Sometimes, revenge doesn't look quite like we might think. Sure, there are flashy ways of showing someone that karma exists, but these people managed to get their revenge in the most passive aggressive ways possible.
1. Time To Face The Music
So, I was chatting with some pals from college and we got onto the subject of this legendary tale from my first year. During the second half of my freshman year, I took a music theory class. It was pretty serious—kind of like a rough filter for those wanting to major in Music Ed. I was there just for fun.
By finals, I was pretty sure that the prof wasn't a fan. Looks like my habit of acing tests without showing much interest annoyed her. But since I wasn't messing up her class, she couldn't exactly complain.
Our final project? Make a song out of a poem we liked. She made it clear that all songs would be played to the class, so we had to do a decent job or face embarrassment. She even looked at me as she said it, and I took it as a challenge.
I picked a poem called "A Minor Bird". I put the music together in E-flat minor, which isn't the easiest to sight-read on the piano. You see, 6 out of the 7 notes are lowered half-step. Bearing this in mind is tricky when playing two-handed.
Without any practice, the prof would pick our sheets at random and play them straight away. It was a beginner-level class, so it couldn't be too hard, right? I put weeks into my piece. It was well-written, yet super tricky. The seniors even called me a cheeky genius.
Turns out, this prof annoyed more than just me. A lot from our department were ticked off by her. And so, D-day arrived. As we handed in our pieces, I was bursting with anticipation. The prof, playing teacher from hell, hopes we all did our job well...or else we would "soon find out".
Paper by paper, she played each piece, giving feedback which was more sassy than constructive. Finally, she landed on mine. She played the first chord and stopped. That's when I knew I'd nailed it. She glared, regained her composure, and stumbled through my piece.
She missed notes. The resulting sound? A bit like a cat on a keyboard. In the end, a student with perfect pitch raised her hand, asking suspiciously about the six flats in the piece.
Prof admitted she hadn't played all six. She then glared at me, admitting to missing notes. I got 97% initially. She'd marked one chord wrong. On showing that she missed the not-flat note, she changed it to 100%.
2. Smells Like Teen Spirit
In 2013, I switched to a new high school due to my folks' divorce. Moving in with my dad was my call as I wanted to leave my old life in Bay Area. This becomes important later.
Changing school isn't usually massive, but mine was last-minute, meaning I couldn't get into any AP classes. The real kicker was a compulsory senior project based on the school's values, captured by some acronym like IMPACT. Skipping the project meant I couldn't attend graduation, which was absurd since I'd barely been at the new school.
Despite voicing my concern to the project coordinator, I was told to "figure something out or don't walk" for graduation. I preferred the latter option, so I decided not to do the project. Done deal, right? Not quite.
School officials started checking on everyone's progress. When I said I wasn't doing it, some lady from the principal's office looked confused, noted my name, and sent me away. This was definitely not over.
Indeed, a few weeks later I was called into the vice-principal's office. Apparently, they thought I was boycotting the project because I didn't know what to do. I made it clear I knew what to do, just thought it was silly, and wouldn't be doing it.
This situation repeated itself a few more times until the vice-principal brought in my mom. Weird, as I live with my dad. The VP triumphantly stated that my mom wanted me to walk at the graduation. My reply was straightforward—"I live with my dad for a reason".
I was peeved at the school's sketchy attempt at pressuring me, especially by roping in a parent I had no contact with. This made me more determined than ever—I wasn't going to cave.
The next round was with the overly friendly principal who suggested a modified project. I still declined. The silence that followed after I mentioned the call to my mother was golden.
Turns out, the school aimed for a 100% project completion rate as a final achievement for the outgoing principal. In the end, they managed only 99.6% due to my refusal.
They stopped after multiple meetings and still offered me a chance to walk at graduation, handing me five tickets for guests. I just laughed, left the tickets there, and didn't go to graduation.
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3. Can You Spare Some Change?
Despite the clear "No Large Bills" sign in our shop, people with big bills keep showing up. They act like we're a bank ready to break their large bills. This has been causing issues with our cash registers and caught the attention of the higher-ups. They resolved it by having us change policy and keep more cash available.
Clearly, they've never worked a cash register, otherwise they'd realize why we avoid hoarding a lot of cash. But hey, they didn't specify we need to have 20s and 10s either. So we thought, let's get a ton of $5s and $1s instead. The bank loved our plot. And then we waited.
One guy walks in with a $100. His change? $95. And so it begins. As I dole out his change in $5s, he asks for $20s. When I tell him we ran out because of people paying with big bills, he's taken aback. Next, there's a guy who pays for a 50-cent cookie with a $50! When he stammers for 20 dollar bills, I suggest he should visit a bank next time. This happened a few more times, teaching them a lesson!
4. Cutting Off Your Nose To Spite Your Face
Back in the day when 33.6kbps modems were the stuff, I worked on the engineering team of a company that was starting to hit its stride. This company came from humble beginnings, with the VPs throwing in their personal cash to get things off the ground. By the time of this story, they were bringing in a solid 30-40 million yearly.
Still, they ran the show like they were low-budget. Our department was developing circuit boards with built-in computer systems. To do this, we'd stick a socket on the board instead of soldering a microcomputer directly. We'd then plug in what's called an "In-Circuit Emulator" or ICE, which mimicked a microcontroller and helped the tech people create the program.
Hitachi made this ICE. It hooked up to a free PCI slot on the computer and a ribbon cable connected it to a special microcontroller chip slotted into the socket. It was pretty chaotic and definitely a headache for the IT team. Pricey at $15,000, it was a must for our top-selling product lines.
Odd thing was, we only had one and were renting it for $4,000 each month. After one month using this ICE, our CTO and Marketing VP decided to use this microcontroller type for our new products. So, we, the engineers, requested the bosses to buy the ICE outright as we'd be using it long term. They choked on the price tag and told us to stick with renting.
We shrugged it off and got back to work. The CTO and Marketing leaders ordered a few million more chips after planning more products using this microcontroller. Then the Finance VP noticed this monthly fee popping up in our budget. The call landed on the desk of the engineer who started the rental.
He passed on the boss's original okay of the rental, the later request to buy outright that fell flat, and the whole story. The said ICE was ours by week's end. Turns out, we got a second one too, because finance figured out our products were rolling out slower because of limited access to the tech. Hitachi quit charging us for the first and never asked for it back. We paid $15,000 for the second. Funny thing is, no backlash, no lost jobs.
Fast forward to the next department meet. The Engineering VP tried to say we couldn't afford to spruce up our computers. One engineer chimed in, "Would 40 grand cover it"? Guess what— they found the money.
5. A Real Work Around
I used to work for a medical transport company under Medicaid. There was this rule that you couldn't help patients inside their house. One old lady we served lived in a house with a tiny entrance hall, raised three steps from the ground. The only other door was around the back, up two and a half shaky flights of stairs to a top floor bedroom.
Now, she was wheelchair-bound. Logically, we'd take her through the front door, up three steps, straight to her living area. But, Medicaid wanted us to lift her up the back stairs and leave her in the upstairs bedroom. But, we ignored that and took her through the front as it made more sense.
One day, a surprise check by an inspector proved we weren't following rules. Despite our explanation, our appeal was denied—we still had to use the back stairs. Couldn't do it. So here's what happened next. Whenever a driver got to her house, they'd help her out of the van onto the sidewalk, radio the boss to quit their job.
Being jobless, they were free to help her through the front door, right? So they did. After, they'd return to the van, tell the boss they changed their mind, and asked for their job back. He'd always welcome them back, noting down the 10 to 15-minute break in their job though, so the company stayed compliant.
Postscript: We had fun with "epic quit" contests. Medicaid noticed what we were doing but couldn't figure out how to stop us.
6. Micro-Manage, Huge Problems
My new boss loves being in control. She insists on meetings to discuss tiny issues, even if you're doing a perfect job. Recently, she held a meeting because I was late, even though I followed procedure.
Now, I have to call her directly to explain why I'm late, which isn't normal company policy. Even when my performance was over the set target, she dragged me into a meeting to point out minor mistakes.
