Became More Level Headed
As people age, we often assume they become more level-headed and reasonable. After all, adulthood should come with wisdom and a more logical approach to life, right?
Unfortunately, that's not always the case. Redditors from around the world have shared stories of adult temper tantrums that seem more fitting for toddlers, proving that maturity isn't always guaranteed with age.
Provided Documentation
I missed a math test due to hospitalization, and although I provided documentation, my teacher refused to let me make it up. She insisted she would drop the lowest score for everyone, which meant my 78 would be eliminated. However, I wanted to retake the test to improve my grade.
After school, I appealed to the teacher again, but the answer was still no. Undeterred, I reached out to the guidance counselor, who intervened and made the teacher allow me to retake the test. I even provided documentation of my past assignment grades to support my case. In the end, I took the test and earned an A-. However, when I checked my homework scores, I found that my previously perfect 100% had been reduced to 50%. To resolve this, I returned to the counselor with evidence to have my grade corrected.
Eager To Catch A Ball
When I was around eight years old, my family took me to a baseball game, and I was eager to catch a ball. As the game went on, one of the players tossed a ball directly in my direction, and I was ready to grab it.
However, before I could reach it, a college-aged guy leaned over my shoulder and snatched the ball. He and his friends burst into laughter, celebrating their victory at my expense. Nearly 20 years later, that moment still bothers me. It's frustrating how some adults act with the same immaturity as children, especially when they hurt someone else's pride for their own amusement.
An Ordinary Orange Spalding
In fifth grade, I often played basketball at my bus stop with my friends. One day, a five-year-old boy approached us, claiming we were using his ball. It seemed like just an ordinary orange Spalding, but when I checked, I found my name branded on it. I showed the boy, and he ran off crying. To my surprise, his parents arrived soon after, accusing us of bullying their child for marking his ball. After a tense exchange, we handed it over, and the situation escalated with the parents shouting that we should be punished.
Later, the boy found his ball under some bushes, and his mom, in an attempt to save face, offered us another one, claiming we had two. The situation revealed how adults could be as prideful and petty as children. In the end, my parents handled the situation with dignity, and the boy's mom was left embarrassed by her actions. I learned that even adults can act like children when pride is involved.
Approaching The Desk
My name is Abby—just Abby. There’s no "Abigail" in it, despite what my sixth-grade social studies teacher seemed to think. One day, she repeatedly called out "Abigail," and when I didn’t respond, she approached my desk, asking why. I explained that she had called the wrong name, but she insisted, saying "Abby is short for Abigail" and sent me to the principal’s office for being disrespectful.
When I explained the situation to the principal, he checked my record, confirming I was never an Abigail. He sent me back to class without any further consequences, and the issue was resolved. It’s funny how the smallest misunderstandings can lead to unnecessary conflicts, but sometimes, family members can hold onto these petty disagreements for no reason at all.
Gifting A Car
After high school, my aunt gifted me a card, some cash, and a ring from my late grandfather. Although I appreciated the gesture, I wasn’t into jewelry and felt it wouldn’t suit me, so I politely declined. I also kept other items he had passed down to me.
However, at a family dinner soon after, my aunt's sister handed me the same ring in a box. I felt compelled to accept it and feigned excitement, but things quickly escalated. My aunt was furious and began yelling, clearly upset I had received the ring, suggesting it was meant for her. The situation became heated, and I realized the pettiness between my two aunts had involved me in an uncomfortable way. I felt embarrassed, especially since I didn’t care about the ring at all. A delayed apology followed, but the whole ordeal left a lasting impression about how pettiness can hurt others.
Long Standing Disagreement
My uncle and my mom had a long-standing disagreement, and his behavior toward me always stung. Every time he greeted my sister and me, he'd shower her with compliments, calling her beautiful and wonderful, while barely acknowledging me with a casual, "Oh, you're here too." That dismissive attitude wounded me deeply, especially since I had always admired him.
Over time, the hurt turned into feelings of inadequacy, and I found myself crying for hours to my mother. His actions shattered my self-esteem and served as a petty way to get back at my mom. To this day, I haven’t forgiven him for the emotional toll he caused. His behavior is a stark reminder of how power can corrupt, as even a small action can deeply affect someone’s confidence.
Enjoyed The Previous Year
When my gifted teacher was transferred, I was placed under the care of a new teacher who seemed resentful of me. She decided to have the class read The Hobbit, a book I had already enjoyed the previous year, along with The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Unfortunately, my teacher did not believe me when I expressed my enthusiasm for the books, calling me a liar in front of the class.
Things worsened as she began publicly mocking me, claiming that kids like me thought we were better than everyone else. As a shy and quiet student, I became emotional, and her mocking only intensified. Her favorite students also joined in, making my school year unbearable. Though I excelled academically, I was never good enough in her eyes, and her cruel behavior left a lasting impact on me. It was hard to understand why someone in authority would treat a student so poorly.
