Sometimes you punch in a number on your phone to call someone, and a total stranger ends up on the other line. You called the wrong number, no big deal. Then you do it again, and again… and again.

Until the person on the other side is wondering why it's so hard to call the RIGHT number. It's a fair question. This woman was contacted via text 5 times over the span of a year and a half, and it was always the same person inquiring about the same thing… A horse. The woman, OP, had no idea what they were talking about and was getting annoyed, as each time, the texts arrived in the middle of the night, waking her up. Finally, she decided it was time for a little payback… She devised a clever plan to make sure this person would never text her again… And let's just say that it totally worked.

After you're done reading, check out this company that shut down a client's entire server after the client denied one of their technicians access to important equipment.

Believe it or not, caller ID was invented in the 80's, but it still took several decades to figure out how to completely block an incoming call. Imagine all the tedious hardships that would have been avoided if blocking a phone number had been a thing sooner? There certainly wouldn't be as many horror movies dedicated to villains in masks hiding behind an unknown number. 

In modern times, it's easy to block a phone number. One-click and you can revoke a person's ability to contact you ever again. But in this age of infinite connection, where's the fun in that? In our next story, a guy gets payback against someone who repeatedly ignores his insistence that they have the wrong number. After months of being bothered with endless questions about a pet horse, he gets creative with his own technique to 'block' any further contact. 

Scroll for all the petty details of how a guy protected his privacy and effectively blocked unwanted contact for good.

This service provider tried a lot of different ways, but they couldn't convince one customer that she was wrong. 

As case worker at an internet service provider, this person had to work with all types of customers. If you've worked in a customer service role for even a day, you'll know that people are not always kind to the person on the other end of the phone. In fact, some people are under the impression that the louder they talk, the better their results will be. 

This person, u/JimmyRecard, told a story of malicious compliance that happened when they just could not get through to a customer. It seems like a bad situation all around. The customer couldn't get her internet to work, so she called the provider for help. But then the provider couldn't help her either, and they wanted to charge hundreds of dollars to send someone out to help her. I'd be upset, too if I was her! The OP mentions that the customer didn't seem to be following their instructions to troubleshoot the internet connection. Instead, she just told the OP about her son, who worked in IT, while explaining that she had a brand new router that wouldn't work. There are no winners in this story, just an unhappy customer and a call center worker who really couldn't help her in any meaningful way. 

After that, these college kids tried to do their laundry, and failed so badly that their entire school had to evacuate in the middle of the night. 

Sure, people's various passions, interests, and worldviews make them unique individuals, but sometimes it's your specific pet peeves that make you truly stand out. For instance, there are a lot of people in this world who are interested in science fiction movies, but not a lot of people in this world who are annoyed to no end by the breathing patterns of their nearest coworkers. We all would like to think that it's the positive aspects of our personalities that make us special, but we should be honest with ourselves: what frustrates us can make us just as interesting, if not more so.

These folks shared their pettiest pet peeves via this thread on r/AskReddit. These pet peeves range from annoying colloquialisms to people with self-awareness issues. Keep scrolling below and share your pet peeves in the comments section below. When you're done reading, here are some funny stories about adults having temper tantrums.

For some teens, college is the first time they're out on their own, and it really shows. It's the first big step towards independence for many kids. After years of living with their parents, college freshmen suddenly realize they have to fend for themselves. 

A lot of colleges make this as easy as possible for the new students, especially for those who choose to live in a dorm. There's usually a nice cafeteria where they can get hot meals, and many colleges provide laundry on-site. Plenty of dorms have shared kitchen spaces for students who want to make some late-night ramen noodles. And since these spaces are designed for people of all walks of life, there are usually signs with warnings about how to use the appliances. 

No matter how many safety meetings are held or how many signs are posted, there are always a few teens who cannot figure things out. There's always at least one person who pours half a bottle of detergent into a washer, and then wonders why it's overflowing with bubbles. You might get a kid who has no idea how to cook the aforementioned ramen noodles, and cooks them for so long that the water evaporates and scorches the food. These well-meaning but clueless kiddos can really wreak some havoc if they're not supervised… just like the students in the story below. 

