People Share The Most Condescending Advice They Got From Someone Who Didn’t Know They Were An Expert

When someone belittles or underestimates you and your capabilities, do you experience what you describe as your “***** boiling?” Nobody likes to be condescendingly told that they’re less intelligent or not as skillful as they truly are. It’s not fair to you to have to feel misunderstood and less-than based on someone’s rude, ignorant comment towards you. And, honestly, letting them get away with painting a subordinate picture in their head about you is just plain absurd.

So, after basically getting told that you’re idiotic or incapable of something, one of the best ways to respond to your evil-spirited patronizer is with proof, proof that you do understand or can do something that they somehow think you can’t. By proving them wrong, not only are you standing up for yourself and potentially changing how they view you (not that their perception of you really matters), but in a way, you’re teaching them not to make assumptions about people in the future.

It’s frustrating for sure, but every single one of us has had a moment where we were condescendingly talked down by someone. In the following cases, things get really juicy when people are treated like they don’t have knowledge or competence in the field that they’re highly experienced in. The best part about these stories is that almost every single person makes sure that the person or people making assumptions is left humiliated, and often completely speechless or beet-red, when they prove them wrong!

29. She Thought She Knew More About Trauma Care Than I Did

Placing a wallet in a person who’s seizing’s mouth is actually dangerous, FYI.

“I’m by no means an expert or doctor, but I’ve got a trauma care qualification through the fire service.

I came across a male in the street, after a night shift, who had had a seizure and come off his bike. I grabbed a blanket from my car and ran to help. I was assessing him. There was a LOT of *****, and he wasn’t responsive, so I was starting to work through my assessment whilst telling a passerby to call 999 and another to run 100 yards up the road to the nearby station and tell them to come down.

Suddenly, some woman with an ‘I want to speak to your manager’ haircut appears, declares she is a carer and everyone needs to move.

I was thankful for some help if I’m honest as he had begun to fit again. She starts pinning the dude to the floor and telling someone to stick his wallet in his mouth. I started to freak out and tell people not to do what she was telling them to do and try to get her off him. She told me to get off him and let someone who knew what they were doing deal with it. I didn’t bother arguing.
I took over the 999 call as the member of the public was struggling to give the right info. I explained the situation gave them my casualty assessment, then the fire crew arrived.

To say I was thankful when they jumped out and told her to get off the dude and spoke to me on a first-name basis is an understatement. Her face dropped. Casualty handed over effectively: turned over on his side, o2 administered, warmed up in a blanket and loaded onto the ambulance when it arrived.” thewrathofsloth17

28. The Jaguar Salesman Didn’t Know What He Was Talking About

How embarrassing.

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

Usually, I just laugh it off, sometimes simply restating the ******** correctly without making an argument over it.
One time, though, comes to mind that was dang funny. I was looking at cars in a showroom, just there to look, at a Jaguar dealer. The salesman starts talking to me and my friend about the v12 in the (70’s) Jaguar XL12. He’s going on about the engine and why it’s so fast and finally goes, ‘It’s got the same fuel injection system as an F4 fighter jet,’ so I say ‘Really?!’ acting all impressed and surprised, ‘The same fuel injection as a General Electric J79 turbojet.

Funny 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. Didn’t see him again as long as we were there looking around.” Reddit user

27. He Tried To Teach The Female Guitarist How An Electric Guitar Works

She handled the situation perfectly!

“My friend is a guitar teacher, been playing for most of her life and is quite simply one of the most talented guitarists I’ve ever had the fortune to meet.

Every time we’ve ever stepped foot in a guitar store, she gets talked down to like she’s a child.

She has lady parts; therefore, she can’t possibly know anything about guitars.

I remember one time she was trying out a 335 acoustically, just to see if she liked the feel of it…and a sales assistant came over, and from across the aisle, I actually heard him explain to her that with electric guitars, you also needed an amplifier because ‘the sound doesn’t actually come out of the guitar.’
I turned around just in time to see her sweetly say. ‘Really? Can you show me how it works?’

With a sh*t-eating grin on his face, he took the guitar over to an amp, plugged it in, hit a few basic open chords and said, ‘You see?’

She took the guitar from him, looked at it for a few seconds like it was some alien object she’d never seen before and then proceeded to shred like a ***********…* She really let rip.

