1. Hateful Encounter
I graduated law and got engaged to the girl I had been with through university. We both applied for the same graduate program and ended up working in the same office in Canberra.
Three months before our wedding, I found out she was cheating on me with our mutual boss, so I broke it off with her. Long story short, it got really, really ugly, and the two of us ended up in a very bitter court case over properties.
Canberra is a pretty small city, and the legal world is pretty bloody small there, too, and everywhere I went I bumped into my ex. It was beginning to seriously get me down (her too, as it transpired), and I applied for an Australian government overseas development job in Tuvalu, a Pacific island with about 11,000 population.
It's quite a prestigious job to get, with only two positions offered for a two-year contract on a rotating basis. I was successful in the application and moved on-island to start my posting.
To discover that my ex was the other successful applicant. I spent the next two years sharing a tiny office on a tiny island with the person that I quite honestly loathe more than any other in the world.
larriedbutmooking
2. Doppelganger
Back in 1991, when I was 19, I just signed the lease for my first (solo) apartment and just got the first paycheck from my new job. I deposit the paycheck at an ATM (another first! I'd always gone into the bank to do it).
Two weeks later, I got my bank statement in the mail, and see with horror I had only $1.87 in my account. Way wrong! I should have at least $200! I'd been very careful with my spending. I'm freaked, I came within $2 of bouncing my first rent check.
I'm literally reaching for the phone to call the bank when the phone rings. It's the police, asking if my ATM card was stolen. I checked my wallet, and the card was missing (my job at a theater pub came with cash tips, so I didn't use the card often), and told them I was going to call them anyway because I was missing $200 from my account. "Well, we've got your card and your $200, so come down to the police station," they told me.
I can't figure out how they have my card and the cash. Doesn't make sense. I drove down there. The detective said someone (let's call him Bob) pulled in to use an ATM and saw a man acting suspiciously while using it, moving back and forth as if trying to dodge the camera.
Bob said the man then left the ATM, got into a car, and drove away at high speeds as if fleeing. Then he went to the ATM and put his card in, which popped out. Bob then withdrew $200, and then another ATM card popped out.
My card. Bob's card had popped out because the crook had left my card in the ATM before speeding away. Bob realized he had withdrawn the money from my account and not his, so he brought my card and the cash to the police and reported the attempted theft.
The detective gave me the description of the crook. According to Bob, it was a man, 5'7" in height, brown hair, and with round gold-rimmed glasses. I said out loud "So, about my height, my hair color, and glasses like mine," before realizing Bob was describing me.
I'd never deposited a check in an ATM before, so I was moving back and forth, following the instructions on the screen, filling out the envelope with my account number, punching the amount in, etc.
I then forgot to take my card out and just left because I'm a freaking idiot. I drove away at high speeds because I was 19, and that's how I drove everywhere.
Worried the detective might be annoyed, I didn't tell him I was the crook. I just thanked him and left with the money I stole from myself. Somewhere in a box in my closet, I still have the police report where I'm both the victim and the perp.
chrislivingston
3. Never Give Up
I was 19 and casually seeing a girl. Then one day, I found a lump in one of my testicles while I was taking a shower. I went to the doctor, and it turned out that it was cancer and that they would have to remove it.
Oh, and I would need to have at least 2 rounds of the most intensive chemo out there if I don’t want to die.
There was also a solid chance that I would be sterile for the rest of my life. Realizing that this was something that I might not survive, I ended things and dropped off the face of the planet for the girl I was seeing, as I didn't want to end up being the dead boyfriend.
She found out what was going on though, and insisted that she stay with me through it all. She came to every single 8-10 hour chemo session and helped me through recovery.
Fast forward 6eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee years, and we are happily married with 2 kids and our 3rd on the way.
HypnoticGremlin
4. Stealth Pregnancy
The one guy I worked with was having a baby. He told me about his gf, "yeah, she's pretty big, but she's amazing. She's the one for me."
I didn't know him very well, but as he talked about the pregnancy, I gave him encouraging words and how his life would change so much, then we bonded a bit.
His baby was going to be born right before Christmas, so he missed our work Xmas party because his baby was on the way! We already expected him to be gone for paternity leave, but he showed up a few days later.
I feared the worst that the baby had died.
It turned out his girlfriend was lying about being pregnant to spend more time with him. I didn't think much of it then, but the fact that he brought up that she was fat for no reason must have meant she was so fat you couldn't tell whether she was pregnant or not.
She showed him someone else's ultrasounds, they talked about what they would name their baby, how they'd handle taking care of it, all that stuff. I don't know what she thought would happen when nine months passed and there was no baby.
I guess it's good she came clean, though. A more diabolical person would have faked a miscarriage or something. But that was seriously messed up.
Shortly after, the dude left, so I wonder how he handled it.
Oberon_Swanson
5. Goofy Wins
When I was a teen, some 25 years ago, I played trumpet in the school band.
