Crazy Times People Put Others in Their Place – in Public!

Julie Suliguin - August 1, 2023
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These are moments of people asserting their dominance in the most unexpected places – right in public! We’ve all had those moments when someone’s behavior just crosses the line, and you can’t help but witness a fierce showdown unfold.

From epic clapbacks to hilarious verbal takedowns, we’ve compiled a collection of some seriously crazy times when folks decided it was high time to put others firmly in their place. It’s the stuff of legends, and you won’t believe the audacity and creativity displayed by these everyday heroes!

Credit: freepik

A Toy Protector

I used to work in the toy department of a retail store. The Leap Frog ‘laptop’ had just come out and they were REALLY expensive. So I am straightening shelves and notice a kid just wailing away on one of these laptops – mom is nowhere to be found. I approach the kid, and ask him nicely “Is that how you play with your toys at home?”. The kid gave me a sheepish “no” and placed it back on the shelf.

I was feeling pretty good about myself at that point when the kid’s mother comes out from nowhere and very rudely tells me that I have ‘NO RIGHT’ to speak to her child that way. I calmly looked his mother in the eye and said “Ma’am, your son was about to break a $150 toy. our store has a you-break-it, you-buy-it policy. If you would like me to give it back to him so he can continue hitting it, I would be happy to ring you up at my register for the damages.” She then proceeded to give me an eat-and-die look, grabbed her son and stalked off.

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Harry Potter and the Order of the Line

I went to the midnight showing of Harry Potter 5. I am a big nerd, but also, big, I’m 6’4″ and 250lbs. We were waiting in line for maybe an hour or two before the movie started, the line was around the corner, around the block. (they had 5-6 screenings at once.)

They started letting people in, and the line behind us started pushing forward and becoming a mob. People who were waiting an hour were being cut by people who had gotten there 5 minutes ago. People in line started whispering, “We should say something.” “They’re cutting, oh no.” I yelled at the top of my lungs, “Hey everybody, no cutting! Back of the line!” At this point I saw an old friend in the midst of the crowd, I shouted at him, “Hey [his name], yeah, I see you, back of the line!”

Every person who was line jumping then shrugged/exhaled collectively and proceeded to move back to their respective place in line. I heard a few people whisper, “You see that big guy? He told them to go back, and they did.”

Feels good man.

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Serving Up Respect

Back in college, there was a mentally challenged guy who worked in the dorm dining hall. He obviously had some problems, but was with it enough to hold down the job, remember certain students, carry on conversations, etc. One day I was behind some girls in line who were standing right in front of him talking about how they didn’t like being served by the “retard” and so on and so forth. I said, “he has ears, he can hear you, he’s a person just like the rest of us and you shouldn’t treat people like that.” They called me a b*tch and walked away.

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Phones vs. Patience

So, I went to Subway yesterday to get one of those delicious $5 footlongs.

Upon arrival, I see three girls probably about 17/18ish. The first two order and the server asks the last girl what toppings she wants. She’s on her phone so she doesn’t answer. The server asks her again-not being impatient or rude-just asks. The girl snapped, “Can’t you see I’m on the PHONE here? God, you are so RUDE. Just wait until I’m done.”

I was so offended and embarrassed for the server, so I couldn’t help but say something to her, “That was extremely rude. You came here to get a sub so don’t yell at her for providing the service you asked for. Just get off your phone, order your toppings and stop acting like a child.”

She looked at me with contempt and anger, but I think I intimidated her so she didn’t say anything back to me. The server looked at me, smiled, and mouthed the words. Thank you.