I mean, I’ve been playing for 20 years, but what she was playing may as well have been magic to me.
About a minute later, she finished her face-melting solo, handed the guitar back to the assistant and looked at the amp and said. ‘…and this is called an am-plee-fyer you say? Do you have any pink ones to match my lady parts?’

Guy just looked dumbfounded. We went somewhere else to buy her new guitar.” Paulius2444

26. He Didn’t Realize I Was A 4th-Degree Black Belt In Taekwondo

“I’ve been in martial arts (Taekwondo, specifically) for 14 years, and I’m a 4th-degree black belt.

I don’t claim to know everything, not even close, but I do know what I’m talking about.
At my university, I decided to try out the Taekwondo Club on campus. It was the first day I was trying it, and I didn’t know if we were supposed to wear uniforms or not, so I went in with workout clothes but brought my full gear just in case.

Before the class started, one of the leaders (who was wearing a 2nd-degree black belt, nothing to sniff at, but still a difference of 5 years of training) came up to me and started explaining the general protocol of class and offered to stand next to me during the class to show me how to do the different steps.

Throughout all of this, he seemed annoyed that he was having to explain everything and generally like he didn’t want new, inexperienced students.
I politely agreed and asked if we should wear our uniforms for the class. He explained that if we had them we should, but it wasn’t a problem if I didn’t have one. I explained that I did have one and said I’d be right back, then proceeded to go change into my uniform.

His eyes nearly popped out of his head when he saw me walk out with my instructor’s uniform and 4th-degree belt.” ArchAngel9175

25. He Claimed His Pronunciation Of SEO Was Correct… I’m In Digital Marketing

“I work in digital marketing with a focus on Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

Been doing it for about 17 to 18 years now.
Both are initialisms, so you pronounce each letter as in ESS-EE-EM and ESS-EE-OH just like the CIA isn’t pronounced ‘Kia’ but SEE-EYE-AY.

Had a guy ask me if I’d heard of SEE-OH. That’s how he pronounced SEO. I was perplexed, and he being in IT, I thought maybe it was something I was not familiar with like if someone asked if I knew what REST or agile or SQL referred to. I said as much and he laughed, ‘I thought someone in marketing would have heard of Search Engine Optimization, lullllz.’

He was a **** about it, so I was more than happy to correct him in front of his peers.”
24. He Underestimated My Tennis Playing Skills

“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 p*ssed off, 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

23. He Tried To Tell Me Not To Help Him, Even Though I’m A Medical Professional

“I am a doctor in the UK.

I went for my compulsory basic training day to learn how 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 gear. One of the members in the group overheated and felt faint and sick, so he 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 999 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
22. He Tried To Tell Me, An ER Doctor, That Skateboarding Was Too Dangerous

“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:

“That claim is just absurd.

Even assuming there was a person so ancient that he would have a 100% chance of dying from tripping, like a vase on a pedestal, the probability of the cause of death being a brain hemorrhage would be way below 80%.” thedomham

21. She Assumed I Was An Inept Crafter, But Little Did She Know…

“I was in a craft store and looking at different items for the crafts I do. This little old lady walked over and started telling me that the items in my cart were wrong for a beginner to buy and lecturing me about how if it’s my first time, I really should get ‘x, y, z’ products, and so she starts removing items from my cart and replacing them with what she feels I should be purchasing, setting my old items onto a nearby shelf.

She then stands there for another 10 minutes, instructing me on how the proper technique works and that if I need any help I should give her a call and gives me her phone number.

Then she walks off. I was too stunned. She didn’t even really let me talk. I put my own items back into the cart, put the ones she placed in there back on the shelf, paid for my stuff and left.

In the parking lot, she happened to see me loading my few bags into my roommate’s car and saw I had put her items back, and she ticked her tongue at me and shook her head.

‘Well, now you shouldn’t call me at all because you can’t even follow simple directions.’

Don’t worry, lady. I taught myself to crochet, knit and cross-stitch, I’m legally blind, autistic, have multiple learning disabilities and autoimmune disorders that cause various muscular issues. You probably could not teach me anything I haven’t had to find a unique workaround to do it my own way despite my various challenges, but have a nice day.” Reddit user

20. She Thought My Paramedic Wife Just Looked Up Medical Facts On The Internet

“Back over the summer, my wife and I had a cookout, and (as we do sometimes) we invited some of the neighbors, including a family who had just moved in a few weeks before.