Highlight of My Time
The pinewood derby was a highlight of my time in Cub Scouts, and although it was challenging, my dad was there to support me every step of the way. After dominating the first three rounds, I felt confident going into the final race. However, one of the other dads picked up my car to hand it to me and, seemingly by accident, dropped it, causing the wheels to break.
I couldn't shake the feeling that it wasn't an accident—he had deliberately sabotaged my car to ensure his child’s victory. Even though that event took place over 30 years ago, the anger still lingers. On the other hand, there was another parent who made a petty decision in dealing with their child, but at least that was the result of a genuine mistake, not a deliberate act of sabotage.
Accidentally Making A Noise
I entered my dad's room to grab something, and in the process, I accidentally made a noise. That small disturbance was enough to ruin his sleep for the night.
The next morning, while I was peacefully asleep, he decided to pour an entire bottle of water on my face. To this day, I can’t understand what went through his mind. It wasn’t exactly the behavior you’d expect from an adult, even if he was upset. There are parents who can be petty, but then there are those who take it too far—mine seemed to fall somewhere in between.
Inside Voices, Everyone
I was in middle school at a friend's sleepover. Her parents scared the heck out of me. They were very strict and had pulled my friend and her siblings out of public school to send them to a Catholic school. Anyway, it was probably like 11 pm at this sleepover, and my friend's mom hesitantly let us watch the Disney movie Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century.
I laughed at a part of the movie, and even though her parents were awake, they came into the living room to scold me for being too loud. Not long after, disaster struck. I took a drink of water, choked, and started coughing. They called my parents after 11 pm to come to pick me up because "I couldn't behave." They had no regard for my parents being asleep and having jobs to get to early in the morning. They wanted me out for laughing and coughing in the span of about 10 minutes. My parents never let me stay the night at my friend's house again, and they are still mad at them for doing that almost 20 years later. Pettiness can also stem from greed, as our next Redditor experienced firsthand. Adults really don't set good examples for kids.
The Cash Fairy
When I was like nine or ten, I was rollerblading home from my mom's work. I was heading down Fourth Street, and I found something like 16 dollars—a ten, a five, and a single—on the ground. The money was just lying there on the sidewalk next to some outdoor seating at a cafe. Being the obnoxiously nice kid that I was, I picked it up and kind of looked around, wondering if anybody had lost their money.
That's when this lady in a weird sweater vest came around the corner. We made eye contact, and I told her how I'd found the money. She went, "Huh. Let me see it". And my naive butt is like, "Oh, yeah, that makes sense. She's a grown-up. She can sort this out". She looked around, handed me the single back, and put her finger to her mouth in a "Shhh!" gesture. THEN, SHE JUST FLITTED OFF, NEVER TO BE SEEN AGAIN. Our next Redditor's mother acted like a child after they wouldn't play a card game. How much pettier can you get?
Don't Cross The Queen Of Swords
My mom asked if I wanted to play 52-card pick-up while my friends were over. I asked her what that was, and she said that I either wanted to play or I didn't. I told her I didn't want to play anything if I didn't know what it was. Her reaction was brutal. She got visibly irritated, threw the cards on the ground, and said, "This is a 52-card pick up: pick them up".
She then threatened to ground me as she watched me pick the cards up and put them away nicely. I think it was worse because my friends were watching. Mothers can sometimes also fight for their children instead. Just like this next Reddit's mother when they were being taken advantage of.
Beware The Momma Bear
When I was in fifth grade, I didn't put a book cover on my math book. It required cutting up a paper bag or something similar, and I just never did it. So, my math teacher took away my math book, so I couldn't do homework or follow along in class. Like, what the heck, who does that to a kid? When my mom found out, she went down to the school.
She went on a rampage about how they were interfering with my right to an education or something like that. The school district was terrified of her until I graduated. Here's yet another teacher that got away with some of the pettiest actions in a classroom. Our next poor Redditor was only five years old.
By Any Means Necessary
I had a teacher in kindergarten who threatened to expel me because I was sick and didn't show up to class the day before. She put me on the spot in front of the other kids, telling me not to lie about why I'd been absent and saying that she'd call the principal. I cried in front of the whole class, not knowing what to do.
Apparently, she wanted to win some attendance award and thought confronting a child was a good idea. Like, dude, I was five. I'm still angry about how she got away with it. Adults seem to treat kids terribly so far. That trend continues with an adult confronting a kid in a gas station parking lot.
Bragging Rights
At 16 years old, I had a job at a gas station after school. I did all the grunt work, like sweeping garbage in the parking lot, emptying trash bins, etc. I was taking the trash out one day, and a grown man in his 40s came up to me. I'll never forget what he said to me.
