What goes around truly comes around! People on Quora share the satisfying times they saw someone get a needed dose of karma.
Respect Your Elders
“I saw this happen on a NY subway. It was crowded. As the crowd got on, there was a scramble for seats. As the subway car started to move, one elderly lady was working her way toward an empty seat when a young punk in an odd assortment of clothes slipped by her and grabbed the seat, and then looked up at her and smiled. She just held onto the overhead strap and had to stand.
He had a hoody sweatshirt tied by the sleeves around his waist over what looked like yellow nylon boxing shorts. Across the aisle, another gentleman got up and offered his seat to her and then helped her sit down as the car moved about.
An elderly black gentleman with a distinguished white beard and hair was sitting next to the young punk and gave him a dirty look.
The punk stared at him and made a face and said, ‘Wadda you lookin at, grandpops?’
The older man just reached down into his shopping bag and pulled out a can of soda, popped the lid, and took a swig.
I was standing almost in the middle of all this, watching. The older man looked up at me and smiled and then glanced in the direction of the punk kid. I knew he had something in mind.
As we approached the next stop, he got up and gathered up his two bags while holding his soda. He waited until the car stopped and then carefully placed the soda can on the hard curved plastic seat where he had been sitting – this allowed him to get a better grip on his bags. He then moved toward the door. As he passed me, I started to say something about him leaving his soda on the seat. He looked at me and shut his eyes for a moment and shook his head – so I didn’t say anything.
He stepped off the train and the doors shut. The subway car lurched forward. The soda can that had been carefully balanced on the curved plastic seat, promptly fell backward, emptying its contents onto the seat and directly onto the punk kid’s pants and hoodie. He wasn’t looking at first until he felt it. By that time, it had soaked the hoodie and his pants. He jumped up, pushed the hoodie off, and started wiping his pants and cussing like crazy. Everyone around him had a smile on their face. Still cussing, he got off at the next stop – leaving the hoodie on the seat.
Another person used his hoodie to wipe up the rest of the Coke and clean off the seat, and then she sat down – dropping the hoodie on the floor and smiling.”
There Was Video Evidence
“I went grocery shopping on a Friday, and the cashier stopped scanning my groceries when it went over $124. Anyway, I asked her why she stopped scanning my stuff, and she said the queue for the social service grants was on the other side of the shop. I asked her what made her think I was on welfare.
She gave me one look and said, ‘The way you are dressed, do you even have $124 in your account?’
I told her it’s my day off and I was doing the grocery shopping. She said, ‘Listen here lady I don’t care if you’re the Queen of England, just go to the other side of the shop.
My first instinct was to beat her up, but I screamed at the top of my lungs, ‘Where is the freaking manager?’
Guess what, he was standing two tills down listening to her going off on me the whole time. I told her before he walked over I don’t want the stuff any more she could void it. She then called me a crazy woman and insisted I pay for the groceries. Going on about how she would get into trouble if she voids over $124 worth of stuff. I told her it was not my problem and I was about to walk away when the manager came up and apologized.
She was suspended on the spot and told to take her bag and leave. Two days after the incident, a shop steward from her union called me to ask if I want to attend her hearing. My friend had made a video of the whole incident. Guess what, she said I insulted her, and that is why she treated me like that. I showed them the video and she was dismissed from her job with immediate effect.”
A Lesson Was Learned
“I was on my way home from a long shift in ER. It had snowed the two days prior and that left us short-staffed, so I stayed when I truly didn’t want to. I had a 74 Dodge Power Wagon that was a beast. She could get me home without a problem. We are in the foothills of Northern California and our roads can be treacherous, especially early mornings when the snow was frozen solid. I was going slow and steady. No quick acceleration and no sharp braking. In fact, ideally no braking at all.
In my rearview mirror, I saw headlights gaining steadily on me. I fought the urge to speed up, knowing that was exactly the wrong thing to do. Their speed was increasing and I knew there was a pretty sharp and unforgiving curve ahead. I geared down till I was in my lowest gear and crept to the shoulder. They were going so fast, I didn’t have time to get completely off the road and they clipped my front driver’s side quarter panel. They gave my girl a bit of a crease and pulled up a bit of chrome, but all cosmetic. I watched as the impact of the collision sent them into a spin. Their beautiful, brand new 4wd was steadily gaining momentum as it headed for the sharp turn ahead. I was holding my breath and grabbing for my phone as they hit the side rail. The snow insulates the world, and it was freakishly silent after they busted through the side rail. They kind of seemed to hang for just a heartbeat before they plunged down a considerable embankment. I hadn’t put on boots for my drive home, so I had on a pair of clogs, which are not snow apparel! I dashed across the road and could see the truck. That was good news. They had stopped well before the large drop-off into a river. I was relieved when I had a signal on my phone and let EMS know precisely where we were.