As we’re all hanging out, my wife noticed the wife of the new family was constantly on the phone, so she asked if everything was OK.
The woman explained that her father had suffered a heart attack a few nights before and that her mother was just keeping her ‘in the loop.’ She then said they were also looking into legal action of some kind because her father had several broken ribs after the heart attack and that someone must have been ‘too rough’ on him.

At that point, my wife said, ‘I don’t think it’s that they were too rough on him.

If they had to perform C.P.R., it’s highly likely that is when his ribs got broken. It’s unfortunate, but statistically, broken or cracked ribs happen about 30 to 40% of the time.’ The woman looked at my wife and said, ‘I don’t need your opinion or some factoid you picked up while surfing the internet.’
My wife kinda shrugged and said, ‘Actually, I didn’t read that on the internet. It’s a fact that I learned when I was doing my training to become a paramedic, and they told us it would happen. It still scared the heck out of me the first time it happened though..and I still whisper ‘I’m sorry’ when it happens to this day 15+ years later.’

After confirming with several other people there that my wife is, indeed, a 15+ year paramedic and knew what she was talking about, she apologized for her ‘snippy’ answer and said she was ‘just stressed out.'” UncleJay74
19. They Schooled Me About Irish History, I’m Doing My Thesis On Medieval Ireland

“I’m an American living in Dublin.

I’m writing a Ph.D. thesis on medieval Irish history, specifically the Hiberno-Norse. Locals always assume I’m a tourist, which is reasonable at first, but they often double down on telling me ‘facts’ about Norse Dublin when they find out what I do.

Most recently, I was at a pub, and two lads, after hearing my reply to what I was doing in Dublin, fell over themselves to tell me about the Viking-era archaeology that was destroyed at a site called Wood Quay when a government building was built there. They explained the protests and the artifacts and everything in a confused and muddled narrative, jabbing dramatically in the wrong direction, and completely ignored my ‘Yes – well – okay – actually’ attempts to respond.

Finally, they stopped long enough for me to reply. I explained that not only was Wood Quay in that direction, but I was well aware of it, seeing as I had given a paper there on the Norse in Dublin less than a month ago.

They went silent, then asked if my son wanted a bag of crisps…” Cuglas

18. They Believed That Girls Aren’t Good At Rockclimbing

She sure proved them wrong!

“So, 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 ***.* 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 about an hour until 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

17. Sugar And ***** Are Not The Same Thing…

“I have a Ph.D. in chemistry, but I also look like a dirty hippie, so this happens pretty frequently, unfortunately.
The best was my mom’s boyfriend trying to tell me that ***** and sugar are basically the same thing because they have the same number of carbon and oxygen atoms (they don’t by the way).

Instead of just laughing in his face, I tried to explain that the way atoms in molecules are connected to one another plays a HUGE role in the properties of that molecule.

He then told me that the university had ‘brainwashed me.’

That’s when I laughed in his face…” melodiesNmolecules

Another User Comments:

“I would have challenged him to snort some sugar. Also, why do ******* addicts pay so much for ******* when sugar is about a dollar per kilogram?” wdn
16. A Lung Doctor Thought He Was Smarter Than Me In Optometry

“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, so I 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 RX was good or not.
He yells, ‘YOU DONT UNDERSTAND! I’VE 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 RX is 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 lenses, so moving the frame up allows them better access to the bottom of the lenses.
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 next time I saw him, he apologized.

Turns out he’s a lung doctor.” smokesmagoats

15. Education- And Experience-Wise, I’m More Qualified To Teach Ballet Than Her

I sense a little jealousy from the main teacher. Too bad she didn’t look at her resume!

“Once, in exchange for free dance classes, I had to assistant-teach (be a ‘teacher’s assistant/TA’ for) some kids’ ballet classes.
Not knowing my background, the class’s main teacher spoke to me with a sour inflection from the get-go, and quickly began making all of these disparaging, condescending, and disrespectful remarks in front of the youngsters, and even some of their parents (e.g.

‘Don’t correct the students; you can’t know what you’re doing,’ ‘Are you even listening to me?’ ‘God, can’t you just, like, stop demonstrating?’).

