminiscent of a fan working. It even strikes an E-note! But here's the kicker—I am the only one who seems to hear it within my house. When I plug my ears, the noise disappears, affirming that it's not a figment of my imagination. Sadly, we don't have earplugs at hand right now. And yes, the thought of this being a permanent sound is unsettling.

Let's trace back. This hum kicked off at noon on Christmas Day. My home, a build from the 1950s, comprises brick and cinder block on a minimal clay foundation. Our inside walls are cinder block, the lower floors made of cement and the upper ones from wood laid on heavy joists.

In the UK, HVAC systems in traditional, individual dwellings are uncommon. Given it's December, we definitely aren't running any air conditioners. While bathroom fans are ordinary, they wouldn't make this continuous hum, nor would they be unnoticeable outdoors.

To tackle stuffiness or smells, we resort to opening a window. Our boiler and the hot water circulating system aren't active overnight, and are hardly noticeable when running. We have two CO monitors, neither of which show deviant readings.

Our last maintenance checks for the boiler and gas intake occurred about eight months back. It's not an electrical issue nor a problem that originates within our house. However, due the terrace design, sounds from the loft or top floors of 5-8 units could be causing this. Our nightmare was far from over.

While the noise is constant, like a fridge compressor, it's definitely a different sound—deeper, louder. It isn't traffic; the closest main roads bear no resemblance to a US highway, and they're only perceptible when quiet.

Our windows and exterior doors are all recent installations. I do suffer from tinnitus, but this sound is a low hum. Plugging my ears actually gave me respite from it at 3 am. Although, a sound-detection app assures me this noise isn't a figment of my imagination. It is real, but what on earth is it?

39. The Invisible Child

I returned from military service eagerly awaiting a warm reunion with my family, only to face a pang of disappointment. It felt as if they had overlooked me. It's not that I was expecting gifts, nor did I particularly desire them. Yet, the absence of even a heartfelt card stung, especially as I sat there for an hour, witnessing them exchange gifts amongst themselves. I had carefully picked out presents for each one of them too. It was simply disheartening.

40. Christmas Fighting For Her Life

My 28-year-old partner suddenly fell seriously ill on Christmas and is now in the ICU on a ventilator and dialysis, placed in a medically induced coma. She's battling not one, but two types of malaria, a rare occurrence. Her brave fight masked the severity of her condition until it reached an advanced stage.

There are encouraging signs though. Her lungs are holding on strongly, needing very little respiratory assistance. Her heart too continues to beat stalwartly. Preliminary indicators suggest that the ongoing treatments are effectively reducing the infection and inflammation. But let's be honest, she's very sick. She's truly fighting for her life.

At present, we're in the UK. Her family has flown in from the US, which is incredibly heartwarming. Such a robust bond exists between our families and this gathering has been a long time coming. Just a few months ago, we had begun calling Ghana home after I secured a job with UNICEF.

I highly doubt we'll be returning anytime soon. I might even have to relinquish my position unless a remote working arrangement can be worked out. We've already paid for a year's worth of housing. We've even purchased a car that's still with a Ghanaian mechanic.

It's quite disappointing because we were ecstatic about the life we'd begun to build and the planned travels around Ghana. But all that pales in comparison to her recovery; all I want is for her to pull through. The separation is profoundly painful, and it's fair to say Christmas didn't exactly exist for us this year.

My mom fixed a splendid Christmas feast, and even my grandma joined in on the somewhat low-key festivities. We managed to share a few smiles before tears overtook the joy. Gift exchanging didn't feature on the day's agenda. Come to think of it, I didn't even wrap my gift.

The sound of Christmas carols was sorely absent. The family reunion couldn't mask the concern weighing heavily on all of us. We remain ever anxious and are doing everything we can to stay strong for her.

41. A Lonely Christmas

I'm employed at the fire station, and it just so happened that my team was on duty for Christmas this year. We planned to have a family feast right there at the station, welcoming all crew members and their loved ones for a grand holiday meal. This Christmas was a special one since it was my son's very first. I wasn't fortunate enough to get the day off, yet the thought of my wife bringing him over to the station for dinner was comforting. Sadly, things didn't go as planned.

My wife had dressed up, as had our little one, but then she misplaced her car keys. She spent roughly three hours trying to locate them, to no avail. There she was, recently having lost her father, stuck at home with our one-year-old son, unable to venture out, and with no familiar faces in our new town.

On the other hand, I found myself stuck at the fire station, helpless to do anything about our predicament. I watched as my colleagues arrived with their children and families, and it hit me hard. All I wished for was to be sharing this day with my family too...

42. Putting The “Ex” In X-Mas

My wife, to whom I've been married for seven years, took off with my car last Christmas. But the story behind it? Even more absurd. She wanted to take a trip with some other man. I was completely clueless…until she sent me a breakup text, that is. She didn't stop there, though. She unceremoniously discarded my mother's wedding ring and later became pregnant. Truly a gem of a person, indeed.

43. Me-Ow

So, our family cat pretty much spoiled our Christmas celebration, but, actually, we were the ones who disappointed her. You see, my sister and I bought a TV for our parents as a Christmas present. The enormous gift got them wondering what might be inside, and I had to swiftly divert their attention away.

In the spur of the moment, I blurted out that it was a kitty play tower that needed to be put together. This plan turned on me spectacularly. Seriously, I wouldn't blame you if this sounds bananas, but I'm convinced the cat picked up what I said. She then looked on curiously as mom and dad unveiled their present, expressing her dismay with a solemn meow upon realizing it wasn't a feline playhouse.

She sulked as she observed us installing the TV and was clearly having a rough day.

44. A Dog-Eat-Dog World

My sister's adopted pup launched at my English Setter inside my own home. I was not thrilled, but I did understand—they're both dogs, and sometimes these things just occur. The problem was, she refused to put her dog in a separate room, claiming it was all just playful behavior.

As I stood my ground with the "my home, my rules" principle, her dog attempted to attack mine once more. This essentially put an end to our evening. My sister ended up in tears and decided to leave. I let her know that she didn't have to go, but she couldn’t let her dog freely wander around my house any longer. Plus, he was no longer invited back.

She struggled to comprehend that I couldn't risk my dog feeling threatened in his own space and that due to her dog's aggressive tendencies, there was a risk that one of us could get bitten.

45. Daddy Issues

Last Christmas was undoubtedly one I'd rather forget. My parents had been going through a separation and eventual divorce. My little sister and I celebrated the holiday with my dad, his girlfriend, and her relatives—and truthfully, it wasn't very merry.

We had to endure the day on an empty stomach, since my dad advised us not to eat too much to leave room for the Christmas feast. You can imagine how agonizing it was to watch them prepare the meal right in front of us.

To add to our discomfort, we hardly knew my dad's girlfriend's family. They'd only been dating for a year, so we just didn't have that familiar bond. It was awkward, to say the least.

Most of the day, it felt as if my little sister and I were invisible. There we were, perched on the couch, while my dad, his girlfriend, and her family mingled and laughed. They did give us some crackers and jam to stave off hunger, but that was it. My dad, the one family member we should've felt connected with, didn't really spend time with us.

All things considered, it was indeed the most challenging Christmas of my life.

46. In-Law Trouble

This morning, following a fun session of unwrapping presents with my family, we paid a visit to my wife's parents' home. As I helped my mother-in-law prepare the festive meals, the time came for us to head on down the hill to grandma's house, and that's when I was struck with an unexpected feeling. Everyone was just starting to congregate at Grandma's, and I realized, I just didn't want to go.

I confess, Christmas is not my favorite holiday. I'm not a religious person. But there was more to my frustration than just that. The disappointment really set in as I reminisced about the gift exchange from the morning. I watched my wife receive gift cards totalling up to around $700, whereas I received...well, nothing. It kind of sucked the joy out of the day for me.

So, I chose to return home. My wife wasn't very pleased about it. At this point though, I'm kind of numb to it all.

47. The Bar Was Low, But He Managed To Fail Anyway

Despite being seven months pregnant, I single-handedly organized all the Christmas festivities. I took care of filling all the stockings, purchasing and beautifully wrapping each gift, and cooking not one, not two, but three festive meals.

Sadly though, my husband didn't get me any present. Not even a small treat or a simple card. I had filled his stocking with all of his favorite goodies. And there I was, just observing as my family happily unwrapped their gifts. I got absolutely nothing. His obliviousness shone through when he later asked me, "Don't you have anything to unwrap?"

A few months ago, I had deemed this situation possible. So, I had bought myself a coffee cup for him to gift me. Yes, the wrapping bag, and tissue too were bought by myself—all for him to conveniently place under the tree. But guess what? He misplaced the cup.

On asking about it after dinner, all he had to say was he had no idea where it was. And that was it. A rather, umm, unique Christmas for me maybe? Merry Christmas, as they say.

48. Turning It Around

Recently, my folks and I needed a break. The past few years have dealt us some tough blows—between mourning my grandmother's loss, enduring three surgeries, and my health hitting rock bottom, we yearned for some respite. That's how we found ourselves embarking on a vacation that, unfortunately, got off to a horrific start with a nightmare of a hotel.

The place we'd originally picked was a complete letdown. Dreary and damp rooms, not a speck of clean, and the lack of food at their restaurant was the final straw. And if that wasn't bad enough, construction noise invaded our room day in and day out as work was happening on our floor.