Credit: Cafe Mom

The Sky’s No Limit for Parenting

I used to fly a lot for work and often had to deal with the typical flying annoyances (crying babies, people who were too wide for their seats, obnoxious drunks hitting on the flight attendants) but the one that sent me over the edge was when a 9-10-year-old girl in the seat behind me began to kick the back of my chair repeatedly, yelling at the top of her lungs for no reason. I turned around, glared at the girl and at her mother sitting next to her, and simply asked her to stop. The girl almost instantly resumed the kicking and yelling prompting the flight attendant to come over and speak to the mother and her child. Less than a minute after the flight attendant had returned to the front of the plane the kid started at it again. I undid my seatbelt, turned around, and completely ignored the kid, I ripped into the mother… “Is this your kid?? Yes? Then act like a parent and control your daughter. She’s acting like a spoiled little brat. I’ve already spoken to you about this, and so did the flight attendant. Now I don’t care how you deal with your kids when you’re at home but I’m sure as heck not going to put up with your daughter kicking my seat and yelling in my ear for the next 3 hours. If you can’t keep her quiet and behave for a 3-hour flight you shouldn’t be on a plane.” Then to the daughter who was smirking while her mom was being reamed out… “You think this is funny?” Death glare until the smirk disappeared… “Answer me. DO… YOU… THINK… THIS… IS… FUNNY…?” The girl finally answers very quietly… “No.” “No. I don’t think it’s funny either. You’re going to sit in your chair quietly, and you’re going to watch TV or read a book or something, and above all you are not going to kick my chair or yell for the rest of this flight… Agreed?” She just nodded back at me. As I turned back around in my seat and put my seatbelt back on the whole plane gave me a round of applause and the flight attendant gave me free drinks for the rest of the flight. The girl never made a sound louder than a whisper for the rest of the flight.

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Crayon Combat

Some kid was in a restaurant where my mum and I were trying to have a quiet lunch. This kid starts to throw crayons at my mum, literally from the next table. The mum was too busy talking on her phone to care. I tried glaring, but she couldn’t care less. In the end, I walked up to her to confront her and she actually gave me the “1 minute finger”. That was it. I picked up all the crayons on the floor, on the table and from in front of the kid, dumped them on her lap and sat back down. I think she was so shocked she just left. The manager of the restaurant gave us a free meal. Apparently, that particular woman was known for just letting her kid run riot.

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Toasted with Gratitude

As an ex-Subway employee, thank you.

I once told off a customer in a retail store for being rude and mean (she made one of my staff cry because she was so awful). The general gist of what I said was “Do you feel better about yourself after you make this 17-year-old girl cry? Was it really necessary? Until you learn to treat others with respect I do not want to see you in my store again. Leave before I call security.”

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Silencing the Storm

I had to yell at a lady in a theater. She had two young children with her. After the lights went down and the movie was starting, the kids were still running around like little maniacs. All I said was, “Shhh.” She screams at me, “They’re children!” I yelled back something along the lines of, “We all paid to see this movie. Yes, they’re children. You are the parent. Shut them up or get out.”

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Slayed the Chatty Moviegoers

I went to see the hunger games. I went to the 4 o’clock show because I thought it would be more empty, but it wasn’t. A teenage couple sits behind me talking loudly. 30 minutes into the movie they still haven’t stopped talking. So I turn around look them dead in the face and ask them: “Hey guys, did you read the books?” The girl just looked at me wild-eyed and bewildered and replied with: “Ummmm….noo” I looked that little jerk in her face and said: “Well I did, and if you two don’t shut up I’m going to tell you what happens and ruin the movie for you.” That bought me 10 minutes of silence. Then they started talking again, so I turn around and say: “Hey! Do you see that little girl ‘Rue’? She dies.” Silence the rest of the movie.

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Credit: Business Insider

The Manager Meltdown

I used to work at McDonalds when I was in high school so I sympathize with other teenage fast food workers. A while ago I was in the local Mcdonalds where I used to work, and It was apparent that it was the cashier’s first day working there, but he seemed to be doing okay. He entered something wrong though and asked his manager how to fix it and the manager comes over and starts tearing into him in front of all the customers, calling him “A f*cking idiot” and “an inbred monkey” and so on.

After I received my order at the counter, I asked the Manager to come over and told him “Please do not talk to that cashier that way ever again. Just because you are a day shift manager at McDonalds does not make you a superior human being, and gives you no right to treat others, especially your employees, like dirt.” After I sat down the other manager came over brought me some apple pies and thanked me for standing up to that guy. Apparently, he acted like that towards everyone.

