Content edited for clarity. Ever wanted to just scream "I told you so!" at someone? Well if you have never had the chance, these stories are. very satisfying. Sometimes they didn't even have to say the actual words. They had known the truth the whole time. Well people have to learn somehow!
False Accusations And Pride
“When I was in a high school drama club thing, we were building props, and there was another kid in it; we’ll call him ‘Bob.’ Bob and I had a low-key rivalry up to that point when it came to prop construction. It wasn’t exactly amicable, but we had a functional working relationship. Suffice to say, Bib is charismatic but lacks any significant amount of empathy (last I heard, he went on to become a used car salesman).
At one point, he decided he wanted to make a prop in a particular way that I knew from past experience would cause it to rip itself apart, so I said to him, ‘Hey, I don’t think that’s going to work, Bob. Back when I made [last prop], I ran into [the problem] , and I think you’re gonna have the same issue here.’
He replied, ‘That’s just because you made it. Obviously, you did it wrong.’
I tried to point out in more detail what would go wrong and where, and the minor steps he could take to mitigate it, but he just got angry at me, so I eventually shrugged and walked off, knowing I was right, and time would tell.
Well, he finished making the prop and put it in storage for the weekend. After the weekend, I happened to be the first to see the prop again by a minute or two before the club admin walked in, and what did we find, but the prop having self-destructed exactly as I predicted it would! But did Bob accept that he had been wrong? Of course, not! Instead, he threw a fit and claimed that in the minute I’d been alone with the prop I ripped it apart by hand because obviously nothing crafted by his hand would be so flawed.
Rather than check for evidence that I’d done that (it would have been obvious), everyone agreed that that must have been what happened, ultimately culminating in me getting grounded for two weeks (the first and last time that would ever happen) and suspended from the club. All the while, I maintained my innocence.
After my grounding and suspension were completed, Bob finally decided to rebuild the prop, but to keep my pesky mitts off it, he decided he’d rebuild it at home where I couldn’t get to it. He came in one day claiming it was perfect, no thanks to pesky me, and he’d be bringing it in next time.
Before the following meeting, his mother called to inform the admin that the prop, stored in their locked barn, had self-destructed overnight, in exactly the same way. When Bob showed up to the next meeting, he just glared at me the whole time, and the club admin awkwardly dodged my gaze at every opportunity. I never had to say, ‘I told you so.’
Alas, more than a decade later, I’m still kinda salty about it because I never got an apology from anyone involved in that mess. I brought it up with my mother (the one responsible for grounding me) a few years later, and her excuse was, ‘Well, it didn’t seem like a big deal at the time.’
Excuse me?! The only time I was ever grounded growing up was due to a false accusation, and you didn’t think I’d appreciate an apology for you taking Bob’s imagination over my word?!
Sometimes It Doesn’t Need To Be Said Out Loud
“I had a friend who was super stubborn and hated people telling him what to do. Now I don’t know how we stayed friends for so long because I’m the type where if I have concerns about something I’ll point it out. Major incompatibility going on there.
One day, he told us that he wanted bright blue hair, and he was going to get it done some weekend. One of my special interests was hair. Before then I researched all about bleaching and dying before so I wasn’t an expert, but I knew some stuff.
So I told him when he told us, ‘That’s so cool! Make sure you do your bleaching increments so your hair doesn’t get damaged since some stylists like to bleach in one go and could really mess up your hair and-‘
He looked at me with the most tired, messed up look I’ve ever saw from him, and was like, ‘ I’m sure she knows what she’s doing. She’s the expert, not you.’
Ouch, snark noted. I mean he was right, I wasn’t an expert and I was giving annoying unsolicited advice. I kept all my thoughts on hair to myself from then on.
The weekend came and went, he got his hair done. Online he shows where he went from black/brown hair to platinum blonde, to bright blue in like a day. The color actually came out nice, but his hair was obviously damaged. I kept my mouth shut. He even came to me to personally show it off in his own version of ‘told you so!’ modeling and stuff. I congratulated him even going as far to say, ‘Huh, I guess I was wrong.’
A week or so later after his hair has gotten noticeably shorter (I guessed breakage) he came to school with a buzzcut. I didn’t say a word or ask anything, but another guy asked him what happened to his hair. He answered casually, ‘It was damaged so I decided to chop it all off.’
I still didn’t say anything, because I did not want to be a prick, but oh boy did that inner petty ‘I told you so!’ feel good.”
She Told Her So
“I joined my HOA Board, with one main focus: getting our ponds fixed so our road doesn’t flood every time it rains.
Other members refused to meet for a few months (October through January), saying that there was time, they’re all busy, it’s not a big deal, etc. One even told me to ‘relax, honey, this is the South.’