After a misunderstanding, I now ask for everything in writing from her. When she wasn't at her desk for a meeting she called, I returned to my station as she previously instructed. This made her mad. I stuck to her rule that I should not wait for her for more than a minute.
She ended up repeatedly not showing up to the meetings she called. She got mad and threatened to make it formal. This would mean an HR meeting which would be documented on my record. I agreed and saved all the messages and chat logs.
The next day, she arranged the HR meeting. I had a union rep with me. The HR said the meeting was called because I kept refusing to attend meetings. Seeing the chat logs, the HR clarified there had been a misunderstanding and cleared me of any misconduct.
She ended up leaving the company and we got a new boss.
7. Geography Lesson
I work at a flooring business and manage installation for a branch, and most of our teams consist of folks from Central America. Being in a state that has a mix of liberal cities and conservative rural areas, we sometimes run into customers with a bit of an old-school mindset. A while back, we had a situation where a customer told us, "I don't want any Mexicans installing my floor".
Although some of our installers are from Mexico, we employ people from all across Central America. So we scheduled the job cautiously, making sure no one from Mexico was assigned. The situation took another turn when the customer called, clearly peeved. Customer: I thought I asked for no Mexicans.
Salesman: That's right, you did. Customer: Then, why are there Mexicans at my doorstep claiming they work for you? The salesman knew exacrtly what to say.
Salesman: That must be Gustavo and his team. They're actually from Honduras. We all ended up laughing so hard that the sales rep had to step out of the room to continue the call. In the end, Gustavo and his crew were allowed in to do the install, but no surprise—that customer hasn't bought from us again.
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8. Gimme A Break
In 2015, I had a tough gig at a bleak outsourced call center managing customer support for UK retailers. It had crazy staff turnover with most folks on temp contracts, and in exchange for taking on the rough treatment, you'd be promised a permanent contract.
Fast forward two years, they offered me a permanent job. It came with a little more dough, a dose of job stability, but the holiday policy was tweaked—unused vacations days don't get paid like before, they just get binned. With three weeks of holidays left, I booked them for March so that I wouldn't lose them in April. I was in for a brutal surprise.
When March came, I got told my holidays were denied. The catch? If you don't use your holidays, you lose them—no payout. Even though I tried to use mine, my boss just shrugged it off saying it was my job to manage my holidays and I should've read my contract better—a contract I've had for only three weeks with different rules.
Ticked off, I read through the contract thoroughly myself and found a loop hole. It said I had to give a weeks' notice before leaving and all unused holidays should be paid in full on my last paycheck. So, the next day, I put it on the line—either pay my holidays or let me take them, or I quit. My boss didn't budge, thinking I was all talk, so I quit.
During my exit meeting with the upper management, I laid out the whole story. And guess what? I got my unused holiday days paid on my last paycheck after all.
9. The Meat Of The Matter
I run a BBQ place and we had a special offer during the Euro Cup—1kg of skewers for 6.50€. One Saturday when Belgium was playing Portugal, a group came, including a dude we’ll call John who likes to complain to get free stuff. They ordered, got their food 20 minutes later, and then my server Mary stormed in asking for the scales. I didn’t get it, but I had a hunch something was up.
Mary took the scales and a plate, and went to John’s table saying, "Let's weigh those bad boys up"! Because John had claimed his skewer meal was short.
Now, usual skewers in other places weigh about 100 to 120 grams, so 10 skewers typically make up a kilo. But ours are massive at 180 to 220 grams each, making six skewers equal to a kilo. John was basically trying to con us into giving him another kilo for free.
So Mary started weighing. At first, John was smirking; three skewers in and he’s already got half a kilo. But as the fifth skewer bit hit the scales and it read just over a kilo, things changed. Mary’s smiling now, holding the leftover skewers and says: "Turns out you were right. We did give you more. I'll just bring these extras back". Back in the kitchen, Mary's still smiling and John’s sitting there sulking as everyone else laughs.
10. Appreciate What You Have
When I interned at a small firm, I did pretty much everything—from setup to bill payments to client meetings. Even after becoming a lawyer, I still handled these tasks because our secretary barely did a thing and simply refused to do more.
My boss was into some dodgy stuff (like dodging taxes) and he didn't dare fire or discipline her, afraid she'd spill his secrets. Our workplace was my boss's mom's house and he preferred to keep things quiet. This same secretary spent half the day chilling with the boss's mom and guess who always took the flak? Me.
I was painted as a bonehead and was super stressed out, nearly hitting the bottle hard. After a fight with the secretary over something as basic as buying stationery, it dawned on me that I was doing all this on top of my regular work. I was burning the candle at both ends 50-60 hours a week refreshing the office pipeline without any extra pay—a fact both the secretary and my boss blissfully ignored.
So I thought, "Alright, if you say I'm not the office boss, I'll just stick to my regular work". I stopped handling bills, stationery, appointments—you name it. In a fortnight, we had a 10-day power outage 'cuz no one paid the bill and work came to a screeching halt. Very soon phone lines were down, mail was piling up, and we couldn't serve court documents. This went on for weeks.
Meanwhile, I took care of my needs (I'll give you an example: hotspotting my laptop from my mobile data when Wi-Fi was down and keeping mum about it). Eventually, my boss and his mom begged me to go back to my old duties but I told them where to stick it.
Focusing on my regular work made me more efficient and I ended up making more money. Soon after, I transferred to our other office with better teammates. I've been with this other branch for two years now and it's a dream.
11. Service With Some Snark
Listen to this funny story my pal shared: We live in a town full of classic British pubs. One of them's a pub on weekdays and a pseudo-club on weekends. It's the only spot open past midnight, hence it's a magnet for dingbats. My friend worked there with two other bartenders one night.
There was a dude and a pretty girl on duty. So it was around 11:55 PM when a guy came for a drink. My buddy was free, but the dude said, "Nah, I'll wait for her". Even after explaining that she was busy and he was available to get his order, the guy insisted, "Only her! No one else". The bartender knew just what to do.
They waited for the lady bartender to clear her list. By then, it was nearing 12 AM. So my friend told her, "Hey, you're off in three minutes, so you might as well bounce. We got this". She did. And as per the stubborn customer's request, he and the remaining bartender didn't serve him for the rest of the night.
12. Picking Up What You’re Putting Down
So, I used to be a camp bus driver. My job was to ferry people from camp to the plant, drop them off according to their jobs, and pick up those done for the day.
My bus had specific pickup and drop-off spots. Only... folks kept jamming these up with their work trucks. We begged them to stop, but it only got worse.
Eventually a boss got on our case for loading passengers outside of these zones. We explained why, and they promised to solve it but never did. The second time boss complained, my manager told us to radio him and drive on if it happened again.
We let the workers know they'd get left behind if the zone was blocked. They laughed it off, didn't think we were serious. But sure enough, the next day, it happened.
Work trucks were blocking the zone again. So I did as told, radioed my manager and left them there. Turns out, some pretty wild phone calls followed. But miraculously, we never had trouble with trucks in our zones again after that.
13. Being A Good Samaritan
So, you know those Amazon sellers offering freebies and gift cards for 5-star reviews? Well, I take 'em up on their offers, write the review, grab my gift, then flip the rate to one star and spill the beans. I've started receiving gadgets and stuff like headphones in the mail with notes promising free goods and $10 gift cards if I drop a 5-star review on Amazon.
I'm a pretty serious reviewer, and I've dropped over 2,000 real-deal reviews. For me, reviews are the heart and soul of Amazon and nothing boils my blood more than fake reviews hyping up a lousy product. So I thought, "Why not"? and I started dropping the review, sending a message to the "con artist" with my review link, bagging my $10 gift card, and then pop back to give the low-down on how they're gaming the system.
There's totally no rule against this move. Not only do you kill their time and cash, but your review can also sound the alarm about these shenanigans.
14. An Extra Large Prank
I work at a big pizza place and can say we admittedly aren't doing better than Pizza Hut. We're in a college town and with everyone bored outta their minds, we're getting more prank calls. Sure, we always got a few jokers, but now we get 3-5 calls a day. Boring, repetitive prank calls. Like, "Can I get a boneless pizza," or "is this the Krusty Krab”?