To our frustration, every other hotel was fully booked for the Christmas season. However, we refused to settle, and eventually, we found an alternate hotel in the neighboring city. Sure, it cost a bit more, but the comfort and quality we've received is well worth the extra bucks.

We're in a plush suite with a stunning view of the rolling hills from our private balcony. The meals are deliciously fulfilling. Plus, we've managed to do a bit of sightseeing, including a calm lake close-by, and even attended a lovely Christmas morning mass at a local church. Now, despite the rough start, our vacation has taken a promising turn.

49. Family Secret

I almost had a disastrous Christmas when I unexpectedly discovered my mom was intending to reveal her pregnancy with her new boyfriend—a prospect I find deeply unsettling.

My reservations stem from an incident a month back when, around midnight, I got a frantic call from my little sister, reduced to tears and unable to utter a word. It soon came out that a severe disagreement had kicked off between my mom and her boyfriend. My brother, in an attempt to intervene, got roped into a violent confrontation with the man.

The whole episode culminated in my brother reporting the situation to the police just as I pulled up in the driveway. The authorities promptly whisked him off to jail. I was aware of the fact that mom had been penning letters to him during his incarceration, hinting at reconciliation plans.

What caught me off guard, though, was the pregnancy. Though she hadn't looped me in on her secret, our cousin had been informed and subsequently clued me in.

50. The Hero Dad We Need, Not The One We Want

Christmas really opened my eyes to the fact that my child has some spoiled tendencies. He was grumbling about each and every gift he unwrapped, right there on the spot. Despite giving him several chances to rein in his reactions, he just couldn't manage it. Yet, I had just the solution. I helped him gather all his gifts, and we took them over to our local Toys for Tots drop-off.

Not only did we bring them there, but I had him carry the bag in himself. Perhaps it seems harsh, but when someone gives a gift, it deserves gratitude—not complaints. Especially when there are children who have nothing at all. Not parents. Not clean clothes. Not even a warm home. And here he was, griping over not having the "correct" Transformer toy.

I much prefer the thought of his gifts going to kids who will truly value them. I hope it's a lesson that will stick with him.

51. Don’t Stay Together For The Kid

During Christmas, my husband discovered the money I'd stashed away to potentially leave him. This incident occurred only after he'd had a outburst because I didn't immediately wipe our son's face, and I'd pleaded with him to avoid spoiling the special day with his usual behavior.

Stumbling upon the money lead to a dispute; he accused me of planning to separate him from his son—our son, whom he barely spends an hour with each day. Despite both of us working from home, he mostly sleeps throughout the day and pays little attention to our son when he is awake.

In his anger, he tossed away the watch I'd gifted him against the wall, belittling it as worthless junk. But it wasn't inexpensive. It broke from the impact, but I fixed it back and plan to pawn it later to recoup some of what I spent.

Aside from contributing to the majority of our rent, he does nothing. All the other expenses, including our child's clothing, toys and other needs, are taken care of by me. I'm the one who manages the house chores, wakes up at 5 am every day to look after our son, and essentially handles everything.

Yet, he dares to behave this way on Christmas day? He's got another think coming. I won't be tolerating his actions much longer.

52. Bad Boy

My pooch had a bit of a tummy issue and relieved himself in my girlfriend's folks' home at the crack of dawn on Christmas day. Together, my girlfriend and I tried our best to tidy up without causing a ruckus and disturbing her parents. Our efforts, however, crashed and burned. They woke up nonetheless, and the little troublemaker hit us again, leaving messes in four other spots while we were still dealing with the first.

Moving on, my faithful pupper accidentally toppled the Christmas tree. It hasn't been the most peaceful day.

53. Playing Favorites

During this Christmas, my kids let me know they didn't appreciate my presents. That wasn't all; they confessed they were mortified of me and couldn't wait to depart to their father's place. I'm scheduled for surgery this coming Tuesday and will not get to see them for a duration of three weeks. Understanding that they're just youthful, yet it still shattered my heart.

I purchased all items from their carefully composed Amazon wish lists for them. Nonetheless, their dad gave them a heads up that their grandma on their father's side had bought them an Oculus Rift and AirPods.

Usually, my kids are pretty fantastic and my ex-husband and I co-parent pretty amicably alongside my current husband. I don't believe there was an intention of meanness on his part when he revealed the upscale gifts, but it was a poor judgement call to do so. It essentially dealt a heavy blow to me.

54. The Last Straw

I did all the Christmas gift wrapping for my husband and our son this year. It was quite a task, especially with the number of wrestling figures the little one got. I was the sole wrapper because my husband insists he's terrible at it. Besides that, I sorted out the kitchen just the day prior.

Among my chores were scrubbing dishes not once, but twice. I also prepared a sumptuous Christmas Eve dinner, not to mention handling all the after-dinner cleanup. I merely asked my husband to vacuum (having done all the rest), and not surprisingly, got grief all night (plus, he did a pretty poor job at it).

Fast forward to today, Christmas Day. I cooked up our traditional large breakfast feast. In between, I managed to wash the "big dishes" so it wouldn't pile up. I requested him to do his part, to take care of the dishes. His response was super irritating: "Let me enjoy my gifts for a bit". Alright, then.

Hours later, we left the house for dinner, leaving behind a sink full of dishes. We got back home relatively early but the dishes were still unwashed. His refusal to do the dishes, claiming he needed to relax because he has work tomorrow, infuriated me. This is especially vexing since he's been off work the entire previous week.

Looks like we're due for a serious talk tomorrow.

55. When You Gotta Go, You Gotta Go

On Christmas Eve, my significant other's mom was busy running chores and wasn't up for cooking dinner. She suggested we all just order pizza from a nearby restaurant, instead of each of us preparing our own meals. We happily agreed and all seemed well, until... it just wasn't.

Come Christmas Day: My partner's mother seems fine, but my partner himself has been making frequent bathroom trips all day. We brushed it off with humor initially, but by mid-day, I too was struck with a turbulent tummy and had to rush to the restroom.

We didn't let this unfortunate incident spoil our Christmas day, but it certainly wasn't pleasant. There was no way of casually walking to the toilet, it was a race against time.

56. Hospitals Are Never Fun

About a month ago, my father was hospitalized, and we somewhat came to terms with the idea that he wouldn't be around for Christmas. But just last Thursday, he was finally moved to an in-patient rehab, which is quite homely and also not far from our house.

We paid him a visit again today, on Christmas. Even though we couldn't exactly bring the holiday spirit to him, we certainly tried our best. After getting back home, we received a call from a nurse within two hours. She told us that dad experienced "difficulty breathing" and the doctor suggested it was best for him to return to the hospital.

Ever since they took him back, I’ve been reaching out to the emergency room around every hour. After about five attempts, somebody finally responded, just to tell me to call back in an hour once they confirm that they can share information with me.

However, I haven't been able to get a hold of anyone since then. So, I’ve decided to go over to the ER tomorrow, show them my power of attorney, and find out exactly what's going on with dad. What a way to end Christmas!

57. You’re a Mean One, Mrs. Grinch

Christmas is essentially spoiled by my mom. Every year around this time, she might as well be the Grinch. She displays narcissistic tendencies, only focusing on her own emotions while my dad doesn't respond to it. As far as she's concerned, he behaves somewhat like a scaredy-cat.

58. Bringing Down the House

My Christmas this year got a bit ruined when my cousins brought a mini bouncy castle, and then disaster struck. The whole thing burst. Ten kids, all younger than eight, were inside it, hollering at the top of their lungs. The instant it popped, the kids started crying and yelling so loud, I thought my ears would split. Trust me, kids in shock don't contribute to a cheerful holiday.

59. Home Is Where the Inheritance Is

What soured my Christmas this year? My dad and his brothers and sisters arguing over my beloved grandma's house after her passing. I miss her a lot and I'm really praying that my family would resolve this issue. Adding fuel to the fire, it turns out my dad and his siblings aren't even the ones getting the house. 

Then, the family lawyer just rang us and dropped a bombshell. Out of the blue, Grandma decided to leave the house to...me. And her remaining assets? They're to be split among me, my brother, and my two cousins. Despite studying pre-law, I'm honestly feeling unsure about my next steps. I just don't know what to do.

60. She’ll Give You an I.O.U.

This year, my Christmas was upset when my cousin took $250 from me. Once found out, she said something that will forever stick with me: "I'm need money and you're just too pampered!" Shockingly, after a bout of tears and a stubborn refusal to return the money, she was allowed to hold onto half of MY money until her mom paid her.

And she didn't even get in trouble in the slightest—not even a talking to.

61. An Awkward Time to Disappear

Christmas was a total mess this year, courtesy of my niece and nephew's other uncle. Christmas morning, we found his car ditched on the side of the road: his phone was left on the seat, the inside was covered in vomit, and the rear tire was flat. Can't begin to explain how worried the family was as we spent all day out looking for him.

Imagine our disbelief when we eventually found out the truth – he was perfectly safe, just being a total pain. He was picked up from a buddy's place and brought back home. This isn't the first time he's been thoughtless or reckless, but this was the first Christmas he pulled something like this. If I may add, he didn’t even have any gifts for his kids, under the guise of "someone took them out of his car". As if.