We did a Halloween parade, but I had nothing to dress in costume for. I decided on a large black sheet with a hole in the top for my huge ponytail to stick out from the top in all its glory of crazy frizzy poof of curls, and a hole for my face and arms to stick out.
I got a lot of "Dafudge are you supposed to be?" I don't know, a Whazit, I suppose.
Anyway, after the parade, my mother wanted to see my locker before leaving to surprise me and check for anything prohibited. We pass by the auditorium and notice a talent show just beginning. Mom pressured me to enter, playing my trumpet. In this weird Whazit costume, no less.
By the time I was to go on, I still had no clue what to play. I felt silly in my Halloween costume getup when nobody else was in costume unless they were dancing or a magician act.
With trumpet in hand, I walked down the aisle towards the stage, contemplating what to do with my nervousness. I heard whispers among the crowd as I climbed up the little three steps of the stage, I tripped and fell up the remaining two stairs. I'm so clumsy.
So I stood up and play it off like I meant to do that. I also began acting silly and tooting my horn like a duck. Then, I did a silly dance to an improv version of the most basic song to play, Hot Cross Buns/Three Blind Mice.
Ripples of kids are giggling in the audience. I saw my mother's face contorted in displeasure that I was not being serious enough to win this. Too bad, Mom, this is my time to shine in all my goofy glorious weirdness.
I wiggle my topknot poof, and play a few jazzy bits of songs some older folks should know.
Then to finish off, I act like I'm swimming a bit and begin playing "Under The Sea" from The Little Mermaid I had learned the year before.
End it by pretending to drown as I left back down the stairs without falling. Mom took me out in the hall to have her fit for about 10 mins while the last contestants finished the show.
She then goes off to look through my locker while I put away my trumpet and prepare to leave. I waited for her by the auditorium exit when they announced the winners.
I won first place.
LostInSomebodysMind
6. Midnight Encounter
I was 19 and just started a job at a new sushi restaurant. The manager showing me around my first 5 days was young and pretty cute.
She seemed flirtatious, but I wasn’t trying to push or assume anything because I was a new hire. After that week, she went on a vacation for a month to the Philippines, so I kind of forgot about her.
Well, a month later, she returned and is out drinking. So at 2:30 in the morning, I got a random call from her saying that she had been drinking and now driving (which I hate), and she wanted to talk to someone.
Anyway, after a lot of BS from her end, she ends up at my place cause she needed to go to the bathroom (and I wanted her off the road). She decided she couldn’t/shouldn’t drive and wanted to stay the night.
So I set up the extra futon for her (cause she is my manager, and I ain’t trying to cause no problems lol). Well, she decided she sobered up when I turned out the lights, and she started getting talkative and flirtatious.
Things escalated fast, and I ended up stopping it before we became romantic. At this point it’s 5 in the morning, and I ask her, “Are you good to drive?”
She responded, “Yeah, I should probably get going. My husband is at home waiting for me.”
WHAT THE HEN!?!?
fishslayer1995
7. Starbucks Twins
I was a Starbucks barista before the whole "names on cups" thing was big — or at least, it wasn't really practiced in my tiny store.
There was this very cute guy who came in maybe 4-6x a week. A little often, but nothing out of the ordinary. I flirted like mad. He flirted back. It was all great.
Then one day, he comes in with his fiance. I felt betrayed, so I treated him coldly from then on.
A month later, two of them came together, and I found out the truth. He--uh, they--are twins and I'd shot down any chance I had with the single one.
mindovermacabre
8. Chevy vs. Ford
Little town I grew up in had these two car dealerships on opposite sides of town - one Chevy, one Ford.
They were bitter rivals. Attack ads, crap talking salesman, billboard wars, you name it. They were always at each other’s necks, trying to poach their customers.
When the owner of the Chevy dealership died, the truth came out. Turns out he'd also owned the Ford dealership by way of a shell company. No one saw that coming, including a lot of the higher-ups who worked at the dealerships.
ronearc
9. Twin Advantage
I was doing an armed robbery trial, where we had the defendant’s DNA linking him to the crime. Now, putting on DNA evidence is no small task; you have to put on every link in the chain, and I had to sweet talk 2 retired officers to come out of retirement to testify and a scientist who was carrying the Special Olympics torch on trial day.
And not only is it serious work to get all the evidence presented, but you have to explain and argue the science. And it was my first time.
I felt like I had climbed Everest when I finally rested my case, and then the defense attorney turned to his client as though he was being told a secret and exclaimed dramatically:
“ Oh you DO?! You have an IDENTICAL TWIN??!!”
I knew the defendant had a brother, and that was it. The defense’s case consisted of bringing in the defendant's little old mother who presented a little old photograph of her 2 boys from when they were toddlers, dressed in matching pajamas and sitting on Santa’s lap.
That was the entire defense.
And it was enough for reasonable doubt.
I lost that one.
pinkandperjurous
10. Career Advancement
Years ago, my company was slowly going under, so I was looking for other jobs. I got a job with another company and put in my two weeks with my manager.
Me: "I've been offered another job, and I'm taking it. I'm putting in my notice."
