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12 People Share Their Most Satisfying “Never Interrupt An Enemy While They Are Making A Mistake” Moments
The popular proverb says to “Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer,” Oscar Wilde wrote “Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much”; the list of similar expressions could go on and on. And it’s likely safe to say that most of them bear some truth in them, considering that they’re prevalent to this day.
Another similar phrase, attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte, suggests to “Never interrupt an enemy while they are making a mistake”, and redditors proved that one to be true. User ‘Spinksy48’ asked the ‘Ask Reddit’ community members what was their “never-interrupt-an-enemy” moment, and they had plenty of stories to share. Scroll down to find them on the list below and see why some expressions are able to stand the test of time.
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#1
During my very long and exhausting divorce, my ex husband kept insisting he was ready to settle, we would schedule a conference with my lawyer and I, and then pushed papers around the table for 2 hours. He would just argue over petty details rather than actually discuss anything. This happened a few times. I was incredibly frustrated because I genuinely walked into this wanting to compromise so it would be over quickly. But that was never an option. Note that I hired a lawyer and he did not - he was convinced he could do it on his own better. So after a few rounds of this, I got the impression that he was trying to waste my money until I could no longer retain my lawyer and then he thought he would have the upper hand. I made less than half of what he did at the time and my lawyer's retainer fee wiped out my entire savings so it was a very real concern. My suspicions were confirmed when one day as we were walking out of my lawyer's office, he told me this, word for word while chuckling.
I passed this on to my lawyer who actually cackled and told me "let him." It was then that I learned that we were 6 months out from being married 10 years and at that point, I would be entitled to a sizable part of his pension upon retirement.
She let him play his games for 6 more months without saying a word and then finally took our case before a judge 5 days after our 10 year anniversary. Not only did I get part of his pension, but she also got the judge to order him to pay almost all of my lawyers fees. The beauty of it was that it 100% his fault for playing games.
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#2
My half-sister moved in with my ex-husband the day I moved out. They swore they weren’t sleeping together (I didn’t ask, they told me without prompting). So I saw no reason to tell my ex that my sister had herpes. After all, they said they weren’t sleeping together. Guess who was on Valtrex two months after the divorce ?.
#3
I was accused by a neighbour of reversing out my drive and hitting his car. He gave me the date and time I had allegedly done it, and pointed to a (small) scrape on my car that supposedly matched perfectly the location of the dent on his.
This was 7 weeks after the alleged event, by the way.
I said it wasn't me but told him to contact his insurance and we'd see what they said. Few weeks later I get a letter from my insurance asking what had happened, to which I responded with the date I had bought my car (and updated my insurance) - two weeks after the supposed bump.
He never spoke to me again but I used to give him a cheery wave every time I saw him glowering at his window.
#4
I let the lady who changed lanes into me run her mouth about how I rear ended her before pulling the cop aside to show him my DashCam footage.
#5
Oh I have SO many! But my favorite happened a few years ago.
I used to drive a Dodge Ram truck (the irony of this still gets me) and was in the Walmart parking lot one day. I had stopped to let a car in front of me go, and some broad drove right into the back of my truck.
There just so happened to be an officer across the street so he quickly comes over and makes sure we're all good, then asks what happened. The lady tells him I backed into her! She told him I was backing out of a parking spot (I wasn't) and backed into her.
The cop looked at her and was like "ma'am, I saw the whole thing and personally witnessed you drive into her".
I never even had to say a word. She got slapped with a few tickets though, including distracted driving.
#6
As I was being fired from a job, the district manager requested we record the conversation. He thought I was gonna be very upset, so I obliged. Then when he started to tell me why I was being fired he started with, “You are gonna be graduating college soon, and we want to make sure we get ahead of you leaving us.”
I very calmly asked he send me the recording right after he said that. Then later that day I called a lawyer. I now have no student loan debt.
Edit:: To give context, I was able to win litigation due to breach of contract. I don’t feel like the internet is the right place to go into further detail.
#7
An old boss who was awful to me after I took an extra few days of bereavement. She was just not smart so I emailed her a recap of a meeting we’d had about said days off. She responded not only confirming what she’d said but throwing in a bit of racism.