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Lights, Camera, and Sassy Action

In college for a Spanish class I was taking, I had the opportunity to go see a foreign film for extra credit. I had to take notes during the film, so I could write a brief summary of the movie to turn in to my Spanish professor.

The movie is playing in one of our big lecture halls by the foreign film club at my school, so there were a lot of students there watching. I get to my seat, settle in and start watching the movie. About 10 minutes in two girls enter the hall and proceed to make a lot of noise, like nothing is going on at all. They take their seats in my same row but on the other side of an aisle. They continue to talk for the next 10-15 minutes, loudly, while the movie is playing. Not giving any f*cks. I can tell the people around me are annoyed with subtle “ahems” and groans and multiple head turns to look at the girls. But no one really does anything, and the girls keep talking.

Finally, I’ve had it, I get up walk over to the girls and ask them in the most polite voice I could muster, as I was very annoyed. “Please excuse me ladies for interrupting your conversation, would you mind shutting the f*ck up so the rest of us can watch the film?”

I just stood there and they got very angry and left. The entire lecture hall applauded and the movie went on. There were no more interruptions. I left that place feeling 10 feet tall.

Well worth the 25 extra credit points.

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A Mug’s Life

I was at a Panera Bread around the holidays a few years ago. It was a full-on shopping season, and the place is close to some shopping malls, so it was extremely busy. This older couple ordered coffee, and the lady behind the counter gave them a to-go cup, saying “I’m sorry, we ran out of clean mugs, and the dishwasher is running now, but I didn’t want to make you wait” or something like that (very polite). The lady got PISSED and started screaming about bad service. She actually yelled, “I need a HERE cup, not a to-go cup!” The poor girl behind the counter kept apologizing and saying they would be done in a minute but the lady just kept b*tching.

Meanwhile, another employee comes up to take my order, so I ordered my drink and said as loud as I could “And a to-go cup is FINE with me; unlike some people, I understand the drink will taste the same!” The old lady freaked out about how rude I was while I waited for my drink. The manager comes out and gives me a free loaf of their holiday bread “for being so patient.” Old people left, still pissed.

Didn’t exactly scold her, but made a loud comment in defense of the employee.

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A Coffee Shop Hero

I once chased down a guy who stole a woman’s purse. We wrestled with it and when I got it he tried to fight me. I yelled at him to grow up (he was clearly older than me) and I walked back inside star bucks. Does that count?

The best part: I walk in, it’s dead silent. Everyone is watching me (the place was packed after some sort of sporting event). I set the woman’s purse on the table near her and ask if she was alright. She says yes and so I walk back to the front of the line where my buddy was, and say, “And I’d like a Carmel mocha frappuccino. the whole place erupts with applause and the drinks are on the house. My smoothest moment ever.

Bamness

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Nanny Knows Best

I work as a nanny and frequently take my charge to the park where we do the normal make friends and play routine. There’s a mom I see frequently, whose youngest child we play with. Well, one morning, we’re playing, I look up and I’m alone with the 2 toddlers and her older child an ore-schooler. I called for her and looked around for 15 minutes, before calling the police. 20 minutes later and I still don’t see her, but the police and a social worker arrive, take my statement, then leave with the abandoned children. As I’m walking down the street, about a block from the park, the mom comes running up to me and points to the park and asks where the heck her kids are, I tell her what happened and an argument ensues.

She’s enraged that I didn’t just sit and wait at the park with her kids, she just ran to the store after all and I’m a nanny, I should be able to handle extra kids, I proceed to, as calmly as I can with the baby present, tell her what kind of mother age is, how much she endangered her child and a general earful about being an irresponsible, expectant, c*nt.

There was some kind of court hearing after this, where she claimed I was babysitting the kids and called maliciously, but when she couldn’t provide the judge with my name or contact info, I was in the clear. I was not privy to how it worked out for her and the kids though.

