People Share The Moment They Were Being A Total Jerk By Accident

Most of us go through our lives at least trying to be nice to the people we meet and interact with every day. We smile, we wave, we hold doors open, we pick up dropped items, etc. People generally try to be nice to each other, unless there is some mitigating factor. Just a stranger, though? We’ll be polite because it’s our nature… or just because we want the same in return, depending upon how cynical you want to be. No matter the reason behind it, however, the fact remains that people are generally polite and kind to each other.

While we might try to be nice all the time, we are only human, and human beings make mistakes. A simple mistake, a mishap, a miscommunication, can turn a kind act into an accidental act of meanness very easily. When that happens, a person can find themselves realizing they are a jerk! This is an uncomfortable realization for most people (though some people seem to embrace jerkhood), but thankfully, it’s usually easy enough to apologize and make amends.
The stories below are written by people who did something that made them a jerk, but they didn’t realize the cruelty of the act until afterward.

These people were mean without realizing it, even if it may have seemed obvious to someone else, the writer’s intention was nice. Maybe we can all recognize some things from these stories that can help us not to be accidental jerks as well.

42. Helpful Boyfriend Even In The Face Of Complaints

“I was 23 when I found out that I needed glasses for being nearsighted. I did not take the news well. I did not want to wear glasses. My boyfriend went to the store with me and pointed out frames he thought would work well for my face, and he said very encouraging things, while I b***hed non-stop about how ugly they all were.

Then a woman who was also browsing in the store turned to me and said ‘Could I borrow him? He is so helpful!’ I was ashamed to realize how I was taking out being upset about my vision on this great boyfriend (now husband).” headcase-and-a-half
41. Realizing The Pain She Caused To A Friend

“In 6th grade, there was this girl (Lily) who was bullied A LOT by my circle of friends. I always considered myself ‘one of the good ones’ because I was never mean to her. I wasn’t nice either, though. I just ignored her.

Lily lived down the street from me and over the summer we became the best of friends.

It was the first time I felt like someone actually understood me and I could be my real self without fear of being made fun of.

I didn’t really see any of my other friends that summer, but I don’t remember why. I just know that I never told them about Lily and I didn’t have to because they lived pretty far away so we never ran into them.

Well, the day before school starts, I’m starting to get nervous about how my friends (and the rest of the school) are going to react to me hanging out with Lily. It was a small school so people actually cared about this stuff.

I decided I didn’t want to be a target for their bullying just by associating with Lily.

So I call her up and pretend to cry and make up this dramatic story about how one of my friends saw Lily at the store talking to this other girl about me, saying the meanest stuff. Lily cried and tried to convince me it wasn’t true and I hung up on her.

I tried to convince myself that I wasn’t an ***** ********************because I didn’t actively participate in bullying Lily. But within a couple of weeks, I knew what I did was way worse.

We are actually friends now, and have been for the last 15 years.

I was her maid of honor and she’s my son’s godmother.” veryveryplain

40. Hollering At A Person With An Illness, Not A Drunk

“I was in college, freshman year. It must have been 3AM, and I am outside my dorm smoking a cigarette and hammered. Drunk children are everywhere, coming home from parties. What a time to be alive.

This dude comes STAGGERING up to the building. Not a leg under him. I was in awe.

‘DUDE! YA! YOU ARE ROCKED BUD, THAT’S AWESOME! HAHA OH MAN COLLEGE RULES! WOOOO!’

He didn’t say anything, just hobbled past me into the building.

Couple days later I am up at the campus center.

I see drunk bro. He…he has crutches. Oh.

Oh no.

He has muscular dystrophy, or some sort of serious illness.

‘Oh my god.’

I’ve never felt like such an *****. I don’t know why he didn’t have crutches at 3AM. It didn’t matter though. I only drunkenly hooted and hollered at people I knew after that.

Ugh.” soomuchcoffee

39. Bouncy Place Was Next Door

“I was taking my 5 year old son to a birthday party at one of those bouncy-kid-party places, it was in a business park and I was having a **** of a time finding it among the labyrinth of buildings. Finally I turn a corner and on the sidewalk I see a kid of about 8 bouncing frantically up and down standing next his mother.