Manager: "Oh, well we hate to lose you. Do you mind me asking where you will be going?"
Me: "I'm going to [company]."
Manager: "Craaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaap..."
Me: "..."
Manager: "I applied for that position too."
Me: "I'm sorry to tell you that you didn't get it."
Contorto103
11. Double Identity
As far as I understood, my grandfather was always a fairly reserved and distant father. It would fit the stereotype of a northern dock worker who comes home expecting dinner to be on the table and then goes to the pub all evening via the bookies.
Anyway, an unsurprising heart attack later, we’re all gathered for his funeral. We’re a big but close family, so we know everyone, including his friends.
However, one guy turns up, about the same age as my dad and his siblings, who nobody knows. Apparently, he wasn’t going to the pub every night.
Long story short, it turns out it was my grandfather’s son from another family and another marriage. That went on for as long as his marriage to my grandmother.
My grandfather had maintained two marriages over 40 years, having 7 children with my grandmother and just the one with this other woman. They knew about our family and kept away and surprisingly,, my grandmother knew about them but kept quiet.
achybreakyballs
12. The Crush Wins
One of my good friends in high school started hanging out with this guy from the other public high school in our city, and before long, they were basically joined at the hip. She had a HUGE crush on him and was pretty sure he liked her too, but she’d never had a boyfriend before and was too shy to make the first move.
One night they were hanging out and he told her he had something huge to confess… he was gay. They remained close friends. Then a few months later at a party, the guy introduced all of us to his younger (by one year) brother.
The dude and his brother looked similar, had similar personalities, and the exact same sense of humor. Fast forward 20 years, and my friend is happily married to the brother, and her best friend is her brother in law, and he and his husband are godfathers to her kids.
Sometimes the painful crush on the gay dude pays off.
Basketeetch
13. Evil Granny
During the last year of my grandfather's life, he had dementia and was having trouble keeping track of reality. Before he was placed into hospice he kept complaining about a man that was in his house, and he would say that he would come around at night and that he was taking his things and using his stuff.
Grandma of course kept reassuring him that she was the only one there. His doctor increased his medications because he was losing touch with reality so badly.
Fast forward to my grandfather's funeral, a man showed up that wasn't known by more than a few people in the family. Turns out he was an old friend of my grandmother's who showed up to give his support.
In a small town like that it wasn't exactly an unusual thing to have random people show up to the funeral home who knew the person at some point.
Well about a year later my grandmother lets slip that she is seeing someone, the guy from the funeral. At this point nothing too odd, they talked at church and we thought it was sweet.
Then a bit later, sweet innocent ol' grandma mentions it's their 3rd anniversary.
Grandpa died two years prior.
This man was the person that grandpa saw in his house every night. He was the reason that everyone thought grandpa was going crazy; he was the reason my grandfather was medicated to the point of being a vegetable for the last horrible year of his life.
turnsouthewasreal
14. The Cut of a Knife
Since I was 13, I have had horrible foot pain whenever I walk for over an hour. When I worked at my church bookstore, I would often have to sit for the majority of the time I was there. My ankle would swell up, and if it was really bad my knee would too.
Every photo of me we have taken at Disney or Universal, I am in a wheelchair. We never really got a conclusive diagnosis. I was diagnosed with juvenile arthritis, an unspecified autoimmune disorder, and even a ganglion cyst.
After an MRI, a partly fused bone was discovered in my ankle. A single surgery was all it would take to fix it, or at least lessen the pain. If only we had known that back then . . .
I_Ace_English
15. Billionaire Miracle
Bill was a self-made millionaire by the time he was 18 yrs old. That was in the mid-eighties.
He has been one of my best and indeed, most influential friends. 25 yrs ago, he married a girl I did not like or trust. I told him as much, but he married the weirdo anyways.
A few years ago she ran off with a guy she met at a roller-skating rink. He wooed her with him zooming around or whatever.
So Bill was single again. Until he met a girl and insisted I meet her, because he remembered that I had not approved of his ex.
We met for lunch at one of those awful buffets. This girl was beautiful; she used English like a scalpel, working on a PhD. In short, she was awesome.
But I noticed little things about her. She had obviously been finishing school. Then why did she have fingernail polish on her cuticles and a dress from a 1985 resale rack?
There were just a lot of details that didn't add up, and Bill was getting ready to marry her. So I told him I thought she was hiding something but didn't care.
Bill hadn't met her parents till the wedding. It was at their beach house in Destin. It turns out that my friend hadn't told his new bride of his formidable wealth.
But here’s the plot twist. She had been hiding the fact that her parents are legit billionaires.
Bill deserves someone like her.
captdet
16. Cookie Dangers
There was a cookie exchange at my work. An odd pairing cookie was a Rosemary caramel. It was so delicious!
I had 5 on my break. During the day I was so inspired (I worked in a bakery) I was just having the best day. All my favorite songs came on.
And then I started getting these burps. It tasted like Rosemary, but something was off. Then, I started feeling weird and tingly before my lunch break.