Next up, read this story of a Florida couple who just wanted to improve their roofs, only to encounter an HOA with a vendetta. 

Occasionally, employees discover a loophole within their company's various policies that will make the experience of working at said company all the more palatable. When one discovers a loophole like this, it's important to tell no one. You don't want people catching on, not even your work husband/wife. You just keep doing you, until your scheming comes to light. Most of the time, management is so clumsy and disorganized that nothing ever really does come to light.

This thread was posted to Reddit's r/MaliciousCompliance subreddit by an employee who had to call in sick for several days. When they felt well enough to work half days remotely again, their manager started giving them a hard time about not filling their time-tracking sheet well enough. That's when OP realized that this business just so happened to prioritize sick days over working half days because of the messiness of the time-tracking policy. Cue malicious compliance!

Keep scrolling below for the full story and for the best reactions in the comments section. For more, here's a story about a former employee demanding their overdue final payment.

Interviewing is exhausting. You update your resume 14 times, change your cover letters, and rewrite your personal statement more times than you can count before you're even offered an interview. It may be a sweet moment when you score your first call-back, but your job search has only just begun. 

Nowadays, it's not uncommon to have 6+ rounds of interviews before setting foot in HR's onboarding office. With that many hurdles between you and your next paycheck, the job search has never been more challenging and has never required this much endurance. 

In our next story, one man gets tripped up at the finish line of a prized job position, going through multiple rounds of interviews before his prospective employer pulls the rug out from underneath him. Scroll for the entire story (that may just turn into a discrimination case in court) of an employer who royally wasted an interviewee's time. 

Every single person in the world had a package misdelivered at some point. It's a right of passage to adulthood, you simply can not argue with that. But, the question of who's at fault when that happens, and who is to blame, is a completely different issue. Well, 99% of the time it's the delivery company's fault, that is why people don't like them. But on some occasions, they actually do a decent job. 

Like in this Reddit story, in which a post office worker had to deal not only with a Karen, but with a shopaholic Karen at that. The post office would deliver her 1 to 2 packages every single day while Karen would complain nonstop about her packages being misdelivered, simply because she never checks her mailbox. The final draw was when she screamed at a poor postmaster, which led to the post office worker deciding to altogether stop delivering to this Karen.

Scroll down for her reaction and the full story. Once you are done, click here for a story of a woman who had to confront her coworker because he kept eating his lunch at her desk.

It couldn't be clearer that this manager had zero idea what she was doing. At least that's what her employee, u/DangerPaladin55, explains in their story about the department they ran a few decades ago. 

Workplaces are ever-changing. At corporations with hundreds of employees, workers are hired and fired each day. Turnover is much more noticeable at small companies, though. Hiring the right person can make a huge difference. Having someone who gets along well with everyone can change the workplace. Adding a boss who really listens to their employees and empowers them can also be a total game-changer. The power of people who really care about their work is a force to be reckoned with.

But, as you probably know if you've ever worked in an office, change isn't always positive in nature. Some people come along and bring drama to the workplace (lunch thieves, we're talking about you!). Other times, it's a personality clash that takes a few months to overcome. 

This consulting company was left in ruins after hiring a few bad managers in a row. The OP writes that their director chose to hire a friend who was "horrifically underqualified," with a fake resume. Oh, and not to mention that this woman knew quite literally nothing about her field. It was a disaster in the making, and you can read all about it below. After that, this student was asked to turn on their camera on a Zoom call at an inopportune time, so they maliciously complied with their school's wishes. 

It's critical that you and your landlord get along. Maintaining a positive relationship with your landlord could make or break the rest of your stay at that specific apartment complex. But what if, in spite of all your hard efforts, your landlord still considers you offensive? 

In the story below, a furious tenant recounts how he's devised the perfect scheme to exact revenge on his entitled landlord. For context, let me say that OP and his partner recently moved into a new apartment building, but before they signed the lease, they made sure to become familiar with the rules of the building. And yet, there was nothing they could have done to prepare for the day when their landlord would utterly quit on them and forfeit his 'official' landlord responsibilities.

