People can sometimes say some pretty hurtful things to others. And sometimes they’re not always from random strangers, but the people we thought were supposed to support us and have our backs. Either it’s from family members, teachers, or maybe at work. These people share the most ridiculous thing someone said to them. Content has been edited for clarity purposes.
Heath Care: Different Point Of Views

1. “About 10 years ago, I was bedridden with an autoimmune arthritis condition. I had extreme swelling and pain in all major joints, even my jaw. Could barely move from the bed to the bathroom with crutches. I lived outside of a major center and it took several months to be referred to see a specialist.
Anyway, practicum was put on hold since I obviously couldn’t work; the faculty was very understanding.
My preceptor for my rotation said, ‘You should reconsider your career if you can’t even be on your feet all day.’
I went for one day and my knee swelled to the size of a canteloupe. Also, this lady worked in health care and she wasn’t very compassionate.
My dad also told me I should just quit university since I wasn’t getting any better. Then he said he thought I liked being bedridden so I could just play games and watch movies all day.
After a few months of rehabilitating and going to physio several times per week, I was literally tired of everything and everyone. I couldn’t leave home and almost no one visited me. Plus my entire life was turned upside down when I got this chronic illness. Previously had no medical conditions or medications, but now that’s all tied to me.”
2. “I work in health care, being told messed up things come with the territory. But I remember one particular conversation, it was with a resident in a nursing home I used to work in when I was 16 and it made my blood run cold.
All of the other carers used to call him ‘nasty Bill’ as he used to be physically and verbally aggressive with them, but he never was with me. I found out the reason for which became imminently clear.
He said, ‘Oh you’re a lovely little girl, aren’t you? I used to take girls like you down to the graveyard at night. My wife didn’t mind.'”
My Twin Sister’s Last Words

“My twin sister died when we were 19. At the time, I was in the Army and pretty full of myself. When I talked to her on the phone I spent way more time talking about myself than asking about her.
The day after she died I got to the funeral home, having driven straight there from Kentucky to the southeast corner of Georgia. My stepmom was there. After I’d been there for about a half, I started getting my bearings (I was the life insurance beneficiary so I was in charge of arrangements), my stepmom told me she had talked to my sister before she died.
My stepmom said, ‘She [my sister] told me, ‘I’m not sure he loves me because he never asks about my life.’’
I don’t know if that was true if my sister had said that. But I knew it was true because I hadn’t been too interested in her life. For instance, she never got a chance to tell me about the headaches and blackouts she was having. She didn’t get the chance to tell me about the MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging).
She died of an aneurysm on a Thursday. I was supposed to spend the previous weekend with her, but changed plans and went to a college football game in Alabama instead. I told her I’d be home the next weekend. And I was, just not how I expected to be.
Even without what my stepmom told me, I would have learned to be more engaged with the people I love. But I have now been haunted ever since by the idea that my twin sister may have died thinking I didn’t love her. And I can never fix that.”
We All Got ‘That’ One Coworker Who Always Got Something To Say

1. “My children are very young but I was discussing with a coworker (who also has young children) about their futures.
I said, ‘If they prefer to go to for a technical type higher education/trade school, I would support them. I don’t mind if they don’t seek a four-year college degree, as long as they have a good plan.’
She told me, ‘Well I guess I just love Susie better because I am going to require her to get a Bachelors.’
Let it also be known that I myself have a couple of bachelors, while she has an associate and her husband has neither and is a welder. Not that there’s anything wrong with being a welder or getting your associate’s degree, it just came off as an insane stance to take, given her own background.”
2. “I worked with a woman who had been trying to get pregnant with her husband for years. She had finally succeeded and was due in a few weeks. I was very happy for her because they clearly really wanted to be parents. They had an ectopic pregnancy and lost it, then she had several infections during IVF (In Vitro Fertilisation), one of which required emergency surgery. I think they’ll make great parents.
One day we were talking about kids and being parents. I said something, which was probably sarcastic but this woman replied with something like, ‘Oh man, can you imagine you as a parent? You’d be an awful dad.’
I’ve always wanted kids and a family just about my whole adult life. I thought I’d be a pretty good dad; I had my own really great dad to teach me. I guess not, though.”
His Stepdad Was A Debbie Downer On His Dreams

