October 2, 2025 • 56 mins
Dive into yesterday's most explosive Reddit confessions from AITA and kindred drama dens, where boundaries clash and betrayals unfold. We dissect six heart-wrenching tales: a lifelong friend's relentless push for surrogacy, a shocking family affair revelation via update, a grief-fueled blind date walkout amid predatory vibes, a long-simmering divorce drop pre-graduation, a survivor's painful friend cutoff over an assaulter, and a windfall-fueled marital meltdown—packed with raw reads, host reflections, and crowd wisdom to unpack the chaos.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Back, everyone to another episode of Reddit Drama Readings, where
(00:03):
we dive deep into the wild world of interpersonal conflicts
from subreddits like am I the bleep Whole and other
spots full of family feuds, relationship roller coasters, and those
moments that make you wonder who really dropped the ball.
I'm your host, and today we're focusing on some of
the top stories from yesterday, October first, twenty twenty five.
(00:24):
These posts had folks buzzing with thousands of up votes
and comments pouring in from all sides. We've pulled six
standout ones that capture the essence of why people turn
to these communities for a reality check. We'll read each
story straight from the original poster. Then I'll chime in
with a bit of commentary on what jumps out at
me and touch on how the community weighed in. If
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you're new here, grab a snack, settle in, and remember
these are real people's lives we're peeking into. No judgments
from me, just honest reflections. Let's jump right in with
the first one, which racked up over eight thousand up
votes for its bold stand on personal boundaries in a
long term friendship. Our first story is titled am I
(01:08):
the bleep whole for telling my best friend I will
never give birth to his child. Here's what the original
poster had to say. I have known this friend, let's
call him Jared thirty mail since we were in school.
We did everything together and were inseparable. I was even
the first person he came out to, and we have
always supported each other. When we were fifteen, he told
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me for the first time that he wanted me to
give birth to his child with his future husband, because he,
being a man, could never get pregnant. At the time,
I told him no because I had recently watched a
series where a woman gave birth to the triplets of
her brother and became depressed afterward. I have always been
a sensitive person and suffer from anxiety and depression because
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of childhood trauma, so even at that age, I was
aware that I could not go through something like that.
But he got mad and did not talk to me
for two days. Then we went back to talking normally,
but every now and then he would bring the topic
up again, getting angry every time I told him I
would never do that for anyone, even if he paid me.
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I explained to him a thousand times but he did
not seem to understand until eventually he stopped mentioning it,
and I thought he had finally matured and understood me.
But this year his boyfriend proposed to him, and during
a dinner with friends, he asked me again. They said
they would pay me well and that if I needed therapy,
they would cover those expenses too, But I got angry
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and told him that I would never give birth to
his child and that I did not understand why he
keeps insisting that if he was so willing to compensate
me well financially, he should save that money and pay
a woman willing to do it. But as always, he
got mad at me and left the restaurant with his
boyfriend following him. Most of my friends women, to be
more precise, are on my side and agree that it
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is uncomfortable that he keeps insisting, while other friends from
the community think I am overreacting and that it would
be a nice thing to do. Most of my friends
are on my side, but they think we should meet
to talk about this more calmly. But what bothers me
the most is that he is being like this for years,
and I always have to seek him out or wait
for him to approach me again. I appreciate him a
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lot because we have been friends for so long fifteen years,
but I am tired of this pointless argument and him
getting mad at me for deciding about my body. He
always says he wants me to give birth to his
child because I am the person he trusts most in
the world. But I really do not want to do it,
but at the same time, I do not want to
lose him. Reddit dot com. Wow, this one hits hard
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because it is all about that unbreakable line of bodily
autonomy and how even the closest friendships can test it
over time fifteen years of history from school days to
coming out support, and yet this request keeps resurfacing like
a bad echo, ignoring her clear and her mental health struggles.
It is not just the ask, it is the persistence,
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the anger when she stands firm, turning what should be
a safe space into a pressure cooker. And that dinner
proposal moment boof after an engagement celebration that is like
dropping a bomb on the cake. I feel for her
torn heart. Loyalty runs deep, but so does self preservation.
In my commentary, this screams for a friendship reset or
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even a break, because true friends respect your limits without
needing a thousand explanations. Maybe a mediated talk could help
unpack why he clings so hard, but she owes him
nothing beyond her honesty. The community's response overwhelmingly not the
bleep whole, with top comments calling his behavior creepy and manipulative,
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urging her to protect her peace and maybe end the cycle.
One stand out with nearly nine thousand up votes, compared
it to a straight guy repeatedly pressuring a woman spot
on for highlighting the Didace discomfort. Folks shared stories of
similar boundary pushes, and the verdict was clear, her body,
her choice, full stop. If you are listening and have
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faced friend group expectations like this, no, it is okay
to prioritize you, all right, Let's ease into our second story.
An update that escalated family betrayal to nuclear levels, pulling
in over three thousand up votes for its raw shock value.
This one's titled am I the bleephole? For confronting my
sister about cheating with my husband? Based on what our
(05:32):
mom told me? Update straight from the poster, My life
is completely upended. It has been over twenty four hours
since I confronted my younger sister Emma about cheating with
my husband. I was one thousand percent sure my husband
was cheating with her based on what our mother told
me yesterday. It turns out I was wrong. My husband
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did not come home last night. I know he read
my text messages because they are marked. He ignores all
of my calls, though I had no idea where he was.
I got about two hours of sleep last night, and
that was only because I was utterly exhausted. I woke
up to my older sister Ray calling, I answered it.
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Ray lives in a cul de sac at the end
of our parents street, about five houses down. Ray is
also a stay at home mom. Ray started by apologizing
over and over again, which just made me nervous, and
when I pressed her, she said she was sorry for
not telling me when she knew for certain that my
husband was cheating with our mother. I will admit I
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barely can remember what was said because of the shock,
but I am trying my best to write it to
remember it for the future. Ray said that this has
been going on for a few months, so that would
be before me and him were actually married. She says
that Emma would leave to go to night classes or
hang out with friends, and about twenty minutes later, my
husband would pull up to our parents house. He would
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stay there for an hour or two and then leave
before Emma got back. Ray said this happened multiple nights
a week now, whenever Emma and our dad were gone.
Our dad works long shifts at night, he would have
no idea. We know Mom probably has location tracking for Emma,
which is how they knew where she was. We do
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not know if Emma took that off yet. Emma obviously
is not happy with me, so I cannot ask her.
The most damning thing is that Mom went out last
night and did not return until the morning before Dad
got home from work. Ray texted her asking if everything
was okay, and Mom said that a friend of hers
was sick and needed comforting. Emma also did not come
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home last night, but that is probably because she is
pissed and hurt and needed to be around friends. I
will apologize to her, but I cannot without telling her
what is going on. Ray keeps apologizing, saying that she
just did not want to get involved and it was
not her business. She also called me a bleephole for
confronting Emma and says that by doing that, I am
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tearing the family apart. She has forbidden me from telling Dad,
saying she will never forgive me. I feel like Dad
has the right to know. I know how it feels
to have someone do this to you and to have
the information withheld. I am not going to say anything
until I have concrete evidence because I learned my lesson.
But would I be the bleep whole if I told
(08:25):
my Dad and Emma what is happening? Update. I have
had nothing but time to think. I have been alone
in my house, reading comments, figuring out how I am
going to do everything. I am overwhelmed, and I am
fatigued inside out, and am too tired to freak out
any more. My soon to be ex husband called me.
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He sounded like he had been on a bender and
was hung over, slurring his words repeating things. He said
he is sorry, that he is a piece of garbage,
that he loves me, that he is on his way home.
He turned on his location and did a check in,
so I know he is on the highway headed towards
my house, but I do not know where he was.
(09:07):
Our mother has been unusually silent Ray apologized again over text.
I do not care anymore. I have not talked to
my dad or Emma. I am not going to until
I have something concrete. I do not want to be
that person again. Addressing some comments, Ray does use our
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mother for child care, could be a reason why she
does not want to rock the boat. Probably the reason. Actually,
this is not the first time our mother has cheated
on our dad. I remember back when I was around
eleven they separated for a while. It was very traumatic
for all of us Reddit dot com. This update is
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like peeling back layers of a family onion, each one
bringing more tears and twists, from accusing the wrong sister
to uncovering the mom's affair with the husband, the exhaust
in her words, the sleepless night, the slurred apology call.
It paints a picture of total devastation where trust shatters
across generations and raise silence for months tied to child
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care convenience. That adds a selfish sting to the secrecy.
I get her vow for concrete proof, this time rushing
and once burned her bad commentary. For me, this is
a masterclass in how family secrets fester, turning homes into minefields.
She is right to prioritize evidence before looping in dad,
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protecting him from half truths, but holding space for her
own healing first is key too. Therapy, a lawyer, a
support network outside the family web all must haves here
the community firmly not the bleep whole, with hundreds rallying
behind her right to truth and applauding the updates. Clarity
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top comments urged documenting everything for divorce and custody if
kids are involved, while slamming raised deflection one with high
up votes stressed breaking the trauma cycle she mentioned from
age eleven heart breaking, but her resolve shines through deep
breath listeners. Next up a grief stricken blind date disaster
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that nabbed over three thousand up votes for its righteous
rage title. For number three, Am I the bleep whole
for walking out on a blind date my friends set
up two weeks after my husband died. The post goes,
I just really need some clarity on this situation. I
twenty three female, lost my husband, twenty five male, two
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weeks ago to a car accident. He was the love
of my life and I am still not used to
waking up without him every day. We have big plans
for our future, and it all came crashing down in
a heart beat. We met on his uncle's farm. He
was a farm hand and it was love at first
sight for me. I am also four months pregnant, but
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I have not told any one. I was planning on
telling my friend when I was feeling better. My best
friend Lee twenty four female, has been my shoulder to
cry on during this time. She helped me with his
funeral and anything else I needed as I am no
contact with my bio family story for another time. She
is currently dating Berry twenty four male. They usually hang
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out in a trio with Liam twenty four male. When
I first met Liam, he hit on me hard, tried
everything as and would try and compare himself with my husband,
say weird things like our kids would be cuter than
if you had kids with my husband. He has also
made weird comments like I need a city boy and
would motion himself when I am a country girl. Through
and through. I typically would shut him down or ignore him,
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but I would always get dirty looks from Barry. Skip
to Sunday night, I got a message from Lee begging
me to come to dinner with her because she wanted
to treat me as I had been through a lot
in the last couple of weeks. Feeling not so bad
about myself, I decided to go. When I arrived, she
was not there, so I texted her asking how long
she would be, and she told me five minutes. She
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is just running late and is around the corner. So
I sat down and ordered a drink. Now five minutes
comes and she is still not there. So I gave
her the benefit of the doubt and waited another five
When I am about to call her, Liam comes rushing
over and gives his apologies for being late. I asked
him what he is doing here because I am waiting
for Lee and it was a two chair table. He
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smiles at me and grabs my hand. I ripped it
off of him, and he just says, oh, I asked
Lee to set us up. Now that husband's name is
not a problem, we can finally get to know each other.
He looked so cringey, and I am telling you I
was floored. I stood up and told him that I
was not interested, and I certainly do not give a
flying whatever about getting to know him, and that I
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just lost my husband without a word of a lie.