All the passengers were able to communicate with me as we waited. There were four young men inside. Thankfully, they all wore their seat belts. When EMS arrived they called the Fire and Rescue Team who was able to wench the young men up the embankment. One of our Medics, who is a local guy, asked the driver of the truck where he was from, and if he had ever driven in the snow on mountain roads. He was from Santa Cruz which is a Bay Area city. The truck was indeed brand new and belonged to his father. He had never driven in the snow prior to this trip.
Our medic said, ‘Son, when you are out of your element, look around and find someone local. You should have slowed down, and followed someone who has driven these roads all her life add you would be going home instead of going to the ER.’
I headed for my old faithful truck with a couple of new boo-boos on her to go home. Tony, the medic, called me back. The driver of the truck began to speak, but he started to cry. He told me how very sorry he was, and how selfish he was because he could have injured me, too. I told him to just remember that next time he got behind the wheel of a car. I hope he does.”
That’s A Shame
“A few years ago, I was working uniformed patrol as a police officer with my partner in a beat car. We were patrolling through a trendy, commercial district and were stopped at a stop sign at a four-way intersection, when we observed a Land Rover stopped in the middle of the street, preparing to back up and parallel park in a vacant space along the curb. Before the Land Rover could reverse, a Mercedes-Benz quickly pulled into the space headfirst. The driver of the Land Rover exited his SUV, and gestured in disbelief at the audacity of the Mercedes-Benz’s driver, who simply threw his hands up as if saying, ‘Oh, well.’
The driver of the Land Rover got back into his vehicle and drove off to find another parking space elsewhere, as the occupants of the Mercedes-Benz exited their vehicle and walked into a nearby restaurant without paying the parking meter. It was flashing red, indicating that the space had not been paid for.
Seeing the opportunity to make things right, I drove our police car up to the Mercedes-Benz, and told my partner to cite the Mercedes-Benz for parking at an expired meter while I cited it for parking in excess of 18 inches from the curb (it is very difficult to parallel park properly without backing into the space, and the Mercedes-Benz driver, in his haste to snag the spot from the Land Rover, parked quite sloppily).
My partner placed both parking citations on the windshield of the Mercedes-Benz, when the driver of the Mercedes-Benz came out to feed the meter. Apparently, he ran into the restaurant to make change for the meter before grabbing lunch, but, alas, it was too late for my partner and I had already scratched him the tickets. I simply returned the same gesture he gave the Land Rover driver, and quipped, ‘Oh, well.'”
He Truly Didn’t Deserve It
“I live in Kolkata where there is a very famous sweet shop called Balaram Mullick and Radharaman Mullick. One day my mom and I were shopping at Acropolis Mall and decided to visit the shop which is only a few steps away.
We had already ordered some and were pondering what else to get when this woman walked in. The woman was in her 60s at least.
Now there was this guy, a member of the staff, who was serving us. He asked if we wanted anything more, and I remembered grandma loves the ‘Aam doi’ (mango curd) they sell. So I asked him to pack two of those.
Suddenly this woman, who had been standing there for about a minute, jumped onto the staff guy who was serving us and said, ‘Give me this,’ pointing to a sweet.
The staff guy, looked at us and informed the woman he was already serving us and couldn’t cut to her suddenly. But she was insistent and said that she has a car waiting. She said ‘ arey Eder pore Debe aage amake dao’ (Serve them later first give me what I’m asking’.)
The staff guy looked at us, probably wondering what he should do. So I cut in, telling her nicely we were there first and we were in a hurry as well. It was the truth.
I didn’t elaborate at that time, but I told her clearly she’d have to wait and I wasn’t going to let her go first. It would’ve turned ugly, but at that time another staff guy became free and attended her. She gave away her orders as if they owed her something , adding frequently, ‘ Bhalo kore diyo’ ( take care of the food) and ‘onek important’ ( it’s very important).