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A Feisty 21-Year-Old

I was on the city bus in Ann Arbor, MI. There was a very old Asian couple that I sometimes see getting off at the cancer center at the hospital. This day, the woman gets out of her seat 30 seconds too soon before the bus stopped, and quickly loses her balance. She falls over onto a man (roughly 55 years old). He looks at her with utter disgust and pushes her off of him. She falls onto the ground. Some nice young men help her up but she is obviously shaken up and off balance, and she falls on the man again. He shouts out “WHAT THE DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING, YOU DUMB B*TCH!” She seems very disoriented and confused at this point, and her husband does not appear to see what is really going down. The man gets out of his seat and looms over her in a threatening manner. He yells, “I HAVE A BAD BACK AND YOU COULD HAVE HURT ME, GET OUT OF HERE”. This man was maybe 6’1” and 200 lbs, and the old woman appeared to be in her late eighties and no more than 100 lbs.

I couldn’t believe what was happening. The bus driver stopped the bus out of confusion. I jumped up and told the man to get off the bus, and that I would call the police, and that he has no business being on public transportation. He moved towards me (I am a 21-year-old gal, and not too physically imposing) and I looked him in the eye and told him to get the f*ck out of my face. The bus driver finally saw what was going on and ordered the guy off the bus. I haven’t seen him since. Some hot guy also gave me his phone number on a piece of paper when I got off the bus. Score!

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Grocery Store Justice

I was at the grocery store on my lunch break. This older woman, who had some obvious mental/emotional problems, was walking up to a checkout line. She went to take her salad out and it opened up and just went everywhere. So, she starts crying and saying how she can’t afford to buy another salad and apologizing for the mess. A clerk and I went over and start helping her, the clerk tells her it happens all the time and that they won’t charge her, but the woman is still visibly upset and continues apologizing and crying. Then I hear two 40-45-year-old women (hair all done up, expensive clothes, etc. I’m sure you know what I’m talking about) giggling and having little laughing outbursts every time the old lady says something. I was appalled, but whatever. To my amazement, they then start openly mocking her, loud enough so we all could hear, and flat-out laughing at her.

At this point, I stood up, grabbed my basket, walked over near them and quietly said, “Come on, quit it.” They both stop laughing and get beat red with anger. One of them then says, “Excuse me? Who are you?” I calmly replied (it takes a lot for me to get mad), “She’s obviously upset, she can hear you over there, and it’s embarrassing, for you and her.” This is when they both lose it, saying, “Who are you?” “Who the f*ck do you think you are?” “Don’t ever talk to me like that” etc. To which I replied, “Listen, I know you’re both really unhappy because you married a man for money and now he’s cheating on you with a much younger woman and your kids probably don’t respect or like you because you’re obviously a sh*tty person, but you don’t have to be mean to strangers. If you want to laugh, whatever, but don’t start mocking people. Try to contain yourselves, and act like the adults you never had to become.”

They were shocked, it was really funny. They said, “We’re not paying for this,” and just walked out, leaving their food behind. Then the checkout clerk just started laughing and the guy behind me went, “f*ck yeah.” I kind of think I did a bit of an overkill, but I was really shocked at how mean they were being.

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Good Manners vs. Expensive Clothes

I’m a hijab-wearing Muslim. One time some guy was following me and my husband around, calling us terrorists, taking pictures of us, saying he was going to get us deported (my family’s been here for 3 generations), etc. Then he said I was a poor excuse for a Christian. I said, “Do I look like I’m trying?” Then he followed us 2 more blocks yelling at us and then asked us for money when no one was around.

2 days ago a guy got on the bus all loud and whatnot, singing, acting crazy. He started pointing at me and laughing saying I was going to behead him. I almost said “If you don’t shut up I will”, but decided that would be in poor taste.

Half the time I don’t say anything and keep moving, but every now and then I can’t take the bullying anymore by politicians and adults and mouth off. Then I just prove their point that Muslims are reactionary. Sigh (insert “it’s a trap” meme here)

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Table for 25, Drama for All

I have worked at Chili’s for about 5 years now. There have been so many experiences with rude people I have lost count, but this was the worst one by far..

