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33 Relationship Revenge Stories That Might Make You More Creative During Your Next Breakup
When a partner crosses the line, you can either sit down for a long discussion, get mad, or get petty. Some people choose the third option. Like the woman who poured maple syrup all over the floor after her neat-freak boyfriend brought drunk friends home on a weeknight. Or the man who exposed his cheating ex to her own mother, turning her dirty secret into a full family scandal.
Sometimes, taking the high road just isn’t as satisfying as taking sweet revenge. We’ve collected some of the most creative payback stories from the internet to show that getting even requires skills and just the right amount of pettiness.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Entitled Ex Husband Gets What He Deserves
After dealing with my husband (29M) cheating on me and loudly disrespecting me for 2 years, I (23F) finally left him 4 months ago.
He assumed no responsibility for the marital bills and I had to sell the house and his truck by myself.
When I left him, there was also a $400 phone bill in both of our names. I ended up just paying the overdue bill a few months ago under the stipulation that my ex husband gives me $200 for his share. He did give me $90 but then he laughed at me for expecting him to pay me the other $110 stating that he doesn't owe me anything.
About a week ago, I went into the store of my current cell phone provider and learned that I am paying twice as much as i should be paying for phone servive because I am still being charged $40/month for my ex husband's phone. (Theres still $800+ owed on it) I learned that the remaining balance was not transferred over when he switched his phone number to his own account because he failed to sign the required paperwork.
I explained the situation to my ex husband and he was more than willing to join a conference call with me and customer service to get the remaining balance transferred to his own account- we had spent approximately 20 minutes on the phone before my ex husband told the customer service woman that he is making payments on his own phone through his own account, that he doesn't have a clue what I'm talking about and that whatever I have called to inquire about it is clearly not even his business- then he hung up.
So today I spoke with customer service again and learned that I technically own my ex husband's phone since it is in my name. So I made a police report, I reported the phone as stolen and it is now flagged and shut off.
RELATED:
#2
My Boyfriend Stole My Phone Number
Crazy as the title may seem it's true.. we had a shared plan before I left him. So it never crossed my mind the damage that could lead to until a friend stopped by and asked why my ex is answering my phone. Huh?? Sure enough my phone is OFF. I can't make or receive calls and he reported my phones EIN number stolen but before he did all that he ported my number to a new SIM card!! One he put in an extra phone he had. So now all my calls and texts were going to HIM. Naturally I go get a new phone and number on my own plan then let my friends know not to call my line because he's getting all their numbers if they do. What the hell do you do when that happens???
I joined a bunch of Facebook groups under a fake account and I post about wanting intercourse and handing out my real first name and the number he had stolen from me. Do you have any idea how many men called asking for me from different area codes?? It was crazy!!! He said he had to shut the phone off because it was non stop 😂 even asked if I wanted the SIM card with my number on it... Nah that's your number now 😁
#3
My Boyfriend Came Home To Our Tiny Apartment At 1 Am On A Weeknight With 4 Of His Obnoxious, Drunken Friends In Tow
He knew I had to work the next day, he knew I absolutely hated those particular friends, and he knew I hate surprise guests. So I just went in the bedroom and tried to sleep, unsuccessfully.
This guy is a massively neurotic neat freak - he is physically unable to relax in a room that is not clean to his standards. So after he finally passed out, I went into the kitchen and poured maple syrup all over the floor and told him one of his idiot friends did it.
He just about had a panic attack. It took him hours to get rid of the sticky. Those friends were never invited back.
Lee Gilliland 27 minutes ago
It never seems to occur to them that we know exactly their weaknesses as well.
When someone gets cheated on, lied to, or humiliated by a partner, a familiar little voice often pops up in their head: Make them pay.
It is the exact impulse that makes a woman pour sticky maple syrup all over a clean freak’s apartment floor, or makes a guy call his ex’s mom to drop a truth bomb about her infidelity. We read these listicle stories, laugh, and secretly cheer them on because, let’s be honest, payback feels amazing. But why do we get such a rush from getting even?
It’s because the urge to pull a petty move on an ex who hurt us is actually hardwired into human nature.
#4
Cheating Girlfriend - Ruining Her Image Revenge
It was easter weekend and my girlfriend (of a year) invited me to her parents house for easter dinner. She lived 9 hours away and I was the only one with a car, so naturally i drove us there and back. I missed easter weekend with my entire family, just so i could finally meet her family for the first time. I really wanted to spend easter with my own family because there were relatives from out of country that i had not seen in a few years, but I chose to meet my girlfriends family instead. The weekend went fine and we returned home without any problems.
However the next day my girlfriend went out to a birthday party for one of her friends i didnt know, so i stayed at home and just hung out with a few of my friends. My girlfriend ends up getting black out drunk and returns home, puking on and off for hours (she always ended up this way when she drank). I take care of her for a little while until one of our mutual friends sends me a text saying we need to talk.
He came over to my house the next morning, informing me that my girlfriend has slept with a dude at the party. I was furious. One day after meeting her entire family, she decides to cheat on me. So right after finding out i decide to confront her about what our friend had just told me. She owned up to it all, and telling me she also did it with 2 other guys throughout our relationship, one of the guys she banged was my neighbor, and to make it worse, it was on my own birthday.
I broke up with her on the spot.
I decided the only thing to do was Facebook inbox her mother. I started by saying thanks so much for the easter weekend and it was great to meet her family, then i explained that her own daughter had cheated on me with a few guys and that we are no longer together.
Her mom flipped out and eventually her entire family found out that she was a cheating girlfriend. She hated the fact that i ruined her image of herself for her family, and her image her friends had of her.
She also ended up getting an non-permanent STD from this guy, making her life even worse for the next month or so. Dodged a huge bullet there, because i would have likely got it if i hadn't broken up with her that day.
Telling her mom was extremely petty, but it did feel good to fuck up her life a bit, after what she did to me.