I’m originally from New York, but that is irrelevant to the fact that our current neighborhood floods all the time. We finally met up in February, and over the next few weeks, it dawned on the three of them just how much paperwork and bureaucracy is involved, including dealing with the state and town regulations and inspections.
Now, we were facing another hurricane season with poorly draining and badly eroded ponds. Just like I said we would. Well, one of these Board members lives right next to a pond. The same woman who was so relaxed in November. Her land was now so eroded and undercut that chunks were starting to visibly fall off, into the pond itself.
We finally managed to settle on a solution, but now the calendars for the pond maintenance companies were booked out through July. Like I said they would be. So, my moment came next.
This woman, who was so relaxed and Southern in the winter, had the cojones to email all of us and say that the delay in us arriving at a solution made us all look bad, and some stuff about teamwork and being more organized.
I copy and pasted the email thread where I said that we would be facing hurricane season with flooding and erosion issues, and she told me to relax, it is the South. I literally told you so. Now go move your garden, because it’s going into the pond.
It was ridiculously satisfying.”
Dina’s Dos and Don’ts
“I had a friend ‘Dina’ back when I was in my 20’s. She was gorgeous and smart and had the worst taste in men. This woman could have had anyone she wanted, but she always went for the worst guys. She decided to start dating ‘Seth’ – a guy in the office and a total prick. The problem was, Seth was already engaged to ‘Monica.’ Dina decided to ignore this issue and started ‘dating’ Seth (ie, sleeping him on a regular basis when Monica wasn’t around). Dina, for reasons unknown to me to this day, saw this relationship as a true love connection. She pressed on Seth to end things with Monica and, amazingly, he did. Seth ended up getting another job across the country. Dina decided she was going to follow him out there. She quit her job, sold all her stuff, and gave up her apartment to go with him. They weren’t engaged, they weren’t even really dating. She was just really a fun buddy to him. We begged her not to go. We told her Seth only cared about Seth, she was giving up way too much to follow him, there was no marriage or promise of marriage, and, most importantly, Seth was a cheater! Dina poo-poohed all of it and said we were being ridiculous. So, off Dina went.
Three months later, Dina was back with no job, no money, and living with her parents because of the first two things. About six weeks after she moved, she realized Monica had moved too. Seth had never actually broken up with her. They were still engaged and had set a wedding date. Basically, Seth played Dina, big time. In fact, Dina was so embarrassed, she didn’t even reach out to any of us for about three months after she got back. Finally, though she did, we told her she was an idiot but we still loved her and renewed our friendship. Seth is still a prick though. Last I heard, he and Monica were facing litigation and prison time for ‘misuse’ of venture capital funds. Not at all surprising.”
The Right Time And Right Place
“I was talking to my cousin on the phone one night. She was pregnant and her husband was out for the night. She kept making these weird sounds. When I asked her what it was, she said she didn’t know but that when she reclined back in her chair she was losing her breath. I asked if she wanted to go to the hospital she said no.
But after a few minutes of this, I told her I was coming to get her and if I had to pick her up and carry her to the car I would. I had my mom stay on the phone with her until I got there. My mom asked what was wrong I said I couldn’t explain the sound but I had never heard it before and it wasn’t right.
I got to my cousin’s house and took her to the hospital. They moved us to a room and she kept making the sounds. It was taking the doctors too long to come. So I told the nurse she needed to get the doctor now that my cousin was dying. The nurse said to calm down or she would make me leave. I told her she better get the doctor or I would lose my mind on her and she needed to listen to me.
Shortly after, the doctor came. Turned out my cousin was having a complication of her pregnancy and the sound? Each time she tried to lay back she was drowning in her own blood.
The doctor told me she needed emergency surgery and if I hadn’t gotten her there when I did, she would have been dead in an hour. The nurse looked very sheepish, I didn’t feel the need to say, ‘I told you so.'”
Honey, I Told You So!
“My partner and I were broke and struggling to make ends meet, but we always kept money in the budget for fun or takeout nights.
One night we decided to get fish and chips. My partner had never ordered from that particular place before, but it was my favorite so he knew it’d be good. We don’t have a lot of money to spare, so I know we had to order smart. We’d only order what we need.
We started driving and I was about to call, and my partner told me he wanted to order $10 worth of chips. For those of you who don’t know how much that is, a scoop of chips is usually about a couple bucks. I tried to tell him that it was a ridiculous order and that this particular fish and chip shop was very generous with their portions, which is why it was one of my favorites. He was adamant about $10 chips, and that he was so hungry that it’s not like any would be wasted. We had a mini argument in the car, and I finally gave up and said, ‘Fine, order your chips but you had better eat them all!’
We got to the fish and chip shop and we went to the counter to pay, and the old fellow who runs the shop came over to serve us. We told him what order we were there to collect.