The holidays are supposed to be a time of tremendous joy that we all look forward to every year—but what happens when they’re not? As much fun as they can be under ordinary circumstances, they can really suck when life gets in the way and spoils our ability to enjoy them. So what exactly does it take to ruin the most wonderful time of the year? These poor people know first hand.

1. Sudden Tragedy

Last Christmas Eve, my mom passed on at the age of 71. Then, on New Year’s Eve, my dad had a heart attack and lost his life at the age of 78. Needless to say, this completely ruined the entire holiday season for me and my family. To make matters even worse, our entire family got food poisoning from the catering that the church provided at the funeral service. It seems a bit comical now, but it wasn’t the least bit funny at the time…

2. Not Exactly the Ideal Christmas Dinner

What ruined my Christmas this year was when my mother-in-law tried to feed my eldest child a mango, a thing that she has been allergic to for the past 11 years. My eldest said, “What are you doing??!! Grandma, I’m allergic to those!” Grandma replied “It’ll be okay. After all, it’s Christmas!” Um, no. Last time I checked, food allergies don’t take Christmas off, you idiot…

3. Farewell, My Feline Friend

Without any warning at all, my beloved cat passed on Christmas Eve. I’d had him for almost 15 years and he meant so much to me. I still miss you, Nero.

4. There’s No Place Like Home for the Holidays

I live in Vancouver, where basically nobody is originally from. The vast majority of people I know who live here are actually from other places, and so all of my friends and my girlfriend go home for Christmas. I have spent the holidays alone the last three years in a row. That’s what always ruins my Christmas. It just feels so painfully lonely.

5. Dinner Reservations

One year, the power in our house went out on Christmas Eve and, even though we called the utility company and begged them to help, they couldn't do anything. The power never came back on for the entire holiday. All the delicious food we prepared at home rotted without the fridge. In the end, we had to have our Christmas dinner at McDonald’s.

6. Showing Them All Who’s Boss

What ruined Christmas this year? Me! I was invited to a lovely dinner by my boss with his extended family. Even though I was extremely nervous beforehand, everything went amazingly well—until I messed it all up with one horrific mistake.

For a little bit of background, I had just been promoted to manager for my boss's company within the last month. The business is very small (only five employees). When he learned that I had been planning to spend Christmas alone, he decided that he wasn’t going to let that happen and graciously invited me over. He even insisted on driving me home at the end of the night.

But here's the thing. Before getting the job, I'd lived in a large city and haven’t needed to be in a car for a very long time. In fact, this ride home was probably the first time I had ridden in one in about a year. So, as I was in my boss's beautiful car, I started to feel ill. That intense, nauseating kind of motion sickness. I tried to open the window to get some air, but it was safety locked, probably because my boss and his wife had just had a baby.

I felt trapped and helpless. I tried to keep myself from puking but at a certain point, there was no use. I puked all over the inside of my boss's car. After it happened, I was extremely embarrassed. I offered to have the car cleaned for him, and his reply shocked me. He just said “No worries, I’m more just worried about if you are okay". I seriously lucked out with best boss ever!

7. A Slight Change of Plans

If this doesn't ruin Christmas, I don't know what does. My fiancé abruptly decided to cancel our wedding and end our years-long relationship just a couple of days before the winter holidays began. Her rejection completely crushed me. It was just impossible to get into a festive mood after I went through something like that…

8. Let’s All Wish Him a Speedy Recovery

On the 14th of December, I received the worst news of my life. My brother had been hit by a car and gravely, horribly injured. Even though the doctors did all they could, he is still lying in an artificial coma at the hospital. Needless to say, this made it extremely hard for me to enjoy celebrating the Christmas season this year.

9. Not Quite Words of Love

What ruined Christmas for me was when my dad used an insult to refer to my girlfriend while we were over for a holiday visit. We kinda had to leave after that one, especially when he refused to apologize because, in his words, "that's what they're called". Yeah...not the best Christmas dinner for anyone involved. Thanks, dad.

10. Sounds Like You Have Some Nutty People in Your Family!

What ruined Christmas for me this year was everyone weirdly forgetting that I was allergic to nuts and, as a result, putting nuts in all of our food. Spent Christmas in the ICU. Thanks, fam!

11. Not Exactly Model Behavior

I got my boyfriend a model kit for Christmas. I thought he'd love it, but I was so wrong. He called it "cheap" and said it probably wasn’t even worth his time to assemble. Then, later on, he told me not to let it discourage me from buying him more presents in the future. I felt very unappreciated and the whole thing ruined Christmas for me.

12. Something Was Missing

What ruined Christmas for me this year was that my sister couldn’t come home. She moved to another country recently and couldn’t make it back in time for Christmas. I didn’t think I would mind that much. I’m so lonely without her, though. We had so many Christmas traditions together, and I didn’t have anyone to laugh with me about everything during dinner this year.

I’m thankful that she’s still alive and physically here on earth, but it was just more lonely than I expected to not have her around. It wasn’t a bad Christmas, it just didn’t really feel like a complete Christmas.

13. Brotherly Love

What ruined Christmas for me this year was my brother picking a fight with my sister over who won WWII. He was wrong, and she refused to let him get away with it. We left when he started yelling at her and calling her an idiot. Oh, but that's not all. My sister has a degree in political science and teaches world history.

14. It’s All About the Attitude

Last Christmas, my brother got a super bad migraine after lunch and endured a few decent rounds of throwing up in the bathroom. When he eventually came back out, he put both of his arms up in the air and proclaimed “Whoop whoop! I’m putting on zero calories this Christmas!” He was promptly told to shut up and went back to sleep for the rest of the day.

15. A New Christmas Tradition

Having to work retail in the morning on Christmas Day completely destroyed the holiday spirit for me. The store was extremely busy, which meant that I had a stressful shift. But that also means that corporate will probably keep it open on Christmas Day again next year. They may even increase the store hours on that day from now on.

16. Bugged

I caught some sort of stomach bug at 5:00 in the morning on Christmas Day. I then threw up eight times and couldn’t go to my dad’s place or to my grandparents’ house for dinner. I had been more excited for Christmas this year than I had been any other year, and in the end, I had to spend it all alone, feeling pukey in bed. Woohoo!

17. To Save My Uncle, I Have to Become My Uncle

Our uncle recently abandoned his children as a result of his substance misuse. It was bad, but my sister's response was just plain crazy. She drank a lot started telling us all about how she wanted to get high with our uncle in a “controlled environment” to try and help him come back to reality—whatever that means.

She told us that she isn’t going to “become an addict,” but that she “just wants to know what it’s like” so that she can try to help him. It’s been an emotional couple of hours trying to get the fact that this WOULDN’T WORK through her thick skull.

18. Oh What a Terrible Morning

This Christmas, my great aunt got deported, and I got a freakin’ cup stuck in my garbage disposal. What an awful day!

19. Worried Sick

What ruined Christmas for me was a typhoon ripping through my family’s town in the Philippines. There is an eight hour time difference and we spent the whole of Christmas Day refreshing our phones for updates. After 36 hours, there was still no news from them whatsoever and we were going crazy waiting. Thankfully, everyone turned out to be alive and okay, but the damage is pretty bad. I'll have to wait until their power is back for full details, but at least I can rest easier now.

20. Dinner and a Show

What ruined Christmas for me this year was eating a large quantity of gravy and following it with a large quantity of broccoli casserole. Needless to say, the two-hour drive home afterward was awful…

21. A Bad Year to Be a Gift

Two things ruined our Christmas this year. First, my bratty five-year-old kid had to go and peek at all his presents three days before Christmas. Then, almost like karma getting back at my kid, our family dog peed on the Christmas tree, the tree skirt, and, you guessed it, all over everyone’s gifts too. Merry Christmas to me!

22. My Way or the Highway

My sister is what ruined Christmas for me and my family this year. She's having a mental breakdown and was very much in an "If I can't be happy, everyone else has to suffer" kind of mood for the entire week.

23. Dropping Like Flies

Christmas was ruined this year when everyone in my family caught the flu. And not the dignified flu. The fighting-over-who-gets-to-use-the-bathroom-first kind of flu. No one was spared and the carnage was horrific. One by one, each and every one of my family members fell ill until all of our Christmas plans crumbled like a bunch of gingerbread cookies.

24. If You Don’t Have Your Health, You Don’t Have Anything

What ruined the holidays for me this year was getting the flu and pooping my way through Christmas morning.

25. Terrible Timing

Christmas sucked for me this year because my grandmother was in the hospital. Even worse, I couldn’t even visit her because I had to work the entire time.

26. But Tell Us What She Really Thinks!

What ruined Christmas for me this year was my mom screaming at me, and calling me a stupid, mean, self-centered, miserable, awful daughter.

27. May He Rest in Peace

What ruined Christmas for me this year was that my dad passed just a few days before. His passing was on December 22nd, and we cremated him on December 26th. I spent Christmas Day with his body in the funeral home and set up the memorial program. I spent an hour with him on a bed, “talking” to him, telling him how much I missed him and wishing he would wake up.

