People Share The Most Condescending Comments They Ever Received

There are many reasons why one person may treat or act like a condescending brat to another. First and foremost, maybe they have a terrible case of superiority syndrome and believe no one is at their level both intellectually and in social status. Or perhaps their ingrained sense of righteousness is so large and vast, it is enough to make a medieval king proud.

Either way, when these arrogant fools are exposed for all the world to see their idiocy, it is a sight to behold! Thankfully, with the power of the internet, it is also a story forever to be told and read by others as a cautionary tale not to say condescending things.

Below is a collection of some of the most painfully condescending and arrogant stories we’ve ever had the displeasure of reading. Thankfully, the majority of them have satisfying endings where the conceited villain gets exactly what they deserved!

49. This Rock Climber Showed The Sexist And Arrogant Boulderer What Girls Can Really Do

“So, some background: I’m a competitive rock climber. One day a few college-age guys came into the gym I train at and clearly thought they were hot stuff.

They knew a handful of climbing-specific vernacular and that was it. They, however, thought they could ‘help’ me on a route I was on. I wasn’t just climbing I was doing a sort of exercise, but they were oblivious to that. The two guys kept talking about what I should do. I kept nodding and saying ok. Then things turned, one of the guys said, ‘Hey, don’t feel bad though: girls just aren’t good at rock climbing.’ and that was some *******.* I waited for about an hour till they were working on one specific route and asked if I could hop in. The same guy as earlier was like, ‘Don’t feel bad if you can’t get it, this one’s hard.’ I flew up it.

The guy just stood there baffled, I just walked away. That might be the most technically balanced and flawless climbing I have ever done.” haydenmaybefinch

48. This Tech Made A Fool Of Another Man Infront Of His Senior Management Because Of His Arrogant Comments

“My background has always been in tech (20+ years) which most people glaze over once it’s mentioned – family and friends especially.
I was working for a start-up that was developing an anti-fraud solution (details blurred for privacy) and was working as the product lead before product management was a proper thing. This meant doing a very deep dive into the standards, the tech, the industry etc.

The team I led produced a few really cool pieces of work and I’m named on a number of patents as a result as well as industry publications etc.

As a result of this in-depth knowledge, I was honored to be asked and so consulted with law enforcement agencies (nationally and internationally) on anti-fraud initiatives for over a decade, worked on over 300 criminal cases, attended court as the state expert witness in dozens of cases – you get the idea – I had a bit of a clue.

Cue a couple of years after leaving that space (fraud doesn’t pay well for honest people) and I was invited to attend the leaving party of a senior banking guy. He ran retail fraud for one of the biggest high street banks and I’d made him look very good over the years.

Of course, I’m not in the game anymore so not everyone would recognize me so I’m chatting to the people I knew and making my way around the room as per normal until I get to the circle of the guest of honor.

I’m greeted with a big handshake and a bit of banter,  the usual ‘what are you at these days etc.’  I’m introduced to the group by my new role (completely unrelated industry).

One guy in the circle is middle management and is obviously using this party as a networking opportunity with the ‘higher management’ and is a bit put out so I’m guessing that I’m probably interrupting his flow.
For whatever reason, he decides that the way to make himself look better is to compare the state of my new industry to the bright and shining new financial tech world.

He waxes lyrical about how all of the new tech solutions were making everything so responsive blah blah blah and being a bit of a jerk to be honest so when he mentioned fraud rates I decided to steer him down that path.

Suffice to say, he described how the bank had internally reviewed their approach to how fraud was proactively managed, how the new systems were developed, and how his teams were industry-leading etc.
He proceeded to tell me that I could learn a lot from everything that they’d done as my current role and company (a top-three global pharmaceutical company) was obviously in the dark ages in comparison and that I could personally learn a lot. At this point, the retiree was almost in tears and nearly fell over when I turned and asked him directly, ‘So that transformation program is still delivering the expected results?’
That was the point Mr. Doorknob found out that I was the program director who ran the eight teams of internal resources and external vendors for 14 months and delivered his world.

I’m not sure he ever properly recovered professionally from screwing up in front of his senior management.” wake_iw

47. This Arrogant Man And His Condescending Words Were Cut Short By The Cops

“One day after work, I was walking through the mall around Christmas time. I had a wool coat on and had only left work like 20 minutes earlier. I needed to get some last-minute shopping (I love shoes) done, so to the mall, I went on the way home.

Well, I came across a man who had fallen and was seizing. He was bleeding from the back of his head and actively seizing. A man had grabbed him and was trying to jam a pen into the seizing man’s mouth, ostensibly under the old delusion of sticking something in seizing people’s mouths to keep them from biting their tongue off.

I jumped in and pulled the man’s hand away, cleared, and opened the man’s airway being careful NOT to get my fingers near his mouth.

The man shouted: ‘Who the **** do you think you are?! My (some family member I don’t remember which now) had seizures and this is what we always did.’

I told him, ‘I know what I’m doing sir, please step back.’

The guy was obviously furious and started mumbling not so much under his breath things like ‘If this guy died because this guy tells me off, it is his fault.’

The man was in no danger, the laceration on his head wasn’t bad. A person at kiosk handed me a towel and I held it against the man’s wound while keeping his airway open.

He wasn’t having any trouble breathing and waited for the appropriate personnel to arrive.

A cop comes over along with two medics. Mr.-know-it-all jumps in front of the cop to complain about me and my ‘behavior’. The cop is pretty much ignoring the guy.

I stand up while the man is coming around and we move the man to the stretcher and put some gauze pads on his head wound. He is going to be okay and transported to the ER where he will be evaluated and get a few stitches.

The man, finding no purchase with the cop, starts in on one of the medics. ‘I tried to get something in his mouth but this guy wouldn’t let me! He thinks he is special or something.’

To which the medic calmly says, ‘Well he should.

He is my supervisor.’

The cop is hiding his laughter well. The man just storms off and I get to go scrub ***** off my hands.

It was, however, a very satisfying wash.” [deleted]

Another User Comments:

“Idiot! Didn’t you know the best way to help someone with a seizure is to force as many small objects as you’re able to down their throat? Once they stop breathing, they stop writhing.” euanmac

46. This Riding Instructor Was A Rude, Condescending And Sexist Jerk To A Helpful Doctor

“I am a doctor in the United Kingdom. I went for my compulsory basic training day to learn to ride a motorbike and I was in a group of six others. It was a very hot day and none of us were used to being in full leather.

One of the group’s riders overheated and felt faint and sick, so they took some time out and went to sit down. I went to get him some water and to see if he’s ok but the instructor freaked out and told me to stay away and call for help (the guy was alert and sat up he just needed to cool off).

I again tried to just go over and see if the overheated guy was ok but the instructor kept yelling at me to keep back and that he will handle this. He was completely panicking and yelling at someone to call the medics, as the guy was quite sweaty and faint.
After multiple attempts of telling the instructor that I’m a doctor and if I could just go and see if the guys ok we may not need to call an ambulance, he eventually listened.

After 10 minutes of cooling down and some water, the guy was fine and got picked up. We carried on with our training but not after the instructor asked me how long I’d been a nurse for and why I went into nursing (I’m female and this happens a lot).” phlebolith

Another User Comments:

“My sister is a doctor and my cousin (didn’t even finish college) says he proud of her completing her nursing degree… I wanted to punch him in the face.” DefectMahi

45. This Arrogant Doctor Believed Himself Right…Until He Was Proven Wrong

“I’m an optician. I had a patient who told us he was a doctor and allowed us to assume he was an eye doctor because he was writing his own glasses RXs.

We remade them over and over again because he couldn’t see out of his no-line bifocals. I asked him a few questions, he was having trouble reading, had to tilt his head back. I told him I wanted to adjust his glasses so they sat higher up on his face so he could more naturally look at the reading card and see if the glasses RXs were good or not.

He yells, ‘YOU DONT UNDERSTAND! I HAD SURGERY FOR AN EYE DISEASE YOU HAVE NEVER HEARD OF BEFORE!’ And went on about how it shouldn’t matter how they sit, the RXs are good so it should be good no matter where he looks!
That’s the opposite of reality. Any eye doctor would know this.

A no-line bifocal has your distance RX at the top of the lens and slowly changes into a reading RX as you go towards the bottom. Many times if someone can’t read clearly it’s because they’re looking too high up in their lens, moving the frame up allows them better access to the bottom of the lens.

So I told him if he didn’t want me to adjust them then he can take them home to try to get used to it. He came back the next day, an older coworker gently chewed him out and told him I was right and was trying to help him. The Turns out he’s a lung doctor.” smokesmagoats

44. Judge Me Based On Where My Son Eats In My Own House? No.

“When my younger son was about 2, he was getting speech therapy from an Early Intervention worker due to delays because of having lots of ear infections.

The speech therapist thought she was all that, it was obvious. While were in MY HOUSE, my older son was hungry while she was there. I gave him a banana to eat, which he ate in the living room, where we were with my younger son.

The speech therapist looked at him and said to me “You know that the only proper place for children to eat is at the kitchen table, don’t you? Children should NEVER eat in the living room!”

