Karen DEMANDS I PAY FOR HER MEAL... BIG MISTAKE! - Reddit Stories - Reddit Stories Podcast - Mr. Redder

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You need to pay for my meal? Boy, I'm hungry. Ah.
Hey there, mister Redder here. Welcome back to another episode
of entitled People's Stories. Our first story we'll be reading today,
my friend's girlfriend demands I pay for her meal at
the restaurant. So at a local restaurant recently, I went

(00:21):
there with my girlfriend, her sister, my friend, his girlfriend,
and three other friends. So, as you can imagine, there
were eight of us at the table, and it was
crowded in the restaurant already, so the waiters weren't really
happy to see such a big group turn off and
have to seat them. It started to get awkward when
they couldn't see a free table immediately, but eventually they
did and we all sat down. I originally offered to pay,

(00:43):
as I had invited all of them out and I
had never had the liberty of paying, not even ones.
I unfortunately do have some money problems because of gambling,
but I've been clean for two years now and I've
really been getting on with my life with a new
job and better pay. Even with the struggle, I thought
I could easily pay for everyone, but apparently not. I
thought people would know unofficial boundaries for money spending, but

(01:05):
I wasn't expecting what happened with my friend's girlfriend. She
asked who's paying? I said me, and she then began
to eat and make sure that she chose the most
expensive things she could find on the menu. I thought
she can't be serious right now, but I thought, let's
just see where it goes. Surely she knows what someone
would want to pay for. But I was wrong, because
after about an hour and thirty minutes of this and

(01:27):
four rounds of drinks for her, I said to a waiter,
can I have the check? When he came back, it
came to a grand total of just over two hundred
and sixty pounds. I was astonished. I could afford it,
but that doesn't mean that I want to pay for it.
So I refused to pay for her bill of one
hundred and thirteen pounds, and I asked her for the
full amount in some form of payment towards it. She

(01:49):
refused and called me a jerk. I originally believed she
was taking advantage of my generosity, but now I understand
that she's normally like this. I've never gone out with
her before. Her actusation made me rethink myself, and I
had to ask myself, was I the jerk, which I
can't decide on internally? Not the jerk. It's an unwritten
rule that if someone else is paying you, let them

(02:11):
set the pace for expenditure. She accounted for nearly half
the bill when there were eight people eating. The full
bill was two hundred and sixty and her portion was
one hundred and thirteen. That's one hundred and forty seven
dollars divided between the rest of you. If this math
is correct, then you are definitely not the jerk here. Wow,
the audacity of some people. Everyone sucks here, mostly her,

(02:32):
because it seems like she was taking advantage, especially because
she asked who was pain before ordering. But you say
that she's normally like this, So if she's used to
four drinks at dinner and was planning on doing that,
either way, you're paying for seven out of eight people.
I doubt she ordered four drinks at once, so once
she ordered more, you just had to say, hey, I
know I said I'm pain, but I can't afford more

(02:53):
than an entree in one drink per person, so past
that you're gonna have to pay. Rather than waiting until
the end, stepmother tried to hijack our baby shower. My
fiance Jane found out she was pregnant in June of
twenty twenty one, and we announced it to our immediate
families in August. At first, stepmother was completely uninterested in
our baby, not that I expected much from the woman

(03:16):
whose reaction to our pregnancy announcement was to ask Jane
if she was sure it was mine. Even my dad
berated her for that one, but she barely seemed to
acknowledge the fact that we were expecting. Instead, she was
more interested in my stepbrother, who was also engaged and
would give her beautiful grand baby soon no complaints. We
didn't want her involved, and we didn't even have to

(03:37):
say anything. Planning our baby shower was complicated. Both me
and Jane would have to work until the holidays, and
I wanted to be involved. The due date was in
February of twenty twenty two, so we decided early January
was the best period of time. We enlisted two people
as planners, my sister Laura and Jane's best friend Nina.
Me and Jane are mostly laid back people. We didn't