She would even complain to the head of the program about how I ‘overstepped’ my bounds by speaking to the kids’ parents (which was about ballet productions I would recommend they take their kids to) and how ‘weird’ it was that I tried to give her my resume (so she could see my qualifications, and-maybe-respect me more; however, she wouldn’t accept it; telling me that she ‘didn’t need to see it’).
She wasn’t aware of my background and that I have my Bachelor of Fine Arts in Ballet Performance and Pedagogy (so, I had specific courses dedicated to teaching dance to young children).

Overall, I’ve attended two dance conservatories on merit scholarships, tutored in Dance Kinesiology, performed professionally, and been teaching dance to children for 10 years.

She assumed I was some nobody-who the best they could do was being an unpaid assistant. In actuality, an injury derailed my formerly linear career path. So, the classes I earned in exchange for TAing enabled me to regain lost muscular strength, refine my technique, and resume my career aspirations.
Meanwhile, I would watch her silently and respectfully as she did everything my professors taught me not to do-like teaching complex positions too early (which can cause long term injuries/future knee-replacements), using incorrect terminology to refer to positions (mixing up the names of positions), not emphasizing or encouraging the development of musicality, and more.

Actually, I recently uncovered her bio, and I’m objectively more qualified to teach ballet than she is (in terms of education and experience).

That experience taught me how not to treat people. I currently have a TA in a class I teach, and I make an effort to give her agency and respect.” sugarbageldonut
14. She Stigmatized Patients With Borderline Personality Disorder

“I was doing a nursing mental health placement. My preceptor was explaining to me the borderline patients are ‘manipulative,’ ‘compulsive liars,’ and ‘attention-seekers’ who should essentially be ignored and treated as less because ‘they want to be in the hospital.’

I hadn’t been diagnosed at this point, but my partner at the time was, and a LOT of my friends were as well.

I’d also done a lot of my own research through reading research papers, anecdotal accounts, etc., talking to specialized professionals…

The stigma has always infuriated me, especially when it’s reinforced by literal trained professionals. So I – an 18-year-old, second-year nursing student – turned around to this woman, who was at least 30 years my senior, and informed her of everything that was wrong about her opinion and how she was just contributing to the stigma and how it was absolutely disgusting.
I ended up putting in a complaint about her and also brought it to my nursing educator’s attention. All the nurses had to have an ‘educational seminar’ or some **** on Borderline Personality Disorder to try and change their attitudes towards borderline patients.” sproutinglife

Another User Comments:

“Wow, that’s amazing.

Thank you because most mental illnesses carry awful stigmas, and when it happens in the medical community, it is truly harmful. I’ve heard such stories before, and it’s scary.” BleuDePrusse

13. She Was Too Stubborn To Understand That Her Ring Couldn’t Be Resized

“A lady on Facebook asked if anyone knew a good goldsmith since she had inherited a ring she wanted resized. She already asked a goldsmith who told her it wasn’t possible, but that couldn’t be right. There had to be a goldsmith who could actually do the job.
There were pictures of the ring. It was a gold signet ring with a square, black stone.

She wanted it to be made smaller. Problems are: the top part of the ring is simply too wide for it to be made a lot smaller. It would mess up the shape. Also, the way to make the ring smaller would be to saw out a piece of the ring, bend it back together and solder it, but by soldering the ring, it gets very hot, and the stone would shatter from the heat.

That’s what I told her. I mean, I’m not exactly an expert, but I am doing a bachelor in jewelry design. She wouldn’t budge. It actually ended up with the first goldsmith writing her a lengthy explanation on why he couldn’t and wouldn’t do it and how it’s not actually possible before she listened.” nuclearbombsale
12. He Invited Me To An Introductory Seminar In Our Industry… I Was The Presenter

I’d love to see his co-worker’s reaction!

“I’m a younger guy in my office, but the industry itself is young enough that I have more experience than many of my co-workers since I’ve been here since about the beginning.

Anyhow, I’m accustomed to older co-workers assuming my age makes me less qualified to talk about certain matters.

One amusing incident occurred when a co-worker I don’t get on all that well with suggested during a conversation that I attend an upcoming seminar at the local community college that was basically ‘Intro to [my industry].’ I told him I thought it looked interesting, and I would go if he did, and he agreed.
Three weeks later, I kept my word. I was the presenter.” BluSuedeNicNac81

11. He Didn’t Expect The Gaming Expert To Be A Woman

“At a work conference, this guy comes up to our group, interrupts and aggressively introduces himself to every man with a hearty handshake while ignoring me and the other women.