I was so over it that I started hanging up as soon as the dumb stuff started. The boss wasn't thrilled about it but didn't say much...until one day.
I hung up on a guy asking for a “boneless pizza”. Turns out he was serious. The boss wasn't pleased and even messaged us all to say, "Don't just hang up on prank callers—sell them something". Sounded like a challenge to me.
So, next caller says, "I'm starving, can I get a pizza as big as you can make it with triple everything"?. I explained we couldn't make it that big or put that much topping on. She then ordered 20 of every meat pizza we have and where you could hear her friends laughing in the background.
I totted up 180 pizzas and told her it'd be $1,000 and take three hrs to cook. She said, "Great, we'll pay by check on arrival" and hung up. The boss saw the order, freaked out, and asked how they were paying. I said, "By check—you did say to take every call seriously"!. He called them back, and all he heard was laughter.
In the meantime, some of the crew had already started making the ginormous order. So by the time the boss canceled it, we had five super-size pepperoni pizzas in the oven. On the bright side, we had a free feast. Also, the boss lightened up on his messaging, changing his 'take every call seriously' to 'just use good judgment when taking orders'.
15. Not My Circus, Not My Monkeys
My dad once told me not to meddle in my mom's Facebook drama. This was after I had an argument with her over her biased Facebook posts. Facebook's brought out the worst in my mom, who used to be a really nice person but has now become a prisoner of her own ignorance.
Today, there was an unauthorized protest in town. Arranged on Facebook by the city's worst, a group of 100 misguided folks who are ready to disrupt our transport system for their cause.
My parents joined the protest. When the protest was told to disperse, they didn't leave. They ended up being detained. They had no ID on them, so they couldn't be released. So, my dad called, asking me to get their IDs from home and bring it to the station.
I asked if this had to do with the Facebook protest. He said yes. I told him I'd rather not get involved, hung up and ignored the next 17 calls. Later, my aunt fetched them and now everyone's angry with me, I'm being called a traitor. Except for my grandma, she called just to say she misses me. And I haven't stopped smiling since.
16. You’re Hot Then You’re Cold
I had a stint as a manager at Ralph's, an ice cream joint in New York. One night, while ladling up some ice cream, a grumpy customer starts giving one of my young workers a hard time at the window. Being the boss, I head over to sort things out. The lady's fuming because the hot fudge in her sundae is hot and melting the ice cream.
I coolly explain that hot fudge is meant to be hot, but she's having none of it. So, I whip up a new sundae with a magic shell topping, and let her keep the hot fudge one. But that wasn't the end of it.
By the time I'm back, she's about to whine about her ice cream, too. The flavor was 'graham crunch,' but she's adamant there's no graham crunch in it. She accuses me of deliberately shortchanging her. I assure her it's just the regular flavor, and I neither create nor label the ice cream, but she's not listening. She demands I "fix" it.
Ignoring her rant, I bring the entire container of crushed graham cracker topping to the window. A crowd has gathered, impatient, thanks to her fuss. Boldly, I uncover the container, pour the entire contents over her ice cream—plenty of graham crunch there!
She flips out, threatens to get me sacked, says she knows the owner. I reply, "Yeah, Steve's cool," to which she retorts, "I've known Steve for years". Then I said the line that shut her down. "Well, his name is John. Now scram and don't hassle my team for freebies again".
Her face goes red, and she storms off, never showing up again while I was there. The next few customers tipped generously, adding a sweet bonus for my crew, and showing them their boss had their backs.
Wikimedia.Commons
17. Everybody Loves A Pizza Party
So, about a decade back during my first proper job after school, I had this boss who seemed to have it out for me. Not sure why, but she'd go out of her way to make things tough for me. Unexpected demotions, shift changes without a heads up, even once switching my schedule after I'd left for the day and then getting mad when I wasn't on time. That kind of thing.
She was a total nightmare, so I was trying to find a new job. Eventually I did. I gave her my two weeks' notice right when there was this huge wave of people quitting, I was like the fifth guy in a month. The vibe was all down in the dumps there and every time someone quit, she'd get pizza for everyone, dodging discussing why everyone was leaving.
After I handed in my notice, she asked me to keep it quiet. So, I said alright then stepped out of her office and announced, "Hey, folks! Pizza party"! They got the hint right away. She was ticked off and I felt awesome. Spent my last two weeks there without a word from her.
18. You’ve Got To Crack A Few Eggs…
In my first job at a popular breakfast joint, I had some interesting encounters. One morning, I was serving a solo diner, a lady who ordered an omelette. We've a range of signature omelettes, but she insisted she just wanted a "regular" omelette.
Perplexed, I asked, "So, no fillings"? She huffed and repeated adamantly "Just a plain omelette"! It was unusual but hey, some folks like their eggs plain. So that's what I ordered—a 5-egg omelette, hold the toppings and fillings.
Imagine my surprise when she balked at the sight of her order. "Where's the cheese, ham, onions"?! she demanded. "But ma'am, you did order a plain omelette" I told her. Cockily, she retorted "An omelette means ham, cheese, onions. The rest is extra"! She insisted this is what any breakfast server should know.
I calmly informed, "Actually, 'omelette' means fried and rolled scrambled eggs in French. The rest is indeed extra". She then flagged down our manager, who confirmed my explanation and guided her to the specific ham, cheese, and onion omelette in our menu.
The manager asked her to reorder, starting the food prep process all over again. I didn't get a tip from her.
19. A Whole Lot Of Nothing
So, I used to be a 9-1-1 operator. One day, a woman called in, all worked up because there was a Black guy just, y'know, walking down her street. Didn't matter that he wasn't doing anything wrong—she wanted a cop sent over. We had rules, so I had to dispatch someone. I chose to send the only Black officer available.
The place wasn't his usual beat, but I made sure he and the supervisor knew all the details before he left. When he showed up, the lady totally flipped out and called me again, screaming about a Black man at her door. I told her, "Yep, he's the officer you asked for". But she still wouldn't chill out and wouldn't open her door. So, I ended up having to send the supervisor too because she was throwing a massive tantrum on the phone.
20. Bend, And Snap!
A while back, I was a bartender and server. A group of business-looking dudes walked in and I had to take their order. From the start, they gave me the creeps, but I had no idea how weird things would actually get. After finishing their order, one overly-flirtatious guy, probably in his 30s, told me to "walk away slowly baby so we can watch".
Grinning, I decided to play along, doing a super slow-motion walk away while keeping my eyes on him and maintaining the smile. The other servers got a kick out of this story and we all started purposefully walking in slow motion whenever we passed their table. But the bus boy took it to the next level. He dropped something near their table on purpose, then did this hilariously slow and exaggerated pick-up, like the "bend and snap" from Legally Blonde.
They didn't stick around for long.
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21. Dancing Around The Issue
When I was 16 and had just received my driver's license, my parents sent me to run some errands. On my return, I made a quick stop at my friend's place. It was an exciting time in any teenager's life. But soon, I faced trouble.
My stepmom, Mary Ann, lost it. "We told you to go to the shop and that's it"! she snapped. I argued, reminding her they let me drive to my friend's the other day. But they didn’t listen and set up a strict rule.
The rules were clear—"Only drive to places we give permission for, no matter what". Days later, my annoying 13-year-old stepsister told me it's time to drive her to ballet, a task I did regularly since getting my license. This was my chance to play them all. "Sorry, can't take you to the ballet. The folks didn't tell me to. Don't wanna get in trouble"!
She was fuming, crying, even threatened me. She called our parents, but to no avail. I hardly believed I would pull it off, but time ticked past her ballet class start time with no callbacks.
When Mary Ann came home, my stepsister ran up to her, not at ballet as expected. She tells her version of events minus her rude behavior towards me earlier. Mary Ann came to me and went on a rant, swearing, "Just wait till your dad gets home"! I almost laughed hearing that old cliche in person.
An hour later, my dad came home. I waited nervously in my room as they filled him in. He then called me out to talk. "Well, Brian, you did it", he said. "You got us all, and we can't argue". He then suggested a more reasonable approach. They admitted they went overboard and acknowledged my stepsister's nastiness. They agreed to give me some freedom, considering my good grades and behavior so far.
