The brave people face their fears in sight of conflict. In this piece, people share an unbelievable time they had to scold an adult in public. Whether it was a typical airplane annoyance or a chaos ridden child, these people stand up for what they feel is a lesson that should be learned. Content has been edited for clarity.
Airplane Annoyances
“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 seat, obnoxious people 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 seat belt, turned around, and completely ignoring 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 behaved for a 3-hour flight you shouldn’t be on a plane,’ I said. 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 seat belt 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.”
McDonald’s Mean Manager
“I used to work at McDonald’s when I was in high school, so I sympathize with other teenage fast food workers. Awhile ago I was in the local McDonald’s 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 manger how to fix it and the manger comes over and starts tearing into him in front of all the customers, calling him ‘an 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 McDonald’s 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 manger came over a brought me some apple pies and thanked me for standing up to that guy. Apparently he acted like that towards everyone.”
Movie Madness
“I went to see the Wolverine movie in a huge theater; about halfway up the rows of seats, it had an aisle that cuts across horizontally from one side of the theater to the other. Some dim-witted father was there with a toddler, and he let the kid run back and forth across the aisle, squealing the whole time. I put up with it for about 30 minutes, and then finally went down to the father and said, ‘Do you realize the entire movie theater can hear your child, and that it’s ruining the movie for the rest of us? Please make him be quiet.’ The father stared at me in complete shock, as if the concept had never crossed his mind. He left immediately with his kid.
Several people around me said thank you as I sat down.”
Abuse Of The Defenseless
“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 butt. 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 witch’, 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’s 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 scumbag woman couldn’t say anything in her defense because she was caught being a total witch 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 mandatory. Take your kid to the bathroom.’ I could have 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.'”
Lunch Room Showdown
“I was in high school. One of the lunch ladies was deaf and she was always the one to cash the students out in the most awesome lunch line. Well once I heard some dude saying how he pretends to not understand her and so forth, basically mocking her, and how he doesn’t pay what he owes etc, etc.
I got so angry and just went off on him, telling him what a horrible person he was, and how I hope he loses one of his senses, so he could see what it was like. It may not seem like much, but I think I got my point across to him, because I didn’t hear him talk about her anymore. She was super nice too, and was really pleased when my school started offering sign language courses, and the students could communicate with her. The look on her face when I started signing with her the first time almost made me cry. I could tell she was super happy people were trying to actually talk to her, and not just pretend she wasn’t there.”
Grocery Store Mayhem
“I’m ashamed to admit it but this is a habit of mine. Whenever I see anyone drop litter, or who is acting in an incredibly rude manner, they get told. Too many entitled people out there who think they can just do whatever they want. Just last week, I was at the supermarket and there was a woman who had about three items on the belt speaking away on her phone. When a little old lady went over to put her stuff on the belt, the woman on the phone said, ‘What are you doing? This is my space, I’m just waiting for my husband to come with the rest of our stuff.’ This got me cross enough as it was but then up strolls this rude man with a cart that was almost over-flowing with stuff. I just couldn’t hold my tongue. Turns out this woman had been hogging a space on the belt and telling her husband what to get over the phone! I mean seriously? So I told her that she and her husband could go to the back of the long line they were causing, (I was in the next line over). They both got all upset and I demanded to see the manager. They called the manager and I explained how vile and selfish they had been and to his credit, the manager told me I was right, sent the people to the back and comped the old lady’s groceries to apologize for her inconvenience.”
Demeaning Parent Gets Taught A Lesson
“I was in the park across from my apartment one day with a friend, when I overheard a man across the park yelling at his boy, who was there with his baseball team. The wife tried to stand up for the boy, but he just yelled and threatened her.
I was appalled. I walked right up to him, looked him in the eye, and told him that I couldn’t help what he did at home, but he wasn’t going to talk like that to his family while I was around. He acted tough and asked me what I was going to do about it. I told him, ‘Nothing, because you’re going to calm down and be respectful.’ For a moment, I was a bit nervous. I didn’t have any of my weapons on me at the time, and he looked like a rather tough guy. But after a moment of thinking it over, he walked back and got quiet.