(03:59):
want I'm a big party, nor did we want to
spend too much money on it. We were saving for
both our baby and the wedding. We decided early on
that the shower would be co ed. It would also
have to be indoors again January and we settled on
a guest list of twenty five people plus about a
dozen kids. We came up with the idea of a
pizza party. Me Jane and Luke, my brother in law,

(04:21):
have had homemade pizza nights weekly since I moved in,
and we thought it would be fun to incorporate that
into the baby shower. Nina found an event venue with
a pizza oven, and Laura figured out ways to incorporate
classic baby shower stuff into the theme. The resulting plans
were awesome. Make your own pizzas and non alcoholic drinks.
Nina and Laura mixed pizza decor with baby decor and

(04:42):
found pizza shaped sweets. It almost seemed messy, and I
was surprised that they made it work, but we loved it.
Most of the planning was finished by the middle of November.
Well later that month, my stepbrother's fiance left him for
her ex. They'd been together for four years at that point,
and it was both sudden and horrible for him him.
He was devastated. Stepmom then realized the grandkids she'd dreamed

(05:04):
of would take longer to come than she had thought,
so naturally, without her son's milestone to obsess over, she
moved on to mine. Suddenly, Stepmom went from aloof relative
too excited grandma to be Facebook post tacky promoted to
Nana shirts the whole nine yards. At first, we were
too busy finishing things up at work and getting ready

(05:25):
for the holidays to worry about that, but it didn't
take long for her to start pestering us about planning
the baby shower as well as a gender reveal. We
denied the possibility of a gender reveal party no offense
to those who like them, but we don't. Plus we
had decided to wait until birth to find out. Stepmom
tried to get us to find out and tell her
as a Christmas present, but we didn't. We also denied

(05:47):
her the baby shower. She told my father and he
talked Laura into letting Stepmom help out with the plans.
She was still living with her at the time, so
she didn't have much of a choice. She called Nina
and they met Stepmom for coffee. Though I wasn't there
for that meeting. Laura told me what happened later. Before
they could even mention their plans, Stepmom started talking about hers.

(06:07):
According to Laura, she pulled out a shockingly thick binder,
complete with the words oh baby on the cover, colorful tabs,
and pieces of fabric poking out from her bag, and
then she skipped to the shower section. It was short
compared to the rest of the binder, but still long,
and it was all to describe her one and only
baby shower project. Laura sent me pictures, and oh boy,

(06:29):
I'll give her this. It looked like the most instagrammable
baby shower ever. That being said, it was also barely
functional and obviously expensive. There were balloons, oversized teddy bears,
giant alphabet blocks, and cringe worthy signs everywhere. Stepmom was
going for pretty over cozy, with uncomfortable chairs and some
fancy food ideas that didn't look edible. Most of them

(06:51):
had soft cheeses, which Jane couldn't even eat. The color
palette was just three different shades of pink with gold accents.
We'd be fine with a pink baby shit if it
at least tried to mix things up a little, but
Stepmom's pictures looked like Barbie had puked all over Hello
Kitty's birthday party. When Nina tried to remind her that
we didn't know the gender yet, Stepmom said she just

(07:12):
knew that it was a girl. Spoiler alert, it wasn't.
Stepmom also wanted an all female, child free party with
fancy caterers and alcohol. She had written down a guest
suggestion list containing some of her closest friends. Neither mine
nor Jane's moms were even on it, and planned party
games that no one had any interest in trying out. Basically,

(07:33):
the only thing everyone could agree on was to hold
the party indoors. Laura and Nina weren't given an opportunity
to show her their plans until she was done. Once
they could, they explained that while they could find a
way to incorporate some of Stepmom's ideas, they had already
settled on the pizza theme. She tried to protest, but
Laura stated that it was kind of them to even
offer that, as the shower was a month away and

(07:55):
we had already greenlit their plans. Stepmom even called me
to try to get me to change their mon but
I just repeated their words. My dad had found out
he couldn't come to the shower, so he didn't get
to say in anything anymore. The holidays came around and
the subject was dropped. Stepmom seemed to be okay with
the pizza party. Nina managed to pair some of the
pink decor she had wanted with matching blue stuff and