I’m waiting tables about this time of year (aka graduation time) and I have a party of 25 call ahead (at about 7) and say they will be arriving in 30 minutes. We set the table up for them and were anticipating their arrival. They actually end up showing up about an hour and a half later than they said they would. We had since broken up the big table and sat other smaller parties there. They arrived and were angry that their table wasn’t ready for them and the really soft-spoken sweet hose that was working that night simply explained to them that we thought they had chosen somewhere else to go since they hadn’t come sooner. The lady that was speaking to the host immediately bursts out saying that we should have known that they were still coming and that she knew chilis was a terrible idea and that we are all terrible at our jobs. The host, almost in tears says that we will set up another table for them in a closed section and that I will be taking care of them. (I should also mention these same people come in all the time and are rude to everyone and NEVER tip and always complain so they can get free food)

As soon as we get them settled in several started complaining that they don’t water and I was rude to not offer them a different option. I simply explain to them that I will be bringing them whatever they would like and that the water was just to hold them for the time being. They proceed to tell me that I am an idiot and tell me to ‘get this mess out of my face’ (referring to the water). Most of the people order strawberry lemonade, I make all of the drinks and bring them out to them. People then start to complain that ‘this sh*t tastes nasty’. They tell me it doesn’t taste anything like what it did last time and I tell them that we make it by measurement every time but I would be glad to make a new batch for them. I go and pour out what we had and make another batch of the strawberry lemonade and take it out to them and they again complain that it is nasty. I offer to get them something else and they say, “We just want a waiter that isn’t a dumb*ss and knows how to make strawberry lemonade. I go get the manager to explain that we make it the same way every time and they roll their eyes and tell the manager that I was being rude to them.

Fast forward to when they are eating their meal, they start being really rude to me. They started pouring their drinks out on the floor on purpose, throwing food at me, and insulting me right in front of my face. I had a couple of other tables that complained that this large party was being extremely loud (which they were). I go over and ask if they mind being a little quieter as it was disturbing the other tables in the restaurant. One kid then yells, OH YOU THINK I AM TOO LOUD B*TCH. They all start being even louder than before and some tables even got up and left.

That was the final straw. I yelled over them and told them they were no longer welcome at our restaurant. That shut them up. One kid told me that I couldn’t do that and I said when you start causing our other good paying customers to leave I can do what I want, now get out. They had the nerve to ask for boxes of their food which they hadn’t touched because they were too busy being loud. I told them that I could care less if they wanted their food and that they needed to leave. My manager and I stood at the door smiling watching them all walk out. One girl told me that I ruined her graduation party, I informed her that she had no class and got what she deserved. A few of them stayed and talked to my manager begging him to allow them back because it was their favorite place to eat. He told them that they cost the company money when they came in and that they were never welcome back.

I haven’t seen them since 🙂

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A Wild Encounter

I was with my wife (she was then my girlfriend) and we were enjoying a great walk around the Omaha Zoo. We had happened into the Primate area and were checking out the monkeys, apes and more.

This one small enclosure had a climbing rope inside with a baby primate crawling around on the rope. A small girl edged a bit closer to the glass to get a better look. Just as she did, this woman stepped up right in this other lady’s face and started chewing her out.

She very loudly said, “Ma’am, your daughter is extremely rude. She just pushed my son out of the way, stood right in front of him and blocked his sight. You need to learn how to control your children.”

The lady being chewed out was speechless. And the thing is, that’s not what happened.

Before the woman could even respond, I turned to face the accuser and just as loudly said, “No, you are the one being rude. I was standing right there and the only thing that her daughter did was take a step closer to the glass. The area is crowded, everyone is just trying to see better.

“She never pushed your son out of the way and his sight was not blocked. You’re the one setting a terrible example for their child. You need to learn how to behave in public because this little display of unprovoked anger isn’t it.”

Then my girlfriend and I just turned and walked off. Every now and then one of us will turn to the other and say, “I can’t believe how rude that lady at the Omaha Zoo was!!”

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When Justice Parked

My Dad was driving around with his terminally ill friend. They needed to go to a pharmacy and seeing as how my Dad’s friend gets short of breath easily they were hoping for a handicap spot. Unfortunately, none were vacant so they had to park farther away. As they were walking up to the store, a squat muscular man comes walking out of the pharmacy and starts to open up the door of his Ford F150 parked in a handicapped spot that he clearly didn’t need to be in (nor did he have a sticker). My Dad’s friend called out to him as he was getting in: “Excuse me?”
“Yes?”
“Is your handicap physical or mental?”