My hands started to feel odd. Now, being the mixer for the day, I worked with heavy machinery and knives, so this is a problem.
Soon, a manager came by and asked if anyone had some cookies. Short while later, I found myself in a room with a handful of other people.
All with odd issues, some were confused, others their stomachs felt off. EMTs, poison control, local police, and firefighters all crammed into the room to examine us all.
Turns out that "odd pairing" was weed cookies. We were stoned out of our minds.
glitterpooties
17. Stranger… Acquaintance?
My little brother hitchhikes a lot. Before hitching to my parent's house near Fairbanks, he was trying to hitch to Valdez, Alaska to run a half marathon there.
He gets picked up near Seattle by a woman. They're chatting, and my brother is telling her the story of how he rode his bike from Alaska to Argentina.
The woman says her neighbor's son had done the same thing. I thought it was interesting how 2 random strangers could have such an interesting story in common.
Well, it turns out she was my parents' next-door neighbor.
discreet1
18. Karma Strikes
I knew a woman who was going through divorce proceedings with her husband. He was always argumentative and borderline abusive towards her, certainly always shouting and demeaning.
Then, just as the divorce was entering its final stages, he suddenly died.
His autopsy showed that he had a massive undiagnosed brain tumor that had been physically altering his personality. His wife felt all kinds of guilt afterward and took it out on everyone she talked to and lost a lot of friends in the process.
Torien0
19. What Hides In The Bag
My buddy and his girlfriend took a train to London to see a band play. It was a long journey (almost an hour) with a few stops, and once they were one stop away from London, they realized they didn't have the concert tickets.
They got off the train, checked their bags, searched every pocket, rechecked them, and decided to go back home to look there. They returned, found the tickets on the table in the hall of their house, and headed back out again.
When they arrived at the station for a second time, they had to wait because there was a potential bomb threat. It turned out there was an unattended bag being checked over by the bomb squad.
Whose bag?
My buddy's girlfriend's bag. She'd left it at the station after looking for the tickets.
P0sitive_Outlook
20. Lady Wilmut
An 85-year-old woman, the widow of a hero soldier in WWII, neglected by her friends and her children, having to sell her house that she could not afford and move to a much smaller one, but always helping people and looking after others, unfailingly polite and kind...
She suddenly announced to the entire village in Scotland where she lived and that the new tenant of the castle, near her small cottage, had asked her to marry him.
He too was an elderly man, but he was - and indeed is - a brilliant geneticist (the man who cloned 'Dolly the Sheep'). He's a knight, a professor at Edinburgh University, and a multi-millionaire many times over because of all his patents.
They were married last year. And all her rich, grand friends who neglected her and only invited her round to their nice manor houses because she would pour tea and act like a maid must now defer to... Lady Wilmut.
pistolsfortwo
21. Double Kick
I met my biological dad when I was 23. After a couple of years, he invited me and my toddler son to live with him as I was struggling financially.
He wanted to put me in his will, but his wife then suggested a paternity test "to be sure". 6 weeks later, the results showed that he wasn't my dad. She kicked me out.
I was homeless, dropped my son off with his father, and explained everything. I told him to give me 3 months to work and save so I could get an apartment again.
Then, my son's father claimed abandonment without telling me and got full custody.
Lunatyc84
22. Double Personality
My friend who lives on Campus near me had 5 other roommates, each with their own rooms of course. One of the roommates was a Chinese guy who had been acting strangely for a while.
He alternated between being really friendly, and towards being cold and unsure. He'd never open his door completely when people knocked and sometimes need to remember things he said when referenced later.
His English skills fluctuated wildly, and he sometimes changed his clothes oddly halfway through the day. He would also usually spend all his time inside his room.
Moreover, he also makes a relatively large amount of meals throughout the day for himself.
6 months of this strange behavior, but largely not worth asking about, went by. One day my friend came back from a class, opened the door which was next to the Kitchen, looked to the side into the kitchen, and there were two of the odd acting roommates staring back at her, deer in the headlights style.
Turns out he'd been hiding his twin brother in his room since he'd arrived and thought that the roommates would report him to the University if they found out, so they took turns leaving the room or watching if the coast was clear before they both came out, alternated cooking meals one at a time etc.
Mr_Tiggywinkle
23. Airborne Fling
I was on a flight from Paris to Boston. I had the aisle seat across from a little hall of bathrooms in the middle of the plane. At one point, a man from a few rows up goes into a bathroom and after a couple of minutes, comes out and is just standing in the aisle, so it gets my attention.
He keeps going in and coming back out, looking up towards where he is sitting.
I see a woman sitting next to his empty seat shake her head at him, but he doesn’t give up. Finally, after about 5 times of coming in and out, he finally gets the woman to come back there.
The lights are out, and most of the plane is sleeping ,and once she comes back to him, they start making out in the bathroom hallway before he goes into one and pulls her in with him.
They are in there for quite a while, and then he comes out and goes back to his seat ,and a few minutes later, she comes out and does the same. They are really flirty in their seats and about an hour later repeat it.