(08:17):
even added one of the huge Teddy bears. Fast forward
to a week before the shower. Jane was almost eight
months pregnant, Everything had been bought, all guests had RSVP'd,
and pretty much everything else was ready to go. The
shower was set to start at seven pm. Stepmom offered
to get to the venue earlier to prepare everything. Laura agreed,
mostly because she knew Stepmom would complain if she didn't

(08:39):
get to do anything, and the venue even let them
drop off their decorations before the party. Me and Jane
promised to get there at six two days before the shower. However,
the venue called Nina. They told her that Stepmom had
stopped by to drop off large, heavy boxes of what
she called a little surprise for us. She'd informed them
that she planned on showing up at three thirty pm

(09:00):
to start setting it up. They were calling to reinforce
that the venue was only booked past four pm, since
Stepmom almost threw a tantrum when told that all of
the decor was still at Nina's place, so she called
Laura to check if they had left anything with Stepmom. Thankfully,
my sister is both smart and used to this crap,
so she drove to the venue the next day and
asked to see Stepmom's boxes. She told me that she

(09:22):
wasn't even surprised at its contents when she opened them,
but was still shocked at Stepmom's audacity. All of the
boxes were filled with pink, frilly decorations. Some of them
seemed to be the exact same items Stepmom had initially
shown Laura and Nina, the signs, the balloons, the place mats, everything.
Laura realized that's why Stepmom intended to get to the

(09:43):
venue earlier to set up the baby shower she had
planned and pretty much force us all to party and
Barbie City with her. She called Nina to figure out
what to do. Neither of them could come at four pm,
so it was almost inevitable for Stepmom to get her way.
The most obvious solution they came up with was to
throw everything away, but Laura had a better idea. That night,
they called me and Jane, Hey, want to destroy a party?

(10:06):
In two hours, Laura got home and invited Stepmom to
go to a salon with her, lying about having coupons.
Stepmom agreed, and they planned on going right after Stepmom
was done preparing the baby shower. At four pm the
next day, Stepmom got to the venue, she was done
setting things up by five. I'll admit the woman is fast,
and quickly left to go meet Laura at the salon.

(10:28):
Once they were together, Laura texted Nina that the coast
was clear. After that, Me, Jane and Nina went to
the venue. Sure enough, Stepmom had prepared her party to
make this shorter. I won't describe it, but I will
say it was so pink it almost gave Jane nausea.
For the next two hours, Laura distracted Stepmom at the
salon while the three of us quickly took down every

(10:50):
piece of decor Stepmom had put up and replaced it
with the pizza party stuff. We set up the activities,
made up the tables, and put every pink item we
found back in Stepmom's boxes. It was actually really fun.
We were done only minutes before the shower started. A
handful of guests arrived before Stepmom did, so I barely
saw her all night. Laura told me that when they

(11:11):
got there, Stepmom's jaw dropped as she tried to make
sense of what had happened to Oliver pink decor. My
sister just smiled, whispered nice try in her ear, and
went to help Luke customize a bodysuit. Overall, the baby
shower was everything we had hoped for. Our friends were there,
people had fun, and we had a ton of pizza,
so I didn't really care that Stepmom spent the whole

(11:32):
party literally sulking in the corner. Nina did catch her
trying to put little pink bows on top of the cupcakes,
but she quickly shut that down. I give Laura and
Nina full credit for saving the day. Stepmom's interest in
our baby quickly stopped after that. She stopped wearing her
Nana shirts, didn't come to see us at the hospital
when he was born, and refused to even acknowledge that

(11:52):
he was a boy until she met him weeks later.
Up until we went no contact She was a very
loose definition of the word grandmother. I couldn't be more grateful.
My son will never know her. You are required by
law to make change for me right now. Years ago
I worked at a convenience store, and this store handled
a lot of cash. We had a signed stating bills

