There are many individuals who are blessed with either good or bad karma. However, what about karma that's not just instant and justified, but incredibly satisfying to see played out? Look no further than these tales of instant karma.
Look Where You Are Going Next Time
“Some months back, I was at a crosswalk in Brooklyn looking left, then right, then left again.
A guy in a suit pauses a yelling cell phone conversation to snicker at me, saying, ‘It’s a one-way, bro.’
No sooner had he set foot in the intersection than he has a mild collision with a bicyclist going the wrong way. Neither was hurt enough to slow down and as the cyclist rode off, the two competed to see who could say, ‘Watch where you’re going!’ the loudest. It was a tie!”
A Huge Dirty Splash Of Karma
“In middle school I had to share a bus stop with this girl who lived down the street from me. She was a little turd who would treat her friends great and nearly everybody else like dirt, but she never bugged me all that much. Sometimes we even talked while waiting for the bus, like she had this streak of normality she only let show occasionally. Well one day we were walking back home from the bus stop and talking about our day, when she suddenly asked me to stop walking. I hesitated for a moment, but stopped anyway. She was on the opposite side of the street from me, and I thought she wanted to cross so we weren’t yelling back and forth.
We lived on a dirt road, and it was spring, meaning you had to constantly avoid massive puddles collecting in the potholes. I only had a few seconds to realize that she had just asked me to stop because there was a car coming down the street, about to splash me with the rancid mud that had collected in the fairly large puddle right next to me.
I only had a second to throw up my arms and prepare for the worst. I got one look at her smug face and big stupid grin, right before the driver veered to the right and absolutely SOAKED her in mud and whatever godawful mess was in the puddle next to HER!
The sad part is, I never got a glimpse at the driver, I was too focused on laughing my tail off as she swore and stomped up her driveway to the back door. We didn’t talk much after that, I think she was too embarrassed, but that driver is a damn hero.”
Locked Out
“I witnessed a road rage incident where a man got out of his car at a red light, went to the door of the driver of a minivan and yelled at the window for a minute. When the light turned green, he went to get back in his car, but his door was locked.”
Special (And Windy) Delivery
“Back in high school I was a cart boy for a grocery store, one afternoon it was really terrible out, pouring and windy as hell. This new black Escalade pulls up next to me while I’m pushing about 10 carts. The guy gets out and yells at me saying I better not scratch his truck because ‘Heads will roll,’ I’m not in any way endangering his new car, but he proceeds to yell and warn me. Just as he finishes yelling at me, a sign from the Pizzeria next door crashes into the side of his truck. That made my night a little better, even if I was soaked.”
Mock Then CRASH
“When I was in high school, there was always a bit of a bottleneck to get out of the student parking lot at the end of the day. Basically you had to let people pull out of the aisles as you came down the side so you could leave. I let a car go from the last aisle, and then this guy I knew – the weirdest, jerk of a kid in the school, tried to give himself the worst, cringiest nicknames on multiple occasions – darted out in front of me and then he and the idiot in his car started pointing and laughing at me.
While he was looking back at me, he rear-ended the car in front of him.”
You’re Going To Tell Who?
“Got to work and immediately got asked to deal with a difficult customer who had rang the store from a parking bay in our carpark. Lady says she has the wrong frozen drink and wants a refund and a replacement (literally a $1), I take out the $1 and try to find out what drink she wants. She goes off because she also wanted a refund for the fries because the event has made her ‘sick to her stomach because of bad customer service.’ I say that I didn’t know she wanted a full refund as it wasn’t mentioned on the phone (literally as I walked into the office). She keeps going on about how she is now going to be late for the four minutes she spent in park and rants for five more minutes about service before I tell her that I’m going to get her refund to try and make sure she still gets to her event. She throws the bag of fries at me hitting me in the chest and I grab it and walk off to get her refund. Keeps yelling until I get back with the $2.60. Turns out the man behind her watched the whole thing and because she was in a company car he reported her to the company (Tupperware), she was fired that afternoon?. The lady then tried to get me fired saying I caused it and to get compensation, our customer service team laughed at her and eventually my owner had to call her. When he called her she started swearing at him and he told her ‘if you’re going to swear at me I’m going to tell Tupperware again’ and hung up. Only time I think the abused staff member has actually had a big win in my job.”
We Salute You For Helping
“I was driving home late one night and was in the freeway going reasonably fast. There was no one else around, except one car coming up behind me super fast. I expected him to pass me, and he did, but then he cut me off really hard (for seriously no reason other than to be a jerk) then sped off. I literally throw a hand up and look around like ‘WTF did anyone see that?’ and a highway patrol guy pulls up next to me, salutes, and chases after him with his lights on.
I saw them pulled over a few miles down the road.”
Stapler Injury
“As a teacher, I get to experience instant karma daily. One that sticks out in particular- I had a student when I was teaching at a middle school who was loud, obnoxious and willing to do anything for attention. We had just finished an exam which required stapled papers in order to be turned in and he kept hitting the stapler against his hand with it open. All I said was ‘Hey, if you keep hitting that stapler against your hand with it open, it probably wont end well for you.’