The man goes in , and then she joins him. They end up doing this three times throughout the flight. My husband, sitting next to me, has caught on to what they are doing, and we made a joke about how they must be newlyweds on their honeymoon.
We get off the plane, and the woman is standing at the gate waiting, and the man is nowhere in sight. As the people from the back of the plane get off a completely different man goes up to her and kisses her on the lips, and asks her if she was able to get any sleep on the flight, and calls her dear.
Then they walk off towards the luggage area with their arms around each other. So apparently, what we thought was an adventurous newlywed couple was actually a woman hooking up with her seatmate while her husband was sitting in the back of the plane.
lostmyshade
24. Thumbs Up
I was transferred to a new division. Within a few months, my new supervisor and I hated each other. She was incompetent, and I spoke up when she screwed up. She made my life hell and finally decided to give me a job that she thought would make me quit.
I packed up my stuff in a box and asked for help moving to my new desk. She said she didn't have anyone to spare. I was carrying my box and didn't see a spill on the floor, ironically, just outside her office. I slipped, fell, and broke my knee.
I am on permanent disability, very legitimately, received a huge settlement, lifetime healthcare, and retired early. She was demoted and then fired, partially due to how she handled my case.
This all happened a few years ago. Recently when my husband and I were grocery shopping, I saw her in the store. I didn't want to see her, but my husband caught her eye and gave her a big "thumbs up." She looked angry.
longleglady
25. Best Parents Possible
When I started school, I realized that being raised by your grandparents wasn't normal.
And then, when I was a little older, I found out that the reason why was because my biological parents gave me to them. I was told that my biological mother was 'sick' and assumed I was maybe a few months old at the youngest.
No one talked much about my biological father or his family, and I only met his father and stepmom once when I was a toddler. I rarely saw my birth parents while they were together, and only started seeing my biological mother regularly when they divorced and she moved back to the family home where we became roommates.
Years later, I learned that my biological father remarried and started a new ginger family immediately. And then, around ten or so, I was helping my mom (aka grandmother) with something, which involved going through her lockbox of important papers.
I found a document on the custody case dated two months after I was born.
I asked questions, and it turned out that my biological parents gave up after a week, and my biological father wanted to throw me in a dumpster. Luckily, my biological mother called her mom, and I was not thrown in the trash.
My dad had been at work while all this went down, so that day, he came home and found out there was an extra person there for the indefinite future. After my biological father changed his plan to put me in foster care, my grandparents filed for custody because the thought of not knowing where I was was nightmare-inducing.
Bio dad popped up a couple of times when I was older, and the last time we were in contact was through email. He tried to claim that I had been kidnapped, which is stupid for so many reasons.
We don't talk anymore, because he's the human equivalent of stepping on a Lego, and I already have a dad, who is like if Shepherd Book and Ron Swanson fused into one being.
bohorose
26. Money, Money, Money
My great-aunt died. All her life, she cried "poor mouth." We, her family, paid her bills right to the end.
Then, when she died, her will included over $1.7 million to be divided according to the plan she devised with her attorney (many relatives).
No one had any idea, at all. All those years, everyone scrimped and saved trying to meet her financial obligations - and all for no reason except she was apparently trying to teach us all a "lesson" in life.
Back2Bach
27. Future Awaits
When I was around 8, I was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy and some severe heart issues. Everyone kinda of just assumed I would die any day after that. Well come 8 years later, I was still here, and my doctors gave up on figuring out what was wrong with me.
My parents decided to get a second opinion. We went to the Mayo Clinic, and I was easily diagnosed with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome.
Something that is easily treated through exercise, the opposite of what my doctors told me to do.
After that, I was just like OMG! Now I have to plan my future.
Laryethan
28. Joke’s On Me
I was working in a new position in a new store for a company I had worked many years for. I try to develop excellent relations with all my coworkers to help the day go by.
I joke and tease, and we sometimes hang out after work.
One of my coworkers, whom we will call James, would frequently tease me back. One day he wagged his finger said “uh, uh girlfriend!” In what I believed to be a teasing manner.
Grabbing the moment to tease back, I stated “oh come on, James, only girls can get away with the head bob uh uh statements, and we all know you’d make an ugly girl.”
James' scraggly bearded face instantly burst into laughter as everyone around him looked terrified. He laughed and laughed and told me I didn’t understand it, but I happened to say something really funny.
Everyone else looked like the color had drained from their faces.
Turns out, James had been born a girl, and I had met him 3 years after his full transition. He was good-natured about it.
I told him to compliment his doctors who helped him because he was obviously living his true life which made him happy. Underneath it all, I was mortified and have never made a gendered joke since. You never know.
dotcomwoman
29. Lawyer Privilege
My sister was ticketed for having farm animals on her property. Since the ticket is less than hiring a lawyer, most people would just have to pay it and get on with their lives. But since her dad is a lawyer, she could fight the ticket.
When the court date arrived, the prosecutor thought he had a slam dunk case. He was shocked when he was asked what expert witness he had brought for the case.