I returned to my room with a huge grin on my face.
22. We Are Never Getting Back Together
Two years back, I landed a gig as a digital marketing guru at this company. But there was a catch. It was to clean up the mess left by my spend-happy predecessor, who racked up a $1 million bill, all the while sticking minimal deals.
Running my own one-man department with just a couple of paid tools, I managed to outdo last year's numbers with a 10th of the budget. And the CEO? He appeared pretty chill at first. He handed me the reins, called any blunders his own, and basically said, "good enough" was good enough.
However, he had a horrid temper with me being the sole marketing person. Even though I managed to escape most of his rage, I saw him fire people over petty things. That stopped feeling okay real fast, but his blow-ups dug deep until I arranged my own performance review at year's end.
I laid out my contributions and asked for a raise. The boss seemed taken aback but promised to follow up—which he never did. Excuse after excuse led me hunting for a new job.
One day, a minor mistake I'd rectified months back blew up in a meeting, and the boss lost it, ultimately telling me to scram and reconsider my job. That was my final straw. I thought it over and decided, "Nah, not for me". As I started packing, his face turned beet red, and he bungled a threat to call security while I was walking myself out.
The beautiful part? In my country, the boss' improper dismissal could be grounds for a lawsuit. He goofed up on the 30-day dismissal notice, so I'm in line for my full month's salary with all perks. He can't touch me because it'll just worsen his own courtroom plight.
Even better, I have four interviews lined up next week that pay almost twice my current gig. While I'm off interviewing, the boss pays my wage and the marketing department grinds to a halt without me. Plus, the upcoming replacement won't have anyone to show them the ropes. Sweet payback, right?
23. Trying To Do The Impossible
So, here's the deal: I was living in the city and had an internet contract. After a year, I decided to move to my then-boyfriend, now-husband's farm in the boonies. I called to cancel my internet. I tried to tell them I was moving, but they interrupted and claimed the service moves with me since I was in a contract.
I told them, "you CAN'T provide service, I'm headed to the country". They were adamant that they could, asked for my new zip code, learned it was for a certain town, and insisted they had service there. But I wasn't moving to the town, just an outlying farm.
Despite this, they just repeated all the contract stuff and proposed a ridiculous fee to break my contract early. So I set them up, asked them to come install high-speed internet for me.
The poor tech had to call thrice from his van. Twice as he was lost and once when he got stuck in a snow pile.
When he finally showed up, it took about 30 seconds to figure out that high-speed internet was a no-go out there. I gave him a nice hot coffee and he canceled my service immediately, for free, and took back my equipment. Ended up costing them about 3-4 hours call out considering the drive, just for trying to hold on to an impossible contract.
24. Count ‘Em Up
I got my whole Chain of Command sacked because they ignored a task I had to do. I had been with the forces five years and was almost done. So, I really didn't care anymore. My job was taking care of equipment inventory—small stuff used by lots.
Sometimes, things go "missing". Mostly, it's because we misplace them, but we recently had some contractors who had sticky fingers. Now and then, we check the items for accountability. Losing stuff makes us look bad, especially my bosses.
So, I did the inventory and was shocked by the amount of missing stuff. Showed it to my boss, who didn't buy it. Asked me to do it again. So I did, same result. Then asked to "do another one", so like a good soldier, I did. Over and over. Took a year before I realized what was happening. My boss was about to dip and was pushing this problem on the next guy.
Last week though, out of my slumber, my boss asked me to do this work survey meant for the big boss. Told him I got night shift, no dice, had to do it anyway. Good thing the survey was supposed to be super honest and totally anonymous.
Sweet. I spilled the beans about the inventory issue and directed them to where the proof was. Fast forward to yesterday when I walk into work to see my old bosses gone and the new guys fixing the mess.
25. You Get What You Give
So, I used to work at a power company's call center that was all about unions, but the bosses kept a strict eye on the clock. But there was an insane twist. If you were just a minute or two late, they'd deduct that off your pay. Like, it barely made a dent in our paycheck—doubt they saved a dime.
Sure, if you rolled up 15 minutes late, I get not getting paid. But a minute or three? Anyways, the union eventually figured out this petty money pinching. They were pissed, mainly because they weren't asked about it. So, their payback comes next. They had everyone in the call center track their log in and out times.
What the bosses didn't get was that we usually had to finish calls and clear the queue before we could log out. We'd wind up working an extra couple minutes, or on a rough day, even up to 20 minutes after our shift. The union forced the bosses to adjust everyone's yearly pay based on the exact time we worked.
Then they pulled in the big guns. Anytime we worked past our shift, we got extra money. Turns out, we'd all had more overtime wrapping up calls than we ever had being late. So we got back pay, at a higher rate for overtime. It ended up costing the bosses a ton, and they quit docking pay for lateness after that.
26. Out To Lunch
When checking my spending, my bosses noticed I left a 20% tip for a $15 lunch. They said it was too much. I disagree—it's only $3, and it's for an hour of someone's service. But rules are rules.
Still, my company isn't stingy, they give me a daily $75 for food. I never spend it all, but that might change. My lunch today was fancier—lobster grilled cheese instead of a sandwich or salad. I also upgraded to duck fat fries from regular ones. Have fun "saving" that 5% from the rest of my food expenses on the road.
27. You’re Fired—And Hired
In late high school and early college, I worked as a telemarketer during winter and summer breaks. We mainly sought donations for contracted agencies like fire departments. A decent portion of the donations went towards operating costs and anything above a specified limit was given straight to the recipient.
The job was pretty chill. We had simple scripts, and I could read or chill in downtime. Plus, quite a few of my friends were hired there, so we could hang out during lunch. The pay was better than minimum wage at the time, so it was a cool gig. I was actually really good at it and at one point ranked fifth in "sales" across all sites and second in our building.
One summer, my car broke down on the way to work, leaving me stuck on the road. I managed to call my folks for help with a phone from a nearby house. They showed up with two cars, I took the spare one and they started the process of towing my car back.
At work, after clocking in late, I was called into my boss's office. So far, we had a pretty good relationship; I was a solid worker and we had common interests beyond work.
In his office, my boss started discussing some papers he had laid out. Apparently, being more than 30 minutes late was a class C violation (from C to A, C being the least serious). I was pretty freaked out, having never had an issue here before.
Despite the scare, there was no formal penalty for a first violation. Now, my boss had been trying to get me a pay raise for a while but because I wasn't full time, it kept getting rejected.
The paperwork on his desk was my termination and a new job offer. The catch? He wanted to fire me just so he could hire me back on at a higher pay, to get around the corporation's rule of not increasing pay for part-timers. It was a loophole he had been exploiting for student workers like me.
So, we carried out the fake firing-hiring drama. The way their system worked, it didn't even seem like I had been fired since I was rehired the same day and I didn't work enough yearly hours to have any tenure or benefits to lose.
Witnessing both my boss and the receptionist's laughter when he introduced her to the "new guy" was a blast. To this day, it makes for a hilarious story.
28. Did You Get What You Wanted?
My gig is super demanding mentally. On top of my own mental struggles, I find myself juggling loads more than I can handle. A few weeks back, I noticed my mental health taking a nosedive. I was ignoring the red flags, trying to power through, but that's not sustainable.
I tried to prevent a full-on breakdown, by chatting with my boss about needing a three-day breather (Wednesday, Thursday, Friday). With the weekend off post-that, I guessed it'd be okay to reboot myself. I was upfront about my reasons (overworking, mental health), and they said they got it and would get back.
They hit me back saying Wednesday, Thursday could be possible, but not Friday. I asked if Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday could work, then I’d pull in on Friday and have my leisurely weekend. They said they'd revert. They pinged soon after asking me to pick up extra shifts. Pretty obvious that I couldn’t, so I backed out.
The next day, they had another update. "We've managed coverage for Wednesday and Thursday, but not for Tuesday, and you've to work those hours back". That did it. I blew my fuse. All I was asking for was a breather, 'cause I kept saying yes to too much work. I even called them in tears trying to explain my point.
I've been in trauma therapy and felt my sanity slipping. I told them about my doc suggesting that it was burnout and recommended time off (which was legit 'cause I'd just consulted him). They heard 'doctor' and demanded a note. Sure, no worries, I had an appointment scheduled anyway.