The guy’s face went white as a ghost and he quickly got into his truck and pulled away.

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The Epic Takedown

Worked at Walmart years ago. When it was slow, cashiers would be sent out to the floor to tidy up the store and help out the people working in different departments. I was helping out a friend of mine in the children’s department one day when a woman and her two kids came into the department. One child was still an infant, but her daughter looked to be around 4 or 5.

The woman was looking around, completely ignoring her daughter who kept trying to tell her mother that she had to go to the restroom. The kid wasn’t whining so much as saying, “Mom, I have to go.” The mother kept ignoring her or absentmindedly telling her to hold it. Finally, the little girl says, “Mom! I! Have! To! GO!”, which wakes up the little one. The baby started crying, and the mother finally addresses her daughter by yelling at her for being a pain in the a**. My friend and I were listening to this (it wasn’t hard to overhear), looking at each other as if to say, “Man, what a b*tch“, but there wasn’t much we could really do.

Then the woman screamed, “Will you shut up!? I wish you had never been born!”

I was stunned. I couldn’t believe anyone would say that to their child. My friend literally dropped what she was doing and said, “What did you just say?” The woman started to say something about minding your own business, but my friend cut her off by launching into one of the most frightening displays of righteous anger I’ve ever seen. She tore into this woman, telling her that it was obvious that the little girl had needed to go to the bathroom because it was all she had been saying for the past five minutes and that it didn’t matter how frustrated you were with a child, you never tell them you wish they hadn’t been born. The sc*mbag woman couldn’t say anything in her defense because she was caught being a tw*t to her child.

I can’t remember exactly what she said, but I’ll never forget how it ended: My friend finished telling this woman she was a failure as a parent by saying, “You’re the reason birth control should be f*cking mandatory. Take your kid to the bathroom.” I could have f*cking clapped, it was so perfect. The woman left without saying a word.

My friend got hauled into the office shortly after that (apparently the woman complained to management on the way out), but she said she was completely justified in what she did and would do it again. The manager told her that he agreed with her, gave her a warning, and told her “Good job.”

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Drama on and off Stage

Once I was at a live theater show watching some friends perform Julius Cesar. There was a lady in the row in front of me whose baby had been crying for the first 15 minutes and wouldn’t shut up. She made no move to leave and the next time the lights went down for a scene change I made my move.

“Excuse me Ma’am, as an actress I would like to inform you that screaming babies are a distraction to the rest of the audience, but more importantly the actors on stage. They’ve worked really hard on this play, so please remove your child.” She glared at me but left in silence.

The real kicker was she ended up being the MOTHER of one of the actors on stage. I was shocked.

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14-Year-Old Verbal Smackdown

I had to tell off the “barista” of a small coffee shop when I was 14. They were yelling at me and my 16-year-old brother for bringing free samples of Starbucks into their store. We weren’t d*cks about it, we just wanted sandwiches.

They tried to tell us about the competition and how we were trying to cheat them. They were blatantly rude so I said something along the lines of:

“Look, do you have a caramel macchiato in your store? No? Alright well, I’m going to continue drinking this. You are going to take my $10 and make me a sandwich. This is me supporting a small business. You are then going to thank me for not telling your manager. And we can both be on our merry f*cking way.”

It was absolutely embarrassing for both of us as this was in front of the whole store. I felt like they would have treated us differently if we were adults at the time. But I still felt amazing for saying all that without stuttering.

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Cat Food Connoisseur

I was at the supermarket buying cat food. I bought the cheapest stuff I could find because I was on a budget and really couldn’t afford it.

This girl saw me get the Friskies in the cardboard box and said under her breath (but loud enough for me to hear) “I would never feed that to my cats, or any animal, shouldn’t have a cat if you can’t feed it right.”

I looked at her and said, “Considering the cat is a stray who I’ve seen eat roadkill and frogs, this Friskies should be good enough.”

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Lost Tickets, Found Sass

I was waiting for a seat at this immensely popular Japanese restaurant. Basically, you write your name down and grab a ticket and wait for your number to be called. Waiting time is roughly 30mims.