I smile, probably demonically, give the mother a aren’t-kids-wacky look, rolling my eyes, and point at the kid, and yell ‘this must be the place!’ Then I pull around the building and see that the business they are standing in front of is not the crazy fun kid bouncy place, but in fact it is a center for children with autism and behavioral problems. The bouncy place was in the next building over.” [deleted]

38. The Stairs Blended In

“Ok, this one still makes me cringe to think about, and was embarrassing enough that it made it into my best man’s speech at my wedding:

I got married 5 and a bit years ago in a castle just outside Edinburgh.

When getting everything in place my (now) wife and I had to make a bunch of weekend trips to Edinburgh, and so we made them little holidays while we were there.

On one trip, we were joined by my best man and his (now) wife. After getting all the day’s jobs out the way we decided to pop to the Museum of Scotland in the center of the city. On the 6th floor there is a panoramic terrace that gives amazing views out over the whole city. On a good day you can see from Arthur’s Seat to Edinburgh Castle and beyond.

…the only problem was it was very popular, and the only way up or down was via a single lift that only fitted about 6 people at a time.

We were in a LONG queue for the lift (probably 20 mins or so), and as we were getting near the front a guy in a wheelchair turned up with his family and went straight to the front of the queue.

…Which I didn’t think was ok. So I decided to tell him and said something like;

‘Look mate, I’m really sorry about your disability, and I strongly support EQUAL rights for everyone; especially for disabilities.

But this lift is the only way up to the roof, so everyone is in the same boat in this long queue.

If there was another way up, I’d be all for you skipping the line and I’d totally support it, coz you’d need it more than us. But there aren’t any stairs, so I don’t see why you should get to skip the queue just coz you’re in a wheelchair.’

In all honesty, I really don’t know what got into me to even make me say that. I wouldn’t normally pick an issue like that.

…but what made it REALLY awkward was, just as I finished, a door opened next to the lift.

Now I want to stress that this door had NO signage at all and actually blended into the wall from the corridor we were in. …but yeah, it was a couple of people coming down the stairs.

At that moment, all I could think was “Oh S**t, I’m an *****”” HooksaN

37. Yes, Someone Died

“I was walking through the hallway at school and passed a group of students looking really somber being escorted to the headmaster’s office by another teacher. Presuming that they’d been caught doing something they shouldn’t have been and without really thinking I said half under my breath ‘Did someone die or something?’.

Turns out they were all siblings and had just been told that their mother had died of breast cancer. They were being taken to see their dad in the head teacher’s office.” WArslett
36. Trying To Tickle, Not Hurt

“When I was 10, one of my friends who was a girl accidentally tripped me and I got mud all over my new sweater. I really didn’t mind, but the rest of our group of friends immediately went ‘Ooooooh! She ruined your sweater!!! What’re you gonna do!?’

Instinctively I put her in a joke headlock and poked her in the side trying to tickle her.

We were all laughing but when I let her go, I saw that she was crying. We just awkwardly walked away from each other.

The odd thing is that we remained close friends after the incident, and it was never brought up again.” p480n

35. Joke With Extremely Bad Taste, Looking Back

“At a house party/gathering, drinking with friends and some girls. One girl, we’ll call Jenny I was friends with, I think she had a crush on me. Another girl said ‘Hey, are you drunk enough to kiss Jenny yet?’

I said ‘Not even close.’

I have a habit of saying distasteful jokes without thinking, but that one really made me feel like a complete piece of s**t on self reflection.” Wils82

34. Haunted By A Moment Of Angry Rudeness

“I’m generally polite and live in the South so it’s customary to hold open the door, say thank you and so on.

A couple years ago I noticed a lot of people just started walking through without saying anything so one day, in which I was in a particularly bad mood, I decided screw it….I’m done being polite. I was walking into a convenience store and noticed someone walking behind me but just let the door fly open. When I got inside i noticed that I had just let the door fall back on a little old lady. It still haunts me honestly.