I escalated. I’d been at the company in a different location for 8 yrs with an outstanding track record so I had some credibility.
2-3 weeks later my team was called into a last minute meeting where her early retirement was announced and my colleague saw her crying in the parking lot later that day (her last day!).
I really don’t hate anyone generally but that made me so happy and looking back I still hate her lol.
#8
I remember an account manager for a big software vendor, that always gave us a hard time. He would constantly nag about things he promised or terms in the contract. One day it was time for contract negotiations and our head legal attended, that also happened to be the wife of the company's owner.
When we sat down and she gave him some coffee he bluntly told her how nice it was, that she as a waitress was also attending. It didn’t take long for them to find us a new account manager.
#9
We had a catered lunch at work. There was a sushi platter along with all the usual condiments. My stupid manager (whom I despised very much) slathered her maki roll with wasabi. She looked at me and said: "I didn't know sushi was served with guacamole". She then shoved two pieces in her mouth simultaneously. Exactly 3 seconds later, she began to sweat profusely and spat out a sludge of half-chewed maki rolls and wasabi. After recoveing from the shock, she yelled "What kind of guacamole was that ?", not realizing it was not guacamole at all.
#10
When a coworker who I hated got fired a few weeks after I decided to stop fixing his mistakes even if it impacted a client.
#11
Roommate's ex abandons their vehicle in front of my house.
I tell them to please move it or I will have it towed.
Vehicle suddenly has two flat tires.
Ex files police report claiming my roommate and I had slashed their tires.
Waited until ex made their statement to the police about how we had slashed their tires and that is why they couldn't move his vehicle and filed a claim against us in small claims court.
Provided police and the court copies of my and our neighbors door cam footage showing the ex arriving in the middle of the night to slash their own tires.
cherry on top: Ex shows up in court wearing the same shirt as in the videos.
EDIT: Wow this blew up.
Roommate and ex had only been dating a few months. Ex turned out to be a grifter and was dating several people at the same time and using each of them for food, shelter, money, etc. I got involved when my roommate was out of town and the soon-to-be-ex just sauntered in (apparently they had learned the code to the garage door), made themselves a sandwich, showered, slept, etc. I thought my roommate had come home early but when I texted them they were still out of state. The ex left to go out and I changed the garage code.
The vehicle wouldn't start so they just left it there thinking it would be okay. Roommate and a few of the other people the ex was dating find out about each other and they all dump them at once. I ask the ex to please move their car or I will have it towed. I give them two weeks.
Later on I learned that the ex was having a mental breakdown and they made some very poor decisions at that point. They broke into some of the other people's houses when they weren't home to do laundry, eat, sleep, and did some other things that got them in trouble with the law but are irrelevant to this story.
The ex had no proof that anyone had slashed their tires. The cops just came to the door of me and our neighbors to see if there was any footage - there was and they closed the case, I guess, they never talked to me again about it.
The court case was small claims court. The plaintiff has to pay a fee, file a form, have a summons issued to the defendant and then you both show up in court with your evidence. The ex had no evidence other than a long list of real and perceived grievances with my roommate but no actual proof so the judge dismissed the case. I never got to show the video evidence to the judge but I did share it with the clerk on their lunch break and they were the one who pointed out that the ex was wearing the same shirt.
#12
I was a lead developer in a small company producing IOT devices.
My manager hired his friend from his previous company. A guy who was super arrogant and knew everything better. Theoretically, my opinion on the development of the project should be decisive, but neither my manager nor his buddy cared about it.
I tried to talk to the manager about the problems with the new colleague, but he brushed me off.
The new guy - being so brilliant - was given one important component of the system to do. Of course, he made it clear that he didn't need any help from me.
Weeks and months passed. In the meetings, his component was always in the last phase of testing. But I had access to the git repository, and I saw how messy it was. No one asked me for my opinion, so I didn't say anything. I waited.
The deadline has come, the release of the product. And of course nothing works. Higher management became interested in the case, and my manager could only avoid being fired in one way - he fired his buddy.
A few weeks later, I left the company. That was over a year ago, and as far as I know, the product still hasn't hit the market.
