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"What’s The Weirdest ‘This Isn’t My Problem Anymore’ Moment You’ve Ever Witnessed?” (35 Stories)
Good old Westerns had a wonderful, yet cliched, ending where the heroes, having done all they could, rode off into the sunset. That's rarely done these days, but people have changed, too. And very often, we also ride off into the sunset long before the life plot should have concluded.
Perhaps many of you have experienced similar moments. When someone, tired of the injustice and mess around them, just quits and says, "This isn't my problem anymore." Well, please, feel free to read this selection of the weirdest similar stories, made for you by Bored Panda.
More info: Reddit
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#1
Not what I witnessed, it was what I did.
My then husband called me and told me he’d been arrested for drunk driving, as happened way too often, and needed a ride. He was at the police station and they’d charged him but were letting him go on his own recognizance (things were very different back then). I don’t know why I agreed as we were already separated and living apart. A misguided sense of duty maybe?
When I got there I told him I’d give him a ride back to his car but he was not coming home with me. A cop overheard and said “Ma’am you can’t take him back to his car, he shouldn’t be driving.” I said “OK, fine. You keep him then” and turned around, got in my car and drove away without looking back. I was just so done. I was so done with his alcoholism and everything that goes with it. I’d been enabling him and propping him up so he was semi-functional for far too long.
He was unavailable to attend our divorce hearing because he was in jail for the DUI.
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#2
My kid was playing another team and one parent was really having a go at the opposition coach as he subbed their kid so another kid could get some game time.
He just handed them the clipboard, told them to sort it out so everyone was happy and walked off.
Mel in Georgia 2 hours ago
Understandable, especially if the coach was a volunteer. Parent problems are much worse than kid problems in youth athletics!
#3
When my ex left she drained the bank accounts. When she called me three years later and wanted to get the divorce out of the way (she was engaged) she told me what it was going to cost. I told her this one was on her.
Probably won't make the top ten here but it felt SO good!
Each of us has our own ideas about what's best to do in the couple of hours before the New Year. Some are summing up the past year, some are making new resolutions, and some are simply preparing to watch the Stranger Things finale.
Well, the user u/AdWilling4308 decided the best thing to do on New Year's Eve was to ask netizens: "What's the weirdest 'this isn't my problem anymore' moment you've ever witnessed?" And you know what? It seems the topic starter was right - at least, the thread already has over 2.1K upvotes, and the number of comments is soon approaching 1K.
In this collection, we've tried to pick the most interesting and sometimes downright ridiculous situations, revelations, and stories. So enjoy reading them with us, because why not?
#4
During my exit interview for a company I left after 10 years, I explained that the reason that our department of ~22 engineers/managers had the lowest employee satisfaction survey results in the entire company of 100k people was because we were continuously having to deal with our Sr Mgr position opening and very qualified people within the department getting passed up four times in 6 year span. In fact, we hadn't had a vertical promotion within the department in 5 years and the one prior was 4 years before that. It was absolutely destroying morale because we had tons of very experienced, very knowledgeable, very capable, very good employees in the department whose careers had stalled out because of multiple executives seemingly refusing to vertically promote us. I wasn't even passed up for a promotion and I was sick of it myself.
The HR rep's response was to ask me if maybe the reason we're so upset is because we vent our frustrations to eachother and create an echo-chamber that is creating a toxic environment.
I just looked her in the eye...thought about tearing into her about how idiotic that question was...and realized it didn't matter anymore, so I just said "no" with absolutely nothing to go with it so she could think about what she had just asked.
#5
My cousin had recently divorced her husband, but they were throwing a joint party for their daughter's First Communion. At the restaurant, their younger son started to get antsy and act out in front of the dad. He yelled my cousin's name, clearly expecting her to jump up and rush over to parent their kid. She just looked at him from her table and asked, "what is it?"
Ooo, the look on his face when he realized she no longer had to come running when he yelled for her!