I had to drag myself to work that day 'cause they couldn’t find a substitute. My doc took one look at me, saw my ordeal, and prescribed a fortnight’s leave. As you can guess, they weren’t thrilled when I handed that note. That’s two weeks old, my doc just added at least a month more to that.
Also, when I submitted my doc's note extending my leave to a month, one supervisor wouldn’t give me the time of day, and the other just played it cool, saying, "Oh doctor’s note, thanks".
29. Think Fast
So, I run this escape room business near a tourist hotspot and an airport, which means we get a lot of bookings from folks visiting or heading to catch their flights. We only take online reservations, no drop-ins, so we're only there when there are bookings.
We have a clear cancellation policy. Want a refund? Cancel 24 hours or more before your start time. Cancel in less than 24 hours? You can only reschedule. But we're usually chill about this, unless it's a big problem, and aim to make it work for the group.
I'm usually the one running the show, so there's no cost to us if we manage to reschedule (no staff wages or missed income from other customers). But Saturdays are different. We're packed from dawn till dusk and have team members working. So any cancelled slots could have been taken by someone else, while we're still paying staff.
But, honestly, we barely need to enforce this rule. We can usually find a way to shuffle things around. So, when I got a call from a Scottish chap whose group couldn't make it in a couple of hours due to running late on other stuff, I was well-prepared.
He asked to reschedule, but we were full for the day. He then asked for a refund as they were heading back to Glasgow. I explained our policy and system restrictions, especially for a Saturday. Their rescheduling wasn't feasible as they weren't planning on being in the area anytime soon. After a pause, he asked about free slots in the next month.
I checked, offered him a slot on the 16th of November, and he was cool with that. I didn't have a clue what his game plan was. I changed it in the system and told him he'd receive an email confirmation. He was like, "Great, so the booking is more than 24 hours away now right"?
Me: "Yeah, it's four weeks from now". Him: "So, because it's more than 24 hours away, and I can't make it, can I have a refund"? I took a moment to realize, he's found a loophole! TECHNICALLY, his booking was more than 24 hours away, so he was TECHNICALLY entitled to a refund.
I had a good laugh and congratulated him for outsmarting our system as I arranged his refund. Definitely need to mull over that one.
30. See Ya Later
Alright, so when I was 15, my mom was pretty toxic, mentally and physically. I remember her using a sandal to hit my twin sister and me just 'cause we messed up on a bunch of learning cards. She even used to force me to copy her essays in my own handwriting at seven years old—hit me with a shoe every time I messed something up. She'd dump me into cold showers if I got too tired.
At 13, I told her I wanted to live with my dad after they divorced. She said cool, but only once I turned 18. I lated learned the disturbing reason for this. Turns out, she was thinking about the money she's getting for child support that would stop when I was an adult. Fast forward to 15. Things were tense, especially with her hinting at disapproval when guests were around. But one day, I just stayed outside, avoiding the whole awkward mess.
When everyone left, I went back home but she told me to get lost. As a rebellious teen, I took this to heart and took off to a buddy's house. After explaining why I was there, my mate's dad was furious and said I could bunk there for as long as I wanted. A couple of days went by, and my mom got worried and reported me missing.
We lived in a park with potential dangers of wildlife and stuff, so this was serious. Also, she worked with the park rangers who helped in the search and knew nothing about her actual behavior at home. They contacted my dad's family and even brought in dogs which led them to a nearby river—terrifying everyone.
Lots of people came in and out of my home—rangers, lawyers, family. Some picked up on the smell of cleaning chemicals and thought it was weird. My friend's dad, not wanting to interfere, asked me to find another place. So, I decided to call my dad's family, they picked me up as soon as they could and were shocked when I told them my story.
Things spiraled from there. A judge ordered an emergency custody change, she lost her friends and job at the park, which only allowed her to live there because she worked, and got kicked out of her house as a result. Even the local community started to ignore her. She lost everything because she kicked me out one day, and I took her advice to heart.
31. You Only Get One Shot
My dad had a funny experience at a multi-day training event a couple decades back. This was one of those things where you had to take a test at the end to prove you learned something. When exam day arrived, the teacher made it clear he wouldn't tolerate cheating. If caught twice, you'd be booted out, test rendered useless. The teacher was pretty hardcore, treating these professionals like misbehaved kids, which my dad didn't appreciate.
As my dad takes the test, it all goes well until he lands on a question he's unsure of. He figured he had a free cheat, so he just shouts, "What's the answer to question 14"? Some dude bellows the answer back, and my dad fills in the answer, hands in his paper, and leaves, leaving the teacher dumbstruck. Later, the teacher gave my dad a bit of reluctant respect. Who knows if he adjusted his test rules after that, or at least how he announced them.
32. Caught In A Loop
I once worked at Subway with no bosses, just a couple of us on minimum wage. This one customer was peeved about something, I can't recall what, but she didn't like my response. She demanded the manager and, since there was no manager, I cheekily told her, "You're speaking to the manager, what can I do for you"?.
She wasn't too pleased because she knew her issue wouldn't receive a different response. She then asked for a number to call. Now, the owner had clearly told us not to give out his personal number to customers. So, I did something better. I gave her the store's number. She smirks, thinking she's about to land me in a sea of trouble... when the phone behind me starts ringing.
I'll never forget her expression when I picked up the call, made eye contact, and asked, "How can I assist you"?
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33. Putting On A Show
I told my teachers via email that I'd be getting a hospital treatment for my chronic illness and asked if I could turn off my web camera for our online class. All except my history teacher were cool with it. She insisted on me being 'present' during the class.
I warned her about the awkward situation; me at the clinic with my infusion line showing (I usually hide it under a sweater at home, but it's out in the open during treatments), plus all the hospital gadgets. She didn't budge, saying I had to be in the class, video and all. So, I did just that.
As we kickstarted the class, my situation was clear as day—the infusion line, the IV pole with blood, the hospital monitors. My teacher didn't seem to enjoy the view and emailed me later saying I unsettled her and was unprofessional. I didn't forget to remind her that being on camera wasn't my choice, it was hers.
34. On The Straight And Narrow
My brother's had a tough time with addiction for most of his life. It broke up his family about five years ago, with his wife getting full custody of their kid, which was fair enough considering his condition then. But he's been on the mend for a while now, following his recovery program, and has been sober for years.
He doesn't officially have custody of his son, but he does get to visit sometimes when his ex-wife allows it. Despite showing he can be a stable Dad in recent years, his ex doesn't seem open to the idea that he's turned his life around. She's even started playing games with the visits, planning to take their son away for a few months so she can go off on a long vacay with her new family.
My brother, not willing to take this sitting down, decided to file for joint custody. The court hearing happened yesterday, and as expected, his ex tried to rake up his past, painting him as still being an addict. Despite him being clean, having a job, and even owning a house now. Then, things took a turn.
Believing he'd relapsed, his ex demanded that my brother show a letter from the president of his counseling program verifying his attendance for several years. In response, my brother calmly told the judge, "That's not an issue, your honor. I can provide that document today".
When the judge asked how that was possible, my brother revealed, "No, your honor, I am actually the president of our local chapter". Let's just say I would kill to see the look on his ex's face! Although it isn't official yet, it’s pretty clear my brother is gonna get joint custody.
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35. Pound It Out
I used to cook at a restaurant with a discounted "wing night". We didn't really weigh the wings, but we usually served eight per pound. One night, everyone at a table ordered a pound of wings. After serving them, the waitress came back upset because a guy complained that his "pound" of wings was less.
This guy was convinced that his wings were less than a pound because everyone got the same number of wings, which he thought was suspicious. He wanted his wings weighed to prove that he got what he paid for. Well, he soon regretted that.
When we weighed his wings, they were actually one and a half pounds. The server didn't want to give him the extra for free since he "wanted what he paid for". So, she dumped a couple of wings to make it a pound, but it was still over. Another wing is thrown away, and voila, exactly a pound!
She returned his now five wings and said, "Here are your wings, sir. You were right, it was more than a pound. We had to toss some out. Good call". Next time they ordered, he didn't argue about everyone getting eight wings per "pound".
