The nerve of people these days! It is so upsetting to think that some people make it a mission to mind the business of others. Their actions are not only disgraceful but almost always lead to unnecessary quarrels with people they don’t even know. Here, witnesses testify about the unforgettable encounters they’ve had with strangers that had no problem flapping off at the jaw.
All content has been rewritten for clarity.
“I Don’t Have Any Money”
“One time in a gaming store, this lady with a kid came up to me.
‘Would you buy this game for me?’ the lady asked, ‘My son wants it.’ She was holding some random video game in her hand.
Stunned, I simply said, ‘No, I don’t have any money.’
Immediately she raised her voice. ‘Come on, of course, you have money, you’re looking at games!’
I then said, ‘I like looking at games. I don’t have to buy you games. I also don’t have any money.’
We went back and forth like this for quite some time. She even had the gall to call me ‘inconsiderate’ because I would not buy the video game for her son. Her son looked on helplessly. I could see the discomfort in his eyes as his mother insisted I buy the game. I became nervous the longer she stood there. The lady was downright crazy and persistent in getting me to buy the game. She belligerently tried to convince me that I absolutely had to buy it. I was trying hard not to lose my patience with the troubled woman.
That’s when she put her hands on me. The strange woman forcibly grabs my arm and aggressively said, ‘Come on! You have to buy this game for me! I don’t have the money for it!’
What she didn’t realize was that I have Asperger Syndrome. I don’t like being touched, especially by complete strangers. I pulled back sharply and snapped at her, ‘If you ever touch me again, I’ll kill you!’ My words were harsh, but it was out of my control, and in defense.
This made her back off. I kept my eye on her as she paraded through the store. I then observed her slip the game case into her purse as she walked out of the store. I quickly went to the checkout desk and informed them about what happened.
‘I think that lady took a game without paying.’
The guy at the desk smirked at before running after the woman and her son. They asked to see her receipt, only to be screamed at as she continues to hightail it through the parking lot.
‘I bought this game fair and square!’ The woman was getting extremely violent with him. I watched the whole thing from inside the store. She turned to face him and began to yell and scream in the poor guy’s face. He looked like he was about twenty years old. He became extremely nervous but stood his ground more than likely because he didn’t want to lose his job.
I had enough of the lady and found myself walking up to them. I stood right next to the employee and said, ‘You didn’t buy the game, ma’am. I saw you put it in your purse and walk out of the store.’
She then gives me this incredulous look before chucking the game case on the ground and running away.
The guy gave me a gift voucher worth five pounds.”
Smoke Break
“One time, I was in a restaurant, when a man sitting in front of me randomly started smoking.
It was a closed room with air conditioning, so naturally, I felt a little annoyed. After a while, I stood up and politely asked the man if he could stop smoking.
He refused, then proceeded to say he was there first and the owner didn’t seem to be bothered, so he arrogantly yelled at me to find another spot.
I was disappointed but decided that it was not worth the hassle to keep arguing. I backed down and returned to my table without another word.
Not even five minutes later, the same man unexpectedly exploded in anger. Nothing could have prepared me for what he did next. He lunged at me, slammed my table, and started yapping a bunch of nonsense about how I should respect his decision to smoke and how I annoyed him by not leaving my table. His wife and several waiters separated us. I recall being in a state of complete shock as I tried desperately to process what on earth had happened. A different waiter brought me to a different table across the room while the man and his wife dipped out.
I’ve had several fights with strangers, but this one was just pure madness because the man just snapped out of nowhere.”
When You Gotta Go…
“The most frustrating argument I’ve ever had over the years was with a complete stranger.
One of my favorite hobbies used to be thrifting, but as with most thrift stores, the bathrooms are limited and usually pretty awful. My friend and I had made a day of it, and by the time we hit up the fourth store, I was about ready to burst. The female restroom was occupied, so I continued to shop for another five minutes or so, then knocked on the door again. The woman inside apologized and announced she wasn’t coming out anytime soon.
I surveyed the area. There was no one in sight, so I reluctantly helped myself to the men’s restroom. Not even a few seconds after, I heard someone pounding on the door. I yelled out that it was occupied, only to hear once again, what was more than just a knock. I rushed to finish my business. When I came out, I saw an elderly man that looked to be about seventy standing there with his wife. He was shaking his head and banging his cane on the floor.
I apologized profusely for making him wait and tried to explain, but he wasn’t having it. He immediately asked me if I knew how to read, if I had male genitalia, or if I had an Adam’s apple.