The woman had no children at the time; she was pregnant with her first child. I was too polite to say what I wanted to say, that she was there to give speech therapy, not parenting advice and that my older son had been a preemie and was underweight, and if he wanted to eat, he could eat wherever he wanted.

Later that day, I think to point out how much she knew, the woman let it drop that she was a graduate of Cornell. I piped up excitedly “Oh, so is my husband!” Which he is.

She looked at me with a look I’ll never forget until the day I die, a look that said “I don’t believe a word you’re saying, you deranged woman!” Then she said, “What dorm was he in, then?” Luckily I did remember and said “He was in one of the U-Halls” That’s a nickname for the section of the campus he was on, sort of the wild section, from what he told me, and not something that everyone would know. She looked stunned. It was like her whole worldview had been ruined.

We live in a house that is not a showplace, to say the least. It’s a solid, good house, but it’s not fancy and it’s not in a fancy neighborhood. Living here has allowed me to stay home with my kids, and it’s been a good choice. But obviously, to that woman, 20 years ago now, it was hard to believe that not everyone fit her view of someone with an Ivy League education (something my husband has encountered a lot in life!)” Source

43. When A Car Salesman Gets Lippy, Better Ask For The Manager

“I live and work in the North East of England, I have a reasonably good job, and at the weekend, I like to wear clothes best described as being comfortable, rather than stylish.

The day in question was one of the three sunny days we get in Newcastle each year, so as I’m follicly challenged (bald) I was also sporting a rather nice baseball cap, actually, it was a golf cap, with the golf brand Calloway written across the front. This has nothing to do with the story. Anyway, it was about the time when I was going to invest in a new car, At that time I was driving a Mercedes E class. I walked into the Mercedes garage, looked at both the C and E classes. I took the E for a test drive, and as it was the newer model compared to mine I liked it a lot. I thanked the salesperson, and while I was there, I decided to take a look at the dealership over the road, which was a Volvo garage.

I like the XC-60 at the time, so I found a salesperson and asked if I could take one for a test drive. The salesman said that he didn’t have any to test drive. Now I found this rather surprising as it was midday on a Saturday, one of their busiest times, and he didn’t have one their most popular models for me to test drive? I questioned this, and I quote “Sir, I have models for people to test drive if they are in a position to buy.” I asked what he meant by this, and his response was “Volvo’s are very expensive cars, are you sure that you have the money to purchase ”

Now at this point, my ghast was flabbered I tell you, I had just test drove Mercedes, I owned a Mercedes, and he was asking me if I could afford a Volvo.

my first question to him was, May I speak with your manager. Manager duly arrives and I explain to him that I have never been so offended in all of my life (I wasn’t really offended, just a little p*ssed off) but he didn’t need to know that.

I went on the explain, that I truly did have the money to purchase a Volvo, and I would never in a month of Sunday’s ever purchase a car from that dealer, and I will also gladly recommend any other garages to my friends who were also looking for cars at the time. The manager was rather taken aback by this, and I did tell him, that just because I was wearing a pair of combat trousers and rough-looking shoes, a Marvel t-shirt, and a baseball cap, does not mean that I cannot afford their cars.

He was very apologetic, but at this point, the damage was done.

On the flip side of this, close to my house is a luxury car dealership – Bentley. and yes I cannot afford one of those, but as my wife and daughters were close by shopping for shoes, which I hate to do, I went for a look at the Bentley’s. the salesperson could not have been more helpful, showing me around the cars, telling me all about them. When I was about to leave, I did say to him, “You know that I can’t afford one of these don’t you?” His response was yes he was aware, but today is Saturday and tonight you may win the lottery, and if I have told you where to go, you wouldn’t come back and buy a luxurious Bentley.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is how to do it.” Source

42. This Arrogant Friend Learned Not To Assume Anyone’s Career Before Asking First

“I met up with some friends I knew and a few people I didn’t know were there. One of them talked a lot and interrupted quite a bit so he was getting on my nerves. My friend said she didn’t feel good and she thought she was getting a sinus infection.

The loud guy interrupts her mid-sentence and says, ‘You don’t have a sinus infection’ while rolling his eyes.
I piped up and said, ‘Thanks for the advice, Doctor.’
To which he said, ‘You know I am a doctor, right?’potatoesaretomatoes

41. When The Customer Is More Knowledgeable Than The Salesman, Its Time To Shut Up

“I was coordinating the installation of close to 2000 televisions on a cruise ship.

One particular install was tricky because it was in a tight space and all the screens were too large.

So I ducked out to a big box store to pick up a smaller screen. The salesman was explaining how difficult it is to install plasma screens (this was a number of years ago) and that I need to hire one of their ‘experts who know which specific monster cable to use’ for optimal viewing.
He kept coming out with a bunch of outright nonsense to try and upsell me. I ended up saying something to the effect of, ‘Listen, mate, I’ve installed more TVs than you’ve had hot dinners so kindly ring up just the tv so I can be on my way’.” Rumplesh*te

40. I May Not Look Like It But That Doesn’t Mean I Am Not

“Those parking stalls are reserved for people that have REAL handicaps and that is NOT YOU!!….”
…yells a decently dressed woman loud enough it sounds like it is in my ear- as she huffs by, and coincidentally (yeah right!) as a police officer comes strolling up to me- one hand clutching a pad of tickets, and the other with a pen.

Me: “Disabilities aren’t always visible….kinda like your ignorance and stupidity which is obviously hidden by your nice clothes!”
LEO: “Ma’am- is this your car?”
Me: “Yes, sir, it is.”
LEO: “Can I have your registration, license, and paperwork that goes with the handicap placard please?”
I hand it all over to him. Everything is in my name.
LEO: “What reasons do you have for being on Stanford grounds?”
Me: “I work here.”
LEO: “Are you the receptionist for these buildings? (he nods to the portables I parked in front of).
Me: “No.”
LEO: “What is the nature of your business here and can anyone validate your employment?”
Me: “I am one of 2 system analysts on a team of 4 that supports a mandated system of record for the ENTIRE UNIVERSITY. Any sponsored research project that is affiliated with the University must come through this system that WE CREATED IN-HOUSE.

Here is my BADGE- I can run into this building and get the Associate Vice President to “validate” my employment here if you think this badge here is FAKE.”
He proceeds to call DMV to “MAKE SURE AND DOUBLE CHECK” that the registration and paperwork (which is FROM THE DMV themselves BTW) is legitimate and even studies the placard to make sure that I didn’t create the placard MYSELF…I even logged into my healthcare app to prove my diagnosis.
After half an hour, he lets me go WITH THE ADVICE AND A WARNING to say that I need to be more careful next time!
….what THE…?!
Let’s rewind to the year before…I had gotten into a car accident and had a handicap placard given to me by my dr.

to use while I was still healing. I was suffering from cervical radiculopathy in C6-7 that caused both of my shoulders, arms, and fingers to go numb or weak.
Due to the difficulty in finding parking at Stanford, my dr. felt that the less I was carrying my laptop bag, my purse and lunch, the less my injuries would become aggravated, so the temporary placard was valid.
Fast forward to 2012….When I stepped out of my car that day, I was dressed in heels and a business suit as I had a meeting that day. I had noticed this woman pull into a couple of stalls next to me out of the corner of my eye, but didn’t really think anything of it as I moved a little slow…..until I heard her storming by me and huffing….
I then realized that she didn’t pass me by until then….
You see- my car that I decided to use that day is a 94 SS Impala that has 22 inch rims.

The paint is matte black, has a major sound system, and a flow master exhaust system, so you could imagine how loud my car is…(my music is usually turned down or off when I’m on University grounds or in residential neighborhoods).
I also am covered in tattoos….
People assumed that I was not entitled to use the handicap placard- the DMV and my drs. notes eventually validated that.
People assumed that I did not belong at Stanford when I parked in the lot due to the car I chose to drive in with that day- that is just one of 4 that I selected.
People assume that I am not educated- I hold a Master’s degree.
People assume that I am poor because I am a single mother- I make a high enough income where I was able to purchase my own home using my own money.

I am not one to flaunt things in someone’s face, however, I will be sure to correct them and let them know if I’m forced to….
I am the complete antonym to the synonyms that people like to assume about me.” Source

39. You’re Friends With The Hostess? I’m The Hostess – With The Mostess

“For many years before retirement, I owned a very large home on several acres in the hills south of San Francisco. I had a barn and many animals (horses, goats, chickens, rabbits, ducks, etc.) on the back couple of acres, and often opened the property to fundraising events. The most fun of these included children (i.e. end of year parties for children with autism or those with vision difficulties) because the kids loved the animals so much, and vice-versa.

However, now and then it would be an “adults only” fundraiser.

One Saturday I hosted a charity benefit fashion show, organized by the local Junior League, to fund one of their children’s charities. It was to be held outside on the property, where they had done a lovely job of arranging tables under the massive walnut trees near the barn – with the fashion show set up to thread among the tables. There were heavy hors d’oeuvres and wine and I was frantically trying to organize my fellow helpers in the kitchen, because things were going extremely well and taking more food and drink than we anticipated. Everyone was so positive and enthusiastic, that the crazy pace was actually fun.