(12:14):
over twenty dollars were only accepted with manager approval. In practice,
we could accept them after using the detector pen and
visual inspection. We also had a policy that we had
to keep the cash in the drawer under a certain amount.
We had a safe system to make drops and get change,
but it had limits and timers when dispensing, depending on
what was needed. It could take thirty minutes to make

(12:34):
change for a one hundred dollar bill. I was solo
on graveyard, kept my drawer low and didn't have to
request change often. The drawer had five slots for bills
and five pockets for coins, but we only kept ones, fives, tens, twenties,
and the slots. Other bills and checks were put under
until we had enough for a drop. The extra coin
pocket was used for dollar coins, half dollar coins, coins

(12:57):
people left. Some people would tell us to keep the change,
et cetera. If someone was a few cents short, we'd
use the spare change. I kept my drawer under the limit.
When I was on graveyard. I was solo and kept
my drawer very low and didn't have to request change often.
One night, one of our odd regulars came in and
bought a bunch of stuff. He paid with Sakajoea dollar coins.

(13:18):
They didn't fit in the safe tubes, so I had
to keep it in the drawer. It was just over
one hundred dollars in coins. I spread it out over
all of the slots so one side wouldn't get too heavy.
The drawer would stick out if it was too lopsided.
I had also made a lot of change for payphones,
the air and water machines, people buying items, to get
change for laundry, et cetera. I was down to three

(13:38):
one dollar bills, the Sakajuea dollar coins, zero quarters, a
few dimes, and some nickels, and a bunch of pennies.
A guy comes in and up to the register with
a ten cent candy. He slaps so one hundred dollars
bill on the counter. I asked him if he will
be getting anything else, and he says no. I ask
if he has anything smaller. He says no, so I
tell him, don't worry. Then the candy is on the house.

(14:01):
I can use the have a penny, leave a penny money.
He gets mad and says he won't take charity and
I need to make change for him. I try to
explain that we don't have the cash in my drawer
and it would take thirty minutes to get the change,
but he keeps interrupting and not listening. He yells, you
are required by law to take my legal tender and
make change for me right now, all full of attitude

(14:23):
and jerkiness. So I said okay. He acts smug like
he wants something. When I pick up the bill, I
pull out my detector pen and he starts complaining and moaning.
I use the pen and view of the camera. Then
I hold the bill up to inspect it in view
of the camera. I then put the bill in a
safe tube to drop it, as we were supposed to
drop large bills on graveyard before even opening the drawer.

(14:44):
Then make the slip and drop that after the customer
is still standing there smugly grumbling, and I enter the
amount tendered into the register. Now the counter is raised
and the drawer is just below the counter, so it's
out of reach of customers unless they lean in reach.
It also does doesn't pop open like usual this time
because of the weight of the coins. I open the
drawer and push the three singles back in their slot

(15:06):
so that the customer can't see them even if he
leans over to look in the drawer. He's being dramatic
and turning to make a show of how long he's
waiting and can you believe this to an audience of
no one, so he doesn't notice at first that I'm
pulling out all of those coins. I pull out the
eighty eight cents or so in change, mostly Nichols, and
then start pulling out the sackage AWEA dollar coins and

(15:26):
putting them on the counter. He turns around and sees
the coins and asks what is this? So I tell
him I am required by law to accept legal tender
and make change. You are required by law to accept
legal tender as change. This is what I have available.
He continues, having a fit, saying you should have told me.
I tell him I tried explaining, sir, but you interrupted

(15:48):
and insisted I make change, and I go back to
counting out the ninety nine sackage Awea dollar coins. He's
silent for a bit and asks me how am I
supposed to get this home. I told him I'm not
responsible for his change. After I give it to him,
he eventually gathers it up in his shirt. He pulled
the bottom hem of his shirt about half way up
to make like a large pseudo pocket and SLINKs off.