#6
Once I was walking to pick my daughter up from school and I saw this lady jogging with the most beautiful dog and I complimented her on her dog. She replied with “that’s not my dog!” In an irritated tone. And just like that the dog was my problem and following me. Long story short, she was my dog for 16 years and such a good girl.
A significant portion of the tales you'll find in this collection tell of people quitting their jobs out of the blue, either because they couldn't stand the unbearable work environment any longer, or because they were completely indifferent to the company and their job responsibilities.
While the former has unfortunately always been a global problem, the latter is partly due to the high turnover rate in the modern economy. Gallup cites statistical data showing that members of younger generations are more prone to job-hopping.
For example, according to Forbes, the average tenure for Gen Z employees in one job during the first five years of their working career is currently around 1.1 years. This is 2.5 times less than that of Gen X employees, and almost three times less than that of Baby Boomers. This doesn't mean that young people are worse performers - they're just different, and this must be taken into account.
#7
Myself....many years ago I managed a KFC store. For reasons (small community, they paid bad and expected a lot so hiring enough help was an issue) I ended up working open to close 7 days a week for months. Not surprisingly things went downhill in the store to the point the district manager came in one day and fired me. I'd never been fired before and I was devastated...for about 30 seconds. Then I realized none of this mess is my problem anymore, walked out with a smile.
#8
Watching my manager quit mid meeting and calmly walk out while the chaos continued behind him.
Detroit Citizen 2 hours ago
I worked in the plumbing section of that orange store. I was the FT associate, not to sound arrogant, but i was good at my job and could handle multiple customers, questions, etc at a time. This one subzero day several hot water heaters broke. Unusually cold snap. I had about four or five ppl that needed hot water heaters (had to use a machine, close the aisle, etc) plus i had an asile full (10 ish ppl) of people either needing pipe threaded or general assistance with the plumbing parts (elbows, traps ect). I called and call management for some help. I got "DetroitCitizen, youre that good you can handle it". If im calling for help, i need help. Period. So I walked out of the aisle straight for the time clock and punched out. Caught my bosses boss on the way out and told him im taking a PTO Mental Health day. Management HAD to handle plumbing. The next few days i apologized to my regulars, told them what had a happened and they understood.
#9
In second grade a bee was in the classroom, a lot of kids were freaking out running around. I’m very allergic to bees and one of my neighbors was in the classroom and had seen me have an allergic reaction to a bee sting before so he started screaming for everyone to cover me (sweet boy 🩷😭) and girls started scream-crying thinking I was going to be gone.
The sub kept yelling at us to shut up, shook one of the kids near her to shut up, started crying herself and left the classroom. A few minutes after we continued to scream, a different teacher came in to see what was going on and asked where the sub was, we heard a car peel out of the parking lot (it was in front of our classroom window) and it was the sub leaving 😭
We had a different sub after that lol and kept the windows closed.
Rick Murray 3 hours ago
If that was the reaction to a 🐝, imagine what would happen if the sub saw a 🕷️!
A separate category of stories on our list is related to education. More specifically, situations where teachers sadly realized they couldn't teach anything to students who often had no desire to study. Some educators pack up their belongings and leave the classroom forever, while others sit and silently watch the frantic class, hoping that this contrasting behavior will work.
We've previously cited educators' opinions about students' reluctance to learn and their inability to do so. This applies, incidentally, to both children and adults - for example, the National Literacy Institute cites data that today 54% of adults have literacy levels below a 6th-grade level (20% are below a 5th-grade level).
Overall, as the source notes, low literacy costs the United States up to $2.2 trillion annually. So, the problem is more complex than just tied to individual students or even entire classes. And the solution to this problem must also be complex - only then will it take any effect.