Of course, I said no to each of these questions. I then explained that I was in a tight and used the men’s room because no one else was using it.
I thought he was bothered because he needed to use it himself, but I quickly realized that he never needed to use the restroom. No. He watched me go in and felt the need to ‘address it.’ He then told me he was going to report me to the store employees.
When I came back to my friend, I told her about what happened. She told me to brush it off, so I picked out some clothes, tried them on, and went back to the women’s section to put back the things I wasn’t going to buy. The old man hobbled by and made additional remarks like, ‘shopping in the women’s section, huh?’
I asked his wife openly if his behavior was normal, but she just put her head down in shame. We went back and forth for another five minutes or so before I got in line. At this particular store, they did color-coded discounts and a secret ticket bonus where they revealed out loud how much you saved to the other people in line.
When she announced how much we’d saved off our total, I heard his voice from the back sound off again.
‘How’d she get to the front of the line so fast?? Is she pretending to be a senior citizen? She was pretending to be a man 20 minutes ago!’
I had run out of patience at this point. I made my way to where he was in line and told him to stop harassing me. Out of anger, I told him if he didn’t stop, I was going to shove his cane somewhere unpleasant.
Then he stepped back a moment before saying, ‘people have no respect for their elders anymore.’
For the record, I would never do that. I took care of my grandmother who had Alzheimer’s and dementia as well as other elders that were dealing with a cognitive decline. However, this was not a situation like that. This was just a petty, mean old fart.”
Who’s Bill Is It?
“One time I spent an hour trying to convince several different people with my cable company that I was the head of my own household, in charge of the cable bill, and the number I was calling from was my phone.
It all started out pretty normal. The cable was coming loose from the wall and needed a quick fix. I wanted to get someone from the cable company to come out and do it to make sure it was done right. I was already frustrated with the low-quality cable that they charged way too much for. I figured the least they could do was come out and do some work.
When I called them, I asked about getting the cable fixed as soon as possible. Instead, they immediately went into a far too detailed spiel about their internet service. That wasn’t even the worst part.
‘Not interested,’ I said as politely as I could.
Eventually, we got to the original reason for the call. They got my name, address, account number, and phone number. Suddenly the representative said, ‘That’s not correct.’
‘What’s not correct?’ My patience was wearing thin.
‘The phone number. It’s for a different account.’
‘Are you serious?” I exclaimed
I explained to them it was my phone number and it was the line I was calling them on. The lady I was talking to announced she would have to transfer me. If I had only known just how ridiculous that phone call was going to be.
The next person she transferred me to went through the exact same thing, including trying to sell me the internet service. It all came to a screeching halt when I gave him my phone number. I explained that the number had belonged to me for five years at that point.
‘There must be some kind of mistake,’ I added.
I was transferred another time. The new person tried selling me the internet, again. I refused it, again. I then explained my reason for calling and gave them my information.
As soon as I provided my phone number, I went through the same loop.
‘That’s not correct. That phone number is showing for a different account.’
Finally, I got a guy on the phone that changed it up a bit. He immediately asked for my phone number, then said, ‘I need to talk to Mr. Gutierrez.’
I processed his words before replying, ‘There is no Mr. Gutierrez here.’
The representative then said, ‘Well, I need to talk to the person in charge of the cable bill.’
‘That would be me.’
‘Are you Mr. Gutierrez?’
‘No. I just told you there is no one here by that name.’
‘Well, what happened to Mr. Gutierrez?’
I couldn’t believe my ears. ‘I don’t know! There is not a Mr. Gutierrez here! There never has been!’
We went back and forth. The representative kept asking to speak with a ‘Mr. Gutierrez.’
I finally told them that they had no problem sending the bill each month, and I had no problem paying the bill each month, which came to my house in my name. I then told them they could send the bill to ‘Mr. Gutierrez’ and see if he paid it.
Once it started sounding like they were about to lose a customer, by whatever name they wanted to use, they suddenly became readily available to send someone out.
A tech came the very next day and fixed the cable. It took him five minutes.
No word yet on where ‘Mr. Gutierrez’ got off.”
Gimme That Parking Spot!
“One of my favorite encounters happened a couple of decades ago when I pulled into a Walgreens parking lot. I had my Great Dane in the car, and I remember it being extremely hot, so I decided to park in the shade and leave the windows down so she wouldn’t suffocate in the heat.
