Revenge is delicious

I never thought baking delicious brownies could be implemented as a revenge tactic. Being 100% honest, I don't even think the people who ate them understood it as such, but I've now got to a way deeper realization: Maybe the only one who needs to feel the revenge worked is the one who did it. It would all be better that way; we would live in a world full of sweet, harmless revenges that satisfy the avenger only while nobody else notices. Let's read this Redditor's story and evaluate if he's the only one who understood it as revenge, or if it was so perfect and elegant that I can't fully comprehend it.

If a customer service person says they "cannot help you," it just means that you have to find someone else in their business who can.

There is no problem that a customer or a client of a business might have that the business cannot solve. They might not want to or think it's too much effort, so they tell you there's "nothing they can do". But there is always someone out there with the tools to help you, all you have to do is find a way to go over the heads of those who refuse to help and find the ones who will never turn their back on a customer.

But you have to be resilient for that to work. You have to be ready to put in the work and do the research to find the one person who can help you out. Because as soon as that one customer service worker tells you they can't help you, you are on your own. It's up to you to find the solution.

The bank customer who shared the story below on Reddit's r/pettyrevenge knew exactly how to get what they wanted, even when they were met with a refusal to help. The customer service lady who was supposed to help them solve their issue first said there was nothing she could do, and then stopped answering the phone altogether. The customer knew someone in the bank must have the answer to the problem, so they decided to get their attention no matter what.

So, they went on the bank's website, pulled up the email address of every person who has an important-sounding job title, and emailed them all an explanation of the situation, including the conversation with the unhelpful customer service lady.

It took a total of 10 minutes for them to get a reply saying that the issue was solved, from none other than the lady who claimed she could do nothing to help. Funny how that changed as soon as someone higher up found out about the issue…

Why do some guest thing that they are more important than others? Is the fact that they have to pay for service what makes them think that they are the most important thing in the world?

Entitled people are everywhere, but they show themselves mostly as customers in the service industry. With their pride and sense of being the most powerful human beings on Earth. Disrespect and impoliteness always appear just when the employee serving them thinks they were good customers. They are always demanding things, as if they deserved more than what they receive. Is funny because they think that, but don't argue to validate that thought, is like them saying they deserved comp food because it wasn't to their liking when they have already finished eating it. And all of this nonsense is always accompanied by some derogatory way of speaking or a lack of manners.

In this Reddit story, we are just getting a peek at front desk employees' work life. Full of people who think they deserve more than anybody else. But why is that? Is the money they have to pay what makes them think they deserve the world? Is the fact that they believe that employees work for them and not for a company? Is it to get better things? I really don't know what the cause is, but I do know that they wouldn't want to be treated like this if they were in that position. 

That is why ex-serving employees are always the kindest and nicest customers you are ever going to encounter. They are respectable, they talk in a calm tone, and they wait for their turn. Yes, the simplest things. But unfortunately, acting like this isn't as obvious for some people as it should be, and it isn't about being dumb or clever, is about manners and respect. So if you hear yourselves being an annoying customer, calm down, say sorry, and behave like a normal person. Nobody owes you anything, and you aren't the most important thing in the world. 
 

Maybe we're the chatbots after all

I admit it: I have a complex relationship with ChatGPT, and by complex, I mean I use it to think through pretty much most of my decisions. I'm a writer, so I'm used to developing ideas through text in a couple of languages. I also write short stories, and every day I write in my diary; still, today, I asked ChatGPT for help with writing a WhatsApp message. In my defense, it was a tough message to write emotionally, but still. In the end, when she (yes, she) gave me her version, I was like : yes, this is correct, it is well-structured and assertive, but I want to be human. The text message didn't by no means capture the depth of what I was feeling, and while it communicated a very clean, honest, and impartial take, I needed it to be short-sighted, personal, and raw. Perfect feelings are not feelings. In the end, I ditched the version the chatbot gave me, and I stuck to mine. Maybe one day we'll all realize that we need more honesty and more biased opinions to create a fruitful diversity of experiences and life. Anyway, I digress; what happened to this employee is likely to start happening way more often, and I think he found a clever way to resolve it. It doesn't resolve the issue deeply, but it creates gaps through which the light can hopefully begin to come in.