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36. Putting The Children To Work
When I was in eighth grade, I attended a new tech-school. We were about 180 kids with around 10 teachers. Everyone shared the same math teacher. Our first semester, we used a program called Gage for most subjects, including math. But when it came to the math part, the program was terrible.
It was really trash with math, nothing worked. We were supposed to follow the provided lessons, but it didn't pan out. Math symbols looked all weird, and sometimes, the answers were even marked wrong. My math teacher couldn't just switch back to paper and pencil. The company blamed the issue on her being older and not tech-savvy.
They asked her to email them if she had any problems. One day, I got to class and saw seven email addresses on the board. Our math teacher had a plan—we were going to go through our math lesson, screenshot every error, and email them directly to the company's top brass. Every screenshot was a point, and ten points equaled a packet of gummy bears.
We had a ball, sending as many emails as we could. One kid even scored 10 packets of gummies in one hour. By lunchtime, the principal asked our teacher to stop. Her response was basically, “No way! The afternoon classes haven't had their chance yet"! Long story short, the school got all its money back for the software, and the company went under.
37. Pay It Forward
I work as a business consultant and typically, we're at a client's location during the week, all expenses paid—travel, meals, you name it. Our meal policy is pretty chill compared to other firms. We can charge whatever we eat or drink, but there's a suggested daily limit depending on where we're working.
They call it a "GUIDANCE" in all caps because it's more of a guideline than a strict rule. For my current assignment in the UK, it's £40 a day. It's all good most of the days, but can be a bit tight if you're in central London. I do intermittent fasting, so I usually skip breakfast and lunch and have a big meal a day.
Usually, I stick to around £20 and on a big day, I might spend $60 at a nice restaurant. But over a five-day work week, I'm still averaging around £30 a day or less. For nine years, I've never had an issue with this until a new project manager (aka penny pincher) hopped on.
He kicked back a few of my expense reports where I spent more than the £40 a day, even though my weekly average was lower than that. I tried to explain it's a guideline, not a rule and I was saving money other days. He didn't care and said I could only charge £40 daily for food.
So, I did just that. Every day, I made sure I was billing £40 for food, even if it meant buying meals for homeless people around the train station. So where I used to bill less than £150 a week for food, I'm now charging £200 and earning some good karma in the process.
38. That’s So Random
I used to work at an outdoor play center, handling various shops around the park. It was cool but tough, with low pay. One day, a manager severely embarrassed me in front of everyone, so at the advice of a different manager, I filed a complaint. Turns out, others had similar complaints and the manager was advised to leave. Now, unbeknownst to me, I triggered the chain of events that would lead to me leaving the company.
There's important info to know. Theft prevention rules included only carrying £10 max on the job. Any money over that had to be declared and left in lockers. Plus, all employees had to agree to random locker or pocket searches.
I was working there for two years, I never got a random search. But, after that manager left, I suddenly got "randomly" picked. After emptying my pockets and locker and finding nothing, I was allowed back to work. Then, something really suspicious happened. I was picked again the next week, again finding nothing. Rumor had it that the remaining managers were unhappy with me for getting the other manager ousted and were trying to push me out.
I started job hunting, and also began a funny scheme. I started bringing a backpack with £20 in pennies to work, declaring it as required. After a couple of days, I got my usual "random" search where I got to watch them count 2,000 pennies.
The next week, I decided to up my game. I did it again with £30 in pennies and anticipated my next "random" search. When it came, I handed over my backpack to the security guard and supervisor, who found several pairs of my period-soaked underwear mixed among the pennies inside. The surprise was worth it—the smell alone bought me freedom from the random searches.
Not long after, I quit and got a new job. I heard that they made a new rule regulating workers' belongings and many staff walked out, causing the park to eventually close due to other issues.
39. Absence Makes The Job Get Harder
My boss used to have me do her work even though I'm not a manager. For context, I'm in mental health and substance misuse services, and I've been here a while. My boss is mostly MIA and hardly at work. She recently got a new boss who isn't happy with her lackadaisical work style, but she hasn't changed.
She'd often pawn her work off on me to avoid coming in, which I was cool with until something happened. There was an incident at work where someone tried to attack me. Afterward, when I spoke to my boss, I felt like she didn't have my back because she wasn't there, and she didn't handle things well later.
In the middle of our conversation, she suggested I find less demanding work in another department. She said I was taking on too much unnecessary work, work that usually falls to a manager. She told me I needed to learn to say no. I wondered if she was unhappy with my work, but she said no.
Fast forward three months, four team members quit, and we get new hires. Suddenly, my boss wants me to help these newbies on day one. Each time I reminded her that it's a manager's job. She also asks me to run a fire risk assessment. Again, I said, "Sorry, that's a manager's job". Eventually, she stopped asking me to do things, and just started working from home a lot.
I think she lied to her boss about being on-site. Then catastrophe struck. A big incident happened with residents and we had to call emergency services. I called my boss to inform her, and she basically asked me to handle everything, from dealing with the staff and residents to writing up a report. I reminded her that I'm not a manager, so it's not my job. She tried to persuade me to do it just this once, but I put my foot down.
The truth was then revealed that she was visiting a friend up the coast when she was supposed to be on-site. This came out when her boss called to find out what happened and there was no one there to manage things. When he asked me to step in, I told him that wasn't possible and reminded him that my boss said I was doing too much work. This led to them launching a full investigation into her work ethic.
Now, her boss is my direct supervisor and helping me get a promotion. Meanwhile, my boss is on "leave, pending investigation".
40. A Woman In Uniform
Straight out of school, I nabbed a gig teaching language in a private school—sounds like something from a book, right? Hired to teach the older kids from grades six to nine, I was also roped into tackling grades one to five when I had a spare minute. No extra pay, mind you.
I taught my assigned classes twice a week and the younger classes once. Add to that, lunch duties, and I was basically on my feet the whole day. In the same school, there was a preschool where the teachers donned uniforms. They were all women, and were the only ones required to follow a dress code.
As the only woman teaching grades one to nine, the boss eventually asked why I wasn't sporting a uniform like my preschool colleagues. After explaining that nobody had told me about a uniform policy, and that my male colleagues weren't uniformed, things turned sour. I was told to sew a uniform from my pocket.
My parents talked me into getting it done, thinking that would settle things. Boy, were we wrong. The boss thought my uniform looked too good on me, and accused me of trying to turn heads. Even though my gear was modest—long, loose, not revealing—I was fired in the middle of class, a week later.
You can imagine my surprise when the boss called, questioning why I hadn't shown up. She had the nerve to tell me to get back to work, citing lunch duties. No way was I working for peanuts again. However, I returned—for double the dough—stuck it out a month, then hit the road.
41. You’re A Big Boy Now
This just happened a few hours ago—still fresh! We get local school kids to help in our community garden, mostly on Saturdays. They're usually good kids. But there was this one boy who came for the first time last week and quickly got into trouble. He kept spinning with a tool and letting it fly, so after a third warning, he stormed off in tears. This time, he came with his mom.
He pointed us out to his mom but didn't join, so we just waved hello and let them be. Soon, he started wandering and my buddy told him not to go behind the greenhouse for safety reasons. That's when his mom blew a fuse and demanded to know why we were bossing her kid around.
We told her we just wanted to keep him safe. She insisted she would take care of it. Sure, whatever. Go ahead. That's when the kid made a mistake with disgusting consequences. The kid then ventured behind the greenhouse where we keep our compost heap and a huge pile of horse manure delivered every fall (not a safe place, remember?).
The outside of the manure pile gets hard and crusty but the inside is deceptively squishy. Soon we heard a crunch and a scream—the kid had sunk chest deep into the manure mound! It was a sight and smelt not so pretty.
His mom quickly grabbed him and headed for the exit while the shocked kid cried. My buddy offered her garbage bags to protect her car seats, and she actually said thanks. I wonder if we’ll see them again next week?
42. A Star Is Born
Back in 2008, I got tangled in a court case when my country school in Texas threatened to suspend me for wearing a shirt backing John Edwards. They said I broke the dress code, which was barely enforced anyways. My folks thought this was silly and had my back.