He responded with ‘I do this all the time, I’ve never been stap… [click]’
Student let’s out the loudest scream I’ve ever heard. Bleeding. Crying. I’m laughing (on the inside hopefully) and sent him out to the office.”
It was YOUR Fault
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“I was with my friend when she got hit in right back bumper of her car. She had the right of way, but there was minimal damage to only her car and she wasn’t gonna make a big fuss about it. But the other people were angry and were being verbally aggressive that it was her fault. Like, two full grown adults super pissed at some high school girls.
My friend wanted to just exchange insurance info and phone #’s and leave since she had to drop me off and go to work but they called the cops and made us wait for like 20 minutes. They started telling the cops a really twisted story about what happened, making it sound like it was her fault, just being super snobby and sneer.
The cop listened to their story with such a genuine and attentive face, says ‘mhm’ and writes them a ticket for breaking the law.”
Flat On Your Face
“I was coming home from school with a friend. Early in the journey I slipped on ice, but managed to keep my balance and didn’t fall, my friend laughed out loud like a maniac. A few moments later, he fell face down into the ice.”
Thanks A Lot, Dog
“Playing tug of war with the girlfriend’s dog. Win the rope, throw it across the room except my aim is bad and I take out a framed picture of her and said dog.
Grab my glass of wine to take a drink. Dog saunters back over with the rope, puts his snout under my arm to get attention. Flips his head back thus throwing my wine holding hand into the air. Full glass of wine showers all over me.”
Drunk And Arrogant
“A guy and some of his friends were crossing the street when the light said not to. This was on the day of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Chicago so there was a lot of people downtown and everyone was drunk and crossing the street when they shouldn’t be. When the car they were walking in front of honked at them the guy got mad and started yelling at the driver. The driver and him get into an argument of sorts where they trade some vulgar hand signs. At the end the guy flips off the driver and then spits on his window. A few seconds later we hear sirens and see lights flashing. The cops stop right in front of the guy and his friends and arrest him.”
Sick Work Day
“I had food poisoning near the end of my shift. I only had an hour left, but somehow thought I could make it. I am brown skinned and my face was white and green. I was sick as a dog. I had to keep excusing myself to the restroom. My manager came right out and said, ‘Don’t even think you’re going home early.’ I just moaned and ran to the bathroom again.
A few days later, she comes in. I’ve never seen anyone look as sick and standing on two feet. She shuffles in. Can’t pick up her feet. No make up, pale, green, a little puke on her shirt. She goes into the higher ups’ office and begs to go home. I was in the break room right next to his office and heard the sweet music myself. He said, ‘No. I need you here. We have extra shirts and aprons if you want one. I can’t have you gone today.'”
Look At The Elephants!
“I was on safari in Kenya with my slightly psychotic family. It was the morning of departure and we had to get from the safari lodge to the airstrip and then fly back to Nairobi. The plan was to have one safari jeep full of our luggage, which would go straight to the airstrip. The other safari jeep would take my family on one last excursion to see some animals before heading to the airstrip.
I enter the safari jeep last and I take the only available seat at the very back. Not a very good seat to spot animals from. Suddenly, my sister starts freaking out and screaming at me for taking that seat. Wtf!
I had already had enough of her drama from all the previous days, so I just got out of the jeep, and went to sit in the other jeep, which was going straight to the airstrip.
We started driving and I was prepared to have to wait for my family at the airstrip in the blistering heat, while they’re out looking for animals.
But then….about 10 minutes into the drive, I suddenly spot a herd of no less than 15 elephants! I asked the guide if we can get any closer. He literally drove right into the middle of the herd. I was surrounded by elephants of all ages. We were so close! It was truly an amazing sight, so the guide used his walkie talkie to inform the other guide that he should bring the rest of my family here.
We stayed there for a good 10 minutes as we watched the herd slowly walk from the field into the bushes.
By the time my family arrived at the scene, it was too late. All the elephants had migrated into the bushes and were nowhere to be seen. And guess whose favorite animal is the elephant? My sister’s.”
The Obnoxious Wedding Guest
“I was sitting as a guest at dinner at a wedding reception. People were tapping their glasses to get the bride and groom to kiss. One guy at my table got really obnoxious with it and started banging on the glass vase centerpiece, loud and hard. He kept doing it, over and over, every couple of minutes, BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG, until finally it went BONG BONG BONG ploop…
The vase didn’t shatter, instead he put a hole in it. A spoon-size piece of glass broke away and the vase, which was a good 20 inches tall and filled with water, began to empty as water poured out the hole like a spigot, directly into his wife’s lap. I felt bad for her, but oh man that was gratifying.”
Karma Comes Right At You In The Face
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“In 6th grade we had a substitute who might have been insane. She would show up and start yelling about the most random things. Most people were too afraid to talk when she was in class.
One day she was subbing another class and stopped me on my way to the office. She told me how terrible my class was, and how bad of a person and student I am (I was a quiet straight A kid). I kept walking and she followed. She stared at me while talking and walked into a large metal pole. I just kept walking when she fell to the ground.”