Calling someone "money-obsessed" for asking to split the bills fairly isn't the move you think it is.

A guilt trip only works if the other person forgets they're allowed to have limits, and this mom is running the playbook perfectly. Comparing her daughter to a "better" sibling, crying over unanswered texts, and reframing a rent increase as betrayal are all classic moves to avoid an uncomfortable conversation about contribution. The real issue was never $180 versus $500it's who gets to decide what's fair in someone else's home.

Unemployment is hard enough. Having hiring managers also be horrible towards candidates.

Sometimes hiring managers aren't the nicest people. They are just doing their job: reviewing thousands of resumes, having a lot of interviews a day, and having to put up with bosses who demand the research for a new employee to be finished quickly. Their job is hard, actually. But that doesn't mean that they are great. Is common to encounter recruiters who don't want to hear you, who show clearly how uninterested they feel towards you, and who dismiss you before you even finish talking about your experience. The job market is crazy nowadays, and all the new tips that human resources share to "get the job" make it harder. It seems like for each candidacy you need a whole new resume. 

Those impossible standards have made it impossible for normal employees to land usual jobs. Before, you used to enter a diner that had a "help wanted" sign on the door, and they would hire you even without experience. Not even junior positions need a bachelor's degree. Is completely insane, which makes candidates tense and desperate just to simply land an interview. That's why I believe, that recruiters should be nicer to customers who are putting themselves out there just so they can someday get a job. 

This Reddit story is pretty sad. The company had a valuable candidate who wanted the job so much that they came in person to introduce themselves to the hiring manager. They went above and beyond to make themselves noticeable and stop being just another number that applied online. That is very valuable. But the recruiter didn't seem to notice that, or even care enough. Maybe having so restrictive policies about hiring has made everything worse, especially if it ends up blocking valuable candidates to favor the ones that simply know how to use LinkedIn or how to make their resume pretty. They care so much about a perfect interview that they forget to notice that the most important thing is their character and work ethic.
 

You can be very good at your job, but unfortunately, some mistakes cannot be allowed.

A 19-year-old girl stands out because she's intelligent and proves to be good at her job. A manager sees that and decides that when they change companies, she should come as well. The girl gets excited about this opportunity, but this doesn't last long. This young employee, who was so bright for some things, is dumb for others and doesn't bother to care for her job. She performs well, and no critics about her is formed, but she does use the company equipment to search for things like "I hate my boss". This is not only flagged by IT, but also brought to her boss directly as a concern. Her boss starts looking into it and finds a public social media account filled with posts bashing her manager, the company, and the amount that she gets paid.

When you are a great employee who is actually good at their job, there are certain benefits that you get that other workers don't. This applies to mistakes. When a normal employee makes a mistake, that can be cause enough to be fired on the spot. But when an amazing employee makes the same exact mistake, they just get a calm warning not to repeat it. This system works because it rewards good workers and protects them, but it has its flaws. In this Reddit story, for example, even though they have a great young employee who has proven to be valuable, they still need to fire her. She could argue that it was her first mistake, that she has never caused problems before, and that it will never happen again. But unfortunately, the mistake is big enough for her to get directly fired.

It's actually quite sad this girl's story. What she did was extremely dumb, but it didn't seem like such a huge problem. Maybe a warning would have been enough. Luckily for her, she's 19 years old. She has a long life ahead of her and an especially long work path. 
 

Landlords have this magic trick where money leaves your account in three seconds flat but somehow takes six to eight business weeks to come back, like it's traveling by camel instead of ACH transfer. Same bank, same portal, same company, completely different laws of physics depending on which direction the cash is flowing.

Isn't it a bit ironic that someone insists that their spouse take their last name, but then gets angry when that last name becomes part of their professional identity? 

You can't pressure someone into changing their legal name, watch them build a career under it, and then expect that changing it back is no longer a simple personal decision. 