After that I decided I would be polite no matter what, whether or not it’s returned.” jlanger23

33. A Formative Moment For A Child, Rejection For A Nice Lady

“As a small kid, I used to be into toy cars.

For my eight birthday, an older lady that came by our house frequently gave me a nice toy car, but I was growing out of them around that period. I tossed it aside and said I didn’t like it.

That lady was the cleaning lady, who had to work in her later years because her husband was a mean drunk who needed a lot of medical care, and still spent loads of money on booze. She was nearly destitute (her children had to drop her inheritance because it was less than the debts they’d also have to take on) and she bought me a really nice toy car, which I tossed right in front of her eyes.

It may be a formative moment from my youth and all that jazz, but for her it was a rejection by a kid she evidently really liked, who disregarded her because she wasn’t rich enough. I feel like a complete and utter c**t for doing that.” DavidHewlett

32. Not The Reaction Generous Aunt And Uncle Expected

“I had finished my high school exams and my uncle and aunt had invited me over for a feast.

The spread was beautiful. We had dessert in the living room when they both walked towards me with a big smile on their faces. In their hands was a lil gift box.

They said they were proud of me for finishing school and this was a lil surprise from them.

AND of course, i was super grateful n all and i started to open the gift, inside i saw a watch box, i was excited … i like watches.

As i get deeper into the box and open the lid.. i see that there’s a gold watch sittin there looking at my face. Now…y’all don’t know this… i don’t like gold or bling or stuff like that. Not my style. Don’t get me wrong, all those people who do sport it on look amazing. I have nothing against the stylez.

Coming back though… The whole time i had been unwrapping this ‘surprise of a b****’ my uncle and aunt had been waiting for a reaction. Those poor ******** all they wanted was to make me happy…

And all i could manage was …. “Oh….”

That was my “Oh crap, I’m an a**ole” moment.” theInvisibleLunatic

31. There Was A Reason For The Sunglasses

“Meeting people on the web. A lot of guys wear sunglasses in a bunch of their pictures. I come across one with sunglasses in EVERY picture.

Instead of just saying hi, I message the guy saying ‘every picture has sunglasses, do you have eyes?’

He responded, kindly informing me that he was in fact blind.

BUT he did have eyeballs.

It didn’t work out.” criticasartist

30. Her Heartfelt Confession Was “A Good Read”

“Back in high school in one of my classes there was this really nice girl that I sat next to. When I say nice I mean the sweetest, most kind person you would ever meet. We were good friends but she liked me a bit more than friends and I just never picked up the hints. Well one day we were texting like usual and we get to the topic of who we had a crush on. I told her I didn’t like anyone at the moment.

She then told me she had a crush on me. I pushed a little further and she poured her feelings out to me for several texts in an extremely nice and well thought out text about how she felt about me. I responded ‘lol what a good read.’ She even gave me chances to back track but I DIDNT. I went on to tell her I wouldn’t ever see her that way and I thought it was funny she had a crush on me. I still to this day like 8 years later feel like the biggest ***** on the face of the planet for it.

Oh and after that day we kind of stopped talking altogether where she just never responded to any of my texts or anything.

Edit: Just a quick note, I did end up apologizing to her about the whole thing because it wasn’t until about a week later where I started to feel bad. But the apology didn’t happen until we were back at school about 2 months later and even then, she could not get away from me any faster. Like she tried walking away as I was saying sorry. Also, we were about 17-18 at the time because this was going into my senior year.

I was a huge ***** to this girl.” ctn0726

29. Harassing A Forgetful Father

“Backstory: My dad has a habit for moving things around the house while cleaning up and forgetting where he put a certain item. It’s become a running joke with our family. We constantly allude to him hiding our keys and our phones whenever we can’t find them.

Skip to last Saturday.

I was looking for a guitar pedal I had let him borrow and could not find it anywhere. I opened up cabinets, dug through a closet, rummaged through drawers looking for this thing. Throughout the entire search I’m gradually getting angrier asking where he might have put it and his response slowly shifts from ‘I did NOT touch your guitar pedal’ to ‘I can’t remember if I touched your guitar pedal, I’m not sure’.