I suddenly heard something rattling in my dining room, and thought one of my cats had jumped on a piece of furniture and knocked something over.

I went to look, and was surprised to see a woman examining the sterling tea service on the sideboard! I knew no one was expected to be in the house, as the entire event was scheduled outside, so I asked her if I could help somehow? She slowly looked me up and down… coldly said “no”… and continued turning over pieces of the tea service to see (I imagine?) if it was sterling or silver plate. Assuming she had paid to be at the event, and thus donated to the charity it benefitted, I gently suggested that she should return outside to her table or she’d be missing the fashion show.

This woman gave me a gradual and very snarky smile – dripping with disdain – and said, “My dear woman… I’m a VERY good friend of the hostess!”

I held out my hand and said, “My memory must be faulty, then.

So nice to meet you…I’m the hostess.”

I thought she’d be mortified (I certainly would have been) but she just stared at me with eyebrows raised, turned away, then walked out the French doors of the dining room and rejoined the event.
She was annoying, but we workers had a good laugh about it in the kitchen!” Source

38. Careful Who You’re Speaking To, You Never Know Who Will Speak Back

“I transferred from a community college to the university in our town. I took my transcripts of classes to the chemistry department to ascertain which, if any, of my community college chemistry classes they would accept toward a chemistry major. The department secretary (or whatever) told me to return another time as the person(s) I needed to speak with weren’t there presently.

I asked when I should return and she just snapped at me, “Sometime later tomorrow!” Well, I realized that this was the start of a new year, a new fall season, and just wrote it off as she was having a bad day.

I turned to leave, and as soon as the door to the outside closed, I realized that I had placed my transcripts and other paperwork on the corner of her desk. I turned and went to retrieve them. As I knocked, she just stared up at me and snapped, “what is it now?” Okay, now she is pushing it!

I apologize for any inconvenience but it seems that I forgot to pick up my file there on the corner of your desk.

I might need it for “sometime later tomorrow,” as you told me, trying to ease the tension she was obviously exhibiting.
She picks up my folder, thrusts it in my direction, and says in her most condescending tone, “You had BETTER keep up with this!”

Me: “I have tried to be patient with your rude behavior, giving you the benefit of ‘perhaps she’s having a bad day.’ But I will not be spoken to as a child! Do YOU understand me?”
Her: Face turns red as she takes her seat.
Me: “I have worked full time and put myself through two years of community college thus far and intend to transfer to this university bringing a 4.0 G.P.A. along with me. This department will be lucky to have me.

Now, while you might speak to an 18- or 19-year-old freshman like this and intimidate them, I am not an 18- or 19-year-old freshman! I am 27 years old and have worked a full- time job since I was 16.
Her: “Oh!”
Me: “Yes. And if there needs to be further discussion on the subject, we can both talk to your dean and perhaps his boss when he does arrive! Is there going to be such a need?”
Her: “Sir, no sir, there won’t be any need to involve them in this.”
Me: “Just for the record, was I in any way rude to you?”
Her: “No sir!”
Me: “Well your attitude says a lot to me about this department. Yours may be the first impression a student gets of this department or university.

Wouldn’t or shouldn’t it be a better one?”
Her: “Yes sir, I am sorry. Please return in one hour and I’ll see that you speak with the right person.”
Me: “Thank you.”

There is simply no room in life for talking down to someone. You don’t know their story. Be kind to one another. Try listening to understand before trying to be understood.
[It’s been quite a while since that encounter but I think I got the gist of it just like it happened. I do recall her fumbling over her words and using “sir” many times. Makes me smile even now.]” Source

37. Talk To Me Under The Influence Like You Don’t Know Me? We Will See About That, Doctor

“In my mid 20s, during the late 1970s, I worked for National Car Rental at the Asheville, North Carolina airport. The airport was small and the three car rental booths were in the main lobby seen by all coming or going or waiting. One night, I worked until the last flight, which came in at 11:05 p.m.

I was tired. It was Friday night and all my friends were out having a fun night. I stood behind the marble counter watching what little activity occurred.

A man came up to the booth. He was nicely dressed. I immediately perked up and asked him how I could be of service. He looked me up and down, as well as he could with a girl behind a booth. He spoke.

“I could take you out to eat somewhere very special, somewhere you’ve never been. I bet you’d pass.” I  raised my eyebrows at his words. I had lived in Asheville my whole life. Where was this somewhere that was new? And pass? For what?
“I could take you to the country club. Would you like that? Would you like to eat at the Biltmore Forest Country Club?” I cringed inside.

He was drunk. Very drunk. And I knew him. I had babysat for him and his wife and their four children. Dr. Jones was a good friend of my parents, especially my father. They played golf together at the Biltmore Forest Country Club. We had been members. I’d eaten there all my life. He didn’t recognize me. Dr. Jones asked again if I’d like to eat with him at the club. I was trying to figure out how to approach this situation. Gently.

“Sir,” I said. “I’ve eaten at Biltmore Forest Country Club.” “Impossible!” he said. “How could a girl working here possibly have eaten at the Club.” That wasn’t a question. He was stating a fact. To himself. Then he said, “Or.

I could take you to the Downtowner Club.” I was both horrified by his behavior and getting p*ssed off. The Downtowner Club was a group my parents belonged to that ate at a restaurant where they and they alone could eat. My parents belonged because of business and didn’t eat there that often. My desire to ever eat at the Downtowner Club was nil, at best. Just a bunch of older people eating and drinking. Whoop-de-do. So I said, “Dr. Jones, you know my father.” “How would I know your father.” Again, not a question. “If you wore a pretty little dress and fixed your hair and makeup, you could go anywhere,” he said. I raised my hand in my head, dying to ask if I could just go home now.

His family would be absolutely horrified by his words and tone. Not just to me, a daughter of a peer, but that he would ever speak to anyone that way. He was a physician. How did he speak to his patients?

A great big sigh and I went ahead and told him I was going to college full-time and working full time, at this very car rental booth. And, he did know my father and my father knew him, they socialized. I didn’t mention golf. I was hoping he’d get bored and go pick on someone else.

The last plane landed and he did take off towards the gate. I was so relieved. I stood at attention in case any stragglers, without a reservation, needed a car, but the office was ready to close down and I could leave for the night in a few minutes.

Then Dr. Jones reappeared. With a woman. They had their arms around each other, like octopi.

“Dot, I want you to meet this pretty little gal. Don’t you think she could fix herself up and make something with her looks?” That was a question for Dot. I looked over at Dot and had to do all I could to not giggle. Dot was a big Texas Blonde with hair that did reach Heaven and she had the make-up to equal the hair. That didn’t make me want to giggle. It was her decision during the landing to apply her lipstick that did. Applied lipstick sans mirror. Dark red lipstick drawn in a line all around her face and never touched her lips.

Like a rodeo clown, but worse.

Dot just smiled at me. Yep. Lots of lipstick went there, on the teeth. Neat trick, Dot. She was so drunk she could barely stand. Dr. Jones asked me if I want to go party with them. I watched them kiss and noodle then I told him I needed to close up the office and that would take a long while. He left me his business card and told me to give him a call if I ever wanted to go somewhere special. I thanked him and scurried into the back of the office and hid there for thirty minutes. No going home on time that night. But, I didn’t want an encounter in the parking lot.

The next day, when I saw my father, I told him all about Dr. Jones and what he had said about me and how he had talked to me. And about Dot. My dad said Dr. Jones had divorced his wife and left his kids recently. I was pretty shocked by that. That wasn’t typical behavior in my parent’s circle.

The following week my father told me he saw Dr. Jones at a function and talked to him. Asked him why he harassed his daughter. “Elliott!” said Dr. Jones, “I would never say anything disrespectful to your daughter. I’m sure that I didn’t ever do anything like that.” My father repeatedly reassured him that he had done so, but Dr. Jones was too drunk that night to ever remember his condescending tone and behavior towards me.

I had always enjoyed babysitting for his family and he paid me a decent amount. I felt less angry at him, more saddened by the turn in his life.

Four months later, my mother told me Dr. Jones had died the night before. He died in a really cheap motel room. Alone. Alcohol poisoning. He drank himself to death. I just sat at the kitchen table with my mother and cried. Then we prayed for his family. How horrible for his children to ever have to pass by that motel and think of their father alone there and dying after he left their beautiful home and the company of his family.

I learned through those five months that if someone is condescending towards me, their tone is a projection of what they actually feel about themselves onto me, that something about me triggers that behavior in them.

I also learned that I know who I am and I don’t ever have to worry if someone thinks I’m less than I am. Who cares. I know my worth. Remember the old childhood ditty of sticks and stones; words hurled at me fall to the floor. I just step over them and walk on in my life.” Source

36. Has A Long Beard, Look Homeless – Isn’t What He Looks Like

“I was the condescending person in this tale. First I will tell on myself here as the actual condescender:

After Hurricane Katrina, I went with a group from my church to Bay St. Louis, MS to help muck out homes that had been flooded and take the walls back to the studs so rebuilding could get started.