I told his wife that if she needed any assistance, we could help, but she just made excuses. Afterward, I talked to the coach. It turns out that the father had a history of abusing the boy, and he would come in all the time with bruises and beat up. They couldn’t do anything about it, though, because the mother would always make excuses for him. I have to say, that makes me sick, but at least for that evening, they got some quiet.”
Insulting Teens Get Put In Their Place
“I must have only been 13 at the time…
I worked a lot with the special needs students at my school. I’ve been working with people with disabilities my entire life. One day, I came into one of my classes to find one of my fellow students who had Downs Syndrome huddled on the floor with a bunch of girls standing around him, pointing and jeering. I immediately dropped to my knees to talk to him, and I find out he’d had an accident, and the girls were making fun of him for it. He was crying and shaking. I soothed him, managed to get him to stand up, and got one of the other students to take him to the special needs classroom.
I then turned to these girls (who I barely knew because they were the rich, pretty girls), looked every one of them in the eye, and proceeded to verbally hamstring them. They got such an earful that they were all blushing and hanging their heads by the end of it; I made one girl cry.
I didn’t have many friends in middle school, but I eventually blossomed in high school. I remembered every single one of those girls, and the looks I gave them when they tried to talk to me reminded them every time about what heartless little bimbos they were. I still get mad about it.”
Burned Out
“My dad and his fraternity were at a college basketball game. Back then it was ok to smoke while in your seats and the guy in the row in front of my dad and his frat was smoking. Well one of the guys in my dad’s frat had asthma and had asked politely ask the guy to put it out as it was difficult for him to breathe. The guy responded with, ‘Eff you,’ and continued to smoke. My dad reached over and took the guy’s smoke out of his mouth and dropped it into his drink. The guy and his two friends stood up like they wanted to fight, so the entire row of the frat stood up. The three guys sat down and didn’t turn back around.”
The Malicious Taco Bell Regular
“I work at Taco Bell, so I’m used to being verbally abused by 30-40% of customers, and quite accustomed to shrugging off rude behavior.
There is a woman however, who is a repeat customer and a raging floozy bimbo. To paint a better picture, she weighs roughly 350 lbs, has black and brown teeth, and wears the same greasy tank top every time I see her. Also, she has seven kids.
EVERY TIME this lady comes in, she orders 50 dollars worth of food, and then complains that we ‘messed up again’ and makes us remake the whole order while she sits there and eats all the ‘messed up’ food, intermittently shouting at her children and our employees.
A few days ago, she came in and harassed us with the same ordeal. This time she actually threatened me, audibly telling her children she ought to ‘teach me a lesson’ about respect. At this point, I told her that she needed to leave. She refused, yelling about ‘I paid for my food and I’ll leave when I’m ready!’
Instead of immediately calling the police like I should have, I just walked outside to and calm down. A minute later, I heard a toddler shrieking and crying from the other side of the dumpster, so I ran over to find that ignorant woman choking and violently shaking her 3-year-old, trying to push her into the car. The lady yelled, ‘Get in the car and shut up or I’ll pop you in the face again! I’m not kidding!’
So, I called the cops, and then walked up to the woman and completely lost it. Screamed in her face, something to the effect of, ‘Get your hands off of that child, you fat broad!’ (immature, I know, but it was deserved.) She let go of the kid, and then ran up to me like some sort of rabid hippopotamus, yelling about how she could break me over one knee, and that I was gonna die, etc. Luckily, the police station is a 30-second drive from Taco Bell, and they showed up before she could get near me.”
Parenting At Its Worst
“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.”
Parking Lot Harassment
“My mom has a heart condition and therefore has a handicap parking pass. She doesn’t have any sort of visible disability, she just can’t walk super far or do stairs. She’s a little on the plumper side, but not obese, and in her mid-fifties- what I’m trying to say is, visibly, she looks like a normal fifty-something woman.
So we are at the store and my mom parks in the handicap spot and gets out of her car.
As she’s getting her purse out of the backseat, I hear someone walk by and say ‘Jesus, these fat people and their fake handicaps, look at that lady there. She should be parking in the back to get a little exercise.’