After searching and ranting about my dad’s terrible habit of hiding things from us for roughly an hour I gave up. I knew that he had cleaned the house up and I just knew that my guitar pedal was hidden away in some dresser or cardboard box, I was positive of it.

Defeated, I head upstairs to get on my computer and as I’m sitting down I see a familiar object in the corner of my eye.

The F**KING pedal.

The moment I see it my memories of setting it down next to my desk come rushing back to me. My dad was telling the truth, he absolutely did not touch it.

I felt like the biggest ***** for not only harassing my father about the location of something so meaningless, but also making him question his own sanity in the process.

^{and yes, I apologized profusely}

TL;DR: I accidentally gaslit my own father” Killen4money

28. Insulting The Mother In Front Of The Daughter

“I had this teacher that I really hated in high school, we’ll call her “Mrs. K.” I had to take her class and I was VP of the club she supervised, so I had to interact with Mrs. K a lot.

She had a daughter in my grade, but they had different last names so I never made the direct connection in my head.

I’m not too talkative, but one day at lunch, I go on an aggressive 5 minute rant about how much I hate Mrs. K and how she’s my least favorite person in the world. No one else around me is really saying anything and I can’t figure out why. Then I look across the table and see this Mrs. K’s daughter across for me and I finally make the connection and it hits me like a ton of bricks.

She didn’t say anything, but the anger and frustration shown on her face was frightening. Not knowing what to do and being awkward af, I just let out a soft “just kidding” and her and her friends get up and leave.

TD;LR: I accidentally talked s**t about a classmate’s mom to their face.” thekillacam21

27. From Crush To Unwelcome Reminder

“I had a crush on a boy named Eddie at school. I was almost 13 and he was the first boy I’d ever been attracted to. It was such a weird feeling. I’d had lusty feelings for celebrities but never someone in real life.

My brilliant way of getting him to notice me was to tease him. I said to my best friend that he looked a bit like Odie from Garfield. The name stuck. I was never a bully. I didn’t even think of it as real teasing.

Then one afternoon Eddie and I were the last to leave class and I was like ‘Hurry up Odie!’. I expected him to laugh. Instead he went up to the teacher and said ‘Mrs Shan can you please tell Laura to stop calling me Odie. The teasing is really getting to me.’

It was like a bomb dropped on my soul. I had no idea I was upsetting him. I apologised to him but the crush died after that. He just became a reminder of what an ******** I’d been.

EDIT: I realise it was bullying now, of course. The moment he told the teacher I realised.

It’s why the crush died because the boy became a symbol of what an overwhelming ******** I’d been. It was like staring into a mirror and really not liking what I saw. Also – the feeling didn’t die because he’d showed vulnerability/sensitivity. I’ve always hated “macho” type dudes. I go for the sensitive, creative weirdos mostly.” HiMyNameIsLaura
26. Being A Jerk By Absence

“I cut all ties with my best friend because I couldn’t stand him anymore suddenly. I don’t know why, I just didn’t wanted to be around him anymore. He did nothing wrong and nothing changed. I just wanted some time for myself basically but I never really explained that to him, it was pretty much an ***** move.” KevitoMG

25. She Has A Reason To Nap

“In high school this girl would sleep through every class.

So one day I decide that I want to take a nap too. The teacher wakes me and tells me to pay attention. I say ‘But that girl gets to sleep every day and you wake me up’. I could tell this teacher was pissed and I had no idea why she was so mad. So she keeps me after class to tell me ‘you’re a f**king *****”. I was shocked that she called me that but I asked ‘why does she get to sleep and I don’t’. The teacher said ‘because she has cancer’. Yeah, I was definitely a **** *****.” spyderman4g63
24. Realized It Was Better To Recommend Than Belittle

“A few years ago I was talking with a friend and I mentioned the band Rage Against the Machine.