#10
At my last job the manager didn’t let me take a day off for a funeral, so I offered to leave early instead. They agreed and a few days later, three days before the funeral, they told me I couldn’t leave early, or, more literally, "the manager said there’s no leaving early, you can’t go". The next day, before my shift had even started, I brought a resignation letter written in pink glitter pen. I just left, not even waiting for the manager to arrive.
For the record, the job was sorting used clothes, not something really important where being away for 4 hours would break the system.
#11
Quite a while ago, I worked part-time at Krispy Kreme. I had this job more as a paying hobby than as a necessary source of income.
I worked the overnight shift to make the vast majority of the following (& current) morning's donuts.
I use to be an internal auditor for the government, tasked with (believe it or not) finding ways to simplify and/or improve various systems. This is actually my approach to nearly everything in life...there HAS to be a better way.
In fact, I had even improvised a recipe improvement for the signature dough, which DRASTICALLY eliminated over 80% of our stores food waste for the product.
All this to say...
I came in one night to a complete mess. A different (and larger store) had lost the ability to make any product. They told me, I would need to not only make my own production run, but the other's as well.
I asked:
Who from the other store would be assisting...No one; who from mgmt. would be assisting...no one; how would I be additionally compensated...I wouldn't.
On top of that, they had messed up the machine settings, trying to increase the production speed (HIGHLY improper), and were causing about a +10% failure rate in production.
I saw all this. Took off my apron, and said, "No. I'm not doing this. I quit." And, simply walked out, not looking back.
Andrew Keir 56 minutes ago
I sympathise. "Do more with less" echoes Pharaoh's "make bricks without straw" command in Exodus ch 5; it's either worker a***e, or an admission that management's clue-meter is currently reading zero. Probably both, in fact.
#12
Maybe not the weirdest but quite unusual, i saw (what looked like) a homeless person stealing sandwiches from a local Tesco on Christmas Eve, I looked at the security guard who was watching the man, as the man approached the exit the security guard decided to go and tidy some shelves.
Detroit Citizen 2 hours ago (edited)
When i worked at a gas station, something similar. This one guy, unhoused but the kindest most helpful person i had met was always rooting around the outside trash for cans and bottles for money. He would find enough for a coffee. I started saving the food that was expired the night before ( sandwiches and such, which were still edible, we had to waste them the after their sold by date). He was so very grateful. One small act of kindness can be life changing for another. My mom always said "Dont judge people, but for the grace of God goes you"
Well, some folks also decide to leave dysfunctional relationships, whether with partners or family members, realizing that the people around them have been overusing their trust, productivity, or skills for years.
Sometimes, when we unwittingly witness something like this, it seems like everything just happened out of the blue - but it could be only the last straw, logically bringing a long process to an inevitable close.
#13
My mom wanted to buy a bread maker for $250 on sale on target. My parents had a small argument about it, but my mom decided on it anyway (my dad's concern was mostly a "are you actually going to use it"). Get to Target check out. It rings up for $2.49. Checker is visibly confused, calls over a manager and goes on a break.
Manager could only get it to ring up for $2.49 as well. Eventually let me my buy it for 2 and a half bucks, then got someone to go take them all off the shelves. Checker just booked it though - way above their pay grade.
Mel in Georgia 2 hours ago
Did the mom ever use it though? I used to have one ... it got used maybe 2-3 times. Not sure I'd have another one even if it cost $2.50!
#14
My “uncle” (dad’s lifelong friend) was married to an absolute terror of a woman, a little while after they divorced we all (my family and my uncle and his ex) were invited to my “cousin’s” school play. After the show (my cousin was an excellent turkey btw) the ex wife gets into some squabble with the people sitting in front of her, and I remember seeing him just kinda standing there with a “this is my life now” face, then he got a smile on his face and just….walked away. Went and collected my cousin and we went for dinner.
#15
I held my husband together for 25 years. One day I just stopped. We separated, his crash was swift.
Funny thing was everyone loved him and thought I was a witch.
Then the calls started, where is he, he doesnt return calls, he misses events, he doesnt show up for work, is he ok?
