You go through life trying to appease everyone, but there are just some people that will make a point to get upset over the smallest things. The people in these stories definitely had to jump through some hoops to be offended.
CLEARLY This Baby Is Not An Astronaut
“My 7 month old was wearing a shirt that had a rocket ship and the ‘NASA’ logo and some middle aged woman in the shop said, ‘He shouldn’t be wearing that because he’s clearly not an astronaut.’
I was dumbfounded.”
“When Being Civil Simply Isn’t Working…”
“I still remember in kindergarten when my friend and I were reading all the colors out loud on one of those crayola super packs. I got straight up yelled at and sent to the principal’s office for saying ‘orange pizzazz’ because the teacher said I called someone a bad word and would not listen despite having the crayon as evidence.
After a 30min scolding and waiting for my mom to leave work to pick me up for my suspension, she came in all apologetic. When I explained to her the whole situation, not the school’s side, Ma went crazy. I’d heard her cuss once and that was because we had just been rear-ended in traffic.
‘How about the C-word?! Can he say the C-word?! Cuz you’re all being C-words right now! This is freaking ridiculous!’ And just went off while I’m sitting there all shocked and the principal is just beet red.
I got un-suspended on the spot, but she pulled me out of school for the day anyway. We had a lovely day and she explained very well how I shouldn’t swear like that unless absolutely necessary and I’ve exhausted all civility. ‘When being civil simply isn’t working, sometimes you might have to call someone a bad word.’
The next day at school, I learned that I now had the stigma of being the kid who got the crayola super pack taken away.”
Why Would You Want To Look?
“A surprising amount of people get very offended when you tell them they can’t sit and stare at your privates while you give birth.”
The “Bad Guys”
“We were choosing a mascot for a summer camp where I worked. It was the first day of camp and we’d always let the campers vote on a mascot that we’d use for the rest of the summer as sort of a bonding thing. This year, the kids voted for Wolves as the mascot. It was almost unanimous. But one kid, probably about 9 or 10, threw a fit because wolves are ‘bad guys’ and predators and killers and he doesn’t want to be a wolf, he wants to be a hero. He refused to participate in any team activities because he didn’t want to be on a team with the ‘bad guys.’
At one point, we brought in a guy in a full mascot wolf costume for some anti-bullying program and the kid had a massive tantrum. I almost felt like we were going to learn at some point that his brother was killed by wolves or some other tragic origin story. I did feel bad for the boy because I was fairly certain he had some kind of unaddressed emotional difficulties or something, but we weren’t going to change the mascot name that almost everyone voted for.’
The really sad thing is that wolf populations have suffered a lot due to stereotypes that they’re ‘bad.'”
Sorry, I Didn’t Check My ID Before The Accident
“Using a walking stick. I was in a car accident a few years ago and it messed my leg up. Since then I’ve been using a walking stick. I was walking to shop (pre-pandemic) and an old bloke gave me the dirtiest look I’ve ever seen.
‘What do you need a cane for? You’re only a kid…’
He actually got quite mad just seeing me using a stick. Like, my dude, I’m just out trying to buy some milk, I don’t need your attitude today. (I didn’t say that out loud, I just said it to myself after I got home).”
Dodged A Bullet
“Maybe 22 years ago, I had a phone interview with a baking company. I didn’t care to have my peers know what I was up to so I took the call on my cell phone in my car. The call was crystal clear and no technical issues.
At one point, they had mentioned the weather and asked how it was where I was. I told him that I was sitting in my car and I could see that it was actively snowing and what not. The interviewer asked me, ‘Are you taking this call on a cell phone?’
I told him I was. Then he asked me if I thought that was appropriate. I asked him what he meant by that. He said he thought it was kind of rude to take a formal call on a cell phone. I told him I would be more than happy to conclude the interview if talking on a cell phone was an issue. If he was interested, I’d be happy to continue it the next day when I’d be at a desk. He again repeated how rude he thought it was that I had called from a cell phone and that there was no need to continue the interview process. I disagreed with the first point but did agree with the second.
To this day, I wonder what the heck he was talking about and where he was coming from.”
Talk About Sheltered…
“We used an app at work called Bonfyre. One person refused to use it because bonfires are for witchcraft and pagans.”