It was about 9 months after the hurricane and almost everyone who was still living in Bay St. Louis was living by this large tent and Quonset hut community in the parking lot of what must have been the high school athletic complex.

Every meal, at least 1000 people would gather and eat and go their separate ways. After a few days, I noticed this same elderly man with a pet potbelly pig was always eating at the same table as I was and we started chatting at each meal as we got more familiar with each other. He was probably 75, I was 45. He looked like a biblical Moses with long gray hair and a long gray beard and spoke with a very difficult to understand Creole drawl (I am from Seattle so this was almost like a different language to me).

From our conversation, I think he could tell that I was a relatively successful businessman and our conversations started turning to how poorly the insurance companies were behaving vis a vis funding claims and how if you had a wind policy the company would argue that the damage you had was primarily water damage and vice versa. After a few meals worth of this conversation, I started to pontificate on how he could get a few of his fellow insureds together and hire an attorney to represent them and make them do the right thing. For about 20 minutes I went on and on about the process and how I had prevailed in something similar and even how I had some friends who were lawyers that I could get him in touch with.

He finally took me out of my misery by saying, ‘I understand that legal stuff son, I am a recently retired Federal Judge.’

I had assumed this man had been homeless before the storm and been living out of a tent for years when in actuality his 7,000 square foot mansion right on the gulf had been flattened and that his kids who live farther north in Mississippi (his wife had died a few years earlier) didn’t really have a way to house him and the little pig so he was content just to stay in town for the sake of his pig. Boy did I feel like an idiot, but he appreciated the concern all the same……lesson learned.” Source

35. Yes, I Sometimes Water Plants For A Living – Do You Like My BMW?

“After completing my MBA at the University of Chicago, I bought the business that had kept me employed through summers in high school and college.

It was an interiorscaping, landscaping, and pavement management company. We basically did a lot of the work a property management company would not want to keep a staff on hand to perform.

The company had been super successful and three years after buying it at 26 years old I was featured in the Seattle business journal as an up and coming Seattle businessman.

Like I mentioned I had worked for my company for several years prior to buying it and one day half of our maintenance crew was sick or on vacation and the operations manager needed all hands on deck. I told her I could take care of an account that normally took about 4 hours to service as it had been an account of mine just a few years before and hadn’t really changed that much, so off I went with my watering buckets and watering machine packed into the back of my car.

The account was the local Pepsi bottling plant and NW headquarters. They had beautiful offices and very sophisticated operation. I parked in the back of the building and rolled my equipment toward the front door and saw a man in his mid-thirties also approaching the entrance. Although I got to the door well ahead of him I held the door open for him and as he looked me over he asked me what all the equipment was and I told him it was used to water the plants and he incredulously asked me if I made living watering plants to which I answered ‘yes,’ and he said, ‘I guess that is why it is a good idea to graduate from high school’ with complete contempt in his eyes and turned and walked to the waiting room.

I was speechless.

This was right around the time when The Goodwill Games were about to be played in the Seattle area and Pepsi was a big sponsor and when I walked into the lobby I noticed the man who was responsible for The Goodwill Games waiting to speak to the President of the bottling company. As a boy and through college I had worked part-time for the Seattle Supersonics and this man had been the GM for most of that time, we recognized each other and said hello and he congratulated me on the recent article he saw and I thanked him for giving me my start…in the corner of my eye I noticed the man who had slimed me was watching the whole thing…..I giggled to myself a little, but God was with me that day and the best was yet to come.

There was a man who was a legend in Seattle for playing football for the UW Huskies in the ’50s who then went on to star as a perennial all-pro and eventual Hall of Famer in the NFL. His name was Hugh McElheney and in Seattle, he had a one-word name “The King” he worked in PR for the bottling company and I had gotten to know him pretty well over the years that I had maintained this account. I first met him when I worked for the basketball team and I had a pretty well documented high school athletic career that he was aware of and we would always talk sports whenever we bumped into each other at his office.

As I was walking out of the lobby he was walking in to greet the gentleman from The Goodwill Games and did a double-take of me walking through the lobby and he gave me a big hug and a “hello, how are doing” we talked for about 30 seconds and I was off to do my rounds, again, I could see the guy who had been a jerk watching the whole thing.

It took me about 45 minutes to service the office building and I had purposely left the President’s office for last as it was obvious he was having an important meeting, but he was a cool guy who insisted that I always be allowed into his office to take care of his plants and when I saw his secretary she directed me right into his office where he was meeting with the Jerk, The Goodwill Games guy, and a few others.

The meeting stopped and the President began to introduce me to the guys he was meeting with and then started bragging on me and talking about how I used him and his company in one of my Thesis papers on modernizing production methods to boost profits and company valuations, the Goodwill Games guy commented on how he gave me my first break…..it was almost embarrassing, but I am not going to lie I was enjoying the humiliation it was causing the Jerk guy.

I left to take care of the rest of account and when I went to lunch, as I was walking to my car, an 850 BMW with about 500 miles on it (I have to admit I was a little full of myself at that age), I noticed the Jerk guy slowly walking around my car admiring it.

It was almost cruel as I unlocked the door and he realized it was my car. I think I said something like it is funny how first impressions can sometimes be so wrong or something like that and off I went thanking God for the next several weeks.” Source

34. Think You Know? You Don’t – Let Me Show You

“By one of the nurses at my Dad’s care home.

I’d just finished my studies and had decided to take some time out before getting a job because it was clear that my Dad’s early-onset dementia was getting very bad, very quickly. So I moved home for 6 months to help my parents. The timing worked out well because a month after I moved home, my Dad had a psychotic break and needed to move into a care home.

My mum was too overwhelmed to be able to cope with everything, so the fact I was there and not working meant I was able to sort everything out.

For the few months between Dad going into care and me starting my first job, I visited him every day. One of the senior nurses at the home was a sour-faced Irish woman who used to make comments to her colleagues (that I was clearly meant to overhear) about young people being too lazy to work and living off benefits. I never said anything, I was always polite to her and just acted as if I hadn’t heard her. She just became more blatant with her comments – she clearly thought I was too stupid to realise that they were directed at me, so she just made it more and more obvious.

I continued to ignore it. I didn’t want to p*ss her off by setting her straight in case she took it out on my dad somehow.

The week before I was about to start my new job, I went into the home for a meeting about my Dad’s care plan. Annoyingly it was sour-face who was the nurse attending. While talking to the social worker (who was lovely) she overheard me saying that I’d been a bit bored lately (the context being that I was looking forward to starting work). That’s when sour-face told me to get a job.

I don’t usually show off or act like an ******** about the fact I have a Ph.D. in genetics from Cambridge University, but on this occasion, it seemed like the right thing to do.

I took great enjoyment in telling her that I was starting a new job the following week researching genetic causes of childhood cancers and that it was a nice follow on from my Ph.D. thesis in developmental genetics. I ended my little speech with “oh, and I’ve never claimed benefits in my entire life.” Her face was an absolute picture.

Fortunately, my Dad was moved to a better home with nicer staff soon after that and I put in a written complaint about her.” Source

33. Just Because You’re A Doctor, Doesn’t Mean I Didn’t Get A Good Education

“After college, I was working a manual labor job at a boatyard on the coast of Maine. It was a great gig for a young, unattached guy.

I really enjoyed working on the water in one of the most beautiful spots in the world and doing hard, physical work that got me in pretty good shape.
One day I had a large mechanical component fall on my leg and had to go to the local workman’s comp clinic to get checked out. If you’ve never been to one of these places I’ll set the scene. Some company rents an office suite in the cheapest part of town and furnishes it with the worst fiber-board furniture and cheapest carpet they can find. They staff it with a minimum number of underpaid nurses and few docs who for some reason cannot get jobs in hospitals or private practice. Their job, as they see it, is to treat-and-street, and to reduce costs for whatever insurance company has to pay the bills for workers’ injuries.

It is the worst kind of corporate healthcare.
I was waiting to see the doc for about an hour. This was in the pre-smartphone days and coming right from work where I’d been injured I hadn’t brought my book. The only reading materials were a few back issues of various medical journals that the physicians had left in their shared waiting room. I had been a biology undergrad and had graduated with a degree in anthropology and ecology, so I was interested enough in some of the topics that I began to read and took the journal with me into the exam room. I was pretty interested in the article so I missed the doctor walking in.
He was obviously offended that he had to harrumph to get my attention and said something snarky about my reading material.

I realize what I must have looked like with one leg of my Carharts cut off and ******, wearing a couple of layers of flannels and thermal shirts and smelling like diesel fuel, but whatever. I told the doc that I was interested in the article and he said something like, “Get a lot of call for that kind of stuff where you work, do you?” It was then that I noticed that his undergrad diploma on the wall behind him was from the same university I had graduated from. I asked him who his advisor had been and when he gave me the name I shared that I had had the same undergrad advisor. He seemed a little put-out and when I mentioned that I had earned an undergrad TA slot (pretty uncommon) and had done lab work for that professor the doctor promptly clammed up.