Of course, my sister is a large animal vet and counted as an expert in the field. My father read the local code, found the exceptions that applied, and had his expert witness testify that the animals in question were defined as an exemption to what the code defined.
The judge dismissed the case after that.
coh_phd_who
30. Recordings
I worked for a bank at their call center as a workforce admin. We had a supervisor with a higher than normal personnel rotation.
People would be doing OK, then suddenly their numbers would drop and quit. In one of those, the guy quitting made a big scene, called him out, insulted him, pushed him around and ended up being restrained by other coworkers.
At the HR meeting, the supervisor is going off on this guy, bringing up every single thing the guy did wrong. He was boasting a bit too, about how he had to fix all of this dude's mistakes.
The entire time, the guy sat silent, said nothing, and just stared at whoever asked him something. When the HR rep asked if he had anything to add, he pulled out a tape recorder and played recording after recording.
The supervisor literally threatening the guy. Harassing him, belittling him, and overall being a complete jerk. Apparently, this guy would target overperforming agents and make their working environment hell to protect his position.
I'm told the supervisor simply stared at his feet and nodded when told he was fired. The agent, as I understand it, was also let go, but very well compensated.
[deleted]
31. Chef’s Kiss
I married a girl who implied she would end her life if she were without me. I hopped on a cavalcade of abuse and infidelity for 10 years, punctuated with her stints in an institution. She so stressed me out that I would literally get heart palpitations before she came home from any of these stays.
Luckily, I was bailed out when she fell in love with her best friend and took off. I filed for divorce, which took another year because my spiteful ex wanted to punish me by delaying her signature. Borderline Personality Disorder is not fun.
There was a happy ending; however, the divorce finally went through, and I decided to take a little town vacation. I got a nice hotel room and treated myself to an elaborate dinner.
When I had finished my fantastic meal, I gushed to the waiter that it was the best I'd ever eaten. She told me the chef was available if I wanted to meet her. Being the Irish gabber that I am, I gladly accepted.
A few minutes later, the chef came to my table, and we had what could only be described as a love at first sight moment. I'm not even sure what we said to each other, if anything, at first.
I asked if she was free after her shift; we have been together ever since.
roundeyeddog
32. One Less Funeral To Go To
A friend of mine grew up living with his father. He got married and had a nice life with his wife. That is, until she revealed that their child was not his and that she wanted a divorce.
So he packed up and transferred to another position in a different city. He then worked there and had a pleasant life.
He even met a nice young woman, and they planned their life together. He even bought her a ring. But then he found out that she was actually still married, and didn't want to leave her husband.
Meanwhile, his father's health was worsening, so my friend left his girlfriend and his potential promotion to transfer back home. She went for a different department in the same company and back in with his father.
He stayed with his father, gave him his meds, took him to the doctors, bought him food, slept on the floor next to him at night to make sure his breathing equipment stayed on, and generally built his entire life around ensuring his father was taken care of.
And it was this way for almost two years. My friend took care of his father, and his father just kind of waited for his health to worsen.
The father had some friends, not many, and a "lady friend" who would come by every week or two. Then, one night, my friend got back from work around 9PM, and there were a lot of cars at their house.
Like, more cars than makes sense. So my friend became instantly worried. He approached the house and listened but only heard the sounds of joy and fun.
He thought it was odd that his infirmed father would be having a party, but stranger things have happened.
He went in and went to the kitchen to get a beer. When he got there, his father asked him to have a seat.
He did, and all of the guests gathered around. His father told him he had a week to get his stuff together and leave. My friend, naturally, was skeptical.
His father then said that he was nothing but a leech, and was a drain on his father’s health and only wanted his money. He then revealed that his "lady-friend," and he had married a year before, and all of the father’s things would be going to her, so my friend should just get out and not come back.
My friend packed up, and never looked back. It crushed him for a while, but he's recovering. His last words to me on the subject were "one less funeral to go to."
Kampfer02
33. All Natural
When I was diagnosed with HIV, I informed the man I had been intimately involved with to get tested. He claimed his results were negative.
After my diagnosis, I distanced myself from many people, leading to a two-year gap in communication with him. However, one day, he reached out, wanting to share some news with me.
We reconnected, and he informed me that he had Hodgkin's Lymphoma. As we talked, I learned he had been diagnosed with HIV a few years prior but didn't believe in its existence, suggesting instead that he had an AIDS-related illness.
It dawned on me that I likely contracted HIV from someone who denies its reality. Furthermore, he shared his belief that he could heal his cancer by alkalizing his blood and using an experimental device from Russia.
He also mentioned that he believed he was from Atlantis in a past life.
Six months later, I visited him in the hospital. During my visit, a friend of his introduced a metal plate, claiming that strapping it to the body would miraculously reduce the Lymphoma within days. He even charged him for borrowing this device. Another three months passed, and sadly, his cancer had progressed beyond treatment.