Lesson: Don't cheat.
#5
Got Petty Revenge On Horrible Ex Boyfriend
So I was with a man guy on and off for 2 years, he was physically horrible at times, cheated on me in the flat I paid for at the time and was just an all round jerk of a guy. He would never pay towards the bills and I was stuck buying everything and no money left for myself. Me being young (18) and thinking I knew better than everyone I stayed with him. Finally I broke up with him for good as I couldn't take it anymore and I knew I deserved better.
During our relationship, he bought he a phone for my birthday. I never asked for one, or even needed one as my own phone was absolutely fine at the time. I always thought this was quite strange. Any who, after the final break up I decided I wanted to get my own phone so I had nothing to remember him by.
So I go to the phone shop to get the phone changed as the rep asks me the provider and my details and such. He runs it through his system and nothing comes up. He calls the network provider and while he is on the phone, he looks at me and laughs. Once done with the call he asks:
Rep: Did you say your ex boyfriend bought you this phone?
Me: Yes, why?
Rep: Are you on good terms with your ex?
Me: Absoloutley not! I hope to never see him again.
Rep: Well I think you'll be happy about this. You see, the direct debit is to your bank account BUT the contract is in his name. Which means all you have to do is cancel the direct debit and it will switch back to the original which is his.
Me:..... how much is left to pay on the contract.
Rep: £450.
Me: Sounds good to me. I think Ill cancel the debit from my account.
And with that, I canceled the debit from my account and got myself a new contract under my own name.
Probably nothing compared most people's posts on here but I felt a small win for all the hurt he gave to me. About a month later he messaged me on social media after making a fake account asking why he has money coming out of his account for the phone? He was stuck paying the whole balance.
#6
Revenge On An Ex
About 10 years ago I divorced my verbally and emotionally horrible ex-husband who put me through the ringer for 12 years. Shortly after divorcing I received an email from our states DMV letting me know my registration was going to be due.
Confused, I double checked the vehicle and noticed my ex had purchased a new vehicle, but never made sure the dealership had his email and not mine. (We purchased from this dealership in the past) The email stated if I sold the vehicle all I had to do was click a link and mark it as sold so he would no longer receive the reminders to register his vehicle.
So that is what I did and repeated to do for several years until our state changed the registration process. Knowing this man-child had to go into the DMV or make phone calls to handle this situation brought me great pleasure. He never did great when having to handle adult situations and would be quick to anger and start cursing at the person on the other end of the phone. My only regret is not thinking of the other person that had to endure him to correct the situation, but my hope is they just hung up on him.
The urge to get even is as old as humanity itself. Way before courtrooms or law books existed, taking matters into your own hands served a real purpose: it warned people that crossing you came with a high cost. From an evolutionary standpoint, payback was more about survival.
Researchers such as Rose McDermott describe revenge as an adaptive mechanism that evolved to solve the problem of deterrence. Before courts and police existed, retaliating against anyone who harmed you sent a strong warning. Taking payback — even when it cost you time or effort — built a tough reputation that stopped people from taking advantage of you again.
“It’s this very pervasive experience in human lives, people from every society understand the idea of getting angry and wanting to hurt someone who has harmed you,” says evolutionary psychologist Michael McCullough, of the University of Miami.
#7
Petty Revenge On Ex Husband
When I left the ex husband who was not the most nice of people, I left with 2 suitcases and didn't ask for anything, I just wanted it done and a lot of distance between. Scroll forward about 10 months later when I was feeling a million times better. In Canadian hotels (I travel a lot) there are generally silent auction prints etc in the lobby. I know that usually you put the min bid and win, so anytime I went through a lobby and saw one, I popped his details into the draw in his behalf. He cared about his money more than anything and often wonder how many bids he "won"?
#8
I Skip Episodes Of TV Series That My Soon To Be Ex-Wife Is Watching On Netflix
I'm currently going through a really vicious custody dispute with my soon to be ex-wife. I have a great case against her and my lawyer and I expect to win easily but until we get a decision from the court I won't get to see my kids and I haven't seen them for some time already. So whenever I have had enough of the horrible treatment that I receive from her on my social media accounts I move the red line that indicates how much of an episode she has watched to the end of the episode and then to the exact same position it was in on the next episode. So far she hasn't worked it out I can tell because she will watch the rest of the new episode and sometimes watch another before going back to the episode she originally was up to and starting again. I know it's extremely petty but it is surprisingly cathartic.
Context: It's my account I haven't changed the log in so that the kids can still use it.
#9
My Ex Tried To Get Petty Revenge And It Turns Out I Was The One That Got It!
Some background. My ex and I had dated off and on for 2 years and then she became pregnant. We were living with her parents and 4 months after our daughter was born. She disappeared apparently leaving me for a new boyfriend.
There was a little bit of contact after that for a while and then she seriously disappeared and her family said they had no idea where she was at. Almost two years went by and then the state contacts me and for child support. Flash forward to when our daughter is about 15 and I'm paying $125 bucks a week in support. My ex has done everything in her power to prevent any real relationship with my daughter so I'm not really involved in her life as much as I would have have liked.
Then one day My ex calls up complaining on and on about our daughter's behavior and how tough everything is. Finally I said "hey, You know this is not my problem. You got exactly what you wanted and kept me out of her life. So deal with it yourself". She started screeching about how I couldn't talk to her like that and I told her that I didn't want to hear her shit anymore. She said I would be sorry. About a month or two goes by and I get a notice that she's requested an income review to raise child support. I called the friend of the court and spoke with an agent who crazily enough was the same agent I had spoken with when support was originally set 13 years prior. I told her it had not been 3 years since the last review and was curious as to why she was getting it.