This man stands up and said, I know you are
being overly emotional right now, so I will forgive you
for that sit down with me. I am not saying
we have to have relations straight away or anything. I
was disgusted. I shoved past him and went home as
fast as I could. When I did get Homely messaged
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me so how was dinner with a smirk emoji. I
called her and when she answered, I did not let
her get a word in. I yelled at her, asked
her how she has the audacity to do something like
this two weeks after I just lost my husband, when
she has been the one to hold me together this
whole time. I asked her what game was she playing,
and that the only reason I wanted to meet tonight
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with her was to tell her I am pregnant. I
just hung up on her and texted her I need
time and do not want to be contacted by her
for the time being. Last night, Barry came to my
house and asked to talk. I said no, and that
if he did not leave, I would call the police.
He told me that I broke Lee's heart and that
I deeply hurt Liam. When now is an even better
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time to get to know Liam, because he could raise
my child with me. I opened my door, which Barry
took because I wanted to talk. Instead, I hit him
with my shoes and chased him to his car, screaming,
I am actually embarrassed I did that. All day to day,
I am being flooded with messages from friends and the
Trio themselves shaming me for pushing the people who care
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about me the most away, and that they do not
even recognize the person I have become. The Only thing
that hurts me most is that my husband would know
what to do, he would tell me how to fix it,
and now I have no one who I can talk to.
I am just so numb inside. I have a therapy
appointment tomorrow, but I am thinking of calling my husband's mom,
even though we have barely spoken since Reddit dot com. Oh.
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This post is a gut punch of fresh grief mixed
with betrayal, where vulnerability meets outright opportunism. Liam's line about
the husband not being a problem chilling like he has
been circling like a vulture, and Lee the supposed rock
pulling this set up just weeks after the funeral, with
a pregnancy bombshell waiting that is not friendship, that his
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exploitation wrapped in a dinner invite the shoe chasing scene.
I chuckled through the empathy because sometimes fury needs an outlet,
her numbness at the end, missing her husband's guidance, that
raw ache lingers My take. Boundaries in grief are sacred
and walking out with self defense not drama. Reaching for
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his mam or therapy is smart. Rebuilding supports start small.
The redded hive mind unanimously not the bleep whole. With
over a thousand comments flooding in solidarity, top ones roasting
the trio's entitlement and praising her for the hang up
and chase, many shared grief stories burging no contact enforcement
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and pregnancy privacy until trust rebuilds. One viral comment called
it a red flag parade. Could not agree more. If
grief has you questioning allies, this is your reminder real
one's weight. They do not pounce, Shifting gears to story
number four, a divorce bombshell timed poorly that sparked over
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seven thousand up votes and heated debates on empathy versus
self preservation. The title here am I the bleep whole
for telling my cheating wife a day before our daughter's
graduation that I would be divorcing her. From the original post,
my wife and I have been married for twenty years
and we have a daughter who is eighteen. She graduated
high school a few months ago. Around six years ago,
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I found out that my wife was cheating on me
and having an affair, which lasted for a couple of months.
I really wanted to divorce, but my wife was really remorseful.
She quit her job, she started going to therapy, she
promised all reconciliation steps I asked for. Ultimately, I did
decide to stay with my wife for her sake and
(17:50):
for our family's sake too. For around five years, everything
was actually going great, and we had date nights, romantic vacations,
and we really loved each other. However, on the sixth year,
the whole thing resurfaced back on my mind and I
just could not get my mind off it. I finally
made my decision after a particular line for my sister
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struck a chord with me. She said, would you really
want to use the gift of life and spend it
with some one who had betrayed you? So badly. She
told me this a couple of days before my daughter's graduation,
and that is when I finally decided I could not
do it any more. A day before my daughter's graduation,
I informed my wife of my decision and told her
that I would be filing for divorce soon. My wife
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was shocked and she cried a lot and told me
she would do anything, but I told her that my
decision was final. My daughter's graduation in itself was great
and I was really proud of my daughter, and my
wife seemed happy too. But my daughter could sense something
was wrong and asked me why her mom seemed down
in trying to fake a smile. I told her not
(18:56):
to worry about it and to just enjoy the day.
The next day, however, I told my daughter I would
be filing for divorce, and my daughter seemed shocked. She said,
how could I do this to her mom before graduation
and that is why her mom could not enjoy the graduation.
I told her it is none of her business, but
we will both always love her regardless. My wife and
(19:18):
I are now going through divorce proceedings. Am I the
bleep whole Reddit dot com. Timing is everything and This
one lands like a poorly aimed arrow right in the
heart of a milestone, wounding more than intended. Six years
of rebuilding only for the betrayals goes to haunt him.
Anew sparked by a sister's wise words. Staying for family
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is noble, but snapping the thread pregraduation. It cast a
shadow on what should have been pure joy, and dismissing
the daughter's concern as none of her business that stings
extra commentary wise, his pain is valid. Infidelity scars deep,
but a few more days of holding steady could have
preserved her big day without erasing his resolve. It is
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a tough balance between honoring your healing and shielding the
kids from fallout. Reddits take mostly bleephole for the timing,
with thousands echoing that six years waited, why not two
more days? Top comments balanced empathy for the divorce with
calls for better kid communication, one with over eight thousand
up votes, labeling its selfish empathy lack still a chunk
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defended the finality. Stories like this nudge us toward kinder
exits when possible. Onward to number five, a vulnerability betrayal
in friendship that, though lower up votes resonates with trust's fragility,
titled would I be the bleephole for cutting off my
best friend of eight years, for whom she was chatting
to online? The details obligatory apology for any spelling errors
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or bad formatting. I am on mobile. I twenty one,
non binary, was assaulted by a mutual friend B when
I was eighteen, after a night out with him and
my best friend E. This took a while for me
to come to terms with, and somehow E never found out,
although our other mutual friends all knew. Last October, I
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made a joke referencing the assault whilst with E, and
she later came to me and apologized and told me
that she had not realized that BE had assaulted me,
and she had been speaking to him with the hopes
of dating. She apologized profusely, and I reassured her that
I still loved her, and although she made some cryptic
comments of not being sure what to do, this did
not raise any red flags, as I trusted her completely.
(21:36):
A few weeks ago, E and I were watching tik
toks and I saw that B's profile was at the
top of her most talked to accounts. She noticed too,
and when I asked to send me something we saw
to double check. She tried to avoid doing this and
to distract me. I asked her straight up y B
was at the top. At first, she told me that
he had sent her a few things and she had
(21:57):
not responded, but I kept pressing as that would not
explain why his account was the first one up when sharing.
She finally caved and told me that she had still
been talking to him since our last conversation about him,
although she had not met him in person since she
found out he assaulted me. She told me that she
felt really guilty about it and knew it was not right.
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She also told me that she had asked me about
what happened, and he told her that he had definitely
checked for consent, as this was a worry for him
due to a previous court case from when he was
seventeen and dating a thirteen year old. I told the
further details about that night that demonstrated that I did
not give consent and was unable to do to heavy
intoxication or potential spiking. He told me that she was
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still unsure whether she would stop talking with B, as
he has been nothing but lovely with her. He had
also been really good with her eleven month old baby,
and she had been really lonely since she dropped out
of university and moved home with her parents due to
her pregnancy. I was in shock when I left her
house and had told her that I loved her and
would see her soon. We had to get together with
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friends that weekend. After a few days of thinking, I
sent her the following text, Hi, E, I am struggling
to process that you are still talking to be and
I think the best thing at the moment is that
I have some time. I love you, However, right now
I am hurt by the decisions you have made, and
I want to have a rational mindset when I next
see you. For my own sake, I am requesting that
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we leave this weekend and consider doing it another time.
I really hope that you understand that this is the
best thing for our friendship right now and respect my emotions.
Love you, E responded, OK, sweetheart, I understand. Take as
long as you need to. I am guessing you are
all still going to hang out. Do you want me
(23:43):
to drop the trifle I made off for you all,
which I did not respond to. I am struggling with
what to do. I feel betrayed and hurt and sick
every time I think about it. If it was any
one else, I would have immediately gone scorched earth. But
I have spent the last eight years love and trusting her,
and she does not have any friends other than myself
(24:03):
that she regularly sees. I do not know if I
can trust her again, But I am also worried about
her being vulnerable. So would I be the bleep whole
if I cut off our relationship? Reddit dot com betrayal
after assault revelation. This is the kind of quiet horror
that erodes from the inside, where her loneliness and his
(24:23):
charm do not excuse prioritizing a predator over a survivor's pain.
Eight years of trust, only for tik Tok to expose
the crack and her waffling post details that is the
gut twist. Her text was grace under fire, buying time
without explosion. I admire her compassion for ease isolation, but
(24:44):
protecting her own trauma comes first. Friendships should not be
a guilt trap commentary. A salt recovery is nonlinear, and
cutting ties might be the healthiest severance, especially with a
baby's innocence in the mix, suggest resources for ease loone
iness separately, but draw that line firm the community's verdict,
(25:05):
not the bleep whole, with comments affirming her right to
distance and calling ease choice a character reveal top ones
urged scorched earth if needed, emphasizing vulnerability does not override accountability,
relatable for any one weighing loyalty against safety. Finally, our
sixth story, a money Windfall Transformation Gone Toxic, amassing over
(25:28):
seven thousand up votes for its cautionary tale on sudden wealth,
titled am I the bleephole for leaving my husband after
he won a large sum of money The post frow
away for privacy. My thirty two female husband thirty six
male was in a work accident several years ago, and
he won a court case in which he was awarded
(25:49):
a sum in the multimillions. My husband and I live
in the United States and have been struggling for years,
especially since his accident, since he has not been able
to work a job in his specialty. Since he has
mainly been working minimum to low wage jobs because his
degree and trade experience are in an industry his body
can no longer work in I make pretty good money,
(26:10):
but again, we live in the economical health cape that
is America. In the last year since the settlement, my
husband has become the most smug, stuck up, pretentious man
I have ever known, and I am sick of it.
Our friends and family are not good enough for us
any more because now we have money. Our home and
cars and clothes were not good enough for us, and
(26:30):
anyone with a small house, paid off car ormall clothes
was sad and depressing. He judges people hard, and he
is not quiet about it. He is mean and rude
to the people we interact with. Of course, we got
nicer things when he received his money, but he was
adamant on luxury things, and to him, any one who
does not live in a mansion on the hills where
(26:51):
the Lamborghini and Gucci shoes is embarrassing. He gets upset
with me for not wanting to spend crazy amounts of money.
Why would I buy it two thousand dollars pair of
shoes when I can get a pair just like it
for sixty dollars. It feels like giving a child with
no concept of money twenty dollars and setting them free
in a dollar tree. He has bought me a ton
(27:13):
of expensive clothes and jewelry, new electronics. He pays for
high end SPA days, and even bought me a new car.