As I was getting out of my car this man came up and ordered me to move my car because he wanted the spot I had just parked in. I wasn’t too sure why he felt the open space next to it wasn’t good enough.
The guy was hardly scaring anyone, so I decided to ignore him. My dog was growling and barking aggressively at him. I didn’t want to get in trouble if she bit him, so I knew time was of the essence as I continued to walk inside the store.
To my dismay, this angered the stranger even more. He began to yell obscenities at me from his car. His words were like venom, ‘I said move that car, woman!’
I kept walking unaffected hoping he would think I was deaf and give up.
The most ridiculous thing about it was that he never parked his car, he just left it in the middle of the driveway in the parking lot. He followed me inside the store, stepping on my heels and breathing down my neck as he yelled at the back of my head. He repeatedly demanded that I move my car.
I ignored him as he continued to follow me through the entire store screaming at me while I picked up my goods. Even as I got in the checkout line, he continued his aggressive behavior towards me. No one helped me. No one would even look at him as he was going ballistic. He screamed every curse word in the dictionary at the top of his lungs and threatened me in every way possible.
After I paid, I walked out to my car with him still stomping close behind me. He never stopped calling me out of my name. Since my dog was trying to get out the window to get him, I quickly jumped in and started to drive off. The stranger jumped in his car and slammed into the back of mine while I was waiting for traffic to pass so I get out on the main road.
Finally, I snapped. It was not the smartest thing I’ve done, and I certainly wouldn’t advise it. I put it in reverse and started pushing him back very slowly as I did not want to hurt my dog. Suddenly he put all his weight on the reverse and passed me as zoomed out of the parking lot. I was livid. I found myself pursuing the guy. My car was faster than his, so it was not a problem.
Then it dawned on me that my dog could have gotten hurt in this pursuit, and if I caught him, I pondered what I could’ve done afterward. The anger told me I could drag him out of his car and beat him to a pulp at a red light. However, I decided that he wasn’t worth going to prison for.
So, I let him get away.”
“Today Is My Birthday!”
“During my college years, I worked as a bagger at a grocery store. One Saturday, a customer pulled out her checkbook to pay for the groceries I was bagging. She asked no one in particular what the date was.
‘It’s May 12th,’ said I.
‘No, that can’t be right,’ said she.
‘No, it’s definitely May 12th,’ I said. ‘Today is my birthday!’ I was turning either twenty or twenty-one that day.
‘It can’t be the 12th,’ she said, shaking her head at her blank check.
Thinking she must not have heard me, I leaned in a little and said, ‘It’s definitely May 12th. I know because today is my birthday.’
‘No,’ she insisted, ‘that can’t be right.’
I think we went back and forth once more before I just walked away, not having finished bagging her groceries. It was clear that she heard me. Especially the part that IT WAS MY BIRTHDAY. She was either dumb as a stump or just felt like getting into a dumb argument with a stranger.
And that folks, is part of the reason why I always take a vacation day on my birthday. Even if it’s in the middle of the week and I do nothing more than sleep in and go to a nice lunch with hubby, I always take the day off.”
“Enjoy The Back Of The Line”
“One day at the pharmacy, a woman asked to cut me in line because she was very sick.
I was also very sick and could barely stand, but she was much older and the line was pretty long. I was going to agree, but I quickly changed my mind after she opened her mouth a second time.
‘Oh, just forget it!’ The woman screamed at me. ‘I can already tell you’re not gonna let me. You’re heartless!’
‘Well, you didn’t give me a chance to respond,’ I said.
‘That’s because you have no soul!’ The stranger continued to raise her voice.
I nodded and said, ‘You’re right. Enjoy the back of the line.’
The woman then asked a few other people behind me and they all said, ‘Nope.’ I even heard one man say, ‘I don’t have a soul, either. Sorry.’
It was not my intention to rally the crowd behind me, but I guess once you’re fed up with rude people, you just are.”
A Waggin’ Good Time
“I moved to the Pacific Northwest last year. While I was finding the best spot to live I stayed at my mom’s house. I had a German Shepherd and was eager to get him out of the house and explore the dog parks in the area. I ended up finding a dog park not too far from the house and I was excited to get to know the area and get his energy out.
After exploring the dog park for a while my dog started to squat to relieve himself. I normally don’t carry bags on me because dog parks usually have them for free so when I walked over to grab a bag a random lady started yelling from across the dog park at me.