“I have wanted to be a pilot pretty much my entire life. Unfortunately, I grew up very poor so my best shot at it was to get the military to pay for it. The best shot at being a pilot in The United States Air Force (which was my plan) was to go to the Air Force Academy which is, also, unfortunately, astoundingly selective.
My ‘The United States Air Force Academy’ application was rejected my senior year of High School. So I went to a military junior college that is designed to help academy rejects boost their chances of getting picked up the next year. I attended for two years and got rejected from the United States Air Force Academy both years.
I returned home with a big scoop of student loan debt, defeated and not knowing what my next move was going to be. My stepdad at the time, a black-hearted person, decided that this would be a great time to pile on.
We were on the back porch and he was laying on me about how I blew my chances at the United States Air Force Academy and missed my shot at college and being a pilot. Then proceeded to say that now I was going to have to work a ‘regular job’ until I die. As he was going on about this, two United States Air Force cargo planes happened to fly over the yard. My stepdad saw me glance up at them.
While smirking, he said, ‘Does that hurt? Knowing you’ll never get to do that?’
It did.
But the joke’s on him though, it has been a few years and I’m now a commercial pilot.”
Big Announcement At The Family Dinner

“My stepbrother and his latest girlfriend were over for dinner. Partway through, they had a big announcement they wanted to talk about. We figured they were getting married. This would be like the third in that many years. He went through ‘this is the one’ girlfriends so fast, I honestly stopped trying to remember their names.
My stepmother is one of the nicest people you will ever meet; she has nearly endless patience and is always willing to go out of her way to help people. She had lent him a lot of money in the past, and I have no idea if he ever paid her back for all his failed business ideas. I only remember instead of giving her samples, he made her buy them.
Anyways, so the big announcement was the most messed up thing I’ve ever heard. They gave a big long speech about how far it was to drive to visit my stepmom and dad, so they wouldn’t be bringing their grandkids around anymore unless she gave them 15,000 bucks to buy a new car as they didn’t feel ‘safe’ driving anymore. Despite both of their current vehicles having enough room, being in good condition, and being able to make the drive just fine. If my father and I wanted to pitch in that would be great too.
My father had to leave the table. Pretty sure I just sat there at a loss for words, while my stepmom just paused and started talking about something else.”
Baby Mama Drama

“Two years ago, I was on an island in the Philippines when I blew my knee open on a motorbike. I had over 90 stitches through three layers to put my kneecap back on. There was a dog lying next to me in the surgical room so I knew I was messed up immediately. I booked a first-class trip back to Vancouver the next morning and traveled solo back through Manila, but needed to go to the general hospital for X-rays and a medical release letter to fly.
After thirteen hours in Manila, I finally got the letter; no broken bones but I needed an MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging). So I flew back to Vancouver and developed sepsis in my leg and had a fever of 41 degrees Celsius for three days straight. The doctor said I might lose my leg or my life.
I spent two and a half weeks on IV antibiotics while my lovely sister nursed me back to health. During that ordeal, I called the mother of my children to tell her and hopefully speak to my kids. She wouldn’t answer the phone, but when I texted that I needed to speak she said she was busy on a date with her new old/rich boyfriend.
After five days, she finally called me about my ordeal and told me that she knew I’d mess up somehow. That she wasn’t going to inform my kids I had returned and I wasn’t going to speak to them. And that my leg might be broken but my mind wasn’t and I should sign the divorce papers because she wasn’t going to be related to my primitive parents. She hated my last name and told me she was going to change the boys’ names to her maiden name. This person always said the most mess up things to me, but that took the cake.
I was dying, depressed, and heavily medicated and this horrible human decided to stomp on me at my most vulnerable moment.”
Thanks, Teacher

“I was nine years old, in school. I was constantly bullied at school. Eventually, I told my teacher about how one student, in particular, was inciting the other bullies. So she called a meeting of her, me, and the bully. We walked in, sat down, and she proceeded to blame me for everything.
She ended the meeting by telling me, ‘Stop making things up. You’re easily my most annoying student. Grow a pair and quit whining for once.’
She then told us both to leave. The moment I left the building, the bully beat me to the ground and ran off. One week later, I realised no one was gonna help me, and I remembered that conversation. I decided to grow a pair.
I pushed that bully into a brick wall so hard he was sent to the hospital. I spiralled out of control after that, and would relentlessly attack someone for something as small as an insult. When the teachers punished me, I’d attack them, too. They were the enemy, and I’d grown a pair.
Now it’s been two years since I graduated high school, and I’m still trying to work out my anger issues. Throughout high school, many of my peers were concerned I’d show up one day, and eventually hurt someone. All because one teacher chose to ignore the quiet kid who needed help.”
Cook Vs Manager