I feel like an ungrateful woman for saying this, but
I do not really like the gifts. Nothing is my
style or taste. He is buying it just because it
is expensive. My husband harrises me daily to quit the
(27:34):
job I love and says that I make us look
bad by working and making us still look poor. He
gets upset if I want to go to the same
chain restaurants we have always liked Buffalo Wild Wings, Jack
in the Box, et cetera, instead of five star Michelin
steakhouses and sushi places because we can afford it. Now
he has even gone as far as trying to push
(27:55):
me towards plastic surgery because we can afford it, so
why not. He has suggested a chest enhancement, a body
conjuring procedure, lip filler, and at one point that surgery
where they remove the bottom rib. I feel like he
is starting to think I do not look good enough
for him and our new lifestyle. We have gone to
couple's therapy. His attitude is not improving. It has even
(28:18):
gotten worse, and I am miserable. This is not the
man I married. I do not want to have kids
and raise a family with him, but I am afraid
that if I leave, everyone will cry gold digger. We
married when we were young and broke and did not
consider a prenup because we had nothing. Dumb, I know,
but we were kids, am I the bleep whole Reddit
(28:41):
dot com. Money changes people, but this shift from struggling
partners to judgmental luxury chaser. It is like watching a
fairy tale kurdle into a nightmare where gratitude flips to
entitlement overnight. The gifts missing her taste, the job shaming,
the surgery pushes. They scream contralroll not care eroding the
(29:01):
equality they built broke her fear of gold digger labels
valid in a world quick to judge women, leaving windfalls
my thoughts. Wealth amplifies who you are. His smugness was latent,
now unleashed, leaving honors the partnership they had, not the
one he is forcing lawyer of prenup or not protect
(29:23):
that future family dream Elsewhere, community consensus, not the bleep Whole.
With top comments over five thousand up votes, warning of
his spending spree doom and cheering her exit. Many shared
lot of winner horror tales advising sell the gifts strategies.
One quipped he will be broken ten harsh but prescient.
(29:45):
A wake up on values over vaults. Few what a
roller coaster. From body boundaries to betrayal webs, grief ambushes
to graduation grenades, friend fractures to fortune flips. These October
first picks remind us how low life's curve balls test
our cores. Thanks for tuning in too, Reddit Drama Readings.
If these sparked reflections, drop a comment or share your
(30:08):
own boundary wins. Until next time, cherish your circle, guard
your peace, and remember we are all just scripting this
drama called life. See you soon. Add to chat ten
web pages one point four s. Make another episode on
malicious compliance, this time thought for fifty eighth's Welcome back,
(30:34):
every one to another episode of Reddit drama Readings, where
we dive deep into the wild world of interpersonal conflicts
and clever come uppanceys from subreddits like am I the
Bleep Whole and other spots full of family feuds, relationship
roller coasters, workplace woes, and those satisfying moments of revenge,
served with a side of rule. Following I'm your host
(30:55):
and to day, We're switching things up a bit with
a special edition focused on malicious compliance, the art of
following orders to the letter, but in a way that
turns the tables and highlights just how absurd some rules
can be. We're pulling from the top stories in our
slash Malicious Compliance from yesterday, October first, twenty twenty five.
These posts had folks cheering and chuckling, with thousands of
(31:18):
up votes and comments celebrating the sweet taste of poetic justice.
We've selected seven standout ones that showcase everything from petty
office battles to customer service showdowns. We'll read each story
straight from the original poster, then I'll chime in with
a bit of commentary on what jumps out at me
and touch on how the community weighed in. If you're
(31:39):
new here, grab a snack, settle in, and remember these
are real people's tales of turning the screws. No judgments
from me, just honest reflections on the power of precision.
Let's jump right in with the first one, which racked
up over four thousand up votes for its spot on
takedown of a misguided sick day policy. Our first story
(31:59):
is tiled new sick day policy, No problem. Here's what
the original poster had to say. So, my company just
rolled out this new policy where you no longer get
paid for six days unless you bring in a doctor's note.
They said it was to cut down on abuse and
save money. Fine whatever. I get a cold every couple
(32:20):
of months, no big deal, But I work in a
warehouse and showing up sniffling isn't exactly safe or productive.
The first time I call in, my boss grumbles about
the new rule and tells me to get that note
or no pay. So I do. I drag myself to
urgent Care, pay the twenty five dollars copey, get the
note saying I have a viral upper respiratory infection, and
(32:43):
email it over. Back to work the next day. Paid.
But here's the fun part. This happens again two weeks later,
same cold lingering. Because warehouse does doesn't help. Boss size
reminds me of the policy. Off I go to the
doctor again, another note, another cope. Now the company starts
(33:05):
noticing a spike in doctor visits across the board. Turns
out half the team is doing the same. HR sends
out a memo saying notes are required, but try to
minimize visits. My boss pulls me aside and says, quote,
just tough it out next time. End quote. Oh really,
So the next time I feel off, not full sick,
(33:27):
just a headache from the overtime, I go in, but
by lunch I'm queasy. I tell him I'm leaving early.
He says no note, no partial pay Boom urgent care
trip number three in a month, note in hand paid
for the half day. Word spreads, and suddenly everyone scheduling
doctor appointments for everything a sore back from lifting, allergies,
(33:50):
acting up, even preventive checkups, time to sick days. The
company shelling out for all these copas indirectly because we're
all covered under their insurance plan, and the admin time
for processing notes triples. Last week, they quietly rolled back
the policy to the old unlimited paid sick days with
no notes needed. Boss called a meeting to announce it,
(34:12):
looking like he'd swallowed a lemon. I raised my hand
and asked if we could get reimbursed for those copets.
He said he'd look into it. Yeah. Right. Moral of
the story if you want to micromanage our health, will
make you pay for it. Literally. Reddit dot com. Oh,
(34:32):
this one had me grinning from ear to ear because
it's the perfect example of how a blanket rule meant
to control kin boomerang right back at the rule maker.
Imagine thinking you can police sniffles in a dusty warehouse
and not expect a parade of paperwork in return. The
poster's calm escalation from one note to a t wide
doctor dash shows that collective compliance can topple even the
(34:54):
sturdiest policy tower, and that HR memo classic backpeddling, trying
to soften the blow without admitting defeat. In my commentary,
I'd say this highlights why trust in employees beat surveillance
every time. When you treat folks like potential frauds, they
might just play along until it hurts your wallet. The
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community's response pure delight, with over four thousand up votes
and comments flooding in with similar tales. One top comment
with nine hundred up votes, shared how their call center
started requiring psyche vows for stressed days, only to have
every one book therapy sessions on company time. Folks praised
the poster's subtle nudge at reimbursement too, calling it chef's
(35:37):
kiss compliance. If you've ever been nicolandymed on sick leave,
this is your vindication. All right, Let's keep the momentum
going with our second story, a lunch breaks saga that
pulled in three thousand, five hundred up votes for its
delicious irony on forced down time. This one's titled new
manager forces me to take lunches, so I do straight
(35:59):
for I'm the poster. I've been at this retail job
for six years, always pulling through lunch to keep the
floor covered because we're perpetually understaffed. It's unspoken you eat
at your station if you can, or scarf something quick
in the back. New manager comes in last month, all corporate,
fresh from headquarters and declares mandatory thirty minute lunches for everyone,
(36:21):
no exceptions to quote promote work life balance and comply
with labor laws. End quote. Sounds great on paper, write,
except our store is small, Peak hours hit hard, and
with only four people on shift, that means one less
body on the floor for half an hour each first
day of the new rule, she schedules me for noon,
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busiest time. I protest lightly, say it'll tank sales, but
she insists policy is policy. So I clock out, sit
in the break room with my sandwich, scrolling my phone
for exactly thirty minutes. Come back and there's a line
out the door. Customer's fuming, my coworker buried under returns.
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Manager notices, pulls me aside. Maybe next time, eat faster. Nope,
I say, you said thirty minutes. She huffs and adjusts
the schedule, so lunches overlap less, but still gaps everywhere.
By week two, sales dip five percent because we're short
staffed during rushes and complaints roll in about wait times.
(37:27):
I keep complying to the tea full thirty, no short cuts,
even bring a book to make it obvious I'm not rushing.
Co Workers catch on, start doing the same. Suddenly the
break rooms are revolving door of enforced relaxation and the
managers scrambling to cover shifts. Herself ringing up groceries in
her pencil skirt. Last Friday, she calls an emergency huddle.
(37:52):
Lunches are now optional to maintain customer service. We all
nod solemnly, and I ask if that means we can
go back to eating at our stations. She says, yes,
defeated victory tastes like a cold cut sub. Now the
store runs smoother than ever, and she's stuck doing inventory
on her own time to make up for the chaos.
(38:13):
She caused Reddit dot com talk about biting off more
than you can chew. This post captures that manager's good
intentions crashing into retail reality, like a shopping cart into
a display, forcing breaks in a skeleton crew. It's like
scheduling nap time during a fire drill. The poster's deadpan
(38:33):
adherents turning a kindness into a bottleneck is compliance at
its cheekiest. I love the image of her in the
pencil skirt at checkout poetic justice served with a side
of passive resistance commentary For me, this one's a reminder
that top down rules without buying just breed resentment and inefficiency.
Involving the team upfront could have avoided the whole mess.
(38:56):
Reddits Hive Mind loving it with three thousand, five hundred
up votes and threads of solidarity from other understaffed warriors.
A top comment with seven hundred up votes recounted a
similar fast food fiasco where mandatory brakes led to drive
through meltdowns ending in policy reversal. Many joked about the
manager's huddle as her white flag. If you've ever been
(39:20):
the one holding the fort's solo, raise a glass or
a sandwich to this win. Up next, a metrics meltdown
that's skyrocketed to five thousand up votes, proving numbers don't lie,
but people sure try title for number three, These are
the new metrics. Okay, everyone is fired, the post goes.
(39:42):
So I work at a large company fortune fifty level
in operations. We've always tracked efficiency by output per shift,
how many units processed, error rates, that sort of thing, solid,
straightforward stuff that's kept us humming for years. Enter the
new VP of Performance, parachuted in from some consulting firm
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who decides our metrics are quote outdated and unmotivating end quote.
He rolls out this genius system, individual scores based on
a point system where you earn points for tasks completed,
but lose double for any delays or handoffs to other departments.
Top scorers get bonuses, bottom ten percent get performance reviews.
(40:25):
Sounds competitive rite, except in ops, everything's interconnected. You can't
assemble without supply, chain, can't ship without quality checks. Delays
are team efforts, not solo fails. Implementation day, he mandates
daily score updates in a shared dashboard. I look at
(40:45):
my first report, negative fifty points because a vendor was
laid on parts, which delayed my line by two hours.
My teammate negative thirty for the same issue. The VP
notices the reds calls a meeting. Quote step up your
game or else end quote. Fine, we think, let's play.
(41:07):
The team huddles and decides from now on, no handoffs.
If supplies late, we don't start assembly. We log it
as a delay on their end and rack up zeros,
but no negatives. Quality flags something we ship anyway, but
note it's their hold up. Suddenly, scores plummet across the
board because nothing moves without perfect alignment, which never happens.
(41:32):
By week two, the VP's dashboard is a sea of
negatives whole departments in the bottom ten. He freaks demands explanations.