That's what happened in this story. The woman never wanted to change her last name in the first place, but he insisted. She explained to him why it mattered professionally to keep hers. She had a PhD in computer science, academic publications, research work, and a growing professional reputation tied to her name. So it was reasonable that she didn't want to change it. Still, he insisted. He even called it a dealbreaker for him. Even worse, his reaction sounded like he liked that changing her name would make it harder for her to leave. And that's not romantic, and not healthy at all. That's controlling. Red flags had been there since the beginning.

Now that she has actually left him, he wants the opposite. The name he once demanded she take is now something she is "stealing" from him. That's not how names work. She legally changed it, published academic papers under it, built a professional career under it, and became known by it. Changing the last name again would create professional confusion.

 She is not wrong for keeping the name. If anything, this is the consequence of his own demand. so he'll have to deal with it. He wanted her career tied to his last name? Well, now it is. 

Over-non-reacting

Since when has shutting down and going quiet been considered overreacting? Of course, it can be used to make someone else furious, but I don't think this is the case. Sometimes, when you receive a complaint in the form of aggression, the best you can do is stay silent and wait a while until, eventually, you are able to talk about it with the other person in a more mature manner. Insecurities are tough to handle, and when you are young and inexperienced, you tend to express them in a not very constructive way. Sometimes we do that even if we're not young; we're human, but let's see whether the boyfriend handled the situation empathetically and elegantly or if he should've done something different.

Where did memes start?

That is the wrong question to ask. You should be asking yourself, why? Why were memes invented? Were they born or invented? They blossomed on the internet due to a necessity for laughter and joy. The internet can be a dark place, but because of memes, we are safe. And when is the best time to scroll through memes? I mean, whenever your heart desires! But I like to recommend scrolling on the company's dime. I'm a lucky gal and get paid to meme, so I'm already at work scrolling all day. But not everyone is that lucky! 

So many of us have had to sit through meetings that could've been an email. Or have days where we don't have anything to do but don't want to ask for more stuff to do, so we just scroll on our laptops. Scroll through what? Well, the boss thinks you're scrolling through emails and spreadsheets or whatever, but we all know the truth. You're scrolling through memes. As you should! 

Stop letting those emails find you and start letting the memes flow. Send them to your work bestie, your mom, heck, even your therapist! It's a meme world, baby. We just live in it. 

Have you ever felt ripped off after getting something you wanted? Yeah, we've all been there once or twice.

The problem with romanticizing anything is that you get easily disappointed. Granted, you must have some kind of optimism in your life, otherwise, everything looks worse than it is. But you also need to be realistic: not everything is as good as it looks. It's a balancing act. Apply it to people, objects, experiences, jobs, or whatever you want.  

The problem most of us have is managing expectations. If we don't like the situations we're in at the moment, we believe anything else will be better. However, the grass is not always greener on the other side. There are ups and downs for everything we do. 

In the workplace, it's easy to think quitting and taking any other job is better. We hate our jobs so we want to quit and do anything else. But that "anything else" can be worse than what we originally had. That's exactly what happened to Redditor u/K0ff33H03, who got an office job and was, initially, thrilled. That was until she found herself overworked and underpaid, taking care of someone else's chores and having little time to do anything else. It got so bad that she started thinking it might be a good idea to go back to work in the fast food industry. 

Usually we all want to get away from fast food and onto something a little bit more stable. She got it and didn't like it. Office jobs are not for everybody, that's true, and perhaps she will be happier with going back to McDonald's or wherever. Cheers to this girl for finding out her true calling!

Divorce is not only separating from your spouse, but it's also separating your whole life and responsibilities in half, and not everyone is good at managing that. 

When two people decide to file for divorce, they are often only thinking about separating from each other forever, as if that was what it was entitled to. It isn't. Divorce is not only about the couple itself, but it's also about everything that they had, whether that is a house or even children. When you get married, you're not only deciding to spend your life with someone. You're also agreeing to share everything that you have with someone else. You decide to form a family (even if that is only you two). Marriage is not only a way to celebrate love, but is also an agreement, a contract. And like every contract, you have to do your part. 

Unlike just being in a relationship without making the big step to marriage, when you are married, you have obligations when married and when divorced. These are things you have to do, and can't renounce. Even when the couple is completely separated, you still have to be obliged to certain things, such as child support, for example. If you had a kid during that marriage, you will have to either be the primary caregiver or provide enough money for the kid to live. This is usually the biggest problem when couples get a divorce. They think that their responsibilities are over. They aren't. You still have to care for your kid, and that is the number one priority. 