“I was working at my first ‘real’ line cook gig. The chef had told me if the manager asked any questions, answer to the best of my ability but deflect to her. So I was doing some prep, slicing Thai chilis with my razor-sharp chef’s knife before service when the manager walked up. I don’t think I even looked up while speaking to him.
Manager: ‘What’s the special tonight?’
I named the prawn special.
Manager: ‘What size are they?’
Me: ‘I’m pretty sure they’re 14’s, but you’d have to check with Anna.’
Manager: ‘How many to an order?’
Me:’It was six, but I only saw it in passing. It’s not on my station, you’ll have to check with Anna.’
Manager: ‘What does it cost?’
I wasn’t sure why a line cook making 25 cents above minimum wage who was a prep cook only two months ago, working only salads and appetizers, and had just got promoted to the hotline would know anything about pricing. It was beyond me.
Me: ‘I’m not sure, you’ll have to ask Anna.
Manager: ‘Do you know ANYTHING about ANYTHING?!’
I set my knife down and walked right past him and out the door. The chef had to come to get me, talk me down from absolutely pummeling the prick, then took him to the office and absolutely shut him down. He never even looked me in the eye again after that.”
An Email Sent From His Mother

“My first term teaching out of grad school I had a student who missed a lot of class. I would connect with him quite often after the classes he did attend and encourage him to come to my office if he had questions. I really liked him as a person and went out of my way to help him quite often. I could tell something was wrong but I didn’t really know how to handle it, being a new instructor and all. The student ended up failing the course and asked for a grade curve. Since I was new, I responded with a cut and dry policy the college had provided me with basically telling him that I couldn’t curve his grade and his grade was final and would not be changed.
Fast forward to the Christmas break, I got an email from a woman with his name as the subject line. It was the student’s mother.
She said, ‘My son attempted suicide last night and it was all because of you.’
She then proceeded to tell me all sorts of stuff that was a violation of his privacy and ended the email with ‘I am truly shocked that someone like you teaches young kids.’
He was 25 at the time, but still, I didn’t sleep for the next two nights. I think about him often and hope he’s okay.”
Facebook ‘Friends’

“I posted on Facebook when my mother died and included my phone number asking if friends could check up on me. Someone used the number to call me and make fun of me. They were a friend of a friend and were at their house so they saw my post that way I guess.
Anyways they basically called me a little crybaby. Then they told me they were going to mess me up if they ever saw me in public. I was so disgusted by them but I let it go and cut off the people I knew that were friends with that prick.”
“When I was around 15, I was in a group chat on Facebook with a bunch of friends. Within this group of friends was a guy (we’ll name him Jeff) who would sometimes randomly talk to himself in the group chat.
Well, one day we all got annoyed with his shenanigans and started dogging him. I asked him why he messaged the group chat over and over when nobody else was messaging.
He said, ‘Because sometimes the group chat’s dead, just like your brother.’
My brother was murdered just a few months before this.”
She Needed Time Off For A Family Emergency But Her Work Wasn’t Having It

“My great Aunt who I was close with had a massive stroke. I wanted the day off because obviously, I didn’t take it well. I texted the boss I was working for that day at nine-thirty am about it. She expected me to show up because I didn’t work until four pm. Also demanded to know my aunt’s location.
I contacted Human Resources about that one.
I did go to work the next day for my other boss. She sat with me and told me that her husband had the same kind of massive stroke (which he did) then proceeded to tell me she will be fine and all this and that about it.
After I told her, my aunt had a blood clot in her brain and wasn’t found for up to four hours plus the hour for the ambulance to get there (small town). My Aunt died days later after a second stroke in the hospital. She never woke up from the first one.
So glad I’m leaving this place.”
Teacher Gone Mad