We point to the rules. No points for incomplete tasks,
double penalties for delays we didn't cause. He tries tweaking,
says we can estimate points, but we comply literally. Estimates
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aren't in a policy, so we stick to actuals, which
are zilch. Production halts, clients call few curious about backlogs,
emergency all hands, metrics suspended back to old system, and
the vps mysteriously on leave. Turns out his bonus was
tied to improvement scores. We improved all right back to baseline.
(42:17):
Now we have a say in any new metrics, and
the dashboards are relic gathering digital dust Reddit dot com.
This story is a masterclass in how gammifying work can
backfire spectacularly. When the game's rigged against collaboration. That point
system it punished the very teamwork that makes ops tick,
(42:37):
turning colleagues into score hoarders overnight. The teams united front,
no handoffs, no mercy, flipped the script beautifully exposing the
flaws without a word of complaint. My take in big core,
shiny new metrics often ignore the human gears underneath. This
crew reminded everyone that unity trump's division. The community's verdict
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five thousand up votes strong, with comments erupting in cheers.
One with one thousand, two hundred up votes called it
the corporate equivalent of a sit in strike. Shares poured
in from tech and manufacturing folks who'd weaponized similar systems
hilarious and hopeful proof that sometimes the best revenge is
perfect obedience. Taking a quick breeder before number four a
(43:25):
customer curve ball that nabbed two thousand, eight hundred up
votes for its unexpected ally twist titled My new Favorite
Customer The Details. A company overcharged me for some roofing.
Not by a lot, about three hundred dollars, but they did,
and they acknowledged it. When I pointed it out. We
talked back and forth for weeks. They promised a refund
(43:47):
check in the mail. Two weeks pass, nothing. I call,
they say its processing. Another week still zip. Fed up,
I file a charge back with my credit card company,
citing non delivery of refund. Boom approved money back in
my account. Cut to a month later. I'm at home
(44:09):
depot picking up supplies for a side project when this
guy in a company polo, same roofing firm, starts chatting
me up about my cart. Turns out he's their regional manager.
Saw my cart, looked pro level, asked if I was
in construction. I mention the roofing job casually, how it
went great except the refund hassle. His face drops. He
(44:31):
pulls up their system on his phone, sees the charge
back note flagging us as quote difficult customer end quote.
I shrug, say I gave them chances. He apologizes profusely,
offers an on the spot three hundred dollars store credit
plus a free inspection for future work. But wait, it
gets better. He asks for details on the overcharge to
(44:55):
investigate internally. I comply fully receipts, e mails, call logs,
the works. Turns out it was a billing clerk's error,
but the flag made higher ups dismiss complaints. He thanks me,
says my thoroughness helped nail a pattern of sloppy refunds.
Next day I get a call, full refund processed digitally,
(45:17):
plus a fifty dollars gift card, apology and an invite
to their preferred customer list for discounts. Now, every time
I need work, I get the hook up. And the
best part, that clerk got retrained and the company's tightening procedures.
Who knew being the squeaky will would polish the whole machine.
My new favorite customer service rep hands down. This one's
(45:41):
a gem because it flips the script on customer complaints
instead of digging in the manager turns it into a
win win, all sparked by one persistent poster, the charge
back as the catalyst smart move and sharing those docks
sealed the deal. Commentary wise, it shows how now one
voice can spark systemic fixes. Companies ignore patterns at their peril.
(46:05):
Redd It lit up with two thousand, eight hundred up votes.
Top comments sharing chargeback triumphs one with six hundred up votes,
detailed the car repair scam busted the same way. Lots
of advice on documenting everything and jokes about the poster's
cart being the real MVP. If you've battled billing blues,
this'll make you feel seen. On to story number five,
(46:28):
a generosity gone wrong that earned four thousand, two hundred
up votes for its boundary setting brilliance. The title here,
I gave more than required. New manager didn't like this
and made a new rule, so I complied exactly from
the original post. In my role at a nonprofit, part
of my job is processing donations. We aim for quick
(46:49):
thank yous within forty eight hours, but I always went
above and beyond. Personalized notes, small tokens like bookmarks for
big gifts. Follow ups on how funds helped donors loved it.
Repeat rates soared twenty percent on my case load. New
manager starts, sees my extras as quote unbudgeted fluff. End
(47:10):
quote that distracts from core work. She sets a strict
rule exactly one standard e mail template per donation, no
add ons, no follow ups unless over five thousand dollars.
Anything more is unauthorized. Over time, O K, I think
rules are rules. Next big drive. I send the bare
(47:30):
bones emails name, amount, generic, thanks done, no personalization, no extras.
Donors start calling confused. Quote is everything okay, we miss
your notes? End quote. Complaints pile up to the manager.
She panics, sees dip in next cycle's pledges, tries to
(47:52):
walk it back privately, maybe bend the rule a tad.
I say, no, policy's clear, I get dinged for extra.
She updates the handbook publicly allowances for creative touches at discretion,
but by then trusts eroded, key donors switched to competitors.
I keep it minimal as per original rule until the update,
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then ease back in slowly. Manager's reviews now highlight my
quote adherence to standards. End quote, but the numbers speak louder.
Teen whispers she pushed too hard, and she's on thin
ice with the board. Lesson learned, if you clip wings,
don't cry when the bird won't fly. Now, I document
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every deviation, and the rule books got footnotes galore Reddit
dot com. What a text book case of overcorrection, killing
the golden goose. This manager saw flare as waste, not value,
and got schooled by the very results she chased. The
posters pivot to robotic compliance, ice, cold and effective, letting
(48:57):
the silence of standard e mails scream louder than any
art argument. My thoughts. Extras like that build loyalty. Quashing
them invites backlash. Nonprofits thrive on heart, not just hustle
the community. For a thousand, two hundred up votes with
comments roasting the manager's micromanaging. One topper with eight hundred
(49:18):
up votes, analogized it to banning smiles in customer service
shares from teachers and admins who'd minimalized lesson plans to
rule specs only for chaos, empowering stuff boundaries enforced with
a smile. Number six brings us to a paperwork pandemonium
that snagged three thousand up votes, all about turning red
(49:39):
tape into a noose titled you are going to save
money by making it harder to file expense reports. Game
on the details first time posting a story here, so
hopefully I do not break any rules. At my previous employer,
I had to attend a lot of meetings around town
and also go to a few events out of CA.
(50:01):
When I started, they had a pretty flexible policy where
you could accept a monthly allowance of about forty dollars
to cover your mileage, or if you were taking a
lot of trips, you could submit expense reports and get
the standard IRS allowable mileage reimbursement. I hate expense reports,
so most of the time just took the forty dollars
and called it, even despite the possibility that I might
(50:22):
have made a few extra dollars by doing the longer
expense report. New HR manager is hired and she decided
it would save a bunch of money if we cut
out the monthly allowance for the sales team and made
us file for expenses for every trip. Again, since I
hate expense reports, I usually just ate the cost and
only filed for trips where I would receive twenty dollars
(50:42):
or more. New HR lady notices that a lot of
us are just donating the value of trips under twenty
dollars ISSH. So she figures maybe we will start donating
more if the expense report becomes more arduous. Her brilliant
idea require extra documentation, like printing a Google map for
each trip and adding extra details to each report. Mind you,
(51:05):
this means she needed to hire an extra clerk to
manage all this extra paperwork. But then she thought she
would be even more clever and start rejecting our reports
if we did not print a map for getting to
the destination and a separate one for the return trip. Wow, okay,
game on. I started using a very old map website
like map quest, and I would create one for every trip,
(51:27):
even a three mile round trip to one of our
other offices just up the road. I saved a file
for each of the regular visits so I could just
pull them up and print one out. But even better,
I did not just print the page with the map,
but the five or six pages each way that were
filled with advertisements for gas stations, fast food, hotels, et cetera.
(51:49):
By using these, I could submit a report for three
dollars reimbursement in seconds. But it meant printing about ten
to fifteen pages each time, and yes, they ended up
averaging more like sixty dollars a month in reimbursement to
me after that, and they added another part timer to
help sort and file all the paperwork. I would like
(52:10):
to say I outlived this idiot at the company, but
sad to say she is still there and still costing
them tons of money in wasted time and resources, meanwhile
killing the culture and any morale we ever created. But
at least I made her life miserable. My parting gift
was to share my map Quest files with everyone on
the sales team so they could bury her in paperwork
(52:32):
reddit dot com. This post is pique malicious compliance, taking
a tedious process and amplifying it until it chokes on
its own bureaucracy. That map Quest hack, flooding in adriddled
pages for a piddly three dollar trip, genius level pettiness
that pays dividends the HR manager's cost saving scheme, ballooning
(52:54):
into extra hires and printer jams. Chef's kiss commentary. It's
a stark lesson in unintended consequences, complicate reimbursement, and watch
employees optimize for maximum hassle per penny. The team shared
files as Farewell Solidarity at its finest up votes hit
(53:14):
three thousand comments, ablaze with print shop war stories, one
with five hundred up votes, detailed stapling receipts to poster
board for effect, laughter and lessons of plenty. Finally, our
seventh and last, a medical mix up that exploded to
four thousand, five hundred up votes, turning protocol into pandemonium,
(53:35):
titled medical Facility three times widespread panic leading to one
of the worst days in our facilities because I followed
the new policy. The post. I work in a mid
sized clinic as a phlebotomist drawing blood, prepping labs, the usual.
We've always had a chill vibe. If a patience and
no show, we note it quick and move on. No Biggie.
(53:58):
New director from a corporate chain takes over. Obsessed with
compliance audits, rolls out this ironclad policy for every no
show file, a full incident report with patient demographics, attempted,
contact logs, reschedule attempts the works minimum one page per
case submitted same day, says it'll boost our scores for
(54:19):
insurance reimbursements. Cool I think, but with thirty patients a day,
that's a stack of paper. First no show under the rule,
I comply call, once, leave, voicemail, draft the report with
all details, email it up. Director praises thoroughness, but then
its snowballs. Our area gets hit with a storm. Half
(54:42):
the scheduled ghosts. I spend my entire shift on reports
instead of draws. Backlog builds. Patients who show wait hours,
some leave mad. Director notices chaos emails quote prioritize patient
care over paperwork end quote. But the policy says same
day's submission, no exceptions. So I keep filing, even pulling
(55:07):
overtime to catch up. Day two of the storm, more
no shows. Reports multiply. I follow to the letter, detailed
logs for each, including weather notes as extenuating circumstances. By noon,
the systems clogged, lap texts can't process because admints are
drowning in print outs. Phones ring off the hook with
(55:29):
irate patients, Directors in crisis mode calling emergency staff. Worst
A walk in with chest pain gets delayed forty minutes
in the wait for triage because front desk is buried.
No harm, but close call. She calls a halt meeting
policy suspended for weather events. We go back to quick
(55:49):
notes and she quietly shells the full reports for good.
Turns out, the audit prep cost us more in overtime
and lost productivity than any reimbursement gain. Now, policy changes
need pilot tests, and I'm the hero who proved it
the hard way by doing exactly what was asked. This
finale's a hart stopper, blending humor with a dash of
(56:11):
horror at how rigid rules can risk real care. The
poster's dogged documentation during a blizzard, it ground the clinic
to a halt, forcing the wake up
Back, everyone to another episode of Reddit Drama Readings, where
(00:03):
we dive deep into the wild world of interpersonal conflicts
from subreddits like am I the bleep Whole and other
spots full of family feuds, relationship roller coasters, and those
moments that make you wonder who really dropped the ball.