The agent got some ruffled feathers and asked if I thought she didn't have the authority to do so. I said you most certainly do have the authority to do so, but you had no interest in doing the review until she requested it. The conversation wound down and then about a week later I received a copy of a letter sent to my ex asking for her to please fill out what change of circumstance was she basing her request for an increase on. About a month after that I got another letter that stated that since my ex did not respond she was not only not getting her income review now she was also not getting her income review that was due at the end of the 3 years in a few months. By the time the next review would come up my daughter would already be over 18 and child support would be at an end. So essentially that meant my support was set until it was over. What they did not know was that my income had drastically increased since the last review and she probably would have gotten about $150 to $200 a week in additional support for over 3 years. So possibly over $30K. So she tried to get petty but I was the one that got revenge.
Hey, a little update: this occurred when my daughter was 15 years old and was living full-time with her grandparents. So any child support money I was paying her mother had no benefit to her. I gave her money directly like on holidays and her birthday. In fact the one time her mother asked me for money for my daughter directly I gave her $600 that was supposed to buy her a computer for Christmas. Instead my ex took it and used to pay off her layaways for all the Christmas presents from HER for her other two kids and my daughter. My daughter was completely unaware that I'd even given her that money and no she did not get a computer.
The same neural wiring that helped our ancestors survive still makes getting even feel satisfying. Plotting a payback move lights up the brain’s reward centers, pumping out dopamine and giving you an instant rush of control.
In a study, researchers were surprised to find that emotional pain was intricately yoked with pleasure. That is, while rejection initially feels painful, it can quickly be masked by pleasure when you have the opportunity to get revenge — it even activates the brain’s reward circuit, the nucleus accumbens.
#10
How I Got Petty Revenge On A Nightmare Ex
So this is a story that starts back when I was finishing and got out of high school and involves an ex that I met in highschool. When we first met it was great but you all know how these high school relationships usually turn out after graduation.
We stopped being intimate, she started being horrible and manipulative, even hitting me and at one point somehow managed to coerce me into getting engaged with her. Made me spend thousands on a trip to Niagara Falls, the works.
When the breakup process started she initiated it but somehow pinned all the blame for everything on me, naturally. She made every aspect of my life more of a hell then it already had been with her and slandered me to anybody she could get to directly or indirectly, along with what had been our mutual friend group. You know, typical horrible ex behaviour.
Cue petty revenge: I had a car her dad had passed down to me. The original thinking was that since I could drive and she couldn’t I’d use the car to help her out, but it was totally in my name and I paid for maintenance and insurance and it was in every way my car that I daily drove. After we split I had permission to do whatever I wanted with the car from her dad as well.
She wanted this car back more then anything and kept hounding me post breakup over it, spreading rumours that it was actually her car, getting her numerous new boyfriends to threaten me over it via various messaging apps, etc. One day it finally reached a breaking point. I told her she had 24 hours to come get “her” precious car (and pay me well under market value I might add, I wasn’t heartless) or it was getting sent to the crusher. By this point I’d already but thousands into maintenance and fixing it so I wasn’t going to give it to her.
As you can guess she never came to get her car much less with any money to pay it, but she begged me to just give it to her. I sent her the video of it being crushed with a big thumbs up selfie at the end, then blocked her.
This has been a petty revenge story.
Edit: for those concerned, no I did not destroy a perfectly good car. The engine was toast with a blown head gasket and oil burning so bad it was visible blue smoke. It also was rusting really badly by that point.
I had also put thousands into work including replacing a clogged catalyst, which on it’s own was over 500 dollars. I had just gotten fed up with my ex and this lemon of a car so I hit 2 birds with one stone.
Edit 2: I forgot a core aspect of this timing as well; a friend reminded me that right before I gave her the ultimatum on the car I had learned she was cheating on me when were together. On our very first date I’d explained that to me cheating was the worst thing you could do to me in a relationship. So add that to the reasons I did it. Lol
#11
Accidental Petty Revenge On Ex
I decided to go to homecoming with my friends because I thought it’d be really fun. I bought a two-piece homecoming fit a couple weeks before hand and showed it off to one of my friends. This friend proceeded to tell me that this girl that was not very favored in our school (for personal reasons) was going to wear the same thing. I told her there was no way I wanted to go to homecoming matching with her, so she suggested I try on her old homecoming dress. It fit pretty well and I fell in love with it immediately, so I went with it. Fast forward to homecoming, I walk in with my friend, we turn in our tickets and put glow sticks on our wrists. We’re chatting up our friend group in the corner when one of my friends points out my ex and his new girlfriend (my ex-best friend) had arrived. Being the sweetheart she was, ex-best friend came up to me and gave me a hug, giving me quite a fake “it’s so nice to see you”. My ex, ex-best friend, and the entirety of my friend group watched as we hugged, and came to the realization that we were wearing the exact same dress. My ex got all mad about it, talking trash to his new girlfriend and his friends about how “she did that on purpose because she wanted to make you look bad, blah blah blah”. I just found it rather funny. The best part was later during one of the slow dances, a guy that my ex considered to be his (exaggerated) ‘mortal enemy’ came up to me and asked if he could dance with me. I accepted his offer, all the while my ex looked up from his perfect girlfriend to watch my new love story unfold. The jealousy that burned in his eyes keeps me going every day, and made the dance all the more better. <3
Edit: I wanted to clarify. First off, I put “perfect girlfriend” because that’s all my ex called my ex-best friend. He cheated on me with her, and that’s why this story has a sour taste. Second, the girl who I almost matched outfits with the first time is NOT the ex-best friend, but a random girl from school. I ended up matching with ex-best friend because I had switched outfits beforehand. Thirdly, yeah, I did pay a lot of attention to what he was thinking and if he was watching me. The break up happened like two weeks or so before homecoming, so I was still upset about it.
#12
I Got My Ex-Wife A New Computer
At the beginning of the year, my wife and I separated from each other. She got her own place and moved out. We have a little boy together and we've tried our best to keep things amicable between us - it's not his fault we broke up and he shouldn't suffer for it, etc.