Having said that, read the story below to find out more about the specifics of OP's confrontation with his landlord and how OP got even! When you're done, don't forget to read this story about the entitled customer who fabricated an allergy claim to guarantee a customized dinner!

Trying to wrest your deposit back from a surly landlord is like trying to convince a dog to give you a share of his dinner… As in, it's not going to happen without a fight. It's not like your landlord is going to growl and potentially bite you… but it's also not entirely out of the question. Regardless, good luck getting much from either; your landlord considered that "deposit" to be his as soon as it hit his bank account. Never mind the fact that the place was in a state and no cleaning was done before you moved in… or the fact that he proceeded to do zero maintenance during the duration of your tenancy.

All this tenant wanted was to get his deposit back from his terrible landlord, who had originally been a longtime friend of the family. They say never to mix personal relationships and business, and for good reason… Soon, the arrangement went completely sideways due to the landlord being generally unhinged and unrealistic about the entire thing. After moving out of a spotless apartment only to be charged additional fees in addition to his initial deposit, it was time for the gloves to come off.

Reading a petty back-and-forth between an employer and an employee is like watching a taboo tennis match. With each message, we fully gasped as the ball was hit into the other person's court and then smashed back. Like tennis, it takes skill and confidence to talk back to your employer with carefully crafted messages full of facts and receipts. 

This employee knew what they were doing and had nothing to lose as it seemed clear they were prepared to leave. They shared this post via this thread on Reddit, which includes a series of emails in which OP's manager tried to pressure them to come in on the weekend despite OP's clear unavailability due to a second job. Of course, the manager played it all innocent and claimed they did not know about OP's other commitments, to which OP fired back with the truth and nothing but the truth. Well, that's not exactly the case. They also fired back with a resignation letter.

Keep scrolling below for the full story. When you're done, check out this post about an ex-employee who was denied their rightful final payment.

It's a funny thing, really, leaving a job. One day, a huge part of your life is handling the trials and tribulations of your role, the emotional turmoil of navigating the uniquely terrible sociopolitical drama of your workplace, and the stress of your capricious boss's unpredictable reactions; the next, none of it matters anymore—you're never stepping foot back there again. Of course, the trauma and lasting burnout may take some time to rebound from, but ten years down the track, the very worst memories of your working life will fade like a photograph in the sun. You might even look back on them and laugh.

That is, of course, unless your old job refuses to let you leave your old life behind, calling you years later to ask you questions about your role that should have been handed over during your notice period but weren't because they failed to even acknowledge your resignation until your final days. Heck, they might even call you ten years later demanding that you come in and work a shift, just like Redditor 
u/Bumwungle shared having happened to them ten years after leaving a role.

To turn the tides of empathy, scammers will say just about anything. In the hopes of getting whatever they want from their targets– money, favors, mercy– scammy strangers try to manipulate the emotions of the situation. Like the guy in our next story, who desperately approached a random person in the gas station, begging to borrow 10€ so he could drive to see his dying mother one last time. 

Jeez, who could say no to that? 

However, u/Titahn took him at his word. One word specifically… "Borrow". Although OP knew he'd never see that 10€ again, since the stranger was so adamant about paying him back (even offering his contact information to follow up), OP's generosity quickly became intertwined with mischief. Scroll for the entire story of how one man's thoughtful gesture made a scammy stranger quickly regret giving him his phone number to follow up. After this, here's another playful prank played on another deserving target, this time to see about a horse. 

The emergency room can be a messy, chaotic place. While nurses are trained to work closely with the ambulance drivers coming through the door carting mortally wounded cargo, valuable time can be wasted in all the 'he said, she said'. Although everyone's just here to help save the lives of innocent strangers, there's an unseen hierarchy within the ranks of any hospital that would make patients sick to their stomachs. 

In an environment where doctors are comparing their knowledge and intellect, the patient's real needs can get lost in the kerfuffle. Just like in our next story…

If there is one thing sure in life, it's that Karens are gonna Karen. There's no stopping it. If they have their eyes on the tantrum-prize, nothing can simmer down that entitlement bubbling up inside. One theory is that Karens have zero empathy; they are simply unable to see anything from anyone else's point of view. Makes sense, really, once you see them in the wild. 