My undergrad record was pretty strong and I might not have gone to the same second-tier Caribbean med school that he had gone to, but I’m pretty sure I could have held my own with that pompous *** in the academic world – and I could rig and tune some of the most expensive yachts in the world to boot.
In the end, he cleared some paperwork and his nurse bound my leg – and I got to return to a fun job in one of the greatest places in the world, while he remained in his cubicle.” Source

32. Just Because I’m A Woman, Doesn’t Mean I Don’t Know My Home

“This has happened on two different occasions. In my home.
The first, I was looking to put in all new hardwood floors into my house.

I’d done a ton of research, knew what I wanted; I just needed the materials and the contractor.
I am a single woman who owns a house. I’m on my second house that I bought and paid for myself, by the way. My father is long out of my life and the other family members who are men live so far away that I had to figure it out on my own.
So I had a bunch of quotes on the hardwood. One company insisted on sending someone to my house. He first asked if we needed to wait for my husband. “No, just me.” He said he wasn’t sure that it was a good idea. I said he could wait outside for someone that looked like a husband.

He then asked if I had a basement. I told him “no”. He asked if I was sure.
I said take a look and be sure to let me know if he found one. Needless to say, he didn’t find a basement or a job that night.< A few years later I needed a new furnace. This was a rush so I didn't have as much research down. First, this one idiot told me my furnace was German and it had to be replaced because it would take 6 weeks to get parts for it (Googling the name on the furnace revealed it was from Texas... did Texas finally secede and become part of Germany?). Then they said they could give me a new furnace for $13-$18k.

I said, “well, what does it cost.” $13k-$18k.
No, if I were writing a check tonight, what would I make the check out for? $13k -$18k.
Finally, they said it would be like $200/month. I tried to explain that it was based on a cost. He argued that when you lease a car that’s all it cost! I said no, the payments are based on what portion of the car you’re using based on a base price. He argued that no, I was an idiot.
Yes, I was the idiot who wrote a check for $8k for a new furnace. To someone else who told me the price…” Source

31. I’m The New Owner, Kindly See You’re Way Out

“I’m not sure if it was ‘advice.’ more of an order.

I was hired by an owner of a home to do some tile work at the front entrance of the home. I really liked this home and was talking to the owner to buy the home off-market. The homeowner had fallen on some hard times financially and was renting out the home and living in a smaller apartment to save some money. I am a property manager/investor and do work like this on apartments. When I have free time I sometimes work for friends. Anyway, it gets to be about 4:00 and I start to clean up and pack my tools so that I can be out of there by 4:30 so as not to bother any of the renters coming home from work.

One of them gets home at about 4:15 and I introduce myself and say I’m just wrapping up for the day. He stares at me and just walks by and goes into his bedroom. He comes out a few minutes later and informs me “I’m going to ask that you leave because we all work in this house and don’t want to be bothered when I get home.” First, I already nicely informed him I was wrapping up and getting out of there. Secondly, I work too. It’s what I was doing right then at the time. I knew he did not consider this “work” because it involved getting your hands dirty and actually, really, working. I was told he worked for some sort of oil company as a landman or someone who works out leases on land to drill for oil and gas.

A few weeks later, I had made friends with the owner of the home and worked out a contract to buy the home. You should have seen the look on his face when I stopped by to deliver the news. A lease actually goes with the property and generally cannot be broken by the new owner. I politely informed him that I would not be renewing his lease and that I would have no problem if he broke the lease early and I would not hold this against him. It’s just that I wanted to move into my new home, and not be bothered by tenants after I get home from work.
It was one of the best moments of my life.

He moved out a few weeks later.” Source

30. Lesson Learned: Don’t Ever Underestimate A Woman In A Gym

“One of the first times I worked out in a new gym, I had some guy try to tell me how I was doing an exercise wrong (I wasn’t).
After listening to his (very) poor explanation of how to do it ‘right’ (of which he still was incorrect), I set him straight, broke down his biomechanics of why he was wrong, and dropped some more science on him. Then I informed him that not only did I have a master’s in exercise science, but I was also a certified personal trainer and trained military for a living.

Bottom line: Just because I’m a girl in a gym, don’t assume I don’t know what I’m doing.” CoffeeAndKBs

Another User Comments:
“I went to a boxing class.

One of the newer (I noticed by his experience) guys started teaching me how to jab right off the bat and I just went with it. Then started teaching me how to move etc.
I never asked him to show me…he approached me and just started.

Then came sparring and I beat the living heck out of him. That’s when he found out he probably should have asked if I boxed before.” [deleted]

29. He Told Them The Software Was Trash Seven Years Prior…But This Company Didn’t Want To Hear It

“One of the big Internet Service Providers hired a company to write new software for them. Essentially to replace the stuff that had been running everything since the mid-late ’80s (honestly, I heard it has some late 70’s roots, but I never looked into it.***)

Any*ways, YEARS* later *they fini*sh and come* to presen*t their n*ew softwa*re to us..*. and it is* ***.

Like worse than absolute garbage.
It is just a front end to the current software and not even a good front end. You need to go into the old software 90% of the time.

In fact, it was SO bad that it had doubled or tripled the work needed to complete tasks because you had to swap between it, the old software, and a 3rd piece of software. I wrote a MASSIVE explanation an hour after the presentation of everything wrong and why we should not use it. And yet, we went live with it three weeks later.

Seven years later, they finally gave up on the software. I had left the company long ago. But my buddy was in the meeting discussing getting rid of it, and gave them a MASSIVE, ‘I told you so.’ And how did he do it? By comparing my seven-year-old e-mail which listed all current and future issues with the software and only took me four hours to discover.

And compared it with their charts, reports, and graphs over seven years and dozens of teams and thousands of employees to discover.

I had nailed every single possible point. He said, even just being the proxy to show them my e-mail felt SO GOOOOOOOD!” oridjiin

28. When This Novice Realized He Was Yelling At An Olympian, He Calmed Down A Tad

“I was working a bicycle race (time trial – all the racers start at different times, so fastest elapsed time wins), and the guy next to me was the race director.

A beginner participant came up after a race and told us we scored him 11 seconds slow – and that he had won the race by more than five seconds. I asked him how he knew (and checked our equipment with a resolution of 0.0005 seconds).

Perhaps he could show us his cycle computer/timer? And he said, ‘Well, I counted in my head. I forgot to start my timer for a bit there.’

So, when we refused to change his time (and have him overwhelmingly win the race), he threw a fit. He started yelling, threatening to call the police for ‘stealing’ his prize money and entry fee. My partner told him to calm down, so the chubby 40-year-old bike racer yelled, ‘WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT BIKE RACING?!’
My partner? He is a literal Olympic gold medalist in bike racing. 1984. Los Angeles.” persondude27

Another User Comments:

“He claimed to have won a time trial on the basis of having counted in his head? That is…I’m not sure what that is.” run_bike_run

27. This Arrogant Woman Made The Rules Was Upset When Someone Played By Them

“I was invited to dinner at someone’s home and there was a grand piano there.

The guests were trying to play (badly) to the point the host closed the piano and said, ‘If you can play Chopin’s Military March, then you’re allowed to play.’ I’m a piano teacher and this song is not difficult. I sat at the bench and this lady stopped me before I lifted the lid.

I looked at her and said, ‘Chopin’s Military March, opus 40, number 1, in A major, right?!’
She gave me a ‘humph!’ And said let’s see you play it.
I played the whole piece… WITH all the repeats. I didn’t miss a note.” Bednars_lovechild69

26. Both The Waiter And This Man’s Date Knew Enough To Keep Their Mouth Shut And Laugh To Themselves

“I did my apprenticeship as a Hotelfachmann (a hotel specialist) here in Germany.

I’m far away from being an expert on wine, whiskey and other alcoholic drinks, but I have a pretty solid knowledge of how they’re made, how to decide what wine goes well with what kind of food and so on.

Countless times I had arrogant snobs in front of me that that wanted to show off in front of friends or their girl. One of my absolute favorites was a guy with his female colleague and he had the ‘authority’ to sign the bills for their stay. After he started off with a lot of nonsense he asked what grapes were used for the … wine. He just said the grape to me, because he couldn’t differentiate between the wines name and the grapes, so I just repeated it.

After that, he asked me what’s the second one. After a bit of confusion and chit chat, it turned out the guy thought that that rose wine is just a mix of red and white wine. The best part was the girl told me the next day that she grew up in one of the biggest wine-growing districts here and almost her whole family works in the business. The wine was still good and expensive enough to keep her mouth shut.” Zee-Utterman

Another User Comments:

“I’ve actually been to a hotel in the Caribbean where they “made” “rosé” wine to serve at dinner by mixing red and white. Yes, it was as awful as it sounds.” [deleted]

25. This Student Destroyed An Arrogant Fool With Wordplay Alone

“This guy from college was an arrogant jerk and no one really liked him.

He would constantly pick arguments with people then throw stuff in their face that was clearly not true just to try to get his way (all while considering himself a high-minded, superior intellectual — actually, he was a reasonably bright guy).