I told them now you see who he really is without all my effort. I am done, not my problem.
Andrew Keir 47 minutes ago
I am sorry , and mostly for all the life you spent propping him up.
Overall, the thirty-five stories we've shared here encompass a whole world, with its joys and tragedies, selflessness and pettiness. And, of course, some blatant entitlement. What unites them is that they're genuinely interesting and sometimes instructive.
So now, dear readers, please feel free to look at all these stories, and probably add your own in the comments below. After all, we truly believe you, too, may have encountered something similar in your own life. So why not share your personal tale with others in case it's really eye-opening or interesting?
#16
I had accidentally punctured a drink on the railing in front of my neighbor's apartment next to my place. I rushed back to my apartment to throw the drink into the sink and grabbed a bunch of towels and bottled water to clean it up. I rushed over to the neighbor's first to clean it up and was scrubbing away for a bit.
About a minute later, she storms out, hollering at me for making the mess that I was actively cleaning. I tried explaining that I was fixing it, but she just kept yelling and I snapped. Yelled back at her, threw my hands up and "You know what, I'm done!" and walked away to clean up in front of my door. She tried to complain to the bldg manager but he sided with me on that one. She flips out over everything and I don't think anyone's ever matched her energy back at her.
Andrew Keir 1 hour ago
There are a sad lot of people who pick on those of us who are working to improve matters, presumably in the misguided mindset that shouting at us gets the job done faster and better. But there is a special circle of Héll reserved for the ones who , faced with a solved problem, come up with the imperious question "Why wasn't this done earlier?" The world needs a knock-down answer to this - preferably one that insults the questioner. Any ideas, Pandas ?
#17
We were getting divorced and preparing to move out. My soon-to-be ex husband announced to me that someone was coming tomorrow to pick up our refrigerator. The following day, the guy showed up. My husband opened the fridge and turned to me angrily. “The fridge still has all food in it!!” I replied, “Yeah, what’s your point?” He screeched, “You jerk!!!”
So glad he’s in my rear view mirror.
Michael Largey 1 hour ago
So ex-hubby got a refrigerator full of food. If the fridge was staying in town, the food would still be good when it was plugged back in.
#18
A drunken domestic dispute. I was at a party and a couiple started fighting. It started as just yelling, then they started hitting eachother. It started with the girl wailing on the guy and he just took it until it became too much and he fired back. Punched her once and the whole party piled on the guy. They were perfectly ok with her hitting him 10x but as soon as he retaliated, all hell broke loose. Really gross and the cops came and a bunch of us had to give statements so the guy wouldn't go to prison.
Andrew Keir 1 hour ago
I do feel that those who are OK with violence from female to male, should rethink their position. "Equality" ought to mean "what's not OK one way is equally not OK the other way" . I'm not persuaded by the occasional offer of "Well, it used to be OK one way so now we're just evening things up a bit the other way". Seems to me that's just perpetuating the violence, but that's just my take on it.
#19
Me and my last attempt to see positivity in having a relationship with parents or dad and him just basically saying he won't change, he doesn't care, and I should have known I was treated so poorly. Something in me decided with relief that this relationship isn't my problem anymore. Made it a lot easier to respond to "but they're your parents" well they decided not to be so they aren't.
#20
My photography teacher tried explaining some of the principles of photographies after she'd tried to shut up a whole classroom which never went quiet.
At the end, she picked up her stuff, took her pursue and left the building after screaming us "we didn't want to learn anything."
I felt so bad for her at the time and even now, because she was so passionate for photography and she was teaching a bunch of kids who didn't want to even be there but needed an easy compulsory elective subject.
Andrew Keir 51 minutes ago
Some blame may be due on the school's policy of 'compulsory' yet 'elective' courses. It takes a lot to make kids not want to learn but some school boards manage it, year after year. And , of course, it's the teachers' fault ... never the policy-makers who ordered that "No kid is a failure so we will pass every kid in every course". ( / rant ).