Then Clean That Yourself
“I spent 9 hours deep-cleaning the house for an inspection. I went above and beyond, clearing my work schedule and going the extra mile, and my roommate ‘double checked’ my work. He had a complete psychotic meltdown because I forgot to sweep underneath the couch.
I moved out the next day and never spoke to him again.”
Get That Cat A Hanky
“I was at the vet with my cat and he sneezed. This was apparently very offensive to an elder woman (she was there with a corgi) and she started screaming at me for about 30 minutes about pet hygiene.”
He Wanted To Do BOY Math
“At school someone didn’t have a calculator and asked if anyone had one they could borrow. Someone offered them a pink calculator and they refused, saying that they were offended they’d try and give them something girly.”
Emphasis On WORLD Trade Center
“Someone posted a video about 9/11 and someone commented, ‘Please take this down …. your not from New York. YOU WILL NEVER UNDERSTAND THIS PAIN.’
She said this as if only people from New York were in the ‘World Trade Center’.
Context Matters, Folks
“I once listened to my boss try to lecture the Fire Marshall because he was talking about something being flame retardant (her reasoning was you should just call it fireproof because retardant was an awful word.).
It was one of those times where I really should have tried to stop her but instead I just stood off to the side probably making a surprised pikachu face.”
RIP To All People With That Name
“This is within a year after the DADT repeal. Part of the repeal was that, obviously, you can’t make fun of people for their orientation, so calling people that was out.
I was getting directions to a coworker’s house. He lived on Gay Street. Our supervisor got belligerent about how we can’t say that, even after explaining how it was the street name.”
Who Told Her That Was Okay?
“I had a coworker who got mad at me because I asked her not to tickle me.
(a) That’s inappropriate at work; (b) we’re not children, we’re not in a relationship, we’re not family; (c) I DON’T LIKE BEING TICKLED.
She flipped out and said everyone likes being tickled and I was being mean to her. Happily my boss had my back.
This happened over a decade ago, I don’t work with that woman or for that company. In fact, even the company doesn’t exist anymore.
I am also a woman.
The coworker was very young and immature. This was her first job, her first time in a professional environment, and she really had no clue about professional workplace behavior. I wasn’t upset because she truly thought she was being friendly.
But I still don’t like being tickled.”
Where’s The Logic?
“When I was a child, my mum paid for something with a cheque. The cashier remarked that my mum had nice handwriting.
My mum flew off the handle, and we had to storm out of the shop in outrage. To this day, I have no idea what happened.”
Huh?
“I am a disabled person. My life sucks because of my disability and no longer being able to do the things I used to love makes me quite depressed sometimes.
Some idiot tried to lecture me about how I was ableist for wishing there was a cure for my disability. Apparently I’m stupid for not enjoying being in constant pain and possibly ending up in a wheelchair in the future I guess.”
A Glittery Skull Is Too Scary
“I worked at a restaurant and we put up some Halloween decorations. We had to take them all down when someone found the glittery skull decoration offensive.”
He Was Literally Doing The Opposite
“Back when I was in grade school, a teacher of mine was discussing something (I don’t exactly remember the context), and he said ‘God or a god’ in order to be neutral to those with various religious beliefs (and probably to cover his butt since he was commenting about religion while in school), and a girl in my class got so upset/offended about it she started bawling about how he is being disrespectful to her beliefs.”
Seriously Lady?
“Had someone get offended by me calling my brother ‘bro’. They insisted that I was stupid and that white people can’t be related to Mexicans.
Like seriously lady. That’s not how genetics work. We are 100% related and are a mix of white and Native American. It’s not that unheard of for one biological sibling to come out lighter or darker than the other.
And even if we weren’t related… Seriously? I’m stupid for calling someone close to me my bro despite being different skin tones? Seriously?
Thank you for coming to my rant session. Have a good day.”
“WhAt Is ThAt SuPpOsEd To MeAn?!”
“Typing in someone’s phone number to activate their rewards card. Finished typing it in, found her name, proceeded with the transaction and said: ‘You’re good to go.’
The woman replied with: ‘WhAt Is ThAt SuPpOsEd To MeAn?!’ And she gave me a fiery glare as if I just kicked her toddler across the store.