That was the last time I saw him. A feeling compelled me to check the obituaries, and I discovered he had passed away. His resting place is surprisingly close to my father's grave, which is an unexpected convenience.
jim_deneke
34. Coincidence Saves The Day
I’m a Public defender. My client assigned to me was arrested for robbing a convenience store that didn't have a functioning security camera.
Store owner picked out my client in a police lineup, but he swore he was innocent and was out drinking on the other side of the city, and shacked up with a one night stand in a semi-blacked out state. However, he couldn't provide an alibi, never got her number, and couldn't remember her address, where they had been all night having sex during the time of the robbery.
Turns out the girl he has sex with was one of the bailiffs in the courtroom, who recognized him. She corroborated his story, and we were even able to pull security footage from cameras in her apartment building, proving he was there at the time of the robbery.
The judge dismissed the case.
TotallyMadeUpStory
35. Family Athlete
I was sitting in the yard with my 18-month-old daughter, watching her play in the kiddie pool. I heard the phone ring, ran inside to answer it, and it was a call from our adoption agency.
They told me that a baby boy had just been born. His biological mom didn't make an adoption plan, but knew she couldn't take care of him. He was in the NICU and had a heart defect that would require surgery. They asked if we would like to adopt.
We didn't know much. We had no information on prenatal care and didn't know how serious his heart condition was other than that he would need at least one surgery to correct it. For some reason, we still said yes.
He is now a totally healthy 12 year old boy. He is a bright kid and is a 3 sport athlete. He fits into our family perfectly, and I couldn't imagine life without him, but I did not expect that summer day to change our lives forever.
Mannings4head
36. One Last Message
My mom and I have been estranged for the past five years cos of various reasons. A significant part of our estrangement stems from my departure from the religion I was raised in and her struggle with severe bipolar disorder.
She found it difficult to consistently seek treatment, making our interactions challenging.
Over the past five years, we only spoke once, about a year and a half ago. Hoping for reconciliation, I traveled 450 miles to California to visit her, but our attempt to reconnect resulted in a significant argument.
Following that, we didn't communicate again.
Unexpectedly, this May, my father, who had been divorced from my mom for many years, appeared at my doorstep to deliver some tragic news. My mom's apartment building caught fire, and she didn't survive.
This news profoundly affected me, possibly altering my perspective permanently.
The most heart-wrenching moment came about three weeks ago. I was trying to retrieve a password for an old PayPal account, which required me to access an old email account I hadn't used in years.
Among the unread messages, I discovered an email from her, sent shortly before her passing. She was apologizing, hoping to reconnect and mend our relationship. Because we had been out of touch for so long, she had used the last email address she had for me. I only received her heartfelt message months after her death."
stationary_transient
37. Surpassing My Boss
I once had a job interview. It was very early in my career, and I was trying to move 500 miles to a new place. I built prototypes and brought samples of my work. It was a 9-hour drive, but everyone seemed so enthusiastic that I figured it was a lock.
I did not get the job. I found another job in the area and took it. 6 months later they called and asked me to interview for the job above the one I had applied for. I was given an offer on the spot and worked there for almost a decade.
In the first few months, the people there told me the guy whose job I had (who would have been my boss if he hired me initially) had actually said the samples and work I did was beyond him and he didn't want an employee who knew more than him. Well, I guess he doesn't have that problem since they fired him and replaced him with me.
[deleted]
38. Parallel Lives
I met a guy online. He was cool, and found out he lived less than 2 hours from where I live. We meet up. First time seeing each other's actual faces.
We’re freaking doppelgangers! But the similarities didn’t just end there.
It turns out his father is my bio father's older brother. Both our bio dads bailed before we were born. We both were taken advantage of as kids by teachers (him at 15, me at 13).
We both have soy allergies and Lysinuric Protein Intolerance (it's genetic), and both joined the army and failed out during BCT due to undiagnosed mental health issues.
Our lives had run parallel to each other. He's only a year older than me.
WeirdWolfGuy
39. Cheating Ninja
I was living in a different city to my ex and would commute back to his place each weekend to spend time with him. Despite me missing him a lot he said he was good with it because my job in the other city was really good and we thought it would only be for 6 months or so.
One day, I decided I missed him too much, so I went home the evening before I was due to drive home to surprise him. Walked in on him having sex with another girl...
But here’s the plot twist: it turns out we were both dating him for over two years and neither of us realized. The dude was clearly some sort of cheating ninja.
Tinkerella1990
40. Wardrobe Malfunction
A few years ago I got invited to a friend's engagement party. They were throwing a huge bash because they were planning on a very small destination wedding. Later in the evening, my friend's fiancé takes the mic and starts thanking everyone for being there.
"Sorry, Jen will be out to thank you guys in a minute, she's just having a wardrobe malfunction". He goes on to tell the story about how they met, how they were best friends and decided to get engaged, and finished along the lines of "We wish you could all be there and that we could get married right now. So we're going to"
Out walks Jen in her wedding dress! Everyone was so shocked! It truly was wonderful. He said they couldn’t stand us not being there.