“Ten years ago, my poem was chosen to be featured in a national collection of children’s literary works, and my school had arranged an assembly to acknowledge me and another kid who was selected. My parents were overjoyed and had come to my school despite their busy schedules to watch me receive a certificate and a copy of the book. My usually stoic dad’s beaming face and enthusiasm made it the best day ever. Until I got back my science test in the afternoon.
We had all performed somewhat dismally in the test, and our usually sweet teacher was in a perfect rage over the whole situation.
She zeroed on me and said, ‘Your dad was very happy this morning, wasn’t he? What would his face look like if he saw your marks? Aren’t you ashamed of yourself?’
I remember being close to tears for the rest of the day. The image of my delighted dad superposed over my teacher’s words felt like a punch to the stomach.”
“She’s My Daughter”

“My daughter was diagnosed with Tourette’s when she was five. In the early spring of 2016, after she turned six, my neighbor came over to bring us our mail after we got gone from vacation. As we were chatting, she observed my daughter with all of her tics and behaviors that are hand in hand with the diagnosis.
Then she said, ‘You’re gonna be stuck with THAT ONE forever.’
She pointed at my precious kindergartner who was happy and fulfilled in her life and didn’t notice the difference. She has friends and a kind teacher who has taught about celebrating differences.
I wanted to punch her. She left soon after, and then I dissolved into a puddle of angry tears. I have never been able to wrap my head around it. I was just so horrified and in shock, I didn’t even know what to say. I’m so thankful my daughter didn’t overhear that.
And so what if we have her forever. She’s my daughter.”
What Not To Say To A Five-Year-Old Child

“They told me,’Parentheses have a place, but not on your face.’
It was a commercial for some anti-wrinkle cream. I was maybe five. I was so scared of developing wrinkles that I practiced in the mirror how to smile without making any sort of crease on my face, which I figured out was impossible.
Every time I smiled for years, I would hate myself because I was just making wrinkles and that made me ugly. Those were the thoughts that stuck with me until high school. Even today, I can still perfectly picture the commercial, I can hear the exact voice of the person saying it.
I would like to meet whoever came up with that ad campaign, and every single person who gave it the green light. I want them to look me in the eye and tell me how convincing a five-year-old that her smile was ugly was worth the money they made. I’d like to see if they have parentheses.”
Worst Mom Ever

“I had a job lined up in China and was less than three weeks away from getting on the plane. I had sold my car, quit my job in the United States, and was visiting with my mother while I waited for my passport/visa to finish processing in Washington D.C.
My mom started making noises about how I needed to ‘get a job stocking shelves’, even though I repeatedly informed her that I had already been hired and was waiting for my plane. She treated me like I was leeching off of her. I just wanted to spend some time under my mother’s roof before I flew to the other side of the planet. I even offered to pay rent for however long I ended up being there. She decided to throw me out onto the streets.
Fortunately for me, my old roommate was happy to take me in, and I left the country two weeks later.”
Internship

“I interned at a big advertising agency right out of college; they had this intern intensive at the end of the internship term. When my partner and I gave our practice presentation to the Human Resources guy/head of the intern program at our company, he told me that my voice was terrible. He said I sounded like nails on a chalkboard and he wanted to kill me. Mind you, this was in front of everyone in my group.
Then he asked me if I wanted to let someone else present in my place and to carefully consider what was best for my group, essentially bullying me out of presenting. I relented and let someone else present. After the presentation, he personally told me that I was not getting hired full-time even though that was a different Human Resources person’s job.
He’s now head of Human Resources of that big company and I hate my voice. “
The ‘Grandma’ Who Stole Christmas

“When I was six, my mother married into a family that was disgustingly mean and cruel. She took me to her new in-laws’ house for a Christmas party. All the kids gathered around the tree to open presents but there were none there for my brother and me. As a six-year-old kid, I asked my mom why we didn’t get anything.
Her new mother-in-law turned to me and said, ‘You don’t get anything because you’re not family.’
And stormed off. I felt awful. And what was worse was that my mother didn’t stand up for me because she wanted to be on good terms with them. I had to sit there and watch all the other kids open presents while my brother and I sat there begging to go home. I never went to their house again.”
That Professor Didn’t Hold Back On Her Assignment

“In college, I studied journalism but I had to take a required Public Relations class. We had to keep these journals about our thoughts about news events for some reason, so I was trying to be thought-provoking. I wrote about this theory about why college students tend to be apathetic about the news and that it had to do with the insular nature of the college campus. It was probably rubbish, but I was writing about a theory I had.
The professor ripped it apart and then ended his scribbling with, ‘I find it hard to believe you will succeed at anything, much less journalism.’
I went on to write for ESPN, so he can kick rocks.”