Everyone was so turned off by him that they basically let him do whatever he wanted, which of course just encouraged him more. Well, I’m not one to sit so idly by, and I consider myself of rather higher-than-average argumentative ability, so I engaged him on a subject about which I know an incredible amount.

At first, he was a bit taken aback by the fact that I would willfully engage in a conversation with him, and soon he was even more surprised that I didn’t let him just patiently lie in order to try to dominate the conversation.

Pretty soon though, he was getting extremely angry because I wouldn’t just roll over and let him have his way, so he resorted to calling me an idiot, telling me I didn’t know anything about the subject and generally a bunch of attempts at ad-hominem, degrading tactics (haha, try again – I don’t have thin skin…).

I turned it around on him. I loudly told him that he was an ****** ***** who lied all the time and everyone knew it and the reason most people just let him blather on was that they just thought it was the easiest way to deal with him because in actuality that simply didn’t give a *** about him. Well, I said that in so many words.

I then took control of the argument and blasted everything he said and laid down the facts in a rather blunt and inconsiderate way. Basically, I crushed his soul/world.

All sorts of mutual colleagues and students were around (in the cafeteria) and he knew they heard everything and they said nothing. They could see how I manhandled him (verbally) and there was a lot of staring. When I was finished with him, he was so struck that he was just shaking uncontrollably, so I simply left. I felt a bit bad for him, but I knew what a jerk he was and it was better he got it that way than how else it turned out.

Well, he had a total nervous breakdown, dropped out of school and went back home for several years.

I heard he eventually came back and was a lot nicer (imagine that). I saw him right before I left school there, and he tried to bring it up with me, but I really didn’t feel like discussing it.

I don’t know whatever happened to him beyond that, but that’s the story.” SigmoidFreund

24. This Marine Was On A Such A Tall Power Trip, A Non-Compliment Was Enough To Set Him Off

“I went out to smoke a dart, and this arrogant marine just started giving me *** for no reason. My date complimented his hat because he was openly asking for compliments (he was really drunk) and he started calling me out, ‘You don’t like my hat, bro? What the eff, bro?’ and shoving me a little.

I didn’t say one word to him to indicate I didn’t like his hat, he just had a problem with me not expressing any like for his head-gear.

So, he starts pushing me. I say, listen bro, we don’t have to start anything. He starts yelling at me as loud as he can, saying he can kill a man with two fingers, etc… I thought the situation was ridiculous, so I laughed, still maintaining eye contact. This, of course, just enraged the man more.

It turns out they were leaving without having paid the bill. The cops got there before he started doing anything that would have pushed it over the edge, I told them he was making a scene.

My date totally hooked up with me later that night for holding my ground while trying to smooth things over with someone who obviously just wanted to start ***.” [deleted]

23. After Being Verbally Assaulted, This Arrogant Girl Escalates The Situation And It Took A Turn For The Worst

“A girl felt empowered by the notion that she could assault a man and he would be too proud to report her and obviously couldn’t retaliate (since that would make him in the wrong).

This girl, like many of you, freely felt at the liberty to exploit the system. So, when he was talking to her (verbally abusing her) — she snapped and started screaming and making a scene.

Another man interjected on her behalf and asked, ‘Ma’am, is this man bothering you?’ and she twisted this white knight in her favor. She accused the man (her acquaintance) of having assaulted her in the past many times and ‘coming back from prison’ to harass her.

So, the white knight physically grabbed the man, lifted him, and threw him to the ground on his head and started kicking him out of the establishment. The young man (my friend) refused to retaliate, but he was bleeding from his head and kept trying to inform the white knight that she was lying and she’s a ‘dirty lying wh*re.’

I personally tried telling the white knight that his victim was my friend and that he has never laid a hand on her.

At this point, he stopped being so aggressive but continued arguing with me about the specifics of their relationship. Meanwhile, the girl – upon hearing him calling her a ‘dirty lying wh*re’ slapped the man and spit in his face.

My friend stood up at the doorway and pulled out his cellphone. He called the police. Then, he called his lawyer. We both would not permit them to leave and I tried calmly collecting as much info about them as possible. Lawyer and cops got to the scene pretty quickly. When both arrived at the scene, the police decided to arrest the girl for assault with a bodily fluid and arrest the white knight with battery. He pressed charges on the white knight as well, because that guy was being a jerk.

Furthermore, the lawyer sued the girl for slander (with me and several others who the lawyer and the police took statements from as witnesses) and he’s still collecting checks from her.

My friend gets $240 every month and she had to cover a $9,000 hospital bill because the white knight fractured his skull.” miserablelibertyliberty

22. This Condescending Mechanic Cost The Company Over Three Hundred Dollars In Business

“I don’t know much about cars. Once, I took my car in for an inspection and the mechanic told me I needed new ‘boots’. I asked him what ‘boots’ were just trying to understand why he wanted $300 and he looked at me like I was the dumbest person alive. He then told me I also needed ‘braaaaakes’ real slow, and ‘sweetheart, those are the things that make the car stop.’

I don’t know much about cars.

I knew that I wouldn’t give that ***** a $1 of my money, told them to get my car down, drove it to another mechanic who gladly explained to me what boots are and told me that mine were in good condition and didn’t need to be replaced yet anyway.

*** you, Firestone.” [deleted]

Another User Comments:

“Adding to this car mechanic story… I kept having issues with my first car, but I had to take it to a mechanic my dad is friends with. One time, the guy said, ‘When will your dad stop letting a girl like you drive?’ That *****! I stopped greeting him politely every time I saw him – that showed him!

Actually, it really didn’t and I don’t think he noticed.

Coming from a traditional and strict Asian family, it was good enough for me.” Lshrewsbury

21. Having A Disabled Train Card Makes This Traveller Deal With Many People Who Like To Stereotype

“I have a disabled railcard which gets me a third off train travel because I’ve got epilepsy- it would be illegal for me to drive. When I ask for a train ticket to anywhere, most of the ticket people are fine, but there are one or two who seem to slow down their speech and repeat things (unprompted) for me.

The thing is, they’re doing this out of a sense of trying to be nice and helpful but having been a white middle-class male without epilepsy for most of my life, it’s hard to get used to people making false assumptions and stereotyping me.” Locutus_of_Bored

Another User Comments:

“You should, without missing a beat, return the favor: ‘Are… You… Okay? You… Might… Be… Having… A… Stroke.

Shall… I… Call… A… Doctor?’

Though I’d likely just say, ‘Thank… You… Jerk.'” The_Kiriyama

20. This Arrogant Boss Tried To Have The Employee Manipulate The New Hire Into Quitting

“My boss had me training someone she already knew she didn’t want to hire. Not sure why she continued to waste everyone’s time, but I’ll get to the story.

One morning my boss pulled me into her office and asked me to, basically, say bad things about the company to make the trainee not want to work there and quit herself, taking my boss off the hook of letting her go. As you can tell, my boss is capable of some shady stuff.

The way she asked me to do this (I didn’t, by the way – even though I could have and effectively destroy the company with very TRUE, valid complaints) was as such:

‘Maybe you could, and I know you know how to do this, put some ideas in her head, you know?…’

She emphasized that I ‘knew how to do this’ sort of thing, insinuating that I am an office gossip (a definite lie) and that I’m manipulative (I’m not, and talk about the pot calling the kettle black).

I’m just glad I’m leaving that hellhole in five weeks forever.” [deleted]

19. A Condescending Volunteer Received The Perfect Comeback For Her Stupid Remark

“I was volunteering in Africa and had to share a room with an annoying vegetarian tree-hugger. One of those ‘look at me helping poor people’ volunteers. By the way, I’m Australian – the story will make sense once I point that out.

One night, all of the volunteers were enjoying a few drinks when someone mentions the Southern Cross. This moron-martyr hybrid turns to me, talking slowly she says, ‘Just so you know, the Southern Cross is a constellation.’

I replied, ‘Just so you know, it’s on my nation’s flag.'” phatteos

18. This Member Of The Armed Forced Showed Respect…And The Lieutenant Was Not Pleased

“We had this lieutenant who would get butt-hurt at ranges because nobody saluted her.

It was just an unwritten rule for ranges: we don’t salute, there’s too much important stuff going on to get wrapped up in drill and ceremony.

So, as we are cleaning up the range, she picks up two blocks that we were using for prone support and is walking to the ammunition shed. I’m walking from the ammunition shed and about to pass her. I thought about her always complaining about salutes and got this sh*t-eating grin on my face and saluted her.

She stops and goes,’Oh, you think you’re so funny don’t you specialist?’

Without breaking stride I replied with, ‘Yes ma’am, I really do.'” jack104

17. When A Customer Acts Like The Expert, Sometimes The Expert Is The One Answering The Question

“I had a customer with a question.

I answered the question and it wasn’t the answer they wanted.

They suggested something impossible for the machine/process. I explained why it wouldn’t work and again explained the proper way to do it.

They then replied, ‘What makes you the expert?’

To which I replied, ‘Take a look at Patent Number#xxxxxxxx. It lists me as the machine’s inventor.’