It was something along the lines of, "I make more money in a week than you do in a whole year." All I could think at the time was, "Well, yeah, I sure hope you do. I'm in high school." It was such a petty thing to say to a kid just trying to make a little bit of money after school. Our next story involves the faculty at a school not caring about our next Redditor's injuries. They said he was making them up.
Just A Flesh Wound
When I broke my ankle at school, the nurse said I was fine and just making it up. I have a ridiculously high pain threshold, so I wasn't bawling my eyes out. I was on crutches for, I think, nearly a month. The same thing happened again when I literally broke my neck years later. School was honestly the worst time of my life. It was so bad that it drove me to try taking my own life twice. On one of those occasions, I leaped off a second-floor balcony but landed in the woodchip garden mulch.
I was badly bruised and dislocated one of my knees but was otherwise fairly unscathed. The principal gave me detention for "showing off" and walking in the garden. Instructors can also be disappointed when they act just like the children they're supposed to be teaching.
Rough Waters
My swimming teacher promised me a candy bar if I jumped off the board, even though I couldn't swim. When I did it, they said they had forgotten, but I saw them eating one in the lounge. I was five, and it was the first time I'd been betrayed. Another thing that the teacher did instead of teaching me to swim was to try and teach the group how to keep their eyes open underwater and see.
We all had goggles and had to take them off to do this. Unsurprisingly, I didn't learn to swim there. I ended up learning a year later when my sister taught me at a hotel on vacation. No developing student should ever have to be disparaged for their handwriting. This next Redditor knows that all too well.
Illegible
I have horrible handwriting. I have forever, and no amount of intervention or practice has helped. When I was in fifth grade, my social studies teacher seemed to take a lot of pleasure in constantly reminding me of how awful my handwriting was. We used to have to bring our notebooks up for her to check our homework. I dreaded that so much.
She would hold up my notebook so the whole class could laugh at my handwriting. I'm grown now, and that was a long time ago, but I still hate when I have to hand write anything that other people will see. It's the worst when your own boss doesn't treat you well enough to respect your lifestyle choices. They sabotaged our next Redditor's egg roll.
Tasty
I was a vegetarian at the time. I was at work, and my boss got everyone egg rolls. She told me she had confirmed that they were meat-free and asked if I would like one. Then, after I ate half of the egg roll, she let loose.
She told me with the most angelic voice and trash-eating grin: "Oopsie, you just ate the one with chicken in it." That was 14 years ago, and it still makes me furious. Parents should encourage their children to get their freedom. But some parents are controlling enough that they don't want that.
Roadblock
My mother and stepfather allowed me to get my learner's permit at 16. Then, at 17, they allowed me to sign up for driver's ed classes. Yet, when it came time for road practice with an adult in the passenger seat, they absolutely refused to let me drive either of their vehicles. I even told the teacher, and she confronted my mother by asking her how she expected me to learn.
Thanks to my brother-in-law, I got maybe five hours of road time before I took my road test. It went as well as you can imagine. When I confronted my parents, their reaction was so cruel. They screamed at me for wanting my license and said their insurance rates went up enough when I turned 16. I had to wait until I was 18 and schedule extra road lessons with the instructor to get my license. The best part is that my parents lied. Fifteen years later, I sold auto insurance. Unlicensed teenagers don't count on your policy, and licensed ones can be put down as "excluded." It's cruel and childish to pick on kids, but so many adults seem to love it. One dog walker decided to taunt a poor kid running around the block.
Sic' Em!
I was a chubby kid, so when I was 12, I decided I would go for runs around the neighborhood. I went at dusk so people wouldn't stare at the fat kid so much. On the second or third run, some guy was walking his dog. He unleashed it and sent it after me for some giggles. He called it back just before it got to me. I stopped going for runs after that.
No matter how hard people can work, it doesn't matter if there's someone above them ready to shoot them down. Luckily our next Redditor did get revenge.
He Chose The Wrong Rung
This happened when I was a teenager. For my Eagle Scout project, you had to have a proposal and get it through several levels of clearance. My proposal was very good. I was the only person in years to get through the initial level of clearance without having to revise it. Unfortunately, at the district level, there was a stick in the mud who believed that he wasn't doing his job unless he rejected every proposal at least once.
After an hour and a half of arguing, he rejected mine for not including "ladder safety measures." So I came up with a plan for revenge. I printed out a 150-page manual on ladders and put that in front of him. Unfortunately, it was not the same guy, so I didn't get to see his face. I told the other guy what happened when he asked why the proposal was so massive. He thought it was hilarious. Teachers should nurture and encourage their students. But this next teacher did exactly the opposite.