‘That order is yours?’ He said.
I started to shake my head and smiled.
‘Yes,’ my partner replied.
‘And it’s just for you two?’ The old man asked, looking concerned.
‘Ah. Yes,’ my partner replied.
At this point, I started laughing and said, ‘I tried to tell him!’
We both laughed and my partner realized his mistake when the old guy pulled out two huge parcels of chips. One of those alone would have fed a full family. We all laughed our little hearts out, thanked the man, and went home to eat our fish and chips. And no, he didn’t eat them all. We didn’t even get through the first parcel! Now whenever we need the other person to trust our judgment on something, we say, ‘$10 chips,’ and the other person will always relent. It still cracks me up every time I think about his face when the old man gave us our order.”
She Should Have Taken Her Advice
“I teach kindergarten and pre-school, so ages three to five, and a few years back I had without a doubt the worst student I’ve ever encountered. He was three, wouldn’t listen to anyone, and would just run around trying to beat the life out of anyone he could. I called his mom a couple of weeks after school started and laid out all of the issues I had noticed and the steps we could take together to help him.
‘No. I’ve read plenty of books. I know what I’m doing,’ she stated.
Girl what? I’ve been working for a decade and have a Master’s in Teaching. But please continue with the books you have read.
‘We don’t give him any rules or structure at home. It’s important he does what he wants to do when he wants to do it,’ the mother said.
I metaphorically threw my hands up and thanked her for her time. I spent the next three years trying to turn that little sociopath into a functional human being with little success. He eventually reached a point where he resented me immensely because I was the only person in his life trying to regulate what he did.
In the spring semester of his proper kindergarten year, he stabbed his ‘best friend’ with a pencil and drew blood. He had to walk across the classroom to do this. When asked why he did it he replied, ‘my friend said I did something wrong!’
Cue another meeting with mom. (I had been having regular meetings with dad but never mom after that first one) She walked in, seven months pregnant, sat down, and almost immediately burst into tears. She was crying about how the kid was a monster, physically hard to control (he was a big boy), and she was worried he was going to hurt the baby when it came, etc. In my head, I went back to that first meeting making a mental note of everything I told her would happen if she didn’t get her stuff together with this kid.
I didn’t throw it in her face or anything but I did gently remind her about that original meeting, and the many meetings with dad, before suggesting she take him to see a trained professional. He got expelled from the school for the stabbing incident so I don’t know what happened to him. I assume he’s out there killing cats and other small animals to this day.”
“Moral Of The Story”
“When I was a kid my parents did a home refinance for a big remodel to give my mom her dream kitchen. My family wasn’t rich by any means. Even saying we were middle class may have been a stretch. Anyway, we did have a very old, modest house and after almost 15 years living in it, my parents had accrued enough equity that they were doing a refinance/cash out for some much-needed TLC.
It was mostly a kitchen remodel/renovation that included an addition (kitchen extension) into the garage. They had already hired a contractor, ordered supplies, and had plans drawn up. Wheels were in motion. Some work was already in the early process of getting started!
Here’s the kicker. My Dad was a recovering drinker who used to run AA meetings. He met this guy, “Dave” (I’ll never forget his [real] name because every time my mom hears it to this day she goes into a rage) at a meeting who was allegedly a contractor. Apparently, he and my dad got to talking around the coffee station one day at a meeting and my dad mentioned the remodel to his new friend, Dave.
Dave (he thought) seemed like a really good guy, and after giving my dad his hard-luck story, he basically talked my dad into firing his current contractor and hiring him instead. That wouldn’t have been so terrible, as my dad’s intentions were noble, albeit naive. He was always all about wanting to give fellow drinkers second chances.
The biggest mistake my foolish father made was allowing Dave to sucker him into paying upfront for most of the work. This was the 90s so stuff was cheaper, but my dad basically gave him like a $15K dollar check, I think. My mom was livid. I remember them having a screaming argument where my mom was crying hysterically and wanting to call the bank to cancel the check, but my dad basically told her to ‘take a hike.’ He insisted Dave was a good guy and claimed to have a solid read on him saying, ‘I ain’t no fool! Blah blah blah,’ and boasted that he would never give somebody money upfront who he didn’t have the utmost faith in.
My mom just knew this was going to end badly.
The first day Dave was supposed to begin working on the house he flat out never showed up. Go figure, right? Apparently, ole Dave went on a bender the night before and just split town. My Mom understandably wanted to kill my dad! He literally threw away half their refinance money on this dude who now nobody knew where he was or how to get ahold of him. This was the 90s so the dude didn’t even have a phone. He had a pager!
My dad was flabbergasted and lost. I remember He kept just going to AA Meetings around town thinking Dave was going to eventually show up at one of them. Then what? Put this mess behind him and get back to work?