She insisted that I pick up my dog’s mess or I would get in trouble. She said she was going to report me if I didn’t hurry and pick up my dog’s mess. I was extremely confused since my dog was still mid-squat and hadn’t even finished his business.
The woman continued to berate me as I was clearly walking toward the bags. She stood from across the park with her hands on her hips, tapping her foot, and giving me a scornful look. I couldn’t help myself. Out of sheer spite, I stopped in my tracks and decided I wasn’t going to pick it up right at that moment. Instead, I decided that I would just do it later when she wasn’t there to let her whine for a bit.
My boyfriend at the time said he didn’t want to cause a scene, so he went to grab a bag and the lady had the nerve to say, ‘that’s what I thought, I knew you were going to pick it up.’ She continued watching us with her hands on her hips. Her eyes were like daggers as she watched my boyfriend stoop to get the mess my dog made. Her eyes never left him from across the field as he began to walk to the trash bin to discard the bag.
I told my boyfriend at the time I was going to throw the bag at her instead. I was so agitated at this woman but he insisted I didn’t so instead I yelled from across the field as loud as I possibly could, ‘We were going to pick it up, you old hag! Mind your own business next time!’
The woman sat there a moment, dumbfounded and embarrassed. She ended up walking away. It was so satisfying watching her head hang in shame.”
A Hard Pass
“I once got into a bizarre argument about cabbages.
I was at a party, and the hosts were serving hot dogs and sausages with all the condiments you can imagine, including sauerkraut. I don’t like sauerkraut, so I skipped it. Another guest asked me if I hadn’t seen it. I told her I did see it, but that I didn’t like it. She then pointed out that it’s made from cabbage, and that it was very good for me. I repeated that I don’t like sauerkraut, or for that matter, cabbage.
Everyone present involuntarily listened to a long monologue about all the vitamins and minerals cabbages contain, their medicinal properties, how they last for months at a time, how you can make dye out of them, pickles, and many other wondrous things, from this woman. I listened patiently, and when she finally wound down, I repeated that I don’t like sauerkraut or cabbage, and I wasn’t going to eat them.
She became annoyed that she hadn’t converted me and asked how it could be that I didn’t like cabbage. I said “Easy!” and told her that I wasn’t stopping her from eating the sauerkraut, and she could have all of the cabbages I wouldn’t eat in the future.
By now she was hostile and started yelling. I was completely fed up with the whole conversation. I asked if she was getting a commission from the cabbage marketing board or the mysterious cabbage cartels I heard rumors about.
Suddenly, she grabbed her husband and stormed out of the party, all because I don’t like sauerkraut and she couldn’t convince me otherwise.”
“That’s Not What The Computer Says”
“When I was a graduate student I moved to a different apartment. While I was unpacking my belongings, I had the startling realization that I misplaced my wallet.
Fortunately, I kept my university student ID in a cardholder on my keychain. This was because the ID card had my semester bus pass sticker on it. So, I ended up using the ID when I went to the DMV to get a replacement license.
At the DMV a clerk took me into a cubicle and asked me for my name, date of birth, the address on my old license, and proof of my new address so that it could be printed on the new license. She checked my student ID card to verify my identity. She typed all the data from the ID into the computer terminal, and a machine printed out a replacement license for me to sign.
I read it over for accuracy before signing it. It said my eyes were brown. I handed it back to the clerk, unsigned, and stated simply, ‘My eyes are blue.’
The clerk glanced briefly at the license and said, ‘It says here they’re brown.’
‘Yes, I noticed that,’ I explained. ‘But they’re not brown. They’re blue.’
‘That’s not what the computer says.’
‘The computer is wrong. They’re blue.’
‘When you came in here the last time, you must have said your eyes were brown.’ The clerk’s eyes never left the computer screen.
‘No, I did not say they were brown when I came in here before, because they were not brown. My eyes have never been brown. They were blue when I came in here before. They are blue now. They have always been blue.”
‘Well, the computer says they’re brown.’
After a few more exchanges like this, I finally asked the clerk, ‘What color do they look to you?’
At that, for the first time during this entire ridiculous argument regarding the color of my eyes, she looked at me. ‘Blue,’ she admitted. She then typed a correction into her computer and printed out a corrected license for me to sign.
Days later, while continuing to unpack boxes of grad-student books and papers, I found my wallet with my old license. Of course, it said my eyes were blue.
They’re still blue now.”