28. I’ve Got a Secret

What ruined Christmas for me was finding out that my 19-year-old sister secretly married her boyfriend and still hasn’t actually told us yet. Apparently, she’s waiting to tell us until she visits. None of us like her boyfriend (now husband), and he doesn’t treat her like she deserves to be treated. Looks like this Christmas will be very interesting…

29. Mother's Little Helper

Is anyone else’s family this dysfunctional? Every year, there is a major argument in my family during the holidays and finally, after 32 years, I was the one who blew up for the first time. To make a long story short, I’m half-Korean and half-white. My mom is Korean. My dad’s side is white. So, we only have my Dad’s side of the family living here in the United States with us.

For years, I have watched time and time again as certain relatives from my dad’s side repeatedly speak down to my mom. They never invite her to things. My brother and I have always been treated like outsiders by these family members. To be frank, I don’t really care how I'm treated by them. Every year, we always bite our tongues and survive the holidays because it’s only 2 or 3 times a year.

My mom even buys gifts every year for them, despite the fact that she never gets anything in return. She never complains. My white grandma is 80 years old now, and she’s the only thing still anchoring us to some of these family members. Three times in one day this Christmas, I watched a family member (aunt) raise her voice to my mom, talk to her as if she doesn’t speak English, and shut her down over simple questions like “Where should I sit?”

I watched my mom quietly recoil and I couldn’t stand to see it again. This aunt does it the most and I finally blew up. I yelled so loud that everyone instantly stopped what they were doing. I told them that enough is enough and that they had better start treating my mom with respect and as an equal in this house. I told them to stop speaking to my mom (who has lived in the US for over 35 years) as if she doesn’t understand English and to stop shutting her down over simple questions. I watched it happen year after year and insisted that I would not allow it to happen anymore.

My aunt stomped away and was so upset that she left the house. As she was walking away, I walked up to her and handed her my mom’s yearly gift to her. I said “For 30 years, I have watched my mom give you a gift every year. I watched her speak to you as an equal with respect. I’ve never once seen you treat her the same way in return". She didn’t say anything to me in response; but before she walked out the door, she did something that shocked me: she actually apologized to my mom.

Before I left, I apologized to everyone for the outburst and explained why I had been so upset. Everyone was shocked, but once I explained it, they started to get it a bit more. But still, it definitely made things awkward for everyone there. People trickled out of the party early. Now, my poor grandma is already talking about not wanting to host Christmas anymore in the future due to our constant family drama. I feel bad about that, but at the same time, I’ve never felt so proud to stand up for my mom.

After we left, she gave me a very long mom hug. She didn’t say anything and just asked me if I wanted to go out for one of my favorite Korean dishes. That was her way of saying that she was proud of me. It felt good. Plus, Grandma’s 80th birthday is in two months. Now people will definitely think twice before being rude to my mom. Cheers and have a Happy New Year!

30. Double Whammy

Christmas was ruined for me this year because I spent it alone with my feelings. No good food was had either.

31. He Should Probably Get That Checked Out...

What ruined Christmas for me this year was finding out that one of my cousins is in really poor health. I hadn't seen him in a few months, and he has since developed a hernia in his groin. It has grown to the size of a soccer ball and, though he's only 27 years old, he's gotten so sick that he looks and sounds like he's 45. And that's not even the worst part.

For some reason, he refuses to get medical attention for it. He's always struggled with depression and I worry that he's just waiting to pass at this point.

32. Spoiling the Party

What ruined the holidays for me this year was finding out that my family had a Christmas party...without me. A few days before the 25th, I got a card from them with directions to a charity dinner. I figured that it was their way of telling they weren't doing anything this year. Apparently, it was actually their way of telling me that I wasn't invited.

33. It May Never Feel Right Again

My baby son passed on in the summer. Christmas didn't feel right at all this year.

34. Time Doesn’t Heal All

A few months ago, I decided to cut my horrible mother out of my life. Of course, since it was the holiday season, my grandmother and a few cousins of mine decided that I needed to get into the Christmas spirit and forgive my mother because, "It’s Christmas!" I'm not forgiving someone who isn't sorry. I'm not allowing these people back into my life just because it's the holidays.

Dealing with that whole thing really sucked. It completely ruined Christmas for me this year.

35. Turning on the Waterworks

Christmas was ruined this year by my grandmother being a jerk. She's not a nice person (never has been) but this year, she went too far. She actually made my tough-as-nails mother cry. Now, my mom never cries and always holds her emotions back; so the fact that she was bawling her eyes out should tell you how bad things got this time…

36. O Come All Ye Unfaithful

I found out about my husband’s affair while we were home for Christmas 15 years ago, and those were some very awful days for me. Celebrating the holiday was the last thing on my mind that year. Thankfully, just one year later, I was able to look back on it and say “Wow, I’m so glad I’m having THIS Christmas right now and not last year’s!” Big hugs to anyone who’s ever been through something similar.

37. Father Doesn’t Always Know Best

What has ruined just about every Christmas for me throughout my childhood has been the behavior of my father, who has a drinking problem. He would make up a new lie every year to explain why we didn’t have any presents. His favorite excuse was "They're in my work truck, I forgot to bring them home". He would just keep repeating this line over and over again after Christmas ended too, hoping we would eventually forget. In reality, we would stop asking; but we would never forget.

We usually found him passed out in his car on Christmas morning, still blitzed. He was also the type of person who would just get violently angry during every holiday. I think he's the reason why I have hated Christmas for most of my life. Luckily, I now have a wonderful girlfriend with an amazing family who welcome me into their home every year. Thanks to that, I'm actually starting to enjoy the holidays for a change.

38. You’re a Mean One, Mrs. Grinch

My mom ruined Christmas. She basically turns into the Grinch at this time of year. She's a narcissist and only cares about her own feelings, and my dad does nothing about it. When it comes to her, he's just a coward.

39. Bringing Down the House

What ruined my Christmas this year was when my cousins got a mini bouncy castle, only for disaster to strike. The entire thing popped—while there were, like, ten screaming children inside of it, all under eight years old. When it happened, the amount of crying and shrieking almost broke my eardrums in half. Traumatized children do not make for a happy holiday.

40. Home Is Where the Inheritance Is

What ruined Christmas for me this year? Easy. It was watching my dad and his siblings fighting over my recently deceased grandmother’s house. I really miss my grandma and really hope my family can work this out, especially because it turned out that neither my dad nor his siblings got the house. Instead, she did something that shocked everyone.

The attorney just called to let us know that Grandma randomly left the house to...me. And the rest of her assets are to be divided between me, my brother, and my two cousins. Even though I'm pre-law, I really don’t know what I am going to do.

41. She’ll Give You an I.O.U.

What ruined Christmas for me this year was when my cousin stole $250 from me. Once she got caught, she said something I'll never forget: “But I need the money and you're too spoiled anyway!” She then proceeded to get to keep half of MY money after throwing a crying fit and refusing to give it back until she got some money from her mom.

After all that, I still don’t know why her parents don’t punish her if they actually care about being half-decent.

42. An Awkward Time to Disappear

My niece and nephew’s uncle on the other side of the family ruined Christmas for us this year. His car was found randomly abandoned on the side of the road in the morning, with his phone on the front seat, vomit all over the car, and the back tire shredded. The whole family had to go out looking for him all day.

When we finally learned the truth, we felt so betrayed. Turns out he was fine. He was just being a complete jerk. They found him at a friend’s house, and then brought him home. This is by no means his first instance of selfish or reckless behavior, just a first that he did this kind of thing on Christmas. Oh, and he also didn’t bother to get his own children any presents, because “they were stolen out of his car". Sure.

Everyone has experienced at least one bad date in their lives. From cringe-inducing creeps to full-fledged psychopaths, you never know who the person sitting across from you will turn into by the end of the night. The following Redditors shared their stories of bad first dates and they're so horrible, they'll make you want to stay single. Read on for some messy tales:

1. Bathroom Break

I'd been totally infatuated with my co-worker for months, so when she finally agreed to let me take her out, I was ecstatic. Little did I know that it would only take 30 seconds for me to lose all interest in her. At some point during our date, we walked down a back alley by the bar and she said she needed to go #1—but what she actually ended up doing shook me to my core.

She pulled her jeans down, TOOK A #2 behind a bin, then searched through the bin for a sheet of newspaper to wipe herself with. I stopped talking to her immediately after that.

2. Not In The Stars

Our first date was at a Japanese restaurant. She asked me for my star sign and I replied, "Scorpio". She then leaned over the table and she totally caught me off-guard with her next move—she slapped me clean and hard, right across the face. Naturally, I was shocked and confused. I mouthed "What...?" and she firmly said, "I NEVER date Scorpios".

I went to the bathroom to compose myself, and when I came back, she had gone and paid for everything.

3. Toe Thanks

I went to meet a guy for the first time at his house. I liked him a lot, but when I got to his place, I was immediately turned off by what I saw. There was a pile of toenail clippings on his coffee table. And it wasn’t one recent clipping. It was like, many clippings. I went straight back out the door.

4. Not A Gentleman

This guy and I were eating dinner after chatting for a couple of weeks. Out of nowhere, he said something completely unrelated to what we were discussing, and it had me fuming. “So, you know...in order for this to work, you’re going to have to share yourself, right? My friends and I like to pass girls around". I was dumbfounded.

After a bit of stuttering, I told him I didn’t think it was going to work. I asked for a to-go box and my portion of the check.