He had never heard of them. I instantly started acting like an obnoxious *****: ‘you don’t know Rage Against the Machine? Tom Morello? Zach de la Rocha? Bulls on parade? Sleep now in the fire? F**king ‘Killing in the name of’? Have you been living inside a bunker? Yadda yadda yadda…’

Then, in a sudden moment of clarity, it hit me: Rage Against the Machine’s debut album came out when I was 2 and I didn’t discover them until my late teens. For almost 15 years someone could’ve been an equal ***** to me for not being aware of their existence.

That’s the moment I stopped giving people s**t for not knowing a certain artist/movie/book/whatever the f**k.

It’s better to recommend some cool s**t to a friend than being an elitist little turd.” vprad

23. Told The Wrong Joke For That Party

“My friends invented me to a girls house who also had a couple girls friends over. 3 guys, 3 girls, everything was going great. They put on a movie, ‘Something About Mary’ and we all sort of cuddled up next to the girl we were feeling and right out the gate, the wiener caught in a zipper scene comes on and we all laugh and I go. ‘Ahhh man, I’d literally shoot my self in the face if that happened’.

………my friends eyes immediately widened like a f**king owl and stares at me shaking his head ‘No’ as the laughter dies into chuckles and then………’anyone want any drinks?’ My friend says, with a ‘get your *** in the kitchen’ look.

We walk in there, and he is like, ‘bro…her dad shot himself in the head last weekend, that is why her friends are all here and invited everyone over to kind of help her forget about it.’

SMH….that would have been some nice info going in.” Coboblack

22. Crush On The Wrong Boy

“When I was a freshman, I was talking to one of my guy friends about our upcoming homecoming dance.

I was secretly hoping he would ask me to the dance, but he kept bringing up his friends instead. When he said, ‘What would you say if Joey asked you?’ I responded ‘I’d rather go alone.’ hoping he’d get the hint and ask me himself. He started awkwardly laughing, and said he had to go. He texted me a few minutes later telling me that Joey had been listening in and was pretty upset. I tried to apologize to Joey, but the damage was done. He ended up not going to the dance at all, and rarely spoke to me after that.

I found out later that he had a crush on me and had an elaborate plan set up to ask me to the dance that evening, and already had flowers. I still cringe when I see his name somewhere. Poor guy.” Threwthelookingl***
21. She Was Doing A Worthwhile Job

“This student teacher at my high school was stocking one of the vending machines. I go over and say hi and something to the effect of, ‘so they’re giving you all the crap jobs now.’ She’s like, ‘nah, I have fun doing this.’ As I walk away a bunch of special ed. kids round the corner and come over to help her and I suddenly realize: they have the special ed kids restock the vending machines and her job for the day was helping them.” Eulers_ID

20. A Jerk To Mr. Snail

“As a kid my Dad sponsored a friend of his to live in Australia and he was the most positive and nicest guy I’ve ever met but he would sweat like no other.

His body would look like he was dumped in a vat of oil and my sister and I nicknamed him Snail because of how slimy his skin was. He’d try to be friends with me, try to speak English and hug me but I’d physically retch and grimace at being near him. He eventually stopped coming near me and realised I was an ********.” jim_deneke
19. His Ten Thousand Dollar Moment

“I used to make a good deal of money by today’s standards. I did it risking my life and limb on a daily basis while working far from home so I don’t recommend.

But there was this one time the then wife and I had spent an hour shopping for groceries and got up to the checkout only to have my debit card declined. Being the a**hole I can be on occasion, when the checker told me I would need to use another ‘valid’ form of payment, I blurted out, ‘I just deposited 10 grand into that account, run it again!’ It of course went through the second time, but I never did live down what the ex called my ‘ten thousand dollar moment’.” IntlMysteryMan
18. Anonymous Angsty Moments Comments

“When I was a teenager in the early 1990s I was pretty active in the local BBS scene.

I was pretty antagonistic, getting into flame wars with people on various message boards. For me it was just a fun thing to do, I didn’t take it really seriously. Apparently I was really good at making my screeds incredibly personal however, and it finally reached a tipping point.

One of the sysops of one of the larger boards in my area called my house one afternoon after I got home from school and asked to talk to me. He was an older guy, and was basically like ‘Look, I think I get what’s going on. You’ve got some pent up angst, you’re a 16 year old kid, that happens.