So I whip around the side of the car and yell, ‘Hey you prick, that lady is my mother, and she’s on a list to get a heart transplant! Buzz off and mind your own business!’
The dude stops for a fraction of a second and I can see the look of shame on his face, then he speed-walks away without apologizing. Sometimes people are the worst.”
Confrontation At The Local Pub
“While we were at the bar, one of my female friends came to me looking really upset, and wanting to leave. Apparently, some guy had been touchy and groping her and her friend all night. I got up and scared him saying if I caught him even looking at the two girls again it was his head. He came back aggressively/defensively saying he didn’t know they were my girls, and that I should ‘back off and show some respect for an honest mistake’ but backed off when I grabbed him by the collar, and told him that he would get respect when he respected females (I’m a small dude but can sound like a drill sergeant). At this point the half the bar was looking, and he shamefully left. I’m a regular there, and some bartenders gave me a round of applause and a free drink.”
Children Gone Wild
“At Summerfest (HUGE music festival in Milwaukee), there were three children (ages approximately 5, 7, and 11) running around, knocking over trash cans, blowing whistles and cussing up a storm. No parent in sight. This is around 4 pm. I sigh, walk over and said, ‘Unless you really want to get in trouble, you need to stop behaving like this, you’re embarrassing yourself. Where is the person you came here with?’
The eleven-year old responds, ‘Dumb broad I don’t have to answer to you. Stupid white people, always thinking they can tell people what to do. I don’t have to listen to you.’
At that point my friend, who is a Milwaukee detective, comes over, pulls his badge and says to her, ‘You don’t have to listen to her, she was nice and gave you a chance. But you DO have to listen to me.’ Her face just drops, she throws herself on the ground, and starts screaming and crying saying, ‘I didn’t do nothing, these people prejudiced! They just hate black people.’ Obviously my friend got the cops on duty and security to come get them at this point. I was more concerned about an 11-year-old being responsible for a 5 and 7 year old than her behavior, but seriously? Put the card back in the deck.”
Coffee Run Gone Awry
“I was at a Tim Horton’s across from the hospital I work at doing a coffee run for the people on my floor. The woman ahead of me in line started yelling at the cashier because there were no breakfast sandwiches left (it was 11am and they’d stop serving them, hence they only make enough to get through until then). She was being extremely rude so I felt I needed to say something. I interjected ‘There is no reason to be so rude to the cashier over a breakfast sandwich.’ The woman looked at me and said ‘mind your business!’ I get my eight coffees for the people I work with and make my way to cross the street back to the hospital. Well this classless citizen decided to wait outside follow me, say ‘you got something to say now we’re on the street,’ and I was like, ‘you are still just as rude.’ She proceeded to throw her large tea on me burning my face and covering my lab coat and my great outfit under it. People were around watching this happen (6 taxi’s at a taxi stand and smokers outside the hospital doors), I was defenseless with two trays of drinks. She threw the drink and ran off to her car across the street. Probably because in most places throwing a scalding drink on someone is considered assault.”
Bus Driver Showdown
“This was over a month ago: I was on my way home from my afternoon classes, and I commute by taking buses. So on that day, I noticed a new bus driver. This guy looked really young. He must have been in his mid-twenties. He must have gotten hired recently. About half-way away from my home, the bus stops by our local mall. So I see this old lady with her cane climbing aboard. It takes her a little while to fully get into the bus. Suddenly, the bus driver closes the door and immediately takes off while the old lady is still standing close to the door. There were probably 6-7 other people in the bus just staring at the bus driver and the old lady back and forth. I happen to sit all the way in the back, and I can see these other people saying how rude, to say the least, the bus driver was. I felt so bad for the old lady and angry at the bus driver that I couldn’t help but yell, ‘Excuse me, can you please stop the bus right now so the old lady can sit!’ The bus driver looked at me through his rear view mirror and nodded his head. I got up and walked down the aisle and ushered the old lady to the nearest seat. So now, the bus is about to approach my home, so I get up and walk down the aisle again, standing right next to him; he said, ‘Sorry for not letting the lady get to her seat… I am behind my schedule.’ Since he apologized, I smiled back at him and said, ‘I’m just looking out for your job and the old woman.'”