(16:11):
Edit one. I added a couple of things to make
it clear. Sakajuwia dollar coins are dollar coins that are
golden colored and a little bit bigger than a US quarter.
They were not very widely used and were disliked by many.
They also were too big to fit many coin machines
or counters, especially those made before the year two thousand.
They also didn't have the coin roll blinks for them.
To my knowledge, I don't think the Sakajawea dollars are

(16:33):
minted anymore, but they are in circulation. Edit two, Yes,
I'm aware there is no requirement to accept large bills
for a purchase. I just wanted to get rid of
the coins and mess with the jerk. Would I be
the jerk to insist my neighbor keep a yard schedule
for background. I have a severely reactive rescue dog. She's
terrified of other dogs and freaks out majorly when she

(16:54):
sees them or hears them. My partner and I have
been working with our vet and a behavioral trainer and
we made some progress, but my dog is still not
truly comfortable anywhere but her own yard. A new lady
just moved in next door and she has two big dogs.
They seem like nice dogs, they're quiet, and she works
with them a lot. The problem is that she works
from home full time and her dogs are always outside.

(17:17):
She doesn't leave them there for hours or anything, but
I never know when she's going to let them out
or for how long. She also spends a lot of
time out there with them after work and on weekends.
I can hear her training and playing fetch, or she'll
have them out with her while she's doing yard work.
To be fair to her, she trains them and she
doesn't let them run up on the fence, and if
they do bark, she makes them go inside. They're still

(17:39):
out on the other side of the fence, though, and
my dog is now scared and reacting in her own backyard.
When my dog starts carrying on. She's the one who
has to go inside. She already can't enjoy walks, and
now she can't even enjoy being outside. I asked my
neighbor if she'd consider a schedule for the dogs so
that my dog can enjoy her yard too, without the
neighbor's dogs freaking her out on the other side of

(18:00):
the fence. She was polite about it, but said no.
She bought the house with a yard for her dogs,
and they use it. She said she'd be glad to
tell me when she's leaving with them for a period
of hours, but otherwise she's not going to change what
she's doing day to day. So nothing changed, and her
dogs get plenty of outdoor time and mine gets none,
except for the stray times when she takes one of

(18:21):
her dogs to a training class or takes both of
them for a hike. I'm really upset and want to
insist that we adopt a schedule so that my dog
can have some outside time too. Would I be the
jerk if I insisted she worked with me to adopt
a schedule that's fair to all of the dogs, and
it's a clarify my dog does not get the same
opportunity as her dogs not even close. Her dogs have

(18:42):
free access five days a week, weeknights and weekends. My
dog only gets outside time now when she says she's
leaving for a class or a hike. If I let
my dog out to sun herself at ten thirty on
a Tuesday, sure enough, it won't be five minutes before
she's letting her dogs out, and then my dog freaks out,
has to come in. She's not getting anywhere close to
what they are getting. Edit again, the fence is a

(19:05):
privacy fence. My dog freaks out when she can hear
and smell the other dogs as well as see them.
She can't see the dogs, but she knows they're there.
You would be the jerk you asked, except her response,
you don't get to police what other people do on
their property. You're the jerk. You decided to adopt a
reactive rescue dog, knowing very well you'll have a ton

(19:26):
of work to do with her. You made that decision,
not your neighbor. It's your job to make this dog comfortable,
and your neighbors shouldn't have to suffer for your decisions.
Imagine being the lady next door and buying or renting
a house with a perfect backyard for your two dogs,
only to find out she lives next to OPI and
needs to restrict her own backyard usage. OPI. The problem

(19:47):
here is your dog. The onus for figuring out a
solution is squarely on you. The lady next door doesn't
necessarily have to work with you. She is entitled to
use her own yard as she sees fit. Your dog
is the issue. You would be the jerk. Anybody have
a dog of their own? If so, what's your dog's name?
Please let us know right now in the comments below.