5. Mutual Attraction

I went to pick up my blind date. She opened the door, looked at me, and said, "Ew". I'm not sure what prompted me to reply this way, but I just looked at her and said, "Yeah, I agree". I then turned on my heel and left. The entire date ran for less than five minutes.

6. Dodged That One

This happened when I met someone from an online dating app. He turned up with pupils the size of dinner plates and he was super erratic. He said he'd forgotten his wallet, so I got the first round. We were on the way to the second pub to meet his mates so they could lend him some money. During the walk there, he spoke absolute nonsense non-stop.

I was still open to giving him a chance, but then he told me a story that chilled me to the bone. He basically told me, in detail, how he threw his ex's chihuahua in a pool. I knew I had to get out of there ASAP. Near the pub, he got a call and said he needed to answer it. At that point, we were 30 minutes into the date and already going to the next pub.

He had downed his drink in about three seconds, whilst he stood there on the phone. That's when I told him I'd meet him at the pub since it was in close proximity. Instead, I walked right past it and ran all the way home.

7. Made For TV

I went out with a girl for a first date. She took me to a Kumdo lesson, which is a Korean sword fighting sport. I thought that was cool, but it was an advanced class and I made somewhat of a fool of myself. Still, I had a lot of fun...until I uncovered her shady ulterior motive. Turns out, she brought me there not because she wanted to go on a date, but because she wanted me to be part of a documentary about foreigners in Korea.

I was shocked, but I had no choice but to just roll with the punches since I was already deep in it. We then visited her grandmaster's house for makgeolli, and the film crew started interviewing me. They kept asking us relationship questions as if we had been going out for years. They didn't seem to understand it was the first date.

So there I was, trying to answer awkward questions without embarrassing both of us on national television.

8. The Den

He invited me into his apartment while he finished getting ready. No biggie. Once inside, he insisted that I see his "dungeon". The unit itself was pretty empty, minus a TV and couch, but his bedroom was fully kitted out. I was already creeped out, but then he took it one step further. I was appalled by what he asked me to do next.

He asked me to see if the shackles on his bed fit me. Thankfully, I had set up for a friend to call me within the first 30 minutes of the date and I faked an emergency.

9. Judgmental

I had to pick him up and he complained about everything...my car, the way I drove, my music tastes, why I was being so quiet, etc. But the moment that definitely did it was when he said, “My friends really want to meet you. I need them to know you’re real". That’s when I bounced.

10. Not A Family Guy

He invited me and a friend to play dodgeball with a group of folks I had never met. We were having an okay time—he was paying more attention to his friends, but that was fine because I had my own friend to keep me occupied. We were hanging out in the parking lot before the first game was about to start when, out of nowhere, he grabbed a ball and threw it at my crotch as hard as he could. He then screamed: “Wham, bam, right in the clam!”

I immediately turned to my friend and asked her if she was ready to leave. I said goodbye to him at that point. When I got home, I checked my phone and it had been blown up by multiple texts about how “immature” I was behaving.

11. One Thing After Another

I went to a bar and met up with this cute girl. We got along pretty well. She invited me back to her place, but she eventually met up with friends at the bar. Near the end of the night, they were all tipsy, but her friend was insisting on driving home because she was very set on not leaving her truck parked outside a bar overnight.

So, I offered to drive her truck home. We got all the way to their apartment complex but getting into the parking spot was tricky. The friend who owned the truck then insisted on parking it for me. She essentially pulled the "I legally own this vehicle" card on me. Since I was just some guy her friend just met at a bar, and it was technically her truck, I was like, "...Okay then".

Within five seconds, she immediately regretted her decision. She backed the truck into a drainage ditch and got it stuck. We all had to push the truck and we got covered in mud. While we were doing that, the girl I met at the bar had lost her wallet, so I dug through the mud and water-filled ditch to find it. We got back to her place and the mood was definitely ruined, so we ended up eating a random cheese and meat platter from Safeway on her kitchen floor at like 4 am.

I slept on the couch, then woke up early the next morning and I thought to myself, "Well, she was great; it was just the whole truck thing that ruined it". I looked for a pen and paper to write down my number before leaving, but all I could find was a piece of paper taped to the inside of the door. It was a court date notice for a domestic case hearing. I just left and chalked it up as a strange night.

12. My Crazy Ex-Boyfriend

To start our date, we first went for a walk. He did not shut up for an entire hour, complaining about everything and everyone in his life. He didn’t even ask me anything about my life. We eventually got to a restaurant, sat down, and he ordered food for me without asking what I wanted. Also, when he got his drink, the bartender mentioned the caps are difficult to open, but he arrogantly and rudely brushed him off.

He tried to open it himself but ended up spilling juice all over himself. He then yelled like it was the staff's fault. He literally had no regard for anyone, just yelling. At that point, I wanted to get under the table because I was so embarrassed. He continued to talk about how superior he was, saying that when he became manager, he would fire people like the bartender.

At the end of the date, I offered to split the check because he mentioned he had money issues. I obviously did not want to see him ever again, so I did not want to feel like I owed him anything. His reaction made my blood boil. He yelled at me, causing a scene in front of several diners. I left the money on the table and walked off.

He continued to yell at me for going after the check. He grabbed my hand and angrily told me to wait for him. When I said I would just grab a taxi home, he forcefully insisted on walking me home. To avoid him making another scene, I accepted. We walked in silence, so I tried to break off from him and leave, but he insisted on following me home because he thought there might be some dangerous people around.

I was already creeped out at that point, but when we got to my front gate, his horrendous actions solidified my fears. He tried to force himself on me. I said, “I don't think this will work". His exact words were, "You owe it to me. We went on a date, and I did not waste my money for nothing".

When I pushed him away from me, he threw a $20 bill at my face, then said, "Here, we are done!" I instantly got into the yard and locked the fence. I could still hear him yelling, so I sent him a text saying I would call the authorities if he did not get out of there. He finally left. The worst part was his aunt was our neighbor, and my mom knew his mom.

The next day, on my way out, she literally had the audacity to ask how it went. I just told her, "You should have raised him better". They never spoke to me again. I was absolutely fine with that.

13. I Spy

We were having great chats online, so we decided to meet in person. He showed up wearing a Bluetooth headset with a little LED light that indicated it was on. He kept it on during drinks. I worked up the nerve to ask if he could take off the headset while we were eating dinner. With pride and complete confidence, he gave a response that sent shivers up my spine. "Don't worry! You totally have my full attention. This isn't a phone headset, it's a camera".

14. Expensive Taste

I went on a first date with a girl who insisted we go to a really expensive place. When we got there, she ordered a $25 appetizer, a $45 steak, and a $15 drink. She wouldn't put down her phone and she kept taking calls and answering texts. The waitress noticed and motioned for me from behind her. I excused myself, and the waitress had separate bills all made up.

She then asked if I wanted to pay my share and leave her at the table. I said, "That would be wonderful!" So, I did.

15. If You Invite Two Friends

Back in high school, there was a very beautiful girl named Melissa in a few of my classes. This was in the late nineties, and pregnant teenagers weren't as common as they are now, so I think it added to her mystique that she had a child. It never bothered me, though. I just thought she was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. So, any chance I got to be around her, I took it.

She needed a tutor? Check. Someone to talk to? Check. I never had the guts to ask her out, though. I wasn't much of a looker myself in high school, so it took me a pretty darn long time to do it. Finally, I did, and she said yes! I can't remember how it went down, but I think we decided that I'd pick the restaurant and she'd pick something else to do.

It was all great until she showed up on our date with a totally unexpected surprise. She brought her sister along with her. That should have been my cue to just go back inside my house, but I didn't because I was an idiot. We went to eat, and then she said she had a "surprise" for me that she thought I'd really enjoy. I was excited; did she really plan something?

We pulled up to a small convention center and started to head in. I was already starting to wonder what we were doing as we made our way towards one of the rooms, and there it was...clear as day on a sign out front of the door—a pyramid scheme. I cannot describe my internal anguish and feelings of absolute fail during the lecture and the meet-up afterward.

They didn't even sit with me. We'd arrived late, and they moved to open seats on one side while I sat on the other. I barely remember how I answered the inundation of the people's questions, but somehow, I made it through the evening. I remember never even seeing Melissa or her sister during this time, and when we finally met up to go home, I was utterly destroyed.

When we got home, she looked me in the eyes and told me that she had a really nice time that night. I echoed the sentiment, told her sister it was nice to meet her, then went inside. I never even looked at Melissa again.

16. Thanks But No Thanks

We started chatting online. At the time, I was a smoker and I told him this. He said it was no big deal because he smoked too. One day, we decided to meet up at Starbucks for coffee. The first thing he said was: "Hi. By the way, when I said I smoke, I was talking about the hard stuff". I said, "Oh. Bye!" then turned around and left.

17. Double Date

She looked over my shoulder and said, “Oh, my other date is here".

18. No Game

He was 45 minutes late picking me up, but the weather was quite poor, so I gave him a pass. When we got to the coffee shop, I took off my jacket, and he immediately uttered a sentence that made me feel super uncomfortable “I see you brought your A-game, or should I say, D-game,” referring to my chest. Even the people two tables over just stopped and looked at him.