That felt good. That felt really good.”Sxty8

16. Trying To Argue About Music When The Opponent Is A Guitarist Is Probably A Bad Idea

“I was at one of my ex’s parties where most people had a boring IT job, including me. People in those parties had this tendency to showcase how insanely cool their life was. This guy (long hair, beard, tattoo) in particular decided to have an argument with me and started telling me that my taste in music sucks and that I should start listening to some of the non-mainstream stuff.

When I asked him to name a few artists, he mentioned a few names. I told him to look up the guitar player for one of those bands he mentioned…which was me.

It felt good.

He looked at me in disbelief and thought I was messing with him. He didn’t believe when my ex tried telling him and responded by saying, ‘I am not that drunk yet’. It could be because I had completely changed my appearance (cut my hair short, clean shaved). Everybody around was finding the whole thing entertaining.

He looked me up on Facebook and after that, he was convinced. He gave me a hug and took a picture with me before leaving. He also showed up to one of our concerts after that and I gave him free drink coupons.” diablo681

Another User Comments:

“This happened to me too! I had this guy tell me I didn’t listen to real melodic death metal.

One band he mentioned, I was the bass player in and informed him. He didn’t believe me, searched it up and just didn’t know what to do.

Boy, did it feel good.” Googs360

15. This Guy Learned Not To Argue With The Guy Who Wrote The Actual Book

“There was a guy at work who I get on well with.

One day, he was explaining the ‘manual.’ I told him no that’s not how it reads, it links to this and that thing is referenced by that, blah blah.

He gets super defensive and condescending then says, ‘What makes you the ****** expert?’

‘I wrote it.’ Academic ******.” customerservice_28

14. This Guy Wrote The Instructions For Paint And No One Bothered To Read Them

“I had laid out a paint schedule and the product use for my brother-in-law’s home.

I showed up on the job site and found that they were not following my instructions I told them to stop.

That’s when I had a grizzly old painter get in my face demanding who the **** did I think I was.

I reached down and picked up a gallon of paint and said, ‘Do you see this gallon of paint?’

And when he replied yes, I flipped the gallon around and asked him if he could see the directions on the back of the can?

When he replied yes, I said, ‘I wrote them! That’s who the **** I am.’

The painter looked at my brother-in-law, who nodded agreement, and said ‘Oh.’ and went back up his ladder.

I was the technical writer for the paint company at the time.” paintsalesman

Another User Comments:

“Technical writer for a paint company – an important job, but not one you think about being a thing, haha!” JoCalico

13. After Handing An Instruction Manual To The Tech, The Company Failed To Notice The Author’s Name

“I wasn’t granted access to some servers at work because they were mission-critical and only a few people had access to them.

I needed access to the work I was doing and getting other people to do it for me took forever.

After six months of my boss talking to their boss and political back and forth it was agreed that I’m going to be granted limited access to specific things on the server. But it was made clear they didn’t think I knew enough about the subject to be doing this.

So they provided documentation for the correct way these things were supposed to be done. I laughed when I saw it and asked my boss to check the author. I had written those instructions a few years earlier and they had become the official documentation for how to do it.” arguableardvark

12. This Software Tech Writer Told This Angry Cashier How To Do His Job

“I had a cashier get snotty with me when I told him he needed to hit f5 to get back from the credit card screen.

He went into a several-minutes-long tirade about how he had been using the software for years and that’s not how it worked then explained something about computers than on a tangent about how they log his key presses then something about the servers upstairs and how it is connected to the cloud.

I finally had to interrupt him with, ‘Dude, I helped write this software, nothing you said is right.’

And the then stormed off from the register and I just stood there awkward till a manager showed up… and pressed f5.” Mostlyaverageish

Another User Comments:

“This is funny because I work for a point-of-sale software vendor and one of the recent patches causes a bug in the way it handles the manual credit card entry window.

Occasionally it doesn’t close automatically and you have to hit F5 as a workaround to refresh and close it.” grappa

11. This Bar-Goer Was Schooled By A Friendly Member Of The Navy For His Arrogant Comments

“I was getting a drunk at an airport bar next to some guys talking about the recent strikes in Syria. The guy said they launched Tomahawks off the aircraft carrier.

I spoke up (in a friendly way) that it was from a carrier strike group, not the carrier itself. He said ‘No, they launch Tomahawks from the aircraft carrier’.

I said, ‘No, they launch tomcats the aircraft off carriers. But Tomahawk missiles only launch from destroyers cruisers and subs.’

Cue about five minutes of him explaining how he knew a guy who was in the Navy and he was pretty sure he knew what he was talking about.

Mind you, this was a friendly conversation so I got to smile and then drop the bomb on him in an all-around good way that I was a Tomahawk Fire Controlman in the Navy and helped Launch Area coordinate in the Red Sea during the gas attack crisis.” Pencilowner

Another User Comments:

“Yeah, I don’t think you can be a more relevant expert in a field than this, unless you were the control-man who fired the exact missiles he was thinking of.” ObieKaybee

10. This Cabbie Assumed He Was But A Skater And Was Promptly Shut Up

“I was picked up by an old taxi driver on my way to a skatepark with my skateboard. He rudely demanded to know where I had been skateboarding (nowhere yet, I was on my way to the park).

He informed me that if I collided with someone his age on the sidewalk they had an 80% chance of dying from a brain hemorrhage.

I politely informed him that this was unlikely and that I hadn’t been skating on the sidewalk. He then told me to ‘ask anyone in the medical profession’ and they will confirm it.

I then politely informed him that I’m an ER doctor and he changed his manner with me completely and became very respectful and interested once he realized I wasn’t ‘just’ some skater punk.” 5amwinner

Another User Comments:

“Cool! To test this, we’ll need about 6000 old people. We’ll have the same skater knock over 3000 of them. The other 3000 we’ll split into control groups. One group will have to fall over in a simulated collision, one group will receive a blow to the head similar to what we think the collision would produce, and the third group gets to sit in a padded room until we’re done with the experiment.” SneakyThrowawaySnek

9. This Arrogant Drunkard Believed A Lie And Then Tried To Prove Is Was, In Fact, Real

“I worked as a private investigator for bail bonds companies for nearly a decade in Texas.

Anybody that’s ever been arrested apparently knows more about bail or criminal justice than me, but one of my favourites was when some drunk random guy at a bar proceeded to tell me he was a bounty hunter who had caught ‘hundreds’ of the worst criminals.

Here’s the rub: bounty hunting is 100% illegal in Texas. Fighting and detaining wanted people is kidnapping and incredibly stupid.
So I asked him if he knew Jimmy from A1 in Abilene, knowing there is no Jimmy or A1 bail bonds.

‘Oh yeah! Jimmy’s good people.’

‘Jimmy isn’t real dude, neither is A1.’

He pulls out his phone to try to prove me wrong, scrolls through some Google searches, muttered something about ‘some *******’, and left.

Anti-climatic, but oh so satisfying.” pappaspinkpruno

Another User Comments:

“I’m not surprised.

I worked as a case manager for people on probation and have had people on probation, meeting with me in my office, and telling me how the law and criminal justice system worked. I get that I’m young, and I’m not an expert in criminal justice or law, but I at least know what I’m talking about and where the limits of my education are and I am definitely not committing treason by telling this person that they can’t drive and their license is suspended because they can’t stop drinking and driving.” The_Ninja_Nero

8. This Nurse Learned Never To Underestimate A Patient’s Intelligence Or Profession

“I was being discharged from a week-long hospital stay and even though I was ready to go home, I was still having some bouts of nausea.

I had been getting Zofran while inpatient, so I asked the nurse if the discharging provider could send in a script for a few doses.

In a sweet, sickly voice, she said, ‘Oh honey, Zofran only comes in IV form.’

I replied with, ‘Oh honey, I’m a pharmacist, and can assure you it also comes in tablets, liquid, and oral-disintegrating tabs.’

She fumbled a bit, then mumbled something about checking with the doctor and quickly exited the room. I may not have perfectly mimicked her condescending tone, but I sure as **** tried.

I know a LOT of amazing nurses who work behind the scenes to keep everything running smoothly and the doctors in line. Unfortunately, the ones on the other end of the spectrum can’t resist drawing attention to themselves and become imprinted in your memory because of it.

Another example from the same hospitalization: I had about 30 staples in my stomach that had to be removed before discharge. The nurse working that shift was a traveling nurse from the South and she was the sweetest. She apologized in advance if this hurt, and was so gentle removing those staples that it didn’t hurt much at all.

Two hours later, a different nurse came in to take out my IV. She RIPPED off the Tegaderm patch and I yelped, and I was SO grateful that she wasn’t the one assigned to remove my staples.” squirrel93

Another User Comments:

“I love my mom she busted her butt for over 30 years as a nurse. But recently, she told me cancer hates an acidic environment so I should drink more lemon water so I won’t get cancer.

And I asked her if she really believed it was that stupid easy to ‘prevent/cure’ cancer. Because if it was she wouldn’t have a job in the oncology ward she was working in.