Takes over the convo and nods if a man adds something, talks loudly over the women if we try to chime in, physically nudging himself in between us and the group and all.

Eventually, he starts in on his great business idea to build the most awesome new video game with [insert a rapidly lengthening list of features, licenses, audiences, etc that are totally unfeasible] – think science-based dragon MMO but 100x more bro. Can we help him do the research to get this going?
My colleague waits until he’s done then points at me and says, ‘She’s our gaming expert’ and lets me very helpfully start asking questions the guy has clearly never given a single thought to…

I was super polite but enjoyed watching this puffed up jerk deflate a little with every question.” heyheyhedgehog

10. My Wife Knew More About Pain Medication Than The Nurse

“Wife was in the hospital for an abscess after giving birth to our first child.

Not a fun ordeal, but we still laugh about this incident.

The pain medication schedule was not correct. My wife realized she was going to max out and have to skip a dose, which was not going to be pleasant. She brought it up to the nurse early, and it was dismissed passively. She tried to explain it again to the nurse and was shutdown.
About six hours later, my wife was denied her pain medication because she had reached the limit for the time period. She explained to the same nurse that she brought this up well ahead of time, so it could be avoided.

We were twice told it was not a problem, and nothing was done.

The nurse tried to give a ******** explanation about why she was (still) right. My wife, now in a lot of pain, spent a good 5 to 10 minutes explaining in very great and deep detail exactly how the pain medication metabolized through the body. What the nurse didn’t know is that my wife is a veterinarian, and the pain medication works exactly the same in humans as it does in the animals she treats.
Without another word, the nurse turned and left. About 10 minutes later, we had the boss of the doctor we asked for six hours earlier in the room.

We never saw that nurse again.” Reddit user

9. She Had To Split Her Own Check

“After a birthday dinner at a restaurant with a group of about 12 people, we asked for the check to be split. The waitress got all snooty with us and said their system doesn’t work that way. Checks can’t be split.

My wife, having worked in the service industry for 19 years, just glanced across the room and said, ‘You’re using ‘Aloha version 9.5,’ right? Yes it does, I’ll show you.’ (I don’t remember the actual system/version.)
She then walked behind the bar and effortlessly split the tables checks perfectly in minutes for the entire table with the waitress glaring at her.

As we were leaving, the waitress’s snooty manager tells us that it’s a policy not to split checks above a certain headcount. That’s understandable, but make that known when a table of 12 sit down at first and don’t lie about it and blame your system for your unwillingness to help your customers.” jdsizzle1

8. He Claimed I Was Framing A House Wrong When He Never Framed Before

“My father-in-law told me that I was framing a house wrong. His son was helping on the job, and I guess they talked about it and based on that, he determined I was doing something wrong.

We argued about it, and I told him I was taught by my dad who has built hundreds of homes. My father-in-law has never built a home in his life, and I’m not even sure he has ever even been on a construction site.

He pulled out a book about construction from the 70s and showed me what I was doing wrong. At this point, I was sick of it and went to my car, grabbed the house plans, and showed him an exact detail that showed what I was saying was correct and was outlined clearly in the plan.

He stared at it for a long time and had nothing to say.

He mumbled on later about how his outdated book was right. He was such a know-it-all. Good riddance.” Swishmoneyson
7. The “Know-It-All” Eagle Scout Didn’t Know How To Do Basic Knots

Next time, leave your arrogance at home.

“I worked at a Boy Scout camp when I was younger. Being one of the few females there, I often had to work extra hard to prove myself.

I taught Pioneering Merit badge (knots and splices). We had this new guy coming in who was going to be in charge of my area (scoutcraft). I had been working at that camp for two summers, and he was brand new, so I was asked to show him the ropes (no pun intended).

He was being such a ***,* acting like he knew way more than me. So, I looked at him, and I said, ‘You seem to think you’re better than me. Let’s see who can splice these ropes better. If I win, stop the attitude and listen.’
I did a back splice and an eye splice behind my back. He couldn’t even splice when he was looking at it. I just looked at him and said, ‘Yeah, I’m not an idiot. I know more than you.’ Idiot.

Turns out, he couldn’t do even basics knots like a SQUARE KNOT. How did you even get your EAGLE?!” shaygirl18

6. I Had To Correct His Flawed Understanding Of Evolution

“I wouldn’t call myself an expert since I’m still a BSc student in biology, but I’d like to think that I know what I’m talking about.