Anyway, we were getting our stuff, when I noticed our Mango Curd wasn’t there. So I asked the server, he said he had forgotten about it in all that conundrum. I told him it’s okay and he went to get it for us.
At this time, a very loud guy entered the store. He was already talking very loudly to his mom, asking why she was getting so late and saying she should’ve paid them to serve her first. His mom of course was the old snobby lady. At this point, everybody in the shop had stopped to stare at him. He went to his mom and saw what she has ordered and said, ‘Take the special stuff, these are all worthless. You should get the special stuff.’
So he asked the guy who was serving them what was the ‘special stuff’ available. The server told him about some things, including the mango curd. The guy said he wanted some stuff including the mango curd. But then, seeing our server packing up the curd, their server went back on it and told the guy they were out of mango curd.
To this, he said he had just seen there was some. But the server told him (pointing at us) we already had taken it.
I was listening to all this (it was hard not to, he was so loud), but my mom had already gotten all her sweets, so we paid for it and started picking up the packets. Right then, the guy walked up to us and picked up our mango curd packet and started walking away.
I called out and said, ‘That’s ours,’ and he said, it wasn’t.
After some argument and questioning our server, it became clear the packet was ours and we had already paid for it. So the guy fished out some money and said ‘ onek beshi ache.’ ( there’s lot more here). Basically, he wanted to buy some cheap (I don’t remember the price) stuff from us for a lot of money. I told him it’s not for sale and that I wanted my packet back.
After some argument, we finally got the packet and left. Outside the store, we were waiting for our cab, when this guy walked out with a huge number of packets. He was talking in the same loud manner with his mom, glancing backward. Their car was apparently on the opposite side of the road. He started to get off the pavement, when he stumbled on a small stone chip, and fell. The packet went flying from his hand and onto the road. It’s a busy road, so immediately it was trampled.
I just stood there and gaped, saying to myself, that the man deserved it.”
She Embarrassed Herself
“While visiting some relatives, we decided to visit a mall for some urgent shopping.
When we reached our destination, my kid wanted to use the washroom. My husband accompanied him to the restroom while I ventured ahead towards the food court. As I stood gazing at nothing in particular, I heard someone scream loudly.
I turned towards the noise and saw a lady heap filthy abuses on a poor young lad. For a moment, nothing made sense. The lady kept yelling at him, gesticulating wildly, while the poor boy kept wilting at the verbal onslaught. I couldn’t understand the matter due to the language barrier.
She ranted a bit more, turned around, and immediately collided with a trash bin. The trays atop the bin upturned and the lady’s legs and skirt faced a barrage of tissues and other leftovers. The onlookers started laughing while she struggled to brush off her legs. She threw a dirty look around, muttered some more, and stormed off.
I couldn’t contain myself and asked a staff about the matter. He told me the lady was lambasting the guy for walking close to her while entering the seating area. When I asked if she was being harassed by the boy, I was told it was nothing of that sort.
The guy was clad in very simple clothes and was accompanied by an old woman, presumably his mother. The lady who was screaming felt the poor-looking duo did not belong there and they should maintain a proper distance as they ‘smelled’ and she found them filthy.
The mother and son seemed to come from a modest background but that did not mean that they were filthy! The poor chap had brought his mum for lunch and was degraded just because an elitist dame thought they didn’t belong!
No one should be disrespected in such a manner. Just because life has placed us on different rungs in the social set-up doesn’t give anyone the right to degrade others. And that too without cause!
The lady forgot this basic principle of life.
‘What goes around, comes around.’ Karma decided to intervene and her own dirty attire and legs were the perfect example of payback!”
He Had That Coming
“The first time was when the guy I was very casually dating in college kissed another girl in front of me. He got in trouble that night. The club we had been at was an hour away from where we went to school. He was pulled over a mile away from his apartment for going a few miles over the speed limit (an amount cops usually will not bother to pull anyone over for). And he only got in trouble because he was under 21. He wasn’t hammered but had consumed a drink or two earlier. The irony is he’d made the drive multiple times under similar circumstances with no issue, until that night.