2 girls and a guy, roughly in their late 20s or early 30s (all I can tell is, they’re older than me) rocked up, checked the number of tables that are waiting and started b*tching. They haven’t written their name down yet when the waitress came out and started shouting a number that no one answered to. The guy in the group jumped at the chance and tried to convince the waitress that it was their number and that they lost their ticket.

At this point, I jumped in and said, “Get yourself a ticket or leave. Everyone’s been waiting for a table so don’t push in.” The guy replied defensively, “We lost our ticket so don’t judge.” I said, “I heard your conversation. You just got here.”

Guy: “Oh, you were eavesdropping? How rude of you!” Me: “And you’re not rude for trying to push in front of everyone here?”

The group left at this point very hurriedly.

An old lady came up from behind me and said, “Well done!”

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Fashion vs. Ignorance

A couple of years ago my friend and I were on a streetcar in Toronto. It was a normal day and we were heading back to his residence. I had just gotten back from a tour in Afghanistan. I had been home for maybe two weeks.

The streetcar was pretty full so him and I were standing. An Arab woman got on the streetcar and was dressed in her traditional clothing, an abaya and niqab. Again, since there was no room she told next to us.

Sitting down behind us was an older (55ish?) white woman. She felt the need to start talking to this woman, who was minding her own business. At first, she said something along the lines of:

“Excuse me, but you know you don’t have to wear that?”

The woman responded in perfect English that she was aware but it was her choice to wear. This was an unacceptable answer for the old woman. She then proceeds to change her tone and say something to the effect of:

“Well, it offends me that you’re wearing that.”

The Arab woman did her best to ignore the old loon, but this was unacceptable to my friend and I. He says:

“Listen, lady, you’re in the most multicultural city and on the most multicultural street in Canada. She has every right to wear whatever the heck she wants and you’re just ignorant.”

She tried to form a rebuttal but my friend just kept stating that she was ignorant.

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A Witty Challenger

Upon graduating college, I was working at a laundromat (great economy right?!). A mother and child came in and at one point, the child told her mother she wanted pizza (the girl was maybe 9 years old). Mom told her no because she had just had dinner. Mom proceeded to tell the daughter she could have ice cream when she got home. The daughter looks up at her mom and flatly says: “I hate you, Mommy, I hope you die.” The mother turns away and I can see tears in her eyes as she just ignores her and goes back to folding clothes. I look over at the girl again and say: “If you were my daughter, I would never give you ice cream or pizza ever again. If you don’t apologize to your mother right now, I’ll adopt you myself and teach you some manners.”

You want to know how it went? The mom got pretty upset with me hahaha. WORTH IT!

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Bar Manager 1, Pushy Customer 0

I used to work in a bar and one busy night when the place was rammed, this middle-aged woman starts pushing through the crowd to get to the front before she starts demanding to be served next. I politely told her that she had pushed through the crowd and I would serve her when his turn came.

So I started serving customers and after each one, she would start shouting and swearing, demanding that she be served next. I continued to explain I would serve her in due course.

After 5 mins or so, I get to her and look her square in the eyes and say, “Right madam. For pushing in, shouting abuse at me and for displaying a complete lack of manners and social skills, I won’t serve you until you apologise to me in front of all these people”.

Everyone at the bar went quiet and started looking at her She just looked at me, gobsmacked and started shouting off her mouth at me, demanding to speak to the manager. I smiled. “I am the manager. And I’m waiting for your apology.”

She just looked at me in total disbelief and stormed out of the bar raging. And as he did, everyone booed her until she left the building, when they all turned to me and started applauding!

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Shots Fired, Words Returned

I once scolded a girl in the club who shot down another guy in a really cruel way. Don’t remember exactly what she said, but after the guy walked away, I turned to her and said “You know, that guy may not be the coolest guy in here, but he’s a human being. As a woman, you’ll never know how hard it is to walk across the room and try to talk to a girl you think is pretty. Try to show some class.” Then I turned my back on her.

She came up to me later trying to give me an “I’m really not a b*tch” speech, but I just told her I wasn’t interested and walked away.

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