Well, after a week or so I think my poor Dad realized his buddy Dave pulled a fast one on him and took the money and ran. Clearly, Dave wasn’t coming back. I was 11 or 12 years old at the time but I just remember my mom screaming at my dad, with all the rightful, ‘I TOLD YOU SO’s’ in the world. She tore him down so much so that my poor, fool of a father relapsed himself. My mom kicked him out, but with our kitchen demolished we basically just didn’t have a kitchen or anything for seven or eight months (I just remember it was like my entire school year the house being a construction zone with no work getting done).
Well, finally my Dad sobered up, again, and the cycle of my mom taking him back, again, occurred. I don’t even know how much of their reconciliation had to do with mom forgiving my dad (I don’t think she ever fully did), so much as she wanted her house fixed.
Well, Dad moved back in, and along with a couple of friends from AA they slowly but surely started putting the house back together. The once elaborate plan of a full kitchen renovation wound up just being new appliances and cabinets, but at least we had closed walls and a kitchen we could cook in again. It was obviously a much scaled-back version than the original grand plans, and the addition my poor mother was so excited about never happened, but at least we got a kitchen again, albeit it two years later.
It was definitely a big fat ‘I told you so’ moment, but one I think Mom would have much rather done without. Moral of the Story: never pay upfront, and dont hire guys you met attending their first AA Meeting.”
He Knew It All Along
“I saw a lot of stuff as a kid that didn’t make sense. Most of it was common stuff in school, but I asked the question, ‘why do we do that?’ and nobody ever gave me the real answer of ‘because we’re told to and we like keeping our job.’ Instead, they said, ‘just do it, stop being difficult.’
Anyway, I reacted badly to being made to do things and not understanding why. Still do. But as a kid, I reacted by throwing a tantrum and either screaming at someone or running away. That’s the necessary backstory to establish that I had a reputation for ‘being difficult’ and nobody taking me seriously when I had a legitimate complaint about someone, something, or the way things are.
We had a deputy headmistress in high school. She was an absolute sociopath. She loved having power over people. She had this vision of ‘her’ school, where most of the graduates went on to university and great success. Total baloney as half of my year group went into trades/workforce and many who went to uni hated it. But she’d do this thing where she’d single out the low performers gradually suggest to them and their parents that they’d be a better fit elsewhere. Imagine being one of those kids, let’s face it we all knew who the dumb kids were at school and probably weren’t afraid to say that to them. But then a school administrator is also passive-aggressively reinforcing that you’re too dumb, and convincing your parents that you’re too dumb.
I was a fairly high performer (well, average across the board but extremely high performing in maths) so I was off her radar, but I overheard one kid having a bit of a sad to his mate about being called up to her office and I felt that tantrum bile hit my throat, went up to the office just walked in and screamed at her for being a horrible human being. It brought me to tears because she just sat with an Umbridge-style smug look on her face until someone else walked in, then she played aghast.
Suspension ensued, my parents were notified and of course, with my history they didn’t want to hear why I thought she was a horrible person, was just another case of me disrespecting authority. I sat on that hatred for many years because it bothered me that she remained in a position of power, messing with kids’ lives.
Or not, as it turns out. My mate went to our ten-year reunion and chatted with some of the teachers. Apparently, she made head principal for a year after we graduated and was subsequently fired for abuse of power. You have no idea the vindication I felt hearing that. I called my dad like, ‘Hey you know how I got suspended in high school for calling that woman horrible? Guess what, she got fired because she was horrible.’
Called that woman out at age fourteen and it literally drove me to depression, always ask your kids what’s upsetting them and try to understand.”
Handsome, But Not Handy
“I was working at a fast-food restaurant. And my boss had put me in charge of interviewing a couple of applicants. One of the applicants, I knew, was just not going to be a good fit or keep up with the high volume of traffic that our restaurant had.
He really didn’t dress for the interview. He wasn’t very professional (I know it’s fast-food, but I take pride in my work and know that you need good hardworking people to make everybody’s lives easier, so I cared about these things during the interviews)
One of the questions I asked him was, ‘How would you describe yourself?’
He leaned back and put a hand up to his chin (which had a poorly groomed beard) and thought for a minute. Then he smiled and said, ‘handsome.’
I told my boss that he would not be a good fit. My boss hired him anyways.
He was so slow and incompetent. He couldn’t even handle the easiest of jobs. He slowed everything down and made work harder for everyone else around him. Then he stole a car and got arrested. Also turns out, that he was a prior felon and that also did not deter my boss from hiring him.
The fun thing for me was that I quit not long before the guy got arrested. It was a pretty nice, I-told-you-so. When I wasn’t having to deal with the repercussions of my boss hiring that guy and then dealing with being extra short-staffed after he stole a car!”