Sometimes you can repeat yourself a thousand times and be as crystal clear as possible, and someone will still misunderstand you. Like, how much more do you need to spell it out? You literally spelled it out with written words multiple times. You would think this only happens from time to time, but nope. It happens all the time! 

It seemed to happen recently when these veteran homeowners sold their house to some first-time homebuyers. Now, they're not trying to play the blame game here, where the words got confused, they don't know and, honestly, they don't care. They put everything in writing and they are in the clear. Now, the new homeowners are in a pickle, but that's just how the cookie crumbles sometimes. So, to give a quick synopsis, the house they sold has an inground pool and the new homeowners demanded the storage bins be removed or no sale. They tried to explain that those bins contained everything you needed to care for the pool, but their agent insisted that they be removed. So they did just that, and lo and behold, the new homeowners are confused about why the pool equipment was removed. It's too late to get them back now and too late to back out of the deal. What would you do if you were in the shoes of the home-seller or the homebuyer? Read the entire pickle below! 

Want more neighborhood drama? Check this story out here!

How many chances should these interviewers have given their candidates? A lot of these interviewers were surprisingly lenient on their interviewees. 

Going for a job interview is one of those universally scary human experiences. Whether you're 15 or 55, it's still a nerve-wracking endeavor each time. You've got to print out your resumes, read up on the company, iron that business suit, and show up early with a smile on your face. If that seems like just the bare minimum for you, just read these anecdotes. It'll make you feel so much better about that one interview you completely bombed. 

I had no idea how many people like to show up to job interviews in dirty clothing! U/scorpioskillz asked, "Interviewers of Reddit, what's the worst interview you have ever conducted?" and the answers were stunning. A few of these managers greeted their job candidates only to realize the candidate was wearing a grubby tee shirt and shorts. Others didn't have a resume printed out, so they typed a sentence or two and called that their resume. 

Aside from that, a lot of folks just did not understand that if they act weirdly toward their interviewer or the receptionist, the job is not going to be theirs. Never ever underestimate office receptionists: they run everything, and their opinions can decide your fate. 

Check out these stories, then read about some people who acted totally ungrateful, like one woman who threw a tantrum over a laptop because it "wasn't brand new." 

Sometimes, the only way to get someone to leave you alone is to play the game for a bit and wait until the perfect moment for payback. This rideshare driver decided that his female colleague needed guidance, so he took her under his wing. At this point, it sounds like the intentions are well-meaning, but it gets worse really quickly. First, he started to give the Redditor tons of unsolicited advice about her eating. Big red flag right there! Then, he buys her a brand-new iPhone using his mother's money because he claimed that she would need it for work (of course, she had a perfectly well-functioning phone of her own). Then, he insisted that he turn the tracking on her device so he can make sure she is safe at all times.

That's when OP realized she could not let this go on forever. She agreed to help drive a buddy of his to the airport when he was already busy so she could meet up with him afterward and return the phone. As the day approached, the mansplaining stalker started making more and more demands about how his buddy preferred his rides to the airport. All of this started to feel less like a favor and more like a test, so that's when OP decided to stop giving into him. Keep scrolling below for the epic two-part petty revenge. When you're done, here's a story about a teenager who got back at his boss after his pay was unfairly docked.

Micromanaging the wrong person turned this boss's day into a giant headache. 

Some people are born leaders. Others are pushed into leadership positions with no idea what they're doing. They need to make it look like they know what they're doing, though, so they figure the best course of action is to start bossing their workers around. 

What they don't realize is that many workers are already performing at the top of their game, and they're self-motivated, too. So when a manager steps in and starts looking at all their work with a magnifying glass, they're thrown off guard. That was certainly the case with u/SadowSon, an employee at an events department who did a lot of work on the tech side of the business. The OP writes that they not only did their job, but also helped out in other areas due to a weird organization style. At least they tried to help out, until their boss stepped in with some highly specific orders. 

Check out this great malicious compliance story below. The OP also took to the comments section to add more details. Then, this woman found a little bit of damage to her lawn and flipped out, but that only made things 100% worse.