This Reddit story got me to think that sometimes things aren't so linear. Even though the main priority is to care for your child, maybe sometimes you could have a valid reason to not do it for a while. And that doesn't mean that the kid stops being the number one priority. It just shows that not everything can be the exact same for everyone. That is why court is always the best option to settle things up in the best and most fair way possible. Prioritizing the child's interests, but at the same time, not putting impossible standards on an unemployed person. 

Blame the planner, not the wedding

This is one of those stories where I understand where everything is coming from, and then it gets to a point where I say, hey, you could've just gotten a new wedding planner; cancelling the wedding was not necessary. But well, maybe through all those issues they realized a marriage ceremony wasn't as necessary, and they could just enjoy their love as it was and not get caught up in social ways of demonstrating it.

Maybe situations like this teach us that weddings should start to feel more like intimate celebrations with our loved ones and less like TikTok-approved, beautiful reels. To me, the self-proclaimed wedding planner is obviously in the wrong about this situation. It would've been much worse to follow along with the planning and have an insane wedding.

Isn't family supposed to support you?

It's always the ones you love the most that take the most out of you. Why? Because it's not just romantic love that blinds us, it's all kinds of love. You blow up at your brother, and it's horrible. But if you look closer, it's beautiful that you are so close with someone that you feel free to be able to allow yourself to voice such anger. You wouldn't yell at anybody else like that! Your mom makes you dinner every night, and then one night she is too tired, and now you don't know what you're going to eat! How annoying, right? Or maybe you should see that you're lucky to never have to worry about dinner; your mother made sure of that. Your feelings are valid; you are allowed to feel frustrated and angry, and the ones you love the most. It's a privilege! But just remember to always be thankful that you have that ability and make sure you know you are never entitled to it just because you love each other. 

Unfortunately, that's easier said than done. When you're in the midst of crashing out because your loved one did something that upset you, it's hard to see past the red and appreciate the big emotions you feel comfortable having with them. In the case of Redditor u/Brilliant-Jacket9000, her family stopped appreciating her efforts during her mom's birthday. She would go all out, cook, decorate, and everything! Nobody would ever help or say thank you, and they just expected it every year. So after 5 years, she called it quits, and the family blew up at her. They were unable to see what a privilege they had. 

Luckily, she stood her ground, and they went out. Her family is still acting entitled, but the rest of the internet has her back!

Does helping a family member mean giving them unlimited second chances?

An older brother reached out to the community in r/AITH because he needs some help with the tight situation he's having with his younger brother. After the sibling lost his job, the homeowner agreed to have him move in for two months until he got back on his feet. Things didn't go as planned, since he ended up staying for nine months, a period during which he did not help with any chores or pay rent. Eventually, he moved in with a friend. Now, their landlord wants to sell the house, so he asked his older brother to move back in, and he refused.

This story showcases perfectly what a family conflict really is. Because there's always empathy and love towards your family that makes you want to help them as much as possible. However, if that help is crossing your boundaries, that's when the problem emerges. The older brother is totally entitled to refuse to have his sibling move in with him again, since he already knows how he's going to behave. Here's where the ethics and morals show up to make you feel bad about refusing to help your family.

On the other hand, the family is not trying to fix the situation in any way, shape, or form. On the contrary, they are making the older brother feel selfish and mean for letting the sibling move in with him. But I believe personal boundaries are the best way to keep relationships in check, especially when it comes to family. We're all grown-ups here, and we essentially know how we have to behave when moving in with someone. So, I stand with the OP and with his firm boundaries.

A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do

Sometimes an impossible issue just needs a different person looking at it, or someone who has a higher position in the company to take care of it. Sometimes, something we know is solvable just needs enough insisting until somebody pays enough attention. I think today's story teaches us that nothing is impossible, and that we should call every important person at the bank every single time we need something that's apparently off-limits.

How long should parents tolerate one-sided living arrangements?