Lost In Translation
I wasn't working hard in my English class at school and still got good grades. It annoyed my English teacher to no end. One day, I was called to the principal's office, and my teacher was there to complain about me. He said that I would never be good at English and that I should be downgraded to easier classes because I would end up failing.
The principal asked me what grade I got, and I told the truth—I had 89% at the time. I ended up staying where I was, with the same teacher. Today, I can say I'm not bad at English, even though it's my second language. A family friend of our next Redditor really was a bit of a Karen. She teased him until they finally exploded.
The Cap
When I was young, my family had all our belongings taken while at the beach. Inside that stuff was my favorite cap, my only cap. I remember I loved that hat and wore it every day and everywhere. I was like six or seven, and at that age, it held big-time sentimental value. This woman who was with us at the time started to antagonize me. She made fun of how upset I was because my parents had lost more valuable things, like a digital camera. Which, as an adult, I can understand. But as a kid trying to deal with this great injustice that not even my parents could make better, it was a big deal. This woman pushed and pushed until I yelled at her:" Go away, leave me alone!"
That was really out of character for me, but the woman reacted like a true Karen. She went to my mother and made up this whole story about how I had been rude and disrespectful. She claimed that I'd yelled at her and called her names. So, my mother punished me. That was, like, 20 years ago. I'm not holding a grudge. Even normal adults can act out of turn and be completely petty manchildren, especially when they themselves are dealing with kids.
A Fresh Fade
I used to get haircuts at the army barber shop when I was younger. I went every two weeks. One time, I was tended to by a barber I had never had before. I told him how I wanted my cut: low, faded, and a part on the left side of my head. The barber put the part near the middle of my head, so I told him that wasn't how I wanted it.
He told me verbatim, "That's too bad." I still had to pay him for my haircut, too. I never got a part in my head again, 23 years and counting.
Did You Do Your Homework?
I got in trouble in sixth grade for reading during homeroom. Homeroom was like a random 30-minute period to work on homework. Since I always did my homework the night before, I would just quietly read. For some reason, my homeroom teacher hated that—and one day, she snapped.
She just yelled at me for always reading in her class and told me to do my homework. I told her that all of my homework was done. She told me to prove it, so I showed her all of my completed homework. Then, she confiscated my book and sent me to the principal's office for being disrespectful. I'm still salty about it.
Thirsty
My dad used to ask me for a sip of my drink and guzzle down half or more of it in a go. I was a dumb little moron, so I kept falling for it, and he'd keep laughing. It left a lasting impact on me that followed me into adulthood. Thanks, dad! I really couldn't get over it as much as I tried.
Today, I can share anything except my drinks. It doesn't matter what it is. I won't let anyone have a sip except for my wife because I love her and trust her. Up next is a father that did a lot of petty, childish things to his son. But the last thing he did really takes the cake.
Daddy Dearest
I could fill up a book with stories about my petty dad, but I'll leave you with just a few of the best ones. My high school required uniforms. This extended to PE class, but we had to wear one of two approved PE shirts and khaki shorts. I only had one PE shirt, and it had a hole in the armpit. As I walked past, my dad hooked his finger into the hole and yanked to rip it wider. Then, he laughed at me when I said I had enough problems without him causing more for me. Another time, my dad took me fishing and told me to invite a buddy. Three hours in, we hadn't caught a single thing, but my buddy and I didn't say anything about it. My dad asked if we wanted to just go home. I said "yes," and he reamed me out.
He called me a "mama's boy" and then dropped me off about two kilometers (a mile) from home so that I had to walk. He also told me the car had to be washed when he got back. My buddy backed me up when we got home. My mom did not. But the pettiest thing my dad's done really teed me off. I came home from school, and he randomly said, "Today, you're studying Spanish." I told him I had other homework, but he didn't care. As soon as he left, I started doing my other homework. He came back and took away my book, grounded me, and made me study Spanish. My teacher didn't believe me when I told him that my dad wouldn't allow me to do my homework. I definitely don't blame the teacher—it made no sense. Extorting money out of a kid is, ironically, the most immature and petty thing an adult can do. But that didn't stop a cab driver from doing it anyway.
The Convenience Fee
When I was about 18, I lived in China for a year and spent a good amount of time traveling and staying in hostels. One day, I slept in and was just barely going to make it to the station in time for my train. Bear in mind this was a 40-hour train that only ran once a day, and I didn't have the money for a new ticket.
The taxi driver got to the end of the street that the station was on and turned to me. He said, "It's ten kuai to drop you off here. If you want me to take you to the station entrance, it's 50". I ended up paying because I needed to make that train, but I was upset and furious. I have met some of the kindest, most selfless people in China. Yet, like anywhere in the world, there are some absolute jerks too.