But then they took it too far. The principal told me I might lose my spot on the football team, risking my college chances, if I got suspended. I was rubbish at football but good with books, so I was not banking on sports for college anyways. It's his mock concern as he used my future to squash my freedom of speech that got to me.
As things got tougher, they first sent the coaches to convince me to drop the case. Coaches guilt-tripped me saying they couldn't wear their Christian Athlete shirts because of me and tried to make me feel bad before the team. I, a chubby Magic: The Gathering fan, could care less.
Then, they held a meeting to label me "trouble", instructing teachers to watch me. Later, they got students to dish dirt on me. I was a class clown so every nasty joke or comment I'd ever made ended up at the principal's office.
A smug deputy principal then read my locker room humor back to my parents. It hurt a bit, but my folks knew it was nonsense. Using this as an excuse, they expelled me and put me in the Disciplinary Alternate Education Program. The school figured I’d lash out, but I did the opposite.
I funneled all my anger into my studies, improving my grades significantly. I started applying for scholarships and found a few that were keen on my interest in politics. My dad and I got a lawyer working for free, so we could easily afford to drag this out in court. I used this time to work hard, showing the school that their terrible attitude only made me better. I was accepted into a prestigious program at my dream school with more financial support than I expected.
Though we ultimately lost the case, the school ended up ditching the dress code because they couldn't bear another lawsuit. I didn't like that they lost money, but hey, it was their choice. Now, after law school, I’m sitting for the bar soon and am all set for a job probing government corruption.
43. By Any Other Name
So a few months back, I managed to change my name. Don't ask why, but I was just fed up with my oddly spelled first name and didn't want my last name anymore. It was pretty smooth getting my name changed across various places like social security, licenses, insurances and all that. But boy, did I hit a wall when it came to my credit card.
I'm kinda fond of this credit card 'cause it's my ticket to travel points for planes, hotels and rental cars, thanks to being self-employed. And you know how it goes, the card name's gotta match the ID name, right? So I hit up the credit card company and they told me to mail some forms and the court approval document.
Ok, I can handle that. Two weeks passed, heard nada. Called them up, and surprise, they didn't receive anything. Got informed they had a fax number, so I faxed from my phone app. Another two weeks dragged on, still zero response. Called once again, same old spiel. "Mail or fax, please"... You know the drill.
Being the good listener, I did as told. After a week, called again. Same answer. Honestly, it was getting on my nerves. I had this trip coming up and I needed my card to match my ID. Tried to get the manager on the line. They had some lame excuse that there's no manager available. Didn't give up, faxed the documents again.
But this time, I kept hitting send. Just to make sure they got it. I faxed it 25 times, heard zilch. Next day, while enjoying some football on my couch, thought I'd fax a few more times. Lost count and ended up faxing it over 130 times.
The next day, finally, a call from a fuming manager at the credit card company. Played along with "I just followed your instructions"... Anyway, my updated card arrived three days later.
44. Go, Team!
Back in 2013, being a high school sophomore, we had this habit of everyone on school teams wearing their uniforms to school every Friday—cheerleaders, footballers, band members and so on. It wasn't an official thing, and sometimes the outfits broke school dress code, but no one really cared.
I didn't usually wear skirts, but I liked the occasional dress. In Texas, August/September can be pretty hot. Once, I wore a sundress to class and got taken out because it was 4 inches above the knee, not the 2 inches dress code allowed.
I mentioned the cheer and dance team outfits, which were way shorter, but was told that was different because they were "official school uniforms". They sent me home to change. But here's the kicker—I was on the golf team. Our uniform had just got an upgrade and included a skort, which looked like a skirt, but way shorter than even the cheerleader skirts.
The next Friday, I went to school in my golf uniform. I got sent to the principal's office by second period.
The assistant principal accused me of blatantly disobeying her and threatened suspension. Then I pointed at my school logo on my polo and said, "But this is my school golf uniform. You said students can wear official school uniforms to class. Why is it okay for cheerleaders and not me"?
She didn't take this well, had me wait in the lobby, and said she'd call my parents. I was freaking out a little, but determined to stand up for myself. After a bit, she told me to go back to class and that I could wear my uniform.
My dad later told me he had a pretty heated argument with her when she called. He questioned why I couldn't wear the uniform the school gave me for golf practice, hinted at taking this up with the school board, and basically accused her of favoritism. Then he told me he was proud of me, despite never expecting me to stick up for myself in such a big way.
45. It’s Quittin’ Time
Four years ago, I started a job at a bank. Pretty traditional, except they were super strict about timekeeping, which was odd because we were the back office team, not customer-facing. I was used to more flexible hours from my previous job at another bank, but I respected their rules. I settled in, learned the ropes, and got acquainted with my new colleagues.
Four months in, I started to pick up that my big boss didn’t like me much. Maybe because I'm confident and speak my mind—something he didn't seem to appreciate. The difference between me and my team was especially noticeable because I was the one always chiming in during meetings.
Fast forward to a seriously disastrous week. I was putting in extra hours, which I obviously wasn’t getting paid for. One Friday, after nearly two extra hours the previous day, I decided to clock out a bit early—10 minutes, to be exact. My boss was out, so I thought it was cool.
On Monday, cue a surprise meeting with my boss and big boss. It went something like:
Boss: "I heard you bounced early on Friday".
Me: "Yep. Only 10 minutes, though".
Boss: "You ask for permission"?
Me: "Seriously? I've been doing extra hours all week. What's this about"?
Big Boss: "You're a senior. You should be setting an example. You left without asking".
I was floored. But I nodded and agreed to stick strictly to the 9-to-6 routine from then on. They didn't clock what was happening at first, but sure did when the month-end came around.
That week was usually crazy-busy. We juggled several different time zones, basically meaning that we were expected to do overtime. But when the final day of the month came around, I rocked up at 9 am on the dot. Worked until break, took my break. Worked until lunch, took my lunch. Worked some more, then took my second break.
Just before 6 pm, I got a call from a US senior manager who needed some changes on a report. She was mid-sentence when the clock struck six. So, I interrupted her, let her know my workday was over as per management rules, and wished everyone a nice weekend. Then, I logged off and left.
My boss and big boss were baffled. Part of me wanted to apologize for not leaving at exactly 6 pm, but I didn't. I played by their rules and it worked out great! In fact, a few months down the line, I had a more relaxed working routine. Plus, people started organizing their time better knowing my boundaries. It was a win-win!
46. Call On Me
Few years back, I needed to see a doctor. I was heading to the pharmacy next to the doctor's office, so I thought I'd just drop by instead of giving them a ring. The lady at the front desk said they couldn't accept walk-ins (wasn't looking for on-the-spot consultation though) and would only take appointments by phone. So, right there at the desk, I whipped out my phone and dialed in to make an appointment on the phone that was right beside her.
The fun part was, I kept looking at her the whole time as she picked up the call and got me scheduled in.
47. Lawyer For A Day
About five years back, I was a chef at a bakery, turning up at 4 am to prep all food for the day except the baked stuff. Post prep, around 10 am, it was delivery time for online orders. It was common for companies or other entities to place large catering orders with us. This one was for a law firm. They got big orders for their meetings all the time. They loved our bagels and sometimes their orders would run $700.
There were parking meters outside the building but I figured I'd need a truckload of change for them. The bakery's rule was to foot the parking fee and get it back later. So, I dove into the building's garage. That's where my problems began. Here, security guard Sam tells me the parking's for staff only. I prove I'm making a delivery and even offer a bagel. He suggests the bottom floor guest spots at minimum $10.
After introductions, I’m shown where to set the food. They told me to use their guest spot instead. One reserved just for their firm. Then I go back down. While on my second trip, I spot Sam arguing with the receptionist. Predictably, I’m in his crosshairs. Outraged, he accuses me of jeopardizing the building's and people’s safety. He's mad I didn't take the spot he wanted me to. That's when Bob, one of the firm's partners, steps in.
While Sam insisted that Bob couldn’t just let a non-employee use his parking, Bob brilliantly declares me a company employee. Harry, the HR head, scribbles this down on a piece of paper and has me sign it. I was given an ID, parking permit and elevator card.