I'm your host, and today we're focusing on some of
the top stories from yesterday, October first, twenty twenty five.
(00:24):
These posts had folks buzzing with thousands of up votes
and comments pouring in from all sides. We've pulled six
standout ones that capture the essence of why people turn
to these communities for a reality check. We'll read each
story straight from the original poster. Then I'll chime in
with a bit of commentary on what jumps out at
me and touch on how the community weighed in. If
(00:46):
you're new here, grab a snack, settle in, and remember
these are real people's lives we're peeking into. No judgments
from me, just honest reflections. Let's jump right in with
the first one, which racked up over eight thousand up
votes for its bold stand on personal boundaries in a
long term friendship. Our first story is titled am I
(01:08):
the bleep whole for telling my best friend I will
never give birth to his child. Here's what the original
poster had to say. I have known this friend, let's
call him Jared thirty mail since we were in school.
We did everything together and were inseparable. I was even
the first person he came out to, and we have
always supported each other. When we were fifteen, he told
(01:30):
me for the first time that he wanted me to
give birth to his child with his future husband, because he,
being a man, could never get pregnant. At the time,
I told him no because I had recently watched a
series where a woman gave birth to the triplets of
her brother and became depressed afterward. I have always been
a sensitive person and suffer from anxiety and depression because
(01:51):
of childhood trauma, so even at that age, I was
aware that I could not go through something like that.
But he got mad and did not talk to me
for two days. Then we went back to talking normally,
but every now and then he would bring the topic
up again, getting angry every time I told him I
would never do that for anyone, even if he paid me.
(02:12):
I explained to him a thousand times but he did
not seem to understand until eventually he stopped mentioning it,
and I thought he had finally matured and understood me.
But this year his boyfriend proposed to him, and during
a dinner with friends, he asked me again. They said
they would pay me well and that if I needed therapy,
they would cover those expenses too, But I got angry
(02:35):
and told him that I would never give birth to
his child and that I did not understand why he
keeps insisting that if he was so willing to compensate
me well financially, he should save that money and pay
a woman willing to do it. But as always, he
got mad at me and left the restaurant with his
boyfriend following him. Most of my friends women, to be
more precise, are on my side and agree that it
(02:58):
is uncomfortable that he keeps insisting, while other friends from
the community think I am overreacting and that it would
be a nice thing to do. Most of my friends
are on my side, but they think we should meet
to talk about this more calmly. But what bothers me
the most is that he is being like this for years,
and I always have to seek him out or wait
for him to approach me again. I appreciate him a
(03:20):
lot because we have been friends for so long fifteen years,
but I am tired of this pointless argument and him
getting mad at me for deciding about my body. He
always says he wants me to give birth to his
child because I am the person he trusts most in
the world. But I really do not want to do it,
but at the same time, I do not want to
lose him. Reddit dot com. Wow, this one hits hard
(03:44):
because it is all about that unbreakable line of bodily
autonomy and how even the closest friendships can test it
over time fifteen years of history from school days to
coming out support, and yet this request keeps resurfacing like
a bad echo, ignoring her clear and her mental health struggles.
It is not just the ask, it is the persistence,
(04:05):
the anger when she stands firm, turning what should be
a safe space into a pressure cooker. And that dinner
proposal moment boof after an engagement celebration that is like
dropping a bomb on the cake. I feel for her
torn heart. Loyalty runs deep, but so does self preservation.
In my commentary, this screams for a friendship reset or
(04:27):
even a break, because true friends respect your limits without
needing a thousand explanations. Maybe a mediated talk could help
unpack why he clings so hard, but she owes him
nothing beyond her honesty. The community's response overwhelmingly not the
bleep whole, with top comments calling his behavior creepy and manipulative,
(04:49):
urging her to protect her peace and maybe end the cycle.
One stand out with nearly nine thousand up votes, compared
it to a straight guy repeatedly pressuring a woman spot
on for highlighting the Didace discomfort. Folks shared stories of
similar boundary pushes, and the verdict was clear, her body,
her choice, full stop. If you are listening and have
(05:10):
faced friend group expectations like this, no, it is okay
to prioritize you, all right, Let's ease into our second story.
An update that escalated family betrayal to nuclear levels, pulling
in over three thousand up votes for its raw shock value.
This one's titled am I the bleephole? For confronting my
sister about cheating with my husband? Based on what our
(05:32):
mom told me? Update straight from the poster, My life
is completely upended. It has been over twenty four hours
since I confronted my younger sister Emma about cheating with
my husband. I was one thousand percent sure my husband
was cheating with her based on what our mother told
me yesterday. It turns out I was wrong. My husband
(05:54):
did not come home last night. I know he read
my text messages because they are marked. He ignores all
of my calls, though I had no idea where he was.
I got about two hours of sleep last night, and
that was only because I was utterly exhausted. I woke
up to my older sister Ray calling, I answered it.
(06:17):
Ray lives in a cul de sac at the end
of our parents street, about five houses down. Ray is
also a stay at home mom. Ray started by apologizing
over and over again, which just made me nervous, and
when I pressed her, she said she was sorry for
not telling me when she knew for certain that my
husband was cheating with our mother. I will admit I
(06:38):
barely can remember what was said because of the shock,
but I am trying my best to write it to
remember it for the future. Ray said that this has
been going on for a few months, so that would
be before me and him were actually married. She says
that Emma would leave to go to night classes or
hang out with friends, and about twenty minutes later, my
husband would pull up to our parents house. He would
(07:00):
stay there for an hour or two and then leave
before Emma got back. Ray said this happened multiple nights
a week now, whenever Emma and our dad were gone.
Our dad works long shifts at night, he would have
no idea. We know Mom probably has location tracking for Emma,
which is how they knew where she was. We do
(07:21):
not know if Emma took that off yet. Emma obviously
is not happy with me, so I cannot ask her.
The most damning thing is that Mom went out last
night and did not return until the morning before Dad
got home from work. Ray texted her asking if everything
was okay, and Mom said that a friend of hers
was sick and needed comforting. Emma also did not come
(07:43):
home last night, but that is probably because she is
pissed and hurt and needed to be around friends. I
will apologize to her, but I cannot without telling her
what is going on. Ray keeps apologizing, saying that she
just did not want to get involved and it was
not her business. She also called me a bleephole for
confronting Emma and says that by doing that, I am
(08:04):
tearing the family apart. She has forbidden me from telling Dad,
saying she will never forgive me. I feel like Dad
has the right to know. I know how it feels
to have someone do this to you and to have
the information withheld. I am not going to say anything
until I have concrete evidence because I learned my lesson.
But would I be the bleep whole if I told
(08:25):
my Dad and Emma what is happening? Update. I have
had nothing but time to think. I have been alone
in my house, reading comments, figuring out how I am
going to do everything. I am overwhelmed, and I am
fatigued inside out, and am too tired to freak out
any more. My soon to be ex husband called me.
(08:46):
He sounded like he had been on a bender and
was hung over, slurring his words repeating things. He said
he is sorry, that he is a piece of garbage,
that he loves me, that he is on his way home.
He turned on his location and did a check in,
so I know he is on the highway headed towards
my house, but I do not know where he was.
(09:07):
Our mother has been unusually silent Ray apologized again over text.
I do not care anymore. I have not talked to
my dad or Emma. I am not going to until
I have something concrete. I do not want to be
that person again. Addressing some comments, Ray does use our
(09:27):
mother for child care, could be a reason why she
does not want to rock the boat. Probably the reason. Actually,
this is not the first time our mother has cheated
on our dad. I remember back when I was around
eleven they separated for a while. It was very traumatic
for all of us Reddit dot com. This update is
(09:50):
like peeling back layers of a family onion, each one
bringing more tears and twists, from accusing the wrong sister
to uncovering the mom's affair with the husband, the exhaust
in her words, the sleepless night, the slurred apology call.
It paints a picture of total devastation where trust shatters
across generations and raise silence for months tied to child
(10:11):
care convenience. That adds a selfish sting to the secrecy.
I get her vow for concrete proof, this time rushing
and once burned her bad commentary. For me, this is
a masterclass in how family secrets fester, turning homes into minefields.
She is right to prioritize evidence before looping in dad,
(10:32):
protecting him from half truths, but holding space for her
own healing first is key too. Therapy, a lawyer, a
support network outside the family web all must haves here
the community firmly not the bleep whole, with hundreds rallying
behind her right to truth and applauding the updates. Clarity
(10:53):
top comments urged documenting everything for divorce and custody if
kids are involved, while slamming raised deflection one with high
up votes stressed breaking the trauma cycle she mentioned from
age eleven heart breaking, but her resolve shines through deep
breath listeners. Next up a grief stricken blind date disaster
(11:14):
that nabbed over three thousand up votes for its righteous
rage title. For number three, Am I the bleep whole
for walking out on a blind date my friends set
up two weeks after my husband died. The post goes,
I just really need some clarity on this situation. I
twenty three female, lost my husband, twenty five male, two
(11:35):
weeks ago to a car accident. He was the love
of my life and I am still not used to
waking up without him every day. We have big plans
for our future, and it all came crashing down in
a heart beat. We met on his uncle's farm. He
was a farm hand and it was love at first
sight for me. I am also four months pregnant, but
(11:56):
I have not told any one. I was planning on
telling my friend when I was feeling better. My best
friend Lee twenty four female, has been my shoulder to
cry on during this time. She helped me with his
funeral and anything else I needed as I am no
contact with my bio family story for another time. She
is currently dating Berry twenty four male. They usually hang
(12:19):
out in a trio with Liam twenty four male. When
I first met Liam, he hit on me hard, tried
everything as and would try and compare himself with my husband,
say weird things like our kids would be cuter than
if you had kids with my husband. He has also
made weird comments like I need a city boy and
would motion himself when I am a country girl. Through
and through. I typically would shut him down or ignore him,
(12:43):
but I would always get dirty looks from Barry. Skip
to Sunday night, I got a message from Lee begging
me to come to dinner with her because she wanted
to treat me as I had been through a lot
in the last couple of weeks. Feeling not so bad
about myself, I decided to go. When I arrived, she
was not there, so I texted her asking how long
she would be, and she told me five minutes. She
(13:06):
is just running late and is around the corner. So
I sat down and ordered a drink. Now five minutes
comes and she is still not there. So I gave
her the benefit of the doubt and waited another five
When I am about to call her, Liam comes rushing
over and gives his apologies for being late. I asked
him what he is doing here because I am waiting
for Lee and it was a two chair table. He
(13:28):
smiles at me and grabs my hand. I ripped it
off of him, and he just says, oh, I asked
Lee to set us up. Now that husband's name is
not a problem, we can finally get to know each other.
He looked so cringey, and I am telling you I
was floored. I stood up and told him that I
was not interested, and I certainly do not give a
flying whatever about getting to know him, and that I
(13:50):
just lost my husband without a word of a lie.