A concerned mother reached out to the community in r/family because of the odd situation she's dealing with her daughter-in-law. Apparently, the girl had to leave her home and asked her boyfriend if she could move in with his family to save money. They agreed she'd pay $50 for household expenses, but after two years of living with them, she hasn't contributed to anything, not even paying that money.

We can totally imagine how the mother can feel in this situation. She was kind enough to let the girl move in with them because of the tight financial situation she was in, but at the same time, expected some type of contribution to the expenses. Since she's not having to pay rent, the least she could do is pay those $50 we know she can afford, or help with cooking or cleaning.

Of course, the mother feels a bit out of place if she has to demand the girl to help around, and debates whether talking with her son is going to help with anything at all. It's an awkward conversation to have, since essentially, she's demanding her to behave with manners she had to be taught at home. 

The part that sounds the most complicated to me has to do with the fact that she's not only not contributing at all, but she's also treating the home like it's her own by borrowing things without asking, and not being polite when reminded she needs to pay her part. And also, the worst part of all is that they cannot kick her out! If they agreed to have her move in, then somehow they have to make this work since they will not leave her on the streets!

Have you ever experienced a weird real-life crossover?

You would hardly ever expect to find two people from entirely different circles who know each other. Especially when you personally know both of them and have never introduced them before. Our different social spheres tend to be completely separated: we have co-workers, college friends, childhood friends, family, and more. All of them are neatly organized so they never cross. Mind you, it's not necessarily on purpose; it just happens naturally. And we like it that way; it keeps our thoughts organized. That's why it feels so weird to mix people from different social circles. It's unexpected, and confusing, and we're not sure it's gonna work. 

Reddit user u/Echo-Forge had one of these uncomfortable crossovers. He had been complaining to her girlfriend about his boss for a few months. Not so much, just the normal amount of ranting, and she laughed at the criticism, never mentioning anything else. One day, she posted a video of her new vacuum, and, surprise, the boss commented on it. But that's not the weirdest part. The weirdest part was the boss knowing that it was his employee's house. Talk about an invasion of privacy…

Let's be mature about this. We don't always know EVERYONE our partner knows; that's relatively normal. Especially work people, when we work at different companies. So, it's not impossible that the girlfriend found the boss on Instagram casually (or maybe he found her) and simply started to follow each other without knowing who he was. Maybe they have mutual friends, or live nearby. Who knows? Maybe she didn't know that her boyfriend's boss was the same guy she followed on social media. Maybe he has a really common name, and she didn't put two and two together. Not everything has to be suspicious. 

My biggest question here is: how did the boss know whose house it was? That's suspicious. And that's why I would ask the girlfriend if she knows him in person or knows who he is. Just ask her something, anything, but ask HER.  Let's just start asking our partners about the things that concern us, shall we? I swear, it'll save us a ton of time and lower our stress levels. 

"Dear neighbor, my parking spot isn't emergency parking for your guests."

How many of your neighbors need to be told these exact words? If you ask me, I would have put these words on a billboard and hung it up in the middle of my neighborhood for all residents to see. Every day, someone ignores the clearly assigned parking at our building complex, and every day, another dispute ends up in our communal group chat.

The conversation always goes somewhere along the lines of: "Who parked in parking space number X? That is my spot, and it must be cleared out right now!" Then, after a solid 15 minutes, someone else has the courtesy to finally reply and admit, "That was me, sorry." (The "sorry" is rare, if I'm being completely honest). And then another discussion ensues about the nerves of people who park in a space that isn't assigned to them.

I wish there were a way to get people to respect these rules and not disregard them, but if there is one, I have yet to find it. This means that people like the entitled neighbor in the story below still exist, and still allow themselves to take what isn't rightfully theirs.

The resident who shared this story on r/EntitledPeople arrived home one day to find a stranger's car parked in their assigned space. After some digging, they discovered the car belonged to a neighbor's guest, but even after they confronted the neighbor, the car still remained in the same space. Apparently, the neighbor thought that every single resident had a responsibility to make her guest feel welcomed, including giving up their own parking spots just so the guest wouldn't have to park on the street.

Eventually, the resident managed to put this entitled neighbor in her own spot, and didn't give up until the car was finally moved. Will that stop her from ever doing it again? Only time will tell…