‘It means… I found your information. You’ll get your points.’
The woman: ‘…Oh. Okay then.’
I still can’t figure out why she flipped out like that. It was a rewards card, she got her points and she got her discount. I just… What?”
Dude, Just Go Home
“This guy at a Halloween party I was at was dressed in a giant bacon costume.
Some girl was yelling at him for being so offensive toward Jews and Muslims (she was neither Jewish nor Muslim). One of the Muslim guys at the party asked her what the heck she was talking about, but she didn’t back down.
I have no idea why people feel they need to go out of their way to be (inaccurately) offended on behalf of other cultures/religions.”
Their Solution Makes No Sense
“Someone once got offended because I used the word black in conversation.
I was talking about an article of clothing/the color black. They tried to make in to something about race, and that I shouldn’t use the term black anymore, and should say African American, I said that makes no sense I’m literally talking about the color black, am I supposed to say I’m wearing an African American colored shirt?! Maybe I’m crazy but I think that’s actually offensive.”
“Let The Normal Folks Get Back To Our Actual Work”
“A freaking picture of an eye. We have an organization-wide theme every year and all the PC’s on our network have the same background and theme which can’t be changed. So this year’s theme is ‘Vision is 2020’ and the background was a zoomed-in picture of an eye in really awesome colours. Two women on staff wrote letters to complain that the picture was ‘heathen’ as it drew from ‘Illuminati’ imagery and paid tribute to the ‘all-seeing eye of Eqyptian deities’. They wined and complained to such an extent that the picture was eventually changed to shut them up and let the normal folks get back to our actual work.”
Yeah Let’s Go With Unique
“I told my sister in a private message that it’s ‘1st’ not ‘1rst’ after she posted something on Facebook with the spelling error. She flipped out saying how I’m a ‘bully’ and I need to ‘appreciate that her spelling is more unique’.
Never Forget
“I sang the song ‘hit the road jack’ to a kid I just beat in a game while in the 3rd grade mockingly. He took that as me calling him a jack*ss. He told the recess monitor this. I was told to stand against a wall away from the rest of the kids with the recess monitor.
I am now 27 now, married with two kids but I will never forget this.
If you ever see this I DIDN’T CALL YOU THAT JARED, BUT NOW, FORGET YOU FOREVER.”
He Eats The Crust Like A MAN
“A sandwich. I kid you not. My Ex husband was given a sandwich by our then 13yr old daughter and because she cut the sandwich he went off on a massive strop about how his sandwiches should never be cut etc.
The poor kids face, she was crushed. It still winds me up no end every time I think about it.”
The Gasp Was Warranted
“Ex of mine once flew into a shrieking rage because while he was driving, someone swerved or did something surprising, and I gasped out loud.
Apparently that meant I didn’t trust him and our entire relationship was in question.
The amount of rage for the level of infraction was…upsetting.
For those suggesting I was overreacting and the annoying one, he was a terrible, aggressive driver. And we lived IN BOSTON.
I’m reminded of the time he reversed the car out of a spot by turning the wheel sharping and gunning the engine, smashing the entire side of the car into the concrete pillar next to the parking spot. That was my fault too, for not warning him he was going to hit the pillar. I gasped that time too, despite being warned that gasping was a sign of distrust in the relationship.
Slow creep. Slow creep of terrible behaviour until the frogs boil to death not realising how hot it was. Fortunately, I woke up before I boiled to death.”
Little Man
“I managed a small, new team that had no procedures or policies, so I set about instituting some. ‘I mean, you never know, I could get hit by a bus tomorrow and then no one would know how to process these requests,’ I told them, when asking for their feedback and for them to write up how they did their tasks. Then we would come back together and decide best practices in a meeting.
Little man filed a complaint to the manager for my use of ‘violent imagery’ and said that he felt threatened. It was a whole thing. Ultimately, he got fired. Forget him, byeeeeeeeee.
For clarity, he didn’t get fired for this one incident. He was a horrible employee with real issues having a woman in charge.”
You Ended Up Offending Everyone
“It’s specific to France. In French we have a way to address for a man (Monsieur), a married woman (Madame), an unmarried woman (Mademoiselle) and we used to have one for an unmarried man (Mondamoiseau) which disappeared from official paperwork since I don’t even know when.