(20:09):
My dogg Oh's name was Sinni and she was the
best Rottweiler anyone could have ever asked for. I still
have dreams about it to this day. F's in the
chat for Sinny. Am I the jerk for not changing
my house rules to accommodate my kids from a previous relationship. So,
I thirty six male, have two kids who are thirteen
male and ten female from a previous relationship. I've been

(20:30):
with my wife, who's thirty four, for eight years. We
have twin boys who are five. We have had my
older kids religiously the whole time, on weekends and during
school holidays, As they've gotten older, our house rules have
differed from when they are at home with my ex.
For example, bedtime is staggered by age at our house
and things like no dessert if they don't drink enough

(20:50):
of their tea. With four kids, it's a busy household
and a few rules help with controlling our time and
ensuring we can do things as a family anyway. Over
the last time twelve months, when my older kids come over,
they have expressed their dislike for some of our rules,
mainly the no phones after lunch until after tea. They
can have them on them and reply to messages and calls,

(21:11):
however it's just no sitting on social media. They can
go on phones in the morning and after tea. If
we aren't out doing things during the day, we try
and do family activities such as bowling or cinema or
bike rides and such, or if we stay home it's
board games and just interacting as a family. As my
older son is getting older, me and my wife understand
his weekends. He likes to be with his friends and

(21:33):
we will drop him off to where his friends are
and pick him up at a set time. As we
live on the other end of the city. However, now,
for the last three months, they have refused to come
to our house due to these rules, and my ex
asked me to compromise on these rules, which I declined,
mainly because it's not the most aggressive and archaic of
rules five to six hours of no phones. Plus it
will start the spiral for my twins seeing that they

(21:55):
can get away with whatever they want to if they
express enough Dislike I've said, the door will always be
open for them and I won't be forcefully making them
come to our house. So am I the jerk for
not relaxing the rules so they can come over just
to sit on their phones. I don't think it's too harsh,
but I'm also feeling guilty that they don't want to
come over anymore. With my ex they're allowed to cut

(22:16):
their own routine, and that's fine there as it isn't
my house and whatever works for them. My wife agrees
with our rules, which is for all of the kids,
and backs me one hundred percent, But I find myself
questioning if I'm doing the right thing or not. Edit.
The five year olds do not have phones, and they
don't all follow the same exact rules as the older kids.
Have their phones. They just can't sit scrolling for five

(22:37):
hours in the middle of the day when we have
made plans and made an effort to do something as
a family. It's mainly one day a week too. The
other day of the weekend, they're sitting with their friends
and have their phones with them and can do as
they please with said phones. It's just one day a
week for five hours. You're the jerk. Your kids are
unhappy at your home. That already tells you everything you

(22:58):
need to know. Forced family time doesn't work on tweens
and teens. It makes them resentful. You're the jerk. Five
year olds and thirteen year olds shouldn't have the same rules.
You're the jerk. You can't expect the same rules for
a five year old to apply to a teenager. You
made these rules to create a family bond, but you're
pushing your family away by sticking to these rules. You

(23:19):
can adjust the rules by age, but you refuse to
because you're too stubborn. Your rigidity suggests you prefer to
have your controllable little family of four rather than your
original kids in your life. You're cute and easy. Twins
will grow up and chafe at your rules too. You
will drop them then because one you won't have younger
kids behind them that you are forcing them to play

(23:41):
happy family outing time with, and two you'll see them
as less disposable. Wake up, You're going to lose your
older kids because you aren't morphing your parenting style is
appropriate with their ages. They were your babies first, and
you should care more about getting it right as a
parent in the limited time you have with them, generally,
but also before they are adults. Needless to say, I

(24:02):
think you're the jerk. Well, what do you think? Is
Opie the jerk or not? Please let us know. God forbid.
A guy wants his family to spend some time together. Look,
o Pie, I've said it a thousand times. Reddit is
the worst place to look for parenting advice. I mean, seriously,
one day a week, for five hours, get off your
phones and spend some time with your family. Am I

(24:24):
the jerk for telling my parents I eat well and
exercise regularly because I don't want to end up like them?
I'm female twenty seven. My parents are in their mid sixties,
and they have a ton of health issues. For pretty
much as long as I can remember, my dad has
been at or above three hundred pounds for my whole life,
so he has the health issues that go along with
long term obesity. My mom, while not obese, has been