19. Pet Peeve

She brought her pet rat with her. It was hanging out in her bra and she fed it French fries. She also casually mentioned she had warrants, so I just faked an emergency and bailed.

20. Slashing Good Time

He brought two friends along, which was unexpected. They were all drinking. I flagged down a waitress while one guy left to go do something. As I ordered my food, my date, and his other friend confessed they'd already eaten. Then the third guy walked back into the restaurant and when I saw him, I gasped. There was blood dripping from a horrific gash in his arm.

In shock, I ran to my car and grabbed my first aid kit, then cleaned and butterflied the wound. I put bandages on his arm and had the guy elevate it while the waitress called an ambulance. I got cleaned up and returned to find the other guys had just eaten my food. I grabbed my kit and my purse and walked out.

21. Netflix And No Chill

She turned out to be just a nasty, rude person. Maybe she had a bad day, who knows; but she said something that just made me lose all patience with her. We went to a cool-but-not-expensive hipster restaurant on a Friday night and they were busy. She complained the whole time about the service being slow, saying that they were stupid for having a hard time understanding her over the loud noise.

She made fun of the other customers, but not in a clever, observational, "Larry David" way. She was just senselessly mean and petty. The breaking point, however, was when she made a shocking comment about my appearance. She probably intended it to be some sort of flirtatious shade, but I took it personally. I wolfed down my food and then signaled for the check.

I waited for an agonizing five to 10 minutes for it to come. I stood up, threw down enough cash for my meal and a generous tip for both of us (she’d been such a monster to the servers that I knew she wasn’t going to tip anything), and I started putting my windbreaker on.

She asked me, “Are you cold?” “No". “Oh. Where are we headed next then?” “Home". When I said that, she looked confused for a second, then gave me a coy look and said, “Oh OK, yeah, I’m down for Netflix". Realizing what she thought I was implying, I just said, “Oh, no, I meant I'm going home...alone". Off the patio, I went right into the street.

22. Uncontrollable Urge

He was a friend of a friend. He went to a restaurant and ordered our food. While we waited, he started to say things like, “First I’ll eat this meal, then I’ll eat you". I laughed because I thought he was just joking. I thought he was just nervous and his mouth lost its filter. Then, when the waitress asked if we wanted more to drink, he was like, “Yes, bring us something strong".

I said not for me since I had to drive later and he looked at me weird, saying, “Don’t be stupid. Do you think I’ll do you once and let you leave? You’ll at least stay the night". The waitress looked at me with wide eyes like I was crazy for even being there. After she left, I told him that he had to stop with this—I said he was being rude and that we were only on our first date.

He apologized and for about 10 minutes it was okay. Then, as if a switch was flipped, he went back to being a monster. “You know what, I can’t control myself anymore. Either we go now or I’ll put you on this table". I told him I had to go to the bathroom. I silently went to the waitress, paid for the food, and left without a word.

23. Stalker

It seemed to be going alright for a while. One afternoon, we went for a stroll around town, doing a little bit of a pub crawl with a drink at each place, followed by some food at a monthly food truck festival that I knew about. All this was going to be followed by a local bar and dancing. The entire time, I kept seeing the same guy at all the locations who was obviously following us.

On a toilet break, I mentioned something to one of the pub doormen and he asked the man to leave politely. My date noticed what was happening and she suddenly ran over to the doorman. I was so confused until she spilled the awkward truth—it was her husband. They had a kink of watching each other go out with someone and maybe watching them hook up.

I left them with the doormen and reported them to the authorities.

24. Weird Pal

I was talking to a guy who was a math professor. He invited me on a date to an outdoor play where he was playing an "important role". I showed up to see it was a church picnic and he was playing the devil. He introduced me to his family and all they talked about was Weird Al. Like, they didn't listen to anything BUT Weird Al.

Then, his sister loudly interrogated me about why I went to a private school. Unbeknownst to me, he had told them everything about me and every conversation we ever had. I faked an emergency to get out of there. Later, he asked me out on a second date and he said he wanted to take me to the state fair with his whole family.

25. Don’t Cross Streams

I went out on a blind date. She took me to a strange party and asked me if I wanted to go #1 on a guy with her. I told her, “No thanks, I’ll use the urinal this time,” then split.

26. Too Casual

He showed up in sweatpants for an evening meal and spent the whole time talking about how he only dated nurses because he's lazy and they are great caregivers. But that's not even the worst part. He also talked about his last girlfriend who, after working her shift, would come over to his place and do his laundry. I was a cook, but he said he was willing to "give me a shot" depending on how good my cooking was.

When we left, there was a busker outside with a crowd and we stopped to watch. I slowly edged my way into the back of the crowd and then quickly walked away.

27. Mute Date

He wouldn’t really talk. I tried asking him a couple of questions, but he just sat there staring at me. I finally gathered the courage to get up and leave after about 20 minutes. I’m glad we were just at a local Timmy’s, so it was easy to take off.

28. Not In Your Future

She claimed that she could see angels in three different colors. Apparently, during one of her "encounters," the angel was covered in dark scales, with red glowing lights coming out from her skin underneath. The angel came to her in the middle of the night, crawled to her bed, then placed its hand on her shoulder in order to cast an evil spirit out of her room.

If that wasn't creepy enough, she then said that while I was in the bathroom, an angel came to her and informed her of my chilling fate. She said she knew when I was going to die and how it would happen. I told her I'd be right back, saying that I left something in the bathroom. But I left instead, completely creeped out by her. I still wonder what strange stuff she was getting into.

29. Great Expectations

We met at the restaurant and I arrived first to get a table. Once she got there, she walked over to me, shook my hand, and I pushed her chair in. Then the server asked us what we would like to order. Ignoring her, she looked intently at me and asked a startling question: "How much money do you make?" I said, "Excuse me?" in a confused tone, somewhat taken aback.

She stared at me and very slowly asked again, "How much money do you make in a year?" I looked over at the server who was still standing there with a really awkward look on their face and thanked them for their assistance so far. Turned to my "date" and said I was sorry, but I had to leave, and I got up and walked out.

30. Three Of A Kind

I met a woman for a mid-afternoon meal. It was a nice day, so we sat outside. She was slightly odd but there were no major red flags...until she hit me with a huge surprise: “Hey, my husband is on the way with our dog. Come meet my dog". I thought, “Well, I wasn’t expecting this,” but by that time, he was already with us. We chatted for a bit, but I didn’t say much to the dog as it was all a bit embarrassing all around.

I paid the bill, made some excuses, and left them to it. He was a nice dude and deserved better.

31. Not A Match

I matched with a woman on Tinder and we hit it off pretty well. She was a “furry” and I am not, but she was pretty, and I was looking for something casual. Eventually, we planned to hang out at her apartment downtown. I got there and her place was incredible—like, she was obviously a wealthy woman and I was blown away by the unit.

We went into her living room and there was a guy there. Roommate? Nope. Friend? Nah. It was her boyfriend. Then, I had a cringe-worthy realization: it turned out this woman was polyamorous and didn't plan on telling me, a big no-no. I sat down and endured her trying to get me and the other guy acquainted, but he was wholly uninterested in speaking to me. No hard feelings though; the feeling was mutual. I dipped out in about an hour. It sucked.

32. Stay Inside

I went on a first virtual date during the lockdown and this girl went off on a whole thing about how having an outdoor cat is bad for the environment. No matter how a topic began, it always wound up back right there, and that was the one that broke me.

33. Replacement Dad

I met her through an online dating service. On her profile, she seemed to be a fun, interesting person. When we met, at a Denny’s of all places, it turned out that she had omitted some parts of her background...and boy, did it throw me in for a loop. She was actually about 10 years older than she had initially disclosed, and she was divorced with two kids.

Apparently, she was looking for a new daddy for them and I was one of the options. She also had certain ideas about how much money I needed to be earning. I excused myself and left after paying for the check. That was the biggest nope I had while dating.

34. Chivalry Is Gone

I drove us to the restaurant. When I started to parallel park, he said, “I’ll park this for you; women don’t do well at parallel parking". At dinner, he was dismissive toward all the female wait staff. Then, I ran into these two hilariously surfer dudes on my way from the bathroom and they told me my date was a jerk. All red flags. We laughed about it and I went back to my table.

When we were leaving, the surfer dudes were also outside. I said bye to them and my date had the most uncalled-for reaction. He had the nerve to bark, “She’s with me!” I told him to wait for me to get in the car so I could unlock the doors, except I didn’t. I drove off and left him standing there. The two dudes whooped and yelled, “Go, lady, go!” It was such an awesome finish to a terribly embarrassing date.

35. Not Ready

I went to pick up a girl for a date in my car on a hot summer day. I had the air conditioning blasted. When I arrived at her house to pick her up, she came out and got in. About five minutes down the road, she proceeded to ask me if I could turn off the A/C because she felt like she was going to get sucked into them. I was kind of weirded out by the comment at first, but was like, "Okay sure". So, I shut them off.

After another five minutes down the road, she pulled a bottle of water out of her bag. She then asked me the most peculiar question ever: "I forgot to brush my teeth, is it okay if I do it in your car?" That's when I told her I didn't think this was going to work. I turned around and dropped her back off at home. That was definitely one of the weirdest 10-minute dates I've ever been on.