RockG
41. Where Would He Have Gone?
I work at a prison where a woman traveled from Nigeria to visit her brother, who was believed to be incarcerated in our unit. Her grasp of English was limited, but we tried our best to convey that her brother wasn't listed in our system and might have been released.
We consulted a supervisor and learned that he had been released over five months earlier. Clearly perplexed, she returned with her husband, who was more fluent in English. After hearing the details, he inquired, "Where did he go then? He doesn’t have any friends or family in the US."
We explained that we were unsure of his whereabouts after his release. The husband, looking even more bewildered, responded, "He couldn’t have gone far... because he doesn’t have any legs." It appears a legless Nigerian ex-felon, without known connections in the US, is somewhere out there, and his location remains a mystery.
OGDanx2
42. First Class Experience
I get on the plane after a short layover, but it’s late, and I’m cranky. The guys in the row in front of me are being drunk/obnoxious. Their buddy walks up and taps me on the shoulder. “Scuse me - was wondering if you’d trade seats with me. I wanna be next to my frat brothers.”
My eye roll was so intense.
Dude’s friend says “so my buddy accidentally booked first class”.
Me: Awwwww I’m HAPPY to help y’all. PLEASE have a seat (in 23B).
So I go to take the dude's first class seat and I have to tap seat-mate on the shoulder to let me into our classy, 2-person row.
Seat-mate and I got to talking. Turns out he was a member of THE Jamaican bobsled team that went to the Olympics - the team “Cool Runnings” was based off of!
Truji11o
43. Broken Phone
I traveled with my girlfriend of four years and met an incredible individual. We quickly became best friends, traveling together for four months, and even got matching tattoos to commemorate our wonderful time.
It genuinely felt like the best time of our lives. Our bond grew stronger, and we planned to stay connected, hoping to reunite the following year.
However, a shocking twist occurred: I discovered that my girlfriend had been cheating on me with our newfound best friend during the last week of our trip, all while I was asleep in the same room. I stumbled upon this revelation while fixing her broken phone and seeing the incriminating messages.
lasttothefirst
44. Custody Battle
"I married my high school sweetheart, and ours was a love story straight out of a fairy tale. Throughout our journey, we were each other's pillars of support.
In our early twenties, we spontaneously moved across the country without any concrete plans – no job offers, no home to move into. Remarkably, everything fell into place.
Both of us pursued higher education: she became a licensed therapist after obtaining her master's degree, while I completed my MBA and secured a respectable position at a hospital. Eventually, we bought a house.
Life seemed idyllic. A minor hiccup occurred when she discovered a benign lump on her ovary, the treatment for which depended on whether we wanted children.
By our early thirties, we decided to start a family. She underwent surgery to remove the lump and began hormone therapy.
However, life threw us a curveball. The hormones triggered an underlying condition, revealing that she was bipolar. This resulted in an intense psychotic episode that distanced her from reality for about six months.
I stood by her side throughout. With time and appropriate medication, she regained clarity. After a year without symptoms, her psychiatrist attributed the episode to the hormone therapy and discontinued her medication. She remained stable.
We soon welcomed a child into our lives. However, while nursing the baby one day, she voiced a paranoid belief about surveillance cameras in the lights, signaling the onset of her second psychotic episode.
The gravity of her condition during these episodes is indescribable. She was consumed by paranoia and delusions yet firmly believed she was okay.
Six harrowing months later, she emerged from the episode. Recognizing her bipolar disorder, she committed to daily medication, fearing a relapse, especially in front of our child. Life moved on; she resumed work, and I received a raise and a promotion contingent upon relocating.
Sensing something amiss two years after our move, she consulted her doctor, marking the beginning of her third episode. This time, our relationship faced insurmountable challenges.
She displayed violent behavior, impulsively left her job, and emptied our checking account. The third instance of her assaulting me occurred in front of our child.
Given her aversion to treatment, I had to prioritize our child's safety and my own, leading to the heart-wrenching decision to leave her. Our two-decade-long bond was supposed to last a lifetime, but now, I found myself starting a new chapter as a single father. So the next chapter of my life is starting with a custody battle.
itspersonal2020
45. Prince Charming
Meeting my husband was a game-changer. Before him, I figured I'd end up as that 40-year-old at Dari-Mart, always struggling, living with many cats in a rundown apartment.
I really don't get what he saw in me back then. I hadn’t showered for days, wore ripped clothes, smoked cheap cigs non-stop, and didn't even brush my teeth for what felt like forever.
Considering he's from a rich background, it's wild that he even gave me a second glance, let alone tried to flirt.
But from the get-go, we just clicked. Having such an awesome guy into me gave me a boost of hope. Maybe I wasn't as lost as I thought.
Jump ahead three years; here we are, married and loving life. I've kicked depression and anxiety to the curb, we’re living a good, simple life, he's gearing up for a cool new job, and we're even thinking about getting a dog.
I never thought I'd be this happy. He spoils me rotten and always lifts me up when I'm down. I'm sure he saved me in more ways than one.
[deleted]