(24:46):
overweight pretty much forever also, and just narrowly avoided a
massive heart attack after difficulty breathing while watching TV. Had
emergency open heart surgery to deal with several blockages. Healthy
meals growing up was pizza after a small salad, so
when I moved out, I unlearned unhealthy food and exercise
habits and learned new healthier habits. Props to my husband,

(25:07):
Mail twenty seven, who had those healthier habits and has
been so helpful as I figure this stuff out. We
recently visited my hometown and family for a week. We
got guest passes for the local gyms because we both
experienced pretty brutal mental health declines if we don't work
out at least some My parents teased us a little
for having to work out even on vacation, but I
let it slide because I can see how it's a

(25:29):
little silly from the outside looking in. Then we went
out to my all time favorite Italian place. I got
baked zd which comes with a salad as an appetizer,
which I did, in fact eat. There was a snicker
from my parents. I ignored it because I didn't realize
it was aimed at me. Then the meal came and
I only ate about a third of it, got the
rest to go. We were going to be in town

(25:50):
for four more days so I could reheat it and
I wouldn't go to waste. We're waiting for the waitress
to come back to sign the bills and then head out,
and my dad says, are you sure you're our daughter?
That you that we know would have asked for seconds
and wouldn't have even touched the salad. I said, I'm
trying to be healthier, nothing wrong with that. He doubled
down and said, they don't even recognize me anymore. They

(26:12):
have no clue who I am because the kid they
raised didn't think twice about the gym, and now it
seems to be my life with how much time I
waste there. And don't get them started on the supplements
pre workout in protein powder, because that's a waste of
money that we could be saving or putting towards our
expenses or investing. So I told my parents I'm making
the most important investment I can make. I'm investing into

(26:32):
my health because I'd rather spend two hundred dollars a
year on the gym and supplements than two hundred dollars
a month on medication ouch yaos a canal zone than
two hundred dollars a month on medication. I could have
avoided being on if I had just been a little
healthier in my younger days. My mom asks, what's that
supposed to mean? And that's when I said, I'm making
the lifestyle choices I am, so I don't end up

(26:54):
like you two. My genetics may be messed up, but
I don't have to make it easy for them to win.
So I'm not going to h outrage and insults hurled
towards my husband and I. Waitress came back just at
that moment, so my husband signed and we all dipped out.
The barrage continued with texts, so I just muted my phone.
I get they took it personally. There's really no other

(27:15):
way to take it. But was I really that out
of line? Here's my conflict with this. Sub Is am
I the jerk? A? Am I right or wrong? Sub? Or?
Is it the Am I the jerk? Sub Yes, you're right,
you want to work out to avoid or mitigate long
term health problems that may or may not be genetic.
Were your parents rude? Yes? Was what you said? Also rude? Yes,

(27:37):
everyone sucks here. Everyone sucks here. They're being unnecessarily interested
and judgmental about your new diet and exercise choices. So yeah,
they should back off. That probably should stop making restaurants
a big focus of socializing with you as well. But
you know you could have just explained your choices and
lifestyle without adding so I don't end up like you two.

(27:57):
I guess you're the type of person that thinks anything
goes as a response when someone has been rude to you. First,
Karen wants to use the shoulder lane to escape traffic.
I dared her. This happened just a few hours ago.
I was driving a semi on the highway when the
traffic suddenly became bumpered to bumper on a two lane
due to an accident a couple miles ahead. Everybody was

(28:18):
creeping and I was at the right lane. Suddenly I
saw a regular vehicle, not even an emergency vehicle, on
the right side the shoulder lane, passing me. There's not
even an exit nearby. I was like, oh no, And
as soon as I saw a couple vehicles behind me
trying to do the same thing, I immediately block them
by going slightly to the shoulder. So I'm occupying two lanes.