This guy I worked for after college refused to pay me for my final week. He had told me prior he had a warrant out for his arrest due to a lot of speeding tickets. Right after he refused to pay me (I was an independent contractor, so no real recourse), I received a call from someone I knew who happened to work at the local police department. She could tell I was upset, made me tell her about it, and got really excited when I mentioned the warrant and speeding tickets. She got some info from me and within a week or two, the dude was arrested. He was taken two hours away to deal with the tickets. All the fees involved with his arrest were far more than what he owed me.
On my last day at a job that was so terrible, it was making me physically ill, my boss (and the main reason I quit that job despite not having another one lined up) was being extra horrible from the moment I got there. (FYI, I had worked longer than my two weeks notice as a favor while she scrambled to find a replacement for me). I almost told her to go get bent and was going to leave when she started in on me, but something made me bite my tongue and stay. I’m so glad I did. That afternoon, she gets an urgent call from her girlfriend…a tree had fallen on their house (no one was hurt). I knew then I stayed just so I could witness that near-instant karma in action. (The words ‘what goes around, comes around, so she’ll get hers’ were used by multiple co-workers when discussing her behavior when I arrived at work that day. It really was glorious for us all to have seen karma at work like that to someone who truly deserved it).”
She Should Have Been On Her Best Behavior
“A bit over a year ago, I went on a spiritual/mysticism specialist tour of Egypt. Unfortunately, we had a lady on the tour who was a bit of a nightmare, constantly rude to people, quite a narcissist always wanting to seem the most knowledgeable spiritual superior, etc (a definite NPD candidate). Because it was a small group specialty tour, it was difficult to get away from her. Of course, the whole time she saw herself as the victim and it was a case of everyone being mean to her.
One of the features of this tour was special/private access to a ‘living’ statue of the goddess Sekhmet, in the Karnak complex. A living statue is one that the ancient Egyptian priests and priestesses are supposed to have imbued with special energy and power (this statue is the only one known still in Egypt). One of the things the goddess Sekhmet was about is as an enforcer of the sacred laws (mostly about how to behave and treat people with respect), she is supposed to punish bad deeds. Pestilence and other similar calamities are the typical punishments.
When we had our private access this woman was in a mood and at the end of her turn with the statue, she had to be asked to leave (despite strict instructions we had to stick to our allocated time to be fair so we all had the same amount of time). She pitched a fit having a toddler tantrum saying ‘I don’t want to finish,’ etc and shoved our tour guide, right in front of the statue! We had also been warned to behave around the statue (and indeed for the entire tour), because of the likelihood of more severe and immediate Karma.
Anyway, a few days later we were back in Cairo, this woman got a call from her sister who is a real estate agent trying to sell her house. The sister had gone to this woman’s home to open it up for viewing, and she had had a sudden rat infestation! The property and furniture were chewed and scratched all over, with rat feces and urine all over the place.”
She Tried To Warn Him
“On a girl’s trip to San Francisco, my friends and I decided to head down to the coastline near the bridge. We sat down on some steps and next to us was this guy. You know the type, narcissist, loud-mouthed, cussing up a storm, trying to make sure everyone can hear him.
I honestly should have just let him do his thing, but as I watched the seagull next to me anxiously watching him wave his sandwich in the air, I felt I needed to tell him he was being stalked. I am a nice person, so when he snapped at me and told me to mind my own business, I decided I would let Karma do its thing.
No reason to get mad, as I knew what was coming. Not even 10 seconds after I warned him, the seagull lunged at him, and in a flight of glory flew off with his sandwich.
All I could do was look at him, smile, and say ‘Karma.’
It was beautiful.”
Happy Not-So-Holidays
“It was during the holiday season, and you know how parking at the mall is during that time. I was driving around looking for parking and finally, spotted a shopper going to their car. Success! I signaled and waited as the shopper put their bags away and started their car.
As they pulled out, it was in a direction that prevented me from going in immediately after, and as I was blocked, another car started to turn towards the spot. I honked and made eye contact with the driver, but he kept going. I was so frustrated that I honked again, and that’s when it happened.
Instant karma…
He crashed the side of his car into the pillar as he was stealing my parking space. As petty as it sounds, I felt vindicated because I was looking for over 20 minutes with my little brother and grandma in the car. It took me another 10-15 minutes to find a space.
Personally, I would never do that. I have a friend who got her spot stolen similarly in a college parking lot and she ended up keying that woman’s car. You never know what sort of crazy person is in the other car.”