Anyway, skip forward a few months and her laptop starts going on the blink. It's not really fixable as it's a hardware problem causing the screen to flicker every now and then. It's getting progressively worse over time and she needs a machine to raid in WoW. Luckily, my work were getting rid of a lot of old machines. Decent ones, too - Core-i5 3570's, 16GB of RAM, etc, - all she really would need is a decent graphics card and she'd have a competent gaming machine.
So naturally, as part of being amicable and nice, I offer to pick her one of these up and give her my old graphics card (a GTX 560 Ti, in case anyone's wondering). I pick out a nice little Dell machine, take it home and wipe it to ensure no company data remains. I install Windows, get it up to date and get the basics installed (PROTIP: Ninite is amazing).
But, you know. She left me, right? I'm not going to lie, I saw an opportunity for some good ol' petty revenge and I took it.
She didn't find the username I set up of "ThatExWifeCow" particularly amusing, but she did at least see the funny side in all the OEM information.
I left one more little surprise on her machine. Every now and then, her background will get set to something special.
Research suggests that the expectation of pleasure often drives people to seek revenge.
Some people crave this sensation way more than others. A 2006 study found that men get more pleasure from the idea of revenge. Male participants were found to have more activity in the reward circuit of the brain than women when they saw cheating opponents receive an electric shock.
#13
Turned The Tables On My Ex-Wife’s Attempt To Make Me Back Out Last Minute From Coaching Children’s T-Ball
About a year out from divorce. Ex-wife has been acting petty and childish to say the least. Tries to make me look bad any attempt she gets.
My young son played T-ball last year and I volunteered to be the coach. Really enjoyed it, but my work responsibilities/schedule changed before this season and I simply could not commit to do it again. I became good friends with the guy running the league and let him know before the sign ups even started as a heads up. Was disappointed, but not much to do. What I was able to do, was volunteer to get to the fields super early Saturday before the games started to set them up (chalk line the batters boxes, foul lines, put out bases,etc. Three fields total) which he was extremely grateful for.
A few weeks before the season was supposed to start they were unfortunately short a couple coaches and were sending out some desperation emails to all of the parents. My ex knew my situation, and apparently thought going onto the website and basically ‘fraudulently’ volunteering me to coach would be a great way to inconvenience me, make me look bad by having to back out, etc. so she did just that.
Buddy running the league called me, very confused. In order to register, you have to make a username/password. Username is just your email, so after a few minutes of looking through the registration we worked what happened as her email was in the account name. Ultimately, he decided to put his kid on my sons team and be the coach on top of everything else he was doing. He was pissed at my ex himself though, because this stunt could have set them back finding a legit coach if they needed to, possibly delaying the league.
Here is where I come up with the petty revenge. He sends out the official email out to all of the parents of the league with the rosters and coaches for all 10 teams. Except for our kids’ team instead of listing himself, I tell him to list my ex. Puts her name/contact info, etc and says to expect further info from each coach individually.
She emails him back once she notices to point out the ‘mistake’ saying it should have been me instead but he ignores it. He sends her all of the clearances coaches need to pass, asks for times she can come pick up equipment, the whole 9 yards. After a couple of days parents of the team apparently start emailing her asking for info on when the seasons starts and when practice will be and all that.
Eventually he does reply back, playing dumb, telling her she is the one who volunteered, as it was her username that registered, and knew it wasnt supposed to be me as he had spoken to me months earlier and knew I wasn’t able to do it this year. Put her in an awkward spot, because she either had to admit what she did, or feign some BS ignorance and claim a ‘miscommunication’ which everyone knew was nonsense as we were divorced.
After she flat out says she can’t coach and ‘she isn’t sure what to tell him’, he sends out another email to the entire league, which says ‘due to the coach of (our kids team name) backing out at the very last minute, I have no choice but to take on coaching the team myself, on top of the rest of the responsibilities. Moving forward we ask that coaches do not volunteer unless they plan on fulfilling that commitment’. He didn’t mention her by name, but everyone saw the rosters and knew he was talking about her.
She texted me a few weeks later once the season started about how ‘my buddy is an a-hole for doing that to her due to a glitch in the registration software as multiple people have approached and asked her not so nicely what happened and she knows she is getting looks from people during the games’. What a satisfying text it was to receive.
#14
How I Got Ex's "Other Woman" Fired!
True confession of my petty revenge. My ex was chronically unfaithful. Caught and caught and caught again, guess three's a charm so I left. Anyway, the other woman, let's call her OW, he saw her off and on for too many years. After the most recent "episode", I tried calling OW, of course she didn't take my call. But in the process of trying to reach OW at her job, I found out she had changed jobs within the company to a highly ethical position. So I went to see OW in person, see if she'd apologize, tell her she can have him, etc. She was NOT happy I knew where she lived. Oh yeah, "hubby told me your address", (I actually knew for years where she lived), revenge 1 accomplished, he was NOT protective of her and now she knew it. We chatted as she walked her dog, she was so f-cking charming I almost could fall in love too, but I digress. I had found ex's secret phone. All the emails from his secret email account too, and using her WORK EMAIL no less!. So I emailed her, didn't hide it was me, revenge 2 accomplished, because he had told her he was deleting all her emails and he was NOT. NOW she knew again he was not protecting her. Added bonus were emails that proved she lied on our dog walk-n-talk. To be fair, I had read the emails before going to see her, so kind of baited her and she lied, so revenge 3 accomplished. OW's false statements exposed and embarrassing. I'd probably have stopped there, but she blocked the email a short time later so.... The last act of petty revenge was to print her incriminating work emails she had with my ex, complete with risqué photos, and I mailed them to her HR department. OW was now in a position requiring high ethical standards and she lost that job a couple weeks later. I wasn't there so i dont know how it all went down, maybe she was asked to resign. Technically I did not get her fired, she did this to herself, those were her emails on company servers. I only showed them to her boss, anonymously. Petty, yep.