Sam was peeved watching me easily go back and forth with the elevator to deliver the food. After completing delivery, Bob jokingly says it's time to let me go and gave me $50 as my final paycheck. Harry gave me $20 as a severance package and asked me to return the ID and card.
The receptionist validated my parking to let me head off free of charge. Sam watches, grimacing, as I drive into the morning sun.
48. Nickle And Diming
A few years back, I managed a national chain restaurant. One weekend I was sent an hour away to a different location and they sorted me out with a hotel and everything. On my first weekend, I realized the other boss messed up and didn't get any change for the safe, and our bank branch was about to close.
I happened to be with the same bank and had previously got change from my home branch. Since I was short on time, I found the local branch, took $800, and drove there. I waited in line, then asked for change. The bank clerk told me "no," which was confounding. I thought she just didn’t know I managed a restaurant that used the bank, so I told her, but no cigar.
Frustrated, I returned to my car. Then, I had an idea. I walked back in with my checkbook, waited in line again, and met the same clerk. I told her straightaway that I was closing my account because of bad customer service. She just shrugged, and started the process.
When she asked how I wanted my cash, I was ready. I asked for specific change totaling to $800, with the rest on a cashier's check. I had no reason to be denied, so I got my change. The next Monday, I closed my other two accounts and switched to a different bank, where I've stayed since.
49. Watching The Clock
At my previous job, I was keen. I'd clock in early and finish late, giving about 20-30 minutes of my time free to the company daily—I loved the work and the clean desk it gave me. However, things went downhill when my father-in-law fell critically ill. One day, we got a call from the hospital, urgently asking us to come. Naturally, I had to leave work early at 3:45. The normal work hours were 10-4.
Next thing I knew, they'd docked half a day's pay from my salary that month. When I confronted them, their response was disappointing—I was told they couldn't make exceptions and the overtime was my choice. Alright then. I got the message loud and clear and started sticking strictly to my work hours.
So, for the next five years, my timing was spot on—I worked as per my contract. Once, I overheard my manager complaining about employees leaving right on time, stating it lacked company loyalty. I didn't hold back, telling her loyalty's a two-way street—I wasn't shown any when I was docked for attending my dying father-in-law despite doing overtime.
That experience defined how I treated the company—firm and strict, just how they'd been during my worst times. Since exceptions weren't allowed, I followed the rules down to the letter. This influenced the new guy, and slowly, everyone in the office. Can't imagine how much free overtime the company lost out on during those years.
50. Getting Real Salty
I had a dinner party and invited 6 people. Soon after, Sally (not her real name) called and told me she's on a salt-free diet for health reasons. She was really pushing how great this diet was.
I questioned it, finding it hard to believe she gave up salt completely. I asked if it was just low sodium? But she warned me, if her dish had salt, she won't come. I didn't want to tell her to kick rocks, but Sally's always been tough on meals and restaurants, and it really grinds my gears. So I came up with a plan.
I could hear her ear-to-ear grin on the call when I agreed to whip up a salt-free dish. Bet she'll regret it. On the big night, everything Sally ate was made the same as everyone else's, only minus the salt.
When people started showing up, I served Sally's food on white plates and everyone else's on grey ones. For starters, everyone had fried calamari with a tasty lemon jalapeno butter sauce. Sally couldn't have the usual batter with salt. So, I whipped up some salt-free batter and made the sauce with unsalted butter.
When Sally got her food, she double-checked it was salt-free. I told her I made it all separately and even used different colored plates. We dig in and Sally complains hers is bland while everyone else raves about how it tastes. I remind her the only thing missing was salt. You can tell she's realizing she can't knock the dish for lacking salt or say it tastes bad when everyone else loves it.
Sally starts pushing the calamari around her plate like a kid. Then, she grabs for the normal sauce. I call out to her, "Careful Sally, the white bowl has the salt-free sauce". She mumbles something about wanting to compare the taste and dumps it on her calamari, then goes on about how much better it is. We all know things taste better with a pinch of salt.
The same thing happens with the main dish of honey roasted salmon with pine nuts. Sally takes a bite, realizes there's no salt, and reaches for the salt shaker. The table goes silent. A mate asks if it's okay for her to have salt, she awkwardly admits she can occasionally. The moment she showers her fish with salt, I can't help but grin.
For dessert, I made cookies. They needed a little salt in the dough, so I prepared a separate salt-free batch for her. The look on her face when I gave her those cookies was priceless.
Dinner ended, everyone was happy except Sally. I called her up later to see if she was okay considering she had sodium at the party. She said the doctor gave her the all-clear on sodium and won't need the special meals anymore. Once I hung up, I couldn't help but laugh until it hurt.
Turns out, a salt-free diet isn't so hot once you actually leave out the salt! Props to those who stick to low or no sodium for health reasons, but Sally really wasn't on this diet. This was confirmed by her hubby, who told me she never stopped using salt at home. Sally's salt-free declaration was just an attention stunt that spectacularly backfired.
51. The Spanish Inquisition
My Spanish teacher marked me zero for a bunch of assignments I swear I did. When I told my dad, he didn't believe me and punished me for my "poor grades". I was so sure I’d turned them in, so the next morning, dad came with me to meet the teacher.
She was half an hour late, which made my dad miss work and he was already annoyed. When she finally arrived, she straight-up told my dad that I'm a lousy student who doesn't do my assignments and that I disrupt class. I was so angry that I barged into the room, walked up to her desk, and pulled out the four missing assignments from the "submit here" tray.
Dad saw everything, turned to my very embarrassed teacher, and sent me off to class without breaking eye contact with her. After this, she started failing me on all my assignments. Dad complained to everyone, from the principal to the superintendent and the school board. She quit the next year.
52. A Matter Of Size
One day, I was driving home from work when I saw two pickup trucks practically tailgating an old man. Annoyed, I pulled up, flipped them off, and told them to back off. Little did I know, it was about to get wild.
One guy tried to show off, zoomed past me, cursing. Now, he was half a mile upfront. Meanwhile, the other truck with a trailer tagged along, so close to my bumper the grill was barely visible in the mirror.
We all ended up at an intersection with a red light—a place I'm familiar with and knew the lights were about to change. As soon as the first truck slowed down, I maintained my speed, quickly changed the lanes with his buddy still glued to my tail. He couldn't do much. Going at that speed, he smashed right into the back of his friend's truck, causing his trailer to flip over.
The collision made their tank spew residue all over the road, which led to the highway being closed for two hours.
53. It’s A Nice Day For A White Wedding
So, let's rewind to when I was 13, around eight years ago. Dad tied the knot again following his divorce with Mom. His bride had been his side chick before the split. Mom's way better without him, and honestly, if it wasn't for me being born, I reckon she shouldn't have married him at all. His affair was not justifiable, no matter their mismatch.
Now, Dad's new wife was a wonder of horrendous character. Always picking on me, mocking me for my meds—ironic, considering she's a pharmacist. She was not nice to my siblings and me. But, Dad overlooked it all as she's younger and attractive.
The one time he actually listened to us about her is when they were thinking of having a baby, and my brother said he’d ask our mom to sue for full custody of us if they did. He didn't like that. So, they got hitched. I was forced to be a bridesmaid; she had no friends. The other bridesmaids were her sister and mine, and my brother was the best man, due to her dislike for Dad's best friend.
Dad's best friend, who was like another family member, no longer speaks to my father. Although it was a wedding, it was far from being a happy family picture. We were taking typical familial photos by a chocolate fountain at the reception, where the drama unfolded.
Being autistic, I struggle with eye contact and cameras. Retaking a photo due to this, she whispered something very prejudiced in my ear. I'd had it and decided it was time for revenge.
The chocolate fountain was sneakily moved towards the edge of the table. Eventually, it tipped onto her pristine white dress, looking like a poop stain. By the time she realized, people assumed it was an accident.
Without an extra dress and a stubborn stain, she had no choice but to carry on with the stained dress. It was indeed a sweet revenge to see her digest the incident on her supposed "happy day".
The stain remained, and my secret revenge was unknown to all. Until now. So, hello family, if you're reading this. Suzie, you deserved that chocolate stain, witch!