In the name of gender equality, ‘mademoiselle’ was also removed a few years ago from official paperwork. Also in the name of gender equality some employee were told to not call young women ‘Mademoiselle’ anymore and to go with ‘Madame’.
So the trick is, some women will get offended when called ‘Madame’ because it makes them feel old and some women will get offended when called ‘Mademoiselle’ because it’s rude. Clerks are doomed.”
It’s A Nationality
“I’m a white South African. Born here, my nationality is South African. Some American girl got offended that I called myself South ‘African’ as a white dude, and said that only people of colour can call themselves that. Brah… It’s a nationality.”
Catatonic Rage
“At my wedding we marked the vegetarian items as vegetarian. This made the one vegetarian at my wedding (sister-in-law who hates me) fly into a catatonic rage because we are singling out the vegetarian food as vegetarian and not treating it as normal food. Then how the heck are they supposed to know its vegetarian?”
You’re A FOOL
“My parents are abusive and have called my sisters and I every name in the book (pretty sure the c word was said to me more than my name).
In a fight, my sister called my dad a fool when he was throwing a hissy fit. HE FLIPPED HIS TOP and couldn’t fathom being called something more offensive.
He called me and told me what she said, and I laughed at him.
Now my sister and I laugh all the time about how crazy our parents are.”
The Pettiness Runs Deep
“I had a pastor that insisted we call candy canes ‘Jesus sticks’ because Christmas is all about Jesus, y’all, ain’t no fun to be had otherwise. Well, I was 7, and accidentally referred to the Holy Jesus Stick as a candy cane in his presence, and I kid you not, he speed-walked over to my dad to tell on me, and carry on about how offensive it is to see all the world trying to remove Christ from Christmas, it starts in the home, den of sin without Jesus, something something, dark side.
My dad asked him if he was serious (spoiler: he was very, very serious), and then told him to grow the heck up.
And that’s how come my dad dressed up as Santa a couple weeks later and came into the church yelling ‘HO HO HO – CANDY CANES’ while passing said satanic candy canes to all the little children during the children’s church portion of service. The pettiness runs deep, and it was delicious.”
All Over A Single Step
“When my ex and I were looking at houses we brought his Dad (let’s call him Dave) to see houses we already liked.
The real estate agent didn’t spend enough time on telling Dave he was right that the bottom step was too tall. So later that night I got to hear an hour long lecture from Dave about how the agent was a piece of trash that was trying to take advantage of us.
A large reason I’m single now is because my mental issues are too much to deal with, but Dave here is definitely a contributing factor as well.”
No Fun Allowed
“One Easter Sunday, a lady in church was wearing a hat that had the Easter Bunny, chicks, and colored eggs as part of its design.
The woman in the pew behind her took umbrage, telling the lady that Easter was about the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, not about ‘silly rabbits, chicks, and eggs.'”
Lady, Those Are YOUR Questions
“This happened just last week. I work at a bank in an affluent part of Atlanta (read: Old White Money), and a woman called in to let us know she was offended by the security questions for her online banking.
The security questions. She. herself. setup.”
Think Of The Children!
“My dad loves to tell the story of how, shortly after they were married, he and mom went to get some fast food. As they pulled up to the drive through window, my very conservative mom saw a sign that said ‘Condiments available upon request’ and said ‘OMG, that’s disgusting! WHY would a restaurant feel the need to give those out!?’ She had misread it and thought they were giving out rubbers upon request.”
Don’t Ask If You Don’t Want An Honest Answer
“I had a friend who asked me if her outfit matched (neon stripes and pastel flowers, I don’t usually like clothes but this was a walking disaster) and my best friend responded to her: maybe different shorts?
She ran out of the room crying.
Why? Because someone didn’t like her ugly outfit.”
He Was Only 8
“My mom once kept pressuring me, asking again and again if dinner tasted good, or if there was anything wrong with it. She asked maybe 10 times in 2 minutes. To appease her I said, ‘The pasta is a bit salty’ (I knew pasta was meant to be salty, so no problem right?) and she ABSOLUTELY. FLIPPED. She started calling me ungrateful, so I eventually flipped my plate and walked out, because 8 year old me thought that would be epic.”