But you’re really pushing things too far lately and a lot of people are privately complaining to me and other sysops about you. You’re obviously smart and can be a nice guy, which is why you haven’t been outright banned, but when you go off the handle it’s just getting to be too much.’

I was really taken by surprise. Like I said, to me it was really just a little game. Antagonize people semi-anonymously and get out some anger in a somewhat creative fashion. Really opened my eyes though and made me take a step back and look at how I presented myself on the web.

I was also impressed that this guy took the effort to find my phone number and call me up to talk as opposed to just banding together with other sysops and banning me.

I can’t say that it 100% changed me, but I took on a much friendlier tone and realized that I didn’t have to be an insulting ***** to have fun on the web. In retrospect it was a pretty formative moment. I’m also glad that all of those posts were probably deleted long ago. I’d be pretty embarrassed to read them today.” bg-j38

17. Drenching The Homeless

“It rained a few days ago in Los Angeles and created some decent puddles on certain streets.

I went out looking for those puddles to check for leaks in my car’s undercarriage (previously fixed, but unable to verify due to lack of rain/water/etc in the SoCal drought).

Wellllll, there was this one particular puddle that I drove deeply into REPEATEDLY… on maybe the 3rd pass I hear someone yelling in the distance. I turn around down the street to come back for another pass when I realize that on the other side of the fence (which was supposed to be an empty lot adjacent to the freeway overpass that the puddle was next to) had some homeless people living in it.

I absolutely drenched them at least 4 times in a row. 3 times before they started yelling.

I went home and checked my floors for water and dampness, and felt like a complete ***** for maybe another 10 minutes before forgetting the whole thing – until this post. Thanks.” Empyrealist

16. Jerk With A Snowball

“Running from bar to bar on the evening of a heavy snow storm back in college I jokingly threw a snowball at my then girlfriend as she was crossing a relatively busy street. It hit her right in the stomach and the shock made her slip and fall down in the middle of the street.

I realized I was an idiot as cars started to drive towards her I ran over and helped her up and get across the street. She was less than happy with me at the time but I’m wifing up that lady in 3 months and we still sort of laugh about it today.” ridemooses
15. Cleavage By Picasso

“I winded up going out with my first girlfriend (from high school freshman year) again later in my 20s and I found out that I had assisted in giving her a small insecurity complex that lead to her getting minor breast augmentation surgery. When I asked her about the surgery she said ‘You don’t remember? I was really nervous about showing you them at the time (meaning high school/her chest) and when I did you were such an *****.’ I was completely shocked and in disbelief.

I had no recollection of doing, or saying, anything hurtful and I couldn’t imagine myself being cruel to her. ‘It couldn’t have been that bad,’ I argued. To which she said ‘…When I finally showed you them, you said “Oh wow! It’s like a Picasso!”‘

I think at the time I was just making an observation and since I sincerely thought her cubistic cleavage looked great, I didn’t realize that those words were harmful.” BaldOrBread

14. Breaking The Cycle Of Jerkdom

“My mom loaned out my brothers and I to people around town to work on their farm or ranch, clean up their yards, move people across the state, all during the summer when I was a kid.

We would get a tiny amount for ourselves, the rest went to bills. Well my brothers and I saved all of our money for a month and then bought one of those large inflatable pools for like $250 at Wal-Mart. We used it all summer, we would body slam the wasps that dare land in our pool. But my mom decided to go through one of her crazy episodes where she would make everyone miserable for no reason, rip everything out of your room. Throw the art you made for her in class at you, just to make you feel like s**t.

She had many ‘I’m an ******,’ except she never acknowledged it. But one day, during her week long episode, she decided she hated the pool and wanted it gone before she got back. Well the b***h was gonna be back in like thirty minutes, so me being the angry 11 year old I was, I went into the kitchen, grabbed the biggest knife I could find and stabbed the f**king pool, with all of my anger. My brothers ran out with just the saddest looks on their faces. Me, the youngest brother causing those two strong people I looked up to, to feel so sad.