#15
How My Friend Got Revenge On His Horrible Ex
My friend of 47 years was in an horrible relationship for many years and he has finally gotten out of the situation. His ex, like those exes do, is making things difficult.
My friend goes to an LGBTQ campground every year for his birthday so of course this year he told the ex he was going in an effort to make sure he didn't stay there on the same weekend. Ex basically says f you, I am staying there that weekend.
Now for reference, there is a court order forbidding contact between them so if ex goes to the campground, friend can't go because of that order.
So, my sweet friend, in a moment of revenge, booked a site at the campground for the entire month of August. He then called the police and notified them that this would be one of his addresses this summer so they are aware that ex can't be there.
Now ex can't camp there at all this summer. I haven't heard an update regarding how his ex reacted but man, I would love to see it.
Individual personality also plays a big role in revenge. In a 2008 study, experts found that those with specific personality types were more likely to act violently after rejection.
They found that some people had higher levels of “rejection sensitivity” and were more likely to expect rejection based on past experiences. These individuals were also found to be more neurotic and to show anxiety and depression.
Rejection feels like a total threat to survival, so expecting it primes a person — both mind and body — to protect themselves.
#16
My Ex Ghosted Me So I Found A Way That He Will Have To See My Face Everyday
This was a while ago and I’m over him now, but about 2 years ago I dated a coworker (I know now that that was a mistake I was barely in my 20s when this happened). We started as friends and hung in the same circles until we couldn’t deny the attraction anymore. A couple months into dating we were planning on moving in together and maybe even getting married one day. We were inseparable and he was so affectionate with his words and actions. But then I got a promotion that required me to go out of state. We decided to do long distance for a while and I would keep a lot of my stuff at his place until I moved back, then we would live together. Unfortunately a month into long distance he ghosted me. There was no indication that things were going wrong so I was devastated and blindsided. I had never been in a relationship before so he was my first heartbreak, but the most annoying part was that he refused to acknowledge my existence even as just friends. We were in similar group chats and he would just skip over my comments, he would go out of town when I came in town, and he would get mad at me for hanging out with our mutual friends (I found this out through the grapevine, it was one of the few things I knew about him after the break up). Eventually I moved on and met someone new but I was still very hurt that someone who I once considered a great friend would just cut me out of my life for no reason.
So here’s where the petty revenge comes from. We have a company homepage that shows different slides of employees doing things like receiving awards or special events. The homepage plays on the tv screens at work as well as the computers. One day the company sent an email asking for pictures with a prompt, so I chose the pretty picture of myself I could find and a nice fluffy paragraph to go with it. Now the ex that ghosted me has to see my face every time he walks into work and opens up his computer. A revenge a year in the making.
Edit: when I said I met someone new that was later down the road and I am not with the someone new anymore. Sorry for the confusion. The revenge and the dating a new person didn’t happen at the same time.
#17
My Ex Ruined My Christmas, So I Ruined His Birthday
This was several years back, and I was a dumb teenager, but I would totally do it again. I was dating this guy that I thought was really really awesome. What I didn’t know is that he was hiding a secret. What secret? Turned out he was gay and decided not to tell me. Just for clarification, I have no problem with anybody being gay. my problem was that he chose not to tell me, even though he knew before we started talking and play with my feelings. I had to find out through somebody else, which was utterly disgusting. This had to happen right around Christmas that year, so I was not in a celebratory mood. What did I do? Turns out I was friends with the guy my ex ended up going to. I sat around and waited until it was my exes birthday, and then I told his new boyfriend exactly what he did to me. Guess who ended up getting unceremoniously dumped on their birthday? Moral of the story, don’t screw with my feelings, and definitely don’t lie to me. Once I find out, it’s not pretty.
#18
Locked My Ex Out Of His Playstation Account Right After He Renewed His Subscription
When my ex and I broke up he owed me about £1500 as I paid off his credit card debt, we had agreed it would be repaid no matter what even if we broke up.
Well, shocker, that went out the window after I left him as he claimed he “couldn’t afford” to give me anything at all.
Along with this he kept almost all of our shared possessions and returned my tv to me broken and without any cables.
The PlayStation was a gift from me when we had first got together and he set up his new PlayStation account using my email address and I hadn’t thought about it since.
Yesterday I received an email informing me of “my” purchase of a PlayStation Plus years subscription. I’ve logged into the account, set up two-factor authentication with my friends number and remotely signed out all devices.
He’s got me blocked on most platforms and vice* versa so I probably won’t get hear about it but I’m still satisfied as hell.
Pop culture definitely feeds the flame. Movies, TV shows, and novels constantly sell us the fantasy of paybacks. But screenwriters rarely show the messy emotional hangover that follows.
Research shows that revenge-seekers get only a momentary feeling of pleasure.
Experts proved this in a 2008 study where participants could punish someone who mistreated them. Those who got revenge expected to feel better, but they actually felt worse than those who did nothing.
The big culprit here is something psychologists call the “affective forecasting error.” Humans are notoriously terrible at guessing how they will feel down the line. We assume hurting an ex will wipe away our anger, but it usually backfires.
“When people don’t get revenge, they tend to trivialize the event by telling themselves that because they didn't act on their vengeful feelings, it wasn’t a big deal. Then it's easier to forget it and move on. But when people do get revenge, they can no longer trivialize the situation. Instead, they go over and over it and feel worse,” says author Karyn Hall.
#19
Horrible Ex Refused To Move Out So I Did It For Her In The Most Inconvenient Way Possible
I had broken up with my ex about a year prior to this event but she wouldn't move out - one excuse after another for a solid year until one day amidst yet another argument she finally admitted her plan was to stay indefinitely, and threatened to claim domestic attack if I did anything about it.
