You probably know yourself well enough by now to know the little things that set you off. Maybe you get too competitive during board games, maybe you slide into road rage a little too easily, maybe you don’t deal well with criticism—we all have our flaws.
Thanks to quirks of human nature, there are a handful of things that manage to bring out the absolute worst in people, regardless of how nice they are.
Recently someone on Reddit asked: “What brings the worst out in people?”
Here are 18 things that can turn even the nicest person into a horrible jerk:
1. Divorce proceedings
“Especially with kids involved. It can turn a couple of average people into monsters.”—Hq3473
2. Waiting
“When you were told to wait 20 minutes and it’s now been 21 minutes and you are still waiting”—arandomperson7
3. Traffic
“I live on a major 4-lane road going into the city, and the number of times I hear people screaming at each other over the smallest traffic infractions is honestly frightening. That, and all the car horns, which I jokingly refer to as the ‘Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s horn section.'”—007point5
4. Weddings
“My father is a minister. He says he would rather help with a funeral over a wedding any day. Weddings leave people with a sense of extreme desperation to achieve perfection.”—MHoaglund41
5. Funerals
“All the heightened emotions make people irrational. Any buried family drama comes out at the worst possible time. I’ve been caught in the middle of it before. I didn’t even know the deceased, I was there supporting my friend who had lost her mother. Someone decided this was the time to air a 20-year-old grudge as my friend walked by. My friend was so caught off guard by the accusations she was speechless. I told this crazy lady this wasn’t the time or the place for this conversation so she turned on me. Next thing I knew some other family member was violently yanking her out of the room! I guess it could have been worse, but why did you have to make a scene at a funeral?”—cls107
6. Inheritances
“I’ve seen both my family and friends’ families absolutely RIPPED apart after someone dies and another family member doesn’t feel they’ve “received their share” or that the will was unfair or that property mysteriously goes missing before the estate is settled. Awful, awful stuff. I think the worst is my friend’s dad and his sister haven’t spoken for over 30 years due to a squabble over their mother’s will. THIRTY YEARS. The kicker is that they’re both quite well off on their own – friend’s dad is a very, very successful trial lawyer and friend’s aunt married a successful doctor. This wasn’t money either of them ever actually needed, but they’ve not had a relationship for decades because of it.”—HouseRenovations
7. Being hangry
“Hunger can make people do things they never thought they were capable of doing. It can drive your mind out of control.”—veganboi1059
8. Stress
“Most of us are capable of being decent human beings who make a positive contribution to society. You add stress into the mix and people start to crack. Financial stress, relationship stress, work stress, it doesn’t matter. When our focus is pulled into simply surviving and staying afloat, our ability to empathize or provide support to others greatly diminishes. I think this is tied in with the low morale we are all experiencing right now…we’re all unbelievably stressed. I’ve seen some of the nicest people completely snap and act shockingly because they just can’t take the pressure anymore.”—becasaurusrex
9. Jealousy
“Jealousy, not just for success. I’ve seen many relationships crumble because someone was happier than the other.”—msred25
10. Free swag
“I’ve had the surreal experience of working at a Long Island tennis tournament attended by generally very wealthy people. They arrived in top-end luxury cars or limos, wearing designer clothes, and watches worth more than my car. I was tasked with opening a case of some sort of little branded tchotchke, like cheap pens, keychains, etc. and handing them out to the attendees as they walked the sponsor areas.
People went berserk: shoving each other, lunging across the table (thank cripes there was a table) to grab stuff from my hand, missing key tennis matches to lurk by our tent, awaiting the next crap dispersal, wow. I’ve seen this type of thing happen many other times too, with people going to great lengths just to get some pittance of which they have no need.”—Yerkin_Megherkin