I looked down at the slit in the pool, it’s pouring out the pools chlorinated tears. That’s when I realized that I was an a**hole. I let someone else’s poor actions bring me down to the same level as them. And I hurt others because of it. I’ve never been the same. I learned empathy that day.” QuakerMoats
13. Is Your Name A Joke?

“Last year on a road trip we stopped to get some food. The 17 ish year old kid that brought it to us had on a name tag that said Anakin. I didn’t mean for it to come out the way it did, but I said

‘is that your real name or is it a joke?’

Before I asked the question, I was thinking about the fact that in the restaurants I’ve worked in there had been several times I saw people have joke name tags that were either a reference to something or just not their name.

But as soon as the words escaped my mouth, I knew I sounded like an *****. I died on the inside when I saw that kids face as he said ‘it’s my real name’ and told me to have a good night.” shinyrox

12. Exposing A Friend’s Embarrassment

“At a bonfire in highschool, friend who always wore a hat walks by, I snatch it off his head and start running, he catches up to me and tackles me from behind, quickly taking his hat back and putting it on.

Not really my style to f**k with people’s headwear, but alcohol is a helluva drug when you’re 16.

Turns out he’d been struggling with premature baldness, and just had a (turned out to be unsuccessful) hair transplant leaving a very noticeable mark on the back of his head amongst other negative side effects. It was odd enough for most to see him without a hat on (which I didn’t see because I was running away), but the transplant was apparently very shocking to his friends. Found out the next day what had happened. Never touched another persons head/hat after that.

Was getting big into strength training at the time and contacted him about joining me at the gym, he took me up on it and we both made it a lifestyle until about 30 years of age.

By then a lot of our friends were going through various stages of hair loss and he didn’t feel so self conscious. Good ending, but an ***** move at the time.” ELDubCan

11. Realizing Childish Selfishness As An Adult

“When I was in high school my friends and I used to put together these scavenger hunts where instead of finding things people had to do things. It was mostly pretty innocent dumb stuff like eat 6 raw eggs or argue with a street sign for 5 minutes.

Anyway, one day we had a hunt planned, but it started raining so we went into the Water Tower Place in downtown Chicago to wait it out.

While there we got the idea to play a giant game of tag since we couldn’t do the scavenger hunt. There were about 10 of us total just chasing each other around throughout all the stores and floors and we were having a blast. About 15-20 minutes into the game me and a couple of other people that were around me got stopped by a security guard. They were kicking us out for what we were doing.

One rule of the hunt was everything you did needed to be documented in some way, so I had a digital camera on me. This was back before everyone had the means to record on them and the security guard had no idea I was video taping him as he escorted us out. We all of course thought it was hilarious and I fair that we were.being licked out for having a little fun.

Fast forward to years later and I’m working as a cashier at Borders. A couple of little kids start chasing each other in the store and end up knocking over a display. I had to go and clean it while these kids ran away laughing, which annoyed me. It was then that it hit me; “Holy s**t, we were being such ******.” We had definitely knocked over quite a bit of displays that day, which was part of the reason they had security guards escort us out. We were probably such a huge pain in the a** to a lot of people that day, but we just didn’t see it that way because we were dumb teenagers.” -eDgAR-

10. Jerk Husband Apologizes In A Hurry

“My wife started a new job.

So she needs to leave home early. We discussed and decided that she will walk to the train station (10 mins walk) everyday. For the past few days she’s been getting up late and I drive her to the station. Today she was up early and insisted that I drop her. I was like ‘really! Ugh.. Ok but from tomorrow if you are on time please walk it up’

When I returned home after dropping her, my lunch box was packed, coffee machine was ready just had to press the brew button. At that time I realized I’m such an a**hole. Called her up immediately and told her I will drop her to the station whenever she wants.” the_known_stranger

9. Jerk Comment Well Received

“So I’m at the local wine shoppe down the street, buying a bottle of bubbly to celebrate a friend’s promotion at work.