I was on the internet, and some 12-year-old kid was spreading a lot of false facts about evolution. I guess he had been reading a Wikipedia article or something and completely misunderstood the concept. Anyway, I don’t like it when false facts are being spread about evolution because it’s already a sensitive subject.
So, I replied to him, politely telling him he was wrong, and I tried to explain how it actually worked as easy as possible. I remained calm and well-mannered. His reply, however, was quite the opposite. He was very condescending and rude and started name-calling right away. After messaging back and forth for a while, he apparently was done with me and said: ‘Go study some biology! You really don’t know what you’re talking about.’

To which I replied: ‘Well, luckily for you, I AM studying biology right now, and I’m doing very well.’

He promptly deleted the entire conversation.” EmileWolf

5. He Didn’t Think The “Old Guy” Would Know What Pokemon Is

Pokemon isn’t new, kiddo.

“I used to teach elementary school.

I stood behind a 5th grader playing a Pokémon game on his DS.
‘Whatcha doing?’ I asked, just to make conversation. It was break time, and they were allowed to have electronics out.

‘It’s a game. You fight all these little monsters against each other. Grown-ups don’t get it though.’

“Ahh, I see. Well, I just thought you should know that even though your Gyarados looks really fierce. He’s about to take 4x electric damage… Yeah, see, now he’s almost fainted. Switch to a ground type if you have one.’

‘Wow, you know about Pokémon?!’

‘Dude, I’ve been playing these games since I was younger than you.’

He was pretty impressed, and we talked about games for a while.

He’d never had an adult relate to him about his interests like that before and took a shine to me. Whenever I would see him around after that, he would excitedly tell me about the latest developments with his team, and I would give him tips.
I left teaching to make more money in a different industry, but I miss moments like that.” savageboredom

4. I Debunked His Claim That A Satellite Was Going To “Crash Into Our State”

“I’m not an expert but an enthusiast.

Anyways, at work, we had a real **** know-it-all manager. One day, earlier this year as I was clocking out, he tried to make some small talk about a ‘Russian satellite that was crashing in our state this weekend.’

I had no clue what he was talking about, and he proceeded to have a condescending tone and goes.

‘You’re the space guy. You’re supposed to know this. It’s all over the news,’ then tries to explain that Russia has a spy satellite that they lost control of that week and that is crashing in the US in a few days.
I told him he didn’t know what he was talking about – and a few interruptions later, I finally got to explain the Tiangong-1, the Chinese space station that was basically decommissioned in 2016, had been without contact and the orbit slowly decayed until now when it would re-enter Earth’s atmosphere and burn up – and the likelihood of it crashing in the Midwest was extremely slim.

It was a feel-good moment to pull that kind of knowledge on that guy – he was definitely the type of manager that felt like everyone hired under him, or I guess his superiors too, were all idiots. He treated everyone like he was too smart to be wasting his time talking to them.” MoviesColin
3. He Refused To Believe That My SEO Skills Was Skill And Not Just Luck

“I’ve designed and developed websites for a little while as a freelancer. Now I work in IT. Yet, I’m not an expert in Web development, but…

One of my clients was teaching a second language and told me her new website that I made a few months prior helped her with her business.

As I was sharing that information with a friend colleague, another colleague had to give his two cents and was telling me how I didn’t know what I was doing because I didn’t specialize in SEO (search engine optimization), and he had read a few articles on SEO and could make a better website.
I told him I was curious about what would happen if he searched ‘learn Spanish in [my city],’ and it was the first result of about a dozen schools. I said, ‘Could you help me with getting higher in the search results?’

He brushed it off and said I was lucky or something.” Giwithnoe

2. He Didn’t Know Who He Was Talking To

“One of my ex’s had a party 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, etc.) 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.” diablo681
1. He Literally Wrote The 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

Another User Comments:

“Had a similar experience. 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 heck 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
What some people in the previous stories failed to remember that the truth is always there, no matter how badly they want to believe the false assumption they’ve fabricated in their imagination.

Just because someone is female doesn’t mean that they can’t play the guitar or have extensive knowledge of video games, and just because someone just received a lower-level position than you doesn’t mean that their experience is mediocre.

I think if people were more curious to learn the truth about others and prematurely judged books’ covers less, they wouldn’t be finding themselves playing the role of an arrogant patronizer! Got any stories to share? Tell us everything!