Whether good or bad, karma is oh-so-sweet! From frazzling family encounters and reckless road rage to good samaritans simply doing what’s right, these folks recall the times they’ve witnessed a case of instant karma. Content has been edited for clarity.
Table of contents
1. The Middle Finger Mistake
“I used to be a terrible 6-year-old.
One time, I was on the bus with my older brother coming home from soccer practice. We were seated at the back right next to the big rear window. For some odd reason, I thought it would be funny to show the traffic behind us all of the angles of my middle finger while staring at them with the most obnoxious facial expressions. I would wait until the bus came to a stop, then proceed to do my thing when the bus shut its door and accelerated away.
I was getting bored, as most people would just ignore me, and their reactions weren’t as amusing. I decided my game needed more thrill. Instead of flipping off oncoming traffic, my main target changed to pedestrians.
Here’s where everything went wrong.
The bus came to a stop, picked up the people waiting, and I scoped out a new target. A very scary, buff, older man. As I heard my ‘cue,’ which was the noise of the doors closing, I proceeded to up my game by showing the man both of my fingers and sticking out my tongue.
This man, however, built like an athlete, was angry, and didn’t think my joke was all too funny. He sprinted alongside the bus, matching its speed for at least a block until the bus arrived at the next stop. The bus was not packed, but the people who were in it witnessed this big chunk of rage chasing and getting on the bus. I cowered behind my brother’s back in tears, who, up until now, had been oblivious to my shenanigans.
It turned out the man was pretty cool about it, and he just told me not to do it again. He even gave me a piece of bubblegum afterward.
Looking back, it always makes me laugh.”
2. Don’t Mess With Truckers
“This was a negative experience. Well, not for me, anyway.
I was coming onto a freeway with my big rig, signaling and smoothly switching lanes while keeping half an eye on a car behind me that had been crowding me pretty hard.
As soon as the car hit the merge ramp it happened to be following me up, the driver stepped on the gas and attempted to pass me. While doing so, the driver cut into the no-drive zone. The problem? My cab was nearly sixty feet ahead of the driver. I was already legally merging, and fifty percent of my whole rig already occupied the lane he wanted to be in.
I supposed if someone weren’t paying attention, it would be easy to assume the truck in front of them consisted of nothing more than the final ten feet of the trailer. I didn’t know why, but this guy FLIPPED out.
The driver screeched back into his lane so hard, I could feel the road tremble. He laid on his horn, flashed his lights, and I just continued cruising calmly. I watched the traffic in my driver-side mirror when I saw a break, and I suspected what was coming next. Yep. The driver swerved into the left lane, floored it, and got beside my cab honking the entire way. He swerved at me, then continued to cut me off. Meh, it was expected. It was rainy and wet outside, so too dangerous to react.
Here’s where things got interesting, though.
The driver then proceeded to swerve into place in front of me, jam his brakes, and lost control of his vehicle. Suddenly, his car was sideways, careening down the road at 45 miles per hour. I was nowhere near him at this point, having already slowed down. As I watched, his car continued to spin until it was facing me, then whipped back forward while heading straight into a nearby ditch.
At this point, I was stopped, the left lane has stopped, and we all just watched as the guy slowly exited his car, which looked pretty damaged. I noticed other drivers getting out of their cars to render aid, and some others were on their phones. So, I just geared up and got out of there.
Insta-karma. It felt awesome.”
3. The Foolish Father-In-Law
“I was out for dinner with my then-fiancee (now wife) and her dad, my (now) father-in-law. He could be kind of mean to her sometimes. He got divorced and re-married, loved those kids more than my wife, and gave my wife trouble over the smallest things.
My FIL offered to pay for the meal at the end of dinner. My wife asked to get her leftovers boxed so she could take them home.
My FIL replied, ‘Well, you’ll just let them sit in the fridge, then they’ll get thrown out.’
I argued, ‘Listen, it’s not your fridge. Leave her alone.’
He got all mad and yelled, ‘Don’t tell me how to raise my daughter!’
‘Then don’t speak to my fiancee so rudely!’ I yelled.
He threw the bill and folder at me and said, ‘FINE! YOU PAY THEN!’ and stormed out.
Now everyone was upset. I paid the bill, and we waited for the receipt. Over ten minutes later, still no receipt. Tensions were rising, my FIL was waiting outside, and I had steam ready to blow off once we left.
I asked the waiter, ‘Can I just get our bill so we can leave?’
‘Oh no sir,’ the waiter replied, ‘You have to wait for the manager.’
It turned out the restaurant was having a contest where ‘every bill was a winner.’ Normally, diners would win a free drink or appetizer with their next meal. Well, I wound up winning the grand prize. A trip for four to Florida.
My luck? Whoever paid the bill won the prize. Well, guess what? I paid because my FIL stormed out like a child.
Karma is crazy.”
4. “I Was So Grateful For The Woman’s Kindness”
“One time, I found a purse in a shopping cart left outside a store I used to work at. Against policy, I opened the purse and found the owner’s identification. I contacted the woman, and she confirmed it was her purse and told me she was frantically looking for it.
I waited at the store after hours for her to come by and pick up her purse, and she gave me an envelope. When I got home and opened the envelope, there was $120 inside. As it turned out, $120 was almost exactly how much I was short on rent.
I was so grateful for the woman’s kindness.”
5. “I Guess We Deserved It”
“Years ago, my brother, my friend, and I decided it would be funny to get a running start and get on an elevator ahead of our other friend. We thought it would be hilarious to get to our hotel room first and lock our other friend out.
After we got on the elevator and closed the doors, we got trapped inside for about an hour and a half while our other friend we ditched got to chill by the pool.
I’m still hesitant to get on elevators to this day. I guess we deserved it.”