I mention the occasion to the fellow manning the till, as I’m a fairly regular customer, and he smiles and says ‘Let’s make it really nice with a snazzy bottle sleeve and some ribbons.’ This sounds great and the bottle slips easily into the bag, but I notice he’s having some trouble with the ribbon, and can’t seem to get it tied. I ask ‘Do you need a hand with that?’ just as I recall that this is the cashier with the prosthetic hand and forearm, and that that is almost certainly the source of his bow-tying struggle.

He smirks, pops off his prosthesis, and says ‘Nah, I’ve already got one, how about you?’ He then laughs it off as I apologise profusely, but I felt like a total ****” Azryhael

8. Worst Possible Timing To Make Leave That Voicemail

“A few years ago I asked my boss for the afternoon off to take my mother to a mammogram (breast cancer screening).

They’d recalled her after the first scan and she was really scared about it. My boss said it was fine, and mentioned that his sister had breast cancer and he was helping to look after her.

When the results came in I called him and left a voicemail that it was clear, and we were really relieved. Turns out he didn’t answer because his sister had died of her cancer that day.

I still cringe.” The0isaZero

7. Her Mom Doesn’t Get Around At All

“My friend and I were talking to a girl in high school geometry. She was talking about her large family which had a lot of half and step siblings.

I said ‘sounds like your mom got around’ to which she responded with ‘my mom’s dead.’ I felt absolutely horrified and terrible” Dinglepussers

6. Taking Advantage Of A Schoolmate’s Misery

“A classmate in high school died in a horrible car wreck right in front of the school. Any student who wanted to could take the day off could do so, to go his funeral and the services. He was universally liked by everyone and the entire school left to pay their respects. I sort of knew him.

I took that opportunity to go to Best Buy and buy a Sega Dreamcast on launch day” KRUNKWIZARD

5. No Polite Answer To Her Question

“A few years ago I served food at an event held by the cultural center I worked for on my college campus.

The event was totally free to attend. I was dishing out meat to those who chose to come, we had chicken and barbecue ribs. A girl walks up and our conversation goes as follows.

Me: Chicken or Ribs? Her: What’s the difference? Me: … This ones Chicken. This one’s Ribs.

My manager approached me later and said he was moving me to drinks because APPARENTLY I was rude to her. When it was brought up at a staff meeting I asked, ‘Well what was I supposed to say?’

They all laughed at me. Apparently I’m an *****. Still have no idea what I was supposed to say.” MarshmallowMorgasaur

4. Just Needed Directions, But Got The Cold Shoulder

“People would always ask me for money during my walk through downtown, going to work.

It became exhausting sometimes, because everybody had a sob story and they all wanted 20 minutes to tell it to you. One day a guy walked up to me, made eye contact, then opened his mouth to ask a question. I looked away and walked right past him. Within seconds I heard him ask somebody behind me where the courthouse was. I felt like like such an *****.” pnw_wander
3. A Childish Moment That Still Hurts

“A little late, but when I was in like 4th grade, my dad got remarried, and eventually, my stepmother announced that she was pregnant. I was a little bit upset, since kid me was still bitter about my parent’s divorce, custody battle, etc.

and the thought of another sibling from a different mother seemed like salt in the wound for some reason in my mind. Some time later, over dinner, it ended up being announced that she wasn’t going to have the kid anymore. When I heard this, I clenched my first, pumped it in the air, and said ‘Yessssss.’ My stepmother ran out of the kitchen, followed by my dad. I sat there for a while, eating, and when my dad came back, I asked why my stepmom ran away. He then explained the concept of a miscarriage to me. I still feel awful about it to this day.

Edit: She cried in the bathroom. For the rest of the night.” CaptainKinzel

2. Forgot About Petitioner

“Some guy came onto my lawn at night and started putting a yard sign in it. I saw him and ran out side and yelled, ‘What the f**k do you think you are doing?’ He started to respond ‘Putting a sign…’ I cut him off and said ‘Not in my yard you’re not.’ I had given him permission weeks ago after he knocked on my door and asked me to sign a petition.” niquattx

1. Yelling About A Game

“When I realised I was yelling at my lifelong friends over League of Legends which upon reflection was no longer fun for me to play.

It was only fun to win and most of the time it felt more exhausting than anything. I quit that day and never played again” snailygoat