“Poser”
“Straight male here, married with three children. I have a gay brother-in-law and a gay niece. I have attended gay pride rallies, I have two gay pride shirts.
I have been called out several times for being a ‘poser’ – a straight man wearing a gay pride shirt. Almost got in several fights so I stopped wearing them.”
Sounds Exhausting
“I finally have a timely response.
My father-in-law, has been offended that I
1. sat in the front seat instead of him, (he claims ‘all the time’ but I can only think of 2 times)
2. I walk too fast and walk ahead when we are walking somewhere, (I’ve since noticed why trying to actively walk slower, that he just walks super slow and I walk a normal pace)
3. I dyed my hair an unnatural color. Because “What kind of statement are you making?”
Any person he sees in public with (a) tattoo (s) provokes at least one comment about it later if not an entire one-sided conversation about how awful tattoos are.”
You Had Me In The First Half
“A women’s self-defense class. They said this was ‘blaming the victim’ and that we should just tell men not to attack us.
As a woman myself, I agree that we shouldn’t blame the victim and should focus on preventing assault, but how can a self-defense class be a negative thing? You’re literally preventing attack and injury… As a martial artist myself this annoyed me.”
Not A Fan Of Her Behavior
“At my job, we often move around from desk to desk. One guy left his desk with a small fan, and my neighbor would point the fan at his desk.
A new person came and sat at the desk with the fan, and rearranged everything to her liking. After she went home the first day, my neighbor pointed the fan back at his desk.
When she came in the following day, she saw the fan was pointed away from her chair. She loudly asked the room if someone had been interfering with her workspace. My neighbor apologized and took responsibility for it, but reminded her that it was not her fan — it belonged to the former desk occupant.
She went ballistic. My neighbor was DISRESPECTING her and HER SPACE and CREATING A HOSTILE ENVIRONMENT and she went to the floor supervisor and demanded a new seating assignment. When she packed up her desk she took the fan. She eventually got a seat alone in a quiet private space, so that worked out nicely for her.”
Not A Dog Person
“An old man got deeply offended when my friend and I were walking her dog off-leash in an off-leash dog park. He was riding his bike there, which wasn’t even explicitly allowed, and started screaming at us about how disrespectful we were being. Her dog didn’t even look at him.
Another time, same friend and same dog, we got yelled at by a different old man for ‘not cleaning up after that darn dog’. She peed on the grass.
Old boomer men get offended by her and her dog just existing near them constantly. She moved away but sends me stories every now and then because it happens all the time. Her dog is a well behaved golden retriever straight from a family movie from the 90s and she is a young professional adult who keeps to herself. I don’t understand it.”
He’s Offended That You’re Not Offended
“Being offended. A guy I was talking to at a bar said my ‘accent sounded like I’ve slept with my sister’ which I didn’t think was particularly funny and offended me since I don’t really consider family fair targets, but I understand people have different tastes in humor so it just wasn’t funny for me. He did not take kindly to me not laughing and got offended that I got offended at ‘a joke’ and couldn’t just let it be at different tastes, but continued to try and convince me why I was wrong and should be laughing.
It was the most bizarre thing I’ve encountered, especially considering he was ignoring his buddies and everything else to annoy me.”
He Deserved It
“I want to start this off by saying that when this story happened I was going blind. So I had some vision but required the use of a white tipped cane.
So I am on campus one day. I am leaving a building when I spot a man in a wheelchair coming up behind me. He had a squeaky wheel, so I noticed the noise and looked back. This man had a backpack and some stuff in his lap so when I went through the door I held it open for him. Being a nice guy and helping out a random person. That is where I messed up.
This man in a wheelchair stopped. He looked at me and started yelling that he didn’t need help from me. He didn’t need my pity and I am only holding the door because he is disabled. I waggled my cane at him and said ‘I am disabled as well. I was only trying to be nice and open the door for you like I would for anybody. I was not opening the door for you because you were disabled. I am not going to slam the door in your face because you are disabled, I am going to do it because you are a prick.’ Then I slammed the door in his face and tapped tapped myself away.
Never thought someone would get upset by me opening the door for them.”