This man stands up and said, I know you are
being overly emotional right now, so I will forgive you
for that sit down with me. I am not saying
we have to have relations straight away or anything. I
was disgusted. I shoved past him and went home as
fast as I could. When I did get Homely messaged
(14:13):
me so how was dinner with a smirk emoji. I
called her and when she answered, I did not let
her get a word in. I yelled at her, asked
her how she has the audacity to do something like
this two weeks after I just lost my husband, when
she has been the one to hold me together this
whole time. I asked her what game was she playing,
and that the only reason I wanted to meet tonight
(14:33):
with her was to tell her I am pregnant. I
just hung up on her and texted her I need
time and do not want to be contacted by her
for the time being. Last night, Barry came to my
house and asked to talk. I said no, and that
if he did not leave, I would call the police.
He told me that I broke Lee's heart and that
I deeply hurt Liam. When now is an even better
(14:54):
time to get to know Liam, because he could raise
my child with me. I opened my door, which Barry
took because I wanted to talk. Instead, I hit him
with my shoes and chased him to his car, screaming,
I am actually embarrassed I did that. All day to day,
I am being flooded with messages from friends and the
Trio themselves shaming me for pushing the people who care
(15:15):
about me the most away, and that they do not
even recognize the person I have become. The Only thing
that hurts me most is that my husband would know
what to do, he would tell me how to fix it,
and now I have no one who I can talk to.
I am just so numb inside. I have a therapy
appointment tomorrow, but I am thinking of calling my husband's mom,
even though we have barely spoken since Reddit dot com. Oh.
(15:41):
This post is a gut punch of fresh grief mixed
with betrayal, where vulnerability meets outright opportunism. Liam's line about
the husband not being a problem chilling like he has
been circling like a vulture, and Lee the supposed rock
pulling this set up just weeks after the funeral, with
a pregnancy bombshell waiting that is not friendship, that his
(16:02):
exploitation wrapped in a dinner invite the shoe chasing scene.
I chuckled through the empathy because sometimes fury needs an outlet,
her numbness at the end, missing her husband's guidance, that
raw ache lingers My take. Boundaries in grief are sacred
and walking out with self defense not drama. Reaching for
(16:25):
his mam or therapy is smart. Rebuilding supports start small.
The redded hive mind unanimously not the bleep whole. With
over a thousand comments flooding in solidarity, top ones roasting
the trio's entitlement and praising her for the hang up
and chase, many shared grief stories burging no contact enforcement
(16:45):
and pregnancy privacy until trust rebuilds. One viral comment called
it a red flag parade. Could not agree more. If
grief has you questioning allies, this is your reminder real
one's weight. They do not pounce, Shifting gears to story
number four, a divorce bombshell timed poorly that sparked over
(17:05):
seven thousand up votes and heated debates on empathy versus
self preservation. The title here am I the bleep whole
for telling my cheating wife a day before our daughter's
graduation that I would be divorcing her. From the original post,
my wife and I have been married for twenty years
and we have a daughter who is eighteen. She graduated
high school a few months ago. Around six years ago,
(17:29):
I found out that my wife was cheating on me
and having an affair, which lasted for a couple of months.
I really wanted to divorce, but my wife was really remorseful.
She quit her job, she started going to therapy, she
promised all reconciliation steps I asked for. Ultimately, I did
decide to stay with my wife for her sake and
(17:50):
for our family's sake too. For around five years, everything
was actually going great, and we had date nights, romantic vacations,
and we really loved each other. However, on the sixth year,
the whole thing resurfaced back on my mind and I
just could not get my mind off it. I finally
made my decision after a particular line for my sister
(18:12):
struck a chord with me. She said, would you really
want to use the gift of life and spend it
with some one who had betrayed you? So badly. She
told me this a couple of days before my daughter's graduation,
and that is when I finally decided I could not
do it any more. A day before my daughter's graduation,
I informed my wife of my decision and told her
that I would be filing for divorce soon. My wife
(18:35):
was shocked and she cried a lot and told me
she would do anything, but I told her that my
decision was final. My daughter's graduation in itself was great
and I was really proud of my daughter, and my
wife seemed happy too. But my daughter could sense something
was wrong and asked me why her mom seemed down
in trying to fake a smile. I told her not
(18:56):
to worry about it and to just enjoy the day.
The next day, however, I told my daughter I would
be filing for divorce, and my daughter seemed shocked. She said,
how could I do this to her mom before graduation
and that is why her mom could not enjoy the graduation.
I told her it is none of her business, but
we will both always love her regardless. My wife and
(19:18):
I are now going through divorce proceedings. Am I the
bleep whole Reddit dot com. Timing is everything and This
one lands like a poorly aimed arrow right in the
heart of a milestone, wounding more than intended. Six years
of rebuilding only for the betrayals goes to haunt him.
Anew sparked by a sister's wise words. Staying for family
(19:42):
is noble, but snapping the thread pregraduation. It cast a
shadow on what should have been pure joy, and dismissing
the daughter's concern as none of her business that stings
extra commentary wise, his pain is valid. Infidelity scars deep,
but a few more days of holding steady could have
preserved her big day without erasing his resolve. It is
(20:04):
a tough balance between honoring your healing and shielding the
kids from fallout. Reddits take mostly bleephole for the timing,
with thousands echoing that six years waited, why not two
more days? Top comments balanced empathy for the divorce with
calls for better kid communication, one with over eight thousand
up votes, labeling its selfish empathy lack still a chunk
(20:28):
defended the finality. Stories like this nudge us toward kinder
exits when possible. Onward to number five, a vulnerability betrayal
in friendship that, though lower up votes resonates with trust's fragility,
titled would I be the bleephole for cutting off my
best friend of eight years, for whom she was chatting
to online? The details obligatory apology for any spelling errors
(20:53):
or bad formatting. I am on mobile. I twenty one,
non binary, was assaulted by a mutual friend B when
I was eighteen, after a night out with him and
my best friend E. This took a while for me
to come to terms with, and somehow E never found out,
although our other mutual friends all knew. Last October, I
(21:14):
made a joke referencing the assault whilst with E, and
she later came to me and apologized and told me
that she had not realized that BE had assaulted me,
and she had been speaking to him with the hopes
of dating. She apologized profusely, and I reassured her that
I still loved her, and although she made some cryptic
comments of not being sure what to do, this did
not raise any red flags, as I trusted her completely.
(21:36):
A few weeks ago, E and I were watching tik
toks and I saw that B's profile was at the
top of her most talked to accounts. She noticed too,
and when I asked to send me something we saw
to double check. She tried to avoid doing this and
to distract me. I asked her straight up y B
was at the top. At first, she told me that
he had sent her a few things and she had
(21:57):
not responded, but I kept pressing as that would not
explain why his account was the first one up when sharing.
She finally caved and told me that she had still
been talking to him since our last conversation about him,
although she had not met him in person since she
found out he assaulted me. She told me that she
felt really guilty about it and knew it was not right.
(22:18):
She also told me that she had asked me about
what happened, and he told her that he had definitely
checked for consent, as this was a worry for him
due to a previous court case from when he was
seventeen and dating a thirteen year old. I told the
further details about that night that demonstrated that I did
not give consent and was unable to do to heavy
intoxication or potential spiking. He told me that she was
(22:39):
still unsure whether she would stop talking with B, as
he has been nothing but lovely with her. He had
also been really good with her eleven month old baby,
and she had been really lonely since she dropped out
of university and moved home with her parents due to
her pregnancy. I was in shock when I left her
house and had told her that I loved her and
would see her soon. We had to get together with
(23:01):
friends that weekend. After a few days of thinking, I
sent her the following text, Hi, E, I am struggling
to process that you are still talking to be and
I think the best thing at the moment is that
I have some time. I love you, However, right now
I am hurt by the decisions you have made, and
I want to have a rational mindset when I next
see you. For my own sake, I am requesting that
(23:23):
we leave this weekend and consider doing it another time.
I really hope that you understand that this is the
best thing for our friendship right now and respect my emotions.
Love you, E responded, OK, sweetheart, I understand. Take as
long as you need to. I am guessing you are
all still going to hang out. Do you want me
(23:43):
to drop the trifle I made off for you all,
which I did not respond to. I am struggling with
what to do. I feel betrayed and hurt and sick
every time I think about it. If it was any
one else, I would have immediately gone scorched earth. But
I have spent the last eight years love and trusting her,
and she does not have any friends other than myself
(24:03):
that she regularly sees. I do not know if I
can trust her again, But I am also worried about
her being vulnerable. So would I be the bleep whole
if I cut off our relationship? Reddit dot com betrayal
after assault revelation. This is the kind of quiet horror
that erodes from the inside, where her loneliness and his
(24:23):
charm do not excuse prioritizing a predator over a survivor's pain.
Eight years of trust, only for tik Tok to expose
the crack and her waffling post details that is the
gut twist. Her text was grace under fire, buying time
without explosion. I admire her compassion for ease isolation, but
(24:44):
protecting her own trauma comes first. Friendships should not be
a guilt trap commentary. A salt recovery is nonlinear, and
cutting ties might be the healthiest severance, especially with a
baby's innocence in the mix, suggest resources for ease loone
iness separately, but draw that line firm the community's verdict,
(25:05):
not the bleep whole, with comments affirming her right to
distance and calling ease choice a character reveal top ones
urged scorched earth if needed, emphasizing vulnerability does not override accountability,
relatable for any one weighing loyalty against safety. Finally, our
sixth story, a money Windfall Transformation Gone Toxic, amassing over
(25:28):
seven thousand up votes for its cautionary tale on sudden wealth,
titled am I the bleephole for leaving my husband after
he won a large sum of money The post frow
away for privacy. My thirty two female husband thirty six
male was in a work accident several years ago, and
he won a court case in which he was awarded
(25:49):
a sum in the multimillions. My husband and I live
in the United States and have been struggling for years,
especially since his accident, since he has not been able
to work a job in his specialty. Since he has
mainly been working minimum to low wage jobs because his
degree and trade experience are in an industry his body
can no longer work in I make pretty good money,
(26:10):
but again, we live in the economical health cape that
is America. In the last year since the settlement, my
husband has become the most smug, stuck up, pretentious man
I have ever known, and I am sick of it.
Our friends and family are not good enough for us
any more because now we have money. Our home and
cars and clothes were not good enough for us, and
(26:30):
anyone with a small house, paid off car ormall clothes
was sad and depressing. He judges people hard, and he
is not quiet about it. He is mean and rude
to the people we interact with. Of course, we got
nicer things when he received his money, but he was
adamant on luxury things, and to him, any one who
does not live in a mansion on the hills where
(26:51):
the Lamborghini and Gucci shoes is embarrassing. He gets upset
with me for not wanting to spend crazy amounts of money.
Why would I buy it two thousand dollars pair of
shoes when I can get a pair just like it
for sixty dollars. It feels like giving a child with
no concept of money twenty dollars and setting them free
in a dollar tree. He has bought me a ton
(27:13):
of expensive clothes and jewelry, new electronics. He pays for
high end SPA days, and even bought me a new car.