(28:40):
I got a few honks, but I couldn't care less.
If I'm suffering in traffic jams, everyone else should have
to as well. Shoulder isn't for passing. As long as
I didn't see any flashing lights behind me, I'm not
opening that shoulder. We're crawling anyway. After a few hundred
feet ahead, I see an idle police cruiser on the
shoulder up ahead. Figured that nobody would dare using the

(29:01):
shoulder anymore, I merged back to my lane. Turns out
I was right. The shoulder became empty all of a sudden,
But that's not the end. While I was chilling, still creeping,
I heard a very annoying and repetitive honk on my
left side. I looked and I saw this lady with
huge sunglasses a ponytail, bending down on her seat, looking
at me, yelling something, looking outraged. I rolled down the

(29:24):
window and this is the following conversation. Karen, you know
you're blocking two lanes righte me confused, huh, I was
behind you on the right lane and you wouldn't move.
I honed and you didn't care me. That's a shoulder,
You're not supposed to drive on the shoulder. That's a lane.
You are allowed to drive there. While she's still yelling incoherently,

(29:46):
we are still slowly moving. Then I remembered there's an
idle police cruiser on the shoulder that I saw a
while back that we didn't pass yet. I'm sure everyone
knows by now Malitia's compliance initiated. I reduced my speed
even more so Karen is faster than me by a
little bit on the left lane. Then I dare her
by giving her the signal that she can pass me
to use the shoulder. She aggressively took it, cut in

(30:09):
front of me and immediately went to the shoulder. However,
what Karen didn't know was that the cruiser is already
around the corner. I was driving a semi, so my
field of vision is much higher and wider than everyone else.
Karen was driving to sed Anne. Her field of vision
is much lower and limited. What I didn't take into
account was how aggressive Karen was driving. She cut the

(30:30):
corner so quick without looking and ended up hitting the cruiser. Sorry, officer.
It was so abrupt that I can hear the crash
pretty loudly. I can also tell that the driver in
front of me was gasping in shock as well. I've
never seen an officer get out of the cruiser so
fast before. This dude practically jumped out of the cruiser
in less than one second. Then this is what I

(30:50):
witnessed and heard. When I'm creeping slowly with the traffic,
not wanting to miss anything, I rolled down my passenger window. Officer,
get out of the vehicle. Karen inside her car, full
fluster mode. Officer, get out now. Karen finally gets out
and literally word per word. But I wasn't at fault.
He was stopped in a lane. Officer. This is a

(31:13):
shoulder for emergencies, not for your convenience to escape traffic jams.
Karen mud incoherent sobs story. As I drove away from
the scene, I couldn't hear what was going on anymore,
but I kept watching my front as well as the
side mare. Judging from her body movement, she was indeed
panicking while pointing at my truck. Don't know why. Then,

(31:34):
before the scene disappeared from my mirror, the last thing
I saw was the officer pulling out his handcuffs and
handcuffing her. Surprisingly, she complied without causing any more scenes.
Then I continued to drive into the sunset. Edit for
those who asked for a video from the dash cam,
I honestly would have wanted to relive this moment as well. However,
my company is too cheap to invest in dash cams.

(31:56):
They said that a tracker system is good enough. I've
been using my own dash cam for the first few
days until it doesn't stick to the windshield anymore due
to non permanent truck assignment. If there's a truck dash
can that doesn't require sticking to the windshield, I'm willing
to get it. Edit too. Some people did share with
me that I shouldn't block the shoulder. While I did
pay attention to flashing lights for emergency vehicles back then,

(32:18):
it didn't occur to me that some emergency could come
from vehicles without flashing lights. Thank you for teaching me
a valuable lesson. And yes, I would prefer ninety nine
carens to pass me illegally. Then, causing one innocent person
to get hurt. I'm sorry, but I'm going to sue
you unless you subscribe to our channel right now. That's
the only way you can prevent me from suing you,

(32:39):
So subscribe, do it and watch this video next that
one there

All Episodes

Karen DEMANDS I PAY FOR HER MEAL... BIG MISTAKE! - Reddit Stories

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know

Dateline NBC

The Burden

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Karen DEMANDS I PAY FOR HER MEAL... BIG MISTAKE! - Reddit Stories