That weekend she decided to go out for one of her weekend vacations with a girlfriend, so I took advantage of the 48 hours I had and got to work reserving a storage unit and rented a moving truck. I worked around the clock loading that truck multiple times, only sleeping a few hours that entire weekend. She had hoarding tendencies that I had long turned a blind eye to (had to pick my battles) and it had gotten pretty far out of control. Not only did I make dozens of trips but the storage unit itself was almost too small for it all - it was truly amazing how much trash she had managed to pack floor to ceiling in multiple rooms, closets, and the garage despite living in the same house together for so long.
I made sure her laptop was the very first thing in the storage unit all the way in the back corner, followed by all of her clothes (so many clothes), then furniture, then all the meaningless hoarded junk. By the time I was done, that storage unit was packed floor to ceiling to the point I had to really Tetris the last couple of loads in there just to get the door shut. She was right at the end of a semester of school and not only needed the laptop first thing the next week, she was also planning on leaving for a cross-state road trip to visit family, and everything she needed for that was at the very back. From what I heard, it took her and a friend the better part of the week to find that laptop and re-pack the storage unit; she missed some important deadlines at school and delayed her family trip by a whole week which messed up other plans and wasted a few PTO days at work to boot.
The best part came months later: you see, when she first came back from that little weekend-vacation I had asked her to sign a receipt to receive the key to the storage unit. She immediately refused, threw a fit, tried to steal my dog (failed), tried breaking into my house while I was gone, then came back hours later with about 6 cops in her wake. To this day I don't know what lies she told them to get that entourage, but after I explained my side of the story they realized it was just a civil matter and quickly left. The receipt I asked her to sign was simple enough in that I offered to pay for the storage unit for 6 months if she signed it that day, but since she didn't, I removed my card from the account and put the unit in her name. Only problem was, the card she then put on file with them was an 'authorized user' card linked to my account which I promptly cancelled, so then she missed enough payments on the storage unit that they locked her out and she was never able to get the rest of her stuff before they presumably auctioned it all off.
Edit: a few of you have some good observations on some details I glazed over or removed - see my comments below that hopefully clear these things up. I have no incentive time or energy to be making up fake drama just for reddit and assure you this really happened.
#20
I Gave My Ex's Newly Published Book A Bad Online Review. I've Never Even Read It
He lied, cheated and abandoned me with his baby over 16 years ago. Today, I found his book being sold online. There was something about seeing his name again that struck terrible, painful memories and a desperate need for revenge.
In my rage, I reviewed his book with the comment (paraphrased) "Stephen King rip-off. Skip this one if you value your free time. A complete waste of money, energy and time. No good characters. Contrived plot. Terrible dialogue. I'm pretty sure an edgy, semi-illiterate teen wrote this. 1/5 stars."
Childish, I know, but I feel a little better, honestly. I hope it stings him like hell.
#21
Hid My Short Ex’s Vape And Coffee On Top Of The Fridge
My (38f) ex (40m) was a high functioning alcoholic and couldn’t get out of bed without a LOT of coffee and nicotine. After months of suspicion, I finally used his thumb to open his phone while he was passed out. I discovered he was still very involved with his ex gf, who broke into his house and tried to atack me early in our relationship (I was pretty scrappy in my younger years so she messed around and found out. That was also a glorious moment, but I digress)
I hid his coffee, vapes, and cigarettes on top of his fridge, which was actually in plain sight for someone who isn’t the size of a garden gnome. That little man ran around his house like an angry elf for 30 min until he had the wherewithal to just walk a couple blocks away to buy more. Each second of his panic was so satisfying to watch. When he finally left for the store I packed my things and bounced for good.
Edit: no, he was not a little person medically, he was 5’4”.
By request the ex story:
BF never changed the keypad lock and after a day of drinking the ex GF barged in and found me cooking dinner in his pajamas. Ex Gf charged me and I clotheslined her. She was fine, just a damaged ego.
Studies show that people who execute revenge end up obsessing over the wrongdoer far longer than those who just walk away.
Here’s the wild part: even when participants felt worse after taking payback, they still insisted it helped them. They convinced themselves that doing nothing would have felt even worse. The myth runs so deep that we defend our spite even when it burns us.
#22
Ex Tried To Access My Bank Account And Got Embarassed Instead
This was years ago - my divorce was very ugly. My ex committed credit card fraud, falsified evidence, hacked my email account, broke into my home and stole my safe, etc.. I got a notice from my bank that someone had tried to access an old bank account that only he knew about. I was pretty angry and called the bank, requested that there be no internet access to that account at all. Then I went to a adult toy website and asked for a physical catalog to be sent - to his name, but his next door neighbour's address. I'm sure the catalog arrived with a brown paper cover...
#23
The Time I Made My Ex Mad By Making Friends With The Woman He Cheated On Me With
In my early 20s I lived with my ex boyfriend. I was gullible and believed every word that came out of his mouth. I believed him when he said he worked late hours abs came back at 4am and made up excuses to keep me from meeting his friends and family and let him isolate me and hide me away.
Well, one day his grandmother passes away from natural causes (this is pre covid) and he was devastated so I asked if he wanted company or to be left alone to grieve. He of course wanted to go alone and so, I let him.
I got a call from someone who knew both me and my ex informing me that he did in fact take his girlfriend to the funeral but that person was not me. She had been introduced to his family, taken on date after date, and he had played dad to her one year old. My heart sunk right to my feet that day and so did hers once she found out about me.
My friend got us in contact and we talked for hours. We laughed, cried and in the end decided to dump that man and be friends. He absolutely hated it. We became extremely close after that. I took her to her 21st and drunk sat her after she got sick all over me and we took each other on a "date" and even to a concert that her family got tickets for. To this day, I have her in my phone as "the wife" even though we are both married to wonderful men.