I feel like an ungrateful woman for saying this, but
I do not really like the gifts. Nothing is my
style or taste. He is buying it just because it
is expensive. My husband harrises me daily to quit the
(27:34):
job I love and says that I make us look
bad by working and making us still look poor. He
gets upset if I want to go to the same
chain restaurants we have always liked Buffalo Wild Wings, Jack
in the Box, et cetera, instead of five star Michelin
steakhouses and sushi places because we can afford it. Now
he has even gone as far as trying to push
(27:55):
me towards plastic surgery because we can afford it, so
why not. He has suggested a chest enhancement, a body
conjuring procedure, lip filler, and at one point that surgery
where they remove the bottom rib. I feel like he
is starting to think I do not look good enough
for him and our new lifestyle. We have gone to
couple's therapy. His attitude is not improving. It has even
(28:18):
gotten worse, and I am miserable. This is not the
man I married. I do not want to have kids
and raise a family with him, but I am afraid
that if I leave, everyone will cry gold digger. We
married when we were young and broke and did not
consider a prenup because we had nothing. Dumb, I know,
but we were kids, am I the bleep whole Reddit
(28:41):
dot com. Money changes people, but this shift from struggling
partners to judgmental luxury chaser. It is like watching a
fairy tale kurdle into a nightmare where gratitude flips to
entitlement overnight. The gifts missing her taste, the job shaming,
the surgery pushes. They scream contralroll not care eroding the
(29:01):
equality they built broke her fear of gold digger labels
valid in a world quick to judge women, leaving windfalls
my thoughts. Wealth amplifies who you are. His smugness was latent,
now unleashed, leaving honors the partnership they had, not the
one he is forcing lawyer of prenup or not protect
(29:23):
that future family dream Elsewhere, community consensus, not the bleep Whole.
With top comments over five thousand up votes, warning of
his spending spree doom and cheering her exit. Many shared
lot of winner horror tales advising sell the gifts strategies.
One quipped he will be broken ten harsh but prescient.
(29:45):
A wake up on values over vaults. Few what a
roller coaster. From body boundaries to betrayal webs, grief ambushes
to graduation grenades, friend fractures to fortune flips. These October
first picks remind us how low life's curve balls test
our cores. Thanks for tuning in too, Reddit Drama Readings.
If these sparked reflections, drop a comment or share your
(30:08):
own boundary wins. Until next time, cherish your circle, guard
your peace, and remember we are all just scripting this
drama called life. See you soon. Add to chat ten
web pages one point four s. Make another episode on
malicious compliance, this time thought for fifty eighth's Welcome back,
(30:34):
every one to another episode of Reddit drama Readings, where
we dive deep into the wild world of interpersonal conflicts
and clever come uppanceys from subreddits like am I the
Bleep Whole and other spots full of family feuds, relationship
roller coasters, workplace woes, and those satisfying moments of revenge,
served with a side of rule. Following I'm your host
(30:55):
and to day, We're switching things up a bit with
a special edition focused on malicious compliance, the art of
following orders to the letter, but in a way that
turns the tables and highlights just how absurd some rules
can be. We're pulling from the top stories in our
slash Malicious Compliance from yesterday, October first, twenty twenty five.
These posts had folks cheering and chuckling, with thousands of
(31:18):
up votes and comments celebrating the sweet taste of poetic justice.
We've selected seven standout ones that showcase everything from petty
office battles to customer service showdowns. We'll read each story
straight from the original poster, then I'll chime in with
a bit of commentary on what jumps out at me
and touch on how the community weighed in. If you're
(31:39):
new here, grab a snack, settle in, and remember these
are real people's tales of turning the screws. No judgments
from me, just honest reflections on the power of precision.
Let's jump right in with the first one, which racked
up over four thousand up votes for its spot on
takedown of a misguided sick day policy. Our first story
(31:59):
is tiled new sick day policy, No problem. Here's what
the original poster had to say. So, my company just
rolled out this new policy where you no longer get
paid for six days unless you bring in a doctor's note.
They said it was to cut down on abuse and
save money. Fine whatever. I get a cold every couple
(32:20):
of months, no big deal, But I work in a
warehouse and showing up sniffling isn't exactly safe or productive.
The first time I call in, my boss grumbles about
the new rule and tells me to get that note
or no pay. So I do. I drag myself to
urgent Care, pay the twenty five dollars copey, get the
note saying I have a viral upper respiratory infection, and
(32:43):
email it over. Back to work the next day. Paid.
But here's the fun part. This happens again two weeks later,
same cold lingering. Because warehouse does doesn't help. Boss size
reminds me of the policy. Off I go to the
doctor again, another note, another cope. Now the company starts
(33:05):
noticing a spike in doctor visits across the board. Turns
out half the team is doing the same. HR sends
out a memo saying notes are required, but try to
minimize visits. My boss pulls me aside and says, quote,
just tough it out next time. End quote. Oh really,
So the next time I feel off, not full sick,
(33:27):
just a headache from the overtime, I go in, but
by lunch I'm queasy. I tell him I'm leaving early.
He says no note, no partial pay Boom urgent care
trip number three in a month, note in hand paid
for the half day. Word spreads, and suddenly everyone scheduling
doctor appointments for everything a sore back from lifting, allergies,
(33:50):
acting up, even preventive checkups, time to sick days. The
company shelling out for all these copas indirectly because we're
all covered under their insurance plan, and the admin time
for processing notes triples. Last week, they quietly rolled back
the policy to the old unlimited paid sick days with
no notes needed. Boss called a meeting to announce it,
(34:12):
looking like he'd swallowed a lemon. I raised my hand
and asked if we could get reimbursed for those copets.
He said he'd look into it. Yeah. Right. Moral of
the story if you want to micromanage our health, will
make you pay for it. Literally. Reddit dot com. Oh,
(34:32):
this one had me grinning from ear to ear because
it's the perfect example of how a blanket rule meant
to control kin boomerang right back at the rule maker.
Imagine thinking you can police sniffles in a dusty warehouse
and not expect a parade of paperwork in return. The
poster's calm escalation from one note to a t wide
doctor dash shows that collective compliance can topple even the
(34:54):
sturdiest policy tower, and that HR memo classic backpeddling, trying
to soften the blow without admitting defeat. In my commentary,
I'd say this highlights why trust in employees beat surveillance
every time. When you treat folks like potential frauds, they
might just play along until it hurts your wallet. The
(35:14):
community's response pure delight, with over four thousand up votes
and comments flooding in with similar tales. One top comment
with nine hundred up votes, shared how their call center
started requiring psyche vows for stressed days, only to have
every one book therapy sessions on company time. Folks praised
the poster's subtle nudge at reimbursement too, calling it chef's
(35:37):
kiss compliance. If you've ever been nicolandymed on sick leave,
this is your vindication. All right, Let's keep the momentum
going with our second story, a lunch breaks saga that
pulled in three thousand, five hundred up votes for its
delicious irony on forced down time. This one's titled new
manager forces me to take lunches, so I do straight
(35:59):
for I'm the poster. I've been at this retail job
for six years, always pulling through lunch to keep the
floor covered because we're perpetually understaffed. It's unspoken you eat
at your station if you can, or scarf something quick
in the back. New manager comes in last month, all corporate,
fresh from headquarters and declares mandatory thirty minute lunches for everyone,
(36:21):
no exceptions to quote promote work life balance and comply
with labor laws. End quote. Sounds great on paper, write,
except our store is small, Peak hours hit hard, and
with only four people on shift, that means one less
body on the floor for half an hour each first
day of the new rule, she schedules me for noon,
(36:43):
busiest time. I protest lightly, say it'll tank sales, but
she insists policy is policy. So I clock out, sit
in the break room with my sandwich, scrolling my phone
for exactly thirty minutes. Come back and there's a line
out the door. Customer's fuming, my coworker buried under returns.
(37:04):
Manager notices, pulls me aside. Maybe next time, eat faster. Nope,
I say, you said thirty minutes. She huffs and adjusts
the schedule, so lunches overlap less, but still gaps everywhere.
By week two, sales dip five percent because we're short
staffed during rushes and complaints roll in about wait times.
(37:27):
I keep complying to the tea full thirty, no short cuts,
even bring a book to make it obvious I'm not rushing.
Co Workers catch on, start doing the same. Suddenly the
break rooms are revolving door of enforced relaxation and the
managers scrambling to cover shifts. Herself ringing up groceries in
her pencil skirt. Last Friday, she calls an emergency huddle.
(37:52):
Lunches are now optional to maintain customer service. We all
nod solemnly, and I ask if that means we can
go back to eating at our stations. She says, yes,
defeated victory tastes like a cold cut sub. Now the
store runs smoother than ever, and she's stuck doing inventory
on her own time to make up for the chaos.
(38:13):
She caused Reddit dot com talk about biting off more
than you can chew. This post captures that manager's good
intentions crashing into retail reality, like a shopping cart into
a display, forcing breaks in a skeleton crew. It's like
scheduling nap time during a fire drill. The poster's deadpan
(38:33):
adherents turning a kindness into a bottleneck is compliance at
its cheekiest. I love the image of her in the
pencil skirt at checkout poetic justice served with a side
of passive resistance commentary For me, this one's a reminder
that top down rules without buying just breed resentment and inefficiency.
Involving the team upfront could have avoided the whole mess.
(38:56):
Reddits Hive Mind loving it with three thousand, five hundred
up votes and threads of solidarity from other understaffed warriors.
A top comment with seven hundred up votes recounted a
similar fast food fiasco where mandatory brakes led to drive
through meltdowns ending in policy reversal. Many joked about the
manager's huddle as her white flag. If you've ever been
(39:20):
the one holding the fort's solo, raise a glass or
a sandwich to this win. Up next, a metrics meltdown
that's skyrocketed to five thousand up votes, proving numbers don't lie,
but people sure try title for number three, These are
the new metrics. Okay, everyone is fired, the post goes.
(39:42):
So I work at a large company fortune fifty level
in operations. We've always tracked efficiency by output per shift,
how many units processed, error rates, that sort of thing, solid,
straightforward stuff that's kept us humming for years. Enter the
new VP of Performance, parachuted in from some consulting firm
(40:03):
who decides our metrics are quote outdated and unmotivating end quote.
He rolls out this genius system, individual scores based on
a point system where you earn points for tasks completed,
but lose double for any delays or handoffs to other departments.
Top scorers get bonuses, bottom ten percent get performance reviews.
(40:25):
Sounds competitive rite, except in ops, everything's interconnected. You can't
assemble without supply, chain, can't ship without quality checks. Delays
are team efforts, not solo fails. Implementation day, he mandates
daily score updates in a shared dashboard. I look at
(40:45):
my first report, negative fifty points because a vendor was
laid on parts, which delayed my line by two hours.
My teammate negative thirty for the same issue. The VP
notices the reds calls a meeting. Quote step up your
game or else end quote. Fine, we think, let's play.
(41:07):
The team huddles and decides from now on, no handoffs.
If supplies late, we don't start assembly. We log it
as a delay on their end and rack up zeros,
but no negatives. Quality flags something we ship anyway, but
note it's their hold up. Suddenly, scores plummet across the
board because nothing moves without perfect alignment, which never happens.
(41:32):
By week two, the VP's dashboard is a sea of
negatives whole departments in the bottom ten. He freaks demands explanations.