#21
I was in IT and we supported a client and they had a printer that would sometimes go offline. My desk phone number was on the printer as a contact to bring it back online. The client took IT back in house so we no longer supported them. A year later I get the “our printer is offline” call. I told the woman that I couldn’t help her. She said “then who should I call?”. I said “somebody that cares” and hung up. As soon as the receiver hit phone I regretted my answer, but I really couldn’t help.
#22
10th grade English class with a sub. Class started normal with roll call because of the sub, then she asked us to take our books out. The sub had a student read a passage of a book and it started "Peter picked..." The nicest guy in class (not even the class clown) half whispered, "Peter picked a patch of pickled peppers." And the sub says loudly, "pack your things and go to the principal's office.
He sat there looking around to see if it was actually him getting kicked out of class or someone else and his friend asked, "did you just kick him out of class?" The sub replied, "You can go join him!" To which two other students asked, "What did he do?" They were asked to leave as well. The class clown, who always got kicked out of class, just stood up and announced that he was hedging his bet and just going to the principals office now as well.
The sub started saying we are a bad class and trying to mutiny, to which everyone in class is just asking, "what is happening?" The sub left the room and five minutes later the principal came in. He looked around and said, "I have no idea what happened here, but I honestly know most of you here and know you are all good students. I think we will just all sit quietly until we can get a replacement sub in."
Five minutes later, the usual building sub came in. After the principal left, she wanted all the details and we spent the rest of the class laughing and having a normal class. Was one of the craziest days at school I ever had.
No idea what was going on with that sub and never heard anything about it. She must have had some issues in the past and was anxious or something.
#23
I was once on holiday in a hotel in Madeira. Service was a bit wonky on and off, there were some really strange vibes.
On my 2nd to last day, the manager and half of the staff quit and simply walked out. I think there were only four or five employees left. The janitor was doing breakfast service. They completely quit serving food after that.
A bus full of guests arrived and one of the employees still working refused check-in.
I was relieved that I was leaving the next day.
#24
I once watched someone struggle for more than 5 minutes trying to lodge a shopping cart near their parking spot rather than just walking 10 seconds to the shopping cart return spot. Her parking space had a slight slope. She kept trying and failing to get the cart stuck on something so it doesn't slide away. Eventually, the car next to hers with a more level parking space left, so she left her shopping cart there and drove away.
LakotaWolf (she/her) 2 hours ago
I'm Chaotic Neutral for a lot of things, but I always take my cart to a return corral. You should always return your shopping cart to one of the return corrals (or to the front area of the store if there are no corrals.) If you have mobility issues and can't walk the cart a couple of yards to the nearest corral... then at least ask a courtesy clerk to assist you out to your car. If you've ever had a shopping cart ding your car in a parking lot and have angrily cursed whomever left it there, then don't do the same thing yourself XD
#25
Not entirely weird…but I saw a pack of Sharpie markers in every color at Michael’s with no price. I took it up front to checkout, knowing I’d take it out if it was too high. It rang up for $0. The cashier looked at it, shrugged her shoulders, and kept going. Free markers!
I went back a couple of days later to see if I could get it to happen again. I took it up front, they got the inventory to come up for a price check. It can up with nothing again. This time, I got the second set for $5.
#26
I was a shift manager at a sandwich shop in college. Boss was a monster so one day I gave him my two weeks notice. He got so mad he said “forget it. You’re fired!” I said ok no problem.
The next day I’m getting phone calls from coworkers asking where the hell I am. The GM hadn’t told anyone he fired me. The daytime manager was panicking because she wasn’t supposed to leave until I got there, and she actually had a flight to catch.
“I’m sorry, but I got fired. I don’t work there anymore. There’s nothing I can do.”.