Revenge may have evolved to protect us, but in the modern world, it often protects us from the wrong things. It keeps us vigilant when safety no longer depends on personal retaliation.
Revenge can feel good because it appeals to our deep sense of fairness, but it also keeps us tethered to the very pain we are trying to escape.
So next time you catch yourself plotting against someone who crossed you, remember that the high won’t last long. But don’t judge yourself too harshly, either. That petty impulse is an ancient survival instinct, and it probably saved you from further future aggressions.
#24
Emotionally Hurtful Ex-Husband Wanted To File Taxes Together...
This was nearly ten years ago, yet I still look back and chuckle. I was working three jobs and going to school at night, and he was working part time for one. While I had cancer, he lost 100 pounds with extreme dieting (eating less than 500 calories a day) because he said that he was sick of me getting all the attention.
We were divorced near the end of January, which meant we were married for all of the prior year. We filed for a cheap divorce since we didn’t have any shared money, things, or children, so nothing was stated on how to file our taxes.
In March, he called and said that his tax guy had figured out that if he filed his taxes as single then he owed over $2000 and if I filed my taxes single then I was paid $400, however if we filed jointly then we’d be paid $450. He offered that if we did so, then he would pay the tax guy for his services and keep the $50 “profit.” At this point, my dad did my taxes for me for free so there was absolutely nothing in it for me.
I just said no and filed separately that afternoon.
Edit: it was pointed out that I didn’t clarify his offer - I keep my entitled $400, he use the $50 to pay the tax guy. He was hoping, and I quote, that I would do the “right thing” to keep him from owing money since it didn’t hurt me at all to do so.
#25
Towed My Ex’s Car
It took over 6 months of trying to politely ask my emotionally hurtful, narcissistic ex to move out of my home. He owed me $2,000 and wasn’t even attempting to give me his half of the bills, spending what money he did have on various substances, alcohol, and junk food, and not being able to keep a job for more than a few months. It ended in a blow up (because obviously, he wasn’t going to have it any other way), where he threatened my life. I made a police report and had to get court papers to have him removed.
A few weeks after he left, a mutual friend reached out and said he stayed with them a few nights but went back to his home state, leaving his car parked outside their home. Well a few months pass, he still hadn’t come back to get his car and his plates expired during that time. Over the weekend I found out he had been talking behind my back and lying about so much more than I had even realized. So I reported his car abandoned and it got towed. Oh and “our” friends are my friends now, none of them even liked him.
#26
I Sewed My Ex Clothes Together After We Broke Up
This is pretty recent. To make things short: I broke off my engagement and asked for our relationship to improve before marriage. He said no. I said ok. Then he came home and told me that everything was going to be fine and he loved me etc, and then called me on the phone two hours later to say "I only proposed because I felt pity for you, and I won't go to therapy because the only problem I have in my life is you". I blocked him everywhere.
He still have his things in my house, so I took all the clothes and sewed socks together, sewed pants legs with the butt part of the pants, sewed the holes for the head/arms in his t-shirts. I put everything in a case and wrote a note that said "I hope this is not pitiful to you, have fun!".
Just to be clear I didn't broke his clothes or anything, I even put a tool to rip the stitches in the case and did not touch clothes which fabric could be ripped if sewed.
I'm feeling kind of guilty already, but I just discovered like 10 minutes ago an eyeliner that was not mine in his backpack.
He is coming for his stuff tomorrow and I won't be here. A friend will handle everything.
#27
Ex Was Verbally Hurt To Me So I Catfished Him
I was 20 years old when I met my first serious boyfriend. I was young, dumb and naive, not knowing how toxic he was and continued to be. Anyways, here is my catfish story.
My ex was extremely fatphobic and verbally horrible to me, to the point where he would say I'm an ugly, fat b*tch, he's not attracted to me and he could do so much better. This went on for three months, because I'm a sucker for being downtrodden into dog poop apparently. One day I had had enough of it so I broke up with him.
Few months later, I was scrolling Facebook and came upon his Facebook profile. Me being the petty queen, I made a fake Facebook account of a pretty 'skinny'blonde girl. I friend requested him and we started chatting. I pretended to be this demure, feminine, flirty girl, which I knew he absolutely adored from women. Hook, line and sinker, he fell in love with her after a week. Started telling her all his deepest, darkest secrets, complaining about his life (dropped out of school at grade 7, was working dead end jobs) I played the supportive, kind, considerate and "submissive" girl that he had always wanted. Took me a month but I started saying we should meet, and *wink wink. This definitely got his motor running and he was raring to go to meet this "love of his life" I gave him an address for him to meet "her" which was 5 hours away from him and he drove all the way there! He kept messaging and messaging this "girl" saying "Where are you?" "I'm here!" The guy even went to the apartment managers office and asked if this "girl" lived there, to be told there's no such person!
I soon deleted the Facebook profile and still relish in him sitting there, looking like a dumb idiot, waiting for this 'perfect' girl to be swept off her feet. I have no regrets for my pettiness.
#28
I Published A Poem About My Ex In A Literary Magazine He'd Been Trying To Get In To For Years
We were both in high school, and at the end of the relationship he told me he was "just in it for the s*x" that he "didn't really mean any of it", and that I obviously "just wanted him because I was h**ny". He then went and had a hot and heavy make out sesh with my best friend and came back and told me I was "a bad kisser compared to her". Yeah, he was a jerk.
Well, flash back to a few months previous. I was angry at him because he was being really hot and cold and so I wrote an angry poem about him. The magazine he had been trying to get into had a website and would publish poems based off of popularity on the website. He had gotten me to join a few months previous and I only had a few poems up. I decided against posting it then because it would "be too mean".
Well after he had pulled that I decided I wanted a little revenge. So I posted the poem. And suddenly it was getting A LOT of popularity. And I get a notification from the magazine saying they want to publish it. So what was the first thing I did? Messaged him that I got published in this magazine. He got excited for me and congratulated me, until... he read the poem.
