There are moments where the little guy wins. Moments where a bully gets pantsed. Moments where all is right in the world.
Everyone has experienced such moments when someone tried to exert their power over someone else and got a face full of justice instead when they learned they weren’t as powerful as they thought in that particular context.
So when a question on Ask Reddit asked “What was the best ‘you have no power here’ moment you have ever seen?'” people rushed to tell their tales of glorious powerlessness and of jerks who got shut down.
These are their stories.
1. I want a better lawyer.
When an unhappy client threatens to go hire a better lawyer. They don’t seem to get that this isn’t a threat when they aren’t paying me….
2. This is my mall.
I worked at a movie theatre and some customers were adamant that a staff member had stolen their wallet after they dropped it. Turns out that these people just couldn’t see and found the wallet once they actually looked for it. They got irate with literally everyone, from the mall security to the managers to the staff. Mall security finally said “get the fuck out” and the customers went “you can’t say that! This isn’t your theatre, we’re customers.” Mall security guy promptly said “this is my mall, and I can do whatever the fuck I want.”
3. I’m the captain now.
I had a rough childhood with a drug addict father. My mom struggled to make ends meet and my first job was paying for the mortgage. After several months of working (again at my first job) I finally had some money to spend on myself and decided to get a computer and a decent internet connection. At the time the best internet I could buy as part of a dish combo package. I bought a dish and brought it home to install on the house. During this time my dad was still living at home with us but he was hardly there and my parents had all but separated at that point. My dad promptly asked me what I was doing putting a dish on his house. I let him know that I pay the mortgage now and I make the decisions on what we do with the house.
I was young but it was a very empowering moment for me.
4. Decisions are made by the company, bro.
I was working as a consultant for a company, there was a bit of a competition between me and this guy, company starts to have some financial issues so I leave and start working for a client of theirs. Shortly after joining they bring in this guy I was competing with at my old job, he was technically my equal except now I was employed by the client and he was just a consultant. He was trying to one-up me during meetings and my boss told him that decisions are made by the company not the consultants. It felt good.
– kaxobixo
5. “I want to speak to the manager”
When I was working customer service for a restaurant delivery service (not unlike Door Dash) I had a customer send in a complaint about hair in their food. The hair was sitting on top of the food. I check their account, and they had ONE order on their account, which is a red flag.
I check their phone number and find multiple accounts, each other 1-2 orders, ALL of them complaining about hair in the food. I deny a refund because the customer has actually used the same identical photo for the last order since they ordered the same thing. The customer tries to argue with me, threaten to never use the service again, typical stuff that they always say.
Eventually the customer gives up and ends the call, then immediately tries again. I get the support request. See who it is, then deny the refund again. She ends the call, then tries again. The person behind me gets the call. I tap the person on the shoulder and show them what I pulled up on my screen and that person denies the refund.
The next day she calls back and tries again and is outside of the refund window, so the customer demands to speak to a supervisor.
The supervisor bans her from the service for multiple fraudulent refund requests.
6. Go ahead, tough guy.
I was about 12 years old, maybe younger. Often had been forced to stay with my Moms friends when she’d go out of town. The father was…. An abusive prick. He’d do things like make tomatoes every night for dinner knowing I absolutely hated them. For a week. Threw me in a pool when I was small and he knew I couldn’t swim. Classic 70s “macho man”. He literally tortured me every chance he’d get. As an aside if you’re a kid and your own mother doesn’t give a shit how people treat you, it’s pretty much open season.
Anyway, we went out to dinner one night. Me, my Mom, her friends and their kids. We were leaving the restaurant. I don’t remember what preceded it, but he said “go ahead tough guy. hit me as hard as you can right in the gut” thinking I wouldn’t do it because I was scared of him.
But this was my moment and I knew it. He was a small man, 5’6″. I was at least as tall as him already. And as he gave me his shit eating grin I pulled my fist back and fucking belted him in the gut with EVERY ounce of strength I could muster.
He immediately doubled over. He was FUCKING PISSED. He tried to turn it around on me, but his wife shut him up instantly. “You told him to do it. If you ‘weren’t ready’ it’s your fault, not his”.
One of the most satisfying moments of my life. And one of the last times I had to endure mr Tough Guy.
7. I don’t even work here lady.
I have one that crosses with “I don’t work here lady” a bit.
I have a job, but I will still do interviews every couple years. this means the script is flipped a bit. They have to convince me to work there.
Anyway I got the town early so I stopped at a bakery to get something to eat. the woman went in the back to get it, and this squat toad of a woman walks in, yells at me to get her order and then yells at me again for not getting up right away to serve her. When I point out that I do not in fact work there she goes off me about how important she is etc. We can skip the play by play.
I go the interview. Head of IT and the toad woman walks in. She has this evil grin on her face. I stop everything. I point at the toad woman and I say something like “I have seen how your managements treats people, and I have no interest in working for you” and I take my resume out his hands and walk out. The look on her face was priceless. Oh and he had walked in with a print of a resume, so I took his copy.
Felt great to do.
8. No pass, no entry.
New CEO came to our deparment on the 1st day of his work. He didn’t have a pass card yet and a lower level employee told him that he can’t enter without pass card. CEO got upset and ordered a worker to let him in, but the worker insisted: show me the pass card, or you’re not entering.
Few days later this worker got a bonus.
9. You can’t have your cake and eat it too.
When my shitty father kicked me out of the house and then demanded he have access to my bank to “control my financial situation” and I got to tell him “you have no control over me anymore. You set me free when you kicked me out and now you cant do shit”
10. Don’t yell at me on my time.
Had an old boss who was a complete and total bastard. He was actually my boss’ boss, and wasn’t supposed to interact with us unless it was through our boss, but he just loved trying to make everyone under him squirm. The company had forced him to go to training twice because of how he spoke to people.
One day, I get a call at home from him and he just starts unloading- cursing, name-calling, insulting over some technical issue he just found out about. After a couple of minutes, I just looked at my phone and hung up on him.
The next day, I get called into a meeting with his boss, who basically wants to know who the fuck I think I am hanging up on this guy.
I calmly explain that no one gets to yell at me on my time, in my home, on my phone. You have to wait for me to be on the clock to pay me for that privilege, and I’ll gladly take that money- If I’m busy being yelled at, I’m not busy with anything else.
Seemed to work.
– blind30