We point to the rules. No points for incomplete tasks,
double penalties for delays we didn't cause. He tries tweaking,
says we can estimate points, but we comply literally. Estimates
(41:53):
aren't in a policy, so we stick to actuals, which
are zilch. Production halts, clients call few curious about backlogs,
emergency all hands, metrics suspended back to old system, and
the vps mysteriously on leave. Turns out his bonus was
tied to improvement scores. We improved all right back to baseline.
(42:17):
Now we have a say in any new metrics, and
the dashboards are relic gathering digital dust Reddit dot com.
This story is a masterclass in how gammifying work can
backfire spectacularly. When the game's rigged against collaboration. That point
system it punished the very teamwork that makes ops tick,
(42:37):
turning colleagues into score hoarders overnight. The teams united front,
no handoffs, no mercy, flipped the script beautifully exposing the
flaws without a word of complaint. My take in big core,
shiny new metrics often ignore the human gears underneath. This
crew reminded everyone that unity trump's division. The community's verdict
(43:01):
five thousand up votes strong, with comments erupting in cheers.
One with one thousand, two hundred up votes called it
the corporate equivalent of a sit in strike. Shares poured
in from tech and manufacturing folks who'd weaponized similar systems
hilarious and hopeful proof that sometimes the best revenge is
perfect obedience. Taking a quick breeder before number four a
(43:25):
customer curve ball that nabbed two thousand, eight hundred up
votes for its unexpected ally twist titled My new Favorite
Customer The Details. A company overcharged me for some roofing.
Not by a lot, about three hundred dollars, but they did,
and they acknowledged it. When I pointed it out. We
talked back and forth for weeks. They promised a refund
(43:47):
check in the mail. Two weeks pass, nothing. I call,
they say its processing. Another week still zip. Fed up,
I file a charge back with my credit card company,
citing non delivery of refund. Boom approved money back in
my account. Cut to a month later. I'm at home
(44:09):
depot picking up supplies for a side project when this
guy in a company polo, same roofing firm, starts chatting
me up about my cart. Turns out he's their regional manager.
Saw my cart, looked pro level, asked if I was
in construction. I mention the roofing job casually, how it
went great except the refund hassle. His face drops. He
(44:31):
pulls up their system on his phone, sees the charge
back note flagging us as quote difficult customer end quote.
I shrug, say I gave them chances. He apologizes profusely,
offers an on the spot three hundred dollars store credit
plus a free inspection for future work. But wait, it
gets better. He asks for details on the overcharge to
(44:55):
investigate internally. I comply fully receipts, e mails, call logs,
the works. Turns out it was a billing clerk's error,
but the flag made higher ups dismiss complaints. He thanks me,
says my thoroughness helped nail a pattern of sloppy refunds.
Next day I get a call, full refund processed digitally,
(45:17):
plus a fifty dollars gift card, apology and an invite
to their preferred customer list for discounts. Now, every time
I need work, I get the hook up. And the
best part, that clerk got retrained and the company's tightening procedures.
Who knew being the squeaky will would polish the whole machine.
My new favorite customer service rep hands down. This one's
(45:41):
a gem because it flips the script on customer complaints
instead of digging in the manager turns it into a
win win, all sparked by one persistent poster, the charge
back as the catalyst smart move and sharing those docks
sealed the deal. Commentary wise, it shows how now one
voice can spark systemic fixes. Companies ignore patterns at their peril.
(46:05):
Redd It lit up with two thousand, eight hundred up votes.
Top comments sharing chargeback triumphs one with six hundred up votes,
detailed the car repair scam busted the same way. Lots
of advice on documenting everything and jokes about the poster's
cart being the real MVP. If you've battled billing blues,
this'll make you feel seen. On to story number five,
(46:28):
a generosity gone wrong that earned four thousand, two hundred
up votes for its boundary setting brilliance. The title here,
I gave more than required. New manager didn't like this
and made a new rule, so I complied exactly from
the original post. In my role at a nonprofit, part
of my job is processing donations. We aim for quick
(46:49):
thank yous within forty eight hours, but I always went
above and beyond. Personalized notes, small tokens like bookmarks for
big gifts. Follow ups on how funds helped donors loved it.
Repeat rates soared twenty percent on my case load. New
manager starts, sees my extras as quote unbudgeted fluff. End
(47:10):
quote that distracts from core work. She sets a strict
rule exactly one standard e mail template per donation, no
add ons, no follow ups unless over five thousand dollars.
Anything more is unauthorized. Over time, O K, I think
rules are rules. Next big drive. I send the bare
(47:30):
bones emails name, amount, generic, thanks done, no personalization, no extras.
Donors start calling confused. Quote is everything okay, we miss
your notes? End quote. Complaints pile up to the manager.
She panics, sees dip in next cycle's pledges, tries to
(47:52):
walk it back privately, maybe bend the rule a tad.
I say, no, policy's clear, I get dinged for extra.
She updates the handbook publicly allowances for creative touches at discretion,
but by then trusts eroded, key donors switched to competitors.
I keep it minimal as per original rule until the update,
(48:15):
then ease back in slowly. Manager's reviews now highlight my
quote adherence to standards. End quote, but the numbers speak louder.
Teen whispers she pushed too hard, and she's on thin
ice with the board. Lesson learned, if you clip wings,
don't cry when the bird won't fly. Now, I document
(48:35):
every deviation, and the rule books got footnotes galore Reddit
dot com. What a text book case of overcorrection, killing
the golden goose. This manager saw flare as waste, not value,
and got schooled by the very results she chased. The
posters pivot to robotic compliance, ice, cold and effective, letting
(48:57):
the silence of standard e mails scream louder than any
art argument. My thoughts. Extras like that build loyalty. Quashing
them invites backlash. Nonprofits thrive on heart, not just hustle
the community. For a thousand, two hundred up votes with
comments roasting the manager's micromanaging. One topper with eight hundred
(49:18):
up votes, analogized it to banning smiles in customer service
shares from teachers and admins who'd minimalized lesson plans to
rule specs only for chaos, empowering stuff boundaries enforced with
a smile. Number six brings us to a paperwork pandemonium
that snagged three thousand up votes, all about turning red
(49:39):
tape into a noose titled you are going to save
money by making it harder to file expense reports. Game
on the details first time posting a story here, so
hopefully I do not break any rules. At my previous employer,
I had to attend a lot of meetings around town
and also go to a few events out of CA.
(50:01):
When I started, they had a pretty flexible policy where
you could accept a monthly allowance of about forty dollars
to cover your mileage, or if you were taking a
lot of trips, you could submit expense reports and get
the standard IRS allowable mileage reimbursement. I hate expense reports,
so most of the time just took the forty dollars
and called it, even despite the possibility that I might
(50:22):
have made a few extra dollars by doing the longer
expense report. New HR manager is hired and she decided
it would save a bunch of money if we cut
out the monthly allowance for the sales team and made
us file for expenses for every trip. Again, since I
hate expense reports, I usually just ate the cost and
only filed for trips where I would receive twenty dollars
(50:42):
or more. New HR lady notices that a lot of
us are just donating the value of trips under twenty
dollars ISSH. So she figures maybe we will start donating
more if the expense report becomes more arduous. Her brilliant
idea require extra documentation, like printing a Google map for
each trip and adding extra details to each report. Mind you,
(51:05):
this means she needed to hire an extra clerk to
manage all this extra paperwork. But then she thought she
would be even more clever and start rejecting our reports
if we did not print a map for getting to
the destination and a separate one for the return trip. Wow, okay,
game on. I started using a very old map website
like map quest, and I would create one for every trip,
(51:27):
even a three mile round trip to one of our
other offices just up the road. I saved a file
for each of the regular visits so I could just
pull them up and print one out. But even better,
I did not just print the page with the map,
but the five or six pages each way that were
filled with advertisements for gas stations, fast food, hotels, et cetera.
(51:49):
By using these, I could submit a report for three
dollars reimbursement in seconds. But it meant printing about ten
to fifteen pages each time, and yes, they ended up
averaging more like sixty dollars a month in reimbursement to
me after that, and they added another part timer to
help sort and file all the paperwork. I would like
(52:10):
to say I outlived this idiot at the company, but
sad to say she is still there and still costing
them tons of money in wasted time and resources, meanwhile
killing the culture and any morale we ever created. But
at least I made her life miserable. My parting gift
was to share my map Quest files with everyone on
the sales team so they could bury her in paperwork
(52:32):
reddit dot com. This post is pique malicious compliance, taking
a tedious process and amplifying it until it chokes on
its own bureaucracy. That map Quest hack, flooding in adriddled
pages for a piddly three dollar trip, genius level pettiness
that pays dividends the HR manager's cost saving scheme, ballooning
(52:54):
into extra hires and printer jams. Chef's kiss commentary. It's
a stark lesson in unintended consequences, complicate reimbursement, and watch
employees optimize for maximum hassle per penny. The team shared
files as Farewell Solidarity at its finest up votes hit
(53:14):
three thousand comments, ablaze with print shop war stories, one
with five hundred up votes, detailed stapling receipts to poster
board for effect, laughter and lessons of plenty. Finally, our
seventh and last, a medical mix up that exploded to
four thousand, five hundred up votes, turning protocol into pandemonium,
(53:35):
titled medical Facility three times widespread panic leading to one
of the worst days in our facilities because I followed
the new policy. The post. I work in a mid
sized clinic as a phlebotomist drawing blood, prepping labs, the usual.
We've always had a chill vibe. If a patience and
no show, we note it quick and move on. No Biggie.
(53:58):
New director from a corporate chain takes over. Obsessed with
compliance audits, rolls out this ironclad policy for every no
show file, a full incident report with patient demographics, attempted,
contact logs, reschedule attempts the works minimum one page per
case submitted same day, says it'll boost our scores for
(54:19):
insurance reimbursements. Cool I think, but with thirty patients a day,
that's a stack of paper. First no show under the rule,
I comply call, once, leave, voicemail, draft the report with
all details, email it up. Director praises thoroughness, but then
its snowballs. Our area gets hit with a storm. Half
(54:42):
the scheduled ghosts. I spend my entire shift on reports
instead of draws. Backlog builds. Patients who show wait hours,
some leave mad. Director notices chaos emails quote prioritize patient
care over paperwork end quote. But the policy says same
day's submission, no exceptions. So I keep filing, even pulling
(55:07):
overtime to catch up. Day two of the storm, more
no shows. Reports multiply. I follow to the letter, detailed
logs for each, including weather notes as extenuating circumstances. By noon,
the systems clogged, lap texts can't process because admints are
drowning in print outs. Phones ring off the hook with
(55:29):
irate patients, Directors in crisis mode calling emergency staff. Worst
A walk in with chest pain gets delayed forty minutes
in the wait for triage because front desk is buried.
No harm, but close call. She calls a halt meeting
policy suspended for weather events. We go back to quick
(55:49):
notes and she quietly shells the full reports for good.
Turns out, the audit prep cost us more in overtime
and lost productivity than any reimbursement gain. Now, policy changes
need pilot tests, and I'm the hero who proved it
the hard way by doing exactly what was asked. This
finale's a hart stopper, blending humor with a dash of
(56:11):
horror at how rigid rules can risk real care. The
poster's dogged documentation during a blizzard, it ground the clinic
to a halt, forcing the wake up
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