36. Merry Christmas Rusty

The first red flag should’ve been his age—turned out, he’d fibbed about it on his dating profile and he was actually my dad’s age—but I vowed to muddle through. During our pre-date conversations, I’d mentioned I was into F1 racing and he said he’d attended the Canadian Grand Prix. He even brought an ancient photo album to prove it. That was the second red flag.

Before he got to the blurry Grand Prix photos, he flipped past yellowing boudoir photos of 1970s-era girlfriends and an ex-wife or two—think Farrah Fawcett hair, turquoise eyeshadow, and cheap, nylon babydoll negligees—and a Polaroid of a lovely Irish Setter. I said something like, “What a pretty dog". His reply made me squirm. “Yeah, I accidentally backed over him with my truck one Christmas morning". Merry Christmas kids, dad flattened Rusty. I finished my drink and went home.

37. Don’t Be Stingy

She demanded free food when the kitchen didn't put ketchup on her burger at a sit-down restaurant. That's it. They just forgot the ketchup and she acted as if it was the end of the world.

38. Your Insecurities Are Showing

She wouldn't stop making fun of me. She was 26 and I was 36, but we were at the same place in our careers. Yet, she kept making ageist jokes about how I was old and decrepit. Eventually, after telling her pretty directly to lay off, I just said, "You know, I'm not enjoying this, I'm going to go". I then paid for the table and left.

Later on, she said she was acting that way because she was overcompensating for her failures. She said she felt self-conscious about how much younger she was, but to me, what she was really saying was that when she's uncomfortable, she goes straight to demeaning the other person. No thanks.

39. Too Excited

On my first date with a guy from an internet dating site, he took me to the Scientology museum in London. I thought, "Hmm...That's original; plus, it's easy to find things to talk about, so it could be fun". Boy, was I wrong. He took the museum very seriously. He read every single piece of writing on every single exhibit and asked the attendant very probing questions about how one goes about joining Scientology. He sounded slightly too interested to just be intrigued about a religion. Also, he was visibly sweating.

40. Family First

I was on a first date with a friend in high school. After we went out for dinner, we went back to his house because he was hosting a bonfire. He introduced me to his father and stepmother, then took me to his balcony. The balcony was easily visible from their living room, which was where his family was. We were sitting on bar stools, chatting.

Suddenly, he stated, “I promised my dad I would always make sure to kiss the girl on the first date". That creeped me out, but not as much as his next move did. He pulled me from my chair and had me so that I was straddling him, and he proceeded to try to make out with me. I stopped his advances and called my friend to pick me up. It was so cringe-worthy because his parents were literally 20 feet away from the scene. We never talked again.

41. Utterly Delicious

My blind date moaned every time I bit into a breadstick at Olive Garden. When I questioned him why he did that, he casually explained that seeing women eating was his own personal aphrodisiac. I had my sister wait at a nearby Target for safety reasons and I shot her a "Come NOW" message. Then I just got up and left.

42. Won’t You Be My Neighbor

I didn't even realize it was a date. Years ago, I had recently moved to a new neighborhood and the guy that lived two houses down invited me and my kids to a bonfire. He had a daughter who was just a bit older than my own and he assured me there would be plenty of other people and kids there. When we arrived, the kids all started playing and running around, which was great.

I sat down and started talking to the lady next to me. I thought to myself, what a great way to meet new people in the neighborhood. I was having a great time until the lady started asking me how I met her brother. After explaining that I was his new neighbor, she excitedly grabbed my arm and dropped a huge revelation on me.

She said she was so happy that her brother and I got together so quickly. Excuse me? Turned out, he'd told them all I was his new girlfriend, and this was his chance to introduce me to his family. I was trying to figure out if it was an elaborate prank. At some point, he came up behind me and put his hand on my shoulder. He then introduced me by the wrong name, which made it more surreal.

All of these people were beaming at us and all I could do was weakly say, "You're wrong. I just met you four days ago. I've only just moved to this neighborhood two weeks ago". I then grabbed my kids and dragged them home. My kids weren't allowed to hang out with his daughter unless they were with a group of neighborhood kids. I avoided that guy in every way possible and have no idea how he explained my quick retreat to his family.

43. Momma’s Boy

Before I met my husband, I went on a date with a guy I met on a dating app. He seemed kind of cute and normal, so we decided to meet for coffee at a park. Within five minutes of our conversation, this man mentioned his cat. I like animals, so I asked, “Aw, what’s your cat’s name?” He then gave me a name...along with 14 other names. Yes, that meant he had 15 cats, which he owned with his mom.

Oh, yeah. He also lived with his mom, and the car he was driving was his mom’s, but he was keeping it tuned up. Also, he mentioned to his mom that we were going on a date and he had already shown her pictures of me. Apparently, she agreed that our features combined would make an agreeable grandchild. That one had me speechless. I got right out of there.

A few days later, he somehow found me on social media, even without knowing my last name. He messaged me every day for three weeks asking why I was not answering his phone calls or text messages. So I blocked him. Thinking the worst was over, I moved on with my life...but he just wouldn't stop. He found me on ANOTHER dating app somehow and messaged me on there!

The messages he sent were just super creepy. He kept saying he thought we would make a great couple and that I’d make a great wife. He also said he thought I was so pretty, but suggested I should try going blonde. Weird.

44. Miscommunication

I went on what I thought was a friendly hangout with an exchange student. I met him playing soccer at the college. He seemed really friendly and kept asking to get dinner. I was single but still mentally getting over my ex who had cheated on me, so I told him I wasn't in a place to date. He said he was cool being friends and that we could still get dinner without any romance involved.

So we went to get dinner. All was fine, but on the way out, he physically picked me up with no warning. I asked him to put me down because I didn't like being picked up. He just laughed it off. He said he'd looked through my Facebook and knew I used to be chubby, but that I looked fine now and didn't have to be so shy about men lifting me.

Obviously, I was incredibly weirded out, but he'd been so nice before, so I chalked it up to cultural differences and brushed it off. I dropped him back off at his house and he invited me in so I could "say hi to his roommates". It was still light out and I'd been very clear about the platonic bit, so I figured what the heck. I immediately regretted that decision.

He steered me to his room, where he got out a headscarf that he told me belonged to his mother. He said his future wife would wear it and then proceeded to TIE IT AROUND MY HEAD. I awkwardly tried to return it to him, but he insisted that I keep it. I was feeling really creeped out at that point. I wanted to get out of there without setting him off, so I told him that I couldn't possibly accept such a lovely gift with such meaning to his family.

Then he grabbed me, fell backward onto his bed while holding onto me, and tried to kiss me. I shoved him off and started screaming at him, but he just tried to do it again. I ran out of the house while he followed, telling me how stuck up I was. The next day, he texted me and said he couldn’t believe how frigid and dramatic I was.

So, I blocked him. Then, he showed up outside my work when I was closing a few days later with a WIRELESS PHONE CHARGING BRICK because, according to this fool, "I must be having problems keeping my phone charged since I haven't been texting him back".

45. Child’s Play

This was about a year and a half ago when I was in my twenties. I had just gotten over a man who I'd been dating for four years. He broke up with me after it came out that he was shopping for an engagement ring, and that concept suddenly gave me cold feet. Sometime during my period of being single, a guy asked me out. I had been his manager for a while and always considered him kind of cute.

I had been three months single and there was no real reason to turn down his request for a date. I was a little nervous because it would be my first time out after a four-year relationship, but he seemed sweet and all, so what the heck? I was excited until he sent me an odd message on my phone. He said that, despite owning a car, he let his license expire because "driving scared him". That should have been the first red flag.

I ended up driving an hour to his house to pick him up and he directed me to the nearest shopping mall. I was thinking, "Okay, maybe we're just going to go window shopping, grab a coffee, and goof off". Kind of a teenage thing to do, but maybe I could use something less serious right now. We got there and the first thing he did was point out a sculpture that was...phallic in nature.

He kept laughing about it long after the humor passed. He just kept pointing at it and muttering, "Giant silver eggplant!" Then he walked me straight to the corner of the mall where the Rainforest Cafe was. We walked through the gift shop to where the host was standing, and he immediately requested to be seated next to the animatronic gorillas.

I must have given him a weird look because he turned to me and said, "They're my favorite". We got seated next to a family of rubber gorillas that made awkward robotic motions and he just kept laughing. At that point, I asked him if he planned on getting a drink, to which he replied yes. I asked our waitress to bring me a spiked cranberry, while he asked if he was allowed to order off the children's menu.

She said yes. The next thing I knew, she was bringing back one spiked cranberry, and one child's plastic smoothie holder with a giant, cartoon orangutan head as a lid, from which a pink silly straw was protruding. It was filled with chocolate milk. "I, uh, thought we were both getting a drink?" I asked, feeling kind of sheepish because now I looked like I was a mother".

Yeah, I don't really like drinking. And this came with a toy I wanted," he said, showing me that you can twist off the bottom of the cup and there's a plastic monkey inside. He spent the rest of the meal trying to convince me that we should tell the waitress it was my birthday. His reasoning was so we could get a free sundae with a sparkler on top because sparklers are so cool.

I, on the other hand, spent the rest of the meal using my cocktail napkin to casually wipe away tears of regret. Then I drove him home.