Then, I made her promise me she’d never suggested any lemon water stuff to any patents. It was 100% a head-desk moment and just goes to show that you can be super competent and still fall victim to dumb nonsense.” Angsty_Potatos

7. An Incorrect Explanation The Origins Of This Very Italian Dessert Made This Italian Giggle

“I’m not exactly an expert, but I overheard my Italian-American coworker telling another coworker that Tiramisu is Japanese. His explanation was pretty in-depth.

According to him, the Japanese invented it, which is why it has the phonetic structure that it does (he even pronounced it with a Japanese accent Ti-Ra-Mi-Su).

But the French had perfected it, creating the modern version most people are familiar with.

I’m also Italian-American. Tiramisu is Italian for ‘pick me up’. I didn’t have the heart to destroy him in front of our other coworker, but I laugh quietly to myself now whenever someone mentions Tiramisu.” literalfeces

Another User Comments:

“Vaguely related: The Atlanta Braves once had a mascot – Chief Knockahoma, as in ‘knock a homer’, as in ‘hit a home run’.
Announcer Kurt Gowdy once referred to him as ‘Chief No-kee-Hama’, as if he were Japanese.

Hey, it was hilarious in the ’70s!” tunaman808

6. This Arrogant Salesman Tried To Spread his Lies To The Wrong Aircraft Mechanic

“I’ve come across this at least a few times – regarding things like engines, cars, airplanes etc., and about flying in general (I was an Aircraft Mechanic, USAF [United States Air Force], and a student pilot at one time).

Usually, I just laugh it off and sometimes simply restating the nonsense correctly without making an argument over it.

One instance comes to mind that was dang funny. I was looking at cars in a showroom, just there to look, at a Jaguar dealership. The salesman starts talking to me and my friend about the V12 engine in the (70’s) Jaguar XJ12.

He’s going on about the engine and why it’s so fast and finally says: ‘It’s got the same fuel injection system as an F4 fighter jet.’
So I say, ‘Really?!’ acting all impressed and surprised. I continued: ‘The same **el injection as a General Electric J79 turbojet? **nny since that burns JP4 which is basically a gasoline and kerosene mix, How does that work?’

He just stopped mid-sentence and walked out of the showroom.

I didn’t see him again as long as we were there looking around.” [deleted]

Another User Comments:

“I wonder how many suckers he’s gotten with that line.” sumelar

Another User Comments:

“I signed up for a kung ** class. The instructor pretty much ignored every female student and only wanted to help the male students. He divided the class into male and female and would spend about half an hour helping the boys, then come over and spend one or two minutes with the girls before going back and spending the rest of the class with the boys. Well, he got what he wanted, all the female students quit after a few weeks.” LadyOfAvalon

5. After Underestimating His Opponent, This Condescending Man Was No Longer Dating Material

“I’ve been playing tennis for over twenty years and I took it very seriously for about seven or eight.

Simply put, if I really wanted to I could embarrass an amateur on the court. But I don’t, because I’m not that kind of person.

I was having lunch with a guy who I considered to be ‘potential boyfriend material’. I considered him that for maybe a split second, but I quickly came to my senses and just saw him as an acquaintance. At some point in our conversation the subject of tennis came up, and I didn’t go into too many details but said that I’d been playing for a long time, played varsity in high school, etc.

He must’ve gone deaf when I mentioned my background, and proceeded to explain a few simple concepts as if I was brand new to the game.

After that, I suggested that we play a few rounds at a local court some time, and he agreed.

The day came and we made it to the courts. I was a little rusty at first since I hadn’t played in a while. I recall him saying something like, ‘Don’t worry, you’ll improve.’

Long story short, it didn’t take long until I was in full form and he realized that he greatly underestimated my abilities. It was pretty clear that he was furious, but he didn’t say anything about it.

I think we only played one more time after that but with a few more people.” symbiosa

4. These Ph.D. Students Schooled A Supposed Math Whiz In A Game Of Pool

“So I’m working on a Ph.D. in math and every Friday, some friends from my department and I go to happy hour at this pretty chill bar downtown to play pool.

There was one Friday that we were not doing particularly well, but weren’t exactly trying our hardest. We’ve probably been trying to sink the last three balls for about four rounds at this point when this guy at the table next to ours saunters over and in his infinite, tipsy wisdom proceeds to tell four math grad students that pool is as ‘easy as identifying tangent lines. It’s all about the tangent lines.’

It took about two minutes of this guy trying to explain this to us before my friend chimes in with, ‘Yeah, we’re all working on Ph.D.’s in math–we know plenty about tangent lines. Let me give you a counterexample to explain why you’re wrong.’

He was mostly wrong because what he was referring to as ‘tangent lines’ are actually just measuring angles.

You have a line that is tangent to something if it only intersects that something at a single point. The other reason he was wrong is that he was claiming that all you need to be good at pool is an ability to find tangent lines (angles). My friend’s ‘counterexample’ was him trying to make a pretty difficult shot only using angles (no spin or anything else) and then making the same shot using spin to accurately control the ball.

The guy’s eyes got so wide! He didn’t say much to us after that.” tacosandtopology

3. When The Ignorant Don’t Listen, Sometimes Its Best Just To Drop The Subject

“So I was at a bar with a friend of mine and we got to talking with this girl who was there on her twenty-first birthday.

We congratulate her and buy her a round of drinks.

Shortly thereafter we get into a conversation about the settlements of South America. She then, incredibly arrogantly, explains that there were people there and that I’m whitewashing history. I explain, again, that I’m not, and that there were no human beings there until they migrated there at a time we’re still trying to figure out.

No, she insists, these invaders wiped out the indigenous populations.

No, I say, that happened thousands of years later.

She accuses me of mansplaining. I’m like, at a loss, and I said, ‘Ok, well, I’m sorry.’

She yells at my friend (female) and is like, ‘How are you friends with him?’ And is then says, ‘God what do you even do, like, sell ****** stocks?’

I’m a geographer.” iph0ne

Another User Comments:

“She couldn’t tell or didn’t understand the difference between the colonization of South America and the peopling of South America.

So she assumed that someone was conflating the colonization with the peopling because a racist would believe that the non-colonizers weren’t actually people.” Kalium

2. This Sexist Pilot Found Himself On This Woman’s Bad Side After His Condescending Remark

“I used to work in an air traffic control tower. We would fairly often have new pilots visit and see the airport and what happens from the air traffic control side of things.

I was on a break when a particular pilot was visiting. I was the only female air traffic controller in that workplace. The visiting pilot finishes his cup of coffee, hands me the mug and says, ‘Wash that would you love’.

By the time he’d returned to his aircraft, my break was over.

He, unfortunately, he found himself at the back of a rather long departure queue. I wanted him to have some time listening to the frequency and absorbing the fact that if a woman is in a professional environment she’s probably not the ****** tea lady.” Likealittleteapot

Another User Comments:

“I wish I find myself in a situation like this, answer ‘sure’ and go look at my phone. Their first impulse is to get angry but then they’ll realize what they did in about two seconds. It doesn’t sound like much, but I know how stupid they feel inside.” Lactiz

1. By Having The Manager Wipe Down Her Desk, This Arrogant Woman Learned Humility

“We had a new person show up. Maybe she was just cranky from the 12-hour transatlantic flight or something.

But when shown her new office/desk area, she immediately started complaining about there being dust (it was Baghdad, dust is everywhere).

She’s being vocal about it when two men walk by. They hear her and ask what the issue is. She starts complaining that it’s her first night/arrival here and she was disrespected by being shown a ‘dirty’ desk. So one of the guys rummages around and finds some wipes and starts cleaning up the ‘offensive’ area. She complained about her flight and about several things as the guy just silently wiped stuff down.

She was nice enough to say thanks and he and the other guy left. Then, in a curious tone, she asked who he was. Our coworker said, ‘The company manager just cleaned your desk for you.’ Her face dropped.

I filed that away for a few reasons. One is that you’re never too good to do the jobs you expect of your subordinates (him cleaning her desk). Two is that there’s something special about humility and common courtesy (not throwing around status). And three that there’s no reason to make people feel like crud just because you can (not trying to correct her or embarrass her by tossing around authority).” Zemykitty

Another User Comments:

“We had a guy last exactly two hours in Kyrgyzstan. He was the new guy, shows up and immediately starts asking where the nap room is. We explain there is no nap room to which he gets super upset and starts ranting about, ‘Well, GOOGLE has a nap room!’ Dude, go work at Google then.

About an hour later, he wants to know where the ‘snack room’ is. Again, we’re on a military base in Kyrgyzstan, there are no snack rooms but you can walk literally next door to the chow hall and grab some food if you’re hungry. This dude went ballistic, throwing *** around and screaming his head off. We had to call Security Forces to come to get him. He gets arrested, then banned from the base. It was his first day on the job, two hours in. It was the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen a new guy do.” Brewsleroy

Some of these stories’ endings had us clapping in satisfaction, as karma (with the help of the victim) gave the patronizing offender a slap upside the head.

Hopefully, they learned from their silly mistakes and won’t open their mouths to say those kinds of things again!

Have you ever been on the receiving end of a condescending comment that made your ***** boil? Did you do something to get back at the person whose words cut ribbons of revenge against your skin? Tell us your tale in the comment section below!