Burned Literally And Figuratively
“My significant other sent me that video of the girl who was trying to make a curling iron tutorial for YouTube and accidentally burned her hair off. She made fun of her pretty relentlessly. So, she was in the UK at the time visiting her grandmother, had a cheap plug adapter which apparently didn’t account for the voltage difference, and burned her own hair off with her curling iron the next day.”
Like A Boss
“My younger step brother used to work at a supermarket as a cashier after high school on a few weekdays for a little extra cash. He’d have some interesting stories about customer interactions. One day, an older woman comes up to his register with just a few items and starts up a small quick conversation with him about his day. He just figured maybe she just wanted a little friendly interaction with someone as she didn’t get out much, so they have a friendly interaction. There is no one else on the line behind her until a guy with well over ’15 items or less’ rolls up behind her. He’s not even there for one minute before he makes the executive decision to berate the older lady for wasting his and my brother’s time. The woman is miffed and just simply thanks my bro and starts to pack up her items at the end of the register table. The guy starts scanning the items himself with my brother and kind of starts giving him an attitude for patronizing the woman when there are other customers there. The man’s wife comes up next to him since I guess she was getting a few extra items and asks him if he was causing trouble. He then responds to her not to start with him today. Real class act here.
Homeslice then pulls out a $100 bill out of his pocket to pay for the items only to have it slip out of his hand and fall in between the cracks of the registers moving conveyor belt. Now a proper line of 4-5 customers starts forming behind him. He just left his house and only grabbed his license and cash. No other form of payment on him between him and his wife. People on the line are irate and giving this guy the business. Dude and his wife are flush red with frustration and embarrassment….Older lady, still there due to moving a bit slow with her items, pulls out her own crisp $100 bill, pays for the guy and walks away like Jason Statham from an explosion. Friggin’ boss. The guys wife starts laughing at him. Then says out loud to him in a serious face, ‘Maybe you’ll stop acting like ajerk in public now.'”
Karma Rewards You With Sweets
“When I was 8 or 9, my best friend and I were outside late at night while it was below freezing. We had the idea of pouring water over the sidewalk so it would freeze by morning. The next morning we went to check our contraption and, to our surprise, it worked. We were having fun sliding around on the ice, when the neighborhood bully showed up. He was around 14 and twice my size. Being the moron he was, he headbutted me but then immediately lost his footing on the ice. It was comical; his arms were flailing trying to keep his balance as his feet were kicking out from under him, going on for what felt like an eternity. Eventually, he fell and hit his head hard; he cracked his skull and had to be rushed to the emergency room. The best part was that he had some wrapped candy in his pockets that fell out which I claimed as my own.”
Undercover Surprise
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“Friend and I were driving and we’re behind a guy on a motorcycle. All of us come to a four-way intersection. Already sitting at the stop sign that’s going to cut across the intersection is another car.
Friend and I slow down and expect the biker to as well because, duh, it’s a four way stop. Biker decides he’s going to blow the stop sign and keep going. But the car that was already there had pulled out and began to cut across the intersection.
The biker slams on his brakes in time and the car comes to a stop just a little past the biker. The biker is pissed and reached out and slaps the back of the car.
Blue lights flicked on. The car was an unmarked cop car. Friend and I die laughing.”
Here’s Your Luggage
“This women on the airplane, kept removing other peoples belongings out of the luggage compartment above which you normally share with other passengers. People were getting mad at her, she kept arguing and whining. Even the flight attendants asked if she could be a grown up for the rest of the flight. Well you know they warn you for opening the compartments after the flight. Her daughter opened the luggage compartment and out came the bag full of hard cover books and landed perfectly on the women’s head!”
Let Me Show You The Door
“Saw a guy knock someone’s drink out of their hand by mistake after someone else slipped into them at a bar. The guy who lost his drink grabbed the guy who knocked him, who is probably a few inches shorter, and pulls him into him by his collar. Enter guy who is about 6 foot 5 and 240lb that was standing with his back to them, who grabs the guy being aggressive by the throat and literally walks him from the bar about to about 10 meters away where he just shoves him into a wall before walking off.
In the words of Qui-Gon Jinn, ‘There’s always a bigger fish.'”
Walked Away Unscathed
“This will likely never be seen because I’m late to the party, but I’m a 5′ 2” theatre chick, so I look pretty unassuming and possibly dorky. When I was in college, anyone who wasn’t in theatre took little notice of me.
So I was utterly frazzled one tech week and had to deliver a huge load of costumes to the theatre on my college campus, but there was no parking outside the theatre so I had to unload outside of the quad and carry all the stuff across campus.
A bunch of Lax Bros were throwing a football around in the quad yard and saw me struggling to get a massive armload out of my car, and as I got myself balanced and started walking towards the theatre, one of them had the funny idea to lob the football right at me.
Thankfully I am not the least athletic person in the world and I had a massive stroke of karma luck, so I spotted the ball, managed to kick it before it hit me or the ground, and it flew PERFECTLY right back at the jerk who threw it and hit him in the chest.
Needless to say, the Bros were STUNNED, and I walked away with my armload unscathed. It. Was. Awesome.”