#27
I was working in the dairy department of a supermarket on a Sunday morning. I had to go up front to clock out for my break. The young cashier was ringing up a large (full cart) of groceries for this rather large woman in a flowered shirt and bright green stretch pants.
Seventy-five percent of the groceries were bagged and in the cart, but the belt still had a lot on it.
Suddenly, the woman just looked at the girl, said “I’m sorry, dear, our karmas are clashing today,” and just walked out, leaving everything in the cart and on the belt. The poor cashier just started crying and didn’t know what to do or think!
#28
I warned my manager for six months that our legacy server was going to crash if we didn't upgrade it. He ignored me because it "wasn't in the budget." I quit for a new job, and three days after I left, the server was gone and took the client database with it. Hearing about the panic from my former coworkers was the most peaceful moment of my life.
KatSaidThat 2 hours ago
Me and the IT department currently warning big boss same. Big boss still thinks it will just sort itself out. IT are going to let me know the anticipated failure day so I can be out of office.
#29
After 28 years at my company, my manager called loss prevention saying I stole a $.99 hand soap.
I got a union rep, and video proved that I did not steal a soap and the person that set me up was the liar.
I’ve been planning on retiring in the next three months, but instead I quit immediately, two weeks before Christmas, the busiest time of year at my business. My manager asked me for a dept hand off ($1 million week store.)
She did not get it.
Bonus content: the woman that replaced me thought my job wasn’t that hard and she could do it easily! Within 2 weeks she has stepped down and my manager begged me to come back and train my replacement haha.
Andrew Keir 41 minutes ago
Asking someone to train their replacement is the clearest signal management can give that they shouldn't have let you go.
#30
Weirdest, maybe not, but from personal experience:
I used to run a hemp-based confectionary with my ex husband and an old friend of ours (yes, this was post-divorce.)
Ex husband brings his new girlfriend on to the team because what could possibly go wrong, right?
Well of course this causes conflict, and he's not a good leader, and was volatile at the time due to personal reasons that I'm sure running a business with his ex wife didn't help.
Whatever baggage he carries into work one day seeps out and it's clear he's not compartmentalizing his life or the fact that his ex wife and his new girlfriend begrudgingly get along for the sake of work flow. He flipped out on all of us, mostly on her, and I, in the middle of making a batch of gummies, said, "I think you should talk to a therapist about this."
Which of course works out about as well as you'd think. Him slamming his hands down on the counter, yelling at me, storming off to go to the gym or whatever.
His poor girlfriend looks over at me and goes "what do we do?"
I look at her with a smile, quit what I'm doing and was my hands and say, "He's your problem now," and left.
Asked him to buy me out of my share the next day for a pittance and went back to bartending.
#32
Someone walking away from a half filled grocery cart and just leaving. No phone call or anything just left.
#33
Watching someone quit mid shift and walk out smiling while chaos continued behind them. Instant freedom.
#34
When my almost ex-husband called me to tell me he had been so drunk the night before that he passed out a few steps after he got out of his truck, landed in the snow and didn’t wake up for several hours.
He had driven drunk about 3 miles from the tavern. He is a professional truck driver.
#35
Right infront of my work at 7:40 am i saw some guys trying to open a parking meter with an angle grinder,
I took one look and walked into work, not my problem.
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Rika 24 minutes ago
I had to take the bus but I had no money for a ticket so I told the driver about it. He shrugged his shoulders and replied, "I don't care, it's not my job to make sure people pay." To this day, I wonder if he said that because he understood I was in a bad situation (I was homeless) or because he doesn't care to work as a ticket inspector on top of driving the bus.
Rika 24 minutes ago
I had to take the bus but I had no money for a ticket so I told the driver about it. He shrugged his shoulders and replied, "I don't care, it's not my job to make sure people pay." To this day, I wonder if he said that because he understood I was in a bad situation (I was homeless) or because he doesn't care to work as a ticket inspector on top of driving the bus.
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