46. Don’t Dare Compare

After my freshman year of college, I met a guy on OK Cupid and we went to get dinner. He offered to give me a ride, but I said no. He was a couple of years older than me, so I felt unsure. At dinner, he started talking about how he'd started his own business after college and how it was going well. Good for him!

He bragged a bit, but hey, that's an accomplishment. After we ordered food, he said to me, in the creepiest voice ever: "Let's play a game". He wanted us to take out our wallets and compare what was in them". It wasn't a joke. He literally started showing me his credit cards and bragging about the high limits. He ended with, "Clearly you can't afford to pay for this dinner, but don't worry, I can cover you".

I was mad and protested, but he wouldn't take no for an answer. As we left, he said he wanted to show me his car. Unfortunately, it was nearer to the restaurant entrance than mine was, so I had to walk by it. It was a white, windowless van. He begged me to get in the back with him, right there in the parking lot. I was pretty glad I drove separately.

47. Eat Fresh

I went on a date with a guy that I met online. He told me to dress nicely as he was going to take me out for dinner. He took me to Subway and ordered a foot-long teriyaki chicken sub. He then looked at me and said, "I hope you like teriyaki chicken". We shared the sub in his car. Safe to say there was no second date.

48. Nay To PDA

I went to meet a woman in her 30s at a Starbucks. I showed up to see a woman pushing 50, maybe more, and she was much larger than she initially claimed to be. She immediately started to talk about getting intimate with me, asking me what positions were my favorite and stuff like that. This was in the middle of a crowded Starbucks where there were children around.

She then reached across the table and tried to grab my hand and touch me, to which I told her that PDA makes me uncomfortable. This was a lie, but I didn't want to cause a scene or hurt her feelings. I told her that I wasn't feeling too well and that I should probably go. I thought that would be the end of it, but my nightmare was just beginning.

She followed me out, grabbed my butt, tried to push herself against me, and tried to kiss me. I told her again that I was not comfortable with PDA, and after several repeats of this, she finally let me get into my car. I got out of there as fast as I could and took some time away from the dating scene after that encounter.

49. Beyond Inappropriate

I met a guy through an app and we got on well, so we decided to meet up. We had a nice lunch, then we went for a walk around the city. Everything was going well until we passed through an alley. He stopped walking, looked me in the eyes, and said the most chilling words I'd ever heard on a date. "You look so good, I really want to jump you right now".

I thought I'd misheard and asked him to repeat it, and he doubled down: "I want to throw you down and jump you right now!" I told him how messed up that was and said I was going home. He caught up to me and said he was only joking. Just before my train arrived, he said it AGAIN, and that it was my fault for looking so good.

I told him we were done and not to call ever again. I got texts the rest of the week saying I was being immature, couldn't take a joke, and was "probably a tease anyway".

50. Red Flags

He was about 11 years older than me and I was only 19 at the time. I didn’t have a car, so he picked me up from my apartment. We went out to dinner and it was kind of awkward, but we had plans to go bowling after and I was too shy to cancel the second half of the date. So I just went along with it. Everything was fine until he said he got "lost" and didn't know how to get to the bowling alley.

When I saw where we were actually headed, my heart dropped. He drove me into the woods in complete darkness. I really thought I was about to be hurt. I didn’t think it was just my anxiety, as he got really creepy and there was something seriously sinister about his demeanor while this was happening. But after a tense drive through the woods, we eventually got to the bowling alley.

I said I wasn’t feeling well and went to the restroom. When I came back out, I told him I had thrown up and that I wanted to go home. Thankfully, he did actually drive me home without getting “lost" again. I ghosted him after that, but he somehow found my email and sent me a message about how horrible I was for ghosting him.

Honestly, I was just glad I made it out alive. I moved as soon as I could because he knew where I lived. Now I ALWAYS meet people on the date, not at my apartment, and I take Ubers.

Sources: 1, 2

Dating can be an incredibly tumultuous endeavor that leaves one or both parties heartbroken. These brave Redditors shared their sordid tales of love and lust, and unfortunately, only a few of them made it out unscathed. If you're single and looking to get into the dating scene, consider their stories a warning of the horrors that can arise:

1. Change Of Plans

So, after chatting with this person for a few weeks, we decided to meet for a coffee downtown. But the thing is, she looked nothing like her pics when she showed up. I shrugged it off thinking people usually sugar-coat their photos. Then things got really weird.

She asked about my plans for the next weekend and I mentioned a camping trip with my buddies. She wanted to come along, but I was like "Uh, we just met". She freaked out, acting like we were an old couple or something, and tried to guilt me for not inviting her. Even after the drama, for some reason, I stuck around.

She wouldn't drop the camping topic. She kept asking where we'd be setting up camp. I gave her a vague idea of where, and she goes "Cool, see you there". I told her again I wasn't comfortable inviting her, and she played it off like, "I'm showing up anyway. You won't see me coming". She even gave a creepy laugh. That's when I'd had enough. I left some cash for my coffee and bounced outta there.

2. Three’s Company

I found a girl on Craigslist and we planned to meet at a city-center bar. To my surprise, she was already there when I arrived...with a male friend. I put it down to safety and went to join them. I regretted it almost instantly. There was no room at their table but the bar was jammed, so I bought a drink and stood.

But they pretty much ignored me, not responding even when I tried to join their chat. I didn't get more than a 'yes' or 'no' even when I directly spoke to them. Finally, I finished my drink, paid my share and left without a goodbye. Later, she bombarded me with messages, calling me terrible for not paying their bill.

3. Small Town Woes

I was using a dating app in a not-so-big town and had been on a few dull dates. Then, I matched with a girl who caught my interest. Something felt strange about her the whole time, particularly how super excited she was to meet up. I ended up at Starbucks, waiting inside for about 20 minutes past our planned time.

She texted to say she was late and asked me to wait outside so she could spot me when she drove by. That's when I noticed another guy, phone in hand, on the sidewalk. We knew each other from the gym so I asked if he was waiting for a date too. And guess what? The same chick had tricked us both as payback for dating the same girl in the past.

4. The Sound Of Silence

So, on our date to Dave and Buster's, I could tell she was kinda off. I tried sparking a convo with her, but all I got were one word answers or an "I don’t know," even when I asked her about herself. After about five awkward minutes of silence, she finally stirred.

She went off to the bathroom and when she came back, I straight up told her, "Look, if you’re not feeling it, feel free to bounce. No hard feelings". Then things went from bad to worse. She was pretty ticked off at what I said and packed up to leave. I said, "If you’re having fun, I’d love to stick around, but we’re not really vibing right now".

So she left and I decided to hang out a bit longer with another drink, watching the game before heading out. Later, she texted me pretty annoyed that I'd suggested she could leave if she wanted. I simply texted back, “I tried chatting with you for 15 minutes and got nothing". Apparently, she sometimes doesn’t want to talk and thought I was harsh for not being cool with that.

5. A Quick End

I plopped down, and he was all, "Wow, you're hotter than your pics, you're my girl now." He was pretty intense. I thought maybe he was just excited or had a quirky sense of humor. I planned to stay for a drink or two, just to see what happens. I even offered to buy the first round, partly to get a breather from the table.

I cracked a joke with the bartender, got a laugh, and when I got back, my date blew up. He was yelling, pounding on the table, demanding to know what I said to the bartender and if I thought he was cute or not. He got jealous over the bartender only five minutes after meeting me.

6. Miscommunication?

There was this dude I liked back in high school, and my friend kept encouraging me to chat him up. Finally worked up the courage to ask him out, and guess what? He seemed to like me too. We used to chat a lot and even swapped notes in the hallway. Then he asked me to homecoming. I was over the moon and even got a new dress!

But then came the football game, and man did things go downhill! Spotting my crush in the stands, I told him I was gonna sit with him. But he said no - and wanna know the reason why? Turns out he was there with his girlfriend. It was a huge bummer and just totally humiliating.

7. Why Did He Even Come Over?

I invited this Tinder guy over because he seemed like a cool dude and we had loads in common. He wasn't bad looking in his photos, so I figured why not. Backstory - I had just settled into my new apartment with nothing but a table and a few chairs. His first weirdo alarm was asking why I didn't have any guest slippers.

I shrugged it off, thinking maybe he's used to a posh life (and he wasn't shy about admitting it). I told him no slippers, but he didn’t make a big deal about it. We headed to my balcony where he spent what felt like forever whining about his ex and how much he missed her. I just played along, but it was super awkward.

Eventually we went back inside, and he jumped into an interrogation about my lack of stuff. "No TV? No couch?" When I said I was too short on cash to go all out on furniture, he turned snooty and kept picking on every little thing.

8. Maybe She’s A Werewolf

So, I finally got this cute classmate to go out with me. I never could have predicted how terribly it went. We were at college in Wisconsin, it was January, freezing cold. I was driving us to dinner when suddenly, she unbuckles, flings open the car door, jumps straight into a pile of snow, and bolts into the forest!

I had to chase her down and plead with her to get back in the car before the cold got to her feet. We didn't go out again, but I did touch base with her now and then.

9. #BadDate

My date was mad because I wanted to bail on her, seeing as she only fiddled with her phone and took selfies with the coffee I got her. Later on, I looked through her Instagram (she asked me to follow and like her pics), and I saw a picture from our date. The caption was wild: it said, "Spoiled myself #blessed #soyummy #java". That's it.