Several million people have read the poem in the magazine, and to this day, he still hasn't gotten published.
#29
Ex Asked Me To Get Back Together With Her, I Agreed Knowing I Shouldn't. I Made Sure It Didn't Last A Day
It was a Friday night when she asked to meet up at the local mall. I ended up picking up a game (Castlevania, my love) while we were there. We ended up going back to house and watching movies, she ended up asking if I would be willing to be her boyfriend again. I said yes, despite my instincts telling me not to.
That night, I ended up going tobogganing with a group of friends. I ended up smashing through a fence and don't remember much of the night. Ended up with a concussion, long hospital visit blah blah.
Anyways, she calls me the next day and the biggest liar on the world took over my body. Before she could even speak I was yelling into the phone, "WHOA LONG TIME NO TALK WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN UP TO?!" She was chit chatty and asked about my day. I told her I got a new game and a concussion the night before, and that's all I remember.
She cried on the phone and insisted we spent the day together. But I insisted how crazy and unlike me that was.
#30
After My Ex-Girlfriend Slept With My "Best Friend" I Changed Her Netflix Account From English To Mandarin
About three months after we broke up I found out that my best friend had been sleeping with my ex-girlfriend without either of them even considering how i would feel. After lots of anger and disappointment I got over the incident but I decided to enact my revenge on her by changing her Netflix language to Mandarin because I still had access to her account. I then favourited all sorts of movies I know she hated and messed with her queues on her ongoing shows.
Edit: To clarify, she told me she had s*x with him to hurt me because she actually never found him attractive. Hence why I had to enact some petty revenge on her. I never did find out if they slept together while we were dating but I sure hope not.. Also this was a girl I dated for two and a half years. She was my first love. So yes it maybe pathetic and petty what I did but, after all that, I couldn't care less.
#31
Ex Didn't Let Me Face Time With The Kids, Now She Can Struggle To Figure Out How
Last year I moved very far away from my two children and ex due to a job offer. Before I left I gave my 8 and 6 year old each a tablet with Skype and lots of goodies downloaded on them. Tested them to make sure they worked with my iPhone and let them take their tablets to their mothers.
Each time I asked to Skype with the kids she had some excuse about not figuring it out to be able to. After three months I gave in and bought an iPod with FaceTime capabilities and sent it to her. Once again I made sure every thing was in order before I sent it.
Now there were more excuses about wifi not working and other lame excuses. I heard from my son his older half sister had taken their iPod and they don't get to use it or had seen it in a long time.
Now that I have them for the entire summer, my ex texted me that she now has a smart phone and wants to face time with the kids. I told her to call my phone on it but she couldn't figure it out. She has some Galaxy. After her struggle for hours and listening to her complain about it, I finally told her "The iPod I sent the kids in December is all set up to for FaceTime if you can find it".
No text back for the rest of the day.
#32
Gifting My Ex's Dog Loudest Squeaky Toys I Could Find
So, I and my ex-girlfriend dated for about 8 months. Overall our relationship was good but towards the end of it we both started to realise that we two aren't really compatible with each other. Our relationship probably wouldn't have lasted this long if it wasn't for her dog, an adorable golden retriever whom i absolutely love. I was more excited about meeting the dog than meeting my ex during the last days of our relationship and i think even my ex realised that. About a month ago my ex decided to call it quits and break up with me.. I was kind of glad but also was upset because i don't think anyone likes being dumped. A week ago i got a text from my ex where she invited me to her dogs birthday party and also asked for my help to arrange it, which i gladly accepted. While shopping for some of the supplies for the party, i found one of the most loudest squeaky toys i have ever heard in my life, they are so much annoying and maybe even give you a headache... so i decided buy 2 of them... On the dogs birthday, i gifted her these toys and played with her for some time... She was extremely happy and excited for these toys and also ignored all the other gifts she had gotten that day. Yesterday at about 2:45 AM i got a text from my ex with just three words "I hate you". I am so happy right now!
#33
Small Revenge For Ex-BF After He Got Caught Cheating
So I (17F) was dating a guy (15M), and things were pretty decent. Nothing too serious since we were in high school at the time but I respected him and the relationship. Someone I was friends with basically told me he was cheating with one of her friends, and she had proof. I mean like pictures of them kissing and graphic texts. One of the pictures he was wearing a shirt I bought him.
Anyways I confronted him about it and he got all emotional. I ended it with him but he said he would do anything to get back with me. I was hurt but PETTY so I agreed under one condition. He had to explain to my dad and sister what he did to me (the cheating) and ask for their forgiveness for what he did. He actually followed through and confessed to my family. He looked horrified since my dad got angry and asked wtf was wrong with him. My family was obviously angry but I reassured him that we could move on and it would be great.
After that I went along with it for like a day or two. He assumed everything would go back to normal and I led him on to believe this. Then I cut it off. Full on blocked and everything. I was young but not stupid, and he cheated on me after like 6 months together so there was no way for things to work out. Wasn’t even worth it. But I felt like I got my revenge so I moved on pretty quickly and he learned a lesson.
EDIT: surprised this got so popular, thanks for all the votes! To everyone saying I “took it too far”, I would like to add that he gave me an std from cheating, so I think this was the very least I could do.
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What do you think ?
Marleina Hershberg 54 minutes ago
"never asked for one, or even needed one as **my own phone was absolutely fine** at the time. I always thought this was quite strange. Any who, after the final break up **I decided I wanted to get my own phone** so I had nothing to remember him by."
Marleina Hershberg 54 minutes ago
"never asked for one, or even needed one as **my own phone was absolutely fine** at the time. I always thought this was quite strange. Any who, after the final break up **I decided I wanted to get my own phone** so I had nothing to remember him by."
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